Two days ago, our voices were heard and the US House of Representatives dismissed SOPA for this session. PIPA is still being pushed. These bills allow big business to use the force of government to limit free speech on the internet. These bills would give the government power to filter search results and shut down some of your favorite sites. Fight back! Get involved and make the government work for you. Click http://bit.ly/vMF88H to send a simple e-mail to your representatives through the EFF.
Google is so in love with it’s new Plus social network that it wants to remind us to use it through the not-so-subtle way of making Google Mail look just like it. For people like me that struggle with UI changes like this, it’s making the simple task of checking e-mail a chore.
We still have the option to keep the “old look” for now but knowing that the dreaded “new look” is looming right around the corner, I decided to explore our options to see what can be done to make Gmail look more like what we’re used to.
The Gmail we know and love
The abomination it’s become
I have no idea what they were thinking with the massive spaces between everything. It’s a waste of screen real estate and a waste of time having to scroll pointlessly. Fortunately for us, that part is fixed fairly easily.
Click the bizarre new atomic hexagon at the top right of your message list. This gives us a menu with multiple things. Select Compact to move your text back to a more friendly arrangement.
Click the same atomic hexagon and visit the Themes section. Any of the themes other than Light get rid of the hideous red COMPOSE button. I find that Soft Gray reminds me the most of the old look but feel free to explore the rest of themes as well.
Here we are with the “new look” modified to more closely resemble the Gmail of yesterday.
Transmission is a free, open-source bit torrent peer-to-peer (P2P) client for Mac and Linux. It’s not as full-featured as some other apps, but it’s lightweight to install, simple to use and really all you need.
The first thing you want to do is follow the advice of Wu-Tang:
This means adding a list of computers you don’t want to connect to. For this, we’re going to seek help from I-Blocklist. That they’re going to give us is the Bluetack Level 1 blocklist. This list blocks Transmission from connecting to the spies of bit torrent: anti-P2P companies, organizations and governments who are clearly involved with trying to stop file sharing. The list is updated about every other day blocks almost a million IP addresses. Copy the text below:
http://list.iblocklist.com/?list=bt_level1&fileformat=p2p&archiveformat=gz
Now, open Transmission. You’ll see the basic program window.
Click Edit and choose Preferences.
In Preferences, click the Privacy tab.
Enable blocklist and paste in the text you copied above.
Enable automatic updates and click the Update button.
Close the update notification and the Preferences window.
Open your browser and go to your favorite bit torrent search site and try to find what you want with the largest number of seeds. When you find what you want, click the Magnet link. Your browser might ask you what program you’d like to use for handling Magnet links. Tell it Transmission and wait for your download.
When it’s done, you can remove it from the Transmission list. Don’t worry, it won’t remove your files as well unless you tell it to.
The best my Droid X has ever run with with Liberty 1.5, based on Froyo, with an Imoseyon kernel. Shortly after I got settled with it, the Gingerbread leaks started coming in, so it’s seemed like I’ve been installing, SBFing and reinstalling ever since then.
After over a year of figuring out how to get it to run on the Droid X followed by months of nightlies and fixes, there’s finally a release candidate for Cyanogenmod 7. This distro is probably the single most popular piece of aftermarket software for smartphone users. I’ve been wanting to test it for quite a while now based solely on the buzz surrounding it.
I spent some time yesterday installing the ROM along with some fixes that still aren’t worked into the RC. I also installed all
of my regular apps and configured them so today I could just use my phone for my daily tasks while monitoring speed, battery life and stability.
Boot time is average. Everything seems to run as it should and maybe even launch slightly faster. I’m noticing some graphical issues
involving carrot placement but it may be specific to the WordPress app. I’ll keep an eye on that. There was also a problem creating this post from my phone. It seemed like every word I had to help Swiftkey X on wound up with a blockquote tag around it, so I just spent another 5 minutes reformatting this so it was actually readable. Again, that could be an issue with the specific app, so I’m still impartial. We’ll see how the day goes!
Update: I got the performance and battery life I’m accustom to with my modified Gingerbread 602. CM7 is still lacking some stability for what I do. Looks like I’ll restore my last back and wait for the stable release!
This Banana Republic ad is on the back of the current issue of Wired.
Why does this clothing vendor believe that the hottest new style is to dress like Mr. Rogers?
Today I started an experiment after remembering something I heard on Clark Howard. Last week he talked about having used the same disposable razor to shave for an entire year. He said all he did was to make sure the blades were clean and completely dry before he put the razor away after shaving.
It reminded me of another tip I’d heard about keeping the blade submerged in mineral oil between shaves. Keeping the air and moisture away from the blades seems crucial to their longevity. Since I needed blades anyway, it seemed like a great time to test out this story out.
I had a little bit of a struggle locating mineral oil. I’ve heard of it before but I didn’t know exactly what it was. It wasn’t until I found myself in a local health and beauty section that I learned its common name: baby oil.
Last night I had an easy shave with a new blade despite my week ‘s worth of beard. Afterward I arranged an incredibly high-tec oil submersion system for the blade cartridge.
At $18 for 10, I’m willing to entertain any trick to make these golden blades last longer, although the tactic I’ve used over the years – hardly ever shaving – has been effective as well. (Random side note: I still use the first razor I ever bought. It’s from 1993 or so.)
(10)
1,931 days ago I sent an e-mail that changed my life. It was every bit as spontaneous, hopeful and nervous as would be appropriate for meeting the most beautiful girl in the world for the first time.
Oct 27, 2005
So of course, I noticed your corset…wait, that’s a terrible way to start this. Rhyming…uhm… I like your shirt.
Now that that’s behind us, hi! I’m Kevin. 25, from Suffolk. ATV club founder, carpenter, mechanic, and bar hopper extraordinaire. That’s giving myself way too much credit but you just seem like this ball of energy and I wanna sound perpetually motivated enough to even catch your interest.
Is that too many words? What are you gonna think now? Maybe I should have just left it at hi…
PS – Hope the “thoughts on my sleeve” approach I’ve tried here isn’t too disturbing.
xkevin108x on AOL IM
And, much to my surprise, she wrote back!
Oct 27, 2005
Hello Kevin. First off I like your message it made me smile. Thank God there are actaully people out there that know how to type normally. Big words even. Usually I get.. Hey wut u doin?.. or my fave…”wut r u up 2 2nite? ugh!
So anyways, thanks for noticing my corest.. ack hem my shirt. and liking it. I like your ATV. very cool. what got you into doing that? umm.. I don’t know what else to say. SOOOO
Goodnight Kevin. It was very nice to meet you.
OH! I like the little ball of energy line.. trying to catch my interest. that sounds geniune. and you’ve caught my attention. Congratulations!! haha just kidding.
so goodnight once again.
Shannon
I can only assume I sent another message between these two.
Oct 30, 2005
Do I get another reply?
And I had lost her. Until…
Nov 2, 2005
Sorry Iv’e been really super busy these past couple of days. I’m going to Florida on friday for a week, so I’ve been running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off trying to get things together.
So I played it cool and gave her some space.
Nov 15, 2005
How was your trip?
It sort of worked.
Nov 15, 2005
it was fantastic thank you for asking
But I think this is where I won her over.
Nov 24, 2005
A young man called directory assistance. “Hello, operator? I would like the phone number for Mary Jones in Phoenix, Arizona.”
“There are multiple listing for Mary Jones in Phoenix,” replied the operator. “Do you have a street name?”
The young man hesitated and said, “Well, most people call me Ice Man…”
She had a photo I happened across twice in one day that set everything in motion.
Anastasia Beaverhousen
The holidays were a blur. We spent Christmas day together via IM and rung in 2006 on the phone. We met, had fun and made each other nervous for several weeks before our first kiss.
About a month later, on February 11, 2006, as we were driving towards a large gathering of my friends, I asked her, “How would you like to be introduced?”
I explained that since all my friends would just call her my girlfriend, that maybe she could just accept the title honorarily until we ironed out all the details. They seemed to take care of themselves as the night progressed.
It feels like both yesterday and forever ago
In two days it will be the 5th anniversary of the day this photo was taken.
May our dreams together continue to come true.
VBJO dissolved itself due to some internal drama amongst the group owner and the organizers who were actually running the group. One would hope that what has emerged will hopefully become a better, more focused club. I think it’s going to be even better than that: two clubs!
Our friendly organizers from the former VBJO have now launched the Hampton Roads Jeep Club while a couple guys from our local Jeep dealership have put together the Starr Motors Offroad Club. HRJC held a typical Uno’s meetup tonight while last Saturday Starr opened their private course for us and hosted a large meet and greet.
Jay met Ray and I at my place around noon. From here we loaded up and headed west. We grabbed a quick lunch from Cazadores and proceeded on to Starr Motors. The official record says there were 62 of us that showed up but I have a feeling the true number was even higher than that. There were tons of Wranglers, to which we paid little attention, but there was a good number of other random vehicles and some you’d never have expected to see!
If Saturday was any indication, the Starr Motors group is going to be a very interesting bunch of wheelers. I especially like that they are open to all makes and models. I’m just as welcome in my old Silverado as I am my Cherokee. Jay in his X-Terra is an equal associate to Ray in his full-size Bronco or Josh in his S-10 Blazer. Finally, a group we can all belong to!
Yesterday I made my first real trip in about 5 years to Carova Beach, NC with my buddy Jay, his girlfriend and his sister. He recently purchased an 03 Xterra he’s beginning a build on, so it’s going to be awesome to have one of my best friends to go offroading with again.
We had a long day on the beach, a couple coolers full of beer, and good times by all! The water was the clearest I’ve ever seen it and the waves were light and predictable. We took a scenic drive throughout the beach and even managed to find some standing water to drive through. As usual, we didn’t think to get any pictures of us actually driving.
A gratuitous shot of our rigs.
He got down there a little before me and parked in front of the sign as a landmark.
Their dog Coal was leashed to the latch for the rear hatch on Jay’s Xterra but wild dog managed to break the carabiner so we upped the ante a little. No Clark Griswald moments ensued, however.
Carova is covered in wild horses. This was a mother and a foal walking along the dunes as we left.
Wyoming has suspended sales tax collections from gun shows because of increasing animosity toward the state’s tax agents in the field. These agents go to gun shows to distribute tax forms to the sellers who are required to collect sales tax and hand it over to the Department of Revenue.
Basically what WY is doing is charging sales tax on private sales of used guns. That makes this issue not about guns, but about right and wrong. The state got their cut when the items were purchased as new. They’re trying to double dip here and people are outraged, as they should be. This would lead directly into charging a sales tax on items you might put in a yard sale or dispense with on Craigs List.
They say they don’t have a problem at craft shows, and there’s a reason for that. Crafters don’t constantly have their rights threatened from half of the political spectrum as well as their government. Gun owners have to be on their toes about things and as a result many of us are unafraid to loudly stand up for our rights.
The state hassling people over money for yard sales and craft shows is like trying to figure out how to pay your mortgage with change from your ashtray and couch cushions.
Source: trib.com
