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My Adventures in Astrophotography. Edition: 1

It’s definitely harder than it looks. I’ll tell you that.

Anyone can take a photo of the moon, and most people can make it look pretty damn good. But stars…

Stars. They’re hard.

First of all, it’s hard to get them in focus. Some people have methods they use and it works out well for them, like pre-focusing during the day and keeping it there, or they wind the focus all the way out, and wind it back in a tiny bit. I’m not quite sure about it myself. I’ve not found a method I’ve liked, and can produce the results I want, so far.

Anyway, when you do get it focused, you have to make sure you have autofocus off. Otherwise you’ll have a pretty bad time like I did, and have to go through the whole process again.

Small disclosure: I don’t think I actually ever got it fully focused properly.

Next problem with astrophotography:

I’m a pretty stubborn person sometimes, and if I get it stuck in my mind that I want to do something, I pretty much have to go do it.

Therefore, having the need to go take photos of stars, on a cloudy night, is not so good.

That’s right, I got to my location, with my buddy… and it was super cloudy. The weather not surprisingly, plays a very important part in being able to take photos of the night sky.

It needs to be clear, or at the very most, only a little cloudy.

Third problem with astrophotography:

It’s not exactly a problem with the sky this time, it’s more of a problem with the earth’s rotation and orbit of the sun.

In case you’re not aware, we as humans, are racing through space on our little blue rock at approximately 30 kilometres (18.5 miles) per second. That’s pretty fast.

What’s also fast is the speed of Earth’s rotation. At the Equator it’s approximately 1600 kilometres (1000 miles) per hour.

That’s fast enough that if you take an exposure longer than 30 seconds, you’ll see the stars starting to streak across the sky. This creates a problem because generally, at night you need a longer exposure to actually be able to see anything.

This is where your f/stop and ISO come into play. Use them smartly and you’ll be able to take quite a decent picture. You’ll want the f/stop to be as low as possible to let in as much light as it can, and the ISO should be set wherever you can see more stars than noise. Too high and you’ll end up with a lot of grain in the pictures, too dark and you won’t see anything.

And if that’s not enough, you may need to go somewhere darker. Shooting the night sky in a major city is not the best option because of light pollution. I went way way out of town to take my pictures, and it was still too bright.

And, if even that is not enough, and you’ve got a spare couple hundred dollars lying around, you could go and pick up a star tracker. With one of these installed, you can take long exposures until the cows come home and they’ll always look great. (I’ve got one of these on my list of gear to buy!)

Anyway, i’m gonna show you some of my honestly subpar shots from that night. As a reminder of what not to do. You’ll be able to see some in there that are too dark, too cloudy and blurry, and then at least one where I tried light painting.

Until next time!

A little lesson in ISO:

Ok so, you may be wondering,

“What’s this setting marked ‘ISO’ on my DSLR, and why do I need it? It’s set to auto anyway.”

Well young photographer, your ISO setting is more important than you think. I personally never used to take much notice of it, until a friend set me straight.

ISO stands for “International Organisation for Standardisation” (IOS? Hah.)

As per their website:

ISO is an independent, non-governmental international organization with a membership of 162 national standards bodies.

Through its members, it brings together experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market relevant International Standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.

So basically, what the ISO do, is decide the standards to which lots of things adhere. This includes the afore mentioned camera settings.

They’ve decided that a certain level of camera sensor sensitivity shall be called ISO 100, and another level ISO 200, and so on.

Back in the day, these standards were applied to film cameras, and were used to designate film sensitivity. But luckily now that we are in the digital age, we don’t have to use film, and can switch our ISO settings on the fly.

There’s actually a few aspects of the picture that ISO can contribute to.

How much grain is in the photo, and how bright or dark it is.

Generally speaking, the higher your ISO setting, the brighter the picture will be, but the amount of grain will also be prominent.

And of course, the opposite is also true. The lower the ISO, the darker the picture will be, and the less grain you’ll see.

Luckily Wrench has allowed me to take some photos to demonstrate.

wrench ISO difference

These two photos were taken with exactly the same settings, except for the ones listed in the picture.

You can see that the ISO 6400 photo on the left is definitely grainier than the one on the right. However, you’d need a tripod to take a photo of the same brightness on ISO 100, because you’d need to expose the sensor for 5 seconds instead of 1/13th.

Why? Because ISO 100 lets a lot less light in, and as a result, if I took both photos at 1/13th of a second shutter speed, the ISO 100 picture would basically be black.

So there is an advantage to shooting at a higher ISO setting. If you can deal with the grain, you can take very quick photos with a lot less light.

Here’s another closer picture:

wrench ISO difference close

Again, look at the amount of detail you lose in the ISO 6400 shot. But also look at how long the sensor was exposed compared to the bottom picture. Quite a difference.

You’d need a very very steady hand to take the bottom picture unless you were carrying a tripod around.

And that about covers my current knowledge of ISO and the like. It is a super important and occasionally powerful setting.

Until next post~!

The Gear can only take you so far, is what I hear.

Oh yes. Apparently lots of skill is needed, but that’s still to come.

In this post, I want to show you what my camera kit looks like. It’s nothing overly fancy, although nor is it cheap.

(It can be though! There are some nice cameras out there for half of what I paid for my first camera)

Anyway, here we go.

These are the important parts of the whole collection.

In cameras, we have:

  • A Canon EOS Rebel T3i (Which is the American name, here in Australia, they’re called a “600D”)
  • A Nikon Coolpix P900
  • A GoPro Hero 4 Black
  • A GoPro Hero 5 Black

And in lenses, there are:

  • A Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, that came with the T3i when i bought it
  • A Canon 100mm macro lens
  • A 18-55mm standard SLR lens. (Also for the Canon.)

I love all of these cameras, and they can basically do everything I need if i’m creative about how I structure my time.

Here’s a few more photos just in case you wanted to see:

Canon EOS Rebel T3i

This is the EOS Rebel T3i, or just T3i for short. I’m quite proud of the fact that you cannot buy these in Australia, and I feel unique because of it.

It’s a great first DSLR for anyone wanting to jump right into quality photography. I even managed to take a few good photos of squirrels in Manhattan when I first got it.

There’s a nice movable screen, so you can use it “selfie mode” if you wish, it can take great video, and if you wanna blast some photos, it can take around 4 per second. Good for sport.

It’s a nice, cheapish little camera, not overly remarkable, but i’ve had it for about 6 years now and it ages well.

Nikon Coolpix P900

Now this one is a very interesting item indeed. The Nikon Coolpix P900.

The first thing you may notice is that most of the camera is a lens. You’re quite right.

It’s not a DSLR, it’s basically a normal point and shoot camera on steroids. This thing has 83x Optical zoom, and another 2 layers of digital zoom which basically ends up being the equivalent of a 2000mm SLR lens.

That’s insane! And exactly the reason why I bought this camera. For a small price to pay in quality, you can get yourself a massive amount of zoom.

You can see craters on the moon! It’s that good that the atmosphere can even affect how good of a photo you can take.

To get yourself an equivalent setup on a proper DSLR, it would cost you somewhere in the vicinity of $30,000. Yes, that’s thirty thousand. And mostly for the lens.

Eh, everyone knows what GoPros look like nowadays. Everyone knows what they’re for.

Usually some guy snowboarding down a hectic slope, or on a powerboat in the bay. It’s pretty cool.

The only issue I find, is that they seem to be too expensive. I mean, it’s a miracle of technology that they’re able to fit that much tech in such a little box, but I have seen some other action cams cheaper.

Regardless, I still love them, and will cherish them always. I just hope I don’t lose one.

Ok, that’ll do for now. I just wanted to get that out of the way so we can all be on the same page about what gadgets I use.

Until next post!

Ok, so here’s the skinny.

I like taking photos. I like shooting video.

A loooong time ago, way back in the year of 2011, I became the owner of a DLSR. A fine one at that. And as of about a month ago, i’ve decided that I want to be able to use it better. Which right now, seems a little hard. There’s so many nuances and rules to keep track of. So many people telling me their little tricks and guides.

So that’s what inspired me to create this blog. A place where I can record all my findings in the world of photo and videography. Hopefully as a guide to similar newcomers later on.

I know, I know, it’s a totally overused concept, and blah blah blah. Whatever.

I feel like i’m going to like this anyway!


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Discount Code for My Newly Released Vambéry Book

by Dr. David Mandler

My book entitled Arminius Vambéry and the British Empire: Between East and West was released on July 22nd, 2016. If you’d like to purchase a copy, please note that a discount coupon for 30% is available. In addition, it would be wonderful if you circulated the flyer about my book (see below) amongst your friends and acquaintances who may be interested in identity politics, Orientalism, Jewish identity, Zionism, and Hungarian identity framed by Victorian culture etc. Your suggesting the book to your local library via email for purchase would also be wonderful.

You may order the book directly from the publisher’s website with 30% discount:

The code you need to enter for the 30% discount is LEX30AUTH16.

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Race Ramps™ @ DSG Performance.com! Catering to the DIY and Weekend Warriors Near You!

No lift? No problem! We get that a lot of our customers like to work on their own cars, and so do we. Nothing is more exciting than standing back after a few hours of hard work and feeling that sense of accomplishment. With Race Ramps you get to lift your car either 8 or 10″ off the ground SAFELY when using a combination of parts listed below. No matter what you’re doing, if you’re doing it yourself these are going to help.

Click here for the full post…

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Little rant I guess!!!

Its 2:15am Sunday morning, the world outside is silent what would normally be a vibrant office environment now rests in peace, poised on the edge of tomorrow. I love the tranquility and isolation this time of night brings.
I am trying out my new toy, I bought a Google nexus 7, torn between this and the iPad. I am starting to get a little fed up with Apple and the controlling nature of there products. It took me over 3 hours last week to do add a CD to my iTunes and sync it to my iPhone so as to be able to play it in the car.
Its crazy that such a simple task should prove so troublesome, iTunes asked to copy the CD, I agreed and it should have been that simple, however iTunes then placed each track as a separate item in my library. One CD created 13 new items and not one album, I then had to search the internet to figure how to put the tracks into an album…… to discover I needed to go into each track and change some things!
I am no expert but its seems mad to me, that it won’t just copy one CD.
I also bought some music from iTunes, paying comparably the retail price of the CD, to later discover that even though I have paid for the music, I don’t actually own it, like I would do a CD.
So I buy the files but they are not mine, I pay retail price but don’t really get anything for it!!! I CD you have a physical product, via iTunes store you have a file you don’t own. Plus again it has to be cheaper to send a file than make a CD, so why do I have to pay full price?

They wonder why there are so many illegal downloads out there, I don’t mind paying for music, films and books, I just hate feeling like I am being ripped off!

I have an iPhone, but again they are so over priced, £500 pounds plus for a new one, which apple controls. There is no way it costs near that to make, given they use cheap labour factory’s to make these things!!! Pay pence an hour for labour, and cream off millions by ripping us off!!!!

While I am on the subject another thing I noticed is how when a new Apple product comes out……..suddenly the older ones slow down, develop problems! My old iPhone 3GS suddenly got slow, started lagging as the iPhone 4 came out! My iPhone 4s seems to be using the battery twice as fast over the last week or so…….strangely in time for the launch of the iPhone 5…….. coincidence or clever ploy on Apples part to once more force our hand, get more cash out of our pockets???!

OK so this post kind of turned into a rant…….I was just seeing how this tablet works with WordPress and got a little carried away!!!!

Owwwww and another thing Apple fell out with Google, so that took my Google maps away and you tube replacing maps with imaps that don’t even work half as well!
Type Doncaster into imaps and see what it comes up with!!!!!

~ by Duma Key on September 23, 2012.

4 Responses to “Little rant I guess!!!”

  1. Welcome to the world of illusion.. for that is what it all is.. we are here to buy~to work and plough back those earnings into the system of Control..Once you get to see the Bigger picture you understand that your assumptions are correct..
    I deleted iTunes from my computer.. unfortunately at every turn we are being watched via our actions as we click here and click there .. YouTube is a prime example.. as it sees what type of Video I watch in my YouTube account it presents me with similar subjects I may be interested in watching.. Yes we are all of us cogs … But we all of us keep buying! … in a world of gadgets that without the Power of Electric would be useless..

    Now there’s a thought! I wonder what we would all do without our gadgets and which one would we miss the most.. ???

    • We do seem to rely on our gadgets and toys too much these days. I find myself more and more dependent on things, so much so my phone creates a hotspot from which I can connect my laptop, tablet, vita etc to the internet and be online in seconds no matter where I am. At all hours I get work e-mail, no longer just when I log on at my desk…… it eats away at my free time and my mind!
      We seem to be getting tracked more and more on what we do online, 1984 by George Orwell springs rapidly to mind at this point…… laws snook in under the banner of anti terrorism……. and more and more controls are placed on the internet!!! Info is shared……for example I have a land line, I only use for my broadband, I don’t even know the telephone number…….I requested my number not be in a directory yet suddenly I get sales calls…… I never even use the line……. same with my personal mobile number, I never give it out sticking to my work mobile yet again I get texts and calls from people trying to sell me things or ask about the accident I never had……. how do they get this info????? I have asked, complained and yet no one can answer!!!! Freedom is an illusion we simply sit as puppets…… controlled and manipulated by a system that’s lost touch with itself………I often think Marx was right in his works but not his conclusion…….the rise will come but it won’t be as he predicted………unrest grows I see it in my work, I read it in the words and my not so good side feels and sees it on the streets!

      • Yes your intuition is reading the climate, but you know you need space! Freedom from Gadgets… Ive had a bout of flu you may laugh as I had not long ago said I think to yourself that I hadn’t been ill in over 4 yrs, my hubby thinks its even longer than that.. While I felt so ill I decided I couldn’t concentrate on the Pc and didnt want to feel the pressure of even answering comments so I altered my comments to publish themselves and that commenter’s needed to be logged into WP, which cut out a load of Spammers, I get hundreds,,, And yes my Spam box in my private email is getting far more Spam..

        The thing Im trying to get at is we feel under pressure so often to perform, to be the top of our Game.. I know from my previous Job How I worked my way UP the Ladder until a nervous break-down took its toll..
        We have to create ME Time.. with out Gadgets..
        Sooo I enjoy walking and I enjoy painting.. so while I was Ill I painted I just sat and lost myself for a whole day.. and its wonderfully refreshing to the spirit..
        No wonder you cannot sleep, you need to cut off from your work.
        I gave my job my all and was gutted to the core to find I was just a number like any one else when they closed our place down and sent the work over-seas.. and was doubly gutted to know I had helped create the training for over-seas standards too.
        But thats Life.. in the PROFIT World ..
        Im now in the world of people and CAREing where People come first.. and its a great feeling to be part of..

        Yes we are all puppets in this world of Illusion, but we can cut the strings if we want too. 😉

  2. I am technically challenged and even my 9 year old knows how to do itunes on her Ipod and I have no clue….I just like to text and take pictures on my phone….I am so easily pleased that way….yea…I am no help on this blog….so will just wave and hope you are feeling better these days

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Too much hate……the green eyed monster!

There is way too much hate in the world today, everywhere I look, someone hates something or someone!

Hate, like a little green monster, sucking out the fabric of reality, feeding on our very existence.

It consumes us, we forget who or what we are, it bends the rules driving even the most sane insane!

It’s hard to fight, when it hurts, that real biting internal pain, it’s easy to focus the mind on the pain, to invite the hate in…..to feed it, let it fester and for a while it works….but that’s the trap….like a drug…..it becomes addictive…..and draws the very life from your lips!

I had my own personal battle with hate, may be I had reason, may be I didn’t, may be I just wanted that hate, to fill the empty space!

That pain f@cking hurts and hate like a leach smells the blood…..draws itself, like a faulse God, offering promises it can never fulfill.

I had to fight hard to get through that cloud, I didn’t want to tarnish all those good times, I didn’t want to bleed myself dry……but I had to fight this one, hard and fast…..and it hurt like nothing I ever felt before!

Nothing kills that pain, that deep internal pain, the mind f@ck!

Somehow I pushed through it, like I just pushed through a 10 mile run, in the wind, rain and bitter winter cold……because I want to be better at being me!

I used to stain every heart that I used to heal the pain……

Now I want to kind of heal the hearts!

She was my defining moment, a girl I saw but refused to see, I wanted that happy family, the children that life……I wanted her……and every moment I spent (always borrowed time) with her and those amazing children…..was like catching diamonds in the rain!

Those moments, that time, lost now in old photos, memorabilia I keep in a tin, were defining moments in my life!

How could I let hate destroy that? So I let it destroy me…..to rebuild myself and become more than a shadow!

Sometimes memory slips like water from my eyes, but I stand more than a shadow but not a full whole!

I hope that time bounced her path, and sometimes I imagine catching a glimps of there happy ever after……that story needs a happy ever after!

Even if  I stand a shadow as time swallows me….that will always be a defining time……

Hate……not a part of who I am today, no right or wrong between our time……but I am glad I got to share a small part of it!

Like I said, too much hate in this world…..and I have no plans to add to it!

~ by Duma Key on November 29, 2015.

3 Responses to “Too much hate……the green eyed monster! ”

  1. With events over the past few weeks…in Paris….here today in California…another mass shooting…there is too much hate…way too much…I cant imagine feeling that kind of hate in my heart….it takes away all beauty that each moment of life surrounds you with…I think you were right to say you would not add to the hate…we really should only look in front of us and not back…open our hearts…coz you are right….too much hate in this world….big hugs

    • Just got so crazy, it seems we want to answer this horror with more violence, no matter how many bombs we drop, not matter how many lives are lost, we will never gain ground this way! History shows us, time and time again violence never solves violence. Very disappointed with the UK’s “elected” government deciding to bomb Syria how many more innocent life’s have to be lost? Who are the terrorist’s ……spin it round…..innocent life’s still lost on both sides of the coin! And why are people buying oil from these extreme groups? Crazy crazy world, though I wish I had my own children ….in a sad way I am kind of glad I don’t …..because what are we leaving for those children !

  2. Hi Duma..
    sometimes we and the world have to experience the hate, and heart-ache.. You battled through and saw how that hate was destroying you.. And you picked yourself up and saw a better way.. a more peaceful way, a way which embraced love, kindness, and forgiveness… even if sometimes the last of us to forgive is ourselves..

    I know the journey you have been on.. And the world is also upon a journey.. struggling through the emotional bodies that are so confused and fearful right now.. That they lash out in anger, hatred, and prejudices Seeing themselves separate and self important..

    I have said it before.. It always appears darkest before the Dawn Light.. and that darkness may appear to be upon us.. But it is the lightness of Compassion that will spring up and warm hearts and bring unity.. Have faith in the Plan.. for their is one, even though it appears chaotic.

    Wishing you and yours a wonderful Christmas Duma.. Enjoy your togetherness of family and friends and loved ones.. Enjoy your NOW of Moments.. as you learn that the past brought you to the Present.. The best Gift there is.. So live in thankfulness for that girl who didn’t see you for who you were.. It was her loss, Your gain for it made you who you are today..

    Love and Blessings

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Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome: anesthetic implications in the obstetric patient:

Anaesthetic management of a parturient with the postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome: a case report:

Preoperative considerations in a patient with orthostatic intolerance syndrome:

Autonomic dysfunction – anaesthetic management

Abnormal baroreflex responses in patients with idiopathic orthostatic intolerance:

Baroreflex control of muscle sympathetic nerve activity in postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome:

Catecholamine-related molecules and disorders:

The broader view: catecholamine abnormalities:

Endothelial NO Synthase Polymorphisms and Postural Tachycardia Syndrome:;jsessionid=LnhQwG11yV0fKLVmTywMzWdZLQfyhxRq1HLnJ9

Chiari malformation/spinal cord involvement

Watch a presentation by physicians at The Chiari Institute and NIH as they discuss the
possible connection between POTS, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and Chiari Malformation:
(click on the Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation link)

Chiari 1 malformation redefined: Clinical and radiographic findings for 364 symptomatic patients:

Cerebral syncope in a patient with spinal cord injury:

Chiari Malformation:

Chiari, fibromyalgia, gastrointestinal problems, gulf war syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivities/environmental illness, orthostatic intolerance:

Sinus arrhythmia and pupil size in Chiari I malformation: evidence of autonomic dysfunction:

The Chiari Institute:

Autonomic nervous system disorders in 230 cases of basilar impression and arnold-chiari deformity:

Chiari I malformation as a cause of orthostatic intolerance symptoms: a media myth?

No increased herniation of the cerebellar tonsils in a group of patients with orthostatic intolerance:

Orthostatic intolerance and syncope associated with Chiari type I malformation:

Orthostatic hypotension following spinal cord injury: understanding clinical pathophysiology:

Chronic fatigue syndrome

Curious clue to chronic fatigue syndrome:

The importance of orthostatic intolerance in the chronic fatigue syndrome:

MEDLINEplus health information on chronic fatigue syndrome:

Chronic fatigue syndrome: A hypothesis focusing on the autonomic nervous system:

Dental Considerations

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome: Dental Treatment Considerations by John K. Brooks, DDS; Laurie A. P. Francis, RDH:

Diabetes and autonomic neuropathy

Chronic administration of pharmacologic doses of vitamin E improves the cardiac autonomic nervous system in patients with type 2 diabetes:

Value of scintigraphy using meta-iodo-benzyl-guanidine (MIBG) in the investigation of cardiac autonomic neuropathy in diabetic patients. Comparison with Ewing tests:

Abnormal cardiovascular reflexes in juvenile diabetics as preclinical signs of autonomic neuropathy:

Response of the autonomous nervous system of the heart in diabetes mellitus:

MEDLINEplus health information on diabetes:

Blood volume perturbations in the postural tachycardia syndrome:

Quality of life in patients with postural tachycardia syndrome:

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (Joint Hypermobility Syndrome)

Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. University of Washington, Seattle:

eMedicine Journal, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome:

Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation:

Dysautonomia News Winter 2003

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, classical type:

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type:

Joint hypermobility syndrome: a complex constellation of symptoms:

Connective tissue disorders with spontaneous spinal cerebrospinal fluid leaks and intracranial
hypotension: a prospective study:

Association Between Joint Hypermobility Syndrome and Panic Disorder:

Is joint hypermobility related to anxiety in a nonclinical population also?

Neurological manifestations of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome:;year=2005;volume=53;issue=3;spage=339;epage=341;aulast=Mathew

Your eyes and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome:

Management and treatment of ME: (This site shows the negative effects of exercise on a myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome dysfunctional brain)

The prevalence and significance of post-exercise (postural) hypotension in ultramarathon runners:

Vasovagal syncope and related disorders:

Certain cardiovascular indices predict syncope in the postural tachycardia syndrome:

Discovering the cause of syncope: A guide to the focused evaluation:

Fibromyalgia links page:

Our FM/CFS world:

National Fibromyalgia Research Association:

MEDLINEplus health information on fibromyalgia:

Elusive syndromes: Treating the biologic basis of fibromyalgia and related syndromes:

A novel holistic explanation for the fibromyalgia enigma: autonomic nervous system dysfunction:

Influence of the menstrual cycle on sympathetic activity, baroreflex sensitivity, and vascular
transduction in young women:

Hypovolemia in syncope and orthostatic intolerance role of the renin-angiotensin system:

Is this patient hypovolemic?

Idiopathic hypovolemia: a self perpetuating autonomic dysfunction?

Partial lipodystrophy in a boy:

Lipodystrophy, generalized:

Erythrocyte magnesium in symptomatic patients with primary mitral valve prolapse: relationship to symptoms, mitral leaflet thickness, joint hypermobility and autonomic regulation:

Cardiovascular consequences of magnesium deficiency and loss: pathogenesis, prevalence and manifestations. Magnesium and chloride loss in refractory potassium repletion:

Magnesium and therapeutics:

Magnesium deficiency in the pathogenesis of mitral valve prolapse:

Review and hypothesis: Might patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome have latent tetany
of magnesium deficiency:

The magnesium web site – Links to over 300 articles discussing magnesium and magnesium

Web Site for Cardiovascular and Autonomic Pharmacology:

Drug protects against nervous system failure:

Treatment of orthostatic hypotension with erythropoietin:

Effects of long-term clonidine administration on the hemodynamic and neuroendocrine postural
responses of patients with dysautonomia:

Cardiac vagal response to water ingestion in normal human subjects:

Medicinal uses of licorice through the millennia: the good and plenty of it:

Licorice root. A natural sweetener and an important ingredient in Chinese medicine:×1189.pdf

Licking latency with licorice root:

Adverse drug reactions related to drugs used in orthostatic hypotension: a prospective and systematic pharmacovigilance study in France:

Mitochondrial disease and dysautonomia

Mitochondrial cytopathy in adults: what we know so far:

Mitochondrial encephalomyopathies presenting with features of autonomic and visceral dysfunction:

A case of mitochondrial encephalomyopathy with peripheral neuropathy and autonomic symptoms:

Neurologic presentations of mitochondrial disorders

Dysautonomia News Spring 2003

Mitral valve prolapse

Mitral valve prolapse:

The phenomenon of dysautonomia and mitral valve prolapse:

Exercise response in young women with mitral valve prolapse:

Multiple system atrophy/shy-drager syndrome

SDS/MSA support group:

Web site full of links to other sites about MSA/SDS:

Norepinephrine transporter

Genetic or acquired deficits in the norepinephrine transporter: current understanding of clinical

Orthostatic intolerance is not necessarily related to a specific mutation (Ala457Pro) in the human norepinephrine transporter gene:

Phenotypical evidence for a gender difference in cardiac norepinephrine transporter function:

The Nutcracker phenomenon

Does severe nutcracker phenomenon cause pediatric chronic fatigue?

Nutcracker phenomenon demonstrated by three-dimensional computed tomography:

Diagnosis of the nutcracker phenomenon using two-dimensional ultrasonography:

Magnetic resonance angiography in nutcracker phenomenon:

An effective “transluminal balloon angioplasty” for pediatric chronic fatigue syndrome with nutcracker phenomenon:

Nutcracker phenomenon treated with left renal vein transposition: a case report:

The nutcracker syndrome: its role in the pelvic venous disorders:

Quality of life in patients with postural tachycardia syndrome:

Impaired autonomic function is associated with increased morality, especially in subjects with diabetes, hypertension, or a history of cardiovascular disease: The Hoorn study:

Orthostatic hypotension in organic dementia: relationship between blood pressure, cortical blood flow and symptoms:

Neurocardiovascular instability, hypotensive episodes, and MRI lesions in neurodegenerative dementia:

Orthostatic hypotension in Alzheimer’s disease: result or cause of brain dysfunction?

Orthostatic hypotension as a risk factor for stroke:

Orthostatic hypotension

Treatment of orthostatic hypotension:

Orthostatic hypotension:

Cardiovascular Causes of Falls by Brian J. Carey and John F. Potter:

Orthostatic Hypotension by Bradley JG, Davis KA.

Evaluation of orthostatic hypotension: relationship of a new self-report instrument to laboratory-based measures by Schrezenmaier C, Gehrking JA, Hines SM, Low PA, Benrud-Larson LM, Sandroni P:

Characteristics of 100 consecutive patients presenting with orthostatic
hypotension by Ejaz AA, Haley WE, Wasiluk A, Meschia JF, Fitzpatrick PM:

Paraneoplastic syndromes

Neurological paraneoplastic syndromes producing weakness or sensory loss:

Reversible paraneoplastic encephalomyelitis associated with a benign ovarian teratoma:

Paraneoplastic autonomic neuropathy:

Immunological and endocrinological abnormalities in paraneoplastic disorders with involvement of the autonomic nervous system:

Biochemical diagnosis of pheochromocytoma:

Pheochromocytoma support site: (with lots of links)

MEDLINEplus health information on pheochromocytoma:

Germ-line mutations in nonsyndromic pheochromocytoma:

Diagnosis and management of porphyria:

Porphyria web links:

Merck manual: porphyrias:

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome/orthostatic intolerance

Medscape: Postural Tachycardia Syndrome:

Postural tachycardia syndrome:

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome: the Mayo clinic experience.

The Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS): Pathophysiology, Diagnosis & Management

Orthostatic intolerance: an overview:

Orthostatic intolerance:

A review of the classification, diagnosis, and management of autonomic dysfunction syndromes associated with orthostatic intolerance:

Clinical disorders of the autonomic nervous system associated with orthostatic intolerance: an overview of classification, clinical evaluation and management:

The neuropathic postural tachycardia syndrome:

Evidence of an intrinsic sinus node abnormality in patients with postural tachycardia syndrome:

Hereditary dysautonomias: Current knowledge and collaborations for the future:
Oct 3, 2002
Oct. 4 2002

Effects of head-up tilting on baroreceptor control in subjects with different tolerances to orthostatic stress:

Vascular perturbations in the chronic orthostatic intolerance of the postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome:

American Autonomic Society: (be sure to visit the autonomic news section for information on the latest research)

Postural tachycardia syndrome and anxiety disorders:

Postpartum Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome in a Patient with the Joint Hypermobility Syndrome:

Outcomes of pregnancy in patients with preexisting postural tachycardia syndrome:

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome: anesthetic implications in the obstetric patient:

Anaesthetic management of a parturient with the postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome: a case report:

Research Studies

DINET studies page:

NDRF clinical research page:

Sleep information links:

Sleep-disordered breathing and hypotension:

12 More Pages:

STARS US (Syncope Trust and Reflex Anoxic Seizures)

STARS – syncope trust and reflex anoxic seizures:

Pediatric Network

Pheochromocytoma support site: (with lots of links)

National Dysautonomia Research Foundation:

Dysautonomia Youth Network of America (DYNA) (devoted to youth with dysautonomia)

American Syringomyelia Alliance Project, Inc.:

NINDS syringomyelia information page:

Postural tachycardia syndrome in syringomyelia: response to fludrocortisone and beta-blockers:

Involvement of the autonomic nervous system in patients with syringomyelia – a study with the sympathetic skin response:

Hyperhidrosis as the presenting symptom in post-traumatic syringomyelgia: (hyperhidrosis is excessive sweating)

Cardiovascular reflexes in syringomyelia:

MEDLINEplus health information on syringomyelia:

Assessment: Clinical Autonomic Testing

Testing the autonomic nervous system:

Head-upright tilt table testing: A safe and easy way to assess neurocardiogenic syncope:

The fainting patient: value of the head-upright tilt-table test in adult patients with orthostatic intolerance:

The Dysautonomia Information Network presents the first full length documentary about Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome.
Click here to order your copy of “Changes: Living with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome” today.

POTS – Mayo Clinic:

POTS syndrome – Mayo Clinic:

The Woman who Kept Falling Down – Mystery Diagnosis – Part 1:

The Woman who Kept Falling Down – Mystery Diagnosis – Part 2:

The Woman who Kept Falling Down – Mystery Diagnosis – Part 3:


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Nature Journal Methods

My kids and I have been successful nature journalers for several years now, but before that we spent even more years as unsuccessful nature journalers. Every year I would start out with good intentions and brand new nature journals with crisp, white pages. And by the end of every year, two or three of those pages would have a carelessly drawn something or other, lots of dirt smudges, a few ripped pages and a whole lot of blank (not so crisp) pages!

Eventually I realized that I had a very narrow view of what a nature journal was– this beautiful book, with beautiful pictures and notes that were completed OUTSIDE in nature. When I say it that way you probably just realized how ridiculous this sounds– for most people (especially people with people under the age of, say, 14 in their party) “beautiful pictures” and “completed outdoor” are not words that fit together. Journals get dropped in the mud and dirty, people get cold and impatient, rain storms kick up splattering paper and people with water and mud….

There had to be a better way, and I intended to find it. And so I did; these six methods are the methods my kids and I have been using at various different time (never all six at the same time) for the past 4 years with great success! And, as I got more and more into my research, I found that these six methods make up many of the most common scientific research methods. Methods that have been used for centuries, by everyone from Leonardo DeVinci to Jane Goodall!

To Learn more about Each Nature Journal Method, Click on the Link Below the Pictures.  The Link will take you to a post with helpful information about that method.

Personal Field Guide                      Field Notes                       Phenology Calendar

Species Catalog                               Species Account                Life List


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Word of the Day - for Toastmasters everywhere
Tuesday 20th February 2018
Archive | Previous word | Today's word |

succumb (verb) su-KUM

Give in or give way to temptation or pressure; yield; die from something.

If you succumb, go for fresh strawberries, fruit salad or, at the outside, a fruit crumble (all without cream, of course!)
Lizzie Webb, Total Health and Fitness. Amazon

The show does succumb to that Cirque du Soleil tendency to dress up the acts with a song and a dance when the skill and athleticism require no distraction, and the women are mostly decoration, apart from the duo who juggle tables with their feet.
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian, 21 January 2008. Guardian

Then standing in the heat and chaos, listening to the bang of the fireworks, watching the 'guy' succumb to the flames.
Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 4 November 2007. Web Page Name

At Auschwitz, he watched his father slowly succumb to dysentery before the SS beat him to within an inch of his life.
Rachel Donadio, The New York Times, 20 January 2008. New York Times

That night, as my father’s healthy snores rumbled in the bed next to mine and my grandmother wandered in and out of the bathroom, I considered both the nothingness to which we would all eventually succumb and its very opposite, the backside of Tahnee Welch partly shrouded in a pair of white shorts.

Gary Shteyngart, The New Yorker, 11 July 2007. The New Yorker

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Top 10 things to Eat, See and Do in Venice!

Out of our whole trip to Italy, even in the winter, Tim’s favorite city was Venice. He says it just barely edged out Florence (my personal favorite), but future vacation homes may have been brought up by him in conversation. In this post I am going into all the details of our 2.5 days in this beautiful and unique city. While some on my list of 10 are an absolute must on anyone’s list, others are experiences we enjoyed. I also have some places to see that we missed out on… but that just means we have to go back again!

Venice was surprisingly busy (to us) this time of year. After chatting with my cousin in Milan, we learned our preconceived thoughts of a deserted winter city were false and expected just as much hustle and bustle as other times of the year. We arrived in the late afternoon when it was already getting dark (see pictures of both sides of the bridge in front of the station). While there are no cars at all in Venice (SO awesome) due to all of the canals, there are no direct routes for walking so large water taxis are the only other way around. We took forever to figure out which direction to go on for the water taxi with our luggage and so, decided we’d be traveling by foot the rest of the time here!

We arrived at the NH Collection Venezia Pallazzo Barocci, which we loved even more than the one in Milan! It was situated right on the grand canal (you can see the reflection of the water in the picture below) near the famous Rialto bridge. Upon arrival we were greeted with glasses of prosecco and an amazingly helpful overview of Venice with plenty of notes on a map. They also made a reservation for us for dinner nearby.

When you look at the maps in Venice, it seems as if things are so far away, but in reality the streets are so short that you get everywhere in minutes. We left the hotel and were only walking for a few minutes when we made it to the bridge. There were Christmas lights strung across every street, ally, square and canal – I absolutely loved it!

(#1) The Rialto bridge is a must see tourist attraction in Venice no matter what travel blog or list you are looking at. The lights made it seem a tad less touristy and more beautiful. Then, we took a turn and were already by the restaurant!

(#2) Osteria Bancogiro is the second must on our trip.

The restaurant was lined up next to several others and we checked out their menus, too. Any of them would have been amazing but we were thrilled with the ambiance, the wine, and the food at Osteria Bancogiro. You can see the Montepulciano we shared in the picture below with the chestnut tagliatelle that we shared. It was topped with cuttlefish and an oily sauce.

We also shared this branzino, topped with chickpea purée before being baked; it was delicious and had a phenomenal texture. The shot glass was filled with a mediterannean sauce that they said was a puree of tuna and tomato, essentially to have withthe fish and that delicious roasted artichoke heart.

(#3) Do what the locals do.

Afterwards we walked around and saw a large group and heard a lot of Italian chatter that we couldn’t understand, so we walked over to the square the noise was coming from. There was a kiosk-looking bar to order drinks at (yes outside in the less than 30 degree weather). So we stopped and I had a glass of prosecco and Tim a beer for about 5 euro total and sipped among a crowd of people out for the night. Around the corner a few steps away was a canal – we were imagining how it must be even better in the summer in that spot when it isn’t 25 degrees out!

We walked around a bit more and stopped in for one last drink at Cafe Brasilia. It was quite unique and a good place to stop for a non-traditional Italian drink such as a Guinness or margarita if you’re craving a break from Italy… but who would ever not want to be in traditional Italy? Because of this, Cafe Brasilia is fun, but not an absolute must in my book if you are on a short trip.

We woke up the next day ready to explore, but needed some fuel. We walked out the front of the hotel to this beautiful view!

We fueled the long day of walking at El Cafe where I had some eggs, fruit and toast with an espresso and as you can see tim enjoyed a chocolate croissant and a chocolate crepe. It was vacation so, let’s give him a break :). Unfortunately, they missed the “we don’t eat pork” memo and some prosciutto ended up on my plate. I would still go back, preferably in the summer so that we could sit outside! The only reason I don’t have El Cafe on my top 10 list, is because there’s another place mentioned below we apparently should have eaten at! It was just a further walk than we wanted before we really headed out for the day.

After breakfast we stopped back at the hotel to really get ready for the day. When we headed back out, we passed by many squares with leaning towers like this and past canal after canal and a smaller, beautiful church on our way to St. Mark’s square.

(#4) Visit St. Mark’s Square

I couldn’t even capture everything in this large space at St. Mark’s Square with my camera. We were in awe of how much amazing architecture there was in the 360 degrees around us that it was hard to focus on just one building or view at a time.

Also, we apparently should have eaten at Cafe Florian there! Since I didn’t, I am not going to officially put it on the list for you, but I plan to make it there someday.

(#5) Walk along the southern part of the Grand Canal,and walk from the west all the way east

When we turned the corner from St. Mark’s Square though, we were by the outlet of  the grand canal with amazing views and among many local vendors.

After lots of walking by the water with such unique and gorgeous sites we finally weaved back into the more “landlocked” part of Venice if you can even call it that.

We then realized hunger was building, we hadn’t made lunch plans despite Tims large spreadsheet of what to do and where to eat, but we knew we wanted some Napoli style pizza sooner rather than later on this trip! Thankfully we were outside another restaurant that I was able to pick up wifi from and we saw that the only Napoli pizza in Venice was less than a half mile away!

(#6) Eat Napoli Pizza at Rossopomodoro

We walked over, waited about 10 minutes before being seated, and were super satisfied with everything Rossopomodoro had to offer (even the 90’s N’Sync and Britney Spears CD’s playing for music).

This is still the second best pizza I’ve ever had (more on the best ever in my Florence recap). With the best ever wheat crust, an amazing tomato sauce and that garlic, fresh basil, and high quality olive oil, how could I not eat the whole thing? Well, I probably should have listened better to my hunger cues and stopped because I had salad first. With all of our walking though, and hardly any snacking, I think I actually lost weight in Italy. While I haven’t stepped on a scale in over 6 months, I certainly felt more lean. And yes, that was with pizza or pasta everyday, sometimes both. Anyway, Tim really enjoyed the olives here, too.

As you can see on the menu, this restaurant supports the slow food Movement! I continued to see this logo on many other restaurant menus on our trip, and can only hope we hop on to this trend in the us more, too. While we skipped it at this meal, they also have wine without sulfites, in case that is something you react to.

From lunch we walked a lot (more than Tim may have loved), past an old naval area and fort and to what is known as the “Jewish Ghetto”.

(#7) Walk through and eat in the “Jewish Ghetto”

This is where all Jews were required to live in the area until Napolean said otherwise. It is still a place where many Jewish bakeries are and if we had more time in this city, I would have come back to one of them the next morning! This was also the busiest area we walked through other than St. Mark’s Square with plenty of cultural stores and some restaurants. IMG_1099IMG_1102

After a long walk back we totally crashed for about an hour at the hotel, and then did some hopping around for “dinner”. First, though, we passed over the bridge and walked by the Gallerie dell’ Accademia and the to the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute (more on that later) for some beautiful night views looking the other way across the outlet of the Grand Canal. Somewhere near Campo de Sant Agnese’ we stopped to eat.

(#8) Eat at a Restaurant with a Handwritten Menu

Really, this is a must for anywhere in Italy, but it really stood out to us in Venice. While we loved everything we ate this night, part of me still wishes we hadn’t stopped for snacks at the first place and just had a full dinner at Al Vecio Marangon.

We shared a purred mushroom and vegetable soup at Baba which was to die for. We also enjoyed sautéed carrots, green beans and cabbage alongside a small green salad. We are lucky this is what we actually got as this is likely the restaurant where we had the biggest language barrier!

From there, we walked around and the restaurant we wanted to go to was closed for the season. So, after exploring on this part of Venice, we went back to the tiny restaurant we saw with a piece of paper stuck to the window that had a menu written in marker. It was Al Vecio Marangon. We waited for a seat in the teeny room and wound up at a table for six, seated between two other couples. There was a large group of Italians taking up the remainder of the restaurant eating course after course of food! Since we’d already eaten a bit, I just ordered a vegetable antipasto platter, and Tim eggplant parm.

I know that sounds boring, but the flavor and texture of the veggies were amazing and the eggplant parm was the freshest Tim has ever had. The cultural experience of it all was the icing on the cake (or the sauce on the pasta?) and I highly recommend this place to anyone.

FullSizeRender (1)

I ended the meal with a  decaf espresso as Tim finished wine and they brought us some Italian cookies to top it off. While I don’t wear my fitbit much, I did on this trip just for curiosities sake. We were well above 30k steps and I can’t even remember how many floors with all of the bridges we walked over. Needless to say, we were exhausted and headed to bed so we would be energized for the next day. FullSizeRender (2)

I had packed emergency food of course, so in the room I had a small portion of oats with some PB and hemp seeds for breakfast before we headed out to see the area we’d walked in the night before in daylight.

It was beautiful! Here is the cool bridge you’ll cross to get to this part of Venice. It is where I spotted the Christmas tree in the distance the night before.

(#9) Walk around the Basilica di Santa Maria Della Salute

This area was beautiful and at the tip past the Basilica you had a different view of the area than anywhere else. I highly recommend going both during the day and at night, though we had the benefit of the Christmas tree being up at night time. Be sure to walk around the corner and see both sides of that piece of land!

(#10) Strike a Pose!

I’m all about yoga everywhere, so obviously that is the first picture I have here, but there are so many cool places to snap pics that you may forget to take a picture with yourselves in them! You’ll want to remember you were actually there and that you didn’t just dream all of the sites 🙂

We grabbed sandwiches for the train ride at a cafe, picked up our luggage from the hotel, and took a (maybe too long) walk all the way around the grand canal to the train station. I loved the new sites we saw, but it was a bit much with our suitcases. I’m still not sure if we were to do it over again that we would have taken the water taxi across though.

If we had more time, we also would have headed over to the glass factory, a major attraction in Venice. Just another reason for us to return!

Next stop, Florence! Stay tuned for the recap in 2 weeks!

6 thoughts on “Top 10 things to Eat, See and Do in Venice!

  1. Oh wow! I Love, love all the pics of what you really ate. I feel like I was (sorta) just in Italy. (Your traveling clothes are so cute too. So hip and European!) The photos of that beautiful city are amazing too. Thanks for posting this…bit of armchair travel…I was transported away just now.

  2. Pingback: 2017 Food Trends: Mid-Year Review | Kelly Jones | Philadelphia Sports Nutrition

  3. Pingback: Best of Florence for Foodies | Kelly Jones | Philadelphia Sports Nutrition

  4. Pingback: What NOT to do in Rome | Kelly Jones | Philadelphia Sports Nutrition

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Painting Mona Lisa

by Jeanne Kalogridis

This is one of my all time favourites and I was surprised to see that I hadn’t put it on here! Painting Mona Lisa is a great book for anyone into Leonardo Da Vinci- in fact, for anyone up for a good book. It’s a historical novel, with the kinds of twists and turns and excitement few books can deliver. I would recommend this for the older readers out there, it is a little bit complex and it’s quite a chunky book. Beautifully written with an amazing storyline, it’ll have you hooked. It’s a completely different take on what you thought you knew about the Mona Lisa and Da Vinci. I’m sure you’re going to love this book!

Paintin Mona Lisa, Jeanne Kalogridis

by Jay Asher

This book is about a girl named Hannah Baker who’d committed suicide and leaves a set of tapes that is passed around to a selected few who are known to be a reason for her death. Clay Jensen, an ordinary classmate of Hannah, also receives the tapes. The rest of the book goes on to explain the reasons of why Hannah had committed suicide.

Although it sounds depressing, the book is very interesting and the chain of events are cleverly moulded together to keep the reader totally hooked. The book also makes you think about the way you treat others in your everyday life and how little things you do can affect people in ways that you don’t immediately realize. Hannah’s life from the outside looks very different from what you see of it when she explains it to you in the tapes. The thought of physically hearing her voice after she dies makes her message more effective. The way it’s written and sculpted keeps the reader interested to the last minute and portrays some very good ideas behind a simple but effective story. I really liked and highly recommend it to all our readers. But don’t try to read the back because this is a book that cannot be understood even if you read the back (i’m talking from experience here as i have a very bad habit of reading the back of books!).

Getting to Third Date

Kelly McClymer

Katelyn is only in her freshmen year but not only has she developed a big crush on the editor of the college newsletter who’s going ga-ga over her room mate, but she writes the advise column under the name Mother Hubbarb. Now, Mother Hubbarb  is a long-standing tradition in the college newsletter and the woman’s lived there for the last century and is a pretty good adviser. But then, now this is Katelyn writing. So Mother Hubbarb goes from advising students with what they want to hear… to giving advise that really grabs them out of dreamland and throw them out to face reality. Naturally the students searching for comfort and advise doesn’t like it. So a controversy starts up and Mother Hubbarb becomes the talk of the school. Partly to stop the cynical and strict Mother Hubbarb (aka Katelyn) and to prove that her theory of not giving guys more than two chances when it comes to dating, Tyler challenges Katelyn to go back to the list of ex’s she keeps and give them another chance in the form of a third date to three second-date drop outs. Challenged in a way that she can’t refuse, she obeys the editor and prepares for what would certainly prove the school and Tyler wrong and prove that she is right…or will it turn out the other way?

I could give you the whole story here but whats the point. I already ruined the ending for myself (not reading the ending is inevitable) so i’ll let you pick up this book and read it and find out how it all turns out…will Katelyn see sense like the school wants her to? Just a reminder that, yeah, books, they have a tendency to surprise you more than some things in this world can. In any case, i’ll tell you this book is one awesome book. I would rate it the best of romantic comedies after Scary Beautiful (found far below in this page if you’re interested). So, i say, you pick this out of the local library ASAP and read it.

The India Fan by Victoria Holt

…it’s another book by what i think is officially my fave author (well, she’ll be my fave until i find another favourite…just the way i work). Anyway, back to the story…basically this story is about a ‘plain’ (as called by Lady Harriette of The House) girl Druisilla who gets involved with the very beautiful Lavinia and Fabian of The House, the rich aristrocrat-like people of their village. It’s probably destined that they intricate their lives around one another because through series of significant events and matter of convenience, they always tend to mix and get involved in the same disasters that strike them. So, Druisilla becomes the head strong friend of Lavinia as she goes through problems caused none other than the fact that she is so beautiful and she loves the attention of men. This story truly implies how beauty can kill and about curses which can come true if you believe hard enough. Like many of her books, this one goes through heaps of events and many plots but they all entangle together and pinpoint a very good point in the end.

This is most suitable for readers who like olden days romance with a tinge of the modern language in it or people that like romance in general. Anyway, this would be a book for any reader and i strongly suggest you don’t ignore this book if you ever come across it because, trust me, it’s good!

I figured I wasn’t contributing enough to this section of the blog and decided to put up a book I recently read and loved. The book is called Ripped At The Seams and is about a 18 year old Elk Lake, Minnesota girl called Sami Granger who is just out of high school and persuing her dream of designing for some of NYs hottest fashion designers. But its not as easy as it seems, Sami soon realizes that she’s a small fish in the big, bad ocean. Shy, naive and super-sweet, it’s virtually impossible that someone out there won’t take advantage of her. Somewhere along her struggle, Sami learns a valuable lesson about success, faliure, trust and love with a little help from her Elk Lake relatives- her Dad, her brother Al, best friend, to be mum and sis-in-law Celia and some newly-made family in NY, struggling model Rain, truely amazing Vin and hippy Lola.

I really liked this book but the only thing that really ruined it for me was the blurb… I know it sounds strange but it just gave waaaay too much away so try to avoid reading it before the book. I really tried to give the best summary I could without spoiling the whole story and all the twists and turns. I hope you you guys will check this book out it’s worth the read, trust me!!

The Truth About Forever…

It’s late at night, almost 12.30 but i don’t want to go to sleep. Sometimes it happens, you know, sleep just doesn’t come (that’s most holz nights for me, lol). And so, i’m going to let the world (the part of the world that visits our blog) know about a cool and awesome and romance-mixed-family story called the Truth About Forever. It’s by Sarah Dessen and thanks to one of my friends, i read it and found this amazing book.

This book is about a girl named Macy. She’s a perfectionist, living in a bubble, with a sad past and a planned future. But when her boyfriend goes off to Brain camp and she’s left alone for the summer, her life takes a turn and directly places her in to the hands of Wes, Kristy, Delia, Monica and Bert, the workers of the disaster prone catering service. She quickly becomes there friend and with their help, gradually faces her past and in the way, deals with the falling relationship she has with her mother.

It’s a gripping story with a character that was so out of the normal, that it makes the story even more interesting. Not to mention the guy character, mysterious Wes and his iconic hand in heart. It’s really good with an unsual but good romance. i have to admit this story’s one of my absolute favourites!

Hope you guys check it out and maybe drop in a comment afterward about what you think of the story!

Alex Rider Series…By Anthony Horowitz

We all know Anthony Horowitz is an awesome writer specially when it comes to horror and adventure. One of the series he wrote that really got me hooked is the Alex Rider series. Although i didn’t read the whole series due to a misfortune of having a vexing habit of reading books out of order, i did read some and i do know the main line of the story.

This story is about a teenage secret super spy who goes on missions and saves the world. Yeah, when i put it like that it sounds so cliched and boring right? But it’s not. It’s not at all. The storyline is a little cliched but the details…it’s almost like Anthony Horowitz really do go on the missions he writes about!

Anyway, back to the story…Alex is officially orphaned in the beginning of Stormbreaker, the first book of the series when his uncle dies in an “accident”. He had lost his mother and father at a young age and had lived with his uncle. After that, Alex is appointed by a secret service called MI6 to be their teenage spy and go on missions for them. It turns out that this was the same group that had employed Ian Rider (Alex’s uncle) and that Ian had died in a mission for MI6. Apparently Ian Rider had really been training Alex Rider from a young age for a career as a spy. It makes sense since Alex can speak German, Spanish, French and is a black belt in karate…

So, that’s how fourteen year old Alex becomes a spy. Throughout the series, Alex goes on various missions. In these missions he finds out more about his past, his parents and manages to make enemies in other secret services out to do evil things to the world!

I suggest you guys start reading the series. It’s really good. I have a friend who got really obsessed in the series, she would finish one book in just one or two days! It’s a gripping story. The series hasn’t finished yet. According to wikipedia, Anthony Horowitz is planning to write two more after the eighth one, Crocodile Tears. Crocodile Tears is coming out later this year or next year. The first book is called Stormbreaker, the second book is Point Blanc (Point Blank in the US), the third book’s Skeleton Key, fourth book’s Eagle Strike, fifth book Scorpia, sixth book Ark Angel and the seventh book is called Snakehead. It’s a lot but each story is very interesting. In any case, i hope you like this series. When you’re done reading, come back and check out the latest update in this section!

PS: I found this sign thing in google. I thought it looked really cool!

The Mediator…By Meg Cabot

It starts with Love You To Death/Shadowland and ends with Twilight/Heaven Sent (don’t be put off by Twilight if you are not a huge fan of Twilight because it’s nothing like Twilight). And it’s awesome. Simply awesone. It’s one of my long list of favourites when it comes to books.

The story starts out with Suze, the main character, who’s a ghost-butt kicking, bad girl. Yes, i wrote it right, she kicks ghost butts… Suze has a weird gift which allows her to see ghosts and let her help them to move on to the after life if they are stuck on Earth after their death due to some kind of deed that they left unfinished. I know, i know, so far it sounds like a bit of a cliche. But read on and you’ll see…

So, when Suze arrives at her new home, which she must share with a new step father and three step brothers, she meets the long dead, cute ghost, Jesse. Not only is this ghost cute, but he’s head to toe mysterious…Gradually, as the series goes along and Suze going through trouble, carrying Jesse along the ride, they get closer, and Suze falls in love with Jesse. And soon, she finds out that Jesse feels the same way about her.

Now…i know, even that sounds like a cliche, but i can assure you that the ending is not a cliche. It’s something out of the ordinary. Also, the whole set up and writing is so modern and humorous, you guys are sure to love it. I’m not going to ruin the rest of the plot for you, but believe me…this is a book worth picking up. If you’ve had a chance to get hold of Scary Beautiful (below), you would know, that you can trust me when it comes to books. This is a series worth reading.

If it makes some of you hard critics happier, i’ll tell you one bad thing about the book. I know, it’s not usual for a someone who does what i’m doing right now to be critical but, one thing i don’t like about these books is that everything happens in such a short space of time. It’s kinda weird and makes you wander if it actually could happen like that, really. Well, i guess there’s an error in saying that…this story is not real so i guess anything could happen and doesn’t have to match up to how it will happen in reality.

In any case, i hope you guys go check it out. And if the plot doesn’t interest you, the character, Jesse, should. First, when i was obsessed with Twilight (something i kind of regret and i don’t do any more), i used to think Jesse was a bit like Ed Cullen…but, believe me, Jesse’s way different and too stubborn to be anything like Edward.

So, take my advice check out the first book and if it holds your interest, here’s the rest of the series…

2nd book…Ninth Key

3rd book…Reunion

4th book…Darkest Hour

5th book…Haunted

6th book…Twilight.

Hope you enjoy!

Scary Beautiful… By Niki Burnham

scary beautiful

Yes, from the front of the book you can tell it’s a cute romance book. And it is. The geek in the front…yes, he is one of the main characters! But no need to be put off because this geek is one awesome geek, named Billy (the name is boring…but we’ll have to deal with that). He not only excels in being one of the brainiest guys in the school but he manages to steal the heart of the most popular girl in school, Chloe Rand. You see, Chloe’s perfect life turns in to a dark and stormy sea when her perfect boyfriend decided to move across the country and dumps her right at the airport terminal, five minutes before he gets in to the plane! I mean, how rude is that? Personally i would slap the guy so he’ll be scarred for life but our heroine (are you allowed to call the main character that in a romantic comedy?) is too nice for such a thing. So she just walks away.

Life seemed to go on fine until she finds out a key point about being popular and having no boyfriend…all the girls assume you’re out and about to steal their boyfriends and all the guys have no idea how they should react to a girl like her that has no boyfriend. And with all this, she meets the geeky Billy and couldn’t help but fall for him. She wonders if this is a bad thing or a good thing and if this a romance, that may result in losing a friend, is really worth it…

So, the book is good and you guys shud definitely check it out. Once you’ve read it you will absolutely fall in love with it just as we did and believe me, Billy is an awesome character!

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Tag Archives: stress

Exams, exams, EXAAAAAAMS!!

So… that time of the year again, eh, for you Northern Hemispherers =P

Coz us Southerns are on holiday 🙂

But don’t feel bad. The tables do turn on us. A few times each year…

There is NO reason to freak out though, because I have put together a spell that will magically turn all your grades into the best there is.

Just kidding.

Sorry, that was a bit mean. I feel bad now, so I’ll give you something you can work with here:

You won’t be magically zapped to the secret location of my spell, but you will be equipped with some helpful hints by the end of the article 🙂

Good luck people, break a leg! (not literally… =S and just for the record I take no responsibilities for any injuries inflicted on you after having read that)

Surviving Exam Prep

Uh-Oh it’s that time of the year again!

And so I have put this post back up which by no means implies that we’re all hard core on studies on Ebony Ink. So if you’re not being tortured by exams, check out the other not-so-serious-and-depressing stuff we have to offer. 😉

Till then we shall be squirming over our books…

A lump rises in your throat and you get wild butterflies in your stomach at the very mention of revision, and soon there are piles and piles of books, papers, pens, notes scattered all over the place with you in the middle having a nervous breakdown. Sound like you? Then you’ve come to the right place… I’ve put together some do’s and don’ts’ that will keep you healthy and at your best so you can kick some butt in that examination room!

UNFORTUNATELY, there is no alternative to plain old classic revision, BUT it doesn’t have to be torture… seriously, I mean it. And it doesn’t have to be plain old classic revision either. 🙂

– Whatever you do DON’T stay up for all night study sessions, fueling yourself with caffeine. This is the worst thing you can possibly do, even though it may seem like you’re achieving a lot in a little amount of time. All this does is disrupt your sleeping and eating patterns and totally trashes your immune system, making you more vulnerable to catching a cold or other illness.

– Don’t stress out. This is also going to weaken your immune system, you’ll end up feeling absolutely miserable and won’t be able to study. I know it’s easier said than done, but here are a few ways to relieve stress and get you back on track:
• Every time you start to feel a panic attack coming on, take a deep breath and let it out slowly.
• If this doesn’t solve the problem, then tell yourself to “stop” and think calmly about the problem. Is it really that bad? Is it really impossible to get through all the notes? If the answers are yes and yes, then have a 10 second panic period, then go back over the problems and list down as many solutions to the problem as you can no matter how silly they may seem. Now, just go back and eliminate all the ones that won’t get you anywhere, and you’re left with the best solution(s).
• Get out of your work space for a bit and get someone to test you on what you’ve done so far. This will help get your head back to the notes.
•  If you feel a surge of negative energy as you rack your brains over algebra, just relax, take a few deep breaths and imagine yourself in the exam room, cruising through the papers, then getting your results back, acing the test. As cheesy as this sounds- just believe in yourself.
• Squeeze one of those super cool squishy foam smileys. Release your stress out of your fingers or do yoga, meditation, kickboxing- anything that will help you relax.

– Don’t revise in front of the TV or computer. You won’t get anything done, and you know it. Find a quiet place where you can concentrate on your work, with nothing to distract you. If some spaces don’t work for you, then find another space where you can keep your focus. Study outside under a tree, or go to the library, but be careful about the spaces you choose, you don’t want to be disturbed.

– Plan out your study timetable. I know this sounds like a geeky thing to do, but plan out what subject you’re going to study on what day, working around your exam schedule. This will really help you to manage your time well and you won’t be doing last minute catch ups.

– If you’re a hardcore crammer, studying for hours on end, then you wont really get a whole lot through your overworked brain. Do yourself a favour, take breaks. Do the 45/15 routine, revise for 45 minutes then take break for 15. This way you’re not prone to distractions and you’re not going hungry. Have a snack or go for a quick walk, fresh air will help you to relax. But make sure you stick to the 45/15 rule- don’t sit down to watch an hour long soap, that’s just procrastination and we all know procrastination lands us in major  trouble…(yes i speak from experience)

– This brings us to our next point- start revision early. Don’t wait for two weeks before exams to start revising. I start revising almost a month beforehand. Yeah, I’m a nerd, but it really keeps the pressure and work load to a minimum. Don’t go into hard out revision just yet-start with revising at least three times a week, and when you have some spare time do some more, and gradually increase the time you spend revising. This stops you from diving straight into full on revision, because that’s really difficult.

– Music will help you relax and study with a little less stress. Grab a couple of highlighters, a bottle of water, some snacks and your iPod and get to work. Highlighting out the key ideas, facts and words will reduce the quantity of things you go over and make it easier to learn, and a couple of sentences are less intimidating than huge chunks of paragraphs. Drink plenty of water-it’s good for you. Don’t go for energy, fizzy or caffeinated drinks. Water is always a healthier option and it will stop you from loading your system with junk. Grab an apple or a muesli bar to keep you going, don’t starve yourself- it’s not a torment competition. When you feel a bit weary of your science notes, just sit back, close your eyes and listen to you iPod for a little while.

– Limit group study sessions. Even though they can be helpful, don’t rely on studying with your friends all the time. It’s absolutely crucial you have some serious, individual study time, it’s not solitary confinement, if you go with the 45/15 rule, you have 15 minutes to text or call a friend (try to stay away from the computer, it’s a HUGE diversion). You can always call up a friend and ask if you’re not sure about something, they’re still there for you, you’re just not being a disturbance to each other.

It’s okay to feel stressed out, just don’t let it get in the way for too long. Brush aside the stress, keep calm, think happy thoughts… and here I go being cheesy again, but don’t give up at the first sign of trouble or an obstacle. It’s okay if some things don’t work for you, like the 45/15 routine, just tailor your study habits to fit you. There is no right or wrong.

And remember- don’t beat yourself up too much if your results don’t come out the way you expected, it happens to everybody. Nobody’s perfect!

Failure is an event, never a person

Failure is an event, never a person

I really hope this helps, especially if it’s your first time sitting an exam, or you’re just a worrywort, a hardcore crammer, or simply just hate exams because they scare the life out of you, take consolation in  knowing you’re not alone.

Good luck!

Its amazing how obvious it is! Haha

lol... What can I say?

Demi Cutting Herself…Again?

Pictures have been surfacing of Demi Lovato, the sixteen-year-old singer and actress currently touring with American Idol 2008 runner-up David Archuleta, showing her with what appear to be wounds on her wrist similar to cutting scars. Is the starlet harming herself?

This isn’t the first time that Lovato has had to fight these rumors. Following her appearance at Miley Cyrus’s birthday party last fall, pictures showed Lovato with red marks on her wrist that made it look as though she had been self-mutilating. A representative for Lovato said, “Demi was wearing gummy bracelets just prior to her appearance on the red carpet and, because of how tight they were, they left indentations on her wrist.”

Just my personal opinion here so correct me if I’m wrong, but if they really were ‘indentations’ from ‘gummy bracelets’ then wouldn’t they go all the way around the wrist? In the pictures below, it’s hard to believe they are marks from super-tight bracelets. And considering it’s happened more than once I’m going to be bold here and put myself with the people who believe she is cutting herself.Oct 15 Mileys b-day party

Like Miley, Demi is a role model to a lot of young fans and if she really is cutting herself (one thing to understand here is that no one really  knows for sure-there are a lot of ifs here) then it’s best for her to get some help. It’s something many teenagers do to release stress and you don’t have to be an emo to be cutting yourself (that’s such a common stereotype). But let’s keep in mind that a starlet like herself is under a lot of pressure and stress. Just because she’s rich and popular does not mean she has no personal problems in her life. Forget her personal life, but just the pressure of being the most popular in the Disney world is enough to cause depression. Let’s not forget that she is human too and people make mistakes and they have different ways of dealing with them and I’m not trying to say it’s okay for people to harm themselves, I’m just saying that if that’s the way Demi decided to deal with her problems then that’s her choice. I think we can all grant her that much freedom and privacy.

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Turkish ecommerce industry gets attention from investors

The solid and fast-growing ecommerce market in Turkey has got the attention from several investors. The latest one to show interest is the Abraaj Group. This Dubai-based private equity firm purchased a 25% stake in Hepsiburada, Turkey’s largest online retailer. The deal is the latest in a steady stream of online-oriented acquisitions in Turkey.

The Abraaj Group released the news this week, stating the investment will be used by Hepsiburada to accelerate the rapid expansion of its market leading ecommerce operations in Turkey, including a custom-built fulfilment center. Hepsiburada was founded in 1998 and is owned by the Turkish conglomerate Dogan Group, who now sold a 25% stake valued at about 88 million euros.

Largest ecommerce player in Turkey
“The online retail sector in Turkey has been growing seven times faster than store-based retail since 2007”, says Selçuk Yorgancıoğlu from the Abraaj Group. “Yet online retail penetration in the country is still low at approximately one fifth of the European levels. Hepsiburada is the first-mover and the largest player in the online retail sector in Turkey, and is uniquely positioned to lead the expansion of ecommerce in the country.”

The Abraaj Group adds that the Turkish ecommerce industry is a “compelling one to invest in”, due to the conversion from offline to online retail as a result of changing consumer habits and increased internet penetration, especially amongst the urban and young population. “Internet penetration in Turkey increased from about 18 percent in 2006 to 50 percent in 2013. The availability of an established logistics network and high credit card penetration in Turkey are also facilitating the growth of the sector.”

Investing in Turkish ecommerce players
So all in all, it may not come as a surprise investors are looking for hot ecommerce players in Turkey. Last year, Naspers acquired the remaining stocks in Markafoni Group so it now owns 100% of the Turkish online flash-fashion site, while in 2011, eBay purchased additional shares in the country’s leading marketplace, GittiGidiyor. And also that year, Amazon bought a minority stake in online flower and gifts store Ciceksepeti.

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More than half the people that apply online for various financial services abandon the process before completion, according to a new survey.

The study, by comScore, suggests many of these abandonments occur because consumers want to find out details about the services on offer, but that information is hidden behind the application process.

It used data from a panel of more than 2m web users worldwide, as well as an email survey of 568 people that had abandoned an online application for a financial product.

Other reasons given for abandonment were:

  • 23% wanted to see more product information.
  • 19% were not ready to apply.
  • 14% wanted to see if they qualified.

Of those that intended to buy, but abandoned:

  • 12% changed their mind about applying online.
  • 11% had privacy/security concerns.
  • 11% wanted to speak to a sales person regarding the product.

Average online checkout abandonment rates can vary dramatically, but the average is around 48%, which suggests that there is room for impovement from the financial service sector.

Providing customers with all the information they need before beginning the checkout process is a must. It is also a good idea to provide links to any questions that may arise during the process so that customers can find the info they need without abandoning.

Of those that intended to apply but dropped out, those that wanted to speak to a sales person instead were probably looking for information/reassurance about the product on offer, and again this could have been provided online. Making sure your FAQ/help section contains any info customers may be looking for is essential.

Websites, financial or e-commerce, shouldn't be giving customers any doubts about security - displaying clear signs of server security, and third party verification logos can reassure the customer on this issue, and reinforce trust.

Ideally, customers should be furnished with all the information they need before they begin the checkout process. This may be delivery costs, returns policies, interest rates, and so on. Then, it should be a case of helping the customer to complete the transaction as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Also see our Online Retail 2007: Checkout Special, which takes a detailed look at how e-commerce sites can reduce abandonment rates, using examples from top online retail sites.

Related stories:
Why do customers abandon the checkout process?

Graham Charlton

Published 11 September, 2007 by Graham Charlton

Graham Charlton is the former Editor-in-Chief at Econsultancy. Follow him on Twitter or connect via Linkedin or Google+

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Despite the potential for growth in e-commerce in Europe, just 21% of online retailers are selling in other EC member states, and just 7% of people shop online across borders.

These are some of the findings of a European Commission survey, which were presented by Maglena Kuneva, the European commissioner for consumer affairs. He identifies language, regulatory barriers to business, as well as consumer trust issues, as some of the barriers to cross border e-commerce.

The study

In the study, people in each member state were asked to search for and attempt to buy a variety of products online, as well as comparing price and availability between domestic and foreign websites.

  • When people attempted to make purchases, 60% of transactions were blocked, 80% in the case of some computer and electronic equipment.
  • There are potential savings for customers;  in half of member states, consumers can find 10% savings by shopping abroad for at least half of the products searched.
  • Also, in around half the member states, products could only be found for sale online from websites in other countries, something which shows the opportunity for retailers that embrace cross border commerce.

Barriers to cross border e-commerce

  • Consumer confidence. Concerns about the security of transactions across borders, language differences (though a third of EU consumers are willing to purchase goods online in another language), as well as consumer rights in cases of faulty goods or returns.
  • Retailers need to see the potential for growing sales by offering services to the rest of the EC member states. However, just 21% of online retailers sell abroad.
  • EC legislation. Pre-internet laws designed to regulate cross-border commerce can be restrictive, including VAT and recycling regulations, as well as copyright issues in some cases. At the moment, retailers have to to register in each country separately in order to trade across borders.

In his speech, Kuneva outlines his plans to tidy up some of these regulatory issues, as well as simplifying the consumer rights legislation to reassure shoppers.

The removal of these barriers to borderless e-commerce is a welcome development, and hopefully one that will come sooner rather than later, then it will be up to online retailers to make the most of the European market by adapting their websites to deal with different languages and consumer needs across Europe.

As Jake Hird pointed out on a post on cross-border e-commerce last year, retailers' concerns over fraud, payments and logistics need to be overcome, but the potential is there.

Graham Charlton

Published 27 October, 2009 by Graham Charlton

Graham Charlton is the former Editor-in-Chief at Econsultancy. Follow him on Twitter or connect via Linkedin or Google+

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Comments (1)

phew!! quite a shocking statistic!!! 7 only!! wow , i must be losting lots of sales since i am located in egypt

over 8 years ago

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