A cast iron skillet may not be the only pan you need in your kitchen, but I will make a case for a 12″ cast iron skillet being the most useful piece of cookware you can own.

Once you get past the common stereotype that a cast iron skillet is just for cooking over a campfire, you realize what an amazingly versatile tool it is.

The obvious use of a cast fry pan is for frying stuff. A cast iron frying pan does an excellent job of preparing steaks, pork chops, fried chicken, and anything else that you would use a stainless steel or aluminum skillet for. Properly seasoned, a cast iron frying pan can also cook eggs and other sticky dishes that you might think you need a non-stick pan for.

This brings up the point that cooking with non-stick pans may have health risks, and your non-stick cookware will require replacing every few years. By comparison, a cast iron skillet does not introduce toxic chemicals into your food and can last many generations.

A cast iron skillet has many other uses besides frying if you exercise some culinary creativity.

You can bake with it in the oven, or in a BBQ. (I’ve made pie in a BBQ. It was entertaining and turned out amazing.)

Here are the sizes of some common baking dishes:

* 9″ round pie plate – 63 sq. inches

* 8 x 8 cake pan – 64 sq. inches

* 9 x 13 cake pan – 117 sq. inches

Lodge 12″ cast iron skillet – 113 sq. inches

You can see, a 12″ skillet can be substituted for a 9×13 cake pan, two 8×8 cake pans or two 9″ round pie plates. This means, pies, cakes, and baked casseroles can be made in your skillet.

A cast iron skillet can also be used for most things that you would use a baking stone for. The main purpose of a baking stone is to even out the hotspots and temperature fluctuations in your oven. A cast iron skillet has similar enough thermal retention and thermal mass that you can substitute it for a baking stone in many recipes. In other words, pizza, cookies, and bread can all be cooked in a cast iron skillet.

Because of its excellent heat retention, a cast iron skillet is a good choice for deep frying. You can make fish and chips, latkes, donuts, corn dogs, and more in your skillet.

A large skillet makes a great roasting pan. Chicken, ham, and prime rib all come out great.

A cast iron skillet can also be used for soups and stews. A Lodge 12″ Skillet has a capacity of 3.9 quarts so it can do pretty much anything you would use a 4 qt. pot for. For example, my wife makes french onion soup in ours. She caramelizes the onions on the stove top, adds the rest of the ingredients to make the soup and simmers it, then puts bread and cheese on top and puts the whole thing in the oven to finish.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Baked mac and cheese, pancakes, omelets, calamari, pannini’s, pies, cobblers, bread, pizza, steaks, cookies, cornbread, soups, stews, biscuits, roasts, stir-fry’s, hamburgers and more, all from the same pan!

Some people may consider a 12″ skillet to be too large to be their main cook pot. Rarely is “too large” a problem. There are few situations where a pot that is small can perform a task better than one that is large. However a pot that is too small for the dish you are preparing is completely useless. There is very little you can do with an 8″ or 10″ skillet that you can’t do with a 12″, but there are plenty of dishes you can prepare in a 12″ fry pan that won’t fit into an 8″ or 10″.

I have nothing against smaller skillets, but after much experimentation have decided that if I could have only one it would have to be a 12″.

Cast iron cookware is inexpensive, environmentally friendly, incredibly versatile, and lasts almost forever. Most importantly, it makes great food.

Whether you are heading out on your own for the first time or are an experienced cook looking to rediscover a better way of cooking, get yourself a cast iron skillet and discover for yourself why it may be the only pan you really need.

In a previous article, I stated that confidence is the biggest source of attraction for women. I had numerous emails in subsequent weeks asking me to detail what other factors make up the attraction matrix. In order to fully illustrate this hierarchy, I will explain each characteristic by example.

Here goes…

• Looks are more important than money. An attractive, handsome poor man will, all other things being equal, attract more women than an ugly rich man
• Status is more important than looks. An ugly dj who is the resident dj of a major club will, all other things being equal, attract more women than an attractive man who does not have that kind of visible position
• Power is more important than status. A (non famous) dj with a label deal will, all other things being equal, attract more women than a dj who is merely a resident dj at a local nightclub
• Personality is more important than power. A dj with a good, fun personality who is a resident in a local night club, will all other things being equal, attract more women than a (non famous) boring, no-personality dj with a major label
• Confidence is more important than personality. A confident, aggressive man with a good personality will, all other things being equal, attract more women than a fun, humorous man with little confidence- those guys are called clowns

Important note: There is an X-Factor in all of this which trumps all of the previous characteristics- FAME. A famous artist, musician, athlete, politician, world leader, or whoever will be instantly attractive to tons of women without having to do a single iota of effort. They can be dull, boring, meek, ugly and with low self-esteem but they will still be able to date tons of women. Fame is truly the biggest aphrodisiac, but so few people have it, that it is not worth examining. Hence, for 99.9% of the male population, confidence is the biggest attractive characteristic for women.

Recap: Confidence beats personality which beats power which beats status which beats looks which beats money.

Conclusion? Guys focus on developing your confidence and personality and less on making money solely as a way to attract women. Rich guys who dump money on women have lots of attractive women in their company, but those women are almost always just using them for their money and have no attraction for them at all. Don’t focus your energy on buying a woman’s false affection, become the kind of man who women fall in love with just because of who they are.

Dating back to 4000 BC in Egypt, drums are the oldest known instrument in the world. Not only have people been using drums for a long time, but Macaque monkeys also use drumming to show dominance and communicate. Drums have been used all over the world as a means of communication or a way to create music. People who play the drums heavily rely on the physics behind them, but many people never truly realize how much newton’s third law takes place in their activity. When a person plays drums, to simply put it, they are just hitting drums in different ways at different times. The main thing they are doing is bouncing a stick, a hand, a mallet or something similar off of a drum. Without being able to bounce something off the drum, drumming would be drastically different, or even non-existent in this day and age.

Both the sticks, mallets, hands, etc., and the makeup of the drum itself have major roles in the physics of drumming. For example, without Newton’s Third Law, the drumstick would never bounce off the drum, leaving drums having a dull and bland smacking noise. Newton’s Third Law states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The action would be the sticks hitting the drum, and the equal and opposite reaction are the sticks bouncing off the drum. As the sticks push against the drumhead, the drumhead also pushes against the sticks with an equal and opposite force, leaving the drum resonating with sound and the sticks back up in the air. This is possible because of the tension in the circular membrane of the drumhead. The tension makes it easier for the sticks to apply more force to the drumhead and make a louder sound while being pushed back up to hit again. Different drums also have different ways they need to be hit. For example, the snare drum needs to be hit in the center, whereas the timpani drum needs to be hit near the sides.

The ideal circular membrane has a fundamental frequency of ƒ1=0.765((√ T/σ)/D), where ƒ = frequency, T = membrane tension, σ = mass per unit, and D = the diameter of membrane. With this ideal frequency, it is easiest and most efficient to hit the drumstick off of the drum. Leading back to Newton’s Third Law, when it is most efficient to hit the drumstick off of the drumhead the forces of the sticks and the drum are completely equal and the drum leaves a resonating sound as the stick goes back up the be used to hit the drum again.

Multiculturalism is nothing but multiple cultures living in the same society in an organized manner. People from different countries, ethnicity, traditions and backgrounds live and work together. This amazing feature is an important part of American society.

Many people from different countries started immigrating to the US in the 19th century. However, multiculturalism began in the US in the 1950s when the Civil Rights Movement started. This movement played a crucial part in highlighting issues such as inequality, discrimination and oppression. People started putting pressure not just on the government, but also on social institutions to treat them as equal. Figures such as George Washington Carver, William James and Charles H. Wesley were responsible for encouraging multiculturalism in the US. They all believed in living in a plural society that treated everyone at par and as equals.

The US has always proudly allowed people freedom to practice their own religion and express their thoughts. Regardless of culture, people are allowed equal opportunities. Today, the US has a vast number of Hispanics and Asians living there, and to have an egalitarian society, the people have to be willing to accept multiculturalism as part of their society.

The fastest growing group in the US is that of the Asian-Americans and Hispanics. The federal government has strict laws to promote an equal society and as a result of so many different cultures living in one place, America has truly become a melting pot of cultures. Minorities, Native Americans, African-Americans and immigrants from all corners of the world live harmoniously together forging a deeper bond.

As aspect of American society has had a deeper effect. There is a demand across the board that people from all walks of life should be able to enjoy equal rights. Hence, different communities and intellects came together to demand for rights for oppressed groups like lesbians, gays, the downtrodden and seniors.

In the education sector, no discrimination is allowed and child from all ethnicities and cultures are allowed to enter any education institution. Even in business and industry sectors, people are given rights for equal participation regardless of their backgrounds.

While there are some drawbacks to multiculturalism, it is the pros that one should always concentrate on. A society should not be discouraged to absorb people from different backgrounds.

There was a time in the United States when women were not considered to be the equal of men. This absurdity culminated in the Suffragette Movement of Women. Women had been denied the right to vote, and it necessitated a Constitutional Amendment passed by the Senate and Congress of the United States in order for women to acquire the right to vote. This right should have been inalienable, and guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States. But, it wasn’t. Women had to fight for their right to vote on an equal standing with men, and they did it.

Women self improvement in the early 1900’s was borne from their inner strength. Women were not going to accept inferior treatment in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of their countrymen.

Women self improvement movements are still fighting public battles for equal treatment under the law. One of these issues revolves around equal pay with men for doing the same job. There are also job classifications in which women are fighting sexual discrimination, such as in the fire fighting realm and in law enforcement. However, women today have wonderful role models to lend them courage, and there are examples for women self improvement in all walks of life. In the political arena, both the Democratic Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the Republican former Runner for the Vice-Presidency of the United States, Sarah Palin, are prime examples of the women self improvement movement.

Both these women realized that they had the abilities to make changes to better the world in which we live, and they found the inner strength to persevere in order to reach their goals.

They both encountered impediments along the way. However, they never became discouraged, because they believed in themselves, and heeded the calling of their inner voice to meet the challenge undaunted and unafraid. Today, these ladies shine as beacons of light for the women self improvement train to follow them down the tracks. It is up to women to follow their examples and derive women self improvement by believing in themselves.

Women self improvement comes from changing a mindset, albeit an erroneous one, that renders women a subservient position in society. There are women self improvement techniques that can help them gain the self-confidence, poise, and gallantry to attain what is their rightful due in society. There is nothing in this world that you, as a woman, cannot accomplish. You can advance to the C.E.O. position of an agency; you can start your own business, and, someday, you can be President. You have the power within yourself to make all things possible.

Today, women self improvement can be actualized in opportunities available in the business world. There are grants available for women to start and expand businesses. Our lawmakers understand that the cards have been stacked against women for too long, and they have finally decided to give women an equal playing field with men. Women self improvement books, women self improvement tapes and CD’s, and women self improvement audio tapes are available in the self-help section of major book stores and online on their websites.

Many times students make careless mistake in solving algebra questions during manipulation of the mathematical terms. This is so because of the understanding of the mathematics operations and the actual meaning of the “equal” symbol that relates two mathematics expressions. Moving mathematics variables or terms from left side to right side (or vice versa) of the “equal” symbol will pose a potential problem.

To cite examples of common mistakes made:

1) x + 5 = 4 became x = 4 + 5

2) 2y = 6 become y = 6 / (-2)

Teaching mathematics and its learning can be simplified using everyday applications. In this case of algebra solving, teachers can use the playground “See Saw” concept to explain the solution of the mathematics operation. “See Saw” is actually a play item and is a long wooden plank pivoted at the centre whereby two kids or adults can each sits on both ends and moves up and down alternately. When both kids are of the same weight and stationary, the plank will be level. When either one adds force upwards, the other side will go down. This concept can be useful to algebra solving through understanding of the balancing act.

Balancing the “See Saw” is similar to balancing the algebraic terms on both sides of the “equal” symbol. In short, if the left side of the algebraic relation has newly added term, the right side must also be added with the same new term of the left side in order to keep the balance and staying level. This is the true meaning of “equal”. Likewise, if one side has term subtracted, the other side must also have the same term subtracted to stay balance. Also if one side is completely divided by a mathematics variable or term, the other side must also be divided by the same thing to keep the “equal” meaningful.

To explain in mathematically term, let’s show an example:

1) x + 6 = 3. To make the x as the only subject on left side, we need to subtract the “6” from the left side. The “equal” symbol will not hold if the right side does not perform the same mathematics operation as the left side, that is, to subtract “6” also.

Therefore x + 6 – 6 = 3 – 6 which becomes x = -3 (correct answer). Is the concept simple?

2) 5y = 10. To make y as the only subject, we need to divide the left side of the mathematics expression by 5. This forces us to also divide the right side by 5 to stay equal.

Therefore 5y / 5 = 10 /5. This results in y = 2 (correct answer). See the simplicity!

Everyday applications can be used to explain many mathematics operation and should be used in the teaching of mathematics. In this example, if the learners has this concept of the “See Saw” way of application to algebra solving, they will not make any more careless mistakes.

For more topics about mathematics, please visit the below site.

This year in fashion we’ve seen ruching turn up everywhere from beautifully tailored blouses to silhouette skimming skirts. Fashion-wise, ruching simply means slight folds of gathered fabric that adds a divalicious flair to our outfits.

Aside from added fashion flair, ruching serves a great purpose that plus size fashionistas can incorporate into their wardrobe. Many women love ruching, whether it be on their tops or bottoms, because the extra folds of fabric are awesome for hiding figure flaws. Whether you’re a size 4 or 24, we all already know that regardless of your size or shape, every woman has a particular flaw that she would like to detract attention from.

Ruching is great for camoflauging bumps, lumps, or general unevenness, which is why we’re seeing this detail feature prominently in women’s fashion, shirts and dresses in particular. When on the bottom half of a top, ruching helps to mimic a waist-cinching effect, and also creates a smooth visual line to transition between separates.

Another bonus that I’ve heard is that the extra fabric gives you the ability to pull the shirt up or down, which essentially changes the length of the top. You can pull it up slightly to complement that sophisticated high-waisted skirt or even a bit lower to accommodate boot leg jeans or trousers. Seriously, how much more versatile can you get than that?

I’m gonna go ahead and say that plus size women need to capitalize on this fashion trend while it’s still hot! The slimming and smoothing visual effect definitely works fabulously for full figures.

The International Labour Organisation adopted the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in 1998. Although this process started in 1995 at the Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development, it was finally adopted in 1998 and since then it has been gaining pace. The features of the Declaration serve as its identification of the core standards; they are applicable to all the Member States irrespective of the fact whether they have ratified the Conventions.

Notably, the Declaration conferred upon the international community equal importance for human rights, liberalization of international trade, improved labour standards at the national level, and a decentralized system of labour standards implementation making the standards more readily palatable to employers. However, due to the problematic nature of the international enforcement mechanisms, some scholars have criticized these labour standards as impractical. In this regard, the main criticism states that issues pertaining to trade and labour must be kept separate as bringing labour issues into the World Trade Organisation would mean imposing trade sanctions to issues such as child labour.

The preamble of the ILO provides for universal support and acknowledgement in promoting fundamental rights at work and also for their universal application. The principle of ‘freedom of association’ has been expressly stated in the Constitution, but the principle of ‘equal work for equal pay’ is only interpretative in nature. There isn’t any express mentioned about equal work for equal pay in the Constitution. In a nutshell, the Constitution speaks for social justice, issues relating to the regulation of the hours of work, regulation of labour supply, prevention of unemployment, protection of workers against sickness or injury, living wages, protection of children and women, provision for old age, protection of workers interests in countries other than their own and other measures. In contrast to this, the 1998 Declaration relatively promised less number of commitments. It did not provide for workplace safety, limits on work hours, freedom from workplace abuse, neither minimum, nor fair or living wage.

Although the labour organization’s monitoring and supervising standards have gained international acknowledgement, countries such as U.K. and U.S. have criticized the system for lacking proper follow-up mechanism. In this regard the Organization claimed that follow-up being not mandatory is more of a strictly promotional nature providing a global picture of the state of implementation of each category of fundamental principles and rights. Such a defence cannot be easily accepted. Hence creating a proper follow-up mechanism remains a target to be achieved in the near future as that would mean a positive contribution towards the expansion of future international labour rights regime.

In Australia, if children have a dad, they spend on average just 6 minutes per day in his presence. This is not quality time, just the quantity of time. So, reading books, playing and doing homework together may receive very little or next-to-no attention. This is not lost on mothers. They know, as society does, that father-figures can have an instrumental role in the development of young people. Perhaps it is even sadder that many mothers are also forced to compete in a rat-race world, simply to feed hungry mouths, pay the bills, and keep a roof over the family’s heads.

It can be a rather depressing reality; trying to balance the vital family time – the key investments for the future of our children’s lives – with paying for these ‘privileges’.

The irony is quality time should not be a privilege. It should be a human right. For, how is a young human being to develop appropriately where there is insufficient love through the investment of quality time? But this is the world we live in.

The simple thesis of this article is time equals love.

This is a harsh reality for every single one of us in the charge of bringing up children. And perhaps the growing trend of grandparents taking a more active role is one that ought to be welcomed, more and more. For, if the parent(s) are busy working for the family, and, there is a loving extended family structure available to care for the children, the children’s needs are catered for. They have loved ones willing and able to input the time required for their development needs.

TIME – THE KEY COMMITMENT FOR LOVE

Time has always been an incredibly valuable commodity. But, even more so, today it is ever more poignant when we consider the financial pressures, the busyness of life, and many crowding realities, including the constant barrage of new technologies. We cannot regulate life as much as we used to be able to.

Now, one thing that hasn’t changed is the cost of, and choice for, the time spent.

We, as always, have the choice regarding our time. We pay a cost for the things we don’t do, and it is hoped that the costs are minuscule if we are doing the important things. And our values (our real values) will dictate where our time goes.

Time, then, is a key indicator of what we love. What we pour our time into is that which we love. If we love our work, we work long hours and our commitment is unstinting; our purpose is derived from our work and from our work we have meaning for life. If we love our families, certain sacrifices are made to protect those vital hours required in the nurture of our families. And more than that, we ensure we are psychologically present within our family space.

Life gives us very many options, but our choice must be wise. We cannot have it both ways. Of course, we know this. And if we, like most people, have come to a point of needing to decide what must give, hopefully it is our most important relationships that will become the benefactors of the changes only we can institute.

This is where commitment breaks away from our wishes.

We can wish as much as we like, but unless we are prepared to truly make the changes we need to make, nothing will change.

***

Our families and our children deserve our time. The fact is time equals love. And despite the pressures that confound us, our love helps us to ensure we find the time.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

Sir Isaac Newton’s third Law of Motion, the law of reciprocal actions, states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The same can be said for accounting. For every financial transaction, there are two sides. There is a debit side and a credit side. For every transaction, these sides must be equal for your books to balance.

To understand double entry accounting, you must first understand what a debit is and what a credit is. Put simply, a debit is something you own or money that is owed to you and a credit is money that you owe to someone else. Let’s look at this in terms of the different types of account that a business has.

Assets – these are debit items as they are items that are owned by the company. An increase in assets is a debit and a decrease in assets is a credit.

Liabilities – these are credit items as they are items that the business owes to someone else. An increase in liabilities is a credit and a decrease in liabilities is a debit.

Owners Equity – this is a credit account because the balance of the owner’s equity account is the money that is owed by the business to the owner of the business. An increase in owner’s equity is a credit and a decrease in owner’s equity is a debit.

Expenses – These are debit items because the purchase of an expense item decreases an asset item (eg. Cash at bank) which is the credit site of the transaction.

Revenue – These are credit items because the receipt of revenue increases an asset item (eg. Cash at bank) which is the debit side of the transaction.

Let’s look at a simple example:

Let’s say you want to go to the shop to buy a bottle of milk, which costs $3. Your purchase of the milk is a financial transaction. Before you go into the shop, you own $3 so this is a debit item, which is balanced by owner’s equity.

When you go into the shop and pick up the bottle of milk, you now have a bottle of milk, which is worth $3, and you owe $3 to the shop owner. Therefore, the bottle of milk is a debit and the $3 you owe is a credit.

When you pay the shop owner for the bottle of milk you are reducing the amount of money that you own (debit item will be credited) as well as reducing the amount of money you owe (credit item will be debited).

Note that in each step of the transaction, the debit and credit side of the transaction are equal and the balance of all accounts has equal debit and credit sides.

So what happens when you drink the bottle of milk? You no longer have a $3 bottle of milk; you have an empty bottle that is worth nothing! This is why we have expense accounts. Assets, which are debit items, are things that the business owns for a long period. Expenses, which are also debit items, are things that the business owns for a short period before they are used up.

This is why we have two separate major reports for a business. The balance sheet is used for those items that are constant in a business. The profit & loss Statement (or Statement of Income & Expenditure) is used for those items that flow in and out of a business on a regular basis. The resulting balance of the profit & loss statement is put into the capital section of the balance sheet to balance things out.

Another report you may have heard of is the trial balance. This is used to make sure you haven’t made a mistake before preparing the balance sheet and profit & loss statement. At the end of an accounting period, the closing balance of all your accounts (assets, liabilities, owner’s equity, expenses, and revenue) are put into this report to make sure that your debits equal your credits. If they don’t, you know you have made a mistake somewhere and you will need to find your mistake before you prepare the major reports. The total of the debit column should equal the total of the debit column.