Daily Links 9-20-13

E-reader covers, Google services you're not using, Jackie Robinson, and more in today's links.

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This is a really cool idea: e-reader covers designed to look like classic books.

You can find more of them here. Hat tip Book Riot

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Everywhere you go on the internet it seems that Google has some type of service to offer. Here are five services that you have probably overlooked.

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Barnabas Piper argues that the recent film 42 about baseball legend Jackie Robinson couldn't possibly capture what really made him great:

What made Jackie Robinson so great was precisely what made it so hard to capture his whole person on screen: his silence, stolidity, strength, and fortitude. He wasn’t a vocal activist in his playing days; he simply stood tall in the face of half a nation’s hatred and beat them at their own favorite game. Somehow Robinson managed this while bearing the hopes and expectations of millions of African-Americans on his shoulders. Actions speak louder than words, and Robinson was living proof of that. He changed America without saying a notable word.

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Learn the secrets of the service industry and you will save yourself some time and money.

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Turns out the Earl of Sandwich was quite the inventive fellow. Not only did create fast food with the sandwich but he gave birth to Starbucks, too. (Hat tip Food Riot)

Fun Find of the Week: 11 Google Services with Hidden Easter Eggs

You have to hand it to the folks at Google. They have a great sense of humor. It turns out that there are a whole host of interesting features built into their web services. For example:

Go to YouTube. Start watching a video. Click outside the search bar and type "1980." This will launch a playable game of Missile Command above the video. Beware! The aliens are trying to destroy the video you’re watching. 

Full story available at Mental Floss.

Meeting My "Other" Daughter

Have you ever decided to Google your own name just for the fun of it?

I've always been afraid to do it for fear of what I would discover.

But my oldest daughter, Annie, did it last fall.

Turns out there was another girl named Annie Parsons. She has a wonderful blog. They started trading e-mails. The other Annie wrote a beautiful letter to my Annie. They became good friends online.

But the best part is that the other Annie lives in Nashville. Last week we got to meet her.

A.P. (which is the nickname we gave to the other Annie to keep track of who's who - she calls our daugher Little A. P.) calls our Annie her Muppet Baby.

A.P. is one of the sweetest young women I have ever met. As we were saying good-bye after a lovely dinner, I told her that I felt like I had met my "other" daughter.

I hope my girls grow up to be as sweet and caring as A.P.

It was a real joy to finally get to meet her. We'll get to hang out again when we go back to Nashville in the fall. It will be a blast.



A.P. (center) flanked by my daughters Katie and Annie (otherwise known as Little A.P.)