My Live Journal

IE 7 Review

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:33:25 GMT

Every now and then I like to review new important software to me. Here is my take on IE 7. [Review of IE 7, February 2007] >General Impressions - It seems focused on making life easier for noobs and copying off firefox. The updates don't heavilly impress me and I am really upset about some of the customizability of the interface. But it's survivable. >Liked Additions - Tabs with ability to open folder of favorites tabs all at once. This can be very useful. - Phishing sites warnings. New Computers need this kind of help. - Zooming of the sites. It handles increasing the size of the images smoothly (with anti-aliasing) well. This can help users with high resolution screens. >Mourned losses in IE 7 that were in IE 6 - No Folder button / ability to browse folders from IE. I LOVED that. - Ability to use classic Big-button style with words beneath icons. - Ability to move customizable toolbar (with home, tools, options, etc). The ONLY option is for it to USE UP some tab space. - Ability to move the addressbar and toolbar gone. I can't even Keep the 2 abilities-bars together without putting my add-on bars between them. The NOW UNWORKING move-handles that are still there are only a tease. As a puny computer owner, I'm unworthy of rearranging my browser? >I'm not impressed by New Features - Pop up blocker: It seems to just block popups without being specific to ones you don't like - Idea that menu bars are to disappear. Although most features are avaialble elsewhere, some are only available via the hidden toolbars (example: Import/export). - Ripped-off Firefox Search bar in upper-right. I like that google is the default search and I'm impressed it's not MSN search they're pushing like they did in the past. However, I have a searchbar and I don't want to use it and i'm upset I can't hide it or turn it off. It uses up address-bar space. >IE Specialties that still rock - Being able to open favorites folders that allow you to edit them as actual shortcut files. This is great for backups. - Extensability with great downloadable toolbars.

Governer Chocies

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 15:56:52 GMT

Here'z a letter I wrote to my good friend (a Granholm Supporter) about who I like better (DeVos) for Michigan Govener 2006.

I watched an hour-long debate between the two of them.

Business men attempt to do what is best for the business. Perhaps he would do what is best for Michigan in office. ... What would help the people of Michigan which in this case is creating jobs. When he owned a company, that wasn't the focus, but now that it is, I would assume he would adjust his practices. ... using his business experience which could help jobs.

I don't mind voting for someone who has some views I oppose, but it's tough when those views also seem to oppose God. I feel we need God's favor more than we need a logical, smart person.

I admit Granholm is a very eloquent and as you mentioned seemingly-concerned speaker. I wish I had the charismatic speaking ability she has. I've said I’m better at communication (including public) than I am at other things. Granholm is waaaay ahead of me on this. But I don't feel that's everything when choosing a leader of Michigan. I don't think DeVos is gifted as a speaker like Granholm. But that's not everything.

More Reasons I like DeVos:
- He supports vouchers which would give state aid to Christian schools (that program could have let me go to Christian high school which I wanted to but my grandparents couldn't afford). Granholm out-and-out opposes this as I heard on the debate.
- He emphasizes crime is his emphasis and promises to hire 500 more police. He also says he will make his acceptance speech in Detroit instead of Lansing (which I think is unprecedented or close to it) he said out of his belief of the importance of Detroit to Michigan. I feel Detroit needs attention and police. She did not, in the debate, return any of these promises. She avoided the issue. Those 500 could *directly* affect my safety and the safety of everyone I work with in the clothing store.

Also, republicans tend to be for big-end jobs such as computer programming / art and networking like mine it seems. They tend to want to help opportunities in educated jobs I understand. Democrats seem to tend to be more for the low-end people such as cashiers (like my current self), low-end manual laborers, certain factory workers, retail stock persons, etc.

I believe both of them want more jobs in Michigan, but if Granholm tries, her focus may be on more fast food jobs for everyone. DeVos may focus on educated jobs like we prepared for.

I really wish that DeVos was as great a speaker as Granholm. I am just attracted to her personality when I hear her speak. It's almost like anything she says draws me to comfort. Her genuine smile is amazing. Whenever I see her speak on tv, I like to hear her because she is just so great at talking. I like to try and learn what it is that makes her that way.

But that is not everything. No joke, Antichrist may be just as eloquent a speaker. Her ability to talk is not more important than her views.

I don't blame you for voting to whom you feel is the best person. I plan to do the same.

Humans Dreaming Ahead

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 12:22:11 GMT

Here is an essay I wrote talking about different ways we, as humans, look to the future.

[How we Dream about Technology]

Nearly every person dreams of being at a place beyond theirself. We all want to be faster, stronger, more limber, better, than we are. And people have many different ways of dreaming they were there. Some examples span from biblical to mideval times to to modern evolution theory and science fiction. Many things that were once only a dream are now an everday reality.

> Christ
- Christ could do miricles regular people could not. He could heal the sick (we have better doctors now), raise the dead (we can sometimes recessatate now), cure a leper, and turn water to wine. God can do anything and all things are possible in Christ the bible says. I think Christ makes us dream of what life will be like in heaven.

> Mideval Times (Old Dreams)
- People lived in a world without the power and conveninence we have.
- They imagined a wizard could stun or kill someone using a lightening bolt from theif hand. Now we have guns.
- They imagined just thinking could cause teleportation. We still dream about that in Star Trek, but we have cars and planes to help out with that.
- They dreamed about being able to just dream up any item and make it appear. We still dream a bout that with Star Trek, but have the Internet now where any item we think up, we can usually find online. And we can mail-order nearly anything and make it appear.

> Scientific Evolution (New Dreams as of the 1950s or so)
- Look at the X-Men and U.S. modern superheros. It's still dreaming. But now it has a new explanation. It's not magic, but now it's evolution.
- A man evolved into being able to fly (we have hang gliders and Aeroplanes,) but an superhero can just fly without any aid. Some go invisible, some can jump very high, some have incredible strength. Many of these same things the midevil people dreamed of. Now it's in a a new package ... evolution.

> Star Trek, Sciene Fiction Technology (New Dreams as of the 1950s or so)
- Some say, instaed of evolution, we will expand our abilities through technology as we already have but much farther.
- In star trek, they can fly througout the universe, teleport, make imaginary worlds with a holodeck, doors open for them (which now happen at supermarkets), they have communicators on their shirts (which we basically have with cell phones now), They have laser (phaser) guns instead of the old fashioned kind, and they have a computer that automaically, universally, translates languages among differently speaking problems (thereby removing the babylon curse).

So there's no end to our thinking ahead about being better. Our dreams can be attributed to Christ, evolution, magic, science, or anything else. It's no secret that some dreams come true... especially that technology God has empowered us to create. It is healthy It's human nature to fly -- If only in our dreams.

Not for the faint of heart

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 14:15:11 GMT

Dear Bri,

I wrote a detailed account of what happened when I put the next cricket in Mandy’s cage and attempted to philosphically comment on what I saw. Please note that this description, as well as the mantis' actions, are cruel in anture. Do not read on if you do not want to be faced wtih harsh realities of nature.

Origionally written for Brian.

My praying Mantis Mandy has been sitting for hours just eyeing the cricket cage next to it, but I have followed the pet store’s instructions and only fed her once every 3 days.

It’s the third day, so I put another cricket in with the mantis to see what would happen.

It, I’m afraid, is one of the most unsettling and disturbing things I’ve ever seen.

The mantis, when it’s ready, jumps at the cricket and grabs it instantly. The cricket has no chance whatsoever to use it’s natural defense and jump out of the way. It’s just grabbed; blam. It latches onto the side of the cage holding tightly onto the bug cricket with it’s praying arms.

Then … The cricket pathetically tries squirming to get free with absolutely no success.

The mantis begins to chomp away with it’s 9 independent parts mouth mercifully starting with the neck and head which I would guess is intended to kill the creature for consumption.

But the mantis is not perfect at this. It got a wing caught in it’s throat, so it went and gobbled that up separately and then went for the head again.

Somehow, my kitty Princess, was fascinated by this, so she watched practically the whole thing.

The cricket stayed alive and squirming for an amazingly long time: a good 2-3 minutes during the eating. That included while it’s head was being devoured. It somehow stayed alive … with eye being eaten … with face being torn off …

During these moments the cricket released a white substance out it’s back end. It may have been a final release.

Finally, mercifully, it stopped moving when the entire head ceased was nearly completely eaten.

The mantis around then seemed to take a moment of rest and just chill while always keeping the insect in it’s praying arms.

Then it commenced to eating again. It held tight the whole time and steadily chewed away. It was relatively quick in the entire mass of the insect being eaten in the time it took to write this; perhaps 8 minutes. A few limbs fell and it just let them drop. I wonder if it will swoop and eat those too later. For now, she is just hanging out; licking clean nearly every part of her arms and head after the kill.

Although, she’ll pause for just a moment to watch a cricket in the cage beside as it crawls on by…

Once again, this is one of the most disturbing things I have ever laid eyes on. It just seems so cruel how a creature is caught … long before it’s time to die of age, and eaten alive. Kill or be killed is truly a law of the jungle… a law God wrote. But it seems so cold and vile. One person has said animals wouldn’t have to eat eachother if we didn’t eat the apple in the garden; animals and people will roam freely together in heaven. I’m not sure weather I believe that or it’s backed up by scripture, but it seems like a nice thing to believe.

You might shudder if you imagine your cat being clawed to shreds by a mountain lion or brown bear. That is just life outside the homes and cities we create. .. and humans devour one another too.

But it seems we package life’s idea like that … we envelop ourselves into a safe environment for years and then war breaks out and people are killed in massive numbers. In the jungle, predator-caused death is a part of life every day. In human existence, we have times of peace and times of war.

It’s all very cruel, and I greatly look forward to the time when this earth will be no more; when God’s plan for us is the way he intended; not just this makeshift world.

* Report* Don't Fall for Common Terror Tactics

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 14:54:22 GMT

I had a good friend (Braian) recently share with me a link to a news story on YouTube about how easy it can be to get into locks. I think very overarchingly twisted the facts to bring fear to it's viewers. it brings up an important issue that there are terrorists in many aspects of life. Their point is just to bring terror to people. I dispelled the claims of this show and I hope those who would read this would look at such media with skeptical eyes.

Here is the link to the story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uv45y6vkcQ&search=bump%20key

Here is my response (originoally written to Brian):

I am humble in my abilities to judge, but the YouTube thing about Locks I believe is an incredible attempt to scare people.

My best guess is it was made by some broadcast college students as a project.

But the best lies incorporate some truth and twist it.

Terrorists are real. Their namesake is appropriate. They intend to put terror in the hearts of the masses. Some do it for political gain and some do it just to get some kind of self-satisfaction. I hate their efforts. We have enough to truly fear without putting our attention on trash that should be of no or little concern. We must fear God, our own safety due to our actions, car wrecks (a big killer of people), and for people going to hell… Not just every little idea that someone says we should fear. Decoys are real too: something to occupy people’s attention while the real danger creeps up on them. I don’t have time to do this for every terrorist act or decoy, but I’ll take the time to dispel this unfounded fear using my research in lock picking.

But as for my conclusion, these guys are NOT a trusted resource for news. They do not get a link among my collection for those.

I’ve studied lock picking before and it can be a tedious process. You can look into it on howstuffworks.com. It has to do with solving the puzzle of the lock by moving each pin to the right position while blind. Skilled people can get to know what it feels like to wiggle the pin to the right place / hear the little click that can confirm it. A problem with picking is, unless it’s dark, someone can see you doing it. Also, it can take a lot of skill to get good I understand.

It generally seems to take skill and effort. People have tried to make key-like methods that will help the process years and years ago and have also tried to make electronic methods. The trouble is they don’t generally work as well as a trained master at it. Their saying that it’s boring and requires no skill is ridiculous.

Also, their claim that the more expensive the lock, the easier it is to pick is ridiculous. That is certainly not true. You may have heard cheap locks are notorious for being easier to pick / get rid of. That is often mentioned in movie plots.

Of course locks are not perfect security devices

- Your locksmith can generally open a door with his skill if you lose the key and make a key for the door as well.

- You can shoot a lock off fairly easily with a gun it seems

- Doors (especially weak ones) can be broken

- Windows can be sliced with masterful tools that cut in a circle with little sound I understand.

We have lived with these problems with years and years and years. In-fact, our ancestors a hundred years ago would have locks so simple that a skeleton key could open any keyhole in the house and in other houses!

Another thing that makes me suspicious is they seem to offer no hope, or solutions to deal with the problem. Of course they wouldn’t; the purpose of the video is to scare. Offering solutions, help would undermine that purpose. So I will offer hope in the midst of their negligence.

Locks cannot be the end-all to security. There are many other factors to consider

- We live in an area where crime isn’t extremely high because people don’t tend to be in desperate need, here, of money

- With the lack of crime we have here, a single bulgeraly would really stand out and could be police priority

- Neighbors can see and be witnesses

- Alarm systems can be used by some ( a burgler doesn’t know which house has that )

- Some use night-vision cameras

- People can protect their house by calling the police.

I could make that list longer. There is a reason that just because locks are pickable we aren’t seeing a burglary on our block every day.

Please let us fear and do something about things that really matter. I am more than happy to throw this group out of being a trusted resource for news. There are many better places. If we are to test the spirit, surely we should test those humans who try and tell us what to believe. There is a lot of better things we could do than shiver about door locks.

Olde Stereo!

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 03:44:12 GMT

I recently made a hobby of getting an old-fashioned hi-fi home audio system (with a working vinyl record player!). I am excited about it, using it, and have made a few comments about it.

Origionally written to my best friend, Bri: ->>

I really like my old fashioned hi-fi stereo system. I’ll note that part of my motivation in having it is to have, use, and understand vintage equipment. Although this style of stackable, modular stereo system of which the amplifier is like the main-computer and/or motherboard-holder is still sold brand new in stores but typically only for the rich willing to spend about thousands for the equipment. What I’m trying to collect and get working is that exact-same-league equipment but old models (from the 1990s back to the 1970s or before). The stuff probably cost at least a hundred to or more (in today’s money) for each piece, but I am able to get some of it very cheap. A lot of the reason is the shear size some of it takes up (which I can make room for). The new equipment, I understand, takes up the same room, but it tends to only attract an elite crowd and employs some newer technology (but not much it seems). Whereas before, some of the ONLY hi-fi stereo equipment available on the market was this style. Nowadays, there are decent-quality compact models that are a lot smaller and cheaper. Some of the people that had a system like this in the past are quite happy, now, with and in-fact prefer a tiny boombox to what they actually had in the past. Perhaps this also separates some music equipment lamens from pros-at-heart. I’m not saying I’m a pro, but I want to learn. So they get rid of some of this used-to-be-top-of-the-line equipment for cheap that sounds great. So I’m trying to get a-hold of some of it and make a vintage system out of it.

Keep on Going

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 19:47:39 GMT

I just wrote an encouragement to my friend about keeping on going. Here it is.

I was just reading about Josh Gracin, a country singer I like. He placed 4th in American Idol Season 2.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:pgt67ub020j3

As I listen to his music, I notice nearly everything he’s made I seem to have hard on the radio. Also, he has a couple music videos on Yahoo Launch which only tends to happen with top artists. He just churned out a new song that

… But he only finished Idol 4th. There can only be one best.

But that didn’t stop him. He just kept moving forward and making music. And he made it. He isn’t #1 on the charts either. But he sells records, and he makes money. He just didn’t give up. He tried his best and kept trying. And he found a place among the greats.

There I truly don’t believe we have to be the best. We have to be good and keep working at what we do. We just need to do what we do, grow, and work at it. If we don’t give up, we’ll make money and we’ll find our place.

We might even become great.

-- Brandon

Programming or Networking. Where to go?

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 15:19:07 GMT

This was written to my best friend, Brian, about my devision of idea between choosing networking or programming as a career path. I have a start in each.

I like the site (dice) since it seems to have a lot of tech-related jobs. One issue, however, is most listings seem to be for pretty highly technical jobs calling for years experience specializing working in the area(s) in the field. This is a reminder to me that it may be very easy to switch jobs at some point in our careers: We may be in a position to, in essence, demand our way or know we can easily become hired elsewhere. … The industry would need me too much to be hard to comply.

But weather I like it or not, it’s that I need the industry right now. I need someone to give me a chance and help me get the experience necessary to make me worthy of the positions I desire.

My cheap-o clients have offered some of that opportunity for now and for that I want to be grateful. I know I need certifications and experience to begin calling any serious shots. I just don’t want to stop the momentum in growing toward my goals.

I’m also discovering I may have made a mistake. My degree is MS networking / programming. There, sadly, dosen’t appear to be (currently) a lot of marketing for that pair although art / programming seems to be a good match for you. It appears there is more demand in my field for MS networking / cisco routers (common, complicated routers in the industry). It looks like I may, really, need to put some serious cisco training behind my belt to seriously improve my marketability perhaps something like you needed, at one point, to add programming to your art knowledge. I am sure my programming background will offer a unique add-on from time to time and may help a lot in hobbies …. I also could pair MS networking / Linux and gain an advantage… But MS Networing / programming just doesn’t seem to fit. It ends me up in gaining interest from people offering MS Networking jobs and also those offering programming jobs. When each of them see my half-experience on their side, they seem to lose interest.

But it appears that rather than completing an education in a career, with my elective choices, I ended up gaining half an education in two areas. Programming and Networking. I admit I know more networking, however.

It is a serious choice, in that case, to choose which side to complete and go after in my life. I feel at a fork. I can fairly easily run down the programming or networking path, but I don’t think there will be any easy turning back once I start running one way or the other. I have been carrying two sides along for a long time. I feel it is time, now, to pick only one and, thus, accelerate it’s progress.

The industry doesn’t seem to tolerate those wishy-washy about their goals. If I want to get anywhere, it appears I need to pick one and, better or worse, run with it.

This gives me pause as I consider those who’s careers go obsolete. I don’t think programming will ever go obsolete, but it could permanently shift to overseas cheap labor. I actually think networking jobs could grow obsolete if programmers do their job better and make networks break less often. However, who knows how long that may take and weather it will ever happen if there continues to be software and equipment upgrades (which also require professionals to install). But the pause is for those who choose one, put their all into it, run with it no matter what, … and their need disappears. Suddenly, that person is at a position to start over or give up. … A position to change from a professional to a janitor … or a student.

Such fears must not prevent me to try. I have a chance, and I want to take it. I would rather be a student forever with a hope … a dream, than be a janitor, comfortable with my position, for a lifetime.

I must break a wishbone. I must commit to one site and live with my decision forever. I may leave one path and start the other, but that will always mean stepping back.

I admit a big pull in this decision is that I enjoy the company of my mentor in networking. He is also very helpful to point me in directions toward networking. I loathe the director of the Programming department. He also could care less about me and my seek for help. That is not true of the networking director. I have viewed both him and she who he succeeded my mentors.

But aren’t programmers mentors? Is there not someone who could take me under their wing? … who could let me put networking in my past and point me down a straight path to a programming career? I have only one teacher I know that could fill this and I do not feel I respect her enough as a professional... but more as a kind person.

God, please provide direction.

Also, to you, Bri, this is not a plea, as before of where to start. This is a plea about where to go and never turn back.

RandB Popularity

Tue, 02 May 2006 11:08:24 GMT

I'm continually surprised how nice R&B / Hip Hop / Rap music videos are so well-produced in comparison to tohers. I'm also surprsied at how popular such videos are.

Here are some observations / guesses in note-form about the issue.

>R&B Videos Popularity Reason Guesses (Judging by watching videos)
- Big Help: Many popular/successful artists appear, help-out in other artists' music, videos. Viewers often get 2+ successful artists for the price of one.
- Big Money spent on OR at least quality:
- Transitions between parts in videos sometimes
- Many parts in videos to transition between; much filmed.
- Big money props
- Many actors typically hired for correography and/or drama cutscenes. Actors tend to look highly the part.
- Visual special effects
- Clean, well-produced-sounding background beats
- Reason guess from authors' perspective: urban african americans who dominate the genre are trying, successfully, with music, to make an up for themselves and their communities after a terrible history of a poverty problem.
- Reason guess from authors' perspective: Many people who are not close to any african-american communities seem to have a stereotype for such areas as being overwhelmingly poor / unwealthy. Successfully wealthy african americans in or from such areas would like to fight the stereotype through both showing off props and having big-selling hits.

Firefox vs. IE

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 14:03:46 GMT

A good friend of mine is trying to convince me to switch to firefox instead of Internet Explorer, but he hasn't gotten me yet. Here's my advantages/disadvantages list:

[Product Compare: Firefox vs. IE]

>Advantages
- Supports Open Source
- Multiple Multible tabs openable 2 clicks in a folder.
- Bookmark Icons stay
- It would probably create influence from me to encourage others to switch.
- Firefox seems to start up a lot faster. That may be because of my toolbars.

>Disadvantages
- Plugin Support (75% support estimated which is impressive).
- Could take a lot of work to replace my toolbars in Firefox
- Page support (97% of pages are alright)
- BIG: Bookmark Searching does not let me know where the bookmark is organized (what folder/subfolder) but IE does. That is important because it helps me find a category based on a bookmark or 2 I know is in there. I have a lot of bookmarks. It helps me find what I want online.
- No browsing by big icon for favorites without taking the time to open firefox / my portal homepage (I might want to have a simple web page for startup thus). I could use quick zoom to make bookmark browsing nicer tho.

Research: Turnning off Global Communication

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 06:03:46 GMT

[Origionally Written to my friend, Brian Corson]

According to this Article on the Sunday Herald,

A new document called the "Information Operations Roadmap," a government document related to how the military is going to handle working toward commiting warfare (against other countries / organizations) online, is being put forth with $383 million to spendin the next 3 years.

http://www.sundayherald.com/54975

According to the Hearald, the article, among other things, proposes research be made in the earth's electromagnetic spectrum in attempt to see if global communication scrambling (including cell phones) can be achieved if occasion were to call for it.

Apparently, the article also suggests finding ways to end all communication across the globe by military force including that of the Internet, if possible, during certain crisis times to prevent enemy forces from organizing and sharing information with eachother .. In attempt to gain an upper hand.

My guess is the US Gov feels research of this nature has to be made to see if some of these things are possible to be done. In such cases, there tends to be a race where one country would like to know how to before the other country knows. Hopefully, such scrambling would not be possible, in my opinoin, though.

Also, it is my feeling that if the Gov were trying to find a way to shut down the Ineternet temporarrily at will among other forms of communication, they would not desire their own communication to be down. That attempt to destroy comm of others without destroying comm of themselves, I think would fumble up the plan from working too well. The gov can't have everything.

Computers on TV

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 22:22:45 GMT

I was just thinking about how computers are displayed on TV versus how they are in real life since I am in computers are a career. I wrote this mail to my best friend, Brian, concerning it:

On CSI, they seem to look at some grainy/awful security cam feed and use their computer to enlarge some puny inch-or-so square it to perfect full screen 640x480 res so they can, then, read a little license plate on that now-fullscreen image (instantly) and ID a few incriminating ppl by the car. It's ridiculous. There are cameras out there that take that good of images I think, but they are rare, I bet, and would take a barely fathomable (in my opinion) amount of space. John said he was working with his father in digital surveillance systems and from talking with them, Terabytes were everyday lingo with them. But even those cameras, I would guess, wouldn't take that well, but hey, mby some would.

On CSI and shows like that, they seem to paint a rosey picture about how powerful and well-working their computers are. I notice that almost every single time, if they go through a perpetrator's computer, they find tons of incriminating documents weather the person attempted to delete them or not. I have never seen any of those shows note the possibility of things like Norton Wipe that overwrites the data so it's truly unrecoverable. But those shows seem, largely, intended to show off the great abilities of the force. So noting computer frustrations could not work well with that. Also, among noobs and non-computer-users (of which there may be 20-30+%), it seems that the general perception is that computers are these mysterious, extremely smart and potent devices. Shows like that wouldn't want to move away from status quo without a good reason in an area like computers; especially since their expertise is supposed to be crime and not really any other area.

I'll also point out that they tend to vastly redesign computer interfaces, it seems, on tv shows. Like if something is wrong, there's an immensely pretty background and some semitransparent HUGE blinking red window with white text flashing WARNING (or something like that) in the perfect center of the screen. It's not too realistic from my computing experience, but it lets the camera flash to the computer for a few seconds and gives a good chance the viewer will get the idea before the camera moves on which can further the plot.

Sad as it might be, as far as I know zero of big-production movies assume the audience is truly versed in expert-ideas about computers. They assume novices and try to keep things simple to help them understand. Afterall, they are specialists on story.

What I think is kindof funny is the way my grandma talks, she feels like a computer expert from seeing those shows and seeing them used on the news or movies now and then. Although she doesn't claim to know how to or want to know how to use one, really, she still seems to feel like she knows a lot about them.

Checkin' out 'net Takeoff's 10th Yr Anniversary

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:52:14 GMT

I was recently enjoying a moment while looking through an old program like called Microsoft Bookshelf 1996-97 edition.

In it, it showed a feature where it shares the year in review (1996) and I got to see a few interesting stories (which are now at their 10 year anniversary) including the Okalahoma City bombing and the OJ Simpson trial / acquittal.

Also, right along with them in that list, it said that the Internet takes off. So, I clicked to read the article about that, and was interested to see what they thought of it. Note that at that time, MS did not have it's own encyclopedia and dictionary (Encarta), but they used other sources. The one in there said a few basics describing what it was about and also said These were the most popular features people like about the 'net:
"The most popular features of the Internet include electronic mail (e-mail), discussion groups (called newsgroups or bulletin boards, where users can post messages and responses), on-line conversations (called chats), adventure and role-playing games, and information retrieval."
It looks right on to me! Apparently, in 10 years the tops have about stayed the same. I'm pretty sure those are it as the top things. However, I might add that by looking elsewhere, I've discovered the information people tend to look up the most is about media stars; especially music stars and movie stars as well as the news. I discovered by checking from time-to-time lately Yahoo's top Internet Searches listing. "

However, what the article from '96 said about ways the 'net is accessed is a bit different ...
" ... a number of interfaces and tools have been developed to search it, among them Archie, Gopher, WAIS (Wide Area Information Server), and WWW (the World Wide Web), a hypertext system for browsing the Internet. "
Heh. It looks like the world wide web won on that one. I don't even really recognize the other ones. I wonder if any of them still exist somewhat for practical use.

Heh; so I guess humanity keeps on changing, but some things stay the same. Weather banging rocks at eachother, screaming at some cups tied together by string, tapping Morse code, using newsgroups, or just hooting across a lake, people looove to communicate with eachother. And that includes me, so don't fergit to use that 'ol email protocol to let me know if you liked my little message in a web packet (bottle) ....

Copyright Info for Quotes:

The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia is licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright © 1995 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

-- Brandon

I just bought my first Mac. My First Discoveries.

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:21:39 GMT

As a PC / windows user for a long time, (like 8 years) without ever owning a mac to play around on, I decidd to take the plunge and give it a try -- partly because I have long wanted to and partly because it could help me with my career in Computer Information Systems. So I got myself an old Mac iBook G3 running OSX Puma (10.1) and reported on some of my first experiences to my best frined Bri (who is rather faimilar with Windows computers. Here's the way it came out:

(Written to my best friend, Brian)

Firefox won't work on OS X 10.1 which I have (I made sure I have legal rights to it too). It seems it requires OS X 10.3 or greater. I would guess Firefox will work on windows 95, so I don't see what's the big deal. I may be able to use Mozilla Firebird:

http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/releases/0.7.1.html

It doesn't look like they offer upgrade versions to the OS anymore. They call it an upgrade, but it looks like the only product apple offers is a full version of the latest (10.4) which doesn't consider what previous OS you might have (it only considers your processor: G3 or better required apparently).

http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/

One more thing that really surprises me is the hard drive only has 5GB free (out of 10) and it's running a brand-new install (reinstalled fresh/wiped by the previous owner). It would seem surprising Mac os alone could take that much. Tho, I was seeing one upgrade (which I'm ineligible to use however; it's for eMacs only (educational)) for OS X tiger is 16 CDs big. 16 !! If all of those have only 500 MB of stuff (which may be generous) you need on them, that's 8 Gigs. Considering that, I may be best off sticking with 10.1, firefox or no firefox.

It appears apple used to offer an upgrade from 10.1 to 10.2, and disks to do that cost only about $25 online in certain places (it's only 2 discs). But I'm not sure that will get me firefox. However, maybe I read wrong before? Maybe 10.2 is what's needed? Tho, this seems to confirm 10.3 is minimum required for Safari:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/safari.html

I thought firefox was supposed to be free :-p. Right now, I'm running Netscape communicator.

You're right that IE for mac is no longer updated; it seems to make some websites look really funky on it too. Flash 6 doesn't seem to install on it, tho, weirdly, they seem to make Flash 6 for IE for Mac OS9. ALTHOUGH: it has some sweet features not in the PC IE: A quick-button to mini-mode the surfing icons, Some neat RSS-like access, more than decent bookmark management. My guess is it's lack of being updated is the result some sort of business politics strategy. I noticed some Apple High-up gloating in articles (when Mac IE was fresh and new) about how great the browser is and superior in many ways to the one for PC. Maybe Microsoft got offended and began to consider it's not helpful business-wise for them to keep it going.

The newest version of Netscape won't install on my mac os either. What's this deal with slightly old Operating systems not being supported ?! But an only slightly old version of Netscape (7.something) works fine on it and is apparently promoted for older OS X implementations by Netscape. That Netscape seems to make most websites look fine (flash 6 installs on it fine). I remember I really relied on Netscape when I was running an older ver Linux before -- it was by far the most advanced browser I could find that would work on it. Netscape, as inferior as it may be to some others, may be THE solution for certain older OSes.

It also has that UNIX text interface that seems to run something like Cygwin (It's Darwin). Although, I was surprised it was hard to get to. It was buried in a hard-to-get-to hi-tech section under applications. It's no where near as easy to get to as Windows Run. Time will tell weather it's any better than Cygwin for windows. I have a window manager for Cygwin and about 20-25 Linux applications that run fine under it currently (including some familiar ones like xEyes). Time, much, should tell weather my Mac can do better than that with it's UNIX.

The Mac is pretty fast; I'm surprised. A lot of things I do on it seem to be as fast or faster than on my Dell laptop which puzzles me. It might not hurt that it has a beefy ~200MB of ram. I basically consider the OS interface a lot greater than Windows. I was surprised that it comes with a very nice full-featured encyclopedia (standard with macs): World Book. But that doesn't change that it has less software support overall.. which still really bugs me.

The software they give you out of the box is pretty decent.. Mac Accessories are pretty neat. Like Linux, it seems to include a bunch of stuff I'm running with freeware that doesn't come with windows by windows' self (although on the Mac I have to manually enable some of it): good tray battery meter, awesome tray cpu histogram, sweet always-on-screen analog clock, even an amazing calculator similar to the freeware one I use (tho it looks like it requires OS 9 emulation to run it -- slow to load / prolly memory intensive). I really give it to them for thinking up what ppl might like in their interface. Weirdly, tho, OS 9 emu is true to the old macs all the way down to the skin (including the old apple button in the corner looking as it did). Running that Mac is so similar, but so different in certain ways than running my pc -- it was like a bad dream -- but stark since I know some people are really are Mac-users alone and, perhaps, trapped in it because it's all they know and maybe they can't afford the newest upgrades and/or time to learn anything new.

-- Brandon

Future Big Technology? - Quickzoom

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 00:46:43 GMT

I use quickzoom all the time on my laptop and love it. It's da-bomb. It lets me easilly make any part of the screen as big or small, generally, as I like with hotkeys on my keyboard. I use high resolution and quickzoom all the time to make my computing better. I notice qz isn't terribly popular for the time being, which surprisines me. I wrote about it today to my best friend Brian:

About quickzoom, I think it may be a much bigger trend in the future than it is now. People LOVE it on my laptop: even your mom liked when I increased the size on what she was reading. A problem with it is not too easily availble: I am pretty sure there is no software that will make it work for any system currently: it's hardware specific. Nvidia makes it always there, but I'm not seeing Nvidia all that much on systems except for big-time graphics (like games) people. And, anyway, nvidia only enables it through advanced config screens. However: I was noticing on Toshiba laptops, it is enabled by default. There is a Fn key painted on the keyboard that is a little magnifiying glass. When you hit it, it automatically uses technology exactly like quickzoom to make whatever window you are working with currently fill the whole screen. Sometimes I can call if a product will become popular in the future. I think qz technology will.

My thoughts of tech that may make it big in the future
- Really good Radio controlled cars (precise, good battery life).
- Heated windshield washer fluid
- ? Cash recieving at the pump for gas
- Bathroom faucets that remember a temperature you set so you can just turn it on to your favorite warmth level

Surround Sound Effects

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 06:37:52 GMT

Dear Journal,

Here is something I wrote to my friend Brian in response to his notice that, he feels, virtual surround sound is pretty good after testing out Doby's on their website.

I heard the demos, but I don't want to be fooled by cool-sounding effects (like Lord of the Rings has with it's menu) and think that's some technology that can make all my music sound better.

I'm not sure, but it looks like you can only get their software technology if you purchase certain sound cards.

So, I tried going on download.com to get a virtual surround sound system to try it on my normal songs. ($20 to purchase, free to try).

http://www.download.com/Virtual-Sound-Processor-11-VSP-11-/3000-2167_4-10120704.html?tag=lst-0-1

In my opinion, at least for my music, it seems to work like just a good equalizer. I think it also does a little work to make things sound a little drowned as though they are played in a concert hall and there is a slight echo plus works as a bass booster. I think There are 3 dials to modify the effects. I enjoyed some of the changes, so I deactivated it and tried Rhapsody's internal equalizer (10 band or so). I was actually able to obtain what seemed like similar effects with it (including those that I think I like a little better). I also noticed a conflict when I used Rhapsody's equalizer plus the Virtual Sound Program. I will also note that both equalizing methods seem to do a much better improving job with my laptop as opposed to my desktop speakers -- The improvement to my laptop, I think, is stunning. The change to my desktop speakers I considered medicore. The nice thing about the external program is it works for all sound rather than just one program like Rhapsody.

Equalizers, I think, have the following benefits:
- They can bring out hard-to-hear-normally both low and high tones / insturments.
- They help you customize toward what tones you like to emphasize.
- Bass Boost helps the feeling seem more real I guess.

I don't think equalizers are nearly a good enough substitute for:
- Quality recorded and written music
- Good speakers (which, I'm sure, include their own equalization).
- a Quiet environment that can permit you to not let quiet or hard-to-percieve sounds be percievable.

I'm not a real big fan of the concert hall sound in general, but there is one nice advantage I can think of for having virtual surround sound: for Surround-sound media (including DVDs), It could be useful to make sounds meant for the back (or center) speakers sound different (concert-halling the back speakers could help). That way, you could do something with the extra data of back speaker differences rather than let it go unheard. Ideally, you would get used to the different way the psuedo-back-speakers sound and, thus, would be able to percieve sound coming from behind.

-- Brandon

Competitor Alliance: Real and MS Windows Media Player

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 03:35:26 GMT

[Origionally Written to my friend Brian]

This was about the new advent of subscription music services. I was talking about our surprise that Real chose the Windows Media Player format (By Microsoft while Microsoft is their competitor). Here Goes:

Hmm. All good questions. My thinking is Real is still bitter competitors with MS, but feeling the desire to get into the subscription market, felt .wma was the only way.

MS developed the technology for subscription expirations for songs (they are the only ones to do that as far as I know) and may have enough resources to get prosecuted those who would hack and break it. Rather than try to develop the same technology themselves, my guess is real fell into accepting Microsoft's already-developed format and get their subscription product released sooner. Real has long had thier own competing format, but have also long had their own competing player and media guide system. Apparently, the only thing in this case real seems competitive about is their player and guide.

I will also note that by going with .wma, they are also getting something supported by several portable devices already on the market including the Dell DJ WITH the expiration of subscription technology. In order to stay fully independant, they would not only need to develop their own expiring format, but gain support of players: all things that may take serious time. Like MS did with their OS, it seems they saw value in investing in a subscription music model very early on and found a way to encourage others to rely on them as they do the model.

One thought is there is that it's possible other formats including real will be used in the future for this with players accepting it. However, there is a conundrum: Without an existing real subscription format, player manufacturers may not feel motivated to spend the money to get their players ready for the service. Also, without players supporting the format, Real may not feel motivated to develop the technology for release.

With all of these tech wars, as you can imagine, I am shaking my head and sticking out my tongue. Weather these people have a false sense of security about subscription .wmas being secure, we are still on the honor system. The protection can be hacked and no one can stop things like your minidisk player because if humans can hear it, machines can record it. But, as ridiulous as their protection attempts may be, the record companys are buying it and that may be all that matters.

Dream: Story From: Evil Imagination

Thu, 02 Feb 2006 18:14:32 GMT

[Data]
- Category: Dreams
- Dream Name: Evil Imagination
- Date of Dream: 2/1-2/2006

[Preface]

There are a lot of theories about why dreams exist and what they mean. My guess is dreams use what experiences we have in life and translates them to somewhat randomized, crazy stories for our brains to chew on while we slumber. But don't let me demand that God does not use dreams for his messages! I don't think it happens all the time, but it can happen.

I happen to have the gift of being able to remember my dreams in detail just about every night. I used to keep a detailed dream journal of them but quit for the time it took. If you enjoy reading this dream and let me know that, it will make it much more likely that I will continue to make them known on Live Journal.

In dreams, I do not always notice or dream up detail of emotion and events. However, according to my creative writing class in college, those are very important features to make a story interesting, so I have taken liberty to add-in a few detail points (and also, perhaps, inadequately described some of what I saw). I saw these events as one would see a movie, but with the sharp detail of real life when I would pause to pay attention to it. I lived and breathed the events; not only seeing them transpire but acting to change the world around me. You, I am afraid, must see this dream only through my memory and the filter of my creative writing skills from college. I hope to make you feel a fraction of the joy I have in knowing these events as I do.

[Dream: Evil Imagination]

So I was chillin' outside a parking structure that I was near and was very familiar with. Behind it and a wire fence, I saw some people playing a game with a large ball and one of them (using a baseball bat) smashed it so far it went over the fence and landed near me.

Never having played a game like softball before, I wanted to show the people I can do it. I grabbed that ball and with a smile forming my lips, I lost that smile when I noticed how huge but light the ball is. I compared it to a basketball-sized huge ping pong ball! Determined, I reached far back and hurled it with all my being at one who was waiting with an open glove across the fence. It bloped through air until it just tissed on the ground -- not even rising above the fence!.

I ran to that pathetic display and grabbed that ball again! One of the ball players slinked closer and grinned with a bat in both arms and spread his feet apart and raised the bat in swinging stance. This may or not have been a joke to him, but it was my chance! If I could throw the ball to him and he hit it far (maybe over the fence!), I would redeem my self and maybe they would ask ME to play. My confidence would be restored and I would gain victory!! I swung my arm back with a snarl on my face, barely caring where I threw it and lunged it at the fence. The ball, in slow motion, fluttered to the ground, this time, not straight at the fence as before, but sharply to the left. My mouth opened, my eyebrows raised, and I wondered if I would cry. I had to turn my head left to see the ball. I found it laying pathetically on the ground as before. This time, I took it, shuffled to the gate, and just pushed it over the gate and it clinked on the other side. I lowered my head and slithered back to the parking structure.

To redeem some thread of happiness, I elevated to the roof and looked out to what I might see. It was a neighboring house where I saw small-for-distance some creature or creation someone had been putting together. I thought it was a silly fun thing to do. I squinted and believed it to be an ape of some sort. What a neat hobby -- to make creatures.

I began to see it more clearly. -- But why? I stopped squinting and saw it glistened in the sunlight; naked and hairless - it was not an ape. The creature flashed to the gate toward me and jumped it, latching onto the structure. Was this possible? Nevermind. It is, and I must react! Within 10 seconds, I saw it's head with several larger-than-quarter-sized blood splotches shining in the sun rise above the roof's railing.

I remembered how my uncle Jim said I would be puny in battle and decided I would not let this be my end. I punched, and kicked at it furiously which it obviously hurt from, but it continued to climb to the top, slowly, despite my blows until it was towering right over me inches away and I could smell it's stench on the roof, heavily breathing.

The beast stood looking as though it's skin was the insides of human intestines -- pink, free-flowing, and delicate. It's human shaped face glistened in the sun with several larger-than-quarter-sized blood splotches on it's scalp and cheeks. It was about 4 times my size, but was slender and moved with the quick agility of a Grammy-award-winning dancer.

I tingled and began to run.

>Questions for the Future
- Was the ball alive, I had just clutched, in some way too?
- Will my dream-me survive this encounter? Uninjured?

>More Talk
If you liked this story, YOU, will motivate me to finish it, will you not? I remember well what happened next in the dream (this story is likely not even half over). I have kept detailed notes on the next events. Only my notes are about as long as this beginning-of-story I have shared! I CAN finish this story, but only the beginning and note taking took over an hour and a half. The rest of this story being completed is dependant on YOU. Will you encourage me to share the end? If so, please comment to me. Also, if anyone feels they know the meanings of dreams, I would welcome someone share their thoughts on that.

State of the Union Address Notes

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 03:37:29 GMT

I wrote some notes about the State of the Union Address I haerd a little bit today. I tried to pickup some facts about what each side said, but I watched only sparsely and only gathered a few things.

I coninue thinking that Bush has good ideas and very much enjoy his stand for God. Here are my notes about the addresses I came up with.

[State of the Union Address 2006, Brief Notes]
- Good = Supposedly good from their side.
- Bad = Supposedly bad from other side's perspective.

>Bush Bad
- bush is poor, forgetful
- Orlando bad meaning
- Bush is wreckless
- Democ. says: Bush Health Care is poorly planned, more expensive for caretakers

>Bush Good
- Add initatives for students
- Border Control

>Democrats Good
- ? more for vetrans
- God bless America said.

>Good for Both
- Seeking energy reform so we can cease to rely on petroleum.
- Supposed help for medicaid/medicare

Great Advice Song Rediscovered

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 05:26:56 GMT

I want to note that I just found this great song I used to very much enjoy when I was a high school graduate. Now that I am a college graduate, I have sought nostalgia and more advice. It's called "Everybody's Free (To-Wear Sunscreen) (I like the "- Edit" edition on it's single best from what I own).

When I found it, I discovered there is 3 authors which I did not realize before:
- Mary Schmich - Article Author
- Lee Parry - Voice actor chosen for song (Australlian)
- Baz Lauhrmann - Australlain director who released the song, overall, on his album of tunes from his productions.

If you want to check the song out, try these links:

- Origional Article on Tribune's site (free registration req'd) - http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-970601sunscreen,1,7059747.column?page=1&coll=chi-news-col

- Tribune writing about the song: (free registration req'd) http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-990331sunscreensong,1,3416317.story?coll=chi-news-col

- Amazon.com has sampling of music from Baz. At the time of the writing, I couldn't seem to access amazon.

As I like to do, I wrote the author, Mary Schich, a letter. I asked if she wouldn't mind if I post it to my blog so that's pending perhaps. Goodday!

Electrocution for the Cats

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 05:33:34 GMT

I kindof went all out this time and spoke out about a local group I love to be a part of: www.freecycle.org. It is a place with many local groups where people use a moderatred (very-well cleaned of spam) email list (through Yahoo Groups) to post free things on the Internet to eachother and make wanted requests. I have given several and recieved many items and this time had something different to say. Our largest local group, Royal Oak, Mi, Freecycle has, after basically years of permission on the issue, has (communicated to us by one of it's moderator's messages) revoked members' privelage to make posts or wanted requests for pets with basically no explanation. So I have writen a letter noting reasons I think they should continue to be permitted and sent it to that moderator and (with a special cover letter) moderators of all local citys I am a member of and know their addresses, and with an additional special cover letter, to the main email for the worldwide headquarters.

I am not sure if communicating in this way all the way up the ladder is a good idea, but I typically make my mails only for one person and thought I would try sending one like this to multiple this time. I hope it is not a mistake and will find out I guess if I recieve feedback about the letters.

Anyway, since freecycle will permit me to, basically, write a novel, here is the entire archive of the messages starting with what was sent to corporate headquarters:

Dear Freecycle,

I am just amazed at the power of this group. I have given several items and have gotten several amazing things. Beyond that, I have made awesome friends, and work-acquaintances using freecycle. It has been just an amazing blessing to my life and that of my community and although I have thanked before, I thought it deserved at least one more mention.

Also, I have just written to several moderators local to groups I am involved in concerning the new policy pet offerings and postings in my area's largest group, Royal Oak, Mi will no longer be permitted. Although you may already know well, I thought you may like to hear the issue as presented in these mails including what I have in defense of the pets and their offers and the Royal Oak Moderator, Christine Bender's latest policy posting.

The emails I have included below this one are as follows
- My message to local moderators of groups I am a member of
- My message to Christine
- Christine's original policy changes message

I hope you will enjoy having this perspective of the issue and will consider if there is anything you could do to help pet postings be welcome again. Also, thank you, so much, again for your wonderful service to the world.

-- Brandon

[Mail to local moderators]

From a member..

As you may have heard me personally let you know before thank you very much for your excellent help in making freecycle a wonderful place to give and receive wonderful things. I just received a set of collectors cards, half of which I will keep, and the other half I will give to a good friend and I know they will really make him smile. Without you, many people would be turned off to such a thing we have here because of invasive unwanted messages, users, and a general lack of control over the matters. You are a wonderful blessing. I hope you do not mind that I have shared that again.

Unfortunately, however, in blessings, there can sometimes be dangers, and so I'd like to point you to a letter I wrote today to Christine of Royal Oak Freecycle who recently sent a policy changes posting noting that pet offers and wanted ads will no longer be invited or allowed. I noted my surprise at this since that issue has been discussed before and pets were continued to be permitted. Also, as I have found on the corporate website, www.freecycle.org, pet postings are apparently condoned. Christine's original policy changes posting is also included below that.

I explained, in detail, those and other notes about it in my mail to her I have included for you to view if you would like after this message. I want to thank you for among your other great contributions, also allowing pets to find great new homes for many years.

-- Brandon

----- Original Message -----
From: Brandon
To: Christine
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 12:03 AM
Subject: Re: Changes; About Pets

Dear Christine,

This is Brandon; a member for 2 years or so; I have corresponded with you in email a few times before. As I have said, I appreciate your and your team's work toward making this group great by keeping out unwanted messages, controlling users, setting reasonable rules, and being active concerning user input. However, it is surprising that you would say pet messages are not welcome for these reasons:

- It is a long time tradition that pets are allowed (in every moment of my memory on all local groups to the area)
- Pets are very popular giving on our group (there may have been as many as 15 or more given just in the past 30 days).
- This issue has been discussed before and I have made feedback, then, that I believe there is no problem with allowing pets.
- It is apparently common amongst general freecycle groups as presumable by the presence of this guide on how to properly post offers to give pets on the corporate website, freecycle.org: http://www.freecycle.org/manual/files_pets.htm.
- It is generally just a just a kind gesture to give a careful new home to a person to someone in our group. The deaths every year in places like the humane society are tragic and some people use groups like freecycle to fight to make a good life for their beloved pets they are no longer able to keep themselves.

I know you noted a reason for that which you pointed out and it seems like you can't control it. I ask that you please let us on the group including myself and the probably hundreds of members that have posted pets before us know what that reason is. Maybe one of us can help somehow. If it is a problem with corporate, I am sure many of our members would be happy to write letters saying how they feel. If it has to do with the government, some of our people may visit the city's officials personal to discuss the matter.

To close, I'd like to point you to Tiger, a cat posted this very Tuesday to Southfield freecycle who's mistress passed away and was in need of a loving home. Ron, on Tiger's behalf noted he is affectionate, loving, and wants to make someone happy. He thanked freecyclers for their help. If Tiger has not found a loving home yet, he may never if Ron does not post to a group with the people Royal Oak freecycle has. I don't think I can make Tiger's case any better than Ron himself:

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 9:11 PM:
Is there anyone out there that can take 'Tiger' and give him a good
home. He's about 5-6 years old, orange and white.
He's been without his mistress now since May/05. Now she has passed
away. And 'Tiger' needs a loving family.
This cat is just so affectionate,and loving,that he just wants to make
someone happy. Thanks for you help...Ron
Freecycle has done so much for our community. Please also do you what you can to help that stories like these have happy endings.

-- Brandon

----- Original Message -----
From: Christine
To: RoyalOakFreecycle@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 10:49 PM
Subject: [RoyalOakFreecycle] Admin: Special notices and rule changes

Hello all!

Special Notices-

As promised a while back, if you were set to "no email" you have been
changed to "special notices". This is mandatory for this group as you
need to be able to read admins when they go out. If you are now set
for "special notices" please be assured that you will only receive the
occasional e-mail that has been marked by a mod as a special notice.
We are they only ones who can send them.

Rule changes-

Due to circumstances that I cannot and will not control, this group
will no longer allow postings for pets. No offers, no wanteds.

Also no longer allowed are wanteds for tickets, coupons or "points".
These items may be offered, but do not request them.

Membership requirements-

In an effort to combat the increasing amount of spam that I'm seeing,
membership to this group now requires approval. If you're reading
this, you're already a member so this will not affect you. However
when you tell your friends about this group (and I know you will!) let
them know that they will need to wait to be approved. I will attempt
to keep on top of things and get folks approved quickly.

Please remember to read through the rules every so often. They do get
updated when needed and it's always good to know them so you won't
have messages deleted or rejected.

Thanks again everyone. You are what makes this one of the best
Freecycle groups in Michigan!!

-Christine

Thank you for being a member of The Freecycle Network (TM)

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Should Uncle Sam Watch our Searches? (News from 1 hour ago)

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 22:52:10 GMT

This is from an email written to Brian.

http://www.itworld.com/Man/2681/060119govtvsgoogle/

Actually, it looks like they want people who want full unrestricted access to google to register so they can have the person say they are not a minor before allowing it. Also, in a court case against pornography (for which the defense is actually the ACLU), the government wants some general sample data (like for a week's worth of searches and/or a million porn websites / listings that google can find) and google is resisting complying. My guess is they want the data so they can make a court case against how having all that available is endangering children so they can push for more child-protection from media they can see on the Internet.

All that said, I still don't really like it. If they can begin to decide what to hide from kids from the federal government, what may stop them from banning religion and Jesus from kids too? I understand most people get saved when they are children and there's less chance if they grow up without doing that that they will for the rest of their lives. Some might say it's awful that kids can find out about Christ when they are so young and impressionable.

Any time the media is restricted, I am uneasy, because it reminds me of countries that gain way too much control over it's people and do awful things (like hitler did). Also, soon enough, God tends to get pushded out. I pray God will help our country not head down that road.

Letter to Paws, Garfield's People

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 23:40:20 GMT

I really love garfield, so I wanted to write a letter to those who make garfield today to let them know how I feel. Here it is!

Dear Paws,

You are so generous: You allow allow a (color!) email of garfield's strip every day which I have read every day for year or so. You also have wonderful Archives -- I have read like 7 years worth of strips there. I hope to read them all someday. I would love to know I have read every single wonderful comic!

There is a lot of greusome and evil media out there and I have enjoyed that garfield can poke fun at every day life without doing that so much.

I love, also, professor garfield I just discovered from an advertisement in my daily email. It was absolutely delightful to look at your Jim's drawing-garfield videos and I look forward to watching more of the other ones. I love garfield's art (I think many comics have unentertaining art in my opinion); so I very well may practice based on the videos and learn some of it myself as a hobby (although I am a computer information systems student). As a student, I don't have a lot of money for expensive materials, so I love how the videos don't demand a lot of materials -- only dollar store clay, soap, and/or a pencil and paper! Those videos are also teaching me something I've been stubborn about: great art is a process of little steps. It does not have to look good early to look good later. You guys are so cool.

I am 23 years old and have been enjoying garfield since I was little. I used to love to look for garfield comics on Sunday and also, I got garfield books from the library whenever I got the chance.

Even though certain garfield media is aimed at kids, as someone older now I (and my best friend Brian) can still be delighted by the comic strips and some other media. I think some of the interesting trivia in G-Cubed is an example of that. I also enjoyed, under the sleep center, the make-your-own comic strip feature a lot. I have put that into my bookmarks list so I can remember to make greeting cards for friends from them. I like to put a personal touch in mine that goes beyond pre-made ones. I imagine I can come up with some silly positions and add friend-tailored messages. You are all about creativity and that's what I'm trying to be -- creative !

If I could recommend for you to make things even better, I would suggest you make a full-screen button on the videos so it would be easier to see certain things (perahps especially in the carving section) and/or more easilly share with friends. I have software that will zoom just about anything to full screen, so it's unneeded for me, but I don't think most people have that feature. I like how it can be small, too, since I was able to watch some videos as I was writing this mail. Also, it would be helpful to add an ability to drag the progress bar or select a point so we could easily go back if we missed a little something (like a stroke or item). That could also let us replay a difficult point over and over. If you really wanted to emblellish, you could also add slow-mo speed control so we could slow down expert-speed drawing to make it easier to follow. Similarly to zoom, I use a program called Flash Hero which can take over and give me those controls to flash, but adding them yourself can help others.

While I am suggesting, the last thing I will add is that you may consider adding to make-your-own cartoon in sleep center. I think it's GREAT idea and can be be really fun, but it could be a lot more usable for creativity with more choices. The characters are great with their experessions, but if you added more objects, that could really help since the toons will seem to have something more to have those expressions about. However, as is, the talking bubbles can be great to provoke expressions. It's almost a dream (get it, heh) to be able to be a part in making toons like these: I have never been a great artist myself, but I love art. I made Odie and Nermal lovingly looking at a thought bubble about Pookey which garflield is sleeping and dreaming about -- Valentines day is coming up; so they somehow all fell in love with Pookey!

Anyway, Maybe my suggestions can make a small help, but as you know, I really love garfield the way it is. If you would like to respond at all including letting me know if there are any plans to do anything I suggested, I would much enjoy hearing / reading from you -- Especially if you could say Jim Davis read any part my mail! But if it is staff members, I totally undestand since you are so busy providing awesome content to the world! Thank you so much for your wonderful works throughout the years and keeping them together for so long as I have been alive. I'm definitely looking forward to enjoying more in the future :-).

Reliving Songs

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 01:31:52 GMT

Adopted from an email to my best friend, Brian, here is some insight into the way I handle reliving classic songs to me.

I use ratings and listen to my higher-rated ones more often (using certain systems to ensure this). And relive old songs on a regular basis because my collection is large enough. I may say to myself .. boy I haven't heard that song in a while because it happens to have randomly come up from the, now, 3000 in my library.

A special case is my obsession songs. I have about 25 current obsession songs and about 70 or so that I have cateloged as prior obsessions. Those are ones I am sometimes willing to repeat over and over in one day and just love it. Obessions have a lifespan and they are soon enough demoted to Prior obsessions. Reliving some of those tend to be a classic expereince for me. Also, I have a memories collection for songs I like that I remember strongly from my past (many of which hits from 10+ years ago I enjoyed on the radio). Those permit reliving. Finally, my lasting category can work like that: those are songs I never seem to get sick of no matter how many times I have replayed them. Some of them have been in that collection for a loong time and I am very familiar with them, but they just won't die.

Although I get something special and enjoyable from re-life of songs, There is nothing that replaces the delight of finding a brand new obsession. Those are the songs that make me go woot :-).

Choosing the right thing and Enjoying it!

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 07:17:23 GMT

This was origionally written to my friend, Brian, pointing out my views about imporance of choosing the right product for You, not what is the newest, hottest, thing and pointing out that it's also highly important to take time to enjoy what you have.

I'll point out that I'm very glad you are growing with use of your laptop, finding work arounds for problems, and enjoying it's powers. As with any purchase, it's going to have disadvantages. One point that I'd like to bring out is the time spent making a purchase makes a difference concerning happiness with it. You pointed out your spent time researching before buying. I'm very glad for you that you did that. A laptop is something we can have and use for quite a while and it makes a lot of sense. I spent a lot of time researching mine among other companines and hours deciding exactly what accessories I did and did not want included. I did not base my selections on what might be considered new or hot as some do (and I am not saying you do that either), but I based them on what I felt I would enjoy. I did that with my car, my radio controlled monster truck, and my camera as well. I actually returned a very small 4 megapixel camera to get my bigger 3.2 mp camera because I like it's features better including mechanical auto-focus instead of a focus-free lense and better internal-management of viewing pictures on the camera... All based on what I liked, personally, the best. Megapixels (and smallness a bit) are hot topics, but I choose what mattered to me. A lot of the reason I am waiting to buy antoher PDA is I want to do the same thing, but am motivated toward my job right now and want to wait until the time is right.

Part two, of course, as both of us work hard at, is discovering abilities, configuring, learning, and downright enjoying our products. Someone, impressed with my bills collection (in a coffee shop) once told me it was amazing; this collection was something else and it must have cost a lot. I told him it's not about what you buy but how you enjoy what you have. Having things is important, but I have many more things like that money collection sitting around that I could enjoy so much right now if I just put the time into it. I'm glad we're doing that with our laptops (which I nickname our tappels, prounounced like apples with a t in front). .