Baghdad Glamour

You might be a Computer Support Technician if...

when asked about a bus schedule, you wonder if it is 16 or 32 bits. 

you dream in 256 pallettes of 256 colors.

you are reading a book and look for the scroll bar to get to the next page. 

after fooling around all day with routers etc, you pick up the phone and start dialing an IP number.

you get in the elevator and double-click the button for the floor you want.

you look for an icon to double-click to open your bedroom window.

you look for the undo command after making a mistake.

you know how to take the cover off of your computer, and what size screwdriver to use.

you can understand sentences with four or more acronyms in them.

you would rather get more dots per inch than miles per gallon.

you rotate your screen savers more frequently than your automobile tires.

you see a bumper sticker that says "Users are Losers" and you have no idea it is referring to drugs.

you know without a doubt that diskettes come in five-and-a-quarter and three-and-a-half inch sizes.

you have ended friendships because of irreconcilably different opinions about which is better -- the track ball or the track pad.

you are zen-like in your acceptance of users, realizing that there is no limit to the depths of cluelessness, and yet you help them anyway.

Then and now...

As my friends know (and soon you will too), I love taking pictures.  I think my camera and I rarely part, I do wonder sometimes what would my camera say if it was to speak. It would probably ask to retire! I believe I have fully used and abused it ;-) 

It is a simple camera but I love the quality of its pictures, and its been with me for quite a while now, during hot and cold, on land and in air!

I mainly like to photograph nature, (specifically trees in autumn, I might add. Along with clouds -absolutely beautiful Saskatoon Skies-, flowers, scenery.... anything that catches my attention). I like to take plenty of pictures when on trips, to make a beautiful photo album of that trip to remember later on. I also like to compare the same shots in different seasons or after some time, just to track the differences and bring back some memories. 

Today while browsing one of my many albums (thank God for Picasa!), I came across the following picture. This was the view of the main Admin building at the University of Saskatchewan exactly one year ago. It was a chilly -22 degrees (Celcius):

Fortunately, this year I could say that we are lucky (so far!). The following is the same view today: 

It is a wonderful 4 degrees (Celcius) outside, with no snow. 

Is it going to remain like that or are we expecting drastic changes? I guess we all know its inevitable...

I'll try to dig up some of my favorite photos and post them later on, but for the time being, the idea of a much warmer day than last year keeps me warm and happy ;-)

Microwaved water.. see what it does to plants!

I got this information through a forwarded email; I am not sure if it is true or not, as I did not run the experiment, but I always disliked using the microwave, and I don’t use it unless it is absolutely necessary. I think food tastes a bit different and it becomes cold in no time. So I guess there might be some truth to it after all. Anyway, I thought it is worth sharing...

 “

13^th April 2006:

 NOTE: We received the following link from Ms. Nenah Sylver and found it of such importance that we are posting it hoping that the author will contact us so we can give full attribution. –ed

 *********

Below is a science fair project that my granddaughter did for 2006. In it she took filtered water and divided it into two parts. The first part she heated to boiling in a pan on the stove, and the second part she heated to boiling in a microwave. Then after cooling she used the water to water two identical plants to see if there would be any difference in the growth between the normal boiled water and the water boiled in a microwave. She was thinking that the structure or energy of the water may be compromised by microwave. As it turned out, even she was amazed at the difference.

I have known for years that the problem with microwaved anything is not the radiation people used to worry about, it's how it corrupts the DNA in the food so the body cannot recognize it.

So the body wraps it in fat cells to protect itself from the dead food or it eliminates it fast.

Think of all the Mothers heating up milk in these "Safe" appliances. What about the nurse in Canada that warmed up blood for a transfusion patient and accidentally killed them when the blood went in dead.

But the makers say it's safe. Never mind then, keep using them. Ask your Doctor. I am sure they will say it's safe too.

Proof is in the pictures of living plants dying. Remember You are also Living. Take Care. ”

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Speeding???

An older lady gets pulled over for speeding...

Older Woman: Is there a problem, Officer?

Officer: Ma'am, you were speeding.

Older Woman: Oh, I see.

Officer: Can I see your license please?

Older Woman: I'd give it to you but I don't have one.

Officer: Don't have one?

Older Woman: Lost it, 4 years ago for drunk driving.

Officer: I see...Can I see your vehicle registration papers please.

Older Woman: I can't do that.

Officer: Why not?

Older Woman: I stole this car.

Officer: Stole it?

Older Woman: Yes, and I killed and hacked up the owner.

Officer: You what?

Older Woman: His body parts are in plastic bags in the trunk if you want to see!

The Officer looks at the woman and slowly backs away to his car and calls for back up. 

Within minutes 5 police cars circle the car. A senior officer slowly approaches the car, clasping his half drawn gun.

Officer 2: Ma'am, could you step out of your vehicle please! The woman steps out of her vehicle.

Older woman: Is there a problem sir?

Officer 2: One of my officers told me that you have stolen this car and murdered the owner.

Older Woman: Murdered the owner?

Officer 2: Yes, could you please o pen the trunk of your car, please.

The woman opens the trunk, revealing nothing but an empty trunk.

Officer 2: Is this your car, ma'am?

Older Woman: Yes, here are the registration papers.

The officer is quite stunned.

Officer 2: One of my officers claims that you do not have a driving license.

The woman digs into her handbag and pulls out a clutch purse and hands it to the officer.

The officer examines the license. He looks quite puzzled.

Officer 2: Thank you ma'am, one of my officers told me you didn't have a license, that you stole this car, and that you murdered and hacked up the owner.

Older Woman: Bet the liar told you I was speeding, too.

Don't Mess With Old Ladies!

 

Issues with Google Chrome

There are so many internet browsers out there. I have always been a solid Internet Explorer fan, however, I have been experiencing some problems with it recently, especially with their latest one (Version 7).  Issues of performance (very slow to respond at times), hang ups, and the enormous memory usage started affecting my laptop’s overall performance. Not very good when you are doing research!

I tried Mozilla Firefox but I did not like it, no specific reason, I liked their tabs but their Bookmarks reminded me of Netscape Navigator.

Anyway, I thought why not try Google’s new browser Chrome, which was also recommended by some friends. My colleague Dong also has a post about it on his blog: (http://dongnotes.blogspot.com/2008/09/comic-of-google-chrome.html )

What I really like about it is its performance. Really fast, and seems reliable. Still has tabs which is great, and I can encode content to read articles written in different languages which is important to me. I love their “Most Visited Links” feature, detachable and retachable tabs, and access to recent bookmarks.

I am running through the following issues though:

1.       Accessing Yahoo Mail:

•  Sometimes does not open the page and gives an error (something within the lines of a plug-in issue and it has to close the browser).
  
  
•  In Explorer, I enjoyed the email address auto complete feature. It is not there anymore in Chrome. I have to literally access my address book and go through all the list of contacts to add a contact, which is nowadays time consuming.
  
  
•  What I do in research sometimes, is that I email myself some interesting links for further review or safe keeping. Sometimes it is just a simple reminder line with no content. Now with Explorer, I get this warning about sending an empty email, and I have the option to continue or cancel sending the message. Unfortunately, this warning box hangs in Chrome! It keeps processing endlessly, showing an empty box till I kill it.

2.       Some applications do not open in Chrome. For example, some Facebook applications (like the flower app) would never open in Chrome! I get their home page, but when I wish to browse their flowers, it once again keeps processing endlessly with no results. Therefore, I have to access Facebook from Explorer.

3.       Another good feature that I enjoyed with Explorer was joined with my version of Real Player. Whenever I view a video clip that I like, I have the option to download it to my real player. This feature does not seem to exist in Chrome, so I am back to Explorer.

As you can see, I am toggling now between both browsers, depending on what I want to do.

 I realize that Google Chrome is currently in beta version, but I thought of pointing out a couple of issues that I am currently experiencing, to see if anyone else has the same problems or knows of any solutions.

If The Matrix Ran on Windows XP!

Now what happens if The Matrix ran on Microsoft Windows XP?

If you like The Matrix movie, and use Windows XP OS, I think you will enjoy this clip.

Thanks to my friends Dmytro & Annia for sharing ;-)

A wife is a wife ... no matter who you are ;-)

Day and night...

This photo is absolutely beautiful. Be sure to read the text below to have a better understanding of what you are viewing. It is historic too, as it was taken during the last mission for Columbia.

The photograph above was taken by the crew on board the Columbia  during its last mission, on a cloudless day. The picture is of Europe and Africa when the sun is setting. Half of the picture is in night. The bright dots you see are the cities' lights.  The top part of Africa is the Sahara Desert. 

Note that the lights are already on in Holland, Paris, and Barcelona,
and that's its still daylight in Dublin, London, Lisbon, and Madrid. 

The sun is still shining on the Strait of Gibraltar. The Mediterranean Sea is already in darkness.  In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean you can see the Azores Islands; below them to the right are the Madeira Islands ; a bit below are the Canary Islands; and further South, close to the farthest western point of Africa , are the Cape Verde Islands.  Note that the Sahara is huge and can be seen clearly both during day time and night time.  To the left, on top, is Greenland, totally frozen.

Funny toons...

Job Opening!

The CIA had an opening for an assassin. After all the background checks, interviews and testing were done, there were 3 finalists...2 men and a woman. 

For the final test, the CIA agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun. "We must know that you will follow your instructions, no matter what the circumstances." 

"Inside this room, you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Kill her!!!" 
The man said, "You can’t be serious. I could never shoot my wife." 
The agent said, "Then you're not the right man for this job. Take your wife and go home." 

The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room. All was quiet for about five minutes, and then the man came out with tears in his eyes. 
"I tried, but I can’t kill my wife!!!". 
The agent said, “You don't have what it takes. Take your wife and go home." 

Finally, it was the woman's turn. She was given the same Instructions to kill her husband. She took the gun and went into the room. Shots were heard, one shot after another. They heard screaming, crashing, banging on the walls. After a few minutes, all was quiet. The door opened slowly and there stood the woman. She wiped the sweat from her brow. 

"This gun is loaded with blanks, she said. I had to beat him to death with the chair." !!!!!!!