New Logitech Quickcam Orbit MP

Phillip Torrone over at Makezine has some fun with a new webcam that includes face-tracking, live visual effects and avatars. File this under "Wow - that's really cool. What on earth would I use it for?"

Cheers...

Wabbit Wist

I know I'm a little late to the party on social tagging stuff, but here's an interesting visual wishlist called CribCandy which lists cool stuff for your home, that is powered by Wist.

You can use wists to have all your wishlists in one place, from any store on the web.

Also, I'm looking for a term that defines something that is a summary of summaries or an aggregator of aggregators to describe the concept behind this site. They've assembled the top of the top consolidating sites into one site called popurls.

Wiki Wiki Wak

I successfully installed a personal version of MediaWiki on my lab box using Gina Trapani's guide thereby protecting my geek status for at least another 3 months. It utilizes WAMP, an all-in-one PHP/MySQL/Apache installation for Windows. I have been using a beta version of wikidPad on my primary box to track all of my wiki-worthy info.

A friend of mine pointed me to Wiktionary, the lexical companion to the open-content encyclopedia Wikipedia.

According to the Computer Desktop Encyclopedia;

Wiki
A Web site that can be quickly edited by its visitors with simple formatting rules. Developed by Ward Cunningham in the mid-1990s to provide collaborative discussions, there are several "Wiki" tools on the market for creating such sites, including www.editme.com, www.seedwiki.com, www.socialtext.com and www.swiki.net. Cunningham's site is http://c2.com/cgi/wiki.

"Wiki wiki" means "quick" in Hawaiian.

Cheers...

Ginger or Mary Ann?

I'm sure I know who The Ginger People would vote for. After all, this is from their site: "Ginger’s aphrodisiacal properties are tough to prove, but ginger does enhance circulation and has been credited through history with increasing lustful yearnings." So far, I've only tried the original chews, a Southeast Asian treat, which are good as an afternoon pick me up or added to hot water to make a soothing tea.

My next international flavor excursion is planned for a bowl of piping hot McCann's Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal.

And if you're up for a quirky spot of tea, try the South African Red Bush or Rooibos.

Cheers...

2 Guys, 7 Marathons, 7 Continents, 7 Days

Yesterday's Boston Marathon triggered memories of this story from 2003. Two British adventurers ran a marathon on all 7 continents in 7 consecutive days finishing off with the New York City Marathon. I remembered this part of the story and wondering if I would have kept going...

"Mike Stroud has started to "pass blood" in the urine. This will be the haemoglobin from red blood cells caused by the crushing of capillaries in the feet each time they hit the road."

Could this be the end of Mr. Clean?

With all of the new single use bathroom cleaning products on the market these days, they may all soon meet a similar fate thanks to some bathroomologists down under. You've no doubt heard of the self-cleaning oven, now for the self-cleaning bathroom.

The MIT Scholarship you always wanted...

If you're like me and didn't get into MIT you can at least benefit from the free courseware they offer at the MIT OpenCourseWare site.

Or if you'd rather attend Berklee and get free music lessons, then you should go here.

Or maybe you'd like to get smart somewhere else. Then checkout the OpenCourseWare Finder.

Happy brain wrinkles...

In the morning, I'm makin' waffles!

You can't travel South without a stop to a Waffle House. A pecan waffle with some eggs and tabasco, bacon, grits and raisin toast with apple butter is like no other breakfast on Earth.

Looking for a quote on car insurance, mate?

This critter came to visit us out by the pool. If you want to see him and his friends in the wild, I recommend a ride on the SwampVette.

When in Rome...

Exercising my "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" attitude when I travel, I like to try things that I can only get where I am. So, when we stopped to gas up in Tuskegee, AL, I grabbed a couple Mary Janes and Coconut Long Boys. The Mary Janes are like the original Bit-O-Honey and the Long Boys are like coconut flavored Sugar Babies. You can get retro candy like this from CandyFavorites. I also learned that Necco stands for New England Confectionary Company. I was not aware of that.

White Sox vs Braves

First stop on our Spring Break adventure was to Turner Field in Atlanta to watch a preseason game between the World Champion White Sox and the Atlanta Braves. We all learned how to do the traditional "Tomahawk Chop" with style.

Hook's Barbeque

Continuing the when in Rome theme, we stopped in Opp, AL, home to the Rattlesnake Rodeo, to sample some local fare. In this case it was for some hickory fired pulled pork bbq at Hook's Barbeque on Hwy 331. It was delish...their tagline is "You can smell our butts for miles!"