9 Effective Ways to Get 200% More Work Done

“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.”
- Paul J. Meyer

1. Get ready the night before.

2. Don’t go through your day in a random, use your to-do list.

3. Set timers, they can be a huge help.

4. Know yourself.

5. Cut the main barrier of productivity, your clutter.

6. Do whatever you can to eliminate unnecessary interruptions.

7. Stop trying to be a super hero, and delegate as much as possible.

8. Take some time off from work.

9. Get something done, even if it’s small.

Dutchman's Noah's Ark opens doors

A half-sized replica of the biblical Noah's Ark has been built by a Dutch man, complete with model animals.

Dutch creationist Johan Huibers built the ark as testament to his literal belief in the Bible.



The ark, in the town of Schagen, is 150 cubits long - half the length of Noah's - and three storeys high. A cubit was about 45cm (18in) long.

The ark opened its doors on Saturday, after almost two years' construction, most of it by Mr Huiber himself.



Mr Huibers, a contractor, built the ark out of cedar and pine - because Biblical scholars are still not sure as to which type of wood was used in the ark's construction.

Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras and bison are included in the ark's interior.

There's a short news video here.

via Arbroath

Amazing Hubble Photo

NGC 6302: Big, Bright, Bug Nebula
Credit: A. Zijlstra (UMIST) et al., ESA, NASA

Explanation: The bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth's night sky are often named for flowers or insects, and NGC 6302 is no exception. With an estimated surface temperature of about 250,000 degrees C, the central star of this particular planetary nebula is exceptionally hot though -- shining brightly in ultraviolet light but hidden from direct view by a dense torus of dust. Above is a dramatically detailed close-up of the dying star's nebula recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope. Cutting across a bright cavity of ionized gas, the dust torus surrounding the central star is in the upper right corner of this view, nearly edge-on to the line-of-sight. Molecular hydrogen has recently been detected in this hot star's dusty cosmic shroud. NGC 6302 lies about 4,000 light-years away in the arachnologically correct constellation Scorpius.

via Astronomy Picture of the Day

Sea Organ - Pipe Organ Played by the Sea

Thanks to the Sea Organ project, the inhabitants of Zadar have been restored once more to their relation with the sea. Chaotic reconstruction work undertaken in an attempt to repair the devastation Zadar suffered in the World War II turned much of the sea front into an unbroken, monotonous concrete wall. Now, the inviting white marble steps lead down to the water. Concealed under these steps, which both protect and invite, is a system of polyethylene tubes and a resonating cavity that turns the site into a huge musical instrument, played by the wind and the sea.

The Sea Organ (morske orgulje) is seventy meters long with thirty-five organ pipes built under the concrete. The pipes are located so that the sea water and wind movements produce sounds that are heard by passers by so that it achieves a communication with nature and promotes a unity of architecture and environment. As sea forces and energies are unpredictable in terms of tides and winds, this organ offers never-ending concert of numerous music variations in which the performer is nature itself.

Listen to some sounds of the Sea Organ

He's Only in 8th Grade

Somewhere between high school-level math classes, jazz band practice and water polo, eighth-grader Zachary Blumenfeld found time to do the near impossible.

Zach, a 14-year-old from Lincolnshire, earned a perfect score of 36 on his ACT college entrance exam, a feat accomplished by less than 1 percent of test takers.

“It is pretty much all my friends can talk about when they come up to me lately,” Zach said. “But I don’t really see the big deal. I mean, it is a high school test and I’m only in eighth grade.”

Because he is in eighth grade, the score is even more remarkable, said Kristin Crouse, spokeswoman for ACT.

In the last decade, only one other eighth-grader scored a 36.

Zachary Blumenfeld, an eighth grader at Daniel Wright Junior High School in Lincolnshire, scored a perfect 36 on the national ACT test. The last time an eighth grader in the country achieved this honor was nine years ago. (Glbert Boucher II/Daily Herald)

“It is rare to start with, but having an eighth-grader get a perfect score is almost impossible,” Crouse said.

The ACT consists of tests in English, mathematics, reading and science.

Zach first took the ACT as a seventh-grader and scored a 34.

While that would thrill most, Zach knew he could do better.

“I’m sort of a perfectionist and just wanted to do it again,” Zach said. “I’m very pleased with my results this time, but it really doesn’t matter. I’m not in high school and I’m not applying to college. I mostly just do this for kicks.”

Katrina Bruley, assistant superintendent for instruction at Lincolnshire-Prairie View Elementary District 103, said it is common for students at Wright Junior High School to take college placement exams.

“Some eighth-graders perform better than you would expect them to,” Bruley said. “But I have never known of an eighth-grader to get a perfect score.”

This year’s ACT exam came at the heels of the SAT Zach took in January.

His score there was notable as well with 2,200 of 2,400 points..

Despite his perfect ACT score and nearly perfect SAT score, Zach will likely have to retest before applying to Stanford, his father Lee’s alma mater, where he wants to go to pursue a career in broadcast journalism.

Zach’s mother, Susan, doesn’t expect him to struggle when he tests for college.

“He didn’t even study and did the practice test once just to make sure he timed it right,” his mother said. “What is most amazing is right now he is mostly baffled by what a big deal this is.”

Susan Blumenfeld said Zach’s excitement these days has to do with geography, his favorite subject.

After winning the Illinois State Geography Championship March 30, Zach will compete in the National Geography Bee the week of May 21 in Washington, D.C.

“Personally, I’m much prouder of winning the state geography bee,” Zach said. “I put four years into studying for that, and it finally culminated into a state championship. With the ACT, I think I pretty much got lucky.”

link

Consumerism at its finest

This picture is kind of eerie as you never have this vantage point.

Keyport Eliminates Pocket Jingle

Now this is something Stuie can really use. Although it is not in production yet, I think he should be an early innovator. The Keyport stores six keys into what looks to be a lighter-sized gadget, easily extending and retracting them when needed. Plus, there's RFID and a built-in LED light, as well as keyless entry for your car. In his case, he will probably need 3 or 4 of them . They could be marked home, office, cars and keys I never use but must carry with me.

link

Anyone Interested in a New Phone?

As rumored, RIM is coming out with a new model, the 8830, in May,with 2GB microSD support CDMA / GSM worldphone . The Verizon press release this morning boasted, "The Next Evolution In Global Connectivity with the the BlackBerry 8830 World Edition Smartphone."

What does this mean to the average Blackberry user? On that next wine-tasting trip to Italy, you'll be able to place and receive voice calls from more than 150 countries and send and receive emails in the United States, Canada and more than 60 countries worldwide.

The small print: The BlackBerry 8830 World Edition smartphone will be available on May 14 at Verizon for $299.99 after a $100 rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.

Fast Foods: Ads vs. Reality

Each item was purchased, taken home, and photographed immediately. Nothing was tampered with, run over by a car, or anything of the sort. It is an accurate representation in every case. Shiny, neon-orange, liquefied pump-cheese, and all. [Link]

One Great Ad

The lightbulb on this billboard is equipped with a motion sensor which will light up the bulb whenever someone passes by directly beneath it. Brillant ad! Click on image for a larger view.

link

There's A Fungus Among Us

Mystery fossil turns out to be giant fungus

Scientists have identified the Godzilla of fungi - a giant, prehistoric fossil that has evaded classification for more than a century.

A chemical analysis has shown that the 6-metre-tall organism with a tree-like trunk was a fungus that became extinct more than 350 million years ago.

Known as Prototaxites, the giant fungus has intrigued scientists, who originally thought it was a conifer.


Link New Scientist

Superman Beware

Kryptonite discovered in Serbia

Scientists have discovered a previously unknown type of mineral that have a composition similar to that of kryptonite, as described in the film Superman Returns.

The large green crystals of kryptonite have a devasting affect on the superhero. However, unlike its famous counterpart, the new mineral is white, powdery and not radioactive. And, rather than coming from outer space, the real kryptonite was found in Serbia.

'Towards the end of my research,' says Dr Stanley, 'I searched the web using the mineral's chemical formula, sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide , and was amazed to discover that same scientific name written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film Superman Returns'.

'The new mineral does not contain fluorine and is white rather than green, but in all other respects the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite.

The mineral could be used as a source of lithium, which has many uses including in batteries, or as a source of borate, which is used for cleaning, also known as borax.

link

Robot Transforms Into A Shoe

Here are some nifty sneakers. If you get bored, you can take them off and play with them. I wonder how comfortable they are. Only available in Japan for about $22.

This transformer, which is a collaboration between Takara Tomy and Nike, turns into a mini-sneaker.

via Tokyomango

X-Ray Vision

Evan - You may finally get your wish:



Have you considered that someone could be reading what's on your monitor from a few rooms away? It's unlikely, but possible, as work by Cambridge University computer security researcher Markus Kuhn shows.

Back in 1985, Wim Van Eck proved it was possible to tune into the radio emissions produced by electromagentic coils in a CRT display and then reconstruct the image. The practice became known as Van Eck Phreaking, and NATO spent a fortune making its systems invulnerable to it.

CRTs are now well on the way to being history. But Kuhn has shown that eavesdropping is possible on flat panel displays too. It works slightly differently. With a flat panel display the aim is to tune into the radio emissions produced by the cables sending a signal to the monitor. The on-screen image is fed through the cable one pixel at a time. Because they come through in order you just have to stack them up. And Kuhn has worked out how to decode the colour of each pixel from its particular wave form.

If everything is just right, you can pick up signals from some distance. "I was able to eavesdrop certain laptops through three walls," says Kuhn. "At the CEBIT conference, in 2006, I was able to see the Powerpoint presentation from a stand 25 metres away."

via New Scientist

On text messaging, teen is 2 quick 4 U

H- You missed out:

Thirteen-year-old Morgan Pozgar, of Claysburg, Pennsylvania, was crowned LG National Texting champion on Saturday after she typed "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from "Mary Poppins" in 15 seconds.

"I'm going to go shopping and buy lots of clothes," the teen said after winning her $25,000 prize from the electronics company LG.

Morgan defeated nearly 200 other competitors at the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan to become East Coast champion and then beat West Coast champion Eli Tirosh, 21, of Los Angeles, California.

How many emails are sent each day?

Email is second only to the telephone in terms of the number of worldwide users, but it's nearly impossible to figure exactly how many emails are sent each day.

VeriSign (the exclusive registry for .com and .net domains) estimates (PDF) that there are about 2.25 billion email queries per day. However, because of caching, email queries represent only a fraction of the number of emails sent. And VeriSign doesn't track many huge email-producing domains, such as those that end in .edu. So 2.25 billion is far below the actual number of emails sent every day.

According to a CNN article, in 2001, the International Data Corporation (IDC) predicted the number of emails sent each day would exceed 36 billion by 2005. But in 2003, the IDC reported that 31 billion emails were already being sent daily, and they expected the number to double by 2006. They do offer a recent report that may be more accurate -- and you're welcome to spend the thousands to purchase it!

As best as we can figure then, the number of emails sent each day far exceeds 2.25 billion. It may be approaching 62 billion.

Things Aren't Always as They Seem

Scientists create artificial bones from an inkjet printer

Professor Jake Barralet of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, explained: "The "paper" in our printer is a thin bed of cement-like powder. The inkjets spray the cement with an acid which reacts with it and goes hard.

"That deals with one layer. Then new layers of fresh powder are sprayed on top, and the layers build up to the shape we need."

It takes only ten minutes for the printer, which is the size of about three filing cabinets, to print a typical bone graft.

The printed graft acts as a bridge to allow the body to replace the damaged section with new bone. Crucially, the substance created by the printing process contains the same building blocks as real human bone, allowing the graft to eventually dissolve harmlessly into the body.

Cell Phones Threaten Honeybees

Experts have identified a possible contributory cause of the unexplained and drastic decline in honeybee numbers - mobile phone radiation.

Beekeepers worldwide have reported increasing incidents of "Colony Collapse Disorder", a phenomenon normally evident between late summer and early spring as older bees die, "leaving behind the queen and young workers not yet ready to forage for pollen and nectar and insufficient in number to maintain the colony", as honeybee health specialist Vita puts it.

The scientists placed "cordless-phone docking units, which emit electromagnetic radiation, into beehives". They found that "in some cases, 70 per cent of bees exposed to radiation failed to find their way back to the hive after searching for pollen and nectar".

The US has been particularly hard-hit by CCD. Twenty-four states earlier this year reported "heavy losses", and hives in Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and the UK have also been affected.

Cool Cloud Pics to: Bump Haley's Article Down

These clouds are either:

Cumulonimbus with pileus
- Cumulonimbus incus
- Cumulonimbus mammatus
- Alto cumulus lenticular is
- Kelvin-Helmholtz cirrus
- Alto cumulus
and Cumulonimbus calvus.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to our very own Haley on being accepted to National Honor Society as well as her 4.0 for this quarter.

Oops!

20 endangered rabbits released; 14 promptly eaten

A multi-million dollar project to return the near-extinct rabbit to its natural environment has resulted in 14 endangered rabbits to be killed by predators.

Most of a group of 20 endangered rabbits that were reintroduced to the wild with great fanfare last month have been killed by predators, state officials said.

Only four of the rabbits released on March 13 remained at the Sagebrush Flat Wildlife Area as of Tuesday, said David Hays, pygmy rabbit coordinator for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Hays said two males were removed earlier this month and will be returned at the end of April. The other 14 rabbits are believed to have fallen victim to predators, mainly coyotes, but also hawks and owls, Hays said.

The Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits, small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, eat sagebrush and are the only rabbits in the United States that dig their own burrows.

Hays said the rapid decline in population does not doom the multi-million dollar project to return the near-extinct rabbit to its natural environment. More rabbits will be released in the area, and experts are looking for ways to reduce predation.

"We're taking it week by week. This is valuable learning time," he said.

via Chron

The Keepon Robot

The Keepon robot was developed by Hideki Kozima and programmed by Marek Michalowski, it’s dancing to the song “I Turn My Camera On” by the band Spoon. I love that song.

Bubble bath cure for the pink swans

Usually being in the pink is considered to be a good thing, but not if you are part of the Queen's flock of swans.

The normally pure white birds have been struck by a syndrome - the so-called Pink Feather Flamingo syndrome - that is turning them into passable imitations of their tropical counterparts.

The mystery illness causes the swans not only to change colour but also to lose their waterproof coating, leading the weakest to die from the cold in the winter.



But now, after a two-year investigation, scientists in America have found a solution: a bubble bath using Fairy Liquid. The Regal Swan Team, a research group based in Orlando, Florida, isolated the bacterium responsible for the pink discolouration and discovered that washing the swans with Fairy returned the feathers to their normal colour within two weeks.

Knowing that compounds founds in detergents can help to remove bacteria, they tested several products and concluded that Fairy Liquid successfully removed the microbes.

Shirley Bolin, a member of the US research team, said: "This is a huge breakthrough. We recommend that swan keepers immediately begin collecting the swans and bathe them with the Fairy Liquid."

via Arbroath

Did You Know...

April is National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month! Go out and enjoy a nice sandwich.

Looks Like the Plagues are Starting

Frogs rain down on Serbia:

Traffic came to a halt and locals fled inside after thousands of frogs fell from the sky onto a Serbian village. Residents in Odzaci told local daily Blic they thought the world was coming to an end. Aleksandar Ciric said: "I saw all these small frogs just start raining down. There were thousands of them."

Climatology expert Slavisa Ignjatovic said: "A whirlwind has sucked up the frogs from a lake, the sea or some other body of water somewhere else and carried them along to Odzaci where they have fallen to the ground. It is a recognised scientific phenomenon."

via Ananova

Concert grand piano strikes a tragic note in removal accident

When Laurel and Hardy did it, everyone laughed. But when removal men bungled the delivery of a real-life grand piano costing tens of thousands of pounds, no one was smiling.



The 9ft 6in long Bosendorfer slipped from their grasp, rolled off the back of their lorry and fell 8ft down an embankment, sounding, according to one witness, 'like ten honky-tonk pianos being hit by mallets'.



One of the men clutched his head as the piano, which weighs three-quarters of a ton and - until that moment - had 10,000 moving parts and 97 keys, came to rest upside down.

The disaster happened in front of horrified organisers of the Two Moors music festival in Devon, who had spent two years raising £45,000 to buy the piano. It was due to be the centre-piece of classical performances but is almost certainly beyond repair.

There are more photos here.

Arbroath

First sign of water on planet outside our system

Astronomers have detected water in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system for the first time.

The discovery, announced today, means one of the most crucial elements for life as we know it can exist around planets orbiting other stars.

“We know that water vapor exists in the atmospheres of one extrasolar planet and there is good reason to believe that other extrasolar planets contain water vapor,” said Travis Barman, an astronomer at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona who made the discovery.

HD209458b is a world well-known among planet hunters. In 1999, it became the first planet to be directly observed around a normal star outside our solar system and, a few years later, was the first exoplanet confirmed to have oxygen and carbon in its atmosphere.

Space.com

Smoothie Recipes

Over 101 mouth-watering free smoothie recipes that will not only taste good, give you more energy, but are healthy and good for you as well!

This collection of recipes is perfect for all. Whether you’re looking for a quick and easy nutritious breakfast or a powerful post-workout shake, you’ll find the smoothie recipies you’re looking for.

The PBJ smoothie looked good to me.

Hotel for World Expo 2010

Just another China's Wonder! Arkiteture introduces (via):

The REN Building [in the shape of a walking man] is a proposal for a hotel, sports and conference center for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. The building is conceived as two buildings merging into one. The first building, emerging from the water, is devoted to the activities of the body, and houses the sports and water culture center. The second building emerging from land, is devoted to the spirit and enlightment, and houses the conference center and meeting facilities. The two buildings meet in a 1000 room hotel, a building for living. The building becomes the Chinese sign for ‘The People’, and a recognizable landmark for the World Expo in China.

Pretty cool, huh?!

Sex Differences Found in Stem Cells

Stem cells taken from the muscles of female mice are better at regenerating tissue than those taken from male mice, a new study finds.

This revelation could have a major impact on the development of stem cells as therapies for many diseases and conditions.

The discovery came when scientists who had done many studies with these muscle stem cells realized that all of the ones they had used came from female mice. They then did an experiment with both male and female cells to see if they would perform similarly.

“Regardless of the sex of the host, the implantation of female stem cells led to significantly better skeletal muscle regeneration,” said the study’s senior author Johnny Huard, also of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

The sex-related differences seemed to come from the cells’ stress responses. When cells are transplanted, the tissue becomes inflamed and the new cells are exposed to free radicals, which causes the male cells to differentiate, or stop making more of themselves.

via LiveScience

Master Violinist plays in Subway Station

Internationally-known violinist Joshua Bell played busker at a Metro station in Washington, DC during morning rush hour recently. It was an experiment to see if anyone would recognize him, recognize the talent behind the music, or would drop money in his case. What do you think happened? The results may surprise you. The cover story in the Washington Post Magazine includes videos of the experiment. Link

The Good Ol' Days

After seeing this picture Dad said "look how young I look" Let's all reminisce with him.

Century-Old Fish Caught in Alaska

This rockfish was one of the oldest creatures ever to live in Alaskan waters.

Commercial fishers in the Bering Sea recently hauled in the female shortraker rockfish seen above, which scientists say was between 90 and 115 years old.

A Seattle, Washington-based ship caught the 44-inch-long (112-centimenter-long), 60-pound (27-kilogram) fish while trawling for pollock at about 2,100 feet (640 meters) below the surface. The massive mama was among ten shortrakers pulled from the depths along with roughly 75 tons of the smaller commercially fished species.

The fish's age and size both approach the maximum known limits for shortrakers. The largest on record measured 47 inches (119 centimeters) long, and the oldest ever caught was 157 years.

via National Geograhic

Nutella Brownies

Nutella Brownies
6 tbsp butter
3 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/4 C nutella
1/2 C sugar (I used 6 Tbsp)
2 eggs
1/2 C flour
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 C hazelnut, chopped

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a square baking pan with 2 sheets of aluminum foil perpendicular to each other. This makes the brownies really easy to lift out. You can also grease the foil but I didn't.

Roughly chop chocolate and cut butter into small pats. Melt butter and chocolate over a double boiler or on low power in the microwave. I used the microwave at 30% power and stirred every minute; it took about 3 minutes.

Whisk in nutella, eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Add flour and mix until just incorporated (do not over mix).

Spread into baking pan and scatter chopped hazelnuts on top of the brownies. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes.**

Start checking the brownies at 20 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center of the brownies should come out with moist crumbs (if it comes out clean then the brownies have overbaked). It is better to underbake than overbake.

A Tamagochi That Acts Just Like You

H- Something to look for while in Japan.

This very strange Japanese toy called the "Human Player" asks you 50 questions in the beginning, and then spawns a digital you that eerily resembles...you. From there, it splits into 22 personality offshoots and analyzes you the way a psychoanalyst would, and tells you who you really are. Once this is done, you can let you interact with up to 16 other digital peeps via IR and see how they interact. It'll be interesting to see if your digital mom would get along with your digital dad, or if the digital you will try to annihilate your digital boss, etc.

via Tokyomango

Google Voice Local Search

Google Voice Local Search is Google’s experimental service to make local-business search accessible over the phone.

To try this service, just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone.

Using this service, you can:

• search for a local business by name or category.
  You can say "Giovanni's Pizzeria" or just "pizza".
  
  
• get connected to the business, free of charge.
  
  
• get the details by SMS if you’re using a mobile phone.
  Just say "text message".
  
  

And it's free. Google doesn’t charge you a thing for the call or for connecting you to the business. Regular phone charges may apply, based on your telephone service provider.

President Bush almost blows himself up

I guess this is why Mulally just got a 40 million dollar bonus when Ford had a multi billion dollar loss.

Ford President Alan Mulally, right, had to be quick on his feet to make sure President Bush plugged a power cord into the right socket on a Ford hydrogen-electric plug-in hybrid.

From The Detroit News

Credit Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally with saving the leader of the free world from self-immolation.

Mulally told journalists at the New York auto show that he intervened to prevent President Bush from plugging an electrical cord into the hydrogen tank of Ford's hydrogen-electric plug-in hybrid at the White House last week. Ford wanted to give the Commander-in-Chief an actual demonstration of the innovative vehicle, so the automaker arranged for an electrical outlet to be installed on the South Lawn and ran a charging cord to the hybrid. However, as Mulally followed Bush out to the car, he noticed someone had left the cord lying at the rear of the vehicle, near the fuel tank.

"I just thought, 'Oh my goodness!' So, I started walking faster, and the President walked faster and he got to the cord before I did. I violated all the protocols. I touched the President. I grabbed his arm and I moved him up to the front," Mulally said. "I wanted the president to make sure he plugged into the electricity, not into the hydrogen This is all off the record, right?"