Category: How To

Why ICE (“In Case of Emergency”) is Worthless

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 17, 2013

If you’re like Web Watch, then you too have likely received the parental email thread – typically forwarded from friend after friend, Facebook after Facebook post – that encourages everyone to enter an I.C.E. entry on your cellphone.

You know, IN CASE OF EMERGENCY.

That ICE entry would contain the name, phone number, and other immediately important information about the person/people that emergency responders should contact for you when an emergency or crisis occurs. Web Watch even knows someone who has a complete ICE binder sitting smack on top of their refrigerator, with the names, addresses, and phone numbers of their entire family tree. This makes sense, of course – as everyone knows that the kitchen is the 2nd most dangerous place in the house… after the bathroom.

And who would want to keep an ICE binder in the bathroom?

Tags cell phone, cellphone, gadget, How To, medical, smartphone

10 Things How To

How to Take a Selfie

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 14, 2013

Web Watch learned this week that not everybody knows what the term SELFIE means.

As with many other Internet-related terms that kids use these days, SELFIE is just a shortened version of the real phrase, SELF-PORTRAIT.

That’s cray-cray, right? (because saying “cray cray” is so much easier and faster than saying “crazy”. Silly kids.)

So we’ve all seen those CELEBRITY SELFIE shots, usually leaked out on Twitter or TMZ. Some are good, some are reputation-ruining, and others are just so awful that you have to wonder what was going through the celeb’s mind – not when they took the picture, but when they thought it was good enough to release for the world to see.

Tags 10 Things, duck face, How To, photography, Video

How To

Should you take the stairs or take the elevator?

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 10, 2013

Should you take the elevator, or should you take the stairs?

This is really a first-world problem, but one that many people have to face every day. Sometimes it is just easier to take the elevator than it is to take the stairs, no question.

But “easier” isn’t always the best answer.

Tags elevator, exercise, health

10 Things How To

The Magician’s Code of Ethics

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 5, 2013

The number one rule in magic is “never give away your secrets, never tell them how it’s done.”

While Penn & Teller may disagree with the premise (seeing how they’ve built their entire career off of revealing their own and other magicians’ secrets in their act), the concept is still valid. Half the fun of seeing a high-quality magic act is the suspension of disbelief that the audience can have for those two hours.

Standing on a pole in the middle of a park isn’t “magic” in the traditional sense. There is no hidden trick, no amount of misdirection can alleviate the amount of effort it can take to stand still for hours on end… with or without a supportive device to lean on at times. Not saying that David Blaine used something like that — but Web Watch would if we were forced into doing that type of stunt ourselves.

Tags 10 Things, How To, magic, magicians, Penn & Teller, website

food How To

What would you do for a free meal? (A challenge awaits…)

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 4, 2013

Ever since Robert Heinlein popularized the phrase TANSTAAFL (There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch) in his popular sci-fi novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, people everywhere have been trying to prove otherwise.

Especially in today’s litigious world, with McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuits and empowered/privilege-seeking children who demand a blue ribbon just for showing up at school that day – folks need to learn that eventually karma can come back to bite you.

You may be getting a free meal now, but at what future cost?

Tags dating, food, How To, Party Talk, Relationships

How To Websites

Who is that hot ad girl?

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 3, 2013

So you know how you’re sitting around, watching TV, and you see a commercial come on that has that really hot chick in it?

Doesn’t it make you wonder, sometimes, just who the hell that girl is?

Tags advertising, Blog, commercials, How To, TV

10 Things How To

6 Government Agencies to Avoid Working For

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 1, 2013

Some say that the ideal job is one with the government. Not a lot of oversight, great (or at least reasonable) benefits, retirement is taken care of, relatively stress-free, etc.

In other words, once you have a job with the government, you’re pretty much set.

But there can be a downside to working for the Fed.

Tags 10 Things, career, government, How To, jobs, survey

How To Music

How to Silence Earworms

Post author By web gangsta
Post date March 25, 2013

Web Watch has told you about earworms before, those pesky little pieces of songs that get stuck in your head so you can’t get them out.

Earworms, for the music industry, are good – they prove that there really is such a thing as a song that you’ll never forget.

Tags game, How To, Music, puzzle, science, Scrabble, sudoku