India decriminalized homosexuality today, marking a major victory for gay rights activists worldwide. But there's still a long way to go, according to international watchdog ILGA.

Being gay in India carried the risk of a lifelong prison term, reports the ILGA's May 2009 world map of gay rights. At least five other countries -- Mauritania, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iran -- substitute the death penalty in place of imprisonment. Only six countries afford gay couples marriage with full legal rights: South Africa, Spain, Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Canada.

Dilemma: You want to look sexy but not too sexy—and certainly not all the time. You're busy and have errands to run, and you can't have post office employees rubbing up in your junk like pups in heat.

So do what we do: Don't workout. Eat terribly. And only copulate with partners who promise to either ignore Cheetos-induced stretch marks or allow you to wear your RIPT FUSION t-shirt in a jacuzzi.

What's a RIPT FUSION shirt? Well it's "a classic men's undershirt injected with steroids," of course. For just $58, it'll add pecs and abs all while sucking in the flabby parts. But even more critical to society, it'll put geeks on the same playing field as jocks, the lazy on the same playing field as the obnoxiously active.

Even if the Ript Fusion is too gimmicky to make you look good, it could eventually make muscles look bad. And in the long run, that's really just as beneficial. [RIPT via Super Punch]

Mac is famous for their “drag and drop” installation/uninstallation process. Most of the time, the term “installing an app” simply means copying the app into the Applications folder (or anywhere you want the app to be). And likewise, uninstalling an app means simply deleting it from the computer - something that you should never, ever do in Windows.

Even though most Mac apps are stand-alone software (the files required for them to work are compiled into the app itself), some of them do leave a few preferences and configuration files behind after dragging the app to Trash. These files won’t affect the operation of the system and most of them are small in size. However, you can sometimes find a large unused chunks of files (such as saved data files from games) that will occupy a huge portion of your hard drive space.

To really swipe everything clean, you’ll need the help of an uninstaller. Here are three free alternatives for Mac.

AppCleaner

AppCleaner is an uninstaller for Mac which will allow users to thoroughly uninstall unwanted apps. It will search your Mac for every file distributed by other applications.

To use it, just drop an application onto the AppCleaner window. It will find the related files, list everything down and let the user delete them. Users can also choose applications, widgets and other items (mostly plugins) to uninstall.

AppCleaner has the ability to prevent certain important apps from being deleted accidentally. Users can add any application to the list of their favorite apps in the Preferences.There’s also SmartDelete - the option to delete an app properly when it’s moved it to trash.

Jackson also listed AppCleaner in his list of Free Alternatives to 10 Popular Commercial Mac Apps.

AppTrap

AppTrap is like a watchdog for the Trash. It will wait until the user deletes an app, then it will pop a dialogue up, asking if all associated files should be trashed together with the application, allowing for a more complete clean-up of the system.

This uninstaller resides in System Preferences as a preference pane.It’s inactive by default. Upon installation, the user needs to activate it. There’s also an option to automatically start this app on login.

AppTrap is no longer being maintained or developed but still works fine under Leopard.

DesInstaller

DesInstaller is a simple tool that reads the receipts generated when you install a “.pkg” file with Apple’s Installer. User can opt to remove every file installed by a package, even if it has been modified, and/or archived.

Caution!

No matter which uninstaller you use, please always double-check the list of associated files to be deleted. Sometimes the app will make mistakenly include unrelated file(s) to the list.

To be sure, you can also confirm the files you’re about to delete by looking inside the Trash before emptying it.

Do you use uninstallers for Mac or you only depend on Trash? Do you have other alternatives? Share using the comments section below.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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If you tried out the technique we shared earlier this week for easy homemade bread and want to bolster your baking chops, you'll definitely want to check out this detailed guide to homemade sourdough bread.

Laura and Barb, the two sisters behind the culinary blog My Sister's Kitchen, post an excellent and detailed tutorial on homemade sourdough. It isn't as simple as some of the other bread recipes and bread baking techniques we've shared in the past, like the aforementioned easy homemade bread, or five-minute quickbread, but based on the rave reviews their technique has received, we think you'll find it worth the extra effort. While it's a bit more intensive than some of the other methods we've covered, it's still quite economical:

A very important detail to note is that this method makes extra large loaves that are approximately 4.5 pounds each. Each loaf costs only $0.68 to make. That is sixty-eight cents. I buy flour and yeast in bulk, so it's possible that if you buy your ingredients at a regular grocery store, your loaf might cost twice that....a whopping $1.36! As you'll see, that's for a loaf that's about 3 times the size of a loaf of grocery store bread.

They have a step by step tutorial on Instructables, linked below, and then a companion post on their blog with additional information about sourdough, creating your own sourdough starter, and various recipes. If you bake your own sourdough bread, due either to thrift or refined taste, we want to hear about it in the comments below.

These days, almost every aspect of our life could be digitized and stored as data. From contact list to office works, from private poems to family vacation videos; all has been turned into sets of binary codes. We even move our social life to the virtual world.

That’s why modern people can afford to lose their computers but not the data inside. That’s also why the necessity of backing up your data is unquestionable.

Disc Burning in Mac OS X

One of today’s most popular and practical method of data back up is disc burning, and there are two popular disc formats used by the masses: CD (up to 700 MB worth of data) and DVD (up to 4.7 GB worth of data).

Mac OS X comes with its own built-in disc burning feature and users have several ways to access it. I’ll show you how to use native Mac apps to burn CDs and DVDs for free without installing anything.

1. From the iLife Suite

Mac users can burn their music, photo and movie collection directly from the respective iLife applications. There’s a “Burn Disc” button in iTunes, The “Share –> Burn” menu in iPhoto, And the burn button in iDVD.

2. From Finder

You can create a Burn Folder in Finder by choosing “File –> New Burn Folder” menu or by using “Command + Shift + B” key combination. Give name to the folder and then drag and drop the files and folders that you want to backup.

After everything is in place, open the burn folder and click the “Burn” button on the top right corner of the window.

3. From Disk Utility

Open Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app) and you can see that there’s the Burn button in the main window. Please note that Disk Utility can only burn from an image file. So, the first thing to do is to choose or create an image file. (You can create an image file by clicking the “New Image” button.)

The advantage of using Disk Utility is that you can create multisession disc. Just make sure you tick the “Leave Disc appendable” box before you start burning.

4. Burn Baby, Burn!

Mac OS X built-in disc burning feature has some limitations. The main one is that users should use different apps to create different kind of discs, and the kinds of disc that can be created is limited. That’s why there are still so many users who use third party disc burning application. We mentioned some of them in the article about free alternatives to Nero CD / DVD burner.

One good and free alternative of such app is Burn. This is an all-in-one, easy to use disc-burning software for Mac that has the ability to burn different kinds of discs with only a few clicks.

To use Burn, choose the type of disc you want to create from one of the tabs on the upper part of the window. There are three main types of disc available: Data, Audio, Video, with an additional ability to Copy disc.

The next step is to drag and drop the files you want to burn into the main window. Then, give the disc a name and click “Burn”. That’s it. No more complicated processes necessary.

There’s a list of adjustable sub-types of disc next to the name field. Other settings can be changed from the Preferences menu.

To create a multisession disc, be sure to check to the “Allow more sessions” box. And if you use CD-RW or DVD-RW, there’s the option to erase the disc before burning.

Burn is by far the easiest disc burning software that I’ve come across. I also think that this one is better than most of the paid competitors.

Have you tried Burn? Do you know other alternatives to burn CDs and DVDs for free? Share your burning experiences in the comment below.

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You might not be drafting bomb instructions on the back of a cocktail napkin in a German bar anytime soon, but being skilled with invisible inks could definitely pay off.

Photo by Kristen D.

While you may remember invisible inks mainly from the back of comic books, wedged between X-ray specs and other questionable goods, it's probably the most legitimate "spy tool" around. At The New in Print, a blog devoted to printing and ink technology, they've rounded up a variety of different kinds of invisible inks revealed by special lights, liquids, or other methods. Lemon juice, vinegar, and even water can be used to create basic "invisible" messages. How can you use lemon juice?

Lemon juice is a great example of a ‘heat-fixed' invisible ink. An invisible lemon juice message, scrawled onto a piece of paper, can be developed by exposure to any heat source such as a radiator, an iron or a 100W light bulb.

Many acidic household liquids (Coca Cola, wine, apple, orange and onion juice included) behave in quite the same way, as do a number of bodily fluids. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, people frequently sent postcards containing hidden messages written in saliva and even urine.

While you may not be scripting in bodily fluids, it's quite the trick to have filed away. For more substances that can be used and techniques to apply and develop them, check out the full guide below. Don't forget to sound off in the comments if you have your own experience with nifty covert tools like invisible inks.

Charlie Rose: The Legacy of the Stonewall Riots of 1969 [video | 57:21].





Remembering Stonewall [radio documentary | 38:50]





Jim Fouratt talks with Stephen Colbert the significance of the Stonewall riots for the gay rights movement and his frustration with Barack Obama [video | 06:00].





And ...rawrrr... Love Ball Marks 'Stonewall 40' with Skin and Hippies in Times Square.

If you’re only going to subscribe to one magazine, we obviously think it should be ours. But if there’s room in your magazine rack for multiple titles, perhaps you’ll consider one of these. I asked various members of the mental_floss family to recommend one magazine. Here’s what they came up with.

The Believer

The Believer is an outgrowth of the McSweeney’s empire, a lit mag for grownups, but a lit mag nonetheless — it’s about books and writing, with occasional digressions into film and music. Unlike most publications about books, The Believer has a twist: they only publish positive reviews. Want to read someone ripping XYZ Author a new one? Go elsewhere. The reviews are actually a very small part of the magazine (a few pages per issue), with the rest taken up by interviews (typically the “writer talking to another writer” or “musician talking to a visual artist” variety), historical oddities, writers writing about being writers, profiles of obscure people, and the excellent column “Sedaratives” (only rarely penned by its original author Amy Sedaris, this is a postmodern advice column; this month’s column is by Judd Apatow).

I continue to mourn the conclusion of “Stuff I’ve Been Reading,” the long-running and fairly self-descriptive column by Nick Hornby, which was collected in the three (highly recommended) books Housekeeping vs. the Dirt, The Polysyllabic Spree, and Shakespeare Wrote for Money.

Representative article description: “‘Close Encounters of the Metafictional Kind.’ Tough lessons in life and literature learned from Bret Easton Ellis’s appearance at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square.” If this sounds interesting to you, just subscribe right now and get on with it. If it sounds precious (and/or you hate McSweeney’s as a concept), run. Far.

– Recommended by Chris Higgins, regular contributor to mental_floss magazine and mentalfloss.com

The New York Times Magazine

The New York Times Magazine might be a supplement to the Sunday paper, but for me, it stands alone as one of the better magazines out there. Too bad it’s buried between 2 inches of (potentially dying) newsprint and can be lumped into a category that includes Parade. The big upside to all this is that it has the freedom to get creative with its cover stories. One week I’m glued to its Architecture Issue (and I know nothing about architecture) and the next week I’m following the story of tennis great Rafael Nadal (something I would never have read had it been hiding in Sports Illustrated). But no matter what the feature story is about, there’s a good chance you’ll find me talking about it that week.

– Recommended by Neely Harris, Editor-in-Chief of mental_floss magazine

symmetry Magazine

Symmetry Magazine, published bimonthly by Fermi National Laboratory, is a magazine about particle physics. It sounds intimidating, but symmetry is not an academic journal. Rather, it examines the intersection of particle physics with science policy, culture, and many other aspects of human existence. Many article topics fall under the general category of popular science and may only be tangentially related to particle physics; for example, an article about a physicist who sketches in the style of Leonardo DaVinci. Symmetry also eschews the typical “blurb” cover layout of a magazine in favor of a distinct artistic design for each issue. Both the electronic and print version are free for all readers.

– Recommended by Casey Johnston, mental_floss intern

Runner’s World

You might think a magazine called Runner’s World is for the super hardcore runner -– you know, the kind who has abs of steel, trains in high altitudes and has no problems making a #2 while they run. But it’s not. I mean, it’s for them too, but it’s also for people like me: I average 10-minute-miles and have no problem drinking a beer or two the night before a morning run. Runner’s World has stuff for the beginning runner who is maybe thinking about sort of completing their half marathon but is OK with walking part of it, reviews the gear that will make running slightly less painful, tells you what food might help you recover faster and gives you cool places to run (Kapaau, Hawaii, anyone?). And they do all of this without making you feel stupid if you don’t know who Kara Goucher is or what a Yasso800 is. And at the end of each issue, they interview a celebrity runner. FYI, Jon Cryer does a few triathlons every year. Ducky from Pretty in Pink is more physically fit than I am. If that’s not motivation, I don’t know what is!

– Recommended by Stacy Conradt, who writes the back page of mental_floss magazine and is a daily contributor to mentalfloss.com

Good Magazine

The tagline for Good’s media empire is “for people who give a damn,” which should tell you everything you want to know about Good Magazine’s tone and content. The magazine offers up simple, personal solutions for the world’s biggest problems (the environment, education, social inequality, and animal rights to name a few) and profiles difference-makers. Their marketplace section suggests environmentally – and socially – responsible products to buy and the magazine always ends with a project for readers, like designing a T-shirt or making a mix tape.



Somehow it tackles grand social issues without coming off as preachy or making you feel insignificant. A lot of that has to do with the magazine’s hip, casual tone and fresh design. The graphics are cutting-edge and no two pages look alike. My favorite section is Transparency, which communicates big ideas and statistics through graphics (a recent issue used a cartoon of sinking ships to illustrate the world’s biggest bankruptcies).

Oh, and they donate 100 percent of subscription funds to charity, so you don’t even have to follow anything in the magazine to feel like you’re making a difference.

– Recommended by Jason Plautz, regular contributor to mentalfloss.com

The Week

The Week is one of the few magazines my wife and I fight over to read first. It’s an easy read that gives you a quick overview of what’s going on across the country and throughout the world and a variety of viewpoints in manageable chunks of information. General news, politics (including a great sampler of cartoons), business and the arts all get their just due. It also does a great job of lighter stuff for real estate junkies (photos of great homes), foodies and consumer news addicts. It’s a real joy to read.

– Recommended by Toby Maloney, Senior Vice President, Business Development

Monocle

While Monocle, which more resembles a paperback book than a magazine, may not seem like the typical light summer read, it’s the perfect magazine for vacation. One issue of the international publication can last you all summer – or at least one whole month. The magazine, which describes itself as “a briefing on global affairs, business, culture, & design,” is somewhat like the mental_floss of serious news, covering a little bit of everything.



Monocle is a great way to stay informed about global affairs during the year, or to catch up on news and stimulate your brain during lazy days at the beach. For the current issue, Monocle dispatched reporters to locales all around the world, including Beirut, Copenhagen, Johannesburg, Kyoto, New York, and Villa de Leyva (Colombia). The June 2009 features address politics, aviation, agriculture, pop music, books, the art market, fashion, bicycles… And that’s only a sampling! For the more graphically inclined, there’s even an exclusive manga in the back, presented in its correct Japanese format.

At $10 an issue, Monocle costs a bit more than the average magazine, but it’s worth every penny. This isn’t a magazine you’ll read in one day and then toss in the recycle.

– Recommended by Andréa Fernandes, regular contributor to mentalfloss.com

Reader’s Digest

Aside from providing me with one of my favorite non-sequitur puns (“You know what they always say…writer’s cramp, Readers Digest”), I’ve been a loyal fan of Reader’s Digest since junior high school. We were given copies in science class at regular intervals so that we could discuss “I Am Joe’s Achilles’ Tendon” and “I Am Jane’s Breast” (and don’t think that article didn’t lead to convulsive giggles when the teacher attempted to lecture on it). While most of my classmates simply read the required article, I was entranced by and devoured the rest of the magazine. I loved not only the regular columns (“Life in These United States,” “It Pays to Enrich Your Word Power,” etc.) but also the occasional “Drama in Real Life” stories, which featured stories about ordinary folks stranded in adverse circumstances and battling against nature, or crime victims fighting for their lives. Such stories often piqued my interest enough to inspire me to go to the library and look up magazine and newspaper articles pertaining to that particular person. (This was long before Google made searching fingertip-easy.)

Years later I drew jury duty, which entailed long hours of sitting in a room with other potential jurors waiting to see if we’d be called for voir dire. Lest any details about a pending case be leaked, TV, radios and current newspapers and magazines were verboten in the jury room. The stacks of old issues of Readers Digest saved the day. The main stories were written in such a “you are there” way that kept most of us absorbed and not bored, and many heated discussions ensued among our group trying to decide which humorous anecdotes we could possibly submit in order to make a quick $300. Its compact size also made it perfect for office bathroom reading – it fit neatly into almost any purse, for those who prefer to be discreet about their restroom routine. Not that I ever did that….

– Recommended by Kara Kovalchik, regular contributor to mentalfloss.com and Research Editor for mental_floss magazine

Surface Magazine

At Jellio.com, we make home furnishings based on fun, childhood memories, so I like to try to stay on top of the latest trends in design. I’m always interested in what’s new in housewares and furniture, as well as retail design, fashion, photography and even new ideas in packaging. And because of these interests, I’ve been a Surface Magazine reader for many years. Whether it’s news on advancements in lighting, or which new architects are making a name for themselves, I find all the latest design information, as well as a great deal of inspiration, in the pages of Surface.

– Recommended by Mario Marsicano, regular contributor to mentalfloss.com and proprietor of Jellio

SHE

My bookshelf contains Thoughtprovoking Books Of Great Importance. My TiVo mostly collects classic movies and shows with some nutritional content to them. So when it comes to magazines, I feel okay delving into trashy rags now and again. That’s what a magazine IS, right? It’s a little brain-vacation that can be shelved or recycled without guilt. But I’ve finally found a happy medium for fluffy clothes/cooking/lifestories content that doesn’t insult my intelligence — and naturally it’s a) British and b) darn hard to find. So what if I don’t know who half the people in the gossip column are or that I continually flunk their recipes. (Thanks, metric system!) The U.K.’s SHE magazine is all the good stuff from women’s magazines, minus the cloying aftertaste or outsize personalities (coff coff, Oprah, coff). Yes, I’m slightly embarrassed that I love SHE so much — but I’ll just plead a terrible case of Anglophilia and curl up with my latest hard-to-find issue.

– Recommended by Terri Dann, Art Director for mental_floss

AFAR

When an old college friend told me he was starting a magazine about experiential travel, I thought he was talking about Yankees Fantasy Camp and Michael Jordan Flight School. And I was all for that. But in the months leading up to the first issue (coming later this summer), I learned there was a little more to it.



AFAR isn’t about finding the most economical hotel or getting away from it all. It’s for people who don’t just want to see the sights. People hoping to immerse themselves in a new culture. People looking for inspiration. So clearly, it’s not for everyone. But if you’re in a travel-centric stage of your life, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better guide to help you connect with the world — and, perhaps, other like-minded travelers.



Founders Joe Diaz and Greg Sullivan have assembled a team of all-stars to turn their vision into reality. The premier issue hits newsstands this August. I would imagine you’ll start to hear a lot more about AFAR next month, so if you like to get in on stuff on the ground floor, now’s your chance. (You can get a free copy of the first issue here.)

– Recommended by Jason English, Managing Editor of mentalfloss.com, who doesn’t think his wife’s friends’ destination weddings count as experiential travel. Maybe next summer.

What magazines do you endorse?

Filed under: Feast Your Eyes

Photo: Danny/Food in Mouth

It was worth it.

The early jacket copy for Julian Comstock reads, in part, "If Jules Verne had read Karl Marx, then sat down to write The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, he still wouldn't have matched the invention and exuberance of Robert Charles Wilson's Julian Comstock." Damn right.

Julian is the story of a world sunk into feudal barbarism, 150 years after Peak Oil, plagues, economic collapse and war left the planet in tatters. Now, America (grown to encompass most of Canada, save for deeply entrenched Dutch and "mitteleuropean" forces in the now-verdant Labrador) is ruled over by a mad hereditary president, whose power is buoyed up by the Dominion, a religious authority that represents the true power in a nation where the new First Amendment guarantees the right to worship at any sanctioned church of your choosing.

The president's nephew, Julian Comstock, has been squirreled away to "Athabaska" to escape the attention of his uncle, who has already assassinated Julian's father, fearing a coup. In the bucolic Alberta farms, Comstock befriends Adam Hazzard, the charming, naive and eloquent narrator of the story. Hazzard is the son of a bondsman who is attached to the feudal territory of the local lord, and is an outcast due to his adherence to a disfavored sect of snake-handlers.

The president is determined to eliminate the threat that Julian poses to his throne, so he issues a general order of conscription for young men to go to the Labrador front and die before the Dutch. But Julian and Adam escape the local press-gang and enlist elsewhere under an assumed name, so that Julian will not be singled out for suicidal duty. As he distinguishes himself in battle, Adam chronicles his adventures, and the two embark on a grand, rollicking, gripping adventure that overturns the entire nation.

Politically astute, romantic, philosophical, compassionate and often uproariously funny, Julian Comstock may be Wilson's best book yet -- and that's saying a lot of a man who has already collected a shelf full of awards for books like Spin.

Julian Comstock: A Story of the 22nd Century on Amazon








http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/ufnpVpLHFWY/julian-comstock-robe.html

When it comes to problem solving, some prefer the act fast, go-with-your-gut approach. But a new BusinessWeek report says that this leap-into-action model should be avoided for issues outside your skill set and suggests following a three-pronged method instead.

Photo by nerovivo.

BusinessWeek calls these kinds of circumstances adaptive challenges since the solution is unknown at the problem's onset and is mostly likely to be complex. And while the article's focus is on solving work-related problems, we think the approach can be applied to other areas of your life as well.

Specifically, the magazine outlines three steps—observe, interpret, and intervene—and provides explanations of each.

Reflecting in the midst of action—what we call moving off the dance floor and getting on the balcony—is a powerful way to do this. It enables you to gain some distance, watch yourself as well as others while you are in the action, and see patterns that are hard to observe if you're stuck at the ground level, where the action is swirling around you.

Hit up the full post for a complete breakdown of each step or, if you're feeling adventurous, let decision-making applications like previously mentioned Let Simon Decide or Hunch do some of the decision-making legwork for you.

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A quick digest of some of the most interesting news and developments in the field:

10 Great Blogs for Genetic Genealogists

I made this list of 10 Great Blogs for blogs.com a few months ago.  It contains 10 blogs that I believe are vital reading for anyone interested in personal genomics, including genetic genealogy.  Here are my picks, but check out the link for my description of each blog:

1. DNA - Genealem’s Genetic Genealogy


2. Dienekes’ Anthropology Blog


3. European Genetics and Anthropology Blog


4. Eye on DNA


5. Genetic Future


6. Genomeboy.com


7. Megan’s Root World


8. The Daily Scan


9. The Personal Genome


10. The Spittoon, deCODEyou, DNAction

Genetic Genealogists Assist Studies

In addition to the articles published in the Journal of Genetic Genealogy (the Spring 2009 issue was just released), genetic genealogists have often assisted researchers publishing studies in other journals.  This reinforces my suggestion to researchers that they interact with the genetic genealogy community to facilitate research.  For instance, here is a quote from a new article in PLoS ONE examining the Y-DNA Haplogroup G:

The subjects were recruited from a selection of over 500 haplogroup G men available in public genetic-genealogy databases in the fall of 2006. This was especially valuable in the case of a somewhat rare European haplogroup like haplogroup G (about 2–4% of the general population). The selection of hgG men from already SNP typed populations provided a tremendous savings in time and cost for this project. To have found this large of a sample of HgG men without the resource of the genetic genealogy community’s results would have necessitated the SNP typing of approximately 1500 men. This study exemplifies the success obtainable by productive collaboration between genetics researchers and the genetic genealogy community.

YHRD Updates STR Mutation Rates

Via Dienekes’ Anthropology Blog, I’ve learned that YHRD has updated their database of Y-STR mutation rates:

YHRD has updated with new mutation rates for Y-STR loci. This is an invaluable resource, as it pools mutation rates from all published studies to produce an overall rate based on a large sample.

DTC Bioethics

The latest issue of the American Journal of Bioethics contains roughly 20 articles regarding the ethical issues of direct-to-consumer genetic testing.  Most are a commentary on a study of “Social Networkers’ Attitudes Toward Direct-to-Consumer Personal Genome Testing,” and 23andMe wrote an editorial for the issue.  Daniel MacArthur has already written about his brief look through the issue.

Eeka posts a map of the Roxbury area.

About 15 years ago, I became interested in real estate investment. It was just after I’d started my first job in Connecticut and was able to save up a bit of cash. I was looking for a good investment for some of that money. Searching the Internet for free websites for foreclosed homes in the United States, using the form that the Internet existed in 15 years ago, resulted in nothing more than a long list of real estate investment scams or websites looking for membership dues. Very little on the Internet was free back then.

Discovering Free Websites for Foreclosed Homes

Back then, I gave up my search and instead chose to put my money into a retirement fund. Sure, I probably could have gone to the courthouse and dug up the property addresses of homeowners who were served with a legal notice of foreclosure, but my normal job didn’t allow for the time it would take to do that.

Fifteen years later, the Internet has transformed into an entire playground of free services and information sources related to real estate. Yes, there are still countless websites that are looking to charge monthly membership fees for "detailed information" on properties, but considering the fact that all of that information is freely available via public records, there’s no reason you should ever pay for it. Thankfully, there are now a number of excellent free websites for foreclosed homes. MakeUseOf has touched on a few websites where you can find homes for sale, such as Jerry’s list of the 5 most significant online property search engines, or Adam’s list of 20 real estate search and information tools.  However, if you’re looking to invest in foreclosures, the websites below are the first places to check out.



The Department of Housing and Urban Development

If there’s only one place you go for information on properties for sale that are either in foreclosure, bank owned or government owned, that place should be the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). By far, it’s the most comprehensive (and absolutely free) source of listings for all properties for sale from government agencies such as:

• HUD


• Department of Veterans Affairs


• The IRS


• U.S. Marshals Service


• Fannie Mae


• Freddie Mac


• Department of Agriculture

The cool thing about properties offered at this website is that they include both single family and multifamily homes, which is great if you’re looking for a nice rental property to buy at a low price. Don’t forget to check out special deals through HUD, like a 50 percent discount off HUD homes for teachers and community emergency personnel, or $1 homes for local community non-profit organizations that want to fix up properties for low or moderate income residents. This site is overflowing with information on where to find foreclosed homes.

Free Foreclosure Database

FreeForeclosureDatabase is one of the first websites that offers a truly "free" search for foreclosed homes, without requiring you to sign up for any sort of trial membership. From the main page, all you have to do is search for your city and state, price range and property type (or just click on the map of the U.S.).

When you click on the "detailed listing," unlike other sites that make you provide your email address or sign up for a "trial membership," this website truly offers free information about the property.

You can view the street address and the agent’s name and number to contact for more information about purchasing the foreclosed property. This is one of the few websites where you get access to contact information for absolutely free - making this site one of the best out there.

WatchForeclosure Won’t Try Selling a "Trial Membership"

Another great website that offers foreclosure listings that are truly free is WatchForeclosure. This website offers a very simple free foreclosure search where you click on any state on a map of the U.S.

For Maine alone, the search returned 223 properties throughout the entire state. Most listings are very current, and when you click on the property link you typically get a great picture, property details and the contact information for an agent to contact.

You’ll notice that you get access to property detail and contact information for absolutely free - no email required and no trial membership that traps you into a long-term commitment.

REO Source for Bank Owned Properties

Another great website for finding foreclosed properties is REOSource. REO stands for "Real Estate Owned," and it means properties that are now owned by the bank. Some of these may be going through foreclosure, but many didn’t sell at auction and are simply being held by the bank until they can find a seller. You could sift through the lists of national banks one at a time, or you can use the REOSource search engine.

This search engine turned up only thirteen properties for Maine, but each listing was fairly current and had complete contact details for the agent in charge of the property.

Foreclosure Searches - Try the Do it Yourself Approach

The best way to find the most comprehensive listings is to go through individual national bank websites and search their REO listings for your state. You can find a fairly good list of bank REO websites at Mortgage News Daily, or you can use the public records section of OnlineSearches to search through foreclosure and tax lien sale records offered for free from your state government.

Just click on your state to search any free public records for any properties in your area that have a tax lien on it. In most cases, you’ll find those properties are already in foreclosure, or at least pre-foreclosure.

Whatever you do, never sign up for the trial offers that major real estate companies put up as an obstacle to find foreclosed homes. It’s in the best interest of retail real estate to keep these low-cost foreclosed properties difficult to access, because cheap homes bring down overall real estate prices. What they don’t want you to know is that through the type of resources listed in this article, you can find all of those same properties, with just a little bit of extra work, for absolutely free.

Have you ever purchased a foreclosed home? Did you use any online tools to find it? Share your own experiences in the comments section below.

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets, cool PDF guides and more @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Windows/Mac/Linux: Streaming your iTunes collection doesn't sound like an easy task, but PulpTunes makes putting your music library on the web a two-click affair.

When we first showed you how to stream your iTunes collection back in 2005, it was a 10 step process involving an SSH tunnel. Things have gotten rather streamlined since then. During our testing of PulpTunes, total setup time, including downloading the actual software, was under one minute and completely automated. The only thing you need to do for PulpTunes besides running the installation file is opening the default port in your in your firewall to enable remote access.

Once you've opened the port, a visit to http://youripaddress:15000/ will load a screen like the one shown above, populated by your music collection. PulpTunes runs wide open by default, so we'd suggest going into the User Management menu and enabling a username and password. You can access your iTunes playlists on the left hand side, search through your music collection, or drill down through your collection by genre, artist, and album. The buffer adjustment feature is handy, allowing you to tweak the amount of playtime that will be buffered based on your network speed. Not a fan of iTunes? Make sure to check out Sockso, a similar streaming server that works with any music collection. PulpTunes is open source and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Are you looking to get the word out about something near and dear to your heart? Maybe you want to add another facet to your online presence. Ever just dreamed of being a talk show host? If you’ve answered “maybe” to any of those questions, TalkShoe.com is the place for you. TalkShoe.com is a web application and community-driven site that gives you almost all the tools you need to produce your own podcast - FREE. Yeah, that’s my favourite word too.

The only thing I found TalkShoe lacking on was adequate instructions on getting your podcast going. After rolling up my sleeves, whining like a child to my wife, and many glasses of cherry kool-aid, I got it figured out. Now, I’m going to share my new found wisdom with you. There may be other ways, even better ways, to do this but this is the way I did it.

Step 1: Get the Gear

Go and buy yourself a headset that has earphones and an attached boom-style microphone.  I prefer the kind with just one earphone so I can hear the dulcet tones of my sweetie’s voice as she tells me to get off the computer and finish my laundry. Gives me goosebumps.

The headset doesn’t have to be expensive. I bought a $12 pair from Wally World and the sound is good. The podcast sounds as good as any other that I’ve heard.

Step 2: Download and Install a VoIP Client

For the neophyte, VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol.  For the newbies, neophyte means newbie. TalkShoe does have its own VoIP client called TalkShoe Phone, but it doesn’t really work well at all. I went with something called SJPhone from SJLabs. They have clients for Windows, Linux and Mac. I’m a PC, so I’ll stick to that.

You also want to ensure that you have a broadband connection. VoIP requires a minimum of 96kbps upload and download speed. If you aren’t sure whether your connection is capable of supporting a good VoIP connection, head on over to MySpeed’s VoIP Speed Test to check on it.

Setting up SJPhone may seem a little complex, but you only have to do it once. Here’s what worked for me.

Open up SJPhone and click on the Menu button near the bottom of the phone, and click on Options…

In the Options window that opens, first take a look at the Profiles tab. We need to make a new one so, click on the New… button. Yet another window will open.

In the Create New Profile window, you need to type a name for the new profile. Why not type TalkShoe? Then it’s easy to remember what profile you need for calling TalkShoe. Change the Profile Type to Direct SIP Calls. Now, you can click on OK.

When you click on OK, you’ll be back at the Profile Options window. Let’s go into the STUN tab, shall we? Here, we simply want to make sure there is a checkmark in the Use discovered addresses in SIP checkbox. Let’s get out of here by clicking OK.

Now we are looking at the Options window again. Make sure that TalkShoe is noted as being in use.

Why was all that convoluted stuff necessary? Well, it makes SJPhone play nicely with TalkShoe. Since TalkShoe’s built in VoIP phone doesn’t work well, this is the necessary work around. There are other workarounds, but this is the one I’m familiar with.

Now that that hurdle is hurdled, we can move on.

Step 3: Go Sign Up at TalkShoe

Signing up for an account at TalkShoe is very straight forward. Once you are on the TalkShoe website, click on the button near the top-left corner that reads Sign-Up.

You’ll be required to enter your information in a form like this one:

A few notes here - the Phone/PIN number is to help you identify yourself automatically to the system when you call in. If you are going to be using a VoIP client, like I am in this tutorial, just use your home phone number. Oh, and that’s obviously not my real PIN number.

Click on Create User and you are on your way to your podcast.

Step 3: Create the Test Podcast

I suggest setting up a Test Podcast that isn’t listed publicly, so that you can work out the kinks before going live. Simply click on the Create button near the top-left of the screen.

You’ll go to a new page, where you should click on the Or Create a new Call Series… link.

Once you do that, you’ll see this:

I suggest that you use the word TEST somewhere in the title. That will help you later, if you have to manage more than one podcast. Change the Type to Unlisted - doing so prevents people from popping into your podcast test. Change the Recording option to Automatic. What that does is set up TalkShoe to start recording your podcast as soon as you start it. This is important because you want to be able to play it back to yourself later to review your own show.

Go ahead and click on the Start Now button. It’s a bit misnamed as it really doesn’t start the show right now. Instead it brings you to a new page. On the new page, you’ll see a green box near the middle of the screen like this one:

Doing this opens up a new window that looks like a chat client. The reason it looks like a chat client is, well, because it is! Hang on, because this is where things get a little tricky….

Step 4: Calling In to Your Show

In the chat client, near the bottom, you’ll see some different numbers. The one we’re concerned with is the Enter Call ID.

Go ahead and open up SJPhone. Now the next part is REALLY important. You want to enter the following as the number to call:

7463#CALL_ID#PIN#@proxy.ideasip.com

CALL_ID is the number of your show. Let’s say it is 53082. PIN is your pin number that you chose when you signed up. Let’s say it is 123456789. So you would enter the string 7463#53082#123456789#@proxy.ideasip.com. Why does that work? I don’t know, honestly, it just does.

Now click on the blue telephone icon to make the call. If it is working you should get a confirmation message that you are connected. Start talking!!!

While you are talking away on your test show, play around with some of the controls in the chat client. Get to know how they work. Now is the time to do it when no one else can hear you mess up. It seems like a lot of work to set this up, but it really isn’t much more than a half an hour. Plus once it’s done, it is done. You shouldn’t have to monkey with it anymore.

If you are still having difficulties calling into your show and getting your VoIP working, I suggest heading over to TalkShoe’s show, Get TalkShoe working, do you need HELP? They’re very helpful.

Be sure to also check out other MakeUseOf articles regarding podcasts:

• Easily Create & Manage a Podcast Blog with Podcast Generator


• 7 More Fantastic Podcasts for Geeks


• From Wordpress to iTunes: How To Podcast With Wordpress


• Top 5 Podcast Directories you Should See

Do you have a show on TalkShoe or a podcast? What do you use to create your podcast? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

New on Twitter ? Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. You won’t regret it!

• Make Use Of Podcast #45: How to Podcast pt. II (8)


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At one point in time, you could only find very basic travel guide books and most of them covered a wide area. These days, there are more guidebooks available than ever before and they have become increasingly specialized, focusing on cities, neighborhoods, interests and even food. This is great for travelers streamline a trip and see what they want to see. The Patisseries of Paris: Chocolatiers, Tea Salons, Ice Cream Parlors, and more is essentially this type of guidebook. In a city that is known for having some of the most impressive sweets and pastries in the world, this book is intended to help you navigate through the city and pick out the very best ones.

The book is divided up by neighborhoods, or Arrondisements. You’ll probably notice that some have quite a few more listings than others, and these neighborhoods tend to be the older ones towards the center of the city. Fortunately, this is also the area where a lot of attractions are, like the Louvre and Notre Dame, so if you’re traveling and staying elsewhere in the city, you’ll almost definitely be right nearby most of the listings in the book at some point or another. The listings are little reviews of what makes the shops grea, listing their specialties and some historical information about the patisseries - which is particularly nice for the older shops. There is also practical information, like the address and operating days/hours of the shops.

With guide books, it’s really hard to find out how reliable they are if you haven’t been to a city yourself to compare. The Girl Who Ate Everything actually did a three part comparison on her blog of the shops, as she visited them, to the lsitings in the book! The book actually did quite an accurate job, from the sound of it, but it’s great to see TGWAE’s personal photos of all the sweets mentioned in the guide. Check out Paris Patisseries Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 for the comparisons.

Using a oscilloscope for your projects is often an expensive endeavor. At the low end you are talking several hundred bucks at least—but this DIY version fits in your pocket and only costs $33.

Features:

•Max sample rate - 2M/s，8 bits
•Sample memory depth - 256 bytes
•Analog bandwidth - 1MHz
•Vertical sensitivity - 100mV/Div - 5V/Div
•Vertical position adjustable with indicator
•Input impedance - 1MΩ
•Max input voltage - 50Vpp
•DC/AC coupling
•Horizontal - 5μs/Div - 10m(minute)/Div
•Auto, normal and single trig modes
•Rising/falling edge trigger
•Trig level adjustable with indicator
•Hold/run feature
•Built-in 500Hz/5Vpp test signal
•Frequency counter features with independant F and T read-outs (only for TTL level input signal)
•9 - 12V DC or AC power supply
•Dimension: 110mm X 65mm X 25mm (no case)
•Weight: 70 gram
•With Panels

The "Digital Storage Oscilloscope" may not be as fully featured as traditional models, but you definitely get a lot for your money. Plus, it's open source so you can include the firmware in your tinkering. The oscilloscope comes in a kit version for the aforementioned $33, as well as a pre-built version for only $49. [Seedstudio via Retro Thing via Wired Gadget Lab]

So how do you find codeshares? First, find your desired flight number and punch it into a flight tracking service like Flight Stats. Look for a section breaking out specific codeshares and the flight numbers associated with the other airlines. Then, go to each airline listed and search for the codeshared flight number to compare the price. Once you've found the lowest fare, book it and start packing!

Sometimes your vacations are elaborate, months-long planned excursions. Other times, you just want to get out of Dodge as cheap and quick as possible. Voyij can help with the latter.

Tell Yoyij where you want to leave from and give it a rough time frame to work with. You can also search destinations and departure dates in a truly wide-open style if you're adventurous, or narrow it with parameters like "next weekend" or "June". Once Voyij has the basics, it searches for the best prices for airfare, hotel accommodations, and vacation package deals and brings them back. From there, you can refine the deal search and your whimsical mini-vacation with various filters, as seen in the screenshot above.

If you need more control than Voyij offers, make sure to check out the Hive Five on best travel search engines. Would you use an open-ended search (and a bit of luck) to plan your next vacation? Sound off in the comments below with your desires for adventure or horror at the lack of structured planning.

The reason for the popularity of the march has to do with Elgar's ability to invent melodies that convey a complex of emotions. The tune manages to sound triumphant, but with an underlying quality of nostalgia, making it perfectly suited to a commencement that marks the beginning of one stage of life, but the end of another.

Web site and Adobe AIR application TiltShift gives your photos a tilt-shift photography effect that normally requires expensive special lenses or Photoshop chops.

We've actually featured a similar service once before, but TiltShift is a much better tool, offering more advanced features and more control. As Jason pointed out last time we talked about tilt-shift photography: "Tilt-shift lenses start at $1200'ish and only rise in cost from there. Most people won't be running out to buy a lens that expensive for a little hobbyist fun." So true. Moreover, tilt-shift photography isn't exclusively used for the miniature effect; you can transform photographs of any kind with TiltShift and get amazing results.

TiltShift works either on its web page (where it's Flash-based), or you can download TiltShift for free as an Adobe AIR application (meaning it'll run on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux).

Using a oscilloscope for your projects is often an expensive endeavor. At the low end you are talking several hundred bucks at least—but this DIY version fits in your pocket and only costs $33.

Features:

•Max sample rate - 2M/s，8 bits
•Sample memory depth - 256 bytes
•Analog bandwidth - 1MHz
•Vertical sensitivity - 100mV/Div - 5V/Div
•Vertical position adjustable with indicator
•Input impedance - 1MΩ
•Max input voltage - 50Vpp
•DC/AC coupling
•Horizontal - 5μs/Div - 10m(minute)/Div
•Auto, normal and single trig modes
•Rising/falling edge trigger
•Trig level adjustable with indicator
•Hold/run feature
•Built-in 500Hz/5Vpp test signal
•Frequency counter features with independant F and T read-outs (only for TTL level input signal)
•9 - 12V DC or AC power supply
•Dimension: 110mm X 65mm X 25mm (no case)
•Weight: 70 gram
•With Panels

The "Digital Storage Oscilloscope" may not be as fully featured as traditional models, but you definitely get a lot for your money. Plus, it's open source so you can include the firmware in your tinkering. The oscilloscope comes in a kit version for the aforementioned $33, as well as a pre-built version for only $49. [Seedstudio via Retro Thing via Wired Gadget Lab]

At MakeUseOf  (MUO as those in the know call it) I’m pretty much the resident conspiracy theorist. So, in a loose way, I am uniquely qualified to bring to you the Top 10 Conspiracy Web Sites.

Let’s put on our tin foil or armadillo hats an take a stroll down manic-depressive lane shall we?

10. The Unhived Mind

This is one of those sites that suffers from poor design, yet still seems to be immensely popular.  The strength of this site is in the breadth of topics covered in it’s forums. Now, forums aren’t usually the bastion of intelligent debate and this site is no different. Some good ideas and views are presented, but the conversation usually devolves into something that would make a 4Chan’er blush. There also seems to be a leaning on this site against the Catholic Church and more specifically, the Jesuit order. The Unhived Mind also seems to advocate esoteric or downright gross health care messures (urine drinking anyone?). With the focus on the forums and the lack of organization, the Unhived Mind becomes more like the Unhinged Mind.

9. Freemasonry Watch

Although the layout and organization isn’t very good, this site has been around as long as I can remember and archives all things, and anything, remotely related to Freemasonry. There is the odd grain of truth on this site from what I understand, but for the greatest part, it presents a lot of very loosely related items and tries to push the Freemasons as the underpinnings of the Illuminati or New World Order and just about any illegal or immoral event that ever happened.

8. Illuminati Conspiracy Archive

One of the trademarks of a lot of conspiracy sites is really poor web design. Is this the sign of a cluttered mind or just ignorance about the importance of how information is presented to how well it is received? The Illuminati Conspiracy Archive (ICA) has a very nice, almost academic design, with well-organized information. There are no real rants here, thank goodness, which leads to the site having greater credibility. The usual fare is here: Bilderbergers, Trilateral Commission, and of course, Freemasonry.

The ICA also has a bibliography of sorts, that is really an Amazon affiliate store. That’s fine, gotta pay the bills somehow right?

7. Godlike Productions

Another forum-based conspiracy site. The focus here is on UFO’s and aliens, but they branch out into the Illuminati and NWO and Bilderberger type stuff as well. Although, most of the discussions just end up leading back to the cause behind anything being UFO’s and aliens. Godlike Productions is probably best known for it’s interview with an alleged former-Illuminati Grand Master, Leo Lyon Zagami, who spills the beans - sort of.

6. Third Eye Concept

Third Eye Concept really has it all - ancient mysteries, government cover-ups, and all the Illuminati stuff. It’s easy-to-use layout features articles, a movie room, music and even some good old fashioned conspiracy humour in the form of those demotivational posters. The topics are serious, but there is a light-hearted tone to it all which makes the gloom-and-doom a little more palatable.

5. Above Top Secret

Probably the most popular site on the Internet for all things conspiracy-like. The focus here is mostly on UFO related stories and ‘evidence’. The stories aren’t always terribly well researched or written as a lot of them are reader-submitted, but the layout is easy to use and read. It’s definitely worth a look.

4. TinWIKI

TinWIKI helps explain the basics behind the terms of different conspiracy theories. You see, conspiracy theorists often have their own sort of jargon.

You know some of the slang probably. Words like Area 51 or Grays or NWO have been bandied about in the X-Files and other such shows, but how about Reptiloids or The Third Rank? Get the low down at TinWIKI. Become an educated lunatic fringer.

3. DavidIcke

Footballer, sportscaster turned philosopher/conspiracy theorist, David Icke has published several books and had several very successful speaking tours, including such hallowed halls of learning as the University of Toronto and Oxford University. Just a tip - his last name is pronounced like Ike, not Icky.

His philosophy, as far distilled as I can make it, is that the world is run by alien/reptilian overlords, who are responsible for every government or religious organization and that they seek to make us their slaves and/or food.

His defense suggestion? Just say no and start loving your neighbour as you love yourself. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a pretty good way to live in general and would take care of a lot of the ails of this world. But I’m thinking if a big alien lizard is pointing his phaser at me, I can love all I want but I’ll end up scrubbing his toilets and becoming

hors d’œuvres anyway.

2. ConspiracyRealityTV

If you’re like me (and if you’ve read this far, you probably are) you get tired of reading all the time and just want to kick back with a good documentary. Paranoia takes so much time to develop from words, but pictures speed up that process exponentially. ConspiracyRealityTV has a list of hundreds of videos relating to all the major conspiracies and they are all free. Really, who wants to pay for paranoia? Oh yeah, crack and smack heads.

1. Infowars

Internet headquarters for radio host and documentary maker Alex Jones, Infowars is a gateway  into the Alex Jones media empire. Maybe empire is a little optimistic, but he reaches hundreds of thousands every day and has had some extremely popular Internet videos. There are news articles every day, two podcasts (one by Alex Jones, the other by protege Jason Bermas), forums, and special reports. Alex Jones is the undisputed king of conspiracy. But here’s the catch. Mr. Jones doesn’t talk about aliens, Elvis, or spontaneous combustion, or anything else that he can not support! Alex Jones predicted an attack on New York involving Osama bin Laden two months before 9/11 happened.

A lot of his stories seem to have hard facts behind them and he has the paper trail to back his opinions up. He frequently has congressmen, economists and other legitimate movers and shakers on his show to talk about the conspiracies that Alex uncovers. Yes, everything there requires a grain of salt as all media does, but the grain is much smaller than what you would require for say, The Unhived Mind, or even Fox News for that matter.

That’s my Top 10 Conspiracy Web Sites list. How do you get your paranoia on? What’s your favourite conspiracy? Let’s talk about it in the comments, but no real names please. They’re watching….always watching…….

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets, cool PDF guides and more @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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sharongellyroo posted a video:

So you go all the way up in the cable car, then WHEEEEE! down you go again!

The other day at the ices stand (think snocone, Hawaiian shave ice, etc.), my seven-year-old popped a wiggly when they handed him his treat in a plastic cup instead of a paper one. Proving why you should never let a first grader do your taxes, he refused the already used plastic one on environmental grounds and walked away happy only when we poured the sugary concoction into a second (readily biodegradable) cup.

For him, plastic is a huge, huge problem.

In the New York Times today, I finally caught up with the apparent phenomenon of The Story of Stuff, a 20-minute take on the perils of consumer culture that has been making the round of American classrooms. Some call it an educational breakthrough, some an unfair takedown of capitalism, and I'm betting many economists will say its reasoning is flawed.

But since the next generation's watching The Story of Stuff at school, I'm thinking we might out to watch it together on the blog. I'll reach out to a couple of economists about it, to get their view. The full video's after the jump.

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Author/minor celebrity/hobothusiast John Hodgman is a man of many talents. He’s an author, actor, and even Resident Expert on The Daily Show. I’ll admit, I’m kind of a fan. Today I’d like to share Hodgman’s essay Hodgmina from 2003, about his then-just-born daughter. “Hodgmina” is of course a pseudonym he uses to protect her true identity; Hodgman explains: “I would like her to have some semblance of a childhood before she inevitably becomes a famous public personality like her father; so to protect her privacy, I will refer to my daughter herewith only as ‘Hodgmina.’” Good luck with that, Hodgman. The paparazzi will be all over this kid any day now, if she’s half as tweedy and bookish as you are.

In his “Hodgmina” essay, Hodgman excerpts a fictitious parenting book about his precocious daughter. It’s great. Similar material appeared in Hodgman’s The Areas of My Expertise, slightly edited, referenced as Untitled Book About Hodgmina — clearly cribbed from this essay in a desperate attempt to increase his first book’s page count. Here are a few choice bits:

This from the introduction, “Why Children Are Better Than Monkeys”:</b>

Children are better than monkeys for several reasons. One reason is that they are not yammering away in sign language all the time. Before the age of two, many of them do not even know the English language. The other reasons that children are better than monkeys are secret, but you can read about them in my book.

This is from Chapter 47, “Some Children Cannot Walk”:

I have learned that many children who are only four months old have difficulty walking. This makes it nearly impossible to send them on even the simplest errands. For example, I recently asked Hodgmina to go to the pharmacy and get daddy’s special medicine. She replied by jerking her hands around a lot and then farting. I explained that it was OK, the pharmacist knows daddy very well, and if the pharmacist is in the back sleeping on his little army cot again, just go behind the counter and take whatever you need. Then she started to cry. I never could bear a woman’s tears. So I said: fine. I instead wrote a note to the pharmacist, pinned it to Hodgmina’s Gap brand cowboy shirt, and handed her to a passing vagrant who I hoped knew the way.

Read the rest of this charming essay in The Believer. See also: a Powell’s Books interview with Hodgman in which he admits to “forgetting” to write his book on Hodgmina. We’re waiting, Hodgman. Warm up that typewriter, get your Cosby cardigan on, and produce!

Filed under: Utilities, Productivity, Web

Convert PDFs with tables to Excel documents online originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 May 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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