carey's blog

Dorothy Mae (Pidd) Morgan - A Brief History

Mon, 26 May 2008 08:37:37 -0700

by Frank Morgan

Until the end of her 92 years, “Dottie” has been known by all in her world as a compassionate, loving person whose arms, heart and home were always open. As a mother of 3, she cared for numerous foster children as well as many long-term guests who needed a “home” for a while. When her late husband, Joe Morgan became a chaplain in WW II, and later, when they lived here in a Navy town, she left the front door unlocked and blankets and pillows behind the couch so that service men on leave could slip in and sleep on the couch or on a cot or on the floor (depending on how many of them showed up on a given night) when they had no where else to go.

Dorothy Mae Pidd was born in Los Angeles, California on September 24, 1915. Her mother had been Mayme Nelson, born and raised on a farm in Clear Lake, Wisconsin. We don’t know how long Dorothy lived in Los Angeles, but we know it was at least two years because that’s how old Dorothy was when, in her earliest memory, she recalled falling off of a pier into the ocean. “I remember looking down into the swirling water, feeling dizzy, then the water coming up at me,” she recounted to her children. “My Mother didn’t see me fall. I would have perished if it hadn’t been for some anonymous young man on the beach who saw me topple in and raced out to save me,” she said. Perhaps that was why she always claimed to have a fear of water and of high places.

So I'm No Blogger

Thu, 01 May 2008 16:13:09 -0700

If you're reading this item, it's because you got to my site for some reason other than to read my most recent posts. The reason I know this is because I basically don't have recent posts, so how could you be here to read them?

Yep, I confess, I'm no blogger. No urge to post stuff here all the time. No urge to create a following of people who read what is on my mind. No personal agenda to push. No professional status to promote. No compelling reason to do any of that. And frankly, no time to even try.

But what is here represents a small subset of some stuff I find interesting or important -- kinda my partial collection of thoughts, quotes, links, etc. My del.icio.us links actually are more current than anything else.

So there you have it. I'm no blogger.

Playing with iCalendar Feeds

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 10:10:04 -0700

We're talking about calendar management at work so I got to looking around at the iCalendar standard and its use. What I learned is that I am way behind the curve on this topic and that people have put some fantastic tools in place already.

Over at netvibes.com they offer a little portlet through which you can subscribe to different calendars offered in iCal format.

Google Calendars offers the ability to subscribe to external calendars in addition to those of other google users.

Outlook can handle individual iCal files, but using an extension called Remote Calendars I read about over at Wikipedia's article on iCalendar, you can subscribe to calendar feeds as well.

PersonalDNA - Personality Test

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 23:03:04 -0700

Yet another personality test, true, but this one seems to accommodate a wide range of variation using sliding scales instead of numbers or letters.

The relative size of each colored box reveals the strength of a particular personality trait. Hover the mouse to see each trait, or click on the name of my type to read a profile or to take the test yourself...

Mento + Diet Coke Fountain

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:09:21 -0700

Okay, so there are some things I think I will never get too old to enjoy... Here is a well-documented method to turn Mentos and Diet Coke into a raging fountain of soda.

Gotta try this with the kids!

Planarity Game

Sat, 17 Jun 2006 12:11:39 -0700

A fascinating logic puzzle using dots and lines you must untangle: Planarity

Small but Tough

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 15:56:09 -0700

Not politically correct, but definitely clever! (borrowed from from here)

Starting with Evil - Ending with Trust

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 12:12:50 -0700

I recently received this thought-provoking story via email identifying Albert Einstein as the student. Always skeptical of such attributions, I looked it up on the sites that investigate these things and it turns out not to be an actual account involving Albert Einstein. His name was added to the story in 2004, but a nameless version of the story was around before that so I've removed his name and printed it anyway. Read it for yourself, then I have a comment or two...

Does evil exist?

The university professor challenged his students with this question. Did God create everything that exists? A student bravely replied, "Yes, he did!"

Site Pal

Sun, 19 Mar 2006 07:52:34 -0800

SitePal.com has a couple demo tools that make fun toys:

Dr. Sultan on Muslim Tensions: Barbarism vs Rationality

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 09:19:43 -0800

From For Muslim Who Says Violence Destroys Islam, Violent Threats - New York Times: "The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions or a clash of civilizations," Dr. Sultan said. "It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality."

TIME Magazine: Simple Churches in America

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 20:47:14 -0800

You know something new has become something real when TIME Magazine covers it with such a reasonable tone. Read their article There's No Pulplit Like Home.

Escape - hand-eye coordination test

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 22:34:42 -0800

Just a little fun game to test your ability to watch and avoid four things at once: Escape!

What Andrew would say to the young emerging church in north america

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 11:21:41 -0800

Andrew over at Tall Skinny Kiwi gave voice to feelings of misunderstanding between numerous critics and leaders in the conventional church and the movement of churches known as "emerging church". I appreciate his encouragement to not only stay the course, but to speak up and help others understand what the movement is really all about.

Ice Skating at Joan Kroc Center

Mon, 16 Jan 2006 10:12:21 -0800

The Kroc Community Center offers its ice skating rink for public use at least once per day. Check the schedule for dates and details. Cost: $6.50 to skate, $2.50 to rent skates.

Web 2.0 Emerging

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 22:01:41 -0800

Dion Hinchcliffe's Web 2.0 Blog is the closest I have come so far to reading a definitive site on the subject of this new web application design philosophy known as Web 2.0. The days of static web pages with links and buttons is being overtaken by pages that come alive kinda like the programs we began using before the web emerged, but in a new massively connected way not possible before it did.