At a glance: where bushfires are burning

There are 12 bushfires burning out of control across Victoria and 26 blazes in total. Here is a summary of the major fires of concern.

The biggest fire covers 210,000 hectares and is north of Melbourne. This is the fire responsible for most of the death and destruction; more than 500 homes have been destroyed in the Kinglake area alone.

In total, more than 700 homes have been confirmed destroyed.
At a glance: where bushfires are burning

Bushfire disaster: 'We all grieve with you'

Victoria is reeling from a weekend of ferocious bushfires which have claimed at least 65 lives and razed more than 600 homes across the state.
Bushfire disaster: 'We all grieve with you'

Mapping the Victorian fires

By now, you're undoubtedly aware of the terrible bushfire tragedy that is unfolding in Victoria.

We've today pulled together a Flash Map, containing the latest up-to-date information about fire locations and their status from the Country Fire Authority (CFA). The Flash Map is updated in real-time from the CFA website via an RSS feed. We hope that it's of some use to people who may be affected, to emergency services personnel, and that it takes some load off other websites which are being inundated. The map certainly makes the scale of this disaster immediately apparent.
Mapping the Victorian fires

Bushfire devastates Marysville - Video

The town of Marysville in Victoria has lost all but a few buildings to bushfires. Just look at the carnage.
Bushfire devastates Marysville

"Possibly one building left standing" in Marysville

The Country Fire Authority says there is "possibly one building left standing" in Marysville, as relentless bushfires engulfed the town north of Melbourne.

Greg Esnouf, the CFA's deputy chief fire officer, told ABC Local Radio that Marysville had been all but destroyed by the blazes.

"We're starting to get some reports in now that are very saddening," he told ABC Local 774 in Melbourne.

"This latest report says Marysville possibly one building left standing - that's just shocking.

"Anyone who knows Marysville, it's a beautiful town and that's really sad. "It's very disturbing for the township itself."
'Absolute devastation': Victoria gutted by deadly bushfires

Mark the End of the Day and Finish on Time

One of the things that I struggle with most when I’m working from home is wrapping up and finishing for the day. Quite often, I’ll mean to finish at, say, 6:30 pm, but then another email drops into the old inbox, or I’ll move onto “just one more” task, and before I know it it’s late into the night and I haven’t even started thinking about dinner.
Mark the End of the Day and Finish on Time

25 confirmed dead in Victorian fires

Twenty-five people are confirmed dead in Victoria's bushfires and the toll is expected to rise as into the 40s today as firefighters continue to battle the devastating blazes which have ripped through the state's country areas.
25 confirmed dead in Victorian fires

Bushfire Emergency - ABC News

It is feared more than 40 people have died as ferocious bushfires sweep across much of country Victoria and New South Wales.
Bushfire Emergency - ABC News

Dozens of homes lost in 'impossible' blaze conditions

Temperatures were expected to drop by 15 degrees Celsius across Victoria from 6:00pm (AEDT), but there will be little relief with high winds expected to change direction and force fires onto new fronts.
Dozens of homes lost in 'impossible' blaze conditions

Melbourne - 46.4C - Highest Ever

Today is a day of Extreme Fire Danger for the whole state. Stay tuned to ABC Local Radio for updates and advice on bushfires in your area and dealing with heat stress. See the Fire Danger map for Saturday February 7, 2009.
ABC Melbourne

Blackstump Australia Issue 5 - February 8, 2009

This weeks latest new family friendly sites from The Black Stump.
Blackstump Australia Issue 5 - February 8, 2009

Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools for Young Learners

Gail Lovely is adamant about the nature and potential of Web-based learning tools. "Web 2.0 is about trust," she said at a recent talk. "It's about sharing and collaborating." And, she insisted, it's about putting the power to learn and create in the hands of the students.
Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools for Young Learners

Eat a heart-healthy diet

Even if you don’t have to lose weight, what you eat can affect your heart-disease risk. One recent study found that people who consumed a rigorously heart-healthy diet—low in saturated fat and rich in fruits and vegetables—for one month lowered their “bad” LDL cholesterol nearly as much on average as those who took a statin drug. And other research shows that this approach can stop or even reverse the progression of coronary disease.
Eat a heart-healthy diet

Computer Repair Utility Kit

The first version of Technibbles Computer Repair Utility Kit was so popular, we’ve created a second version. For those of you who don’t know, the Computer Repair Utility Kit is a combination of computer repair tools in one easy to use pack. The Computer Repair Utility Kit allows you to run all of the repair tools from your portable drive (eg. USB Flash Drive, External Hard Drive, IPod etc.) and comes with an easy to use, right-click menu. A must in any computer technicians kit.
Computer Repair Utility Kit

Color Study Looks at Effects of Red and Blue

Trying to improve your performance at work or write that novel? Maybe it’s time to consider the color of your walls or your computer screen. If a new study is any guide, the color red can make people’s work more accurate, and blue can make people more creative.
Color Study Looks at Effects of Red and Blue

The Economic Cost of Internet Censorship in Australia

Much has been written about the social cost of the proposed Australian Internet censorship regime, but far too little on the economic cost. As the Rudd Government attempts to pass a $42 billion AUD stimulus package in an attempt to stave of recession, it continues to back a plan that has negative economic consequences for Australian businesses.
The Economic Cost of Internet Censorship in Australia

Deferred Sender

Deferred Sender is a free service that allows you to schedule emails from any email application or website to be sent in the future. Send reminders, notifications and more!
Deferred Sender

Behavior Gap: The Psychology of Investing

At Behavior Gap, Carl Richards is on a mission to help investors overcome the self-destructive behaviors that prevent them from prospering. Over the past week, while preparing for an upcoming presentation to a conference of financial planners, I’ve had the chance to e-mail and speak with Carl about his site and his goals. “Any way we can encourage people to think about money is good,” he told me. He wants people to become aware of how their behavior affects their financial position.
Behavior Gap: The Psychology of Investing

Use Butter to Keep Cheese Soft and Unspoiled

The TipNut blog occasionally digs up advice from really old cookbooks, and tips like this result: Spreading a thin layer of butter on a block of opened cheese keeps it soft, and prevents molding.
Use Butter to Keep Cheese Soft and Unspoiled

Bulk Image Resizer is Light and Quick on Photo Processing

Hailing from the camp of "do one thing exceedingly well"," Batch Image Resizer is a small utility for speedily batch processing your image files.
Bulk Image Resizer is Light and Quick on Photo Processing

Why teenagers can't see your point of view

Teenagers might have a new excuse for ignoring their parent's orders. Their brain's ability to adopt the viewpoint of others is still budding, new research suggests.
Why teenagers can't see your point of view

9 Tips to Avoid Overspending.

One source of unhappiness for people is feeling out of control of their spending – and this is a problem that’s far more widespread now than it was a year ago. Feeling regret about having bought something is a very unpleasant sort of unhappiness.
9 Tips to Avoid Overspending.

The Art of Taking Criticism

There are lots of people on this planet, and they all have their opinions. That means that all of us should expect to receive lots of criticism in our lifetime. Friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, random strangers…they all have something to say (just as we often do ourselves). And if you have any kind of online presence, you can expect to receive much more criticism, as everyone comes out under the veil of anonymity.
The Art of Taking Criticism

Windows 7 News

Microsoft has made some important announcements in the past few days. The first big news which hit the online news sites today is that Microsoft will provide the options to upgrade Windows XP to Windows 7. The term upgrade might cause some confusion as it refers to the possibility for XP users to purchase Windows 7 at reduced prices rather than allowing them to upgrade their operating system to Windows 7 which is apparently not possible. So, legit Windows XP users will be able to purchase Windows 7 at a reduced price but need to do a clean install to actually use the operating system.
Windows 7 News

Printable Checklist Makes Quick, Printer-Friendly Checklists Online

Web site Printable Checklist is a stripped down checklist creator that makes building quick, printer-friendly custom checklists a breeze.
Printable Checklist Makes Quick, Printer-Friendly Checklists Online

Steer clear of painkiller Darvon

If you need a prescription medicine to relieve pain, you should steer clear of a medicine called propoxyphene. Although millions of prescriptions are written for this drug each year, expert advisors to the Food and Drug Administration recommended last Friday that it be taken off the market because it has been associated with deadly overdoses and suicides.
Steer clear of painkiller Darvon

Pricey Pet Food Not Necessarily Better

When it comes to buying pet food, higher cost doesn’t always mean higher quality, according to the March issue of Consumer Reports. A higher price could indicate better ingredients and better quality control during and after manufacturing, but it could also just mean prettier packaging, more marketing, or a fancy name.
Pricey Pet Food Not Necessarily Better

The Top Ten Money Mistakes People Make

David Bach is the best-selling author of the eight books in the Finish Rich series as well as Fight for Your Money and The Automatic Millionaire. In the latest book in the Finish Rich series, The Finish Rich Dictionary, Bach defines 1001 essential financial terms and provides 10 helpful essays with topics ranging from understanding a credit score to planning for retirement. Below we have excerpted five of Bach’s ten most interesting money mistakes people make.
The Top Ten Money Mistakes People Make

Mitigate heart-disease risk by exercising for seven minutes a week

ast week's edition of Quirks and Quarks (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's national science show) had a fascinating piece on some new research on very high-intensity, very short-duration exercise regimes.
Mitigate heart-disease risk by exercising for seven minutes a week

Rigged red-light cameras net $170 million for crooked authorities

A red light camera system in Italy cheated drivers out of $170 million dollars in fraudulent fines.
Rigged red-light cameras net $170 million for crooked authorities

Google Earth 5 Maps Oceans

Google announced that the latest version of Google Earth maps the oceans in much more detail*. To view the ocean imagery, tick the Ocean layer in Google Earth.
Google Earth 5 Maps Oceans

Image of the Day: US Airways Flight 1549 Cruising Through Jersey

How do you transport a downed but still intact jet from its landing place to a salvage yard? By going through New Jersey. (Note: instructions only valid if Jet crashed in lower 48.)
Image of the Day: US Airways Flight 1549 Cruising Through Jersey

Don't Believe The Manuals With Self-Assembly Furniture

Everyone knows that putting together flatpack furniture can be aggravating, but assembling the Sturt desk from Officeworks presented me with a challenge I've not faced before: a printed guide that wasn't just filled with poor, tiny, diagrams and incomprehensible product abbreviations, but actually skipped several crucial steps and also put others in an order that would render the desk impossible to complete.
Don't Believe The Manuals With Self-Assembly Furniture

10 Innovative But Obscure Sites That Put Money In Your Pocket

These ten websites help you save or make money in innovative ways, yet they are relatively unknown. We learned of these guys while doing research for the Wise Bread book coming out in May. You've got your copy pre-ordered, right? Enjoy the list, and share with your friends!
10 Innovative But Obscure Sites That Put Money In Your Pocket

It Can’t Love You Back

A few nights ago, my wife had to work late, so I was charged with an evening at home alone with my three year old and one year old. We did the usual things. We ate dinner together (spaghetti - my son’s favorite food). We played with his train set. I read several books, mostly selections based on my daughter’s whims since she’s just discovered the fun of having books read to her.
It Can’t Love You Back

How to Friend Mom, Dad, and the Boss on Facebook...Safely

Oh no! Your mom just joined Facebook and what's even worse, she wants to be your friend. More and more people are finding themselves in this situation today and unsure of what to do. Friending mom and dad, the boss, or other work colleagues opens up the details of your private life for the whole world to see - and you might not be entirely comfortable with that. What's to be done?
How to Friend Mom, Dad, and the Boss on Facebook...Safely

Student Bloopers

Youngsters are more than capable of mangling what they've been taught in school, often in the most hilarious fashion. Mishearings of unusual terms ("pullet surprise" for "Pulitzer Prize," for example), misspellings ("skilled at playing the liar" rather than "lyre"), and typos ("a horse divided against itself cannot stand") can turn even the most mundane of descriptions of lessons learned into that which leaves its audience in tears of laughter.
Student Bloopers

Blackstump Australia Issue 4 - February 1, 2009

This weeks latest new family friendly sites from The Black Stump.
Blackstump Australia Issue 4 - February 1, 2009

The Lazy Manifesto: Do Less. Then, Do Even Less

How many of us don’t get lazy every now and then? Of course, some of us get lazy more than others — my mom (always a hard worker) once told me she gets lazy, but then she just does the work anyway. I replied, “Mom, that’s not lazy! That’s the opposite of lazy!”
The Lazy Manifesto: Do Less. Then, Do Even Less

5 Personal Finance Tips You Don't Always Hear About

We have all read about the usual personal finance tips being offered by the writers of the personal finance blogs around the internet and from the experts on television. They usually end up meshing somewhere along the line with information that includes the importance of setting a budget, tracking your spending, and establishing an emergency fund. While that advice is all valuable and true, there are some other things you should be doing that will keep you financially strong.
5 Personal Finance Tips You Don't Always Hear About

English manners cost Titanic lives

Many British victims of the Titanic disaster in 1912 may have sunk with the ship because of their gentlemanly behaviour, according to Swiss and Australian researchers.
English manners cost Titanic lives

Avoid Getting Fleeced at Liquidation Sales

They're going out of business! It's a liquidation sale! The prices will be crazy marked down, right? Not necessarily. Read on to avoid getting ripped off by liquidators.
Avoid Getting Fleeced at Liquidation Sales

One more reason to enjoy that cup of coffee

The New York Times reported recently on a new study that suggests coffee may help prevent Alzheimer's disease and dementia. The study, published in the January 2009 Journal of Alzheimer's Disease is observational, and a researcher is quoted in the Times as saying, “We have no evidence that for people who are not drinking coffee, taking up drinking will have a protective effect.”
One more reason to enjoy that cup of coffee

What Would You Do With Five Years?

What would you do if you were told you had five years left to live? I prefer to use this rather than Steve Job’s single day, because most of us, with a day or week left, would spend them seeing family and saying goodbyes.

But five years is different. Five years is long enough to accomplish almost any goal you might have, however ambitious. And you wouldn’t want to spend five years partying hedonistically, or eating your favourite meal every night.
What Would You Do With Five Years?

Hungry snake discovers you are what you eat

A New South Wales man has had an interesting encounter with not one but two snakes, and he has the photos to prove it.
Hungry snake discovers you are what you eat

New Year's Resolutions: Avoid Common New Year's Resolution Mistakes

At this point you're three weeks into your New Year's resolutions. Many people fail to make it out of January with their resolutions unbroken, avoid some of the common pitfalls with these tips.
New Year's Resolutions: Avoid Common New Year's Resolution Mistakes

Detecting Googlebombs

A Googlebomb is a prank where a group of people on the web try to push someone else’s site to rank for a query that it didn’t intend to (and normally wouldn’t want to) rank for. Typically these queries tend to be unusual phrases such as “talentless hack” that don’t really have any existing strong results.
Detecting Googlebombs

How to Teach Kids About Money

As kids grow, they tend to become more thoughtful about money, and it's a process to teach them how to save more, shop wisely and earn money through small jobs. The current economic troubles provide a fitting time to school our kids on personal finance, according to Eric Tyson, author of Personal Finance for Dummies. If you're feeling guilty because you can't buy your child that video game system he desperately wants for Christmas, or you're asking him to choose between playing recreation basketball or taking karate lessons this winter, Eric Tyson has one word for you. Don't. In fact, he says, now is the perfect time to teach your kids some valuable financial lessons and learn that budgeting is how the world really works.
How to Teach Kids About Money

How Travel Veterans Pack For a Trip

One of the more nerve-wracking moments a traveler can ever experience is waiting for a checked bag after an airline flight, knowing that prescription medicine or a valuable piece of electronic gear has been out of your control for hours.
How Travel Veterans Pack For a Trip

Use Your Camera Phone to Document Suitcase Contents

Nobody likes dealing with lost luggage; snapping photos of your packed suitcase before you zip up can diminish the hassle and ensure you get back everything you packed.
Use Your Camera Phone to Document Suitcase Contents

Windows 7 Codec Package

Not everyone is a friend of so called codec packages which basically consist of a collection of audio and video codecs that get batch installed on a computer system. The main point of criticism is that a lot of useless - in other words never used - codecs are installed on the system along with some that are used regularly. The user loses some hard drive space at best or will experience compatibility problems at worst.
Windows 7 Codec Package

Things my father taught me

David L. McDonald
born 1936-passed 2008
precious father
beloved husband
A right good fellow.
Things my father taught me

How to Stop Accumulating Books

Sometimes you’ll get a new book, glance through a few chapters while sitting on the can, put it on the coffee table for later indulgence, and get back to whatever you were doing. You don’t have time to actually read your new book yet. You've got a lot of work to do, and you're already part way through a couple other ones, so it’ll have to wait. But then a strange thing happens: Over the next couple weeks, you've done it again. You've bought another must-have book, and the last book, the one that was waiting for you on the coffee table, has silently migrated to your bookshelf, without ever getting read. You're a book hoarder. How do you stop the insanity?
How to Stop Accumulating Books

Why we procrastinate and how to stop

It's a new year and many of us have started thinking about various resolutions: updating that resume, cleaning out the attic, starting that exercise routine. But the sad reality is that most of us will not follow through on these commitments, not because we're insincere, but because tomorrow is always a better time to get going. Procrastination is a curse, and a costly one.
Why we procrastinate and how to stop

Tracking US Airways Flight 1549

Tracking US Airways Flight 1549 - Interactive Graphic from NY Times.
Tracking US Airways Flight 1549

Five "Healthy Snacks" that Aren't

Many of us are reaching for the nearest healthy snack as part of our eat-better-in-'09 resolutions, but as Newsweek points out, those veggie crisps are often no better than your classic bag of Doritos.
Five "Healthy Snacks" that Aren't

Crib netting tragedy: Bare cribs are safest

The strangulation death last month of a 2-year-old from Massachusetts, which was caused when he got tangled in netting that was placed over the top of a portable crib while traveling with his parents in Maine, is a tragic reminder that the safest crib is a bare one.
Crib netting tragedy: Bare cribs are safest

A New Googlebomb: Cheerful Achievement

The googlebomb “miserable failure" for a long time linked to US president Bush’s page on WhiteHouse.gov (a googlebomb happens when a group of people get together, coordinating themselves to link to a certain page using a certain agreed-upon phrase, often for humorous or political purposes). Now, there’s a new googlebomb.
A New Googlebomb: Cheerful Achievement

Breaking a Mirror

These days the accidental breaking of a small mirror (like the hand-held or self-standing kinds typically used when applying cosmetics or shaving) usually produces no more thought in most people than "I have to get a new mirror." The breaking a large wall-mounted or floor mirror, however, may still often elicit the exclamation, "Uh-oh, that's seven years of bad luck."
Breaking a Mirror

Six Words You Should Drop from Your Resume

Whether you're polishing your resume because you've been laid off or you just like to be prepared, weblog Squawkfox suggests six words you should banish from your curriculum vitae.
Six Words You Should Drop from Your Resume

Nine Tips to Keep Yourself Exercising, from a Former Couch Potato

One of the most commonly made, and most frequently broken, New Year’s resolutions is the resolution to exercise more. People who exercise are healthier, more energetic, think more clearly, sleep better, have delayed onset of dementia...the list goes on.
Nine Tips to Keep Yourself Exercising, from a Former Couch Potato

Are You Rationalizing Your Decisions?

Are you rationalizing your decisions? Let me answer that for you real quick. Yes, you are.
Are You Rationalizing Your Decisions?

Enable Hotmail POP3 In All Countries

Microsoft has announced a change to the Hotmail email provider service that they offer. The feature to access Hotmail accounts using a POP3 connection will be gradually enabled for all Hotmail accounts. Gradually meaning that only users from some countries like Germany, Italy or the United Kingdom are currently able to connect to Hotmail via POP3 while others have to wait until Microsoft enables POP3 access for their countries as well.
Enable Hotmail POP3 In All Countries

The Oddest English Spellings, Part 12 Or, One, Two, Buckle Your Shoe

Two and shoe rhyme. Why then are they spelled so differently? Those who ask such questions believe that rhyme and reason go together.
The Oddest English Spellings, Part 12 Or, One, Two, Buckle Your Shoe

Surviving a Plane Crash

New York City witnessed the seemingly impossible last week, when US Airways flight 1549 ditched into the icy Hudson river so gently that all 155 passengers walked away unharmed. Those merely witnessing the event, might be all the more frightened now, having not known (before) that birds flying into engines can cause such profound disaster.
Surviving a Plane Crash

How to Chop Onions Without Tears

Why do onions make you cry, and how can you prevent it from happening? Onions are made up of a tunic of outer leaves (the brown layer), scales (the white firm juicy edible part), and the basal plate (often called the "hairy part" or the "root").
How to Chop Onions Without Tears

Today is the Most Depressing Day of the Year -- Not.

Apparently, according to a mathematical formula devised by Cliff Arnall, today is the most depressing day of 2009. Arnall’s formula considers factors like people’s failure to keep up their new year’s resolutions, the weather, post-holidays blues (no more fun, lots of bills), and the date falling on a Monday.
Today is the Most Depressing Day of the Year -- Not

How to Find Your True Priorities

On January 1st, many people make resolutions for the new year, such as to go to the gym every day. You can’t help noticing that gyms suddenly become much more crowded. But by February 1st, most people have abandoned their resolutions. Gyms become empty.
How to Find Your True Priorities

How to Start Speaking at Events

You might first ask yourself what your goal might be. Are you speaking to further establish yourself and your company as thought leaders? Are you trying to pitch some amazing product?
How to Start Speaking at Events

15 Ways To Manage Risk In Your Financial Life

We all want to optimize our returns yet many of us forget that by doing so, we may be taking a lot more risk than we should. By managing our risks, we are better equipped with addressing unpredictable scenarios that can wreak havoc with our finances. Risk isn't a bad thing, just as long as it's controlled or "calculated".
15 Ways To Manage Risk In Your Financial Life

New Thinking on How to Protect the Heart

Many measures are probably familiar: not smoking, controlling cholesterol and blood pressure, exercising regularly and staying at a healthy weight. But some newer suggestions may surprise you.
New Thinking on How to Protect the Heart

Teens post health risks online

Have you taken a look at your teenage son or daughter's social networking site profile recently?
Teens post health risks online

Our world may be a giant hologram

DRIVING through the countryside south of Hanover, it would be easy to miss the GEO600 experiment. From the outside, it doesn't look much: in the corner of a field stands an assortment of boxy temporary buildings, from which two long trenches emerge, at a right angle to each other, covered with corrugated iron. Underneath the metal sheets, however, lies a detector that stretches for 600 metres.
Our world may be a giant hologram

Blu-ray Owners: You Should Get Your Eyes Examined

Tell a Blu-ray fan who's sunk hundreds or thousands of dollars into the technology that you can't really see the added picture quality offered by the hi-def format, and they'll probably respond the difference (to them) is so obvious only the willfully blind can't see it.
Blu-ray Owners: You Should Get Your Eyes Examined

How to Prevent Your Ears from Popping

For most people, traveling by air causes uncomfortable, sometimes painful ear popping. This can also happen when climbing to or descending from a high altitude, or when diving underwater. If you travel with kids, ear popping can make the trip all the more frustrating. So here's the scoop on ear popping - what causes it, and how you can prevent it.
How to Prevent Your Ears from Popping

Start Your Day By Eating a Frog

“Eat a live frog every morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” -Mark Twain
Start Your Day By Eating a Frog

Learn How to Be a Teen in 1950

A look at Coronet Films, which were shown in great regularity in American schools in the 1940s and ’50s, shows a completely different world of instructional videos for teens. Teens in the ’50s were taught how to say no to a goodnight kiss, not how to say no to a hit off a bong.
Learn How to Be a Teen in 1950

Six Tips For Boosting Your Sense of Self-Respect

Maybe you’ve lost your job. Maybe you didn’t get the promotion you were hoping for. Maybe your sweetheart broke up with you. People say “Don’t take it personally” and “Don’t let it get to you,” but that’s very hard to do.
Six Tips For Boosting Your Sense of Self-Respect

GPS Burglary

Warning cautions that thieves take GPS devices from cars parked at public events to locate homes to burgle.
GPS Burglary

Why does my voice sound so different when it is recorded and played back?

Sound can reach the inner ear by way of two separate paths.
Why does my voice sound so different when it is recorded and played back?

17 Uncommon Uses for Cotton Swabs

In the field of cleaning ears, no household item is relied upon more than cotton swabs. The swabs, tipped with cotton sheets, are built to remove earwax and dirt, which results in better hearing. You probably have a constantly renewed stock in your bathroom, given their usefulness. Reliable as the accessory is, cleaning ears is only one of its many functions. You might be surprised with the amount of things you can do with such a simple item.
17 Uncommon Uses for Cotton Swabs

Four Tech Products that Save You Time and Money

Feeling frazzled with newly incorporated frugality strategies? Last couple of DIY projects and bulk shopping runs send you over the edge into loony land? Here are four products we use to streamline logistics and re-channel stress into productivity.
Four Tech Products that Save You Time and Money

Do Aussie Workers Need To Take More Holidays?

When you encounter a headline like 'Aussies working world's longest hours', you're likely to pay attention -- especially if, like me, you've just come off a week with several 14-hour workdays. However, it turns out that what's actually being discussed is the unwillingness of Australians to take holidays.
Do Aussie Workers Need To Take More Holidays?

How To Burn Disk Images

It is surprising that many users who have downloaded the Windows 7 Beta release are having difficulties burning it on DVD. This article is supposed to act as a guideline for all of your disk burning activities.
How To Burn Disk Images

Composting Bins: Benefits, Rules, & How to Make Your Own

For a few years, I had been eyeing composting bins for the backyard. I was excited at the thought of turning things that we might normally put into the trash or the garbage disposal into beautiful, rich soil for our garden. I was, however, not excited about the price tags that I was seeing for even the most simple of composting bins.
Composting Bins: Benefits, Rules, & How to Make Your Own

Man takes 26 years to solve Rubik’s Cube

It has taken most of his life – but, after 26 years, builder Graham Parker has finally solved the puzzle of the Rubik's Cube.
Man takes 26 years to solve Rubik’s Cube

Blackstump Australia Issue 2 - January 11, 2009

This weeks latest new family friendly sites from The Black Stump.
Blackstump Australia Issue 2 - January 11, 2009

Keep Passwords Safe on a Public Computer with KYPS

You have to be cautious when using a public computer. Some of them have keylogger software installed that captures your usernames and passwords when you enter them. If you log into your bank’s website that could be a big problem!
Keep Passwords Safe on a Public Computer with KYPS

10 Overlooked Functions of Email

The age, when people used pen and paper to write letters, is over. At the turn of the century, almost everyone rely on the email for high-speed communication. You can use your account to converse or even strike business deals with anyone who has an active email address, regardless of distance. This is a clear advantage, given the amount of information conveyed in a few minutes. Remarkably, the list of things you can do with your email do not end there. More functions are waiting to be discovered if you look close enough.
10 Overlooked Functions of Email

Japan's scariest suspension bridge

This rickety old suspension bridge in Japan is the stuff of nightmares. The sound of the wind adds to the dreadfulness.
Japan's scariest suspension bridge

Windows 7: How to Dual Boot Windows 7 with XP or Vista

If you're dying to try out Windows 7 but aren't ready to give up your installation of XP or Vista, let's take a look at how to dual boot Windows 7 with XP or Vista.
How to Dual Boot Windows 7 with XP or Vista

What You Should Expect from the Windows 7 Beta

If you haven't already heard, the Windows 7 Public Beta is going to be released today through the Microsoft website, and the first 2.5 million people to register with Microsoft will receive access to the Beta 1 version. Today we'll run through the features and what you should expect.
What You Should Expect from the Windows 7 Beta

Where Your Laptop's Power Really Goes

A pie chart drawn up by Windows 7 engineers shows how much each part of your laptop draws from your slowly-discharging battery. Check out where a typical Windows system spends its juice below.
Where Your Laptop's Power Really Goes

How to Make Skies Beautiful with GIMP

Do the skies in your photographs look somewhat "blah"? So long as you take your photographs thoughtfully, you can make them pop with a few easy tweaks in GIMP, the renowned open-source image editor. These tweaks are also a great introduction to some of GIMP's more advanced features, such as layers, layer modes and layer masks. Here's how to do it.
How to Make Skies Beautiful with GIMP (with pictures)

Quarterly updates - Oxford English Dictionary

Every quarter, a range of entries in OED Online will be replaced by updated versions produced by the OED's revision programme. New entries will also be added across the alphabet.
Quarterly updates - Oxford English Dictionary

Google Maps: 100+ Best Tools and Mashups

Most people think of Google Maps in terms of finding a place or business, or getting directions from one point to another. Others use the satellite images and terrain mapping features. But there are tons of other uses out there for Google maps.
Google Maps: 100+ Best Tools and Mashups

Rip DVD Movies

Oh noes, not another software program to rip DVD movies. Yes, there are mini different applications that can rip DVD movies. Some do not work with copy protected DVD movies while others make use of a complex interface. Your Free DVD Ripper is a one-click solution to rip DVD movies. Well, it’s actually a few more clicks but all accessible from the main interface.
Rip DVD Movies

Many Ways to Plug In to Tech Savings

It’s a new year, all right, but economically, it still feels a lot like the old one. Seems that everywhere you look, things are being downsized: companies, paychecks, parties, trade shows and on and on. People aren’t just tightening their belts; they’re punching new holes in them.
Many Ways to Plug In to Tech Savings

Mount Everest climbers show survival on record-low oxygen

It's no secret that scaling Mount Everest tests the limits of human survival; more than 200 people have died trying to reach its summit. Today we have new information about just how seriously climbers push their bodies on the world's highest peak: Those who manage to stay alive do so on an amount of oxygen so minute that, at sea level, would only be seen in people who were in cardiac arrest or dead.
Mount Everest climbers show survival on record-low oxygen

Tips for Thinking from an Extraordinary Thinker

Daniel Tammet is the author of two books, Born on a Blue Day and Embracing the Wide Sky, which comes out this month. He’s also a linguist and holds the European record for reciting the first 22,514 decimal points of the mathematical constant Pi. Mind Matters editor Jonah Lehrer chats with Tammet about how his memory works, why the IQ test is overrated, and a possible explanation for extraordinary feats of creativity.
Inside the Savant Mind: Tips for Thinking from an Extraordinary Thinker