Much better than the 'Plain'
353187
Much better than the regular flavor (which has a stale cheese aftertaste). Still, not really any coconut flavor, but at least the pineapple flavor is well balanced and it has no cheesy aftertaste.
2505462
Over the years, I've tried to ignite my study of God's word using several Bibles, including a Men's Study Bible published by the Promise Keepers and several translations from the KJV to the New English to the American Standard. Basically, in every version, I've found myself extremely unimpressed with the translations. They either kept too much 'traditional' language -- as if the translators were paying homage to King James -- or went way too far trying to make it ultra-modern, which made the language seem almost slang-ish and sophomoric. In the Promise Keepers version, I felt preached to...the study notes were so, well, Promise Keeper-y...clearly directed toward married family men (which I'm not) on the far far far right of the political spectrum.

Not so with the Life Application Study Bible, NLT. First of all the NLT translation is fabulous. Its tone is eloquent and beautiful, yet intelligent and practical by today's standards. Some passages -- which, in other translations, left me scratching my head -- are translated so well, I've had several "Aha!" moments. The translators were also careful to footnote passages that had differing translations in Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic.

Second, the "study" part of this Bible. I love the way it places the stories and people in historical context. It explains the circumstances surrounding the stories -- the Where's, the Who's, the How's -- and offers a very clear understanding of the time in which the books were originally written. There are several large color maps in the back, and smaller maps are often included in footnotes so you can place the stories in proper geographical context. Footnotes also give you "lessons" or leadership for making Bible-based decisions in your life. At times, I feel they can get a bit preachy, but not to the Evangelical extent that the Promise Keepers Bible does. Most of the time, the authors avoid going overboard.

If you're serious about studying God's word, and prefer logical, intelligent study assistance over fire-and-brimstone preachiness, this is the Bible for you. Enjoy it, learn from it, live by it.
2240033
Although the generic refills are not perfect, they are much better than the Livescribe variety. If the Livescribe ink worked better, I might have given these generics a lower star rating, but on a comparable scale, they are a significant improvement.

Lifespan - The Livescribe inks were very light and only lasted five or six pages before I had to replace them. In contrast, I have been using the same generic ink for about 20 pages now and it shows no sign of running out of ink.

Smoothness of writing - At first, the generic ink skipped a lot (I saw a similar review from someone on the black ink version). I am not sure why it did this and what might have changed to fix it, but after about 5 pages the inkflow improved. The writing is now very smooth and the ink is nice and dark.

Compatibility with Livescribe 3 - I had some problems with other refills (Zebra, Pilot, Monteverde) when it came to recording my writing in the Livescribe app. All of the writing was joined into one big scribble. I was impressed that these generic refills do not have that same problem and the writing is nice and clear in the Livescribe app.

Overall, these refills are the best that I have found so far to work with the Livescribe 3 pen.
684225
This is SO much nicer than the original Scooba enzymatic cleaning fluid!  I had a first-gen Scooba back in the day, and oh, boy did that cleaning fluid stink.  It was so unpleasant that I eventually gave up on it and just used water.

Not only has the Scooba improved, but so has the cleaning fluid.  When my new Scooba 450 arrived and I opened the included sample bottle, I was prepared for the worst.  However, we were both pleasantly surprised by the clean, pleasant scent.  It's a *tremendous* improvement over the original, which we used to compare to mouldy cheese.  As far as effectiveness is concerned, it seems to work perfectly well. (I can't compare it to water-only cleaning because the floors aren't very grimy to start with, so there's not really a noticeable difference.  It might be more obvious over time.)  I do like the scent of this, though--it's a satisfying, just-mopped, freshly-cleaned smell, so I'll probably keep using it just for that.

UPDATE:  Still using the new Scooba and this cleaning fluid, still don't see any real difference between using the cleaning fluid vs. using warm water.  As I said in the first review, the floors aren't that grimy to begin with, so it was hard to make a determination, but after a week of water-only cleaning with the Scooba, it didn't look like there was any dirt build-up.  I settled for scrubbing a spot on the just-Scooba'd floor with a wet paper towel and some Windex to see if it came up dirty.  While it wasn't sparkling clean, it was close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades.  I went a week with the cleaning fluid after that, and did the paper towel test again.  Might be circumstantial, but the result was the same.

Personally, I think I got good results with both the fluid and plain water because I use the Scooba 3 times a week, which goes a long way to keeping the floors clean in the first place.  If you only use the Scooba once a week, the cleaning fluid might give you more tangible results.
470505
This makes wonderful plain waffles.  I prefer these waffles over the Belgian waffles.  Also like how the grids turn over so that sandwiches can be grilled (great cheese or ham and cheese sandwiches!)
2620219
I will admit to being a relatively picky drinker when it comes to coffee.  I don't make coffee very much at home and when I do, I tend to buy whole beans to grind at home from independent coffee shops and stores.  Because of this I will admit to having a biased opinion of ground vs. whole bean coffee.  My experience has always been that that the preground coffee is never quite as full flavored and generally doesn't taste as good as the coffee house experience.

This experience carried through here.  The coffee was good, certainly better than what I've had at a lot of restaurants, but it wasn't great.  I could see this being a good everyday drinking coffee if you're looking for something middle of the road for a caffeine fix, but since I drink coffee at home more rarely and more as a treat, I think I'll continue to splurge on whole bean coffees.
4533697
Stormchaser is the second book of the Edge series and it is a vast improvement over book one--Beyond the Deepwoods.  The book picks up a few years after Twig's adventures in Deepwoods.  He is now sailing aboard the skyship of his recently-discovered sky-pirate father and has exchanged the monster-horrors of the Deepwoods with the more human horrors of city-life, pollution, and corruption (though monsters still make the occasional appearance).
  Whereas Beyond the Deepwoods suffered from being overly episodic, plunging Twig into one-unrelated confrontation after another, Stormchaser is much more focused and has a much better sense of narrative.  The famed sky city Sanctaphrax is at risk of breaking its mooring and taking off forever unless it manages to replenish the rare substance that keeps it from sailing away.  The same substance, in a mysterious alternative form, has also kept the waters that feed Undertown drinkable and the shortage is leading to an ecological and social disaster.  For various reasons, Twig's father is the one sent out on a quest for this rare material and various adventures ensue.
  While there is still an episodic sense to the story, it's mostly confined to the book's second half when Twig and others are forced to march through the Twilight Woods and the Mire. Even here though, the encounters are still related to the overall arc of the story, making each encounter more significant and more memorable in comparison to Twig's one-monster-after-another adventures in book one.
  The plot is also improved by the move away from conflict based simply on threatened violence (usually in the form of being eaten) to one based on politics, corruption, and intrigue among all types of characters (though being eaten remains a threat now and then).
  Characters are also delved into more deeply. We learn more about Twig's father--what forced him into becoming a pirate, why he refuses to acknowledge himself as Twig's father publicly, more about his motivations and personality traits.  Twig is given more opportunities to grow, but these seem a bit contrived and, as in the first one, somewhat formulaic and unearned at times, though not as baldly as in Deepwoods.  A few of the side characters have moments of depth, but overall remain shallow figures.
  There is a lot of death in this one, some of it quite grisly, though it is never lingered on, having more the feel of an uncensored Brothers Grimm tale rather than a modern-day slasher flick.
  Overall, while Stormchaser still suffers from a few of the first book's flaws, mainly some shallow characterization and some formulaic coming-of-age "growth" events, it is a major improvement on the first and bodes well for the rest of the series.
2437331
I bought this to replace my very old 2007 small version. I like this spiral binding version because it lays flat (and stays open) and the printing is much easier to read. A lot has changed since the 2007 one, so I'm very glad I updated. Online look-ups are fine, but it's nice to have everything in one book. I use it not only for local repeaters (a tri-state metro area), but also when I travel. For me, it's worth the extra money to get this bigger, spiral bound, one.
20374
Although their previous album was great, this is even better still. It's much more accessible without sacrificing any of the authentic flavor that made the other one fantastic. Highly recommend. The extra tracks are worth it also. Hint: it's cheaper to buy the non-extended album then buy the extra tracks individually.
373444
Before I purchased the Adonit Jotscript, I was a little skeptical as I read good and bad reviews on its performance. Personally, I'm pretty happy with it, and I thinks it's the closest thing to real pen or pencil, with the advantages of electronic editing. I testing it against more traditional styluses, and I prefer it for its solid feel and smaller metal tip. Worry not, it will not scratch your iPad, and the contact noise is minimal and non intrusive. I do prefer it versus the rubber ones. This is their previous model, which was replaced by the Jotscript 2. I prefer this older model because it uses AAA batteries. The new one is chargeable. There is a slight delay to it when writing, but nothing that bothers me at all. It will be less on the new iPad 2, due to its faster processor, the A8X. I did not try the new Jotscript 2, or the Touch, but it probably has improved on this issue. My favorite writing software is GoodNotes. Give it a try. I still like to write the traditional way, with pencil and paper, but the editing and storing of electronic handwriting it's very practical. No more looking for lost notes. I definitely recommend it .
1088163
outstanding sentences. much better than rabbit at rest.
4131349
This book is so much more accessible to me than the Bluebook (which I think is thoroughly miserable).  More intuitive layout, nicer typeface and formatting, better TOC, etc.  It also loads up on examples where multiple practices are acceptable, which is thoughtful.
3643196
I spent a good deal of time studying various modern translations of DQ - among them the works of Grossman (too 'popularized'), Montgomery (dry, verbose), Smollet-Slade (excellent notes and revisions by Slade but the 18th English tone remains - it's not Cervantes and it's not modern either - unsatisfactory) and Rutherford (I should try Lathrop as well...) and I've found Rutherford's to be the most readable, lively and engaging - he explains his approach in his translator's introduction and I think he accomplished his goal. It's a pleasure to read - the prose is smooth, concise and clear, Rutherford has a sharp wit which he has put to good use in this translation, and he is also very scholarly as well as steeped in Spanish culture.

There are two drawbacks to this edition, but I say go for it nonetheless:

1) Being British, Rutherford uses many contemporary British expressions what may not be very accessible to an American - and this is important since DQ is highly nuanced and Rutherford has worked had to convey those nuances into English.

2) There should be more notes - explanatory notes, not just references and citings, and they should be on the page itself as footnotes, not in the back of the book. The Smollet-Slade BN edition is far superior in this respect - if I had time I'd read them both at once, chapter by chapter, first Smollet/Slade and then Rutherford.
2703708
This is so much better than the regular plastic ones.
2802835
First off, let me say that many of the reviews that compare the present-day models to the original models falsely portray today's 12c as flimsy and ready to fall apart at the slightest brush of a finger.  The fact of the matter is that in spite of the redesign to reduce costs and moves to Malaysia and China, today's 12c is still far sturdier than most other calculators on the market.  The keys, even with painted-on characters, are made of tough plastic and feel rock-solid, which is more than can be said for nearly all other calculators.  Truly, the only recent calculators I consider to be better built are the higher-end Texas Instruments graphing scientific calculators like the TI86 and other renowned HP calculators like the 17BII.
That said, I do agree that the 12c's technology is a bit dated--newer financial calculators are certainly faster and more sophisticated than the 12c, but there is a certain convenience in  the 12c: I get the answers I need quicker and without fuss.  It's like how studies on computers have shown that while computer technology is far more advanced than before, office productivity hasn't followed suit.  Basically, whatever benefit there is in having faster, bigger, better and more is canceled out by the additional overhead.  I personally feel that the same situation has happened with calculators--a lot of them are just too complicated nowadays.  For my more sophisticated calculations, I simply pull up Excel and program in whatever functionality I need with the macro language and VBA--I get the answer a lot faster than with a fancy-pants calculator, and I have functionality far beyond the capabilities of a calculator like printing .xls to .pdf for email attachments, dynamic data exchange updates to spreadsheets and graphs, etc.  So that really leaves a particular niche for my 12c: the quickie, simple calculations that I need to do without having to lug around a laptop that won't fit in my pocket or a PDA that's hard to enter data into.  For that purpose, the 12c is a perfect fit!  Sure, the original 12c was built like a tank, but today's model is still a fantastic calculator and still my calculator of choice.
1293495
Works very well, much better than a "traditional" whisk, especially with heavier batters.
1344765
Unlike some "remasters," this one delivers the audio quality goods. It's mastered much louder, so don't be fooled by that. After correcting for the different levels, this remaster has much better image size, instrument separation, and superior treble resolution, as compared to my original late-80s CD (wish I still had the vinyl). The remaster is a bit on the chilly, digital side, but it is still an obvious (i.e., noticeable in the first 5 seconds) improvement over the original, which sounds closed-in by comparison. (Impressions while listening on Quad 988 speakers, BAT integrated amp, and Mark Levinson 390S CD player.)