Just taking a moment to geek out about Kindle. Specifically, I just bought the Works of Victor Hugo. Among other things, it includes The Man Who Laughs.
For years, The Man Who Laughs was out of print. I was pleased by and grateful for the work of those who brought it back into print. Having read it several times, I'm thrilled now to have a copy of it in my Kindle, where I can search on keywords for passages that are important to me.
For example, I mentioned to Mary how someone I met recently reminded me of Barkilphedro, a vile, hateful, little man who manipulated his way into some degree of power. With some important details lost in a foggy memory, my Kindle copy of The Man Who Laughs can now quickly dispel the fog.
And that's just my current focal point! The Works of Victor Hugo collection includes Toilers of the Sea, Les Miserables, Hugo's poems, his non-fiction, and more. And all this for less than $5!!
Un-freakin'-believable! Man, I love capitalism. Even as the knee of this mighty Atlas buckles under the growing weight of a socialist world, it still produces gems like this.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Virtual Museum Online
My friend, Barry, introduced me to a German web site that presents sculptures in 3-D (thank you QuickTime!). I don't understand a word of German but I know what 360° means. And that's enough in this case.
Specifically, when you visit the site, just click a thumbnail picture. Then, look for 360° beneath the picture. Click it. Then, drag the picture left or right to see it rotate 360°.
Very cool. Enjoy.
Specifically, when you visit the site, just click a thumbnail picture. Then, look for 360° beneath the picture. Click it. Then, drag the picture left or right to see it rotate 360°.
Very cool. Enjoy.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
LoseIt!
One of the wonderful things about my new iTouch is this—LoseIt!. I started using this free app on March 13. With its simple assistance, in the space of almost 2 months, I've lost 15 pounds!
As with any tool, you get out of it what you put into it. The tool itself is not magic. If there's any magic, it's the wonder of asserting your free will—i.e., I'm gonna do this: period. In my case, "do this" refers to my goal to lose 20 pounds.
Being very conservative, I gave myself all summer to reach that goal. I'm simply amazed to see myself 75% of the way toward my goal within 8 weeks. So, I gave myself the summer and spring is not even over yet. Not too shabby.
In my case, I haven't been simply watching what I eat. I've also been working out. In particular, I've been taking advantage of a local hill. For weeks, all I did was walk up and down. Lately, I've advanced to jogging down the hill and walking back up as quickly as I can. I slow down to keep my heart rate between 150 and 160 bpm. It's easy on my aging joints. I burn a helluva lot more calories more quickly than just walking up and down a level street.
Long story short: LoseIt! has inspired me to cut down on sweets significantly, eat far more fruits and veges, and simplify the challenge of counting calories day to day. The end result is not just weighing less, but improving my quality of life in many, many ways.
As with any tool, you get out of it what you put into it. The tool itself is not magic. If there's any magic, it's the wonder of asserting your free will—i.e., I'm gonna do this: period. In my case, "do this" refers to my goal to lose 20 pounds.
Being very conservative, I gave myself all summer to reach that goal. I'm simply amazed to see myself 75% of the way toward my goal within 8 weeks. So, I gave myself the summer and spring is not even over yet. Not too shabby.
In my case, I haven't been simply watching what I eat. I've also been working out. In particular, I've been taking advantage of a local hill. For weeks, all I did was walk up and down. Lately, I've advanced to jogging down the hill and walking back up as quickly as I can. I slow down to keep my heart rate between 150 and 160 bpm. It's easy on my aging joints. I burn a helluva lot more calories more quickly than just walking up and down a level street.
Long story short: LoseIt! has inspired me to cut down on sweets significantly, eat far more fruits and veges, and simplify the challenge of counting calories day to day. The end result is not just weighing less, but improving my quality of life in many, many ways.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Amtrak
This past weekend, Mary and I paid another visit to Philadelphia. This time, we went by train. Our last visit was by car. That was a high stress option. The train proved to be a very comfortable, decidedly low-stress option. As such, the price—about $50 one-way—was a bargain.
Among other things, it meant shunning one of the busiest traffic corridors in the nation—i.e., through NYC. You can navigate around that, of course. But it adds hours and miles to the drive. For my money, being able to sit back in a comfy chair, listening to my music, reading a good book, enjoying the views out the window once in a while while someone else drives is worth every penny.
Also, Amtrak features something called a "quiet car". What that means is no gabbing on cell phones or loud talking. Take it to another car if that's what you want. And, happily, fellow passengers are not shy about enforcing the quiet car rules. We enjoyed one of these quiet cars all the way from New Haven to Philly. Ahhhh.
Among other things, it meant shunning one of the busiest traffic corridors in the nation—i.e., through NYC. You can navigate around that, of course. But it adds hours and miles to the drive. For my money, being able to sit back in a comfy chair, listening to my music, reading a good book, enjoying the views out the window once in a while while someone else drives is worth every penny.
Also, Amtrak features something called a "quiet car". What that means is no gabbing on cell phones or loud talking. Take it to another car if that's what you want. And, happily, fellow passengers are not shy about enforcing the quiet car rules. We enjoyed one of these quiet cars all the way from New Haven to Philly. Ahhhh.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
HDTV <> PC Connection
Today, I was happy to find that for a mere $13 I could hook up my laptop to my HDTV!
Sound and picture work seamlessly. Specifically, instead of the sound coming though the laptop's built in speakers, it's transmitted to the HDTV via the earphone plug. The picture connection is via the laptop's built in monitor plug.
The connection is via a product called an HD15 (SVGA) Male + 3.5 Stereo Male at both ends. I bought it via Amazon.com.
To be precise, this cable doesn't work as is for my laptop. It works for Mary's laptop. The reason is this—the sound connection is part of the picture connection; to put it another way, they're on the same cable. As such, it requires that the distance from your laptop's earplug connection to its monitor connection be about 12". On my laptop, that's not the case (at least not cleanly). On Mary's it is.
That said, I can remedy it easily by buying an extension cord for the earplug connection. No biggie.
The payoff for this effort is this—now we can watch Netflix and Hulu.com on TV instead of exclusively on a laptop monitor. Nice!
Sound and picture work seamlessly. Specifically, instead of the sound coming though the laptop's built in speakers, it's transmitted to the HDTV via the earphone plug. The picture connection is via the laptop's built in monitor plug.
The connection is via a product called an HD15 (SVGA) Male + 3.5 Stereo Male at both ends. I bought it via Amazon.com.
To be precise, this cable doesn't work as is for my laptop. It works for Mary's laptop. The reason is this—the sound connection is part of the picture connection; to put it another way, they're on the same cable. As such, it requires that the distance from your laptop's earplug connection to its monitor connection be about 12". On my laptop, that's not the case (at least not cleanly). On Mary's it is.
That said, I can remedy it easily by buying an extension cord for the earplug connection. No biggie.
The payoff for this effort is this—now we can watch Netflix and Hulu.com on TV instead of exclusively on a laptop monitor. Nice!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
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