A Home Based Business Online
I know that many people who visit here are looking for legitimate ways to make a living online. The best program I have found is called Blogging To The Bank. I've devoted a whole web site to it here. Or, you can go directly to the source to find out more.
- posted by Gavin L. Watkins @ 5:58 AM
Kayaking: Book recommendation
In a previous post I noted that I've taken up kayaking. The basic kayak stroke came pretty easy to me and I thought I had "this paddling thing" conquered. But on my first lake outing, I once found myself heading straight into some trees with tangled limbs bending low over the water. With plenty of time (I thought) to make an evasive maneuver, I began stroking on just one side of the kayak, assuming that this would turn the kayak in the opposite direction and away from the hazard. That hoped-for result did not materialize, though. Instead I continued, but even faster, straight into the trees, which almost knocked me out of the boat. Clearly I needed some instruction on how to turn a kayak, or how to stop, or how to back ... preferably all three. When I got home I picked up my copy of Kayaking Made Easy, recently purchased through Amazon but only partly read. Sure enough--in the unread part of the book--author Dennis Stuhaug explained all the essential kayak strokes, and many others for special situations. On my next kayak outing I practiced turning, stopping and backing, and to my delight and self-satisfaction found that none of those things is particularly difficult--you just need to thing about what you want to do and then select the proper stroke to accomplish your ends. The turn stroke, for example, is not immediately intuitive, as witness my first unsuccessful experiement. Yes, you do stroke on the side of the kayak that is opposite the direction in which you wish to turn, but it is not the long, close-to-the boat draw stroke used to propel you forward when you have a clear path ahead and are concentraing on speed and directness. Instead, it is a much shorter stroke, but one that describes an arc, mostly well off to the side. As for stopping the kayak, that turns out to be a cinch--you just dip a paddle blade straight into the water for a couple of seconds (of course, the angle of the blade and the placement in relation to you and the boat also count in how well it works).
I really like Kayaking Made Easy. Stuhaug's tone is engaging, friendly and encouraging toward beginners. He meanwhile conveys a great deal of information. Not the least of it is the detailed descriptions of the strokes (many of which I have yet to try; who knew there were so many?), accompanied by clear, easy-to-grasp diagrams. He also covers the types of kayaks, how to select one, how to outfit yourself and your boat, how to navigate a kayak in open water, how to make kayaking a family activity, and more. Be advised that if your interest lies in whitewater kayaking, this book will not be of much help to you. It is aimed at flatwater (lakes, sounds, slow rivers) and sea kayakers. The third edition of Kayaking Made Easy just appeared this past April. Here's what a reviewer at Amazon has to say: 
A complete and thorough "how to" guide to the sport and recreation of kayaking, June 4, 2006 This newly expanded and revised third edition of Kayaking Made Easy: A Manual For Beginners With Tips For The Experienced by Dennis Stuhaug is a complete and thorough "how to" guide to the sport and recreation of kayaking. Providing readers with a concisely presenting approach to preparing for and engaging in kayaking, Kayaking Made Easy offers a truly "user friendly" guide to everything from choosing the right hull for individual needs, outfitting the kayak with seat, flotation, spray deck and other fittings, mastering basic maneuvers from the sweep stroke to the sculling brace, and assembling a kayaking wardrobe that is both comfortable and affordable, to safe navigation through the hazards of wind, fog, eddies and rip currents, and ensuring that all companions, including kids, enjoy the active and fun ride. A welcome addition to personal and community library reference collections, Kayaking Made Easy is very strongly recommended reading for novice kayakers, and has much of value to offer even seasoned kayakers. Technorati Tags: kayaks, kayaking, boats, boating, water, lakes, seas, sounds, how-to, books, manuals, beginning kayaking, outdoors, paddle sports, outdoor sports, water sports Search Stomper links: kayaks, kayaking, boats, boating, books, book reviews, outdoor sports, water sports, paddle sports, adventure- posted by Gavin L. Watkins @ 2:34 PM
Lean, Mean Searchin' Machine
OK, it isn't likely to overtake Google, Yahoo, MSNSearch or any of the other search engine big boys any time soon, still, we really like Search Stomper (www.SearchStomper.com). This is a small but spunky search engine with a nice look and a refreshing way of presenting search results.
Technically, Search Stomper is a meta-search engine -- it draws upon the capabilities of existing search engines for its results. Nevertheless, we like how it displays those results in a clean yet attractive manner, and we especially love the tabs -- there's one for web pages, one for images, one for local resources, one for products, one for news and even one for videos.
Rather than have us describe it, we encourage you to try it out for yourself. For some examples, take a look at how it handles these currently hot search terms:
American Idol
Supermax Prison
Hubble Space Telescope
Stephen Colbert video
Jessica Alba
Karen Elson
Kentucky Derby
Larisa Oleynik
American Inventor
NBA
Osama Bin Laden
Cynthia Watros
Shakira
Kaavya Viswanathan
Chris Brown
Mother's Day
Ivanka Trump
Britney Spears
Axl Rose
Michelle Rodriguez
Pussycat Dolls
Hanso Foundation
America's Next Top Model
Hebrew Month
cute puppies
Paris Hilton
Stephen Colbert
Megan Fox
American Idol
soccer
Da Vinci Code
Jodie Marsh
Thefacebook
Survivor: Panama
Naruto
Pope Benedict XVI
Opus Dei
Oprah Winfrey
- posted by Gavin L. Watkins @ 2:15 PM
Best Site for Wireless Speakers
Wireless speakers are all the rage these days--pushed on the large end of the scale by the popularity of home theater systems, and on the small end by the proliferation of tiny mp3 players such as the iPod.
With todays technology you can enjoy your favorite music while sitting on your back porch away from your house and away from any electrical plug. This is true audio freedom.
Wireless speakers add to the enjoyment of a house party or your home theater system without having to worry about speaker wires getting in the way.
You can now place your stereo speakers or your home theater speakers wherever you prefer.
The advent of the wireless speaker era provides an immense range of products and ways to incorporate them into our lifestyles. But it also brings a welter of choices and confusion. What are the best product solutions for one's particular needs? Where can you find the highest quality wireless speakers at the best prices?
The Audio Freedom Wireless Speakers Guide is the best site we have found for answering these questions and point you to the best sources for discounted but brand-name and top-of-the-line products. If you're even thinking about buying a wireless speaker product, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
This site can help you find the right information for your wireless speaker needs. There are many articles posted that talk about many of the different aspects of speakers. Visit the wireless speakers article page for a list of the many articles.
- posted by Gavin L. Watkins @ 12:04 PM
Best Numa Numa Videos
Are you a numa numa fan? The numa numa song and dance have taken the Internet by storm. "Numa numa" is actually a reference to a catchy Romanian pop song whose real title is "Dragonstea Din Tea." But no matter -- when a teenager from New Jersey videoed himself lip-synching the words, a phenomenon was born.
Now there are so many numa numa videos on the web that you could spend (waste) weeks or maybe months of your life viewing them in order to find the most creative or cleverest of them. Now you don't have to. A father and daughter team have started a new blog where they promise to present only the absolute best of the many numa numa videos--both amateur and professional.
Of course, "best" is based on their subjective opinion, but we think by and large they've made a good start with their initial selections. We'll be checking with them frequently to see what new numa numa versions have made their cut. You should check it out, too, at their site, Numa Numa: The Best.
- posted by Gavin L. Watkins @ 12:57 PM
Low-Interest Loans, Unsecured Credit Cards - Even with Poor Credit?
Are You A Bum?
After a long time spent searching, we've found an organization that knows you're probably not one--but that bad luck or a few poor decisions in the past have led to your present situation. Further, they believe that a bad credit rating should not keep you from getting the financial help you need and deserve.The organization is called You're Approved -- and if poor credit or a bankruptcy is weighing you down and keeping you from moving on with your life, I urge you to visit their web site and learn more about them.
Personal loans, business loans, unsecured credit cards and mortgages are all within the reach of You're Approved members. No matter how bad your credit situation is, you will not find a better resource, in my opinion.
When you become a member of You're Approved for a one-time membership fee of only $25, you receive immediate online access to their exclusive Bad Credit Lender List and Credit Repair Kit. That alone can be worth many times the membership fee, in my experience.
You also receive free updates to their list of bad credit lenders -- for a lifetime.
You're Approved has over 80 little-known banks and companies that offer bad credit loans, bad credit home loans, bad credit auto loans, and bad credit personal loans to people with bad credit or even a bankruptcy. Many require no collateral and no co-signer. Home ownership is not required.
They also have over 50 banks and companies that offer bad credit unsecured credit cards and merchant cards to people with no credit, bad credit, or even a bankruptcy--with no security deposit.
It is even possible through You're Approved to receive a vehicle or home with no money down and no credit check.
You can also find many government resources within their member's area to help you get that loan you need.
Even with bankruptcy, using their resources you can receive auto loan financing, personal loan financing, mortgage loans and credit cards.
I recommend that you to check out You're Approved today at this link.
Also, you can find some great information about credit repair, including a 17-page online guide, at Credit-Renewal.com.
Fantastic Resource For Real lenders!
"I highly recommend this site. The lenders really do make the loans happen. After trying, unsuccessfully for about 4 months, to find a loan, I became a member of this.Within about 2 days, I had more real offers to get my loan that I thought possible! What a wonderfull surprise, something that does what it says it will!! My funding happened just like they said it would. -- Testimonial from a You're Approved member
- posted by Gavin L. Watkins @ 9:31 AM
Downloadable Spanish Courses: Best of the Best
There are so many Spanish language learning courses and systems around these days that it will make you want to yell ay caramba! tryng to figure out which one is best.
In the past we've recomended some--like the Transparent language series--that we still thinkg are pretty good.
Of all the books, audio tapes and CDs, DVDs and software-based Spanish courses that are out there, Transparent Language is one of the two or three that stand out above the rest, in our opinion.
Now there are language courses--particularly for Spanish--that can be downloaded from the Internet so you can start using them right away.
The best of the best of these downloadable products is one called Rocket Spanish.
This innovative course has greatly expanded our ideas about what it is possible from a Spanish course.
So what is Rocket Spanish?
Basically, it's a really huge bunble of Spanish language learning tools that you download. (Alternatively, you can also have physical CDs and printed books sent to you, but the download version saves money, so that's what we recommend.)
The core of Rocket Spanish is an interactive audio course designed to get you speaking conversational Spanish fast. With the audio Spanish course are four e-books of grammar lessons, useful words and phrases, and vocabulary and exercises.
Unlike those in many other Spanish courses, we found the interactive audio exercises to be really fun. It's almost like you're sitting around socializing with new friends who bring you right into their world--into their way of speaking, thinking, and enjoying themselves--so gently yet quickly that you'll amaze yourself with how much Spanish you're learning through the course.
Between listening to the different audio segments you can study the corresponding chapters in the conversation and beginners' books that come with the course.
The audio and books are just the beginning, though. There's also MegaSpanish, consisting of the MegaVocab and MegaAudio software for playing games to accelerate your ability to learn Spanish.
The games are challenging and engaging. But what is best, we think, is that you can modify the vocabulary of the games to use the words that you need to learn.
The Rocket Spanish course is quite substantive, which is what matters most. It's comprehensive, and flexible enough to take you about as far as you would care to go with any course in Spanish.
But aside from content, we do want to mention the production values of the Rocket Spanish course package--they're top notch. (Check out the screen shots on the web site.)
The skeptic speaks ...
There's one thing about the Rocket Spanish course that we must question, though. Its makers claim that it will give you Spanish fluency in just three months.
That might be true for that minority of people who seem to be born with a natural gift for language.
Realistically--if you diligently apply yourself to learn the entire Rocket Spanish course, and if you then go out and find people to practice conversing with--this course could have you speaking pretty fluent Spanish in much less than a year's time--maybe six months for the average learner, longer for some.
We are confident in stating that this Spanish course could take you farther toward fluency--and faster--than anything else on the market. It just might take longer than three months!
Here's something neat: You can sign up for six free mini-lessons from Rocket Spanish to get a taste of the course before you make a decision to buy it. Would that more language learning companies would let you sample their wares like this!
The author of Rocket Spanish is a guy named Mauricio Evlampieff. He's a native Spanish speaker (from Chile) who's passionate about his culture, language and heritage and enjoys sharing his love of the Spanish language with others. His enthusiasm definitely comes across in the course.
The editor of Rocket Spanish is Amy Waterman, who became fluent in Spanish while living and working in Ecuador. It was she who formulated the concepts behind the interactive audio part of the course.
Recently, one of us went to Guatemala to study Spanish in one of the Spanish language schools there. "I just wish I had had this course before I went. It would have given me a leg up, as it were, and permitted me to begin my immersion study of Spanish at a much more advanced level," he commented.
We could go on and on about this course, but we'll stop there. Suffice it to say that if you're looking for something that can really help you to learn Spanish at home, we urge you to look at this course.
Links:
Rocket Spanish
Learning Spanish Like Crazy (also recommended)
Learn Spanish
- posted by Gavin L. Watkins @ 5:53 PM
