Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 11, 2002
Feel free to browse
www.InventionAtPlay.org/
When do we let go of the inner child and stop being so wildly creative? Is letting go of one's imagination a product of conditioning from an abusive media? Or do we just get too weighed down with daily responsibilities to stop and smell the roses? If you've got a bunch of young or young-at-heart minds in your house, shuffle them over to this site. There's a wealth of information about inventions and inventors and just interesting things to check out. My favorite part has to be the cloudmaker. Who hasn't laid in the grass and looked into the sky making shapes from the clouds? Of course, if you grew up in L.A. you'd be excused. The rest of you have no excuse.
www.GreatAchievements.org/
Here's a gem of a site that celebrates some of the greatest engineering and scientific feats of man's supposed intelligence. Thankfully, the order on the home page isn't of importance, or at least I hope it isn't. I'm placing health advances above the Internet and household appliances. A lot of surprises await, such as the invention of the dishwasher apparently back in 1932. AT&T, which seems to have done most of the heavy lifting in telecom invention, introduced the first modem in 1958. Each section is divided into a timeline and a history portion. The timeline makes for a good scan before delving into the well-written and easy-to-digest essay on the subject. It's a great site for inquiring minds of all ages.
www.Torborg.com/applestore/
You'll find one in every crowd, especially if the crowd happens to be lingering outside of an Apple Computer store. Other crowds may or may not contain Tadd Toberg and his family. Tadd's what you might call mildly obsessed with Apple Store openings. He's attended all of the East Coast openings. And he has photos to prove it. He loads the car up with supplies (water, kids, etc.) and heads to the next opening. It's mostly to hang out in the line outside the new store. If you missed the opening at International Plaza in September 2001, there are photos on this site that show all. There are bonus points for spotting members of the Tech Times staff milling in the store.
www.WordSpy.com/
Halfway between what you'd get from a word-of-the-day e-mail from the dictionary sites and Wired's now tired Jargon Watch sits Word Spy. It culls short phrases and interesting words from news items and presents them in context, once a day, for your viewing pleasure. With your newfound knowledge of current events and hip financial buzzwords, you'll be the belle of the meeting and have a full dance card at any water cooler. There's a free e-mail subscription gizmo, too. So if you're too lazy to visit the site, the words will come and visit you.
BitBoost.com/pawsense/
Manufacturers tout static electricity and dust as the major enemies of computers. I'm guessing that these well-meaning people don't really get out very much or, if they are shut-ins, they don't have computers in their cells. Clearly the two major enemies of computers are coffee and cats. Unless you invest in specialized keyboards or can type through a garbage bag, there's not a great deal of protection from the former. But thanks to some nifty software, the random musings of your kitty's paws upon your keyboard can now be detected and your data shall remain intact. There's even a setting so that the computer will make a sound to annoy one's feline in the middle of an act of malice. It's a mere $20 plus shipping.