The Shortest Letter

I want to tell you about an interesting story, which is connected with one of the most famous French philosophers and writers at the same time. There are many, many unusual stories in the history of letter writing, and this is one, which will probably be interesting to most readers.
The letter that I am speaking about was written by Voltaire, the great French philosopher and writer. Voltaire wrote a pamphlet, which he sent to his publisher. Some time passed, but Voltaire received no news of its fate. He waited a few months longer - still nothing. So at last he sent his publisher a letter with only a question mark on it. The question mark was painted in green, but nobody knew why. It was situated in the middle of a sheet of paper.
All the copies of the pamphlet were already sold out. The publisher was no fool - it was quite clear to him what the sign "?" in Voltaire's letter meant. He had to answer the letter and he sent an answer that was as short as Voltaire's letter. It was no less clear, either. Just as in the philosopher's letter, there was only one sign in it - "!". The exclamation mark was painted in green, too. Only the publisher knew why. The "!" was in the middle of a sheet of paper again.
This was my interesting story about the shortest letter. And can you tell me what did the "?" and "!" mean? The way I see it is that the "?" was a question and the "!" was an answer! ;)

by Novak Novakov Novakov

edited by: Nikolay

HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT

Weight Loss
When you think about weight loss, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Is it hardcore cardiovascular exercise (cardio)? Is it intense weight training with machines and free weights? Or possibly a strict diet of vegetables and lean meats? The solution to effective weight loss is both simple and complex. The simplicity of it is this: weight loss consists of 70% diet and 30% exercise. The complexity of weight loss is in designing an effective weight loss plan with each component in moderation.

Diet
The first step in designing a weight loss is to dispel your current definition of a diet. You are not going to get on a diet for 2 months and then go back to eating normal. From now on your diet refers to the way you eat on a daily basis. Instead of going on a diet, you will change your daily eating habits to that of a healthy adult. You will increase your protein consumption, decrease your fat and carbohydrate consumption, eat 5 small meals, and drink a gallon of water a day. These four actions will inherently function to both reduce your daily caloric intake, and increase the calories burned by the metabolic processes in your body.

A crash diet is a diet which is extreme in its deprivations - typically severely restricting calorie intake. Meant to achieve rapid weight loss, a crash diet differs from outright starvation only slightly. Crash diets are typically unhealthy and are rarely - if ever - recommended by doctors or dietitians. Crash diets can lead to malnutrition, and are not a recommended means of weight loss.

After a person discontinues a crash diet, the "yo-yo effect" is often seen. This causes a person to eat far more than normal, causing them to regain both the weight that was lost due to the diet as well as additional weight. This is caused by an evolutionary trait of the human race that historically only took effect in times of famine: after a famine ended, people's bodies naturally craved to regain both the weight that was lost, plus additional weight as well, in order to protect themselves in case of another famine.

Exercise
The next step is to dispel your current definition of a weight loss exercise plan. You are not going to do endless hours of cardio. Have you ever noticed that most of the individuals that live on the cardio equipment are still rotund? The problem is that unless you are participating in 4 hours of cardio everyday, you are not going to be affecting permanent changes upon your body structure (and besides that, you would turn into a weak string bean doing cardio for 4 hrs a day). Instead you are going to strength train 3 days a week for an hour per session, and do about 30 minutes of cardio on non-lifting days, twice per week. The strength training portion will be 80% free weights, 20% machines and other devices. Train your full body each day, the biggest muscle groups first.

What Mark does Your Teacher Deserve?

Оne of the most well known new sites in Bulgaria is Moetodaskalo.com. On this site all teachers can be evaluated. It is the first one of this sort in Bulgaria. There are lots of things that intrigue the students about this site. Its not only usful for students, however. It is also very useful for teachers.

E-site www.moetodaskalo.com, created on 22.04.2006, continues to progress as those who created the site are not totally responsible for its success. The users of the site are just as, if not more responsible for the site to continue to develop. And develop it has, quite well in fact. Detailed information is provided about each teacher as a start of the review process. Then students have the chance to give their own opinions about the teachers. The great thing about this forum is that everyone can see and share evaluations of their teachers. The evaluating of the teachers has a few steps. First you have to register, then you have to search for your school at the site and find the teacher you want to evaluate and you are ready! If you do not like some of your teachers teaching, you can give him a poor mark or if you like your teacher very much, you can give him a 6. In that way teachers are given marks like students which is very funny!

It is great that this covers the evaluation of teachers. In this way, the teachers discover exactly what students feel about them and can adjust their teaching accordingly.

I believe that the site will continue move forward because it is very useful and reveals the real interrelations between teachers and students in an interesting way!

by: Vesi