Just my own two cents regarding the Ars Technica article appealing to our commercial senses: While Ars may feel the pinch as more people start to block ads, the fact of the matter is — it’s a sign of tolerance levels in the audience. As more ads are blocked, the industry starts to realize that people don’t like current advertising practices. Find a new way to do it, or suffer the consequences.

13.9 billion — minutes facebook users spent on the site in April, a 700% increase from April 2008.

95% — of business decision-makers worldwide use social networks to some extent.

35% — of Americans 18 and over used a social-networking service in 2008.

8% — of Americans 18 and over used a social-networking service in 2005.

87% — of adults said they prefer dealing with others i person instead of via computers or smartphones.

Check out AdvertFan and you’ll likely find what you’re looking for. If you want to critique or dissect an advertisement for its pros and cons, it’s a great tool.

According to Dr. Clifford Saper, MD, MS, PhD, who is Chairman of the Department of Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, recent research has given us a much better understanding of how eating can effect our biology. On last week’s Science Friday on NPR, Dr. Saper discussed these effects in depth.

What caught my attention is the idea that we have a secondary “clock” that we can, apparently, intentionally reset. By fasting for a period of 12-16 hours and then having “breakfast,” this internal clock will immediately override our natural rhythms. The effect is to reset our wake-sleep cycle, adjusting to a new, food source-oriented schedule. Apparently our bodies have developed this ability so that we can adjust to the demands of our environment. In other words, if our environment provides food at a particular time, our bodies need to adjust… or starve.

So, for example, if you are traveling to Japan you could start your day by not eating from about noon the day before and fast until breakfast time in Japan. Once you arrive, have a hearty breakfast. Of course, this assumes you are arriving in the morning; adjust accordingly to your travel arrangements. By changing how and when we find food in our environment, our body reacts by adjusting… and no more jet lag.

One important detail Dr. Saper points out: You need to eat nutritive food that provides calories to your body. You can’t trick it by consuming zero-calorie diet foods. And, don’t forget to do the same thing in reverse, too, when you come home.

Anyhow, the interesting thing is that calculating a cost of living index based on a cup of coffee gives me 0.00024 (U.S.) to 0.0005 (Iceland). The same approach on a typical, moderate lunch derives 0.00104 (U.S.) to 0.00289 (Iceland). The trendline there is, obviously, about a double cost of living, at least on basic commodities. That, however, is the limitation because basic commodities do not make an entire cost of living index. The only way to really do a thorough job is to build a spreadsheet that takes everything into effect, from healthcare (essentially free in Iceland and expensive in the U.S.) to housing (more or less similar between Reykjavik and, say, San Francisco), utilities (essentially free in Iceland) and commodities.

I didn’t go into excruciating depth on my analysis, but more in-depth research actually disproved my coffee index, at least to a point. After comparing housing, utilities, commodities, education, taxes, healthcare and half a dozen other factors I’ve decided that Reykjavik, Iceland, like much of Europe, is hovering right around a cost of living index of 150% relative to Los Angeles. But don’t forget to factor in the long-term benefits of not having pay for health care, having great education available at very small cost and more vacation time for a family-focused lifestyle. Hard dollars are one thing, but the intangibles are much harder to measure.

When OmniGroup released their new (and absolutely delicious) OmniFocus product, they went into an early closed beta program to involve end users. At first it was opened up to a few hundred, then a few thousand, and over time the beta program grew until it became a public beta. This process took many months and throughout it I saw OmniFocus evolve from a rough draft, to a finished product, to an unbelievably well-polished gem. And the beta is still going on. OmniGroup won’t release this product until it’s perfect. That kind of planning and forethought takes dedication, perseverance and I suspect strong management direction (none of the “it’s good enough, ship it!” attitude tolerated here). Most companies don’t have this kind of dedication to cause and quality… but if only they did.

At any rate, soon after Leopard shipped someone figured out how to hack the dock. Now, prior to this I had a vague sense that application icons were somewhat hard to distinguish with all that 3D reflection going on, but it never occurred to me to try and do anything about it. Until I got my hands on some nice, dark reflective docks. I’ve blown hours fiddling around and creating a few iContainers for those CandyBar users out there: Check out the Matrix and Revamped docks, and my favorite Niqu Dock. If you don’t have CandyBar, drop by Leoparddocks.net to do it the hard way.