Sarah | - Part 2

What is MIT’s Project “Solid” And Why Should You Care About It?

August 11, 2016 / Sarah / 0 Comments

tim berners lee mit labs project solid

Tim Berners-Lee gave us the gift of the Internet without patents, copyrights, or trademarks. Unlike the giant tech companies we know today, Tim Berners-Lee provided global value to society without putting his own self-interest first. Now this genius wants to revolutionize his creation with “Solid” and the team at MIT’s lab.

Solid stands for “social linked data” and somewhat represents the block chain system we see being used for crypto currency. The end users would store their personal information in personal online data stores, or “pods,” and access to this information would only be aloud by applications that have the authority to do so. [More]

PSA For Rural Pokémon Go Players

July 14, 2016 / Sarah / 1 Comment

I know the frustration, I talked about it here in great detail, but this post is short. I’ve got some good news for you rural trainers!

You can now request to add a PokéStop near you! Yes, now you and your friends can now bombard the developers with requests! I’ll warn you that I did have my request denied, however, I assume they will keep this information on file somewhere for a possible future expansion. Don’t give up hope! It also might be a good idea to coordinate your friends to request the same location. [More]

Playing Pokémon Go from Rural Area to Big City

July 11, 2016 / Sarah / 6 Comments

pokemon go sarah kohl rural rochester ny

First off, I need to admit something. I don’t have the Pokédex memorized, I failed at nearly every Name-that-Pokémon, and I have never finished a single Pokémon game. You know what though? It doesn’t matter when playing Pokémon Go. The game reminds me a lot of Pokémon Snap. There is no great storyline, gameplay is simple, and there are a limited number of Pokémon you can catch. So why is everyone playing it?

It’s got a great community vibe to it. When I installed it I was in a rural area and there were no landmarks or gyms nearby. [More]

Schedel Arboretum and Gardens in Ohio

June 30, 2016 / Sarah / 0 Comments

I planned out my trip with some great mid-point stops. I had never heard of the Schedel Arboretum and Gardens, but it was the perfect distance for my lunch break so I thought I would check it out.

The gardens were beautiful and I appreciated the labels identifying all the trees, shrubs, and flowers. I’ve been trying to keep a log of all the birds, bugs, and wildlife I have seen this year and having labels is much easier than trying to search the internet for photos.

The Japanese garden was beautiful and it was fascinating to see the collection of bonsai trees. [More]

Panama Rocks in Chautauqua, NY

June 8, 2016 / Sarah / 1 Comment

I had seen this place on the map a few times and thought about visiting, but it was always too close for a real trip and too far for a day trip. That horrible middle ground made it an unattractive destination to me despite the beautiful photos I’d seen.

That’s another thing with visiting natural attractions like Panama Rocks. If you see too many photos of the destination you start to convince yourself that you’ve seen the best parts and there’s no need to go. Or at least I do. So when I got to Panama Rocks I was pleasantly surprised. [More]

A Random Rendezvous in New Orleans

May 10, 2016 / Sarah / 4 Comments

New Orleans is one of those cities that’s likely to be on everyone’s bucket list, or at least, it was on mine. I’ve been putting off visiting for a while but took my friend up on his invite to come visit recently, and had a fantastic time.

The (Sea)Food

I love to try local food when I’m visiting somewhere and was not disappointed by anything I tried while in Louisiana. My first night in New Orleans we stopped at Draggo’s for their famous charbroiled oysters. Naturally, I got myself an Abita Strawberry beer to go with it. [More]

My Truck Camper Project

April 28, 2016 / Sarah / 8 Comments

sarah-kohl-would-you-live-out-of-a-truck-ford-ranger-truck-camper-micro-home

I’ve been working on this for a little while now, but I’ve only shown a couple people the work in progress. For those who don’t know, I drive a Ford Ranger. Actually, I’ve always driven a Ford Ranger. I can’t really picture driving anything else at this point despite being capable of buying pretty much anything else.

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This is what my truck has looked like since I got it. When I got my first Ranger I remember telling my father that I didn’t want to keep the cap on the back because caps are for old men. I ditched the cap and got a roll-up tonneau cover. [More]

April 27, 2016

You have to strive every minute to get rid of the life that you have planned in order to have the life that’s waiting to be yours. Move, move, move….

— Joseph Campbell

[More]

So You’re Going to PAX in Boston

April 21, 2016 / Sarah / 1 Comment

173H

Boston is a great city filled with history, great food, and huge events. This weekend the Boston Marathon and PAX will be going on in the city, but that doesn’t mean people going to either event shouldn’t take a few extra days to explore.

I’ll admit, the last time I spent a significant amount of time in Boston was for my school’s 6^th grade whale watch. It was an insanely fun time though we did end up on a bit of a Gilligan’s Island whale watching tour. (The boat got caught in a storm, but instead of shipwrecking us we just lost our dinner reservations and had to eat from to-go boxes on the bus.)

This time around I’ll be spending most of my time at PAX, but I’ll be visiting a few of those destinations that 6^th grade me just wouldn’t have appreciated. [More]

The Woodland Welfare Manifesto

April 21, 2016 / Sarah / 4 Comments

sarah_kohl_woodland_welfare_mainifesto_slave_labor_slg_publishing_comics2

This was a hilarious comic I picked up at last Comic Con and just got around to reading it. It’s a timely read with the increasing popularity of socialist values that’s cropped up recently.

Now, I argue quite a bit with my friends about politics, because don’t we all know what’s best for our countries complex social and economic systems? This comic pokes fun at capitalism and socialism in the best ways. And without ruining the ending, has a fairly realistic compromise between the two systems.

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As you can probably tell from the artist’s style, the characters are wacky. [More]

Happy World Heritage Day!

April 18, 2016 / Sarah / 0 Comments

If you’re not aware, today is world heritage day. It’s clearly not one of the better holidays for selling cards, chocolate, or other gifts so I won’t blame you if you’ve never heard of it. World Heritage day was created to raise awareness of global cultural diversity. The International Council for Monuments and Sites, yes such a thing exists, suggest that people go visit monuments today. (They would suggest that wouldn’t they!) Instead, I would like to share a bit that I’ve learned about my own culture and heritage. [More]

Not All Trips Have to be Far Away

April 15, 2016 / Sarah / 0 Comments

sarah kohl take day trips because they are cheap and fun

It wasn’t until I was an adult that I traveled internationally. My family went on one vacation my whole life. Even still, we took a lot of day trips locally for various events so it did feel like I was traveling a lot.

Day trips are a great way for those who are restless to fulfill their need to travel without breaking the bank. So take day trips, and take them often! And I know what people say, “there’s nothing to do around here,” but I highly doubt it. I grew up in a county where the biggest city was constantly claiming to be a “micropolitan.” Yes, they made up a word to make it sound like they were a real city with people in it. [More]