Kookaburra

New Year's Resolutions

Over the years I have kept a single to a New Year's Resolution I made many years ago - not to have New Year's Resolutions. Times have changed and I think it worthwhile to make some commitments 'out loud' in the hope that I will honour them. Here we go.

1. Sort out my life balance - sleep more (but not in teleconferences!), work more effectively, and make time for my rapidly growing family.
2. Growl less at my kids. Love them more and help them learn.
3. Exercise - urk, the mere term makes me feel ill. However without exercise I will become physically ill. Need to find something I can live with and perform regularly. Swimming? Cycling? Power walking?
4. Do something useful with my commuter time - fortunately less than 1 hour a day in my Toyota Prius, and thanks to hybrid technology that's less than 2 litres of petrol a day (37 km round trip @ 5.2 litres/100 km) - learn a language (brush up my Italiano), enjoy audiobooks, or getting into podcasts.
5. Take more risks, make more mistakes and learn even more -- not yet sure whether that should extend to trying my hand (or rather my dodgy ankles) at snow skiing - the Victorian snowfields are less than 2 hours away.
6. Stop wishing for the perfect system for implementing Getting Things Done (GTD) and just implement it using DEVONthink. Merlin @ 43Folders has been leading an excellent discussion on tools for GTD and has also conceded that tool de jeur has proven a challenge.
7. License all of the shareware I now depend on - URL Manager Pro is the top candidate. Support more of the outstanding Mac software that abounds by a) buying it and b) using it. Top candidates - the Omni apps - Omni Outliner, OmniGraffle
8. Love my enemies - Dubya, I am hoping your second term will be a great improvement on your first. As the most powerful man on the planet our future is your hands.
9. Love my friends even more
10. Get out more - I live in a fantastic part of the world (eastern fringe of Melbourne, Australia) and really should enjoy the Great Outdoors so much more. The Walkabout Guides are a great start. It's also a fantastic chance to get back into photography.
11. Finish reading all of the books I already have before buying any more. But first I need to unpack all of the books we moved from Sydney - our old home.
12. Master 20 new vegetarian recipes - even harder, find well balanced ones that the kids love
13. Contribute more to helping those in need - the survivors of the Indian Ocean Tsunami are top of mind at present.
14. Be thankful for all I have and not waste my time/energy contemplating more
15. Not make more resolutions than I can reasonably complete - so I'd best stop here.

Happy New Year everyone.

NationMaster.com: Nifty statistics and mapping site...

NationMaster.com: Nifty statistics and mapping site for international comparisons (eg, total crimes per capita, or CO2 emissions per $ GDP). [source: Ken Novak's Weblog]

Finally, the world's drinking glass is more than half full

CS Monitor: For the first time, more than half the globe's people have drinking water piped into their homes.

Donate Airline Mileage to Help Tsunami Victims

firedoglake writes:

Feeling a little cash strapped and still want to help? Got airline miles kicking around? You can donate airline mileage to The Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, OxFam, Unicef and others through links provided below. (US Airlines listed by firedoglake)

Qantas, the Australian airline, is making a mighty contribution in the form of resources and a cash donation of A$1M. Good work. Perhaps they'd consider extending the redemption of frequent flyer points towards tsunami disaster relief. I checked American Express (Australia) rewards but so far its 'redeem points for charity' program only targets domestic charities. As for Fly-Buys ('owned' by Coles-Myer/National Bank & Others) there is not yet any way of converting points to donations. Come on guys - it's an essential cause and a way of cleaning off extraneous points out of your system.

Update: According to the Sydney Morning Herald, "The Commonwealth Bank has donated $250,000 and is allowing customers to donate credit card loyalty points to World Vision and has waived fees for customers transferring funds to family members in affected areas."

iPodBackup - Automatic backups to an iPod on Mac OS X

iPodBackup - a well documented HOW-TO on setting up an automated backup routine on an iPod (Mac OS X users only)

Simplicity and ubiquity matter (or, How reality mugged Joel Spolsky)

Shorewalker.com - Joel Spolsky, eloquent proponent of Microsoft's 'rich client' vision of computing, has reluctantly changed his mind. In summary Shorewalker's article shows Joel moving from a position where he invested in and advocated 'rich clients' (ie native Wijndows applications) over 'browser based applications' only to find that his customers are increasingly choosing browser based tools. It's not what Joel wanted or expected but he has accepted. Along the way he makes observations about this trend leading to Microsoft's declining power. Powerful stuff from an articulate, former Microsoft insider.

Apple - where to next?

A mixed bag of Apple readings in the run up to the forthcoming MacWorld Expo.

Paul Thurott says basically Apple's a goner unless they can seriously boost their market share. A well used line with some more up to date numbers.

Think Secret 'report/leak/speculate' on a new low-end Mac (under US$500).

Meanwhile Aussie blogger Jonathan Delacour returns to using a Mac after 8 years away on Windows. I occasionally waver and wonder whether I should 'do Windows' but reading Jonathan's account of the 'half-life of a windows install' keeps me happily on the Mac.

I wonder what Macworld will deliver? Last year we got - iPod Mini, Xserve G5, Final Cut Express 2, iLife '04. Let's hope it's seriously cool and it's mac related. There are only so many iPod innovations we need.

Tsunami awareness and aid

A key to helping the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami will be the provision of appropriate aid fast - before disease and lack of clean food and water delivers more devastation. It has to be a global initiative and will require citizens and governments alike to contribute. For the first time in a long time I am proud of the Australian government and its efforts to help with money and resources. Australia is rising to a new challenge of being a major supporter and benefactor to our Asian neighbours. Australian citizens are also rising to the challenge with record donations to major charities. More is undoubtedly needed.

It's very encouraging to see the web home pages of Amazon, Yahoo, Apple and Google contributing to raising the awareness of this humanitarian crisis and encouraging donations. I am not aware if these companies have donated any other resources but it's good to see they are doing their bit to remind global citizens of the magnitude of this crisis and showing simple ways people can help - send money to internationally recognised aid agencies.

My net surfing was not extensive but I note these companies make no mention of the crisis on their web home pages - IBM, HP, Microsoft, Oracle. A special brickbat for Sun who still have a media release on their front page which says "Rogue Wave Supports Solaris 10" - though I hasten to add that 'Rogue Wave' is an unfortunately named software company (link).

C'mon guys - what will it cost you to dedicate some space on your home page for a week? Apple are really showing the way here - apple.com, apple.com.au, apple.com/uk for example.

From the Microsoft perspective, according to the Seattle Post the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged $3 million and Microsoft is encouraging employee donations for which the company makes a matching contribution. Good work but almost as important is some space on your home page to heighten worldwide awareness of this disaster. Apart from a mention from Microsoft Geek Blogger - Robert Scoble - there doesn't seem to be any efforts from Microsoft to contribute to maintaining awareness of this disaster.

Update 31-Dec: Microsoft now have a link on their home page providing links to aid agencies. (Tipped off by a posting from Microsoft Geek Blogger - Robert Scoble ).

The Home Motor

0xDECAFBAD makes reference to the Home Motor in his recent blog posting -- On Exploding PCs and Appliance Relationships

According to net-lore in 1918 Sears Roebuck offered a 5-pound Home Motor suitable for a variety of applications, for only US$8.75.

Wired magazine provides the details --

"The many attachments shown on this page," the catalog advertisement promised, "may be operated by this motor and help to lighten the burden of the home." And, indeed, surrounding the ad for the Home Motor were companion ads for what might loosely be called "plug-ins" or "helper applications." There was a Beater Attachment ("whips cream and beats eggs when used in connection with the Home Motor"), a Fan Attachment ("includes fan and guard, which can be quickly attached to Home Motor"), a Churn and Mixer Attachment ("for which you will find many uses"), Buffer and Grinder Attachments ("will be found very useful in many ways around the home"), and, last but not least, a Vibrator Attachment ("includes three applicators and handle"). To what uses the Vibrator Attachment was put was not explained.

0xDECAFBAD hopes for a future in which PCs are completely ubiquitous.

One thing I’m really looking forward to is seeing the PC explode and turn inside out, like the Home Motor. The price of processors drops, while their power increases. So far in computing, the processor has been a pricey central resource, demanding to be shared between programs and peripherals. But soon, it won’t be too far fetched to think of a processor as the least precious part. In fact, computers could get so cheap as to be given away, while well-built tools and appliances—more than just software alone—become the valuable thing.

The sound of roaring thunder ... then screaming

Still somewhat in shock and denial regarding the SE-Asian Tsunami. The hardest part is the wrenching apart of families and particularly the loss of so many children. It is hard to comprehend how it would feel to be there. This eye-witness account (SMH) gives a hint of the tragedy. I keep rather senselessly reading accounts in a futile attempt to contribute towards fixing things. The best overal coverage I have found has been on wikipedia -- 2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake