"HUMAN TRICKS"

Painless Shots
Put pressure near the spot that’s about to get the needle and you’ll feel it less. Just make a circle with your thumb and forefinger and push down a few seconds before the shot. This technique overrides nearby nerves, making the shot feel more like a gentle poke.

Hiccup Relief
Nothing can be more aggravating than nonstop hiccups. Fortunately, your body has a built-in remedy: Take your deepest breath and hold for 10 seconds. And then, without exhaling, breathe in more air and hold for another 5 seconds. Then, one more time, breathe in as much air as you can, hold for 5 seconds, and breath out—hopefully without any more hiccups.

Heart-Calming Breeze
If you’re feeling anxious and can feel your heart racing, call your thumb into action. By blowing on your thumb, you can get your heart rate back to normal.

Throat Tickle Cure
To relieve that constant feeling in the back of your throat, tickle something else…your ear. Touching the area around your ear creates a reflex in the throat that eases the annoyance.

Stuffed Nose Cleared
Your body has a natural mechanism to unclog your nose. Just push your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then press between your eyebrows with a finger. Keep it up for about 20 seconds and your sinuses will start to drain.


see all of them at the link to the original site:

HUMAN TRICKS

FREE E-BOOKS

There are a variety of sources for free e-books, audio books, and children's books (and some go well with the e-book converter that I posted about also). The author of Northern Cheap$kate has assembled several sources in one convenient location. Check it out.

Collection of e-books

29 YOU NEED TO KNOW AS A DESIGNER....

[from Doug Bartow]
Many of the questions and concerns young designers share today are the same we had as graduating students looking to make our mark in the professional world, with only a résumé and portfolio of student projects to get our collective feet in the door. There’s nothing different in the design industry today that makes getting—and nailing—that initial interview or client pitch any easier.

Throughout the years, I’ve collected these questions and have tried answering many of them as an ongoing personal project. Here are 29 of my thoughts on how to approach and interact with our culture as a young designer, in no particular order.
[posted on Bartow's company site, also on HOW design]

29 THINGS EVERY YOUNG DESIGNER SHOULD KNOW

ANOTHER ONLINE LIFE LESSON

Check out this online life lesson about how to treat people. The blog it is on has many posts related to spirituality (not religion) in everyday life. This one expands on the following 5 tenets the author asserts are how you should treat others.

Check it out:

1. First Important Lesson - "Know The Cleaning Lady"
2. Second Important Lesson - "Pickup In The Rain"
3. Third Important Lesson - "Remember Those Who Serve"
4. Fourth Important Lesson - "The Obstacles In Our Path"
5. Fifth Important Lesson - "Giving When It Counts"

Global One TV

GOOGLE-ING....

Google--the company so ubiquitous that has its own verb. When you want to know something, students now turn to Google and "Google it." back in the day, you had to schlep to a library and look into card catalogues, indexes and periodical guides. Now...you Google.

But to the Googler  beware! Like the human brain, the average student utilizes a small portion of its power. (Not to mention the fact that all sites are not mandatorily fact-checked or extensively researched for purely FACTUAL content).

So check out this site if you are ready for some Advanced Googl-ing! While you are at it, you'll also be exposed to all of Google's free tools for reading, writing, and editing documents. They offer one of the best online calendar systems, and one of the best free e-mail clients (with scads of server space for a free e-mail client). They have free e-books that can be read on multiple readers, ability to setup discussion groups, blogs, photo albums, etc.

Google Tricks for Students

SUPER COOL EXAMPLE OF INFO GRAPHIC

Who says they have to be boring? Info graphics that cover vast amounts of information can be extremely cool. Check out this info graphic of the earth's surface from the upper atmosphere down to deepest oceanic trenches.
Click to go to the sight, then click on the small graphic in the left of the image window to zoom in (and prepare to scroll down, down, down).

air-land-ocean

WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR OLD PC?

Well...not too old.
Folks are using old PC's for a variety of tasks- including home voicemail and fax systems, MP3 servers, and even Boxee PC video systems. Make magazine (one of my other complete faves) offers plans on how to make your previous pc into a home DVR.

The image on the site is fairly big and bulky mini tower wedged beneath the TV-- I have seen case mods appropriate to the form factor that allow for you to make an aesthetically appealing appliance as well (google that one separately).

home dvr system

COOL ONLINE CONVERTER

OK--so this won't be replacing high-end media software at all, but there is this neat online converter for basic files that is pretty convenient if you have a good internet connection. Maybe you want to convert that WMA to AAC without setting up  iTunes, or you want that funny video clip you downloaded in 3GP for your cellphone, or a rather common DOC file into a PDF, or even converting e-book formats from the various e-book retailers to your specific e-reader device.


Free Online Converter

MORE PHOTOSHOP TUTORIALS...

Check out yet another Photoshop Tutorial Site chock full of nifty tuts. There are a few that are replicated from other sites I've posted before, but by and large some pretty cool stuff. 10 pages of  links with several interviews with Photoshop Professionals from various disciplines.

10 pages of Photoshop Tutorials