This Side of the Pulpit » Entries tagged with "computers"
Hijacked!
I attended a District meeting in Edmond this morning and when I got home found a few odd comments on my Facebook account. According to Facebook I had posted a link to a video from Twitter. This I had never done. I panicked. Someone or something had broken into my Twitter and or Facebook accounts and posted it! Facebook had already removed the link to the video. I went over to Twitter and found my account had been suspended due to “suspicious activity.” No joke. But I was able to find the video. Thankfully, it could have been much, much worse. It was a video of car crashes and such set to some German Industrial music. Not patently offensive, yet nothing I watch and nothing I would normally link to. How in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Tech
Ubuntu is So Sweet!
I just installed Sun’s VirtualBox for Linux. As I write this I am using Ubuntu with a window open on another cube running Windows XP. What’s a cube, pray tell? Here’s a screenshot: Why? 1. Because I can…and I don’t want to write the story I’m working on. 2. Because it’s a pain to reboot and reload Windows every so often when I need to use some software that only runs there. Like TurboTax. Now I can run it inside Ubuntu and never have to reboot or worry about. 3. Because it’s cool to mess with The Man. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Computers&Productivity, Tech
Ubuntu 9.04 Review
(I’m a complete noob when it comes to Linux and Ubuntu. I’m not a developer, programmer or anything. I’m a user. If you know more than I do–and that is likely–feel free to leave a comment and correct me where I’m wrong. Also note this is written for those using Windows or Mac boxes. Thanks) I began using Ubuntu last fall when I became increasingly frustrated at the bloated anti-virus and Internet security programs Windows required. When users are required to upgrade their equipment every few years simply to keep performance the same, something is wrong. I wanted out…and not to spend a fortune buying a Mac. I downloaded 8.04 to a partition on the hard drive and was immediately impressed. It worked well and fast and had absolutely no problems getting … Read entire article »
Filed under: Computers&Productivity, Tech
Mechanical Turk?
In the 18th Century, Wolfgang von Kempelen invented a chess-playing robot or automaton. It was a man-sized machine made to look Turkish–and appropriately called “The Turk.” It was very, very good at playing chess, and von Kempelen won much fame for his invention. It supposedly bested Napolean and Benjamin Franklin. After some time it was revealed that The Turk was not an automaton at all. A chess master hid inside the contraption and controlled the device. Everyone was very dissapointed, except for Big Blue which breathed a sigh of relief, and William Gates who loved the smoke and mirrors of the idea. Apparently in 2005, Amazon.com developed a program called Mechanical Turk. It is a clearinghouse for web searches and information. Users can post questions, research ideas, and data gathering requests … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Almost Ready…
Whew! Finished with the sermons through January 4. Or at least the draft of them I’ll practice, to put a better point on it. I have to see a few shut-ins and I can begin my Christmas “vacation.” As it were. Still doing Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the Sundays and New Year’s Eve, and whatever emergencies come up, but the rest of the time will be at home. I want to do some reading. I need to do some more writing, having taken the month of December off, except for a non-fiction submission that was accepted–whoo-hoo! I want to spend some time with the home computer, fixing some organizing issues, organizing photos, tweaking Ubuntu a little, playing my new game. I look forward to board games and card games … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Update
Is this thing working…? I’m broadcasting right now? You mean that every word….? Ok. Greetings to you from another time and space. All is well here in my exile from Windows. The view is lovely, the apps are working without a hitch and I even my Treo syncs. It’s an amazing place, outside the Microworld. I push a button marked “Power” and I am working within one minute. I click an image on the screen and instantly something happens. I type in cybercode words and immediately the screen fills with text and images. All right, I’ll loose the drama. I am writing to you on my experiment with a new operating system. I’ve (temporarily at least) ditched Windows XP and am using Linux–the Ubuntu distro, to be accurate. Here’s the deal: Windows is the old … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Cool Photo Template
I’ve been teaching myself some basic web design the last few months and set up my congregation’s web page. It’s so low-tech I’ve decided this was intentional. It reminds me of the good old days: 1995. But the photo gallery is pretty sweet. Take a look over there and click on a few links to the galleries. Using Google’s Picasa, I simply saved existing pictures as an html file, using a template I downloaded from this site, and uploaded that file to the web server. It’s pretty cool. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Tech Problems Today
Thought I’d broken the computer in my study at church today. Windows Service Pack 3 tried to load and froze. Then it had to uninstall and re-install. Meanwhile USB devices weren’t working correctly. I couldn’t Hotsync my Treo. All this took hours to work out. I was able to find stuff to do in between loading and downloading and restarting and so forth, but nothing on my to-do list, which including updating things here, working on the church’s website, writing reports, a Bible study and sermon work. Sometimes I feel like going for a hipster PDA, or getting out the old Moleskine and getting on with life. I know what Weedon’s suggestion will be. If he wants to give me a scholarship to buy and convert everything to his semi-pagan platform, I’ll try … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Free Fonts
If you are into graphic design or simply enjoy cool fonts, check this site out. Pirate themed fonts, Creepy Fonts, Blackletter, and more. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Computer & Productivity Stuff
Google has a new web browser. It’s pretty sleek and quick. Take a look here. However, there are already some security issues with it: not from hackers, but from Google themselves. Perhaps Firefox is still the best bet.Tiddlywiki is a pretty cool little tool for note-taking, personal database construction (think recipes and go from there), productivity help and as a sort of computerized common-place book or Control Journal. You can keep a copy only on your personal computer or put it on-line, password-protected or public. Note: in order to customize it and add some really handy features, you must not be afraid of doing some html or css programming. And for basic users, don’t be scared of warnings that the program is a … Read entire article »
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