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By Brent on June 17, 2009  |  Comments 0

Tweetdeck goes mobile and big changes for the desktop application

Repost from the Tweetdeck blog:

TweetDeck goes mobile and makes for the clouds

When I started developing TweetDeck, almost a year ago, I was trying to solve a very specific problem. Twitter provided an amazing new source of information but was already becoming unwieldy. When I missed a tweet from one of my real world friends I realised there was no way to weight the importance of people I followed or easily digest the avalanche of information. Thinking about this I realized that this was an increasing problem across the entire Web – not just with Twitter. More and more, sites are serving consumers streams of information rather than static web pages. And today’s browsers aren’t set up to help us filter and digest this new format.

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By Brent on May 05, 2009  |  Comments 0

Panda Cloud Antivirus – Hmm Cloud you say…..

2009-05-05_222208

Here is the link to the software: http://www.cloudantivirus.com/

Here is the description to how they configured this new technilogy… Very interesting concept.. now I need to find a computer to try it on and determine overhead vs. the other solutions I have tested.

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By Brent on April 18, 2009  |  Comments 0

Photos showcased on CameraDojo.com

The guys over at CameraDojo.com were cool enough to showcase a couple of my shots I did using their new B&W Lightroom Preset Pack….

Check them out over there and grab the presets they work great and the price is right.

2009-04-18_102311
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By Brent on April 15, 2009  |  Comments 0

Microsoft Outlook 2007 – Hot Fix – Speed up your Outlook

Ok this has a pile to read to here is the information and links – read it over before applying this hotfix but from what has been reported – there is a good performance improvement – Large .PST files frighten me greatly as I admin multiple computers with users that fail to understand that keeping 10 years of emails in one file could possibly lead to tragedy…… Read more by clicking below…

4/15/09 - Update: I have done this update with very good results and no side effects as seen yet….

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By Brent on April 13, 2009  |  Comments 0

The lesser known facts about WD40

This is good to know…

A lady got up very early one morning and went outside to pickup the Sunday paper. She noticed someone had sprayed red paint all around the sides of the neighbor’s brand new beige truck. She went over and woke him up and gave him the bad news. He was, of course extremely upset. They stood there trying to figure out what could be done about the problem. They decided there wasn’t much recourse but to wait until Monday, since nothing was open. Just then another neighbor came out of his house, surveyed the situation and immediately went to get his WD-40 out and cleaned the red paint off with it.

Guess what! It cleaned up that paint without harming the original paint on the truck! I’m impressed!!

Water Displacement #40.

The product began from a search for a rust preventative solvent and degreaser to protect Missile parts. WD-40 was created in 1953 by three Technicians at the San Diego Rocket Chemical Company. It’s name comes from the project that was to find a ‘water displacement’ compound. They were successful with the fortieth formulation, thus WD-40. The Corvair Company bought it in bulk to protect their atlas missile parts..

Ken East (one of the original founders) says there is nothing in WD-40 that would hurt you..’ IT IS MADE FROM FISH OIL’ . When you read the ’shower door’ part, try it. It’s the first thing that has ever cleaned that spotty shower door. If yours is plastic, it works just as well as glass. It is a miracle! Then try it on your stovetop… It is now shinier than it has ever been before.

1) Protects silver from tarnishing.
2) Removes road tar and grime from cars.
3) Cleans and lubricates guitar strings.
4) Gives floors that `just-waxed` sheen without making it slippery.
5) Keeps flies off cows.
6) Restores and cleans chalkboards.
7) Removes lipstick stains.
8) Loosens stubborn zippers.
9) Untangles jewelry chains.
10) Removes stains from stainless steel sinks.
11) Removes dirt and grime from the barbecue grill.
12) Keeps ceramic/terra cotta garden pots from oxidizing.
13) Removes tomato stains from clothing.
14) Keeps glass shower doors free of water spots.
15) Camouflages scratches in ceramic and marble floors.
16) Keeps scissors working smoothly.
17) Lubricates noisy door hinges on vehicles and doors in homes
18) It removes black scuff marks from the kitchen floor! Open some windows
if you have a lot of marks.
19) Bug guts will eat away the finish on your car. Removed quickly, with WD-40!
20) Gives a children’s play gym slide a shine for a super fast slide.
21) Lubricates gear shift on lawn mowers.
22) Rids kids rocking chairs and swings of squeaky noises.
23) Lubricates tracks in sticking home windows and makes them easier to open.
24) Spraying an umbrella stem makes it easier to open and close.
25) Restores and cleans padded leather dashboards in vehicles, well as vinyl bumpers.
26) Restores and cleans roof racks on vehicles.
27) Lubricates and stops squeaks in electric fans.
28) Lubricates wheel sprockets on tricycles, wagons, and bicycles for easy handling.
29) Lubricates fan belts on washers and dryers and keeps them running smoothly.
30) Keeps rust from forming on saws and saw blades, and other tools.
31) Removes splattered grease on stove.
32) Keeps bathroom mirror from fogging.
33) Lubricates prosthetic limbs.
34) Keeps pigeons off the balcony (they hate the smell).
35) Removes all traces of duct tape.
36) Folks even spray it on their arms, hands, and knees to relieve arthritis pain
37) Florida ’s favorite use: ‘Cleans and removes love bugs from grills and bumpers.’
38) Protects the Statue of Liberty from the elements.
39) WD-40 attracts fish. Spray a LITTLE on live bait or lures and you will be catching the big one in no time.
40) Ant bites. It takes the sting away immediately and stops the itch.
41) WD-40 is great for removing crayon from walls. Spray on the mark and wipe with a clean rag.
42) If you’ve washed and dried a tube of lipstick with a load of laundry, saturate the lipstick spots with WD-40 and presto! Lipstick is gone!
43) If you spray WD-40 on the distributor cap, it will displace the moisture and allow the car to start.

Keep a can of WD-40 in your kitchen cabinet. It is good for oven burns or any other type of burn. It takes the burned feeling away and heals with NO scarring. Remember, the basic ingredient is FISH OIL

**NOTE: NOT LIABLE FOR ABOVE USES – THEY ARE JUST WHAT I HAVE SEEN REPORTED**

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By Brent on April 08, 2009  |  Comments 0

Tweetdeck vs. Seesmic Desktop

From:tweetdeck-seesmic

http://mashable.com/2009/04/08/tweetdeck-vs-seesmic-desktop/

At the rate that TweetDeck and Twhirl (which as you might know just morphed into Seesmic Desktop yesterday) are iterating, it’s hard to keep up with which client should be crowned the king of the desktop for Twitter.

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Email me with questions - I use it for all my offsite backupbanner ad

Do not fall for the MS Spam Email Scam

If you find this email in your Inbox – So not click on any links or install the attachment – Its a Trojan/Virus

image

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Tips: Drunk Driving

Drunk Driving:

Do yourself a big favor. Do us an even bigger favor. Follow these steps when you go into a bar or drink at a friend’s house.

· Drink as much as you want. And then call a cab or a friend for a ride home. You should never go out drinking unless you have enough Cab money in your purse or wallet for a ride home. If you don’t set that money aside you’ll be tempted to drive. My dad used to always tell me to put a $100.00 bill under my license in my wallet for emergencies. I do it to this day. You can modify that practice to avoid a D.U.I. arrest. Put a $20.00 bill under your license and keep it there for emergency cab fare. That 5 or 10 dollar cab fare WILL save you thousands of dollars. I’m not going to beg you to believe me. If you’re smart, you’ll put a 20.00 bill in there right now. If not, and you should decide to take a chance on driving, YOU WILL GET STOPPED AND ARRESTED. It’s just a matter of time.

(Just so you know, drinking coffee before you drive is nothing more than a myth. It does nothing to sober you up. You don’t see me sticking my neck out by saying it’s OK to have only one drink and then drive.) That’s because everyone’s metabolism is different. Amount of sleep, food intake, medications, medical history, and tolerance to alcohol, all play a part in how much one can safely drink in a time frame. The truth is, in an era where there is zero tolerance to drunk driving, it does not take much alcohol at all, to get up to California’s limit of .08. Zero tolerance means zero options if you never want to get arrested for D.U.I. The only safe option is to not drink and drive. Period!

Here are some safe options to LIVE BY: (Nothing that you haven’t already heard.)

· Use a designated driver! (One that totally refrains from drinking. It’s embarrassing when the designated driver gets arrested and blows a .10 on the machine!) I knew a group of guys that had just gotten out of college that loved to live it up on the weekends. 5 of them. They rotated designated driving responsibilities EVERY friday night when they went out. They always had a blast, and they often offered rides to others that were intoxicated and planning to drive. They were ALWAYS RESPONSIBLE and I respect that.

· Drink non-alcoholic beverages. You can still go to a bar, socialize, throw darts, dance, meet people, and have fun. If you’re driving home afterwards, you’d best heed this advice or your fun is going to be very short lived. There is nothing wrong with drinking non-alcoholic beer, 7-up, ginger ale, juice, ice water, or whatever.

· I see numerous people walking home at 2:00am from our downtown area, and I worry about them being able to walk in a straight line but, I’d rather see that, over them getting behind the wheel of a car!

If I don’t have anything going on I try to reward these people with a quick ride home. If you have no other alternative and you live reasonably close by, then WALK instead of Drive!

· I’LL often cruise through the parking lot of some of the bars after they close and I’ll see a car or 2 with the windows fogged up. Sometimes with the engine running for heating purposes. The driver is sound asleep inside. The intent is good but is it a recommendation. No.

All to often the sleeping intoxicated driver will wake up in discomfort and decide to drive home. Still Intoxicated! Plus you never know who is going to be knocking on your car window at 3am. What if it was someone other than a cop checking on your welfare? What if it was someone who saw you as being an easy target? Sleeping it off in your car? We don’t recommend it.

One of my favorite sayings is that “Every Action causes a Reaction.” This holds true for everything in life. In regards to drunk driving your actions decide on how your night will go.

Use discretion, common sense, and follow some of the simple suggestions listed above and you’ll never, I repeat never have any problems getting home in one piece. (Unless a drunk driver runs into you.)

Disregard the law, use poor judgment, utilize poor common sense, and present a hazard to innocent motorist and pedestrians? The answer comes in the form of a very accurate bumper sticker.

“You Drink and Drive - We’ll provide the CHASER!”

What can you do to prevent being victimized by the drunk driver? You can help yourself by helping us in getting drunk drivers off the road.

· Don’t let your friends or relatives drive drunk. Take the keys, drive them home, call them a cab, or as a last resort call us. You’re not snitching your friend off, and we’re not looking to make an arrest unless your friend makes it onto a roadway.

Tips: Drug Sales & Drug Activity

Drug Sales & Drug Activity:

What can you do?

· Contact your local Police or Sheriffs Department to arrange a neighborhood watch group.

· Report ALL suspicious activity or EXCESSIVE traffic to houses all hours of day and night.

· Odd or unusual smells of chemicals in neighborhood (before I was a cop, I lived right behind a methamphetamine lab without realizing it. It could have taken out 4 square blocks of houses if it blew up including my wife’s day care)

· Call in a DETAILED description of people you suspect of dealing drugs on the street. A DETAILED description will give the officer the right to approach a specific person.

· Report where drugs are being stored. Dealers often keep their dope nearby but not on them. Usually in a trash can, a bush or a vehicle. If we get a good description of the dealer AND where the dope is, (even anonymous) the dealer goes with me in handcuffs.

Tips: Drive by Shootings

Drive by Shootings:

· Watch for groups gathering or forming near your house. Gangs are usually unmistakable in the clothing they wear, but with increasing gang enhancement penalties, some try to avoid police detection by only wearing some articles of clothing that shows their "colors". Such as a blue bandanna, a red belt, etc. Tattoos and graffiti are big with gangs, usually 13 or 14, or XIV or X111, are signs of gang activity. There are so many branches and trickle-down gangs formed; it would be impossible to even try to name them all. Gangs can be any race, age, sex, or combination.

· If you see groups hanging out, especially if "tagging" starts to occur, (tagging means spray painting or marking walls, fences, etc. with gang logo), this is a dangerous start. The gang is "marking their turf" and your neighborhood becomes a battlefield if rival gangs come into the area

· Keep an eye out for drug activity in your neighborhood. If you notice dealers starting to loiter on the street corners, or in front of a drug house, call the police. Once dealers become established in the area, they are hard to get rid of. The neighborhood also becomes the target of a hostile and often deadly takeover. Drug dealers are only after one thing. $M$O$N$E$Y$. And if your neighborhood is producing alot of sales, which translates into money, it becomes a prime target for drive-bys to claim the area

· Call the police, form neighborhood watch groups, keep control of your neighborhood. Drug dealers and gangs will only gather where they are allowed to. We don’t expect you or your neighbors to move the groups on, or to confront the groups, that would be dangerous. Call the police; explain if you have suspected gang members gathering, or if you have drug dealing going on in front of your house. Report any weapons or drugs seen, and who is holding drugs or weapons, or where they are hidden. You can remain anonymous.

· Believe me, if the dealers or gangs have the police moving them along, or arresting them everytime they gather in your neighborhood, they will find somewhere else to gather. Somewhere people don’t care, where they can peddle their dope, shoot off their guns, gamble and drink in the streets. Somewhere where no one calls the police. The choice is yours. Gangs and drug dealing almost always invite shootings, violence, noise, fights and the decline of a once nice neighborhood.

· It’s never too late to take back your neighborhood, I see it all the time. When the pressure is on, the gangs and dealers move on to easier pickings

· Contact your local Police Department or Sheriff’s Office for more information on neighborhood watch programs. A good neighborhood watch group with neighbors who care really does work. Besides, whose neighborhood is it? Yours, or the drug dealers from across town trying to set up shop? You CAN make the difference………

Tips: Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence

Here are some tips on domestic violence:

· Abuse can be verbal. Just as painful and damaging as physical abuse. Don’t let verbal abuse drag you down where you lose self-confidence or self-respect. Eventually, the abuse will turn physical. Without self-confidence, the situation will be harder to get out of. If you are in a situation with verbal abuse, get help now before it gets worse.

· With physical abuse, once is too much. Don’t let a “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again” satisfy you. It WILL happen again, it is just a matter of time. Call someone; report the incident to the police. Even if you do not want to prosecute, you can document the incident in case of future incidents. Some states have a Must Arrest law regarding domestic violence, where if you are injured, the responsible spouse will be arrested.

· Don’t let fear control you. You CAN get out of an abusive relationship. There is help with everything from child care to financial assistance to shelters. The longer you stay in an abusive relationship, the harder it will be for you to get out. Like I have said many times, NO ONE deserves to be in a relationship where there is verbal or physical abuse.

· If you do not feel comfortable going to the police, tell a friend, a relative, a priest, anyone. Let them make the call. Domestic abuse is a crime, and ever since the famous O.J. Simpson case, domestic violence laws have been updated with increased penalties.

· If you are in an abusive relationship, remember that you are not the problem and you are not alone. It is not your fault. So many people in abusive relationships eventually believe that they are the cause of the abuse, that they deserve the abuse. This is when it makes it difficult to escape an abusive relationship.

· Call for help. There are phone numbers in phone books, at police stations, and sheriff departments. Help is only a phone call away. Have a friend or relative give you assistance.

· Remember that domestic violence is a crime, it is against the law. It is a vicious cycle that will repeat itself over and over if allowed to do so. Let’s not have our children grow up thinking that violence and abuse is a way of life.

Ep. 141: Volcanoes, Hot and Cold

You're familiar with volcanoes, eruptive vents where hot magma escapes the Earth's interior – sometimes with disastrous effects. But did you know that volcanoes have shaped many of the planets and moons in the Solar System, not just our own Earth? And just in the last few years astronomers have discovered there are cold volcanoes on some of the icy objects in the outer solar system.

Reader Question: Friends stealing from friends

Question:

I received an ipod as a gift from my older brother on my birthday in November 9th, 2007. That Friday night I left the ipod in my dining room cabinet. Monday morning I could not find my ipod anywhere. But I was informed my brother brought one friend over that weekend. I didn’t accuse the friend immediately, until I found out he has stolen many ipods, even from people I have known. Two years have passed, and my brother hung out with this friend again, and he had the same type of ipod that I had, and even some songs that were unusual for him to have as a guy (ex: Britney Spears songs that I clearly remember uploading in my ipod). I want to know what I can do about this! Thank you!

Answer:

Unless there is proof that the friend stole it, there’s not much you can do at this point. If you didn’t have some distinctive markings on the ipod (initials, name, etc) or you know the serial number where you can positively identify it as yours, there’s no absolute proof. Another problem is that it’s been so long.

If you are close to your brother, I’d have a talk with him explaining your suspicions. Maybe your brother can ask to "borrow" the ipod from your friend to examine it closer. If there are still distinctive songs that you loaded on the ipod (not just one Britney Spears song, he may actually like Britney Spears) and several of these songs are still on the ipod 2 years later, it becomes more than a coincidence that it could be your old ipod. But again, 2 years later causes some problems and it’s still not enough proof to just take it back. If you see a lot of the same songs on the ipod that you loaded 2 years ago, I’d see if your brother can squeeze his friend a little to see if he admits that it is yours.

In the meantime, keep your valuables in a safe place where someone cant be tempted to take them. I know you said it was in a dining room cabinet but that is still an area where anyone visiting the house could have had access to. I’ve seen "friends" steal money, CD’s, electronics etc from their own "friends" or even other family members because the opportunity was there and temptation set in. Better yet, carve or engrave identifying information such as your initials, name, driver’s license number etc on valuables when you get them. Then there is no question as to who they belong to if they get stolen and it greatly increases your odds of getting your valuables back.

Mark
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