The $200 Christmas and "whats a stocking stuffer?"

Can it be done? Having had a challenging year (several, actually) monetarily, I've embarked on The $200 Christmas...meaning I'm attempting to get everyone who absolutely needs to get a gift covered with $200.....and that includes $50 in gas to get to my sister place in Wisconsin...So far, I don't think we're too far off.....basically we're doing very little gifting this year....which is not how I'd prefer things to be, but that is our current reality, and so we'll make the best of it. Just a few close family, the kids, and something for the babysitter.....that's it! I'll see how it all actually pans out.....200 bones doesn't go very far anymore....either way, it's more of a gimick to keep the cost of things in mind as we go through the holiday season....more of a control measure than an actual goal....

On a seperate, but related note...I've had it up to here with the inscecent holiday advertising suggesting that a fancy new MP3 player or cell phone or other similar $150 techno-gadget is actually a "stocking stuffer"....it's not....it's the freaking gift!!!! Hell, where I come from, even a CD or DVD isn't a stocking stuffer....it's "the gift". Chapstick, assorted citris fruits, fresh unsharpened pencils, and chewing gum....now those are good stocking stuffers!!!!! (I hope you guys are laughing a bit here....)

Anyway, keep smilin' and Happy Holidays!!!!!

Interesting Gecko based Avant-like browser

Orca it's called...based on Gecko engine, rather full featured interface modeled after Avant Browser (which uses IE engine...yuck!). Seems to be pretty quick and well put together...Currently in version 1.0RC 3. Definitely worth checking out. Firefox still wins for me (extensibility/customizable) for the moment, but some heathy competition is always good for the end user.

Check it out...fairly light install, and won't mess with anything else (or other browser settings, etc.) and has been fun to play with so far...also seems stable.

Full link (goes to Avant forum where you'll find a dl link):
http://forum.avantbrowser.com/viewtopic.php?t=12072&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Firefox F'd Up? and Alternative Browsers...

Not sure what others experiences are, but I've had LOTS o' issues with the recent release of FF 1.5....Not that I'm bailing...it's still the best option for a decent browser in a Windows environment, but the new release is BUGGY!!! (at least on my machine).... the thing CONSTANTLY crashes....almost everytime I use it, depending on what I am doing and/or where I visit. It has also, several time now, locked up internet from my nachine....as in screwed up LSP settings, requiring me to reset those with a Winsock and/or LSP fix utility......Overall, I tend to be rather forgiving of the mozilla team....they are under alot of pressure to perform...more now than ever before with the growing popularity of FF....much more than the "good ol' days" of pre 1.0. I got in when they were still at 0.3 I think....and the whole project had a different sense of community and excitment back then...I'm not judging that aspect of it though....they've made fantastic improvements since then. Just complaining a bit that the 1.5 release is more buggy than I'm used to. I should also put out there that I'm something of an extention freak and that I may have one or more extentions that may conflict with one another, so again, I'm not solely dumping on Mozilla here....i.e it's more likely a conflict in my local installation than a real serious issue with the base code or performance of 1.5. Still wish it worked better though....

Anyway, I'm writing this blog entry using Flock, which is actually a very nice tool (integrated features) for a "blogging browser". Based on the mozilla/gecko engine, super clean interface, integrated blogging and flickr and del.icio.us integration, make it a pleasure to use. And it's still extenable using most of the Mozilla extentions and Themes.....

Also, I've been using a stripped down version of the Gecko (mozilla/netscape) browser called K-Meleon. Super fast, basic interface, lean and mean browsing. And fun to customize via the config file editing....not for the shy, when it comes to messing with code, but a solid browser even if your not interested in tweeking it.

And as a final option, I still use the old standby IE alternative the "Mozilla Suite" browser....still a nice, extendable browser with familiar navigation and standard features built in.....and a lot less buggy and/or "experimental". The upcoming replacement for the MozSuite is the SeaMonkey Suite, currently in beta testing.

For more (alot more) info and exuastive discussion forums on FireFox 1.5 and any other Moz project, check out mozillazine.org.

technorati tags: browsers Firefox MozillaComputer related

WIL WHEATON DOT NET

Will Wheaton: child star turned blogger/writer...


Stumbled on to this this evening...very interesting reading (for me, a quasi-wannabe-thought it was cool, but was never ultra into it-Star Trek fan...mostly just TNG...a little Voyager and even less Enterprize, but lost interest/ran out out of TV watchin' time/had kids) from none other than the ever-so-popular (kidding) Wesley Crusher of the afore mentioned TNG.

Google Logos (and stance)

Seems as though Google is pretty consistanly in the news lately....having grown exponetially over the past several years, they are now oft compared to Microsoft, Yahoo, and other simlar computer world giants...both in a good and less frequently in a somewhat bad light. Personally, I am enjoying Google's rise, and use many of thier "products"/services with varying degrees of success. I like really like Picasa (Photo veiwer/editor/organzer), but haven't really figured out Hello (photo sharing integrated with Picasa) yet....I'm more prone to Flickr at the moment for that, but also enjoy Gmaps, gmail and several other Google offerings which I have dabbled in. At any rate, I'll let the real tech writers pass judgement on the good or misguided intentions of Google and it's recnt growth....I did however, stumble across this article which was interesting regarding the now famous Google homepage logo and it's occasional variations:

Dennis Hwang, the man behind the Google logos

Also check out the Google logo archives

More Sony insights....EULA particulars....disturbing stuff

EFF: DeepLinks

More Sony troubles....our rights are slowly being eroded away right before our eyes (actually not in front of our eyes, since most people don't ever read EULA's and wouldn't notice the ever-so-slight wordsmithing that goes on.....)

If anyone is interested, here's a nice little freeware proggy that will scan/anylize EULA in softwares or anything else on the computer....(usually software, I guess...but music, movies or anything else...if you can "find" it)...anyway try it out: EULAlyzer

Chicago Public Radio - Schadenfreude

Chicago Public Radio - Schadenfreude

Great radio sketch humor that originally aired on Chicago Public Radio...worth a listen....one of my favorites is episode 58. Check it out!

The Right Way in Iraq

I don't claim to be a Democrat or a Republican...although I probably lean towards the liberal side of many issues...at any rate, found this article, penned by former Senator John Edwards, rather interesting regarding the war in Iraq....enjoy.

Washington Post Article

Mixed drink anyone?

Tiki Bar TV

Quote from the Blog: "A video podcast made by sophisticated misfits in a bachelor pad. An apartment turned into a bar; no need to ever leave. There is a strange van parked outside that might be the FCC. We're not coming out without a fight."

Fun Stuff!!

path in fall

 

Muppets fans....awesome, awesome, awesome!

great video clip from our childhood....very hard to find as well

Muppets Mahnamahna

Wooden Case Mod....

About the coolest case I've seen yet....

Wooden Computer Case

UFO's abound!

UFO Maps.com

This link via Wonderland also a cool blog (especially for gamiers...which I am not...at the moment).

NO ONE IS "RESPONSIBLE", DAMN IT!!!!!!!

Bush in New Orleans.....again!? (broken link)

Give me a break....is this what Bush thinks former FEMA director Michael Brown should have been doing....posturing in front of the cameras to let the people know "he was on the job"? Fuck that...I agree that things could have gone much smoother both before and after Katrina hit, but really.....NO ONE IS RESPONSIBLE!!!!!!...it was just a really, really bad storm.....in today's world of the weather channel and information overload...I think those people had plenty of time to get out of town....besides, nobody could have foreseen the levy break!!! (They had wanred that the storm surge might push over the tops of the levy, but that is significantly different than and levy failure)...anyway, hindsight is always 20-20. Why can't we just pick up the pieces, figure out what to do better next time, and move on?

Why does everyone in this country seem to feel better after they've "blamed" somebody? And in Brown's case, completely stripped him of any and all dignity....amazing. I understand the victims of Katrina had there dignity stripped as well, but the way Brown was dressed down in that public hearing was off-the-chart ridiculous, unfair, and scape-goaty (duh)......Just one more thing that sucks about the character of our illustrious leaders...a.k.a. the fucking (and too big) government.

Obviously I'm a bit grouchy today.....but hey...get over it.

Smurfs Attacked!!!!!

Kudos to UNICEF Belgium.....

the folks who are "outraged" by this don't get it.....

Smurfs Bombed!!!

Always interesting...

worth a visit every few days or so....

Nasa's Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn

some very cool images of Hyperion's Unusual Craters

Also check out astronomy photo of the day site....some of the images make some sweet wallpapers!

An interesting take.....

New York Times article (Sept. 11th, 2005)

The read is a bit lengthy, but again, an interesting summary...

Star Wars Kid: First in a series...

Star Wars Kid...geek with a camcorder, although there are several take offs at the GoFish website that are pretty good....file under "useless diversion", but still fun

Get crazy net video codes at GoFish.com

11 Steps to a Better Brain

It doesn't matter how brainy you are or how much education you've had - you can still improve and expand your mind. Boosting your mental faculties doesn't have to mean studying hard or becoming a reclusive book worm. There are lots of tricks, techniques and habits, as well as changes to your lifestyle, diet and behaviour that can help you flex your grey matter and get the best out of your brain cells. And here are 11 of them.

Or copy and paste the following url:

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg18625011.900

Great (Long) Weekend!

Just got back from family camp in Suagatuck, MI....really nice weekend with some of the best people I know in one of the nicest places on the planet....lots of history there as we all grew up in this place....I'll post some photos in a few days...

hmmm.....now what to say.....

Got this blog thing set up...now what do I write that might actually come off as interesting....yipes....I got nothing. In a funk again/still....a bit freaked out about finances....I wish I weren't so preoccupied with it....money is certainly not what life is all about....I won't get into that yet.....still figuring out how to take advantage of this blog.....more later, Ob