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Once Again, Opera Browser

Although the reviewer in the video below gets things mostly right *heh* he has a blind spot about add-ons. Sure, there are fewer add-ons available for Opera, but that’s primarily because so much that other browsers require one to add on to get what I consider basic functionality are already built into the Opera browser. But since the reviewer has apparently not used Opera all that much, yet, I’m willing to cut him some slack on that. Note that this review is of an early alpha of Opera 10.50, and that Opera is now in a solid release of 10.50 with beta builds available beyond that.

Crashes the reviewer refers to in the alpha are a thing of the past, for me at least, now that Opera 10.5x is out of alpha/beta status, and I remain sold, as my earlier posts affirm. No clunky, kludgy browser for me, TYVM.

Here’s a promo video from Opera Software. Lots of claims that are pretty well verified by recent testing by third parties. A few snippets about unique features.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_mU7lkE-sA

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“…doubt’s anodyne and care’s surcease… “

The snippet that is this post’s title? A Bartholomew Gill character speaking of fishing in Death On a Cold, Wild River. While I don’t find fishing to be “doubt’s anodyne and care’s surcease,” I do find some comfort in the volunteers of Spring to combat the barbaric nature of contemporary “civilization”. Notably,

Oh, I very much appreciate the delicious mint and wild garlic and even the “possum grapes” that thrust themselves to prominence in Spring, but the dandelion, one of God’s most beautiful flowers, delicious and nutritious, useful in all its parts*, is my favorite.

So, while wearing two knee braces on the same knee *heh* this a.m. (after dealing with some folks’ computer issues), I took a bucket out to sit on while “weeding” and gathered some mint and wild garlic and–for now–just appreciated my lovely crop of dandelions.

Our local cable service tech was out at our Good Neighbors’ place, and we exchanged uses for the dandelion. He told me of grandkids coming over and asking for “yard food”–he and his wife also harvest “volunteer crops” from their yard, and that gave me a foreshadowing of feeds for future grandkids of our own.

A nice lil interlude in the day.

* Continue reading ““…doubt’s anodyne and care’s surcease… “”

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A Simple Question

How is it that professional congresscritters who begin their political “careers” with mostly modest resources can “retire” when forced from office as multi-millionaires? What other incomes do drop in their laps as the result of their political “careers”?

(“And where’s the nearest tree, and who has the rope?” might seem to be the next questions that pop to your mind, but I say, “Hold your horses! At least make them pay back their ill-gotten gains, first!” :-))

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Not Smart Marketing…

…to someone like me.

You catch that? Become a “fan” of TigerDirect and give TD full access to my profile, recruit three other FB “friends” to do become “fans” of TD (and thus give TD full access to their profiles) and that “earns” an entry for all of you into a drawing for a computer. But not just any computer, a computer by Systemax–IOW, a consumer crap computer, if my exposure to Systemax computers is any guide.

Nu-uh. Not going there. I do purchase the occasional sweet deal from TD (NOT depending on their mostly unobtainable “rebates”–“Made of 100% pure unobtainium!”), but this? Nope… Give me a straight purchase deal like those readily available from Newegg and others, but this kind of thing really turns me off.

I hope that there are still enough consumers left who haven’t jabbed an ice pick past their own eyeballs enough times to fall for this asinine ploy, but somehow I doubt that relying on the intelligence of the common man is a good idea…

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“Pain is just weakness leaving the body… “

Yard work. Stepped in mole trace. Three loud POPs, excruciating pain… Yep. ACL. Again. Crawled back into the house. Ice packs, loads of ibuprofen and acetaminophen (they work well together and are safe in low, OTC doses), wraps and a cane. Manageable. In a few weeks, just the knee brace will be enough, and after a few months I’ll only wear the knee brace for yard work and such like.

Again. Oh. Well. I guess I ought to set my calendar by my Spring events, spaced every six years or so–just long enough for me to start being careless again. *heh*

The unkindest injury of all (the self-inflicted kind :-)).

Continue reading ““Pain is just weakness leaving the body… “”

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The FairTax: Is It Fair?

And would it work?

I’m not going to state my opinion in this post (although I’ve stated it elsewhere, earlier); rather, I’m going to put up two links for your review and come back to this topic later.

First is the 2005 President’s Advisory Panel on Tax Reform documents. It occasionally lapses into typically obscurantist bureaucratese from time to time, but I especially commend to your attention to page 14 (actual page of the pdf document) and following, wherein the panel reveals its bias up front, pages 55 (as numbered by the report) and following–a discussion of flat tax proposals, including the panel’s own model of a flat consumption tax (not the FairTax bill’s model). Following on through the report (it is in three pdf files for the report and another for the appendices), make sure to take note of the characteristics of the panel’s models, and do refer to the appendices for clarification of the panel’s sources.

Then, go here and read. The differences between the model of a consumption tax put forth by the 2005 President’s Advisory Panel on Tax Reform and the FairTax I leave for the discerning reader to see for himself.

(Yeh, I could have used the awkward and linguistically useless “himself/herself” but I don’t bend that way. If non-PC language offends you, tough. :-))

We’ll continue after homework’s done. (Or not, if the task isn’t one that appeals to anyone. C’est la vie.)

*sigh* TF points out in comments that, among other things, one of the resources I link to is quite lengthy, and just reading the first few pages got his blood boiling (my characterization of his comments–and I have to admit the document tended to boil my blood a bit, too). Trrue, it’s over 270 pages of material that is highly-laden with political bushwah, spiced with bureaucratese, but perhaps I can ameliorate the burden by pointing to this 36-page summary of the FairTax, at least. (Warning: pdf file) I don’t feel the bill’s actual language is really much of a barrier, but it is much longer and the summary is, in my estimate, a fair summary of the bill itself. There. Lightened the reading load, class, and all the other materials are there for your perusal if you wish as well.

My good deed for the day is done. 😉

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Energy Star Award: Gasoline-Powered Alarm Clock

Seriously.

As Jerry Pournelle says (at the link),

“Now the government that approves an Energy Star Certificate for a gasoline powered alarm clock will now in essence take over administering the Health Care System in the United States. Good luck, America.”

Be sure to follow the link to the NYT article from the comments at Pournelle’s site.

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Political “Discussions” on Facebook?

For the most part, notsomuch. I’ve found FB to be an OK way to keep current with real friends and family, but the extended-extended “friends” of “friends” of friends who sometimes enter into political “discussions” on FB entries mostly turn out to have comments and insights of about the caliber of today’s high school sophomores. If that.

Indeed, anything more meaningful than dumps of out-of-context, misapplied (and often not at all understood by the dumper) factoids gleaned from the first hit on a google search is a rarity in FB political “discourse”. Most folks don’t even take time to actually read (assuming they can read and comprehend) initial posts or the material linked, let alone engage their brain before they begin to type.

I can understand how some view “social media” as a way to communicate political ideas with immediacy, but, folks, it’s primarily a means of communicating surface factoids to people with short attention spans and little interest in doing their own homework so they can understand what’s going on.

Stick with real friends and family and what’s going on in your lives.