Recently in Tips & Tricks Category

Having grown up in rural southern Illinois, and having seen every season of the incredibly disgusting yet ultimately hilarious show, Trailer Park Boys, I consider myself to be something of an expert on trailer park style. It's only in recent years, though, that trailer parks have started to become almost cool, in a sketchy sort of way.

Hipsters all over the country have embraced things like PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon) and pink flamingos as if to say, "I'm so cool that I've gone all the way around the "cool spectrum" and come out on the other end." In terms of pretentiousness, they're somewhere just above hard-core Mac fanboys and just below people who pronounce "vase" by saying "vahhz".

It recently came to my attention that these hipsters have created a "Trailer Park Lounge" in New York.

Unfortunately, they completely missed the mark. As you can see above, the place is basically a warehouse of tiki bar cast-offs and retro kitsch. With the possible exception of the toilet planter, it really doesn't look much like a trailer park. For that reason, I've decided to put together a true guide to trailer park style, designed for those who strive for a bit of tacky without actually packing up and moving to the park.

Rule #1: That which is inside should be placed outside, and that which is outside should enter the home. To achieve an authentic trailer park look, you must apply this rule to at least one item from the inside and one item from the outside. The most common, of course, would be a couch on the lawn or the patio furniture inside the home. Refer to the pictures below for examples:

According to the Salt Institute, there are nearly 14,000 documented uses for salt. Personally, I was just tickled at the fact that something called the "Salt Institute" actually exists. The idea that it might have compiled a list of over 10,000 ways to use salt was just mind-boggling.

If you want to check out a fairly detailed list, you can visit the Salt Institute's page on consumer uses of salt. Their page was fairly long and the colors made it a little unpleasant to read, though, so I've posted some of the highlights here:


Testing egg freshness - Place the egg in a cup of water to which two teaspoonfuls of salt have been added. A fresh egg sinks; a doubter will float.

Cleaning stained cups - Rubbing with salt will remove stubborn tea or coffee stains from cups.

Reducing eye puffiness - Mix one teaspoon of salt in a pint of hot water and apply pads soaked in the solution on the puffy areas.

Removing dry skin - After bathing and while still wet give yourself a massage with dry salt. It removes dead skin particles and aids the circulation. Note: This is so much better than buying a Ped Egg.

Drip-proofing candles - Soak new candles in a strong salt solution for a few hours, then dry them well. When burned they will not drip.

If you're the stereotypical urban hipster or Abercrombie and Fitch-wearing, live in the suburbs and work in the city kind of guy, heading out to a rural dive bar can be a recipe for disaster. All the same, you might someday find yourself in need of a drink in an unfamiliar country setting, so you should be prepared. Having worked in a small-town bar, I can say with some authority that these tips will help.

Photo Credit: Ardvaark

1. If you pop your collar, you will almost definitely get punched. Unless you're wearing a black leather jacket and riding a Harley (remember that Japanese bikes don't count), there's no excuse. The motorcycle guys don't have an excuse, either, but they're usually scary enough that it doesn't matter.

2. Avoid eye contact with any man who appears to be wearing steel-toed construction boots.

Photo Credit: Sin_Agua

3. Ditto for guys wearing real spurs.

Image by snowriderguy.

When it comes to friends and relationships, real life can often seem like a soap opera. This guide isn't for those situations. This guide is to tell you how to keep your man if you actually find yourself living in a soap opera.

Too Good to Be True. Whenever things seem perfect, shorten the leash. If you stay up all night talking and laughing, follow up with a lunch date to keep your eye on him. If he proposes, lock him up until the wedding. Soap opera women are drawn to happily smitten men like sharks are drawn to blood.

Never leave him alone in a hospital room. In the world of soap operas, hospital lighting and stacked pillows might as well be porn and Viagra. Your man's bound to have plenty of attractive female visitors who find it hard to resist his vulnerability and sickly pallor. The risks of infidelity quadruple if he's there with any kind of rare illness.

The Law of Ballads. Never let yourself be caught in your loved one's presence when an unhappy song is playing nearby. You may think that your relationship can co-exist with Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love". It can't.

Babysitters. Babysitters, as a rule, should be blue-haired old women. If you hire a woman under 60, you are buying both a babysitter and a lover.

Takin' Care of Business. Make sure that your job doesn't require more than 5 hours of work per week. If it does, you will be labeled a workaholic and your man will spend his days frolicking with women who have the sense to work as little as possible. It is acceptable to fund your lifestyle through trysts with much older gentlemen, but this should be done prior to your relationship if at all possible.

Nothing is Certain But Taxes. Don't let your guard down just because someone's dead. Unless you personally cremated the body, she's still competition. Even then, keep an eye out for clones.

It's Not Just a Girl Thing. The more attractive and polite your man is, the likely it is that he'll be tempted by one of the many beefy studs who inevitably live nearby. Keep a watchful eye if your man starts playing a lot of "tennis" with his new friend Skip.

Play to Win. Locate your romantic competition and find her weakness. The more aggressive and tough she is, the greater her past trauma. Exploit it before she gets the chance to tearfully confide in your man. That way, she'll look more like a basket case than a poor princess in need of saving.

If your competition is a man, he is most likely HIV positive, a former male prostitute, or both. By gathering evidence and revealing it at the crucial early stages of your man's new relationship (see above), you can end it before it gets too serious.

The Starving Artist. If you've landed a sensitive and intelligent blue collar man of modest upbringing, know that he will have a secret fetish for wealthy older women. Find a way to fund his secret art/music/travel dreams before she does.

The Kids. You may not think he has them. He may not think he has them. They're out there somewhere, though, and making an effort to get to know them is a great way to show how much you care.

To Catch a Cheater - Sometimes, despite your best efforts, your lover will stray. To catch him in action, try lurking in the shadows (doesn't matter where, really) or hanging out near a foggy local pier. Even if you don't catch your own man, you're bound to catch someone, and blackmail is a better currency than cash itself.

There are hundreds of uses for a simple paperclip. A list of over 100 uses (some realistic and useful, some creepy and ridiculous) can be seen here. Here's 10 interesting ways that someone might actually use a paperclip, other than to hold papers together.

• Lottery Ticket scratcher (Because coins or fingernails are hard to come by.)
• Substitute a lost Monopoly or Clue gamepiece (Who done it? I believe it was Colonel Mustard in the Billiard Room with the Paperclip.)
• Nose weight for paper airplanes (Add some extra zoom to that little guy, champ.)
• Ornament hook (Believe it or not, many ornaments do not come with a hook.)
• Unclog salt and pepper shakers (For those of you who don't love to intake large amounts of sodium, your shakers might actually have a chance to get clogged.)
• Tool to flick crumbs out of the keyboard (Who hasn't eaten while at their desk?)
• Mark pages in a book or catalog (Paperclip the pages with presents you want and "accidentally" leave it on the coffee table.)
• Unclog a bottle of glue (How can you make a construction paper masterpiece if the glue won't come out!?)
• Hair barrette (Since bobby pins or a pack of Goody's are SO expensive.)

When you ask a PC-user about the Windows key on their keyboard, you typically get one of 3 responses:

· Huh?
· What is that thing, anyway?
· Oh yeah, that thing that brings up the Start menu.

What they don’t know is that the Windows key is more than just another pretty key (or parrot chew toy, as seen to the left). We’ve outlined the most useful, relatively unknown functions below.



· Windows + E – Opens Internet Explorer. Although why you’d want to do that, we’re not sure.
· Windows + R – Brings up the Run prompt. If you don’t know what that means, you probably won’t care about this feature.
· Windows + F – This brings up the Search Windows window.
· Windows + D – This takes you straight to the desktop without the need to minimize everything you’re currently working on.
· Windows + M – This minimizes all windows currently open. Yes, the effect is the same – you’re back at the desktop.
· Windows + F1 – This brings up the Help feature.
· Windows + Pause/Break button – If you want to know what you’re working with, this is the easiest way to find out.
· Windows + L – This will log you off of Windows so that you can sign into a different user name.

If you’re like most people, you’ve scratched a CD or DVD on more than one occasion. CDs and DVDs have a lot of great qualities, but sturdiness isn’t one of them. Since Vat19 creates and sells a number of curiously awesome DVDs, we thought it only right that we share a few techniques that can bring damaged disks back to playable condition.

The Easy Stuff:

• Know Your Problem: First, make sure that the disk is the problem. This might seem obvious, but it’s easier to check now and save a little time. If your CD or DVD player functions perfectly for everything else, or if the disk acts up in other machines, you’ll know it’s the source of the problem.
• Clean It: Try wiping the disk with a soft cloth. Something like you’d use for eyeglasses would be perfect, as coarse fabric or paper could cause further damage. Most electronics stores also carry products for this purpose. When you’re wiping off the disk, be sure to move in straight lines from the inside to the outside of the disk. Circular motion is not recommended. For a more thorough cleaning, you can purchase professionally manufactured cleaning sprays.

The MacGuyver Stuff:

• Deep Cleaning: Even though rubbing alcohol is corrosive, plenty of people swear by it. If the problem with the disk is minor, we’d definitely recommend making a backup copy of the disk before you try this technique (or the next few, for that matter). In a pinch, many people have successfully used perfume, also.
• Fill in the Scratches: There are a number of common household items that have been known to fill in scratches on CDs and DVDs. Pledge and car wax are probably the most common. Just rub a bit over the affected surface (again, try to stick to rubbing in straight lines) and make sure you clean off all of the excess before attempting to use the disk.
• Rub It Out: This method involves removing the top layer of the CD’s surface where the scratch is found. On your own, you can do this by using plain white toothpaste. For more uniform results across the entire surface of the DVD, you can usually convince a helpful librarian or video store clerk to use their disk repair machine. The downside there is that they may charge a small fee (and no minty freshness).

If you’re interested in taking up a dangerous hobby, you don’t need to start base-jumping or alligator wrestling; you could take up age guessing. Few people, especially women, like to be reminded of the physical manifestations of passing years, decreased attractiveness, and ultimately, impending death. Imagine that.

All the same, if you’re going to do it, you should do it well (and subtract 5 years before giving your answer out loud). Here are a few tips you can use to improve your age-guessing skills.

Photo taken from this tutorial

Physical Cues:

· Hands – This is usually an easy giveaway for female age. Most women are fairly diligent about the use of anti-aging creams for their face, and skillfully-applied makeup can downplay a lot of facial cues. It’s rare to see a woman who has been so careful about her hands.

Ever since we started selling the Dreamcheeky USB Missile Launcher and USB Circus Cannon, the questions have been pouring in. Do you have to use Windows? Can I modify it? Can I use it to blow up my mother-in-law? We're not kidding about that last one, either.

Since it happens so often, we've decided to create a brief list of the resources that we've come across. While we can't guarantee that everything on this list works, it's a good place to get started. As far as we can tell, the Cannon and the Missile Launcher are both compatible with all of the following softwares.

SharpLauncher - This one's an open-source Windows program that offers a number of super-cool features for both the Cannon and the Missile Launcher. The following is just a brief summary:

• Adds the ability to fire while moving.


• Slow motion launcher movement


• Ability to control multiple launchers


• Webcam integration, including the ability to take candid shots immediately after firing

USB Missile Launcher NZ - If you're a Mac user hoping to use one of the launchers, this site has the download you'll need. What's more, it even includes a lot of the webcam and firing options mentioned above in the Windows software. The site's a little harder to browse, but the files are located on the left sidebar under the "Download" heading.

The Launcher Library - If you're a Linux user, the outlook isn't quite as bright. The Launcher Library has gathered information to get someone started in the right direction, but there's not quick and easy download (that we're aware of).

Control the Launcher with a Joystick - If you're a little more technically-inclined, you could also check out this brief tutorial on how to control your launcher's movement with a joystick.

Unless you're a total hermit, you will eventually be faced with a friend or co-worker who is suffering from an embarrassing problem. Depending on your relationship with the person, it may be difficult to broach the subject. We've come up with a complete guide for identifying, assessing, and dealing with the majority of embarrassing situations that you might encounter.

Step One: Problem Identification & Assessment:

Most people are embarrassed easily, but what might be embarrassing to one person may be just a typical day for another (body odor comes to mind). For that reason, we’ve come up with a pretty standard list of “issues”, along with a general scale of how embarrassing most people consider them.

1. Minor Inconveniences – Toilet paper on shoe, tag sticking out, hair out of place
2. Unpleasant – Bra strap showing, visible panty line (the VPL), deodorant marks on clothing, food on shirt
3. Cringeworthy – Food in teeth, food on face, too much perfume or cologne, “nose goblins”, LOTS of food on shirt
4. Nothing a Sick Day or Two Can’t Cure – Crack “issues”, Body Odor, Zipper Undone
5. Worth Getting a New Job, Address, and Identity – Zipper undone while going commando, curious “stains” (diet pills, anyone?)

Before taking action, you’ll want to consider a few things. First, how embarrassing is the problem? What are the consequences of NOT telling the person? Will they walk into a huge meeting with unmentionable body parts on display? Is he or she out for the evening, approaching members of the opposite sex with a grill full of spinach?

Beyond that, think about what the person in question could do to fix the problem. If the answer is “nothing”, you may want to just let it go. There’s no sense in ruining someone’s day over something they can’t change.

Finally, look out for yourself. Will the person be mad if you mention the problem? If you don’t mention it, will they know that you knew and be angry with you?

Step Two: Confrontation

Obviously, shouting, “Hey Ignatius, didn’t anybody ever tell you that crack kills?” across your office isn’t the most delicate way to handle an embarrassing situation. If your target isn’t already alone, try to figure out a way to get them alone, or at the very least, whisper. Remember, we are trying to minimize embarrassment here, not make everyone in the general area aware of the problem.

If you’re dealing with a member of the opposite sex, take a moment to decide whether or not you’re the right person to inform them of the issue. It’s very different for a man to point out a woman’s visible panty line than for a female to do so. If nothing else, it lets that person know that you were glancing in that general area, which may not be the best message to send. We recommend that you hand the job off to someone more appropriate if it deals with a problem above the knees and below the shoulders.

When you let the target know about the problem, try to be helpful. Say things like, “I just thought you’d rather know,” “Here’s a tissue,” or “I’ll stand in front and block while you zip/adjust/etc.” If you do everything tastefully and with sensitivity, you could find yourself with a long-time ally.

Of course, if you’re dealing with unfastened zippers and/or “crack issues”, we wholeheartedly endorse the use of the Airzooka Air Cannon. We’re mean like that.