AskMen caught up with Ethan, half of double dating comic duo Dave and Ethan, to get
some tips on blind double dating. Here’s Ethan’s story:Dating
Tips From Dave and Ethan
While working for a
cable TV network four years ago, I somehow landed two free tickets to a stand-up show at
New York’s Gotham Comedy, and decided to invite my childhood friend and fellow
comedian, Dave. At the event, we were rushed to the head of the line and seated in the
front row with complimentary cocktails as VIPs. I could sense the
audience puzzling over the identity of the young gay power
couple that had just entered the room. Later,
over a few more drinks (or six) at his place, Dave revealed what had been stumping him
all night: “Dude, thanks for the show — but why would you invite me when you could
have impressed the hell out of a chick?” He was right,
but it was too late to take his ticket back. We did conclude, at least, that we should
both be better employing our assets to impress girls. In fact, we reasoned, as two funny
former improv troupe teammates, we could probably kill it if we joined forces. So in March of 2008, the lifelong friends posted ads on
Craigslist and YouTube, inviting pairs of girls to double date them. As the responses
poured in, they began charting their experiences in a series of video blogs, which
quickly became a YouTube
comedy series about double dating.Here are Ethan’s tips for preparing
yourself for what’s to come when embarking on a blind double date — from his own personal
experience.
Like many of you out there, our annual reviews are around the corner, and it got us
thinking: Exactly how much can you get away with when it comes to reviewing your boss? The
truth is, it doesn’t matter. Because, between water-cooler gossip and lunches with
colleagues, no formal review process can take away from the real reviews that are
already in. Still, having an outlet to vent is healthy — so consider this it.
We want to hear your best bad-boss story. Remember that time he insisted you come in on
the weekend to finish your presentation, only to find the meeting cancelled on Monday
morning? How about when he takes credit for your work? Whatever it is, we want to know.Send your best bad-boss story to editorial@askmen.com and we’ll feature
the best ones next week. Don’t worry, we’ll keep your answers
anonymous — our boss would be pissed if we didn’t, and, well, let’s not go there. Continue Reading
If you’re trying to figure out how to improve the quality
of your shave, the
internet will just confuse you. Not only is the advice offered often conflicting, but the
array of products that different sources recommend is hard to understand and not cheap to
test out.All the same, I’ve tried virtually everything over the years.
Like most guys, I started out with a can of Edge gel, then a can of Barbasol. As I got
older, I tried branching out, first buying more expensive cans, then graduating to pricey
tubs and tubes of ointment. The problem with all of these was that there was no
discernible difference in the quality of my shave. That was, until I took the simplest
advice anyone had given me: Use a bar of soap and a brush.
Shaving Basics
Before you shave, you need to know the basic rules of the game. They go like this:1. You need a good razor with a fresh, sharp blade. The multi-blade cartridge
razors are great, but you can still get a great shave with a disposable if you do it
right. 2. You need a shaving
brush, preferably one made of badger’s hair, because that’s the only fiber
that will carry water from the sink up to your face to give you the best lather. 3. You need hot water, which you apply to your face for some time before you start
shaving. The best way to do this is to wash your face in the shower, then soak your face
with a hot, moist facecloth for a minute or two before shaving. You also need a bowl of
hot water to refresh your razor as you go. 4. You need to shave with the
grain in short strokes of no more than an inch or two, between which you wet your razor in
hot water. 5. You need to make sure to reduce friction between your razor
and your face as much as you can. Even though you should never hold your razor hard
against your face, the best shave will leave you feeling as though the razor is gliding
effortlessly across your hair follicles — like a Lawn-Boy rather than a push-mower. This
last rule explains why we use shaving cream, but it also explains why most shaving creams,
foams and ointments let us down. If you can feel the razor rubbing against your face, your
shaving cream has failed in its singular task — to lubricate your skin. The answer of how to get the best shave is, in my experience, counterintuitive.
It’s the cheapest method, but has also remained for me the most reliable. Even as
every year I experiment with a new cream or gel to see if I can improve upon it, nothing
exceeds old reliable. My magic bullet? A bar of Ivory soap. Other soaps work well,
too. In my experience, they each provide a superior shave, because soap, by nature, is
slippery as hell, and if you want a quality shave, you need slippery skin.More
essential shaving tips, next…
Here’s what’s “normal”: adults have sex primarily when
they’re tired. This shapes the quality, content, and frequency of the
experience. Most adults save their “prime time” for things that
are either more important (raising their kids, working after hours,
maintaining their health, handling crises) or more reliably satisfying
(watching TV, going out, sharing hobbies, playing around on Facebook).
Not having much energy is one aspect of “normal sex” that
most people don’t want. But many adults seem to believe
that most sex will inevitably take place when they’re not at their
best, without considering the consequences of this kind of sex life — that
it may become routine, not involve much time, lose its playfulness,
and that using contraception or a lubricant may seem like too much
trouble.If we think of “normal” as common,
typical, and accepted as “the way things are,” this is what
“normal sex” actually looks like:• Awkwardness
and self-consciousness are common.• Communication is
limited.• Neither partner laughs or smiles much.• One or both partners are obsessively concerned about
performance.• One or both are unsure what their
partner likes.• One or both tolerate what they dislike, hoping
that it will stop soon.• Masturbation is kept
secret.• There’s difficulty using birth control without
embarrassment or conflict.• Desire requires a perfect
environment.• Sex is sometimes physically painful.• He believes that “her orgasm problem reflects on me.”• She believes that “his erection problem reflects on
me.”Also, whether young or old, gay or straight, male or
female, when American adults have sex, they frequently:• Are self-conscious or self-critical about their body• Don’t feel as close to their partner as they’d like• Don’t feel confident that they’re going to have a good
time (which is why they don’t do it more frequently)• Are concerned about performance — either their own or their
partner’s• Feel inhibited about communicating what they
want, don’t want, feel, or don’t feelHealth problems are also frequently part of “normal” sex — because
normal people have health problems.So,
are you starting to look pretty “normal”? Are you starting to
realize this might not be the right goal?I want to change
things for you — and not by improving your “sexual function.”
This book isn’t literary Viagra. It’s more like literary brain
surgery (sorry, no tummy tuck, boob job, or hair implants, just brain
surgery).The awkwardness and emotional isolation
described above are what most people get when they try to have
“normal” sex. And that’s why your vision of sex
matters. So let’s spend the rest of the chapter exploring why
it’s not important to be sexually “normal” and why, in
fact, pursuing “normal” sex is often destructive.Of course, by “normal” sex most people don’t mean
the reality I’ve just described, but a romanticized vision of perfect
performance, perfect environment, and nothing too novel or
psychologically challenging. The only thing normal about that kind
of sex is the fact that so many people aspire to it, and so few
people have it. (And here’s a secret every sex therapist
knows: even when people get this kind of sex, they’re not
necessarily satisfied with it.)So if, like so many
other people, you’ve been pursuing the wrongthing
(“normal” sex), you need a new way to think about sex. Although
most people assume it’s logical to have a performance
orientation (how many times per week, how many minutes beforeorgasm), that’s only one way to look at sex. And it’s exactly
thewrong way.Excerpted from SEXUAL
INTELLIGENCE: What We Really Want from Sex and How to Get It by Marty Klein,
reprinted with permission from HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.Continue Reading
If you’re the VIP in an armored vehicle of any kind — car, truck or tank — you can draw
at least three conclusions: Someone somewhere has a vested interest in killing you;
someone else has an interest in preserving you and, finally; that despite being surrounded
by armor plating, bullet-proof glass and explosive-proof floors, it’s in transit
that you are most vulnerable. The less time you spend in an armored vehicle, the
better.
1- Armored truck officers have the second-highest death rate in security
The first thing you didn’t know about armored trucks is that serving as an officer on one
of them — whether behind the wheel or in the back as the hopper — is not the most
dangerous job you can find in the field of security. According to
PrivateOfficer.com, armored truck officers have the second-highest death rate in the field
– a distant second, in fact, to the position of nightclub security guard.
2- Armored trucks can function on deflated tires
Armored trucks, like armored vehicles, aren’t designed to go on the offensive, at least
not if they don’t have to. While it’s rumored that President Barack Obama‘s Cadillac One has offensive measures
built-in, this is only speculation and the same has been said about Air Force One. Most
armored trucks and similar vehicles aren’t equipped to fight back, they’re equipped to
flee the scene, and in a hurry. Much of their exterior, plated deep in steel,
is also highly angulated to deflect high-powered rifle bullets (windshields are often
tilted at a 45 degree angle for this same reason), and a few tire blowouts can’t slow down
a good armored truck since plastic liners hug the inside of the tire and provide stability
for several miles, until the truck can reach a safe location.
3- When full, some armored trucks weigh over 55,000 pounds
Another thing you didn’t know about armored trucks is just how much some of them can
weigh when filled with the right kind of money: coins. In some cases, the gross vehicle
weight of an armored truck tops an astonishing 55,000 pounds, over 27 tons, about the same
weight as a full-grown-if-slightly-smaller-than-average humpback whale or the U.S.
military’s massive CH-47D Chinook cargo helicopter.
4 -The first armored trucks were converted school buses
Brinks is most closely associated with armored, cash-in-transit vehicles, so it’s not
surprising to learn that they were first to develop and launch armored trucks, doing so in
the early 1920s when they were a Chicago delivery company. As the city’s mobsters began
armor-plating their own cars against both one another and the police, Brinks bought a set
of retired school buses and began to convert them into armored trucks by applying steel
plates to the vehicle’s lower panels and putting bars over the windows. To
further enhance security measures, Brinks would put a tail on the truck in the form of a
Ford Model T armed to the teeth with machine-gun wielding guards. Our final
fact you didn’t know about armored trucks…
Want to win her over? Start by making her smile. It’s not rocket science, folks.But that’s not always as easy as it sounds — so it’s a lucky thing we just discovered a
Twitter trend-worth of helpful hints. Here’s what we gleaned from #30WaysToMakeAGirlSmile. -SmileNGrace-EverydayLaVan-NotUrAverageTae-iDeepIove-THEOfficialStix-IAmJossh-@EverydayLaVan-GMC_Fynest-EmelieNordify-utopiafalls2Check out our #2011Regrets
You Should Make Sure Never Happen To You for more advice from Twitter.Continue Reading
Lately, Apple’s
come under fire for harsh working conditions at its Foxconn iPhone and
iPad
factories. A recent report by The New York Times exposed Apple’s complicity in
these workers’ exploitation, quoting an anonymous Apple executive as saying:
“…The system works for us. Suppliers would change everything tomorrow if Apple
told them they didn’t have another choice.”In a previous
Times story about the impressive pace of Chinese manufacturing, there was an
example of 8,000 Foxconn workers being woken up at a late hour to assemble a last-minute
change to the iPhone’s screen. Of course, Foxconn officially denied the claim,
saying that workers’ hours are strictly adhered to, but workers familiar with the case
backed up the original story. Other examples of harsh conditions abound: explosions at a
Chengdu-based iPad factory killed four people and injured 77, even after Apple had been
made aware of the hazardous conditions at the plant. In another case, 137 workers at
another Chinese Apple supplier were injured after they were given a poisonous chemical to
clean the screens of iPhones. The list is long, it seems.Today, an internal
email by furious CEO Tim Cook
trumpeted the company line: “Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently
false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are
contrary to our values. It’s not who we are.” Apple has
always defended itself by saying it has a supplier code of conduct, but this is a bit like
saying, “The iPhone in 30 minutes or less, or it’s free,” and then not
expecting your suppliers to run employees off a cliff in an effort to meet their
deadlines. Apple and other companies working in China will have to take a more active role
in setting up independent monitors because it’s obvious that managers at companies
like Foxconn can’t be trusted to put their employees interest before their clients.
Those thinking “why don’t employees just start a union?” should know
that they will get a 12-year prison sentence for attempting to unionize. Claims about
“values” are meaningless without some real moves to back them up, since
it’s clear employees have no control over the situation.Unfortunately,
Apple’s not unique here, and, as The New York Times mentioned, Dell,
Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lenovo, Motorola, Nokia, Sony, Toshiba, and others are all
implicated. Here’s hoping all this scrutiny results in some actual industry-wide
soul searching followed by action, not just empty claims that they pinky swear to give a
crap.Continue Reading
Click here to follow AskMen Fashion on
Twitter. Men’s hairstyles
continually evolve with new trends. Just like the shoes and clothes you wear, the way you
style your hair says a lot about your sense of fashion and personality. However, before
you decide on your next hairstyle, or if you simply want to change your current look, read
on to find out what these hairstyling
products can do for you. Each of these products form distinct textures and styles for
various hair types. Discover which products can better help you achieve the hair you’ve
always wanted.
Mousse
Mousse is great for any man’s hairstyle and it can create practically any desired look.
When used on wet hair, it will give you a sleek, wet look, with shine. When used on dry
hair, it will help shape, mold and hold your hair in place with a more natural look.
Mousse can also provide volume for men with thinner
or fine hair. Wear mousse on a daily basis to create a natural and easy-to-manipulate
hairstyle. How to use it Shake the bottle. Dispense a small amount in one
hand and apply to your hair with both hands. Style your hair to your liking and blow dry
for maximum hold. Main benefit Mousse allows you to
restyle your hair throughout the day without the stickiness factor.
Main drawbacks Quality hair mousse doesn’t come cheap and it
might lack holding strength for those who need more grip. Celebrities
whose hairdos are perfect for mousse include Chris
Hemsworth, James
Franco and Lapo
Elkann.
Gel
Hair gel is the most efficient of hairstyling products for keeping your hair steady in
its place. Gel works well on waved, curled, relaxed, textured, and virgin (uncolored or
untreated) hair over extended time periods, and it can be used for styling techniques such
as freezing, sculpting, molding, and scrunching. Good quality gels will also
moisturize and condition your hair for many days. Make sure to avoid any gels or other
hair products that contain alcohol because they will dry out and damage your hair. Cheap
gels have a tendency to dry the scalp and generate flaking. How to use it Dispense a nickel-size amount of gel in one hand
and use both hands to rub it into your towel-dried hair. Style the hair to your liking.
Blow-dry if you want maximum hold or dry naturally for a shiny look.
Main benefit It will cement your hairstyle for many hours, even
in the face of heavy winds. Main drawbacks A large
quantity of gel is needed for many looks and you will get your hands sticky if restyling
is needed throughout the day. Celebrities whose hairdos are perfect for
gel include Ed
Westwick, Jon
Hamm as Don Draper and Brad
Pitt.
Read on for more on the best hairstyling products for men…
So, you walk into a restaurant
and you wait 15 minutes for a table. You’re starving. You sit down, stare at the menu and
a kind voice says, “Hey, guys, what are you in the mood for tonight?”You look up and your tongue hits the ground. The hottest waitress you’ve seen in a long
time is staring directly at you and you don’t know what to say. All your friends’
eyes are on you, because they see the stunned look on your face, and they all know you’re
hot for her.You want to make a great first impression.
You want to figure out how to crack the restaurant code. You want to be able to date this hot
waitress, and you want to be the charming guy at the table. How do you make it happen?
It’s so easy it’s ridiculous.RELATED
VIDEO: How To Pick Up The Waitress
Create a bond all about her
For seven years in my 20s, I was a bartender/waiter in New York City. I had women hit on
me all the time, but I only ever dated the ones who connected with me. See, life is all
about connection. It’s understanding where somebody else is, connecting to their world and
immediately creating a bond that nobody else has.The truth is that most guys
will hit on her. They’ll say something stupid. They’ll call her over and say dumb things.
They’ll never talk to her. This is what I do: When I see a hot waitress and I’m caught off
guard like you were just caught off guard, I look directly at her and go, “Ah, man,
I have no idea what to eat. Let me ask you a question. If I was standing there and asked
you what you’d like to eat right now, and you were sitting here with my buddies — and
believe me, they’re really good guys — what would you want to eat?”And
when she tells you what’s good, just look at her and say, “Oh, man, why don’t you
just sit here right now? I’ll take over your shift. Just let me know what’s been 86ed in
the kitchen.”“86” is the term that restaurant people use to
talk about what food item is no longer available. You’re talking her language right there.
Now she’ll probably laugh and say, “I think we’re almost out of salmon.”
Then you could say, “All right, fine. Let me go back to the kitchen, let me go grab
those salmon orders right now.” You bond with her immediately in that moment.
She now understands. She now knows that you speak her language. She’ll be curious whether
or not you ever worked in a restaurant. Not only that, but you basically set up a good
feeling between the two of you for the rest of the evening.Now watch her work
the tables, and I guarantee you there’s always a table that’s a big pain in the butt. So
the next time she comes over, say, “Hey, look at table four over there. What’s up
with them? Do you need me to come over there and handle them for you?”Or, “That guy over at table six, man. He’s been hitting on you. You
see the way he’s been looking at you? He looks like he wants to eat you!”That’s what you want to do. You want to bond directly with her. When you bond directly
with her, you have an opportunity to go and date the waitress. The key here is always
relate to her world, the environment that she’s in. And it’s a lot of fun.
Learn about her bit by bit
I’ve dated a lot of waitresses and bartenders
in my lifetime, and the key thing is to keep them talking, find out a little bit about
them when they come over the third time. Say, “Hey, what else do you do? What do you
do in your free time? What are your passions? You want to own a restaurant one
day?”Find out things about them. So, by the end of the night, if you
speak to them enough, they keep coming over and they linger because they like you. The
more they linger, the more they come to the table and talk with you. What you need to do
at that moment is ask her out. Say, “Hey, look, I know the wild salmon is 86ed here,
but I know this great place down the road where the salmon flows free. Why don’t we go
check it out one night?”And that’s how you seal the deal. That’s how you
close her. That’s how you get her to feel 100% comfortable with everything that you are.
They’re fun to date, the waitresses, with their bubbly personalities and flexibility. But
in order to go from average customer to lover, bond with her by connecting in a way that
most other guys wouldn’t.
Mr. T always said “Don’t be a fool, stay in school,” but a new study by academics
says that just showing up to class isn’t good enough. That’s because those who made
the least amount of progress in college were more likely to be unemployed, burdened with credit card debt and even living at home later in life.Using the
Collegiate Learning Assessment, researchers were able to filter the college grads into
groups. Those who had scored in the bottom quintile of the CLA when in school were three
times more likely to be unemployed (9.6%), compared with the students who scored in the
top quintile (3.1%), and were almost twice as likely to be living at home (35%), compared
with the students with good grades (18%). Also, the students in the lower tier were more
likely to have serious credit card debt (51%) when compared with those who graded well
(37%).Previous studies have shown that as many as 36% of college graduates
make no progress in writing, critical thinking or reasoning. If you thought you could
skate by with cramming and copying, you’re in for a rude awakening later in life.Continue Reading
This article is sponsored in part by
Pillsbury (What’s
this?) Want to throw a party your friends will be looking
forward to every year? Learn the recipes, entertaining tips and sports facts you need to
make it happen with our guide to The Ultimate Game Day.There are few things that
divide the sexes quite like football. To most men, the game is a borderline religious
experience, while to many women, it’s 60 minutes of unabashed violence punctuated by
quaint little committee meetings. So, how do you mend the gender divide and convince your
girlfriend to actually watch a game with you? The answer is easier than you may think.
Simply follow our suggestions below to get your significant other interested in — or at
least, willing to accept — America’s most popular spectator sport.
Sign her up for a football pool
Money, as a wise man once noted, is a wonderful motivator. Prompt your girlfriend to take
an active interest in the game by signing her up for a football pool. Once she puts her
money on the line she’ll have extra motivation to keep track of what’s going
on. Who knows, her strategy of selecting the team with the prettiest colors and cutest
animals may even pay off.
Buy her a feminine-cut official jersey
Every woman loves to dress up. Make your girlfriend feel like part of the game by buying
her a jersey. Unlike the billowy uniforms of old, there are a wide range of jerseys
featuring flattering feminine cuts and pink hues. These attractive new designs have made
women’s apparel football’s fastest-growing apparel business.
Make girly drinks during the game
Let’s face it: You’d probably watch a 12-hour chick flick marathon if you
consumed enough beer; the same is true of your girlfriend. If you keep her plied with
enough Cosmopolitans and Fuzzy Navels, she won’t mind what’s on the tube!
Draw her in with colorful gossip
Your girlfriend will never become interested in football if you begin by explaining the
intricacies of the Over/Under 4-3 defense. Instead, draw her in by regaling her with
stories about ongoing feuds and off-field relationship news. If you present the stories in
the guise of hot gossip you’ll be sure to pique her interest.
Throw the football around with her
Does your girlfriend think a quarterback is a refund? Give her a better appreciation of
the greatest sport in the world by tossing around the pigskin in your backyard. This
simple and fun activity will allow her to better relate to the action on the field and it
will give you the opportunity to explain some of the tenets of the game in a way she can
easily grasp.Our final tips on how to get her to like football…
If you have a sneaking suspicion
that most wars — or male conflicts in general — started with two men fighting over a
woman, you aren’t far off. A new study published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society B found that most conflicts in the history of mankind can be
traced back to one thing: men’s sex drive. The
psychologists suggest that throughout history, men have tried to get their way by
methods of violence. In many cases, such instinctual aggression can be traced back to the
primal need to survive and reproduce. In tribal days, the
more successful a man was, the more women he’d be able to reproduce
with. It’s definitely the root of 99% of
fights in nightclubs, but hopefully we’re not still going to war about
this. As for women, the psychological study
determined that they deal with conflict far more peacefully. They are less likely to come
to physical blows over anything. Instead, they’ll just incessantly insult each
other behind their backs. Allegedly.Continue Reading
Do me a favor. Stop
reading this article for a second and listen to the world. Really hear what’s going
on. Welcome back. How’d it go? What did you
hear? The people at the table next to you breaking up? Your kids watching something on TV
that they shouldn’t in the other room? A distant lawn mower breaking down? It’s
amazing what you hear when you concentrate on what’s happening all around you.
There are so many stories in all that ambient noise. Now lets try it again, but this time turn the focus from external to internal.
Listen to your body. What does it want to tell you? Maybe some injury is nagging you or it’s too warm in this room or you’re in
love and can palpably feel the butterflies in your stomach. Or maybe you’re just
hungry. As much as I’d like to wax poetic
about that love thing, I’m going to talk about hunger. It may seem like a
no-brainer: If you’re hungry, you eat. But if America’s burgeoning waistlines
are any indicator, there’s nothing simple about it. The human digestive tract
isn’t just a fleshy collection of tubes. It’s a wildly complex system linked
to, among other organs, your brain, which, in turn, is heavily influenced by hormones,
external stimuli, past life experience, and a million other things.
In other words, sometimes your hunger has nothing to do with a need
for food. Maybe you’re bored or unhappy. Maybe you have an addiction to refined
sugars. Maybe you’ve trained yourself to view a pint of Häagen-Dazs as a
reward because, well, you deserve it. That’s not your body telling you what it
needs. That’s your brain talking smack. So the ultimate goal is to learn how to
truly listen to your body to determine your nutritional needs. Along the way, however,
you might need a few tricks. For example, counting calories.
If you want to get fancy about it, a calorie is the energy needed to
raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius.
Huh? I’m already confused.Tony Horton explains why
we shouldn’t be counting calories, next…Continue Reading
As Aston
Martin heads stronger than ever toward its centenary year in 2013, we look back on
arguably the most desirable of the automotive brand’s fine stable of rides to bring you
our definitive 10 Aston Martins of all time. Click
through our decade-spanning countdown and feel free to tell us if we’ve done any of
your favorite Aston Martins a cruel injustice or, of course, if you agree with our
cherry-picking of the best of the very best of British.Continue Reading
Most of us stay
pretty calm through the ups and downs of our everyday lives. We put up with honked
horns, mixed-up restaurant orders, telemarketers, smelly dudes on the bus, and countless
other tiny annoyances. Usually we don’t complain about these little things. Every once in
a while, though, something happens that makes us explode. In an instant we transform from
an average pedestrian into a raging Hulk. We asked what really pisses you off
and you sent us long and very angry emails. Here are some of the most common annoyances
you’ve got.Editor’s Note: All responses have been condensed and edited for
clarity.
1. Reality Shows
My pet peeve has to be people who ridiculously either
want to be something like the Kardashians,
the cast of Jersey Shore or any other sort of low-class type of reality star. Sometimes I
just wish we could go back to some pre-reality show world.-Matthew
Chippin
2. Space Huggers
Ever been trying to get on a busy train and you see a load of space in the isle through
the window but no one wants to move down? It appears once you’re on the train, your sole
belief is to maintain your own space and not let anyone else interrupt it. As hypocritical
as it may be, I am guilty of this but also hate others that do it. But when I’m trying to
get on the train, how about you all move the f*ck down eh?-Luca (@iamluca)
3. Texting
There’s really nothing worse than someone texting
while you’re with them. Seriously, put the phone down — if it’s important, people will
call you.-Christian Kamkoff
4. Hats
Men who wear their hats at the dinner table, or indoors in general.Removing
your hat while indoors is a sign of respect and good manners. Manners, I believe are
the mark of a civilized society. It doesn’t matter if you are wearing your hat in a
restaurant or at your mother’s table (I bet most of these fools wouldn’t dare wear a hat
at mom’s table) — it is insulting to everyone at the table and those in the room. Grow
up, show some respect.-Paul B.
5. Being Interrupted
What really busts my balls is being interrupted while at work, especially when I’m
concentrating on something urgent and the cause is not work-related. I even canceled my
Blackberry service due to the constant messages I received from my wife and my mom. Guys,
if you need something, just try to be specific and if it isn’t urgent, send an email
instead of calling or showing up. Also, try to think before you speak. It saves everyone’s
time.-Daniel And finally:
6. PJs
People wearing pajamas all day.-AndyThanks to everyone who
sent in their rants. Now take a deep breath.
This month, Google
stopped being a company that gives people what they want and, dispensing with niceties,
became a company that forces its services on everyone. Three bold (and frankly stupid)
moves have provoked the ire of everyone but its board.The first move was
forcing new Google users into Google+ so that anyone using Gmail or YouTube would
instantly register hits on Google+, despite never using the service. The most recent move
was Google’s announcement that it will be sharing more user data between services
and almost all will fall under a unified user license term. The motivation is obvious:
Your personal
information is valuable and Google gets to sell it while pretending you use all the
other services like Google+.In another recent desperate move, Google started
promoting its Google+ social network results over Facebook
and Twitter in web search results. Google claims the latter is due to unresolved terms
with Twitter, but forgive me if I’m cynical in thinking it’s become one of
those good problems, not one it’s eager to solve. This is the first time I’ve ever
been tempted to use Bing. Sure, the irony of opting for a Microsoft service as the more
private and fair option isn’t lost on me, but I’m interested in search
results, not Google results. Microsoft may be late to the open standards love parade, but
it beats backtracking, and, hey, it indexes tweets.It’s hard to defend
such a stark break from objectivity, something people assumed was Google’s strength
– you searched the internet, it showed a relatively unedited version of that. Not
anymore. Some people have called this the “portalization” of Google. Google,
meet AltaVista, the other search engine of yore.Continue Reading
Forget pickup
lines — some good old-fashioned chivalry works just as well. A new study suggests
that flowers
work wonders for men as women find males more attractive when flowers are
nearby. Dr. Nicolas Gueguen, a psychologist from the University of South
Brittany, analyzes the science of attraction and ran the study. In the first part, he
asked 46 female students to sit in a room on their own and watch a video of a guy speaking
about himself. Half of the women sat in a room with three vases of different flowers and
the other half didn’t. The women in the room with flowers consistently found the man
more attractive and were more willing to date him. The second part of the
study involved 122 single
women, who took turns interacting with the same man for five minutes. Even though he
followed the exact same conversational script with every woman, 81% of the women accepted
his request for a date in the flowered room compared to merely 50% in the flowerless
environment. And you thought flower-power only worked for Mario and Luigi. Continue Reading