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Watch These Movies While Stuck at Home!

Bored at home?  Looking for something to watch, but tired of cycling through the same Netflix options?   For those of you who have already burned through your queue, it's time to start looking for rentals, a nearly extinct concept in 2020.        Fear not, because there are plenty of exceptional films out there that are not on popular streaming services. This article is meant to dig into a few good choices that you might not have already thought of.    Explore these overlooked gems today, then go visit your…
Score: 5.86

Quarantine Playlist – Songs to Listen to While Stuck at Home

by CFC123

Music, with all its transcendent power, can help us through some tough times. For some, music helps those who need to assuage their anxieties caused by depression. Other times, it can just be for a troublesome problem sweeping the nation.   Since we all are experiencing that similar problem right now, let’s dive into some good music to help alleviate everyone’s cooped-up feelings. Skip to the right mood for you, or ride the whole wave beginning to end (I promise it will leave you will a…
Score: 3.86

Five Podcasts For When You Suddenly Have A Lot of Time on Your Hands

When I first began hearing the term Podcast, I thought, what is all the hubbub? It is just people having a conversation, not unlike a youtube video or talk show.  Then, as podcasting grew in popularity - rather rapidly, I must say - I went from skeptical to enamored upon discovering a few that interested me.      I realized podcasts could be creative, educational, inspirational, and downright hilarious. They are a great companion for long drives or days when you are doing work around the house (or in…
Score: 3.43

Holding on to Hope: Ways to Cope in the Face of a Pandemic

“These are mad times we live in. Mad!”    These words, spoken by Professor Slughorn in The Half-Blood Prince, have been tumbling around in my head for weeks. In the film (and perhaps the book, I don’t recall), Slughorn relays this message to Dumbledore as the imminent threat of Lord Voldemort grows stronger. In this story, the imminent threat is COVID- 19, rather than an extremely powerful wizard.    I don’t know that there is a “chosen one” to defeat COVID-19 as Harry Potter defeated Voldemort, but…
Score: 2.63

The Top SEO Tools For Content Marketing

  Hi, I'm "Penguin" Pete Trbovich, and you overthink SEO!  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been oversold for decades as the easy road to riches, subject to every snake oil tonic shuckster to roll into town. You shouldn't believe most posts about "best SEO tools," because they're usually trying to sell you something they make, and it's not the best.  Except you can believe this post, because it's selling nothing. In fact, most of these tools are free or at least "freemium." It's getting no…
Score: 2.63

Music Theory

Compositional Complexity in Technical Death Metal

by CFC123

INTRODUCTION  Outside of the realm of radio airplay and mass consumption, metal bands struggle to distinguish themselves while subjected to ever-shifting standards set by short-lived trends. All groups with media presence seem to have something to prove, and Florida native Chuck Schuldiner was no exception. When denounced by the other members of his band Death, Schuldiner arrived at a creative waypoint; he knew that he wanted something cleaner, and to “move forward musically.”  In 1991, Death…
Score: 1.49
Philanthropy

The Need For Communication in American Non-Profits

    Americans Issue with Overhead in Nonprofits  In 2013, Dan Pallotta delivered a TedTalk in Long Beach that presented ideas on American’s views about financial overhead in non-profits which are still relevant today.       The premise of the presentation is that as a society, we view our nonprofits in the wrong light. We’ve been trained to think of “overhead” in a nonprofit as negative.   When he discusses overhead, he is referring to aspects that we take for granted in the American for-profit industries…
Score: 1.58
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: 1.87

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: 1.19

Miracle Happens ~ True Story of Faith, Hope, and Love in Infertility Treatment

by ChefPerry

  My wife and I had planned on being the typical American couple. We’d get married, work for a couple of years (to earn some stability and get to know one another) and then start our family. We had seen our friends follow this same agenda and it seemed simple enough.  We learned it was not always so simple…  Finally, after a decade of trying and reaching the ripe-old age of thirty-eight, we realized that having a baby just wasn’t going to happen the “old-fashioned way.”  So, we sought help.  Only to find…
Score: 1.12
Content Marketing

How I Accidentally Became A Writer

  Hello, and thank you for dropping by to devote these microseconds to a meeting of our minds. That's an appropriate opener for the year 2020. This article was the editor's idea. No really, they said to tell everyone about the life of a writer. I will tell you right now that I press buttons on a flat electronic device in patterns that cause checks to arrive in the mail. Now that I have that dunked, a whole article is left to fill.  I just don't do autobiography well, but as I understand it some of…
Score: 1.31
Kentucky

Eastern Kentucky: A Place Worth Exploring

When I tell people I am from Eastern Kentucky, someone usually makes a joke about the old film, Deliverance, or Colonel Sanders.   There are several ideas and stereotypes about my home state that are not all too positive in nature. Delving into those is for another day, however. Right now I want to take you on a journey through Eastern Kentucky, and show you that it is more than a stereotype. It is a place worth exploring.       Red River Gorge   The Red River Gorge is a place unknown to most unless you…
Score: 1.33
Home Cooking

Proper Kitchen Knife Technique - Chopping, Slicing, and Dicing for Safe, Less Waste & Better Taste

by ChefPerry

    If you’re going to spend any time in the kitchen, you’re going to have to learn how to chop vegetables. Proper chopping, slicing, and dicing techniques help us reduce waste, stay safe, and improve the taste and texture of our dishes.   Those of us who grew up under tyrannical chef-fathers, toiling away in the Dickens-Esque sweat-shops of their prep kitchens (sorry Dad, just trying to make a point…), may have spent months or years doing little else than chopping veggies, and take the techniques…
Score: 1.75

Grilling Fish for Health and Flavor, Direct Grilling, Baskets, Foil Wrapping, and Plank Grilling

by ChefPerry

  Grilling Fish for Health and FlavorChef Perry P. Perkins  Many of us are looking for healthier grilling options without sacrificing great flavor.  When my readers contact me asking about great-tasting, guilt-free grilling, I always point them to one of my favorite food groups: fish and seafood. It's hard to beat a succulent, tender bite of firm salmon or tuna, with a crispy char on the outside and just a hint of smoke, fresh from the grill.  Fish and seafood are so simple to cook outdoors...and…
Score: 1.32

Good Food Starts with Good Food

by ChefPerry

    One of the biggest factors in cooking good food is using good food to cook. This is a point we stress over and over, with every kid that comes through our cooking program.  Not expensive food, not even "fancy" food (though that can be a lot of fun when you can swing it), but good, real, recognizable food. Start small, instead of buying that can of diced tomatoes, buy three Roma tomatoes (about the same price), dice them in a bowl, and sprinkle a little salt and sugar on them.  10 minutes later…
Score: 1.12
Societal Pressures

Why I'm Not Getting Married

The year is 2018, but for some reason I still feel as if I’m trapped in 1918. I am a woman working three jobs and pursuing my master’s degree on a track towards my Ph.D.; and yet for my family, somehow that still isn’t good enough. When I go home I am hit with a barrage of questions:   “When are you going to stop and settle down? Men don’t like it if you are too smart, you know.”  “You are not going to be able to have children forever you know, the clock is ticking!”   “Aren’t you dating? I know some…
Score: 1.07

On the Subject of Empowerment

  I recall the first time a guy thought he had some unspoken right to my body, as he tried to force me into bed with him. I was able to get out of the situation before it escalated, but that moment haunted me for years. I was angry with him, but my anger did not come close to the shame I felt. I blamed myself, though the situation was entirely out of my control. I did not tell anyone about it for almost eight years   Instead, I let the shadows of shame creep in and set up residence. I began to have…
Score: 1.04
Training with Positive Reinforcement

A Journey to Mindfulness in Horse Training

  As a young girl, I could not wait to run to the barn after school. I would spend hours sitting on the fence or wandering through the pasture as my horse grazed. I felt content grooming or just spending time with her. Riding or working was never the main goal; I wanted to feel connected. At that time in my life, I felt I could communicate with my horse. We did not need words, it was more like a dance - two partners moving fluidly through space, speaking a language all our own.    As I got older…
Score: 1.21
Backpacking Scotland

Walking the West Highland Way

    Meander along rolling hills of the lush Scottish countryside, trace the banks of Loch Lomond while making your way through vibrant oak forests, and wander up and over the windswept highlands as you walk the West Highland Way from its southern terminus in Milngavie (pronounced Mul-guy) to its northern terminus in Fort William.    This 96 mile (154.4km) expanse of trail is perfect for fit and healthy adventurers of all ages. If you like to rough it, pack your gear on your back and wild camp the…
Score: 1.03
Study Abroad

Nontraditional Student in Japan

  Introduction  Have you ever felt that the world is outside of your grasp?  Things happen to everyone else, why would they happen to you?  That dream job you’ve always wanted, but resigned yourself to never being good enough for it?  This was what I felt even as I started at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. My life was surrounded my dead-end retail jobs and wasn’t going anywhere. After five years of this, however, I reevaluated my life.   Why did I believe that I couldn’t do more? It was time for a…
Score: 1.14