"I wiped away the weeds and foam, I fetched my sea-born treasures home; But the poor, unsightly, noisome things Had left their beauty on the shore, With the sun and the sand and the wild uproar." —Ralph Waldo Emerson

One summer we found ourselves unaccountably tired of tanning, napping, snacking on gritty sandwiches, and supervising the kids' bucket sculpture. But we had also outgrown sand mermaids, and soupy, drip-constructed castles, and burying each other's legs. Our solution to summer boredom soon became a mania and never failed to draw curious crowds as we gained skill, confidence, and ingenuity in bringing vanished civilizations back to life.


Connie Sim, Kappy & Malcolm Wells, authors of Santiquity, are of course talking about the phenomenon of sandcastling. The opportunity to build the great monuments of the past is inviting and downright contagious. It's somewhat of a performance art, where for a brief moment the beach is at your command, the very earth is subject to your tools, until the waves of high tide come crashing back in.


See the stark contrast to building a house on sand in the movie, Life as a House, with Kevin Kline and Kristin Scott Thomas.


Pick up your copy of an idea/how-to book by a group of beach friends.

"Every closed eye is not sleeping, and every open eye is not seeing." —Bill Cosby

Yup, school's out. You know what that means. The kids are home for the summer. Not just the ones still suffering from teen-angst and hormones, but the ones suffering from the transition from the college dorm back to the homestead (Does "when you live in my house, you live under my rules" sound familiar?)


And what better than to turn on that screen with fifty gazillion channels to ease the tension... especially when you end up watching the comic-relief of MTV's primetime hit, "The Osbornes." After all, just like those "ideal" TV families of years-past, this is four people we can relate with: mom and dad can see where Ozzy and 'Queen Mother' Sharon Osborne is coming from when they lay down the law. Meanwhile, the younger half can see eye-to-eye with Kelly and Jack (ok, so at least for the college-aged, they can reminisce on when they acted like that... at least a few times while growing up).


For example: curfews, a subject that both Ozborne kids aren't fond of, but as you can hear in Kelly's voice, they're still learning responsibility: "I understand it's really selfish of me not to listen to what she [mom] says, but sometimes when you're having fun and you're not in charge of what goes on." The experts agree - for the high school and college sons and daughters alike - compromise is the golden rule for parents to follow. Families struggling with the home-from-college transition should have a sit-down discussion at the onset of summer... Both sides should know what the other thinks, feels and wants. Comeon, it's practically Father's Day. So you're dad might not be a famous rockstar and you probably don't have cameras in your face for a TV show, but at least you can try to have a peaceful summer together.


Ask Ozzy and Sharon about having the 'sex talk' with their kids.


Learn more about "Hot issues on the homefront" from Thursday's issue of The Roanoke Times.

"Civilization had too many rules for me, so I did my best to rewrite them." —Bill Cosby

Simple. Friendly. Fresh. Streamlined. Bright. Fast. Personal. Evolved. That's how Microsoft has been describing the design of their new operating system. XP (what does that stand for anyway?) has an emphasis on good design that starts to give computing a look beyond just geek. Icons in and of themselves are a good judge of this progression. "Think of them as doorways to the files and programs stored on your computer," as the Windows site touts them. The attention to detail for those little guys hanging out on your desktop ends up being incredibly important for the sake of overall appeal... especially when you have to look at them day after day (reference: read about the "Koolhaas factor" called junkspace). The demand to reinvent, to do more than just merely change, is slowly becoming more of a mainstream concept. More people are seeing the light that effective design is not just some artsy fad but carries real purpose and function. Perhaps sexy would be another useful adjective.


Review new movies and interview cool cats with Pixelsurgeon.


Meet the folks behind the bubbly, evolved designs of Windows XP.

"Gratitude, respect and pride. These words sum up how I feel..." —HM Queen Elizabeth

Those were the five words uttered by Mark Byford, Director of the BBC World Service, upon accepting the 2001 Webby for Radio. The Webbys, oft known as the 'Oscars of the Internet' are at it again in two weeks, with a fresh lineup of nominees to take home the coveted silver spring. It's worth pointing out that the comparison of the Webbys to the Oscars - while useful for a first-time explanation - is not highly regarded. For example, Vanity Fair raves that the Webbys are "better than the Oscars" and Time quips, "If only the Oscars would take cue." Indeed, the staying power of this quirky and downright cheeky event is the very fact that the Internet itself is equally quirky and downright cheeky.


The winners in each of the 30 categories (ranging from news and fashion to activism and music) are decided three-fold: by the Academy (of which you'd like to thank...), by the People's Voice (login, vote and see the current tallies), and by site traffic. That third method, by the way, is new this year... three awards based on Nielsen/NetRatings will be announced for the first time, based on the highest US and global traffic and the Rising Star award for newbies who've seen the biggest visitor growth in the past month.


Not all of the sites nominated this year are as concerned about the numbers. In fact, some of the nominees aren't even completely launched, including the Guggenheim's spectacular new broadband site, which debuts most of its online exhibits later this year. As of today, Google holds a whopping 56% lead in the Best Practices category of the People's Voice. See what all the commotion is about, and vote before this Friday, June 7th!


Get to know the leading international honor for achievement in technology and creativity.


Check out one of this year's cool nominees in the Kids Category - Pinhole Spy Camera