Basil

Kevin Grow, a high school senior with Down syndrome who lives in the Philadelphia area, has been signed by the Philadelphia 76ers to a two-day contract.

San Francisco Chronicle

Ex-Fla. cop accused in fatal shooting over texting San Francisco Chronicle WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. (AP) — An argument over texting in a Florida movie theater Monday triggered a retired Tampa police captain to fatally shoot a man sitting in front of him, as about 25 horrified moviegoers looked on, sheriff's officials said. "Somebody ... Retired cop guns down man for texting at Florida movie: sheriffNBCNews.com Dad's texting to daughter sparks argument, fatal shooting in movie theaterCNN Florida moviegoer shot dead during argument over textingWireUpdate ABC News -Reuters all 172 news articles »

It seems like common knowledge that once you land a job, you stop looking for new ones, right? Hannah Morgan explains that's not the case. In fact, if you want to futureproof yourself against layoffs or a job that's a terrible fit, and keep your connections and network strong, keep looking after you're signed an offer.

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Love feels like the greatest thing in the world... until it ends. When it does, we stop functioning at our full capacity. We lose motivation, find challenges insurmountable, and sometimes feel like we won’t love again. Fortunately, several studies have uncovered the root of why breakups just plain suck—and what you can do about it.

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Whether you're learning to code or are already an experienced programmer, this GitHub repository is an incredible resource of free programming books.

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Chrome: Whether you're inordinately loquacious or just really love gargantuan words, chances are you could use a dictionary on hand. Dictionary Bubble makes it as easy as possible, providing definitions with a double click.

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CyanogenMod, our favorite Android ROM, has expanded into its own company, Cyanogen Inc. They'll be launching an app that simplifies the installation process, new features, and aiming to update more devices faster. Check out their full blog post for more information.

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More than ever, we live in a read receipt world. Your friends (and enemies) know when you've seen their message. But it doesn't have to be that way in Facebook. There are several extensions that can help you keep your frenemies in the dark. The web apps experts at Stack Exchange offer up some options.

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I originally wrote this set of lessons and stories as a graduation present to a friend. After she found it helpful, I started sharing it with more and more people until it seemed best to just publish it for all the world.

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iOS: We all have those things we want to do more often, and while a to-do list can help, Radar doesn't just remind you to stay up on your repeated tasks, it gives you stats on how often you succeed.

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There are plenty of apps out there to help you find your lost phone, but what if you find someone else's, and want to return it?

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It's not always easy to measure precise distances on the fly with a tape measure. If you want a quick method, Instructables user bfk suggests punching out holes with a hole punch so you can quickly judge distance and make marks.

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A good interface gives you quick access to information with minimal confusion while looking good. This home screen design by werksmannschaft hits all those points.

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ABC News

Microsoft's 'Hail Mary' Nokia Deal: Too Little, Too Late? TIME A photo illustration shows the Microsoft logo displayed on a Nokia phone in Vienna September 3, 2013. Email · Print; Share. Facebook · Twitter · Tumblr · LinkedIn · StumbleUpon · Reddit · Digg · Mixx · Delicious · Google+. Comment. Follow @TIMEBusiness. The Nokia deal: Microsoft's last shot at a mobile futureThe Globe and Mail Deal Is Easy Part for Microsoft and NokiaWall Street Journal Savior or slayer? Either way, Nokia's Elop a contender for Microsoft chiefReuters BBC News -NDTV -Los Angeles Times all 2,095 news articles »

The Association of French Bakers is upset with lyrics from “I am God,” in which West raps “In a French-ass restaurant / Hurry up with my damn croissants.”

Another plan to go with out SUPERHERO workout series. Check out how Hugh Jackman got so ripped for his movie Wolverine... To look really great with your shirt off, adding muscle mass is only half the battle, in fact, less than half if you ask the ladies. An impressive looking body starts with well- defined muscles, so follow this workout program to get some impressive muscle definition.

Getting distracted by your phone while behind the wheel is bad, but darn it if your phone isn't tempting you with that notification. Get a glimpse of who's trying to get your attention with Botifier.

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Frugality isn’t a handful of big things that you do every once in a while to save cash. It’s a steady routine of little steps that, over time, add up to a big difference. Best of all, those little steps are the ones you choose. You can skip over the ones that impact your particular life in an unwanted way, but stick to the ones that cut spending in areas that you care a little bit less about.

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Web/iOS: We've talked about services that help you relax or help you be more productive with the sounds of falling rain, coffee shop buzz, or multiple soundscapes that you can choose, but if singing birds helps you focus (like it does for me), Birdsong.fm delivers in droves.

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"Be yourself" is great advice for learning to be comfortable and confident in your own skin. It's also horrible advice that can lead to character flaws being interpreted as "personality quirks".

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We can only work so much in a week without a day or two of rest before our productivity starts to quickly evaporate. That means we can make it to Friday with a lot to complete and yet very little energy. That leads to stress and—obviously—stress isn't so good for you. The solution? Front-load your week with the big stuff so you can afford to be less productive later on.

Elizabeth Grace Saunders, writing for productivity and ideas blog the 99u, explains:

Front-loading gives you the ability to stay on top of projects that take longer than expected without getting stressed or working into the wee hours of the night. Since all of your must-do’s are taken care of at least a few days in advance, you can easily move would-like-to-do’s to the next day. Also if a cool opportunity arises, you can make a spontaneous decision to take advantage of it because you don’t constantly have the pressure of racing to meet a deadline.

I had to get a lot finished in advance of a vacation I'm taking over the 4th of July break. In fact, when you're reading this, I'm gone! In order to get it all done, I front-loaded my week with the tougher tasks so they received the majority of my brainpower. It really makes a difference. You don't necessarily get more work done faster, but you do feel like a burden has been lifted thanks to having finished the tougher, more daunting projects.

Front-Load Your Week + 3 Other Stress-Busting Time Management Strategies | The 99u

iOS: We're fans of the Wake N Shake alarm clock because it really forces you to get up and out of bed by making your vigorously shake your phone before the alarm turns off. If you've wanted to give this evil wakeup call a try, you've always had to drop a couple of dollars, but for the next few days the app is free.

The sale is to celebrate a host of new features, including a complete redesign that makes Wake N Shake easier to use as a whole. Of course, the basic premise of the app, that you have to shake your phone vigorously before the alarm turns off, remains the same. Wake N Shake is certainly one of the more sadistic apps out there, but if you struggle to get up in the morning it's worth grabbing now while it's free.

Wake N Shake Alarm Clock | iTunes App Store

What’s more annoying than having a great wifi or Ethernet connection, but slow internet speeds? Nothing. Nothing is more annoying than that. When it happens to you—and it will, especially if you jump onto wifi access points at your favorite local businesses—you’re going to wish you could do anything to speed up your…

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You know the saying "Practice makes perfect." Here's similar advice from 37signal's Jason Fried: "You play like you practice." If you want to perform strongly in any area (from sports to business), you can't slack off in your practice, because what you do most of the time is what you get used to.

It's a simple, perhaps obvious concept, but Fried gives a great example of how the little things you do during practice can really make a difference later. Taking a self-defense class that incorporated fake handguns, the instructor repeatedly told the class to drop the gun on the ground instead of handing it over to their partners when it was time to switch turns.

That sounded weird. You’re right next to the person, why would you drop the gun so they had to pick it up?

Without having to ask why, the instructor explained himself: “If you practice handing the gun over to your partner now, you might end up handing the gun over to an actual assailant later. Don’t laugh, I’ve seen it happen.” Then he showed us surveillance camera footage of someone doing it in robbery.

It sounded ridiculous. Why would I ever give my gun to someone who’s attacking me? The answer is because if I practiced doing that earlier, I might do it later.

When humans are in stressful situations, we tend to fall back on our practice. If I practiced handing my gun over, I might mindlessly fall back on that when it mattered most.

So when you're gearing up for a big presentation, practicing for a test, or preparing for anything else, remember to be mindful of all the little things you're incorporating into your practice and don't cut corners.

You play like you practice | 37signals

Photo by Michael Coghlin.

According to MacRumors, Apple has reportedly started offering up a new repair service for iPhone 5 users where they'll replace a broken iPhone 5 display for $149 if you don't have AppleCare.

Typically with a broken display you'd have to replace your iPhone completely, which usually costs around $229 depending on the model. Now, Apple will replace your display for just $149, which is a pretty competitive price compared to other services. It's also cheaper than doing it yourself if the display itself is cracked. Apple hasn't actually officially confirmed the price, but a quick call to our local Apple Store confirmed the $149 price for a replacement so it's worth a shot if you need to replace your screen.

Apple Begins Offering In-Store iPhone 5 Display Replacements for $149 | MacRumors via CNET

To a lot of non-developers, learning to code seems like an impossibly daunting task. However, thanks to a number of great resources that have recently been put online for free— teaching yourself to code has never been easier. I started learning to code earlier this year and can say from experience that learning enough to build your own prototype is not as hard as it seems. In fact, if you want to have a functioning prototype within two months without taking a day off work, it’s completely doable.

Below, I’ve outlined a simple path from knowing nothing about software development to having a working prototype in eight weekends that roughly mirrors the steps I took.

Introduce Yourself to the Web Stack (10 Minutes)

The presence of unfamiliar terminology makes any subject seem more confusing than it actually is. Yipit founder/CEO Vin Vacanti has a great overview of some of the key terms you’ll want to be familiar with in language you’ll understand.

Get an Introductory Grasp of Python and General Programming Techniques (1 Weekend)

• Learn Python the hard way: Despite the title, the straightforward format makes learning basic concepts really easy and most lessons take less than 10 minutes. However, I found that the format didn’t work as well for some of the more advanced topics, so I’d recommend stopping after lesson 42 and moving on.

• Google’s Python class: Read the notes and / or watch the videos and do all of the associated exercises until you get them right—without looking at the answers. Struggling through the exercises I kept getting wrong was the best learning experience. I would have learned far less had I just looked at the answers and tried to convince myself that I understood the concepts.

These two resources are somewhat substitutable and complementary. I recommend doing the first few lessons from both to see which you like better. Once you’ve finished one, skim through the other looking for concepts you aren’t fully comfortable with as a way to get some extra practice.

Get an Introductory Understanding of Django (1 Weekend)

• Work through the Django tutorial.

• Delete all your code.

• Work through the tutorial again, from scratch.

The first time I went through the tutorial I inevitably ended up just following the instructions step-by-step without really understanding what each step did since everything felt so new.

The second time through I wasn’t as focused on the newness of the concepts was better able to focus on understanding how all the parts work together.

Get a Deeper Understanding of Python/General Programming Concepts (2-4 Weekends)

• Udacity’s intro CS class: Udacity’s courses are generally 7 session classes (2-3 hours per session) that you can at your own pace. (I’m a huge fan of Udacity’s pedagogy and recommend the intermediate programming class or the web development class as follow-ups to this two-month curriculum.)

• Unit 1 of MIT’s intro CS course: Really well taught and surprisingly approachable.

Again, I would sample each and see which you like the best. I ended up doing both but that was probably overkill.

Practice Building Simple Web Applications (1 Weekend)

• Work through a few of the exercises in Django by example. These exercises don’t hold your hand quite as much as the Django tutorial but they still provide a fair bit of guidance so I found it to be a nice way to start taking the training wheels off.

Build Your Prototype (1 Weekend)

• Build a prototype in just one weekend? Yes, you’ll be embarrassed by what it looks like (I sure was) but that’s the whole point.

That’s it. Eight weekends (or less) and you’ve gone from zero to a functioning prototype. Not so daunting after all is it?

Author's Note: It goes without saying that there's a huge difference between the relatively cursory amount of knowledge needed to build a simple prototype (the focus of this post) and the depth of knowledge and experience needed to be a truly qualified software engineer. If you want to learn all that it takes to build modern web applications at scale, getting professional web development experience at a fast-growing startup like Yipit is a great next step. If you’re smart, hard-working, and passionate about creating amazing consumer web experiences drop us a line at jobs@yipit.com—we’re always looking for great people to join our team.

How I Taught Myself to Code in 8 Weeks | Yipit Django Blog

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David Sinsky started at Yipit without any prior coding knowledge. Before long, he was a full developer contributing features directly into the code base.

Yipit collects local deals and online sales from thousands of sources and puts them in one place. Over 1 million people use Yipit to get a daily digest of the deals in their city and the online sales from the stores they follow.

Image remixed from ollyy (Shutterstock).

Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Tessa.

Your willpower is constantly being tested, which makes things like eating healthier, exercising more often, and waking earlier so very hard. The good news is there's one powerful way to train our brains for more self-control. That's right, meditation.

Studies on the many benefits of meditation have been pouring in lately. The PicktheBrain blog notes that research indicates that just three hours of meditation can increase self-control and focus, while after eleven hours changes in the brain are visible.

If you want to increase your willpower, try this three-step meditation technique:

Kelly McGonigal [author of The Willpower Instinct (who also reminds us that we should remember our goals and values to form better habits)] says that the following meditation technique will get the blood rushing to your prefrontal cortex, which is pretty much the closest we can get to speeding up evolution and making the most of our brain’s potential:

1. Sit still and stay put. You can either sit on a chair with your feet flat on the ground or sit on the floor with your legs crossed. Try to resist the impulses to move: see if you can ignore itches and urges to change your position. Sitting still is an important part of mediation because it teaches you not to follow your impulses automatically.

2. Turn your attention to your breath. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. In your mind, say “inhale” when you breathe in, and “exhale” when you breathe out. When you notice that your mind is wandering, bring it back, and keep focusing on your breathing. This activates prefrontal cortex and quiets the stress and craving centres of your brain.

3. Notice how it feels to breathe and how the mind wanders. After a few minutes, drop the words “inhale” and “exhale”, and focus solely on the sensation of breathing. Your mind might wander a bit more without these words. However, when you notice that you are thinking about something else, bring your attention back to breathing. You can say “inhale” and “exhale” for few rounds when you find it hard to refocus. This part helps to train both self-awareness and self-control.

This is much like the simple (though not necessarily easy) practice of meditating we've outlined before. The "inhale" and "exhale" cues, however, can be particularly useful when training your brain for better focus.

PicktheBrain calls meditation "willpower on steroids." Hit up the link below for more on increasing your willpower.

The Science of Self-Control: Can You Increase Your Willpower? | PicktheBrain

Photo by Wiertz Sébastien.