Alphabetize Your Keyboard

Eat your heart out Dvorak

The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator

Ever wanted to quickly and easily define your own keyboard layout for a language Microsoft doesn't support? Or define your own keyboard layout so you can quickly and easily enter your favorite symbols with a simple keystroke? Well, want no more: the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator is here!

The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (MSKLC) extends the international functionality of Windows 2000+, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 or Windows Vista (MSKLC will not run on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME or Windows NT4) by allowing users to:

• Create new keyboard layouts from scratch
  
• Base a new layout on an existing one
  
• Modify an existing keyboard layout and build a new layout from it
  
• Multilingual input locales within edit control fields.
  
• Package the resulting keyboard layouts for subsequent delivery and installation.

Global Development and Computing Portal:
Windows Keyboard Layouts
(many different language keyboards)


Belarusian keyboard

Also see: Dvorak anyone?


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Cheerios Stops Itching

And other stuff

Joey Green has written a book about other uses for everyday products like:

• "Relieve itching from chicken pox, poison ivy, poison oak, or pain from sunburn. Pour two cups Cheerios in a blender and blend into a fine powder on medium-high speed. Put the powdered Cheerios into a warm bath and soak in the oats for thirty minutes. It's a soothing oatmeal bath.
  
  
  
• Make "Cheerios Chicken." Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a jelly-roll pan (15.5 inches by 10.5 inches by 1 inch) with aluminum foil. Mix two cups finely crushed Cheerios (from the yellow box), one-quarter teaspoon pepper, one teaspoon parsley flakes, one-quarter teaspoon garlic powder, one-quarter teaspoon dried oregano leaves, and one-half teaspoon salt. Dip four chicken-breast halves (skinned and boned) into one-quarter cup milk, then roll in cereal mix until well coated. Place chicken in pan and drizzle with two tablespoons melted margarine. Bake until done, about twenty to twenty-five minutes. (Above 3,500 feet elevation, bake about thirty minutes.) Makes four servings."

Wacky Uses


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Postal Codes

International

Don't assume that the ZIP code (or postal code, as it is referred to in many countries outside the United States) has any particular format or length, or that it comprises only digits. For instance, Canadian postal codes consist of two groups of three characters, such as "M5R 3H5"; a French postal code is a five-digit number, as in 92300. In some places, people might add a country or region code in front of the postal code (for example, F-92300)

Universal Postal Union:
Postcodes


Graham Rhind:
Links to Postal Code pages
Graham Rhind has specialized for over 14 years in international address and postal code methodologies.


Columbia University
Frank's Compulsive Guide to Postal Addresses

Word will not create a bar code for a Canadian postal code. Under the Canadian postal system, the post office applies bar coding to mail.

More Postal/Zip Stuff:

Melissa data

Campaign Contributions

Individuals that have contributed $200 or more to federal campaigns by ZIP Code.

Canadian Addresses

Lookup any Canadian address and get the Postal Code, time zone and area code.

Income Tax Statistics

Income tax information by ZIP Code. Includes average AGI, number of returns, average refund, filing status, age and more.

Nearest Post Office

Locate the 10 closest post offices to a ZIP Code that accept bulk mail.

Occupants by ZIP

Generate a count of occupant delivery addresses by ZIP Code. Order your Occupant list online.

U.S. Addresses

Lookup any U.S. address and get the ZIP+4 code, area code, time zone, county, address type, street detail and more.

ZIP Codes by County

Obtain a list of the ZIP Codes in any county in the United States.

ZIP Distance

Displays the distance between any two 5-digit ZIP Codes in the United States.

ZIP-City-Phone

Lookup ZIP Codes, city names, the location of phone numbers or the cities covered by an area code.

ZIPs in a Radius

Displays a listing of the ZIP Codes that fall within a radius.

Here are some great links:

Barcode Yourself

Barcode clock


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Folding Tips

Bending cloth

Just to break up a boring dinner setting, learn how to fold napkins.

(things to do while waiting for the news)



Napkin Folding Guide



Napkin Folds

Napkin Folding Tips


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Calculators on the Web

Figure the vigorish

It's sometimes easier to use a preset calculator than it is to write your own in Excel.
Here's a collection of sites:

• Auto Calculators
  
  
• Bond Calculators
  
  
• Budget Calculators
  
  
• College Calculators
  
  
• Credit Card Calculators
  
  
• Home Calculators
  
  
• Insurance - Disability Calculators
  
  
• Insurance - Health Calculators
  
  
• Insurance - Life Calculators
  
  
• Life Expectancy Calculators
  
  
• Choose-to-Save - Life Expectancy
  
  
• Mutual Fund Calculators
  
  
• Paycheck Planning Calculators
  
  
• Retiree Health
  
  
• Retirement Calculators
  
  
• Roth IRA Calculators
  
  
• Savings Calculators
  
  
• Social Security Calculators
  
  
• Social Security Administration - Estimate Your Potential Benefit
  
  
• Stock Calculators
  
  
• Tax Calculators

Calculators


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Hi, Ho, the Vizeo

Free Demos and templates

Have you ever played with Visio?
This site provides demos. Templates and trials.

These templates are available:

• Sarbanes-Oxley Pivot Diagrams
  
  
• Help Desk Flow
  
  
  

  "Here you will see the six data collection points for this example help desk. Call volumes, wait times, and resolution rates are tracked at each point in the process. The diagram flows from left to right and top to bottom. Not every caller will experience each of the steps, if a problem is resolved by a Level One technician, then the caller does not progress to the Level Two technician.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Fault Tree Analysis
  
  
• PC Assembly Process Flow
  
  
• Supply Chain Analysis
  
  
• Value Stream Mapping
  
  
• Factory Floor Assembly Plan
  
  
• Loan Consolidation Process
  
  
• Investment Analysis Report
  
  
• HVAC Controls
  
  
• Military Organization Chart
  
  
• Network Equipment Rack
  
  
• Insurance Claims by State
  
  
• Audit Process
  
  
• Office Space Planning

Visio Toolbox


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Snowflake Patterns

Cut your own

You can create your own cutout snowflakes and the down load the patterns.









Pinterest.com - snowflake drawing easy


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Shuffle Music

Like those fruity machines

Microsoft Media player can do more things than just play the odd sound file. You can set it up to go through a play list is random order; playing music all day long.



Shuffle Sort


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Scrub DVD Scratches

Methods tested

Which is better toothpaste or Brasso when it comes to cleaning that DVD?

Or



Paul Michael has done the testing for you and provides videos of the results.


Removing scratches


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Resume Writing

Get a Job

There are a number of templates installed in Word that will help in creating a good looking resume.
Get started on your job hunt with Word templates

Here are some suggestions about what a resume should look like:

About.com
Resume and Cover Letter Guide

The Riley Guide:
Prepare Your Resume for Emailing or Posting on the Internet


Want to work for Microsoft?

Microsoft's Zoe Goldring and Gretchen Ledgard:
What is it like to interview at Microsoft?

Chris Sells:
Interviewing at Microsoft

Blog:
Technical Careers@Microsoft


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Read All About IT

Excel reading

Bastien Mensink, from the Netherlands, runs ASAP-Utilities.com.

He has aggregated the headlines from a number of Excel Blogs.

If you don't have them as part of your RSS list, you should.

Weblog Headines


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Foley Sounds

Clip Clop

Here's a subject you have heard about:

A Foley Artist 'recreates' sound effects for film, television and radio productions on a Foley Stage in a Post Production Sound Studio.
Using many different kinds of shoes and lots of props - car fenders, plates, glasses, chairs, and just about anything found at the side of the road - the Foley Artist can replace original sound completely or augment existing sounds to create a richer smoother track.
Almost every motion picture and television show you have ever seen and heard contains a Foley track!

NPR presented this story:
Jack Foley: Feet to the Stars

Also:
Art of Foley

Film Sound Q&A


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Learn to Draw

No match cover required

Do you want to learn how to draw? Now you can online! Learn how to draw like an artist, from a professional artist. Begin by learning the fundamentals of drawing with easy to follow interactive instruction.

Learn how to draw a person and make it actually look like the person! Take drawing people further and learn how to draw a caricature of a person!

• DRAWING BASICS
  You don't know how to draw? Begin learning how to draw.
  
  
• DRAWING PEOPLE
  You know how to draw, but you can't draw people.
  
  
• DRAW CARICATURES
  You want to draw funny people, but you don't know how?

LearntoDraw.com


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Download 2013 Books

On the Internet shelf

• Downloadable book: Getting started with Office 2013
  
  
  
• Downloadable and printable content (available in .doc, .pdf, or .xps file formats) about how to get started with Office 2013.
  
  
• Downloadable book: Planning guide for Office 2013
  
  
  
• Downloadable and printable content (available in .doc, .pdf, or .xps file formats) about how to plan a deployment of Office 2013.
  
  
• Downloadable book: Deployment guide for Office 2013
  
  
  
• Downloadable and printable content (available in .doc, .pdf, or .xps file formats) about how to deploy Office 2013.
  
  
• Downloadable book: Group Policy for Office 2013
  
  
  
• Downloadable and printable content (available in .doc, .pdf, or .xps file formats) about how to deploy and configure an installation of Office 2013.
  
  
• Downloadable book: Operations guide for Office 2013

and more.

Technet.Microsoft.com


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Translate on the Fly

Translate Text

Ahora usted puede exhibir un grado de la sofisticación que excede tu conocimiento


On the Tools menu, click Research.

1. In the Search for list, select Translation.
   
2. To change the languages used for translation, in the Research task pane, under Translation, select the languages you want to translate from and to.

Do one of the following:

• To translate a specific word, press ALT and click a word. The results appear under Translation in the Research task pane.
  
• To translate a short sentence, select the words, and then press ALT and click the selection. The results appear in the Research task pane under Translation.
  
• To translate a whole document, in the Research task pane, under Translation, click Translate whole document A translation of your document appears in your Web browser
  
• To translate a word or phrase, type the word or phrase in the Search for box, and then click Start Searching .

Also see:

• Babel Fish
  
• Google Language Tools
• LangToLang.com
  
• Promt Online Translator
  
• Foreignword.com

Speaking of translating a fly, here's another kind of translation: BzzzPeek A collection of 'onomatopoeia' from around the world using sound recordings from native speakers imitating the sounds of mainly animals and vehicles.


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A Way Cool Paint-Picker

Just slap it on

If you have decided to paint your home, or just this inside of the downstairs coat closet, the Behr paint people have a neat tool.

Color Smart

You still have to slop the paint on yourself, though.

Here are other color generators:

Top 8 Color Tools

EasyRGB matches generated RGB values to paints, inks, etc.


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Color Blind

Be seen by all

Books on web design warn against using the colors red and green.

One out of twenty people have problems with some form of color blindness.

Here is a site that will let you check your web pages. You will be able to see the page as it appears to someone with one of the three main types of color deficit.

Vischeck

Normal



Deuteranope color blindness





Colorblind Web Page Filter


How do things look to Color Blind People


Web Colors


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Tiny Trebuchet

Pumpkin (seed) flinger

Something there is that is fascinated by hurling things through the air. The medievals tossed oil and rocks.
Today it's mostly Fall vegetables.

Here's away to bring the machine down to desk level and make cubical living even more dangerous.



Build your own 3" trebuchet out of paperclips

Also:
Build a Trebuchet in your backyard


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Calendar Templates

New days

Here are calendars that you can produce using Word, PowerPoint, or even Visio.

Calendars

Also see
Make a Calendar

"For each month of each year featured, there are a variety of printable calendar pages for you to choose from. You can print out calendar pages that include coloring pages, selected craft projects, and special days to celebrate. "

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Shoelaces

What's to know?

Fun, fashion & science in this quirky site about shoelaces. Whether you want to learn to lace shoes, tie shoelaces, stop shoelaces from coming undone, calculate shoelace lengths or even repair aglets, Ian's Shoelace Site has the answer!

Fieggen.com


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