Byte of the Week

Two Bytes in a week? Maybe I’m back on track. One item was timely so I wanted to get this out in time for folks to enjoy the poster!

First – I work with some folks who have put together a cute Earth Day Poster that you can download for free http://www.learningzonexpress.com (scroll down to find it). With their permission, I’m sending the link with best wishes for a happy Earth Day (April 22)!

Second – do you have a friend on Facebook who is bugging you with her updates, yet you don’t want to deal with the politics of un-friending her? Well you could block her instead. The next time you see an update, just hover your mouse over the upper right hand portion of it. You’ll see a small X. Click on the X and you’ll get a dialog box asking if you want to 1) Hide this post, 2) Hide all posts by this person or 3) Mark as Spam. Choose the second option.

There you go – the person is hidden and none the wiser of your censorship.

Now what do you do if ever want to unblock those posts, just go to the very bottom of your Facebook homepage to find the older posts option. Just to the right you should find a “more options” button. If you click on that it will bring up a box with all things you have hidden and you can choose to unhide.

Today’s Byte is kind of fun – thanks to Rick in Minneapolis for sending it to me. It’s Library Thing (http://www.librarything.com). It’s part online catalog tool, it’s part social media. You can sign up with just a name and password. Then you can enter your book collection. How you define collection is up to you. It could be the books you own, books you’ve read, books you want to read…

Because Library Thing taps into a larger catalog, you don’t have to enter a lot of data to add your book. Just do a search and chance are you just need to select the right book. So you can think of your own reasons to catalog your books – I think I might challenge my kids to catalog their summer reading.

Once your online, Library Thing can give you book recommendations (or un-recommendations as they can them), can find you an online discussion or real live event in your area and more. Now I noticed that they didn’t list a few events in my area that I thought they would. If I were a better Library Thing citizen, I’d add them.

Happy reading!

It’s been a while – but here’s my kind of annual Thanksgiving quiz. Have a fantastic break!
Thanks! Ann

Thanksgiving Quiz

How fast can wild turkeys fly?
• They can’t
• 15 mph
• 35 mph
• 55 mph

About how many feathers does a mature turkey have?
• 1, 500
• 3,500
• 5,500
• 7,500

Which state produces the most turkeys annually?
• Minnesota
• Wisconsin
• Iowa
• Illinois

What great American lobbied to make the turkey the national symbol?
• Thomas Edison
• Benjamin Franklin
• Abraham Lincoln
• Tom T Turkey

How long did the Pilgrims’ voyage to the ‘New World’ last?
• 33 days
• 66 days
• 99 day
• 111 days

What Native American tribe celebrated the first Thanksgiving with the colonists?
• Wampanoag
• Lakota
• Ojibwe
• Sioux

Which country first adopted Thanksgiving as a national holiday?
• Canada
• US
• Mexico
• UK

Which song was originally written for a Thanksgiving program?
• Jingle Bells
• Greensleeves
• Let it Snow
• The Turkey Trot

What oven temperature is the best to roast a turkey to perfection?
• 225
• 325
• 425
• 525

Which state produces nearly half of the annual U.S cranberry crop?
• New York
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• Maine

Thanksgiving Quiz Answers

How fast can wild turkeys fly?
• 55 mph

About how many feathers does a mature turkey have?
• 3,500

Which state produces the most turkeys annually?
• Minnesota

What great American lobbied to make the turkey the national symbol?
• Benjamin Franklin

How long did the Pilgrims’ voyage to the ‘New World’ last?
• 66 days

What Native American tribe celebrated the first Thanksgiving with the colonists?
• Wampanoag

Which country first adopted Thanksgiving as a national holiday?
• Canada

Which song was originally written for a Thanksgiving program?
• Jingle Bells

What oven temperature is the best to roast a turkey to perfection?
• 325

Which state produces nearly half of the annual U.S cranberry crop?
• Massachusetts

Today’s Byte is just for fun. I’m back in the US and my birthday is coming up – so I’ve been happily getting emails from my favorite restaurants inviting me to come in for a free drink or desert.

It got me thinking about the great ways to use the Internet for free food:

Sign up with your favorite restaurants. Certainly every chain and most independents have email lists these days and most send the occasional coupon or freebie.

Open Table (http://www.opentable.com/) make enough reservations to earn a gift certificate. Also I love Open Table for finding restaurants when I’m away from home.

Dinner Broker (http://www.dinnerbroker.com/) I haven’t used it, but it sounds like Open Table.

MyKidsEatFree (http://www.mykidseatfree.com/) a searchable database of bargain nights for kids.

Restaurant.com (http://www.restaurant.com/) where you can buy $25 gift certificates for $10.

Minnesota Restaurants
(http://www.minnesota-restaurants.com/Minnesota-Restaurants-Special-Offers.php) has a list of local coupons. (Sorry for those outside MN.)

Today’s Byte is for folks who manage their own web sites. If you don’t build sites, here’s a web site that will help you build a gingerbread house with kids: http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/cafe/grahamcrackergingerb.html (Guess what we’re doing soon? This is from Zoom, and generally their stuff is super easy to do.)

Back to web sites…

CSS or style sheets help people use code to create look of their web site. Here are some tools to help create basic web site layouts using CSS. I think it would be hard to use these tools if you didn’t know CSS – but if you do it can be a quick start for a new site.

CSS Creator: http://csscreator.com/?q=tools/layout
This site will create the basic code for a fixed or liquid width for a site with 1, 2, or 3 columns and a header and footer.

The same site also provides a tool that will generate code for a dropdown menu: http://csscreator.com/menu/multimenu.php

Wufoo http://wufoo.com/
Will create code for forms and surveys, using CSS.

CSS Rounded Box Generator
http://www.neuroticweb.com/recursos/css-rounded-box/
The purpose is pretty specific, but I think it’s easier to use than other “roundy corner” tools I’ve seen.

I hope that’s helpful to you. Have a great week! Ann

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I just finished a fun web site for kids as part of the Eagle Nest Lodge web site. Eagle Nest Lodge is located near Grand Rapids (it’s really in Deer River) on Lake Winnie (aka Lake Winnibigoshish) and Lake Cutfoot Siouux.

It’s a fun resort – especially for families with kids. It’s open through the fall.  

I am in Dublin. We relocated on Monday/Tuesday. My Internet access is going to be shaky for 5-10 days so I’m afraid today’s Byte is really just a quick Irish lesson.

We are living in Dublin until June. My husband is starting a PhD program. He’s from Dublin and there’s no tuition for him here. (In fact, even if you’re not from Ireland, college tuition here is pretty affordable compared to the US.)

We arrived yesterday morning. So far the weather has been amazing – which is great since I think it has rained every day this summer, until now. We are learning all about Irish bureaucracy. (You need a letter from the school to get a bank account, a letter from the bank to get a school pass, a letter from anywhere – except the one we had – to get a library card.)

We will be chronicling our year in Dublin on our blog (http://10qs.wordpress.com) – not much there yet (due to shaky access). But we’ll be posting soon, including pictures!

I don’t often do this but I read an interesting article in the newspaper that I thought I would pass on: http://www.startribune.com/389/story/1362043.html  

It talks about how to save college age kids from ID Theft. They gave a “no call” number for credit card companies: 1-888-567-8688. Apparently if you call they will take you off the billions of lists to get credit card offers you usually get in college.

They also warn about giving away too much person info online because that can help hackers guess your passwords and to put a flag on your credit report, which might help recognize an issue before it becomes a problem.

The FTC also has a great site (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/) that can help prevent and clean up ID theft.

For college students I think it’s also wise to remind them that what you say online may haunt you forever. Google never purges their database – and if you thought home movies were embarrassing – imagine explaining a chat room archive to a future boss or spouse.

This is a test blog for New Ulm.

1. According to a recent Cub survey (Cub is a grocery store chain in Minnesota), what is the favorite Thanksgiving side dish?
Stuffing (at 36%)
Potatoes 28%
Pie 29%
Green bean casserole

2. According to AllRecipes.com, which side dishes would people be happiest to live without?
Green bean casserole 28.2%
Gelatin (Jell-O) salad 51.4%
Sweet potato casserole 26.1%
Cranberry sauce 22.2%

3. According to TripAdvisor, will more people be traveling home for Thanksgiving by plane, train, or automobile?
56 trip via car,
41 percent via plane
Train wasn’t actually listed

4. How long can you keep leftover turkey in the fridge?
1 month
1 week
3 days
What leftovers?

5. How many cranberries are used in one gallon of cranberry juice?
880
2,200
4,400

6. How many people comprise the average Thanksgiving Day celebration?
8
9
10
11
On average, survey respondents celebrate Thanksgiving with 9.1 people. However, in the North Central and South Central regions of the country, celebration sizes increase to 10.3 and 10.2 people respectively.

7. Who is the least likely member of the family to cook the turkey? (No names please, we’re looking for family role.)

I want to thank everyone on the byte list for reading the bytes and sending occasional nice notes. Here are the answers:
1. stuffing at 36%; 2. Jello salad at 51% followed by green bean casserole at 28%; 3. 56% by car and 4`% by plane; 4. 3 days; 5, 4,400; 6. 9; 7. Grandpa (although my kids guessed mom.

Have a great Thanksgiving!