Facebook tricks, Windows trick, Google trick, Internet hacking, Ethical Hacking, gmail tricks, Technological news, Software Crack, Mobile Tricks, Blogging Trick, ebay Trick, Computer program, LAN hacking, WAN hacking, cookies stealing, Email Tracing
Almost two years ago to the day I wrote a post about how much I wanted to see a reaction of the type called “explosive polymerization.” That phrase appears here and there on hazard warnings for certain compounds and in the general context of chemical safety, but I could find little online info about exactly what an “explosive polymerization” really was. I’m sure whoever puts those words on warning labels doesn’t really count on the OMG-that-sounds-awesome-how-do-I-do-it? reaction, but apparently I am not the only one who had it.
This video is by Adrian McLaughlin, aka YouTuber plasticraincoat1. In it, what appears to be about 1/2 tsp of p-nitroanline (which is short for para-nitroaniline, which is also called 4-nitroaniline) is treated with a few drops of concentrated sulfuric acid, in a ceramic dish, over a Bunsen burner flame. About 50 seconds later, a reaction that certainly seems like it could be described as “explosive polymerization” occurs. The good stuff starts around 1:20. [Thanks, Fred!]
Although I grew up spending weekends on our family farms shucking corn and talking to Bessie the Cow (all the cows had the same name, it was easier that way), I am a big-city girl at heart. I long to be in a city with a coffee shop right around the corner and pavement under my feet. And for most people, myself included, city living is synonymous with small-space living.
Even though I’m currently living in Suburbia, I’m looking forward to our next home that will hopefully be in a more metropolitan location. As a result, I am constantly on the lookout for space-saving solutions to use in our next big-city dwelling. The following are some of the terrific ideas that have recently caught my attention:
The website Apartment Therapy featured D.C. residents’ Josh and Lauren’s dining table artwork. It’s a table that hangs on the wall when not in use –
The now-defunct magazine Ready Made included a formica countertop on wheels in its article “Southern Comfort.” The countertop rolls into the kitchen for food preparation space and then rolls out into the remainder of the room to create a dining table –
Continuing with dining solutions, back in 2010, Dwell showcased a wall hiding a bookshelf that folded down to create a table set atop a rolling island –
Short walls are also called pony walls or knee walls and Better Homes and Garden suggests cutting into them to create untapped storage space in their article “26 Great Bathroom Storage Ideas” –
Have you spotted any small-space fixes recently? Share links to more space-saving ideas in the comments. I’m always searching for uncluttered and efficient solutions.
This week’s Workspace of the Week is Romap’s counter office:
If all you do from your home office is check email, surf the web, and take care of a few minutes of work, you probably don’t need a dedicated room for your setup. I like Romap’s workspace because it is incredibly versatile and perfect for a small space. An inexpensive ($36) Ikea Vika table top next to the wall serves as additional kitchen counter space when not being used as a work station. And, the choice to use a laptop instead of a desktop computer makes it simple to fold up shop and put things away. Thank you, Romap, for your wonderful addition to our workspace Flickr pool.
Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.
All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!
First things first, go and read this wonderful article from yesterday’s New York Times about professional chefs and the unitaskers that languish in their home kitchens, “Must-Have Gadgets for the Kitchen? Think Again.” It is so comforting to know that even the highly trained get sucked into buying unnecessary gadgets and gizmos. Also, don’t forget to come back!
Welcome back, and now onto this week’s doozy of a unitasker. It doesn’t slice, it doesn’t dice, and it most certainly doesn’t julianne. In fact, the reviews for the Peel-a-Meal indicate it doesn’t even de-skin six to eight potatoes very well in 30 minutes:
The Amazon reviews are pretty tough on this device, and I kind of felt bad for it after reading all of them. (I have a soft spot in my heart for poor designs. It’s a good thing I don’t work at the US patent office.) Apparently, it only works on perfectly round potatoes, like Yukon Golds. It doesn’t work with Russets or even on Yukon Golds that have dimples in them — you still have to pull out your hand peeler and labor away on the indented areas. Since it only does six or eight at a time and it takes close to 30 minutes to peel that small amount of potatoes and you still have to touch-up the potatoes after the machine runs AND it’s supposedly really loud … a regular peeler hardly seems like much work in comparison. Plus, a hand potato peeler is super easy to clean in the dishwasher.
If you have a large family, everyone can pitch in and peel their own potatoes in less than 30 minutes. If you run a restaurant, you should really be using a professional grade peeler to process the load and be up to code with your equipment. People who have arthritis could probably benefit from a Rotato Potato Peeler, which at least looks like it takes up less counter space and has significantly more positive reviews. Oh, Peel-a-Meal, you have such a cute name that I’m sorry you don’t work quickly or efficiently or really do much of anything except for take up space and make a lot of noise.
You've got aches and pains, perhaps a hodgepodge of symptoms. You just want to know what you might have and whether to self-treat, see your doctor, or (oh no) go to the ER. Symcat is a diagnostic tool to help you out.
The smart webapp walks you through what a medical professional might ask in a quick background check, from what your symptoms are and how long you've been experiencing them to how old you are and your gender, and family history of diseases. Symcat then uses clinical data (aggregate patient health records) to predict what could be wrong and give you advice.
This isn't a great tool for hypochondriacs, of course, and you shouldn't rely completely on online symptom checkers like these for all your health needs, but Symcat's intelligent diagnosis—the way it covers both symptoms and your background (anonymously, too)-makes it worth bookmarking. There's an Android app too.
Down a dose of your allergy medicine, put on your sunglasses, and let's get crazy in this week's open thread.
Same drill as always, open-threaders: You can chat and ask questions with your fellow readers all week long at the #openthread hashtag page, but our weekly open thread post is your opportunity to reach the most people. Ask questions, offer advice, discuss productivity tips, or just chat about whatever's on your mind. You'll need a commenter account to participate, then you're ready to roll.
An extra reminder: If you're not quite satisfied with the interaction in the weekly open thread or in #tips, remember that you can also share your expertise every day on our Expert Pages. Photo via f-yeah baby animals.
Just because you aren't Tim Gunn doesn't mean you have an excuse for looking like a slob. Whether you're closet's feeling a little dull or like a full-out disaster, here are a few tricks that will give your existing clothes a new lease on life.
Step one is, obviously, making sure your clothes are clean. We all hate laundry, but there are a lot of things you can do to speed it up, not to mention make it even more effective. Try adding a dash of pepper to your laundry to keep those colors bright, or washing those dry-clean-only clothes at home on the cheap. And when you're done, make sure you know how to properly iron them—though if you hate ironing that much, you can always cheat and get rid of wrinkles with a damp towel or a spray bottle—it'll still look better than a wrinkled mess. Give your shoes a nice run through the washing machine, too—or, if they're leather, learn how to polish them (or just give them a quick buff with a banana).
It's some law of the universe that the only time you stain your clothes is when you're wearing your favorite shirt. Luckily, you don't need to throw in the towel just yet. We've featured countless ways to remove stains with household items (including underarm stains), thus saving you a sad trip to the wastebasket. You can also revive old, dirty shoes with baking soda and laundry detergent (though I've found a quick scrub with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works wonders), and de-stink them with cat litter or a dryer sheet. Stick them in the freezer if they have gum on them, and fix scuff marks with a pencil eraser. When you're done, it'll be like you have a brand new pair of shoes.
Stains aren't the only thing that can ruin your clothes, of course. If you've lost a button or two, you don't need to wait for your next trip to mom's house to sew new ones on—it's really easy to do. You can also fix any size issues yourself, so long as you know the basics of sewing—which we'd argue everyone should know. If a drawstring is your issue, you can re-thread it with a straw. You can also fix sweater snags with nail polish, fix a stuck zipper with Windex, or fix a loose zipper with a key ring. And, if your clothes are a little itchy, you can get rid of their labels without scissors, or de-itch wool items with vinegar or hair conditioner.
If some of your clothes just don't have the luster they used to, take some of those DIY skills and turn them into something new. Old t-shirts can be sun bleached or given new patterns with a tracing box, and those old ties from the 70s can be slimmed down with those sewing skills we mentioned earlier. You can even turn a pair of laced shoes into slip-ons, if you just can't stand tying your shoes anymore (though you could always just learn how to do it in two seconds, too). If, in the end, you need to get rid of a few things, learn how to weed out your old clothes effectively, and see if you can host a clothing swap to get a new wardrobe for free.
Once you've got your newly-cleaned, revived, and repurposed wardrobe, learning a new style trick or two can tie everything together and make your clothes feel brand new. Keep your collars crisp by storing them all buttoned up, and if you wear a lot of ties, make sure you know how to properly match them to your shirt. You might also try learning a new tie knot, whether it be one of the basics or something a bit more offbeat like the Merovingian knot (or, dress your blazer down with a pocket square instead). In the end, just remember: only experiment with one item of clothing at a time to keep yourself looking like an adult.
There's nothing wrong with buying new clothes, of course—we've shared numerous tips on that front, too, from buying a suit online to buying shoes in the afternoon and even finding the perfect-fitting shirt. But, if you don't have the money to plop down on a host of new clothes, you'd be surprised how far a bit of attention to detail can go. If you have any of your own tips to share, be sure to do so in the comments below.
Sometime you are browsing the internet and trying to open any website, your e-mail and any FTP sites , but you see different error codes there. You should be familiar with these error codes. You can solve these problems if you are well-known with the meaning of error codes. Error Codes Meaning 400 This is bad request error, First check you may be typing wrong URL name and server could not understand your request. 401 You are trying to open any unauthorized access site or page. Check your username and password if you are trying to open any webpage. 402 Payment Required Error 403 You are trying to open any forbidden page and you are blocked by that domain. 404 Here you are trying to open the webpage that was removed or re-named, also check the URL spelling. 408 This is time out error. you should send the request with in time that the server set for you.
Many times in schools, colleges & offices surfing some sites like orkut,etc are banned ! To overcome this you can unblock these or block some other websites and play pranks !
Do The Following : For eg you want to block www.xyz.com !
* Open the folder C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc * There you will find a file named HOSTS * Click on the file and press SHIFT and now right click on it . * From the right click menu select Open with . * Now, select Notepad to open the file from the list ! * Now, in the file under the line 127.0.0.1 localhost add another line as 127.0.0.2 www.xyz.com. * Now, File>>Save !
Now, open your web browser and try openning www.xyz.com , it will not load !
ADDUSERS Add or list users to/from a CSV fileARP Address Resolution ProtocolASSOC Change file extension associationsASSOCIAT One step file associationAT Schedule a command to run at a later timeATTRIB Change file attributes BOOTCFG Edit Windows boot settingsBROWSTAT Get domain, browser and PDC info CACLS Change file permissionsCALL Call one batch program from anotherCD Change Directory - move to a specific FolderCHANGE Change Terminal Server Session propertiesCHKDSK Check Disk - check and repair disk problemsCHKNTFS Check the NTFS file systemCHOICE Accept keyboard input to a batch fileCIPHER Encrypt or Decrypt files/foldersCleanMgr Automated cleanup of Temp files, recycle binCLEARMEM Clear memory leaksCLIP Copy STDIN to the Windows clipboard.CLS Clear the screenCLUSTER Windows ClusteringCMD Start a new CMD shellCOLOR Change colors of the CMD windowCOMP Compare the contents of two files or sets of filesCOMPACT Compress files or folders on an NTFS partitionCOMPRESS Compress individual files on an NTFS partitionCON2PRT Connect or disconnect a PrinterCONVERT Convert a FAT drive to NTFS.COPY Copy one or more files to another locationCSVDE Import or Export Active Directory data
PromptF1 / right arrow: Repeats the letters of the last command line, one by one.F2: Displays a dialog asking user to "enter the char to copy up to" of the last command lineF3: Repeats the last command lineF4: Displays a dialog asking user to "enter the char to delete up to" of the last command lineF5: Goes back one command lineF6: Enters the traditional CTRL+Z (^z)F7: Displays a menu with the command line historyF8: Cycles back through previous command lines (beginning with most recent)F9: Displays a dialog asking user to enter a command number, where 0 is for first command line entered.Alt+Enter: toggle full Screen mode.up/down: scroll thru/repeat previous entriesEsc: delete lineNote: The buffer allows a maximum of 50 command lines. After this number is reached, the first line will be replaced in sequence.Helpful accessibility keyboard shortcutsSwitch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight secondsSwitch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREENSwitch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCKSwitch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five timesSwitch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds
Hack....................................Boot anyone's xp computer who has a limited account active (i.e. guest) When you boot, boot to safe mode w/ dos prompt. (push F8 during startup) Type
C:\cd windows\system32 (for a nice matrix touch, I would also type this) color 0a While still in system32 type: command userpasswords2 Then unselect the box that says "this computer requires a password etc."Reboot! Congrats- You just hacked XP
METHOD # 1 Right click on your desktop and choose "New=>shortcuts".In the box that says "Type the location of the shortcut",type in "shutdown -s -t 3600" without the quotation marks and click next. Note: 3600 are the amount of seconds before your computer shuts down. So , 60secs*60mins=3600secs. Make up a name for the shortcut and you're done.You can change the icon by right clicking=>properities=>change icon=>browse TO ABORT:To make an abort key to stop the shutdown timer just create another shortcut and makethe "location of the shortcut" to " shutdown -a" without the quotes. METHOD # 2 {EASIER THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE}Here is another trick to shutdown at a specific time, for example you wish to shutdown at 11:35am. Type this instart=>RunType Code: at 11:35 shutdown -sTO ABORT:Code: shutdown -a
While most Linux veterans would tell you the command line is all you need to archive a bunch of files, we're fond of PeaZip for its feature-filled, easy-to-use (if sometimes glitchy) interface.
Supports packing of 7z, ARC, BZ2, GZ, *PAQ, PEA, QUAD/BALZ, TAR, UPX, WIM, XZ, ZIP, and unpacking of over 130 different archive types.Includes its very own security-oriented PEA formatAES-256 encryptoin support for 7z, ZIP, and PEA formatsIntegration with GNOME and KDE desktops (though integrating it with GNOME takes a bit of manual work)Command-line version also available
PeaZip aims to be an advanced archive manager that's also easy to use, and it does this extremely well. Not only does it support a ton of different file formats and security features (like encryption and integrity checks), but it has a very straightforward GUI that even beginners should find self-explanatory. Its interface is also very configurable, and if you head into the preferences, you have a lot of choices in how you want to use the program.
PeaZip's interface, while beginner-friendly, isn't exactly pretty. In an effort to make an interface that is desktop independent, they've made an interface that looks a bit out of place on every desktop. You also may find tiny graphical glitches throughout the program—nothing serious that hinders your usage of the program, but just looks a little weird. The graphical progress bar is also notorious for being inaccurate (even moreso than normal progress bars), so if you need accurate, up-to-date information on how a file compression is coming along, PeaZip isn't for you (or at least, the GUI isn't—it's command line progress bar is more accurate). Lastly, its desktop integration on GNOME requires moving a few files around before it works correctly, which is a tad annoying (and not something one should expect a beginner to do).
Most of the other graphical archive tools for Linux are fairly similar. You have File Roller, the default archive utility on GNOME; Ark, the default archive utility on KDE; and Xarchiver, a simple, desktop-independent archive utility. All of them are fairly basic, support the most popular file types, and support the creation of archives, though none really support advanced features like encryption. Still, for many people, they're more than sufficient, and their integration with the desktop (especially in the case of Ark) are great, not to mention they won't look as out of place as PeaZip. If you don't need the advanced features PeaZip offers, you can probably just stick with your desktop environment's default.
If you want advanced features but don't like PeaZip's GUI, your next step is hitting the command line. p7zip is one of our favorites, being based off the powerful 7-Zip for Windows, though you could always just use the powerful, built-in tar command as well.
Got another archive utility, whether GUI or command line, that you really like? Let us know about it in the comments.
Lifehacker's App Directory is a new and growing directory of recommendations for the best applications and tools in a number of given categories.
Lawyers often get a bad rap, but if you're ever in a legal jam, there's no question a good lawyer is the most useful person to have around. LegalAdvice.com provides free answers to your vexing legal questions.
Post a question to one of LegalAdvice's registered lawyers using the online form, such as this one:
I have a copyright for my website and have found that an LLC used my information directly from my website and posted it as their own. They even copied my name in one place where it should have been edited as their own name. Can I sue them for infringement?
And you'll get replies posted such as this:
Yes. Good evidence of infringement.
and:
Certain materials are copyrightable while other materials are not. An idea is not copyrightable but the expression of an idea is. In order to answer your question one would need more specifics as to the nature of the infringement. The fact that they apparently have incorporated your name into the work product is definitely good evidence that you have a claim. I would advise either more facts here or that you obtain an attorney.
Hey, it's free legal advice. Other kinds of questions and answers deal with DWIs, shoplifting, child support, and so on.
You can search past questions and answers and locate a lawyer near you if you need more assistance.
LegalAdvice differs from other free legal Q&A forums because the profiles of the lawyers answering are much more upfront (with email addresses, pictures, and phone numbers), so there's more incentive for the lawyers to give more thorough answers.
Love wine but don't have the time, patience, or inclination to aerate your wine in a decanter forever before drinking? Former Microsoft CTO and master chef Nathan Myhrvold suggests a method he calls "hyperdecanting". Sounds fancy and high-tech, right? It's basically shorthand for "put your wine in a blender for a minute and it'll taste better".
Just about anyone who enjoys an occasional glass of wine will initially recoil at the idea. (I did.) Wine has an almost mystical quality for most of us, and surely only an unsophisticated fool would dump a perfectly good bottle of wine into a blender. But Myhrvold takes a scientific approach to food, the culmination of which can be found in his insane $450 book Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, and in an article last year in Bloomberg Businessweek, he explains his method:
I just pour the wine in, frappé away at the highest power setting for 30 to 60 seconds, and then allow the froth to subside (which happens quickly) before serving. I call it "hyperdecanting."
Although torturing an expensive wine in this way may cause sensitive oenophiles to avert their eyes, it almost invariably improves red wines—particularly younger ones, but even a 1982 Château Margaux. Don't just take my word for it, try it yourself.
In his article, Myhrvold goes on to suggest how you might set up your own blind taste test to "determine with scientific rigor whether your tasters prefer the hyperdecanted wine". While we haven't given hyperdecanting a go just yet, decanting is a common practice, and at least in theory, hyperdecanting seems to make sense. A few folks have documented their hyperdecanting efforts, including all-things-four-hours author Tim Ferriss, a hyperdecanter who uses a submersion blender:
The wine obsessives at Vinum Vita tried it out, too (video at the top of the post), and at least seemed to agree that it changes the flavor of the wine.
Ever hyperdecant your wine? Share how it worked for you in the comments. As for us: We've got a (cheap) bottle of wine waiting to be blended this weekend.
How to Decant Wine with a Blender | Bloomberg Businessweek via Four Hour Workweek
On campus, most of my day is filled with information about classes, upcoming tests and what’s going on this coming Friday night… I sometimes forget about the outside world.
This lead me on an app-hunt to find the best news app for your iPad.
The first app I tried was CNN’s app. I enjoyed the ability to stream the television network’s TV channel by entering in my cable subscriber credentials, but I didn’t like how “current” the news was. I felt like I already missed the day’s news. The articles were posted mere minutes ago and I always felt behind.
The second app I tried was Flipboard. This iPad app allows you to customize what feeds go into making a digital “magazine.” It’s a great idea and is implemented brilliantly. My only dislike was that some of the articles weren’t displayed as articles, but were merely links to the source’s website.
I also tried out “The Daily” a pay-for, iPad-only newspaper. While pretty, and engaging with some great featured stories, the app itself was unstable and took a while to update every day with new content. It costs $.99/week, but I wouldn’t bother with this nearly unusable app.
The final app I looked at was The New York Times‘ newsstand app. This app, while also paid, provided a great experience paired with the well known journalism you’d expect from The New York Times. It had multimedia features and tons of interesting articles. The biggest downside was price: even with the New York Time’s “college rate” it costs $10/month to get an iPad subscription. That’s is a far cry higher than the other options, and still features ads throughout the app.
I’m going to have to say that for best overall news and app quality, chose The New York Times. If you’re looking at price and flexibility try Flipboard. However, I’m still on the hunt for a better news app, so leave a comment with your favorite way to get caught up on current events.
Like most students, I have one crazy schedule consisting of classes, studying, work, and a social life. Most nights, I don’t have the time or energy to cook a healthy meal. Luckily, I have my slow cooker to come to the rescue. A slow cooker is a rather inexpensive counter top electrical cooking appliance that uses low temperature over several hours to cook food. The result? Flavorful and tender food that requires very little tending. Below are three reasons why I love my slow cooker.
Low & Slow Means Tender Meat: As a cash-strapped student, I can’t always afford the best cuts of meat. The low temperatures over a long period of time can make even the most inexpensive cut of meat very tender and delicious. Since you don’t have to constantly attend to the cooking, it is perfect for student trying to juggle classes, work, clubs, and other activities.Everything in the Pot: With a slow cooker, you just stick it all into the pot, set the temperature on low or high, and walk away. I love being able to throw food into the pot in the mornings and return after a long day to a good meal. You can easily find recipes online to try or be creative and create a few of your own. It requires such little effort, there is almost no excuse to not use it.Budget-Friendly Price: Slow cookers are not super expensive to purchase. I got my model at Target for $25 and I use it at least twice a week. It is one of my most used kitchen gadgets.Do you use slow cookers? What is
Over the next few months, as people draft their New Year’s Resolutions and 2012 predictions, I’ll be providing tools to help you Achieve Your Resolution – valuable webapps and web sites that I’ve found in the past year that help achieve popular New Year’s Resolutions.
We all want to get more sleep in our otherwise busy lives, but we’re not sure how. These two webapps, YawnLog, and SleepyTi.me, help us busy collegiates get the required amount of ZZZs.YawnLog helps track the amount of sleep you can get. You input your time in bed, time out bed, and quality of sleep, and YawnLog does the rest – including graphing your inputted amount of sleep and tracking it against the average of all users who posted. So you won’t have to worry about those late New Years’ Eves.
SleepyTi.me, which I’ve written about previously here, allows you to see how much sleep you can get to obtain to get your optimal amount each night so that your R.E.M. cycles complete and you wake up feeling refreshed.
Don’t sleep your new year away – hack your body to the best it can be!
I’ve been feeling really off the last couple of weeks. I’m scattered, unbalanced, and a bit out of control. With my demanding class load, work schedule, and volunteer activities, I’ve been feeling overloaded and overwhelmed. I’ve been forced to step back this week and recalibrate the direction my life is moving in. Luckily, I’ve feel like I’ve gotten my groove back. Here are my four favorite tips to finding balance amidst all the chaos of a student life:
1.) Schedule Time for Yourself:
When you sit down to plan your week, schedule time every day that is left just for you to unwind or recharge. Whether you wake up 15 minutes early to sit on the patio with a cup of coffee or go for a walk while listening to your iPod, give yourself a few minutes every day to just breathe. This is your chance to quiet your mind of your long to-do list and just appreciate the moment. Finding ways to escape the daily grind makes you more productive and focused. Some of my favorite activities to unwind and recharge include stretching, going on a walk, or just listening to my favorite music.
2.) Prioritize:
When I sit down to plan the upcoming week, I rank every task that must get done on a 1, 2, 3 scale. Anything that is important and urgent is given a rating of 1. Anything that is important but not necessarily urgent is given a rating of 2 and anything that would be nice to do but won’t have a great impact on my life if I don’t get it done gets a rating of 3. Having my prioritized list with me at all times keeps me focused and on task.
3.) Live a Healthy Lifestyle:
This is a tough one for me. We’ve heard it all a million times: eat more vegetables, get plenty of beauty sleep, and exercise. Eating healthy foods and taking the time to exercise keeps our bodies in good shape (especially important during midterm or finals time when the added stress makes you more likely to get sick). Eating healthy doesn’t have to take a long time – it just requires a little thought and preparation. Always have healthy snacks in the house like dried fruit, nuts, cut up veggies, or Greek yogurt. For quick and easy meals, I rely on my crockpot for easy to throw together meals with minimal effort.
4.) Evaluate Your Stressors:
Take a chance to reflect on what exactly is stressing you out and brainstorm ways to lessen the stress. Is there a particular class that is hard for you? Maybe tutoring will help. Are money troubles stressing you out? Consider getting a part time job or exploring freelance options. Frustrated with your roommate’s messy habits? Consider having an honest heart to heart to find a happy compromise.
It’s about this time of the year that I start to fall into a rut, a productivity rut. I start to fall behind on my classes, turning most of my time over to sites like Hulu and Netflix. I know I’m not the only one sitting in the library’s quiet study floor, wasting time online or in my dorm cleaning to trick myself into thinking I’m getting stuff done.
Truth is, I’ve lost focus, like many of my fellow students. So it’s time for a productivity bootcamp.
In the coming weeks we’ll go over a few steps to help get you back on track, but first let’s concentrate on getting organized and finding out where you stand.
If you haven’t already, or have been putting it off, it’s time to head to the bookstore and stock up on notebooks and binders. You can’t go through the semester writing notes on scraps of paper that get tossed on your desk. You’ll need to block off a bit of time to prepare the binders and start printing off (or finding on your inevitably messy desk) those syllabi. Then start on your piles of paper by making stacks for each class. Once you have all of your papers into four or five stacks, start organizing each one into binders. I’ve found that making clear sections (like Homework, Quizzes, etc) helps a lot more than just chronologically filing things away.
One of the best decisions I made this semester while trying to get out of my productivity rut was to buy a paper inbox (they can be found at Target, an office supply store, or even a home goods store like Ikea), so I could toss looseleaf papers in and file them at the end of the day. This way, all the handouts and papers I’d collect in my backpack during the day would end up in a safe place to be filed when I had a chance to. (However, an overflowing inbox can cause as much stress as a desk covered in slips of paper, so be diligent.)
It’s also getting around the mid semester point of the year. So, it’s good idea to figure out where you stand academically. This means breaking out Numbers, Excel or Grades 2 (for iPhone) to calculate your current grades for each of your classes. Figuring out where you are in each class will help you understand where you need to spend most of your time and attention in the coming weeks.
Now that you have things somewhat organized, we’ll go into a second part that will cover using task managers / planners, and how to use them effectively.
If you are a human it is inevitable that you will procrastinate, and college students are especially good at it. While procrastinating can at times be harmless and unavoidable there are some things that you DO NOT want to procrastinate. EVER.
Keep in mind that these are not numbered in order of importance.
1. Duplicating Your Keys
If you only have one key for your house or car or safe or some other lock, you need to get it duplicated! Duplicates are of course nice when you have misplaced your keys and you can just grab your duplicate and go. However, the more important reason is for when you permanently lose your only key somewhere like at the bottom of a lake. So, don’t let this happen, don’t waste money on a lock smith and go duplicate your keys right now!
2. Getting Your Passport
This may be a bit of a harder task to accomplish, but it is an important one. You are going to have to fill out a lot of paper work and drop about $100 to get one, but it is well worth it. It takes forever to actually get you passport in hand after you buy it, and the sooner you need your passport the more you have to pay, so you might as well get it before you plan some out of country travelling so it will be cheaper. In other words, if you decide you are going to Canada in two weeks it will cost a lot more (if not being impossible) to get your passport in time than if you were going in 6 months. Another reason not to procrastinate getting your passport is that if you have it then you can spontaneously travel out of the country at anytime. With this being said, I myself should probably go get my passport…
3. Signing Up for Classes
Signing up for your next term’s classes can be a pain. Trying to figure out what to take, which professor to take it with and how to fit all these classes into a schedule that works for you is annoying. However, you want to figure this all out as soon as the classes for the next term are posted. With all these cuts on education there are a lot less classes that get filled a lot faster every term. So, you want to have your classes figured out beforehand and add them as soon as your registration time opens up to make sure you get into the class and not have to worry about being an “add student.”
4. Getting Your Charger When Your Computer is Dying
Let’s paint a picture. You are laying down on your bed with three blankets on yourself and all of the sudden your laptop says you only have 10% battery and your cord is in a whole other room. The procrastinator in you will think “ahh, silly warning.. I’ll go get, just give me like ten more minutes” and then, 20 minutes later, your laptop has died. Now, not only do you still have to go get your cord, you also have restart computer, try to remember what tabs you had open, re-download whatever downloads got cancelled, lose a whole bunch of time and be even more frustrated than you would have been originally. Listen to the warning!
5. Waking Up
We all know how waking up past your alarm can have negative effects, so don’t do it. One way to prevent this is by learning how to better manage your sleep.
6. Putting Milk in the Fridge.
Don’t leave milk out. It gets warm and it gets gross and it gets spoiled.
7. Buying Tickets
Don’t procrastinate when you are buying tickets. The longer you wait to buy tickets for things (sporting events, plane tickets, concerts) the tickets will either become more expensive or sold out, so buy them early.
8. Car Maintenance
If you recognize that some work has to be done on your car then you need to get it done right away. Cars break when they are not kept up. So, when your gas light comes on then you need to go buy some really expensive gas. Also, people keep telling me that it is very important to change your oil, so let’s all do that. Also, to avoid tickets, you have to keep up the annoying stuff that you do not care about like fixing your tail lights, fixing your break lights, or paying your registration.
9. Buying Toilet Paper
You do not want to realize you have ran out of toilet paper when it is too late.
10. Studying and Homework
Yes, a very boring way to end this list. We all know studying is important to not procrastinate, but I figured I would mention it because you are probably procrastinating it right now as you read this. Not doing your homework or your essay or studying for your final will mess up all the work you put into number five, so get it done early or at least not eight minutes before it is due.
These are 10 things I find important not to procrastinate. What did I leave out? Tell us in the comments.
Logan James Ivey is a freshman at the two year school of Sierra College located in the beautiful foothills of California. His plans are to transfer to the University of California, Davis as an international relations major and perhaps double major or minor in economics. In High School he enjoyed making yearbooks and short films in his Multi Media class. Logan's other interests include rivers, the Internet, becoming strong and listening to hip hop music. You can learn more about this amazing boy by following him on Twitter or Google +.
We all know that gas prices are rising with little relief in sight. What is a cash-strapped college student to do? Use GasBuddy to find the cheapest gas prices around.
GasBuddy is a website where consumers post gas prices from various gas stations. Also available as a free app for Android and iPhone users, GasBuddy allows users to search for the cheapest gas station in their neighborhood. I have to admit, I’ve become addicted to this app and I love knowing that I’m saving money. Every penny counts.
Users are also able to earn points for reporting gas prices and turn those points into drawings to win prizes, such as pre-paid gas cards. Saving money and a chance to win free gas? Win-win for everyone.
Here are 3 more tips to reduce the money you spend on gas:
1.) Reduce Your Driving: Whether you carpool, take public transportation, or walk, reducing your driving will reduce the amount of money you spend on gas. Even if you can’t do avoid driving all the time, doing it once or twice a week will still make an impact on your wallet.
2.) Change The Way You Drive: If you can’t purchase a more fuel efficient car (more college students can’t), then you have to make your current car as fuel efficient as possible. Do your best to avoid high speeds, braking or accelerating suddenly, or using your air conditioner. Seems trivial, but it all adds up.
3.) Keep Tires Properly Inflated: Regularly check your tire pressure to make sure it is at the manual’s recommended setting.
One of the most annoying parts of the internet is having to click every single post on craigslist to see the photo of the item you will probably not buy anyway. This is very time consuming and is especially frustrating when post says “pic” but it only has a lame stock image just so the title of her or his post looks like it has an image when really it does not. To avoid all this nonsense you need to install a simple script to your internet browser that will allow you to view the pictures on craigslist ads below the titles as the picture above shows. Once you click this link I’ve provided it will send you to the page of who I am assuming made the script, you can then download the “1.0? version, and it will then automatically install itself on your browser.
Having the pictures all laid out for you on the results page can be particularly handy when looking through real-estate postings, cars, furniture, and things of the such. This is also a cool feature to have on your browser so you can impress all of your friends and say something snarky like “Oh wow, you DON’T use this!? Not using this script is like still using internet explorer!” So, download this script, and you can finally begin searching craigslist the right way!
Rasterbating is by far the cheapest, easiest and coolest way to fill an entire wall with art. A rasterbator is a program that takes any image and expands it to any size desired whilst keeping its original quality. The way this works is that the program changes the image into a half-toned one. THAT basically means the program turns the chosen image into a lot of small dots that will not look like much up close, but from a sufficient distance they resume their original shapes.
Besides using the name to make immature and hilarious puns, the best part of rasterbating is the fact that it is so customizable. One can upload any picture they would like, choose the size (up to twenty meters) by selecting the amount of pages to print it on, and also decide whether the image is achromatic, monochromatic or has full color. Rasterbating is also extremely cheap for filling an entire wall with any image of one’s choice. At $0.10 a page, as charged by most colleges to print things, a rasterbation from the picture above would only cost about three dollars and a crazy sixteen foot long rasterbation like the one below would only cost about fifteen.
There are many downloadable or online programs that will rasterbate your images, but this one here seems to be the best.
Well folks, it’s Saint Patricks day, so I thought I’d open with a day-specific posts. And since I don’t know anything about actual saints, I’m here to write about drinking.
First let me say, all these drinks are intended for drinkers 21+ years of age to enjoy responsibly.
So if you aren’t 21, stop reading.
For serious, yo.
Okay, they’re gone now; as we both know, it’s impossible to lie on the internet. With that known, here is the best alcohol advice I learned, often the hard way.
Here, in no particular order, is the full extent of all human knowledge.
“The Practice-Shot”
Two-thirds a shot of vodka, topped off with Peach schnapps.
If you can’t handle shots (and I couldn’t) this is what you do. Be sure to top off with the schnapps or it won’t work. It’s good practice and a very easy shot with an almost identical alcohol percentage.
The Shark-Bite
Mountain Dew, the cheapest Vodka available, two dashes of bitters, ice
This was the first drink I invented Freshman year. Ice cools the drink and the bitters both help the drink and leaves a light red mist floating on the top of the neon ocean of the drink. It is the cheapest drink you can make, delicious, caffeinated, and it looks fancy. A good staple of poor drinkers to bust out as “their” drink.
“The Blue Stuff”
A two-liter bottle of Sprite, your cheapest vodka, and blue-lemonade Kool-Aid mix.
This recipe was brought all the way back from Kansas by amateur UFC fighter and local legend Eric Grant*. The key to this punch is that it isn’t deathly alcoholic, meaning that it is both safe and enormously delicious and a punch that’s both tasty and non-lethal is bound to be a favorite option at any party.
“The Red Stuff”
30 Beers, an entire handle of Vodka, an ungodly amount of Red Kool-aid mix, a bottle of fortified wine, a red MD 20/20 and two red Rip-It energy drinks.
A recipe of a friend, this recipe is for disaster and frat parties and should be watched carefully. The secret here is using beer and not water as the base for the punch; as both the Blue Stuff and Red Stuff show, water is for suckers. The sugar and syrupy nature of the wine, MD 20/20 and Rip-Its help offset the bite of the vodka and the beer consistency helps. It isn’t tasty per se, but it tastes a lot better than it looks.
The “We don’t have any tonic”
Gin, Sprite.
A real Gin and Tonic needs ice, tonic, and lime. You might have none of these things but the gin. In a pinch, Sprite will do; it’s tonic, after all, with a light citrus flavor and the sugar makes it a “kiddie” version girls and inexperienced drinkers will like. This is also important because no other soda mixes with Gin. None. Let me save you the time; if you can’t get tonic, Sprite works very well. Everything else will kill you.
“The Erk and Jerk”
E&J brandy, Coke
Another drink introduced to us by Eric. You don’t mix these two; you take a gulp of Coke, then, keeping the soda, in your mouth, take a swig (from the bottle) of brandy and immediately chase with more Coke, gulping it all down. Keeping the alcohol sandwiched at all time makes it delicious.
The Only Acceptable Way to Mix Whiskey
Whiskey, Ginger Ale.
It’s a Whiskey Ginger, and if you have to mix your whiskey, this is how you do it. Not Coke or god knows what else. You do it with ginger-ale, or better yet, ginger beer. Maybe add some hot pepper if you are fancy. But you aren’t, and neither am I, so ginger ale works fine.
The Drink You’ll Make For the First Girl to Break Your Heart
Hot Chocolate, Kahlua, Peppermint Schnapps.
Delicious! Garnish with regret.
The Best Vodka For Your Money
Sobieski
This isn’t a paid endorsement, though I wish it was. A handle of Sobieski at $20 is the best quality vodka me or any of my (vodka enthusiast) friends have ever tried. For five bucks more go from plastic-bottle nonsense to something you can take shots of sober.
The Best Bad Idea
Vodka, Jolly-Ranchers
Take some Jolly Ranchers. Split them into piles and separate by color but a bunch (14-16) of the specific colored on for every Gatorade-bottle sized portion of vodka you’re flavoring. Also, put the Vodka in an empty Gatorade bottle. Trust me. It’s science. Now shake it up. Shake it a lot. Leave it in your freezer overnight. Then, shake. A little more time. Lots of shaking. Now try it; woah, right? You can almost sip it straight and mixing is a breeze. Plus, it should look like Gatorade. That’s some synergy right there.
Well, I hope this helps. And remember, for all the drinkers in the audience: please drink responsibly and not to dangerous levels, which, I should mention, basically rules out The Red Stuff. Seriously, guys. That stuff does not mess around.
-Lev
*Eric is a man whose means of employment is to fight enormous muscled people who have been trained to do nothing but fight. And he beats them up. A lot. If he suggests a drink, you drink it.
This guest post was written by Andrianes Pinantoan. Andrianes is currently studying a TAFE course to be a freelance writer. When not working, he can be found with a camera in hand. You can find him on Google+.
Back when I was in secondary school in Singapore, the usual place students went to study was McDonald’s. 2 years after I graduated from secondary school, a roommate of mine told me that “the place to study in” was the airport. You might think that as long as you qare studying, it doesn’t matter where you do it, but your learning environment actually plays a huge role in your learning efficiency and effectiveness.
So how do our learning environments affect our study? According toenvironmental psychologist Jacqueline Vischer, there are three elements in your external space that can affect your productivity: physical, functional and psychological. Let’s start with the basics:
Physical: Physical elements include noise, lighting and temperature levels. We all know that these elements must be comfortable for us to function well. But comfort, as it turns out, is just step one. For example, study spaces today are designed to be an “open space” – and because most students are comfortable in it, most designers never took a second look. Yet open spaces promote one of the most destructive forces in learning productivity: noise.
Noise causes fatigue and may reduce productivity by up to 66%. Even *low* intensity noises have been shown to decrease willpower and discipline – even if they didn’t perceive stress from the noise.
That’s the problem with noise. You’ll immediately shelter your eyes if there’s glare, but noises’ effects are almost always subconscious.
One of the best investments I’ve ever made is buying earplugs. The ones I own are called the Heartech Silentears. Put them on and the world disappears around you. If you have no choice but to study in a crowded environment, put a pair of these on and you’ll feel the difference. If you do have a choice, however, always look for somewhere quiet. No matter how great an earplug is, it will never be perfect. So make sure you remove the source of the noise whenever possible.
Functional - The next element of the environment is functionality. According to Vischer, functional comfort “links users’ environmental assessments of their environment to the requirements of the tasks they are performing.” In other words, the environment must support study-related tasks and activities.
However, the effect of functionality is more than just practicality. The ability to turn on a fan, close a door or manipulate the environment in other ways increases not just your physical, but also your psychological comfort. That’s because it gives you the perception of control. This perception of control, in turn, creates a feeling of territoriality and a sense of individualized ownership of that space.
So why does ownership of your study space matters? Well, it’s the difference between having a teacher breathe down your neck while you study and studying with your friends. Or between studying in a place where a group of girls/guys are checking you out or studying alone.
You’re less “on guard” in one place than the other – which in turn allows you to place more focus on the actual work.
To maximize your productivity, make sure your environment has everything you need within your reach before you start studying. This includes all your study materials and tools, a jar of water, a remote control for the air conditioner, etc. Also, try personalizing the space you study in. I have a straight-A friend who’d place a small “sengoku” figurine in the corner of his table anywhere he studied. When I asked him why, he said that figurine made him feel “safer”. His comment sparked this research and I believe by “decorating” his study space, he increased his perceived ownership of the study space and thus felt “safer”.
Psychological - The third element of the environment is how it affects your psychology, or in this case, your focus. Focus is crucial if you want to increase your study efficiency. The goal is to create what psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi called “flow”.
“Flow” is that state of intense focus you get when you are so concentrated on a particular task that you often lose track of time. Creating a state of flow is not an easy process, especially for studying, but the basic first step is to eliminate all distractions.
“Distractions”, in this case, are more than just what you can immediately spot – like the loud music your brother is playing or friends your roommate brings over. Distractions also come in subtler ways. Dr BJ Fogg of Stanford called it, “triggers”.
The next time you are studying with a group of friends, observe how many times they check their inbox or Facebook stream in the space of 10 minutes – even if there is nothing new. They don’t check these things for fun, but the fact that their mobile is there for the checking triggers them to do it. And that’s true of instant messaging like MSN, Skype, or SMS and any other way people can reach you.
Repeat this with me: out of sight, out of mind. The first thing you need to do when it comes to triggers is to remove clutter. Your studying desk needs to be completely empty before you fill it with textbooks.
If you need a computer to study, use RescueTime. Ever heard of the saying “you can’t improve what you don’t track”? Well, that’s true with your learning productivity too. The free version of RescueTime helps you track where you spend time on, on your computer, on the web and on your mobile – and you can then review how much you really spend studying out of 8 hour “study marathon”. And if you’re serious about productivity, you can pay a small fee to have RescueTime block apps for you.
Speaking of blocking, install AdBlock to block all ads while surfing the web. These days it’s rare that a study session ends without a visit to the web for research. I also like to use a dedicated laptop solely for studying. If you can’t afford that, then spend some time clearing digital clutter. Place all desktop shortcuts into a folder that sits on your desktop and remove icons in the start menu (if you use Windows).
And last, dedicate one browser for your studies. All browsers out there track which websites you visit most and display them as shortcuts – and you don’t want Facebook to be there when you’re thinking of procrastinating.
Evernote is offering free Premium account upgrades to all college and university students with a valid .edu address! From now through April 25th, you can sign up to receive Evernote Premium for free for the rest of the school year (through June 30th, 2012). If you’re already on Evernote, all you have to do is request to join Evernote Premium for College’s Evernote Group. If you are already a premium subscriber, Evernote will pause payment until the promotion ends.
I love using Evernote to organize school stuff, writing inspiration, and just life in general. If you’re not on it, I highly recommend you sign up now while you can take advantage of this awesome promotion– Evernote Premium is normally $45 per year. In addition to all the benefits of a free Evernote account, you get the following Premium Only features:
Create, save and clip 1GB of new content each monthAdd up to 50MB of ideas, files and web pages to notesSearch within PDFs attached to your notesOffline notebooks on Android, iOS and Windows PhoneShare your notebooks and allow others to edit themFaster recognition of images containing textTop priority support, plus live chatAdd a PIN to lock the
Stuff is great; I think all of can agree on that. But for college, some things are better than others. Often things we don’t even think of can be crucial additions to any College lifestyle. With that said, here are ten things you need (or at least should) have at your place.
Frozen Fruit
You’re in college, bro. You’re not getting fresh fruit; blueberries cost more than a burrito, and we know where your priorities lie. But big bags of frozen fruit are much, much cheaper, and are fine to eat, thawed or frozen. Plus, frozen berries may be the best high snack in history: healthy, cheap, and impossible to gorge on; the cold keeps you paced.
Half a Pack of cigarettes
You may not smoke, but someone you know or meet will. And when they need a cigarette at 2 AM on a Friday night, you’re an American hero.
A Backup Pair of Headphones
Especially if we’re talking about iPod headphones, you’re going to need a backup. They get lost easily, and what else are you going to do, listen to people? Nope. Get a backup.
Two (2) Condoms
A condom is a staple of any overly hopeful males wallet and sock-drawer, as it should be. This, however, is a rookie move: one should have at least two condoms with him at all time. Because think about it: if it goes poorly you’re going to be thrilled to have a backup. And if it goes well? Then a second one is going to be a must, too.
A Non-Mesh Trashcan
This is more a critique of mesh trashcans. Why would you have that? Who needs a trash-can but thinks “man, I sure wish this trash could just breathe a little more in the room.” Plus, a non-mesh trashcan can handle liquid if you overdrank. Mesh is a trap.
Some Batteries
Taking batteries out of things to put in other things is a dangerous game, muchacho. You’ll take them out of the remote for your Xbox controller, then from the fire alarm for the remote, and then you’ll die from a fire. Don’t want to die? Buy some batteries.
Too much toilet paper
There is no such thing as too much toilet paper. There is, however, such a thing as “too little.” Buy too much toilet paper. We’ll see who has the last laugh.
Eight (8) beers.
This is the minimum number of beers to have, as determined by science. Eight beers means it’s enough to share but not too much to be out of money from sharing. It’s a gift, it’s a dinner accompaniment, whatever: it’s beer. And you need eight of them around.
Advanced: A bottle of wine
For when you have to girls, need a gift, or need to class up a dinner. Forever alone and completely class-less? Then it’s an emergency one-man escape raft to drunkville. But seriously, it’s for the other things, bro.
Baking Soda for your fridge
Your fridge smells evil. Stop it.
An Excuse
By far the most important thing to have in your house is something you can’t touch: you need an excuse. You need one thing or reason to justify whatever you want: if you can’t host people, it’s because of the heat, if you were late to class, your power went out, etc, etc. And of course, late at night you may need something cool enough in your house to justify bringing an interested guest. And if it doesn’t go so hot, you may need another excuse to get them out.
There are some great things about becoming an upperclassman.
As an upperclassman, you get better classes. Alcohol is easier to get, you know the school and city, and you can live in an actual house as opposed to the giant social-experiment-sandbox that are Freshman dorms. But alas, with great power comes great responsibility. While being an upper-classman comes with many gifts, here are eight things you’re going to have to stop doing.
1: Having Strong Opinions about Frats
This goes in both directions. It’s no longer cool to brag or boast about your fraternity. You can drink beer with friends and get girls. Congratulations! You are everyone else in college. Similarly, if you don’t like frats, keep it to yourself at this point. Nothing is weirder than a grudge that should have expired.
2: Seeking out Freshmen
As Sophomores, we only had one skill: not being Freshman. And boy, what a skill it was. You knew better and you were eager to assert it, and that’s fine. If you’re still doing that as a Junior by attempting actively to pursue Freshmen, check yourself.
NOTE: If you are a Senior, you may have a pet freshman. He will be your Freshie’mon: half Freshman and half Poke’mon. You will train him for greatness and to battle other Freshmen. Ideally he should have fire-moves.
3: Freaking out about your GPA
Now this one is more interesting, because grades count more later on, I think. To be honest, I’m not a big grade person. And if you aren’t, now isn’t the time to start. And if you are, why keep stressing. It’s been at least two years now; take a long look at your GPA. It’s going to stay about the same if you live the way you are. And I think that’s fine. Take a breath.
4: Bragging about how much you drink.
There are only two options for bragging about how much you drink at this age; either everyone else drinks the same, which means you’re just being a jerk, or you actually do drink much more than everyone else in college, meaning you are going to die by the end of this sentence. Either way, we don’t want to hear about it.
5: Saying “Swag”
A rule of thumb? The more you say it, the less you have.
6: Going to Class
At this point, you know enough about college to sense a day when it isn’t worth it; you’ll fall asleep in class anyway, or there’s nothing to hand in, or it’s a movie you can watch elsewhere. Similarly, you’re old enough to recognize the value of a beautiful day or a friend in town from afar. Enjoy it. They stay skipping class is only stealing from yourself; if that’s true, cut yourself an IOU now and then.
7: Telling everyone you’re going to be wildly successful in an unlikely or impressive field
We all daydream. All of us know, know, how we’re going to excel and make back all the money we spent on diplomas, and how we’re going to make our ex-girlfriends cry wistfully over framed photographs of us slam-dunking over a lion that’s also on fire.And daydreams are like any other dreams: awesome for you to have, but no one wants to hear them. You’re not going to be a famous rapper. You’re not even going to be a mildly successful rapper. You may not even be a waiter in this economy. But if and when you do succeed, everyone whose ear you yapped off will be waiting with a brick to throw.
8: Calling the opposite gender “crazy”
The homeless guy training lobsters for the “inevitable” is crazy. The girl at ATO who didn’t want to dance with you isn’t crazy; in all likelihood, she’s actually making a pretty good call. If the opposite gender is still enough of a mystery to you that they leave you furious, frustrated, and baffled, maybe you should get a different hobby, like scrapbooking.
Do you remember the ins and outs of AP Biology still? How about AP World History?
Now, while you might not want to be reminded about high school- having a strong foundation in some core courses, like biology and history, can be immensely helpful in your life: from future classes you’ll take in college to dinner conversation you’ll have with your friends.
This weekend, head over to Crash Course, a YouTube channel where two brothers (from the famous Vlogbrother channel) take turns covering the fundimentals of both of these subjects. From episodes about ATP to Alexander the Great, they break things down and make it easy to catch back up on a few topics you might have missed in high school.
It’ll be worth spending an hour to catch up to where they are now, and then subscribe to their channel for their future, weekly updates.
This quote from artist and writer Austin Kleon reminds us that kindness and respect can go a long way. When we're online we're part of a vast worldwide community that can, at the same time, feel as small as a neighborhood. It's easy to become overwhelmed by anger and lash out when there isn't someone in front of you, so it helps to imagine that there is. We're all likely aware that anger can hurt and breed more anger, but it's a good thing to keep in the back of your mind. There's nothing wrong with conflict, but it's far more productive when you keep a level head. Next time you're enraged by the internet, put the conversation in the context of a small town and, you know, be nice.
Einstein on Kindness | Brain Pickings via Swissmiss
It turns out that many of the driving guidelines that we were taught in drivers' ed class have changed, including the old standby of keeping our hands on the steering wheel at the 10 and 2 positions on a clock.
The new take: AAA, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and driving instructors teach that you should keep your hands lower, at 9 and 3 o'clock, or even lower, at 8 and 4. MSNBC says this change is partly to protect our hands and head, because if airbags go off, they're more likely to injure your hands that are higher up on the steering wheel and then slam your hands into your head. So apparently it's a "stop hitting yourself" adjustment.
You may also have more control or improved stability in that "parallel position", another term for the 9 and 3 steering wheel position, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety's guidelines for new drivers (PDF).
Finally, that "hand over hand" turning maneuver you were taught? Also out. Now:
Instead, you're supposed to "push-pull" — that is, push the wheel up with one hand and pull it down with the other, without crossing over.
This, too, is for safety reasons to avoid the perils of a deploying airbag. So there you have it. News to us. How about you?
Get with the times: You're driving all wrong | MSNBC via NextDraft
Dear Lifehacker, I did a couple of small side projects for friends and now it looks like I might get some steady freelance work and actually make some real money part-time. I'm not ready to quit my day job, but do I need to do anything official like actually start a business or register somewhere now that I'm actually making money freelancing?
Thanks, Moonlighter
Dear Moonlighter, Congratulations and welcome to the wild, wonderful, and challenging life of a freelancer. We've touched on the topic of freelancing a few times before, from psychological and financial preparations you should do to how to decide how much to charge for your freelance services. It sounds like you want to know what you're legally required to set up, though. Thankfully, the answer is—depending on where you live and what your line of work is as a freelancer—not much. Let's take a look.
You don't need to start a business, because actually once you start making money as a freelancer or independent contractor—surprise—you already do have a business, at least in the eyes of the law. You are now the owner of a one-person business (technically a sole proprietorship)!
With that power and responsibility, however, may come licenses, their associated fees, and possibly permits—depending, again, on where you live and how your work is set up. Most business licenses and permits are required by local governments—your specific city or possibly county you live in.
DBA (Doing Business As): If you want to do business under a name other than your own (e.g., "Joe Smith Widget Building"), you'll need to file a fictitious name statement or DBA ("doing business as") from your county before getting the local city license. (The DBA will also be needed to open a business bank account if you want one. You don't need a business bank account as a freelancer, though.)
City or county licenses: To keep things simple, however, you could just use your own name for your freelance work, in which case you wouldn't need to file for that DBA, and your locality also might not require you to get a local business license. The local business license is really just a tax-revenue collecting permit to allow you to do business in the area. You'll have to check with your city and county business licensing office to be sure, of course. If you are required to get a license regardless of whether you use a DBA or your own name, it's usually a painless process. You just have to go to the office, fill out a form (possibly get it notarized) and pay the annual fee. The fee can range from $25 to a couple of hundred dollars, depending on the type and amount of work you expect to do.
Local home business permits: Aside from the city or county license, while you're talking to the local business licensing department, you might want to ask them about any permits required to work from home (assuming that's the kind of freelancing you're doing. If not, move along). Some communities do have zoning regulations against home-based businesses, to restrict things like parking problems, commercial signs, and things they consider nuisances like lots of people coming and going. You can also check with your local chamber of commerce to find out how your area is zoned. If you find out a home business is prohibited, you could a) ignore the restriction, as some freelancers do, but keep in mind the risk of fines, b) try using an alternate mailing service for your business, c) apply for an exception or variance, or d) move (as a last resort).
State and federal licenses: More licenses, you're thinking? Don't worry, unless you work in a specific type of profession like architecture or real estate, you probably don't have to worry about business licensing from your state; chances are you'd know if you'd need a license already, but if not, go to your state's website at www.state.[your state's two letter abbreviation].us to check. The federal government doesn't really license small businesses either.
Only one more topic to discuss about freelancing requirements—taxes. Yup, our favorite. There are two issues:
Sales tax collection and permits: Depending on the freelance work you do, you might need to collect sales tax for your state and possibly local government and turn it over to them on whatever schedule (annual, quarterly, or monthly) they designate. If this is the case, you'll probably need to apply for a permit to collect sales tax (Yay! Isn't this fun?). Generally this applies if you sell or resell products that are subject to sales tax, but it can also apply, in rare cases, to some services in some states. As an example, finished graphic design work transferred on DVDs or in print to clients is a tangible product subject to sales tax, at least in NY, but writing, being a service, is not subject to sales tax. But, again, your mileage will vary depending on your work and where you live, so refer to your state's website.
Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN): Last but not least, as a freelancer, your identification number on your tax forms and licenses will be your Social Security number or a Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN). You're only required to get an EIN for certain circumstances, such as if you want to hire employees or if your insurance company or a vendor requires you to have one. In that case, you can get an EIN from the IRS for free by filing Form SS-4. While not necessary, it might be a good idea to get an EIN to protect from identity theft. Finance Diva suggests that since the EIN is free and easy to get, you should use it instead of your Social Security number when you have to provide your information to companies and individuals you work with, including subcontractors. This is optional, though, but still something to consider.
In short, you only really need to look into getting: a local business license if your city or county requires it, possibly a home permit, and a sales tax permit, depending on your work.
Win/Mac: We've discussed a few ways to record Skype calls in the past, but they tend to be pretty hit-or-miss. As long as the audio is the only part you're worried about, CallNote can record your calls and then save the audio file to your Evernote account immediately as soon as it's finished recording.
Callnote is pretty simple to use. Fire up the app, head over to the Evernote tab to log in to Evernote, and while Skype is open and running click to record, stop recording, or play back what's been recorded, so you can test before your call or podcast begins. The app allows you to record up to eight participants, and includes a note when the audio is uploaded to Evernote with the attendees names and the call time and duration included. You can set the process to take place automatically—as in the app starts recording as soon as the call begins, stops when it ends, and uploads immediately after it stops, or you can toggle triggers in between so you can manually select the destination notebook.
The app is free, and can be downloaded directly from the developer or directly from the Skype App Store. Do you record Skype calls, or use a different method? Share your alternatives and suggestions in the comments below.
Mac only: iPackr is a free Mac app that, unlike many other unarchivers for OS X, gives you the option to preview and manually extract the files in an archive.
Our favorite file archive utility for Mac, The Unarchiver, is great because it integrates so well with the Finder. Just double click on an archive, and it'll extract it to that folder for you. If you're looking for something a bit more traditional and advanced, though, you usually have to shell out some money. iPacker lets you see what's in an archive before you extract it. You can add or remove files, convert it to a different archive type, or even live preview text and image files right from the app's built-in preview pane. It supports creating 7z, ZIP, and RAR archives, and supports decompressing gz and bz2 archives in addition to the others.
Are you spending too much time prioritizing your to-do list only to still have unfinished tasks nagging at the back of your mind (the dreadful Zeigarnik Effect)? One solution may be to ditch the to-do list altogether and instead use task scheduling.
Ari Meisel on his Art of Less Doing blog argues that for happiness and to avoid the damage of the Zeigarnik Effect, you should only deal with things that are timely and in the now. "No matter how you look at it," he says, "tasks involve timing" so instead of making lists with dozens of items on them that are going to stress you out while they're not being worked on, use a tool like FollowUp.cc, which we've highlighted before, to schedule your tasks. FollowUp.cc sends email reminders to yourself and others at exact times that you need them. This keeps you from constantly looking at undone tasks, yet ensures you get things done.
Here's how his system of "stop trying to prioritize and work on your timing" works:
Take a good look at your list, whether it's your to do list, bucket list, leap list, whatever form its in, and really think about WHEN these things need to get done or take place. You want to attack these items in such a way that things can get accomplished as soon as reasonably possible, because there will always be more stuff. The good thing about this system is that once you use it, any new task that comes up simply needs to be "timed" and then put out of your mind.
My scheduled tasks do tend to get done more often than the ones without timing associated to them, but I'm not sure if I can totally give up tasks lists. Still, anything would be worth getting rid of that nagging Zeigarnik Effect. What do you think?
This stunning desktop from Flickr user Tj Tantiangco combines a gorgeous wallpaper with only the bare essentials when it comes to desktop widgets. The result is a desktop that's simple, attractive, relaxing, and will make you feel a little less stressed when you sit down to log in in the morning, or come back from a long meeting.
Believe it or not, this is a Windows desktop. If you want the same look for your Windows system, here's what you'll need:
The Cittanova wallpaper from InterfaceLIFT.The Rainmeter system management and monitoring utility.The Elegance 2 theme for Rainmeter, for the date and drive meters.The Serenity theme for Rainmeter, for the clock, the recycle bin, and the battery/power meter.
That's all there is to it. Unlike many other desktops, this one only requires a few tools, but a little customization to make them all work quite right. Still, it shouldn't be as difficult to get the look and feel as some of the more widget-heavy desktops are. If you run into trouble, check out our guide to Rainmeter, or don't hesitate to drop by JT's Flickr page to ask questions, and don't forget to let him know how much you liked his desktop! If you have a Mac, you can duplicate much (if not all) of this in GeekTool, and if you prefer Linux, you may be able to approximate some of it with Conky.
Do you have a gorgeous, productive, informative desktop to share? Post it to the Lifehacker Desktop Show and Tell Flickr Group, and please include a description of how you made it. You never know, it may be the next featured desktop!
Android: If you're stuck in an office where you have to sit with your back to a walkway or the entrance to your cubicle, you know how startling it can be when you're listening to music and someone walks up behind you and taps you on the shoulder. Around Sound for Android makes sure that never happens again—the app uses the microphone on your headset or your phone as an extended ear, and if a loud noise is detected, the app will pause your music so you can pay attention.
The app allows you to set the trigger volume manually so you don't find your music pausing all the time for false positives, like construction noise outside your window or someone walking past your desk on their phone. You can also tell the app to play back the sound that triggered it, so you know whether it's something you should pay attention to. The developer said that he wrote the app so he could listen to music while he worked but never miss his dogs barking so he could check out what upset them—you can use the app for the same purpose, or for those times when someone walks up behind you and tries to get your attention without startling you.
Before you give the app a shot, keep in mind that it works seamlessly with most stock music players and a few others, including DoubleTwist, Winamp, and our favorite, PowerAmp. The app is completely free and available now at Google Play for devices running Android 2.2 or higher. There's also a $0.99 pro version which adds a few features and supports the developer.
Most people (hopefully) know by now to keep their social networks clean, in case anyone from a potential employer to a Google-happy family member stumbles on your profile. However, your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn profile can actually be an asset in helping you stand out when you apply for a job, and sprucing it up a bit with a new photo, updated skills, and recent accomplishments can go a long way. Besides, you know the hiring manager is going to look at your profile before calling you anyway.
At this point we should expect potential employers to search for us at Facebook and LinkedIn before they contact us for an interview. It's not news that a hiring manager will review a candidate's resume and then try to dig them up on Facebook to see what kind of person they are before deciding whether they want to interview them. You can boost your odds of standing out in a positive way by sprucing up your profiles as well as your resume before you apply.
Wise Bread suggests, among other things, uploading a good-looking recent photo, tidying up personal details and making sure your privacy settings are the way you want them, and—especially at LinkedIn—editing your career goals, personal description, and any other old or out of date information. Request and offer recommendations from old coworkers if you can, and make sure your recent achievements and projects are included in your profile. Wise Bread has a number of other great suggestions, like researching the company culture and the interviewers specifically, so the whole list is worth a look.
Do you keep your social network profiles in shape for public viewing at all times, or does your LinkedIn profile need a brush-up? Perhaps you just lock yours down so it's not searchable and not public? Whatever you do, share your thoughts in the comments below.
Japanese TV game shows are always entertaining and this one is no exception. You'll find a few hacks for your morning routine, including brushing your teeth while you shimmy into your pants and using a safety pin to button your collar.
We mentioned this crazy video a few years ago, but that source video was pulled. Now a new one is resurfacing and it's well worth an enjoyable eight minutes of your time.
How to get up, have breakfast and get ready for work in 5 mins! | YouTube via Reddit
Adobe has released a free public beta of Photoshop CS6. It comes packed with all the features of the potential retail program which include improvements to the handy content-aware system, an expanded video editing tool, and more.
Adobe is touting a bunch of new features in this version, but the biggest changes come in its new content-aware tools that let you quickly move subjects around in a photo and its new interface. It also comes packed with new video editing tools that allow you to edit timelines and create simple Photoshop-based filters. A ton of new features are packed in here, including a handy new blur tool, better cropping, layer improvements, and more.
It's not clear how long before the beta expires, but the catches seem pretty minimal. You have to create an Adobe ID in order to use the beta, but it's free and you get unfettered access to Photoshop. If this is your first time digging into Photoshop, be sure to hit up our Night School guide to learn the basics. Have you given the new beta a whirl? Let us know what you think in the comments.
This quote from artist and writer Austin Kleon reminds us that kindness and respect can go a long way. When we're online we're part of a vast worldwide community that can, at the same time, feel as small as a neighborhood. It's easy to become overwhelmed by anger and lash out when there isn't someone in front of you, so it helps to imagine that there is. We're all likely aware that anger can hurt and breed more anger, but it's a good thing to keep in the back of your mind. There's nothing wrong with conflict, but it's far more productive when you keep a level head. Next time you're enraged by the internet, put the conversation in the context of a small town and, you know, be nice.