Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday. Anonymous

Alright fine it’s Friday and you’ve finished all your work on the agenda. So you decide it’s time for a much needed break. Then it is time for a trip over to Reddit. I have written of similar sites on the net. Ones that use peer submission to post interesting bits and have other users review and rate them like the well known Digg. . Although I like Digg I find that is a lot of rehashed info plus it tends to be even too geeky for what I want. Reddit on the other hand has many ways that allow you to customize your experience. If you stay just on the front page you will get what is the most popular or hot right now. I recommend signing up for an account and using their category selector to find just the stuff of interest for you. For me I love reading about politics on both sides, so I select both Democrat and Republican pages. However I also just enjoy strange news stories as well and lo and behold there is a category for that too. You essentially build your own information playground. I should take the time to address the word information when I use info it could mean an article, video, photo, comments or anything on the net. Also I should say that Reddit is not always work safe but they do warn you what links may be a bad idea and you can customize your page for that as well. One of the main reasons I like this site is that it tends to be a cross section of not just what is going on with the net but what’s happening on the planet. More and more I turn to this page for my news than others. The downsides are that occasionally the site can be slow to load and some items I thought would be down voted seem to inexplicable sky rocket but even so when Friday hits I recommended giving this a try.

“Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.” Oscar Wilde

Recently I did a class on customization of the PC and a student asked where can I get good wallpapers? It is a good question because when you do a simple Google search for wallpaper or desktops you do get a lot of choices but much of the pictures are given over to pictures of women that although pretty I am not going to use that as my background. I know this will sound a bit ridiculous but when I feel like I am working myself into a funk on the computer I change my desktop to give me a small pick me up. It’s cheaper than coffee. Anyway below is a list of some of my current and long time favorites. So go through them and find something to new to refresh your machine.

PixelGirl Presents is one I go back to again and again. They consistently have the more unusual artistically stuff. Unfortunately if you are looking at this in the library it will be blocked. There isn’t a trace of anything wrong so give it a try at home.

Wallpapr is a site that pulls in Flickr photos. This site takes simplicity to a new level. You type in any word or words like storm and if a photo has been tagged with your search words it comes up. You can also choose how many photos for it to display. If you aren’t finding what you are yearning for then try more descriptive and generic terms like dark, light, soft, happy…

ZixPK has some of the more dynamic images out there. They are very heavy on color contrast and interesting close-ups. Just click the HD wallpapers button at the top to see them.

Wallaper Abyss has a lot to offer. It has everything from the cheesecake photos I mentioned earlier to the abstract. The reason I return here is that most of this type of site give you generic categories. Abyss has that as well but then you can choose from more specialized tags as well. As an example I chose Scifi and then I chose robot and the categories keep going on and on.

“If my ship sails from sight, it doesn't mean my journey ends, it simply means the river bends.” John Enoch Powell

Sometimes this job has its perks. To teach computers and their programs I must try them so I can speak with some knowledge about how they work. I opened the new Google Earth, like a kid on Christmas, to try it out and got decidedly lost. I had written a long time ago of this program and how it is a boon to those of a geographical mind but the new version is incredible and far surpasses what came before. One of the major complaints of the old one was the generic blue nothing that represented all of our oceans and lakes. With this new version they have made it just as fun to scour the oceans as had been to go through cities. This is just the beginning of this newly done program. Today I have been flying around Mars looking at all the landing sites and reading up on landers that worked and some that didn’t. Finally the dizzying constellations of the sky was intense. Think of every bit of the sky that we know of mapped and clickable. It was like having an observatory right at my fingertips. All of the map choices would be a help to almost any teacher no matter the subject. The obvious would be just to look at the maps but everywhere you go there are layers to put over your view. The moment you click a layer choice it will shows tons of small icons all over the land and sea. A click on any of them will reward you with videos, information from all sorts of official sources, quizzes, and much more. I took a virtual tour through the marinas trench from a swimming perspective and not just satellite views. The history teacher can benefit as well. There are historic layers like ancient Rome to go through. I really like the slider bar that shows me satellite images from different dates. They have images from around 1949 till now. One last thing that really made me happy was the amount of other organizations that are involved, Gigapan photos which are 3-d like high resolution photos which allow a lot of zooming into or a group like Seafood Watch that I pay a lot of attention to when I purchase seafood. If you have never used this application or had forgotten about it then it is time to return. It truly is a show stopping piece of software. Get your kids on this and have them record their own tours with narration. I love this idea of kids floating through maps and information and not even aware they are learning something. Give this a try.

"I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues." The Lorax

Quite a ways back I posted about a great site called Freerice. It is a game site that when played earns rice to be donated to others in need. Now TreeWala is almost exactly the same concept but for trees. We all need more trees. All you do is answer questions, mostly vocab and a couple of sciencey ones, to gain leaves. For every correct answer you get one leaf and for every twenty leaves one tree will be planted. It all works through ad revenue and a co-op between the site and the Marion institute. It is one of those simple games that you can play guilt free. I mean first and foremost it is educational and second it is doing something beneficial for the planet. If you are a word buff or just trying to be green, give this a try.

Note: Yesterday I was in the lab and saw a patron using FreeRice. I asked her if she knew about TreeWala and she said she knew nothing about it but her English teacher (ESL) was making her do it to improve her vocabulary. Now I don't want to be geekier than normal but I think that is AWESOME!

“On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. It is a silly place.” King Arthur

As a kid I played D&D, Dungeons and Dragons to the non-geek, and I am sure this does not come as a big shock to you. There is one basic rule or at least it seems when you play D&D and that is you must watch Monty Python and incorporate it into your everyday speech much to the annoyance of your parents. Now that you have the importance I can get to the meat of this post. Monty Python has released all their best bits on YouTube in high quality versions. Why is this important you ask? Well the computer should be used just as much with fun stuff as work stuff. It doesn’t all have to be PDFs and DOCs you know. Think of the computer like your car. Sure it is used to get you to work and back but it also brings you to the movies or a leisurely drive through back roads. A computer should be used the same. They have everything from the dead parrot sketch to clips from their movies. It is awesome! You can also do the typical things YouTube offers like comments and the ability to send them on to friends or embed them on a website or blog. Below is a video explaining why they did this. If you are a fan or just like certain bits give this a try and check out their YouTube channel. Also I should put a plug in for the library and say we have most of their works in our catalog.

"It's not true that life is one damn thing after another; it is one damn thing over and over."Edna St. Vincent Millay

Stunning! That’s all you can really say. Google in partnership with Life Magazine has released images starting in 1750 to the present day. Some are prints and some are photos but all are exquisite. It really is the cheapest and easiest museum to get to. Last night I spent a lot of time just browsing through time. The site is comprised of two main features: images categorized into decades that you can browse through and a search bar. I found you got a lot better results with the search bar then just a simple browse. Just a quick list of what you will see. Disney World Opening, Civil War images, Queen Victoria, trains, goggles, and space photos..... Holy Moly! So many wonderful early NASA images, even the building of the Apollo. All of the photos can be clicked on giving you a description and a magnified view. Seriously these are all magnificent and so easy to see. Do yourself a favor and give these a try.

"I got a rock." Charlie Brown

Last year for I did a post about Halloween music. I think I shall continue the tradition and add a few more to the list. So if you are stuck at the office or just surfing the net click a link and listen to some newish Halloween music.

• RE: Brains by Jonathan Coulton
• The Mummy by Benji Hughes. A favorite of mine.
• Friendly Ghost by the Eels
• Halloween on the Barbary coast
• Alkaline Trio by Halloween
• Halloween Head by Ryan Adams
• Halloween Night by Throwing Toasters
• Halloween with Morrissey by Cheekyboy
• Halloween is comin' to town by Tin Lounge
• Hallowe'en dance by American Symphony Orchestra. A very old recording from an Edison Record
• Halloween Parade by Lou Reed

A special to thanks to the following sites.
obscuresound mattsommers
cylinders.library.ucsb.edu popbytes
throwingtoasters sixeyes productshopnyc

"We're eatable ants." H. G. Wells

As a kid traveling from craft show to craft show with my mother I always had my cassette tape player. It was my constant friend and accompanied me everywhere. Most people that asked what I always listening to were usually surprised. I listened constantly to old radio broadcasts from the thirties and forties. One of my favorites, next to the Jack Benny Program, was the broadcast that frightened most of America. Today is the anniversary of the War Of The Worlds first airing. If you are unfamiliar it was a science fiction broadcast about invading aliens. The people that tuned in from the beginning knew that it was just another radio show. Those that tuned in after the introduction heard what sounded like a real news broadcast talking about the first invader complete with radio break ins ,and on site interviews . People literally fled into the streets to get out of cities and hide from the oncoming extraterrestrial army. Orson Welles’ voice sets just the right dramatic tone through the whole experience. The Mercury Theater was well known for this sort of thing. You can listen to the entire broadcast from this link. Even if you cannot listen to the whole thing at least listen to the first twenty minutes. Whenever I listened to this I tried to imagine inching up closer and closer to an old giant radio waiting for more details to spill out and tell me of the ever approaching dangers. I know it seems like old hat now but seriously in the spirit of Halloween and all things spooky set the lights low tonight, get the kids and some popcorn and give a listen. Let yourself start to wonder if the noises you just heard were from the broadcast or something just outside of your house.

“To paint comic books as childish and illiterate is lazy. A lot of comic books are very literate - unlike most films.” Alan Moore

So you have been taking all these digital photos of everything you can get your lens pointed at. Now what? They just sit on your computer not being displayed. Yes of course you could print them out and frame them but is there a more interesting way of displaying them. Enter Comic Life, a piece of software for Mac/PC that can create a comic book look for your photo. This program is just so easy to use. All you do is slide your photos into the provided panels and then create speech bubbles so you can create a story. Now you could do this in Microsoft Word as well but nowhere as easy. Also the templates and other extras make this program a lot of fun. I am using this to create a comic book themed cook book for home. Much of the program is automated so I can just start working versus having to set everything up, get frustrated, and then quit the project. The program offers a 30 day trial period so you can get a feel for it. The price is at the most $30 bucks. If you need a new way of making an invitation or would like a cool project to do with kids then give it a try. It is a lot of fun.

I did enjoy it," he says. "But it was very, very weird. Rick Astley

Most of the questions I answer are pretty standard about having issues with the computer or programs. Recently someone asked what is a Rick Roll? This happens to be a blend of a practical joke and an internet phenomenon. At its core it is the Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up" that was quite a hit in 1987. So where is the practical joke? This type of practical joke is called a bait and switch. Essentially you would receive and email with a link from someone saying how wonderful the website they found was and when the user clicked on the link it would be the music or video of Rick Astley. It is not seriously funny by itself but it far outgrew its roots last April Fool’s day with amazingly wide use. Many sites I go to on a regular basis for news and info Rick Roll’D me by posting curiously intriguing headlines. I clicked on the links and would be hit with Astley singing at me for the umpteen time. As I said before it has grown past its origins. Now Rick Rolling is now even more about remixing it into every genre from the Muppets to the presidential candidates. Mr. Astely finally spoke about the practice and said he finds it bizarre and funny. It has been an internet bit of strangeness for a while but it is creeping into off line life like at Basketball games and such. So I hope this answers the question on this unusual topic. Many thanks to the asker. If you would like to read more click here otherwise to see the video click here.

“I've been on a calendar, but never on time.” Marilyn Monroe

Has the computer age cut you off from the human race? Does it seem like everything you use from your computer to your calendar has a lifeless digital feel? Well then it is time to bring humanity back to basic things. Let us start with a calendar shall we? The Human Calendar is a bit of a frivolous page that is also kind of awesome. Essentially a ton of pictures were taken of people holding placement cards so they could emulate a standard calendar. It is simple and rather fun to look at. Again this won’t speed you through your day but at least it will make it more interesting. Give it a try.

"we must capture a live earth creature K-9, and take it back with us to Mars. Isn't that a nice assignment, mmm?" Marvin, the Martian

Nothing captures my imagination and attention more than a mission into or out of space. Well this Sunday is another one of those sit way to close too the TV (computer) moments. The Phoenix Lander will arrive on mars to look for ice and anything else it can get it’s pincers around. The Landing on Mars will be approximately 7:53 p.m. (4:53 p.m. Pacific) on May 25th. If you are intrigued whether something hurtling across space and arriving into Mars’ atmosphere at over 20,000 kilometers will actually land in one piece then you can tune into NASA’s coverage. Just like Superbowl Sunday there will be a preshow stuff however the name for them is so much better, mission briefings. Seriously this is really awesome stuff. If you head to the site you can also see images of the Phoenix Lander that looks like a strangely proportioned Mickey Mouse head plus there is all sorts of video on how this thing is supposed to land. Just like geek is chic nowadays science is sexy and really cool. Give this a try and see what you think. Also consider getting together for a Lander party or heading to a one like this example in Connecticut at the Children’s Museum.

"What, me worry?" Alfred E. Neuman

OK the year was 1984 and a young would be computer teacher was introduced to his first Mad Magazine by his father. It was the summer 84 super extra violence issue and I was absolutely delighted. My mother was happy I was reading anything. One of the best and most enigmatic parts of the magazine was the back inside cover. Al Jaffee's fold-ins for Mad Magazine are little artistic puzzle pieces. For those not in the know there would be an unusual page of art with some strange riddle. Then you have the pleasure of folding the page so that two sets of arrows would meet. The picture would suddenly stand changed and the little dialogue at the bottom would spell out what you were looking at. Sometimes they were political and sometimes just cuttingly funny. Ok you must be wondering what the tech angle is. Well a while back the NY Times did a retrospective of these back covers. They show the original and then with a click of the mouse button it will fold it for you. Also they give you some history and context. I was fascinated to find out that every single one was hand painted and no computer was ever used to help the process. Seriously this is awesomely wonderful. I always had the hardest time getting those things to line up. I am bad at origami too. So if you want to walk back in time from the 1960s to the present give this one a try.

“Nothing is better than the unintended humor of reality” Steve Allen

It was once said that we all get our 15 minutes of fame but on the net it might be considered an old expression. Maybe it should be changed to something like we all get our moment in the internet spotlight and the page views that go along with it. Star Wars Kid and Chris Crocker both got there time to um…Shine? Well anyway there is a convention that is devoted to the humor and strangeness on the net. It is called ROFLcon. ROFL is the net abbreviation for roll on the floor laughing. It is going to be held at MIT and will have a lot of the well known names from the net. Unfortunately there was limited space available (500 seats) and I missed my chance for a ticket to go starting on Friday, April 25^th 2008. However they will be making all the lectures and things to see available through the video group known as Respectably French (The Harvard Sketch Group). So if you have enjoyed the weirdness of the net then give this one a try.

"Stop, hey what's that sound" Buffalo Springfield

On the net there are games, movies, and fun of every kind. Some of it is considered addictive and keeps you coming back again and again. I tripped across this page not too long ago and it is more than just addictive. It is obsessively addictive. MySecretSound is a site with one purpose and that is to give away money. The site is devoted to a contest which features a mystery sound. All you have to do is listen to the sound and identify it. Simple? Once you listen to the sound you realize it sparks memories of something you swear you know and is just on the tip of your tongue but you just cannot quite picture it. You are allowed to give an answer once per day. If you can remember 30 minute car rides with your parents that seemed to feel like an all day event then you will understand when you guess wrong. A day is long indeed. At the moment you can win 2000 dollars. It changes after someone gets the answer correct. The only thing they ask of you is to join there site so they can keep track of your guesses. So if you have decided you have just a bit too much time on your hands give this one a try.

Once I thought of the quote I could not get the song out of my head so here is a link to hear it for yourself.Thanks goes to the Technohippie website for the song.

“After a year in therapy my psychiatrist said to me, "Maybe life isn't for everyone"” Larry Brown

Yesterday I was listening to NPR and they mentioned Weizenbaum the creator of one of my favorite applications. When I first got my own computer I loaded all sorts of applications that I could find experimenting and playing with everything. One of them was a lot older than I had ever known and that was Eliza. This program as I learned on NPR was an experiment into the world of AI (Artificial Intelligence). It looked kind of like the old style chat windows and you would type in your problems. It was set to answer back all kind of prompts. Its speech was right out of a psychologist chair. Lots of phrases like go on and tell me more. Of course at that time I would spend hours trying different combinations to see what else it had to say. It was a ton of very strange fun. You can still give it a try today. Also I recommend listening to the NPR piece. It fills you in on the history and is really interesting. So if you are feeling a bit down and want to explore some of those feelings give this one a whirl.

This post will be my last for a bit. I am going to be away for a couple of weeks but I shall post again as soon as I get back.

"From now on, gang, we won't let Rudolph join in any reindeer games. " Comet the Coach

A moment ago I found out, that like myself, some of the staff here at PPL had previously played the role playing game Dungeons and Dragons. This brought a smile to my face but also got me thinking. There are tons of games that are considered geeky or nerdy. They tend to make the player use more brain power than the average point and shoot type of game but where do you find other players interested in getting together to play Magic or AD&D? There is a nice little site called Nearbygamers that simply shows you a map with games and players identified. Essentially it is a yellow pages of gamers. You can filter the search by the type of game just by clicking on your choice. Also you can zoom in on the map and find individual players by location. Most of the people listed seem to be very open to new people joining. Now if role playing is not your thing there is also card games (not poker) and board games like the infamous Risk. So if you want to join a guild or a tournament then give this one try.

“Sometimes you just stumble into something that works, and here I am a quarter of a century later.” Pat Sajak

I always like to balance useful posts with ones that get you to really enjoy the computer world and specifically the Internet so I thought I should share one of my long time favorites. Now before I really start if you read past this point and get nothing done for the rest of the day it is not my fault. The best way to start is for you to think of yourself flipping through TV channels looking for something interesting. StumbleUpon is a channel changing remote for the Internet. All you do is signup and choose from a list of subjects that interest you then you install the toolbar to your browser. It is easy to do and is free. Once that is done you will have a new toolbar with two thumbs point up and down. All you need to do is click the stumble button and the page will change to something from your category. If you like it stay, check it out and give it a thumbs up. However if it is not for you just click thumbs down and keep stumbling on. All the different web pages were found by other stumblers. If you find something interesting on your own click the I like it button and if it has not been added before it will ask you for keywords and categories. You will have added to the great remote and most likely delayed others from getting things done. It is not all fun and frivolousness though I have found many fantastically useful websites that I would never know existed. The great thing is that it goes on practically forever depending on what categories you set and how many of them you chose. Now if you want to just try it out they have a demo feature but it will not have your topics. So if you are not busy and just want to see something different give this one a try.

I don’t mind being in touch with reality, as long as I don’t have to live there. Bob Thaves

Years ago some friends and I traveled to the VR (Virtual Reality) show in Boston. This was when VR was promised to be everywhere in just a few years. Now that was about 1994 and it is still a long way off but when something gives even an inkling of that sort of tech I get excited about it. Tiltviewer is a site that pulls photos from the site Flickr. It pulls in wonderful and interesting images from all over. Now this is a very simple site on the face of it. All it does is present the pics in a sort of floating blackness and to see it closer just click. Once it is enlarged click the arrow to see the details. If you like the photo and want to see more from the photographer just click the go to the Flickr page. I have to say viewing it in the browser window defeats the purpose. Right click anywhere and choose full screen. Now you have that pseudo VR effect. I just need a helmet and a glove and I am ready to roll. If you have five minutes to look at glorious images from around the globe give this one a try. It is how I found this photo. It makes me laugh at least.

“Santa's elves are just a bunch of subordinate Clauses”

It being the last Friday before a holiday I thought of all the parties and general goofing off that goes on today and so in that spirit I give you a site that more people have sent me than I can imagine. Elf your Self is a site that is similar to JibJab. It allows you to upload some pictures and have them be part of a singing dancing holiday card. It is fun to do and you might as well because you most likely not getting work done. So why not produce a masterpiece of elfness? Give it a try.