Blog
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A new hobby? Parkour
Me thinks I have to try Parkour aka PK.
Parkour (often abbreviated PK) is a physical discipline of French origin in which participants attempt to pass obstacles in the fastest and most direct manner possible, using skills such as jumping, vaulting and climbing, or the more specific parkour moves. The obstacles can be anything in one’s environment, so parkour is often practiced in urban areas because of many suitable public structures, such as buildings, rails, and walls. [Source]
See also: A much longer description of Parkour. Wikipedia also has a detailed explanation.
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What is up Google’s sleeve? Photo searches?
Google, which just launched its free Wifi wireless Internet service in Mountain View but denies plans to create a national free Wifi network, has purchased a photo recognition company.
We’ve been working to make Picasa (Google’s free photo-organizing software) even better when it comes to searching for your own photos—to make finding them be as easy as finding stuff on the web. Luckily we’ve found some people who share this goal, and are excited that the Neven Vision team is now part of Google. [Source]
This means that in the future Picasa will not only search your harddrive for pictures but will classify them for you. Perhaps it will recognize all the pictures with granny in them and automatically label them "grandmother" and so forth.
In other Google news, they have released to beta the first major revamp of Blogger since its aquisition from Pyra Labs in 2003.(oops. That article is from May 10, 2004 Thank you Jonathan Hickman for point it out.) I still hate blogger and advise against using their service due to poor business practices. I was burned by Blogger and lost much writing and advise that you blog using WordPress on a hosted solution. I will happily help anyone setup their very own WordPress blog.India has begun blocking Blogger and others such as Typepad. India following in China’s footsteps?
Update: The striked reference above may have been a typo in the date. C|Net has the same information with an August 15, 2006 publishing date. So, strike the strike. See also Update aims for friendlier Blogger (which they won’t achieve unless they have fixed their customer service issues). From the horse’s mouth at Blogger Buzz with an August 14, 2006 publishing date.
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Abstinence education in place of Sex education won’t work
Just say no! to naive school boards that try to do away with sex education in favor of abstinence education.
An Ohio school board is expanding sex education following the revelation that 13 percent of one high school’s female students were pregnant last year.
There were 490 female students at Timken High School in 2005, and 65 were pregnant, WEWS-TV in Cleveland reported. [Source]
I wonder how many guys were involved in this?!
Oh, the school board’s response in Ohio?
…the new curriculum moves beyond the "Just Say No" approach…
No kidding!
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IP Tools
I frequently use DNS Stuff and DNS Report. You can also use Sam Spade for things like finding out who owns your ip address.
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Test your speed.
On August 9 I asked How fast are you? C|Net brings a new speed test service to our attention. Speedtest.net uses a snazzy graphical interface and records results. Other than making it look like the icon of the person is taking a whiz on the servers, the interface really brings this one home. I question the accuracy as it is the first service to truly rank my connection at the 6.5Mbit/s that it is supposed to be.
C|Net also offers their own meter similar to http://www.testmy.net/ and http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/.
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August Challenge – Tommy Turns 16
Happy Birthday Tommy! (jumped the gun yesterday_ I am thrilled with his progress and love seeing his joy at the thought of getting a driver’s license. Loved his excitement over his new phone. Overall he is a happy, fun person.
Can you meet The August Challenge?
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August Challenge – Choices
I have walked some rocky paths but I wouldn’t change a single step of my journey because I love where I am. I am happy with the choices I have made in my life.
Cathy says, "It’s not the destination. It’s the journey." And I am so happy to have her on this journey with me.Can you meet The August Challenge?
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Not happy with the outside cat
Five years ago I put a bat house on the side of our house. It remains empty. A single bat can eat 500-600 mosquitoes an hour and up to 6000 per day. (if I am accurately remembering my information from the Knoxville Zoo tour) I periodically see 2 bats flying above our house and enjoy watching their swoops and zings in the dusk.
Our outside cat, Gray, treats us with gifts on the porch step. She particularly enjoys moles and skinks but has also gifted us with mice, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, birds, and a gerbil. I have seen her try to catch a woodpecker. This morning her gift was a bat. I now believe that the super huntress can catch anything. I warn the hawks! This cat can fly. Meanwhile, our inside cat catches zz’s as anyone that watches the camera is surely aware. The inside cat no longer catches mice. Ignores the tarantulas. Distastes The Beetles as much as my daughter. Converses with the squirrels. And only kills crickets by accident leaving their carcasses in the path of my wife‘s bare feet.
Of course my real concern here is that with the delay the child support check game being played at a bad cash flow time, along with start of school expenses, that a trip to the vet to check for rabies will cause unbearable hardship at this time. Of course, we will do what we must.
Update: I forgot to mention the bat lives in the freezer now.
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August Challenge – Tommy
This weekend has been about Tommy. Tommy turns 16 on Tuesday and we celebrated his birthday today. I am happy seeing him happy.
Can you meet The August Challenge?
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Destroy lousy sites
Do you have a site that you despise? Does it burn your eyes when you look? Now you can take pleasure in obliterating that site! Watch it be destroyed with a disaster of your choosing!
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Feed Me!
The Amorphophallus titanum (corpse flower) at BBG looks like something out of Little Shop of Horrors! Apparently these blossom in cultivation so rarely that when it happens they document it.
Make: has more.