Miscellaneous

Three Android Education Apps!

December 27, 2013 by greystar

Your smartphone is great for playing games and taking photos, but did you know that there’s also a great deal that it can teach you as well? These informative, knowledgeable apps for the Android system will teach you new things about our world through the use of photos, videos, and text.

TED
The famous TED conferences come to life on your phone with this high-quality, larger than life app. Some of the world’s leading tech geniuses, teachers, doctors, researchers, musicians, and other fascinating people have given TED talks meant to inspire and amaze, and now you can watch them in video format right from your Android phone.

Duolingo
Duolingo is an app that teaches you foreign languages completely for free as you cook dinner, commute to work, or even work out at the gym. The app features bold, brightly colored learning activities, points for answering questions correctly, speaking exercises, and more for six of the world’s most popular languages.

Star Finder
Become an amateur astronomer when you learn about the stars in the sky with Star Finder. This beautiful app recognizes constellations, provides a full model of the solar system, and visualizes eclipses all from your smartphone.

Public Domain/Public Domain

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Android, Reserve at Garden Oaks, Star Finder, TED

NPR Podcasts You Can Listen to Online

December 20, 2013 by greystar

There is a whole list of things to love about NPR, but their unbeatable podcasts are some of the best. With a variety of subjects ranging from music to the economy and the recent addition of online streaming, NPR podcasts are more accessible than ever before. Here are three worth hearing:

Planet Money
Planet Money is a twice-weekly podcast that aims to discuss the current state of the economy in the style of a fun, lighthearted conversation with a friend. Topics like the ebb and flow of automobile brands, pharmaceuticals and the birth of accounting give you an insight into the ways in which the economy works, from micro to macro.

All Songs Considered
A podcast created by music lovers for music lovers, All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen shares new music from emerging artists and conducts discussions with listeners about the state of today’s music scene. The weekly, 30-minute long show also features episodes about recent festivals and other music news that fans of all genres will appreciate.

TED Radio Hour
It seems that people can’t get enough of TED Talks these days, and the TED Radio Hour is another extension of the immensely popular conference and global platform. Each episode of the TED Radio Hour centers on a common theme, and host Guy Raz discusses inventions, solutions to problems, and innovative thought surrounding that theme. If you’re in need of a bit of inspiration, the TED Radio Hour is one podcast meant to motivate and amaze.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: NPR, Podcasts, Radio, TED

Plan Family Meals with This Deliciously Healthy NIH Guide

December 18, 2013 by greystar

Many people have the best intentions when it comes to eating healthy, but have a difficult time planning to create their own healthful menus. The NIH knows that if healthy foods taste good, people are more likely to eat them, which is why they created the Deliciously Healthy Eating guide.

This NIH guide is an all-inclusive resource for discovering flavorful, healthful meals that are simple to create. It is packed full of nutritious, low-calorie recipes that taste just as good as unhealthy foods, from Oatmeal Pecan Waffles to Quick Beef Casseroles. Browse the website by food categories like beef, poultry, vegetables or pasta to find recipes using ingredients that you have on hand, or search by meals like breakfast, lunch and snacks to plan for every time of day.

The recipes are broken down by cook time and number of servings. They include nutrition facts like calories, total fat, cholesterol, sodium, and carbohydrates to make it simple to know what you're eating.

Deliciously Healthy Eating Guide [National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute]

Public Domain/Public Domain

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Cooking, Nutrition, Recipes, Reserve at Garden Oaks

Six Places to Find Stylish Glasses Online

December 13, 2013 by greystar

Purchasing prescription eyeglasses is now easier than ever with the launch of online eyewear boutiques. Providing high-quality, trendy frames at reasonable prices, many of these boutiques offer a "virtual try-on" feature wherein you upload your photo and test styles against your features and face shape.

Still sound too risky? Below, find six online sites that offer free at-home try-on — usually with free shipping, both ways — enabling you to choose up to six pairs of glasses to model in your bathroom mirror before committing to a single frame.

1. Warby Parker

2. Fetch Eyewear

3. Tortoise and Blonde

4. G lasses.com

5. Lookmatic

6. Classic Specs

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Eyeglasses, Fashion, Glasses, Shopping

Find Recipes Online with These Websites

December 6, 2013 by greystar

These days, finding and sharing recipes has become an online activity, with dozens of websites full of user submitted meals for lunch, dinner and even dessert. These helpful websites will help you with your own family’s meal planning, as well as connect you to other home chefs to trade tips and tricks.

All Recipes
All Recipes is one of the most popular online cooking resources, with an expansive recipe database for just about any meal or occasion. Search the archives by ingredient, watch video tutorials, view sample menus for the entire week, or even plan your holiday spread all on this simple, friendly website.

Epicurious
The ideal site for the passionate food lover, Epicurious is jam packed with creative, inspiring recipes in the form of traditional text, videos, and slideshows of mouth-watering photos. Epicurious also features a great online community where visitors can follow other members, post their favorite recipes, and discuss topics such as family meal solutions and home brewing techniques.

FoodNetwork.com
The beloved television cooking channel has a corresponding website, and fans of shows like The Barefoot Contessa are sure to love it. FoodNetwork.com features cooking tips from top chefs and hosts, 30-minute meal recipes, a quick recipe finder with filters for ingredients and prep time, and even a blog full of articles that foodies will find fascinating.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Cooking, Food, Nutrition, Recipes

Listen to Podcasts on Your Mobile Device with These Apps

November 29, 2013 by greystar

Podcasts are an interesting, informative way to pass the time while driving or commuting to work, and they’ve also become extremely portable because of the large number of ways to listen to them. These three apps will make finding your favorite podcasts even easier than ever before.

Stitcher
Stitcher is an app that contains over 20,000 radio shows and podcasts. By downloading this app on your iPhone, Android, or iPad, you’ll have full access to the latest episodes of all of the most popular podcasts without even downloading or syncing with your computer.

PRX Public Radio Player
The Public Radio Player app is one of the simplest ways of streaming shows and podcasts from public radio stations like NPR, PRX, PRI, and APM. The app is available completely free of charge, and it even allows you to listen offline when you’re not in an area with Internet service.

Swell
Swell is an innovative streaming app that learns which subjects you’re interested in, and provides content based on those preferences. With the goal of providing only content that you want to listen to, Swell delivers podcasts and news radio shows that you might enjoy from sources like NPR, PRI, This American Life, and Comedy Bang Bang.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Apps, Podcasts, PRX, Stitcher

Learn Something New with These Three Eclectic Magazines

November 22, 2013 by greystar

Think print's dead? Quite a few thoughtful print magazines still publish high quality stories, presented beautifully… on paper! If you're looking for something engaging to read, these print magazines offer thought-provoking essays and much more to enjoy:

Gastronomica
Foodies and sociology buffs alike will love this wonderful food and culture journal. With articles covering topics like literature, history, and the cultural representation of food, Gastronomica will enlighten readers about the way cooking and eating shapes cultures around the world and throughout time.

Monocle
Monocle is a sleek, stylish print magazine headquartered in London that discusses international affairs, business, culture, and design. Online, the magazine also features incredible documentary-style films on a wide range of subjects, from prodigy musicians to air travel in Somalia.

The Economist
The online home of this popular business magazine features all of the same global economy and stock market news, but with the addition of high-quality photos, videos and blogs for even further exploration. At The Economist's website, you can learn about journalism in China, high-speed railways and foreign money in a city’s property market all in one convenient place.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Gastronomica, Magazines, Monocle, The Economist

Gain Insight into Our Changing Job Market with This Informative Handbook

November 15, 2013 by greystar

Are you worried about the stability of your profession in the current workforce? Want to change jobs, but nervous about the transition? If you want to learn more about the present and future job market, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook is an invaluable tool.

This fascinating handbook provides complete profiles for hundreds of jobs in the US today, providing insight into many careers that you may not have even heard of. Career profiles are categorized by occupation groups, from Arts and Design to Legal to Protective Services. These informative profiles describe what each job does, the work environment, the pay rate, and even provides advice about how to get it!

Along with its career profiles, the Occupational Outlook Handbook also includes Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projections for the 2010 – 2020 decade. Using this information, its easy-to-use website then allows visitors to search for occupations by education level, number of new jobs, projected growth rate, type of training, and median pay.

Whether you want to get into a new career or you’re simply interested in the way our country’s workforce is changing, the Occupational Outlook Handbook is an incredibly interesting read.

Occupational Outlook Handbook [Bureau of Labor Statistics]

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Career, Job Searching, Technology

Academy Award-Winning Dramas Worth Watching Again

October 25, 2013 by greystar

While we can all agree to disagree on some of the Academy Awards choices, there’s no denying that the Oscars have honored some truly outstanding films over the years. Here are a few winners of "Best Picture" that deserve to be watched and enjoyed again.

1. The English Patient. Anthony Minghella’s World War II dramatic romance is gorgeously shot. The film stars Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, and it’s rich, complex, and will inspire multiple viewings to piece together all the flashback montages.

2. Ordinary People. Robert Redford enjoyed his directorial debut with this 1980 Oscar winner. This remarkable portrait of a family in the midst of falling apart, focuses on the Jarretts as they try to recover from the accidental death of one son, and deal with the attempted suicide of the other.

3. The Deer Hunter. Michael Cimino’s haunting tale of traumatized Vietnam vets trying to return to "normal" life is a controversial epic, as it shows life on the streets for the injured heroes as it truly was. Add in names like Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, and Christopher Walken and you have winner!

4. The Godfather. Francis Ford Coppola’s Mafia epic is one of the greatest dramas of all time. Both the original film and the sequel won the Oscar for Best Picture — an honor that has never been repeated and probably never will.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Movies, Oscar Winning Drama, Robert Redford, The Deer Hunter, The English Patient, The Godfather

Safety Tips For International Travel

October 18, 2013 by greystar

Traveling abroad sometime soon? Planning a vacation can be exciting, but it also encompasses lots of little details. Making a list can help! Along with booking airlines, trains, and hotels and creating a list of essential items to pack, check out this list of Tips for Traveling Abroad from the State Department's Travel.State.gov website. Here are some of the site's most useful tips:

Register for the State Department's "Smart Traveler Enrollment Program" for assistance in case of emergency. The confidential online service helps get in touch if you've got a stateside family emergency, or if you need assistance when abroad.
Learn about local laws. While visiting a foreign country, you're subject to its laws. You can find info on specific countries by visiting this State Department site.
Check medical coverage. Ask your insurance provider if your policy's applicable overseas. If it isn't, consider purchasing supplemental medical insurance.

Want to see more tips for safe international travel? Click here to visit Travel.State.gov.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: International Travel, Safety, Travel