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Tipping Around the World: A Traveler's Guide {AOL Travel News}

Jan 13th 2011 5:14PM For those who want to know what to tip in the US, there's a great new book called "Keep The Change" that tells you not only how to tip on the common things (taxi, hotel, restaurants), but also how to tip on those "other" things that people from abroad might engage in while visiting the US—strictly!—on business (i.e. Vegas card dealers, strippers, etc.). And, hey, don't pretend that you don't do that stuff! A fun read too!
There was nothing in the book about International tips, though, considering our tipping culture, I think if you exercise your own American tipping sense, the whole world will love you! Non-American travellers would benefit much more from learning about how to tip in the US!

Lisa Rinna Warns Girls: 'Don't Mess With Your Lips' {PopEater}

Nov 2nd 2010 9:17AM Next to be removed, her breast implants!!

When Adult Children Fight, a Mother's Heart Breaks {ParentDish}

Nov 1st 2010 5:08PM Years ago, things came to a head with my sister. I was older and she was my gopher. We had great time together. Then she went away to college and came into her own. I didn't see her very much during that time, even though she was only 30 minutes away, and we became distant. One day while she was still in college, she and I went on a trip and I treated her like the peon she had always been, but it went wrong. By the third day she was in horrible tears. I didn't realize how she had matured past what she had been. I tried to apologize. The next year we took another trip and this time I bent over backwards to make her happy and show her I had changed. Ha! She was a raging harpy and bitched about everything I did. I accepted it as payback, but told her to cool it after 3 days. She mellowed a bit. A year or two later there was a big fallout in our family and I made it a point to talk to each of my family members and have a heartfelt conversation about how we treated each other, but mostly how I treated them. It was an emotionally raw and humbling experience, but I vowed to my sister that I would not call her the endearing (yet demeaning) nickname(s) I had used since she was a kid. I apologized for every rotten thing I had ever done, including being the jerk I was on the first trip. I asked her for her forgiveness. The both of us in tears, we hugged for what seemed like hours. The chill came off of her. I kept my promise to not take her for granted and treat her with respect. She extended her hand in friendship. Can I tell you that my relationship with her is BETTER now than we ever had as kids? It is strong now because it is equal. We enjoy each other's company and hang out all the time. Occasionally we get into spats and yell at one another, but there's no fear of anything breaking between us. Though we have different temperaments, we both make the effort to meet each other half way. She has helped me through some of the toughest times in my life and I though hers. I couldn't pick a better friend. It took a large dose of humble pie to achieve what she and I did, but we had to in order to wipe the slate clean. And there, we rediscovered the deep connection that had always been there and that when all is said and done, we really enjoy each other's company. Respecting each other's right to be their own person is fundamental to reestablish sibling bonds. Perhaps Alex and Nicholas will meet each other half way someday.

Swimsuits Custom to Your Figure {Shopping Articles Blog}

Apr 1st 2010 9:32AM Yeah, Marshall, you're right about the full-figured part. It's extremely inconsiderate to say that a woman who is apple shaped and wears solid colors will look like "an unshapely mass of color walking along the beach." And look at the one-piece bathing suits (with heavy control-meshing!!) while everyone else wears bikinis! If that is the way your body is, then wear a bikini and show what God gave you. In Italy, you see every body type (including apple shaped German vacationers) in bikinis and you know what? NO ONE CARES. Old, young, fat, skinny. They love the beach and they love their bikinis. Bathing suit season is not horrifying if you just stop worrying about what others think (and you stop judging people). We just love to make swimsuit buying dramatic here in the USA. And by the way seeing a fat woman in a bikini isn't terrible either. Again, we just tell ourselves that it is (or stupid fashion authors do).

Superintendent to Teachers: You're All Fired! {ParentDish}

Feb 19th 2010 12:01PM This also shows the teachers and union are PIGS that in this economy they won't do a little more for the same amount of money. All other government agencies and industries are going on furlough or agreeing to take a salary cut (St Vincents Hospital of NY staff just agreed to a cut) just to keep their jobs and the jobs of others and these folks can't do a little more (in an attempt to get them to do their jobs better which is to educate children) for the SAME amount of money? Teachers tend to think that their function in society is so necessary because they "do it for the children" but then you see what their real motivation is when you ask them to do "more" for the children. Suddenly all these teachers (who aren't even at this school) come out of the woodwork blasting parents, kids, administration, on this message board, but never see how little is actually being asked for NO LESS pay. Shame on them and good for this Superintendent. PIGS!

Kirstie Alley Stars in New Reality Series "Big Life" {That's Fit}

Feb 10th 2010 8:16PM Kirstie is completely missing the point if she's trying to be skinny. She's a woman who is stunning even at 200 lbs+. She can really be a role model if she were to embrace her "full-figured" self and quit seeing herself as fat. She's also very fortunate to have an hour-glass figure because she is a voluptuous knockout at any size. It would go so far in our society if she just stopped trying to do what everyone else is doing and just loved her body and rocked it. She should eat well, exercise and see where her body takes her. If she's meant for that size then so be it. Love it. This is Kirstie's chance to show that healthy, happy and beautiful comes in all shapes and sizes.

The New Mortgage Revolution: Walk Away {Housingwatch}

Jan 26th 2010 9:23AM Did you not agree to the sale price of the home? Are your word, your signature, and your handshake worth anything anymore? Banks should not be allowed to hike up the payments you agreed upon, but owners should not walk away from their obligations. You bought the house at that price. Who cares if the home is not worth that. You pay it off. Sounds weird, huh? Hey, let's say you buy car and drive it off the lot. That car will never again be worth what you paid. Do you default on the car payment because you cannot recoup your costs in a resale? Noooo, because you use it everyday and it has value beyond what it's worth. Yeah, yeah, but a house is an investment. F THAT! Your HOME is where you freaking live; is that not valuable? It's NOT some stock or bond or share or certificate in a drawer somewhere. It's where you rest, you eat, you love, you share. I think somewhere in the late 90s we lost sight of what it meant to have a home and we began residing in investments instead. That's where the obscene practice of houseflipping came in. (We all love to see a house lovingly improved upon, but when the purpose is to make a profit, it's obscene.) And you'd buy a home (you were actually planning on living in) with the intention of improving on it: knock out that wall, open up the kitchen, put on an addition. What a way to buy a home! No wonder we walk away from our precious "investments!" They're not worth what it used to be and they never meant much to us anyway. It makes me wonder: what do we actually value anymore?

The New Mortgage Revolution: Walk Away {Housingwatch}

Jan 26th 2010 8:50AM Well-to-do? Why all the credit card debt AND a condo PLUS a regular mortgage? Didn't that raise any flags for you? I'm sorry to hear of your plight, but it doesn't sound like you were all that well off. You might have felt that you were but, really, you couldn't afford your lifestyle. You were borrowing against it. "Excellent credit" only takes you so far and ultimately, without the income to back up your "excellent credit," it is your undoing; ever read Thackeray's Vanity Fair? It sounds like you're now below what you should have been, and it kind of balances out. Imagine how your life would be now if you lived on 80-90% of your previous income and not on 150% of it? Oh, and you're complaining about paying DOUBLE minimum payments? Honey, if you are just getting by paying the minimum you are dangerously underwater. Those minimums are designed to be paid off over years when you've paid some obscene amount over what the original purchase price was. So much for the that Spring Sale price! The banks suck, but you're the one who let yourself get sucked in. It's good that you can start over, but you really have to stop deluding yourself into thinking you had it good. You had it OK. And you would have been fine had you lived like that.

Dr. Oz Reveals the Sneaky Sugar in Your Food {That's Fit}

Jan 18th 2010 2:47PM You might want to get creative and find out about Miracle Fruit. It's a berry that temporarily blocks sour and bitter receptors on your tongue and makes things that ARE sweet taste even sweeter. There is no sugar involved other than what naturally occurs in the food you're eating and it's NOT a drug. You're just tasting flavors beyond "the sour." The sweetness is not like sugar; it lingers in your mouth much like aspartame, but I think it tastes closer to sugar than to aspartame. Coffee becomes very smooth and doesn't need a sweetener nor a creamer. The berry itself is quite expensive (at about $5+ a pop) but there are affordable tablets that work just about as well. (You can look them up; I'm not advertising here). Lemons and grapefruit taste INCREDIBLE. Goat cheese is sweet like cream cheese frosting. Wine tastes like crap and cherries are too sweet. The effect lasts about 30 minutes with the tablet (unfortunately drinking liquids rinse the berry off your tongue faster) and longer with the actual berry. I'd love to see if anyone can make an otherwise sour, unsweetened lemon cupcake with goat cheese "frosting" that tastes horrible to most people, but amazing to those who have had the berry or tablet. I think it would be a boon to diabetics if someone can make viable recipes and make the fruit more affordable and available.

Worst 'American Idol' Season 9 Auditions {AOL TV: American Idol}

Jan 13th 2010 9:40AM Andrew is a freaking sociopath. (Those glasses aren't helping either) I'd lock my doors and only walk in well-lit parking lots for the next 50 years if I were you, Kara.