http://www.gameswala.com Latest News http://www.gameswala.com/news/virtual-villagers-4.html Continue the story of the mysterious island of Isola, and the tribe of lost refugees in Virtual Villagers 4 – The Tree of Life.The island’s chief is worried that life is slowly diminishing on the island and has selected a tribe of explorers to find the source of Isola’s troubles.They discover, and inevitably populate, the hidden eastern shore of the island. Watch over a new group of villagers as they explore the eastern shore of the island, uncover fantastic mysteries, unravel the story of Isola, and save the Tree of Life!Visit the oldest and most hidden part of the mysterious Island of Isola.A new select-screen lets you start with a custom tribe. Try starting with only children, or instead with a tribe full of nursing mothers!New updated user-interface, and our most detailed, vivid map yet full of exciting new puzzles.Dozens of achievements for players to accomplish.New puzzles, new collectibles, new Island Events!Real- Time Weather! Clouds, fog and sudden down pours.Real-Time Gameplay: new surprises every time you turn the game on!A rough guide walkthrough for Virtual Villagers 4 The Tree of LifeMost of the times when I say get something or gather it’s meant with a villager.Puzzles and Milestones1st: The Cutting ToolFirst make fireplace (gather wood and dry leaves, get it from above the fireplace),then get fish bones from the beach.2nd: The StreamClear debri near the water fall (from 100 to 0 and the waters starts flowing and keep it – 75 to 0 – clean),then get a curved stone (down where the water falled before)with villager who is a researcher & builder.3rd: Boiling WaterFirst get (fresh/salty) water (from the brown dishes upper for fresh, down for salty water),then get a stone from a stone pile, wait when the rock starts glowing red, then gather it from there.4th: Soap InventedGather 3 white flowers, then make a boiling salty water in the pot,then put flowers into the pot and gather soap from the pot when it’s done.5th: The ButterfliesGet the water flowing down to the stalks and in time it will turn healthy,then cut it and you well get stuck with butterfly attracting scent,then carry the villager slowly to the tree and click on tree with the villager.6th: The Frog RescueAfter it had rained there will be a little pond right of the staircase and there are frogs,rescue 5 of’em, you need also to clear the water fall from debri first to make a lake around the tree.7th: The Cooking PitGet level 2 building, then clear the stone rubble from the pit near the 2 fruit trees,then bring 4 hot stones to the pit, then get a banana leaf from banana treeright from the blackberry bush.8th: Cloth inventedGet salty water and 3 vines and boil it in the pot,after that get cloth pulp from the pot andthen click make clothing on cloth pulp on the stone near the beach.9th:---10th: The Mossy RocksIn the beach above from pier there will be a crab jumping out from the sand,you need to pause(space) the game then get 2 children to distract the crab,then unpause(space) the game and collect it with an teen/adult.[spoiler]11th:12th: Fishing Nets[spoiler]First fix the pier, then get a cloth building (level 2 science),then make cloth from cloth pulp (you 1 for every 10 percent),then click again on the pier.13th: Pruning the TreeHave 1 cloth, click on the sick branch,next your villagers must not be worring of food (~2k-3k food at least),then click on the cutting tools(you make it from fish bone) next to research lab,for last click on the soap.Strategy GuidePuzzle 1South and slightly to the east of the food bin (on the beach) is a large fish skeleton. Drop an adult on the skeleton and they will use the bones to make three cutting tools. Once the tools are made they will deposit them in the science lab.You can store up to six sharp tools in the lab.Puzzle 2At this point you should have one builder, one farmer, and one (or two) researchers working.Hopefully you have at least one villager who is both an adept scientist and an adept builder.Take a look at the water flowing around the tree. Notice that it is falling down a hole rather than flowing through the rest of the scene.At the base of the cliff, where the waterfall used to be, is a chevron shaped stone that looks like it would plug the hole.Find your villager who is both an adept builder and an adept scientist, and drop him/her on the stone.Your villager will plug the hole, and the water will now flow through the pool beside the lab and down towards the blackberry bush.Puzzles 3 & 4Puzzle 3 is boiling water, puzzle 4 is making soap. You can kill two birds with one stone by boiling water to make soap.To boil water: you first need to bring water to the kettle in the lab. At the cliff are two sets of bowls, one set at the top of the cliff is for fresh water, one set at the bottom of the cliff is for salt water.At the bottom of the bridge to the lab, just to the left of the bridge, is a pile of stones. If you hover an adult over these stones they see “blackened” stones.Drop an adult on these stones and they will carry one to the fire.Wait a while and the stone will glow red, indicating that it is ready.Drop an adult on the red hot stone in the fire and they will carry it back to the lab, but only if there is water in the pot.To make soap: at the base of the bridge to the lab (to the left of the “blackened” stones) is a white flower. Hover a child over it and they will call it a “soapy smelling” plant.Use a child to collect three of the white flowers and bring them to the lab. The child will place the flowers on the smaller lab table.Once the flowers are collected have an adult get salt water using the lower set of bowls.Once the pot has water, have an adult bring a stone to the fire.Drop an adult on the red hot stone in the fire and they will bring it to the lab.Once the water is boiling you will get puzzle 3. Immediately drop an adult on the small lab table where the white flowers are.The adult will add the flowers one at a time and make soap.When the water disappears from the pot, drop an adult on it and they will stack the soap on a nearby rack.]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/a-cheat-sheet-on-tipping-dos-and-don s.html Tipping can be daunting. While most of us know that it's appropriate to tip our server at a restaurant, it's not always clear whether to tip the hotel concierge, funeral chaplain or dog groomer.   If you leave a tip, how large should it be? Is 20 percent an across-the-board solution? Will your tip leave you looking like Donald Trump or Ebenezer Scrooge? Are there situations where tipping isn't necessary?   This list from Bankrate should help you answer these questions as well as give you specific gratuity guidelines.   Cash for the hotel staff   Thomas Farley, a New York-based manners expert for WhatMannersMost.com, says be prepared for a variety of tips at hotels. If the hotel is a five-star property, the service expectations are greater and the tip should be, too.   Farley's suggestions: •           Hotel porter toting your bags: $2 to $3 per bag. Room service with gratuity included on the bill: $2. •           Room service without gratuity included: 20 percent of the charge. •           Toiletry/towel delivery: $2. •           Doorman if he hails your cab: $2 to $5. •           Concierge after guest's request: $5 to $15, depending on how difficult the task is (like procuring sold-out theater tickets). •           Housekeeping: $2 to $5 per day.   Etiquette coach and trainer Constance Hoffman, of Social and Business Graces Inc. in Los Angeles, says, "Don't leave the maid's tip on the nightstand as that has sexual connotations. Instead, put it on the desk or a counter."   Also, the cleaning person may change daily, so give a tip each day before leaving the hotel so the housekeeper who makes up your room will get the money.   [Related: 9 great castle hotels]   Tipping the wait staff   The size of a restaurant gratuity depends on how well you are served, including whether your order is correct or if your server checks on you after you receive your food, says Hoffman. Don't base your tip on the food's taste; the server has no control over it.   Hoffman's tipping guidelines: •           Restaurant wait staff: 13 percent to 20 percent of the bill. When your party stays through the time that the restaurant could seat and serve others, tip twice the amount. Hoffman says you should always leave a minimal tip, even with abysmal service. Tips are generally shared by the restaurant's workers.   •           Takeout: Nothing is necessary. But if you receive some service, like a waiter packaging your food, then tip $1 to $2 or up to 10 percent. For sushi, tip 10 percent for its preparation, Hoffman says. •           Tip jars at fast-food counters: Nothing required; it's your call.   Travel tipping   When you're on a trip, how much you tip can be a quandary. Here, Patricia Rossi, a Tampa, Fla.-based business etiquette expert at PatriciaRossi.com, sorts it out.   Rossi's tipping instructions: •           Cruise employees: Tipping policies vary between cruise lines, "but each one tells you when you board what is appropriate," says Rossi. •           Airport curbside check-in: $1 to $2 per bag, more for oversized bags. •           Taxis: 15 percent of the fare. •           Airport shuttle bus drivers: $2 to $3. •           Limousine drivers: 10 percent to 20 percent of the bill. •           Roadside services for a rental car: No tipping required. Farley adds, "Roadside service is situational, like if someone changes your tire in subzero temps, you should tip them."   [Related: 12 Classic Must-Play Songs for Your Wedding]   Special events   With all that happens at major events like weddings and funerals, giving gratuities might be easily overlooked. Farley, the manners expert, offered these recommendations.   Wedding tips guide: •           Wait staff: 15 percent to 20 percent of the catering bill. •           Bartender: 10 percent of liquor bill. •           Coat room/bathroom attendants: $1 per guest, paid by the host. •           Disc jockey: $50 to $100. •           Presiding official: Not required but not more than $100. •           Altar boys: $10 to $15. •           Wedding planner: $50 to $100. If it's for the planning firm's owner, don't tip.   Funeral tips guideline: •           Presiding official: $50 to $300 if an honorarium is not preset. "Any tips for funeral home staff are handled by the funeral home," Farley says. "Sometimes those fees are itemized on the bill (as a gratuity), or they can be included in the overall price that the family pays."   [Related: Things Your Hairdresser Won't Say]   Reward salon and spa workers   Many workers in the beauty business get paid a commission only or minimum wage plus a small percentage of the fee. Remember them with these gratuities suggested by etiquette coach Hoffman.   Salon/spa tipping suggestions: •           Massage therapist: 10 percent to 15 percent of the charge. •           Hairstylist: 10 percent to 20 percent. •           Manicure or facial: 15 percent. •           Barber: $2 to $3.   Don't forget your four-legged friends: •           Pet groomer: 15 percent to 20 percent.   Your best gauge is to consider the service you're getting and to give what's appropriate, says Hoffman. "Any tip given with a genuine smile and a 'thank you' is better than nothing at all," she says.   ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/20-successful-inspiring-quotes-.html "An empty stomach is not a good political adviser." --Albert Einstein   "Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success." --Dale Carnegie   "Your spirit is the true shield." --Morihei Ueshiba   "Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much." --Blaise Pascal   "The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power." --Mary Pickford   "Good painting is the kind that looks like sculpture." --Michelangelo   "There is no substitute for hard work." --Thomas A. Edison     "Do the things you know, and you shall learn the truth you need to know." --Louisa May Alcott   "A man can't ride your back unless it's bent." --Martin Luther King, Jr.     "The things that we love tell us what we are." --Thomas Aquinas   "I am, indeed, a king, because I know how to rule myself." --Pietro Aretino     "A fool flatters himself, a wise man flatters the fool." --Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton   "All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward." --Ellen Glasgow   "Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be." --Khalil Gibran   "Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong." --Winston Churchill   "A consultant is someone who saves his client almost enough to pay his fee." --Arnold H. Glasgow   "I dream of painting and then I paint my dream." --Vincent Van Gogh   "The Ocean is a mighty harmonist." --William Wordsworth   ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/15-evergreen-inspirational-quotes-.html "There's no next time. It's now or never." --Author Unknown   "You can fail so very often. But you are not a failure until you give up." --Author Unknown   "Don't fight forces, use them." --R. Buckminster Fuller   "Joys divided are increased." --J. G. Holland   "You get the best out of others when you get the best out of yourself." --Harvey S. Firestone   "Saddle your dreams before you ride em." --Mary Webb   "With confidence, you have won before you have started." --Marcus Garvey   "Let deeds match words." --Plautus   "It takes a lot of things to prove you are smart, but only one thing to prove you are ignorant." --Don Herold   "Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical." --Yogi Berra   "The minute one utters a certainty, the opposite comes to mind." --May Sarton   "To insure peace of mind ignore the rules and regulations." --George Ade   "Act enthusiastic and you will be enthusiastic." --Dale Carnegie   "Education comes from within; you get it by struggle and effort and thought." --Napoleon Hill   "A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets." --Steve Jobs   "A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad "one. --Henry Ford   ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/15-successful-quotes-for-daily-inspiration-.html "Create each day anew." --Morihei Ueshiba   "The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." --Lily Tomlin   "Good listeners, like precious gems, are to be treasured." --Walter Anderson   "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." --Martin Luther King, Jr.     "The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions." --Alfred Adler   "A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind." --Lewis Mumford     "I never learned from a man who agreed with me." --Robert A. Heinlein   "One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present." --Golda Meir     "Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." --William Arthur Ward   "Be happy. It's one way of being wise." --Sidonie Gabrielle Colette     "The price of greatness is responsibility." --Winston Churchill   "They're only truly great who are truly good." --George Chapman     "Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers." --Voltaire "Well begun is half done." --Aristotle     "The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck." --Tony Robbins   "Success is neither magical or mysterious. Success is the natural consequences of consistently applying the fundamentals. " --Jim Rohn ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/30-best-quotes-for-inspiration-.html "The manner of giving is worth more than the gift." --Pierre Corneille   "We are always the same age inside." --Gertrude Stein   "Never elated when someone's oppressed, never dejected when another one's blessed."   "There's one thing about baldness, it's neat."   "All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark."   "You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul." --Swami Vivekananda   "One's best success comes after their greatest disappointments."   "Circumstances do not make a man, they reveal him."    "It is never too late to be what you might have been." --George Eliot    "Don't pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches."    "Effort is only effort when it begins to hurt."    "There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice." --Joseph Addison    "Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet."    "Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such." --Henry Miller    "If you think you can or you think you can't either way you are right." --Henry Ford    "We are what we believe we are." --C.S. Lewis    "A room hung with pictures is a room hung with thoughts." --Joshua Reynolds    "It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds." --Aesop    "The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential? these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence." --Eddie Robinson   "Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days." --Zig Ziglar    "You have to make it happen."   "The present time has one advantage over every other - it is our own."    "An honest man is always a child." --Socrates   "Apply yourself both now and in the next life. Without effort, you cannot be prosperous. Though the land be good, You cannot have an abundant crop without cultivation." --Plato    "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."    "Talent works, genius creates." --Robert Schumann   "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." --Robert Kennedy   "It is always one's virtues and not one's vices that precipitate one into disaster." --Rebecca West    "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." --Robert Kennedy   "It is always one's virtues and not one's vices that precipitate one into disaster." --Rebecca West   ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/45-things-a-girl-want-but-won’t-ask-for.html 1. Touch her waist.  2. Actually talk to her.  3. Share secrets with her. … 4. Give her your jacket.  5. Kiss her slowly. Are you remembering this?  6. Hug her.  7. Hold her.  8. Laugh with her.  9. Invite her somewhere.  10. Hangout with her and your friends together. KEEP READING ..  11. Smile with her.  12. Take pictures with her.  13. Pull her onto your lap.  14. When she says she loves you more, deny it. Fight back.  15. When her friends say “I love her more than you”, deny it. Fight back and hug her tight so she can’t get to her friends. It makes her feel loved. Are you thinking of someone?  16. Always hug her and say I love you whenever you see her.  17. Kiss her unexpectedly.  18. Hug her from behind around the waist.  19. Tell her she’s beautiful.  20. Tell her the way you feel about her. One last thing you need to do to show her you actually do mean it. 21. Open doors for her, walk her to her car - it makes her feel protected, plus it never hurts to act like a gentleman.  22. Tell her she’s your everything - only if you mean it.  23. If it seems like there is something wrong, ask her - if she denies something being wrong, it means SHE DOESN’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT - so just hug her.  24. Make her feel loved.  25. Kiss her in front of OTHER girls you know!   WE MIGHT DENY IT BUT WE ACTUALLY LIKE AND KINDA WANT YOU TO TICKLE US ..  26. Don’t lie to her.  27. DON’T cheat on her.  28. Take her ANYWHERE she wants.  29. Text message or call her in the morning and tell her have a good day at school, and how much you miss her.  30. Be there for her whenever she needs you, and even when she doesn’t need you, just be there so she’ll know that she can always count on you.   ARE YOU STILL READING THIS? YOU BETTER, BECAUSE IT’S IMPORTANT.  31. Hold her close when she’s cold so she can hold you too.  32. When you are alone hold her close and kiss her.  33. Kiss her on the cheek; (it will give her the hint that you want to kiss her).  34. While in the movies, put your arm around her and then she will automatically put her head on your shoulder, then lean in and tilt her chin up and kiss her lightly.  35. Don’t ever tell her to leave even jokingly or act like you’re mad. If she’s upset, comfort her.  REMEMBER ALL THESE THINGS WHEN YOU ARE WITH HER NEXT ..  36. When people diss her, stand up for her.  37. Look deep into her eyes and tell her you love her.  38. Lay down under the stars and put her head on your chest so she can listen to the steady beat of your heart, link your fingers together while you whisper to her as she rests her eyes and listens to you.  39. When walking next to each other grab her hand.  40. When you hug her, hold her in your arms as long as possible.   MAKE SURE SHE KNOWS SHES LOVED.  41. Call or text her at night to wish her sweet dreams.  42. Comfort her when she cries and wipe away her tears.  43. Take her for long walks at night.  44. Always remind her how much you love her.  45. Sit on top of her and tell her how much you love her and then bend down to her face and kiss her while you’re sitting on her. You’ll never know when she needs just a little more love .. ♥ ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/how-to-fall-asleep-instantly.html Sleeping problems  is among the most common of contemporary healthcare issues. It seems that nearly everybody, from teenagers to the aged, tends to suffer from sleep-related problems. While there are plenty of sleeping aids in the form of prescription medicines, it is always better to seek natural, safer alternatives. This means using simple techniques to fall asleep instantly without undertaking risk of addiction caused by common, sleep-inducing chemical formulations. Understand Why Counting Sheep Makes Sense Among the oldest and perhaps, the most controversial and debated of natural sleeping aids is the theory of Counting Sheep. There is nothing special about sheep and visualizing or counting them doesn’t turn you into a freak of any sorts. The idea behind this theory is highly rational. When psychologists started advocating the principle of Counting Sheep to sleep better what they meant was using it as a tool to disengage your mind. When you are lying in bed, concentrating upon counting sheep, you are essentially diverting your mind from other worldly worries. This allows your mind to achieve a sense of superficial relaxation. Though this kind of relaxation is short-lived, it helps in falling asleep quicker. You can count any animal or anything that appeals to you. Just do the counting slowly and give at least a week for this method to work. Declutter Your Mind with Writing   Most people struggle to fall asleep because their mind is overwhelmed with thoughts about how their day went or their ongoing struggles. To vent such feelings before going to bed, try to write them in a diary. This can be your nightly journal that you can maintain like a personal, summarized version of your daily life. Calm Your Mind by Boring It Rather than listening to loud music or watching provocative TV programs, it is better to do something boring. This includes reading the newspaper. This idea is to engage your mind with something that doesn’t stimulate it much. The more bored your mind gets as the night approaches, better are your chances of falling asleep faster. Stick to a Routine to Fall Asleep Quickly Our body follows an inherent day-night mechanism. This is often referred to as the Body Clock. In accordance with this regimen, our hormones are released and our energy levels are regulated throughout the day. To ensure that your body clock is well attuned towards helping you fall asleep, stick to daily routine. This includes a fixed time to sleep and wake-up with a variation of not more than 45 minutes for each. Relax Psychologically with Yoga Contrary to popular belief, meditation and yoga can be done at night too. Breathing exercises that help you be calmer are recommended when seated on your bed. Try to learn some yoga poses that help to reduce your anxiety levels. The less anxious your mind, greater are the chances of you falling asleep quickly. Relax Physically with Warm Baths Apart from psychological relaxation, you need to combine some form of physical relaxation. For this, taking bath with lukewarm is recommended. This helps to soothe the tired muscles, inducing a sense of relief. Our muscles get tense when we are stressed. As the muscles relax, our body re-discovers its unstressed, normal mode that helps to sleep faster. If taking warm baths doesn’t interest you, try to invest in a massage chair. A few minutes spent on the chair will help your muscles detangle themselves, helping you relax better.     Avoid Lazing in Daytime to Sleep Better at Night To ensure that your body clock is not disturbed and you are not using your quota of daily sleep before night-time, don’t laze around during the daytime. Don’t take naps and stay away from habits that induce a sense of sleepiness. This includes boozing. If your brain gets to rest during the daytime, it re-balances the hormones, ensuring that the bloodstream is occupied with balancing hormones during the night-time. While this balance keeps your bodily functions in good shape, it tends to disturb the critical, night-time sleep. Don’t Exercise Late-night Heavy exercising increases our heart rate and blood pressure. It raises concentrations of hormones that increase our thirst and hunger—these are anti sleeping factors. Thus, don’t exercise after 9 pm. Even if you go for a night-time stroll, after dinner, keep the pace slow. Dietary Recommendations to Fall Asleep Faster: 1. Try to reduce your intake of tea or coffee after 6 pm. 2. Stay away from sweetened desserts or beverages after dinner. 3. Drink relaxing, herbal beverages like Chamomile tea after dinner. 4. Eat more of whole grain foods that help to regulate blood sugar levels. This helps to avoid sugar spikes that often prevent us from falling asleep. It is Not Warmness of Milk but its Ingredients that Help to Fall Sleep Another typical remedy for falling asleep faster that has been misunderstood by many is drinking warm milk before going to bed. It is not the temperature of the milk that makes it a sleeping aid. Milk contains a very precious biochemical called Tryptophan. This is a sleep-inducing compound. Drinking milk, at least a couple of hours before going to bed, is recommended to benefit from its sleep-inducing benefits. Develop Better Sleeping Posture To fall asleep faster, you need to adopt a better sleeping position. This includes not using very thick pillows. Don’t sleep on your stomach. Try to position a pillow between or below your knees if you suffer from restless legs during the night. The mattress shouldn’t be too soft or hard. It should provide sufficient support to your spine.   ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/4-common-sales-techniques-people-fall-for.html "That color really brings out your eyes." "We don't know when we'll have them in your size again." "They only made this specific model of laptop in a limited run to test the market." In some ways, sales representatives are the masters of consumer psychology. Tasked with turning window shoppers into paying customers, they employ a series of techniques that can persuade even the most grizzled consumer into making a purchase he or she hadn't planned on. From our vanity to our fear of missing out, sales reps have figured out how to key off on the driving forces that lead us to commit to a purchase. The scary part is, many times they're so good at persuading us to purchase that we don't even know we've been had until it's too late. For example, here are four common sales techniques that most people keep on falling for without realizing it. Pouring on the Honey The most commonly used technique in any sales representative's arsenal of tactics is flattery. Consumers, by nature, want to be validated for their purchases and no one is more willing to pour on the compliments than the attending salesman. They're always the first to tell you that the dress you're trying on is stunningly slimming or the car you're test-driving makes you look like an executive. The surprising thing is that, even when customers know the flattery they're receiving is insincere, they still fall for it. Last year, a study at the Hong Kong University of Science revealed that all forms of flattery, sincere or otherwise, create a positive image of the flatterer in the mind of a customer. As a result, we unconsciously begin to trust the sales representatives more and make ourselves easier to push into making a purchase. Perceived Scarcity Nothing motivates a consumer to commit to a purchase like perceived scarcity. For example, I was recently in a shoe store where a customer was trying on a pair of designer high heels that were about $100 over her budget. After about 20 minutes of pacing through the store in the top-shelf shoes, the customer was still reluctant to buy them. The sales representative then told her that she should purchase the heels even if it meant returning them the next day, because they were the last pair the store would get in her size for the foreseeable future. Then a second representative came over and told the young woman that she passed over a pair of similar heels by the same designer in the past and it took her six months to locate the same shoes again. If the young woman was thinking objectively, she might have realized that she could very well have found the same pair of shoes online for less than the store was charging. However, since she was already flirting with the purchase, the sudden manufactured fear of missing out on the shoes forever was enough to make her commit to the purchase. A study by Stanford University has shown that a fear of being "jilted" decreases our overall satisfaction with a piece of merchandise, but dramatically increases our desire to buy it. Stores know this, so they run "limited supply" sales to generate that kind of fear that drives people to buy. Even when you book a hotel online, you'll see the "only two rooms left" tag attached to some reservation links. So, the next time you're tempted to buy something stop and ask yourself if you'll really never see the product again, or if you just think you won't. The Discounted Markup Many times, a store will dramatically mark up the price of its merchandise just so it can offer a convincing discount when it comes time to make a sale. This occurs most commonly at car dealerships, where the sticker price on some vehicles can be more than $2,000 above the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP). This way, the dealership can allow customers to talk down the price of the car to the MSRP so that they think they're getting a good deal when really they're just paying exactly what the dealership had hoped for all along. Obligation Through Reciprocity Our feelings of guilt and obligation can be powerful motivators when it comes to buying a product. Studies have shown that people naturally have a sense of reciprocity that leads them to believe that after something nice is done for them, they should do something nice for the benevolent party in return. To capitalize on this, sales reps will often create a "give and take" scenario where they make you feel that they've done you a favor. For instance, if you can't find a pair of jeans in your size a sales representative will search through the stock room for multiple alternatives that you might find appealing. It's a simple gesture, but as a result, you'll feel more obligated to make a purchase from them. The Bottom Line If you want to control the amount of money you spend on shopping trips, you need to learn how to recognize these common sales techniques. Once you're able to see through a sales representative's pitch, it will be easier for you to make an objective decision about the worthiness of any potential purchase. As a result, you'll be able to buy less of the things you don't need and save more money on the things you do. It might not be rocket science, but it's certainly smart shopping.   ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/ten-tips-to-boost-your-self-esteem.html Acknowledge your strengths We are all good at something or the other. Sit down and write about all the strengths you think you have. Do not over-analyse! Next, try to do things that bring out this quality into the open. This will help hone your strengths further, and also gain outside recognition. Also, do not forget to appreciate yourself for all your strong points and talents – it goes a long way in improving your self esteem. Do not put up with crap! Do not put up with people who are mean to you, even those who tell you they love you. Draw clear boundaries. Tell them you don’t like to be talked to that way. Ask them to talk to you nicely, and be assertive when you do so. Lose those negative friends. It’s time you lose friends who are constantly bitching or putting another down. Such people are likely to do the same behind your back, and they can leave you feeling critical and judgmental of others. Instead surround yourself with loving, positive people who are supportive and kind. Take in compliments Many have a difficulty in accepting compliments. There are numerous nice things people might say each day, which your mind wouldn’t have even registered. Many other times, people refuse to take a compliment saying something like “Oh, I didn’t do much.” or simply shrugging it off. From now on, when someone pays you compliment, breathe, accept it, and say thank you! When you begin to do this, you’ll see your self esteem rise to new levels. Do not berate yourself Nobody achieves anything by berating oneself. You’ve made a mistake, OK – acknowledge it. There is no need to beat yourself up for it. Even the world’s greatest have made umpteen mistakes, and continue to make them. Give yourself permission for goof ups and even those BIG mistakes. This permission can be very liberating. Accept yourself Accept the good, bad and ugly sides to you, everybody has them. All of these aspects make you who you are. When there is complete acceptance of self, one experiences a feeling of centeredness within and that will naturally bring out a person brimming with self confidence and self esteem. Here are some self acceptance exercises that experts suggest. The mirror exercise: Look really deep, and see the person that is you in the mirror with love. Experts warn that some people might find it hard to look at themselves in the mirror that way. Give it time, allow the feelings to swell up. Experience the grief, the pain and keep trying to look at yourself. Another suggestion is to start off with positive affirmations, as they are fairly easy. Keep telling yourself, “I accept myself just the way I am”. Positive affirmations are known to have a great effect. Keep a gratitude diary When you focus too much on all things going wrong, it can pull you down. Every night, before you go to bed, write down 10 things you are thankful for. Many times one goes through without recognising all that’s going right. This exercise helps you focus on all the good things in your life. Making you feel worthy. Respect yourself  Eat healthy and well, exercise, sleep well. When you respect yourself, you’ll notice how others too will begin to reflect that, lifting your spirits and your self esteem. Dress smart! Yes, clothes don’t maketh the man, but they do affect the way one feels about himself/herself. When you don’t look good, it affects the way you walk, sit and interact with people. So use this to your advantage and invest in looking good. This doesn’t mean you have to spend tonnes of money on grooming. Small things like bathing, washing your hair and wearing neat, pressed clothes can make a difference. Smile You have heard the phrase: “Smile and the whole world smiles with you, frown and you frown alone.” It’s amazing what a simple smile can do to enhance a person’s appearance. It has the power to alter the mood of a place you walk into. So carry your smile with you wherever you go. ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/11-simple-memory-tricks.html Easy memory tricks Sometimes I think my memory is actually too good. Like when I realize I still know the lyrics to nearly every song released in the '80s. But then I'll go to transfer a load of laundry into the dryer and discover that it's already dry; seems I forgot to ever turn on the washer. Or I'll forget my neighbor's name - again. Could it be that song lyrics are taking up so much brain space there's none left for remembering when my next dentist appointment is or whether I've mailed the mortgage payment this month? My mom blames 21st-century information overload for her everyday memory lapses - misplacing her glasses or walking into the kitchen only to forget what she needed there. "There's some truth to that," says Gary Small, M.D.,director of the Memory & Aging Research Center at UCLA. "Our lives may be more frenetic, but we actually have the capacity to remember much more than we do," he says. "We simply need to work on improving our attention." Read on for 11 smart short- and long-term strategies. 1. Repeat yourself. Locking the door, taking your vitamins, unplugging the iron - there's a reason they're called mindless tasks. To help get a routine activity lodged in your brain, say it out loud as you do it ("I'm popping my multi"), advises Cynthia Green, Ph.D., president of Memory Arts LLC, a company that provides memory fitness training. The same trick - repeating aloud "I'm getting the scissors" - fends off distraction as you head into the kitchen for them. Memory experts also advise that you repeat a person's name as you're introduced ("Hi, Alice") and again as you finish your conversation ("Nice talking with you, Alice"), but if that feels forced, just repeat the name to yourself as you walk away. 2. Bite off bigger pieces. Since your brain can process only so much information at a time, try chunking bits together. By repeating a phone number as "thirty-eight, twenty-seven" instead of "3, 8, 2, 7," you only have to remember two numbers, not four, Dr. Small points out. If you need to buy ground beef, milk, lettuce, cereal, and buns, you might think "dinner" (burgers, buns, lettuce) and "breakfast" (cereal and milk). 3. Give words more meaning. When you're introduced - let's say to Sally - you can make up a rhyme ("Sally in the alley") or connect the name to a song ("Mustang Sally"). Some people swear by devices like mnemonics. One New York City dog owner never leaves for the morning walk without her three b's (bags, biscuits, ball) and two t's (telephone, tissues). 4. Create unlikely connections. Jennifer Rapaport, a mother of three in Somerville, MA, switches her watch to the other wrist when she needs to remember something. The oddity of not finding the watch where it should be triggers her recall. 5. Stop trying so hard. You're watching an old movie on TV and can't think of the lead actor's name. "What is it?" you fret. "Why can't I remember?" Then an hour later, as you're peeling carrots, "Clark Gable" pops into your head. "Anxiety distracts us, making it even harder to remember," says Dr. Small. De-stressing - taking deep breaths, thinking of something pleasant - can break the cycle. 6. Sleep on it. Anyone who's ever stayed up with a new baby recognizes that next-day brain fuzziness, when it seems like nothing really registers or is available for recall later. That is what's happening. Different parts of the brain are responsible for creating different types of memories - a face, a name, or just the recollection that you met someone, explains Gary Richardson, M.D., senior research scientist at the Sleep Disorders Center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. "Sleep is what helps knit all those memories together." You also need sleep to make long-term memories last. Studies at Harvard Medical School have shown that when people are given a random list of words to memorize, those who then sleep will recall more words afterward than those who are tested without a chance to sack out. 7. Address your stress. Ever wonder why, when you're already having a maddening day, your memory goes on the blink, too? Blame the stress hormone cortisol. When you're on edge, it increases in the hippocampus - the brain's control center for learning and memory - and may interfere with encoding information or retrieving it. Cumulatively, this can be serious: "As you get older, chronic elevated cortisol levels are linked to memory impairment and a smaller hippocampus," says Shireen Sindi, a researcher in the department of neurology and neurosurgery at McGill University. Another compelling reason to deal with issues that make you stressed. 8. Eat to your brain's content. Foods that keep your heart healthy are also good for your brain. Fish high in omega-3 fatty acids (including sardines and salmon) fight artery-damaging inflammation. Ditto for walnuts. Berries, especially blueberries, are loaded with anthocyanins - potent antioxidants that protect cells, including those in the brain. Blueberries may also have the power to create new pathways for connection in the brain: These connectors tend to die off with age, but in animal studies, blueberry consumption has been shown to help restore them, says Jim Joseph, Ph.D., director of the neuroscience lab at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University. 9. Take a walk (down memory lane). When you exercise, your brain gets a workout of its own. A new study of 161 adults ages 59 to 81 found that the hippocampus was larger in those who were physically active. "Fitness improvement - even if you've been sedentary most of your life - leads to an increase in volume of this brain region," explains Art Kramer, Ph.D., professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Illinois and coauthor of the study. And the bigger the hippocampus, the better able you are to form new memories. You don't have to live at the gym. "Just get out and walk for an hour a few days a week," says Kramer. 10. Practice paying attention. What color hair did the barista who made your latte this morning have? Was your husband wearing a blue or red tie? Even if you'll never need the information, forcing yourself to observe and recall the details of your day sharpens your memory, says Dr. Small. 11. Play mind games. Doing something mentally challenging - working a crossword puzzle, learning an instrument - creates fresh connections in your brain. "You can actually generate new cells in the hippocampus," says Peter Snyder, Ph.D., professor of clinical neurosciences at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University. Those new cells build cognitive reserves that are important for creating new memories and may protect against memory loss - even dementia - later in life. Games that work to improve processing speed may deliver an extra boost, Smith has found. In a group of older adults, his (company-funded) studies of the computer game Brain Fitness showed that players had a significant improvement in cognitive skills, including memory, compared with those in a control group. Anything that requires working against the clock can help. "A timed game like Boggle or Simon will force you to pay attention, work quickly, and think flexibly," says Green.   ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/10-most-popular-suvs-in-india-(2012).html The Mahindra XUV500 is undoubtedly the most popular SUV in India today. Demand is so high that Mahindra had to shut bookings temporarily. The cheetah inspired looks and high features list makes it very desirable. Powered by a 2.2-litre diesel engine which produces 140 BHP and 330 Nm, the XUV500 range starts at Rs. 11.10 lakhs (ex-Delhi). The second most popular SUV is the Mahindra Scorpio. Offering butch looks and a very responsive 2.2-litre diesel engine producing 120 BHP and 290 Nm, the Scorpio has turned Mahindra's fortunes for the better. The Scorpio range starts at Rs. 7.52 lakhs (ex-Delhi). Undoubtedly the SUV which came and shook everyone else, the Toyota Fortuner might use the same IMV platform as the Innova but has immense street presence. Power comes in from a 3.0-litre diesel engine which produces 170 BHP and 343 Nm. The Fortuner range starts at Rs. 19.99 lakhs (ex-Delhi). One of the oldest cars in India, the Tata Safari is still a hot favorite among SUV lovers. An updated version known as the Safari Storme will be launched next month, which is a facelift of the current Safari. The 2.2-litre diesel engine of the Safari produces 140 BHP and 320 Nm. The current Safari range (not Safari Storme) starts at 8.06 lakhs (ex-Delhi).             The BMW X1 created an all new segment. It became the entry point to a BMW vehicle with prices starting at Rs. 22.40 lakhs (ex-Delhi) for the sDrive18i variant. Powered by 2.0-litre petrol and diesel engines that produce 150 BHP, 200 Nm and 177 BHP, 350 Nm respectively, the X1 accounts for a major chunk of BMW sales in India. Ford's Endeavour was one of the best selling SUVs till the Fortuner came along. The Endeavour's immense street presence and powerful engine attracted quite a few. Power comes in from 2.5-litre and 3.0-litre diesel engines which produce 141 BHP, 330 NM and 154 BHP, 380 Nm respectively. Prices start at Rs. 17.84 lakhs (ex-Delhi). The Hyundai Santa Fe has gained huge popularity in just a few months time, thanks to the wide spread Hyundai network and extremely powerful diesel engine, which produces 197 BHP and 420 Nm mammoth torque from its 2.2-litre engine. The Santa Fe range starts at Rs. 22.34 lakhs (ex-Delhi). When Skoda launched the Yeti, many found it over priced. But the company was quick to respond with lower priced variants. The Yeti is a very capable compact SUV, powered by a 2.0-litre diesel engine which is available in two set of tunes producing 110 BHP, 250 Nm and 140 BHP, 326 Nm. Prices start at Rs. 13.90 lakhs (ex-Delhi). Audi has whizzed past Mercedes-Benz in sales and is eying BMW. The Q range of SUVs (Q5 and Q7) accounts for a major chunk of the company's sales in India. The Audi Q5 comes with three engines but the most popular variant is the 2.0-litre TDI, which produces 170 BHP and 350 Nm. Prices start at Rs. 39.44 lakhs (ex-Delhi). With tons of awards going the Range Rover Evoque's way, there is little doubt that this baby SUV from Land Rover is the hottest vehicle in the world right now. The drop dead gorgeous looks along with the go anywhere capability makes the Evoque so desirable. Power comes in from a 2.0-litre petrol and 2.2-litre diesel which produce 237 BHP, 340 Nm and 187 BHP, 420 NM respectively. Prices start at Rs. 45 lakhs (ex-Delhi).   ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/8-really-bizarre-things-you-didn -know-you-could-buy-or-sell.html A prison cell upgrade: $90 a night   In Santa Ana, California, and some other cities, nonviolent offenders can pay for a clean, quiet, jail cell, without any non-paying prisoners to disturb them.   An Indian surrogate mother: $8,000   Western couples seeking surrogates increasingly outsource the job to India, and the price is less than one-third the going rate in the United States.  Your doctor's cellphone number: $1,500 per year   A growing number of “concierge” doctors offer cellphone access and same-day appointments for patients willing to pay annual fees ranging from $1,500 to $25,000.     Human guinea pig in a drug safety trial for a pharmaceutical company: $7,500   Serving as a human guinea pig in a drug safety trial for a pharmaceutical company is valued at $7,500. The pay can be higher or lower, depending on the invasiveness of the procedure used to test the drug's effect, and the discomfort involved.   Access to the carpool lane while driving solo: $8   Minneapolis, San Diego, Houston, Seattle, and other cities have sought to ease traffic congestion by letting solo drivers pay to drive in carpool lanes, at rates that vary according to traffic.   Human Plasma: $35 per donation   If you're looking to make some quick cash you can always donate your plasma, the clear yellowish fluid portion of the blood that transports water and nutrients to all the cells in the body and is used for transfusions for people who have suffered shock, burns or trauma. Although your body quickly replenishes its supply of plasma, there are a few precautions you should take before using yourself as an organic ATM and donating plasma from your blood.   Someone to stand in line for you: $36 per hour   Do you live in Washington DC and are tired of waiting long hours in line? Well, Linestanding.com provides persons to stand in line anywhere in the greater Washington DC area, and specializes in United States Congressional hearings and their respective committees. You can order online and get a stander to wait at your chosen designation until they are able to rendezvous with you, the attendee. The company also creates a sign with a name of your choice so you can easily identify the stander in line. How cool is that?   Fight in Somalia or Afghanistan for a private military contractor: up to $1,000 a day   The pay varies according to qualifications, experience, and nationality.     ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/8-most-tourist-attractions.html   The Cage of Death (Australia)   Without the cage you wouldn't stand a chance swimming with a massive saltwater crocodile. But for brave punters who still want to get cozy with a feisty croc, a new Australian tourist attraction is offering the chance for a close encounter in the safety of a clear acrylic box dubbed the 'cage of death.' Just 4cm of acrylic, a pair of goggles and a swimsuit, separate thrill seekers from the jaws of Choppa, a saltwater crocodile. The cage has no bars, unlike cages used in shark dives, which prevent the reptiles from gripping on, but deep tooth scratches are visible on the sides, deterring some hesitant participants. Top End tourists climb into the clear box before being lowered into Choppa's lair. They then spend 15 minutes inside the 9ft high cage and watch Choppa, who lost both front feet while fighting other crocodiles, try to take a bite out of them. The attraction at Crocosaurus Cove, in the heart of the city of Darwin in the Northern Territory, has been given high marks by adrenaline junkies.(  Cliff Base Jumping (Norway)   Norway has absolutely beautiful landscapes, including crazy cliffs that call to people to climb them and then BASE jump off the top. Here's a look at some of those incredible cliffs, as well as some insanely dangerous switchback roads to get to them in Norway. Thrill seekers, photographers, hikers and climbers take in these majestic views of nature. And then, there's BASE jumpers who have a much more extreme need for adrenaline. Charles Lindbergh once said of his adrenaline rush, “It is the greatest shot of adrenaline to be doing what you have wanted to do so badly. You almost feel like you could fly without the plane.” Here in Norway, as if they've turned into Superman, some adrenaline junkies do fly without a plane.   Iguazu Boat Ride (Argentina & Brazil)   Taller than Niagara Falls and twice as wide, the Iguazu cataracts are one of the most impressive sites that you will ever see in your travels around the world. 275 waterfalls cascade through the Argentine and Brazilian parks and once you see the Devil's Throat you won't regret the trip.  For 15 USD you can take an Iguazu boat ride that will allow you to thumb your nose at the visitors in both countries, as you motor right into the fury of the monstruous falls. Not only will you get absolutely soaked and feel, up close, the power of the falls, but you also get bragging rights, because no matter how you phrase it, the fact that you took a small boat and motored into the dump zone to receive a sheet of water from some of the biggest falls in the world, is undeniably sweet. Note: In 2011, two US tourists were killed and five people were injured when one of the boats overturned. Seven tourists from the US, Germany and Colombia were sightseeing at Iguazu Falls in northern Argentina with a crew of three when their boat hit rocks and flipped over.    CN Tower Edge Walking (Toronto, Canada)   The CN Tower holds a Guinness World Record for its EdgeWalk attraction — the highest external walk on a building. The attraction allows people to walk hands free along a 1.5-metre-wide ledge that surrounds the top of the tower's main pod. Walkers who venture out in groups of six are secured with a harness during their 150-metre stroll. The walk opened to the public on Aug. 1 2011 and officials say it has attracted thrill seekers from age 13 to 90.   Volcano Bungee (Chile)   If throwing yourself off a platform with nothing but a bouncy cord tied to your feet is a bit too lame for you, then you're a candidate for the wildestbungee jump we've ever heard of: the Volcano Bungee near Pucón, Chile. Basically you get flown up to an active volcano--yes, we mean a bubbly, smokin' volcano--and then you have to bungee jump off the helicopter into the caldera towards the molten lava. Are these people insane? Anyone thinking that throwing themselves into a volcano sounds fun also needs to be fairly well off. You can do this bungee jump as part of a six-day package for $9,995, including accommodations and other (slightly less crazy) activities.   El Caminito Del Rey Trekking (Spain)   Adrenaline junkies have been flocking to southern Spain to experience the 110-year-old El Caminito Del Rey. And you don't need to be an experienced climber either; the only requirements are that walkers should be at least twelve years old and have a good head for heights. The trail, also known as the King's Pathway, was originally built in 1905 for workers to travel between two hydroelectric power plants but was closed-off in 2000 after two walkers fell to their deaths.   Kayaking with Whales (Alaska)   While combining canoeing with bird watching or fishing is certainly a reason some people paddle, it is becoming increasingly popular to kayak and paddleboard in search of bigger more elusive life. The rise of the internet, which has publicized these encounters between kayakers and paddleboarders with sharks and whales, is adding to the allure of this endeavor. While Alaskan sea kayakers have long owned the rights to cool photos of themselves in kayaks with breathtaking panoramas in the background and whale tales in the foreground, this phenomenon is increasing with greater frequency in other parts of the U.S. and the world. What is cooler after all than kayaking with a whale? It is almost becoming predictable as to when kayakers will be able to share in this experience, as whale experts are increasingly able to predict the feeding patterns of these truly beautiful marine mammals. While it is quite uncommon for whales to do any damage to humans, it is not out of the question. Their sheer size and weight make an encounter with these gentle giants a dangerous proposition.   Zorbing (North Wales)   This is an extreme sport which allows adrenaline junkies to roll down a hill in a giant inflatable ball. Adventure company Have You Got The Ball Ltd from Bryn Coch Farm, Whitford, near Holywell, offers an experience called sphereing, also known as zorbing.  Zorbing is generally performed on a gentle slope, but can also be done on a level surface, permitting more rider control. In the absence of hills some operators have constructed inflatable, wooden or metal ramps. ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/10-amazing-old-stuff-that-still-works.html World's Oldest Lightbulb – Working for 111 years The world's oldest light bulb has been burning for 111 years - so little wonder it has a fan club with thousands of members and its own website. The so-called 'Centennial Light' has been on almost constantly since 1901. It holds pride of place in Fire Station 6, in Livermore, northern California. The longest time the Guinness World Record-holding bulb has ever been turned off for is just a week. Dangling above the fire engines, people come for hundreds and thousands of miles to see the diminutive symbol. The bulbwas designed by Adolphe Chailet, who competed with the likes of the world-famous Thomas Edison to make the best bulb.   World's Oldest Vacuum Cleaner – Working since 1904   Still sucking after 108 years, Harry Cox owns the oldest known working vacuum. He rescued the cleaner and accessories from a skip at work before it went to a landfill site. Harry, at 53, less than half the age of his 1904 American Sturtevant vacuum cleaner No.4 said, “There was a walk-in skip at the factory and I rescued it.” Despite his enthusiasm for old machines, his wife Jacqueline ignores the noisy, heavy antique and prefers to clean their three-bed semi in Timperley, England, with a more modern model.   Old Refrigerator – Working for 77 years   It was the era of the Great Depression, a decade of austerity when household finances were stretched. So when the Kinghorn family bought a brand new refrigerator in 1936 they hoped it would prove a good investment. They could never have imagined that three quarters of a century later, with the nation again facing tough economic times, the fridge would still be working as well as ever. The Frigidaire – a 1935 model – is now a contender for the title of the oldest continuously-working refrigerator in the country. It has never needed repairs, apart from the occasional replacement part. It takes pride of place in the kitchen of Rosemary Kinghorn, who inherited the appliance when her mother-in-law, the original owner, died in 1957. The 79-year-old said it had not had any maintenance for over 30 years, when her husband last replaced one of the parts. Mrs. Kinghorn, of Marchmont, Edinburgh, said the refrigerator was one of the last to be built without a light, but served as a reminder of an era in which things were built to last.       Oldest Working Computer – Working since 1958   In Japans Ikeda Memorial Hall sits the FACOM 128B that was built in 1958 and still works today! It has gone through some small upgrades over the years to keep it running, but still has the same core system. The FACOM occupies 700 feet of floor space and has less calculating power than a real calculator. The company's goal is to keep it running until the year 2016 when it will have reached its 60th year of operation.   Oldest Humanoid Robot – Built in 1950   He didn't have any intelligence. And he moved with just a slow, lumbering shuffle of his metallic feet. But one of Britain's first humanoid robots, built just after the Second World War, has been given a new lease on life after having languished in a garage for the past 45 years. Former spy catcher and RAF officer Tony Sale, 79, built the incredible 6 ft-high robot, George, in 1950, for just $20. using scrap metal from a crashed Wellington bomber plane. At the time Mr. Sale was only 19 and his amazing man-sized model, which could walk and ‘talk,' stunned the world.  Sadly, computers of the time were too crude and big to give George memory and intelligence so he was packed away in Mr. Sale's garage in Bedford and left to gather dust. But now after nearly five decades Mr. Sale has got the radio-controlled robot working simply by putting in two new batteries and oiling his joints.   Britain's Oldest TV – Working for 75 years   For £5,000 you might have expected a bigger, flatter screen. But this television does come with 75 years of broadcasting history – and you can still hook it up to a Freeview box. Built in 1936, the Marconi type-702 is the oldest working television set in Britain. It was bought for just under £100 only three weeks after transmissions in Britain began. And with just one channel broadcasting for two hours a day, there wasn't much need for a remote control. But what the television lacks in modern technology, it makes up for in reliability. Only 30 per cent of its components have been replaced during its lifetime, all with identical parts. The 75-year-old set has a 12-in. screen contained in a walnut and mahogany case, with the picture reflected on to a mirror for the viewer to look at. The TV has now a pre-sale estimate of £5,000, but experts at Bonhams expect it to fetch much more. It cost Mr. Davis £99 and 15 shillings – more than half the annual average wage at the time and equivalent to almost £4,000 today. Its serial number is H1007, and it is thought the sequence began at 1,000, making it number 7.   World's Oldest Traffic Light – Working since 1932   Despite grumbles from envious rivals, Ashville, Ohio sticks to its claim that it has the World's Oldest Traffic Light. The light is now on permanent display inside Ohio's Small Town Museum, along with marvels such as the world's biggest scrapbook and a buoy from the battleship Maine. But it's thetraffic light -- designed by Ashville resident Teddy Boor -- that peoplealways want to see. The Light has never stopped working since 1932, which is when it was installed at the corner of Main and Long Streets. The light looks like a silver, Buck Rogers-era football, and operates like a radar screen, with green and red alternately wiping in a circle across its face. According to the museum, the light was retired from active duty in 1982 only because color-blind people couldn't tell if it was green or red. For decades after it found a home in the museum, the traffic light was rehung outside during Ashville's annual 4th of July celebration. That ended in 2005 with fears that this priceless artifact might be stolen during the night. Now it directs foot traffic inside the Museum, permanently protected, and still always on.   World's Oldest Running Hotel – Receiving guests for 1,300 years   The phrase “Old is Gold” is personified through the Hoshi Ryokan in Japan, which qualifies to be the oldest hotel in the world. It has a history of 1300 years of operations, facilitated through 46 generations of family ownership. The location of the hotel was revealed to a Buddhist Monk, Taicho Daishi, by a deity, who visited him in his dream state, telling him that the village of Awasu houses a subterranean hot spring blessed by The Physician of Souls himself. The fact was confirmed when the sickened villagers of Awasu were healed by the water of the Hot Spring and today the people from world over bathe in the spa at the hotel.  The hotel is complete with restaurant, spa, guest rooms, a garden, a theater, a hall, a festival foyer, and a couple of other units whose functions are only familiar to the Japanese. Many of the rooms still retain the traditional Japanese interiors, while others have been renovated to tout a modern ambience. It also features a Hoshi Museum that is intimately linked to the region's traditional arts and crafts and has several artists display their work. NOTE: our reader Sean wrote to us that The Hoshi Ryokan is actually the second oldest hotel in operation. It was founded in 717. The actual oldest hotel still in operation (also in Japan) is the Nisiyama Onsen Keiunkan, which was founded in 705. (  World's Oldest Running Car – Built in 1884   A steam-powered car, billed as "The Oldest Car In The World That Still Runs," was sold in October 2011 at a Hershey, Pa. auction, for $4.6 million. The car had been built in France in 1884, about a year before Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz of Germany - who went on to found the car-makers that would become Daimler (DDAIF), maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars - built their first experimental gasoline-powered cars.  The four-wheeled De Dion-Bouton et Trepardoux, nicknamed "La Marquise," was originally built for the French Count De Dion, one of the founders of the company that built it. Fueled by coal, wood and bits of paper, the car takes about a half hour to work up enough steam to drive. Top speed is 38 miles per hour. The car came close to that speed during what has been billed as "The World's First Automobile Race" in 1887, according to RM Auctions. The car had last been sold in 2007 for about $3.5 million at a Pebble Beach, Calif. auction.   World's Oldest Still-Working Cinema – First opened in 1909   In 2009, Szczecin, Poland's Pionier 1909 cinema, the oldest continuously-operating cinema in the world, celebrated its 100th birthday. The Helios Welt-Kino-Theater, as the cinema was called at the time, opened its doors on September 26, 1909 with three films – Der Kampf um den Glauben, Pick und Pock, and Die Smaragdküste der Bretagne – when a cinema ticket cost only two Groschen.  Two world wars did not stop performances from going ahead, and operations were only halted when the cinema underwent renovation. Indeed, the cinema was immortalized in the poem Little Cinema in 1947 by the poet Konstanty Ildefons Galczynski, with the description of “the best little cinema where one can forget everything.” The current owner Jerzy Miskiewicz took over the cinema in 1999 when it was in quite a rundown state, and invested time and money in 2002 to bring this former jewel back to its original glory by installing the latest technology and comfort. In its 2005 edition, the Guinness Book of Records issued a certificate confirming that Kino Pionier is the oldest cinema in the world.  ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/about-tom-and-jerry--complete-history-of-tom-and-jerry.html Tom and Jerry is a series of theatrical animated cartoon films created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, centering on a never-ending rivalry between a cat (Tom) and a mouse (Jerry) whose chases and battles often involved comic violence (despite sometimes they become allies to defeat a 'greater enemy' such as Spike the dog). Hanna and Barbera ultimately wrote and directed one hundred and fourteen Tom and Jerry shorts at the MGM cartoon studio in Hollywood between 1940 and 1957, when the animation unit was closed. The original series is notable for having won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film seven times, tying it with Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies as the theatrical animated series with the most Oscars. A longtime television staple, Tom and Jerry has a worldwide audience that consists of children, teenagers and adults, and has also been recognized as one of the most famous and longest-lived rivalries in American cinema. In 2000, TIME named the series one of the greatest television shows of all time. Beginning in 1960, in addition to the original 114 H-B cartoons, MGM had new shorts produced by Rembrandt Films, led by Gene Deitch in Eastern Europe. Production of Tom and Jerry shorts returned to Hollywood under Chuck Jones's Sib-Tower 12 Productions in 1963; this series lasted until 1967, making it a total of 161 shorts. The cat and mouse stars later resurfaced in television cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Filmation Studios during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s; a feature film, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, in 1992 (released domestically in 1993); and in 2001, their first made-for TV short, Tom and Jerry: The Mansion Cat for Boomerang. The most recent Tom and Jerry theatrical short. The Original version of the Tom and Jerry theme song was written by the Uncle Dave Macon AKA the Dixie Dewdrop southern banjo player and songwriter The Karate Guard (2005), was written and co-directed by Barbera. Today, Time Warner (via its Turner Entertainment division) owns the rights to Tom and Jerry (with Warner Bros. handling distribution). Since the merger, Turner has produced the series Tom and Jerry Tales for The CW's Saturday morning "The CW4Kids" lineup, and a string of Tom and Jerry direct-to-video films — all in collaboration with Warner Bros. Animation. The series features comedic fights between an iconic set of enemies, a house cat and mouse. The plots of each short usually center on Tom's numerous attempts to capture Jerry and the mayhem and destruction that ensues. Tom rarely succeeds in catching Jerry, mainly because of Jerry's cleverness, cunning abilities, and luck. Despite this, there are also several instances within the cartoons where they display genuine friendship and concern for each other's well-being. Other times the pair would have to set aside their rivalry in order to pursue a common goal, such as a baby who escaped the watch of a negligent teen babysitter, and both Tom and Jerry would need to pursue the baby and keep it away from danger. The cartoons are infamous for some of the most violent cartoon gags ever devised in theatrical animation, such as Jerry slicing Tom in half, shutting his head in a window or a door, Tom using everything from axes, firearms, explosives, traps and poison to try to murder Jerry, Jerry stuffing Tom's tail in a waffle iron and a mangle, kicking him into a refrigerator, plugging his tail into an electric socket, pounding him with a mace, club or mallet, causing a tree or an electric pole to drive him into the ground, sticking matches into his feet and lighting them, tying him to a firework and setting it off, and so on.[1] Because of this, Tom and Jerry has often been criticized as excessively violent.[2]:42[3]:134 Music plays a very important part in the shorts, emphasizing the action, filling in for traditional sound effects, and lending emotion to the scenes. Musical director Scott Bradley created complex scores that combined elements of jazz, classical, and pop music; Bradley often reprised contemporary pop songs, as well as songs from MGM films, including The Wizard of Oz and Meet Me In St. Louis. Generally, there is little dialogue as Tom and Jerry almost never speak; however, minor characters are not similarly limited, and the two lead characters are able to speak English on rare occasions and are thus not mute. For example, the character Mammy Two Shoes has lines in nearly every cartoon in which she appears. Most of the vocal effects used for Tom and Jerry are their high-pitched laughs and gasping screams. Before 1954, all Tom and Jerry cartoons were produced in the standard Academy ratio and format; in 1954 and 1955, some of the output was dually produced in dual versions: one Academy-ratio negative composed for a flat widescreen (1.75:1) format and one shot in the CinemaScope process. From 1955 until the close of the MGM cartoon studio a year later, all Tom and Jerry cartoons were produced in CinemaScope, some even had their soundtracks recorded in Perspecta directional audio. All of the Hanna and Barbera cartoons were shot as successive color exposure negatives and printed by Technicolor; the 1960s entries were done in Metrocolor. [edit] Characters Main article: List of Tom and Jerry characters [edit] Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse Main articles: Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse     Thomas "Tom" Cat Tom (called "Jasper" in his debut appearance) is a blue and white domestic shorthair cat. He is the protagonist of the story, who usually lives a pampered life, although they usually live in several lifestyles, while Jerry is a small brown house mouse who always lives in close proximity to him and is the deuteragonist of the story. "Tom" is a generic name for a male cat (The Warner Bros. cartoon character Sylvester was originally named Thomas).[citation needed] Tom was seen originally in the very first short, Puss Gets the Boot, and Jerry was seen in the short also, although it was not billed as a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Jerry possesses surprising strength for his size, lifting items such as anvils with relative ease and withstanding considerable impacts with them. Despite the typical cat-eats-mouse scenario, it is surprisingly quite rare for Tom to actually try and consume Jerry. Most of his attempts are just to torment or humiliate Jerry. Despite being very energetic and determined, Tom is no match for Jerry's brains and wits. By the final "fade-out" of each cartoon, Jerry usually emerges triumphant, while Tom is shown as the loser. However, other results may be reached; on rare occasions, Tom triumphs, usually when Jerry becomes the aggressor or when he crosses some sort of line (the best example of which occurs in The Million Dollar Cat where, after finding out that Tom's newly acquired wealth will be taken away if he harms any animal, including a mouse, he torments Tom until Tom finally loses his temper and attacks him). Sometimes, usually ironically, they both lose, usually when Jerry's last trap potentially backfires on him after it affects Tom (An example is in Chuck Jones' Filet Meow short where Jerry orders a shark to scare Tom away from eating a goldfish. Afterwards, the shark scares Jerry away as well) or when Jerry overlooks something at the end of the course. Sometimes, they both end up being friends (only for something to happen so that Tom will chase Jerry again). Both characters display sadistic tendencies, in that they are equally likely to take pleasure in tormenting each other. However, depending on the cartoon, whenever one character appears to be in mortal danger (in a dangerous situation or by a third party), the other will develop a conscience and save him. Sometimes, they bond over a mutual sentiment towards an unpleasant experience and their attacking each other is more play than serious attacks. Multiple shorts show the two getting along with minimal difficulty, and they are more than capable of working together when the situation calls for it, usually against a third party who manages to torture and humiliate them both. Sometimes this partnership is forgotten quickly when an unexpected event happens or when one character feels that the other is no longer necessary. (Example is when in Posse Cat, when Jerry decides to pretend to get chased by Tom in exchange for half his food. Tom agrees to this, but then he goes back on his word later.) Other times however, Tom does keep his promise to Jerry and the partnerships are not quickly dissolved after the problem is solved. Tom changes his love interest many times. The first love interest is Toots who appears in Puss n' Toots, and calls him "Tommy" in The Mouse Comes to Dinner. He is also interested in a cat called Toots in The Zoot Cat although she has a different appearance to the original Toots. The most frequent love interest of Tom's is Toodles Galore, who never has any dialogue in Tom and Jerry cartoons. Despite five shorts ending with a depiction of Tom's apparent death, his demise is never permanent; he even reads about his own death in a flashback in Jerry's Diary. He appears to die in explosions in Mouse Trouble (after which he is seen in heaven) and in Yankee Doodle Mouse, while in The Two Mouseketeers he is guillotined offscreen.     Jerry Mouse. [edit] Tom and Jerry speaking Although many supporting and minor characters speak, Tom and Jerry rarely do so themselves. Tom, most famously, sings while wooing female cats; for example, Tom sings Louis Jordan's "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby" in the 1946 short Solid Serenade. In a couple[quantify] of shorts, Tom, when romancing a female cat, woos her in a French-accented voice similar to that of screen actor Charles Boyer. At the end of The Million Dollar Cat after beginning to antagonize Jerry he says "Gee, I'm throwin' away a million dollars... BUT I'M HAPPY!" In Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring, Jerry says, "No, no, no, no, no," when choosing the shop to remove his ring. In The Mouse Comes to Dinner Tom speaks to his girlfriend while inadvertently sitting on a stove: "Gee, what's cookin'?" (The girl replies "You are, stupid"). Another instance of speech comes in Solid Serenade and The Framed Cat, where Tom directs Spike through a few dog tricks in a dog-trainer manner. In Mouse Trouble, Tom says "Don't you believe it!" after being beaten up by Jerry (this also happens in The Missing Mouse.) Co-director William Hanna provided most of the squeaks, gasps, and other vocal effects for the pair, including the most famous sound effects from the series, Tom's leather-lunged scream (created by recording Hanna's scream and eliminating the beginning and ending of the recording, leaving only the strongest part of the scream on the soundtrack) and Jerry's nervous gulp. The only other reasonably common vocalization is made by Tom when some external reference claims a certain scenario or eventuality to be impossible, which inevitably, ironically happens to thwart Tom's plans - at which point, a bedraggled and battered Tom appears and says in a haunting, echoing voice "Don't you believe it!", a reference to some famous World War II propaganda shorts of the 1940s. In the 1946 short Trap Happy, Tom hires a mouse exterminator who, after several failed attempts to dispatch Jerry, changes profession to Cat exterminator by crossing out the "Mouse" on his title and writing "Cat", resulting in Tom spelling out the word out loud before reluctantly pointing at himself. One short, 1956's Blue Cat Blues, is narrated by Jerry in voiceover (voiced by Paul Frees) as they try to win back their ladyfriends. Both Tom and Jerry speak more than once in the 1943 short The Lonesome Mouse. Tom and Jerry: The Movie is the first (and so far only) installment of the series where the famous cat-and-mouse duos regularly speak. In that movie, Tom was voiced by Richard Kind and Jerry was voiced by Dana Hill. [edit] Spike and Tyke Main article: Spike and Tyke (characters)     Spike and his son Tyke In his attempts to catch Jerry, Tom often has to deal with Spike (known as "Killer" and "Butch" in some episodes), an angry, vicious but extremely dumb guard bulldog who tries to attack Tom for bothering his son Tyke while trying to get Jerry. Originally Spike was unnamed and mute (aside from howls and biting noises) as well as attacking indiscriminately, not caring whether it was Tom or Jerry though usually attacking Tom. In later cartoons Spike spoke often, using a voice and expressions (performed by Billy Bletcher and later Daws Butler) modeled after comedian Jimmy Durante. Spike's coat has altered throughout the years between grey and creamy tan. The addition of Spike's son Tyke in the late 1940s led to both a slight softening of Spike's character and a short-lived spin-off theatrical series (Spike and Tyke). Most cartoons with Spike in it have a system; usually Spike is trying to accomplish something (such as building a dog house or sleeping) when Tom and Jerry's antics stop him from doing it, Spike then (presumably due to prejudice) singles out Tom as the culprit and threatens him that if it ever happens again he will do "something horrible" to Tom (effectively forcing Tom to take the blame of anyone else) while Jerry overhears, afterwards Jerry usually does anything he can to interrupt whatever Spike is doing while Tom barely manages to stop him (usually getting injured in the process), usually Jerry does eventually wreck whatever Spike is doing in spectacular fashion and leaving Tom to take the blame, forcing him to flee from Spike and inevitably lose (usually due to the fact the Tom is usually framed by Jerry and that Spike just doesn't like Tom) off-screen, Spike does something to Tom and finally Tom is generally shown injured or in a bad situation while Jerry smugly cuddles up to Spike unscathed. At least once however Tom does something that benefits Spike, who promises not to interfere ever again; causing Jerry to frantically leave the house and run into the distance (in Hic-cup Pup). Spike is well known for his famous "Listen pussy cat!" catchphrase when he threatens Tom, his other famous catchphrase is "That's my boy!" normally said when he supports or congratulates his son. Tyke is described as a cute, sweet looking, happy and a lovable puppy. He is Spike's son, but unlike Spike, Tyke does not speak and only communicates (mostly towards his father) by barking, yapping, wagging his tail, whimpering and growling. Tyke's father Spike would always go out of his way to care and comfort his son and make sure that he is safe from Tom. Tyke loves his father and Spike loves his son and they get along like friends, although most of time they would be taking a nap or Spike would teach Tyke the main facts of life of being a dog. Like Spike, Tyke's appearance has altered throughout the years, from grey (with white paws) to creamy tan. When Tom and Jerry Kids first aired, this was the first time that viewers were able to hear Tyke speak. [edit] Butch and Toodles Galore Main articles: Butch (Tom and Jerry) and Toodles Galore     Butch and Toodles Galore, in the 1946 Tom and Jerry short Springtime for Thomas. Butch is a black cat who also wants to eat Jerry. He is the most frequent adversary of Tom. However, for most of the episodes he appears in, he's usually seen rivaling Tom over Toodles. Butch also was Tom's pal or chum as in some cartoons, where Butch is leader of Tom's buddies, who are Meathead and Topsy. Butch talks more often than Tom or Jerry in most episodes. [edit] History and evolution "Tom and Jerry" was a commonplace phrase for youngsters indulging in riotous behaviour in 19th-century London. The term comes from Life in London, or Days and Nights of Jerry Hawthorne and his elegant friend Corinthian Tom (1823) by Pierce Egan.[4] However Brewer notes no more than an "unconscious" echo of the Regency-era original in the naming of the cartoon.[5] [edit] Hanna-Barbera era (1940–1958)     Tom and Jerry creators/directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with the seven Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) their Tom and Jerry shorts won. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were both part of the Rudolf Ising unit at the MGM cartoon studio in the late 1930s. After the financial disaster of the Captain and the Kids series, Barbera, a storyman and character designer, was paired (out of desperation) with Hanna, an experienced director, to start directing films for the Ising unit. In their first discussion for a cartoon, Joseph Barbera suggested Cat-and-Mouse cartoon entitled Puss Gets the Boot. "We knew we needed two characters. We thought we needed conflict, and chase and action. And a cat after a mouse seemed like a good, basic thought", as he recalled in an interview.[6] Hanna and many other employees complained that the idea wasn't very original, nevertheless the short was completed in late 1939, and released to theaters on February 10, 1940. Puss Gets The Boot centers on Jasper, a gray tabby cat trying to catch a mouse named Jinx (whose name is not mentioned), but after accidentally breaking a houseplant and its stand, the African American housemaid Mammy (later Tom's owner) has threatened to throw Jasper out ("O-W-T, out!" as Mammy spells it) if he breaks one more thing in the house. Naturally, Jinx uses this to his advantage, and begins tossing wine glasses, ceramic plates, teapots, and any and everything fragile, so that Jasper will be thrown outside. Puss Gets The Boot was previewed and released without fanfare, and Hanna and Barbera went on to direct other (non-cat-and-mouse related) shorts such as Gallopin' Gals (1940) and Officer Pooch (1941). "After all," remarked many of the MGM staffers, "haven't there been enough cat-and-mouse cartoons already?" The pessimistic attitude towards the cat and mouse duo changed when the cartoon became a favorite with theater owners and with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which nominated the film for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons of 1941. It lost to another MGM cartoon, Rudolph Ising's The Milky Way. Producer Fred Quimby, who ran the MGM animation studio, quickly pulled Hanna and Barbera off the other one-shot cartoons they were working on, and commissioned a series featuring the cat and mouse. Hanna and Barbera held an intra-studio contest to give the pair a new name by drawing suggested names out of a hat; animator John Carr won $50 with his suggestion of Tom and Jerry.[7] The Tom and Jerry series went into production with The Midnight Snack in 1941, and Hanna and Barbera rarely directed anything but the cat-and-mouse cartoons for the rest of their tenure at MGM. Barbera would create the story while Hanna would supervise production. Tom's physical appearance evolved significantly over the years. During the early 1940s, Tom had an excess of detail—shaggy fur, numerous facial wrinkles, and multiple eyebrow markings, all of which were streamlined into a more workable form by the end of the 1940s—and looked like a realistic cat; in addition from his quadrupedal beginnings Tom became increasingly, and eventually almost exclusively, bipedal. By contrast, Jerry's design remained essentially the same for the duration of the series. By the mid-1940s, the series had developed a quicker, more energetic (and violent) tone, due to the inspiration from the work of their colleague in the MGM cartoon studio, Tex Avery, who joined the studio in 1942. Even though the theme of each short is virtually the same - cat chases mouse - Hanna and Barbera found endless variations on that theme. Barbera's storyboards and rough layouts and designs, combined with Hanna's timing, resulted in arguably MGM's most popular and successful cartoon series. Thirteen entries in the Tom and Jerry series (including Puss Gets The Boot) were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons; seven of them went on to win the Academy Award, breaking the Disney studio's winning streak in that category. Tom and Jerry won more Academy Awards than any other character-based theatrical animated series. Tom and Jerry remained popular throughout their original theatrical run, even when the budgets began to tighten somewhat in the 1950s and the pace of the shorts slowed slightly. However, after television became popular in the 1950s, box office revenues decreased for theatrical films, and short subjects. At first, MGM combated this by going to all-CinemaScope production on the series. After MGM realized that their re-releases of the older cartoons brought in just as much money as the new cartoons did, the studio executives decided, much to the surprise of the staff, to close the animation studio. The MGM cartoon studio was shut down in 1957, and the final of the 114 Hanna and Barbera Tom and Jerry shorts, Tot Watchers, was released on August 1, 1958. Hanna and Barbera established their own television animation studio, Hanna-Barbera Productions, in 1957, which went on to produce famous TV shows and movies. [edit] Gene Deitch era (1960–1962) In 1960, MGM revived the Tom and Jerry franchise, and contacted European animation outfit Rembrandt Films to produce thirteen Tom and Jerry shorts overseas.[8][9][10][11] All thirteen shorts were directed by Prague-based animator Gene Deitch and produced by company owner William L. Snyder in Czechoslovakia.[8][11] Deitch states that, being a member of the UPA, he has always had a personal dislike of Tom and Jerry, citing them as the "primary bad example of senseless violence - humor based on pain - attack and revenge - to say nothing of the tasteless use of a headless black woman stereotype house servant."[12] Štěpán Koníček, a student of Karel Ančerl and conductor of the Film Symphony Orchestra, and Václav Lídl provided the musical score for the Deitch short, while Larz Bourne, Chris Jenkyns, and Eli Bauer wrote the cartoons. The majority of vocal effects and voices in Deitch's films were provided by Allen Swift.[13] For the purposes of avoiding being linked to Communism, Deitch altered the names for his crew in the opening credits of the shorts (e.g., Štěpán Koníček became "Steven Konichek", Václav Lídl became "Victor Little").[12] These shorts are among the few Tom and Jerry cartoons not to carry the "Made In Hollywood, U.S.A." phrase at the end.[12] Due to Deitch's studio being behind the Iron Curtain, the production studio's location is omitted entirely on it.[12] In the midst of production, Joe Vogel, the head of production, was fired from MGM, who ordered Deitch and his team to finish the shorts and rush them out to release. The contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer expired,[12] and the final of the thirteen shorts, Carmen Get It!, was released on December 1, 1962.[9]     Tom pokes Jerry in High Steaks, one of the 13 films produced by the Deitch/Snyder team. Since the Deitch/Snyder team had seen only a handful of the original Tom and Jerry shorts, and since Deitch and Snyder produced their cartoons on a tighter budget of $10,000, the resulting films were considered unusual, and, in many ways, bizarre.[9][12] The characters' gestures were often performed at high speed, frequently causing heavy motion blur. As a result, the animation of the characters looked choppy and sickly. The soundtracks featured sparse music, futuristic sound effects, dialogue that was mumbled rather than spoken, and heavy use of reverb. Fans that typically rooted for Tom criticized Deitch's cartoons for never having Tom become a threat to Jerry. Most of the time Tom only attempts to hurt him when he gets in his way. Tom's new owner, a corpulent and grumpy middle-aged white man (with serious temper problems, often going red in the face similar to Deitch's earlier "Clint Clobber"[14] character at Terrytoons), was also more graphically brutal in punishing Tom's mistakes as compared to Mammy Two-Shoes, beating and thrashing Tom repeatedly, searing his face with a grill, and forcing Tom to drink an entire carbonated beverage. Despite these criticisms, the Gene Deitch Tom and Jerry cartoons are still rerun today on the Cartoon Network and Boomerang channels on a semi-regular basis.[12] Deitch's Tom and Jerry shorts have]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/about-ben-10--complete-history-of-ben-10-till-date.html Ben 10 is an acclaimed American media franchise created by "Man of Action" (a group consisting of Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle), and produced by Cartoon Network Studios. The franchise is about a boy who acquires a watch-like alien device called the Omnitrix (later the Ultimatrix) attached to his wrist that allows him to turn into alien creatures. In April 2008, Ben 10 (the original television series) was succeeded by Ben 10: Alien Force, which itself was succeeded in April 2010 by Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, which will be succeeded by Ben 10: Omniverse in late 2012. The theme song for the first series was written by Andy Sturmer and sung by Moxy. The theme songs for both of the sequel series were instrumental. Reruns of previously aired episodes are currently being aired on Cartoon Network and its fellow television channel, Boomerang. The Ben 10 franchise has grossed over $2 billion in retail sales in the EMEA and has sold 100 million toys worldwide, which is suspected to double by 2015. Ben 10 Main article: Ben 10 (TV series)   Original Concept art Ten year old Ben Tennyson finds a device out in the woods called the Omnitrix, which allows him to turn into ten different aliens species. Throughout his summer vacation, travelling the country in the Rustbucket with his Grandpa Max and his cousin Gwen, Ben fights crime and evil aliens with his new powers, gaining the ability to turn into more aliens along the way. Alien Force Main article: Ben 10: Alien Force     Alien Force and Ultimate Alien Concept art Five years after the original series, Ben has apparently taken off the Omnitrix, but when his Grandpa Max goes missing, he puts it back on, which ends up rebooting it, giving him a new set of ten. Also, Ben's old enemy, Kevin Levin, somehow escaped the Null Void, but has become reformed (mostly) and joins Ben's team. [ Ultimate Alien Main article: Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Several weeks after the end of Alien Force, Ben now has the Ultimatrix, which allows him to 'evolve' his aliens into more powerful forms. Even though it was advertised that Ben now has all of his old forms, this doesn't really happen until Ben 10,000 Returns.   Omniverse Main article: Ben 10: Omniverse     Omniverse Concept art A fourth series of the Ben 10 franchise was first announced at Cartoon Network Upfront 2011.[2] The title of the series, Ben 10: Omniverse was later confirmed at the UK Toy Fair 2012.[3] The series is set to premiere around October 2012.[1][3] Yuri Lowenthal, Greg Cipes and Ashley Johnson will reprise their roles as Ben, Kevin and Gwen from Alien Force and Ultimate Alien.[4] Others [] Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge A game show titled Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge, developed for television by United Kingdom-based produced company Twenty Twenty, airs on Cartoon Network in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Bulgaria and the Nordic region, Hungary, Poland, Germany, Russia, Turkey, Chile and the Middle East.[5] Ultimate Challenge is a trivia show tasking children to answer questions about all three series.[5] Ultimate Challenge was executive produced by Daniel Marlowe and produced by Mandy Morris.[6]  Films  Secret of the Omnitrix Main article: Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix The first is a regular animated feature called Secret of the Omnitrix. A trailer of the film was released with the film Billy & Mandy: Wrath of the Spider Queen, and it aired August 10, 2007. The main plot was about during a fight with Dr Animo, Ben's omnitrix accidentally sets off its self-destruct mode and Ben has to find the omnitrix's creator to shut it down and stop the evil Vilgax.  Race Against Time Main article: Ben 10: Race Against Time The second is a live-action film titled Ben 10: Race Against Time[7] which aired November 21, 2007, It revolves around Ben, Gwen and Grandpa Max returning to their hometown of Bellwood and attempting to adjust to being 'normal' again. Unfortunately, their lives are once again disrupted by a mysterious alien known as Eon, who has an unexpected connection to the Omnitrix. It premiered on Cartoon Network on November 21, 2007. The film was directed by Alex Winter.[8] The film was nominated for two Visual Effects Society Awards: Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or Special - Dina Benadon, Evan Jacobs, Brent Young, Chris Christman; and Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Broadcast Program or Commercial - Brent Young, Michael Smith.[9] Alien Swarm Main article: Ben 10: Alien Swarm The third is a live-action film titled Ben 10: Alien Swarm which aired November 25, 2009. It is about Ben, Gwen, Kevin and Grandpa Max. In the movie the group stumbles upon a hive of alien nanobots using humans as host bodies in order to take over the world. The Nanochips, or "alien swarm", are controlled by a single consciousness and must work together to stop them. Ben 10 / Generator Rex crossover Main article: Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United During Cartoon Network's panel at 2011's San Diego Comic-Con, Ben 10 and Generator Rex creators "Man of Action" announced a crossover special between the Ben 10 and Generator Rex series titled Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United. The forty minute special aired on November 25, 2011 as a Generator Rex episode.[10][11] A comic book based on the special titled: "Hero Times Two" was released on November 30, 2011, as the sixty-fifth issue of DC Comics's Cartoon Network: Action Pack.[12] Destroy All Aliens Main article: Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens A CGI animated movie has been announced,[13] titled Ben 10: Destroy all Aliens and was released on March 11, 2012 (Asia / Philippines)[14] and on March 23, 2012 (US).[15] This film had previously been under the working title Ben 10: Alien Dimensions.[16] The film will be based on the original series, and will feature the original voice cast. The CGI was animated by Tiny Island Productions, in Singapore. Feature film adaptation On June 14, 2011, Producer Joel Silver announced that he along with Warner Bros. and Dark Castle Entertainment would bring Ben 10 to the big screen.[17] Albert Torres is attached to the project as screenwriter.[18] Video games Protector of Earth Main article: Ben 10: Protector of Earth Ben 10: Protector of Earth is the first Ben 10 video game, which was released in autumn 2007. Five aliens, Heatblast, Wildvine, XLR8, Four Arms and Cannonbolt serve as Ben's playable aliens. High Voltage Software developed the console versions of game, while 1st Playable Productions developed the Nintendo DS version. Alien Force Main article: Ben 10: Alien Force (video game) Heavily based on on the first two seasons of Ben 10: Alien Force, the game features Ben and five aliens from the Alien Force series. On the PlayStation 2, Wii, and PlayStation Portable (PSP) versions of the game, the game is styled as a 3D action platformer, while players can play as Gwen and Kevin for select missions.[19] Monkey Bar Games developed the console versions of the game, while 1st Playable Productions resumed their role as the developer of the DS version. Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks Main article: Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks Based on the third and final season of Ben 10: Alien Force, players are able to control 10 of Ben's aliens in order to defeat Vilgax. Cannonbolt makes an appearance as the 10th alien on the Wii, PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360. While, Upchuck makes an appearance the 10th alien on the Nintendo DS. Alien X makes also appears in the game as a non-playable character. Papaya Studio developed the console versions, with 1st Playable Productions again developing the DS version. Alien Force: The Rise of Hex Main article: Ben 10 Alien Force: The Rise of Hex A downloadable game exclusively for the Wii and Xbox 360. The Rise of Hex the first Ben 10 video game to feature the alien, Lodestar. Hex and Charmcaster serve as the main villains in the game. The game is styled as more of a side-scrolling game. Black Lantern Studios developed the game. Sales of the game have been announced extremely poor, with the Xbox Live version moving less than 1, 000 units as of the end of 2010. Ultimate Alien: Cosmic Destruction Main article: Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: Cosmic Destruction Based on the third installment of the Ben 10 franchise, Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: Cosmic Destruction allows players to access 16 (17 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) of Ben's aliens, including the new ultimate aliens. Papaya Studio, who previously developed Vilgax Attacks developed the console versions of the game, with Griptonite Games developing the DS version. Galactic Racing Main article: Ben 10: Galactic Racing Based on Ultimate Alien and the sixth installment in the Ben 10 video game franchise, Ben 10: Galactic Racing is a racing themed video game. Gameplay is similar to Mario Kart. This is the first Ben 10 game that allows players to play as both villains and heroes. An all-new alien Fasttrack and Ben 10 classic Diamondhead make their first video game debut appearances. Monkey Bar Games, developers of Protector of the Earth developed the game, and Straight Right developed the DS version.[20] Characters Main article: List of Ben 10 characters Watches Main article: List of Omnitrix and Ultimatrix aliens There are two watches that Ben Tennyson used in the series, the Omnitrix was used in the original Ben 10 and Alien Force while the Ultimatrix was used in Ultimate Alien. Each watch includes the following modes: Active Mode, Time Out Mode, Capture Mode and Self-Destruct Mode. [] The Omnitrix The Omnimatrix commonly referred to as The Omnitrix was originally created by a Galvan (Grey Matter's species) named Azmuth. The Omnitrix was intended to allow beings to experience life as other species in order to bring understanding and foster peace in the universe. In the first form that Ben found, the Omnitrix looked like a wristwatch, primarily black and gray in color, with a gray (or black) dial in the middle (like a watch face) and had a green hourglass shape on it (actually the intergalactic "peace" symbol, also on Plumber's Badges and Azmuth's home world). However, many beings, like Vilgax have seen the Omnitrix's abilities as something that could be used as a powerful weapon. The Omnitrix also possesses a Master Control, activated by inserting a certain code into the Omnitrix. Once the Master Control is unlocked, the user can remain in an alien form indefinitely and is able to switch between alien forms at will just by thinking it, speaking the name of the alien given by the user, or operating the Omnitrix which can still be found on the body when activated. But the Omnitrix was originally intended for Max according to Xylene, but since she was in battle she sent it to the forest by mistake. But when Ben found it, his DNA was close enough to Max's that it mistook him for Max and locked itself on Ben's wrist. But this omnitrix is just a prototype the real omnitrix is to be unveiled more in ben 10 omniverse. It was also shown in the series finale of ben 10 ultimate alien. [] Ultimatrix The Ultimatrix, also known as the Ultimate Omnitrix, is gauntlet-like device that the series Ben 10: Ultimate Alien centers around. Ben uses it to replace the Omnitrix in Ben 10: Alien Force, which he destroyed with the self-destruction on a battle with Vilgax in order to prevent him from taking over the Universe. The Ultimatrix is a level 20 technology, like the Omnitrix, and the Omnitrix's successor. It was originally developed by Azmuth, then Albedo stabilized his power core, because it was unstable; this after he had stolen, and also added more features besides evolving alien. When Albedo used it, the Ultimatrix had a red color scheme. After Ben took the Ultimatrix from Albedo, the device became green in color. The selection interface is identical to the original dial, with the intergalactic peace sign that changes color to reflect the mode of Ultimatrix. It was shown that Azmuth wasn't so fond of how it's made, noting that it was incomplete, he also said it was "pathetic workmanship" and was ranting and frustrated with the Evolutionary feature implying that Albedo isn't as skilled in mechanical devices as Azmuth. It is hinted to be eventually replaced by Azmuth's third generation of the Omnitrix sometime in the future (likely his rebuilt Ultimatrix), what will happen to the current Ultimatrix is as of yet unknown. Azmuth's exact plans for the Ultimatrix are currently unknown until know in the series finale the ultimatrix falls off Ben's wrist and disintegrates. It is replaced by the one true omnitrix. [] Merchandise Further information: Ben 10 (toy line), Lego Ben 10, List of Ben 10 episodes#DVD releases, List of Ben 10: Alien Force episodes#DVD releases, and List of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien episodes#DVD releases Following the success of the Ben 10 animated TV series and films, various Ben 10 merchandise has been released for general sale. These items include Ben 10 comic books, card games such as Top Trumps, toys, video games, Lego construction sets, bedding, coloring books, and footwear, such as the Ben 10 season 1-4, Ben 10: Alien Force volumes 1-9, and 3 DVDS of 10 episode in each DVD of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, along with four video games: one of Ben 10, two of Ben 10: Alien Force, and two so far of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. Along with the watches- the Omnitrix and the Ultrimatrix, three different watches for each of the series', card games for Ben 10, and coloring books for Ben 10, Ben 10: Alien Force, and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. Bandai has manufactured a massive amount of Ben 10 toys from each of the series. The series received three McDonald's Happy Meal promotions internationally, as well as one in America for August 2011.[21] [] Cartoon Network promotion [] Cartoon Network Universe: Fusion Fall Main article: Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall Ben Tennyson appears in Cartoon Network's online MMO FusionFall. The character design for Ben Tennyson was changed when the original Ben 10 series ended and was replaced by Ben 10: Alien Force. In the game, he serves as a "Player Guide" offering guide-based missions and special items. [] Cartoon Network Universe: Project Exonaut In another browser-based game entitled Cartoon Network Universe: Project Exonaut Ben's aliens, alongside Gwen and Vilgax, appear as "exosuits". The exosuits revolve around protecting the player and giving them unique abilities and powers. The planet Kylmyys (the home of one of Ben's aliens, Big Chill) and the Perplexhedron are featured as battle arenas. Ultimate Kevin and Alien X is under construction. [] Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion     Vilgax as he appears in Punch Time Explosion. Main article: Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion Ben appears in the game as a playable character. Swampfire, Humungousaur, Big Chill and AmpFibian (with Ultimate Humungousaur as a Punch Time) appear as Ben's playable aliens. Vilgax, the archenemy of Ben Tennyson appears also as a playable character for the first time. Gwen and the Vreedle Brothers are summons in the game. Additionally, Bellwood and the Null Void are included as battle arenas. Kevin also appears as a summon in the game, but is featured as a playable character on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii versions, called Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion XL. Kevin in Ultimate Kevin form appears in the game as a boss. The young version of Ben appears in the console version of the game as a playable character.[22] Titanic Kungfubot Offensive Titanic Kungfubot Offensive, also known as TKO is a multiplayer online game featured on Cartoon Network website. The game features famous and notable Cartoon Network characters in a robot-type form. Big Chill, Swampfire, a DNAlien, Kevin, Vilgax, Rath, Armodrillo, Ultimate Humngousaur, Ultimate Echo Echo and Ultimate Big Chill appear as playable characters. To promote the Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United special, Cartoon Network updated Titanic Kungfubot Offensive, adding new bots, such as "Shocksquatch" and "Clockwork;" both are aliens accessible to Ben.   ]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/worlds-7-worst-junk-food-ever.html All of us enjoy some sort of junk food.So yes, totally swearing-off junk food is probably impossible, but there are some items you should absolutely resist  because of the immense damage it can cause to your health. The list of worst junk food items includes:1. BurgersBurgers are the unquestioned king of worst junk food choices. Burgers combine everything we shouldn’t be eating. This means:* Deep-fried patties that are heavy on trans fats, raising our cholesterol levels* Sauces high in sugar and sodium* Layers of cheese containing high amount of dairy fat*Mayonnaise concentrated with preservatives and egg yolks2. CandiesThese are among the easily available but most sinful junk foods. For starters, candies are nothing but a concentrated form of sugar. Even those that claim to include some goodness of fruits are essentially just flavored forms of sugar. The high sucrose or fructose content ensures that you immediately get a sugar spike—this causes that typical feeling of goodness that makes candies admired by nearly everyone. Whether it is the lollipop, toffees or gummy bears, a couple of candies in any form, can spoil your entire day’s calorie control.3. Sugary CerealsThese are sinful junk food items since they function under a false claim. Advertised as healthy breakfast cereal, cornflakes or other breakfast cereals coated with sugar aren't healthy. Having a bowl of plain oatmeal or porridge is better than having fruit loops that contains a high concentration of synthetic sugar—having high-sugar breakfast means being more prone to getting sugar cravings during the daytime.4. French Fries and its Counterparts like SamosasIt is not just French fries but basically all deep fried snacks including the Indian favorites like samosas apart from eternal favorites like potato chips that are extremely detrimental to the health. These are supreme sources of cholesterol and Trans fats that work towards clogging the arteries. A single serving of French fries or a couple of samosas account for nearly 40% of your daily, recommended intake of fat. High in salt, many of these fried food items are accused of having carcinogenic properties. This means they are capable of causing cancer apart from making you prone to developing high blood pressure, obesity and cardiovascular problems! French fries and potato chips are loaded with Sodium that raises blood pressure. Many of the popular fast food chains have been found to serve fries that include Acrylimide—an established cancer-inducing entity.5. Carbonated BeveragesMost carbonated drinks contain a very high concentration of synthetic sugar. A single, 300 ml serving of any popular cola-like beverage, equals your entire day’s quota of sugar. The ones sporting the sugar-free tag contain sweeteners like aspartame that are known to be harmful if consumed over a period. Aerated beverages tend to induce acidity and make us more prone to storing fat.6. Ice-CreamsIce creams make it to this list of all time worst junk foods simply because of their inherent nature where the creamier, sweeter versions are like more. A single serving of most retailed ice creams is known to contain more than 15 grams of fat along with high amounts of sugar. The cold nature of the ice creams ensure that the overall metabolism is impaired for a few hours while the high fat content makes a direct contribution to the waistline.7. Creamy CakesMany people seem addicted to having cakes for desserts or whenever they are feeling low. However, the enticing slice of cake contains plenty of features that make it one of the worst junk foods ever. Firstly, cakes contain a highly processed, uncooked form of carbohydrate. This kind of white bread has a high glycemic index which in combination with the high amount of sugar ensures that the blood sugar levels are boosted instantly. The high chocolate content and eggs used for making the cream ensure that cakes are concentrated with harmful fats. An occasional slice of cake doesn’t do any harm but eating it every few days, is injurious to health.]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/10-things-you-should-always-buy-in-bulk.html Here’s the thing about buying in bulk: If you want to do it, you have to be really committed to it.OK, so you can buy a mega-pack of paper towels at the drugstore on occasion and otherwise just shop normally, but the best bulk deals are to be found at warehouse club stores that require annual membership fees. (Costco and Sam’s Club, for instance, will cost you $55 and $50 per year, respectively.)So if you decide to take the plunge and sign up for the membership, you’ll want to take full advantage of the best bulk-buying opportunities these stores have to offer. Here, then, are the things you should always aim to buy in bulk.Toilet PaperT.P. meets the main criteria for bulk-buying: It doesn’t go bad, you’re always going to need it and you use it all the time. Just make sure you have room for it in your house, and that you buy a brand that you and your family actually like.Leah Ingram, who writes the suddenly frugal blog says that she gets twin 12-packs of Scott 1,000-roll toilet paper and uses a coupon, which brings the per-roll cost down from $1 to about 70-80 cents.Needless to say, the same goes for paper towels, though Ingram notes that this isn’t always the case – she recounts how she recently used a coupon to get the cost of a single roll down to 29 cents. Most of the time, though, you’ll want to get a large package.Bottled Beverages“[Bottled water] is not always the greenest choice, but if you find yourself needing to quench the thirst of a large group, going for bottled in multipacks always makes sense,” says Ingram. She recounts how she recently needed to provide water for her daughter and her 10 friends. Rather than buy individual bottles at Wal-Mart for $1.50 each, she instead bought a 12-pack of Propel flavored water for $6.At even larger quantities the savings will be greater, of course. Just make sure you’re capable of carrying the water bottle pack to and from your car.Diapers“When my kids were very little, I only bought diapers in bulk from Sam’s Club or BJ’s,” says Ingram. “I’d get 72-or 96-packs. If you were traveling, you’d have to have a suitcase for it.”Buying a 100-pack of diapers might sound daunting – in addition to the logistics of fitting it in your car and then finding room in your house, it also reminds you that you’ll be changing 100 diapers in the coming weeks. Still, doing it this way will save you money until you can get the kid potty-trained.Dog Food and TreatsKendal Perez of the hassle free saving blog says that when she buys treats for her dogs, she goes big. How big? Try a 14-pound box of large Milk-Bone treats at Sam’s Club, which can be had for around $10 and which she says is enough to last her two dogs for half a year. She also buys rawhide dog chews in bulk, though they don’t last as long in her house.Just be careful that you don’t buy dog food with an imminent expiration date.“Yes, dog food has an expiration date,” says Toni House of save your money save your family. “Please do not feed your pets old, bad, outdated food. It does go bad and can mold.”GumWhen people talk about buying in bulk, they probably think of hilariously oversized jars of food and towers of toilet paper. They probably wouldn’t think of joining Costco to get good deals on gum.But if you’re already a member, you like to chew gum and you have a favorite brand, it’s worth buying it in bulk.“At Wal-Mart, if you grab gum from the checkout it’s $1; at Sam’s Club in bulk, it’s 84 cents,” says Perez.Just make sure you consider how often you chew gum – yes, even gum has an expiration date.Laundry DetergentToni House says that she’ll buy laundry detergent in bulk, which usually means two giant containers of liquid or powdered soap sold together.“If you buy the Arm & Hammer brand powder, you’ll save 40%-50% and it will last you forever,” she says.She adds that if you want to make the most of your purchase, follow the instructions and moderate your usage.“People don’t pay attention – it tells you how much to put in for what size load,” she says. “If it tells you that you can get 240 loads, you should get 240 loads.”MeatNormally perishable goods should be avoided at the bulk store, unless you’re feeding one of those enormous families that they make reality shows about. But one notable exception is meat, which tends to freeze well. If you eat meat on a regular basis, it makes sense to find it when it’s on sale, buy a ton and put it in the freezer – but be careful to seal and freeze it properly, and don’t fool yourself into thinking that it will last forever in there.“I do [buy meat] if it fits into my meal plan for the month,” says House. “But secure [it] like you're supposed to: Once you're opening it up and resealing it, it only lasts about 60 days. If not, it will last six to nine months, but you have to completely take all the air out of it… If you don’t freeze it correctly, it's wasted.”Our tip? Open that package of chicken breasts, separate them into meal-size portions and store them individually in Ziploc bags. You can defrost them as you need them, without any need for resealing or refreezing.Storage ItemsWhen you buy all that meat, you’ll need something to store it in. The shopping experts at FatWallet.com point out that it’s good to buy storage products like foil, freezer bags and Tupperware in bulk.As with anything you buy in bulk, just consider your usage. If you use Tupperware sparingly and tend to wash and reuse it, you probably don’t need to take up space in your kitchen with a dozen plastic containers. If, on the other hand, you freeze a lot of bulk meat, you’ll get a lot of use out of buying a ton of freezer bags.Personal Care ItemsIt’s not just clothes that need washing. Rather than buy three-packs of bar soap at the drugstore, get a block of a dozen or more bars at Costco. The FatWallet experts likewise recommend shampoo, toothpaste and razors for your next trip to the warehouse club store.And don’t forget deodorant – hey, it’s not like you’re going to stop stinking anytime soon. House says that her husband just picked up a six-pack of deodorant, which she says should last him at least a year.Paper Plates and Plastic ForksWith barbecue season just a couple of months away, you might want to keep an eye out for deals on the paper plates and cups you’ll need to throw a good cookout. While you’re at it, get plastic cutlery and napkins, too. If you don’t use them all, there’s always next summer.“If we have parties and such I hit the bulk stores to get paper plates and cups, I’ll have plenty to use for that party and the next couple,” says Perez.]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.gameswala.com/news/5-phrases-customers-hate-the-most.html Never let these phrases pass the lips of your customer service team.Almost nothing leads to a customer service meltdown more quickly than the use of one particularly offensive phrase. You know it. Heck, we all know it. I don’t really even need to write it. However, just in case you’ve been hiding-out in a California commune or were raised in upper Albania, here it is:'That’s our policy.' I’d wager that even as you read those words, you flashed-back to a past personal experience in which someone spoke them as if they were a magic wand that would miraculously make you go away. But, of course, you didn’t go away. You just became more frustrated, and more convinced that particular company had little interest in your eventual satisfaction. In seminars, I call it “TOP,” and it is a phrase that is less than useless. It is destructive. TOP is the customer service equivalent to “That’s tough” or “You’re out of luck.” It’s primary purpose is to shut down a conversation. TOP only accelerates the transformation of current customers into a former customers, and was undoubtedly crafted by someone completely oblivious to the value of customer retention. Even worse, for some customers it’s a declaration of war. Every dispute-gone-viral tracked by my firm has involved some version of that terrible text. Whenever someone tries TOP on me, I respond with a carefully crafted policy statement of my own, “Your internal policy decisions have nothing to do with my expectations of customer satisfaction.” And that’s the point, customers should not accept contract verbiage as an excuse for a less-than-promised product or service. “That’s our policy” might save a current sale, though all future business will likely be lost. Now that I’ve lambasted TOP, here are a few more quips that should never leak from the lips of your customer service team:'There’s nothing I can do'Your soon-to-be former customer replies, “Then why did I spend the last forty-five minutes on hold with you?” Plus, there’s always an option—returning the customer’s cash. Focus your team on problem solving rather than problem diverting. Give them the freedom to find creative alternatives. Reward them for innovative solutions and brushfires doused.'Would you mind holding for a moment?'Of course they mind, and what if they say “No.” Better to be specific and direct. “I’m going to put you on hold while speak with my supervisor, and I’ll check back with you in a minute or so if I haven’t an answer by then.” Sure. It’s long-winded, but considerably more satisfying for your already frustrated customer.'You’ll have to go to our website.'This is just another way of saying “I can’t help you.” Instead of making your customer hunt around with their browser after they’ve already waited on the phone, email them a link directly to the page or necessary file.'That’s the manufacturer’s responsibility.'Or, as it's sometimes put: “Our business partner will have to help you.” You’re telling your customers that while you’re happy to take their money at the time of sale, you’re not willing to back them in a crunch. The underlying principle is that your customer doesn’t have a financial relationship with your partner, supplier, or manufacturer... and therefore no leverage in negotiating a remedy. You took the customer’s money. So, whatever the problem is, it’s your responsibility to fix. Those are my top five offending phrases; feel free to chime in below with a few of your own.]]> Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500