Using TinyURL for Blog Post Emails

The above screen capture shows how I used the "tinyurl" online utility, to make a second version of this really long blog post URL address:
http://passyworldofict.blogspot.com/2009/07/making-web-pages-at-google-sites.html
as the much shorter alternate address of:
http://tinyurl.com/PwGoogleSites .

It was necessary to do this, because every time that I emailed the original long address link to anyone, the email process split up the link text into separate words. This meant that the link failed when the mail recipient clicked on it.

According to Wikipedia:

The TinyURL homepage at http://tinyurl.com/ has a submission form box that is used to submit a long URL for shortening. For each URL entered, the server adds a new alias in its hashed database and returns a short URL as http://tinyurl.com/xxxxxx in the following page.

If the URL has already been requested, TinyURL will return the existing alias rather than create a duplicate entry. The short URL forwards users to the long URL, without any noticeable time delay.

Short URL aliases are seen as useful because they are easier to write down, remember or pass around, are less error-prone to write, and also fit where space is limited such as IRC channel topics, email signatures, microblogs, certain printed newspapers and magazines, and email clients that impose line breaks on messages at a certain length.

People posting on Twitter make extensive use of shortened URLs to keep their tweets within the service-imposed 140 character limit.

Starting in 2008, TinyURL allowed users to create custom, more meaningful aliases. This means that a user can create descriptive URLs rather than a randomly generated address. For example, http://tinyurl.com/wp-tinyurl.

On the tinyurl homepage, they even supply HTML embed code, that we have modified slightly, so that we can put the tinyurl'er directly onto our web page like this:

Enter a long URL to make tiny:

So if we have a long URL from one of our blog posts to email to people, it is best to make a tinyurl version to send as well. This means that if the email process breaks up the long link, our contacts can always use the short link. The tinyurl link also looks a lot neater and professional than the big "gangly" blog address.

Enjoy,
Big Passy Wasabi

Surf Magic at Magic-Seaweed.com

When I was a little blonde surfer boy, we used to tune into the radio at certain times of the day to hear the "Coca-Cola Surf Report". On many occasions it was not at all accurate. When we got older and smarter, we got friendly with a guy at a surf shop down the coast. If we phoned up Dave, and he told us nobody had come into the shop today, then we knew the surf was definitely pumping. Things have really progressed since then, and where surf meets internet, there is no finer website than "Magic Seaweed" at: http://magicseaweed.com

This site through the cooperative efforts of the worldwide surfing community covers the entire Globe. When I was that little blonde grommet, we had to go to the shop and flick through expensive magazines to see surf in Indonesia or Mexico. At "MSW" you can go to anywhere on the globe and see the latest surf reports, photos, videos, reviews, and anything else you could possibly desire.

They have excellent videos, of amazing surf from around the world, like this YouTube video of an insane break called "The Wedge" at Newport Beach in California. A few days ago they had some really big waves coming in along the California coast, just like these gnarly monsters at Newport:




MSW also has detailed surf reports, weather forecasts, tides, and winds, for all of the main surf breaks around the world. Here is part of today's report for "Phillip Island" which is 75 minutes drive from where I live. (There is closer surf only 20 minutes away from home, but it is often not as big or reliable as the Island).

A key item not shown below is the temperature outside, which is a wintertime cold low here in the southern hemisphere. A big thick "seal impersonator" rubber wetsuit from top to toe would be the order of the day for any water workouts today. I think I will be lazy and stay indoors surfing the Internet.



There is even a section of the MSW site called "Surf Science".
On these pages, Dr Tony Butt has posted several detailed items concerning the mathematics and science of coastlines, waves, storms, and swells:



I could easily keep writing for at least the length of this post again about all of the wonderful live webcams, the photogalleries, the videos, the reports, the featured surfers and exotic locations, but really you have to do the virtual e-travel yourself and check out: http://magicseaweed.com

Enjoy,
Big Passy Kahuna Wasabi

Image Source: http://www.arrowriver.ca/images/surf1.gif

Web Quest Treasure Hunts

Image Source: http://www.tonyynot.com/yoda_pirate.jpg

My hero Yoda : the greatest teacher of all.
- After all he was the one who trained the Jedi!

Recently I went treasure hunting on the Internet for some Web Quests for my own young Jedi trainees. I was expecting this to be an easy ten minute job, as I thought the web would be well a wash with a pirate's bounty of worthwhile internet search and find tasks.

Alas me hearties, the quest to find such real treasures proved to be just as elusive as pirate's booty. It seems that many web tasks were written three or four years ago, and sadly a lot of their internal links are no longer working.

Once two or more links are broken, it puts a gaping hole into the whole exercise. The treasure hunt takes a big hit, much like a cannon blast through the side of a pirate's ship!

HOWEVER:
Internet web quests still in good working order were uncovered here:
http://www.ecps.k12.nc.us/dfw/ebaker/WebQuestHomepage.htm

At this site there were good quality internet discovery exercises on:

• Chinese New Year
• “Black Beard" the Pirate (that's gotta be a must-do!)
  
• The Bones Inside Us
• Earth Moon and Sun
  

Another site with quests containing interesting items is:
http://www.museummania.com/treasure.htm
(On some items where the links do not work, just skip those questions).

Other than these sites, not many fully working internet tasks were found.


Image Source: http://www.fabricattic.com/Treasure%20Map%20T060860.jpg

Perhaps I had the wrong treasure map, perhaps I should have worn a patch over both eyes, or maybe I was just sailing sideways in the wrong sea, but that's about all I found.

Still, better than running aground in "crocodile country".

Enjoy,
Big Passy Wasabi
(The Raw Fish and Seaweed Sushi Dog)