You are looking at posts that were written in the month of December in the year 2005.
« OlderYou can send me a mesage by email: jim at i-rant.org
You can leave me a note on this website.
But don't forget to leave a comment on a particular post.
JimmyC
Here I go… trying again to get back in the saddle.
5:11PM
38:08
3.64 Miles
10:29 Pace
150 AHR
Run in Cape Canaveral - Florida. Around the Raddison at the Port.
by Maia Charanis - class assignment, October 2005
Have you lost a family member, someone you love?
If you have or just want to know how to deal with it this is a story for you. Before you read this I am going to tell you that a lot of times it’s difficult to let someone you love go. I can relate to being upset about things like this. It has happened to me before, not just once though, but three times.
It all started when I was about six or seven years old. We were in our old house on a nice day when my mom got a phone call. By the time she hung up the phone her eyes were red and teary. At that time I had no idea what was wrong, so I asked my dad. What he said made me very sad. What my dad said was that my mother’s grandfather had just passed away.
After a couple of years, since we moved into the house I’m living in now, we got another phone call. This time my dad’s grandmother had passed away. That was very difficult for me. Then a few years past, and we all got better. Then my mom got another call. This time her grand mother had passed away. That was very, very difficult for me. My friends and family helped me through it all though.
I would like to thank all of the people who helped me me deal with this, and all the people who helped me understand it all better. Now even though I only have one great grandparent living, I feel closer to him. I feel less and less shy. Now I enjoy the visits more and more.
I hope you’ve learned something. I know I have. You should not take anything for granted.
The
End.
Microsoft stopped updating Internet Explorer for Mac OS X when Apple built Safari. Safari is based on Mozilla - or the base code for Netscape Navigator and Firefox - the fastest growing internet browser out there. If you already use Firefox for Windows XP then you get it.
Safari has a few cool features IE doesn’t. One is the idea of tabbed browsing. Firefox has this too. You can open a new tab by clicking on the File menu and selecting New Tab or just type command-T (apple key and the T key simultaneously). This allows you to move between pages. You can also open multiple bookmarks in tabs with one click - I do this every morning - I have several pages I open at once in tabs - WSJ, ETrade, etc..

The other cool feature is RSS. Firefox has a plugin for it too. Many sites now have hidden code that puts all of their headlines in RSS data streams. If you go to http://news.yahoo.com/ for example, you will see an RSS in the right hand corner of the address bar. Click on it and it will open a window with all the “RSS feeds” - its a way to do a quick read of the articles on the website. I use this for sites like BBC, WSJ, Yahoo news, etc to see all headlines quickly.
Oh, one more cool feature. Google is built into the top of the Safari browser - on the right just type in what you want to search for. In Firefox that same box appears and its configurable to add other search engines. I use it all the time.
The only problem is older websites that have Microsoft specific code in them - they sometimes behave badly in Safari or Firefox. This is a pain in the butt but its also why the Mac is more secure. In email and web browsing Microsoft Active X controls don’t work. And the hackers use these controls to “control” your computer. Smart programmers use more advanced tools like java and flash to do cool stuff, lazy ones use active x - in my opinion. When you hit a website like that try using the old version of IE or unfortunately go to a Windows XP machine. Finally, don’t forget you will probably have to load up plugins from time to time - like Macromedia Flash and Adobe Acrobat. There are Mac versions of those applications too.
Jim
Switchers - those that Switch from Windows XP to Mac OSX often struggle with the concept of active applications. A friend asked how do you close a window without closing the whole application. She clicked on the red x and thought it was all gone. In short:
Make what you want to close “active”, go the the menu and click on the first item (the name of the application and pull down the menu to quit. OR simply type the command key (the apple key next to the space bar) and Q at the same time.
Key principle here is that Mac OS X applications can run simultaneously and you can switch between them by either clicking on the active application on the Dock at the bottom or holding down the command (apple) key and hitting the tab key. You can tell an application is active when there is a black triangle underneath it. Note, the finder (the face) and the dashboard (speedometer) are always active.
Each application shares the menu at the top when its “active” so you will see it change when you command-tab or click on the application in the dock.
Windows are closed with the red dot but that doesn’t close the application. Windows are minimized with the yellow button (they drop down to the dock). And they are optimized by the green dot - either made bigger or fit to the screen.
Switch from Windows XP to Mac OSX: Airport and Old Printers on the Mac OSX.
I figured out the key to getting windows pc’s on line using Apple Airport Express.
Make sure they are all set to get an IP address from the router.
I configured the AirPort tab to…Create A Wireless Network (Home Router)
And I setup Internet tab to…enter your DSL user id and change the password to your password; set the Wan to automatic and always connected.
Finally, on the Network tab in the Airport setup…
Select Distribute IP addresses.
Share a single IP address and pull down the select button to: use 192.168.1.1 addressing.
That makes sense, since most LAN’s use that TCP/IP prefix - all my pc’s and macs were able to get an IP address from the built in DHCP server on the Airport.
In Windows XP make sure you set the Network card to get an IP automatically.
Right click on your Network Icon and click Properties.
Right click on the icon for your network card and select the LAN connection’s Properties.
Click on the General Tab and then select the TCP/IP setting. Then click the Properties button.
Make sure both radio buttons are set to “obtain an IP address automatically” and “obtain DNS server addresses automatically (unless your DSL provider requires you have a direct selection)”
If you have an old printer, it may not have drivers installed for Mac OSX.
I have had success with:
Gimp Print for Mac OS X
Check to see if your printer is supported. Gimp Print supported a 7 year old laser printer we had.
FAQ’s for Gimp Print
Basically, you should download Gimp-Print 4.2.7 from one of the mirror sites and install it on your mac. It will install drivers and you can setup your printer using the Printer Setup utility in the Applications/Utilities folder.
Once you setup Gimp Print and plug your printer into your imac you should be able to setup the printer. Plug the printer and the modem in the airport and reset the airport by unplugging and plugging it in. It should show up on the network when you run printer setup utility as a “bonjour” printer.
…Merriman had perhaps his best game as a pro, finishing with seven tackles. He was credited with two sacks as got Manning by himself once and shared a pair with Igor Olshansky. “Shawne plays with tremendous power,†Schottenheimer said. “You saw that today. He really came through for us.â€
OK, do my friends from Baltimore still hate the Colts for leaving? Shawne made UMD proud today. He is going to be amazing.
Then I had to watch the Southern “birds” get wracked in 14 degrees by my childhood team - da Bears. Urlacher is a classic Bears linebacker - he was everywhere! What a great player. And I love watching Michael Vick - today there was nothing to watch. Still, I hope the Falcons make it to the playoffs.
The Video iPod is a hit. And I am really jealous!
I’ve got what I think they call a second or third gen iPod. The wheel is below the controlls. Its a 40GB version though and I do love it. No better way to take music with you and the user interface (UI) is so intuitive its creepy. That’s what people that don’t get it don’t get. Its not the size, the storage, the screen, the iTunes store - its the UI. The way you move from screen to screen simply. The way the scroll wheel speeds up and slows down the scroll based on your touch and speed - its amazing. That’s the point. Anyway, here is a great review of the video version - the new iPod….
Dear God, thank you for this. I hope it continues. Why not create states like we have here. If you are a liberal live in the northeast, conservative the bible belt. Or a great state like GA here where we even manage by county! No, its not perfect but if the Iraqis figure it out they can have states with conservative views - secular in others.
I’m dreaming I know, the fundamentalists say “anyone not like me must die.” I’m sure. But perhaps that’s only a small part of the popl.
When I posed the article previously mentioned to an Iranian friend (now a US Citizen) who has lived here over 25 years and hails from a time with the Shah he explained to me that 99% of the Iranians aren’t for the extreme views of the government - but they are forced to vote for the choices they are given. Lesser of two evils. He says almost 100% of the Iranians outside of that country don’t support that view of “death to America and Israel”.
The Sunni’s have a right to live the way they want. If most believe that they cannot support a lifestyle like we live, then don’t live it. It works here, for the most part.
So its down to guys like Bin Laudin - ass hole. So much hate, such a short life. My faith is in the teachings of Torah that says to live life here the best you can
-its not about the afterlife, its about life.
I’ve brought this up before with friends. I remember this Muppets bit as a kid where the monsters did this song
Mahna Mahna
Beep Bee Beedebe
Mahna Mahna
Beep Bee Dee Beep
and no one remembers it. But CAKE did it on an album called “for the kids.”
Here’s to being right..
Sweet new service from Google. I’m still not sold on Google’s relevancy algorithm with regard to links to sites, especially as the web gets bigger and bigger. But they are doing a fantastic job integrating specific information into “fuzzy search”. I worked in document imaging and information management from its beginning and the organization of unstructured data into a structured view is always the challenge. The new music search is great because it takes what’s out there and organizes it. It plays well with others too. You type in Peter Gabriel and you get a page of hits for websites about or that mention him but at the top, like they do with addresses on maps, you get a specific link to his music and albums. The key is that it uses sites and sources like epinions and the Apple music store not a proprietary database or store. Article on it:
Schmidt’s Google Has New Ear for Music - Forbes.com
Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) says it is adding links to songs, lyrics and fan sites at the top of a results page for a musical artist, thus “addressing a deficiency” in its Web search, according to an Associated Press report. The new section, which debuts today, isn’t meant to become a separate online library, rather like Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people )’s venture. Type a name like “Coldplay” into the latter’s search engine and you’re greeted with Yahoo!’s version of bios and photos in Yahoo! Music, itself a vendor from which you can purchase music and even concert tickets, via Yahoo! Tickets. Microsoft’s (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) MSN also has a similar feature.
No special instructions - just use the same old google search button, but you can search only music by putting musicsearch in the URL:
Google Search - musicsearch
