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The 7% - Friends are the Family that We Choose for Ourselves

  

 

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer,  Cleveland,  Ohio

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 41 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:"

  1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

  2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

  3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

  4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

  5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

  6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

  7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

  8. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

  9. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

10. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

12. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

13. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

14. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

15. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

16. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

17. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

18. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

19. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

20. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

21. The most important sex organ is the brain.

22. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

23. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ''In five years, will this matter?".

24. Always choose life.

25. Forgive everyone everything.

26. What other people think of you is none of your business.

27. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.

28. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

29. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

30. Believe in miracles.

31. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

32. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

33. Your children get only one childhood.

34. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

35. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

36. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

37. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

38. The best is yet to come.

39. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

40. Yield.

41. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

It's estimated 93% won't forward this. If you are one of the 7% who will, forward this with the title '7%'. I'm in the 7%.  

Friends are the family that we choose for ourselves. 

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Silicon Valley Winter Wonderland

Natural Intelligence

 

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Microsoft Live Labs Launches Pivot - Radically New Visualization of Online Objects

Microsoft Live Labs' latest creation has launched. Pivot is a fun, powerful discovery tool, built on Seadragon and powered by Silverlight, that runs in Vista or Windows 7 with IE8. It looks great and allows for truly intuitive exploration of information.

The Pivot prototype from Microsoft Live Labs is designed to change the way in which the end users look at the Web. In this regard, the Redmond company explained that Pivot was a project dedicated to make the Web more like an actual web, and less like a series of disparate pages. “Pivot makes it easier to interact with massive amounts of data in ways that are powerful, informative, and fun. We tried to step back and design an interaction model that accommodates the complexity and scale of information rather than the traditional structure of the Web,” reads an excerpt of Pivot’s introduction. 

 

At this point in time, although the testing program for the Pivot project is live, access is restricted to just a small pool of customers. According to the Redmond company, the Technical Preview is full, with the company having already distributed all the invitations to the first testing milestone. Still, users that want an invite can submit their email address and wait for a notification from Microsoft. The software giant made no mention as to when it planned to open the testing program for Pivot to additional testers. 

“When we use the Web today we treat the most fundamental scenarios as separate activities. Search takes us from many things to one, browsing moves us from one thing to another, and recommendations expose affinities that enable us to explore related topics. Can we do better by combining these scenarios into a more unified experience?” Microsoft asked. “Pivot focuses on this intersection, enabling us to learn key lessons while attempting to broadly apply this philosophy to the Web. We hope that Pivot will inspire and fuel transformative experiences across the Web.”

The Redmond company explained that Pivot core was based on the concept of "Collections." What “Collections” are designed to do is to bundle large quantities of information together based on similitudes between them. In this context, objects with similar characteristics are grouped together, and served as a Collection to users, which are free to explore the relationships between items. 

Collections can be created by anyone, including third-party developers. Types of collections include simple, linked, and dynamic, which are each progressively more difficult to create. Developers are also encouraged to create collections from existing online datasets, such as the Internet Archive or data.gov.

When it comes down to system requirements, Microsoft recommends “Windows 7 with Aero enabled, 2-GHz 32-bit (x86) processor, 2 gigabytes of random access memory. Supported System Configuration: Windows Vista with Aero enabled, 2-GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor. Graphics Card Requirements: at least 256 megabytes of video memory. Pivot does not support Intel integrated video chipsets without additional acceleration hardware. Pivot requires .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and Internet Explorer 8. Pivot will import your browsing history from Internet Explorer and Firefox during installation. Windows XP is not supported at this time. Pivot is not compatible with Windows Server Editions.”

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XBOX 360 Natal Launch Details Leak From Secret Microsoft Tour [VIDEO] - MCV

by Michael French

November 2010 release, 5m units global ship, 14 games, and super-low sub-£50 price (about $80 USD).

MCV can this week reveal first details regarding the launch of Microsoft's Project Natal.

Our sources say the innovative controller-free 360 camera will be released worldwide in November 2010.

This and other details have emerged following a behind-closed-doors Microsoft tour of UK publishers and studios – the format-holder has been demoing the tech and detailing its 2010 plans in order to spur more development support.

Microsoft is planning to manufacture 5m units for day one release, with a mix of console and camera plus solus SKUs expected.

The device should cost under £50 when sold solo. One publishing source says Microsoft is “trying to get as close as possible to ‘impulse buy’”. Another even says the camera could even retail for just £30.

14 games are being readied for launch

Natal was unveiled earlier this year at E3 in Los Angeles. The device uses an array of cameras and microphones to track player movements.

Activision, Bethesda, Capcom, Disney, EA, Konami, MTV, Namco Bandai, Sega, Square Enix, THQ and Ubisoft all committed to make games for the device in an announcement made at last month's Tokyo Game Show.

It’s expected a large chunk of launch games will be first-party offerings from studios such as Rare with third-party games to follow. It is not known if Lionhead’s widely-discussed Milo, which uses advanced AI to create realistic characters, will be in the mix.

Natal will arrive almost five years to the day after the Xbox 360 and is perceived by many, Microsoft included, as a way to lengthen the lifespan of the hardware without resorting to a new console launch. The first Xbox was sold in the UK for only three years before 360 hit.

This summer Xbox studios boss Phil Spencer told MCV the 360 still ‘hasn't peaked’.

“When Natal arrives it will feel like a new generation has come,” he said. “I see it like the launch of 360 in November ‘05. Consumers don’t want another $400 box right now.”

Sony has said it will launch PS3’s motion-sensing wand peripheral – movement of which is tracked by the already-available PlayStation Eye camera – before Microsoft’s kit in spring 2010. However, so far the Japanese firm has kept details of the launch closely under wraps.

via www.mcvuk.com

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