It figures: one of the least tasty vegetables turns out to be among the healthiest - beets. Fortunately, raw beets work well for juicing. Beets mixed with juiced fresh carrots, some apple and some greens thrown in then topped off with a freshly squeezed lemon provides a tasty vegetable juice.

Beets lose a lot of their nutritional value if cooked more than 15 minutes. This means the the most delicious beet entree offered, beet soup with a couple of dollops of sour cream, won't support your health as much as raw beets.

Are you your brother's keeper? Are you responsible for his/her welfare? None of us can help everyone, but each of us can help someone near us. It may be only a smile, an encouraging word, a shoulder to cry on, or a hug to motivate them. Sometimes, it takes more. Figuratively speaking, it might require a swift kick in the pants or a warning of what the future could hold, if attitudes and actions aren't changed.

We need to be honest in our assessments. We need to understand the repercussions of interfering, when we're not asked. We need to ask God what our tasks should be. Know that you have an Encourager within, who will lead you to right decisions. Trust Him. He's there to make sure you do what's right. Remember, every person you see today is someone whom God loves. You know, none of us deserves God's love, but He loves us anyway.

An easy way to generate a lot of ideas is to apply a checklist of nine creative-thinking principles that were first formally suggested by Alex Osborn and later arranged into the following mnemonic SCAMPER.

S = Substitute?
C = Combine?
A = Adapt?
M = Magnify? = Modify?
P = Put to other uses?
E = Eliminate?
R = Rearrange? = Reverse?

SCAMPER is based on the notion that everything new is some addition or modification of something that already exists. You take a subject and change it into something else. (E.g., drilled petroleum becomes chemical feedstock becomes synthetic rubber becomes automobile tires. Natural gas becomes polyethylene becomes milk jugs. Mined ore becomes metal becomes wire becomes parts of a motor.)you can take anything that exists and change it into a new idea.

A few weeks ago I was at Trader Joes when I overheard a conversation between two disgruntled adults. One of them commented that she wished she hadn’t wasted her education on art school.  I was in that teetering place of jumping into the conversation with strangers, but decided instead it would be good material for a Think Jar essay.

I would easily agree that most people who get a BA in art are not narrowing in on a career path. The art student is not learning what to think, but how to think, and learning who they are.  I consider these profoundly important skills that will be applied in one’s career choices and in all choices life throws at us.

During my junior year in high school, Mr. Reynolds, my English teacher, handed each student a list of thoughts or statements written by other students then gave us a creative writing assignment based on one of those thoughts. At 17, I was beginning to wonder about many things, so I chose the statement, "I wonder why things are the way they are?"

That night, I wrote down in the form of a story all the questions that puzzled me about life. I realized that many of them were hard to answer, and perhaps others couldn't be answered at all.

When I turned in my paper, I was afraid that I might fail the assignment because I had not answered the question, "I wonder why things are the way they are?" I had no answers. I had only written questions.

This happened many, many summers ago.

There was a young flower in the desert where all was dry and sad looking. It was growing by itself enjoying every day and saying to the sun "When shall I be grown up"?

And the sun would say "Be patient, each time I touch you, you grow a little".And she was so pleased because she would have a chance to bring beauty to this corner of sand. And this is all she wanted to do---bring a little bit of beauty to this world.

Against a backdrop of uncertainty, economic turmoil and unprecedented change a new picture is emerging of the skills and traits for success (and perhaps even simply survival) in the modern era.  At the heart of this essential skillset for the future lies... creativity.

A raft of recent research studies demonstrates that creativity is vital from the shopfloor to the boardroom and at the level of the individual to the organization as a whole. What is more... our economic fortunes at a societal level probably rest on creativity too.

Below are 7 (magnificent!) themes and some research studies that convinced me.  I wonder if they will convince you of the cruciality of creativity too.

We've been looking at some leadership lessons to learn from Apple's (NAS: AAPL) Steve Jobs, brought you directly from Walter Isaacson, Jobs' official biographer. Isaacson recently wrote an article for Harvard Business Review with his take on how business leaders can learn from Jobs.

Don't forget to check out the first seven lessons if you haven't already done so. Without further ado, here are seven more.

The sincere and innocent wisdom of a child never ceases to fill me with wonder.

Last year I had surgery to remove a tumor from my thyroid gland. I had staples across the front of my neck for a week afterward (a true Frankenstein look) and then a very angry looking red scar after the staples were removed. Since I couldn't tolerate a collar against the wound, I became very creative at wearing scarves. My granddaughter Caitlynd, 3 1/2 yrs old at the time, also started wearing scarves.

Let me tell you a quick story and the moral I have for it.

I have been coaching girls softball for the last 12 years. This year was going to be my last.

After our final tournament in Iowa two of the team members (Elaina & Beth) asked if I could give them a ride. The ride was 6 1/2 hours and the conversation turned out to be the greatest I have ever had in the 47 years I have been living.

The back-to-back blockbuster successes of "Harry Potter," "Twilight" and now "The Hunger Games" have turned the hunt for fresh young-adult fiction white-hot in Hollywood, as studios try to turn what used to be a phenomenon into what might be a formula.

Frenzied auctions are underway for books that haven't even been published. Studios are paying as much as $1 million for the rights to adapt titles that are relatively modest sellers, particularly those featuring science-fiction, fantasy and dystopian themes.

Mark Carter concedes that he's a digital hoarder.

He estimates he has 24,000 MP3 files, 4,000 digital books, 2,000 CDs, 3,000 family photos saved on DVDs and at least 1,300 saved emails, including some from 20 years ago. "They're great memory aids," says the 42-year-old inventory manager at the Wal-Mart in Bloomington, Ill.

You are always taking care of yourself enough, when you do what is expected of you. Greatness is being responsible. Being responsible means to do what is expected of you. Focus on taking care of yourself enough while doing what is expected of you for yourself, your family, your profession, and your community.

Sometimes you think that you are focusing enough, however, when things are not going well it is because you are not focusing on taking care of yourself enough. Only you know if you are really taking care of yourself enough. No one thinks in your mind.

Healthy self-esteem is a child's armor against the challenges of the world. Kids who feel good about themselves seem to have an easier time handling conflicts and resisting negative pressures. They tend to smile more readily and enjoy life. These kids are realistic and generally optimistic.

In contrast, kids with low self-esteem can find challenges to be sources of major anxiety and frustration. Those who think poorly of themselves have a hard time finding solutions to problems. If given to self-critical thoughts such as "I'm no good" or "I can't do anything right," they may become passive, withdrawn, or depressed. Faced with a new challenge, their immediate response is "I can't."

In James Cameron's fantasy films, like "Avatar" and "The Abyss," the unexplored is splashed in color and fraught with alien danger. But on his dive to the deepest place on Earth, reality proved far different: white, barren and bland.

Yet otherworldly -- and amazing.

"I felt like I literally, in the space of one day, had gone to another planet and come back," Cameron said Monday after returning from the cold, dark place in the western Pacific Ocean, seven miles (11 1/4 kilometers) below the surface. "It was a very surreal day."

If you spent a significant portion of your weekend hurling birds through space, you aren't alone: On Monday, Rovio tweeted that its new game Angry Birds Space has been downloaded 10 million times in just three days.

"I can't think of another app that has done this well, especially when you consider that they only have a paid version available in the iTunes App Store," said Peter Farago, vice president of marketing at the mobile analytics firm Flurry.  "The closest success story I can think of is OMGPOP's Draw Something, which racked up 20 million total downloads in five weeks."

People who eat chocolate regularly tend to be thinner, new research suggests.

The findings come from a study of nearly 1,000 US people that looked at diet, calorie intake and body mass index (BMI) - a measure of obesity.

It found those who ate chocolate a few times a week were, on average, slimmer than those who ate it occasionally.

I love studies telling me that chocolate will help me live longer, improve my blood pressure, or boost my mood, and I’m especially delighted to hear about a new finding published Monday, which found that frequent chocolate eaters tend to weigh less than those who don’t indulge. I take all these with a grain of salt since they’re population studies that make associations but don’t prove a cause and effect.

Many living things need each other to survive. If you have ever seen a Colorado aspen tree, you may have noticed that it does not grow alone. Aspens are found in clusters, or groves.

The reason is that the aspen sends up new shoots from the roots. In a small grove, all of the trees may actually be connected by their roots!

Giant California redwood trees may tower 300 feet into the sky. It would seem that they would require extremely deep roots to anchor them against strong winds. But we're told that their roots are actually quite shallow -- in order to capture as much surface water as possible. And they spread in all directions, intertwining with other redwoods.

1
Don't go for looks, they can deceive. Don't go for wealth even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile.

2
There are moments in life when you really miss someone that you want to pick them up from your dreams and hug them. Hope you dream of that someone.

3
Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want in life.

His saga is the entrepreneurial creation myth writ large: Steve Jobs cofounded Apple in his parents’ garage in 1976, was ousted in 1985, returned to rescue it from near bankruptcy in 1997, and by the time he died, in October 2011, had built it into the world’s most valuable company. Along the way he helped to transform seven industries: personal computing, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, retail stores, and digital publishing. He thus belongs in the pantheon of America’s great innovators, along with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Walt Disney. None of these men was a saint, but long after their personalities are forgotten, history will remember how they applied imagination to technology and business.

Plain popcorn has already been hailed as a great diet food for its low calorie content but now a group of scientists claim it may even top fruits and vegetables in antioxidant levels.

Antioxidants - known as polyphenols - have huge health benefits as they help fight harmful molecules that damage cells.

Popcorn was found to have a high level of concentrated antioxidents because it is made up of just four percent water while they are more diluted in fruits and vegetables because they are made up of up to 90 percent water.

Researchers discovered one serving of popcorn has up to 300mg of antioxidents - nearly double the 160mg for all fruits per serving.

One day I was talking to God. I was asking God questions about my life, why things are happening the way that they are? God just answered me by saying "Look for Me, seek Me with all your heart and I will give to you more than you can ever ask for."

I pondered the answer and I then realized that I came back to God - He showed me His way and I was again on the right track. What I didn't realize was that being on the right track and not moving in the right direction was not going to bring me anywhere. I had to start moving and with the help of God, He started me on my journey.

One day a father and his rich family took his son to a trip to the country with the firm purpose to show him how poor people can be. They spent a day and a night in the farm of a very poor family.

When they got back from their trip the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"Very good Dad!"

"Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked.

"Yeah!"

"And what did you learn?"

One day a gentleman came to the orphanage and he talked with the head office and they agreed to allow him to come in, every other week, and teach the children how to do woodworking projects.

I remember the night, when I was eight years old, when I finished my first project. It was a small table with a formica top and I was so proud of that table and I looked upon it as though I had created a life.

It was absolutely beautiful not to mention this was the first time in our whole lives that the orphanage had allowed us to use our own minds. It had taken me six weeks to complete my project and I could hardly wait to give my little table to Mother Winters, as a gift.

His palms were sweating. He needed a towel to dry his grip. A glass of ice water quenched his thirst, but hardly cooled his intensity. The Astroturf he was sitting on was as hot as the competition he faced today at the National Junior Olympics. The pole was set at 17 feet. That was three inches higher than his personal best. Michael Stone confronted the most challenging day of his pole-vaulting career.

You said you were afraid to go to a better place
until I lit the path and took your hand.

You said that you were afraid to try
until I convinced you that in my eyes you couldn't fail.

You said you couldn't share your hurt
until I showed you the scars on my heart.

The World Health Organization is projecting that, by the year 2020, depression will become the world's second most devastating illness, after heart disease. Depression also affects many physical illnesses, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, making them more likely, severe, and difficult to treat. Right now, one in five Americans will experience major depression in their lifetimes, and one in ten suffers from recurring bouts of major depression. We need to understand how this epidemic came about and put an end to it.

If you’ve just read a health-related headline that has caused you to spit out your morning coffee (“Coffee causes cancer” usually does the trick), it’s always best to follow the Blitz slogan: “Keep Calm and Carry On”. On reading further, you’ll often find the headline has left out something important, such as, “Injecting five rats with really highly concentrated coffee solution caused some changes in cells that might lead to tumours eventually. (Study funded by The Association of Tea Marketing)”.

The close association between sugar intake and diabetes has led to a few misconceptions about diabetics and their diet restrictions. Most diabetics can eat the same foods as those without the disease, but the question becomes how much and how often. Diabetics can indeed eat fruit, and in fact are strongly encouraged to choose fruit over more processed foods high in sugars and other carbohydrates. Fruit contains natural fiber, vitamins, enzymes and other essential nutrients that diabetics need to maintain a normal lifestyle.

I am not a warrior. No one would accuse me of looking like a warrior. It would surprise people who know me to know that I love war movies like the HBO television series "Band of Brothers" based on novels written by historian Stephen Ambrose. The television series documents real stories of several World War II Veterans, and shows their lives at the time of the war and snippets of now.  Depicted scenes are violent and upsetting. War is documented. Some might like those scenes—I like the portrayal of brotherhood.

My profession is running a dance school for the past 17 years. In doing so, I have learned many things about children; one being that self motivation is really not an inherited character. It is a learned behavior.

In the corporate world that we live in now where it's a race to keep up, some of our children are losing their battle before it ever begins.

At times, I feel like my job requires more than just a dance instructor. I encounter children who cannot even fathom the thought of self motivation.

Less than 2% of Americans meet seven recommended heart health targets that could dramatically reduce their risk of heart disease, according to a new study.

The research shows that the number of people who follow all seven heart-healthy habits recommended by the American Heart Association, like eating a healthy diet, being physically active, and having normal blood pressure, has actually declined in recent years.

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room. Instead the angels were given a space in the cold basement.

As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied... "Things aren't always what they seem".

Are people dysfunctional or is it the society in which they live?

An Epidemic of Depression

Our society is in the throes of a virtual epidemic of depression. The numbers are quite staggering. More than twenty percent of the American population will experience at least one episode of what we refer to as clinical depression. We need to look deeper into this phenomenon to understand it and overcome it. My contention is, firstly, that our cultural values and memes induce us to live in ways that are, indeed, depressing. Secondly, much of what we refer to as clinical depression is inaccurate. Most depression is situational. The symptoms of depression are often due to depressing circumstances, not disease. In other words, under certain circumstances, it makes sense to be depressed.

click for a larger image

A new study conducted by American researchers has revealed that eating fruits with flavonoids such as blueberries, apples and pears reduces the risk of diabetes.

These fruits are loaded with flavonoids, a natural compound present in certain fruits, vegetables and grains, which some research has tentatively tied to heath benefits such as a lower risk of heart disease or cancer.

After ten years of working for a prestigious Wall Street bank and slamming into a glass ceiling, I vehemently said "Enough!" If I was going to have an inspiring, compelling life and go beyond a clock-punching, nine-to-five job, I knew I had to make the decision to create it and shift gears.

I began looking. I'd never let my deafness shortchange my dreams. I wasn't about to start now. I scanned through The New York Times in search of new opportunities. My eyes were drawn to an advertisement in the back. A financial giant was looking to hire more stockbrokers. I thought, I can do that! With great excitement, I called a few people and made an appointment to see a New York City branch vice president.

Archaeologists in Cambridge thrilled to discover grave with body of young woman on a bed with an ornate gold cross

The dead are often described as sleeping, but archaeologists in Cambridgeshire have uncovered a bed on which the body of a young Anglo-Saxon woman has lain for more than 1,300 years, a regal gold and garnet cross on her breast.

Let us thank and praise God for all the WONDERFUL GIFTS HE has given us.
May He continue to bless each and everyone of us in our life.

Thanks God for all the beautiful things - two feet, two eyes and two ears. The world is mine too.

Thanks for the POEM indeed.

If you have ever wondered if there was a real fountain of youth or some deep, dark secret to lasting good looks, think about how you passed on those fruits and veggies when you were younger that your mom kept trying to get you to eat.

That's because, according to a new study, five portions daily of fruits and vegetables can give your skin a glow, hence making you appear more attractive.

Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up. The first little tree looked up at the stars and said: "I want to hold treasure. I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I'll be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!"

The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on it's way to the ocean. "I want to be traveling mighty waters and carrying powerful kings. I'll be the strongest ship in the world!"

The mysterious fossils unearthed in Chinese caves could be of a previously unknown type of human, as the skeletons possess a highly unusual mix of bygone and modern human features, scientists have claimed.

Surprisingly, the fossils are only between 11,500 and 14,500 years old. That means they would have shared the landscape with modern humans when China’s earliest farmers were first appearing, the researches said.

Aspartame, an artificial sweetener commercially known as Nutrasweet, Spoonful and Equal, has infiltrated the world market and has become almost as ubiquitous as the sugar it seeks to replace. From soda drinks to chewing gum, it offers a low-fat, low-calorie and no-sugar option enticing to diabetics and people who are trying to lose weight.

Strangely, diet products containing aspartame has been shown to actually cause weight gain, and the components that make up aspartame have also been found to be toxic in themselves. Why then, despite the numerous studies conducted on this substance finding it to have potentially harmful effects, is it still considered safe for human consumption?

After 244 years, the Encyclopaedia Britannica is going out of print.

Those coolly authoritative, gold-lettered reference books that were once sold door-to-door by a fleet of traveling salesmen and displayed as proud fixtures in American homes will be discontinued, company executives said.

It is by chance we met, by choice we became friends.

Friendship is a strange thing...we find ourselves telling each other the deepest details of our lives, things we don't even share with our families who raised us.

But what is a friend?
A confidant?
A lover?
A fellow email junkie?
A shoulder to cry on?
An ear to listen?
A heart to feel?...
A friend is all these things...and more.

Children in New York City who learned to read using an experimental curriculum that emphasized nonfiction texts outperformed those at other schools that used methods that have been encouraged since the Bloomberg administration’s early days, according to a new study to be released Monday.

TOUCH World Premiere on MON MAR. 19 at 9/8c, on FOX

It was a mystery perhaps fitting for James Bond, that most unsecret of secret agents: just who has bought the $5 million watch?

The timepiece, a one-off model produced by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA’s Hublot brand, seemed to sum up the confident mood of the watchmakers at this year’s Baselworld show.

The pharmaceutical industry is poised to begin churning out a slew of new diet drugs within the next few years that are sure to come with some very serious side effects, and that may not even work in the first place. But if you are an overweight or obese individual looking for solutions to your weight problem, you may want to skip these up-and-coming "blockbuster" drugs and instead look to vitamin D, as well as to other diet and lifestyle changes, as an effective alternative to losing weight.

Just for today I will be happy. This assumes what Abraham Lincoln said is true: 'Most folks are about as happy as they make their mind up to be.' Happiness comes from within; it is not a matter of externals.

Just for today I will try to adjust myself to what is; not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business, and my luck as they come and fit myself to them.