ephedra-free fat burner came about when the United States Food and Drugs Andministration or FDA banned the sale of Ephedra-containing dietary supplements due to evidences of adverse ephedra related effects.  Although it was believed that you can lose as much as 0.9kg/month (it is not proven that you will be able to keep it off though), ephedra was banned for it’s side effects which includes severe skin reactions, irritability, nervousness, dizziness, trembling, headache, insomia, profuse perspiration, dehydration, itchy scalp and skin, vomiting, hyperthermia, irregular heartbeat, seizure, heart attack, stroke, or even death.

Dylan’s entry was about how his mom loves old songs so he purchased Richard Poon’s album for he was a bit tired of listening to the old songs that his mom was listening to.  His post has been posted a few days back but it was only now that it struck me.  I don’t even know what kind of music my mom wants.  My fault entirely for I am too caught up with the music that I want to listen to that I didn’t even take time to listen to my mom’s type of music and know what it is.  Tsk, tsk, tsk…

When I was younger, I wondered how banks earn.  My aunt who has been dealing with banks for most of her life said that banks earn from savings accounts.  I was like what?  How could that be possible?  I mean we can open up an account and maintain a certain amount to keep it open without paying anything, right?   Well, yeah we do but it’s very minimal if you will consider the expenses that they incur just to keep the bank open.  She said that banks earn from savings accounts but indirectly though.  Banks earn from the interests of the loans that they give out and most of the time they will get the capital from the deposits that come in from the savings accounts.   And I was like ah… okay…  And so, if you plan to open up a savings account and plan to keep your money there for a while, try to compare banks for you to find great rates, interest rates that is, for the money that you are planning to keep in that account.

I’m just wondering why people stop doing something that they are either good at doing or what they love to do.  Like blogging.  Some people just stop all of a sudden.  Is it because they have lost interest or got tired of doing it?  Or is it just because they run out of what to write?  Hmmm…

Blogs are like reflections of one’s thoughts.  Of one’s mind.  I was going through some online articles, some are from my friends and the others are from people whom I haven’t met and I realized how naive and how immature I am.  Well, that’s how i felt going through those articles.  I mean most of the time I will just whine about a lot of things (like now) while other people are already talking about changing the world and doing it.  Some are talking about being able to shine to make other people shine while my mindset was to take the back seat and let other people drive.  I wonder what could that mean?  Am taking life too lightly or am I just comparing myself to other people too much?  Hmmm…

I don’t know if it has something to do with the difficulties of life or people are just becoming smarter everyday.  Have you observed how a nouveau riche scam becomes more and more complex as time goes by?  Before, in the Philippines, what we have was the budul-budul gang where a person would call a household to tell whoever answers the phone, most of the time it will be the maids, that the homeowner had an accident and needs money badly for the hospital.  I don’t know how they do it but most of the time they will go and give the money to the suspects.  A few years later, another nouveau riche scam came into light better known as pyramid scam.  How it works?  Hmmm… First, the founder recruits a certain number of people.  He/she will introduce a product and will make it appear as if the member will earn by commission if the member will sell the product.   So for you to sell the product, you need to shell out a certain amount from 5,000 to 10,000 as starters.  The founder gives a kit to the member so that the member will start selling the product.  And then the founder would say you know what, why don’t you recruit at least two members.  So that, you can earn more for you will also get commisions on their sales.  And if your two members will be able to recruit two each, you and your two recruits will get commission on whatever their recruits sells and so on and so forth.  But the pyramid scam that really which I consider the nouveau rich scam of all time, works the same way as the one that I mentioned but the member does not need to sell any product.  All the member has to do is invest and to recruit people and encourage them to do the same.  What happens is, a member will be asked to shell out at least 10,000 pesos and is promised that his/her money will return in a short period.  So surely enough, a check with the promised amount will arrive a few weeks later.  And then the founding member will contact you to tell you that you can increase your investment to get a higher commision but you can’t go beyond 100,000 pesos to give way to others who may want to join the company.  Since you were able to get a check for your first investment, you go ahead and put 100,000 Pesos more and tell your friends and family members.  You give your testimony that it is true and then convinced them to invest money and then… BAM!  The company closes down and the founder goes into hiding… with your money of course.  Tsk, tsk, tsk… Is it really about the criminal mind going complex or is it plainly our greed that brings us to this kind of situation?

Nelson W. Aldrich Jr. wrote a book entitled “Old Money: The Mythology of America’s Upper Class” in 1988.  The book, at some point discussed how the term nouveau riche has shifted from a derogatory term into a more positive light.  He mentioned  Ronald Reagan as perfect example of a nouveau riche. So perfect in fact that many believed that he is the  embodiment of the nouveau riche of America which was believed to be one of the major factors for his election as the 40th President of America.

Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois on February 6, 1911 to John “Jack” Reagan and Nelle Wilson Reagan.  His family moved to several towns and cities until 1919 where they moved back to Tampico where they lived above the H.C. Pitney Variety Store.  In 1920, when the PItney store closed, his family moved to Dixon where he attended Dixon High School.  After high school, he attended Eureka College where he majored in economics and sociology.  In 1932, he finished college and drove to Iowa to audition for a job in a small radio station.  His career in the fim industry started in 1937 when he starred in Love is in the Air. This was after a screen test that he took and ended up with a seven-year contract with Warner Bros.  It is believed that his political career started when he became the host  for General Electronics Theater where he was required to travel to the different GE plants and give speeches which were mostly political and pro-business by nature.  He was the Governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and became the President of the US in 1981 until 1989.  He was diagnosed with Alzhiemer’s disease on August 1994 and died June 5, 2004.

I’m not sure if you will agree with me but I do believe that rugs can add interest to the look of your home when you place one in any area of your house.  Area rugs can either bring all the pieces together or highlight how mismatched the pieces are in that area where you place them. 

In the ancient times, when weaving was not in the picture yet, people use animal leather as rugs.  But thank God for the talent and creativity that he gave to man, weaving came into the picture and so, we no longer need to take the life of an animal just to make them into a rug. 

The Persians started the weaving of rugs long time ago and so Persia is known for its quality and designs of the rugs that they produce.   Rugs in those days were hand woven which made them so expensive that only the rich people can afford them.  But due to technology, rugs are now mass produced which resulted to cheaper price tags.  Which is a good thing, however, the sad thing about mass producing a product is that you will find a lot of the same piece in the market.  Since Persia is known for its great pieces in the world, a lot of copy cats would say that their rugs are made in Persia.  And so the government of Iran passport certifies the masterpieces that were created by its citizens.  This seal certifies that a rug is made of high quality and was truly created in Iran.

But if you are on a budget, cheap rugs can be found almost everywhere and can have the same high quality and beauty as the ones that came from Persia.  All you need is a little patience in finding that righ piece and a bit of a good taste and style.  For at the end of the day, all it boils down to is not how expensive a piece is, but how you were able to bring your furniture together and create a great look for your home and not how mismatched your pieces are and show how bad your taste can get.

I saw the 1922 version of Nosferatu and yes it is a silent film adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, meaning all you will hear is a song playing over and over again and read the dialogue.  Yup, the dialogue will be flashed on the screen and you will have to read them.  I know it may seem that I am so desperate and such a movie addict that I even spent 80 minutes of my time to watch an old movie.  But what can I do, Time ranked it as one of the Top 25 scariest movie ever.  Well, yeah, it could be if they had the audio technology that we have these days, I would agree to that.  But since, all you hear is the theme song playing over and over again and kinda guess what the characters are supposed to be saying to one another, the horror kinda fades between scenes.  hahaha… But I got to commend the make up and the costume of Count Orlok aka Dracula though.  It was a bit scary.  But what really scared me was the costume and the hairdo of Nina.  Sheesh, good thing we are no longer wearing that kind of look today.

*** Photo from www.wikipedia.com