Mike Michalowicz, the author of The Pumpkin Plan, argues that comedians are the ultimate public speakers. For example, comedians have to hold an audience's attention for an hour or more, they don't get a break during their presentation, and they can't rely on the audience for a Q&A. They are also expected to make the audience laugh constantly. And they don't even get to use presentation software programs, because they want the audience looking at them, not trying to read a screen. These facts don't mean you need to be a comedian on stage to perform well. You aren't even required to tell jokes. To enhance your own presentations, however, start to observe the techniques comedians use, and employ them in your own speech.

To Whom It May Concern: I'm writing to discuss the kitchenware which I ordered through your website three days ago. The list of the items contains 3 dishes, 4 tea cups, 1 dinner set, and 2 pieces of glass cookware. However, after I ordered your products, my husband bought similar items from a department store. I really like your items, but I don't need two similar products in my kitchen. Therefore, I'll have to cancel my order. I know that the charges can be refunded if the order is canceled within seven days after the purchase. I want you to cancel the order as soon as possible. I am sorry for the inconvenience. Sincerely, Kelly Stone

The image of the self-sacrificing parent is often considered an ideal. The good father lives for his children at all costs. The good mother never takes a break and has no outside friendships or activities. Is this the ideal? In fact, the opposite is true. Overextended parents are often annoyed and depressed. Just as you can't keep driving a car without ever refilling the gas, you can't keep giving to kids without ever refueling emotionally. An afternoon out with friends for lunch can help you get refreshed. Even an hour alone in the tub with a good book can also make you emotionally relaxed. In this way, you can take care of your children with more energy, interest, and patience.

Surfing is often thought of as a male sport, but in fact women have been surfing in California since the early 1920s and today there are women surfers in every surfing country in the world. Like men, they range from amateurs to professionals. Though women may not have been taken seriously in surf contests, these days they compete because they have truly earned that right. One of the earliest women surfers was Mary Hawkins, who showed very graceful form in the surf. She was the first in a long line which stretched down in the 1960s, to Marge Calhoun and her daughters, and Linda Benson, followed by some of the top professional surfers today.

《UCC CONTEST》 America and Korea A Long and Treasured Friendship! Participants: - Anyone who lives in Korea Theme: - Any topic on U.S./Korean relations including culture, history, people, tradition, food, etc. Guidelines: - Maximum movie length: 3 minutes - UCC can be in English or Korean - Download the application form at http://ucccontest.com - Submit the application form and UCC to irc@ucccontest.com Important Dates: - Submission Period: February 17-March 15, 2013 - Announcement of Winner: March 22, 2013 - Award Ceremony: March 26, 2013 Awards: - 1st Place: Electronic Dictionary - 2nd Place: Digital Camera - 3rd Place: MP3 Player

《Fantastic Camel Festival》 The Camel Festival is famous for the fantastic camelback riding. This allows travelers a rare opportunity to interact with the camels and experience the camel herders' nomadic lifestyle. Trip Profile: Duration: 4 days / 3 nights Special Rate / per person Group size - Price 1 person - $1000 2 persons - $900 3~5 persons - $800 Low Season Discounts May, June, October 5% discount Included in the price: Accommodations in camp, Guide and interpretation service Not included in the price: Visa cost, International airfare, Travel insurance Highlights: Camel races, a unique opportunity to experience speed while riding camels Performances by traditional musicians and dancers For more information, please visit our website at www.camelfestival.com.

《The Logic Puzzle Museum》 The Logic Puzzle Museum is offering three hands-on logic puzzle sessions on Saturday, Dec. 8. Times are 10 am, 11 am and 1 pm. These sessions are for ages 5 and above and offer more than 60 brain and logic puzzles to try. These are not jigsaw puzzles but figure-them-out puzzles. There are bells to ring when a puzzle is solved. Visitors also make a puzzle to keep. During the session, there is also time to see the exhibit of vintage puzzles. The gift shop offers various types of puzzles for sale. Reservations are required only by calling (262) 763-3946. For more information, go to www.logicpuzzlemuseum.org.

The graph above shows changes in the numbers of tourists to Bali, Indonesia from four countries ― China, Japan, Korea, and India ― from 2002 to 2011. The number of Japanese tourists was at its peak in 2008, and decreased sharply from 2008 to 2011. On the other hand, the number of Chinese tourists drastically increased between 2006 and 2011. The number of the Indian tourists continuously increased from 2006 to 2011. In 2008, there were more than twice as many tourists from Japan as there were from Korea. From 2002 to 2008, the number of Korean tourists was on the rise, but the number has remained almost unchanged since 2008.

Australia is a large country with a population of twenty million people, about 85 percent of whom live in the coastal cities. Sydney and Melbourne are the largest cities, but Canberra, with fewer than half a million people, is the nation's capital. Native people make up about 2.4 percent of the population. The birth rate is low at 1.8 children per woman, and the number of elderly people is growing rapidly. Since 2000, many Asian and European immigrants have been crowding into this country. Australia's population would be in decline without the 100,000 immigrants who arrive each year.

As you climb higher and higher, the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere decreases. When people from lower areas visit areas of high altitude, they may suffer from altitude sickness; the lack of oxygen makes them feel tired, dizzy, and sick. People living in high altitudes are able to breathe normally because their bodies have become used to the shortage of oxygen. This also means that athletes from those areas can achieve outstanding performances at lower altitudes. When mountaineers attempt to climb high peaks, they avoid altitude sickness by climbing to one level and then resting for a few days. This gives their bodies time to adapt to the lack of oxygen before climbing even higher.

For three days, the air around Nya's home was filled with the sound of the drilling looking for clean water. On the third afternoon, Nya joined the other children gathered around the drill site. The adults stopped working and came there, too. The workers seemed excited. They were moving quickly as their leader called out orders. Then ― WHOOSH! A spray of water shot high into the air! This was new water ― water that was coming out of the hole! Everyone cheered at the sight of the water. A woman in the crowd began singing a song of celebration. Nya clapped her hands along with all the other children. But as Nya watched the water spraying out of the hole, she frowned. The water wasn't clear. It was brown and heavy-looking. It was full of mud.

Most people, when trying to persuade others, do too much talking themselves. If you disagree with someone else, give them time to talk. They also have strong opinions like you do. So you should ask them questions. Let them tell you a few things. If you disagree with them, you may be tempted to interrupt. But you shouldn't. It is dangerous. They won't pay attention to you while they still have a lot of ideas of their own they want to express. So listen patiently and with an open mind. Encourage them to express their ideas fully.

Educating consumers is important because people can have great power over how goods are made and sold, depending on what they choose to buy. This power is sometimes shown through campaigns and boycotts, when people refuse to buy certain food products. For instance, thousands of dolphins used to be killed in tuna fishing nets, but consumer pressure helped to change this practice. Tuna that was caught without harming dolphins was labeled dolphin friendly so consumers wouldn't buy other tuna products. This forced many companies to change their method of fishing. As a result, dolphin deaths decreased by over 80 percent between 1990 and 2000.

Consider a study of the power of social standards, involving nearly three hundred households in San Marcos, California. All of the households were informed about how much energy they had used in previous weeks; they were also given information about the average use of energy by households in their neighborhood. The effects on behavior were both clear and striking. In the following weeks, the above-average energy users greatly decreased their energy use; the belowaverage energy users greatly increased their energy use. The latter finding is called a boomerang effect, and it offers an important warning. If you want to encourage people to have socially desirable behavior, do not let them know that their current actions are better than the social standard.

When people gossip, they generally criticize other people, mostly for breaking social and moral codes. This may hurt people's feelings or lead to misunderstandings. Nevertheless, gossip plays an important social role by reinforcing community values: it makes people feel closer to each other; it unifies people who follow the rules; it helps people get a sense of the values of their community. However, it's not a very nice thing to do, and I always felt bad after a gossipy conversation, even though I enjoyed it at the time. I want to stop telling unkind stories or being too curious about sensitive subjects.

Hugh Baldwin has proved that a kind heart can pay off. On November 3, Hugh found a cat with a broken leg lying in the street. Hugh was on his way to school, but he stopped to help. He got some water for the cat and sat by the cat waiting for passersby. At last, Mrs. Belle Simkins, living in his neighborhood, saw them and stopped. Mrs. Simkins and Hugh took the cat to the veterinarian to treat it. While Hugh went on to school, the owner was located. He received a reward of $10 from the cat's grateful master.

A fascinating experiment once took place in a small Australian village. For the past two years, the village had witnessed that the number of street crimes was rapidly increasing. Local residents, alarmed by the increase in street crime, got together and decided that the best way to confront the problem was to remove the offenders from the main street after nightfall. Instead of putting more armed police in the street, they chose to play classical music. Every single block began piping out the sounds of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. In less than a week, the town reported a dramatic decrease in crime. The experiment was so successful that the main train station in Copenhagen, Denmark adopted the same approach ― with similar results, too.

《How to Make a High-Bounce Ball》 What You Need: a bottle of white glue, a glass jar, one and a half cups of distilled water, food coloring, a bowl, borax powder What to Do: Pour the bottle of glue into the jar. Fill the now-empty glue bottle with 1/2 cup distilled water. Then pour the water from the glue bottle into the jar. Put 10 drops of food coloring into the jar and stir. Pour the remaining distilled water into the bowl. Add the borax powder. Stir until the powder dissolves. While stirring, slowly pour the glue into the bowl containing the borax. Take the glue mixture out of the bowl. Push and pull on it until it's smooth and dry. Roll it into a ball and make it bounce.

In 1733, Philippe Rameau was considered one of the top French composers of his time. He made a long lasting and significant impact on the theory and various trends of music. Rameau was born on September 15, 1683 in the city of Dijon. He was famous because of his popular operas and he was also known as one of the best organists in France. The father of Philippe Rameau was also a professional organist. He expected his son to pursue a career in the field of law, but Philippe Rameau was very passionate about music. That is why he lived his whole life as a composer and musician. He also educated himself about several musical instruments. When he was in the Jesuit College of Dijon, he was removed because of his lack of concentration on his studies and his excessive focus on music. After dropping out of school, he got permission to pursue his musical career from his parents. In that year, Rameau started to work on his first book entitled Traite de l'harmonie, which made him one of the most important French theorists. At the end of the year, he moved to Paris, hoping to get some greater respect and fame in the music industry as a composer. In Paris he took the assistance of some local students and composed numerous short stage and keyboard works. After all of this, he got the attention of a financial supporter named Poupliniere. He hired Rameau as the chief conductor of his orchestra. Poupliniere also allowed him and his family members to live in his grand mansion. With the help of Poupliniere, Rameau met some of the best writers and composers of his time and composed his first opera known as Hippolyte et Aricie. And it made him one of the leading French composers.

Now think about blogging. The number of blogs out there is amazing, and it seems that almost everyone has a blog or is thinking about starting one. Why are blogs so popular? Not only is it because so many people have the desire to write, it is also because blogs have two features that distinguish them from other forms of writing. First, they provide the hope that someone else will read one's writing. After all, the moment a blogger presses the publish button, the blog can be consumed by anybody in the world, and with so many people connected, somebody, or at least a few people, should stumble upon the blog. Indeed, the number of views statistic is a highly motivating feature in the blog world because it lets the blogger know exactly how many people have at least seen the posting. Blogs also provide readers with the ability to leave their reactions and comments ― satisfying both the blogger and the reader. Most blogs have very low readership ― perhaps only the blogger's mother or best friend reads them ― but even writing for one person, compared to writing for nobody, seems to be enough to encourage millions of people to blog.