I normally keep anywhere from 30-50 tabs open in Firefox at any given moment. There are two specific downsides to this. For one, restarting Firefox takes forever, because the browser has to load 30-50 web pages at once (although this isn’t really a Firefox-specific problem; any browser would take a while to open 40 pages at once). The second problem is that Firefox often eats RAM like candy. It’s not uncommon for Firefox to use anywhere from 1GB to 1.5GB of RAM on my system.
But the folks at Mozilla added a nifty tweak to Firefox 8. If you go to the General tab of the Options pane, you’ll see a new check box that says “Don’t load tabs until selected”:
If you check this box, Firefox will keep track of which tabs you have open, but won’t actually load the page until you select its tab. This tweak was added to speed Firefox’s start-up time (and, as such, works beautifully). But the tweak also greatly reduces the amount of RAM Firefox uses in general. When I enabled this option a few days ago, I had 48 tabs open, and Firefox was using 1.2GB of RAM. After restarting, I selected a few tabs and Firefox was only using 443MB of RAM. I’ve had the same session open for three days now, and have opened and closed several windows (and still have the same “base” of 30+ tabs open) and Task Manager reports that Firefox is “only” using 553MB of RAM.
Hey, ya’ll! Simon here again! I’m feeling a bit under weather this week, so my picks might be short and sweet this go ’round. The doctor has me on some pain killers that I thought would make me funny, but in fact only make me sleepy! So let’s do this! Your favorite kitty went 8-8 last week, for a total of 40-29.
New York Jets at Denver: Despite putting up some awful numbers, my cute lil’ Tim Tebow is winning games. But that streak comes to an end this week. That sexy Darrelle Revis will be all over the field, and more often than not will lend up with handsful of Tebowcake. Take the Jets in this game, girls!
Jacksonville at Cleveland: Jeez – what an awful game! The NFL should just go ahead and apologize to the rest of the league for this game! I think Cleveland could win this game, but the Browns will come up with some novel way to lose this one, too! I’m taking the Jaguars in this game!
Carolina at Detroit: Oooo! The battle of the kitties! I so want my hometown kitties to win this game, but I think Detroit will bounce back with this one. Not that I’m complaining: I get to see my saucy cup of hot chocolate, Calvin Johnson, on TV this week! Too bad I don’t get to see his Johnson! I’m bad! Take the Lions here!
Tampa Bay at Green Bay: The Battle of the Bays… ain’t gonna amount to much. Aaron Rogers… blah blah blah… Clay Matthews… blah blah blah… Take the Packers to win by at least ten in this mismatch.
Hey, ya’ll! Simon here! Man, my daddy was all kinds of angry after that Steelers\Ravens game! And who could blame him? How could the Steelers’ D let the Ravens go 92 yards at the end of the game? Oh well. I went 7-7 last week, for a total of 32-21 for the season. Let’s see if I can come up with a better than winning record this week!
Oakland at San Diego: Ya’ll ever notice that Philip Rivers looks like a penis with ears? Simon sure has! As much as I’d like to see those sexy mens in black and silver come away with a victory, I think the Chargers win this game.
Atlanta at New Orleans: Oh my! The oldest, fiercest rivalry in the Southern wing of the NFL! My handsome Matty Lite and Latin lover Tony Gonzalez going up against Drew Breesus and that sexy Pierre Thomas! I do believe I might pass out in anticipation! Lord, please… someone catch me! [falls to the floor with a smile on his face] I’m sorry! Where was I? Oh yes – Atlanta and New Orleans… all those sweaty, sexy mens… It’s like a Saturday night at Mugzey’s! Anyway, as much as I like those Dirty Birds, the ‘Aints have been unstoppable at home this season! Pick the Saints with this one, although it should be one sexy, close game, honey!
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati: I’m not going to make Daddy mad by picking the Bungles here, but I will say this: the “good Steelers” will have to show up to win this game. Those outlaws from the other Queen City may actually be for real this year, and the Steelers can’t take them lightly. If Large Benjamin throws a pick too many, or if the Steelers D lets the Bungles back in the game… it could get ugly. I’m taking the Steelers, but I’m not at all confident about it.
St. Louis at Cleveland: Every week there’s one stinker of a game, and this is this week’s version. Colt McCoy is a big, ugly doofus… almost uglier than the Browns’ awful excuse for a defense. And the less said about the Rams and Sam Bradford the better. I’m taking the Browns, but the one way we could all win is if a freak lake-based tsunami were to consume Cleveland Browns Stadium and everyone in it!
Today is Bank Transfer Day, a day when millions of folks promised to transfer their accounts from big commercial banks to smaller banks or credit unions. I’m not participating in this… and here’s why:
My birthday is in March. The August after I turned 21, my best friend Rich and I went to my parent’s beach condo in Florida for a short vacation. Shortly after arrival, we went to the grocery store to stock up on grub for the week, and there I got a 6-pack of Bass Ale. The beer had a flyer attached offering six pint glasses and a glass pitcher with cool retro Bass logos for $19.99 plus shipping. Since I was still in my “I’M 21! I CAN DRINK, THEREFORE I AM A BADASS!!!” phase, I decided to get the set. So as soon as I got back to Atlanta I sent them a check and promptly forgot about it.
Fast forward from that August to the following May. I was at work one Tuesday, and my mom called me in a panic. “Wachovia called! They said you bounced a check! What’s going on with your finances, son? Should we bring your dad in on this?”
STRIKE ONE: Although I lived at home, I was now 22 years-old, fully an adult, and neither of my parents were “co-signers” (or anything else) on my account. But some Wachovia drone felt it was perfectly OK to talk to my mom about my private financial matters. Continue reading “Why I’m not participating in Bank Transfer Day”