Newsletter 4-27-2008

The question for the day is why the old ‘7 wonders of the world’ need to be replaced?
This site is the ‘new’ 7 wonders of the world. What gave them the right to try to replace the original 7 wonders?

wonders and you can decide if you want to except other new wonders.
http://www.panoramas.dk/7-wonders/

Since some of you know that I work at NASA, I thought I had better show you some of the more interesting NASA sites, especially since I started out with wonders of the world. It might be fitting to show some other wonders of this world, and some not of this world.

GRIN is a collection of over a thousand images of significant historical interest scanned at high-resolution in several sizes. This collection is intended for the media, publishers, and the general public looking for high-quality photographs. Please note that downloading these image files may take some time, although searching and browsing should be relatively quick.
http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/

This site shows each day a new ‘Astronomy Picture of the Day”. Each day a different image or photograph is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. In the explanation are there are many links to other related pictures which you might find interesting. Don’t forget to click on the Discover the Cosmos link for a listing of all the previous pictures.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

launch facility in Virginia. There is a launch video, pictures, fact sheets, and complete information about the launch. I am a little partial to this launch since I was involved with this project and witnessed the launch in person. If you happen to be in the area someday stop by for a tour.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/missions/tacsat2.html

and news feeds. Get you fill of all the multimedia that NASA offers.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/index.html

Want to make learning science full for everyone from kids to adults? Check out the virtual labs at the University of Virginia. The virtual labs cover things like Nanoscience, Electricity and Magnetism, and Microelectronics.
http://www.virlab.virginia.edu/VL/contents.htm

Newsletter 4-20-2008

Do you have a credit card? Most of you do, so read on…
The banking industry’s most lucrative business: credit cards. Millions of Americans will reach into their wallets and use plastic to spend billions of dollars. Ok so what else is new? Check out the following.
“In “Secret History of the Credit Card,” FRONTLINE^® and The New York Times join forces to investigate an industry few Americans fully understand. In this one-hour report, correspondent Lowell Bergman uncovers the techniques used by the industry to earn record profits and get consumers to take on more debt.” Watch the video, it is worth your time. (uses Flash)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/

“–Canadian Univ. Faculty Unhappy with Decision to Use Google Apps (March 24 & 26, 2008) The faculty association of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, has filed a grievance against the university administration for using Google Apps to replace the old and faltering computer system. Although the move saved the university money (the tools are free), because the data are held in the US, they are subject to US laws, which are at odds with Canadian privacy laws. Any data hosted on US servers are deemed searchable by authorities under the US Patriot Act. Canadian law guarantees individuals the right to privacy of their information and to inform them when the information is shared. The faculty was told not to transmit private data over the system.”
(sans.org)

Since 1938 – first as a popular radio quiz show, then starting in 1947 as an annual almanac, and since 1998 on the Internet, Information Please has provided, well… information. This web site has, dictionaries, almanacs, Atlas, thesaurus, quizzes, timelines, plus features on all the countries of the world. It is very well organized and even has a section on the 2008 presidential campaign. I enjoyed reading the timeline section. Check it out.
http://www.infoplease.com/

From their web site, “Welcome! In this resource you will find background information, election results, cabinet members, notable events, and some points of interest on each of the presidents. Links to biographies, historical documents, audio and video files, and other presidential sites are also included.” A very good resource of basic information on each president from the Internet Public Library.
http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/

Now that the weather is getting warmer my food thoughts move to one of my favorite items. Ice cream. OK, I admit chocolate is number one but ice cream is a very close second. My dad used to tell me that there is always room for ice cream and he was right. So on nice summer evening I would get a call to make an ice cream run. Since ice cream plays a large role in this household, the ice cream scoop is of upmost importance. Zeroll manufactures the ultimate in scoops to be used with ice cream. Remember any project requires the correct tool and they make the correct tool.
http://www.zeroll.com/products.htm

phone and dialed 411. Later on the phone company started charging for 411 calls so most of us either quit using the service or used it very rarely. Now you have many free alternatives to the old 411 service. Google provides a free service by calling GOOG-411 on the internet or 1-800-GOOG-411, and there’s 1-800-free411. Enjoy.

Newsletter 4-13-2008

Well, it is that time of the year again when we do diligence to the IRS with pages of paperwork for them to sort through. Oh, if you need some help for some the questions on multiple forms with numbers like 1040, 1032, 1019, and don’t forget Schedule E, C, F, and G., you might check out the following…

“Welcome to the Internal Revenue Service’s general questions and answers section. Each year we update the answers to reflect the latest changes in tax regulations. These questions and answers came from taxpayers like you.”
http://www.irs.gov/faqs/

“Each year millions of Americans are victimized by the scams and schemes perpetrated by white collar crime predators. Corporate fraud, health care fraud, telemarketing fraud, and bank fraud are just a few of the criminals’ weapons of choice. Billions of dollars are estimated to be lost annually as a result of these fraudulent activities which are carried out by individuals, companies, or groups of individuals.” So says the FBI. If you want to read more, say the 10 most wanted, the link is below.
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted.htm

The economy, hmm, big problem; solutions from our government, nonexistent. Now you can at least get all the data that is collected from all the reports you pay for at this web site. The economic report card from the Bureau of Labor Statistics at you service.
http://www.bls.gov./eag/eag.us.htm

Since you are now looking at data you don’t know what to do with, you might as well go over to the Census Bureau to see what they have to confuse you even more. Actually the data there is quite relevant and can provide you with interesting reading if you know what to look for. So, reed the FAQ and begin your quest for knowledge.
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en

There is this lady over at the MSN web site that might actually know something about money math. She wrote an article about all the math you need to know concerning money. Quite good actually. She also has links to other articles of similar value. Well worth you time to read.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/Advice/MoneyMathYouNeedToKnow.aspx

“No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Newsletter 4-6-2008

Sometimes I am very upset at what I read online about what is happening in the US at our schools. A recent article on Fox News about a Senior given a 0 for an art project brings schools to an all time low. Instead of rambling about this terrible injustice, just read the article for yourself.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,344350,00.html

I registered a domain name called “FrostMyButt.com”. This web site is for all the stupid, asinine, and horrible stuff I see on the Internet or read about in the paper and stuff that fits in the category “What were you thinking”. This article will be top of the list. Now all I need is time to published all the stuff to the web site.

TED = Torrent Episode Downloader, will keep download the latest episode of your favorite TV show and monitor the Internet for the next episode to be published. When it is, it will automatically down it for your viewing pleasure. Very convenient application if you do not have a TIVO or a DVR from your cable company.
http://www.ted.nu/download.php

“The Mutopia Project offers sheet music editions of classical music for free download. These are based on editions in the public domain, and include works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Handel, Mozart, and many others. A team of volunteers are involved in typesetting the music by computer. They also have a growing number of modern editions, arrangements and new music. The respective editors, arrangers and composers have chosen to make these works freely available.”
http://www.mutopiaproject.org/index.html

“TVRage, a wide-ranging, user-friendly television resource with information ranging from the classics to current shows from around the world. With TVRage’s comprehensive show filter, you can easily find your favorite shows as well as browse through over 15,000 guides.

In addition to the extensive television database, TVRage also features over 150,000 people associated with the television business; actors, producers, writers, directors, and many more – each featuring a list of credits and additional information including biographies, a photo gallery, trivia, and general data.”
http://www.tvrage.com/

If you are of fan of all thing related to flying, space, flight, etc. The Smithsonian Museum has all their published copies of the “Air & Space” magazines available for reading on line.
http://www.airspacemag.com/issue/archive

Each day NASA publishes the “Image of the Day” on their web site. They have archived these images going back every day from 1995 to present for your view pleasure. Take advantage of these great photos, view them, download them.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

Also for your viewing pleasure….
“NASA’s Johnson Space Center is proud to provide this collection of press release images from the manned space program, from Mercury to the STS-79 Shuttle mission. This collection represents over 9,000 images. These images are available in 640×480 JPEG format (average size 40k each), and include catalog information for each image.”
http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/luceneweb/about.jsp