Wonderful Christmas links

Ceramic Nativity made by my wife (photo copyright 2021)

 

We've spent some time watching and listening to some wonderful Christmas programs, most of them while wrapping presents.  We'll share them here and keep adding to this list as we find more.

Concerts:

2021 Salvation Army UK and Ireland territories Christmas Concert with the international staff band, scripture readings, carols, and stories.

https://youtu.be/PvdiUSsqAMM

50th Annual Christmas in Chicago Concert from Moody Church

(Full orchestra)

https://youtu.be/leGLFLzCjXo

Hillsong Christmas Carol spectacular

https://youtu.be/yut-LrgilUg

Sing! An Irish Christmas

Also available other places where TBN is available (Roku, etc.)

https://watch.tbn.org/videos/sing-an-irish-christmas

"The Chosen" Christmas Special (streamed live Dec. 13, 2021)

https://youtu.be/T5ftnTK9-3w

Also available at https://thechosen.tv/watch (and on the free chosen.tv app) which are all part of the #1 crowd funded, Free, multi-season show about the Bible.

Chris Tomlin : Emmanuel Christmas Songs of Worship : Klove on demand (requires free sign-in):

https://ondemand.klove.com/live/mainstage/chris_tomlin_emmanuel_full

A friend shared this: Fellowship for performing arts : A Christmas Celebration (theater, song, scripture)

https://fpatheatre.com/ and https://fpatheatre.com/christmas/

Christmas Eve Services:

Christmas Eve is Friday, Dec. 24, 2021 - the times below are Eastern Time Zone

Liquid Church Christmas Eve : 3pm and 5pm live on website and elsewhere, on demand too.

http://www.liquidchurch.com/christmas-eve

(note: we've heard that 5pm is cancelled so maybe the 7pm will be live online?)

North Shore Fellowship: 4pm Live and Online

YouTube Live - https://youtu.be/l-WQOwY88mM 

https://www.facebook.com/northshorenj.org

Hillside Lutheran Brethren Church - 5pm

https://www.facebook.com/hillsidelbc

 Harrison Presbyterian Church -EPC

Christmas Eve Candlelight Services - 5:30 and 7:30 pm

https://www.facebook.com/harrisonpres/

TBN Christmas Eve Specials

https://www.tbn.org/blog/christmas-eve-specials

 4:30, 6, 7, 8 PM (watch on the website or other popular outlets like Android, iOS, Roku, etc.)

Many of their programs are available later on demand.

... more to come...

All the Things About the Internet of Things

 

Image by jeferrb from Pixabay

Well, maybe not "all the things", but at least some of the things :)

I am doing a FREE webinar titled "A Few Things About The Internet of Things (IoT) – An Introduction" on October 12, 2021. You can register in advance here. 

Shortly after the live webinar, you should be able to see it listed with the other webinars and presentations I've done with the GreatIT professional and also later I will list it where I update the list of all webinars I've done with various organizations.

Here's some reference information for the webinar.

disclaimer note: I can't make any representation or recommendation on or about any and all of these links nor whether they are safe or not since they are not my own. Beware and use them at your own risk.

Here are some examples and experiments from some friends

phone app is hosted here:
https://github.com/ibm-watson-iot/html5-phone
Deploy button will set up an instance in IBM Cloud that uses Cloudant and Watson IoT Platform.

SNP/P-Tech student info and code

https://github.com/SixNationsPolytechnic and

https://github.com/markusvankempen

 

Videos

https://www.youtube.com/c/MarkusVankempen/videos

 

here is a good one mapping people gps coordinates ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM44Pzr87gY&t=2s

 

Use the ISS space station as a sensor and do a Mashup up with the weather api 

https://snpweather.xyz/nr00/ui/#!/1?socketid=QAvnnIRFOt4clEORAAAA

 

A cool lab we did for predicting which vegetable to grow on your balcony using weather api AI etc and websockets

https://github.com/markusvankempen/ThinkLab1239

 

A cool lab with students using https://replit.com/@mvk4ibm/2020-May-html-ws-maps#index.html

or

https://github.com/SixNationsPolytechnic/2020-May-html-ws-maps

 

The "Thing" that gives thumbs up or down depending on social media feed:

https://makezine.com/2016/06/02/read-the-room-with-this-social-media-skimming-robotic-arm/

and the final version: https://studio.youtube.com/video/aQUB_kxjwvM/edit

 

IoT network connectivity:

https://www.twilio.com

https://www.twilio.com/go/supersim-iot-sim-card-trial-1

Some experimenter hardware processor boards:

arduino

esp32

raspberry pi

Types of sensors

 https://www.adafruit.com/category/35

humidity, light, sonar, radar, lidar, humidity, acceleration, GPS location, orientation, heartbeat, pressure, flow, positioning, etc.

Experimenting Software:

node red,  

https://cookbook.nodered.org/mqtt/connect-to-broker

http://noderedguide.com/tag/mqtt/

 

data transmission

MQTT,  bluetooth, cellular, wifi, infrared,etc.

Protocol / Network 7 layer stack

https://www.embeddedcomputing.com/application/networking-5g/long-range-wireless-solutions-wireless-technologies-for-iot-networks

https://behrtech.com/blog/6-leading-types-of-iot-wireless-tech-and-their-best-use-cases/

transmission queues

mqlite, mqtt  - MQTT Tutorial 

https://cookbook.nodered.org/mqtt/

https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/mqtt-in-node-red-howto/39909

https://www.hivemq.com/public-mqtt-broker/

https://www.hivemq.com/blog/mqtt-client-library-enyclopedia-hivemq-mqtt-client/

https://learn.adafruit.com/mini-smart-home-with-esp8266-huzzah-feather-raspberry-pi-hassio-crickit/node-red

Public APIs

https://www.postman.com/cs-demo/workspace/public-rest-apis/overview

Other Examples and helpful info

Live IoT demo (on youtube): https://dzone.com/articles/iot-live-demo-100000-connected-cars-with-kubernete 

Sensor Node Free – Turn your cell phone into a sensor node

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mscino.sensornode&hl=en_US&gl=US

Project OWLhttps://www.project-owl.com/

Smart buildings and elevators - KONE information

Microsoft Azure IoT Central Demo

This article is about what sensors a smart phone usually has

And, here is a similar article on smart phone sensors

This older YouTube video shows how to see sensors data from your phone

This article says you can use an app to see data from IoT devices near you.

IBM Watson IoT Phone Device Simulator with Tutorial  - Another link to the same

Here's an IBM post that tells how to set up a program to see your phone sensor data

These IBM Tutorials provide insight on AI, Blockchain, and more.   

https://developer.ibm.com/tutorials/iot-mobile-phone-iot-device-bluemix-apps-trs/

Machine Learning and AI for You to Learn

 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

I am going a webinar/presentation titled "5 Steps to Play With and Learn AI" On March 23, 2021.  The live webinar is free (you can register here) and will be available soon afterward on-demand with other of my webinars.

This is reference information for that presentation.

 The 5 steps to learning:

1. Awareness / Decision / Goal
   
2. Play / Experience / Experiment
   
3. Learn
4. Apply
5. Share
   

1. Awareness: 

The fact that you are here shows that you are aware. Now, you need to decide if you want to pursue it. Then, set a goal.

Forbes "Top 10 Tech Job Skills Predicted To Grow The Fastest In 2021" names AI as a top paying job.

Coursera story: "How Stijn landed his new job after completing the IBM Applied AI Professional Certificate"

Data Science compared to Machine Learning "When Data Science Met Machine Learning" (this includes the Five Vs of data: volume, variety, veracity, value and velocity

Towards Data Science: "Data Science vs. Artificial Intelligence vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning" by Sunny Srinidhi.

UpGrad: "Data Science vs AI: Difference Between Data Science and Artificial Intelligence" by Rohit Sharma Dec 17, 2019

SimpliLearn "AI vs Data Science: Mapping Your Career Path" By Ronald Van Loon Last updated on Feb 5, 2021

Thinkful: "Data Science vs Artificial Intelligence" includes salary information and career track information

New Jersey Institute of Technology: One of the only B.S. degrees in Data Science in the Nation

2. Play and Experiment

Google

https://experiments.withgoogle.com/

https://experiments.withgoogle.com/collection/ai 

Includes: AI and Writing, AI and Learning, AI and Drawing, AI and Music

Google Vision AI

Microsoft

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/group/deep-learning-group/

https://lionbridge.ai/articles/10-craziest-ai-experiments-to-try-online-today/

IBM:

https://www.ibm.org/activities/

TJ BOT: https://www.ibm.org/activities/tjbot

Virtual TJ BOT: https://www.ibm.org/activities/virtual-tjbot

Machine Learning for Kids: https://www.ibm.org/activities/machine-learning-for-kids  

Watson Conversation: https://www.ibm.org/activities/watson-conversation

https://www.research.ibm.com/artificial-intelligence/experiments/learn-and-play/

GAN

This x does not exist

https://thisxdoesnotexist.com/

https://machinelearningmastery.com/impressive-applications-of-generative-adversarial-networks/

https://poloclub.github.io/ganlab/

https://www.producthunt.com/alternatives/this-x-does-not-exist

Generative Engine: https://experiments.runwayml.com/generative_engine/ Write and AI will draw a picture.

Image to Image Demo: upload an image and AI will make a corresponding image: https://affinelayer.com/pixsrv/

3. Learn

A great introductory article as an overview: From IBM "A beginner’s guide to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cognitive computing"

AI and ML for Kids

https://machinelearningforkids.co.uk/

https://machinelearningforkids.co.uk/#!/links

 https://medium.com/stempedia/ai-for-kids-teach-kids-ai-with-the-best-online-ai-course-26575ab57337

https://thestempedia.com/blog/teaching-ai-kids/

https://thestempedia.com/shop/online-courses/artificial-intelligence-for-kids/

8 AI-driven Creative Apps for You and Your Kids

https://towardsdatascience.com/8-ai-driven-creative-apps-for-you-and-your-kids-5fdd71407dc4

Google Youtube video "AI Adventures: What is Machine Learning"

This tutorial and list of ML algorithms might be helpful to learn from:

 https://data-flair.training/blogs/machine-learning-tutorial/

https://www.newtechdojo.com/list-machine-learning-algorithms/

Google Dialogflow tutorials -Try it free https://cloud.google.com/dialogflow

 Medium "The most impressive Youtube Channels for you to Learn AI, Machine Learning, and Data Science"

Python Profits:  Learn ML, Regression, Classification, DL, Big Data https://www.pythonprofits.com/

IBM Watson

FREE cognitiveclass.ai courses include docker, chatbots, cloud, ML, Python, Node-RED, blockchain, TJBot, Big Data, Hadoop, Data Science, R, Serverless computing, Iot, Data Visualization, DL, Istio, Swift, statistics, Spark, GPU, Tensorflow, SQL, Bitcoin, Scala, NoSQL, MapReduce, YARN, Graphx, Kubernetes K8s, OpenShift, Microservices, Predictive modeling, Kafka, zookeeper, Solr, and more. see https://cognitiveclass.ai/courses

Data Science courses https://community.ibm.com/community/user/datascience/coursera

Design Thinking course https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/page/courses/Practitioner

AI: Deep Learning Course at NYU CDS (Center for Data Science) accessible to all: https://nyudatascience.medium.com/yann-lecuns-deep-learning-course-at-cds-is-now-fully-online-accessible-to-all-787ddc8bf0af

Microsoft

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/group/deep-learning-group/

 Kaggle

https://www.kaggle.com/learn/intro-to-deep-learning

https://www.kaggle.com/learn/overview

https://jonathan-hui.medium.com/gan-some-cool-applications-of-gans-4c9ecca35900

Learn Python 

Python is considered by many to be the most popular language for AI.

For beginners (and children too), you can learn a bit about Python by using Turtle graphics. This was introduced to me by our local library which sponsored an Hour of Code and provided some of the following links:

https://hourofpython.com/  - Click on the "start learning" button for the free lesson of "Python with Turtles" - This might be fun to do with your friends or family too.

Python Turtle sandbox and documentation on how to use turtle and the beginner's guide to python turtle

If you want to learn python, here are some courses and tutorials

Beginners guide: https://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/NonProgrammers

https://www.learnpython.org/ 

Python tutorial https://docs.python.org/3.7/tutorial/

"Automate the Boring Stuff" - Python books

 

Learn DL 

https://towardsdatascience.com/probably-the-best-resource-to-learn-deep-learning-in-2020-66d13a8ab1f1

Or you can monitor a class on Coursera or edx.

AI Newsletter: https://thesequence.substack.com/ or https://thesequence.substack.com/p

Ivy League University Online Classes

https://qz.com/1821327/450-free-ivy-league-university-courses-you-can-take-online/

Georgia Tech Course on Machine Learning (need to create a free account):

https://classroom.udacity.com/courses/ud262AI Machine Learning Data Sets:

Data for AI:

Datacatalogs.org

Data.un.org

www.data.gov

europeandataportal.eu/en

Kaggle.com/datasets

Datasetsearch.research.google.com

Community Data License Agreement:

Cdla.io

AWS Data Exchange marketplace

Data Access Exchange: DAX: https://developer.ibm.com/exchanges/data/
Has data notebooks

Model Exchanges
Model zoos:  Pytorch, TensorFlow, Keras, ONYX

MAX – Model Asset Exchange 

https://developer.ibm.com/exchanges/models

When I presented the webinar, there were questions about Project Management and AI. I referred people to my previous webinar on "Project Management and Artificial Intelligence" and my blog post on "Project Management and Artificial Intelligence"

4. Use / Apply

Alexa Skills:  

Alexa has "Skill Blueprints" that can be set up fairly easily. For example, here is the Q&A skill blueprint you can use to have Alexa answer your questions with answers you want. More information in this article by CNBC "How to get Alexa to answer certain questions exactly how you want it to" Updated Thu, Apr 19 2018 by Todd Haselton @robotodd

Learn to program a skill (like an app) for Alexa: "What is the Alexa Skills Kit?"

Compete for good with AI: Kaggle Competitions include some benevolent uses of AI

"How to build a chatbot for your school in less than an hour" by Brooke Gleason on 08 APR 2020

AI Gaming - Competitions at programming bots to win games with bitcoin as the prize https://www.aigaming.com/

 5. Share / Use it for Good / For Benefit

AI for Good organization

Microsoft AI for Good

Google AI for Social Good

DataRobot - AI for Good - For Non-profits - Cohort program open until April 30, 2021 

 https://www.citizenai.nz/

 

DIY Wood Pickup Truck Bank

 

Photo by Henry Will

Someone's birthday was coming up and they wanted a bank. I asked what types of things they like. The answer was dinosaurs, trucks and helicopters. I had an idea! I could make a wood bank that is in the shape of his dad's pickup truck!

So, I asked for a photo and received this:

I had some wood wheels that I wanted to use. I found from my experience with past projects (see other posts here in my blog) that wood wheels are a bit difficult to make, so I just buy them at the craft store.  

Looking at the picture of the pickup, I measured out the proportions of the real truck with respect to the wheels in the photo. I made a stencil out of paper using the same proportions to the wheels that matched the size of the wood wheels I had. I then traced from the paper stencil onto cardboard and cut it out. 

I saw a wood pickup truck online that was made with layers of wood and decided to follow that method so the middle section could hold coins.

I had a nice piece of oak to use to cut out the left and right sides of the truck. I decided to use some scrap 2 X 4 for the middle section.

I had to create a shape for the 2 X 4 to go in the middle of the truck that would allow coins to be put in the top and be stored toward the back. This piece also had to have a spot to drill holes for the axels for the wheels. Here (below) you can see the two shapes.

Part of the way through cutting out the two sides, I ran into an issue with my jig saw. It gave out. As you can see in the picture below, I wasn't quite done. Isn't amazing that even without planning, the two sides fit together like a puzzle so I wasted very little wood? Thank God!

Our nice neighbor, who makes wonderful wooden furniture, let me borrow his amazing scroll saw to finish the cutting of the 2 sides. 

The scroll saw didn't seem to be willing to cut through a 2 X 4 so I used a jig saw. My good neighbor also loaned me his jig saw (Thank you, you know who you are). I cut the 2 X 4 to the shape. The space between the two wheels was very difficult. There was nothing to sit the jig saw on. So, I cut grooves and then broke them out with a screwdriver. You can see that a file was also helpful and I used my protective eye wear even though I also wear glasses (my grandfather was a carpenter and had a mishap with his eye, so I'm careful).

I used some brown finishing nails to nail it together. Because this is hard wood, I had to drill holes first for the nails so I didn't split the wood. Not shown in this picture was the challenge I had on the other side. A finishing nail broke and split the wood. I had to glue it back together and put in a nail nearby.

I carefully cut a piece of oak to fit exactly where the tailgate was and carefully measured holes for a "hinge". I made a little handle and had to bevel the edges of the tailgate so it fit tight when closed, but allowed space to tilt open. I guess there has to be a way to get the coins out, right?  The file and Dremel tool were very helpful tools for this work.

I was looking into acrylic to cover the windshield, back window, and bed. But, after looking into the tools I would need to drill holes and the issues I've had in the past drilling holes in acrylic, I decided to use my wife's good idea. She suggested using the plastic that held some apple cider donuts we bought at a local farm stand!  It worked very well and doesn't scratch as easy as acrylic!  I just bent it to shape, drilled some holes through it and into the wood so the oak didn't split, and used a screw with a washer. 

All in all, I think it came out well.  Solo Deo Gloria! 

I prayed and God helped me with this. I kept reminding God that Jesus was a carpenter and I needed his help.

 

Please like and comment with your thoughts and stories about DIY projects!

7 Proven Ways to Manage Your Time and Tasks

 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

I'm giving a free webinar on 2021-02-10 titled "7 Proven Ways to Manage  Your Time and Tasks."

In this post I will provide some information related to the subject. Anyone attending the webinar can find more detail here in this post. If you want to attend, register at this link.

The 7 Proven Techniques are:

1. The Pomodoro technique ® – focus and eliminate distractions

2. GTD: getting things done – take big tasks (projects) and break down into pieces. Just start on one piece.
3. Inbox 0 – Manage your email inbox - look at each incoming task once
4. Personal kanban – visualize work, limit work in progress
5. Saying "No"
6. Eisenhower's prioritization technique
7. Margin – Don’t over-commit
8. Bonus: bullet journaling

 You'll find links to more information below:

Here is a very recent article about Time Management:

Fast Company:  02-08-21 SECRETS OF THE MOST PRODUCTIVE PEOPLE
3 time management myths messing with your productivity

 1. Pomodoro Technique ® (Registered Trademark)

• The original Website (gives a good overview and has info about books on the topic) : https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique
• The Free web app:  https://pomodoro.francescocirillo.com/
• Trello blog: https://blog.trello.com/how-to-pomodoro-your-way-to-productivity
• Forbes "The Pomodoro Technique Explained"
  

2. GTD: getting things done – take big tasks (projects) and break down into pieces. Just start on one piece.

• The book is written by David Allen and available in many places
  
•  Explained at the GTD website: https://gettingthingsdone.com/what-is-gtd/
• Wikipedia GTD : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done
•  New Yorker article "The Rise and Fall of Getting Things Done" (this gives a great history of GTD) https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-rise-and-fall-of-getting-things-done
  

3. Inbox 0 – Manage your email inbox - look at each incoming task once

• 43 Folders: Inbox Zero
  
• The Muse "Your Step-by-Step Guide to Reaching Inbox Zero (Even if You Currently Have 1,000+ Unread Emails)"
  
• Whatis Overview and link to Google Talk: https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/inbox-zero
• Lifehack: "What Everyone Is Wrong About Achieving Inbox Zero" 
• FastCompany "The 7-Step Guide To Achieving Inbox Zero—And Staying There—In 2018" and  "The Smart Way to Tame your email in 2021: Embrace a little chaos"
• Medium: "Why Inbox Zero is Ruining Our Lives (Better Email Habits That Will Help You Save Time And Money)"
  
• Read your email only certain times of the day, don't let email determine your priorities
• Think about where your tasks come from. Read "Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?" in Harvard Business Review (one of their top read articles over the years)
  

 4. Personal kanban – principles: visualize work, limit work in progress

• Kanban entry in Wikipedia
• A good tool for keeping your own kanban is trello.com 
  
• Personal Kanban website
• YouTube Video "Introduction to Personal Kanban" By Jim Benson (6 minutes, 36 seconds)
• Modus Institute : Blog
  
• Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) Team Kanban

5. Eisenhower's prioritization technique

•  Monday Project "5 old-school strategies for prioritizing urgent tasks you can try right now" (includes other productivity ideas too)
• Medium "The Eisenhower Method For Taking Action (How to Distinguish Between Urgent and Important Tasks)"  (includes some history of the origin)
• You can also see this used in the book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People®" by Stephen R. Covey - it is in Habit 3. See also the Wikipedia entry for this book

6. Saying "No"

• Henry Cloud Book "Boundaries: When to Say Yes; How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life"
  
• Michael Hyatt "5 Reasons You Need to Get Better at Saying No"
  
• Inc. "7 Tips for Saying No Effectively"
• Forbes "Three Reasons You Need To Say 'No' More Often"
• From the Agile Manifesto Principles "Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential."
  
• CIO "The art of maximizing work not done"
  

 

7. Margin – Don’t over-commit

• Book "Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives" by Richard Swenson, M.D.
• Sequel book "The Overload Syndrome: Learning to Live Within Your Limits"

8. Bonus: Bullet Journaling (aka BuJo)

• BulletJournal website
• Watch the free tutorial (4 minutes and 11 seconds)
• TED talk "How to declutter your mind -- keep a journal | Ryder Carroll | TEDxYale"
  
• Wikipedia entry
  
• New Yorker article "Can Bullet Journaling Save You?"  
• Good Housekeeping:https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/a25940356/what-is-a-bullet-journal/

My past two blog posts on this subject are also helpful:

https://henrywill4.blogspot.com/2020/02/productivity-time-and-task-management-5.html

https://henrywill4.blogspot.com/2018/10/is-it-time-management-or-task-management.html

I am available to do webinars and presentations on a wide range of topics.
Subscribe to emails of future presentations by sending an email to:
speaker-henrywill+subscribe @ groups.io
Or visit my speaking list page to see the other subjects I've spoke on and will be speaking on soon!

  Please comment here with your ideas about being more productive!

Online Courses, MOOCs, and many for FREE

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

I mentioned to someone recently how I was taking several online courses and many are free.
She asked if I would share a list, so here they are:

1. Udemy offers courses on all types of subjects and many are free. I've enrolled in courses here by Amazon about the Amazon Web Services (AWS cloud). You can find discounts on courses here every now and then since they tend to have sales now and then.  I recently saw a PMI-ACP class on sale for $9.99 that offered 21 hours of PMI approved education. That was an offer too good for me to refuse!
 

2. Coursera - has courses and some are credited. I've recently taken 9 courses on Coursera that were created by IBM. I learned about AI, Machine Learning, Python, Visualization, and Data Science and received a Professional Certificate in Data Science.
 

3. Edx - has many courses. Some are offered by Harvard and other schools (MIT, BU, Berkley, etc.). You can audit some courses or pay extra for a certificate when you complete the course (if you have a passing grade). I took courses from HarvardX in Data Science and the R language.  They did have a 20% off sale around April 2019. I am also auditing a course from MIT in Machine Learning.

These online courses are sometimes referred to as MOOCs : Massive Open Online Course

Are there any online courses you can recommend?

Glass Fusing Project

 

Photo by Henry Will using Google Photo Scan app

The picture above is before being fused.

This picture is after being fused...

Photo by Henry Will

 This was a gift from one of our lovely daughters. She got it locally in Morristown NJ. It's a take home kit (and you can also work on projects at their shop).

They have a setup to drop things off and pick them up contact-less (even after hours), but I wanted to see the place. So, I went during business hours. They are very careful and cautious with the pandemic. It is a big place with lots of room for people to spread out. When I went, there were 3 family groups there that were spaced far apart, with masks, socially distanced, and working on various projects. 

There is loads of glass in all sizes, shapes, and colors. You can make all types of things: suncatchers, dishes, spoon rests, jewelry,etc. It looks like a very nice place to spend some time together and make something. Here's the website: https://umakeglass.com/

This was a kit to take home and work on. I waited until after Christmas day to do it. You can work on the kit at home and drop it off for fusing and then they contact you when you can pick it up (contact-less). It's a good system. Or, you can go to their studio and work on a project there if you want.

A "tip of the hat" to the Google PhotoScan app for allowing me to get a clear, no glare picture of the glass. I've used this app for many other pictures of pictures and find it performs very well. Highly recommended!

(note: my next project is a wooden pickup truck bank - I start on that today!)

I saw a very nice glass spoon rest at the shop that had a very nice flower design. Maybe that will be a future gift for someone!

What do you think about this fused glass project? What would you make out of glass?

DIY Toy Wood Camera

I was looking for a gift to make for a 1 year birthday and suggested a few things to the parents. They liked the idea of a Wood Toy Camera. I found a few posts on the internet and liked one the best. So, I somewhat fasioned it after that one.

and

and then

and then

You'll see the finished project at the top. A fun toy for a child.

DIY Wood Push Toy Duck

This is a push toy duck that was fashioned after a similar item that was purchased many years ago.
The pre-schoolers and the toddlers liked it, so I decided to make a similar one for another toddler. I used a 2" X 6" board for the body and filed the edges to smooth it. The wheels are wood too. Cut them out, drill a hole in the center (or for more fun, a little off center to help with the "waddle"). Cut a slot in each wheel and glue a "foot" in there.  I couldn't find any rubber (I didn't have any old inner tubes laying around from a bicycle), so I used a cut out piece from a black plastic binder from the local dollar store (you can see the binder in the phone below, I had to cut out a piece to fix the old duck from years ago in the picture below).

This is the one we purchased many years ago.When it's pushed, the wheels turn and there were pieces of rubber that would flap around and slap on the ground: alternating with the right, then the left. The duck waddles as it's pushed.  The rubber "feet" were lost years ago, I just cut a piece out of that plastic binder to replace them. Good as new! 

Online Games for Families and Friends

StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay

We recently had fun playing a virtual escape room with family and friends. We thought it would be fun to play some games online too!

I looked for some websites and found lots of games that can be played online.

1. I like this playingcards.io site that lets you play games with a group of people. It was mentioned by a few of the following sites. It has "built in games" (like checkers, go fish, hearts, crazy-eights, backgammon, cribbage, and it also allows you to play with decks of cards, spinners and such to make your own card game (like golf (which we play by these rules, but the joker is -2 points), Kings in the corner, war,  or any card game)

2. We've played the boardgame called Code Names. It's a "spy" theme, but basically a game of trying to get your team to picks from a bunch of words which are the ones that are similar to a one-word hint you give. It's available online as CodeNames.game.

3. Our family also introduced us to "house party" - it's an app. It has built in games (like finding words, something like pictionary, and the Uno card game too).

4. Adding this one in March 2021: https://kahoot.com/ - has some trivia games you can play. Share the main screen with players over meetup or zoom or some screen sharing capable video meeting, then each person connects with the code and inputs their answers.

5. Adding this one in January 2024

Scattergories:

This game can be shared using an online video conference (like google meet or zoom or Skype) and letting people take turns trying to find words for each category that start with a specific letter. Or, for collaborative play, everyone together can try to come up with words for the given categories beginning with the given letter.

https://swellgarfo.com/scattergories/

6. Online Atari games

https://www.aarp.org/lp/games-atari/

7. Bible puzzles: word search maker, word searches, mazes, coloring sheets worksheets, crafts, and more

https://biblepuzzles.com/

8. Colorasmile :find a coloring sheet, print it, mail it and it will go to cheer someone

https://colorasmile.org/

Here's some lists of other games I found:

• Oprah Magazine: 21 Best Online Games to Play With Friends While Social Distancing
• Mentions Golf Battle (IOS and Android) and playingcards.io
  
• Good Housekeeping: 11 Fun Games to Play on Zoom That Will Amp up Your Next Virtual Party
  
• 10 Best Virtual Family Game Night Apps
• Mentions Mario Kart

 Have you played any games online with family and friends?  If so, please comment! We'd all like to hear of more games!