March 15, 2010

     I have this theory about women’s hair. In 1981, Prince Charles of England married Princess Diana, who charmed the hearts of the nations, including millions in the U.S. And Princess Diana had this short, simple, swept-back hair style which also charmed millions. More and more women wore their hair that way, until, by the mid-nineties, it was rare to see a woman who DIDN’T have some version of it.

     Princess Diana died in 1997. And, over the next decade, women began wearing their hair longer. And longer. And longer. Would women still be wearing their hair short if Princess Diana had lived? I suspect they would.

     Which leads us to my personal hair disaster. In the early nineties, the evening after I’d gotten a permanent, my scalp turned bright red, swelled up, and began throbbing painfully. A dermatologist informed me that I was allergic to a new chemical manufacturers were putting in permanents. “Give up perms!” he said cheerfully. Which was something only a man would say, and of course I didn’t. I look awful in straight hair. My hairdresser managed to locate a brand of permanent that didn’t contain the chemical to which I was allergic, and I continued to have curly hair, as you can see in the photo at left.

     And then last March I got a perm using the “safe” solution, and my scalp turned bright red, swelled like a balloon, and began to throb. The manufacturer had changed the formula, without of course personally informing me. “At least you got a good perm out of it,” said the nurse in the emergency clinic.

     “I’m afraid it’s my last one,” I said sadly, and she agreed.

     A year later I still have my last perm, at the end of a growing problem. I am not one to fool around with hair styles; I in fact wore my hair in exactly the same style for almost fifty years. My hairdresser now shows me the cute things I can do with my longer and mostly straight hair, and I go home and my hair does strange things instead. I see hundreds, thousands of women who do beautiful things with their long hair. Will I ever manage to do the same?

     For me, the jury’s out. For you, see items 2 and 3 for websites that offer free online makeovers of hairstyles, makeup, and clothing styles.

     Janette

----Table Of Contents----

1. Zoo Babies
2. Give Yourself A Free Makeover
3. See The Latest Clothing Styles
4. Seven Gadgets That Changed The World
5. The Future Won’t Be Free
6. Grow All Your Food In A Suburban Yard
7. No-Dig, No-Weed Vegetable Gardens
8. How To Get Free Plants
9. Hidden Jobs Never Advertised
10. Teach Yourself Computer Programming
11. BBC Memoryshare
12. Seven Thoughts That Are Bad For You
13. Key To A Strong Memory In Old Age
14. Last Call For Cold-Weather Food
15. Seeing Europe While Seated

1. ZOO BABIES

     All babies are cute. Right? Baby camels ... adorable. Baby manatees ... not so much. See them here:

http://www.zooborns.com/

2. GIVE YOURSELF A FREE MAKEOVER

     THE DAILY MAKEOVER will help you experiment with different makeup and hair styles, using a model that has a face shape similar to yours.

http://www.dailymakeover.com/

     TAAZ will also help you experiment with different makeup. It seems to me that it is less practical than THE DAILY MAKEOVER, but you may prefer its approach.

http://www.taaz.com/

     TAAZ’S LATEST HAIRSTYLES. Of course we all bear a strong resemblance to these gorgeous models and can see immediately which of the hair styles is best for our own glamorous lifestyles.

http://www.taaz.com/beauty/beauty-tips/hair-styles.html

3. THE LATEST CLOTHING STYLES

     OMIRU says it’s “real styles for real people,” and I note that much of the clothing it features is inexpensive.

http://www.omiru.com/

     FIND HARD TO LOCATE ITEMS. BRILLIANT SHOPPER can help you find difficult-to-locate things through “one of the largest product databases in the world.”

http://www.brilliantshopper.com/

     CLOTHING COUPONS FOR ONLINE STORES:

http://www.retailmenot.com/coupons/clothing_v1

4. SEVEN GADGETS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

     “Almost half of people who bought e-readers reported reading more newspapers, books and magazines than they otherwise would have.”

http://www.technewsdaily.com/7-gadgets-
that-changed-the-world-0176/

5. THE FUTURE WON’T BE FREE

     This newsletter specializes in free things you can enjoy on the Internet, but in future you and I are likely to pay for many of the things I now list for free. The camel got his nose in the tent with the KINDLE e-book reader. My friend DEANNA KEELE says she loves hers, as she can load many books onto it and read them comfortably and conveniently. The classic books on the “free e-book” sites are, of course, free for KINDLE readers, but Jeff Bezos hopes to make a second fortune on AMAZON by selling us the rest at $9.99 a pop.

     Now the iPAD is padding up to the starting gate. It costs “only” $499 (the KINDLE is now $259), and ads say the iPAD can do everything except turn somersaults across your kitchen floor. The iPAD allows publishers to ask up to $14.99 for an e-book. You can also buy magazine subscriptions and newspaper subscriptions to read on your iPAD. (They are free right now if you access the magazine or newspaper on your computer. And that of course is why newspapers are going broke across the country.) And that is what the article below means about the future not being free.

     One thing I know: neither the KINDLE nor the iPAD will get my business until I can put library books on them.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/234123

     Learn more about the wondrous iPAD here:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/the-apple-ipad/

     For free e-books, click BOOKS & FREE E-BOOKS in the column at left.

http://tourthesites.com/

6. GROW ALL YOUR FOOD IN A SUBURBAN YARD

     The Dervaes family are doing it in Pasadena. Of course year-round gardening is easier in California; still, they’ve grown over 350 different vegetables, herbs, fruits, and berries in 1/10th of an acre.

http://pathtofreedom.com/

     100 LB. POTATOES IN 4 SQUARE FEET. TIPNUT has also got some great gardening hints for early in the season.

http://tipnut.com/grow-potatoes/

7. NO-DIG, NO-WEED VEGETABLE GARDENS

     The no-dig vegetable garden is one you don’t dig up to begin with and don’t have to weed to end with. I had one for years and loved it dearly, only I used entirely different methods. This fellow assumes you have access to hay and straw. I didn’t. I used grass and leaf mulches, because that was what I had. I didn’t layer the way he did either, and I couldn’t afford to buy fertilizer or compost. (Given a little time, the grass and leaf mulches create rich, black garden soil without fertilizer or compost.) In fact, I did everything differently but had successful results. So, get some ideas from this fellow and some ideas from the WIKI HOW site that follows, then do what works for you. No-dig, no-weed vegetable gardens are wonderful, and there’s a thousand ways to make them.

http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/

     MORE NO-DIG GARDEN IDEAS FROM WIKI HOW. Let me add that, instead of the raised edges usually recommended, I simply dig a trench about six inches wide and deep around all my garden beds. It looks neat and tidy, keeps grass from invading, and carries off excess rainfall. It also creates a more beautiful, more natural looking landscape, and you can use that edging with elegantly curved flower beds, which you can’t create with a bed edged by boards. There’s no law, in fact, that says you have to build an artificial edging for any vegetable or flower bed!

http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-No-Dig-Garden

8. HOW TO GET FREE PLANTS

     Not only will you find tips for getting free plants, the site offers many other ways to do frugal gardening. Most “frugal” sites assume it’s vegetables you’re growing. This site is for flower gardeners too.

http://www.frugalgardening.com/how-to-get-free-plants.html

     FOR MORE GOOD IDEAS, click on GARDENING in the lefthand column.

http://tourthesites.com/

9. HIDDEN JOBS NEVER ADVERTISED

     LINKUP has a “job aggregator” that lets you find hidden jobs listed on company websites. These jobs listings are generally unadvertised to the outside world and can be difficult to find if you don’t know where to look. The site currently lists data from over 20,000 company websites. You can search by keyword, job title or location. Advanced and more refined search options are also supported.

http://www.linkup.com/

     OCCUPATIONS YOU MAY NOT HAVE CONSIDERED. For hundreds of different types of jobs, the OCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK HANDBOOK gives you the training and education needed, earnings, expected job prospects, what workers do on the job, and working conditions. In addition, the handbook gives you job search tips, links to information about the job market in each state, and more. You can use the site to browse through hundreds of listed occupations, including ones you may never have considered.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/

     CAREERJET EMPLOYMENT SEARCH ENGINE. The Internet has a number of mammoth employment sites. CAREERJET says it’s actually an employment search engine. You can search either by job type or job location.

http://www.careerjet.com/

10. TEACH YOURSELF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING

     Perhaps you think it would help you get a job – or perhaps the field simply interests you. Here’s a good starting point:

http://lifehacker.com/5401954/programmer-101-teach-yourself-how-to-code

     If you’re looking for employment, I’d also suggest clicking on EMPLOYMENT in the lefthand column. I must confess that I set it up when times were better. Hence the photos and the blithe comments. You will, however, find excellent material on resumes, setting up a home business, freelance opportunities, and much else.

http://tourthesites.com/

11. BBC MEMORYSHARE

     They say, “BBC Memoryshare is a living archive of memories from 1900 to the present day. You can contribute, share and browse memories of life experiences and see them in the context of recent and historical events.” The site is aimed at the British, and most of the recollections are British, but Yanks are not forbidden to add their own. These do not have to be memories of long-ago times. As you’ll see from the timeline at left, you can add your memories of any year after 1900. After selecting a year, read other people’s recollections by clicking on a colored blob.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/memoryshare/

     TIMETOAST creates interactive timelines to share memories and history. The day I visited, they featured a timeline of the moon landings, but they also had timelines of children’s birthdays. It seems to me that you could encourage a child (or grownup) by starting a timeline that shows how far he or she has come in mastering something difficult – new points could be added over time for new accomplishments.

http://mashable.com/2009/04/03/timetoast/

     CREATE A TRIBUTE TO LOVED ONES. On RESPECTANCE, you share memories, photos, and videos of your departed loved ones.

http://www.respectance.com/

12. SEVEN THOUGHTS THAT ARE BAD FOR YOU

     Since this is a scientifically oriented site, the thoughts in question are those that tend to shorten a person’s life or cause physical problems.

http://www.livescience.com/health/090911-7-bad-thoughts.html

13. KEY TO A STRONG MEMORY IN OLD AGE

     “Our study shows that the more you believe there are things you can do to remember information, the more likely you will be to use effort and adaptive strategies and to allocate resources effectively, and the less you will worry about forgetting.” In short, if you believe you can remember things, you will.

http://www.livescience.com/health/060308_memory_age.html

     A HAPPY OLD AGE DEPENDS ON ATTITUDE. We may worry that we’ll be less happy when we’re old and frail, but, according to this study, that’s not what happens to most people.

http://www.livescience.com/health/051212_aging_happy.html

14. LAST CALL FOR COLD WEATHER FOOD

     The time for soups and stews and chili is running out, but here are some good HOT things to try first:

     WEST TEXAS ASADO. For lovers of the chile pepper:

http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2008/10/
in-search-of-west-texas-asado.html

     CHILI APPRECIATION SOCIETY. Prizewinning recipes for cooks willing to take them seriously. The site is slow to load but good once you get in.

http://www.chili.org/recipes.html

     “FAMOUS CHILI RECIPES” features modern ingredients, such as turkey or – heaven help us! – seafood, that would make the purists of the Chili Appreciation Society blanch. You may, however, find the recipes more like something you might make for dinner tonight.

http://www.famouschilirecipes.com/

15. SEEING EUROPE WHILE SEATED

     If you plan to travel to Europe and are interested in the art and architecture, do spend some time in PARADOX PLACE. It will help you decide which things you will enjoy most. And if you love art and can’t make it to Europe, be doubly sure to spend time here. PARADOX PLACE is the personal creation of ADRIAN FLETCHER, begun when he was living in Tuscany in 2000, and he’s collected and created more material than you’d think one person could collect and create in ten years. He covers such things as medieval cathedrals, Renaissance paintings and sculpture, scenery, and even food. He calls it “the cycle of sensory enjoyment,” and enjoyment is the key to PARADOX PLACE. (Please note that each section opens up into subsections and then into subsubsections that contain gorgeous photos.)

http://www.paradoxplace.com/Perspectives/Chronologies
/Overview.htm#Background

     Find here beautiful photos of the English cathedrals:

http://www.paradoxplace.com/Photo%20Pages
/UK/English%20Cathedrals.htm

     And below are the churches of Rome – and all this is only the beginning of PARADOX PLACE!

http://www.paradoxplace.com/Perspectives
/Rome%20&%20Central%20Italy/Rome/
Rome_Churches/Rome_Churches.htm