Stephen Chrisomalis has compiled a list of “manias” that are fascinating to read through. Some of these mania words represent clinical illnesses, while others are merely facetious. As Stephen states, “They show the range of unusual and weird things with which one can become obsessed.” Here are a few from that page…

• agromania - intense desire to be in open spaces
• bruxomania - compulsion for grinding teeth
• choreomania - dancing mania or frenzy (I have an editor with this problem)
• dromomania - compulsive longing for travel (I’m currently suffering)
• flagellomania - abnormal enthusiasm for flogging
• opsomania - abnormal love for one kind of food
• orchidomania - abnormal obsession with orchids
• scribbleomania - obsession with scribbling
• theatromania - craze for going to plays
• zoomania - insane fondness for animals (No, Russell is not insane)

If you can’t find yourself on Stephen’s long list of “manias,” never fear - just check his list of “philes” to see if you can find a niche.

Posted by ewoman at 8:00 AM PST

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A clever series of shots lining up currency with the D.C. buildings depicted on them…via: dcist.

Posted by Russell at 8:00 AM PST

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I quit drinking coffee two months or so ago, and I hired a personal trainer two months ago to learn how to work out correctly (it does make a difference!). I quit smoking four weeks ago today, and now I’m intent on losing that last fifteen pounds.

So naturally I’ve focused on eating well (and healthy) for the past few months (although the smell of fresh donuts still drives me wild). Therefore, I tend to gravitate to “slim-down tricks” articles like the one I found at CNN last night. While I learned a few things from this article, I also want to add my own tweaks to their suggestions.

1. Start Smart - Starting a lunch or dinner with a veggie-rich salad is a great tip, because salad greens usually range between 8-15 calories per cup. Can’t beat that with a stick. With low-cal dressing (use olive oil and balsamic vinegar to help the good cholesterol) and some raw veggies, you’ll come in under 200 calories easily for a salad that will stuff you. If you need a calorie counter, try Calories Count or Calories Per Hour.

Read on, mon cher! »

Posted by ewoman at 8:00 AM PST

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The Creative Commons released a cool Add-In for www.Openoffice.org making it easier for you to Copywrite your Writer (word processing documents), Calc (spreadsheets) and Impress (presentations) documents. It was created by student Cassio Melo at the Google Summer of Code. It’s simple to install, and just as easy to use.

Visit Creative Commons for downloading. I downloaded it and gave it a try, it worked great.

Posted by Russell at 8:00 AM PST

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