Yak Shaving -- [MIT AI Lab, after 2000: orig. probably from a Ren & Stimpy episode.] Any seemingly pointless activity which is actually necessary to solve a problem which solves a problem which, several levels of recursion later, solves the real problem you're working on.

MS Word Tip -- You can get synonyms for any word very quickly by right-clicking on the Word, picking Synonyms and Thesaurus. This is very useful if you’ve echoed the same word several times in one paragraph. (HT: Web Worker Daily)

Bookmarklet of the Week -- Map This pops up a window, enter an address and you will take you to the Google map. [Note: Drag the link to your toolbar.] (HT: Micro Persuasion)

HowTo -- Transform Your Classic Xbox into a Killer Media Center

Google School -- 1-800-GOOG-411

Download of the Week -- The AutoCopy Firefox extension places any text you select on web pages onto the clipboard automatically. AutoCopy bypasses the Cntl-C involved copying snippets of text to the clipboard. The other handy shortcut is "Paste on middle click" which makes Cntl-V unnecessary. (HT: Lifehacker)

See also: The Yak Shaving Razor Archives

Have a useful recommendation for making life more pleasant? Send them to me at jpcarter[at]evangelicaloutpost.com.