Take A Stroll To The Ghost Town

Some ghost towns can be eerie places to visit and yet fascinating if you really think about how they were before the people practically "disappeared". These town are almost literally frozen in time. It's just that they are dusty and in bad shape. This is how I see them. The site reminded me that once my family passed such a town in Nevada, I think. There was this house on a hill that etched in my mind. It looked like the hotel in Psycho. It almost made me believe that it was indeed the Psycho house. It was a little creepy but at the same time it piqued my interest. Maybe I felt this way because still a teen. Hopefully, I'll get to see it again because I want to see its' interiors. Unfortunately, I don't recall the town's name. It must have been sometime in early or mid-80's that I saw it.

The nice thing about this site, is that you can see the buildings' interiors. It's like going back into the past or something like that. No wonder they are called ghost towns. It's weird trying to imagine how these towns once upon a time were full of life. You start to think about the "wild" west and or about the mines and the gold rush. It might make you wonder where those people went. Where are their next to kin? It's not just the buildings that are neglected but also the rusty cars. I guess some people apparently just left their cars out at the open space. Or maybe used the area as a car graveyard. I have no idea. It is as if they were carelessly (or purposely) dumped. Looking at the cars in the photographs I wondered what kind of people drove them when the vehicles were in their prime. Why were they there? Did somebody just wanted to get rid of his or her car? Personally, I love the blue truck in Bodie, CA. It looks like a classic to me in the picture. I wonder what the truck's purpose. But I can only make an educated guess. Maybe for the mines? Transporting people to a mine? Truthfully, I'm a bit biased about this particular town, because that was the name of my dog, Bodie, who killed last year. It's as if I have a strange connection to it only because of its name. Often, when people who met me while I'd be walking Bodie, they'd tell me about this town. They'd always started saying "oh, his name is like this town, Bodie...did you know.." Eventually, I just had to get curious about this town. So maybe some day I'll see it myself.

Scroll down just a bit to see the ghost town list on the main page.

Ghost Town Gallery
http://www.ghosttowngallery.com/

Blog - Cigar Box Guitar History Museum

I wish I had seen this earlier when I posted about the Cigar Box Guitars. This blog is dedicated to them and their history. I really like this blog a lot and thought it was real neat.

Blog - Cigar Box Guitar History Museum
http://cigar-box-guitar-history-museum.blogspot.com/

Worst Of The Worst Movies!

We are about to exit the 21st first decade! I wonder how the people from the 20th century felt when the second decade was about to start. They probably felt different considering the technology was still very much in infancy. They were always in awe about new inventions that were about to come, that we take for grant today. For instance, we have came a long way since the first "talkies". Now it's the 3-D movies that got us excited the end of the last century. Remember "Toy Story"? I recently read that there is a new technology at work for virtual 3-D movies. It already exists, but it's not perfect. I don't think I'd want to watch a horror movie in a virtual reality mode. How far we have come since the talkies!

Now, Rottentomatoes.com has recently just published a list of the worst 100 movies of the decade. I'd like to see a list of the best 100 movies of the first decade (2000-2009).

Counting down the worst reviewed movies of the last ten years
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/worst_of_the_worst/

Flickr - Tom Crocker

I have never heard of the National Cigar Box Guitar Museum before, nor have I heard of these guitars either. But, I find this set rather intriguing. It would be nice to see them in person. Ted Crocker has a great set of the Cigar Box Guitars gallery. There are quite some interesting ones.

Flickr Tom Crocker Cigar Box Guitar Museum set
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tedcrocker/sets/72157600365357368/

The First Driver License In The World!

The birth of the driver license is interesting. The first driver license ever was issued to Karl Benz from Germany in 1888. It was him who requested a written permission by the Grand Ducal to operate his car in public roads, due to the complaints of the Mannheim citizens about the smell and the noise of his car. Personally, I was somewhat shocked when I saw the picture of the first driver license. This is not what I had in mind all. I pictured it as a fading yellow paper with a black and white picture of the driver and some kind of stamped symbol on it.

First Driver's License From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver's_license

YouTube - All The Single Babies

Have you seen this yet? It's hilarious!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQKYdbhGh0Q

Blog - Eighty One

The blog is from a graphic design company based in England called Eighty One. The company specializes in identity, web and print. The blog features interesting posts that are related to design.










http://www.eightyonedesign.co.uk/blog/

Impress Your Friend With A Sign

There are really good stuff at ASL Pro if you want to learn some basic sign language. ASL that stands for American Sign Language. This language is not English. It's an independent language with its own grammar rules. It's not a universal sign language. It is however, not the only sign language that exist in the US. If you want to learn English word by word in sign language, you need to use SEE. It stands for Signing Exact English. I have seen many people using it though.

I've heard people assuming that sign language is universal, but it is not. Each country has its own sign language, just as each spoken language around the world has its own rules. Even the sign language in Britain is not the same as in the US. Their finger spelling is different as well. I actually was told that there are other sign languages in the US besides ASL and SEE. But I am not an expert on that. I am not familiar with them and never saw them in action. The only one that I actually did see in action is the "cued speech". You can see it in action down below.

Interesting though, just as the spoken English has different dialects around the US, so does ASL. Some signs vary from each state to another. Even between upstate New York and NYC which I witnessed long time ago. For example, the sign for "hospital" is different but still similar though. Also, I've seen the sign for "computer" in NY and CA signed differently. They don't look the same at all.

If you want to learn some basic sign and finger spelling or just to impress your friend, check out this site. It has video clips with live people, so you can see the sign in action. This is one of my favorite sign language site out of. There are other good ones of course, but I like their video clips with live people. For me, it is also easy to navigate which is always my top priority when I browse around.

ASL Pro
http://www.aslpro.com/

What Is A Cued Speech?



Cued Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plPw4H-ZsMg

I'd Like To Help The Hearing Dog Program

I don't normally post these sort of things, so I hope this won't come across as a solicitation. This is close to my heart and I personally have connection to the Hearing Dog Program and I try to let people know about it. I tell them they mean a great deal for the deaf because they provide them dogs that will help make their lives easier, and even save them from danger like fire. I am always happy to do what I can to help them.

As some of you know, Shelby, my Black Lab is a service dog. She is a Hearing Dog from the new non-profit Hearing Dog Program (HDP) in SF (The San Francisco SPCA terminated their original services program out of the blue. Now the program has their own place not affiliated with the SPCA). As a hearing dog, Shelby's chores include letting me know when someone rings or knocks at the door, alert me to a fire and clock alarm, as well to the phone. These are the basics that every hearing dog learns. Some people teach their dog further more, like to alert to the kitchen's timer, or when someone calls the owner's name which is actually easy to teach. So bottom line the hearing dogs purpose is to alert their deaf owners to the certain sounds. Eventually, I want to teach her some tricks. Grin.

Anyhow, I've received an email from the hearing dog trainer at the HDP (she helps me training Shelby) telling me that they need more funds for the next few weeks. They are having a graduation ceremony in Fremont, CA next month for the hearing dogs to officially become hearing dogs (right now they are called dogs in training). They get the orange vests (same vests as the guide dogs for the blind, except that theirs are blue). I'd like to post a plea on their behalf, to help them with the donations and the fundraisers for the next few weeks. I owe them that. After my previous hearing dog, Bodie, was killed last year in October, I was left with out a hearing dog for several months. Then a few months later, the HDP brought me Shelby. My new Hearing dog. If not for them, I'd be without a new service dog. So they have been a true blessing for me. I've known for years since my volunteer days back during the late 90's. I can guarantee you that they truly invest their time in the dogs and the program. It's not easy when your organization is a struggling small non-profit. They do the best they can for providing services for those who need them. Their determination to re-establish the program independently after it was shut down by the SPCA took much of their time and efforts. Also, one of the trainers is even hard of hearing herself and a pioneer.

If you are interested, you can contact them via their website even if you don't want to donate. You can ask them questions if you know someone who needs a Hearing Dog. Hearing Dog Programs are not common in the US

The HDP official site:

Hearing Dog Program - Donations
http://www.hearingdogprogram.org/donate.php

Hearing Dog Program Main Page
http://www.hearingdogprogram.org/

BTW, the dog in the picture at the HDP looks a lot like Shelby, but I don't believe it's her. Shelby was much bigger when I got her. She was raised by foster parents when she was little.


Thank you!

Old Princeton To Remember

From the Historical Society of Princeton, vintage photographs of Princeton. I noticed that every time I refresh the link below, a different image appears above the thumbnails (the little photographs). The images above starting from bottom are called "Baker Street", "Dumthwacket", "3 Delivery Wagons" and "University Laundry". As I am typing this the site just went down. Ugh

Historical Society of Princeton
http://www.princetonhistory.org/historic_photos.cfm