 Students with poor time management skills (or, it must be said, plain old fashioned laziness) may ask for extensions, hand in shoddy work, or come up with all kinds of excuses. But here's a rather nefarious approach that is being promoted on some other websites: intentionally corrupt the Word document so it can't be ... How fast is the Google Chrome browser? Watch and see.  If you’re like me, you (a) have to fly fairly often, and (b) have ridiculously uncooperative Eustacian tubes and can experience significant discomfort/pain/blockage in your ears as a result of (a). On landing, the Valsalva maneuver often works, but this doesn’t do much for the start of the flight when the problem is Continue reading Flying need not be a pain in the ear.  Inspired by posts on ProfHacker and Lifehacker, I decided to hack myself a new office door sign. Moreover, I was determined to produce a working prototype for less than $100. There are several how-to guides out there, but here are some specifics of my pilot project. Step 1: Obtain an old laptop. I Continue reading Turn an old laptop into a multi-purpose office door sign. Everyone is familiar with the metaphor of the “desktop”, referring to the main screen on one’s computer. This usually contains icons, shortcuts to programs, maybe some gadgets, and, if you’re very disorganized, a lot of individual files. However, a computer “desktop” and an actual top-of-a-desk are not very similar. Unless, that is, you install Continue reading BumpTop makes your desktop more like a real desktop.  For academics, being offline can range anywhere from relief to panic. It can be great to be unable to check email for a while, but this also means that messages will pile up. And what if you have revisions on a manuscript that are due, and you’re stuck without wireless access? Continue reading Laptop + smartphone = internet anywhere. Some of you may have read Eats, Shoots & Leaves by grammarphile Lynne Truss, and perhaps even its kid-friendly follow-ups The Girl’s Like Spaghetti and Twenty-Odd Ducks. These publications are enjoyable in their own right, but perhaps you wouldn’t read (let alone write) an entire book on the subject of grammar, even if Continue reading Grammar, spelling, and punctuation — made fun? I just came across another blog, ProfHacker, which has a similar mission to Hackademe. I have already found some more great hacks there, and I strongly recommend paying the site a visit. This post assumes that you already have a feed reader (also known as an aggregator) running. (See here for an introduction). I use Google Reader, but there are many options available. The point of this post is to outline how to create RSS feeds based on automated searches of literature Continue reading RSS feeds, part 2: Automated literature searches.  RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a system that allows readers to receive “feeds” of new content broadcast from various online sources without having to visit each site individually. It’s akin to subscribing to a magazine and having each new issue delivered to your mailbox rather than walking to the store to see Continue reading RSS feeds, part 1: Introduction. |
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