10 Good Portrait Tips

Tim Ferriss - Web 2.0 Keynote

147 Tiny Tips to Live Healthier, Happier, Greener and Better

"The following 147 tips, broken down into ways you can improve your life through your job, around the house, in financial matters, in your goals and beliefs, in romance, in your social life, and through your health and diet, will lead you to a healthier, happier, greener, and better lifestyle."

Frugalist » The Frugality Cheat Sheet: 147 Tiny Tips to Live Healthier, Happier, Greener and Better

How to organize your cluttered desktop

Setup: Five folders for everything

These folders will contain all of your documents. Once you’ve implemented the system, nothing should touch your desktop again. Create them in your “Documents” folder on the Mac, or your “My Documents” folder on a PC. They’re numbered so that when you arrange the folders by name, they remain in order:

• “0. Inbox”
  Put unprocessed items that don’t have a place yet in here. This may be items like software installers you’ve downloaded, files sent to you from colleagues, and random text clippings. I numbered this “0” to reinforce the idea of it being a temporary folder. This folder must be emptied everyday, at the end of the day.

• “1. Actions”
  Put items requiring an action that takes more than 2 minutes in here. This may be items such as forms to fill out, large applications to install and setup, and files to upload.

• “2. Incubate”
  Put items you aren’t yet ready to do or complete in here. These may be articles you’re thinking of reading, sketches for potential projects, and information about classes you’re thinking about taking.

• “3. Current Projects”
  Put files related to active projects in here. This folder contains files you’re currently working on as well as reference files for a project. Each project gets it’s own unique folder. For client projects, I organized each project folder with subfolders that map to phases shown on the project schedule. Once the entire project is complete, move it into “4. Archive”

• “4. Archive”
  Put completed projects, general reference items, and anything else you might want to look at again in here. I have aliases of Mac OS X’s “Music”, “Pictures”, and “Movies” folders in here. I also have an “Archived Projects” folder in here to hold completed projects.

After you’ve created the five folders above, make aliases or shortcuts to them on your desktop. On my Mac, I’ve applied a green Finder label to each folder so they stand out from mounted volumes such as DVDs and hard drives.

How to organize your cluttered desktop and regain your sanity [via LifeHacker]

Stain Fighting A to Z

Some really good tips from Simply Thrifty.

“I’m often asked what to use for various stains. Rather than answer the same questions over and over, I decided to make up a little stain-fighting primer. Before we go down the list, there are a few important details to remember:

• Blot, don’t rub
• Don’t ever expose a stain to heat
• Always use chemicals as a last resort

By popular demand…”

Stain Fighting A to Z

Adhesive - WD-40 will remove the gooey adhesive residue left behind by tape, glue, or almost anything sticky. Dabbing nail polish remover also works.

Anti Perspirant - If it’s the type of stain caused by a white deodorant stick, first try wiping the stain with a baby wipe or dryer sheet. In many cases, either of these will remove the stain. If not, pretreat with with a mild dish or laundry detergent or laundry spot remover and launder as usual.

Alluminium Pots and Pans - Cover the stain with baking soda. Place one layer of lemon slices over the baking soda. Just cover lemons and bring to a slow boil. Quickly lower the heat and let simmer. Remove from heat once stain is lifted.

Ballpoint Pen - Saturate stain with alcohol-based hairspray. Let sit for thirty minutes and blot with damp sponge. Repeat if necessary.

Beer - Blot with vinegar or mild dish detergent until the stain is lifted. Blot again with a damp sponge.

Blood - Immediately blot with cold water. If the blood stain is on a garment or other item that can be easily removed, soak in cold water until as much of the stain as possible is lifted. Blot the stain with vinegar, club soda, hydrogen peroxide or dish detergent until it’s removed. Blot again with a damp sponge. If the stain persists, launder as usual but don’t dry in the dryer until it’s completely removed.

Butter - Cover the spot with corn starch, talcum powder or baking soda and leave for an hour or so to absorb the grease. When time is up, wipe away the powder and dab with a mild dish detergent, preferably one touted for fighting grease When the stain is removed, blot again with a damp sponge.

Candle or Crayon Wax - Cover the stain with a paper towel. Use a very low iron to iron the paper towel. Eventually, you should be able to slowly peel back the towel and the stain will be transferred to the paper. If any discolaration remains behind, blot with a mild dish detergent and launder as usual.

Chocolate - First remove any solid material from stain. Then blot with a solution of one part ammonia to three parts water, half vinegar and half water, or one part dish detergent and two parts water. Launder as usual.

Coffee - Immediately blot with cold water. Blot again with vinegar or dish detergent until stain is lifted. Blot one more time with a damp sponge. Launder as usual.

Cola - Immediately blot with cold water. Blot again with club soda, vinegar or dish detergent. Launder as usual.

Crayon - To remove crayon from the wall, carpet or clothing, first wipe with WD-40. In many cases, especially the walls, this should remove the stain completely. If you have no WD-40 on hand, cover the stain with a paper towel and run a warm iron over the paper covered stain. The stain should transfer to the paper. Clean any residue with vinegar or a mild dish detergent.

Dirt - Shake off the garment, or vacuum excess dirt. Launder as usual.

Egg - Blot with a solution of half water and half laundry detergent. Let sit for thirty minutes and launder as usual.

Fruit (or vegetable) Juice - Blot with cold water immediately or place item in cold water to soak. Blot stain with dishwashing liquid or vinegar. Launder as usual.

Gasoline - Blot stain with dry cleaning solvent.

Glue - Blot with water or mild dishwashing liquid.

Grass - Blot with ammonia, vinegar or dishwashing liquid. For a stubborn grass stain, try dry cleaning solvent. Launder as usual.

Gravy - Scrape away or blot up excess gravy. Blot again with cold water until most of the stain is lifted. Blot with vinegar or a mild dishwashing detergent and launder as usual.

Grease - Cover stain with talcum powder, corn starch or baking soda to absorb the grease. Blot with a mild dishwashing detergent that specializes in removing grease. Launder as usual.

Gum - Massage the stain thoroughly with peanut butter for easy remover. Also try covering the gum with ice until it hardens. You should then be able to crack it and lift it off. WD-40 will also remove gum. Clean any residue or spots left behind with dish detergent or launder as usual. Also try a solvent used to soften candle wax.

Hair Dye - Stop what you’re doing and immediately blot off any excess before it has a chance to set in. Try cleaning the spot with ammonia or laundry detergent. If this doesn’t remove the stain, you may have to call in a professional dry cleaner or carpet cleaner.

Hair Spray - Blot with a clarifying shampoo. Blot again with water.

Ice Cream - Blot immediately with cold water. Blot again with dish detergent.

Ink - Saturate stain with ammonia based hair spray or ammonia itself. Let sit until stain is loosened enough to remove. Clean remaining ink and sticky hairspray residue with dish detergent and blot again with a cold damp sponge. If stain is just about lifted, launder as usual.

Jelly or Jam -Gently scrape away any solid matter left behind. Blot with clean water until most of the stain is removed. A mild detergent diluted in some water should clean the rest of this stain just fine. Diluted vinegar or ammonia will also work.

Ketchup - Blot the stain with cold water using a damp sponge or cloth. Blot again using vinegar.

Lipstick - Use a makeup remover to remove lipstick from clothes or carpeting. If none is handy, try nail polish remover.

Mustard - It’s important to get to mustard, especially bright yellow mustard, quickly. The dye in mustard will quickly penetrate the fibers of just about any fabric. Blot as soon as possible with cold water and again with laundry detergent. Repeat applications as often as necessary until the stain is removed. Launder as usual.

Rust - Try using a paste made of salt plus vinegar.

Soda - Blot with water first. If that doesn’t remove the soda stain, vinegar or club soda will.

Tea - First blot with water. Blot again with vinegar.

Tomato Sauce or other tomato based products - First scrape of excess solid matter. Blot with clean water to remove as much of the stain as possible. To clean what remains, try a mild dish or laundry detergent, vinegar, club soda or lemon juice.

Urine - Blot with cold water first, than try ammonia diluted with three parts water. Vinegar also does well to clean urine stains.

Vomit - Gently remove as much vomit as possible with a cloth. Blot with water to remove as much of the stain as possbile. Blot again with laundry or dish detergent diluted with half water. Blotting with vinegar after wards will remove the smell and blotting with water will rinse.

Wine - If red wine is spilled on the carpet, neturalize by chasing it with a glass of white wine! White wine will cause the red wine stain to immediately disappear. If none is available, try first blotting with cold water, then vinegar. White wine is easily removed with cold water or vinegar.

Stain Fighting A to Z

Pack Efficiently

Here are some tips on how to pack lightly and tightly so that you can avoid checking bags altogether.

Pack Efficiently - Seeking Alpha

7 Secrets of the Super Organized

Here are some really good organization tips.

“So what's the secret? In truth, there aren't any secrets. There are simple habits that you can develop over time that will get you to where you want to be. These are habits that you can apply to your work, your home, your kids, your hobbies, your life. Instead of giving you specifics for how to organize something specific, like your desk or your closet, I provide principles that you can use over and over in every situation.”

7 Secrets of the Super Organized - Dumb Little Man