Got a bottle of wine on hand but no corkscrew to get it open? You can argue all you want about whether or not the guy in this video really needs more wine, but you can’t argue with the results.

As you can see, all it takes is a shoe and some pounding. The shoe isn’t a necessary component, of course; you just need something to soften the blows so the bottle doesn’t break. We’ve detailed how to open a bottle of wine with a hammer and screw, but this method really ups the ante. Thanks JNeumann!

[via Boing Boing]

by Jolie O’Dell / October 21, 2009

A group of UCLA researchers has determined that for middle-aged and older folks, using the Internet, particularly search, causes enhanced neural stimulation leading to better reasoning and decision-making.

At a recent presentation at the Neuroscience 2009 meeting in Chicago, the scientists stated, “The results suggest that searching online may be a simple form of brain exercise that might be employed to enhance cognition in older adults.” Defying folk wisdom regarding old dogs and new tricks, the research was conducted on Internet users aged 55 to 78, about half of whom rarely used the Internet.

Previously, the same researchers proved that conducting searches online doubles brain activitation in older “digital natives” compared to older “digital immigrants.”

One of the authors of the study, UCLA psych professor Dr. Gary Small, said, “We found that for older people with minimal experience, performing Internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change brain activity patterns and enhance function.” In other words, it takes just a matter of days for older first-time Internet users to catch up to their more experienced counterparts in terms of brain activity.

More at: Get Granny to Google: How the Internet Helps Older Brains.

For most of your visitors, your website will be their first point of contact with you or your business. As a result, it is important that your website makes a good first impression.

One way to make this good first impression is to have a well designed professional looking website. And regardless of whether or not you’ve hired someone to do do the job, it is important to verify that it does not look amateur.

Below we have listed a few things that your website should avoid.

1. Lots of Colors

There are a lot of beautiful colors out there. However, that does not mean that you should put them all on your website.

For a professional-looking website, colors should be kept to a minimum.

2. Centered Text

Centering might work well for certain headlines, images, or captions. However, you should avoid centering the bulk of your textual content. According to published research, users prefer to read from left to right. As a result, centering your text makes it more difficult for users to digest your content

3. Font Woes

There are many ways to convey amateurism by improperly using font. Here is what not to do:

* Use many different font faces

* Incorporate text of all sizes, as well as several variants or bold, italic, and underlined text

* Use multiple fonts colors

4. Excessive Use of Exclamation Points

There are better ways to convey excitement than by overusing punctuation. Remember, your website is not an infomercial.

5. Animation

Sometimes people include animated graphics to add excitement to a web page. Unfortunately, this conveys something very different. Sure, you might find your bouncing logo quite eye-catching, but you don’t want to distract users from your content or come across — once again — as an infomercial.

6. Too Much Content

While you might have a lot of things to say about your services or your company, it does not all need to be put on your website. Instead, try to find a concise way of summarizing your content and effectively describing what you can offer.

Additionally, if you have a lot of content which you feel should be included in your website, consider breaking it up into small pages, instead of cramming it all into one long slow-loading page.

In order for your website to be successful, it will have to inspire trust and confidence. As a result, you should keep these tips in mind when evaluating your website.

via Does Your Website Look Like An Amateur Built It? – Web Development Blog.

Visit Gregg at: http://www.3wdesign.com/

YouTube – Rep. Alan Grayson on the Situation Room.

From the MADSEN CYCLES website…

Weekly-contest-09-promo So let’s be honest, the last link contest we held was just a blast. So we did some pinky-twisting and Jared Madsen (our founder) consented to an idea of pure madness. We’re going to run the contest again, only this time – we’re going to give away a bike every week.

You read that right – we’re going to give away a MADSEN bike every week. The contest rules are basically the same. You link to us from you site, Twitter account or blog – and someone clicks the link (could even be you!) and you’ll be entered to win.

We’ll announce a new winner each Wednesday here on the blog. To be eligible to win, you just need to link to us from your site, and have at least one person follow the link from your site to ours during the week preceding the announcement.

You can also earn an entry by following us on Twitter and/or joining our email list.

We also created a whole new juicy set of banners you can use to link, if you’d like (or you can just use a text link if you prefer, no biggie).

For all the links, banners and details, head over to our contest page.

See you back here in one week where one lucky winner’s getting a new bike!

Ooohhhhhh? OOhhhhhh!

GL