Directions from NY to Dublin

I find step 23 especially interesting. Click on the picture for a larger image.

Picture of Alanna playing in the snow

Here's a picture of Alanna a couple weeks ago playing in the snow (and mud). We ended up having to go inside after a slight incident involving slippery mud and a large puddle of cold water.

Funny Picture

A New Tolkien Book

I thought my brother-in-law might be interested in this little tidbit of news.

According to the independant news in the UK, Christopher Tolkien will be publishing a new book entitled "The Children of Hurin" based on an incomplete book and volumes of detailed notes from his father J.R.R. Tolkien. The book slated to be published (in the UK at least) on April 17th. I'm curious about it. Silmarillion was a very interesting book published in 1977 (after J.R.R. Tolkien's 1971 death), but it was pretty difficult to read. It read more like a history book or an ancient text rather than a good novel.

According to all the news I can find on the book it sounds like it will be pretty good. I'll probably pick up a copy after I read some reviews from Amazon.com

Growing up in the 80s

O.k. I just had to post this for those of us between who ranged between the ages 3 and 15 during the 80s.

http://cassiegermsheid.com/2007/03/23/you-grew-up-in-the-80s-if/

Nerve stimulator for spinal injuries

Every week I learn about several new gadgets that get invented, but none have been more impressive than this one that I just read about on Gizmodo. They linked to an article written at medgadget.com that linked to an article written on www.curespinalcordinjury.com.

There is a new experimental device that is being used currently by a woman named Jennifer French. Jennifer's muscles work fine, the reason she is paralyzed is that the electronic impulses from here brain cannot reach her legs. Since her muscles still work, there's no reason why she shouldn't be able to stand and walk, despite the broken link between her brain and her legs.

According to the curespinalcordinjury website, Hunter Peckham of Case Western Reserve University has developed a device that sends the electronic stimulus to the legs using a button strapped to the waist of the paralyzed person.

Jennifer French is now able to stand, despite her paralysis. According to the website, she was able to walk down the aisle at her wedding with the help of the device.

If you'd like to read more about, you can go here...

http://www.curespinalcordinjury.com/electronic-nerve-stimulator-enables-walking

iPod, iPhone, iTunes, iHaveLimitations ...

I've recently been looking at the iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV box online and keep asking myself why do companies such as Apple and Microsoft keep making products that only do half the job.

Apple TV, for instance, is a really cool little device that sits next to your TV and will play downloaded music and videos (stored on your computer) directly on your TV. That's great, but it doesn't take away any of the other boxes that are sitting next to my TV. I still need (ahem...o.k. want) a DVD player, VCR, Playstation, Nintendo Wii, and a TIVO. Apple is taking advantage of their trendiness and slacking off. If they really wanted to create an innovative product they would make a set top box that does the following:

1. Plays blue-ray high definition DVDs and regular old DVDs (up-converted for High Def)
2. Streams music and movies from my computer to my TV (yeah, it already does this)
3. Streams music and movies from my TV to my computer, so I can record TV shows, or even better, stores TV shows and allows me to download them to my computer whenever I want.
4. Has caller ID on my TV if I want
5. Allows me to control my computer from my TV.
6. Has digital output
7. Cooks breakfast and makes a cup of coffee in the morning
8. Dispenses coca-cola and popcorn
9. Always connected to the internet so you can schedule shows online just like TIVO

Now, I understand what they are trying to do. They want you to buy the shows from iTunes and play them on your TV. The only problem is that I want a plan where I don't have to pay 99 cents for every single show I watch on TV. It's a little steep. If I were to pay for every show and movie Kristen, Alanna, and I watch our TV bills would be through the roof.

Consider this. Let's say Kristen and I have three shows a week that we watch a week each (6 shows a week) and Alanna watches two 30 minute kids shows a day (14 shows a week). Let's say we also watch two movies a week. Add up the 99 cent cost of shows $20 a week and the cost of two movies $4 a week and you come up with a whopping $96 you would pay Apple for TV. Well, at least the selection is horrible, so we wouldn't actually watch that much TV, which is probably the better solution.

Someday I'll come out with my invention of the century and I'll call it "etc..." I'll keep you posted on my development of "etc..."

Chumby, Midomi, and other cool things

I'm back. I was talking with Kristen the other day and she was commenting on how I don't write to my blog anymore. I said that I just didn't have a whole lot of new things to say or any new insights to add to the world. And that might be right. But... I figured I'd just keep going on about things that interest me. Maybe you'll find some things that interest you as well.

The Chumby...as I read my Popular Science last week, I was introduced to a fun little device (not on sale yet) called the chumby. Apparently a bunch of independent Linux (interpreted free) developers decided that they had experienced just about enough of the single use electronic devices. They were sick of alarm clocks that only told the time and woke you up in the morning... sick of these things called "ipods" that did nothing more than play music... sick of the portable game systems that only played games and on and on and on... So, they decided to make and "open-source" device called the chumby. For those of you who don't know what "open-source" means it refers to allowing the users to modify the device in any way they want. Including the ability render the device unusable. If a programmer wants to change the way Windows works (internally), they need to write a separate program to run on top of windows. No one can change the way Windows runs without breaking it....That is the opposite of open-source. Open-source also usually means free.

Basically, the people at Chumby made a device who's sole purpose is to do what you tell it to do. Call it a calendar scheduling, alarm clock ticking, news ticking, weather monitoring, mp3 playing, movie playing, calculating, currency converting, measurement converting, recipe storing, shopping list storing, paperweight :) It's at the top of my new want but don't need list :)

Midomi - another fun site that I found in my adventures through cyberspace is a fun little site called Midomi.com I haven't used it yet, but it's gotten a pretty good response so far. The basics of the site are if you can remember the tune of a song but can't remember the singer, title, or words, you sing the tune into a microphone and it will search and tell you the song. It's like a google search of tunes :)

JustBreadMakerRecipes - for all you people who need 1,432 recipes for your breadmakers take a look at http://www.justbreadmakerrecipes.com/. You can have a different loaf of bread every day for four years and go through approximately 2,800 pounds of flour :)

Well, that's all for today. Until next time....