Brewing beer, church, and interesting yard bird sightings, including a new yard bird.

IMBD

Today is International Migratory Bird Day. This will be the second year in a row that I will not be at Magee Marsh and at other places along the lake shore for IMBD after attending each IMBD at Magee Marsh from 2000 through 2012 after I began birdwatching in the fall of 1999.

DD and I left home around 9:15 to 9:30 a.m. for a drive to meet DD's parents for lunch. CP and B drove separately and joined us.

Our first options for lunch were locally-owned restaurants in Fenton or Williamston, but DD called the day before, and they were booked up for Mother's Day. Not a surprise.

We wound up eating lunch at Cracker Barrel near Okemos, MI, which is located a little southeast of Lansing. I have not eaten at a Cracker Barrel in a long time, but our meals were good. And besides, this was more about having a family gathering than finding the perfect meal.

At 8:03 a.m., Barney and I began birdwatching outside around our home. Observations:

(My May 2014 comment at ToledoTalk.com)

After the Browns chose Johnny Manziel, his jersey went on sale at NFL.com , and apparently, some crazed fans ordered it. I'm not that goofy.

I grew up in eastern Ohio. Geographically, we were closer to Pittsburgh than Cleveland. The area had a mix of Browns and Steelers fans. Obviously, the Steelers fans had a lot more to gloat about. Fights occurred on the school playground between Browns and Steelers fans. I rooted for Cleveland, so I still have a soft spot for the Browns. For some reason, I still have VHS recordings of Browns games from the late 1980s with nothing to play the tapes.

Draft Selection

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/rounds/_/year/2014

May 8, 2014

Nerding out with my all-time favorite TV show, except for this event, I used a radio, since we don't have cable / satellite TV.

The boardwalk at the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area is the best place for up-close viewing of migrating songbirds for numbers and variety. It's easy birdwatching. But the boardwalk can be scrunched-crowded in the first half of May, especially before Noon.

Beyond responsive: three mobile website design tricks becoming trends

Trendy but not always favorable in my book.

• infinite scrolling - (meh, whatever)
• cards - (I like this)
• pre-written Tweets (??)

Increasingly, I view websites with JavaScript disabled. Maybe my laptop is too old, and it cannot keep up with the growing number of piggish sites that force a web user to download too much JavaScript.

A trend has emerged in the past year where some publishers and web services have separated their products into smaller offerings or verticals.

The first round will be held on Thu, May 8, 2014, beginning at 8:00 p.m. EDT.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_NFL_Draft
• http://espn.go.com/nfl/draft
• https://twitter.com/TonyGrossi
• http://espncleveland.com/grossi

As of Thu morning, May 8 before any possible wheeling and dealing, the Browns have "three of the first 35 selections and five of the first 85."

(my apr 30, 2014 comment at toledotalk.com)

Toledo's official reporting station for the National Weather Service is located at Toledo Express Airport.

(My Apr 29, 2014 comment in a ToledoTalk.com thread about bicycle week.)

This bicycle debuted in 2013. It's made in Detroit. It's designed to be an urban, commuter bicycle. It sells for $700.

http://detroitbikes.com - "Each bike has three speeds and comes in one color."

https://www.facebook.com/DetroitBikes

• Russia Orders Bloggers To 'Register'; Outlaws Anonymous Blogging, Continues Clampdown On Social Media
• David Leonhardt says The Upshot won’t replace Nate Silver at The New York Times
• More than a social network: Facebook aims to be the source for breaking news
• Kara Swisher, outspoken tech journalist, has a lot on her mind
• Object Oriented Journalism

"Highlights of the Pew Internet Project’s research related to mobile technology."

http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet/

I occasionally log into my Facebook account, but I don't check Google+ nor Twitter. ToledoTalk.com is enough "social networking" for me.

Excerpts from http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/24/google-is-walking-dead/