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The Biggest and Best Lego Sets Ever

by PenguinPete

    This may come as a shock to some of you, but… I'm a geek! Geeks are marked by a natural inclination for complex, involved toys and expensive, solitary hobbies. But in between building the ultimate gaming PC or tinkering with Arduino kits to make custom Christmas light patterns, there's one hallmark geek toy that doesn't get brought up much.  I'm talking, of course, about Lego. Sure, we all remember the canonical brick building toy from our childhoods. Back when Legos just came in a loose bucket of…

Score: 8.51

Hitting That High Note: A Guide To Finding Your Singing Voice

 
            Do cats shriek and run and hide when you sing? Does it sound like nails on a chalkboard when you use your voice? Or do your notes roll smoothly like vocal poetry? Whether you are a new singer or can read music effortlessly, I am going to help you to find your singing voice and teach you about musical notes.  Musical Notes             The way to look at music is just imagining it like words from a book. The only difference is the symbols represent the pitch, the speed, and the rhythm of…

Score: 4.46

Spooked: Elk Hunting in the Pacific Northwest

by ChefPerry

    Spooked: Elk Hunting in the Pacific Northwest Perry P. Perkins          The woods were still and silent in the predawn darkness, every twig that broke under our boots, or brushed our shoulders seemed deafening.  With each snap and crackle, we would freeze, my lips forming silent curses as we waited for the telltale thunder of a bull elk crashing down the canyon wall to cross the river and leave us far behind. A moment would pass, then two, and all would remain calm.  Taking a deep breath, we would…

Score: 4.22

Chef's Tips for Better Burgers

 
  Chef's Tips for Better Burgers  Burgers might just be my favorite food.  Now, there's not a thing wrong with the good old-fashioned American Cheeseburger, in fact, it's awesome, but if you feel like expanding your horizons just a bit, here are my three favorites "gourmet" burger styles, as well as some tips for cooking a better burger.  All the patties for these recipes are prepped and grilled the same way, so it's easy to make a big batch of one recipe, or set up a burger-bar and let your guests…

Score: 3.03

Best Magic! the Gathering Sealed Products - A Guide to Strategic Investment in Magic: The Gathering

by PenguinPete

    "Many Magic: The Gathering players ask the question…" Don't you ever get tired of mocking the Professor of Tolarian Community College with that opening? The answer is no, we don't. Even though we love the Professor, and this post is partly inspired by his YouTube channel's content, he's just irresistible to mimic. Not to mention, if he were here reading this, he would probably disagree with the majority of what we're going to be saying here.  The Professor, spoiler alert, usually poops on Wizards…

Score: 2.77

Lego

The Biggest and Best Lego Sets Ever

by PenguinPete

    This may come as a shock to some of you, but… I'm a geek! Geeks are marked by a natural inclination for complex, involved toys and expensive, solitary hobbies. But in between building the ultimate gaming PC or tinkering with Arduino kits to make custom Christmas light patterns, there's one hallmark geek toy that doesn't get brought up much.  I'm talking, of course, about Lego. Sure, we all remember the canonical brick building toy from our childhoods. Back when Legos just came in a loose bucket of…
Score: 8.51
Outdoor hobby

Spooked: Elk Hunting in the Pacific Northwest

by ChefPerry

    Spooked: Elk Hunting in the Pacific Northwest Perry P. Perkins          The woods were still and silent in the predawn darkness, every twig that broke under our boots, or brushed our shoulders seemed deafening.  With each snap and crackle, we would freeze, my lips forming silent curses as we waited for the telltale thunder of a bull elk crashing down the canyon wall to cross the river and leave us far behind. A moment would pass, then two, and all would remain calm.  Taking a deep breath, we would…
Score: 4.22

Fly Fishing the Deschutes on Slow Days

by ChefPerry

  Obsession, it would seem, can do as much for one's reputation as talent.  When a friend approached me to say that her cousin was flying in from Oklahoma the next weekend, loved to fly fish, and needed someone to show him the local scene, I wasn't all that surprised, nervous yes, but not surprised.    Fly Fishing in OregonHere in Oregon, we have an amazing variety and selection of water. With several blue-ribbon rivers flowing through the state, the Deschutes, McKenzie, and Metolius just to name three…
Score: 2.14

Airsoft-Dangerous war simulation or harmless fun

 
     You might have heard about this sport that is taking in proportion every year.    Airsoft has been steadily moving toward the mainstream and can now be found in most countries. I have taken an interest in it and while I was explaining what it was to my friends, I realized that people have very different opinions on it. Some thought it was cool, others wondered why I would be foolish enough to spend the money on expensive toys, some feared the effect that shooting humans would have on me, while…
Score: 1.35
Parenting

Helicopter parents

by Dominus

Parents love their children. They want to protect the young ones from everything that can harm them and teach their adorable little humans everything they need to know to become responsible, self-sufficient adults. Parents teach the child the proper way to do things and then they have to give that same child space to practice on their own. That means that in some situations the child has to be left alone to find his/her own solutions to increasingly more difficult problems, based on what they…
Score: 4.24

Busting The Dad Myths and Advice for New Fathers

by ChefPerry

Anyone who tells you fatherhood is the greatest thing that can happen to you, they are understating it.”– Mike Myers          So, you have a new dad (or are about to become) a new dad?  Becoming a new dad for the first time can often be a daunting prospect. Especially if you were void of a good role model in your own life growing up. Research tells us that around 47% of fathers today still believe that their role in those first three years of their child’s life is that of a “Helper” – rather than a “Primary…
Score: 2.72

Parenting, Raising a child.

 
Parenting at best is a no-win situation in the present and a winning situation if you are lucky in the long-run.    Life teaches hard lessons and as a parent, just because you teach the hard lesson is no guarantee of the right outcome. I've seen great parents have troubled kids, and seemingly lousy parents have incredible kids. I have no answers. I could only do what I thought was right for my daughter and me and my family. I tried to teach honesty, trust, helpfulness, kindness, thoughtfulness…
Score: 1.24
BBQ & Grilling

Chef's Tips for Better Burgers

 
  Chef's Tips for Better Burgers  Burgers might just be my favorite food.  Now, there's not a thing wrong with the good old-fashioned American Cheeseburger, in fact, it's awesome, but if you feel like expanding your horizons just a bit, here are my three favorites "gourmet" burger styles, as well as some tips for cooking a better burger.  All the patties for these recipes are prepped and grilled the same way, so it's easy to make a big batch of one recipe, or set up a burger-bar and let your guests…
Score: 3.03
Singing

Hitting That High Note: A Guide To Finding Your Singing Voice

 
            Do cats shriek and run and hide when you sing? Does it sound like nails on a chalkboard when you use your voice? Or do your notes roll smoothly like vocal poetry? Whether you are a new singer or can read music effortlessly, I am going to help you to find your singing voice and teach you about musical notes.  Musical Notes             The way to look at music is just imagining it like words from a book. The only difference is the symbols represent the pitch, the speed, and the rhythm of…
Score: 4.46
Collectible Trading Card Games

Best Magic! the Gathering Sealed Products - A Guide to Strategic Investment in Magic: The Gathering

by PenguinPete

    "Many Magic: The Gathering players ask the question…" Don't you ever get tired of mocking the Professor of Tolarian Community College with that opening? The answer is no, we don't. Even though we love the Professor, and this post is partly inspired by his YouTube channel's content, he's just irresistible to mimic. Not to mention, if he were here reading this, he would probably disagree with the majority of what we're going to be saying here.  The Professor, spoiler alert, usually poops on Wizards…
Score: 2.77
Moving to Asia

No Job, No Apartment, No Problem, Graduating and Moving to Asia

by Jeremy Rob

In my senior year of college, I still didn’t have much of a plan for what to do after graduation.   Studying writing and psychology didn’t provide the clearest of paths and I wasn’t one of those kids who’d had an internship every summer. But I did know three things:  I liked working with kids.  I liked traveling abroad.  And I didn’t want to move back in with my parents.        Taking A Risk   I wanted to take a risk and do something out of the ordinary.   There’s no better way to grow than getting out of your…
Score: 4.34

Thailand VS Philippines by Food

 
Food, one of the key happiness factors of living in Southeast Asia   It can be said for those looking to live in the Philippines or Thailand that:     "a way to a Expat's heart is through their stomach."      When choosing to move to a country to live in Asia, people often consider between moving to Thailand or moving to the Philippines.  They are both unique in their own right.  When deciding between moving to Thailand or moving to the Philippines, we often look into some of the bigger issues between the two…
Score: 2.04

Thailand VS Philippines in language, culture, money, and love

 
Moving to Thailand or the Philippines and how the English language, cultural influence, cost of living, and relationships could affect your choices.        It is never as easy as choosing a pros and cons list or just doing what works for others.    If one is considering the possibility of moving to Asia and becoming an official Expatriate (or expat for short), two popular choices are:   Moving to Thailand Moving to the Philippines   I use these two more specifically because I have lived in both countries.  In…
Score: 1.53
Green Thumb: Tactics to Grow Annual Flowers

Green Thumb: Tactics to Grow Annual Flowers for the Beginner

 
              What comes to mind when you think of flowers? Wedding ceremonies? Valentine’s Day? The truth is, flowers are plentiful and have many abstract meanings and uses. I will also elaborate methods to plant flowers, introduce types of annuals, and mention which types of flowers I have planted myself.    Pansy Annual Types Flower More Easily                To begin, pansies are a great flower for the beginning gardener. They’re some of the first blooms you can plant to celebrate the start of the…
Score: 2.23
Linux

The Top Linux Distros for Everyday Use for Everyone

by PenguinPete

  Those of you elder Ents who still remember the pioneer days of the web may remember that once upon a time your Present Author blogged about Linux. There was a Linux blog; I was well-known in the Linux community, I posted lots of tutorials, HOWTOs, some GPL'ed code, scripts, and the occasional distro or application review. That's where the "Penguin" in my name came from was Tux, the Linux penguin mascot.  Then the great mobile apocalypse happened.  Suddenly, what operating system ruled the desktop…
Score: 1.81
LGBTQI (Politics)
Gardening

How To Start A Butterfly Garden

by kristyleann

  Starting a butterfly garden is one of the coolest things you can do to enhance your home. Being outdoors is great for both your mental and physical health so why not make it extra fun by making your environment more beautiful? By creating a garden that will invite butterflies you're not only helping them but you're making your own life more fun and colorful as well.    Butterflies not only bring beautiful colors and excitement to our lives, but they also help pollinate flowers and crops, play an…
Score: 2.36

10 TOOLS TO HELP YOU GARDEN LIKE A PROFESSIONAL THIS SPRING

by iamunscripted

Are We There Yet?     If you are reading this, then you are probably as excited as I am about spring. I’m writing to you from the fine and gorgeous Northeast of the U.S, where spring is always welcomed when it finally arrives.    But as the thermostat begins its slow descent, and the sun in our hemisphere begins its ascent, thoughts of spring start to race through our minds. Being unprepared for winter up in these parts can be a death sentence, luckily spring is a little more forgiving.    But if you want…
Score: 1.89

How a Garden Grows You: The Therapeutic and Meditative Effects of Gardening

by iamunscripted

      Every neighborhood has at least one.      From one corner of the earth to another this person isn't hard to spot.  They have been exposed to the calming, meditative, mood, and life-altering effects of gardening.  There they are, bathing in the therapeutics offered up by the delightful sights, sounds, and odors found only in a garden.       Growing up there was an old man around the corner who was always in his garden.  He had course white hair, rough, like dried sage, that poked out of his grey…
Score: 1.79
Hair Care Methods

Ethnic Hair Growth: Hair Care Information and Homemade Recipes

 
What’s Your Hair Type?   To save you the time of trying to look up what type of hair you have, here are the different variations listed in groups. If some, or all of your hair hasn’t been chemically altered, the best way to find your hair type is by looking at the texture while wet, or after it dries.Texture Quiz at Naturally Curly  Each hair pattern group is listed from 1 to 4. Group 1 is Straight, group 2 is Wavy, group 3 is Curly, group 4 is Coily/Kinky. There are also different hair…
Score: 2.1
World History

Notre Dame Will Be Restored. Look At How These Destroyed Buildings And Cities Came Back

 
The tragic fire which devastated the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is seen as a symbol of the loss of civilization as a whole by many. But the beloved church, like many historic buildings and structures throughout the world, knows the touch of wanton destruction throughout the centuries. Now that the funding for Notre Dame reaches over $1 billion dollars, there will be no problem with its famed being placed at some point in the future.    A Parisian history of catastrophes By definition, Notre Dame…
Score: 2.06
Metabolism Health

Warrior Dash - Philanthropic 5k Mud Runs for a Thrill Seeker

 
Dancing Through The Mud                What comes to mind when you think of the term “thrill seeker”? Some people envision a person who finds solace skydiving and whirling through the atmosphere at a rate of -9.8 meters per square second. Enjoyable activities definitely cultivate the human nervous system and release norepinephrine and dopamine, and some of us are more prone to seek out these behaviors due to these neurotransmitter releases. For myself, I have lived to partake in 5k Mud Runs like…
Score: 1.95

Is It Hashimoto's Disease Or Hypothyroidism?

by kristyleann

Photo of a woman with a goiter. (Photo by By Drahreg01 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2688708).    I've recently been feeling pretty bad so I went to a family doctor and she did a lot of tests to see if anything might be wrong with me. As it turns out, I have hypothyroidism. I looked up the symptoms later when I got home and it definitely seemed to match what I had been experiencing. In fact, I've been having many of these symptoms for years. Some of them…
Score: 1.02
Internet Streaming

Twitch.tv: Musician's Playground of Trained Hand-Eye Coordination and Muscle Memory in Gaming

by Randy N.

   If you want your talents to pave a path towards a career, you have to put in due time and diligence to master a certain skill of your choice. I’m sure some of you have heard the saying, “It takes 10,000 hours to master a skill.” Though I do not believe this rule to be the case.   It is amazing what you can accomplish in a single day with effective and efficient practice techniques whether you are an artist, ballet dancer, or even a construction worker.   In this article, I'll be discussing the…
Score: 1.77

Twitch and Live Streaming are the Future of Media and Here's Why TV Should Be Scared

by JesusGaray

Sometime in the 1950s, a new form of media emerged when families bought a peculiar new device in the living rooms. Called the “television,” it used parts of theater and vaudeville, creating this interesting form of entertainment that was in the moment. It found a following despite what traditional theater said about the medium and is now the established powerhouse we see today.    Fast-forward almost 70 years later, and we might be seeing something very similar. The only difference is it’s a highly…
Score: 1.75

Li-Fi: The Future of Data Consumption

by OldFashionedMillenial

In a world where being connected to the Internet is less of a luxury and more of a requirement for many, it is no surprise that the WiFi speeds are beginning to slow. As more and more people use WiFi and begin to overuse networks in highly populated areas the speeds will begin to decrease and the rate of annoyance among users will increase exponentially. Universities, restaurants, airports, even hospitals are beginning to notice that the load speed and connectivity is exponentially decreasing…
Score: 1.14
Bowling

Bowl a Strike! A Complete Guide of Bowling Game for Beginners

 
        The sound of a bowling ball spiraling into a strike is one of my favorite. To me, it invokes a feeling of accomplishment. Myself, I was on a bowling team for 6 years. Bowling is a positive way to exercise and be focused as a team.                                                                                 History of Bowling         At 7,000 years old, bowling originally started in Egypt. Interestingly enough, a bowling ball and pins were found buried in an Egyptian child’s grave. Flash…
Score: 1.77
LGBTQI

Queering the Immigration Conversation - LGBTQI Asylum Seekers' Stories

by AlanBounville

  Human migration is as old as humanity. We are a species that for tens of thousands of years or more have been on the move. So why is it that there are still deep divisions about those who move around the planet?The idea of there being finite resources in a given region comes to mind. But in a globalized world, we have learned how to engineer problems associated with the distribution of resources out of the equation. It is commonly heard from opponents of migration that those who are migrating…
Score: 1.56

The Politics of Silence

by AlanBounville

Facebook Comment Rabbit Hole    I woke this Saturday morning doing the same destructive behavior I have done for years now—grab my phone and scroll through mundane media and social media websites, undoubtedly see something upsetting, and post a truth in the comments section. The website where this took place—Facebook, of course. The topic, Robert Kraft, the Billionaire owner of the New England Patriots who was recently caught with his pants down, on video, at a suspected sex trafficking rub and tug…
Score: 1.04
POC Politics

What Is The Real Future of Latina Women - Change, Power, or Problems?

by JesusGaray

  By 2060, over 30 percent of the American population will be Latino. That is almost double what it stands at right now. But if you look at where it can be decades from now, what you might want to look at is creating a movement for one half of the community that is not getting enough attention – Latina women.    Shaping the New Minority The reality of the U.S. becoming a “minority majority” country grows closer as more local communities dramatically shift in demographics. Even outside the big cities…
Score: 1.94
Self-Defense

Non-violent self-defense for pacifists

 
Yes, you can improve your chances of self-protection without resulting in violence.    Most of us view self-defense as an aggressive program that is focused around injuring an assailant.  If you were to consider training in Self-Defense, you will very often come across training programs that are focused on the opposite of self-defense. Meaning, they appear to be more offensive and in many cases almost purely offensive.        We can imagine a video where participants are kicking and striking would be…
Score: 1.97

Why Mixed Martial Arts is NOT the most realistic for Self-Defense?

 
When I had moved to Las Vegas - a mecca for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) - I was greeted by neighbors who wanted to introduce themselves and inform me about their local Esports business.      They were a young couple asked what it was that I did too.  I mentioned my interests that included rock climbing, living in places like Thailand, the Philippines, and Holland.  I also mentioned I was involved with the martial arts. At this point, the young lady expressed that her Dad was an Instructor at a local…
Score: 1.88
Teamwork Within Orchestra and Business

Harmony of Teamwork and Leadership in the Orchestra and Business through the Eyes of a Musician

 
    I’ve spent most of my life in and out of various orchestras and businesses professionally throughout my career.   During this time, I discovered many subtle similarities between these two careers and what makes them successful or not.  In comparison, we look to understand the harmony of teamwork and leadership within the different “branches” of an orchestra and business through the eyes of a musician.    The Conducting CEO           I am sure there’s been a time in all our lives when we’ve thought,   “ Wow, the…
Score: 1.89