Color Theory, Color Wheels, and a Nifty Bracelet

"The Art of Color
for Bead Jewelry Designers"
Beading-Design-Jewelry.com

"You will learn the science of color, color theory, and how to use a color wheel to create great color combinations.

"We will discuss the emotional aspects of color, including color therapy as well as the meaning and symbolism of color.

"Margie Deeb, author of The Beader's Guide to Color said '"You can learn to use color in extraordinary ways. You already possess the most important tools...'..."

What caught the Lemming's eye was that 'color wheel bracelet.' It's - colorful. Pretty.

Beading-Design-Jewelry.com has more than a nifty photo and a book to sell, though. That page links to some pretty-good introductions to color theory, and "Using the Color Wheel To Create Stunning Combinations," which won't make the reader into a world-class designer: but does cover enough to get started with. Plus a bit.

The Lemming thinks they really meant "Using the Color Wheel To Create Attractive Combinations." The Lemming has used 'color wheel' theory to create designs: with a personal taste that led to stunning results. The Lemming's daughter who's a commercial artist analyzed one of those stunning creations. Her assessment was that it looked like an explosion in a paint factory.

The Lemming thinks she was right, and that's almost another topic.

The point is, a color wheel and understanding of color theory won't guarantee results. The Lemming thinks it's a good idea to know the basics, though.

Color Theory From Another Angle

"Color Wheel"
worqx.com

"A color wheel (also referred to as a color circle) is a visual representation of colors arranged according to their chromatic relationship. Begin a color wheel by positioning primary hues equidistant from one another, then create a bridge between primaries using secondary and tertiary colors.

"These terms refer to color groups or types:

"Primary Colors: Colors at their basic essence..."

Taking the same basic content, worqx.com starts with color as an idea, not colored beads. Which is also okay. This page mentions the familiar red-yellow-blue color wheel, and different ways the colors can be presented in a graph.

A tip of the Lemming's hat to worqx.com, for mentioning two of the other color wheels out there: the "Printers' color triangle," and Goethe's nine-part harmonic triangle.

Color Theory: More Text, Fewer Pictures

"Color Theory"
liquisoft.com/Ryan Ford (2007)

"For a long time, now, there has been a problem that fledgling designers have run into on a constant basis. This problem seems insignificant to most, but in actuality it is quite possibly the most important factor in a design or piece of artwork. Yes, you guessed it...I'm talking about the issue of COLOR.

"Color can be a touchy subject. Sometimes artists use colors that evoke certain emotions. Other times artists use colors simply because they like the way they look. While any design instructor will tell you that the latter reason is completely wrong, I tend to disagree. In my personal opinion, color always has meaning. This meaning can be, as I mentioned, an emotional one or it can be a personal preference on the part of the artist himself, but it ALWAYS has purpose behind it.

"There is nothing wrong with choosing a color because you like it because, after all, it is your work. However, when choosing a color you still want to make sure its use does not conflict with what you are trying to say with your work. Proper use of basic color theory can help you decide what colors match, as well as what each color makes people feel...."

Ryan Ford's approach is more like the textbooks the Lemming's familiar with. Ford assumes that the reader can visualize the color wheel, and refer to that mental image while reading.

The Lemming's comfortable with that approach. But then, the Lemming's:

• One of those folks who read cereal boxes during breakfast as a child
  • Including the ingredients list
• Loves to see data as a matrix
  • Then create graphs and tables so others can see it, too

Let's face it: the Lemming's not normal.

Ford deserves mention, for explaining what RGB, CMYK, and PMS) mean:

• RGB
  • Red
  • Green
  • Blue
• CMYK
  • Cyan
  • Magenta
  • Yellow
  • Black
    • "K" for "black"??
• PMS
  • Pantone Matching System

Kudos. Although Ford could have explained why "K" for "black" makes sense.

Still, this is a pretty good place to start learning about color theory. The Lemming's seen to many 'introduction to' articles and texts, where the author assumes that folks who want an introduction to some topic already know the field's jargon. Uff da. (Which isn't jargon: "Uff da" is dialect, and that's another topic.)

Slightly-related posts:

• Color, emotions, and the brain
  
  • "The Sky is Blue, Folks Sing the Blues: Just What does Blue Mean?"
    (September 29, 2010)
  • "Color, Psychology, Emotions and Mood"
    (January 30, 2010)
  • " 'Brain Subconscious Smart' "
    (March 7, 2009)
  • "Are Moods Really Blue? Color, Psychology, and Culture"
    (May 21, 2008)
• Color conversion and an interactive color wheel
  
  • "Online Color Wheel: Dial Your Own Color Scheme"
    (June 1, 2009)
  • "RGB to HEX to RGB Online Do-it-Yourself Conversion Software"
    (June 10, 2008)
• Stuff to learn
  • "Interior Design: A Pretty Good Learning Resource"
    (September 24, 2009)

Traveling in Minnesota? Road Conditions Online

"Welcome to 511 Traveler Information"
Minnesota Department of Transportation

If you aren't planning to drive through parts of Minnesota, this online resource probably won't be much practical use to you.

But if you are, it's a pretty good resource: with display options for folks with dial-up Internet; the sort of "High Bandwidth" connection the Lemming's household has; another for "newer phones and smartphones;" and MetroTwitter (twitter.com/mndottraffic), for folks who want to know about "Minneapolis/St. Paul traffic incidents."

The "High Bandwidth" option uses Google Maps, and seems to notice where the viewer's ISP is: the Lemming's map is centered between Sauk Centre and St. Cloud, Minnesota: which is pretty close. The map can be dragged to show what's off the edge at first.

It looks like MN-DOT updates their data - better than they did a few years ago, happily. The Google Maps displays information about blocked or closed roads, "Danger" spots, weather, crashes, road construction - yes, it happens in winter - and driving conditions boiled down to "Normal/Good," , "Fair," and "Difficult."

United States Census Data: Online

"U.S. Gazetteer: 2000 and 1990"
United States Census Bureau

"Download Census 2000 U.S. Gazetteer files for places, counties, county subdivisions, and ZCTAs^TM (ZIP Code^® Tabulation Area). These files are available to the public 'as is'; the vintage matches the Census 2000 data available from the Census Bureau...."

They've got the same thing for 1990 census data, and a line to their "American FactFinder." If the Lemming ever wants to look through a few megabytes of text, that looks like a pretty good place to go.

Provided, of course, that the idea is to find statistics about some place in the United States.

If the Lemming wanted to find out what sort of paint Rembrandt used, or what the effect of imperial Rome's corn laws was - not so much.

Your PC Crashed: Now What?

"How to Rescue a Crashed PC"
PCWorld (June 18, 2010)

"There's crashed... and then there's crashed. Here's the gamut of solutions for recovering your data and, perhaps, your whole system before it's too late.

"Not all crashed PCs are the same. Typically, there's no one pat reason or cause. In other words, it can be many things. Sometimes it's a string of error messages. Of course, there are the dreaded blue screens of death (BSoD). And then, there's the eternally maddening "nothing happens" crash when you try to turn the computer on.

"We understand your frustration. That's why we've put together a rundown of the solutions for these issues, from basic fixes to tackling the dire straits of a totally dead hard drive. No matter what your PC's crashed condition, be it a soft or hard crash, we hope to get you back to a working state, or, at the very least, recover some important data...."

I was impressed that this how-2 started with the obvious - but necessary - "is the unit plugged in?" Actually, their section starts with "Check Your Connections." Same principle, though.

They go on through "Safe Mode," "Last Known Good Configuration," "System Restore," "Recovery Console/System Recovery Options," and more.

The article seems to assume that you've got Windows Vista or Windows 7. I'm using Windows XP, and will stick with it while I can. Nothing against the newer versions: but I prefer to use my time productively: not tweaking a new operating system.

There's more, about "Boot Disks," "Antivirus Rescue CDs," and moving the hard drive to another computer - on the assumption that the drive may be okay.

The last sections are "Data Recovery Software," "Freeze the Drive" and "Recovery Service."

"Freeze the Drive" starts almost poetically: "Sometimes you just know your hard drive is hosed. You can usually tell by the noise it makes. Instead of spinning up smoothly, it either does nothing (check the power cable), or it makes more clicks than angry squirrels snapping twigs...." Then the article says that some folks put defunct drives in the freezer. Who knows? It might work.

The last section, "Recovery Service" involves paying technicians to digitally dissect your drive. You may get your data back - all the files - but without the file structure. The article ends with: "...Imagine 30,000 picture files without their names or folder structure. Yes, this translates into extra work for you, but you kinda deserve it for not backing up that data in the first place. (Sorry, someone had to say it.)"

Particularly if you've got a more contemporary Windows operating system, this looks like a good resource.

Drowning People Don't Shout: Water Safety Article

"Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning"
Mario Vittone (May 18, 2010)

"The new captain jumped from the cockpit, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the owners who were swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. 'I think he thinks you're drowning,' the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. 'We're fine, what is he doing?' she asked, a little annoyed. 'We're fine!' the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. 'Move!' he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, 'Daddy!'"

The article's written for a print-format magazine, so the paragraphs are longer than what's usually seen online: but it's a fairly easy, fast, read.

And reading it could save the life of someone in your family.

That may sound overly-dramatic, but I think it's accurate. And, I'm particularly aware of the need for good sense around water, since I live in central Minnesota. 'Lake country' starts just north of here, and people drown each year.

Granted, the odds of death by drowning for each person in a given year is about 1 in 100,000: but it won't feel good if that the dead body was someone you know.

If you don't read the article here's a bit of insight, from near the end of the article. If you ask someone in the water 'are you okay?' and all you get is a blank stare - they're not.

There's a five-point list describing the instinctive drowning response, from the Coast Guard's On Scene magazine, and a bulletized list of other signs of drowning.

Bottom line? Drowning doesn't look like the dramatized situations we see on television and in the movies. This article tells about the real thing: in enough detail to maybe safe a life.

More:

• On Scene magazine (pdf format)
  The Journal of U. S. Coast Guard Search and Rescue (Fall 2006)
  (I've saved a copy of this issue on another server.)
• "Minnesota yearly watercraft & water accident record"
  Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

---

A tip of the hat to , on Twitter, for the heads-up on this article.

Twitter, Hashtags, and Boring Stuff Like That

"How and Why to Use Twitter Hashtags"
CompuKol Connection (July 3, 2010)

"You have gotten used to using Twitter for your business. You have many followers by now and many people whom you follow in return. You must have noticed some tweets with a word and a # symbol attached.

"Those words and symbols are Twitter hashtags. Hashtags are basically an easy way to catalog and join tweets together on a certain topic. Hashtags make it easier for you to find other tweets on the same topic, while at the same time, you are able to eliminate other tweets that are not relevant.

"Organizers of events and conferences also commonly use hashtags for business. They use them as a way to keep all of the tweets about a specific event in one stream. The organizers may also use hashtags to organize and coordinate updates about events during emergencies...."

There's a pretty good chance that you have a Twitter account - or will in the near future. If you don't, the Lemming should have another post published in a little over an hour.

Still with me?

Okay. The article is a little long for an online publication, but it's a fairly fast read: with headings, which helps.

• How to use hashtags effectively
• Hashtag etiquette
  • Be
    • Short
    • Simple
    • Useful
• Spam
  • Don't
• Choosing the proper hashtags
  • Consider your readers
• Starting your own hashtags
  • Keep it
    • Short
    • Simple
    • Easy to remember
    • Useful
• Monitoring your hashtags
  • This isn't a come-on for some service
• Conclusion
  • Hashtags are cool

There's more, of course, in the article. I plan to re-read it later: I've used hashtags a little, but could (should?) do so more. (On Twitter, I'm Aluwir.)

---

A tip of the hat to TweetSmarter, on Twitter, for the heads-up on that article.

American History Textbooks: Good for Schools, Good for Home Schooling

Project Special Education

"For teachers who are not scientists, historians, or experts in sex education: but are teaching these subjects to special students anyway, Project Special Education (PSE) offers a solution.

"Project Special Education's DATELINE: America, PROJECT EXPLORE and IMAGES are a fresh and effective way to teach your special students about American history, science, and human sexuality.

"Content-rich texts, reinforcement-oriented exercises, and exciting reading keep students interested, and help them learn...."

I'm Biased: I Think This Stuff's Good

I worked at Project Special Education's sister company, Vocational Biographies, for about 20 years, so my opinion that parts of this website, like the 'multilogo' over there, are pretty cool.

Of course, I would think so: I assembled the thing from pre-existing artwork.

And I think that Project Special Education's Dateline: America product is pretty good. Again, I would: I had a small part in producing the original.

That was then, this is now.

I haven't worked at Vocational Biographies since the spring of 2006, but I get called back now and again when one of the companies have something for me to do on their websites. I was back this week, with a little updating on their page about Dateline: America.

Somebody Publishes History Textbooks: So What?

The whole Project Special Education line of products is, I think, valuable for people teaching secondary-level students who are fairly smart, but didn't keep up with reading skills. There's a sort of explanation on the P.S.E. "What is Project Special Education?" page.

I'm particularly interested in the American history series, because my first major was in history - and in my opinion the subject often isn't handled all that well. Sure: it's possible to kill interest in history by reducing it to a dusty series of unrelated names and dates. (Imagine how popular soccer might be, if kids were forced to memorize the names of every team to make the world cup, before they were allowed to see a grainy photo of a soccer ball.)

Dateline: America isn't like that. It probably isn't the ultimate resource for teaching history to high schoolers. But until you find that academic El Dorado, I think it'll do. And checking it out won't take more than a minute or two:

• Dateline: America

Am I 'pushing' Dateline: America? Yeah, actually, I am.

Most of Project Special Education's customers when I worked for the companies were traditional schools. Dateline, America is a pretty good resource for parents who home school their kids, too. It's designed for teachers, by people who were teachers themselves - or at least understood what's involved - so most of the preparation is already done.

And yes: it works for home schooling. That's not a guess: all four of our kids have been (or are being) home-schooled from seventh grade through high school graduation. And we're using Dateline: America for the American history units. It works.

Don't let the "special education" part of the name fool you: it's not 'dumbed down' geared for stupid kids.

What sets the Project Special Education products apart from most high school texts is that they're designed for easy reading.

Let's put it this way: although utilizing polysyllabic vocabulary and assemblages of sentences whose structures are not only of unnecessary, but of superfluously elaborate, complexity may impress and bedazzle - Writing simple statements is better.

Better, that is, if the idea is to inform.

Dang! I was going to work "pleonastic redundancy" into that jaw-breaker of a sentence. Oh, well: You get the idea, I think.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Police Handcuff Dangerous Student! School Protected From Erasable Marker!"
  (April 6, 2010)
• "Lemming Tracks: Home Schooling isn't What You May Think"
  (March 31, 2010)
• "Ötzi, Tattoos, Acupuncture, and Things We Don't Know"
  (March 5, 2009)
• "Worst High School Analogies, plus Gilbert and Sullivan"
  (August 29, 2007)

Link List of Resources for Website Designers

"30 Free Online Tools to Test Your Website"

"Testing is one thing that you cannot afford to take lightly. The reason being simple, just like a minor negligence while constructing a building can cost life of millions of residents, the same way a small error left unnoticed can prove to be fatal for your website.

"Therefore, this implies that we must run our website through all necessary tests. This includes CSS Errors, HTML Errors, Crossbrowsing Errors, WAP Errors(if your site is WAP enabled) and various other tests...."

The first link is to a MarkUp Validator, which I tried out on my oldest website.

This free service was a huge improvement over the last 'markup checker' I tried - several years ago. This not only reported that there were problems - it reported what the problems were. Which, as I said, is a huge improvement. More than that: it gives the row and column in which the error occurs. The only down-side is that I'd have to do this test for each page. Which makes using the service rather labor-intensive. Still, it's free - and you can't beat that price.

Then there's the CSS Validator, Links Validator, all the way down to NetRenderer. ("An online tool to show you the appearance of your website on IE 6/7/5.5")

Bottom line? This is looks like a pretty good resource for someone who's designing a website.

---

A tip of the hat to timethief, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this resource.

Interior Design: A Pretty Good Learning Resource

"interiordezine.com" -
"providing free interior design and decorating education to the world"

"Interior Design and Interior Decorating Ideas..."

"The interior design industry revolves around creativity and the use of multiple ideas. At interiordezine.com you will find a web site full of useful information that will inspire you to generate your own interior design ideas for free and at one website. It is so easy because this site covers bathrooms, color, bedrooms, soft furnishings, furniture history, makeovers, lighting, construction, interior design and decoration tips and much more.

"Free downloads help with design processes and color schemes and develop your skills as an interior designer or decorator...."

Okay, the website's got advertisements by the acre, pop-ups, the works: but, as far as I can tell, nothing that'll do more than annoy you a bit.

And the content, in my opinion, is worth the distractions.

The navigation, what I used of it, is fairly intuitive - you can start out by clicking on various rooms of a house cross-section, and get to brief discussions of what to do with lofts or attics, how to handle color (broken out by color), a bit about bedrooms, bathrooms, and other rooms.

The only jarring thing I noticed that clicking on what I thought was a home office got me to a page that starts out with:

"DIY Home Building and Construction Information for Decorating"
"As interior designers we would like to not have to learn about construction but unfortunately it is vitally important to interior planning and decoration...."

Well, good for them. The page does get around to saying how wonderful their article for interior designers, about construction, is: But I probably wouldn't have gotten that far, if I didn't have this micro-review to write.

Those 'free downloads' include a nine-page "Color Scheme Form" which breaks out the details involved in planning a color scheme for an interior space - and provides a sort of fill-in framework for a designer. I think it'd be helpful.

Another, "Design Process Scope," starts out with "Define the parameters of the project and map it recording what is existing.
"Initially develop a form for the brief taking. It should follow within the parameters listed below. (Down load this form from the site The brief system form)"

Okay - this probably doesn't give you the warm fuzzies, like putting together an aesthetically pleasing arrangement of color and form can: but again it's a tool to help you organize a project. And yes, I think it's possible that whoever wrote the form grew up speaking a language other than English.

Speaking from a decade's experience in a related field - graphic design - I can tell you that, boring as this sort of thing is: Not getting organized from the get-go is a big mistake.

The "scope" form (four pages) probably won't include everything you'll need to define: but it's a really good start.

And yes, there are pretty pictures, like this:

Trying to Write for Television? Learn the Tropes

TV Tropes

"Welcome To TV Tropes!

What is this about? This wiki is a catalog of the tricks of the trade for writing fiction. We dip into the cauldron of story, whistle up a hearty spoonful and splosh it in front of you to devour to your heart's content.

"Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations. On the whole, tropes are not clichés. The word clichéd means "stereotyped and trite". In other words, dull and uninteresting. We are not looking for dull and uninteresting entries. We are here to recognize tropes and play with them, not to make fun of them.

"The wiki is called 'TV Tropes' because that is where we started. Over the course of a few years, our scope has crept out to include other media. Tropes transcend television. They exist in life, as we will be quick to tell you. Since a lot of art, especially the popular arts, does its best to reflect life, tropes are likely to show up everywhere...."

This isn't the ultimate writer's resource - but it's extensive, has a decent search function, and the content doesn't require more than the proverbial grain of salt now and again.

I use the search function more than the index, but that's a personal preference - TV Tropes' index is pretty decent. For example, under Narrative Tropes there's:

• Applied Phlebotinum
• Characterization Tropes
• Characters
• Characters As Device
• Dialogue
• Motifs
• Narrative Devices
• Paratext
• Plots
• Settings
• Spectacle

"Applied Phlebotinum"?! You probably remember terms like "dialogue" and "narrative devices" from English class. "Phlebotinum" - not so much. It's something to make the plot go. Dr. Who's sonic screwdriver is an example.

This is a pretty good resource, I think, for writers - or someone who wants to have some fun reading about what makes stories work (or not work). It's a mob group effort, so the writing style is - eclectic would be a nice way of putting it. And many (most?) genres and styles are covered, from CSI to Seven Samurai.

---

A tip of the hat to irish_brigid, for the heads-up on this resource.

Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau Website: Improved a Little Too Much

Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau

"The Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau is the premier sales and marketing organization that promotes Chicago’s world-class assets to global leisure travel and convention business to ensure the economic vitality of the City and its member business community...."

I've used this website in the past, to learn about Chicago. It's been upgraded since then: but after a quick look around, I've decided that they haven't improved to the point where it's too pretty to be useful.

You may find the search function useful, if you don't find what you're looking for on the home page. I found an interactive map that way. It's a Google service, by the looks of it. And, intuitive it's not, for me at least. I haven't a clue what the difference is between Dining, DINING and Dining - three separate and distinct checkoffs. It gets more interesting - or confusing - a bit lower. You can check off any of the following:

• Shopping
• SHOPPING
• Shopping
• Shopping

Each time I clicked one of the checkoffs, something flickered in the center of the map, and that's all that happened.

I probably have the wrong sort of computer or the wrong browser.

Or, there's a glitch somewhere.

On the upside, there's the usual array of more-or-less breathless description of Chicago's attractions, like: "The curtain is up on Chicago’s vital theater scene! Talented local companies and top-notch traveling troupes are on stage in great classic theaters, smaller venues, and even storefronts – and they’re generating rave reviews...." (theater)

With a little work - and going to Google Maps until Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau gets their interactive map fixed - I think this would still be a useful resource for someone planning a trip to Chicago.

I'd look for other resources, too, though.

Rembrandt van Rijn: Take a Look, Buy a Book?

Rembrandt van Rijn
life, paintings, etchings, drawings & self portraits

Sure, the website's got an online Rembrandt bookshop, plus opportunities to buy hand-made Rembrandt copies, or prints & posters: but there's a pretty good selection of information about Rembrandt - and his house, and galleries of paintings, etchings, and drawings by the 17th century artist.

Sure: it's commercial. It's also a pretty good website for people wanting a look at Rembrandt and his work.

Literacy.gov - Pretty Good Resouce

Lifelong Literacy
('literacy.gov' - on the Library of Congress website)

"Books can open windows to new worlds and doors to adventure. Here is just a sampling of recommended reading that will spark imagination and transport you to new and exciting places...."

I'll admit to a bias: I think literacy is a good idea. Being able to read makes what has happened, and what has been imagined, available to a degree that a person isn't likely to get by talking with neighbors, watching television, and going to the movies now and again.

Not that there's anything wrong with neighbors, television, or the movies.

Literacy.gov seems to be aimed at least partly to younger readers, with titles like "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales" by Jon Scieszka; "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs" by Jon Scieszka (again); and "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck.

You won't find the books there: just their titles, author, and a short description. I think the idea is that you'll go out and buy the things, or borrow them from a library.

Then there's the Amazing Americans section. "Discover the inventors, politicians, performers, activists and other everyday people who made this country what it is today." One of them is Pocahontas: who was around 12 years old when she "helped negotiate the return of Powhatan prisoners held by the colonists." (If that doesn't quite sound like the title character of the Disney film of the same name: you're right. Disney Studios didn't strive for historical accuracy.)

The Lemming will climb down from the soapbox now.

Bottom line: a pretty good online resource.

Learn Japanese Online - Looks Promising

Learn Japanese Online

"Learn Japanese Online
"for free with easy flash quizes

"Dear Visitor,

"Welcome to easyjapanese.org

"This site intends to provide useful tools for people who wish to learn Japanese online for free. First, there is the interesting Fujisan Kana Quiz testing tool. Learn how to write the hiragana here. If you masterd it, take a shot at the Kanji glyphs, using our flashcards. You can also play the fun memory game with a variety of difficulties.

"It is quite easy to start to learn Japanese. Select one of the links on the left that best suites your interest. For example, it's much fun to discover the different writing modes. You can use the script tables to learn the glyphs, then test your knowledge with the Fujisan flash quiz. While testing, you will memorize the so far unknown characters. So visit one of our sections:..."

Okay: the word "masterd" is misspelled in the first paragraph. I didn't notice until I went through the text a second time. The syntax is correct, standard, English. I think it's likely that whoever wrote the English text spoke another language before learning a foreign tongue, but what I've read so far is quite easy to understand.

My hat's off to whoever did the writing, by the way: English is my cradle-language, and I recognize how maddeningly difficult it can be to use correctly.

More, from the website's home page:

"...Japanese is unlike most of the western languages. It is mostly concise and straight forward. For example, there is no conjugation of the verbs depending on the person and number, and no suffixes for plural for nouns. Though, the writing is a bit more challenging. There are three scripts: hiragana, katakana and kanji. The knowledge of the first two can be tested using the Fujisan Quiz...."

They've got a "Word of the Day" - today's "ohayoo" ("おはよう" "お早う") "good morning" - I very greatly appreciate seeing a Latin-alphabet version of the Japanese term, approximating its pronunciation.

I'm hoping that this website will be a useful resource, when I need to understand words, phrases, or passages in Japanese. Online translators are convenient: but I've learned that even the best 'mechanical' translations can result in, well, odd results.

NutritionData: Looks Like a Common-Sense Food Information Resource

NutritionData
"know what you eat"

"Since its launch in 2003, Nutrition Data has grown into one of the most authoritative and useful sources of nutritional analysis on the Web. In July 2006, Nutrition Data was acquired by CondéNet, a digital publisher under the Condé Nast Publications umbrella dedicated to editorial excellence. Nutrition Data's continuing goal is to provide the most accurate and comprehensive nutrition analysis available, and to make it accessible and understandable to all...."
(About NutritionData.com)

Someone showed me this website this morning, and so far I'm rather impressed. It's an online information resource, with a glossary of common nutrition terms, what they say is "sensible diet advice" (they're probably right), and - astonishingly - advice on how to gain weight in a healthy way. And yes, a person can be too thin.

So far, this website seems to be a far cry from the 'meat-is-poison' and freak diet fads: you know, low-carb diets where you're told that an orange and an chocolate eclair are equivalent, nutritionally? Or those ads, back when cholesterol was the big bad bogeyman, touting things like Twinkies as having "zero cholesterol?" The ads were probably accurate, by the way: quite a few junk foods have no cholesterol. That doesn't make them particularly good for you, though.

Back to NutritionData - this seems to be a pretty good online resource for people who want to know more about what they eat. There's a registration process that gives you access to more information, including the option to

• "Log and analyze your foods and recipes in My ND
• "Store your ideal daily nutrient values to track against your actual consumption
• "Customize our nutrient search to your personal preferences"

They'll want to know an email address, and what state or province you live in, as well as a bit more fairly non-critical information: looks like a reasonable idea, although I'm not sure I'll register myself.

How to Write Better: 100 Posts

"100 Inspirational Posts to Make You a Better Writer"
Online Best Colleges.com (February 12, 2009)

"Whether you are a professional writer or student, you need all the inspiration you can get. Much of this inspiration can be found from other writers online in a variety of blog posts. Check out this collection to find lots of great posts that can help you become a better writer...."

It's a list of links, starting with "10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work: Copyblogger's post explains a simple way to create compelling titles" - ending with "Back to School: Writing Tools, Part 1: Check out this list to find tools you can use for writing" - going past "3 Easy Ways to Write with Style: In this post, you’ll find out how to write with more style" and "How to Write an Article in 20 Minutes: Try these techniques to speed up the process of your writing" on the way.

The links are divided into sections:

• Subject Inspiration
• Techniques
• Productivity
• Mistakes (how to avoid, not how to make them)
• Blogging
• Tips & Advice
• Tools

A Fireworks Glossary

"Glossary of Fireworks Terms"
The Fireworks Alliance

Do you lie awake nights, worried that you may be asked to explain the difference between a silver salute and an ash can? Are you embarrassed to admit that you don't know what a tourbillion is?

Probably not.

On the other hand, you might like to learn a little about fireworks whose name you know - and maybe learn what the displays you've seen are called. That's where this glossary comes in.

The Fireworks Alliance put together a pretty good list of fireworks terms, from Aerial to Willow: with a short description of each term. And, sometimes, a little history: like the banning of ash cans in the sixties.

Making a Father's Day Gift: Ideas and Instructions

"Father's Day Crafts"
Kaboose

"Father's Day is June 21, 2009. Be sure to check out our main Father's Day ideas page for even more great ideas including Father's Day cards, coloring pages and tasty Father's Day recipes just for Dad!..."

It's a bit late for this year, but another 360 days or so and Father's Day will be here again.

The projects look doable. "Family Marble Magnets," for example, starts with photographs of family members, flat backed clear marbles, round magnets, white craft glue and scissors. Five steps, a certain amount of dexterity and patience: and you've got personalized refrigerator magnets. There's an option (obvious when you think about it) for using something other than photos.

This looks like a good 'go to' resource for family gift making.

Interior Design 101: Being a Designer, Learning to Clean, and - - - Shelving Kids?!

"Interior Design 101"
Rental Decorating Digest

"Get started with your home or apartment interior decorating project by learning the basics of interior design. Whether you want to transform a space yourself or hire an interior designer, try these tips for home design!..."

Okay, so it's a very commercial website, with lots of ads (mostly on-topic), and the editors clearly wouldn't mind it if you purchased or rented certain products.

It's a pretty good collection of how-to (and what-to) mini-articles. Or, rather, links to the mini-articles. That photo is from "10 Ideas For Using Your Space Effectively" - in the "Getting Organized & Arranging Accessories" section.

Article titles include

• Get Started Decorating
• 3 Elements of Successful Room Design
  • (they're function, mood and harmony)
• So You Want To Be A Home Interior Designer
• Making One Corner Beautiful at a Time
• How to Clean
  • (no, really: some good ideas here)

Bottom line: a pretty good resource. Not bad, actually.

Learn about Residential Architecture, from Neocolonial to McMansion

"House Styles: A Guide To Residential Architecture"
About.com

"What style is your house? These articles and resources will help you identify architectural styles and recognize important trends in housing design. Compiled by Jackie Craven...."

If you lie awake nights, afraid that you won't be able to explain the difference between a Colonial Revival House and one designed in the Neocolonial style, this link page is for you.

At last, people who have struggled with the embarrassment of not knowing why architects developed the Rustic shingle style can learn how Victorian fussiness inspired a new style: in the privacy of their own homes.

After studying the resources here, you too can intelligently discuss the merits of modern, postmodern and McMansion houses.

Seriously? This is a pretty good resource.