My favorites:

The 10-Year Old Rule. Pretend you had to teach everything in your course to a ten-year old. Could you do it? While advanced theoretical physics might not be comprehensible by a young child, the idea is that you should be able to simplify your subject into easily understandable pictures and metaphors. If you can do this for yourself, it will make your job far easier for remembering later.

Set Daily Study Times. Set periods of time that you will spend studying each day. Once you spend a month reinforcing these learning periods, it will become automatic. Regular studying times prevent the need for cramming and can give you consistency in your schedule. Read the rest of this entry »

1) Lindsay Lohan
There’s a lot to be said for not doing something half-assed. On Memorial Day weekend, LiLo crashed her Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG into a palm tree and left the scene of the accident before police could get there. She was tracked down to a local hospital and arrested for DUI. Two weeks after checking out of rehab, Lohan was still wearing an alcohol-monitoring bracelet when she chased down an assistant who had quit and was having her mother pick her up. Lohan tailed the pair to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, where police arrested the fire-crotched starlet for her second DUI after she blew breathalyzer results of 0.12 and 0.13. She was transported to the L.A. county lockup, where a pat-down search turned up cocaine in her pants pocket. On November 15, Lohan checked herself into jail at the Los Angeles women’s detention center and was back on the street in a little over an hour — the kind of slap-on-the-wrist justice that lets dangerous actresses back out on the street, where they’re free to prey upon the public with bubblegum movies and assembly-line Top 40 hits.
2) Kiefer Sutherland
Given his reputation, it wasn’t that big of a shock when Kiefer Sutherland was arrested on suspicion of DUI after making an illegal U-turn and failing a sobriety test. After all, he’s been cracked for the same offense three previous times over the past eighteen years. Serving a 48-day sentence for his September 25th arrest, Sutherland isn’t being given the revolving-door treatment afforded to certain hotel heiresses and Disney-flick princesses, instead performing compulsory kitchen and laundry duty while in jail. Fortunately for fans of 24, Sutherland’s sentence was shuffled around to coincide with a break in filming of the popular show, which centers entirely on Kiefer Sutherland. We have to agree with the wags at celebrity gossip site Hecklerspray that the producers could have simply invited Elisha Cuthbert back to run around in slow-motion, bra-less distress, but that would have only worked for 16 or 17 hours of the day-long show, tops. Twenty in high-def. Read the rest of this entry »

1. ENGINE COOLANT AND ANTIFREEZE
How Often: Check twice yearly, once before summer and again before winter; change if coolant has brown tint or rust bits.
Pay Now: Free to check; up to $5 to top off with correct mix of water and coolant or antifreeze. If you don’t use the right coolant for your car, you could damage your engine.
Or Pay Later: Without coolant, you can damage the water pump ($50 to $100) and possibly your engine.

2. OIL
How Often: Check monthly; change every 3,000 to 6,000 miles
Pay Now: Free to check; $20 to change yourself (oil, disposal fees); $20 to $40 at a shop.
Or Pay Later: Not changing the oil can void your warranty. Increased wear will shorten the engine’s life span. Rebuilt engines cost $1,000 to $3,000, plus labor, depending on the car. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Tackle tomatoes quickly
One or two tomatoes aren’t hard to handle, but working with a bunch can quickly turn frustrating. If you need to remove seeds and have a salad spinner handy, chop your tomatoes up whole and give them a few spins—most of the seeds are now separated. If you need to peel a lot of them, a drop in boiling water for 15-30 seconds makes it easy to yank skins with your hands, but if you only have a few, simply hold them over a gas or electric stove burner with tongs or a fork until the skin just blisters.
2. Get ahead with prep containers
Many recipes call for adding a number of liquids, solids or both at once, or in a few phases. If you’ve planned out a few dinners for the week, or if you have a little time before the cooking starts, pre-assembling these mixes—having what the French call mise en place can be a huge time saver. You don’t have to buy small dishes that end up getting washed—one Cook’s Illustrated reader uses leftover cough-syrup cups (after washing, of course), while others suggest a muffin tin tray, used yogurt cups, coffee filters and other containers. Read the rest of this entry »

Method #1: Quit While You’re Ahead

So you’ve had great flow working on a project. You sit back for a moment and think, “Hey, this is going great! I wish I always felt this engaged and sharp!”

Time to quit.

One maxim often repeated by writing teachers is to leave your last sentence unfinished at the end of the day so you have a logical place to continue next time. The same holds true for any creative work. (…) Read the rest of this entry »

Democrats

2004 - John Kerry* (38%) John Edwards (32%), Howard Dean (18%), Richard Gephardt (11%) and Dennis Kucinich (1%)

2000 - Al Gore* (63%) Bill Bradley (37%)

1996 - Bill Clinton* (unopposed)

1992 - Tom Harkin (76%) Paul Tsongas (4%), Bill Clinton* (3%), Bob Kerrey (2%) and Jerry Brown (2%)

1988 - Dick Gephardt (31%) Paul Simon (27%), Michael Dukakis* (22%) and Bruce Babbitt (6%)

1984 - Walter Mondale* (49%) Gary Hart (17%), George McGovern (10%), Alan Cranston (7%), John Glenn (4%), Rueben Askew (3%) and Jesse Jackson (2%)

1980 - Jimmy Carter (59%) Ted Kennedy (31%) Read the rest of this entry »

1. It helps you learn from your mistakes.
If we don’t reflect on our mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them. And that’s not very smart. However, if we reflect on those mistakes, figure out what went wrong, see how we can prevent them in the future, we can use our mistakes to get better. Mistakes, then, are a valuable learning tool, instead of something to feel embarrassed or upset about. Reflection is an important way to do that.
2. It gives you great ideas.
Like I said, every single post idea that I have for Zen Habits (or other blogs I write for) comes from reflection. Basically, I reflect on things that I’m doing or that are going on in my life. If things aren’t going well, I learn stuff I can share with others. If I reflect on something that’s a success for me, I think about how I got that success, and share that too. I’ve had hundreds of great ideas this year from reflection. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Web Design from Scratch - Your Complete Guide to Web Design.
2. Learn to Crochet - From the Lion Brand yarn company.
3. Learn to Draw Portraits - I couldn’t draw my way out of a paper bag. I still can’t after watching this. Maybe you’ll have better luck.
4. Bartending 101 - The American Bartending Association is offering a free instructional DVD.
5. HomeDecorating.com - Lists simple tutorials on how to hang wallpaper, decorating within your budget, color misconceptions, laying tile and more.
6. Learn Spanish - Online courses, quizzes, games and more.
7. Learn to Juggle - Might be fun.
8. Learn to Waltz - A nice way to spend a romantic evening at home.
9. Learn how to script Microsoft Windows.
10. Learn to Play Craps - I still don’t get it. Read the rest of this entry »