Thunderstorm Video

I captured a bit of video of last night's (Jul 21) thunderstorm. The Weather Channel predicted the storm would hit about 8:40 pm and they were spot on!

Learn How To Use Google Voice

Google Voice gives you one phone number for all your phones, voicemail as easy as email, and many calling features for free. I got my invitation last weekend and have been exploring its features for a few days. I've collected several mini-tutorial videos on many of the Google Voice features. Links to these short (60 sec or less) videos follow this brief overview of the service.


How To Use Google Voice

Placing Calls
Google Voice calls you on your phone and connects you to any US number for free. Call directly from your contacts list.

Taking Calls
Decide what phones ring and whether you answer when your Google number is called.

Call Screening
Know who's calling and screen unknown callers before you answer.

ListenIn
Hear why someone is calling before you decide whether to take the call.

Voicemail Transcripts
Voicemails are automatically transcribed to text and stored in your inbox. You can also have them sent to you via email and/or SMS.

Listen to or Read Voicemail
Voicemail as easy as email. View and listen to voicemail online or from your phone.

Share Voicemail
Forward a voicemail via email, embed it in a website, or download a copy to your computer.

SMS Messages
Receive and send SMS and store a copy of all your SMS in your online inbox.

Conference Calling
Join multiple people into a single conference call.

Phone Switching
Switch phones in the middle of a call.

Assigning Phones
Add and update the phones that ring when your Google number is called.

Phone Routing
Have all, some or none of your phones ring depending on who calls your Google number.

Managing Groups
Add individuals to groups and set call preferences by group.

GOOG-411
Connect to GOOG-411 directory assistance by calling your own Google number and choosing option 5.

Call Recording
Record whole or parts of calls on the fly and access recordings online.

Block Calls
Unwanted callers wont be able to reach you anymore.

The Charge of the Light Brigade

HI very much like a movie that inspires me to want to learn more about an event. Last night I watched the 1968 version of the film The Charge of the Light Brigade starring David Hemmings and Trevor Howard, directed by Tony Richardson. The movie is a reasonably accurate depiction of the tragic 1854 British cavalry charge led by Lord Cardigan (Howard) against the Russians during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War.

Watch the trailer ...


Prior to this I had only a sketchy knowledge of this event derived mostly from the epic poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Consequently, I wanted to know more about this incident in history.

Of the more than 600 cavalry troops who rode into the "Valley of Death" that day about half were killed, wounded, or captured. The brigade, led by Lord Cardigan at the front, displayed great courage in the face of overwhelming fire raining down from three sides. However, the charge violated sound military principles and was destined to catastrophic failure by incompetent leadership and petty jealousies and rivalries at the command level.

An interesting fact I learned from the film is that officers' wives traveled with the troops. But not all wives. According to the movie, only one in six wives were permitted to make the journey with their husbands.

Made at a time when when the Vietnam War was raging in southeast Asia the film includes themes such as class distinctions in Britain, racial and social prejudice, and the glorification of war.

Read the Wikipedia entry for The Charge of the Light Brigade.

Read an eyewitness account by London Times correspondent William Howard Russell

See a virtual movie of Tennyson reading his poem on YouTube
See a copy of the poem hand-written by Tennyson

And the thunder rolled ...

Sometimes, I like this sort of a storm. It seems to cleanse the air and freshen everything.

More from WW2 Weekend

This short clip shows some World War II era planes on the taxiway at Reading Regional Airport during the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum's World War II weekend.

Soul Wow with Father Vic

I saw this on Good Morning America today and felt compelled to share it.

Father Vic and Soul Wow ...

It's Duck Season! It's Wabbit Season!

Another sign of spring in the neighborhood!

Honda Rube Goldberg-esque TV Ad

It is my understanding that there are no computer graphics or digital tricks in this Honda TV ad. Everything that you see happened in real time exactly as you see it.

Reportedly, the recording required 606 takes, and in the first 605 there always was something, usually of minor importance, that didn't work. Itwas necessary for the production team to install the set-up time after time. The recording cost $6 million and took 3 months to finish, including the engineering design of the sequence.


BTW, the voice over at the end is Garrison Keillor of NPR's Prarie Home Companion.

Lost Generation - YouTube Video

This video came to me in my iLearn Technology RSS feed. I very much want to share it. The message of the piece is fantastic and the clever presentation is stunning.

We're Off to See the Wizard ...

The wind is howling like an angry monkey! Gusts up to 60 mph. If you go out better put some rocks in your pockets!

How Super Bowl Footballs are Made

This video essay by AP Photographer Amy Sancetta shows how Wilson is making the balls for Super Bowl XLIII.

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Video of US Airways 1549 Landing in the Hudson

The Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board has posted a remarkable video to its YouTube channel showing the emergency landing of US Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson River on January 15. Be patient, the plane comes into view from the left about 2 minutes into the recording, then it zooms in.

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Saving Money in Plain English

Saving is becoming cool again. Over-spending is so passé.

Saving Money in Plain English is another excellent video from Lee LeFever and the good folks at Common Craft. It's an introduction to the magic of compound interest and how it helps money grow over time.

Do Ya Feel Lucky?

If it were just 2 degrees colder we'd be a lot of trouble here!

Good Morning Central Pennsylvania

In my tightly budgeted morning routine, I left no time for this frosty surprise ...

Great Interception by Steeler Troy Polamalu

Pittsburgh Steeler star Troy Polamalu makes one of the most amazing interceptions I've ever seen ...

The Verbosity of Joe Biden

This is fantastic! Go, Joe!

Penn & Teller Expose Bottled Water

Penn & Teller reveal the truth about bottled water. (Language Advisory)

Part 1


Part 2


Earlier post: Thirst for Bottled Water

Thanks to Tor Erling for pointing me to this video content.

Plurkerrific!

For the last several days I've been checking out a new social micro-blogging site, Plurk.com. Actually, I'm way past "checking it out," I'm nearing "consumed by" status. I had tried Twitter twice in the past and it just didn't work for me. But Plurk has grabbed me by the *****!

The community is still small but vibrant and enthusiastic, and growing. I think that they, like myself, are excited about being in at the start of something with potentially a great future. Plurkers appear to be a more mature, more sophisticated group. As yet, not a lot of kids appear to be plurkers. I have met a lot of really interesting, wonderful plurkers so far and had a blast!

The quirk of Plurk is the horizontal timeline.Newest items appear at the left and by dragging or using the scroll wheel you can go back in time. It has a bit of a learning curve, but as I got more familiar with it, navigation became relatively simple.

I really like the conversational threads that develop from individual posts and appear in a drop-down window. Sometimes these convos go on for hours with various plurkers jumping in and out as they can.

You can also preface your plurk with a choice of verbs and choose from an assortment of emoticons.

There's a system of karma points with certain plateaus that open new features. For example, when you reach 25 karma points, you're emoticon set increases.

You can group friends into cliques and send private plurks among the members of that group.

Pictures on other image hosting services such as Photobucket, Flickr, and Picasa Web can be linked to as can YouTube videos.

Plurk is not feature-rich. There is no search capability as yet. There isn't a way to ignore a conversation or save one, but it's early days yet.

I'm hooked, as are most of my pleeps. They are the best thing about Plurk ☺.

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