Dave’s Guide to the Best of the Web

    Here are a few articles/videos I discovered over the last few days I found to be pretty good. This isn’t necessarily an endorsement of the whole site, it just means these particular pages/videos were entertaining. I’ve also been working on The Informed Networker, please take a look at that as well.

Articles:

• Top 10 Strangest Lego Creations by techeblog. - If you haven’t seen these creations, check them out, they are really unbelievable.
• Linebacker, 59, to play college ball by Jaime Aron (Charlotte Observer). - Wish I was in good of shape now at my age as he is at his.
• Weird Deep-Sea Creatures Found in the Atlantic (National Geographic). - A few pictures of fascinating sea creatures. Especially fascinating is the glass squid and phronima - they are amazing!
• Real Life Sea Monsters by John (Who-Sucks). - Similar to the above National Geographic article but in larger quantities, this some amazing and disgusting sea creatures.

Videos:

• Public Bathroom (TheFunnyStuff). - Some pranksters place an office around a porta-potty while individuals are inside - when they walk out they are surprised to find themselves entering an important business meeting.
• The Meaning of American Pie (StumbleVideo/YouTube). - A fascinating video montage that explains much of the lyrics of the popular song classic song American Pie.
• Just for Laughts (StumbleVideo/YouTube). - Man pretends to be proposing and asks random strangers to videotape. Results are hilarious.

Have your own? Let me know. I always enjoy a good informative/entertaining video or article.

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.”
- Dwight D. Eisenhower.

War. The war is so civil and hides behinds its mask an ugly monster. Humans, individuals normally united by common bonds and interests are split apart and become driven by man’s most basic instincts. Thrust, slash, run, shoot, dig, kill, die. Blood pours upon the ground and fathers, sons, brothers, mothers, daughters, sisters die. The statistics are easy to press into the back of our mind. What does a thousand mean? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? Millions? Bar charts, graphs, numbers - impersonal, till a loved one never returns.

“War is hell.” - William Tecumseh Sherman.

In spite of its horror it is still something which draws the focus of our minds. We have made some of our greatest artistic works about it - consider Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace or Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. Our heroes are oftentimes those whose greatest achievement is the role they played in a deadly conflict - George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchhill. As a little child I know I picked up my wooden gun and for hours and days I would embark on grand battles against imaginary enemies with my siblings and friends. It would take some years before I would come to realize that there was nothing so grand about war.

Still, as adults many of us engage in a practice known as wargaming. In this practice it is usual to simulate historical (as well as fantasy or science fiction) warfare. What is it that attracts the human mind to such a practice? I do not think it is a love for violence or death, but rather an interest in conflict and competition. But, I will not too long indulge in the reasons for our interest in wargaming, it is beyond the scope of this article. Rather, my purpose is to acknowledge this interest and point towards one of the best resources on this subject - The Wargamer.

The Wargamer is the most prestigious website dealing with wargaming currently on the internet, though Grognard holds a close second place (mainly limited by its focus on more hardcore wargaming). It was established in 1995 and over the years has seen significant growth and expansion. To briefly note, here are a few of its key features:

• Daily News - The Wargamer provides daily updates on the latest developments on the wargaming front, letting you know ahead of time what is happening in the world of wargaming and providing reports after important conferences, events, etc.
• Reviews & Articles - The Wargamer is a vast repository of reviews on wargames. While the games are mainly computer wargames there are also a number of board and card games as well. Whether you are looking for a review of a recent game or one that came out ten years ago - The Wargamer is a good place to look. They also offer interesting historical articles on various battles and historical events.
• Forums - The Wargamer has very active forums where you can discuss all aspects of wargaming as well as chat with those of similar interest about casual topics.
• Downloads - There are also a large number of scenarios and campaigns hosted by The Wargamer. These can be downloaded at no cost and offer significant additions to the built-in capabilities of many games.
• Opponents - If you have mastered your computer opponents, The Wargamer can help you find an unlimited number of human opponents to test your mettle against.

The Wargamer is a great place to learn about wargames and extend your current wargaming experience. I would encourage those (such as myself) who partake in this hobby to ensure that this gaming is never done without a ready acknowledgment of the horrific nature of the actual conflicts…That computer pixels or miniatures have no life and come back to combat another day, but that mere mortal humans have no such luxury.

Thanks to The Quote Cache for the quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Charity and I don’t have cable, never have. Growing up, I never did either. I guess that puts me in the minority. Add to that that at different portions during my life there was no television and that we don’t receive television reception at our current home (or our previous apartment) and you can see why I’m mentioning Blockbuster.

I’ve never been a big fan of scheduled television. Its always bothered me to have to break up my schedule to fit the television network’s demands and I’ve always been frustrated by their decision to put the sort of shows I enjoy (generally, commercially unsuccessful) on at times that are inconvenient for me. I’m a much bigger fan of on-demand entertainment. Perhaps this is partially from my generation - a generation which is used to instant gratification. In any case, while instant gratification seems bad, I don’t think that receiving what one wants or receiving it instantly are necessarily bad - rather it is how we utilize what we have that determines its affect on us.

But enough philosophical wandering. One company which I think deserves some accolades for innovation and offering a great product is Blockbuster. Blockbuster was traditionally brick-and-mortar VHS and DVD rental stores. However, recently as Netflix gave them significant competition through their mail delivery system, Blockbuster decided to pursue the same system - and succeeded only in being extremely unprofitable. Recently, however, they have revised their system to allow them to become a strong competitor.

Let’s talk a little bit about Blockbuster. Blockbuster has more than 2,600 stores throughout the United States and can be considered the DVD/VHS equivalent McDonalds. They and Hollywood Video have all but eliminated the mom and pop competition by offering wider selection and lower prices. Unfortunately, this didn’t prevent them from having several significant downsides including: (a) still rather high prices, (b) publicly visible content inappropriate for children, and (c) inconvenience of traveling to and from a store to get a movie to watch.

Then Netflix came onto the scene. Netflix offered individuals unlimited DVD rentals sent to their home for a low monthly fee. For anyone who was a regular movie watcher - it was a no brainer. Eventually, Blockbuster realized they were losing their battle against Netflix and went online as well. We already talked about that a bit - so lets talk about where they are at now and what they offer.

Blockbuster now offers a plan very similar to Netflix. You create a queue of movies you want to see and Blockbuster sends them to you at your subscription rate (e.g. three at a time, two at a time, one at a time). When you are done with a movie you send it back in its post-paid envelope and a day or two later receive your next movie. Because they have distribution centers all over the United States their delivery method is pretty fast (within 1-3 days).

Select from over 75,000 titles - movies, documentaries, or television series. Okay, so far we have a direct competitor with Netflix. So what makes them better? Simple. Those DVDs you receive in the mail. Take them to any local Blockbuster store and return them for free rentals in-store - no hassle. This is a humongous boon.

Personally, I am an impulse viewer. What I put on my queue five months ago may no longer interest me - in fact what I put on my queue a day ago may not interest me. Being able to take this film in and exchange it for something I am interested in is a great boon. There was also the dilemma of having to wait for new movies to arrive once I sent out the ones I’d watched. No more! Now, I can take them to the store and get new movies while I wait for the next three to come (they are sent at the same time I return the films to the local Blockbuster store).

Blockbuster offers a number of different plans - which I think can be great, especially as a money-saving alternative to cable. Their most expensive plan clocks in at just under $20/mo. (still significantly cheaper than cable) and allows you to receive 3 DVD’s at a time and trade those DVD’s in locally. It also gives you one additional coupon for a free DVD or game at a local Blockbuster.

Some might complain that that means they have to wait an entire year for the newest season of their favorite show to be released. True. But one could purchase it off iTunes and still end up at the better end cash-wise compared to cable, or watch it online for free through one of the many networks that are currently offering many of their shows with advertising support (e.g. ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX).

For those who are considering getting a Blockbuster subscription but dread the thought of that every empty queue. Here are a few recommendations from my favorite movies to get you started: Life is Beautiful (PG-13), Hotel Rwanda (PG-13), Princess Bridge (PG), Lord of the Rings Trilogy (PG-13), Monsters Inc. (G), The Incredibles (PG), Passion of the Christ (R), Luther (PG-13), Mercy Streets (PG-13), Napoleon Dynamite (PG), Amazing Grace (PG), Remember the Titans (PG), We Were Soldiers (R), King Kong (PG-13), The Second Chance (PG-13), Gettysburg (PG), The Alamo (PG-13), Batman Begins (PG-13), Because of Winn-Dixie (PG), Hoodwinked (G). For television shows you might want to check out Joan of Arcadia (canceled after two seasons) or Jericho (canceled after one season, but revived by fan pressure). For those concerned about the content of the movies/television they watch consider purchasing a ClearPlay DVD player and/or reading the reviews at Screen It!

Finally, it is worth noting that Blockbuster recently purchased Movielink - an on-demand download movie service. This is probably a direct response to Netflix which recently began offering on-demand movie downloads to its customer base. Both of these services are still in their infancy - offering several thousand films as compared to the tens of thousands each service can offer through physical media, but I expect to see Blockbuster began packaging Movielink services with the Total Access package sometime in the near future and for the quantity of titles available from both Blockbuster and Netflix to steadily increase with time till this whole mail thing phases out for on-demand downloads.

I’m a big book fan but I’ve never been a big art fan. Still, as time progresses I have been changing and finding more joy in art. Recently I visited the website for the National Gallery of Art and after spending some time there found that it was an amazing site which provided useful information in such a way that even I, as a non-artist type, could enjoy.

The National Gallery of Art is located in Washington D.C. and is a government organization. I hope to stop by there next time I am down that way. The site of course includes the usual information - such as on special events, their collections, and supporting the institution. But what really sold me on the site was the portions of the National Gallery of Art available for viewing online.

For adults there is an entire section entitled Online Tours. On this page one can find a wide variety of tours available - such as those focused around specific artists (e.g. Jacopo Bassano, Cezanne, Thomas Moran, Rembrandt, Diego Rivera), architecture, specific pieces of artwork (e.g. Jackson Pollock’s “Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist)” or Pablo Picasso “The Tragedy”), or by theme (e.g. Artists Exchange: Europe and the Islamic World or Dada).

There are also sections specifically dedicated to children. These sections include interactive painting and decorating tools of a web 2.0 nature that allow children to interactively learn about art and create their own art.

Finally, there are sections for educators including numerous resources for educating on art. For example, there is an Ancient Arcade that allows discovery about ancient gods and symbols through art or there is the downloadable “Inside Scoop: Shaw Memorial” that is a “kid-friendly look at the Memorial to the Massachusetts 54th Regiment…”

So, if one day you want to learn a little more about art - here is a great site to begin your journey at. It is beautiful, well organized, and informative. It gives information in bite-sized pieces that aren’t overwhelming and makes the information fascinating. Perhaps someday we will cross paths in the real National Gallery of Art.

Project Gutenberg is one of the most prestigious websites on the internet. Founded by Michael Hart in its nebulous form in 1971 it is one of the longest-lived and largest websites on the internet. Project Gutenberg exists to digitize books in order to distribute and preserve them for all time and does so as a free service.

As such, Project Gutenberg is an exciting and vast library of resources for anyone looking for a good read. One can visit their Top 100 Downloads page to see what books and authors are most popular or browse the entirety of the vast collection - currently clocking in at over 20,000 volumes.

All of the volumes on Project Gutenberg are legally placed there, either because their copyright has expired and they are now in the public domain or because the author/publisher has given explicit permission for the book to be published.

So what sort of books can one expect to find on Project Gutenberg? The variety and scope is amazing. Here are a few samples:

• David Eugene Smith. A History of Mathematics.
• Jefferson Davis. The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government.
• Brother Lawrence. The Practice of the Presence of God.
• Alexandre Dumas. The Count of Monte Cristo.
• Jack London. The Call of the Wild.
• W.E.B. DuBois. The Souls of Black Folk.
• Thomas Henry Huxley. Evolution of Theology: an Anthropological Study.
• Fyodor Dostoevsky. Crime and Punishment.
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
• E.A. Wallis Budge. The Babylonian Legends of Creation.
• T.S. Eliot. The Waste Land.
• Jules Verne. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
• H. G. Wells. The War of the Worlds.
• Zane Grey. The Last Trail.
• Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.

Project Gutenberg also includes search functionality which allows you to query their massive tomes to find the rare and obscure. For example, when I was working on GameSecretary.Com, a website of group games, I found several volumes specifically on this subject such as George Orrin Draper’s School, Church, and Homes Games and May C. Hofmann’s Games for Everybody.

If you are looking for a way to help others out, Project Gutenberg is also an excellent project. There are many quick ways to become involved in the process and the time required is determined by the volunteer. Who doesn’t want to help ensure that texts are archived and available for posterity’s sake and our own?

For those looking to read more about the history of Project Gutenberg, a good article was written by Marie Lebert entitled “Project Gutenberg, from 1971 to 2005” and published over at the Net des études françaises.