Google Earth and Friends

Surely you have heard of this free program from Google. Its called Google Earth and is pretty much the coolest bit of free software EVER! I have seen that a lot of the major news stations use it when they want to dazzle you with satellite views of the “hot spots”. So now you too can be cool like them and get lost exploring the earth from space. Now the Friends part; Google Earth Hacks. This site is dedicated to finding all the bizarre stuff that you didn’t know was stuck on the globe. There are many more features that can be loaded in to it as well, like map overlays and even current weather data. If you have a high speed connection your good to go, otherwise I don’t think you’ll be able to use the software since it streams all its data from the Google servers. Enjoy!

Google Earth

Google Earth Hacks

Multi-National Force – Iraq

Now is the time we need to stand up and back our troops. Support at home is failing and the Democrats are trying to pull the legs out from under the troops. Whether you believe what is going is right or wrong, you still need to give the “Boys” your support. Can you imagine what it would be like to be in another country putting you life on the line for some sorry sucker who just sits on their butt on the couch and complains about everything? Yeah me either. MNF-I is a website publishing news about what is going on with the situation in Iraq. They have also started to put some videos on YouTube showing some of the action. Check it out!

Gimme’ Fuel, Gimme’ Fire

What a fun time! I was lucky enough to have a friend of mine take me to the Atlanta Motor Speedway to watch the Kobalt Tools 500 on the 18th. Being my first NASCAR race, I really didn’t know what to expect. Ive always like to watch the race on TV when I get a chance, but to actually be there gives it a whole new life. With some good advice from my buddy’s father, our seats were directly across from the entrance to the pits. From where we were you could see all of pit row and the whole track in all its glory. Watching a race on TV has its advantages, like not walking 2 miles to get to your seat like we did, but nothing can compare with the sound (and feel for that matter)! All was quite, except for fan noise, before the race, but once you hear,”Gentlemen, start your engines!”, it all changes. Just hearing the cars idling at the start/finish is amazing, but when they are going full bore…WOW! The sound of the cars whipping by you at 190+ mph makes your seat vibrate. Ear plugs are a must if you want to be able to hear anything the rest of the day, even with ear plugs in its still very loud. I was pulling for Tony Stewart, who led the race for around 121 laps. Sadly with only 2 laps to go he was passed by Jimmie Johnson FTL! Oh well, it was still FUN! By the way, the picture at the top of the post is J.J. doing his victory burnout at that race, it was an impressive burnout that lasted a good 15 seconds or so and engulfed the stands in white smoke. Sadly there was only one wreck and it really wasn’t all that spectacular. Cant wait for the next race!

The music of Mario

Koji Kondo is definitely not a household name, but his products are all ingrained into our psyche. His most famous work by far is one we have all heard….the music from Super Mario Brothers. Check out this article about Mr. Kondo.

Behind the Mario Maestro’s Music