Happy Father's Day

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Map the Fallen

A few weeks ago I wrote about a new initiative of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation that utilized a map to put a face on those affected by spinal cord injuries. This past week at a gathering of veteran entrepreneurs I was privileged to see a preview of another map apropos for launch on Memorial Day. Sean Askay, an engineer at Google, pursued this project on his own time. Sean writes,

This Memorial Day I would like to share with you a personal project of mine that uses Google Earth to honor the more than 5,700 American and Coalition servicemen and women that have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have created a map for Google Earth that will connect you with each of their stories—you can see photos, learn about how they died, visit memorial websites with comments from friends and families, and explore the places they called home and where they died.

Check it out! http://www.mapthefallen.org/

I too salute those fallen brothers and sisters that have paid the ultimate price.

iPhone Paper Clip Stand

I recently wrote a post and article about my fondness for the Apple iPhone 3G. Last fall while traveling to the Northwest, I watched videos on my iPhone to pass time as a passenger driving each 5-hour leg of our journey. It was fantastic except that I struggled to find an acceptable viewing angle for the phone on a tray in my lap. My inventive mind had me designing; my resourceful instinct led to searching the Internet first; and to my surprise I found this:

I'll definitely give it a try; thank you Dean! Read his full post.
Get the template (in PDF) at Dean's website.

But yourself on the map

I've been pretty jazzed lately, as after writing a column in PN Magazine for nearly 2 years now and keeping this blog for about half that time, I'm starting to have more readers interacting and writing with questions and comments. Today I received an e-mail from someone promoting the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. The premise of the message was that in order to achieve Chris's dreams, we (those living with a spinal cord injury or those that care about them) need to increase awareness about paralysis and its effects on our fellow citizens. His letter said that more eloquent than me:

In light of startling new estimates regarding the number of people living with paralysis, the Reeve Foundation wants to use online technologies to put faces to the statistics. That's why we created the Paralysis Community Map. Our goal is to have one million people put themselves on this online map to illustrate the strength of the paralysis community.

So, here's a word of encouragement. STOP what you're doing. Click on the link above. You put yourself on the map.

There is Hope that Things will Get Better

Education is a focus in this column and blog. Following my Google alerts today, I read a hopeful article that indicates things could get better for the disabled because of a new generation of concerned students. Specifically, the article states,

the fact of the matter is that the human dimension thrives at a new breed of universities, which are now serving up state-of-the-art, adaptive technology courses for civically engaged engineering students who want to make the world a better place for the disabled.

Read the entire article.

And here's the evidence. Last weekend I watched this 60-Minutes segment and marveled at the Pentagon's effort to produce a bionic arm.

Watch CBS Videos Online

How ironic that the iBot (I use one) is now off the market because insurance companies and policymakers wouldn't pay for it.

Coraline and VFX Magic

Did you see Coraline yet? I wrote about it a few weeks ago when it was first out. Well, so often I'm touting the idea of technology work as a profession. If you're a creative type and developed the skills needed, what about working on a movie like a member of my family did? Adam was, "...hired by LAKIA ENTERTAINMENT to work on the VFX team responsible for removing the puppets' face seams throughout every frame of the movie." If you'd like to see how some of the magic happened, checkout this example of his work.


Adam C Sager's Coraline VFX REEL from Adam C Sager on Vimeo.

More about Adam at: http://sagerdigital.com

Where to get the iPhone and Accessories

My latest article for the Computer Corner in Paraplegia News just appeared this month and today I received an e-mail from a reader asking where he could get the iPhone and accessories I wrote about. Well, if you're interested also, I thought I would just put links here for you. Please know that the iPhone is only available from AT&T wireless or directly from Apple. I'm providing you a link to AT&T wireless, but if you have an Apple store near you you can drop in and test it out before you purchase.

So, here's the phone that I purchased, the Apple iPhone 3G - 16 GB - Black.

The case I recommend is the BELLA Protective Leather Case for iPhone 3G by Macally (Color: Black). It features a scratch resistant protective screen overlay; Nappa leather front panel; neck lanyard; lightweight aluminum carabiner; microsuede interior; camera opening; high density, soft and durable back panel; and opening to all controls and parts.