Avoid being a pirate

If you want to avoid being a pirate, you can always look into Open Source software that is available for free, such as OpenOffice.org (a Microsoft Office substitute).

Web Cam Archive added

I have added an archive section to the main Web Cam page. You can view images for a few days past. The images are named by the Date stamp on the photo. Year - MonthDay - HourMinuteSecond. The photo 2006-1026-141214.jpg would be from Oct. 26, 2:12 p.m. and 14 seconds 2006 The time zone will always be Eastern time zone 24 Hr. format. The File list to the right is off by one hour, This is the server time and this may change the end of the month with daylight savings time. This archive is of use to me, but I thought I just as well make the images public as someone may need an older image. Like when did it start snowing or what have you ?
http://webcam.wb9otx.com/archive/

An old classic game

An old classic game that is fun for kids and grown-ups alike is Hangman. Play a few rounds here:
http://dedge.com/flash/hangman/

What a Dog

I have had dogs all of my 61 years. Fred, Wilsey, KC, Baxter, and many more. There are no bad dogs just some better than others. I just love dogs. Some have been very smart and some, well all good dogs. I want you to view this video as this featured dog star is one of a kind. You may shed a tear at the end, so be prepaired.
http://tinyurl.com/fzbya

Email etiquette

by Chris Pirillo
GnomeREPORT Windows

Email etiquette should still be alive and well. Let me share a few pointers that you might care to pass along, privately, to those who may not be aware of the unspoken rules. Unless everybody knows everybody else in an email thread, it’s always best to use the BCC option. Believe me, every single email utility on the planet has a BCC option. But wait, there’s more you need to remember!

To BCC or Not to BCC

1. NEVER TYPE IN ALL CAPS. THAT’S LIKE SCREAMING. REALLY!
2. Be wary of any kind of attachment - even if it comes from someone you know.
3. If a file you wish to send is larger than 2MB, think twice before sending it.
4. HTML stationery is annoying; if you don’t need to use it, don’t.
5. As the comic above illustrates, use BCC instead of CC to keep other email addresses private.
6. Don’t delete relevant information when you reply to someone.
7. If you can’t spell well, rememmber to run a spell check before sending.
8. Try to keep your messages as short as possible - you’re not writing a novel.
9. Check Snopes before forwarding info that sounds too good to be true.
10. Never send emails when you’re mad - wait until you calm down first. Trust me.
11. Triple-check that you’re not sending a message to someone who shouldn’t see it.
12. Remember that when you send something electronically, it has the potential of “living” forever.
13. Before you forward an email joke, make sure it’s funny first. Please?

More DOC.Google.com

As was stated in this last Blog entry, Doc.Google is a perfect place to back up your important documents and files. Open your email address book, export it in "CSV" format to your hard drive. Then import it into Doc.Google. Now you have a back up that can be imported back into your address book if / when the big crash comes. Every so often repeat the export to keep it up to date.

Google Docs & Spreadsheets

Google Docs & Spreadsheets

Create basic documents and spreadsheets from scratch.
You can easily do all the basics, including making bulleted lists, sorting by columns, adding tables, images, comments, formulas, changing fonts and more.

Upload your existing files.
Google Docs & Spreadsheets accepts most popular file formats, including DOC, XLS, ODF, ODS, RTF, CSV, etc. So go ahead and upload your existing files; all your formatting and formulas will come through intact.

Familiar desktop feel makes editing a breeze.
Just click the toolbar buttons to bold, underline, indent, change the font or number format, change the cell background color and so on.

This is a great back up tool. I have uploaded a spreadsheet that I just could not afford to loose.
If you have a Google account like Gmail you are ready to go. Give it a try at:
http://docs.google.com/

Time Capsule

I'm not a big fan of Yahoo but they do have some things that are kind of neat. Here is one of them:

http://timecapsule.yahoo.com/capsule.php

LCD screen protector

ClearBumper LCD screen protectors
for your camera or phone

The Best Protection You will NEVER See!!
For FREE
But wait, there are no free lunches - $4.95 shipping.
Click HERE for offer

TVU Player TV on your PC

TVU Player

System Requirements:
Windows 2000 or XP
Broadband Internet connection, such as DSL, Satlellite, or cable modem

This new service will provide a user experience directly comparable to cable and satellite. It will feature hard-to-find special-interest TV channels, international sports, lifestyle, news, and your favorite channels from around the globe as well as user-generated content.
Unlike the typical video on your PC or IP-based TV efforts undertaken so far, TVU will offer a "TV" like experience on your PC. The video quality will be equal to or better than typical digital cable channels and you will be able to switch between multiple TV channels just like on a TV.

Try CNN Pipeline
Go Download Page
http://www.tvunetworks.com/downloads/index.htm

How do I get my photos onto my XP system then burn them to CDROM?

Dave, how do I move my pictures from my new digital camera to my hard drive to make a copy of them on a CD-R? My OS is Windows XP home.

For this question, I decided to do a bit of experimentation of my own. After all, I'm a professional photographer on the side (you can see some of my portfolio online at Colorado Portraits,) so I should know this stuff, even if I primarily use a Macintosh for my photography work.

Rather than plug my camera in directly, however, I used a compact flash card reader instead, a cheap card reader to use instead (the $25 SanDisk 8-in-1 reader). Why bother getting one of these? Because it's at least 5x faster than transferring the files directly from the camera.

Anyway, I plugged in the SanDisk unit to my Windows XP system and was pleased to see it appear as a "generic USB drive" without having to install any drivers. Even more impressively, Windows automatically pointed out that the unit could perform faster if it were hooked up to one of the USB 2.0 ports on the computer, rather than the default USB 1.1 drive.

Unlike my main Mac OS X system, however, Windows XP doesn't launch an image capture program for transferring photographs from the digital camera memory unit, it just shows the drive with two folders, DCIM and .Trashes. Open DCIM and you see a folder that's named after your camera (mine is "D100"), open that folder and you finally see all the photographs on the camera.

To save them to your desktop, just drag and drop the desired pictures or the top-level folder to your desktop and everything'll be copied as desired. I'd actually recommend that you create a new folder (I name mine after the current date), drag everything into that folder, then move that folder into your "My Pictures" folder, so that you're using the preferred Windows organization.

That's half the challenge.

To burn a CDROM of the images, you need to insert a writable CDROM disk into your burner drive, then select all the images or folders you want to copy onto the disk.

Right click on them and choose Copy this File, Copy This Folder or Copy These Selected Items (depending on what you've chosen). In the Copy Items dialog window, choose the writable drive, then click "Copy".

Now -- yeah, this is a hassle -- go back to My Computer, then double click on the writable drive again. Check that everything you want to copy shows up under the "Files Ready to be Written to the Disk" section. Ready? Everything looks good? Click on "Write these files to CD" under CD Writing Tasks, and your system should start burning the disk.

That should get you going. If you find that you still can't get files from your camera, or can't successfully burn to CDROM, please come back and we'll see if we can find some easier solutions.

This artical was written by: Dave Taylor on his web page Ask Dave Taylor

Web Cams

I'm a sucker for Web Cams as I have one myself.
I just found this one from the Queen Mary 2.

Live from the bridge of Queen Mary 2

My Web Cam Page

You know Mr. Google?

Google Web Search Features

In addition to providing easy access to more than 4 billion web pages, Google has many special features to help you to find exactly what you’re looking for. Click the title of a specific feature to learn more about it.

� Cached Links View a snapshot of each page as it looked when we indexed it.

� Calculator Use Google to evaluate mathematical expressions.

� Definitions Use Google to get glossary definitions gathered from various online sources.

� File Types Search for non-HTML file formats including PDF documents and others.

� Froogle To find a product for sale online, use Froogle - Google’s product search service.

� I’m Feeling Lucky Bypass our results and go to the first web page returned for your query.

� Local Search - New! Search for local businesses and services in the U.S. and Canada.

� News Headlines Enhances your search results with the latest related news stories.

� PhoneBook Look up U.S. street address and phone number information.

� Search By Number Use Google to access package tracking information, US patents, and a variety of online databases.

� Similar Pages Display pages that are related to a particular result.

� Site Search Restrict your search to a specific site.

� Spell Checker Offers alternative spelling for queries.

� Stock Quotes Use Google to get stock and mutual fund information.

� Street Maps Use Google to find U.S. street maps.

� Travel Information Check the status of an airline flight in the U.S. or view airport delays and weather conditions.

� Web Page Translation Provides English speakers access to a variety of non-English web pages.

� Who Links To You? Find all the pages that point to a specific URL.

Oh, that’s not ALL of them. But it shows you just how far afield Google has gone from a ’simple’ search!

Pumpkin Show "You had to be there"

"You had to be there" is an old saying that is very true. If not from Versailles, Indiana you just can't know the excitement that comes from "The Pumpkin Show". It comes the last of September each year. It is usually cool or some say brisk, just before the leaves turn and first frost comes. It is a time to meet school mates and friends, Some call it a home coming. You can see people that live far and away that travel just once or every year home to their roots of Versailles. Our little town has a small population of less than 1,500, It has only one stoplight, but once a year it swells to overwhelming proportions. Friday night at the Versailles Legion Post is where you go to see old friends, Saturday morning is the parade. Anything goes here, You can dress up, ride a float, march with the Veterans, advertise your business, campaign for office, or whatever. I almost forgot, there is the big pumpkin contest along with other produce and cooking events. I suppose if you are from a big city this may seem kind of corny to you, but "you just have to be there" one time and yes, you are hooked from now on. Come and see for yourself.
See some photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jack.demaree