Merlins Tower

Happy Birthday - TETRIS - 25 Years old

Posted on June 6th, 2009 by Merlin.
Categories: Anything Else.

Today Tetris turned 25 - I remember playing this on an old IBM/Tandy PC when it first came out - I loved this game.

Then played it on the gameboy and many over variations of it through out the years and on many different platforms.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Below is the beloved music from Tetris

Technorati Tags: Tetris, Birthday, anniversary

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Please Vote for Mystic Kitty

Posted on May 26th, 2009 by Merlin.
Categories: Announcement, Art, Communication, Photography, Weird Stuff.

Mystic Kitty Sitting Pretty

To the left is the Photo that Got Listed at Purina.com on their PetCharts

My Photo of My Cat (Mystic)  is one of  the Top 10 Photos of the day & Top 20 Photos of  the Week at Purina.com On Their Pet Charts Website.

( http://bit.ly/Mystic )

Woudl You Please Vote For “Mystic Kitty - Sitting Pretty”

And Please Forward  this Link/Post on to anyone you might like to share this with to vote for My Mystic. (Or  Even any of the Other Photos at Purina too)

Much Thanks…

Merlin  &  Mystic Too
*^v^*^v^*^v^*^v^*

Technorati Tags: Cat, Top, Ten, Photo, Phtography, Kitten, Contest, , Mystic, Merlin, Purina, , Canon, D500, T1i, Eos, Rebel

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Following Your Passion - Susan Boyle Loved by Simon Cowell

Posted on April 19th, 2009 by Merlin.
Categories: Anything Else, Hack, Human, Life, Music, Video, YouTube.

Reading some of the latest blogs this weekend - I was catching up on VideoTVFilm.com and he Shared the video of Susan Bolye Singing on Britian’s Got Talent and I just had to share this video here on Merlin’s Tower as well - All I can say is WOW! - She is an amazing singer and really has some talent.

This relates back to a previous Post about Hacking your Brain - and One of the things that is mentioned there is to Follow your Passion and Susan did just that and it paid off for her. Take a look at it and use Susan as a inspiration to you to follow what you are passionate about. She has been singing for years and following her passion - Now use this to find what your passionate about and do something about it  today.

Check out this video of her singing -I Dreamed a Dream (Almost 30Million Views on You Tube)

and here is another one of her singing - Cry Me a River

Links:
Susan Wants to be as famous as Elaine Page - Here is her page on the internet - I would never had heard of her except because of Susan.

and here is a video of Elaine Page Singing the Same Song as Susan

And Here is one of Susan Boyle’s Fan Sites

Check it out - There are many other links to her videos and interviews that she has done over the past week.

Again Congrats Susan - Way to go!

Technorati Tags: susan, boyle, britan, got, talent, singer, amazing, passion, dream,

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Cool Tech Tool - IAMAKEY - USB Key - That looks like a key

Posted on April 13th, 2009 by Merlin.
Categories: Anything Else.

This IamaKey From LaCie -  Looks like it is the winner in the Cool Tech Tools  - well at least in my book it is.

From what I read about this IAMAKEY at The Unofficial Apple Webblog - This can be one of my EDC (Everyday Carry) items. They reported that this key was used and abused for over 2 months - Hanging out in the writers pocket with his keys and coins. And it withstood the test with flying colors. From the Freezing Cold to Sudden Downpours it lasted and still works.

Well it doesn’t seem like much - But I use my flash drives alot - I carrying my personal info and tools I commonly use with me and I like having it at the ready when I need to use them.

This looks so much like a real key and since it is made of metal looks cool and sturdy too boot. One of the biggest advantages of this usb drive it that it is flat and works well with the actual keys on the keyring. I have a 32GB drive but it is bulky and there is only a tiny plastic loop to hold  it on the keyring with alot of risk that it will easily break thus making it not easy to keep with you and easily accessible at all times.

This would also work really well with my releasable keyring as I also have a usb port on my new radio and I can carry a gig or two of music with me on the keyring as well for quick access to the music I want to hear in the car instead of listening to the drone of the local Push Button Monkey. (I will not even call them a DJ as they don’t even get to pick their own music) (Sorry if you are an on air personality) - So Pick up a good, sturdy, and fast (with up to 30 MB/s read rates and 10 MB/s write speeds) today - You will not be sorry.

The 4GB Drive is only $25 at Amazon - & the 8GB Drive is only $33 (Prices Current as on 4/14/2009)

Technorati Tags: LaCie, IAMAKEY, ITSAKEY, PASSKEY, USB, Key, keyring, cool, tool, tech, geeky, geek,

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Happy Easter 2009

Posted on April 12th, 2009 by Merlin.
Categories: Anything Else, Art, DIY, Travel.

Just wanted to wish Everyone A Happy Easter and Share this Great Easter Rendering of Jesus Done completely in Donated Legos - Made of 30,000 Legos - It took 40 volunteers 18 months to complete - It is a replica of Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen’s “Christus” statue. I just find this amazing. Having visited one of the Lego Stores and seeing some of their work which was amazing this done by volunteers working with the donated legos of Jesus looks stunning. This replica stands about 6 Foot Tall and can be found at the Onsta Gryta church in Vasteras Sweden.

Full Article can be found at: AP News on Google.

Technorati Tags: Lego, Jesus, Sweeden, Christus, Statue, Easter, 2009, He, Has, Risen, Onsta, Gryta, Church

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Using Cornell Note System in Business

Posted on April 11th, 2009 by Merlin.
Categories: Communication, DIY, Freeware, GTD, HPDA, Hack, Human, Indexcards, Life, Notetaking, Office, Pen.

Yes, I use the Cornell Note System in my daily life. I find it a great way to organize my notes and ideas from Meetings, Conference Calls, and What I did or need to do each day. I also use it when reading a new book that I want to take some notes on. I even draw the dividing lines in my notebooks now to help me organize my thoughts there as well. 

I made a modified version of Note Paper from Cornell-Notes.com to include a time clock to help me track my time and what I need to do and what I have completed and what I have coming up. 

I posted it on Scribd.com for all to use.

To use the clock in the upper left  to shade in the time (Begining to end) and mark a Letter or symbol near it and Use the Letter / symbol to Highlite the notes from that time slice.  I also use this with the Cue Column to track my upcoming meetings and schedule for the day.

How many times have you wondered what you did and have not clue where your day went - Keeping this with me allows me to make notes and annotate what I complete and see why I had to push other things off of my plate for the day. In the notes area I am able to write the tips and note things that I didn’t know and this allows me to update documentation and let others know the little fixes I used. I keeps these daily and use the summaries to help me find info I need from past notes / days.

And I have scheduled time weekly  later in the day Friday (while the week is still fresh in my mind) and look over the past week and see what info was good - I sometimes will highlight portions or copy off data and store it in other notebooks for future reference material. But I also scan the more important pages and put it into my evernote  system as well as that come with me on my iphone and it is easily accessable via their web page.

I also want to note every day I  look over the previous day and get my new notepage prepared for the day. Writing down what I need to do - checking my online calendar and seeing what I have scheduled for myself.  This way I have that info at hand even if I am not at my desk. This is also when I summarize my previous days notes making the weekly summary on Friday’s even easier. This only take me about 10 to 20 mins each morning but it saves alot more time through out the day then what I put into it.

Technorati Tags: Cornell, Notes, Note, paper, Organization, Sytem, business, calendar, schedule, free, organizer

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Virtual Sound - Auditory Illusions and Phase 4 Stereo

Posted on April 11th, 2009 by Merlin.
Categories: Art, Communication, Human, Life, MP3, Music, USB.

I really love my music - I carry it pretty much everywhere I go - I have a Archos 605 Media Player (It is one of the best around) Besides having an iPhone as well.

Recently I added the SRS Audio Sandbox on to my PC to add depth to all the sound and music I play on the computer - I will be writing a more detailed review in the future about this. But in the mean time - If you don’t have it and want your music to really pop - I fully recommend purchasing it for your PC.

This gets me to todays information - Virtual Sounds or Auditory Illusions - I recently came across this Page @ One Mans Blog - about getting a Virtual Haircut - This is amazing recording - They are recorded using what is called Holophonics - I recommend using headphones or the SRS Labs Audio Sandbox - Or even better the SRS Labs Audio Sandbox with Headphones with its headphone 360 mode  - All I can say is WOW - These are really cool and fun to listen to.  

This got me to thinking about some recording my dad used to have and play on the record player - They are the Phase 4 Stereo Recordings from London. I found out you can purchase some of  them at Amazonand I am currently listening to Mantovani by Mantovoni as I write this entry. Amazon list quite a few - and many are only available on LP - To listen and record these you will need a Record player - I recommend using the either of the following two units from Amazon - ( Audio Technica AT-LP2DUSB LP-to-Digital Recording System with USB ) or ( Ion TTUSB Turntable with USB Record ) I  use the Audio Technica one - I don’t own it but I get to borrow it from my brother. Plus don’t forget to check out your local library for some of these records - some are able to be loaned out for your listening pleasure.

Technorati Tags: auditory, illusions, auditory+illusions, Phase+4, Phase+IV, Holophonic, Sound, 3d, SRS, Stereo, Music, LP, Records, Record+Player, 45, 33

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