More Stumble!

I love to Stumble! Thanks for pointing me there, Audrey. Now here is a neat place that I think Debi would like. An interactive world map where you can see date-times and temperatures for any point on the map that you would choose to add. I added Lebanon and found the temperature is 54 degrees at Beirut Airport. I also added our tiny airport, Gregg County where it is a miserable 34 degrees and dropping.

Secret Worlds: The Universe Within

I used Audrey's link to Stumble! and found this. Way too amazing!

Secret Worlds: The Universe Within
View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons.

* * * 1/2 The Red Thread

The Red Thread, By Nicholas Jose

Shen, a modern day Chinese art dealer in Shanghai comes across an old bound book, Six Chapters Of A Floating Life, but there are only four chapters. For some reason he is drawn to reading it and holds it back from auction. He meets an Australian woman, Ruth, and they fall in love and so as they read it together, their lives begin to parallel what they read. They pick up a singer, Han, as a third member and the finding of the lost two chapters are critical to Ruth's health.

I give this book only three and one half stars, it could have been better with a such an intriguing storyline.

* * * * Zarafa

Zarafa, by Michael Allin


I loved this story about a giraffe that was given by Muhammad Ali, Sultan of Egypt to the Charles X, King of France. The book focuses on Zarafa's incredible journey, complete with maps, from Sudan to France. Lovely!

Year Of The Pig

Mark 2007 as the Year Of The Pig. Two companies, Smithfield Foods and Maple Leaf foods, have announced that they will phase out gestation crates in their pig farms. Click here to see a slide show of really bright and happy pigs.

Small World

No, this is not a modern art painting. It is the work of Ron Neumeyer, Microimagist who "Bring(s) the small to light". This is most fascinating. One of the categories is Beach sand , as well as a plethoria of other images such as this one. Beautiful!

LibraryThing.com

Here it is! Exactly what every book lover needs!

What is LibraryThing?
LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone. Because everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth.

What does it cost?
A free account allows you to catalog up to 200 books. A paid account allows you to catalog any number of books. Paid personal accounts cost $10 for a year or $25 for a lifetime.

I searched for The Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You and here is the nice result. I came to this link via a bookmooch.com. One neat thing is the book Unsuggester which turns the suggester on it's head. I put in The Binding Chair and it returned these results of books to not read.

Give it a whirl!

The Binding Chair

The Binding Chair, By Katherine Harrison ***

May's feet were bound when she was a child, as many Chinese girls feet were for over 900 years until the 20th century when it was outlawed. The story alternates by chapter between May and the English family that she finally marries into. I find the story and the characters unbeleivable and strange. Foot binding alone should have provided material enough for a story without introducing this English family. Somehow, though, it kept me reading through an agonizing 372 pages. I am amazed that Amazon.com readers give this book a generous 3 1/2 stars.

Photoshop

Add custom photoshop brushes at brusheezy.com to your software. This blog? has a problem similar to the blog problems we had, so be sure to page down for the information. Neat looking selections, of which I've included just one here. I've posted it here so I can find it later, and of course if you are interested that is ok too.

Digital Photography

You can make this bottle cap tripod yourself using the instructions provided on this really cool blog, DIYPhotography.net. Wouldn't it be perfect for PT? There are some other do-it-yourself links on this same page.

I've been combing this site just reading all the good hints advice and lessons. I'm wanting to get a small point and shoot with maybe a small zoom on it to carry around with me and take pictures. Audrey, I like your photos that you post on your blog. What kind of camera are you using and how do you like it? I already talked to Debi about the one she has and she offered to trade her Nikon Coolpix for my Panasonic Lumix...I'm thinking.