If you’re looking for a healthy natural cleanse / detoxification program, it’s tough to beat the Clean Program by Dr. Alejandro Junger. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Do cleanses really work?” It’s true that there are a TON of fad detoxes out there, many with high profile celebrity endorsements, some of them limit you to things like water and lemon. But the Clean Program is different:

• No dieting — eat as much as you want!
• Eat real, yummy food, not just juice or raw nuts
• Scientific: this was the big selling point for me. Reading Dr. Junger’s book Clean, it becomes clear that his cleanse is rooted not in “ancient traditions” or empirical evidence, but rather in a deep understanding of the complicated internal ecosystem of our gastrointestinal system.

Unfortunately, the Clean Program also has some disadvantages, the main one being the price. If you purchase the cleanse through Dr. Junger’s website, you’ll pay $425 for a 1-person supply of the necessary shakes, powders, and pills.

The Clean Program’s Dirty Secret

Although the book provides many excellent natural whole food alternatives for the Clean Program shakes, you’re kind of left on your own to figure out the supplements, and Dr. Junger provides surprisingly few recommendations as to brands or availability, instead referring you only to the program website. When you visit the website, you find out why: they sell their own versions of all the recommended supplements, at enormously inflated prices!

I like to think that Dr. Junger wrote Clean with the best of intentions, but one day some enterprising intern at his publisher decided: “hey, we could make a TON more money if, instead of recommending natural whole food alternatives people could get themselves, we instead sold our own processed and packaged versions of everything!” And so a book that’s all about eliminating processed food and chemicals from your life became a vehicle to sell, well, processed food and chemicals.

But if, like me, you believe in the science behind the Clean detoxification program, it’s hard to resist the convenience of getting all of the necessary nutrients in one convenient package. Reconstructing the Clean Program supplements from whole foods would take a TON of research, shopping time, and money. It’s easy to see why many people choose to shell out the $425 bucks.

And that’s where Clean’s dirty secret comes in: they don’t manufacture their own supplements. The entire Clean Program package is manufactured by a company called Metagenics, then relabeled and resold (at much higher prices) by Clean. Metagenics products are not easy to find, but I’ve taken the time to track down the Metagenics name for every Clean Program product. I’ve also linked to the store where you can purchase it for the lowest price (which in nearly every case was Amazon, or an Amazon seller).

Cheaper Alternatives to the Clean Program Supplements

Clean Name	Metagenics Name
Nourish$65	UltraInflamX Plus 360~ $58
Move$38	MetaFiber$23
EncourageOnly as part of $425 Cleanse Package	Ultra Flora Ib$35
Clear 2$34 (63 count)	CandiBactin-BR$24 (90 count)
Clear 1$40	Proboulardi$31
Balance$60 (63 count)	Insinase$50 (90 count)
Ease$20 (63 count)	Metazyme $16.25 (90 count)
ReliefOnly available as part of $425 Cleanse Package	AdvaClear$24.50
TOTAL: $425 (Cleanse Package)	TOTAL: $262 (And a lot more flexibility in deciding which parts of the package you’d like to use.)

Now, a few disclaimers: as with any diet, you should consult with a physician before trying Clean or the Metagenics clean alternatives. Some of these supplements look pretty hefty to me, so you’ll want to make sure they’re right for your body. I determined these alternatives to be identical to the clean program based upon observation of the ingredients only; I have no special insider knowledge from the Clean people, so caveat emptor, you will want to do your own research. You can check the ingredients and other information for the Metagenics producs on their website, and compare to the ingredients lists on the Clean website. One thing that I did notice is that the quantities and serving sizes are often different. Usually the Metagenics version provides greater quantity for less money: Eg, Clean’s Clear 1 provides 21 capsules for $40. On Amazon, the equivalent Metagenics Proboulardi costs $31 for 30 capsules. The only exception I noticed was MetaFiber, where the Clean version (Move) provides about a 50% larger size.

Touch my toes? Missy, I can’t even see my toes.

Spandex should come with a warning label for people like me: “CAUTION: NOT TO EXCEED 20% OF OUTFIT”. Those cute but oh-so-revealing yoga outfits? I can’t even imagine appearing in public wearing one something like that, let alone sticking my butt up in the air in a room full of lithe twenty-somethings and a cute-if-shaggy instructor.

Were there such a thing as Plump, Rigid, & Cowardly magazine, I would undoubtedly be their first cover model.

In case it’s not already clear, let me be more direct: I am not your typical yoga aficionado. You know, the lithe, limber, supremely fit and serenely calm young woman who looks something like this:

The Yoga Goddess. How many yoga classes until I look like this?

Our Yoga-Goddess has no problem with spandex, touching her toys, or sticking her butt up in the air. If you look something like her, you can stop reading this article now and go treat yourself to a 14-mile run and a wheatgrass-milkshake.

Still here? Good, for the rest of us, I’d like to share a revelation: Yoga is not just for the Yoga-goddesses. In fact, were it not for the American tendency to market any form of activity as somehow being about weight loss, I’d say that Yoga is primarily not for the Yoga-goddesses, but rather for anyone who sees personal health and wellness as something much deeper than mere muscle tone.

For years, I avoided going to a yoga class because I assumed I would just embarrass myself due to lack of fitness or flexibility. I dreamed vaguely of one day getting into Yoga after I had reached my target weight, along with other impractical activities that looked good on TV, like modern dance and rope-less rock climbing.

This lady could get Frankenstein to do Yoga.

Each day I couldn’t wait to get home and turn on the DVD, commencing a transformation where the stresses of work, city-life, and money woes peeled away bit-by-bit, until the real me could emerge once again, like a butterfly shaking free of its cocoon.

But my new-found passion for yoga wasn’t just a workout; it kicked off a whole new lifestyle. I just felt more alive, more energetic, more organic – like the difference between a fuzzy black and white episode of I Love Lucy and the eye-popping high-definition Blu-Ray version of Planet Earth. Suddenly it was easier to make healthy choices at the food court, and much less intimidating to say yes to invitations from active friends.

Eventually I branched out to other Yoga DVDs, with a particular fondness for The Biggest Loser Yoga, and pretty much everything from Barbara Bernagh.

So I’m still not quite ready to venture out in spandex or embarrass myself in a class, but getting over my initial preconceptions about yoga ultimately opened up a whole new world for me right here in my living room. I hope it will do the same for you!

Who needs Johnny Depp? If you can’t get enough of swashbuckling, plank-walking, rum-double-fisting, and aarrrggghyle, it’s time you up and relocated your family to the Caribbean. More specifically, to the Virgin Islands, long the world capitol of piracy and today your best opportunity to immerse yourself in pirate lore.

Looking to recreate a pirate adventure with your family? Try visiting the ominously named Dead Man’s Chest in the British Virgin Islands, where infamous Buccaneer Bad Man Blackbeard once marooned 15 mutinous crew members with only a single bottle of Rum between them.

15 men on a Dead Man’s Chest,
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum…

A little Parenting Advice from the Drivler: try Blackbeard’s technique with your wee little ones and you can be sure that’s the last time they’ll complain that your family vacations are “boring”. Arrgggh!!

There's only one place on Earth where you can come face to face with the pirates of yore.

Photo courtesy of VirginIsles.com

Custom cufflinks are one of the best pieces of jewelry and jewellery style accessories that can be customized to suit the tastes of the wearer, or to give a personal touch to a gift or elegant special occasion item. Choosing to personalize your cuff links creates a unique and original item to either give as a gift or keep for yourself. Among the list of accessory pieces that fall into this category are custom cuff links. Traditionally, cuff links are worn by a man to keep the stiff material of a shirt sleeve cuff closed. They have traditionally been considered a distinctive piece worn by men in positions of great wealth or power.

Today a pair of cufflinks can be worn by men and women in all walks of life. Even though there are numerous designs to choose from, the styles that are customized with an engraving or other personal touch still carry an air of distinction with them. The choice you have available when selecting a custom piece may be limited to a monogram with initials. This is due to the small size of the accessory item itself. You will also have your choice of finish on your piece, such as a gold, silver or platinum type of finish. Depending on the particular merchant, your customized cuff links may come in a selection of shapes to choose from as well.

A personalized item such as this makes a great gift for a successful lawyer, businessman, fashionista, or just the person who has everything. The true gentleman can always use more cuff links, and the personal touch of customization makes the gift memorable and truly unique. You can elect to give this gift to a loved one who has a professional position that requires the use of dress shirts. You could also give it to a family member or friend who simply enjoys dressing up.

There are some specialty design companies that will also create images on these jewelry accessory items. Everything from a favorite football team to a family photo can be printed on personalized cuff links. These companies can also place your company name or logo on your cuff links in order to create a class and unique corporate gift to mark a milestone like 10 years of loyalty to the company. The custom photo cuff links are also a great way to give any parent a picture of their child to treasure while on the job.

These unique and stylish cufflinks can also be worn for special occasions, such as a holiday event or formal gathering. A custom piece would look great when used as a decorative accent on a man’s formal suit. It would be equally stylish when used in combination with a woman’s formal suit as well. A basic sterling silver set, which can be engraved, may retail for about $70. You will find the engraveable pieces available at most jewelry stores, while the specialty styles with imaging effects, can be purchased online.

When someone mentions the word “hacker,” several stereotypes are likely to spring to mind. A lot of people assume that hackers are predominantly young males who live at home and have nothing better to do than to cause mischief online. While this is in part true, it in no way represents the whole hacker culture. Often hackers are actually teams of people working together from all corners of the world and not all of them are up to criminal activity. Of course, there are teams of hackers out there who are trying to steal credit card numbers, information, identities, pirate software, and other illegal activities. These hackers are called black hat hackers. On the other hand, there are people who hack ethically in order to prevent cyber-crimes. These people are called white hat hackers. Often, ethical hackers are hired by corporations, educational institutions, and government agencies to test their defenses and software against computer attacks. In this tutorial to ethical hacking, we’ll provide an introduction to what ethical hacking is, who does it, how you can get started as an ethical hacker, and how much you ethical hackers get paid for their unique skills.

What is “ethical hacking”?

Ethical hackers, or white hat hackers, are often IT professionals and computer engineers and scientists.

Corporations spend a lot of money to secure their servers from hackers.

Ethical hackers are sometimes called “penetration testers.” Many times, ethical hackers start as black hackers, but quickly realize that they can make more money legally by offering their skills to major corporations or government agencies. In order to become an ethical hacker, it takes a great amount of computer knowledge. Hacking the computer systems of major corporations is not an easy task, despite what the entertainment industry would have people think. Instead, it often takes weeks or months of laborious work to even get a foothold into the system.

How to get started in Ethical Hacking

While no ethical hacking tutorial can ever hope to cover all the knowledge required to succeed an ethical hacker, we hope to provide some useful information as to the route you can take for acquiring that

Ethical hackers have to be highly skilled with computers.

How much can you earn as an ethical white hat hacker?

Being an ethical hacker for a major corporation can be a lucrative and rewarding career. Corporations and governments lose billions of dollars every year through the crimes of black hat hackers. Often, ethical hackers are the first and the last line of defense that exist. Salary ranges for a skilled ethical hacker are generally solidly in the six figures, with top professionals earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. The very best ethical hackers often start their own security consulting companies, where they can earn as much as $500 per hour to help corporations solve their most pernicious security riddles. Some ethical hackers also earn money and prestige participating in hacking contests held by companies testing security flaws, such as the annual Pwn2Own hacking contest where hackers earn $5,000 to $10,000 for each security flaw they uncover in major operating systems and browsers.

Where in the World is Woolloomooloo?

Any avid collector of funny sounding place names must make a trip down to Australia. The aboriginal place names of villages, rivers and monuments will twist the tongue in a myriad of amusing directions. The history and meaning of these aboriginal names is almost as entertaining as the places themselves.

Generally places are named descriptively by what was in the area. Mooloolaba may sound like a farm animal impression by an adorable three-year-old but it is in fact a beachside township in Queensland. The name originated from the aboriginal word for snapper fish, mulu, and the area is unsurprisingly a fishing region.

Names can be misleading, like the upstanding city of Indooroopilly. The city has a beautiful shopping center and a teaching facility for engineering students from the University of Queensland. It is hard to believe that this modern commercial area’s name means “gully of leeches”.

At least one world famous actor of historical epics has chosen Woolloomooloo for a home. This suburb of Sydney is an ideal place to own a penthouse and it contains the largest wooden structure in the world, Finger Wharf. There is no irony in the fact that Woolloomooloo means “place of plenty”.

Locals are proud of their natively titled places and monuments. The rugby league of Parramatta adopted the eel as their symbol because the meaning of the town name is “place where the eels lie down”. Some famous places even go to great lengths to return to the original name, such as Ayer’s Rock now choosing to advertise as Uluru.

Spellings and translations in some places have been lost due to a long game of telephone between native tongue and foreign ear. No one is sure why an aboriginal mission town like Cocklebiddy got its name but that does not stop spelunkers from visiting the extensive cave system.

If a place is still populated by aboriginal people then there may not always be a translation of its aboriginal place name. Indigenous folk of the proud town of Yirrkala have their bark paintings displayed in museums all over the world. It also should be noted that this town without a translation sells some of the finest hand made didgeridoos in the country.

There are so many uniquely named places to enjoy. One could swim the Mitta Mitta or spend the day sunbathing on Bondi Beach. The intrigue of aboriginal areas, both modernized and conserved, are all worth discovering.

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