I personally think having a knack for knots is one of the essential skills to have or acquire in your toolset of manliness. After all, one never knows when you might be called upon to rope a steer…or knot a tie.

So, if you weren’t a Boy Scout, here are a few resources that give you a notch to add to the manliness scale.

Animated Knots

This well regarded and frequented site on knots puts it best – Better to know a knot and not need it, than need a knot and not know it. Nearly 170+ knots are listed on this site. Start with The Basics- Find a Knot by Name or head to any of the sections that take you through the know-how required for fishing knots to decorative ones. Animated Knots as the name indicates is a how-to website that uses cool, simple to understand animated slideshows to teach you how to tie different types of knots. Learn which are the essential knots, or download the Android and iPhone app that unfortunately aren’t free.

I Will Knot!

From animated tutorials to those in video, knot instructional couldn’t get any simpler. If you are looking to start of quickly, then this uncomplicated site is just the thing as it doesn’t overwhelm you with the variety of knots that are hanging out there. There are just about 12 of them (knots, hitches, loops, and bends) but with easy-to-follow video walkthroughs.

Netknots

Netknots relies on animated illustrations too that show you how to tie knots. You can play and pause the inline player to note the steps more closely. The focus is on knots needed for the outdoors. So you have – fishing knots, paddling knots, boating knots, and other outdoor knots. Knots are arranged by usage and also by name.

The Pirate King

Quite frankly, I found the remainder of this website that seems to be all about pirates and all things on the high seas to be more interesting than the page devoted to nautical knots. But don’t get sidetracked by all the babble on rum and buried treasure…head over to the page that teaches you about different types of sailing knots. The site is nicely and simply designed, so understanding how to form a bowline won’t be a problem at all.

Tie-a-Tie

This site is very useful to have bookmarked because many of our male brethren suffer from the acute disability of learning how to knot together a necktie. Hendrik’s site shows you how to stylishly bring the ends together with the help of simple instructions and video tutorials. You won’t be sartorially challenged again.

Another similar site to keep close would be 2 Tie a Tie.

Knots Guide

Ok, this isn’t a website but an Android app. It’s all the more useful because you can carry it around as a pocket reference. 92 how-to on knots arranged in 10 categories make this a worthwhile download. (Directory mention)

Knots on the Web

You won’t be impressed by the façade as it resembles a directory listing from the days of yore. In fact that’s what this is, and it hasn’t been updated for quite some time. So, don’t be surprised if you hit a domain parking page now and them. But you might also land on informative resource like Knots and Knitting that makes the scrounging through the large list worthwhile.

Knots are really out there. Well, did you know that there is an International Guild of Knot Tyers that’s dedicated to furthering interest in practical, recreational and theoretical aspects of knotting? Knots are one of those things in life that are needed when you least expect them to be. So, get yourself a rope and start practicing. And do tell us if you are a virtuoso with knots or a knot novice.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

An artisan is a craftsman who is a master of their field. Here is a collection of some of the most interesting and mesmerizing videos of artisans who take immense pride in their work and strive to be the best at what they do.

Tea Server

I’ve been to a good number of restaurants in my day and I’ve seen waiters and servers with enough balance and dexterity to put trained acrobats to shame. But I’ve never been as impressed with a waiter as I was when I first saw this video.

As if the balancing act wasn’t enough, he pours hot liquid into the cups without dropping or flinching – twice!

Fish Filet

When a skilled man falls into a rhythm with their work, mechanically repeating their actions with robotic perfection, I become enthralled. Perhaps this is commonplace in the fishing industry, but seeing this man filet his fish in record time without leaving anything leftover has left me impressed.

Shoe Shiner Duo

Shoe shining may or may not have a slight stigma surrounding it, specifically that it is a job relegated to those of lower socioeconomic status. But these two men, in shining a pair of shoes, have injected a new sort of life into their occupation. It’s obvious that they take pride in their work and enjoy what they do, and that just makes it more awesome.

The King’s Dessert

Now, there’s nothing particularly difficult with what this man is doing. He’s essentially just pulling and twisting strands of frozen honey. However, you can definitely feel the enjoyment and pride he has in his work when you take in his charisma and charm. Plus, he’s funny. Funny is always good.

Ironing a Shirt

What if I told you that you could be entranced by something as simple as a man ironing a shirt? Most people, men in particular, would scoff at the idea of ironing a shirt. It’s nothing more than a chore, right? Well, this man seems to disagree. Passion can make the most mundane tasks interesting.

There’s a certain fluidity and confidence that this man possesses, and it absolutely shows in his work. You can tell that he has years of experience under his belt.

Santalum Shoes

(Warning: Silence until 0:25. Don’t foolishly pump up your speakers like I did…)

Santalum makes some pretty darn good quality shoes, but they’re hand-made and only available in Indonesia. That’s too bad because I’m sure there are plenty of fashion-heads all around the world who would love to grab a pair of these for themselves. Just watch the video and you’ll see the amount of skill, energy, and passion that is put into every shoe.

Ink Maker

In this video, Peter Welfare of the Printing Ink Company describes his love for the ink making process and what goes into the creation of said ink. Not only is this video highly informative, and not only does it showcase Welfare’s artisanship, but the video is just well made – high production values and fantastic editing.

Every time I start this video up, I can’t help but watch it to its end.

Perfect Cappuccino

If you love coffee and all things coffee-related, forget about Starbucks and pay attention to this guy from Intelligentsia Coffee. His knowledge precedes his passion, and he speaks in a way that just makes the whole topic so interesting. For most of you, this won’t be more than a simple video of someone making a cup of coffee. I’m hoping that the rest of you will be able to see the beauty of it.

Do you have any artisan videos of your own that you’ve enjoyed? Share them with us in the comments!

Image Credit: Shutterstock

From games to countless humor websites (like our very own Geeky Fun section, which has some great hand-picked items that other sites might not have caught), there’s probably not much you cannot find.

If you don’t quite have plans this break, let us introduce to you some ideas that might enrich your resume, help you improve your existing skills or help you get started on a fantastic project.

Start A Blog On A Topic You Love

Have you always been interested in being a food critic? You could start your city’s very first restaurant review blog (find restaurants with these iPhone apps) and even be featured in local magazines for being a witty foodie and sharing your food knowledge with utmost and serious detail.  I know I have a friend in my home country that did just that. Her high-resolution photographs on her blog also remind me that you might need to awkwardly try to get the perfect dish picture in the best angle while the rest of your party waits, but you gotta do what you gotta do if you’re a serious food blogger.

Another topic you could start your blog on would be a blog to improve your cooking skills.

A cooking blog may be the start of something much bigger (Julie & Julia comes to mind.) But seriously, blogging your way through your dishes might be educational as it is fun. You could record your mistakes or tips for the next time you cook something. It doesn’t even have to be elaborate if you’re not trying to impress anybody. A cooking blog entry may simply consist of one (or more) pictures and some words on what you learned from cooking this time (if you doubled the recipe or made a variation).

Once you have a topic, you must ensure your blog gets updated with consistency. Even the most well-known blogs have only become what they are today because they were updated with frequency, and their entries had consistent quality. If you’re not sure you can take on a blog that you need to update after your winter break, read on to see other ideas we’ve narrowed down for you.

Write Short Stories or A Novel/Do Your Own NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month (there’s also JulNoWriMo) and is a project that can help you get started on your first novel. The idea is that during the month of November, you try to write as much as you can of your novel. There’s a set goal of some thousands of words (50,000 to be exact) that you can choose to follow or if you’ve got the energy, you can write beyond that goal of course.

Most winter breaks are at least 2 weeks in length so if you have more than that (perhaps even a whole month of vacation), you could do your own version of this project. Set a goal of words you want to reach and just type away. Not only can you improve your writing skills, you can also exercise your critical thinking skills to develop a coherent plot and more. It’s also plenty of fun. You can also check out other creative writing projects, such as Six Word Memoirs, OneSentence.org, etc.

Do a DIY project, e.g. Arduino, old laptop hacks, etc.

James has a great series of articles on Arduino blocks that you can use to basically program a little robot to do anything you want without any programming experience. Think of it as Lego MINDSTORMS for adults. As if that doesn’t sound fun enough, you could also try other hardware projects. If you’ve got an old laptop somewhere, there’s always the digital frame hack, which is without a doubt, a great piece of conversation. You could also try a kitchen PC, complete with touchscreen functionality and the looks to kill.

If you have an old desktop PC, why not make a fun privacy monitor? You don’t need many materials aside from paint thinner, a pair of glasses, superglue, box cutter, screwdriver and an old monitor. There are countless fun projects highlighted on our site, as well as the always-interesting Instructables and Make magazine websites.

Learn A Language

We have beginner programming tutorials for several programming languages on our site, such as this one, this one and this one. If you’re not sure which ones to take on as there are quite a few choices, see this article on what you could learn for what environment (Windows programming, web development, etc.)

The official programming language websites are also very good sources to learn the respective language. One fun one is TryRuby. Codecademy is also a great way to learn basic programming in a certain language by doing and passing exercises. One site I haven’t seen anyone list is one that my Java professor had us frequent: CodingBat. There are many exercises on the latter that you can complete in Java and Python, and you can usually get a hint (or the solution even) if you get stuck, though I would suggest taking a break before re-attempting an exercise you’re stuck on to looking at the solution of course.

Perhaps you’re not so keen on learning to program. A foreign language is, without a doubt, a beautiful way to immerse yourself in another culture and expand your language skills. Want to renew those Spanish skills you worked on high school but gradually lost in college and beyond? You can start here, here and here to absorb other foreign languages as well.

Have you had a chance to start a great project you’ve always dreamed of this winter (or another past) vacation? Let us know how you spent your time in the comments below!

Image Credit: Jakub Krechowicz, Robert Kneschke, Hitdelight, berna namoglu, Goodluz, Zadorozhnyi Viktor, ifong, glacial23, darrendean

Learning to play the harmonica is all about breath control and practicing your ass off. Of course, like all musical skills, you got to have an ear for it. As I found out with the first few blows on the reeds, the instrument is deceptively difficult. Like mine, I don’t know how your journey will end…but you can start off in a good note with learning the basics of playing the harmonica, starting here.

Wilbur’s Beginning Harmonica Lessons and Tips

It doesn’t get simpler than this one long webpage of simple instructions that goes into the technique of holding a harmonica and the correct mouth position. If you are looking to start off quickly, this simple tutorial is worth the first look.

Harmonica Club

This webpage explains the musical notations that help to understand the blow and draw process of playing on the harmonica. There’s also a table that shows how to play the harmonica with cross keys (a different key than it was designed for). This page is like a ‘cheat sheet’ with short and concise instructions.

Ian Chadwick’s Harmonica Reviews

If you are looking to buy a harmonica and as a newbie you have no idea how to go about it, visit this little page. Most of the popular bands are reviewed. Ian Chadwick also offers a note of caution when it comes to buying harmonicas online. Believe me, after reading through the page, harmonica buying is as complex as any other musical instruments though it fits into the palm of your hand. The simple site also has a vibrant forum behind it.

YouTube – Harmonica Lesson For Beginners

If you are new to the diatonic harmonica, these video tutorials can help you out. Dan Gage also learnt to play the mouth organ, just as you are probably trying to learn right now – on his own. His preference is for clean clear notes and the beginner to advanced lessons across 64 videos cover the techniques required.

You Tube – Adam Gussow’s Dirty-South Blues Harp

Adam Gussow is a blue harp player of repute and his YouTube site is educational to say the least when you want to explore the playing potential of the harp. There are loads of clips on harmonica performances. He also has a website, but it is commercially oriented with tutorials you need to pay for.

Harp On!

This is a handy chromatic harmonica reference guide. The double framed page may not be winning any design awards, but it is information rich as it takes the reader from an introductory primer to music theories behind playing a chromatic harp. There is an informative section on maintaining your chromatic harmonicas too.

Harmonica 4 Kids

This harmonic tutoring site is specially tailored for kids. The parent site, Harmonicalessons.com is a very informative site in itself but lot of the content is for members only. Harmonica 4 Kids is a good starter resource for kids with tips indexed around specific age groups.

Harp Tabs

If you have reached here, then you have come far. Tabs are like sheet music for learners who cannot read sheet music. It shows the notes for a song with numbers representing each hole on the harmonica. The database of harmonica tabs lists nearly 15000 songs, each indicated by symbols for chromatic, diatonic, tremolo, and tuned octave. Each tab also displays the key and the difficulty level, so you know which one to pick according to your playing level.

My search for the best sites to learn how to play the harmonica unearthed many – these are the select few. On the design side of things, these sites and the majority that’s out there won’t be walking away with Brownie points, but rest assured that they will help you start off with the right blows on your harp. Decide between the chromatic and the diatonic and let it rip.

Here are few more instructional posts on  music we have featured previously:

Top 5 Sites For Learning Piano Online
5+ Free Apps To Help You Learn & Play Guitar [iOS]
10 Websites Where You Can Learn To Read Music

Are you a harmonica player? Did you turn to the web in an attempt to learn yourself? If so, give us your best pointers.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

I’ve recently found two great ways you can make money online when you create your own products like T-shirts, mugs and posters. And no, it doesn’t involve manufacturing, packaging, shipping and handling of finances. All you have to do is get creative.

Zazzle

Zazzle.com is one of the best online services to create a line of your own products with zero cost and get a great share in the spoils when the sales start coming in. Basically, you can design a T-shirt, mug, poster or several other items and have them for sale on Zazzle.com. Then, when someone orders your product, Zazzle will produce and ship it without any hassle for you!

The designing is really simple. Above, you can see how I simply added the MUO logo to a T-Shirt. You can change the item specifications (long sleeve, short sleeve or change it to something like a hat or bag), then add images and text. You can also change the base colour. An idea to spice up your creations is to add your cartoons, images or ideas specific to you or your brand.

One you set up a seller account by clicking “˜Sell’ in the top left-hand corner, you can create a store and then begin designing endless amounts of products and gifts.The standard royalty rate for your products is 10%. However, you can increase the cost of each product thus increasing the amount of money your receive per sale.

Without the right kind of publicity, your products are unlikely to sell. However, if you have a popular blog or can get good publicity for your products by doing things like sending samples to big websites, then Zazzle could turn into a nice side-business for you.

Threadless

The good news about Threadless is that you don’t necessarily have to publicise your products in order to make money.

The bad news, is that it’s really tough to get your designs or ideas into production. Here’s how it works:

You have a funny idea for a T-shirt. It could be a cartoon, complex art or a funny photograph. It doesn’t matter once it looks good on a T-shirt. You then have to get out a pencil and create your own product design masterpiece. Once you’re finished, submit it to the Threadless team. If it’s accepted you will be showered in cash. First off, you get $2000 and a $500 Threadless gift certificate. If your T-shirt is reprinted you’ll get another $500 and if it’s selected for a Bestee award you can get up to $22,500. Not bad for a few hours doodling funny cartoons, right?

However, not all of us are gifted artistically. Well we’re in luck. Threadless also allows you to submit quick messages and phrases which are voted upon by the community, as seen above. They’re normally jokes or observations. Then, the best are judged by the Threadless team. If your T-shirt is selected to go into print you get $500.

So there you go, you don’t have to “˜work’ online to make money online. Just create funny T-shirts and mugs and you could earn yourself a lot of money.

What do you think? Do you have the stuff to design a T-shirt?

Image attribution: Peter Gerdes

Like a lot of you, drawing has become a ‘what if’. What if I gave it a little more of my time and dedication? What if I were to take lessons? But life is busy, and surprise, lessons take too much time. So sitting in that dreadful drawing class is no option. But why should that conclude your options? The Internet, with just a bare minimum of time and dedication, can give you everything you need to learn how to draw.

In the free programmes, you’ll miss out on those treasured personal pointers, but all the knowledge is still right there!

DrawSpace – How to Learn How To Draw Technical and Realistically

We’re going to pass right by the amateuristic cacophony of tutorials that make up your initial expectations of online drawing classes. I reckon you don’t want to know how Bill draws the hands or what a cute kitten Sandra has doodled.

In three words, DrawSpace is professional, extensive and realistic. Not to mention incredible. This site teaches you how to make realistic drawings. With hundreds of amazing drawing lessons, you’ll be on your way to become the human camera.

As you can see in the screenshot above, and again below, the lessons gradually increase in difficulty. You’ll first focus on shapes, before going continuing to study the lines, shading and coloring. Although a lot of people don’t prefer this much realism in drawings, there’s far more to it than just ‘copying’ it. There’s an incredible amount of skill involved in being able to draw what you see, or want to see. Once you’ve got a sufficient knowledge base, you can start giving your own spin to your work.

Although you will need to register to view the lessons, there’s no more to it than that. You’ll have to pay for an upgrade if you want download and printing privileges, but that’ll be hardly a botter for most people.

As you can see above, the lessons use Macromedia FlashPaper. Blame the blurred text on the unimpressive copyright notice that shows at the bottom of every page.

This incredible application allows you to browse the document, and zoom in on the details you deem important. As said before, you’ll only be able to follow these lessons online, but Macromedia FlashPaper makes this a small pain.

For the above reasons, DrawSpace stands out as the most incredible online source of technical drawing lessons. In some of the following articles, we’ll take a look at other kinds of drawing sites, including the comic and manga styles, and interesting sites to show and be judged on your work.

Do you know any other great drawing sites? Let us know all about them in the comments section below!

That wisdom tells us to take our talents out into the world, for only when you show your talent can someone spot them. And don’t we all know that working with our talents makes work… play.

So, where would you head if you knew you had a talent and wanted to shout it out across the rooftops? Probably, a performer would make a demo CD and circulate it around. YouTube could be the online town square which also gives better chances of going viral.

The web is the ultimate platform that many latent talents have found the place to be. It’s usually free, it’s accessible and it’s global. One such free web application with the said qualities is TalentTrove.

TalentTrove is a place where you can show your talent by creating, uploading and broadcasting the stuff you are made of. But this is more than just a video site because TalentTrove comes with features that not only let you highlight your talents but also manage them as well. This site is free for both the professional and the amateur.

From first impressions, the site may seem India-centric. But that’s just because a few of the head honchos have Indian roots. The site is very international in scope and reach.

Have a Talent? Find a Space for It

TalentTrove positions itself as an umbrella website for the varied talents that can be found among us. From the commonality of acting to the rarity of nerdcore (that’s something of general interest to nerds), you get it all. Each category has its own page or sub-site with the content arranged by file types and locations.

Enter Through the Backstage

A registration and log-in takes me to the BackStage. This is like a profile page or a dashboard for your TalentTrove activities. You can start by creating your circle of friends. Follow it up by uploading your files or edit any existing files you have. Files can be video, audio, image or text files.

You can start a few more “˜promotion’ activities like start a blog, jump into the forums, catch up with the contests that are always going on and maybe submit content if you are in the submission period.

Face the World with MyStage

MyStage is your public profile. This is where the web audience gets to see your talents on display and leave there bouquets or brickbats by ways of comments.

The Places of Interest at TalentTrove

TalentTrove is not just about uploading content and sitting back for the fruits to fall. The design of this web service is towards active participation. The few other features make it standout from any other community powered talent discovery website. A dekko at the navigation bar reveals all the places you can jump to.

TalentTrove brings you a host of contests to participate in. Each contest consists of a multi-stage process in which users submit media and vote on others’ entries in a series of face-offs.

CollabLab is a trademarked feature. It is a live collaboration tool which calls upon the TalentTrove community to help each other out. For instance, a model might need a photographer for the portfolio. Announce it here and someone will step forward.

Forums are not different from the usual message boards”¦a place to swap queries and suggestions. You can also lend a hand to someone who is in search of a collaborator.

TalentTrove Radio and TV host a lot of streaming radio and video shows. Radio and TV have their separate spaces and channels. It’s like your own entertainment channel with some professional and amateur talents on display.

Judging TalentTrove

The first thing that catches the eye is the neatness of design and the slick navigation. The site is easy to understand and navigate. There is a comprehensive FAQ section. The site gives a lot of things to do to the guy who has some skills to show off. The contests are for sure an incentive. If you want a place to show your talent, TalentTrove is a nice place to be. Showcase your stuff”¦who knows you could be the next Will Smith.

Of course, I cannot really comment if the site will lead you up the red carpet but do let us know your thoughts on TalentTrove. Have they got it right?