抽中“比中马票还开心”！

 

 

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抽中“比中马票还开心”！

via 联合早报网 zaobao.com - 新加坡新闻 on 7/24/09

一个个乒乓球上的号码，承载着家长的希望。

 

 

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Use the Stranger Test to Reduce Impulse Purchases

 

 

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Use the Stranger Test to Reduce Impulse Purchases

via Lifehacker: Top by Jason Fitzpatrick on 7/22/09

When faced with a purchase, many people fall into the trap of only considering that they want it and can afford it—but that doesn't mean they should buy it. Cut down on impulse purchases by using the Stranger Test.

Photo by JMRosenfeld.

The Stranger Test is an excellent way to frame the financial significance of the purchase. How does it work? A reader from Five Cent Nickel explains:

When considering a purchase, picture a stranger offering you [the cash value of the purchase] or the item in question. Which is of greater value you? Which would you choose?

If a stranger were to come up and offer you $3 to not buy that cup of coffee you might reply "Thanks, but I'd really like this cup of coffee." But if your response over a bigger purchase like a new HDTV set or a computer would be "Hmmm $800 would be a pretty nice credit card payment..." it's probably best to put your funds to use fixing more immediate problems.

What tricks do you use to help yourself be more frugal? Sound off with your favorite ones in the comments below.

Save Money By Questioning Your Purchases [FiveCentNickel]

 

 

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Use the Stranger Test to Reduce Impulse Purchases

 

 

Sent to you by MarcG via Google Reader:

 

 

Use the Stranger Test to Reduce Impulse Purchases

via Lifehacker: Top by Jason Fitzpatrick on 7/22/09

When faced with a purchase, many people fall into the trap of only considering that they want it and can afford it—but that doesn't mean they should buy it. Cut down on impulse purchases by using the Stranger Test.

Photo by JMRosenfeld.

The Stranger Test is an excellent way to frame the financial significance of the purchase. How does it work? A reader from Five Cent Nickel explains:

When considering a purchase, picture a stranger offering you [the cash value of the purchase] or the item in question. Which is of greater value you? Which would you choose?

If a stranger were to come up and offer you $3 to not buy that cup of coffee you might reply "Thanks, but I'd really like this cup of coffee." But if your response over a bigger purchase like a new HDTV set or a computer would be "Hmmm $800 would be a pretty nice credit card payment..." it's probably best to put your funds to use fixing more immediate problems.

What tricks do you use to help yourself be more frugal? Sound off with your favorite ones in the comments below.

Save Money By Questioning Your Purchases [FiveCentNickel]

 

 

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Yuri Arcurs: Mr. Microstock

 

 

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Yuri Arcurs: Mr. Microstock

via Strobist by noreply@blogger.com (David) on 6/29/09

Do you dabble in stock photography? Maybe, say, a little microstock photography?

If you do, this is the guy you are up against.

To say Yuri Arcurs has the game figured out would be a bit of an understatement. He sells nearly 2,000 images a day, 24/7/365.

Hit the jump for a video tour of his insane, made-for-micro studio, and a look at his lighting techniques.
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Made for Micro

I have to admit that when I first started watching this I thought it was one of those parody videos. But then I realized that Yuri (a nom de photo used by Jacob Wackerhausen) has basically beaten the microstock equivalent of the Kobayashi Maru by creating an entire facility based around the needs of microstock.

Insanity? Genius? Maybe a little bit of both:




(If you are reading this via email or RSS, you may have to click on the post title to see the vids.)

This being a lighting blog we are not gonna let you out the door without at least a little lighting tute. Yuri has everything down to a science, and his lighting reflects a quest for repeatable, predictable quality -- designed to make those warm, happy photos that make a microstock purchaser dig deep down into the couch cushions and cough up 40 cents to seal the deal. Over and over again.

(The lighting info starts at the 2:56 mark.)




You can see more about Yuri at his website, and you can also follow him on Twitter.
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[UPDATE, via Anders C., in the comments:]

For those who wonder about his studio: Back in January a Danish photography magazine arranged an interview with Yuri in his daylight studio (as opposed to his business office).

After driving around for a while the journalist had to call Yuri and tell him that he simply couldn't find the studio in the area where it was supposed to be - all he could find was a lot of very large, industrial greenhouses outside the city. After a few seconds with Yuri on the phone, one of these large greenhouses started flashing!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you create a bloody large daylight studio: An industrial greenhouse combined with loads and loads of white, semi-translucent material.


Indeed.

Full RSS feed, from Strobist.com. Videos are not viewable in emailed posts. Click the post title to see any embedded video and/or to view or post comments. This month's feeds are sponsored by:

 

 

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Mozilla正式发布火狐3.5版 运行速度提高一倍

 

 

Sent to you by MarcG via Google Reader:

 

 

Mozilla正式发布火狐3.5版 运行速度提高一倍

via ChinaByte比特网_报道IT中国，专注IT新闻、评论、信息化 on 7/1/09

火狐(Firefox)浏览器开发商Mozilla周二发布了火狐3.5正式版。

 

 

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