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Confused by this mess? Common Craft is a great resource to explain Web 2.0 tech using video and paper to provide exploration.
Check out an example:
View more examples here covering topics like podcasting, Twitter, photo sharing, social bookmarking, blogs, and RSS like above.
The rebate check came into the account today (yours may be $600). I’m supposed to spend it on none-debt like things in a trained consumer kind of way. Grumble…but I have debt, loans, and some decent foreign ambition (which costs some money).
Fueling casual consumption will only be a short-term boost to an economy that has long-term issues. Government debt mimics ours and we no longer know how to save. We average a -1% savings rate when global neighbors are much higher (50% in China). Can’t we be our own safety blanket? We lost something after World War II, thrift. We all have that grandma (or mom for some) that saves aluminum foil pieces. This isn’t as absurd as it sounds. It is a reaction to finite resources. Isn’t that a global reality today?
Nothing much brings a smile like “free money.” Yet use with caution. If you succumb to consumerism, then do it wisely.
• Local
• Useful beyond yesterday
• Socially and environmentally sensitive
• As financial space to build to better habits
• Experience something new
If you get those damn sexy jeans that cost too much then make sure wear the hell out of them.
Spending Your Tax Rebate Wisely, Don’t Spend Your Tax Rebate!, Stores Offering Bonuses For Spending Your Rebate Check, Luxurious ways to spend your rebate, Ten Tips: What to do with tax rebate?, How to wisely spend your rebate check, How Will You Spend Your Rebate?
Edit: A useful link, Likely Effects of the Tax Rebate
Like how Iraq was mission accomplished 5 years today, I too felt accomplished. I was just about to finish high school and I hadn’t even decided on a college. I was though flying high, mission accomplished. I had recently regained trust by my parents and summer “adult” freedom was ripening on my tongue.
I forgive Hilary for voting for the war. If was voting on mis-information too. Grownup had arrived. Today I know I have a lifetime of growing up to do.
So I am reemerging not to fill the spaces of the pages but to fill some parts of me that I too often look elsewhere to. I know that my mission isn’t accomplished and that I’ll consume lots of coffee to get there. The reset button is close by, could you push it? No, just a soft reset. I don’t want to lose everything.
Lets not fault Bush for calling a war or even calling it to a close super early, lets fault him for not listening to the experience and learning from it. Get out of there!
It is hard. It is what defines his stay in office. Victim to simple quick fixes, time is a difficult illusion. The longer you stay in it, the further you fall face first into reality.
I have spent a lot of time recently on MBA applications. It has been a while since I had to so craftily praise myself in front of others; it was never this specific. I am defending passion and my future career plans. In definition, I have gone through a transition. Unlike the addictions of war, I have turned the red tide. What are you surfing on when you need something else to keep the momentum?
We are not alone for a reason. Use your developing intuition and growing heart in sync to determine self-motivation. Look to those you know to be real sensors of your being. At the very least there is a technique that is simple to surf through the rougher and lonelier times.
List accomplishments of your day, w/o your minds side commentary; if any slips in, you are forbidden from making further note of it at all.
Today:
• Entry to baited blog
• Made progress on scholarship guidebook at work
• Speedily organized home office
• Felt reemergence of China-fondness
• Large Mexican latte instead of small
Find your coastline and ride…summer is coming whether you want it to or not.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
Watch the above video (click the link). Awards won and such, it’s just a god damn good message to hear and internalize.
Another Way : 10 Little and Big Things You Can Do
1. Power down! A great deal of the resources we use and the waste we create is in the energy we consume. Look for opportunities in your life to significantly reduce energy use: drive less, fly less, turn off lights, buy local seasonal food (food takes energy to grow, package, store and transport), wear a sweater instead of turning up the heat, use a clothesline instead of a dryer, vacation closer to home, buy used or borrow things before buying new, recycle. All these things save energy and save you money. And, if you can switch to alternative energy by supporting a company that sells green energy to the grid or by installing solar panels on your home, bravo!
2. Waste less. Per capita waste production in the U.S. just keeps growing. There are hundreds of opportunities each day to nurture a Zero Waste culture in your home, school, workplace, church, community. This takes developing new habits which soon become second nature. Use both sides of the paper, carry your own mugs and shopping bags, get printer cartridges refilled instead of replaced, compost food scraps, avoid bottled water and other over packaged products, upgrade computers rather than buying new ones, repair and mend rather than replace….the list is endless! The more we visibly engage in re-use over wasting, the more we cultivate a new cultural norm, or actually, reclaim an old one!
3. Talk to everyone about these issues. At school, your neighbors, in line at the supermarket, on the bus…A student once asked Cesar Chavez how he organized. He said, “First, I talk to one person. Then I talk to another person.” “No,” said the student, “how do you organize?” Chavez answered, “First I talk to one person. Then I talk to another person.” You get the point. Talking about these issues raises awareness, builds community and can inspire others to action.
4. Make Your Voice Heard. Write letters to the editor and submit articles to local press. In the last two years, and especially with Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the media has been forced to write about Climate Change. As individuals, we can influence the media to better represent other important issues as well. Letters to the editor are a great way to help newspaper readers make connections they might not make without your help. Also local papers are often willing to print book and film reviews, interviews and articles by community members. Let’s get the issues we care about in the news.
5. DeTox your body, DeTox your home, and DeTox the Economy. Many of today’s consumer products – from children’s pajamas to lipstick – contain toxic chemical additives that simply aren’t necessary. Research online (for example, http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/) before you buy to be sure you’re not inadvertently introducing toxics into your home and body. Then tell your friends about toxics in consumer products. Together, ask the businesses why they’re using toxic chemicals without any warning labels. And ask your elected officials why they are permitting this practice. The European Union has adopted strong policies that require toxics to be removed from many products. So, while our electronic gadgets and cosmetics have toxics in them, people in Europe can buy the same things toxics-free. Let’s demand the same thing here. Getting the toxics out of production at the source is the best way to ensure they don’t get into any home and body.
6. Unplug (the TV and internet) and Plug In (the community). The average person in the U.S. watches T.V. over 4 hours a day. Four hours per day filled with messages about stuff we should buy. That is four hours a day that could be spent with family, friends and in our community. On-line activism is a good start, but spending time in face-to-face civic or community activities strengthens the community and many studies show that a stronger community is a source of social and logistical support, greater security and happiness. A strong community is also critical to having a strong, active democracy.
7. Park your car and walk…and when necessary MARCH! Car-centric land use policies and life styles lead to more greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel extraction, conversion of agricultural and wildlands to roads and parking lots. Driving less and walking more is good for the climate, the planet, your health, and your wallet. But sometimes we don’t have an option to leave the car home because of inadequate bike lanes or public transportation options. Then, we may need to march, to join with others to demand sustainable transportation options. Throughout U.S. history, peaceful non-violent marches have played a powerful role in raising awareness about issues, mobilizing people, and sending messages to decision makers.
8. Change your lightbulbs…and then, change your paradigm. Changing lightbulbs is quick and easy. Energy efficient lightbulbs use 75% less energy and last 10 times longer than conventional ones. That’s a no-brainer. But changing lightbulbs is just tinkering at the margins of a fundamentally flawed system unless we also change our paradigm. A paradigm is a collection of assumptions, concepts, beliefs and values that together make up a community’s way of viewing reality. Our current paradigm dictates that more stuff is better, that infinite economic growth is desirable and possible, and that pollution is the price of progress. To really turn things around, we need to nurture a different paradigm based on the values of sustainability, justice, health, and community.
9. Recycle your trash…and, recycle your elected officials. Recycling saves energy and reduces both waste and the pressure to harvest and mine new stuff. Unfortunately, many cities still don’t have adequate recycling systems in place. In that case you can usually find some recycling options in the phone book to start recycling while you’re pressuring your local government to support recycling city-wide. Also, many products – for example, most electronics - are designed not to be recycled or contain toxics so recycling is hazardous. In these cases, we need to lobby government to prohibit toxics in consumer products and to enact Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws, as is happening in Europe. EPR is a policy which holds producers responsible for the entire lifecycle of their products, so that electronics company who use toxics in their products, have to take them back. That is a great incentive for them to get the toxics out!
10. Buy Green, Buy Fair, Buy Local, Buy Used, and most importantly, Buy Less. Shopping is not the solution to the environmental problems we currently face because the real changes we need just aren’t for sale in even the greenest shop. But, when we do shop, we should ensure our dollars support businesses that protect the environment and worker rights. Look beyond vague claims on packages like “all natural” to find hard facts. Is it organic? Is it free of super-toxic PVC plastic? When you can, buy local products from local stores, which keeps more of our hard earned money in the community. Buying used items keeps them out of the trash and avoids the upstream waste created during extraction and production. But, buying less may be the best option of all. Less pollution. Less Waste. Less time working to pay for the stuff. Sometimes, less really is more.
Another Way
Startpage Mash-up!
The most comprehensive startpage review available…
To continue the weekly series reviewing, exploring, and living Web 2.0… Last week we introduced startpages.
Quick Note for those who feel left out: Web-based startpages(aka AJAX/Flash homepages) are nifty sites aimed at making your web life easier by putting most-needed services on one page. Check out my entry last week describing them. There are lots of them and they’re all free.
Go to the winner list…
Go to the reviews of the top 3…
Go to the score chart…
There are so many different options for what you can use for a startpage. In fact as I explored the list I gathered together last week, I discovered a few more. Some have big names with them, but surprisingly (or not) it doesn’t seem to guarantee quality. The startpage market has come into its own as something distinguished. I looked through 20 different options, which exhausts the lists of other older comprehensive reviews I found. For the sake of information, feel free to check them out: 14 Personalized Homepages Compared, Feature by Feature (June 2007); Top 12 web-based Startpages Compared. The winner is… (February 2007); and Alpha Geek: Start-page showdown (March 2007). My research even dove me into the world of easy-to-make webpages (now finally taking advantage of AJAX) and so I decided to draw the line of this review at the specific mention of startpage or a clear adherence to the concept. You can catch links to these page builders at the end of this entry. They do though provide a highly customizable option to developing a startpage.
To come up with a fair way to judge I had to come up with categories and an appropriate scoring system. I tried to think of the things most important to a startpage user. The categories I decided on are: user friendly, basic functions, looks, site layout, RSS handling, tabs, widgets, speed, a useful community, and an extras category. The overall scores were determined via an averaging of scores in all categories, you can view these at the end of the entry. The category winners were determined by which had the highest score in the category. If there was a tie, it was broken by which had the highest overall score.
Each was scored on a scale from 0-5. Zero - zilch worthwhile in the category. Five - I couldn’t have asked for much more in fulfilling the category.
User Friendly - How initially intuitive the functioning of and interaction with the site is.
Basic Functions - Whether or not basic functions expected from startpages are included. I considered RSS, email, calendar, todo, notes, and a few other things that my mind more than likely took note of.
Looks - Did it catch my eye or cause an eye-sore? Mainly, would I want to see it opening up in my browser every day.
Site Layout - Taking a close look at if the structure of the site made sense, displayed well, and felt like an asset to the functions offered.
RSS Handling - First, is there something to manage RSS feeds. Second, how worthwhile is it?
Tabs - Are they there? Also, looking at the functionality of them; if they drag, are easily created, and etc. or not.
Widgets - Variety, quality, number, organization, and integration were key factors in evaluating widgets.
Speed - Simply how fast it seemed to load and how quickly the site responded to user interaction.
Useful Community - Looking specifically at if there is a built-in community and how useful it is. Also, I wanted to see if there was any effort for one community to share/interact with another. Finally, I took into account permanent or shareable links to created startpages and their tabs.
Extra - This was a section to give extra points for unique features, overall site impression, and anything else that was hard to account for in the other categories.
The Winners!
Overall: Netvibes
And by category…
User Friendly: yourminis
Basic Functions: Netvibes
Looks: yourminis
Site Layout: yourminis
RSS Handling: Netvibes
Tabs: Netvibes
Widgets: Netvibes
Speed: iGoogle
Useful Community: Pageflakes
Extra: Symbaloo
Continue reading »
Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier
-Albert Schweitzer
And now time to define:
self·ish /ˈsɛlfɪʃ/
–adjective
1. devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one’s own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.
2. characterized by or manifesting concern or care only for oneself: selfish motives.
selfish - Definitions from Dictionary.com
self·less /ˈsɛlflɪs/
–adjective
having little or no concern for oneself, esp. with regard to fame, position, money, etc.; unselfish.
selfless - Definitions from Dictionary.com
Lets take moment to look at both of these definitions. Neither seems particularly great. Both ignore a integral part of the equation, either yourself or everyone else. I’m going to take a moment to redefine and explain myself, but first I’d like to share what I’ve said before on this topic.
As a post-grad wanderer you are stuck negotiating for jobs, fruit, friends, relationships, and your own sanity. You spent all this time getting to know yourself, so be a bit selfish. Compromise doesn’t mean that you don’t get what you want, just that everyone involved gets something.
Getting to yes, negotiation is more than a courtroom skill.
To look at this from a selfish angle, people can and will enhance you. Interact and learn from everything around you. Feed yourself.
Now, depending on how you look at it, thinking about nothing is a very selfish act. You are putting your non-thought, your personal resources, into doing nothing, except maybe consuming a commercial. This is selfish.
Putting yourself first. [discovering your social core]
You must put yourself first, alongside others. Put yourself first and get to know yourself, take some time away.
Putting yourself first. [discovering your social core]
The journey toward a core interpersonal discovery:
Putting yourself first, with another.
Putting yourself first, alongside others.
Putting yourself first, alongside everything.
Being first and selfish (in a good way) because of and with everything and recognizing it.
Putting yourself first. [discovering your social core]
Take the two definitions that we began with and blend them together.
devoted to or caring for oneself, without regard to fame, position, money, etc., concerned with interests not only your own.
What can we call this? Above, in the quotes, I sometimes use the words selfish and selfless in their traditional forms. Other times, I’m using the mashed up definition directly above to describe what I think the potential of selfishness is.
Live to learn. Work to live. Live for others selfishly.
To continue the weekly series reviewing, exploring, and living Web 2.0…
So slow I am to get you content! Well at least this weekly gig has me getting to the keyboard.
This weeks word is startpage. I most often see it written as one word, despite the battle my spell check (one word too?) is giving me. This is a more specific subcategory to homepage (which I guess is recognized as one word). A homepage is the page that first loads when you access a website. On the personal level, it’s the website you direct your “home” button to in your web browser. Nowadays, there are actually websites designed for the sole purpose of being your customized homepage. These startpages are available to be personalized, integrated, and be a true home on the web. Web 2.0 technologies used to its fullest, thanks to ajax technology. Some are dirty, some are clean, and some are both. I’ll explore what is best for you.
Why do you need a startpage? The web is overwhelming. This of course is after information had already became overwhelming. So take a bit of internet-prozac and simplify. Too basic? The great thing about a startpage is, when your ready, most can become as big as you’d like.
What is out there (that matters):
Netvibes, iGoogle, Webwag, Pageflakes, MyYahoo!, Protopage, yourminis, Schmedley, Eskobo, Windows Live, Favoor, Gritwire, Inbox, It’sAStart, MyHQ, Symbaloo, Only2Clicks, YSP, Linkedfeed, Flock’s My World…
Definitely NOT worth your time: YSP
First off, don’t invest to quickly. The best strategy is to look around, test ‘em out, and then decide. Customizing the perfect startpage can take many hours (worth it), but you don’t want to do it multiple times over.
Most are customizable. Color, movement, tabs, and content, it’s all up to you.
So lets take a look…
The link goes to a slideshow with screenshots of each of the startpage services (in the same order as above).
Next week I’ll switch into review mode and hopefully nab you a favorite. Take a look, read a book, and add me to your newest startpage. They range from simple to snazzy. Some will put all of Web 2.0 in one place before you are ready and others will share resources. Either way, you’ll have a new homepage soon.
A young man finding his voice.