According to Robert Kiyosaki, the author of the best selling personal finance book of all time Rich Dad Poor Dad, the “Ultra Rich” people are actually the ones who own the biggest banks in the world and these people are the ones responsible for creating the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is a facility that lends trillions of dollars, yens, pesos, euros and other foreign currencies and it has been a great tool to manipulate the government and put their sneaky little hands in our pockets. This facility is not actually Federal nor does it have any reserve money in fact it’s not even a bank. The Federal Reserve is a big facility licensed to print money at will. Throughout the ages it had been printing tons and tons of money.

Now you may ask how printing trillions of money became one of the sources of the financial crisis, right? Again, looking back at our history we find that in 1971 President Nixon severed the ties between gold and the dollar without the approval of the senate congress. The dollar was very valuable because it is backed up by gold during those days and when the ties were severed the value of dollar decreased. The Federal Reserve now has power to print money at will. Governments can borrow trillions of dollars and as that happens debt increases  and the big banks became the medium for the government to pay the Federal Reserve. Like I said earlier the owners of the Fed are the owners of the biggest banks in the world which means the government has to pay a huge amount of interest from their debt.

As the credit piles up so does the interest. Governments pay the country’s debt through taxes and the more we borrow the higher the taxes. Our government officials knows only how to spent money and its easier for them to spend it because quite frankly, it’s not theirs. The government has been a great smokescreen for the ultra rich to legally steal from the people. As they become richer the poor class becomes poorer and the middle class become fewer. As long as the Fed keeps pumping money out of thin air, debt will be accessible and increase in time and as that happens taxes go up, prices go up, investors lose and sooner or later our retirement funds will not be able to cover us.

52% of married couples end up in divorce and a lot of them complains that their partner doesn’t listen or they don’t have time or any other imperfections they can find in a relationship. What they don’t know is that most relationship turns bitter when both individuals have no basic understanding of the opposite sex. You may receive a lot of self-help advice from friends, family and books but that’s not actually going to work unless you know yourself and how different you are from the opposite sex.

Fortunately yours truly found the answer your looking for, ladies and gentlemen let me introduce to you one of the most sought after book about relationships and a classic guide to understanding the opposite sex, Men are from Mars Women are from Venus by John Gray. This book sold over 7 million copies and is still one of the best selling books of all time. It has been featured in the movie Meet Dave starring Eddie Murphy and in Ronda Byrne’s The Secret.

I’m very glad I came across this book when we had our IT Convention in SM Mall of Asia years ago. Since two of my favorite topics is the differences between the opposite sex and girl psychology (although there’s no such thing) I thought this would be a good book to start learning, the relationship part was a plus. Again my instinct is never wrong because this book not only taught me the differences it also showed me why even rich people end up in divorce, why most couples argue and what the opposite sex really meant when they say “I’m okay”. There’s a lot of examples and situations given in this book that sooner or later you’ll find yourself relating to one of them and discover solutions that you never did before.

Although some of the messages here are redundant it just shows us that we keep doing the same things that we should avoid in a relationship (like never listening to women when they need it the most). This will definitely be a must-have book in your disposal and a helpful source of information to share with your friends when their in a tight situation (a.k.a. Argument).

The Good:

Very helpful, educating and a valuable source of advice and information that you and your partner would definitely love to read together. Gives you classic advice and solutions that never fails to work even today, this book will open a lot of things that you don’t know you possess emotionally and mentally. A definite must-have in your arsenal if your trying to find a book that will improve your relationship buy this book and you’ll know that it’s worth the expense.

The Bad:

Messages are sometimes redundant (But forgivable). The only thing worse than that is if you don’t share it to your friends, family and most of all your partner (Unforgivable). What’s the use of understanding the opposite sex if the opposite sex doesn’t understand you?

The Rating: 10/10

Fast paced action, epic battles, historic scenery and erotic tales in between. This is definitely what you’ll expect when you watch HBO’s new mini series Game of Thrones. The series came originally from George R. R. Martin’s best selling book Game of Thrones, and like every movie that came from books you’ll expect a lot of differences between the two. This is an advantage of people who loves reading a lot from the ones who only watch their movie version. They know what really happened, what scenes were different from the book and if the story is really that good like the movies showed.

Game of Thrones is more like your average Lord of the Rings kind of story except for the fact that this story is like an epic history of betrayal, war, greed and even your daily dose of sexual fantasies between different factions. The story is great that I hang into it in the end because you’ll discover a lot of twists and turns concerning the Starks (the protagonists) and their God forsaken kingdom. The excitement level in each chapter is just too great that you’ll never want to leave it behind during lunch. There’s a lot of fight-the-baddies-and-save-the-day scenes and you’ll hear yourself reading the lines “Winter is coming” more than once.

Despite the great story and excitement it brings there are problems with the characters in this book. You’ll find yourself wondering early on who is who and which faction they belong to because there’s just too many knights, servants, bastards, kings and queens in here. It’s just too confusing and unless you have a good memory inside that thick skull of yours you’ll find yourself looking at the factions list in the back of the book. In the end as much as I like the story I would say there’s just too many characters that it gets confusing.

The Good:

Great story, unique in every way, thrilling and will definitely get your adrenaline pumping that you would not want to put it down. One of the greatest fantasy novels since The Lord of the Rings. George will capture your imagination and attention and the story will definitely be an epic mini series in HBO.

The Bad:

It’s just too confusing. There are too many characters and factions (most of them will die since there’s a war anyway). Terrible ending is a total letdown for such a great story. I believe I’ll stick to good ol’ Gandalf and his cronies.

The Rating: 6/10

Rich Dad Poor Dad By Robert Kiyosaki

I remember when I was very young I used to look up to Batman and Spawn as my childhood heroes and watch their shows or tell my mom to buy me the new Batman action figures or Spawn comics. Now that I’m 21 years old I still say I have a hero that I look up to and those are my parents, Donald Trump and of course the author of the all time best selling personal finance book of all time, Robert Kiyosaki. Rich Dad Poor Dad is Robert’s first book and it sold more than 21 million copies.

Robert Kiyosaki will definitely challenge the way we think about money, taxes, debt, the government and life. You’ll learn that the things that you thought will save you when you retire (such as retirement plans, social securities and loans) will not be enough and most of it will be gone in a few years. The taxes that poor and middle-class people pay is so enormous than what rich people pay that most of them end up working harder and longer in their lives. Most people end up in the “rat race” or an endless cycle of working and paying taxes, credits and loans that we never get out till we get old.

It will also give you an overview of what our educational system did not teach us when we are in school. Sure my school thought me about accounting, demand, supply, budgeting and all those economic theories however these are all academic which means not all of them teaches us how to save money at the end of the day or invest it in a profitable venture. This book however will be a good investment to teach yourself what our schools don’t such as investing, real estate and how to pay yourself first.

I would say that I loved this book ever since I knew about it that I immediately bought one. I was never wrong because while reading this book I became more aware of my spending habits and how my emotions sometimes do the thinking for me. I would definitely recommend this book especially to parents out there so you can teach your children more about money. I’ll never forget what Robert said, that we learn about money firstly in our home and that’s definitely true. Parents should also know that saying “get good grades, graduate from college and get a safe and secure job” is an ANCIENT advice. The age we live in changes so fast that getting a good job and working hard isn’t enough anymore to give you a good life for you and your family.

The Good:

Possibly the best book out there to teach yourself and your children about money. I’d tell you, its more educational than my economics class and it also points out how the sneaky government and banks get most of your salary and leave little behind. You’ll see the difference between how poor and middle-class people do against how rich people think and act, how they spend their money and where their income and assets go. There’s practically a ton of things you’ll learn here and will make your money worth it.

The Bad:

It’s very controversial that it challenges your own financial beliefs and philosophies. You’ll either be mad at Robert because you still believe that working hard and having a good paycheck will get you that brand new house you wanted and end up living in it happily ever after or your very own parents for believing in their ancient beliefs that’s rather useless nowadays. Harsh indeed is this book.

Rating: 10/10

Since everyone has a critic side deep beneath our personalities I believe it’s good to put your criticisms in good use. For you to point out the good and bad about something might help others, it’s like a valuable piece of advice that’s both inexpensive (FREE!) and helpful (If there are more facts to it). I am hoping that a lot of you will appreciate how I give reviews to the books I’m about to blog. I’ll do my best to tell you, my avid readers what to expect and if that book is worth buying or not.

Of course I would also love it if you can tell me what you think or recommend a good book you have read, we bookworms have to stick together anyway. I am in need of information too like how you take care of your books, how to maintain its pristine condition and taking care of the most sensitive part of the book, the spine. Looking forward to hearing from you.

               25% of all the retail establishments in the U.S. are for eating or drinking.

                50% of U.S. pizzas are sold with pepperoni on them.

                68 percent of a Hostess Twinkie is air!

                A coffee tree yields about one pound of coffee in a year.

                A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat, so you can eat your plate!

                A hardboiled egg will spin. An uncooked or soft boiled egg will not.

                A peanut is not a nut. It is a legume.

                A pound of potato chips costs 200 times more than a pound of potatoes.

                According to the National Onion Association, onion consumption in the U.S. has increased approximately 50% over the past 20 years.

                Acorns were used as a coffee substitute during the American Civil War.

                Agaricus mushrooms are the most common variety prepackaged in supermarkets, available fresh, canned or frozen.

                Almonds are a member of the peach family.

                Almost all varieties of breakfast cereals are made of grass.

                Americans eat nearly 100 acres of pizza every day – that’s approximately 350 slices per second!.

                An apple, potato, and onion all taste the same if you eat them with your nose plugged.

                An egg will float if placed in water in which sugar has been added.

                Apple seeds are poisonous!

                Apples are 25% air.

                Apples are actually part of the rose family.

                Apples are more efficient than caffeine in keeping people awake in the morning.

                Avocados have more protein than any other fruit.

                Bananas are not fruit! They are a type of herb.

                Bananas contain a natural chemical which can make a person happy. This same chemical is also found in Prozac.

                Baskin Robbins once made ketchup ice cream.

                By feeding hens certain dyes they can be made to lay eggs with multi-colored yolks.

                Canola oil is actually rapeseed oil but the name was changed for marketing reasons!

                Cashew nut shells contain oil that is extremely irritating to human skin.

                Cast iron skillets used to be the leading source of iron in the American diet!

                Coffee beans aren’t beans – they’re fruit pits.

                Contrary to popular belief, London Broil is not a cut of beef but rather a method of cooking.

                Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball.

                Dandelion root can be roasted and ground as a coffee substitute.

                During your lifetime, you’ll eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that’s the weight of about 6 elephants!

                Each year 96 billion pounds of food is wasted in the U.S.

                Ears of corn always have an even number of rows of kernels.

                Eggs will age more in one day at room temperature than in one week in the refrigerator.

                Eggs will age more in one day at room temperature than in one week in the refrigerator.

                Eskimo ice cream is neither icy, nor creamy!

                Every year, kids in North America spend close to half a billion dollars on chewing gum!

                Food can only be tasted if it is mixed with saliva.

                Fortune cookies were actually invented in America, in 1918, by Charles Jung!

                Honey is the only food that will not spoil.

                Honey is used sometimes for antifreeze mixtures and in the center of golf balls.

                If you shake a can of mixed nuts, the larger ones will rise to the top.

                In 2003, the U.S. Government spent about $2,000,000.00 on potato research!

                In 2004, The Japanese Ice Cream Association promoted ?raw horse flesh? ice cream in hopes that it would boost the popularity of ice cream!

                In its ancient form, the carrot was purple, not orange.

                It takes about a week to make a jelly bean.

                It takes twelve ears of corn to make a tablespoon of corn oil.

                January 19 is National Popcorn Day.

                Ketchup was sold in the 1830′s as medicine.

                Lima beans contain cyanide!

                McDonald’s is the world’s largest distributor of toys!

                McDonald’s salads contain up to 60% more fat than their burgers!

                Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots!

                Milk is heavier than cream.

                More than 100 pizza box-related patents have been issued since 1976!

                Nachos is the food most craved by pregnant women.

                Ninety-nine percent of pumpkins sold in the United States are for the sole purpose of decoration.

                No 2 cornflakes are identical!

                Non-dairy creamer is flammable.

                Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

                On average, a person will spend about five years eating during his or her lifetime.

                Onions have no flavor, only a smell.

                Over 4.6 million Whopper sandwiches are sold at Burger King every day!

                Pancakes are commonly served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in Australia.

                Peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite.

                Pilgrims did not eat with forks. They only used spoons, knives and their fingers.

                Pound for Pound, hamburgers cost more than new cars!

                Pretzels were originally invented for Christian Lent.

                Pumpkin rule of thumb: the darker the shell, the longer the pumpkin lasts.

                Rice is the chief food for half the people of the world.

                Smelling bananas and/or green apples (smelling, not eating) can help you lose weight!

                Spinach consumption in the U.S. rose 33% after the Popeye comic strip became a hit in 1931.

                Strawberries have more vitamin c than oranges.

                Sweet potatoes were grown in peru as early as 750 BC.

                The ‘vintage date’ on a bottle of wine indicates the year the grapes were picked, not the year of bottling!

                The average American consumes 9 pounds of food additives every year.

                The average American eats at McDonalds more than 1,800 times in their life.

                The average American/Canadian will eat about 11.9 pounds of cereal per year!

                The average child will eat 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by the he/she graduates from high school.

                The average coach airline meal costs the airline $4.00. The average first class meal: $50.

                The inventor of the Waffle Iron did not like waffles.

                The Japanese commonly put ketchup on their rice.

                The most popular Campbell’s Soup in Hong Kong is watercress and duck gizzard.

                The powder on chewing gum is finely-ground marble.

                The U.S. Army accidentally ordered an 82 year supply of freeze-dried tuna salad mix for troops in Europe.

                The U.S. eastern seaboard consumes almost 50% of all ice cream sandwiches.

                The U.S. is the leading producer of strawberries, and supplies about 20% of the world’s strawberries.

                The world’s oldest piece of chewing gum is over 9000 years old!

                There are more nutrients in the cornflake package itself than there are in the actual cornflakes.

                There are no hog lips or snouts in SPAM.

                There is a giant mushroom in Oregon that is over 2,400 years old, covers 3.4 square miles of land, and is still growing!

                To find out if a watermelon is ripe, knock it, and if it sounds hollow then it is ripe.

                Tomatoes were originally thought to be poisonous.

                With two forks and a charge, a pickle will emit light.

                Worcestershire Sauce is basically an Anchovy ketchup.

• Computers only understand two digits, 0 and 1. This base two math is known as Binary. 1 represents on and 0 is off. When you type the letter M on your keyboard, it is translated to the Binary code of, 01001101. Every letter, number, pixel you see on your monitor is a binary set of 1′s and 0′s .
• An Intel 600 mhz CPU today has 9.5 million transistors and the aluminium conducting wires in the chip are 1/100,000th of an inch thick .
• An Athlon 600 mhz CPU has 22 million transistors.
• Moore’s Law states that computer performance doubles every 18 to 24 months, and ever since Intel’s 4004 chip in 1971, this has been true.
• The IBM RAMAC 305 in 1956 stored 5 megabytes of data which cost $10,000 per megabyte. Compared to today at less than a buck a megabyte.
• In 1998, 9.4 billion E-mail messages were sent per day.
• There are an estimated 800 million web pages available on the web and experts estimate the web doubles in size every 8 months.
• Most of your computer electronics use from 3 to 5 volts – Electrostatic discharge you can feel has around 3,000 volts – an ESD shock you can see carries 20,000 volts – an ESD shock of only 30 volts can destroy a computers circuit.
• In 1983 Microsoft built its first mouse but only sold 5,000 of the 100,000 units built. It wasn’t until Apple released the Macintosh a year later that a mass audience viewed the mouse as a tool to make computing easier.
• The term “Hypertext” was coined in 1965 by Ted Nelson who used it to describe the multimedia system he proposed called “Xanadu”
• Microsoft’s TerraServer database stores more than one terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) of detailed aerial and satellite photos.
• SGI’s Blue Mountain super computer at Los Alamos has 1.5 terabytes of RAM, more than any other computer on earth.
• In 1981 Bill Gates made the bold statement ” 640kb of memory ought to be enough for anybody”
• Originally the WWW prefix was used by the scientists at CERN (the European laboratory for Particle Physics) to distinguish Web files from other Internet documents. Today, it’s a completely unnecessary part of a Web address. (Personally, I can’t forget to stop using it
• The largest network on earth, the Internet, started in 1969 with four nodes installed at the University of California-Los Angeles, the University of Califorina-Santa Barbera, the Stanford Research Institute, and the University of Utah.
• Domain Name Extensions and Meanings:

1. .com……………………..commercial
2. .edu……………………..educational and research
3. .gov……………………..government
4. .int……………………….international organizations
5. .mil………………………military agency
6. .net……………………..gateway or host
7. .org…………………….non-profit organization

• A speck of dust inside a processor, although only the relative size of a soccer ball in the entire country of Ireland, is large enough to cause problems for the chip.
• A Bit stands for “Binary Digit” a Bit can hold only one of two values 0 or 1. (see above) A Byte is composed of 8 consecutive bits.
• Clock speeds are expressed in megahertz (MHZ) 1 MHZ is equal to one million cycles per second. The computer I’m using now is running at 850 million cycles per second. In the old days an 80286 required 20 cycles to multiply two numbers, today, Processors can execute more than one instruction per clock cycle.
• The word “boot” or “booting” comes from the concept of bootstrapping, or pulling oneself up by the bootstraps. Before PC’s, computer operators would run a program called the bootstrap loader. This loader did the initialization that is now automatic. The process became known as bootstrapping and later booting.
• As of March of 1999, there were over 364 million PC’s in use worldwide with 129 million of those in the U.S
• In 1977, Kenneth Olsen, president and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., stated: “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home”
• The personal computer runs 400 times faster than the main frames of 30 years ago.
• There are 18 million lines of code in Windows 98.
• The first all purpose computer ENIAC required so much electricity to process information that the lights in the nearby town dimmed each time it was used.
• The fastest computer in the world is the CM-5 “thinking machine” at the Los Alamos National Labratories, USA. It can perform 131 billion operations per second.
• In 1963, Douglas Englebart, invented the computer mouse which was later pioneered by Xerox.
• When I read this quote I just had to put it in here “If you take a bail of hay and tie it to the tail of a mule and then strike a match and set the bail of hay on fire, and if you then compare the energy expended shortly thereafter by the mule with the energy expended by yourself in striking the match, you will understand the concept of amplification” -William Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor.
• Information is exchanged on every man, woman and child an average of 5 times a day in the US.

I would like to once again apologize since I have stopped blogging for a long time. I felt a rather withering interest in posting new trivia and posts since I’ve been busy doing a lot of stuff that I nearly decided to stop blogging. Fortunately a few weeks ago while reading Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Think Big by Donald Trump I was inspired by how these two individuals (who are also my heroes now) are so passionate on what they do. So I decided to push harder and keep looking for delicious bits of information for you guys. I would also like to thank you for supporting and giving my blog good comments if it was not for you then I’m likely to stop posting a long time ago. I would like to get your opinion on a new category which involves giving reviews on the books I have read. What do you think? I’d like to hear from you. Thank you and God Bless!

Source: http://shine.yahoo.com/event/green/whats-best-for-my-computer-hibernate-sleep-or-shut-down-2467379/

Q: Does putting my computer to sleep help extend the battery life? What else can I do to save energy and make my new computer last?

A: We’ve all heard stories about what’s best for a computer’s battery. That’s why I was excited to make friends with Fred Peters, president of Huntington Beach IT Services.

In addition to teaching computing courses in Orange County, Calif., Peters happily makes house calls to revive frazzled computers and the people who rely on them.

Here are his expert tips on how to keep your new laptop running smoothly.

Sleep mode vs. shutting down

Peters notes that your work process will determine whether it’s more efficient to use “Sleep” mode or simply shut down the computer. “It is never fun to have to consistently wait any amount of time if the shut downs are too frequent,” he says. “‘Sleep’ requires more power, but it boots up faster, while ‘Hibernate’ uses less power, but takes longer to come online.” That same logic applies to shutting off your computer completely.

“Your computer will become obsolete before you wear out your computer by turning it on and off a lot,” he adds. “It also doesn’t take more energy to start a computer than to keep it running.”

Sleep mode requires a constant, though reduced use of power (0-6 watts). Peters also notes that colorful screensavers do nothing to conserve energy. Accessing your computer remotely with the Wake on LAN feature also can drain the power.

To get the most for your money, Peters advises adjusting power settings so that it automatically goes into Sleep/Standby mode after about 15 minutes of inactivity, and then shut it down at the end of your day.

Bionic battery life

To get the most out of your computer battery, Peters says to you have to give it a workout. Don’t keep your machine plugged in to an outlet. Instead, discharge the battery daily.

Size does matter

By purchasing a laptop, Peters says that you are ahead in the energy-saving game. Laptops use about 15-60 watts, while desktops use 65-250 watts — plus another 15-80 watts for a monitor.

He also adds that you can further conserve energy by using an LCD monitor and ditching the high-end video card unless it’s absolutely necessary. Also, turn off printers and other peripherals when they are not in use.

To kill “vampire power,” TreeHugger.com suggests purchasing a power strip. With all peripherals connected to one source, it’s easy to simply flip the switch on power hogs any time.

Establish a backup process

In addition to Peters’ great advice about conserving energy, I discovered the hard way that it also pays to save backup versions of your work. Invest in an external hard drive to hold your digital music library, special photos, and other key documents. Frequent backups ensure that your data doesn’t die with your laptop.

While you are in the process of backing things up, create an emergency file (on good old-fashioned paper) that contains your computer’s serial number along with other key data such as your credit card numbers and phone numbers to reach each company, along with contact info to your insurance company. Access to that information is vital, particularly in the event of an accident, fire, computer theft, or other catastrophe.

Peters warns that those key pieces of information are not safe on your computer. If you are like me and absolutely need a digital holding space for those nuggets of information, he suggests sites like LastPass as your online vault.

source: http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/111962/resume-rules-fact-fiction

For better or worse, the job market has certainly changed during the past few years. As such, the practice of looking for a job has evolved as well — so much, it seems, that what was once considered a best practice can now in fact cost you an interview.

What tried and true résumé rules have become obsolete post-recession? MainStreet talked to some experts find out what exactly has changed.

1. Your résumé should fit on one page.

Verdict: Myth

The conventional wisdom used to say that interviewers would not look at a résumé longer than one page. Not so, says Nick Jimenez, executive vice president of recruitment site Climber.com. For him, this “rule” applies only to entry-level applicants who don’t have credentials that stretch beyond a page or, perhaps, applicants looking only for part-time work. Everyone else can (and should) feel free to type on.

“In today’s electronic age, very few recruiters or hiring managers actually print the résumés out when they are screening candidates,” Jimenez says. “I subscribe to the theory that a résumé should be as long as it takes to tell your story and convince the reader your background is well-aligned with the needs of the open position.”

Bruce Hurwitz, career consultant and executive recruiter at New York staffing agency Hurwitz Strategic Staffing, agrees. “The résumé needs to be as long as it takes to properly reflect the candidate’s career,” he says. “I have received horrible one-page résumés, fabulous five-page résumés, and magnificent 40+ page résumés from academics and scientists with multiple publications.”

2. Always use a cover letter.

Verdict: Rule

Sorry to break it to you, but this résumé myth, it seems, is true. While most job experts admit that many employers do actually skip over a cover letter and move straight to the résumé, you should still always send one. According to Allison Nawoj, corporate communications director of CareerBuilder.com, a recent survey conducted by the jobs site found that 20% of hiring managers would automatically dismiss a candidate who submitted a résumé without a cover letter, which means that those who don’t want to risk having their application end up in the slush pile would do best to include one.

“[A cover letter] allows the sender to explain, succinctly, what their objective is, to answer any questions if they are responding to an ad and to refer to any issues that, by definition, would not be included on a résumé,” Hurwitz says.

3. Your résumé needs an objective.

Verdict: Myth

You can skip on including an objective on your résumé.

“Most ‘objective’ paragraphs are meaningless,” says Hurwitz, the career consultant. “It means nothing. In fact, it’s a waste of time and an insult to the intelligence of the recipient.”

Nawoj agrees, saying that the résumé objective, a must-have inclusion five or 10 years ago, has slowly been replaced by what can be referred to as a “career summary,” a short list of accomplishments that highlight your achievements.

“Like an objective, the summary should give the employer an idea of who you are, except it allows you to focus more on your experience than on your goals,” she says. “You can briefly mention your career highlights, including past roles and your strongest skills.”

4. Gaps in employment will cost you an interview.

Verdict: Myth

Before the recession, a gap between employment would have been a major red flag, but employers have become increasingly understanding in the current economic climate.

“Depending on the actual amount of time you were unemployed, as long as you were active and engaged, many employers will look at the employment gap as a non-issue,” Jimenez says.

Laura Smith-Proulx, a professional résumé writer, agrees, but emphasizes that you will still need to be able to offer an explanation should an employer ask.

“Be prepared to explain the gap itself by pointing to an activity that filled it, such as volunteer work, caring for an ill family member, or launching a business, in order to explain time in between jobs,” she says. “Try not to point out a gap that you can’t name. Essentially, your best strategy when dealing with any potentially negative information is [to] focus more on the results you can bring to your next employer than anything else.”

5. A little embellishment is OK.

Verdict: Myth

The current competitive job market may entice prospective employees to alter job titles, embellish achievements or fudge timelines, but our experts assert that applicants would do best to stick with the truth.

“Candidates should always be honest on their résumés,” Nawoj says. “It’s the first impression you make to an employer, so you want to show your integrity by being honest about your background.”

6. Organize your résumé in reverse chronological order.

Verdict: Rule

While it may seem unnatural to some applicants, this myth, experts say, is true.

Climber.com, for example, surveyed recruiting managers and discovered that a majority preferred reverse chronological résumés, listing work experience from most to least recent. They preferred this traditional structure over the topical or achievement-based résumés that have emerged in the digital age. Why exactly?

“Topically oriented résumés are difficult to read, particularly when the recruiter or hiring manager is reviewing hundreds of other résumés for the same position,” Jimenez explains. “By not providing the context for your accomplishments, you make it harder for the reader to draw comparisons between you and the other candidates.”

Additionally, Hurwitz points out, a résumé should show growth. “Recipients want to know immediately where a candidate is now, not where they were five, 10 years ago,” he says.

7. Educational background should be at the top.

Verdict: Myth

According to experts, this is another myth that gets perpetrated because it applies to entry-level applicants who have recently graduated from school. Experienced hires, in fact, should move their educational background further down.

“If you are an experienced professional, your education should always be listed at the bottom of your résumé,” Jimenez says.

8. Your résumé should include references.

Verdict: Myth

Don’t bother including a references section or even typing in “references available upon request” at the bottom of your résumé, since recommendations come much later in the application process.

“It isn’t necessary to include your references on your résumé,” Nawoj says. “If a hiring manager would like to contact your references, they’ll let you know. Save the space for more valuable information.”

9. Use buzzwords.

Verdict: Rule (with some exceptions)

This myth is mostly true. Experts agree that you should include buzzwords in your résumé, because they may help a recruiter find you in their internal tracking system or while searching databases on sites like Monster.com. However, be careful what words make it into your final product.

“If it seems like the candidate has dumped a bunch of buzzwords in for show, the résumé might also get dumped,” Tiffani Murray, a career consultant and former human resources manager, tells MainStreet.

Hurwitz agrees that “the résumé has to read like it is meant for a human being, not a computer. Just listing keywords reflects poorly on the candidate and impacts credibility.”

10. You should provide a hard copy printed on fancy paper.

Verdict: Myth

The idea that you should bring a printed version of your résumé on glossy or otherwise fancy paper is absolutely false. While you should bring a hard copy to an interview, all experts agree that there’s no real need for it to be printed out on thick and environmentally unfriendly résumé paper.

“The days of fancy résumé paper are all but dead,” Murray says. “Companies are cutting back on paper, so your résumé is likely stored in an applicant tracking system that the hiring manager and recruiter can look at on their computer or smartphone whenever they need to review it.”