Visit the "Big Apple" @ Light Speed!

I've always been fascinated with Manhattan - the tall buildings, the bright lights at night, the millions of people hustling and bustling about every day. There is always something to see and do there. I lived there for six months back in the mid-1980's and enjoyed it very much. My favorite time of year there is November and December. The people are friendlier, the Christmas decorations have been set up, there is a festive spirit in the air. I've been fortunate enough to have been able to go back back and visit the "Big Apple" several times in the past 20 years and all of the visits occurred just before Christmas.

Occasionally I get a hankering to see what's going in NYC, my favorite Web stop is the "Times Square Cam" site. There I have access to around 15 different Web cameras that offer a bird's eye view of the city and its people. Some of the cameras are remote controllable which means that I can move around to change views, some allow me to zoom in and out.

I'm inviting you to check out the site - you'll have a great time!

By the way, one time while my wife Susan and I were visiting NYC, we pinpointed the location of one of the Web cams and then called a friend back in New Mexico. We stood there on the sidewalk waving to the camera while Roy watched us from thousands of miles away. He also saved a copy of the picture for us for after we returned home.

The History of Microsoft Windows

With all of the latest fanfare about the new Microsoft operating system entitled "Vista" making the news, I got to thinking back about my experiences with all of the previous versions. I did a quick search and found that Microsoft has an information page that outlines the history of it's world famous O/S. Click here to learn all about Windows starting back at its original version "1.0".

I actually started using computers before they even had operating systems. I used "DOS" - as probably many of you did. For those unfamiliar with the "Disk Operating System" - it was simply computer commands typed out in text on a black screen. Eventually, images were viewable within DOS, but not very well. There was no mouse to use, no music to stream, no videos to download.

By the way, please do not feel compelled to run out and purchase "Vista". Most savvy computer people wait typically a good year before upgrading to a newer O/S - if they do at all. It certainly is not a requirement and in most cases, the first release is still very, very "buggy". Let the other guy purchase "Vista" and then let Microsoft get all of the kinks worked out over time.

That's just my humble opinion though.

A home-study course - Internet 101

How many times have you thought to yourself while surfing the Internet – “I would really like to learn more about the Web”? How many times have you been tempted to purchase one of those big fat,“fluff” filled, expensive Internet training books at the bookstore, but didn’t carry through with it? I don’t blame you; many of those books aren’t really very good.

So, if you had access to a whole bunch of free training material about the Internet– and it started at the most basic of levels, would you consider giving it a try? If you are up for the challenge, then you’ll have to try the courses that are offered by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). I mean, who hasn’t heard of the BBC? They have a very high quality Web site that covers almost every aspect of every communications medium in existence.

To access the free training courses, just click here and you will be very impressed with the quality and quantity of training material offered up to the general public – a fine gift from our British friends across the sea.

A little history...

I just learned that Cincinnati, Ohio once had a subway system. A lot of folks in Cincinnati don't even know that. Some of those folks drive their cars over the long closed tunnels and don't even have a clue about their existence. Click here to learn a quick history listen - there are some great pictures included also.

The information about the old subway system is located on the "Forgotten Ohio" Web site. Here is a quote from homepage:

"Since 1999. Bringing you the best in Ohio's forgotten man made wonders, strange history, and restless spirits for almost eight years. "

Private Social Networking...

First of all - a "social network" is a Web site created that allows individuals from all over the world to create a personal Web page for themselves and then to link that page to millions of other people through that site. You've heard of "My Space" - well, that is a BIG social network.

Last night I got to wondering about the possibility of having a private social network, say for a family that is spread out all over the country. After spending just a few minutes at Google, I found a very nice service entitled "Famster". For absolutely no cost to the users, anyone can set up a family friendly private social network.

I'm happy, my wife Susie is happy, as are our 7 children and 12 grandchildren!

What is your cruising speed?

Have there been times that you were curious about your actual connection speed to the Internet? I know I have. Of course, depending on the time of day, the weather, and the quality of your connection, connection speeds can vary quite a bit.

SpeakEasy, a communications company - offers a very nice speed test online interface and it's free for anyone to use. Just hop on over, select a major city and then upload and download tests will be conducted between your location the destination that you selected.

I've been using this service for a couple of years now.

Connecting to the past...

Have you visited Classmates.com recently?

They have added much more than just the ability to locate past classmates from high school. Now one can locate former college buddies, military members, and former co-workers. This past week, while typing in the information on my former U.S. Coast Guard duty stations, I was presented with a listing of names of individuals who were stationed at the Alameda (California) Recruit Training Center – otherwise known as “boot camp”. I was a recruit there during the summer of 1978.

One of the names that appeared on that list seemed to just jump right off of the page. The name was Terry Dowdy, he had been my Company Commander during the nine weeks I spent at Alameda. Being a Company Commander meant that Terry was in charge of all of the drill instructors in my company. He was the big cheese, when he walked into any area that we troops just happened to be located in – we all had to drop down and do 50 push-ups. I reckon’ we must have done about 500 of them suckers every day.

Terry was unlike most of the “D.I.s” under him though – he was quiet and calm, the instructors, well – let’s just say, they were like walking activated fire alarms - noisy, abrasive, and unrelenting. When I arrived at boot camp, I was involuntarily separated from my original company of recruits and placed into “Oscar” company. “Oscar” company was the official drill team, members marched in formation, and performed intricate routines with massively heavy rifles (M-1s from World War II) – and, they had big sharp bayonets on them.

I had absolutely no desire whatsoever to be on the drill team, I wasn’t happy. My goal for boot camp, was to keep a low profile, not volunteer for anything, and to just survive. Because I was so unhappy about my assignment, I got up the nerve to approach Chief Dowdy – I couldn’t believe it, he was actually approachable. He listened to my opinions, and without yelling and screaming at me, or demeaning me – he made me an offer. “You participate in the first gig, and if you don’t like it – you can go back to your original company, and you won’t be harassed about it”. I thought that was a very fair offer.

Needless to say, the first performance was inside San Francisco City Hall, the taps on our shoes sounded awesome on those marble floors, and we impressed the heck out of the visiting Prime Minister of India, all the while having our performance broadcast on live television. Needless to say, I remained with “Oscar” company. We performed 21 times in my nine weeks of boot camp, winning first place in 19 of them. We traveled all up and down the west coast, performed in the Kingdome before a Seattle Mariners baseball came, performed in front of 50,000 people at Sea Fair in downtown Seattle, and got to perform on the streets of Vancouver British Columbia.

Most folks, when they think back to boot camp, have relatively bad memories of it. Me – it was one of the most exciting times in my entire life, and I have Terry Dowdy to thank for that. Occasionally, we have folks that come into our lives for just very brief periods of time, and then they are gone. Most of us, never consider the possibility of ever being able to articulate to them, our sincere appreciation. Well, I succeeded in doing just that awhile back. I located Terry using Google, called him up, and expressed my thoughts to him. He’s now living in Fairbanks, Alaska – which is quite a coincidence, considering that is where my family and I lived when I was a child.

Sometimes life actually does come full-circle, we just have to notice it when it happens.

Calling all wannabe video producers...

Have you heard of EyeSpot? It's a Web site that allows you to edit and produce videos without having to download any software or even shoot any video yourself! Short video clips are available on the site and the editing is done online. Of course, after you get the feel for things, you can upload your own video clips and then start editing away - maybe mix your clips in with someone elses. I'm currently working on a video that I plan on premering at my college's annual film fest in March.

Helpful Hint

Please remember to check the Archive for this Blog in case you've missed any of my earlier entries. The archive is located on the right hand side of the Web page about half-way down - right under the "Yahoo News" section.

I could use your help.

If after discovering this Web site and finding that it is useful and entertaining, would you please consider telling your friends, family, and co-workers about it? I promise to provide fresh content everyday and plan on adding new features throughout the year.

Thanks a bunch!
Tom

A word of caution...

We all know that the Internet is not ALL fun and games. Just like anything else, the Web can be used for nefarious purposes also - everything from cheating on our spouses, to learning how to commit crimes, and even as a support system for terrorism activities.

I've read story after story about every day folks who get caught up in some kind of "situation" simply because they dabbled with dishonesty. What kind of dishonesty am I talking about you may wonder? It's the kind where you strike up a chat session with a total stranger and pretend to be someone that you aren't.

Sounds innocent enough doesn't it?

It never has to me BUT I know lots of people who do it or have done it in the past. I wonder what is the point? I also wonder do the people who do such a thing ever feel guilty? I'm also curious to know that if someone gets really, really proficient at lying on the Internet - does that make them much more likely to tell lies in real life?

Finally, when chatting with a total stranger - how does one know or not know that the other person isn't lying about their identity also? What if that other person is a serial killer or a mass murderer? What if that person is really, really good a hacking and is able to determine your true identity and your location?

Some folks reading this might think I'm just being paranoid or judgemental but that is not my motivation for writing this piece. I'm concerned about my reader's safety and well being. Click here to read a recent article about the dangers of pretending to be someone that we aren't while on the Internet. There are articles like this one appearing almost daily throughout the world.

Calling all Coasties...

If you are now or ever were affiliated with the U.S. Coast Guard, and you still have strong feelings of association with it - then please by all means, visit another Blog that I maintain. The "Post Coastie" Web site has some great news feeds, Coast Guard related links, and even sells clothing and merchandise branded with the artwork to the left.

YouTube on a computer near you...

If you haven't explored the YouTube Web site yet, you should. If you know absolutley nothing about that service, click here for a good explanation.

About one of my other Blogs....

If you are a Christian who is strong in your faith and you believe that Christianity is under attack, then my other Blog is for you. If you haven't been brainwashed into believing that Christians MUST be a silent majority, weak, compromising, and powerless - then I invite you to check it out by clicking here!

Hector the Daydreamer

My grandson Hector and I just produced our very first Internet video. You can find it on the "You Tube" Web site in addition to this Blog.

The most popular myths in science...

Click here to read about the top 20 scientific myths in existence. There are some pretty broad topics explained and most of us have heard or read most of the myths listed. The list is maintained at the "Live Science" Web site which in itself is very, very interesting and informative.

Those were the days....

I hope I'm not the only one who remembers this commercial. I can remember salivating every time the spot was aired. I SO wanted to have a computer back then. I went on to crave ownership of a Commodore-64, a TRS-80, and a TI-99 also. I never did get to own one of those computers when they were the "in" thing but I did end up owning each one of them at different times - after they had become ancient technology. Although each computer's usefulness had been overshadowed by the newer (and more expensive) technology - that didn't stop me from purchasing them at garage sales and flea-markets.

I won't melt...

The little fella' here is my M&M alter-ego. I created him at the M&M Web site - it was a lot of fun. Once you've done your creating, you can save the image to your computer.

Click here to see what I did with my new creation.

A view of things to come...

Robots - they've been a fascination with man for over 100 years. Things are rapidly advancing these days.

As I watched this video I was very impressed with the technology, but I also began to feel a little uncomfortable.

Am I the only one who feels creepy about robots actually coming into existence?

Another virus alert...

This virus is entitled the "Mail Server Report" virus because that is what the subject line of the email will say when you receive it. Click here to read more about this new "bug".

Virus Alert

Click here for a breaking news story about the latest and greatest virus to make its rounds on the Internet. It's a good time to make sure that your virus protection software is up-to-date.

You DO have virus protection don't you?

Can you believe that I still run into folks who do not have an anti-virus program running on their computer? The very top excuse that I hear, for not having protection is that those folks don't want to pay for it. My first thoughts are, "hmm, they pay for Internet access, they paid for their computer - yet, they don't want to spend $50 a year for virus protection?"

You know, that all just sounds a little silly to me.

I've got good news for those cheapskates though! If they will go to the Grisoft Web site, they can snatch a free copy of AVG anti-virus software - that's right, it's free, no stings attached.

Cruise on in...

In previous posts, I’ve mentioned a few classic vehicles that I and some friends have owned in previous times. It seems, now that I’ve hit “middle-age”, I think back on those cars even more. I’m willing to bet that I’m not the only one around with that driving dilemma. One place I like to hang out is the "Classic Car" Web site – it contains photo galleries, classified ads, chat rooms, and “swap meet” information just to name a few of the great features on the site.
Happy cruising.

Nothing like old time radio....

Whether you are young or old, listening to old time radio shows can be very entertaining. I'm a very nostalgic person; I've collected old mementos, books, postcards, newspapers and magazines from time to time. I also love to listen to old time radio shows from the 1930's, 40's and 50's.

One of the nicest and least expensive (how about free?) sites on the Web that allows one to listen to streaming audio of complete shows is "Old Time Radio Fans". The broadcasts are organized by genre and they also have a great collection of very old radio commercials.

Check it out and tune it in!

E-mail Etiquette?

I think most of us take e-mail for granted and we don't really give much thought to how others might perceive us when reading our messages. Although the well written article on e-mail etiquette at the "E-mail Replies" Web site is directed toward professionals - I think it has a lot of very pertitent lessons for all of us.

Urban Legends

I've just received yet another forwarded e-mail concerning Dr. James Dobson's efforts to thwart a petition to the FCC to ban all religious broadcasting on television. First of all, there is no such petition. Secondly, Dr. Dobson has no affiliation with the e-mail that is being circulated - someone simply added his name to it to make it look more relevant.

At no time, has the FCC ever been petitioned to ban all religious broadcasting, but because of the hoax, they have received over 30 million letters from concerned Christians over the past 20 years!

Did I say 20 years? Yes. That is how long that particular "Urban Legend" has been in existence. How do I know that for sure you may be wondering? It's because I went to the SNOPES Web site, and then typed "FCC" in the search box - which presented with me all of the details about the legend. If you want a direct link to the article - click here. SNOPES is the best urban legend buster on the Web - in my humble opinion that is.

All the movies all of the time...

For about three years now, my wife Susan and I have been renting our videos through the mail. We use Blockbuster and the service has always worked out great for us. We pay a set monthly fee and in exchange we receive an unlimited number of videos every month. As soon as we watch one, we either mail it back in a prepaid mailer or we take it to a local Blockbuster and exchange it for another movie (at no additional cost). We've usually got 3 videos out at a time and what is really nice about it is that we aren't on any deadlines to return them. We can watch movies on our own schedule and we don't have to worry about making repeated trips to the video store, which is nice since we don't live very close to one. Blockbuster provides us a queue at their Web site, we simply visit the site, select the movies we want to watch and in the order we want to receive them and that is it - it can't get much easier than that!

A "MySpace" for Baby Boomers...

I'm sure by now everyone has heard of "MySpace", it would almost be impossible to not have these days. Described as a "social networking" site, there are millions and millions of "residents". I've visited "MySpace" several times, I've even built a rudimentary page - but you know, I've just never felt very comfortable there. The racy ads (with pictures) are a real bummer and I'm just not "hip" enough to feel like part of the crowd. I see the site as slightly chaotic, slightly offensive, and just a "mish-mash" of various features. No true goal, and no true mission other than for folks to just "hook up".

Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com (an extremely popular employment search site) has created Eons.com - it's a social networking Web site for those over 50. Even though I'm still a few years shy of 50, I felt much more comfortable at the Eons.com Web site than I ever have at "My Space". I'll let Mr. Taylor himself explain a little bit about the new site:

“If something doesn’t fit our ‘50+ lens’, it doesn’t make it onto the site,” explains Taylor. “That means everything is timely, customized and relevant. Co-creation with our members is critical to ensuring that we are capturing and reflecting their voice, wants and needs.”

I'll see you up at Eons.com!

A quick and easy spellchecker...

There are times that I need to know how to spell a word - quickly. I may not be in the process of using a program that has a spell check feature in it so what I do is jump over to Google.com. Once I'm at Google I just type in the word, although it is more than likely misspelled, as long as it is close, Google informs me that the word is misspelled by stating "Did you mean.....?" So, I just copy and paste the corrected word into whatever it is I'm working on. This may sound like a lengthy process but actually it happens pretty quick.

E-Books make it Easy...

Have you read an e-book yet?

In case you don't know what an e-book is, it is an electronic book - that is, it's a book that has been digitized into a file that can be read by a computer. Sometimes an e-book might only be available in certain formats (like for a Palm Pilot), in most cases these days though, once an e-book has been created from a regular book, several different formats are offered for download. And in a lot of cases, the books don't even HAVE to be downloaded, they can just be read online. There are hundreds of Web sites that offer e-books - most of the commercial sites require you to purchase their special equipment or software to read the e-books and/or they charge a fee for the download.

I've found two Web sites that I think could keep a person busy reading for a very long time and they would not have to spend any money whatsoever! The Gutenberg Project site offers around 20,000 free e-books. The University of Virginia Library offers over 2,100 free e-books for download and thousands more that can be read online with just your Web browser.

Happy reading!

Learn it in a Flash!

I don't know about you, but there are times that in order for me to learn something new - I HAVE to use flashcards. Currently, I'm attending college full-time and let me tell you, last semester I made A LOT of flashcards. I've been doing it the old fashioned way, you know - purchasing 3x5 index cards and then writing the questions on one side of a card and then the answer on the other.

How "old school" is that?

If you find yourself in need of flashcards in the near future, please check out "Flash Card Exchange". Not only will you be able to create (for free) and use online flashcards, you will also be able to print them in a variety of formats, and then cut them out. What a great idea. Another great idea is that all of the flashcard projects that have ever been created on the Web site are available to everyone - again, for free.

Don't throw it away - FREECYCLE it!

I'll just let the folks at the Freecycle Web site explain what they are all about:

"The Freecycle Network™ is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good people). Membership is free. The Freecycle Network was started in May 2003 to promote waste reduction in Tucson's downtown and help save desert landscape from being taken over by landfills. The Network provides individuals and non-profits an electronic forum to "recycle" unwanted items. One person's trash can truly be another's treasure!"

I've been participating with various Freecyle groups for about three years now. You won't find a nicer bunch of folks and you truly can get some really nice "stuff" for free!

Any e-Bay addicts out there?

You know who you are. I'll bet you are on a first name basis with the UPS and Fed-Ex drivers that come to your house a couple of times a week - in fact, you've probably had them and their families over for dinner at least once by now!

Have I got a site for you!

The LastMinute Auction site constantly monitors the auctions on e-Bay and searches out those that are about to end (say within 2 hours) and are priced at $1 or less.

Of course you will find a lot of junk in the listings but you never know when you just might find the bargain of a lifetime?

Dialed In...

I have a good friend Lavelle Anderson, he is in the U.S. Air Force and is stationed in South Korea. Although he is located tens of thousands of miles away, I can simply pick up my telephone, dial a U.S. number - and within just a few seconds be talking to him like he was right down the street. The sound quality is superb and we don't ever get disconnected. Any time Lavelle wants to call someone in the U.S. - all he has to do is pick up his $10 telephone and dial the number.

Isn't modern technology wonderful?

Lavelle uses Vonage to provide his telephone service. All of the phone calls are made over the Internet with the assistance of a device that plugs into his computer. That inexpensive telephone of his just plugs into the device. Any regular telephone will do, in fact - a lot of folks use the cordless type. Almost any feature that you'd find on your regular telephone line such as call-waiting, call-forwarding, etc. is offered by Vonage and the cost is around $25 a month which includes unlimited long distance. Vonage has received several national awards just in the past year for its quality of service.

Bless the Children...

Click here to read a great news story from FOX News about the efforts of an Army officer who is trying to bring some joy to the lives of the children of Iraq. You can then visit his Web site and be afforded the opportunity to participate in that endeavor. For some reason, the thousands of positive efforts carried on by our troops like rebuilding schools, hospitals, orphanages and such receive very little press coverage. I wonder why that is?

Fighting the "Bugs"

Not only do we have to constantly concern ourselves with keeping our computers free of viruses, we have to make sure we do everything we can to prevent ourselves from getting sick. The WebMD Web site has some great information on natural ways to prevent "bugs" from attacking us - the steps are simple and the article is very, very informative.

Instant Messenger on Steroids

Are you an "I.M." fanatic - do you even open up multiple I.M. type programs to keep in touch with all of your friends? You may be interested in "Trillian" - it is a messenger program that allows you to communicate across multiple platforms. In a nutshell - with the Trillian program, you can chat with folks on Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, and MSN Messenger - all with just one single program. Pretty cool huh? The "Basic" version of Trillian is free, you can purchase the "Pro" version for $25.

Fit to print...

Ever find yourself looking for a good source of high-quality yet inexpensive business cards? How about high-quality FREE business cards? I've been using Vista Print for several years now and have always been extremely satisfied with the quality of their products. Of course, they would much rather that we purchase their higher-end business cards and stationary but it's never a requirement though. Just a quick glance through their "Free" section will impress you and it'll be no time before you are filling in the information on one of their online templates - which is a very handy-dandy feature. Although the cards are free there is a nominal shipping fee of around $6.00 - but still, that is a very low price for 250 high-quality business cards.

Web Cam Watch...

Researchers at Carnegie-Mellon University are compiling a massive directory of links to Web cameras that can be found on the Internet. Click here to learn more and to access the directory. You'll be impressed with the places that you can "visit" - mostly for free!

Blast from the past...

The History Channel Web site contains an archive of live speeches and radio broadcasts dating back to the 1920's. While just poking around the site for a few minutes, I learned that a B-25 Bomber crashed into the Empire State Building in 1945. You can listen to some of the news broadcasts and some of the eyewitness reports by clicking here.

Modern technology is soooooo cool!

WD-40 - the things your daddy never told you...

Four of the most important inventions of the last century:

Duct-tape
Super Glue
Sticky-Tacky
WD-40

Is there any doubt about it? Most of us could probably easily develop a list of at least three or four good uses for WD-40. But what about 2000 uses? OK, some of the uses may seem a little far fetched or redundant BUT all in all, if you click here - you will be impressed with the list anyway.

All Jazzed Up...

Up until about three years ago, I'd never given Jazz music much thought (or listen). That all changed when I moved to the gulfcoast of Florida and discovered a wonderful smooth jazz radio station. I quickly realized that if I would listen to the gentle and smooth music while driving around town, I would be a lot less stressed by the traffic congestion and the actions of crazy drivers! It didn't take long for me to get "hooked" on smooth jazz.

Suddenly though, back in November of 2006 things changed dramatically for me. After moving to the Fort Wayne area of Indiana, I quickly discovered that there is NO jazz radio station in the area! How can that be? I'm still trying to figure that one out, considering how much I've heard about all of the "culture" in Fort Wayne.

Anyway, I can still get my daily fix by going to www.smoothjazz.com - the music is awesome and listening in CD quaility sound does not cost a penny - in fact, it's totally free!

Unfortunately, I can't receive the Internet in my car - YET, but in the mean time I do have an MP3 player that I can use, I just transmit its signal over my car stereo. I just purchase music files over the Internet though Apple's iTunes - www.itunes.com - load the music files onto my MP3 player and go for a drive!

It's a jungle out there!

Greetings and welcome to my new blog!

I'm so glad that you could stop by.

Today: January 8, 2007 is the very first day and the very first entry for my latest endeavor. Why have I created this blog you may be wondering? It is because, almost weekly I run into folks who have Internet access but are intimidated by it. These folks realize that they have easy access to a vast repository of information and entertainment but don't really understand how to access it.

That's where I come in!

I've spent the past decade teaching people how to use computers and the Internet. I try to take the complicated and make it simple. I don't talk down to folks nor do I treat them with disdain because they do not understand something.

I "surf" the Web everyday, exploring new sites and finding new uses for the World Wide Web. Won't you please allow me to be your daily guide? I would be honored and pleased as punch if you'd tag along.

By the way, you'll never have to worry about being directed toward any web site that would be considered offensive or not family friendly.

Happy exploring!
Tracker Tom