The Windows Power Users Guide is a MUST HAVE book to get the most out of Windows 7 that is for people of all technical ability. The book (now FREE as an eBook) was first published in 2009 by Mike Halsey (MVP).  Mike is also author of the famous book Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out from Microsoft Press… The book contains 16 chapters and is a guide on how to get the very best out of Windows 7 from installation to configuration and advanced ope … Read More

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So is this Captain Malware?

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Play GemCraft, a free online game on Kongregate. This is a fun game that I spent many hours on. It is fun to level up and play strategy games.

Beautiful light. Isn’t it nice to know that there are many wonderful things in the world?

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StorageSearch.com lists the top 20 SSD companies – Jan 2011 edition – StumbleUpon. This is a helpful list if you need to research SSD’s and thinking of buying one. Really almost any SSD will make a big difference in the performance and data safety of your work.

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People with fast metabolisms have shorter lifespans MNN – Mother Nature… – StumbleUpon. I guess you don’t get something for nothing. Isn’t it funny that the things that we are jealous about in others are often nothing to be jealous about?

Sobs and Growls Come Across In Any Language LiveScience – StumbleUpon. Interesting. Some communication always seems to be understood. I wrote a response to that in the comments.

Interesting that language is so rich isn’t it? We really communicate in many ways don’t we? ​http://chimac.net/2011/04/15/languages-​more-diverse-in-africa/

Filed under: Third Party Misc Hardware Tagged: business, Digg, Facebook, News, Reddit, Social Media, StumbleUpon, Twitter, WikiPedia ]]> http://chimac.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/japanese-scientists-create-elastic-water-stumbleupon/feed/ 0 chimac http://chimac.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/time-spent-with-a-newspaper-in-2006-and-in-2010/ http://chimac.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/time-spent-with-a-newspaper-in-2006-and-in-2010/#comments Mon, 02 May 2011 00:42:38 +0000 chimac http://chimac.net/?p=42923 ]]> why-online-news-revenue-will-never-equal-newspaper-revenue-o.png from… – StumbleUpon. I had no idea so little time was being spend on news. Only 1 min and 12 seconds a day. How can you understand anything like that?

Image by angrykeyboarder via Flickr

I shared my experience in this comment:
Unfortunately all brands have problems. The most problematic for me have been Epsons, Lexmark and Brother. The best have been Canon. I have loved the canon printers i have had. HP laser jet printers tend to be good. If you have an HP you might need drivers that HP doesn’t provide. You might find this useful.

http://chimac.net/2010/12/01/deskjet-5650-compatibility-for-10-6-snow-leopard/

HP deskjet F4480. Not a bad little printer. New a year or two ago. I was pretty happy with it; I rarely printed color, but color was nice to have for the occasional photo printout. I was still on the original ink cartridges that came with the machine. And then one day it decided the color cartridge was a knock-off and refused to print with a foreign cartridge (which is in fact an HP cartridge) installed. There are help instructions about wiping t … Read More

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House on Fire, a photo by Mel on Flickr.

Beautiful. Wouldn’t this be great to come home to?

Pretty cool isn’t it? I wonder who stacked them?

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What I think is interesting in this story from Gizmodo is the fact that they wear a yellow badge. Wasn’t Germany famous for making its Jewish citizens wear a yellow star? Did someone skip their history class?

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Why women are crabby : The Email Joke Graveyard – StumbleUpon. Well not surprisingly the men in the comments don’t agree and I am one of them. I wrote this in response:

Why Women should be glad who they are

Why do you think that most sex change operations are men seeking to become women? Because men have such a wonderful life? Or is it because they feel deep down that being female is who they feel themselves to be.

You skip the most important parts of being a woman. It isn’t having pain or of the stages of a woman’s life. You forget that women get to experience the miracle of life and birth, a privilege that many men would love to be able to experience even with the pain.

You don’t mention that women can have close female relationships and are free from many of the same societal expectations men face. You forget to mention that men die sooner, have shorter lives, and have a higher rate of disease. Men are clearly weaker in many ways, and our shorter lives prove it.

Women experience multiple orgasms easier than men can. Some men can do it, but it is comparatively rare compared to women. Women have mating opportunities in numbers that men only dream about. Even good-looking, smart or great men don’t get the same kind of approaching that even an average women gets. Be honest. Even ugly women can get a boyfriend, when often men who possess multiple admirable qualities do not.

It is the easiest thing to focus on the pain in life, but try to remember what the joys of being a woman are. Try not to forget that if gender were a choice the numbers would be far different. Try to realize that it is the inner person who chooses to enjoy life, not the details of whatever body you were born into.

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?p=1568 from anjamerret.com – StumbleUpon. This is one persons reaction to the news of the deaths in Libya. I responded with this:

I agree that war is not the answer. However if you are going to take the time to write this, why not think of an alternative solution. Gadaffi hasn’t listened to reason either.

Is this war any more defensible than what he is doing? Did you read this one?
http://infidelsarecool.com/2011/04/gaddafi-soldiers-raping-children/

Now which is worse? Killing the man/family who allows this to happen or for more to suffer? The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few do they not?

If we viewed all children as our own we might be more inclined to kill Gadaffi. Would you want that to happen to any children?

Image by State Library and Archives of Florida via Flickr

Google and Facebook challenge French government on personal data law – SC… – StumbleUpon. This article explores who should control the users data. This is my response to that article:

It looks unreal and perfect doesn’t it? I wonder how much work it takes to maintain something like this?

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Tech Goes Strong – StumbleUpon. This article explores some of the questions and challenges that becoming earth friendly cause. He nicely explains and gives examples and there is certainly some truth to what he says. I responded to it with a comment and said:

There is some truth that companies “Greenwash” their products and things that they fought against in the past. It is also true that it takes time to work the mindset of recycling into people. I am fairly young and sometimes I forget to recycle. It isn’t that people don’t care about the world they pass onto their children or relatives, it is just that being a mature adult is sometimes boring and people hate that.

If people were rewarded immediately, directly for recycling in a concrete way then everyone would do it. I am lucky enough to live at a place that pay people for their bottles that they recycle. If more places had that, people would recycle. But to the average person getting a store to pay them 5 cents to recycle a bottle isn’t worth it. Nor is the time/administrative expense to change the current way of doing business.

It is difficult to get people to see that saving money is as important as making it. I work as a consultant and explain how they can save money if they switch technologies and invest and the hard numbers to prove they will make the investment back in a few months. Do you know what most people do? “Oh well, let me think about it.” People are afraid of the unknown and we can’t push people to change. People change at their own pace.

There are so many great technologies that just haven’t been given support due to the same kind of thinking that causes other problems. “Good enough” isn’t good enough when it poisons the present and future. Take for instance this talk from TED.

http://chimac.net/2011/04/16/ted-growing-air-recycle-indoor-air-100-with-just-3-plants-ctn-gree-stumbleupon/

How many people do you think are doing this when it would not only increase their health and energy but others as well? If that isn’t enlightened self-interest I don’t know what is.

It is beautiful. Purple is such a rich color isn’t it?

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Crazy Video Of The Ground Shifting During The Japanese Quake VIDEO – StumbleUpon. Pretty dramatic footage of the ground opening and closing. If you have never been in an earthquake (raises hand) pretty fascinating. The dog is barking which is a nice warning as well.

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Seeing in the Dark. When people dismiss the idea of an unconscious affecting their behavior I will share this story. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be aware of things and not consciously aware of them?

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How Apples Moral Compass Works Fast Company – StumbleUpon. Interesting list of iPhone Apps that were banned and the reasons why. I didn’t know some of these and it’s a good review. If I were a developer/iPad app marketer I would read this.

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I have had the fortune to move to a new environment in another state. It has been a little stressful and I wanted to share some ideas that may make moving to a new place easier for you.

1. Allow yourself time to adjust. I have been in my new place less than a week yet I want to continue with my life as though I had never left my previous place. It takes time to learn geography, culture, weather and so many other less defined things. I found it helpful to meditate and to allow to absorb my environment.
2. Make time to connect to others. This is always important but even more so when moving to a new place. Take every opportunity to attend every social event you can. Find a group to join, and hang out in the popular places. Be friendly and be interested in others.
3. Be open to feeling a little odd at first. You aren’t going to reflect your society in your first week. It might take a month or a year. Be ok with sometimes feeling strange, and admitting your discomfort. Often when you feel awkward so do others. Being emotionally honest is a very helpful thing in making friends.
4. When you love life, look for ways to share your enthusiasm with others. Invite others to do things in public. Invite and don’t expect, but just give people opportunities to get to know you. Often people can be shy and not share who they are because of their own fears.
5. Smile and laugh. Look for ways to enjoy life. If others are around you great, great. If they are not, that is ok too, because a naturally happy person soon attracts attention.

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Cloud Storage vs. USB Drives, Portable USB Flash Drive Data Storage Premium USB Blog. I was thinking today how often I have been reading that people are using things like DropBox/Mozy/Google documents more than USB/external hard drives. This gives you some good pros/cons why you might choose one over the other.

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This is a touching movie. It talks about how children who take forgiveness training are more kind, understanding and interested in their fellow classmates. I think this is a very valuable idea.

Is it any surprise that when we have a society that values capitalism more than equality and fairness, that we have the kind of social problems we have? Nothing is wrong with having money, but something is wrong when we focus our time more on making money than on caring for the community for humanity.

Idealistic? Not at all. Caring is completely practical. Isn’t it a fact that we spend more on housing criminals and burying people in which great sums of money have been invested? What cost has society suffered with the pain and suffering in the pursuit of wealth and power? What could we do with the money used for wars instead on technology and infrastructure used for peaceful purposes? It is almost inconceivable the kind of paradise this world could be if we could remember that others happiness and success are just as important as our own.

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Geek Out:. This is a fairly basic but helpful way to understand Dark Matter. Some concepts in life are just so huge. The idea that there is more matter we can’t see than matter we can see is mind-boggling. Click on the link above to watch the video.

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Apple Lied: Filed Patent for Mobile Device Tracking – StumbleUpon. Well this really makes Mr. Jobs statements seem particularly devious. “These are not the facts that you are looking for” said with a Jedi mind trick.

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I wonder what about science fiction it is that is addictive? I like the idea that anything is possible and that our reality is more about our choices than the real world. We are so loaded with beliefs, ideas, feelings and influences that it is hard to say that we really experience reality.

Doesn’t it seem sometimes that we feel constricted by our sense of reality? I think that’s part of why scifi is so attractive. You see characters who suffer from their sense of reality is the only one. I am not sure that having an open-mind is always the answer. I think it’s a way to start to examine if what you believe is helping your enjoyment of life or not.

I contacted the manufacture of the pillow and send them the photos. They asked for the UPC of the product and a copy of the sales receipt. I guess to verify if I stole the pillow. I don’t have a copy of the receipt but told them the amount/place of purchase and offered to send them the CC info I used to buy it. So perhaps that is enough. Avoid BrentWood Originals at all costs. They don’t stand behind their product. They are sending me to Bed, Bath & Beyond to replace the item and haven’t told me that they are going to reimburse the damage to the stain on my floor.

I expect that they will refuse to refund the pillow that stains things without a receipt. We shall see.

The bottom photo is the “chocolate” stain on the wall. It also stained a tan wall that was painted in my previous residence.Click to view slideshow.

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Feeding triplets – Editorials – NewsObserver.com – StumbleUpon. Coal is such a dirty way to get energy. It is absolutely appalling that we have allowed research and development of clean energy alternatives to linger for so long.

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Anarchism, Capitalism, Altruism : Why do I open source? Too many tabs – StumbleUpon. This is a good explanation why someone might choose to do Open Source products or services. I think not everything needs financial compensation and sometimes just giving is the fair thing to do.

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AT. In the link it will explain how AT&T upgraded from a 250MB account to 2GB one. Still given the amount of data his device can use and the fact that it is an emergency situation, that might not be enough either. I wonder how much his overage charges will be?

Looks gorgeous doesn’t it?

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I have tried Thumbtack and it makes the process to post an ad on Craigslist very easy. I got my first referral last week for a possible job. If you want to learn more you can click on this referral link. CL is pretty good for jobs, but this allows you to track and add a more professional look to your advertisement.

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Would you trust the government to clean a virus off your computer? I must admit that I wouldn’t feel comfortable. It wouldn’t be that hard to install monitoring software as well.

I’ll be honest and admit I’ve heard little about the botnet being referred to as Coreflood. Apparently it did something nasty enough to gain the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) though: Two weeks ago, the DOJ and the FBI obtained an unprecedented temporary restraining order that allowed them to seize five command-and-control (C&C) servers that managed Coreflood. Since then, the U.S. Marshal’s Service has operated substi … Read More

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