My Random Keys

Still making the effort to combat blog fade, I opened the door on FaceBook for suggested topics for this evening's post. Thanks to Steve for the highly motivating, "Do the benefits of pollen exceed its suckiness?" Let's just see if I can do that justice.

Well, to be scientific about it, I started with a Wikipedia search on what exactly is pollen. "Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes (sperm cells). ..When pollen lands on a compatible pistil of flowering plants, it germinates and produces a pollen tube that transfers the sperm to the ovule of a receptive ovary." Wikipedia is probably the best known example of a multi-user-collaboratively-edited website called a wiki. It's amazing that anyone can login in to a wikipedia account and freely edit the content.  During the London subway bombing some years back, wikipedia had a constantly updated story, including photos, within minutes.

However, sometimes, you don't quite understand what the pollen article in Wikipedia means when it shares, "In a process called microsporogenesis, four haploid microspores are produced from each diploid sporogenous cell (microsporocyte), after meiotic division." Honestly, I had to copy and paste since my ADD wouldn't let me past microsporoguinessbeer.  One site that helps with that is againbutslower.com . Paste any wikipedia article's URL into their site and it will reduce the article down to a much simpler to understand version. Great for elementary kids wanting to just get a basic concept.

You may find yourself jogging around Ladybird Lake or Camp Gesundheit and your jogging partner is sneezing up a storm. Sure, we need pollination to further grow our vegetation, feed our insects, regulate evolutionary plasticity (thanks again Wikipedia!), and keep allergy clinics in the black. But sharing that with your sneezing blister-mate may not be what he wants to hear. Perhaps quickly using your phone to email snapask.com could provide a distracting relief by requesting more facts from Wikipedia to be sent directly to your phone. Snapask.com lets you shoot keyword requests to them in an email, getting you an answer back in 30 seconds. Great for bar room bets!

Joggers can also rejoice, knowing pediaphon.org can provide an audible version of any Wikipedia article directly to your phone or iPad/Android device. Who wouldn't want the melodic tones of a Stephen Hawking-esq voice reading, "Dependence of the secondary sex ratio on the amount of fertilizing pollen was confirmed on four dioecious plant species from three families — Rumex acetosa (Polygonaceae), Melandrium album (Cariophyllaceae), Cannabis sativa and Humulus japonicus (Cannabinaceae)," from Wikipedia?

Well Steve and Shannon, to answer your question, Yes.  To learn more about why, you may just find a little website called Wikipedia helpful.  I know I did!

Last Wednesday, dad was admitted into his local hospital with congestive heart failure. That name alone is pretty scary. I've been away from home sitting with him while he started his recovery. I've been watching his vitals go up and down, have been eating only the best foods the candy machine has to offer, have seen family that I haven't seen in some time, and have enjoyed the Professor Xavier lounge chair in his room quite a bit. (Seriously, the Prof X chair ROCKS!)

Anyway, waking up every 2 - 4 hours with dad has helped delay my writing. I started to write about Techno Tools I Use While Traveling, but since I'm not a big traveler, the post would have the same impact as a diaper in the ocean. I quickly realized that my top tools were Google Maps based. So here are my favorite things about Google Maps.

1. Variety of Maps - There is so much one can do with Google Maps. The first, best use of it of course is for finding addresses. I can type in an address and see it on a street map, view it from a satellite, look at a topographical map, or even view the address from actual pictures from the street. It's great to view the unknown place that I'm going to and recognize it when I get there. The picture included here is a sweet 3D Google Earth view of downtown Austin.

2. Google History - I'm having way too many issues with my MyTouch Google phone to be anywhere near happy with it, but there is one great thing about it. Doing a Google search for an address and finding that location will save it to my Google history. So, when I open up Google Maps on my Google phone, I can type the first few letters or numbers and the previously-found address comes up quickly as a search term. It's a great time saver!

3. Map Directions - I'm sitting in South Austin and wanting to get to the Fado Irish Pub downtown. I hit the Get Directions link in Google Maps and get the option to put in a beginning and ending address. Now, I can see a map with directions, turn by turn and even an estimated travel time.

But did you see the 'Also Available' links? I can also get Public Trans directions with schedule times and everything. What a great way to save resources and be able to easily find trans routes.

4. My Maps - Probably my favorite Maps feature, saving maps is a great way to keep track of locations that you have found. Create directions, find several places, or whatever and hit the Save To My Maps link at the bottom. The next time you need them, they are already there.

Give Google Earth a shot and create maps that include photos and html coding. When you save those maps, they can go right into Google Maps as well. Once in My Maps, share that map with friends and the world. 

5. Now, while not a feature of Google Maps, using Google Maps on a smart phone takes all of these features on the road with you. Now, directions to a place will give you live turn by turn directions on your GPS enabled phone. Researching your trip on your laptop and saving to My Maps now means no need to print out your work. You have it where ever you go.

So, while Google isn't going to save the Earth from mountain-sized asteroids falling from deep space, it will quite possibly help you find the crater afterward or create your own map of near-earth-ending asteroid collisions.