it's all around us: February 2003 Archives

Many will argue that we are entering an age of no personal privacy, and I think they may be right. If you needed another reason to live your life right, that's one more.

Our information age is not without its diamonds in the rough, however. For instance, I enjoy the opportunity to look down like a bird on the beauty of this earth -- that crafted by the hand of God, and those by the hands of man.

For instance, this is a thumbnail of ...

... a 60-cm natural color image of Montreal, Quebec, collected by QuickBird [a commercial surveillance satellite] on May 4, 2002. The image is of Montreal's Olympic Stadium, which was unveiled for the opening ceremonies of the 21st Olympic Games in July of 1976. Eleven years later, in February of 1987, construction of the stadium's signature tower was completed.

You can see other images like this at the DigitalGlobe website.

We will be forced to take the good with the bad in this arena, I'm sure.

For about the 5th time in three years, someone affiliated with our local Humane Society has contacted me about some website work I donated to them once upon a time. I'm really trying to be positive about it ... Here are a few things I've learned from the experience:

There is such a thing as having your heart in the right place but not your head.
There is no such thing as a wasted gift, only wasted time.
Dogs are a wonderful gift from God.

(This is the second version of the list. The first was too cynical.)

If you want to check out the website I created for the HS back in 2001, I've put up a copy here. You can visit their current site at:
http://www.humanesocietyofwhitleycounty.org

For the last year, the "under construction" page you probably see has replaced the work I did for them. The upside is that I can still enjoy one of the more fulfilling websites I have ever created -- even if visitors to their site cannot.

I stumbled across this website today: The Social Security Administration Database of Popular Baby Names. In it, you can see the most popular names over the past 12 years in America (ending in 2001) and also take a look at where your name ranks.

For instance, in the 12 years represented, the name Kevin reached its peak in 1990 with a rank of 21. Jill peaked in the same year, ranking 346th. Hale did not break the top 1000 in any year of the study.

I guess in looking for a unique name for him, we succeeded with Hale! Also, I had no idea I was so popular! :)