British Airways loses 15-20,000 bags since Thursday at supremely b0rked Heathrow Terminal 5

The much-ballyhooed opening of Heathrow's £4 billion Terminal 5 has been a debacle. British Airways has canceled 208 flights since Thursday, and has "stranded" between 15,000 and 20,000 bags. Area hotels are crammed with stuck BA passengers and are gouging on pricing, prompting BA to lift its stingy (and possibly illegal) £100 limit on hotels for stuck passengers. This is the terminal with the that just cancelled its crackpot fingerprinting procedure -- passengers are fingerprinted at check-in and at boarding.
British Airways loses 15-20,000 bags since Thursday at supremely b0rked Heathrow Terminal 5

Top 5 reasons why “The Customer Is Always Right” is wrong

The phrase “The customer is always right” was originally coined by Harry Gordon Selfridge, the founder of Selfridge’s department store in London in 1909, and is typically used by businesses to:
Convince customers that they will get good service at this company
Convince employees to give customers good service
Fortunately more and more businesses are abandoning this maxim - ironically because it leads to bad customer service.
Top 5 reasons why “The Customer Is Always Right” is wrong

Free web-based Photoshop arrives

It took a year rather than six months, but Adobe Photoshop Express has finally arrived - at least in beta. Photoshop Express is a web-based photo storage, editing and sharing service. Adobe is presenting it as a tool for the masses.
Free web-based Photoshop arrives

Ten reasons to turn off automatic email checking on your phone

Six months ago I turned off automatic email downloading on my phone; it was one of the best decisions I’ve made. Having access to email on the go is helpful (as is web access), but downloading email automatically does more harm than good.
Ten reasons to turn off automatic email checking on your phone

How to embellish your life story without getting caught

The past month has not been kind to literary fabricators. The self-proclaimed half-Native American/foster child/South Central gangster Margaret B. Jones turned out to be Margaret Seltzer, a white girl from the leafy suburb Sherman Oaks. Misha Defonseca confessed that her Holocaust memoir, in which she traversed Europe, escaped Nazis, and lived with a pack of wolves, was a fantasy. Both revelations recall the fallout after James Frey's 2003 addiction memoir A Million Little Pieces turned out to be partially fabricated.
How to embellish your life story without getting caught

Best Digital Photo Organizer?

Today, the debut of the Hive Five Call for Contenders puts out the question: What's the best way to organize your digital photos?
Best Digital Photo Organizer?

Ten very idiosyncratic tips for having fun on a family vacation

Was it Jerry Seinfeld who said, “There’s no such thing as fun for the whole family?”
I disagree—but I’ve hit on certain tips that do help keep things fun. I’m not sure they’re universally helpful, but they’ve helped me.
Ten very idiosyncratic tips for having fun on a family vacation

25 Ways to Simplify Your Life with Kids

Anyone who has kids knows that any life with kids is going to be complicated, at least to some degree. From extra laundry to bathing and cooking and shopping and driving and school and chores and crises and sports and dance and toys and tantrums, there is no shortage of complications.
25 Ways to Simplify Your Life with Kids

Free Ways to Synchronize Folders Between Computers

Nothing sucks worse than getting to the office in the morning and realizing you left the most recent copy of an important file—whether it's your to-do list or a PowerPoint presentation—on your home computer. No matter where you are and what computer you're using, you always want the most updated set of documents and files you've got without having to carry 'em around on a thumb drive.
Free Ways to Synchronize Folders Between Computers

The Door to Hell

This place in Uzbekistan is called by locals “The Door to Hell”. It is situated near the small town of Darvaz. The story of this place lasts already for 35 years.
The Door to Hell

You’ll Never Moonwalk Alone

On July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the moon. He didn’t moonwalk alone – ‘Buzz’ Aldrin joined him on the surface – and he didn’t walk far.
After travelling hundreds of thousands of kilometers, the landing crew of the Apollo 11 lunar mission barely covered an area the size of a football pitch.
You’ll Never Moonwalk Alone

Carnival Scams of 1930

This June, 1930 Modern Mechanix article on the cheats used in carny midway games is great -- it's amazing how many of these cons are still in use today.
Carnival Scams of 1930

Migration, Australia, 2006-07

Young adults proved to be the most mobile segment of the population during 2006-07, topping the figures for both overseas migration as well as interstate moves, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Overall, net overseas migration added 177,600 people to Australia's population during 2006-07.
Migration, Australia, 2006-07

The Power of Power Naps

Sleep is such a fundamental biological drive that it's shared by practically every species, from fruit flies to humans. Indeed, sleep is so essential that animals will die as quickly from sleep deprivation as they will from food deprivation.
The Power of Power Naps

The cost of food: Facts and figures

Explore the facts and figures behind the rising price of food across the globe.
The cost of food: Facts and figures

Smart Eating at Work

Top 10 all-around picks, in no specific order, to stash at your desk or in your office fridge.
Smart Eating at Work

Causes of Death, Australia, 2006

Presents statistics on the number of deaths for year of registration by state or territory of Australia, sex, selected age groups, and cause of death classified to the World Health Organisation's International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
Causes of Death, Australia, 2006

Climate facts to warm to

CATASTROPHIC predictions of global warming usually conjure with the notion of a tipping point, a point of no return.
Last Monday - on ABC Radio National, of all places - there was a tipping point of a different kind in the debate on climate change. It was a remarkable interview involving the co-host of Counterpoint, Michael Duffy and Jennifer Marohasy, a biologist and senior fellow of Melbourne-based think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. Anyone in public life who takes a position on the greenhouse gas hypothesis will ignore it at their peril.
Duffy asked Marohasy: "Is the Earth stillwarming?"
Climate facts to warm to

Top 10 Software Easter Eggs

Sure we like our chocolate bunny ears, but around these parts the best easter eggs aren't painted pink and stuffed with jelly beans—they're the undocumented and unexpected fun features hidden deep inside various software apps.
Top 10 Software Easter Eggs

Could Aging Mirror Scare You Straight?

Persuasive Mirror and Web Site Shows People How They Will Age Based on Lifestyle.
Could Aging Mirror Scare You Straight?

Get Higher-Resolution YouTube Videos with a URL Hack

YouTube announced in November that they would be testing out encoding videos at higher resolutions (and with higher-quality audio encoding). Now it appears that a small sampling of uploaded videos can already be seen at their higher resolutions, simply by adding a little tag to the end of the video's URL.
Get Higher-Resolution YouTube Videos with a URL Hack

Read DOCX Files in Internet Explorer

Question: How do you quickly read a docx document on some computer that has no Microsoft Office Word 2007 and is neither connected to the Internet (online conversion is therefore ruled out).
Read DOCX Files in Internet Explorer"

Low-cost ways to conserve water at home

If you live in an area where water shortages are not an issue, consider yourself lucky. Nearly 450 million people in 29 countries face severe water shortages.
Low-cost ways to conserve water at home

Getting to Good Enough

Do you strive for perfection? Do you spend hours obsessing over the tiniest details of your life until they’re exactly right? Do you feel uncomfortable when everything in your life isn’t “just so”? Are you prepared for every eventuality, even the most unlikely?
Getting to Good Enough

Absurd Entries in the OED

All dictionaries have mistakes. Ghost words creep in, there are occasional misspellings, or perhaps the printer was hung over one day and misplaced some punctuation. In addition to these normal forms of human error there are others that are created by language, as it continues its inexorable change, rendering definitions and spellings obsolete. Furthermore, as the science of lexicography itself advances, certain things, such as etymologies, that made sense a hundred years ago, begin to look suspect in a modern light.
Absurd Entries in the OED

Adventures in Rechargeable Batteries

Every self-respecting geek loves gadgets. I'm no exception. And so many of my favorite gadgets have a voracious appetite for batteries. I don't know why all the other battery types fell so far out of favor, but between AA and AAA, I could probably power 95% of my household gadget needs.
Adventures in Rechargeable Batteries

Finished Installing Windows Vista SP1 ? Now Remove All The Junk Files

When you install Windows Vista Service Pack 1 on your computer, the SP1 installer will not remove the older versions of Vista files from the hard drive. This is because the older files may be required in case you decide to uninstall SP1 later from the system.
Finished Installing Windows Vista SP1 ? Now Remove All The Junk Files

A Near-Free, Great Alternative to Microsoft Office

If you and your colleagues use the Microsoft Office suite of productivity applications, you’re probably very familiar with how much the suite costs and perhaps the high cost of licensing the applications. Of course, there are completely free alternatives to the Office suite, such as the open source suite OpenOffice, but my favorite alternative falls just between costly Microsoft Office and free OpenOffice: Software 602’s PC Suite.
A Near-Free, Great Alternative to Microsoft Office

How To Get People Addicted To You And Take Control

There is a special little secret ingredient which is responsible for getting people addicted to you, to love you, and to think of you as an irreplaceable person in their life. Right away you are thinking of how valuable it would be to have such power in romance, friendship and business.
How To Get People Addicted To You And Take Control

Photography and The Law: Know Your Rights

Say you’re out for a photographic stroll, taking pictures of that cool old power plant on the edge of town. Suddenly seventy security guards swarm you and demand you hand over your camera.
Photography and The Law: Know Your Rights

10 Ways to Control Your Cravings

You can lose weight by overcoming your cravings now. Here are the latest tricks of the trade from researchers and experts.
10 Ways to Control Your Cravings

Bad Movie Physics: A Report Card

Space epics almost always play fast and loose with science, treating the laws of physics like suggestions. Sound in space, unprotected bodies splatting in vacuum, and alien planets that all look just like Calabasas. But some movies dismember Newton and Einstein with way more gusto than others.
Bad Movie Physics: A Report Card

4 Things You Should Never Say to the CEO

If a "nice guy" runs your company, you might be able to say whatever's on your mind in the boardroom and get away with it. But most successful CEOs aren't nice guys -- they're very serious people, often edgy to the point of mania.
4 Things You Should Never Say to the CEO

Rudd confirms HMAS Sydney find

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has confirmed searchers have found the wreck of HMAS Sydney off the West Australian coast, solving Australia's greatest naval mystery.
The Sydney sunk in November 1941 after a battle with the German raider the Kormoran, killing all 645 crew on board.
Rudd confirms HMAS Sydney find

Complete Set of Social Atlases, 2006

The Social Atlas complements the products that are made available on the ABS website by providing an at-a-glance view of the major characteristics of all Australian capital city areas, and (for the first time) selected regional centres, providing a visually informative alternative to traditional tables and statistical spreadsheets.
The Social Atlas' use of easy to read thematic maps of capital cities, featuring new analysis of 2006 Census data, makes data easier to interpret and provides the groundwork for a wide variety of stories on current and emerging issues. A wide range of topics are covered relating to: population, cultural diversity, work, housing, families, education and training and economic resources.
Complete Set of Social Atlases, 2006

If you don’t exercise, at least stand up a lot!

A U.S. study has found that whether people exercise or not on a regular basis, simply standing up frequently throughout the day helps to increase the burning of fat and cholesterol within the body.
If you don’t exercise, at least stand up a lot!

Music 1000 albums

1000 albums to hear before you die...
Music 1000 albums

File Sharing: Share Large Files Instantly with EatLime

Brilliant new file sharing web site EatLime expedites online file sharing by allowing your friends to begin downloading the file as soon as you start uploading it, meaning you don't have to wait for the file to finish uploading before they begin downloading.
File Sharing: Share Large Files Instantly with EatLime

Bad luck at the casino? Blame your brain

Ever wondered why the horse you back never wins a race, or why any shares you buy promptly fall in value? It's not bad luck, researchers say. It's bad brainwaves.
Bad luck at the casino? Blame your brain

Latest new entries - Oxford English Dictionary

On 13 March 2008 the New Edition was updated with revised entries in a series of discrete alphabetical ranges, as well the addition of new entries from across the alphabet. In some ranges, not every entry was revised, as editorial effort was concentrated on the most significant groups of related words. In addition, about 30 virus names were revised across the alphabet.
Latest new entries - Oxford English Dictionary

The Australian Newspaper Plan

The Australian Newspaper Plan is an ambitious, ongoing project designed to collect and preserve every newspaper published in Australia, guaranteeing public access to these important historical records.
The Australian Newspaper Plan

Recycle or go to Hell, warns Vatican

Failing to recycle plastic bags could find you spending eternity in Hell, the Vatican said after drawing up a list of seven deadly sins for our times.
Recycle or go to Hell, warns Vatican

Make Yourself Stick With These First Impression Tips

When you’re interviewing for a job, one of the keys to success is your first impression. If you’re about to go in for an interview, maybe its time to re-evaluate the first impression you give off. Do you come off as likable? Do you exude professionalism and charm?
Make Yourself Stick With These First Impression Tips

ADrive: Big Bucket of Free Storage

There’s another way to compete in online file storage besides offering unique features: just offer a lot of storage. That’s the plan of ADrive, a new entrant in the market (currently in beta) giving out a whopping 50GB of online storage for free.
ADrive: Big Bucket of Free Storage

How to Cram for a College Exam

If you haven't cracked a book before now or if you just want to be as prepared as possible, cramming the night before an exam is a must. This how-to will guide you through the process.
How to Cram for a College Exam

How to Meditate

There are many different meditation methods, but at the core is the ability to focus and eventually quiet your mind. As you progress, you will find that you can meditate anywhere and at any time, accessing an inner calm no matter what's going on around you. But first, you have to learn to tame your mind.
How to Meditate

Top 10 Ways to Get Cables Under Control

When you finally decide it's time to do something about that rat's nest of cables that's spreading like kudzu, you don't have to spend a lot of time and money to get it under control. Whether you're looking to stow your headphone wires tangle-free in your gym bag, hide the ugly wire spaghetti you keep kicking further under your desk, or organize your gadget chargers and power plugs, we've got some cord management tricks for you.
Top 10 Ways to Get Cables Under Control

Flip Your Karma: 8 Tricks to Turn the Bad Into the Awesome

It’s inevitable: sometimes, life just doesn’t go your way.
Your schedule gets all messed up. You fail to follow your exercise plan. Someone is mean to you. You feel like quitting something. You want to curl into a little ball and cry.
Flip Your Karma: 8 Tricks to Turn the Bad Into the Awesome

The Shy Person's Guide to Talking to Strangers

One of the easiest ways to improve your networking ability and invigorate your social life is to develop the skill of talking to strangers.
The Shy Person's Guide to Talking to Strangers

Tech Support Gets a Reprieve While Users Take a Hit

It’s time to place half of the tech-support blame where it belongs: at the feet of Them. The Users.
Tech Support Gets a Reprieve While Users Take a Hit

20 very easy tips for lowering your daily stress level

When we’re stressed, we tend to become more stressed. That’s because when we’re rushed and harried, we cut corners. We don’t take the time to do the little things that, though not difficult or time-consuming themselves, can end up saving enormous amounts of time and trouble.
20 very easy tips for lowering your daily stress level

Empty Your Inbox with the Trusted Trio

Managing the steady stream of email that gathers in your inbox every day can feel like an impossible task. Not long ago, I kept a lengthening list of folders in my email software to track messages by topic, sender, project, urgency and any other context that seemed relevant that hour. I'd spend lots of time carefully dragging and dropping every message from my inbox into the folder it seemed to belong in that day.
Empty Your Inbox with the Trusted Trio

Planning a Kitchen Garden

What’s a “kitchen garden”? A kitchen garden merely refers to a garden that consists almost exclusively of plants intended to be eaten. Although one might put a few decorative plants around the edges of such a garden, the vast majority of the garden is intended for food.
Planning a Kitchen Garden

Rename Multiple Files Efficiently Using Excel or Google Docs

Renaming multiples files on your Windows computer is easy. Select all the files, press F2 and type some descriptive text. Windows will append a unique sequence number to each of the file names.
That’s a fairly quick solution but not very flexible because you don’t get to specify any choices or criteria.
Rename Multiple Files Efficiently Using Excel or Google Docs

Driftr Travel Blog

Driftr is a travel blogging site. The layout is very simplistic and rather elegant and it formats your trips in a uniformed manner. When viewing a trip, you’ll see the location marked on the map (in relation to all of your other visited locations). Further details are shown below, along with images, including suggested places to eat, visit, sleep, how to get around, and additional notes are found in the trip blog section.
Driftr Travel Blog Opens its Public Beta

History's Greatest Replies

Any attempt to compile history's greatest replies—or history's greatest anything, for that matter—is fraught with difficulty, so it might be more accurate to refer to the replies that follow as simply my all-time favorites. Most of them come from people whose names will be very familiar to you, and I think you will agree that the comebacks and retorts here are very special.
History's Greatest Replies

Getting Things Done Traveling Through Southeast Asia

Getting work done on the road when you visit another state for a few days is one thing, but flying halfway around the world with your laptop bag is a whole other ball of wax. The 13-hour flight, foreign power outlets, lack of or spotty Wi-Fi, and the pain that is hauling all your stuff onto ferries, tuk-tuks, and buses every few days can sure put a damper on mobile computing.
Getting Things Done Traveling Through Southeast Asia

Exercises for Better Focus and Concentration

You can find strong powers of concentration in yourself. When you are decisive and sincerely want to excel in your studies, pass an important exam, or playing one of your favorite games; the power of concentration becomes available to you. This kind of concentration is raised because of some need, or desire. Increasing it in a systematic way, brings it under your control, and grants you the ability to use it easily, with no exertion whenever you need it. Real and good concentration is developed slowly, through daily work, and with special exercises. It has to be approached in a reasonable and practical way.
Exercises for Better Focus and Concentration

The Best Free Software

157 software tools. No fees. No expiration dates. No problems. Sometimes even no downloads. No kidding.
The Best Free Software

12 Powerful Ways to Keep Your Online Life Simple and Peaceful

The true challenge of technology: how to get the most out of it without letting it overwhelm us. How to keep things simple but powerful. How to master technology without letting it become our master (to paraphrase Stephen Covey).
12 Powerful Ways to Keep Your Online Life Simple and Peaceful

All A-twitter

In this Web 2.0 age, we expect information to be immediate and distilled into readily digestible pieces.
I just read something disturbing: When Steve Jobs was asked at the recent Macworld Expo what he thought of Amazon's Kindle eBook reader, he said (as reported by The New York Times), "It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is; the fact is that people don't read anymore."
All A-twitter

Top 10 Strange Phenomena of the Mind

The mind is a wonderful thing - there is so much about it which remains a mystery to this day. Science is able to describe strange phenomena, but can not account for their origins. While most of us are familiar with one or two on this list, many others are mostly unknown outside of the psychological realm. This is a list of the top ten strange mental phenomena.
Top 10 Strange Phenomena of the Mind

7 Reasons to Drink Green Tea

The steady stream of good news about green tea is getting so hard to ignore that even java junkies are beginning to sip mugs of the deceptively delicate brew. You'd think the daily dose of disease-fighting, inflammation-squelching antioxidants--long linked with heart protection--would be enough incentive, but wait, there's more! Lots more.
7 Reasons to Drink Green Tea