Google Maps knows all...

Ever wonder how to get from here to there? Google knows! Click on the green and red markers for proof!



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More things to think about...

Shortly after posting my earlier post, I came across this site at Big Huge Labs that provides snippets of thoughts to blog about. A sister site also provides plot lines for those of you that write stories.

Next time I'm sitting here thinking of something to blog about, maybe I'll give them a try.

Right now it's suggesting (each page load is a different random set):

Create a list of music that you like that isn't mainstream.
Write your epitaph.
Write a game walk through.
Create and publish a screen cast.
My life would be different if I'd never met...

Hmmm...

This same site also hosts the popular Flickr Toys that I've discussed before.

Heeeeere birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie.

My family likes nature. My kids marvel at life from insects to deer to giraffes. One thing that we really like to do is to watch birds. We've set up feeders around our house, and planted enticing plants in the past, but it's a lot of work. It can be an expensive habit too.

As the kids have grown up, I've kind of lost time (and money) to keep up the hobby, but the kids still really enjoy it at their grandparents. With a pair of toy binoculars in hand, my littlest one will stare for minutes (hey, it's a start) out the window at the bird feeders. Watching birds flit from one perch to another. Watching them dive bomb each other and the squirrels as well. It's kind of fun to watch.

Most of the birds we see around home are easily recognizable -- Sparrows, Blue Jays, Robins, Starlings and Chickadees. Every once in a while we'll see one that we can't identify. Yeah, we could go grab the Field Guide to North American Birds, but typing over to the WhatBird site is more fun. Using the Percevia search engine, it allows you to use the birds' characteristics to narrow your search until you find the right bird. Using things like location, shape, color, wind shape, size, and habitat (and others), you're well on your way to identifying a Northern Flicker or some other bird. Once you identify the bird, you can get a lot more information about the particulars as well.

Beastie Boys

Well, ok, maybe just Jerky Boys. And then there are the Nasty Girls too. What's up with the ignorant drivers around town that think that they can write their own traffic laws? Or even just be so flippin' inconsiderate? I had a couple of months when things were moving smoothly, but in the last couple of days, people have been just NUTS!

It's always the kids...

Now you gotta be really careful about what you tell your kids. They have the power to get their parents in a lot of trouble according to this Smart Money article. With the kids having global reach via MySpace, Facebook, blogs, etc, all of their rants about teenage angst and parental meddling is being put front and center on the world stage. Don't let them use this against you! Lord knows we don't need more parents afraid to be parents! Do the right thing and you don't need to worry about being caught on tape, camera, or plastered in front of the world.

p.s. Those same sites have been used to bring the judicial gavel down on underage activities too. Guess things do balance out in the end.

Run out of things to think about?

I suppose that's pretty hard with all that's going on nowadays -- wars, politics, weather, parenting, sports, etc, etc, etc...

But... If ever you do run out of things to think about, and you don't want your brain to shrivel and dry up, you might want to head on over to Gadzillionthings. Though I've not counted each and every one of the things they list there, I'm sure that they're pretty close. After all, this is the Internet... :-)

Pandora's opened another box

I've been using Pandora for a while. I have it playing the background while I'm surfing. For the most part it's jsut an on-line radio station for me. I only occasionally click over to even see what's playing. The good part is that it's pretty good at only playing stuff I like. They're really done a good job in the genome analytics.

Another site I came across recently is BlogMusik. Although they also have a music matching option that tries to match a base artist or song with other songs that you'd like (not nearly as accurately as Pandora), there are other tools/features that stuck out more for me.

On the main page they list top songs per country, region or category (it has changed several times). This is kinda cool for us analytical types to compare, but also offers another way to expose yourself to new music.

It also allows you to search for an artist or song. As a bonus you can select an entire album to listen to on-line. All of the music is streamed, so it has quick starts and smooth (fade out and in) transitions. Finally, if you find a song you like it has many ways to share that song with others including embedding like the following (a favorite of my daughter's right now) ...

Flickr toys collection

I blogged a while ago about Big Huge Lab's Flickr Toys. Now there's a Flickr gallery with thousands of examples of works that people have created using their tools.

Take a look and get inspired!

Hit the nail on the head

It never ceases to amaze me what people can turn into art...

Times Change

I live in a different world than my dad did when he was my age (and now for that matter). I live in a world where computers are ubiquitous. Where every house has more than one TV. Where the Internet exists...

College professors get a fresh new crew of students every year. These students come from all over the state, country and world. With different experiences among them. Some from every socio-economic, racial, and cultural background. Yet the professors don't change. That may be a good thing, but as the professors get older, they need to deal with a lot of "gaps" in the histories of their students. They must remember that students entering college this year, for instance, have never “rolled down” a car window (it's all automatic now). They must remember that for this generation of students, U2 has always been more than a spy plane. They must keep in mind that they learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcolm X from Spike Lee.

These are just a few of the reminders that the staff of Beloit College publishes each year as a reminder for instructors. They call it the Mindset list. Take a look. It might change your mindset -- even if you're not a professor.

Let 'em know you're still there...

Have a blog of your own? Want to make sure that people know when you've updated it? BlogFlux's pinger service lets 'em know. You provide basic title and URL and which services you want to ping and then hit go. It pings the services selected to let them know you're got fresh content. Best part... you can bookmark the resulting URL so when you add a new post, just click the bookmark and send as many as 33 pings at once!

Miss Popularity

How popular was/is your name? The Baby Name Wizard is informative, but even more cool is the interface that it presents it in - an interactive Java presentation allows you to see partial name matches as well as you enter the name.

My son's name has been one of the most popular names since the 1940's and he still has not had another one with his name in his school class -- ever! Very interesting...

Little Wonders...Small hours

I heard a song on the radio several months ago that for some reason just kinda struck me. It was Little Wonders by Rob Thomas. I don't know exactly what he was writing/singing about, but when I heard it I kinda thought about the time that I spend with my kids.

Sometimes, when things get a little stressful, I tend to take it out on my kids (and my wife - Sorry honey). I snap at them, or simply don't spend the time I should with them. I only get to see them a few hours a day during the week and then on weekends because of my work. I should pay more attention to that time and how we spend it. It needs to be memorable for each of us. It should be fun. It should be a learning experience for all of us.

Rob sings:
let it go, let it roll right off your shoulder
don't you know the hardest part is over
let it in, let your clarity define you
in the end we will only just remember how it feels

I need to learn better how to let the little things "roll right off my shoulder," because "in the end we will just remember how it feels." I don't want my kids to remember how it feels when their dad "doesn't feel like playing with them" or how it feels when Dad is irritated because the house is cluttered. I want them to remember how they feel when they're having a great time playing with me. How they feel when they accomplish something that they've not been able to do before. How they feel when they help someone else accomplish something special.

our lives are made in these small hours

What is my life made of? Being short tempered with my kids? I hope not.

these little wonders, these twists & turns of fate
time falls away, but these small hours,
these small hours still remain

Time has and will continue to fly by as parents. I still can't believe that they're going into the 4th grade, 3rd grade and just a year away from kindergarten. I remember when I was that age. As time slips away, and they grow up even more, I want them to remember the good times they had when they were younger. I want them to remember a happy childhood.

I pledge to work hard to make the memories my kids have of this part of their life full of fun and happiness.

Pixel Perfect

Want another on-line photo editing/enhancing site to play with? Try Picnik. It's still in beta (isn't everything nowadays?!) so things are still free and open. Lots of standard effects and corrections, but a few cool and different ones to play with too.

How much is that window with the doggie?

Or more specifically, how much is the whole house? There are a lot of websites out there that allow you to search for the "market value" of a home. Many of the older free look up services are now forcing you to provide contact information so that you can be pestered, I mean solicited, er, um, "helped" by by an affiliated real estate agent.

Zillow is one of the relative newcomers that still has a non-nosey search option that has gotten a lot of press, but I've found it extremely lacking for my neck of the woods. Only off by, say 500% of the realistic "market value" of houses in the area. That might not be the case in your neighborhood, though.

A new site I just found is HouseFront. It lists the sales history and a map as well as a much more accurate market value. Unfortunately, my house has lost almost $60K in value over the last several years since the bottom fell out of the housing market several years ago. We didn't get out in time, so now we're kinda stuck here for a few more years at least until things pick back up.

Anyway, back to HouseFront. One of the interesting things that this site offers, is that ability to text an address to their servers and receive a message back to your phone with the same information you'd get on their website. I'm having trouble getting the SMS service to work at the moment, but the website is a bit of an addiction. How much did your neighbor overpay for their house?

The meaning of American Pie

No, not THAT American Pie...

Like to walk?

The Walk Score site assigns a walkability score to any address given. Basically, can you get the essentials of life without having to drive a car?

"...a walkable neighborhood is good for your health and good for the environment."

I need your help...

I'm not a very political person. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, though I do suggest that you vote. I have my own thoughts on global warming, but I won't proselytize. I have concerns about things that are happening in the world and in our own back yard. But that's not what this post is about.

As my kids grow to adulthood (still several years to go), there is nothing that will impact their life as much as this. It's in the air we breath. It's in the ground they walk on. I'm positive they've already ingested some. I'm talking about the chemical dihydrogen monoxide. I'm not a conspiracy theorist (though I admit to reading information on 9/11 and the JFK death), but this one really surprised me when I started investigating. Some people think that the government is covering up real information about UFOs, or that our own government perpetrated the 9/11 tragedy just to line the pockets of some and secure the political future of others. Why, though are they hiding the truth about this chemical?!

According to the non-profit research site DHMO,

"Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the unstable radical Hydroxide, the components of which are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol."

It's in your kids' schools and it's in your workplace. You owe it to your kids, yourself and your world to learn more about this.

People are all up in arms about the Middle East conflicts because they say it's a war for oil. well, wars have been fought over this chemical as well. It's so potent that thousands and thousands have dies for it.

Don't wait until it's too late. Investigate this issue and do what you can to protect yourself.

I forgot to make a wish

Last night, the family and I went out in the country (away from the pollution of city lights) to catch a glimpse of some of the shooting stars in the Perseid meteor shower. Apparently it peaked Sunday night after midnight, but it was rainy here so we missed out. NASA had predicted 60-100 shots per hour at its peak. Guess we missed that.

We were out between 9:30 and 10:30 while the kids were falling asleep on the ground listening to the songs of insects and birds and telling each other stories. I saw only one meteor, but it was gorgeous. It lasted about 3 seconds with a long, bright orange tail. I was disappointed that was the only one I saw, but it was pretty cool to see even one. I know it's an annual event and that there are other showers as well that, if I made the effort, might reveal a few more displays, but it's just not something that I've done recently. Had a little bit of "hey - the world's kinda big" thoughts going on last night watching all the stars and stuff. That and a little "hey - there's a lot of air traffic up there in the sky" as well...

One other celestial display I'd like to catch in the future is the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights.

Life Lessons

A major life lesson was reinforced for my daughter (and us) this past weekend.

Radio Disney was conducting one of their D-Tour shows at a local Ikea store in the area. The local Disney station brings their road show equipment and sets up stage in front of the store and invites kids (and adults) to take part in games to win prizes provided by either Disney or Ikea in this case. My daughter and youngest son both participated in a little lip-synch activity for a chance to win a $100 Ikea gift card. My daughter also was picked to participate in three other events (a hula hoop contest and a Disney version of hot potato and one more that I can't remember). My daughter is always excited at events like this, but we've raised her right and she recognizes that she isn't always going to win and that she should be happy for those that do win. During the events, she took time to cheer on the other contestants and congratulate each of the winners. Not bad for a 9 year old.

Anyway, on the last contest, someone else won and the show was over… Except for the grand prize of the day – a prize basket, including a 5 pack of tickets to see Aly & AJ and Corbin Bleu (very popular Disney artists) in concert locally, and an entry into the national drawing to fly to Chicago and see them as well. We didn't win that prize, but the girl that did win the prize had already won a four pack of tickets for the same concert earlier in one of the contests. She (with a little help from her mom, probably), decided that 9 tickets were too many and that she needed to share. Because of the enthusiasm and support that my daughter had shown during the event, she gave 4 of the tickets to us! My daughter was speechless. She could still scream, but she was speechless. ☺ Should be a great show!

My youngest, for his 5 seconds of lip-synching (and couple of minutes of dancing with his sister), won the Ikea gift card too! "He" opted for a new "big-boy" dresser to go with his room which is being redecorated this fall.

We all had a great time, the kids got some exercise (and sun – it was hot!), and we walked away with some enforcement of a very important life lesson…

Unlikely pair?

There are somethings that go together. Ketchup and mustard. Baseball and bat. Cat and dog (ok, that one's questionable). Other things are not obvious pairs. Take for instance an elderly woman in a brand new hot red Ford Mustang convertible.

The other day, that's exactly what I saw. I literally did a double take. Then I started trying to come up with a rational reason for this pairing.

Maybe she won it in a raffle (you know old people enter those things all the time).

Maybe her grandson was stuck at school and needed a ride home and because she didn't have a car of her own, she had to borrow his car to go pick him up (but if he had a car, how'd he get to school in the first place?)

Maybe she was a Ford exec who didn't take the buyout. (or did and bought a Mustang)

Maybe she was a do-gooder chasing a bank robber and she had to commandeer the first available car (she was driving fast enough...maybe plausible).

Maybe she just needed to relive childhood memories. Maybe her first car was a Mustang. (2007-1964 = 43 year life of brand + 18 years when she got her first car would make her... 61... She looked older.)

Maybe she is just an avid tanner and was really only 35.

I'm not trying to deny anyone their enjoyment of a cool, fast car. It just looked a little out of place.

What other rationalizations can you think of? What other unlikely pairs have you seen recently?

Parenting is...

A little privacy please...

So you're posting an ad on Craigslist, or meeting someone at a bar, or filling out surveys and you need to give your phone number, but you don't really want to. What do you do?

Well, you could head on over to Numbr and get a FREE, auto-expiring, forwarded phone number in your own area code (or another if you want people to think you're living somewhere else). You can set the expiration to an hour from how, a day from now, a week or a month from now. You can also select other options like getting an email that lists your incoming call history.

This service is free during their beta.

What's your legacy?

A very self-important college freshman attending a recent football game, took it upon himself to explain to a senior citizen sitting next to him why it was impossible for the older generation to understand his generation.

"You grew up in a different world, actually an almost primitive one," the student said, loud enough for many of those nearby to hear.

"The young people of today grew up with television, jet planes, space travel, man walking on the moon, our spaceships have visited Mars. We have nuclear energy, electric and hydrogen cars, computers with DSL, BPS, light-speed processing...and," pausing to take another drink of beer.

"You're right, son. We didn't have those things when we were young, so we invented them. Now, you arrogant little brat, what are you doing for the next generation?"

The applause was resounding. I love senior citizens.

>>

I ran across this anecdote the other day and started to wonder... What do you want people to remember you for when you're gone?

The benefits of Spam

No, I'm not talking about the ham wannabe, I'm talking about the e-mail spam, and chain letters, etc that circulate around the world several times a day in periodic cycles. The most recent one that made it to my inbox was titled "Two moons on 27th August 2007." I'm a pretty big skeptic, but because it came from someone I trust (or appeared to), I decided to read on (I have a really good multi-layered anti-virus/malware solution so if it makes it through Google's spam filters from someone I know, I feel pretty safe).

This particular email purports that Mars will look as large and as bright as the moon in a few weeks. I'm a huge science fan, so I saw holes in this right away, but validated my thoughts on a respected debunking site. Then I got to thinking... As I was reading the article, I realized that I was learning something new. And gaining interest in something that I really hadn't thought about for a while -- in this case Mars and the other planets. My interest was piqued a while ago with all the Pluto ruckus (he was robbed!), but after that, nary another thought... Until now.

My wife likes to keep the kids interested in school-eque subjects as well as pass the summer a little faster by picking a topic/theme for the week. Each week they try to work in something special for that theme. This week I think is transportation. Another week was animals. It's been friendship one week already too. Maybe we'll need to make sure that the planets (and dwarf planets) are covered one time as well.

As to the debunking task - when you receive an email like this, especially one that tells you to "forward it to everyone in your address book" or the like, copy a small, but relevant portion (the subject line, or a distinct portion of the email) and head on over to Snopes and paste into the search engine and prepare yourself for a schooling.

Those Sexy English Pepsi Girls...

This UK Pepsi site allows you to enter a few details (and a pic) that are incorporated into a sexy tattoo video. Pretty out there advertising...