Readers of this column have asked me why I chose to use a dialup connection instead of something faster. My answer was that it was an economic decision, but all has changed recently. I found a dsl service that compared favorably to the subscriptions I had, so I made the switch last month. And that switch may—or may not affect readers of this column. Until now, I have focused on websites that are accessible to anyone at any speed. And with my faster connection, I bring you site reviews that may leave present dialup customers wanting a faster connection. I’ll do my best to maintain a balance so that dialup users don’t feel totally left out of the ever-changing Internet environment.
Google Maps . Everyone is talking about Google Maps these days. And Google has much to brag about, in my estimation. Instead of plodding my way through that “other online map service,” I used Google Maps recently to find my way to a location in LaPorte following the back roads. I had the choice of looking at a regular, plotted map or a topographical, satellite view of the route. Pretty neat. The two views gave me something solid, in context, to make my way to my destination easily. Between Google Maps and a cell phone, there is no need for anyone to lose their way along the highways and byways. There is much to explore at the site, from familiar neighborhoods to more global views. Once you use Google Maps, most likely you won’t want to return to “that other online map service.”
Windows One Care . Microsoft is testing a new product that supposedly will be built in to its next upgrade of Windows (after XP). For a limited time, those interested in the beta version can sign up to give it a try. The program is supposed to supply an automatic computer maintenance/fixing/bug removal/optimizer so that we users no longer have to worry about scheduling our defrags (you DO defrag your hard drive weekly, don’t you?); or uploading updates for spyware, adware, malware, etc. All the regular computer maintenance that people tend to ignore will be done by this program. Or at least, that’s the general plan. I signed up to be a beta user and I believe the program will be available in a few weeks. I’ll let you know in a future column what I think of it. Or, go ahead and get yourself on the list of beta-users. You’ll need an MSN Passport account—if you have an Hotmail account, then you already have that account.
Patrick Crispen’s Powerpoint Tutorials . I get Patrick Crispen’s version of the Internet Tourbus/Netsquirrel weekly as an e-newsletter. It gives me lots of good, easy-to-digest technical information about using computers. Patrick has put together a large series of free tutorials that may be of interest to you. Some of these include instructions for taming Adobe Reader, Real Player, and Internet Explorer—tweaking them to your liking and making them run faster. Other tutorials include Advanced Searching Tips, Guidelines for Good Web Design, Troubleshooting for a Healthy Computer, and many more. The tutorials offer an alternative to using instructional books, and they’re free. In future columns, I’ll tell you about more free tutorials that you can find on the Internet.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Back By Popular Demand
Occasionally, this column gets letters asking for websites having to do with forecasting the future. Put all those letters together in a year’s time and I consider it “popular demand.” Since we’re nearing the end of the year and many people want to know ahead of time what the next year will bring them, I’ve collected an assortment of websites where they can glance into the future. I cannot attest to the accuracy of the information at these sites, so I absolve myself right now of any future blame. However, I’ll be glad to take the credit if your future reading turns out to be accurate.
Astrodienst. This is a generous website that provides you with a choice of personal daily horoscopes, a six-month (transit) forecast, and compatibility charts among other choices. When professional astrologers recommend this site, you know that you’re getting the real deal. Robert Hand’s “Planets in Transit” is used for the narratives you’ll find at the forecasts link. You’ll find Hand’s book, along with Liz Greene’s, on many a professional astrologer’s bookshelf. Much of the information, including the option to create charts, is free. Of course, you’ll find special deals that cost some money if you are not satisfied with the free information.
Destiny Cards . Destiny Card creator Robert L. Camp has devised a system of divination that might be called unique. It’s nothing like Tarot, and to understand it fully, you’ll have to get his books. But, if you want to take it at face value without trying to figure out his scheme, then go ahead. You will get a yearly, a 52-day cycle, and a daily card reading for free. Several years ago Camp offered a free download from his website so that you did not have to log on each day to read your card. Apparently, he stopped that. I downloaded his “mini-card program” and it’s still on my hard drive. Is it accurate? Well, sometimes I think it is, and other days, it has no relevance. But then, I don’t pay close enough attention, I confess. As with any of these divination systems, one has to truly believe in them—perhaps self-fulfilling prophecy.
Numerology. If you believe in the power of numbers, or in the belief that every letter has a unique vibration, then most likely you have already dabbled in numerology. This website gives you the opportunity to download a free program so that you can do your own calculations for either the Chaldean or Pythagorean systems. The program comes with reports.
ConsciousOne. If you have a high speed connection, soothing music will greet you at the site. On the left-hand menu, there is a box that says “Healing Cards.” This will take you to a page with Doreen Virtue’s popular Angel Healing cards are, and where you can give yourself an online reading. Look around the website. You may find other things of interest to you. Just be sure you get the spelling of c-o-n-s-c-i-o-u-s correct.
Triple Goddess Cards . Another place to get a free reading. This time, the deck is based on Tarot and rather than “choosing” your cards, the computer automatically chooses for you. Consider it synchronicity. Now, just because the cards have “goddess” in the title does not necessarily mean that only women can access the cards.
Astrodienst. This is a generous website that provides you with a choice of personal daily horoscopes, a six-month (transit) forecast, and compatibility charts among other choices. When professional astrologers recommend this site, you know that you’re getting the real deal. Robert Hand’s “Planets in Transit” is used for the narratives you’ll find at the forecasts link. You’ll find Hand’s book, along with Liz Greene’s, on many a professional astrologer’s bookshelf. Much of the information, including the option to create charts, is free. Of course, you’ll find special deals that cost some money if you are not satisfied with the free information.
Destiny Cards . Destiny Card creator Robert L. Camp has devised a system of divination that might be called unique. It’s nothing like Tarot, and to understand it fully, you’ll have to get his books. But, if you want to take it at face value without trying to figure out his scheme, then go ahead. You will get a yearly, a 52-day cycle, and a daily card reading for free. Several years ago Camp offered a free download from his website so that you did not have to log on each day to read your card. Apparently, he stopped that. I downloaded his “mini-card program” and it’s still on my hard drive. Is it accurate? Well, sometimes I think it is, and other days, it has no relevance. But then, I don’t pay close enough attention, I confess. As with any of these divination systems, one has to truly believe in them—perhaps self-fulfilling prophecy.
Numerology. If you believe in the power of numbers, or in the belief that every letter has a unique vibration, then most likely you have already dabbled in numerology. This website gives you the opportunity to download a free program so that you can do your own calculations for either the Chaldean or Pythagorean systems. The program comes with reports.
ConsciousOne. If you have a high speed connection, soothing music will greet you at the site. On the left-hand menu, there is a box that says “Healing Cards.” This will take you to a page with Doreen Virtue’s popular Angel Healing cards are, and where you can give yourself an online reading. Look around the website. You may find other things of interest to you. Just be sure you get the spelling of c-o-n-s-c-i-o-u-s correct.
Triple Goddess Cards . Another place to get a free reading. This time, the deck is based on Tarot and rather than “choosing” your cards, the computer automatically chooses for you. Consider it synchronicity. Now, just because the cards have “goddess” in the title does not necessarily mean that only women can access the cards.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Holiday Table Tips & Gingerbread Houses
So. You are getting out the linen napkins and planning to set a fine table. I’ve found just the place for you to find out how to make fancy napkin folds, pair wines, and set the table. After the holiday meal, you might plan to add to your weekend tradition the baking, building and decorating of a gingerbread house. Now, doesn’t that sound more fun than fighting the day-after-Thanksgiving shopping crush? Since I’m in co-charge of the annual Gingerbread House Exhibit & Contest at the
Gingerbread Lane . Put aside all thoughts of your basic gingerbread cabin when you log on to this site’s showcase link. There are some incredibly sophisticated displays of gingerbread “wonders” here. View the amusement park created by Jock McCoy, with a roller coaster that really works. Two other spectacular creations on this page feature a gingerbread model of
Thursday, November 17, 2005
More Wacky, Wild and Weird Sites
Last week I ran out of room listing wacky, wild and/or just plain weird sites that proliferate on the Web. Here are a few more.
Sibology. If there are times when you think your thinking is off-balance, you might want to use this site as a reality check for yourself. You’ll discover that your thinking is well within the boundaries of ordinary. Notice that I did not use the word “normal”? “Sib.” according to this site author, stands for “super intelligent beings.” And just about everyone in government, in computer engineering, and lots of others are targets for a verbal lashing. Whoever created this site is passionate about his (or her) beliefs. If you need a definition for “rant,” log on here.
Eternal Life Device . The FDA won’t approve Alex’s device, but this inventor is convinced that his invention will keep a person living forever. He is so sure, and apparently so altruistic, that he is giving away instructions on how to construct your own eternal life device. He also has an order form if you don’t want to bother with such stuff (but then, you’d never run out of time, would you)? The device is worn on the fingers and resembles a big ring. And there is a foot model that looks sort of like a torture object that might appeal to directors of concentration camps. Take a look.
Russian Mouse . Are you ready to spend $60 for a computer mouse? How about $160 for a keyboard? Well, not just any mouse, or any keyboard. Some person who hails from Russia spends his (or her) time painting intricate characters (think: Shrek), folkloric people, and scenes on the electronic devices. And the artist does a very good job, I’d say. I’m wondering if the artist found a supply of used mice and keyboards to use as his canvas. Not that it matters. If you want to be the first on your block—or in your cubicle—to have an artfully designed mouse or keyboard, this is the place to find it. As for me, I don’t pay enough attention to my keyboard or mouse when I use my computer—I’m too busy looking directly at the screen.
International Museum of Toilets . Yes, there really IS such a place. It’s in New Delhi, India. Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak has taken it upon himself to collect some extraordinarily ornate models that would fit well in a Baroque-designed dwelling. What’s more, Dr. Pathak has researched the history of toilets to way, way back in time, and he dedicates a page to ancient “rules of usage” that is quite a fascinating read. Dr. Pathak is not some Internet crank—his credentials include presenting a history paper at the International Symposium on Public Toilets held in Hong Kong in 1995.
Spiders on Drugs . Here you will discover that drinking too much coffee is worse than ingesting hard drugs. Well, at least it looks that way when you see the webs lab spiders have spun after they have been inoculated with such other substances as marijuana, mescaline, LSD, and Benzedrine. The photos of the spider webs illustrate an experiment that NASA scientists engaged in, seeking to measure toxicity relationships. The coffee web looks the worst (at least to me). But read the captions carefully. The spiders behaved differently because of a particular drug’s effect. Coffee revved them up. Marijuana got them going, then got them chilling out for a long snooze, so their webs were not completed. At least the coffee subjects finished their webs…
Sibology. If there are times when you think your thinking is off-balance, you might want to use this site as a reality check for yourself. You’ll discover that your thinking is well within the boundaries of ordinary. Notice that I did not use the word “normal”? “Sib.” according to this site author, stands for “super intelligent beings.” And just about everyone in government, in computer engineering, and lots of others are targets for a verbal lashing. Whoever created this site is passionate about his (or her) beliefs. If you need a definition for “rant,” log on here.
Eternal Life Device . The FDA won’t approve Alex’s device, but this inventor is convinced that his invention will keep a person living forever. He is so sure, and apparently so altruistic, that he is giving away instructions on how to construct your own eternal life device. He also has an order form if you don’t want to bother with such stuff (but then, you’d never run out of time, would you)? The device is worn on the fingers and resembles a big ring. And there is a foot model that looks sort of like a torture object that might appeal to directors of concentration camps. Take a look.
Russian Mouse . Are you ready to spend $60 for a computer mouse? How about $160 for a keyboard? Well, not just any mouse, or any keyboard. Some person who hails from Russia spends his (or her) time painting intricate characters (think: Shrek), folkloric people, and scenes on the electronic devices. And the artist does a very good job, I’d say. I’m wondering if the artist found a supply of used mice and keyboards to use as his canvas. Not that it matters. If you want to be the first on your block—or in your cubicle—to have an artfully designed mouse or keyboard, this is the place to find it. As for me, I don’t pay enough attention to my keyboard or mouse when I use my computer—I’m too busy looking directly at the screen.
International Museum of Toilets . Yes, there really IS such a place. It’s in New Delhi, India. Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak has taken it upon himself to collect some extraordinarily ornate models that would fit well in a Baroque-designed dwelling. What’s more, Dr. Pathak has researched the history of toilets to way, way back in time, and he dedicates a page to ancient “rules of usage” that is quite a fascinating read. Dr. Pathak is not some Internet crank—his credentials include presenting a history paper at the International Symposium on Public Toilets held in Hong Kong in 1995.
Spiders on Drugs . Here you will discover that drinking too much coffee is worse than ingesting hard drugs. Well, at least it looks that way when you see the webs lab spiders have spun after they have been inoculated with such other substances as marijuana, mescaline, LSD, and Benzedrine. The photos of the spider webs illustrate an experiment that NASA scientists engaged in, seeking to measure toxicity relationships. The coffee web looks the worst (at least to me). But read the captions carefully. The spiders behaved differently because of a particular drug’s effect. Coffee revved them up. Marijuana got them going, then got them chilling out for a long snooze, so their webs were not completed. At least the coffee subjects finished their webs…
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Wacky, Wild and Weird
Need a laugh about now? I’ve found some places on the Internet that are worth a good laugh. Or, if not a good laugh, an opportunity to mull over the notion that humans who post to the Web come in all flavors and take up some imaginative—even out-of-this-world kinds of projects. Have fun logging on to some or all of the following.
Pumpkin Computer . What do you do with your pumpkin after Halloween is long past, assuming no pies have been baked? A few ingenious students transformed a pumpkin into a working computer. Honest. You can see for yourself at this website and since they were nice enough to provide step-by-step instructions, you, too can be the first on your block to have a pumpkin computer.
Receipt Collection . Mark Thomas is a self-avowed collector. He does not explain why he chooses to save, scan and upload every receipt he receives for every purchase he makes. Why he thinks the average surfer might find his website of scanned receipts one to bookmark and return to, I don’t know. After I viewed just one page of his receipts (he has more than 2,000 posted), I was wishing that he might put aside the electronics for awhile and go out and get some fresh air. But then, judging from the information on his receipts, I can see that this guy really does get around.
Confuse Your House Guests . A pair of twentysomethings found a way to turn their living room sideways. Yes, almost upside down, but in this case, sideways. Sound like a college prank? That’s sort of correct. The guys who did this give step-by-step directions on how they performed their trick, no magic, just amazing ingenuity. When you see the pictures, you can imitate what they’ve done in time for April Fool’s Day. Beware. This is no small project.
A Year of Stuffed Animals . A guy by the name of Jacob must have been given a ton of scrap material. Jacob’s hobby, if that is what it is called, is to make a stuffed animal a day. He’s posted pictures of some of his results, and don’t expect department-store stuffed animals when you go to his site.
Eat 22 . If Jacob can make a stuffed animal a day, then Ellie can photograph every morsel of food that has hit her lips for the past year. Yet, Ellie took her project a few steps further. She had a gala gallery reception after the year was up. Guests nibbled on tiny cupcakes with “Eat 22” lettered in the frosting. And, she made a poster of her many eating sessions—a collage of photos—available for purchase. Does she deserve an award for entrepreneurial genius or what?
MOFA . Since we are on the subject of food, here is a gallery that our food writer, Carolyn McConnell, might enjoy. MOFA stands for Museum of Food Anomalies. Web viewers are invited to send in their weird food pictures for posting. How about a ghost-faced cereal? Or a green pepper, when cut open, reveals a smiley face? Go ahead—look around and waste some time. Pretty soon you, too, will be examining every edible for an anomaly. Too bad Ellie (Eat 22, posted above) didn’t think of doing that.
Wait! There’s more. I’ll write about them next week, since I’m out of room. Meanwhile, check out my new, improved website, Artmedia-Indiana which shows the results of my six weeks of toil completing my online website building class.
Pumpkin Computer . What do you do with your pumpkin after Halloween is long past, assuming no pies have been baked? A few ingenious students transformed a pumpkin into a working computer. Honest. You can see for yourself at this website and since they were nice enough to provide step-by-step instructions, you, too can be the first on your block to have a pumpkin computer.
Receipt Collection . Mark Thomas is a self-avowed collector. He does not explain why he chooses to save, scan and upload every receipt he receives for every purchase he makes. Why he thinks the average surfer might find his website of scanned receipts one to bookmark and return to, I don’t know. After I viewed just one page of his receipts (he has more than 2,000 posted), I was wishing that he might put aside the electronics for awhile and go out and get some fresh air. But then, judging from the information on his receipts, I can see that this guy really does get around.
Confuse Your House Guests . A pair of twentysomethings found a way to turn their living room sideways. Yes, almost upside down, but in this case, sideways. Sound like a college prank? That’s sort of correct. The guys who did this give step-by-step directions on how they performed their trick, no magic, just amazing ingenuity. When you see the pictures, you can imitate what they’ve done in time for April Fool’s Day. Beware. This is no small project.
A Year of Stuffed Animals . A guy by the name of Jacob must have been given a ton of scrap material. Jacob’s hobby, if that is what it is called, is to make a stuffed animal a day. He’s posted pictures of some of his results, and don’t expect department-store stuffed animals when you go to his site.
Eat 22 . If Jacob can make a stuffed animal a day, then Ellie can photograph every morsel of food that has hit her lips for the past year. Yet, Ellie took her project a few steps further. She had a gala gallery reception after the year was up. Guests nibbled on tiny cupcakes with “Eat 22” lettered in the frosting. And, she made a poster of her many eating sessions—a collage of photos—available for purchase. Does she deserve an award for entrepreneurial genius or what?
MOFA . Since we are on the subject of food, here is a gallery that our food writer, Carolyn McConnell, might enjoy. MOFA stands for Museum of Food Anomalies. Web viewers are invited to send in their weird food pictures for posting. How about a ghost-faced cereal? Or a green pepper, when cut open, reveals a smiley face? Go ahead—look around and waste some time. Pretty soon you, too, will be examining every edible for an anomaly. Too bad Ellie (Eat 22, posted above) didn’t think of doing that.
Wait! There’s more. I’ll write about them next week, since I’m out of room. Meanwhile, check out my new, improved website, Artmedia-Indiana which shows the results of my six weeks of toil completing my online website building class.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Update: Virtual Classroom II
After the last post, I worked through my final lessons--took the final exam--and passed!.
You can view a sample of what I learned at my website, Artmedia-Indiana.
I used a combination of my html training and Dreamweaver. For anyone who tells you that it's a good thing to learn html even though you might use a wysiwyg editor, believe them! It makes things so much easier.
Now I will concentrate on getting the print columns posted regularly once again--or at least, I'll make a valiant attempt.
Thanks for hanging in there.
You can view a sample of what I learned at my website, Artmedia-Indiana.
I used a combination of my html training and Dreamweaver. For anyone who tells you that it's a good thing to learn html even though you might use a wysiwyg editor, believe them! It makes things so much easier.
Now I will concentrate on getting the print columns posted regularly once again--or at least, I'll make a valiant attempt.
Thanks for hanging in there.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
A Virtual Classroom Experience
I’m not bringing you a list of reviewed websites this week because I’ve had no extra time to surf. I have, however, spent considerable time online. In a virtual classroom.
Last May, I found out about an online learning opportunity offered for zero dollars by the Small Business Administration. Six intensive sessions of several subjects were being “given away” to the first 2400 people who signed up. I was among the lucky ones who managed to register successfully for a class titled, “Creating Web Pages.” And back in May, the only opening that was left was for the session that began September 21. Other offerings included subjects such as “Creating a Business Plan” “Accounting for Small Business,” and many more. The temptation was to sign up for as many as possible.
Good thing I didn’t.
I am presently two-thirds of the way through the six-week, two-classes-a-week program. And believe me when I say this isn’t a breezy tutorial that you can log on to whenever you feel like it. No, sireeee. The online education program is administered by Ed2go (www.ed2go.com), a business that contracts with local colleges to offer a multitude of classes via the Internet.
My class consists of 12 lessons--two per week. First, we read the equivalent of anywhere from 15 to 25 pages of material for each lesson. Then we take a quiz to see how well we’ve grasped the material. Then we do an assignment. Each assignment involves writing successively more complex html code, which is then automatically validated for correctness or errors. What started at writing about 40 lines of code in the beginning is now up to about 80 lines. Plus, there is a “pile” of supplemental, recommended reading to review. Much of that is posted elsewhere on the ‘net.
I fell behind most of the other class members, who seem to be able to tackle the next lesson as soon as it’s posted. Until today, I was four lessons behind because of the many other things I have to attend to during a normal weekday. But since we’ve been advised by our online teacher not to fall too far behind, I decided to cram four lessons into a 24-hour period. That is because, when the lessons are over, we still have to take a final exam in order to receive certification. The final is just two weeks away.
For those of you who’ve dreamed of sitting in your pajamas and earning a degree at home via distance learning, or via an online program such as the one I am in, be warned. It’s just as much work (maybe more, if your teacher is a White Sox fan) as sitting in a classroom in a bricks-and-mortar building. The advantages of virtual schooling include not spending any money on gas to get you to class, and yes, you can sit at your computer buck naked if you want (but please turn off your webcam). You don’t have to set your alarm clock to get to class on time, either.
I have a “real” teacher whose name is Craig Powers. I know him only through the Internet. Ditto with my classmates. We have a discussion area for each lesson where we can post questions and comments. All via keyboard, not vocally. That’s okay. It works for me fine. I don’t have to be rude if I don’t want to join in on any particular discussion. But, I’ve still gained valuable information from my classmates—similar to when you sit around the lounge at school and chat and network.
I’m glad to have had this opportunity to delve into the world of a “real” online classroom. The lessons have been carefully structured and we follow an outline (or syllabus), just like in a regular classroom. The teacher does not have to grade papers. Instead, he uses computer wizardry (javascript) to formulate our quizzes. He can have 400 class members and not worry about discipline problems.
From a consumer’s point of view, I’ve found my experience gratifying so far. But then, you might want to ask me again after I’ve taken that final exam
Last May, I found out about an online learning opportunity offered for zero dollars by the Small Business Administration. Six intensive sessions of several subjects were being “given away” to the first 2400 people who signed up. I was among the lucky ones who managed to register successfully for a class titled, “Creating Web Pages.” And back in May, the only opening that was left was for the session that began September 21. Other offerings included subjects such as “Creating a Business Plan” “Accounting for Small Business,” and many more. The temptation was to sign up for as many as possible.
Good thing I didn’t.
I am presently two-thirds of the way through the six-week, two-classes-a-week program. And believe me when I say this isn’t a breezy tutorial that you can log on to whenever you feel like it. No, sireeee. The online education program is administered by Ed2go (www.ed2go.com), a business that contracts with local colleges to offer a multitude of classes via the Internet.
My class consists of 12 lessons--two per week. First, we read the equivalent of anywhere from 15 to 25 pages of material for each lesson. Then we take a quiz to see how well we’ve grasped the material. Then we do an assignment. Each assignment involves writing successively more complex html code, which is then automatically validated for correctness or errors. What started at writing about 40 lines of code in the beginning is now up to about 80 lines. Plus, there is a “pile” of supplemental, recommended reading to review. Much of that is posted elsewhere on the ‘net.
I fell behind most of the other class members, who seem to be able to tackle the next lesson as soon as it’s posted. Until today, I was four lessons behind because of the many other things I have to attend to during a normal weekday. But since we’ve been advised by our online teacher not to fall too far behind, I decided to cram four lessons into a 24-hour period. That is because, when the lessons are over, we still have to take a final exam in order to receive certification. The final is just two weeks away.
For those of you who’ve dreamed of sitting in your pajamas and earning a degree at home via distance learning, or via an online program such as the one I am in, be warned. It’s just as much work (maybe more, if your teacher is a White Sox fan) as sitting in a classroom in a bricks-and-mortar building. The advantages of virtual schooling include not spending any money on gas to get you to class, and yes, you can sit at your computer buck naked if you want (but please turn off your webcam). You don’t have to set your alarm clock to get to class on time, either.
I have a “real” teacher whose name is Craig Powers. I know him only through the Internet. Ditto with my classmates. We have a discussion area for each lesson where we can post questions and comments. All via keyboard, not vocally. That’s okay. It works for me fine. I don’t have to be rude if I don’t want to join in on any particular discussion. But, I’ve still gained valuable information from my classmates—similar to when you sit around the lounge at school and chat and network.
I’m glad to have had this opportunity to delve into the world of a “real” online classroom. The lessons have been carefully structured and we follow an outline (or syllabus), just like in a regular classroom. The teacher does not have to grade papers. Instead, he uses computer wizardry (javascript) to formulate our quizzes. He can have 400 class members and not worry about discipline problems.
From a consumer’s point of view, I’ve found my experience gratifying so far. But then, you might want to ask me again after I’ve taken that final exam
Friday, September 30, 2005
Yikes! Where Are the Posts?
It's the end of September and you've just about stopped logging in to see what's here. The weekly print column continues as usual (in the Beacher), but my time management skills have not kept pace with posting here. I promise to get those back columns online very soon. Thanks for your patience.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Secrets Revealed
I had originally planned to title this week’s column, “Politics,” but we have learned not to discuss that matter if we want to keep friends (or readers here). Since those of us of a certain age clearly remember the Watergate affair and since Deep Throat recently revealed his identity, what better time to browse the Internet and dig for secrets.
White House Tapes . The nonpartisan Miller Center at the University of Virginia has a staff that reviews and posts transcripts, with audio highlights, of some of our past presidents. The website is a service for historical researchers and journalists and represents one of a larger family of sites that focuses on American politics. Those include AmericanPresident.org, the Scripps Library, and AmericanPoliticalDevelopment.org. Those links are easily accessed from the White House Tapes website, and the very curious may find themselves surfing deeper and deeper into lesser-known barrels of information. While all of us worry about spyware tracking our every move in cyberspace, we can at least do a little retrograde spying ourselves by listening to once clandestine recordings made by Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson.
National Security Archive . There are many interesting items to peruse here, whether you are interested in politics or not. I never knew that Elvis Presley wrote a letter to then-President Nixon asking to visit the White House and requesting that he (Elvis) be made a Federal Agent at Large. It should come as no surprise to cynics that the photos of Elvis with Richard Nixon in the Oval Office are the most requested items from the National Archives—much more so that requests for copies of the Declaration of Independence. But back to politics. You can read a ream of materials from the September 11 Sourcebooks, or the Deep Throat Files, or Nuclear Policy or dozens of other items dealing with past and current national security issues, including quite a lot about Afghanistan. This website is the project of an independent, non-governmental research institute and library located at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Think About It . In my search for sites about secrets, I suppose it was inevitable that I would run across a few websites dealing with the Men in Black, the Grays, Area 51, and the numerous, deep underground tunnel-worlds that some say exist under U.S. soil. The secret information here is said to have come from a national security insider who remains unnamed, of course. This discourse talks about the very top secret moon and Mars bases, the Human Genome project gone awry and genetically altered creatures that exist deep below the earth. I quickly scanned much of the material here, having read or heard about it years ago. But if you keep reading, you will come to a paragraph that warns us that because we now have knowledge of these very secretive activities kept from us average Joes and Janes—that our own lives can be in peril because of our discovery. A creative mind can take this material and fashion some very entertaining novels or movies based on the stuff here. In fact, some creatives have done that already.
Secret Files from Ghost Village . There are no political secrets here that I could find. Just ghost stories submitted by people who found this website. Some of the stories might cause the hair to rise on the back of your neck, or maybe not.
White House Tapes . The nonpartisan Miller Center at the University of Virginia has a staff that reviews and posts transcripts, with audio highlights, of some of our past presidents. The website is a service for historical researchers and journalists and represents one of a larger family of sites that focuses on American politics. Those include AmericanPresident.org, the Scripps Library, and AmericanPoliticalDevelopment.org. Those links are easily accessed from the White House Tapes website, and the very curious may find themselves surfing deeper and deeper into lesser-known barrels of information. While all of us worry about spyware tracking our every move in cyberspace, we can at least do a little retrograde spying ourselves by listening to once clandestine recordings made by Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson.
National Security Archive . There are many interesting items to peruse here, whether you are interested in politics or not. I never knew that Elvis Presley wrote a letter to then-President Nixon asking to visit the White House and requesting that he (Elvis) be made a Federal Agent at Large. It should come as no surprise to cynics that the photos of Elvis with Richard Nixon in the Oval Office are the most requested items from the National Archives—much more so that requests for copies of the Declaration of Independence. But back to politics. You can read a ream of materials from the September 11 Sourcebooks, or the Deep Throat Files, or Nuclear Policy or dozens of other items dealing with past and current national security issues, including quite a lot about Afghanistan. This website is the project of an independent, non-governmental research institute and library located at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Think About It . In my search for sites about secrets, I suppose it was inevitable that I would run across a few websites dealing with the Men in Black, the Grays, Area 51, and the numerous, deep underground tunnel-worlds that some say exist under U.S. soil. The secret information here is said to have come from a national security insider who remains unnamed, of course. This discourse talks about the very top secret moon and Mars bases, the Human Genome project gone awry and genetically altered creatures that exist deep below the earth. I quickly scanned much of the material here, having read or heard about it years ago. But if you keep reading, you will come to a paragraph that warns us that because we now have knowledge of these very secretive activities kept from us average Joes and Janes—that our own lives can be in peril because of our discovery. A creative mind can take this material and fashion some very entertaining novels or movies based on the stuff here. In fact, some creatives have done that already.
Secret Files from Ghost Village . There are no political secrets here that I could find. Just ghost stories submitted by people who found this website. Some of the stories might cause the hair to rise on the back of your neck, or maybe not.
This and That Returns
There is no way to categorize this week’s selections of websites. Blame it on random surfing. The scope of mentions this week varies from lawnmower racing to international real estate listings. Let’s just jump right in.
U.S. Lawnmower Racing Association . You may be thinking that because our lawnmowers have not been getting much of a workout this summer, we might as well put them to use in a competitive sport. What’s amazing is that most states have a lawnmower racing association, and these people take their sport seriously. The national association’s motto says, “We turn a weekend chore into a competitive sport.” Just so you know, the cutting blades have to be removed before any race, and there are different levels. Modified mowers in competition can reach speeds up to 80 mph. And give the state of Indiana a gold star for another first: the lawnmower races in 12-mile, IN (wherever that is) have been going on for at least 30 years. If you are curious, you can watch this sport on July 30 at the Porter County Fair. Our state’s association is based in Indianapolis, and representative Greg Duncan can answer your questions. Contact him through the link on the website or phone him at 317.955.7941.
Passenger Ships of the Great Lakes . The Marine Historical Society of Detroit has a website with a nifty link that should satisfy maritime history buffs. This is the Beacher’s Bill Keefe’s territory, since Bill knows his maritime history inside and out. Two passenger ships mentioned on this site are worth mentioning here: the Eastland and the Tashmoo. While the Tashmoo plied the waters of Lake Huron, it is an interesting boat—a side-wheeler excursion boat built in 1899—that you might have expected to see along the Mississippi River. And the Eastland, who many know about from watching channel 11 or reading about it in the Tribune, sank in the Chicago River in 1915. Eight hundred and ten passengers drowned in that disaster. What I did not know is that the Eastland was raised and rebuilt by the U.S. Navy in 1917 and served as a training boat during both World Wars. Lots of fascinating information on this website for anyone interested in learning about the Great Lakes.
Long Bets Foundation . Now here is a website that intellectuals will fancy. Meaty matters are predicted, chewed upon, discussed, or bet upon. The bets are about things that matter, directly or indirectly, the website explains. These are not guesses, but theories that affect science and/or society. Free registration allows you to vote, but you have to register your true name. The minimum period for a prediction is 2 years and there is no maximum. All votes and discussion threads remain online in perpetuity, so one will be able to look back and see how “prophetic” or not participants have been. The neatest thing is that the winning bettor donates his 50% of winnings to a charity of his choice; the other half goes to the Long Bets Foundation to keep the website running. This website is not really intended for the casual gambler, but for someone who likes to think very deeply about subjects that matter. My description of this site may be found wanting, so I suggest you go there yourself and read the “about” page. Then jump in and think about adding your own prediction—if you think you can compete with the fine minds on this site.
International Property Listings . Speculation in the real estate market has reached an all-time high, so you might as well expand your horizons and look at what is offered in places such as Grenada, Greece, Mexico, Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey, Poland, El Salvador, and so many other countries. Some of us have to just resort to dreaming, rather than acting on most of these offerings, so the pictures alone will have to do.
U.S. Lawnmower Racing Association . You may be thinking that because our lawnmowers have not been getting much of a workout this summer, we might as well put them to use in a competitive sport. What’s amazing is that most states have a lawnmower racing association, and these people take their sport seriously. The national association’s motto says, “We turn a weekend chore into a competitive sport.” Just so you know, the cutting blades have to be removed before any race, and there are different levels. Modified mowers in competition can reach speeds up to 80 mph. And give the state of Indiana a gold star for another first: the lawnmower races in 12-mile, IN (wherever that is) have been going on for at least 30 years. If you are curious, you can watch this sport on July 30 at the Porter County Fair. Our state’s association is based in Indianapolis, and representative Greg Duncan can answer your questions. Contact him through the link on the website or phone him at 317.955.7941.
Passenger Ships of the Great Lakes . The Marine Historical Society of Detroit has a website with a nifty link that should satisfy maritime history buffs. This is the Beacher’s Bill Keefe’s territory, since Bill knows his maritime history inside and out. Two passenger ships mentioned on this site are worth mentioning here: the Eastland and the Tashmoo. While the Tashmoo plied the waters of Lake Huron, it is an interesting boat—a side-wheeler excursion boat built in 1899—that you might have expected to see along the Mississippi River. And the Eastland, who many know about from watching channel 11 or reading about it in the Tribune, sank in the Chicago River in 1915. Eight hundred and ten passengers drowned in that disaster. What I did not know is that the Eastland was raised and rebuilt by the U.S. Navy in 1917 and served as a training boat during both World Wars. Lots of fascinating information on this website for anyone interested in learning about the Great Lakes.
Long Bets Foundation . Now here is a website that intellectuals will fancy. Meaty matters are predicted, chewed upon, discussed, or bet upon. The bets are about things that matter, directly or indirectly, the website explains. These are not guesses, but theories that affect science and/or society. Free registration allows you to vote, but you have to register your true name. The minimum period for a prediction is 2 years and there is no maximum. All votes and discussion threads remain online in perpetuity, so one will be able to look back and see how “prophetic” or not participants have been. The neatest thing is that the winning bettor donates his 50% of winnings to a charity of his choice; the other half goes to the Long Bets Foundation to keep the website running. This website is not really intended for the casual gambler, but for someone who likes to think very deeply about subjects that matter. My description of this site may be found wanting, so I suggest you go there yourself and read the “about” page. Then jump in and think about adding your own prediction—if you think you can compete with the fine minds on this site.
International Property Listings . Speculation in the real estate market has reached an all-time high, so you might as well expand your horizons and look at what is offered in places such as Grenada, Greece, Mexico, Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey, Poland, El Salvador, and so many other countries. Some of us have to just resort to dreaming, rather than acting on most of these offerings, so the pictures alone will have to do.
Monday, July 11, 2005
Balance
The word, “balance’ can mean many things. This week we peek into the worlds of two individuals who balance objects for a living. Ballerinas know about balance, and we found a fine site with archives of photos of famous ballerinas past and present. Also, we review a website that promotes balance of mind, body and spirit.
The Ballerina Gallery . Many young ladies initially became attracted to classical dance after watching Moira Shearer in “The Red Shoes.” This website is a collection of photos of prima ballerinas, with short biographies of most of them. The photos are extraordinary, and many poses are of a famous dancer in costume, en Pointe. Moira Shearer, Cynthia Gregory, and dozens more dancers have photos archived here.
Rock Balancing . Log on to sculptor Bill Dan’s website and be amazed at his skill at taking stone riprap and creating a “sculpture” from diverse sizes and shapes. The San-Francisco-based artist lets you view his gallery and his method of balancing the rocks (no glue, no fasteners), and you’ll wonder how much patience it takes to even attempt such a feat. View his balanced stones and you can understand why Dan gives talks to school children on creativity and the art of the possible. Links take you to other Pacific Coast rock balancers: Jim Needham, who has created a Gravity Garden that has become a big attraction in the Big Sur area; also Daryl Maddeaux, Ron Divino and Art Ludwigs. Says Jim Needham: “The beauty of rock stacking is working with objects that are entirely different from each other and seeing the beauty in each and discovering how they work with each other.”
Card Balancing . Bryan Berg at age 17 broke the first Guinness World Record for a tower he built of cards reaching to 14-1/2 feet tall. Now 31, Bryan Berg has found himself happily stacking cards for a living, and making appearances around the U.S.—on television, in the press, in corporate seminars, and at Disney World and at the Star Wars Celebration. The graduate (and later, faculty member) of Iowa State (architecture) earned a Masters in Design Studies at Harvard. But it is his grandfather he credits for teaching him at age 8 the basics of stacking cards. Berg has created a replica of Cinderella’s Castle at Disney World; Cloud City for Star Wars’ fans, the New York City Skyline, and his latest grand-scale work, a tower reaching more than 25 feet high. Berg has been the winner of the World’s Tallest House of Cards event thirteen times in a row. On his website, he shows you how he begins his foundation with cards arranged in grid patterns. And you can see samples of some of his large-scale works online. Whoever has said that his future was in the cards must have been talking about Bryan Berg.
Soulful Living . The rock stackers seem to know the soul of any given rock, ballerinas know the soul of dance, and Bryan Berg’s soul knows that cards can be played beyond bridge or poker. The rest of us can access all the inspiration and guidance we may need or want for balance of our minds, bodies and spirits at Soulful Living. Pick from one of at least a dozen categories pertaining to healing, self-improvement, serenity, dream work, grief, shadow work and more and read articles by doctors and psychologists, counselors and ministers, teachers and light workers and life coaches. Chances are you will find a topic that fits your present circumstances, and gentle guidance to help you get in touch with a meaningful new perspective about a current situation.
The Ballerina Gallery . Many young ladies initially became attracted to classical dance after watching Moira Shearer in “The Red Shoes.” This website is a collection of photos of prima ballerinas, with short biographies of most of them. The photos are extraordinary, and many poses are of a famous dancer in costume, en Pointe. Moira Shearer, Cynthia Gregory, and dozens more dancers have photos archived here.
Rock Balancing . Log on to sculptor Bill Dan’s website and be amazed at his skill at taking stone riprap and creating a “sculpture” from diverse sizes and shapes. The San-Francisco-based artist lets you view his gallery and his method of balancing the rocks (no glue, no fasteners), and you’ll wonder how much patience it takes to even attempt such a feat. View his balanced stones and you can understand why Dan gives talks to school children on creativity and the art of the possible. Links take you to other Pacific Coast rock balancers: Jim Needham, who has created a Gravity Garden that has become a big attraction in the Big Sur area; also Daryl Maddeaux, Ron Divino and Art Ludwigs. Says Jim Needham: “The beauty of rock stacking is working with objects that are entirely different from each other and seeing the beauty in each and discovering how they work with each other.”
Card Balancing . Bryan Berg at age 17 broke the first Guinness World Record for a tower he built of cards reaching to 14-1/2 feet tall. Now 31, Bryan Berg has found himself happily stacking cards for a living, and making appearances around the U.S.—on television, in the press, in corporate seminars, and at Disney World and at the Star Wars Celebration. The graduate (and later, faculty member) of Iowa State (architecture) earned a Masters in Design Studies at Harvard. But it is his grandfather he credits for teaching him at age 8 the basics of stacking cards. Berg has created a replica of Cinderella’s Castle at Disney World; Cloud City for Star Wars’ fans, the New York City Skyline, and his latest grand-scale work, a tower reaching more than 25 feet high. Berg has been the winner of the World’s Tallest House of Cards event thirteen times in a row. On his website, he shows you how he begins his foundation with cards arranged in grid patterns. And you can see samples of some of his large-scale works online. Whoever has said that his future was in the cards must have been talking about Bryan Berg.
Soulful Living . The rock stackers seem to know the soul of any given rock, ballerinas know the soul of dance, and Bryan Berg’s soul knows that cards can be played beyond bridge or poker. The rest of us can access all the inspiration and guidance we may need or want for balance of our minds, bodies and spirits at Soulful Living. Pick from one of at least a dozen categories pertaining to healing, self-improvement, serenity, dream work, grief, shadow work and more and read articles by doctors and psychologists, counselors and ministers, teachers and light workers and life coaches. Chances are you will find a topic that fits your present circumstances, and gentle guidance to help you get in touch with a meaningful new perspective about a current situation.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Pop Web Icons, Project Awry and First Names
Pop Web Icons, Project Awry and First Names
These three unrelated websites belong in what have become my “This and That” columns that show up here about once a month. I need to credit one of the sources I use to find interesting sites to write about, and that source is a popular blog known as J-Walk . Keep in mind that not all of the sites this Arizona-based writer talks about are family-friendly. And keep in mind that some of the “Top Ten Popular Websites” mentioned below need to be screened before you let your children view those picks. If you have trouble accessing these sites, you can go to the CyberScribbles Too blog and access them directly.
Ten from the Wave
If you are an avid web surfer, then you know the joke behind “all your base are belong to us.” The original science fiction website written in broken English must have set a record for setting off slack time in offices worldwide. The Wave magazine has posted a list of what it considers the Top 10 all-time most talked about and laughed at (and later, widely parodied) websites, where All Your Base ranks third on their list. If you have had your mouse buried in the sand, you need to get with it and log on to All Your Base and some of the others for some hearty laughs. The Top 10 according to the Wave are: 1) Star Wars Kid; 2) Bubb Rubb; 3)All Your Base; 4)Bonsai Kitten; 5) People Falling Down; 6) Lightning Bolt; 7) Hampsterdance; 8) Tourist Guy-911; 9) Mahir Cagri—I Kiss You; 10) Jay Maynard—Tron. Get surfing and start laughing.
Project Awry . Imagine two gymnasium-sized supercomputers housed at the University of Pittsburgh and at Moscow State University. A bevy of scientists are sitting around, brainstorming. Their mission is to suggest, process and cross-reference Everything that Could Go Wrong. The computers whir 24 hours a day, making 6 trillion calculations a second. The result is to be a catalog of every possible unfortunate scenario of error and misfortune. This 10-year in the making project is supposed to provide “valuable research or used as a preventative tool.” I have no idea if federal grant money (my money, your money) is involved in this project. I also wonder how much these scientists are paid. I have a few people in mind who could win a top award for WORRYING ABOUT EVERYTHING that should be invited to join this project. Anyway, some of the catalog items thus far include such misfortunes as “snagging shirt cuff on doorknob,” “neglecting to maintain nuclear reactor cooling system leading to meltdown,” “phone system down,” “final exam directions misinterpreted,” and thousands and thousands of others. Woe to us.
Behind The Name . This is a fun site where you can look up your first name and find out its origin and meaning. But wait! There’s much more here to keep you interested. You can discover the current most popular names in the United States and in a few other countries. You can find out your name days. You can generate a new name (great for writers looking for a pseudonym or for crooks) and you can generate that name in one of several categories, such as a “fairy name,” a “rap name,” a “French name,” and many more options. If you and your spouse are expecting, you can peruse a huge database of name options, including twins’ names. I like the name generator best. Behind the Name provides the etymology and history behind first names and it may be the best “name” site on the Web.
These three unrelated websites belong in what have become my “This and That” columns that show up here about once a month. I need to credit one of the sources I use to find interesting sites to write about, and that source is a popular blog known as J-Walk . Keep in mind that not all of the sites this Arizona-based writer talks about are family-friendly. And keep in mind that some of the “Top Ten Popular Websites” mentioned below need to be screened before you let your children view those picks. If you have trouble accessing these sites, you can go to the CyberScribbles Too blog and access them directly.
Ten from the Wave
If you are an avid web surfer, then you know the joke behind “all your base are belong to us.” The original science fiction website written in broken English must have set a record for setting off slack time in offices worldwide. The Wave magazine has posted a list of what it considers the Top 10 all-time most talked about and laughed at (and later, widely parodied) websites, where All Your Base ranks third on their list. If you have had your mouse buried in the sand, you need to get with it and log on to All Your Base and some of the others for some hearty laughs. The Top 10 according to the Wave are: 1) Star Wars Kid; 2) Bubb Rubb; 3)All Your Base; 4)Bonsai Kitten; 5) People Falling Down; 6) Lightning Bolt; 7) Hampsterdance; 8) Tourist Guy-911; 9) Mahir Cagri—I Kiss You; 10) Jay Maynard—Tron. Get surfing and start laughing.
Project Awry . Imagine two gymnasium-sized supercomputers housed at the University of Pittsburgh and at Moscow State University. A bevy of scientists are sitting around, brainstorming. Their mission is to suggest, process and cross-reference Everything that Could Go Wrong. The computers whir 24 hours a day, making 6 trillion calculations a second. The result is to be a catalog of every possible unfortunate scenario of error and misfortune. This 10-year in the making project is supposed to provide “valuable research or used as a preventative tool.” I have no idea if federal grant money (my money, your money) is involved in this project. I also wonder how much these scientists are paid. I have a few people in mind who could win a top award for WORRYING ABOUT EVERYTHING that should be invited to join this project. Anyway, some of the catalog items thus far include such misfortunes as “snagging shirt cuff on doorknob,” “neglecting to maintain nuclear reactor cooling system leading to meltdown,” “phone system down,” “final exam directions misinterpreted,” and thousands and thousands of others. Woe to us.
Behind The Name . This is a fun site where you can look up your first name and find out its origin and meaning. But wait! There’s much more here to keep you interested. You can discover the current most popular names in the United States and in a few other countries. You can find out your name days. You can generate a new name (great for writers looking for a pseudonym or for crooks) and you can generate that name in one of several categories, such as a “fairy name,” a “rap name,” a “French name,” and many more options. If you and your spouse are expecting, you can peruse a huge database of name options, including twins’ names. I like the name generator best. Behind the Name provides the etymology and history behind first names and it may be the best “name” site on the Web.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Art Lessons on the Web
A wealth of local art organizations offers classes for beginners to advanced students in just about every medium you can think of. There is no substitute for sitting in a class with others, where you can share ideas, tips and techniques with your instructor and other students, and for getting out to socialize, too. So with that said, the websites mentioned here this week might be useful as a supplementary way to learn various art mediums in-between bricks-and-mortar classes; or for those who may be house bound and want an opportunity to hone their skills or take up the hobby of art making. The free, online art lesson websites are impressive. Check out each, then decide which one you like the best.
Art Studio Chalkboard. The University of Evansville brings its art department online for public viewing, and you’ll find some excellent tutorials here, especially for drawing linear perspective and for oil painting. The website also has a nice set of links to other good sites.
Art School Online/Wet Canvas . You have to register (free) to gain full access to what’s available here. We managed to find, after some searching, a basic tutorial on painting. What appears to be most valuable here is the discussion board, where artists will help you work through a problem you may be having with an art project you may be working on.
The Magic of Painting—Admiral Cowdidsly Education Group. I think you will be impressed with this site. It may be too advanced for some, but if you want to learn watercolor or drawing, you will find a great deal of good information here. I marked this as “very good’ when I was reviewing all these sites, so you might want to make this your first stop.
Art & Design Workshop . This is another site that teaches perspective. It also has sections dedicated to Egyptian art, pencil portraits, and African masks.
Watercolor Online . As the name implies, this site offers a treasure chest of articles and tutorials on watercolor painting. You’ll also find listings of upcoming workshops (nationwide), and listings of art organizations. If your specialty is watercolor, you can get yourself a free website here.
Sanford ArtEdventures . This website is ideal for all ages and all skill levels. It is divided into four areas: Create, Play Art Games, Study, and Teach. It may be just what you are looking for.
Online Art School . This is not to be confused with the aforementioned “Art School Online.” Artist Jason Morgan offers systematic demos of his painting process, focusing on value, composition, etc. Choose either a wildlife subject or landscape, and follow his steps to understand how he creates a basic, eye-pleasing painting.
Eyes on Art . This website is less about hands-on painting techniques and more about art appreciation and learning the art of seeing. Also, learn art terms at its Artspeak 101 link.
Art Studio Chalkboard. The University of Evansville brings its art department online for public viewing, and you’ll find some excellent tutorials here, especially for drawing linear perspective and for oil painting. The website also has a nice set of links to other good sites.
Art School Online/Wet Canvas . You have to register (free) to gain full access to what’s available here. We managed to find, after some searching, a basic tutorial on painting. What appears to be most valuable here is the discussion board, where artists will help you work through a problem you may be having with an art project you may be working on.
The Magic of Painting—Admiral Cowdidsly Education Group. I think you will be impressed with this site. It may be too advanced for some, but if you want to learn watercolor or drawing, you will find a great deal of good information here. I marked this as “very good’ when I was reviewing all these sites, so you might want to make this your first stop.
Art & Design Workshop . This is another site that teaches perspective. It also has sections dedicated to Egyptian art, pencil portraits, and African masks.
Watercolor Online . As the name implies, this site offers a treasure chest of articles and tutorials on watercolor painting. You’ll also find listings of upcoming workshops (nationwide), and listings of art organizations. If your specialty is watercolor, you can get yourself a free website here.
Sanford ArtEdventures . This website is ideal for all ages and all skill levels. It is divided into four areas: Create, Play Art Games, Study, and Teach. It may be just what you are looking for.
Online Art School . This is not to be confused with the aforementioned “Art School Online.” Artist Jason Morgan offers systematic demos of his painting process, focusing on value, composition, etc. Choose either a wildlife subject or landscape, and follow his steps to understand how he creates a basic, eye-pleasing painting.
Eyes on Art . This website is less about hands-on painting techniques and more about art appreciation and learning the art of seeing. Also, learn art terms at its Artspeak 101 link.
Monday, June 20, 2005
Creative Shopping
Yes, I’ve said before that I do not review shopping sites—because my feeling is that we should shop locally and support our local businesses whenever possible. This week’s list of websites are not your average shopping sites, and I bring a few of them to your attention more as curiosities.
Be More Creative . Frank, this site’s creator, notes that he started this website as a collection of quotes that got out of hand. And it’s true that there are a huge number of quotes, conveniently organized, that you can find here. In some ways, Frank’s compilation of quotations are easier to sift through than some of the other websites offering the same. The “out-of-hand” quote collection here has expanded to include: Famous Creative Women; Creative Golfing, Soccer, Fishing, Musical Instruments, Health, Computering, Languages, Hats, Hardware, Candles, Perfumes, and even Creative Sleep. There are more categories, but you can see for yourself. Now here is where the shopping comes in. After finding the category that interests you, you’ll have an extra choice to view oodles of merchandise for sale relating to a particular category. It appears that Frank has found a creative way to make some extra money by affiliating with merchants. He has organized his “inventory” under the many different categories that list quotations. Bartlett never thought of that. But then, computers and the Internet weren’t invented yet.
Cool Hunting . This was a Yahoo Best Pick a few weeks ago and for good reason. You can shop or just scan some new, leading edge products that you would be unlikely to find (at least right now) at your neighborhood store. The site describes itself thus: “Finding things in the intersection of design culture and technology that excites the imagination and inspires creativity.” On that note, I’d say that Cool Hunting is ten-thousand times more creative than BeMoreCreative.com. Much of the stuff here may appeal more to the hip, 20-somethings, but there are gadgets and other items that will wow anyone of any age.
Shaw Guides . Okay, so I sneaked this one in. This is not about shopping for merchandise at all. But if you are looking for a workshop to tweak your creativity or perhaps even your golf swing, Shaw Guides is the first place to look on the Internet. Its monthly listings include workshops or retreats for writers, photographers, artists, independent travelers, cooks, and more. Browse by date, by state or country, and by category. Remember, you’re “shopping” for creative type of learning vacation. As an extra bonus, singles might be thrilled to know that Shaw Guides has partnered with Travel Chums to set you up with a compatible roommate so that you don’t have to pay that annoying and often pricey single supplement.
PayPal Phishing. I hope you have heard about this warning well before now, but in case you have not, be careful with any email that purports to come from PayPal (for those of you who have PayPal accounts). Scammers have learned how to “clone” letterheads and even some websites so that they look like the real thing, and most vulnerable are the online banking websites. I’ve talked about this before in at least one former column—probably still over at the old CyberScribbles site. So the advice is to not rush into filling out any sensitive information asked of you in an email. Keep current about the latest scams and protect yourself.
Be More Creative . Frank, this site’s creator, notes that he started this website as a collection of quotes that got out of hand. And it’s true that there are a huge number of quotes, conveniently organized, that you can find here. In some ways, Frank’s compilation of quotations are easier to sift through than some of the other websites offering the same. The “out-of-hand” quote collection here has expanded to include: Famous Creative Women; Creative Golfing, Soccer, Fishing, Musical Instruments, Health, Computering, Languages, Hats, Hardware, Candles, Perfumes, and even Creative Sleep. There are more categories, but you can see for yourself. Now here is where the shopping comes in. After finding the category that interests you, you’ll have an extra choice to view oodles of merchandise for sale relating to a particular category. It appears that Frank has found a creative way to make some extra money by affiliating with merchants. He has organized his “inventory” under the many different categories that list quotations. Bartlett never thought of that. But then, computers and the Internet weren’t invented yet.
Cool Hunting . This was a Yahoo Best Pick a few weeks ago and for good reason. You can shop or just scan some new, leading edge products that you would be unlikely to find (at least right now) at your neighborhood store. The site describes itself thus: “Finding things in the intersection of design culture and technology that excites the imagination and inspires creativity.” On that note, I’d say that Cool Hunting is ten-thousand times more creative than BeMoreCreative.com. Much of the stuff here may appeal more to the hip, 20-somethings, but there are gadgets and other items that will wow anyone of any age.
Shaw Guides . Okay, so I sneaked this one in. This is not about shopping for merchandise at all. But if you are looking for a workshop to tweak your creativity or perhaps even your golf swing, Shaw Guides is the first place to look on the Internet. Its monthly listings include workshops or retreats for writers, photographers, artists, independent travelers, cooks, and more. Browse by date, by state or country, and by category. Remember, you’re “shopping” for creative type of learning vacation. As an extra bonus, singles might be thrilled to know that Shaw Guides has partnered with Travel Chums to set you up with a compatible roommate so that you don’t have to pay that annoying and often pricey single supplement.
PayPal Phishing. I hope you have heard about this warning well before now, but in case you have not, be careful with any email that purports to come from PayPal (for those of you who have PayPal accounts). Scammers have learned how to “clone” letterheads and even some websites so that they look like the real thing, and most vulnerable are the online banking websites. I’ve talked about this before in at least one former column—probably still over at the old CyberScribbles site. So the advice is to not rush into filling out any sensitive information asked of you in an email. Keep current about the latest scams and protect yourself.
Friday, June 17, 2005
Pirates & Piracy
Now here is an unusual subject for the week. We who live around the shores of Lake Michigan have no fancy tales about pirates. Just shipwrecks. What got me started on this topic was—no, not Johnny Depp, but coming across a website about contemporary pirates. That led me to all sorts of nooks and crannies around the Internet. One site speaks of a mystery that you probably have not heard of—but it has potential for a Hollywood film or at least a trip to Nova Scotia. You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy these websites.
Weekly Piracy Reports . These reports are real, happening today. This website is a service to the maritime industry in that it collects reports about piracy-prone areas. It covers the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, giving a daily summary. The headquarters of the piracy reporting center is in Kuala Lumpurr, Malaysia, and it proviides maps of areas hit by maritime piracy and armed robbery.
Pirates Info . Here, we jump into historical information. Pirate facts and legends, biographies, and the life (and death) of a pirate in general. And, we discover that there was nothing romantic about the life of pirates. In fact, they were very brutal, as were their deaths when they were caught. And the pirates of the Caribbean ate their share of turtle meat, since it was plentiful, and fresh.
Pirates. There is enough information here to make you an expert on the subject.
No Quarter Given . The San Diego Maritime Museum had a exhibit of artifacts several years back, and the virtual tour is still online. You can view what is purported to be Blackbeard’s skull, along with some blunderbusses, flintlocks, cutlasses, and other weapons of the day.
Pirate Legends . This is where I learned about two female pirates: Mary Read and Ann Bonny. This website is presented by the North Carolina History and Fiction Digital Library. Among its tomes is Daniel Defoe’s A General History of the Pyrates. Once you get used to the Old English script you will find this fascinating reading.
Pirate Images . Except for the print of Mary Read running a sword through an opponent, I found most of the images too small to read—including the old maps.
Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project. Blackbeard’s flagship, lost in North Carolina’s waters since 1718, has been found. More than 2,000 artifacts from the sunken ship have been recovered, and a sampling is online. Another interesting site with good background information about the infamous pirate.
Oak Island. Talk about pirates almost always leads to talk about hidden treasure. Folks in Nova Scotia have been trying for over a century to discover what lies below a spot that just keeps going downward to more mystery. Several treasure hunters have lost their lives searching for the pot of gold at the bottom of a big hole in the ground. At one level, an inscribed stone was found and translated, stating that millions of pounds of gold was buried below. Many, many attempts and digging have been foiled, but to this day, excavators are still attempting to solve the mystery. This website makes me want to head to Nova Scotia and see for myself.
Weekly Piracy Reports . These reports are real, happening today. This website is a service to the maritime industry in that it collects reports about piracy-prone areas. It covers the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, giving a daily summary. The headquarters of the piracy reporting center is in Kuala Lumpurr, Malaysia, and it proviides maps of areas hit by maritime piracy and armed robbery.
Pirates Info . Here, we jump into historical information. Pirate facts and legends, biographies, and the life (and death) of a pirate in general. And, we discover that there was nothing romantic about the life of pirates. In fact, they were very brutal, as were their deaths when they were caught. And the pirates of the Caribbean ate their share of turtle meat, since it was plentiful, and fresh.
Pirates. There is enough information here to make you an expert on the subject.
No Quarter Given . The San Diego Maritime Museum had a exhibit of artifacts several years back, and the virtual tour is still online. You can view what is purported to be Blackbeard’s skull, along with some blunderbusses, flintlocks, cutlasses, and other weapons of the day.
Pirate Legends . This is where I learned about two female pirates: Mary Read and Ann Bonny. This website is presented by the North Carolina History and Fiction Digital Library. Among its tomes is Daniel Defoe’s A General History of the Pyrates. Once you get used to the Old English script you will find this fascinating reading.
Pirate Images . Except for the print of Mary Read running a sword through an opponent, I found most of the images too small to read—including the old maps.
Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project. Blackbeard’s flagship, lost in North Carolina’s waters since 1718, has been found. More than 2,000 artifacts from the sunken ship have been recovered, and a sampling is online. Another interesting site with good background information about the infamous pirate.
Oak Island. Talk about pirates almost always leads to talk about hidden treasure. Folks in Nova Scotia have been trying for over a century to discover what lies below a spot that just keeps going downward to more mystery. Several treasure hunters have lost their lives searching for the pot of gold at the bottom of a big hole in the ground. At one level, an inscribed stone was found and translated, stating that millions of pounds of gold was buried below. Many, many attempts and digging have been foiled, but to this day, excavators are still attempting to solve the mystery. This website makes me want to head to Nova Scotia and see for myself.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
UFOLOGY
Stargazing hits a peak during summer months. Balmy evenings outside, on a deck, on the beach, or wherever—naturally attract eyes to the skies. UFO sightings ebb and flow like the tides, and numerous people around the globe like to track sightings and share their experiences. Yours truly reported seeing one many years ago when I was living close to the Mississippi River in Illinois. And I happened to be vacationing in Arizona, when, on three consecutive visits, I and thousands of others witnessed unusual phenomena in the pre-dawn sky. Whereas I don’t go out of my way looking for unidentified objects, a good many on the Internet do. Here are some websites that go into great detail about past and present sightings, Area 51, the Air Force Blue Book, and much more.
Ufologie. This website comes from France, where Patrick Gross has put together a global information network of UFO watchers, seekers, explainers and more. I did not watch the network television special on UFO’s that aired several months ago, but much of what was described in that program is referenced on this site. There is enough information here to keep you occupied for hours, if this is a topic that interests you. I had no idea there was a print publication titled “Flying Saucer Review,” and one of its subscribers is Prince Charles, according to their website.
NICAP. This is listed as the Directory of the Best UFO Evidence, brought to you by the National Investigations Committee of Aerial Phenomena. Here, and at other UFO-related sites, you can read documents released through the Freedom of Information Act that may, or may not give you a clearer picture on what is really going on in the skies above.
Michigan UFO’s . I figured I would look around for some local sighting websites, and I found several in the Midwest. This Michigan website has a state sighting map that pinpoints all the places around the state where people have reported seeing unexplained phenomena in the heavens above. Plus, readers have written in their personal sighting reports. The writers are for the most part, articulate and most come across as sincere.
Mutual UFO Network of Indiana .On this website I learned that former LaPorte resident Orville Hartle wrote a book about UFO sightings called A Carbon Experiment, published by Indiana University Press in the 1960”s. The book is out of print, but the LaPorte Library has a copy. Meanwhile, Hoosier UFO spotters have an opportunity to report their sightings at this website. Browsing through the list, I noticed that someone from Gary reported an unusual sighting back in April. But there are other reports, more dated, from Michigan City, Chesterton, and the southern parts of Porter and LaPorte counties.
National UFO Reporting Center . There are lots of websites to report individual sightings (such as the two mentioned above), but this is the “official” place, I am assuming. I will have to bookmark it before my next trip to Arizona…
Filer’s Files . This website is a bit more “sensational” than those previously mentioned. Besides UFO’s, Mr. Filer discusses in detail Area 51, orbs, crop circles, aliens, and Mars.
Observation of Extraterrestrial Anomalies . More art and science than, say, Filer’s Files, the anomaly photos are interesting, as is the explanations and calculations given by the website’s creator. Keep an open, curious mind as you peruse the pages here. For that matter, keep an open mind to all these websites. Some stuff might be hogwash, but other information will pique your imagination.
Ufologie. This website comes from France, where Patrick Gross has put together a global information network of UFO watchers, seekers, explainers and more. I did not watch the network television special on UFO’s that aired several months ago, but much of what was described in that program is referenced on this site. There is enough information here to keep you occupied for hours, if this is a topic that interests you. I had no idea there was a print publication titled “Flying Saucer Review,” and one of its subscribers is Prince Charles, according to their website.
NICAP. This is listed as the Directory of the Best UFO Evidence, brought to you by the National Investigations Committee of Aerial Phenomena. Here, and at other UFO-related sites, you can read documents released through the Freedom of Information Act that may, or may not give you a clearer picture on what is really going on in the skies above.
Michigan UFO’s . I figured I would look around for some local sighting websites, and I found several in the Midwest. This Michigan website has a state sighting map that pinpoints all the places around the state where people have reported seeing unexplained phenomena in the heavens above. Plus, readers have written in their personal sighting reports. The writers are for the most part, articulate and most come across as sincere.
Mutual UFO Network of Indiana .On this website I learned that former LaPorte resident Orville Hartle wrote a book about UFO sightings called A Carbon Experiment, published by Indiana University Press in the 1960”s. The book is out of print, but the LaPorte Library has a copy. Meanwhile, Hoosier UFO spotters have an opportunity to report their sightings at this website. Browsing through the list, I noticed that someone from Gary reported an unusual sighting back in April. But there are other reports, more dated, from Michigan City, Chesterton, and the southern parts of Porter and LaPorte counties.
National UFO Reporting Center . There are lots of websites to report individual sightings (such as the two mentioned above), but this is the “official” place, I am assuming. I will have to bookmark it before my next trip to Arizona…
Filer’s Files . This website is a bit more “sensational” than those previously mentioned. Besides UFO’s, Mr. Filer discusses in detail Area 51, orbs, crop circles, aliens, and Mars.
Observation of Extraterrestrial Anomalies . More art and science than, say, Filer’s Files, the anomaly photos are interesting, as is the explanations and calculations given by the website’s creator. Keep an open, curious mind as you peruse the pages here. For that matter, keep an open mind to all these websites. Some stuff might be hogwash, but other information will pique your imagination.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
This and That Echoes Again
Time has a way of running away and this is an apology for the late postings two weeks in a row.
This & That Echoes Again
If you are a regular CyberScribbles reader, you know the “This & That” columns are miscellaneous websites I’ve found that I have not lumped into one category. This week, visit a pair of “real estate” sites whose offerings are unlikely to make the pages of the Beacher. Then peek in on a guy who has inventoried everything in his household and put it on display for anyone to see. Find garage sales in Indiana or anywhere else and start your own inventory; then get serious and view a Webby Award-nominated up-to-the-hour global news-in-pictures website that deserves acclaim.
Missile Bases For Sale (.You will wonder if you’ve entered the Land of Oz when you visit this Kansas-based realty website. Come to think of it, own an underground missile site and you’ll have no more concerns about tornadoes. Or suntans. Sites are for sale in Kansas and Texas, and one of them has already been converted into somewhat pleasant-looking living quarters. If you are in the market for something completely different in the way of housing, this is the website for you.
Caboose Homes . First, this is not hobo-style living. You can build or rent yourself a unique living space if the romance of the rails is in your blood. A few years ago when we brought you a story about the Parke County covered bridges, my friend Miff and I stumbled upon a real caboose retreat home when we got lost on a lonely country road. We thought it was cute, but it is unlikely we would find it again. However, there is a rental up near Lake Superior for anyone who wants to brag about spending their summer vacation in really different surroundings.
An Orderly Guy .Go ahead and peek into my underwear drawer, says Mr. McClintock. I didn’t. Instead, I ruffled around through his kitchen cabinets and basement boxes. I could not believe that I was still poking around in this man’s stuff 30 minutes after arriving at his website. By the way, he lives in a 2-story bungalow and he could probably hire himself out as personal organizer. He would need many gigabytes for a website devoted to my own household inventory.
Garage Sale Lister . Want to find where this weekend’s garage sales are going to be? Visit this site and you can peruse listings from any state. In Indiana, most were Indianapolis-based. The closest I found was Dyer. You can post your own garage sale listing if you want. Full-time RV-ers might want to bookmark this website. Garage sale addicts need to check it out.
10 X 10 News . “10x10 is an interactive exploration of the words and pictures that define the time.. Every hour, 10x10 collects the 100 words and pictures that matter most on a global scale, and presents them as a single image, taken to encapsulate that moment in time. Over the course of days, months, and years, 10x10 leaves a trail of these hourly statements which, stitched together side by side, form a continuous patchwork tapestry of human life.” That quote comes straight from J-Blog (j-blog.com) and cannot be said any better. You might want to consider doing a screen capture of a particular date to put in a newborn’s scrapbook.
This & That Echoes Again
If you are a regular CyberScribbles reader, you know the “This & That” columns are miscellaneous websites I’ve found that I have not lumped into one category. This week, visit a pair of “real estate” sites whose offerings are unlikely to make the pages of the Beacher. Then peek in on a guy who has inventoried everything in his household and put it on display for anyone to see. Find garage sales in Indiana or anywhere else and start your own inventory; then get serious and view a Webby Award-nominated up-to-the-hour global news-in-pictures website that deserves acclaim.
Missile Bases For Sale (.You will wonder if you’ve entered the Land of Oz when you visit this Kansas-based realty website. Come to think of it, own an underground missile site and you’ll have no more concerns about tornadoes. Or suntans. Sites are for sale in Kansas and Texas, and one of them has already been converted into somewhat pleasant-looking living quarters. If you are in the market for something completely different in the way of housing, this is the website for you.
Caboose Homes . First, this is not hobo-style living. You can build or rent yourself a unique living space if the romance of the rails is in your blood. A few years ago when we brought you a story about the Parke County covered bridges, my friend Miff and I stumbled upon a real caboose retreat home when we got lost on a lonely country road. We thought it was cute, but it is unlikely we would find it again. However, there is a rental up near Lake Superior for anyone who wants to brag about spending their summer vacation in really different surroundings.
An Orderly Guy .Go ahead and peek into my underwear drawer, says Mr. McClintock. I didn’t. Instead, I ruffled around through his kitchen cabinets and basement boxes. I could not believe that I was still poking around in this man’s stuff 30 minutes after arriving at his website. By the way, he lives in a 2-story bungalow and he could probably hire himself out as personal organizer. He would need many gigabytes for a website devoted to my own household inventory.
Garage Sale Lister . Want to find where this weekend’s garage sales are going to be? Visit this site and you can peruse listings from any state. In Indiana, most were Indianapolis-based. The closest I found was Dyer. You can post your own garage sale listing if you want. Full-time RV-ers might want to bookmark this website. Garage sale addicts need to check it out.
10 X 10 News . “10x10 is an interactive exploration of the words and pictures that define the time.. Every hour, 10x10 collects the 100 words and pictures that matter most on a global scale, and presents them as a single image, taken to encapsulate that moment in time. Over the course of days, months, and years, 10x10 leaves a trail of these hourly statements which, stitched together side by side, form a continuous patchwork tapestry of human life.” That quote comes straight from J-Blog (j-blog.com) and cannot be said any better. You might want to consider doing a screen capture of a particular date to put in a newborn’s scrapbook.
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Statistics for Anything
Come on, fess up. You and I and a lot of other people often tend to take at face value the daily news fed to us from television, radio, the dailies, and even from some online blogs. We stop questioning assumptions, and rely on what might be fuzzy data. The Internet can set us straight, if we choose to dive a little deeper. The Internet can be a fun playground, yet it is also a fine repository of substance. For example, I spent the better part of an hour reading through an autumn, 2004 statistical report from the Social Security Administration’s Deputy Chief Actuary Alice H. Wade and her staff. I was looking for the source material for the proposed Social Security program changes. Dry reading? Yes, thirty pages-ful. My guess is that very few of our elected officials have read those pages, or if they did, could not get past the complex statistical data. Not that I could, either. But, the point is, it is there on the ‘net for us to examine. And there are other websites that I bring to your attention this week that sift through (or bring you) statistical data so that you, not a spinmeister, can draw your own conclusions.
Stats.org . The experts at the Statistical Assessment Service located at George Mason University check out the facts and figures behind the news. They are quick to point out false conclusions. Pick a category and then read their corrections to popular misconceptions. Categories include education/family, drug use, health/disease, polls/surveys, gender issues, crime, and media factoids, among others. Their up-to-the-minute blog covers current news items and corrects inaccuracies. Mark this as a first stop on your way to sharpening your critical thinking skills.
The Numbers Guy . I’m giving what I think is a back door entry to Carl Bailik’s column in the Wall Street Journal. Bailik is a freelancer with an advanced math degree who shows his readers how low numbers can be used and abused. If this back door link does not work when you try to access it, I guess you will have to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal (if you don’t already) or else rely on the guys and gals at stats.com.
Statistical Resources on the Web . Thank the University of Michigan for putting up a huge database of links to all sorts of statistical information. Just a sampling of the many found here: business & industry; consumer; cost of living; housing; military; health; and comprehensive subjects. Best Place to Live? Look here. An excellent research site to add to your bookmarks.
Fedstats.gov . This is a search gateway to federal agencies so that you can find topics by choice. This was my jumping-off point to finding Social Security Administration’s Deputy Chief Actuary Alice H. Wade’s research. But if you are more interested in maps or geography, census data or military budgets, you can use this site as your search engine.
Fast Facts . I thought I had found a treasure trove of some links to unusual information, such as Floptracker (Internet companies that have gone bust), or Notable Presidential Pardons. Yet when I tried to access Floptracker, I had no luck. Maybe you will have better luck when you choose one of the links on Fast Facts.
Nationmaster.com . I found this site a long time back and was waiting for a time when it would be appropriate to mention it in a weekly column. This site makes a good research tool, but for much of the info you need to be a “supporter,” meaning that you can access the huge statistical database for $10 a month or $30 for six months. Some information on the site is free, such as its “Factoids” area, and it is interesting reading. If you want charts, graphs, or comparisons, Nationmaster has 4500 of them to dig into. Even if you don’t want to be a supporter, this is still an interesting website to look at, particularly for any sort of business person.
Stats.org . The experts at the Statistical Assessment Service located at George Mason University check out the facts and figures behind the news. They are quick to point out false conclusions. Pick a category and then read their corrections to popular misconceptions. Categories include education/family, drug use, health/disease, polls/surveys, gender issues, crime, and media factoids, among others. Their up-to-the-minute blog covers current news items and corrects inaccuracies. Mark this as a first stop on your way to sharpening your critical thinking skills.
The Numbers Guy . I’m giving what I think is a back door entry to Carl Bailik’s column in the Wall Street Journal. Bailik is a freelancer with an advanced math degree who shows his readers how low numbers can be used and abused. If this back door link does not work when you try to access it, I guess you will have to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal (if you don’t already) or else rely on the guys and gals at stats.com.
Statistical Resources on the Web . Thank the University of Michigan for putting up a huge database of links to all sorts of statistical information. Just a sampling of the many found here: business & industry; consumer; cost of living; housing; military; health; and comprehensive subjects. Best Place to Live? Look here. An excellent research site to add to your bookmarks.
Fedstats.gov . This is a search gateway to federal agencies so that you can find topics by choice. This was my jumping-off point to finding Social Security Administration’s Deputy Chief Actuary Alice H. Wade’s research. But if you are more interested in maps or geography, census data or military budgets, you can use this site as your search engine.
Fast Facts . I thought I had found a treasure trove of some links to unusual information, such as Floptracker (Internet companies that have gone bust), or Notable Presidential Pardons. Yet when I tried to access Floptracker, I had no luck. Maybe you will have better luck when you choose one of the links on Fast Facts.
Nationmaster.com . I found this site a long time back and was waiting for a time when it would be appropriate to mention it in a weekly column. This site makes a good research tool, but for much of the info you need to be a “supporter,” meaning that you can access the huge statistical database for $10 a month or $30 for six months. Some information on the site is free, such as its “Factoids” area, and it is interesting reading. If you want charts, graphs, or comparisons, Nationmaster has 4500 of them to dig into. Even if you don’t want to be a supporter, this is still an interesting website to look at, particularly for any sort of business person.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Sweepstakes & Contest Sites
Just think how personal computers have changed the flavor of sweepstakes entries. Forget the scissors and postage stamps, because entering can be accomplished online. If you want to focus on a new hobby and have a computer, you might get addicted to entering all the dozens and dozens of giveaways. Here are a few sites I researched to get you started.
Sweepstakes Today -- “where dreams can come true.” While recovering from surgery, Craig McDaniel had lots of time on his hands to enter sweepstakes online. Initially, he won small prizes, but his tenacity led him to bigger rewards. He decided to create his own website (Sweepstakes Today) and he keeps track of almost 500 current sweepstakes offerings for those who register (free) at his site. Some of the prize offers include autos, boats, houses, vacations, and scholarships. McDaniel also runs member forums and lists sweepstakes tips. One of his top tips suggests that an entrant set up a “junk” email account at one of the free email providers. When entering different sweeps and contests, this email account will also collect the inevitable unwanted ad promos and stuff that clogs email boxes. Because we already know that contests generate mailing lists for its sponsors, you are likely to see an increase in your junk mail. But that’s the price you pay for entering these sweepstake, contest, and freebie offers. It’s up to you to weigh the pros and cons and decide whether to play or not. But gee. Who would pass up a chance for a free car or a 50,000 home makeover? Or even a home with land?
123 Sweepstakes . I was surprised—pleasantly—when I logged on to this website and found it not to be a slick, ad-filled, pop-up bannered nuisance. On the contrary. 123 Sweepstakes is apparently authored by a regular, non-commercial personal website owner who happens to use Geocities’ free web hosting to post enough information to keep you intrigued about sweepstakes for months to come. You’ll find pages and pages of sweepstake sites, game sites, contests, and giveaways. Also: forums, scams information, and tools for sweepstakes hobbyists. The homepage provides up-to-the-minute information about the latest sweepstake offers. It took all of my will-power to stay away from entering any of these sweeps (for now, at least)—so that I could finish the research for this week’s column. I can see how entering contests and sweepstakes can become addictive. Be forewarned.
Online Contest Index . This no-frills page just lists an index of contest categories and their links. And, anyone can add his or her own contest—a marketing technique many webmasters use to get more hits to their pages. Look at some of the categories I found listed here: computer contests, quizzes, science-related, writing, scavenger hunts, giveaways, children’s, and free stuff. Dive in and add to the pool of entrants. You never know when you might hit the jackpot. Or, win a bar of soap. Yes—prizes range from small to huge.
Reward TV Here’s a chance to combine two addictions: television-watching and contest-entering. What you do when you register at Reward TV is answer a multiple choice format of trivia questions to collect “TV points.” Each evening, games are posted with questions about one of several regularly-broadcasted prime-time television shows. You answer some trivia questions about the show, and also answer questions about the commercials that come with the shows. When you win enough points, you can redeem them in three ways: to bid on online auction items; to “purchase” shopping spree items, or to enter sweeps that offer such things as paying off your car loan, paying utilities, or groceries. I had a peek at the online auction reward area and saw that bidders had bid 3 Million points to win a $25 Penney’s gift card. I have no idea how long it takes to accrue 3 million points. But then, if you are a fan of shows like “Everybody Loves Raymond” and know every last trivia detail, then maybe you’ll want to register at Reward TV. I wonder if Tivo users have an advantage, but my guess would be yes.
Red Hot Sweeps . You are wondering if people really, truly win sweeps and contests. The forums here—or at least the one called “Winners & Braggers” will confirm the fact. Real people share their news of good fortune. I can affirm the validity of some contests: in my lifetime, I’ve won several radio-call in contests (prizes ranged from carpet cleaner to a weekend stay at a resort hotel) and long-time Beacher readers might remember when I won a 4-day trip to Paris from a Chicago radio station just for submitting my name. So—go for the booty. What do you have to lose?
Sweepstakes Today -- “where dreams can come true.” While recovering from surgery, Craig McDaniel had lots of time on his hands to enter sweepstakes online. Initially, he won small prizes, but his tenacity led him to bigger rewards. He decided to create his own website (Sweepstakes Today) and he keeps track of almost 500 current sweepstakes offerings for those who register (free) at his site. Some of the prize offers include autos, boats, houses, vacations, and scholarships. McDaniel also runs member forums and lists sweepstakes tips. One of his top tips suggests that an entrant set up a “junk” email account at one of the free email providers. When entering different sweeps and contests, this email account will also collect the inevitable unwanted ad promos and stuff that clogs email boxes. Because we already know that contests generate mailing lists for its sponsors, you are likely to see an increase in your junk mail. But that’s the price you pay for entering these sweepstake, contest, and freebie offers. It’s up to you to weigh the pros and cons and decide whether to play or not. But gee. Who would pass up a chance for a free car or a 50,000 home makeover? Or even a home with land?
123 Sweepstakes . I was surprised—pleasantly—when I logged on to this website and found it not to be a slick, ad-filled, pop-up bannered nuisance. On the contrary. 123 Sweepstakes is apparently authored by a regular, non-commercial personal website owner who happens to use Geocities’ free web hosting to post enough information to keep you intrigued about sweepstakes for months to come. You’ll find pages and pages of sweepstake sites, game sites, contests, and giveaways. Also: forums, scams information, and tools for sweepstakes hobbyists. The homepage provides up-to-the-minute information about the latest sweepstake offers. It took all of my will-power to stay away from entering any of these sweeps (for now, at least)—so that I could finish the research for this week’s column. I can see how entering contests and sweepstakes can become addictive. Be forewarned.
Online Contest Index . This no-frills page just lists an index of contest categories and their links. And, anyone can add his or her own contest—a marketing technique many webmasters use to get more hits to their pages. Look at some of the categories I found listed here: computer contests, quizzes, science-related, writing, scavenger hunts, giveaways, children’s, and free stuff. Dive in and add to the pool of entrants. You never know when you might hit the jackpot. Or, win a bar of soap. Yes—prizes range from small to huge.
Reward TV Here’s a chance to combine two addictions: television-watching and contest-entering. What you do when you register at Reward TV is answer a multiple choice format of trivia questions to collect “TV points.” Each evening, games are posted with questions about one of several regularly-broadcasted prime-time television shows. You answer some trivia questions about the show, and also answer questions about the commercials that come with the shows. When you win enough points, you can redeem them in three ways: to bid on online auction items; to “purchase” shopping spree items, or to enter sweeps that offer such things as paying off your car loan, paying utilities, or groceries. I had a peek at the online auction reward area and saw that bidders had bid 3 Million points to win a $25 Penney’s gift card. I have no idea how long it takes to accrue 3 million points. But then, if you are a fan of shows like “Everybody Loves Raymond” and know every last trivia detail, then maybe you’ll want to register at Reward TV. I wonder if Tivo users have an advantage, but my guess would be yes.
Red Hot Sweeps . You are wondering if people really, truly win sweeps and contests. The forums here—or at least the one called “Winners & Braggers” will confirm the fact. Real people share their news of good fortune. I can affirm the validity of some contests: in my lifetime, I’ve won several radio-call in contests (prizes ranged from carpet cleaner to a weekend stay at a resort hotel) and long-time Beacher readers might remember when I won a 4-day trip to Paris from a Chicago radio station just for submitting my name. So—go for the booty. What do you have to lose?
Friday, May 13, 2005
Free Computer Help
Often, your computer technical problems can be solved without getting on the phone and calling a help desk. It all depends on your willingness (or courage) to find and fix minor problems yourself. While I don’t necessarily recommend tackling major computer problems without expert assistance, I do believe that you can find solutions that you can indeed fix yourself. Here are some helpful, free websites that offer technical assistance of all sorts. I recommend that you look at at least one or two of them. They are friendly places, willing to share their expertise with you. When you have invested in a computer, it pays to learn as much as you can about how it, along with software and other peripherals work. So check out these websites!
Answers that Work . The tech gurus here state that 65% of computer problems are caused not by viruses but by the programs that are running in your system’s background. The advice here about problems is ample and varied. They provide a task list that give information about a background program’s usefulness (or not), and they provide removal procedures when recommended. But that is just one feature of the technical help at this site. It provides a large reference library with answers that you download and have handy to read offline. It provides hot tips, useful downloads, and the latest virus information. If you need a driver for a program you’ve installed, just come to this website and you’ll likely find it here—eliminating the need to search the entire Internet trying to find what you are looking for.
Five Star Support . The site bills itself as a “Computer Learning Community” and indeed it lives up to its billing. The advice given covers Windows, Linux, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, AOL, networking issues and more. You can find tutorials for dozens of issues; it has a community bulletin board where members help members solve tech problems; answers to frequently asked questions; and the site provides a free monthly newsletter full of helpful tips. I liked the fact that a nontechnical person (such as me) could understand the help provided. A novice will feel welcomed here, and will not be led astray with incorrect information. That’s because tech experts share what they know. A site worth bookmarking.
Computer Hope . Another website that offers its services freely, allowing you to access a large database of computer-related information. There is nothing fancy on this website, but if you want to troubleshoot your computer problems, this is a nice place to start to search for answers.
Tech Support Guy Another resource for free help, this site opens its forums for you when you register for free. No gimmicks, just answers that you have been searching for.
Suggest A Fix Most of the websites listed this week use the expertise of a community of site members to share solutions. This website does not have as extensive a database of technical answers, but it may be all you need. You won’t know until you review one or two of the sites mentioned in this week’s column.
Protonic. Get personalized answers to your tech problems fast—via email. Just register to log in . This site offers a free newsletter emailed to you weekly. Protonic is an all-volunteer help site, as are many of the others listed above.
Answers that Work . The tech gurus here state that 65% of computer problems are caused not by viruses but by the programs that are running in your system’s background. The advice here about problems is ample and varied. They provide a task list that give information about a background program’s usefulness (or not), and they provide removal procedures when recommended. But that is just one feature of the technical help at this site. It provides a large reference library with answers that you download and have handy to read offline. It provides hot tips, useful downloads, and the latest virus information. If you need a driver for a program you’ve installed, just come to this website and you’ll likely find it here—eliminating the need to search the entire Internet trying to find what you are looking for.
Five Star Support . The site bills itself as a “Computer Learning Community” and indeed it lives up to its billing. The advice given covers Windows, Linux, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, AOL, networking issues and more. You can find tutorials for dozens of issues; it has a community bulletin board where members help members solve tech problems; answers to frequently asked questions; and the site provides a free monthly newsletter full of helpful tips. I liked the fact that a nontechnical person (such as me) could understand the help provided. A novice will feel welcomed here, and will not be led astray with incorrect information. That’s because tech experts share what they know. A site worth bookmarking.
Computer Hope . Another website that offers its services freely, allowing you to access a large database of computer-related information. There is nothing fancy on this website, but if you want to troubleshoot your computer problems, this is a nice place to start to search for answers.
Tech Support Guy Another resource for free help, this site opens its forums for you when you register for free. No gimmicks, just answers that you have been searching for.
Suggest A Fix Most of the websites listed this week use the expertise of a community of site members to share solutions. This website does not have as extensive a database of technical answers, but it may be all you need. You won’t know until you review one or two of the sites mentioned in this week’s column.
Protonic. Get personalized answers to your tech problems fast—via email. Just register to log in . This site offers a free newsletter emailed to you weekly. Protonic is an all-volunteer help site, as are many of the others listed above.
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
This and That--Again
Sometimes I find things around the Web that don’t fit neatly into categories. Or, they do fit into categories, but I may not have the time to explore them in more depth. This week, take a spin to investigate the USDA’s newly revised Food Pyramid, to a recipe page filled with a global variety of offerings, and to some lesser-known Indiana webpages.
My Pyramid . The old food pyramid that we learned in school is now obsolete. The government has developed a new one that is more personalized to each individual, and they’ve been quick to offer a series of interactive webpages to instruct us about how to balance our energy intake and outgo. One can register at the sight or look around as a guest. I did the latter, surfing directly over to the activity tracker part of the site. But first, I had to fill in some basic information (age, gender, level of activity), for which I was given my personal food pyramid and serving suggestions. When I got to the activity tracker page, I became frustrated with the amount of time it took for the page to “process” the types of exercise I regularly do. A form gives you first, choices of activities( eg. Watersports) to click on. Then it gives another submenu with more choices (eg. Swimming: backstroke, moderate) to click on. I figured it would take me at least 15 minutes to enter my meager number of exercise routines before I could find out how my “energy balance” rated. Golly, they even had a category for pulling rice stalks out of water under the water sports category! But when it came to lap swimming, they had several different categories that you have to click, then wait, then go back and start from scratch again. The purpose of the website is to provide “steps for a healthier you.” By the time I gave up clicking, I was ready to head for some stress management websites for more steps I needed for a healthier me. Leave it to the government to make things easy and simple for us.
Cheap Eats . Don’t let the title fool you. It’s not about fast food or throwing things together to make a meal. And of all places, I found this sleeper of a recipe site—but not really a recipe website—at the Chicago area Mensa homepages. What a great find, too! Author Cynthia Clampitt offers up a lengthy list of exotic fare from around the globe. She has traveled to most of these places and has sampled them first hand from the natives. A selection of goodies includes Huushuur (Mongolian Fried Meat-filled pastries), Mtori from East Africa, Lamb and Quince Stew from Turkey, Doro Wat from Ethiopia, Aba curriya from Sri Lanka, Koshry from Egypt, and Avocado Mousse from Costa Rica. That is just a small selection of the many dishes she provides recipes for, along with background information about each. If you have a hankering to dish up something very different, take a look at these webpages. While you are still at the Mensa website, skim over to a feature on Mothers’ Day by Joan Skoggin. She insists that August 28 is the true Mothers’ Day, but you will have to read her feature essay to understand why.
Indiana Women’s History Association . I had no idea that such an organization existed in Indiana. I might add that it could use more input from our Northwest Indiana counties about women who should be included in its listings. Many of the listings include contemporary women who have been strong advocates of particular causes. Celebrities such as Jane Pauley, Sandi Patti and Polly Bergen are noted, along with a list of names of women that we never read about in our Indiana history books. If you know of someone who should be included, there is a place on the website to submit your information for review. Get busy! We have many notable women from our area who deserve to be among those highlighted at this site.
My Pyramid . The old food pyramid that we learned in school is now obsolete. The government has developed a new one that is more personalized to each individual, and they’ve been quick to offer a series of interactive webpages to instruct us about how to balance our energy intake and outgo. One can register at the sight or look around as a guest. I did the latter, surfing directly over to the activity tracker part of the site. But first, I had to fill in some basic information (age, gender, level of activity), for which I was given my personal food pyramid and serving suggestions. When I got to the activity tracker page, I became frustrated with the amount of time it took for the page to “process” the types of exercise I regularly do. A form gives you first, choices of activities( eg. Watersports) to click on. Then it gives another submenu with more choices (eg. Swimming: backstroke, moderate) to click on. I figured it would take me at least 15 minutes to enter my meager number of exercise routines before I could find out how my “energy balance” rated. Golly, they even had a category for pulling rice stalks out of water under the water sports category! But when it came to lap swimming, they had several different categories that you have to click, then wait, then go back and start from scratch again. The purpose of the website is to provide “steps for a healthier you.” By the time I gave up clicking, I was ready to head for some stress management websites for more steps I needed for a healthier me. Leave it to the government to make things easy and simple for us.
Cheap Eats . Don’t let the title fool you. It’s not about fast food or throwing things together to make a meal. And of all places, I found this sleeper of a recipe site—but not really a recipe website—at the Chicago area Mensa homepages. What a great find, too! Author Cynthia Clampitt offers up a lengthy list of exotic fare from around the globe. She has traveled to most of these places and has sampled them first hand from the natives. A selection of goodies includes Huushuur (Mongolian Fried Meat-filled pastries), Mtori from East Africa, Lamb and Quince Stew from Turkey, Doro Wat from Ethiopia, Aba curriya from Sri Lanka, Koshry from Egypt, and Avocado Mousse from Costa Rica. That is just a small selection of the many dishes she provides recipes for, along with background information about each. If you have a hankering to dish up something very different, take a look at these webpages. While you are still at the Mensa website, skim over to a feature on Mothers’ Day by Joan Skoggin. She insists that August 28 is the true Mothers’ Day, but you will have to read her feature essay to understand why.
Indiana Women’s History Association . I had no idea that such an organization existed in Indiana. I might add that it could use more input from our Northwest Indiana counties about women who should be included in its listings. Many of the listings include contemporary women who have been strong advocates of particular causes. Celebrities such as Jane Pauley, Sandi Patti and Polly Bergen are noted, along with a list of names of women that we never read about in our Indiana history books. If you know of someone who should be included, there is a place on the website to submit your information for review. Get busy! We have many notable women from our area who deserve to be among those highlighted at this site.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Science Weirdness & Mystery
I like a good mystery, whether reading Agatha Christie or science fiction. I enjoyed browsing through a handful of non-literary websites that open doors to the heretofore unexplained. In a few of the sites listed this week, I had to put on my thinking cap as my first grade teacher used to say—to understand concepts put forth by a college professor about the fourth dimension. The websites touch on topics such as extra terrestrials, cryptozoology, consciousness, near death experiences, and string theory.
Museum of Unnatural Mystery . I spent an unnatural amount of time browsing this site and enjoying every minute. This pleasantly put-together site serves up a menu of “exhibit halls” that let you explore topics that include UFO’s, cryptozoology, space and time observatory, weird geology, odd archeology, and a host of other subjects. In the Weird Geology section, I learned about the Ringing Rocks of Bucks County, PA. I got to “listen” to different tones that these rocks make and now I want to rush off to Pennsylvania and experience them in person. In the Odd Archeology exhibit hall I read about the Bagdad Battery, which may have been the first ever invented. Other links on the site let you “Ask the Curator” your most curious questions. There is also a Children’s Reading Room and an opportunity to sign up for the Strange Science News e-newsletter. This “museum” is educational and entertaining, and most of all, easy to follow.
Clifford Pickover’s Home Page .Once you ignore the marketing ploy to by Pickover’s books, you can access some of his theories. Put on your thinking caps, because you will need them. The author explains his vision of the fourth dimension and how we three-dimensional beings might understand better this other-world. Once you get past the fourth dimension you can move on up to the next six and read more about string theory. Pickover calls his 4th-dimension discourse “Adventures in Consciousness.” It will stretch your brain.
Near-Death Studies . Elizabeth Kubler-Ross started the movement to study near-death experiences (NDE’s), and the web author of this site is a member of the International Association of Near-Death Studies, so this isn’t any chat room chatter here. This may be the only online newsletter that collects testimonies of NDE’s from the pages of the mainstream press. Anyone who has read Mooney’s books (Life After Life) or the more recent entries in this genre will enjoy reading the material here.
World Science . If you want to know what is going on in the world of science long before it hits the mainstream press, this is the place. Here are some examples of stories that I read during the week of April 19: A musician studied by scientists can identify different musical sounds by the flavors they create in their mouths; New evidence suggests that the shape of the universe may be a bizarre form of a dodecahedron (12-sided object); Bacteria may have a form of intelligence. As to that last article, maybe I’m a bit bizarre myself because my first thought was “why wouldn’t bacteria have a form of intelligence?” You can find samples of science art at this website, and on the home page there was (maybe it’s still there) an image of bacterial art that resembled plumes of a rare feather.
Invitation to ETI . Attention, extraterrestrials! This website is for you! Honest! This is the web-based scientifically credible SETI (search for extra-terrestrial intelligence) experiment. It is an invitation by approximately 100 scientists, artists and futurists from Planet Earth to any ETI having the capability to read it. I don’t know if Leno or Letterman has found this website yet, but you can imagine that jokes about ET’s and personal computers. The Internet being a democratic society, one does not have to be at ET to log on and read the invitation. Earth to Paula….Earth to Paula…
Museum of Unnatural Mystery . I spent an unnatural amount of time browsing this site and enjoying every minute. This pleasantly put-together site serves up a menu of “exhibit halls” that let you explore topics that include UFO’s, cryptozoology, space and time observatory, weird geology, odd archeology, and a host of other subjects. In the Weird Geology section, I learned about the Ringing Rocks of Bucks County, PA. I got to “listen” to different tones that these rocks make and now I want to rush off to Pennsylvania and experience them in person. In the Odd Archeology exhibit hall I read about the Bagdad Battery, which may have been the first ever invented. Other links on the site let you “Ask the Curator” your most curious questions. There is also a Children’s Reading Room and an opportunity to sign up for the Strange Science News e-newsletter. This “museum” is educational and entertaining, and most of all, easy to follow.
Clifford Pickover’s Home Page .Once you ignore the marketing ploy to by Pickover’s books, you can access some of his theories. Put on your thinking caps, because you will need them. The author explains his vision of the fourth dimension and how we three-dimensional beings might understand better this other-world. Once you get past the fourth dimension you can move on up to the next six and read more about string theory. Pickover calls his 4th-dimension discourse “Adventures in Consciousness.” It will stretch your brain.
Near-Death Studies . Elizabeth Kubler-Ross started the movement to study near-death experiences (NDE’s), and the web author of this site is a member of the International Association of Near-Death Studies, so this isn’t any chat room chatter here. This may be the only online newsletter that collects testimonies of NDE’s from the pages of the mainstream press. Anyone who has read Mooney’s books (Life After Life) or the more recent entries in this genre will enjoy reading the material here.
World Science . If you want to know what is going on in the world of science long before it hits the mainstream press, this is the place. Here are some examples of stories that I read during the week of April 19: A musician studied by scientists can identify different musical sounds by the flavors they create in their mouths; New evidence suggests that the shape of the universe may be a bizarre form of a dodecahedron (12-sided object); Bacteria may have a form of intelligence. As to that last article, maybe I’m a bit bizarre myself because my first thought was “why wouldn’t bacteria have a form of intelligence?” You can find samples of science art at this website, and on the home page there was (maybe it’s still there) an image of bacterial art that resembled plumes of a rare feather.
Invitation to ETI . Attention, extraterrestrials! This website is for you! Honest! This is the web-based scientifically credible SETI (search for extra-terrestrial intelligence) experiment. It is an invitation by approximately 100 scientists, artists and futurists from Planet Earth to any ETI having the capability to read it. I don’t know if Leno or Letterman has found this website yet, but you can imagine that jokes about ET’s and personal computers. The Internet being a democratic society, one does not have to be at ET to log on and read the invitation. Earth to Paula….Earth to Paula…
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Calendars
By now, you’ve had your 2005 calendar tacked somewhere on a wall for four months. It may be too late to tell you about the free calendars you can download from a variety of programs and from websites, but it’s never too late to tell you about a variety of calendar websites that post interesting events and activities worldwide.
If you are planning a trip, some of these calendars can tip you off about when (or when not ) to make vacation plans. You might want to coordinate your plans to coincide with some of the fun or wacky festivals that no one country can claim a monopoly of.
Other calendars on the Web list offbeat celebratory days where you will find something unusual 365 days a year.
What’s On When .Travelers can use this site as a resource for finding potential entertainment options across the globe. Choose a theme, a country, or a specific date; plug in that information and voila! You will get a list of activities that you may want to explore wherever you happen to be going. Guides are divided into Business, Leisure, and Globetrotter. The latter guide lists about 17 events happening between now and the end of the year (sorry, but you will have missed the first ten—but you always can plan these for next year). Whatsonwhen makes an excellent resource for activities going on in Chicago, too. Chicago and other major cities are listed in a special category and you can browse their special events by month.
10,000 Year Calendar .The Calendar Home Encyclopedia on this site lets you pick a year (any year) and discover events—current or historical, making the website a nice jump-off point for doing historical research. This site also offers free, printable calendars and links to many other calendar sites.
Earth Calendar . This website is serves as a daybook of hoidays and celebrations around the world. When I entered “April 22” I learned that it is Earth Day in the U.S. and Canada; Great Prayer Day in Denmark and Greenland, and Oklahoma Day in the U.S. Also, astronomy buffs will like the information on lunar phases and eclipses for the year.
Wellcat Holidays .Somewhat similar to Chase’s Calendar of Events, the lists here include more than 80 fun and imaginative holiday celebrations. This is a place to find references to wacky days such as “Eat All the Chocolate You Can Day” (I made that one up). Coming up: “Hug an Australian Day” on April 26; “No Homework Day” on May 6; and “No Socks Day” on May 8. I can’t help but wonder just exactly who is in charge of making up these celebrations. My guess is that anyone can, but how they get on the Wellcat list is a mystery to me. Maybe a reader could fill me in on how it’s done.
Q/A from the Cyberscribbles mailbag. The question that came from D.T. asked if it was safe to download Windows Service Pack 2 on his pc. The answer is a definite Yes. SP2 was released many months ago, and at first the computer techies were warning computer users to wait until the bugs were out of the new release. The techies gave the green light some time ago, and everyone (except MAC users, of course) should download SP2 if they have not yet done so.
If you are planning a trip, some of these calendars can tip you off about when (or when not ) to make vacation plans. You might want to coordinate your plans to coincide with some of the fun or wacky festivals that no one country can claim a monopoly of.
Other calendars on the Web list offbeat celebratory days where you will find something unusual 365 days a year.
What’s On When .Travelers can use this site as a resource for finding potential entertainment options across the globe. Choose a theme, a country, or a specific date; plug in that information and voila! You will get a list of activities that you may want to explore wherever you happen to be going. Guides are divided into Business, Leisure, and Globetrotter. The latter guide lists about 17 events happening between now and the end of the year (sorry, but you will have missed the first ten—but you always can plan these for next year). Whatsonwhen makes an excellent resource for activities going on in Chicago, too. Chicago and other major cities are listed in a special category and you can browse their special events by month.
10,000 Year Calendar .The Calendar Home Encyclopedia on this site lets you pick a year (any year) and discover events—current or historical, making the website a nice jump-off point for doing historical research. This site also offers free, printable calendars and links to many other calendar sites.
Earth Calendar . This website is serves as a daybook of hoidays and celebrations around the world. When I entered “April 22” I learned that it is Earth Day in the U.S. and Canada; Great Prayer Day in Denmark and Greenland, and Oklahoma Day in the U.S. Also, astronomy buffs will like the information on lunar phases and eclipses for the year.
Wellcat Holidays .Somewhat similar to Chase’s Calendar of Events, the lists here include more than 80 fun and imaginative holiday celebrations. This is a place to find references to wacky days such as “Eat All the Chocolate You Can Day” (I made that one up). Coming up: “Hug an Australian Day” on April 26; “No Homework Day” on May 6; and “No Socks Day” on May 8. I can’t help but wonder just exactly who is in charge of making up these celebrations. My guess is that anyone can, but how they get on the Wellcat list is a mystery to me. Maybe a reader could fill me in on how it’s done.
Q/A from the Cyberscribbles mailbag. The question that came from D.T. asked if it was safe to download Windows Service Pack 2 on his pc. The answer is a definite Yes. SP2 was released many months ago, and at first the computer techies were warning computer users to wait until the bugs were out of the new release. The techies gave the green light some time ago, and everyone (except MAC users, of course) should download SP2 if they have not yet done so.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Fun with Words
You’ll need to forgive my self-indulgence by choosing to focus on websites that feature words. I am a writer, after all, and writers like words and wordplay. You don’t have to be a writer to enjoy these picks, though. I bet you will find at least one that offers you something valuable. Maybe it will tweak your interest in doing more writing yourself. After all, we don’t want text messaging to end up being our only form of written communication in the future, do we?
A Collection of Word Oddities & Trivia . Speaking of text messaging, a person using it to spell out the longest place name in the world—composed of 66 letters—might find talking on a cell phone easier. The longest place name, found in North Wales, is among some word curiosities found at this website. Ranks of beautiful and not-so-beautiful words, worst-sounding words, and other stuff could keep you busy for an entire afternoon. Plus, writers can pick up some new ideas here.
Luciferous Logolepsy . If you like poking around in the dusty attic of obscure words, you will find 9,000 of them here. I learned that a rabiator is not a rabid radiator, but a violent man. A fancy name for chimney sweep is ramoneur; and an eesome lass or laddie is pleasant to the eye.
Worthless Word of the Day . There are many places on the Web where you can access a “word of the day.” But, as far as I know, this is the only place where you can access the worthless word of the day. Naturally, the words come with explanations about why they are worthless. Only you will know if visiting this site is worth your time.
Oxymoronlist . There must be thousands of oxymorons listed here; the list keeps growing, and visitors are encouraged to contribute. Among the Top 20 Oxymorons judged by the website’s keepers are “personal computer,” “peace force,” “tax return,” and “Microsoft Works.”
Rhymezone . This is a must-bookmark page for poets. The best and fastest way to use its many features is to install the free link bar on your computer. Type in a word (any word) and find words that rhyme, or synonyms, or antonyms; also find definitions, homophones (same pronunciation but spelled differently), and similar-sounding words. For some words, you can search for kid-friendly picture/illustrations of the word and you can search Shakespeare’s works for references to certain words.
Book of Clichés . This fun, tongue-in-cheek site gives you phrases to say when you find yourself in different situations, such as when you find yourself in trouble or when you feel really bad, or when there is too much work, or at least a dozen other common situations. Guaranteed laughs.
Word Spy . The site creators call what they do “lexpionage,” or the sleuthing of new words and phrases that have appeared multiple times in various media. Editors would call these words “hackneyed.” Anyway, check out the subject index and start pouring through the categories, such as buzzwords, jobs and job titles, insults and more.
Answering Machine Messages . See how creative people have made up their own rules as a substitute for the suggested “Hi, I am not home right now, but if you leave a message….” I read through the entire list, yes I did. Found it very entertaining, and it gave me some great ideas for changing the blah greeting I recorded on my own answering machine. You’ll like this—not a website, but just a lengthy text with dozens of examples of people’s greetings.
A Collection of Word Oddities & Trivia . Speaking of text messaging, a person using it to spell out the longest place name in the world—composed of 66 letters—might find talking on a cell phone easier. The longest place name, found in North Wales, is among some word curiosities found at this website. Ranks of beautiful and not-so-beautiful words, worst-sounding words, and other stuff could keep you busy for an entire afternoon. Plus, writers can pick up some new ideas here.
Luciferous Logolepsy . If you like poking around in the dusty attic of obscure words, you will find 9,000 of them here. I learned that a rabiator is not a rabid radiator, but a violent man. A fancy name for chimney sweep is ramoneur; and an eesome lass or laddie is pleasant to the eye.
Worthless Word of the Day . There are many places on the Web where you can access a “word of the day.” But, as far as I know, this is the only place where you can access the worthless word of the day. Naturally, the words come with explanations about why they are worthless. Only you will know if visiting this site is worth your time.
Oxymoronlist . There must be thousands of oxymorons listed here; the list keeps growing, and visitors are encouraged to contribute. Among the Top 20 Oxymorons judged by the website’s keepers are “personal computer,” “peace force,” “tax return,” and “Microsoft Works.”
Rhymezone . This is a must-bookmark page for poets. The best and fastest way to use its many features is to install the free link bar on your computer. Type in a word (any word) and find words that rhyme, or synonyms, or antonyms; also find definitions, homophones (same pronunciation but spelled differently), and similar-sounding words. For some words, you can search for kid-friendly picture/illustrations of the word and you can search Shakespeare’s works for references to certain words.
Book of Clichés . This fun, tongue-in-cheek site gives you phrases to say when you find yourself in different situations, such as when you find yourself in trouble or when you feel really bad, or when there is too much work, or at least a dozen other common situations. Guaranteed laughs.
Word Spy . The site creators call what they do “lexpionage,” or the sleuthing of new words and phrases that have appeared multiple times in various media. Editors would call these words “hackneyed.” Anyway, check out the subject index and start pouring through the categories, such as buzzwords, jobs and job titles, insults and more.
Answering Machine Messages . See how creative people have made up their own rules as a substitute for the suggested “Hi, I am not home right now, but if you leave a message….” I read through the entire list, yes I did. Found it very entertaining, and it gave me some great ideas for changing the blah greeting I recorded on my own answering machine. You’ll like this—not a website, but just a lengthy text with dozens of examples of people’s greetings.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
More This & That
I have a hidden script on my Blog which tracks my most popular pages. Turns out that my miscellaneous, “this-and-that” columns are the most read. And here I thought I was doing you a favor by giving you information in categories—a change I made in January. I will continue to write topic-centered columns over the year, but now I will toss in an occasional “this and that” column, too
Fraud alert . Everyone should take the time to read the information on this website because it offers a helpful public service. Okay, so the website creator does hawk his book, but it’s not a screamer-type advertisement. All of us may think we are too smart to fall for the scams offering to make us rich overnight, but you just never know when you might get hoodwinked. This website is focused more on fraudulent sweepstakes-type claims, and not on Internet-security type scams. Just wanted to make that clear. A message board lets you read tragic tales from people who fell for some underhanded tricks. The site’s author goes into much detail about scams, resultant court cases, and much more.
Whowhere. When I need a street address and/or a phone number, I use this free service. I emphasize free, because there are links on the site that take you to other services that charge you—and you may be tempted to use those services if or when the name you’ve typed in does not show any results. I’ve used Whowhere for my Christmas card mailings and when I have misplaced a phone number. I usually get good results. I have used it, too, to trace a phone number to a name—using their reverse directory. If you don’t have any luck at whowhere, then log on to langenberg.com and try your search there. Langenberg has, in addition to whowhere, links to search professional associations (eg. Dentists and lawyers) and it links to a famous-people grave finder.
Convert Anything . What if you are planning a trip to Paris to shop for the latest fashions? But you have no idea who to translate sizes. This website will give you that information. And it will help with at least a dozen other kinds of conversions, from length and distance, temperatures, speed, volume, weights and measures, power, angles, and more.
Nationmaster. Here is a wonderful reference tool for all kinds of statistics. The online database lets you compare data between nations and besides, it’s interesting and enlightening reading. Students can find this website helpful when they are working on a term paper or thesis; speechwriters would love it; debaters probably already know about it. Anyone can read the factoids here, but for more in-depth information, you have to commit to a short-term ($10 month) or longer ($30-six month) subscription. There are 4500 charts, graphs, and other comparisons among American states alone.
Some Software I Take for Granted. Downloading free software has its pros and cons. A newbie could get carried away and download every program out there that can be had for no cost. Soon the computer is so bogged down with stuff that its performance slows way down. It helps to be discriminating. Look for freeware from open-source developers; look for freeware from sources that despise spam and spyware. Now that I’m done lecturing, here are some freebie programs that I am very happy with: Pix Resizer . This little application helps me scale down my digital photos, making them a snap to send via email, or to use in other ways. I hate when someone emails me a huge image that takes forever to download (yes, some of us are still using dialup). I like Mozilla’s Firefox browser more than I like Internet Explorer. I use Spoofstick to deal with a Firefox vulnerability—spoofstick tells me what website I am on so that I know I have not been “phished.” Spoofstick sits in my toolbar and tells me if the site I am on is legitimate.
And, I’m out of room. I’ll tell you about more of my favorite free downloads in upcoming issues.
Fraud alert . Everyone should take the time to read the information on this website because it offers a helpful public service. Okay, so the website creator does hawk his book, but it’s not a screamer-type advertisement. All of us may think we are too smart to fall for the scams offering to make us rich overnight, but you just never know when you might get hoodwinked. This website is focused more on fraudulent sweepstakes-type claims, and not on Internet-security type scams. Just wanted to make that clear. A message board lets you read tragic tales from people who fell for some underhanded tricks. The site’s author goes into much detail about scams, resultant court cases, and much more.
Whowhere. When I need a street address and/or a phone number, I use this free service. I emphasize free, because there are links on the site that take you to other services that charge you—and you may be tempted to use those services if or when the name you’ve typed in does not show any results. I’ve used Whowhere for my Christmas card mailings and when I have misplaced a phone number. I usually get good results. I have used it, too, to trace a phone number to a name—using their reverse directory. If you don’t have any luck at whowhere, then log on to langenberg.com and try your search there. Langenberg has, in addition to whowhere, links to search professional associations (eg. Dentists and lawyers) and it links to a famous-people grave finder.
Convert Anything . What if you are planning a trip to Paris to shop for the latest fashions? But you have no idea who to translate sizes. This website will give you that information. And it will help with at least a dozen other kinds of conversions, from length and distance, temperatures, speed, volume, weights and measures, power, angles, and more.
Nationmaster. Here is a wonderful reference tool for all kinds of statistics. The online database lets you compare data between nations and besides, it’s interesting and enlightening reading. Students can find this website helpful when they are working on a term paper or thesis; speechwriters would love it; debaters probably already know about it. Anyone can read the factoids here, but for more in-depth information, you have to commit to a short-term ($10 month) or longer ($30-six month) subscription. There are 4500 charts, graphs, and other comparisons among American states alone.
Some Software I Take for Granted. Downloading free software has its pros and cons. A newbie could get carried away and download every program out there that can be had for no cost. Soon the computer is so bogged down with stuff that its performance slows way down. It helps to be discriminating. Look for freeware from open-source developers; look for freeware from sources that despise spam and spyware. Now that I’m done lecturing, here are some freebie programs that I am very happy with: Pix Resizer . This little application helps me scale down my digital photos, making them a snap to send via email, or to use in other ways. I hate when someone emails me a huge image that takes forever to download (yes, some of us are still using dialup). I like Mozilla’s Firefox browser more than I like Internet Explorer. I use Spoofstick to deal with a Firefox vulnerability—spoofstick tells me what website I am on so that I know I have not been “phished.” Spoofstick sits in my toolbar and tells me if the site I am on is legitimate.
And, I’m out of room. I’ll tell you about more of my favorite free downloads in upcoming issues.
Monday, April 04, 2005
E-Learning
Author and futurist Alvin Toffler (Future Shock) made a prediction over 30 years ago that has come true. He stated that one will not need to leave home to do their shopping, banking or even acquiring a college education.
Toffler was partially correct though, because pda’s, laptops and even cell phones make even these activities portable. Distance learning classes are a standard for many universities. College degrees can be obtained via the Internet. Plus, tutorials on just about any subject can be found easily through search engines.
National Center for Education Statistics data reveals that three years ago, more than 1.6 million online students enrolled in e-learning courses, and those numbers are steadily increasing. How do you find a program or class that is right for you (or someone you know)? E-learning can cost zero dollars or it can cost as much or more as a traditional bricks-and-mortar college. Read on.
Free education . Yes, I’m starting with a freebie, but don’t turn up your nose. This website requires no books and no hidden fees and has a menu of studies that range from health care, food service, building construction, electronics, and even art school. I checked out the art school curriculum and lessons and I was impressed. Not all the departments are of the same high caliber, but the site is worth checking into if you are thinking of pursuing a Vo-Tech curriculum. You could also use this website as a supplement to your traditional classroom studies.
Before you plunk down your hard-earned money for online courses, check to see if e-learning is the right move for you. Also, you will want to check each online school’s accreditation status if your goal is to obtain a degree or certificate. This next site will help you with those tasks.
Peterson’s Distance Learning . First, use the free assessment tool (6 questions) to find out if online learning is your best fit. Then use the other links on this website to locate courses of study and degree levels from a large number of educational institutions. The site has useful articles to read, too. For example, one is a study tips guide for online students; another lets you rate yourself for discipline and motivation.
Online-Education.net . The many listings of e-learning programs have been screened to ensure that the schools meet the standards of quality equal to an accredited state school. Their catalog lists 550 online courses, including some free classes. But, I could not find the free classes during my search through the site.
Worldwide Learn . This website calls itself “the world’s largest directory of online learning.” And having looked around on it, I would agree that it offers a huge listing of descriptive links to programs. You will find lists of online degree programs, online courses only, computer training, career programs, certificate programs, personal development programs, and continuing educations programs. The listings include fee-based and free offerings. There are an amazing array of free classes that caught my eye—for writers, webmasters, and many, many more categories. This is a good resource site to bookmark for now or for the future.
University of Phoenix . This private institution was one of the first offering such a program by Internet only, and that is why it is mentioned here. Earn a Bachelor’s, Masters or Doctorate in Business Administration, Education, Nursing, or Technology from your computer, or at one of its campuses scattered throughout the U.S. Imagine attending a class when it best fits your schedule, even if that happens to be 2:00 a.m. Communicate with your instructors and fellow students via email or online chat. Study and learn without ever getting out of your pajamas. Just think, you can have a bad hair day and still “attend” classes. What more could you ask for?
Toffler was partially correct though, because pda’s, laptops and even cell phones make even these activities portable. Distance learning classes are a standard for many universities. College degrees can be obtained via the Internet. Plus, tutorials on just about any subject can be found easily through search engines.
National Center for Education Statistics data reveals that three years ago, more than 1.6 million online students enrolled in e-learning courses, and those numbers are steadily increasing. How do you find a program or class that is right for you (or someone you know)? E-learning can cost zero dollars or it can cost as much or more as a traditional bricks-and-mortar college. Read on.
Free education . Yes, I’m starting with a freebie, but don’t turn up your nose. This website requires no books and no hidden fees and has a menu of studies that range from health care, food service, building construction, electronics, and even art school. I checked out the art school curriculum and lessons and I was impressed. Not all the departments are of the same high caliber, but the site is worth checking into if you are thinking of pursuing a Vo-Tech curriculum. You could also use this website as a supplement to your traditional classroom studies.
Before you plunk down your hard-earned money for online courses, check to see if e-learning is the right move for you. Also, you will want to check each online school’s accreditation status if your goal is to obtain a degree or certificate. This next site will help you with those tasks.
Peterson’s Distance Learning . First, use the free assessment tool (6 questions) to find out if online learning is your best fit. Then use the other links on this website to locate courses of study and degree levels from a large number of educational institutions. The site has useful articles to read, too. For example, one is a study tips guide for online students; another lets you rate yourself for discipline and motivation.
Online-Education.net . The many listings of e-learning programs have been screened to ensure that the schools meet the standards of quality equal to an accredited state school. Their catalog lists 550 online courses, including some free classes. But, I could not find the free classes during my search through the site.
Worldwide Learn . This website calls itself “the world’s largest directory of online learning.” And having looked around on it, I would agree that it offers a huge listing of descriptive links to programs. You will find lists of online degree programs, online courses only, computer training, career programs, certificate programs, personal development programs, and continuing educations programs. The listings include fee-based and free offerings. There are an amazing array of free classes that caught my eye—for writers, webmasters, and many, many more categories. This is a good resource site to bookmark for now or for the future.
University of Phoenix . This private institution was one of the first offering such a program by Internet only, and that is why it is mentioned here. Earn a Bachelor’s, Masters or Doctorate in Business Administration, Education, Nursing, or Technology from your computer, or at one of its campuses scattered throughout the U.S. Imagine attending a class when it best fits your schedule, even if that happens to be 2:00 a.m. Communicate with your instructors and fellow students via email or online chat. Study and learn without ever getting out of your pajamas. Just think, you can have a bad hair day and still “attend” classes. What more could you ask for?
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