Rants and Raves of a Bum: September 2018

The holiday season is a time to give gifts. You may be wondering what the ideal gift is to give to a friend, colleague, or member of your family. The most important thing is to assess the kind of gift that would please a person and be of use. Don’t just get any gift just because it is on offer.

To help you in making the decision, here are a number of thoughtful gift ideas you can try this holiday season.

1. Gift vouchers

Sometimes if you are not sure of the most appropriate gift to give, go for gift vouchers. They come in different values and so you can get one that suits your budget. The good thing is that the recipient is free to cash in the voucher for the item they need. It saves you the trouble of buying a gift that may not have been needed or appreciated.

2. Photo books and photo albums

One of the best ways to preserve memories is by using a photo book or an album. Whether it's childhood, family, wedding or any other memories you want to preserve, a photo book or an album is the way to go. That’s why it is a thoughtful gift that you can give to others to help them preserve their own memories.

One of the places you can find high-quality photo books and photo albums is MILK Books. Here, the books are handcrafted and made using high-quality materials that are sure to last several lifetimes.

3. Go tech

Technology is changing in each waking hour. There are new gadgets being devised and it would be a welcome gift to those who would like to keep up. For instance, the Echo is already replacing Siri and it would be a great idea to get your loved ones the new Echo. The device is hands-free and Alexa can answer questions on just about anything. If you are up to it you can go a notch higher and get the new Echo show which doesn’t only tell, but also shows how things are done.

For those with a tendency to lose items such as keys, phone, wallet, remote or other items, you can get them TrackR. The device is attached to your items and it can track them when activated via smartphone.

For the music lovers, a wireless Bluetooth speaker can be the real deal.

Just make sure that you think about the likes of the recipient before getting them a particular gift.

4. Subscription gifts

Who wouldn’t want a month’s or six months’ supply of an item they use? Subscriptions gifts are thoughtful yet easy to get and you don’t have to actually go out to buy it. Just make sure you consider the needs of the recipient before making your order. For instance, you can get a skincare subscription box for a beauty lover.

Other subscriptions can be a cologne or perfume subscription, food subscription, flowers subscription and books subscriptions.

The subscription can be monthly, quarterly, yearly and in some cases such as flowers, you can have weekly subscriptions.

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Mountain biking is a fun adventurous sport for anyone who loves cycling. It is an experience that is unique in nature. You get to enjoy the scenery around you, to work on your concentration as you maneuver through the trail, and to flex your muscles as you cycle your bike. This makes this sport both fun and beneficial to your health as well.

Are considering trying out this sport for the first time? If yes then here are 5 beginner tips to mountain biking:

1. Keep Fit

Mountain biking is an activity that requires you to use up a lot of energy and it keeps your whole body engaged. You may find yourself panting when you take up the first biking session. This is common and shouldn’t deter you from doing it again.

You can start off by going for shorter rides which your body can be able to handle and then grow progressively to longer rides at longer time intervals to improve on your strength and stamina. Try and implement a workout strategy that will tune your muscles to handle those rough trails and you’ll be good at it in no time.

2. Choose A Trail

The trail you choose will determine greatly the experience you have when mountain biking. Ensure that you settle for a trail that your skill level can be able to handle otherwise you will end up walking your bike on the trail more than riding it.

As a beginner to mountain biking, it is best that you go for a trail that has good clear signage on it. It is also advisable to bike with other people to avoid getting lost on the trail and to help you out in the event that something bad happens.

3. Carry A Map

Trails can be quite confusing for a mountain biking beginner even with the presence of signage. You can easily get lost and have a hard time tracing your way back. A map will come in handy to guide you appropriately.

Request for a map from people who are familiar with the trail. There are apps with trail maps that you can download on your phone and use. Don’t bike without a map as a beginner.

4. Carry Some Much Needed Supplies

There are supplies that you should ensure you carry with you when mountain biking. Some of these include a first aid kit, an extra tube, a multi-tool, and a small pump. These will come in handy along the way if you encounter a problem.

5. Get The Right Gear

It is normal to get a few bruises and stings here and there when you start off on mountain biking and this shouldn’t discourage you from hitting the trail again. But what is more important is investing in the right gear to keep yourself protected the entire time.

Get some elbow and knee pads, padded shorts, gloves, weather friendly clothes, a helmet, a water bottle, a backpack, and biking glasses. These will ensure that you are well protected.

Another important accessory to add here is bike grips which will allow you to have a smooth and less fatigued mountain biking experience. They are extremely important. You can’t do without them.

There is a variety of these available in the market and it can be a bit confusing deciding which ones to go for. Here is a detailed review of the top mtb grips that you can buy.

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Hair loss is a concern for both men and women. It can have a devastating effect to anyone who experiences it.

According to Web MD, the average adult head has about 100,000 to 150,000 strands of hair and loses up to 100 of them a day, which is normal. As people age, their rate of hair growth slows, and they can experience losing more than hundreds of strands which is quite alarming. So what can you do to prevent it?

For beauty and wellness expert, Cory Quirino, embracing wellness is the first step to help improve the hair’s condition and make people look younger.

“If you choose to have a wellness lifestyle, then expect wonderful changes such as radiant skin, energy, and a general sense of well-being,” she emphasizes. “In time, you will realize that you have successfully delayed the aging process.”

The beauty and wellness expert says that choosing wellness as a lifestyle includes eating nutritious food, exercising, getting a good sleep, drinking generous amounts of water, managing stress, getting enough sunshine, and above all, staying positive.

On top of a daily healthy regimen, a supplement is necessary to maintain a healthy hair and scalp. Many people opt to use chemical-based products. But for her, the use of natural products is a must and the best solution for hair loss.

“There are hair treatment products in the market today that claim to be effective but their ingredients could contain chemicals that may prove harmful with long-term use,” she enthuses. “Choose natural. Say NO to harsh chemicals and let nature do the makeover,” she emphasizes.

Natural ingredients such as virgin coconut oil (VCO) and aloe vera are loaded with beneficial properties, which boost the health of the scalp and hair. These and much more natural herbs and essential oils can be found in NOVUHAIR, a topical scalp lotion with 19 natural ingredients that work in synergy to help prevent hair loss, which the beauty and wellness expert approves of.

“Even if I have been blessed with thick hair, I know that it has to be cared for,” she maintains. “I use NOVUHAIR topical scalp lotion once daily in the evening before bedtime. Next morning, I apply it on my scalp again, then a shampoo after 30 minutes. Those who wish to further thicken the hair, it is a must to also use the shampoo and conditioner daily.”

Eventually, she noticed impressive effects after using this breakthrough product: significant lessening of hair fall, abundant growth of tress, and the return of locks’ luster.

Apart from being effective, it’s a very safe solution, too. A local clinical study has proven that NOVUHAIR has no adverse side effects with continuous use.

Moreover, NOVUHAIR is not just for those who experience hair loss. Younger people, especially the millennials, can use it for maintenance or prevention if hair loss runs in the family.

Cory recommends NOVUHAIR to everyone, especially to those who want to maintain their hair the best way they can. For her, this globally-competitive natural product answers the needs of a discriminating, health-conscious public.

Born on August 11, the granddaughter of the late Philippine President Elpidio Quirino is an author, and television and radio host. She has been a strong advocate for natural health, beauty, and wellness for more than two decades.

“Twenty years ago, it was as simple a goal as weight loss. But when I saw the dramatic effect it had on my vitality and complexion, I knew that this was the good path to take. For those who wish the same things I wanted then, this would be just as easy to embrace,” Cory recalls.

She wrote a series of best-seller books entitled “Forever Young”, which feature beauty and health tips as well as her own workout programs. Likewise, she also made a fitness video called “Cory Quirino’s Celebrity Workout for Beginners”.

For her, living in the 21st century has its challenges. She says: “The best way to live long and be well is to live a natural life.”

Truly, for a natural woman like Cory, her crowning glory deserves nothing but a world-class natural remedy that is NOVUHAIR.

NOVUHAIR is available at Mercury Drug and other leading drugstores nationwide. You may also have the product delivered right at your doorstep through Lazada at https://bit.ly/2Jc92Vk

For more information, contact NOVUHAIR hotlines at 413.6570 and 0922.8830575, visit www.novuhair.com, and Facebook Page: Novuhair Official.

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When you get your carpet horribly stained, you would definitely be worried and try to find an effective solution to remove it. Hiring a competent carpet cleaning service is perhaps the easiest and most effective solution to this problem. But finding the right carpet cleaning company is not something just searching randomly on the internet and calling someone.

Choosing the right carpet cleaning company requires some research. Because your carpet is one of the expensive belongings of your home which you won’t want to get ruined. Therefore, hiring some experienced and professional is the best option.

Here are 7 tips one should follow to find the best carpet cleaning near me:

1. Determine the cleaning process

When you hire a carpet cleaning company, there are various cleaning methods available from where you need to choose the desired method. Some offer steam cleaning while some other use wet cleaning method.

The drying period also varies one method to another. With some method, you won’t be allowed to walk till a significant period while with some others you can walk as soon as the cleaning is completed. Again, some method covers a thorough and complete cleaning, while some others may not do so.

You will find a difference in chemical usage too. Some cleaning mode uses strong chemicals which might be harmful to your kids and elder members of the family. On the contrary, some cleaning mode only uses environmentally friendly chemicals.

Considering all the aspects, choose the cleaning method that suits you the most.

2. Research reputed carpet cleaning companies near you

There is no alternative to investigate all the prospective companies near the area you live in. Talk to your friends, relatives, and colleagues if they have hired any carpet cleaning company and how about their services. You can also go through online reviews and ratings before finalizing one.

3. Don’t fall for the lowest price offer

There is nothing wrong with desiring to save money, but sometimes you should avoid cheap price option. Because carpets are one of the most expensive belongings in your house with which you should not compromise. These lowest offering companies often hide some expenses and then add that and increase the bill shockingly.

4. Find out the included services

Often the price the cleaning companies show is just a base price. There remain some extra, hidden costs. Therefore to be in the safe zone, ask them which services are included in their quoted price. Will they clean hard to reach areas, will they move furniture, and are stairs included in the package or not. And if any service you need is not included in the package, ask about the price of that particular service.

5. Find out the employee background

When you hire someone for any household task, you are letting unknown people enter the house. So, safety is one of the supreme concern here. Ensure the company you are hiring, conducts a background check. You should hire only that company that take the responsibility of its employees and make compensation if any of the belongings get harmed.

6. Business authority

The company you are hiring for cleaning your carpet should have a business license to ensure transparency.

7. Compare prices of same quality services

Compare the prices of different carpet cleaning company near you that provide the same quality services. There should be no compromise with quality, but comparing different prices may save from unnecessary spending.

In a nutshell, if you are trying to find the best carpet cleaning company near you, keep the above-stated criteria in mind. You are sure to get the best services for you.

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Overeating is a phenomenon that results because of problems in your digestive system. The main reason that causes overeating is slowing down of metabolism that triggers the starvation mode in your body. The outcome of overeating is gaining extra weight and obesity. The other reason that triggers overeating is cutting down on calories and real food. Most of the people today like to have processed food rather than real food and it’s not so easy to control eating processed food.

You will be amazed to know that there are some powerful natural antibiotics that can help you in stopping overeating and keep you healthy. Moreover, natural antibiotics ensure that your body does not become addictive to them unlike synthetic biotic. Below mentioned is the list of some natural antibiotics to stop eating by boosting your metabolism.

Honey
You might have heard a lot about honey because it is considered as one of the oldest home based remedies for various purposes. Honey is used as an effective antibiotic since ancient period. Honey has many antibacterial properties and also help in clearing the digestive system. It helps in increasing the pace of metabolism and help in burning extra calories. It is one of the most powerful natural antibiotics known to man.

Cinnamon
It is also one of the oldest natural antibiotics that is used in our meal. Very few people know the benefits of adding cinnamon in our daily meal. When cinnamon is consumed with a meal that contains a high amount of carbohydrates, it helps in increasing the speed of metabolism. Once the metabolism works in good speed it ensures that the body is not storing any fat and you don’t get the craving for more food. So, the addition of a small amount of cinnamon in your meal can help you fight overeating.

Turmeric
The people who are living with their grandparents would have listened a lot about turmeric. It has many antibiotic values and the turmeric paste is also used as an antiseptic paste. Turmeric is also considered a very good medicine for various skin treatments. People in ancient times used to drink milk that is mixed with a small amount of turmeric powder to burn fat. Turmeric has curcumin that helps the body in burning fat and boosts metabolism. It also affects your appetite and you don’t feel like eating more.

Cumin Water
Cumin seeds are one of the best remedies that help in weight loss naturally without any side effects. Drinking a glass of water in the morning that is boiled for a few minutes with cumin seeds in it help miraculously in increasing the speed of metabolism. It helps in burning calories and the taste of cumin seeds does not give you the feel to eat more. So, you can easily fight overeating with this simple method.

Black Pepper
If you want to boost your metabolism then adding a pinch of black pepper to your diet would be the simplest way. Let it be your morning eggs or tea or any other meal, black pepper can be added to anything. Moreover, this would be the simplest way to stop yourself from overeating as the meal would become hot after adding extra black pepper. The black pepper can be considered as the powerful antibiotic to stop overeating.

So here is a list of some natural ways to stop eating tips, and there are many other natural antibiotics that not only help in fighting overeating but also have many other medicinal benefits.

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Photo by Khairul Onggon from Pexels

Nicholas Paspaley began harvesting pearls near Australia in the 1930’s. In 1932, he found an exquisite natural pearl and hid it onboard. He went back to shore and basically stole the pearl. He sold it and bought his own pearl lugger and started his own business, which endured for over 80 years and became the harvester of the largest and most valuable of all natural South Sea pearls. He had the world’s biggest pearling fleet and shops of UK pearls across the country. However, this success didn’t last. Pearls became available in cheap and profusely cultivated or even plastic forms and became deeply unfashionable.

In the past decade, pearls enjoyed a revival, from large South Sea cultured pearls to some historic natural pearls. Nature, science, and industry entered into their revival, with pearls becoming lustrous again and regaining popularity. This has brought a revival in UK pearls.

Many well-known people have helped the pearl regain its popularity. Mother-of-pearl has been used in jewelry for the past 100,000 years. Roman women were especially fond of the pearl, believing it symbolized beauty, purity, and fertility.

Elizabeth 1 wore them lavishly, symbolizing her chastity and her kingdom’s affluence. An early book, The Book of the Pearl, mentions an ancient belief that pearls were formed by dewdrops falling into clams.

A deal made with Pierre Cartier to give him a Fifth Avenue mansion in exchange for $100 and a necklace of 128 natural pearls, valued at $1M, which became Cartier’s first store. “Coco” Chanel contributed to the pearl’s value in fashion by wearing several ropes of pearls in a variety of length, making them the haute couture in fashion. These pearls were a combination of natural, cultivated, or plastic.

Pearl Symbolism

The pearl is the recognized birthstone for June. It is also associated with June in being associated with weddings and brides. They have been associated with weddings, fertility, and love from early history.

White pearls are said to have been tears shed by the gods. One legend even attributes them to tears shed by Eve when she was banished from the Garden.

Even the Bible has legends related to pearls. Jesus commanded not to cast our pearls before swine, admonishing us to seek those who value the Gospel. He also tells a parable of the man who found a very valuable pearl and sold everything he had to go buy it. We are also instructed to value pearls of wisdom.

Different myths abound, especially Chinese myths since they have had interest in pearls for the longest times. One such myth says that when dragons fought against clouds, pearls fell from the sky. Another myth says that oysters swallowed raindrops, forming pearls. Another myth says that a young boy found a pearl and placed it in a jar with just a bit of rice. The next day, the miraculous pearl had caused the jar to fill with rice. When neighbors tried to steal the miraculous pearl, the boy swallowed it, becoming a magical dragon. These are just a few of the myths associated with pearls.

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In the year 20 BCE, a Roman poet named Horace invoked these two words: sapere aude. By loose translation, this means "dare to know" or "dare to be wise". As time passed, the quote came to be associated with other thinkers such as Immanuel Kant, who used the phrase to describe the historical period of great advances in scientific knowledge and culture called the Age of Enlightenment.

Widely used as a guiding principle by educational institutions worldwide, perhaps it is time to rethink sapere aude and reclaim what “daring to know” or “daring to be wise” means in our present time: the digital age, wherein knowledge, information, and dynamic learning experiences are facilitated and accelerated by the rapid advancements of technology.

Platforms for critical and creative thinking

With the effects of the 4th Industrial Revolution radically changing how we live today, the way education shapes the future has become more challenging and critical. To sustain a healthy, safe, supportive, engaging, and challenging environments for learners, it is necessary to understand and leverage today's emerging technologies which could help connect us all through communicative and collaborative platforms that foster critical thinking and creativity.

In the past years, cloud computing technology has become one of the most transformative advances in terms of information sharing. Simply put, cloud computing enabled users to access and store data, applications, and other forms of automated services online, instead of merely having these stored on a local device's own hard drive or flash storage. By removing the limitations of hardware and pooling the available computing power of thousands of machines, cloud computing helps solve one of the most complex problems of our time: how to effectively manage an immense amount of data.

In the field of education, managing information about learners and educational institutions with their own data systems can be taxing, expensive, and often requires logistical muscle. Apart from data management, educational institutions also recognized the need to open communication channels for collaboration and communication amongst educators, students, and other stakeholders — parents and communities to create a more dynamic learning environment.

Enhancing the learning experience

The delivery of personalized and experiential learning is essential in preparing the future generation. In response to the growing demands for education to catch up with the current times and take advantage of available technology to innovate teaching, REX expanded its symphony of learning solutions beyond printed materials. It aims to provide stakeholders of education with innovative and responsive products, solutions, and services to ensure the education of the Whole Child.

Cloud-based learning management systems (LMS) such as Schoology were developed and adopted to address the problem of scalability and access to educational materials. Schoology helps improve the tasks and workflow of educators and academic institutions by providing a platform for the creation and storage of engaging content, tools for designing lessons, as well as providing native tools for assessment. All this is built into one integrated platform that is easy to access for both learners and educators, a space for open communication wherever they may be, a platform built to connect all the people, content, and systems that fuel education.

Tools for the future

The capabilities of Schoology are further enhanced and extended through its pairing with the REX 21C Digital Edition Performance Tasks, a tool popular with grade school to junior high students, which is now redesigned and integrated with Schoology. Preparing the whole child, with the guidance of a community, is now made easier and more efficient, helping both learners and educators achieve more and prepare better for the 21st century. With access to curated content provided by TWIG's educational science resources, learners are able to study engaging materials, and educators are also enabled to match these learning materials with their curriculum.

To provide more personalized learning experiences for each learner, the whole classroom must be ready to measure important milestones in a students’ journey. This entails proper designing of assessment frameworks and tools to enable both parents and teachers to respond to the needs of every child. With assessment programs like the REX ACES+, An internationally benchmarked, outcome-based, P21 Skills aligned, standard-based assessment program to measure the holistic (cognitive and non-cognitive) development of a student, both parents and educators can work together to secure the success of every learner.

With its thrust in the Whole Child Approach, REX Book Store acknowledges that the world is continuously transforming and believes that because the impact of these changes is already felt in the field of education, the approaches and frameworks for building the classroom of the future today must also adapt and level up with innovative learning solutions. REX Book Store’s symphony of learning solutions is integrative and interoperable, cogently designed and developed to engage learners and stakeholders; ensuring that the holistic learning experiences they gain will benefit them in the long-term, equipping each learner to become globally competitive and successful.

Nurturing Filipino learners since 1950, REX Book Store's mission to engage and enable both education stakeholders learners to become whole and joyful citizens reflects the signs of times, echoing what Horace has dared us to do over two thousand years ago: sapere aude, dare to think, and dare to build the classroom of the future, today.