lifehacks
27
Jul 07
First, stop sucking
Here’s a great Google Tech Talk by Merlin Mann. The best bit of advice he gives is to “First, stop sucking”. You have to stop whatever bad habits you’re doing (like ignoring the 500 emails in your inbox) before you can get better at it. The whole talk is below, it’s definitely worth a look.
19
Jul 07
Phonetic Alphabet Cheat Sheet
Below is a quick cheat sheet I made up to help out when I was on the phone with people. Inevitably you have to either read off an account number or spell out some weird URL and run into a conversation like this:
Tech Support: Please read off your account number
Me: k, 005V345
Tech: Thank you, I have that as 005B345
Me: No, that’s V as in Victor not B as in Bravo
Now I keep this next to the phone so I don’t have to think of a word that clearly begins with V.
Phonetic Alphabet Cheat Sheet: Download (PDF)
22
Dec 06
Speed up your Podcasts
I listen to quite a few podcasts, probably a good five hours worth a week. Here’s how I save time doing that:
1. Open Windows Media Player
2. Enable the Speed Up Enhancement in Windows Media Player
3. Play your file
4. Crank it up
I can listen to all my podcasts at 1.4 or 1.5 except Security Now with Steve Gibson and Leo Leporte, Steve talks a mile a minute and they really shove a lot of good content into their podcast.
[tags]lifehacks, security now, podcasts, speed up, windows media player, media player[/tags]
15
Dec 06
Folding @ Home
Remember SETI@Home? Are you still running that?
Folding@Home studies how proteins fold and more importantly, why they fold improperly and cause cancer. Don’t you think this is a better use of your computer?
It uses your spare CPU so you’ll see your CPU at 100% all the time but it yields to all other applications so you will never notice that its running. Think of it as using your whole computer all the time instead of just sucking power while running the Flying Windows screensaver.
You can find the windows installer on the Folding@Home installer, If you’d like you can join our team using the team number 50606.
[tags]folding, home, folding@home, cancer, research[/tags]
10
Mar 06
Fountain Pens for Lefties (a Primer)
Lefties and fountain pens don’t mix too well. Unfortunately, the alphabet we use was developed by righties, for righties. All you lefties know the result of a long day of taking notes in school; a nice stained side of your hand. Fountain pens are worse because you lay down more ink and it dries slower than your usual ballpoint pen.
Here’s how you can deal with that whilst using a fountain pen:
1. Quick drying ink – if you’re smearing the ink as you write, try a quick drying ink like Parker’s Quink.
2. Use a sacrifical piece of paper – Fold an 8″ x11″ piece of paper in half and use it under your hand. This is easy for lefties because most have the lefty curl while writing. This will blot the ink its sitting on top of and keep your hand out of what you’re writing.
3. Don’t let others use your fountain pen – once you use your fountain pen for long enough you start to wear the nib down to the angle that you write. If someone else uses your pen for too long they’ll ruin your angle and make your nib feel scratchy.
Your only other choice is to pull a DaVinci and write in mirror script. Oh, and lefties, don’t forget the meeting to pick the next US president next month, sshhh.
Another helpful site: Lefthanded Writing Page
[tags]lefthanded, left, handed, lifehack, fountain pen, writing[/tags]
10
Feb 06
The No S Diet
The premise:
- No Snacks
- No Sweets
- No Seconds
Except on days beginning with S.
My thoughts:
I don’t think this would work for me. I would be starving by dinner for sure. I also don’t like the implications of the blood sugar rises and dips this would give you. There is no portion control either so if you wanted three cups of cereal for breakfast it technically counts, there’s an implied “eat heathly meals” but I think limiting calories makes you make better decisions about what to eat since you can eat more healthy foods than you can fatty food.
I do like the idea of cheat days, maybe not two in a week but I think its a good idea, it usually pulls your body out of starvation mode plus it keeps your motivation up.
Conclusion:
This diet isn’t for me but I can see it helping people out, especially if you’re just maintaining.
[tags]diet, food, no s diet, lifehacks, weightloss[/tags]
31
Jan 06
Where Technology goes to Die
Here’s the two graveyards of technology at my parent’s house, one for decrepit technology and dusty old tomes of computer knowledge. You should’ve seen the huge box of old 30 meg hard drives and token ring network cards I pulled out of my bedroom.
I hadn’t used any of it in at least two years so it got tossed!
The picture above includes the 386 my uncle gave me that I upgraded to a blazing 233mhz plus a bunch of printers where its more expensive to buy the cartridges than just buy a new printer.
These are a blast from the past, I loved the VB4 and 5 days, full of AOL script kiddie fun and perl hacking on Redhat Linux 6.
[tags]photography, technology, graveyard, funny, lifehack, lifehacks, cleaning, decluttering[/tags]
27
Jan 06
Hidden Calories
Are you having trouble losing weight even though you’ve cut your calories? Watch out for hidden calories, I mean foods you wouldn’t normally think of when? you log your food for the day:
- Gum – Go for low sugar alcohols, manufacturers don’t have to list them under sugar but they are still converted into calories
- Altoids
- Barbeque sauce
- Half and half or creamer in coffee
- Diet drinks (they still have some calories)