YouTube - The Hipster PDA in Wordplay

In the Will Shortz crossword puzzle documentary, Wordplay, Merl Reagle discusses how he uses index cards to collect and track ideas on the go.

[ via: The Hipster PDA in Wordplay - Lifehacker ]

I love two things in particular about this.

A few months back Mike Harris wrote us up a great article on Remind, a very cool and flexible little UNIX app for tracking date-based events. If you enjoy Remind and are using Tiger (OS X 10.4), checkout Nick Vargish’s Remind Widget. Gives you all the power of Remind in a pretty and configurable package. Great work, Nick!

Unclutterer: Paper clutter begone, part 4

Handy tips on what to shred and when.

Shred Now:

• Credit card applications
• Any piece of unwanted paper that contains: addresses, account numbers or access information, birth dates, budgets, copies of “never shred” documents listed below, drivers license numbers, employment information, envelopes and address labels, estimates, legal papers, luggage tags, medical information, passwords, report cards, signatures, social security numbers, transcripts, travel itineraries, used airline tickets, and anything you wouldn’t feel comfortable having a stranger read
• Expired credit cards, bank cards, passports, visas, and identification cards (college, military, employee badges, etc.)
• Credit checks on tenants or other home employees (contractors, nannies, etc.) immediately after evaluating the information

And I couldn't agree more about picking up the best, fastest, securest, and highest-volume shredder you can afford. If you buy purely on price (picking up one of those drug store models that's the size of a guest bathroom's wastebasket), you'll regret it immediately.

Treat yourself to a multi-page monster that can gobble CDs and staples, and you're much more likely to use it in a regular and timely manner -- as in every day, when you pick up that pile of credit card applications with your info all over them. As suggested, I second the motion to shred that crap the second it arrives.

Putting Geeks in Context

43folders.com - One way around the geek's problem with GTD contexts? Step away from the computer. (4:37)

More at Odeo.com...

I get IE Error_ cannot open the internet site operation aborted

Fix at this site: http://www.nirmaltv.com/2007/08/08/how-to-fix-internet-explorer-cannot-open-the-internet-site-operation-aborted-error/

detail below:

It is hard to believe that I am the only one receiving this error. So I got into Firefox to post this message.

I normally read the site in my RSS Reader, but for videos I have to come to the site.

Here is a site I found with a fix to your javascript:

MacBreak 38: Path Finder

As promised, here's the latest video podcast episode of MacBreak, in which Leo and I have a look at Path Finder, an application by Cocoatech that (in my opinion) handsomely compensates for many of the deficits in the current OS X Finder. It also has a ton of cool features, preferences, and geegaws that most any Mac nerd will love.

New to me in this episode: according to Leo, Woz (cough) likes Path Finder, too. Cool!

Finally, here's some earlier coverage of Path Finder on 43f.

Direct downloads of Episode 38:

• Standard video (450p)
• HD version (1080p)

Subscribe to MacBreak for free

• iPod version (Subscribe in iTunes)
• 1080p (HD) version

Money-Saving Secrets: RealSimple.com

This article from the March, 2006 Real Simple has some handy tips on plugging the "money leaks" in your life. Leaks to plug include:

• Paying bills by snail mail
• Paying the minimum on credit cards
• A cell-phone plan that doesn’t match your needs
• Eating out on vacations

You can't spell "success" without "suck." A technology update full of laughter, tears, and Yosemite Sam-like hollerin'. And you might just learn something.

Anil's post was swell, and I think I agree with almost all of it (esp. the meeting-up part), but it did freak me out just a little. So, I think it's time to do our exercise that helps keep the line between reality and fantasy a little less blurry; I'm glad everybody's digging the site and checking out the GTD book, but I feel like I should clear a few things up before this gets too weird.

First off, to paraphrase Clarke’s Third Law, “Any sufficiently advanced system that makes you re-examine your basic assumptions is indistinguishable from a cult.” GTD makes people enthusiastic because it satisfies their lizard brain and gives them an outlet for turning anxiety into action. There are no robes, no secret handshakes, and the most important article in the liturgy is arguably a modestly priced Label Maker. People just get into it because it freaking works, and because it returns a modicum of control in a world where handles on life can be slippery to grasp. That’s really it, I swear.