*CyberCoyote - December 21, 2006*

NEWS, NOTES and NOTICES

*Winter Solstice*
Phoenix had about 9 hours and 55 minutes of sunshine today. Fairbanks had about 3 hours and 42 minutes. :-)
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunrise.html

*Business Meeting*
1) After collecting some dues, buying a new laptop and a replacement projector, we have about $1,500 in funds at this point in the season. 2) Cherie Mastro accepted the chair position for our nominating committee. Their job is to develop a slate of candidates for our executive positions, and present it at the February business meeting. Your job, should they approach you, is to agree to run for office. :-)
http://cybercoyote.org/club/bylaws.shtml

*Answers to Questions*
There were a couple of questions that we didn't answer at our meeting last week. George Jester has posted answers at our "HappyTrailsComputerClub" Yahoo group. If you want to see them, just go to the website and "join" the group, it's that easy. You don't need to wait for a meeting, you can ask questions there too. You might even want to post an answer yourself. :-)
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/HappyTrailsComputerClub/

*For your Calendar*
Yes, we are meeting next week on the 28th. The Windows XP Class begins next Monday, January 8th. It runs 5 days from 1:00 - 3:00 in the computer lab. Computer Kindergarten begins again on January 18. It meets from 9:00 - 11:00 in the Chaparral Room. The Software Workshop starts January 10th from 9:00 - 11:00 in the computer lab. We'll be finding, downloading, installing, and learning to use (free) programs that participants want to try.
http://cybercoyote.org/classes/classes.shtml -- classes
http://cybercoyote.org/classes/workshop.shtml -- workshops

TIPS and TOPICS

*Save time starting up your computer*
This is priceless: Your computer comes back exactly to where you were before -- even if you turn the power off. I always wondered why no one ever provided a way to bypass bootup. I knew how I would do it -- booting is usually not necessary -- but I didn't work at Microsoft. ;-) Well, "Hibernate" has been there all along. I just didn't know it works for desktops too. Microsoft made it almost as good as what I always imagined. :-)
http://cybercoyote.org/links/001.html

*Beyond IrfanView* (?)
XnView is a fast multi-format graphics browser, viewer, and converter. It can read more than 400 file formats, e.g., gif, bmp, jpeg, png, targa, multipage tiff, camera RAW, jpeg 2000, mpeg, Avi, and Quicktime. EXIF & IPTC metadata are also supported. The image viewer has an Explorer-like browser that allows quick and simple browsing of directory contents.
http://perso.orange.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enhome.html -- XnView
http://irfanview.com/ -- IrfanView

*Tiny USB Hard Drive*
The DiskGO 1" Mini Portable Hard Drive comes in storage capacities up to 12 GB, and at prices that compare favorable to smaller flash memory drives. It uses a built in USB plug -- which also provides power -- to connect.
http://www.edgetechcorp.com/storage/mini-hard-drive.asp

*Fit this on your keychain*
I saw a few of these HDDs at the IBM plant in San Jose in 1957, during an engineering class field trip. (5 MB would hold about a dozen pictures from a 2 Mpx camera.) You can see it was during the heyday of Pan Am (PAA) too.
http://www.popular-pics.com/pictures.aspx?photoid=422

DIVERSION

*Evil Santa*
A little wishful thinking?
http://cybercoyote.org/links/011.html

*Landing Discovery* [best with broadband]
Looks like approach speed is 307 knots. Notice the contrails (condensation) from the wing tips.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKqWSNEC6oc&NR

*Now it can be revealed*
How your computer really works:
http://www.blueballfixed.ytmnd.com/

*Build your own Stonehenge* [best with broadband]
http://www.youtube.com/v/lRRDzFROMx0