Racing at Delaware Speedway in Iowa on the 1/7th mile dirt track. 5 kids racing. 3 were really fast. Christopher came in 4th. The glare from the lights makes it hard to see. Filmed in the pits.
Cast: Eric Penne
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Imagine being able to surf the web freely without worry of viruses, trojan horses, annoying pop-ups, or threats from hackers. It is possible and it is possible today without any cost and just a bit of patience. It’s called Linux.
What’s that? You’ve heard Linux is too hard to learn and use? Not any more. We have grade school kids using it as their only system and it took them less time to learn than it did to learn Windows. Because of the way Linux is designed, the viruses, spyware, adware and trojans that attack Windows computers are completely harmless on a Linux machine. It is like they do not even exist…GNU/Linux is immune to them.
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(Some Guy)
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I’m happy to have Gretchen Rubin, the fabulous author of The Happiness Project, join us with a guest post today on Unclutterer. There just aren’t enough kind words in the English language to say about her. Welcome, Gretchen!
Having a clutter-filled house can make you feel overwhelmed and exhausted. Everywhere you look, you see little chores that should be done. No single task is particularly difficult, but together, they add up to a big headache and a big mess. Pretty quickly, it’s easier just to add to the piles than to try to attack the problem.
Here are ten easy, quick tips that, if followed regularly, will help keep your clutter under control. And none of them takes more than five minutes – if that.
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It takes a lot of work to find a great job, determine what it should pay and make your resume stand out, but that all led up to the big moment—the one where you stop planning and writing and start actually talking to the people you may soon work with. We're offering up a few tips on staying cool, telling your story without bragging or boring, and being prepared for any curve balls, so take a look before you pick up the pinstripes from the dry cleaners. Photo by jeremyfoo.
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This is a guest post from Flexo at Consumerism Commentary, the granddaddy of personal finance blogs. Previously at GRS, he shared how to be the Chief Financial Officer of your own life.
Success, financial or otherwise, comes from within.
According to studies by psychologists and researchers, people with an internal locus of control are more apt to plan for long-term goals, delay gratification, and accept more risk for the promise of more reward. These qualities should sound familiar to readers of this site because they are precisely the characteristics needed to “get rich slowly.”
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This is a nice instructable that uses (4) USB “Thumb Drives” and an old floppy disk enclosure to a make an external solid state hard drive. I know 8GB is not a lot of space, but it could hold some very useful and/or important information. I was able to find 1GB USB drives on Amazon for $2 and several different 8GB drives for $15.
Read more about DIY: 8GB Solid State Raid
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If you struggle with keeping a budget, it may be because you’re trying to predict your spending in time chunks that are just too small. A new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that people who made annual budgets were better able to predict their spending than those who made monthly budgets. From the University of Chicago press release:
[Researchers] found that, contrary to popular advice, people were more accurate when constructing an annual rather than a monthly budget, even when they were logging their expenses weekly.
“Consumers’ default tendency is to underestimate their budgets, for both next month and next year frames,” write the authors. “However budgets for the next year are closer to recorded expenses because consumers feel less confident when estimating these budgets, and therefore, adjust them upward.”
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There was once a time when I had no fear. I was 11 years old and I entered a story telling competition. I was confidently telling the story and captured everyone’s attention until suddenly I heard a voice from just in front of the stage commenting about my nose. It’s totally disastrous from that moment on. I lost focus and forgot the script altogether. That’s the exact time that I began to have a certain fear of public speaking.
Over the years, I finally overcome my fear of public speaking. I can now speak at any function unprepared and even though the nervousness is still there, I am able to control it. It was not easy but I made it with some help from books and a few techniques I develop myself.
Hopefully these tricks will be able to help you as they had helped me in overcoming fear of public speaking.
All you have to do is admit that you are a bit nervous speaking to your audience. When you do this, the audience will be more forgiving if your nervousness shows up later on. More importantly you will feel more relaxed now that they are not expecting a world-class presentation. Imagine their surprise when you gave them the best presentation ever despite your nervousness.
The best way to do this is by joking about it. Here’s an example of a good one. “On the way here, only God and I knew what I will be presenting. (looking a bit nervous) Now, only God knows.”
Redefine your audience generally means changing how you see your audience. Instead of seeing them as lecturers who are evaluating you, maybe you can convince yourself that they are all fellow students who are in queue to present after you. They are all equally nervous so there is no reason why you should be too.
Or perceive them as long lost friends that you haven’t seen for 10 years. This way you can maintain eye contact trying to figure out where you have seen him before. To the audiences, they will see a very friendly and personal presentation.
Do not try to convince yourself that they are babies in diapers or that nobody is around as suggested by some books. It is very hard to convince yourself that no one is around when you are actually speaking to them.
Imagine a presentation with beautiful PowerPoint slides and even more impressive notes given to each of your audience members. Half of the time, their eyes will not be on you. They will read through the notes and your fancy slides. This will help a lot as you can then speak to the people who are not looking at you. When they look at you, you just change your focus to other people who are not looking. Giving a speech to people who are not looking at you is always easier.
This is another trick I encourage you to try. Once I “accidentally” dropped my notes on the floor, and while picking them up, I warned the audiences that the presentation will be more confusing after this. I heard some laughter from the floor.
The idea is to gain control of your audience. If you can make them laugh and be more interactive with you, your presentation will have that casual feel to it which will make it more memorable than others. Ultimately you will find it easier to do.
One of the most terrifying things about public speaking is the crowd. Just by looking at the crowd, all in silence just to hear you speak, will send shivers down your spine. To overcome this, you just need to speak to one person at a time.
Choose one member of your audience and dedicate your whole presentation to him or her. Just assume that everyone else is not paying attention. When someone asks you a question, change your focus to that person and answer the question as if the two of you are in a coffee shop chatting away. Isn’t that the most relaxing way to handle a crowd?
Just like blogging, everyone can copy an article and paste it onto their blog. However, people read blogs not only to know about things happening but to know what that particular blogger’s opinion is on the matter.
When you speak or give a presentation, try to squeeze in a few of your personal thoughts on the matter. Of course these should be prepared early on. However, you should make it as if the ideas are “just in” while you are presenting. That will differentiate your presentation from the rest, and when you see the interested look on the faces of your audience, it will elevate your presentation to another new level, a level where you start having fun.
This is the most important tips of all. Have fun with the crowd. Try new ways to give the best presentation to your audience. Maybe experiment with a new funny approach, or walk around the hall instead of being static on the stage. Have fun with experimenting on human behavior and you will see that public speaking is not that bad after all.
Remember that there are no failures, only different results.
Have fun!
Photo Credit - Net Efekt
Mohamad Zaki (banji) is an Engineering Manager by day and a passionate blogger by night. Blogging at LessonInLife.com, his work is mainly on attitude renovation and practical tips to be slightly better everyday. Check out his other tips by subscribing to his Full RSS.
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A bit of EE humor courtesy of Drew @ toothpaste for dinner.
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Editor: Welcome motivational speaker Jason Womack in his first guest post here at Lifehacker on getting back onto the productivity wagon.
It’s time to shake the summer sand out of your shoes, get back to the office and dive into all of your work commitments. But what if your productivity system is still sitting on the beach, sipping a pina colada? Don’t worry. With a little tuneup, you’ll be able to climb back on the productivity wagon, sort through those screenfuls of email, piles of papers and emerge with a back-in-business glow. But where do you start? Follow these four steps to get back to organized.
Go through each item in your inbox one at a time. If you don’t have an inbox, collect all the piles from your work area into one mission control center. Use a sticky note to group like-actions together. For example, make notes labeled: read, email, file, review and sign. The new piles will be the beginning stages of order and won’t need to be sorted again. Once you’ve named everything, you’ll get rid of that fear that something unknown is going to blow up unexpectedly.
When you can delegate, do it. Don’t let work that you don’t need to do pile up around you. Move it to someone else’s desk! Forward it to the appropriate person to keep the momentum and get that project done. Don’t be the bottleneck that causes the last minute, late night emergencies. But before you send it on its way, be sure you track what you are waiting for with a date stamp, the person’s name and what you need from them. You may get to hand it off, but you’ll also want some record of who, what, and when, in case you need to remind them to get what you need before the upcoming deadline.
If you’re not going to be able to deliver on time, reset any deadlines that can be moved. You’ll have piece of mind if you communicate when you’re running behind giving everyone enough time to recalibrate their work. It may hurt at first, knowing that you have lost control of your system, but you avoid future emergencies by keeping everyone updated in advance. One way of avoiding the stress of unexpected deadlines is to make your schedule the first thing you look at when you start your day. Yes, that means looking at your calendar before checking email. Knowing what’s coming will help you prioritize what you do first.
When you’re at the point where you need to build your productivity system back up, you’ll accomplish it by focusing on just that. Get back on the wagon by going cold turkey when it comes to surfing, scanning and chatting. If you give yourself 20 minutes to resurrect your system, you’ll be surprise how much you can get done. Turn off all of your flashing reminders, your phone and all the other gear that rings, sings and vibrates. You need less time than you think of solid uninterrupted focus to get back to the present.
Let’s face it; everyone’s productivity system ends up buried sooner or later. It’s your ability to get back to organized after falling off the wagon that will create some semblance of order and peace of mind that comes with having a system in place.
Jason W. Womack, MEd, MA shares productivity tips that make it possible to do more without the added stress of working harder. For more productivity hacks, visit www.JasonWomackBlog.com.
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The intersection of 18th St SW and 33rd Ave SW is closed immediately for intersection reconstruction.The project will last approximately five weeks.Traffic should seek an alternate route.
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Filed under: Minivans/MPVs, Etc., Dodge, Canada
Click above for gallery of the Car Camel
You need something to carry a car, but you don’t want just any old pickup truck or SUV because anybody could do that. And since you do have that vintage Dodge Caravan lying around… why not grab the chainsaw and make something really special?
Allow us to officially introduce the Car Camel. Apparently plying the highways of Ontario, Canada, it’s a shortened minivan with a car hauler stuck to its backside. It ain’t pretty, and it probably ain’t too fast, but we have to admit that it is pretty neat… if you’re into that kind of thing. Have a look at the gallery of images below, but if any of you get the idea to make a Car Koala… please, don’t. Thanks for the tip, Zak!
Gallery: Car Camel
[Source: Photobucket]
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Personal finance writer Mary Hunt believes there are some things you should simply never pay full price for. Among them? Pets, cars, software and games.
Buy a purebred puppy from a breeder in California and you will spend at least $700, plus vet bills. Adopt a previously owned puppy from the animal shelter for about $175 including spay/neuter, vaccinations and fees. Savings? Oh, about 78 percent.
I’ve had shelter and pure bred pets over the years and loved all of them equally. Hunt is also spot-on regarding video games and software.
Games for consoles like the Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation can often be purchased used for half price. Ditto for popular software. Sure, you will have to wait awhile after its release, but by then you will know for sure which game or program is a winner, and which are considered losers.
I’m about seven years behind the current cycle of consoles. While my friends look at me strangely when I talk about a game I just discovered that came out in 2001, I don’t enjoy the games any less than I would have then and I pay a fraction of the original retail cost now. How do you avoid paying full price for things? Share you money-saving tips in the comments below. Photo by Jason Edward.
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BusinessWeek has put together one of those accursed slideshows of ways to save money and while a lot of them
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