Daily advice for young professionals - financial advice, social advice, career advice, etiquette advice - updated daily!
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June 20, 2005
| Social
FactID: 292
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Rated
3.87 stars
from 8 votes
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"We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came."
John F. Kennedy
At some point in your life you will take your first trip on a sailboat. While it may take a lifetime to truly master the art of sailing, a few pointers will help you survive your first time out on the water.
Know the lingo:
- Port- the left side of the boat when looking toward the front or "forward"; port has the same number of letters as the word left
- starboard- the right side of the boat, unless you are looking toward the back or "aft" then it becomes the left side of the boat, simple right...
- bow- the front
- stern- the back
- boom- a large metal pole that the main sail is attached to, unlike the
- mast, the boom is horizontal. You should duck when somebody yells, "coming about" because it means the boom is about to swing across the boat and is liable to knock you out and off the boat.
People care about their boats more than their children, to respect this try to wear non-marking shoes like Sperry topsiders.
Remember that big sail, or the "main sheet", acts like a wing and not a parachute. It may help to brush up on Bernoulli's principle and aerodynamics a bit. However, the small sail in front, or "jib", does work more like a parachute, simply scooping the wind.
If you choose to ignore this advice, then you better read up on how to talk like a pirate, everybody on boats speaks in this manner...
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|  Source: SailNet
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June 15, 2005
| Social
FactID: 319
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Rated
3.50 stars
from 2 votes
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Hey Mister D.J. put a record on I wanna dance with my baby...
Madonna
Having trouble keeping up with the latest music that's popular? Well, turns out you don't have to stayed glued to MTV to know what music is in right now. The Billboard Hot 100 Singles is a great starting point. And if you're not 15 years old and able to watch TV from 5:00-6:00pm, then TRL's Last Week's Top 10 can catch you up.
After you find some song names that look promising, you can listen through iTunes, LimeWire, or BitTorrent (pick your poison).
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| Source: Billboard, etc.
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June 10, 2005
| Social
FactID: 326
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Rated
3.00 stars
from 3 votes
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Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.
Aristotle
Want to make some new friends? Social networking is all the rage these days, and there are tons of sites to help you make new friends (or more)...
Friendster was one of the first social networking sites, where people discovered that connecting up online can make you feel popular. Eventually, Google came along with Orkut, but they were a little more exclusive with their invites. With TheFaceBook there is a good chance you'll know someone in common, since people are associated by university. Lately, MySpace has been getting popular -- enough to get its own Wikipedia article! With over 12 million profiles online, you're bound to find something in common with someone.
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| Source: Wikipedia
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April 5, 2005
| Social
FactID: 308
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Rated
4.33 stars
from 3 votes
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So you just got your bonus check and are aching for a brand new TV?
The process of selecting a television can be daunting, so for today, let's just go over how they all work. There are the 4 main types of TV's today:
- CRT (traditional TV box)
- LCD
- Projection (including DLP)
- Plasma
These refer to different ways the device creates the picture. CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) sets fire electrons at a phosphor which lights up -- CRT's have an amazing viewable angle but are rarely made beyond 40" because they become extremely large and heavy. LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) sets have a fluorescent light that passes through a matrix of colored filters - the liquid crystals rotate to let more or less of a particular light through. LCD is flat and has a decent viewable angle. In addition, your notebook computer has an LCD display. Projection TVs shine a really bright light through a transparent LCD or off a ton of small mirrors (in the case of DLP sets) onto a screen. Projection TV's can be found in sizes 60 inches and greater, but the viewable angle on projection sets is limited, although gettting better. Finally, plasma sets create light by passing a charge across xenon and neon gas (like in the white headlights and store signs, respectively) to create a colored light - much like a fluorescent light does - for each pixel -- imagine that it's just a million small fluorescent lights dimming and brightening.
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| Source: HowStuffWorks and Crutchfield
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March 30, 2005
| Social
FactID: 307
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Rated
3.60 stars
from 5 votes
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There is a very easy way to return from a casino with a small fortune: go there with a large one. ~Jack Yelton
Vegas is for making memories, not money. Unless you and your MIT buddies concoct a genius plan to take Vegas for millions, you are going to lose money. However, you can slow the bleeding. Here are some tips on the odds:
know how odds work-the odds correspond to players familiar with the games strategy, if you suck and are unlucky, you could do much worse
know which games have good odds-according to the numbers the casino is always at an advantage. However blackjack, craps, and baccarat give the casino less than a 1% edge. This means if you play for an hour with $1500 you would only lose $12.
keno is crap-not to be confused with craps, but this game gives the house a 25% advantage. Don't play it if you want your money to last
slot jocks-expect to lose about 10% of your money, slots are programmed to return an average of 92%
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| Source: AskMen
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March 25, 2005
| Social
FactID: 306
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Rated
3.33 stars
from 3 votes
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Still haven't learned how to tie your own ties?
Leaving bowties aside, there are a few ways to tie a standard tie:
- Windsor
- Half Windsor
- Four in Hand
- Pratt
--- all based on the width of the knot and the thickness of the tie material. And then there's all those accessories -- you can slide the tie bar across, clasp a tie clip, pierce your tie with a tie tack, or restrain your tie with a tie chain...
To finish things off, make sure you remember the tie "dimple", and you'll be dressed for sucess.
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| Source: Tie-a-tie.net
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March 20, 2005
| Social
FactID: 305
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Rated
2.50 stars
from 4 votes
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YOGA! YOGA! YOGA!
Working can be stressful and time consuming. Just when you need to chill out and exercise the most, there is often very limited time to do it. Yoga can help you relax and get in a quick workout at the same time. The most difficult part is usually deciding to go for the first time. Here is a site to help you find a class and tips for your first time.
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| Source: YogaJournal.com
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March 18, 2005
| Social
FactID: 303
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Rated
4.00 stars
from 4 votes
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The blood is now running through my alcohol stream.
Homer Simpson
While there are many folk remedies to cure hangovers, a few are actually substantiated by science.
Here are a few of the best remedies:
- Burnt Toast- carbon, used to filter impurities, is the active ingredient here (finally a niche for my culinary skills)
- Eggs-cysteine helps to break up the toxins
- banans-replaces potassium and electrolytes
- water-fights dehydration
- fruitjuice-fructose provides energy
- painkillers-only without caffeine
Bonus tip: veisalgia is the formal name for hangovers,from the Norwegian word for "uneasiness following debauchery" (kveis) and the Greek word for "pain" (algia). I'm sure it would be interesting to attempt to recall and use this word once you know you will experience veisalgia the next morning.
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| Source: WebMD
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