The economy is on everyone’s mind. Who is getting hired and fired? Who’s finding work? Who isn’t? The current unemployment rate in the United States is 7.8%, but that number doesn’t reflect one of the primary problems in our economy today: many people aren’t advancing or can’t find full-time work in their desired field.

For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported “the number of persons employed part time for economic reasons rose from 8.0 million in August to 8.6 million in September.” Individuals in the study reported working part time because, “their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.”

This is the situation many of my friends and former colleagues find themselves in today. So I’ve been thinking a lot about how they can get the upper hand when looking for a job. If you are in a similar situation, I think I have the answer: Are you leveraging your geek status as an asset to potential employers?

Rookie magazine is doing a series of videos where they ask celebrities who are generally considered to have their thumb of what modern culture considers “masculine” to answer questions and give advice to teenage girls. Last time it was Don Draper himself, John Hamm, who explained that everybody farts, so girls shouldn’t be embarrassed about doing it in front of their boyfriends. This time, it’s Judd Apatow, who his other man-centric movies notwithstanding, did make sure that Bridesmaids happened, getting perfectly honest with some teens and their problems. We can get behind everything he says here… except maybe his singing voice.

(via The Jane Dough.)

Ahhh, ye olden tymes. Back when romance was romance, and kissing was third base. (And “necking” was a home run!) Back in the early 1940s — 1942, to be exact — LIFE Magazine took it upon itself to stage an instructional photo spread on the do’s and don’ts of proper kissage. Because there are right ways to kiss someone, and there are perilously wrong ways. (Aunt Jamie can also tell you that there are just some people who shouldn’t put their mouths on anyone at all.) So, how does LIFE want us to kiss people? Come inside, enjoy the view!

Resident style contributor Elizabeth Giorgi takes some time out from DIYing Wonder Woman shoes to share some general advice and personal experience that’s just as relevant to anybody who isn’t dating a geek or isn’t a geek themselves.

I’ve been a self-identified nerd since I was 16, but I didn’t always date within my identity. I dated all kinds. Hipsters. Musicians. Wannabe hipsters. Bad musicians. My current boyfriend is a total nerd too, but I almost gave up on our relationship after our first date because he hadn’t read George Orwell’s 1984. (And he over-used exclamation points in his emails.)

Five years later, I’m so happy I didn’t let dystopian fiction and punctuation stand in the way of love. Here’s 5 rules for geek dating:

For some great reason, Jon Hamm has taken it upon himself to offer advice to some teenage girls who asked questions on the internet. Because he is a grown man, and he might know a thing or two about life. Like how guys don’t care about a girl’s farts, because everyone farts. But when it comes to sex, maybe stick to just making out, because that’s “super fun.” Who are we to argue with Jon Hamm? We’re not going to argue with Jon Hamm. As he’d tell us, “Enjoy The Hunger Games!”

(via Vimeo)

Good news, everyone! Artist Chacho Puebla and his great-aunt are back with more social media advice! We posted the first installment of Puebla’s photo project back in November, and we are happy to bring you even more internet wisdom from a woman who probably doesn’t use it, but certainly knows the meaning of etiquette. And, perhaps, wry humor.

Spanish artist Chacho Puebla has always wanted to do some sort of project with his great-aunt, his sister, and typography. (As we all do.) And what he’s come up with for this photography collection is an excellent photo essay (entitled “Grandmother Tips”) featuring a woman of another generation, bestowing some much-needed wisdom on the internet.

Mark Twain himself had three daughters, but only outlived one of them, and so it should come as no surprise that in his later life he counted the interactions he had with his dozen or so “surrogate granddaughters” to be his “life’s chief delight.”

What is surprising, given all that, is that the humorist wrote his Advice for Little Girls in 1867, five years before he would become a father, so whether this is advice from an uncle, an observer, or a former little boy, is up for debate.