Totally Absurd Inventions

The title says it all, this page has illustrations and fun comments about actual U.S. patented inventions like the cheese filtered cigarette or the gerbil shirt. Click on over to Totally Absurd Inventions & Patents and enjoy a few mind-boggling laughs.

Guide to Sleeping in Airports

If you travel a lot, chances are you’ve had a long layover or red-eye that has caused you to have to try and catch some shut eye while at the airport. Or maybe you just really want to save money on lodging? The Budget Traveller’s Guide to Sleeping in Airports aims to make that a bit easier.

Airports all over the world are ranked based on how “comfortable” they are for sleepers and their are tons of stories, tips and tricks on getting the best possible airport sleep in. Many of these are fairly entertaining as well.
(CLICK PHOTO: Annette, 3 am, Frankfurt airport en route to Ethiopia)

Create a New Habit or Break an Old One

click for full cartoon
Learning expert Dr. Stephanie Burns shares strategies on how to break a bad habit and train ourselves to create new habits. She defines a habit as an activity that you do without thought (like brushing your teeth, combing you hair, locking the door); and Burns says that habituating productive activities makes them less energy-consuming because you don’t have to spend time motivating yourself to do them. Read her tips here=> Make or Break a Habit.

10 Ways To Get An Upgrade

I like getting upgraded from cattle car class. However I think it has only happened once to Annette and me and, thus, my interest in this article: 10 ways to get an upgrade - Business Travel - MSNBC.com.

Coffee Hacks

At 43 Folders you'll find tons of great tips on how to improve, enjoy, extend or just drink you coffee better. Here's an example:

If coffee fresh from the coffee maker is too hot for you, but you don't want to dilute it with cold water or cream, freeze some coffee in an ice cube tray and add a coffee cube to your cup.

Click the following link to read more or even add you own: Coffee hacks at 43Folders

Leaving the toilet seat up?

If you're bored and reruns of the Love Boat or Friends just won't do it for you, I promise the following public debate about the "Toilet seat up or down" issue will have you rolling on the floor at least a few times: Leaving the toilet seat up? | Ask MetaFilter Saturday Night Live could get a full season of skits out of the witty repartee found here.

10 Digital Photography Tips

New York Times' David Pogue offers 10 of the best tips I've come across for better digital photography in his article: Less Cursing, Better Pictures: 10 Suggestions. Here's a taste:

* Extend the camera’s battery life by turning off the screen display and use the old-fashioned viewfinder.
* Pre-focus action shots by “half-pressing” the shutter to bring the camera into focus before your kid jumps in the pool.
* Turn off digital zoom. It only gets you grainy photos. You’re better off using optical zoom on a high-quality picture setting and cropping the photo in an image editor on the computer after the fact.

Verbal Conflict Resolution Tips

photo - PhotoSearch.com
Do you ever need help with conflict resolution or just want to understand more about how you communicate with people around you? If so, then take a look at Joshua Sebzda's website - Quick Verbal Tactics. It’s a information rich website all about how to keep your cool and help resolve differences. It’s done in a very straightforward manner, with lots of examples, an interactive temperment test and just enough humor. While I can’t vouch for how well the techniques work, not having tried them, I can say it’s an interesting read and is full of lots of information on conflict resolution.

Save Money, Know When You'll Die

The Web is learning new tricks every day. These surprising sites and services will help you be a better parent, travel for less, save you time (or waste it)--and one even counts down the days till your ultimate demise. Click the following link to read about the 30 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do on the Internet.

Everything You Thought You Knew About Grilling Is Wrong

For those of you in the Northern hemisphere, summer - and it's accompanying cookouts - is just just around the corner. Want to grill that steak or hamburger to perfection?...Click on the following link for 5 helpful tips: Everything You Thought You Knew About Grilling Is Wrong

Ten Ways to Communicate Gooder

image by gokoroko
Here is a practical list of ten ways to improve your communication skills. You'll learn to maintain eye contact, to use rite werds, to speak _s_l_o_w_l_y_ and E-NUN-CI-ATE.

Elephino

Question: What do you get when you cross
....................an elephant and a rhino?
Answer: Elephino

Annette's Fav Translation

About 5 minutes ago, Annette got very excited. She just found that the J.B. Phillips translation of the New Testament online and free to use. For those of you who aren't familiar with this translation, here's a bit of background:

The translator John B. Phillips (1906-1982), was an English clergyman who had studied classical Greek at Cambridge University. He worked directly from "the best available Greek text" and did not consult other modern translations until his own version has been finished.

In his acknowledgements he specifically thanks C.S. Lewis for encouraging him in the translation process and for providing a title for the epistles - Letters to Young Churches - and an introduction.

For his part Lewis said, "It would have saved me a great deal of labour if this book had come into my hands when I first seriously began to try to discover what Christianity was."

Annette loves it because 1) it is a translation and not a paraphrase, 2) it is fresh but not bogged down in clichés. Try out this excerpt:

With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity. Romans 12:1-2

I hope you enjoy it (click here).

Web Broswer Security Test

Test your web browser for security holes with the Browser Security Test. The Browser Security Test checks for 37 known web browser vulnerabilities in Opera, Mozilla browsers (including Firefox) and Internet Explorer. click here for more information=> Detect web browser exploits

Mexican Musical No-No's

Here's a tip for any foreigner living in Mexico...never ever knock, honk, hum or tap out the "Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits" tune. In Mexico it is one of the rudest things you can do since - for Mexicans - it is the audio equivalent of giving someone the middle finger (but a little worse because it includes the person's mother).

For more specialized insider tips, check out Tricks of the Trade.

Ten Tips for Better Sleep

According to the 2nd annual Better Sleep Council Stress Survey 66% of Americans lose sleep due to stress, up from 51% last year. The number one source of stress that keeps Americans tossing and turning? Family matters, with 22% of survey respondents citing issues close to home as the reason they are kept awake at night. Job related concerns and financial matters came in second and third. Click the following link for Ten Tips for Better Sleep. (Zzzzzzz....mm mm good)

A Yogurt a Day Keeps the Dentist Away

Good news for yogurt lovers...bad news for lactose intolerant halitosis sufferers (click here to read this BBC article):

Sugarless yoghurt could help beat bad breath, tooth decay and gum disease, say scientists.

You've Got to Be Kidding!

"Two-thirds of humanity use the squatting position to answer the call of nature" and "Recommended by doctors and yoga teachers for more complete elimination."

And for $119 + shipping you too can confuse your houseguests and fall off your toilet and break a hip... too funny! Read about Nature's Platform and laugh.

Travel Tips for the Developing World

Tom Zoellner is writing a book on the diamond trade. This has afforded him the opportunity to travel the developing world, as well as to risk his life. To read his compiled a list of survival tips, click the following link: Really Lonely Planet: 16 Travel Tips for the Developing World. Here's one tip I could have used:

Try to haggle your bribe downward and don't do what I did in Mexico City. Sick of the mordida and on a tight schedule, I simply drove away from my arresting officers, zigzagged down a few side streets and then -- once I was sure I had lost them -- removed my license plate with a screwdriver. Interagency communications are pretty bad in Mexico so I made it back to Texas with no trouble, but in retrospect, this was a pretty stupid thing to do.

Is it Bad to Crack/Pop My Neck

Did you ever here the story about the guy who popped his neck and dropped dead because he'd severed his spinal cord? I was told that by a college mate who swore he new the necking cracking dead guy...he even said it happened in a mall in Indiana.

I sometimes crack or pop my neck and I've always wondered if it's somehow hurting me. Here's the lowdown - including a response from the President of the Amerian College of Rheumatalogy: Joint Popping - Bad for you or not.

How to Write a Better Blog

You are reading a blog. Would you like it to be better? Don't hold your breath (I'm really not that ambitious)...however, you might end up being the next J.K. Rowling or John Steinbeck of blogging if you apply yourself and read the following:

• How to Write a Better Weblog from A List Apart
• How to Blog

Free Web Site Software for Non-Experts

Maybe this free software will be just the ticket that enables you to design and publish you own web pages (and to quite asking me to do it for you - he he). It made for non-experts who just need an easy way to create a web page. It's based around a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface which allows you to drag 'n drop images onto your web page, set the color scheme and then type something out and publish the files. For a bit more information, read the following short article: Nvu HTML editor : Lifehacker.

Why don't Mexicans read books?

The title grabbed my attention: Chilling mystery: Why don't Mexicans read books?

For the past decade, The Pegaso bookstore, a cozy shrine to the printed word, has offered browsers free coffee, overstuffed leather sofas, and a wide-ranging literary selection. But now it's scaling back, ditching poetry and history, and keeping the few things that still sell - some novels and glossy art books.

The fact that Annette and I publish online books, and other text-based resources, made this Christian Science Monitor article a must-read.

How to Train Someone to Do Your Job

With 6 easy steps, 7 tips and 7 warnings, this article gives you a clear plan on How to Train Someone to Do Your Job.

First Apartment Tips

(this is about 1/3 of our house, click photo to see the BIG panoramic version)

We live in a 480 square foot house. Sure it small but after 8 years we love it. So if you're stuck in a small place, here are a few ways to maximize your minimum of space: First Apartment Tips: Helpful ideas about living in apartments.