I understand the "recall in your own terms", that sounds like very practical advice, even more in my case since english isn't my mother language and thus I could try translating it, which would ensure a deeper understanding. Thanks.

I don't see how the way that information is displayed (font size/spacing and using the scroll bar) could impact in the way I'm reading, could you explain that a little more?

Indeed it's something along those lines, however, in the article it's represented in a positive light, where

a skilled reader, multiple tasks are being performed at the same time such as decoding the words, comprehending the information, relating the information to prior knowledge of the subject matter, making inferences, and evaluating the information's usefulness to a report he or she is writing

My problem is that, somehow, I do that, but without comprehending anything. The article linked to an interesting program in Australia, though, QuickSmart. It's aimed at middle students, but I think I could perhaps benefinit from it.

There's something that happens to me with an alarming frequency, something that I almost never (or don't remember) see being referenced (and thus I don't know the proper name). I'm talking about that effect when I'm reading a text (any kind of text, textbook, blog, forum text) and suddenly I discover that two minutes passed and I advanced six lines in the text, but I just have no idea of what I read. It's like a time blackhole, and now I have to re-read it.

Sometimes it also happens in a less alarming way, but still bad: for instance, when I'm reading something that is deliberately teaching me an important piece of knowledge (as in, I already know whathever is in this text IS important) I happen to go through it without questioning anything, just "accepting" it and a few moments later it suddenly comes down on me when I'm ahead: "Wait... what, did he just say 2 pages ago that thermal radiation does NOT need matter to propagate?" and I have again to go back and check that I was not crazy.

While I don't know the name of this effect, I have asked some acquantainces of mine about that, while some agreed that they have it others didn't. I would like very much to eliminate this flaw, anybody knows what I could do to train myself not to do it or at least the correct name so I can research more about it?

If you don't know, I would like to point out that you can run a server locally without almost any effort (there are detailed instructions on the site), thus avoiding crashing problems and allowing you to access it offline.

Sadly, no. I'm from Brazil, there are a few Toastmasters in my country, but all of them are a plane travelling distance away.

I have been constantly thinking recently: Your voice impacts a lot in your presentation, and it's one of those things that people generally take for granted. And it's not just your speak pattern and filler words that I'm referring to, but also intonation, fluency and so on. I would maybe risk saying that it can be as important as your appearance, or even more. (If you stumble every five or ten words, you can't really convey your ideas, can you?)

In this vein, is there a viable alternative for someone who wants to improve his own voice? I already thought about a voice acting tutor, but I generally prefer ways in which I could improve without having to pay a tutor.