Quote of the Day
| 13/9/2008 | Posted by Pete under General |
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” Robert A. Heinlein
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Managing Information Overload (Part 1)
| 10/9/2008 | Posted by Pete under General |
“We have for the first time an economy based on a key resource [information] that is not only renewable, but self-generating. Running out of it is not a problem, but drowning in it is.”John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends.
This quote from John Naisitt illustrates how much of a problem information overload is for today’s culture.We live in a world that now has a potentially unlimited amount of self-perpetuating videos, media and writing all available at the click of a mouse. This generation has more information available to it than any other previous generation could have dreamt of.
In this short, but hopefully informative series I will show you some ways in which you can avoid the fire-hose of information that is blasting you from all directions, and show how you can keep yourself sane, whilst still being able to enjoy life.
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The almost compulsory Google Chrome post
| 3/9/2008 | Posted by Pete under News, Software |
Google Chrome
Google Chrome was released yesterday for windows, and google have promised that Linux and Mac versions are in the pipeline. I downloaded it on my laptop and played about with it for around 1/2 an hour.
Initial impressions are that it is very fast and doesn’t seem to hang up on flash content quite as much as Firefox, rendering being very similar to Safari’s (being based off WebKit, this is to be expected), but I did not see anything really compelling that would make me switch to it when the Linux version comes out.
I’m sure that I will download the Linux version and play about with it when it finally makes it way out of the googleplex, but in this particular incarnation, I think that there is very little that it offers over firefox and safari – certainly nothing worth writing home about. Your opinion may vary from this depending on how important flash is to you, whether you run Linux, and whether you rely on Firefox extensions. Still it looks better than the IE8 beta in terms of memory usage.
Edit: Security vulnerability in Chrome has been found already.
As usual please post your thoughts on Google’s new baby below.
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Letting Go
| 15/8/2008 | Posted by Pete under God |
Letting Go
I recently have begun looking to see what I can let go of in my life. The reason for this is that I seem to be taking too much on, with not enough time to do it all.
The end result is that there are a number of things I have decided are not worth my time and energy, and therefore should be let go. These include various projects I have started but never got round to finishing, as well as activities that add no value or meaning for me.
What is it that you need to let go of in order to improve your experience of life, or make room for other activities?
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The meaning of coffee
| 13/8/2008 | Posted by Pete under Play |
Roasted Coffee Beans
Since Douglas Adams has reserved the number 42 to represent the meaning of life, I have decided that in order to reserve my own number and ensure that coffee is meaningful too (which we all know it is) the meaning of coffee is now 43.
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Using the WordPress iTouch client
| 26/7/2008 | Posted by Pete under News |
iPod Touch
I have recently downloaded the WordPress client for the iTouch and iPhone and started playing about with it.
First impressions are that it is very straightforward to set up your blog for use with it. I was running a slightly out of date version of wordpress, which the application warned me about. A quick upgrade to the latest version and we were good to go.
Writing on the iTouch is not the most pleasant experience, but the WordPress client is easy to use in spite of this, providing a means to compose offline and update when safely back within range of a wifi network. Interestingly it has everything working that you can do through the web version, with the exception of being able to add pictures to a post. I’m going to try it for a bit longer before passing any judgement, but it seems a very promising app, with the added bonus of being zero cost.
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Stream of Consciousness Writing
| 23/5/2008 | Posted by Pete under Life Hacks |
I want to tell you about a technique that I have been using in order to replace journalling, which I have found does not work very well with me. This technique is similar to journalling, but has a few important differences. Both “stream of consciousness writing” and journalling have the emotional and “From the Heart” aspect to it, where the feeling is important, perhaps even more than the content. Both allow you to sort out, and put down on paper [or computer] what you are thinking and feeling at the time.
I have never been a fan of the Steve Pavlina school of journalling, whereby it is used as a problem solving tool. I believe that it is better not to think of it as a tool for problem solving, but rather as a means of expression. That is not to say that it cannot or should not be used in that manner, but that I have found that it is better (in spite of what Steve says on this subject) to actually go back and read what you have written. Sometimes I find something in there that I never noticed whilst I was writing. However, there are no “Journal Police”, to paraphrase a popular expression, so I wouldn’t recommend that you take what I have said here as an absolute. There is a lot of scope for manoeuvre on this.
I should probably tell you what is different from the standard sort of journal keeping that is normally(?) done, at least from what I’ve read about it. Firstly, I should point out that I am using Tomboy as the note taking application, which probably makes it a little bit different from conventional journals already, in that hyperlinking is supported, as well as various means of categorising the notes thus created. The major difference between journalling and the “stream of consciousness” that flows from my typing is that revision of the notes is perfectly legitimate thing to do. However, there are some caveats to the way that I handle this, which can probably be surmised from the title of this post.
There are two steps in the process, both of which are vital for the process to work successfully. They are detailed below. (more…)
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How to save money
| 27/2/2008 | Posted by Pete under Life Hacks |
Saving Money
Below are five tips that should put you on the right path to saving money.
Set up standing order to savings
By automatically shifting the money into your savings account, you will reduce the tendency to spend it, knowing that you will have to transfer the money back into your current account in order to do so.
Measure where your money is going
This post [lifehacker] shows you how to measure your finances in a way that is useful, and quite revealing. If you can see what your perception of your spending, and compare it with the actual spending you will be able to see where any discrepancies lie, and be able to act on it. The next point addresses just that. (more…)
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Short tips on how to annoy junk mail marketers
| 15/10/2007 | Posted by Pete under General, Life Hacks |
This is a short tip on how to annoy junk mail marketers.
- Complain on the company’s website, if they have one
- Send the freepost envelope back with nothing in
- Return mail addressed to “The Occupier” with the phrase “Not Known At This Address”
I would be interested in hearing your comments on how to deal with junk mail.
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Microsoft attacks Google Apps
| 12/9/2007 | Posted by Pete under News |
The following statement was released by Microsoft concerning Google’s Google Apps software.
“Google has a history of releasing incomplete products, calling them beta software, and issuing updates on a ‘known only to Google’ schedule–this flies in the face of what enterprises want and need in their technology partners–what is Google doing that indicates they are in lock step with customer needs?”
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. (more…)
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