Gobble, Gobble, Gobble...Thanksgiving is Coming!

Hi All,

If you look at your calendar, you'll realize that Thanksgiving Day is right around the proverbial corner. Coming straight at you in 7 days. Click here for a link to a Thanksgiving Day countdown! Seriously! Who would have thought that there would be such a thing as a Thanksgiving Day timer?

Not all Thanksgiving dinners start at the house. Recently there has been an increase in the number of restaurants that serve Thanksgiving Day meals. Click on this link for a bunch of restaurants that are having Thanksgiving Day meals on Long Island. Note that the link is from Newsday.

Click on this link for an article from Newsday that is a good primer - with even more links - to Thanksgiving Day dinner. For example, the author will be answering any and all cooking questions about Thanksgiving dinner. She'll post answers to the site. Click on this link for recipes and tips from Newsday from prior years.

Click on this link and you will get a feel for the types of links that Newsday has regarding Thanksgiving - the link is for 'Basic Turkey Cooking Tips'.

Click here for a link to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

For the absolute Thanksgiving day beginner, you might want to visit this site called Thanksgiving Dinner Planning - How to Plan Thanksgiving Dinner - Stress Free.

Note that the site has a countdown of sorts - for example, it gives you suggestions about what the host/hostess should be doing for Thanksgiving 2 week, 1 week, 4 days, 2 days, and 1 day before Thanksgiving. Clever idea and pretty darn helpful.

Starting from the top - pretty much the most important traditional food on the Thanksgiving Day table is the turkey. Click on this link to learn about how to choose and buy and defrost the turkey.

For another, similar site that talks about how to buy a turkey, click on this link.

If you've got kids coming to your Thanksgiving Day dinner you might want to click on this link which discusses various fun games to play with kids so that day doesn't become a cranky, yelling affair.

Click on this link (from Apples4TheTeacher) for more kids games for Thanksgiving Day.

Finally, click on this link - from the NFL - to learn a bit more about the 3 football games that will be played on Thanksgiving day (Packers vs. Lions, Dolphins vs. Cowboys, and 49ers vs. Ravens).

Enjoy Thanksgiving Day - and I'll probably do a followup Thanksgiving blog entry next week - it might be about the various 'fixin's that folks can serve on Thanksgiving.

Regards,

Stu

More Birding

Hi All,

I did a birding post on November 2nd and since then it has been one of the best viewed blog entries! Go figure - who knew that birding was such a hot topic among my blog readers?

Well, I am very glad to find a topic that I was able to tap into - and which my readers find interesting! Onward and upward!

Here is another entry on birding. Specifically this entry is about the various organizations and groups on Long Island dedicated to birding. There are quite a few of them, so birding enthusiasts have plenty of choices!

Click here for a site called LIBirds.com. On the homepage of the site you'll find links to Sightings, Seasonal Spots, Backyard, Photo Page (don't miss this - great pictures of birds!), Bird ID, Featured Bird and Links. For those who are interested in the Audubon society, the Links page has a list - and links - to local Audubon chapters! Very helpful!

Click on this link for a page on About.com called 'Bird Watching on Long Island'. There are 9 different links on the page that discuss bird watching. Locations as varied as Garvies Point Preserve, Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary & Audubon Center, Garden City Bird Sanctuary and the Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge are mentioned.

Blog readers who are out in the field and who are looking at birds and want to identify them should click on this link called Whatbird.com. On the site you can identify birds by location, shape, size, primary color, secondary color, habitat, bill shape, bill length, wing shape, conservation status, song patter (amazing) and more....great stuff. Don't miss Whatbird.com!

Finally, click on this link from Audubon.com - the link is to a subsite on the Audubon entitled 'Birds'. You can find more information on birds, including bird profiles, a link to state of the birds, important bird areas and a link to the Great Backyard Bird Count. Neat stuff...

FYI, if you do a Google search for the term 'birding' you'll find over 16 million hits...ack. If you do a Google search for the term 'birding long island', you'll find just under 1.3 million hits...ack again.

Enjoy the links and the birds - its a great time of year to view them!
Stu

J is For...

Hi All,

J is for the following topics and websites! Who knew that the letter 'J' had so many interesting topics? Enjoy!

JetBlue - airline that is based on New York - excellent rates and in-flight tv. Reservations can be made on the website.

JFK (airport) - major Long Island based airport; handles domestic and international flights. Users can get flight information, an airport guide, alerts and advisories, telephone numbers and contact information and more on the page.

JFK (president) - from the U of Virginia Miller Center...learn all about JFK via a multimedia gallery, audiotapes and more. Miller Center presentations by scholars are available for viewing. ,

Jazz - general website about what has been called 'America's only original art form': Jazz. You can find a blog, interviews, a jazz encyclopedia, forums for discussion and more.

Jets (New York - football) - professional football team based in New York. Website has news, statistics, reports, video, interviews and of course, tickets to the games.

JCPenney - nationally known retailer for clothing and housewares and more

Jailbreakme - free your device

Java - computer programming language - learn all about it on this site. Downloads and help available on the website also.

Regards,
Stu

Breathtaking Views of Earth From International Space Station!

Hi All,

Just found this video on Google news - great stuff. Just wanted to share it with you! Click here for a time-lapsed video of the earth - taken from the International Space Station.

Click here for a link to information about the International Space Station.

Enjoy!

Stu

7 'New' Natural Wonders...

Hi All,

I was just perusing the Newsday.com website when I found this article. It is aptly called '7 New Natural Wonders of the World Announced'. Click here for the link to it from the Newsday site.

Now, specifically, what are these 7 new wonders?

1. The Amazon Rainforest
2. Halong Bay, Vietnam
3. Iguazu Falls, on Brazil-Argentina border
4. Jeju Island, South Korea
5. Komodo National Park, Indonesia
6. Puerto Princessa Underground River, Philippines
7. Table Mountain, South Africa

Click on this link for the actual website to find out more about the New 7 Wonders were chosen. You'll also find a list of the other 21 sites (not websites) that were nominated but were not chosen as being one of the 7 New Wonders!!

Note that if you click on this link for the 28 finalists you can learn more about that particular wonder. Clicking on the link to a particular wonder leads you to photographs of the finalists as well as new about the topic. There are also videos and a place where visitors can support a particular natural wonder.

Very clever and well designed site! And very educational without being heavy handed or having an agenda!

Regards,

Stu