PaulSpoerry.com

About 50 Boulder High School students walked out of class Thursday to protest the daily reading of the Pledge of Allegiance and recited their own version, omitting “one nation, under God.”The students say the phrase violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

They also say the daily reading of the pledge over the school public address system at the start of the second class takes away from education time and is ignored or mocked by some students.

A state law passed in 2004 requires schools to offer the opportunity to recite the pledge each day but does not require students to participate.

The protesting students, members of the Student Worker Club, want administrators to hold the pledge reading in the auditorium during each of the school’s two lunch periods for any students who want to participate.

Otherwise, they said, they plan to walk out each Thursday when the pledge is read and recite their version, which omits the reference to God and adds allegiance to constitutional rights, diversity and freedom, among other things.

“Boulder High has a highly diverse population, not all of whom believe in God, or one God,” said Emma Martens, a senior and president of the club, which has about a dozen members.

“We didn’t think it was fair for the whole school to have to listen to it. It’s almost religious oppression,” she said.

Principal Bud Jenkins told the Camera newspaper on its Web site Thursday the pledge will not be moved, but added he was proud of the students for standing up for their beliefs. It was not immediately clear what discipline, if any, the protesting students would face.

 Personally, if those kids get any type of discipline, the school should be sued. Now I’m sure my Christian friends will go ga-ga over this, because the reason the kids refused was the inclusion of a reference to a diety. The fact of the matter is, “one nation, under god” was not a part of the original Pledge of Allegiance. That wasn’t added until June 14, 1954. Don’t believe me? Feel free to read the full description of how it got pushed into the Pledge.

Need an icon for your website or application? I just ran across a very easy to use site that provide free icons, many of which are very slick.

IconFinder’s page is simple and to the point. It reminds me of Google search page, plain and empty. You just pop in what kind of icon you’re looking for and it returns a page of results with those icons. The search page is all autocomplete-AJAXified so that as you’re typing it’s showing you words that match what you’ve typed in so far. IconFinder also has a cloud search, similar to what you see on many websites these days. Click the cloud search page and you find yourself on a page with a bunch of tags, click the tag and you’ll see the resulting icons that match that tag.

I shop online a lot. During the holiday I won’t even steps foot in a store. Shoping online is a great way to find a better deal than the brick and morter stores, but you need to know where to look to find those good deals. Below is the list of 20 Most Popular Sites for Bargain Hunters. (btw, my personal favs are PriceGrabber and DealNews).

 1 | BizRate.com
28,129,641 - Inbound Links | 14,117,053 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 17,000,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 750 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 8

 2 | Shopzilla.com
7,484,663 - Inbound Links | 10,005,087 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 13,000,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 1,930 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 7

 3 | DealTime.com
13,005,416 - Inbound Links | 8,712,971 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 10,000,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 829 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 8

 4 | ShopLocal.com
21,062,762 - Inbound Links | 7,071,499 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 7,200,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 1,519 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 8

 5 | PriceGrabber.com
15,151,276 - Inbound Links | 4,592,123 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 4,700,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 915 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 9

 6 | CoolSavings.com
268,706 - Inbound Links | 7,968,496 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 9,500,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 4,119 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 6

 7 | Coupons.com
2,409,646 - Inbound Links | 6,721,044 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 3,600,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 7,679 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 6

 8 | Smarter.com
575,048 - Inbound Links | 8,421,414 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 2,400,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 2,934 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 7

 9 | MySimon.com
22,650,563 - Inbound Links | 1,066,415 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 1,100,000 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 8,071 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 8

 10 | SlickDeals.net
172,617 - Inbound Links | 736,266 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 425,417 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 1,395 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 6

 11 | CouponCabin.com
75,642 - Inbound Links | 886,796 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 602,278 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 18,471 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 6

 12 | eBates.com
92,107 - Inbound Links | 568,911 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 610,483 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 13,856 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 6

 13 | DealNews.com
235,745 - Inbound Links | 481,436 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 338,904 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 6,856 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 6

 14 | DealCatcher.com
123,169 - Inbound Links | 459,882 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 229,984 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 14,421 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 6

 15 | PriceRunner.com
1,479,829 - Inbound Links | 288,667 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 442,121 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 5,555 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 7

 16 | FatWallet.com
327,773 - Inbound Links | 350,440 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 264,038 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 1,647 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 6

 17 | Geeks.com
304,455 - Inbound Links | 278,645 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 306,703 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 8,015 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 6

 18 | woot.com
259,568 - Inbound Links | 317,680 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 187,425 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 1,573 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 7

 19 | BensBargains.net
126,817 - Inbound Links | 108,102 - Compete Monthly Visitors | 67,778 - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | 10,479 - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: 5

 *20 | Google Products
54 - Inbound Links | NA - Compete Monthly Visitors | NA - Quantcast Monthly Visitors | NA - Alexa Ranking. | Page Rank: NA

The last few months I’ve been really into excersize, so I found the following Newsweek article to be really interesting.

You don’t need to read this column to know that exercise is good for you. You probably already know that regular, moderate exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health and well-being. What you may not know is that new research is showing that exercise beneficially affects your genes, helps reverse the aging process at a cellular level, gives you more energy, makes you smarter, and may even help you grow so many new brain cells (a process called neurogenesis) that your brain actually gets bigger.

Really.

So does improving your nutrition. A diet high in sugar and saturated fat diminishes neurogenesis, whereas other foods increase it, including chocolate (in moderate amounts), tea and blackberries, which contain a substance called epicatechin that improves memory. Small amounts of alcohol increase neurogenesis, whereas larger amounts decrease it. Chronic emotional stress decreases neurogenesis, but stress management techniques increase it. Drugs such as nicotine, opiates and cocaine decrease neurogenesis, whereas a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in 1995 showed that cannabinoids (found in marijuana) increase it, at least in rats. (Uh, what were we just talking about?)

Use It or Lose It
Until about nine years ago it was thought that you were born with a certain number of neurons, and they tended to decrease in number as you got older. The best you could hope to do was to slow the rate at which you lost brain cells.

Fortunately, it’s not true. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and at Columbia University showed that older adults continue to generate new neurons at virtually any age. Earlier this year these researchers found that in addition to growing new neurons, exercise doubled blood flow to the brain. A study published last year by researchers at the University of Illinois reported that just walking for three hours per week for only three months caused so many new neurons to grow that it actually increased the size of people’s brains.

Best of all, the region of the brain that grew the most was the hippocampus, the part most involved with memory and cognition. After only three months, those who exercised had brain volumes typical of people who were three years younger! Also, the new neurons tend to find their way to well-established existing connections and replace ones that are damaged or nonfunctioning. Those who showed the most improvement in fitness also showed the greatest enhancement in memory. The authors concluded, “These results suggest that cardiovascular fitness is associated with the sparing of brain tissue in aging humans. Furthermore, these results suggest a strong biological basis for the role of aerobic fitness in maintaining and enhancing central nervous system health and cognitive functioning in older adults.”

Regular, moderate exercise (along with healthier eating and stress management techniques) also reduces inflammation throughout your body, including in your brain, and reduces the incidence of tiny strokes that can impair your ability to think clearly. Exercise also helps boost your sense of well-being. Levels of beneficial neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine are higher in those who exercise—the same ones elevated by many antidepressants. These, in turn, may help reduce depression, elevate mood and help you focus better.

Exercise Makes You More Intelligent
Other studies have shown that older adults who exercise regularly have better memory, are better at going from one mental task to another, and can focus and concentrate better than those who are sedentary. In other words, exercise makes older people more intelligent.

Exercise makes younger people smarter too. Kids who exercise have fewer problems with attention-deficit disorder and learn faster. Studies have shown that physical education in schools improves academic performance as well as physical fitness. For example, a study by the California Department of Education of 322,000 seventh-grade students found that the most fit scored in the 66th percentile on their SATs, whereas the least fit scored in the 28th percentile. Studies at the University of Illinois also found that those who were more fit had better standardized test scores.

Exercising Your Genes
Your genes are not your fate. The choices you make each day in your diet and lifestyle have a direct influence on how your genetic predisposition is expressed—for better and for worse. You’re only as old as your genes, but how your genes are expressed may be modified by exercise, diet and lifestyle choices much more than had previously been believed—and more quickly. For example, Finnish scientists reported in a study published in July that increased moderate to vigorous physical activity modified two genes involved in type 2 diabetes and reduced the risk of developing the disease, independent of changes in weight or diet.

Another recent study compared mitochondria in muscle biopsies of older and younger men and women. Your mitochondria are the “energy generators” of your body’s cells. One of the reasons many people feel less energetic as they get older is that their mitochondria work less efficiently with age. The investigators found that in those who were mostly sedentary, mitochondrial function declined markedly with age and was affected by more than 300 genes. Then the investigators put these older men and women through a six-month exercise program that involved strength training for one hour only two days per week using the types of weight machines found in most gyms. Resistance exercise for each session consisted of three sets of 10 repetitions for each of: leg press, chest press, leg extension, leg flexion, shoulder press, lat pull-down, seated row, calf raise, abdominal crunch and back extension, and 10 repetitions for arm flexion and arm extension.

After only six months, the subjects’ strength improved by 50 percent, and they reported feeling much more energetic. Many of the 300 genes that had declined with age began to now act more like those in younger people. In fact, the investigators found that exercise affected age-associated gene expression more than in younger people, meaning that exercise is especially beneficial as people get older.

These high-tech studies illustrate what a powerful difference low-tech interventions such as changes in exercise, nutrition and stress management techniques can play in our lives. People often believe that advances in medicine have to be a new drug, a new laser or a surgical intervention to be powerful—something really high-tech and expensive. They often have a hard time believing that the simple choices that we make in our lives each day—how much we exercise, what we eat and how we respond to stress—may make such a powerful difference in our health, our well-being, and even in our brains. But they often do.

How to remember to exercise in a way that’s sustainable? Do what you enjoy, make it fun and do it regularly. If you grow new neurons, then you won’t forget!

Direct from TorrentFreak here’s a list of 20 BitTorrent tips and tricks. Even people who’ve been using BT for quite some time can probably find something useful in this list.

BitTorrent For Beginners

1. How and Why BitTorrent Works

BitTorrent is often referred to as the best filesharing protocol for sharing large files. But why? What makes BitTorrent so unique? Well, lets take a sneak peek under the hood of your BitTorrent client, and list a couple of features that make BitTorrent as fast, stable, and robust as it is.

2. How to Make a Torrent

Torrents are great, they are the best way to share large files with your friends, or even with people you don’t know at all. But surprisingly enough, not many people create torrents when they need to share something. We show you how.

3. uTorrent Beginners Guide

The uTorrent website has a great beginners guide for BitTorrent newbies. Worth a visit if you just started using BitTorrent.

4. Where to find Torrents

By now you probably know how BitTorrent works, now you need a good place to find .torrent files. Here’s a list of 10 great BitTorrent sites. There’s also a list of 20 less known BitTorrent sites.

Fight Throttling ISPs and be Anonymous

5. ISPs Who throttle BitTorrent Traffic

Some Internet providers try to slow you down when you use torrents. The Azureus wiki has list of ISPs who throttle BitTorrent traffic. It also suggests what encryption levels you should use.

6. How To Encrypt BitTorrent Traffic

More and more ISP’s are limiting and throttling BitTorrent traffic on their networks. By throttling BitTorrent traffic the speed of BitTorrent downloads decreases, and high speed downloads are out of the question. We show you some techniques that should help you evade some of these measures.

7. How To Tunnel BitTorrent over SSH

Sometimes it is impossible to use BitTorrent, if you’re at work, school, Comcast! or connected to a public hotspot for example. But there is an easy solution to overcome this problem. If you use a secure connection (SSH), you will be able to bypass almost every firewall.

8. How to make BitTorrent Transfers Anonymous

The Swedish Pirate Party introduced a completely anonymous (VPN) service called Relakks. Relakks makes it possible to browse the web, and use p2p-applications (like BitTorrent) without being monitored by your ISP or anti-piracy gangs like the MPAA and RIAA.

Speed up your BitTorrent Downloads

9. How to Optimize Your BitTorrent Download Speed

BitTorrent can be fun, as long as you get decent speeds. Not satisfied with your current speeds? These suggestions might help you to optimize your download pleasures.

10. How to Speed Up Bitcomet and uTorrent

90% off all people use the default settings on their client, and that’s a problem. Azureus users might want to try this tutorial by Paul Stamatiou.

11. Calculate Your Optimal BitTorrent Settings

Configuring your BitTorrent client is extremely important if you want to get the best out of BitTorrent. However, the settings pane of the average BitTorrent client might be a bit overwhelming, and some people just don’t know where to start.

12. How to Protect Your Torrent From Failing Trackers

Nothing is more frustrating than your download getting stuck. The fact that a torrent has stopped downloading can have several reasons.

BitTorrent and RSS

13. How to Use RSS & BitTorrent to Download TV shows

Are you tired of scanning several BitTorrent sites for the latest episodes of your favorite TV show? You should definitely try using RSS feeds then. RSS and BitTorrent are a perfect match.

14. How to Make a Custom TV Torrent Feed

How to create a personalized TV torrent feed, and have all your favorite TV torrents in one feed.

15. Subscribe to TV Shows Using BitTorrent and TVNanny

TVNanny is a BitTorrent site specializing in the indexing of TV show torrents. Using a subscription based interface, it’s possible to automatically download your favorite TV show episodes to your PC, utilizing the RSS feature in your chosen torrent client.

16. How to Use Gmail to Search Torrents

Gmail is more than a useful email service. In just a few steps you can turn it into your personal torrent search engine. And by using labels and filters you can keep your inbox clean.

uTorrent Tips and Tricks

17. How to Run uTorrent on a USB Stick

A portable version of uTorrent may come in handy when you’re with friends, at school, or at work. It will fit perfectly on every usb-stick, iPod, mobile phone, or any other device that is recognized a “removable disk”.

18. How to Run uTorrent in Mac OS X

uTorrent is currently only available for Windows. But that doesn’t going to stop us from running it in OS X.

19. How to Use Firefox to Remotely Control uTorrent

The uTorrent WebUI can be used to access uTorrent from an external computer. This Firefox extension will make it even easier.

20. Use uTorrent to Organize Your BitTorrent Downloads

BitTorrent is great, but all those downloaded torrents have the habit of making a mess of your harddrive. Do you still have all your downloaded stuff in a single folder? Take action, organize your torrents.