Perfect timing since 2008 is quickly coming to a close. LifeHack recently posted an article: The 80 Best Lifehacks of 2008
And so we arrive yet again at the end of another year. 2008 was at best a mixed bag – while the world was electrified by the US election and it’s promise of change, the global economy was shaken to its core as a decade of financial mismanagement and willful blindness finally caught up with us. Gas prices spiked, leading us all to ask some difficult questions about sustainability, …

After some mildly confusing debugging, I finally discovered why my MindMap Viewer was not working with some configurations of Firefox 3, Flash, and Linux or Mac.  I first noticed this myself on Linux a couple weeks ago (Ubuntu / FF3 / Flash 10), and assumed this had something to do with my recent upgrade to Firefox version 3.   Then today, a viewer commented on a recent post that they were seeing the following error on a Mac:
“Flash plugin or Javascript are turned off. Activate both and reload to view the …

I just came across a truly excellent post by Tom at Connecting with NLP:
Tom’s Twelve Laws of Life
1.     SELF-MANAGEMENT AND PEOPLE SKILLS ARE THE KEYS TO YOUR SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS.
2.     YOU ARE AT THE CENTER OF YOUR UNIVERSE. STAY THERE!
3.     WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT MOST IS WHAT YOU GET.
4.     YOU MAKE YOUR HABITS AND THEN YOUR HABITS MAKE YOU.
5.     GUILT ENSLAVES YOU. RESPONSIBILITY LIBERATES YOU.
6.     “OBLIGATIONS” ARE A FRAUD.
7.     EXPECT LESS FROM OTHERS AND MORE FROM YOURSELF.
8.     NOBODY WAKES UP IN THE MORNING CHOOSING TO BE THE VILLAIN.
9.     THERE IS …

Last week I posted about LiteMind’s Personal Excellence Tips Project.  I ended up submitting an entry (#51), and have to say it was tough to pick *one* single best tip.  But, here’s what I came up with:
Set aside a specific time each week for personal reflection.
Having a consistent weekly review is one of the most powerful ways to better focus your attention, realign your priorities, and make sure you’re making progress towards your goals. Block off 30-45 minutes at the end of each week, ask questions, and write down your …

Luciano at LiteMind has a great idea: Simply submit your *best* personal excellence tip!  The person with the best tip can win up to $449USD in prizes.  This was actually a very tough exercise.   It was hard to pick one single tip that rises above the rest.  But, I did it and submitted my result.  The deadline for submission is tomorrow, the final posts will be presented on 12/1, votes will be cast by 12/8, and the winner will be announced by 12/10.
I had at least 5-6 ideas on what …

There has been a lot of buzz lately surround Mindjet’s latest release of their flagship product: MindManager v8. For a great review and highlight of the new features, check out Chuck Frey’s review. I haven’t had the opportunity to review the latest version yet, but from what I’ve read there are a lot of great new features..
The one feature that I’m especially pleased (ok, very excited) about is the ability to export your mindmap and share via their flash player. For quite a while, I’ve been advocating …

It’s been over a month, and I’m finally spending more time getting plugged back into the good ole’ blogosphere. I spent some time last night catching up on some of my favorite blogs, and was pleasantly surprised to find a great article (posted a few weeks ago) on LiteMind - How to be Great: Rising Above the Talent Myth. Here’s an excerpt:
“A genius! For 37 years I’ve practiced fourteen hours a day, and now they call me a genius!” –Pablo Sarasate (Spanish violinist)

Think of the greatest …

http://www.worldhistory-poster.com/en/
Over the last couple years, I’ve collected links to a number of sites that offer timeline-based browsing and thought I would share. Many of these sites are quite helpful for a number of areas of research, and help put many events into context and historical perspective:
From Cave Paintings to the Internet (Formerly From Gutenberg to the Internet)
http://historyofscience.com/G2I/timeline/
Timeline Index
http://www.timelineindex.com/content/home.php
World History Timeline Poster (Amazing)
http://www.worldhistory-poster.com/en/
Adventures in Philosophy: History of Philosophy Timeline
http://radicalacademy.com/diahistphil.htm

Ah, I’m sure that catchy title has your attention. The more in depth title is “Gmail is worse than stupidity OR Cloud computing is a trap”. Or, so says GNU founder Richard Stallman.
The concept of using web-based programs like Google’s Gmail is “worse than stupidity”, according to a leading advocate of free software.
Cloud computing – where IT power is delivered over the internet as you need it, rather than drawn from a desktop computer – has gained currency in recent years. Large internet and technology companies including Google, …

Well, I’m off to Pennsylvania tomorrow and will be spending time with friends and family for the next 5 days. I plan to be less “plugged-in” than usual. But, I’m sure I’ll be Twittering away and catching up on my RSS feeds.
I have a *ton* of blog posts I want to get done by the end of the year. I may spend some of my supposed down time fleshing out my fountain of ideas. Stay tuned!