50 Best Cities .....

1.  San Francisco
2.  Seattle
3.  Washington DC
4.  Boston
5.  Portland Oregon
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7.  New York
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16.  Atlanta
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19.  Honolulu
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.
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28.  Chicago
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38. Tulsa
.
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43.  Scottsdale, AZ
44.  Phoenix
.
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50.  Los Angeles


For details, click here.

Courtesy of Bloomberg Businessweek Lifestyle's "America's 50 Best Cities".

Pygmy Baby Elephant Carassing Its Dead Mother...

http://news.msn.com/world/10-dead-borneo-pygmy-elephants-feared-poisoned

Check it out!

This is a cute video: 

http://t.now.msn.com/kid-president-gives-pep-talk-in-viral-video

Looking at the pictures & imagining lots of calamari...

Check out the stories here:  http://news.msn.com/science-technology/the-kraken-wakes-first-images-of-giant-squid-in-deep-ocean

Attention Black Friday Shoppers!

BLACK FRIDAY starts on Thanksgiving evening this year.

Walmart, KMart & Toys R Us will open at 8pm on Thanksgving Day for the early Black Friday shoppers.

Target will start their Black Friday sales at 9pm on Thanksgiving Day.

How cool is that!

Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping everyone!  No long line waiting, overnight camping or door jamming at the store front this year.  Tis a good reason for many shoppers to excuse themselves from cleaning after the delicious Turkey meal.  Horay!

For details, please check here:  http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/15/living/black-friday-thanksgiving/index.html?eref=igoogledmn_topstories

INSURANCE

Regardless of the types of insurance, medical, auto, home or life, when you don't need to make a claim against the policy, insurance seems to give you certain assurance that you have the protection that you need. But you don't really know how ineffective your policy is until you actually have to use it.  For instance, when you get sick and need your medical coverage, you will learn then that your medical insurance may only partially, or not at all, cover for x-rays, scans, certain medical tests or medications that you need.  If you get into a car accident, you may have to pay a deductible or the entire repair amount if your deductibles have not been met.

Of all of the various types, wouldn't you agree that homeowner insurance can be the least regulated and insurance companies can get away with anything? When you homes are damaged by a storm, tornado, flood, falling trees, water leakage, microorganism occupants, or uninvited animal guests, dealing with insurance companies to bring your homes back the original conditions can be a nightmare. They would use all kinds of excuses and lies to deny your claims in order to transfer their costs onto yours.

What, then, is the point of mandating citizens to have insurance without regulating insurance companies' fair practices when insurance companies only pocket their greed and deny paying benefits to cover the costs they have promised to provide? 

The bottom line is that the insurance companies are happy to collect your premiums but they are not happy to pay for your benefits and will avoid it by all means. The officials can not do anything to set things right;  they would unjustly side with insurance companies to protect their interests.  Only a class action lawsuit will.

Let me know your nightmare experiences with your insurance companies.

What a Find!

I used to learn that cells are destined to die once they became fully developed.  Now, these Nobel Prize scientists have been awarded $1.2 million dollars for their life long studies that lead to the discovery of reversing the longevity clock of the mature cells to start all over again.  What an astounding work!

Biology textbooks have to be rewritten once again.

Can this mark the beginning of the anti-aging era?      

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart was 39 when she mysteriously disappeared on her last recorded refuel stop before landing in Hawaii.  She was the first ever to attempt flying around the world at the Equator in 1937.  What a brave pilot!

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/23/opinion/butler-amelia-earhart/index.html?hpt=wo_t5

Favorite Song of the Month

After I heard this song played on Victory FM 91.5, I liked it so much that I went online to search for the song. I found this link on UTube with the lyrics.  I just love to listen to and sing along with this Matt Redman's 10,000 Reasons song.  It's very beautiful!

The Longest Cake That Saves Jobs

Can you believe this 10-ton, 2,340 feet long, 1-million Pesos ($71,400 USD) cake can save 35,000 jobs in the bakery industry?

Heartfelt Pre-Teen Story

My heart goes out to the 10-year-old in this news article .  The worst part is that her mother is delighted and saying that it is a normal thing in her culture!  Awful!

Auld Lang Syne

Every time this song is played at the stroke of midnight of the new year, I always have the nostalgic and unsettling feelings as I scramble through past memories and new anticipations.  Regardless of the outcomes, I always have those unique sentimental moments during the cheers with the song playing in the background!  

This link from Wikipedia describes the interesting details about the tradition and history of the song, including modified versions of the original lyrics:    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Lang_Syne.

Please celebrate responsibly! Don't drink and drive.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Every Christmas, millions of real Christmas trees are cut down and sold from lots across the nations.  Have you ever wondered where these evergreens come from year after year and how they have become the Christmas symbol throughout centuries? 

Well, Christmas tree farming is a big sector in the US agriculture.  The map above depicts the locations of the Christmas tree farms in Georgia alone.  It is taken from the Georgia Christmas Tree Association (http://www.gacta.com/index) – a farmer organization of Georgia Christmas tree growers, established in 1961.  Georgia is not the only state that grows Christmas trees.  In fact, there are about 15,000 farms growing about half a billion of Christmas trees in all 50 US States according to the National Christmas Tree Association (www.christmastree.org). 

While real Christmas evergreens have been around for more than five centuries, the nationwide celebration of the Christmas icon has officially commenced this year.  On November 30^th, the US Senate unanimously passed S. Res 341, a resolution to designate the first full week of December as National Christmas Tree Week (http://www.christmastree.org/11_PR12.pdf, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=sr112-341).

Why Christmas Tree? The tradition was traced back to many ancient cultures among the pagans and Christians when green branches were used to symbolize life, prosperity and protection from evil spirits during the winter solstice.  According to Wikipedia, the earliest accounts of decorated Christmas tree were recorded in Livonia (modern-day Estonia and Latvia) in the 15th century, and in Germany in the 16^th century.  Some legends stated that Martin Luther brought about this tradition when he discovered the beautiful evergreens with sparkling snows on the branches under the moonlight during his nightly walk.  He then set up a fir tree inside his home to share with his children.  To learn more about the history of Christmas Tree, please check out these references:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_tree, http://www.christmas-tree.com/where.html, http://www.firstchristmastree.net/.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A Must Watch "the Oprah of China" Show!

This is a very interesting video presented by "the Oprah of China" who talks about the "Micro Blog" social media and outcries of the young generations in China.  A must watch, click video to watch.

Bill Gates is the second wealthiest man in the world and is ranked number 5 on Forbes' Most Powerful People list  http://www.forbes.com/powerful-people/

With Vaccines, Bill Gates Changes The World Again

 

Religion drives everything for this private $4 billion firm ....

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2011/10/27/smb-hwgs-chick-fil-a.cnn

Dawn's Blog: The World Population!

Dawn's Blog: The World Population!: Our world population is projected to reach the seven billion mark at the end of the month - that's only within 12 months from the 6 billion ...

The World Population!

Our world population is projected to reach the seven billion mark at the end of the month - that's only within 12 months from the 6 billion count.  Another billion is expected in 14 months or so.  With no surprise, Africa and China are on the list of the major contributors in this population increase...

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/26/the-buzz-behind-7-billion-people-a-milestone-and-a-warning/?hpt=hp_c1

Wow - check out our stats! Very Red and Scary.

• The national debt has increased $4.2 trillion. 
• Each day, we spend $4.2 billion more than our revenue. 
• Thus far, 2.2 million jobs have been lost; 140,000 jobs have been added to the government payroll. 
• Almost three million more Americans now live in poverty.
• Four million bankruptcies. 
• 2.4 million homes foreclosed. 
• Gas prices have risen more than 80 percent. 
• Health insurance premiums goes up nearly 13 percent.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/2011/10/17/bill-oreilly-first-1000-days-president-obamas-administration#ixzz1b8hQbEiK

All about China Today!

Since China is all over the news nowadays, have you not pondered about this awaken Giant-Dragon of the East? 

What's So Great About China?   Forbes writes. 

The Rich Get Richer, And So Do The Chinese according to this Forbes article but see how BBC shows the difference In Pictures: China’s Wealth Gap.

Meanwhile, LA Times also has a say on how such a chasm may have an impact on the social harmony in China in this article:  Wealth Rises In China With Increasing Social Cost.

Finally, I thought this last Forbes article may catch some investors' eyes about investing in China:  China Sectors To Buy, And Avoid. 

Have a great weekend!