Life Hacks and Other Holiday Tips

With the holidays fast approaching, stress can easily creep in to your days. Here are some tricks to make life easier.

And if you're entertaining, you might like to fold those napkins in a creative way. This video by Grant Thompson (as was the one above) shows you how:

Enjoy! I hope your December is off to a great start!

Lessons from Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield

If you've been in the United States (and maybe other places) lately, you've heard of astronaut Chris Hadfield. He retired in July after an illustrious career, but he's written a book that is getting raves: An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination and Being Prepared for Anything

He has also given numerous interviews, including this one on NPR. But what has caught the attention of even more people of late is the fact that when he was on the International Space Station during his last mission there earlier this year, he recorded a YouTube video of David Bowie's Space Oddity. At the moment it has more than 18 million views.

Your Life (in Jelly Beans)

Using jelly beans to represent the days of our lives, Ze Frank asks some serious questions about how we spend our time. How will you spend your jelly beans (days)?

Music Keeps Us Young

What a fun video! A group of men at a Tim Horton's in Canada break into song. (I'm assuming that they're a member of a chorus. They sound far too good and their harmony is too practiced for this to be totally impromptu. Still, what a treat for the other people in the restaurant)!

A Man Who Pays It Forward

This story is from 4 years ago, but this is the second time in two days that I've heard people discussing "paying it forward," so I just had to post it:

An Optimistic View of the Future

This video is a tribute to those people who, by their big dreams, have changed the world. It's meant to inspire us to continue to dream.

I was a bit saddened and taken aback by a few in the comments section of YouTube who called it rubbish. Without the dreamers of the world, where would be be today? Thank goodness for those people who look to the future and make it better. (And no, I don't think all change is for the better. I know that sometimes costly mistakes are made, but...if the alternative is stagnation, I prefer the occasional mistake).

In Praise of Smiles, Laughter and Making Lemonade Out of Lemons

You've seen this before (or I have). The photographer poses the wedding party on a wooden dock and the dock collapses. What I like about this one is the way everyone took it in good stride, even the bride. I've been to a lot of weddings and I've forgotten a lot of them. This unexpected finale may not be what the bride and groom wanted, but they'll certainly never forget it. No one was hurt, and everyone smiled and laughed. I like that (but I'd still advise against those dock photos in the future).

The Power of Perseverance

This video is going viral. It's the story of Arthur Boorman, a paratrooper in the Gulf War who blew out his back and knees, suffered from depression, gained a lot of weight and couldn't walk unassisted. Having been turned away by numerous yoga instructors, he found one willing to help him. Here's the story of what happened.



via Viral Viral Videos

Heartbreaking Story

Warning: If you don't want to cry or be sad, don't proceed any further. In fact, I hesitated to even post this video from The Moth, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the art of storytelling because it's such a personal and heart-wrenching story. But it also has a message (I think) about illusions, about looking beyond the surface. Even more than that is the lesson of putting things in perspective and realizing what matters most in life, so for that reason, I'm sharing it.

90 Days Without A Phone or Social Networking

I wasn't overly fond of the title of this video, and yes, I do get the irony of a video about going without technology appearing on a blog pretty much dedicated to (and dependent on) technology, but I always find it interesting and intriguing when people simplify their lives and swim against the tide.

Keep Smiling!

A jaded school photographer lets his bad mood spill over onto his subjects until...



I love the way this ends!