House-Swapping Vacations

Ever dreamed of staying in a villa in Tuscany? Maybe you can -- if you're willing to swap your house for someone else's. It can save you huge amounts of money (at least half of swaps include cars too), and give you the experience of another culture in a way hotel stays can't. Bill and Mary Barbour have been swapping their home in the US for 18 years -- 100+ times worldwide -- and never had a theft or serious damage. Here's what they've learned:

• Don't do it if you're uneasy living in someone else's home -- or trusting them to live in yours.
  
• Don't expect a palace in Paris if you're trading a modest small-town home. But with time, you'll find the right fit.
  
• Get to know the swap family. Talk by phone or email, and exchange photos and information.
  
• It's easy to arrange swaps through several agencies like Intervac or HomeLink. For more agencies, just Google for "house swapping"

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A sandwich you can trust

Summer can be the time for big meals, leftovers -- and food poisoning, if you aren't careful. Keep sandwiches and curries from biting back with these cooling tips:

Chill Out: The sooner you get cooked food into the fridge, the sooner any harmful bacteria they may harbor will stop multiplying. "People have a hesitancy about putting warm food in the refrigerator," says one expert. But today's refrigerators can handle warm dishes without taxing the motor.

Divide and Conquer: Large portions such as a deep dish of curry or a pot of soup should be split up into shallow containers first. Otherwise it won't cool fast enough to stop bacterial growth.

Let it Breathe: Allow some room around the hot stuff in the fridge. You need air to circulate to get the food cold very quickly. » Continue reading

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Women beat men at recognizing faces

In case you hadn't already guessed, it's now official: women beat men hands down at remembering a face.

Swedish researchers conducted an online experiment using 1800 participants, each of whom was given eight tasks involving matching a picture of a face with ten similar faces under various conditions -- in profile, silhouetted or with different facial expression or degrees of picture quality. The study found that not only were women better at recognizing faces than men, but they were less likely to be distracted by changes in hairstyle or facial expression.

The result is probably a mixture of genetic difference and training. Women may be better at studying faces because they're more likely to be the main carer in a family and have more eye contact with children. The findings have implications for recruitment in industries such as security and customs, where facial recognition matters. » Continue reading

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Cooked carrots, a countertop attack

Nutrition dogma says eat your vegetables raw. But an American study suggests that cooking carrots can actually boost their nutrient value.

Food scientists found that blanched, puréed carrots had 34 percent more of the antioxidants called phenolics than the raw root. Antioxidants protect the body by neturalizing free radicals; these rogue molecules can damage cells, leading to chronic diseases such as cancer.

How did the cooked carrots come out ahead? Heating softens the fibrous root, allowing more phenolics to be released from cell walls. » Continue reading

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Email Etiquette

Billions of emails are sent daily, many across the world, some between one desk and the next -- plenty of opportunity to inadvertently offend or annoy, especailly in a work situation. So:

Be brief. Emails that are more than a screen long are daunting and irritating. With friends you can be chattier.

Style counts. Spell check notes before you hit "send." Writing using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS signifies shouting; all small letters is hard to read.

Answer promptly. At work, respond within the day. When you are out for a day or more, program an "I'm away" auto reply.

Ignore chain mail, jokes and petitions. Almost no one likes them. Resist forwarding them unless they seem highly relevant.

Identify yourself. For business emails, create a standard sign-off that includes your full name, title, phone number, address and any pertinent infromation about your company. » Continue reading

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PPP is in

After over a year since PPP was born, it seems to have changed the face of blogging. People who said PPP was a failure have been wronged with PPP rapidly approaching a blogger base of 40,000 (known as Posties).

After finding nearly all prolific bloggers sporting the PPP badges on their blog, I felt it was time I gave it a try. When I signed up for PPP recently and went through the list of available opportunities, I was quite impressed to note that I might not need to review products that I have not used, thrashing my fear of losing my blog's credibility. There were scores of opportunities that just required to write about upcoming events, contests and stuff like that and get paid for it in return! Now does that sound exciting to you? Not just that. Most of the opportunities (known as opps) also allow you to write neutral about the subject.

Initially there were concerns with regard to disclosure, but that seems to have been overcome with the disclosure badge system.

About PayPerPost

PayPerPost (PPP) is a service which helps advertisers find bloggers who are willing to write about the advertiser's product or service and/or drive traffic to the advertiser's website in return for a remuneration. PayPerPost was founded on June 30, 2006 in Orlando, Florida, USA by Ted Murphy, who also founded the interactive agency MindComet and the "BlogStar Network", designed to connect advertisers with bloggers in a manual, non-marketplace fashion. » Continue reading

You light up my brain

When you're in love, your eyes light up, your face lights up -- and apparently, so do four tiny bits of your brain. "It is the common denominator of romantic love," says Andreas Bartels, a research fellow at University College London.

Bartels used functional MRI scanning to examine eleven women and six men who said they were truly in love -- statements backed up by psychological tests. When the subjects were shown photographs of their sweethearts, different areas of the brain scan lit up -- indicating higher blood flow -- than when they were shown pictures of friends. Theses "love spots" were near, but not the same as, sections that become active when someone is feeling simple lust. Looking at pictures of their dearest also reduced activity in three larger areas of the brain known to be active when people are upset or depressed. » Continue reading

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