Printing Custom Google Maps

If you are anything like me (and for your mothers sake I hope not) then you love making maps with Google (like here). I am still very much a neophyte compared to what some can do with Google Maps, but I’ve often found myself wanting to print some of my creations to take with me.

Anyone who has tried to print a custom map will find that it leaves something to be desired. For example, I make a lot of maps that flag places of interest in cities (bars, restaurants, points of interest) and want to be able to print the map with corresponding labels. Google just doesn’t do a solid enough job for me.

How do I take my custom Google map get in an easy to print format, you ask?

Well, I use the Google mymaps converter. This delightful piece of code uses the the KML code in your google map (right-click on the little KML guy  ( ) and copy the link location.  Then you paste that into the mymaps converter and, boom, you get a printer friendly little map complete with a legend.

I love people who are smarter than me and can make stuff like this.

Oh baby!

You know what really tweaks my nipples?  Babies…more specifically, babies with parents who feel that somehow their decision to reproduce makes them entitled to special treatment anywhere they go.

I have saved a special space in my to-be-built-dungeon for these uber-lazy parents.  You know, the ones who push little Mercedes or Trevor around in one of those enormous tanks disguised as a stroller.  I see them on the subway during rush hour, taking up the space of 5 people, I see them in narrow groceries stores, I see them forcing people off the side walk…and the worst part of the deal, there’s always a baby inside them, pooping and peeing and generally carrying on.  It seems lazy to me…not only are you forcing your spawn upon everyone, but you’re taking up precious urban space while doing it and making sure your kids starts out life in a fat promoting position, preparing it for a life of obesity.

Too Lazy to Play Real Beer Pong?

Some days, its just too much to get out the old slab of particle board, two saw horses, and a handful of solo cups. For those days, the fine people at JV Games bring you Beer Pong….er Pong Toss. Like all good sissy nannies, certain adults and Attorney Generals are up in arms over a game that evolved from drinking is rated suitable for children 13 and up.

1) Are kids really clamoring to waste their money on a game as simple as throwing a ball in a cup? If so, I’m going to make paper triangle football game.

When does Gay not equal homosexual?

We are all well aware that the religious right is a favourite topic of mine, but a story I came across this weekend really made me giggle.

I first came across this article in the TO Star and was able to find a screenshot on Bejing Olympics Fan’s site. Turns out that the religious-right Christian news site OneNewsNow has a nifty little piece of automatic software built into their site that automatically alters “offensive” words like, oh, turning “gay” into “homosexual”.

So what happens when the site posts an article on Olympic sprinter Tyson Gay, you ask? Well, you get the screen shot below:

[insert wah-wah trombone sound here]

Internetless Workplace

So this past Monday was an interesting day in the workplace.  To begin with, let me set the stage.  Because of where Canada Day fell this year (Tuesday, July 1), Monday was pretty much going to be a wash to begin with.  Most people were taking the Monday off to make a nice long weekend, while poor saps like me were stuck dragging our butts in.

I had all sorts of plans – I was going to do my online banking, work on my resume, write a nice post for Ben Co., and generally dink around online.  But something went horribly, horribly wrong…on Monday, June 30, I had no internet for the entire day.

Jazzin’ on Jefferson

Just wanted to give a little blog love for an upcoming event in downtown Detroit this weekend: Jazzin’ on Jefferson.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the event (you poor souls, you), Jazzin’ on Jefferson is a two-day musical extravaganza that takes place on Detroit’s east side along Jefferson Ave. The event is produced by the Jefferson East Business Association and draws big jazz acts and a wide range of artists every year. Jazzin’ provides a chance for the community to celebrate its rich heritage and show all it has to offer to visitors.

This years acts include the Rayse Biggs Band, Jesse Palter Quartet, and the The Scott Gwinell Jazz Orchestra. New to Jazzin’ this year is the Artist Gallery tent, which will bring the works of local artists and crafts-persons together to exhibit and sell their creations.

If you’re in the Detroit metro area this weekend be sure to stop by Jazzin’ on Jefferson. If you’re really lucky you’ll get to meet me…and honestly that’s worth visiting all by itself.

If you can’t make it, check out JEBA and all the great work they do in the area. If you are Uncle Moneybags, look at supporting them.

Oh yeah, in the interest of full disclosure, my brother, Josh Elling, is the Executive Director of JEBA, but I was neither coerced nor bribed into doing this. If someone were to offer me an icy cold beer, however, I would not decline.

Pray At the Pump

Let me start by saying that I’m very smug. My daily commute is a 2 minute walk door to door. I use my car out of convenience. Now another Ben Co. member has already abandoned his car and is joining the smug parade. When I read articles about gas prices, I feel even smugger (smugier?)

Now I’m not an economist, but I know supply and demand. Supply is stagnant, and demand is up, up, up.

I’m more evolved than you

If there’s one thing I love, its random studies/theories and how I can pick and choose which ones to believe and lead me in self-justifying my pious life. It helps me get to sleep at night.

Some oldies but goodies include 1) the fact that standing next to a road is worse for you than second hand smoke and 2) copy machines can cause chronic conditions and should carry a warning label.

Well my new favorite one is from Neurophysiologist Katherine Rankin at the University of California, San Francisco.

According to Dr. Rankin, if you [don't] get sarcastic tone[s]… you must have some damage to your parahippocampal gyrus which is located in the right brain. People with dementia, or head injuries in that area, often lose the ability to pick up on sarcasm, and so they don’t respond in a socially appropriate ways.

Presumably, this is a pathology, which in turn suggests that sarcasm is part of human nature and probably an evolutionarily good thing

Okay, it may be a stretch for some of you to believe that I’m more evolved than the rest of you, but sarcasm has developed over years, and more specifically the ability to “get it”. If you don’t get it, you might just stare at me slack-jawed, or want to punch me in the face. Well to that I respond, you don’t have dimentia do you? Does your parahippocampal gyrus hurt?