Surgical masks help stop droplets from being distributed by the person wearing them. They also keep sprays or splashes to reach the mouth and nose of the someone who wearing the surgical masks. They are not planned to protect you against breathing in very small particles. Surgical masks should be used one time and then thrown away in the garbage.

Unusual Foods, or Food that is Different to a Caucasian Westerner What is the strangest food you have eaten or seen served, or read about? Traveling and living and working in different countries and cultures has often led me into sitting staring at something served on a plate in front of me that I either just do not wish to eat, or the odor of which, to me, is absolutely appalling.

Let me try and explain some incidents when I have not been able to eat the meal placed in front of me.

Recently, in Korea, I was taken to lunch by a very attractive Korean girl, who took me to a Restaurant and asked if I liked Octopus. I love calamari, and expressed my interest to try the Korean version. Imagine my chagrin when a bowl of living, and writhing, miniature octopus was placed in front of me. When I said something about them being alive, she calmly cut one with a pair of scissors, and ate it while it was still writhing.

There are stories of Koreans choking to death from eating live octopus. The tentacles are actually moving, and there have been instances when the tentacles get suctioned in the throat of the diner, and death can occur from choking.

Another Korean delicacy I simply cannot handle is Silkworms. When you walk up to the mountains where the Temples are, vendors along the side cook huge Wok like pots where they turn what looks like grubs. They are grubs. They are silkworms, who have been removed from the steamed silk cocoons, after the silk has been care fully spun out, and the silkworms are steamed or cooked in water. They have the odour of used football socks being boiled in water, and I am sure they taste the same. Silkworms are reputed to have the protein content of 6 egg yolks in one grub, but I was told that only Koreans can utilize this form of protein, so eating a grub on toast would hardly fill my protein requirements for the day.

When a New Zealand Friend came to visit me last year, I cheekily gave him a paper cup of silkworms, which is how they are served, and looking somewhat surprised, he carefully tasted one, and proclaimed it dreadful. I was tempted to try one, for the experience of tasting a morsel that is reputed to have the protein content of 6 eggs…for a Korean…but the musty, old, dead and dying smell on his breath, turned me off completely. They look like small cockroaches, and there is no way I would eat a cockroach by choice, either.

I keep adding this ‘by choice’ as there have been times in my life, where I have eaten something with delight, and later discovered what it was and never eaten it again, by choice.

When teaching in China, to students who did not not have a single word of English, I dined regularly on ‘chop’ which I rather liked. In fact it tasted like the beef I know, and I rather enjoyed the ’stew’ and it was often ordered for me. Imagine my chagrin when a few months later, after I had taught the students to speak English, we were guests of the Director, and they told me I was eating dog….

Recently another visitor to China explained that she was given the delicacy of Frogs Blood Soup, which she had to eat. It sounded appalling. I did not even know frogs had blood, let alone enough to fill a soup dish. She also mentioned pigs Eyeballs, and steamed almost mature chickens, complete with their feathers and some of the albumen. The local cafeteria features a special stall where they sell all the parts of the pig. You can have sliced pigs ear, a special delicacy, and also pigs penis, and other unnameable parts. I look and pass on by. The dried, salted ducks hanging out to dry just outside my window look rather sad amongst the other lines of washing, and there is no way I can suck, even delicately, on a dried chicken’s foot. It looks too much like a shrunken mummy’s hand, or worse, the hand of an ailing but cherished Aunt.

Marguerite 2008 What foods would you not eat by Choice? What food would you not eat? What is the strangest food you have eaten?

Create your own list of the top foods you would not eat by choice. I would not eat dog, mice embryos, silkworms, live octopus and anything living that is looking at me, and I do not eat rat, even if it cultivated in the Bayous of New Orleans and in Asia. I refuse duck blood soup, and gag at coddled fresh blood, and there is no way I would eat a cockroach, even if it is delicately spiced and cooked in the finest of virgin oils.

This is just my choice, and I know these items are delicacies in other cultures.

Author Maggi Carstairs

According to Wikipedia, MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos. A big part of social networking involves personality, and thus Myspace layouts are becoming more popular by the day. To those who do not know, Myspace layouts are sort of like the central computer of your Myspace page. Myspace layouts are not hard to use, in fact anyone that can create a Myspace profile can easily begin changing their Myspace layout right away.

We have all seen how huge the market is around feeding the MySpace beast (creating Flash widgets for social networking profiles), but MySpace layouts are also a massive driver of traffic. As a result, sites featuring MySpace layouts are popping up all over the web. These sites are also popular because they are available for free, and they are available in many forms. The resource sites where you find custom profiles are easy to use. It is this customization that makes your profile unique. I have five MySpace profiles which I use for different purposes, and there are known instances of individuals/organizations creating many thousands of profiles.

Layouts

Layouts are the most important part of the site as it is what presents the profile to the users. Layouts are what will speak about the profile, so many users will take time to select this and customize their profiles. Layouts are premade designs that give some style and color to your favorite social network. The font styles and colors work incredibly well with the backgrounds and come through very clearly, rather than getting washed out by background colors. Finally, if you are a business or business professional looking for something a little sleeker or more sophisticated, their exist many sites dedicated to this function as well.

Graphics

Pimp your profile with cool new graphics as well. Graphics include many everything from topics like love and religion to movie posters and even animated pictures. You can add myspace cursors, myspace graphics, myspace games, myspace clocks, myspace layouts and tons more with our premade Myspace ready Copy and Paste Codes. Remember to send graphics to your friends as once you get creative, you will likely want to show the world.

Generators

Generators are an easier way to add better Myspace effects to your profile without confusing coding. Generators give you an easy way to customize your Myspace profile. Myspace generators provided are very useful, you can easily create an extended network, create falling objects, get on myspace trains, or create a custom comment box. The profile generators are easy to use but there are a few tricks for getting the most out of them. You can further enhance your myspace profile by using the myspace generators to add borders, boxes, align your page and set the mood for your myspace profile. You can do just about anything.

Copyright

Something to keep in mind, copyright of all graphics by their respected creators. Although it is unlikely the local district attorney will be hauling you into court for posting a glitter kitten on you Myspace page, just be wary of the site you use. Many owners feel it appropriate to copy content even though someone else spent time and effort developing.

Video

Videos provide a great medium for boosting a brand image, yet are not an essential must-have when starting your page. Also put up a new option for the music video voting. Don’t forget to check out the funny video of the day and the joke section, as they exist on most sites. If you go to Google or Yahoo and type in myspace layouts you will get hundreds of search results featuring layouts of celebrities, art, foods, landscapes, famous landmarks, toys, video games, movies, animals, cars and much more.

Myspace layouts are also so popular because they are available for free, and they are available on many sites. Myspace layouts are becoming more popular by the day as they are a great way to have fun with your member profile. Be mindful of the respective owners content and most importantly, have fun with it!

Author B. Charles Smith

Having a party? Or a get together with some friends? Trying to think of things to do for a children’s party? Then get the party going and people interacting by introducing some fun free games.

Everyone likes to play games from children to adults and you do not have to hurt your wallet organizing a fun day or evening of entertainment. Some of the most enjoyable activities are simple free games like charades and Limbo.

Other free games for children’s parties are: Simon Says A simple game where one player plays ‘Simon’ and gives the other players various instructions to do simple tasks prefixed by the phrase ‘ Simon Says’ He then tries to catch the players out by giving them an instruction without saying Simon says beforehand. If a player follows that particular instruction then he is out. The winner is the last person to be left.

Musical Chairs The players sit on chairs in a ring facing outwards. There should be at least one less chair than there are players. When the music starts the players should start to walk around the circle. When the music stops the players rush to find a free chair to sit on. The person left standing is out and one chair is then removed and the game continues until only one chair is left. Whoever gets to sit on this chair when the music stops is the winner.

Statues Statues is another simple game. The children have to dance when the music is played and then when it stops they must become as still as statues. Whoever moves until the music starts again is out. The winner is the last player left standing.

Spoon Relay Some free games are best played in the garden because of the mess the game will make and will also require a good deal of space. When playing spoon relay divide the children into two equal teams. Set up a chair with a bowl of water and a spoon on it for each team. Then a few feet or more away set up two more chairs both with a glass on each. When the whistle blows both sets of teams race to fill the empty glass’s up using the spoons. Players take it in turns until one team wins.

Fun Free Games for Adults

The Mating Game This is a fun and good icebreaker for teens and adults. The game is best played with a good spread of both sexes. Divide the group up into two even groups and hand out slips of paper with animal names written on them. There should be two pieces of paper with the same animal name written on both and one piece should be given to a member of each group. The animals can be whatever you choose snakes, horses, flies, kangaroo, salmon etc. When the game begins people start to act out their animal by flapping, jumping etc and starts searching for their respective animal partner form the other group. Talking is strictly forbidden! The object of the game is to find your animal mate. Once you think you have identified your mate go to the referee who inspects yours pieces of paper. If its not correct, off you go back into the wild to find your real partner.

Spin the Bottle A classic and very simple game for the more adventurous parties. A good mix of males and females are required A group of players sit around in a circle and the game starts by one person spinning the bottle. Wherever the top of the bottle ends up facing indicates the person who gets kissed. Whoever spun the bottle is the kisser. If the bottle ends up facing someone of the same sex the player can spin the bottle again.

There are thousands of fun free games to suit all parties and it is important to remember we play games for fun.

Author Vicki Churchill

I caught a colleague doing something a bit unethical against me and called him on it. He was shocked and when he recovered he called me a bad name and stomped off. He must have thought that I would just let him continue taking advantage of me and that he was a clever enough chap to pull it off.

Wrong. He picked on the wrong stooge because the older I get the less I care about offending. A jerk can’t be offended,is not rational and will not give up when giving up is the rational, decent thing to do. That’s why they are called jerks…

I thought back over my many years and realized the years were filled with jerks. There was the guy that was upset when I caught him going through my mail. There was the female executive that bad mouthed me behind my back.

There was a release prisoner working on our shift that purposely kept us from getting production bonuses. I can think of dozens and dozens of jerks that have blessed my life with their irritating presence.

Young, old. Black, white. Smart, stupid. Male, female. It seems there are jerks of every shade…a sort of jerk diversity. Maybe there’s a gene or some sort of complex involved because the disease is so widespread.

There’s the guy who steals the waitresses tip and the woman who makes business promises she never intends to keep. And then a relative’s friend that turns on him when he sees can take advantage…jerks make lousy friends and even lousier relatives.

There’s the partner that rats out his partners when things don’t go his way.

The woman that sleeps with her brother-in-law. The man that sleeps with is sister-in-law. The child that steals from her parents. The woman that destroys her ex-husband’s business for revenge even though her kids suffer. The sensitive phony that secretly revels in others misery.

The leader that steals from his followers. The customer that asks many questions and never buys. The customer that asks many questions and then buys somewhere else if it’s cheaper. The woman with a baby that cuts in line because she is in a hurry.

The ‘good friend’ that charges full retail plus when you patronize her business.

The young woman that feels the world owes her everything because she is pretty. The young man who is presumptuous because he is young. The fool that has it all and doesn’t know it. The neurotic who spends most of his day trying to convince himself and others that he has always made the right decisions…every single time.

The progressive liberal that is as prejudiced as the reactionaries he hates. The mother that uses her children to get what she wants. The father that reluctantly spends time with his children. The father that avoids child support and thinks he is being thrifty.

The politician that cares more for himself than his constituents. The neighbor that is always bragging about their new junk. The homeowner that won’t shut up about cabinets and tile grout.

The businessman that always inflates his sales in an attempt to impress. The liar that can concoct a good one no matter what the subject…hey, it’s a skill that takes decades to develop!

The art expert that once took a junior college class on drawing. The blonde, blue-eyed Anglo that thinks anything else is less. The religious bigot that informs you that you will be going to hell because you don’t believe what she does. The socialite that always looks away when speaking to you.

The antiques dealer that promotes a reproduction as an original. The webmaster that steals your articles and puts their name on it. The employee that tells her boss whatever the boss wants to hear. The boss that sees employees as costs.

The waitress that forgets to tell you today’s special is out because she is on her cell with her boyfriend. The parents that see their children as lifestyle inhibitors. The assistant manager that lets you know just what a powerful authority figure he really is.

The advertising salesman that tells you how many people will hear your ad but not how many will buy your product.

And of course the list can go on and on but that would take years. Suffice it to say that jerks can be found where people are found.

And finally getting back to my jerk colleague. I saw him the other day at a meeting and he was clearly avoiding me. He must have felt like some kid that was caught and being punished. I’m curious to see how many months and years will go by before he speaks to me again. Maybe never. I won’t mind.

I can’t think of a single jerk whose company I miss…it’s always a happy occasion when jerks say good-bye.

After knowing so many jerks from so many walks of life I finally came up with the big insight: being a jerk is its own reward.

The jerks don’t know this yet but it sure makes me feel better…

Author Jack D. Deal