Advice for Students: How to Read Like a Scholar reminded me of a book I own: How to Read a Book. This meta-book by Mortimer Adler, founder of the Great Books curriculum, in my opinion is a must-read for anyone wanting to read like a scholar. My only complaint is that it’s more verbose than is necessary. I almost needed a “How to Read ‘How to Read a Book’” book. I’d love links in the comments to other books similar to Adler’s which are quicker reads.

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BlogRush is a new service that helps find new readers for your blog. It’s generating a lot of buzz right now because it’s free and is a bit different from other sorts of traffic exchange programs out there. There’s an excellent video on the BlogRush front page which explains how it all works, but in a nutshell, you copy and paste a small bit of code into your blog template which will result in a widget being displayed that looks something like this:

Every time that widget is loaded, you earn a syndication credit. If you get 25 page views per day, a link to your page will appear 25 times on other people’s blogs. You also earn credits from other people’s page views if they signed up by clicking through your blog’s referral link. This referral system goes ten levels deep so the potential for a huge amount of syndication credits is there. They are also offering bonus credits for early adopters.

So it definitely makes sense to sign up early.

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1. Enjoy a picnic in the park
2. Karaoke night
3. Take dance lessons together
4. Read and discuss a book together
5. Plan and cook an elaborate meal
6. Go hiking
7. Game night for couples
8. Plan a weekend camping trip, just the two of you
9. Write each other a long letter and mail it.
10. Study a foreign language
11. Throw a cocktail party
12. Take a trip to your local winery for a tasting
13. Go estate and garage sale shopping on a Saturday
14. Try a new food together
15. Make and fly a kite in the park
16. Take a fitness class together
17. Make a list of ten things you love about the other person
18. Skydiving
19. Find a drive-in theater and make out
20. Do a puzzle
21. Plant some seeds and watch them grow
22. Take turns telling each other stories late at night
23. Video game night
24. Test drive a car you can’t afford
25. Host a costume party
26. Take turns teaching each other some skill
27. Babysit your friends’ kids together
28. Train for a mini-marathon (or full if you’re ambitious!)
29. Go to the casino and play low-stakes games
30. Write poems for each other
31. Make coupon books the other can redeem any time
32. Spend a whole weekend with no computer, TV, car, or phone. Be creative!
33. Learn the lines to a dialog in a play and act it out
34. Sleep in on a Saturday and go out for an elaborate brunch
35. Get in your car and go for a long drive with no clear destination
36. Throw a dart at a map and take your next vacation there.
37. Take a long bike ride.
38. Buy an expensive bottle of wine and share it together. Save the bottle.
39. Invent a cocktail and name it
40. Play Truth or Dare.
41. Take some photographs and then frame them together
42. Movie Marathon (Godfather Trilogy, Lord of the Rings, etc.)

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Here’s an innovative solution for people like myself who shut the alarm off in the morning and go back to sleep.

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I’m sure most of us have experienced a time when we met someone and within a few minutes we’ve forgotten his or her name. AU Interactive has some brilliant tips for saving yourself when you can’t remember someone’s name. My personal favorite is:

3. Introduce them to a friend. Use the friend ploy where you introduce them to someone you know by saying, “Hey, have you met my friend Walter? This is Walter Solbcheck … (spacey pause)… This is where they start saying their name, a split second after which you repeat the name like you were going to say it all along.

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GreatPokerArticles has a nice list of poker tells to look for at the table.

1. Player looks at chips

A player who looks at his or her chips immediately after seeing the flop has hit something on the flop and is about to bet. Keep your eyes on the other player/s when the flop comes, not the flop. If you are first to act this is valuable info. Only bet with a good hand here, it’s likely that you are getting called or re-raised.

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The “peaks” correspond to 31 days and the “valleys” correspond to 30 days (except for Feb. which is 28 or 29).

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