Bright FuturaDo The Lines On Red Solo Cup Mean Something?
Posted on June 12, 2012
According to the red solo cup graphic below going across the inter webs, the lines on a Solo cup actually mean something.
Apparently, people are only now learning to read between the lines
- The bottom line is an appropriate serving for liquor: 1 ounce.
- The middle line marks 5 ounces: the serving size for wine.
- And the next line is a perfect serving for beer.
However despite this awesome convenient little measuring tool a Solo rep, has released a statement saying any line proportions were “coincidental.”
Maximillian Garland| Bright Futura Columnist
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You Thought Your Dorm Was Bad: America’s Smallest Apt
Posted on May 31, 2012
As a high school student you probably have lavish ideas of what college will be. The freedom! No curfew, no parents, no space…? Most rising freshmen don’t recognize that dorms usually don’t live up to the expectation of college.
Does Size Matter?
You’ve more than likely have heard of the tiny, institutional dorms rooms that await you upon your arrival at school. Unfortunately, these aren’t just stories.
While you probably wont be living under a staircase like Harry Potter, you also wont be living large.
Related: How Harry Potter is Just Like College
Most students can expect a dorm room that leaves a lot desired in the style department. Luckily, there are many ways college students can optimize their small space.
And while I am sure that your dorm room won’t be an amazing hotel suite, I can also assure you it wont be like Luke Clark Tyler’s.
Because Luke Clark Tyler lives in America’s Smallest Apt. But despite how tiny his 78sp ft apartment is, he still makes the best of it. So why shouldn’t you?
78 Sq. Ft. – the Smallest apt in America video
Hopefully Luke’s video gives you some decorating ideas for your new small offbeat dorm space.
Is it about size or how you use it? Don’t be nasty!
Maximillian Garland | Bright Futura Columnist
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Sell Your Broken Smart Phones For Cash Moneys
Posted on May 6, 2012
Oh fuck! The sound heard across campus when some innocent (most likely drunk) soul drops their iPhone. Did you get the insurance bro? NOPE. Because obviously you’re a genius! Hell you’re in college right!?
There there fella, I gotya. Don’t you worry. I mean sure you’re a broke student and you essentially just destroyed a $600 piece of equipment that you rely on for nearly every aspect of your life. And sure this all happened because you were trying to do a keg stand to impress that sorority girl, who end up hooking up with your roommate anyway. But there is still hope. Look on the bright side, while you probably wont get your full money back, you might be able to salvage enough money to buy yourself something nice.
There happen to be a couple sites that would love to buy your broken crap.
1. BuyMyTronics
2. NextWorth
3. Gazelle
Find other places to sell broken smart phones and electronics here
Maximillian Garland: Bright Futura
Free App Makes Creating Notecards Stupid Easy Yo!
Posted on May 2, 2012
Ok, so basically making flash cards takes time, and time doesn’t grow on trees, right? Of course it doesn’t idiot. You might know that apples are the things that grow on tree’s if you used StudyBlue. What is StudyBlue you ask? Ahh lemme tell you young honey child.
What is it?
StudyBlue is a cute widdle webapp that lets you create bad ass muthaf***ing digital flash cards directly from notes you take in class or anywhere else. You can also take the cards you create just about anywhere with mobile apps for iPhone and Android. Even to Space! Provided you get service in space. I know, total nerd boner.
How much?
Best of all, StudyBlue is absolutely free. (Notice how I said absolutely free, and not just free. There isn’t really a difference but ya know it sounds more free in a way.)
However, there is a catch.
There always is. If your college hasn’t been added to their list of schools you’ll have to wait a bit for it to be approved. This seems to be to your benefit because StudyBlue lets you add specific classes, but it’s kind of annoying as you have to wait a day if your school isn’t on the list. Nonetheless, once you’re in you can start taking notes and making flash cards from those notes.
In short, if you’re studying for finals and need some help, StudyBlue is a great (absolutely free) option.
by Maximillian Garland
Don’t Be Stewpid: Professional Proofreading By Kibin
Posted on May 1, 2012
Your terms paper is due on Thursday and guess what it’s worth 50% of your grade. My guess is that you probably want to get that baby proofread. You can ask Larry, your roommate who has been going on a 2 week Minecraft binge OR you can get it proofread by some pros!
Ultimately, it is your choice. If you think Larry the roommate can handle it than be my guest. I personally would prefer using Kibin, especially if the university writing center has an extremely long wait list.
Kibin use to be an editing community where volunteer editors proofread and offered unbiased feedback for free. However, lately they have been getting a lot of press and they have begun to charge.
Kibin’s current rates
The service is really easy to use.
Just upload your (doc, rtf, or txt) file and in the time you’ve specified (24,48,72 hrs) you’ll get your paper returned with edits/comments in the Kibin dashboard.
If you’re in a hurry and need a guarantee that your editing will be done in 24 hours, you can opt to pay the $0.01 per word, but otherwise the service is free.
What does the essay look like when they return it to me?
Interested in editing for Kibin? Ask if they are hiring @kibin
Kibin’s guarantee
“If you ever feel like your paper did not receive the editing or attention it deserves, please contact us immediately. We promise to make it right whether that is refunding your payment, point balance, or having it edited again without charge.” – Kibin website
Related: How To Literally use Literally by the Oatmeal
Related: Play on Facebook with Maximum Stealth
Reason you should always have someone proofread your work
Maximillian Garland: Bright Futura
8 Must Know Tips For Multiple Choice Tests
Posted on April 12, 2012
Multiple choice exams scary some people however given the right approach they can be your best friend. Below I have outlined 8 Must Know Tips For Multiple Choice Tests. If followed crushing your exam should be a piece of cake.
1. Reading the answers first
See if there are any answers hat just stand out. Then read the question. Sometime you can eliminate answers just by simple reasoning.
2. Eliminate answers you know aren’t right.
Actually crossing out the answers that aren’t correct really helps narrow the answer. Also when going back over your exam you can understand more quickly why you made your choice.
3. If you run out of time. Guess!
If you hit the wall and have no idea what the answer is or if you simply don’t have any time left guess.
Note: This only applies if there isn’t a guessing penalty.
4.Trust your instincts
Don’t keep on changing your answer, usually your first choice is the right one, unless you misread the question.
Related: Top 10 Secrets Of The College Syllabus
Related: How To Ace An In Class Essay
5. Look for words Not, Isn’t, and Least likely
Instructors often phrase questions using negatives for example
Which of the following is least likely to help you be F***ing amazing in college?
c. malevole.com
6. ‘All of the above’ and ‘None of the above’
In a question with an “All of the above” choice, if you see that at least two correct statements, then “All of the above” is probably the answer. In “All of the above” and “None of the above” choices, if you are certain one of the statements is true don’t choose “None of the above” or one of the statements are false don’t choose “All of the above”.
7. Usually the correct answer is the choice with the most information.
Come up with the answer in your head before looking at the possible answers, this way the choices given on the test won’t throw you off or trick you. Then look for the answer that seems the most in depth.
Usually your professor wont spend a large amount of time creating a well written wrong answer.
8. Same vs Different
Look for the answer that stands out. If all of the answer are a color and the other is an animal, the animal is likely the obvious wrong choice and can be eliminated or the answer is the correct choice. For example.
The current United States President is from
a. Blue
b. Red
c. Hawaii
d. White
e. All of the above
hint: It isn’t all of the above
Maximillian Garland | Bright Futura Colomnist
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LeechBlock: Save Yourself From Time Sucking Sites Online
Posted on April 5, 2012
Even though that report is due by the end of the day, you spent the last two hours stalking friends on facebook and watching Key and Peele YouTube clips because you are weak and lack self control. Worry not for you are not alone. You much like many of us just can’t help yourself.
So if you regularly find yourself clicking around Facebook, keyboard covered in drool, when you’re supposed to be getting stuff done—or better, going outside—it’s time to break out the big guns.
This post will give you three of the top ways to protect yourself from your addiction. Think of them as a 12 step program.
A Firefox extension called LeechBlock can help.
Here’s how you can save yourself from quicksand web destinations at certain times of the day with LeechBlock.
Step by step Install and Configure of LeechBlock
Using Firefox,
1. Download LeechBlock,
2. Install it
3. Restart your browser.
Now it’s time to get honest.
Which sites do you burn the most unproductive time on?
Examples:
- Tumblr
- Youtube
Bright Futura(Sike! don’t even do it)
Once you’ve got even just one offending site in mind, you’re ready to go.
To set up which sites to block and when,
1. Go to the Firefox’s Tools menu and choose LeechBlock
2. Then options
3. A detailed dialog box will appear, where you will set what sites to block and when.
4. Enter the web site domains in the text area that you want to block, one per line. My first block list looked like this:
ask.metafilter.com flickr.com facebook.com twitter.com
5. Set the time periods LeechBlock should get between you and these sites.
The morning is a good time to slog through the bulk of the day’s work, so let’s say you want to allow yourself recreational browsing only after 3 p.m. in the afternoon on weekdays. In the input box under “Enter the time periods within which to block these sites” use military time to enter time periods.
For example
- To block sites between midnight and 3 p.m., enter 0000-1500.
- Alternately, you can set a number of minutes you’re allowed to visit the sites per hour or day (i.e., I can only check my fantasy football team’s progress for 15 minutes per day.)
6. Last, check off the days of the week LeechBlock should apply.
Then, you can optionally set a “custom name” for your set of sites, like “Social Network Time Suckers,” as shown below.
The advantage to giving a set of sites a custom name is that you can split up your recreational browsing blocks into different categories.
Facebook and Twitter might go into your “Social Network Time Suckers” category.
Wikipedia and Google News might go into the “News Browsing” category,
TMZ and Defamer might go into the “Celebrity Gossip Mongers” category.
Each of these sets can have different block times and rules (all day, certain days, certain times of day, or so many minutes per day.)
Visiting a Blocked Site
Once you’ve saved your settings in LeechBlock, whenever you mindlessly hit that time-wasting bookmark, you’ll see a message in your browser, as shown below.
That’s your cue to get back to work and try again later in your allotted time.
LeechBlock can also keep track of how much time you spend at certain sites and limit it. (For example, if you only want to check your fantasy baseball league for no more than 15 minutes per day. See more examples of LeechBlock usage here.)
Adding Sites to the Block List
Once you’ve got LeechBlock running, you can add another site to its block list as you surf easily using the right-click context menu.
Say you find yourself on Google’s Video site, wasting away minutes of your life watching the skateboarding dog the same way you used to on YouTube.
1. Simply right-click on the page (Command+click for Mac users), and from the context menu,
2. Choose LeechBlock
3. Add this site to [Block Set Name Here].
For example, if you’ve got an “Online Video” set of blocked sites, you could add it there, as shown.
Make It Difficult to Disable LeechBlock
LeechBlock comes with a clever feature built to prevent you persistent procrastinators . In LeechBlock’s options dialog, check off the “Prevent access to options for this block set at times when these sites are blocked.” That means if it’s during blocked YouTube time? You can’t change LeechBlock’s settings to let you in after all.
Set A Password
Along the same lines, you can set a password to get to LeechBlock’s options area. (See the General tab of the Options dialog.) The purpose of the password is to throw up yet another roadblock on your way to procrastinating online. The LeechBlock developer says:
Note that the password feature is not intended for security purposes, but only to make it more difficult to bypass the blocking in haste—to delay you just long enough for your reason/conscience to wrest back control from your baser instincts! So a lengthy but memorable password will be most effective. Suggestion: try ‘antidisestablishmentarianism.’ It works for me!
The following post was originally published in Chapter 5 of our new book, Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better.
inspired by Lifehacker
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Why SoFi Might Change College Debt Forever
Posted on April 4, 2012
Can former students help solve the student loan crisis? That’s the reasoning behind a new loan initiative launched last year at Stanford University, one of the nation’s most elite and expensive colleges, where undergraduate tuition is now $40,050.
A handful of Stanford alumni created SoFi, a company that funds student loans with investments from alumni.
The company is based on the peer-to-peer lending model popularized by microfinance organizations and websites like Kickstarter.com.
SoFi grew out of a recognition that the student loan market is “unsustainable,” said SoFi CEO Mike Cagney in an interview with The Huffington Post. “You’ve got the government, the school, the students, and nobody is invested in another’s success … If you take the government out of the equation and introduce alumni, you create those connections and that investment.”
Related: 5 Reasons Student Loans Are Like An STD (VIDEO)
Related: How To Pay Off Your Student Loans Like A Boss
Student loan debt today totals more than $1 trillion, a 14-fold increase from 15 years ago. It dwarfs the amount of the nation’s credit card debt, which is just shy of $800 million. Those in the class of 2010 graduated with an average of more than $25,000 in student loan debt, according to the Project on Student Loan Debt. In 2009, nearly 9 percent of student loan holders defaulted on their government loans, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Last fall, SoFi piloted its loan product at Stanford’s graduate school of business (where tuition runs $108,000 for its two-year program); a hundred students borrowed a total of $2 million from 40 alumni investors.
Ben Kessler, 27, a second-year MBA student at Stanford, borrowed roughly $150,000 to finance his education. While the majority of his loans are through Citibank and the federal government, about $35,000 came from SoFi.
Through SoFi, students not only receive loans but are also introduced to participating alumni who serve as mentors.
For Kessler, that networking opportunity was one of the main attractions of the SoFi loan, whose 6.24 percent interest rate is comparable to those of his Citibank and government loans.
“I’ve sat down with three or four SoFi staff members [who] introduced me to a lot of different people in the alumni network, and to their own lenders and investors,” said Kessler in an interview with The Huffington Post.
Related: The 8 Stages of Staying Up All Night (College Humor)
The fact that alumni are funding some of his loans does not increase pressure to repay them, Kessler said. “I feel the same pressure to repay my Citibank loan as compared to my SoFi loan. But what I do feel is that there’s a relationship that stands to benefit if I do pay back the loan over time and if I do reach out and build a relationship with the people I’ve met through SoFi.”
“There’s no difference in what I stand to lose, but there’s a lot more to gain,” he added.
All the 100 Stanford MBA students who borrowed money from SoFi last year have kept up with their payments, Cagney said. That success, combined with eager alumni and enthusiastic investors, has enabled the company to expand. This year SoFi is planning to lend as much as $150 million to students at 40 schools, including some of country’s most elite institutions, such as Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Duke and Georgetown universities.
The SoFi model has not affected Stanford alumnis’ contributions to other scholarships and grants, said Cagney. He pointed out that none of the 40 Stanford alumni who funded SoFi loans changed their contributions to scholarship programs as a result of their investment. SoFi investors receive a 5 percent to 8 percent return on their loans and view it as a socially responsible investment, as opposed to a charitable donation, Cagney said.
Kessler is excited to put his SoFi contacts into action when he moves to the Midwest this summer. “I want to create a family business for my wife and future children to have as a stable source of cash flow and a stable source of income,” he said. “Growing up in southern Wisconsin, I saw a number of small business that were doing well and people had a nice lifestyle, and that appeals to me.”
via huffingtonpost
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10 Ways to Have A Study Sessions Like A Pro
Posted on March 12, 2012
Studying alone for many is challenging and often times boring. This is because many people spend their valuable time staring a their books and notes for hours hoping that somehow the material will be absorbed into your head. So, rather than allowing you to continue to waste your time studying inefficiently, I have put together a list of 10 ways you can establish a study session routine that utilizes any or all of the things necessary to make your study sessions more productive.
1. Eliminate human distractions.
You should play hard. But when the time comes to study, you should study hard too – your friends should be able to accept that.
2. Clear your mind.
- Cell phone calls
- RSS feeds/Twitter/Tumblr
- Facebook updates
- Internship concerns
- Email in addition
- Social life/Love life
- Class work
- Work
- Family life
Close your eyes, breath deeply, and relax.
3. Begin with the end in mind.
Now that your mind is rid unnecessary gobbledygook , take a second to establish some goals for what your objectives are. Set your game plan before hand or risk working on tasks for hours that have absolutely nothing to do with your initial reason for studying in the first place.
Studying from a textbook:
- If you’re studying from a textbook, use the objectives printed at the beginning of the chapter as a starting point.
Using your syllabus or study guide:
- Use your course syllabus to set you on the right track. As the old saying goes, “if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”
- Some professors tell you that the exam will be all material from the lecture slide. Don’t think that they are out to get you. Rather than spending hours reading over textbook cases in your 10 pound book, print out your lecture slides and prepare to highlight like a champ.
4. Use earplugs/ Kill the noise
” By wearing them I am able to hear the conversations I’m having in my head thereby enabling me to build networks of information (versus memorizing alone). Call me crazy, but it works.”
5. Clear Your Desk of Everything You Don’t Need
6. Develop a standard note taking method.
Tip: Become that highlighter kid.
7. Take regular breaks.
Spend 10 minutes away from the books, doing what you enjoy. Do your best to avoid another activity that requires too much concentration or would result in distraction. Facebook is OK, but don’t get lured into stalking friends for 45 minutes.
- Go to the bathroom
- Drink a bit of water (500mL is good)
- Watching a 1 or 2 funny clip on YouTube (don’t get sucked in)
- Nibble on a bite of food
- Stretch your back, neck, arms and legs
8. Chug Chug Chug.
- Hunger
- Pain (achy low back muscles)
- Cramps
- Feeling dizzy (vertigo)
- Tired
- Headaches
Are all signs of dehydration.
9. Food for thought.
- Mixed nuts
- Apple and peanut butter
- A Banana
- Edamame
- Hummus and pita
- Greek yogurt
- Carrots and dressing
10. Tweak your routine.
Constant improvement is what makes you a bona fide lifelong learner and Study Session Pro.
Establishing a routine that combines these methods will allow you to integrate the information and build networks of knowledge much much faster. Which will in turn guarantee you an A++ on that huge exam.
Remember: No one, not even the brightest of students get A’s without studying.
What works for you?
Maximillian Garland | Bright Futura Columnist
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