Fun Stuff: Animate Yourself

Need a character or 'out there' avatar?  Check out Gizmoz Animate Yourself.  Just upload a photo and get going.

Fun Stuff: Fun With Anagrams

Acording to Dictionary.com, the definition(s) of Anagram are:

an·a·gram /ˈænəˌgræm/ Show Spelled [an-uh-gram]  noun, verb,-grammed, -gram·ming.

–noun

1. a word, phrase, or sentence formed from another by rearranging its letters: “Angel” is an anagram of “glean.” 
2. anagrams, (used with a singular verb) a game in which the players build words by transposing and, often, adding letters.

–verb (used with object)

1. to form (the letters of a text) into a secret message by rearranging them.
2. to rearrange (the letters of a text) so as to discover a secret message.

Origin:
1580–90; prob. < MF anagramme < NL anagramma.

 

Have fun making or playing with anagrams at www.wordsmith.org/anagram/index.html.  This site is free and will make several screens worth of anagrmas from whatever word, name or phrase you type in.  There is also an advanced search function where you can specify the number of responses, the maximum number of words, a specific word to be included and even the maximum number of letters in words.

 

There is a great section of anagram trivia called Odds n' Ends.  Here's a sample:

• The word "anagrams" is an anagram of "ars magna", Latin for "great art".
• The word stifle is an anagram of itself.
• Japan's former capital city (Kyoto, A.D. 794-1868) and present capital city (Tokyo) names are anagrams of each other.

 

This is a fun website and I enjoyed spending way too much time trying it out.

 

 

 

Phrase of the Day

"He missed an opportunity to keep his mouth shut"


This phrase could be used so much more often than it really is. 


Thanks to Janet Reid for the "of the Day" pick me up.  You can check out her blog here.

Free Photo Books, Free Shipping,

Hotprints.com.  has added partners to their stable of item sponsors allowing them to offer you one free photo hotbook a month... free book and free shipping.  This means there are ads in the books but they are removable full page inserts and won't be mixed in with the photos. A hotbook is a 16-page, hardcover photo book that you design on their system with no downloads required.


This offer is currently only available to US, UK and Canada.

Review: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan is skilled at making the politics and back office bluster of the modern age nutrition and food industry interesting and readable.  Usually one considers such topics when the sleep aids have run out or don’t work, however, in this instance the topic keeps interest and (surprise) can be relatively easy to follow.  I enjoyed this book almost as much as his Omnivore’s Dilemma.

I liked that the ideas he posits are backed up with scientific research and studies and not simply anecdotal evidence that is often easily dismissed. 

He sums up much of the problems with the Western Diet and the American Public’s obesity problem in a very succinct sentence:

“... the human being who manages to be both overfed and undernourished, two characteristics seldom found in the same body in the long natural history of our species.”

I found this book to be both informative and enlightening.  Although I lean in the direction of organic, natural, around the outside of the grocery store eating, in practice I’m still struggling to reach that.  This book was a boost and a reminder that eating for self and health are not to be taken lightly or ignored but can still bring a lot of fun and comfort.

10 Cool Online Apps and Interactive Features Offered by NASA

Makeuseof.com has a great post about 10 Cool Online Apps and Interactive Features Offered by NASA.  I especially like the Lunar Outpost.

Light-Emitting Wallpaper to Replace Light Bulbs?

Light-Emitting Wallpaper to Replace Light Bulbs? | Business Pundit

Business Pundit had an article about a Welsh start up that has received funding for light emitting wallpaper.  Check out the story here.