Blog Archives

Ditch the Granny Knot to Tie Your Shoes More Efficiently [Knots]

The difference between shoes tied with a balanced, neat, and self-tightening knot versus those tied with an unbalanced, sloppy, and loose knot, is all in how you make your first loop.

Over at Runner’s World they’ve put together an instructional video to go along with an informative article on the difference between Granny Knots and Reef Knots. Well tied shoes are important to runners, but anyone can benefit from the simple change in knot tying-methodology outlined in the video below:

By simply altering the direction of the first loop you make when tying your shoes you can produce a neater knot that is less prone to coming untied. If the Reef Knot caught your eye, you may want to check out another interesting knot we’ve covered: the “world’s fastest shoelace knot, a.k.a. the Ian Knot. Have a bit of knot tying lore to share? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

Fit to be Tied [Runner's World]






Use a Bungee Cord to Chop Wood More Efficiently [MacGyver Tip]

Chopping wood is a satisfying, yet laborious, task. Give yourself an efficiency boost with this simple bungee cord organization video tip.

Photo by Muffet.

When chopping large diameter logs into more manageable and fireplace-friendly sizes, it can be a pain to keep all the pieces upright as you split them. Check out the video below to see how the simple addition of a bungee cord means you’ll spend more time chopping and less time setting up logs to be split.

Bungee cord or not, that guy is a wood-chopping machine. Have a tip or trick related to chopping wood or heating your home with it? Let’s hear about it in the comments.






TypingWeb Offers Free Typing Lessons [Keyboards]

Whether you’re an able but slow touch typist, or you never graduated beyond hunting and pecking, TypingWeb is a free and easy to use online typing tutor that will help you hone your keyboard chops.

There is no registration necessary, you can dive right in and try out the basic lessons. Registering for an account lets you save your progress and other statistics. Along with a clean and easy to use interface, what sets TypingWeb apart from other free typing tutors is the ability to change the language and keyboard layout. Want to learn Dvorak without tearing your current keyboard apart? Learning to type on a keyboard other than an English QWERTY layout? Swap out the keyboard in the settings section.

TypingWeb is structured to take you from the home row all the way to efficiently using infrequent keys and key combination. There are also actually enjoyable typing games, unlike the lame typing games you may recall from grade school typing tutors. TypingWeb is free, but if you want to get rid of the ads, you can pay a one-time $9.99 fee to turn TypingWeb ad-free. Thanks Kratos!





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