Doing More With Less Since 1972

Tag: Play

Daily Reading List — July 15th

Money, Sex and Las Vegas Pool Parties – The only surprising thing about this article is that anyone is surprised by what is revealed in this article.

It seems like (almost) everyone likes to be around pretty people and pretty things. And for the most part they expect to pay a premium for that and are ok with it. And I suspect the people who aren’t ok with it simply don’t participate.

So what’s the problem?

The Case For Letting Kids Design Their Own Play – Yesterday we went on a hike, but never made it to our intended destination. We came across a lean-to/tepee someone had built, and the kids wanted to play in it. An hour and a half later, they’d cycled through several characters each and moved countless logs and sticks to create a fire pit with seating to facilitate their story.

Yeah. I’m bragging.

But we also got to relax in the woods at 68 degrees and no humidity while they played. Everybody wins.

Man blames tequila for taking Las Vegas’ Blarney Stone – I want to start a Twitter account for “Vegas Man”. Unfortunately, most of those headlines would involve shootings and pedestrian-on-vehicle incidents.

This is one of the funnier ones.

Sony Pictures: Inside the Hack of the Century – Pretty fascinating read. Not the technical parts so much, but the culture and politics inside a company that create an environment that this kind of damage can be done.

honest toddler: Open Letter To The Child I Hit At The Park – “It’s utterly confounding how possessive adults are about their own belongings whether it be a remote control or wallet, but preach about communal property without even a twinge of guilt over their blatant hypocrisy.”

Exactly. I’m always reminded of the phrase printed on the button Alex P. Keaton gave his little brother Andy to wear at pre-school:

I KNOW WHAT’S MINE.

Disney World will ban selfie-sticks from theme parks – The Disney enthusiast and judgmental/authoritarian/GrumpyOldMan side of me cheers this decision by The Mouse. And I hope this thinking eventually finds its way into our National Parks.

The libertarian side of me wants to use a selfie stick (which I don’t currently own) to take a picture of myself drinking a can of Falls City beer (which I don’t currently drink) I sneaked into SeaWorld.

Just because I can.

And because they won’t care.

The Influence of Fathers on Children – Some of the stuff here is correlation over causation, but it still rings true to me. Being a dad is the most important thing I do. I’m not always the person described in this post, but I sure as hell want to be.

Are dating apps to blame for STD increase in Southern Nevada? – I’m going to throw out a pretty crazy notion here…

I’m not a native, and I’ve only been here a short period of time, but I’m pretty sure Southern Nevada is to blame for the STD increase in Southern Nevada.

[feature photo credit]

Chromecast Missing One Big Easy Win

I just unboxed and set up my Chromecast. It took about 5 minutes, and the Missus is downstairs right now listening to No Doubt on my Google Music dime…probably going to have to get a paid account for her now too.

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I watched a couple of Ric Flair promo videos and one of the famous Knoxville Rugby Street Skiing incident just to check out how the YouTube app worked. Pretty sweet!


This thing is an absolute bargain at $35, just for what it already does with YouTube, Play, and Netflix. So yes…you should definitely click on the link and buy one for every TV in your house. This thing is incredibly slick. If it’s on backorder, go ahead and reserve one. It may be awhile before they are just sitting on shelves.

However there’s one thing I think Google should have had ready when Chromecast shipped–one thing I think could have been a big win for them in a big space. I’m sure it’s coming, probably within the next couple of weeks, but…

Why can’t I open up the Google Plus app on my mobile device and start a slideshow from there, then broadcast that to my TV?

For example, we just got back from vacationing in Colombia, and all of our photos are sitting in my Plus account. Everything I snap with my phone is pushed up there automatically, and I’ve already gone through the process up posting the SLR pics too.

We have friends coming to visit this week, and it would be really cool to just open up the album from my phone and show them a slideshow on the TV.

Next weekend, my parents are coming for a visit. We have videos in Google Plus (not YouTube) of all the kids’ “Happy Birthday To You” moments–shouldn’t I be able to show them those videos?

I know what you’re thinking–why not just share with them on Google Plus? Well, you’re right…and I can do that. But they probably wouldn’t notice.

The problem is, Google doesn’t have the participation on Plus it wants/needs. What better way to convert people than to have those of us who do use it show them this unbelievable functionality they can get with a free Plus account and a $35 piece of hardware.

Missed opportunity.

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