Gaming is more than a meaningless past time where you get to shut out the world for a while. Online gaming can bring some real benefits to your life, and this is why you should consider adding it to your life. Here are just some of the reasons why you should consider getting involved in online gaming.
A Social Experience
Online gaming forces you to play with other people who you donâ??t necessarily know to succeed. This is a good thing. As long as youâ??re mature, you have the potential to make lots of good friends, which you might go on to meet in real life.
You can even play with people you already know. Itâ??s not uncommon to see people joining a game together and operating as a group of friends.
The Cost of Playing
If you decide to spend time playing games online, itâ??s one of the cheapest entertainment options available to you. There are very few hobbies which can come close to it in terms of value. Using UK prices, letâ??s take a look at some popular things people love to do. Weâ??ll compare them to online gaming.
- Going to see a film = £10 if we include the film and any beverages you pick up. This is going to last you for about 2-3 hours.
- Going to a museum or gallery = Usually free, but itâ??s only going to provide you with a few hours of entertainment. Plus, the actual attractions will only change a few times a year, so there are only a certain number of times you can visit.
- Eating out at a restaurant = Will usually cost you at least £30 for a 2-3 course meal including drinks. The average meal wonâ??t last any longer than 90 minutes to a couple of hours.
Now letâ??s look at the calculation for an online game. You buy the installation, which is usually between £20 and £50. This is a one-time fee. If it has a subscription, it might cost about £9 per month. In exchange, you can play it for as long as you want and you get full access to hundreds of hours of content.
In terms of value for money, online gaming beats out all of these other entertainment options.
Leave this World for a While
An online game is always available for you to play. Theyâ??re becoming more popular than single player games. You can leave this world and enter another world. Some people might frown upon the idea of using games for this reason, but thereâ??s nothing wrong with it.
Itâ??s like sitting down to watch the TV or reading a favourite book. Itâ??s just a way to take your mind out of the stress-inducing real world and giving it time to relax in a world under your control.
Overall, online games are an ideal way to relax and get social with other people. Theyâ??re arguably the best type of game to play because of the fact you can talk to others. Take a look at some of the online games available today for all platforms.
This guest post is penned by Tom Taylor. He is a freelance writer who shares his everyday life experiences through his articles. He says he enjoys playing online games on Friv Jogos and recommends it to his readers.
Image courtesy of Ambro / freedigitalphotos.net
I’ve recently been re-watching the classic TV series, Sapphire and Steel.
The Sapphire & Steel episodes, which ran from  1972 -1982 always fascinated me when I was younger and sometimes scared the living daylights out of me, as the TV show was creepy and gave me a feeling of unease, every time I sat down and watched it. In this blog post I am going to look back at this famous series and find out more about how this TV series attained its creepy edge that fascinated me in my youth.
Outline
Sapphire & Steel is a complex science fiction series where they are both inter-dimentional operatives that take care of events, creatures, ghosts and other weird stuff that slip though the fabric of time. Although, throughout the series there isn’t much information about where they come from or what exactly the goal of their mission is. It is pretty evident however that they are guardians of time and that they police rips and tears in the fabric which interfere with the normal continuity of time. Each of them appear to be elements chosen from amongst a host of other elements who are specifically tasked with completing missions in the dimension that Earth is in. The intro states that no heavy elements can be chosen where there is life. Other characters in the form of elements sometimes pop up in the series from time to time, such as Lead and Silver. Below is the introduction to Sapphire and Steel.
Not To Be Trusted
Throughout the series, something antiquated often sets off an event, such as an old photograph, object or even an old nursery rhyme. What is unnerving is that Sapphire and Steel just show up uninvited, suddenly and without warning to ‘help’ people. They say they are their to help, but you can never quite trust them. Sapphire has a bit more emotion and often tries to see a human being’s point of view, but Steel on the other hand has little time for the people caught up in the event. He insists on solving the breach in time, whatever the consequences for the people caught up in the mystery. In fact, even though Sapphire is a little bit warmer when it comes to emotions, you can’t quite trust her either, as in the end she puts her mission first. Sapphire sometimes appears caring but is at the same time oddly detached and seems ready to abandon the person who seeks her help.
Special Abilities
Sapphire can manipulate time, including the ability to rewind time to a specific moment and has the ability to touch objects and determine the date at which they existed from. She often psychically gains information about people’s personalities or their backgrounds and desires, just by being close to them. Both Sapphire and Steel have the ability to telepathically communicate with each other.
Steel’s abilities are shown less so in the series, but he possesses immense strength, can freeze himself to eliminate entities and can even paralyse someone with a single stare. Most of the time though, he leaves the tinkering around with special abilities to Sapphire, as he coldly gets down to the nitty-gritty of solving a time problem. I like the way that Steel is fully focused on each task, shutting out all distractions.
One thing that was interesting is that the series had a very small production budget, which meant that special effects could not often be used. I think that this fact has helped the Sapphire & Steel series not to date so fast and contributed to the eerie feeling the TV show has upon its viewers.
Below is a video of Assignment 2:
The Sapphire and Steel series is also available on DVD with all of the series included in a boxed set. I suppose the reason why I like this series so much is that there are a lot of unanswered questions that get your imagination running away with itself. I’m personally really enjoying re-watching this show
From Wargaming.net comes World of Tanks, a fighting game that takes you inside the most powerful tanks from the mid-20th century as you do battle with other ultimate fighting machines.
With over 240 vehicles from 7 different superpowers from around the globe, World of Tanks takes you inside explosive warfare action like never before.
World of Tanks offers players the chance to step inside some of the most brutal tanks and armored fighting vehicles to ever scorch the earth. Players can fight other tank commanders from around the world online in different modes of battle; from one on one to full-on clan battles, World of Tanks has covered it all.
- Battle modes include:
- Random Battles (Standard, Assault and Encounter)
- Team-Training Battles
- Tank-Company Battles
- Clan Battles
Every exciting battle mode offers different goals and achievements, with new ways to destroy your opponent. In Random Battles you are tasked with capturing an enemy base, and destroying the enemy before time runs out. Encounter mode will find you battling in a race against time to capture a base and destroy the tanks of a second commander, aiming to take your prize. In Assault mode tables are turned as you are forced to defend you own base from the enemy onslaught.
You can also try your hand in Team Battle, to test your skill and leadership against enemies that you are paired with based on your skills, skills and accomplishments! Brush up your skills by performing some Team Training battles, where you can hone your skills and test new strategies. Private or public, this is the chance to test and learn so that you can be at your very best in every battle.
Looking for accomplishments and new goals to aim for? Look no further than Tank Company mode, where you create your own team in different divisions: Junior, Medium, Champion and Absolute. Each division has new goals for you to achieve as you build your way through the ranks.
When you are ready for the ultimate in tank warfare, look no further than Clan Battles. In the Clan War mode, you create your own clan that you set upon the world for total domination. Battle your friends, or take over provinces on the global map, to prove you are the elite warrior.
Just like in real warfare, there is just one kind of tank, you need a strong fleet of vehicles to get the job done. Thatâ??s why World of Tanks has vehicles in five different categories: light tanks, medium tanks, heavy tanks, tank destroyers and self-propelled guns (artillery). These monster war machines run the range, and you will find them divided into seven nations: Soviet, German, American, French, British, Chinese, and Japanese- with more on the way!
Every vehicle is historically accurate, painstaking detail has gone into recreating these classic tracked vehicles. You will also find that level of detail in the battlefields, which have been modeled after historical battlefields in different regions. Soon, you will see even more battlefield maps and over 500 tanks to choose from. This is a world that is only going to get bigger.
Click here to view the most expensive tank in the world . . .
In 1985, the video game world was forever changed by the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). This system splashed on to the world with a whole host of games that forever changed the lives of children around the world.
In Japan, the Famicon system had been on the market since 1983. This system was later rebranded and bundled with Atari software as the NES. It was to include Donkey Kong, but a dispute with the game maker Coleco lead to Donkey Kong not being initially released on the NES. The Nintendo offered enhanced graphics and vivid 8-bit colors which was a major upgrade to home gaming systems prior its release.
Originally, Nintendo released the AVS or Advanced Video System in 1985, but this was not well received and was a failure for Nintendo. Nintendo later renamed the AVS as the NES and bundled it with a robot and a light gun. Games included Gyromite and duck hunt. This was a little better received versus the AVS, because the robot and the popularity of toy robots made this NES a bit more attractive.
However, Nintendo used door to door sales of the NES to business and toy shops in New York City which lead to some popularity and eventually lead to Nintendo partnering with department store chains by bundling bulk orders of popular toys of the day, such as Teddy Ruxpin, with bulk NES Systems. The other factor that led to a great success was the development of the Super Mario character which came from Donkey Kong. The following year, Teddy Ruxpinâ??s popularity faded, but the NES was the hot ticket item of the year. However, it has been said that Teddy Ruxpinâ??s popularity that year caused Nintendo to rise to the house hold name it is today.
Nintendo’s first rivalry was with the Sega game systems. It lead to a healthy competition which lead to second generation systems with better graphics and better software development. Eventually, the rivalry was complicated by further generations of systems like the Sony Playstation, and the Microsoft Xbox systems. These systems were offering DVD quality technology and CD quality sound as well as true video playback. However, Nintendo continued to push forward and develop family friendly games with well loved gaming worlds such as Super Mario, Zelda, Mega-Man, and the Pokemon gaming series.
The portable gaming scene was greatly impacted by Nintendo with its line of portable gaming systems starting with the Nintendo Gameboy which was a black and white hand held device. This device had a long battery life which gave it an edge over the color gaming systems of the day such as the Sega Game Gear. Nintendo also combined touch screen technology with a portable gaming system in the Nintendo DS which was a huge success.
Nintendo made another huge impact on the gaming industry in 2006 with the release of the Nintendo Wii. This was a console with a motion sensing controller which got gamers off the couch and into the middle of the room. This motion sensing controller lead to a series of dancing games and exercising games that got parents involved in the gaming alongside their children. However, the motion sensing technology was soon edged out by Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect optical technology which requires no controller at all by sensing the gestures and motion of the user via a camera accessory.
The current generation device is called the Nintendo Wii U which uses a controller that combines a video touch screen with a controller and motion sensing technology. This interactive controller provides a level of immersion that is not quite matched by any of the current gaming technology on the market. Nintendo is sure to continue making an impact on the gaming industry with innovations and original technology to provide great fun for gamers for years to come.
Sega has been around for a very long time. During the 1940â??s during World War II, technology was moving at the speed of light.
A Sega forerunner was born during this time as a company called Standard Games which provided entertaining games for military bases. After World War II, they continued to produce games for the civilian market, and changed their name to Service Games of Japan in 1952.
During the 1950â??s this gaming company continued to produce games. In the 1960â??s, Service Games merged with Rosen Enterprises to create Sega Enterprises. They released a game called Periscope which was a huge success. In 1976 SEGA actually produced a widescreen projection TV, but the rights were purchased by Sony. In addition, the laser disc was first used in a Sega arcade game as well. Sega produced some of the most popular arcade games, before ever making a major splash in the game console market with the release of the Sega Genesis in 1988. However, Sega did produce the SG-1000 console in the early 80â??s which created more than $200 million in revenue. It was released the same day in Japan as the Famicon System; which released in North America as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
When it comes to classic consoles, many adults today can remember having Sega envy as a kid. These were the kids that purchased an NES before the Sega Genesis was released. The Sega Genesis had a 16-bit processor while the NES was only 8 bit. The Sega Genesis had a sleek black console with curvy black controllers. The Sega Genesis had a more powerful processor which allowed it to produce much better graphics. The NES was the former console king blowing away the Atari 2600. However, the Sega Genesis was a better technology than the NES and it showed. Not much later the Super NES marked the end of Sega graphics supremacy due to the 16-bit Super NES having double the memory. However, Sega games were never forced into that cutesy childish style, or made family friendly. Sega games were more hardcore, more edgy, and cool; while Nintendo always produced family friendly content. The Super NES even released a version of a very bloody game known as Mortal Kombat, but it showed green slime instead of red blood. This was censorship from Nintendo while Sega was providing a platform for games such as Friday the 13th, Splatterhouse, and the uncensored Mortal Kombat.
Sega Game Gear was another envy causing system for those kids deprived of Sega consoles. How dare Nintendo force kids to play black and white games on a Nintendo Gameboy! The Sega systems were more expensive than Nintendo. However, the Sega Game Gear was portable, and it had a color screen! The Sega Game Gear proved to be a battery consuming monster. This caused it to be expensive to maintain for portable use. Sega continued to produce other gaming systems over the years battling against Nintendo, Sonyâ??s Playstation, and Microsoftâ??s Xbox. Sega produced further generations of their consoles including the Saturn, and later the Sega Dreamcast during the 90â??s. However, in 2001 they shifted to software development and ceased from producing hardware console systems. This shift was caused primarily by several straight years of profit losses due to the huge success of Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft consoles.
Currently, Sega is still producing quality software for various gaming systems. Their Sonic the Hedgehog series of games have never ceased from being one of the most loved gaming series. Bayonetta is a modern cult hit with Sega being the franchise owner. Bayonetta 2 is currently scheduled for a 2014 release, and itâ??s sure to be a huge success for Sega.
Author: Jason
Image author: Asim Saleem
Geocaching is a treasure hunt game thatâ??s taking the world by storm. With caches hidden on the top of Mount Everest and in the middle of the desert in Afghanistan, we ask where and how did this sport begin?
There arenâ??t many internet based hobbies that involve fresh air and exercise, but geocaching is one of them. Put simply, itâ??s a global scavenger hunt. All you need to play is a GPS device, a membership to a geocaching website, and a sense of adventure.
The hobby has grown in popularity over the past few years, from humble beginnings in an online newsroom to a global phenomenon. This is how it happened.
May 1st 2000: GPS improves overnight
While GPS had been around in one form or another since the 1970s, it wasnâ??t until the year 2000 that it became fully available to the public. The Defence Department decided to end â??Selective Availabilityâ??: the measure introduced in 1990 to decrease the precision of GPS signals. A few minutes after midnight, GPS became ten times more accurate.
Needless to say, it became an essential tool for industries such as forestry. It also caught the attention of the internet.
May 3rd 2000: the game is on
The first geocache was planted by Dave Ulmer, who originally called the game the â??Great American GPS Stash Huntâ?. As a GPS enthusiast, Dave wanted to test how accurate the improved satellite services were: and thought heâ??d have a bit of fun in the process.
On May 3rd he wandered into the woods near his home in Beavercreek, Oregon, and planted a black bucket there. He filled it with a logbook and pencil, as well as a few prizes such as videos, books, and software. He then uploaded the coordinates to his favourite online newsroom, sci.geo.satellite-nav.
May â?? September 2000: the rules are established
Anyone could play. All they had to do was hide a container somewhere, and upload the GPS coordinates to the newsroom. People could then go in search of the stash, using their own GPS receiver. The only rule for the finder was that they â??take some stuff, leave some stuff.â?
Two people found Daveâ??s stash within three days, and immediately went back to the newsroom to tell everyone about it. Over the next few weeks, more people decided to join in: and Mike Teague (the first person to discover Daveâ??s stash) started recording all of the various coordinates on his own website. There was also a GPS Stash Hunt mailing list, where people started discussing changing the name of the activity to something more wholesome.
After much debate, the name â??geocachingâ?? was chosen.
September 2nd 2000 â?? The first hobby site is launched
For the first few months, geocaching was a very niche activity. The only people playing were people who used GPS in other outdoor activities, and who were already familiar with Mike Teagueâ??s website and mailing list.
That all changed when Jeremy Irish, a web developer from Seattle, discovered the sport while reading about GPS technology. Seeing that there was a cache hidden near him, he decided to buy a GPS device and get involved. He enjoyed it so much that he decided to use his professional skills to launch a comprehensive hobby site.
With some input from Mike, Jeremy built a database which made it easier for newbies to get started. The site, geocaching.com was announced to the community: there were 75 caches worldwide at this point.
September to December 2000 â?? the press pays attention
Techie magazine Slashdot ran with a story about the new sport in September. This was soon followed by stories in large publications such as The New York Times and CNN. Geocaching was reaching a global audience: but the problem was that there still werenâ??t many caches to be found.
The online community encouraged new players with the mantra â??if you hide it, they will comeâ?. And they did. Press coverage, word of mouth, and people accidentally stumbling across hidden caches saw the hobby expanding.
2001 to 2013 â?? rising popularity
By mid-2001, geocaching.com was no longer the only kid on the block. Navicache, GeocachingWorldwide, and the USENET group alt.rec.geocaching soon became reliable sources for players who worried that Jeremy Irish was imposing a monopoly over the game via his popular Geocaching site.
Today, geocaching is still growing. As of November 2013 there are over 2.2 million active caches in the world, and more than 6 million people looking for them. There are caches in crazy places, such as the top of Mount Everest and the middle of war zones.
Itâ??s no longer a niche hobby for tech enthusiasts: now people from all walks of life are getting involved.
Catherine Halsey is a keen blogger with a huge passion for writing. Working with various organisations, Catherine covers topics ranging from modern technology to fitness and lifestyle.
First of all, this app is not what you’d call 100% a book or 100% an app, it’s a mix of the two – an interactive book. This type of book is a relatively new concept and I wouldn’t mind betting that in the future, the trend for interactive books will start to challenge sales of ordinary books.
Just why do I think this? Well, using one of Touchzing’s interactive books is a refreshing and rich experience. Just opening this app/book up straight away hooks me into wanting to find out more about Gandhi. A short introductory video plays in the opening showing pictures of Gandhi at different stages in his life. This was quite interesting for me because I’ve only ever seen pictures and footage of Gandhi in his later years. The intro starts off by hinting that Gandhi has affected the lives of millions, using non-violent ways to achieve freedom for the people.
In this app there is an interactive biography, a photo gallery, a quotes slideshow and a video gallery.
In the interactive biography, this app/book first gives us a general introduction as to Gandhi’s role in India’s struggle for freedom. The textual intro I found also had a quote which I’ve committed to memory by Gandhi, which was this quote . . .
A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.
You can also watch a short summary of Mahatma Gandhi’s life on a video that is linked to the text intro. Here then is the beauty of interactive books, in that you can link many types of media together to give a deeper and richer experience than just a plain book.
The intro sets us up for looking at Gandhi’s life in more detail, such as Gandhi’s childhood, his education in England, his links with South Africa and his eventual return to India.
I love the picture section which you can see a screenshot of on the left here. You can drag around pictures and resize them by pinching inward or outward. It really does feel like you have a bunch of pictures to shuffle around with on a desktop.
You can even view a list of videos within the app to specifically watch a chosen video.
There is also a quote section where you can see more well-known quotes from Gandhi, such as:
Happiness is when what you think , what you say and what you do are in harmony.
Brief Overview of Gandhi’s Life – The Father of India
Mahatma Gandhi was born in 1869 with the name Mohandas Gandhi to a well rounded family who worked hard, and had a profound faith to the religion of Hinduism. He was first called Mahatma, meaning high souled in Sanskrit, in South Africa around 1914. In India he is also know as Bapu, meaning father. Gandhi’s name became famous due to his life long sojourn to employ non-violent civil disobedience for the goal of freedom and that he was a leader in India’s break away from British rule.
His life was fairly ordinary in most peoples eyes, aside from being quite shy and having an arranged marriage at the young age of 13. Gandhi’s mother and father died when Gandhi was young. He struggled with school work, yet was accepted to study law at the University of the College of London. Between 1888-1900, Gandhi and his wife, Kasturba, had four sons. After finishing school in London Gandhi tried to be a lawyer in Bombay, however he wasn’t successful and was instead hired as a lawyer in South Africa. During his 21 year stay, Gandhi gained profound public speaking, negotiation, leadership, and political skills. Even through his discriminatory encounters and violent traumas, Gandhi never set aside his most prized value of non-violent action to bring about change in not only people, but entire countries.
After learning much about India from Indians in South Africa and having an outside perspective on his homeland, Gandhi finally returned. His permanent return was in 1914 and shortly after he joined the Indian National Congress to address the country’s pressing issues. In only 6 years he became the leader of Congress and demanded independence. Even through consistent disagreement toward Britain and an imprisionment, Gandhi persisted until India was officially declared independent in 1947. Only one year later Gandhi was sadly and violently assassinated, by a man named Nathuram Godseon, on his way to address a prayer meeting.
Gandhi not only brought about India’s independence from British rule, but also encouraged change in equal rights for women, action against poverty, and to join the separated states of India into one. All of this was carried out without violence and that is the pivotal reason why Gandhi’s name is so well known worldwide. He was a peaceful yet powerful leader who brought about positive change in an ever growing volatile world.
Mission Accomplished
I can’t fault this app book as there are so many features and so much information included. I’m still reading through the information right now and enjoying every moment. The app is well put together and is fun to read and explore related multimedia.
Conclusion
If you want to learn about the life of Gandhi, then this is the only app book you’ll ever need to enrich your soul by immersing yourself in a Gandhi’s  life story, someone who is full of kindness and love. Mahatma Gandhi Interactive Biography is a joy to read.
A thought struck me today, and that thought was: ‘Is it even possible to win in a heated argument?’
I have worked with colleagues who love to debate and get quite heated in their arguments. The only problem is that I’ve never heard anyone actually win in a heated argument. This is because even if one person is clearly right, each person will dig their heals in deeper as the argument goes on. In fact, listening to people debate clearly shows that both parties are more convinced that they are right than before they actually started the argument.
Hypnotising Chickens
Can you think of a time when you were absolutely right and you had evidence to prove it? This happened to me once when I said at a place where used to work at that I happened to find out that you can hypnotise a chicken by putting its beak on a line. Afterwhich, it is said that the chicken will freeze and not be able to move for some time. However, when I mentioned this, all of my office colleagues got together and decided that this had to be nonsense.
I found out that a few days later a few of the people who disagreed with me met up with another employee in the canteen from a different department, this person grew up on a farm and verified that hypnotising chickens by putting their beaks on a line was actually true, and that he and his brother when they were young had tried it with some success. Nobody mentioned that they had found out that my argument was actually correct of course, so I decided to bring it up. There was a hateful silence and a few narrowed eyes looking my way. Everyone hated me at that moment and the bad feeling didn’t disappear until a few days later.
So, even though I proved that I was correct, I hadn’t won the argument as what did I gain out of it? Absolutely nothing. Granted, some people would get a heightened sense of importance after proving others wrong, but it doesn’t do anything for me personally. It doesn’t float my boat at all. I just wounded my colleagues egos and created tension in the workplace.
I realised that I wasn’t entirely without fault in the argument, as I should have listened an d accepted that people couldn’t believe the chicken fact and moved on to talking about other subjects. Things are never black and white and instead are usually grey, as in it might be harder that it sounds to hypnotise chickens by putting their beaks on a line. I imagine it probably would be.
Where Do Birds Go To Die?
I made things worse in fact, because I remember being in conversation with the people working in the same office as me and remarking that I’d never seen a bird die. I’ve seen more dead human bodies than I have birds dropping dead and falling to the ground from telephone wires. Unless a bird is hit by a car or flies into a pain of glass, I can’t recall a time when I’ve seen a bird lying around after it’s died naturally. How many times have you said “Oh no there is a bird that has dropped dead in the garden again.” Not unless a cat has attacked it of course. Anyway, the whole office erupted with laughter and everyone rallied together and said that the question of “Where do birds go to die?” was the dumbest question they had ever heard.
This reaction seemed to vent their anger at me wounding everyone’s sense of pride by proving everyone wrong about the hypnotising chickens saga.
Now, I should have left it like that and laughed along with them, but I decided for a laugh to send the question off to a scientific magazine. I did this for a joke but the question was accepted and the topic was featured in the magazine. The explanation was that people just don’t notice birds dying and road sweepers and critters dispose of the dead birds pretty quickly.
I brought in the scientific magazine into work and assumed that people would find the fact that the question had been pondered upon by the scientific community hilariously funny. It had the opposite effect though; it made matters worse.
Hamster In The Hoover
The atmosphere in the office I was working at was made worse by my insistance to stand my ground and argue or validate points. The very next week I was ill and rang in sick. Then I found out that a few people in the office had sarcastically remarked that I hadn’t looked that ill the day before my sick leave. I was upset by this remark, understandably, but again I made the mistake of trying to ‘even the books’ as it were in reply to this backstabbing . . .
The week after that I took a day’s leave off, that I intended to take anyway, and I arranged this with the manager privately. I didn’t tell anyone in the office that I’d taken this day off. Then the morning of my day off I rang the office, as I knew that the manager wouldn’t be in for at least another two hours. One of my work colleagues answered the phone and I said that I wouldn’t be in that day, she asked why and I gave the fictitouos reason of having an emergency situation arrise with my pet hamster. I said that I was hoovering and accidentally hoovered up the hamster so I couldn’t make it in. This particular work colleague asked why I hadn’t released the hamster from the hoover, so I said that I had to call out a hoover repair professional as I didn’t have the right tools for dismantling the hoover as it was ‘super technical’.
After this telephone conversation, all hell broke loose in the office and I heard on the grape vine that several work colleagues approached the manager with their outrage about the fact that I couldn’t make it in because of a hamster. The manager laughed this off and informed them that I’d already booked the day off in advance. There was bad feeling resulting from this saga for months afterwards, with no one even saying “Good morning” when I came into work for a while.
Two hamsters fighting after a heated argument. Image author: Dalius Baranauskas
Heated Arguments Just Make The Other Person More Resolute.
Okay, I admit that I was rolling around the floor laughing at the hamster incident and the resulting chaos, but what did I really gain out of it? After all, I just built up more and more resentment and became probably the most hated person in my office for a while.
The sensible thing for me to have done in hindsight was to keep quiet and accept that some people have a different opinion. Going back to the hypnotising chickens situation that sparked off all the other disagreements – I should have listened to objections, asked why people thought it must be untrue and then asked them for their help in finding out the real facts.
This way my work colleagues would have saved face and I would have acknowledged other people’s worth by trusting them with researching whether the fact was true or not. Everyone would have been happy if I had controlled my emotions more.
Now I’m determined to listen to the other person’s point of view and consider their opinion carefully, even if I disagree. I get a lot more out of communicating with people by not jumping the gun and throwing myself into an argument. Does it really matter if you think someone is wrong or not anyhow?
Dinosaur Fossils Appearing All Over The Planet, With The Sole Purpose Of Testing My Faith.
When I was very young I attended a Christian school and at that time I loved reading about dinosaurs and looking at pictures of fossils. One day, I stuck my hand up in class and innocently asked, “How come dinosaur fossils are millions of years old, but God made the Earth only 4000 years ago?” The teacher, instead of taking me to one side and helping me with my confusion began to shout at me in front of the whole class. His angry reply was “Kevin! God put the fossils there to test your faith! Can you not see that!?” As you can guess, his reaction didn’t exactly help me in finding a spiritual path or a religion to follow. If I asked that question now I wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking that I was being argumentative, but I was only 7 years old and genuinely wanted to clear up the confusion I felt.
A Coffee & Cake With Creationists
The fact remains that I’ve never heard anyone in a heated argument admit that they were wrong and probably never will do either. Conversely, when someone is calm, considers the other person’s view, and discusses a topic in a light-hearted and happy way, people are more inclined to look at both sides of the argument.
As a closing thought, if I met a creationist today who wanted to explain to me that Earth and the universe are in fact only 4000 years old, I would contain my confusion and try to just listen. I would even go on a tour with them around a creationist museum and have a coffee. Practising listening to other people’s point of view instead of concentrating on how I can change that person’s mind or how wrong or right I might think they are.
Nowadays phones have become so powerful that they can store an unimaginable amount of information. These devices are like small computers and even better! They offer a great number of features and opportunities.
Now a great variety of apps can guide you through the cooking process. Yes, that’s right. There are apps that provide thousands of cooking recipes, you only need to have one to be able to access the information.
Here we will show you some of the most popular cooking and recipe applications for iOS.
Jamie Oliver’s 20 Minute Meals
This app offers 60 recipes that were carefully embedded into an iDevice compatible format. It includes photos, video tutorials and instructions. These are especially designed for the small screen. Jamie Oliver, a very popular cook, provides explanations at each step. You can choose between 2- and 4-serving recipes, Metric and US measurements, create shopping lists, etc. The good news is you don’t even need to have Internet access to use the feature. In 2010, this app was awarded the Apple Design Award.
20 Minute Meals is only $6.99.
 Woman’s Day Cooking Assistant
This is a search-engine style application. It has a lot of features. If you are looking for good recipe suggestions for Father’s Day or ideas for great lunches for work, go to the Featured tab and start browsing. If you want to search by key word, check out the section Search. The good part about this app is that is provides nutrition information about each recipe. This way you won’t worry about calories. You can also favorite or email the recipe. There is another section that you may find especially helpful if you are a cooking maniac. This is the â??Tips ‘n’ Toolsâ? tab. What you can read here is tons of tips about spices, herbs and kitchen equipment. Moreover, you can have a cooking calculator.
Just like the previous app, you don’t need Internet connection here. You can browse recipes according to budget, holidays, ingredients, calories, etc.
Woman’s Day Cooking Assistant is free.
Dishy â?? Cooking Made Easy
This app provides up to 105 recipes, which allows you to prepare a multi-course meal. When you pick a recipe, you get a shopping list immediately. You can look for recipes by cooking time, ingredients or diet. The app provides simple and detailed instructions that can be followed by anyone, even those with small cooking experience. Whatever ingredients or materials you need are listed. You can choose serving size, units of measure, British or American English and get an insight to timing charts.
This app is available for $4.99.
Tyler Florence Fast
You will be amazed by the number of recipes you can look for with this app. 500! There is something for everyone, from simplistic food recipes to gourmet treats. Watch videos providing cooking tips. Plus, you can get advice from Tyler Florence and his team while you are in the very process of cooking! All you have to do is email them and wait for an answer. Or you can chat with other users of the application.
You won’t find information about serving size, nutrition and measurements conversion with this app, however. Otherwise, it is a great source for good food lovers. It allows you to browse by category.
You can have Tyler Florence Fast for $4.99 only!
Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List
With this app you can access up to 30,000 recipes worldwide! You can search by ingredients, calories, vegetarian, etc. This is an universal app and every iPad owner can have it for free!
You can save favorites and share them, create shopping lists and much more. If you own an iPad you can have access to nutrition information and cookbook format.
This app is for free!
Author Bio: Morgan Johnes works with technologies and gadgets many years. He currenly runs http://www.domesticcleanlondon.com/office-cleaning.html and has a lot of experience to share with his readers.
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