News and Views

Those of you who run the free version of AVG virus scan software may have received notices lately that the version you have is about to expire, and that you have to upgrade to a new version. If you follow their links, you are taken to a page where they offer to sell you the […]

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I have had to reinstall Windows on my computer twice in the last 3 days. Something slimy must have infested it, because important system files kept disappearing. Hopefully I have it cleaned out this time so it will stay up, but if I become unresponsive again, you’ll know why!

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As my brother Don noted in his blog, there is a new major release to the Firefox web browser; version 2.0. I’ve been running it for a couple of days now and it seems fine. Most of my extensions (including my beloved AdBlock) work fine with it. It has a new spell check, so when […]

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I just bought another TV. If you remember, I bought the 60″ Sony SXRD rear projection LCOS last spring. After having it in my house for 3 weeks, I took it back. Since then I’ve been waiting for something better to come available in my price range. Today I brought home a 65″ LCD TV. […]

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I’m testing putting a video clip into my blog. I know there is text in the middle of the picture — it’s a trial version and I don’t know if I want to buy it yet. What do you think? This was on our famous Peruvian bike ride. If I buy it, would others be […]

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When I walked into the house after spending the Labor Day weekend in Prescott, I heard a clicking noise coming from my office. Bad news — my computer’s hard drive had died. Most of my important information and data was backed up, but I still had to reinstall Windows and reinstall all the programs I […]

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I’ve been getting a lot of “Image Spam” lately — usually stock tips telling me about a great new opportunity. The spam filter in Thunderbird can’t detect them, because there is no incriminating text to key on — just the image which could be anything, as far as the spam filter is concerned. I’ve found […]

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My kitchen has 7 recessed light bulbs in the ceiling. Since early 2000, I have been keeping track of how long the bulbs last. Here’s a graph of the results to date, showing bulb life in days. Click on the graph for a larger image. You can see that Phillips incandescent bulbs are the least […]

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A very challenging but intriguing set of puzzles based on the Greek myth of Theseus stuck in the maze with the Minotaur. There are other interesting puzzles here, but I seem to spend the most time on T and the M. I solved the full Minotaur set over a year ago, but keep coming back […]

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Which face is angry and which calm? Move several feet away from the computer and look again.

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