The Original Retnev Blog

Is Your Washing Clean?

2010-02-26T18:46:00.001+02:00

A young couple moves into a new neighbourhood. The next morning, while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbour hang the wash outside. "That laundry is not very clean," she said, "She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."

Her husband looked on, but remained silent. Every time her neighbour would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.

About a month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband, "Look! She has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this."

The husband replied, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows!"

The moral of the story. What we see when watching others, depends on the purity of the window through which we look. Before we give any criticism, it might be a good idea to check our state of mind and ask ourselves if we are ready to see the good rather than to be looking for something in the person we are about to judge.

( Source unknown )

Sorry!

2010-02-23T18:58:00.002+02:00

It has been a while since the last post, but I will be back shortly.

Firefox 3.5 released!

2009-06-30T20:40:00.003+02:00

Version 3.5 of the Firefox web browser was released today and is available from the Firefox website.

The new version is the fastest Firefox ever. A redesigned page rendering and layout engine means Web pages loads faster. Firefox 3.5 also includes the TraceMonkey JavaScript engine, which gives the browser dramatically better performance. With a new memory management function in place, Firefox 3.5 keeps memory usage under control and also uses less of your computer’s memory while it’s running.

What are you waiting for, go and download it now!

Want to Become a Gmail Ninja?

2009-06-23T22:06:00.003+02:00

Now you can! Gmail asked a lot of Googlers for their tips and tricks on Gmail, and they combined the best of these into a guide at Gmail: Tips, entitled "Become a Gmail Ninja." The tips are categorized into ninja belts ( “White belt,” “Green belt,” “Black belt,” and “Gmail master,” ) based on how much mail you get each day.

Gmail has also made a PDF version of the list for you to print out

Don’t do #FollowFriday!

2009-06-11T19:31:00.001+02:00

When I started using Twitter one of the first uses of hashtags that I saw was #followfriday. What a wonderful idea! It was started by @micah and it is so easy: every Friday you use #followfriday to suggest people to follow. Simple, easy, and fun. An excellent idea!

But why do I say don’t do #followfriday? I started doing #followfriday and send out my first #followfriday tweets just like some of the examples I saw:

After doing a few #followfriday’s I realized that it is not really working. You write a tweet with the #followfriday hashtag and add people you think should be followed and you feel good because you did #followfriday and even better when you receive a recommendation.

But take a good look at the tweet. Why would you follow any of the people mentioned? Because I said so? Or because you like their usernames? And if you receive a lot of tweets like that, who do you follow? A tweet like that does not give you any reason to follow the people recommended.

I agree with @jason_pollock recent Twitter Tip:

Here is a person with more than 52000 followers and he suggest that you add value to your #followfriday tweets. How do you add value to your #followfriday tweets? Look at this tweet by @axito11

and this tweet by @HilzFuld

Both are excellent examples of value added #followfriday tweets. They tell you a bit more about the person and give you a reason to follow them. It is a much better way to do #followfriday than just giving a bunch of usernames.

Speaking of @SmartZombie. He is always creative with his #followfriday tweets and it is very entertaining:

If you see a tweet like that don’t you want to know why does he say that about them? If you want to see more you can have a look at Smart Zombie's Greatest Twitter Follow Friday Shoutouts

@SharonHayes started doing #followfriday in a completely different way. She writes a post on her blog with her #followfriday recommendations and tweet about it. She is doing it this way because “I think that a simple 140 character recommendation isn't enough. Like many others that use Twitter, I believe in quality over quantity” If you see one of her #followfriday posts you will understand what she means by quality!

She also tweeted this tip recently:

Twitter made a change in how replies are handled. If you start with @username only that person, their followers and other people mentioned in the tweet will see the recommendation. You can read more at Sharon’s Twitter Tips.

It is easy to do #followfriday like my first example and it takes a little bit more time and effort to do it like the other examples, but I think most people would appreciate your recommendation more if you put that little bit extra effort in.

So please do #followfriday, just add some value to your recommendations. People that don’t follow you might just start doing it because of that little bit extra that you did.

If you want to, you are also welcome to follow me.

PS. The people mentioned above is also good for #followanytime

7 Free Offline Blog Editors

2009-06-08T22:45:00.001+02:00

When I first started blogging I wrote my post in the online editor, and then I started using OpenOffice to write posts. The problem with OpenOffice was when I wanted to publish the post I had to copy and paste the post into the online editor and finish it there. After writing one of my longer posts ( Three would-be hijackers killed! ) I started looking for a better program to use. I found a few offline blog editors. Listed below are seven free blog editors.

1. Windows Live Writer 2009

Windows Live Writer is a free offline blogging program made by Microsoft. You can create a blog on Windows Live, Wordpress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, SharePoint, Community Server, and many more. You can setup a few different blogs and then select the one you want to use.

Writer also makes it easy to add Hyperlinks, pictures, photo albums, tables, and tags. Writer can also help you to publish videos to Soapbox on MSN Video, or to YouTube, and embed them in your blog. And just like photos, it’s easy to align, resize, and caption your videos.

You have all the standard editing function as well as a spellchecker. If you are ready to publish your post just click on the ‘Publish’ button or else save a local draft. Another nice tool is word count that show the amount of words and characters used in the post.

2. Qumana

Qumana is an easy-to-use desktop blog editor, enabling you to write, edit and post to one or more blogs. Supported blog platforms include Blogger, Drupal, LiveJournal, MovableType, Windows Live, Wordpress, and others. You can save your blog posts to your hard drive and upload whenever you like. Qumana features include easy text formatting and image insertion, simple Technorati tagging, and advertising insertion with Q Ads.

3. Zoundry Raven

Zoundry Raven is a open source blog editor that you can use to post to Blogger, Movable Type, TypePad, Windows Live Spaces, WordPress, and more. It's as easy to use and include simple tools to add links, tags, photos, music and video files, and more. You can also install Raven as a Portable Application on your flash/thumb drive and take your blogging on the road.

4. Blogdesk

BlogDesk makes it easy to write, speeds up lavish processes and assists the author with smart features. BlogDesk is optimized for the blog systems WordPress, MovableType, Drupal, Serendipity and ExpressionEngine.

Features includes integrated spell checker with dictionaries for 14 languages and features like Notebook, Frequently-Used-Phrases and the Technorati-Tags-Generator relieve you from time wasting and recurring tasks. You can publish to multiple weblogs on different servers with one click.

5. w.bloggar

From the FAQ: “The w.bloggar is an application that acts as an interface between the user and one or more blog(s); in other words, it is a Post and Template editor, with several features and resources that the browser based blog editors do not offer.”

Can be used with Blogger, Drupal, MoveableType, WordPress, LiveJournal and others. You can import text files, add links and images, format text font and alignment, use spell checking and post preview. Use multiple accounts and post to many blogs.

6. Thingamablog

Thingamablog is a cross-platform, standalone blogging application that requires Java 1.4 or higher to run. Thingamablog ships with an English dictionary and it uses OpenOffice spell checker dictionaries so you can download a dictionary for whichever language you need.

Thingamablog allows you to set up a blog in minutes via an intuitive wizard, maintain multiple blogs and effortlessly manage thousands of entries.

7. ScribeFire

ScribeFire is a borderline case. It is a full-featured blog editor that integrates with the Mozilla Firefox Browser and lets you easily post to your blog. You can drag and drop formatted text from pages you are browsing, take notes, upload images, and post to multiple blogs. To post to your blog, simply type some text in the main editor panel of ScribeFire, give it a title and click the Publish button.

ScribeFire allow you to categorize and tag your blog posts, upload images, set the timestamp of your posts, save works-in-progress as notes, post an entry as a draft, share your posts on social websites, and upload files via FTP.

ScribeFire supports WordPress, LiveJournal, Windows Live Spaces, MySpace, Movable Type, Drupal, Blogger and any blogging software or blogging platform that implements the MetaWeblog API.

Do you know of any other blog editors I should add here? Please let me know.

Windows 7 will be in stores beginning ….

2009-06-03T13:11:00.001+02:00

Microsoft’s OEM Division Corporate Vice President Steve Guggenheimer revealed during a keynote address at Computex 2009 in Taipei that Windows 7 will be in stores beginning 22 October 2009.

Microsoft will also start a Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program soon. The program enables participating retailers and OEMs to offer a special deal to upgrade to Windows 7 for customers purchasing a qualifying Windows Vista-based PC. The actual start date for the program will be announced when it is ready for consumers.

I am still using Windows XP on my main pc and is busy testing and playing around with Windows 7 Release Candidate on the old, and smaller, pc. So far I think Windows 7 much better than Vista.

BTW if you want to use Windows 7 download it directly from Microsoft. Apparently there are some virus/trojan infected versions available on other sites.

Windows Live Writer

2009-05-26T22:09:00.001+02:00

I used OpenOffice to write posts for my blog. It worked nicely and I like the spellchecker. The only problem with OpenOffice was when I wanted to publish the post I had to copy and paste. Sometimes strange things happened to the formatting or there were some other problems that I had to fix online. I started looking at other programs to use, firstly at programs that were already installed on my pc and then on the web.

I found a few programs that looked nice but there were always something I did not like about them until I found Windows Live Writer.

When I saw that it was a Microsoft program, I thought that it will only work for Windows Live, but you can you it to publish to Windows Live, Wordpress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, SharePoint, Community Server, and others.

You can setup a few different blogs and then select the one where you want to publish to. When you do the setup Writer will also test the setup.

You also have all the standard editing function as well as a spellchecker. If you want to publish your post just click on the ‘Publish’ button. Another nice tool is word count that show the amount of words and characters used in the post.

There is a preview tab to see what the post will look like as well as a source tab for when you want to do some extra tweaking. You can save a draft and finish it. You can also add some plug-ins for example Twitter Notify to send a Tweet announcing your newly published blog post.

Most Windows pc’s should be able to run Writer ( system requirements ) so go and download it and try it for yourself.

Where do you share social media stuff?

2009-05-24T12:45:00.006+02:00

A new service, GeekChart, show you where you share most of your social media stuff and you can also share the results with all of your friends.

GeekChart works by pulling data from 8 social media sources: your blog, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious and Last.fm. Facebook is on list but not active yet but hopefully soon. You can also suggest other sites.

Once you provide GeekChart your usernames on these social networks, it will calculate your sharing preferences over the last 30 days to create a personalized chart of your sharing habits.

My GeekChart:

Google Unveils New Logos

2009-05-22T14:45:00.002+02:00

Google unveiled new logos. They hope the design freshens up their look as well as improves consistency and ease of use across their sites. The product names will now appear in clean, simple blue lowercase type alongside the Google logo as shown here:
They explain the benefits of the new Google logo design on the Google Official Blog:"This should make it easier for you to recognize which site you are on and navigate to wherever you want to go. They are also consistent across all our international domains, which is especially helpful for people using right-to-left languages such as Arabic and Hebrew.

We are happy with this change since it will help us streamline our user experience. Count on seeing the new logos rolling out to Google Maps, Google News, Google Docs and more over the next few weeks."

Automatic message translation in Gmail

2009-05-20T09:46:00.004+02:00

Gmail Labs has added a new feature that helps translate messages written in a foreign language in the email itself.

Simply enable "Message Translation" from the Labs tab under Settings, and when you receive an email in a language other than your own, Gmail will help you translate it into a language you can understand. In one click.

More info on the Official Gmail Blog.

Three would-be hijackers killed!

2009-05-16T20:50:00.005+02:00

A young lady was on her way home in her 4x4 from an evening out the other day. When she approached the four way stop in a deserted area she saw the body of a man lying in the middle of the road. Realizing that hijackers often use this ruse to lure their unsuspecting victims out of their cars the young lady drives off the road and into the adjoining veld (overgrown wasteland) and skirts around the prostrate form. She thought that maybe it was a genuine dead person so she drove to the local police station to report the incident. The police escorted her back to the scene but there was no sign of the man who was lying in the road. While they were talking to the lady they heard a cellphone ringing next to the road and went to investigate. The police then discovered the dead bodies of 3 armed men in the veld where they had been lying in wait for her to stop the vehicle. She had ridden over them when she took her detour around the "body".

Serves them right! Why do they want to hijack people? And I know this is true because it happened to Liza's best friend's sister. And she knows the lady personally. But wait, it also happened to the colleague of Susan's brother's girlfriend and the girl is so traumatized she must go for counseling! Oh, and it also happened to Jan's nephew's fiancee and Ben asked if I heard what happened to his school buddy's sister? Hey wait, is this the same girl? But it can't be because it happened over a period of about three years. No, my dear readers, this is actually what is called an urban legend.

What is an urban legend? According to Wikipedia: “An urban legend, urban myth, or urban tale is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them. The term is often used to mean something akin to an "apocryphal story." Like all folklore, urban legends are not necessarily false, but they are often distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized over time.”

So it is a story told as true and just plausible enough to be believed, about some horrific, embarrassing, ironic or exasperating series of events that supposedly happened to a real person. It is also sometimes a cautionary tale ( a story with a moral message warning of the consequences of certain actions or character flaws ) Urban legends are most often false. Sometimes it is inspired by an actual event, but evolved into something different as they become distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized over time in their passage from one person to the next.

The one above is just one example. There are many urban legends, some old some new. Sometimes old one's just gets modernized. My mother told my some stories that were told to her when she was a teenager and the same stories were later told to me by other people – just a bit updated and it just happened a week or month or so ago. One good example is the vanishing
hitchhiker.

Basically the vanishing hitchhiker is a figure seen in the headlights of a car traveling at night with a single occupant.

The figure adopts the stance of a hitchhiker. The motorist stops and offers the figure a lift. The journey proceeds, sometimes in total silence, and at some subsequent point the passenger appears to vanish while the vehicle is in motion. In many cases the hitchhiker vanishes exactly when the vehicles stops after reaching a point the hitchhiker wanted to be dropped.

So how do you know it is an urban legend? Some signs that a story is likely a false urban legend:
• It happened to a friend of a friend, not to the storyteller.
• There are many variations.
• The general topic is one that’s often on the news or what people gossip most about — death, sex, crime, contamination, technology, ethnic stereotypes, celebrities, horror or beating the system.
• It contains a warning or moral lesson of some kind.
• It’s just too weird or too good to be true.

Use the above mentioned signs and test the hijacker story and what do you get?

In the past urban legends were passed around from person to person or sometimes person to a few, but with our new technologies it is easier to pass around. For example you receive an email about the would-be hijackers that died, and thinking “Yes!, at least we've got some of them” you forward the email to all 258 people in your contact list. Some of them will read and ignore it but others will forward it again and so the cycle repeats itself again and again and.....

But it is not just urban legends that is passed around by email. Sometimes people will send and forward emails with good advice, health tips or warnings about something. In some cases it contains some truth, but mostly it is only partly true or completely distorted and sometimes even outright lies. And then you get the hoaxes.

According to Wikipedia a hoax is a "deliberate attempt to dupe, deceive or trick an audience into believing, or accepting, that something is real, when the hoaxer knows it is not; or that something is true, when it is false In an instance of a hoax, an object, or event, is not what it appears to be, or what it is claimed to be"

A nice example is the following that I received from a very intelligent young lady.

It was on the Oprah!

Dear Friends; Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, You will repent later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.

When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it ( If you are a Microsoft Windows user) For a two weeks time period.

For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you R245.00 For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you R243.00 and for every third person that receives it, You will be paid R241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a check.

I thought this was a scam myself, But two weeks after receiving this e-mail and forwarding it on. Microsoft contacted me for my address and within days, I receive a check for R24,800.00. You need to respond before the beta testing is over. If anyone can afford this, Bill gates is the man.

If it was on Oprah it must be true! The young lady was so excited because of all the money that she was going to get. She sent it to all her contacts and she had a lot. She did not want to believe me when I told her that it is a hoax, but after she read on Snopes that it was a hoax she got mad at the person that send it to her.

Earlier this week I received the following:

DID U KNOW ABOUT THIS LAW?

Woman Arrest Law:

An incident took place - a young girl was attacked by a man posing as a plain clothes officer; he asked her 2 come 2 the police station when she & her male friend didn't have a driver's license 2 show. He sent the boy off 2 get his license and asked the girl to accompany him to
the police station. Took her instead to an isolated area where the horrendous crime was committed.

The law [which most of us are not aware of] clearly states that between 6 pm and 6 am, a woman has the right to REFUSE to go to the Police Station, even if an arrest warrant has been issued against her.

It is a procedural issue that a woman can be arrested between 6pm and 6am, ONLY if she is
arrested by a woman officer & taken to an ALL WOMEN police station. And if she is arrested by a male officer, it has to be proven that a woman officer was on duty at the time of arrest.

Please fwd this 2 as many girls you know. Also 2 the guys coz this can help them protect their wives, sisters and mothers. It is good for us to know our rights.

Do not neglect, fwd to your entire buddy list

The first thing that I noticed is that it is very vague. No specifics about incident or which law and then they talk about an “ ALL WOMEN police station” I used Google and found the same message in India and the US. In both places it was confirmed to be false and such a law does not exist. And then yesterday on News24 they said 'Woman Arrest Law' e-mail a hoax

I know people mean well by sending and forwarding the emails, but what would happen to a woman about to be arrested after 6pm and she refuse to go to the police station? The police will probably add another charge and that just because of somebody that meant well told her about a law that does not exist.

I want to ask you a big favor. Please learn how to spot a scam or hoax and re-educate your friends who send them to you. If you receive a chain letter or mass-mailed warning that you feel is really, really important and that everyone really, really should read, please make sure that it is true before forwarding it.

To make sure you can use Snopes or Hoax-Slayer or just Google it. If the email seems to be from a specific company or organization contact them to make sure. You may just find out that Mr. Alba Tross is not the head of the Dept. of Fisheries.

But if you seriously don't mind embarrassing yourself, and you feel that the email is not really a chain letter because its contents are so vital, and there is no way something as trivial as good manners can allow you to stop yourself from spamming your address book just send it.

Cheating again....

2009-05-16T14:00:00.008+02:00

Sorry its got nothing to do with the picture. This is an update of the earlier post Cheating is for losers, but... There are a lot of cheat sheets out there. Virtual Hosting compiled a list of some of the best cheat sheet collections out there. You can find Ajax, CSS, HTML, Javascript, .Net, Ruby on Rails, Blogging and a lot more cheat sheets.

Gmail now imports your mail and contacts from other accounts

2009-05-14T10:15:00.005+02:00

I am a huge fan of Gmail and have been using it since May 2005. Whenever I talk to somebody about email I suggest Gmail. The most frequent concern from people that already use other services is "but what about my old email account? I don't won't to loose my contacts and messages"

The Gmail blog has announced that it’s now possible to import all of your emails and contacts into Gmail from Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, and other webmail services. You can even have your messages forwarded from your old account for 30 days. This new feature is available in all newly-created Gmail accounts, and is slowly rolled out to the old accounts.

Green, greener, Google?

2009-05-12T12:19:00.005+02:00

Earlier this year Google blogged about the amount of energy used in one Google search.
Their engineers crunched the numbers and found that an average query uses about 1 kJ of energy and emits about 0.2 grams of carbon dioxide. But those raw numbers don't really put the environmental impact of searching the Internet into perspective. To add some context, below is data about the C02 impact of some everyday activities and items compared to Google searching:

Activity	Google Searches
CO2 emissions of an average daily newspaper (PDF) (100% recycled paper)	850
A glass of orange juice	1,050
One load of dishes in an EnergyStar dishwasher (PDF)	5,100
A five mile trip in the average U.S. automobile	10,000
A cheeseburger	15,000
Electricity consumed by the average U.S. household in one month	3,100,000

Making one cheeseburger uses as much energy as 15 000 web searchers! But I have to say a cheeseburger tastes better. You can read Energy and the Internet on the Official Google Blog.

Stunning Photographs

2009-05-08T23:24:00.003+02:00

Stunning photographs by Ian Cameron. You can see more at artsyTIME or at Transient Light.

How to Annoy Your Readers

2009-05-07T16:47:00.003+02:00

I am rather new on the blogging scene and I'm learning as I go along. I try new layouts, design ideas and other things. Some work and some don't. I browse the Internet a lot and I see designs and other stuff that I like and others that I don't.

One of the things I don't like is when you browse a site or blog and you see what looks like a link with more info, but when you click on it, it's a pop-up ad. I thought that it's only me that don't like that. Turns out that I'm not the only one. Syed Balkhi wrote an excellent post "10 Design Decisions That Annoys Readers" about this and other design decisions that annoys readers. I recommend that you also have a look at the rest of Balkhis - you may find something else you like!

Cheating is for losers, but...

2009-05-05T10:23:00.004+02:00

Everybody knows cheating is for losers. You might win some small gains in the short term but in the end is it really worth it? You cheat on a test and maybe, if you don't get caught, you get better marks but did you really learn anything? Or you start cheating in your business and before you know it, you had a business.

But this post is not really about cheating but about cheat sheets. No, not for a test, but cheat sheets that web designers and programmers can use every working day. On Added Bytes you can find cheat sheets on a few different subjects for example Python, PHP, CSS, HTML, Regular Expressions, Ruby on Rails, etc.

Each are beautifully presented in both PDF and PNG format, and designed to fit on one printed page. They are not all inclusive, but will help you with the basics or sometimes just to remember that one that you forgot. Go check it out at Cheat Sheets - Added Bytes

15 Unusual and Creative Bus Stops | Toxel.com

2009-05-03T19:46:00.001+02:00

Creative and unusual bus stop designs that make the time you spend waiting for the bus a bit more bearable. See more at:
15 Unusual and Creative Bus Stops | Toxel.com

Best Camera Ad Ever

2009-05-02T19:49:00.003+02:00

Seems a bit old but I think it's one of the best camera ad's ever.

The green alternative: Goats eat Google's weeds

2009-05-01T21:07:00.002+02:00

Image by Paul Esson

Google decided to take a low-carbon approach to mowing some fields that they need to mow occasionally to clear weeds and brush to reduce fire hazard. Instead of using noisy mowers that run on gasoline and pollute the air, they rented some goats from California Grazing to do the job for them. More info at
Official Google Blog: Mowing with goats

Twitter Search now available for Everyone!

2009-05-01T11:10:00.003+02:00

I saw people talking about the search function available to the right of your Twitter stream on the Twitter website, but mine did not have it. Turns out Twitter was testing it with some users and it's now available to everybody! For more info see
Twitter Blog: Twitter Search for Everyone!

Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Extra emoticons

2009-05-01T08:59:00.002+02:00

Do you need more smileys than the default ones in Gmail to express your wide range of emotions. A new labs feature adds oodles more. Go and have a look at the official Gmail Blog.
Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Extra emoticons

A few Google tips and tricks

2009-04-30T20:54:00.011+02:00

Why do I write this? Last week I saw a tweet by Howard Bowling ( @howard74 ) on Twitter asking “Anyone else ever use Google for a quickie spell check.” Wow, I thought it was only me that did that. I replied that I do it all the time and that Google is also a nice dictionary when you put define: before the word. This is just a few other Google features or tips and tricks that I use or know.

Spell checker
Not exactly sure how to spell that word? Type how you thinks it should be spelled in the search box and Google will ask “Did you mean: [correct spelling]?”

Dictionary
For those words that you don't know the meaning use “define: word” for example “define: ululations” ( without the “ ) You will get a list of different definitions for word. You can also use it without : in which case you will get usually get a longer list of results. Try both and see which one you like best.

Time
Very useful in our online world. Enter “time city” in the search box en you will get the time in that city.

If you enter “time country” you will get the different timezones if the country have more than one.

Weather
Works basically the same as time. Enter “weather city” to see weather in that city.

Calculator
You can even use Google as a calculator. Do basic calculations like +, -, *, / or combinations. You also do more advanced calculations for example “8*9+(sqrt 10)^5=”

Conversions
You can do currency conversions for example “100 USD in ZAR”

You can also do unit conversions between many different units of measurement of height, weight, and volume etc. Just enter your conversion into the search box and Google will do the rest for example convert 15 inches in cm.

Stock Quotes
You can also use Google to see current market data for a given company or fund just type the ticker symbol into the search box.

Maps
Looking for a map of a city? Type in the name of the city ( or US zip code ) and "map" and Google will show a of that location. If you click on the map you will get a larger version in Google Maps.

Search within a specific website
You can specify that your search results must come from a specific website by using “site:website” for example searching for “steve hofmeyr” site:huisgenoot.com will give you pages about Steve Hofmeyr but only from huisgenoot.com.

You can also use “site:” to search specific domains for example “archives site:.gov.za” to get result about archives from the .gov.za domains.

Double quotes
In the one example above I used double quotes around a set of words. If you want to search for a specific phrase put the phrase in double quotes for example “steve hofmeyr” By doing that Google will give you result with the exact words in that exact order.

Wild cards
You include * within a query and Google will try to use the star as a placeholder for any unknown terms. For example “edison invented *” will give you results about Edison's inventions. Test it for yourself by searching for “Google” and “Google *” The first one will give you result about Google and the second will give you result about Google's products .

One of the other things that I sometimes do is type a whole question in the search block for example “why is the sky blue?” Google usually ignore words like the, a, for, etc. but I found that by typing the whole question most of the time I get better results.

That's it for now. Do you have any other tips and tricks for using Google?

Football in the Oval Office

2009-04-30T15:05:00.005+02:00

I like photos. Not just any photo, but photos that have that something that makes it a bit different. I think this is one of those exceptional photos. It is President Barack Obama playing with a football in the Oval Office on 2009/04/23/. It is an Official White House Photo by Pete Souza and it is part of the Official White House Photostream on Flickr. You can see more here.

Google Classic!

2009-04-27T19:35:00.003+02:00

Seems Google wasn't always fast!

Toilet paper and the economy

2009-04-27T12:10:00.009+02:00

An estate agent that I used to work with complained about the economy the other day. He said it is so bad that he have to buy single ply toilet paper! He told us previously that he uses nothing but 2 ply toilet paper. If the economy declines further he can always go and buy his toilet paper from this guy:

At least it's still in a good condition. If you thought that's bad have a look at this sign:

Would somebody really use money as toilet paper? Seems like it. The Zimbabwean newspaper gave a new meaning to the word "billboard" when they made this billboard:

Yes, the whole board is made up of thousands of Zim dollar banknotes. Apparently it is cheaper to use the banknotes than to use paper. They also used banknotes as fliers (or flyers ) to "highlight the plight of Zimbabwe and the cause of the Zimbabwean Newspaper"

You can see more on their Flickr pages

So if you can use Zim dollars for billboards and fliers you could probably also use it as toilet paper. Me? I would rather just stick to my plain old boring white single ply toilet paper.

The Green Beard

2009-04-24T22:41:00.004+02:00

Somebody asked if I am Irish and if my beard is green for Saint Patrick's Day. No, I am South African and as far as I know I don't have any Irish blood, but anything is possible :-) The green beard ( and shaven head ) was done for charity!

The photo was taken after I participated in the CANSA Shavathon. After they shaved my head they decided to spray my beard as well.

CANSA ( Cancer Association of South Africa ) hosts an annual national CANSA Shavathon over 2 days for people to shave or spray their hair for a R50 donation at either workplaces, organizations, educational institutions or shopping centers. The Shavathon raises awareness and funds for the fight against cancer.

You can get more information on CANSA on their website. You can also find CANSA Shavathon on Facebook and on Flickr. You can also go here to make a donation

Make your own money!

2009-04-16T17:01:00.005+02:00

Now you can make your own personalized money. If you go to Festisite Personalized money generator you can generate your own personalized money.

You choose a money bill (dollar, yen, pound, ruble or one of the others), upload a photograph and then optionally, re-position the photograph. If you are happy you can download your image. Some bills work better than others. If your chosen bill and photo looks funny try another combination.

Animal testing!

2009-04-16T15:10:00.003+02:00

The lighter side of animal testing:

Expert on Nothing!

2009-04-16T09:35:00.005+02:00

I am an Expert on Nothing!

“What?” you say “And you say that out loud!”

Let me explain. According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary an expert is:

a person who is very knowledgeable about or skillful in a particular area.

So, am I not a person that is very knowledgeable about or skillful in a particular area? I know a lot about certain things and not so much about other things. I started working with computers in about 1990. I worked with and on computers, I upgraded, repaired and supplied computer support. I taught people how to use computers. I worked with DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows XP and Vista. I started on Bulletin Board Systems and from there moved to the Internet. I think you get the picture: from about 1990 computers and the Internet formed a big part of my life.

For the past few years I worked in a computer shop. My duties included ordering, receiving and selling of computers and components. I think that I am very knowledgeable about that. My duties also included working as a technician: repairing and upgrading pc's, installing and configuring operation systems and other software, making network cable's, “building” computers, removing viruses (without losing data) and all the other stuff that a technician do. A lot of the customers called me an expert but I still do not refer to myself as an expert.

If you look around you, you won't believe how many experts are out there. You see them on the television, predicting that if this happens that will happen. In the newspapers and on the Internet. Some days it seems that just about every website that you visit is hosted by or have some connection with an expert. Google “expert” and you get “Results 1 - 10 of about 302,000,000 for expert” And then you get the experts you know personally or meet in everyday life.

I can tell you a few stories about some experts I've met while working with computers. A few examples: the expert that plugged the stiffy drive power cable into the jumpers at the back of his hard disk ( please don't do it – it destroys your hard disk ) And I can tell you about the expert that “built thousands of pc's” and then he destroys his brand new motherboard because he forced the wrong 4 pin power cable into the motherboard.

One day last year while working in the computer shop one the the self proclaimed computer expert (“you can't tell my anything about computers”) and I were talking. Actually he was talking and I was just listening while going on with my work. He never actually bought anything but just came in to talk and mostly about how good he is. So he is going on and on when one of the regular customers came in. This customer was in the shop the previous day and said that he wanted to try Ubuntu Linux. I had a few Ubuntu cd's and told him that I will give him one. So while giving him the Ubuntu disc I tell him it's the Ubuntu disc I promised him. The self proclaimed computer expert (SPCE) then asked “Ubuntu?”
Me: “Yes”
SPCE: “This @#$%& government!”
Me: “Excuse me?”
SPCE: “The government made Ubuntu cd's. They ....”

I interrupted and explained to him that Ubuntu Linux is a open source operating system that is distributed by Mark Shuttleworth and his company. His next question: “What's a operating system?” Are you serious? You're suppose to be a computer expert! After explaining to the SPCE what a operating system was, his reaction: “Oh, so it's a new version of Windows”

The one thing that I've learned over the years is that the more you learn about something the more there is to learn. Things change so you have to keep on learning especially if you work with computers, the Internet or other technology. And that my dear readers is why I am an Expert on Nothing – I am still learning!

Kung Fu

2009-04-04T19:09:00.004+02:00

Be afraid! My kung fu is good! Praying mantis style!

Dalai Lama

2009-04-04T18:40:00.005+02:00

If you need one in South Africa just phone!

And you don't even need a Visa!

You know crime is bad when....

2009-04-04T18:34:00.003+02:00

You know crime is really bad when you see something like this:

Ratpacks!

2009-03-30T14:48:00.012+02:00

I recently found this photo of an South African Defence Force rat pack from the 1980's. It bought back a few memories. There is one thing that I actually miss and that is the Rum and Raisin energy bars. I had a few other rum and raisin energy bars after I left the army but it was just not the same.

A rat pack or rations pack is a self-contained, individual field ration in lightweight packaging provided for service-members for use in combat or other field conditions where organized food facilities are not available. Also known as MRE's ( Meal, Ready-to-Eat ) or IMP ( Individual Meal Pack )

A few other examples of rat packs below ( click on photos for bigger view ) Please note that some of the rat packs is or was meant for a 24 hour period ( ours for eg. ) while others is provided for one meal (eg. US MRE ) :

The new UK Army rations packs:

French combat rations:

Canadian rations pack:

Irish Army rations pack:

Chinese Military rations ( more photos here )

US MRE:

The United States Army also have a First Strike Ration. It is a compact, eat-on-the move ration concept, designed to be consumed during the first 72 hours of conflict. ( More info here )

All South Africans can verify if they are alive!

2009-03-26T11:34:00.004+02:00

The South African Department of Home Affairs is so helpful. They have released an incredibly useful new online verification service, which let’s you type in your SA ID number and find out if you’re dead or alive!

Verify here.

Rubik cube cake

2009-03-25T19:45:00.000+02:00

Saw this Rubik Cube cake. Source

First post!

2009-03-25T18:58:00.000+02:00

This is my first post! Not much to say yet, but watch this space . . . . . .