Pictures, stories, and the occasional video documenting horrible roommates. Hysterical. Take this entry for example:
Dear Roommate,
When I said I would split groceries with you, I didn’t think it would include the box of condoms. Not only that, you put your initials on 6 of em. What the fuck is that all about. At least be happy one of us in the house is getting laid you cheap f*ck.
Here is a cool little blog that boasts tips and tricks for “getting things done.” Actually, there is nothing little about this blog at all, it’s one of the most visited on the net.
Take a look at this excerpt from an article I found particularly helpful called Tackle Your Debt with Micropayments:
In short, pay what you can afford, and then scrape together whatever else you can during the month and send in multiple, smaller payments… Believe it or not, [a friend] got to the point where he was sending Citibank an extra $5 each and every day via online billpay. By making a game out of finding an extra $5/day, he managed to stay motivated and slay the debt beast well ahead of schedule.
That is the gist of what they do over at Life Hacker. A lot of the advice is tech/computer oriented, but there is some other good stuff like how to organize your laundry system so that you don’t have clothes all over you floor.
For all you Psych majors out there, here is a really good read (and another Rudius Media author).
Shrink Talk is written by a therapist named Dr. Rob, and he discusses pretty much every aspect of therapy you can possibly imagine. He’s got some great stories about patients, some advice for aspiring psychologists, anecdotes about the field, Q&A sessions, and more.
Maybe I just like it because I’m a Psych major myself, but he really presents the material well. This isn’t like reading a textbook on abnormal psych, and it’s not like reading the blog of some funny dude that happens to work in mental health. He discusses real issues and gives real, solid information, but it never comes across as stuffy or uptight. Some of the stories will really entertain you.
Like I said, it’s a great read, especially for Psych majors. Check it out.
This is awesome! I heard about this story a long time ago and forgot about it until just now when I stumbled upon the official website/blog.
The basic story is that this guy started with a single red paperclip. His goal was to keep trading it for better and better things until he eventually acquired “a house, or an island, or a house in the islands.” The crazy thing is that he actually did it. It only took him 14 trades too. Ridiculous.
Click the link above and then click one of the items pictured below the title. Clicking each item will give you the story of how he traded for it. Not so much great writing here, just a ridiculously awesome story. Like so many other great ideas, you only think of it once someone else does it. Damnit.
I have always been a huge David Blaine fan, and have always persisted that he is a million times better than Criss Angel in every way.
Not too long ago, Blaine tried to break the world record for holding one’s breath under water and failed. To be fair, he sat submerged in a tank for several days before the stunt, and he missed the mark by about two minutes. Of course, after spending days under water, there were some unforeseen effects on his system and he went unconscious.
This time, he did things a little differently, and was able to pull off the stunt. David Blaine is now the official record holder for holding breath under water with a time of 17 minutes and 4 seconds. Check out the full article for some interesting details (like how he oxygenated his system prior to attempting the feat). Can’t wait to see if his new resurgence into the popular culture will lead to another magic special.
Here is the personal blog of Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban. I have heard a lot of people talk about this one, but I hesitated to look at it because I figured it would be almost exclusively about basketball and that didn’t particularly appeal to me. While he does talk about the NBA at times, this is definitely a site that non basketball fans (or even non sports fans, for that matter) can get something out of.
Mark Cuban has a lot of interesting things to say; probably because he is an interesting guy. He is a self-made billionaire. He is the owner of an NBA team. He is the chairman of an HD cable network. He is an eccentric personality; always yelling at referees and making fun of NBA officials in the press. He is an extremely clever and intelligent guy, and his blog follows suit.
There are some really good posts about the cable industry, about the internet and how it has evolved, about international business, about basketball, about advertising and the entertainment industry. You name it and he probably knows more about it than most people and has probably made millions of dollars through investing in it.
It’s a lot different than the other blogs I have been linking to, in that you won’t get a ton of humor out of it probably. But it will give you insights into large-scale things that you might not know anything about. I know I enjoy it, maybe some of you will too.
I hope you’re ready to piss your pants.
Here is an article that was passed on to me and that I have since passed on to a few of my friends, but now that I have this outlet I think this is something that everyone needs to see.
Most of you are probably familiar with the Madden NFL Football video games. If not, all you really need to know that in the games, every player in the NFL is assigned point values to their different skills from 1-99. Categories include speed, strength, agility, awareness, tackling, etc. All of these individual ratings combine to give the player an overall rating from 1-99. Obviously, you have your Peyton Manning’s and your Tom Brady’s who are 99 overall. Then you have your aging stars like Ray Lewis or young up and comers like Vernon Davis who are in the low 90s. Then you have solid starters that aren’t necessarily going to wow anyone, like Alex Smith, who are in the 80s. Then you have third stringers in the 70s. Then you have free agents that no one wants, or players who play only special teams that are in the 60s. Then you have Ethan Albright.
For one reason or another, Albright received the lowest overall rating of any player in the NFL in Madden 2007. The link above is his (fictional) letter to John Madden in response this travesty. Enjoy.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “You fail at life”? That’s what this blog is devoted to; people, animals, and random objects that just fail. There isn’t too much I can say about this one; there is no writing to speak of on this site and no reading to be done. All there is is pictures (of people failing) with the word FAIL plastered on top. It’s great. The pictures are funny on their own, but somehow become funnier once you read the FAIL. Some examples:
Everyone has heard of PostSecret by now, probably because of the best-selling books. They collect postcards that people mail in to them, and the idea is for people to anonymously admit their deepest, ugliest secrets. Sometimes they’re happy or uplifting but some of them are incredibly dark. Reading these can be very moving at times, but at others they’ll make you laugh (“The best part of him breaking up with me? Now I don’t have to shave my pubes.”).
I was glad to learn that I don’t have to buy a big hardcover book now every time I want to browse through some of their submissions. It’s all online now (including information on live events they host around the country), and from the looks of it they update the site pretty often with new postcards and emails.
Who knows, maybe you’ll be inspired to send them something.
This one is a little older but definitely still worth mentioning.
Anonymous Lawyer was started by Jeremy Blachman during his second year at Harvard Law School. He began writing blog entries in the voice of a powerful hiring partner at a multi-million dollar law firm. The Anonymous Lawyer character is everything you expect a hotshot lawyer to be; arrogant, soulless, malicious, ambitious, and, more surprisingly, funny.
The site gained such a strong following (particularly with law students and people working in the legal world) that Blachman was offered the opportunity to publish a book based on the blog. The book is all original material with a thorough plotline (although still written in blog-entry form). I just started reading the book a few days ago, and so far I’m really enjoying it (even though I know nothing about law firms and lawyers).
The website itself has slowed down significantly since the book hit shelves, with Blachman’s last post being an apology for what has been somewhat of a hiatus. The archives, however, go back several years and there is a lot of good reading to be done there. Anonymous Lawyer might not be for everyone, but I definitely recommend that you give it a shot.
Read This During Class 