All posts by Richard

50 Year First Grade Reunion … Thanks to Social Media

Northern Life

People like to complain about social media, and the loss of privacy, etc. However, please remember what it now makes possible more often than not at cost to the individual.

On Saturday, along with 8 other of my first grade classmates we will hold a mini-reunion. It was 50 years ago this week that we "graduated" from first grade. Our school was known (now closed) at the UMD Lab School. The University of Minnesota Duluth Department of Elementary Education has arranged for us to have a tour of our old building, and we will be joined by our first grade teacher, Mr. Robert Higgins. How cool is that!

Thus, the next time you complain about Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc., please remember what these tools make possible. These tools are a fantastic asset. One need only be careful with one's own privacy settings.

UMD-Lab-School-1963

App or Web Site? An Example Using Wildflower Photography

Android | iPad | Kindle Fire, Northern Life

Two days ago I took a 38 mile bike ride along the Luce Line Trail. This abandoned gravel railroad grade reaches out into the central Minnesota countryside. After a long Winter and cold Spring, the wildflowers are finally starting to bloom. I decided it would be a nice photography lesson for me if I practiced closeups where the flower's bloom is the focus of the picture, with the background blurred out.

It was fun taking the photos, and when I returned home I wondered aloud to myself: "What flowers are these?" My first action was to retreat to my trusty Nexus 10 and search on "Minnesota Wildflower Apps".  Eureka, an app named Minnesota Wildflowers existed for $2.99. However, after reading a few reviews I discovered the app was the same service which was online via a superb web site. I found that the web site responded quicker than the "free lite" version of the app, and the advanced search was quicker than the app's search. In the end, I just bookmarked a "home screen" link to the web site. No app required.

My little scenario points out that it is often much better to use a web site for your tablet and/or smartphone needs. Optimizing an app for either Android or iOS can be a daunting task frought with development difficulties and bugs. As a consumer you will often be better off with bookmarking a humble web page which may perform more effectively … and it's cheaper too!

Here the my flower photographs. Can you match the flower's image (click to maximize) to its name? (Hint: the names are often a dead giveaway)

  • Dames Rocket
  • Garden Yellow Rocket
  • Ground Ivy
  • Red Columbine
  • Virginia Waterleaf
  • Wild Geranium

Wild-Geranium Garden-Yellow-Rocket
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Red Columbine 
Virginia-Waterleaf
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Dames-Rocket 
Ground-Ivy

Lake Superior Waves:

Northern Life

Lake Superior Waves: A Flipboard Online Magazine celebrating the people, wildlife, and their natural surroundings along the Minnesota shores of Lake Superior.

  • Flipboard is a leading news reader app which installs on your iOS or Android device. It's free!
  • Lake Superior Waves is an online magazine dedicated to what makes the Northland great. It is delivered via Flipboard and is also free! Via Flipboard youy may content ranging from the NY Times to TechCruch.

Installation is easy. Follow this link to Flipboard.

Imagine reading about both Flamenco Dancing on the Northshore AND Indigo Buntings! These are just two examples of recent articles. Yours truly, the NorthStarNerd is the curator.

Want to learn how to create your own Flipboard Magazine? See my earlier post which includes instructions and annotated screenshots, but first subscribe to Lake Superior Waves!

Lake-Superior-Waves

Building Wooden Boats … A Becalming Link to our Past

Northern Life

Lake Superior, after 57 years on this earth it gets in your veins. Thus, one can easily understand the allure of the wooden boat builder. Not only do these fine craftsmen build superior sailing and paddling crafts, but a bit of their soul goes into every boat. Enjoy the short video embedded below about a man who builds boats in the old tradition in the shores of Anacortes, Washington. If only for a few moments, my hope is your hectic life will be calmed.

If you find you enjoyed that video, please consider subscribing to my Flipboard Magazine, Lake Superior Waves. Both the magazine and app are free. There are no hidden costs. If you are not familiar with Flipboard, it is one of the leading Android and iOS news/magazine reading apps. Thus, in addition to reading Lake Superior Waves, you are able to read content ranging from the New York Times to TechCrunch (and much, much more) via your tablet or smartphone.

Stewart-River-Boat

Like Washington state, here in northern Minnesota we also have a fine tradition of boat building. The image shown above is of a boat built at the Stewart River Boat Works. I just "flipped" all three items linked below into my new magazine. Please subscribe! It's free and will help you follow what makes this region great. The byline is: "Celebrating the people, wildlife, and their natural surroundings along the Minnesota shores of Lake Superior."

Flipboard & Lake Superior Waves Installation / Subscription Process:

And here is the video. Enjoy!

Shaped on all Six Sides from New Canada on Vimeo.

 

Upper Mississippi River / 30th Wedding Anniversary Tour

Northern Life

In two days, my wife of 30 years and I will start our wedding anniversary bike tour. Leaving from Prescott, Wisconsin near Minneapolis and St. Paul, we will bicycle approximately 500 miles over the next week along the upper Mississippi River, with a short side trip into the Amish country of southeastern Minnesota. Our trip along the Father of Waters will reach as far south as Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Other trip journals seem to indicate that if one ventures farther south along the Mississippi River, the roads actually move away from the river, and the cities get much bigger (not fun for cycling).

You may read my daily trip journals via the Crazy Guy on a Bike Portal. We will be bicycling May 18 through May 25th. (please consider posting wedding anniversary best wishes on our Crazy Guy guest book!)

My wife will also be blogging about our trip:

Even better, the advance forecast shows that the looooooong Winter has ended. Temperatures should range between lows around 50, to highs of 80 degrees. Our plans are to camp 1/3 of the time, stay in motels 1/3 of the time, and also use WarmShowers.Org for the first time (another 1/3 of our nights). 

Believe it or not, we will be camping the actual night of our 30th Wedding Anniversary! Wish Molly and me Happy Trails! We will end the ride at our daughter's house in suburban Minneapolis. As we cycle up, she will be hosting a anniversary BBQ. Sweet!

Upper-Mississippi-30th-Anniversary-Tour