Tom’s Tips, Links and Tidbits Newsletter

Friday 22nd May 2009

You may have noticed that I have altered the header of this newletter. Most times there was very little in the newsletter that related to my Just For You Software business, sometimes nothing. It would therefore seem to make more sense to publish it under my name. So in future please regard this as a personal communication from me to you.

At some point I may even move the back issues to my personal web site rather than leaving them on the JFYS site. In the mean time, please enjoy the contents of this issue.

Special mention. My grand daughter has just scripted and starred in her first commercial for my daughter’s goats milk soap. She’s a star! Check it out here.

Basic Computer User

Emailing Smaller Size Pictures

Our pictures are getting larger in sizes which makes them difficult to send via email. “What&s the simplest way to make these pictures small enough so I can easily send them out via email?”

Here&s how. Open the folder where the pictures are located, highlight and right-click the pictures you wish to send. From the pop-up menu, select Send To > Mail Recipient. From here Windows XP will give you an option to shrink it. That simple!

Open Office Tips

Some of these things even Word can’t do!

here

Here is a presentation on some fabulous new software\hardware coming...

here

Decoding Intel’s New Logo Stickers

Intel has redesigned its logo stickers in an effort to “simplify” the buying experience. We break them down and decode their meanings. here

Spring-Cleaning Your PC and Other Gadgets

Say goodbye to dust and dander with an illustrative guide to cleaning your digital camera, monitor, printer, PC chassis, and case fans here

Top 10 Printer Tips and Tricks

This collection of tips and tricks shows you how to keep printer nozzles clear, print sharper pictures, test out your document formatting easily, and more. here

Why Won’t My Microphone Record?

Getting a microphone to work properly is one of the more annoying chores with any Windows PC. Find out what you can do to make it easier here

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Advanced Computer User

New BIOS attack renders antivirus useless

A new form of attack that installs a rootkit directly onto a computer’s BIOS system would render antivirus software useless researchers have warned. More...

Speed Your Internet Connection

Windows XP and Vista store the information of Web sites you’ve visited, to reach those sites faster each time you access them. This can lead to slow connections, however. Learn how to speed things up again here

Are Your Bedfellows Causing You Pain?

Most web hosts offer so-called shared hosting packages. That means that the servers that hosts your website will also host a variety of other websites. What if one of the other websites on your server is a spammer? Will that have a negative impact on your search engine rankings. Will Google penalize your website if your website uses the same IP address as a major spammer? Find out here

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Health

Cancer Symptoms Men Most Often Ignore

If your body is chugging along pretty normally then you should be very alert to any changes in its operation. Here are 20 changes that should be checked. here

Asparagus an effective cancer fighter

There are several cancer fighting elements in asparagus. more

Don’t Feed Your Dog These Foods

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/raisins.asp

Just in case anyone was rushing out to buy a face mask the following link may give some insight as to what’s going on. here

A simple, free, DIY food intolerance test

here

Great video on vaccines from a doctor with a very wide training

here

Anti-cancer Foods

A list of foods with known cancer preventative or fighting properties: here

Europe May Ban Aussie Food Imports

European Court Ruling may spell an end to water fluoridation, says fluoridated water must be treated as a medicine, and cannot be used to prepare foods. Manufacturers say fluoridation must now be banned in Australia. more

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Other

Violence against women is the most widespread human rights abuse in the world. But the plight of women and girls is not just a distant problem in other nations - it’s right here on our doorstep.

In Australia one woman every week is killed by their partner. In the same period 2,415 women will experience sexual abuse. Alarmingly almost two in every three women in this country experience physical or sexual violence during their lifetime. These aren’t throwaway statistics - they uncover a national problem that needs a national solution.

Please act now to ensure that the Government adequately funds a national plan to address violence against women more

GPS: How It Works

Here are some facts that may interest you about GPS Navigation Systems.

GPS was originally developed for military use.

GPS uses 24 orbital satellites, all launched in 1978 and fully owned by the US government.

In 1980 GPS was made available for use by the general public.

A GPS receiver only receives three datums from a satellite: its identity, location and time.

Using the time delay between when the information was transmitted by the satellite and when the same information is received by the receiver, the GPS unit is able to calculate the distance of the satellite.

Using the same calculation, two satellites signals can give a possible circle of location. Three satellites can give a positional longitude and latitude. Four satellites are needed to determine altitude.

During the first Gulf War, the US government introduced a random error in to the GPS satellite signal. This made GPS too inaccurate, especially for commercial airlines that are reliant on GPS navigation. A DGPS (Dual GPS) system was developed to overcome the problem. A fix GPS (normally stationed at the airport) is used to calculate the error and transmit the correction data to the incoming aeroplanes. The random errors were later removed in 1999.

DGPS technology is now used for pin point accuracy by correcting the signal refraction from ionosphere and troposphere, and multi-path signal (the same signal being received more than once because the same signal happen to bounce of a building or other objects).

The Continuing Chronicles of Shianne and Jaylen Els

We had the pleasure of attending the Easter show with the grand kids. Shianne and Jaylen each got to milk a cow! shear a sheep! and play with lots of baby animals in the animal nursery! It took two crow bars and six world championship wrestlers but they eventually pried Shianne loose from there.

Jaylen had long since moved on so I took him round to pet the cows, look at the alpacas and see the fashion show of clothes made in alpaca wool.

As soon as I stopped at the show and Jaylen saw the (gorgeous) models he was out of the pram, through the throng at the entrance and down the front. That’s my grandson!

The girls caught up with us and we moved on. It started to drizzle. We sheltered in a little enclosed space under a grandstand. Rene took off to get coffee and donuts while we sat around with the GKids.

Next morning Teal asked Shianne what she liked best about the show, expecting one of the animal incidents to take top spot. To her surprise Shinane said, “Sitting out of the rain having donuts for afternoon tea with all the family and walking along holding your hand.”

Wow! Enough to warm your heart she is.

I received this from my daughter - Joe is a US based friend of hers.

Causing things is great! I know that is a broad statement and it’s intended to be. Causing things is something we all have in common because we all do it.

Being the effect has its upsides too! My favorite thing when it comes to being an effect is not the taste of an intensely juicy orange, or the thrill of jumping from a plane with a parachute on my back- it’s being inspired, inspired by individuals that make a difference.

There have been times I have given and given and given. It’s in my nature. An imbalance occurred when it seemed like the giving was only one way. In truth, I know there are many people that have desires and take action to make a difference. Well, I want to make those desires and actions known.

I know I’m not the only one that finds inspiration to be of incredible value.

A friend of mine, Carl Watts, started promoting 3 short youtube videos. He called this campaign, “save the world” and promoted it on his website. I got a pretty good idea of where he was going with this campaign before I even watched a video. Instantly a new website expanding on the concept popped into my head, and I stayed up all night making it. See, causing things is great; it makes you stay up past your bedtime.

I did end up watching the videos, and after I sobbed for a couple minutes I decided I would invite you to sign up on the site. That’s now.

http://www.helpsavetheworld.net

You will be doing me a great favor and potentially many others by taking a moment to do so. First check out the site, and then help me tap into the power of inspiration.

On the sign up page you have the option of subscribing to the newsletter, which will share highlights on what others are doing to make a difference. Also we’ll keep you informed on other updates like new site features that have yet to get developed.

If you find any of this interesting or helpful please forward this letter or the link. If you have ideas or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. I am very interested in creating the most optimum place for inspiring others into action- (it’s something others have done for me and I am now paying forward.)

Joe Ball

Study: Bioelectricity bests biofuels on miles per acre

Growing plants to make electricity is a more efficient and environmentally sound way to power vehicles than biofuels. here

13 Things That Do Not Make Sense

According to current scientific theory here

Learn Programming in 21 Days - Not

In this time of instant gratification here’s an article correctly estimating the amount of effort necessary to produce world class excellence - 10 years or 10,000 hours. here

A Great New Site Promoting Tolerance and Understanding

here

17 Cheap or Free Marketing Ideas

How can you get your business noticed? And, what’s more important in these tough economic times, how can you get noticed without breaking your budget? Find out here

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Video Links

ANTI-DRUG ADS WIN 7 ADDYS

The Anti-Drug Ads from The Foundation For A Drug-Free World have just won 7 “ADDY” (American Advertising Federation) Awards at the recent Los Angeles judging. Including best Non-Profit Campaign.

To View the ads: www.drugfreeworld.org/#/videos
Foundation for a Drug-Free World website: www.drugfreeworld.org
ADDY Award Link: www.aaf.org/default.asp?id=18

Wooden Mechanical Engineering Model

There is a good example of different mechanical principles and applied techniques in a video of a wooden model here

From Britain’s Got Talent

Very well worth while watching with speakers turned on: here

Acrobatic skill

here

Liverpool Street Station Ad

here

Stand By Us

here

Extreme Shepherding

here

Car Pancake

here

Flying Instructor at Indoor Skydiving

here

Hunting Fail or David vs Goliath

here

This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20 year old.

The contest was Titled ”u @ 50”, by the AARP and this video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause. So simple and yet so brilliant. Take one minute & 44 seconds and watch it here

You’ve gotta give it to Heineken it’s a great ad!

here

And the follow up is pretty damn good

here

Then there’s the Nike cricket ad

here

Buddy Hacket Duck Joke

here

Rockin’ Cockatoo

here

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