Broken IMac Needs to Find a Home

It was over a year ago, we were donated an extremely nice IMac but upon inspection by the guy who does our complex electronic repairs, the Nvidia chip within the machine is burned out.

Not a problem, right?  "Just order the new chip" our guy says and he will solder it in and we can get this 27" beauty in the home of a kid that normally could not afford a computer.

Uh, not so easily done.  Like all Apple/Mac components, this one RIDICLIOUSLY priced.  The least we can find it for is 170.00.  

We try our best not to come to the community to ask for things like this, but with Christmas coming up and an assured huge demand for computers, we need to place every one we have stocked, and maybe a couple more.

If you can give us a hand in getting this computer up and running, I would surely appreciate it.  We will not collect any more money than necessary in order to get this fixed.  If able to help, contact me by clicking the "contact us" link at the top left of this page and I can give you donation instructions.  If we have raised enough to repair the IMac, we can let you know then.

As always, thank you for helping us do what we do.

All-Righty Then...

From The Desk of "Oh Yeah, We Innovate!"

So, not only did Mapgate take some of the shine off the pretty Apple, now we learn that Apple is turning to the designers of Google Maps to flesh out iOS Maps.  Wait....I'm confused.  Didn't Apple drop Google Maps for their own map app?  I'm sure there is room for speculation that Google may have forced their hand in doing so but still....

This is innovation?  Brain-picking those who have written the code that you shunned in the first place?  I won't make any snarky comments outside of what some might perceive as a snarky post to begin with, but sheesh, Apple's hubris is galactic in size, compared to their product, at least when maps are concerned.

Look...the Apple vs Android/Google/Samsung/YoMama spectacle has dominated the geeksphere for quite a while now.  It's given Bloggers and Pundits a reason to quit drinking for a while and actually write something.

By the way I am a blogger.  If you were offended by that last sentence, please don't run with scissors and adopt a puppy....they are good therapy.

Sides have clearly been drawn and we've had fun taking swipes at each other over which phone is best and trading blows with "Yur kit is teh suk".  iphone users have been accused of being mindless sheep and Android users have been depicted as slovenly neckbeards who live in their mom's basement and scratch themselves in pubi...I mean public.

However the War of the Phones has gotten ugly.  I have a good friend who owns both phones.  He's a Geek Extraordinaire and he loves gadgets.  He doesn't care who makes them...he is simply a fan of technology and wants to explore and enjoy tech, regardless of who's name is on the shell.

He is well-known and respected for who he is and what he does but recently, he's encountered what many would agree to be a physical threat.  Why?  Because he owns an iphone.  It's to the point where he doesn't want to attend a well known Android gathering because he's been "outed" as an "isheep". 

Threatened....Really?

So yeah, I've had my fun on G+, taking swipes at Apple and The Herd Mentality.  When a business owner who's business I frequent weekly, admits to me he's buying an iphone 5 only because his friends will ridicule him if he doesn't, well....that only lends credence to the whole isheep thingy.

But I don't dislike him for his choice in a phone.  I'm not going to stop doing business with him just because I don't agree with his choice in technology.  And I sure as shit am not going to come anywhere close to physical violence over it.

I don't like Apple, I despise Apple.  Steve Jobs was brilliant, but I don't care how smart Steve Jobs was.  I think Steve Jobs was a bully and a tyrant.  I think Apple has come to a point, as all smartphone manufacturers and designers have....unless they are going to invent a way to implant our phones and computers inside of our heads, innovation has pretty much peaked in the handheld device category. "innovation" has plateaued and criticizing either camp for the lack thereof is just a meaningless escalation of the argument.

I believe what it all boils down to is ego.  From the Sanctified Air of the Corporate Boardroom to the checkout lanes of the local Tech-R-Us stores, none of us want to be seen as "wrong" or "inferior" in our choices of product or purchase decisions.  But when we think that physical confrontation is justified in order to defend our decisions, then it's time to step back and re-evaluate the whole us-against-them mentality.

Yeah, I think this kind of behavior is hardwired into us as humans, but so is logic and the ability to reason.  I will continue to point out the absolute over-the-top behavior of Apple, and you will undoubtedly have some fun at my expense.  That's OK, I put on my big boy pants this morning so have at it.

But in the end, I don't really think less of you for your choice in gadgetry, unless you insist on making it personal.  When it comes a time where we will only say to each other on line what we would really say to each other face to face, I think we've reached a point where our choice of phones won't really matter anymore.

Just sayin'

All-Righty Then

      

Saving Astro

The cold spread across my chest and down into my stomach.  My mouth went dry and I felt my heartbeat slow to a rhythmic, steady pounding.  My right hand started to shake and I had to close my fist to make it stop.  I knew I had to get a handle on it.

Rage is rarely impotent, regardless of where you are when it overtakes you.

My Veterinarian's office wasn't the place to let it out of its cage.


The X-ray showed two old and healed fractures, right where the ribs curve from the side to the belly.  The left hip also showed an old break and it appeared that neither injury had received medical attention.  While the ribs had healed smoothly, there was a large amount of calcium build-up where the bone had been left to mend on its own.

"Astro", the newest addition to my home had been either beaten or kicked in years past.  This shouldn't have been a surprise as I learned that Astro was rescued by a neighbor in August.  He had been left, tied to a dog house that sat on a barren piece of dirt in a back yard.  The people that "owned" Astro left him there to die.  They had moved to Wisconsin and decided he was best off left to bake in the Texas sun.

The doctor guessed the injuries were five to seven years old.  The animal shelter's assessment of Astro's age had also been way off.  Astro is between 10 and 12 years old.

Doctor Miller, who has had his Veterinarian practice in Taylor for three decades, was surprised at Astro's overall health.  For all of his ailments and age, he is surprisingly active and resilient.  He bounds into the car and onto our tall bed with the ease of a one year old pup.

All is not well though.  Astro suffers from Congestive Heart Failure.  Doctor Miller assured me that with the right amount of medications and a proper diet, he had a good, healthy three years left in him.  I have seen to those needs as of yesterday.

His name on the animal shelter paperwork was "Hunter".  Being a pure blood Standard Beagle, that seemed to be as good of a name as any.  The shelter had no idea what his real name is...they assign names to unknown dogs just to make administration easier.

I named him "Astro" for a reason.  My baseball team, The Houston Astros", are about as much of a hard luck bunch as you can find in a professional uniform, yet they run onto the field every day and give 100 percent of themselves, often to their physical detriment.  This little guy reminds me of just how strong the will to live can be.  It's humbling to witness.

He's a happy boy and if not for the tear stain under his eyes, you would never know how much pain and suffering he's been through.  He seems to live just to love, and that in itself is amazing, given what he's been through and at times, I wonder if the state of Wisconsin is far enough away to dampen my gnawing anger at people who would treat another being in the way Astro has been treated.  It does not speak well for humanity, even if this type of scum is a minority.  I hesitate to think that cockroaches like this actually have children.  The best we can hope for if they do is quick and decisive state intervention.

But Astro is home now.  He is obviously a "guys dog".  He gravitates to me and Adam although when he hears Diane's voice, he goes to her immediately.  I think he knows that Diane is less than well and he walks behind her as she goes through the house with her walker....as if he knew he might be needed.

And yeah, there are those who read this that believe I give way too much credit to a dog's intuition and ability to feel and love.  I actually pity you if you feel that way.  you've obviously not been in a dog household nor felt the love and loyalty they project.












For as long as either of us has left, Astro is a part of my life and I am a part of his and I make it a point to give him all the comfort and love he needs.  I don't think I can ever compensate him for the misery and torture he's been through...all I can do is do my best to make him forget it.

Now that Taylor Animal Shelter has received funding and they can afford to be a "No Kill" facility, I have volunteered to be their "Tech guy"...taking pictures of the new animals, posting them to the website and helping out in general at the facility....it will be fun.

All-Righty Then......






     

Older Adults Struggle to Span the Digital Divide

The Digital Divide

It's become almost a cliche'.  That distance between those who have access to computers and technology and those who do not.  Most usually it's a financial disadvantage that keeps many people from owning a computer but more often than many of us realize, it can be due to a real fear of computers and technology in general.

Charlie and Melissa are in their mid 50's   Both are native Texans and both can trace their heritage to ancestors who either were present at the Alamo or lived in proximity to that pivotal event in US history.  Charlie and Melissa also come from a long line of ranchers and farmers in Texas.  Charlie owns land that has been in his family for five generations and they make their living by raising cattle and farming that land.

Or they did make their living doing so.

The severe drought that has gripped Texas and much of the South and Southwest for the past 7 years has devastated those who count on the land for their sustenance. Charlie and Melissa are no different.  While some federal and state subsidies were available to get farmers and ranchers through these tough times, the drought lasted longer than the money and many people have sold their livestock, equipment and sometimes even their land in order to survive.

Charlie and Melissa are fortunate in that they own outright the land and the house that sits upon it.  While they may struggle to pay for utilities and life's necessities, the roof over their head is secure.  Charlie has mostly forsaken public utilities and their home is powered by a combination of electric generators and solar power.  Fortunately, their well, the water that sustains their life, is thriving and is in no danger of drying up.

Charlie and Melissa have one child, a daughter that has recently graduated A&M University and is in the first year of her first real job outside of her childhood farm.  Kendra is a Veterinarian in Dallas and tries to make it home at least once a month to spend time with her mom and dad.  Savings as well as federal aid have dried up for this family and Charlie took a job within a school district a few miles away.  He works 32 hours a week as a custodian.

As it has often been with rural Texans, and rural folks in general, education takes a back seat to working.  There is only one high school diploma between the two of them and Charlie achieved that in 1966 when he was drafted to serve in the US Army for two years.  Melissa has worked to keep the ranch running for almost 30 years and never thought she needed to pursue the education she dropped in her senior year of high school.  That's when Charlie and Melissa were married.

So fast forward to the present and Melissa finds it necessary to enter the job market.  Her skills are few and it's not only her lack of education that holds her back.  Melissa has never touched a computer in her life.  Faced with the need to prepare a resume and communicate with the outside world to find a job, she found herself poorly equipped to do so.

When the Texas Workforce Commission approached Reglue to help Melissa out with a computer and the training she would need to use it, we of course took the challenge.  It isn't always about the kids.

Sometimes adults need help too.  Help we at Reglue are happy to give.

It has been challenging to say the least.  Melissa is painfully hesitant every time she puts her hand on the mouse, moving it like it was going to shock her if she did the slightest thing wrong, but we are working with her on a weekly basis and she has now completed her resume' and navigates the Linux Operating System on her new computer fairly well.

So no....it's not always about the kids although they are our focus.

Sometimes it's about someone who fell between the cracks.  They can be the hardest to pull back up but pulled up they must be.  Who in good conscious could leave them there?

All-Righty Then.

  

Sidestep the Risk of Downloading Torrents

OK, let's get real here.  Some of us download stuff from torrent sites.  I do on occasion and with rare exception, I don't care who knows it.  Yeah, it's illegal but when I want to watch something and it is not available at any price, sans the stinking, noisy, commercial-laden movie theaters......

I will download that torrent in a heartbeat.

But there is always that nagging fear.  What if that particular movie or TV episode is being monitored for download?  What if my ISP is given my IP address and forced to issue a warning from the **AA for me to stop this activity?  it has already happened to me once and while I poo-poo'ed them, clicked "I agree" not to do it again and resumed my activity, some might find such a warning intimidating.  Using the Tor extension/application for Firefox reduces your chances of this happening a bunch.

There is currently (and who knows for how long) a website that lists hundreds, even thousands of TV episodes and movies free for the clicking.  Caveats abound so read on and bear in mind that using this site isn't illegal yet.  Legislation such as ACTA, SOPA and PIPA would certainly make it so.

Caveats?  Yeah, there's a bit of preperation you need to make in order to watch stuff on this site and a few things to know that will make it two-click easy.

First off, the site is www.fastpasstv.ms.  The physical servers were, the last time I checked, located in a place not particularly friendly to US copyright law.  Before you visit, do yourself a favor and install two extentions/addons to your firefox or chrome browser.  For Firefox they are:

Adblock plus

and

Ghostery

For Chrome, you can get them here and here.

These are extensions I think we should all have anyway but if you don't have them now, you will want them before visiting a show link on fastpass.  Otherwise, it will be a whack-a-mole-kill-the-friggin-popup experience and not at all enjoyable.  These two extensions stop this on the spot.

When you visit the site, the two links from that site you will find most interesting are the ones that list the TV Shows and the one that lists the movies.  Personally, I use this site nightly, so I have them in my bookmarks toolbar on firefox.  it makes it mega-easy to find the link without digging through my bookmarks for the link.


 What I find cool about this site is that the TV shows I watch are usually posted in fantastic resolution and clarity within an hour or so of the original time I would watch them on my  regular TV.  Whether it's because I am not home during that time frame or more than likely because I detest watching a 1 hour show with 16 minutes of commercials, I usually opt to watch them on Fastpasstv.  Often, by the time they are posted by someone on the West Coast, they are available for viewing in their normal time slot in my time zone.  Regardless, that show is there when I am ready for it...and as often as I want to watch it or any back episodes.

A word about currently-released movies.  Most of them are cams and the quality can vary from "watchable" to "garble".  A recent cam release of Battleship was actually pretty good but I remember trying to watch "Let the Right One In" and clicked it off within three minutes.  it was really bad.  However, you can watch many classics like Casablanca and The Rear Window in almost perfect quality.

Well, perfect for an FLV or Mpeg4 release.

And by the way, if you employ an extension called Video Downloadhelper, you can choose to download the movie or TV show for later viewing if you don't want to stream them.  Sometimes there are buffering issues that make watching it in real time problematic.  Using extensions such as this solve that problem and since the files are usually between 300 and 500 megs, they take little time to download.

How it works:

When you click a link to the show or movie you want to watch, you will be given a list of "servers" that are streaming what you want to watch.  Some of them are good and some of them suck.  Here is a representation of what you will see once you click a link to watch a show.  Note the episodes are broken down by season to make it easier for you to choose what you want to watch.

Once you choose an episode, it takes you to a page where you can choose which server you want to watch it from.  Again, there are good servers and bad servers.  I will list for you the best ones to choose but this is what you will see once you click an episode link:

The list goes on to show many servers the screenshot does not show so here is a list, in order, of the best servers to choose.  Note that just because one server is jumpy, out of sync or is buffering, does not mean that all servers are rendering the show the same way.  Changing servers can make a world of difference, even if you are downloading them via extension.  Some will give you blazing download speeds, some will make you want to run knitting needles through your eyes.  The best servers are:

Videoweed.es
Novamov
Putlocker
Sockshare
Gorillavid.in
Vidbux (easy-to-read captcha required)

Avoid at all costs:

Muchshare
Movreel
Stagevu

These servers dance you around several links where they try to get you to purchase the privilege of using their servers so just route around the damage and use the recommended servers above.

So that about covers it for today.  I've achieved being at least a small thorn in the side of businesses who refuse to enter the 21st century and develop a business model that serves both the corporate and the customer as well.

All-Righty Then...

OK, Enough with teh Drama

It's been a tough couple of months and in particular, the past three weeks.  Let's take a break from the problems and just laugh for awhile.  Maybe at these, maybe at others, and most probably at ourselves.

Should you feel inclined, let us know what your favorite one is within the comments...and I will apologize ahead of time for the captchas.  Not my doing and if I leave it open without them, I get +500 spam comments a week.  The price of success I suppose.

Found these on my +Geekhumor page on G+.  I modified some of them to make what I consider improvements but for most of them, I just posted as is.  So life is short.

Let's laugh.

All-Righty Then.

A Call for Common Sense

For years now, there has been a lot of talk about the "fractured" Linux Desktop environment.  It's an easy argument to make, given the number of distros, desktop choices the user has and the number of apps that may perform the same function.

The argument has been made so many times over the years that it's not necessary for citation.  If you feel it is, Google is your friend....knock yourself out.  ;-))


But my problem isn't with issues of DE's or apps.

it's the personal, human fragmentation taking place that bothers me.

Yeah, I know...infighting is inevitable any time you get two or more people together working on a project.  It happens all the time and that's just a part of our failed human nature.

But some of it can be bridled, and should be.

And much of it is based on ego, and not the greater good.  I have an example of this exact behavior and I will share it with you now.

Two  years ago I approached someone who contributed code to the Nautilus project.  While such suggestions and ideas are better submitted through proper channels, I thought that since I had this person's direct email address, I would do some fishing and see what I could get accomplished.

My idea?  It's something that has rubbed under my saddle for quite some time.  I spend a lot of time in my file manager, moving or copying things around, renaming files and folders and getting things tarred or zipped for email transport.  One of my biggest frustrations is the way copy and move is handled in Nautilus.  I choose the Gnome environment because I like it.  I also choose to use the context menu to do much of my file work because it is faster for me.  I know there are other ways to copy and move files, but I really don't care about those.  I want to work the way that's efficient for me....

Not you.

So I email this guy and honestly, given the much-publicized attitudes of Gnome Developers, I didn't expect a response at all.  The perceived arrogance of Gnome Devs has a long history. (note the date posted on link).  It was no wonder I was surprised by a rapid response.

I however was less than surprised by the tone of the email.

In short, he, as in speaking for the whole Nautilus development team, rejected the idea specifically because my idea for improvement would be "directly copying KDE's Dolphin and Konq features".

Period.  That was all, no discussion, no thank you for your idea....

Just a slammed door by a bigger-than-life ego.

I have come to expect no less from them.

In a perfect world, I would suggest a melding between Nautilus and Dolphin.  Both have features that are great but unfortunately, unique to themselves.  Let's take a look at my main gripe, the move and copy context menu.

To their credit, Nautilus offers a split pane option.  Unfortunately, the Greater Minds of Gnome have decided that the split pane feature will disappear soon, leaving the context menu the only real speedy option for moving and copying files.  As of now, the only options you have are the Desktop and Home folder, as seen in the graphic below. (click to enlarge)

 Now there is a workaround provided by a number of scripts available on Gnome-look.org but honestly, by the time you navigate to your scripts line in the context menu, open the gui it provides and scan for the destination you want for your file or folder, you could have just as easily copied or cut then pasted the file where you want it.  The scripts in my mind, are just a lateral method, not an improvement.  To make it worse, they often break if you update, and that adds even more frustration to the entire process.  Said gui is pictured below.

Dolphin on the other hand, chooses to offer the user immediate context menu access to all the sub-folders available in the Home directory.  This is a much more sane way of getting the job done.   Your mouse smoothly and quickly slides to each sub-menu in a second or two.  But...the Dolphin Devs are not without sin themselves.  The user has to dig fairly deep into the Dolphin settings in order to allow the file manager to show the copy and move context option.  Why this option isn't set as default is as short-sighted as Nautilus only offering Desktop and Home as copy and move destinations.

Previously I preferred a "clean" install of Gnome, uncluttered with KDE dependencies and apps but recently, I've had a change of heart.  A change of heart necessitated by failures of an updated Brasero no longer recognizing my -RW DVDs and Dolphin's superior ability to handle my file manager needs.  to quote my good friend Carla:

Some Linux users prefer pure environments and have only pure GNOME, or pure KDE, or whatever their favorite is. Not me -- I want it all. I install whatever apps I jolly well feel like installing, and mix software repositories: different distros, official and unofficial, third party and different versions. It's a testament to how good Linux package management has become that I can do all this crazy stuff, and suffer dependency conflicts only once in a great while.

Do I expect any melding of these great features into one file manager.

No. 

I. 

Don't.

And for reasons I've already mentioned, but if I could offer one humble suggestion to each camp it would be simple:

Kindly push your egos out of the way of your progress.  If you haven't seen the havoc and disharmony you've caused by now, you might consider a career change.

I would humbly suggest repossession agent.

All-Righty Then...