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22.1.09

Congratulations sir on a fine achievement

************************************************************************ After months of what must have been a wearying campaign to be become the President of the USA...Mr Obama must be very pleased. From slavery to President is no mean feat in fact I never thought it would happen. Do you know there are still slaves today in the USA illegal yes but still slaves...I do believe it is now called human trafficking Now of course his work will have started in earnest Putin needs to be put down a bit... in my opinion he is nothing but an ex KGB thug...then there is Medvedev to consider and let’s face it he is the Russian President. Why him and Putin seem to have more or less the same things to say about various matters has me baffled. Look at the way in which Russia treated with disdain the recent gas crisis...I’m wondering just how he will get along with Hu the red Chinese overlord. Of course Hu had Mr Obama’s Speech heavily cut although the fools left the English translation in...I suppose it had not occurred that quite a few can speak English. Still they had a Phone call in November last year. As president he will have all these problems thrust upon him as well as the ones listed below. Afghanistan Cuba Guantanamo Iraq Iran Saudi Arabia Israel well the list is endless. Raul Castro has made overtures already I read But more importantly his own country, and its inhabitants most of whom voted for him. They are looking towards him for help...but he can’t do this on his own you may have to get up off your butt as you call it and help. Still this bloke is good so I read and have been told Probably saying I'll see Medvedev next Comments are always welcome

13.1.09

Giant Bird Droppings in New Zealand

What a subject you will think and I for one will agree. But I actually read about it on this site this means researchers must be rooting about in ancient huge bird s**** er faeces what a (excuse the pun) load of old crap. It’s reported as being a treasure trove of info but why do we need to know all this. I mean is it to keep these researchers in a job so they can feed their loved ones or what? I mean I’m talking crap here now ancient plain old fashioned bird shit. Do we really want to know about all this discovered recently; prior to this these huge bird turds for want of a better word have been buried underneath caves for millennia. This stuff has a name it seems they are called coprolites; sounds better than turds I suppose. Some professor on this site reckons that we in Australia should have some of this gargantuan stuff from giant marsupials from the past. I don’t think we need him here to dig up any of this crap we have plenty of the new stuff. That poses a question; I wonder what people of similar interests will find here in a few millennia? Still not to worry our animals will be too small I reckon. On the other hand maybe not if these researchers now decide to have a go at making one of these giant birds from DNA found in these huge Mounds (good word) of bird droppings. In the future they may think it was us and the small crap of today could be attributed to their young

12.1.09

Using public monies I see right up to the end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of my arch enemies (should have been impeached) G.W.Bush made his final boots and all free trips (for him) to Virginia today. The occasion his last flight on Air Force one for a ceremony at the Norfolk Navy base I guess…it was in fact the commissioning of the USS nuclear powered aircraft carrier the George HW Bush. This carrier is of the Nimitz class…a grand ship actually, I like the look of her…The aircraft carrier will be the 10th and final Nimitz-class sub and the ninth in the Navy's fleet. All the usual hangers on were present naturally like dead eye Dick, Miz Condi and Gates…why not they never paid the good old American taxpayer did. I did mention Bush’s Momma came along as well I hope can’t leave her out of this gathering can we. Cripes Bush actually said Mom was a strong force of nature Sis was there too would you believe Dotty Koch…in fact it was her who did the business you can read it on Australian ABC here. I don’t think Bush actually realises that most of the American people are actually sick of this war that has killed so many; in fact I’ve lost count of how many. And the cost well the mind boggles. I hope along with many Americans that the new President will endeavour to bring a halt to this but I get a feeling it won’t happen not yet anyway

8.1.09

Unveiling windows 7 Beta

On Wednesday night so I read, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is going to step on stage at the Venetian Hotel’s Palazzo Ballroom to give the keynote address that kicks off the Consumer Electronics Show. It’s the first time for Ballmer, who’s taking the slot that his predecessor Bill Gates has had for years. It’s widely expected that Ballmer will publicly unveil Windows 7 Beta 1, just as Gates used the stage to announce previous Windows versions. He’ll no doubt have an entourage of product managers to help him do the actual demos, hopefully inspiring a wow or two from the assembled throngs. I’m looking forward to the demo, even though I don’t expect any surprises. Mostly, I’m going to be listening between the lines, paying attention to the things that Microsoft chooses not to talk about. In the spirit of the occasion, I offer up the following predictions of things that Ballmer will take great pains to avoid saying. 1. “Some of you are going to hate our new OS, no matter what we do.” Building software is part art, part science, and all compromise. Every design decision involves tradeoffs in performance, in ease of use for novices versus raw power for experts, even in aesthetics. I addressed some of these issues in a post I wrote last year, I fully expect each succeeding wave of Windows 7 reviews to include plenty of “Microsoft sucks” commentary. Especially from InfoWorld. The back and forth between my ZDNet colleague Jason Perlow and me last week illustrates this principle perfectly. Jason (and the commenter’s who agree with his point of view) want Microsoft to offer an option that allows them to use their system using the Windows interface they mastered in 1998. I think pursuing that backward-looking strategy would be a massive waste of limited development resources. The bottom line is you can’t please everyone, and one size will never fit all. So the big question for Microsoft is whether they can please enough people and generate enough positive buzz to drown out the negative voices. 2. “Good luck finding drivers for all your old XP-only hardware.” (sheer rubbish) Over the past few months, I’ve installed and used Windows 7 on a dozen separate systems, representing a wide range in hardware capability and all sorts of different form factors. Virtually every one of those systems had also run Windows Vista at some point in its lab lifecycle, which made it easy for me to track down the best drivers for each subsystem and peripheral. Over the course of the last two years, I’ve discarded or replaced a handful of devices that didn’t work at all with Vista: several network cards, some storage adapters, a scanner, a TV tuner. In every case, I had to replace the unsupported part or do without. The good news is that the driver model for Windows 7 is identical to that of Windows Vista, so all the hardware I now own (and all the drivers I’ve bookmarked and saved) will work on upgraded systems. So, what happens to people who decided to skip Vista and stick with XP, for whatever reason? They get to face those exact same issues. If your device doesn’t have a driver for Windows Vista, it will not work under Windows 7. Period. Full stop. 3. “We’re still at the mercy of our clueless OEM partners – and so are you.” Some of the worst complaints about Windows Vista came from users who were subjected to horrible installations from OEMs, with poorly written drivers, inadequate hardware, and great heaping helpings of crapware to slow everything down to a crawl. I had the chance to see this phenomenon up close and personal last year, when I rebuilt a Sony VAIO whose performance with Windows Vista was so awful that its owner basically wrote it off and bought a new Mac Book. After a clean installation, including Vista Service Pack 1, its performance was eye-opening and impressive. Since that time, Sony, Dell, and other top-tier OEMs have cleaned up their acts impressively. But even if Windows 7 turns out to be an excellent operating system, there’s still the potential for it to be scuttled by sloppy or greedy hardware makers. Microsoft executives are jawboning like crazy with their hardware partners; you know they’ll be holding their breath after the launch to see how those systems perform in the real world. 4. “It might be years before we have a killer application for Vista or Windows 7.” The myth of the “killer app” has never been stronger than with Windows Vista. The idea refers to some program that performs an absolutely irresistible function and only runs on a particular platform. If you need that program, you have to upgrade to the new OS. But software developers, including Microsoft, aren’t interested in cutting off customers who still use older platforms, especially in this tight economy. So, as a result, most popular Windows programs these days are written to run on Windows XP, Vista, and (soon) Windows 7. And there’s no sign that’s going to change anytime soon. If anything, Microsoft is doing its best to avoid any kind of Vista-only software. The new Windows Live Essentials bundle, for example, works on XP and Vista, as does Windows Live Mesh and every member of the Microsoft Office family. None of those programs are going to drop XP support anytime soon (although it’s remotely possible that the next version of Office will work only on Vista or later). That strategy of wide backward compatibility is the right thing to do for customers, but it bolsters the argument of those who contend that a killer app is the only reason to upgrade. 5. “Our licensing terms are as hopelessly confusing as ever.” Microsoft hasn’t gotten around to announcing how many editions of Windows 7 it plans to produce or what their prices will be. But one thing is certain: the confusing, multi-layered Windows business model isn’t going to change. Royalty OEMs (the big PC makers like HP, Dell, Sony, and Toshiba) have one price list and one set of terms. Small system builders have another set of rules. Retail copies are horrendously overpriced. Enterprise customers have to navigate through a thicket of price lists and volume licensing programs that actually require their own certification programs. And even Microsoft sometimes contradicts itself completely on how licensing terms apply to some customers. These predictions were sent to me by an e-mail friend where she got them from God only knows, as I get them from various sources like newsletters etc anyway; I have however seen screenshots of the new windows 7 and was impressed so I will get it . I use vista but lately I have been using my XP computer as I can’t seem to get service pack one for vista; something odd with that as I can get the service pack one for Vista on my laptop If you are worried about getting drivers for XP just write and ask me and I will tell you where you can find them on your computer. I put mine on to a CD-Rom mind you a lot of my XP extra’s like a webcam and scanner to name but two will not work on Vista nor will Nero you have to purchase Nero 8 or 9, so in a way I’m glad I went back to using XP professional. I can always change the boot order if I wish and bring up the vista operating system But looking at this screenshot...to my unpractised eye it just looks like Vista

3.1.09

What a tragic waste of money

My local council is mean so I read on HERE Yes I have no doubt they were mean regarding the pyrotechnic displays to welcome in 2009. Our very own fireworks resident Guru chipped in $16,500 of his own money still at the same time when one considers the financial climate we live in today, one must ponder whether we should have them at all. No I am not being miserly just practical; I was shocked and stunned good people when I read on the link of the amount of money that just went up in smoke merely to welcome in 2009 when there is so much suffering and hunger in the world. Homeless comes into this category although thinking hard and long about the homeless, there is absolutely no need to be homeless in Australia. People may disagree with my view on Australia’s homeless so let them but there are social security payments, free medical and cheap public housing all available in my country I cannot say the same for other countries of course but the amounts spent on these celebrations were horrendous, it mentions the amounts on the site as you would have already seen. However a recap from the site reveals that the Gold Coast had spent $160,000, Brisbane had budgeted about $280,000, Melbourne had $1.4 million worth of fireworks and Sydney had more than $5 million. What a tragic waste in my view I’m sure that our disadvantaged folk would have just loved a share of these amounts even countries like Rwanda...just look at the starving kids there. But no it had to be spent on stuff like this as shown on the video below Comments are most welcome

2.1.09

Do you want excellent employment prospects

So you want a job with excellent prospects and better yet fantastic time off (with pay of course) if so this is the job for you...AUSTRALIA POST who like any other normal blood sucking money grabber will have today off with pay of course (Friday here January the 2nd ) they already had Thursday off along with other workers for the New Year. This unsatisfactory (to me at least) arrangement must be addressed Kev why oh why is this blatant use of the taxpayers money being permitted. This I must admit has been happening for years this mob never work on a Saturday morning; strangely for the last three Saturday mornings they have. Oh of course that accounts for a working day closure today. Another strange thing is that sub Post offices do open well some of them. Seems to me it is just like the banks a very minute few open on a Saturday morning. This is even worse as they have to answer to a board of directors. After some checking I find our politicos get a real cushy time and go back to running Australia around the middle of February. I find this state of affairs to be a bloody disgrace these jokers do a hell of a lot better than our posties even, To get back to the original whinge or whine if you are American something has to be done about this and NOW not twenty years down the track