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I first started following @MarySarahMusic on Twitter in 2009. At that time, she was only 14 years old. We immediately became friends, and for the past three years, I’ve called her my Twitter little sister. She and my son, @toad_mario, who was 8 years old at the time, also became close Twitter friends.

Over the past few years, many of us who are on Twitter every day have watched Mary Sarah evolve into a star. We’ve seen her sing the National Anthem in Texas, we’ve seen her sing for the Red Cross, and we’ve seen her sing countless covers that sometimes sound even better than the originals.

When I learned that she met The Oakridge Boys on Twitter and how that opened so many doors for her, I knew I had to write about it. The Oakridge Boys are an American country and gospel group that has been around since the 1940s. Some of the members of the band have been singing together for over 40 years.

Mary Sarah simply did what a lot of musicians do, she shared her videos in social media. After a brief introduction by @DeanOfMusic, she started tweeting @joebonsall and @DUANEALLEN of The Oakridge Boys. They saw her videos and were blown away by her talent. They soon invited Mary Sarah and her entire family to meet them, and this all took place on the public timeline on Twitter. They all met, and Mary Sarah even got to sing on stage that night after being introduced by Joe.

Mary Sarah told me, “It opened lots of doors for me in Nashville, and I’m currently working on a full length country legends project which will be coming out this summer or fall. Never underestimate the power of Twitter! It was THE reason (and prayer of course) that I was blessed to sing with The Oakridge Boys and become friends with them. Mr. Joe says that one day, when I make it big and he’s off the road, he’s gonna come back and be my road manager. We might even do a song together soon! #BOOM and #w00t”

What an inspiring story! It’s a great reminder that anything is truly possible if you always believe in your dreams. Never ever give up. This is yet another reason why I love Twitter so much. Mary Sarah, you know we are huge fans of yours, and we love you dearly. It has truly been a pleasure getting to know you, and we wish you a lifetime of continued success!

EVERYTHING MARY SARAH

Website | YouTube | Twitter | Facebook | ReverbNation

Mary Sarah and The Oakridge Boys back in 2011

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I remember how much fun it was in school to get Valentines on February 14th each year. It’s one of those traditions that seems to disappear as we get older. I think it would be fun to still send little Valentine cards as adults.

If we were going to send those cards as adults, we would probably want them to have adult humor, instead of the standard “Be My Valentine” message, right? Lucky for us, Jenny at Never Ending Dick Jokes has that covered for us. She sells jokes, many of which are regarding the male genitalia.

These Valentines below are part of her collection. She sells these for $2 each, or three for $5. Each one comes printed on glossy paper. You’ll see tons of your favorite characters here. Spidey and Wolverine are definitely my favorite, but I like them all! They are romantic in a sarcastically funny geek way. It would be better if there were a few more girl ones though, but I suppose since they are pink, they are girly enough. She took the picture below so people could see what they actually look like. If you’d like to view them all, just click over to the site. There is still time to get yours before Valentine’s Day!

Via: [So Geek Chic]

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Are you searching for just the right gift for your man? Here’s an idea for you that could be perfect. Nothing says “I love you” more than a Tarzan-style pair of homemade edible underwear made from beef jerky. For this meaty craft, you won’t be able to buy the beef jerky you need. Instead, you’ll have to make it from scratch. Don’t worry though, it will be worth it when you see your man in his edible loincloth held together with Slim Jim string.

Instructables member Carleyy recently posted a how-to for this project. According to her tutorial, “Dried meat makes these edible Paleo panties a tasty treat. 100% edible and 100% meat, they are so easy to make a caveman could do it!”

In order to complete this project, in addition to the ingredients, you’ll need a dehydrator, a rolling pin, parchment paper and an X-acto knife. If you can get your hands on those supplies, and if you want to give this a go, just click over to DIY Brief Jerky. You might be in for a long night if you try to chew these off your man though. I mean, it takes like five minutes to chew one little piece of beef jerky. If you want to make some edible panties for your girl, click over to How To: Make Edible Panties From Licorice Or Noodles.

This is a picture of some beef jerky underwear (a little different design) that sold on Etsy back in 2007:

Via: [Geekosystem]

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I remember about a week ago, my co-writer and friend, Lindsay Fultz, wrote an article here on Bit Rebels called Twitter Mentions Are The New You’ve Got Mail & Celebrity Autograph. I laughed so hard when I read it because she hit the nail on the head with that one. Even though sometimes we want to play it all cool, on the inside, we completely freak out when we get a tweet from a celebrity, right?

As a matter of fact, my friend Debbie and I even went on to giggle about how when that happens, we spend thirty minutes composing the perfect tweet to send back. We check to be sure our commas are all the right place and that we’ve spelled everything correctly. Of course, Murphy’s Law usually bonks us on the head when we realize later that we typed “your” instead of “you’re” or something dumb like that. It’s all so silly really.

Around a week ago, I got a tweet from @Daniel_Logan. He sent it to two dear friends of mine and me. The reason this tweet was so special is because Daniel Logan played Boba Fett in Star Wars! You know I’m one of the biggest Star Wars fans on the planet, and when I saw this tweet, I immediately started freaking out. After dancing around my desk at least ten times, I immediately hit my DM to share the news with all my Star Wars geek friends. I then tweeted that getting a tweet from Boba Fett was better than getting a tweet from President Obama.

Of course, for social proof, I took a screencap of the tweet (like all of us do, right?) and placed it below for you. I know, I’m a little nuts. It all got me thinking about some of our other favorite characters in movies and television shows where the actors and actresses have their faces covered so we can never really tell who they are. I thought it would be fun to share with you in this post some famous characters and the actors and actresses inside the suits. Enjoy!

Image Credit: [thaeger]

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These little tiny carpets for your computer mouse are just as cute as can be. After all, it’s important to keep your mouse comfy and cozy so it performs well for you all day long, right? They are called Mouserugs, and they resemble fancy oriental rugs that we sometimes see in people’s homes.

These aren’t just mouse pads that look like rugs either. Each one is designed as an exact replica of a full-size oriental rug, which means each one is created with millions of colored nylon microfibers woven together. If the original rug has a flaw, this one has a flaw also. It’s a really neat process.

So if you’d like to change the decor on your desk from geek-chic to upscale-fancy, maybe one of these Mouserugs would be perfect for you. If you are going to do that though, you might want to ditch that can of beer and pour a glass of red wine instead. Also, I suggest you toss out that lame ballpoint pen and replace it with a Montblanc, and clean up all those sticky notes everywhere too. Nah, the more I think about it, I don’t think this is for me. If you like them though, you can pick one up for about $19 at Firebox or Mouserug.

Via: [Technabob]

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Did you know that your handwriting reveals some things about your personality to those who read it? It’s true. I barely know how to write anymore since I type everything. I wonder what that says about my personality. About a year ago, I read that some schools are considering not teaching students how to write in cursive anymore since it’s becoming antiquated. For those of you who still indulge in the art of handwriting, you may find this fascinating. I know I did.

Flavorwire recently did a fun little experiment. They used two tools… the Fuck yeah, manuscripts! blog and this handwriting analysis test (which is used by hiring managers) to determine some very interesting things revealed in handwriting. Since they needed several handwriting samples for this experiment, they used handwriting from some of history’s most known authors which they pulled from that blog above. I’ve placed a collection of those below. They include handwriting from Emily Dickinson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Chuck Palahniuk, Edith Wharton, Franz Kafka, George Orwell, and Ernest Hemingway.

From these handwriting samples alone, they were able to determine which people were emotional, goal-oriented, self-reliant, optimistic, independent, modest, intelligent, tightwad-ish, organized, scattered, cold, withdrawn, social, outgoing, compliant, practical, mechanical, intellectual, moody, restless, introspective, disciplined, sleepy, schizophrenic and more.

According to the author of the original article, Emily Temple, the results were a little horoscope-like in that they were spot on in some places, and random in others. If you’d like to get more information about all this, just click over to Analyzing Writers’ Personalities From Their Handwritten Manuscripts.

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One of the things that separates an average photographer from a great photographer is the ability to create magical, intriguing photos from every day things that could be otherwise considered boring and not worth a second look. It’s truly a gift when talented photographers do this. It’s like they are able to see with a different set of eyes than the rest of us.

Take this collection of abandoned cars for example. It’s called From the Backseat of My Car by photographer Alicia Rius. She writes, “I did not plan this project. I never looked for these cars, and in fact, I think they found me. I wanted to immortalize their beauty and turn them into something romantic.”

These photos are truly stunning, and everything about them from the rusty seats to the purple wildflowers to the old tires are completely given a new life. I love those big old-fashioned steering wheels. The lighting and the colors in these photographs really makes them pop and come alive. I would love to know where she first saw these abandoned cars. This just goes to show that what one person considers trash; another person considers a treasure. You can view more of Alicia’s photography on her website.

Via: [Junk Culture]

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This retro TV is such a beauty in its original form, but when it’s transformed into this super sweet bar, well, it’s goes from retro brilliance to retro badass. I’ve never seen one of these televisions since they were before my time, but I have pictures of my grandmother watching one in her living room.

Back in the old days, when these old-fashioned televisions were popular, people used to gather around it and watch shows together. Now that we all have our mobile devices and social media sites, I don’t know of any family who gathers to watch regular television shows anymore. Most families I know spend most of their time doing this instead of watching TV.

If you’ve got one of these TVs in your attic or basement taking up space, here’s a great way to give it a new life and purpose. You can turn it into your own geeky bar with a retro touch. According to The Spotted Fox, you just have to gut the inside, cut a piece of glass to fit inside for the shelf, load it up with your favorite liquors and add some Christmas lights for decoration. If I was to do this, I’d probably need help with gutting it. I mean, knowing me, I’d blow something up or something. Regardless, this is such a cool mod!

Via: [Craft]

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How would you like to dine at a restaurant built right at the base of a waterfall? I don’t mean you’d be sitting a safe distance away from the waterfall, I mean… your table, your feet, and your entire experience (including the sounds) would all revolve around the rushing water. That would create a memory to last a lifetime.

There is a restaurant in the world where you can have this actual experience. It’s at the Villa Escudero resort in the Quezon province of the Philippines. At this restaurant, not only are visitors encouraged to try traditional Filipino menu items, they are also invited to take off their shoes and shirts to get as close to the waterfall as possible.

I bet this would be a fun place to work too. I imagine each time there is a strong wind, water sprays on everyone. Since I know the weather in the Philippines is typically pretty hot, I’m sure it’s really refreshing to sit close to the water too. As you can see in the pictures, the waterfall is relatively small, and the resort is hacienda-style. Yup, staying at the Villa Escudero and visiting this restaurant is definitely going on my bucket list. What a great reason to finally travel to the Philippines.

Via: [Oddity Central]

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This infographic asks the question, “Are jerks the future of the Internet?” Most of the sites where I’ve seen this posted elaborate with a story about jerk behavior that they’ve experienced in social media. I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone a little bit right now because I’ve had a completely different experience in social media.

It’s true that I get the occasional troll comment on one of my 2,180 articles, but it doesn’t happen very often. A year ago when I wrote 10 Reasons Not To Block Someone On Twitter, I got a few nasty tweets, but those were just from people who were playing a game and trying to see if I would block them. I get that.

I have over 62,000 followers on Twitter, and 99.999% of the tweets I have ever gotten have been kind and fun. Maybe I’m just following the best people on Twitter, or maybe I just don’t invite negativity into my life, I don’t know. However, to answer the question on this infographic, no, I don’t think jerks are the future of the Internet. I still wanted to show you this infographic though because the information on here about cyberbullying is really fascinating. It’s a topic that definitely deserves attention, and I want to write more about it in the future. [Infographic created by Online Counseling]

Click Here For Enlarged Image

Via: [Geekosystem]