Batteries and getting Zapped!

Punta Gorda is an interesting place. We believe we live in a magical place and can’t imagine the “outside world” intruding on our little piece of paradise. I even remember a few years ago listening to folks explain how Charlotte Harbor created an inverse meteorological hyper bubble over the whole area that would deflect hurricanes towards our neighbors to the north and south. (ok, maybe the shield idea was a bit off) The point is we are lured into a false sense of security, of immunity, from the world around us.

Question: how many readers own laptops? The laptop is convenient, useful and rapidly becoming the second computer or even folks main computer because of its portability. Like anything else we become comfortable with, we tend to accept it without question. When it becomes a part of our existence, it simply becomes part of the background, there but really not noticed. Now is the time to notice.

For the third time HP announced a recall of batteries associated with their laptops. These laptops contained batteries made by “over there” that had the potential to catch fire. I immediately checked the battery in my HP laptop and determined it was not one of the batteries involved. Many folks just assumed that since they didn’t own a HP laptop, they didn’t have to worry. Or worse, since their HP was working fine, the problem must not apply to them. Even I forgot about it until the other day when I came across a news release that the battery recall now included Dell laptops which my wife has. Further research found that the battery recall had spread to many other brands.

There are lots of these laptops in Punta Gorda, and the danger of fire exists with every one of them. I want you to immediately go to the website for your laptop manufacturer and look for any notice regarding a battery recall. The site will tell you how to identify which laptops are affected, how to identify the specific battery that is defective and how to obtain a replacement. Do this today. If you cannot get to it right away, remove the battery from your laptop, and use only AC power until you can the determine the status of your battery. We don’t need any more homes in Punta Gorda disappearing in a puff of smoke because of someone or something from China, Japan, Taiwan or Korea.

Outside interference number two. One of the things that really tick off a child is when someone tries to take advantage of their parents. My own mother is very proficient on her computer. She can buy airline tickets, publish a book, manipulate pictures, buy and sell on eBay, use email, uses a wireless network in her home and on and on. I am very proud of her. But, and maybe it is her generation, I can’t seem to make her understand that not everything she sees on the computer is as it appears. There seems to be an innate trust incorporated into her generation that sadly may not have a place in today’s world.

Mom has been instructed not to install anything, click on anything that seems too good to be true or respond to anything that she did not initiate without clearing it with me. She dutifully called me the other day and said that she had received an email from eBay that her account needed to be updated and to click on the link below to take her to the eBay site and update her payment details. I told her not to click on the link, eBay would never send an email asking for payment information. But, like a moth to a flame, after four days she clicked the link, went to the site and entered all her credit card information, password, username etc. THEN she told me what she had done.

I sat down with her and brought up the email. It took seconds to determine that it was a fake. First, eBay would never send an email asking for financial information. Second, the sentence structure of the email was obviously written by someone from outside the US. Third, the link to “eBay” when clicked brought up a page that looked exactly like eBay except that in the URL address bar, instead of displaying www.ebay.com displayed www.ustupidamerican.tw. Fourth: I forwarded the email to eBay and within seconds they responded that the email was a fake. Fortunately, mom waited four days to click the button, and by that time eBay had shut down the bogus operation, redirected everyone that clicked on the link to eBay and disabled user account passwords, requiring her to use certain information that only she and eBay would have to reactivate the account and reset the password. We double checked her credit card for any activity that was not hers. Luckily there was none.

The warning here is that NO legitimate company, not your bank, not Comcast, not eBay, no one that will ever ask you to update your information in an email with a link provided.

Stay safe, and keep the outsiders outside.

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer (9781467985895): Courtland Nederveld: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks! (9781456561734): Court Nederveld: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734

Lay Down the Boogie and Play that Funky Music…

A social night out breaks our daily monotony every once in awhile. It may be for dinner, a few drinks, to socialize with our friends or some private event we have been invited to. Most of the time entertainment is involved in some way or another. In Charlotte County we have a plethora of venues to pick from. There are the local neighborhood bars, such as The Celtic Ray, Beef O’Brady’s or the pizza place down the street. For lodge members there are The American Legion, The VFW Post, The Elks Club, The Moose Club, The Eagles and The Knights of Columbus. On any given night there are a multitude of private parties for weddings, graduations, birthdays, anniversary's or the second Tuesday of the month. (OK, I made that one up)

By now you may be asking what all these events have in common and what are they doing in a computer column. Each of these venues usually offers some form of musical entertainment on any given day of the week. Today, most musicians use a computer for more than making a list of their songs or drawing up contracts. Most of the time there will be a small ensemble (usually one or two musicians) that sounds like a small jazz band, a rock and roll band or a full orchestra. (How can that be Martha?)

They achieve that full band sound by utilizing a computer, available composing software and then emulate the missing instruments. Musicians may add Drums, Bass, Guitar, Piano, Strings, Horn Sections, or any other instrument needed to fill out a song including sound effects. Single performers may use a computer to enhance a performance while playing a lead line on a harmonica or other instrument. Musicians may pre-record a verse or the chorus of a song in a computer to provide background harmonies for the melodies they want to sing. Then the pre-recorded music is enhanced in the computer using fairly inexpensive software, converted to a format such as MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and played back at the appropriate time in the song. Software can be used to raise the pitch of a voice if the notes are falling a bit flat. It can be used to clean up part of a song where two or more instruments may be conflicting or muddying up the sound. The musician can tweak the various sounds and tracks until the desired effect is achieved.

One software package actually uses real recordings of top studio Jazz/Rock/Country drummers. These are not samples tracks, but are full recordings, lasting from 1 to 8 bars, playing along in perfect sync with other tracks. For example, choose a brushes style drum sound, and you will now hear lush Jazz brushes. The results are dramatically better than previous artificial drum tracks. They sound like a real drummer, because they are recordings of a real drummer.

Only a short time ago, this level of sophistication was offered to musicians recording in multi million dollar studios. Now it is available to the local musician at a reasonable cost. For a look at some software that can make this magic happen, surf over to http://www.pgmusic.com/bandbox.htm for a program called Band in a Box (under $200 for the starter version) or continue on to http://www.cakewalk.com/sonar and look at Cakewalk SONAR X1 Studio. (Under $200) I had the opportunity to watch a local musician (Just For Fun, www.justforfunband.com) record and create sixteen tracks for a song they were going to perform using Sonar. It was amazing to hear the results.

Today it is possible to record the next big hit song on a home computer and create graphics for a CD and jewel case. Burn either a master CD to send to a replication house for copies to be made or make the copies at home on a low cost DVD Duplicator. Use a home computer to connect to the Internet and create a web page that includes original music. A web site can reach many more people than a local music gig could hope to achieve. Innovative music can also be placed on various web sites that promote Indie (independent) music. It is not beyond the realm of possibilities for a producer to visit your web site, hear your music and transform you into the next American Idol. So, lay down the boogie and play that funky music till you die.

Let me know where you’re playing and don’t forget the tip jar.

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer (9781467985895): Courtland Nederveld: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks! (9781456561734): Court Nederveld: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734

Around the World in just…

Nasa.gov 9/5/2005: “Nearly 13 billion years ago, an early massive star explodes. The light from the explosion, called a gamma-ray burst, traverses the Universe. On September 4, 2005, the NASA Swift satellite detects the burst and notifies scientists of its location.” Think about that headline from NASA for a moment. Scientists were actually able to watch the unfolding of an event that occurred 13 billion years ago. It raises a question about the attributes of time. Since we can watch the event now, does that mean that our time is 13 billion years old? Or does it mean the explosion is happening in our present and simultaneously in the stars past? Very interesting no matter how one looks at it.

Did you know that we can also look deep (not 13 billion years deep) into our local past? It is amazing how fast our memories fade when thinking about our recent past. Do you remember all the buildings, stores and businesses that were here only two or three years ago? I took a little trip to the past and kept hearing myself say, “That’s right, I remember that now.” Our computers are like little time machines. They can allow us to peer into the recent past. So if history is of interest to you, fire up the PC and take a trip down memory lane.

First, make sure that your computer meets the minimum requirements as listed at http://earth.google.com/faq.html. Odds are that any computer less than five years old will have no problems. If you are one of the four people still running Windows 98 then this jaunt to the past is beyond the capabilities of your time machine.

Next, point your browser to earth.google.com. Download and install Google Earth. Open the program and the first thing seen is a picture of the world floating in space. On the left hand side are some controls that allow you to “fly to” a starting spot. In my case I typed in 33950 and hit the button. For a moment I thought I was falling straight to the ground but then it seemed to level out just sixteen miles above Punta Gorda. On the upper right hand corner of the picture is a control console built something like a heads up display in a fighter aircraft. There is a zoom and tilt feature and you can also move the map by simply grabbing it with the mouse and sliding it up or down, left or right.

I choose to zoom in on the Gilchrist and Collier bridges. That’s when it dawned on me that I was looking into the past. There on the north east corner of the bridges was a hotel and antique mall. “That’s right, I remember that now,” and behind that was an empty lot where today stands a large condominium complex. Further up the road off Harbor stands the American Legion Hall that doesn’t look anything like what is there now. Further up Harbor is a giant tree standing along side a buddy of mine’s house that today is laying on its side. Back on Tamiami Trail there are lots of stores and office buildings that can not be found today.

One of the coolest features of Google Earth though is the directions feature. Plug in a starting and ending point and it lays out the route on the maps. Then click on the play feature and it follows the course as if you were sitting in a small plane about 1500 feet above the ground. It can show hotels, restaurants etc along the way.

Google tells us “Our images are photographs taken by satellites and aircraft sometime in the last three years.  The images in Google Earth are updated on a rolling basis. (Martha, no sunbathing au natural.) Google Earth combines data of different resolutions to offer a seamless viewing experience, and some locations may look a bit blurry. We offer high resolution imagery (greater than 1-meter per pixel which provides an aerial view of approximately 1500 feet) for thousands of cities and more are on the way.” Now Google Earth allows us to dive beneath the oceans as well to the deepest part of the Mariana Trench.

Probably the best thing about Google Earth is that it is FREE. There is a pay version that incorporates GPS features, but the imagery is the same.

I’ll see you in the past!

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer (9781467985895): Courtland Nederveld: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks! (9781456561734): Court Nederveld: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734

Is it True? Or is it Internutty?

I am Mrs. Heather Walker, I am in the process of setting up a charity organisation, but may not be able to complete it due to my deteriorating health issues. I will need your assistance to complete this great cause. Please reply back to me on my private email: hwalker2007@rogers.com to furnish you with details. God bless you. Heather Walker {hwalker2007@rogers.com}

Evangelists in the mid eighteen hundreds preached there were giants in the earth. Playing on the gullibility of the general public and certain so called experts, a large piece of gypsum was carved into the likeness of a giant man, buried, “discovered” by well diggers and authenticated as a petrified humanoid giant. This stone giant, called the Cardiff Giant, was then displayed to the public at a dollar a head. Thousands flocked to see this marvel. A two-thirds interest in the giant was sold for thirty thousand dollars. This scam was so successful that a few months later, a second group “discovered” another giant stone fossil of a man. “There’s a sucker born every minute,” said con artist David Hannum in 1870.

Click the forward button. Today we have a modern twist on the birth of suckers, the email chain letter. We have all received them. Some of the more ridiculous are the ones that claim Microsoft or AOL are testing a new email tracing system and every person that forwards this email will receive $250. If only it were true. Our issues with hurricane recovery could be solved if everyone in the United States simply forwarded one email. 350 million people times $250 is roughly nine hundred billion dollars. Forward it a couple more times and the national debt goes away all thanks to Microsoft and AOL.

Click the forward button. There is the missing girl from the tsunami that can’t remember anything so please forward this email to everyone you know and help her find a relative. Or the one that says the American Cancer Society will donate three cents for every forward of this email and please send a copy to some listed email address. Of course, lets not forget the sappy, I am your friend, I love you poem and please forward this to everyone you love. (Believe me, some chain letter writer sitting in a basement in Hamburg Germany doesn’t know you or love you.) And my favorite, the businessman that woke up in his hotel room with his kidneys taken by an international gang of thieves selling these organs on the international black market for body parts.

Click the forward button. Chain letters play to various facets of human nature. Greed is a motivator. How many of you sent that Microsoft email on to every person in your email address book then figured out a few months later that no check was in the mail? Another motivator is our heartstrings. The missing child, what can it hurt to simply hit the forward button? Raising money to fight cancer, surely no one would kid about that. Fear is a good inducement to action. Mix it with a story about skilled medical thieves, some unsuspecting business travelers, add a little bit of black market intrigue, an organ that we know can be transplanted and we begin to think maybe there is a well funded organ transplant black market. Even amazement is used to motivate you to hit the forward button. For example, right after the shuttle Columbia burned up on re-entry, photos supposedly taken by an Israeli satellite showed the explosion of the shuttle in orbit. Interestingly, the photos looked exactly like the opening scene from the 1998 movie Armageddon.

Click the forward button. "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it…” Joseph Goebbels (Propaganda Minister) Some of these chain emails have been around for a decade. Why do they persist in filling up our inboxes? Don’t the people that send these to us realized what they are? (Martha, did you forward that email about our Congressmen not paying into social security?) I know that it only takes a second to move the mouse over the forward button, but think about the person that gets the email, and realizes that it is a hoax. Now what does that say about the person that sent it?

So, the next time an email arrives and you are tempted to hit the forward button, take a moment and go to http://www.snopes.com or http://www.breakthechain.org and check the validity of the story. Then decide if it needs to be forwarded or deleted.

Please forward this column to everyone you know.

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer (9781467985895): Courtland Nederveld: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks! (9781456561734): Court Nederveld: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734