Tip of the Day: Drinking up to 2 (for women) or 4 (for men) beers a day has been shown to reduce chances of cardiovascular disease and prolong life.

[Thanks Joe]

Image by JasonUnbound

Jury duty is your civic duty. But so is paying taxes. The following are 100% legitimate ways to get kicked out of jury duty and move on with the rest of your day:

Before The Trial

You can easily get kicked out of jury duty for not living in the state where you were called for jury duty. Having a profession where people rely on you to save lives such as a doctor or paramedic can also get you a pass. Also, courts in some states have shown leniency towards college students studying for exams so it never hurts to ask.

Make sure to check when was the last time you were asked to come in to jury duty. Many states require at least three years to pass before you can be called in again.

Anything that is going on in your life right now that will inhibit your ability to be a juror—either mentally or physically—is a great thing to mention during your interview.

The Court System

If you or any of your close friends or family members have ever been involved in the court system (with the exception of being jurors), be sure to mention this to the judge when he asks. He will probably exclude you from the pool or jurors. This can include anything from your dad who is a distinguished district attorney to your best friend who works as a janitor in the county jail to you currently being involved in a law suit.

Violent Crimes

Simply having a family member who is involved in crime or is involved in law enforcement will get you a big pass by either lawyer. Lawyers do not want anyone who is bias against them in anyway. If the defense attorney asks you if anyone in your family is a member of a police department, you can easily tell him about your second-uncle Teddy who is a retired NYPD officer.

Vice

Vice crimes are especially touchy. The judge, the defense, and the prosecution will each throw out a good amount of jurors. What is interesting about vice crimes is that no one will ask for too much information. A simple “I was the victim of a vice crime three years ago” referring to the time you got hit on by that sketchy guy named Steve could go miles and get you a pass out of the court room. Any connection you, or friends, or you family have that is even remotely related can be mentioned.

If All Else Fails: Be Opinionated

If you were just not able to get out of jury duty using one of the methods above, you can simply be as opinionated as possible. Saying things like “I would change the age of consent” as two jurors did during the R. Kelly trial are sure fire ways to get you kicked out of that courtroom faster than you can finish your sentence. Just be as opinionated as you possibly can and someone will find a way to get rid of you.

Good luck! If you have successfully (or unsuccessfully) used any of the above methods or you have some of your own, be sure to let us know in the comments.

Image by Kevin Trotman

Soda is probably one of the worst things you can drink. Maybe that is why it is so tasty. Here are some things you can drink that will be ten times more healthy for your body:

Water One of the best things you can drink. Too bad it is so boring. Next.

Sparkling Water + Lime A variation of the above with a little extra zest (literally!). Just get some seltzer and add a little bit of lime. Lime is great for the body and its acidity helps get rid of a lot of bad things in your stomach. Lime also has been shown to help heal scars faster. Just make sure you get real sparkling water and not something like tonic water that has a bunch of sugar in it.

Green Tea Green tea has all sorts of health benefits. It helps you stay hydrated, cures acne, and the Chinese even believe it gives you super powers. It is easy to make, can be consumed hot or icy, and is way cheap. Other teas like white tea are great too, but try to stay away from teas like black tea that have a high dose of caffeine (unless you are studying for an exam).

Soy Milk Not everybody loves it, but it is one of the healthiest and, in my opinion (once I got used to it), tastiest things you can drink. Comes in all sorts of flavors. From chocolate to vanilla to extra calcium (mmm calcium…).

Lemonade and Limeade Just squeeze one lemon or lime into a large glass of water. Add one or two spoons of sugar, but don’t go overboard. Super easy, quick, and healthy.

Fruit Juice Juices are a great way to get a lot of needed vitamins into your body. They taste great too. There is so much variety in fruit juice that you will never get bored. If the super-market just is not doing it for you, try to make some juice at home. Ever tried home-made carrot juice? It is delicious!

Beer or Wine Although both contain some alcohol, they still have many health benefits. Red wine is continuously shown to help with high cholesterol and a bunch of other maladies. Beer has been shown to have similar benefits. Read some of our Booze Reviews for suggestions.

General tips You want to drink something with not too much sugar, alcohol, or caffeine. And, completely stay away from high-fructose corn syrup! Those things dehydrate your body so the more you drink, the more you need to drink.

Giving Up If all else fails, you can still stay away from processed additives like high fructose corn syrup by making your own soda at home. Plus, it’s great fun!

Happy drinking!

Image by Heo2035

The casino… a favorite college pass time. Before heading off to Vegas, Foxwoods, a Native American reservation, international waters, or Canada here are some tips that will ensure you have at least a half chance of doubling your money:

Play Little

The basics behind ever casino is statistics. The more you play, the more your chances of losing money. Casinos will not mind if you win some of their money because on average they will win

Play Smart

Play only games that have high odds. Some games will rape you over in unfair odds. Here is a basic guide:

Blackjack: Every time you play Blackjack you have almost a 50% chance of winning. In Blackjack, you try to add up your card values so they are close to 21, but do not go over. Aces can be worth either 1 or 11 and face cards are worth ten. You play against the dealer and not other players. The way the casino wins is if they tie your score or if you bust (you get more than 21).

Roulette: Roulette gives you a 47.3% chance of doubling your money if you bet on reds, blacks, evens, or odds. It is a much more exciting game than that however. You place bets on any one number (1 in 36 chance of winning); any two, three, or four touching numbers; any column of numbers; and more. There are so many types of bets in roulette that it will be sure to keep your interest up. A ball will land on a random number and if you chose that number or if it is red/black, odd/even, whatever you bet on…you win!

Poker: Any poker game in a casino where you play against other players and not the dealer is generally a good idea. The casino takes in a specific amount of money from every winning hand called a rake and in return you do not have to play against their odds. No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em is my personal favorite, but there are dozens of different types of poker games available so find a table and just ask how to play if you are unsure.

Tips

1. If you are unsure about something, ask the dealer. They are generally very nice people.

2. Tip your dealer. If you tip your dealer they will be more willing to help you. Plus, it is just common courtesy. (Note: Do not expect the dealer to go easy on you or cheat for you. That stuff may only fly in Chinatown)

3. If you go to a big casino-hotel ask for a comp card and use it at every game. What it does is track your wins/losses so just in case you lose a lot or even if you just play a lot, you will probably get a lot of free gifts from the casino.

4. Talk to your fellow gamblers and have a good time.

5. Do not drink too much. It will impede your judgment and you will end the night buying Patron tequila shots for the entire table and out a few thousand dollars.

6. Have fun!

WTF?

Love,
Ace

WTF Reason Number 1: Breast Feeding

Facebook has for a long time now allowed users to report inappropriate pictures. Many times people will report a picture of a women breastfeeding as inappropriate and Facebook will remove the picture. There is nothing inappropriate about a women breast feeding. The following Flickr image by gweggyphoto exemplifies what is wrong with Facebook’s anti-breastfeeding policy:

Image by gweggyphoto

WTF Reason Number 2: Terms of Service

Facebook recently changed their terms of service to the following:

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.

At the start of this week Facebook returned their terms of service to their original form and added back the following statement:

You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.

However this does not address the concern the majority of Facebook users still have. If you are an artist, poet, photographer, or just a regular person who does not want Facebook to use whatever pictures you upload or whatever you type on your friends’ walls for Facebook’s next commercial, then you are out of luck because Facebook’s current terms of service allows them to even sell you content to third parties. Scary huh? Hopefully, they get the message and their lawyers are working on solving this problem.

WTF Reason 3: Being Dicks to Families of the Recently Deceased

As Stephanie Bemister wrote Consumerist.com, Facebook does not allow you to remove dead relative’s profiles even if you send their death certificate, are their next of kin, and have legal jurisdiction to do so. I smell a class action suit coming soon…

Facebook instead choses to memorialize the profiles and leave the wall open for anyone to say anything they’d like. Sounds like a good idea, but that should be left up to what the family’s wishes are. In Stephanie’s case, she is not even friend’s with her brother Bill Bemister who’s profile she is trying to delete. He died before accepting her friend request. Stephanie’s daughters are constantly reminded that their uncle is dead due to his profile popping up in their home pages. Bill was a journalist who used Facebook more as a business device and did not know most of the people he is actually friends with. “Unfriending” Bill would cut his nieces completely off and they would not be able to see what people are putting on his profile.

It seems that what jrizos wrote on comments section may not be too far off: “Wait’ll she hears about the “memorial” book of his images and wall comments they’ll make available for just $19.95 (plus shipping).”

From Wikipedia (in case you seriously have been living in a cave for the last 150 years):

Charles Robert Darwin FRS (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist who realised and demonstrated that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors through the process he called natural selection. The fact that evolution occurs became accepted by the scientific community and much of the general public in his lifetime, while his theory of natural selection came to be widely seen as the primary explanation of the process of evolution in the 1930s, and now forms the basis of modern evolutionary theory. In modified form, Darwin’s scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, providing logical explanation for the diversity of life.

At Edinburgh University Darwin neglected medical studies to investigate marine invertebrates, then the University of Cambridge encouraged a passion for natural science. His five-year voyage on HMS Beagle established him as an eminent geologist whose observations and theories supported Charles Lyell’s uniformitarian ideas, and publication of his journal of the voyage made him famous as a popular author. Puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin investigated the transmutation of species and conceived his theory of natural selection in 1838. Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and his geological work had priority. He was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay which described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories.

His 1859 book On the Origin of Species established evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature. He examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. His research on plants was published in a series of books, and in his final book, he examined earthworms and their effect on soil.

In recognition of Darwin’s pre-eminence, he was one of only five 19th-century UK non-royal personages to be honoured by a state funeral, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, close to John Herschel and Isaac Newton.

Related: YouTube video of a British man explaining how old the earth is and making fun of creationists. It is related because the man is British.

Best commercial: Hulu.com: Hulu is one of our favorite things. So is Alec Baldwin. So completely random…

Coca-Cola: We don’t know WTF is up with the “avatars” but it looks cool.

Coca-Cola Insect heist: Just genius and great special effects.

Pepsi: A similar theme to the above Audi commercial with good music. Stay Forever Young with Pepsi? Something about that doesn’t sound right, but just shut up, drink some sugar, and enjoy. (Watch out for Gumbi!)

Pepsi Max: Just because it’s in a black can and labeled “for men”, it makes me want to buy it.

Bud Light Lime Sphere of Summer: Good concept.

Miller High Life: 1-Second Ad

Audi: The Transporter drives an Audi

Hyundai: Just so random, we had to include it. “It’s Hyundai, like Sunday.” Why not just spell it Hunday then?

Cars.com: We don’t think David Abernathy is a real person, but the ad is just touching.

CareerBuilder.com: We are usually not into retarded commercials, but this one made us laugh.

AshleyMadison.com: Bad blind date?

Angels & Demons Trailer: Good book. We are looking forward to the action it looks like this movie will hold.

GE: Maybe their stock price is so low because they waste all their money making awesome commercials. “If I only had a brain…”

Worst commercial of the Superbowl: Doritos

Runner-up worst commercial of the Superbowl: Cash4Gold

Related: Click here to see all the Superbowl ads on Youtube.

Related: Following is the video from Janette Jackson and Justin Timberlack’s waldrobe malfunction:

[source]

Related: No More Bush Day