Evernote Openbook: Mike's Public Notebook

Washington Post Neologism Contest - (Supply Alternative Meanings)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:23:32 GMT

Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its
yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternative
meanings for common words.

The winners are:

1. Coffee (n..), the person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.

6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly
answer the door in your nightgown.

7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle (n), olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run
over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash (n..), a rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.

14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when
you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish
men.

The Washington Post's Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.
The winners are:

1. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops
bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little
sign of breaking down in the near future.

2. Foreploy (v): Any misrepresentation about yourself for the
purpose of getting laid.

3. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the
subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

4. Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

5. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and
the person who doesn't get it.

6. Inoculatte ...

250 Things To Do In San Francisco Before You Die

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:45:27 GMT

Dublin

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:13:50 GMT

What's this then??

I've sent you to this link if you have asked me for ideas re Dublin as I'm too lazy to keep typing the same email.

Disclaimers!

Sometimes I have been in no fit state to judge the quality of the establishments listed below.
I have not lived in Dublin since 1988!
When I visit I hate being cheap :)

Hotels

The Merrion is probably the top Dublin hotel at the moment http://www.merrionhotel.com/. It has the advantage of being 5 star and also being right in the heart of where the good restaurants are.

The Four Seasons http://www.fourseasons.com/dublin/ is slightly newer and by all accounts more opulent but it is about 2 miles from the City Centre.

The Conrad is very close to the Merrion and is also very good albeit more modern and American than The Merrion. http://conradhotels1.hilton.com/en/ch/hotels/index.do?ctyhocn=DUBHCCI

If you are on a Corporate belt tightening exercise then Bewleys Hotel is just across from the Four Seasons and is a lovely hotel in a wonderful building but basic. However its likely to be ½ to a 1/3 of the price of the 3 above…http://www.bewleyshotels.com/ballsbridge_hotel_dublin.asp

Restaurants

Fitzers – Moderately Priced, buzzy, nothing special but good.

The Ely Wine Bar - A favourite of mine. Great place for a glass and nibbles. Its also only 100 yards from the Merrion or Conrad.

La Stampa –

Patrick Guilbaud - The top restaurant in London but it would be akin to going to La Gavroche in London.

The Unicorn – Fond memories. Very close to the Merrion and Conrad.

il Posto – Great spot, good buzzy Italian.

An 18-Minute Plan for Managing Your Day

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:54:04 GMT

This is an extract for the time sensitive. Full article here....

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/bregman/2009/07/an-18minute-plan-for-managing.html

STEP 1 (5 Minutes) Set Plan for Day. Before turning on your computer, sit down with a blank piece of paper and decide what will make this day highly successful. What can you realistically accomplish that will further your goals and allow you to leave at the end of the day feeling like you've been productive and successful? Write those things down.

Now, most importantly, take your calendar and schedule those things into time slots, placing the hardest and most important items at the beginning of the day. And by the beginning of the day I mean, if possible, before even checking your email. If your entire list does not fit into your calendar, reprioritize your list. There is tremendous power in deciding when and where you are going to do something.

In their book The Power of Full Engagement, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz describe a study in which a group of women agreed to do a breast self-exam during a period of 30 days. 100% of those who said where and when they were going to do it completed the exam. Only 53% of the others did.

In another study, drug addicts in withdrawal (can you find a more stressed-out population?) agreed to write an essay before 5 p.m. on a certain day. 80% of those who said when and where they would write the essay completed it. None of the others did.

If you want to get something done, decide when and where you're going to do it. Otherwise, take it off your list.

STEP 2 (1 minute every hour) Refocus. Set your watch, phone, or computer to ring every hour. When it rings, take a deep breath, look at your list and ask yourself if you spent your last hour productively. Then look at your calendar and deliberately recommit to how you are going to use the next hour. Manage your day hour by hour. Don't let the hours manage you.

STEP 3 (5 minutes) Review. Shut off your computer and review your day. What worked? Where did you focus? Where did you get distracted? Wh...

How to Troubleshoot a Flaky Internet Connection - Troubleshooting - Lifehacker

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:58:23 GMT

How to Troubleshoot a Flaky Internet Connection

By Gina Trapani,9:00 AM on Wed Jul 22 2009,22,774 views(Edit,to draft,un-top,Slurp)

You're zooming down the information superhighway getting things done when your usually-trusty browser throws up the dreaded "Server not found" message. Argh! Now what?
Roll up your sleeves and get troubleshooting, that's what. When your internet connection goes down or starts acting up, here's what to do.
(First: save this article to your computer's hard drive. It will do you no good out on the internet when you can't get online.)
The best way to resolve ANY computer problem is to use the process of elimination. Narrow down a wide field of possible problems to come up with the right solution. There are two types of connectivity downage: when you can't get to ANY web site or online service at all, and when you can't get to a single specific site or family of sites.
To determine which situation you're in, try getting a response from a few different web sites, including one that most likely is not down, like Google.com, Yahoo.com, or Microsoft.com. At this point command line lovers skip the browser and go straight to ping, a simple tool that sends data packets to a server and receives a response back. Ping a server by typing ping google.com in your Mac's Terminal, Windows command line, or shell. You'll see immediately whether or not you're getting a response. In the screenshot here, Google is responding within 106 milliseconds or so.
(Hit Ctrl+C to stop; otherwise ping keeps pinging.) Try to ping google.com or yahoo.com, as well as a few smaller sites like Lifehacker and whatever site you were trying to reach when things went down. If you can't reach Google, Yahoo, Lifehacker, or any other site, your whole connection is borked.
If ping ain't your cup of tea, you can also use a web browser to reach a few different sites. Just make sure you try more than one browser when you do, just in case a specific browser's settings or add-ons are actually the problem. Ping is the ...