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LangaList 2001-03-19 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 1) Duck And CoverIn "Space Stations Keep Fallin'
On My Head..." ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-03-12.htm#9
) I mentioned how the Russian Mir station will be deorbited soon (as of now,
it's scheduled for this week). If all goes according to plan, many tons of
high-velocity, incendiary rubble will splash down in the South Pacific. (The
bigger chunks will not burn up in the atmosphere.) But Mir was never designed for
re-entry. It's asymmetrical, totally unaerodynamic, and surely will veer and
tumble as it encounters the upper atmosphere. While parts of Mir are lightweight
and will burn up due to atmospheric friction, other massive components---
docking collars and the like--- are beefy enough to survive reentry: These will
impact as high-speed, high-temperature debris, carrying a huge amount of kinetic
energy. While tens of million of others will content themselves with mass-media news reports, *you'll* have links direct to the right parts of the Russian Space Agency, to specialty NASA sites, to high-grade tracking and observation sites, and more--- all from your PC. The column should be available Monday March 19th via Byte's home page at http://www.byte.com/ or by clicking directly to the Monitor index at http://www.byte.com/index/monitor . Check it out! Chances are, nothing this large will *ever* deliberately be deorbited again. Click to
email this item to a friend 2) The Heat Is OnHeat-related PC problems are surprisingly common, as this note from reader Don Schwab illustrates:
Not fussy--- smart. <g> But you don't need the Genesys software: The two free motherboard monitoring utilities mentioned in "None Like It Hot" ( http://content.techweb.com/winmag//columns/explorer/2001/06.htm ) also can track many variables--- including fan speeds, temperatures, and system voltages--- and sound alarms or trigger corrective actions if the sensed values exceed whatever limits you set. Highly recommended! And, as mentioned, many of the monitoring and cooling utilities originally grew from the "overclocker" movement--- people who push their chips way past what the manufacturers' untended:
Thanks! Click to
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 3) More Help For WinME/9x UsersReader Stephen Kobsa found a good source of additional tweaking info for people trying to get more from WinME--- or even Win9x in general:
Thanks, Stephen! Click to
email this item to a friend 4) HotSpots SizzlingThis newsletter comes out twice-weekly, but my "Web HotSpots" page is updated fully 365 times a year---a new site very day, without fail. As such, it's a great mechanism to bring you brand-new, just-available sites. Often, great new sites will show up in HotSpots before I can mention them here in the newsletter. Other times, the HotSpots site proceeds normally in its mission to bring you "Every Day, The Best, Most Interesting, Most Useful, and Strangest Sites the Web Has To Offer!" For example, during the last week, the Hotspots page has offered these links:
If you're not a regular Hotspots visitor, you're missing a lot. That's why tens of thousands of people actually have the HotSpots set as their home page, so every day, at log-on, they automatically get to see "The Best, Most Interesting, Most Useful, and Strangest Sites the Web Has To Offer!" Check it out at http://www.browsertune.com/flanga/hotspots.htm, and check out past HotSpots (going all the way back to 1995!) in the "HotSpots Hall Of Fame" at http://www.browsertune.com/hsarchives/ Click to
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 5) Is This Information Useful?If you think the LangaList is a worthwhile read, maybe a friend would find it useful too! Just use the following link to recommend the LangaList---your friend may find a new source of useful information and you just may win $10,000 for your trouble (full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#1 Or, win a no-strings $30 Gift Certificate for any item at Amazon.Com--- books, software, hardware, kitchenware, toys... and more. (Full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 Either way, thank you, and good luck! Click to
email this item to a friend 6) ICQ Users Feel AOL's Gentle TouchLong-time readers know I'm no major fan of AOL, whose ultra-aggressive marketing tactics really rub me the wrong way. For example, AOL itself carries more unavoidable advertising than do many *free* ISPs, and yet AOL members must pay for the privilege of being a target for these endless ads. AOL took over Netscape, and that company's products have not benefited from the experience. As you probably know, Netscape 6.x is based on the open source "Mozilla" project. Just look at the difference between the clean core of "Mozilla" (available for free download from http://www.mozilla.org ) and the fully-branded, burdened, ad-spouting, AOL-modified version of the exact same core code that's at the heart of Netscape 6 ( http://home.netscape.com/download/index.html ). AOL took over ICQ and guess what? I'll let reader "David S" tell the story:
Other readers worry that this auto-update feature could be used to dragoon ICQ users into a Juno-like "we own your CPU cycles" deal. ( http://www.byte.com/column/BYT20010222S0004 ) It hasn't happened yet, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it did. Separately, and unrelated to marketing issues, there are also architectural problems with many of AOL's offerings. The AOL software itself is known for a tendency to trash perfectly-fine networking setups on systems on which it's installed; the fully AOL-encrusted Netscape browser is far more porcine than the clean Mozilla core shows it needs to be; and then there's the matter of ICQ's "logs" which save the contents of ICQ discussions (including sensitive, private ones), and have come back to haunt more than one person. (For example, see http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-5148422.html ) My best advice for any software coming from any part of AOL is to use extreme caution. Or better still, simply avoid it altogether. Click to
email this item to a friend 7) Cleaning Typed URLsIn the several weeks since we originally discussed this, some additional reader suggestions have trickled in, including this note from Andrew Torriani:
Thanks, Andrew. That page is very hard to read (why would anyone choose a dark-gray on light-gray color scheme?) but the software is called "My Properties" and can help you:
Click to
email this item to a friend 8) More Reader Sites!Do you have a home page or website?
(It doesn't matter what size.) Please click over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm
, and maybe you can join the hundreds and hundreds of LangaList readers who have
"Loaded the Code!" (If you've already "Loaded The Code" and
are wondering if your site will appear here or on the Langa.Com web site, please
see http://www.langa.com/link.txt
) Naveen's Freewares Yahoo Chat Help Site RODEO'S AUCTIONEERING
SERVICES Graphics site, with
tutorials, links and downloads for Paint Shop Pro users. "I'm a Diva!" RoboDude's Site Da Krazee Unstman Neat Clicks Australian War Diary Click to
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 9) Rosetta Stone Even *More* Improved!OK, quick recap: In "A Rosetta Stone" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-03-08.htm#6 ) we discussed a way to obtain all the keywords to the complex Microsoft Knowledgebase: Knowing the keyword system lets you avoid off-target searches and zero in on just what you want. Then reader Adam Kautz had another idea that combines the power of Google--- perhaps the current best-available search engine--- with the depth of the Microsoft Knowledgebase ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-03-15.htm#3 ) Now, reader Bob Cox adds yet another refinement:
The "Q" documents are the top-level documents that are often cited by number when someone refers to a Knowledgebase item: Zeroing in on those helps reduce the clutter and increase the odds of your finding exactly what your looking for. Between them, Bob and Adam have completely changed the way I use the Knowledgebase. Thanks, guys! Click to
email this item to a friend 10) Just For GrinsI mentioned a funny, custom "404" web error message in the last issue ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-03-15.htm#10 ). Many readers wrote to point out that the text is a parody of the soliloquies of Marvin the Paranoid Android in the "Hitchhikers Guide To The Universe." Many others found sites where that particular 404 page is used (including the most-often cited page, at http://www.scintilla.utwente.nl/errorerror ) . Stephen Cerruti sent along a URL to http://www.servererror.net/ which generates a new, bogus error message on every reload. Steve says you actually can download an entire do-it-yourself error-page kit from a related URL: http://www.servererror.net/info/ . He also suggests that University web servers are a likely rich source of custom error pages, such as the one that offers a "Physics Haiku" at http://www.physics.uiuc.edu/liuyiuuy . David Burrows found a broken page at http://www.fargoweb.com/kx4/weather/weather2.html that generated a custom error message:
Nice to see some wit in these humor-challenged time. Thanks to all to wrote in! Click to
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less than you think! <a href="http://www.langa.com/ratecard.htm">AOL Users: Click here!</a> --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 11) Plus! Edition HighlightsToday's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including: How to use high-speed "File Transfer Protocol" instead of plain HTTP; how to access and selectively clear bad entries on your "Recent" or "Documents" list; and how to transfer large files--- or even entire hard drive contents--- without a network, CDR, floppies, or Zip drives. Plus! Edition info: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm Click to
email this item to a friend See you next issue!
Best, Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win $10,000!I) An easier-to read formatted HTML version is available in the "Current Issue" section of http://www.langa.com. (The HTML version of each issue normally is available by 9AM EST [UT-5] of the issue date.) All past LangaList issues are also available at the Langa.Com site. Why are you getting this newsletter? This is a 100% OPT-IN newsletter: There are only three ways to get on the list--- signup via direct email request from you, or signup via the WinMag newsletter page or signup via BrowserTune's email-notification service. If you're getting this newsletter; your name came to me through one of those signup channels. At signup, you also received a confirmation email from my list software---no one is signed up secretly or against their will. SUBSCRIBE (it's free!): Create and send a new email address it to subscribe-langalist@lyris.dundee.net For even more content, downloads and special services, check out the LangaList Plus! Edition: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm UNSUBSCRIBE: From the same address you used to sign up with (it's shown on the first line in the body of each email issue you receive), create and send a new email address to unsubscribe-langalist@lyris.dundee.net . CHANGE ADDRESS? LIST TROUBLE? HAVE QUESTIONS? NEED HELP? See http://www.langa.com/help.htm About the advertisers: Langa Consulting LLC will never knowingly accept advertising for a fraudulent product, company or service. However, Langa Consulting LLC makes no implied or explicit warranty, recommendation or endorsement of or for the products, companies or services mentioned in the ads. Disclaimer: (Please see full disclaimer here: http://www.langa.com/legal.htm.) Abbreviated version: The tips and other information given in the newsletter are researched and are believed to be accurate, but we cannot and do not guarantee that all the information here will work on all systems, for all users, all the time. All information herein is offered as-is and without warranty of any kind. Neither Langa Consulting LLC, nor its employees nor contributors are responsible for any loss, injury, or damage, direct or consequential, resulting from application of any information presented here. This newsletter is a service of Langa Consulting LLC and is Copyright © 1997-2005Langa Consulting LLC. All rights reserved. LangaList: ISSN 1533-1156 |
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