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Help Your Children to Love Reading
Author: Tracy Catarius

It is so important to create an environment that promotes the love of reading. Not only is reading necessary for survival in today's world, it is educational, it sparks imagination, it is a stress reliever, provides entertainment and enjoyment, the list goes on.

Here are some ideas to help you help your child love reading.

• The most important thing a parent can do to teach a child to love reading is for the parent to let the children see how much you love reading. You need to set the example.

• Set aside a time each day when everyone in the family reads. Perhaps it is for half an hour after school or before bed every day. Be consistent.

• Read to your children. Even after they are old enough to read themselves, it is still a treat to have a parent read to them.

• Never punish your child by taking away books.

• Share books you loved growing up.

• Create a tradition of reading one chapter from a book each night before bed. I remember a teacher in the fifth grade would read a chapter each day from "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh" by Zena Bernstein (Illustrator) and Robert C. O'Brien (Author). I looked forward to class every day so I could find out what happened next!

• Start a family book club. Everyone reads the same book and pick a night to discuss it. I suggest checking out copies from the library, I wouldn't want to buy several copies of the same book. Or you can take turns reading from the same book.

• Every child should have a reading nook in his or her bedroom. A simple beanbag chair or other cozy chair, a small table with a reading lamp and a small bookcase are all that is needed. If space is especially limited, just a comfy chair and reading lamp will suffice.

• Creating a calming, relaxing space in your child's room is also important. There should be no television or video games in the bedroom. The room should also be neat and not have a lot of stuff. Studies show simplicity and neatness are calming where a lot of stuff or messiness can clutter the mind.

• If your children are small, perhaps the reading nook should be either in a common room or the parent and child should each have a chair in the child's room.

• Let your child choose his or her own books. Don't limit the reading material (within reason) they choose. If s/he wants to read educational books, comic books or music magazines, let him/her. The goal is to let your child love reading.

• If all your child wants to read is magazines or other reading material you consider not great, then perhaps you can find something your child is very interested in and find books on that subject. If your son is only interested in reading music magazines, perhaps you can buy books such as a biography on one of his favorite musicians, books on musical history, books that teach how to play music, etc.

I hope you find some useful ideas. Remember, the family that reads together, stays together. Have fun!

About The Author

Tracy Catarius is the owner of Greatest Kid's books, a site devoted to children's education and Mattcmama's, a resource site for parents. You can visit these sites here: http://www.greatestkidsbooks.com " http://www.greatestkidsbooks.com and http://www.mattcmamas.com " http://www.mattcmamas.com . She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and is the mother of one son and one daughter. She also has a personal family library of approximately 1,000 books on various subjects.

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comicbooks-23

Comic Books
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Help Your Children to Love Reading
Author: Tracy Catarius

It is so important to create an environment that promotes the love of reading. Not only is reading necessary for survival in today's world, it is educational, it sparks imagination, it is a stress reliever, provides entertainment and enjoyment, the list goes on.

Here are some ideas to help you help your child love reading.

• The most important thing a parent can do to teach a child to love reading is for the parent to let the children see how much you love reading. You need to set the example.

• Set aside a time each day when everyone in the family reads. Perhaps it is for half an hour after school or before bed every day. Be consistent.

• Read to your children. Even after they are old enough to read themselves, it is still a treat to have a parent read to them.

• Never punish your child by taking away books.

• Share books you loved growing up.

• Create a tradition of reading one chapter from a book each night before bed. I remember a teacher in the fifth grade would read a chapter each day from "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh" by Zena Bernstein (Illustrator) and Robert C. O'Brien (Author). I looked forward to class every day so I could find out what happened next!

• Start a family book club. Everyone reads the same book and pick a night to discuss it. I suggest checking out copies from the library, I wouldn't want to buy several copies of the same book. Or you can take turns reading from the same book.

• Every child should have a reading nook in his or her bedroom. A simple beanbag chair or other cozy chair, a small table with a reading lamp and a small bookcase are all that is needed. If space is especially limited, just a comfy chair and reading lamp will suffice.

• Creating a calming, relaxing space in your child's room is also important. There should be no television or video games in the bedroom. The room should also be neat and not have a lot of stuff. Studies show simplicity and neatness are calming where a lot of stuff or messiness can clutter the mind.

• If your children are small, perhaps the reading nook should be either in a common room or the parent and child should each have a chair in the child's room.

• Let your child choose his or her own books. Don't limit the reading material (within reason) they choose. If s/he wants to read educational books, comic books or music magazines, let him/her. The goal is to let your child love reading.

• If all your child wants to read is magazines or other reading material you consider not great, then perhaps you can find something your child is very interested in and find books on that subject. If your son is only interested in reading music magazines, perhaps you can buy books such as a biography on one of his favorite musicians, books on musical history, books that teach how to play music, etc.

I hope you find some useful ideas. Remember, the family that reads together, stays together. Have fun!

About The Author

Tracy Catarius is the owner of Greatest Kid's books, a site devoted to children's education and Mattcmama's, a resource site for parents. You can visit these sites here: http://www.greatestkidsbooks.com " http://www.greatestkidsbooks.com and http://www.mattcmamas.com " http://www.mattcmamas.com . She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and is the mother of one son and one daughter. She also has a personal family library of approximately 1,000 books on various subjects.

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comicbooks-22

Comic Books
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Comic Book Supplies, Necessities of the Serious Collector
Author: Comics Galore
If you want to keep your comic book collection in tiptop shape, comic book supplies will become part of your collecting life. As soon as a magazine is printed there are natural environmental forces going to work to try and destroy the ink and the paper. You have put in a lot of time, effort and enjoyment in acquiring all your comics. You don't want them to turn back to the dust and elements from which they came do you?

Elements such as humidity, temperature, pollutants, human skin oils and even the chemicals of the printed materials themselves, will start to deteriorate and discolor your comic books from day one. Tools that have been developed over the years to help us combat these natural forces are de-acidification paper, polymer type storage bags, stiff backing material, storage boxes and desiccants (dehumidification materials). Not only will these comic book supplies protect your comics for your own enjoyment, they will add to reinforce the future value of each comic book.

Most all of these supplies can typically be located down at your local comic book shop. But as I have discovered lately, there can be a world of difference in preservation abilities depending on what materials are used in the manufacture of comic book supplies. Quite typically what you may find downtown will be of sufficient protective quality to protect your comics for quite a while. Although, polybags, to put your comics into, are quite common and fairly cheap, Mylar bags are definitely the way to go. They will protect for 100 years (that may be a little overboard) as opposed to 2 or 3 years for poly.

There has been a lot of elaborate science, particularly chemistry, which has gone into preservation material manufacturing the last several years. MicroChamber material has been developed that will increase preservation from de-acidification and environmental breakdown for a vastly superior time period as opposed to typical materials available today. Beware though, comic book supplies manufactured with this new material can become quite costly. But if you have some serious collector's items, which you feel are worth a significant amount of cash, isn't the investment worth it? It is also no secret that CGC uses these materials in every comic book they grade.

I have created a page at my comic book site, which incorporates links to some rather technical scientific articles on preservation and using MicroChamber materials. You can read an in-depth discussion at www.comic-book-collection-made-easy.com/comic-book-supplies.html . Be forewarned though, You may need a moderate understanding of chemistry and physics to completely follow some of the discussions. But the articles will open your eyes to what is available in the comic book industry for preservation supplies these days.

Now if you have a rather rare back issue that may well have a high dollar value, here is a process worth considering. De-acidification products are usually used to neutralize acids in the paper prior to storage of most paper products of a pulp nature. This is not to be taken lightly, as it is considered by most to be an extensive form of restoration. The current understanding of the process is that the staples are removed and the sheets are submerged, film developer style, in a bath of de-acidification material. Then the entire book is rebuilt with new staples. This process can cost around $50 per comic book, when done by a professional, but will restore and increase the life expectancy of your comic book by many years. This process, in my opinion, should only be considered for already deteriorated comics that may have a considerable future worth if restored.

One final item to consider, especially if you live in a high humidity area is the use of descants within your storage boxes. A desiccant is a chemical sieve for water, and is available for industry use in small packets or in buckets. For our purposes an 8 oz can (that looks like you'd keep a grasshopper in) can be simply put inside the box to absorb moisture and indicates when it is full by changing from crystal colored to pink. These same cans can then be reused by baking them for 3-4 hours in an oven at about 350 F. Each canister can cost around $9-$10 from one supplier called GAYLORDMART. 1 canister per short box and 2 per long box should be sufficient. Another consideration is the little packets typically found in a box of shoes. These are even more inexpensive, but would require further research to insure no harm would come to each comic book.

So as you build your valuable comic book collection, you will want to put some serious consideration into the comic book supplies that you will need. Materials and supplier source will become important variables in your overall decisions. I will have more interesting topics and sources from time to time at my site, so come on over and visit. You may even want to bookmark it.

Dave Gieber, a former rocket engineer, has decided to take up residency on the Internet. He is the owner and editor of several websites, one of which was built around one of his childhood passions; www.comic-book-collection-made-easy.com . You can visit here to keep up to date on the world of comic books and comic book collecting. Feel free to sign up for his comic book ezine at www.comic-book-collection-made-easy.com/comic-book-ezine.html

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comicbooks-21

Comic Book
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Action Figures: Antiques for the Common Man
Author: Dave Carter
Given enough time, one boy's toy is an antique collector's prized possession. Strange as that may sound, there are many collectors who would love to see an original G.I. Joe or an original Star Wars action figure. Remember He-Man? Action figures tend to be based on shows, movies, or comics that always have a following, and therefore even years after companies stop producing the figures, there are individuals who still seek to collect them. There are many a man who think of all the G.I. Joes they blew up with fireworks, only to find out twenty years later how many hundreds or even thousands of dollars their collection would have been worth if it remained in mint condition!

One interesting story dealing with action figures involves Takara, a Japanese toy company. They are best known to modern toy collectors as the company that built the original Transformers action figures. In 1974 Takara created a 4-inch humanoid action figure, which was called "MicroMan." In the late 70's and early 80's this toy was brought over to the United States by the Mego Toy company, which was desperate for a hit after they made the famous blunder of passing on Star Wars. They re-named the line "Micronauts", and created enough of a back story for Marvel Comics to get a good run of comics. Mego got several years of good sales, which was about the same size as Star Wars figures, before the whole company went down.

The basic construction of the Micronauts action figure would soon be utilized by Hasbro for their new action figures: the now famous and very collectible 3-3/4" G.I. Joes (an action figure famous amongst young boys of the time for their propensity to have bad run-ins with fireworks). In recent years, the Micronauts concept has enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence. There has been a decently successful series of comic books, a trilogy of paperback novels, and a toy company called Palisades managed to re-create many of the original Micronauts molds. Now the original company is coming out with larger action figures based on the originals. Like many classics, companies want to keep dipping back for more. Why mess with success? Still it's the old action figures that gain the most attention from collectors, so if you're thinking about putting out the old toys from twenty years ago out in the garage sale, maybe think twice and take a second look before putting the boxes out. Who knows what you might find?

Article Source : http://www.articledashboard.com

Dave is the owner of fun-action-figures.info and cheap-action-figures.info websites providing information on action figures.

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comicbooks-20

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Superhuman Senses: How Wireless Sensors Keeps You Safe, Healthy and Successful
Author: Bruce Kasanoff
You have superhuman senses, but you don't know it yet.

You can detect the presence of a tiny speck of anthrax in a vast public space, or count the fish in a 4,000 square mile area. You can hear a gunshot hundreds of yards away and use your super-powerful vision to zoom in on a criminal as he tries to escape. You can look in the eyes of a person you've never met, and tell me her identity.

Best of all, with every passing day, your superhuman senses grow stronger. You acquire new ones, too. No, you didn't get bitten by a radioactive spider or exposed to gamma radiation. You're not a mutant X-Man.

You are just lucky enough to be alive during the birth of a new class of computers, called sensors. They are multiplying faster than chocolate stains at a nursery school birthday party.

In the time it took me to write this far, the human race deployed thousands of new sensors into the world. Some are old-hat sensors like burglar alarms and smoke detectors. But others extend and supercharge our senses in ways that seem ripped out of the pages of your favorite comic book.

If a tree grows in the forest and no one is there, does it make a noise? Sensors are being added to forests – often to study the behavior of wild animals – and the answer is a resounding yes.

Sensors called drifters have been floating on ocean currents for several years now, sending back information not only to researchers but also to elementary school classrooms. In the process, we are learning immense amounts about our oceans and climate.

Thanks to sensors, Air Force pilots in Colorado Springs now control drone planes that run bombing missions in Afghanistan; the pilots' biggest problem is coming home to a normal family life at 5 pm, after operating in a war zone.

Sensors extend your senses to the very little, and the very distant. They can detect pathogens at the molecular level, and monitor the Earth – or other planets – over vast distances. Pictures from satellites show the impact of human development on places such as Mexico City, Las Vegas and the Amazon.

Never before have you – or any other human – been able to see in such detail how our world changes from one day to the other, or one year to the next.

Four big changes are impacting the growth of your new superhuman senses:

1. Sensors are increasingly becoming wireless, which means they can operate almost anywhere

2. We are figuring out how to get sensors to use very small amounts of power, or even to generate all the power they need from their environment (i.e. solar power, or power from natural vibrations)

3. Sensors are shrinking rapidly

4. Sensors are being networked together

Altogether, these changes mean that sensors will literally be woven into the fabric of our world.

Think of a new Internet of sensors, which will extend your senses in ways that are difficult to imagine. Do you know where your children are right now? Soon, your answer will always be yes.

In fact, it's already a mistake to think that Google only searches web pages. Through the web, you can already access millions of sensor readings, from radar screens and satellite imagery to sensor data from nature preserves such as Great Duck Island

If you have ever read a comic book, you know that gaining superhuman powers will change your life. Peter Parker didn't come home with new spider powers and go on with life as usual. These powers turned his life upside down.

Likewise, these new powers will change the course of human history. Quickly.

Sensors will reveal the truth about our history, environment, interactions, and universe. Just look at NBC's Olympic coverage, and you'll get an idea what I mean. They can now superimpose one ski racer's run over his competitor, so you can see precisely when and how one racer got the edge. No more vague generalities; we can now see 1/100ths of a second differences between two performances.

Knowing the truth excites some people, and terrifies others. Just ask Superman what it's like to have x-ray vision. Sometimes it's pretty depressing to know the truth.

Take a moment and look around. In less time than it will take the Yankees to win another World Series, sensors will be in your clothing, walls, pets, vehicles and body. Of course, you may be an early adopter, in which case all of these are already true.

Article Source : http://www.articledashboard.com

The best technology firms in the world have a secret weapon. He's Bruce Kasanoff , a writer with a remarkable gift for making complex innovations easy to understand. Bruce turns techno babble into interesting and engaging stories. If prospects are having troubles understanding what you do - and why they need it, email Bruce today, or call 203-341-9448. If you want more proof of his superior abilities, check out Superhuman Senses and keep up to date on the latest sensor developments and how they are likely to change your life.

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