Neatly Sliced

Is it dinner-time? Having trouble deciding where you should eat? No Problem! Dine-O-Matic (by The Iconfactory) will decide for you.

Add restaurant name and type (Pizza, Deli, Mexican, etc.) on the info view of the widget.

Once your datasource is set up, click the plate to cycle through and have Dine-O-Matic choose your place of dining. Great for indecisive folk who still like to go out.

If you would like to share your Dine-O-Matic library between multiple users:

1. After installing the widget, Cut the Dine-O-Matic.wdgt file from ~\Users\YOUR USER NAME\Library\Widgets (where ~ signifies your root directory, which is the Hard Drive icon on your Desktop)
2. Paste it in ~\Library\Widgets
3. Add an instance of Dine-O-Matic to your Dashboard (Go to Dashboard, Click the Plus to view all installed widgets, and drag Dine-O-Matic to your Dashboard)
4. Enter your restaurants just this one time
5. Copy your preferences file (located ~\Users\YOUR USER NAME\Library\Preferences\widget-com.iconfactory.dine-o-matic.plist) into the corresponding directories for the other users
6. Now all the users on your machine will have the same restaurants. If you make a change to the restaurant list, repeat the step 5

Earlier this week NeatlySliced.com was transferred to a new host. Before the DNS switched, I wanted to test the new site. The new host uses virtual hosting, which means that I have to change the hidden /etc/hosts OS X file to assign the IP to blog.neatlysliced.com.

Okay, so going to Go > Go To Folder from the finder to access the hidden /etc folder can get pretty redundant. Fortunately, there is a widget that allows editing of your /etc/hosts file with quite a number fewer keystrokes. It does require usage of your admin password, but you can easily delete the password after performing your business.

Download HostsWidget. It is freeware.

The very first widget of the week at NeatlySliced.com will be ::drum roll please::

The Lost Counter by skia.net.

At 104 minutes (1 hour and 44 minutes), a familiar alarm will sound, you will have 4 minutes (bringing the total cycle to the familiar 108 minutes) to enter the code “4 8 15 16 23 42″ (The Numbers!) and hit “Execute” (a.k.a. “return” on your Apple keyboard), else face the end of the world (or, hieroglyphics where the numbers displayed).

Not only is this immensely fun, but you can use it as a sitting-timer for the workplace. Every 108 minutes, you will have a fun reminder to get up and take a walk to avoid unsightly computer-posture and deathly blood clots.

Currently, the timer still counts down even if the user is logged out or the computer is asleep. This can be quite annoying; once the timer has expired without entering the code, the only way to reset it is to delete that instance of the widget and plop a fresh one in its place. This is fine if going for the Lost experience, but makes it cumbersome to use it as a desk tool.

Proposed modifications:

1. Make the timer pause when the user is logged off or the computer is asleep
2. If not the above, if the timer expires, allow a force reset in the info view of the widget

The widget is freeware, but if you wish to support skia you may buy his wares at cafepress.

Using just one tool featuring extensible image preferences, you can manage your Ajax loader needs for a site of any feel or target audience. Add Ajaxload to your arsenal!

Ajaxload is an indispensible free web service that generates a wide variety of Ajax “loading” images. Choose your preferences (image base shape, foreground color, and background color or transparency), click “Generate It”, and in 30 seconds or less you can download the image for use in your own Ajax application. It is the best Ajax image generator on the web that I have seen to date.

(via Josh)

Our poor ‘aina, changing to worthless land: Is this the world’s most polluted river?

I have never seen anything like it. If we strive for sustainability now, we stop contributing to this type of damage to the planet.

Wiimbledon is the coolest thing since sliced watermelon: a bona fide tennis tournament, Nintendo Wii style.

The tournament will be held in Brooklyn, Saturday, June 23, from noon to 5pm. I would go if it were not for the travel and plane tickets and other rigmarole, not to mention the fact that I always lose in the training exercises.

Zero Footprint Offset helps educate people to reduce their environmental CO2 footprint.

Why should I worry about my CO2 footprint?

Our ‘aina (earth) is a fragile balance of resources. In the factory filled, fast-service, industrial world that we find ourselves living, we seem to be taking out of the ‘aina more than putting in. It is as money in a bank - we must put return a generous measure in correspondence with the amount if we take out. Many are leaving an excess of CO2 with factories, travel, power plants, and other means. We must start now to respect the earth and maintain a clean, habitable home rather than ruin it.

My footprint:

Calculate your footprint via Zero Footprint

Vehicle: 1.55
Flights: 4.75
Home: 2.93
Total: 9.23
In the past year, I have emitted about 9.23 tons (British tonnes) of CO2.

That’s just above the average of 7.75 tons for a year.

I work hard to conserve energy and CO2 and would have been well under the average, but my flight to Hawaii added 4 tonnes (although I cannot wholeheartedly say that I regret the trip ; ).

This is just the amount of CO2 that I have generated - this does not include the factories that manufacture the clothing that I wear or the factories/car transports/farms that make the food I eat, music I buy, et cetera. Bearing these additional CO2 sources in mind, Zero Footprint claims the average North American emits 20 tons of CO2 per year.

How can I be carbon neutral?

Offset your footprint by being pro-active and undoing your emissions, or work to minimize the footprint with which you start.

• Plant trees and other greenery which consume Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and exude Oxygen
• Practice your three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
• Use recycled goods
• Conserve energy, as this lessens the load on power plants which release CO2 into our atmosphere
• Ride a bike, walk, take public transporation, or carpool rather than drive a car solo
• Eat organic foods, which are typically raised by pro-environment farmers and lack synthetic pesticides

These are just some ways to undo or prevent the CO2 we each emit to the earth. Visit Zero Footprint Offsets for more information. Don’t let yourself be a contributing factor to the ever-darkening sky, the rapidly increasing temperatures, and the fading of all that is green. Keep it green!