News for today's 2018: 03/14/13

The Best Superfoods For Weight Loss

9:40 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Best Superfoods For Weight Loss :</span></span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img alt="Best Superfoods for Weight Loss" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3SjcVFPA8GjxYgBlw3TEGlwzaLhqZaKrf8REVxboF46zVOrcdmarC165k0ct2EULgR5XMKXeTXhvSrTNdxeFoZkcK7rUMBc5aHoz_HJGP2muU3NGTU7qpX93gpVy3z97y2wsuPR7twjs/s640/Best+Superfoods+for+Weight+Loss.jpg" title="Best Superfoods for Weight Loss" width="640" /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Eat  more to weigh less. The right foods help you drop up to two pounds a  week by revving your calorie burn and curbing cravings.  Superfoods  build bones, prevent chronic diseases, improve your eyesight, and even  keep your mind sharp.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></h1><center> <script type="text/javascript"></script><script src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" type="text/javascript"></script> </center><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>    <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Apples</b></span></span><br />Eat more Apples are the ideal on-the-go low-calorie snack. For a pie-like treat, chop up a medium apple and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp allspice and 1/2 tsp</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;">An apple a day can keep weight gain at bay. People who chomped an apple  before a pasta meal ate fewer calories overall than those who had a  different snack. Plus, the antioxidants in apples may help prevent  metabolic syndrome, a condition marked by excess belly fat or an "apple  shape."</span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #990000;">Salmon</span></span>  </b></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">Salmon is an effective diet when it comes to weight loss as despite having fairly high fat content, it contains healthy omega-3 essential fatty acids that serve as a good weight loss tool. A 2001 study found that dieters eating a MUFA-rich diet lost an average of 9 pounds, while their low-fat diet counterparts gained, on average, 6.</span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #ff6600;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;">Tomatoes </span></span><br /></b></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">very low  in calories, source of vitamin A, C and antioxidants. Use cooked and  raw. Try halved tomatoes sprinkled with parmesan cheese and broiled  until cheese melts.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: purple;"><b><span style="color: #bf9000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Eggs</b></span></span> </b></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">Eat more Omelets and scrambles are obvious choices, but if you can't cook before work, bake a frittata on Sunday; chill it and nuke slices for up to a week.<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Eggs contain an ingredient that can help to cut down calories consumed during each meal.</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #993300;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: blue;">Blueberries</span></span> </b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">All berries are good for you, but those with a blue hue are among the best of the bunch. They have the highest antioxidant level of all commonly consumed fruit. Best known for their anti-aging effects, blueberries, while tiny, are a powerful figure-friendly eat: A 1-cup serving sets you back only 80 calories, and helps you feel full with 4 grams of fiber. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: orange;"><b></b><b><b>Oranges</b></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">And last but certainly not the least is the mighty food namely orange that too helps in aiding weight loss as it contains large amount of fiber and Vitamin C that boosts metabolism and helps in weight reduction.</span></div><br /><center><script type="text/javascript"></script><script src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" type="text/javascript"></script><br /><br /></center><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div>

The Best Superfoods For Weight Loss : Eat more to weigh less. The right foods help you drop up to two pounds a week by revving your calo...

I Just Don't Get It

9:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Hola y’all! You know I’m a fairly smart guy. Maybe not the Einstein of our time, but not a moron either. I’m pretty good at figuring most things out or a least come to a basic understanding when someone explains something to me. But, there are some things I just don’t get. They make no sense to me, even when people try to explain the. Here’s a sampling of things I don’t get… <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>- People who follow people they hate on Social Media. </b>I see this on every social media site in the entire world. People complaining about someone they follow. What’s really weird about this is that we’re usually talking about people who follow celebrities, news figures, athletes or some other kind of “famous” person. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Really? You hate them, think they suck, think they’re stupid, get pissed off at the things they post yet you won’t unfollow them? You’ll need to quit your fucking bitching, thanks. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">If you’re follow a “regular” person and don’t want to hurt their feelings then, that’s life. Seriously, figure out how filters and shit like that work or just live with it. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>- Passive-Aggressive People on Social Media.</b> Seriously, posting passive-aggressive shit on social media is for cowards. If you’re too much of a pussy to contact someone directly then shut the fuck up.  <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRstAyHrvbWU3q2PUSbhJBoAEjoRAtQy9Tu0jrUsVx9eGRoDyQpuzrNiv50n-phwxZM7YNYnDQNyx7BTp8R1wxycEkxG1L_pr8-LveI5kNzkL6ZNRwtj5_28lKHPbFEimIVMJ3IjNWmB4/s1600/Duke+Sucks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRstAyHrvbWU3q2PUSbhJBoAEjoRAtQy9Tu0jrUsVx9eGRoDyQpuzrNiv50n-phwxZM7YNYnDQNyx7BTp8R1wxycEkxG1L_pr8-LveI5kNzkL6ZNRwtj5_28lKHPbFEimIVMJ3IjNWmB4/s320/Duke+Sucks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>- Duke fans who didn’t actually go to Duke.</b> I talked about this on our <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/03/10/the-sound-and-the-funny">The Sound and the Funny</a> show a bit. Sure, there are people who are fans of other college athletic programs who didn’t go to those colleges and have no connection to them, but when it’s people rooting for Duke who have no connection to the school its … well … sad. These are people who are desperate to be liked by the “elite” and hope they’ll be accepted into their “I’m better than you” club. You won’t be. They are as disdainful of you and condescending to you as they are everyone else. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>- People who post things like “If you believe that gay marriage is okay and should be legal just unfollow me” and then bitch and whine that they got unfollowed. </b>Shit dude. You fucking told me to unfollow you. Other people who belong in this group are “If you’re not a fan of <insert comedian="" country="" culture="" group="" movie="" name="" of="" or="" other="" pop="" rock="" show="" singer="" some="" tv=""> then we just can’t be friends. Really? Fuck you and your shitty taste in music or TV shows or whatever. <o:p></o:p></insert></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>- Why when someone is elected to office, they get to keep the title of that office for life, even if they eventually get ousted through election or have to resign in shame.</b> Seriously, there are people wandering around this country who were mayor of a Redneckville or some other town for one term back in the 70’s who still get called “Mayor McWhatshisname,’ or congress or governor and most certainly Senator and even President. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">You know, this is America. We don’t have royalty. You don’t get some title that tells everyone you have some superior social status and then keep it for life. If  you have to resign in disgrace … I’m looking at you Newt Gingrich … then there’s no reason we should be expected to refer to you as “Speaker” or any other title you once held. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Same goes for people who quit their office half-way through their term to go off and make money off of rubes and try to be celebrities. Right MIZZZZZZZZZZ Palin? Fuck if I’m gonna call HER “Governor.” <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>- Why Google is killing off Google Reader.</b> I don’t want to hear about “declining use” because I think that’s bullshit. Yes, it’s true that Reader was and is probably impossible to monetize and doesn’t make them money. But, companies offer lots of products that aren’t profitable as “loss leaders” to keep customers loyal all the time. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Reader should be the same thing. Something that Google supports and keeps as thank you to all the millions and millions of people who are their loyal users and use Google Reader as their primary way of surfing the internet from Blogs to news to sports to hundreds of other sites they like to keep up with every day. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Killing off Google Reader is the ultimate “Fuck You” to people from Google. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:Jayman3768@gmail.com">Jayman3768@gmail.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.twitter.com/jayman_iws">@Jayman_IWS</a><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>

I Just Don't Get It

Hola y’all! You know I’m a fairly smart guy. Maybe not the Einstein of our time, but not a moron either. I’m pretty good at figuring most th...

Jerusalem, My Happy Home: Epilog

4:23 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Looking back on our adventures in Israel/ Palestine from the vantage point of Washington Dulles, I can’t see the big picture yet; so this is not a summary. It’s a few loose ends and the current state of my reflections:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">HOLY SITES: I have a bias toward historic preservation. I would like for a site to be kept as close as possible to how it was when something important happened there. But we have built churches – or in the case of the Dome of the Rock, a mosque – on such places. I started with an aversion to churches built on sacred places. But in the Hebrew Scriptures, holy sites were marked with holy objects. First, they constructed cromlechs – piles of rock – to say this spot is holy. Then they built altars. Abraham built an altar at Hebron. Jacob built an altar at Bethel. When a place is holy, as opposed to merely historic, we worship there. So I have come to see that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, etc. are right, good, and a joyful thing. Some of them are architecturally brilliant at capturing the feel and the aesthetic of the thing commemorated. Gethsemane does that best. I have come to grudgingly admit that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is a holy place and that it is even quite plausible that Jesus was buried and resurrected in that particular place. But I stand by my original reaction that the Church atop Mt. Tabor is awful. By the way, the church I liked best (Gethsemane) and the Church I liked least (Tabor) were by the same architect, Antonio Barluzzi.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">WHY CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG: Israel is not a happy place. I have come to realize how little I understand about the Israeli/ Palestinian Conflict. I am appalled to discover how little I even know about the history of the situation. I can tell it is in part the residue of the disastrous diplomatic resolution of World War I, in which the Arabic Allies of the West were betrayed. But things were less than rosy before that. The Ottoman Empire was not kind to the Arabic peoples, the Armenians, or the Greeks. And the European ancestors of the Israelis were ill served in both Eastern and Western Europe before coming to Israel. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I was looking for the roots of our church conflicts in this primal conflict – Abel vs. Cain, Jacob vs Esau, Joseph vs. his brothers, Saul vs. David, Rheoboam vs Jereboam, Elijah vs. Ahab, Judas Maccabeus vs. Antiochus IV Epiphanes, etc. to Jesus vs. Herod, Paul vs. James, St. John the Divine vs. Domitian, etc. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Of course there is a lot to disagree about, but why do we persistent in disagreeing so disagreeably? I am a long, long way form an answer on that one. But the Martha Nussbaum book I am reading – The New Religious Intolerance – raises some possible areas for exploration. She writes about the “moral imagination.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">On the one hand we have the power of fear, which Irish Murdoch calls “a dimming preoccupation” meaning it constricts our imaginations into perceived threats. It diminishes our ability to experience others as sources of delight or even entertainment. We are too obsessed with saving our lives to live them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In contrast, what Nussbaum (who is Jewish) calls the Kantian-Christian principle of universalizeablily, the Golden Rule, invites – even compels – us to imagine each situation as it is experienced by someone else. She says: “The empathic imagination moves in a direction the opposite of that of fear. In fear a person’s attention contracts, focusing intently on her own safety, or perhaps that of a small circle of loved ones. In empathy a person’s mind moves outward, occupying many different positions outside itself.” Fear diminishes us. The moral imagination, as we try to engage others compassionately and fairly, makes us larger. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I do not have a solution to the troubles in Israel/ Palestine. But one thing was very clear to me. Fear is in charge.  Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians I met had any insight into the perspective of the other. There is a famine of moral imagination, a famine of empathy. It is also clear to me that Israel/ Palestine is an archetypal site of human fear, but not a unique habitat for it. Islamophobia in the U.S. is another case in point. Fear of Latino immigrants is another. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">What I wonder is how this same dynamic plays out in the petty power struggles that, to a regrettable degree, define the life of the Church. I do not mean to denigrate the “big issues” the Church has fought over in recent years – though issues of LGBT inclusion are high on Nussbaum’s list of fear-based aversions. I am wondering instead about the fights over ritual preferences, governance issues, and small issues of office management. I wonder: what is going on here? Why is so much emotion being invested where so little of substance is at stake? After my visit to Israel, I am still wondering that. But maybe I have a few clues to work with.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Nussbaum says fear is natural but it gets culturally focused in irrational ways that prevent us from exercising our moral imaginations. But that is not natural or necessary, “More generally,” she says, “the imagination makes others real for us. A common human failing is to see the whole world from the point of view of one’s own goals, and to see the conduct of others as all about oneself . . . . By imagining other people’s way of life, we don’t necessarily learn to agree with their goals; but we do see the reality of those goals for them. We learn that other worlds of thought and feeling exist.” In order to discover those worlds, she suggests that we deliberately cultivate “participatory imagination” – the ability to imagine our way into someone else’s shoes. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I wonder how congregations might cultivate the ability to see things from another viewpoint, to care about people different from themselves. What kind of exercises or disciplines might open our hearts and minds a bit wider? Could the Church make us better people, larger souls, more creatively imaginative moral agents in the world? If not, then what is the Church for?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH: The weeks of reading and study leading up to this trip, and now this time spent in the places where Jesus spoke and acted, lived, died, and rose, have brought me up against something. Jesus was fully engaged with the institutional religion of his day – teaching, healing, and prophesying in synagogue, temple, and domestic ritual settings. Institutions are out of favor these days for good reason. Most of our institutions have operated in mechanical ways that control and use people instead of organically in ways that nurture people and provide a framework of meaning. But institutions per se are networks of committed human relationship. Jesus would not have fallen for the current fad of anti-institutionalism so popular in all the “future church” books. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But Jesus was not a company man. He was at odds with those institutions with which he remained engaged. Jesus called the religious institutions of his day to repent of their agenda. I am convinced he is calling us to repentance as well. I am convinced that neither the liberal nor the conservative voice has got it right. Nor do I think that I’ve got it right. But when I look at the option of a church boringly inward looking and repetitive on the one hand or a church so open that it stands for nothing in particular on the other, when I look at a church whose spirituality is narcissistically focused on feeling good, or a church that excludes people who are “not our sort” or that proselytizes people because we have institutional uses for them – I am not seeing the Kingdom project. I used to pray for the life of the church, for our institutional strength. I now pray for our repentance – though I am not sure what that repentance looks like. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">There is an old saying, “God loves us the way we are, but he loves us too much to leave us this way.” The Church, broken and fallible as it is, remains Christ’s Body on earth. We are called to love the Church, but to love the Church too much to leave her as she is.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

Jerusalem, My Happy Home: Epilog

Looking back on our adventures in Israel/ Palestine from the vantage point of Washington Dulles, I can’t see the big picture ye...

Key West Kitty

3:39 PM Tukiyooo 0

On out last trip to Key West Florida I spotted this cute kitty in the Blue Heaven gift shop.  I wonder did it have 6 toes?! <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimJKoLPSRUu6qoLg8zMFhjeMoOb7YHLufncm0pCpQCpcYO8i1gRQTbAGlP2nhc3y5TmDvb6b7wxgIj04FrJ_n6Cbif8k_tj5RINvsgmS0cRFJgmCABmeClUlHCYmWIi7bjhvgpDYzmZMYA/s640/blogger-image-1037209361.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimJKoLPSRUu6qoLg8zMFhjeMoOb7YHLufncm0pCpQCpcYO8i1gRQTbAGlP2nhc3y5TmDvb6b7wxgIj04FrJ_n6Cbif8k_tj5RINvsgmS0cRFJgmCABmeClUlHCYmWIi7bjhvgpDYzmZMYA/s640/blogger-image-1037209361.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggunJLUfA3rWVcFLNza9Cx4zInKToPF7C4d0pYomwy27BFq4IUcLSNyhUaGmO9GxAFiqwoyC4o1FZ2wG6drJ47vnuKJ0owmUpb8us_Ptbuo1obPeNH_mmBBz6QLgTM3yEx8GbrRBCshpYG/s640/blogger-image-554156353.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggunJLUfA3rWVcFLNza9Cx4zInKToPF7C4d0pYomwy27BFq4IUcLSNyhUaGmO9GxAFiqwoyC4o1FZ2wG6drJ47vnuKJ0owmUpb8us_Ptbuo1obPeNH_mmBBz6QLgTM3yEx8GbrRBCshpYG/s640/blogger-image-554156353.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCcSaRkBP7TaAzU21T_RIaY0rawJ8CNGaatS4eIOhmp16SZpReMJRZHpSD7Rlzz7ZNCPbKw3GvossTe_bKOWiO74ijTwz17MVyY1kSRNB91OUuA7hJ5hnPSUW2xTDAQcdX0t651d0YVHW1/s640/blogger-image--1641046788.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCcSaRkBP7TaAzU21T_RIaY0rawJ8CNGaatS4eIOhmp16SZpReMJRZHpSD7Rlzz7ZNCPbKw3GvossTe_bKOWiO74ijTwz17MVyY1kSRNB91OUuA7hJ5hnPSUW2xTDAQcdX0t651d0YVHW1/s640/blogger-image--1641046788.jpg" /></a></div> For great rentals in Key West have a look on www.historichideaways.com

Key West Kitty

On out last trip to Key West Florida I spotted this cute kitty in the Blue Heaven gift shop. I wonder did it have 6 toes?! For great ren...

Google Reader Fans: Transition to Feedly Now (and 4 reasons why Google is making a mistake)

2:11 PM Tukiyooo 0

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="zemanta-img"><a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/product/feedly" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Image representing feedly as depicted in Crunc..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="94" src="http://www.crunchbase.com/assets/images/resized/0002/5000/25000v2-max-450x450.png" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="191" /></a></div></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 191px;">Image via <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/" target="_blank">CrunchBase</a></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="zemanta-img"><a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/product/google-reader" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Image representing Google Reader as depicted i..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="61" src="http://www.crunchbase.com/assets/images/resized/0001/2818/12818v1-max-450x450.png" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="159" /></a></div></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 159px;">Image via <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/" target="_blank">CrunchBase</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Feedly has been highly recommended by many of the tech experts I listen to (like <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.sarahlane.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Sarah Lane">Sarah Lane</a> from <a class="zem_slink" href="http://twit.tv/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="TWiT">TWIT</a> TV) for some time. So, the choice for me is simple (although I'm still not happy about it.)<br /><br />Due to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://google.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Google">Google's</a> shortsighted removal of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.google.com/reader" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Google Reader">Google Reader</a> service <i>(showing that the bloggers and content producers of the world don't really matter to them)</i> we all have choices to make.<br /><br /><b>Transition to feedly NOW.</b><br /><br />As outlined in <a href="http://blog.feedly.com/2013/03/14/google-reader/" target="_blank">this article by Feedly</a> <i>(after they wisely upgraded their servers yesterday)</i>, if you set up your Feedly account NOW, and link your Google Reader, it will automatically transition when Google pulls the plug.<br /><br /><h2>Why is Google Reader a mistake for Google?</h2>Now, for those who are wondering why this is unwise, let me tell you why.<br /><br /><h3>1 - They are breeding distrust upon the content producers on the web by constantly pulling key products like iGoogle and now, Google Reader</h3>They are pulling things that are "unprofitable," however, if they would read <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Gladwell" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Malcolm Gladwell">Malcolm Gladwell</a>'s book "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017922%3FSubscriptionId%3D0G81C5DAZ03ZR9WH9X82%26tag%3Dhttpwwwbrighc-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0316017922" rel="amazon" target="_blank" title="Outliers: The Story of Success">Outliers</a>," they will see that a tiny fraction of people produce a whole lot of the content out there. That tiny fraction is a  group that I'm part of as well.<br /><br />When they canned <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2008/11/google-lively-incident-should-be-caveat.html" target="_blank">Google Lively</a>, OK, I understood, I really did but even then, it caused me to wonder about <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2008/11/google-lively-incident-should-be-caveat.html" target="_blank">what would be next</a>? And although my students protested, it was OK. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.google.com/buzz" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Google Buzz">Google Buzz</a>, well that was a fiasco from the beginning but ok, as well.<br /><br /><h3>2 - I predict many will refuse to move to Google Currents out of anger at a company pulling something so important to the livelihood of content producers.</h3>I guess they want us to go to <a href="https://www.google.com/producer/currents" target="_blank">Google Currents </a>- their new news service du jour (mobile only, however), but I'm not biting. Why am I going to use and invest all this time in another Google service just to have the rug pulled out?<br /><br /><h3>3 - When you disrespect the investment of time and trust of continuity, it will eventually have an impact</h3> I used <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.google.com/ig" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="iGoogle">iGoogle</a> and taught my students and teachers how to use it as well. I spent a lot of time tweaking things. Then, we had to move to <a href="http://www.netvibes.com/" target="_blank">Netvibes</a>. Google Reader - I've spent days tweaking and linking and setting things up. It is my PLN and there are a lot of fine tuned things that it does as well including <a href="http://ifttt.com/">ifttt.com</a> automation and links to other services like Mr. Reader on my iPad. (My post about using Google reader or losing it from January now rings ominous when I wrote about <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2013/01/make-google-reader-your-powerhouse.html" target="_blank">making Google Reader your powerhouse sharing system</a>.)<br /><br /><h4>Thinking I'll move from blogger this summer</h4>But now, I no longer trust Google to have my back. I've toyed with going to wordpress for some time and already own and have sites at <a href="http://coolcatteacher.com/">coolcatteacher.com</a> and my Tumblr is at <a href="http://vickidavis.me/">VickiDavis.me</a> with almost 20,000 followers over there. I didn't want to take the hit on the traffic and the headaches with the move. But, for me, what happens when they decide to pull the plug on Blogger? I'm not waiting around. I'm doing it on my timeframe, not the busiest time of year for me. (Notice that they do this every March?)<br /><br /><h4>Wondering what is next</h4>What happens when they don't like how <a href="http://www.gmail.com/" target="_blank">Gmail</a> is working? What happens if <a href="http://drive.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Drive</a> is no longer making money or they want to charge for it? God forbid that <a href="http://calendar.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Calendar</a> disappear. But really, is this something I want to have in the back of my mind as I increasingly depend on these services?<br /><br /><h3>4 - Does this cast doubt on the advertising model upon which Google is built?</h3>While Google needs to make money, I understand that, now that we depend upon the cloud, we might be willing to pay for services that we trust. I pay for <a href="http://www.evernote.com/" target="_blank">Evernote </a>and <a href="http://dropbox.com/" target="_blank">Dropbox </a>Premium services. It is worth it to me.<br /><br />Honestly, <b>I'd probably pay for Google Reader.</b> But as long as Google has a business model depending upon advertising, they are prone to make shifts in this way. They will make decisions based upon VOLUME instead of focusing on providing exceptional service to just a few customers.<br /><br />The fact is, I can't trust an advertising-driven company to provide ongoing needs for me. I bellied up and paid for an <a href="http://app.net/">app.net</a> subscription - the pay version of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://twitter.com/twitter" rel="twitter" target="_blank" title="Twitter">Twitter</a>, although I'm admittedly not on there a lot (not many educators there yet) but I really wonder about this model upon which we've built our webs, lives, and livelihoods. Is it sustainable? Is it prudent? Someone ALWAYS pays.<br /><h4>If you're a great website/ blogger/ developer - look me up</h4>So, I'm planning to see if I can assemble a "pit crew" (as <a href="http://www.michaelhyatt.com/" target="_blank">Michael Hyatt</a> calls them) to try to move this blog as seamlessly as possible to my own wordpress. I've already got one configured and tweaked, but I know there are some things I need to do to look more professional and polish things up here.<br /><h2>In Conclusion</h2>For now, move to <a href="http://www.feedly.com/" target="_blank">Feedly</a>. They've got cred and a beautiful service to boot. Don't wait around hoping that Google will change their mind. They don't and they won't.<br /><br />Meanwhile, I wonder if there is a robust RSS service I can PAY FOR and depend to be there. But then again, the only thing sure in this world is death and taxes and April 15 is around the corner.<br /><br /><b>Goodbye Google Reader.</b> You are a GREAT, FANTASTIC, LIFE CHANGING service. You are a product that my mastery of has built my PLN and completely CHANGED MY LIFE and is helping me pay for college for my children. I'm a stark raving fanatic fan of your service.  I adore Google Reader and it is one of the few services I'd probably never ever cancel. I'm that dependent on it.<br /><br />Too bad that Google doesn't realize that sort of loyalty, even from a small group of people, is worth something, especially if those people are content producers and willing to pay to keep it around.<br /><br />But, dare I say it? <b>We get what we pay for.</b> As my Dad used to say on vacation,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"If you don't pay, you have no say." </blockquote>We don't really have a right to complain, because we got it all this time for free. And that, my friends, is the problem. <b>If it is worth it to us, perhaps we should belly up and pay for it ourselves so we don't have to depend upon the fickleness of advertising dollars and the ebb and flow of the economy.</b><br /><br />I've learned a lot from Google Reader over the years, and perhaps more from losing it than from anything else.<br /><br /><div class="zemanta-related" style="clear: both; margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;"><h4 class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles</h4><ul class="zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image" style="margin: 0; overflow: hidden; padding: 0;"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2013/01/make-google-reader-your-powerhouse.html" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/138786355_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2013/01/make-google-reader-your-powerhouse.html" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Make Google Reader your Powerhouse sharing system</a></li><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://vickidavis.me/post/41790336062/5-good-mathematics-feeds-for-teachers" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/141542380_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://vickidavis.me/post/41790336062/5-good-mathematics-feeds-for-teachers" style="display: block; height: 80px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">5 Good Mathematics Feeds for Teachers</a></li></ul></div><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=4a7d925f-8c67-4bc1-8f24-7c71bd90d2e8" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>

Google Reader Fans: Transition to Feedly Now (and 4 reasons why Google is making a mistake)

Image via CrunchBase Image via CrunchBase Feedly has been highly recommended by many of the tech experts I listen to (like Sarah Lane from ...

Part-Time Reference Librarian - Public Library of New London

8:34 AM Anonymous 0

<strong>Part-Time Reference Librarian - </strong><strong><span style="color: #48286d;">Public Library of New London</span></strong>.  The position of reference librarian is now open at the Public Library  of New London. This is a part-time position of 19 hours a week, with a  variable schedule that includes daytime and evening hours and Saturdays  in rotation. The person holding this position oversees collection  development, is responsible for the Non Profit Resource Center and  serves as the library webmaster. Other responsibilities include staffing  a busy reference desk, promoting community outreach and programming.  MLS/MLIS degree, public library experience, and a thorough knowledge of  Word Press website software or other similar website maintenance  programs are required for this position. Excellent interpersonal and  communication skills are necessary. Salary range is $20-$22 an hour,  depending on experience. There are no benefits with this position. If  interested, please submit a cover letter and resume to <a _fcksavedurl="mailto:smaryeski@plnl.org" href="mailto:smaryeski@plnl.org">smaryeski@plnl.org</a> or mail to Suzanne Maryeski, Public Library of New London, 63 Huntington Street, New London, CT 06320 by <span style="color: red;">April 3, 2013</span>.

Part-Time Reference Librarian - Public Library of New London

Part-Time Reference Librarian - Public Library of New London . The position of reference librarian is now open at the Public Library of Ne...

Tamar Braxton pregnant with her first child

8:18 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Tamar Braxton pregnant" src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-51411b5a/turbine/la-et-mg-tamar-braxton-pregnant-20130313-001/600" /><br /><span class="toolSet" style="background-color: white; display: inline-block; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-right: -50px; margin-top: 6px; width: 335px;"></span><br /><div class="byline" style="color: #292727; float: left; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;"><span class="byline" style="display: block;">By Christie D'Zurilla</span><div class="date" style="color: #930000; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; margin-top: 3px; padding: 0px;"><span class="dateString" style="display: inline;">March 13, 2013</span><span class="dateTimeSeparator" style="border-left-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: white; display: inline; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: -1px; margin-left: 6px;">, </span><span class="timeString" style="display: inline; text-transform: lowercase;">6:55 p.m.</span></div></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px;"></span><div id="story-body-text" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.43; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Tamar Braxton is not only pregnant, she's "almost there," the reality-TV star and singer revealed Wednesday on <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/television/good-morning-america-%28tv-program%29-ENTTV00000990.topic" id="ENTTV00000990" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;" title="Good Morning America (tv program)">"Good Morning America."</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">("Almost" translating to a few months left, actually, so nobody start boiling water just yet.)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">"I have a love on top," she said, referencing the Beyoncé tune "Love on Top." "I'm pregnant."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">Appearing with her sisters and "Braxton Family Values" costars Toni, Trina, Traci and Towanda, plus mom Evelyn, Tamar showed off her <a href="http://instagram.com/p/WzLEDXgsc8/" style="color: #2262cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">growing baby bump</a> — and her smashing Alexander McQueen dress choice with Jimmy Choo heels. She also showed off the very same via Instagram.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/gossip/la-et-pregnancy-and-parenthood-hollywood-pictures,0,1170697.photogallery" style="color: #2262cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>PHOTOS: The Hollywood baby boom</strong></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">"I feel great and greedy at the same time....," Tamar said on "GMA." "This is the most I've eaten ever." She and her mom are eating partners now, they said.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">It'll be a first baby for 35-year-old Tamar and her music-exec husband, Vince Herbert, 43. The couple married in 2008.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">And when is she due? "I don't have that many months to go," Tamar said. "Almost there."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">The new season of "Braxton Family Values" premieres Thursday night on We TV. The spinoff "Tamar and Vince," which wrapped up its first season in December, has 12 episodes on the way as well, Braxton said on Twitter last fall.</div></div></div>

Tamar Braxton Tamar Braxton pregnant with her first child

By Christie D'Zurilla March 13, 2013 , 6:55 p.m. Tamar Braxton is not only pregnant, she's "almost there," the reality-TV...

Four alternatives to Google Reader

8:17 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="asset-metabar-wrap" style="clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin: 20px 0px 23px 70px;"><div class="asset-metabar" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); display: table-cell; margin: 20px 0px 0px; width: 888px;"><span class="asset-metabar-author asset-metabar-item" itemprop="name" style="float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">Brett Molina, USA TODAY</span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">10:57a.m. EDT March 14, 2013</span></div></div><div class="asset-double-wide double-wide" itemprop="articleBody" role="main" style="color: #222222; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative; width: 600px;"><div class="article-metadata-wrap" style="float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 30px 0px 60px; position: relative;"><aside class="single-photo expandable-collapsed" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 20px; position: relative; width: 180px; z-index: 100;"><div class="image-wrap" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; box-shadow: rgb(200, 200, 200) 1px 1px 5px; cursor: pointer; padding: 3px; position: relative;"><img alt="flipboard" class="expand-img-horiz" itemprop="url" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2013/03/14/xxx-flipboard25-4_3_r536_c534.jpg?1b79b3da202957124496e3768cfb7b67cdb10c81" style="border: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 131px; vertical-align: middle;" /><span class="toggle" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/sprites/asset-sprite.png?1359747063); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; height: 21px; position: absolute; right: 0px; width: 21px; z-index: 200;"></span></div><div class="image-credit-wrap" style="color: #646464; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 6px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px;"><span class="credit" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 400;">(Photo: Flipboard)</span></div></aside><div class="article-metadata" style="position: relative;"></div></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">On Wednesday, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2013/03/13/google-reader-shutdown/1986337/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2013/03/13/google-reader-shutdown/1986337/">Google announced it was shutting down several services</a>, including its popular Reader application. <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2013/03/13/google-reader-shutdown/1986337/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2013/03/13/google-reader-shutdown/1986337/">The company cites</a> declining usage and a shift toward a smaller selection of Google services.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Naturally, Reader's impending shutdown has sparked discussion on whether this marks the end of Really Simple Syndication (RSS), content feeds users can follow on readers such as Google's software.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">But social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have played a big role in how we consume content. Now that users can follow websites through social outlets, RSS is becoming less popular.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">That's no consolation for the many users who love Google Reader, which is a great way to follow multiple websites within one destination. Fortunately, there are alternatives. Here's a look at four of them:</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b><a href="http://www.feedly.com/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.feedly.com/">Feedly.</a></b> This free RSS reader combines the organizational qualities of Google's software with a magazine-style design. Feeds are easy to add and organize, while a Today tab makes it simple to scroll through the latest news of the day. Feedly is available as extensions on the Chrome, Firefox and Safari browsers, and there are mobile apps for Android and iOS. If you prefer the traditional list view of headlines in Google Reader, Feedly allows you to adjust. Although the service relies on Google Reader's API, developers say they are creating their own version that will take its place when Reader shuts down July 1.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b><a href="http://www.pulse.me/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.pulse.me/">Pulse.</a></b> Another visually friendly reader with complimentary Android and iOS apps, Pulse delivers content in a tile format, with stories appearing in a series of photo tiles. Click on a link with image and read the fuller story. Once in the full read mode, users can tap the left or right arrows to move to the next story. Twitter and Facebook buttons sit on top for quick sharing. The process for adding feeds is similar to Google, although Pulse does not appear to have an option for importing Google Reader feeds. When logging in for the first time, users can also opt to follow specific subjects, such as sports, technology or politics.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b><a href="http://flipboard.com/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://flipboard.com/">Flipboard.</a></b> The "social magazine" for iOS and Android boasts a gorgeous design similar to a digital magazine. Users swipe left to right to navigate as if they're turning the pages of a magazine. Along with adding RSS feeds, users can add their Facebook and Twitter feeds to give them a more dynamic, visually appealing experience. The only drawback is the service is mobile only, so look elsewhere if you want a Web-based option.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b><a href="http://twitter.com/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://twitter.com/">Twitter.</a></b> Yes, this isn't a RSS reader, but the social network is a solid "outside the box" alternative for users wanting to keep up with the news. My approach is creating Lists based on topic and adding accounts I follow. So, I may have one List for tech news and another for business news. It's a great way to separate them from your standard feed, especially if you follow a lot of accounts. Another advantage: users can choose Twitter's primary site and mobile apps, or choose from several Twitter clients for the browser, smartphone or tablet. While users lose the ability to read cleaner versions of articles without visiting the source website, it's a solid option if you're already comfortable with Twitter.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b>Update at 10:57 a.m.:</b> Among some other options to consider: <a href="http://www.netvibes.com/en" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.netvibes.com/en">NetVibes</a>, <a href="http://www.newsblur.com/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.newsblur.com/">NewsBlur</a>and <a href="http://www.skimr.co/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.skimr.co/">Skimr</a>. Thanks to readers for weighing in.</div></div></div>

Google Reader Four alternatives to Google Reader

Brett Molina, USA TODAY 10:57a.m. EDT March 14, 2013 (Photo: Flipboard) On Wednesday, Google announced it was shutting down several service...

‘Veronica Mars’ Movie Meets $2 Million Fundraising Goal in One Day

8:16 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Kristen Bell on " src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/03/14/arts/veronica/veronica-blog480.jpg" /><br /><br /><div class="w480" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 480px;"><span class="caption" style="color: #666666; display: block; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.2727em; margin: 3px 2px;">Kristen Bell on “Veronica Mars” in 2007.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">In its three seasons on the air <a href="http://www.thewb.com/shows/veronica-mars" style="color: #666699;">“Veronica Mars”</a> was never even one of television’s Top 100 most-watched series, but in its afterlife it has broken new ground. On Wednesday night fans and supporters of that show about a wisecracking young sleuth (played by Kristen Bell) pledged more than $2 million to produce a “Veronica Mars” movie, less than 12 hours <a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/seeking-funds-for-movie-creator-of-veronica-mars-turns-to-kickstarter/" style="color: #666699;">after the fundraising drive was announced</a> on Kickstarter.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Rob Thomas, the “Veronica Mars” creator and producer, <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project" style="color: #666699;">announced</a> on Wednesday morning that he and Ms. Bell had got the blessing of Warner Brothers (which owns the “Veronica Mars” property) to seek donations for a possible movie project. Mr. Thomas told fans they had 30 days to raise $2 million for “our shot” at producing a film, adding, “I believe it’s the only one we’ve got.” And by about 9 p.m. that goal was met, with pledges continuing to come in on Day 2. (As of 9:30 a.m. Thursday the project had been promised more than $2.5 million from more than 42,000 backers.)</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Mr. Thomas wrote in his Kickstarter announcement that he would put any additional money to good use. At $3 million, he said, “We can afford a full-on brawl. Ten million? Who knows… For some reason the Neptune High class reunion takes place on a nuclear submarine! A Hobbit shows up! There’s a Bollywood end-credit dance number! I’ve always wanted to direct Bill Murray. We’ll figure out something cool. Hey, if that total goes high enough, I’ll bet the good folks at Warner Bros. will agree a sequel is a good idea.”</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em;">In a post on his Twitter account, <a href="https://twitter.com/RobThomas/status/312004036696092674" style="color: #666699;">Mr. Thomas wrote</a>: “Hallelujah! It’s a green light my friends. I love you all, but particularly the donors among you.” Production for the “Veronica Mars” movie is planned to begin this summer for an early 2014 release.</div></div>

‘Veronica Mars’ ‘Veronica Mars’ Movie Meets $2 Million Fundraising Goal in One Day

Kristen Bell on “Veronica Mars” in 2007. In its three seasons on the air “Veronica Mars” was never even one of television’s Top 100 most-w...

Disguised Jeff Gordon test drives car with a salesman

8:12 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q5mHPo2yDG8?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe><br /><br /><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(CBS News) While it might like a perfect fit for you and the price may be right, <i>everyone</i> needs a test drive before they purchase a new car. But what happens when that test drive is being done by NASCAR superstar <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffGordonWeb" style="border: 0px; color: #024382; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Jeff Gordon</a> in disguise? The ride of one salesman's life, that's what.</div><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"You are liable for any damages, sir, so please stop the car!" Priceless. The hilarious, thrill ride was posted by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Pepsi" style="border: 0px; color: #024382; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pepsi </a>who write about the hidden-camera prank:</div><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><blockquote style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 30px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">Jeff Gordon and Pepsi MAX go to a car dealership where a disguised Jeff Gordon takes an unsuspecting car salesman on the test drive of his life.</blockquote><div style="background-color: #fefefe; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><span style="background-color: #fefefe; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Sure, it's a marketing gimmick, but it's the kind I can get behind. I mean, did you see the look on that poor salesman's face? I honestly felt bad for him, but was still laughing hard. How about all of you? As always, feel free to leave me some comment love below with your thoughts. </span></div>

Jeff Gordon Disguised Jeff Gordon test drives car with a salesman

(CBS News) While it might like a perfect fit for you and the price may be right, everyone needs a test drive before they purchase a new ca...

On Pi Day, finding strength in numbers

8:11 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="234" id="ep_496" width="416"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="movie" value="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_embed_2x_container.swf?site=cnn&profile=desktop&context=embed&videoId=us/2013/03/14/dnt-piece-of-pi-314.cnn&contentId=us/2013/03/14/dnt-piece-of-pi-314.cnn" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><embed src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_embed_2x_container.swf?site=cnn&profile=desktop&context=embed&videoId=us/2013/03/14/dnt-piece-of-pi-314.cnn&contentId=us/2013/03/14/dnt-piece-of-pi-314.cnn" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="416" wmode="transparent" height="234"></embed></object><br /><br /><div class="cnnEditorialNote" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Editor's note:</strong> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/DanielTammetAuthor" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Daniel Tammet is on Facebook</a> and his personal website is <a href="http://www.danieltammet.net/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">danieltammet.net</a>. <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_tammet_different_ways_of_knowing.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Watch his TED talk here.</a></em></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(CNN)</strong> -- In Daniel Tammet's mind, three is a dotted green crescent moon shape, one is a sort of white sunburst and four is a blue boomerang. Every number has a distinct color and shape, making the number pi, which begins with 3.14, unfold like a beautiful poem.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">For math enthusiasts around the world, March 14 (3-14) is <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/12/pi.day.math/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pi Day</a>, honoring the number pi, which is the ratio of circumference to diameter of a circle. On Thursday, Tammet is promoting France's first Pi Day celebration at the Palace of Discovery science museum in Paris.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tammet's relationship to this number is special: At age 25, he recited 22,514 digits of pi from memory in 2004, scoring the European record. For an audience at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, he said these numbers aloud for 5 hours and 9 minutes. Some people cried -- not out of boredom, but from sheer emotion from his passionate delivery.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"What my brain was doing was inventing a meaning, like a story," Tammet said. "What I did was make a poem or a novel out of pi, and took those colors and those emotions and used them to perceive patterns, or at least to perceive patterns in my mind that were memorable, that were meaningful to me."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Many people around the world -- including me -- have been interested enough in this number, or in memorization itself, to see how many digits they can bank. Pi has infinitely many digits with no discernible pattern, yet it mathematically explains the shape of all circles. This makes memorizing it a difficult, yet somehow meaningful, challenge.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Serious pi memorizers such as Tammet have become fascinating subjects of study for scientists, too. They bring up fundamental questions about innate ability vs. learned skills. Are the brains of people with superior memory somehow different? Or can anyone learn thousands of random digits?</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/13/pi-day-how-3-14-helps-find-other-planets-and-more/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How pi is used in real science</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Making meaning out of number</strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">s</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Superior memorizers, according to the research of K. Anders Ericsson, professor of psychology at Florida State University, have three special skills. They use knowledge and patterns that they already know to encode information in their long-term memory. They associate that information with retrieval cues, so that they can trigger the information again. They also get faster at all this by becoming better at encoding and retrieval through intense practice and effort.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">This theory appears to explain Chao Lu, who set the current world record for pi recitation at 67,890 digits in 2005, at age 23. Creating associated meanings in numbers played a big part of that. He used mnemonics relating to the sounds of numbers as well as the shapes or meanings of particular digits and images, according to a 2009 study by Ericsson and colleagues.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Strangely, if presented with one number at a time, at one digit per second, Lu's recall is no better than the average person's, Ercisson and colleagues found. With that rate of presentation of numbers, he is forced to rehearse numbers in his head just like everyone else, Ericsson said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2012/03/14/national-pie-day/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Sweet recipes for national pi(e) day</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">But with large blocks of numbers, it's a different story. Lu and a previous pi-memorizing record holder, Hideaki Tomoyori, who recited 40,000 digits of pi, have said they linked words or images to groups of two, three or four numbers. Then they created stories connecting them. Tomoyori practiced daily, spending between 9,000 and 10,000 hours total memorizing before his recitation.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">A rare case was Rajan Mahadevan, who set a record at 31,811 digits of pi and did not report using any mnemonics. When tested by researchers, it appeared he sequentially memorized numbers in blocks of 10. While some argued that Mahadevan may have an innate ability to memorize, Ericsson and colleagues found in their experiments with Mahadevan that he learned his unusual methods for memorizing numerical patterns after a thousand hours of practice.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Amateurs have their own methods and perceptions. Lulis Leal, 47, of New York, is also getting in on the pi memorization action. Inspired by a CNN iReport assignment, she is up to 314 digits and<a href="http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-940885" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">recorded herself reciting them</a>.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"It's a visual thing," she said of pi. "It's just a picture that I see -- a line going up and down."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Listening to Leal's recitation is jarring for me because I hear it in a different rhythm, as though it were a song with the down-beat on every other digit. When I was a teenager I saw a website suggesting pi could be a song, with one as middle C, two as D, three as E, etc. This helped me get up to 178 digits in college, winning me a T-shirt.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/13/pi-day-and-american-pi/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A Pi Day song: 'American Pi'</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The neuroscience of expert memor</strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">y</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">There's no straightforward control over what we remember and what we forget; we all wish we could remember some things and forget others. But it is possible to train as a mental athlete, and there are entire competitions around that, said Joshua Foer, author of "Moonwalking With Einstein" and memory championship winner.</div><a href="" name="em1" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt cnn_strylftcexpbx" id="expand121" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 27px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="clickToPlay" id="clickToPlayvideoContainerexpand121" style="background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/video/416_player_Click_to_play_off.png); border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 42px; left: 45px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 27px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 136px; zoom: 1;"></div><img alt="" border="0" class="box-image" height="120" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120608035513-ideas-josh-foer-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="214" /><cite class="expCaption" style="background-color: black; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; bottom: 0px; height: 20px; left: 10px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.85; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 214px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: white; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; left: 4px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Memory myths since Socrates' time</span></cite></div><a href="" name="em2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt cnn_strylftcexpbx" id="expand221" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 27px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="clickToPlay" id="clickToPlayvideoContainerexpand221" style="background-image: url(http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.e/img/3.0/video/416_player_Click_to_play_off.png); border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 42px; left: 45px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 27px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 136px; zoom: 1;"></div><img alt="" border="0" class="box-image" height="120" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120608053352-ted-joshua-foer-feats-of-memory-00180815-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="214" /><cite class="expCaption" style="background-color: black; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; bottom: 0px; height: 20px; left: 10px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.85; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 214px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: white; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; left: 4px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 2px; vertical-align: baseline;">Feats of memory anyone can do</span></cite></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Why do people memorize pi? Why do people climb Mount Everest? You don't need to do it," Foer said. "There's something about wanting to see how far you can go and how much you can push yourself."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/10/opinion/foer-ted-memory" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Foer: How to train your mind to remember anything</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">For memorization, it helps to find meaning in the information and tie it to multiple senses, such as auditory and visual, said Dara Manoach, associate professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph24" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">An area of the brain called the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex gets activated when you're holding information online -- for instance, keeping a phone number in your head until you can write it down or call it. Associating a number with sensations, and integrating it with existing knowledge, engages more neural systems and helps you store the information.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Studies of people with exceptional memory have not found any structural differences between their brains and those of people with average memory, Ericsson said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph26" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">But researchers have found differences in the activation of certain brain areas in exceptional memorizers. The patterns reveal at the neurological level how people with "good memory performance" are associating new information with things they already know, such as familiar numbers like area codes or other semantic information.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph27" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ericsson's take on becoming an expert at something, such as memorizing pi, is deliberate practice. His research basis for the idea, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell, is that it takes 10,000 hours to achieve expertise. But Ericsson pointed out that this was based on studies of musicians in top groups who spent an average of 10,000 hours at practice. That means some spent more time and some spent less.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph28" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"To win an international piano competition, I calculated that you need about 25,000 hours of piano training," Ericsson said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph29" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">That doesn't mean there aren't people who can just memorize numbers without connecting them with anything else -- but, said Ericsson, "so far I've yet to see anybody who is willing to be tested."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph30" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/03/14/pi.tau.math/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On Pi Day, is 'pi' under attack?</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph31" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A coincidence of sense</strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">s</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph32" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are, however, ways in which Tammet may inherently have a different approach to numbers than most pi memorizers.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph33" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tammet has high-functioning autism, a developmental condition associated with impaired social communication and repetitive behaviors or fixated interests. On top of that, he has <a href="http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/17/on-the-brain-when-numbers-have-color-synesthesia/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">synesthesia</a>, meaning he experiences a mixing of senses and perceptions -- specifically, he sees words and numbers as colors and shapes.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph34" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/01/health/mental-health/autism-asperger-diagnoses-profile" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">With autism, no longer invisible</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph35" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">In an analysis of Tammet's case, published by Simon Baron-Cohen and colleagues in the <a href="http://docs.autismresearchcentre.com/papers/2007_BC_Savant_J%20Consc%20St.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Journal of Consciousness Studies in 2007</a>, researchers wrote that both autism and synesthesia, while different, are associated with an excess of neural connections; it's possible they have a "common neural abnormality." They also proposed the idea that autism and synesthesia together may have increased the likelihood of Tammet's savant memory. More research is needed to support both these ideas.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph36" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Foer's book questions whether Tammet has used mnemonic methods to memorize digits of pi and other information, just like everyone else without synesthesia. But Julian Asher at the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge, who studied Tammet, said synesthesia is "fundamental to his feats of memory." Recalling pi for Tammet is like "walking through a synaesthetic landscape in which different numbers are represented by geographical features, and 'reading' them off as he goes," Asher said in an e-mail.</div><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylccimg300" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px 22px 20px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;"><div class="cnn_strylccimg300cntr" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 169px; margin: 0px 0px 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;"><img alt="Daniel Tammet, 34, recited more than 22,000 digits of pi in 2004. He has high-functioning autism." border="0" class="box-image" height="169" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130313104452-daniel-tammet-story-body.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Daniel Tammet, 34, recited more than 22,000 digits of pi in 2004. He has high-functioning autism.</div></div></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph37" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tammet grew up as the oldest of nine children. The stimulation he received from his large family probably helped him develop social skills, he said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph38" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"If I hadn't had that love and that patience and that support from an early age, I might not be where I am today, certainly," he said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph39" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">As a child, he was called "private," "shy" and "timid." He also had epileptic seizures, and took medication until he grew out of them.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph40" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"When he sat on the carpet during story time, with his eyes tight shut and his fingers in his ears, picturing numbers in his mind and their shapes and colors, whilst the other children looked at each other or at the teacher and listened to the story, (Tammet) was in some sense in a world of his own," Baron-Cohen and colleagues wrote.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph41" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://geekout.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/23/geekiness-and-autism-is-there-a-connection/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Geekiness and autism: Is there a connection?</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph42" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">In high school, Tammet learned about pi and thought it was beautiful. But when he talked about it with his classmates, they didn't understand. For them, pi was just a number. It didn't have any color or beauty or emotion.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph43" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"That's when I had a perception of the world, of words, of numbers, that was different," he said. Secretly, he started memorizing digits of pi.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph44" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/14/pi-day-25-years-in-san-francisco/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">San Francisco museum celebrates 25 years of Pi Day</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph45" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Finding life throug</strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">h</strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> pi</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph46" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">At age 25, Tammet finally felt confident enough to "share all those years of loneliness, all those years of battling with this condition, with my autism, all the years of also experiencing this tremendous beauty, this emotion."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph47" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">He spent about three months learning thousands of digits of pi, which he saw as an emotional experience, being transported into another world.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph48" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tammet's achievement of the European record for pi recitation wasn't about showing off, he said. First and foremost, he wanted to accomplish something that meant something to him personally. He was able to reach out to people without autism, without synesthesia, and communicate to them in a new way. The event also benefited an epilepsy charity.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph49" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"When the digits darken in my mouth — heavy eights and nines packed together — the tense distant faces grow tenser still. When a sudden three emerges from a series of zeroes and sevens, I hear something like a faint collective pant. Silent nods greet my accelerations; warm smiles welcome my slowdowns," he wrote in his book "Thinking in Numbers," which comes out in the United States in July.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph50" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">At the pi recitation, Tammet realized he had a gift of communicating, and that set him on the path to becoming a full-time writer.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph51" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The pi memorization event also led Tammet to Baron-Cohen and colleagues, who made the diagnosis of high-functioning autism. It explained the difficulties he had with communication and social skills as a child.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph52" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">He has not recited pi since the 2004 event, but still appreciates the beauty and wonder of the number enough to promote Pi Day in France.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph53" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"You can find a lover's telephone number. Your date of birth. Your Social Security code. You can find everything in pi," he said. "It's big enough to have all of life inside of it."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph54" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Want to memorize pi? <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/12/pi.digits/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Here are 10,000 digits</a>.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph55" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/space" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">More space and science news from CNN Light Years</a></div></div>

Pi On Pi Day, finding strength in numbers

Editor's note: Daniel Tammet is on Facebook and his personal website is danieltammet.net . Watch his TED talk here. (CNN) -- In Da...