Laundryhack v2: The Perfect T-Shirt Folding Machine

Looking back through the archives, Kelly made a great post on how to fold t-shirts both quickly and consistently. I'd like to re-introduce the method. With a small update: slacker edition v2.0.

All-Tribes.com posted a great video a while back (in January of 2006) on how to easily create a machine to fold your shirts for you! Out of cardboard, even!

So, in sum, all you need for this project is some cardboard, a ruler, a writing utensil, scissors or a knife, some tape, and a past history of folding frustration. Get at it!

Oh, and does anyone remember which Mario Bros. video game the music in the video is from?

Study Music: Groove Salad

For those of us not as lucky to get a Reading Week like Rosario described, it's mission critical for cramming. The last thing I want to worry about is what iTunes shuffle brings up.

For extended study sessions, I listen to soma fm's Groove Salad station. Soma fm describes the station as "a nicely chilled plate of ambient beats and grooves." Basically, it's the best study music in the world.

So tune in and keep it on in the background to keep yourself from going crazy.

Linky-links:

• soma fm


• Groove Salad (direct link, will open your default music player)

Traveling by Car: Readme.txt

Here at Yale, Reading Week is upon us. It's a week of no classes, partying, studying, and, for some, even quick roadtrips before Finals Week.

If you haven't read about it already, the body of missing CNET editor James Kim has been located. After autopsy, it was determined that Kim died of hypothermia. He had left his family's stranded car, looking for help.

So, if you plan on taking a quick roadtrip soon or over the break, let me pull out the inner "mother" inside me and point you all over to a great vehicle survival kit:

- Water - The Red Cross says that tap water that is treated can be stored for six moths, and unopened bottled water for a year.
- LED flashlight - specifically an LED one, so the battery will last forever. Here’s a well-reviewed hand-crank model. This one has a siren and a cell charger, but the charger only works for Nokia phones. If you are at all handy, you could easily strip that connector and stick one for your phone on there.
- Flares - for signaling, obviously, but also to start a fire if nothing else.
- Wire. Anything conductive. If need be I’d strip it out of the car, but it would be nice to have a roll of say, 16-gauge speaker wire.. You can make one hell of an antenna out of that. Climb a tree, attach it to your cell and hope that some tower somewhere at least picks up a ping if not a signal. 100 feet is $20 at Radio Shack.

As that's only a quick list, be sure to click over to see the rest.

Also, on another note, I'd like to introduce you all to to Ridester.com. It's a "feedback-rated roadtrip marketplace". In other words, you can find a ride, and you can offer a ride. But, as always:

Is using Ridester safe?
Ridester provides a feedback system to foster a more dependable community. However, dependability does not equal safety. Safety is YOUR responsibility. Using Ridester involves the same inherent risks as ridesharing via regular rideshare sites. Ridester does not verify users' identities, run background checks, or check drivers' licenses and insurance. Furthermore, Ridester does not endorse traveling with any particular Ridester member. We strongly encourage you to exercise caution and common sense when ridesharing via Ridester or elsewhere.

There's also the Rideshare Directory to look for carpools by state.

And, with gas prices being so crazy, check out GasBuddy.com.

Stay safe this winter!

Wii and PS3: Hide 'N Seek

I know I'm hoping for a Wii this Christmas. If you are, too, send your parents or grandparents or girlfriends or boyfriends or significant others right on over to The Wii Seeker. Give it a zip code, and it'll give you where all the low-priced Wiis are hiding. Sweet!

There's a PS3 Seeker, too --if you're into that kind of thing.

Lifehacker: Finals Prep Roundup

Sometimes others do things much better than us. I know that's hard to imagine, seeing as how we're the greatest, but Lifehacker is on top of their stuff. And we love them for that.

Click through for success: Lifehacker: Finals Prep Roundup

Goo Goo Dolls "Iris" Parody and Duplicates: New Cult Phenomenon?

A few years ago, a (now) friend of mine posted a short video he made parodying the cliche usage of "Iris" in what may now be deemed "emo" moments.

A few months ago, some random guy posted a video response on YouTube to his video which happened to be an exact replication of his video. Word for word. Since then, random people have been making video responses to this video, most of them being exactly the same.

They're pretty easy to make, my friends and I made one the other day and posted it. Will this be the next big phenomenon? Possibly.

Here's the original, you can go to YouTube and follow the trail of response videos if you want to see more:

Digg the Story: Goo Goo Dolls "Iris" Parody/Joke. There is hope left for mankind

Early Exam: Skip Breakfast?

I've always been told to get a good night's rest and to start my day off with a good, balanced breakfast. However, over at Psychology Today, new research may support the idea that an empty stomach might actually enhance short-term learning:

Hunger Feeds the Brain

Cramming for a test? You may want to postpone dinner. Ghrelin, a hunger hormone produced by empty stomachs, enhances learning in the short term, at least in rats. Ghrelin speeds communication in the hippocampus, a brain region associated with spatial memory. The effect may have helped our human ancestors hunt and forage on while famished. So should you fast before strenuous mental activities? It's definitely a strategy worth considering, says Yale University researcher Tamas Horvath.

Hmmmm, I wonder if Ghrelin is a part of my daily vitamin....

Before an Exam: Get a Good Night's Rest

We've all heard this before. Now there's some good evidence to back it up over at Science Daily:

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg have been investigating how memories might be consolidated. Their new study offers the hitherto strongest proof that new information is transferred between the hippocampus, the short term memory area, and the cerebral cortex during sleep.

This states that fresh impressions are first stored as short-term memories in the hippocampus. They are then said to move within hours or a few days - usually during deep sleep - into the cerebral cortex where they enter long-term memory.

What I typically do is, I'll study the night before an exam, "sleep on it" for a few hours, and then cram again the morning of. Now there's science to back me up!

But, hmmm. I wonder why it is, then, that I still have trouble remembering my dreams... Any guesses?