Timeline Tool

I was very impressed with the demo of Timeline at the Simile website. This timeline tool is based on dhtml, xml, and ajax. However, it's not the technology that makes it cool, so much as the way it looks and feels.

Check it out. I like how it packs a lot of info into a small area.

Self-justification is worse than the original offense
:: Sheikh Ziaudin

After great pain, a formal feeling comes

After great pain, a formal feeling comes -
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs -
The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,
And Yesterday, or Centuries before?

The Feet, mechanical, go round -
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought -
A Wooden way
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone -

This is the Hour of Lead -
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow -
First - Chill - then Stupor - then the letting go -

:: Emily Dickinson

Knowledge can be communicated but not wisdom.
:: Herman Hesse

Man, living in the dust.
is like a bug trapped in a bowl.
All day he scrabbles round and round,
but never escapes from the bowl that holds him.

The immortals are beyond his reach,
his cravings have no end,
while months and years flow by like a river
until in an instant he has grown old.
:: Han-Shan

Pssst

People will believe anything if you whisper it.
:: Anonymous

Firefox tip

Occasionally you may have an issue where Firefox hangs - I mean really hangs. You close the browser. Then you start Firefox again and a little popup window informs you that the profile is in use, blah, blah, blah. Don't try to make a new profile or find the old one. The problem is simple, Firefox is still running.

Do ctrl-alt-del and go to Task List and then Processes. Find firefox.exe and end the process. If there's more than one, end all of them. Now if you open Firefox it should work.

It is characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
:: Henry David Thoreau

My Little Loaf

You're
Clownlike, happiest on your hands,
Feet to the stars, and moon-skulled,
Gilled like a fish. A common-sense
Thumbs-down on the dodo's mode,
Wrapped up in yourself like a spool,
Trawling your dark as owls do.
Mute as a turnip from the Fourth
Of July to All Fool's Day.
O high-riser, my little loaf.

Vague as fog and looked for like mail,
Farther off than Australia.
Bent-backed Atlas, our traveled prawn.
Snug as a bud and at home
Like a sprat in a pickle jug.
A creel of eels, all ripples.
Jumpy as a Mexican bean.
Right, like a well-done sum.
A clean slate, with your own face on.

:: Sylvia Plath

Zoom shortcut

There is a quick way to change font sizes on a page of text. The same technique allows you to quickly zoom in or out of a map. Does your mouse have a scroll button? Ever use it? Laptops with finger mouse pads have a scroll feature too.

The trick is simple. With the cursor on the map you want to zoom, hold down the ctrl key and scroll with the mouse. One direction zooms in, the other way zooms out. Likewise, with your cursor on the text you want to resize, hold down the ctrl key and scroll with the mouse. One direction enlarges the fontsize, the other direction makes it smaller.

Lyrics Plugin

This is a handy utility that displays the lyrics of the song that's playing on your PC. Called Lyrics Plugin, it works in Winamp or Windows Media Player. I was surprised how often I used this utility to find out just "what is that guy singing".

It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
:: Howard Ruff

Cold Mountain

The clear water sparkles like crystal,
you can see through it easily, right to the bottom.
My mind is free from every thought,
nothing in the myriad realms can move it.
Since it cannot be wantonly roused,
forever and forever it will stay unchanged.
When you have learned to know in this way,
you'll know there is no inside or out!
:: Han-Shan

Hora Immensa

Only a bell and a bird break the stillness ...
It seems that the two talk with the setting sun.
Golden colored silence, the afternoon is made of crystals
A roving purity sways the cool trees,
and beyond all that,
a transparent river dreams that trampling over pearls
it breaks loose
and flows into infinity.

:: Juan Ramon Jiminez

Speak clearly, if you speak at all;
Carve every word before you let it fall.
:: Oliver Wendell Holmes

Dig yerself

Self-importance is man's greatest enemy. What weakens him is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of his fellow men. Self-importance requires that one spend most of one's life offended by something or someone.

:: Jaun Matus