Month: February 2020

Best Kids Games Online

In the age where all sources of entertainment are available to all age groups, it becomes a challenge to pick and choose the ones that are suitable for our kids, who are still growing and can be influenced easily by exposure to material that is not appropriate to their age.

Playing games is one thing that all kids love and there are countless websites over the internet that offer online games for kids. However, adult supervision is still crucial in this regard. The games kids play should also serve educational purposes because at the end of the day, kids spend a substantial amount of time on the computer and that must not go in vain.

online games for kids

We have enlisted a few games that kids can play online without fearing any harmful effects related to violence, psychological manipulation, and sexual content:

Wallykazam! Letter and Word Magic

This game has been specifically designed for educational purposes as it promotes reading habits in kids. Guardians who want their kids to enjoy and learn at the same time can use this game as an outlet. The main theme of the game is to build a tower with rhyming words, which helps in enhancing their vocabulary, spellings, and reading skills, all at the same time.

Burger Now

On a lighter note, this one is especially for foodie kids who all they think about is food, whether it is virtual life or real. Burger Now is an exciting, timed game in which the player is given a menu for every customer, and they have to prepare the item in a specified time-limit. With every order served, the scores keep adding, and in case of a late or slow delivery, the customers get grumpy and leave the counter. This is a game you don’t have to worry that your kid is playing as it is safe and age-appropriate to kids of almost all ages.

Build Your Snowman

Yet another game for kids is Build Your Snowman, which comes with different options for decorating a snowman. The time does not require any particular skill, and any kid can play this game without worrying about having to lose or win. It’s just that simple!

Puzzle Bobble

This classic game reminded us of the nineties games. When all kids used to get home from school and play puzzle bobble. Puzzle bobble is a fun game that allows the player to burst bubbles of the same colors and level up. The game is fun and has various stages. Its difficulty rises with each level, which is what makes it exciting for kids.

Cars 2

For automobile junkies, Cars 2 is the best kids’ game out there. It is based on the popular animated movie Cars and involves racing, as is evident from the name itself.

What needs to be ensured is that kids play games that provide not only entertainment but also serve some useful or educational purposes. Or are not harmful, at the least. That is why the games listed above made our list of the best kids games online.

How To Market Your Business Online

In the early stages of your startup, you may not have wads of cash to spend on marketing. However, that does not mean that there are not effective ways to get your brand out there to get a name for yourself.

Small businesses only had a few ways to market their products cheaply before the Internet was invented. They promoted their products through methods like printing out fliers or sponsoring small local events. You need to know where to look, as they’re so many opportunities out there on the web for you to market to your target audience. It is known as digital marketing or internet marketing in simple terms.

Here are some ways to promote your business online:

1. Learn To Setup Google Business Profiles: Register your business with Google Places. It allows you to be founded easily on Google searches because it is straightforward and easy to optimize. Yahoo! Local and Microsoft’s Bing can also be used to register your business for promotional purposes. All you have to do it fill out the form and register. You will get your business verified through their confirmation process. It can be done with either a phone call or through snail mail verification.

2. Welcome To Social Media: Social media is not only for your scrolling news feed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms. Social media can be used as an engaging tool to market and engage your audience. It has become a source of marketing and an affordable way for businesses to get their name out. You can boost your business through ad promotions, sharing links, joining groups, and coordinating events with peers and other local business owners. 

social media logos

3. Start Blogging For Your Business: Starting a blog not only gives you confidence but also gives your work a unique impression. It helps your company get its name out through followers and connect with your consumers more directly. Nevertheless, the key to success is to keep your stream updated as frequently as you can. Get a branded domain for your company so that you can advertise it properly. Stay active with your blog, because a dormant and abandoned blog does not provide the value it once did. 

4. Multimedia on YouTube and Flickr: YouTube is one of the most significant search engines on the planet. Make videos, upload them, get subscribers, and promote your business. To make things work out, you need to create content that captivates viewers and is relevant to your business. Here simplicity will not work; you need creativity and quality production to retain viewers. 

youtube & flickr logo

5. SEO Your Website: Seo (search engine optimization) is one of the latest techniques to bring your brand to the top of Google. It cannot be ignored in a world of constant Googling. Make sure your site is primed for performance on search engines, you will need to understand on-site optimization and off-site optimization so that your website will compete for top rankings in Google search. 

search engine optimizations

6. Press Release: The press release is one of the best ways to get to the top. Never hesitate to shoot off a press release every time your business does something newsworthy.

press release

Join in a relevant community and learn and progress.

Time To Retire And Golf

Golfers play at Northern Michigan golf resort.

Wake Up!

Don’t just sit there and dream about it, prepare for your retirement like you know it’s coming! Trust us, one day you will wake up and that day will be here. One minute you’re working on the Ford assembly line in Wayne, Michigan, and the next minute your crushing beer cans while swinging the 9 iron across several Michigan golf resorts. It’s a scary reality, and it happens to everyone, so you might as well make the best of it. So what do you do when the work bell rings for the last time? You pick up a golf club and you head out to the greens for some rounds with the fellas. Golf is a low impact sport that can be played all the way through to hospice. So here are some things to consider before hanging up your work boots for a pair of golf shoes.

Learning to Golf for Retirement

If you finally hit your retirement age after so many long years in the workforce, you may be wondering what you should do with all your new free time. Now that you do not have a job to go to anymore, the world is open to so many new possibilities and hobbies for you to explore, learn, and grow both mentally and physically. One of the top retirement hobbies is golfing.

Golfing is an excellent sport for everyone of all ages. It is not as intense as football or soccer, yet it still requires precise planning and body strength. For older and retired folks, it is an overall great solution to stay in shape, meet new people, and gives you something to look forward to. Most golf courses are also brew-friendly, so walking 9 holes with a cold one in-hand isn’t out of the ordinary, and this is just another reason why golf is awesome!

Staying in Shape

The physical benefits of golfing are well known, especially for those who play regularly. According to Golf Digest Magazine, on average, golfers will walk about 4 miles during a typical 18-hole course and burn roughly 1,400 calories. If riding in a cart instead, you are estimated to burn about 850 calories. From all of this physical activity, you not only gain stamina, but you also increase your muscle strength (arms, legs, and core) and enhance heart health. These are all aspects that are extremely important for everyone to keep up with, but especially critical as you age. Look, we are all going to die, if you are going to have a heart attack, it’s better to have one on a grassy green fairway than a lazy boy recliner watching re-runs of Lone Ranger.

Mental Health

Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Golfing is excellent at keeping you sharp by working your brain. Mens golf, and women’s golf continue to grow and will provide you with a healthy platform to stay strong physically, and mentally. You have to continuously think about calculations such as ball location, wind strength and direction, and how tall the grass is. Just like all exercises, golfing also has been shown to release endorphins, which is the hormone that makes you feel good. From keeping your brain fit to feeling great after you play, this is perfect for ensuring proper mental health during your retirement. All that walking is great for cardio, and the extra oxygen pumping to the brain is going to support your mental health, as long as you aren’t puffing a bunch of recreational THC cigarettes.

Social Benefits

When you retire, chances are you will not be associating with as many people or as often as you were when you went to work every day. The rapid transition from being around people every day to generally alone can cause depression. This is why it is critical to stay social once you retire. Golfing is a great way to form new and lasting friendships with people who have the same interests as you. It also gives you something to look forward to and people to share your golfing experiences with. You can certainly play golf on your own if you wish, but if you feel like becoming more social, golf can bring people together and form new relationships. If you’re retired, but not yet knock’n on heaven’s door, golfing might also give you an opportunity to meet some older ladies. If the hardware is still active, you might be playing more than 18 holes.

Conclusion

Golfing is a wonderful sport that is both relaxing and challenging. This is an ideal combination that makes golfing an addicting sport to take on. Since you are retired or soon to be, feel free to go at any time of day during the week to either avoid or immerse yourself in the busy hours. Enjoy your freedom and ability to perfect your swing on your own time and have fun in the process.

Finding the Right Luxury Apartment

Wake Up!

If you have been surfing the web, looking for the right luxury apartment, you can stop right now! First, most of them are overpriced for the amenities they offer. Seriously, why do you need half the stuff they offer? Are you that high maintenance? Well, here’s the scoop! There are some that are pretty rad and might be worth the expense, it’s just a matter of finding the one that is right for you. It doesn’t matter if you are looking for a luxury apartment in OKC, or a luxury apartment in Seattle, these rules apply no matter where you are in the country looking for your next place to call home. So, here we will break down some of the obvious things you should look for when searching for your first luxury apartment.

What To Look For In a Luxury Apartment

When looking for a new apartment, it’s easy to get overwhelmed whether you’re looking to buy or rent. With so many options and considerations, the last thing you want is to make a decision you’ll later regret. Therefore, we’ve broken down some key considerations below. As long as you pay attention to everything we mention, you shouldn’t have a problem finding a home that suits your needs whether these are short-term or long-term.

Location, Location, Location

When faced with thousands of search results online, one of the easiest and quickest ways to filter is through location. There’s no point finding a home of your dreams only to then discover it’s 50 miles away from work. Of course, you need to consider location with regards to the following; 

  • Work 
  • Schools 
  • Family 
  • Shops 
  • Public transportation 
  • Any clubs you attend

Amenities

What’s important to you inside the apartment and apartment building itself? Do you need a washer and dryer? Would you like a shared gym for the building? Do you need a parking spot? As well as the amenities in the building, you can again think about the amenities in the local area. For example, where are you going to go if you need some milk late at night?

Cost

When trying to find the right apartment, too many people only consider rent when thinking about finances. Since this isn’t going to be your only expense, you can’t afford to forget trash, maintenance, water, pet fees, internet and cable services, utilities, and all the other expenses that come with the apartment. Although it sounds like hard work, researching these costs could save you hundreds of dollars each month.

Potential

In the title, we posed the question of what you need to look for in an apartment. As well as thinking about right now, you also need to think about the future. Will you change jobs? Are you planning on having children? Is a child soon to be going to school? If you don’t think about the future, it will only be a matter of time before you need to move again. Consider where you want to be in five years and whether a potential apartment will accommodate this.

Sleeping Habits

Another consideration people often ignore is sleep. For light sleepers, location is an important factor, as is the layout of the building. If you’re a light sleeper, having another apartment in every direction could cause problems. Therefore, you might want to look for single-story apartments or even those on the top floor of a building. This way, you aren’t disrupted by noisy neighbors each night.

Help with Pets

It goes without saying that those with pets will need a landlord happy enough for you to keep them in the apartment, but some actually go further these days. Why go to an apartment where your pet is accepted when you can choose one where your pet will be loved? For example, some have dog walking/sitting services whenever you need, dog parks, grooming stations, and more all nearby.

Accommodating Your Lifestyle

At this stage, we hope you’ve noticed a theme to our guide. There’s no universal ‘best’ apartment, and you’re not going to find the perfect answer online. Instead, you need an apartment that will accommodate your lifestyle without you having to sacrifice anything. In the right location for YOU, with amenities in the building, a cost within your budget, and potential to meet your needs in the future, you’ll have an apartment that quickly becomes a home!

People Are Loving This Ohio Judge Who Gives A Taste Of Their Own Medicine To Animal Abusers

Animals have rights just like us and they should be respected. And no animal deserves to be treated with cruelty. These sound like two very basic ideas, right? Unfortunately, there’s an unseemly number of people who enjoy abusing animals or don’t even realize they’re doing it. Some of them even escape the long arm of the law.

But those who don’t may have ended up in front of judge Michael Cicconetti of Painesville, Ohio. The now-retired judge used to give out creative and unusual punishments to animal abusers as a way to give them a taste of their own medicine. That way, the lesson that hurting animals is wrong is more likely to stick.

Just to be clear, the judge never gave out illegal or dangerous punishments. But he did want to teach people who are cruel to animals something about not being utter jerks.

More info: Facebook | Twitter

Judge Cicconetti used to give out very creative sentences where the punishment actually fit the crime

He made one woman, who left 35 kittens in the woods, spend a night in the woods all by herself

Meanwhile, a woman who kept her dog in filth spent the day in the town dump

You can hear the judge talking to the defendant right here

But what kinds of punishments did the judge give out? In one case, a woman abandoned 35 kittens (yes, you read that right—35) in the woods. So the judge knew she needed some help understanding that what she did was wrong.

He sentenced her to spend a night in the woods. Here’s what he said to her that time: “How would you like to be dumped off at a metro park late at night, spend the night listening to the coyotes, listening to the raccoons around you in the dark night, and sit out there in the cold not knowing where you’re going to get your next meal, not knowing when you are going to be rescued?”

Meanwhile, the judge sentenced another woman whose dog was living in filth to spend a day at the local dump. “I want you to go down to the county dump, to the landfill, and I want them to find the stinkiest, smelliest, God-awful odor place they can find in that dump and I want you to sit there for eight hours tomorrow, to think about what you did to that dog while you smell the odor. If you puke, you puke.” Now those are some seriously Biblical punishments.

Here’s a video that goes into more detail about the judge

Judge Cicconetti started doling out these punishments when he realized that jail time only leads to offenders repeating their crimes. According to the judge, he always makes sure that the sentence fits the crime. Judge Cicconetti absolutely adores animals. That love for all living things started when he got his very first dog, Herman (he was a Dachshund). Now, the judge has a 10-year-old Bernese mountain doggo named Kasey.

Here are some more of the judge’s unusual sentences:

-A man who committed child abuse was sent to a school in a dog outfit and had to talk about child safety.

-During heavy blizzards, he ordered defendants to clear snow at a retirement home.

-A man caught with a loaded gun was sent to a morgue to see corpses.

-A young man who stole a bicycle spent 10 days riding a bicycle to support a local charity.

-A man who shot a dog was sentenced to donating 40 lbs of dog food on every holiday to the Lake County Animal Shelter.

-Two teenagers who scrawled 666 on a nativity figure of Jesus had to lead a donkey through the streets, with a sign saying: “Sorry for the jackass offense, but he is soooo cute!”

-Teenagers who flattened tires on school buses were ordered to throw a picnic for the primary school children whose outing was canceled due to the prank.

-A man who committed a traffic violation while shouting “pigs” at police officers was made to stand on a street corner with a 350-pound pig and a sign that said “This is not a police officer.”

-An 18-year-old male who stole pornography from an adult book store was ordered to sit outside the store wearing a blindfold and holding a sign that read “See no evil.”

-Three men soliciting sex were ordered to wear chicken suits holding signs that read “No Chicken Ranch in Painesville.”

-In January 2008, Cicconetti sentenced a man who stole a red collection kettle holding about $250 from the Salvation Army to spend 24 hours homeless.

-A woman who was convicted of stealing from a church was ordered to spell out the sentence “I stole coins from this church” entirely in coins and apologize to each worshipper as they entered the church.

-A woman who skipped out on a cab fare was ordered to walk 30 miles in 48 hours. Thirty miles was the distance the cab driver had driven her before she skipped out on the fare.

-A woman who pleaded guilty to assault for using pepper spray on a man was given the choice to serve 30 days in jail or serve three days of community service and be shot herself with pepper spray. After agreeing to the latter she was sprayed and found out it was only water.

-A nanny accused of hitting a boy with a belt was compelled to read articles on the consequences of child abuse, and then discuss them in the courtroom in front of the judge, the victim’s mother, and spectators.

Internet users thought that the judge’s sentences were spot-on