Postato: 27 May 2009 alle 4:16am | IP Salvato

It was a bright sunny afternoon with a fresh breeze blowing from the northeast. The small sloop was making a series of very short tacking maneuvers as it made its way gingerly up the narrow channel.

The forest marched down the steep rocky hillsides to abruptly meet the sea below on both shores. The tiny but sturdy craft was tossed precariously by the rip tides created in the close waterway. The sole occupant reset her grip on the tiller and brought the sloop around in yet another tack headed toward a little niche in the eastern shoreline. She was kneeling in the boat's compact
wow power leveling cockpit watching carefully ahead for any telltale clues on the water that dangerous rocks lay just out of sight below the surface. She held her course on a starboard tack until she was just past a rocky spur which broke the forest cover and actually spilled over into the sea.

When she was about eighty yards from the shoreline she abruptly swung the boat head to the wind bringing it to an almost dead stop in the water. After loosing the sheets on both her jib and mainsails, she quickly scrambled to
 world of warcraft gold the bow and let her anchor line out till she felt the anchor touch bottom. She then expertly continued to pay out enough of the line to properly set the anchor, allowing for both safe swinging room as the wind might shift and the expected change of depth as the tides came and went.

She had been so occupied with the Business of sailing her small sloop, that she had not noticed that she had an audience.
 world of warcraft power leveling  A tall slim young man in blue jeans, T-shirt and black leather bomber style jacket was sitting on the rocky spur smiling with open admiration at the sailing skill of the woman skipper on the neat little sloop. As she stood from securing the anchor and started to lower and tie down her sails, he arose and quickly walked back up into the trees behind him. So she never knew that her arrival had been noted.

When the sloop was secured to her satisfaction, Katherine went below and put a tiny kettle on the single burner in the diminutive galley. As she waited for the water to boil, she pulled a thick dog-eared ring binder out of a  wow gold  shelf to the left of the companionway and opened it to the last entry. This book served a dual purpose as a ship's log and personal journal. She noted her time of arrival and location of the tiny sheltered anchorage, the weather which was close to perfection for a sailor and a personal note that this seemed a great spot in which to write and create.

Postato: 30 June 2009 alle 11:22am | IP Salvato

Like most things, the Internet has its good and its dark side. And, considering the pervasiveness of the

Internet in society, wow gold it is certainly having an effect on our brains.

After all, everything we do affects our brain. Though up until the 1980¡¯s, it was universally believed that

the steam engine was the foremost invention of the Industrial Revolution, technology and science historian,

Lewis Mumford, had long before proposed that that clock was in fact the key machine of the modern Industrial

age. buy wow gold And, just as people began operating and planning

according to seconds and minutes, in the age of the internet, we are rewiring our ¡°plastic¡± brain to

function more and more like computers. Processing, decoding and storing floods of information at a rate

faster than we ever have before, our brains are becoming highly adapted to taking on scores of tasks at once.
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A 2008 study conducted by the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA found that middle-

aged and older adults who spent time browsing the web not only boosted their brain power but also could help

prevent cognitive decline such as Alzheimer¡¯s disease and dementia later on in life.
The study looked wow power leveling at the brain activity of 24

neurologically normal volunteers between the ages of 55 and 76. Half had experience web surfing, the other

half did not. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans the scientists recorded the brain-

circuitry changes (the blood flow through the brain) and compared them as the patients performed web searches

and as they read book passages.
A remarkable finding was that though all participants showed significant brain activity during book-reading

tasks,
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correspond to language, reading, memory and visual abilities, the web-savvy group also registered activity in

the areas of the brain which control decision-making and complex reasoning. With the wealth of choices

available on the net, knowing how to perform the most effective searches and making decisions on what to

click on, engages important cognitive circuits in the brain. This finding also demonstrated that our brains

are sensitive, or,¡°plastic¡±, cheap wow gold and can continue to learn

as we grow older.
So spending time on the Internet can be beneficial as you get older, but what about when you¡¯re young?

According to researchers from Michigan State University, home Internet access can be a good educational tool,

especially for hard-to-reach populations. Also, it has had positive effects on the academic performance of

low-income, mostly African American children and teenagers.

Postato: 12 November 2009 alle 6:50am | IP Salvato

A Coke and a Smile

   I know now that the man who sat with me on the old wooden stairs that hot summer night over thirty-five years ago was not a tall man. But to a five-year-old, he was a giant. We sat side by side, watching the sun go down behind the old Texaco service station across the busy street. A street that I was never allowed to cross unless accompanied by an adult, or at the very least, an older sibling. (world of warcraft gold)
 
 
¡¡ Cherry-scented smoke from Grampy's pipe kept the hungry mosquitoes at bay while gray, wispy swirls danced around our heads. Now and again, he blew a smoke ring and laughed as I tried to target the hole with my finger. I, clad in a cool summer nightie, and Grampy, his sleeveless T-shirt, sat watching the traffic. We counted cars and tried to guess the color of the next one to turn the corner.

 
 Once again, I was caught in the middle of circumstances. The fourth born of six children, it was not uncommon that I was either too young or too old for something. This night I was both. While my two baby brothers slept inside the house, my three older siblings played with friends around the corner, where I was not allowed to go. I stayed with Grampy, and that was okay with me. I was where I wanted to be. My grandfather was baby-sitting while my mother, father and grandmother went out. World of warcraft Power Leveling
 ¡¡
 
 Thirsty?" Grampy asked, never removing the pipe from his mouth.

 " Yes," was my reply." How would you like to run over to the gas station there and get yourself a bottle of Coke?"

   I couldn't believe my ears. Had I heard right? Was he talking to me? On my family's modest income, Coke was not a part of our budget or diet. A few tantalizing sips was all I had ever had, and certainly never my own bottle.

 " Okay," I replied shyly, already wondering how I would get across the street. Surely Grampy was going to come with me. cd keys

 Grampy stretched his long leg out straight and reached his huge hand deep into the pocket. I could hear the familiar jangling of the loose change he always carried. Opening his fist, he exposed a mound of silver coins. There must have been a million dollars there. He instructed me to pick out a dime. After he deposited the rest of the change back into his pocket, he stood up.

 " Okay," he said, helping me down the stairs and to the curb, " I'm going to stay here and keep an ear out for the babies. I'll tell you when it's safe to cross. You go over to the Coke machine, get your Coke and come back out. Wait for me to tell you when it's safe to cross back." ¡¡
 
 My heart pounded. I clutched my dime tightly in my sweaty palm. Excitement took my breath away.

 Grampy held my hand tightly. Together we looked up the street and down, and back up again. He stepped off the curb and told me it was safe to cross. He let go of my hand and I ran. I ran faster than I had ever run before. The street seemed wide. I wondered if I would make it to the other side. Reaching the other side, I turned to find Grampy. There he was, standing exactly where I had left him, smiling proudly. I waved.

 " Go on, hurry up," he yelled. wow power level
 
 My heart pounded wildly as I walked inside the dark garage.I had been inside the garage before with my father. My surroundings were familiar. I heard the Coca-Cola machine motor humming even before I saw it. I walked directly to the big old red-and-white dispenser. I knew where to insert my dime. I had seen it done before and had fantasized about this moment many times.

  The big old monster greedily accepted my dime, and I heard the bottles shift. On tiptoes I reached up and opened the heavy door. There they were: one neat row of thick green bottles, necks staring directly at me, and ice cold from the refrigeration. I held the door open with my shoulder and grabbed one. With a quick yank, I pulled it free from its bondage. Another one immediately took its place. The bottle was cold in my sweaty hands. I will never forget the feeling of the cool glass on my skin. With two hands, I positioned the bottleneck under the heavy brass opener that was bolted to the wall. The cap dropped into an old wooden box, and I reached in to retrieve it. I was cold and bent in the middle, but I knew I needed to have this souvenir. Coke in hand, I proudly marched back out into the early evening dusk. Grampy was waiting patiently. He smiled.

World of Warcraft power leveling," Stop right there," he yelled. One or two cars sped by me, and once again, Grampy stepped off the curb." Come on, now," he said, " run." I did. Cool brown foam sprayed my hands." Don't ever do that alone," he warned.I held the Coke bottle tightly, fearful he would make me pour it into a cup, ruining this dream come true. He didn't. One long swallow of the cold beverage cooled my sweating body. I don't think I ever felt so proud.