Wrong film though. I’m glad he finally won the thing, but if he was gonna win something, it should have been for “Goodfellas”. Instead, he lost that to Kevin Costner and some shit movie he created. Or Taxi Driver. That movie wasn’t even nominated.

Now, let me also say this. Uh, I didn’t watch the Oscars. I really couldn’t care less about the Oscars. But I can say one thing.

Reese Witherspoon is fucking hot. That is all you need to know about the Oscars.

Congrats Again to Mr. Scorsese!

1. Pay off high-interest debt
The longer you carry debt, the more money you’ll end up paying. Therefore, the first step in a successful financial timeline is paying off the money you owe. But not all debt is created equal, so it pays to pick and choose. The first thing that has to go is high-interest credit card debt. If you’ve been carrying a balance for a while, you could be paying 20% or more. Since you’ll probably never find an investment that provides you with more than that amount in interest, there’s no sense saving money until you’ve completely paid off this debt.

2. Pay off additional debts
Additional debts that should be paid off, but on a different timeline, include student loans and mortgages on first homes. Typically, these loans have two things in common. First, the interest on them is tax-deductible, so it can pay to have that deduction in April. Second, the interest, especially on student loans, tends to be lower than on credit cards. That means you have a choice to make. If you’re able to safely make more interest on a given investment than the amount of interest you’re being charged for your student loan, it could be wise to invest rather than pay off the debt. This way, the interest you generate will pay off the interest on the loan and eat away at the principal. And once you’ve paid off the entire loan, you’ll still have the principal from the investment to work with.

3. Set up savings
There’s no hard-and-fast rule for how much you should save. If you’re like most Americans, you don’t save at all, and that’s not a good thing. If that’s the case, try to put aside 10% of your income. If you’re already saving 10%, try to squeeze a few more dollars in. But remember: The number isn’t as important as the circumstances. If you’re a single guy without a lot of responsibilities, you’ll probably want to save enough for three months of unemployment in case the worst should happen. On the other hand, if you’re a family man, you’ll need to put away a larger chunk because children and a spouse could mean many more unforeseen expenses.

4. Plan for retirement
This is the big one, and most guys don’t do it early enough. The fact is that you’re never too young to start thinking about your retirement. If your office doesn’t have a 401(k), go to your local bank and set one up. If your employer matches your contribution, put in the maximum and take advantage of the free money. If your employer doesn’t offer this, ask your tax adviser how much you should contribute; the money you sock away for the future won’t go into the hands of the IRS.

5. Build an investment portfolio
This is where you’ll want to put the rest of your money. In all likelihood, it’ll be your biggest sector for growth, because savings and retirement funds alone probably won’t cut it. Think of it this way: Your retirement money should give you enough to survive when you stop working, while your investment money is the extra that will allow you to really enjoy that time. And the bigger the pie, the faster you can stop working and start enjoying life.

To make the most of your portfolio, you’ll need to put money in stocks and bonds. If you’re young and you can afford it, your investment portfolio should be an aggressive mix of risky and safe bets because you can always build back your losses should things go south. If you’re older and you started late, however, concentrate on growth with as little risk as possible; that way, you won’t find yourself talking to the guys at work about getting your AARP card.

Link

The secrets of our body language have been around forever yet people constantly fail to recognize the importance of using body language to their advantage. Did you know that people only pay attention to 7% of what we say? Where does the rest of their attention go? You guessed it right: our body language. Now let me give my 7 BLT’s so that you can use your body language much more efficiently when interacting with people.

1- Always look at someone directly in their eyes when they are speaking to you. This may seem difficult at first but it’s definitely the #1 body language ingredient to make you successful when interacting with others. Note: Do not ever stare at someone.

2- Always stand up straight. You never want to slouch. Not only does this make you appear shorter but it projects an image of someone who has low self-esteem.

3- Smile. Smiling is your most powerful body language signal. Though it is not recommended to smile constantly (people will be under the impression you are searching for approval), you should still make an effort to appear happy and optimistic.

4- Do not make repeated, nervous like gestures. When speaking to someone it’s important to use body movements but never fast and repetitive ones (picture someone who is nervous while public speaking; this is exactly what you’re NOT aiming for).

5- Create your own personal space. Make sure you let others know you have your own personal space and do not let them walk all over you. Note: you never want to invade someone else’s personal space.

6- Dedicate all of your attention to the person you are speaking with. Do not constantly look around as if you are uncomfortable or not interested.

7- Make sure to emphasize all of these tips when you meet someone new. First impressions count for a lot. You want to make the best impression you can.
Hot Tip! Salespeople are often taught to watch for a customer’s exposed palms in their body language when they give reasons or objections why they can’t buy a product, because when someone is giving valid reasons, they usually show their palms. When people are being open in explaining their reasons they use their hands and flash their palms whereas someone who isn’t telling the truth is likely to give the same verbal responses but conceal their hands.

Most people are unaware of the way they are projecting themselves because in general, people will detect body language signals subconsciously. Make an effort to apply all seven of these tips and people will react differently when you are speaking to them.

Pete Grand is the author of the breakthrough ebook: “How To Overcome Shyness: A man’s complete guide on overcoming shyness”. To download his free ebook “12 Dirty Habits That Prevent You From Developing Exceptional People Skills” visit http://www.overcome-shyness.com
Filed under: Body Language

And for the next big brain study, scientists will get these smart kids to figure out what this Nature study really means.

Like all brain and intelligence studies, this one is loaded with implications. If smart brains are biologically different from dumb brains, does that mean that genetics and therefore race determine intelligence?

Yes and no. That is, yes to the former to some degree (if you can define intelligence), and no to the latter. Regardless, dim-witted eugenicists will use the study to advance their cause of breeding super-intelligent humans.

The study, led by Dr. Philip Shaw of the National Institutes of Mental Health, found surprisingly that the brains of smarter kids developed more slowly than the brains of children with average to lower intelligence, based on standard IQ tests.

The scientists conducted a series of MRI scans of these children’s prefrontal cortex every couple of years as they grew up. The prefrontal cortex is the seat of memory, language and abstract reasoning. For those with lower measured intelligence, the prefrontal cortex grew thicker with neuron-rich gray matter more quickly and reached a peak thickness at age 8. For the smartest kids, the cortex was thinner early on and didn’t reach peak thickness until age 11.

Why the “smart” brains developed differently is an open question. This could have something to do with genes. But this could easily be from intellectual stimuli early in life that guided the brain’s development.

At best the study shows that people deemed smart by virtue of a test that some argue is culturally and gender biased have brains that develop differently from people who don’t do as well on that test. It’s a good study, but that’s all it really says about intelligence.

For myth-busters like myself, though, the study rules out the notion that smarter people have bigger brains. Brain sizes in the Nature report had nothing to do with IQ test performance.

Yet simple logic renders the “big brain equals big smarts” argument silly. Women have smaller brains than men, on average. And smaller people, particularly dwarfs, often have smaller brains. Unless you are prepared to defend the stance that women and short people are dumber, case closed.

There have been geniuses with tiny brains and idiots with huge ones. The average brain size is about three pounds, or 1,400 grams. The brain of the French writer Anatole France was only 2.24 pounds, well below average. Lord Byron’s brain was nearly twice this amount, over four pounds.

Our heads are swelled if we think humans have the biggest brains.

Whales and elephants have bigger ones. We don’t even top the list when comparing brain size and body mass. With our 1:44 ratio, yes, we beat out monkeys with a 1:70 ratio. But we don’t come close to mice and rats, at around 1:20, and small birds, at 1:15. An obese human likely has the same brain-to-body ratio as a monkey without suffering from a lack of intelligence. But maybe rats really are smart. They can navigate the New York City subway system far better than I can.

Logic also rules out the genetic argument. Australia was once a penal colony. Today it has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. America was created from the forsaken, hapless classes from Europe and beyond. Today America is a technological leader.

Think of all the cultures that once ruled a good chunk of the known world. Mongolia, Babylonia, Egypt, Greece … What happened to those genes that gave rise to such intellectual superiority?

Shaw and his colleagues from the National Institutes of Health and McGill University sidestepped the question of genetics in their Nature report. That was pretty smart. As for IQ, I did rather well on an Internet-based test while the two eggs I was boiling for lunch exploded after the water evaporated. What an idiot.

Link

Most Colleges and Universities organise job fairs round about graduation time to allow students to meet new employers - it’s a fairly common method of recruiting recent graduates.

Job seekers can use job fairs to find out a bit more information about employers, working life and general industry information. This is what most people use job fairs for.

However, the opportunity exists for job seekers to use the brief few minutes they have with employers to create a lasting impression (er, a “good” lasting impression!) and sell themselves, for job fairs are also an opportunity for the cream of the crop to rise to the top!

So who are those people hanging about the tables?

Employers and recruiters tend to send HR personnel along to job fairs to either weed out unsuitable candidates or pick out some young potentials from the crowd.

Unlike trade shows (which have basically the same format), job fairs aren’t “staffed” by marketing people - they aren’t trying to sell you anything. They are there to be sold by YOU! (the obvious exception is where you are such an attractive prospect, you get them chasing you, but let’s face it - if that was the case, then you wouldn’t be reading this!)

You are a salesman competing for business amongst hundreds of others. You could leave your CV with the recruiter. Would they remember you?

Dress for an interview!

Yes, job fairs are interviews and you should treat them as such.

Simply sauntering along in jeans and a t-shirt to see what’s going on isn’t going to get you anywhere, regardless of your skills and abilities. There are literally hundreds of other people there with the same aim as you - finding meaningful employment!

So, go along to job fairs and be prepared to make an impression!

Do your homework on the fly!

You see those glossy brochures the recruiters have strewn all over their little tables? And the posters on the walls? And the conversation the recruiter is having with the other jobseeker next to you?

This is all valuable information! And you NEED to use it to make your impression!

Find out about the company. Find out about the jobs they are offering or their graduate programme. Listen to the questions the recruiter asks other people and the information he or she gives out.

If you wander on up and ask some vague question about health plan or holidays, the recruiter is simply going to answer you and will soon be distracted by someone else. There it was. That was your chance. It’s gone now.

You need to engage the recruiter - not simply hold a one sided conversation with them! At a job fair, a conversation is your best friend, because the longer you spend talking with the recruiter, the more likely they are to remember you.

At least….

The least you should leave a job fair is with some background about your industry (an idea of the types of jobs available), and some information about employers. At best you leave having made a positive impression on several employers and have a few job prospects to look forward to!

Good Luck!

Link

Rule No. 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teen-ager uses the phrase “It’s not fair” 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule No. 1.

Rule No. 2: The real world won’t care as much about your self-esteem as much as your school does. It’ll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain that it’s not fair. (See Rule No. 1)

Rule No. 3: Sorry, you won’t make $40,000 a year right out of high school. And you won’t be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn’t have a Gap label.

Rule No. 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait ’til you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he’s not going to ask you how you feel about it.

Rule No. 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They weren’t embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.

Rule No. 6: It’s not your parents’ fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of “It’s my life,” and “You’re not the boss of me,” and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it’s on your dime. Don’t whine about it, or you’ll sound like a baby boomer.

Rule No. 7: Before you were born your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.

Rule No. 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn’t. In some schools, they’ll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class valedictorians scrapped, lest anyone’s feelings be hurt. Effort is as important as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. (See Rule No. 1, Rule No. 2 and Rule No. 4.)

Rule No. 9: Life is not divided into semesters, and you don’t get summers off. Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And you don’t get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on. While we’re at it, very few jobs are interested in fostering your self-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead to self-realization. (See Rule No. 1 and Rule No. 2.)

Rule No. 10: Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs. Your friends will not be as perky or pliable as Jennifer Aniston.

Rule No. 11: Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.

Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you’re out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That’s what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for “expressing yourself” with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.

Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven’t seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.

Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school’s a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you’ll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You’re welcome.

The failure of all thinkers of defining philosophy by a unique and complete sentence leads us to many suppositions. First of all, one may think that they do not know what philosophy is,although it exists for more than 2500 years, or that this concept is too complex to be enounced in a single definition. Another hypothese would be that of the existence of too many philosophical species and that each philosophy has its own definition. But a reasonable conclusion is that of having more different subjects gathered under the same name, a series of “philosophies” which cannot be either united or expressed by a single concept.

Aristotle said that there were 3 theoretical philosophies : mathematics, physics and theology. If his conception was right,it would be difficult to find a unique definition for all, a definition which could comprise the essence of all these subjects.

So we are compelled to conclude that we cannot find a distinct and general definition for the concept of philosophy, although we have so many philosophical works of art.

There are various definitions for this concept:

Kant said that philosophy was a rational knowledge through pure conceptions,the science of suppositions, of the conditions of knowledge and action and , in the same time, the system of philosophical knowledge.

He divides philosophy into:

1. the pure philosophy-knowledge through pure reason-“Erkenntnis aus reiner Vernunft”

2. the empirical philosophy-rational knowledge through empirical principles-“aus empirischen Prinzipien”

3. the philosophy of nature-which dealt with all that exists-“geht auf alles was da ist”

4. the philosophy of mores-which dealt with all that should be-“was da sein soll”

Schopenhauer said that philosophy was the science expressed into concepts, whose main attribute was to repeat the whole experience of the world into concepts(wiederholen), in an abstract, general and clear way.

For Herbart, philosophy is the processing of concepts. In exchange, the positivism gives up any expanatory character.

For A.Comte, philosophy is the entire system of human knowledge.
In Romania, the problem of the philosophical concept was the object of interest of well known thinkers, such as: Titu Maiorescu, whose definition of philosophy was “the hope to acquire wisdom”, Lucian Blaga, who thought that philosophy represented one basic human way to solve “what exists” and Constantin R.Matru, who believed it to be a conception of old truths in a new representation.

The philosophy appeared as an answer to people’s questions, such as:

What is existence?

What is the report between subjective and objective existence?

How are the beauty,the justice,the truth and the good valued ?

Which are the causes of human unhappiness on earth?

What is happiness?

Thus, philosophy tries to find answers about the human condition, the concept of human condition, the usual situations and the limits. In the same time, it helps man make a hierarchy of his world.

Philosophy helps man know himself,report himself to the social reality, form the conscience of his alterity-which is the conscience of the respect towards the ones he lives by.

Philosophy appeared during the Antiquity, first including knowledge from all domains, then separating the philosophical and the scientifical discourse.

take the risk

No one hears about how much money one can make investing in real estate. That’s probably because it is a little well-kept secret. If everyone knew about it, everyone would be doing it, right?
Wrong. Much like starting your own business, investing in real estate requires entrepreneurial skills and a vision. Which is why not everyone is jumping on the real estate bandwagon.

Not everyone is willing to take the additional risk that real-estate investing entails. And these are the same people or renters that will make you rich. The little secret is that there are hundreds of individuals who choose to procrastinate for every one individual who has a vision and chooses to take the risk with investing in real-estate.

what lies ahead?

When I initially started investing in real estate, I really didn’t have a clear vision. The only thing I was sure of was that I wanted financial freedom. Of course, achieving these goals did not come without a price, and only afterwards did I develop a plan and vision of where I was headed.
Investing in real estate requires a lot of time; you need to deal with a vast array of tenants — good ones as well as bad. Just like a business, you also have to deal with operating and fixed expenses — such as heating and electrical bills, as well as renovation costs.

On the other hand, I don’t have to wear a suit and tie all day, and run around doing someone else’s bidding. You see, to me, that’s big. My dress code consists of shorts and a shirt 6 months out of the year, unless I’m on vacation of course — then it’s 10 months out of the year.

If I want to go out of town for a few days, I go. I don’t have to ask for vacation time. While I’m out of town, my rents keep ticking away 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, whether I’m on the job or not. And those loans keep amortizing. The magic is happening just the same.

the benefits

Aside from being your own boss, having the freedom to travel while earning profits, increasing your net worth, and having a place of your own to call home, there are greater benefits of investing in real-estate:

1. Cash Flow
Cash is the difference between your income and your expenses on a piece of property. You can have a positive or negative cash flow. Obviously, you’ll feel a lot better if the cash flow is positive.

Some people prefer to reduce debt as quickly as possible and sacrifice a little, and keep a negative or zero cash flow. My advice on cash flow is this: Never use all of your positive cash flow with rapid debt reduction. You will be walking a thin line. By keeping a strong positive cash flow, you will have more options and space to maneuver.

2. Appreciation
Appreciation is the increase in value of a property. There are 2 kinds of appreciation. The first is from economic conditions beyond your control, such as inflation. But you wouldn’t gain much from this type of appreciation since the gain is offset by the higher cost of living.

The second kind of appreciation is market appreciation. This kind of appreciation, you can control . When you improve a property (through renovation), you are, in effect, forcing its value higher. You can purchase a piece of property in need of repairs and bring it back up to neighborhood standards or slightly higher. This will give you a property that is much higher in value.

3. Leverage
Leverage is the ability to borrow a percentage of the value of a piece of property. Real estate, in comparison to other investments, offers a very high degree of leverage. In some cases a couple buying a single-family home can obtain 95% financing. This allows individuals to purchase real estate with little, if any, of their own money. What other investments offer such a high degree of leverage?

4. Amortization
With leverage, or the use of other people’s money, comes a repayment schedule. Your outstanding balance is being reduced with every payment you make. Part of each payment goes to interest (applied first), and part of your payment goes to principal. The principal reduction is called amortization — reducing debt. Hence, amortization can make you wealthy — slowly and steadily.

5. Tax Advantages
Owning real estate with the goal of making profit allows you to deduct interest payments and other expenses come tax time. But, don’t be fooled into buying real estate for the tax advantages; buy real estate because it makes economic sense to do so.

Owning a real-estate business is a great way to achieve your financial freedom. What could be more worthwhile than taking up real estate as either a full-time business or even a hobby? The benefits are definitely there.

Link

Myths that lead to wasted time, frustration and if are taken blindly as truth, can really set back your progress in the gym. Don’t believe everything you hear when it comes to exercise and weight gain, do the research yourself.

Lets take a look at some of the most common weight gain myths:

High repetitions burn fat while low repetitions build muscle.

Progressive overload is needed to make muscles bigger. Meaning that you need to perform more reps than you did for your last workout for that particular exercise. If you perform the same amount of reps at each workout nothing will change on you, also “if the weight doesn’t changes on the bar nothing will change on you” You need to become stronger

Definition has two characteristics, muscle size and a low incidence of body fat. To reduce body fat you will have to reduce your calories; the high repetition exercise will burn some calories, but wouldn’t it be better to fast walk to burn these off? Better still; use the low reps to build muscle, which will elevate your metabolism and burn more calories (less fat).

Vegetarians can’t build muscle.

Yes they can! Strength training with supplementation of soy Protein Isolate has shown to increase solid bodyweight. Studies have shown that athletic performance is not impaired by following a meat free diet, and people strength training and consuming only soy protein isolate as a protein source were able to gain lean muscle mass.

Strength Training will make you look masculine.

If it is not you’re intention to bulk up from strength training you won’t. Putting on muscle is a long hard slow process. Your strength-training regime coupled with quality food will determine how much you will bulk up. To bulk up you also require more food. Women don’t produce enough testosterone to allow for muscular growth as large as men.

By working out you can eat what ever you want to.

Of course you can eat whatever you want, if you don’t care how you want to look. Working out does not give you an open license to consume as many calories as you want. Although you will burn more calories if you workout than someone who doesn’t, you still need to balance your energy intake with you energy expenditure.

If you take a week off you will lose most of your gains.

Taking one or two weeks off occasionally will not harm your training. By taking this time off every eight to ten weeks in between strength training cycles it has the habit of refreshing you and to heal those small niggling injuries. By having longer layoffs you do not actually lose muscle fibres, just volume through not training; any size loss will be quickly re-gained.

By eating more protein I can build bigger muscles.

Building muscle mass involves two things, progressive overload to stimulate muscles beyond their normal levels of resistance and eating more calories than you can burn off. With all the hype about high protein diets lately and because muscle is made largely of protein, it’s easy to believe that protein is the best fuel for building muscle. However muscles work on calories that should predominately be derived from carbohydrates.

If I’m not sore after a workout, I didn’t work out hard enough.

Post workout soreness is not an indication of how good the exercise or strength-training session was for you. The fitter you are at a certain activity, the less soreness you will experience after. As soon as you change an exercise, use a heavier weight or do a few more reps you place extra stress on that body part and this will cause soreness.

Resistance training doesn’t burn fat.

Nothing could not be further from the truth. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue and has a role in increasing the metabolism. The faster metabolism we have the quicker we can burn fat. Cardio exercise enables us to burn calories whilst exercising but does little else for fat loss afterwards.

Weight training enables us to burn calories whilst exercising but also helps us to burn calories whilst at rest. Weight training encourages muscle growth and the more lean muscle mass we possess, the more fat we burn though an increased and elevated metabolism.

No pain no gain.

This is one myth that hangs on and on. Pain is your body signaling that something is wrong. If you feel real pain during a workout, stop your workout and rest. To develop muscle and increase endurance you may need to have a slight level of discomfort, but that’s not actual pain.

Taking steroids will make me huge.

Not true, strength training and correct nutrition will grow muscle. Taking steroids without training will not make you muscular. Most steroids allow faster muscle growth through greater recovery, while others help increase strength which allows for greater stress to be put onto a muscle. Without food to build the muscle or training to stimulate it nothing will happen. Most of the weight gain seen with the use of some steroids is due to water retention and is not actual muscle.

Strength training won’t work your heart.

Wrong! Strength training with short rest periods will increase your heartbeat well over a hundred beats per minute. For example, performing a set of breathing squats and you can be guaranteed that your heart will be working overtime and that your entire cardiovascular system will be given a great overall body workout.

Any intensive weightlifting routine that lasts for 20 minutes or more is a great workout for your heart and the muscles involved.

I can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.

Wrong. Only a few gifted people with superb genetics and on steroids can increase muscle size while not putting on body fat. But for the average hard gainer, they have to increase their muscle mass to its maximum potential and then cut down their body fat percentage to achieve the desired shape.

In conclusion, simple basic principles that apply to all weight and muscle gain such as progressive overload, variable frequency of reps and high intensity workouts are the way to go.