These are the only penguins I enjoy watching these days, aside from the ones at the zoo.
My kids love the “Happy Feet” movie site… You just have to love a site with a live penguin cam.
Tag: of interest
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Of interest: Being Thankful
Update 12/31/2010: If you’re visiting here for the first time and interested in helping the less fortunate, please see this information on The Seattle Times Fund For The Needy.
“Since 1979, the Fund For The Needy has helped support some of the most vulnerable members of our community, including children, families and seniors. In three decades, generous readers of The Seattle Times have donated a total of more than $13.3 million, 100 percent of which goes directly to local agencies who address critical community needs. The Fund For The Needy helps fund 13 local nonprofit agencies specializing in preventative and remedial services for families and individuals at risk. Your
Back to the post. And Happy New Year. 😉
Here’s a Friday link a day early. The Seattle P-I newspaper has a slide show today on “Words of Thanks.”
“What are you most thankful for? P-I photographer Meryl Schenker profiles six local residents who have different reasons for giving thanks on this holiday.”
We’re thankful for many things, primarily for good health, family, and our community. And this Thanksgiving more than in the past, the kids are aware that the holidays are here.
But for them, it turns out that the holidays is about more than just toys.
Here’s an example: Our eldest son, Max, launched a project this summer using Office Live called Another Thousand Paintings, a series of companion paintings to Sala’s one thousand paintings of numbers. He decided that he wanted to create a series of paintings that are nicely painted on a stretched canvas (approx. 12 x 12 x 1.5″). Each is unique, paired to a single number from 1 to 1,000. The number and the demand define the price.
Max sees that we’re involved and supportive of local charities and organizations, not the least of which includes his school. So it wasn’t really a surprise when he said that he planned to donate half the profits from the sale of his paintings to charity, as he was interested in financing a new Zune purchase (then just the new thing). Max supports two local charities: he selected the Woodland Park Zoo and the Children’s Hospital, both in Seattle. And he soon (after some discussion;) decided that once he’d financed his new Zune, he’d put all future net profits (after expenses for canvases and paint, and donations) into his college fund. That’s good planning.
But along the way he realized that he could do more good to benefit others as he saw the emails come in and the requests for his paintings grow.
This became quite apparent during our company’s Giving Campaign in October. I put up one of his paintings as an auction item during the Giving Campaign auction, with all of the gross proceeds to go to charity. Max is just enthusiastic that people are interested in donating to charities they support as well as his art. I was surprised when several people bid on it and finally closed at $75. Cool: with matching, that’s $150 for the United Way.
Here’s the interesting part: Max mentioned after the auction closed that if people who had bid unsuccessfully on his paintings still wanted one, he would be happy to create one for them. In return, Max asked that a donation be made (in the amount of their highest bid in the auction) to either one of teh charities he supports or the giver’s favourite charity before the end of the calendar year. Turned out that just about everyone was interested and took Max up on the offer, turning his one auction item donation into several and more than quadrupling the donations to charities.
Sometimes Max is quite a challenge, but more often he shows just how big a heart he has.
You may think that writing out what you’re thankful is quite corny. As important as my work is to me, my family is at the top of the list. So this Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for for many things, but most of all I’m grateful that some of the things we hope gets through to our kids actually sinks in.
No matter what you do, who you are or which OS, services or applications you use, be thoughtful and think about what makes you thankful. Happy Thanksgiving, and have a good long weekend.
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What I’ve Read (112106)
A little post for a light Thanksgiving. 😉 Keep in mind that the descriptions come often are taken directly from the articles.
Here’s some light reading on How Microsoft Runs: eWEEK Special Reports. eWEEK.com’s Special Report dissects the inner workings of Microsoft, the world’s biggest software company.
Is Sony eating hundreds of dollars on each PS3? – CNET News.com The game console might cost you $499, but it’s got $806 worth of parts and manufacturing behind it, a research firm says. By Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com, November 16, 2006
Informationweek has an article this week that gives “a quick scan of recent events, which have roiled the privacy waters at AOL, at the FBI, and in Europe. Here’s a quick collection of some recent reportage on data breaches, customer-data concerns, and privacy surveys you should know about.”
- Study: Data Breaches Becoming More Expensive
The 2006 average was $182 per compromised record, including the cost of detection, escalation, notification, and follow-up help to victims. The Ponemon Institute’s 2005 study cited a figure of $132 per record. - Customer Data + Carelessness = Pink Slips At AOL And Elsewhere
AOL IT managers are the latest to join the unemployment line after breaches to customer data. They join IT managers at the Veterans Administration and Ohio University, who lost their jobs after data breaches. - Privacy Worries Spur New Search Engine Tool
The “Lost in the Crowd” tool was built in response to recent furor over AOL spilling search data on the Internet. - Privacy Group Seeks Federal Probe Of AOL
The Electronic Frontier Foundation says AOL violated its own privacy policy and FTC regulations and should be ordered to notify the people affected and to stop logging search data “except where absolutely necessary.” - FBI Director, Police Chiefs Support Record Retention For Internet
FBI Director Robert Mueller claims that requiring ISPs to hang on to data records will help strike a “balance between the legitimate need for privacy and law enforcement’s clear need for access.” - Microsoft Offers Privacy Guidelines For Developers
The company said it would like to see the industry build a common set of privacy best practices to increase customer trust. - EU Seeks Tougher RFID Privacy Rules
Some Europeans are concerned RFID tags can broadcast an individual’s personal information without their knowledge. - Survey: Corporate Boards Value Info Over Privacy
Fifty-three percent of those surveyed say it’s OK to follow people outside of the company and to obtain and review phone records if pretexting is legal. - IT Confidential: The Government Giveth And Taketh Away In Terms Of Privacy
The courts are finally overruling Internet access and getting practical about the obscurity of personal data contained in legal documents. - Six Tips To Protect Online Search Privacy
Concerns over privacy and the use of online search are at an all-time high. Here’s how to create a strong shield for privacy.
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What I’ve read (111906)
- How To Build Your Own version of Gordon Bell’s “MyLifeBits” (Wired) Wired, Nov 2006. See the complete article “A head for detail.”
- Lifehacker, the Productivity and Software Guide Engadget has a step-by-step tutorial for hacking your Xbox 360’s standard video cable into an HD VGA cable. Naturally, you can buy a VGA cable for your Xbox at about $40 – but if you’re the adventurous sort…
- Lifehacker, the Productivity and Software Guide by Gina Trapani. “Web pages change. They disappear. They move to new URLs. They get lost or they’re password-protected or they’re only available on private intranets.
- Ken Schutte.com: Slogger Slogger is an Extension for Mozilla Firefox web browser. It is a very flexible tool for creating a complete log of your browsing history (thus the name: Slogger <=> “browse logger”).
- Lifehacker, the Productivity and Software Guide Engadget has a step-by-step tutorial for hacking your Xbox 360’s standard video cable into an HD VGA cable. Naturally, you can buy a VGA cable for your Xbox at about $40 – but if you’re the adventurous sort…