Transparent Government, Lie Detection, Price Protector

A survey written about in a recent AARP newspaper revealed that people 50 and up tend to use the internet for information gathering, whereas those under that age group are more prone to using their computers for entertainment. No surprise there. The former-mentioned demographic probably will like this week’s picks; yet this being an election year, some of these sites may help with  your decision-making no matter what your age when you vote.

 

Sunlight Foundation (www.sunlightfoundation.com). I consider this effort one of the higher uses for the internet. This foundation’s goal is to make the workings of our federal government as transparent as possible, so that we citizens can closely track what Congress is doing. The site’s goal is to foster the public’s trust in our government, and to help reduce corruption. You will find several major website links within the Sunshine Foundation, including Project Vote Smart, Legistorm, and Congresspedia. If you want to know who is getting those huge grants, what the salaries of legislative staff is, or what bill is currently being debated in committee (and by whom), you will find all that and more here. You can be sure Washington-beat journalists use it. This is a very useful cluster of websites for those who want first-hand, unbiased information.

 

Eyes for Lies (http://eyesforlies.blogspot.com). Some people have an inborn knack for uncovering deception. Scientists have identified only 50 people who are able to spot deception with great accuracy and this individual (whose name I do not know) is one of them. He has some very interesting opinions about Drew Peterson, for example. Also, he believes that John Ramsey (Jon Benet) has not been entirely truthful. The blog is full of the writer’s insights about several suspects of high-exposure criminal cases, and he tells us his method for detecting falsities. Plus, the blog posts a record of hits and misses—more hits than misses, it appears. There is a link to a short quiz where you can attempt to pinpoint micromessages—facial expressions that can betray a speaker’s words and make one question the truth. I could have stayed at this site for another hour or so, just to read the insights about all the cases currently in the news. If you can follow these insights and practice them, then maybe you can detect the level of candor of our Presidential candidates. However, as of this writing, I have only seen comments about suspects or “persons of interest” in criminal investigations at this site.

 

Wild Mood Swings (www.wildmoodswings.co.uk). Be careful with assumptions—this website is a service offering surfing recommendations based on your current mood. A drop-down menu lets you click on a “mood,” which can be anything from “cute” to “the truth is out there.” So of course I picked a bunch of moods to sample to see where the site would send me. I was a little disappointed. “Cute” sent me to Cute Overload (baby animal pictures). “The Truth is Out There” sent me to the SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) site. “Secretive” sent me to Post Secret (where people send in their deepest secrets). As I looked through the menu of moods, I started guessing where the link might send me, since I surf enough to know many of these websites. But then, you might like it.

 

Price Protector (www.priceprotectr.com/). We all want to save money on our purchases, and this website can help with both online and regular store purchases. It will look up any price reductions for merchandise you’ve purchased with a price protection period, and notify you if the price has dropped. To find out, you copy and paste your online purchase from the page where you add the item to your shopping cart. The site also has coupon deals. I don’t know about you, but when I shop online I usually wonder if I’m missing some deal because I don’t always have a promotion code to lower the price. Anyway, more than 100 stores support the efforts of Price Protector, including Circuit City, Costco, Target, Gap, Sears, Old Navy, and dozens more. We all need to save a buck. This website can help us. And it’s nice to know that they promise not to spam you, either.

Get Smart

Reliable Resources (www.collegedegree.com/library/). A listing of 25 online resources will lead you to trusted information—helpful when you are doing research or writing a term paper. Several of the listings have been mentioned previously in this column. One that was new to me is Intute (www.intute.ac.uk), which I briefly scanned. With online movies and quick bytes of this-and-that proliferating on the Web, I truly wonder how many people use their computers for educational purposes.

Visual Arts Data Service (www.vads.ahds.ac.uk/). Since I have an interest in digital scrapbooking, I am usually looking around for copyright-free images. Several gallery archives are posted at VADS, as this service is called. I found myself drawn to the “Posters of Conflict” gallery, which focuses on WWI and WWII, and contains over 7,000 images. I figure that visual learners can absorb a decent understanding of the effects the two world wars had on people. The images are not in chronological order, however. You must be willing to look through pages and pages of images, which can eat away a good chunk of time. There are some disturbing images of Hitler’s propaganda, and some curious ones about the need to eat potatoes, not bread, gather rags, metals, buy war bonds, etc. You’ll come away understanding the many hardships people lived through during each war.

Dante’s Inferno (http://web.eku.edu/flash/inferno). Throw away the Cliff Notes, students. This flash presentation is much more enlightening than dry reading.

String Theory (www.tenthdimension.com). This flash presentation and explanation makes it so much easier to grasp the concepts of the fourth-through-tenth dimensions, especially for slugs such as myself. It will give your brain a good workout and keep senility at bay. If you dig what you experience, then head over to the forum page and read the remarks of the many people who appear to easily understand these concepts.

Jeopardy Questions (www.j-archive.com/listseasons.). Remember superstar Ken Jennings? You too can become just as brainy by plowing through the questions (oops! I mean “answers”) from Seasons 1 through 24. It’s a lot of reading, but your brain will love you for the challenge.

Only in Russia (http://sneez.com/only-in-russia). This one is for Charley McElvey, our foreign correspondent who fell in love with the country of my ancestors. This site has posted about a dozen photos of strange circumstances that might be found in a “backward” nation. I particularly liked the bales of hay stacked haphazardly on the back of a compact truck. Enjoy, Charley!

 Artist or Ape? (http://reverent.org/an_artist_or_an_ape.) Measure your ability to recognize true abstract art from an ape’s painting. I was pleased with my perfect score. I don’t know if that means that the quiz was too easy, or that I can thank our local artists for teaching me some things. When you have finished that quiz, you will find lots more about literature, poetry, music and even politics.

Ready for the Easter Egg Roll?

The White House (www.whitehouse.gov).I visited the White House long before the internet was a reality. As I remember, which could be wrong because it was such a long time ago, we just showed up and waited for the tour to begin. Nowadays, things are different. Similar to the airlines’ restrictions, visitors who wish to tour the President’s temporary residence cannot bring along handbags, combs, cameras, or anything but themselves—with clothes on. If you don’t like restrictions, you can take an internet tour of the place. The website would be nicer if they took a tip from realtors and offered one of those nifty 360° virtual viewings, complete with a jazzy music loop. But no. That would cost us taxpayers another couple million, I suppose. Anyway, the site has some good information, namely that anyone can get tickets to participate in the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn. You have to reserve your tickets from the National Park Service people a few days beforehand. At last look, there was no information about WHEN for 2008, just a recap of last year’s event. (Phone the White House line at 202.456-7041 for the latest information). I’m guessing that politicians’ kids and grandkids get first dibs for the tickets, unless the families are off to Barbados or Seville or Tuscany for the Easter holidays. But really, there is quite a lot of good information about our Presidents here. Come back to it next January and see how it changes with our newly-elected prez.

 

Musical Crystal Glasses (www.fliggo.com/video/alvrdtoi). Fliggo is a smaller version of YouTube, so chances of getting your own “production” seen on the Web is a little easier. The musician, whose name is not given, plays a classical piece using water-filled crystal glasses  And he does it very well. The tone sounds like a harp, which would be much easier than this. I wonder how many crystal glasses this man goes through in a month.

 

Blast from the Past (www.paleofuture.com/2008/). “A look into the future that never was,” explains the site creator. I happened across an article here, written on November 8, 1970, titled “Computersville is Almost Here.” And, I figured the author of this piece was psychic, because most of what he said has come true. In addition to that little tidbit, Paleofuture has enough curious bits of nostalgia and laughable predictions to keep you clicking away at the links for a long time.

 

Strange Art (www.funforever.net/archives/chewing-gum-sculptures).  I suppose it’s cheaper to use chewing gum rather than marble, huh? The sculptures, all pink by the way, are created well enough. When I got tired of looking at them, I found links on the right column of the webpage that took me to balloon sculptures. Those intricate, rubbery figures are not something you learn to make in a clown class. Mosey around this site and you’ll find many more examples of strange art—or rather, art made from uncommon materials.

 

Troy Paiva’s Lost America (www.designshed.com/lostamerica/). Photography buffs can learn some of the techniques Troy employs to capture atmospheric and eerie shots of ghost towns, for example. Troy uses gels, strobes, flashlights, and long exposures under the full moon to create remarkable scenes of places most people would avoid at night. None of the work is photoshopped. He uses a Canon 20D SLR and in the past three years has gone digital, as most of us have.

Words, Good Words

I was planning to focus solely on Valentines’ sites this week, but found myself scanning other nooks and crannies around cyberspace. And yet, the theme that emerges for this week’s picks has to do with words.

Anyone who finds himself having to write something can find useful information this week.

 

Why We Write (http://whywewriteseries.wordpress.com). The writers’ strike has affected our television programs, including several award shows. These same striking writers were asked to contribute to this blog. So, you will find very good writing here, which makes for fun reading. This blog may appeal more to us writers of any genre, but if you wonder what makes a writer click, you will find many answers here.

 

Valentine Love Letters (www.links2love.com). Despite generally being geared towards a teenage audience, this site has one great section that anyone can enjoy. Here you can read the love letters of famous personalities such as Napoleon to Josephine, Victor Hugo to Adele Foucher, and Zelda Sayre to F. Scott Fitzgerald. Plus many more. “Don’t you think I was made for you? I feel like you ordered me…”Zelda exclaims. One is unlikely to find any more eloquent scribblings about love anywhere else on the Web. If you’re interested, some of the other stuff at this site includes flirtability quizzes and a valentine quote generator.

 

Buzzwhack (www.buzzwhack.com). This site was created to “demystify buzzwords.” It includes a separate IMglish dictionary. IM, for the unenlightened, is “instant messaging,” also text messaging. .MIHAP? I am AATK. BWTHDIK?  That is the short form of “May I have your attention please? I am always at the keyboard. But what the heck do I know?” Texting is much easier than spelling out each word. That requires actual spelling skills. And, who has time for spell-check, anyway? Me, because I’m not ready to join the texting generation. It’s still gibberish to me.

 

Fight the Bull (www.fightthebull.com). Speaking of gibberish, business jargon can be a pain  to read and understand. This site, which offers a free download of a “bull-whipper,” will analyze that verbose piece of unintelligible writing and score it. Many of you may be unaware that MS Word has a thesaurus, a word-count checker, and a wonderful composition-checker, the Flesch Reading Score. (My score is 60 for this column, with a reading grade level of 7.8) The latter utility is something I use for my longer pieces of writing, and it tells me at what grade level a reader can understand my writing, among other things. It is a wonderful helper for all writers. Now comes along this bull-whipper, which will rate your document’s ease of comprehension. I did not download the software, but I used another option found at the site: you can paste in a hard-to-read document and send it to the person who wrote it via e-mail. So, if your boss writes terrible memos that no one in the office understands, then you can alert him to his errors via the “Mystery Matador.” The boss will receive a friendly e-mail pointing out his errors. Go ahead; I tried it on my own piece of writing. It is friendly, and this service is anonymous, so the boss won’t know who sent it (unless you are his only employee).

 

Weather Cancellations (www.cancellations.com). As I sit here writing this, our local schools are closed due to the ice storm/freezing weather. If you have a child in school, you either watch the ribbon running across your television screen or turn on the radio for information. Maybe you call the school and hear a busy signal The ribbon on my very old screen is partially cut off, so that would not work for me if I had school-age kids. But, I can log on to this website and find out which area schools are closed or having delays. It works for businesses too, but you have to log in your school or business and keep the information updated for it to be effective for your students, employees, or customers. Spread the word.

Videos and Image Editing

            I am not the only one who has mentioned that the Internet has become a visual medium. Do you know anyone who reads books from the ‘net? Neither do I. Project Gutenberg, the noble attempt to provide thousands of classic books to readers, probably ranks near the bottom in most surfers’ agendas. Have our attention spans become that short? I believe it is a trend that is steamrolling out of control. Meanwhile, YouTube has become a household name.

Video sites. I already mentioned YouTube, and I’m guessing that you are familiar with it, too—unless you are still using a dial-up connection that works too slowly for viewing videos. I did not realize how many other video sites there are. Here is a list, in case you are an internet video junkie: IFilm (www.ifilm.com); Daily Motion (www.dailymotion.com); MetaCafe (www.metacafe/); Vidiac—which appears to appeal to the younger set (www.vidiac.com); www.putfile.com; vidlife.com, Google Video (http://video.google.com);  andYahoo Video (http://video.yahoo.com. There are movie aggregators, too. If you want to see what’s “hot” in one of the above-named sites, you can go to MAGG (www.dapper.net/dapplications/Magg) to see the so-called “latest and greatest” videos uploaded for anyone’s viewing. Movie sites are an entirely different category. I have mentioned some in past columns, and will likely mention more of them in the future.

Free Panoramic Photo maker (www.clevr.com). If you don’t happen to have Photoshop or other sophisticated photo editing software, you can still make yourself a panorama to impress yourself and your friends.. You’ll have to shoot overlapping photos first. Then you can use this stitching program to put together an impressive panorama. Last time I was in Sedona, I was in a picturesque spot with some tourists who were bemoaning the fact that they forgot to buy a disposable panoramic camera. I told them about overlapping their shots, but I did not know the url of this stitching site. But you do, so you, too, can wow your friends with your travel photos from your next trip.

Free Poster Maker (www.blockposters.com). Here is another way to have fun with your photos without worrying about expensive editing software. Follow the directions and enjoy your original piece of wall art.

Group Shot (http://research.microsoft.com/projects/GroupShot). This beta program works only with Windows XP. For those of us who take lots of group photos (think: Beacher writers), we can create a composite image from the same scene and same point of view. If Susie blinks and everyone else has great smiles, we can manipulate another shot of Susie and edit it into one of the other shots we’ve taken.  Our editor, Sally Montgomery, would be very happy if we used this software. I’m guilty of taking too few group shots where every one of them has someone either blinking or frowning, or looking away. Now I have no excuse to submit terrible group shots.

Jigsaw Puzzle (www.jigzone.com). If you are a fan of jigsaw puzzles, you will love this site. You can solve easy, 6-piece puzzles or tease your brain with a 240-piece challenge. The site has a “Puzzle of the Day,” plus others in a large gallery. And, you can upload your own photo and turn it into a puzzle to email to friends.

 

Calendars, Birds, & Our Candidates

            Will the Internet be great in 2008? Or, can we pc users expect more patches to keep bugs and hackers at bay? I’m still using a fairly “old” computer with Windows XP. From what I hear, the new Vista is not impressing anyone who now has it. And I remain in the dark ages, because I don’t IM, webcam, or use VOIP. Nor do I have any plans to do so. One big change I have made is resurrecting the CyberScribbles blog with clickable links for all you loyal readers. You’ll find it at http://cyberscribbles.wordpress.com.

Calendar Maker (www.mycalendarmaker.com). I forgot to purchase a desk calendar as we began the new year, so I decided to make a few weekly calendar sheets in the interim. I looked around at various free calendar makers on the ‘net, and this one is the easiest: no strings, simple to make, and no registering. You can choose from weekly, monthly or yearly versions, and can start at any date you wish. Your personal calendar is transformed into a .pdf file, and you can print from there.

Earth Hour (www.earthhour.org). Speaking of calendars, mark March 29 on yours now. At 8 pm that evening, folks around the globe will turn off their lights for an hour as a way to create “a positive tipping point” in the race to slow down global warming. This concept is a global attempt to replicate what the city of Melbourne, Australia started last year. At the Earth Hour website, individuals from businesses, town and city governments, and anyone else can pledge to get an awareness campaign started. You can watch a short video and see Melbourne go dark, as well as listen to appeals. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Birding Pal (www.birdingpal.org). Birders who travel can connect with local bird guides in a host of communities globally, thanks to this website. I noticed that Michigan had dozens of willing bird guides throughout the state, while Indiana’s numbers were lower. Maybe Hoosier birders have yet to discover this website, which also lists lodging options for birders all over the world. The site has great links, too. Read on for more.

What Bird? (www.whatbird.com). The trees are bare, so birders have an easier time spotting their feathered friends this time of year. If you are like me, you can spot them, listen to their birdsong, and still not know what you are seeing. Then comes a website like this to help us clueless observers. This is a wonderful reference source for all ages. To engage the interest of the younger set, there is an interactive game, “The Call of the Wild,” that lets you attempt to identify various birds from three different ecosystems: mountains, marshes and uplands. Plus, there are three levels of play, from easy to difficult. You can use virtual binoculars to zoom in, too.

Bird Feeder Cam (www.wbu.com/feedercam_home.htm). Live from Ithaca, New York, the Cornell Ornithology Lab has set up a webcam for us to watch what’s happening in a garden filled with bird feeders. If you’ve passed the quizzes at Call of the Wild, then you’ll have no trouble identifying the birds flying in and out of view. By the way, I plan to mention a different webcam location each week this year. I’m amazed at how many are available to Internet surfers.

 Election 2008 Astrology (www.thestrangehouse.com). Seems that all eyes have been on Iowa and New Hampshire lately. What is really interesting about this website is that it offers a daily horoscope for all the presidential candidates, as well as their horoscopes for Election Day. If you have the time and energy and inclination, you could check your favorite candidate’s horoscope and see how it matches up to what is being written up in the news as the countdown toward November approaches.

 

            Will the Internet be great in 2008? Or, can we pc users expect more patches to keep bugs and hackers at bay? I’m still using a fairly “old” computer with Windows XP. From what I hear, the new Vista is not impressing anyone who now has it. And I remain in the dark ages, because I don’t IM, webcam, or use VOIP. Nor do I have any plans to do so. One big change I have made is resurrecting the CyberScribbles blog with clickable links for all you loyal readers. You’ll find it at http://cyberscribbles.wordpress.com.

Calendar Maker (www.mycalendarmaker.com). I forgot to purchase a desk calendar as we began the new year, so I decided to make a few weekly calendar sheets in the interim. I looked around at various free calendar makers on the ‘net, and this one is the easiest: no strings, simple to make, and no registering. You can choose from weekly, monthly or yearly versions, and can start at any date you wish. Your personal calendar is transformed into a .pdf file, and you can print from there.

Earth Hour (www.earthhour.org). Speaking of calendars, mark March 29 on yours now. At 8 pm that evening, folks around the globe will turn off their lights for an hour as a way to create “a positive tipping point” in the race to slow down global warming. This concept is a global attempt to replicate what the city of Melbourne, Australia started last year. At the Earth Hour website, individuals from businesses, town and city governments, and anyone else can pledge to get an awareness campaign started. You can watch a short video and see Melbourne go dark, as well as listen to appeals. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Birding Pal (www.birdingpal.org). Birders who travel can connect with local bird guides in a host of communities globally, thanks to this website. I noticed that Michigan had dozens of willing bird guides throughout the state, while Indiana’s numbers were lower. Maybe Hoosier birders have yet to discover this website, which also lists lodging options for birders all over the world. The site has great links, too. Read on for more.

What Bird? (www.whatbird.com). The trees are bare, so birders have an easier time spotting their feathered friends this time of year. If you are like me, you can spot them, listen to their birdsong, and still not know what you are seeing. Then comes a website like this to help us clueless observers. This is a wonderful reference source for all ages. To engage the interest of the younger set, there is an interactive game, “The Call of the Wild,” that lets you attempt to identify various birds from three different ecosystems: mountains, marshes and uplands. Plus, there are three levels of play, from easy to difficult. You can use virtual binoculars to zoom in, too.

Bird Feeder Cam (www.wbu.com/feedercam_home.htm). Live from Ithaca, New York, the Cornell Ornithology Lab has set up a webcam for us to watch what’s happening in a garden filled with bird feeders. If you’ve passed the quizzes at Call of the Wild, then you’ll have no trouble identifying the birds flying in and out of view. By the way, I plan to mention a different webcam location each week this year. I’m amazed at how many are available to Internet surfers.

Election 2008 Astrology (www.thestrangehouse.com). Seems that all eyes have been on Iowa and New Hampshire lately. What is really interesting about this website is that it offers a daily horoscope for all the presidential candidates, as well as their horoscopes for Election Day. If you have the time and energy and inclination, you could check your favorite candidate’s horoscope and see how it matches up to what is being written up in the news as the countdown toward November approaches.

 

A Busy Year

It’s been a long way from May to December and my last post. The good news for Beacher readers (where my CyberScribbles column is buried deep inside) is that the website is posting all–or most–of its back issues.

And yet, links to my recommended sites have to be manually typed in. For a long time now I have attempted to help readers access those links right here. But I cannot promise you that I will be posting as often as I have in the past.

I’m busy with other websites and other writing projects that you can learn more about at my own website, DunesArtMedia.com. Plus, I have a number of other projects going–and you may see links here from time to time dealing with those projects.

Obviously, I’m not looking for mega-hits to this blog nor am I trying to make money off it–at least, not at this time.

Wishing all a happy holiday (whichever one you celebrate). See you back here soon.