The Internet (part 2)

is also full of obnoxiously cute videos. Oh, that internet!

H/T Blogkitten

The Internet

is hilarious! 

8 Bit Bleak

I forgot to post again yesterday so I'm doubling up again today. My punishment? Opeth's Bleak in 8 bit. Serves me right for skipping a day during my month of blogging which is practically almost over!

Serves me right...

I Like Opeth, You Should Too

Alright, I don't just like Opeth, they're one of my top three favorite bands. This is why:




Opeth - Bleak (live)

Talking About Myself

I will have to admit this daily blogging venture all month has been fun. Granted it does not look like I've spent a great amount of time in pushing original content, most of it has been videos or pictures, but I have taken a lot more time this month into my blog than any other month.

It's good and I feel at home again because before the dawning of these myriads of social networks, if I saw anything worth sharing, I'd share it right here. Once I started posting regularly on places like Twitter or Tumblr this became more and more difficult because those little ha ha sharing posts were pushed out there, instead of in here.

I wanted to list those other services in this post, and hopefully in the passage of time, I'll figure out how and what to post here and when, but here's primarily how I post, where I get my information from, and how it all flows together.

I'll start my internet day going through my now well refined Google Reader items. In fact, you can see and subscribe to what I read here. This is where I see what's new and what's breaking in tech news, world news, and keep up with my friends' blogs.

From there I share the top stories that I checked out every day which feeds into my mobile site. The mobile site captures my blog feed, my tweets, and the items I share on Google Reader. It's the hub for all information that proceeds from this stream of content consumption. It also feeds through my meta Twitter site for this blog here. All are welcome to subscribe and follow, but ultimately, I'd much prefer to become part of a larger group and create my own content. One day.

As far as photographs, the pictures I share from my cell phone feed into my Posterous account. From there, the Posterous feed pushes photos into my own personal Tumblr page and my Flickr account. That said personal Tumblr account also gets feed photos shared from FFFFound and of course my Flickr account holds all uploaded pictures as well.

So yeah, there are a bunch of other sites, but from this one site right here, anyone can see the picture feed, my posts, and the shared items from Reader. So instead of all that flowage, just checking in here, or subscribing to my mobile feed will give you all of this Lewis Show that anyone can handle.

And now you know.

Oh, Pooh

I spotted this on Digg earlier. I always believed the characters on Winnie the Pooh all had modern behavioral issues. Now I know my thoughts were neither original nor was I alone in my reasoning.

Jukebox Gold

My father always said, "Plan your work, and work your plan". This has to be one of the best worked plans ever. Hilarious? Understatement!

John Mulaney - Best Meal EVER (some language, blah blah)

Friday in Pictures

Had to get the Maude off the car.

Helped update Kelly's phone to 2.1.

Drove home through Friday traffic. Summer drivers...

Have a good weekend!

In This Heat

I'm reminded of snow shoveling and frostbite. It'll be back.

Creedeelicious

As we wind down the week, I remind you all to laugh.



Yeah, there's some language, but this revisited classic was not possible to pass up.

H/T @zoeythegreat

Friend Bar Har Har

Since I'm on a roll and feeling like sharing a few laughs, I wanted to post this story from the prolific tech reporters at The Onion. This has been out for a few weeks and I was ignoring it mostly because I just thought it was true. So because I was zinged, I figured I'd share in the zingeration.


New Apple Friend Bar Gives Customers Someone To Talk At About Mac Products

Inception Thought

My review best said by a strip from Scott Johnson 

ReTweeting Myself, Again

I really try not to do this often, but every once in a while, I look back at my timeline on Twitter and think, I'm a funny fella. Let's see if I can regurgitate my tweets onto my blog just to show how clinical I am. Enjoy!

I think I have enough rubber bands to take up bungee jumping.


Janine is watching Evita. I keep waiting to hear Mighty Mouse bust out and sing Here I Come to Save the Day!!


Look clouds, rain or rain not, there is no dry.


Upgrading the radio on my phone...because I am a nerrrrrrddduhhhh.


Saw Inception, left with a concussion. Its that freaking good...and painful. Go get your concussion.


I'm declaring naked cell phone weekend. That is if your phone works without a case... #waaawaaa

My memory has gone MIA, so I'm either going to call the FBI, CIA, or HPD to find it. Just hoping it's not DOA, SOL, OTL, or AFK. TGIF & ZZZ.

And before I go, Bazinga!

Happy Sunday Evening

I realized I missed a post yesterday. So after doing some cleaning and streaming Pandora on the TV, I figured I'd share some needed relaxation.

The Eternal Apps Question

On more than one occasion over the past few months, I've been asked, "What apps do I need?". A lot of people are buying these various Android phones that are now flooding the market and I'm apparently accessible to questions like these. I want to mention three easy ways for these new users to find applications that they'll both want and need.

My first solution is more familiar to those who are used to iTunes and having that desktop client central to their app discovery and syncing. DoubleTwist is a desktop client for Windows and Mac users which has that similar look and feel to iTunes. From doubleTwist, one can discover applications, browse for music in the Amazon MP3 library, and search for podcasts.

One of the biggest benefits is that this software can burrow into your iTunes and pull in my playlists along with grabbing my computer's photo, video and audio libraries. This is very handy for those that like to use their desktop as their main hub for syncing their phone. Also, the app is only free for a limited time according to the developers, so make sure you grab it while you can if you prefer that whole 'free thing'.

What most Android users will eventually find with their phone as a great benefit is the advantage to not having a desktop client to sync their phone. They find a freedom in not being tethered to their computers for updates, etc. There are two easy ways I discover apps now that I have this new found liberation.

The easiest of these two apps is called AppAware. AppAware is a basic application that allows me to find out what other Android phone users are downloading, updating, and even uninstalling. It helps me to find trends in apps worldwide and even locally over the phone. Not only can I see what's new or hip this week or even this month, but if I choose I can share what I'm downloading giving a social feel to the service. I like using AppAware mostly because of it's ease of use and I've found some pretty neat apps this way and continue to use it even now.

The second app that I use is quickly becoming my favorite. AppBrain is a web based client that works equally as well directly on the phone. This does require a degree of trust for the more advanced features, by connecting me to my Google account, but it uses proper authorization protocols. On the web site, I can browse all apps in the Android market, I have a dashboard to view the apps on my phone, and I can see what's trending in the market as well, similar to AppAware.

Most brilliant about this web/phone application is that an install can be preformed not only on the phone, but via the webpage. With Fast Web Installer, I can push apps from their website to my phone. Now, over time Google will be rolling these features out, but for the time being, it's a pretty easy and nice way to install apps to the phone, without using a desktop client, but just by casually scanning their website.


Here's a video which shows how all this works, it does much better than me explaining it.

Hopefully this helps answer that new and burning question about applications and where to find them. The question of which apps works best for everyone is best answered by the individual. There are people who do a lot of content consumption on their phone via reading news, listening to podcasts, or streaming radio. There are some who are more social minded and there are some of us who enjoy their games. I can't help everyone find what works best for them, but this should give some good tips on how we can all find what we like and what we want on our phones.

I'm sure there are other ways to find apps and if you know of anything better, as always, feel free to share in the comments.

iWhoas

The best part about blogging? This is my platform. I get to say some things no matter how trivial or trivia inducing they may be. I will admit this is pretty trivial, it's also smartphone market related in light of today's Apple press conference. Deep breath, and begin.

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO and apparent lone spokesmen for the company came out today to apologize and offer free bumpers for owners of their newest line of iPhone hardware devices. The back story is here. Basically the antenna on these new phones face interference from human contact and apparently putting the antenna connection point on the lower left of the phone may have been a bad idea. These bumpers place enough of a barrier between the human hand and the air to prevent it from losing signal strength.

To me, this sums up the problem most people have with Apple products. They work great on their own. They are used by creative people to do amazing things. Their fans love the way things work in OSX and now in the iOS, but their love for the look and design may become their own undoing. Most people do or did not want the bumpers on their phone. These bumpers covered up a beautiful design and made the product look very generic. I wouldn't.

Apple users have always been guilty of putting style over substance.

At the Apple store a couple weeks ago I got to hold the new iPhone and it is a very pretty phone. I would not want to deface it with a cheap twenty cent bumper. What amazes me the most in this whole debate though, are the apologists, the fan boys that come out of their own shadows long enough to justify and excuse paying large amounts of money for their now admitted flawed hardware. These are the same people that scowled and mocked anyone using Windows and experienced any failure on their platform. Those tables have now turned.

The response and conventional wisdom from the faithful seem to be to place the blame and aim their furious anger at AT&T for these problems. I don't feel the need to point their rage at this carrier, their other phones work just fine and don't need bumpers to work. But these people cannot look back to Apple and demand broader carrier support for their products on one hand, while spending their life savings on this phone with the other. Apple could easily sell this product on any carrier they choose. Their incompatible marriage with AT&T will not go away anytime soon and why should it? They're encouraged by their flocks who will torture themselves with a less than quality product, the phone has sold phenomenally well.

Maybe that's the culture these days. Apple didn't just make a defective product, we (and by we I do not mean me) supported it just by purchasing it. By eating it up...buffet style. To them and their stockholders, massive sales mean much more and dishing out very cheap bumpers to put a very large band aid on this very trivial problem.

The Artsy Side

You may want to find some Bach on your iPod when reading this post.

Alright, it won't be that bad, but I decided to get a little culture tonight. The Tiffany: Color and Light exhibit has been going on at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts all summer and I figured it was time to take Janine. She is a huge fan of Tiffany artwork. More about the art and the artist can be read here, I'm far from any kind of expert.

 The exhibit itself is very well put together. I recommend it highly to anyone and it's worth the price of admission, just think of it as a splurge. I enjoyed it all, but probably not for the same reasons as most. I was most caught by the flaws of the work rather than the exquisite craftsmanship that goes into making these pieces. I guess it's the human element in otherwise perfect works.

It's also worth checking out the other exhibits in the museum and also checking out the rest of the great things in the museum district of Richmond. I practically enjoy Janine's reactions to these sights than anything else. It's also very good to be reminded I live in such a rich, historic town.

And I'm just getting started!

Random Picture

I've had a lot of fun posting every day this month. The creative thoughts flow, when I'm away from a computer. 

So how about a picture of a cat? 

Young Dexter, the prince of darkness and fruitbaskets.

Warm Times on Penobscot

I posted this picture earlier on my Posterous account. I wanted to share with with my blog too for posterity. So here's my day in review:

I woke up as usual, ten minutes later than I had to be up, completely dragging arse. I felt kind of weird though. I felt dizzy. I figured maybe I slept wrong but I didn't have that tell tale sign that I slept wrong. Sometimes I'll wake up with my head at a 90 degree angle from my neck and wake up with a terrible crick in my neck, but I felt fine.

So I went into work but now on top of the dizziness I felt completely nauseated. I figured if I ate maybe this will all go away, but it only felt worse because now I felt as though I had given my stomach ammunition and reason for ejection. I decided to call it a day after lunch.

I go home to lay down. Not twenty minutes after I put my head down I hear a succession of loud popping sounds. I thought for some some idiot wanted my foot shoved in unmentionable places or maybe it was a one time gag. Ten minutes later another succession of loud pops convinced me to get up and go see what was going on.

After going outside and walking around the building, which was by instinct only, I saw the culprit. Two of our power lines that connect us to the grid were intertwined and exposed. The result was a popping sound every time the air conditioner would cut on. I figured this was not a good thing and called the power company. I'm not sure what happened, there were no downed limbs, but there were some suspicious crows close by.

Dominion was quick to come out and the service call was easier than expected. I think that deserves mentioning. I'm used to dealing with crappy utility companies, but I was really happy. At any rate, they came immediately, saw my power lines and told me to kill my main. After alerting him that I had done so I went back outside.

The tech already had yanked the power cords with prejudice and told me that I needed new wires. Come to find out the wiring to our house was as old as our house and they were just waiting to bust and cause a potentially big mess. So out of all this I got new wires after a two hour dizzying experience in the heat of our darkened house.

I could have come home today at five to a power outage or much worse. I hate to even mention what could have happened, but I instantly thought how strange it was to call out of work for maybe the third time in as many years. My morning sickness could have helped prevent one of the biggest disasters in our lives. I'm not giving myself credit for being ill, but it's always 'funny' how things always work out.

Taking a Request

Janine suggested I share and post about her own personal cake disaster. So this was her idea, and no attempt on my part to tease. The post will speak for itself. She's still the best ever and this disclaimer should keep me from getting glares, pokes, or even food throwing.

She made an awesome cake yesterday. I'm just now reminded so after this post, I'm going to sneak a piece. She reminded me of the last cake she made a while back. The saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, but this picture is worth about eight large pieces of cake.

She had basically just layered and iced the cake when I heard a frantic call for help from the kitchen. I sprang into action only to find the cake slowly starting to lean and fall apart. We both ended up holding portions of the cake trying to keep it all in one piece. One of us had to break away long enough to grab plates to catch this now crumbling dessert. As one can see, it ended up in a few large pieces and to this day I'm not sure why the cake fell apart. My only theory is because it was still molten hot (it really wasn't I just wanted to say molten), that it didn't want to stay cohesive, but only science will help me one day solve this mystery.

I didn't want to just pick on my lovely fiancée in this post, I wanted to also do a little showing off. As I mentioned yesterday the bookshelf is not complete. The living room is now pretty much finished, in lieu of some minor tweaks, and I think overall we (and by we I mostly mean she) did an awesome job.

So huzzah to Janine for making wonderful cakes, being a master craftsperson, and most of all for putting up with me. That alone is an achievement that can only be reward-able by Deity.

And with cake.

Sleep, Shelves, and Froyo?

I will admit I cheated on my insomnia. I don't know what's been wrong, but over the past month, sleep has been hard for me. I don't get a deep sleep. It's almost like I'm in a quasi trance all night. So last night before bed I took a couple Advil PM's (no, this is no ad) and fell asleep.

I slept like a baby! I'm hoping this rebooted my sleep cycle and I'll get back into the cycle for deep, wonderful sleep.

So what's up today? Janine is finishing her bookshelf project. We needed four shelves so we set out over the past couple weeks to get some good shelves, some paint, and those little brackets. She did a great job matching up the paint and the only thing left to do is put her books away. I hope one day we end up with a very large, exhaustive book collection. Reading is one of the few analog things I enjoy doing. I still may end up buying an e-book reader though, I gotta keep my digital cred strong.

My mini project today between trips to the hardware store and a quick trip for groceries was installing FroYo. FroYo (frozen yogurt, yum) is the new version of Android which is still mostly unreleased. My phone will be getting the over the air update probably sometime later this summer. Of course I have no patience so I have installed with the help of Cyanogen the latest version onto my phone.

It's great. The biggest problem plaguing the Android platform is fragmenting. There are many people who still run the second release when most everyone else is on the third or fourth release. Hopefully by the end of this year, everyone will be up to speed. It's one of those open source dilemmas which were bound to happen, but I've always maintained even an older version is better than most anything else in the smartphone market.

What's going on this week you ask hoping I'll change the subject? This looks like a normal, quiet week of work, cooking, and going back to the gym. I actually do miss going so I look forward to hitting my favorite bike tomorrow night.

Saturday Lounging

So now I even get anxious. What am I going to post?

How about a picture of the cats doing pretty much the same thing I was doing today. No, I can't do what Dexter is doing, he'd probably bite me.

Maxing and relaxing. It's still hip to say that, right?

Doubling Down

Since there were no posts yesterday, this one puts me back on track for the month. It's obvious I've been stalling by posting videos and some pictures, but creating content is a talent that few have. I am not one of those people.

The purpose of posting every day this month is to get me out of a comfort zone of web consumption and transfer the few brain cells I have left and use them for web creation. I'm reminded that I still need to work on getting my other sites up and running and then need to figure out how to let things flow. At the end of the day people do not have time to read about other people's lives unless there is some serious interest. I know I had lost interest over the past few months.

I think the popularity of social media, news, and networking sites is proof that we've all become more of a consumer class and less of a creative one on the intewebs. There is a place for all of that and goodness knows I'm involved with it all, but there really is still a place for sharing ideas, brainstorming, crowd sourcing, or just venting. That's why we started writing these blogs many years ago.

And here's where I get to do that venting. Thanks for listening. I encourage everyone to vent more and in turn listen to others. I think that community think online can come back and not be a fad like fedoras. Seriously, enough with the wearing of the fedoras. Stop it. Yes, stop it. Please.

No Post Yesterday

I forgot! So to punish myself I'm subjecting myself to this kazoo cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman".

Serves me right...

Mario Walking the Wild Side

Just wanted to share this really cool camera..motion...tracking, whatever it's called video:


Super Mario Bros. from Surfap on Vimeo.

The New Bathroom

Very pretty. Behold my commode!

Laser Efficiency Mini Van Dad

For Janine and I, the 5th marked a day off from work. I made the most of it by doing as little as possible, but yesterday we noticed an anomaly in nature and I figured per Janine's suggestion I'd share it.

Last night we traveled to her Mom's house to pick up a bookcase for our living room. We (by we I mean Janine) took our current bookcase apart and fashioned it as a TV stand. So we were left with a large stack of books. During our trip home, I had the brilliant idea of finding a parking spot near the Diamond with our bookshelf in tow. After finding our spot, we left our exposed SUV to find a spot to watch the fireworks.

We noticed later before the fireworks show a van parked in front of our vehicle. Near this minivan was a father and what had to have been at least six children raging from ages two to ten. We both did a double take not because of the ratio of children to parent, but because of the tight and organized positioning of each child. It appeared as though the Dad had taken a small set of bleachers from the van and assigned seating for each child. Each blonde offspring appeared to be sorted by height, age, and by gender.

More amazing was realizing not two seconds of earth time after the last explosion, this Dad had successfully managed to pack every child back into this van and was pulling away. I imagine with that many children, I would still be trying to pack those children into that van, even at this very moment! We are both still puzzled and hope science can help us one day solve this mystery.

It was fascinating. That kind of parenting is rare, especially in Richmond where the parenting style we're most accustomed to is the semi neglect, full on screaming approach taken by many local parents including my own at times. We can all only strive to be so blazingly productive with anything much less than a van full of very young children. So hat's off to you, Mr. Laser Efficiency Mini Van Dad, you live the American Dream.

An Open Letter to Tyrants

Kind of a long post, and also not my material either. Today we remember some very brave patriots who risked everything they had for an intangible birthright. Freedom. Here's their Declaration. God Bless those that continue that fight today:


When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

This is Not a Spiral

Figured I'd pull this from something I was reading in my feeds a while back. Hat tip to Sean Michael Ragan at MAKE magazine for posting.

This is not a spiral: "



Slightly off-topic, here, but I see lots of these optical illusion posts on the web, and although some of them are pretty impressive, this one borders on voodoo. I had to run my mouse pointer over the blue traces a few times to persuade myself.  [via Neatorama]

Beautiful Day

It's hard to believe that just last week it was 100 in the shade. I wish I could bottle this weather and use it the rest of the summer.

Here's a shot I took of the sun setting on Chamberlayne Farms.

Oh, Pixar

Post one in my July of blogging extravaganza!



Last weekend, Janine and I were thrilled to catch the latest and potentially one of the last Toy Story movies. Toy Story 3 was all in all a great movie. We laughed yeah, but lately, and especially with Pixar flicks, we cried. We really, cried. Girl quality crying. Lifetime movies wish they could spur this kind of emotion.

The next night, we caught Monsters, Inc on Netflix. Now I'm secure enough in my manhood to admit that lately their movies have left me a blubbering mess. I have to hand it to them, creating a bond with the characters on screen is the best way to ensure people really enjoy a movie. We've all seen too many high budget flicks that were majestic visually or had fun, surprising plot twists, but without getting the audience to really connect with the main characters, it becomes difficult to create TV or movie gold.

I recommend everyone get caught up with all of their movies. I'd just ask that you not get so chocked up that you swallow your gum as I did watching Up for the first time. Loud choking tears does not build great man cred.

Tonight, Janine and I will watch Toy Story 2. She has not seen it yet, so we'll both try again to conceal our childlike bawling, and fail.