I just read a post on David Suzuki’s blog talking about how everything these days is disposable. EVERYTHING! Even cars for that matter. Nothing is made to last and its by design. Think about your cell phone. 2-3 years and your phone is obsolete and it costs less to replace than fix if something goes wrong. Cameras, computers…

Here’s my challenge to you. Try going an extra year or two with your computer or phone. Any piece of electronics where you don’t REALLY need to replace but it “sure would be nice to have the new iPhone”. I try to get as many years out of a piece of electronics as I can. Sadly, my iMac is on its last legs. I had it in to be serviced and they quoted me $875 to replace the motherboard. Now this is a 6 year old iMac. It’s been great to us and it really should still be fine but the OS X Lion seems to have brought it to its knees. So for another $200 I can get a brand new iMac, and pretty much have to.

Don’t buy cheap, try and buy quality that lasts. Sure, it’s a little more expensive but in the end you’ll have that jacket, pair of shoes, computer, TV… whatever, a lot longer and it won’t just end up in the landfill. Support producers like Apple who make a quality product that lasts a long time. Even designer clothes makers, they last longer.

Remember this as you take in all of the Black Friday sales today.

Now, I’ve been using an iPhone pretty much since they came out and have gotten used to seeing the same thing that a person using a full screen desktop browser would. I’m not sure I would like websites changing just because I was on smaller screen real estate. I might miss out on something. But on the other hand, I’ve been to many sites on my mobile browser that are just too wide and the font is just too small to even come close.

So, my recommendation to those of you delving into the “Responsive Web Design” arena would be to just ensure that your site is readable and navigable on an iPhone, Blackberry, or Android phone. If not, you really need to address this because the mobile market is becoming more important than desktop computers. I read where there is 3.3 phones sold for every desktop right now. That’s not to be taken lightly.

And those who don’t and are always seen with a bottle of water in their hand.

As Ben Franklin said:

In wine there is wisdom,
In beer there is freedom,
In water there is bacteria.

Ben Franklin

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink one litre of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than one kilo of E. Coli bacteria found in feces.

In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.

However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer (or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.

Remember:
Water = Poop
Wine = Health

Therefore, it’s better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water and be full of shit.

I received this from a friend. I think it’s an invaluable piece of wisdom.

1. Don’t want to have to wait to see information that was there just moments ago (entire page refresh)
2. Even more frustrating, I don’t want to have to refill a form, or renter something in a text box that was almost complete.
3. Don’t want to have to force a quit just because Safari is reloading a tab it should have had cached.

This has to change! I’m a good multitasker when given the opportunity. The new Safari is far from allowing me to do so.

I do like how Safari on my iPad has gone to the tabbed format rather than having to exit and choose a new window. But again, it’s not working the way it’s supposed to.

I’ve switched to Chrome for the time being. We’ll see how that ends up. Safari, I want you back!

I tried it once and lost about 15 Lbs on it. I didn’t want to stick to it for the rest of my life, mostly because I feel that life is too short to stick to the very minimal variety that Tim Ferriss’ allows on the diet. Not surprisingly, I’ve recently put on about 10 Lbs and would like to get down to my fighting weight again. I’m giving the diet another shot and this time hope to manage to keep the weight off.

What can I eat? Lean meat like Chicken, Beef and Pork. Plenty of Beans and Lentils, and almost all veggies but mostly Spinach. That’s about it. Oh, Tim thankfully recommends to glasses of Red Wine each night. There isn’t even a requirement for working out. But I will continue my sporadic and easy workouts for the next few months. There is one cheat day a week where you can go crazy and eat all the things you’ve been craving, and drink beer.

I’ll fill you in on my progress. BTW – I’ve already lost 2 pounds and I’ve only been doing the diet for 4 days.

Ridiculous Book Trailer. But motivates!

I’ll get to more in another post. But as you can see, I have supported Apple for years and now I’m feeling a little alienated.

I had a nice layout with a background that I wanted centred on the page. Then I had three columns that I wanted to position absolutely within the background div. The problem with my code was this:

This was my CSS:

<style>
#main-content {
width:1180px;
height:907px;
margin-left:auto;
margin-right:auto;
background-image:url(img/top-background.jpg);
background-repeat:no-repeat;
}

#footer {
height:137px;
background-image:url(img/bottom-background.png);
background-repeat:no-repeat;
margin-top:750px;
}

#left-column {
width:293px;
position: absolute;
top: 486px;
left: 109px;
}

#right-column {
width:293px;
min-height: 600px;
position: absolute;
top: 101px;
right: 120px}

#center-column {
width:340px;
position:absolute;
top: 100px;
right:428px;}

</style>

The problem with this was that when the browser was resized, the positioning changes with it. It doesn’t stay “relative” to the container div.

One quick fix, add position:relative to the container div. In my case #main-content. That was it. Now the columns stay relative to the container div and don’t move when the browser is resized.

Now the thing that Irks me is that I’ve been a paying member of MobileMe for YEARS and now I get put on a waiting list for iCloud. Apple should have had us in the front of the line. I’m an early adopter, I want the new things first and when I’ve been paying for a service that hasn’t quite got me the things I paid for, I’d like to get the upgrade first. When can I upgrade to iCloud? Who knows?

Before you can be Mindful, you need to know exactly what that means. Here’s my interpretation: removing selfishness, becoming aware how your actions affect the world. Now that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t care about yourself, you just need to be aware of what’s around you and how your actions or inactions affect other people. That’s it. It’s not about meditating, it’s not about religion.

Here’s a few examples:

The first one I can think of is driving. First off, do you have to even step in your car or could you enjoy a walk or bike ride to achieve your goal. If you do indeed have to drive, be courteous while driving. Don’t drive like you own the road because we all know that only becomes aggravating. Allow people to merge in when they need instead of getting pissed off that they are going to be in front of us. Stick to speed limits unless you are slowing EVERYONE else down. By letting someone else merge might make them twice about cutting someone off later in the day. Its karmic energy and it really does work.

Next, everyday consumption. You aren’t more important than the next person so think about what you use in your everyday life. Reusing bags or using reusable water bottles are little things that decrease your impact on the world. Use less water, grow your own veggies, use less food, buy less consumables, use a economy car instead of a larger one. Not only does this decrease your impact on the world, but it also increases your savings for those bigger items that are necessary.

I’ve been trying to breed these habits in my children and it proves to be a hard task. Why? I’m not sure why. Is it bred in us to just look out for ourselves?