Reducing Eye Strain At The Geek Box

If you’re like me, you probably spend a decent amount of time in front of the computer screen. After a while my eyes begin to get heavy and my levels of productivity and alertness fade.

I caught a glimpse of this article from the tech blog Lifehacker, which gives a lot of useful tips for the day-to-day computer nerd.

Some quick excerpts from the Readers Digest article:

5. Aim your car vents at your feet — not your eyes. Dry, air-conditioned air will suck the moisture out of eyes like a sponge. Aim the vents in your car away from your eyes, or wear sunglasses as a shield. Dry eyes can be more than an inconvenience; serious dryness can lead to corneal abrasions and even blindness if left untreated.

6. Move your computer screen to just below eye level. Your eyes will close slightly when you’re staring at the computer, minimizing fluid evaporation and the risk of dry eye syndrome, says John Sheppard, M.D., who directs the ophthalmology residency program at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia.

8. Walk at least four times a week. Some evidence suggests that regular exercise can reduce the intraocular pressure, or IOP, in people with glaucoma. In one study, glaucoma patients who walked briskly four times per week for 40 minutes lowered their IOP enough so they could stop taking medication for their condition. It’s also possible — although there’s no proof yet — that walking could also reduce your overall risk of developing glaucoma.

I’ll admit, the others don’t have a chance of making into my routine. But none-the-less, I found this article interesting.

Read the full article here: http://www.rd.com/healthy-living/health/easy-ways-to-improve-your-vision/article.html

Name That Tune

This was too much fun doing on Lauren’s facebook note that I just had to try it for myself. Note STEP4.

Step 1: Put your iTunes or equivalent on random.
Step 2: Post the first line (or two) from the first 30 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 3: Bold out the songs when someone guesses correctly.
Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!
Step 5: Have your friends guess the artist and title of each song! Good Luck!

1. “Exodus, movement of da people”

2. “Lord have mercy, father help us all”  (not what you think)

3. “I spent a day by the river, it was quiet and the wind stood still”

4. “Every time I fall down on my face”

5.  “And it feels right this time, on this crash course…”

6.  “Swiiiiiiiiing in this tree…”

7.  “There are many, many crazy things, that will keep me loving you”

8.  “Viene Su, Viene Su, Viene; Come along through the years with me”

9.  “Honey you are a rock, upon which I stand.”

10. “I woke up to the angels singin in my head”

11.  “I’m so bored of little Gods, while standing on the edge of something Large”

12. “You wait in silence, you wait with mercy” (can almost guarantee no one will get this)

13. “Here comes the cold, break out the winter clothes, and find a love to call you own”

14. “Here we are, on earth together”

15. “It’s crazy. I can’t believe it’s you…”

16. “I want to live life, and never be cruel”

17. “You cannot quit me so quickly. There’s no hope in you for me.”

18. “I like to watch you sleep at night, to hear you breathe by my side.”

19. “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time”

20. “I took your picture, with one particular…”

21. “Who can for certain, maybe your still here…”

22. “It’s all the same, only the names will change” (not proud of this one)

23. “I met Jane at the center of the earth.”

24. “Pick me up love, every day”

25. “Somebody’s Heiney is crowning my icebox.”

26. “The summer wind came blowin’ in from across the sea”

27. “Lift up your gaze be lifted up”

28. “There’s no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard”

29. “If I fall along the way, pick me up and dust me off”

30. “See the stone set in your eyes, see the thorn twist in your side”

Best of luck on some of those. I have strange tastes.

technology and consumerism

So today Apple released their new Macbook pro models and Macbooks. Normally I would not care so much, but if you know me, you probably already know that I just recently purchased a Macbook Pro only a few months ago.

The new models have faster processors, an LED backlit display, multi-touch touchpad, larger hard drives, and a better video card. The LED backlit displays mean better energy saving, higher contrast, and brighter overall. The multi-touch is kind of a gimmicky, with the ability to rotate pictures and swipe the touchpad to switch between Spaces. The processors are Intel’s newest and include a .2 Ghz update. This is not much but still an update nonetheless. The standard hard drive is now 200 Gb, compared to 160 only yesterday. The video cards have faster RAM (GDDR3 for those that care).

So, who cares, right? Well I just spent $1800 on my laptop in late November and already my model is the outdated one. The new models have many great features if I had only waited. I mean did I really need one that soon…. maybe. The thing is it just really sucks knowing that you can dish out that much money and still not be on the cutting edge for very long at all.

I think the most upsetting thing to me is the fact that even though is spent $1800 on a machine that before I can pay it off, it will already be outdated. This relates to Clyde’s post on debt, I think. We can never spend enough money. Technology is increasing faster than our wallets. It is never going to be good enough. This is the reason people spend so much money on leasing cars. They pay a monthly payment and never own the car and when the lease is up they immediately get a newer, shinier, better-smelling car. All the while never owning one or being free from the debt. I hope I never get trapped into this sort of thinking, well maybe I am already.

Recently I have been reading in Matthew, and this passage came to mind as I was typing this :

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. – Matthew 6:19-24

This has been on my heart alot lately. I think this summarizes the condition of consumerism and worldly possessions in our lives. I know that I am personally guilty of putting to much worth in worldly things. I think we all struggle with this. The only things that matter are the eternal things, the things that man can not destroy. Jesus says that he will provide, because the birds don’t starve, why would he let us. (Matthew 6:26).The fact is that the only thing we need is HIM.

Andy Rooney Moment #1 (Many Bags)

“The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.” Andy Rooney

So here I am sitting here in the library on campus working on a paper that is due in 2 hours and 40 minutes. I have been distracted by what I will call my Andy Rooney Moment. If you are unfamilar with Andy Rooney you need to watch 60 Minutes on Sundays. Every week Andy has the closing minutes of the show to rant about what ever he wants and well most of the time its just nonsense.

On to my moment. As I am sitting here working on my paper I noticed a few young ladies walking by and sitting down at the table next to me. Here is my issue. Each of them have multiple bags. They have on a backpack, then have a big “Vera” style shoulder bag, and then they have a small handbag purse. Honestly how many bags does one person need to have at a time. They look like they are going on a trip and are trying to navigate through the airport. When they sit down each of them takes up two chairs, one for them and the other for all their bags. I watched as they began unpacking things out of each bag. Out of one comes their books, a laptop out of the other, and then some snacks and a cell phone from the third. I don’t know about you but I have one nice backpack that i carry all of that in.

Is this a new fashion statement, or a sign of the stupidity that is plaguing our college campus’ today. When did life become SO complicated that you have to have multiple bags just to go to class for the afternoon. So I will leave you with this. Simplify your life, take the time to go and buy a good bag that will suit all of your needs.

Now I must go on to my paper about integrated marketing communications and it’s relevance to life today. They young ladies are still sitting there, but now with there coffee slurping so very loudly. Thank God for itunes and my earphones.

Here is a link to Mr. Rooney’s 60 Minutes Commentaries… You should check them out… they will make your day!

Middle Class – Large but not in charge

So I found this video very interesting. It discusses the problem with our middle class today, arguing that the media portrays the middle class to worse off than it really is. This video argues that the middle class can afford hummers, 50 ft boats, and spend time vacationing. All while having everyday mediocre jobs. This is a false premise also. The question that was not addressed was “You have all this, but what amount of debt are you in?”

The middle class is on this bubble of false wealth that soon will burst. Yes, middle class people are living better than they ever have, but at a much higher price. The amount of debt and the rate at which people are being charged for their debt is alarming.

Here are some stats from creditcard.com

Total US consumer debt (which includes installment debt, but not mortgage debt) reached $2.46 Trillion in June 2007, up from $2.398 Trillion at the end of 2006 (Source: Federal Reserve)
• Total US consumer revolving debt reached $904 Billion in June 2007, up from $879 billion at the end of 2006 (Source: Federal Reserve)
• The median U.S. household income is currently $43,200 and the typical family’s credit card balance is now almost 5 percent of their annual income.  (Source: Federal Reserve)
• Of the households that do owe money on credit cards, the median balance was $2,200 — meaning half owe more, half less. (Source: MSN Money)
• 8.3 percent of households owe $9,000 or more on their cards  (Source: MSN Money)
• Approximately 40 percent of credit card users paid their balance in full each month in 2006  (Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia)

Considering this, debt is affecting people now at a much earlier age. The cost of education and the drive to have the latest and greatest, add to that the ease and convienence of student loans and credits, you have a growing debt among young adults.

USA Today posted an article about this and here is some of what they had to say;

Student-loan balances rose 16% to an average of $14,379; revolving debt, including credit cards, surged 24% to $5,781; and total installment debt, including student and personal loans, rose 4% to $17,208. (Comparisons are adjusted for inflation.)

Among all twentysomethings, the fastest-growing group owes $20,000 or more in student-loan debt. Though it’s a small group, its proportion has doubled in the past five years to 3%.

“This debt-for-diploma system is strangling our young people right when they’re starting out in life,” says Tamara Draut, author of Strapped: Why America’s 20- and 30- Somethings Can’t Get Ahead. “It’s creating a sense of futility that no matter what they do, they’re not going to be able to get ahead. It’s a sense of hopelessness.”

The middle class is not in great shape, and they are not in bad shape, but they are trapped in the middle class life that most long to be out of. The credit companies have exploited the middle class far too long and it is about to catch up with them. Take the recent burst in the housing market.  The bad practices of exploiting the average home buyer has caught up with them and caused many companies to enter a period of distress.

The news isn’t completely wrong, nor completely right. The day of middle class is ongoing, but when it comes to an end, this nation is going to be hurt and in need of a lot of repair. Can our politicians do something to fix this now? We will have to wait and see.

Vodpod videos no longer available. from reason.tv posted with vodpod

Jumping off a bridge.

I’ll go first. No problem.

For those of you who don’t know already, this blog is meant to serve as an outpost for, uh, whatever. I’ve had a few blogs in the past. Most of them angered my friends more than I would have liked. Well, let me rephrase. I didn’t mind that it angered them so much, but it was never the intention. You see, if I’m going to talk about something, I want to raise a discussion about it. Faith is a great topic for this, but an unfortunately passionate one for too many people, leading to, well nearly the loss of a few friends.

It’s not so hard to believe that people can become to passionate and outraged about the things they hold dear to them, but the internet is a really bad forum for these types of discussions. The first reason, I believe, is that it gives them too much freedom to rant on about something without giving me the chance to say ‘Woah, wait a minute now, that’s not what I’m saying!’ Needless to say, my two short times blogging were fun but powerful learning lessons as what not to say on the internet.

But passion is what drives me to write, talk, yell, scream at the top of my lungs. Passion is what drives so many people to succeed. Passion can destroy the world. Passion can save it, too. Passion should save it, but all too often it’s used for evil and not good. This blog will be the passion outlet for several of us, and not necessarily just for faith or life’s journey. Everything from tech, to road rage, to food, to movies, to books, to music, to… yeah I’m going to stop now.

So here we are. You and I. I’m writing this crap, and once again, you’re reading it. I almost feel bad for you. I say almost because I really enjoy looking at the site statistics you all generate by reading this mindless garbage. So I’m okay with you being here, wasting precious moments of your life that I can’t give back to you. Suckers.

There it is. I’ve jumped off the bridge with my friends yet again. Back to blogging. Talk at you later.