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New flybuys Earns Discounts Faster (But They're Not Good Discounts) The Positivity Blog says there’s a simple but forgotten method of building rapport, or establishing a good connection, before you start off on any important conversation: Just before the meeting, you just think that you’ll be meeting a good friend. Then you’ll naturally slip into a more comfortable, confident and enjoyable emotional state and frame of mind. This also helps you and the other people to set a good frame for the interaction … The thing is that the frame that is set in the beginning of the conversation is often one that may stay on for a while. First impressions last.
Of course, you may not always want to pretend you’re meeting with Cousin Steve when you’re heading into, say, a job interview, so the author suggests imagining how a previous, successful meeting went just before stepping in. Have your own mental reassurance hacks for striking up chatter? Share ‘em in the comments. Photo by polandeze.
How to Have Less Awkward Conversations: Assuming Rapport [The Positivity Blog]The web has democratised a lot of things since its birth, including the learning previously available only with a hefty tuition cheque. College site Education Portal has a handy list of the colleges that offer the most comprehensive course material online, including open-course trailblazers like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University, and programs like Stanford’s lecture podcasts on iTunes U. You can’t get a sheepskin for free, but you can further your knowledge and training for less than even the cost of a book. For way more college-based free learning, check out Wendy’s comprehensive guide to the .edu underground.
Universities With the Best Free Online Courses [via Wyome Blog's del.icio.us]Windows only: Look through, and repeat, your recent searches on Google, Yahoo and MSN with MyLastSearch, a free, tiny application that makes your browser histories more useful. The program supports Mozilla products and Internet Explorer (Opera and, presumably, Safari for Windows are left out), lets you search through your, er, searches, and can re-open queries in the same browser they were made in. Those who set their browsers to wipe clean their history on exit are, of course, not going to get much here, but it’s an otherwise useful tool to help find that great link you can’t remember how you got to before. MyLastSearch is a free download for Windows systems only, and can be run easily from a portable drive.
MyLastSearch [via Download Squad]Tired of forking over too much cash for gift cards for last-minute gifts? The Zen Habits blog points out more than two dozen life-hack-friendly, GTD-ish gifts that can be had for less than $10 and show a bit more thought than a Home Depot voucher. Amongst the goods suggested are a Moleskine notebook (likely not name brand at that price), pedometers, and a self-made cookbook. I’m sure our readers have far more great suggestions, however—what have you all given when time and money aren’t abundant? Spread the spirit of productive giving in the comments!
Two years ago, we brought you Lifehacker’s best apps of 2005, and many of them are still top-notch.
Now that Leopard’s long since dropped and the masses have seen the simple power of Time Machine, it might be a good time to take another look at similar solutions for other systems. Luckily, the Howto Forge has posted a helpful step-by-step through installing and configuring TimeVault, an integrated backup solution for Ubuntu and Debian-based Linux distributions. The tutorial walks through the process on an Ubuntu system, but would likely help other GNOME-based systems get most of the way there. If you’re more the DIY, terminal-hacking type, you can always use cross-platform solution rsync to get the job done.
Creating Snapshot Backups Of Your Desktop With Timevault On Ubuntu 7.10 [via The Linux Tutorial]The fourth Thursday of every November is Thanksgiving here in the US of A, meaning rather than posting to Lifehacker your diligent US editors are taking a break to gorge on turkey and stuffing. If you’re looking for that one special Thanksgiving tip to ease your holiday, we’ve got you covered. Carve Your Thanksgiving Turkey Like a Butcher Learn to to carve the perfect turkey from a New York butcher. Make the Perfect Mashed Potatoes this Thanksgiving Make your gravy proud! Eat Less at Thanksgiving by Eating Earlier But then again, who wants to eat less? Master the Art of Cooking Turkey Hopefully you’re already defrosting. The Thanksgiving Cheat Sheet So how many hours does the bird need to sit in the oven? Make the Most of Your Travel Delay with Sleeping in Airports Catch some Zzzs when you’re not catching your plane. Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes Turkey isn’t the only thing on the menu. How to fix Mom and Dad’s computer The perennial favorite! How to plan a Thanksgiving meal The one thing you can control when your family gets together.
Amazon’s new ebook reader the Kindle may have gotten some buzz when it launched this week, but we’re about to get a local ebook reader from Dymocks, according to a report in today’s Age. We already reported on Dymock’s recent move into selling digital ebooks and audio books. Will be interesting to see how it goes, once they sort out the overexpensive pricing.
It’s beginning to look a lot like… that time of year when magazines run big glossy features on what Christmas gifts to buy. But I guess when Wired breaks it down into Gifts for Every Geek: Shutterbugs, Empty Nesters, Foodies and Urban Commandos, it might actually be fun and helpful to read.
Here’s a few snack foods to add to your shopping list if you’re out to combat the mid-afternoon brain slump. Edamame (I had to look it up too!), green beans, boiled peanuts and cold salmon are the recommendations from Grant at the 43 Folders blog today.
It’s all too easy to reach for high sugar, high fat snacks while you go about your day, but if you want your brain functioning at its best, those are exactly the snacks to avoid, he says.
My healthy snack foods are raw cashews, fruit or yoghurt. What are yours?
Food for Thought [43 Folders]
