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Showing posts from November, 2007

Simon Sez Tip of the Day

Much like I do dog tricks . Simon Sez Santa , lets you order around a lazy mall Santa Claus. This year's enhancements include multi-language support (including Pig Latin), a kid-friendly version and a hint generator. There are some limitations though, he can't even touch his toes. Have fun, and remember wasting time is a holiday tradition! -wally

Say Cheese Tip of the Day

You may have to "say cheese" twice if you're ordering food at Wendy's drivethroughs. Turns out many of the dual lane Wendy's are actually taking your order remotely to be more efficient, more customer-service based, and more likely to upgrade your meal. We heard this was the case, but wanted to verify at a local Wendy's in Nicholasville. Turns out it's true! The employee informed us that our order was taken in Lexington by a call center. So then we got to wondering how the whole 2-lane thing works. How do they know which person gets what? Well, it's because the order taker actually snaps your photo as you order! So, the clerk at the store matches the order up to the photo taken of you! So, if you're adding cheese to your hamburger, you better "say cheese" twice!

Turkey Tip of the Day

If someone pre-cuts the turkey and separates the light meat from the dark meat and tells you that they also took out the tryptophan , one of the 3 isn't true. Happy Thanksgiving!

Soulja Dog Tip of the Day

Looking for something fun to do today? Check out this great video below of Cheddar and Barclay, set to the ridiculous hiphop tune "Soulja Boy" which we're not sure why is popular. If you're offended by a little crass rap language, turn your volume down! BTW, according to UrbanDictionary.com , the two phrases "cockin' on ya" and "jockin' on ya" mean "pulling a gun" and "copying you" respectively. A lot less crass than you'd expect.

Glamorous Tip of the Day

We at Tip of the Day Labs thought this parody of Fergie's hit tune "Glamorous" was pretty hilarious. Crafted by Don't Be That Guy's own Tripp Crosby, it appears this video was used for a church service. Check out the video , as long as you're not offended by white pastors who think they can dance and rap like Luda-Kris-Sundheimer-VanderMolen.

Photo Editing Tip of the Weekend

If you're relegated to using a crappy 3 megapixel point-and-shoot digital camera, but need some photos with more pizazz, there fortunately are a few things you can do to make your snapshots look like photographs. These tips are a few basics, but only scratch the surface of what is possible. Begin by following principles of good composition. Make the photo as visually interesting as possible while maintaining sharp focus, and good use of lighting The predominant things you'll need to fix are your camera's lack of saturation and vibrancy. Typically, the midtones appear washed out, so begin by using Photoshop's "Curves" adjustment. Typically lowering the midtones on the curve will make the blacks blacker and keep the whites whiter. This adjustment can also be made with the "Levels" adjustment if you find that easier to use. Adding depth of field is easily achieved as well. Begin by duplicating your background layer, and putting the new layer directly ab

Playhouse Tip of the Day

This is first episode of Pee-Wee's Playhouse courtesy of YouTube. You have now learned the following. - Foil can be used as a form of currency - The P is only silent in Pterri not Pee-Wee - If there's too much chocolate add more ice cream (wonder if "would you like some more fries with your ketchup" ripped off of this.) - When driving out of your house always use a helmet Also of notice you can get all the episodes of Pee-wee's Playhouse here for two easy payments of $17.99.

Dog Tip of the Day

If you're considering how many dogs to keep in your pack, consider this. One dog is fine. Two dogs is a bit more work. Five dogs is too many.

Pedestrian Tip of the Day

OK, memo to Kentucky drivers. Last time I checked, in our fracking commonwealth, pedestrians have the right of way. So try your best not to hit me when you attempt to beat me to the punch making a left turn onto a cross street. I, and runners/walkers of Kentucky really enjoy stopping dead in our tracks to avoid being mauled over while you pretend like you're entitled to do that. Just because you haven't exercised in several years doesn't mean the rest of us should be denied the privilege. Not to quote Kentucky law or anything, but: Drivers must yield to pedestrians under the following conditions: When pedestrians are at a marked or unmarked crosswalk and there is no traffic light When turning a corner and pedestrians are crossing with the light In any situation that could threaten the pedestrian’s safety I think that pretty much covers my bases. That is all.

Music Tip of the Day

I thought for sure we had already published a tip about this, but it turns out I was wrong. There are tons of internet radio services that clam to be able to serve you songs that you'll like. Pandora is the only one that actually lives up to the promise. You type in a band that you like and Pandora plans a song of theirs. Then it plays a song by a similar artist. This keeps going, as you listen you can give songs a thumbs up or thumbs down. Where most other services fail, is that they just examine the genre of the song you are listening too, Pandora has musicians who examine the "DNA" of every track. For example the song I'm listening to right now Pandora chose because "it features electric rock instrumentation, punk influences, a subtle use of vocal harmony, mild rhythmic syncopation and a vocal-centric aesthetic." It is so refreshing to like every sing song I hear. My iTunes can't even do that. As JCo says "Pandora is like a pile of presents an

Realty Tip of the Day

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A few tips if you're listing your house for sale. First off, NEWS FLASH: People will actually look at the photos you put online! I know this may be a surprise to you, but you may want to be careful what's in the shot. For instance, let's look at these two actual listings here in the Lexington area. I realize these may not be Lexington's finest homes. But couldn't we get the hoopty out of that shot above? "Hm, tempting. I really want to live there where an 80s model drug car is parked in front of my house...cool...it's got character." And for the love of all things, PLEASE somehow crop the broken mailbox out of the shot. Take the photo from an angle, or heck, just show interior pictures! You know, maybe, just maybe, someone will ACTUALLY come look at your house (at least that's the goal, right?) so maybe you can sorta "fix" the mailbox? After all, it is the first impression, right? "Honey, I'm sure it's just a coincidence tha

Save the World Tip of the Day

Solving world hunger is one thing to strive for, but enhancing America's vocabulary is another! A website, FreeRice.com is singlehandedly attempting to change the world! On the site, you''ll be asked vocabulary questions, and for each correct answer, they'll donate 10 grains of rice to a developing country! The result? Full bellies and full minds. It's pretty addictive, and you'll learn some great new words like "patois" and "hawser." It also keeps track of your vocab level. Mine's 37--I don't know if that's good or bad!

Too Far Tip of the Day

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All good things can be taken too far. Like this great thing, an "LOLCat" is awesome. But some in the greater LOLCat community have found the need to take LOLCats a bit too far. (Julie and XT, you should be proud that I have some limits when it comes to LOLCats.) They've taken it too far by creating the LOLCat Bible. Yes, they really are translating the entire Holy Bible in LOLCat-ese. Now, I clearly think LOLCats are hilarious. LOL, even. But do we really need the New International LOLCat Version of the Bible? And who has time to do these things? At the end of some pathetic nerd's life, at least he'll be able to say he translated the book of Job into LOLCat.

Blogging Tip of the Day

If, when using Blogger, you are publishing a post and continually get the message, "Your blog is taking longer than expected to publish. Click here to continue to wait," it actually means that it has published your blog, contrary to whatever it may lead you to believe.

Snakes Tip of the Day

If you have even a remote fear of snakes, do not watch the "film" Snakes on a Plane. You will most assuredly be scared senseless. Until Samuel L. Jackson comes in with his signature line, "I am so sick of these mother f*****' snakes on this mother f*******' plane!"

RSVP Tip of the Day

RSVP are the initials for répondez, s'il vous plaît , which means "please reply." This includes both "Yes, I'd be glad to be there" and "No way would I ever be caught dead at your party." This makes it easier for the host to know how much food will be needed, how many places to set, etc. It's just polite...do it!

Wireless Tip of the Weekend

If you're unfortunate enough to be relegated to use a PC, check to make sure you've upgraded to WinXP Service Pack 2 before you attempt to connect to any wireless routers made in the last decade. If you have not, you'll have to figure out what the heck a "network key" is instead of a wireless password. Silly Windows.

Steering Tip of the Day

If you happen to purchase a steering wheel cover, you might want to wait to apply it until you're NOT driving. Otherwise, you could accidentally cause your car to swerve out of control, risking your life and the lives of others.

Sweetea Tip of the Day

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Looking to brew that perfect glass of sweet tea? Look no further than the Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker! This sub-$20 little bundle of joy will deliciously brew your tea that you swear has come from Sonny's! A few things of note. The instructions take you through how to make unsweetened tea (and who wants that?!) So, to make it sweetened, we've found that adding 1/3 cup of sugar per quart of tea is about perfect. It's essential that the sugar is added to the tea when warm for quick absorption, so we recommend adding the sugar to the pitcher and allowing some hot brew to emerge before adding the ice cubes as instructed. You're well on your way to great sweetea!

Agasse Tip of the Day

It takes balls to wash your comforter! If it's time for your semi-annual down comforter washing, be sure to stock up on the cheapest tennis balls money can buy. Why, you ask? When washing anything down (comforters, coats, underwear, etc.) if you dry them, they'll go flat . But putting a few tennis balls in the dryer will help to re-fluff your comforter and make it as puffy as ever.

Voting Tipsy of the Day

No booze: Kentucky law prohibits the sale of alcoholic beverages while polls are open. So if you can wait until 6pm tonight you'll be all set.

Backup Tip of the Day

If you have more than 2GB of data to backup and don't want to continue paying a monthly fee, we at TodD labs discovered something that might be of interest to you. Brought to you by Dreamhost , a leading web hosting company, they offer "Files Forever." This service is great if you already have a hosting account because you pay a one-time fee of $0.01 per 4MB. So, if you're having to store tons of large files in perpetuity, you simply upload them, tell Dreamhost where they are, and pay your one-time fee. You never pay monthly for it, just once and done!

Mozy Tip of the Weekend

You should backup your computer files. "I know I know." It is very important that you back up for your files. "I'll get around to it." There are only two kind of computer users out there, those who have had a major hard drive failure and those who will. "Isn't there a third kind?" For a simple and free way to keep your files backed up try Mozy, they have a Mac and Windows version. The files get backed up to their server so you don't have to worry about buying an extra hard drive or anything. Plus you get up to 2GB free! Use this link to get another 12% on top of that! Now you don't have anymore excuses!

Pizza Tip of the Day

5 Million Frozen Pizzas are being voluntarily recalled . First, I'm kind of surprised there are even 5 million frozen pizzas in the country. It seems like maybe I should have become a frozen food chef because there is obviously some money it. The problem involves something wrong with the pepperonis on the pizzas. As it turns out, instead of the high quality red paint General Mills asked their Chinese manufacturer to paint the pepperonis with, the manufacturer subsisted it for a cheaper red paint containing lead. Ok, so maybe we can't blame this on communists, but it would be more interesting then the truth, another E. coli scare. What does the "E" stand for anyway?

Whiteboard Tip of the Day

Hopefully this hasn't happened to you, but that you have seen it happy to someone else because it is pretty funny. A little over zealous about scribbling some notes on the white board, you grab the nearest marker and go to town. Only after you fill up the entire board with notes do you realize that Sharpies™ and white boards don't mix. Luckily the solution to this otherwise expensive problem is fairly simple. You have to trick the white board into thinking it was written on by a dry erase marker. Just mark with a dry erase marker (double check this time) over all of the "permanent" markings, and then erase as normal. White boards aren't very bright, so this is all it takes to get them to release the Sharpie marks.