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Ever wonder where the symbols we use when typing input originated? Like the symbol pictured here? It is called a tilde. You can check out the various uses of a tilde at Wikipedia. Kim Komando has a short clip about some of the more familiar symbols. BTW, there is a commercial in the middle of this video. Many people need to pay close attention to the commercial and not so much to the history lesson. Review the content at the link below and it will all become clear:
A question that comes up often is, "What software is good to manage photos?" I use Picasa which is a Google property. If you have ever used the Adobe Photoshop program, you'll probably love Picasa. It's straightforward and you don't need to be a witchdoctor specializing in voodoo to make it work. Pause for thought: Is Adobe's main headquarters deep in the jungle? (Now they will probably snatch Flash away from my computer, lol). With Picasa I've eliminated ALL camera software which can be clunky and resource intense. One of my least favorite software products on the planet is anything written by Kodak. Hey, they make wonderful cameras, but their software is terrible.
My last comment about yesterday's post far exceeded the word limit. First, I don't think that Vista is, or ever really was a debacle. Good Lord knows it was a train wreck in the beginning. We all know that. Yet, my #1 workstation is still running Vista Ultimate which is up to date and doing an outstanding job after the good work of Microsoft to right a wrong. This machine will NOT be upgraded to Win7 in the near future. Since all the improvements most people think this workstation is running Win7 since I use the Aero Theme or Interface or Transparency in Vista (backronym meaning Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, Open theme according to Microsoft). Pick your definition, lol! People, if you have Vista update it and and use it. The service packs really help. Need further verification? Go to Microsoft's Knowledge Base and take a look at their opinion. Differences between Vista and Win7? Not so much. Please, if you argue this diatribe, include links.
For those of you that are miffed and thoroughly disgusted with Microsoft's IE9 recent snub of XP users, rest assured you now have a strong advocate in your corner. Today's release of Firefox 4 will definitely work with XP machines. Read more at ComputerWorld. This article also walks you through the procedure to download Firefox 4. Good to see Mozilla embrace the most popular operating system on planet earth - Microsoft XP. Good marketing ploy for the people at Mozilla, Firefox's parent company. This is an awesome browser that has great flexibility and extension libaries that makes it easily custom tailored to an individual's use. Fast too. Once again white hats off to people caring about their fellow internet users. Good job Mozilla and keep up the great work!
It amazes me that Frank Herbert was rejected by publishers 38 times before the greatest science fiction space opera, Dune, was put together and made available for sale. Margaret Mead only published one book in her life and it was rejected 21 times before meeting the press. The book? A little ditty titled Gone with the Wind. This also happens to be etched in the southern belle's handbook as the absolute 'stay at home, make popcorn and watch a movie' night selection. If she testifies that she doesn't own this movie then beware. She's a Yankee that's doing some dangerous role playing! But, if she swoons while Clark Gable kisses Vivian Leigh give her credit for great effort. Oh yeah, this one and only book published by Margaret Mead won a Pulitizer Prize! Hooker's take on the Korean War misadventures of the M*A*S*H troop was rejected 22 times before it hit the stands and shelves. Want more? Take a peek at the How Stuff Works site. Fascinating.
Short note to let everyone know that in spite of my inability to post for a while y'all didn't throw in the towel. Traffic is almost back to normal and it does my heart good to know that I've that many friends and readers. Posting is still spotty due to excessive backlog and trying to make my financial situation liveable. Getting there, slowly, but getting there. If anyone has ideas for posts it'd sure be nice to hear about them. My email is cybersouth@gmail.com.
Internet Explorer 9 is now available in the final form. You must run Vista or Windows 7 to use this browser. Sorry XP users. It can be downloaded at Microsoft. I have used it for several weeks and it is a vast improvement over IE8. The speed is awesome. Running Vista or Win7? Take a look, you might want to give it a try.
Surfing around and found this somewhat interesting Engadget tidbit: Free Japan calls thru March 31st, via AT&T. Downright scary, I tell ya! Yet, credit where credit is due, it will help many people in many ways. If I had a relative or friend in Japan I'd sure ring the phone off the hook. So (I can't believe I am going to say this), kudos and props out to AT&T! Maybe MaBell does have a soul after all. Now if they stop telling outright lies about their horrible coverage and even worse customer service, it might freak us smooth out! Still, this gesture is a very positive step.
Just over reviewing some info at the HowToGeek site. Do you realize the number of sites that are infected with malware (most of the time intentionally) has doubled during the past year?!?!?!?!? If you have a site that uses this garbage and they won't stop, either email them or, better yet, stop visiting the site. If they use malware, spyware, adware, garbageware, dungware, thiefware, etc., then I don't need to visit their site for ANY reason. I have stopped using some download sites because of this problem and absolutely will not use Yahoo under any circumstances. I wish Microsoft could have gotten past the anti-trust problems and bought Yahoo. It would probably be a good site again. Yahoo has a history of promising to stop the charade and clean up their act. Greed seems to have lured them back time and time again. It is amazing that a number of people I consider to be intelligent persist in using this garbage.
Prayers out to all those in Japan and the USA that have suffered due to the recent tsunami. Huge prayer out to the victims of the 8.9 earthquake in Japan. It's time for America to help one of our staunch allies recover from horrible devastation. The people of Japan recovered from the plight of WW II and became a leader. They truly changed from being an imperialist nation of cruel war lords into a polite, responsible society. Their drive to perfect manufacturing in a very positive way has changed the world. The nation recovered after nuclear bombing and embraced new technology to rise to the top of free trade. This freak act of nature will take many years of hard work to set right.
OK, I am bad about not answering the phone because of my sleep weirdness - due to legal drugs and other junk. I am imposing a moratorium on calling anyone that doesn't answer the phone after three return calls. At least try to return it. What's up with Alcorn County? Y'all lose mainstream phone patterns? Good Lord knows I miss stuff from Red Dragon, the Murf, Mother n many others. Hell, none of them live in Alcorn or Tishomingo or Prentiss or Itawamba so on n so forth. Might be good. Maybe I don't need to talk, lol! Notice I said "I", lol!
Here's a great tip for Guild Wars: Hold down you control and shift key while dragging multiple consumables into the Xunlai Chest. A window will open letting you choose how many you want to put into the chest. This great for those that want to distribute Honeycombs, Rock Candies, Summoner Stones, etc., among several different characters on the same account. Thanks for the info Cyndane Eloize. Meanwhile back at the Guild Hall - anyone that has a really good tip please email it to cybersouth@gmail.com. As Red Green says, "We're all in this together." Help fellow players out and pass along some flashing jewels of information. 
