Paper Skyscrapers

Fold your own steamship

This beats paper airplanes. If you order you get hard paper cards with all the pieces.

What exactly is a Micromodel? Micromodels are card or paper models that were originally sold from the 1940's through the 1960's. Most were designed by Geoffrey Heighway.
Each model was made up of several small cards illustrated with the pieces of the model, all wrapped up in a label. You could cut the pieces out and carefully assemble an intricate little three-dimensional model.
Micromodels were known for the amazing details that people would add to customize their models. There were more than 100 original Micromodels of all types.

MicroModelsUSA


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Julian Dates

Gregorian to/from Julian

Julian dates refer to the number of days from the first of the year and the number of days until the end of the year.

The year -45 has been called the "year of confusion," because in that year Julius Caesar inserted 90 days to bring the months of the Roman calendar back to their traditional place with respect to the seasons. This was Caesar's first step in replacing a calendar that had gone badly awry. Caesar created a solar calendar with twelve months of fixed lengths and a provision for an intercalary day to be added every fourth year. As a result, the average length of the Julian calendar year was 365.25 days.

The Gregorian (Pope Gregory XIII) calendar is based on a cycle of 400 years, which comprises 146,097 days. Since 146,097 is evenly divisible by 7. Dividing 146,097 by 400 yields an average length of 365.2425 days per calendar year, which is a close approximation to the length of the tropical year. The Gregorian calendar accumulates an error of one day in about 2500 years.

Calendars by L. E. Doggett


From Chip Pearson's site CPearson.com:

"Many applications (especially mainframe systems) store dates in the Julian format, which is a 5-digit number, consisting of a 2-digit year and a 3-digit day-of-year number. For example, 24-August-1999 is stored as 99236, since 24-August is the 236th day of the year. Excel does not support Julian dates directly, but you can use them with only a few fairly simple formulas.

Converting A Standard Date To A Julian Date

The formula below will convert a standard Excel date in A1 to a Julian Date.

=RIGHT(YEAR(A1),2)&TEXT(A1-DATE(YEAR(A1),1,0),"000")

This formula takes the 2 right-most characters of the YEAR of the date in A1, and then appends the number of days between the date in A1 and the 0th day of that year. The TEXT function formats the day-of-year number as three digits, with leading zeros if necessary.

Converting A Julian Date To A Standard Date

The formula below will convert a Julian date to a standard Excel date.

=DATE(IF(0+(LEFT(A1,2))<30 data-blogger-escaped-strong="strong">

If the year digits of the Julian date are less than 30 (i.e., 00 to 29), the date is assumed to be a 2000 century year. If the year digits of the Julian date are greater than or equal to 30 (i.e., 30 to 99), the date is assumed to be a 1900 century year. This formula works by taking advantage of the fact that the DATE function can handle days beyond the "normal" days in a month. For example, DATE correctly computes 100-Jan-1999 to be 10-April-1999.

These Julian dates must have the leading zero or zeros for years between 2000 and 2009. For example the 123rd day of 2000 must be entered as 00123. Format the cell as TEXT before entering the data, or enter an apostrophe before the Julian date -- e.g., '00123. This will prevent Excel from treating the Julian date as a number and suppressing the leading zeros."

US Naval Observatory has this definition (and a calculator):

Julian dates (abbreviated JD) are simply a continuous count of days and fractions since noon Universal Time on January 1, 4713 BCE (on the Julian calendar). Almost 2.5 million days have transpired since this date.

CE 2016 March 17 03:00:00.0 is JD 2457464.625000


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Map Yourself

Make your own

You know you've wanted to play with Google maps on your own. It's not super easy, but here's a description about how to do it.

"One of the great things about Google maps is it has its roots in XML. To translate for the non-web developers out there, it basically means Google maps are user hackable.

This how-to will show you how to make your own annotated Google map from your own GPS data. Plus, you'll be able to tie in images and video to create an interactive multimedia map.

We'll walk you through the steps we took to generate an annotated map of a walk we took recently through our hometown, now that it's actually starting to get warm enough to want to walk about!"

Make your own annotated multimedia Google map



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The Girl Who Fell to Earth

By Sophia Al-Maria

“When Sophia Al-Maria's mother sends her away from rainy Washington State to stay with her husband's desert-dwelling Bedouin family in Qatar, she intends it to be a sort of teenage cultural boot camp. What her mother doesn't know is that there are some things about growing up that are universal. In Qatar, Sophia is faced with a new world she'd only imagined as a child. She sets out to find her freedom, even in the most unlikely of places.

Both family saga and coming-of-age story, The Girl Who Fell to Earth takes readers from the green valleys of the Pacific Northwest to the dunes of the Arabian Gulf and on to the sprawling chaos of Cairo. Struggling to adapt to her nomadic lifestyle, Sophia is haunted by the feeling that she is perpetually in exile: hovering somewhere between two families, two cultures, and two worlds. She must make a place for herself—a complex journey that includes finding young love in the Arabian Gulf, rebellion in Cairo, and, finally, self-discovery in the mountains of Sinai.”

 “… Matar (Sophia's father) agreed to a trade-off with Gale (Sophia's mother): in exchange for a simple nondenominational ceremony, Gale would quietly convert to Islam and raise their children as Muslims. In the end, the marriage consisted of a civil ceremony performed by a notary public in the kitchen of the farmhouse, and later that evening when the newlyweds were alone, a private circumnavigation of a lilac bush in the backyard.”

  The Girl Who Fell to Earth: A Memoir


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May I have a Word

Vocabulary game

Sometimes what we know is wrong. Try this puzzle to see if you really know what words mean.

"In this etymology game you'll be presented with 10 randomly selected etymology (word origin) or word definition puzzles to solve; in each case the word or phrase is highlighted in bold, and a number of possible answers will be presented. You need to choose the correct answer to score a point for that question. Beware! The false answers will often also seem quite plausible, and some of the true answers are hard to believe, but we have documentation!

What is arachibutyrophobia?

1. A fear of spiders.
   
   
2. A fear of ingesting too much margarine.
   
   
3. A fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.
   
   
4. A fear of butane lighters.

Etymologic.com


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Moxie Cola

What this country needs is plenty of Moxie

"Moxie outsells Coke"

The West coast was not a huge Moxie fan back in the day. Easterners had the advantage of a drink that has been described as a combination Dr. Pepper and cough syrup. It preceded and out sold Coke and Pepsi in the beginning, but lost market position.

How could it fail with a spiel like this:

"Contains not a drop of Medicine, Poison, Stimulant or Alcohol. But is a simple sugarcane-like plant grown near the Equator and farther south, was lately accidentally discovered by Lieut. Moxie and has proved itself to be the only harmless nerve food known that can recover brain and nervous exhaustion, loss of manhood, imbecility and helplessness. It has recovered paralysis, softening of the brain, locomotor ataxia, and insanity when caused by nervous exhaustion. It gives a durable solid strength, makes you eat voraciously, takes away the tired, sleepy, listless feeling like magic, removes fatigue from mental and physical over work at once, will not interfere with action of vegetable medicines.

BDragon.com

You can still buy Moxie and a bunch of other odd soft drinks. Here is some information on micro bottlers around the country.


Other soda sites:


The Soda Pop Stop:

PLANTATION STYLE MINT JULEP

Bubbles of fresh tasting mint in a soft drink. This one is so great! It's delicious alone, use it as a mixer or make ice cubes.

The Soda Shop:

BOYLAN'S ORIGINAL BIRCH BEER

"Although we may be the smallest soda company around, our flagship brand is the most locally loved soft drink of its time. Rich with history, Boylan's Birch Beer started in a apothecary in the early 1890's and developed into the most popular flavor of The Boylan Sodaworks. Boylan was a bottling and keg filling operation located in the heart of Paterson, NJ, the first industrialized city in the country.

Competition increased however, and in the 1930's Boylan was forced to close its bottling lines, leaving Boylan's Draught Birch Beer as its only product. Shortly thereafter, the rights to the name, the formula, and the sole route was purchased by the driver. He, by himself, was responsible for pulling Boylan's Draught Birch Beer from near extinction to a beverage that is enjoyed by thousands at Fourth of July parades, town picnics, hot dog stands and many good times.

His reward for this accomplishment was a 7 day - 80 hour work week, but he would have it no other way.

In appreciation of our grandfather's effort, we honor him with this bottling project."

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Grand Complication, The

By Allen Kurzweil

ISBN 0-7868-6603-9
Hyperion August 2001

About the Author
The Library of Congress has a reading by Kurzweil


Book Description
"Narrated by Alexander Short, a stylish young reference librarian of arcane interests, The Grand Complication propels the reader through a card catalog of desperation and delight, of intrigue and theft. It's a novel of suspense that comes full circle, with a clock-maker's precision and a storyteller's surprise, on page 360."

Quote

"THE SEARCH BEGAN with a library call slip and the gracious query of an elegant man.
"I beg your pardon," said the man, bowing ever so slightly. "Might I steal a moment of your time?"

He deposited his slip on the reference desk and turned it so that the lettering would face me. And if this unusual courtesy wasn't enough to attract attention, there was also the matter of his handwriting — a gorgeous old-fashioned script executed with confident ascenders and tapering exit strokes — as well as the title of the book he requested. Secret Compartments in Eighteenth-Century Furniture played right to my fascination with objects of enclosure.

"Let's see what we can do for you, Mr. — " I double-checked the bottom of the slip before uttering his improbably literary name. "Henry James Jesson III."

After I had directed him to the tube clerk, curiosity got the best of me, so I rang the stack supervisor and asked that she expedite retrieval. In a further breach of protocol, I pushed through the swing gate and planted myself near the dumbwaiter in Delivery, where I waited for the book to surface.

"This is terribly kind of you," Jesson said as I slid Secret Compartments under the brass grille.

"Glad to be of service."

I was professional enough not to mention the uncanny overlap of our interests — I don't meet many readers keen on lettering technique and enclosures. But that same restraint left me mildly disappointed. The call slip was so enticing, our exchange so stilted and brief.

Jesson settled himself at a table near the municipal tax codes. He quickly supplied further proof of a charmingly outmoded manner by digging deep into his capacious trouser pockets to extract a roll of paper, a tiny ink pot, and a calligraphy pen. Though he seemed to ignore the stares of nearby readers, he occasionally glanced in my direction, as if to confirm that I'd stuck around. Which, of course, I had. In fact, while he took notes on Secret Compartments, I took notes on him, convinced that the consonance of our uncommon pursuits demanded annotation.

He wore billowy trousers of moss-green corduroy that had wale as thick as pencils. These he partnered with a button-down shirt of subtle stripe and a dainty chamois vest tied at the back with a fat purple ribbon. He had an indulgent-looking face and blue-gray eyes that recalled the color of the buckram on my compact OED. Despite a bump at the bridge of his nose and teeth that predated fluoridation, he was undeniably handsome, a scholar who appeared unencumbered by the tattered frugality of most academics I assist. Those, in toto, were my preliminary observations of the elderly man wishing to steal a moment of my time."

A watch that shows the phases of the moon, for instance, is said to have one complication. A watch with five of these extra actions is said to be a grand complication.


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Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

A morning's home companion

The Writer's Almanac®, a daily program of poetry and history hosted by Garrison Keillor, can be heard each day on public radio stations throughout the country. Each day's program is about five minutes long.

Minnesota Public Radio will email the newsletter and link to you every morning.

It's a pleasant way to start the day with Garrison talking about some piece of literary history and then reading a short poem.

Try it, you'll like it.The Writers Almanac.org

Also, in keeping,
Prairie Home Companion Features


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Byte, Nibble, Crumb, Bit

Umpty ump definitions and references — maybe even a googol.

We all know/knew that a nibble is four binary digits or half of a (eight-bit) byte and that a crumb is jargon for two bits (two binary digits). However, there must be some other definitions that don't pop into mind right away.

That's where Whatis, an IT-specific encyclopedia comes in.


"Every File Format in the World"

This is a list of file name extension or suffixes that indicate the format or usage of a file and a brief description of that format.

KAR

MIDI file (text+MIDI) (Karaoke)

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Free TIVO

(Almost, if you've got the parts laying around)

From the "Not quite too hard to do" file. Construct your own DVR from a leftover PC.

"I started with an old PC (a Dell Dimension 4500) that had unfortunately been destroyed by lightning. After some experimentation, I figured out that the only bad portions of the PC were the motherboard and the modem (which I didn't need anyway). I decided to replace the motherboard and keep the same case and other hardware because I really liked Dell's clamshell case design. I did some research at my local Fry's electronics store and got a motherboard that would allow me to use the same memory, processor, and case. After getting . . . . .

Seguetech.com:
Build a Better DVR out of an Old PC


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Who was that font I saw you with last night?

That was no font, that was my typeface

You can find the Fonts supplied with some Microsoft products
Select a product name from the list to get a list of fonts supplied with that product.

Microsoft's Typography is an interesting site to poke around in.

Here are some books I use for reference material:
Words into Type
by Marjorie E. Skillin, Robert Malcolm Gay ISBN 0139642625

Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works

by Erik Spiekermann, E.M Ginger ISBN 0201703394

The Elements of Typographic Style
by Robert Bringhurst ISBN 0881791326

"A font can be defined as a collection of characters with the same style and size. A typeface is the design of the characters regardless of size or style. The terms are used interchangeably today."

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Who was that font I saw you with last night?

That was no font, that was my typeface

You can find the Fonts supplied with some Microsoft products
Select a product name from the list to get a list of fonts supplied with that product.

Microsoft's Typography is an interesting site to poke around in.

Here are some books I use for reference material:
Words into Type
by Marjorie E. Skillin, Robert Malcolm Gay ISBN 0139642625

Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works

by Erik Spiekermann, E.M Ginger ISBN 0201703394

The Elements of Typographic Style
by Robert Bringhurst ISBN 0881791326

"A font can be defined as a collection of characters with the same style and size. A typeface is the design of the characters regardless of size or style. The terms are used interchangeably today."

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Extreme Tweaks

Learn by example

When you realize that tattoos are only skin deep.

"Some people may look at this website, browse through the portfolios, and come to the conclusion that they want to become part of Steve's art. Some others may immediately decide that they don't like what they see. They may be offended or horrified by the subject matter, by the form that Steve's art takes, by the extreme individualism exhibited herein.



So one person's idea of body modification is going to be a pierced ear lobe, and another person's idea of body modification is to look like the el Diablo himself. Just because you don't agree doesn't make it wrong."

Steven Haworth

Here's one of Steve's clients:
"Stalking Cat"


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Kahanamoku Keyboard

Surfboard - Keyboard

People ask you how to increase the font size in Internet Explorer?

"Oh, well, go to View>Text size and pick one between Largest and Smallest."

Here's another way:

Resize Text Size IE

Hold down CTRL key and move the wheel on the mouse.
The page text will enlarge or shrink.

Here are some others from Penn State University

Browser Tricks

Quick jump to Web Site IE

Type just the Internet domain name in the URL Address field and hold down CTRL+ENTER keys.
This will fill in www as the machine name and add .com

Presentation Mode IE

Select the F11 function key to enter Presentation mode (full screen).
Select the F11 function key to toggle back.

Page forward and back IE

Hold down SHIFT key and move the wheel on the mouse.
This will page forward or backward through the pages selected.

Page scroll using mouse wheel button IE

Push down on the mouse wheel button and slide the whole mouse up and down.
This will page up and down the screen.

Open a New IE Window with One Click

Hold down SHIFT and click on the link.
A new IE browser window will appear.

Page forward and back using arrow keys IE

Hold ALT button and use the arrow keys to page forward and back.

Get to Your Favorites with Keyboard Shortcut IE

Enter CTRL+I will bring up your left pane favorites.
Enter CTRL+I will make it disappear
Enter CTRL+B to organize your favorites

Duke Paoa Kahanamoku (1890-1968) is called the Father of Modern Surfing. There were others before him, such as George Freeth, who died in 1919, but Duke is the most widely known.

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Quote Mw All You Like

What the other guy says has weight

There are sites that give you Bartleby Quotations.

Gar Reynold has put together a list of some other sites that can help bolster any argument, no mater how specious.

"In my presentations, I may have several slides which feature a quote from a famous (sometimes not so famous) individual in the field. The quote may be a springboard into the topic or serve as support or reinforcement for the particular point I'm making. A typical Tom Peters presentation at one of his seminars, for example, may include dozens of slides with quotes. 'I say that my conclusions are much more credible when I back them up with great sources,' Tom says."

PresentationZen.blogs.com:
Where to get quotations

"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers."
Pablo Picasso

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Half Staff

When and how

A Proclamation by the President: Death of Coretta Scott King

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

As a mark of respect for the memory of Coretta Scott King, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, that on February 7, 2006, the day of her interment, the flag of the United States shall be flown at half staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset on such day. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same period at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord two thousand six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirtieth.

GEORGE W. BUSH

Issued 2/6/06


Free notification of Official orders to fly the flag at half staff. Contact FlagsExpress.com.

You will be notified when orders are released.

Also:

Veterans Administration:
Guidelines for Display of the Flag

and:

Flag Etiquette

Washington State flag


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Date an Octothorpe

Some more of those things I'm sure I used to know

The keyboard combination of Alt+Shift+D inserts the current date in MS Word and PowerPoint. Ctrl+; (semicolon) does it in Excel and Access.

If you do not like the date's format, select a different one with Insert>Date and Time and, if you would like to make that permanent, click on the Default button in the lower left corner of the dialog box (in PowerPoint it's in the lower right corner).

In Excel, Ctrl+Shift +# formats the entry as day-month-year. Ctrl+1 will display the "Format cells" dialog box.

BTW, the "hash, pound or number" sign # is also called an "octothorpe".

The person who named it combined Octo for the eight points and Thorpe for James Thorpe.

"Bell Labs engineer, Don Macpherson, went to instruct their first client, the Mayo Clinic, in the use of the new touch tone phone system. He felt the need for a fresh and unambiguous name for the # symbol. His reasoning that led to the new word was roughly that it had eight points, so ought to start with octo-. He was apparently at that time active in a group that was trying to get the Olympic medals of the athlete Jim Thorpe returned from Sweden, so he decided to add thorpe to the end."

While we're at it, the "backwards P, Enter mark" ¶ is actually named a "pilcrow".

The pilcrow was used in medieval times to mark a new train of thought, before the convention of using paragraphs was commonplace.

Also see:
Geek-speak names for punctuation marks

Wikipedia:
Punctuation


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That's the Way I Believe It's Sppelled

Wrong list

Spelling feels more like art than science. Here's a site that shows 100 (actually 250) words that are often misspelled.

It also gives you reasons and memory tricks to get it right.

Not all pens and pencils come with spellcheckers.

The "i-before-e" rule has more exceptions than words it applies to.

Dr. Language has provided a one-stop cure for all your spelling ills. Here are the 100 words most often misspelled ("misspell" is one of them). Each word has a mnemonic pill with it and, if you swallow it, it will help you to remember how to spell the word. Master the orthography of the words on this page and reduce the time you spend searching dictionaries by 50%.

100 Most Misspelled
Also:
Most Mispronounced
(You mean it's not "pronounciation"?
That's what happens when you have Old-timer's disease.)


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Just Say No to Be

To be, or no to be

E-Prime aims to eliminate all forms of the verb "to be". (Try that with your next report.)

"E-Prime comprises standard English with all forms of the verb 'TO BE' deleted; its use prevents forms of the verb 'TO BE' creating erroneous and irrational generalizations in language and thought."

• John is lethargic and unhappy.
  
• John is bright and cheerful.
  
  
• John appears lethargic and unhappy in the office.
  
• John appears bright and cheerful on holiday at the beach.

The result may appear wishy washy, but more accurate.
Also see:
E-Prime Tutorial 
A Laymen's View


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Nite Tide

(Uxoricide)

Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys
ASIN B00004UDE3
Hightone Records August 15, 2000

Nite Tide
About the Artist

"Hailing from Anaheim, California, Big Sandy (neé Robert Williams) draws from a number of influences--country, western swing, rockabilly, doo wop, R & B, and jump blues. The best Big Sandy songs are the sexy ones about seduction, innocent on the surface and a little dirty underneath. The retro appeal of the band is equivalent to a Model T or Vargas bombshell"

Recording Description
Groovin', jumpin', hot rods, Rock-a-billy.
One of the cuts -- When Sleep Won't Come (Blues for Spade) -- refers to the uxoricidal "Spade" Cooley.

Also see:
The Old Corral, b-westerns, Inc

Contents

1. Night Tide - Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys
   
2. Between Darkness and Dawn
   
3. Tequila Calling
   
4. When Sleep Won't Come (Blues for Spade)
   
5. If You Only Knew - Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys
   
6. Give Your Loving to Me
   
7. In the Steel of the Night
   
8. Man Like Me
   
9. Hey Lowdown!
   
10. My Time Will Come Someday
    
11. I Think of You
    
12. Nothing to Lose
    
13. South Bay Stomp
    
14. Let Her Know

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