Life

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Downshifting

On making decisions

Making decisions isn't as easy as it looks.

First, your concious mind isn't very good at making complex decisions. So, sleep on it.

New Scientist Feb 16 '06: Sleep on it (opens in a new window)

Second, the brain doesn't accurately predict how long you'll feel happy or sad about something. The article is mainly about relationships and health and 'proper' life decisions, but it applies also to that big flat screen tellie. Typically, the amount of enjoyment it'll bring isn't as great as you thought, and doesn't last very long either.

New Scientist Sep 4 '99: Feeling just fine (opens in a new window)

Urban survival

Not having power for a day reminds one how fragile the fabric of our society is. My neighbourhood was on generator power for quite a few days after that as well.

Nov '05 power outage (opens in a new window)

Nov '05 power outage (opens in a new window)

Some links about urban survival ..

$25 survival kit (opens in a new window)

Preparing for Emergencies (opens in a new window)

Other insights

Sun 12th Oct 2008:

A nod towards responsible lending?

Checking current rates on the Skipton Building Society website, I notice that they're offering a 90-95% mortgage. Providing someone you know is prepared to put the balance above 75% into a Skipton savings account.

Mon 22nd Sep 2008:

One in fifty pound coins are counterfeit

This is based on Royal Mint's own figures, obtained by the BBC! Its illegal to use them, and they should be handed in. But who's likely to do this?

Wed 9th Jul 2008:

Not in my name

I'm lacking a superlative to describe my reaction to the news that a guy disembarked a train at Bournemouth last Saturday to be faced with an armed police detachment.

Sat 26th Apr 2008:

'If today were the last day of my life ...' - Jobs

In a 'commencement address' to freshers at Stanford University by Steve Jobs (top guy at Apple) in June 2005, he reflected on several things, with hindsight, about his life.

Thu 3rd Apr 2008:

Art in everyone's pockets

Low denomination British coinage is set to be re-released with completely new designs on the tail-side. Each coin forms part of a larger image, which is shown in full on the £1 coin.

Sat 22nd Mar 2008:

CD inserts: on mailing lists and personal information

I came by an insert in a CD today asking for the customer's name and address etc. for mailing purposes. Not unusual, except that it was amusing and honest. Its the sort of thing that no-one would give a second look, but someone must have spent a day or so writing the text and laying it out in a DTP package, so I think its work mentioning.

Thu 31st Jan 2008:

Multitasking

I can spend whole days multitasking and getting nothing done. I end up stressed and demotivated from having done nothing.

Fri 18th Jan 2008:

Opt in, not opt out

Under pressure to make things better, address a particular issue, its too easy for Government and politicians to pick the easy way out. Organ donation is a good example.

Sun 30th Dec 2007:

Great design

Art Lebedev have hit the techie radar for their reconfigurable keyboards. Some or all of the keys on Optimus Maximus can be replaced with organic LED (OLED) displays, which are configured using software (albeit only Windows or MAC!)

Sat 25th Aug 2007:

Thought for the day

Harriet Hayes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, said in episode 6 "The Long Lead Story"

Wed 8th Aug 2007:

Banking fees .. no thanks

You know we've become litigious when .. people who can't manage their own finances get their fees back in court and have managed to run such a concerted campaign that they're likely to trigger monthly banking fees and / or per-transaction fees as the banks look to claw back their lost profits.

Sun 5th Aug 2007:

'the sounds of the street began to fill my ears'

Tripped over a piece on news.bbc.co.uk comprising letters written by an Iranian teacher who got granted asylum in the UK.

Thu 5th Jul 2007:

Holy Smoke

I found out yesterday why signmakers are doing such good trade in 'no smoking' signs. The law specifies that our public spaces should be littered with the things.

Wed 27th Jun 2007:

Metrication

There are three countries which haven't adopted the metric system: Liberia, Myanmar, and the United States.

Sat 23rd Jun 2007:

City farms revisited

The image I have of a city farm is a compact, mainly livestock-oriented, exercise, crammed in somewhere. There's a couple in Bristol, including one relatively near to where I grew up - St Werburghs, linked below.

Earlier Stories

Complete archive on the official site