Most people are really bad at comparing cost and benefits. Hybrid cars are a good example of this. For example, the cost of the cheapest (that I could find) new gasoline Honda Civic is around $14,800. The cost of the cheapest hybrid Civic is $22,000. Assuming that you drive 13,000 miles per year, the hybrid will save you $369 per year in gas--assuming gasoline costs an average of $2.80 per gallon. So you are paying an extra $7200 to save $369 per year. It will take nearly 20 years before you end up saving money with the car. Even if you consider that the government will give you something like an extra $2,100 off your taxes for buying the hybrid, it will still take nearly 14 years … [Read more...] about Cost vs. Benefit for Productivity
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Opera Unite
Opera announced a new browser called Unite. It gives your browser the ability to share content instead of just consuming it. For example, you can share you pictures with other users, or share your music with your handheld computer. It is an interesting idea and could be very powerful. … [Read more...] about Opera Unite
It Isn’t How Much You Do
It is very easy to confuse motion with accomplishment, but simply being busy doesn't do anything toward reaching our goals. Being busy can be addictive. Look around and you will hear a lot of people complaining about how busy they are, but when you look deeper, it is clear that they like being busy. I'm not sure why this is. I think being busy makes us feel important. It is possible that we feel important because we assume that important people are busy or that people who accomplish a lot are busy. While neither of these things is necessarily true, there is something about being busy that people like. The people who are really productive are usually the the least busy. In fact, … [Read more...] about It Isn’t How Much You Do
SmartShopper Grocery List Organizer Review
Many times I've wondered about ways to keep a centrally located, well organized grocery and errand list. Members of my family have a tendency to "borrow" the list to add something, only to forget to put the list back. Though a pen and paper are often the best and most efficient way to keep track of a to-do list, some families might need something a bit more creative. When I was handed the Grocery List Organizer to review, I was a bit apprehensive as to how well the device would actually function. Fortunately, I have been pleasantly surprised. Appearance The Organizer is an oblong-shaped device with a small screen located at the top, a large "Record" button in the middle and a … [Read more...] about SmartShopper Grocery List Organizer Review
Photo Diary
With inexpensive digital cameras and ever growing storage capacity, it is easy to create and maintain a very large quantity of pictures. My personal photo library starts in 1998 and provides a fairly detailed chronicle of my life for the past 11 years. In many ways, it is the most accurate diary or journal of my life events over that time period. If I want to know when we went on a particular trip, I can look up the date in our photo library. If I want to know who attended a particular event, I can look it up there, as well. I find that occasionally running through all of my pictures helps me remember events that would otherwise be forgotten--particularly in remembering the … [Read more...] about Photo Diary
The Deadly Well – Teaching to Learn
When you need to remember something you've learned, one of the best things you can do is explain your new knowledge to someone else. When I was studying music theory, I thought I had a firm grasp on the subject. However, when I went back and taught it to incoming freshmen, I discovered how much better I understood once I had to explain it to others. I still use this technique today. When there is something that I think I understand, I'll try to explain it to my wife to help me remember and to see if I understand things as well as I think I do. My mother teaches grade school and uses this principle all the time. When her sister and her sister's 5 year old grandson were coming to … [Read more...] about The Deadly Well – Teaching to Learn
7 Ways to Wake Up in the Morning
Your method of waking up is the first thing that starts your day. I'm not saying that waking up to an annoying alarm will ruin your day, but it probably isn't going to help anything. Here are a few ideas for waking up: Wake up to a CD. Many stereos have a built in alarm clock that will start the CD at a certain time. (This can also be the basis of a nice college dorm prank.) Wake up to the radio. Most clock radios let you wake up to whatever is being broadcast instead of the normal alarm. Wake up to light. A simple outlet timer hooked to a bright light can be a great way to wake up because the light will help tell your body that the day is starting. (You might want to set a … [Read more...] about 7 Ways to Wake Up in the Morning
100 Ways to Enjoy Life
The Great Outdoors Feed the ducks at the park. Cut some fresh wildflowers for your table. Go fishing. Hike somewhere with pretty scenery. Go jogging with a friend. Take your dog for a walk. Get a group of friends together for a water balloon fight. Try to find out about little-known waterfalls in your area and explore to find them. Volunteer for a non-profit association. Go camping at a place you've never been before. Learn how to sail a catamaran. Visit a farm with a friend. Go off-road mountain biking. Take horseback riding lessons. Find a quiet place with beautiful scenery to read a favorite book. Find a wildflower information book and explore to see how … [Read more...] about 100 Ways to Enjoy Life
Do You Read Enough?
Imagine you are interviewing someone for a job and one of the questions you are going to ask them is "How much time do you spend reading and what do you read?" Now imagine the answer you get back exactly describes your own reading habits. What would your opinion be of the person you are interviewing based solely on that answer? In other words, are you impressed with your own reading habits? Most people aren't. With the Internet, the average person reads a much wider range of content with much less depth than 20 years ago. And while there are some definite advantages to knowing a little about a lot of things, much of the content adds very little value to people's lives. Making … [Read more...] about Do You Read Enough?
Keeping Your Stuff Safe
The other day, I stepped outside and found my neighbor lugging a broken door out of his garage and into the back of his pickup truck. It turns out he had locked himself out of his house. His wife was away and he had no spare keys. To make matters worse, their new puppy was inside the house. He simply kicked the door in, got his keys and then went and purchased an identical door, which I helped him install. Later on that day, I was talking with some other neighbors who are both police officers. They were staring at the mangled door next to the curb and wondering what happened. They commented that the doors and locks on our houses don't really keep our possessions safe. For the … [Read more...] about Keeping Your Stuff Safe