Quick tutorial for doing photo panographies. Some
Quick tutorial for doing photo panographies. Some examples on Flickr. See also David Hockney.
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Lifehacker has a great thread going about
Lifehacker has a great thread going about how to find cheap airline travel, online and off. Going through a travel agency situated in a neighborhood populated by people from the location you’re travelling to is a great tip.
How to DJ your first set without
How to DJ your first set without knowing how.
Update: For another take on how to DJ, see Vice’s Hey DJ, Fuck You! Anyone Can Rock the Party. (thx, dave)
Examples of *very* photorealistic illustrations made with
Examples of *very* photorealistic illustrations made with the gradient mesh tool in Adobe Illustrator. Here’s a quick gradient mesh tutorial.
How to fix photos that are too
How to fix photos that are too dark or too light with Photoshop. Color range + levels is your friend.
Guide for how to win at Pac-Man. “
Guide for how to win at Pac-Man. “Pac-Man is the game which represents everything that’s good about gaming (any kind of gaming) and nothing that is bad.”
Advice for cleaning the CCD image sensor
Advice for cleaning the CCD image sensor on Nikon digital SLR cameras. Doesn’t look that scary….does anyone have any experience doing this? My D70 needs a little TLC in this area.
Tutorial on how to draw a photorealistic
Tutorial on how to draw a photorealistic portrait using only Photoshop 6 and a mouse. Look out, Robert Bechtle.
A list of 20 things everyone needs to
A list of 20 things everyone needs to know how to do, written by experts in their prospective fields: how to iron a shirt, how to hit a tennis ball, how to listen (“I never learned anything when I was talking”), and how to sleep.
Update: This has disappeared behind the Independent’s paywall. Sorry. But the tips were all taken from this book, The Experts’ Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do. (thx, brian and joe)
Update: Here’s a mirror of the original full-text article. (via get rich slowly)
For all you ugly people out there,
For all you ugly people out there, a tutorial on how to beautify a face in Photoshop.
Make your own x-rays: buy a dental
Make your own x-rays: buy a dental x-ray machine on eBay and use it with Polaroid film. Mit photos.
Bruce Cole shares his Academy Award-winning steak
Bruce Cole shares his Academy Award-winning steak cooking technique.
Update: Bruce’s technique is very close to that of Alain Ducasse…but Ducasse finishes the steak with butter and garlic. Whoa, momma. (thx, bryan)
Abortion manual for the women of South Dakota
In reaction to the South Dakota Senate passing an abortion ban bill, a woman named Molly has posted an abortion manual for the women of South Dakota:
In the 1960s and early 1970s, when abortions were illegal in many places and expensive to get, an organization called Jane stepped up to the plate in the Chicago area. Jane initially hired an abortion doctor, but later they did the abortions themselves. They lost only one patient in 13,000 — a lower death rate than that of giving live birth. The biggest obstacle they had, though, was the fact that until years into the operation, they thought of abortion as something only a doctor could do, something only the most trained specialist could perform without endangering the life of the woman.
They were deceived — much like you have probably been deceived. An abortion, especially for an early pregnancy, is a relatively easy procedure to perform. And while I know, women of South Dakota, that you never asked for this, now is the time to learn how it is done. There is no reason you should be beholden to doctors — especially in a state where doctors have been refusing to perform them, forcing the state’s only abortion clinic to fly doctors in from elsewhere.
(via cyn-c)
How to fold a fitted sheet perfectly.
How to fold a fitted sheet perfectly. We’ve been having a bit of a problem with this in our household lately, so this is helpful.
Waiter Rant on how to order wine
Waiter Rant on how to order wine without looking like an asshole. “When I see someone [smell the cork] I know I’m dealing with a complete amateur. Guess what you’re gonna smell? Cork!”
How to make your best-of-the-year music list
How to make your best-of-the-year music list as hip as it can be. “Make sure to include an album that just came out. This will lead people to believe that you got an advanced copy months ago and had plenty of time to get into it.”
Travel tip
Much to my irritation (and that of others), many hotels charge for broadband internet access and the standard practice (at least on this trip) seems to be to charge per computer. So if both you and your traveling companion want to connect to the internet (via ethernet cable one at a time or both via wireless), you’re screwed. Luckily, we brought along an Airport Express; it’s small and fits easily in a suitcase. You hook that up to the ethernet cable and then you can both connect to that wireless network.
(With the Powerbook, you can also hook it up to the ethernet cable and then share your connection via the Airport. But the cables are typically short, so one of you loses that lounging-in-bed web surfing experience.)
“This guide demonstrates using SSH tunnels and
“This guide demonstrates using SSH tunnels and VNC screen-sharing software to use your Mac from any PC over the Internet. It’s fast, secure, cross-platform, and can be done entirely with open source software.” (thx tag)
Here’s the formula for a New Yorker
Here’s the formula for a New Yorker cartoon: take a person/entity from Column A, and have them interact with a person/entity from Column B in a location from Column C. Voila, comedy jackpot!
Merlin’s excellent advice for writing sensible email
Merlin’s excellent advice for writing sensible email messages. This one is excellent advice for email and blog comments: “Emails to a thread are like comments at a meeting; think of both like your time possessing the basketball. Don’t just chuck at the net every chance you get. Hang back and watch for how you can be most useful. Minimize noise.”
How to make X-wing fighters (from Star
How to make X-wing fighters (from Star Wars) out of Paris Metro tickets. I gotta try this…I’ve got about a zillion of these laying around because they make great bookmarks.
In case you ever need it, a
In case you ever need it, a long, long piece about how to vanish in America without a trace.
Advice on surviving an unplanned free fall. “
Advice on surviving an unplanned free fall. “By tilting forward and putting your hands at your side, you can modify your pitch and make progress not just vertically but horizontally as well. As you go down 15,000 feet, you can also go sideways two-thirds of that distance — that’s two miles! ”
Popcorn hacks
If you’ve got a bag of Orville Redenbacher’s Butter microwave popcorn on hand but no microwave, there’s no need to panic. Just tear open the bag and pour the kernels into a large pot. Put over medium heat. The kernels will be in a big clump of congealed butter-like substance…break them apart with a wooden spoon as the pot heats up and the “butter” starts to melt.
When the “butter” is melted, stir the kernels around with the spoon so they don’t burn. At this point, you may want to don some protective eyewear so that when the first kernels pop, you don’t get hot butter-like liquid in your eye; I just put on my sunglasses. When the first kernels pop, cover the pot and shake it across the burner so the kernels don’t burn. Stop periodically to listen for pops and to exclaim, “I can’t believe this is actually working!” When popping stops, quickly remove from the heat, and get it out of that hot pot into a bowl. Eat. As good as microwaved.
A how-to on getting good B&
A how-to on getting good B&W photos from a digital camera. Slower has another technique.
Advice from Dr. Michio Kaku on formulating
Advice from Dr. Michio Kaku on formulating a proposal for the Unified Field Theory. I can just imagine all the crackpot theories that prompted this list.
Scott Berkun on how to learn from your mistakes
Scott Berkun on how to learn from your mistakes. “We’re taught in school, in our families, or at work to feel guilty about failure and to do whatever we can to avoid mistakes.”
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