Enjoying a musical performance no longer requires a costly ticket or a trip to a theater. These days, musicians are performing in private homes,at haircutting shops,at airports...even on ferry boats.

    Musicians like house concerts. At music clubs, they often have to perform over loud conversation or deal with people who have had too much alcohol.People at house concerts are more focused on listening to the music.

    Just a few hours before the Bombadils started singing at the O' Hair Salon,Lindsay was cutting hair and Tamera was doing facials.Then,they moved chairs and microphones to create a small performance space.The Bombadils made music in the front part of the hair salon,near the hair dryers and make-up table.

    "This is our first show at a hair salon,"Sarah Frank of the Bombadils told concertgoers at last week's performance.Frank said she and band members Luke Fraser and Kaitlyn Raitz had a great time "interacting" with the audience.

    Concerts in people's homes, or small businesses such as O' Hair's,are becoming more popular,musicians say. "There is a more relaxed atmosphere,"said Domenic Cicala,a musician who opened up his O' Hair Salon to concerts. "People really get to know the artists."

    At house concerts,people get time before and after concerts to meet the performers.Often,the hosts or guests will provide food and drink.

    "People really like listening to music in the living room of a friend,"said Matt Hart,with Aubrey Zoli making up Local Strangers,a folk-rock group based in Seattle.At many such concerts,the musicians do not need microphones. Yet,every word of their songs can be heard.

Best Smartphone Games To Put Your Brain To Test

    I am a fan of blood shedding MMORPGs. But sometimes I play brain games. Here are four games for you that will surely put your brain to test.

    Real Chess

    Chess has been bursting brains for over 14 centuries, and this virtual variant of chess really brings a new taste. It's a 3D virtual chess that lets you play with users from all around the world.

You can chat with opponents, play with AI, get newbie tips and much more. The animations and 3D structures are really cool as well.

    Juice Cubes

    Juice Cubes is a light and colorful game full of fruity juice cubes that you need to connect to pop and clear levels. There are multiple types of challenges, powerups, and over 550+ levels to keep you addicted.

    It might seem easy at the start, but it will burst your brain when you reach higher levels.

    WordBrain 2

    A really fun word game where you need to guess words based on the number of letters provided. Each word puzzle has a theme category, such as food, human body, color, or even space.

    And you can also use hints to solve the level when you get stuck. Your vocabulary is sure to be challenged in it.

    Puzzlerama

    Puzzlerama basically joins some of the top puzzles in one single app, making it a perfect app for puzzle lovers. It lets you play popular puzzle games such as flow, jigsaw, unblock, pipes, tangram, and more. There are hundreds of levels available for each puzzle type and things get really tough as you advance.

    The game interface is also very colorful, and smooth animations make the game fun to play.

    Recently some American scientists have given a useful sincere piece of advice to people in industrialized nations that they would be much healthier if they ate more of the same kind of food eaten by humans living more than 10,000 years ago.

    The scientists say that the human body has changed very little since humans first appeared on the earth, but the way we live has changed greatly. Our body has not been able to deal with (处理,对付)these changes in life style and this has led to new kinds of sicknesses. These new sicknesses were not known in ancient times, so they are called "diseases of civilization". Many cancers and diseases of the blood system, including heart attacks and strokes (中风) are examples of such diseases.

    Scientists noted that people in both the Old Stone Age and the New Stone Age enjoyed very little alcohol (酒精) or tobacco (烟草), probably none. Ancient people also got a great deal of physical exercise, but a change in food is one of the main differences between life in ancient times and that of today.

    Stone-age people hunted wild animals for their meat, which had much less fat than domestic or tame ones (家畜). They also ate a lot of fresh wild vegetables and fruits. They didn't have milk or any other dairy products, and they made very little use of grains. But today, we eat a large amount of these. We eat six times more salt than our remote ancestors (祖先). We eat more sugar. We eat twice as much fat but only one third as much protein (蛋白质) and much less vitamin C.

    People today probably do not want to live the way people thousands of years ago did, but scientists say that we would be much healthier if we ate much the same way as remote ancestors did, cutting the amount of fatty, salty and sweet food.

    Although I had wanted to quit smoking, I never made up my mind until New Year's Day last year. I was having a terrible headache. I knew it was time to quit.

    Searching for methods to quit smoking on the Internet is like searching for weight loss tips — there are thousands of different ways that are said to be the best, but not all are right for you. One approach that did draw my interest was apps. Along with cigarettes (烟), my phone was the only other thing I couldn't leave my apartment without.

    There are hundreds of apps for quitting smoking. I downloaded an app called QuitIt because it was said to be good. It was free and didn't cost much time as some others. You input the amount of cigarettes you smoke, the cost per pack and the time you decide to quit smoking. The app does the math and then gives you information based on the information given by you. It tracks the amount of time since you decided to quit, the money you've saved, and the danger you've avoided. The app also includes a number of health goals.

    Quitting smoking was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Like most stories of quitting, I did get a little sick and I felt terrible, but the most difficult part was the empty feeling I was left with. Any time I felt like a cigarette, I would open the app and track the progress I had made. If I wanted to smoke while I was on the computer, I'd immediately go to stop smoking to read a success story, or to offer support to someone else having a harder time than me.

    I quit smoking 1 year 2 months and 27 days ago. I did not smoke 6,771 cigarettes and saved $4,062.84.

    The pursuit of longevity has long been on people's minds, prompting an abundance of research on the effects of food and diet on the human lifespan. According to recent research from the UC Irvine Institute, drinking coffee and wine could help you live longer.

    The 90+ Study evaluated more than 1,600 people over the age of 90 for their lifestyle habits and other qualities that might have contributed to their longevity.

    Participants were visited every six months, when they were given various tests. Researchers also collected information about the participants' diets, lifestyles, and medical histories.

    They found out that two of the habits that helped preserve lives the most are drinking alcohol and coffee. "I have no explanation for it," admitted Dr Claudia Kawas, "but I do firmly believe that moderate (适度的) drinking improves longevity." So should we all be drinking more coffee and wine? While that would be great news, the research may not be as definitive as it seems.

    "Most studies about alcohol consumption, including The 90+ Study, are observational, so we can only say that something about drinking is associated with health and longevity," registered dietitian Jennifer Markowitz told The Daily Meal.

    "I'd be curious to see if the coffee and alcohol drinkers shared other important habits or lifestyle factors that might also play into their longevity."

    In other words, it might not be the wine and coffee that's helping people live longer, but the two substances do have some considerable health benefits. "Wine and coffee are packed with antioxidants(抗氧化剂) which are known to protect our bodies from damage caused by free radicals," explained registered dietitian Keri Gans to The Daily Meal. "Research on antioxidants has shown several heath benefits, including the possibility they may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes, improve cognitive function, decrease the risk of dementia, and lower the risk of heart disease."

    Moderate drinking can be beneficial according to other studies—so long as it's moderate.

    When I was small and my grandmother died, I couldn't understand why I had no tears. But that night when my dad tried to cheer me up, my laugh turned into crying.

    So it came as no surprise to learn that researchers believe crying and laughing come from the same part of the brain. Just as laughing has many health advantages, scientists are discovering that so, too, does crying.

    Whatever it takes for us to reduce pressure is important to our emotional health, and crying seems to work well. One study found that 85 percent of women and 73 percent of men report feeling better after crying.

    Besides, tears attract help from other people. Researchers agree that when we cry, people around us become kinder and friendlier and they are more ready to provide support and comfort. Tears also enable us to understand our emotions better; sometimes we don't even know we're very sad until we cry. We learn about our emotions through crying, and then we can deal with them.

    Just as crying can be healthy, not crying - holding back tears of anger, pain or suffering - can be bad for physical health, Studies have shown that too much control of emotions can lead to high blood pressure, heart problems and some other illnesses. If you have a health problem, doctors will certainly not ask you to cry. But when you feel like crying, don't fight it. It's a natural –and healthy-emotional response.