Third-World Myths presentation

Presenting complex data is difficult. Here is a great example of presenting very complex data in interesting and informative ways:

"Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you've ever seen"

Very effective.

Thanks for the link Chandra.

Steve Rings the NASDAQ Opening Bell

My brother-in-law, Steve Tirado, President and CEO of Silicon Image, Inc., Rings the NASDAQ Opening Bell




http://www.nasdaq.com/reference/200711/market_open_111207.stm

There are a few more photographs (with Teresa!) at the NASDAQ site above.

The little bird

Last night I had a dream that a little bird landed on my shoulder. I stayed very still so that I would not scare it away. After a few moments the little bird realized that it was perched on me, but it also realized that I meant it no harm. And so the little bird relaxed and got comfortable on my shoulder. When I felt that I could move without scaring it away, I walked slowly to our house to show Gina.

This morning, when I remembered my dream, I thought about how I want to share all of life's miracles with my wife and partner. Happy Birthday Gina! I love you!

non-fat half and half...

non-fat half and half...is just half.

Day 12 - Disneyland

We were at Disneyland from 10 AM to 10 PM. We rode everything (except Space Mountain and the new Submarine ride). The kids's favorite rides were Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones. We saw Jack Sparrow on Tom Sawyer's Island and in the new Pirates of the Caribbean. And we stayed for the fantastic fireworks.

We had a great day, tons of fun, and after 12 hours we were exhausted and ready to go home. We packed into the car, the kids fell asleep immediately and then woke up at 4:30 at home and crawled into bed.

Thank you Gina for planing such a great trip, and thank you Michael and Michelle for being such great travelers and friends.

Day 11 - Venice Beach

Today everyone was excited to go to Venice Beach! Gina was really happy to be back near her favorite beaches. The kids rented "choppers" and spent several hours checking out the basketball players, weight lifters, beach goers, and all the other unusal (crazy) people. There was a Hare Krishna Festival on the beach which added a flash of color with their saris.

Day 10 - Travel Day

Today we drove 7 hours from Flagstaff to Huntington Beach.
We took no photos. :(
Michael watched 4 movies and Michelle watched 5 movies
in our "moving movie theater" (thanks Seongbae!).

Off to bed...goodnight...

Day 9 - Meteor Crater and Winslow AZ

Gina got up early, finished Harry Potter, and then woke the family at 10:00! After a lazy breakfast we headed out to Meteor Crater.

It is really hard to see in the photo the size of the crater. It is 540 deep, 4,000 feet wide and 2.5 miles around the rim. The crater was created 50,000 years ago and it is the best preserved impact crater in the world. It was raining very hard so we were not able to walk around the rim.

Then we headed down to Winslow, Arizona. We ate at the counter in a cafe off of Route 66 and had (what else but) burgers, fries, and shakes. Here is a picture of Tom standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona.

Day 8 - Cliff Dwellings, Lava Fields, and Pueblos

We have settled into vacation mode and therefor didn't venture outside until the afternoon. Despite the late start we enjoyed another full day of sight seeing.

Our first stop was Walnut Canyon where we got to see and go inside 800 year old cliff dwellings. There is a beautiful one mile walk down and around small mesa that projected into the canyon. Michael could not help himself because the acoustics were perfect for clear, strong, echos. This encouraged all other boys in the canyon to do the same. Fortunately, and unexpectedly, we have not had crowds anywhere we have visited which has made for very pleasant sight seeing experiences.

The next stop was Sunset Crater which is the volcano that Michael studied in Science class last year! This area of Arizona has over 600 volcanos and Sunset Crater is the youngest, having erupted just less than 1000 years ago.

It is monsoon season in Arizona which means we have incredibly beautiful cloudy skis in the morning and in the late afternoon there is a 50/50 chance of thunder storms so strong you want to run away and hide in your ark (and read Harry Potter).

Our final stop was the Wupatki Ruins. We had to brave lighting, thunder, and torrential rain to run from our car to the visitor center. After reading about the history of the area, the rain slowed and we walked down to the ruins. We hope the photo shows the splendor of these ruins.

Day 7 - Sedona

We got up early and headed to Sedona for our Pink Jeep Tour. The kids could not wait to get started. We had a great tour guide who told us all about the geology and history as we careened over the red rocks. The kids sat in the back seats to get the maximum lift off on the bumps. We went over some huge boulders and slid down several STEEP portions of the Broken Arrow Trail. The kids said "this is better than the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland" and "This is the highlight of our trip so far".

The views of the Sedona red rocks were astounding.

After some shopping we drove to Jerome and visited a Gold Mine and Ghost Town.

Day 6 - Flagstaff

Our first home-cooked breakfast! Then off to the Northern Arizona History Museum where we learned about the Navaho and Hopi Indians. We also stoped at the Pioneer Museum where we climbed aboard an train. A slow drive down "Route 66", through historic center of Flagstaff, and then off to the Visitor's Center in the old train depot (very cool).

While we were at the train depot a massive thunder storm washed through town and very quickly the sidewalks were turned into small rivers. The street was just covered with a blanket of raindrops splashing into water that flowed into puddles that would send spray up to our window height. After the 9 minute drive home, we pulled into our parking space to cloudy skies, but no rain! "Freaky!"

We went up to the Lowell Observatory from 5:30 to 7:30. It was amazing. We attended a presentation about the night sky, viewed some great educational exibits, and attended a slide show about astronomy and the stars, and then got to see the telescope.

Dad: "Soon you will be going off to college".
Michael: "Sure, and just yesterday we were in diapers!"

Day 5 - Grand Canyon

We had breakfast at the Grand Canyon M... Lodge cafeteria (giant cinnamon roll). Then we drove east along the south rim and stopped at every vista point we could ending in the Watchtower.

The drive from the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff was beautiful. Signs of massive erosion was everywhere, even in the great sweeping plains which were depositing grounds for the soil carried down from the surrounding crumbling mountains.

We have moved into our base camp, a tri-level 2 bedroom townhome. We have a full kitchen, dining/living room, a master bedroom (king sized bed), and a bedroom with 2 twin beds and an attached (tiny) bathroom. The bathroom had only two sets of towels and we considered calling for more, but a few hours later I made an astonishing discovery: a hidden door opened to reveal a huge master bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub. Love it!

Our first home-cooked dinner: baked chicken, stir-fry veggies, "Melissa's Pasta", and a nice red wine. Love it!

Day 4 - Grand Canyon

What can you say...it is grand...

Day 3 - Hoover Dam

The Hoover Dam is one of the The Modern Wonders of the World. It is a wonder.

Apparently we have been in a 7 year drought and Lake Mead is at it's third lowest level ever. The view of the dam from the lake side was amazing.

The drive to the Grand Canyon was punctuated with a violent thunderstorm. We saw powerful bolts of lighting and hear booming thunder.

Day 2 - Las Vegas

After breakfast at the buffet we went to the Venetian. We walked around the canals, watched some street performers, and ate gelato in "St. Mark's Square". Then we walked over to Treasure Island and checked out the Pirate ships out in front. We scoped out the perfect place to watch the Pirate battle.

Back at the MGM Grand we hopped into the pool for another lazy river experience. Then we drove back to Treasure Island where I dropped off the family, parked in the mall next door, picked up some food and joined the family at our primo viewing spot. After waiting for a half hour and watching some lighting off in the distance, the show was canceled due to inclement weather. So this is the second trip to Las Vegas where I wanted to see this show but missed it.

So, back to bed after reading some Harry Potter to Michael.


Michael typed: "why do i even do

Day 1 - Las Vegas

We left at 1 AM and arrived at 9 AM in Las Vegas. My family slept from 2 to 6 while I listened to 4 hours of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" on my iPod. We were all awake for the drive through the Mojave Desert. The trip seemed quick and safe.

The MGM Grand Hotel has 5 pools and a "lazy river". We rented tubes and the kids went round and round on the river while I read Harry Potter.

We were all exhausted so we ate pizza and went to bed at 6 PM. We didn't get up till 7 AM.


Michelle: "Dad, can you save some of the popcorn for me?"
Michael: "You know dad...Leave no trace!"

Earthquakes will return in 2008!

Kevin reports:

The San Jose Earthquakes will return in 2008!

MLS commissioner Don Garber will announce at Wednesday’s All-Star Game press luncheon that the league has accepted Lew Wolff’s proposal to have the Earthquakes play next season.

Time.com: 25 Sites We Can't Live Without

I use these sites from the list almost everyday:
Google.com Yahoo.com Netflix.com Wikipedia.org
and many more of the sites at least once a week.

Time.com: 25 Sites We Can't Live Without

Amazon.com
BBC.co.uk
Citysearch.com
Craigslist.org
Del.icio.us
Digg.com
Ebay.com
ESPN.com
Facebook.com
FactCheck.org
Flickr.com
Google.com
HowStuffWorks.com
The Internet Movie Database imdb.com
YouTube.com
Kayak.com
NationalGeographic.com
Netflix.com
Technorati.com
TMZ.com
USA.gov
TelevisionWithoutPity.com
WebMD.com
Wikipedia.org
Yahoo.com

Time.com: 5 Worst Websites

eHarmony.com
Evite.com
Meez.com
MySpace.com
SecondLife.com

Raquel & Chris

Raquel & Chris were married on Saturday, July 14, 2007.

Gina created a slideshow of some of our photos.

We Love You!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

We saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on Opening Night tonight, and it was good!

Just 10 days till July 21 when the seventh and final book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is available.

Nan goes traveling

Our friend is traveling in London and Paris and we are following her adventures in her blog.

I created this map of the locations she mentioned in her blog.

Isn't that cool?!

Google Map of Concert Tour

My sister and brother-in-law just returned from a Concert Tour in Europe. Here is a Google map of were they were.

I am a lucky guy...

Tonight I had dinner with my wife, son, daughter, mother, sister, brother-in-law, and niece. My sister and brother-in-law gave me a beautiful book "Inherit the Earth" by Sheila Metzner. It has photos of Easter Island (which I voted to be one the the New Wonders of the World).

I have a family who loves me...I am a lucky guy!

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

What are the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World?
And what are the "New Seven Wonders?!

For years I have used this site for info and now there is similar info on wikipedia.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World are:
1. Great Pyramid of Giza
2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon
3. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
4. Statue of Zeus at Olympia
5. Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
6. Colossus of Rhodes
7. Lighthouse of Alexandria

And there is an attempt to define the New Seven Wonders.

I voted for:
Acropolis
Colosseum
Easter Island Statues
Great Wall
Machu Picchu
Stonehenge
Taj Mahal

The other choices evoke wonder as well:

Alhambra
Angkor
Chichen Itza
Christ Redeemer
Eiffel Tower
Hagia Sophia
Kiyomizu Temple
Kremlin / St. Basil
Neuschwanstein Castle
Petra
Statue of Liberty
Sydney Opera House
Timbuktu

I would like to visit them all!

Where is Mars?

Last night I looked up and wondered "Where is Mars right now?".

You can find out using the Starry Night virtual planetarium.

At 9 PM today (with "Show Horizon" unchecked):
The South view contains Jupiter.
The West view contains Venus, Saturn, and Mercury.

But where is Mars? and all the other planets?

The trick is to change the time to 9 AM (and unclick "Show Daylight").

At 9 AM today:
The South view contains MARS!!!
The West view contains Uranus and Neptune.

What I really wanted was a picture of the solar system showing the current position of each planet in their orbit.

Do you know where on the web I can find that picture?
And where is Pluto?

--Tom

Kwik-E-Mart

We visited Kwik-E-Mart.

Is that Venus?

Last month (17 June 2007) I noticed three very bright objects in the sky lined up with the Moon and wondered if they were stars or planets or something else. I found out they were Venus, Saturn, and Regulus. The next night (June 18) the Moon hopped over Venus, then (June 19) over Saturn, and finally (June 20) the Moon passed Regulus.

You can see what is in the sky tonight at the space.com virtual planetarium.

You can see what I saw by setting the date to 17 June 2007 and looking West.

Isn't that cool?!

The rare, and the impossible.

My brother-in-law said long ago "In Computer Science the rare event always happens, and the impossible happens occasionally" and I believe that is true.