Well, it’s been a
great year – at least in some ways – and here’s to the even better one upcoming.
Resolutions include: back up your data, eradicate disease, embrace
diversity, keep hope
alive (stem cell research could work a miracle for you, too!) – and more
(be even nicer to those around you, although in your case, there’s
virtually no room left for improvement).
DROPBOX.COM
This
is certainly the weekend to be sure you’ve got a good system for backing
up your data, and happy as I am with Mozy, I am
thinking of switching to Dropbox.
That’s largely because I own more than one computer, and in more than one
physical location. Dropbox lets you put any or all your documents or
folders under one giant folder which it then keeps synched across all your
computers.
Writes
the estimable Bryan Norcross: “I put almost everything in the
Dropbox and use that instead of the Documents folder. I then put the
Dropbox and some key subfolders on my Start Menu and/or tray for fast
access. The files physically reside on all computers, so no more
Mozy.”
Check
it out.
DEPT.
OF HOPEFUL SIGNS
James
Musters:
“Man in UK gets eyesight restored after stem cell treatment.”
What a great story!
I’m telling you: Ray Kurzweil is on to
something.
dept.
OF HOPEFUL SIGNS
Twenty-five years ago there
were, worldwide, more than 3 million cases of guinea worm.
Today, just 3,500 – headed quite possibly to zero. It’s
something we Americans – who have never suffered its misery – can
feel very good about, as it is largely our leadership (most particularly
Jimmy Carter’s) and our resources (significantly including the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) that have made it possible.
DEPT.
OF HOPEFUL SIGNS
“I think this
generation has grown up with the realization that the planet is dying and that
its survival is a little more important than whom people sleep with.”
– Matthew Fox, Episcopal priest quoted
in The Advocate.
GOOGLE
APP
Ted
Graham:
“As you may have figured out [since you wrote about this yesterday], you
don’t even have to touch the microphone button. The motion of
bringing your phone to your ear triggers voice search; you'll hear a beep and
then you speak. Wow!”
☞
I am having so much fun with this. I got to show it off to Jim Wallis.
I showed him my iPhone as I touched the Google icon, then jerked the phone up
to my ear, got the beep, and said, “Jim Wallis,” whose new book, Rediscovering
Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street, just came out.
The
common spelling would be “Wallace” – that’s how it
sounds – but within seconds, Google was showing us this
list of info on Jim Wallis.
“How
does it do that?” marveled the theologian.
“It’s
a miracle!” replied the atheist.
(Later,
wanting to know the nearest FedEx location, I jerked the phone to my ear and
said “FedEx Locations.” The phone, knowing where Charles and
I are, almost immediately came up with the address and phone number of the
nearest location, its hours of operation, and a map to get there.)
#
Lots
more to say; another year ahead to say it. Whether you’re celebrating
tonight quietly alone, reorganizing your back-up system and contemplating our
collective good fortune (we have hot water!), listening to Beethoven’s
Eroica* – or noisily, in the thick of the mayhem (also a good choice if
you’re unable to avoid it) – have a safe, happy, healthy New Year.
*I
thought it was spelled with an H, and the name of his Ninth Symphony, but
jerked my phone to my ear, said “Beethoven’s Heroica,” and
three seconds later found out the
truth.