Titlebombing Twitter Trends

Twitter has completely changed the way we communicate. How we communicate with the people behind brands, how we communicate with friends, how we communicate with celebrities and sports stars, and how we share photos.

Mashable is the authoritative source on all things Social Media, with breaking news and great articles being retweeted by the masses. So it stands to reason that the authoritative source on all things Social Media will often start trending on one of  the top Social Media platforms, because people are sharing content and learning more about Social Media.

It does get quite annoying. Not so much that an article is trending, but more the fact that the whole title of the article starts trending. But there's no way round that. Mashable is a great site, and articles will continue to trend. So rather than getting annoyed, I decided to make the most of it.

Introducing the Mashable Trending Title Drinking game;

Whilst creating this, I also came across #Drinkup - http://www.littletinker.co/drinkup/ - so if you want a wider, general Twitter drinking game, head over there.

Have fun, but please drink responsibly!

Keeping Cool in the Summer Heat

It's July in London. It's already 28 degrees and it's only 10:30am. You rush down the steps of Oxford Circus tube, swipe your Oyster Card and rush down to the Victoria Line. It's busy and it's hot. You feel hot. You've already felt the river of sweat beginning to develop on your back, so you keep arching your back in order to keep the shirt fabric away from your skin. But at the same time you look like you're stuck in a permanent thrust position.

Source: Penciljack.com

The tube train arrives, wafting a wave of heat down the tunnel. Someone standing with a flame thrower at the end of the platform wouldn't look out of place. The tube is busy. All the seats are taken, and you end up sandwiched between two men (steady girls) who are holding on to the rail above their heads. Both men have also been rushing this morning. You can see the beads of sweat of their foreheads. And, sadly, you're also a few inches from the 360 degree, odour-emitting sweat patches under their arms. "Why would you attract that type of attention to your armpits?" you think to yourself. Maybe they don't realise they're sweating. Or maybe they can't put their armpits in a permanent thrust position.

20 minutes later, you jump off the tube, rush up the stairs and meet your colleague outside the client offices. You're running a couple of minutes late so you rush inside, introduce yourself at reception, and head up to the meeting room.

The meeting is going brilliantly, and towards the end you relax, sit back, and during questions, you cross your fingers behind your head.

Outside, you discuss how the meeting went with your colleague. There's lots of positivity...except when your colleague tells you a little too honestly that you 'released the 360's'. Your face immediately changes from a confident smile to one of complete dismay. "Why would you attract that type of attention to your armpits?" you think to yourself. You walk back to the tube in a permanent thrust position, looking aggressively at anyone who stares for too long.

Tips for Keeping Cool in the Summer Heat

If you work in a hot city during the summer, and you have to wear suits or at least a shirt and jeans, it's very difficult to keep cool, especially when air conditioning isn't available, for there are a few things you can do to keep those sweat patches at bay;

• Choose the right antiperspirant - throw out your deodorant. Deodorants simply cover up an odour, antiperspirants prevent you from sweating in the first place. For men, give Sure or Dove MEN+CARE a try.
• Keep your shower temperature cool - cooler showers means you reduce post-shower sweating. The last thing you want is to put on a shirt and it's soaked in sweat before you've even stepped outside.
• Drink lots of water - sweating is your body's way of cooling down. Drinking water helps to keep you cool on the inside, and replaces lost water
• Wear white shirts - white shirts are good for two reasons. Firstly, there are light coloured, so when you're in the sun, your shirt will absorb less heat. Secondly, white shirts don't show up sweat patches as easily as other coloured shirts. Black shirts also hide sweat patches, but you absorb more heat in the sun, which defeats the object of keeping cool, so stick to white if possible
• Bring a spare shirt - there's no harm in packing a spare shirt for the day. If you know you're going to be outside or in the heat, this is definitely a good idea. You can also feel smug and laugh at those who haven't brought a spare shirt
• Wear cotton or linen - DO NOT wear synthetic shirts. Synthetic shirts are not very breathable. Sweating is meant to cool you down by allowing moisture to evaporate. But the moisture doesn't escape, so you can't cool down, which means you sweat even more. Linen is the ideal shirt material for hot weather, but cotton is also a good alternative

If all else fails, just remember not to put your arms behind your head, and assume a permanent thrust position.

A Load Of Old Blarney

One of my New Years resolutions this year was to visit more countries and cities that I've never been to. It seems odd that with all the work travel I do, that I've never been to Ireland.

A week previous to the Ireland trip, I was with a lady friend driving through the Scottish Highlands, when we found ourselves driving alongside Loch Ness. We made a few jokes about how funny it would be if Nessie reared it's head, and how Scottish millionaires might plant a fake Nessie to keep tourism simmering over. At that point it struck me how funny it was that one of Scotland's main tourist attractions wasn't even real.

Fast forward 7 days, and we were about to land into Dublin. I'd always wanted to go to Ireland, and always wanted to drink Guinness from the storehouse, and visit Cork. I've never figured out why I wanted to visit Cork. I think it had something to do with being attracted to The Corrs when I was younger, and maybe finding a dark haired, stunning, Guinness-drinking, River-dancing Irish girl in Cork. Fair assumption, I think.

Soon enough, I also had another reason. "You can't go to Cork and not kiss the Blarney Stone!", said my friend. As so it was - a car was hired, and Dublin, Cork and Blarney Castle were top of the to-do list (with Camera+ in tow).

I can honestly say that pint of Guinness from the Guinness Storehouse is the best pint of Guinness I've ever tasted, and I didn't expect anything less.

The Guinness Storehouse itself is also a great experience - a great 2/3 hour trip if you're ever in Dublin!

Onto Cork. We stayed in a B&B about a 10/15 minute walk from the centre, and couldn't have asked for a more friendly, hospitable place. The B&B was called Garnish House, and is located to the West of the city. Quaint, tea and scones on arrival, and the BIGGEST breakfast menu you could ever wish for.

The highlight of the trip was kissing the Blarney Stone. I'd heard about the Blarney Stone, but didn't know where it was, where it was located, and how popular it was. As it turns out, the Blarney Stone is one of Ireland's greatest treasures, with thousands of people every year coming to kiss the stone from all over the world.

Kissing the Blarney Stone means you're kissing the Stone of Eloquence. As such, those who kiss the legendary stone are believed to be bestowed with the gift of eloquence...or gift of the gab, and skill at flattering (so they say).

Before I even got to that point, I didn't realise the Blarney Stone was embedded in Blarney Castle. Not only that, it is embedded at the top of the castle.

After 4 days in Ireland, we'd mastered the lingo of 'to be sure!', 'feck off' and 'gobshite', so it would be no surprise to hear that before reaching the Blarney Stone, the steps up to the top were filled with my potty mouthed Irish swearing: 'For fecks sake, which feckin' gobshite put the feckin stone at the top of the feckin castle!".

Blarney Castle itself is a fantastic place to visit. Unlike castles in the UK, there is a much greater freedom to roam....into every room in the castle, down into the dungeons, and around the grounds.

The route up to the top of the castle was like the M6 in July. Incredibly busy, and full of tourists. I soon learnt that along with the Guinness Storehouse, kissing the Blarney Stone was one of Ireland's top tourist attractions.

Me kissing the Blarney Stone - excuse the quality...this is a photo of a photo :)

On returning home, we told tales of our Irish adventures, but we were soon brought back down to Earth when we were told of a few rumours about the Blarney Stone. Firstly, Tripadvisor had previously named the Blarney Stone as the 'least hygienic tourist destination in the world' because thousands of people kiss exactly the same spot. Lovely. But worse was to come.

The second rumour was that local boys pee on the Blarney Stone at night. That made me gag.

The last rumour was that the Blarney Stone had no power at all...it was merely a fake tourist attraction.

A fake tourist attraction. That rang a bell. Hang on a second....are we saying that the top tourist attractions in Scotland and Ireland are based on false rumours? Are they really both fake tourist attractions?!

Apparently the Blarney Stone is allegedly half of the Scottish Stone of Scone, which was used to crown ancient Scottish kings and is said to have 'magical powers'. It should come as no surprise then, that the bloke that thought up the idea of the Nessie visited Blarney Castle before finalising his Loch Ness monstrous plans....

"I'm not sure people are going to believe me when I tell them there's a Loch Ness monster"
"Of course they're goin' to believe you, you've just kissed the feckin' Blarney Stone!"

Left Brain vs. Right Brain

I've been looking for this image for weeks, and finally found it. If you're a Mac owner like me, save this as your desktop for a week - it'll look fantastic. Continuing my series of creativity posts...

European Plastic Bags

Plastic bags are both mundane and very useful at the same time. If you shop at Tesco, Waitrose or another UK supermarket regularly, you'll no doubt have a stash of plastic bags under the sink or behind the door, all branded with the supermarkets logo. Quite boring really. Stretch that plastic bag thought to Schuh, Debenhams and other retailers, and plastic bags become a little more exciting! Blues, blacks, greens and even pinks for those that shop at Ann Summers!

But UK retailers have been outdone. I got an email at work the other day which made me create this post. It was all about how different companies around Europe are getting creative with their plastic bags. I'll say no more - I love them all!