TechyDad

LuLu.com Photo Book Review and Giveaway

September 30, 2010 TechyDad Giveaway, Review

It’s no secret that I love taking photos. I’ll annoy my kids, wife and everyone in a five mile radius just to get that perfect shot. Once the photos are taken, I’ll select the very best to put online to share with others.

But, as much as I love taking photos, I secretly hate printed photos. I never remember to put them in their frames, they never seem to find their way into photo albums and the ones I have up wind up old and outdated. If you were to visit my office, you’d see shots of NHL from when he was under a year old. He’s 7 now, but I just never seem to get around to replacing those photos.

Photobooks, are another story. The photos in them don’t go out of date the way a 4×6 framed photo will. You don’t need to find an album to put them in (since they are already in a book) and you can easily tell which photobooks are for which events.

I was given the chance to review LuLu’s photo books. I’ve put photo books together on other systems and had even made a LuLu.com one awhile back (for a charity project, though I never got around to ordering one for myself). In the time since I had put my last LuLu.com photobook together, though, they must have changed systems because I don’t remember it being this easy… or fun!

First, I choose the theme of my book. I had decided to compile photos of every character we had met while at Disney World and Six Flags. I chose my photos, narrowed them down to eliminate duplicates and logged into Lulu.com. From there, I named the book, chose a cover and a design. I went with one that, I thought, felt like a travel journal. I was able to move photos around and choose different page layouts with different photo sizes. Before too long, my book was done and ready to be printed.

When it arrived in the mail, I eagerly opened up the package and was pleasantly surprised. The book looked even better in my hands than it did on the screen.

I really liked how some of the photos seemed to be "attached" to the page, as if I had glued them in by hand while others seemed to be floating slightly above it (as if they weren’t glued in completely). We’ve taken this book to family events to show off. Cousin S, who will be going to Disney World soon, especially loved seeing all the Disney characters in the book. We will definitely look to LuLu for future photo book needs (and we have a few photo book ideas).

Giveaway:

Thanks to LuLu.com, one lucky winner will receive a free 20 page, 8.5 square hardcover photo book. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What types of photos would you fill your photo book with?

You can also earn bonus entries by doing any (or all) of the following items. Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each item that you complete.

Follow @TechyDad on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
Follow @LuLudotcom on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TechyDad, @Luludotcom (or Lulu.com) and a link to this post in the Tweet. (1 bonus entry per day) For example: Win a free 20 page hardcover photobook from @TechyDad and @LuLudotcom. http://bit.ly/9XYyFq #Giveaway
Subscribe to my RSS feed or let me know if you already are. (1 bonus entry)
Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from August/September/October. Leave a comment here letting me know which post you commented on. (1 bonus entry per comment, maximum 3 entries)
Write a post on your blog linking to this giveaway. Leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries. (3 bonus entries)

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, September 30th and ends at Noon EST on October 14th, 2010. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. only.

Disclosure: I received a free 20 page hardcover photobook and some other merchandise complimentary of LuLu.com in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed above are my own. LuLu.com is also providing the giveaway item to my readers.

NOTE: Due to a Typo (read: me copying and pasting and forgetting to update a section of text), the "@Luludotcom/Lulu.com" part of the tweet requirement wasn’t listed for awhile. So I’m going to be lax on that requirement. (Not fair to disqualify entries for not adhering to a rule that wasn’t spelled out properly.) Tweets should still name @TechyDad and have a link here, though, since those requirements were listed correctly.

Wordless Wednesday: Cousins

September 29, 2010 TechyDad Family, JSL, NHL, Photos, Wordless Wednesday

A Vaccination Simulation

September 28, 2010 TechyDad Health, Internet

During some rare spare time, I began to think. When discussing vaccination, proponents like to point out how Herd Immunity helps those who can’t vaccinate. I wondered if there was some visual way of showing it. (I know Penn and Teller did a video recently, but I haven’t watched it yet.) For some reason, one of my old computer programming assignments, The Game of Life, came to mind.

The Game of Life is a simulation where each square represents one "cell" of life. The cells will multiply or die based on certain rules. They might blossom into a vast colony, die on the vine, or even move around the board (spawning new cells in the front and having old ones dying off behind).

I resolved to make a Vaccination Game of Life or, for a more descriptive and catchy name, a Vaccination Simulation. Fast forward through some programming, testing, great advice from Phil Plait (thanks, Phil!) and here it is: http://www.techydad.com/Vaccinate/

Just set some parameters like how deadly the virus should be, vaccinate some people and then let loose the plague. Will all of your people die? Will some recover? Will the virus spread to everyone or fizzle out? Will Herd Immunity protect the unvaccinated?

What about Herd Immunity? I had set out to test this and test it I did. I ran 5 different scenarios: a 0% vaccination rate, a 25% vaccination rate, a 50% vaccination rate, a 75% vaccination rate and a 90% vaccination rate. For each scenario, I ran the simulator 3 times and took the average number of dead and recovered. Then, I figured out the death rate (defined here as Number Who Died / Number Who Got Sick).

Here are the results:

Note that the Death Rate (on the chart labeled as "% Non-Vacc Died") declined as the vaccination rate rose. For the more visual, here it is in graph format.

What does this mean in human terms? Let’s take 5 people and put them in 5 different communities. For whatever reason, these 5 people can’t recieve the vaccination for The Virus. The person in the 0% vaccination group would stand an 80% chance of dying. The person in the 25% group would stand a 76.44% chance. And so on to the person in the 90% vaccination group who would only stand a 13.33% chance of dying. The people have the same immunity, but the vaccinated people around them reduces the spread of the virus and makes it less likely that they’ll contract it. Less likelihood of contracting the virus means less likelihood of dying from it. Herd Immunity in action.

Now go off and enjoy Vaccination Simulation for yourself whether to educate or just to mercilously kill a hundred square representations of people.

Scrubbing Bubbles Giveaway Winner

September 28, 2010 TechyDad Giveaway

Oops! With all the Jewish Holidays and family trips and everything, I nearly forgot to select a winner for my Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner giveaway. So let’s consult the crystal ball (also known as Random.org):

Ah! Lucky 29! This means that Michelle Simons is the winner. Michelle has been notified and has 48 hours to contact me back. If she fails to do so, I’ll select another winner. Congrats, Michelle and check your inbox!

Bouncy Birthday Fun

September 27, 2010 TechyDad Birthday, Family, Fun, Photos

Over the weekend, we went to see Uncle I, Aunt M, and Cousins S & B for Cousin S’s third birthday party. The boys were surprised to find out that a bounce house was going to be part of the party fun.

At 9am, the bounce house arrived and was set up while the kids played on the swings/slide play area that I & M bought since the last time we were there.

Swinging festivities were cut short, though, as the kids became fascinated by the ever-growing bounce house.

Shoes were kicked off and the bouncing began. JSL was a little hesitant at first, but he soon figured out how much fun a bounce house could be!

There were also games of hug-and-fall.

After the party ended, and the kids had left, B, JSL, Cousin S, NHL and I had some special bounce-time where I tried to get shots of everyone in mid-air.

The photo of me is blurry, but it was tough shooting conditions. (Darker inside than outside, fast moving subject *AND* shooter moving as well.)

B kept teasing me by doing grand flops…. when I wasn’t ready to take a photo of her. This led to many a blurred photo of an airborne angel but I did manage to snag a few good ones.

JSL and NHL were sad to see the bounce house go. I see a visit to a local bounce house play area in our future! Thanks, Uncle I and Aunt M for such a fun time and happy birthday Cousin S!

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