Young Free Texas

Video: Bake Cookies Using Your Car As The Oven...mmmmm

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:13:00 -0700

So, go forth ang make cookies in your vehicles! Chocolate chip might work better, but use what ya got. Aint no shame in your game.

Have a great weekend!

DeAndre'

IFiOti: Soon Magical Software Will Be Able To Fix Your Shaky Home Videos!

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:21:00 -0700

If you're anything like me, you don't have a very steady hand when it comes to shooting film. However, a new software aims to fix that...using the power of magic!

Computer scientists at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and software giant Adobe have developed a technique that mixes 3D reconstruction with optical illusion to turn distinctive wobble of handheld camera footage into the smooth glide of a Hollywood tracking shot.

Still don't get it? Check out this video (It's worth it, I promise!)

Soon the home movies you have of your dog chasing its tail will have a near Hollywood quality feel! Aint that somethin?

DeAndre'

How To Cool Down Your Car So You Don't Burn Yourself When You Get In The Car.

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:16:00 -0700

We've all been there. You know the feeling.

You return to your vehicle from lunching with some friends, and you enter. Suddenly, your thighs have been melted with the vinyl of your seat. The air you are breathing is thick and musty. Your arms blister with contact to the armrests.

It's not a good feeling.

But here are some grandtastic tips that help ensure that your butt will remain unburned when you sit down.

1. Roll down the windows.
2. Turn on the A/C on the fresh air setting, do not recirculate.
3. Crank the fan up all the way and make sure the thermostat is on the coldest setting.
4. Drive for a minute or two with the windows down, to force out the superheated air.
5. Once the air in the car begins to feel cooler than the outside temperature, then switch from fresh air to recirculate.
6. Adjust temperature using lower thermostat and fan settings.

Sounds pretty basic, right? Well all these combined work together to make sure that you get as much hot air out and cool ir in. If you have a setting that shoots air by your feet, turn that on too. It shoots cool air up and moves the hot air out. Just a few tips!

Peep the original article here!

Do you have any tips on keeping your car cool? Do you use one of those windhield covers? Let us know! You could win a Wal-Mart Gift Card!

DeAndre'

Free For Me: Fish Tacos, Movie Screenings, Energy Drinks and O Magazine. You Know You Want It.

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:55:00 -0700

It seems like the excrutiating heat of the sun is slowly melting us away, but in order to compensate, there's lots of free stuff today!

Free fish tacos from Long John Silvers.
Free screenings of "Food, Inc" in Austin, Dallas and Houston.
Free Venom energy drink
Five free issues of "O," Oprah's magazine

So much free stuff, I can hardly stand it! If you know of any awesome free-ness going on, submit it to our free stuff directory, and leave us a comment! You could win a Wal-Mart gift card!

DeAndre'

Poll Time, Baby: Are You More Likely to Return A Wallet Because It Has Baby Pictures in It?

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:23:00 -0700

Results are in!

For last week's poll, "Will You Still Want Low Prices After The Economic Trouble," here's what you guys thought:

What smart cookies you all are (by the way, isn't that the weirdest expression?)! All of you think prices should stay the same, and that we should go to Chili's. Yesssssssssss.

For this week's poll, a Scottish study found that wallets are more likely to be returned to their owners if they contain baby photos. Here's what they found:

The baby photograph wallets had the highest return rate, with 88 per cent of the 40 being sent back. Next came the puppy, the family and the elderly couple, with 53 per cent, 48 and 28 respectively. At 20 per cent and 15, the charity card and control wallets had the lowest return rates.

Thought provoking, eh? So here's the question:

Please, head on over to the poll section and cast yur vote! Remember, we're giving away a free Wal-Mart Gift Card this month, woot!

DeAndre'

Free For Me Megapost!

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:37:00 -0700

Summer is the season for free stuff! During the June and July months, stores try to give us a way to beat the heat and stay cool while getting us into their establishments. For us, this means great deals and free stuff!

Here's the rundown:

* Starting July 13, McDonald's will give away a hot or iced McCafé mocha to consumers every Monday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The last Free Mocha Monday is Aug. 3.
* A free Slurpee at 7-Eleven on July 11. (That's 7/11, get it?) TOMORROW!!!
* Buy one sundae at Ben & Jerry's and get one free on Mondays with this coupon, good through Aug. 31.
* Every Wednesday this summer, Arby's is giving away a free menu item with the purchase of another.
* A free kids meal with an adult purchase of $4 or more after 5 p.m. at Taco Del Mar in July.
* And of course, if you dress up like a cow today you get free chicken from Chik-Fil-A!

For the Slurpee lovers out there, here is a list of pretty much everything you would ever need to know about frozen convienince store bevarages:

* Slurpee drinks are all served at 28 degrees.
* Slurpee was "invented" when some sodas were put in a freezer to cool them down - and they became all slushy.
* Winnipeg, Canada is generally thought to be the Slurpee capital of the world, due to their amazing Slurpee fanaticism.
* When Slurpee first hit the market, it wasn't self-serve. The machine was behind the counter and the clerk served the product to you.
* At Slurpee, we call it a BrainFreeze. The scientific name for it is Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia. Really.
* Sugar is the anti-freezing agent in most Slurpee drinks.
* American Slurpee is injected with air. Canadian Slurpee is not.
* Every day more than 11.6 million Slurpee drinks are consumed around the world.
* In 2004, 7-Eleven created an edible Slurpee straw.
* Only one private individual owns a bona fide Slurpee machine. The rest are in 7-Eleven.

Delicious and mostly free...sounds right up my alley!

DeAndre'

Video: The Fishin Fiesta

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:16:00 -0700

We came to the Fishin Fiesta and interviewd the Fishin Fiesta Queen!

Be sure to check it out, and if you get down to Lake Jackson make sure you say hola to the awesome branches down there!

DeAndre'

Free Wal-Mart Gift Card!

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:23:00 -0700

Hey guys! July is a new month and that means a new E-Updates prize! Soon we'll reveal the winner of last month's Astros tickets, but for this month our prize is a gift card to Wal-Mart! Now ya'll know me, Wal-Mart is more or less my favorite place to shop (yes, that's how I roll) so I am coveting this gift card hardcore, as I'm sure everyone is, but only one of you will win!

Think about everything you can buy there...movies. Clothes. Goldfish. Wigs. The possibilities are endless!

And the greatest part about it is you can be eligible so many ways! Submit a poll idea, comment and sign up for E-Updates - its so easy!

Hope to see you in the comment section!

DeAndre'

Free For Me: Cow Appreciation Day at Chik-fil-A

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:18:00 -0700

My favorite Free For Me's are the ones with free food!

Every year in July Chik-fil-A gives away free chicken to people who dress up like a cow! A few friends and I did it a few years ago and it was great!

All you have to do is show up to your local Chik-fil-A (did ya'll know that stands for Chiken Fillet?) dressed as a cow to get your free chicken! Make sure you call ahead to see if your local Chik-fil-A is participating!

Let me guys know if you're going! I might decide to do it if I can get my cow costume on lock. And if you do it, take pics! I wanna see!

DeAndre'

Poll Time, Baby: When The Price of Food Goes Up Will You Still Pay?

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:55:00 -0700

Its POOOOOLLLLLLLLL TIMMMMMMMMMMMME!

But first off, the results of last week's poll:

So I guess we are pretty polarized on our thoughts about vampires - half love, half hate and no one likes Dracula.

So here's the poll for this week!

Because of the current economic state, a lot of restaurants are lowering their pries to get patrons in the door. However, once economic times get better, those prices will probably be raised - after people have gotten used to the lower price.

So here's the question: When prices go back up, will you still pay?

Head on over to the poll section and cast your vote!

DeAndre'

Weekend Awesome: How Stuff Works: Firecrackers

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:13:00 -0700

As we get ready for the 4th of July tomorrow, did you know that there's a difference between firecrackers and fireworks? This short video (under 1:00) from How Stuff Works explains pretty succinctly whats going on inside of that piece of dynamite in your hand.

Mmmmm....Informative! Also, this is probably because of the age of the video, but does anyone else hear the distinctive tones of a dial up modem in the background at around :22 and then in the sign off sound? Hmmmmm.

Have a fantasmic 4th!

DeAndre'

Video: TDECU's Indoor Block Party!

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:55:00 -0700

There is soooo much happening in this video! Toe touches, money cages, cheerleaders, live on-air radio spots (2!) and a Great American Cookies.

Check it out, and next time you come to the Victoria Mall, stop by the TDECU branch and say hey to all the friendly faces!

DeAndre'

IFiOti: GE's Hologram

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:25:00 -0700

This video shows the awesomeness of this hologram:

All you do is go to GE's website, download and print off that sheet of paper (and you don't need any special paper or printers), turn on your webcam and watch it work!

It really does work, I tried it and it rocks! Of course, its and advert for their new clean energy, but its a great campaign!

Try it out and let me know how it goes (it worked great for me!)

DeAndre'

How Cheap Trashbags Are Ruining Your Life.

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:01:00 -0700

As a child growing up in my father's home, I hated taking out the trash. Really. It was the worst job ever, because (a) you had to put on shoes and go outside (my mother is a firm believer that if you traipse around outside without shoes you will step on a nail and get tetanus) and (b) occasionally we bought the random cheap trash bags, and they would usually leak with a weeks worth of coffee grounds, eggshells and other assorted flotsam and jetsam.

Also, since we got the slightly cheaper ones sometime, we couldn't fill it up all the way or it would bust, because it was so cheap. This led to dozens of half-full trash bags that would need to be taken out. Gah.

An article over at The Simple Dollar puts the cheap trash bag dilemma to task: you fill up cheap trash bags like halfway so you use more, and also your children will be mad at you.

They also break down some impressive math that I could never in a million years think to produce:

Whenever I make a comment along these lines, people almost always suggest not filling the bags as much. "If you only filled the generics 80% full, then you wouldn't have the breakage!" Well, let's look at that scenario. If I have five 13 gallon bags and I fill each of them 80% full, I've got 52 gallons of trash. On the other hand, if I have four 13 gallon bags and I fill each of them to the brim, I have the same amount of trash — 52 gallons.

So, I can either use five generic bags (which cost fifteen cents a pop), empty the trash 25% more often, put more plastic into the environment, and spend a total of 75 cents, or I can use four of our preferred bags (which cost eighteen cents a pop), put less plastic into the environment, and only spend 72 cents.

Money saving and green! I feel so much better now.

Or you could just buy Louis-Vuitton trash bags, like me. I also use Dolce and Gabana toilet paper (exclusively), and all the water in my house is actually Dom Perignon. Don't hate.

What kind of trash bags do you use? I'm a big fan of Hefty bags, but to each his own. Sound off in the comment section!

DeAndre'

Introducing the Living Young & Free Show!

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:30:00 -0700

We are really excited to share episode 1 of the brand new Living Young & Free Show.

As more and more Young & Free regions go live, the opportunity to for the Y&F Spokesters to join forces has really become apparent. Up until now, each Y&F Spokesperson has essentially been an island to their own.

Well, that's all changing now. In addition to the regular independent blogging and videos, we are now producing a coordinated show. Cheryl, the Living Young & Free Community Manager is our (awesome) host and each episode will feature three educational segments from our spokesters.

The plan is to put out a new show every two weeks so stay tuned!

Episodes will be hosted on the Living Young & Free Network and you can check them out there: www.livingyoungandfree.com. You can also subscribe in iTunes by clicking here.

Please leave a comment. We would love to hear what you think!

The Y&F Texas Team