Great Guide: Should You Have Kids?

A cool decision-making tool for non-parents, from the experts at Momlogic 

The 8 Most Irritating Types of Gadget Owners

Gadgets, cartoons and poking fun at people are three of my most favorite things, so it was such a treat to find them all in this amusing article on the Scordit blog — The 8 Most Irritating Types of Gadget Owners.

My top3 are below, but go check out the original article to see the rest.  :)

The Human Tutorial

Uses It Wrong, Refuses Help

PARENTS!!!

>> See the rest at Scordit

How To: Write a Nicholas Sparks Movie

This is hilarious… but hey, the formula works!

via Cracked

A Little Lesson on Body Language

via SMBC

The 12 Levels of Pain

Hyperbole and a Half is officially my new favorite blog. In a hilarious post about her boyfriend’s visit to the ER, Allie Brosh created a whole new chart to illustrate the different levels of pain. Her chart and legend are below, but you REALLY have to go and read the entire post.   

0:  Hi.  I am not experiencing any pain at all.  I don’t know why I’m even here.

1:  I am completely unsure whether I am experiencing pain or itching or maybe I just have a bad taste in my mouth.

2:  I probably just need a Band Aid.

3:  This is distressing.  I don’t want this to be happening to me at all.

4:  My pain is not fucking around.

5:  Why is this happening to me??

6:  Ow.  Okay, my pain is super legit now.

7:  I see Jesus coming for me and I’m scared.  

8:  I am experiencing a disturbing amount of pain.  I might actually be dying.  Please help.

9:  I am almost definitely dying.

10:  I am actively being mauled by a bear.

11: Blood is going to explode out of my face at any moment.

Too Serious For Numbers:  You probably have ebola.  It appears that you may also be suffering from Stigmata and/or pinkeye. 

Seriously — go read the full post on Hyperbole and a Half now.  You won’t regret it.

Travel Tip: 5 Innocent Hand Gestures That Can Totally Get You in Trouble

A lot of people are traveling this time of the year, and if you’re planning a trip overseas, it might be good to know that not all hand gestures mean the same thing around the world.  Here are five innocent (and quite commonly used) gestures that could totally get you in trouble in another country.

Thumbs Up

This signifies approval, right? “Good job!”…. “Well done!”…. “All right!”  Well, not in most of Latin America, West Africa, Greece, Russia and Italy —- where it basically means “Up Yours!” You’ll definitely want to avoid using this in the Middle East, where it’s considered so offensive you can get arrested for it in several countries. [Source]

The OK Sign

Good to know: The OK sign is NOT OK to use in Mediterranean countries and the South Americas. While the actual rude gesture signifying “a-hole!” has the middle, ring and little finger curved rather than straight, it’s easy to see how people unfamiliar with the “OK” sign might react badly to its use.  [Source]

(more…)

Some Facts About Spring Break (a.k.a. Why I’m Glad I’m Not an American Parent)

Via: Online Schools

A Pretty Accurate Breakdown of the Creative Process

Yikes. I think Murray the Nut has been spying on me. 

8 April Fool’s Day Pranks to Play at the Office

April Fool’s Day is coming up, and if you have to work that day (we don’t — heehee) here’s an old post I dug up just for you:  8 Great Pranks to Play at the Office (originally published in September last year). Have fun!

1. The Post-It Prank

Who to target: Your boss. Or the most OC person in your office 

What you’ll need: Some friends, a million post-it’s and a lot of free time.

What to do: Cover every possible surface of your victim’s office with post-it notes, and then hide and never admit to anything, even under the threat of torture. 

2. The Passive-Aggressive Door-Holding Game

Who to target: Random strangers in your office building

What you’ll need: A door, an arm and a sick sense of humor

What to do: See illustration above. Close the door just as the panting stranger gets to you. 

(more…)

Field Guide: 8 Types of Tech Fanboys and What Makes Them Tick

PC World recently compiled a crazily comprehensive guide to 8 species of tech fanboys — which is actually really useless to me because my hubby’s totally tech-unsavvy. I’m sure there are some of you who might find this info useful though, so here you go!  (Click on the pic for a larger view)

via Geekologie

I’ll Be Watching You (Miss You Coco)

This is just all sorts of awesome. Team Coco forever!

Oh and btw, Coco - I really think you should hire him. 

via Buzzfeed

Cool Tool: The Focused Flowchart for Email

You’d think something this simple would be common sense, but it really isn’t… so here’s a great guide from HowtoGetFocused.com on how to handle the horror of an overflowing Inbox. I’d give it 5 stars, if it wasn’t in Comic Sans. 

via Lifehacker

Celebritweets Theater: Conan o’ Brien

I’m a huge fan of  KCSCougar’s Celebritweets Theater — a brilliant cartoon that takes a celebrity’s tweet and animates the fake story behind it.  And YAY, there’s finally one about Conan! Check it out.

View the vid on YouTube

Today’s Time Waster: Create a Cool Beatboxing Mix at Incredibox

Incredibox lets you create your own beatboxing mix by dragging symbols onto the shirts of up to seven virtual beatboxers. The symbols activate different sounds: instruments, percussions, effects, and voices.  Drag a symbol onto a shirt to start the sound, and click the shirt again to make it stop.

What I like about it is that you really can’t mess up.  No matter what combination you choose (and there are a LOT!), it’ll still sound pretty good. I just wish there was a way to record your mix  — and more voice variations, because the guy yowling “Tell me the right thing” gets a little annoying after a while.

>> Go try it out!

15 Things You Can’t Say When You’re Drunk

via 9gag

Cool Tool: NutshellMail

I’m one of those lucky people that get to hang out on social networks a lot as part of my job, but those of you who don’t enjoy that privilege might like this.

NutshellMail is a social networking management tool that transforms your email inbox into a single social Web command center.

NutshellMail makes sure you get your regular social media fix — even if you never actually log on to your social networks — by consolidating and organizing your notifications into an interactive email digest. You can set your own delivery schedule, and when you get your NutshellMail you’re not limited to just reading. You can update your status, reply to friends’ posts, share stories, send tweets and so on right from your email inbox. 

Pretty cool, but possibly terrible for your productivity — so if you don’t meet your work deadlines, well… don’t blame me.

>>Go check out NutshellMail

How to: Hack an Elevator to Skip All Other Floors and Go Straight to Yours

This is REALLY cool… and ummm, inconsiderate. But seriously — now that I know the trick, I’m actually pretty bummed out that my office doesn’t have an elevator.

See the Elevator Hack on YouTube

A Simple Explanation for Your Single Friends

Yeah ok.. maybe it’s a little simplistic and not 100% true… but it’s shaped like a tree! How cute is that? That’s got to count for something.

via 9gag

Hilarious How-To: Take Better Profile Pictures

This brilliant ad by Samsung actually does give some good photo tips — but it does a better job of reinforcing the harsh truth that profile pictures should never - EVER - be trusted.

View the vid on YouTube

Cool Tool: BannerSnack

BannerSnack is an online tool that allows you to create flash banner ads and other types of flash content “in the amount of time it would take to go get a snack.”  (Well, depends on the snack… and the snacker, of course.)

There’s a lot you can do with this tool — from classic animated banners to interactive flash banners, from flash headers and intros to flash microsites and CD presentations. All from scratch and without Flash programming.

The service is free to use if you only link to the banners hosted on their site (or don’t mind having their watermark on your elsewhere-embedded banner). Otherwise, you have to pay for watermark-free embeds or SWF downloads using “Snack points” — which range in price from $0.66 to $1.90 depending on how many you pre-purchase.

>> Go try it out!