Toastmasters International - 10 Tips for Public Speaking

via toastmasters.org

I'm trying to decide if I want to join one of my local toastmaster's groups this year. I do want to but I'm not sure if I will be able to be committed to it. That's the problem. Yet I do really want to become better at being a public speaker. It's something I have always wanted to do.

This article gives you 10 tips for public speaking.
1) Know your material. In other words, you have to speak on something you are familiar with or at least do your research so that the listeners will know that you know what you are talking about.
2) Practice, practice, practice. I can tell you that Steve Jobs is a really great example of this.
3) Know the audience. You should greet them when they arrive, talk to some of them, get to know a little about them.
4) Know the room. Get to the room early and do a walk around to familiarize yourself with how much room there is to move in, where the steps are, etc.
5) Relax. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Don't seem tense.
6) Visualize yourself giving your speech. Imagine out the whole process and imagine your audience loving it.
7) Remember that your audience wants you to succeed. They want you to be interesting, entertaining and they are on your side.
8) Don't apologize if you feel nervous; your audience probably doesn't even notice it, so don't draw attention to it.
9) Concentrate on the message; not on the medium. Your message is the important thing, not your own anxieties.
10) Gain experience. Every speech gives you experience and gives you something you can learn and grow from.

How normal cells become brain cancers

via sciencedaily.com

This is a pretty technical article, but it's very interesting the research they are doing into brain tumors. Brain cancer is a scarey thing, and it seems to be occurring at an increasing rate.

It makes you wonder what things are causing so much cancer in people? Pollution, radiation, and all kinds of other things in our environment are all contributors.

The more we can stay close to natural and away from toxic the better. That would mean what we eat, what we breathe, what we touch, and what we play with.

The research is taking place at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), which is considered to be one of the top departments in the entire world for this kind of research.

How to Become a Tutor: How to Become an Online Tutor

Check out this website I found at how-to-become-a-tutor.blogspot.com

A tutor has a very special calling. To find the needs of the individual and tailor her lessons to meet those needs. A tutor helps her students to learn confidence, both in the academic area of study and in life.

A tutor is in a position of trust.A tutor is someone to whom her students look up. A tutor is a one-on-one teacher and mentor for a student who needs help academically, and sometimes socially.

Many times youth are struggling in a subject simply because their self-esteem is low. They don't believe they can do it. They think they aren't smart enough. This is simply not true. Some students have high self-esteem and struggle because they lack the basic fundamentals in the subject. Other students know the basic fundamentals but lack confidence in using them.

A tutor must find out the root of the student's struggle. That is the true way to tutor.

mywhateverblog: Just another WordPress site

via mywhateverblog.info

Another tutoring site with great info about tutoring. This article gives tutors an idea of how they can continue to make tutoring income over the summer months by offering day camps. One of the most popular of these day camps is a math camp.

The students would come to your house for the day, and you would teach them math principles and combined with fun activities that teach math concepts and the application of those concepts to real life situations.

The opportunity to tutor and make money while you are helping someone else improve their academic standing is a field that is rapidly expanding.

Tutoring to Make Money

Filed under Be a Tutor - News by Peggy on Nov 5th, 2010. 

via beatutornow.com

Tutoring is a good way to make money. But it is so much more than making money alone. Tutoring is formaing relationships with students. It involves helping them to gain confidence, and there is a great sense of job satisfaction when you see your students doing well academically when they put to use the skills you have taught them.

There are few professions as satisfying as tutoring. Unlike teaching, tutoring allows you to work one on one with each individual student. Lasting relationships can be formed with the families of your students, especially when tutoring multiple children in the same family or tutoring the same student over a number of years.

Tutoring also helps the tutor to stay up to date and fresh in their field, which is a great feeling.

But to know that you can make money while helping someone else is really an awesome thing. So many people are dissatisfied with their jobs these days. It's sad to see so much of your life oozing away to something you don't like.

Tutoring is very likeable, and it can be done part-time or full-time. The flexibility is amazing and you get to set your own fees. Don't under-rate yourself. Find out what other local tutors are charging and then pick a rate somewhere in between the highest and the lowest.

Cut-rates in tutoring don't earn you any trust. The fee you charge is an indication of the confidence you have in yourself. And for the parents, it is an indication of how much you can teach their child. So, don't go overboard and charge so high that no one can afford you, and stay well above the rock-bottom prices.

Rhino poaching crisis: Chinese Demand for Illegal Rhino Horn Fuels Rampant Rhino Poaching - Rhinos Driven Closer to Extinction

via savingrhinos.org

Okay I almost didn't blog about this because the article is so sad that I can't believe it. Especially if you scroll down on the original article and see the suffering that a mother rhino went through at the hands of humans. I wish I could call it something else, because the treatment they gave her is anything but humane.

Well we need to spread the word and make people more aware. Apparently China and Vietnam are the biggest culprits in the illegal rhino horn trade. Yemen used to be involved too but I guess not so much any more.

Wise up, people! There aren't even any medicinal benefits of rhino horn. It's just an overgrown fingernail! Gosh! Bite your own fingernails and leave the poor rhinos alone.

Books | Graeme Robin

via graemerobin.com

This looks like an awesome book! The author is in his 70's, he goes traveling around Eastern Europe in this old Fiat car, and takes pictures of the places he's been, and writes about the things he has seen.

His website tells a lot more about the book and where he has gone. The pictures are amazing, and I love his writing style. It is of grumpy and funny and sentimental at the same time.

This book is really worth a read. If you have ever wanted to travel to far away places but couldn't, this book will take you there.