Google Chrome

OK, I’ve finally gone and done it.  I’ve made the switch permanently (as much as anything is “permanent” ) from Internet Explorer 8 to the Google Chrome web browser.

The one thing holding me back was the lack of support (either built-in or provided by a third-party add-in) for sending the contents of a web page to Microsoft OneNote.  I pretty much live in two applications: Outlook and OneNote.  Anything I think I’m going to refer to in the future gets stuck in a OneNote page.  OneNote indexes everything, enabling me to do a keyword search on the entire OneNote database for anything I’ve stored there.  Technical information, personal projects – heck, even stuff for my ham radio, shortwave and stamp collecting hobbies! – can be easily searched for and retrieved on a moment’s notice.

One thing I do frequently is send information from a web page to OneNote, but I couldn’t do that in Google Chrome until a gentleman by the name of Eugene Rosenfeld came up with a two-step process that gets the job done.  In an article here, Mr. Rosenfeld shows that by using the “IE Tab” add-on to read the current page using Internet Explorer’s rendering engine, right-clicking within the page can send the contents of that page to OneNote.  It’s a hack, but it’s a very, very good hack!

Since Google Chrome operates – in my personal experience – about 10 times faster than Internet Explorer 8, this saves a lot of time!

See the following locations on the Web for more information about the products mentioned in this article:

• Google Chrome
• Microsoft OneNote
• Microsoft Outlook

Disclaimer: As I’ve emphasized in many a blog posting in the past, I am not an employee of either Microsoft or Google.  (I wouldn’t mind working for either, but that’s another story. )  I have no financial or any other connection with either company, nor do I receive any compensation – financial or otherwise – from either for praising their products online.

Get a non-ISP email account!

This past Sunday something came up in conversation that I hadn’t thought about for some time.  A friend at church recently had to change her email address because she changed Internet providers at home.  I’ve taken my GMail and other accounts for granted over the years, but this reminded me of why I have those other accounts, and not just the one from my Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Here’s the thing: if you only have the email account from your ISP, and you change ISPs, you have to do all sorts of extra work…

• Tell all your friends about your new address
• Change all of your online accounts that reference that address, like utility bills and such.
• Change any email subscriptions like Yahoo! Groups and such, so they go to the new address.

…and so on.  And you have to do this every single time you change ISPs.  In my friend’s case, it was because she switched from Time-Warner Cable to Verizon’s FiOS fiber-optic service.  But it could be for whatever reason: moving to a new location that isn’t served by your previous ISP, for example.

Now, if you have an email account that’s independent of your ISP – Google GMail, for example – then you’re spared the inconvenience of having to go through all that hassle.  No matter who your ISP is, your GMail account remains the same.  Have all of your online subscriptions, emails from your friends, online utilities, all of that stuff sent to your GMail account, and if or when you need to change ISPs you don’t have to do a thing.

It sounds completely obvious, but I’m betting there are a lot of people out there who go through this whole process, completely unaware of the advantage of using an ISP-independent email address, hence this post.  Heck, I may even put the URL for this blog item on my business card…!

//Steve//

 

Hot August…

OK, this weather officially sucks:

(As taken from the weather gadget on my Win7 desktop.)  106 degrees high today, still 99 degrees at 5:14pm!  Definitely not comfortable!

//Steve//

 

You gotta love the aircraft maintenance crews….

Remember it takes a college degree to fly a plane, but only a high school diploma to fix one; a reassurance to those of us who fly routinely in our  jobs. After every flight, UPS pilots fill out a form, called a 'gripe  sheet,' which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The  mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then  pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by UPS pilots (marked with a P) and  the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

By the way, UPS is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.

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P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

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P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

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P: Something loose in cockpit
S: Something tightened in cockpit

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P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

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P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

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P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

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P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

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P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what friction locks are for.

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P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

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P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

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P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search

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P: Aircraft handles funny. (I love this one!)
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right and be serious.

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P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

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P : Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

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And the best one for last…

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with  a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

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Older People’s Sense of Humor….

A Doctor was addressing a large audience in Tampa. "The material we put into our stomachs is enough to have killed most of us sitting here, years ago. Red meat is awful. Soft drinks corrode your stomach lining. Chinese food is loaded with MSG. High fat diets can be disastrous, and none of us realizes the long-term harm caused by the germs in our drinking water. But there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all and we all have, or will, eat it. Can anyone here tell me what food it is that causes the most grief and suffering for years after eating it?" After several seconds of quiet, a 75-year-old man in the front row raised his hand, and softly said, "Wedding Cake."

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An elderly gentleman of 83 arrived in Paris by plane. At the French customs desk, the man took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry-on bag. "You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked, sarcastically. The elderly gentleman admitted he had been to France previously. "Then you should know enough to have your passport ready." The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it." "Impossible. Americans always have to show their passports on arrival in France!" The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained. "Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find any Frenchmen to show it to."

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Bob, a 70-year-old, extremely wealthy widower, shows up at the Country Club with a breathtakingly beautiful and very sexy 25 year-old blonde who knocks everyone's socks off with her youthful sex appeal and charm. She hangs onto Bob's arm and listens intently to his every word. His buddies at the club are all aghast. At the very first chance, they corner him and ask, "Bob, how did you get the trophy girlfriend?" Bob replies, "Girlfriend? She's my wife!" They're amazed, but continue to ask. "So, how did you persuade her to marry you?" "I lied about my age", Bob replies "What, did you tell her you were only 50?" Bob smiles and says, "No, I told her I was 90."

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A group of Americans were traveling by tour bus through Holland. As they stopped at a cheese farm, a young guide led them through the process of cheese making, explaining that goat's milk was used. She showed the group a lively hillside where many goats were grazing. "These" she explained "are the older goats put out to pasture when they no longer produce." ; She then asked, "What do you do in America with your old goats?" A spry old gentleman answered, "They send us on bus tours!"

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Enjoy!
//Steve//

The Female Genie*

While trying to escape through Pakistan , Osama Bin Laden found a bottle on the sand and picked it up.
 
Suddenly, a female genie rose from the bottle and with a smile said, "Master, may I grant you one wish?"
 
Osama responded, "You ignorant, unworthy daughter-of-a-dog! Don't you know who I am? I don't need any common woman giving me anything."
 
The shocked genie said, Please, I must grant you a wish or I will be returned to that bottle forever."
 
Osama thought a moment, then grumbled about the impertinence of the woman and said, "Very well, I want to awaken with three American women in my  bed in the morning. So just do it and be off with you."
 
The annoyed genie said, "So be it!" and disappeared.
 
The next morning Bin Laden woke up in bed with Lorena Bobbitt, Tonya Harding, and Nancy Pelosi at his side.  His penis was gone, his knees were broken, and he had no  health insurance.

God is good.

//Steve//

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*This is probably an old one, but still funny….