Spell with flickr

Saw this on Erin’s blog.

Sean

The Secret to Raising Smart Kids

Scientific American has an article on the secret to raising smart kids.

Our society worships talent, and many people assume that possessing superior intelligence or ability—along with confidence in that ability—is a recipe for success. In fact, however, more than 30 years of scientific investigation suggests that an overemphasis on intellect or talent leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unwilling to remedy their shortcomings.

In some ways the suggestion is that the key to success in school and life is in the effort put forward which is I think obvious.

Sean

Nature backgrounds for your desktop

A number of nature based wallpaper backgrounds can be found here. These are great images that are available for free.

Sean

Be careful about Facebook

Evidently, Facebook has been causing a great deal of concern regarding privacy rights. The uproar stems from a new advertising program called Facebook Beacon, which can be used by online retailers to track the spending habits of Facebook users on their sites. When a Facebook user makes a purchase, a message is sent to the news feeds of their friends, telling them what they bought. About 40 companies, including Overstock.com and movie ticket retailer Fandango, have installed the free tool.

So the next time you contemplate making an online purchase, think twice about how Facebook is using that information.

Update: If you use Firefox, you can block that information from being communicated using the BlockSite plugin.

1. Download and Install the BlockSite plugin for Firefox.
2. After restarting Firefox select ‘Add-ons’ from the Tools menu.
3. Click the ‘Options’ button on the BlockSite extension
4. Click the ‘Add’ button
5. Enter http://*facebook.com/beacon/* into the input box
6. Click ‘OK’
7. Click ‘OK’ again and you are good to go.

Sean

When Hitler gets banned from Microsoft XBox Live

A rather funny video from YouTube – An Adolf Hitler lookalike swears like a corporal or a sergeant from Lower Saxony and because he has no online capabilities whatever, he vows to go for the Wii. You can view the video here.

Sean

How walkable is your neighborhood?

Here is a web page where you can enter an address and find out how walkable it is.

Very neat!

Sean

Nordstrom does it right

More here.

Sean

Test post

This is a test post of a python based offline blogging tool.

Sean

Home Sweet Home

Very cool way to bring Google Maps to your blog – Look here for instructions.

Sean

LibraryThing

I came across a really neat widget that can be used to track with tags books that you have read.

Library Thing

Sean