Gorgeous photos of Earth’s Islands as seen from Space
Here are some beautiful photographs of some of the world’s islands as seen from space.
My favorite photo is this one of the Maldives. May I have a small one please?
A rather unorthodox guitar ‘duet’
This is simply amazing. I thought there were 2 remarkable things – stop reading and just watch if you don’t want me to give it away. First, they picked parts that could be played on different strings (at least it looked that way to me) and then their amazing timing when one was picking what the other one was fingering.
Bill Moyers: On the importance of health care in America
A few weeks ago, Bill Maher interviewed Bill Moyers one on one, and I’ve been meaning to blog about this since then. He made a great point that I completely agreed with: “Universal health care is representative of a deeply moral society.” Watch the start of this video for about a minute and a half.
Sure, universal health care seems to be portrayed as this extremely liberal position that no Republican would or could ever support. But here’s what I find ironic: there is a large swath of the Republican party that identifies with Christian values and campaigns have used ‘values’ as major foundations. What could be more Christian that looking out for your fellow man? I’m hardly suggesting that the government or people in general need to take care of every aspect of everyone else’s life, but if someone is sick, why can’t they get health care or at least affordable health care? Would a small town in America 100 years ago or even 50 years ago let one of their own die if they couldn’t afford to see the doctor? Perhaps I have an idyllic view of yesteryear, but somehow don’t believe I’m completely off-base. Certainly, immigrants to this new world didn’t have health insurance.
The entire Bill Moyers interview is worth watching (approx 30 mins). Parts 1, 2 & 3 are on YouTube. Thanks to HBO and the Bill Maher show for not yanking this from YouTube.
Feed your Head: Food, Nutrition, Diet, Health & the Food Industry
If you care even a little about your health, the quality of your food, the environment and even animal rights, then you owe it yourself to read these 2 fantastic books: Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I just read these and was floored. There’s no question they’ve changed how I look at food and how I eat.
FFN focuses on the fast food industry, while IDoF takes an in-depth look at how the food industry, particularly in the Western world, has completely changed how we humans eat in less than 100 years.
While these are just 2 books among many, they’ve lead the vanguard in what is hopefully a revolution. What’s ironic is that it’ll be a ‘revolution’ to get us back to how we used to eat, a practically pre-science status.
Next up on my reading list is Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. If you’d like to read even more, you can check out these refs:
- Michael Pollan’s blog at the NY Times
- Michael Pollan’s list of links on his website
- Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed piece on family farming
Booksfree is Netflix for books
I don’t know how I never discovered this service before now, but better late than never. Booksfree is a Netflix-like service for paperback books and audiobooks. For a flat monthly fee, you can get any of their titles shipped to you (free shipping). Whenever you’re done, ship it back.
At $11/mo for the paperback book plan, I think you would need to read 2-3 books per month for it to pay off. The audiobook plans are more pricey and the any format you want plan tops out at $30.49/mo.
As my reading sources have shifted to the Net, I probably wouldn’t break even – I think I’ll stick to the local library for now.
Looking for a dentist in Camarillo, CA area?
If you’re looking for a new dentist in the Camarillo, CA area, the consider giving my dentist, Dr. Page Mansourian, a shot. Great doctor, friendly staff, modern office. One of my favorite things – my appointments are always on time, no hanging out in a crowded waiting room.
More info at Best Camarillo Dentists site. They’re also running a free teeth whitening offer.
Lock down your Skype Privacy settings
If you use Skype, then you should do yourself a huge favor and lock down your privacy settings asap. This will prevent you from receiving calls and notes/messages from spammers, phishers and malware vendors.
Just today I received a rather legitimate looking e-mail that could easily be misunderstood to be from Skype. If I had clicked on the embedded link, and installed any of the software I would have been in for a world of hurt. It was one of those malware writers that makes you believe you have a virus/malware and says you need their software to clean your computer. Their ’software’ in turn ends up being garbage that costs lots of money.
Here’s how to lock down your Skype settings:
- Go to the menu Skype-> Privacy
- Ensure that all of the “from” settings are from “people in my Contact List only“
Here’s a screenshot of what that dialog box looks like. Click for a larger version.
There is just one minor drawback. You will need to manually add new contacts before they are allowed to call/message you. A small price to pay for a lot more security.
