Archive - 2006

This is what you get when you search for my last name:

Birley Sandwiches have been providing London with the best quality breakfast and luncheon foods since the early 1980's. We are committed to using only the finest ingredients available in the fresh handmade products we serve, and our aim is to offer excellent and unrivalled service to all our customers.
 
Our City-based delivery service provides the opportunity to enjoy the Birley shop experience at boardroom meetings and office luncheons. Please use this site as a guide to what Birleys can offer you.
 
Bon Appetit!

I never saw this company before and it makes me hungry.

Another thing that is "tres cool" about the Internet is World Wind.  It is a software package that I have been using for a year or so and is an open source version of Google Earth.  Well, the two packages are not related but World Wind is entirely free. 

It isn't as detailed in a lot of ways but NASA has done the Earth, the Moon, and Mars.  There are also some other cool treats that come with the package.  I would check it out!

Tags: why the internet is cool, world wind, nasa

I know what you are thinking. What do "zombie chickens" have to do with the coolness level of the Internet? The Internet has provided all users with ways to access information and stories from around the world that may not make it in to local newspapers. Having that access is astounding in many ways and makes for a more widely informed population - at least, that is the theory.

Tags: why the internet is cool, zombie chickens

One of the other tidbits I enjoy sharing is Project Gutenberg - an online database of over 20,000 free books. What do they mean by free? Here is what they determine free to mean:

The word free in the English language does not distinguish between free of charge and freedom.

Free of charge means that you don't have to pay for the book you received.

Freedom denotes that you may do as you like with the book you received.

This distinction is immaterial if you just want to read a book privately, but it becomes of utmost importance if you want to work with the book:

• you are a teacher and want to use the book in class,
• you wrote a thesis about the book and want to distribute the book along with your thesis,
• you have a literary web site and want to distribute the book to your audience,
• or you are a writer and want to adapt the book for the stage.

If the book you got is just free of charge, you may do none of the above things. You may not even make a copy of the book and give it to your best friend. But if the book you got is free as in freedom you may do anything you like with that book. Clearly free as in freedom beats free of charge.

Fortunately almost all Project Gutenberg ebooks are free of charge and free as in freedom.

So, there you go. Enjoy some free reading today.

Tags: why the internet is cool, project gutenberg

One of the suggestions for I came up with about why the Internet is cool was the web site Flickr.com - a photo sharing web site.  I am a huge fan of this web site.  What I find fascinating about Flickr is, matter how many photos may be on there, visitors will always see something new.  Another facet of the site is by viewing photographs from other people, people may notice (regardless of culture) we all view the world in a similar way.

Tags: why the internet is cool, flickr, photos, pictures

Last night, I decided to continue telling people why the Internet is cool. To continue onward with this process, I thought about all of the things I like to talk about on a daily basis and pick out a few gems. Today, I give you the Creative Commons. They themselves are responsible for creating a way to allow other people to create very cool things and put them on the Internet.

Tags: why the internet is cool, creative commons, cc, videos

I was talking to a couple of friends today about what is "cool" about the Internet. I said it really wasn't the Internet that was cool but it was the content that made the Internet worthwhile. Of course, they requested samples.

I provided them a short video called The Daily Monster.

Tags: why the internet is cool, the daily monster, cool, video, interesting