This is just amazing...

UNIVERSCALE
Click on the word above
*Requires FLASH and a broadband connection.


The universe is amazing. Perhaps that's the biggest understatement you've read today, or this year. Do we even know what the universe is? There are questions, in my opinion, that are even more important than that one but it is a very important question and one that we're pursuing with all our scientific might. One way to understand the universe is in terms of scale and apparently Nikon, the optics company, has spent some time thinking about how to visually represent the drastic disparity in scale from the smallest things we understand to the very largest, the universe itself. Play around with this tool and take some time, when you can, to read a bit. If you're anything like me I think you'll find this tool very compelling and informative.

CLICK HERE FOR A ANOTHER, SIMILAR EXPERIENCE WHICH IS MORE
"ACCESSIBLE" IN SOME WAYS (COLOR, ACTUAL PICTURES)

A more geeky, detailed description of UNIVERSCALE:
Universcale is an interactive Flash website by Nikonwhich allows you to play around with the idea of "scales." With a simple click of the mouse, you can see objects of varying sizes, from femtometers (10^-15) to lightyears.

Some users prefer other representations such as the alternative which I provided above or here (requires the Sun Java app).

80's Skatboarding tricks

I don't know why I got such a kick out of this, no pun intended, but I did. Sweet socks, check. Short shorts, check. Cheering crowd composed of teenage boys, check. The coolest thing, however, is the fact that his guy just keeps going and going. I didn't watch the whole video, but from what I saw it's one continuous take and he makes NO mistakes.

President Hinckley 1910-2008

One of my greatest heroes, the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints, has passed away. Without going into great detail, President Hinckley was a great spiritual and temporal leader. He became the President of the church shortly before I departed to serve my two year mission in Italy and, of course, was the President of the church when I got married and started a family (he served from 1995-2008). Hearing about his death evoked a variety of feelings: I was very saddened yet, simultaneously, I felt that peace that comes with knowing that he, like the rest of us, has simply passed on to the other side and continues his existence beyond this world.

Biographical Sketch:
Born in Salt Lake City on June 23, 1910, Gordon B. Hinckley was prepared from his youth to be a prophet. After graduating from the University of Utah, he was called to serve a mission to Great Britain. After he returned, he embarked on a lifetime of service for the Church. He was employed as the executive secretary of the Church Radio, Publicity, and Literature committee, before he was called to be an Apostle in 1961. He was later called to serve as a counselor to President Kimball, President Benson, and President Hunter. Since becoming Church President on March 12, 1995, he has directed the most intense temple building program in the history of the Church in an effort to extend temple blessings to more members. He has exhibited vitality and energy as he has traveled about the world meeting and speaking to members of the Church. Through television interviews and national press publications, he has increased media attention and improved the public image of the Church. He has counseled Church members to fellowship new converts, befriend members of other faiths, live exemplary lives, and avoid the evils of the world.

What the....

So....what are you?

Imagine you're minding your business, walking though a park and suddenly you stumble upon this:

View eric.genn's map

Taken in (See more photos here)

In the words of "Peasant Dave": a llama worm. Perhaps. Personally, I'd rather it remain a mystery.

Ahhh...

Changes Aloof

Over the next few days, or weeks, you might notice strange things brewing here at "The Todd Pad" since I'm playing with the layout/template. By the way, I hope you like the new name for the blog which, believe it or not, I'll be sticking with from now on since it's got the whole play words with amphibians and lily pads. Funny thing, toads don't live on pads, as far as I know, but I don't think people are going to analyze it that much...unless they read this post!

Regarding the changes, when you choose to start a blog you select from a number of templates, most of which are actually quite attractive. At any time, however, you can go "behind the scenes" and mess with the software code, in this case HTML, and begin customizing the layout. Right now I'm just beginning to toy with the code. Eventually I'd like to use a 100% customized set of code, but until then I'm going to tinker around with this one and see what I can come up with.

Right now I'm sitting in the computer lab here at the University of Redlands. I'm using an iMac and it's quite nice. Sarah's parents just bought one and now we're considering a Mac when we by our next computer. I better get to class!

Spin Cycle

More from the Todd Household

Hello friends and family members! I've gotten a lot of very positive and fun feedback on the blog, so thank you all for stopping in, commenting, and/or sending emails. One of the best things about the internet is the ability to stay in touch with people. Now that google has taken over the world (I just realized my email, blog, and YouTube-all of which I use to create this blog-are owned by google!) it's become a lot easier to share media.

I still need to finish uploading and editing all the photos we took on our recent trip to San Luis Obispo to visit Sarah's brother Jake and his girlfriend Amy, but for now I'll keep posting the camera my mom gave us for Christmas (Canon SD750).

Here's Claire in the bathtub. She loves her baths and if you listen closely, it almost sounds like she says bath:


This video provides a peek at the typical, weekday dinner time routine at the Todd cottage. You'll notice the old fashioned stove which looks almost as old as our home which, by the way, was built in 1959 (the video works despite the fact that there's no preview screen):