Damn Interesting » Tin Foil Hats Proven Ineffective
Shakespearean Insult Generator
Creating Feeds from Feedless Web Pages
My notes from a demo I gave to a local STC SIG
Grand Illustions - Toy Collection - Dragon Illusion
"This little dragon is made out of paper - you simply cut it out and stick it together, and stand it on a table or window ledge. But when you move around, the dragon's head seems to follow you around the room. Have a look at the video, to see what we mean. The effect is really uncanny."
A Unique Gift! Your Own Optical Illusion! - Turn Your Head
"Your profile captured forever in an object of art. "
Fight the Corporate Bull with Bullfighter - Lifehacker
"It will scan your documents for over-utilization use of jargon synergy while at the same time increasing your ROI suggesting alternatives that cut the corporate business BS from your documents:"
PowerSquid roomy power strip - Lifehacker
William Shatner DVD Club
Yet another great offer I'll have to pass up.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Creating Feeds from Feedless Web Pages
Here's my first Backpack page that I created for a SIG meeting today. It describes how to create a feed from feedless web pages. It's a nice all-in-one page.
Backpack is great for presenting this kind of information and I was quite amazed at how quickly I could produce some nice-looking text modules, reorganize them, and so on.
For speed of page creation though, I like my PBWiki a little better.
Backpack is great for presenting this kind of information and I was quite amazed at how quickly I could produce some nice-looking text modules, reorganize them, and so on.
For speed of page creation though, I like my PBWiki a little better.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Advertising and its Discontented
Danny Gregory is running a great series on his site called Advertising and its Discontents. This first story, by Trevor Romain about why he left advertising, packs a wallop. We all want to matter.
Charity Larrison's story probably reflects the experience of most of us: drifting along, still trying to figure it all out.
Charity Larrison's story probably reflects the experience of most of us: drifting along, still trying to figure it all out.
"A common destination with room for all"
Scott's friend Chrystal has a nicearticle on religious choices.
My family is a perfect example of American religious diversity. Two parents had five daughters and, as of this writing, none share a common religion. We have a Catholic, a goddess-worshipping Wiccan, one three-quarters of the way to Buddhist nunhood (complete with shaved head!), one Mormon, and one Unitarian. The final member attends a Baptist church, but once they formed gay unions, other Baptists quarreled about the church’s designation. So far we have no Muslims or Jews, but the week is young—who knows what the future holds?
Modest Change 3: Exercise
For the past decade or more, I've fumbled around for an exercise program I could stick with. Given my size (6'3" and about 215 lbs, as of this writing), I'll need to be strong and flexible as I get older. Otherwise, the nurses helping me out of my elderly bed will have to be pretty strong or have a pulley and gurney handy.
Exercise clubs have not worked for me. I like yoga but feel I need more resistance and cardio training. I've cobbled together workouts from Joyce Vedral, Body for Life, Men's Health, and many other books and websites.
Two books came my way recently that changed my attitude to exercising and have provided me a very good workoout that energizes but doesn't fatigue.
The first, which I saw at the library, was Five Factor Fitness by Harley Pasternak. It promises a lot and mostly delivers, despite its rather gimmicky "5" theme: a 25-minute daily workout, done 5 days/week, 5 meals a day, and a set of recipes with meals containing only 5 ingredients.
What attracted me was the book's modest size (the recipes take up about half of the book) and the modest time requirements; although he advertises 25 minutes, it's really more like 35, but that's OK, that's doable. I also like the balance in the workouts. He recommends only 2 weight-lifting exercises per workout using dumbells, which are my tool of choice and all I've used the last several years. His routine emphasizes low-intensity lifting, with low weights but more sets and reps. The workout requires at least 5 minutes on the treadmill at the beginning and end of the routine, getting your heart rate up to its optimal workout zone for at least 5 minutes the second time, and an abdominal ("core") exercise, which is also high rep and multiple sets.
What I like about the workout is that the goal is not to push yourself to exhaustion, as seems to be the case with all the other routines that promise a quick 6- or 12-week turnaround. At the end of my previous hour-long workouts, I'd be fatigued and sore and would really have to drag myself to the next workout. By contrast, the 5-Factor workout leaves my arms and legs pleasantly buzzing with energy. When I was doing my workouts in the morning, I felt energized for the rest of the day. My earlier wake-up time has pushed my exercising to the afternoon, but it's short enough that it's done and I'm showered before supper.
But while perusing the Amazon comments for the book, I ran across Cal Dougherty's review (and his other fitness book reviews) where he cites a book called Joe X by Avery Hunnicutt.
Joe X is one of those books that couches its lessons in the form of a novel and dialogue between a mentor and a novice. It's a form I find tedious in the extreme. Although many Amazon reviewers liked the novel, I skimmed through it to get to the nuggets of fitness philosophy I was interested in. (And the good stuff is all recapitulated at the end of the book in an appendix.)
Hunnicutt advocates going light on resistance, paying attention to your body, raise the weight for one exercise only and then only minimally, and look at this as a 30-year or even 40-year fitness plan instead of as a 12-week full-body turnaround.
So, I've adapted aspects of both of these books. I follow the 5 Factor plan because I've learned my body likes to be exercised regularly and the routines offer enough variety and challenge that I haven't tired of it so far. From Joe X, I've taken on the idea of low-resistance weights and keeping my eye on the long haul.
For the past 4 or 5 weeks, I've been using only 5-lb. weights, which I would have laughed at before. I bought 25- and 30-lb weights a few years ago because I felt my chest and back needed more resistance. I don't believe that anymore. It's more important to me now to establish the habit and routine of regular exercise rather than taking my muscles to failure.
The blend of these two approaches is, for me, a modest change in my exercising that's yielded enormous benefit. I feel good physically, my sleep patterns have become more regular, and my moods have evened out--the latter is another reason that regular exercise is good for me, as I tend to be sedentary.
Exercise clubs have not worked for me. I like yoga but feel I need more resistance and cardio training. I've cobbled together workouts from Joyce Vedral, Body for Life, Men's Health, and many other books and websites.
Two books came my way recently that changed my attitude to exercising and have provided me a very good workoout that energizes but doesn't fatigue.
The first, which I saw at the library, was Five Factor Fitness by Harley Pasternak. It promises a lot and mostly delivers, despite its rather gimmicky "5" theme: a 25-minute daily workout, done 5 days/week, 5 meals a day, and a set of recipes with meals containing only 5 ingredients.
What attracted me was the book's modest size (the recipes take up about half of the book) and the modest time requirements; although he advertises 25 minutes, it's really more like 35, but that's OK, that's doable. I also like the balance in the workouts. He recommends only 2 weight-lifting exercises per workout using dumbells, which are my tool of choice and all I've used the last several years. His routine emphasizes low-intensity lifting, with low weights but more sets and reps. The workout requires at least 5 minutes on the treadmill at the beginning and end of the routine, getting your heart rate up to its optimal workout zone for at least 5 minutes the second time, and an abdominal ("core") exercise, which is also high rep and multiple sets.
What I like about the workout is that the goal is not to push yourself to exhaustion, as seems to be the case with all the other routines that promise a quick 6- or 12-week turnaround. At the end of my previous hour-long workouts, I'd be fatigued and sore and would really have to drag myself to the next workout. By contrast, the 5-Factor workout leaves my arms and legs pleasantly buzzing with energy. When I was doing my workouts in the morning, I felt energized for the rest of the day. My earlier wake-up time has pushed my exercising to the afternoon, but it's short enough that it's done and I'm showered before supper.
But while perusing the Amazon comments for the book, I ran across Cal Dougherty's review (and his other fitness book reviews) where he cites a book called Joe X by Avery Hunnicutt.
Joe X is one of those books that couches its lessons in the form of a novel and dialogue between a mentor and a novice. It's a form I find tedious in the extreme. Although many Amazon reviewers liked the novel, I skimmed through it to get to the nuggets of fitness philosophy I was interested in. (And the good stuff is all recapitulated at the end of the book in an appendix.)
Hunnicutt advocates going light on resistance, paying attention to your body, raise the weight for one exercise only and then only minimally, and look at this as a 30-year or even 40-year fitness plan instead of as a 12-week full-body turnaround.
So, I've adapted aspects of both of these books. I follow the 5 Factor plan because I've learned my body likes to be exercised regularly and the routines offer enough variety and challenge that I haven't tired of it so far. From Joe X, I've taken on the idea of low-resistance weights and keeping my eye on the long haul.
For the past 4 or 5 weeks, I've been using only 5-lb. weights, which I would have laughed at before. I bought 25- and 30-lb weights a few years ago because I felt my chest and back needed more resistance. I don't believe that anymore. It's more important to me now to establish the habit and routine of regular exercise rather than taking my muscles to failure.
The blend of these two approaches is, for me, a modest change in my exercising that's yielded enormous benefit. I feel good physically, my sleep patterns have become more regular, and my moods have evened out--the latter is another reason that regular exercise is good for me, as I tend to be sedentary.
Modest Change 2: Keeping time
I was, for some reason, totally taken by Thomas Limoncelli's book Time Management for System Administrators. (TM4SA, for short).
I read the sample chapter he had online here, and bought the book to see what the rest was about.
I've picked up and put down many a time management system over the years, starting with Day-Timers and finishing most successfully with David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology. Limoncelli's system doesn't quite displace GTD, but he has for the first time really helped me gain some traction on my task management.
I won't detail here what his system is, as the link above describes the main system pretty well. The book is written for someone who's really never used a time management system before and probably can't understand office life or office politics all that well.
I bought an At-a-Glance 2006 Daily Planning diary to implement the scheme and this has worked pretty well so far. I find myself not really noting much in the Notes or To-Dos sections; I have other home and office systems to log those things. But I do note in the planner book what I hope to accomplish each day or night of the week, and when I review my lists of Active Projects, I make sure each one has a next action written down for a specific day. (It was all to easy for tasks to stay on my GTD context lists and never move; by physically writing them down, I'm forced to confront them and make them move.)
One of TM4SA's key recommendations is that you write down what you want to accomplish each day and transfer undone tasks to the next day or some day in the future. This rankles lots of GTD purists and I understand it. On a bad day, you'll have to transfer most everything forward. But on a good day, you'll get most everything done and there's relatively few tasks to move forward.
TM4SA also recommends estimating about how long each task will take. This has really helped me figure out what I can realistically get to in an evening and so not overbook myself with ridiculously fabuloso projects or commitments when really all I have time to do is write my 1000 words and read. I've found that I really can't do all that I want when I have an evening free--instead, I have to prioritize and choose and do. Which is what time and task management is all about.
I read the sample chapter he had online here, and bought the book to see what the rest was about.
I've picked up and put down many a time management system over the years, starting with Day-Timers and finishing most successfully with David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology. Limoncelli's system doesn't quite displace GTD, but he has for the first time really helped me gain some traction on my task management.
I won't detail here what his system is, as the link above describes the main system pretty well. The book is written for someone who's really never used a time management system before and probably can't understand office life or office politics all that well.
I bought an At-a-Glance 2006 Daily Planning diary to implement the scheme and this has worked pretty well so far. I find myself not really noting much in the Notes or To-Dos sections; I have other home and office systems to log those things. But I do note in the planner book what I hope to accomplish each day or night of the week, and when I review my lists of Active Projects, I make sure each one has a next action written down for a specific day. (It was all to easy for tasks to stay on my GTD context lists and never move; by physically writing them down, I'm forced to confront them and make them move.)
One of TM4SA's key recommendations is that you write down what you want to accomplish each day and transfer undone tasks to the next day or some day in the future. This rankles lots of GTD purists and I understand it. On a bad day, you'll have to transfer most everything forward. But on a good day, you'll get most everything done and there's relatively few tasks to move forward.
TM4SA also recommends estimating about how long each task will take. This has really helped me figure out what I can realistically get to in an evening and so not overbook myself with ridiculously fabuloso projects or commitments when really all I have time to do is write my 1000 words and read. I've found that I really can't do all that I want when I have an evening free--instead, I have to prioritize and choose and do. Which is what time and task management is all about.
Modest Change 1: Early to Rise
Earlier this year, Merlin suggested that, instead of resolutions and big efforts, people implement fresh starts and modest changes. Here's the first of three posts about some modest changes I've made that have yielded some good benefits.
I've long known that about 70% of my problems would disappear if I just got up a little earlier. I went through a period last month where I was waking earlier than I wanted. Someone in the office suggested I just come in early like a few others of my officemates do and start logging my time. The very next day, I awoke at about 4 a.m. So I got up and made it into the office by 6:30.
My God, the quiet. I sat and focused on my project and got a good chunk done before lunchtime. And I got another good chunk done before I left for the day. I was quietly shocked at how well this weird new behavior worked.
Because we're cursed to work 9-hour days, I previously was getting in at 9 a.m. and leaving about 6 or 6:30 p.m., thus beating the rush-hour traffic both ways. Now, getting in at 7:30 a.m., there's still some rush-rush on the highways, but there's enough time at the end of the day to do my workout and have an evening of relative leisure, instead of cramming a gallon of stuff into a pint pot.
Accepting this behavior means letting go of treasured descriptions of myself as a night owl, as someone who'd rather stay up late than go to bed early. Well, that's still the case. I still prefer staying up late. But the reality of my working life dictates that early-rising more than repays the effort.
I've been able to stick with this schedule rather easily and will continue to do so. If I need to work late, it's fairly painless to stay another hour or two and log some extra time. And, I should note, I've not been troubled by early rising since sticking to my new schedule.
I've long known that about 70% of my problems would disappear if I just got up a little earlier. I went through a period last month where I was waking earlier than I wanted. Someone in the office suggested I just come in early like a few others of my officemates do and start logging my time. The very next day, I awoke at about 4 a.m. So I got up and made it into the office by 6:30.
My God, the quiet. I sat and focused on my project and got a good chunk done before lunchtime. And I got another good chunk done before I left for the day. I was quietly shocked at how well this weird new behavior worked.
Because we're cursed to work 9-hour days, I previously was getting in at 9 a.m. and leaving about 6 or 6:30 p.m., thus beating the rush-hour traffic both ways. Now, getting in at 7:30 a.m., there's still some rush-rush on the highways, but there's enough time at the end of the day to do my workout and have an evening of relative leisure, instead of cramming a gallon of stuff into a pint pot.
Accepting this behavior means letting go of treasured descriptions of myself as a night owl, as someone who'd rather stay up late than go to bed early. Well, that's still the case. I still prefer staying up late. But the reality of my working life dictates that early-rising more than repays the effort.
I've been able to stick with this schedule rather easily and will continue to do so. If I need to work late, it's fairly painless to stay another hour or two and log some extra time. And, I should note, I've not been troubled by early rising since sticking to my new schedule.
YouTube - Alan Moore Interview
A kindly someone has posted this BBC Two Alan Moore Interview that was broadcast March 9, 2006. The first few minutes look marvelous. If only YouTube would play the whole thing without dropping out ...
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