Ginkgo100's Picks from the Web

CSS Tutorial

2009-05-18T07:00:00.002-05:00

Information to Start Your Week:

I've been having fun with CSS! Of all the references and tutorials I have bookmarked, the one at HTML Source is the one I keep going back to the most.

FMyLife

2009-05-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

Funny Friday:

FMyLife — short, funny tales of woe. Warning: Not entirely work-safe/family-safe.

Parenting insight

2009-05-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

Thursday Too Good to Miss:

Therapist and psychology blogger Erica Krull wants to know, "Are You a Parent or a Friend?" Must-read info for any parent with kids at home.

Reliable Home Remedies site

2009-05-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

Information to Start Your Week:

The Internet's full of alternative medicine quacks and snake oil salesmen, so a reliable home remedies site like this one is gold.

Grace Before Meals

2009-05-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

Spiritual Sunday:

Grace Before Meals is a ministry run by a priest named Fr. Leo to help families strengthen their connections through family meals. I especially liked the webisode on shopping for sauces in liturgical colors. I wonder what goes into a purple sauce? Lots of red wine, I hope!

For Parents of Special-Needs Babies

2009-04-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

Thursday Too Good to Miss:

Check out Be Not Afraid.net for support for parents whose babies are prenatally diagnosed with health problems, from Down syndrome to anencephaly.

Oldest Known Temple

2009-04-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

Midweek Curiosity:

Gobleki Tepe is thought to be the oldest known temple, dating to 11,000 years ago.

Pirates Not Cool Anymore

2009-04-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

Thursday Too Good to Miss:

This news article addresses the peculiar American romanticization of pirates. I never understood it because pirates have always been thieves, rapists, murders.

Learn more about the Deuterocanon (aka the Apocrypha)

2009-04-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

Spiritual Sunday:

Mark Shea's "5 Myths About 7 Books" will be interesting to anybody who would like to know more about the "extra" books found in the Catholic Bible.

Inactivity

2009-04-10T10:40:00.001-05:00

I just realized this blog has been inactive for longer than I thought. This post is just a reminder, to you and to myself, that it is not, in fact, inactive. New posts coming soon.

A Collector's Finance Blog

2009-03-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

Information to Start Your Week:

The Truth of Credit is a blog written by a collections agent. Definitely worth reading.

The Illustrated Pen

2009-02-26T07:00:00.001-06:00

Thursday Too Good to Miss:

The Illustrated Pen is a blog that tracks the creation of gorgeous pen and ink drawings from start to finish.

Ranking of the presidents on leadership

2009-02-23T07:00:00.000-06:00

Information to Start Your Week:

C-SPAN has ranked the 43 past U.S. presidents on their leadership abilities. These aren't exactly the best and worst presidents, but rather the best and worst presidential leaders.

Googling the 50 U.S. states

2009-02-20T07:00:00.001-06:00

Funny Friday:

The author of the comic Wondermark, David Maliki!, has documented what Google thinks of the 50 U.S. states. It turns out South Carolina hates university presidents, Hawaii is not legally a state, and Kansas isn't so bad.

HTML and CSS tutorial

2009-02-16T07:00:00.000-06:00

Learn HTML and Cascading Style Sheets with this tutorial.

Pet Tags

2009-02-12T07:00:00.000-06:00

Thursday Too Good to Miss:

I order all my pet ID tags from Terrific Pets. Good prices, quick service, and free shipping — I just placed my third order with them (darn cat lost her collar). This is not a sponsored link — I'm just a satisfied customer. You can get a duplicate tag for free with the promo code BUY1GET1.

Know your States test

2009-02-11T07:00:00.000-06:00

Midweek Curiosity:

See how well you know U.S. geography by placing the 50 U.S. states on the map on Know your States.

Freedom Internet Disabler

2009-02-10T07:00:00.001-06:00

I have my doubts about the usefulness of this tool, and question the name, which I consider ironic, but I suppose some people may find Freedom useful. If you have an Apple computer, you can use Freedom to enforce your Internet breaks.

LOLSaints

2009-02-07T07:00:00.000-06:00

Yes, LOLSaints. Like LOLCatz, but holier.

Photo Mine

2009-02-05T07:00:00.001-06:00

Thursday Too Good To Miss:

My new photo blog, Photo Mine, is now active! Please, go enjoy the beautiful, odd, and remarkable pictures posted there!

Rare disease diagnostician - like Dr. House

2009-02-04T07:00:00.002-06:00

Midweek Curiosity:

Here is a news article about Dr. William Gahl, an expert at diagnosing weird diseases, just like TV's Dr. House — only good, not evil.

Online stopwatch and timer

2009-02-03T07:00:00.001-06:00

Tuesday tool:

Now this is really cool. I just successfully used it to time my preschooler's timeout. Check out the online stopwatch, which doubles as a timer if you click "count down."

Science and Art website

2009-01-29T07:00:00.001-06:00

Thursday Too Good to Miss:

Enjoy the Earth and Sky Photo Galleries at Science & Art.

Obamicons

2009-01-28T07:00:00.002-06:00

Midweek Curiosity:

Make your own CHANGE image (or any other Obamicon) at ObamiconMe.

Favicon Generator

2009-01-27T07:00:00.000-06:00

Tuesday Tool:

Of several favicon generators I tried, this one worked the best.

Finding Freelance Writing Jobs

2009-01-26T07:00:00.000-06:00

Information to Start Your Week:

Blogger Mile Hi Mama has some advice on finding freelance writing jobs on the World Wide Web.

Free Video Games Project

2009-01-24T07:00:00.002-06:00

Saturday Relaxation"

Flash-based classic video games. I can't get enough of Tetris.

Ten signs of evolution in modern humans

2009-01-21T07:00:00.000-06:00

Midweek Curiosity:

A cool list of the Top Ten Signs of Evolution in Modern Man.

Web Gallery of Art

2009-01-17T07:00:00.001-06:00

Saturday Relaxation:

The Web Gallery of Art is a searchable online "museum" of European art. Beautiful.

1000 Words Meme

2009-01-13T12:16:00.001-06:00

Want to practice your writing skills? A Thousand Words is a blog that publishes a photo with a prompt to write 1000 words about it, then share the URL with a Mr. Linky.

Cavalcade of Bad Nativities II

2008-12-23T07:00:00.000-06:00

The Cavalcade of Bad Nativities was updated last year. Enjoy the 2007 Cavalcade II!

Cavalcade of Bad Nativities I

2008-12-22T07:00:00.000-06:00

Enjoy some Christmas humor with the original 2004 Cavalcade of Bad Nativities.

Misspelled words quiz

2008-12-18T07:00:00.000-06:00

Too Good to Miss:

Check out this quiz over the 25 most commonly misspelled words in English. Can you beat my score of 22?

Hellotxt.com

2008-12-16T07:00:00.000-06:00

Hellotxt.com is a status updater similar to Ping.fm. Both allow you to update all your social networks (Plurk, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) at once with a single post.

12 Worst Photoshop Mistakes

2008-12-12T07:00:00.001-06:00

Enjoy the 12 Worst Photoshop Mistakes Ever (credit to Jennifer F.'s links blog).

10 Spyware Warning Signs

2008-12-11T07:00:00.000-06:00

Too Good to Miss:

10 Spyware Warning Signs. Valuable information.

Civics Quiz

2008-12-10T07:00:00.001-06:00

Midweek Curiosity:

The Civics Literacy Report has published a civics literacy quiz whose average score among Americans is a mere 49%, with 55% reported for American college educators. Your web-picker proudly reports a score of 94%. How well can you do?

Double Killer application

2008-12-09T07:00:00.000-06:00

Tuesday Tool:

Double Killer is a free little application that kills the doubles on your hard drive — that is, it finds and deletes duplicate files.

Myers-Briggs personality test

2008-12-06T07:00:00.001-06:00

Saturday Relaxation:

What is your Myers-Briggs personality type? Here is a "quick-n-dirty" Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test. I'm (still) an INFP. How about you?

The 30-Second Bunnies Theatre Library

2008-12-05T07:00:00.000-06:00

Funny Friday:

The URL is "angryalien.com," and "theatre" uses the British spelling even though everyone has an American accent. Don't let these odd facts throw you off the 30-Second Bunnies Theatre Library, which parodies iconic movies with animated bunnies.

Family Watchdog

2008-12-04T07:00:00.001-06:00

Too Good to Miss:

For those who feel you cannot be too careful with your family, check out Family Watchdog, which collects information on registered sex offenders, FDA warnings, product recalls, and safety tips.

Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis

2008-12-03T07:00:00.001-06:00

Midweek Curiosity:

A Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis in the U.S.

Injader

2008-12-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

Tuesday Tool:

My friend Ben Barden created Injader, a free, open-source content management system. If you have a site that is not primarily a blog, check out Injader.

Time Zones Around the World

2008-12-01T07:00:00.000-06:00

Information to Start Your Week:

This detailed image (description page here) from Wikimedia Commons shows time zones around the world. Despite the zig-zag boundaries, time zones are quite orderly in the U.S. compared to some parts of the world. Check out the 2½ hour difference at the border of India and China, or the border of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, which goes backwards.

The Cyber Hymnal

2008-11-30T07:00:00.001-06:00

Spiritual Sunday:

The Cyber Hymnal has lyrics, scores, MIDI files, history, and more about over 7000 Christian hymns from all denominations.

Sandwich Recipes

2008-11-29T07:00:00.002-06:00

Saturday Relaxation

Perhaps, over the next several days, you will tire of turkey sandwiches. If so, head over to Sandwich Recipes for some good alternatives.

Shopping Humor and Verse

2008-11-28T07:00:00.003-06:00

Funny Friday:

Madeleine Begun "Mad" Kane, winner of the 2008 Robert Benchley Society Award for humor, has a whole page of shopping-related humor, including "The Wonderbra Song" and quite an assortment of limericks.

Thanksgiving on the Net

2008-11-27T07:00:00.001-06:00

Too Good to Miss:

More information about Thanksgiving than you can shake a stick at!

All About Birds: Wild Turkey

2008-11-26T07:00:00.001-06:00

Midweek Curiosity:

Everything you ever wanted to know about Wild Turkeys, including a beautiful photograph of a displaying tom.

Google Flu

2008-11-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

Tuesday Tool:

Google keyword data can be used to track flu activity around the U.S. Google reports the data to the CDC. Yes, that means the government. But the government has always had an interest in public health — the threat of privacy violations here is low.

CIA World Factbook

2008-11-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

Information to Start Your Week:

The CIA World Factbook is an awesome atlas of facts about countries around the globe.

Thank God I...

2008-11-23T07:00:00.002-06:00

Spiritual Sunday

Thank God I... is an online community whose members share stories and thank God for unlikely blessings.

LIFE Photo Archive

2008-11-22T07:00:00.000-06:00

Saturday Relaxation:

Google hosts the LIFE Magazine photo archive. How cool is that?

Murphy's Law

2008-11-21T07:00:00.000-06:00

Funny Friday:

All of Murphy's Laws in one place.

Report Phone Numbers

2008-11-20T07:00:00.000-06:00

Too Good to Miss

Who is that mystery caller who keeps harassing you? Look them up or write a report on it at Report Phone Numbers. Profanity warning.

Picks From the Web Schedule

2008-11-19T08:48:00.003-06:00

To reduce the randomness of this site, here is a weekly schedule of links. Holidays may minorly pre-empt this schedule.

Monday: Information to Start Your Week (useful reference sites)
Tuesday Tool (web scripts and downloads to make your life easier)
Wednesday: Midweek Curiosity (out-of-the-ordinary finds)
Thursday: Too Good to Miss (grab bag of miscellaneous leftovers)
Funny Friday (humor sites)
Saturday Relaxation (low-key photos, entertainment, etc.)
Spiritual Sunday (sites related to faith or personal development)

If you're visiting every day, you can be sure to swing by on those days with links you find most relevant. If you subscribe, of course, you'll be sure to get every post without even having to bookmark this site.

What do you think of this schedule? What's missing? Post a comment!

Buy Nothing Day

2008-11-19T08:33:00.001-06:00

Midweek Curiosity:

Next Friday is Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the biggest shopping day of the year. It's also the day of an Adbusters protest: Buy Nothing Day. Worth being aware of — whether it's worth participating in is up to you.

FileZilla

2008-11-18T13:28:00.002-06:00

Tuesday Tool:

Need a free FTP client? FileZilla is an open source product that was recommended to me by several people.

Wife Advice

2008-11-17T14:38:00.000-06:00

Though the husband, known as Donkey, is often outrageous, the blog Wife Advice is good clean fun.

Headstone Inscriptions

2008-11-16T15:57:00.001-06:00

These humorous, though often mean-spirited, headstone inscriptions are purported to have been taken from real graves.

E-Mealz

2008-11-15T05:51:00.000-06:00

E-Mealz is an interesting concept. They do all your meal planning &mdash including checking out your local supermarket's sales and creating a shopping list.

Death Clock

2008-11-14T14:46:00.000-06:00

If I were on the ball, I would have posted this macabre site on Halloween. Get an idea of your expected life-span.

Wikimedia Commons

2008-11-13T13:21:00.001-06:00

Want free images? Wikimedia Commons contains only free content -- either licensed under a free license such as GFDL or CC, or else totally free, i.e. public domain. You can use images there for any purpose, including commercial purposes.

Wikiquote

2008-11-12T13:20:00.001-06:00

From the Wikimedia Foundation, which brings us Wikipedia and Wiktionary, is another cool wiki: Wikiquote, a compendium of quotations.

Wiktionary

2008-11-11T13:18:00.000-06:00

Everyone's heard of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. But did you know about its little brother Wiktionary, the free dictionary?

Bacon Beats Fries

2008-11-10T13:05:00.002-06:00

In Colorado State Senate District 14, voters overwhelmingly chose Bacon over Fries. That's former educator and Democrat Bob Bacon v. businessman and Republican Matt Fries. Yes, it's real, I checked it out.

Romantic & unromantic poems

2008-11-09T11:04:00.001-06:00

Hilarity from the blog of a friend of mine.

Everything Plus the Kitchen Sink blog

2008-11-08T16:21:00.000-06:00

Wrapping up a trio of fab tip blogs with Everything Plus the Kitchen Sink.

My Library blog

2008-11-07T17:03:00.000-06:00

Another great tips blog, My Library.

Handy Tips & Hints

2008-11-06T16:19:00.001-06:00

This blog, Handy Tips and Hints, has tips on everything from window washing to Internet dating.

The Intersection of Me and Jon Arbuckle

2008-11-04T13:51:00.001-06:00

This is me. Oh my gosh, it's like looking into a mirror. My secret is out. From "Garfield Minus Garfield."

Entrecard

2008-11-03T10:05:00.003-06:00

There are so many blog catalogs, blogger social networks, blog link share sites, and so forth that I cannot even keep track of them. I've signed up for a few and put them on some of my blogs' sidebars, but I don't even remember anything about them.

This is different:

Entrecard is a cool, not-too-time-consuming, useful way to share advertising among blogs. Notice the Entrecard widget on the left sidebar here. Go check it out.

Retail Me Not

2008-10-31T18:05:00.000-05:00

Retail Me Not has coupon codes for sites all over the web, and collects data on users' success rate with them.

Smiley Jungle

2008-10-29T18:03:00.002-05:00

I've always preferred calling them "smileys," not that robotic sounding word "emoticons."

Wordle

2008-10-28T16:06:00.000-05:00

Create a word cloud for your blog or other website with Wordle. Very cool.

New vocabulary test

2008-10-23T10:44:00.002-05:00

Vocabulary Test 2 from Daily Writing Tips. I scored 90% — I think I'd have gotten 100% if (a) they hadn't used a bunch of colloquialisms in one question, and (b) I brushed up on Marxism.

Photo Basement

2008-10-15T21:22:00.002-05:00

Aside from occasional, disappointing politcs, Photo Basement is like a more intelligent version of Fail Blog.

TV Tropes

2008-10-11T08:45:00.002-05:00

The TV Tropes Wiki is awesome, for both creators and devourers of fiction.

Ranking candidates rather than voting

2008-10-07T13:46:00.002-05:00

SciAm has an interesting article arguing that the wishes of the electorate would be better expressed by ranking candidates rather than voting for single candidates.

Free coloring pages

2008-10-06T09:34:00.002-05:00

Got kids? Got a printer? Check out The Coloring Spot, a site full of free coloring pages.

Pink ribbons

2008-10-05T16:55:00.002-05:00

Hear, hear! Naked Medicine says what we've all been thinking about all those awareness ribbons.

Boy feeds zoo animals to crocodile

2008-10-03T09:05:00.001-05:00

In Australia, an Alice Springs boy killed zoo animals with a rock and fed them to the crocodile. What's shocking is the age of the boy: seven. CNN has the story.

Font conference

2008-09-03T20:09:00.000-05:00

Computer fonts, incarnate and in conference. A very funny video!

Obama campaign poster

2008-09-03T09:40:00.004-05:00

From Mile Hi Mama.

Missile over Utah

2008-09-02T09:04:00.001-05:00

Google Maps has caught an image of a missile flying over Utah!

Not really; it's an airliner with a white body and dark gray wings. But it sure looks frightening!

LOLanteater

2008-08-29T09:33:00.003-05:00

Daily readings from the Mass: USCCB site

2008-08-24T07:15:00.001-05:00

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' site is a great reference for American Catholics. My picks:

Daily Mass readings
Text of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in English
The New American Bible translation

Ping.fm

2008-08-23T14:28:00.000-05:00

To quickly update multiple sites, use Ping.fm with this code: pingitlikeitshot

I use Ping.fm to update Plurk (my favorite), Twitter, Identi.ca, and this blog.

Plurk

2008-08-22T19:41:00.000-05:00

Like Twitter ... but not. Yeah, I Plurk all the time. Go check it out.

Crummy Church Signs

2008-08-22T19:39:00.001-05:00

Crummy Church Signs offers "critical analyses of critically bad church signs." Frankly, not a lot of critical analysis is necessary. The signs speak for themselves.

TinyURL

2008-08-21T17:27:00.000-05:00

If you must include a long URL in a print medium (no copy-paste) or if you are using a site that limits you to a certain number of characters such as Twitter or Plurk, you can shorten links by plugging them into TinyURL.

Blu-Ray DVD Fire Sale

2008-08-21T12:44:00.002-05:00

Got a tip that Blu-Ray titles are up to 50% off at Amazon. If your family or friends have a Blu-Ray DVD player, you could do some early Christmas shopping. Or build your own Blu-Ray library. Me? I won't be shopping — we probably won't upgrade to Blu-Ray until we absolutely have to. We just finally said goodbye to VHS for good.

Hakia

2008-08-20T17:26:00.003-05:00

Forget Google for research. Hakia is still in beta, but appears much more useful as a research tool, since it does rankings based on reliability of a source rather than on web statistics.

The Tunguska Event

2008-08-20T09:47:00.003-05:00

Explosion in Siberia, 100 years ago - the Tunguska Blast

Ape-to-human evolution--Fact or fiction?

2008-08-19T14:00:00.002-05:00

New science article: Ape-to-human evolution--Fact or fiction? http://ping.fm/kXar8

Types of electron microscopes

2008-08-19T13:41:00.002-05:00

Types of electron microscopes - http://ping.fm/dL7dd

Free Magazine Subscription & Free Shipping

2008-08-18T17:05:00.002-05:00

Amazon.com has a promotion in which you can get a free magazine subscription and free shipping on clothing orders over $25. They have a lot of brand names and the promotion lasts through August 27. The magazines you can choose from are Lucky, GQ, or Teen Vogue. Click on the appropriate link to shop for clothes:

What You Know vs How much you know about it

2008-08-18T13:37:00.004-05:00

PhD Comic: Now I'm glad I stopped at undergrad...

Hat tip to Evolving Thoughts.

Fail Blog

2008-08-15T11:16:00.002-05:00

Judging by how often I see it referenced around the Web, Fail Blog is already pretty popular and doesn't need my endorsement. I'm sharing it anyway. This is a highly entertaining (but not work-safe) photo and video blog of, in their own words, "FAIL, OWNED AND PWNED MOMENTS."

Welcome

2008-08-15T11:03:00.003-05:00

This darn Internet: It's so full of stuff! And it's just made for sharing.

I try to keep my other blogs, Leave the lights on and Road to Black, full of unique, on-topic content. So what's a girl to do when she's got something to share?

Make a link blog, of course!

Just so you know, some of the things I have to share are from sponsors. Sponsored links will be labeled as such — but everything on this blog is something I find coooool, sponsored or not.