« August 2005 | Main | October 2005 »
September 25, 2005
If it's September...
I picked up my New York Times paper off the stoop this morning, brought it in, and glanced at the Sports section. (What kind of person have I become that I check the sports first? It used to go untouched. Anyway, now I always check it first before settling down with the front page.)
What I found was a huge, across-the-fold photo of Cubs' pitcher Carlos Zambrano hanging his head as Biggio of the Astros rounded the bases in a 1st inning home run. The caption for the picture was, "It's September, and Cubs will be Cubs." Ouch!
The game wrap-up on MLB.com starts off by saying "The Chicago Cubs were officially eliminated from the National League Wild Card race on Saturday." Wild Card? Heck, I'd forgotten about that weeks ago. All my hope is going towards the Cubbies reaching .500 and not finishing as a losing team. Go Cubbies!
Posted by rigd0003 at 9:56 AM | Comments (1)
September 23, 2005
House Republicans' "Operation Offset"
The Republican Study Committee, a group of over 100 U.S. House Republicans, has created a plan to offset disaster aid and redevelopment spending, called "Operation Offset", which is truly interesting reading (view PDF file here). It's actually quite well written -- each of the six sections begins with a line-item budget reduction amount and all items have a concise explanation. In this one simple document, these Republicans are stating what they believe in and what they consider not worthy enough to use taxpayer money for. I must say, I find it refreshing to have such a black-and-white plan signed, sealed, and delivered to the American public. I must also say that it confirms my reasons for not being a Republican. I'm hoping to dive into the document to greater depths this weekend, but here's a snippet from a Salon.com article on the subject: (Note: I know that many who may stumble upon this blog are graduate students, so I took the liberty to highlight the belt-tightening task assigned just for us...)
The Republicans would freeze funding for the Peace Corps, the Global AIDS Initiative, U.N. peacekeeping operations and a wide variety of third-world development programs; eliminate the EnergyStar program, eliminate grants to states and local communities for energy conservation, reduce federal subsidies for Amtrak, eliminate funding for new light-rail programs and cancel the president's hydrogen fuel initiative; eliminate state grants for safe and drug-free schools because "studies show that schools are among the safest places in the country and relatively drug free"; and eliminate the teen funding portion of Title X, which provides "free and reduced-price contraceptives, including the IUD, the injection drug Depo-Provera, and the morning-after pill" to poor teenagers.
Along the way, they'd find a way to punish -- or simply eliminate -- some of their enemies, real and imagined. They'd cut funding for the District of Columbia, eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, eliminate subsidized student loans for graduate students, terminate the Legal Services Corporation, eliminate funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and kill the National Endowment for the Humanities.
There are actually parts of the plan that I find some agreement with. Did you know these Republicans are acknowledging that the War on Drugs might be flawed? And they have a plan to encourage federal employees' use of mass transit and car-pooling, but it's not with a carrot (funding mass transit), it's with a stick (end free employee parking).
For those of you curious about how the other half thinks, so to speak, check out the plan compiled over at Think Progress.
Posted by rigd0003 at 4:24 PM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2005
One-stop Site for Evolution Information
Just heard about this from the National Center for Science Education. The University of California Museum of Paleontology and the NCSE have teamed up to create the Understanding Evolution web site, dubbed "your one-stop source for information on evolution."
In addition to covering the basic history, description, and evidence for evolution, the site also features articles under the topic "How does evolution impact my life?", as well as evolution in the news, and resources for teachers. I especially like the FAQ page that includes questions like "What happened at the Scopes Monkey Trial?"
Even though I'm in the sciences, I find I need a refresher on various scientific topics. I'll definitely bookmark this one for future reference.
Posted by rigd0003 at 4:26 PM | Comments (0)
September 7, 2005
Time for a little Fall clean-up of your XP OS?
 |
A few of my friends and family members have been experiencing computer problems lately. I've talked about my own computer frustrations and what I've found to be helpful.
This week's Internet Tourbus newsletter has a great recipe for making Windows XP run faster and better. Tourbus driver Bob Rankin guides you through eight steps towards a faster and healthier OS.
Happy computing!
Posted by rigd0003 at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)
September 3, 2005
Handy Firefox extensions
UPDATED Sept. 19, 2005 (Adblock Extension)
The Firefox web browser is made even better through extensions - add-ons that add special functionality. Here are some I've found especially useful:
· Adblock. This is a customizable filter to block all of those web page ads. And you can use the status bar at the bottom to see all the elements on a page and which of those are blocked. One feature I especially like is the option to not only just hide the ads, but to remove them, which removes the extra space that the ad took up. UPDATE: A feature in Adblock called OBJ-TABS is incompatible with Flash Player 8.0 (see news here). The only fix at this point is to turn off OBJ-TABS by going to Tools..Adblock..Preferences. OBJ-TABS is a feature that creates an Adblock tab next to suspicious objects on a page, making it easy to remove them by clicking on the tab. It is an extra function and not vital to the basic Adblock blocking ability.
· Tabbrowser Preferences. I love tabs! If you prefer to open links in tabs rather than new windows, this extension gives you loads of options.
· IE View. Unfortunately, there are still some pages that work best - or work only - in Internet Explorer. When you encounter one of these pages in Firefox and you have IE View installed, just right click and select "View page in IE." Internet explorer automatically launches and takes you directly to that page.
· All-in-One Gestures. This is something I liked about Opera, and I'm thrilled that I can now use mouse gestures in Firefox. By making combinations of gestures like up, down, left, and right with your mouse while holding down the right mouse button, you can execute all sorts of commands.
· OpenDownload. This is especially useful when downloading executable files. When the download begins, a dialog box opens with an "Open" or "Save" option. If "Open" is selected, the file will be downloaded and then launched via the default application set on your operating system. The downloaded file is then deleted from your system after 24 hours.
More extensions can be found here. They also have lots of extensions just for fun, like the Abe Vigoda Watch - Is Fish from Barney Miller still alive? Now you can see his status any time you want.
You can also subscribe to their RSS feed of the newest applications as they become available.
Happy surfing!
Posted by rigd0003 at 1:48 PM | Comments (1)
September 2, 2005
Giving aid to Katrina victims
The people of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are foremost in my mind today. Lots of thoughts and fears and critical opinions that I'll keep off of this page. If you have the means, please donate. FEMA has a list of reputable organizations accepting donations on its web site.
We heard on our local NPR station this morning from the Twin Cities Second Harvest chapter, Second Harvest Heartland. They've been able to load up 68,000 pounds of food from their storehouses because local need has been lower lately, but they will need to replenish their stocks as Autumn comes, so giving locally will be a big help, too.
Posted by rigd0003 at 10:35 AM | Comments (0)