CatHouse Chat

Oh, this is cool... OMINOUS, but very cool!

Yeah, haven't updated in a month or more (I'm going to TRY to sit down and actually WRITE something today), so this is just a little something to remind myself that CatHouse Chat is NOT dead... ;-)

Anyway, this is a duststorm in Phoenix:

 

Remember when I asked if Micro$oft might be getting its mojo back

... over here?

*sigh*

Apparently not.

Darnit.

OMG, is Micro$oft getting their mojo back?????

My Beloved just shot me this link, which is a MUST SEE for all my fellow gadget-holics...(Make SURE you watch the two videos!)

Dang, I think I'm in luuuuuuuuuuuuve!

DO WANT!!!!!!

Some very cool stuff on a Saturday morning

Image via Wikipedia

Wanna see some cosmic rays? You could do it at home, even!

Do you hate mosquitoes as much as I do? Well, go over here and watch them bet lasered. Go, LASERS!

Did you know that the 33rd America's Cup is in progress? Well, "our" boat, the USA (BMW - Oracle) won the first of three races yesterday, and she's GORGEOUS! Go look at her YouTube channel and see how she flies...

Global Warming? Forty-nine states have snow on the ground - will Mauna Kea get in on that act and bring Hawaii in to make a perfect 50? (Or a perfect 57, if you're the current resident of the White House...)

"Liquid Galaxy"? Now that's cool!

So, are phasers just around the corner? Star Wars laser successfully destroys ballistic missile

Have you got the Buzz yet? Although there are still some bugs to work out (mainly with privacy issues), here's an article that does a great job outlining some excellent advantages to Google's new social networking app.

Anyway, that's all I have for now - what cool things are YOU seeing on the web or in your life today?

I HAZ A WAVE!!!!

 

Oh, yes I do! I haz a Google Wave account now, thanks to my Beloved Husband sending me an invite!

I am so psyched that I've gotten in so early on this new application by Google (and right on top of getting my Verizon Motorola Droid, too!)... This should be fun!

 

Amazing how archaeology keeps supporting the Bible...

A team of Egyptian archeologists have discovered ancient coins belonging to the era of Prophet Joseph bearing his name and image in the country.

...

Several coins belong to a period in which Joseph had lived in Egypt and bear his name and portrait. The unprecedented find from the time of the Pharaohs, provides decisive scientific evidence disproving previous theories that ancient Egyptians conducted their trade through barter. NAT/SC/DT

via www.presstv.ir

I hope that more information is published about these coins; the research on them should be fascinating. And, I'd love to see pictures, too!

UPDATE: Ah, there's quite a bit more information here.

Turning rotton lemons into a double scoop chocolate sundae with whipped cream and sprinkles

Let me just set the stage by saying that the longest stretch of sleep I've had in the last twelve weeks was that one Wednesday night when Marlo forgot who she was for a second and slept for a solid four hours. That's it. Since then it's been two hours here, thirty minutes there, just enough to want to walk outside and play hopscotch in the middle of I-80.

via www.dooce.com

Seriously! Yes, I do need to give a mild caution about some of the language, and it is a long read... But stick with it: if you're a parent, if you've ever had an appliance die just when you needed it the most, and if - amid all the tribulation - a blast of sunshine lasered down to light up your life... Then you'll know what this woman is talking about.

HUGE kudos to Jeff Piraino, manager of the executive offices of the Whirlpool Corporation in Michigan, but an even greater BRAVO! to Jason Avila of Bosch Appliances.

Read the whole thing. Trust me.

Unique footage of the B29 and X-1

Just go see. AWESOME!

Oh, beautiful!

My blog-brother Michael came across Wordle.net and it piqued my interest. Michael used the words to Charles Wesley's hymn, "And Can It Be" but I decided to try Romans 8:

I've got to agree with Michael - VERY COOL!

UPDATE: Oh, I also like this version -

Now, this is a good idea

... I just hope they keep really high standards for their experts, and are very careful to keep ad hominem attacks and rambling out of the head-to-head debates.

What am I talking about? Well, this morning, TechCrunch linked over to a brand new site called Opposing Views, describing it as

Opposing views finds experts and associations willing to argue one side or the other, and sometimes multiple experts weigh in on a single topic. Each argument is broken down into a list of simple points with a headline that readers can click on to go deeper. The experts can argue each point, and embed supporting videos and links. Readers can add their own arguments in comments and vote on who they think is winning the debate. (The best comments can be elevated to the starting page of each debate by the experts).

In the end, fine hopes to create an information-rich site that ranks highly on Google for each topic. In that sense he is competing with About.com, Helium, and even Wikipedia and Google’s newly-launched Knol. The debate format ensures that the content will change constantly, and the participating experts and associations will lend their (link) authority to the site.

I like this idea a lot! I do like to know both sides of an issue, but I don't like it when an "expert" gets so wrapped up in his or her own opinion that they can't simply lay out their position in a calm, rational and gracious manner. I really hope that Opposing Views manages to promote this sort of civilized and logical debate, and doesn't allow things to degenerate into sniping and one-up-manship. I'm also wondering how they'll moderate and manage comments; posts/articles on controversial topics often have comment sections infested with trolls, idiots, and petty wanna-bes, which wouldn't be good for the tone of the whole site (IMHO).

But, if it's careful, OV could become a clearinghouse for good, solid research into the basics of many issues.

Good luck,  guys!

UPDATE: Their Civility 101 page looks very encouraging, however!

Have you checked out Dr. Horrible yet?

Better hurry, 'cause he's all gone for free-view on Sunday the 20th...

Joss Whedon, of Buffy and Firefly fame (to name two), has done this for kicks and profit, and it's rather surreal... But I love it! It's too funny, and just odd... I guess I need to gratify my inner geek!

So, go check out Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog NOW!

DO WANT!!!!

Oh, wantwantwantwant!!!!

Of course, I'd prefer it in blue or green instead of pink, but beggars can't be choosers... ;-)

Thanks to XM Pops channel -

I was listening to Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov this morning (also Debussy, Verdi, Bach, Ravel... Mmmmm!), and went to Wikipedia to research some of their works and their biographies. On Rimsky-Korsakov's page, there was a music file of "Flight of the Bumblebee," a short piece of about one minute which takes incredible talent and dexterity to perform.

Check out the search results from YouTube! This one in particular was unique and extremely well-done:

Pretty awesome, don't you think?

Also, take a look at this one; I'd seen it sometime last year, I think. It's a little more traditional... Well, at least it's played on piano!

One word, people:

WOW!!!!!!

*DO* WANT!!!!

*sigh* I'm sorry, this is all a me!me!me!me! post, but I really wanted to put up some bling that I'm lusting for... I mean, really, REALLY lusting. I've been making googly-eyes over this stuff since it came out.

Now, they're both in my Amazon wish list (See? The link [Kat's Kravings] is right over there in my sidebar ----> ), and *sigh* wouldn't it be nice if an angel waltzed through and bought them for me? *grinz* Oh, it'll never happen (heck, it's not even my birthday, much less Christmas, LOL), but a girl can dream, right?

The drool-inducing Kindle --

And the Canon EOS Rebel Xsi -

Yeah, I'm Gizmette, the Gadget Girl... I blame my Dad and my BelovedHubby ;-)

*wistful sigh* Oh, well, gotta save my pennies (probably better to wait for the second generation Kindle, anyway), and get them.... someday... [laughing at my little longings...]

Talent truly on loan from God

I understand this video was taken pretty recently, from what I see on the YouTube page:

Beautiful, inspiring... STUNNING!

I pray this young lady goes far, and I pray that she keeps her sweet and lovely attitude, as well...

Kittipurrs to one of my Cotillion sisters, and to Julie, who posted it at Degrees of Madness.

Neat-O!!

Beth, the wonderful, crazy, magnificent Beth, pointed this little neat thing out: If you type the Cyrillic millions sign (U+0489), suddenly, you start typing BACKWARDS!

Let's see if it will work for me:

‫‬‭‮‪‫‬‭‫‬‭‮‪‫‬‭‮҉All right, I've done a copy/paste, and LOOK! I'm typing backwards! LOLOLOL

Pretty cool, huh?

Technorati Tags: cool, cyrillic millions sign, typing backwards

More coolness from the electronics/computer world

Oh, I can't remember how I came across this - probably from my RSS feeds. But, here's more of the yummy goodness on the horizon for the computing world: Microsoft Surface: Hands-on First Look

So, do you suppose we'll have this type of device all over our home in  ten years?

Technorati Tags: technology

This is TOO COOL!!

Yeah, I know, I haven't been posting, blah, blah, mea culpa, whatever. I had a week all to myself while the Munchkin was at 4H camp and my Beloved Husband was away on business, so I got a lot of stuff done around the house, and re-read the last four books of Harry Potter. I also got some quilting done, and lazed around a bit because I twisted my bad ankle *grf!*

Anyway, I was going through my RSS feeds (and yes, I've been keeping up with them, just in a very cursory fashion) this morning and found this at the Evangelical Outpost (a great blog, and one you ought to have bookmarked):

If this is where the web is heading - just one PART of the web! - I can't imagine where we'll be in 10 years! Isn't this just too incredibly wowcoolawesomefantastic?!

Technorati Tags: photosynth, seadragon, TED conference, web 3.0, Blaise Aguera y Arcas

I hope his words are heard

MEMRI TV has a video clip (look for #1363, "Bahraini Liberal Author Dhiyaa Al-Musawi" [link is to transcript]) that is a must-see. Now, I don't know a whole lot about Mr. Al-Musawi, but he looks a lot like a "moderate Muslim."

Why haven't we heard more from Muslims like him?

You ought to read the transcript (or watch the video) for yourself, but let me give you some quotes:

... We have not developed even to the point of admitting defeat. We [have to] admit our cultural defeat. In the past, we had a civilization in Andalusia and in many other places, but today we are regressing – we export violence, we terrorize whole countries, we threaten national security, and many other things. [...]

...This problem has political reasons, but who pays the price? The country, society, civil society, and the young man, who is being told that the black-eyed virgins await him at the gates of Paradise, and that all he has to do is kill himself, to slaughter himself. He might blow up his family and children to get the virgins of Paradise. This is the language and culture of death. We were not born into this world in order to die this way. The beauty of Man lies in his living for the sake of his homeland, not in dying while booby trapping others. [...]

In my home, I put up a picture of Jesus, because whenever I look at his picture, worlds of peace and love open up before me. It was Jesus who said: "Love thy enemies, bless them who curse thee." We need this beautiful language in our society. I also have a picture of Gandhi, whom I consider to be a very fine person, and whose [image] we should plant in the minds of our youth. [...]

Some of us say: "May Allah curse the Jews and the Christians, the offspring of apes and pigs." Is this the language of progress? Is this the language of enlightenment and tolerance? If you had been born in Rome, you would have been Christian, if you had been born in Tehran, you would have been Shiite, and if you had been born in Saudi Arabia, you would have been Sunni, and so on. How wonderful it would be if all these people could gather in love around the table of humanity.

Wow. Incredible!

Perhaps there is some hope for the Islamic world - if they listen to voices of reason like Mr. Al-Musawi.

As I said, read the whole thing!

WAY *cool!*

"Spray paint artist from Portorož, Slovenia doing sci-fi paintings in less then 10 min. You can find more about artist and his art on www.sprej.com"

One of the Ladies of the Cotillion (yeah, they're at it again) posted this link/video on-list, and I just had to pass it along....

(UPDATE - It was Wild Thing... I've gotta figure out a way to, um, repay her... Yeah... "Repay her" that's it... LOL... And what the heck is up with all the HTML garbage that Google Video threw into the post?! BLECH! Geeze, guys, haven't you ever hear of "KISS"? Well, hopefully it's fixed now.... [grumble, grumble, spit, hiss..])
               

 

Cool!

Go take a look at this awesomely cool video....

(HT to the incredible Bill Whittle)

Meet Skidboot

One of my Cotillion sisters - Darleen (oops, no, it was BethD), I think - sent this to the list, and I just had to put this up here at CHC. Skidboot the dog is amazing, and his Daddy seems like the best of America - simple (not simplistic), faithful, diligent, and all-around good guy. He talks about the blessings God has given him, and he talks about being a good steward of Skidboot's talents.

I think we all could do with more of this genuine character and integrity in our lives.

I thank Barbara and David for sharing Skidboot with us!

www.skidboot.com

Volcano blogging, part 1

Hiking the Kilauea Iki crater - 4 miles round trip, and a 400 foot drop.

Which means a 400 foot CLIMB, too! Arg. LOL!

Only from Ace

Ace posted this link, so I'm blaming him.

What do you get when you mix Diet Coke and Mentos?

Playing with Photoshop again...

I've been crawling a lot of the digital scrapbooking sites recently, mainly because I like the idea of doing it ALL on my laptop without the annoying little clippings and leftovers of doing scrapping "for real." Of course, I'm seeing a lot of Photoshop/Photoshop Elements yadda as a platform for putting it all together.

I'm really looking at Elements, because it appears so much easier than Photoshop, but I really cannot justify the added expense. If I really sat down and learned PShop... *sigh* After all, I "fixed" this photo with only minimal tweaking!

Here's the original:

And I cropped it and adjusted it until it now looks like this:

Cool, huh?

I know you've seen this before...

... but I finally remembered to google this again, and now I also know how to embed it here!

Genties and Ladlemen, the BIG AD!!!!

COOL!!!

The Great Zucchini

Got this story about the Great Zucchini (WaPo - don't know how long the link will last) via Betsy Newmark. A very interesting read - well worth the full 5 screens of the story. The meat of the article is in the 4th and 5th pages, but the first three set things up beautifully.

What an interesting guy. Sad, yes, but in a funny and innocent sort of way. Go read!

UPDATE: For a follow-up chat with the author of the article, go here.

More playing - now with Photoshop CS2

I have been totally unmotivated (as you can tell, I’m sure) to post anything the past couple of days. Part of that is because the Christmas series was pretty tough there at the end, and I was taking a break. Part of it, certainly, is because I didn’t feel like commenting on what’s been going on in the “real world.”

BUT!!! Most of it is that I’m trying to figure out Photoshop CS2. The Beloved Husband upgraded our PShop 7 to CS2 last month, and I’m finally getting around to trying to figure it out. Of course, I never did go through the whole stuff with version 7, but I’d really like to understand the basics of this powerful program, so I can tweak my photos a little and make them better. I don’t need the more esoteric features and .raw data processing (my little Sony doesn’t take pictures in the .raw format), but often the color corrections and balancing features will come in very handy. It would also be fun to do a little cut & pasteing, and play with layering and special effects.

Our upgrade included the new Adobe Bridge, which is a pretty powerful photo management program, as well as ImageReady. I’m a little confused, because the full suite of CS2 programs wasn’t included, but... *shrug* At any rate, if anyone wants to drop me a line and tell me what ImageReady is used for, and which part of CS2 I need for web-page design (and can I use that to mess with my Tpad template?), I would appreciate it!

So, here’s some stuff I’ve been playing with:

OK, playing with blogging tools!

FireFox now has an extension for blogging, put out by Performancing. It shows up in a split screen, and offers a basic WYSIWYG interface - nothing different, really, than what TPad offers on their dashboard. So, I'm seeing what I can make this do... I have another program of blogging software which has better options, but I haven't figured out one or two bugs yet.

So, how about adding a picture? ... Hmmm, nope, no option for browsing your hard drive... *grf*

Huh. Well, I suppose I'll have to keep experimenting!

Flogging a great blog

[Note: while Romeocat is on a limited blogation schedule—and instead acting as an accomplice (likely before, during and after) in family pranks—I'll post the occasional crosspost like this one from third world county. heh She never should have left the keys under the mat... :-) ]

Why Everyone Who Blogs "Important Issues" May Have to Quit Blogging

Nah, it's not because the FEC or some other government weenie bureaucraps might dump on ya that everyone who's an "issues" blogger might have to cut way back or stop. It's not even because NZ Bear might decide every link to Instapundit is worth 10 (or 100) links to anyone else (heh--just kidding Bear :-). No, It's because this guy is covering every single topic he touches better than anyone else.

Yep. Anyone.

In fact, linking to him in such a way as to open the link in a new window is probably an exercise in futility. You'll click the link, read posts like this one and never come back [to third world county, that is NOBODY would ever desert R'Cat! :-) ].

Oh. Wah.

Not that I'd feel the pain, cos if you did click on over there and get lost in the wealth of good blog and never come back here [to third world county] for my mediocre* stuff, I'd feel that I'd served you well and be pleased.

Seriously: that's one fine blog. I'd love for you to come back, but if I lose your readership [at third world county, that is] to someone like this, I'll feel that the service I've done you was well worth it.

Now that I've got that outa my system (and do go for a visit there!), when can we see R'Cat back on her regular blogation here? :-)

*N.B. Hey! "mediocre" ain't but half bad, ya know! ;-)

Short Winter Reading List

Here are a few books to put on your wishlist for Christmas...
The FairTax Book and








America's Best Kept Secret Fairtax: Give Yourself a 25% Raise

Those books could easily be a way to give America a great Christmas present: the abolition of the IRS.













It's in paperback, now! Michael Crichton's wedgie for eco-religionists:
State of Fear














Do As I Say (Not As I Do) :
Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy












(Now, how about one on "Profiles in Conservative Spinelessness" featuring most of the Republican't Congresscritters?)


David Weber! Some new Honor Harrington (OK, so she' just does a cameo in "Shadow... ").

The Shadow of Saganami (The Saganami Island)




and

Google Earth

How many of you have seen Google Earth? There's a freeware version available for download that you simply MUST try out.

Hours and hours of fascination, friends... Totally too cool for the room!

Cool!

Recumbent bikes for kids! Do I see Christmas gift?

(UPDATE: *sigh* We didn't last that long. Beloved Munchkin now has a new trike. She loves it. I am such an indulgent mommy - and Beloved Husband was no restraint, either!

More info on the bike here,  here and here.

Oh, and we got one of these for me. Beloved Husband will be getting his eventually, too.)

Saturday Sun

Just some linky stuff...

Get 'em while they're hot! Beethoven's symphonies numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9 from the BBC's Philharmonic under the direction of Gianandrea Noseda are available for download here for a limited time. These are all high-quality mp3 files, and so they are rather large for music files, especially for folks unused to downloading large music works. But they are well worth the download. Very Good Stuff.

If you want to listen to some von Karajan interpretations of Beethoven's symphonies numer 7 and 9, Diane has them up on her radioblog listing at Diane's Stuff. Also Very Good Stuff.

The Carnival of the Recipes is up over at Anywhere But Here. Good eats, great treats.

A continuing series on the Declaration of Independence speaking to the current scene here through Monday. Citizenship is costly. We must continue to pay the price if we want to continue to enjoy the benefits.

Here's a delightful discovery: Collecting My Thoughts. It's a text-dense blog by a retired librarian who's a real live thinking literate person. Always thoughtful and thought-provoking.

Kathleen Parker had a piece well worth reading yesterday. In case you missed it, here is "Family's feud with a fascist future."

It's July 2. Have you re-read The Declaration of Independence recently? Well, if not, here's your chance.

And while you're at it, here's some interesting background to the First Amendment to the Constitution. And you thought Roger Williams was a singer? That's Roger Whittaker (and what kinda old fogy are you to be thinking of him, anyway? :-)

Want more linky goodness? After you've surfed a while off Romeocat's blogroll, CLICK on over to my place and surf a few of the out-of-the way links both on my blogroll and my (sparse) links collection. I think that surfing a person's blogroll/links collection can be as interesting as their blog is. In the case of my blog, sometimes moreso.

*VBG*

Dueling Music

Okaaayy... Jeremy brought up the idea of introducing new links/bloggers and R'Cat stamped APPROVAL all over it, so...

Here are a few of my fav new (some just new to me) bloggers, some cool music links, etc. If you notice the comments to Jeremy's first post, there's a wide diversity of tastes mentioned between R'Cat, Jeremy and me there. Beethoven, Megadeth and AC/DC cover a pretty wide range. But I'll bet R'Cat and jeremy have even wider tastes than their fav group mentions indicate, and I know I'm not permanently stuck in the Classical period. :-)

That said, here's a roundup of recent links to some very good music on the web. YMMV (and I'm sure Jeremy will post a link to his Megadeth post but--Oh! too late, I just did. :-)

The Beeb is offering downloads of new performances of all of Beethoven's symphonies this month. I've listened to numbers one through five, so far, and they are very credible performances. LARGE files, so be warned. I've had one person tell me her DSL connection got swamped. YMMV.

Keep the Coffee Coming is a great site! It's a combo audio/picto/diarist blog featuring some of the best music you may have missed or neglected. Today's mp3 (audioblog) posts feature Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks and Peter, Paul and Mary. Yesterday's mp3 posts included Eddie from Ohio and Connie Kaldor. Good stuff, Maynard. (BTW, I found Keep the Coffee Coming via a link from my now fav coffeeblogger--actually coffee-tea-cocoa blogger: Christine of Morning Coffee and Afternoon Tea.)

Streaming music radio? Yes. Radio Wales has a bit of everything: 30s and 40s jazz and big band, Celtic folk, new pop and rock and just about everything in between. You can select a program and play it out of sequence or listen live. Requires Real Player or Real Player Alternative. Be sure to catch Frank Henessy's Celtic Heartbeat. Wonderful Celtic folk music!

A friend and I were having one of those "catch me if you can" email discussions the other night. He's in Melbourne, Australia and I'm here in America's Third World County™. In the course of the conversation, it came out that we were both listening to the same Vivaldi piece on 4MBS Classic 103.7 in... Brisbane, Australia. heh. indeed. (Are you listening, Glenn? The sincerest form of flattery, indeed. heh.)

And speaking of Australia and music, here's one of the most unique music-related sites I've seen. Ever wonder where you'd put a pipe organ in your home? Well, neither have I, but there's this guy...

I've a lot more in the music area, but those will suffice.

Non-music new-to-me bloggers with interesting blogs? In contemporary commentary, The English Guy is new to me in the last couple of weeks. I've found his comments to be insightful and well-stated. Contemporary culture, current events, wry observations and the occasional link to something wacky. Rich's site is a varied read.

Soliloquoy is a working writer's blog. Nancy does some thoughtful exploration of her world. Her posts remind me to take thought to my own daily experiences. Book and movie reviews, observations, articles published elsewhere. An eclectic journal. Some good reads, quite different to much of my poly-social blog reads.

Yeh, I understand On Location With Rick Lee had an Instalaunche a week or two ago, but in case you've missed the site, DO check it out. Rick's a commercial photographer with an artist's eye. Loads and loads of purty picksures.

Looking forward to some of Jeremy's links.

Back to normal Cathouse Chat...

:-)

He's French! Are there more?

I've been very irked with France (and in respect for this blogger, I will refrain from my usual "mis-spelling"), to the point that I don't buy any French products if I can help it.

But now I've stumbled across this gentleman (via an ad at Blogs for Bush), blogging at The Point. He's French. He's intelligent. He's coherant! And... *gasp*... He's pro-American! For example, take a look here, at his reasoning to vote against the EU Constitution.

I am adding him to my blogroll, and I'm very excited to see what else he'll have to say.

*sigh* I think I might be able to fall in love with a Frenchman, again! [*smack!* Stop that, you fool! You're married! Besides, you're much too old for him. - ed] Oops, sorry!

Michelle wanna-be

Ah, the heights to which I aspire, even though I may never reach them!

Michelle Malkin: TIME FOR A NEW TAGLINE?

From the unhinged magazine, Znet:

Media mavens such as Michelle Malkin pollute the minds of readers with ideas that are so emotionally-driven, devoid of logic, and packed with ringing endorsements of American hubris that that they leave critical thinkers who have a social conscience reeling with nausea.

Take a Dramamine already, dude.

I don't always agree with Michelle, but she is a wonderful example of the grace, intelligence and tenacity of a conservative woman. This is a woman of character who I hope my Darling Munchkin will emulate.

Google Blog

I didn't know that Google has a Blog.

Wow. Learn something every day......

Google does it again...

Look out, Mapquest, Google has rolled out Google Maps, and they look goooooooood!

(HT to Dean Esmay)