Muppet WhatNot Workshop

Muppet WhatNot Workshop, originally uploaded by SummerSadie.

Muppets you can buy at FAO Schwartz in NY.

Permanent Backups for Snap Happy Parents

(Hey You!) If you ever want to see those photos of your kids again, PLEASE remember to back up your photo library...

I am going to do you a favour here. 

You know how you are always saying to yourself how you have to get around to baking up your photo libraries one of these days? Well, I don't need to remind you how easy it is for your hard drive to crash, or your laptop to be stolen, or your 16GB memory card to suddenly forget everything that was on it.

Don't be that guy. Don't be the Mom who was planning on doing something about photo backups but never did until it was too late. Not when so much is at stake and it is now so easy and so inexpensive to back up. Here is another reason why you are going to be running out of excuses: This one just might be the reason that makes you do it today—and have some peace of mind once and for all. I hope so...

This post is part of Mashable's Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details there. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: SnapHaven

Quick Pitch: SnapHaven is an online photo storage site that guarantees the safety and security of members’ precious memories.

Genius Idea: Although digital cameras have made taking and sharing photographs faster and easier than ever, the nature of these photos means that they are susceptible to data corruption, accidental deletion or even worse, the closing of a storage service. SnapHaven is designed to be a place where photographers or photo lovers can safely and permanently back up their memories.

What makes SnapHaven different than other sites? 
The company stores your images in four different data centers  including a military nuclear-proof bunker  and does frequent file integrity checks and backups. They've also partnered with non-profit group the Foundation of Data Performance to ensure that the data and photos remain saved, even if SnapHaven goes out of business.

You can sign up for a free SnapHaven account and upload 100 photos off the bat. You then have the opportunity to use their 10-day Jump Start package. It's $24.99, and will let you upload up to 10,000 photos. The only catch is you have to do that in 10 days. Additional photographs can be backed up in increments of 300 for $8.99. That ends up being about 3 cents a photo. Once you've uploaded your photo, SnapHaven says it's there for life.

Although you can also share and order prints of your photographs from SnapHaven, we don't really see this as a traditional photo-sharing service. Instead, this is your photo backup solution. 

You have been warned. Now do it!

R

Hockey in the Backyard Rink

Nothing makes you feel more alive, more Canadian than a little shinny in the back yard in February.

Snow fort

These are my kids. We went for a hike in the bush (near Thunder Beach) and stumbled upon this little wooden snowfort made of tree branches by Uncle Frank and his sister Hannah.

and this is their Mom

http://lizawatson.blogspot.com/

Heads Up Daddy!

I am embarking on a whole new adventure in the coming months. It is going to be extraordinarily challenging for me in may ways, but I believe that now, more than ever I have a purpose and a cause that is bigger and more important than me. Traditional Family dynamics have been changing over the years— so much so that modern Fathers are increasingly evolving their roles from traditional bread winners to become nurturers, caregivers, primary support workers, cooks, cleaners, shuttlebus drivers, psycho-therapists, guidance counsellors and still, the chief Hunter and Gatherer. To address the myriad of challenges facing the highly engaged and active Dads, I have launched a new project called Heads Up Dad. This new and very exciting Social Media portal is being created to tap into the power of community and help fathers work together to become the best parents, partners, husbands and if failing all that, to become the very best single Dad's and co-parenters we can be.

The site will features user generated content developed by a wide range of people from all walks of life and all corners of the world. Content will include useful tips and advice on everything from health and wellness to global awareness, activities to do with your kids on a rainy day and everything in between. We'll offer expert opinion and critique offered by a unique panel of experts on everything from parenting a newborn to saving for your kids education, navigating the stormy seas of relationships, separation and divorce and more. There are features that allow users to tune in and watch video blogs hosted by parenting experts, contribute and share their own ideas via weblog and share photos, video and other content with family, friends and others within the community. It truly will be one stop venue for everything a modern Dad needs to know about surviving and thriving as a Father and a spouse (or not), raising kids successfully from conception to college and beyond. Heads Up Dad will become the go-to support community for highly engaged and active Dads, wherever they may be. A resource pool of useful tools, interactive content, articles of interest and other illuminating stuff all designed to make the world a better place by helping Dads and "Daddies to be" learn, grow and become the best they can possibly be. This is my new mission.

Stay tuned for more, and do not hesitate to jump in and help out, I am going to need all the help and support I can get.

Fatherhood we need...

Barack Obama has set his sights on repairing the economy and healing his country's foreign-policy reputation. But he may already be inspiring change on the home front, where fathers' groups are holding him up as the ideal when talking about how to be an engaged dad. Christopher Shulgan reports in the Globe and Mail...

Read on...

Obama's High-tech outreach a hub for civic action?

From The Huffington Post... (www.huffingtonpost.com)

Obama's high-tech outreach has been instrumental in getting people across the country to donate millions of dollars and contribute millions of hours working on the campaign.

Will it now become a hub for civic action?

On Monday afternoon I got a blast email from the Obama Web 2.0 social networking campaign. I immediately wondered what I was going to be asked to do: Donate to the Franken campaign? Make calls for Jim Martin down in Georgia?

It turned out to be neither. The campaign was letting me know that barackobama.com was directing visitors to volunteer for -- or donate to -- relief efforts to aid the victims of the Southern California fires.

"Throughout the campaign," said the email, "we saw time and again that when ordinary people act together, they can make a huge difference."

Obama's high-tech outreach has been instrumental in getting people across the country to donate millions of dollars and contribute millions of hours working on the campaign. Will it now become a hub for civic action?

Read on...