Acorns to Oaktrees » stuff

Street View at Google Maps

Neefer — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:35:25 +0000

I just discovered Street View. It’s very cool. I used to live here. My bedroom window is just behind the shrub at the back of the building on the first floor. I grew up here. You can’t see the house. It’s just at the crest of the road, by the house with the white wall on the right side of the street. You can see our neighbors’ house. We lived at the curve of the road, so when cars missed the turn, they would smash into the neighbors on either side, but never us.

Ah, well, those are the only locations that have streetviews. This is pretty cool.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Neefer — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 07:33:07 +0000

‘

Tittle

Neefer — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:42:58 +0000

It’s called a “tittle.” The “i” got it’s dot sometime during the 13th century, during the period of copying of manuscripts. The “i” was made with one stoke and other letters were made with two and three strokes……the dot was used to distinguish the “i” from other letters. The dot is not a diacritical mark — it does not change the way letter is pronounced. The “i” and the “j” were indistinguishable in usage until the 1600′s, they used the same character, the single slash…. again the lower case was given the dot to distinguish it, and the upper case came to be invented with the invention of type.

Now you know.

For my little brother

Neefer — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:31:48 +0000

Fact of the Day: Jack and John
Jack comes from the Middle English “Jankin”, Jan being a contracted form of Jehan, or John, and -kin being a diminutive suffix. Jankin with time became Jackin, and was later shortened simply to Jack. Additional information: [a slightly different version] “Jack is actually derived from the name Johannes, which was shortened to Jehan and eventually to Jan. The French were fond of tacking the suffix -kin onto many short names. French nasalization resulted in the new combination being pronounced Jackin instead of Jankin. The name Jackin was shortened to Jack.”

From On This Day

My Kind of News

Neefer — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 01:25:49 +0000

UFO Sightings Stream In from Texas Townsfolk

Spell Checkers

Neefer — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 07:42:21 +0000

I got this in the e-mail at work:

“Also, attached is the Statistical Reference document that was indivertibly admitted from you class materials.”

Help a friend in need

Neefer — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:43:05 +0000

Tom Kerschen, Kyle’s father, is a friend of mine. Please, call 1-800-283-7215 to request that the Gov. of Colorado extend the search for Kyle Kerschen. Kyle has been missing at the Wolf Creek Ski Area since Friday. There has only been one day (Tuesday) when an air search could be conducted, and the family feels it is premature to stop the search now.

You may get a busy signal, but a person will answer (first try for my call) and take your brief message with your name. Just say that you request that the governor extend the search for the two missing snowboarders at the Wolf Creek ski area.

Missing Snowboarders in Colorado

Myopia

Neefer — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 07:36:24 +0000

For most nonhuman mammals the ocular refraction (the lens power required to form a clear retinal image of an object at infinity) for optimal distance vision tends strongly towards emmetropia, or perfect vision. Similarly, the variation of distance refraction and the presence of astigmatism is also lower than for humans. Primates brought up in captivity do tend to become myopic. Domestic animals may show similar defects when they get beyond the life expectancy in the wild, and old dogs or cats often go blind from cataracts. Replacing a pet dog’s lens is practically a routine operation nowadays. Our technology and ability to cooperate in societies allows us to overcome many of the things that kill other mammals. So relatively minor genetic defects such as poor eyesight tend to accumulate in our gene pool because natural selection cannot act against those individuals that have them. In recent times, anthropologists have noted that Inuit had almost universally perfect eyesight un til significant numbers of them became literate. It appears that literacy causes myopia; the constant switching between long and short distances appears to create myopia.

From On This Day

Does she look like me?

Neefer — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 07:20:03 +0000

from www.sp-studio.de/

:)

Neefer — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 03:30:34 +0000

from here