Friday, January 30, 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

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

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

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

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

Monday, January 26, 2009

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

Sunday, January 25, 2009

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

Saturday, January 24, 2009

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

Friday, January 23, 2009

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