International No Diet Day Today

Are you putting your life on hold until you lose weight? On May 6, 2007, in celebration of International No Diet Day, people in cities and towns around the globe will join a one-day moratorium on weight-loss dieting sponsored by an international coalition of health professionals, activists and community groups.

Originated in 1992 by Mary Evans Young, the director of a British activist group called Diet breakers, International No Diet Day was established to challenge the cultural attitudes and values that contribute to chronic dieting, weight preoccupation, eating disorders, and size discrimination. Participants will wear light blue ribbons symbolizing the day's goals. These include:

1. increasing public awareness of the dangers and futility of dieting, weight loss surgery, and obsession with thinness;

2. affirming that beauty, health and fitness come in ALL sizes, and everybody's right to eat normally, enjoy physical activity and emotional well-being;

3. helping change the way people of size are perceived and treated by society.

INDD is celebrated worldwide. In past years, events have been held in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, Norway, South Africa and Russia. These events have included scale smashing and recycling, a diet relics museum, picnics and eat-ins, street theater, protests at weight-loss surgery and diet centers, official government proclamations naming May 6 No Diet Day in cities and states, educational forums, petitions and demonstrations in support of size rights legislation, exhibits of size-positive art and photography, size-friendly fashion shows and diet-free dances.

For more information, contact:

Official INDD web site: http://www.largesse.net/INDD/

People Are Strange

Look around you...your family, friends, people y0u work with. Don't you get the feeling sometimes that surely some of them might have a mental disorder that was just never diagnosed? Well, psychiatrists come across all sorts of mental disorders in their daily routine. This website contends that it has the ten most interesting. Makes for an interesting read, at least.

10 Most Interesting, Strangest Mental Disorders

[via sciencenewsden.com]

iPod Saves Soldier's Life

Tired of seeing everyone with an iPod these days? Think they're just a little too ubiquitous, a little too trendy? I bet this guy has a different story...via Flickr.

iPod Saves Soldier's Life

iTunes Plug-In: DockArt

Here's a little Friday fun in honor of the upcoming weekend. I got tipped to this via the TUAW. It's a plug-in to use with iTunes called DockArt, and it does something pretty cool when you install it. It simply displays the album cover art (if you have it) of the iTunes track currently playing in your dock. Pretty sweet, huh? Oh, and it's free. Gotta have, now.

System requirements listed for the plugin are: iTunes 4.1 or higher, and QuickTime 6.4 or higher. Apparently, the latest version available does work with the latest release of iTunes, 7.1

DockArt

Advice For The PC-to-Mac Switchers

If you've recently made the switch to an Apple Mac after using Windows exclusively, or even if you've just added a Mac to the fold, you may feel like you'll never learn your way around the system. Everything seems so foreign, and you think to yourself "Wow, I didn't think the learning curve was gonna be this steep!" Relax. Take a breath. Although doing things the "Mac way" takes a little time to learn, you'll be a pro in no time. You actually know more than you think from your Win ways, it just has a slightly different spin on a Mac.

A nice article detailing equivalents between Macs and PCs when it comes to keyboard commands, terminology, and other ways to help you familiarize yourself with not just a machine, but a new friend can be found at Apple Matters. As a matter of fact, it's written so well that I am forwarding a copy to myself to be used in training the student workers at our university help desk. Enjoy that Mac!

A Switcher's Guide to Windows and Mac Differences and Equivalents

What's New in iTunes 7.1

Apple released an update to iTunes for all users yesterday, bringing folks up to iTunes 7.1. New features were promised in this release such as full-screen Cover Flow (album art) and support for AppleTV. There is a good article on the update on the iLounge site (for everything iPod).

Instant Expert: Secrets & Features of iTunes 7.1

Tips For Constructing A Tech Resume'

I work at the Help Desk for a university in Ohio, and the student workers at our desk sometimes ask me to look over resumes they are constructing, some for the first time. They are interested in jobs in IT, but are unsure how to construct a useful techie resume. I came across this blog post today from someone in the industry, who looks at tons of these types of resumes all the time. He uses the name Rands, but it's not his real name. As he explains in his 'About' section:

My personal weblog. No, Rands is not my real name. I use my real name as a full time engineering manager of teams that designs phenomenal software. Yeah, that's me in the logo. I hadn't shaved in some time. My hair is longer now.

I've been writing here since April of 2002. I tend to write about four significant pieces a month, but changes depending on shipping schedules. Content varies from thoughts of being an engineering manager in Silicon Valley to writing to Vegas.

He passes on some interesting insights into what he's looking for in a techie resume, such as:

The terrifying reality regarding your resume is that for all the many hours you put into fine-tuning, you've got 30 seconds to make an impression on me. Maybe less.

It's unfair, it's imprecise, and there's a good chance that I make horrible mistakes, but there's a lot more of you than me, and while hiring phenomenal teams is the most important thing I do, I'm balancing that task with the fact that I need to build product and manage the endless stream of people walking into my office.

Lots to learn here, if you're writing your very first resume as a college student, or even if you've been around for a while, and just need to blow the dust off your current resume. Check it out!

Rands in Repose: A Glimpse and a Hook

New Apple iPhone Ad

It made its debut on the Academy Awards broadcast last night, and now Apple has it posted on their website; the initial teaser ad for the new Apple iPhone, due out in June. Teaser, in that it doesn't discuss specific features; heck, you don't even see the phone or the name of it until the very end of the spot. But, that's just like Apple, and that phone is beautiful...

No, you don't think so?

Hello?!?!!

iPhone Ad Spot

Mac OS X: Display the Date in the Menu Bar

Problem: You want to display the current date along with the current time in your Mac OS X menu bar. However, the OS doesn't allow you to do this.

Solution: With a little work in OS 10.4 or later, you can use the International Formats area to get the job done. Feeling adventurous? MacInstruct shows you how to get the job done, step by step. Wonderful job; I'll be using this right away. Take a cruise to the home page and check out their other tutorials. The interface is easy on the eyes, too.

MacInstruct: How To Display The Date In The Menu Bar

Creating An OS X-Bootable Flash Drive

When it comes to troubleshooting hardware and software problems, you usually would like to keep the main hard drive of your system free, so that you can run diagnostic programs on it. Hard to do when you need to boot from that main hard drive. Having a version of the operating system on a flash drive would be ideal. The folks over in Windows XP-land have had this option available to them for a while, but no well-presented solution had been available for us on the OS X-continent. Until now.

Brad Bergeron explains in this blog post how you can create a bootable version of OS X on your own flash drive. Besides the fact that you can troubleshoot with it, you can also pop it in someone else's Mac, choose the flash drive for startup, and work within your own environment on apps and docs. Brad says you'll need at least a 1 GB flash drive to make it happen, but with the prices of flash drives coming down every day, I'd say 2 GB or better would get you more elbow room. Flash drives run faster, cooler, and might just help you out in a pinch someday. I'm going to create one myself as soon as possible.

HOWTO: Install and Boot OS X on a Flash Drive

Collision Detection: Science and More

I came across this blog on the way to something else entirely today. You know how that goes? Of course you do. In essence, that's what this whole blog is about, fun snippets of info I find on the web. But it's even more fun when I find it unintentionally, then I can't tear my eyes away from it until I read a the majority of this new page I'm on.

So it was when I found Clive Thompson's blog. From his intro, he writes on:

[...] science, technology, and culture. This blog collects weird research I'm running into, and musings thereon.

He also writes occasional articles for the New York Times and Wired, amongst others. His writing style is fresh and breezy, and he explains complex science concepts in easy-to-understand language. He recently posted on a medical study of sword-swallowing injuries, and one on a study about how just thinking about losing weight might help the body actually lose weight. Not all of these are original by him -- he finds interesting and unique articles from all around the web. But wow, if it isn't a compelling read. Go check it out yourself.

collision detection: a blog of clive thompson

Google Gmail: Now You Can Invite Yourself!

Regular readers of this blog know what an e-mail junkie I am. And when it comes to personal e-mail, nothing beats the ease and convenience of Google's Gmail. Once you were in the beta program (being invited by another beta user), you knew you were cool when you were awarded your "invites" to share with others, and bring them into the Gmail fold.

Well, I'll have to redefine that particular term for cool. Why? You can now sign up for your own account without an invite! That's right! If you haven't had the pleasure yet of getting your very own Gmail account (hello scads of room; goodbye to trashing email to make room for new), then hie thyself over to Gmail.com this instant! Yes, I know you have other e-mail accounts...I do, too. One for work, one on Yahoo!, one somewhere else...but trust me, you'll love the look and feel of Gmail, from its labels to the Google Talk feature.

There, I'm done now. Move along. Nuthin' to see here...Enjoy!

Google Mail (Gmail)

[Edited to correct my error: I originally posted that Gmail was out of beta. Nope. The new part is just the ability to signup for an account without an invite from someone else first. Thanks for the heads-up, Sebira! See first comment below.]

Boomers, Part Deux: The Boomer Chronicles

You can't keep a good Baby Boomer down, especially when the writing is crisp and funny. And so it was that Rhea commented on my I Remember JFK post here. She has a wonderful blog herself titled The Boomer Chronicles. I stopped by, took a look, and was educated and entertained at the same time. Always a good combination. I highly recommend that you take a look yourself!

The Boomer Chronicles

Free Fonts? Sure. How about 9800?

Every now and then you're putting together a flier or other advertisement, and want to crank the creativity up a bit by using a font different than the same-old, same-old. I keep looking out for free font sites, and there are a few out there. Here's a good recent find. 9800 free true-type fonts. You can type in a line of text to see how it appears, and then click to download the font to your system. Once downloaded, us Mac folks will need to drop the .ttf file into your hard drive > Library > Fonts folder. You Windows folks should know what to do with yours ;)

9800 Free Fonts

"Essential" Mac Apps

Every now and then, a Mac fan comes up with a list of essential, "must-have" applications that all true Macolytes should have on their systems. I'm sure the same goes for the Windows crew as well, but you'd have to check their blogs to be sure. In any case, a good app-list came up on a blog, and a lot of folks commented on the list, but then the list stayed stagnant, and some of the app pages disappeared. That's where Peter Baer Galvin stepped in, on his Peter Baer Galvin's Blog:

Mac Specialist posted a great list of essential Mac OS X Applications here, and it caused lots of discussion on the topic. Unfortunately they never revised the list based on this input and now it takes quite a lot of effort to navigate through the list and all the comments. I thought I’d take a run at creating a new “consensus” list starting from theirs and adding all of the other input.

And so he did. I believe I have even posted a Mac app list here at least once, but if you want a great list of goodies to potentially use on your Mac, I'd take a gander at the list he's put together.

"Consensus" "Essential" Mac OS X Applications

Apple iPhone: The New Swiss Army Knife?

What? You're thinking about not buying an Apple iPhone when it comes out in June? How could you! Don't you know it's so much more than a phone?

Vidmeter: Capturing The Online Video Zeitgeist

So you hear about them all the time on the 'net -- viral videos. What are they, exactly?

Well, according to Wikipedia:

The term viral video refers to video clip content which gains widespread popularity through the process of Internet sharing, typically through email or IM messages, blogs and other media sharing websites. Viral videos are often humorous in nature and may range from televised comedy sketches such as Saturday Night Live's Lazy Sunday to unintentionally released amateur video clips like Star Wars kid.

Now sure, you could run around to all the different web sites that feature online video to get your daily fix, but wouldn't it be nice if there were a website devoted to gathering all that info for you, then ranking the most popular stuff out there? The internet, at your service. Vidmeter brings together the Top 100 videos online at any particular moment, for your viewing pleasure. One-stop shopping? I like it. Standard-issue warning applies here: The Top 100 videos can be in any category, and some may be for mature eyes and ears only. View at your own discretion. Enjoy!

Vidmeter

Baby-Boomer Reminiscing

"...we'll go dancing in the dark, walking through the park, and reminiscing." ~Reminiscing, Little River Band

Major life events compel us to mark them in a way that you can easily describe what you were doing at that point. Remember the Challenger disaster? Hurricane Katrina? The Stock Market crash? ...and so on. One of the most indelible moments in time if you happen to be a Baby Boomer was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I remember hearing adults talk about this time when I was growing up, and they always said they remembered where they were, what they were doing, even the topic of the conversation when they heard the awful news.

Well, the premise of being of age to remember JFK's death is the idea behind the I Remember JFK website, albeit with more pleasurable memories. Here you can go back to your childhood and read about such recently-discussed topics as: 45 inserts, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, and baseball cards. Each article posted has room for comments, and even if you aren't quite of the age to remember JFK (I missed it by a mere couple of years), you'll find plenty of essays on items you do remember from days gone by.

I Remember JFK: A Baby Boomer's Pleasant Reminiscing Spot

Ultimate Console Database

Hello, video game fans. Having grown up in the 70's myself, I've been around gaming consoles since the early, pre-Atari 2600 days. I remember getting one from Sears that had ping-pong and hockey on it, and my siblings and I were in heaven...then came the Atari 2600, and it blew our socks off.

But I digress. If you're into perusing the history of video game consoles, and perhaps reminiscing over an old console system you or a friend used to own, then look no further than the Ultimate Console Database, collecting information from every system the author could get his hands on. He's still working on some sections, so your input is vital if you owned some of these old systems. But it is amazing what is here. I remember my nephew having a 3-D, short-lived version of the GameBoy called 'VirtualBoy' -- it's here. And one I thought I'd never find, called "MicroVision" by Milton Bradley, right there in the 'Portables' section. Groovy! Check it out...

Ultimate Console Database

MacWorld Expo Keynote Wrap-Up: AppleTV and iPhone

Yes, it was an exciting time on January 9th at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, as Steve Jobs rolled out two new technologies that Apple has been working on during his keynote speech. Interestingly enough, this didn't include any new computer hardware or software releases (no new laptops, desktops, or any news on the next version of the OS software, code-named Leopard). Instead, Steve started with news about how well the iPod is doing around the world, and that 85 songs a *second* are being sold on iTunes. He also mentioned that TV shows are selling well, and that Paramount Studios have now come on board, joining the Walt Disney Company in selling full-length movies over iTunes.

He then moved into speaking about a technology that he briefly introduced this past fall called iTV (now officially launched as AppleTV). This is something that owners of big-screen TVs will enjoy. It's a square, smallish box that sits near your TV, and has all sorts of audio and video out, so you can connect it to your home theater sounds system and your big-screen HD TV. It has a 40GB hard drive in it, and its primary function is to take content from your Mac (music, movies, photos), and wirelessly broadcast it through AppleTV and onto your TV. It comes with a simple remote that allows you to, for example, get on your laptop/desktop, go to iTunes, browse and buy a movie online, then beam it to AppleTV, where you can then relax on the sofa while the movie plays on your big-screen TV. Same goes for listening to music through your stereo speakers, and showing cool photo presentations. Not bad, though this is something I would definitely wait for until you can afford a big-screen HDTV to justify the cost.

Then Steve moved on to the big announcement of the day. He slyly introduced it by saying "today, Apple is pleased to announce three new technologies that we think will change the world, and the industry. One is a new widescreen iPod with touch controls; one is a new mobile phone, and one is a breakthrough Internet communications device with email, web browsing, maps, and searching." Then he went on to drop the bomb. It was all in the same device. Today, Apple introduced the iPhone.

To describe it here would take multiple paragraphs, so please make sure to check it out online. But basically, it's a mobile phone (the carrier is Cingular) that is all one big screen that fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. There are no physical, plastic buttons on the phone, but instead, it uses a touch technology and menus displayed on-screen. It also is an iPod, ready to play songs from your iTunes connection, because it uses a dock to connect itself to iTunes just like your iPod does now. It can do email, and it can browse the web. It has built-in wireless available, that kicks in automatically whenever you're near a WiFi connection. You can browse web pages, check forecasts, view satellite maps, do Google searches, and more. All with a minimum of fuss to get to anything. It even has a built-in 2 megapixel camera on the back. They will begin shipping the phone this June, though both the Apple Store and Cingular stores. There will be two configurations at the start -- a 4GB and an 8GB version. I wouldn't be surprised to see larger hard drives on future versions. Prices will be $499 and $599, respectively, with a 2-year contract through Cingular. Check it out online...it's truly a breakthrough device.

AppleTV:
http://www.apple.com/appletv/

iPhone:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/

Keynote Address movie stream:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/keynote/