Usefulcharts.com: Charts...useful ones
Remember that time in junior high school where you had to memorize all the classifications of animals?
Yeah, there were classes and phyla, kingdoms and domains. You studied really hard, made flash cards and aced that baby - followed immediately by a complete mental purge of any and all animal classification that deviated from "cat" and "dog."
But if you want to remember that information, no worries: UsefulCharts has you covered. A quick glance at the Classification of Animals & Living Things chart and you'll have a renewed understanding of the entire Eukaryote Domain and be impressing your friends with knowledge of the Sarcopterygii Class.
According to UsefulCharts creator Matt Baker, the site is created for the "visual learner."
In a politically fueled place like D.C., you wouldn't be caught dead stumbling over the Political Spectrum. But if you're more interested in the politics of our northern neighbors, UsefulCharts has a - you guessed it - chart for that.
What I also found interesting was UsefulCharts' bizarre choices. A personal favorite: Muppet Voices Chart. Did you know that Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Animal, Bert, Grover, Cookie Monster and Yoda (not a Muppet, know I) were all voiced by the same person? I didn't, until I read the chart.
Curious about personality? The Myers-Briggs Chart outlines the various types of personalities, with descriptions. There's also a chart for mental disorders.
While the charts are free to view, downloadable copies for print cost $1.95. Once downloaded, Baker says an unlimited number of copies can be printed and distributed as long as they're free. Posting onto public websites is prohibited, however.
If you love a chart and want something fancier, some are available as posters.
"The goal is to present useful information in the form of charts so that students, teachers or simply those interested in increasing their general knowledge can absorb the information quickly and visually," says Baker in his FAQ section.
Even if you aren't cramming for a test or trying to impress friends with your vast knowledge of Hindu Gods & Goddesses, UsefulCharts is just that ... useful.
Because even though those in the Proboscidean Order never forget, sometimes we do.
http://wtop.com/262/3191514/Usefulchartscom-Chartsuseful-ones
U.S. Supreme Court sinks Florida city over floating home
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When is a floating home not a vessel? The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday told a Florida city its argument did not hold water, and that an abode on water was nothing but a home.
In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled that a gray, two-story home that its owner said was permanently moored to a Riviera Beach, Florida, marina was not a vessel, depriving the city of power under U.S. maritime law to seize and destroy it.
Justice Stephen Breyer said nothing about former Chicago trader and Marine pilot Fane Lozman's home that would have led a "reasonable observer" to conclude it could be used to transport people or things over water, but for the fact that it floated.
"Not every floating structure is a 'vessel'," Breyer wrote for the majority. "To state the obvious, a wooden washtub, a plastic dishpan, a swimming platform on pontoons, a large fishing net, a door taken off its hinges, or Pinocchio (when inside the whale) are not 'vessels'."
Riviera Beach, near Palm Beach, had seized Lozman's home after he resisted a court order that he pay $3,040 in dockage fees, and destroyed it after being unable to sell it.
Tuesday's decision reversed a lower-court ruling upholding the fees, and clears the way for Lozman to seek compensation.
Pamela Ryan, the city attorney for Riviera Beach, said in a statement she was disappointed with the ruling but accepts it, and that the city will revise its marina policies.
Lozman, 51, cheered the decision. "I feel like I'm floating on a cloud," he said in a phone interview. "I have been fighting this city for 6-1/2 years and it is humbling to get a reversal."
He said he now lives in North Bay Village, a suburb of Miami, and owns a financial software display company.
The definition of "vessel" is particularly important, given that admiralty law imposes different obligations on owners with respect to such things as staffing and taxation.
It is also a victory for the casino industry, which in court papers argued that more than 60 riverboat casinos should not be subject to U.S. maritime laws designed to protect seamen, on top of state laws to license and regulate the gaming business.
The decision limits special rules and remedies of maritime law to matters that "genuinely involve maritime commerce and transportation," Jeffrey Fisher, a Stanford University law professor who represented Lozman, said in a phone interview. "That something floats and might be towed from Point A to Point B does not mean those rules and remedies should apply."
COURT SEEKS CONSISTENCY
Lozman bought the 60-by-12 foot home in 2002. Four years later, he towed it to a Riviera Beach marina, where he kept it docked.
Although he was able to move the home in this manner, Lozman said it should not be covered by maritime law because it lacked the usual seafaring features such as a motor and GPS device, and needed land-based sewer lines and an extension cord for power.
The legal battle started after Lozman resisted new rules governing houseboats at his marina and opposed a proposed $2.4 billion luxury redevelopment of the marina.
In his opinion for the court, Breyer said the decision was consistent with the laws of California and Washington that also treat structures like Lozman's as land-based homes.
"Consistency of interpretation of related state and federal laws is a virtue" because it makes the law easier to understand and follow, Breyer said.
Joining Breyer's opinion were Chief Justice John Roberts, and Associate Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy, dissented, in the term's first dissenting votes from a full court opinion. Sotomayor objected to the "reasonable observer" standard adopted by the majority.
The case is Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, Florida, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 11-626.
Writing An Awesome Letter To A 7-Year Old, And Gaining A Lifetime Customer For LEGO
Seven-year-old Luka Apps spent his Christmas money on the LEGO Ninjago Ultra Sonic Raider set. Against his father’s advice, young Luka took his newly aquired Jay ZX with him when they went shopping. And then, disaster struck: the figure went missing, never to be seen again.
Luka decided to write a letter to the folks at LEGO asking for a replacement:
Hello,
My name is Luka Apps and I am seven years old.
With all my money I got for Christmas I bought the Ninjago kit of the Ultrasonic Raider. The number is 9449. It is really good.
My Daddy just took me to Sainsburys and told me to leave the people at home but I took them and I lost Jay ZX at the shop as it fell out of my coat.
I am really upset I have lost him. Daddy said to send you a email to see if you will send me another one.
I promise I won’t take him to the shop again if you can.
~Luka
A short time later, Luka received a reply from Richard, a LEGO customer service representative. Richard wrote that he had spoken to Sensei Wu, a master from the Ninjago line.
Luka,
I told Sensei Wu that losing your Jay mini figure was purely an accident and that you would never ever let it happen ever again.
He told me to tell you, ‘Luka, your father seems like a very wise man. You must always protect your Ninjago mini figures like the dragons protect the Weapons of Spinjitzu!’
Sensei Wu also told me it was okay if I sent you a new Jay and told me it would be okay if I included something extra for you because anyone that saves their Christmas money to buy the Ultrasonic Raider must be a really big Ninjago fan.
So, I hope you enjoy your Jay mini figure with all his weapons. You will actually have the only Jay mini figure that combines 3 different Jays into one! I am also going to send you a bad guy for him to fight! Just remember, what Sensei Wu said: keep your mini figures protected like the Weapons of Spinjitzu! And of course, always listen to your Dad.
So, I hope you enjoy your Jay mini figure with all his weapons. You will actually have the only Jay mini figure that combines 3 different Jays into one! I am also going to send you a bad guy for him to fight! Just remember, what Sensei Wu said: keep your mini figures protected like the Weapons of Spinjitzu! And of course, always listen to your Dad.
As Richard’s letter made its way into social media and generated tremendous amount of publicity for LEGO, the company earned scores of brand evangelists and at least one lifelong customer.
All because of one very nice Ninja warrior in its customer service department.
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