From the MAKE Flickr photo pool
C.Barr captured some extreme macro shots using 55-250 and 50mm lens mated together, a trick picked up from this video tutorial -
Could be a fun hack if you have the necessary lens around - if not, there are plenty of other options we’ve covered here before.
What do booze, an aching back, and a bad mood have in common? They all suck away your energy. But you can fight back. We mined hundreds of scientific studies and interviewed dozens of experts to compile 50 of the very best tips to rev your engines—right now!
Nix the nightcap. Alcohol prevents your body from entering REM sleep (the most restful sleep phase). So, even if you’re getting plenty of sleep each night, you may not feel fully rested.
Take a ‘roid test. If you’re tired all the time, you may have a thyroid problem. Other warning signs to look for include weight changes, a hoarse voice, lethargy, and hair loss.
Drink more. Breathing, talking, peeing, even sitting—they all use up the body’s water supply. Let your body dry out, and your energy level will dry up as well.
Light up. Turn on your desk lamp or open the blinds and let in some sun. Your body needs vitamin D (from sunlight) in order to help keep energy levels at their peak.
Have your BP checked. Up to 60% of men between 18 and 39 may have high blood pressure, a prime source of chronic fatigue.
Get your snack on. Your body needs fuel to run at its peak. Skip even one meal because you “don’t have time to eat” (sound familiar?) and your pep will plummet.
Munch on berries. Doesn’t matter what kind, they’re all high in energy-boosters called anthocyanins.
Bulk up your diet. Cardiff University researchers found that men with high-fiber diets have less fatigue than men with lower-fiber diets.
Try L-carnitine. The vitamin-like amino acid may help your muscles recuperate more quickly after a hard day at the gym. To feel the jolt, try taking 500 mg a day for at least three weeks.
Get steamed. According to one U.K. study, up to 68% of men feel more energetic after a hot bath or shower.
Eat more fish. Studies show the omega-3s in foods like tuna and salmon can help fight depression, leaving you happier and more energized. Don’t like fish? Try eating more walnuts and flaxseed, or pop a 1,000 mg fish-oil supplement instead.
Turn it up. A report in Online Journal of Sport Psychology says that loud music may be one of the most effective tools for relieving stress and fighting fatigue.
Join the B-team. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reports that many athletes and exercise buffs don’t get enough B vitamins. That’s bad, since thiamin, B6, B12, and riboflavin are all necessary for the body’s production of energy.
Limit lunch to 500 calories. High-calorie meals take longer to digest and end up pulling energy away from other cells in your body.
Take a hike. Instead of slamming some candy when the 4 p.m. blahs strike, take a quick walk around the block. Physical activity oxygenates blood cells, helping to refill your body’s fuel tank.
Say “yes” to yogurt. The good bacteria in yogurt helps keep your intestines healthy, allowing them to absorb more nutrients from the foods you eat. And the more nutrients your cells have at their disposal, the greater your energy reserves.
Avoid trans fats. Foods like doughnuts, crackers, and chips raise levels of bad LDL cholesterol in the body. This narrows blood vessels, blocking the flow of oxygenated, energy-rich blood cells throughout the body.
Opt for whole grains. White bread and pasta spike blood sugar and burn away quickly, sapping energy as they go. Stick with whole-grain foods, which provide longer-lasting fuel.
Don’t skip breakfast. Two major studies published in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition show that breakfast eaters not only feel better mentally and physically compared to people who skip breakfast, but they also tend to have a healthier lifestyle and are better at dealing with depression and emotional stress.
Have a cup of joe. In small doses, caffeine is a great energy booster, increasing mental alertness and even spiking sexual potency.
Just lose it. Whether you’re packing an extra five pounds or 50, the further over your ideal weight you are, the less energy you ultimately have.
Go nuts. Almonds and peanuts are so nutrient dense that a single nut packs enough calories to heat up half a cup of water. Nuts are also high in magnesium and fiber, two proven energy boosters.
Get wet. According to a study in the journal Clinical Neurophysiology, splashing cool water on your face may restore energy even faster than other popular options, like drinking coffee.
Shake it up. The Journal of Applied Physiology reports that men who drink a high-protein shake after working out have more pep than men who refuel on carbs alone.
Clear your sinuses. Men with chronic fatigue are up to nine times more likely to suffer sinus problems than guys who have no problems breathing. An over-the-counter allergy medication may relieve the condition.
Call a buddy. There’s more than a decade’s worth of research showing that men who open up and talk about their lives with other people have more energy than men who keep their stress inside.
Get it on. In a 10-year-study of 900 men, U.K. scientists found that men who had sex the most often also had the best physical health and most overall energy.
Catch 40 winks. Been sneaking a nap under your desk? Good. The NIH found that power naps boost brain power, preventing burnout and significantly improving mental performance.
Scramble some eggs. Of all foods, eggs are the best provider of energy-boosting protein, according to the American Heart Association
Swallow some calcium. Calcium deficiencies sap muscle strength and lower physical endurance. The average guy needs at least 1,000 mg of calcium a day.
D up. You need vitamin D to maintain the proper balance of other energy-bolstering vitamins in the body. The best D sources? Fish and D-fortified skim milk.
Get a massage. Studies show that massage helps you conquer three serious energy drainers—anxiety, headaches, and muscle soreness.
Inflate your ego. Try this classic therapy trick: Grab a piece of paper and jot down seven things you like about yourself. Self-confidence equals increased energy.
Wear brighter colors. Vibrant greens and blues activate neurons in the brain that keep energy at its peak.
Do a puzzle. Pick something challenging. Problem solving stimulates brain cells, spiking your body’s energy levels.
Do some cardio. Biking, running, and swimming all help to increase the number of energy-producing mitochondria in your cells.
Do the downward dog. Indian researchers found that men who perform yoga often experience less fatigue during cardiac stress tests than men who don’t.
See a funny flick. A study in the journal Psychological Reports found that laughter pushes the energy-sapping compound neuroendocrine out of your brain.
Have a soundtrack. Play background music at your desk. You’ll have less anxiety, a prime energy thief.
Get your stuff together. The more organized things are around you, the more mental and physical energy you can devote elsewhere.
Duck debt. Researches at Ohio State found that men who were stressed over their credit card debt had lower energy levels than guys with less debt or none at all.
Stay positive. Australian researchers found that men who had positive attitudes suffered fewer injuries and recovered from injuries faster than their darker—less energetic—counterparts.
Sleep in. Getting even one extra hour of sleep a week can counteract most energy-robbing sleep deficits.
Go out on the town. Sure it’s fun, but studies show that a good social life can also help you feel more energetic.
Vary your routine. Switch things around—add intervals to your workout, try new lifts, cross-train. You’ll challenge your muscles, furthering their development and giving you more energy.
Relax. Stress is energy’s number one enemy. Next time you’re swamped, zap the stress by closing your eyes and breathing deeply for 60 seconds.
Schedule a day off. Take a day every month to do something fun—no errands and nothing serious or work-related. The happier you are, the better you feel.
Pump some iron. Anaerobic exercise—like lifting—boosts levels of three compounds your body needs for quick bursts of activity, ranging from sprints to foreplay.
Veg out. Load your plate with veggies like tomatoes, carrots, and spinach. The brighter the vegetables’ color, the more energy-revitalizing antioxidants they contain.
Chug a sports drink. The potent mix of water, sugar, and electrolytes may give you the juice you need to make it through that last set.
To do a simple and quick network performance test the ftp command can be used.
FTP on Linux and other Unix systems allows you to pass shell commands to the ftp client by using the pipe symbol ‘|’ as the first character of the file name. With this feature you can send a very large file to a remote host using /dev/zero as input and /dev/null as output.
Example:
ftp> put "|dd if=/dev/zero bs=1M count=100" /dev/nullThis command transfers a large file without involving the disk and without having to cache the file in memory. If you use a large file on a disk it might become a bottleneck. In this example, “|dd if=/dev/zero bs=1M count=100″ becomes the input file. Since a dd command without the “of=” paramater prints the content of the file to standard output (stdout), the ftp client can read the output and pass it on to the remote file which is /dev/null on the remote host.
There are a few encrypted filesystems for Linux. Ones aimed at distributed filesystems (NFS replacements): - "CFS", which has been packaged and is available from non-us.debian.org. - "TCFS", http://tcfs.dia.unisa.it/ I used CFS several years ago and it seemed to work well. My only complaint was that triple DES was a bit slow on my 486/33. Another approach which I am currently using involves patching the kernel to provide kernel level encrypted filesystems. I have updated a patch for kernel 2.0.36 which was originally released in 1996 for kernel 2.0.11. I have gotten good results with this using IDEA encryption on systems ranging from a 486/33 to PII-350. There are now encryption patches available for the new 2.2.x kernels. ftp://ftp.kerneli.org/pub/linux/kerneli/v2.2/patch-int-2.2.1.1.gz will add encryption to linux 2.2.1. I have not used this patch yet, but I will give it a try as soon as I update to slink and have a 2.2.x compatible system. When unmounted, the ability to scan the raw partition will not give your cracker any useful information. If they are really determined, they could scan raw /tmp and swap partitions for traces of sensitive data. Whether this is an issue depends on your required security level. When mounted, a root cracker would be able to read the all files on the partition. Mounting the partition requires a passphrase. The kernel approach will require patching and building custom versions of the kernel and mount programs.
Here’s a great tip to speed up your browsing of Windows XP machines. Its actually a fix to a bug installed as default in Windows 2000 that scans shared files for Scheduled Tasks. And it turns out that you can experience a delay as long as 30 seconds when you try to view shared files across a network because Windows 2000 is using the extra time to search the remote computer for any Scheduled Tasks. Note that though the fix is originally intended for only those affected, Windows 2000 users will experience that the actual browsing speed of both the Internet & Windows Explorers improve significantly after applying it since it doesn’t search for Scheduled Tasks anymore. Here’s how :
Open up the Registry and go to :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace
Under that branch, select the key :
{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
and delete it.
This is key that instructs Windows to search for Scheduled Tasks. If you like you may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary.
This fix is so effective that it doesn’t require a reboot and you can almost immediately determine yourself how much it speeds up your browsing processes.
Most people lock their doors and windows, use a paper shredder to protect themselves from identity theft, and install antivirus software on their computers. Yet they routinely surf the Internet without giving a second thought to whether their browser is secure and their personal information safe. Unfortunately, it’s easy for someone with nefarious intentions to use a Web site to glean data from — or introduce spyware to — your computer. Even worse, sometimes all you have to do is randomly click on a site to have your data probed in a most unwelcome way.
Mozilla Firefox has several security settings you can adjust via the Preferences pane, but there are also more than 150 privacy and security extensions you can add as well. They are easy to install and take little time to set up; some even work automatically after you restart your browser. Let’s have a look at some of the most popular and most useful.
One of the best ways to protect your computer is to prevent the browser from using JavaScript at Web sites without permission. JavaScript, though useful for developing glitzy Web sites, has gained something of a reputation as a method for doing Bad Things to unsuspecting computers. NoScript is an extension that makes every site that uses JavaScript ask your permission before running it. NoScript can render JavaScript-heavy sites unreadable, but it provides a whitelist of acceptable sites that you can easily add to in order to speed up your surfing experience.
Many people use Tor to hide their online surfing habits. FoxTor provides a way to mask and unmask your browser on the fly, without having to commit to anonymous surfing throughout an entire browsing session. It requires the use of Tor and Privoxy.
Your browser’s history logs help provide a speedier surfing experience for you. Unfortunately, skilled hackers can peek at them remotely to see where you’ve been. Deleting log information after each browsing session would slow you down, but fortunately, there’s another way. Don’t delete your data — hide it with SafeHistory.
Some of the most sensitive information sent over the Internet travels via email, so many people prefer to send their messages encrypted. The Gmail S/MIME extension encrypts Gmail messages, including attachments, automatically, as long as you have the recipient’s digital certificate.
While Firefox 2 has built-in phishing protection, it never hurts to have a backup plan. The premise behind Petname is simple: leave reminder notes on your trusted Web sites and the notes will automatically appear each time you return. If you surf to what you assume is one of your whitelisted sites and no reminder note appears, you’ll know something’s not right. This extension is particularly useful if you’re running an older version of Firefox without anti-phishing protection.
SecurePasswordGenerator is a long name for a little extension that sits in your toolbar and helps you create unique passwords. Half the battle of staying safe online is using complex and different passwords whenever you register at a Web site. Use this tool to help you create a unique password everywhere you go.
Have you ever wondered where the information you type into an online form goes once you hit “send”? With FormFox, you can find out. Once you download and enable this extension, hovering your mouse over the data field of a form or search box will reveal exactly who receives the information you enter. Use this extension to check out an unfamiliar Web site before you cough up your name, address, and credit card information while doing your online holiday shopping.
Many people use disposable or temporary email addresses around the Internet to avoid email spam. Although spam is generally considered more of a nusiance than a security issue, there are occasions when a disposable address may be a safer option than providing a real one (on message forums, for example). There are several temporary email services to choose from; the TrashMail.net Firefox extension makes that service an attractive choice.
Sometimes you need to protect your information from the prying eyes of people around you. If you’re surfing at an airport or local coffee shop, people wandering past can have a look at the titles of the tabs you have open. Page Title Eraser lets you either blank out the title and icon in your browser’s tabs, or replace the text with something of your choice.
When trying to protect your privacy, the last thing you want is for a Web site to collect data on what you do while you visit: where you click, how long you view a page, and so on. That’s called profiling. While it’s harmless if a site tracks data on how long it took you to read an article on how to install a video game, most people feel that there’s no reason a Web site needs to know anything about your surfing habits, even if it’s only to collect data for marketing purposes.
Most extensions and tools commonly used to prevent data profiling by search engines work by concealing information from outsiders. TrackMeNot takes the opposite approach and actually sends out a bunch of information for the search engines to process. Of course, it sends mostly false information, which means your search activities remain hidden from view and search engines won’t glean any meaningful data from your visit.
These are only a few of several dozen privacy and security extensions available for Firefox; you can find a larger list at Mozilla’s Web site. Tools like these can make your surfing experience safer, but remember: nothing is foolproof, and talented hackers can still find ways to pull information from your system if they try hard enough. Always be careful.