3 Can’t Miss Infographics To Help You Make A Clean Sweep

Organizing and Decluttering For the Summer

Doesn’t the start of summer just make you want clean, wide open spaces for the summer sun and breezes? Check out the great tips on organizing and streamlining in the three infographics at the bottom of this post.

• From Just Organize Your Stuff comes a straightforward infographic that helps you figure out what papers you can toss and which ones you should file (and where).
• Feeling a bit overwhelmed by your gadgets and electronics? BundleCity offers some good ideas for streamlining your cables, components and computers.
• And to help keep things under control in the kitchen, check out the nifty list of which foods to keep and which to toss when — from All You Magazine.

 

 

 

 

Sure-Fire Summer Savings

5 TipsTo Help You Get the Most Out Of Summer For Less

1. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen

Don’t make your house any hotter — cook outside or make foods that don’t require turning on the oven or stove.

2. Move it before you cool it

A ceiling fan uses a fraction of the energy as air conditioning — and the right size fan in your room can lower the temp by up to eight degrees!

3. Make it or shake it

Smoothies and iced drinks from your local coffee shop can add up over the summer months — try making your own. For thick and creamy smoothies, try slicing a ripe banana into “nickels” and freezing them — throw them in a blender with some milk and coffee (or try peanut butter). Make an extra-strong pot of coffee and keep it in a covered pitcher in the fridge (to keep it from getting watery), pour some cooled coffee into an ice tray and use coffee cubes to keep your drinks cool.

4. Go ahead, have a free-for-all

Before you pony up for pricey tickets to the next big event, look in local papers and online for free festivals and fairs nearby — the summer is a great time for outdoor celebrations of the arts, entertainment, and cuisine.

5. Play the market

Before heading to the grocery store, spend a little time online to find local farmer’s markets — not only is the produce fresher, but it’s likely to be less money as well.

For more money-saving ideas, check out these sites:

• 19 Ways to Save Money This Summer (Quick and Simple)
• 10 Easy Ways To Save Money This Summer (Huffington Post)
• 5 Money Saving Tips for Summer (About.com)

 

Stopping Senility Before it Starts?

The New York Times ran an article this week on a clinical trial being conducted on people “genetically guaranteed to develop” Alzheimer’s for a treatment that could stop the disease before it ever strikes your brain.

Few trials have ever been run to test preventative treatments for “genetically predestined diseases” — and never before has there been one for Alzheimer’s. The study will pull most of its subjects from an extended family in Colombia — a clan of about 5,000 related people. Some of the members of this familial group show a clear genetic mutation linking to the development of Alzheimer’s starting with impaired cognition around the age of 45 and resulting in complete dementia about six years after that.

Last fall, four of these family members made their way from Colombia to the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, AZ to allow the scientists there to do preliminary work-ups on family members with and without the genetic mutation, and for those with the mutation, the doctors were able to look at brains both before the onset of the disease and after. (via The New York Times)

At the same time, there are other Alzheimer’s studies being initiated and run around the country — many of which are facing a shortfall of volunteers. In a catch-22, early onset patients aren’t aware they even have the disease and therefore don’t think to volunteer, while patients with mild symptoms are anxious about the impact of experimental treatments. (via CBS News)

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) hosted a summit on the disease earlier this week, where this drug trial was announced as part of the federal government’s efforts to address Alzheimer’s and the threat it poses to the country. Alzheimer’s has the unfortunate disctinction of being the only disease on the top ten list of killer diseases in the country where the annual fatality rate continues to rise each year.  Read more about Alzheimer’s from the NIH here.

There are 57 medical centers participating in this study and the government is expected to recommend increasing research funding to $2 billion a year. Hopefully these clinical trials and patient studies will begin to yield good news.

For more information on one of the largest Alzheimer’s studies, including how to refer a participant, check out the ADNI website.

 

Avengers Kicks Off Summer Blockbusters With A Bang

If the Rest of The Line-up Lives Up to The Buzz, It Will Be A Good Summer for Movie Fans

 

 

Last weekend, The Avengers — an ensemble super-hero movie — not only broke, but shattered box office records on its opening weekend. Bringing in more than $200 million, the movie now holds the record for the biggest weekend for a movie ever, the biggest opening weekend, the biggest May weekend, the fastest to reach $200 million, and (without midnight showings) its opening day was the biggest ever.

Coming on the heels of The Hunger Games, which scored the third biggest (at the time) opening weekend ever with more than $150 million and is closing in on $400 million total box office, it’s looking like a far better year for Hollywood and for movie lovers than last year.

“You sunk my battleship!” What other blockbusters can you look forward to this summer?

May 18^th — Battleship, based on the game, stars Liam Neeson, Brooklyn Decker, Taylor Kitsch and Rihanna.

May 25^th — Memorial Day weekend, historically one of the biggest movie weekends every year, sees the third installment of the Men in Black with Men in Black III, starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and Josh Brolin (as the young Tommy Lee Jones)

June 1^st — Snow White and the Huntsman with Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth and Kristen Stewart opens hoping to do better than this year’s earlier Snow White effort, Mirror, Mirror which featured Julia Roberts, Armie Hammer and Lily Collins.

June 8^th — Prometheus, which does not “remake” or “reboot” the Alien (the original movie scores a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes) franchise, according to director Ridley Scott, but “revisits” it,  and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, the return of the Central Park Zoo creatures voiced by Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, and Jada Pinkett Smith.

June 14^th — Rock of Ages, which should succeed for its cast alone: Tom Cruise, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Julianne Hough, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Bryan Cranston, Will Forte and Mary J. Blige.

June 29^th — G.I. Joe: Retaliation, because the first G.I. Joe movie grossed more than $300 million worldwide — and how bad could a movie with Channing Tatum, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Bruce Willis be?

July 3^rd — The Amazing Spider-Man, coming 10 years after the original Spider Man (featuring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and that famous upside-down kiss), this movie could be Andrew Garfield’s (remember him? He was the nice guy best friend in The Social Network) break-out moment.

July 13^th — Ice Age: Continental Drift — in a complete reversal of the expected, each movie in this series has done better than the last, with Ice Age 3 (Dawn of the Dinosaurs) earning nearly $900 million worldwide. With an endless stellar cast that features Ray Romano, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott, Jennifer Lopez, Wanda Sykes, and Nicki Minaj.

July 20^th — The Dark Knight Rises, possibly one of the most anticipated movies ever, this third and final installment in Christopher Nolan’s take on the Batman myth comes four years after The Dark Knight and not only brings back Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, but promises Anne Hathaway looking fierce on a motorcycle and a villainous Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

August 3^rd — Total Recall revisits Mars, this time with Colin Farrell instead of Arnie, while The Bourne Legacy continues one of the most successful spy franchises after James Bond, without Jason Bourne — Jeremy Renner plays a different CIA assassin from Treadstone, whose story has been kicked off by Jason Bourne’s exploits in the first three movies.

August 17^th — The Expendables 2 sees Sly Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture reprise their roles, and adds Jean-Claude Van Damme as the villain — not to mention Bruce Willis returning with a more substantial part to play as Mr. Church.

And if you’re not in the mood for a blockbuster

The just-opened The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is breaking box-office records in England and making an impressive showing stateside as well — scoring an average $27,000 per screen its opening weekend (consider that The Avengers, the most successful film of all time is averaging $47,000, while Dr.Seuss’ The Lorax, the third biggest movie so far this year, averaged about $18,000).