Links to cool places or things.
There are 1,524 posts filed in Check It Out (this is page 148 of 153).
Glad to find out today by way of Planet Trilug that my friend and fellow ham Eric Christensen is on the air with his own blog.
I’ve worked a few Tour De Cure volunteer events with Eric and have great respect for him. It takes a lot of concentration and professionalism to keep an event like the TDC on track and Eric has lots of both.
His blog should be interesting. Welcome to the blogosphere, Eric!
(73, Mark N4JMT)
Fake Steve Jobs, the hilarious anonymous blogger poking fun at Steve Jobs’s persona, has revealed himself to be Dan Lyons, senior editor of Forbes.
“I was hoping to stay anonymous for a while longer but on the other hand I knew I couldn’t stay anonymous forever. It had to happen at some point,” Lyons said.
“I hope that it doesn’t ruin the fun of the blog that people know who’s behind it.”
I bet the blog stays just as popular. Dan Lyons is a genius!
(h/t Mike B.)
Looks like the locals are working together to get their own low-power radio station on San Juan Island. The San Juan Island Community Radio project has recently been approved for non-profit status and will soon be applying to the FCC for its transmitter.
I think the islands are perfect for a community radio station, as the geography (among other things) naturally creates issues of interest only to its residents. I hope they get what they need and get their station on the air. Hopefully I’ll be tuning them in the next time we visit.
If you’ve got some experience with community radio, why not send them a line and offer some help?
I’ve always thought that the video craze that Youtube and others started would be great for teaching people things. You know, stuff that might not be flashy enough for regular TV. Looks like I found just such a resource this morning in 5min.
5min bills itself as a “life videopedia,” offering Flash videos showing you how to do almost anything. From guitar lessons to skiing to fixing your computer, you can find it on 5min.
I wish I’d thought of it done it myself!
Whoops.
It seems I started a firestorm recently on the local Triangle Internetworkers (INW) mailing list. The INW list is the mailing list for local tech geeks where subject run the gamut.
One poster was looking for broadband options for his church. I suggested that it’d be great to have options, including municipal ones, and I linked to my prior post about the Local Government Fair Competition bill.
Continue reading
My buddy rarousse alerts me to Weird Al Yankovic’s upcoming show in Raleigh August 5th. Alas, I can’t go, as we’ll still be in Washington state, wrapping up our vacation.
I was sixteen when I last saw Weird Al in concert. It was 1985 and I was working at Carowinds, where he and his band played at the Paladium. Al puts on a pretty good show: just the kind of kookiness you’d expect from him.
I see from the above link that Al is playing the Paladium again this tour. I wonder if he’ll look around and notice I’m not there?
When the kids see me at the computer, they like to ask to see a train video. Today I decided to find a video of a steam train. That’s when I found clips from the last steam run Norfolk Southern ever made: the Norfolk and Western 611 excursion train making its last run to its final resting place in Roanoke, Virginia in 1994. I wish I had known about it then.
Take a look at these clips on YouTube. Hear that steam whistle? Haunting, isn’t it? I can imagine what it must have been like in the 1950’s, lying awake on a rainy night and hearing that lonely whistle sounding across the dark landscape. That whistle has soul. No diesel’s air horn will ever sound like that.
The 611 was well-prepared for its retirement by its Norfolk Southern crews. It is now on display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation. Just last month it was rolled out of the roundhouse, still looking ready to go.
I’ve got to visit the 611 the next time I’m in Roanoke!
Every time I fire up Google Earth I marvel at how much fun it is to zoom around the Earth from the comfort of my easy chair. The other night, a friend sent a Google Maps link to India’s Alang shipyard: the place where supertankers and other ships go to die.
Zooming around the imagery of Alang, I spotted an aircraft carrier waiting to be dismantled. That lead to a Google search of its identity, revealing it to be the former British Royal Navy HMS Vengeance. While the story of Alang is fascinating in itself (and worth a read, or a look on Google Earth), I happily discovered a site that documents these Google Earth finds:
Intrepid Earth.
Intrepid Earth scours the world through Google Earth, bringing you the good stuff. As a former “spook,” I was pleased to see the all the military and defense-related images, such as Iran’s Bandar Abbas naval base or Russia’s behemoth Typhoon-class submarine. Intrepid Earth makes for a great tour guide.
MT.Net says check it out!
I’ve chosen a new theme for MT.Net: Random Image! It randomly rotates the photo on the banner, so it should keep things interesting.
I will soon stock it with my own photos. I hope to take some shots of Raleigh landmarks to add to the rotation but I have surprisingly few of those at the moment.
BoingBoing pointed out the secret deal where one can get DSL service from AT&T for $10/month.
BoingBoing’s Cory Doctorow says AT&T is evil and doesn’t deserve your business. I say that’s precisely the reason everyone should sign up. At $10/month, AT&T must surely lose money on every line. Therefore, sign up as many of your friends and family as you can!
The Consumerist: AT&T’s Secret $10 DSL
Bellsouth: Bellsouth FastAccess DSL Term Agreement Plans Available
