Since Halloween was last night….
Is it possible to build a scientifically designed haunted room or haunted house? Wired magazine blog site has a story about such a room that was built.
See what the outcome was of their project here.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/scientifically-haunted-house

Have you wanted a barcode with your name or something really special to fool people? How about a custom bar code for …
Anyway this site let you make a standard UCC/EAN-128 or GS1 DataBar Expanded barcode. Strange but so is Halloween.
http://www.morovia.com/free-online-barcode-generator/

Thing to use on or after Halloween.
In the cool stuff section, how about a pair of bicycle pedals that have red LED lights built in so you always have night light. These require no batteries and when you pedal they generate the electricity to power the LED’s.
http://www.dosun.us/portablelight/index_light.htm

This is from a blog I read that says that these are the best indoor plant to create oxygen.
“1. Areca Palm – You need at least four shoulder-height plants per person in the building and, if you are living in a polluted city, make sure you wipe the Palm leaves every single day for the plant to effectively convert Carbon dioxide into Oxygen.
You should in fact grow two sets of Areca Palm’s — keep the other set outdoors and rotate that set with the indoor one every 3-4 months.
2. Snake Plant — Unlike most plants which release Carbon-dioxide at night, Snake Plant (also known as Mother-in-law’s Tongue) does the reverse as it converts CO2 into Oxygen at night so you can safely keep it inside the bedroom.
You need at least 6 to 8 waist height plants per person to improve the indoor air quality to a healthy level.
3. Money Plant — Other than releasing oxygen in the air, money plant can also eliminate formaldehyde from the air that is commonly released by cigarette smoke and adhesives (used with wood furnishings).”

If you recently purchased the new Windows 7 from Microsoft or plan to purchase it in the near future, you can get a bunch of free themes from Microsoft.
ttp://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/personalize?T1=themes

While talking about the new Windows 7 here is a list of some of the keyboard shortcuts used on Windows 7.
• Win+Home: Clear all but the active window.
• Win+Space: All windows become transparent so you can see through to the desktop.
• Win+Up arrow: Maximize the active window.
• Shift+Win+Up arrow: Maximize the active window vertically.
• Win+Down arrow: Minimize the window/Restore the window if it’s maximized.
• Win+Left/Right arrows: Dock the window to each side of the monitor.
• Shift+Win+Left/Right arrows: Move the window to the monitor on the left or right..

“A portable instrument based on an ultrasensitive nanoscale sensor could detect bacteria in minutes, helping to catch infectious diseases early and prevent their spread. The simple, low-cost device should be available within three years, says Benjamin Miller, professor of dermatology and biomedical engineering at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and codeveloper of the sensor.”
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/23575/?nlid=2403

Glowing DNA: A CCD camera sensor captures the glow of hairpin-shaped DNA nanosensors when they bind with a target gene sequence of anthrax bacteria.
Credit: Benjamin Miller, University of Rochester Medical Center

Can you believe this? Hmm, looks like the city of Riverside has a real revenue stream going with the camera.
“A single red light camera in Riverside, California issued $1 million worth of right-hand turn on red tickets in just one month. The automated ticketing machine installed in March at Tyler Street at the entrance to the 91 Freeway has become the most productive of the city’s cameras and now accounts for half of the citations issued by Riverside’s vendor, Redflex Traffic Systems of Australia. The camera helped boost the grand total of citations mailed since January 2007 to 82,448 tickets worth $32,532,203.”

This is a trend that is happening all over the US and Europe. Everyone needs to pay close attention to where they are and what they are doing or you will find your checkbook in a dismal state.

I listen to radio via the web at work and at home. If you are so inclined, this following will help.
Free online music is easier to find than ever with the multitude of internet radio stations now available to listeners. With the growth of the World Wide Web and advances in telecommunications, finding free music, news, sports and talk is only a few clicks away. However, there are now so many options available that you might have trouble figuring out exactly what’s out there.
http://www.onlineradiostations.com

Documents are what make this world happen. There are documents for about every possible thing, item, procedure, rule, etc. So what are the 100 most influential documents in US history?
I can think of ten immediately. The Bill of Rights. What about you? This web site has the results of votes from the people. It is presented by the National Archives and is worth a visit and read and compare yours against what is listed.
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/content.php?flash=true&page=vote”

While you are at The National Archives web site, check out the ‘Digital Vaults’. This section has pictures, photographs, documents, and film clips of the items mentioned in the previous post and much more. I liked taking some time to make my personal film clip of historical events that I thought were most significant. Oh, be sure to view the Flash version as it is very impressive.
http://digitalvaults.org/

Food, one of my favorite things. Since it is high on my priority list, I should know how long each type of food lasts on the shelf, in freezer, or in the refrigerator. Since I don’t I had to do some searching to find the answer. Indeed I did with a little help from my wife. The answer to all of the above questions on any food is quickly available at the following link.
http://www.stilltasty.com

By now most people who watch any TV have heard at least one of David Letterman’s top ten lists. I found a site that its whole purpose is to produce and show you top ten lists. If you are searching for a top ten list it has to be here or will be here sooner or later.
http://listverse.com

Wow, it’s been a long time since I sent out a newsletter. I need to get going again so here is this week’s issue.

I had surgery to remove my gall bladder early this month so that slowed me down a bit but feel fine now, but
my in box of things to do looks like the Empire State building. I am making progress but it will take a while to catch up.

Ok, now to the business at hand.
How do you do this…, or this…, or….
There are many things that you know how to do and there are many things that you wished you knew how to
do but don’t know where to find out the correct way to do it. This web site has the answers to most of you questions.
I found many easy examples on how to accomplish things that has made my ‘to do’ list easier to accomplish. Check it out.
http://www.ehow.com

There are many dictionaries on the Internet that you may use to look up words but the following one is a visual
dictionary that show words linked to similar words, words that are similar in meaning, words that are a derivative
of the original word. All this in a cool real time graphical web page. A fun way to use a dictionary that is actually very useful.
http://www.visuwords.com

Are you looking for an hard to find book, out of print, etc. This is where to look. From the web site.
“BookFinder.com is a one-stop ecommerce search engine that searches over 150 million books for sale – new, used, rare, out-of-print, and textbooks. We save you time and money by searching every major catalog online, and letting you know which booksellers are offering the best prices and selection. When you find a book you like, you can buy it directly from the original seller; we never charge a markup.”
http://www.bookfinder.com

If you are interested in Law for any reason and need a good place to start your search check out the following web site. Again directly from their home page.
“Searching the Web is easy. Why should searching the law be any different? That’s why Fastcase has created the Public Library of Law — to make it easy to find the law online. PLoL is the largest free law library in the world, because we assemble law available for free scattered across many different sites — all in one place. PLoL is the best starting place to find law on the Web.”
http://www.plol.org/Pages/Search.aspx

Since mentioning the above site and doing some more searching for cases, I found this resource. Directly from the home page:
“FindLaw is the web’s premier free legal information site, reaching hundreds of thousands of unique visitors daily. FindLaw incorporates case law, legal news, cutting-edge commentary, legal technology trends, practice tips, message boards, RSS feeds, over 60 newsletter titles, and much more, to create a vibrant online community for today’s legal professional.”
http://www.findlaw.com

Our government collects more information on more subjects and things than any other place in the world. It make sense to search its vast archives to find
The answers to what you need. Right now jobs are hard to find, prospective college students are having a hard time finding the correct profession to pursue and if you are thinking about changing professions, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics might just have the answer. Check out the Occupational Handbook.
http://www.bls.gov/oco

Search engines are our guide to the vastness of the Internet. Each major search engine has selective search area that are not always know by everyone.
Yahoo for instance, has many specialized search tool built into it search engine. Keeping with the theme of this week’s newsletter, education is of major concern.
What about doing a special education search?
http://education.yahoo.com/reference

Need a quote for your newsletter, web site, or a paper you are writing? This site has all kinds of quotes on many different subjects for you to use. Most of the quotes are from famous people present and past. An example from the web site is at the bottom of this newsletter.
http://www.brainyquote.com/

Years past when the Sunday newspaper arrived, the first thing I did was find the funny papers so I could get my weekly laugh. With the electronic age you can get your favorite comic via email daily. Why wait for Sunday to read your favorite comic is bright color. Just find the comics you want and have them sent to you.
http://comics.com/

I know that someone reading this is out of work due to the very down economy we are facing right now. IF you are still employed I am sure you know someone who is not and might need some help finding a position. Indeed.com is a search engine for jobs, allowing job seekers to find jobs posted on thousands of company career sites and job boards.
http://www.indeed.com/

Some of you use cable modems to access the Internet and some of you use DSL. If you are interested in what is happening in this industry or want o read a review of a possible Internet provider, this is the place to go. DSLreports.com is the largest online community based on interest in consumer broadband (and related) information, news and tools.
http://www.dslreports.com/

It is that time again to make sure you are not on all the phone solicitor’s lists. The National Do Not Call Registry gives you a choice about whether to receive telemarketing calls at home. Most telemarketers should not call your number once it has been on the registry for 31 days. If they do, you can file a complaint at this Website. You can register your home or mobile phone for free. Your registration will be effective for five years.
https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx

Genealogy is a pastime for some and serious business for others. If you have an interest, the National Archives offers insight into the lives of people, their families and our history. Because the records at the National Archives come from every branch of the Federal government, almost all Americans can find themselves, their ancestors, or their community in the archives.
http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/

While you are searching don’t forget the largest database in the world of information, no not the Internet, but the Library of Congress. I can’t think of anything that the government does has at least one copy or multiple copies. The Library of Congress offers a wide variety of online databases and Internet resources to the public via the Web, including its own online catalog. In addition, LC provides an easy-to-use gateway for searching other institutions’ online catalogs and extensive links to resources on the Internet.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/tools.html

Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone.
Jim Fiebig.

In a world where are you hear about is the negative things the news media puts out, there are still many bright spots. An example.
University of Cincinnati neurosurgeons say they used a new technology involving the creation of a 3-D map to remove a large tumor from a patient’s brain.
The surgeons used multiple brain scans that were fused and installed into a surgical guidance computer, whose function is similar to that of a global positioning system. By revealing the fist-sized tumor’s relationship to all the functional centers, electrical pathways, arteries and veins in the patient’s brain, the surgeons were able to chart a safe pathway to the tumor.

Some of you that are reading this remember a magazine called “Life”. It was a premier magazine in the ‘40, ‘50 and ‘60’s but died as all magazines did that could not change with the times. The articles and pictures that were in this magazine were some of the most spectacular ever published. Google has now archived the pictures and made them searchable for all to enjoy. The pictures range from the 1860’s to the 1970’s.
http://images.google.com/hosted/life

Home prices seem to have hit just about bottom now so some of you probably are in the market for buy a vacation home, rental house, or just wanting a change. When in the house buying market, you need to keep current on what the interest rates are doing in your area. The best site for this is bankrate.com. Besides showing the current rates, this site has the best mortgage calculator, it has CD rates, credit card rates, financial info, retirement calculators, and much more. An excellent site to bookmark.
http://www.bankrate.com

A few years ago Microsoft publish a CD called Encarta. It wasn’t a big sellers but did have some good information for a CD encyclopedia. One feature I did like was the “this day is history”. Well it is now available on the MSN web site for all of us to use. So, the next time you wonder what happed this day in history, check out this site.
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/onthisday.aspx

John Dillinger. Al Capone. The KKK. John Gotti. Patty Hearst. The Unabomber. Bonnie and Clyde. The FBI has investigated them all… and many more spies, terrorists, and criminals besides. At their web site, grouped according to their top investigative priorities and related categories, are many of their famous and most significant cases over the past century. The monographs and write-ups are now available for your use. Check out some to the great stories.
http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/famcases.htm

The next site will be of interest to all the computer geeks and Internet junkies reading this newsletter. DSL is one of the ways we get are high speed Internet connection and DSL Reports web sites keep up to date on all the happening related to DSL service. IF you want to check the quality of your DSL service, including speed, etc., you can do that too. Actually it has a lot of information for all you non computer geeks too.
http://www.dslreports.com/

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. “
C. S. Lewis

What does this day mean for Americans? Our constitution give us certain rights and one of our founding fathers has these words:

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
– Thomas Jefferson –

He went on to say a little later in life,
‘I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.’

Can we learn from past great leaders? Apparently not.

I hope everyone is now beginning to enjoy the summer. It finally feels like summer here, as we have had so much cool weather and rain.

I have succumbed to the social networking crowd and now have a Facebook account. Actually I am enjoying using it much more that I figured I would. I see why so many people have accounts an share info with friends and family and of course there are the games, networks, groups, and all the other custom applications built in Facebook.

While on the subject of social networking sites, I also have an account with Linkedin. It is more of a business related social networking site and with many business related networking features. Give it a try, especially if you are a consultant or looking to expand your business or business network of associates. It has helped many people find jobs, get new accounts, and locate business partners. I have used it for checking with others in my industry on what things work and what doesn’t.

MedicineNet.com is an online, healthcare media publishing company. It provides easy-to-read, in-depth, authoritative medical information for consumers via its robust, user-friendly, interactive web site. MedicineNet.com has had a highly accomplished, uniquely experienced team of qualified executives in the fields of medicine, healthcare, Internet technology, and business to bring you the most comprehensive, sought after healthcare information anywhere, or so says their web site. Check it out for yourself.
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/hp.asp

With all the political rederick that goes on, and the biased TV stations, how do you know what is true? Good question. I found a web site that its purpose it to find out what is right and what is not. Factcheck.org is here to help you make sense of the political garbage that goes on. They have many features at their web site that will help with finding out what is true and what it not. While you are there be sure to check out ‘The Fact Check Wire’.
http://www.factcheck.org

StateMaster.com is a unique statistical database which allows you to research and compare a multitude of different data on US states. They have compiled information from various sources such as the US Census Bureau, the FBI, and the National Center for Educational Statistics. More than just a mere collection of various data, StateMaster.com goes beyond the numbers to provide you with visualization technology like pie charts, maps, graphs and scatter plots. A very good feature that is available is called ‘The Full Wiki’. Its goal is to become a platform for an enriched user experience for wikis using open licenses. They want to provide serious hosting resources to make projects feasible.
http://www.statemaster.com/index.php

It is time once again to remind all of you that the National Do Not Call Registry gives you a choice about whether to receive telemarketing calls at home. Most telemarketers should not call your number once it has been on the registry for 31 days. If they do, you can file a complaint at this Website. You can register your home or mobile phone for free.
ttps://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx

The following is a quote from Panasonic’s camera web site.

“Panasonic Digital Cameras now include a technology that can identify a genuine Panasonic battery. For the protection of our customers Panasonic developed this technology after it was discovered that some aftermarket 3rd party batteries do not meet the rigid safety standards Panasonic uses.”
http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/info/dsc_battery.htm

Based upon the quote above I would suggest that you boycott Panasonic products and send then an email stating that restricting what batteries are used in their camera is an unfair trade practice. What happens when you are in a remote location or in an area that doesn’t stock Panasonic batteries and you batteries die? Yup, just what I thought.