The Noob Phone Boon

In the beginning, there were only a few choices of phones. They were simple, easy, and basic. Then came the advent of bigger, better phones with more features and abilities. Now, we’re in the age of smartphones. Hundreds of styles, features, and options can be baffling to the first time – or noob – buyer. How does one filter through the myriad of options and choices without losing his or her sanity? Perhaps a simple and easy to follow plan might be in order. Wouldn’t you know, we just happen to have one for you.

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Just a Cat Sitting On Some Stairs…

Cats are everywhere, on your social networks, bookmarking sites, Google, and if you are an owner of one, they are even in your house. Some of us absolutely love cats and could not live without them, while others may be more of a dog lover.

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Visit the World of Red Bull in 2013

What do Motorcross, F1 Racing, skiing and outer space all have in common? Red Bull! Athletes have represented and performed phenomenal feats with Red Bull and continue to become more and more extreme and impressive as time moves forward. Check out the recap video showcasing the shocking and amazing, action packed athleticism that can be achieved with Red Bull.

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How We Can Clean Up the Freight Trucking Industry

Stock management, warehouse inventory and transportation are all crucial elements of freight logistics. Freight trucking logistics mostly involve the management and coordination of inventory movement from one destination to another. It is the job of every freight trucking company to streamline the entire process so that inventory can be moved in the most cost effective manner. Several measures can be taken to improve and clean up the freight trucking industry.

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The Best Places to Look for After-Christmas Sales

The new Black Friday is the day after Christmas. Armed with gift cards and shirts that are too big, shoppers are heading back to stores to shop and return gifts for yet another bustling holiday season. As usual, stores are offering discounts to accommodate their customer’s willing wallet by extending hours and fresh promotions. Must-have deals are not as high as they were last year, however, dragging retailers’ expectations of after-Christmas sales down. Nevertheless, some stores are offering must-have bargains.

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How to Tell if Your Server is Safe

Keeping your server safe is one of the biggest concerns for website owners and IT managers. If your website is unsecured, it can lead to major hassles with downtime. It also can cost you business and make your customers very unhappy. This is a very bad scenario, so it is important to make sure your website is safe at all times. The best way to make sure that your server is safe is to keep it well protected. Follow these tips to ensure your server is safe and that you and your clients’ date is protected.

Keep Your Software Current

One of the easiest ways for hackers to penetrate your server’s security is by exploiting software that isn’t regularly updated. Prevent this by always installing any patches or updates to your server software the instant they become available. This is especially crucial when it comes to security updates. Keeping your software up-to-date is one of the most important steps in knowing that your server is safe.

Configure Things Offline

When it comes time to reinstalling server software or reconfiguring it, make sure to always do this offline. Anybody who makes changes to their server configurations while connected to the Internet is asking for trouble. While you are changing the software, your server will be unprotected. It is usually just a matter of minutes for an unprotected server to get attacked if it is online. Be smart and perform all of your server upgrades offline.

Keep Things Simple

One of the easiest ways to know that your server is safe is to keep its purpose simple. You should always use one server for one purpose. While you can use a server to run multiple applications, this will increase the chances of it getting attacked. If one of the applications becomes vulnerable, suddenly every other application that is on the server becomes vulnerable as well. Limiting the server’s purpose to one application is a great way to limit risk and know that your network is as safe as possible.

Keep Security Tight

The password for the server should be something very difficult to crack. It should have multiple cases, numbers and letters that make it as tough to crack as possible. The password should never be shared outside of the IT department, and it should be limited to as few personnel as possible. You should also regularly update the password for maximum security.

Use a Good Host

If your server is not on the premises of your business, then it is up to the host to maintain the security. This means you need to have a lot of trust in the hosting company. Using a reliable and trustworthy host like Singlehop is one of the best ways to know that your server is safe.

The Best College Memes of 2012

College students spend the majority of their time online.  While most of the time students are connected to the web is spent on useful pursuits and academic achievement, there is always time for distraction. Or, shall we say, students manage to find time to study amongst all of the distractions that the web provides. One of the best ways that students are distracted is by “memes”, which is pretty much any picture or video that goes viral, and then is, of course, replicated exponentially for maximum distraction potential. Indeed, writing the article took longer than usual because I found myself trapped in the grasp of the memes  – and these are the best ones I found.

The “Regulars”

Memes come in many forms, and one of the most popular is a single photograph of a “stereotypical” student with various captions.  One is the “college freshman” meme, who is a happy young man in a university sweatshirt – various captions include “Cites Wikipedia Article” and “Does laundry for the first time – dyes” (the sweatshirt in this one is pink).  There is also the “lazy college senior” meme, featuring a scruffy lad drinking a beer, with quotes like “Doesn’t do the reading, dominates class discussion” and “Paper due in 7 hours, hasn’t decided topic”.   There is also the “college liberal”, which is a photo of a girl with long dreadlocks and features many contradicting statements such as “Hormones in milk can be dangerous, drops acid purchased from a stranger”, and “Thinks laws will keep people from owning guns, smokes pot.”  Another favorite is a woman who is in her 70’s and represents the “nontraditional” student, with quotes like “Correct history professor, remembers being there.” These memes are designed to be funny for anyone who is in college, but those who design the memes went a step further to make distractions a bit more personal.

University memes

My alma mater has its own Facebook page dedicated to memes. A popular one that recurs on that page is “unicycle girl”, because there is a student who rides around campus on a giant unicycle, and she is the butt of many memes. Many major universities have developed their own meme Facebook pages to form a sort of camaraderie for the students and alumni of the university.   There’s even a list of the top 20 colleges where memes are “all the rage”.

Left out of memes

In all of my research, I did notice that there was a sector of colleges that were left out of the meme craze. Online schools are grossly underrepresented in the meme base, and online business management schools don’t make the meme base at all. So, if students from online schools are reading this, start making memes so that online schools can be made fun of, just like the rest of colleges.

What Were You Thinking?

We have all been there many times throughout our lives when we just weren’t thinking clearly or at all. Whether it is the time we locked our keys in our car or turned on the blender without putting the lid back on it, no matter what it is, we have all done something when, for some reason or another, our minds were vacant.

However, there have also been times when we have witnessed other people committing such acts, where we were compelled to ask, “Seriously, what were you thinking?”

Exhibit A:

[Photo via: Reddit]

Lunchbox level: Awesome

No kid likes to open up their lunchbox to find a soggy sandwich mashed with crumpled chips, heck, even as adults we hate it when our lunch gets destroyed, but it happens. However, these 4 pictures below show that it no longer has to be that way. With a little creativity put into each child’s meal; their lunchbox food can be taken to the next level, which is level awesome.

“My oh my, Miss Piggy’s eyes sure are blue” said Tony Stevens from Long Beach Restaurants. “I also like the way that they did up here hair with the pasta.”

[Photos via: Reddit]

The Six Cutest Animal Bath Accessories for (Human) Babies

All babies love animals, don’t they? Well, they’re babies so we really don’t know a lot about what they like. But what we do know is what we like to see our babies wearing: cute animals! Babies and animals seem to go hand in hand. And why not? Both of them are just so gosh darn cute!

This article will present you with the six cutest animal bath accessories currently on the market. If you’re not taking out your credit card by the end of the article, you need to get to the doctor because you may not have a heart in your chest!

Nursery Critter Wraps

These cute critter wraps for your very own critter are so adorable that you’ll want everybody to see your little rascal dressed as an elephant or a piggy. They’re functional items that will help keep your baby warm after their daily bath. Cute, functional, reasonable price. What are you waiting for? Pick up a nursery critter wrap (or a few) for your favorite little critter today.

Sea Animal Bath Set

Your little one has to take a bath. Well, what little ones love to have in the bath with them are toys. These cute little sea animals will keep your child occupied all throughout the bath, letting you relax and get through the bathing as quickly as possible.

Animal Bath Sponge

“This little piggy went to the bath…” Well, that’s not exactly how the famous nursery rhyme goes. However, this animal bath sponge in the shape of a pig will gladly get in the water with your children. These cute sponges will ensure that bath time is not a dirty affair!

Fisher Price Handy Hippo Bather

Hippos are known for being quite the bathing beauties in their natural habitats. Let this handy hippo bather from Fisher Price turn your child into a bathing beauty whenever they’re placed into it. The bather is of sturdy construction that will withstand the bathing rituals of any and all children you may have.

Fisher Price Animal Krackers Rinsin Fun Tub

Another fun tub for your gorgeous little one. This well constructed bath tub will help easily clean your little one without a lot of fuss and muss. At least from the tub. Your child may be a different story.

Fisher Price Precious Planet Whale of a Tub

Your child can have a whale of a time in this cute tub. Thar she blows!

If you want great baby bath products to use with these wonderful animal bath accessories, visit www.schoolofwash.com. Don’t forget that at School of Wash, you can also get bath products for yourself. Your kids don’t have to have all the fun. You need to get clean, too!