KharazyanBlog

Top 10 Tools for a Free Online Education

noreply@blogger.com (Tigran) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 04:27:00 +0000

It's easy to forget these days that the internet started out as a place for academics and researchers to trade data and knowledge. Recapture the web's brain-expanding potential with these free resources for educating yourself online.

10. Teach yourself programming

Coding, whether on the web or on the desktop, is one of those skills you'll almost never regret having. Coincidentally, the web is full of people willing to teach, and show off, programming skills. Whether you're looking to knock out a modest Firefox extension or tackle your first programming language, there's no requirement to run out and buy the thickest book you can find at Barnes & Noble. Google Code University, for instance, hosts a whole CSE program's worth of straight-up coding lessons in its bowels. We've pointed out a lot of other programming resources found around the web, so you should be able to get started in almost any project. As for the random, unexpected, seemingly inscrutable bugs, well ... welcome to the fold.

9. Get a Personal MBA

"MBA programs don't have a monopoly on advanced business knowledge: you can teach yourself everything you need to know to succeed in life and at work." The Personal MBA site occasionally updates its list of dozens of helpful business books, designed to teach both the nuts-and-bolts money stuff and the kind of thinking one needs to get ahead in sales, marketing, or wherever your interests lie. A business school can offer networking, mentoring, and other perks, but nobody can teach you enthusiasm and business savvy—except yourself.

8. Learn to actually use Ubuntu

Too often, newcomers to Ubuntu, the seriously popular Linux distribution, find that their questions about any problem great or small is answered with a curt "Search the forums," or "Just Google it." From experience, that's like telling someone there's maple sap somewhere in that forest, so here's a nail and get moving. With a brand-new installation sitting on your computer, few resources are as straight-forward and comprehensive as the Ubuntu Guide, which is packed with common stuff like installing VLC and getting VLC playback, but spans across topics including Samba and remote printing configuration. Author Keir Thomas also offered Lifehacker readers a little preview of his Ubuntu Kung Fu in two excerpts that tweak one's system into a faster, more efficient data flinger.

7. Get started on a new language

Nobody's pretending you can talk like a local without some immersion experience. But there's a lot of resources on the web for honing an already-sharpened second language, or at least picking up some of the vocab and nuances. Learn10 gives you 10 vocabulary builders delivered every day by email, through iGoogle, through an iPhone page, or most any other way you'd like. One Minute Languages podcasts its lessons and lets newcomers stream from the archives. And Mango Languages has about 100 lessons, shown to you in PowerPoint style with interstitial quizzes, to move you through any language without cracking a book. Not that books are bad, of course, but this is stuff you can crack out during a coffee break.

6. Trade your skills, find an instructor

As Ramit Sethi put it in our interview, many people don't realize the value of the skills they do have, whether it's something as simple as higher-level English or software lessons for those in need. A site like TeachMate capitalizes on the inherent disparities in our interests, letting someone willing to teach a bit of, for example, Russian language get cooking lessons in return. If a site like TeachMate doesn't quite reach you, try Craigslist, which, especially in a recession, is brimming with people looking to trade skills instead of cash.

5. Academic Earth and YouTube EDU

We have to guess that having a giant, searchable database of free academic lectures was just too good an idea for two different web firms to pass up. Academic Earth has been described as a Hulu-like aggregator for lots of major universities' content, and offers the slicker and more navigable front-end for them, as well as allowing embedding and sharing with no restrictions. YouTube EDU might have a broader reach, and the player and format might be a bit more familiar to most. Both sites offer both individual lectures and full course series, and are definitely worth checking out.

4. Teach yourself all kinds of photography

Sites like Photojojo and Digital Photography School are oft-linked resources around Lifehacker, and for good reason. They let the uber-technical shooters run wild in forums and discussion groups, but focus the majority of their front-page posts on things that beginning DSLR shooters and moderate consumer-cam photographers can grasp and mix into their daily camera work. Of course, we've compiled and sought out our own digital photography advice at Lifehacker, including photographer Scott Feldstein's guide to mastering your DSLR camera (Part 1 and Part 2), and our compilation of David Pogue's best photography tricks, plus ours. Then there's the simple pleasures of posting on Flickr, seeking out Photo by Marcin Wichary.

3. Get an unofficial liberal arts major

Whole-mind learning doesn't end the day you declare a major and start sending out resumes. A huge number of universities offer up some of their most unique and fascinating resources for free online, posting up databases, image galleries, and all kinds of stuff you wish you had time to dig through during your undergrad years. Learn everything you ever wanted to about Picasso at Texas A & M's Picasso Project. Indulge your inner geo-geek with super hi-res images from Hirise at the University of Arizona. Tour the world's spaces in 3D with The World Wide Panorama at UC Berkeley. Wendy Boswell discovered those resources and way more in her discovery of the .edu underground, and you can find a lot more down there, too.

2. Learn an instrument

If being dropped off at the music store/mall/piano teacher's house wasn't a memorable part of your childhood, you might dig the digital age's equivalents a lot more. Guitar players, in particular, have a lot of places to turn for video, audio, and graphical teaching tools. Adam rounded a lot of them up in his guide to learning to play an instrument online. If you want to build a foundation for learning any instrument, though, Ricci Adams' Musictheory.net has Flash-based tutorials that offer a gentle tour through keys, time signatures, modalities, and the other ins and outs of notes and chords.

1. Learn from actual college courses online

A huge number of colleges, universities, and other degree-granting universities are going all open-source these days—giving away the actual guts of their courses, while retaining their revenue stream by awarding degrees only to those who pay. In this day and age, though, programming, marketing, design, and other self-taught skills are pretty valuable, however you came by them. Whether you're looking to break into a field or just augment your skill set, dig into our guide to getting a free college education online, which we then updated a bit with Education Portal's list of ten universities with the best free online courses. Just think about it—at home, with your coffee and comfortable chair, you're far more awake than the average co-ed who totally should have hit the hay a bit earlier last night.

Where do you turn when you have to teach yourself something? What skills or topics would you like to see more coverage of on Lifehacker, or just anywhere on the web? Help us plan a curriculum in the comments.

ShamWow Guy In Slap, Chop Bust

noreply@blogger.com (Tigran) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:01:00 +0000

TV pitchman battered hooker in South Beach hotel room brawl

MARCH 27--Meet Vince Shlomi. He's probably better known to you as the ShamWow Guy, the ubiquitous television pitchman who has been phenomenally successful peddling absorbent towels and food choppers. Shlomi, 44, was arrested last month on a felony battery charge following a violent confrontation with a prostitute in his South Beach hotel room. According to an arrest affidavit, Shlomi met Sasha Harris, 26, at a Miami Beach nightclub on February 7 and subsequently retired with her to his $750 room at the lavish Setai hotel. Shlomi told cops he paid Harris about $1000 in cash after she "propositioned him for straight sex." Shlomi said that when he kissed Harris, she suddenly "bit his tongue and would not let go." Shlomi then punched Harris several times until she released his tongue. The affidavit, , notes that during the 4 AM fight Harris sustained facial fractures and lacerations all over her face After freeing his tongue, a bleeding Shlomi ran to the Setai lobby, where security summoned cops. Harris refused to cooperate with officers, who recovered $930 from her purse. "Both parties had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from their persons," police reported. In a brief telephone interview, Harris declined to answer TSG questions about her run-in with Shlomi, though she did say she is considering a lawsuit against the pitchman. Asked if she worked as a hooker, Harris declined comment. As seen in the below mug shot, Shlomi was also injured during the fracas and, court records show, was treated at Mount Sinai Medical Center. While Shlomi and Harris were both arrested for felony aggravated battery, prosecutors this month declined to file formal charges against the combatants. Police records list Shlomi's occupation as "Marketing," but make no mention of his affiliation with the ShamWow or the Slap Chop, both of which sell for $19.95 (plus shipping and handling).

Watch a funny thing happened on the way to the moon online

noreply@blogger.com (Tigran) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:49:00 +0000

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Moon (screen film)

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon is a 2001 documentary written, produced, and directed by Nashville, Tennessee-based filmmaker and investigative journalist Bart Winfield Sibrel, a critic of the United States space program and proponent of the unsubstantiated theory that the six Apollo lunar landing missions between 1969 and 1972 were hoaxes perpetrated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Sibrel believes that there were numerous insurmountable scientific and technical problems which made it improbable that men could land on the moon and return to Earth safely. Further, he believes that certain anomalies and inconsistencies in NASA's records of the landings point to a hoax, and that the space race was actually a race to develop armaments, citing a 95 percent similarity between the technologies that allowed the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles and the launch of the Saturn V rockets.

Bart Sibrel claims that NASA perpetrated a fraud, because of the perception that if the United States could put a man on the moon before the Soviet Union did it would be a major victory in the Cold War, since the Soviets had been the first to achieve a successful space launch (Sputnik in 1957), the first manned space flight (Vostok 1 in 1961), and the first spacewalk (Voskhod 2 in 1965).

Bart Sibrel also claims that the life-threatening events that occurred during the Apollo 13 mission were actually manufactured by the government to force people to pay attention to the space program. He suggests that this is proven by the claim that a number of viewers called the television networks complaining that coverage of the second lunar mission, Apollo 12, was interrupting repeats of the I Love Lucy program, saying: "it became clear that for the taxpayers, once was enough".

The 47-minute documentary primarily focuses on the Van Allen belts, areas of intense radiation circling the Earth, as a major reason why Sibrel believes it was impossible for a manned spacecraft to land on the moon. Bart Sibrel also presents what he claims is official NASA footage, shot over the course of three days, that was not meant for public release. In this footage, the crew of Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin are, according to Sibrel, staging part of their mission to make it appear that they were 130,000 miles from Earth. The illusion was allegedly perpetrated thus: a color camera was placed at the rear of the capsule, anything that could produce light was deactivated, and an insert was placed on the window to create a false terminator. Sibrel's allegation here is that it took three days for the astronauts to perfect their filming techniques rather than travel to the moon. Moreover, he contends that there is "Earthshine" clearly visible in the window after the lights were turned back on and that this proves that Apollo 11 was in low Earth orbit.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon also examines the still photographs and points out what it claims are anomalies, such as non-parallel shadows, to support the assertion that multiple artificial lighting sources were used; sped-up video footage of the astronauts walking on the lunar surface and lunar rovers driving on the surface are also used to advance the theory they were actually filmed on Earth and slowed down to simulate the moon's lower gravity. The lack of visible stars is another point stressed by Bart Sibrel.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon was narrated by a British stage actress named Anne Tonelson. Bart Sibrel himself makes no appearance in the film. He does appear prominently in the similarly-toned Fox Television Network special, Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?

Bart Sibrel also alleges that the "Star Wars" Strategic Defense Initiative was far simpler than the government claimed it was, and that tests were artificially manipulated to, according to the Government Accountability Office, fool the Soviets about U.S. military readiness.

FreeKidCrafts.com Review

noreply@blogger.com (Tigran) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:24:00 +0000

Freekidcrafts-The best way to bond with your child is spending time with them. In the following site you will find a lot of great ideas to make you and your child have a great time. On the home page you will find a list of the positive things you may achieve and how it will help you with your kids. The site shows ways to create finger puppets and much more fun projects to enjoy with your child so that not only does your child have fun but you do as well. On the menu you will find all the tabs you need to find what you are looking for with ease. You can find many books and a list of its advantages and useful topics that are used for little kids that have yet a lot to experience. They grow up fast, enjoy the times now and check it out.

Visit Freekidcrafts

Registry Fix Review

noreply@blogger.com (Tigran) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:28:00 +0000

Registry Fix can Restore Windows Registry Files, Repair DLL Error Messages and Fix General Protection Fault Errors. Scan your system for invalid file and system references that cause instability, PC errors, crashes, and general system slowdowns.

Many locations exist that are the cause of the most common PC troubles. We have pinpointed these locations, and our free scanner allows you to scan for invalid registry entries that might be causing your PC issues. The software will inform you of where the errors exist, and what potential errors they might cause.

Interface: Registry Fix is both robust AND easy for a novice to use. It provides excellent functionality and was possibly the best interface of any software we reviewed. Like other software in this genre, one draw back is that the "Free Scan" will only show whether there are errors and the user must buy the full product to actually remove them.

Features: Registry Fix has all but one of the feature requirements of TopRegistryCleaner which include: Problem Descriptions, Deep Scans, Scanning Logs, Ignore Lists, Back Up/Restore, Startup Manager, Registry Optimizer, and Registry Compactor. The missing feature is a Registry Compactor. This kept Registry Fix from being our top selection.

Effectiveness (Detects & Repairs): In order to be listed in the "Top 4" on TopRegistryCleaner, applications must detect and repair 12 items including: Application Paths, Shared Program Paths, File Associations, Active X Controls, Add/Remove Programs, Help Files, Font Files, Toolbars, Shared DLL Files, Invalid Shortcuts, Startup Files, Most Recent Files. Registry Fix does detect and make repairs in all 12 areas.

Help/Support: The Help/Support team at Registry Fix provide customer support mainly through email and their FAQ area; however, they offer a Live Web Based Support option which is an excellent help for novices. It is easier to explain something to someone live than it is through email. Support was outstanding.

Overall Ease of Use: The Registry Fix client is outstanding both in terms of use and robust abilities. Help/Support was also excellent in both time of response and information provided. TopRegistryCleaner gives average superior marks to Registry Fix in this area.
Software Compatibility: Registry Fix works with all versions of Windows including: 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and Vista. Registry Fix won't work on your Mac, but I don't know of a single registry repair software that will.

Exchange/Refund Policy: 60 Day Limited Return Policy .

Click Here Free Download Registry Fix

Halloween Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Tigran) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:19:00 +0000

Easy Pumpkin Painting

Have you ever been to a pumpkin festival and wished you could afford one of the charming whimsical painted pumpkins on display? The price tags are outrageous!

With this step by step guide you'll be painting beautiful pumpkins that will be the envy of all of your friends and neighbors! Some in less than one hour!

Click Here to discover how simple pumpkin painting can be!

Little Kid Halloween Crafts

Halloween is the time of year where you're almost expected to come up with great crafts for kids to celebrate the season.There's just not many fun Halloween crafts available for those youngest of crafters because it's difficult to create crafts that little kids can do with a minimal amount of help. Most Halloween craft projects you find are aimed at older children.Below you'll find a great guide that will help you delight those wide-eyed younger children anxiously anticipating great Halloween crafts.

Click Here To Get Started Today!

Halloween Activities

Printable Kids Halloween Activities To Make Halloween More Fun Than Ever Before. Includes Puzzles, Mazes, Halloween Games, Math Worksheets, Coloring Pages And Much More. Ideal For Home Or School.

Click Here To Get The Fun Started!

Halloween Recipes Ebook

From a chocolate witch's hat to creepy crispy crunchies. You'll find over 50 Halloween recipes in this ebook.
There will be millions of party's this year. Make yours stand out with these spooktacular recipes!

Click Here To Get Cooking!

Dr Phil Caught Cheating

noreply@blogger.com (Tigran) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:16:00 +0000

Buy all your favorite celebrity weeklies at Universal News here!

If you care about Dr. Phil, than you’ll love this cover from the http://www.nationalenquirer.com.

According to the tab, Dr. Phil was caught cheating and the other woman “tells all.”

Well, where there’s smoke there is fire.

In other stars gaining weight news, Kirstie Allie is back to being really overweight. Pretty sad.

What about the sidebar?

All the insets are strong and timely.

From the dramatic Casey detail - her mom drowned her in a pool - to the Jen Angie feud.

Plus, the National Enquirer throws in some political news just in time for the election.

Msi Soccer Total Fitness Review

noreply@blogger.com (Tigran) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:36:00 +0000

It’s a common knowledge that you have to be fit to play soccer. But most people fail to realize just how important it is to be in your best possible physical condition. Having great technical abilities means nothing, if you don’t have the necessary speed, stamina, agility, explosive power, and endurance that you can only get from being in a great physical shape. Total Soccer Fitness was developed to help you achieve just that.

The conditioning principles described inside the Total Soccer Fitness e-book were, until recently, only available to some of the top professional coaches. This e-book will provide you with a complete training routine that will help you become a better soccer player. When you develop your physical abilities you’ll be able to run faster, will become more explosive and thus shorten your reaction time, will boost your overall strength, and increase your endurance, so that you can play your top game even in the last minutes of the match, when most of your opponents are already exhausted and slow.

Total Soccer Fitness is not the same as other fitness programs. It was developed especially for soccer players and it shows. If you don’t just read it, but actually apply the information, you will start playing the best soccer in your life, and that’s guaranteed.

If you are a coach, a parent, or a young soccer player, you might want to check out
Click here for Total Soccer Fitness

Strip That Fat Reviews

noreply@blogger.com (Tigran) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:32:00 +0000

Strip That Fat Strip That Fat is a weight loss plan which is increasing in popularity at a remarkable pace. More and more people are trying out Strip That Fat to help them achieve a fast and sustainable weight loss.

But what can this program really teach you? What can it do for you?

The main emphasis which StripThatFat places is how to avoid short term weight loss by following what is known as Burst diets: diets which only help you to lose weight in the short run but can't provide steady results in the long run. This happens because many diets deprive you of necessary nutrients (carbs, fat, protein) and so disrupt the metabolic process and the regular functions of your body.

StripThatFat isn't about depriving your body of food groups as a whole. Rather, it is based on choosing the right food items, eating them at the right time, and avoiding bad foods in order to accelerate fat loss. Because it does so without depriving you of too much food or nutrients, you can enjoy a long and sustainable weight loss process.

Strip That Fat can teach you the following things:

How to make yourself feel fuller faster
How to reduce inches
How to increase the rate of your weight loss
How to eat fat and still lose weight
How to train your body to burn off more calories faster
Why some diets fail
And more

Apart from the main benefit which this diet provides which is helping you to look better by shedding some excess pounds, you can also improve your health, increase confidence, enjoy the admiration of the opposite sex, and have more fun just by becoming a slimmer more attractive person.

To read more about it, click here: StripThatFat.com

How to Write a Business Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Tigran) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:08:00 +0000

Have you learned how to write a business plan? If you haven't, have no fear, because it is not that difficult. You may easily write a well constructed business plan, if you learn some useful advice in this area.

A business plan is an effective sales device, so you need to construct it very attractively and with clarity without creating misunderstanding in the minds of the investors.

1. The wording needs to be concise, plainly understood and simply stated. Try to focus primarily on key issues and don't worry about unimportant details. It is as essential to understand what to exclude and as what to include. Hence, be sure to cover all vital points.

2. Clearly present the uniqueness of the article in question. Avoid trying to do very much, as it shows poor understanding what you can do best.

3. Write goals that are realistic, consistent, unambiguous, and are likely to be possible considering your industry.

4. Talk about your desired customers, how the desired market works, and how will you satisfy the needs and wants of your target clients well.

5. Make clear a thorough realization of your sponsor's interest and needs.

6. It is not a good idea to overemphasize your passion for your product or letting others in on your means of productions.

7. Demonstrate how your team has a balance and record of positive outcomes to make use of the market opportunity in a way that will generate profit. In addition, demonstrate that your team has a lasting determination to stand with the proposal.

It is better, when you explicitly take on problems and risks and explain techniques to handle such situations. In addition, make sure that your business plan is complete and can be understood easily and has no need for any further information or explanation.

Lastly, approach your audiences sensibly. Remember that there may be homogeneous as well as heterogeneous audiences. Hence, ensure your proposal can attain the needs of diverse audiences.

Classic Sports Cars

noreply@blogger.com (Tigran) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:46:00 +0000

Why do so many people spend so much of their time and money buying old sports cars, and restoring and taking care of them? Because a classic sports car is like an old tune, a vintage wine or a black-and-white photograph--timeless, priceless and nostalgic. A classic sports car is a ‘classic’ because it traces its lineage to the first or second generation of sports cars and is at least 30 years old. Cars from the 60s are especially popular due to their flamboyant design and trademark engine roars that call attention to their power.

The Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Corvette, Pontiac GTO, Porsche 911 Carrera, Mercedes-Benz 300SL and Alfa Romeo Monza Spider are a few famous classic sports cars that wowed generations of auto enthusiasts with their sleek tailfins, chrome plating and grilles, bright, happy two-tone colors, jet tube taillights, wraparound windshields and plush upholstery.

Classic sports car collectors either lovingly restore and drive their cars or simply keep them in prime condition in their garages. Many love to show off their cars in shows and win trophies. And why not? These handsome cars are the epitome of style.

If you plan on buying a classic sports car, it is advisable to go for a car that’s reasonably priced and is simple but nevertheless interesting. American cars offer great value for the money when compared to cars from Europe, in terms of availability of spare parts for restoration. Most American classics come equipped with power windows, air-conditioning and power steering. On reliability, too, American cars tend to score better, as they require lesser maintenance and do not need frequent servicing.

Yes, it’s possible to get yourself a piece of history and some of that romance, without having to rob a bank, win a lottery or inherit a fortune.

Natalie Gulbis the golf star

noreply@blogger.com (Tigran) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 06:28:00 +0000

Natalie Gulbis Detailed Biography:Natalie Anne Gulbis was born on January 7, 1983, in Sacramento, California. Natalie's father John worked for the Sacramento County Probation Department, while her mother Barbara continues to act as purchasing director for a Sacramento medical laboratory. Natalie first hit the links at age 4, when her father began to teach her to play golf. She soon fell in love with the sport. At 7, she won her first tournament, and by 10, young Natalie was already breaking par.

In 1996, 13-year-old Natalie finished in second place in the California State Women's Amateur tournament. The top spot went to another future LPGA player, Dorothy Delasin. The following year, however, Natalie came back to win the tournament. That same year, she became the youngest player to ever qualify for an LPGA event, playing in the Long Drugs Challenge. Natalie would hold this record until 2002, when 12-year-old Michelle Wie made fresh claim to it.

Natalie continued developing her golf game at Granite Bay High School, where she played on the boys' team. Despite the fact that she was also committed to gymnastics and diving, Natalie still excelled academically, and graduated early, at age 16.

On the strength of her high school scores, Natalie was given a scholarship to Arizona State University in 1999. At that time, Arizona's golf team was the defending NCAA champs. In her freshman year, Natalie won three tournaments and was recognized with All-American honors. The next summer, she qualified for the US Women's Open, was ranked 34th among amateurs, and then was named MVP at the USA-Japan Collegiate Golf Championship. On the strength of these achievements, Natalie made the decision to turn pro.

Natalie went to the LPGA Qualifying Tournament (aka "Q-School") in the fall of 2000, and earned a spot on the tour on her first attempt. In 2001, Natalie moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. Her reason for doing so was initially strictly for tax purposes, but she soon grew to love her new home on Lake Las Vegas, about 30 minutes from the strip. Another advantage to her new location was its proximity to the Butch Harmon School of Golf, where she could take daily instruction from the same man who tutors golf heavyweights like Tiger Woods and Adam Scott.

In 2002, Natalie tied for fifth at the ShopRite LPGA Classic and for fourth at the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic. These two performances propelled her into second place in the Rookie of the Year points standings. The following year, Natalie tied for 12th at the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship and scored a career-low 63 in the third round of the Welch's/Fry's Championship. In 2004, Natalie finished in the Top 15 in five tournaments and carded her first LPGA career hole in one in the final round of the Safeway Classic.

In 2005, Natalie released her second calendar. The first annual 2004 edition was deemed "too provocative" by the USGA, who cancelled Natalie's signings, but it still proved to be a very successful enterprise. Natalie has also played on many charity and Pro-Am events, where she has teed off against such celebrity athletes as Roy Jones Jr., Michael Jordan and Barry Bonds.