It had been raining for days.. we were hiding in the basement of our house, because we knew the attack was forthcoming… but there had been so much rain, that the concrete slab of the floor of the basement had broken into great chunks… some parts of it were actually ‘floating’ – a change of position would cause it to move unpredictably.
So we had gone to the end of the basement where the slab was still sturdy, and where there was a 2x4 framework of boards that had been used as a table and shelf. My three companions sat on top, and I crawled underneath... when they asked why I would do that, I pointed out that if the building were destroyed, they'd be crushed under the falling debris. At least, under there, I had a chance of survival. They decided to join me.
That’s when everything went crazy…
Later on, when the attack was over, we went exploring on the ground level. I was carrying a "focused time-reverter", which was a gun, that when pointed at a target, caused the molecules in the target range to slowly go backwards in time. As we emerged from the darkness and smoke of the rubble into daylight, I realized that myself and my companions were young again, but in the current day environment - probably as a result of the large-scale time-reverter assault. I think our youthful appearances must be what saved us, because I saw a young lady point her reverter at me and fire, immobilizing me for a moment. If she had recognized us, we'd have been goners.
Anyhow, I then whipped mine up and started firing at her. It was a sloppy thing... My 'beam' was focused on her upper body, but not the lower, and I did not let go after a second like she had. A few moments later, she was destroyed. Having only a part of one's body crawling slowly backwards in time while the rest remained in the present stunned people... but if it happened for any length of time, it totally destroyed them.
Somewhere along about here… I woke up.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Coffee, Good or Bad?
I have worked a day shift now for the last few years. But, for at least a dozen years, I spent more time than not working 'off-shifts', more midnight-to-daylight than anything else.
My first boss in the military was a crusty old retired NCO (non-commissioned officer) who had come back as a 'silly-villian' (civilian). He was a coffee drinker from way back. His military career, before I knew him, went all the way back to the Vietnam years, where he had spent a few of his early Air Force years. Of course, he liked his mud thick. We'd often just add grounds to the top and brew a new pot rather than waste the old ones.
The first time I was sent out to make coffee, I started with a fresh filter, and started scooping in the coffee grounds. Three or four scoops just didn't quite look like enough. To be on the safe side, I added a few more. To my credit, I did drink a cup of that brew, before it was poured out and we started over.
Over the years, I've drunk probably more than my share of coffee. But, I usually don't drink it around the house - or if I do, no more than one or two cups over a weekend. At work, it flows freely, so I tend to drink more than I should. Honestly, I've never much cared for the taste of coffee, although it's not as bad as it used to be. But, it is flavored. It is warm. It is free. I don't know if it really wakes me up or not, but I do seem to go better after a cup.... and on those rare days when I don't drink one or two, and haven't had enough sleep, I get awfully sluggish.
So, like many people, I come into work each day, put down my stuff, walk back to the break room, fill up a cup, and sip on it for the next half hour or so, then get another. Sometimes I stop there, and if I catch myself going for more, I've learned to drink from the 'decaf' pot (at least, part of the time).
A couple of years ago, I was put on medication for a slight blood pressure problem. Of the things to do to reduce the affects of high blood pressure, was to cut back on salt, lose some weight, eat my three meals a day - never skip (it affects the blood sugar which, in turn, affects the blood pressure), and cut back on coffee, of course. I have lost ten or fifteen pounds in the last couple of years. I have made a habit of eating breakfast - which for a long, long time I had skipped. I rarely add salt to my food, but do occasionally (I agree with the saying, 'anything, in moderation, is okay'). And coffee. Again, I try to drink decaf part of the time. I don't drink a lot at home. But, every day, at work, I still get a cup or two. One thing I've done, though, is to reduce the size of the cup. There's no real point in carrying a 22 ounce coffee cup and drinking it down twice, when a couple of 8-ouncers do the trick just fine.
I rarely drink soda pops, whether you refer to them as cokes, sodas, or pop. I probably do drink a couple per month. I think coffee, and tea, cannot be as bad for me as the alternatives. Even caffeine-free or diet Cokes, Pepsis, etc., have a lot of syrups and other things in them that I have a feeling would gunk up my insides if I over-indulged (ever read the ingredients label on a Diet Dr. Pepper?). For some reason, coffee or tea seem 'clean', in the respect that you take coffee beans or tea leaves, and water, and you mix the two together for a time, and you have a drink. Yes, there's caffeine. But no sugar, no caramel color, or any of the other ingredients that sodas contain. Basically, you have colored water.
I think, if someone starts nagging me about my health, and the ill affects of drinking coffee, I’ll remind them of a couple of things. There are alternatives. Water is good, but..... the others are not. The colas of the world have probably done more damage to the ‘American diet’ than any one product in the history of our country. Gallons and gallons of syrup and phosphoric acid and caramel colors a year cannot be good for a body. I’ll drink my coffee and/or tea, and if I have to deal with the ill effects of that in terms of blood pressure, then I’ll thank my lucky stars that my insides aren’t being rotted by the gallons of other ‘stuff’ that I could be drinking.
Author's note: Of all the blog articles I have written, the "coffee" article, which started out as a whim, has turned into my most popular in terms number of visits from search engines. I'd like to invite comments on it - if you have any thoughts about the good or bad effects of coffee, or about the article, or the site, or anything.
My first boss in the military was a crusty old retired NCO (non-commissioned officer) who had come back as a 'silly-villian' (civilian). He was a coffee drinker from way back. His military career, before I knew him, went all the way back to the Vietnam years, where he had spent a few of his early Air Force years. Of course, he liked his mud thick. We'd often just add grounds to the top and brew a new pot rather than waste the old ones.
The first time I was sent out to make coffee, I started with a fresh filter, and started scooping in the coffee grounds. Three or four scoops just didn't quite look like enough. To be on the safe side, I added a few more. To my credit, I did drink a cup of that brew, before it was poured out and we started over.
Over the years, I've drunk probably more than my share of coffee. But, I usually don't drink it around the house - or if I do, no more than one or two cups over a weekend. At work, it flows freely, so I tend to drink more than I should. Honestly, I've never much cared for the taste of coffee, although it's not as bad as it used to be. But, it is flavored. It is warm. It is free. I don't know if it really wakes me up or not, but I do seem to go better after a cup.... and on those rare days when I don't drink one or two, and haven't had enough sleep, I get awfully sluggish.
So, like many people, I come into work each day, put down my stuff, walk back to the break room, fill up a cup, and sip on it for the next half hour or so, then get another. Sometimes I stop there, and if I catch myself going for more, I've learned to drink from the 'decaf' pot (at least, part of the time).
A couple of years ago, I was put on medication for a slight blood pressure problem. Of the things to do to reduce the affects of high blood pressure, was to cut back on salt, lose some weight, eat my three meals a day - never skip (it affects the blood sugar which, in turn, affects the blood pressure), and cut back on coffee, of course. I have lost ten or fifteen pounds in the last couple of years. I have made a habit of eating breakfast - which for a long, long time I had skipped. I rarely add salt to my food, but do occasionally (I agree with the saying, 'anything, in moderation, is okay'). And coffee. Again, I try to drink decaf part of the time. I don't drink a lot at home. But, every day, at work, I still get a cup or two. One thing I've done, though, is to reduce the size of the cup. There's no real point in carrying a 22 ounce coffee cup and drinking it down twice, when a couple of 8-ouncers do the trick just fine.
I rarely drink soda pops, whether you refer to them as cokes, sodas, or pop. I probably do drink a couple per month. I think coffee, and tea, cannot be as bad for me as the alternatives. Even caffeine-free or diet Cokes, Pepsis, etc., have a lot of syrups and other things in them that I have a feeling would gunk up my insides if I over-indulged (ever read the ingredients label on a Diet Dr. Pepper?). For some reason, coffee or tea seem 'clean', in the respect that you take coffee beans or tea leaves, and water, and you mix the two together for a time, and you have a drink. Yes, there's caffeine. But no sugar, no caramel color, or any of the other ingredients that sodas contain. Basically, you have colored water.
I think, if someone starts nagging me about my health, and the ill affects of drinking coffee, I’ll remind them of a couple of things. There are alternatives. Water is good, but..... the others are not. The colas of the world have probably done more damage to the ‘American diet’ than any one product in the history of our country. Gallons and gallons of syrup and phosphoric acid and caramel colors a year cannot be good for a body. I’ll drink my coffee and/or tea, and if I have to deal with the ill effects of that in terms of blood pressure, then I’ll thank my lucky stars that my insides aren’t being rotted by the gallons of other ‘stuff’ that I could be drinking.
Author's note: Of all the blog articles I have written, the "coffee" article, which started out as a whim, has turned into my most popular in terms number of visits from search engines. I'd like to invite comments on it - if you have any thoughts about the good or bad effects of coffee, or about the article, or the site, or anything.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Useful Free Software (or 'freeware')
I am sitting up late tonight... I should have been asleep hours ago, but for a Mountain Dew drank at a boy scout event earlier which filled me up with sugar and caffeine. And, of course, all the squirrels racing through my mind.
I am typing this, using not Microsoft Word, but rather, OpenOffice.org Writer, which is a component of a free Office Suite that might not be better than Microsoft Office (but yet, might be), but sure seems to kick the behind of WordPerfect Office, and is definitely going to give MS Office a run for it's money. Since Office software typically costs over a hundred dollars per copy, this free Office Suite which can read all Office files and even export it's own files to Office format, as well as PDF, flash, etc... Hey, I think it rocks!
It's a lot better than 'borrowing' someone's copy of Office and loading it illegally! It can be downloaded from their website, but is a rather large download, unless you have DSL or a cable modem. This brings me to a subject of interest to me, and maybe to anyone who wants to find a way to reduce costs without sacrificing quality.
There's a lot of free software (i.e. freeware) out on the Internet. You have to be very careful about downloading software from anywhere, these days, because of the potential for viruses, adware, spyware, etc. All of the products that I am going to write about here are from legitimate sources. I have used each of these products, and so far, haven't had any major complaints. For the most part, they are all great products, and should be safe to run. I will add one disclaimer. Make sure your system meets the minimum requirements for each product that you might choose to check out. Also, use these at your own risk. They should be safe enough, and I have used them with no ill effects, but .. be careful anytime you install anything! Also, if you choose to install a certain type of software, like an antivirus package or firewall, make sure you download the files to a folder, make sure it's good, then before installing it, uninstall the product it will be replacing. Having two firewalls or two antivirus packages running at the same time is not a good thing. Choose one or the other, but do not run two simultaneously.
I will start this with the most important links first. I believe the security of your computer is very important in this day and age. Whether you are using it for running a business, or your kids like to surf the net, you do not want a virus or malware to either disable the computer or create annoying or offensive displays when you are trying to do something.
Before I suggest any software, let's take a look at Windows itself. If you do not have 'automatic updates' turned on, and even if you do – it's probably a good idea to visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com once every month or so to ensure that you have all the latest security updates as well as driver updates, etc. You can also isit this site by opening Internet Explorer, clicking “Tools... Windows Update”. If you haven't ever done this or do not do so very often, you may be overwhelmed by the number of updates available. Even if you only do one or so a week, do try to get the updates that are available for your PC loaded. Especially any 'Service Pack' updates.
Antivirus software. All computer users should have some form of up-to-date antivirus software loaded on their personal computers. (The key word is “UP TO DATE”. Make sure you run your virus “update” software at least on a bi-weekly basis). There are a couple of good ‘commercial’ options – you can purchase Symantec/Norton Anti-Virus or McAfee Virus Scan… but there are also a couple of good, free packages available for your use, as well. I used both of these on my computer for a while (not at the same time), finally settling with AVG because of it's simpler interface. Avast does have a couple of nice features that AVG does not have, but for my purposes, AVG works fine.
AVG Antivirus Free Edition
AVAST! Antivirus Home Edition
http://www.avast.com/eng/down_home.html
Personal Firewall. Users of Windows XP have some built-in firewall protection. What does a ‘firewall’ do? A couple of nifty things, actually. Primarily, it helps keep your computer ‘anonymous’ while you are browsing the web. If other computers attempt to scan yours, looking for wide open holes in the security, it will stop those scans. Also, for a little while at least, annoying little pop-ups will appear asking you if you want to allow program XYZ to access the Internet. Most of the time, the answer will be, Yes… and you’ll want to tell the software to remember. But, what if you don’t recognize a program that is trying to access the net? You have the option to say “No”…
If you are running something other than XP, or wish to use an alternative firewall product, there are at least two available freeware firewalls:
Sygate Personal Firewall Standard
http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm
ZoneAlarm Personal Firewall
http://www.zonelabs.com (follow the links to the free version of ZoneAlarm).
Spyware Removal Utilities. One of the biggest problems we have today is finding what is ‘Spyware’ or ‘Adware’… and getting rid of it. Spyware actually runs as a program in the background on your computer, monitoring certain activities and feeding data back to a central server. Adware is ‘nuisance’ software, generally causing pop-ups to appear with advertising. Again, there are a couple of ‘free’ packages available to help in your fight against Spyware and Adware.
Lavasoft AdAware SE
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
SpyBot Search & Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
Office Software. I started this column with references to OpenOffice, so I will go ahead and provide the link to this software. The version I am currently running is a 'beta' version of OpenOffice.org 2.0 and I am very satisfied so far. There are multiple versions available for download. If you are not comfortable with the idea of 'beta' or 'test' software, there is a released, stable version available as well – although it may lack some of the features that the beta versions have. You will be provided with the option to register, although it IS optional. If you do register your software, you will also be given an option to participate in the user forums which allow you to report bugs or ask questions about how things work.
OpenOffice.org
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