Category Archives: Lists

Making Beautiful Lists

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This is a nice way to make beautiful lists. Take any old list of unordered elements, for instance:

  • Apples
  • Bananas
  • Blistering barnacles
  • Gargoyles
  • Oranges
  • Pears
  • Sunfruit

Looks good? Sure. But sometimes, you want it horizontally. Let’s add the following style sheet to it.

    ul                     { list-style: none; padding: 0; margin: 0; }
    ul li                  { list-style: none; padding: 0; margin: 0; display: inline; }
    ul li:after            { content: '\B7'; padding: 0 0.2em 0 0.5em; }
    ul li:last-child:after { content: '' }

And what do we get? Something as beautiful as this:

  • Apples
  • Bananas
  • Blistering barnacles
  • Gargoyles
  • Oranges
  • Pears
  • Sunfruit

A nice, horizontal list; and the best thing about it, is that there are no little dots in the HTML code, no handling for first or last elements (no ul class=”last”), nothing. Just pure css. And, of course, each element can be styled, you can make links, or any old thing. Seems to work fine in Firefox and Chrome; IE8 doesn’t seem to get the last “ul li:last-child:after” element, but all you get is a little dot after the last element. Worse things could happen.

International Travel Checklist

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The following is the completed travel checklist used for the latest trip. Feel free to use and adapt to your needs. Note that it might be revised during the AAR/Lessons Learned activity after successful completion.

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL CHECKLIST
==============================

PREPARATIONS -------------------------------

   UPON RECEIPT OF TICKETS
    - Check airplane seat availability
    - Check passport
    - American ESTA visa application

   PREPARATIONS BEFORE
    - Wash clothes
    - Post office should hold mail during trip
    - Cancel newspaper during trip
    - Pay bills in advance
    - Notify landlord of absence for the rent
    - Verify travel insurance (normally 45 days)

   D-DAY MINUS THREE
    - Complete operations plan
       - Detailed itinerary
       - Confirm addresses and phone numbers
       - Investigate getting to the airport, parking, and return
    - Review US Embassy, DHS, TSA and Airline information
    - Review Swedish UD information (foreign department)
    - Review airline baggage and packing guidelines
    - Transfer all interesting stuff from home server to computer

   D-DAY MINUS TWO
    - Clean dishes
    - Clean floors and apartment
    - Initial packing
    - Acquisition of requested items for friends

   D-DAY MINUS ONE
    - Defrost fridge and freezer if turned off
    - Finish packing
    - Check name and address on suitcase
    - Check weather
    - Check car (gasoline, oil, water)
    - Pull out cables from all electronics (TV, DVD etc)
    - Turn off home server

   D-DAY
    - Check tickets, passport and wallet.
    - Turn off all lights.

PACKING LIST -------------------------------

SUITCASE (CHECKED BAGGAGE)

   Clothing items
    - Towel *)
    - Plastic bag for laundry
    - 3L ziplock bag for
       - Underwear
    - 3L ziplock bag for
       - Socks
    - 1 T-shirt
    - Shirts
    - Sweaters
    - Extra shirt
    - Extra pants
    - Extra shoes (?)
    - Assorted extra clothes (nice shirt, tie etc)
    - Swimming clothes (if necessary)

   Basic hygiene kit (see separate items in carry-on)
    - Toothbrush
    - Toothpaste
    - Deodorant
    - Hair brush
    - Hair comb
    - Shampoo *)
    - Dental floss
    - Hand cream
    - Tweezers
    - Nail clippers
    - Medicine package
       - Headache (Ipren)
       - Congested nose (Otrivin) (if necessary during flight, pack in carry-on)
    - Ziploc bag containing
       - Electric shaver, charger
       - Hair/beard trimmer, charger

   Other items
    - Computer mouse
    - Intl. electricity adapter
    - Other electrical chargers
       - Camera
    - Ziploc bag containing
       - USB cables (small devices, camera)
       - Assorted cables (computer, phone, net)
       - Small USB-compliant devices
    - DVD movies
    - 1 Bible
    - Assorted books, if necessary
    - Earphones
    - Umbrella
    - Foreign money (evenly split with carry-on)
    - Bank login device, if necessary

   Gift items and packages
    - Carefully screened against illegal or banned goods (see TSA policy)

   *) Items marked may not be necessary for hotel stay.

BRIEFCASE OR BACKPACK (CARRY-ON BAG)

   Electronics and fragile items
    - Computer, power cable
    - Cell phone, charged
    - MP3 player, charged
    - Camera
    - Other fragile items (hard disks)

   Ziploc bag containing (take out bag when boarding)
    - Ear plugs
    - Medicine
       - Allergy (Loratadin)
       - Stomach (Immodium)
       - Motion sickness (Postafen)
       - ...others as predicted...
    - Chewing gum
    - Pen

   Travel documents
    - Passport
    - Tickets
    - Itinerary
    - ESTA application + visas
    - Travel information
       - Reservations
       - Phone numbers
       - Destination address
       - Insurance information

   Stowaways (especially in security check)
    - Wallet
       - Credit card
       - Money
          - 200 SEK for bus passes, etc
          - Verify presence of 500 SEK emergency bill
          - Swedish pocket change (for restrooms)
          - Foreign money (evenly split with suitcase)
    - House key
    - Car key
    - Receipt from parking at airport

   Other stuff
    - 1 good book
    - Inflatable pillow
    - Flashlight
    - Compass
    - Sunglasses

HOMECOMING ---------------------------------

   Travel home
    - Buy breakfast, food

   Coming home
    - Turn on fridge/freezer at earliest convenience
    - Unpack outside or on balcony (guard against bugs, cockroaches etc)