------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine ------- Vol 3, Issue 11 Lisa, Kaylie, and I, with a few friends, went to see the "new" U of M Museum of Art. They just recently re-opened with a whole new wing and we thought it would be a fun family-friendly weekend event. Kaylie loved it. OK, to be accurate, she loved running from place to place, letting out joyful yells which she could hear echoing back at her from every hard surface. Daddy spent most of his time in "chase mode", trying to keep the little one out of trouble. Not always succeeding. At one point Kaylie was running down a hall with me walking in pursuit. She couldn't go far, as halfway down the hall was a glass wall and door cordoning off a series of meeting rooms and offices. I knew what she wanted to do -- press her face and hands up against the glass (as she had done with all of the other glass in the place). Apparently I was incorrect in my assumption, though, as I realized that she wasn't slowing down at all. Sure enough, a loud *KUNG!* rang through the place as my little sweetie ran smack into the wall. Fortunately, no children were harmed in order for me to tell this story. Tears dried up shortly after Momma arrived and once again we were ready to enjoy the art museum at speeds only a toddler can maintain. Like Kaylie and the glass wall, there's a lot of stuff in the online world that I don't notice until I run into it (fortunately, I don't make that *KUNG!* noise when it happens). When I do happen upon something particularly cool, I try to save it in my bookmarks for later perusal. And then I forget about it. This past week I decided to try to clean up my bookmarks. In the process I discovered a few gems which I thought I would share with you. ---------------------------------------------------------------- In This Issue... ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: Unburied Treasures 2. Shameless Self-Promotion 3. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: Unburied Treasures ---------------------------------------------------------------- So I thought I would clean out my bookmarks the other day, both those on my Firefox browser and those that I had saved using Delicious (http://del.icio.us/). I think I cleared about two of them. I started clicking and before I knew it, I had gotten lost in all of the cool stuff I had squirreled away. Now, I have hundreds of links that I've saved over the past several years. A *lot* of them are tutorials and explanations for the various technical tools I use in my business -- probably not the most fascinating thing in the world. Still, one or two of the others seemed like they might appeal to the general user. * Arbor Parents FAQ (http://www.unixmama.com/arborparents/faq.html) -- This site contains a remarkably long list of good things for parents in the Ann Arbor/Washtenaw County area should know. Child care, clothing, doctors, you name it. If it's about your child, it's probably listed here somewhere. One of my favorite sections of the list is the one that has activities for kids "especially on a snowy day". * Babbel (http://babbel.com/) -- I remember when I first discovered this, well over a year ago. The site provides free foreign language lessons in English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. From the little I played with it, the site is pretty slick. I had fun trying to revive some small portion of the German I learned in high school and college. My only complaint is that the language I want to learn, Japanese, isn't available and there are no plans to include it in the near future. For any of these other ones, though, it might be something to check out if you are considering learning a language and would like just a small taste before you jump in on a full program elsewhere. * Digital Photography School (http://digital-photography-school.com/) -- Of all of the non-technical sites, I'd have to say that this one was the one that got me the most excited. Lisa and I bought a nice point-and-shoot camera a few years ago and I've always kind of wondered how to get the most out of it. OK, I've wondered what all the buttons and dials are for. What's an aperture setting? What's the ISO setting do? When would I use manual focus? DPS has a series of tutorials and articles for everyone from the complete novice (me) to those who work regularly in the field. After going through one of their "beginner" tutorials, I'm kind of excited about getting out there and trying some shots. It's funny how bookmark lists can pick up so much stuff that we don't remember even half of the links in there. It's kind of like that junk drawer in the kitchen. Check it out every once in a while. You'll never know what tools got buried under the accumulated layers. So what treasures do you have tucked away in your bookmark list? Drop me a line at gpeters@cyberdatasolutionsllc.com and let me know. Copyright 2009, Greg Peters ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Shameless Self-Promotion ---------------------------------------------------------------- The "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-Zine is a production of Greg Peters, owner, chief cook, and bottlewasher of Cyber Data Solutions. CDS has been helping website designers develop better web presence for their clients for more than a decade. Visit us on the Web at www.cyberdatasolns.com to see how we can help your webmaster. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: You can subscribe to the "Clearing Up The Confusion" E-zine at: http://www.cyberdatasolns.com/ezine Questions: If you have any questions, concerns or comments regarding the Clearing Up the Confusion E-zine, please email Greg Peters at: gpeters@cyberdatasolns.com This content may be forwarded in full, with copyright and contact information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Greg Peters is required, with notification to the original author. We never send the "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-zine uninvited, and we NEVER share, sell or rent our mailing list to anyone. Your privacy is safe with us.