I realized the other day that one of my big reasons for blogging, is because I struggle to express myself verbally. I either can’t find the right words at the right time to convey my feelings, or someone interrupts me. I know I do it too, as do most people, but I’m sure I’m one of the more “interruptable” people. Whenever I’m in a conversation with more than three people I hardly ever get to finish my sentence, let alone story! You can probably say that its my fault because I just leave it after I’ve been interrupted more than twice, but I hate having to fight for a turn to speak.

Its for this very reason that I prefer spending time with fewer people in a conversation. I don’t mind big social events, but I’m not the type of person who thrives huge social events. I’d much rather have a quiet evening at home with fewer friends, and actually finish whatever it is I’m saying, than spending a night with a huge group of friends, trying to finish one sentence, and at the end still not doing so.

I know it may sound vain that I feel so strongly about finishing my own sentence or story, and yes, I do know that its important to listen as well. But I think I do listen, its just also nice to contribute to a conversation, and having people WANT to listen to you

Till today, I never knew that kids actually DO play Bingo! LoL. I only played it once, and that was at an old age home with my grandmother

I must admit that I was awfully shy about it, considering that I thought it was a game for old people!!
The coolest thing about it though, was that I actually won something!! Quite an ugly little portrait of something that was suppose to resemble the Mona Lisa, complete with a silky blue string to hang it on the wall with. I was still so chuffed with it though - having won at least SOMETHING!

If you would like to play bingo with your kids, or even grand kids, have a look at Disney Bingo, you can buy it from Amazon.com or Drugstore.com - I managed to find the game on Amazon for only $14.99!!! Its such a great way of spending time together as a family. This game offers a high-tech twist on an old favorite. Disney DVD Bingo lets kids learn numbers, colors, and matching skills with their favorite Disney characters and movie clips!!

For more info, check out the video below, or visit the Disney Bingo website!

1. The best way to begin searching harder with Google is by clicking the Advanced Search link.

2. This lets you search for exact phrases, “all these words”, or one of the specified keywords by entering search terms into the appropriate box.

3. You can also define how many results you want on the page, what language and what file type you’re looking for, all with menus.

4. Advanced Search lets you type in a Top Level Domain (like .co.uk) in the “Search within site of domain” box to restrict results.

5. And you can click the “Date, usage rights, numeric range and more” link to access more advanced features.

6. Save time - most of these advanced features are also available in Google’s front page search box, as command line parameters.

7. Google’s main search invisibly combines search terms with the Boolean construct “AND”. When you enter smoke fire - it looks for smoke AND fire.

8. To make Google search for smoke or fire, just type smoke OR fire

9. Instead of OR you can type the | symbol, like this: smoke | fire

10. Boolean connectors like AND and OR are case sensitive. They must be upper case.

11. Search for a specific term, then one keyword OR another by grouping them with parentheses, like this: water (smoke OR fire)

12. To look for phrases, put them in quotes: “there’s no smoke without fire”

13. Synonym search looks for words that mean similar things. Use the tilde symbol before your keyword, like this: ~eggplant

14. Exclude specific key words with the minus operator. new pram -ebay excludes all results from eBay.

15. Common words, like I, and, then and if are ignored by Google. These are called “stop words”.

16. The plus operator makes sure stop words are included. Like: fish +and chips

17. If a stop word is included in a phrase between quote marks as a phrase, the word is searched for.

18. You can also ask Google to fill in a blank. Try: Christopher Columbus discovered *

19. Search for a numerical range using the numrange operator. For example, search for Sony TV between £300 and £500 with the string Sony TV £300..£500

20. Google recognises 13 main file types through advanced search, including all Microsoft Office Document types, Lotus, PostScript, Shockwave Flash and plain text files.

21. Search for any of filetype directly using the modifier filetype:[filetype extension]. For example: soccer filetype:pdf

22. Exclude entire file types, using the same Boolean syntax we used to exclude key words earlier: rugby -filetype:doc

23, In fact, you can combine any Boolean search operators, as long as your syntax is correct. An example: “sausage and mash” -onions filetype:doc

24. Google has some very powerful, hidden search parameters, too. For example “intitle” only searches page titles. Try intitle:herbs

25. If you’re looking for files rather than pages - give index of as the intitle: parameter. It helps you find web and FTP directories.

26. The modifier inurl only searches the web address of a page: give inurl:spices a go.

27. Find live webcams by searching for: inurl:view/view.shtml

28. The modifier inanchor is very specific, only finding results in text used in page links.

29. Want to know how many links there are to a site? Try link:sitename - for example link:www.mozilla.org

30. Similarly, you can find pages that Google thinks are related in content, using the related: modifier. Use it like this: related:www.microsoft.com

31. The modifier info:site_name returns information about the specified page.

32. Alternatively, do a normal search then click the “Similar Pages” link next to a result.

33. Specify a site to search with the site: modifier - like this: search tips site:www.techradar.com

34. The above tip works with directory sites like www.dmoz.org and dynamically generated sites.

35. Access Google Directory - a database of handpicked and rated sites - at directory.google.com

36. The Boolean operators intitle and inurl work in Google directory, as does OR.

37. Use the site: modifier when searching Google Images, at images.google.com. For example: dvd recorder site:www.amazon.co.uk

38. Similar, using “site:.com” will only return results from .com domains.

39. Google News (news.google.com) has its own Boolean parameters. For example “intext” pulls terms from the body of a story.

40. If you use the operator “source:” in Google News, you can pick specific archives. For example: heather mills source:daily_mail

41. Using the “location:” filter enables you to return news from a chosen country. location:uk for example.

42. Similarly, Google Blogsearch (blogsearch.google.com) has its own syntax. You can search for a blog title, for example, using inblogtitle:

43. The general search engine can get very specific indeed. Try movie: to look for movie reviews.

44. The modifier film: works just as well!

45. Enter showtimes and Google will prompt you for your post code. Enter it and it’ll tell you when and where local films are showing.

46. For a dedicated film search page, go to www.google.co.uk/movies

47. If you ticked “Remember this Location” when you searched for show times, the next time you can enter the name of a current film instead.

48. Google really likes movies. Try typing director: The Dark Knight into the main search box.

49. For cast lists, try cast: name_of_film

50. The modifier music: followed by a band, song or album returns music reviews.

51. Try searching for weather London - you’ll get a full four day forecast.

52. There’s also a built-in dictionary. Try define: in the search box.

53. Google stores the content of old sites. You can search this cache direct with the syntax keyword cache:site_url

54. Alternatively, enter cache:site_url into Google’s search box to be taken direct to the stored site.

55. No calculator handy? Use Google’s built in features. Try typing 12*15 and hitting “Google Search”.

56. Google’s calculator converts measurements and understands natural language. Type in 14 stones in kilos, for example.

57. It does currency conversion too. Try 200 pounds in euros

58. If you know the currency code you can type 200 GBP in EUR instead for more reliable results.

59. And temperature! Just type: 98 f to c to convert Fahrenheit to Centigrade.

60. Want to know how clever Google really is? Type 2476 in roman numerals, then hit “Google Search”…

61. You can personalise your Google experience by creating a Google account. Go to www.google.com/account/ then click “Create Account”.

62. With a Google account there are lots more extras available. You’ll get a free Gmail email account for one…

63. With your Google account, you can also personalise your front page. Click “iGoogle” to add blog and site feeds.

64. Click “Add a Tab” in iGoogle to add custom tabs. Google automatically populates them with suitable site suggestions.

65. iGoogle allows you to theme your page too. Click “Select Theme” to change the default look.

66. Some iGoogle themes change with time…”Sweet Dreams” is a theme that turns from day to night as you browse.

67. Click “More” under “Try something new” to access a full list of Google sites and new features.

68. “Custom Search” enables you to create a branded Google search for your own site.

69. An active, useful service missing from the list is “Personalised Search” - but you can access it via www.google.com/psearch when you’re logged in.

70. This page lists searches you have recently made - and is divided into categories. Clicking “pause” stops Google from recording your history.

71. Click “Trends” to see the sites you visit most, the terms you enter most often and links you’ve clicked on!

72. Personalised Search also includes a bookmark facility - which enables you to save bookmarks online and access them from anywhere.

73. You can add bookmarks or access your bookmarks using the iGoogle Bookmarks gadget.

74. Did you know you can search within your returned results? Scroll down to the bottom of the search results page to find the link.

75. Search locally by appending your post code to the end of query. For example Indian food BA1 2BW finds restaurants in Bath, with addresses and phone numbers!

76. Looking for a map? Just add map to the end of your query, like this: Leeds map

77. Google finds images just as easily and lists them at the top, when you add image to the end of your search.

78. Google Image Search recognises faces… add &imgtype=face to the end of the returned URL in the location bar, then hit enter to filter out pictures that aren’t people.

79. Keeping an eye on stocks? Type stocks: followed by market ticker for the company and Google returns the data from Google Finance.

80. Enter the carrier and flight number in Google’s main search box to return flight tracking information.

81. What time is it? Find out anywhere by typing time then the name of a place.

82. You may have noticed Google suggests alternate spellings for search terms - that’s the built in spell checker!

83. You can invoke the spell checker directly by using spell: followed by your keyword.

84. Click “I’m Feeling Lucky” to be taken straight to the first page Google finds for your keyword.

85. Enter a statistics based query like population of Britain into Google, and it will show you the answer at the top of its results.

86. If your search has none-English results, click “Translate this Page” to see it in English.

87. You can search foreign sites specifically by clicking “Language Tools”, then choosing which countries sites to translate your query to.

88. Other features on the language tools page include a translator for blocks of text you can type or cut and paste.

89. There’s also a box that you can enter a direct URL into, translating to the chosen language.

90. Near the language tools link, you’ll see the “Search Preferences”. This handy page is full of secret functionality.

91. You can specify which languages Google returns results in, ticking as many (or few) boxes as you like.

92. Google’s Safe Search protects you from explicit sexual content. You can choose to filter results more stringently or switch it off completely.

93. Google’s default of 10 results a page can be increased to up to 100 in Search Preferences, too.

94. You can also set Google to open your search results in a new window.

95. Want to see what others are searching for or improve your page rank? Go to www.google.com/zeitgeist

96. Another useful, experimental search can be found at www.google.com/trends - where you can find the hottest search terms.

97. To compare the performance of two or more terms, enter them into the trends search box separated by commas.

98. Fancy searching Google in Klingon? Go to www.google.com/intl/xx-klingon

99. Perhaps the Swedish chef from the muppets is your role model instead? Check www.google.com/intl/xx-bork

100. Type answer to life, the universe and everything into Google. You may be surprised by the result…

101. It will also tell you the number of horns on a unicorn

By Karl Hodge (I received it via e-mail)

First of all, I know this post might make you suspicious, but I can assure you that I’m not pregnant

But for those of you who are, you may find this interesting!

Expectant moms experience unique physical and emotional changes that occur as a result of increased weight, shifting posture, and adjusting hormone levels. Massage can allow pregnant moms to unwind during this time. It can also alleviate the resulting discomfort and other pregnancy-related symptoms. Expert massage therapist and instructor, Meade Steadman, demonstrates step-by-step how to provide therapeutic massage techniques that focus on the special needs of the mother-to-be as she goes through the different trimesters.

Pregnancy Massage Video

Massage Videos |   Pregnancy Massage

You can purchase the DVD’s online; prices start at $49.00, but the set of 2 DVD’s can be bought for $84.00!

]]> http://www.dizzy-dee.com/health/pregnancy-massage/feed http://www.dizzy-dee.com/health/pregnancy-massage http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DizzyDee/~3/396057766/specially-for-those-in-the-southern-hemisphere http://www.dizzy-dee.com/health/specially-for-those-in-the-southern-hemisphere#comments Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:38:18 +0000 Dizzy Dee http://www.dizzy-dee.com/?p=993 Spring is finally in the air, the days are longer and the shelves are filling up with an abundance of fresh fruit and veggies. So what better time to start your detox programme.

Colourful fruits contain an extensive range of body-protecting antioxidants that cleanse the body of potentially harmful free radicals.

Pineapple is packed with an enzyme that breaks down protein and speeds up your digestion.

Papaya and avocado help to rejuvenate the body with their excellent cleansing properties.

Grapes, the perfect spring clean for the liver and kidneys.

Beetroot, this powerful cleanser is a good tonic for the liver.

Celery and apples, help remove excess carbon dioxide from the body with this powerful combination.

Nuts are packed with powerful antioxidants such as vitamin E, and unsaturated oils.

Water is the most important tool in any cleansing programme. It aids the body in flushing out all the toxins, as well as helping it to absorb all the good nutrients from foods.

Don’t forget, being out in the fresh air revitalizes a sluggish circulation, so put on those walking shoes! Walking is the perfect activity for those in need of a gentle detox. All you have to do is turn your everyday walking into fitness walking by lengthening your stride, quickening your pace for 45 minutes, four times a week and you could lose up to 8kgs in fat loss in a year!

Here’s to feeling refreshed and recharged!

Source: HerbexHealth

]]> http://www.dizzy-dee.com/health/specially-for-those-in-the-southern-hemisphere/feed http://www.dizzy-dee.com/health/specially-for-those-in-the-southern-hemisphere http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DizzyDee/~3/386577840/choose-your-webhost http://www.dizzy-dee.com/dizzy-dee/choose-your-webhost#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:56:02 +0000 Dizzy Dee http://www.dizzy-dee.com/?p=989

I have written about webhosting before, and given various guidelines on how to decide whether you need free hosting or maybe your own domain.

If you’ve come to the conclusion that you do need your own domain, and you’re asking the question, “where do I get someone to host for me”, this post might just answer your question.

When hosting your website with a company, you need to be sure that you can trust them in more ways than one. Firstly, you need to make sure that the money you are paying is really going to get you what you need.

You need to consider various things, amongst other, the space which you get, the traffic limitations, as well as the support.

I’ve come accross the WebHostingRating website, and found it quite useful. They basically have independant ratings of hosting websites, with details of those hosting companies’ services and fees.

Its definitelysomething to look at and consider before choosing your webshosting company
For those of you who are particularly interested in affordable webhosting, possibly for a personal website, have a look at their article: How To Find A Cheap Web Host.

]]> http://www.dizzy-dee.com/dizzy-dee/choose-your-webhost/feed http://www.dizzy-dee.com/dizzy-dee/choose-your-webhost http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DizzyDee/~3/383244735/real-gender-equality http://www.dizzy-dee.com/news/real-gender-equality#comments Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:21:03 +0000 Dizzy Dee http://www.dizzy-dee.com/?p=978 The topic of gender equality has been heavily debated in the past few years, maybe even decades.  Women have demanded to be treated the same as men, with the same rights, and benefits. Still women had to be protected against men abusing and raping them. Four women in South Africa, are making sure that its no longer women only seeking the protection.

Four unknown women in South Africa are wanted for apparently raping and robbing male hitch-hikers in the Rustenburg area.  According to the reports, these women offer to give male hitch-hikers a lift.  Once in their vehicle they force the guy to take some kind of “spiked” drink, and then rape and rob him.

I’m not quite sure what to make of this?  Why would women want to rape men?  I guess it could be some kind of revenge plot, but still I’m unsure about their motives.

Source: IOL

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