My Content: Hubs, Answers, and Forums
8How to Make an Effective Book Trailer
The first truly effective book trailer that I ever saw was one for a book by K.M. Weiland, Behold the Dawn. It was just like a trailer for a movie, and it made you feel that you knew what kind of book it was, that you could almost taste it, without...
8Photoworks is Closing
Photoworks is closing its doors on April 4, 2011. I have been sending them my photos since I was in grad school, which I started in the fall of 1991. But back then, they weren't called Photoworks. They were called Seattle Filmworks. I loved...
39National Anthems
Do you know your country's national anthem? Really? Can you sing it? Can you hum it? Do you know all the words? Even the ones that don't appear in the first verse? Do you know who composed the music and who wrote the lyrics? Most people don't....
22How to Learn a Foreign Language: Issues in Second Language Acquisition and Pedagogy
What is the best way to become perfectly fluent in a foreign language? Many recommend complete and total immersion, but others are concerned about reducing anxiety in students and providing only a positive experience. However, in order to become a fluent speaker, one has to internalize the language and change one's thinking, something that very few people want to do.
4How to Apply for a U.S. Passport
Are you an American citizen? Good for you! United States citizenship is one of the most coveted in the world. People from all corners of the globe are trying to get that. But how do you prove you are a U.S. citizen? You have to have been born in...
6How to Make Inexpensive Personalized Christmas Ornaments
Some people decorate their Christmas trees with expensive and fragile ornaments. In our house, ornaments for the Christmas tree are much more casual and personalized. They include discarded costume jewelry, small toys that no longer see any use, and...
8How to Make a CreateSpace Book Cover Using Word or Open Office
Yes, you can use Photoshop or Gimp to create a nice looking cover for your CreateSpace book. But did you know that you can also do this using whatever word processing program you happen to be most familiar with? I tried to make my first CreateSpace...
28Curious Facts About Foxes
"Have you ever seen a fox?" someone asked me this week. "In real life, I mean." "Yes." "In the zoo?" "No. Out in the yard, outside Sword's school." Sword was in kindergarten at the time. It was about six years ago. I was visiting the classroom,...
10Popular Songs For and About People Who are Unpopular
What makes a song popular? Does it appeal to the masses? Does it embody the values that are already accepted by the culture? Is it the same thing that makes a person popular?Does the popularity of the song and the popularity of the singer go hand in...
25A Christmas Carol Revisited: Analyzing George C. Scott's Scrooge
I've never really liked A Christmas Carol. Every time I've tried to read it, or have seen it performed, I kind of felt as if it was intended to be a direct slap in the face to me and my parents, and the values they taught me. "Don't leave the light...
22What is Dominance
There's been a lot of talk about dominance on Hubpages lately. Some people say that it behooves a married woman to allow her husband to be dominant. This strikes me as odd, because if he is dominant, why does he need anyone to allow him to do...
4The Secret River by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings: A Review
I love reading children's books. I loved reading them as a child, and when I became an adult, I still liked to read them, even before I had children of my own. I read them to my little brother. I read them to other people's children, and I read them...
19What the Tooth Fairy Will Pay: A Leading Economic Indicator
Are we in the United States suffering the effects of a deflationary economy? Are we in the throes of rampant deflation, just like Japan? For that matter, is Japan really suffering from deflation? How do we define deflation? Is the absence of...
30How to Brew Coffee Using a Broken Coffee Maker
I don't mind spending money on appliances. I understand that if I want a coffee maker, I have to pay for one. If I want two coffee makers, I have to pay for two coffee makers. If I want three coffee makers, then I have to pay for three coffee...
12How to make a CreateSpace Cover Using Gimp
If you don't want to spend extra money on typesetting your CreateSpace cover, then you probably will download Gimp. Gimp is free. It does basically the same things as Photoshop will do. Why shell out good money? If you are avaricious (rather than...
12How to Make a CreateSpace Book Cover Using Photoshop or Gimp
So you've written a book. Who hasn't? We've all been there, right? You bought a brand new copy of Writer's Market circa 1980. You sent your cleverly worded query letter and/or manuscript to all the major publishers. They all turned you down without...
30The Difference Between Studying and Learning: Study Habits versus the Habit of Thinking
Are study skills important for success in school? Is success in school essential for success in life? And where does thinking come into all of this? If you spend too much time thinking about the material but not enough time studying for the test,...
4Buy a Mul-T-Lock online -- the Israeli lock called רב בריח
Is your front door break-proof? How about the lock? Could you keep intruders out if you needed to? One of the best locks available today is Mul-T-lock from ר×-×ר××, an Israeli company. Here at Project Bow we are considering purchasing a high...
15The Blue Willow China Pattern
When I was a little girl, my Great Aunt Eva, who lived in London, gave me a little china tea set with a blue willow pattern. It was not a full sized set, but the kind of thing one could use to throw a tea party for one's dolls. It was a nice gift,...
26My Grandfather's Voice: Recordings of Benzion Katz
Many people have old faded photographs of their grandparents, and old faded memories to go with them. For me, the legacy of my paternal grandfather is better defined, clearer and crisper. I remember my grandfather Benzion Katz for his gait, his...
22Health Benefits of Taking a Nap
Too tired to do anything? Then maybe it's time for a nap. Napping is a socially accepted part of the day in many countries. Whether it's called a siesta or schlafstunde, the effect is the same. People close down their shops, all business ceases and...
23We All Share the Same World
"We all share the same world, and we breathe the same air, and the water we drink must be cycled with care. We are closer together than ever suspected, for all things on earth are interconnected." I wrote those words well over twenty years ago. They...
4Dassault Falcon 7X
If you are looking for a top of the line business jet, the Dassault Falcon 7X is a pretty good choice. Presented to the public at the Paris Airshow in 2005, the first of these sleek, ultra modern aircraft went into service June 15, 2007. As of June...
27Buy A Vocaloid Online
Have you ever had trouble getting a really good singer to sing your songs? Maybe she's a diva, and your personalities clash. Maybe he's just impossible to work with. Maybe your song is great, but your social skills aren't up to speed. Or maybe you...
54How much does it cost to live?
The first year after I got my Ph.D. in linguistics, I taught as a lecturer at Rice University. I was paid four thousand dollars a semester. It barely covered my living expenses. Houston is a big city. I had to rent an apartment there, because it was...
53What Kind of Income is Adsense Income from Hubpages for Tax Purposes?
Up until recently, I hadn't received anything for my writing on Hubpages, and the whole idea of generating income from writing hubs seemed like more of a joke than a plan for the future. However, this year I received my first Google payout, and the...
70The Difference between a Blog and a Hub
People new to the internet tend to call everything a "blog". People new to Hubpages often refer to hubs they comment upon as "blogs". Slowly, they learn to switch from saying "blog" to saying "hub", but even as they change the lingo, you can...
15Do we need a license not to drive?
In Missouri, if you drive you need to get a driver's license. If you don't drive, then you need a non-driver's license. Why does a person need a license not to drive?
22Flash of Genius: A Review
Flash of Genius is a movie about patent infringement. It is the story of one man with a big idea whose life's work was stolen by a big, bad auto company. It is the tale of an obsessive dedication to the pursuit of justice, and how it can destroy a...
10Grammaticalization in Chinese: Gradual or Sudden?
In his article, "Grammaticalization in Chinese", Walter Bisang considers whether the change in usage of certain constructions from Late Archaic Chinese to Modern Mandarin could have taken place gradually or were these developments discrete and sudden.
14Project Bow's FAQ: Why is it called a lexigram when it looks like a word?
At this point in his development, Bow no longer needs lexigrams. He is literate and he spells out his own words. Bow developed literacy at the age of five and half years. But before that, we used lexigrams. And our lexigrams looked kind of like this:
16How to Achieve Balance
We hear a lot about the need for balance in our lives, but often the things people say about balance indicate that they have no idea what balance is. Sometimes the need for balance is expressed in terms of not having "too much" of something. Balance...
10San Antonio Shoes
I don't like having anything on my feet. Not socks and not shoes. However, there are times when we are definitely expected to be shod. That's when I turn to San Antonio Shoes. They're not pretty, and they do not make me look pretty, but they are...
6Variations on "The Ash Grove"
Folk tunes have a long shelf life. They get re-used often with different lyrics, and we can learn a lot about the values and preferences of different periods by the contrasting lyrics that are set to the same tune. Take "The Ash Grove". The...
38Not Fit for a Dog to Eat: The Dog Food Dilemma
The first dogs were wolves. Maybe they weren't the strongest wolves in their pack. Maybe they were the runts of the litter, the misfits unable to make it among their peers. Too dependent to become lone wolves, but too weak to hold their own among...
24Cod-liver Oil: What's it Good For?
Somebody in the forums recently mentioned that cod-liver oil really sells itself. People write articles about things entirely unrelated to cod-liver oil, or even to cods or to livers, and then they end up being credited on their Amazon sales for...
13Fantasy Filk Songs
I am not a big believer in genre divisions. To me there are two kinds of songs: good ones and those that are not so good. But most people swear by genre. They won't listen to it, unless it fits neatly within a certain category. It's a way to...
20Akeelah and the Bee: A Review
My favorite movie about spelling is Akeelah and the Bee. This may not sound like much of a recommendation, as one can easily go through life and not see a single movie whose topic is spelling. However, over the years there have been several movies...
11My Favorite Anime Movie: Whisper of the Heart
My favorite anime movie -- and quite possibly my favorite movie period -- is Studio Ghibli's Whisper of the Heart. It's about the most important issues in life: how to find our life's work, what love is and how we should handle the fact that...
66If I were a Rich Man
Have you ever dreamed of being rich? What were those dreams like? What does being rich mean to you? What would you do if you were rich? Would it surprise you to know that there is no universally agreed upon definition of wealth, and that what it...
60Why Prejudice is Bad
Everybody agrees that prejudice is bad. I have never in my life met anyone who was in favor of prejudice. There is such universal agreement on this topic that it makes us feel united. Except when it comes to actual instances of prejudice. Then...
36How to Convert a Cassette Recording to a Digital Audio File
I have a house full of dusty old books that nobody reads and cassette tapes that nobody listens to. The tapes are everywhere, and the last time I even noticed them was when my nephews came over and the little one began to play with some of the tapes...
18How to Change Language Settings in YouTube
Suppose you go into your YouTube account and start browsing and suddenly all the labels are in a different language -- a language you can't read. How do you change it back? Easy. You find the label that says "current language", press "show...
20Secular Christmas Carols
The truth is that I prefer the traditional Christmas carols, the ones with an explicit religious theme. I like them because they are romantic. At our house, around Christmas time we play the classical Christmas medleys. Silent Night, Away in a...
48The Value of Words: Google Adsense Keyword Tool
After I wrote "The Secret to Making Money on Hubpages", I got a lot of helpful hints from fellow hubbers. One of them was: "Use the Google Adsense Keyword Tool". It was good advice. But I was reluctant to follow it. Why? Because I was afraid it...
47Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal and Family Values
I am neither liberal nor a conservative. There are things about the liberal platform that I find abhorrent. There are things about the conservative agenda that make me shudder. A friend of mine, who happens to be pagan (but who otherwise harbors...
83Obesogens
Are fat people always at fault for their condition? If you eat right, exercise daily, and lead a balanced lifestyle, will this always be enough to keep you fit and trim? Is the obesity epidemic in the United States today entirely a matter of poor...
53How to make a rainforest diorama
This week, my daughter was assigned a rainforest diorama to make. Her grade on this assignment counts as a science test. This is a little odd, I think, as the skills necessary to make an effective diorama fall mostly into the category of arts and...
49How to make soda pop
Photo Credit: Wikipedia I can't stand the taste of water. especially flat water with no bubbles. Years ago, I used to drink a lot of Coca-Cola. I had what you might call brand name loyalty. I could take the taste test, and I could tell you...
57Problems in Fifth Grade Math
Last year, I bought almost all my daughter's text books, so that she would always have a copy at home. The school provides free copies to the students, but they are very big and very heavy, and the children seldom take them home. This year, I...
39Candy from Strangers
Image Credit: The Wikipedia When I was a little girl, my grandmother tried to impress upon me how important it was not to accept candy from strangers. If I disregarded this advice, she informed me that what I could expect was a fate worse than...
38Reading Comprehension and the Hyperlexic Child
Some children start reading before they are able to hold a conversation. In a sense, they start to read before they can even talk. How is that possible? Reading can be broken down into two separate processes: (1) decoding the written symbols into...
40My Fanny Pack
I have trouble holding on to my personal belongings. If it's not attached to me, I will lose it. I can't tell you how many scarves have simply blown away, how many gloves have been lost on walks to and from home or school. I can't tell you how many...
44Lelouch of the Rebellion: A Code Geass Review
Image Credit: the Wikipedia What if Japan were conquered by an empire of English speakers of British descent whose base of operation was in North America? And what if these conquerors did not stop at conquest? What if they insisted on humiliating...
189Facts about Homo Sapiens that You May Not Already Know
Perhaps you are considering adding another human being to your household. Or maybe you have no experience at all with human beings, and this will be the first one you encounter. This hub will give you some basic facts about human beings and the...
189The Connection between Economy and Ecology
Many people believe that government bailouts of ailing businesses are necessary, because these businesses employ most people, and without the bailouts all would be jobless, homeless and might even go hungry. They suggest that the bailouts are a...
116What Constitutes Proof in Ape Language Studies?
What constitutes proof in ape language studies? How would you go about proving that an ape has acquired language? The truth is that nobody knows. Many people will tell you what doesn't constitute proof, but the scientific community has not agreed on...
8Pointing: The Problem with Hebrew TTS
When we started to work on putting together a touchscreen keyboard for Bow to use, it was understood that the English version would come first. Why? Is it because English is an international language that many people across the globe can speak? No....
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How to Make an Animated Movie
When I was writing my first novel, The Few Who Count, I had no idea that even if I finished it and liked the end product, it would not be published by any established press, and once self-published, it would neither sell nor be read. No. Instead,...
63The Evolution of Selfishness
Children in the 18th and 19th centuries were expected to memorize the poem Against Idleness and Mischief by Isaac Watts and to emulate the selflessness of the honey bee. The cloying sweetness of the self-sacrificing worker bee was irritating to...
20Black Beer
Before I ever started drinking Coca-Cola, I had another black beverage that I liked much better. In Israel, we call it black beer. It is non-alcoholic (almost) and is recommended for pregnant women and small children. It was my first soft drink. ...
15Yaddo
Sometimes I daydream about founding an artist's colony in the rural Ozarks where I live. Why would I want to do this? Haven't I chosen a life of seclusion away from the urban landscape? Yes, I have. But sometimes I think it might be nice to have...
27Zinc and the Common Cold
Saturday evening, I started to experience the familiar itchy feeling in my throat. I also felt a little woozy, and I thought I might have a fever. I started taking a zinc supplement. It was a Zicam Lozenge that dissolved under my tongue. It was...
71Avarice versus Greed
Avarice and greed are often used as interchangeable synonyms, with greed having the higher frequency of use and avarice appearing only rarely. However, if you look at the finer distinctions in their connotations and their etymology, you will find...
33My Top 10 Books in the English Language
This is a list of books that I return to over and over again. There are many good books that I have read, but these are the ones that I keep around, quote from,and reread in times of trial and tribulation. These books are like comfort food for the...
27Low Carb Sweet Potato Recipe
I keep seeing this headline: "Low Fat Sweet Potato Recipe" and it's driving me crazy. Sweet potatoes are naturally low in fat, Why would you need a special recipe to lower the fat content of sweet potatoes? So, even though I'm not looking for low...
41The Very Entertaining Gilmore Girls
We don't get much television reception out here in the country, and I absolutely refuse to spring for cable, so in my house, if we want to watch TV, it's mostly DVDs. That means that in the case of television series, we either know we like them...
21How We Judge Metrical Poetry: Inverted-A Horn Submissions Guidelines
How can you tell if something is good? In the case of poetry, aren't all standards of evaluation strictly subjective? Don't we all tend to think that what we write is good? Isn't it all a matter of taste? In the case of much of modern poetry that...
22Bread: The First Fast Food
What is a fast food? It is one that tastes good, can be prepared easily, is readily accessible to all, and that has a considerable shelf life. What is a fast food? It is a shortcut to acquiring nutrition. It is a way of feeding many, but lowering...
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The Punky-Wunkies, Part Two
The second part of a short story about a young Israeli immigrant girl's search for friendship in fifth grade. Do we get to choose our own friends, or does the social group choose our identity and friends for us?
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The Punky Wunkies, Part One
Part one of a short story about an Israeli girl in fifth grade in the United States on a quest for true friendship. Who are friends? Those who want us for friends or those that we want? Who gets to decide?
38Chocolate Under Communism
This is the story of what happens to chocolate when a country goes communist. It is also a story about my family -- or at least the left wing of my family: my somewhat distant relatives who had a fling with communism. It is about idealism and...
19Love and Limerence
Werther had a love for Charlotte Such as words could never utter; Shall I tell you how he met her? She was cutting bread and butter.... These are the opening lines to a satirical poem by Thackeray about Goethe's classic love story, Die Leiden...
53Serotonin and Carbohydrates
In the not so distant past, doctors sometimes prescribed what they considered inert substances to patients when there was no real medicine to cure their ills -- or when they believed that a patient was a hypochondriac. They called these pretend...
42Language is Learned
You may have heard it said that all babies have the same linguistic abilities at birth. This is true. They have no linguistic abilities at birth. No child is born knowing language, and early infancy and childhood are when language is acquired. What...
38Misconceptions About Teenaged Mothers
Even as single motherhood has become commonplace in our society, and the stigma against out of wedlock births has disappeared, another prejudice has come to replace it: the bias against teenaged mothers. Here are a few misconceptions about teenaged...
2A Fourth Grade Curriculum: Reading
Reading is a misunderstood subject. For a child to succeed on a reading assignment, there are many different skills that are required. Sometimes educators have difficulty pinpointing which skill, if any, needs improvement. Here are some of the...
12A Fourth Grade Curriculum: Social Studies
In the United States, there is no such subject as geography. Instead, elementary school children are taught something called "Social Studies". Learning about geographical issues is subsumed under that heading. This week, my daughter's teacher sent...
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A Fourth Grade Curriculum: Spelling
During the first week of school, there was no spelling test. The spelling curriculum got under way during week two. The children in my daughter's class were given a list of words to learn. There would be a test on Wednesday, and all those who did...
17The Strays of Tamsui
In Tamsui, ten years ago, one could not go far without encountering a stray dog. The campus of the university where I taught was full of them. On every walk through the town or by the river, I would meet up with many a stray. They had no collars or...
8Dogs Who Rescue Abandoned Babies
Every once in a while there's an item in the news that reminds us of the story of Romulus and Remus. Legend has it that Romulus, the first king of Rome, and its co-founder, was one of a pair of twins raised by a she-wolf. Photo Credit: The...
5The Dog Temple
When I first arrived in Taiwan, I had a position as an assistant professor at Tamsui Oxford University College. I was given a Chinese name by the head of my department: Chi Ai Ya, which means "Pray Love Asia". I had a little wooden stamp with my...
2A Fourth Grade Curriculum
Now that my daughter has started fourth grade, it's my job to keep up with what she is learning and to help her stay on track. I can't attend classes with her, but I can find out what she is supposed to be studying. The first step is to find copies...
11Learning Traditional Chinese Characters through the Television Series AVATAR
In my family, the TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender is very popular. We like to watch it because it is a nice mix of adventure with romance. It's about our favorite topic: how a small band of individuals can work together to save the world. Yes,...
7Profile in Primatology: Sally Boysen
Sally Boysen is a tenured professor of psychology at the The Ohio State University. She specializes in numerical abilities of non-humans. She has published countless scholarly articles on this subject and is well recognized in her field. Notable...
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What Isn't Poison?
Did you know that there is arsenic in tomatoes? Arsenic is a known poison. So does this mean that we shouldn't eat tomatoes? The answer is: it depends. How much arsenic is there in each tomato? How many tomatoes do you eat a day? How much do you...
7Learning Mandarin through Song
One way to make language learning fun for your child is to include familiar songs in the lessons. It is easier to memorize words when they are set to music. Also, your child may already be familiar with the song in a different language, and the...
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Which Carbohydrates do we need? And why do we need them?
In a recent Harper's Bazaar article entitled "Get A better Body in Two Weeks", I found the following caveat: "Never cut out carbohydrates completely... If you don't have a sustained energy source, your body will burn muscle for energy." (Harper's...
