Every night, before dozing off, I make a batch of pancake batter and put it in my minifridge.  I grab a few strips of bacon and put them in there, too.  Oh, and a glass of orange juice.  All in the fridge next to my bed.  On the griddle I leave a plate, a fork, and a spatula.  Morning rolls around, and the alarm goes off.  I wake up, hit the snooze (important step) roll over, put the plate and other accessories on the floor, and turn on the griddle.  I go back to sleep for 8 minutes (my standard snooze time).  Alarm goes off again.  I re-wake up, grab my ingredients out of the fridge, and begin making breakfast in bed from my bed.  As I wake up, griddle cakes and bacon are frying literally right next to me.  I eat my breakfast in bed, roll out, shower up while the griddle cools down, do a quick dishes scrub after I get dressed, and walk out the door.  I imagine something like this could make me a little more content with existence on this Earth.  

Bookshelf Options/Design: 20 Unusually Brilliant Bookcases

JTH

This. is. big. This sort of creative problem solving is something I strive for. This bike is so simple, and so easy. It is not the complexity that makes it revolutionary, it's the idea.

I want to drink coffee with these crazy inventors all day. Maybe they can put some of my ideas to life, and reject my more ridiculous ones. It is this kind of creative problem solving I strive for. They took a difficult and very real problem to heart. Thought about it. Rinsed and repeated. Then, they hatched this beautiful idea that solved this problem in a simple but fresh, original way.

I think GE or some other mega-corp. should throw a few engineers and Benjamins their way to make this idea a more viable reality for the third world. Think of all of the slow, piano music that could be set to images of happy children and their newly available clean water. (ineffective probably, but I can just see GE eating it up)

I am in the process of trying to befriend these geniuses via Facebook stalking, but I guess they are too busy being important and making me envious. If anybody out there has digits, tell them I've got approximatley $1.50 for endless coffee at Denny's with their name on it.

1. Get a fuel efficient car. If you are only beginning to save up for car, or are considering buying a car in the near future, look for models that are fuel-efficient. Cars drink up different amounts of fuel per mile, and you would want your car to have the best mileage per full tank.

2. Schedule your trips. A great way to save on gas is to schedule your trips so that you don't end up going back and forth to a place because you forgot to string your appointments tightly enough to be efficient. For example you would want to schedule your trip to the grocers, and any other appointments one after the other so that you can go straight to your next appointment right after the last one.

It would be terrible if you went to the grocers, then went back home because you had no other appointments left for another few hours. And then, you would have to make the trip to the next appointment from your home.

Do you see the wasted fuel going from the last appointment to your home and from your home back to the next appointment? This could be avoided if you schedule your appointments properly.

Just remember that it is best to get into your car to go to all the places you need to go to all on one trip.

3. Travel with a friend. You could have your friends set up a carpool so that you can save on fuel costs. This is because you and your other friends-or your workmates-all travel to the same places in different cars. Imagine the waste that comes from having five cars all with one passenger each going to the same place.

Those five people could all fit in one car and save on the gas costs of four other vehicles. This is why a carpool makes sense. You could take turns with your friends picking each other up and going to the same place. This would save tons on gas costs. Knl.

]]> http://waterfortheages.wordpress.com/?p=149 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:46:45 +0000 waterfortheages http://waterfortheages.wordpress.com/?p=149 Into the local grocery store for my weekly accruals, I browse the aisles for items on my shopping list...

Milk - 65 gallons of water for production per serving
Cherries - 90 gallons of water for production per serving
Eggs - 136 gallons of water for production per serving

I diligently note the amount of water used for production of each product clearly labeled on the back of the container and then place them into my cart.

Sound a bit far-fetched? Well, not so much if you were in Australia this week attending an international water conference in Adelaide.

James Hazelton, a professor from Macquarie University, suggested this approach for labeling of food products in Australia and beyond, according to ABC News. He cited the success of labeling water efficient appliances such as low-flow toilets and washing machines.

Indeed, perhaps if we were more aware of the amount of water used for production of our food products, we might be inclined to conserve water and eat a 'low-flow' diet.

Great idea, sir!

Have you checked your Water Footprint lately?

Sydney allegedly saved 48,000 cars worth of shit to breathe in that hour.

Easy, fun, and if it did in fact go viral, the Great Tube of Infotainment would grab it, because it would have good visuals, and our pundocracy would draw all sorts of Profound Conclusions About The Meaning of it All.

Some of that meaning would no doubt be how communications have changed these days. And things that are important to people.

Pass it along.

What's really amazing about this, besides the great content, is that Trey and Matt (we are that close) were able to get all the complex legal and business model issues worked out with Viacom and put the show online. No other content creator has even come close to getting their full catalouge on the web, especially not for content that remains current and popular. Of course fans can watch any content they want online using various web and P2P sites, but this is the first time creators have launched a site that really competes with the free alternatives.

I hate using canned quotes but this one, direct from the press release, is on the money:

When asked about the launch of the new site, Stone and Parker said, "We got really sick of having to download our own show illegally all the time so we gave ourselves a legal alternative."

To date, the web's premier, and only, source of full length episodes of South Park has been AllSP.com, which mysteriously went dark earlier this week. A message posted on the site says

The administrator for AllSP.com did not respond to numerous emails but I'm going to go ahead and assume that the reason they are down is because some savvy lawyers over at Comedy Central got in touch with AllSP.com's host and started causing trouble. Be sure to check out the similarities between AllSP.com and SouthParkStudios.com, it cant be a coincidence.

I will not go into detail in my blog but I have been in contact with a few software / internet professionals and they think the ideas could do well, but hurdles exist, #1 in particular money. The ventures will cost a considerable amount of manpower to get a beta product out in a few months.

Being a personal fitness trainer, I don't have this kind of money, but know there are many people that do, and those people generally want more. So if there is any people who would like to sit down to chat about this project please let me know. My website is http://FitSF.com and you can contact me through there.

I've been personal training only around 25-30 hours a week lately and spending countless hours researching these different internet projects I wish to begin. The only problem is I am a personal fitness trainer, not a business man. I have a masters degree in exercise science not an MBA.

What I do have is a good ability to see what other people want and respect how other people feel. I know that the ideas I have would be successful, I just need a mentor to show me the path, and a little capital wouldn't hurt either :)

If you are familiar with the BBC TV Series "Grumpy Old Men" I can confidently say I'd fit right in with its contributors and the show itself. If you're not familiar with it, I think you're bright enough folk to work out what it is. Anyway, I even started my own website entitled Grumpy Young Men. It didn't last particularly long as I briefly explained in my first ever entry on here:

"My last blog was mainly about being grumpy and I ended up becoming grumpy with blogging about being grumpy; so by process of evolution I am combining all my bloggery things in this blog."

I do get grumpy and irritated about a lot of things, so let's get to it.

Is it just me or when you go to bed do you always have your most fantastic ideas just as you're dropping off to sleep? In fact, I'm now irritated by "is it just me" sentences but I'm not going to change them because I'm on a roll now.

Also, is it just me (I can do this without deleting this complete entry!) or if you don't write down this idea, the most fantastic idea you've ever had that could make you millions of pounds, you will, with almost complete certainty, forget it when you wake up the next morning? Oh, you'll remember you had an idea which was more brilliant than any idea Steve Jobs or Bill Gates ever had...but you won't remember what it actually was.

Now, sod's law dictates you'll remember to write this idea down but you are partially comatose now and ready to fall asleep, which means there will be no writing implements or anything to write on within the 2.5ft radius your slowly-becoming-inoperable arms can cover. This leads you to weigh up whether the idea is worth getting out of bed for. "OF COURSE IT IS!", screams your mind, so you begrudgingly fall out of bed and rummage around in the darkness for a pen and a piece of paper. This involves knocking over many objects, all of which make sharp, loud noises, and because your hearing has become accustomed to the quiet of the night, all of these sounds are on par with that of mortar fire, heavy arms fire and frag and stun grenades detonating in your inner ear.

Alas, you have the paper, you have the pen, you have the idea written down and you can finally go to sleep. Excellent.

You may wonder why I'm telling you all of this. It's because the same thing happened to me last night and the same thing has happened to me before. Last night, however, was different. It was different because three hours earlier I had taken two sleeping tablets as I've not been sleeping properly lately. This meant that instead of my limbs slowly becoming inoperable, they were, in fact, dead weight. There was no way I was going to get out of that bed. If Kate Beckinsale had walked into the room I'd have said - in slurred, gripped-by-sleeping-tablet speech - "hello Kate! My word, you are...um, yeah, just, just sit down. It's awfully lovely..." and that's probably about it.

I was convinced I would remember this idea and I concentrated fully on making sure I'd remember it when I woke up. However, half an hour of dozing later and I had another idea, which was more of a thought, but enough of a thought to push the incredible idea completely out of my brain - not through choice! I had remembered a topic I'd been meaning to blog about. Incidentally, it was about remembering things in the middle of the night, but the situation of seemingly amputated limbs still stood so I vowed to remember it. As you may have noticed, though, I did remember the subject of this blog.

The problem is, that I remembered this after I'd had today's dose of sleeping tablets (which started to take effect about two paragraphs ago) and I knew there was a passage from a book I have which I would include in this entry. These tablets work rather quickly and I'm not as literarily adept as someone like Stephen Fry who, I'm sure, could whizz through a book before I've read the introduction. No, I take a while to read things and as I have no idea where, in the 214 pages, this passage lies, I'm unable to search for it, copy it out and write a meaningful blog entry to accompany it before I'm collapsed, fully clothed, in a heap on my desk, dribbling on my keyboard.

So - and I fear, after re-reading this, I may have inadvertently remembered what was said in the passage and recounted it in a far more colourful fashion - now I've got the meaningful entry out of the way, tomorrow I will find the passage and post it here on this blog.

For now though, one must address the need for sleep.

digg story

In our discussions on this topic, we reaffirmed that the focus of the program would continue to be on fostering the development of 'heart centered, conscious leaders.' In conceptualizing our collective intention, the group created a 'Mind Map/Mandala' of IIGL to give visual presence to our vision and intention.

Mind Map/Mandala

Summary
What is really not captured in this report is the heart-centered nature of our meeting. Those who are most comfortable with flip charts and formal, left-brain procedures would have been a bit uncomfortable with our relaxed proceedings. However, what we accomplished at many different levels was nothing less than profound. Great ideas were presented and discussed, and in some cases adopted for implementation by different council members. Other ideas will remain on the table for further consideration, development, or until someone steps forward to give leadership in implementing them.

Visit International Institute For Global Leadership to read their complete meeting report.

จั่วหัวซะหวานหยด ให้สมกับเป็นเดือนแห่งความรักกันหน่อย

เพราะวันนี้ที่มาของไอเดียช่างน่ารักน่าชัง

แถมโรแมนติคเหมือนคืนที่มีดาวเต็มฟ้าอย่างไรอย่างนั้น

ก็เพราะคุณ Lv Zhongfang ดีไซน์เนอร์ชาวจีนคนนี้

เขาแหงนขึ้นมองท้องฟ้าดูดาวพร่างพราวในคืนหนึ่ง

(ดูคนเดียว หรือดูกับสาวที่ไหนหรือเปล่า? ข้อมูลไม่มีให้มานะคะ)

ทำให้เขาพลันคิดไปถึงภาพเขียนชื่อดังของแวนโก๊ะ

ชื่อภาพ Starry Night ที่มีแสงสว่างดูเหมือนจะเคลื่อนไหว ไปมาไปทั่วฟ้า

จนเป็นแรงบันดาลใจให้คิดทำนาฬิกาเรือนเก๋ “TIWE” นี้ออกมา

ด้วยไอเดียเด็ดที่ว่า นาฬิกาเรือนนี้ จะมีจุดสีขาวต่างๆ ขนาด

เคลื่อนไหวไปมาอย่างอิสระตลอดเวลา เหมือนดวงดาวในฟ้ากว้าง

แต่ถ้าเราต้องการดูเวลาเมื่อไหร่ ก็ให้สะบัดข้อมือ หรือ ไม่ก็เคาะที่หน้าปัดเบาๆ

ดวงดาวที่กระจัดกระจายเต็มหน้าปัด ก็จะเรียงตัวใหม่เป็นเข็มนาฬิกา

และอยู่ในตำแหน่งที่บอกเวลาอย่างถูกต้องชัดเจน

ต่อเมื่อเวลาผ่านไประยะหนึ่ง ดวงดาวก็จะคลายตัว และเดินทางไปในทิศทางอิสระอีกครั้งหนึ่ง

โห!! สุดยอด ... ซื้อที่ไหน? ราคาเท่าไหร่? คงมีใครหลายๆ คนรำพึงคำนี้ออกมาใช่ไหมคะ

อย่าเพิ่งใจร้อน ขณะนี้ Idea Concept นี้กำลังถูกพัฒนาขึ้นอย่างจริงจัง

เชื่อว่าในไม่ช้านี้ คงได้ออกมาเขย่าวงการกันบ้างหล่ะ

ระหว่างนั่งรออยู่นี้ ซักถามคุณ Lv Zhongfang ไปพลางๆ ก่อนนะคะว่า

ไอเดียนาฬิกาเรือนนี้เป็นเรื่องเพ้อฝันไปหรือเปล่า?

เขาตอบมาว่าไม่เลย ไม่เลย ทุกอย่างเป็นจริงได้หมด

ในฐานะที่ผมจบการศึกษาจาก North Western Polytechnic University (China)

แต่ได้มาทำงานในแผนกออกแบบ ผมใช้ความรู้ความสามารถของเทคโนโลยีและศิลปะมาผสานรวมกัน

และต่อยอดความเป็นไปได้ซึ่งกันและกันอย่างสุนทรีย์

เพราะนาฬิกา TIWE นี้ ได้ใช้นาโนเทคโนโลยีของการจัดทำหน้าจอ

ด้วยการแสดงผลบน Organic Light Emitting Devices (OLED)

ที่สามารถตอบสนองจินตนาการของผมได้

น่าชื่นชมไหมคะว่า ความคิดเล่นเล่น หวานหวานแบบนี้

หากเกิดขึ้นมาแล้ว ไม่ถูกละเลย ไม่ได้ถูกปาใส่ตระกร้า

แต่กลับสานต่อด้วยวิทยาศาสตร์และศิลปะแล้ว

ภาพแห่งความเป็นจริงที่เกิดขึ้น มันส่องแสงแวววาวเหมือนดาวเหนือ

...เหนือความคาดหมาย... เสมอนะคะ

เอาเป็นว่า พวกเราจะตั้งตารอนาฬิกาเรือนนี้ให้สำเร็จออกมาด้วยกันนะคะ

เผื่อว่าถ้าได้มีโอกาสเป็นเจ้าของกับเขาสักเรือน

เวลามีชายหนุ่มรูปงามแบบพระเอกเกาหลีเข้ามาถามว่ ากี่โมงแล้ว เราจะได้ตอบเขาว่า

.... “ขอถามดาวก่อนนะคะ”…

กิ้ววววววววววววววววววววววววววววววววววววววววววว

.........................................................................................................................................

ตามดูผลงานสุดเดิ้นอื่นๆ ของ Lv Zhongfang ได้ที่ http://www.lvzhongfang.com

In this installment, I would like to pay respect to the lives of those taken away from us without warning or reason, and notate a very useful 7 More Days recommendation.

The Resurrection Button

The premise is fairly straight forward, if you are found within 3 days of death, and someone knows the location of your resurrection button, they can then press it and you will be restored to good health. It is only good for a one time use and of course is non-transferable. This button is also called the Lazarus clause, and because of the biblical references we know that this clause was used at least twice, the second time being by Jesus himself.

So the premise is not with precedent. Imagine coming home finding a loved one in a heap at the bottom of the stairs, having tripped over a squeaky ball left behind by the family pet. Under normal circumstances this would be a done deal, the coroner would arrive cart away your loved one and funeral arrangements would ensue.

But with the Resurrection Button, a simple press to the singularly unique bodily location, and life would surge back into the recently deceased. Broken bones would instantly mend, all injury would be vanquished, and the person would have no lasting traumatic memories of their final moment to speak of. And for those of you with sinister thoughts of the undead roaming the earth, let's remember that this technology is Heaven sent and perfectly safe.

For those in the throws of depression or puberty, this is the ideal solution. Thanks to the recently developed 7 More Days Patch - all parents are fully aware of the location of their child's resurrection button from the date of birth. This ensures that in case of suicide, whether intentional or accidental, the ultimate decision of self termination is not theirs to make. This allows for a quick restoration of life, and an immediate trip to the appropriate mental health center.

If by chance you are alone, and death should come calling upon you, do keep in mind that you have only 3 days in which to resurrect, otherwise your fate shall rest with those who keep track of the "Dead for good" types. Fortunately, thanks to GPS technology it is possible to have a life monitor installed on your person. This device will emit a homing beacon to your top three contacts in the event of your death, so that they can reach you before your three days are up.

There are of course a few caveats, no beheading, and severed body parts are not guaranteed to regrow, you may have a nice clean stump where the detachment occurred, but of course - no residual pain.

There are a million ways a person could die, but thanks to the Lazarus Clause, it doesn't have to be over something stupid.

Coordially yours,

Mr. Black

Of course, even for people who have spent months or years blogging, money from advertising revenue may not add up to a large sum. The amount of money that you can make as a blogger depends on a lot of different factors, but perhaps the most important element of the equation is the topic of your blog. If your blog is on a subject that appeals to a demographic that advertisers have a strong desire to reach, you will be more likely to be able to turn a large profit on your blog than if your blog is on a fairly obscure subject that does not draw the kind of audience that advertisers need to appeal to. Of course, the only way to find out where you fall on this spectrum is to try hosting some ads. If you are already blogging, you have nothing to lose.

The site takes the work out of customizing MySpace profiles so girls can quickly cut and paste the HTML code for whateverlife layouts featuring hearts, flowers, and celebrities onto their personal page and – bam – a new look. Think of it like MySpace clothes where some teens change frequently. “It's all about giving girls what they want,” Ashley says.

Timing, a great idea, and a focused marketplace (12-19 year old girls with an estimated buying power of $87 billion) were the foundation for this site to succeed. Add in the necessary ingredients of a well-designed website with a smart, determined young entrepreneur and another great company is born.

Bacon Salt is a zero-calorie, vegetarian, kosher certified seasoning salt that makes everything taste like real bacon.

Buy it at J & D's online.