The Productive Student

“The diligent farmer plants trees, of which he himself will never see the fruit.”
— Cicero

It’s not like you haven’t heard of global warming. You get bombarded with tips and rules on how to please Al Gore. The most common suggestions include “buy a hybrid car”, “buy efficient bulbs” and “don’t fly”.

As a student, none of those apply to me in any way. I can’t afford a car, I have one lightbulb in my student room and college isn’t really the kind of occupation that sends you flying across the globe twice a week.

So what could I do in my student life to tackle this? I didn’t just want to be “green” for the sake of it. Going green also means reducing cost, living more efficiently (which is probably a weird fetish of mine, but that’s what Economics teaches you) and sustainably while using up as little of our planet as we can. Here’s what every student can do to do their part:

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Gmail to drop IE6 support this year

Microsoft’s reaction:

“For its part, Microsoft has endorsed Google’s advice to ditch IE6. “We support this recommendation to move off Internet Explorer 6,” said Microsoft spokesman Brandon LeBlanc in an entry on the Windows Experience blog.”

Good for them.

I’d like to take a minute to thank you, dear readers, for the steady readership you have provided to this blog and have thus helped it grow to a sizable 750+ readership. It’s not much, but it’s more than I imagined possible when starting out in the second half of 2009.

On that note, I’d like to ask you for some help going down the road, as I wish to reach more students and readers out there and break that magical 1000 reader mark:

1. If you haven’t subscribed to our RSS feed, subscribe now in order to never miss a post again. If you’re new to RSS, check out this quick guide.

2. If you have a Facebook account, consider sharing TPS as a link on your Facebook wall: Your friends might like what I write.

3. Follow me on Twitter.

4. Comment on a post. Explore the Archives for more content.

5. Send me your feedback via e-mail, blog comment or Twitter. I’d love to hear from you regarding what I should write about, what I could improve.

So thank you for the ongoing support, especially to those of you who’ve stuck around since the beginning. And stay productive!

How To Read a Non-Fiction Book

Michael Hyatt:

“Use a set of note-taking symbols. I use the same set of symbols I use when taking notes:

• If an item is particularly important or insightful, I put a star next to it.
• If an item requires further research or resolution, I put a question mark next to it.
• If an item requires an action on my part or follow-up, I put a ballot box (open square) next to it. When the item is completed, I check it off.”

I think many of these principles can be transferred to reading material in college.

Speaking of moving, here’s a pricey option that would save a lot of space, but I don’t think it’s easy to assemble. It’s probably not meant to be bought by people who assemble stuff themselves in the first place. (via Unclutterer)

Thanks to a TPS reader for this IKEA suggestion.