I'm headed on vacation, taking the family to the beach, checking out Legoland, driving long distances, sleeping on floors, dragging around bags, eating greasy food, using public restrooms, showering in unfamiliar places, spending gobs and gobs and gobs of money...
Should be fun...
Friday, May 30, 2008
Freebies...
A friend of mine runs a fitness blog, and she is giving away some prizes for those who get in shape. So, if June is finding you with a few extra pounds, and you plan on swimming any time soon then head on over to her blog to read the details.
On a side note, the most pounds I lost last year were after I went swimming. That's right, I caught cryptosporidum and dropped about 6 pounds. It was the first time since my mission that I was below 150 pounds. I would NOT recommend going that method. I've never been so sick...
On a side note, the most pounds I lost last year were after I went swimming. That's right, I caught cryptosporidum and dropped about 6 pounds. It was the first time since my mission that I was below 150 pounds. I would NOT recommend going that method. I've never been so sick...
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Six degrees of wikipedia
First there was the six degrees of separation (the notion that if a person is one step away from each person he or she knows and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people he or she knows, then everyone is an average of six "steps" away from each person on Earth). Then came six degrees of Kevin Bacon (the idea that you can link any actor to Kevin Bacon on average about six steps).
Now, we have the six degrees of wikipedia. This site lets you find the average link between one page and another. Kind of interesting and fun. For example, you only need two clicks to get from Utah State University to Brigham Young University, and only one from the U to the Y (see guys, we don't need a rivalry, we're closer than we think).
I was going to run some more comparisons, but the server is down (probably due to the slashdot/digg effect).
Perhaps the most interesting thing is that by using this analysis, you can determining the center of wikipedia. The author of the article figured out the shortest path on average to a single article, and found that central article to be the United Kingdom. United States was third. What ranked before the good ol US of A?
That's right, you guessed it. Billy Jean King.
No, I'm not kidding. Go figure.
Now, we have the six degrees of wikipedia. This site lets you find the average link between one page and another. Kind of interesting and fun. For example, you only need two clicks to get from Utah State University to Brigham Young University, and only one from the U to the Y (see guys, we don't need a rivalry, we're closer than we think).
I was going to run some more comparisons, but the server is down (probably due to the slashdot/digg effect).
Perhaps the most interesting thing is that by using this analysis, you can determining the center of wikipedia. The author of the article figured out the shortest path on average to a single article, and found that central article to be the United Kingdom. United States was third. What ranked before the good ol US of A?
That's right, you guessed it. Billy Jean King.
No, I'm not kidding. Go figure.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
I'm famous
That's right. I didn't become famous when I wrote two books and got them published, but I'm famous now.
If you happen to be scrolling around Northern Utah on Google Maps, and find yourself looking at ATK Thiokol, and then click on the 'more' button, and then click on the 'photos' box, you will see a picture taken by none other than yours truly. That's right, I may as well put 'photographer' on my business card. Client: Google.
Here is the link, if you don't want to go hunting.
Author, photographer, I can do it all. And if you upload your pics to panoramio, you can do it too.
If you happen to be scrolling around Northern Utah on Google Maps, and find yourself looking at ATK Thiokol, and then click on the 'more' button, and then click on the 'photos' box, you will see a picture taken by none other than yours truly. That's right, I may as well put 'photographer' on my business card. Client: Google.
Here is the link, if you don't want to go hunting.
Author, photographer, I can do it all. And if you upload your pics to panoramio, you can do it too.
Stick and Rope
I used to work with a guy. He was an outdoorsy type. I once saw him reach into some plants that were marked 'poison oak'. He grabbed a handful and showed me that the plants weren't in fact poison oak, but rather some other kind of plant that looked like poison oak. We used to go on walks on our break along a river, and he would hand me all the edible plants.
He once told me that he didn't much care for all these new electronic games. In fact, he didn't have much use for toys at all. He told me once, 'all a kid needs is a stick, and some rope'.
I don't think I completely understood what he meant until last night.
My wife met somebody through a homeschooling organization, and we've been trying to get together. I knew her husband through work, but only a little. We went over last night and in their back yard they had a few very large trees, a zip line, several lengths of rope, some pvc pipe sticks, and a few bows.
The kids were in heaven.
They swung, flung, zipped, rode, spun, flew, whacked, shot, and in short, had a ball. We hadn't even made it to the van before all of the kids were asking if they could come back tomorrow.
So remember this come next Christmas. Don't but the wiis, don't buy the legos. Go to home depot, buy a large piece of rope, buy some sticks, and maybe even this book, and your kids will thank you.
He once told me that he didn't much care for all these new electronic games. In fact, he didn't have much use for toys at all. He told me once, 'all a kid needs is a stick, and some rope'.
I don't think I completely understood what he meant until last night.
My wife met somebody through a homeschooling organization, and we've been trying to get together. I knew her husband through work, but only a little. We went over last night and in their back yard they had a few very large trees, a zip line, several lengths of rope, some pvc pipe sticks, and a few bows.
The kids were in heaven.
They swung, flung, zipped, rode, spun, flew, whacked, shot, and in short, had a ball. We hadn't even made it to the van before all of the kids were asking if they could come back tomorrow.
So remember this come next Christmas. Don't but the wiis, don't buy the legos. Go to home depot, buy a large piece of rope, buy some sticks, and maybe even this book, and your kids will thank you.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Pretty cool...
If you've always wanted to build a web site, but you've felt like it was too complicated, you no longer have an excuse. Google sites is now open to everybody.
Read, watch, create.
Read, watch, create.
Monday, May 19, 2008
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