For Family History Research

October 24, 2008 — Mrs. Mecomber

Here’s a great site I found for family researchers (like me). It’s the World Names Profiler. The Internet has really done wonders for my own genealogy research. Come to think of it, I don’t have a post about all the genealogy resources that I have found helpful. I’ll have to collect everything and do that!

Well, this World Names Profiler is another great tool. It searches the world for listings of your family name. Your browser must be Flash-enabled. It’s pretty neat! I see that there are Mecombers in Alaska, but more are in New York State. The information is very detailed, down to the county and common first names. This looks like a great (and free) tool for the genealogist.

[Slashdot] [Digg] [Reddit] [del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Technorati] [Google] [StumbleUpon]
Posted in educational programs, miscellaneous. Tags: , , . Comments Off »

An Amazing Video

July 19, 2008 — Mrs. Mecomber

I saw in some news circles that they are calling NASA’s new video, “An Alien’s Eye View,” which is so juvenile. Might as well say it’s a flying pig’s eye view. Sheesh! Well, anyway, the video is neat. It’s a video of the lunar cycle as view by a camera– NASA’s Deep Impact– 31 million miles out in space.

Isn’t it beautiful? And that’s just a little YouTube video– imagine what it would look like sitting in a home theater seating setting!

[Slashdot] [Digg] [Reddit] [del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Technorati] [Google] [StumbleUpon]
Posted in computers, miscellaneous, news, technology. Tags: , . Comments Off »

Government, According to Dear Abby

July 10, 2008 — Mrs. Mecomber

My grandparents used to love reading the Dear Abby columns. Her columns were syndicated in our local newspaper, tucked between the comics, the television listings, and colorful ads for office supplies. I don’t think her advice was always wholesome, but it certainly was always entertaining. I saw this at a blog, and had to pass it on. SO FUNNY because it is so true!!

I read this in the newspaper many years ago and got a kick out of it then. Thought someone might enjoy it. Dear Abby has given advice for many years and one reader wrote in with a request to define different forms of government. This was her response:

COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both of them and gives you part of the milk.

SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.

FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both cows and sells you the milk.

NAZISM: You have two cows. The government takes both your cows, then shoots you.

BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. The government takes both of them, shoots one, milks the other, then pours the milk down the drain.

CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one of them and buy a bull.

Abby, what happens in a democracy? — MRS. J. MC C.

DEAR MRS. MC C.: In a democracy, everyone has two cows, then a vote is taken, and whatever the majority decides to do, you do, and that’s no bull!

[Slashdot] [Digg] [Reddit] [del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Technorati] [Google] [StumbleUpon]
Posted in blogs, chatty, Internet, miscellaneous. Tags: , , . Comments Off »

A Mouse in the House

February 15, 2008 — Mrs. Mecomber

I’ve been crazily busy this week… I guess it isn’t unusual, but technical problems have got me hopping. My daughter got a used laptop as an early graduation gift. The thing is a powerhouse– an HP zd1000 with a 17″ screen. When the three big fans kick in, it sounds like it’s going to take off or something. It’s a gorgeous machine, but not very portable at 10 pounds. But it’s a quality piece of machinery that should last her a few years.

It needed a new fan and heatsink and now I think it will need a new operating system. The laptop came without a reformatting disk, so it’s something we will have to invest in. When I inspected the computer, I discovered that it had quite a collection of malware and viruses (50 or so), so it’s not going online until it’s completely reformatted.

And then my main office/school computer notified me yesterday that the entire hard drive was full. I was flabbergasted. I’ve owned about a dozen computers, and this has never happened to me. I spent all morning washing and deleting old files and programs, and managed to gain about 6 GB.

In other weird news, I killed my laptop mouse again. I am very hard on my mouses. I am a writer and work from my computer almost all day, so I wear out my mouse quicker than the average user. And it doesn’t help that I am clumsy and tend to drop them. :S oops, heh heh.

I love the Microsoft notebook mouse. It’s optical and wireless. The USB wireless module fits into the mouse itself, for portability. I love this mouse because it is so small and so easy to use. I won’t use any other mouse. It’s a good thing the price has gone down, because I buy one just about every six months now!

By the way, did you know that two or more Microsoft mouses are called “mouses” (plural) but if you have two or more Mac mouses, then they are called “mice.” Sheesh.

Well, there you have it– an idea of all my personal electronics foibles. I am the only techhie person in the house, and we have… 5 computers! So you can see I can be quite busy!! And very frazzled! After all this, I am ready for a heavy duty vacation!

[Slashdot] [Digg] [Reddit] [del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Technorati] [Google] [StumbleUpon]
Posted in miscellaneous. Comments Off »
«
Newer posts » »