The Examined Life

Decluttering, gradually

I could launch into a massive decluttering effort, but I know it would end in frozen indecision and stuff-shifting: moving things from one place to another instead of throwing them away. I know it sounds contradictory to start a Less Waste project by throwing things away, but I feel a need to work on the Declutter and Simplify project at the same time, to make space to breathe, as the Japanese say.

Anyway, I'm throwing things away as I encounter them. This morning I threw away toiletries that I don't use. I wish I could recycle them but they're all in plastic containers.

Remember cloth napkins?

Inspired by Bea Johnson (Zero Waste Home) I began using cloth napkins. Different napkin rings for hubbie and me. I've had these sitting around for 40 years.

Grace Suarez
Sent from my ��� iPad 2
San Francisco CA

The Examined Life Begins

Discovering Bea Johnson's Zero Waste Home yesterday was a revelation. Today I looked at each item I touched (toothbrush, toothpaste, razor) and realized none of them could be recycled. Almost everything I touched was plastic and intended eventually for the garbage dump. I decided to make changes. No, we won't be going to Zero Waste anytime soon, but that doesn't mean we can't take baby steps in the right direction.

I started by making some of my own cleaning products:

• Tooth powder. A variation of Bea's formula. I placed fresh mint leaves in the bottom of a small lidded container, then I added a layer of baking soda. I simply touch a wet toothbrush on the baking powder and brush my teeth. No more toothpaste tubes in the trash.
• All purpose cleaning liquid. Into an empty spray bottle, I put water, a small amount of vinegar, some Castile soap (Dr. Bronner's) and some drops of tea tree and eucalyptus essential oils.

Instead of using my Swiffer WetJet, I wrapped a microfiber cloth around the head of a Swiffer floor duster. I sprayed some cleaner on the floor and then rubbed with the cloth. Works better than any mop I've ever used.

 

The iPad as vade mecum

Just finished reading A Book of Secrets by Michael Holroyd. One of the (many) things I liked about the book is the description of Eve Fairfax's vade mecum (Latin for "go with me"), in this case a heavy blank journal that Fairfax ends up carrying around the rest of her life, filling it with comments, autographs and drawings of the interesting people she meets.

It made me think that my iPad, filled as it is with books, journals, databases, photos, is becoming my vade mecum, except that no matter how much stuff I put in it, it doesn't get heavier. A fun thought I will explore further.

Trying out BloPress

Determined to find an app to blog from, now trying BlogPress. It feels like sending an email.

Yesterday we went to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose. The larger pieces are casts from the British Museum, but still worth seeing.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Write "letters" in Bento

Create a form using the Printing theme (it's a very plain theme, with no background or lines). Place whatever fields are usual in a letter. I use the Date Created and the Main Note fields. You can then print out the "letter" and send it either on paper or as a PDF. You can create text fields for a letterhead and a signature line if you like.

What's the advantage? The letter becomes part of your database. No need to change applications or attach a document to the database entry.

What is Lifelogging and why do it?

It is a life where all the information needed for living is stored outside the head, in a readily accessible format. (See Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things and David Allen, Getting Things Done.)

I want to go a step further than Allen’s brilliant reduction of the entire GTD ethos, “What’s the next action,” and cover these additional areas:

where have I been
what did I do
when did I do it
who was there
what did I get
where did I put it

We spend too much of our time trying to remember stuff. The brain of Homo Sapiens was not designed to hold the information the 21st century demands we store. Until we evolve to the next level, we need to store this information somewhere outside of our heads; we need to offload it.

Everything we need to remember must be offloaded into what Allen calls a trusted source. And it should only be in one location, though obviously it should be copied (backed up), unless we have the time and patience to transfer the information or the systems sync with each other automatically.

Legal malpractice insurers generally require attorneys to keep at least two calendaring systems. This rule is probably well meant, but in practice results in missed dates and sanctions.
Most trial lawyers enter court dates into paper calendars while trying to listen to what the judge is saying and juggling papers. Then they have to transfer the information to the second system, usually a computer-based application, when they get back to the office. That’s when the trouble begins. Either the lawyers or the assistants to whom they entrust the task invariably forget or transpose a date.

Why? Because the task of remembering to transfer the information is left in the brain. It’s entrusted to your memory. That violates Allen’s first law: nothing must be entrusted to memory.
Can we set up a system that reminds us of everything? Yes.

Blogging by email

One of the chief reasons I have stopped blogging is that I can't find an application that will let me save my blog entries. I don't like typing in the web-based entry form of Typepad. So I'm going to experiment with email.

I'm going to start by talking about my favorite productivity and life organizing tool, Bento. More about it in a couple of days. But here's a screenshot of one of the forms, LifeCentral.

Probable cause to investigate Governor Walker?

I'm assuming everyone has heard about, listened to, or read a transcript of, the conversation between Governor Scott Walker and gonzo journalist Ian Murphy, who pretended to be David Koch, regarding the Wisconsin teachers' strike.

The question some people are asking is whether Governor Walker committed one or more crimes during the conversation. Let's leave aside the question of his ethics in discussing these issues with a political contributor, or his idiocy in talking with someone who just said he was David Koch.

I want to focus on one part of the conversation:

Koch: [Laughs] Well, I tell you what, Scott: once you crush these bastards I’ll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time.

Walker: All right, that would be outstanding. Thanks for all the support…it’s all about getting our freedoms back…

It would be fair to say that "Koch" promised Walker a free trip and more "once you crush these bastards" and Walker accepted. Is that evidence of a crime?

Once possibility would be a violation of the honest services law (18 U.S.C. sec. 1346), which forbids "a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services."

Convictions for honest services fraud have been upheld when either bribery of the official or failure to disclose a conflict of interest resulting in personal gain was found. See United States v. Isaacs, 493 F.2d 1124, 1149-51 (7th Cir.) (public officials received bribes intended to induce special favors and preferential treatment for certain racing interests), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 976, 94 S.Ct. 3183, 41 L.Ed.2d 1146 (1974).

The conversation between "Koch" and Walker raises at least some suspicion that Walker was to be rewarded to taking certain action, or at the very least, had a conflict of interest that had to be disclosed.

Is this enough to convict him of honest services fraud? No. Is it enough to warrant a federal investigation of his communications with the Kochs? I think so. It does not take much smoke to launch an investigation into a fire. There is more than enough here.

Using BlogPress to post blogs

Lately I've been thinking about blogging more, but I like to use my iPad as much as possible, and the web interface for Typepad just wasn't cutting it for me. Today I read about an app called BlogPress, $2.99 at the App Store.

I installed it and that's what I'm using to create and post this entry. I think I'm going to like it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad