Stumble Upon - A Stumbling We Shall Go

A Stumbling We Shall Go

I have mentioned using StumbleUpon a few times in this Blog, so I guess I should write a bit about it. StumbleUpon is a web service that allows you to seek out websites of interest and people who have similar interests in websites to you. It uses a few techniques to learn how to do this.

• First is that they ask you what your interests are. There is a form/table where you can tick off the various subjects on a listing that interest you.
• Second is by surfing through people who have similar interests to you and and on your profile pages adding them as friends - or fans to let them know that you might be interested in the pages that interest them.
• Third is that you can fine-tune your interest listing as you go by adjusting it on your profile pages.
  
• Fourth is that when you go to a web page, you can give it a thumbs-up or thumbs-down as to whether or not that sort of web page interests you. You do that by clicking thumbs-up or thumbs-down on their tool bar.

"Tool Bar" - I guess I haven't mentioned the tool-bar yet. The StumbleUpon tool-bar is fairly integral although you can create a profile/account with StumbleUpon without installing their tool-bar. The tool-bar however does help out though. The StumbleUpon tool-bar is available for Firefox and Internet Explorer and I know that it works as well for Firefox on my MacBook as it does for Firefox on my WinXP PC. With Firefox I have a button on my regular toolbar which allows me to turn my StumbleUpon tool-bar on and off.

The Main things I want to point out are the "Stumble" button and the "I like it" thumbs-up and thumbs-down buttons.

The thumbs-up and thumbs-down I have already mentioned. when you hit a page you indicate whether it interests you or not and StumbleUpon learns more and more what you like. If no StumbleUpon has reviewed the site it will give you the opportunity to review the site yourself. The review will be posted for others to use in evaluating the site or in searches. The review will also be placed in your journal on your profile pages.

The "Stumble" button is one of the neat things - click on it and StumbleUpon will take you to a random site on the world wide web based on your likes-dislikes-interests. The longer you do it and indicate thumbs-up or down, the better attuned to your likes it will become.

It is also possible to stumble specific likes of yours or to stumble topics of any sort. Be aware that there is a list created that others might access. I think you can clear it though, but perhaps on a whim you might want to stumble through "whips and handcuffs" or something like that - you might not want your Grandmother or Boss finding it. I guess we all have to be aware that in life we make foot-prints and leave fingerprints as we travel the world.

You can discover lots more on your own. You can stumble through people on StumbleUpon as well and through people with common interests to find what pages they have reviewed. You can review a page even if someone else has as well, even if it is a negative review. There is also a "send to" button to share pages by; buttons for going directly to certain pages on your profile like your Friends list or Favourites; and other button. The Firefox toolbar is customizable and you can chose what buttons are on the toobar.

So go get StumbleUpon and explore. Find some new pages. It is great when you are bored or to spur creativity.

Later!
~ Darrell

BTW, on StumbleUpon I'm DarrellWade

Earthday: Thumb Up for Trees

Invite Your Friends to Help - Thumb Up for Trees

I guess it is the day after Earth Day, but it is still Earth Week, I think. Anyway I looked at my "StumbleUpon" tool bar and they have this special deal for Earth Day: Thumb Up for Trees

With every "Thumbs Up" they get, StumbleUpon will plant a tree with help from the National Forest Foundation*. This runs through May 2nd. There are three steps:

1. Register - Register with StumbleUpon and add the tool bar. (If you already have the tool bar you can skip this.)
2. Thumbs-up - "Thumbs-Up" the Thumbs Up for Trees page with the StumbleUpon toolbar
3. Share - Share this page with friends to plant some more. (If you reload the page you can watch the number of trees grow.)

Quoting from the Thumbs Up for Trees page:

Every
day millions of StumbleUpon users discover great web sites and give them a "Thumbs-up". Starting this Earth Day, we want to harness the power of our community and the "Thumbs-up" to plant trees for the National Forest Foundation.

Simply use the StumbleUpon toolbar to thumbs-up this page and, from now through May 2, with every thumbs-up StumbleUpon will plant a tree with help from the National Forest Foundation*. Your thumbs-up means more trees for America's National Forests and more visibility for this cause. Give a "Thumbs-Up for Trees" and spread the word!

* Sponsorship Agreement: During the campaign period StumbleUpon agrees
to donate funds to the National Forest Foundation to plant trees for
each "Thumbs-Up", up to a maximum donation of $25,000. The Campaign is
being conducted by the National Forest Foundation for the following
charitable purpose: to benefit the overall operation of The National
Forest Foundation.

Anyway they have 10.279 Thumbs-Up so far!

Later!

~ Darrell

Surfin' - BibleMap.Org

Flying Over the Bible

Surfing the Web today I came across a site that interested me. I am interested in maps and satellite imagery as well as history and religion.

BibleMap.org (beta) is a page where you can enter a Bible Verse - Book and Chapter - and it will place on a window with a map using Google Maps markers for the locations mentioned in that chapter of the Bible. The markers are linked to the name and specific reference in that chapter as well as other places the place is mentioned.

I looked up a few chapters - there wasn't anything before Genesis 10... funny thing that... Many chapters of course do not have any geographical references while others have a number. Some of the references have a lot of information.

I found the page to be nice and clean with a large space for the Google map window and the interface to be fairly straight forward. They do have a blog, though it is a bit out of date. It took me a few moments to realize that if you navigate away from the window with the search in it to the blog or other windows on the top menu - that you get back by clicking on the main logo or title.

I gave it a thumbs up on "StumbleUpon" though I know it would be more interesting and useful if I had specific chapters I was interested in instead of doing a hit-or-miss stumbling search through the Bible. I recommend it for anyone interested in the Bible and seeing where those Biblical places lie.

http://www.biblemap.org/

Here is what BibleMap.org writes about itself:

BibleMap.org is developed by the duo at He Lives Ministries (HeLives.com). The motivation for developing the site was simple, create a free Bible atlas which harnesses Google maps. We hope this site will be a blessing to you and possibly help make the living book of the Bible more alive in your life. Any questions or comments may be sent to:

contact@biblemap.org

Many people have helped to make this site possible. Thank you David (BibleMapper.com) for so much GPS help. Thank you to the ESV Bible translation (ESV) team for allowing us to use your translation. Thank you Todd (BiblePlaces.com) for your excellent photos. Thank you Donna and Jackie for entering so much useful information. Thank you Joey (joeyandchristy.com) for the logo.

Later!
~ Darrell