Flickr Mashup

When I looking for mashups the most interesting ones to me that I found were
http://www.flickrspy.com, http://www.applefritter.com/bannedbooks, and http://www.cellreception.com. Okay, on the last two are a little off the Flickr topic this week but they still are mashups.

So, what are theses mashups. The first one http://www.flickrspy.com shows what was recently loaded to Flickr. If you are bored and need to waste a little time...

The second one for us librarian types, http://www.applefritter.com/bannedbooks, shows what books have been banned mashed with a map. I would love to have this with the book cover image instead of the dot but it works.

The last one show you I'm thinking of changing cell services, http://www.cellreception.com., shows you where the cell towers are with a map.

I've used mash-ups before for crime data but I don't have that one handy at the moment but they are very good for information like that and most of the local news sites carry them.

Flickr & Photobucket

I've used Photobucket for a very long time so for any co-worker reading this know that this week we are to use Flickr for our Learn & Play assignment.

First I love Flickr for searching and I used it to find photos all the time. I especially the find interesting results option that Flickr has available. Also, Flickr is defintly the more popular choice which might be why I leaned away from it I tend to look for the hidden gems, the diamods in the rough which there are plenty of choices out there to fit all of us. I'll share more of my choices that are not the given ones in futures weeks as they apply.

I'll was thinking of switching to a new photo sharing service because I just wanted to see if Photobucket was still the right one for me. I've discovered that I might look for other choices Flickr will not be the one I settle on. It has neat features the major downside for me is 100 MB upload per month. I tend to not upload for a while then have a lot of things to upload due to vacations and trips and this size will not work for me. Also, I prefer how Photobucket gives you the html code for posting into Myspace or other places for each picture.

Overall, I don't think one is a clear choice over the other for every person I think it is a personal choice.

(The photo here is from Photobucket from Olentangy Indian Cavern. The Newport Photo is from Flickr.)

Newport & Penguins

DSCF5940
Originally uploaded by mbkmk

We went to Newport Aquarium last weekend for two reasons. The main reason for the trip was really to see Shadowbox Newport. The second reason was to go to Newport Aquarium because I'm a thirty something year old 'girl' obsessed with penguins.

The trip was great we spent a day in the Newport area and another day looking at museums in Cincinnati. We went to Union Station and learn about the history of it and the trains that used to occupy the building. The Natural History Museum and History Museum along with the Duke Energy Children's Museum are all housed in this great historic landmark. We did not go to the Children's museum because we ran out of time. I would definitely recommend going to the free tour of Union Station, it was an hour long and very interesting. I'll be loading pictures later. For anyone that does not know my picture taking style I tend to go slightly overboard and I think I took a little under 200 pictures for this two day trip.

Names

Names are a large part of our culture. So far my hardest task with the creation of this blog was thinking of the name for the blog. I had a few ideas such as "Dark Phoenix, Kat Von D & Lesser Known Things about Me" and "What to Call this?" but settled for the more generic "Missy's Blog" to encompass all future posts.

Growing up, I was always Melissa. I remember in elementary school a teacher once scolded me for not answering to Missy. My response to the teacher was simple, that was not my name my name was Melissa. In high school I had many nicknames from friends and teachers, but I still always introduce myself as Melissa but am called Missy sometimes.

A little over a year ago I got married and discovered another name issue, what to do with my last name. I was no longer in my twenties when I got married so I have established a history with my last name. However, more important to me is my family history. My grandfather died when I was a little over a year old and I had always heard a story that he carried me around as a baby saying I was his boy that would carry on the family name. I am the youngest granddaughter out of eight grandchildren, all granddaughters. Since there are no males that could technically carry on the family name I wanted to keep my maiden name for my grandfather and this story that I've heard. I'm glad I decided to do this but have discovered it can be difficult because people do not understand that I am giving them my last name and think I am giving them a first and last name. Eventually, my husband and I will need to decide if we have children what their last name will be but that is for the future.