July 19, 2010

1986 Macintosh Plus Computer

Filed under: Uncategorized — SpaCeTraNce @ 8:59 pm

I am selling one Macintosh Plus Computer released in 1986. The Macintosh was the first personal computer that started it all. The original Macintosh was released in 1984. This was it’s successor and was released with a whole 1 MB of memory! This was the first computer where you could upgrade the memory using memory modules as apposed to the hard to handle memory chips. The Macintosh Plus used 30-pin SIMM memory modules.

It comes with:

* 1 original Macintosh Plus Computer
* 1 original Macintosh Plus manual (damaged by children and crayons)
* 1 original Dust Cover
* 1 original Keyboard * 1 keyboard cable (doesn’t appear to be original)
* 1 External Hard Disk Drive (HDD) 60MB
* 1 External Floppy Disk Drive
* 1 Printer Manual
* 2 Original Macintosh floppy discs (1 System Tools, 1 Guided Tools)
* copies of various floppies including boot disks
* 1 Floppy Disk Case
* 3 power cables
* 1 scsi cable
* 1 Apple ImageWriter II printer w/cable.
* 1 ImageWriter II ribbon cartridge still in unopened plastic bag

Note: I do have an original Macintosh Mouse but it is missing the ball, therefore I have not included it in the list above. It can be sent if requested. I do have a mouse (not a macintosh mouse) that works with the computer.

Macintosh, keyboard and printer are all in good working condition.

The CRT looks nice and clean. Lines appear in the photographs but not in real life.

The computer requires a floppy disk to boot from (included). When trying to access external HDD or when using computer it will sometimes give an error ID=2 or ID=3. These are software errors probably due to bad/old floppy disks. The original “Macintosh Guided Tour” disk runs w/o any problems. More information on these errors can be found at: http://www.cuyamaca.edu/fgeoola/macecode.asp

I have initialized the HDD, when trying to add files to the HDD I get one of the mentioned errors. The HDD enclosure has an old Seagate drive in it.

This is a great buy for the vintage computer collector. If stored in the right environment, this computer will only go up in value as Apple and the computing world looks back to history with awe!

Integrity one of my core values which is why I give so many details regarding issues this computer may have. I could have just put “it works” because it does… but I want the buyer to be well informed

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July 14, 2010

1938 – Oneida Prestige Grenoble Flatware Set & Chest – 52 piece

Filed under: Uncategorized — SpaCeTraNce @ 1:48 pm

Released in 1938, this set from Oneida/Wm. A Rogers is slightly used but will polish up nicely and make any formal gathering shine!
The box has some wear on it. I tried to capture that in the pictures. I take pictures outside in the sun, therefore you will see reflections of blue and green in some items.

Set Includes:

8 – Dinner Knives 8 1/2″
8 – Dinner Forks 7 1/2″
8 – Teaspoons 6 1/8″
8 – Salad Forks 6 3/8″
8 – Soup Spoons 7 3/8″
8 – Iced Tead Spoons 7 1/2″
8 – Demitase Spoons 4 3/8″
1 – Butter Knife 7″
1 – Meat Fork 8 1/2″
1 – Pickle Fork 6 ”
1 – Round Sugar Spoon 6″

2 of the Soup Spoons are not near as shiny as the rest. You can see it in the picture below.

I am here to answer any question that you may have.

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July 6, 2010

1993 Ford Taurus for Sale

Filed under: Auto Sales — SpaCeTraNce @ 4:22 pm

I am selling my 1993 Ford Taurus. I purchased it in 2007 when it had approx. 60,000 miles on it. It now has 130,000 miles on it. It starts and runs so the engine is fine but it does need the transmission looked at. The transmission may need replacing. It slips out of gear completely or drops to a lower gear when trying to drive.

I have not had it checked by a professional so I do not know what it may take to get the tranny up and going. My personal mechanic said they are hard to find and will cost me 700 dollars in parts and labor to install a used one.

In the last 1,000 miles I have replaced the front bumber cover, water pump and the alternator. In the last 20,000 miles I have been using either fully synthetic or a synthetic blend motor oil when I change it. The A/C runs real cold and the heater is excellent. The rear struts are shot but the front struts were changed out by me about a year and a half ago.

The interior and exterior is in fairly good condition.

I just moved from texas so it still has a texas title and license.

I have put a lot of work into it but I cannot change out the tranny myself so I need to sell it. I know its not worth much… I can send it to the scap metal place for 300 but it just seems so wasteful to see a working car melted down because the transmission is no good!! Send me an offer!!

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June 29, 2010

Is the democratic party socialist or communist?

Filed under: Politics — Tags: , , — SpaCeTraNce @ 12:10 am

These are just fact taken from http://www.dsausa.org !!!

Is the Democratic Party a socialist or communist party?

I’m not one who embraces the ‘conspiracy theories’ whole heartily. I do hold conservative values but it seems that the loud conservative voices out there are constantly using words like ’socialist’ or ‘communism’. So one day, when I should have been working on promoting my new business or finding a job I did some research and found some eye opening facts out there.

Here is what I did:

I googled a couple of things, then I googled “most influential socialist in America”. The first two results were wikipedia sites but the third one was a link to: http://www.dsausa.org/about/history.html .

The article was titled “A Brief History of the Left”. It was long. I read the first few paragraphs. It spoke of the rise of a socialist party/movement in America and worldwide. It also spoke of the communist party and their alleged involvement in the end of the Great Depression and the formation of the workers unions in America.

radicals from a number of different groups — Socialists, Communists, and Trotskyists among them — played a central role in the struggles of the unemployed to win adequate relief in the early 1930s, and in the vast expansion of industrial unionism through the organization of the new Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO) in the later 1930s. Socialists helped to organize Detroit autoworkers and southern sharecroppers; Communists were influential in drives to organize the auto, steel, electrical, and longshore industries, among others.

So here was a website of the Democratic Socialist of America admitting to be working hand-in-hand with communist and influencing the American society.

WOW!!! Glenn, Hannity and others may be onto something. I listen to Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity but I sometimes do think that they can come up with this stuff for ratings. Until now I had never done the research myself.

The end of the article goes on to say how the different divisions of leftism/socialist/communism left the movement in a weakened state. These different schisms came together to form the Democratic Socialist of America.

completing a formal merger in 1983. The merged organization, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), for the first time since the First World War brought together the various splinters of left opinion in America: former Socialists and Communists, former old leftists and new leftists, and many who had never been leftists at all.

“Ok” I thought, “But does that mean the National Democratic Party is run by socialist?”

I did more research….

I clicked on the “Democratic Socialist of America” banner at the top of the page. I was brought to: http://www.dsausa.org/dsa.html

I saw a Questions and Answer link. That opened up a pdf file http://www.dsausa.org/pdf/widemsoc.pdf

The first thing I noticed was in the opening paragraphs:

“Democracy and socialism go hand in hand. All over the world, wherever the idea of democracy has taken root, the vision of socialism has taken root as well—everywhere but in the United States.”

Everywhere but in the United States??? We are the economic super-power in the world and we are the one country that has not totally embraced socialism…. coincident??? I don’t think so!!! anyways that is my opinion… lets keep to the facts and their article….

Next I found:
“Democratic socialists do not want to create an all-powerful government bureaucracy. But we do not want big corporate bureaucracies to control our society either.”

The fact that they followed the first sentence with the word ‘but…‘ implies that they do want to create an all-powerful government bureaucracy. That is like following an apology with the word “but…“, if you are trying to still defend your position or actions you are not truly apologizing.

Next:

In the short term we can’t eliminate private corporations, but we can bring them under greater democratic control. The government could use regulations and tax incentives to encourage companies to act
in the public interest

WOW these people are flat out admiting to using big government to control the private sector. They actully say, “In the short term we can’t eliminate private corporations”, Does that mean that in the long term they can??? Does that mean that they can’t eliminate them but they want to????

The final unbelievable blow is:

Q: Aren’t you a party that’s in competition with the Democratic Party for votes and support?

No, we are not a separate party. Like our friends and allies in the feminist, labor, civil rights, religious,
and community organizing movements, many of us have been active in the Democratic Party. We work with
those movements to strengthen the party’s left wing, represented by the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

The process and structure of American elections seriously hurts third party efforts. Winner-take-all
elections instead of proportional representation, rigorous party qualification requirements that vary from state
to state, a presidential instead of a parliamentary system, and the two-party monopoly on political power have
doomed third party efforts. We hope that at some point in the future, in coalition with our allies, an alternative
national party will be viable. For now, we will continue to support progressives who have a real chance at
winning elections, which usually means left-wing Democrats.

Freaking unbelievable!!!! They don’t hide a thing. Here they are admitting to using the left-wind democrats to further the socialist/communist agenda.

Next I googled “Congressional Progressive Caucus”, this time I went with Wikipedia’s results http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Progressive_Caucus and found this:

“The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is the largest caucus within the Democratic caucus in the United States Congress with 83 declared members, and works to advance progressive issues and positions.”

So these 83 members are supported by these socialist and communist. I urge you to look on the wikipedia site listed above and see if your senator is listed on it.

This was all done in a matter of minutes. I urge you to do some research yourself. Engage others in their own research!!!

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April 28, 2010

sqldumper failed initialization.

Filed under: Uncategorized — SpaCeTraNce @ 7:16 am

When booting up your computer you receive an error message stating, “sqldumper library failed initialization”. This can happen after you uninstall MS Office, MS Accounting or MS Business Manager.

The problem is related to MS Sql Server.

The fix:

Go to add/remove programs and remove:

Microsoft SQL Server VSS Writer

If you still have a problem try this:

I removed all three SQL files and then did a search for “microsoft SQL Server” and downloaded the Microsoftwww.snapfiles.com/get/sqlserver.html which I then installed and it completely fixed the whole problem.  I now have the entire programs in my Add/Remove programs list again.  So my recommendation is to delete all 3 SQL files and then redownload it from the snapfiles URL and then install it which took about 5-10 minutes to complete, but I no longer have the SQL Dumper error when I startup.  It appears to have completely fixed the whole problem.  I hope this is helpful to anyone still encountering the error.  Angel Blessings, Tyler

This was pulled from:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqldatabaseengine/thread/b1a5600c-8fd2-4f49-a3e7-8b058e2ce09b

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February 2, 2010

STRANGE CHARACTER ?ӱ WHEN YOU TRY TO PING SOME IP ADDRESS

When you open a command prompt and try pinging a IP address or a name like www.google.com you get a strange character on the screen. The strange characters resemble the letter o and the letter y with two dots above it.

To fix this problem you need to run the following command at the command prompt.

c:\NETSH WINSOCK RESET

Then reboot your computer and you should be good to go.

I offer free advice and fixes via my blog usually for my personal reference. By using any of the advise in this blog you understand that you are using it at your own risk.

Comments (2)

January 19, 2010

For My Wife!!!

Filed under: Uncategorized — SpaCeTraNce @ 12:56 pm
   __,                                
  /  |           _|    ,_    _   _,   
 |   |   /|/|   / |   /  |  |/  / |   
  \_/\_/  | |_/ \/|_/    |/ |_/ \/|_/ o
                                      /
   |\     \_|)    _          _     (|  |   _          | |
   |/       |    / \_ |  |_ |/      |  |  / \_ |  |   | |
 \_/\/     (\__/ \_/   \/   |_/      \/|/ \_/   \/|_/ o o
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January 15, 2010

How to set a password on a wireless router.

Every day someone will ask “how do i set a password on my wireless router”.

I will give you detailed instructions on how to do just that.

I will be using the Linksys wrt54g for my example. If you have a different model wireless router you can still follow the instructions.

There are a couple of steps involved.

First we will find the IP address of the router. Which will be the “default gateway” of your computer.
Then we will connect to the configuration screens in your router.
Then change the password.

1. Click on Start->Run(if using vista/seven type the command from step 2 in the “search” field and press enter)

2. Type “cmd” w/o the quotes.

3. At the MS-DOS prompt type ‘ipconfig’

4. Make note of the “Gateway Address” IP address.

5. Open a web browser(IE or Firefox) remove the address that is in the address bar and type in the numbers that you made note of in step 4. Press enter

6. You should be prompted for a username and password. The default for most linksys devices. Is admin/admin. If that doesn’t work lookup the model number and cross reference it with this list: http://www.phenoelit-us.org/dpl/dpl.html

Now there are a couple of ‘passwords’ that you can set. When people ask to set a password for a wireless access point they are usually referring to the ‘network key’. This ‘network key’ will secure your wireless network so unauthorized people cannot connect to your Internet. There is also a ‘administration password’ which is the password you typed in step 6 to access the configuration screens. I advise changing both. Be sure you write these downs and don’t lose them. I usually write them down and tape them to the wireless router (make sure you don’t cover up ventilation slots).

Note: The below direction are for a wrt54g. Your screens may differ but the idea/concept will be the same.

7. To set the network key: Click “Wireless” -> “Wireless Security”

8. Choose WPA/Personal then enter your desired wireless key. I do not advise using WEP it is easily hacked in about 2 minutes.

9. To change the administration password: Click “Administration” and change the password.

If you ever forget these password there is a small “reset” button which you can press with a ball point pen. Press and hold that down for about a minute and you will back at the factory default settings. Therefore all password will be cleared/reset.

Good luck,
–SpaCeTraNce

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December 30, 2009

How to manually restore the Windows XP registry. File c:\windows\system32\config\system missing or corrupt

The Scenario: Due to various reasons you may want to manually restore the registry from one of the restore points. I have used this because of viruses or because I just couldn’t get a computer to boot and suspect that the problem is in the registry. Sometimes this will fix the “File c:\windows\system32\config\system missing or corrupt” error but not always. IF the problem is related to a virus then you can almost guarantee that the virus has also infected the restore points. So this fix will NOT get rid of any viruses but it will sometimes bring the computer back to a usable state so that you can manually remove the virus.

The Warning: This is a very advanced fix. I am not responsible if you break your computer. This is for MY reference therefore if you use it you are on your own.

The Fix: Boot your computer into either the recovery console OR another boot disk. I use ActiveBoot, it is an excellent utility disk. It has saved my butt many of times. Once you are at a command prompt you need to do a couple of things.
First you need to backup the current registry files by renaming them. I like to rename them to filename.bak. Then you need to copy the files from a restore point to the location where the registry lies.
Technical information:
Files are located in C:\windows\system32\config
The Files are(they have no extension): system , security , sam , software and default.

The Fix(continued):
1. Naviagate to a Restore point.
a. C:
b. cd “system volume information”
c. dir /a:hs
Make note of the listed directory that begins with “_restore{”
d. cd _restore{number found from step c}
e. dir
Make note of a resore point that you want to recover from. I like to choose one from about a week ago.
f. cd RP
g. cd snapshot
At this point you are in a the directory for which you will copy the registry files from.
2. Backup old registry:
a. ren c:\windows\system32\config\system system.bak
b. ren c:\windows\system32\config\software software.bak
c. ren c:\windows\system32\config\security security.bak
d. ren c:\windows\system32\config\sam sam.bak
e. ren c:\windows\system32\config\default default.bak
All old registry files have been backed up to to files with the .bak extension.
3. Copy restore point registry files to correct place.
a. copy _registry_machine_sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
b. copy _registry_machine_security c:\windows\system32\config\security
c. copy _registry_machine_software c:\windows\system32\config\software
d. copy _registry_machine_system c:\windows\system32\config\system
e. copy _registry_user_.default c:\windows\system32\config\default

Now reboot the computer and it will start using the old registry. You may see a brief screen that says something like, “Performing recovery”. Then the computer will be back up.

Obviously any programs that you have installed after the date of the backup that we used will no longer be installed. The files will be there but the program will not be installed.

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December 11, 2009

Add/Remove Programs has Huge Empty Space

Occasionally a user will open Add/Remove programs on Windows XP and in the list will be a HUGE empty space that is pages and pages long. This happens when a entry in the list is corrupt. To Fix it download and install CCleaner. Open CCleaner and click on the “Tools” button on the left side.

You will then be brought to a screen with the Add/Remove Programs list. Go back to the Add/Remove Programs applet in your control panel and make note of the last item before the blank space.

Now switch back to CCleaner and highlight the item that is after the entry you just made note of. Click the “Delete Entry” button.

Now when you go back to your Add/Remove Programs applet in your Control Panel all should be well.

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December 10, 2009

How to test your own fax machine.

If you are living in the United States of America you can test your fax machine using the National Fire Protection Association’s Fax on Demand service.

Go to: http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=487&itemID=17976&URL=About%20NFPA/Contact%20Us/Fax%20on%20demand&cookie_test=1 and follow the directions.

I found this to be a very handy feature. Plus you will receive some valuable information regarding fire protection. ;)

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November 12, 2009

Scheduled Tasks – Applying/Running tasks without a password

For Pro: Go to Start/Administrative Tools/’Local Security Policy/Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options
Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only. This is enabled by default, disable it.

For Home: (Keith Miller) Go to Start/Run/Regedit and navigate to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa

Value name: limitblankpassworduse, Type: REG_DWORD, Data: 0 (disabled) 1 (enabled)

For Home: Run Scheduled Task without a Password (Line 67)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

How to Enable Automatic Logon in Windows
HOW TO: Modify Scheduled Tasks in Windows XP
Task Scheduler Does Not Run Tasks When “Run As” User Account Has No Password

Comments (1)

October 30, 2009

Using robocopy to copy all files and folders.

Filed under: Technology — Tags: , , , — SpaCeTraNce @ 2:59 pm

Once again this is just for my reference so I don’t have to dig through the /? help file each time I want to copy all files due to windows not reloading.

robocopy /e /r:1 /w:1
Explaination:
/e copies all folders and their files.
/r:1 retries one time if a copy failed
/w:1 waits one second to perform retry

Note:
You will need to use quotations if there are spaces in the directory names. You do NOT need to add a trailing backslash if you do the command will fail.

EG:
robocopy “c:\documents and settings\your name” f:\backup\yourname /e /r:1 /w:1

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Double-Clicking the IE icon creates a shortcut.

Being in the P.C. repair business I have come across this issue numerous times. Each time it takes me a while to dig though the web to find the correct fix.

Sure there are those who say things which in effect create a new IE icon but this doesn’t fix the registry error that causes this.

Therefore I am posting the real fix to my blog so me (and you) no longer have to do all the digging.

Remove the bad IE icon from desktop, either delete or right click desktop -> Properties->Desktop->customize desktop-> uncheck Internet Explorer

Go to http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/ie_fix.reg – Restore IE Desktop Shortcut Icon Functions

Download that.

Open registry, go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}

Delete that key {871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D} + all sub keys

Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}

Delete that key {871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D} + all sub keys

Merge that registry script into registry.

Last, right click desktop -> Properties->Desktop->customize desktop-> check Internet Explorer hit ok, and ok

Source: http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-2857428.php

Comments (2)

October 20, 2009

Does China Own America??

Filed under: Politics — Tags: , , , , — SpaCeTraNce @ 1:35 pm

china flag I’m not the one to be paranoid or of the conspiracy theorist type. So lets look at the facts:

According the the latest number I could find from July 2009 China Own 800.5 billion dollars of national debt. More then any other foreign investor. Surprisingly the top investor was Japan until September 2008.

The Empire State Building was lit up the colors of the Chinese flag on the 60th anniversary of communism in China!

The White House allegedly agreed to allow the Chinese to raise their flag on the grounds(Ellipse) near the White House.

What is your opinion?

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October 14, 2009

October 1, 2009

Website F.A.Q.

How do i get a website?

There are three steps you have to accomplish to “get a website”. These days these three steps have very blurred lines of distinction. The first thing you will need to do is to decide on a domain name (www.YourNameHere.com) and register that name. Registering your domain name usually cost on average $6.00 USD per year for a .com address. With the completion of this step you now own your own domain name!

Now that you have a domain name you need to purchase some “hosting”. Because you most likely do not have the type of dedicated connection nor do you have the technical expertise to run your own server you will need to buy some space on a server. This server will host your site so that everyone will be able to access it. Hosting comes in many different platforms and packages. Many companies will sell you a hosting package when you register your domain name with them. (Like I said the lines that divide these steps are getting harder to define) If this is your first experience with websites and hosting we STRONGLY recommend that you purchase your hosting with the same company that you purchase your domain name from. This way you do not have to deal with setting up your DNS servers as it will be done automatically for you. The price you will pay for your hosting will vary by how “large” of a space you need and how much traffic you expect to have. The price will range from $3.00 USD to $30.00+ USD per month.

The final step is the creation and uploading of your website. The creation of your site is where most of your budget for your project will be spent. Traditionally you would hire a graphics firm to come up with a look, logo and other images and a programmer would create a site using the images. The range of cost in this area can range dramatically depending on what you need. Dynamic sites are websites in which the owner can log into and administer. These type of sites cost much more than what most small business, churches and individuals need. The reason they cost more is because a developer that programs a site with dynamic functions will charge a firm much more than a programmer who is programming a static site (a static site is the “opposite” of a dynamic site) and rightfully so. A programmer who developing a dynamic site will most likely be using ASP.NET, PHP, ColdFusion or something similar. These types of programming languages take years of study and experience to become efficient at, which is why they will get paid more.

How much does a website cost?

The cost of a website can vary greatly depending you your needs. We cater our services to the small business, churches and individules and can usually design and implement a site for under 1,000 USD. When other design firms will charger thousands of dollars we are able to keep costs down using a number of different strategies.

How can you provide web design solutions as a fraction of the costs of the other guys?

Certain sectors of the I.T. industry is beginning to be viewed the same way that mechanics or used car dealers are viewed by consumers. Simply put: “You better trust them before you use them”. This mindset is unfortunate but sometimes grounded in some truth. We can provide design services at a fraction of the cost because of three reasons.
1. We do not generally ‘outsource’ our work to other firms.
2. We allow users to pick templates which keeps the hours you are billed down to a minimum.
3. We do not overcharge you like many design firms do. I’m not saying all firms do this, but many do.

What is search engine optimization?

According to wikipedia: “Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (”organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. Typically, the earlier a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine.”
In other words SEO is the process of manipulating the content of a website so that it is easily read by search engines and so that search engines will “know” what type of content your site contains. The purpose of SEO is to get your site the highest possible ranking when relevant keywords are searched.

How do i get traffic to my website?

While most people will focus their marketing campaign on SEO there are many more ways to promote your site and get traffic to your site. A successful marketing campaign will cover multiple areas; hard copy advertising (newspaper, magazines and phone books), “paid advertising on search engines and other pages, building high quality web pages to engage and persuade, addressing technical issues that may keep search engines from crawling and indexing those sites, setting up analytics programs to enable site owners to measure their successes, and improving a site’s conversion rate.”

How do I make my own site Website?

If you want to do it yourself there are many options. The first is to learn HTML, CSS and do it yourself. This is the most time consuming but often most rewarding way to go. You are looking at about a 3-6 month period of time where you need to spend time studing the technical aspect of programming a webpage, learning the basics about graphic design and finally desiging and implemintiing your own site. Learning basic HTML and CSS isn’t very hard but ending up with a professional product at the end can be difficult. There are also many sites and programs out there that will enable you to create a website without touching any of the code. I have seen some sites built with these applications that are decent but in the end you will not be able to do everything that you can do if you were manipulating the code yourself. The last option is to hire someone to develop and implement a site for your.

Source: http://www.yourtypeofsite.com/

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September 29, 2009

Who was Madeline Murray O’Hair??

The things you get in e-mails never cease to amaze me.

I checked my e-mail today, as usual, and received one that was titled, “DR. DOBSON’S PLEA FOR ACTION.” Upon reading it I was moved by the information which was presented. In short, Madalyn Murray O’Hair was petitioning the FCC to remove all content that has the word “God” in it. This would include church services and a show entitled, “Touched by an Angel”. The e-mail asked the reader to sign the petition and forward it to others.

Being in the I.T. industry for ten years, I am skeptical of all e-mails, especially ones that ask to be forwarded. So what am I to do? ‘Snope‘ it of course!

While doing my research I was shocked that I didn’t know who Madeline Murray O’Hair was. She was the forerunner in the anti-god movement that started in the sixties. in 1963, through her efforts the Supreme Court banned all organized prayer in schools. As a Christian I knew this happened but was not aware of who Madalyn Murray O’Hair whas or her participation in the ruling.

Was Madalyn Murray O’Hair still at work with anti-god actions? Not at all, matter of fact, in 1995, Madalyn Murray O’Hair went to be with her maker, whom she didn’t believe existed.

The FCC petition that was referred to in the e-mail was defeated in August of 1975! So the e-mail was a complete hoax that was preying(no pun intended) on peoples good intentions. It just goes to show that we should never believe an e-mail that has a petition on it (what makes a signature on a petition valid is the signature and a valid postal address therefore e-mail petitions are really of little value to the powers that be) or asks to be forwarded.

Madalyn Murray O’Hair was the focus of a mystery for over five years. In 1995, she along with her son and granddaughter came up missing from her home one morning. They were taken in a conspiracy that involved the extortion of money from her fortune made from her anti-god efforts (go figure!). There is even talks that she had stashed millions of dollars in foreign accounts.

Nearly three decades — and more than 10 million letters, e-mails and phone calls later — the agency that deregulated the telecommunications industry and helped usher in the communications revolution seems to have met defeat in its fight against this one rumor. Since 1974 — when the rumor first surfaced — the commission has spent untold dollars and employee time responding to citizens worried that the late Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the leader of a well-known atheist movement, is trying to halt all religious references on the radio and TV.

Just to be clear: There is no O’Hair broadcast petition. In fact, O’Hair — the founder of American Atheists Inc., best known for championing a ban on prayer in schools — has been dead since 1995.

Nothing else at the FCC rivals this rumor, in both its longevity and its bizarre ability to withstand the commission’s repeated attempts to convey the truth. Every year, around Christmas and Easter, something breathes new life into it. Last month, the FCC received 108 O’Hair-related correspondences. In October, it received 249, in September, 124, and in August, 91.

It’s nothing short of exasperating for K. Dane Snowden, who heads the FCC’s consumer bureau and wishes he could finally dispel the rumor.

“It is one of the most fascinating urban myths that continues to grow. The FCC has no authority to ban religious programming. It literally is a myth,” he said.

Source: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/enf/forms/rm-2493.html, http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/fcc.asp, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madalyn_Murray_O%27Hair

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XP vs. 7 – Comparing the Commercials

Filed under: Technology — Tags: , , , , — SpaCeTraNce @ 11:09 am

With the release of the new Windows 7 commercial I took a trip down memory lane. Most Windows users love XP and have kicked and screamed at trying to switch over to Microsoft’s XP predecessor, Vista. On September 11th, on T.V. screens across the nation and possibly the world, Microsoft started it’s newest advertising campaign by reintroducing Kylie. Microsoft displayed, for the whole world to see, her newest slide show and her take on Windows 7.

Quite honestly the commercial is cute but probably didn’t do much attention grabbing for most users. It seems to play more on fixing Vista apparent release issues then giving us any serious things to chew on. I’m amazed that they let Kylie’s slide that says, “With Windows 7 the OS is great again.” It seems like they are admitting to the past operating systems(OS) were not so great?!?!

Now compared to the first commercial that was broadcast for Microsoft’s XP operating system, the Windows 7 commercial has a completly different marketing target. The Windows XP commercial seems to target both the business users and the home users. Most of the characters are dressed in their nine-to-five suits but there is also the element of Windows Movie Maker and Windows Media Player functionality to appeal to the recreational computer user.

My conclusion: The Windows 7 commercial is cute but seems to admit to past failures and doesn’t seem to target any serious users or showcase any real function. The Windows XP commercial gives the impression of speed and functionality. Microsoft is going to really have to give Windows users something new that they will want. People don’t like change. People love XP even though it is really old it is still loved. It is still loved because of its small footprint, ease of use and stability. Windows 7 is the next step after Vista… people don’t like change but it is comming and resistance will be futile at some point.

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