#3

Hi All,

Get ready, get set...go.

We are up to #3 in our ongoing search for interesting, useful, playful, educational topics...

There is a lot of history behind the number 3. For example:

#3: Babe Ruth - of baseball fame. Not only possibly the best baseball player ever - possibly the most influential and charismatic. Click here for a link to all his stats via Baseball-Reference.com (#3 was his uniform number!)

Britney Spears had a song by the name of '3'. Click here to watch the video on YouTube.com

3 Blind Mice - click here for the origin and history of the old nursery rhyme. Also, click here for Wikipedia entry entitled 'Three Blind Mice'. The entry has lyrics, origins, meaning and variations of the nursery rhyme. Interesting stuff.

3 Wise Men - in the traditional version of the Christmas story, the (3) wise men (magi) are Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar...click here for some information about them from About.com's section on Ancient/Classical History.

Triple Play - in baseball this is a rare play in which 3 outs are made during the same continuous play. Wikipedia has an interesting entry about this. Note that types of plays are very, very rare.

3 (Holy Trinity) - the central doctrine of the Christian religion - represents the truth that in the unity of the Godhead there are three Persons: The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit...click here for a link from the Catholic Encyclopedia for more information.

Hat Trick (3 Goals in one game) - From WiseGeek.com comes this answer of 'what is a hat trick in hockey'?

The first nuclear explosion was called Trinity. Click here for the site that discusses the history and importance of this event. Also, click on this link - from the Nuclear Weapons Archive. It talks about the Trinity nuclear explosion in even more detail.

Finally, from a site called Spiritual Numerology comes this site that discusses the numerological meanings of the number 3. Interesting stuff for sure.

Enjoy!
Stu

Modern Shopping - Easier, Faster and You Save Money

Hi All,

I was just reading an article from the New York Times titled, 'A New Secret Weapon For Electronics Shoppers'.

It was an interesting and timely article - especially since we are in the middle of the holiday shopping season.

Essentially the article discusses the fact that when purchasing various items (think cars, camera's smartphones and other electronic equipment) shoppers are at a disadvantage when shopping. Retailers and manufacturers know about you and the potential purchases you might make...so they can send out advertisements for sales and for coupons.

The playing field has been leveled the article goes on to say with websites like Pricegrabber.com and Bizrate.com and NexTag.com (historical price information). Finally a site like FreePriceAlerts.com has been very helpful in that it notifies customers via email when the price of a particular item drops. Cool stuff, eh?

Now a new site by the name of Decide.com has gone live. Decide.com collects and mines billions of transactions to determine what the best price is and whether there will be an even better price in the near future. Wow! Think of the computing power necessary to generate this data!
The unique aspect of the site is the predictive power of it...now we have a website that essentially suggests whether or not buyers should hold off making a purchase (because the price of the item might drop in the future) or whether they should make the purchase now (because the price of the item might increase in the future). Cool stuff!

Enjoy your purchases!
Stu

K is For...

Hi All,

Who would have thought that the letter K has so many different services and organizations and companies associated with it?

K is For...

Keurig - manufacturer of the K-cup - single cups of coffee. Can buy the coffee and/or the machine via the website. Oh, and it is very, very tasty coffee - trust me, a family member has a Keurig coffee maker. Yum!

K-Mart - national retailer of clothing, toys, electronics, home goods and more - can buy online or in the store...

Kayak - great online travel site - similar to Expedia but different. Can make flights, rent hotel rooms and cars and schedule whole vacations. Very helpful site.

Kohl's - another national retailer - Kohl's specializes in bedding, clothing for men and women, kids and babies, and has toys, jewelry, watches and more. Can buy online or in the store. Expect great things :)

Kate Spade - luxury retailer of handbags, wallets, clothing, shoes, jewelry and more...can also buy online or in the store.

Kindle Fire - Amazon.com's e-reader that enables users to also surf the web, watch movies on the web, plays games, read and download apps to the device.

Enjoy the sites.

Stu

PS: (I didn't realize that there are so many retailers that begin with the letter K!)

Declutter Your House!

Hi All,

You've got stuff - lots of stuff. We buy stuff a lot: food to eat, books, tv's, clothing, toys for kids, bicycles, clothing for kids and well, more...amazing how we have all this stuff. And manage to keep it in our houses' or apartments' or attic's or basements or wherever.

So, we've all got a lot of stuff - now what do we do with all of it?

Click on this link from a website called Unclutter.com - the tips are really, really excellent - and very easy to implement. I like the caveats at the end of the article that discuss when to 'stop decluttering' - the advice makes sense and is simple! Double high five for the author! (Note that readers can double click on the picture at the right - the site goes to Declutteryourhomeinfo.com)

From Zenhabits.com comes this article titled, '15 Great Decluttering Tips'. Take note of tip number 1, 2, and 3...really. Interesting stuff!

I bet your house is your number one clutter zone - that's not uncommon! Click here for a link that'll get you started decluttering your house.

Some of the advice they give you is very obvious - but still helpful. For example, the article suggests that you should start deluttering slowly; but do it in a steady, consistent manner. Common sense for sure, but how about this advice to schedule regular declutter sessions. Now th'at's something I would not have thought about. This link - again, from Organizedhome.com - is helpful. For example, the four box method is very clever: gather three boxes and a large trash can. Label the boxes 'Put Away', 'Give Away/Sell', and 'Storage', garbage pail is obvious. Pick up each item and ask yourself the question, 'Do I want to put this away in another place, donate it (or sell it at a yard sale), store it, or throw it away?' Voila - you'll declutter in no time!

Click on this link to find out how to stay clutter free in the future! Simply put the article talks about how all your 'stuff' (everything from jackets, to toys, to books, to newspapers, hats, dishes, etc) needs to have its proper place in the house. Makes sense and it is intuitive. Check out the articles' take on 'clutter preserves' - its pretty funny; clever and helpful!

Finally, we have a bunch of books on how to declutter. Click on this link for books that we have in the library on the topic of decluttering.

So there you have it - a lot of good ideas on how to stay clutter free and how to declutter your home, office and anywhere else you spend a lot of time - good stuff.

Enjoy and get to work! :)

Stu

Chase's Calendar of Events

Hi All,

What are the special events that various towns, organizations, states, celebrate each day of the year? Trying to find information like this on the web would take a long, long time! But Chase's Calendar of Events comes to the rescue. (The prior link sends you to the Farmingdale PL card catalog; where you can find the location of Chase's Calendar of Events in the library.)

What the heck is Chase's Calendar of Events? It is a day by day account of specials days, weeks and months that are celebrated or notable by local organizations, cities, states, and other groups. Birthdates, anniversaries, celebrations and more are included in this reference book.

The book is organized in the most logical way for the topic - by date. And....at the end of each day is a list of birthdays. For example, on December 1st the following people are celebrating birthdays: Wood Allen (filmmaker) , Bette Midler (singer, actress, entertainer) , Carol Alt (model) and Treat Williams (actor).

The book is very, very easy to use - just open to the date that you are interested in learning about and the information is at your fingertips! Voila - done!

So, for example, you can find out that on December 1st the city of Demopolis, Alabama is celebrating 'Christmas on the River' (event actually runs from December 1st - December 4th). A description of the event follows: 'Fun with arts and crafts, childre's parade, Alabama State Barbecue Cookoff and a riverboat parade'. Cool stuff. Contact information is also given - in this case there is a phone number, an email address and the Demopolis, Alabama website for those interested in finding out more about the event.

Users can also go to the Chase's website and see what specific events are occurring or notable on a specific day. Click here to visit the Chase's website.

So...what other specials events can be followed, shared or noted on December 1st? Today is....

Basketball Created: December 1, 1891
Bingo's Birthday Month: December 1-December 31
Cookie Cutter Week: December 1 - December 7
Day With(out) Art: December 1
National Write Your Business Plan Month: December 1-December 31
Lou Rawls birthday: December 1, 1940
Rosa Parks Day: Anniversary of Arrest - December 1, 1955
Safe Toys and Gifts Month: December 1 - December 31
Christmas on the River: December 1 - December 4
Operation Santa Paws: December 1 - December 24
Spiritual Literacy Month: December 1 - December 31
A Colonial Christmas: December 1 - December 31

Note that the blue links above are links - users can click on the title of the event and you'll be directed to the website.

Enjoy the sites!
Regards,
Stu