Games: Auditorium

This is definitely one of the coolest online games I've seen.  The way it integrates music and design and logic makes me feel brighter after playing it.

I can't wait to show Isaac this one!

Recycled CDs: Card Holder

This instruction is advertised as a paper holder, but I would like to try it for canasta playing cards.  When you take the big deck, it would definitely come in handy.

Great Presidential Picture

Take a look at this picture of the future and past presidents.  Remarkable!  

This picture was taken by the NY Times (not sure how to reference it, or how long it will remain, but here's the link to the article).

The Science of Snot

Seems like a magnificent science project for a elementary student.

The average sneeze can propel a mucus missile and its microbial passengers at up to 100 miles per hour...

Fantastic phrase "mucus missile".

Why Were We Born

From a skit between No Imact Man and his daughter.

"Isabella, Why were we born?"

She answers: "To Laugh"

"Then what is our job"

"To make sure other people can laugh too!"

Seeing this, I can't think of a better name for my child than Isaac.

Cleaning: Clean a Toilet with Coke

This one is for all of the cleaning buffs.  An instruction for cleaning the toilet with Coke.

Apparently the citric acid in the drink enables it to remove rust, clean grease, battery terminals, and more.  Wonder what it does to your intestines?

DIY Instruments: PVC Flute

More possibilities for a homemade band.  Here are instructions to a PVC flute.  The author has also posted instructions on playing a simple flute.  

If anyone can get hold of a cheep saxophone or clarinet mouthpiece, I'm sure we can adapt the instrument to make a reed instrument.

Logic Test

Interesting logic test.  

Try it out and see how you do.  While, I would expect similar results from others in my profession, I scored 15 of 15 correct.

Take a look at the Venn diagrams in the answer section.

Sympathy for the Dark Side

Isaac had a few of these this year, but is now able to construct them with minimal assistance.

Recycling Coffee Cups

I imagined some might find this either amusing or very useful.  What to do when your mother-in-law is in a hurry to get to church, and you need a quick coffee, but want to be green?

I think they used to call this dumpster diving?  However, certainly a new application for all of those unused hand wipes.

Finally, a quote of the day from Dr. Seuss.  "Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple"

Happy Monday!

Science Fiction Reading

Always looking for a new list of books to get at Half-Priced Books.  Did you know they had an online store?

DIY: Cheap Perpetual Calendar

Another project from the evil mad scientist (he's the one that first gave us the bristle bot).  This one involves a binary perpetual calendar.

Here's a review of binary math, if you haven't practiced counting by 1 and 0's lately.

0 - 10, However I guess we need to count to 31 at least for the calendar.

Binary	Decimal
0	0
1	1
10	2
11	3
100	4
101	5
110	6
111	7
1000	8
1001	9
1010	10

DIY: Super Soaker Water Mortar

Who needs to buy super soakers, we can build our own out of PVC pipe.  

We already need to visit the PVC section to repair the potato cannon, might as well get a few extra parts.

CRM: Customer Relationship Management

Web sites for our sales genie.  CRM Mastery, Church of the Customer, and finally, the Best CRM blogs of 2008.

Many happy contracts and happy, satisfied customers.

OverDubbs: Ode To Joy

Overdubbs, Beaker style.

Stickfigure How to do the Haka

DIY: Instructional Video for Carrot Ocanaria

NYT Buzzwords of 2008

Buzzwords of 2008 by NYT.  I think my favorite is .  Frugal but fashionable.

Star Wars: Nativity

I never considered the storm trooper as an angel?

Math: Money and Numbers Comparision With Time

In an interview this morning on NPR, they were discussing methods to better understand the incredible numbers involved in National finance.  A helpful comparison for me was the relationship with seconds.

• One million seconds > 11.5 Days
  
• US population is 300 Million or > 9 years
• One billion seconds > 31.7 Years
  
• The US national Debt is currently $10.6 Trillion or > 31,000 years
  

DIY: Christmas Cannon

This Christmas Cannon is the same device as our potato cannon.  Just different stuffing.  Maybe we should repair our cannon for shooting Christmas decoration.

* We cannot endorse shooting objects directly at a person, as shown in the video.  While it may work to efficiently decorate the Scrooge, it could also lead to an unnecessarily hazardous situation.

Star Wars: R2D2 Chorus Line

Taekwondo Black Belt Requirements

Here's a link to the set of requirements for the Taekwondo Black Belt test.  We'll be ramping up in practice in the next few weeks.

Black Belt Requirements (I was surprised to find many of the kata patterns on YouTube)

1. Choong-Moo
   
2. Red Belt Free Sparring
   
3. Wha-Rang Tul
   
4. Blue/Red Free Sparring
   
5. Joong-Gun Tul
   
6. Blue Free Sparring
   

Rudolph the Green Nosed Reindeer

Remeber Mix Tapes

This site lets you create your own mix tapes, and then embed them onto your site.  I tried someone else's Christmas mix.

Happy Birthday Christian: Late

A most happy birthday to Christian.  I searched despirately for new flash games but couldn't find any.  How about this Christmas Star Destroyer.  Check out the other photos on Flickr Star Wars photostream.

ZooBorns

OK, for those who didn't care for the melee action, how about new born baby zoo animals.  This one is a white tiger cub.  It is a blog, so it is update frequently.

Cartoon: On the Road of Knives

As much as we try to discourage violence in our media choices, a well done melee is entertaining every once in a while, isn't it?  Check out this series?

Gingerbread House or Dragon

We've had discussions about a gingerbread house, but how about a gingerdragon instead?!?

Nobel Prize Winning Physicist Chosen to be Energy Secretary

This is great!  It definately seems like change indeed.

Steven Chu is "known for his research in laser cooling and trapping of atoms... He is currently Professor of Physics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Berkeley."

One Love

Games: Anatomy Flash Game

Here's an interesting site which has anatomy flash games.  You have to be quick, but I see how it could help with basic anatomy.

Don't Take That Attitude To Your Grave

Peace, Love, and 'Don't take that there, they don't want it there."

Quote: Spirit of Love

Today's quote of the day come from Gammy herself.  Actually, she says its one of my Grandpa's favorite quotes, and I must agree.

God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind.  2 Timothy 1:7

This site, shows it in several languages, as well as different versions.  It is interesting to see the different interpretations of "sound mind"

• New American - "discipline"
  
• Douay-Rheims - "sobriety"
  
• Darby - "wise discretion"
  
• World - "self-control"
  
• How about Latin - "et sobrietatis"
  
• or Spanish - "de dominio propio" - of our own domain
  

Jupiter and Venus Conjunction

Here is a picture from Flickr of the three-way conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the Moon.

Some historians think that a similar approach between Jupiter and Venus in 2 BC may have been the source of the star of Bethlehem story found in the Bible.  The stellar pair would have appeared so close together that they might have seemed to blend into one brilliant beacon of light.

Thanksgiving Quotes

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving full of family and friends.  The fellowship was extremely invigorating for all of our family.

I believe the holiday was highlighted by an inspiring hike at the Chapel Dulcinea.  I guess you never know who you might run into while taking a walk in the woods?

The first quotes has much relevance with designing software applications, but could certainly serve useful generally.  We often add massive bloat to applications for on occasion which occurs only annually or less.

General principles should not be based on exceptional cases.  Robert J. Sawyer

Finally, we are continually searching for peace in all levels of our life.  Sometimes more successfully than others, but the search goes on.

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.  Mahatma Gandhi

Birthday Benoit Mandelbrot

Yesterday was the birthday of Benoit Mandelbrot.  He is the father of modern fractal geometry.  The picture shown is the initial view of the Mandelbrot set.

Fractal Geometry has been taken on the seemingly daughnting task of calculating natural phenomena.  Natural fractals include mountains, coastlines, river basins, plans, blood vessels, lungs, the clustering of galaxies, music, painting, and stock market prices.

Remember earlier in this blog, science fiction writer and mathmetician Rudy Rucker refers to these complex, non-repeating computations as "gnarly".  

Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line.  --Mandelbrot, Introduction to The Fractal Geometry of Nature

Games: Lots of JavaScript Games

This site has a ton of JavaScript Games.  Although it is not possible to see this while playing, JavaScript runs directly on your browser without ever having to go to a server (Much more difficult to write, but faster running than Flash games).  

The games here are especially impressive given these set of conditions.

Lincoln on YouTube

I wish I would have found this powerful video of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address on Veteran's Day.  Great words to remember.

...this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

DIY: Three-Penny Radio

This looks like a cool Thanksgiving week project.  It gives instructions on how to build an AM radio.  It looks like the pennies just act as a soldering base, but they make a nice decoration.

Happy Love Day!

A beautiful song for my beautiful Lover. I love you with all my heart, all my mind, and all my soul. You are my soul mate and you fill me with happiness every day. Thank you for sharing your love, your life, your family, and your dreams with me. Your love and your friendship make me a better person and for this (and so much more!)I am so grateful and honored to be your wife.
I will love you forever Amor. Happy Anniversary.



"Well open up your mind and see like me...
Open up your plans and damn you're free...
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love...
Listen to the music of the moment people dance and sing...
We're just one big family And It's our God-forsaken right to be loved love loved love loved...
So I won't hesitate no more, no more It cannot wait I'm sure
There's no need to complicate..
Our time is short... This is our fate, I'm yours...."
- Jason Mraz lyrics

Besitos - Denise

YouTube: Aurora Borealis From Space

Astronaut Don Pettit created this video using a sequence of still images he shot of the aurora borealis from the International Space Station.

Happy Anniversary To My Love

One day early, but I wanted to express my love and devotion to my lover on our second wedding anniversary.

The day at the Chapel Dulcinea still seems bright in our minds.  Perhaps we can go for a love hike again there soon!

We love the Pablo Neruda poetry, because of his method of expressing passion.

Here is the poem which graced the cover of our wedding invitations.

I do not love you as if you were a salt rose, or topaz
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
So I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Design Process

I posted this in my software blog, but think it has applications generally also.

Great article in the Make blog regarding the design process. Notice the loop in re-design and test/evaluate phase. In my opinion, this iteration will consume the vast majority of development time. We often refer to it as the refactoring stage.

This refactoring iteration is also the step which many project planners fail to allocate enough time for in their planning.

Games

A new site with popular Flash Games.

Untried Javascript Drum Machines, looks like some downloading of components might be necessary.  Some may only be development tools, unsure so far.

• JS-909
  
• Hobnox
  
• SoundManager
  

East Austin Studio Tour: 11/23

Looks like an interesting event in Austin on Sunday, November 23.  Could be a fun walk.

Typing Test

Curious what you guys get on this typing test.  I scored 62 wpm with 9 mistakes on the first try.  I bet Mom and Grandma are much faster.

The idea came from this article mentioning that programmers should be typist first and programmers second.

How Lightsabers Work

Interesting article in HowStuffWorks regarding how a lightsaber would work.  There's even a safety tip included.

Taekwondo: Isaac's Poom Belt Test

After much hard work and perseverance, Isaac passed the exam to receive his Poom belt in Taekwondo.  This belt is half red and half black, and is the step before receiving the black belt.  Here's the picture set.  (We must give credit to Isaac's Mom for taking these pictures, and thanks to Dad for forwarding them to us).

In other news, Isaac had more spectacular results this weekend.

His flag football team played in the league's championship game.  While the Texans didn't get the victory, Isaac played extremely well.  

This was certainly a break out year for him in football.  Because of his great defensive play, the man we sat next to during the games started calling Isaac the "Missile".  Isaac lived up to this intimidating nick-name by practicing his Taekwondo forms before the games.

Additionally, we got a call later last night learning that Isaac had lost a tooth.  Like I told you, he's definately "en fuego."

A Little Sickly

We all find ourselves a little bit sickly this week.  However, we're still curious.

Online Guitar Tuner

I had to change the strings the other day, and still don't think I have them in the correct tune.  Maybe this will help.

Oh look here's one I can embed into the site. It's basically a little flash movie.  Very Cool!

Games: Flash Tetris Game

Here's a new flash game for the kids.  99 Bricks looks like the anti-Tetris.  You try to build towers instead of deleting rows.  Isn't that a positive way to look at the problem.

I figured out how to post a screen shot from my browser so Isaac will know which posts to look for.  He doesn't seem to be as interested in the quotes just yet.

Want to Learn French

This little girl's story, while quite gruesome at times, proves that everybody loves a happy ending.  It also will make you want to learn French.

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

Wireless Camera SD Card

Must checkout this SD card which connects to your wireless network to transfer pictures from your phone to your computer.  cool!

Crowd Pleaser

Originally posted at Neatorama.

Great Time at the Reunion

We had a fantastic time at the reunion meeting all of our long lost cousins and playing tirelessly with the one's we knew about, playing basketball, and canasta.  Isaac told us about his promise to Carol to keep practicing canasta, what great fun!  Thanks Mom.

Oh yes, and pinatas!

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day to all of our family who has served our country.  It is a fantastic country to live in.  Thank You.

New Oxford American Dictionary Word of the Year: Hypermiling

Remarkably, I've heard this term used in a perfectly understandable sentence earlier this year.  "In order to save our precious oil resources, I was hypermiling on the way to Corpus as the family slept peacefully in the back of the van."  Sound familiar?

Also posted on Neatorma.  The presumed originator of the phrase is Wayne Gerdes.

Quotes of the Day: Nonsense

I really enjoy these two quotes together today.  My favorite bit of Buckminster's theory, "There are no straight lines."  It seems to take a lifetime to work the 'straight line' mentality, taught in elementary school, out of the problem solving process.

Everything you've learned in school as "obvious" becomes less and less obvious as you begin to study the universe.  For example, there are no solids in the universe.  There's not even a suggestion of a solid.  There are no absolute continuums.  There are no surfaces.  There are no straight lines.  R. Buckminster Fuller

A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men.  Anonymous

Election Results Via Cartogram

Here's an article which describes the recent 2008 presidential election map using a cartogram.  The cartogram resizes the states in proportion to their population, instead of their acreage.

Quote: Barack Obama

It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun.  Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.  Barack Obama

My favorite part of this great speech, is the man's look of determination.  He does not seem caught up in the celebration, but rather ready to go to work.

IMHO, We also saw the best speech of Senator McCain's candidacy last night.

Finally, in an interesting twist from working in a politically lead organization, I also find myself with a new boss this morning.  A&M graduate who seems to support technology.  Sounds OK to me.

A Cappella: We Love Star Wars

Another amazing a cappella video in YouTube. The singer performs a Star Wars recap to various John Williams' movie themes.

Games: Another Online Physics Game

Splitter is another physics game similar to the Crayon Physics.  This one however, is online.  Looks promising.

Quotes: A Case For No War?

It seems I've heard similar discussions regarding a case for war.  These two quotes seems to go hand in hand.

By the way, the previously posted cartoon mocking philosophy quotes was directed inward at the blogger, not the philosopher in our family.  

Happy Halloween!

• Any war that requires the suspension of reason as a necessity for support is a bad war.  Norman Mailer
  
• I shut my eyes in order to see.  Paul Gauguin
  

Halloween Cartoon

And you thought trying on hats in the store was gross!

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Or in Chinese (at least that's what Babelfish says)

生日快乐 Hannah!

We love you and hope you had a great birthday!

Guitar Geek Database

The neighbor helped me install a pickup on my acoustic guitar the other night.  We're having fun playing it threw Isaac's tiny amplifier.

This site, however, has the set-ups of many famous guitar heroes.  I think we're ready to try some effects pedals.  Onward to the pawn shops!

New Game: Distopix

Flash game which challenges your orientation.  Interested to see how the different aged kids perform with this?

Pumpkin Design

Use this web site to test your pumpkin design before you begin carving.  Suggested by Mom.  Technical note, the "swf" extension is a flash animation, similar to many of the online games.

Personally, we like this design.

Monday Love Quote

After an exciting weekend of Rugby, weddings, dancing, and great flag football, it seemed this love quote was especially appropriate.

One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life:  That word is love.  Sophocles

Thriller Acapella

Isaac and I were having a discussion the other day about what "harmony" was in music.  

Here is a great example.  The man recorded 64 tracks of himself to remake the classic.  Amazing stuff!

DIY Halloween: Melon Brain

The site says even vegetarians will want to dig into this brain.

Science Project Idea: Tabletop Linier Accelerator

This simple project would make a great science fair entry. It demonstrates energy transfer using magnets and ball bearings.

So You Want To Coach Basketball

For any would be basketball coaches out there.  Here's a link to the wikipedia entry, more than you'll ever need to know about the game.

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five active players each try to score points against one another by propelling a ball through a 10 feet (3 m) high hoop (the goal) under organized rules.

What fun are organized rules anyway?

Quote of the Day

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.  Henry David Thoreau

I suppose here's the risk of posting too many "quotes of the day".

Laughter and Love

Denise posted this in the comments, but its worthy of a full post. Te amo mucho me amor.

Lover, family, and friends........today why don't you laugh so hard it hurts! Let all the other stuff that you allow to preoccupy your life go......laugh, be happy, celebrate life, and truly enjoy!

I was recently confronted with the statement "you will/could never understand....."

We don't always have to understand everything.....but we do have a choice on whether or not to be happy. I choose to laugh!!!! I choose to smile, forgive, and move to a happy state of mind.

Today we all should laugh, giggle, jump, clap, dance, and most of all love.

Happy Laughter Day all!

Global Handwashing Day

Thought one of our regular readers would especially appreciate this funny awareness day.  The initiative encourages people to wash their hands with soap at the "critical occasions".

My beautiful husband shared a passage from one of his birthday books ("Zen Guitar") with me early this morning. The words of the passage are very insightful and we discussed how our own great fusion dances daily.

"A band is not merely a collection of individuals. Its essential character must be for the whole to exceed the sum of the parts. When the right people get together, be it in music, or sports, or business, or marriage, or intimacy, or whatever....a kind of spiritual fusion takes place. This fusion can not be manufactured. It simply happens from the chemistry of nature. Most groups have no chemistry. Like a random collection of molecules, they don't combine to make anything special. Every now and then, though, two hydrogen molecules will collide with one molecule of oxygen. The resulting mix takes on character far beyond its basic elements. So it is with human beings as well. Human chemistry is not a science. No one knows how this magic happens. But when it does, we feel the presence of something divine, and everyone who's there knows it. Cherish this chemistry....You are on to something big."

WOW~ what a thought to have such a deep "spiritual fusion" with someone. Every day I feel that collision of molecules take place in my heart for Mark.

Thank you Amor for sharing such an inspiring passage with me......had to put it on the blog so others can be aware of this collision for themselves. Talk about self-enlightenment! Find your matching molecule and rejoice in it's happy collision.

Besitos,

Denise

Oblique Strategy: Listen

Here's another oblique strategy that Denise was teaching Isaac this weekend. 

Listen to the quiet voice

As noted earlier, these are often self-evident, and often waiting to be written down.  It seems these would make for an interesting blog, "Oblique Strategy of the Day".

Oblique Strategies - Our Adventures in Problem Solving

Isaac, Denise and I were practicing math word problems this weekend, trying to discover how to solve more complex problems.  The subject is neither easy to learn or teach.  Perhaps the Zen would teach that they are impossible to master, but worth every second of time practicing.

However, I discovered this random thought generator, which is meant to enhance creativity.  The initial authors comment that the thoughts are "intellect catching up with intuition," and often become self-evident upon reflection.

This one reminded me of our own problem solving revelations.  What great fun!

What are the sections sections of?    Imagine a caterpillar moving

Game: Forbidden City

This game has to be downloaded; however, may be worth it for the experience.  

IBM took three years developing the environment to match the detail of the actual city.  They collaborated with the Palace Museum to "celebrate and explore aspects of Chinese culture and history."

Neutron Joke

A neutron walks into a store and says, "I'd like a juice please."

After the clerk gave him one he asks, "how much will that be?"

"For you," the clerk says, "No Charge"

A discussion regarding neutrons here.  Isaac and I had a discussion yesterday about particles and the Large Hadron Collider.  However, the collider accerlates and collides protons not neutrons (at 99.99% the speed of light).  It also makes for a cool T-Shirt, thanks Mom.

Happy Birthday (yesterday) Michael

I was thinking you might enjoy a day at the Sustainable Living Roadshow in Austin.  I know I would.

Looks like they even have a children's section sponsored by Greater Austin Garbage Art.

Happy Birthday Michael!

Boondock RVing

I'm not sure we're ready to totally give into the nomadic lifestyle; however, seeing the country from an RV or, maybe more appropriate in our case, a pop-up trailer, sounds compelling.

MIT: Street-Fighting Mathematics

This online course hopes to teach quick problem solving and estimating skills.  Although this one seems to require a bit of calculus knowledge, perhaps it can be adapted to help the kids learn an innovative method for solving problems.  Plus another example of free course work available from the United States' most prestigious universities.

Here's the ambitious course description

This course teaches the art of guessing results and solving problems without doing a proof or an exact calculation. Techniques include extreme-cases reasoning, dimensional analysis, successive approximation, discretization, generalization, and pictorial analysis. Applications include mental calculation, solid geometry, musical intervals, logarithms, integration, infinite series, solitaire, and differential equations. (No epsilons or deltas are harmed by taking this course.)

Photo-Sensitive Pumpkin

This article demonstrates an LED circuit for a pumpkin which contains a photo transistor to detect the ambient light level, and turn the LED off during the day time.

Sounds like a good weekend project after a visit to the local pumpkin patch.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVER!

What a grand day! We celebrate the birthday of my beautiful Lover.
In my culture we sing a traditional morning birthday song called "Las Mananitas." It is truly a great day to sing and honor my gorgeous hubbie.
http://gomexico.about.com/od/historyculture/qt/mananitas.htm


Las Mañanitas Lyrics:
Estas son las mañanitas, que cantaba el Rey David,
Hoy por ser día de tu santo, te las cantamos a ti,
Despierta, mi bien, despierta, mira que ya amaneció,
Ya los pajarillos cantan, la luna ya se metió.

Que linda está la mañana en que vengo a saludarte,
Venimos todos con gusto y placer a felicitarte,
Ya viene amaneciendo,
ya la luz del día nos dio,Levántate de mañana, mira que ya amaneció.

Translation:
This is the morning song that King David sang
Because today is your saint's day we're singing it for you
Wake up, my dear, wake up, look it is already dawn
The birds are already singing and the moon has set
How lovely is the morning in which I come to greet you
We all came with joy and pleasure to congratulate you
The morning is coming now, the sun is giving us its light
Get up in the morning, look it is already dawn.

Wishing you a fantastic birthday parade Lover! Hope your week is filled with love, laughter, happiness, family, friends, and CAKE! We will celebrate in full birthday party mode when Isaac comes home!

Te Amo Birthday Boy!
;) Denise

Dream Captcha

Wondering if you guys would get this one? Makes me laugh anyway.

Also an oddly appropriate quote for the day.

Let me advise thee not to talk of thyself as being old. There is something in Mind Cure, after all, and if thee continually talks of thyself as being old, thee may perhaps bring on some of the infirmities of age. At least I would not risk it if I were thee. Hannah Whitall Smith

The Art Of Flag Pulling

Isaac had a breakout game this weekend in flag football.  After a weekend full of defensive practice with his Dad and the neighborhood kids; he made 6 tackles, including one for a game deciding safety.  

Here's the rest of the set.

These pictures are not mine, but taken by Isaac's mother.  Thank you Grandpa Jim for forwarding them to our attention.  Otherwise, you would be stuck with a boring text description.

Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho

View Larger Map

Here's a version of this "slave spiritual" from Roger McGuinn's Folk Den.

I didn't realize that Jericho is believed to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.  Study of the ruins of Jericho combined with carbon dating have confirmed the timeline, around 1550 BC, for the Biblical account of Jericho and Joshua.

From the map you can see how Jericho's strategic position near the Dead Sea and the Jordan River made it an important city in the ancient world.