I don't like to print things out that I want to read. But on too many websites, there is so much clutter and ads, it's hard to keep one's eyes focused on the main article I want to read.
For years I depended on the print option which allowed me to read the article without the annoying clutter all around. Often I had to increase the size of the type so I could read it on the screen.
Arc90 has the solution, a simple tool, that's become indispensable for me called Readability. Readability removes all the clutter and offers a presentation of the article in just the way you prefer.
I knew there would be found a scientific reason behind why I love naps.
Take that power nap - you could end up smarter
Medical researchers have shown that the power naps favoured by Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and Margaret Thatcher not only refresh the mind, they also make people smarter.
They found snoozing for just one hour in the day is enough to increase the brain's ability to learn new facts in the hours that follow.
Other famous nappers:
Thomas Edison
Albert Einstein
Margaret Thatcher
Bill Clinton
John F. Kennedy
Ronald Reagan
Florence Nightingale
Some earlier nap posts:
We are biologically programmed to get sleepy twice a day. When is your sleep gate?
Naps are one of the Life Lessons from the Army
Nap more and you'll cure the doldrums that follow lunch.
And from The Boston Globe, How to Nap
A slew of new studies have shown that naps boost alertness, creativity, mood and productivity in the later hours of the day. A nap of 60 minutes improves alertness for up to 10 hours. Research on pilots shows that a 26 minute "NASA" nap in flight (while the plane is manned by a copilot) enhanced performance by 34% and overall alertness by 54%. One Harvard study published this year showed that a 45-miunute nap improves learning and memory.
The body benefits too. Napping reduces stress and lowers the risk of heart attack and stroke, diabetes and excessive weight gain. Naps make you smarter, healthier, safer.
Some useful tips that I'm going to use with leftover wine and pasta water.
From 50 Amazingly Helpful Time-Tested Tips for the Kitchen
18. If you manage to have some leftover wine at the end of the evening, freeze it in ice cube trays for easy addition to soups and sauces in the future.
19. To clean crevices and corners in vases and pitchers, fill with water and drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets. The bubbles will do the scrubbing.
20. After boiling pasta or potatoes, cool the water and use it to water your house plants. The water contains nutrients that your plants will love.
‘How can I prevent Camera Loss?’ I hear you ask, wishing I’d get to the point. Well, you can’t prevent cameras from getting lost, but you can do something so your camera can be found very soon after it has vanished.
Andrew McDonald from down under tells us how.
You will understand why it's a good idea to check on your safety deposit box once a year after you see this.
Alone at home last night, I came down with hiccups that wouldn't stop. I googled and found this 30 second cure for hiccups that I pass on because it worked right away. The key is in the swallowing.
What every Super Achiever Knows About Time Management from the Field Guide for Real Estate Investors
Yet, the super achievers seem to have all the time they need. They must know the secrets of time management the rest of us don't. In December of 2007 and January of 2008 I interviewed a sampling of the really high achievers here at the Field Guide and I learned an amazing time management revelation.
They do know a secret but it is not the one you might expect. The super achievers know that time management is a myth. They focus not on managing their time but on managing their achievements
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They know a to do list is often used as an excuse to avoid the difficult, yet critical, task.
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Super achievers don't manage their time, they create, manage and maximize their opportunities. At any given time they know the one critical, must complete, task and they work on that task
HT Instapundit
Sleep boosts the immune system and Lack of Sleep Increases the Risk of Catching a Cold
Sleep and immunity, it seems, are tightly linked. Studies have found that mammals that require the most sleep also produce greater levels of disease-fighting white blood cells — but not red blood cells, even though both are produced in bone marrow and stem from the same precursor. And researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology have shown that species that sleep more have greater resistance against pathogens.
“Species that have evolved longer sleep durations,” the Planck scientists wrote, “appear to be able to increase investment in their immune systems and be better protected.”
From the New York Times magazine, The Self-Storage Self
The Self Storage Association notes that, with more than seven square feet for every man, woman and child, it’s now “physically possible that every American could stand — all at the same time — under the total canopy of self-storage roofing.”
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The first modern self-storage facilities opened in the 1960s, and for two decades storage remained a low-profile industry, helping people muddle through what it terms “life events.” For the most part, storage units were meant to temporarily absorb the possessions of those in transition: moving, marrying or divorcing, or dealing with a death in the family. And the late 20th century turned out to be a golden age of life events in America, with peaking divorce rates and a rush of second- and third-home buying. At the same time, the first baby boomers were left to face down the caches of heirlooms and clutter in their parents’ basements.
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It raises a simple question: where was all that stuff before?
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“A lot of it just comes down to the great American propensity toward accumulating stuff,”
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Fifty percent of renters were now simply storing what wouldn’t fit in their homes — even though the size of the average American house had almost doubled in the previous 50 years, to 2,300 square feet.
Not only do we have too much stuff, some of us are hoarders, afraid to throw anything away.
Probably, the most famous hoarders of all were the Collyer brothers, Columbia College graduate both, who were found dead in their Harlem brownstone, surrounded by more than 100 tons of stuff and rubbish they had collected over decades. The fear of throwing anything away is sometimes called 'Collyer brothers syndrome'. I wonder how many such people now use self-storage as a way of being able to save everything they have ever owned and not be buried by it.
It's obvious to some of us, but not others that Digital criminals can use Twitter and Facebook to find targets.
Don't post your vacation plans and dates until after you return home.
Don't post personal information on any website unless you wouldn't mind seeing it on the front page of your local newspaper
Don't friend people you don't know.
I don't know how scientific this is, but here are some tells to look for if you think someone is lying.
The average person tells four lies a day, or 1,460 lies a year. Lying is easy … spotting a liar is a harder. But you may not need the high-tech gadgets used on CSI to detect deception. Sometimes, the truth is written all over your face.
Pinocchio may not be just a fairytale. Studies show when someone lies, the cells inside their nose swell and release histamines, making it itchy, which is why when someone's lying, they're more likely to scratch their nose.
"The face conveys so much information," David Matsumoto, Ph.D., a psychologist at San Francisco State University in Calif., told Ivanhoe.
Other ways to spot a liar include looking at how much someone blinks. People blink less frequently than normal when they're lying and eight-times faster afterwards. Also, look for the "liar's lean." Liars tend to lean forward and rest their elbows or knees on a table. They also tend to use words like "would not" or "could not" instead of "wouldn't" or "couldn't."
Research shows men and women lie about the same amount. They just lie about different things. Women usually lie to make others feel better while men often lie to make themselves feel better.
Stay inside. .
A panel was convened by the National Academy of Sciences to assess the nation's level of preparedness for such an attack.
The panel explored the consequences of a nuclear explosion packing a punch equivalent to 10,000 tonnes of TNT. That's tiny compared with the thermonuclear weapons deployed by the US and Russia - and smaller even than the 15-kiloton bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 - but plausible for an improvised device.
The blast wave would destroy buildings and kill almost everyone within 1 kilometre (see map), so the panel focused its attention on people outside this zone, for whom the main danger would come from radioactive fallout. "That's a place where you could get big gains if you plan right,"
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For many people, the safest option would be to seek shelter in buildings or underground. Just staying inside could slash the immediate death toll from radiation by up to a factor of 100, or even 1000,
More here
She fell asleep while getting three tiny stars tattooed near her left eye. It's unclear whether the Romanian tattooist didn't understand or gave her exactly what she wanted - 56 stars.
'It is terrible for me,' said Kimberley. 'I cannot go out on to the street, I am so embarrassed. I just look horrible.'
Tip: if you to get tattoos on your face, stay awake.
UPDATE: "I lied about tattoo blunder because my father was furious."
Backpacker shouts Halleluia and calls this "news on par with peace in the Middle East. Beer hydrates better than water.
Researchers at Granada University in Spain found this Nobel Prize-worthy discovery after months of testing 25 student subjects, who were asked to run on a treadmill in grueling temps (104 degrees F) until they were as close to exhaustion as possible. Half were given water to drink, and the other half drank two pints of Spanish lager. Then the godly researchers measured their hydration levels, motor skills, and concentration ability.
They determined that the beer drinkers had "slightly better" rehydration effects, which researchers attribute to sugars, salts, and bubbles in beer enhancing the body's ability to absorb water. The carbohydrates in beer also help refill calorie deficits.
Based on the results of the study, researchers recommend moderate consumption of beer as a part of athletes' diets. "Moderate consumption" for men is 500ml per day, and for women is 250ml per day.
Now this makes sense for lifelong and life-threatening conditions: Tattoos being used for medical alerts
Increasing numbers of people who have serious medical conditions, such as diabetes, are turning to tattooing to identify themselves on the chance a health emergency leaves them unable to communicate.
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At Fatty's Custom Tattooz in Washington, D.C., owner Matthew "Fatty" Jessup says he has carved numerous health-related tattoos. "I've done a biohazard symbol for a few people with HIV," he says.
Tripit looks like a great way to organize your travel.
This free service will create a master itinerary from the host of travel confirmations one gets from hotels, airlines and rental cars and put it in a form you can share and send to your mobile phone.
There's even an app for the iPhone.
Great press and fabulous testimonials
IN The New Yorker this week, an insightful article by Johan Lehrer on the secret of self-control, DON'T.
What, then, determined self-control? Mischel’s conclusion, based on hundreds of hours of observation, was that the crucial skill was the “strategic allocation of attention.” Instead of getting obsessed with the marshmallow—the “hot stimulus”—the patient children distracted themselves by covering their eyes, pretending to play hide-and-seek underneath the desk, or singing songs from “Sesame Street.” Their desire wasn’t defeated—it was merely forgotten. “If you’re thinking about the marshmallow and how delicious it is, then you’re going to eat it,” Mischel says. “The key is to avoid thinking about it in the first place.”
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According to Mischel, this view of will power also helps explain why the marshmallow task is such a powerfully predictive test. “If you can deal with hot emotions, then you can study for the S.A.T. instead of watching television,” Mischel says. “And you can save more money for retirement. It’s not just about marshmallows.”
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But Mischel has found a shortcut. When he and his colleagues taught children a simple set of mental tricks—such as pretending that the candy is only a picture, surrounded by an imaginary frame—he dramatically improved their self-control. The kids who hadn’t been able to wait sixty seconds could now wait fifteen minutes. “All I’ve done is given them some tips from their mental user manual,” Mischel says. “Once you realize that will power is just a matter of learning how to control your attention and thoughts, you can really begin to increase it.”
Another researcher, Angela Duckworth found that the ability to delay gratification, was a far better predictor of academic performance than I.Q.
She said that her study shows that “intelligence is really important, but it’s still not as important as self-control.”
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According to Mischel, even the most mundane routines of childhood—such as not snacking before dinner, or saving up your allowance, or holding out until Christmas morning—are really sly exercises in cognitive training: we’re teaching ourselves how to think so that we can outsmart our desires
Just what sort of organization works for you is idiosyncratic and highly particular. Just look what Sara Rimer went through as she sought to organize her home office.
An Orderly Office? That's Personal
All organizers seem to agree on two things:
1. Get rid of clutter
2. Use a label maker
From Science News If your face is too tight to show disgust, you won't be able to get rid of the emotion.
One of the most recognizable facial expressions is disgust: the expression displayed by an individual who is exposed to a nauseating image or horrifying story. But what happens when this emotion is not expressed? When the person keeps a straight face – either intentionally or unintentionally – and pretends that nothing is wrong?
As Judith Grob discovered, such people experience more negative emotions. ‘They look at the world with negative eyes because they cannot get rid of their feelings of disgust by expressing them. A botox treatment also has an effect on emotional experience, therefore, and not on wrinkles alone’.
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Subjects who were asked to suppress their disgust when shown images of, for example, a dirty toilet or a film depicting an amputation were able to do so. ‘But the emotion then found its way into the open through other channels’, says Grob. ‘At the cognitive level, they began to think about disgusting things much more often and also felt much more negatively about other issues. The same phenomenon occurs in a situation where you are not allowed to think of something, say a white bear. Precisely because you are trying to suppress that thought, it becomes hyperaccessible’.
I used to think that pretty much every household problem could be fixed on the fly with Duct tape or WD-40. Looks like I have to add Vise-Grips to my list.
Via Instapundit, How Vise Grips Saved My Life and other tales about this Toolbox Hero
Well, Clint was right on the money, as Vise-Grip manufacturer Irwin proved in a recent contest called "Tell Us Your Vise-Grip Story." Over the course of four months last year, Irwin received 845 entries from regular folks using Vise-Grips for everything from ad hoc auto fixes to emergency bovine surgery to–perhaps most surprising–marriages whose very existence hinged on a special pair of pliers.
I liked these low-tech fixes for high tech problems.
Pick up broken glass from the kitchen floor with a slice of bread.
Keep your cellphone cool, in a purse or on a belt, to preserve its battery.
If your printer’s ink cartridge runs dry near the end of an important print job, remove the cartridge and run a hair dryer on it for two to three minutes. Then place the cartridge back into the printer and try again while it is still warm.
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Cellphone in the toilet. Take the battery out immediately, to prevent electrical short circuits from frying your phone’s fragile internals. Then, wipe the phone gently with a towel, and shove it into a jar full of uncooked rice.
It works for the same reason you may keep few grains of rice in your salt shaker to keep the salt dry. Rice has a high chemical affinity for water — that means the molecules in the rice have a nearly magnetic attraction for water molecules, which will be soaked up into the rice rather than beading up inside the phone.
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You need to clean a skipping DVD or CD, but as a bachelor you don’t have any sissy cleaning fluids? Soak a washcloth with vodka or mouthwash.
Alcohol is a powerful solvent, perfectly capable of dissolving fingerprints and grime on the surface of a disc. A $5 bottle of Listerine in your medicine cabinet may do the job as effectively as a $75 bottle of DVD cleaning fluid. A
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Hey guys, never be blindsided again. Sign up for PMSbuddy alerts for "those times when things can get intense for what may seem to be no reason at all.
It all started with a 28-year-old bloke in Australia.
Soon to be an app for the iPhone.
Harvard researchers report in the Boston Globe
Deaths and complications dropped by an astounding one-third when operating room doctors and nurses completed a simple safety checklist before, during, and after surgery, according to a study led by Harvard researchers.
The eight hospitals that participated in the international study collectively reduced complications during hospital stays from 11 percent of patients before they began using the checklist to 7 percent of patients when using the checklist. Deaths dropped from 1.5 percent of patients to 0.8 percent.
"It was beyond anything we expected," said Dr. Atul Gawande, senior author of the Harvard School of Public Health paper and a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital. The impact of all the items on the checklist "put together seems to have produced these really remarkable results," he said.
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Completing the checklist out loud as a team is crucial to uncovering lapses that lead to problems, said Dr. Alex Haynes of the Harvard School of Public Health, the lead author and a surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital.
"Saying it verbally codifies things more than simply having one person check a box," Haynes said. It requires more attention, he said, and a greater sense of collective responsibility.
I posted The Art of Managing Extreme Complexity in the ICU over a year ago which excerpted chunks of Atul Gawande's article in the New Yorker.
One doctor looked at what happens when procedures are too complex to carry out reliably from memory alone by taking a page from pilot checklists.
Checklists help people with memory recall and make explicit the minimum, expected steps in complex processes.
What checklists do you use?
Merle Mann on how Real Advice Hurts
At their best, “tips” are a fine way to incrementally improve a process that you’re already dedicated to practicing on a regular basis. And, in that context, tips work.
For example, a tip on your golf swing may be very useful if you’re already playing three times a week and hitting a bucket of balls after work every day. But a subscription to a magazine about taekwondo will only be as useful as your decision to drag your fat ass into a dojo and start actually kicking people. Over and over. Otherwise, you’re just buying shiny paper every month.
Richard Wilson writes the anti-travel guide: 101 things not to do before you die and points out that most 'once in a lifetime' experiences will either end in disappointment or something much worse.
instead of marvelling at world sites, Wilson suggests avoiding places like the Taj Mahal and the Egyptian pyramids.
Wilson writes: "Advice to anyone about to travel to Thailand is simple. Before you go, sort out a decent photo of yourself, preferably taken at a party smiling and celebrating the joy of being alive, because the newspapers and TV news bulletins will want something to accompany the article about your tragic death."
Just as I was about to post this after a tip by Miss Kelly, I came across this: Axe-welding villagers hold British holidaymakers in Peru.
The tourists were visiting a remote part of the South American country when their bus was surrounded by about 50 local people brandishing pickaxes, metal bars and poles.
The villagers yelled threats and pelted the vehicle with rocks and branches, smashing windows and doors, before forcing the terrified holidaymakers from the bus.
They were led away and forced to sit on the ground, while the Peruvian driver and two other Peruvians, one of whom was the group’s guide, were hit with sticks.
The holidaymakers, who were on a two-week tour costing about £2,000, were then berated by the villagers, who accused them of being thieves who had come to steal their natural resources.
The incident ended only when the villagers realised they had attacked the wrong people.
Anyone who's ever read a fashion magazine has read a thousand times that horizontal strips make you look fat while vertical stripes slim you down.
Wrong! It's vertical stripes that make you look fat.
Scientist explodes myth about Big Bum theory and the wrong kind of stripes
They hold off blinking while telling you the lie, then blink in a flurry afterwards.
It's all to do with the 'blinking' obvious
Liars blink in different ways during and after a falsehood, researchers claim.
They blink less than normal during the lie, and then have a flurry up to eight times faster than usual afterwards.
'It is striking what different patterns in eye blinks emerged for liars and truth tellers,' said Dr Sharon Leal, co-author of the study at Portsmouth University.
'Such striking differences in behaviour between liars and truth tellers are rarely seen in deception research.'
The psychologists say that the discovery, reported in the Journal of Non-verbal Behaviour, means that blink rates could be used by professionals to catch liar
From Scientific American, How Snoozing Makes Your Smarter
Whether deciding to go to a particular college, accept a challenging job offer or propose to a future spouse, “sleeping on it” seems to provide the clarity we need to piece together life’s puzzles. But how does slumber present us with answers?
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As exciting findings such as these come in more and more rapidly, we are becoming sure of one thing: while we sleep, our brain is anything but inactive. It is now clear that sleep can consolidate memories by enhancing and stabilizing them and by finding patterns within studied material even when we do not know that patterns might be there. It is also obvious that skimping on sleep stymies these crucial cognitive processes: some aspects of memory consolidation only happen with more than six hours of sleep. Miss a night, and the day’s memories might be compromised—an unsettling thought in our fast-paced, sleep-deprived society.
Finding your inner Frenchwoman
Stephanie Plentl heads to France for a holiday that teaches the tricks of Gallic chic – and discovers that it all begins with matching underwear.
1. Matching lingerie sets the foundation.
2. No sneakers or running shoes - Horreur
3. Only one glass of wine a day with dinner because an evening meal without wine is triste.
4. No dieting. Only very small amounts of delicious food.
5. 'Physical sloppiness is an intellectual indicator." So lip gloss to yoga class.
6. Lots of time on skin care
7. Scarves
External motivations be they threats or rewards turn out to be ineffective, even counterproductive, in getting people to perform at their best because it undermines internal drives.
External rewards and punishments are counterproductive when it comes to activities that are meaningful -- tasks that telegraph something about a person's intellectual abilities, generosity, courage or values. People will voluntarily perform intellectually arduous work, for example, because it gives them pleasure to solve a puzzle or win a game of wits.
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Deci's research into the counterproductive effects of threats and rewards has been replicated among high school students learning verbal skills, preschoolers trying to draw, and adults targeted by weight-loss, anti-smoking and traffic safety programs. In each case, external threats and rewards made it less likely that people would feel internally fired up about the goal.
I went to an elite college and much as I am grateful for the fine, indeed excellent, educational experience I had, it's taken me decades to strip away the disadvantages William Deresiewicz writes about in The Disadvantages of an Elite Education in The American Scholar. A brilliant essay.
The first disadvantage of an elite education, as I learned in my kitchen that day, is that it makes you incapable of talking to people who aren’t like you.
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because these schools tend to cultivate liberal attitudes, they leave their students in the paradoxical position of wanting to advocate on behalf of the working class while being unable to hold a simple conversation with anyone in it.
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But it isn’t just a matter of class. My education taught me to believe that people who didn’t go to an Ivy League or equivalent school weren’t worth talking to, regardless of their class. I was given the unmistakable message that such people were beneath me. We were “the best and the brightest,” as these places love to say, and everyone else was, well, something else: less good, less bright.
.. elite universities ... select for and develop one form of intelligence: the analytic. While this is broadly true of all universities, elite schools,... But social intelligence and emotional intelligence and creative ability, to name just three other forms, are not distributed preferentially among the educational elite. The “best” are the brightest only in one narrow sense. One needs to wander away from the educational elite to begin to discover this.
The second disadvantage, implicit in what I’ve been saying, is that an elite education inculcates a false sense of self-worth
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If one of the disadvantages of an elite education is the temptation it offers to mediocrity, another is the temptation it offers to security.
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if you’re afraid to fail, you’re afraid to take risks, which begins to explain the final and most damning disadvantage of an elite education: that it is profoundly anti-intellectual. This will seem counterintuitive....The system forgot ... that the true purpose of education is to make minds, not careers.
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So when students get to college, they hear a couple of speeches telling them to ask the big questions, and when they graduate, they hear a couple more speeches telling them to ask the big questions. And in between, they spend four years taking courses that train them to ask the little questions—specialized courses, taught by specialized professors, aimed at specialized students.
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The disadvantage of an elite education is that it’s given us the elite we have, and the elite we’re going to have.
Having always been a proponent of naps even as other people scoffed, I welcome the solid, scientific evidence that midday naps benefit your mental acuity and your overall health.
We are biologically programmed to get sleepy twice a day with "an afternoon quiescent phase in our physiology which diminishes our reaction time, memory, coordination, mood and alertness."
But when is the best time to nap? Depends on whether you're a lark or an owl.
Larks who get up early have a sleep gate at about 1 pm. Owls who stay up late find their sleep gate at 2:30 or 3.
Or if you're like me, it's whenever I feel like it.
If you've forgotten how, and it's alarming how many people have, the Boston Globe has printed a pull-out guide How to Nap
I quite liked these Five things you never knew you could do with your cell phone
Who knew the emergency number world wide for mobiles is 112, a number you can dial even if the keypad is locked.
Who knew that you could unlock your car over a cell phone?
And the number I immediately stored in my phone, 800 373 3411 for free 411 information calls.
There's a fine, new-to-me blog on The Art of Manliness where lessons in manliness are next to practical tips like Nine ways to start a fire without matches.
When all else fails, a coke can and bar of chocolate will do
Some like John McCain need no lessons but can teach some. Of course, he'll never do it and so it rests on others to tell.
Mr. Day relayed to me one of the stories Americans should hear. It involves what happened to him after escaping from a North Vietnamese prison during the war. When he was recaptured, a Vietnamese captor broke his arm and said, "I told you I would make you a cripple."
The break was designed to shatter Mr. Day's will. He had survived in prison on the hope that one day he would return to the United States and be able to fly again. To kill that hope, the Vietnamese left part of a bone sticking out of his arm, and put him in a misshapen cast. This was done so that the arm would heal at "a goofy angle," as Mr. Day explained. Had it done so, he never would have flown again.
But it didn't heal that way because of John McCain. Risking severe punishment, Messrs. McCain and Day collected pieces of bamboo in the prison courtyard to use as a splint. Mr. McCain put Mr. Day on the floor of their cell and, using his foot, jerked the broken bone into place. Then, using strips from the bandage on his own wounded leg and the bamboo, he put Mr. Day's splint in place.
Years later, Air Force surgeons examined Mr. Day and complimented the treatment he'd gotten from his captors. Mr. Day corrected them. It was Dr. McCain who deserved the credit. Mr. Day went on to fly again.
The way to a man's heart? Through his left ear
New research suggests that declarations of love, jokes, or words of anger are best remembered when they are heard through the left ear, while instructions, directions and non-emotional messages have more impact on the right side.
It is all to do with how our brains process information. Although the left and right hemispheres, or sides, of the brain are similar structures, they have specialised functions. The left side, it is suggested, is more logic-based and dominant, while the right is the more imaginative side, more visual, intuitive, emotional and spatially aware. Because the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, the left ear has been shown in some research to be the route to the emotional side of the brain, and the right ear to the non-emotional, logical side.
The news that left and right ears process sound differently is not so new. A 2004 article in Science found that the left ear of a baby was more attuned to music and the right better at picking up speech-like sounds.
Speak to my right ear, sing to my left
The old wives tale has some truth behind it.
Mom's diet may play role in whether baby is boy or girl
Having a hearty appetite, eating potassium-rich foods including bananas, and not skipping breakfast all seemed to raise the odds of having a boy.
When the Wall St. Journal says it's time to Load Up the Pantry for a good return on your cash, pay attention.
Reality: Food prices are already rising here much faster than the returns you are likely to get from keeping your money in a bank or money-market fund. And there are very good reasons to believe prices on the shelves are about to start rising a lot faster.
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Do the math. If you keep your standby cash in a money-market fund you'll be lucky to get a 2.5% interest rate.
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Meanwhile the most recent government data shows food inflation for the average American household is now running at 4.5% a year.
And some prices are rising even more quickly. The latest data show cereal prices rising by more than 8% a year. Both flour and rice are up more than 13%. Milk, cheese, bananas and even peanut butter: They're all up by more than 10%. Eggs have rocketed up 30% in a year. Ground beef prices are up 4.8% and chicken by 5.4%.
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You can't easily stock up on perishables like eggs or milk. But other products will keep. Among them: Dried pasta, rice, cereals, and cans of everything from tuna fish to fruit and vegetables. The kicker: You should also save money by buying them in bulk.
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The good news is that it's easier to store Cap'n Crunch or cans of Starkist in your home than it is to store lots of gasoline. Safer, too.
Don't offer theories as to why they got sick, don't ask for their prognosis, don't give unsolicited advice, and don't insist that "everything is going to be just fine."
How to Support a Loved One Reeling from a Cancer Diagnosis
In the long run, it pays to be nice says a new Harvard study.
Common game theory has held that punishment makes two equals cooperate. But when people compete in repeated games, punishment fails to deliver, said study author Martin Nowak. He is director of the evolutionary dynamics lab at Harvard where the study was conducted.
"On the individual level, we find that those who use punishments are the losers," Nowak said his experiments found.
Those who escalate the conflict very often wound up doomed.
"It's a very positive message," said study co-author David Rand, a Harvard biology graduate student researcher. "In general, the thing that is most, sort of, rational and best for your own self-interest is to be nice."
Stainless steel wallets are in your future. Either that or aluminum foil.
Radio-frequency IDs or RFIDs are tags that include both an integrated circuit for storing and processing information and an antenna for receiving and transmitting a signal. They are tiny little objects you can apply to any product, animal or person. They are most often used in inventory tracking and management.
You probably are already familiar with the transponders many have on their windshields allowing them to speed through toll booths without stopping even as the information is captured and the charge for the toll will appear on your credit card statement.
Since 2006 RFID tags have been included in all new passports issued by the United States government. After a demonstration that showed that passports could be read with special equipment from 33 feet away, various barriers and encryption methods have been incorporated. The Wikipedia entry explains more than I ever could.
Boing Boing video shows how anyone can swipe your credit card information and other personal data that is on any card employing RFID by using a reader that cost on $8 on Ebay, just by getting "close to your ass."
The biggest threat to having your identity stolen remains the theft of many thousands of credit card numbers from websites. Hacker Pablos Holman told TechRadar
“I don’t expect this to be a major threat for a while. People are stealing credit card numbers from websites and that’s still pretty easy,” he says, before adding, somewhat more ominously “with a bigger antenna hooked up to this I can go into Starbucks and get the name of everyone in there.
That's why I say stainless steel wallets are in your future. Keep an eye out for them.
After you've worked at Google and YouTube, what do you do next? Howcast is what.
After checking out their categories and featured videos, it looks like a great resource, one to bookmark for those times when you wonder how to do something for the first time.
How to do pretty much anything.
Howcast is the brainchild of a trio of Google refugees who wanted to go YouTube one better by putting together professional video content that viewers can actually use. "There really isn't a lot of high-quality instructional video out there and we wanted to do it across a broad spectrum of topics," says Jason Liebman, the company's CEO. The majority of the videos are produced in-house, though some are uploaded by users. But regardless of the source, the videos are uniformly well-done.
We all have too much stuff. 80% of what we own we never use. We spend an hour a day just looking for things. We hold on to stuff because some day 'we might need it.' Hoarders are greatly stressed by the thought of throwing anything away.
With compulsive hoarders, all that stuff is harming their lives. Some people even die, suffocated by all their stuff, a Death by Clutter.
How many of us are compulsive hoarders? Estimates range from 1.5 to 6 million people in the U.S.
Compulsive hoarding may be a distinctive diagnostic category now that we have brain wave images that show distinct abnormalities.
Hoarders were found to have lower activity in a specific part of the brain that’s involved in decision-making, focused attention and the regulation of emotion.
Submerged in stuff, hoarders keep collecting
“Hoarders have a fundamental inability to keep things organized,” says Frost. “Not just their possessions, but other things, like finishing tasks. We see a lot of attention deficit problems in hoarding.”
For actress Delta Burke, it was antique furniture and porcelain dolls — enough to fill 27 climate-controlled storage units.
For Roger Gorman’s father-in-law, it was books, newspapers, plastic grocery bags and leisure magazines.
“There must have been over 2,000 magazines in his apartment,” says the 53-year-old graphic designer from Manhattan. “There were stacks and stacks of them, columns of them. It looked like the landscape of a city.”
The good news is that hoarding can be easily treated. Pigpen started squalorsurvivors after she learned that "Being keeper for the world is too big a burden for one person to bear."
From Lifehack's 50 tricks to get things done faster, better, and more easily.
50-30-20: Spend 50% of your working day on tasks that advance your long-term, life goals, spend 30% on tasks that advance your middle-term (2-years or so) goals, and the remaining 20% on things that affect only the next 90 days or so.
Timer: Tell yourself you will work on a project or task, and only that project or task, for a set amount of time. Set a timer (use a kitchen timer, or use a countdown timer on your computer), and plug away at your work. When the timer goes off, you’re done — move on to the next project or task.
Do Your Worst: Give yourself permission to suck. Relieve the pressure of needing to achieve perfection in every task on the first run. Promise yourself you’ll go back and fix any problems later, but for now, just run wild.
If you are hiking in the woods and come back to your car only to find that your keys are locked inside, pick up a stone and break the window so you can drive away alive.
Sandra Order didn't. She locked her keys in her SUV and died next to it in the cold and the rain of hypothermia.
The custom used to be that when you got tired of waiting for a bus or train, you'd take out a cigarette and light it. Just how this caused the bus or train to suddenly appear is one of those mysteries that have never been adequately explained.
Now so many people have given up smoking, other ways to make the bus appeared have been tried and found wanting. Many lose patience and decide to walk to the next stop. That option doesn't work as science has discovered.
Lazy option is best when waiting for the bus
Scott Kominers, a mathematician at Harvard University, and his colleagues derived a formula for the optimal time that you should wait for a tardy bus at each stop en route before giving up and walking on. "Many mathematicians probably ponder this on their way to work, but never get round to working it out," he says.
The team found that the solution was surprisingly simple. When both options seem reasonably attractive, the formula advises you to choose the "lazy" option: wait at the first stop, no matter how frustrating
Some 1.5 million Americans are chronic hoarders who can not bear to throw away anything even if their excessive clutter is harming their lives.
Compulsive hoarding may well be a mental disease whereby even the thought of throwing something away causes great stress.
Compulsive hoarders live in an ever shrinking area as the piles of useless stuff grow taller. You can die suffocated under the piles as some do
Lynne Johnson, a professional organizer from Quincy, Mass., who is president of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization...
explains that some people look at a shelf stacked with coffee mugs and see only mugs. But people with serious disorganization problems might see each one as a unique item — a souvenir from Yellowstone or a treasured gift from Grandma.
Many clients have already accumulated numerous storage bins and other such items in a futile attempt to get organized. Usually the home space is adequate, she says, but the challenge is in teaching them how to group, sort, set priorities and discard.
What is decluttering but editing - choosing the best, discarding the rest.
Editing is a skill we all have to learn is we are not to be drowned by our own stuff.
If you don't use it or love it, lose it.
Keep the best, toss the rest.
Another brilliant article by Atul Gawande called The Checklist in the New Yorker's Annals of Medicine.
Intensive-care medicine has become the art of managing extreme complexity—and a test of whether such complexity can, in fact, be humanly mastered.
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On any given day in the United States, some ninety thousand people are in intensive care. Over a year, an estimated five million Americans will be, and over a normal lifetime nearly all of us will come to know the glassed bay of an I.C.U. from the inside.
Wide swaths of medicine now depend on the lifesupport systems that I.C.U.s provide: care for premature infants; victims of trauma, strokes, and heart attacks; patients who have had surgery on their brain, heart, lungs, or major blood vessels.
Critical care has become an increasingly large portion of what hospitals do. Fifty years ago, I.C.U.s barely existed. ...The average stay of an I.C.U. patient is four days, and the survival rate is eighty-six per cent. Going into an I.C.U., being put on a mechanical ventilator, having tubes and wires run into and out of you, is not a sentence of death. But the days will be the most precarious of your life.
They are precarious because the average patient requires 178 individual actions per day and every one involves risks. One of the biggest risks is that of a line infection, infections that are so common they are considered a routine complication. 80,000 people get line infections each year and of those between 5 and 28% die.
The I.C.U., with its spectacular successes and frequent failures, therefore poses a distinctive challenge: what do you do when expertise is not enough?
Intensive care is now too complex for clinicians to carry out reliably fro memory alone. Taking a page from the pilot checklists, designed to help pilots fly planes too complicated to fly from memory alone, Peter Pronovost, a critical care specialist at John Hopkins, designed a checklist to take care of the problem of line infections.
Pronovost and his colleagues monitored what happened for a year afterward. The results were so dramatic that they weren’t sure whether to believe them: the ten-day line-infection rate went from eleven per cent to zero. So they followed patients for fifteen more months. Only two line infections occurred during the entire period. They calculated that, in this one hospital, the checklist had prevented forty-three infections and eight deaths, and saved two million dollars in costs.
Checklists help people with memory recall and make explicit the minimum, expected steps in complex processes.
As the tagline on the New Yorker article says, If something so simple can transform intensive care, what else can it do?
Why didn't someone think of this before? Lights on walkers may cut falls
Forget driving in the dark — sometimes it's dangerous just walking in the dark.
As the population ages, medical teams are responding to more calls from people who have fallen in the night. Many are from older adults who toppled over their walkers while reaching for a light switch on the way to the kitchen or bathroom.
Credit Ron Olshwanger, director of the Creve Coeur Fire Protection District, whose own experience with his own mother ultimately led to his inspiration.
The lights (which are a lot like bicycle lights) cost $34 at Medical West, a medical supply firm that can install them on new or existing walkers.
Olshwanger emphasizes that he and the fire department won't make any profit off the headlights. His inspiration is his mother, Bernice Bormaster, who died five years ago. After breaking her hip, she called her son three times in the middle of the night for help getting back to bed.
"It's a perfect example of what can happen. A lot of these people, their minds are fine, their bodies are just a little weak." Olshwanger said. "These people want to live a normal life, and I think this will help."
HT bookofjoe
Dr. Helen gives some good advice for those for whom going home for the holidays is a bit of hell what with heated political discussions and what all.
May I add that you might argue over the Greatest moments in food history instead for a lot less heat and a lot more fun.
Hat tip Althouse.
If you are troubled in dry weather with a sudden nosebleed, a bunch of cold car keys down the back of your neck seems to cure them instantly.
Slipping a bar of soap between the sheets often works on leg cramps. Ivory soap is best.
Dark chocolate may lower blood pressure better than green tea, research shows. And tastes far better.
Do you or your children sometimes get a nagging cough in the middle of the night? Rub Vicks Vaporub on the soles of your feet and cover them up with socks. The relief comes within 5 minutes and lasts for hours.
Via Instapundit comes the list of 25 Skills Every Man Should Know.
1. Patch a radiator hose
2. Protect your computer
3. Rescue a boater who as capsized
4. Frame a wall
5. Retouch digital photos
6. Back up a trailer
7. Build a campfire
8. Fix a dead outlet
9. Navigate with a map and compass
10. Use a torque wrench
11. Sharpen a knife
12. Perform CPR
13. Fillet a fish
14. Maneuver a car out of a skid
15. Get a car unstuck
16. Back up data
17. Paint a room
18. Mix concrete
19. Clean a bolt-action rifle
20. Change oil and filter
21. Hook up an HDTV
22. Bleed brakes
23. Paddle a canoe
24. Fix a bike flat
25. Extend your wireless network
I can do about half of them which is why I guess I need a man. I'd be interested in what else a man should know how to do.
The list is put out by Popular Mechanics, clearly geared to guys. I wonder what magazine would put out a similar list for gals that women would seriously pay attention to. Oprah's my first guess. I
Services Help Unsnarl Medical Bills, Wall St Journal (link for subscribers only)
If you have a lot of medical bills and can't make sense of the explanation of benefit statements, there are now web-based services and tools that can help unsnarl those medical bills, get you organized and give you a single summary of all your bills.
Many analysts recommend consumers create their own personal health records, essentially a record of an individual's important medical information. That's because the person who will truly be responsible for one's health care in the end is that person. If people change jobs frequently, their health-insurance companies and doctors will also change. Analysts also add that it's a good way to keep track of children's immunization records or early doctor's appointments for a newborn.
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"For better or for worse, people are more and more on their own in health care," says Ron Klain, executive vice president of Revolution Health, based in Washington, D.C
Here's the chart the WSJ put together of useful sites. Click the image for full size and readability.
You already know that you should check your credit score at least once a year so that you can correct mistakes.
What you probably didn't know is that your medical records could contain errors that should be corrected. Incorrect medical information can lead to ineffective or harmful treatment and affect your insurability
The Wall Street Journal, Patient Records Need Reviews (subscribers only)
Errors in medical records aren't uncommon. "They happen all the time," says Joy Pritts, research associate professor at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute.
Mistakes can arise from a mistyped diagnosis code or transcription error to an inaccurate diagnosis or a diagnosis that is out-of-date, say because a patient has gotten his or her cholesterol under control. And, if you have a common name, other peoples' records can end up in your file, says Ms. Pritts. Part of the problem is that the U.S. health-care system relies mainly on paper records, which make it harder to coordinate care and spot errors.
Many hospitals use electronic health records, but until the U.S. develops a comprehensive, consolidated system, the burden falls to individuals to keep tabs on their health histories.
I sometime spend so much time on the web that I get nothing done during the day.
If you're like me, this might help The 20 Biggest Online Time Wasters and 6 Strategies for Beating Them
Here's a good tip from the Unclutterer on how to be organized after an auto accident.
All you have to do is download a worksheet to keep in the glove compartment of your car along with your insurance card and registration.
Jerry Seinfield's advice
He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.
He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."
"Don't break the chain." He said again for emphasis.
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It works because it isn't the one-shot pushes that get us where we want to go, it is the consistent daily action that builds extraordinary outcomes. You may have heard "inch by inch anything's a cinch." Inch by inch does work if you can move an inch every day.
Daily action builds habits. It gives you practice and will make you an expert in a short time. If you don't break the chain, you'll start to spot opportunities you otherwise wouldn't. Small improvements accumulate into large improvements rapidly because daily action provides "compounding interest."
Skipping one day makes it easier to skip the next.
One of my new favorite blogs is the Unclutterer which is beginning a new series on handling inherited clutter.
How do you unclutter a person’s things after they die? My grandfather died this weekend, and we dread the idea of going through all his things—not just emotionally and psychologically, but from a logistical standpoint. How much stuff do we keep? Nobody has room in their houses for all the sentimental treasures of their departed loved ones, but it feels callous to throw away their old anniversary cards and favorite mediocre artwork. How do we deal with it all?
If you need it or love it, keep it. If something is very important to you because of its great sentimental value, keep it. If something is important because of its historical value, keep it or give it to an archive where it will stay safe.
That's what Mary Custis Lee did with two old steamer trunks
The trunks were stuffed with Lee family papers -- a priceless cache of 4,000 letters, photographs and documents. DeButts carted them to the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, which houses the world's largest collection of Lee papers. He spent a week there, sitting at a desk in the research library, reaching into Mary Custis Lee's trunks and picking out treasures and trash.
Thanks to her foresight, we now have A Portrait in Letters of Robert E. Lee.
After reading Iced Coffee? No Sweat in the New York Times, I decided to give it a try.
I used a glass tea-pot with a removable infuser into which I put four scoops of coffee. Then I left it on the back porch for the day.
Result? Absolutely better. Delicious with no trace of bitterness.
Speaking of iced coffee, why don't people in the South drink it? Now I have nothing against iced tea which I drink year round, but iced coffee in the summer is delicious too and just the thing when you need an extra boost. Or with beignets.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to get iced coffee in New Orleans?
You would think they would know, but no, I have to explain to waiters who say they have none to bring me a tall glass of ice and a cup of coffee.
I expect only the mermaid will convince them.
The best way to make complex, tough decisions is to sleep on it. Well, you already knew that, but now scientists are confirming that.
Sleep on it, decision-makers told
Reserve your conscious mind for simple choices. For complex decisions, get all the information you need, then call in your unconscious by sleeping on it.
The best way to make complex, tough decisions is to sleep on it. Well, you already knew that, but now scientists are confirming that.
Sleep on it, decision-makers told
Reserve your conscious mind for simple choices. For complex decisions, get all the information you need, then call in your unconscious by sleeping on it.
Here's a good tip from the Wall St Journal about allergy cards.
If you have food allergies or dietary restrictions, carry allergy cards that list the foods you can't eat so you can give them to a waiter or restaurant manager when you dine out.
Allergycards.com has free templates. Selectwisely can translate them into any language if you are going abroad. They also have a number of testimonials from customers who say how invaluable the cards are.
Once you have your cards done, you can adapt them to business card size and have them printed free, except for a shipping charge at Vistaprint.
If you have a serious allergy, allergy cards could just save your life.
More good news about honey.
Honey could save diabetics from amputation
Spreading honey on a diabetic ulcer could prevent the need to amputate an infected foot, researchers say.
Honey therapy involves squeezing a thick layer of honey onto a wound after all the dead skin and bacteria have been removed.
The honey kills bacteria because it is acidic and avoids the complication of bacterial resistance found with standard antibiotics, Jennifer Eddy, a professor at the University's School of Medicine and Public Health, told AFP.
"This is a tremendously important issue for world health," Eddy said.
She tried honey therapy as a last resort six years ago with a 79-year-old diabetic patient who had developed foot wounds resistant to standard treatments.
"I tried it only after everything else had failed and... we had essentially sent him home to die," she said. "All antibiotics were stopped when we started honey, and his wounds rapidly healed."
Last summer, I noted how honey heals wounds faster than antibiotics and recommended you tuck away jar of honey in your emergency supplies kit.
Since just about anyone can find out all sorts of detailed information about you, consider that the best defense is a good offense.
Why You Should Spy on Yourself in the Wall Street Journal tells you how find out beforehand what a prospective employer, college admissions officer or others might reveal about you.
In a 2004 study by U.S. Public Interest Group found that 79% of consumer-credit reports contained at least one mistake.
1. Get your free annual credit report
The first step in running a background check on yourself: Order your credit report. These are from major credit-reporting agencies Equifax, TransUnion and Experian and can be obtained from www.annualcreditreport.com or 1-877-322-8228.
Check for unauthorized credit-card accounts and loans, bad addresses and unfamiliar names that could be evidence of identity theft. Notify the agencies and creditors if anything seems amiss.
The good news: Background reports prepared by agencies like these are regulated by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. As a result, you're supposed to be notified of the reason if a negative report results in a missed opportunity, giving you a chance to correct mistakes.
2. Do a pre-employment self check
While Choicetrust will give you a free annual report, expect to pay about $25 for a national criminal file check or $50 for a search that included employment or education verification that will include information from public records and some courts.
At Choicetrust you can also review credentials of health care professionals, verify nursing home credentials and check for lawsuits, liens and judgments against those you are thinking to employ.
Lexis-Nexus will also give you a free copy of information contained in a background screening report if you call 877-913-6245.
3. Do a Stolen ID search
StolenIDSearch.com, a new free service from TrustedID, lets you find out whether your Social Security or credit-card numbers are among some 2.3 million compromised pieces of identification in its database, which it obtains from organizations that compile lists of numbers recovered in fraud investigations.
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4. Clean up unflattering online postings
Among the toughest problems to fix can be unflattering online postings. Even just a few years ago, no one would have worried about it. But the fact is, they can linger in cyberspace forever. ReputationDefender.com is designed to scour the Web for unflattering material about you, then will try to either have it removed or make it show up less prominently in search results.
Martha Stewart gives us 100 Reasons To Get Rid of It.
We have too much stuff
Because it's fun
Because Someone else needs it
It can be turned into something else
It will make your life better
You can get something back.
Because it's old/expired
Or Just Because
Professor Piers Steel who calls himself a reformed procrastinator began studying procrastination 10 years ago, before it began a sharp rise. Now he has come up with a unified theory and a mathematical formula to explain it.
Steel's formula, called the Temporal Motivation Theory, calculates procrastination like Albert Einstein's equation for energy, E=MC2. It factors the person's expectancy for succeeding at a given task (E) or self-confidence; the value of completing the task (V); its immediacy or availability (Gamma); and the person's sensitivity to delay (D) to come up with the desirability of the task (Utility).
Utility = E x V / (Gamma) x D
"Essentially, procrastinators have less confidence in themselves, less expectancy that they can actually complete a task," Steel said. "Perfectionism is not the culprit. In fact, perfectionists actually procrastinate less, but they worry about it more."
... in general, human behavior is marked by people's judgment of value and their expectancy--whether or not they expect to get something.
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Most people who procrastinate are impulsive; they value what they can have today more than what they can have tomorrow--and long-term goals don't have motivational force.
There are 3 types of procrastinators
1. Those who have a hard time getting started. These are classic procrastinators.
2. Those who get bogged down in details. These are the classic perfectionists
3. Those who are too distractible. They always find something else to do that's more interesting or gratifying to do be it email, television, the phone or a party. all those tech gadgets that offer immediate gratification.
Technology creates "motivationally toxic environments" by giving people a constant source of putting things off, Steele says.
Boy is that the truth.
If you want to make progress on a long-term project, some part of everyday walling yourself off from such tech temptations else it's like, in the words of Professor Steel
trying to diet with a floating spoon of ice cream following you around.
The Consumerist tells us Don't Fly Without a Copy of Rule 240 and gives us links to the rules of the major airlines.
These rules the conditions of carriage which specify the circumstances in which you are entitled to airline compensation.
Don't depend on the agents to know their own rules.
Hey, I don't know if it works, but it might,
Application of Vicks Vaporub to the soles of the feet effectively counters nighttime cough.
Vaporub works to ease nasal congestion when rubbed on a chest and on sore muscles. You can use it to remove ticks, and on your forehead to ease a headache, even on sore, cracked heels.
The active ingredients of camphor, menthol and eucalyptus are similar, but not identical to Tiger Balm which I prefer and have used for years on headaches, insect bites and sore muscles. Tiger Balm uses the oils of clove, cinnamon and cajuput and absolutely no tiger parts,
It's very refreshing when rubbed on the temples say when you're trapped in a hot, crowded subway or anytime when the heat can make you lightheaded.
You can find Tiger Balm in teeny, tiny tins usually in a Chinese store, that are so small you can always keep one in your purse.
Just be careful you don't get any in your eyes or on any private parts or you'll be sorry.
Good advice from Paul Graham
The most impressive people I know are all terrible procrastinators. So could it be that procrastination isn't always bad?...No matter what you work on, you're not working on everything else. So the question is not how to avoid procrastination, but how to procrastinate well.
There are three variants of procrastination, depending on what you do instead of working on something: you could work on (a) nothing, (b) something less important, or (c) something more important. That last type, I'd argue, is good procrastination.
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I think the way to "solve" the problem of procrastination is to let delight pull you instead of making a to-do list push you. Work on an ambitious project you really enjoy, and sail as close to the wind as you can, and you'll leave the right things undone.
Good and Bad Procrastination
Update. I forgot to give a hat tip to Armed Liberal for the link. And to add this a propos quote from Carolyn Myss.
You cannot change anything in your life with intention alone, which can become a watered-down, occasional hope that you'll get to tomorrow. Intention without action is useless.
It looks as if the "good" procrastinators found a way to make their most important stuff, urgent.
If you're in the market for a new cell phone by all means know what you're up against by reading 8 confessions of a former Verizon sales rep via Instapundit.
If you're of the Cingular persuasion, then go to 7 confessions of a Cingular sales rep.
If you've never heard of mind-mapping, this YouTube video will show you how to maximize the power of your brain.
Tony Buzan, a top lecturer in the brain and learning explains Mind-Mapping in 5 minutes.
A mind map is a thinking tool that reflects externally what goes on inside your head.
Mind-mapping is a Swiss army knife for the brain.
The brain is radiant, thinks centrally and explodes out in all directions.
The brain thinks by imagination and association.
Traditional note-taking in lists and lines is counter-productive is because it doesn't have associations
If you don't have associations, you don't have connections. If you don't have connection, you don't have memory and you don't have thinking.
When you're swimming and a shark comes by and grabs you by the head, poke him in the eye.
That forces the shark's jaws to release and you can struggle free.
Eric Nerhus did just that and saved his own life.
He escaped with deep puncture wounds to the chest and shoulder and a broken nose. His weight vest prevented more serious injuries.
Good tips from Bottom Line Secrets.
1. You get the best rate by calling the hotel's local number, not the 800 number. The manager on duty, the general manager and the director of sales have authority to negotiate rates.
2. Rooms are more expensive in the morning. Best time to call is right after 6 pm when all no-shows unsecured by credit card are wiped out. In NYC and San Francisco, the deadline is 4 pm.
3. Everything is negotiable. Even parking.
4. Rooms are available even when a hotel has no vacancies. Tell the manager you are willing to take an 'out of order' room.
5. A thief takes only one credit card, not your entire wallet. Check if you've left it unattended and take only the cards you need when you travel.
6. It pays to tip the housekeeper every day. $2 or $3 matters a lot to the most under-appreciated people in the hotel.
7. Your bags aren't safe with the bellhop. Make sure that they are kept in a secure room if you plan to leave your bags for several hours.
8. Hotel rooms are infested with germs. Worst spots - TV remote control, telephone and clock radio. Do travel with anti-bacterial wipes so you can clean them off.
9. The lost and found is a great resource for cell phone users. Forgot your recharging cord? Most hotels are willing to lend you one from their lost and found.
The nation's largest banks take in between $30 billion and $50 billion a year, about 44% of all their revenues.
A quest for 'more info' on bank fees.
That's an awful lot of $3 unexplained monthly fees.
Which might explain why banks approve new cards on torn-up credit card applications. Cockeyed has photos and more.
Since I don't have a shredder, I tear them up and wait until I can mix them up with garbage - coffee grounds and old Chinese take out works well - before I throw them out,
Supposing you were stranded in the woods, having never read Surviving in the Wilderness.
Would you have a fierce will to live or would you rather die than spend one more night in the forest?
From Lost in the Amazon
George in the comments said,
When confronted with a life-threatening situation, 90% of people freeze or panic, says Gonzales in this exploration of what makes the remaining 10% stay cool, focused and alive.
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Pinpointing why and how those 10% survive is another story. "They are the ones who can perceive their situation clearly; they can plan and take correct action,
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Gonzales does share some rules for adventure gleaned from the survivors themselves: stay calm, be decisive and don't give up.
The book he refers to is "Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies and Why by Laurence Gonzalez.
A little bit of gin or whiskey added to the water for your paperwhite narcissus or daffodil bulbs will keep them from tipping over.
The booze acts to stunt the growth of stems and leaves, but not the blooms or their fragrance.
A 5% solution is best say the horticulture experts at the Flower Bulb Research Program at Cornell.
Okay, maybe you're not hiking through the Northern woods in the winter, but would you know what to do if you were in a small plane crash or your car went off the road in Death Valley or on your way to Quebec?
From Popular Mechanics, Outdoors Survival Strategies along with case studies from some of the 50,000 wilderness search and rescue
missions each year in the United States. Now, I'm not a regular reader of the magazine, so a tip of the hat to Instapundit who shares my interest in disaster preparedness, but not my interest in Heloise.
Here are 8 practical tips to stay alive for three days so rescuers can find you.
1. Leave a detailed plan with someone on the home front. When you don't arrive, rescuers will know where to start looking.
2. Bring the right clothes.
3. Stay found by carrying and using a map so you can always where you are.
4. Remain in one place if you are in trouble. Think of your car is your survival ark, giving you shelter from the wind and the rain
5. Stay warm. It's the rule of 3s. You can live for 3 minutes without oxygen, 3 hours without heat, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food.
6. Signal for help in the most obnoxious way possible. Blow your car horn. Make a giant X so that you are visible from the air. Hang clothing from branches or lay out anything colorful so that it's visible from the air. What catches the eyes of rescuers are contrast and movement.
7. Build a fire. Keeps you warm and signals where you are.
8. Find water if necessary. Don't ration the water you have. Better to stay hydrated. Drink found water even if you think it's impure if you have to. Who cares about an intestinal bug if the water can save your life?
Finally, determine you will survive and live. Most of survival is psychological. Don't ask why this happened to you, a fruitless, useless question just about anytime. Ask instead, What is the best things I can do in this situation.
Gear
If you're smart, you already have a first aid kit, a flashlight, a few bottles of water and some fruit and nut bars in your car just in case. Any of these inexpensive additions may save your life if you're lost in the wilderness.
Trash bags, large ones. Good for staying warm. Crawl right in.
Duct tape. Did you know it prevents blisters and can splint broken bones.
Whistle
Dental Floss It's so strong, you can repair a backpack or tie together branches.
Waterproof match cases. Two of them. One with matches, the other with Vaseline-soaked cotton balls. Who knew they were such excellent fire starters?
Condoms. Excellent for carrying a gallon of water.
CD. If you don't have a signal mirror, you can use a CD to signal aircraft. Just line up the aircraft in the hole and flash, ideally in a series of 3.
If survival is mainly psychological, so is preparedness. Preparedness is the determination to be your best strong and courageous self whatever happens. So read the tips again and may you remember them when you need them most for both know-how and will.
Seems like there's science behind the most typical English response to any stressful or traumatic event - a cup of tea.
Stressed? That cup of tea really will make it better
Scientists at University College London found that drinking tea lowers post-stress levels of cortisol, the hormone released when we experience physical or emotional trauma and which increases blood pressure and makes our hearts race.
So when you get home after battling traffic and the crowds in the supermarket for the last bits you need for dinner tomorrow, have a cuppa.
The Book of Joe has the definite answer, probably.
Running in the rain keeps you drier than walking which is why everyone does it.
Just when I needed it most with my mother in the hospital and various siblings calling from hither and yon, I left my cellphone in a pocket of my pants and threw both in the washer to get my laundry done.
Laundering your cellphone voids the warranty, renders it absolutely useless, and causes to vanish every phone number you have entered into your phone directory. A replacement phone at full retail price can cost $250 and I was forced to buy one off eBay and waiting for a full week before it was delivered.
How I wish I had read How to Save a Wet Cell Phone. from Wikihow.
When posting an online resume, be sure to clear it of all personal information. Never ever post your social security number. Be sure you are dealing with legitimate companies and recruiters before giving up any of your personal info.
Just assume that Identity Thieves are Reading Your Online Resumes.
When you post a resume, clear it of personal information. Cyberthieves have been able to gain access to resume databases and troll for Social Security numbers and other personal information, such as where you live and your contact information, says Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, a public interest research group in San Diego.
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Think twice before revealing personal information by email or phone. Con artists "phishing" for information through fake interviews may ask for, say, information such as your Social Security number or a scan of your driver's license or passport, says Ms. Dixon, and claim it will expedite the application process.
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You can start by searching on the company's name on the Better Business Bureau's Web site. Another helpful Web site is Lookstoogoodtobetrue.com, maintained by a joint federal law-enforcement and industry task force.
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If the company that contacts you appears to be a well-known employer, don't think you're in the clear. Criminals are copying company Web sites and tweaking the contact information or links, says Ms. Dixon of the World Privacy Forum. Although a Web site may look credible, do an Internet search of the company to make sure the URL of the official Web site matches the address the employer refers you to. If there's a mismatch, find the phone number of the company's corporate headquarters on the official Web site to verify that the hiring manager who contacted you is an employee.
Since we're speaking of the importance of safeguarding your personal information, here's an ultimate guide to identity theft .
Hey, it's okay if you don't eat breakfast say some scientists and nutritionists. No breakfast, no problem.
I say listen to your body. Do what works for you.
When I'm working at home, I eat breakfast for lunch.
Be very careful about any products you use that contain hormones because you might be the cause of pre-school puberty in your children.
Like the father who used a testosterone skin cream that was determined to be the cause of the onset of puberty to his two pre-school children who developed pubic hair and enlarged genitals.
Don't let your boys use shampoos containing lavender or tea tree oils because their breasts might enlarge.
Preschool Puberty and a Search for the Causes.
You can make international phone calls for free if you connect to one of Futurephone's gateway access numbers, like 712-858-8883.
Once the gateway answers, enter 011 then the country code and number you want to reach.
Futurephone promises
• No signup
• Complete privacy
* Unlimited calls
* Call anytime
HT David Pogue at the New York Times.
Some super-obvious ways to immediately improve your life from Merlin
at 43 folders.
1. Reduce noise
2. Write things down
3. Focus on action
4. Get out of your inbox
Inboxes are delivery systems, not workspaces. The real work is happening in your brain and practically every other place that’s not an inbox.
5. Get pickier.
Interesting news about blue light.
A recent pilot study found that Alzheimer's patients show that they sleep better and wander less if exposed to blue LED lighting a few hours before bedtime.
If you have trouble waking up in the morning, you can use blue light to turn off the production of melatonin which is only produced during darkness.
Seems contradictory doesn't it.
Why you hate Mondays via Tinkerty Tonk
A new study has found that lazy Saturday and Sunday lie-ins can disturb your body clock, leaving you fatigued at the start of the week.
The cure is to stop sleeping in on the weekends.
Get up early, do all your weekend errands when nobody's around, then go home and take a nap instead.
From LifeHacker, One phone number to rule them all.
GrandCentral is a brilliant new web app that lets you consolidate all of your phone numbers into one number, meaning someone can call you on your GrandCentral phone number and all of your phones (cell phone, work phone, home phone) will ring. And then it gets interesting.
I'm not ready quite yet.
You know those annoying cuts you get on the tip of your index finger or your thumb? Bandages never seem to work because they fall off too soon and you hit your thumb again right where the cut is.
My solution.
1. Treat the cut with neosporin.
2. You can try a bandage if you want.
3. Cut off the tip of any finger on any rubber glove, the thinner the glove the better. Place just the tip on your cut finger or thumb and go about your business.
How much do you believe in what companies say about their own products?
If you're like me, you take just about everything companies, experts, politicians, academics and government officials with a touch of salt and an ounce of skepticism.
Each year, the public relations giant Edelman publishes its Edelman Trust Barometer. In the U.S., trust in a "person like me" has increased from 20% in 2003 to 68% in 2006. Seems to parallel the growth in the blogosphere doesn't it?
Experts may know much more about their chosen fields than you do, BUT I've found that the best advice about most things comes most often from other people speaking from their personal experience, not from experts.
Aggregating both personal and expert product reviews in an easily accessible format is the core idea behind Wize, It's a very good looking site, very easy to use. They us ea ranking system, giving each product a final score, called "Wize rank" by using collective wisdom for an unbiased product rating.
It's the best and easiest way to do product research for anything you're looking to buy.
When purchasing a cellphone and a new Bluetooth headset, DO NOT, in your haste to gather up all the trash and get it on the curb for pickup the next day, THROW OUT the box the cell phone came in.
Even if you saved the receipts, the contract, the directions, the numerous alerts assuring you that your brain won't be fried using a cellphone and the rebate form, you will lack the ESSENTIAL element to get the $50 back on your purchase -- the bar code from the package, photocopies not accepted.
You will feel stupid.
From Money magazine, the best time to buy everything.
Wine in the fall, champagne in December, airplane tickets on Wed, grocery shop on Sunday evening.
Most of the time my house is pretty neat. Sometimes though, it's a mess which I think only reflects my disorganized state of mind.
Still and all, I don't think think I would call the police to report a clean house like this woman.
When nature calls and you can't get to the bathroom fast enough, scratch the back of your leg really hard.
Leg scratch 'controls' women's loo call.
"If you scratch or rub the back of your calf for a few moments, really vigorously, you may interrupt the message from your bladder to your brain just long enough for you to make it to the toilet," Ms Webb said.
Ms Webb works for the Jean Hailes Foundation for Women's Health which has joined forces with the Continence Foundation of Australia to raise awareness of continence problems.
Everyone should have a jar of honey tucked away for emergencies.
Honey heals wounds faster than antibiotics
“In hospitals today we are faced with germs which are resistant to almost all the current anti-biotics. As a result, the medical use of honey is becoming attractive again for the treatment of wounds,”
said Dr. Arne Simon, one of the researchers at the University of Bonn hospital that conducted the study.
Interesting comments at Lifehacker's post on what's easier when you're younger.
Mornings after the night before.
Moving
Getting arrested. If you're not dealt with as a juvenile, people will call it a youthful indiscretion.
Quitting your job and driving around the country with your friends.
Getting laid.
Falling back on a safety net.
Crying your way out of problems.
Still experiencing the feeling of invulnerability.
I would add:
eating anything you want and not gaining weight.
believing that life is fair
believing that you're entitled.
biking 50 miles one day and 50 miles the next and not needing Advil.
thinking that you're always going to love your tatoos.
having summers off to do whatever you want.
believing you won't survive a break-up.
Overweight people lose more weight faster if they do light exercise and take fish oil, rich in Omega 3 fatty acids.
Fishy answer to weight loss
We were very surprised to see it was so effective, especially since these people were still eating whatever they wanted," said researcher Alison Hill.
"It's pretty exciting because this implies the results would be even better if you did control diet and exercised more heavily."
Scientists are still unsure exactly how Omega 3 works but they believe it may improve a person's ability to burn fat.
Splendid salmon or fish oil rich in Omega 3 fatty acids may fight breast cancer, helps prevent airway constriction in asthma and wards off dementia and helps with dry eye syndrome. Omega 3 fatty acids are good for your heart, your brain and your skin and make you more agreeable. Some researchers suspect Omega 3 fatty acids can even can lower the murder rate.
One doctor gives a partial list of diseases that may be prevented or ameliorated with Omega 3 fatty acids:
I think I need a whole new category on Omega 3.
Sometimes watching television can save your life.
Corey Workman, 16, was throwing sticks and rocks into a lake in a remote area of Florida when a 6 to 8 ft alligator jumped out of the water, grabbed his left foot and dragged him into the lake.
Corey struggled with the gator but couldn't get free until he remembered something he saw on the Discovery channel about what to do if you're attacked by an alligator.
With his thumb, he poked the alligator in the eye until the gator released him.
"If he was ever bitten by a shark, he (learned) to put his hand in its gills and if he was ever attacked by a gator, to take his thumb and poke his thumb all the way in his eye and the gator released him," mother Elisa Badger said. "Thank God he was able to maintain his composure and not panic. He knew exactly what to do."
Somewhere I read a tip that said Post-its were perfect for cleaning your laptop keyboard.
I tried it and it's great. It's thin and flexible and, unlike a paper clip, it won't cause any damage. The sticky part picks up all the crumbs and hair you could see but couldn't get at.
Here are some terrific tips you should know about.
1. If your throat tickles, scratch your ear.
4. If you cough just as you are getting an injection, you will feel no pain.
5. Sinus pressure? Alternately thrust your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then press between your eyebrows with one finger.
7. Toothache? Rub ice on the v-shaped area between your thumb and index finger.
13. Ice cream headache? Press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth.
If you don't know all the ways Bounce can be put to good use, Bounce This Around.
I knew about tit repelled yellow jackets but didn't know it worked against ants, mice and mosquitos.
I always put a sheet of Bounce in my suitcases, but never thought to clean my television, dissolve soap scum, collect cat hair, wipe up sawdust or take the odor out of old scrapbooks.
If you are entering the so-called “real” world or if you are extending your stay in the “unreal," here is my advice:
Fall in love.
Not necessarily with another person, although that is nice, but fall in love with some area of knowledge. Don’t study a subject or take some job just because you think you can make a lot of money at it. Pursue a direction because it inspires you, because it feeds your soul, because it challenges you and causes you to grow as a person, because it advances the human condition.
Read more at Fred Gratzon's blog the Lazy Way to Success, where doing less accomplishes more.
The best defense women can use to stop subway perverts is to use their camera phones.
Say Cheese, You Sleaze!
Self-defense pros say the power to humiliate flashers and gropers by exposing their overexposure with a snapshot is an even more powerful weapon for women than a can of Mace or kick in the groin.
If anyone is celebrating this weekend, drinks too much and wakes up with a godawful hangover and is willing to do ANYTHING to stop the pain, will they please try this because I'm dying to know if this works.
From Bottom Line Health, Doctors' Favorite Home Remedies, comes this outrageous tip.
Hangover
To ease the symptoms of a hangover, cut a wedge of lemon and rub it on your armpits.
One of the great questions of life is What To Make For Dinner.
Now, thanks to the endlessly inventive internet, there's Cooking with Google.
Now via Lifehacker, there's another new site Snacksby that turns what's in your pantry into a meal.
As they say, like macgyver, but for food.
Some decent tips and lessons over at Cockeyed from readers. Here are a few things I figured out.
I discovered that bok choi, choi sum, chinese cabbage, pak choi and many other asian vegies, are just the same damn vegetable!
On a similiar vein. Portobello, Button, Field, BBQ and cup mushrooms are all the same damn mushroom. Just different ages!
Don't even get me started on green onions!
Hair conditioner works as a decent substitute for shaving cream if you run out.
Deer don't necessarily cross at "deer crossing" signs.
Rubbing your hands on a stainless steel surface under running water after chopping garlic or onions completely removes the smell. No soap required. I don't know why it happens, but it does.
Last week, I found two glass measuring cups that had stuck themselves together and no matter what I did I could not pull them apart.
I was ready to throw them away until I remembered ice contracts, heat expands.
I filled the inner cup with ice water and rested the outer cup inside a bowl of almost boiling water. After waiting about 5 minutes, I pulled them apart easily.
Good tip to remember
Now this is a good idea for a business from Springwise. Charge lockers.
I know I would pay to charge my cell when I'm traveling because I hate packing my phone charger.
My only question is - will it work on iPods?
I got yet another email from a friend saying that cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketers and that I had only 8 days to register my number with the National Do Not Call Registry.
THIS IS NOT TRUE.
As always when getting some dire warning via email from a friend who has all the best intentions, check it out first with
Snopes and UrbanLegends
Here's what Snopes has to say about the cell phone warning.
Urban Legends says this warning has been circulating since September 2004 and has more.
The words millions of Americans want to be able to say
"I know exactly where everything is."
Organizers and closet designers offer a predictable variety of theories to account for the growing infatuation, including the increase in home-makeover television programs, a hunger for a sense of control in a world that moves at warp speed and a desire to focus on the home in an era of war and natural disasters. They also cite benefits of serious closet organization that go beyond efficiency and order for their own sake, including the reduction of stress, the inspiration to take on more ambitious efforts at home- and self-improvement, and the elimination of a potential source of embarrassment.
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Ms. Glovinsky said that a well-organized closet offers "a pocket of order," a place that, once redone, can have an antidepressant effect. "I've seen people's moods brighten as they get organized," she said.
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"Doing this is a form of self-respect," said one Mr. Lupo who also remarked, "Love more, have less."
Whether you're in front or behind the camera, here are some good tips on how to pose like a pro
Don't want any hint of a double chin to show up on an important photo?
Try this Hollywood trick for camouflaging the extra skin: Ask the subject to drop her shoulders and stretch the neck upward. Then ask her to jut her head forward just a bit and drop her chin down creating a large space for a shadow under the jaw line that will help to diminish any extra rolls of skin. The photographer should be standing slightly higher than the subject. The arrangement will leave the subject looking and feeling like she is doing an impression of a turkey, but the resulting two-dimensional final image will be well worth the silliness.
There is no possible way any of us can keep up. Nobody can keep up. There's just too much stuff.
So throw out all those unread magazines you have in a pile to read some day, take a deep breath and read some tips from Kathy Sierra.
• Use an aggregator
• Get summaries
• Cut redundancy
• Unsubscribe to as many things as possible
If you need something, you can always Google it or ask someone who knows.
You know those boarding passes you would just toss after you got off a flight? Well, don't. Wait till you get home or at least tear it into little pieces.
Take a look at what one reporter from the Guardian was able to find out from one boarding pass. Q. What could this boarding pass tell an identity fraudster about you. A. Way too much.
The traveller's name was Mark Broer. I know this because the paper - actually a flimsy piece of card - was a discarded British Airways boarding-pass stub, the small section of the pass displaying your name and seat number.
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We logged on to the BA website, bought a ticket in Broer's name and then, using the frequent flyer number on his boarding pass stub, without typing in a password, were given full access to all his personal details - including his passport number, the date it expired, his nationality (he is Dutch, living in the UK) and his date of birth. The system even allowed us to change the information.
Using this information and surfing publicly available databases, we were able - within 15 minutes - to find out where Broer lived, who lived there with him, where he worked, which universities he had attended and even how much his house was worth when he bought it two years ago.
From How Experts Differ from Novices
1. Experts notice features and meaningful patterns of information that are not noticed by novices.
2. Experts have acquired a great deal of content knowledge that is organized in ways that reflect a deep understanding of their subject matter.
3. Experts' knowledge cannot be reduced to sets of isolated facts or propositions but, instead, reflects contexts of applicability: that is, the knowledge is "conditionalized" on a set of circumstances.
4. Experts are able to flexibly retrieve important aspects of their knowledge with little attentional effort.
5. Though experts know their disciplines thoroughly, this does not guarantee that they are able to teach others.
6. Experts have varying levels of flexibility in their approach to new situations.
Complex areas where mistakes can be devastating like investing, legal advice or medical knowledge are better dealt with by the experts of your choice. Since you're the expert on your own life and what you like, want you wang and what you are willing to risk, consider your relationship with them a collaboration of experts AND novices.
When it comes to complex problem solving, groups of three, four or five perform better working together than the same number of people working alone.
Groups Perform Better than the Best Individuals At Solving Complex Problems.
"We found that groups of size three, four, and five outperformed the best individuals and attribute this performance to the ability of people to work together to generate and adopt correct responses, reject erroneous responses, and effectively process information," said lead author Patrick Laughlin, PhD., of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Moreover, groups of two performed at the same level as the best of two individuals, suggesting that this group size was too small to introduce the necessary dynamics for optimal problem-solving.
This has important implications not just for scientific research and class room performance but also for the more complex issues in your own life.
You are much better off if you get your financial advisor and lawyer to work together and with you.
Here's a great site to bookmark just in case you might need it someday. That is if you don't already have all your user manual guides in one place that you always remember and don't want to waste time looking for the manual you need to fix the problem you have.
For all sorts of equipment such as mobile phone, cameras, monitors, software, TV, DVD.
Via bookofjoe
What do you do if you've fallen in the habit of defining yourself in terms of who you are to other people and what they expect of you?
Her children grown, Alice Steinbach decided to take a year off from her job as a reporter with the Baltimore Sun, leave her friends and family and head off for Europe Without Reservations. That's the title of her book she ended up writing about her adventures in Paris, Oxford, Milan, Venice and London.
In so doing, she gives the single best travel tip I've ever seen: Write postcards to yourself to remind you not just of what you saw, but what you felt and thought. So much easier than keeping a travel journal. Plus, you have the stamps, the thoughts and the context to propel you back to another time.
I must say she's awakened a new travel lust in me.
"Without Reservations : The Travels of an Independent Woman" (Alice Steinbach)
She also has some marvelous quotes that will resonate with many women of a certain age.
From Colette, "that lightheartedness that comes to a woman when the peril of men has left her." The peril of men being those times when women needed men more than they needed their own independent identities.
I liked this one too, by Walter Berry in his advice to those about to enter the wilderness.
"Always in the big woods when you leave familiar ground and step off alone into a new place, there will be, along with the feelings of curiosity and excitement, a little nagging of dread. It is the ancient fear of the Unknown, and it is your first bond with the wilderness you are going into."
In preparation for the journey ahead of her, Alice's mother took this quote with her in her handbag to the hospital where she later died.
Since I can't possibly afford all the books, DVDs and books on tape or CDs, my local library is essential. I hold libraries themselves in the highest regard.
I've been using ELF for about a month now to keep track of my library books and CDs. They mail me a notice when something is due or a hold is ready.
I highly recommend ELF for anyone who needs help in keeping tabs on library material, especially families with children and lots of books or someone like me who requests a lot of holds.
Elf is FREE. Sign up here for your personal library reminder service.
Many believe if a piece of food falls on the ground, and you pick it up right away, in less than 5 seconds, you can still eat it.
Two young teens tested that rule for a science fair and won first prize.
Less than 5 seconds OK, after that it's best to toss it.
You only need two tools: WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40. If it moves and shouldn't, use the tape.
Did you know that enough duct tape is sold each year to wrap around the earth 20 times?
Or that the astronauts used duct tape on Apollo 13 to help put together air scrubbers that kept them alive?
And duct tape cures warts better than freezing with liquid nitrogen?
All this and more at Duct tape: World's Greatest Tool?
If you know anyone who is having trouble with their hands, point them to Disabled Hands, a blog that gives "tips, hacks and products for those with diminished hand function.
You may think you're really good at it and getting a lot done but you're not. Just ask the mavens of multitasking, any mother of two or more preschool kids.
Time magazine looks at the science in The Multitasking Generation
there's substantial literature on how the brain handles multitasking. And basically, it doesn't....what's really going on is a rapid toggling among tasks rather than simultaneous processing.
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The switching of attention from one task to another, the toggling action, occurs in a region right behind the forehead called Brodmann's Area 10 in the brain's anterior prefrontal cortex
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When people try to perform two or more related tasks either at the same time or alternating rapidly between them, errors go way up, and it takes far longer--often double the time or more--to get the jobs done than if they were done sequentially,
The real key to getting things done is attention and focus.
If you have to print out old tax returns because you can't find your paper copies, you will probably have problems because you no longer have the old software that created them.
Fear not. Tax Printer maintains collections of all that old software and will turn your old file into a printable PDF.
Only $25, 24 hours, email both ways
via Life Hacker's Recover your tax documents from old software
If you plan on selling your home soon, here's 10 tips on getting the best return on home improvements.
1. Clean / de-clutter - 973% Average Return on Investment: Remove clutter by storing items in basement, attic or friend’s home. Rent a storage space or sell excess items, if needed. Keep every room very clean during open homes. Do pre-open house cleanliness inspections.
2. Lighten and brighten - 865% Average Return on Investment: Replace any burnt-out bulbs and use higher wattage bulbs, if possible. Have defective electrical components repaired or replaced. Make sure skylights are clear and keep drapes open during the day.
3. Yard - 426% Average Return on Investment: Store away personal effects from front yard. Hire gardener or landscaper to trim back the overgrowth and maintain yard. Make sure that your lawn has a healthy green appearance
Your best learning may be done on an empty stomach.
Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine have found evidence that that learning and memory are stimulated by a gut hormone, ghrelin, which is highest when your stomach is empty.
Is the growing obesity problem in the country connected to the growing stupidity problem? Seems so.
Would you spend $12,000 to organize your garage if it meant you would finally have room for your car?
Garage organizing has become one of the fastest growing segments of the home improvement market, expected to rise 10% a year for the rest of the decade. Last year, some $800 million dollars was spent on garage organizing.
I still find it hard to credit a survey taken by Ikea in 2001 that 31% of respondents got more satisfaction from cleaning a closet than having sex.
Well, it does last longer.
You know how experts say you should weigh all the pros and cons before any major decision?
I tried once or twice, but it always seemed false and forced. I usually opt for the easier, more natural gut decisions.
Turns out, that's a smarter thing to do.
A study today published in Science says "Follow your gut.
However, as the decisions become complex (more expensive items with many characteristics, such as cars), better decisions and happier ones come from not attending to the choices but allowing one's unconscious to sift through the many permutations for the optimal combination.
The Boston Globe reports
In a series of studies with shoppers and students, researchers found that people who face a decision with many considerations, such as what house to buy, often do not choose wisely if they spend a lot of time consciously weighing the pros and cons. Instead, the scientists conclude, the best strategy is to gather all of the relevant information -- such as the price, the number of bathrooms, the age of the roof -- and then put the decision out of mind for a while.
Then, when the time comes to decide, go with what feels right. ''It is much better to follow your gut," said Ap Dijksterhuis, a professor of psychology at the University of Amsterdam, who led the research.
For relatively simple decisions, he said, it is better to use the rational approach. But the conscious mind can consider only a few facts at a time. And so with complex decisions, he said, the unconscious appears to do a better job of weighing the factors and arriving at a sound conclusion.
I know a lot of people out there drink only bottled water.
I mean bottles of water are great in a car or while hiking, but it's not any better than tap water. And it costs 10,000 times more! Often costing as much as $10 a gallon, bottled water can be four times as expensive as gasoline.
If your tap water tastes funny, get a water filter. or use a Brita filter. Not only is bottled water a waste of money. 40% of bottled water comes from tap water anyway.
Today, I learned just what an environmental drain bottled water is.
"Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing, producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy," according to Emily Arnold, author of the study published by the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington-based environmental group.
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"Making bottles to meet Americans' demand for bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 US cars for a year," according to the study. "Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year."
---
The study, citing the Container Recycling Institute, said that 86 percent of plastic water bottles in the United States end up as garbage and those buried can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.
In addition, some 40 percent of the PET bottles deposited for recycling in the United States in 2004 ended up being shipped to China.
If you have a dog and walk in the woods, you need a tick twister which is far better than tweezers to remove those nasty ticks. Only $4 from Amazon, it works on people too.
HT to another of Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools
More helpful than Heloise are these hints from Sigmund, Carl and Alfred.
Blood stains on clothes? Not to worry! Just pour a little hydrogen peroxide on a cloth and proceed to wipe off every drop of blood. Works every time! (Now, where to put the body?)
Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half, and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.
Don't throw out all that leftover wine: Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces. (Left over wine? What's that?)
Now get out there and buy some Alka Seltzer because you can
Clean a toilet. Drop in two Alka Seltzer tablets, wait twenty minutes, brush and flush. The citric acid and effervescent action clean vitreous China.
Clean a vase. To remove a stain from the bottom of a glass vase or cruet, fill with water and drop in two Alka Seltzer tablets.
Polish jewelry. Drop two Alka Seltzer tablets into a glass of water and immerse the jewelry for two minutes.
Clean a thermos bottle. Fill the bottle with water, drop in four Alka Seltzer tablets, and let soak for an hour (or longer, if necessary).
Unclog a drain. Clear the sink drain by dropping three Alka Seltzer tablets down the drain followed by a cup of Heinz White Vinegar. Wait a few minutes, and then run the hot water.
Well, I'm just about settled in my new digs and loving them very much. The next-to-last project was putting my new office together and it looks smashing with a conference table, a computer armoire, bookcases, a supply cabinet and one lateral file cabinet.
It wouldn't work half so well if I hadn't installed large shelves in the basement for old files, boxed files, and boxes of photos, slides, and clothes. Now everything is accessible. I even have a long banquet table - one of those folding ones - so I can sort through old files down there and leave my office uncluttered.
It's a wonderful start to the new year to have everything so organized.
It means this is a year when I'm going to get a lot done.
Best wishes to everyone for a wealthy, healthy, and happy New Year
A Swifter for carpets - CarpetFlick looks like a wonderful new product from Proctor and Gamble that I'll be looking for after reading BusinessWeek's story, How P&G Conquered Carpet via the Dynamist.
Are you lost in your own clutter?
You're not alone. US Material Wealth Leads to Clutter.
Is it a result of our evolutionary past? Are we compelled to get more and more stuff and never throw anything out because some day we might need it?
Why do we hoard all this stuff? Turns out there are significant brain changes in some people that sends up a red alert if something is to be thrown out.
There are even groups of Clutters Anonymous in 50 cities.
But if you're ashamed to bring someone home like Karen Lowe, then it's time to hire a professional. If your friends can't recommend anyone, try this link to find an organizer near you who belongs to the National Association of Professional Organizers.
This is a great idea. The Bubble To-Do List. The size of the bubbles represents how important it is.
You can see at a glance your progress on the more important things or whether you've frittered away the day on the trivial.
HT Matt Homan at the [non]billable hour.
It's not often that you see a whole new filing system, but here it is.
It makes a certain sort of sense. It's simple, even elegant. Maybe I'll try it when I move.
I couldn't pass this one up. One day courses to teach men how to iron are being set up across Austria with the tag line, "A real man knows how to iron."
I know some men who need that course, even if it costs $200.
Here's a useful tip from David Allen of "Getting It Done" fame that he got "from a Canadian in our network" about navigating airport security, especially if you're a guy and don't carry a purse.
"I typically carry in my pockets a cell phone, PDA, portable MP3 player, keys, loose change, gum, itinerary, watch, wallet, photo ID, boarding pass, reading material and pens for the plane. I need to get these through the security check quickly and easily. There is nothing worse than doing the Airport Macarena (i.e. the painfully dopey self pat down) after clearing security to ensure that nothing has been forgotten.
My solution is simple. I carry a clear, closable plastic folder labeled "Plane Carry File" and place all of the above in it. I close it and put the folder in the tray provided (except for the boarding pass) before I proceed through security. The laptop goes into a separate tray. When I have cleared inspection, I can retrieve the folder and its contents quickly and with peace of mind. Before I board the plane, I put everything back except the photo ID and boarding pass which I need to board the plane."
This is great and it has to be making perverts very nervous.
Thao Nguyen used her phone to snap a photo of the man who flashed her in a NYC subway.
Now his photo is all over the internet and on the front page of the New York Daily News.
She told the Daily News,
Maybe someone will recognize him. Maybe it will stop other people from doing it," she said. "Maybe other women will use their camera phones to stop crime.
How just packing a lunch four days a week can add up.
Frank saves $20/week, $1000/year with peanut butter and jam sandwiches and fruit. Healthier too
Brown Bag Your Way to Half a Million via Lifehacker
The hills are alive with the sound of music again in Switzerland.
Hikers are told to sing if they want to avoid being attacked by a bear. Good advice anywhere.
I wrote in Rural Europe Dying that economics and declining birthrates are pushing large swaths of Europe back to their primeval state. Looks like it's not just wolves returning, but bears too.
Bears had been extinct in Switzerland for 100 years. The new bear that's got everyone singing probably migrated from Italy when wildlife experts say about 70 live.
Here's a good tip if you haven't gotten around to making your wallet card yet.
Store your emergency contact numbers on your cell phone beginning with ICE (in case of emergency). So, ICE followed by the telephone number of Mom or Dad or your spouse.
If your unconscious or unable to respond to emergency personnel, paramedics need to get in touch with the right people and ICE numbers on your cell phone are a good way.
Barbara Mikkelson at Snopes adds a lot more
Now, Bob Brotchie, a paramedic who works as a clinical team leader for the East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust has launched a campaign (sponsored by Vodafone's annual Life Savers Awards) to get people to store "In Case of Emergency" (ICE) information in items that have become ubiquitous in many parts of the world: cell phones.
According to Vodafone:
[R]esearch carried out by Vodafone that shows more than 75 per cent of people carry no details of who they would like telephoned following a serious accident.
Bob, 41, who has been a paramedic for 13 years, said: "I was reflecting on some of the calls I’ve attended at the roadside where I had to look through the mobile phone contacts struggling for information on a shocked or injured person.
"It's difficult to know who to call. Someone might have "mum" in their phone book but that doesn't mean they'd want them contacted in an emergency.
"Almost everyone carries a mobile phone now, and with ICE we'd know immediately who to contact and what number to ring. The person may even know of their medical history."
If you take the time - 15 min - to do your wallet card, the vital information a paramedic needs to know about your blood type, allergies, significant medical conditions, and medications would be all there.
Say you're going to a ball game or a concert and you're driving. You want to be sure that everyone in the car has their ticket with them. Make everyone hold their ticket to their forehead or the car doesn't move.
via 43 Folders
"Been doing it for 20 years, and you’d be amazed how often it saves the day."
Just in case, here from the San Francisco Chronicle are the ten things you should do if you encounter a UFO.
Need to find more time?
The Wall Street Journal has a new series called Finding Time with tips to keep up with the news, clean, keep up with technology, and finding time for friendships, personal finances, exercise, reading and networking.
I think an online subscription to the Wall Street Journal is well worth it for its wealth of information and you'll need to access Finding Time
One of the things "ladies" magazines used to do a lot more of was to give practical tips for keeping a house organized and clean.
The phenomenal success of the magazine Real Simple is attributable to the dream every woman has of an organized home and the need for practical tips, all the better for being wrapped up in a beautifully designed package. It was too long before their online website looked as good as their magazine, but too often, their solutions are fey or don't really cover the day to day gritty practicalities.
More practical and homespun advice can be found at FlyLady who says "We don't need new trash cans, a resupply of underwear or plastic containers to get rid of the CHAOS in our lives. All we need is ROUTINES." which she gives you along with email reminders several times a day. I joined for several weeks to see what it was like and I've never gotten more email in my life, rather like a hectoring aunt with occasional flashes of wit and brilliance.
Maria Cilley who runs FlyLady could get any woman feeling overwhelmed on the right track in a few weeks if you read the heart warming, sometimes heart-rendering letters that women send in.
But this is the first blog I've seen on housecleaning. My clean house via of all people Bill Ives.
What ever happened to Hints from Heloise you ask. Her daughter is carrying on at Heloise.com and answering your questions at an iVillage messageboard every week.
Just exactly how old are you?
You'll never really know unless you click here.
When you are abandoned and the food and water is running out, by all means try a message in a bottle.
"Help, please, help us" on a scrap of paper, stuffed in a bottle and tied to a fishing line saved the lives of 88 last week who were adrift at sea in a sinking boat.
Saving you time and money.
Foldedspace has summarized about a dozen books on personal finance, distilling all their themes into one easy to read post.
Keeping your house clean in only 19 minutes a day, from Real Simple
You listen to them about toasters, search them out to buy dryers, order special reports before you buy a car, now Consumer Reports rates diets. Weight-watchers leads the pack.
Thanks Ken Leebow for the tip. He learned it from Consumer World which also has a handy checklist about the 12 questions to ask before you sign on to that tempting balance transfer
If you want your kids to do well in the SATs, just tell them to write at length in the essay part and don't worry about making mistakes.
In the New York Times, SAT essay test rewards length and ignores error.
He was stunned by how complete the correlation was between length and score. "I have never found a quantifiable predictor in 25 years of grading that was anywhere near as strong as this one," he said. "If you just graded them based on length without ever reading them, you'd be right over 90 percent of the time." The shortest essays, typically 100 words, got the lowest grade of one. The longest, about 400 words, got the top grade of six. In between, there was virtually a direct match between length and grade.
Tomboy tools, are tools and home improvement techniques for women, by women.
Their philosophy? Empower women to become confident and competent homeowners with the tools they need to repair and improve their most valuable asset, their homes. There's a very good forum for asking home improvement questions and getting good answers.
Tomboy, by the way, is defined as "a girl who determines her own destiny." And that includes all the single, divorced and widowed women who own homes.
Someone is trying to steal your identity through Phishing scams
Phishing, if you don't know the word, is the scam that deceives users into revealing personal information that can then be used to steal your identity.
33 million times a week according to Symantec.
Here are a few tips to protect yourself from Computer Security News
1. Don’t click on links offered in email text, which can often be redirected to illegitimate websites. Instead, type the domain name directly into your browser.
2. Be suspicious of any website address that doesn’t end in “.com”.
3. Check that the website is secure. A secure website begins with “https” rather than “http”. Look for a “lock” symbol at the bottom corner of the web page and click on any “SSL Certificates” to make sure they are valid.
4. Keep your browser and Windows operating system updated. Microsoft and other software providers frequently release security patches that close holes in your computer system. These holes could be exploited by Phishers if left un-patched.
5. If you get an email or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply or click on the links. Legitimate companies do not ask for this information via email.
6. Review credit card and bank statements as soon as you receive them. Notify your bank immediately if you notice any unauthorized charges or suspect you are the victim of identity theft.
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What do the following have in common?
Searing meat seals in the juices.
A box of baking soda in the fridge absorbs odors.
Use water instead of milk to make scrambled eggs.
Sushi means raw fish.
Avoid aluminum cookware because of Alzheimer's disease.
Gas stoves are better than electric.
They are all FALSE.
Kitchen myths has done the research.
HT grow a brain
Consumer Reports that ionizing air cleaners often create significant levels of potentially harmful indoor ozone.
People with asthma or respiratory allergies are especially sensitive to indoor ozone, an irritant that can worsen asthma, deaden sense of smell, raise sensitivity to pollen and mold, and may cause permanent lung damage
These are the cleaners that failed safety standard tests and should be returned for a refund.
Brookstone Pure-Ion V2; Sharper Image Professional Series Ionic Breeze Quadra S1737 SNX; Ionic Pro CL-369; IonizAir P4620; and Surround Air XJ-2000.
Top performers that passed the tests were:
The top-performing Friedrich C-90A, an ionizing electrostatic precipitator model, is very effective and emits little ozone. Another fine performer that emits little ozone is the Whirlpool 45030, which is a HEPA-filter model.
Why not just open your windows for a while.
I must update the Find A Human post if only to correct the impression I was under - and the impression I gave - that this site was maintained by Intuit. It's maintained by a HUMAN - one Paul English in fact. Thanks, huzzahs and kudos to Paul and all the others who've added to it.
You can access the "find a human a list" here. Better yet, add to the sum total of human happiness by adding your own entry if you've found a way to find a human .
Here's a handy bookmark -PackTrack- to track ALL your packages -UPS, FedEx, DHL and more.
HT. Ken Leebow at Blogging About Incredible Blogs
One of those strange factoids lodged forever in my brain is that Madonna loves to clean out the lint trap in her dryer. I remember this from an interview years ago, but apparently Madonna talked about her dryer lint again last summer in People magazine. Why on earth, cleaning out that soft stuff should be so deeply pleasurable is beyond me, but I'm with Madonna on this one.
That dryer lint is also a favorite of birds building their nests, so put some out right along side your bird feeder, so the birds can make nice cozy nests this spring.
The Wall St Journal reported Friday that dryer lint makes great kindling, plus it's nice and light to carry if you're hiking or camping.
Too much lint not cleaned out, can indeed cause fires, The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports almost 15,000 clothes-dryer fires, resulting in 300 injuries and $90 in property damage each year.
Joe is on the case, though.
If you wasting too much time and experiencing too much frustration with those damned phone trees that keep you circulating in the nether reaches of hell, bookmark this site. Find A Human
Intuit has put up a page for which they should receive some sort of consumer award. It helps you cut through those automated phone systems that drive everyone mad.
With a big tip of the hat to Tom Kane at the legal marketing blog.
Did you know that those dryer sheets like Bounce leave an invisible film on your lint filter that you can't see and could cause the heating unit in your dryer to burn out?
Neither did I until Snopes investigated and brought us this important news.
I'll be back after I scrub my lint filter with hot, soapy water.
If you keep lists on your computer, you might want to check out Ta-da lists . You can share your "to do" lists, make lists for other people, share lists with the world or subscribe to your own lists via RSS.
Personally, I have enough to do lists and I don't want anyone to see how little I've gotten done on them. I've just started keeping lists on blank index cards after I learned about the Hipster PDA. I love being able to shuffle them around on my desk. I can see a lot of what I have to do and rearrange priorities that way. In my small notebook, I note appointments and what I have done. Somehow I feel better looking at what I've done than what I haven't.