Find Meaningful Work

This is kinda obscure and not a clear how-to guide or anything of the sort. The Tyee, which I’ve started to read on a semi-regular basis, has a post about a 22 year old who has no idea what he’s doing with his life. I’m still doing that and I’m older (but not by much). I just know what I won’t do, and yes I acknowledge to even be in such a position is huge privilege.

This fellow is more active than I am though:

My name is Sean Aiken and like many others in my generation, I can’t tell you what it is that I want to do with my life. Help me figure it out by offering me a One Week Job. I am travelling throughout North America working a different job each week. All my wages are donated to the Make Poverty History/ONE Campaign.” (At the time of posting, $8,431.60 has been raised).

Easily get Inspired to Make Change

Previously I’ve posted about getting into the action habit and hopefully everyone is now action-orientated. I’m still trying to get into the habit. To help me get into that good habit I should be eating 11 foods that will kick start my day in the right mood, but I’m vegetarian which cuts some foods from that list. So it goes.

If you’re in a slump there’s no reason to fret as there are 16 things you can do to “get off your butt”!

Even the most motivated of us — you, me, Tony Robbins — can feel unmotivated at times. In fact, sometimes we get into such a slump that even thinking about making positive changes seems too difficult.

But it’s not hopeless: with some small steps, baby ones in fact, you can get started down the road to positive change.

Yes, I know, it seems impossible at times. You don’t feel like doing anything. I’ve been there, and in fact I still feel that way from time to time. You’re not alone. But I’ve learned a few ways to break out of a slump, and we’ll take a look at those today.

Keep it Cool with no Energy

The other day in Vancouver I was discussing the inefficiencies of refrigeration and now it seems kinda freaky that the headline “MAGNETIC REFRIGERATOR NEEDS NO ELECTRICITY” appeared on my monitor the next day. To get straight to the meat of the matter:

The new method uses opposing magnetic fields to increase the temperature of the materials employed. The heat energy is transported through a non-volatile fluid, such as water, and then thermodynamically reversed to a cold temperature. The scientists have already been able to cool a 20° C room to 11°C using the new technology.

Learn More by Studying Less

I’m back in Toronto now and discovered a bunch of people are starting their school year; so to celebrate their return to education I figured a post on studying is needed.

The ever helpful ZenHabits strikes again with a good overview of how to study and retain knowledge. They focus on a holistic approach to studying, which may or may not work for you. The key is to figure out what does work for you and role with it.

For example, the last thing they suggest happens to be a waste of my studying time but the same thing is essential for one of my friends:

Write – Take a piece of paper and write out the connections in the information. Reorganize the information into different patterns. The key here is the writing, not the final product. So don’t waste your time making a pretty picture. Scribble and use abbreviations to link the ideas together.

Green Computing is Open Source

Using opensource technology is better for the environment. Yay for free stuff and protecting that thing I love!

Free software is often usable on older hardware, more secure, more easily customized, less expensive, and available in more languages. These are substantial benefits, but they are all a natural result of the most important considerations—freedom and independence. The celebrated power of the Internet as a tool for political action depends on the ability of ordinary people to have uncensored control over the tools they use to participate in society. If the tools used by activists are proprietary, they will be inherently limited in what they can challenge and change by those who make and exclusively own the tools.