Curiosities of the day

Professor giving his last presentation

2007-10-03T19:28:00.001-07:00

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Quote of the day

2007-07-25T05:10:00.000-07:00

"The best things in life aren't things"
-Anonymous

Hacking Knowledge: 77 Ways to Learn Faster, Deeper, and Better

2007-07-25T05:03:00.000-07:00

Published on Thursday 30th of November, 2006

If someone granted you one wish, what do you imagine you would want out of life that you haven't gotten yet? For many people, it would be self-improvement and knowledge. New knowledge is the backbone of society's progress. Great thinkers such as Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and others' quests for knowledge have led society to many of the marvels we enjoy today. Your quest for knowledge doesn't have to be as Earth-changing as Einstein's, but it can be an important part of your life, leading to a new job, better pay, a new hobby, or simply knowledge for knowledge's sake — whatever is important to you as an end goal.

Life-changing knowledge does typically require advanced learning techniques. In fact, it's been said that the average adult only uses 10% of his/her brain. Imagine what we may be capable of with more advanced learning techniques. Here are 77 tips related to knowledge and learning to help you on your quest. A few are specifically for students in traditional learning institutions; the rest for self-starters, or those learning on their own. Happy learning.

Health

Shake a leg. Lack of blood flow is a common reason for lack of concentration. If you've been sitting in one place for awhile, bounce one of your legs for a minute or two. It gets your blood flowing and sharpens both concentration and recall.
Food for thought: Eat breakfast. A lot of people skip breakfast, but creativity is often optimal in the early morning and it helps to have some protein in you to feed your brain. A lack of protein can actually cause headaches.
Food for thought, part 2: Eat a light lunch. Heavy lunches have a tendency to make people drowsy. While you could turn this to your advantage by taking a "thinking nap" (see #23), most people haven't learned how.
Cognitive enhancers: Ginkgo biloba. Ginkgo biloba is a natural supplement that has been used in China and other countries for centuries and has been reputed to reverse memory loss in rats. It's also suggested by some health practitioners as a nootrope and thus a memory enhancer.
Reduce stress + depresssion. Stress and depression may reduce the ability to recall information and thus inhibit learning. Sometimes, all you need to reduce depression is more white light and fewer refined foods.

Balance

Sleep on it. Dr. Maxwell Maltz wrote about in his book Psycho-Cybernetics about a man who was was paid good money to come up with ideas. He would lock his office door, close the blinds, turn off the lights. He'd focus on the problem at hand, then take a short nap on a couch. When he awoke, he usually had the problem solved.
Take a break. Change phyical or mental perspective to lighten the invisible stress that can sometimes occur when you sit in one place too long, focused on learning. Taking a 5-15 minute break every hour during study sessions is more beneficial than non-stop study. It gives your mind time to relax and absorb information. If you want to get really serious with breaks, try a 20 minute ultradian break as part of every 90 minute cycle. This includes a nap break, which is for a different purpose than #23.
Take a hike. Changing your perspective often relieves tension, thus freeing your creative mind. Taking a short walk around the neighborhood may help.
Change your focus. Sometimes there simply isn't enough time to take a long break. If so, change subject focus. Alternate between technical and non-technical subjects.

Perspective and Focus

Change your focus, part 2. There are three primary ways to learn: visual, kinesthetic, and auditory. If one isn't working for you, try another.
Do walking meditation. If you're taking a hike (#25), go one step further and learn walking meditation as a way to tap into your inner resources and your strengthen your ability to focus. Just make sure you're not walking inadvertently into traffic.
Focus and immerse yourself. Focus on whatever you're studying. Don't try to watch TV at the same time or worry yourself about other things. Anxiety does not make for absorption of information and ideas.
Turn out the lights. This is a way to focus, if you are not into meditating. Sit in the dark, block out extraneous influences. This is ideal for learning kinesthetically, such as guitar chord changes.
Take a bath or shower. Both activities loosen you up, making your mind more receptive to recognizing brilliant ideas.

Recall Techniques

Listen to music. Researchers have long shown that certain types of music are a great "key" for recalling memories. Information learned while listening to a particular song or collection can often be recalled simply by "playing" the songs mentally.
Speedread. Some people believe that speedreading causes you to miss vital information. The fact remains that efficient speedreading results in filtering out irrelevant information. If necessary, you can always read and re-read at slower speeds. Slow reading actually hinders the ability to absorb general ideas. (Although technical subjects often requirer slower reading.) If you're reading online, you can try the free Spreeder Web-based application.
Use acronyms and other mnemonic devices. Mnemonics are essentially tricks for remembering information. Some tricks are so effective that proper application will let you recall loads of mundane information years later.

Visual Aids

Every picture tells a story. Draw or sketch whatever it is you are trying to achieve. Having a concrete goal in mind helps you progress towards that goal.
Brainmap it. Need to plan something? Brain maps, or mind maps, offer a compact way to get both an overview of a project as well as easily add details. With mind maps, you can see the relationships between disparate ideas and they can also act as a receptacle for a brainstorming session.
Learn symbolism and semiotics. Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols. Having an understanding of the symbols of a particular discipline aids in learning, and also allows you to record information more efficiently.
Use information design. When you record information that has an inherent structure, applying information design helps convey that information more clearly. A great resource is Information Aesthetics, which gives examples of information design and links to their sources.
Use visual learning techniques. Try gliffy for structured diagrams. Also see Inspiration.com for an explanation of webs, idea maps, concept maps, and plots.
Map your task flow. Learning often requires gaining knowledge in a specific sequence. Organizing your thoughts on what needs to be done is a powerful way to prepare yourself to complete tasks or learn new topics.

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Increase your Brain Activity with 15 Ideas

2007-07-08T19:20:00.000-07:00

These are 15 fun ideas that will increase your brain activity. It has been proven that the more exercise you give your brain the more it will grow and operate to new super levels. Are you striving to be more intelligent, more creative? Here’s a great platform on how you can achieve your goals.

15 Extra Ways to Keep Your Brain In Shape

“If you nurture your mind, body and spirit, your time will expand. You will gain a new perspective that will allow you to accomplish much more.”

- Brian Koslow

It’s simple, your brain is at the center of everything you do, all you feel and think, and every nuance of how you relate to people. It’s both the supercomputer that runs your complex life and the tender organ that houses your soul. So it is very important to focus on keeping your brain in shape.

By regularly engaging in the right activities, you can increase your memory, improve your problem-solving skills and boost your creativity. Here are some extra tips on how to keep your brain in top nick.

1. Just stop.

“Take 20-30 minutes out of your day to think about nothing. But don’t sleep – you’ve got to meditate. Sit still, reduce sensory input, and try to focus your mind on something like a calm scene or a color (to begin with thinking about something rather than trying to think of ‘nothing’ is easier). A study at the University of Kentucky revealed that subjects who took a late-afternoon test after meditating for 30 minutes had better scores than those who napped for the same time.”

2. Hit the streets.

“Lace up your running shoes and get moving. A study from the University of Illinois, US, revealed that aerobic exercise actually increases brain volume. They put two groups through different regimens - one did aerobic training three times weekly for one hour; the other group did just stretching and toning exercise. The aerobics group had increased their brain volume and white matter, which forms the connections between neurons.”

3. Mix it up.

“Exercise has long been hailed as an aid to brain-power longevity. But to ensure you’re not leaving the gas on in your eighties, vary your workout routines now. Try changing things up on a regular basis and you’ll stimulate your brain more because you’re not using the same pathway over and over again.”

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1001 Books You Have to Read Before You Die

2007-07-08T18:49:00.000-07:00

Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
Saturday – Ian McEwan
On Beauty – Zadie Smith
Slow Man – J.M. Coetzee
Adjunct: An Undigest – Peter Manson
The Sea – John Banville
The Red Queen – Margaret Drabble
The Plot Against America – Philip Roth
The Master – Colm Tóibín
Vanishing Point – David Markson
The Lambs of London – Peter Ackroyd
Dining on Stones – Iain Sinclair
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
Drop City – T. Coraghessan Boyle
The Colour – Rose Tremain
Thursbitch – Alan Garner
The Light of Day – Graham Swift
What I Loved – Siri Hustvedt
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time – Mark Haddon
Islands – Dan Sleigh
Elizabeth Costello – J.M. Coetzee
London Orbital – Iain Sinclair
Family Matters – Rohinton Mistry
Fingersmith – Sarah Waters
The Double – José Saramago
Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
Unless – Carol Shields
Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
The Story of Lucy Gault – William Trevor
That They May Face the Rising Sun – John McGahern
In the Forest – Edna O’Brien
Shroud – John Banville
Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
Youth – J.M. Coetzee

For a complete list go to here

Quote of the day

2007-06-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

"Every right implies a responsibility; Every opportunity, an obligation, Every possession, a duty."
John D. Rockefeller.

Fortune 40: Stocks to Retire On

2007-06-21T06:24:00.000-07:00

Will the Dow and the S&P 500 go back to their record-setting ways? Is the recent weakness the start of something much worse? With the fate of the bull market hanging in the balance, this is a perfect time to revisit the Fortune 40, the portfolio we've designed - and recalibrated annually - to help you thrive in markets both rocky and calm, and build for retirement.

Our 40 favorites turned in a banner year, trouncing even the S&P's glitzy performance. From June 2, 2006 to June 1, 2007, our diversified group returned 27.4%, compared with 21.5% for the S&P. Since its inception in 2002, the Fortune 40 has delivered an 18.3% annualized return, easily besting the S&P's 14.7%.

More from Fortune on CNNMoney.com:

• Fortune 40: In-Depth Slideshow

• Six Supertrends ... and Six Superstocks

• Ben Stein's Perfect Portfolio

This year, we've created five mini-portfolios: Growth and income; bargain growth; deep value; small wonders; and foreign value. Together they comprise a diversified portfolio.

We started with virtually the entire market and narrowed the field by running a grueling series of screens based on each experts' methods. We focused on companies whose shares appear cheapest relative to their long-term growth prospects. We combed through SEC filings, scoured analyst reports, and grilled large shareholders. We favored stocks that are also owned by fund managers with demonstrated records of success.

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Free digital camera enhancer

2007-06-17T20:17:00.000-07:00

"Free DCE does the hard job of noise reducing and automatic balance control for you. And it is free!

The program works best if you have bad light condition (indoor, shadows etc..) and your image is somehow off. So if some of your images are already fine, you won't see much difference. DCE makes very delicate changes..."

Link

Idiom of the day

2007-06-17T07:29:00.000-07:00

Se laisser demonter - to get flustered
Il ne s'est pas laisse demonter devant leur hostility evidente - He didn't get flustered at their obvious hostility.

Quote of the day

2007-06-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

"Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination."
-Edward Abbey

WikiMindMap

2007-06-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

Another way to use Wikipedia..

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The 100 Most Inspirational Personal Finance Turnaround Stories Online

2007-06-16T19:31:00.000-07:00

If you’re like many Americans, you probably have some concerns about your personal finances. You may be worried about credit card payments, high interest loans or whether your retirement plan is going to provide you and your spouse with enough money to sustain you. The bloggers highlighted in this article used to have similar problems, but they’ve all decided to make a change for the better. Although many of them haven’t yet achieved what they set out to do, they can all be considered successful. They’ve changed the way they think about money, and that’s the most important step you can take. In this article we have collected 100 of the most inspirational stories of financial turnaround from around the web in order to provide you with the inspiration you need to make a change in your own life.

Saving

This group is made up of serious savers. Some of them are figuring out what to do with the money they used to send to credit card companies, while others are trying to play catch-up on nest eggs. All of them are taking great steps to improve their financial futures.

Ima Saver: Ima Saver started a saving challenge with $20. She saves her change, profit from odd jobs and any other money she comes across. To date, she’s saved over $11,000.
Grad Money Matters: The writer behind Grad Money Matters is a self-professed “poster child for why not to delay starting a nest egg.” After missing out on lots of time, this blogger is working even harder, trying to develop means of passive income.

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Idiom of the day

2007-06-16T19:01:00.000-07:00

Sauf avis contraire - unless one hears to the contrary
sauf avis contraire, le coli sera expedie vendredi - Unless you hear to the contrary, the package will be sent on Friday.

Quote of the day

2007-06-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

A man is not old as long as he is seeking something.
- Jean Rostand

French and English Idioms of the day..

2007-06-15T19:46:00.001-07:00

One of my personal development goal is to be fluent in at least five languages in the next 5 years. I realized this is quite an ambitious goal, but I believe this is possible if you put your mind and energy into it... I also realized that the more languages you speak the easier it gets.

Sans vous faire trop attendre, voici la premiere lecon :) :

abandonner la partie - to call it quits
Fatigues de la longue lutte, ils ont decide d'abondonner la partie. Tired of the long struggle, they decided to call it quits.

102 Personal Finance Tips Your Professor Never Taught You

2007-06-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

Investing

Be wary of mutual funds. Few mutual fund managers can beat both the market and the expense fee that they charge.
Don't try to pick stocks. Picking stocks can be a very dangerous game, unless you know what you're doing.
Avoid fees. With long term investing, fees are a primary factor in total return. Avoid brokers who take high commissions and avoid funds with high management costs.
Stocks are high risk, high reward. Over the long term, stocks have historically outperformed all other investments. But over the short term, they can be risky if they lose a lot of value in a short period of time. So, do invest with stocks, but only with funds you won't need to withdraw over the short term.
Stocks first, bonds later. Invest in stocks when you're young, and then move into bonds are you grow older. Stocks are a good long-term investment strategy. If you're still young when the market turns south, you'll have plenty of years left ahead of you to make it up. As you get older, invest in bonds. They're less risky.
Past performance is not a guarantee of future success. Just because a stock has been up for the last six months does not mean it will continue to go up tomorrow.
Diversify your portfolio. Never invest more than 10% of your portfolio in any one company. Even if it's a "sure thing".
Build a nest egg that is 25 times the annual investment income you need. Don't think you can rely solely on social security.
If you don't understand how an investment works, don't buy it. Research an investment vehicle thoroughly before you get into it.
Don't borrow from your 401(k). Think of it as robbing yourself. You'll get hit with high fees and taxes, too.
Invest for the long term. There is no such thing as a guaranteed get rich quick scheme. And in investing, there is no high reward without a high risk. Use caution and diversify your portfolio for the long run.
Seek professional help. Don't feel the need to turn yourself into a day trader. Hire a personal financial advisor if you can afford to.
"Fee-only" is your friend. Go with a fee-only financial advisor, not a fee-based or a commission-based. Only fee-only advisors are legally obligated to act in your best interests.
Index funds are your friend. Index funds are passively managed and are generally cheaper and more tax-efficient than actively managed funds.

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17 New Rules for Successful E-Commerce Websites

2007-06-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

E-commerce has, for the most part, evolved far beyond the late 1990's cliches of hair-wrenching, sanity-shattering slogs through yet another "clever" designer's take on how shopping on the web should be. Standards prevailed, usability won out, and we're now free to spend our collective $107 billion (Census.gov e-commerce stats) per annum.

That said... It can still get better. Online shopping is in, if not infancy, at least a toddler stage. The advances that brought us here have made the process simpler and easier than ever, but some sites still haven't caught on.

Since I've been doing an inordinate amount of online shopping recently (thanks to the theft last weekend and my upcoming lengthy trip to China), I feel uniquely qualified to share a few e-commerce site design tips - 17 tips, actually. Enjoy.
_

#1 - Tell Me Where I Am
Whenever a user is navigating inside a store with more than 1 sub-level of navigation, it's critical to show them where in the site structure they are. This should be accomplished with headlines, sub-headers (when necessary) and breadcrumbs (e.g. Home > Category > Sub-cat > Product).

#2 - Let Me Remove Narrowing Options
When a user starts to "narrow" their navigation inside a particular category (in this case by selecting the designer "Ted Baker"), it's only right to allow them to remove those navigation selections rather than forcing the use of repetitive "back button" clicks.

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Top Useful Firefox extensions

2007-06-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

There are thousands of add-ons and everyone will have some that they like or find useful. Some integrate search and bookmarking, others provide ways to view and take notes, some make minor, but wonderful adjustments. Here are the top useful of them...

StumbleUpon - allows you to discover and share great Web content matched to your personal preferences. Whether it's a website, video, picture, game, blog, or wiki, StumbleUpon helps you find interesting pages recommended by like-minded people with a single click of the Stumble button. After installing the plug-in, which adds a toolbar to your browser, you choose one or more topics of interest: astronomy, politics, television, and so on. Click the Stumble button and you're instantly delivered to a related site that others have given the thumbs-up. Likewise, when you "stumble upon" a site you like (*cough* Unlimited*cough), click the "I like it" button to share the page with others. The more sites you rate, the better your Stumbles will match your tastes. If you rate a site that isn't in the StumbleUpon database yet, you can enter some basic information about it so others can stumble onto it.

GMail Manager -allows you to manage multiple Gmail accounts and receive new mail notifications. Displays your account details including unread messages, saved drafts, spam messages, labels with new mail, space used, and new mail snippets.

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Software mogul Ray Hopewood bid for the White House

2007-06-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

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How to Start Up a New Business

2007-06-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

Starting a new venture can be very confusing as well as exciting. To help you make it as simple as possible, we have included the following checklist.

Step One - Prepare Business Plan

Planning is key to success. Prepare a Business Plan. The Business Plan will serve two purposes. It will help you make sure you have researched and thought out all the aspects of running the business so you don't have any big unpleasant surprises. Also, the plan will help convince a bank or potential investors that you are worthy of receiving some help in funding this new venture. Remember that the plan itself will NOT get you funding, since new startup businesses are very difficult to find capital. As the business owner, you should expect to have to supply all the startup capital necessary from your savings or from a bank loan based on income other than the business.

Step Two - Business Form, Taxes, Licenses, and Permits

Check with your Secretary of State - almost all states now are online - and look for the Corporations Division to find the form for either Articles of Incorporation (to form your own corporation) or Articles of Organization (to form a Limited Liability Company). Most entrepreneurs today are forming a LLC since it requires less paperwork to maintain it.

While you are waiting for the Secretary of State to send you the charter, contact each of our city, county and state tax departments. Ask each of them if they require any of the following:

Business or Occupation License,

Business Personal Property Tax registration,

other specialized licenses for the type of business you are starting.

Requirements will vary widely, with some states having county personal property taxes (like Ohio or North Carolina) but many other states having none, while other states may have a city license or tax (such as Philadelphia or New York) but no county tax on businesses, to just a state license, etc. Some businesses will have more licenses than others, such as a restaurant that may have to get a local or county business license, a food or health department license, and a liquor license from the city or county (or both), and possibly a city fire inspection or occupancy license. Some state departments of taxation (or revenue in some states) may have a booklet or checklist on what tax registrations are required, and a few states offer booklets or checklists from their Secretary of State, Corporations Division.

Also, contact your state Department of Revenue (or Taxation) to register for sales tax (if you plan to make retail sales of tangible items, or if you live in Florida you must pay sales tax even on services), and to register for state income tax withholding (if you plan to have employees, including yourself as employee of your own corporation, if you live in a state that has an income tax).

If you will have employees (including yourself as an employee of your corporation) contact your local state unemployment office, and ask for the forms to register for state unemployment taxes. Most states now offer these registration forms online.

Step Three - Employer Identification Number (EIN)"

Full Article

The Thief Of Fulfilment

2007-06-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

"One of the biggest problems we can encounter when we consider making changes to our life is fear. Even though the changes we want to make will bring more happiness by considerably enhancing our lives, fear will still raise its head to try and stop us in our tracks.

Why does this happen?

It’s all to do with the way the subconscious perceives survival. It knows that you are in a safe position and that survival is more or less guaranteed if you carry on in the same way. As soon as you start to consider making changes to your life, your subconscious mind will play the fear card. You are leaving the comfort zone and boy-oh-boy, does it not like it! Not one little bit!

This is no joke. It happens to millions of people and this fear ruins their dreams for a better life. And here’s the danger of giving in to this fear: You can feel as though you’re stuck in a rut – kind of like life is passing you by. As the years pass, these feelings can become magnified and you can become filled with regret over opportunities you didn’t grasp.

I don’t know about you but the last feeling I want before I breathe my last is that I didn’t take advantage of opportunities because I gave in to my fears. Because let’s be honest here, we can generate excuse after excuse to save face and gain sympathetic understanding from our families and loved ones. But we can’t fool ourselves. Deep down inside, we know the truth."

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Why the future doesn't need us.

2007-06-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

Superb essay written by Bill Joy and published in Wired Magazine in 2000.

"Our most powerful 21st-century technologies - robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech - are threatening to make humans an endangered species.

By Bill Joy

From the moment I became involved in the creation of new technologies, their ethical dimensions have concerned me, but it was only in the autumn of 1998 that I became anxiously aware of how great are the dangers facing us in the 21st century. I can date the onset of my unease to the day I met Ray Kurzweil, the deservedly famous inventor of the first reading machine for the blind and many other amazing things.

Ray and I were both speakers at George Gilder's Telecosm conference, and I encountered him by chance in the bar of the hotel after both our sessions were over. I was sitting with John Searle, a Berkeley philosopher who studies consciousness. While we were talking, Ray approached and a conversation began, the subject of which haunts me to this day.

I had missed Ray's talk and the subsequent panel that Ray and John had been on, and they now picked right up where they'd left off, with Ray saying that the rate of improvement of technology was going to accelerate and that we were going to become robots or fuse with robots or something like that, and John countering that this couldn't happen, because the robots couldn't be conscious.

While I had heard such talk before, I had always felt sentient robots were in the realm of science fiction. But now, from someone I respected, I was hearing a strong argument that they were a near-term possibility. I was taken aback, especially given Ray's proven ability to imagine and create the future. I already knew that new technologies like genetic engineering and nanotechnology were giving us the power to remake the world, but a realistic and imminent scenario for intelligent robots surprised me.

It's easy to get jaded about such breakthroughs. We hear in the news almost every day of some kind of technological or scientific advance. Yet this was no ordinary prediction. In the hotel bar, Ray gave me a partial preprint of his then-forthcoming bookThe Age of Spiritual Machines, which outlined a utopia he foresaw - one in which humans gained near immortality by becoming one with robotic technology. On reading it, my sense of unease only intensified; I felt sure he had to be understating the dangers, understating the probability of a bad outcome along this path.

I found myself most troubled by a passage detailing adystopian scenario:"

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Linux LiveCD list

2007-06-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

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Physical theories as women

2007-06-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

0. Newtonian gravity is your high-school girlfriend. As your first encounter with physics, she's amazing. You will never forget Newtonian gravity, even if you're not in touch very much anymore.

1. Electrodynamics is your college girlfriend. Pretty complex, you probably won't date long enough to really understand her.

2. Special relativity is the girl you meet at the dorm party while you're dating electrodynamics. You make out. It's not really cheating because it's not like you call her back. But you have a sneaking suspicion she knows electrodynamics and told her everything.

3. Quantum mechanics is the girl you meet at the poetry reading. Everyone thinks she's really interesting and people you don't know are obsessed about her. You go out. It turns out that she's pretty complicated and has some issues. Later, after you've broken up, you wonder if her aura of mystery is actually just confusion."

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The 7 Money Mistakes to Avoid

2007-06-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

WE ALL MAKE FINANCIAL mistakes, and they add up.

Consider: From 1986 to 2005, the Standard & Poor's 500 returned 12% annually, but thanks to overzealous trading, the average investor in stock mutual funds made just 4%, according to Dalbar, a Boston-based financial-services research firm. Homeowners pay high insurance premiums to keep deductibles low, but only 7% report claims each year. And 74% of Americans overpaid their taxes in 2005 — essentially giving the government an interest-free loan.

Also See

Take our quiz and find out how mistake-prone you are with your money.

Why? A developing discipline known as behavioral economics seeks to answer that question, but it boils down to this: Academic research tells us that emotions and experiences can distort our financial decisions. While our mistakes are rarely the result of a single mental error, our feelings can make us fumble. Below, seven big financial mistakes and the psychology behind them.

#1 Saving with the right hand and spending with the left

DIAGNOSIS: Mental accounting
SYMPTOMS: Keeping a savings account that pays 5% interest while paying Visa 15%; thinking a tax refund equals mad money; obsessing over the price of a new car, but failing to monitor the weekly grocery bill.

Another way to think of "mental accounting" is separating money into buckets, each with a different purpose. It's not always a mistake — it is the premise behind budgeting, for example — but looking at your finances in parts without seeing the whole picture can hide costs and charges you could otherwise avoid. Consider a $5,000 tax refund. Woo-hoo! Right? Wrong. If you put your overpayments in a high-interest savings account throughout the year, you would net about $135 in interest instead of giving an interest-free loan to Uncle Sam.

#2 Playing it too safe

DIAGNOSIS: Loss aversion
SYMPTOMS: Quick to sell winning stocks but slow to sell losing ones; putting too much cash in money-market funds and not enough in stocks; reluctance to trade away what you already have, even for something more valuable.

No one likes losing money — a truism that economists call "loss aversion." Because we can avoid only losses that we recognize, we tend to focus on immediate costs, while ignoring more subtle costs and even savings. For example, we should recognize that getting a $4 discount is worth as much as avoiding a $4 surcharge. But most of us would rather avoid that surcharge. By being "loss averse," investors open the door to a more insidious cost, the toll that inflation will take on their savings.

"

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Cellular Automata

2007-06-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

"The chess-board is the world; the pieces are the phenomena of the universe; the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature.

---T. H. Huxley

Take a board, and divide it up into squares, like a chess-board or checker-board. These are the cells. Each cell has one of a finite number of distinct colors --- red and black, say, or (to be patriotic) red, white and blue. (We don't allow continuous shading, and every cell has just one color.) Now we come to the "automaton" part. Sitting somewhere to one side of the board is a clock, and every time the clock ticks the colors of the cells change. Each cell looks at the colors of the nearby cells, and its own color, and then applies a definite rule, the transition rule, specified in advance, to decide its color in the next clock-tick; and all the cells change at the same time. (The rule can say "Stay the same.") Each cell is a sort of very stupid computer --- in the jargon, a finite-state automaton --- and so the whole board is called a cellular automaton, or CA. To run it, you colors the cells in your favorite pattern, start the clock, and stand back.

Now that (I hope) you have a concrete picture, I can get a bit more technical, and more abstract. The cells don't have to be colored, of course; all that's important is that each cell is in one of a finite number of states at any given time. By custom they're written as the integers, starting from 0, but any "finite alphabet" will do. Usually the number of states is small, under ten, but in principle any finite number is OK. What counts as the "nearby cells", the neighborhood, varies from automaton to automaton; sometimes just the four cells on the principle directions, sometimes the corner cells, sometimes a block or diamond of larger size; in principle any arbitrary shape. You don't need to stick to a chess-board; you can use any pattern of cells which will fill the plane (or "tessellate" it; an old name for cellular automata is "tessellation structures"). And you don't have to stick to the plane; any number of dimensions is allowed. (Well, any integer number of dimensions. I doubt a fractal CA makes sense.) You do need to stick to discrete time, to clock-ticks; but CA have cousins in which time is continuous. There are various tricks for handling the edges of the board; the one which has "all the advantages of theft over honest toil" is to assume an infinite board."

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Mental Heuristics

2007-06-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

A heuristic is a "rule-of-thumb", advice that helps an AI program or human think and act more efficiently by directing thinking in an useful direction.

Some of these heuristics are age-old wisdom, bordering on cliche, but most are actually helpful.

If you want something done, do it yourself

Comment: Obviously true, and doing it is usually very good for your self esteem. A surprising amount of work can be done this way, and experts are not always necessary. However, there is a risk of becoming overworked if you try to do everything yourself - we all need other people after all.

Never procrastinate anything you can do right now

Comment: Very powerful. There are many things that can be fixed or solved with a minimum of effort, but are often pushed aside as unimportant. Unfortunately they won't go away, and in time the feelings of guilt for not having done them will make you even less likely of fixing the problems.

When you have several things you could be doing and don't know which to do: Just do any one of them!

Comments: If you cannot decide between two or more possibilities, then there is a good chance that the differences don't matter. However, most people begin to hesitate in this kind of situation (Fredkin's paradox). If you are conscious of this, you can just choose one choice randomly or according to some standard method.

Always assume that you will succeed

Comments: If you don't expect to succeed in an endeavor, then you will not do your best and will not notice possible solutions, while if you feel that you will eventually succeed you will concentrate all your power at the problem. Of course, there is no point in attempting what you cannot do, a certain amount of self-knowledge is always needed.

If you can't find a solution, change the rules.

Comment: Remember that there are no no-win scenarios.

If you cannot do anything about something, there is no point in worrying about it.

Comment: Worrying is stressful, and in most situations doesn't accomplish anything - it just wastes energy. Instead of worrying about things, either do something about them or find ways around the problem. One useful idea is to write down your worries on slips of paper, and then put them away in a box. Regularly, once a week or so, you open the box and see what you can do about the worries that are still relevant.

Do not rely on conscious decisions for speed - Just Do It

Comments: The conscious mind is surprisingly slow, conscious choices and actions are delayed for a significant time (a reflex acts within some tens of milliseconds, an unconscious reaction to external stimuli circa 100 milliseconds and a conscious choice several seconds). The duty of the conscious mind is usually to inhibit rather than start action, and if you become too conscious of what you are doing in a tense situation you will hesitate or slow down.

It is a good idea to learn to rely on your non-conscious mind, since our conscious mind is slow and has very low bandwidth while the other systems in our brains have a tremendous capacity and actually do most of the real work anyway.

Don't try to explain away your actions for yourself

Comment: While we often do things we do not want to explain our real motivations for before other people (out of fear of embarrassment, anger or loss of image), it is a bad idea to try to convince oneself that the motivation was anything different from what it was. It will only reduce your self-knowledge with deliberate misinformation, and it is often valuable to understand what motivations you have (even if you dislike them or would never admit them in public).

Listen to your intuition, but do not believe it unconditionally

Comments: Intuitive or emotional thinking, analogies, "gut feelings" or "flashes of inspiration" can sometimes give fantastic new insights or show problems from a new direction. Unfortunately such thinking isn't always reliable, and quite often completely wrong! Such insights should never be accepted because you admire their beauty or they are intuitive, only because they fit with reality.

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"The Wisdom of the Heart" from the Dalai Lama

2007-06-12T18:55:00.000-07:00

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Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
Follow the three Rs: *Respect for self *Respect for others and *Responsibility for all your actions.
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
When you realise you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
Spend some time alone every day.
Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
Be gentle with the earth.
Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

Some Quick Ways to Relieve Stress

2007-06-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

Oct 5, 1999

In my article dated September 21st, I reported the results of a survey on stress. It noted that working mothers experience very high stress levels. As mentioned in the same article, some of my future articles will deal with relieving stress.

In this article, I want to give you some ideas on some stress relievers that don't take much time or money. Let's face it, most of us don't have either! By the time we put in a full workday and tend to our families, we don't much time or energy to do a lot. Take a look and see if any of these ideas can be useful to you.

From Healthline Magazine http://www.healthline.org/articles/hl960...

"Stress can threaten your health and well-being. When you respond to situations with excessive amounts of anger, fear, frustration, resentment, or envy, you place a burden on your body that depletes energy, disrupts your immune system, and impairs cardiovascular health. When you moderate your responses, maintain a strong social support system, and develop healthy ways of coping with stress, you protect yourself from its damaging effects.

You can fight stress with techniques to help you relax and "take a break" from the hectic pace of life. These 10 steps can help you feel more relaxed, laid-back, and low-keyed, thus combating stress.

Take a catnap: A 10-minute nap virtually anywhere-at home, on the office floor, in the car (providing you're not driving of course!)-can be refreshing

Visualization: Take a quick "mental break" by envisioning a favorite place in your mind-whether it be the ocean, the mountains, or your own backyard. Concentrate on "seeing", "smelling" and "hearing" the things you imagine.

Massage: Close your eyes and use your fingertips to vigorously massage your forehead and the back of your neck. Rub in circles, and rub hard.

Breathing: Increased tension results in rapid, shallow breathing. For better relaxation, inhale slowly, hold your breath, and exhale slowly. Count to eight during each phase.

Abdominal breathing: Lie on the floor with your face up, body relaxed, and eyes closed. Exhale, blowing all the air out of your lungs, and push out your abdomen. Then pull in your abdomen, press down on it with your hand, and inhale deeply. Relax, letting the abdomen return to its normal position. Breathe normally for several minutes; then repeat the cycle.

Get out of the rut: Making up new ways to do old things can be a great reliever of both stress and boredom. Try taking different routes when driving to work, or change the way you do ordinary tasks such as putting on makeup, fixing your hair, or getting dressed.

SELF ACTUALIZATION

2007-06-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

Maslow studied healthy people, most psychologists study sick people.

The characteristics listed here are the results of 20 years of study of people who had the "full use and exploitation of talents, capacities, potentialities, etc.."

Self-actualization implies the attainment of the basic needs of physiological, safety/security, love/belongingness, and self-esteem.

Maslow's Basic Principles:

The normal personality is characterized by unity, integration, consistency, and coherence. Organization is the natural state, and disorganization is pathological.
The organism can be analyzed by differentiating its parts, but no part can be studied in isolation. The whole functions according to laws that cannot be found in the parts.
The organism has one sovereign drive, that of self-actualization. People strive continuously to realize their inherent potential by whatever avenues are open to them.
The influence of the external environment on normal development is minimal. The organism's potential, if allowed to unfold by an appropriate environment, will produce a healthy, integrated personality.
The comprehensive study of one person is more useful than the extensive investigation, in many people, of an isolated psychological function.
The salvation of the human being is not to be found in either behaviorism or in psychoanalysis, (which deals with only the darker, meaner half of the individual). We must deal with the questions of value, individuality, consciousness, purpose, ethics and the higher reaches of human nature.
Man is basically good not evil.
Psychopathology generally results from the denial, frustration or twisting of our essential nature.
Therapy of any sort, is a means of restoring a person to the path of self-actualization and development along the lines dictated by their inner nature.
When the four basic needs have been satisfied, the growth need or self-actualization need arises: A new discontent and restlessness will develop unless the individual is doing what he individually is fitted for. A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write--in short, what people can be they must be."

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Video of the day: futurcar

2007-06-12T18:18:00.000-07:00

View it

The Socratic Method: teaching by asking instead of by telling

2007-06-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

" The following is a transcript of a teaching experiment, using the Socratic method, with a regular third grade class in a suburban elementary school. I present my perspective and views on the session, and on the Socratic method as a teaching tool, following the transcript. The class was conducted on a Friday afternoon beginning at 1:30, late in May, with about two weeks left in the school year. This time was purposely chosen as one of the most difficult times to entice and hold these children's concentration about a somewhat complex intellectual matter. The point was to demonstrate the power of the Socratic method for both teaching and also for getting students involved and excited about the material being taught. There were 22 students in the class. I was told ahead of time by two different teachers (not the classroom teacher) that only a couple of students would be able to understand and follow what I would be presenting. When the class period ended, I and the classroom teacher believed that at least 19 of the 22 students had fully and excitedly participated and absorbed the entire material. The three other students' eyes were glazed over from the very beginning, and they did not seem to be involved in the class at all. The students' answers below are in capital letters."

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US States Renamed For Countries With Similar GDPs

2007-06-12T15:24:00.000-07:00

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a convenient way of measuring and comparing the size of national economies. Annual GDP represents the market value of all goods and services produced within a country in a year. Put differently:

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Michael Shermer: Why people believe strange things

2007-06-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

View the video

The Key To Optimal Health

2007-06-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

By Dr. Rita Louise

During the past 20 years, we have heard a lot about controlling disease through diet, exercise and food supplements, but not much is being said as to how to prevent disease before it occurs. We are all are born with both inherent strengths and weaknesses as part of our genetic inheritance. All of the tissues in our bodies, whether of bone, muscle, gland or organ, have a unique balance of chemical elements that are designed to work in harmony with one another. It is now believed, that all chronic diseases are accompanied by nutritional deficiencies and imbalances in the essential chemical elements that make up the body."

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Quote of the day

2007-06-11T09:40:00.001-07:00

"There is a time when panic is an appropriate response"
- Eugene Kleiner

BumpTop

2007-06-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

A new way for organizing your desktop

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Quote of the day

2007-06-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

"This is like deja vu all over again."

- Yogi Berra

Good Listening In Class

2007-06-10T13:31:00.000-07:00

"It is important for you to be a good listener in class. Much of what you will have to learn will be presented verbally by your teachers. Just hearing what your teachers say is not the same as listening to what they say. Listening is a cognitive act that requires you to pay attention and think about and mentally process what you hear.

Here are some things you should do to be a good listener in class.

Be Cognitively Ready to Listen When You Come to Class. Make sure you complete all assigned work andreadings. Review your notes from previous class sessions. Think about what you know about the topic that will be covered in class that day.

Be Emotionally Ready to Listen When You Come to Class. Your attitude is important. Make a conscious choice to find the topic useful and interesting. Be committed to learning all that you can.

Listen with a Purpose. Identify what you expect and hope to learn from the class session. Listen for these things as your teacher talks.

Listen with an Open Mind. Be receptive to what your teacher says. It is good to question what is said as long as you remain open to points of view other than your own."

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Value investing

2007-06-04T20:24:00.001-07:00

Blastinvest

CoolInvesting

2007-06-04T20:20:00.000-07:00

Cool investing

Top 10 Open-Source Software Alternatives for Poor College Students

2007-06-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

The following programs are some of the most common used by college students and their OSS alternatives or equivalents.

Open Office---instead of Microsoft office, this alone could save you $200-300. And Open Office has equal if not better features, including a word processor, spreadsheet, multimedia presentation, drawing, database and more.
Scribus--This desktop publisher can create documents such as term papers, research papers and more, for much less than Quark Xpress which costs $749.
Maxima--Chances are you'll need some type of math software and for higher math and algebra, and why pay for Mathsoft when Maxima is free?
BRL-CAD--If you are in an engineering or technical field, you know what TurboCad costs. This software developed by the US military Ballistics Research Laboratory, will cost you nothing.
ClamWin--Developed to work with Windows, this antivirus program includes automatic downloads and programmable scanning, just like Norton Antivirus which costs $70
Gimp--For GNU Image Manipulation Program, this program or its newer brother Gimpshop can equal Photoshop which retails at $650.
SciCraft--For statistics and data analysis, this software rivals SPSS.
Kompozer--Built on Nvu, this newer version can provide web design features like Dreamweaver which costs $400.
Banshee--For your music needs, instead of iTunes, why not check out this software with iPod synchronization as well as music players, burners and playlist features?
Mozilla Seamonkey--Instead of Outlook, this software is an email service and internet browser with Chatzilla features. And you've got to love the name! Now that you know OSS is available, the choices are endless. There are literally hundreds of software programs out there for free or minimal costs. There is even a compilation called "Software for Starving Students" that includes over 40 programs, including games. This software is available for Mac OS X or Windows and includes OpenOffice and Firefox.

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" The 7 Levels of Investor "

2007-06-04T19:51:00.000-07:00

Learn The Seven Fast Track Money Steps To Financial Freedom
By John R. Burley

Introduction
“If you reach for the stars, you might not quite get one, but you won’t end up with a handful of mud, either.” Leo Burnett

What type of investor are you? Have your investment experiences been positive, negative, or mixed? Would you like to know why you get the results (positive or negative) that you get when you invest? Of course you would!

Good news. I am here to tell you why you get the results that you do! Over the past 20 years, I have devoted myself to the study of money. I have driven myself to know exactly how it works and why. I have read every book, watched every video, and listened to every tape I could find on the subject. Over that same period, I have interviewed, counseled, and trained thousands of people in relation to the practices of wealth building.

During my in-depth study of what I refer to as the “Money Game,” I made a startling discovery. Despite the many and varied personality types in the world, there are really only Seven Basic Types (or Levels) of Investor. And while it is common for an individual to drift a little from one investor type to another, most
people will stay fixed at one level for their entire lives. The bad news is that they are often “stuck” at a level which prevents their financial success. The good news is that anyone, with a little effort, including you, can easily upgrade his or her investment skills.

The first step to upgrading yourself is to identify what type of investor you really are. Knowing this will give you a clear awareness of why you get (or do not get) the investment results you desire. With this new awareness you can adopt (or maintain) the attitudes required for your desired level. You can then invigorate this awareness with appropriate action, to give yourself the results you so richly deserve. "

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How to Read Mathematics

2007-06-04T19:09:00.000-07:00

by Shai Simonson and Fernando Gouvea

Mathematics is "a language that can neither be read nor understood without initiation". (Edward Rothstein, Emblems of Mind, Avon Books, page 15).

A reading protocol is a set of strategies that a reader must use in order to benefit fully from reading the text. Poetry calls for a different set of strategies than fiction, and fiction a different set than non-fiction. It would be ridiculous to read fiction and ask oneself what is the author's source for the assertion that the hero is blond and tanned; it would be wrong to read non-fiction and not ask such a question. This reading protocol extends to a viewing or listening protocol in art and music. Indeed, much of the introductory course material in literature, music and art is spent teaching these protocols.

Mathematics has a reading protocol all its own, and just as we learn to read literature, we should learn to read mathematics. Students need to learn how to read mathematics, in the same way they learn how to read a novel or a poem, listen to music, or view a painting.

When we read a novel we become absorbed in the plot and characters. We try to follow the various plot lines and how each affects the development of the characters. We make sure that the characters become real people to us, both those we admire and those we despise. We do not stop at every word, but imagine the words as brushstrokes in a painting. Even if we are not familiar with any particular word, we can still see the whole picture. We rarely stop to think about individual phrases and sentences. Instead, we let the novel sweep us along with its flow and carry us swiftly to the end. The experience is rewarding, relaxing and thought provoking.

Novelists frequently describe characters by involving them in well-chosen anecdotes, rather than by describing them by well-chosen adjectives. They portray one aspect, then another, then the first again in a new light and so on, as the whole picture grows and comes more and more into focus. This is the way to communicate complex thoughts that defy precise definition.

Both a mathematics article and a novel are telling a story and developing complex ideas. The greatest difference is that a math article does the job with a tiny fraction of the words and symbols of those used in a novel. Mathematical ideas are by nature precise and well defined, so that a precise description is possible in a very short space.

The beauty in a novel is in the aesthetic way it uses language to evoke emotions and present themes which defy precise definition. The beauty in a mathematics article is in the elegant efficient way it concisely describes precise ideas of great complexity.

What are the common mistakes people make in trying to read mathematics? How can these mistakes be corrected?"

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Who Owns the National Debt, Jan. 2007

2007-06-04T17:40:00.000-07:00

This pie chart brings in more traffic than lengthier articles I write—and who am I to argue with success? The chart below is an update, using the latest estimates from the Treasury. (To make it easier to dispel the popular-but-false rumors about China’s share of our federal debt, I added some percentages in the bigger slices. To end the suspense, the Chinese own 4% of it.)

I assume this chart is mostly self-explanatory. Seems to me that we have a diverse and inclusive array of Treasury-security owners spanning the globe, but concentrated in the USA. Click to enlarge.

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The Do-It-Yourself Market-Neutral Portfolio

2007-06-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

"Geoff Considine (Quantext) submits: The hedge fund business has been growing rapidly in recent years—with no end in sight. Wealthy investors are seeking alternative investments to meet their needs and hedge fund managers have an array of tools and strategies at their disposal. One of the core strategies employed by hedge funds is what is called market-neutral investing. A market-neutral portfolio is designed to deliver returns that are not impacted by the movements of the broader market. This does not mean that a market-neutral approach is low risk, however. Goldman Sachs' (GS) largest hedge fund employs market-neutral strategies and has attributed their very poor recent performance partly to this approach.

The defining objective of a market-neutral portfolio is that its returns have low correlation to the broader market. Investors use such funds as a diversifier to their other investments in equities. Low-correlation between assets improves their diversification value. In practical terms, increased diversification means that you can achieve a higher return for the total amount of portfolio risk."

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Comfort Zone Investing

2007-06-04T17:25:00.000-07:00

Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night

by Ted Allrich
St. Martin's Press

Welcome to the Comfort Zone!

You can invest without stress. With this new book, Ted Allrich of The Online Investor explains how to build a Core Portfolio and what you must know to understand the stock market. He takes his 35 years of investing experience and gives you the insights into Wall Street that make the difference between success and failure.

Once you've read Comfort Zone Investing, the market can do what it wants. Down 200 points in a day won't bother you. You'll be in your Comfort Zone, building wealth and sleeping well.

For more details on the book by chapters, click here.

TED: ideas worth spreading

2007-06-04T17:13:00.000-07:00

Inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers

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After tomorrow

2007-06-03T21:12:00.000-07:00

What will happen to us as a specy, to living being, to the earth, to the solar system.... to the universe...

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Architecture

2007-06-03T09:21:00.000-07:00

Check out this great architecture site

Great travel site

2007-05-31T19:51:00.001-07:00

link

Cool ... really cool!

2007-05-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

See it by yourself

Free financial excel spreadsheets..

2007-05-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

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Henry Kravis: The original barbarian

2007-05-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

"HALIFAX — Over the years, Henry Kravis has been called everything from the world's shrewdest takeover artist, to the founding father of private equity, to — with grudging respect — the original Barbarian at the Gate. But when it comes to BCE Inc., the legendary 63-year-old co-founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. would happily settle for a less grandiose title: investor.

Amid rising political tension in Ottawa over a recent spate of foreign takeovers, Mr. Kravis sought Tuesday to play down the level of his firm's involvement in the bidding war for BCE, and offer reassurances he was not masterminding the acquisition of the country's biggest telephone company."

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Mikano - A better way to build

2007-05-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

"At Mikano we design, engineer and build stylish, architecturally exciting spaces to meet your individual needs.

Utilising light gauge steel and the very latest in modular building technology we design and erect buildings which are cost and energy efficient, flexible, and most importantly quick to install, allowing you to realise your dream space in the fastest possible time.

Whether you want a new home, a home extension, a garden office or relaxation space, a roof top apartment or an exhibition suite, we work closely with you to fully understand your exact requirements before developing innovative, high quality designs which ensure you achieve that unique space."

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Why people believe strange things

2007-05-29T19:48:00.001-07:00

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Game Theories

2007-05-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

"Edward Castronova had hit bottom. Three years ago, the thirty-eight-year-old economist was, by his own account, an academic failure. He had chosen an unpopular field—welfare research—and published only a handful of papers that, as far as he could tell, “had never influenced anybody.” He’d scraped together a professorship at the Fullerton campus of California State University, a school that did not even grant Ph.D.s. He lived in a lunar, vacant suburb. He’d once dreamed of being a major economics thinker but now faced the grim sense that he might already have hit his plateau. “I’m a schmo at a state school,” he thought. And since his wife worked in another city, he was, on top of it all, lonely."

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10 ways to send huge files

2007-05-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

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20 Productive Ways to Use Your Free Time

2007-05-28T09:13:00.000-07:00

Reading file. Clip magazine articles or print out good articles or reports for reading later, and keep them in a folder marked “Reading File”. Take this wherever you go, and any time you have a little chunk of time, you can knock off items in your Reading File. Keep a reading file on your computer (or in your bookmarks), for quick reading while at your desk (or on the road if you’ve got a laptop).
Clear out inbox. Got a meeting in 5 minutes? Use it to get your physical or email inbox to empty. If you’ve got a lot in your inbox, you’ll have to work quickly, and you may not get everything done, but reducing your pile can be a big help. And having an empty inbox is a wonderful feeling.
Phone calls. Keep a list of phone calls you need to make, with phone numbers, and carry it everywhere. Whether you’re at your desk or on the road, you can knock a few calls off your list in a short amount of time.
Make money. This is my favorite productive use of free time. I have a list of articles I need to write, and when I get some spare minutes, I’ll knock off half an article real quick. If you get 5-10 chunks of free time a day, you can make a decent side income. Figure out how you can free-lance your skills, and have work lined up that you can knock out quickly — break it up into little chunks, so those chunks can be done in short bursts.

Direct Link to lifehack.org

"He who knows enough is enough will always have enough"

2007-05-27T19:30:00.001-07:00

52 Proven Stress Reducers

2007-05-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

Published by the National Headache Foundation

Get up fifteen minutes earlier in the morning. The inevitable morning mishaps will be less stressful.
Prepare for the morning the evening before. Set the breakfast table, make lunches, put out the clothes you plan to wear, etc.
Don?t rely on your memory. Write down appointment times, when to pick up the laundry, when library books are due, etc. ("The palest ink is better than the most retentive memory." - Old Chinese Proverb)
Do nothing which, after being done, leads you to tell a lie.
Make duplicates of all keys. Bury a house key in a secret spot in the garden and carry a duplicate car key in your wallet, apart from your key ring.
Practice preventive maintenance. Your car, appliances, home, and relationships will be less likely to break down/fall apart "at the worst possible moment."
Be prepared to wait. A paperback can make a wait in a post office line almost pleasant.
Procrastination is stressful. Whatever you want to do tomorrow, do today; whatever you want to do today, do it now.
Plan ahead. Don?t let the gas tank get below one-quarter full; keep a well-stocked "emergency shelf" of home staples; don?t wait until you?re down to your last bus token or postage stamp to buy more; etc.
Don?t put up with something that doesn?t work right. If your alarm clock, wallet, shoe laces, windshield wipers ? whatever ? are a constant aggravation, get them fixed or get new ones.
Allow 15 minutes of extra time to get to appointments. Plan to arrive at an airport one hour before domestic departures.
Eliminate (or restrict) the amount of caffeine in your diet.
Always set up contingency plans, "just in case." ("If for some reason either of us is delayed, here?s what we?ll do?" kind of thing. Or, "If we get split up in the shopping center, here?s where we?ll meet.")
Relax your standards. The world will not end if the grass doesn?t get mowed this weekend.
Pollyanna-Power! For every one thing that goes wrong, there are probably 10 or 50 or 100 blessings. Count ?em!
Ask questions. Taking a few moments to repeat back directions, what someone expects of you, etc., can save hours. (The old "the hurrieder I go, the behinder I get, " idea.)
Say "No!" Saying "no" to extra projects, social activities, and invitations you know you don?t have the time or energy for takes practice, self-respect, and a belief that everyone, everyday, needs quiet time to relax and be alone.
Unplug your phone. Want to take a long bath, meditate, sleep, or read without interruption? Drum up the courage to temporarily disconnect. (The possibility of there being a terrible emergency in the next hour or so is almost nil.) Or use an answering machine.
Turn "needs" into preferences. Our basic physical needs translate into food, water, and keeping warm. Everything else is a preference. Don?t get attached to preferences.
Simplify, simplify, simplify?
Make friends with nonworriers. Nothing can get you into the habit of worrying faster than associating with chronic worrywarts.
Get up and stretch periodically if your job requires that you sit for extended periods.
Wear earplugs. If you need to find quiet at home, pop in some earplugs.
Get enough sleep. If necessary, use an alarm clock to remind you to go to bed.
Create order out of chaos. Organize your home and workspace so that you always know exactly where things are. Put things away where they belong and you won?t have to go through the stress of losing things.
When feeling stressed, most people tend to breathe in short, shallow breaths. When you breathe like this, stale air is not expelled, oxidation of the tissues is incomplete, and muscle tension frequently results. Check your breathing throughout the day, and before, during, and after high-pressure situations. If you find your stomach muscles are knotted and your breathing is shallow, relax all your muscles and take several deep, slow breaths. Note how, when you?re relaxed, both your abdomen and chest expand when you breathe.
Writing your thoughts and feelings down (in a journal, or on paper to be thrown away) can help you clarify things and can give you a renewed perspective.
Try the following yoga technique whenever you feel the need to relax. Inhale deeply through you nose to the count of eight. Then, with lips puckered, exhale very slowly through your mouth to the count of 16, or for as long as you can. Concentrate on the long sighing sound and feel the tension dissolve. Repeat 10 times.
Inoculate yourself against a feared event. Example: before speaking in public, take time to go over every part of the experience in your mind. Imagine what you?ll wear, what the audience will look like, how you will present your talk, what the questions will be and how you will answer them, etc. Visualize the experience the way you would have it be. You?ll likely find that when the time comes to make the actual presentation, it will be "old hat" and much of your anxiety will have fled.
When the stress of having to get a job done gets in the way of getting the job done, diversion ? a voluntary change in activity and/or environment ? may be just what you need.
Talk it out. Discussing your problems with a trusted friend can help clear your mind of confusion so you can concentrate on problem solving.
One of the most obvious ways to avoid unnecessary stress is to select an environment (work, home, leisure) which is in line with your personal needs and desires. If you hate desk jobs, don?t accept a job which requires that you sit at a desk all day. If you hate to talk politics, don?t associate with people who love to talk politics, etc.
Learn to live one day at a time.
Every day, do something you really enjoy.
Add an ounce of love to everything you do.
Take a hot bath or shower (or a cool one in summertime) to relieve tension.
Do something for somebody else.
Focus on understanding rather than on being understood; on loving rather than on being loved.
Do something that will improve your appearance. Looking better can help you feel better.
Schedule a realistic day. Avoid the tendency to schedule back-to-back appointments; allow time between appointments for a breathing spell.
Become more flexible. Some things are worth not doing perfectly and some issues are well to compromise upon.
Eliminate destructive self-talk: "I?m too old to?," "I?m too fat to?," etc.
Use your weekend time for a change of pace. If you work week is slow and patterned, make sure there is action and time for spontaneity built into your weekends. If your work week is fast-paced and full of people and deadlines, seek peace and solitude during your days off. Feel as if you aren?t accomplishing anything at work? Tackle a job on the weekend which you can finish to your satisfaction.
"Worry about the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." That?s another way of saying: take care of the todays as best you can and the yesterdays and the tomorrows will take care of themselves.
Do one thing at a time. When you are with someone, be with that person and with no one or nothing else. When you are busy with a project, concentrate on doing that project and forget about everything else you have to do.
Allow yourself time ? everyday ? for privacy, quiet, and introspection.
If an especially unpleasant task faces you, do it early in the day and get it over with; then the rest of your day will be free of anxiety.
Learn to delegate responsibility to capable others.
Don?t forget to take a lunch break. Try to get away from your desk or work area in body and mind, even if it?s just for 15 or 20 minutes.
Forget about counting to 10. Count to 1,000 before doing something or saying anything that could make matters worse.
Have a forgiving view of events and people. Accept the fact that we live in an imperfect world.
Have an optimistic view of the world. Believe that most people are doing the best they can.

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