Posted by seniorgeek | 0 Comments
Newsletter 5-28-07
On this Memorial Day it is a good time to look at the official Memorial Day site of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
“Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.
The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.”
http://www1.va.gov/opa/speceven/memday/index.asp
Continuing the memorial tradition, less we not forget, the 2 most significant surprise attacks on US soil.
“Within the living memory of Americans are two deadly surprise attacks against the United States: Japan’s assault on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Both times, the Library of Congress sent people out to record the voices of ordinary Americans as they reacted to a changed world.” Listen as the American Radio Works tells the stories of the people who witnessed these events,
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/daysofinfamy/
“The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.
Use the Abstract as a convenient volume for statistical reference, and as a guide to sources of more information both in print and on the Web.
Sources of data include the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and many other Federal agencies and private organizations”
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
Being a car guy for many years I enjoy reading about the history of transportation and the Smithsonian Automobile Collection has some unique automobiles. Each picture at this site has a story that goes along with it describing the details, history, and description of each vehicle. Did you know that The Duryea Motor Wagon Company constructed 13 identical automobiles in 1896, making them the first American company that moved from making one car to making multiple copies for sale?
http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/themes/story_78_1.html
I visited my local gas station today and it cost me more than ever to fill the tank in my car of regular gasoline. The station I visited was the lowest priced within 35 miles. Now you are asking did I check every station within a 35 mile radius? Actually the answer is yes. I went to the following web site to check recent fuel prices before I left on my journey to spend the rest of this week pay check.
http://www.gaspricewatch.com/
I have been testing presentation and slide show web sites. I wanted to have a web site that I could go to and build or display a presentation without being tied to any one manufactures software such as Power Point. I now have found 5 sites that try to accomplish this very task.
I recently posted a short note about spresent.com on my blog for your review. (see previous post) In the next few weeks I will be posting reviews on more of these new presentation web sites.
http://seniorgeek.wordpress.com/
“By wisdom the LORD founded the earth; by understanding he created the heavens. By his knowledge the deep fountains of the earth burst forth, and the dew settles beneath the night sky.”
Posted by seniorgeek | 0 Comments
Presentations and Slide Shows done the easy way
If you want or need a presentation or slide show but,
1. You don’t own any presentation software,
2. You are not at the office or home where you have the software,
3. You need to share this slide show with a lot of people or you want it available for anyone,
4. You believe making presentations are hard and you don’t like Power Point,
then I have a web site for you to visit.
At spresent you can create and edit high-quality Flash presentations online.
You can send presentations via e-mail or publish on your web site or blog and that is just the beginning.
Right now the site says it is in beta 3 but most everything works well and I didn’t have any problems creating a basic slide show that included graphs, pictures, lists, audio, and video.
There are quite a few demos posted on youtube and at there site to help you get started.
The following is a example of a presentation created at spresent.com.
spresent demo
Posted by seniorgeek | 1 Comment
Newsletter 5-20-07
Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever.
Those valuable records are preserved and are available to you, whether you want to see if they contain clues about your family’s
history, need to prove a veteran’s military service, or are researching an historical topic that interests you. Now Google has made all the videos available at Google’s video site. Any historic video from the national archives is available.
http://video.google.com/nara.html
The weather, we talk about, worry about it, but can’t do anything about it. We can at least try to predict it and the following web sites try their best to give you accurate weather info. Try them all to see which ones you like the best. My favorite is weather underground. Of course all your local TV stations have their version of the weather on their sites.
http://www.weather.com
http://www.wunderground.com
http://www.weather.gov
http://www.accuweather.com
Since we are talking about weather, NASA has some great pictures of our planet showing all type of weather conditions.
http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/
I just found a very cool site that lets you build your complete family tree in real time using Flash. The web site is in beta but I found it works very well. It actually makes building your family tree fun. I am not a genealogy guru or make it a hobby so it had to be easy and fun for me to spend any time there. Check it out.
http://www.geni.com
How many of you use ebay? I suppose most of you have at one time or another. Firefox, my favorite browser, has a new plug-in for ebay that gives you the following options:
Search ebay from anywhere.
Access your account very easy.
Get ending auctions quickly
See image previews of all auction items
Blocks all ebay banner ads and animations
Find all about this plug-in here –
http://myfriendlyfox.com/ebay/
If you are around the age of this Senior geek, you will find the following video on Youtube by Tom Rush very humorous and all too true sometimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yN-6PbqAPM
“Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart.
Posted by seniorgeek | 0 Comments
Radio Control Pirate Ship
Radio control gadgets have always been on my cool stuff list. A RC pirate ship is something I never expected to see in a catalog or even expected any one to build. This one based on the description, sounds like it should provide hours of fun for all.
Directly from the sellers web site:
“Authentically detailed ship cruises using a powerful motor and twin propellers. Water-resistant transmitter controls forward and reverse speeds, and left and right turns. Ship even has a cannon with light and sound effects that are triggered from the transmitter.”
Plus the cost is reasonable at $79.98. It is on my list of items to purchase when the mortgage is paid. <grin>
Posted by seniorgeek | 0 Comments
Newsletter 5-13-07
The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has a very informative medical site. Most of the information is recent news on a variety specialty subjects. You should be able to find recent news about any medical field from this site, such as Cardiovascular, Infectious Disease, Pediatrics, Radiology, and Urology to name a few.The from page has many special reports of interest to all the medical community including Podcasts and research reports. Basically a medical newspaper home page.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/
Does the US Government offer any benefits that you may be able to use? The easiest way to find out is go the govbenefits.gov web site and fill out the personal survey ( fairly lengthy) so they can tailor the benefits available to fit your needs. The results will be worth the time it takes to finish the survey.
http://www.govbenefits.gov
Time magazine has a list of the 100 men and women whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world. Check it out.
- Artists & Entertainers
- Scientists & Thinkers
- Leaders & Revolutionaries
- Builders & Titans
- Heroes & Pioneers
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100
Are you trying to find someone? If so, this is the place to start. A legal firm has put a list a great resources to use to find anybody anywhere. Basically they teach legal professionals how to do research but you can gain from their knowledge and do your own searching and save a bundle at the same time.
http://www.virtualchase.com/topics/people_finder_index.shtml
Continuing on the personal search theme, at the following site you can, verify any U.S. address and get information on the county, time zone, house of representative member, latitude, longitude, income, home prices and more. I searched on my address and found the following list of information:
Public record, Postal Carrier route number, county, time zone, local government officials, latitude and longitude, Census information, maps, and much more.
http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/addressverify.asp
The new WashingtonWatch.com site can be described as “Wikipedia for legislation,” said Jim Harper, founder of the site.
The site allows lawmakers, lobbyists, trade association officials and others with expertise on specific subjects to update wiki entries on pending federal legislation. The public can also add comments on legislation, Harper said.
In a statement, Washington Watch said it created the wiki to provide interest groups and individuals a source for the most current information about federal legislation, including the status, how the proposed laws would affect existing programs and law, the projected cost to taxpayers if passed, and pro and con arguments.
“WashingtonWatch.com provides a more user-friendly and interactive way for the public to learn about legislation than the Library of Congress site,” Harper said. “It’s all about government transparency.”
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9017827&source=NLT_PM&nlid=8
“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.”
William James
Posted by seniorgeek | 0 Comments
A Slide Show of Extreme Value
Extraordinary, is the word that I would use to describe the slide show voted as best of all at the web site slideshare.com. Please take time to view this slide show. So many truths and facts in one short slide show.
PS This will be referenced in next weeks newsletter. Here is the link:
http://www.slideshare.net/jbrenman/shift-happens
Posted by seniorgeek | 0 Comments
Newsletter 5-6-07
With more than 550,000 human-edited entries, Acronym Finder is the world’s largest and most comprehensive dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms. Combined with the Acronym Attic, Acronym Finder contains more than 4 million acronyms and abbreviations. You can also search for more than 850,000 US and Canadian postal codes at this site.
http://www.acronymfinder.com/
Nobelprize.org is the official web site of the Nobel Foundation. Providing a wealth of background to every Nobel Prize since 1901, the site presents Nobel Lectures, biographies, interviews, photos, articles, video clips, press releases, educational games and a great deal more information about the Nobel Laureates and their work.
Every year since 1901 the Nobel Prize has been awarded for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and for peace. The Nobel Prize is an international award administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden.
In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank established The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Prize. Each prize consists of a medal, personal diploma, and a cash award.
http://nobelprize.org/
This site has some real interesting old maps of the US and state maps.
The Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress holds more than 4.5 million items, of which Map Collections represents only a small fraction, those that have been converted to digital form. The focus of Map Collections is Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress. These images were created from maps and atlases and, in general, are restricted to items that are not covered by copyright protection. Map Collections is organized according to seven major categories. Because a map will be assigned to only one category, unless it is part of more than one core collection, searching Map Collections at this level will provide the most complete results since the indexes for all categories are searched simultaneously.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/
More maps for your viewing.
“Celebrating a thirty-year partnership between the Library of Congress and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM), the Maps in Our Lives exhibition explores surveying, cartography, geodesy, and geographic information systems–and draws on both the Library’s historic map collections and the ACSM collection in the Library of Congress.”
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/maps/
Most of you at some time or other were seeking employment. If this is your situation right now check out the following web site. Its called Americas Job Bank. It states that is has over 2 million jobs posted. Maybe you can find one that’s just right for you.
http://www.ajb.dni.us/
“WorldCat is the world’s largest network of library content and services. WorldCat libraries are dedicated to providing access to their resources on the Web, where most people start their search for information. WorldCat.org lets you search the collections of libraries in your community and thousands more around the world. WorldCat grows every day thanks to the efforts of librarians and other information professionals. You can search for popular books, music CDs and videos—all of the physical items you’re used to getting from libraries. You can also discover many new kinds of digital content, such as downloadable audio books. You may also find article abstracts and their full text; authoritative research materials, such as documents and photos of local or historic significance; and digital versions of rare items that aren’t available to the public. Because WorldCat libraries serve diverse communities in dozens of countries, resources are available in many languages.”
http://worldcat.org/
This is the self description of the University of Pennsylvania listing of over 25,000 free online searchable books.
“In the listings, you can start reading a book by clicking on or selecting its title (or on the phrase that describes where it is, if you’re looking at a detailed book description, or at a listing that has multiple links). You can also select the 
icon at the start of a book listing to find out more about a particular book, find other books with the same author, title, or subject, or find out how to make a stable link to the detailed book description. See our archives and indexes listings for specialized sites that list texts that don’t (or don’t yet) appear individually in our indexes. That’s also the place to go to find books in languages other than English. “
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/
So far this weeks newsletter is about searching for information that was or is in print format and now available in digital format. To continue with this theme, the next link is all about quotations. I know you have heard many great quotations and wanted to know where they came from or who was the original author. All this am more is available at this site. I don’t know how they complied such a wide and varied list but it has to be the most comprehensive list I have seen on the Internet or anywhere else.
http://www.faganfinder.com/quotes/
“Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses.”
Posted by seniorgeek | 0 Comments
Cool new site reviews coming
While traveling around the Inet reading blogs, searching, etc, I have found some very cool new “Web 2.0″ sites that will be reviewed in the very near future.
Posted by seniorgeek | 0 Comments
"Web 2.0" defined by Seniorgeek
My definition of a ‘Web 2.0′ site is; a site that uses AJAX and or Flash/Flex to give a very unique user experience. I have read many definitions on what ‘Web 2.0′ is, so I felt a need to make my own definition. So from now on when I refer to a ‘Web 2.0′ site you know what type of site is being reviewed or what type of site fits my definition.
