Throughout his career, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs sent a myriad of email messages to fans, developers, and Mac users — more than 100 of these emails have been compiled into an ebook, titled Letters to Steve: Inside the Inbox of Apple’s Steve Jobs. Each chapter skips through time to feature Job’s personal replies. You can grab a copy of the book for the Amazon Kindle store for $3 (www.amazon.com).

Source: The New Book of Lists

PLACE                                                                                       FOOD or DRINK

1. Alaska, USA                                                                          baked Alaska

2. Bologna commune, Italy                                                    bologna or baloney

3. Brussels, Belgium                                                                 brussels sprouts

4. Cantalupo town, Italy                                                          cantaloupe

5. Daiquiri, Cuba                                                                        daiquiri

6. Frankfurt am Main, West Germany                                 frankfurters

7. Hamburg, Germany                                                              hamburger

8. Tabasco state, Mexico                                                         tabasco sauce

9. Tangier, Morocco                                                                  tangerines

10. Turkey                                                                                     turkey

11. Worcestershire, England                                                   worcestershire sauce

Source: Compendium of curious information.

1. Cape of Good Hope
When the Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias discovered the southern tip of Africa in 1488, the seas were so violent he called it the Cape of Storms. The nickname was hardly likely to encourage business through this new gateway to India, so Portugal’s King John II changed it to the Cape of Good Hope.

2. Greenland
This great, snow-covered island is a tenth-century example of false advertising. Eric the Red hoped to attract settlers from the more mild Iceland.

3. Idaho
When a name was needed for a new territory in the Pike’s Peak mining area in 1860, lobbyist and eccentric George M. Willing suggested the Indian word idaho, which he said meant “gem of the mountains.” Just before Congress made its final consideration, it was discovered that Willing had invented the term as a hoax. The territory was quickly named Colorado. However, two years later, when it came time to name another mining territory in the Pacific Northwest, the controversy had been forgotten, and on March 4, 1863, the territory of Idaho was established. The name was retained when statehood was achieved in 1890.

4. Nome
A classic geographical mistake, “Nome” was miscopied from a British map of Alaska on which “? Name” had been written around 1850.

5. Pacific Ocean
Magellan had the remarkable luck of crossing this ocean without encountering a storm, so he called it “Mar Pacifico” meaning “the calm sea.” The Pacific, in fact, produces some of the roughest storms in the world.

“First-rate men hire first-rate men; second-rate men hire third rate men.” –Leo Rosten

 Not sure how to attract and retain the best employees for your business? It comes down to building a foundation of core values and setting an example from a leadership standpoint.

Looking at the cost calculation of employee turnover can be a scary thing. Studies show that the cost of a bad hire ranges anywhere from one to five times the annual salary of the employee. Keeping turnover at a minimum could save you thousands and help preserve the health of the company at large. Here are some tips for investing in your people and attracting a larger talent pool of passionate applicants.

Hire character, train skill. All of the best-run companies know that the interview jargon and resume fluff only goes so far. Yet, at the end of the day it is the person behind the position that makes the most difference for a company. Think about it, who you are is a large part of who you are at work.

Create a training program. A great way to invest in your people while also getting to know potential hires is by offering a training program in which, candidates participate in classes, speaker series, and exercises that will increase their overall performance if hired. This is also a great way to educate current employees in fields outside of their core competence.

Promote your company’s perks. Most agree that there are plenty of pursuits more exciting, intriguing, and stimulating than the labor they’re paid to do. But, by offering perks that rival those of the companies on Fortune’s Best 100 Places to Work list, you in turn, could attract a much larger and more passionate pool of applicants.

Accomplishments. When reviewing resumes or conducting interviews, look for applicants who mention passion projects related to your industry. These are people who love the space in which your business functions.

If nothing else, remember this: you will attract wiser, more passionate people if you lead by example and offer a work environment that fosters employee growth and satisfaction. Some of the most profitable businesses work around the clock to make sure their employees are happy. It’s this attention to detail that puts an uncontrollable spring in an employees step and a boost in profits in the employers pocket.

This year we celebrate our 25^th anniversary by reflecting on Speeedy’s 25-years of outstanding customer service and leadership. Speeedy Courier was founded in 1986 with two guiding principles in mind: provide the best combination of price and service in our industry, and hire and nurture the best employees available. Celebrating our 25-year anniversary, we maintain that pledge and it has worked well for us. Growing an average of 25% each year, we are constantly on the lookout for new services to offer to our existing customers, and investing in our people to provide them with challenges and opportunities for personal and professional growth. Many of our key team members have been with us over a decade or more. This provides our customers with a level of security and continuity unmatched in the industry.

Apps are taking over the world one mobile device at a time. There’s an app for that – the phrase, which was coined by (Apple, AAPL) stands true with more than 435,445,000 applications currently available for download from the iTunes Store. Swarms of companies are creating branded apps to reach consumers and satisfy existing customers. Most recently, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) launched MTA App Quest, a competition challenging tech developers to create software applications that increase access to information and improve the travel experience for customers.

Kudos to the MTA for thinking outside the tracks and providing a creative outlet for developers to use MTA data to create new apps that will improve the transit experience of its 8.5 million daily riders. With a grand prize of $5,000 and runner’s up awards for second, third, and honorable mention the competition is building. We can’t wait to see which brave app developer will conquer the challenge and improve the commute experience for the rest of us.

For more information or to take on the challenge head to: http://bit.ly/p6POT5

Follow the action: See the top app picks from the challenge each week on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/speeedycourier

There’s no question that in today’s high-speed digital world your company’s website is the universal hub for business and the public face of your brand. But a custom-designed and developed website can be costly. Here we share two budding web services that allow you to grow your company’s presence online, without breaking the bank.

Squarespace – Smarter publishing.

Squarespace allows you to create a professional website at affordable subscription rates ranging from $12 to $36 per month. The best part: your new Squarespace account includes hosting, an internal dashboard management system, visual designer tools to help you customize the look and tone of your new site and helpful add-ons like widgets.

SnapPages – Drag and Drop Design

If you’re feeling intimidated about creating your own website with custom CSS files or widget code, SnapPages is as simple as drag and drop. The drag-and-drop website builder and hosting service provided by SnapPages offers users a streamlined and easy to use interface to start creating your custom site. There are loads of themes to choose from, each of which can be quickly customized to your particular industry or product line. Plans range from free to $30 per month, which includes hosting on the site.

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Get inspired: http://ow.ly/5BnwS

This year marks the 150^th anniversary of the American Civil War, an event that defined this nation’s history and changed a culture forever. On June 16, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln told a crowd in Philadelphia, “War, at the best, is terrible, and this war of ours, in its magnitude and duration, is one of the most terrible… It has destroyed property, and ruined homes… It has carried mourning to almost every home, until it can almost be said that the heavens are hung in black.”

It just doesn’t seem right to discuss the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War without mention of President Lincoln’s famous speech, The Gettysburg Address, which is forever immortalized at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. While most of us are familiar with the words “Four score and seven years ago…” from the Gettysburg Address, few know what they mean. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was the site of the American Civil War’s most famous and gruesome battle.  So if you’re not familiar with what is now considered the most famous speech in American history, here you have it:

 “ Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

This Speech forged the framework of modern America and in using only 272 words; President Abraham Lincoln was able to reaffirm the civic notion of equality. There are dozens of scheduled events in and around the Washington DC area this month set to commemorate the Civil War’s legacy in the continuing fight for civil rights.

Major Events and Special Exhibits

Ongoing beginning March 2011 – Capitol Visitor Center. Take a new tour entitled “Capitol and the Congress During the Civil War.” The tour is offered Monday through Friday at 3:30 p.m. and does not require reservations. With stops at the Old Supreme Court Chamber and the Old Senate Chamber, this special 45-minute tour explores how the Capitol was used during the Civil War, critical debates that took place during the Civil War, and key judicial decisions made during this time period.

Through August 13, 2011 – “The Last Full Measure: Civil War Photographs from the Liljenquist Family Collection.” Library of Congress. The exhibit includes more than 400 rarely displayed Civil War era portrait photographs that bring this pivotal moment in our nation’s history to life through the poignant faces of ordinary people who experienced it firsthand – Union and Confederate soldiers, their wives and children.

Through March 18, 2012 – National Portrait Gallery

8th and F Streets NW., Washington, DC. An exhibition will explore the life of Elmer Ellsworth, the first Union soldier killed in the war.

July 21-24, 2011 – Manassas 150th Anniversary Events – A major gathering of living history presenters will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first major battle, Manassas. The program will include living history and historic weapons demonstrations, exhibits, lectures, and music at a variety of locations in Old Town Manassas. Special ranger tours and programs will also be held at the Manassas National Battlefield Park.

Nov. 16, 2012 – April 28, 2013 -”The Civil War and American Art” – Smithsonian American Art Museum. The exhibition examines how America’s artists represented the impact of the Civil War and its aftermath. Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, Frederic Church and Sanford Gifford—four of America’s finest artists of the era—anchor the exhibition. “The Civil War and American Art” will include approximately 60 paintings, vintage photographs and battlefield photography.