CyberCoyote - November 6, 2008

NEWS and NOTES
Business

We have $2,830 in the bank to start the season. That's more than enough to buy a nice Windows 7 machine when we're ready (maybe next season). :-)

Classes

The first Computer Kindergarten and Vista 101 classes are starting next week. [details]

Members are having good luck with Cox Internet.

[hookup details]

Cartridge refills

Tim Rockwell, the personable owner of CartridgeWorld, was here today to explain how refilling works and describe their services. You can save quite a bit by refilling, and be more "green" to boot. They also have refilled cartridges for laser printers. CartridgeWorld is a franchise, located in the shopping area at the northeast corner of Bell and Litchfield. Go in and talk with them about refills and also get friendly advice on which printer is best for you. [www.cartridgeworldusa.com]

BTW: The engineers who invented inkjet cartridges worked in the same lab that I did when I was at HP. Years later Fred Tarver, who worked for me at a startup company, left to go to HP and work with his son to develop HP's second generation photo cartridges. Small world.

TECH TOPICS
How to install Java in Windows

Java is a good idea gone wrong. There's probably more than one copy of it on your computer, and that's not good. Sun, the originator, has been making a mess out of installing and updating Java from the beginning. They have been trying to fix things up recently, but it's still a do-it-yourself job to make sure that your online security is not compromised by the mess they've left behind. Michael Howowitz provides a good place to start cleaning up Java yourself.

Find it when you need it

There's a special search page at CyberCoyote.org, where you can readily find information, like that above, which you vaguely remember seeing in this newsletter or that you think might find somewhere else on the site.

Another tip you may need someday

Sometimes you need to click a button that is hidden because all or part of the window the button is on is off-screen. It may even seem like you've ruined your computer. :-( That recently happened to one of our members. Re-booting should let you recover, but that's rather drastic. There's an easy way to do it using the "Move" option. Here's one description of how to do it, and there are many more. :-) If the window's titlebar is onscreen you can also get to the "Move" option by right-clicking the icon in the extreme upper-left corner of the window.

WEB PICK
Election Cartograms for 2008

Not cartoons. Cartograms. Not ink blots either. :-) And not your normal election-night red and blue map. You need to know the difference if you want to think like a campaign manager. ;-) Click the maps to enlarge them. [Warning: Some cartograms could be hazardous to your mental health.]

ODDS and ENDS

In fishing, as in most things, you've got to be in the right place at the right time. :-) [photo]

Fleas biting fleas

You may have seen this famous Mandelbrot set before, but Nova's rendering is the best one I've seen. [requires flash] [more fractals]

That's all, folks.

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