Dear Abby - DEAR ABBY: On a recent trip to Europe I learned firsthand the meaning of the term “ugly American,” which stems partly from the loud, obnoxious voices we sometimes use in public.
AP - Canada’s federal privacy commissioner has launched an investigation into Facebook after four students complained that the popular Web site violates Canadian law by disclosing personal information to advertisers without proper consent.
Web-based account manager Zefty helps kids understand spending and parents manage what they owe the little ones. Manually or automatically “deposit” money into kids’ accounts, and they (and you) can see what they’ve saved. If your tyke’s tech-proficient, they get their own login to enter what they withdrew and why, but parents get a super-user account as well. There’s also “Zefty Checks” kids can request money with, and an allowance calculator that determines a reasonable pay rate. Zefty is free to use, requires a sign-up.
Cross-legged ISS crew members will, hopefully, soon be able to relieve themselves fully into a Russian ASU toilet following the successful launch this evening of Space Shuttle Discovery which, as well as performing the useful task of delivering the second part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory to the station, bears spares for the cantankerous space bog:…
Web site Appropedia describes in impressive detail how to convert your gas-powered lawnmower to solar power. The process involves some serious hacking of your original push mower and an investment in parts, but when you’re finished you’ll be hacking down grass with nothing but the power of the sun. Not bad for a weekend project, if a little on the expensive side.
AP - It’s not just concern for the squeamish biology students who wince at the feel and smell of cutting into a formaldehyde-soaked animal.
You can find some great deals buying video games used and secondhand, but there’s often the trade-off of not getting a manual or the original maps and cheat sheets with your disc—annoying with some games, near-deal-breakers for others, (I’m looking at you, StarTropics.) ReplacementDocs has over 1,000 manuals and reference guides available for games of all kinds, and helpful users are adding to that number. Use the search box to find your game’s pages, or browse around by platform. It’s somewhat hit and miss, with a lean toward involved role playing games, but a great place to look before throwing up your hands and giving up on navigating that unbeatable level.
AP - A spokeswoman for the Phoenix Mars Lander mission says a hacker took over the mission’s public Web site during the night and changed its lead news story.
One of the side effects of having so much stuff to help us get work done is dealing with the clutter it creates in our workspace. But just like you can defragment a hard drive—organize the bits and bytes so that related ones are closest to one another for faster access—you can also defrag your office to make it more efficient. Put your stuff out of the way but within reach, and make it easy to find and put back with a few workspace organization techniques. Photo by lenski.
The key to a good office defrag is grouping related items together. Put paper and ink refills near your printer, the recycling bin near your shredder, the camera USB cable and extra memory card in the camera bag, stamps near envelopes, the box of refill folders near the filing cabinet—you get the idea. Fact is that it’s a lot easier to print a document or send a letter when all your supplies are in one place.
Make that one place easy to use, too. If you have to reach up to the back of the top shelf just to get new hanging folders, you’re probably not going to add folders to your filing cabinet very often. One time, in a fit of decluttering my office, I stowed my printer on a short table under my desk just to get it out of the way because it looked better. To fit it under there I had to remove the back tray and folded up the front tray. After that I barely ever printed anything when I needed to, because it was a big hassle to move the printer out, assemble it, and load paper. Now I keep it out, assembled, and loaded with paper so I can just hit that Print button without a second thought. The point is to make things easy to get to and use, because that’s why you own them at all.
I picked up a small plastic drawer set to hold all my small office supplies—scissors, paper clips, markers, stapler, label maker, etc. When I got sick of going through all the drawers just to locate a Sharpie (and answering the question, “Where’s the Scotch tape?”), I put my label maker to work and “indexed” the drawers, as shown above.
Home organization blog Unclutterer suggest keeping a “landing strip” near the entrance of your home to drop keys, mail, and pocket change when you enter. The same concept works in an office as well: set up an inbox to catch incoming paper and mail, a charging station to drop off gadgets when they’re not in use, and just a clear place to set your bag or any stuff you walk into the office with.
Speaking of charging stations, there are quite a few spendy options out there, but you can also mod an existing space or piece of furniture to get the job done. Here’s my Ikea night stand station:
You can also use a simple basket or an affordable but good-looking media box.
No matter how much business you conduct digitally, fact is, in the year 2008, we still have to deal with actual pieces of paper. Luckily, the right size filing cabinet, a label-maker and some folders can make it almost fun to organize and track your documents. Here’s how to give your filing cabinet an extreme makeover.
A good way to keep your workspace looking dusty and messy is with a pile of spaghetti cords under and around it. With a simple tray and a long power strip you can get cords off the floor and under control. There are dozens of neat cord management tricks out there; see our top 10 ways to keep cables under control.
For more organized workspace eye candy, check out some of the contenders from last year’s coolest workspace contest.
How do you keep your workspace clean, mean, and efficient? Share your tricks in the comments.
Web site RateBeer contains an enormous user-rated database of beers to help you find your new favorite beer. Last weekend we highlighted Beer Suggest, a new site scouring the net to bring you a good beer, but several commenters pointed out RateBeer (and BeerAdvocate) as sites that have been around for much longer—which means they boast more reviews and a more robust database of brews. So while you’re enjoying some nice late spring weather this weekend, check out RateBeer to find something tasty to relax with.