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Mozilla Pushing

Well, I did my part. I thought I should help out my dad, provide him with a web browser that was more standards compliant, more powerful, had less bugs, and less security holes. So the other day we installed Firebird, so that he can use that instead of MSIE if he so desires. The number one feature to discuss was pop-up blocking. We also covered tabbed browsing briefly, as well as going over bookmarks and a quick run through the preferences.

My uncle then said he had some computer problem, a pop-up that just wouldn’t go away. I wrote http://mozilla.org/ on a scrap of paper for him with some simple instructions to download and install Firebird.

For the next family gathering, I should just bring along a few CD‘s with the most recent Firebird release on them. (I did give a CD to my dad, which included Thunderbird… maybe next time we’ll get into that.)

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Visiting the Land of Mary

I was in Maryland most of the week… here’s what I got from it…

I flew out to Maryland. This was my first time flying since that whole September 11th thing, so I never got to deal with the security stuff before. This is what I learned. Metal is bad. Don’t carry metal. I had to remove my shoes, just to be safe. Next time I’m wearing the All Stars. Since the security guy told me I have a “military style” belt, I’m better off taking that off too. (In case you’re wondering, I got my “military style” belt at the GAP.) All in all the flight went well, and while people told me I’d get a fresh baked cookie, I actually got a “snack” that seemed to consist mainly of hydrogenated oils with some almonds, raisins, and cereal bits mixed in. I deposited it into a trashcan later on.

My destination was College Park, fittingly, it’s a college town, though the part I saw didn’t seem to be. I did manage to walk to MOM’s (My Organic Market) to load up on food that wasn’t full of hydrogenated oils, so that was good. Crossing Route 1 is not a simple task though, College Park is not a walking-friendly place. Even worse was when I tried to walk to IKEA. My rationale was this, I can see IKEA from the hotel, I can certainly walk there. I should have paid attention to my previous lesson, College Park is not a walking-friendly place. Still, I’m an adventurer, I’m an explorer, onward! 15 seconds into my walk, it started to rain. 30 seconds into my walk I was soaked, still I pressed on. I managed to cross on street, and ended up near Home Depot. Well, it was Home Depot, but there were two other gigantic stores attached to it. I had to walk around all three of them. I then found myself trapped behind Home Depot, and faced a very long walk to get around a fence. I choose the alternative, going over the fence… and into the thorny bushes. I was wearning shorts. I was also still soaking wet. Finally I made it to IKEA. I managed to get lost in IKEA, but eventually found the way out. And after all that, I still managed to convince myself that walking to MOM’s again would be a good idea. (Clif Bars were on sale!) I should have called Mr. Genehack and asked for a ride, but I’m stupid. What have we learned? It ain’t easy being organic.

I also went to Tea at Franklin’s as the guest of CarlaZone’s proprietor. There is no tea at Tea. There are interesting people at Tea. There’s a guy who works for… well, I can’t tell you. What does he do? He can’t tell us. Crazy stuff… If you’re intested in Tea, you can read more about Tea. I drank too much soda at Tea and it made my poor non-soda stomach hurt too much the next day. As we’ve already learned… It ain’t easy being organic.

The flight back was not very exciting, except that I swear that I saw a man on the wing of the plane!!!

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The Letterbox Presentation

I got to sit through a presentation the other day. You know, those things produced in PowerPoint. (Well, most people use PowerPoint, sadly…) Anyway, as I got to thinking about all of the PowerPoint presentations I’ve seen over the years, I realized, they always appear to use the standard rectangular format, using all of the width and height of the slide, nothing more that a replica of a piece of horizonal paper glued to the wall. Hasn’t anyone ever created a presentation designed around a square slide, or perhaps a circle or oval, or for some real credibility, in letterbox format?

Just think how impressed you’d be when a guest sets up their laptop, projector, and starts telling you all about their great solutions while staring at slides in wide screen. Wow… I can’t wait!

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Attack of the Harleys!

Sure, the Harleys came to town, as you may have heard. And yes, we saw many of these Harley Davidson motorbikes and the people who ride upon them. They invaded the state. It didn’t bother me too much really, we even watched the parade that started in Bullfrog Junction and ended near our house. And while the Elton thing was amusing, what we saw on Sunday might have been the highlight. We saw two guys riding together on a Harley. I know what you’re thinking, but the guy on the back was definitely not gay. I know this for sure. How do I know this? Because on the back of his t-shirt he taped a sign that said “I’m not gay. I got hit by a car.” And sure enough, he seemed to have some sort of bandages on his arms, and one arm seemed twisted as he held onto the back fender, though this might have just been so he didn’t have to put his arm around his “buddy” as is common when two people ride a motorcycle together. So as we’re driving and discussing this non-gay fellow, we notice the odd haircut he has, sort of shaved in a weird fashion, and then we notice the big scar on his head. Presumably from the accident where the car hit him, and probably totalled his own Harley. Proof he was not-gay. So the next time you see someone you think might be gay, check to see if there is a scar on their head, or ask them if they got hit by a car…

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Everything old is new again…

Phil Ringnalda discovers the D.I.Y. spirit of 1980’s Punk Rock