Save a Tree: “Subscribe” to Lonny Magazine

Posted on 01. Dec, 2009 by kchristieh in cool websites

I love curling up with a good magazine or newspaper, but I hate that they use so much paper. On the other hand, I’m happy to support good writers and photographers, and am devoted to the free flow of information.

Perhaps the answer to this dilemma is more magazines like Lonny Magazine. This home decor / lifestyle magazine can only be found on the web, at lonnymag.com. Here’s their mission statement:

“In a time when shelter publications are turning their last pages…
Our mission is to reopen the doors to accessible design. By embracing an online platform we provide inspiration at the click of a finger, directly connecting our readers to their favorite products and resources. Our freedom from page limits means that we can share more content in each issue, delivering an intimate look into the way people really live.”

Because it didn’t have to be printed, Lonny Magazine was produced at a than a traditional magazine, but I don’t think anything was lost in the process. In fact, I had lots of fun flipping the pages and mousing over various pictures to see if they linked to another website. If you see something you like in the magazine, chances are you can click to a place to either purchase it or learn more about it.

I wish more magazines had an online edition this robust and interactive.

Links:

• Review of Lonny Magazine in Women’s Wear Daily

Once you learn this new math, you’ll never look at life the same way again

Posted on 07. May, 2009 by kchristieh in cool websites, my life, parenting, quotes

The title of yesterday’s post (Save the babies + educate the kids = healthy society) was inspired by New Math by Craig Damrauer. The site uses simple arithmetic and algebra to illuminate many life truths.

Here are a few of my favorite equations:

Haha! I used that one this morning with my daughter. Eventually I caved in since my husband wasn’t available for an emergency wardrobe consultation at the time.

If she’d asked him first, he may have used this equation. But he probably wouldn’t, since he’s very confident and decisive.

I thought the next two were witty:

This one reminds me of Gaby on “Desperate Housewives,” which I admit to listening to while I file and pay the bills.

The next one really speaks to me. I often say that circumstances aren’t as disappointing when expectation matches reality. It’s a good one for moms to keep in mind as Mother’s Day approaches.

And this one…it’s a message for me to go to bed now so I don’t get sick again.

Now it seems like everything that happens to me is either a potential Facebook status or an equation. Maybe that’s because Geek + Social Butterfly = Me. Oh no!!

My favorite online college search sites

Posted on 10. Apr, 2009 by kchristieh in cool websites, education, parenting

This week my family took tours of five colleges and drove through several more, all in the quest to find schools that would match our teenagers’ interests, talents and personalities.

Visiting the schools when classes were in session was invaluable. It was important for my kids to see what the students were like, and to see whether they could imagine themselves fitting in with them. My kids were also very concerned with school energy and spirit, so it was good for them to see which schools shined or failed in that department.

We did lots of research beforehand, also. We purchased several college guides, including one that included student reviews, and copied the relevant pages and brought them with us on our trip. I also looked up all the schools we considered visiting on our trip on the internet. I especially appreciated student review sites. I kept in mind that there will always be disgruntled people at any school, but I looked for trends in the comments.

We’ve only scratched the surface for visiting colleges, so I’ve started a College Resource page on this blog. You can either click here to visit it, or find it in the list of pages to the right. I’ll continue to update it as I find more useful college resource sites. It includes much of the same information that I’ve put on our high school PTSA website, www.lchs912.org.

Hope it helps!

Transform your pictures into stories by inserting them into templates

Posted on 08. Apr, 2009 by kchristieh in animals, cool websites, quotes

If a picture speaks 1,000 words, what do these have to tell? Many thanks to Photofunia and FunPhotoBox for their free photo insertion sites.

“If you can look at a dog and not feel vicarious excitement and affection, you must be a cat.”
~Author Unknown

“When a man’s best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem.”
~Edward Abbey

“You think dogs will not be in heaven?  I tell you, they will be there long before any of us.”
~Robert Louis Stevenson

“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself.”
~Josh Billings

When life stinks, here’s a reminder that it could be worse

Posted on 17. Mar, 2009 by kchristieh in cool websites, life lessons

Just as there’s always someone prettier, smarter and richer than us, there are also people who don’t have it as good as we do.

When you’re feeling low, visit F*** My Life: Your everyday life stories. People enter their tales of woe, and others vote on whether the person’s life stinks or whether they got what they deserved. Here are a few recent examples:

• Today, I decided to ask my friend to the school dance. It’s one where the girls ask the guys. I spent hours placing signs down his street so he would see them on his way home. As I’m waiting in his driveway with balloons I see his car reverse and go the other direction. FML
  #415998 (83) – 03/17/2009 at 4:44pm by SmileEveryday – misc – I agree, your life is f***ed (19782) – you deserved that one (3262
• Today, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I called all my family members to invite them over this evening because I had some very important news for them that could not wait. They all declined the invite. When I asked why, they said they were going to my cousins to watch his new TV. FML
  #406352 (106) – 03/17/2009 at 1:47am by Mikey – health – I agree, your life is f***ed (44821) – you deserved that one (1066)
• Today, I found an old dress in my house laying around. I decided to dye it green to wear it out on St. Patrick’s day. Turns out it was my grandmother’s wedding dress that my sister was planning to wear for her wedding. FML
  #379533 (106) – 03/16/2009 at 1:29pm by Noname – misc – I agree, your life is f***ed (8120) – you deserved that one (47295)

I don’t wish these things on anyone, but it can be therapeutic to read them. I learned about this from my teenagers, who promise they skip over the skankier ones. Though I have to admit, even the skankier ones mostly wind up warning people from doing those skanky things.

It’s not just for kids: Women 55 and over are the fastest-growing Facebook demographic

Posted on 05. Feb, 2009 by kchristieh in cool websites

Where’s your Mama? She’s probably on Facebook! In an effort to retain their mantles as our nation’s matriarchs, that women 55 and over are their fastest-growing demographic. Since the end of September, they’ve increased their membership at a rate of 175.3%, whereas their male counterparts increased theirs by only 137.8%.

They also reported that women outnumber men in every age group on Facebook:

In total, women now make up about 56.2% of Facebook’s US audience, up from 54.3% late last year. Women most outnumber men in the 18-25 and 26-34 age groups, where there are 1.4 females for every 1 male on Facebook.

The age distribution of Facebook users has also shifted dramatically. Whereas only a few years ago, Facebook was limited to college students, 45% of the 45.3 million active users in the U.S. are 26 or older, and nearly a quarter of the active Facebook users are 35 or older.

Why do I care? Because I want the rest of my friends and relatives to get on Facebook! I want to keep in touch with you better, and Facebook makes it so easy! Don’t let the kids convince you that it’s just for them. That’s not true!!!

Yo, MJ! If you’re reading this, here’s another official reminder to get on Facebook! You’re missing news, photos and videos of family members!!

Amazing close-up view of inauguration

Posted on 04. Feb, 2009 by kchristieh in cool websites, history, politics

No matter how you voted, you should check the amazingly detailed Fullscreen Gigapan View photo of the inauguration. You can click on the upper lefthand side to zoom in or zoom out, and then drag the picture as you wish.
What an amazing view of history!

The stitching errors are a bit spooky. It looks like Aretha Franklin has a ghost on her lap. She’s in the upper lefthand corner of the second picture I cropped below. You can get MUCH closer than this picture shows.
Today I saw someone who swore she saw me on television at the Neighborhood Ball. I had a hard time convincing her that it wasn’t me, although I wish it had been. She must have had me confused with Shakira.  :)
I’m often confused with other people that look like me. I wish I could meet one of these lookalikes sometime!

Where would you wish to wake up tomorrow?

Posted on 26. Jan, 2009 by kchristieh in cool websites, travel, videos

The site “Fifty People One Question” features videos of fifty people at a single location being asked the same question.

The question currently featured on the site is, “Where would you wish to wake up tomorrow?” There are two videos: one for Brooklyn and one for London. Responses range from a person’s own bed to Paris to a beach in Kenya. The response at 3:28 min. in the Brooklyn video was the most touching. Visitors to the site can add their own responses and comments. As of this posting, the site has received 975 responses from 538 cities.

I love this concept. I think it shows our common human desire for safety, comfort, love, fun and adventure. Some of the ideas are very creative, and yet I wonder if there’s a deeper story behind some of them. I also enjoyed seeing normal-looking people, being honest and appreciating the fact that someone cared enough to ask them something.

Where would YOU wish to wake up tomorrow?

I’d love to wake up in a really nice hotel in Paris, with my family by my side. I got engaged there, so I’d love to be back with my husband. And I really want to show it to my kids and practice my French! I’ve only stayed in fleabag (literally) hotels in Paris, so it’d be fun to stay somewhere that’s clean and has amenities.

Track how many of Obama’s 500 promises he keeps

Posted on 24. Jan, 2009 by kchristieh in cool websites, politics

I don’t think I’ve made 500 promises in my whole lifetime, but apparently that’s about how many promises Barack Obama made before he took office.

The St. Petersburg Times’ Politifact.com is tracking President Obama’s progress toward fulfilling his promises. After three full days in office, here’s where he stands:

I think that’s pretty good, so far! I’m sure he’ll knock some of the easy ones out of the way first, as well as the ones that he’s really passionate about. I looked through the first 100, and they looked good to me. I hope he’s able to fulfill as many of his promises as possible.

Here are the ones he’s kept so far:

On a side note, I hadn’t realized he’d made promises regarding autism research and treatment. (See #81, #82 & #91) That’s so specific, and really cool.

Satellite view of the inauguration

Posted on 21. Jan, 2009 by kchristieh in cool websites, politics

There’s Malinee, and Joe, and Gaye, and Vickere…don’t you see them?

If you go to the CNN satellite view of the inauguration, you can zoom in and see your friends, too!

Yulogizing over my favorite new Christmas words

Posted on 06. Dec, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites

From Addictionary.org:

• yulogize: noun, from the root word Yule; the act of giving a commemorative speech or song particularly related to the Christmas season. (I prefer it as a verb.)
• wrapalanche: noun, Mountain of discarded paper and ribbons from Christmas morning.
• Rudelf: noun, A young child who spoils Christmas by being loud, obnoxious and ungrateful.
• tannenbum: noun, Someone who refuses to help decorate the Christmas tree.
• Santa cause: noun, A Christmas gift in which a donation to a charitable cause is given in the recipient’s name.
• jinglebills: noun, Those large credit card bills that come in right after the Christmas shopping season.
• jinglesmells: noun, The lovely aroma that comes from the kitchen during the Christmas Holidaze, mainly desserts and cookies!
• Seasons GrEatings!: noun, Why do people gain so much weight between October and January?

I wonder if any of these will become commonly-used words? I love the way English evolves.

Google knows when and where you’re sick

Posted on 12. Nov, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites, health, my life, things that bug me

As much as I love the Minute Clinic at CVS, I struck out there yesterday. Besides the fact that they wouldn’t give my daughter a physical for her athletic clearance, they denied me a pneumonia shot because I’m 20 years too young. It didn’t matter that I informed them that I’ve had pneumonia twice, and that the last time I got a shot was at their store many years ago. They needed proof of my illness or of my shot, and I have neither. So, when I find the time and screw up my courage again, I’ll figure out where my doctor recently moved her office and see if she can help me. At least she takes my insurance.

If I do get sick this year, it probably won’t surprise Big Brother Google. Today’s NY Times details how Google has compared regional searches of certain terms like “flu symptoms” to Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports and found that they align nearly perfectly. Because Google knows its results instantly, and doesn’t require manpower to gather the data, this could prove to be a valuable tool in predicting the path of illnesses so that preventive measures can be taken.

Hopefully I won’t be a bad statistic this year.

A short list of ways Facebook has enhanced my life lately

Posted on 01. Nov, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites, my life, parenting

I didn’t get much out of MySpace, which isn’t surprising since less than half the people there were who they said they were and most of my friends avoided it like the plague. LinkedIn is cool, but very serious, and it doesn’t generate much dialogue. Facebook, however, has proven to be a great way to find old friends, stay in touch with current ones, and get to know people better.

Here’s a quick list of some of the ways that Facebook has enriched me this year:

• My husband and I had a wonderful lunch in Santa Barbara with Ri-Pen, a college friend of mine who was a year behind me. We’re never at the same reunions, but we got back in touch via Facebook.
• Four nights hosting Pakistani friends Majid, Hina, Obed and Sofi. We met Majid and Obed at church camp last summer, and reconnected on Facebook this spring. It was wonderful getting to know the whole family better, and it’s cool that we can stay in touch so easily even though we’re half a world away.
• Reconnecting with members of my old Brownie troop to talk about elementary school memories. I haven’t seen some of them in 35 years.
• Collecting information for my college class notes column via Facebook messages, and having the luxury of being able to put faces to everyone’s name.
• Easily finding the home of the car driven by the people who stole my Obama sign. (Thanks, R & P!)
• And finally, being the only one at tonight’s Boosters dinner with my dress on since Amy saw on Facebook that I was wearing a Banana Republic dress and didn’t want to take a chance that the one she bought this summer was the same one. It was. Phew!

As you can see, I’m finding Facebook to be quite worthwhile. It’s how I share photos and videos, since it’s so easy to “tag” people and to set privacy settings. I keep up with my kids’ lives somewhat via Facebook, but at this point my own virtual life is so vivid that I don’t need to live vicariously through them. Besides, who wants to relive those years anyway?

Links:

• How to Join Facebook: Easy Instruction Guide for Adults (or Anyone!)
• MySpace / Facebook / Social Networking Parents Safety Guide

I’ll always be Young at Heart

Posted on 06. Oct, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites, inspirational people, movies, music, my life

I figure that at 45, I’m theoretically halfway to retirement. I say “theoretically” because I don’t ever see myself “retiring.” I like what I do, so I can’t imagine wanting to stop. Hopefully at some point I’ll slow down a little and put together a few photo albums, however.

Maybe some day I’ll reprise my high school choir training and sing in a chorus like the stars of the wonderful documentary “Young @ Heart.” The average age of their chorus members is 80, and instead of singing old standbys, they conquer the works of artists such as Sonic Youth and David Bowie. Three generations of our family sat down together and watched this movie this weekend, and we all loved it. I loved the spirit and energy that the chorus members had, and I admired how they’d found a group of like minded people to have fun with. Their music videos were hilarious, but there were some very poignant moments also. It comes with the territory, I suppose. I also admired the group’s director, Bob Cilman. He was incredibly patient and persistent, and had a real gift for leading the chorus. He’s a true hero.

I wonder/fear what it will be like some day if I don’t die before all the people I love. I’ll probably become an expert at attending funerals and mourning people.  Maybe I really should take up the bagpipes, so I can at least participate in the ceremonies. Death will be certain for all of us, but the living must go on with their lives. It’ll be hard to strike the right balance. Hopefully I’ll have the same good attitude that the “Young @ Heart” singers do.

One more thing: besides singing, I still hope to be blogging. Like Margaret and Helen. Best Friends for Sixty Years and Counting…. (or is it The Blog As Performance Art? Who cares? I love it!!)

PS – When I’m old, don’t call me “Dear” or “Sweetie.” It’s demeaning. See this great NY Times article about the topic, “In Sweetie and Dear, a Hurt for the Elderly.”

The easiest way to find a mutually agreeable meeting time: TimeBridge

Posted on 04. Oct, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites

Scheduling meetings can take just as long as attending meetings. I recently found a great website that makes scheduling easy: TimeBridge. This free website allows you to enter up to five potential meeting dates/times, and then email people to see which work for them. People click on the link in the email and enter whether each meeting time is Best, OK, or Bad. TimeBridge adds their responses to a grid that makes it easy for everyone to see which date will work best. It also includes a map to the event, can import from and export to Google Calendar and other programs if you wish, and allows people to comment.

I’ve used it for two meetings so far, and it’s saved me from near endless email exchanges. I highly recommend it!

Here’s a screenshot of an upcoming meeting I’m trying to schedule:

Thank goodness at least one date is looking good for everyone so far!

My favorite productivity tools

Posted on 13. Sep, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites, work

I hate to waste time. Maybe that’s why I studied Industrial Engineering. Here are some websites, programs and techniques that help me work and manage my life more efficiently.

I used Calendar Creator for our family calendar for about 12 years until it crashed last fall. I was crushed. Not only did I lose tons of valuable data, but I needed a new program that would allow me to print out our family’s calendar for the refrigerator. I was reluctant to use Google Calendar, but now I’m a convert. I’ve set up a different calendar for each member of our family, plus a calendar for events we all participate in, one for friends’ birthdays, and one for relatives’ birthdays. Each member of the family has access to all the calendars, and can choose which ones to see or not see. It prints out nicely and can be accessed from anywhere. Now to get certain family members to read it online. That’s why I continue to print it out occasionally.

I like to keep up with a fair number of blogs, but I don’t want to take too long to do so. I’ve tried several blog aggregators, but I’m sold on Google Reader. I’ve divided the blogs I read into groups (e.g., Design, People I Know, Technical, Local) and when I click on the shortcut on my toolbar I only see the subject lines of new posts to the blogs I follow. If I don’t want to read any of the posts, I can just click on “Mark All As Read” and they won’t be highlighted next time. If you click on the monkey in the right column of my blog, you can subscribe to my blog on Google Reader.

Freshbooks

My worst case freelancing scenario would be if all 90 or so of my clients decided they need their websites updated the same day. Eeek!! Even though that hasn’t happened yet, I’m constantly updating websites, and it can be hard to keep track of those 3 min. – 3 hour time charges. Freshbooks allows me to click a Start button that starts a clock running to the 1/100th of a minute. If the phone rings while I’m working, I just press Pause. Then Restart, then Log Hours when I’m done. I use it to send out email bills on a regular basis, and clients can even pay via PayPal.

CushyCMS

This website allows me to set up clients to update their own sites. It’s perfect for simple text changes, and I don’t miss being the middleman. I’d rather concentrate on more exciting stuff anyway. Note: It’s not very good at stylesheets, but if the formatting of something gets messed up, I have my clients email me and I fix it in about 30 seconds.

Daily Slurp

The coolest looking website three years ago probably looks outdated now. That’s why I check Daily Slurp each day. It highlights a collection of cool new websites, and allows me to keep up with new design and technical trends. I categorize the sites I like using NetVisualize, and sometimes use that to create thumbnail directories to show clients so that I can find out what they love and hate before I start designing their website. Unfortunately, NetVisualize doesn’t work with the new Google browser, so that’s why I’m mostly sticking with Firefox.

This simple program allows me to categorize my fonts however I want, and then to see what a line of text would look like in each font. It’s much better than plowing through the million or so fonts I have. Besides the usual serif, sans serif, my categories range from Art Deco to Fun to Girly & Curly.

Of course, there are times when I give myself a break. That’s when I turn to or Etsy. A girl’s gotta have friends and shop every once in awhile!  :)

How does Big Brother know so much?

Posted on 12. Sep, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites, things that bug me

I’m sure you’ve someone. Whether it’s a potential business partner or a new friend, you’ve probably been curious to find out more about a person before you get to know them better. Have you ever looked up someone on Zabasearch? That’s a great way to find out someone’s address.

Now there’s iSearch. Much like Zabasearch, it’ll tell you a person’s age and address at no cost. I have a friend who didn’t think people could find out anything about her. She’s wrong. See? I can tell that she’s 48 and I even know her husband’s name now. (I blocked all the names here to protect these innocent people…though if you know them, you can obviously look this up, too.)

I heard some teens being interviewed on NPR today that weren’t upset that their school had the right to search their backpacks and lockers. They figured that if they had nothing to hide, what’s the big deal? I think it’s because not only did these kids live through the war on terror, but they are accustomed to sharing intimate details about their lives on sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

iSearch even shows schools attended, relationship status and sexual orientation. Here’s an example:

It’s not limited to adults, either. Just type in a name and click on the Social Networks tab. You’ll find people who have social networking profiles. Here’s a young woman who’s 17. I saw some kids as young as 14, complete with pictures.

For a small extra fee, I could find out any of these peoples’ phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, and other background information.

What can you do to protect yourself?

• Set your social networking pages to PRIVATE or FRIENDS ONLY. There’s less information about me on here than there is about other people, and it’s probably because I have my Facebook privacy settings set as tight as they can be.
• If you don’t want your information on a site, see if you can remove it. iSearch says it’s determining how to implement a profile suppression service, but they don’t have that option yet.
• Know what information is out there about you. It’s no big comfort, but it’s a first step to knowing how to control it.
• And finally, my snarky answers: crawl in a hole and don’t get anyone angry with you.

Honestly, this train has left the station, and I don’t think it’s easy/possible to totally hide from someone looking for you.  :(

Who needs a time machine when you have Photoshop?

Posted on 18. Aug, 2008 by kchristieh in art, cool websites, history, my life

When my sister’s mother-in-law died five years ago, my sister assembled a slide show to show at her funeral. She scanned lots of old pictures, but one was problematic: it showed the unwelcome ex-husband of one of the relatives.

I was called in to help. I used either Photoshop or Fireworks to eliminate the man from the picture. It wasn’t a completely professional job, but it did the trick for a fast-moving slide show.

I did the opposite this year when I pasted a few girls into a team picture that they’d missed earlier in the season. We wanted to show the whole team for a schedule poster we distributed to local merchants.

Apparently I’m not the only one who does this. Yesterday’s NY Times article, “I Was There. Just Ask Photoshop.” notes that not only do people delete others from photos, but they create events that never happened by pasting people into photos.

After her father died several years ago, Theresa Newman Rolley, an accountant in Williamsport, Pa., hired Wayne Palmer, a photographic retoucher, to create a composite portrait of the two of them because she had no actual one of them together.

That photograph — of a moment that never happened — now hangs in her living room. It still brings tears to her eyes, she said.

“It’s the only picture of my dad and me together,” Ms. Rolley said, adding, “If the only reason I can get one is cropping it in, it still means the same to me.”

I read a story once about someone who does this for the families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. It gives them a lasting way to remember their loved one.

On a sillier note, you can do this to your own picture via Yearbook Yourself. Just upload a picture and see how you’d look in yearbooks every two years from 1950 – 2000.

My favorite is 1960. I think I look like my mom. (Hey, Mom, are you reading this??)

Am I related to a hardened criminal?

Posted on 04. Aug, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites, politics

Thankfully, no! But I feel sorry for “X”, my relative who committed a traffic violation two years ago. I’m sure he went to traffic school thinking his good name would be cleared, but he probably never imagined that it would pop up on CriminalSearches.com. This website allows anyone, anywhere, to access criminal records for free from all over the country. You can search by name, city, state and zip. The results show the date of birth, aliases and type of violation for each person.

My first reaction to this was that it would be really helpful when hiring employees, but according to yesterday’s NY Times article, If You Run a Red Light, Will Everyone Know?,

BUT now, of course, none of the old restrictions apply. The information is available from a variety of sources, and now free. Jurors can and almost certainly will be tempted to look up criminal pasts of defendants in their cases. And employers can conduct searches themselves without hiring investigators. Mr. Lane of PeopleFinders says that employers cannot legally use the database in making hiring decisions — but there is nothing to stop them.

Of course, that makes sense. Another relative of mine has the same first, middle and last name as his uncle, who has had many brushes with the law. It’s been a headache for my relative to convince potential employers that he’s not the one who’s been in trouble. Thankfully, so far employers have been upfront in confirming that he’s not his uncle.(1) However, it’s scary to think of what would happen if someone discounted him because they assumed he was his uncle.

Will I still check CriminalSearches.com? Probably. But I’ll make sure to remind myself to take the information with a grain of salt, and not judge someone poorly without checking with him first.

Here’s a screenshot of what you see when you look up “George W. Bush” in Texas:

When I click on the first name, here’s what I see:

It would be easy to assume from this that our president committed fraud.(2) However, upon closer examination, the birthdate, height and weight don’t match our president’s. Clearly, as useful as this information might be (I’d never hire this GWB to handle my money without making sure this data was inaccurate), it must be used carefully and wisely.

Hopefully neither you nor I will ever be found on CriminalSearches.com!

1. Click here to learn about the song “I’m My Own Grandpa” and decide if you think “X” could actually be his own uncle.
2. When you type “” into Google, you get nearly 3 million hits. I don’t think they’re referring to the gentleman above…

My latest addiction: Yahoo! Answers

Posted on 18. Jul, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites, social networking

Just as I was recovering from and Etsy, and avoiding the Tetris game on my new phone, along came . I innocently looked up how much gas my Prius holds, and found myself in a world where my vast reserves of wisdom would finally be valued.

Yahoo! Answers allows users to ask questions, answer questions, and vote on the best answer for each question. Answering and voting on questions gets you points, as does having your answer be voted the best. Asking a question costs a few points.

So far, I’ve only . They’ve ranged from parenting questions to website design questions. I think there’s something for everyone here. I’ve learned to be a little more skeptical and beware of “trolls” posting fake questions. (e.g., one day they’re a boy asking about video games and the next day they’re a girl saying they’re pregnant) The real questions are pretty easy to spot, however, and it’s nice to take a break to help someone out.

What would John Perry and Ken Taylor of Philosophy Talk say? Is this true altriusm, or am I looking for points? Or perhaps an ego boost? I prefer altriusm, but who knows? It’s fun, anyway, and productive.

Here’s a screenshot of some questions from this evening:

Ask Belief-O-Matic what religion you should be

Posted on 27. Jun, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites, my life, religion

Not sure if your religion matches your beliefs? Take the 20-question Belief-O-Matic quiz to determine how your beliefs match 27 of the world’s major religions. Questions range from “What happens to humans after death?” to “Why is there so much suffering in the world?” After answering each question, you can give it a low, medium or high priority.

My results matched my chosen religion, Presbyterianism. Here are the three religions that had more than an 80% match for me:

1. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
2. Orthodox Quaker (82%)
3. Liberal Quakers (80%)

Several years ago when I took the quiz, Orthodox Quaker came in at 100%. I guess my beliefs have changed slightly over time. But they’re still Christian. I was surprised that Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) showed up as more of a match than Roman Catholic. (60% vs. 50%) Still, they’re nowhere near the 100% my chosen religion got.

Note: Belief-O-Matic won’t assume legal liability for your eternal soul!

Google Maps includes videos & photos

Posted on 17. May, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites, travel

I continue to be amazed at how easy it is to discover more about people or destinations via the internet. Today I happened upon a new feature which shows photos and videos that people have taken near a destination. When you type in an address to Google Maps, here’s what you might see. I say “might” because some addresses I type in don’t have photos or videos show up near them. Either Google hasn’t mapped those, or people in those areas don’t take enough pictures or videos.

When you type in an address for a photo or video you upload, you should assume it’ll show up on a public map. I don’t think I’d do that for my daughter’s birthday party, but I don’t regret doing it for the in February:

The more videos and pictures people upload, the more we’ll be able to discover without ever leaving home. Here’s a map of the greater Pasadena area. The blue lines indicate where you can access another favorite feature, Google Street View. The small pictures indicate videos of those places. Notice how La Canada Flintridge is still underrepresented on Google Street View – why is that?

Mother’s Day fun: Postcards from Yo Momma highlights the best Mom emails

Posted on 11. May, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites, parenting

I think we laugh the most at what’s most familiar. That’s probably why I couldn’t stop laughing as I read the postings on the hilarious website, “Postcards from Yo Momma.” The site features some of the funniest emails that mothers have sent to their children. I would never expose my mother’s emails to the world, but according to Newsweek, the founders’ moms are totally proud of their daughters’ endeavor.

Here are a few of my faves:

• “You will too get married (if that is what you want). My daughter is a nice person…just let me at that person who called you a late 20’s bitter female.”
• “Just wanted to say hi. I know you’re probably busy getting caught up at work after last week. I hope you enjoyed the plays. Did you get the movie I sent you? Today is our 31st anniversary. We are eating leftovers for dinner, and I was bit by a dog this morning. I’m not foaming at the mouth, so far. The fun never ends. Love, Mom”
• “I love you. I will pray for you. Be sure and take some kind of i.d. so if your plane crashes and burns they will know who to call. Hope you do that on all your trips anyway. That way if I don’t get a dreadful call, I will know you are just fine and happy.”
• “Lazy boy, I was very surprised to hear your message last night. I already forgot I still have a son in Chicago.”

I added this site to my Happy Links for Sad People page.
Happy Mother’s Day!!

View map of recent school safety & security incidents

Posted on 03. May, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites, education

Here’s a unique Google Map mashup: School Safety & Security Incidents. It shows the location of recent incidents of school violence, natural disasters, intruders, accidents, etc. If you click on a symbol, it’ll give you a brief summary of the incident and a link to further information. You can choose how far back you want the map to include data for, and you can filter by type of incident. Of course, you can zoom in to see what’s happening in a specific area.

I was skeptical when I first saw this. I didn’t think I’d find anything applicable to my life. Wrong! I found that there’d been a bomb found in a school near my sister-in-law, and that the disaster plan at a local university didn’t work.

You might be surprised at what you discover in your neck of the woods.

Design your own kaleidoscope picture

Posted on 18. Mar, 2008 by kchristieh in art, cool websites, my life

Here’s a cool site I Stumbled upon recently: Kaleidosketch. Whatever you draw in one section is repeated in the other sections. You can choose different colors, or go with a more random rainbow option. My latest sketch is featured to the right. I think it would actually make a nice kitchen tile.

This definitely appeals to my compulsive side. I crave order, and detest chaos. Had you noticed?

Addictive sites to discover this weekend

Posted on 29. Feb, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites, music

If you’re looking for a break, here are a few of my favorite websites to visit to waste time online:

Etsy: This craft/art site has a great section called Pounce. When you click on the Pounce button, it’ll show you a page with pictures of items that just sold on the site. If you like an item, you can see what else the seller is offering.

StumbleUpon: I have a Stumble button on my Firefox toolbar. When I click on it, it takes me to a new website it thinks I might be interested in. Then I click on thumbs-up if I like it and thumbs-down if I don’t, and Stumble uses those votes to refine what it thinks I might like. I’ll list the next five sites it takes me to:

1. “Toddler’s Elmo Doll Makes Death Threats” in Tampa Bay Online. What? Gotta be satire, but it looks legit. I’ll reserve judgment.
2. A Hong Kong art site. I gave it a thumbs-down. Too dizzying.
3. Shatner / Hasselhoff ‘08: At first I gave it a thumbs-down, but then I couldn’t resist the picture of Shatner with Kim Jong Il. I also like the slogan, “From Yesterday’s Tomorrow, For A Better Today.” Thumbs-up!
4. A political blog with a really long post in tiny white print on a black background. Boring. Thumbs-down.
5. “Trail of the Cougar,” a PBS special. Thumbs-up. There are cougars in our town.

Pandora is the musical version of StumbleUpon. You tell it what songs, artists or genres you like, and it’ll play music it thinks you’ll like. You can give them thumbs-up or down to refine the selections. I’ve discovered some great new musicians this way.

I probably don’t need to mention iTunes, but in case you don’t already have it on your computer, GET IT NOW!! My favorite section is the free podcasts. My faves include This American Life, Salon Explainer and NPR’s This I Believe and Driveway Moments. I’ll listen to them tomorrow when I do my taxes.

The biggest time-waster I’ve ever seen is BubbleWrap. Make sure your sound is turned on.

Please let me know if there are any non-game websites you find particularly addictive. I didn’t include game sites here, since I know I’d have a hard time stopping playing once I got started.

PS – If you’re a client reading this, don’t worry, I wouldn’t dare relax while I knew I had work for you. ;) Or, maybe the party line should be that relaxing makes me more effective. Yeah, that’s what I’ll say from now on. Now to make sure to relax!!

Read this if you think Obama is a radical Muslim

Posted on 11. Jan, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites, politics, things that bug me

Someone’s scamming you: he’s not a radical Muslim. He’s not Muslim, and he’s not radical. (Unless you’re so far to the other end of the spectrum that you think all Democrats are radicals.)

Respected non-partisan myth-busting website Snopes.com debunks an email I’ve received several times that claims that Barack Obama is a radical Muslim. I figure if I’ve received it, then it must really be making its way around the internet.

Here are a few of the major points, and how Snopes debunks them:

• Email: Obama’s father was a Muslim and his mother was an atheist.
  Snopes: Obama’s father had all but abandoned Islam by the time he’d met Obama’s mother, and Obama’s mother was not an atheist.
• Email: Obama attended a Muslim school in Indonesia for several years when he was young.
  Snopes: “The school Barack Obama attended in Indonesia was “Muslim” primarily in the sense that the preponderance of its student body was Muslim (because Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country), but both the Muslim and Catholic schools he attended in Indonesia offered a few hours of religious instruction each week.”
• Email: “Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, “He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school.”
  Snopes: “Barack Obama never stated that he “was once a Muslim” (radical or otherwise), so his “handlers” have nothing to “conceal.” Obama communications director Robert Gibbs noted that “Senator Obama has never been a Muslim. As a six-year-old in Catholic school, he studied the catechism.” Barack Obama has been associated with the United Church of Christ since the mid-1980s, describes himself as a Christian, and says that he is “rooted in the Christian tradition.”
• Email: “ALSO, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Koran.”
  Snopes: “This statement is completely false. It is a mistaken reference to a different politician, Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison, not Barack Obama.”
• Email: “Barack Hussein Obama will NOT recite the Pledge of Allegiance nor will he show any reverence for our flag. While others place their hands over their hearts, Obama turns his back to the flag and slouches.”
  Snopes: “Senator Obama drew some criticism over a that showed him standing without his hand over his heart during the playing of the U.S. national anthem, but the claim that he “will NOT recite the Pledge of Allegiance” is false.”

Some versions of the email say that it has been verified at Snopes.com, in hopes that people will just believe that too and not check it out. How reprehensible!

Next time you get an email with “factual” information, check it out on Snopes. You may be amazed at how often it turns out to be false.

Be a good internet citizen and don’t spread lies. And if you inadvertently do, or have, humbly email everyone you spread that inaccurate email to and let them know it was false. They’ll respect you for it. If someone sends you an email that you can verify doesn’t check out, gently let them know, and encourage them to email a retraction to everyone they sent it to.

Let’s stop the lies.

Sponsor a Bible verse translation for under $30

Posted on 10. Jan, 2008 by kchristieh in books, cool websites, religion

This morning I was looking at Design Meltdown’s list of notable religious websites when I happened upon OneVerse. I love innovative internet applications, and since it relates to last night’s “Bibles are born in China but can’t return home” post, I thought I’d share this with you.

OneVerse offers people the opportunity to sponsor Bible translations by the verse. According to its About page,

Through OneVerse, you can join with a team of prayer and financial partners to support local Bible translators. OneVerse empowers you to help translate one verse into one language for under $30. Because each language project of The Seed Company has different funding needs, the price breakdown will vary from project to project. Your donation will support local men and women who are sacrificing to see the Word of God in their heart language.

You can choose which People Group you want to sponsor the translation for, and then choose the exact verse(s) you want to sponsor. I chose to sponsor one of my faves, John 1:5, for the Irigwe in Nigeria. (“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”) Then I felt bad, like I’d taken the most perfect piece of cake at a birthday party, so I also sponsored the most boring verse I could find. (Matthew 1:10: “Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh. Manasseh was the father of Amon. Amon was the father of Josiah.”) I hope no one’s offended by the sponsorship comment I left for the second one. (“boring but important”)

This would be a great confirmation, Christmas or graduation gift. Or just do it because you think it’s cool.

Find anyone at ZabaSearch

Posted on 02. Jan, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites

Two years ago I blogged about how I wanted to track down my 7th grade French teacher and tell her how wonderful she was. All the online searches I’d done looking for her had turned up dry. ZabaSearch changed that. Last night I searched for her on ZabaSearch.com, and I’m confident that I’ve found her. I’ll send her a letter this week and tell her how much she impacted my life.

ZabaSearch should change its name to “BigBrother.” The only two people I couldn’t find when searching were my reclusive uncle and a friend who’d been stalked. I’m happy for both of them. My mom had fun entering names of people she hasn’t seen in 40 years and discovering several potential mailing addresses for them. I printed them out for her, and she’ll send them letters too.

Unless you’ve taken extraordinary means to hide, I bet you’re on ZabaSearch too. I wonder what the families that wanted to stay out of this year’s high school directory would say if they knew I found them all online within seconds?

Track your New Year’s resolutions and other goals on 43Things

Posted on 01. Jan, 2008 by kchristieh in cool websites, inspirational people, music, my life

Happy New Year! Do you have any New Year’s resolutions? If so, check out 43Things.com. You can see if other people have the same goal that you do, and join them in trying to achieve that goal. 43Things will send you an email in the future when you say you want to be reminded of your goal, and in the meantime you can see comments others have left about how they’re doing in achieving that goal. It’s inspirational to see that it’s possible to achieve what you want. If no one else has chosen your goal, you can create a new one yourself.

I’ve always been a sucker for bagpipes, so last week I decided to see what it would take to learn how to play bagpipes. That’s how I found 43Things. It turns out 149 other people also want to learn how to play bagpipes. I’m not sure I’ll ever learn, since bagpipes are expensive and I don’t know any bagpipe teachers, but maybe I will someday.
Here are some of the goals people have listed on 43Things. The bigger the font, the more people share that goal.