“A lot of people ask me if I were shipwrecked, and could only have one book, what would it be? I always say 'How to Build a Boat” Stephen Wright

In April I held a Passover dinner and invited a few friends to join in the fun. I chose quite a few people who had never been to such an event before. When everyone arrived I was putting final touches on the meal to come and one by one our friends would sneak into the kitchen to tell me they had Googled what was expected of a person at Passover dinner. They told me that they found some stuff but nothing great and were worried about offending me or screwing up the dinner. Regardless of the lack of info everything went off without a hitch but next time I send an email invite I will add a link to Howcast. Howcast has been around for a while and does a great job presenting instruction of anything you want to learn. They have everything from how to make a butter sculpture to how not to attend a Passover dinner done in claymation. The videos are usually short, filled with info and amusing. More and more I find myself turning to the net for instructions. The other day I looked up all the steps involved in taking apart my computer to replace the Hard Drive. I really needed to know if I could do it myself or even if I wanted to. As I watched the video it looked like a long job (60 steps) but doable. Before you say I don’t know how to do something give Howcast a try. I recommend even going over there when you have 5 minutes to kill to learn something new.

“All religions must be tolerated... for... every man must get to heaven in his own way.” Epictetus

Religion can be tricky to write about on a blog like this and I have avoided it until this point. Unfortunately religion on the web breaks down into the two usual camps: a glorification of one’s own religion and bashing of another’s. This is too bad because it kills discussion and understanding. However, there is a site that is really trying to make a difference in the religious information realm. Beliefnet has information on most religions. Now when I say information I do not mean a quick definition. I mean a real investigation that allows the user to really explore different religions. They use things like audio visual tours and interesting news stories to round off the information. They even have cooking recipes for each faith and holiday that it is associated with. There are discussion forums for every belief from Atheism to Zoroastrianism and everything in between. My favorite part has to be the Belief-o-Matic. Don’t be fooled by the name. It is a fill in survey that shows you which faith is in line with your thinking. I found it to be right on the mark. Faith is part of out society and makes its way to technology just like any part of our social makeup. So if you are interested give it a try.

“A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.” James Feibleman

I have always been fascinated by mythology. Unfortunately when I use the word mythology it is relegated to the stories from the Greeks. Every culture has spawned some sort of story to explain away the mysteries of life. Encyclopedia Mythica began to help identify the characters and the stories. I have enjoyed this site immensely. It does not cover all the mythologies on the planet but it has a fair start. It covers Greek, Norse, Roman and Celtic mythos. They also have a fun Mythquiz to test your knowledge. Grab some wax wings and give it a try.