I love Martha Stewart as a person. Anyone creative enough to pull off the phenomenal handiwork she does is a goddess in my book.The demonic presence that taunts me into thinking I can emulate her skills and handiwork must be channeled carefully and ignored if at all possible.
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Stress.It's what drives many of us to the end of our wits during the holiday season. It's what makes many of us depressed and panicky between Thanksgiving and New Years. It's what drives mom to the madhouse and pop to the poorhouse once a year.
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This blog is now an integrated part of our Perfectly Shaped World community site at Perfectly Shaped World. You can find this blog and all archived contents by choosing the PSW Blog button from the right-hand Shopper Services menu.
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I missed November. Through no fault of The Cat, who reminded me every day that Thanksgiving was on the horizon and
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New Normal Women, take heart. Sisters, hear my cries of joy -- we have a kindred spirit riding to our rescue, at the helm of RealityPlus Clothing Company, LLC, bringing fashionable apparel specifically designed for the plus sized woman, not just 'scaled up' from a size 3 model's specifications.
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Ever had one of those days where you're just ambling along the side roads, minding your own business, and suddenly trip over the biggest diamond you've ever seen? No? Well, it happened to me today.
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Every day we are bombarded by advertising, admonishing us to get brighter teeth, bouncier hair, clearer skin, more vibrant smiles, higher energy, slimmer waistlines...
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It seems to me that the fashion industry would be rushing to fill this gap, and that boutique owners would be shifting to accommodate the New Normal. We represent a dilemma, ladies!
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Sounds like an optimal acquisition. It puts Avenue under the same roof as such powerhouses as Roaman's, Chadwick's and Jessica London, solid names in the plus size apparel domain.
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Chanel Nixes Too-Thin ModelsKarl Lagerfeld is quoted as saying: "I have nothing against skinny girls. But these were terrible.
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[Thanks for the patience as I completely unravel and reconstruct Perfectly Shaped Life into the Perfectly Shaped World blog, website and forum ...and while I figure out all the intricacies of moving a year-old site to a brand new domain, here's a read of interest to all of us New Normal shoppers]
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We had a minor (4.3) quake this morning, around 5:22 AM. The event was about 20 miles from the house, according to the USGS report that showed up in my email-box a few minutes afterward. So, according to the USGS this was a minor event.
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Speed Dating for your Wardrobe - This morning, Shoes.com joins the Fashion Riot at Perfectly Shaped Life, just in time for being selected as the Featured Favorite for 22 October.
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Plus size shopping, womens apparel, accessories, home decor, lifestyle. Visit our new Fashion Riot Central for pure fashion forward shopping overload!
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This article from Auckland NZ echoes what many of us may be feeling when we go out to shop. Please read more and post your responses.
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Are you familiar with those extremely loud wailing alert sirens guaranteed to warn the village of an upcoming avalanche / hurricane / tornado / half-off sale on SUVs?
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You've probably thousands of things to read on this day of global caretaking, so I'll keep mine short, and instead give you a permanent link to a place I call Micro-Green. There, I write about the small steps we can and should take to do our part. Few will strain your pocketbook; some will actually save you money - and all are things you can do on a daily basis (like not watering the sidewalk) to conserve our natural resources.
Labels:
conservation,
environment,
global warming,
recycling
New Bridal Center opened at Perfectly Shaped Life. Everything but the groom (and gown)!
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"Woman Within®, with over 100 years of experience, offers comfort, fit, selection and value in women's plus-size clothing from 12W-44W. We offer casual, career, special occasion, maternity apparel, sleepwear and intimates, casual & career shoes in wide widths to size 14 and plus-calf boots.
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Batteries used to strike me as something along the lines to flood insurance here in the high desert: Not something terribly crucial, not something forefront on my mind, durn handy to have in case of a flood
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Earlier we were talking about plus size models and modeling opportunities. If you're serious about it, check this out, rbought to us by Mewv and Skorch Magazine. Looks interesting... going to give it a shot?
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For a feline with a perennial wild streak a mile wide, The Cat can be surprisingly civilized and strangely respectful of boundaries, property and peer values. The Cat's value system shows up at odd times.
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There's a difference between how we react to stress and how we respond to stress.
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The Cat says few things about holidays (aside from a strong affinity to Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas goose), but wishes to express an adamant opinion about All Hallows' Eve:
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I'd already ascertained that The Cat communicates through a combination of purrs, stares, growls, yelps and Congressional memoranda. Nobody thinks natively in five-bit code, unless you spent your formative years as a teletype operator (or as a cat).
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We're curvaceous, audacious, bold, beautiful, voluptuous, sensously shapely, and we dress to show off our beautiful selves! We live in our perfectly shaped world, comfortably fashion forward and proud of it. We celebrate ourselves and our world.
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As promised, here are the free, reduced cost, and flat rate shipping offers (and their expiration dates, if any). I'll be adding more in future posts as I find them.
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If you've been following the series so far, you've had some time to play around with the color display widget and observe the different effects of color palettes for each of the seasons.
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We've all done it. Run into a store, see the perfect dress / skirt / blouse / outfit, race to try it on, give it the nod of approval, pull out the Mastercard, then get that perfect purchase home and ... HATE IT.
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We may not yet know exactly why we gravitate toward a certain color or palette, but it's not voodoo or witchcraft.
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October 15th. Mark it down. Circle it in RED on your calendar, and participate.
Better believe we'll be there for it. You should be, too. BlogAction.org to sign up.
Not a blogger? Show your support and wear a Global Caretaker shirt
Labels:
conservation,
environment,
global warming,
recycling
The Cat asks me to write this on her behalf and the behalf of all cats and kittens everywhere. We are both honored to contribute to today's Bloggers Unite"Blog Against Abuse". Our topic is a silent abuse of neglect by lack of action.]
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No matter what beautiful size we are, we all tend to fit into one of five basic body shapes: Circle, Triangle, Inverted Triangle, Rectangle and Hourglass.
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Many of the most well-known and famous women of the world aren't stick-thin model types.
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I love Tim Gunn. Wait. That came out wrong. I am a huge (pardon the pun) Tim Gunn fan and have fallen in love with his new show Tim Gunn's Guide to Style for several reasons - the biggest one of which is that he had the foresight to feature a right-size woman as one of his first makeover 'victims.'
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Even at my most slender size five'ness, it was difficult to view the media's portrayal of the Ultimate Female Form as an attainable goal (since I'm 5'4" or so). If we are to believe print and television, videos and movies, the ideal woman seems to be about 5'10" and weighs in just under 115 pounds after a decent meal.
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If you view online shopping in the same way you tackle on-the-ground shopping, you may have a lot of fun but you may also find you're not getting the complete value for your dollar that you deserve. Try these simple twists in thinking:
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In a perfect life, shopping online would be as simple as opening a browser window that goes directly to the item you want, clicking on the [[I WANT THIS]] button, entering some payment data, and pushing Go.
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I am asking stores for permission to post their sizing charts here. In the meantime, while I wait for their responses, here's some general guidelines for measuring, to get you started.
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Our great nation seems to gather a bad reputation for being isolationist and uninformed. Here's why.
Labels:
CNN,
naive americans
Zeitgeist - The Movie
Zeitgeist touches - nay, stomps - upon our post-adolescent willingness to believe, to take things on blind faith. Some of the parallels it draws harken eerily in the shadows of disinformation, of media hype, of downright fake science. And yet...
I've watched it twice now, and honestly I can't tell you exactly why. The first time was akin to trying to fill a glass of drinking water while standing under Niagara Falls.
I'm of the age of the Cold War, Vietnam, hiding our frail selves under flimsy elementary school desks, arms protectively clutching necks, being assured that this was the way we would survive the Dropping Of The Bomb. It's amazing what one can believe at such a tender age, but we had a willingness to believe.
Decide for yourself, and let me know what you think.
More information at the official movie site.
Brought to you by the letter R, the number 42, The Wine Lass, The Wedding Lass, The Large Lass and all the rest of our Perfectly Shaped World.
Labels:
networking,
propaganda,
social conscience,
zeitgeist
The Cat requests that you get the parts and build one please. No coffee cans though. Use tuna cans for best scent effect. The Cat will prepare for your return by picking out the playlist. Please get multiple lasers pens and MANY batteries.
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It is more polite to call it very early than insanely late, even though I haven't been to sleep yet. Thank The Cat, or blame The Cat.
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(The Cat made me put this here. She wants visitors. I figured this is a better way than cordoning off the stretch of highway in front of our yard and forcing traffic to pass near the front porch so she can yell at the trucks. Besides, it's free. Free is good, if you're owned by The Cat.)
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YippyKya is a break-out social networking environment that offers members both the social interaction they desire and the ability to make money (who could possibly turn that down!?). A definite fresh approach to 2.0.
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It's growing fast. Now is definitely the time to sign up and invite friends.
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A few days ago, I joined a burgeoning community of people who are, for the most part, college age. The community is called Yippykya. This is a high-energy environment
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t is time to clear up a few persistent myths about ants, ant behavior, ant methodologies, and cats. The Cat has studied this extensively over the past several summers, and has come to the following conclusions:
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After rigorous testing, data gathering, event tracking, response analysis, survival studies through 22 months of seismic events, and meticulous observation, we are ready to publish our findings on the Cat Actuated Tremor Predictive Event Engine (CATPEE).
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I had a chance to see High School Musical and its adorable sequel within the last week, and can definitely see why these two wholesome movies have captured the hearts and imaginations of America.
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I can't type today. The Cat wants attention. A LOT of attention. For some cat-only-known reason, The Cat has declared that this Monday is Give Your Full Attention To The Cat Day.
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This is me violating almost every rule in Top Ten Ways to Blog and Bore Your Visitors to Itty Bitty Bits. I'd love to be able to say that The Cat made me do it, but that would be wrong.
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Visitors to Fern's have been noticing significant changes in the past few weeks. As the store itself has taken on its new direction and shape, its definition is taking shape as well, and what is coming into focus has been a surprise for a lot of people.
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We have two of the ugliest orange swivel arm chairs that a human can imagine. I don't recall where we got them but they've been following me around for the past 32 years
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Sometimes a little forgiveness is all one needs to make it through the difficult year markers.
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The full moon is almost upon us, and with its advent comes yet another cycle of The Cat being weird.
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Light-hearted read with tips and things to avoid while you're planning and executing your own blog, whether it's for business or pleasure.
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[This could have been titled "The Cat as Overly Large and Persistent Ceiling Dwelling Spider" except I am too busy cleaning up cold coffee from my lap and keyboard to spell that long a title.]
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If you're a warrior woman, you may recognize yourself within. If you're not and you're female, you may see your future within. A thoughtful and slightly humorous look at the women of this world and social networking.
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The Cat proves her merit in the highly competitive 2007 High Desert Feline Summer Olympics, starting with the challenging Long/High/Broad Jump event.
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A superb collection of high tech gadgetry and toys for giving to your favorite techie, geek, nerd, collectively called 'Geekenfodder' (you can look it up.. it's a good thing)
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Wherein The Cat decides that the early morning darkness is the best time to hunt for invasions and fend off the troops.
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Squidoo provides a resource for getting the word out on almost any topic. Including one of the most highly rated and most popular lenses written to date.
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The Mundanes drive through the first half of the United States, and mishaps abound. Humor and good travel guides to boot.
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What Squidoo has allowed me to do, with much less time and effort, is create a library of lenses (sites) with both niche focus and broad categorization.One of my favorites to work on is focused on Micro-Green - Small Steps to a Greener Environment. I add little bits to it once a day, but the majority of the non-research work was (more...)
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It's Monday at about 2:45 AM (as the event occurs). The Cat is camped out in one of her favorite places, between my keyboard and screen, effectively blocking the lower half and turning the functional portion into less than 640x480. Criminal demotion for a big wide screened iMac. (more... much more...)
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If you're a regular reader of my Fern's blog or any of the others I write, you may have noticed a strange silence on almost all but Totally Cats and What Do YOU Believe, where I have been able to make regular posts. Read on to find out why, and what it means to be Squidoo'd - trust me, it's a Good Thing. Social networking to the MAX.
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Fun compendium of nonexistent words and resources to find REAL words. Instructions for making your own.
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Absolutely free artwork for Squidoo lenses and groups. Not an active lensmaster? Joining is easy and free, and probably will even make you money!
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Small steps to take toward a greener existence. The things we can do on an everyday basis to lower our impact on the environment and even save a bit of money doing so. Everything from the micro steps to the big major serious ones, and quite a few in between. Links to resources and other information .UPDATE: More hints give small steps to take to save energy costs, help recycling, save water, save electricity and save gas.
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Words aren't enough. Watch. Listen. Comment, please.
Labels:
amnesty international,
nelson mandela,
politics
Power napping has been proven to dramatically increase productivity in every echelon of the workforce. pzizz offers the technology, both hardware and softwre, to facilitate great regenerative sleep.
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I just found this way to boost site traffic and thought I'd give it a try. It looks pretty cool... anyone have experience with it?
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This could be titled 50,000 Reasons to Keep a Home Fire Extinguisher Handy. After an evening of tension and worry over fireworks, The Cat prevents a potentially disastrous house fire.
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PopShops has changed my affiliate marketing experience from a struggle to a success. Easy to use and Affordable data feed aggregator handles over 10 million products from over 900 merchants speedily and accurately. Building a PopShop takes minutes, a dramatic time and effort savings over hours of work and research by hand.
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Labels:
affiliate marketing,
niche marketing,
popshops
Small steps to take toward a greener existence. Links to environmental resources and other information. NOW with Daily Micro-Hints.
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It doesn't take much lack of sleep to start racking an enormous sleep debt, at any age. Take the poll and see how your sleep debt may be doing, read some suggestions and cautions
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Old style chrome appliances, formica countertops, stainless steel cabinetry, linoleum - rounded Art Deco lines that harken back to years before the Great Depression - post-WWII period pieces - grace of some decades many of us have only read about.
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Great distress in The Cat's household as a breakdown in communications spells disaster.
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This morning I notice that the rubber-backed throw rug that rests just inside the front door is squooshed up against the wall in strange waves.
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Addicted to reading? Follow one reader's path on her way to author, from childhood to game design.
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Cats, teleportation, and alerts to visitor arrivals. Afghan demolition, fashion-forward guidance, and UPS trucks.
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So there I am, snoozing in the recliner, as I am wont to do at any hour when I'm tired enough to actually get some sleep. Then The Cat objects.
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Compilation of news services and reader polls, opinion seeking and comparison. Updates every 30 minutes, selecting top 7 newswire items from a variety of sources.
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Health news or hype? Real or a party line to excuse lax medical care in care facilities? What do YOU believe?
To quote CNN:
ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- A dangerous, drug-resistant staph germ may be infecting as many as 5 percent of hospital and nursing home patients, according to a comprehensive study.
At least 30,000 U.S. hospital patients may have the superbug at any given time, according to a survey released Monday by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
The estimate is about 10 times the rate that some health officials had previously estimated.
Some federal health officials said they had not seen the study and could not comment on its methodology or its prevalence. But they welcomed added attention to the problem.
"This is a welcome piece of information that emphasizes that this is a huge problem in health care facilities, and more needs to done to prevent it," said Dr. John Jernigan, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At issue is a superbug known as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which cannot be tamed by certain common antibiotics. It is associated with sometimes-horrific skin infections, but it also causes blood infections, pneumonia and other illnesses.
The potentially fatal germ, which is spread by touch, typically thrives in health care settings where people have open wounds. But in recent years, "community-associated" outbreaks have occurred among prisoners, children and athletes, with the germ spreading through skin contact or shared items such as towels.
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Each week we issue a new challenge to state your beliefs on a current subject. Your participation, anonymous or otherwise, is welcome and appreciated.
A gathering of great information about coffee, caffeine, coffee origins, brewing, selecting equipment, decaf. How to select a coffee grinder or mill, and why. Tips for choosing the coffee that's best for you and your impeccable taste. What's on the author's coffee shelf now (and why). A fun read but educational, too.
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Whether cooking in a big kitchen or in a tiny alcove, we all know the truth of things. You can NEVER have too much space or too many places to put things. Same goes for groups of lenses! And that's why Ratings Soup is here. Bring your lens, and get it listed here. Rate some other lenses (please rate at least one for each lens you bring to us).
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Cosmic consciousness, creation legend, truth in history? Pipe dream?
What do you believe?
Calculate your Cool Factor, vote on Cool Factor things, find some stuff to boost your Cool Factor, brag if you want. How much Cool Factor do you have? Heavy on the technology of Cool Factor, both current and retro, including some Vintage Cool Factor.
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Tricks, hints, guidance and secrets for getting a great start with the game of Legends of Karinth, a well-established online roleplaying game. Flexibility and strategy are key to success, with patience a close second. Strong website and a wealth of help files provide a strong basis on which to make your gameplay decisions. Friendly staff!
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Advice and recommendations for new or first-time campers. Articles of interest, places to look for good gear, things to take, things NOT to take. Expert advice and references. Written with the new camper in mind.
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Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Independent, votes for Alfred E Newman every year? Of course there are political parties. What do you believe about them? (Personally, I'm a bit amused...)
Is the United States ready for a woman president? A non-Caucasian president? A Martian? Let's hear it. YOUR beliefs, not what someone else said you have to believe.
Small steps to take toward a greener existence. The things we can do on an everyday basis to lower our impact on the environment and even save a bit of money doing so. Everything from the micro steps to the big major serious ones, and quite a few in between. Links to resources and other information.
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Organizers both electronic and wooden, household and business, mental and physical. Social networking, network resources, books, sites, helpful tools.
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Take these simple steps to determine if the Mac is crashed or just hiccuping. Take advantage of OS X and its nearly bulletproof state.
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Labels:
carbon footprint,
environment,
global warming
The ground rules:
Labels:
economics,
leadership,
politics,
religion,
trends
