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Newsletter 9-23-2007
Do you go to the post office to buy the same old dull stamps?Would you like to have customs stamps with your business logo, your picture, pets picture, child or grandchild picture?Well now you can and it’s very easy to do at the following web site. You realize that this service will cost you but why not have your own custom stamps.
http://photo.stamps.com/Store/?source=si10985886
It seems that the schools have more need for funding and less response from taxpayers or the local government. Would you like to help school teachers for a special project? On this site there are many requests for funding for special school projects. Just sign up and pick one and donate some small amount of cash and you will feel a lot better about yourself.
http://www.donorschoose.org/homepage/main.html
I am always looking out for cool stuff and I found a device that I need. It is a laser infrared thermometer.Ok, now you ask why do I need this? Ok here is what you can do with it.Check heat leakage around your house. Check food temperature. Find the warmest or coolest place in the room or anywhere. Check heat conductivity. Basically check the temperature of anything just by pointing the laser site and take the temperature reading.You can get it Amazon for $50. Be sure to read the reviews of other owners at Amazon’s web site.
http://www.amazon.com/Raytek-RAYMT4-Non-Contact-Thermometer-Sighting/dp/B000FMM682
I don’t text message very often but do use it occasionally when I have a special reason or purpose for texting instead of calling. If you are like me and don’t have a text message plan on your cell phone, it costs you each time you send a message.If you are near your computer when you want to send a message, this site let you send a text message anywhere in the world for free. Now, this is my type of service. Yea, I know you must create an account but if you plan to send a few text messages it is worth it. Check it out.
http://www.gofreesms.com/
Youtube has some really cool videos that I would like to download but there isn’t a way to download them directly from their web site. Well now there is. A free piece of software called Ares Tube 2.0 will download an video on Youtube and many other sites. Their web sites explains all you need to know and also has a list of sites that Ares Tube will work with. This give you the opportunity to share the video and send it via email to your friends.
http://www.benjaminstrahs.com/
“To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction.”
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Newsletter 9-16-2007
This week is more for the techies of the group. I have saved many cool sites and techie related stuff and now it is time to empty the saved list so all of you can try these items if so inclined.
I know some of you listen to Podcasts or watch video Podcast. The main problem with podcasts is finding stuff within the Podcast that is of interest or searching Podcasts to find out if it is worth downloading or saving. Each of the following sites let you search Podcasts for content. I really don’t have a preference as to which is the best to use, so try each of them yourself.
Blinkx searches video Podcasts to find the content you are looking for. They claim 14 million hours of video to search through. You can specify what type of content, where to look, and what type of media.
http://www.blinkx.com
Everyzing lets you select audio or video for your search along with searching thorough special sections such as sports, news, business, etc. This site let you select ‘channels’ to search through if you do not want to do a general search. Their home pages give you many search criteria predefined.
http://www.everyzing.com
Pluggd takes a little different approach as it lets you do much more than just search for audio and video. They offer play lists of similar items based on your search criteria. They also have usual category search, subject search, and text search. This site is currently in beta so it might change in the future.
http://www.pluggd.com
All the sites mentioned above aren’t as good as Google or Yahoo in defining results they offer so you will have to work harder to get the exact item you request. I have tried all the above with mixed results.
Ok, now you have searched all these site and have found many videos you want to download. How do you get these videos easily? If you use Firefox there is a great add on called VideoDownloader. VideoDownloader add a small icon on the status bar at the bottom of your Firefox window, and a toolbar button. Just click that and download the video you are watching.
http://javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php
While on the subject of video from web sites, Flash videos native format is FLV. You have to have a FLY player on your system to watch Flash in its native format. OK, so where do I get a FLV player? Just follow the link below to get your free FLV player.
http://applian.com/flvplayer/download_flv_player.php
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Newsletter 9-9-2007
Some of you like me, might have the opportunity to listen to music while at work. I listen to streaming audio from a number of different stations depending on my mood, time of day, current crisis, etc. If this fits with your daily routine check out the link below.
Radio-Locator is a very comprehensive radio station search engine on the internet. They have links to over 10,000 radio station web pages and over 2500 audio streams from radio stations in the U.S. and around the world.
http://www.radio-locator.com/
An interesting fact/fiction that gets passed email and webs sites are Urban Legends. Stuff that people believe is true but really isn’t. How can you tell what is and isn’t? Before you take any of the stuff that shows up in your email box, not matter who it is from, check out the following site on Urban Legends. The site has a very large listing of these “emails” and goes in depth to explain why or why not you should believe what you receive.
I found some very hilarious items on this site and spent some time investigating more than a few of these Urban Legends.
http://www.snopes.com/
While you are checking out stuff that may be true or not, ever wondered about what’s really in hair coloring, Silly Putty, Cheese Wiz, artificial snow, or self-tanners? This site by Chemical and Engineering News presents a collection of articles that gives you a look at the chemistry behind a wide variety of everyday products.
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff.html
If you are like me and a lot of others, you have at least one pet around the house. Sooner or later you will need the following reference.
The Merck Veterinary Manual is the single most comprehensive electronic reference for animal care information. It is brought to you as a service of Merck & Co., Inc., providing quality medical information on a not-for-profit basis for more than 100 years, and Merial Limited, dedicated to producing a wide range of pharmaceuticals and vaccines to keep livestock and pets healthy and productive.
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp
“Truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed.”
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Newsletter 9-2-07
The first observance of Labor Day is believed to have been a parade of 10,000 workers on Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City, organized by Peter J. McGuire, a Carpenters and Joiners Union secretary. By 1893, more than half the states were observing a ‘Labor Day’ on one day or another, and Congress passed a bill to establish a federal holiday in 1894. President Grover Cleveland signed the bill soon afterward – designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day.
If you enjoy looking at traffic cameras or just watching online real time video from cameras around the world, then this site is for you. Traffic Land has links to many to camera all over the word showing real time traffic. Some are much more interesting that others, but you can select from hundreds of different cameras and save your favorites for a later visit.
http://www.trafficland.com/#start
Today in Literature began in 2001 — the naïve idea of an English teacher on leave from the classroom. It was a weekly radio series in Canada before moving to the internet, on Salon.com and several other sites. It is now an independent web-site and subscription service, with over 25,000 visitors a day and subscribers in virtually every country in the world. It is pleasing to think that TinL helps to keep the world of books alive for so many — especially those two subscribers on Bouvet Island in the Antarctic, whoever you may be.
http://www.todayinliterature.com/AboutTinL.asp
Would you like to take a trip in a time capsule to some time in history?
To begin your trip in this Time Capsule enter a date. You will be presented with your own customized page that includes all the information you’ve chosen, plus typical consumer prices from that year, Academy Award winners that year, etc. Site has data online for the years 1800 through 2002, although data for the years 1800 – 1875 is probably spotty.
http://dmarie.com/timecap/
Food is very important in our daily lives, especially mine. Therefore this site is dedicated to helping you learn about food terms.
“Search our dictionary of more than 4,000 food terms and you’ll never have to eat your words. Just type the word or phrase you’re looking for in the box above and select the ‘Find’ button. If you’re unsure of a term’s correct spelling, just type in the first few letters. You may also browse through the dictionary by selecting any of the letters above. “
http://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary/
Now that I am hungry after looking at the above web site and finding out what all those food terms mean, I need to find some good recipes. “All recipes has more than 40,000 free recipes—all created, tested, reviewed and approved by home cooks worldwide.” I read a few and now have some great meals to prepare or have my favorite chef to prepare them.
http://allrecipes.com/
