"Those who know and know they know are wise, listen to them. Those who do not know and know that they do not know are intelligent, teach them. Those who do not know and do not know that they do not know are dangerous, smite them." -- unknown, paraphrased
Saving Your Computer · 51 days ago by John
Here are a couple easy tips to keeping your computer from blowing up from viruses, malware and other things you don’t want to be associated with.
- Never click on a popup. Many of them take you to sites you don’t want to be associated with or which will steal from you. If you see something you’re interested in in a popup, close the popup and type in the address of the site you want to visit into your browser. The link on the popup may very well not be taking you where you think you want to go.
- Never click on an address in an unsolicited email. The worst of this category are fake sites which want you to go to them, look like your bank’s site and want to trick you into typing your username and password into their site. One again, if you need to go to a site you are familiar with, type it into the browser or use a shortcut you’ve created.
- Go to Snopes
- Learn what cookies are. And learn why they can be good and why they can be bad.
- Set up the wireless protection on your wireless router. Get the manual out and do it.
$699 for Adobe Photosop? Most people don't need it. Get GIMP. · 63 days ago by John
Adobe Photoshop is an awesome application. I love it. It is powerful, easy to use and ubiquitous. But it’s also $699! For high-end photographers, print advertisers and the like, it is well worth the cost. For everyone else, get GIMP The GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is very powerful in its own right and, with a little time reading the manual, you can do amazing things with it.
Stop Paying for Microsoft Office - Get OpenOffice instead · 108 days ago by John
Microsoft Office has become a real goat over the years. It’s almost impossible to use quickly and efficiently with its crazy menus and odd feeling interface. Then, on top of that, they want an arm and a leg for it. So, the next time you replace your computer (or today for that matter) get OpenOffice . This is a free suite of MS Office-like products which can do the majority of things you do with MS Office. And, it’s free!
It also has the ability of saving documents in Office 97/2000/XP format which is readily readable by all modern versions of MS Office. And, it has a built-in PDF document creator which can be read by Adobe Reader
Day 1 - Our New Home · 486 days ago by John
So, I asked myself this morning, “should I attempt to blog about the entire home building process?” I decided the answer is, “why not?” So… let’s get caught up to where we are. This is really “Day 2” but I’m going to call it Day 1 because I’m blogging about the events leading up to the signing of the contract.
We’ve chosen to build a Brady at The Landings in the Pinnacle subdivision in Grove City. We were moments away from walking away. More than once M/I Homes chose to quietly “not mention” things that most buyers would find objectionable… like a $1061 annual assessment on the property which is separate from the Home Owners’ Association dues and the property taxes. It was listed in its monthly form in one of a couple dozen lines in the “estimated monthly cost of ownership” form… but that was the only time it was even written down. And, no one bothered to mention it in our discussions about the home. Luckily, when they shoved 15 pages of documents to sign in front of us, we said, “OK, we’ll take these home and read them and get back with you.” I have to wonder what percentage of their buyers never notice that $1000/year until they’ve signed everything.
I made the appointments with the M/I Financial to see if they can beat our current loan offers. Thanks to AJ, we have really good credit and a little bit of a war chest and a good salary history which makes us a pretty attractive loan applicant. We also made our appointment with their design center where they’re going to try to sell us $20,000 worth of upgrades until I tell them that we’ll walk out the door if they try it.
They’re in the business of selling emotional content. Anyone can sell and build a house. To be profitable at it, you need some type of emotional content. I’m going in sans emotion… so let’s hope I can keep it that way and we can keep our money and they can keep their bidet!
Who Do You Think You Are? · 1448 days ago by John
“We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents.” – Justice William J. Brennan, Texas v. Johnson
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Who do these men and woman and these men and women who voted for a Constitutional Amendment to somehow “protect” Old Glory think they are? I know they think very highly of themselves; but, do they really think so highly of themselves that they think they can do anything, anything, that can further protect and uphold the greatest symbol of freedom the world has ever known? It is embarrassing to see my congressional representative Pat Tiberi and senators Mike DeWine and George Voinovich, men who have never even served their country in uniform, think that they can vote away the First Amendment and somehow further consecrate and defend our nation’s symbol of liberty?
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Our flag is protected by something that no law can ever surpass. It is consecrated and venerated by something that no politician, no governmental action, no resolution and, dare I say, no Constitutional Amendment is greater than. Forget the stupid, devisive arguments which the Republicans want to divide us with about how those who would not vote for an Anti-Flag Desecration bill are somehow un-American. Forget about those who even think it is antithetical to the First Amendment (of which I am one). There are greater reasons for us to be opposed to an Anti-Flag Desecration Amendment. Humility. Awe. And Honor.
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No one among us, in any fashion, can protect Old Glory more than she is already protected. There isn’t a law great enough nor a person exhalted enough to enact a law greater than the protection our flag already has. Those who think they can are not only fools, but also braggarts and self-indulgent, pompous elitists who think far too highly of themselves.
Why do I think this? Why would I call those who want to “protect” our flag such virulent names? It is simple. 551254, as of the time of this post, men and women have died in action for the flag of the United States of America. Their blood, their sacrifice, their lives were given to her to protect her for all eternity. And anyone who thinks some words on some paper can provide more protection than that is rightly deserving of scorn and ridicule. I’m starting with Tiberi, DeWine and Voinovich… but you can spread the word.