Cool Uses of Google Maps

I found this site when I was looking for, well, "cool uses of google maps".

Here is what I found:

• HousingMaps: Craigslist apartment listings plotted on Google Maps
• Found City: A community-generated map of interesting places in New York City
• Google Sightseeing: A blog that shows "the best tourist spots in the world via Google Maps' satellite imagery."
• Google-Traffic.com: Maps traffic data onto Google Maps
• Google Maps Wallpapers: Merges Google Maps satellite "tiles" to produce wallpaper or a poster
• Cheap Gas: Find cheap gas prices, powered by gasbuddy and Google Maps

And the following, created by Adrian Holovaty, ljworld.com's lead devloper:
• Entertainment locations listed on Lawrence.com are shown on mini-Google Maps inserted on the site's pages
• Chicago transit maps on Google Maps
• ChicagoCrime.org. ong the cool features on this site:
- You can view crimes by type, location and a number of other criteria and see them plotted on a Google Map.
- Every city block in Chicago has a detail page with its latest crimes and links to crimes within 1, 2, 3, 5 or 8 blocks.
- RSS feeds for every block and police beat in the city.

Found City

Here is a site which is a community-generated map of interesting places in Boston and other major cities in the US.

3D Earth Maps

Ah... Google... they have managed to catalogue everything else on this planet, so... why not this planet!?

The Good News: Google Earth is a collaboration between Google Maps and Keyhole (which Google bought this past year). Google Earth is software that you can download for free which allows you to view/print 3-D maps of major cities (I'm sure other cities are coming). They also have two other more advanced versions of Google Earth, but those will cost you.

The Bad News: There is not a Mac version yet. C'mon Google... you know us Mac users are cool enough.

Cheap Gas?

So is it "cheap" gas? Or, "inexpensive" gas... the battle rolls on. However, I am not here to discuss that, I have found a site that allows you to find the cheapest gas prices in and around the city. The site: GasBuddys.com lets you input a zip code and up comes a bunch of prices in that area (the site actually will link you to www.bostongasprices.com). Let's just hope it actually finds one close enough to justify the drive to the gas station.

Crime Watcher

This site puts a new twist on the phrase "neighborhood watch". The site - http://www.chicagocrime.org - has incorporated Google Maps into its site in order to track crimes throughout the city. You can even search from crimes using different categories, dates, and locations. The maps also take advantage of Google Maps satellite feature. I haven't found one for Boston yet, and truthfully, I'm not sure I want to.

VistaPrint Business Cards - Free

This company is awesome. I received my FREE Business Cards from VistaPrint, and they looked great!" I would recommend them to anyone for any of their many services. I even know a person who orders them for her company (a certain fruit company dealing with domestic/international financial services).

Expiration Dates

I took a quick glance at "Effect Measure" this afternoon and found this post on the truth behind expiration dates for everyday foods. The original list comes from "Real Simple" (see "Effect Measure" for the link).

If you are gourmet chef's like Anna and I, then this will be very interesting folks, very interesting.

You Win 100 Grand!

That's what a woman in Lexington, Ky. though she had won. Turns out, when she got to the radio station she had only won a "Nestle 100 Grand" chocolate bar. Needless to say, she was NOT happy. She had promised her kids a new minivan, a shopping spree, a new house, etc. She is now suing the parent company. When she went to pick up the cash prize, they informed her she would have to wait for the DJ to show up and they offered her $5,000.00 instead, be she declined saying that she "...wanted $95,000.00 more...". If I hear anymore I will keep you updated.

Click here to read the entire story

Mind Boggling

As written by John Tomase in the Eagle Tribune today, stats on how much Manny Ramirez of the Boston Red Sox makes:

"... In the six seconds it takes to read this sentence, Manny Ramirez will make three dollars and 78 cents. Check back in a back in an hour, and he'll be $2,286 richer. By this time tomorrow, his bank account will hold an extra $54,794..."

Onion: Everything That Can Go Wrong List

Here is an article from "The Onion":

"... FULLERTON, CA—A worldwide consortium of scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers is nearing the completion of the ambitious, decade-long project of cataloging everything that can go wrong, project leader Dr. Thomas R. Kress announced at a press conference Tuesday..."

Click here to read the entire article (image included)

Don't Steal Your Prof's Laptop

Dr. O just forwarded this to me... I'm not exactly sure what this kid was thinking, but... it's probably NOT a good idea to steal your professor's laptop... This is the forward someone sent to him:

- Berkeley laptop thief is scared out of his wits by professor -

"... The last few minutes of this soundclip from a biology class at Berkeley is of professor explaining the terrifying consequences that will soon befall the student that stole his laptop. Hell, I'm 500 miles away from Berkeley and I'm scared after listening this..."

Click here to listen/download the warning by the professor

Happy Birthday: Pac-Man

Pac-Man turns 25 this month. Here is a little bit of the Boston.com article on it:

"... For a video game, Pac-Man is getting downright old. The ghost-wary hero with an insatiable appetite for dots turns 25 this month.

From the early 1980s "Pac-Mania" to today's endless sequels and rip-offs, the original master of maze management remains a bright yellow circle on the cultural radar.

But there was more to Pac-Man's broad appeal than eating dots and dodging on-screen archrivals Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde..."

Read the entire article here

Happy 1 Year Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to Anna and me. We were married about a year ago (12 June 2004). It has been a magical year filled with ups and downs all around us, but as usual, we made it through. Should be easy sailing from here on out. Funny thing happened: The day after our anniversary, we both felt a bit different. Turns out, we both really feel "married" now. I can't really explain it, more grown up or something. Before it just felt the same way it did when we were "boyfriend/girlfriend", but now it seems more real.

Also - A little self-esteem booster: Happy Birthday to me on the day before our anniversary (11 June)

Happy Anniversary: Giginha & Filipe

I hope you have a wonderful Anniversary! And you thought I would forget (Ha).

Happy Anniversary: Dr.'s O

Happy Anniversary to the O's. Congratulations on your 33 years of marriage. That's got to be some kind of record.

Adjusting the Office Chair

Some of these newer office chairs seem to come with too many options. Even me, a guy who loves options/gadgets/levers, this gets silly. it took a few hours to figure out how to adjust the tilt for the back. Don't laugh, you know you have struggled with chair, and maybe you are still struggling with it. And now, Joe is trying to describe how to use one of the other levers (he just got the same chair). Here are a few lines from our e-mail conversations on this topic.

Joe wrote: are you in already? i wasn't expecting to hear back from you for awhile... did you figure out the last knob under your chair. it's hard to get right, but it figured it out. lock your seat in a recline position, then rotate that knob on your right. good times over here at fuller 10th floor...

I Wrote: i dont get it, whats it do... it doesnt seem to do anything but "unlock" or something...

Joe wrote: does the 'tilt' of the chair (either vertical or it's tilted fwd,sliding you off the chair). only seems to work when you are reclined and lock it with the left lever...then rotate that knob, THEN UNLOCK THE RECLINE, THEN LEAN WAY BACK AND RELEASE THE RECLINE...now you'll see. it's all very complicated....do these things come w/ manuals???

Which Character on "Family Guy" Are You?

I found this to be pretty accurate. Perhaps the rest of you will find your own "inner 'Family Guy' character".

Which Family Guy character are you?

Happy Birthday: Frank Lloyd Wright

Happy Birthday to my favorite architect. Google has conformed its homepage "Google" to celebrate Frank Lloyd Wright's birthday. If you move your mouse over the Google symbol you will see Wright's name pop up. If you click on that Google image you will see more info on Wright. Click here to read more about Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Traffic Cone Preservation Society

So THIS is what the kids at UCLA do all day. Click on the link below to go to a site some students have created on the moc-history of the traffic cone.

Traffic Cone Preservation Society

Apple Makes the Switch to Intel

Apple has decided to switch processors from IBM's PowerPC to Intel chips. This is a big deal in the small computing world of Apple. How will this effect you? You may want to hold off on buying a Mac for a while. Perhaps a MacMini would be fine, but hold off on the bigger stuff. No, this will not effect the iPod, but those immediately... lol!

Here is a link to Apple's Steve Job's presentation

Why You Should Switch to the Mac

A month ago one of the country's leading experts on information security, infrastructure protection and electronic privacy decided to switch his whole company from PeeCees to Apple Computers (So from Win XP to Mac OS X). He was "disgusted by security issues and poor performance" and therefore "Mad As Hell". He has written his review on his first month after the switch. His letter grade for OS X this month is: A-. Why the minus? Not sure. But he was very pleased with the integrated software, robust security, and the relative ease of use. Click on this link to read his blog and what else he had to say.

Double The Beef just add 89¢

Here is a link that Dr. O sent me about a kid who had "beef" with a Wendy's advertisement in which you "double the beef" on your sandwich for 89¢ more. Good story, and the responses to his post were hilarious. I guess I won't be adding Wendy's to my list of "Burger Joints" to try out.