Bob has updated Thingamablog to version 1.0.6.

Thanks for all the hard work Bob. We appriciate it.

You ask, why do I use Thingamablog - Thingamablog does NOT require a third-party blogging host, a cgi/php enabled web host, or a MySQL database. This makes life pretty easy. It is also a cross-platform application, meaning, if I ever switch to Linux or Mac I can take my weblog with me and not have to rebuild it.

I really like the program and have used it for over 3 years now. One thing I would suggest though is regular back ups. I have had my database get corrupted twice in that time and would have had to start over had I not had a backup. But I am sure you back up all the time anyway, don't you.  

3,000 – Number of Iraqi civilians killed every month. More than 3,000 Americans have also been killed, and more than 22,500 wounded, while serving in Iraq.

15,000 – Number of U.S. troops in Baghdad. A teeming capital city of more than 6 million citizens, Baghdad contains almost 25 percent of Iraq's 26 million people.

60,000 – Possible number of fighters in the Mahdi Army, a militia led by Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Iraq's government has been unwilling or unable to disarm this militia.

141,000 – Total number of U.S. military personnel serving in Iraq. There are also 16,500 military personnel from 27 other countries, including 7,200 from the United Kingdom. Together, they patrol a country about the size of California or Sweden.

3.4 million – Number of Iraqis who have fled their homes. More than half have left the country. The rest have moved within its borders, trying to escape the sectarian violence. Authorities say "sectarian cleansing" is common.

$8 billion – Estimated U.S. costs for the Iraq War, per month. At the end of 2006, the United States had spent more than $400 billion to finance involvement in Iraq.

More than 95 percent – Amount of Iraqi government revenues that come from oil production. Iraq has the world's third largest proven oil reserves, behind Saudi Arabia and Iran. But production remains below prewar levels.

Between 75 and 80 percent – Number of Iraqis who are Arab. Another 15 to 20 percent are Kurdish. About 5 percent are Turkoman, Assyrian, or something else.

Between 60 and 65 percent – Number of Iraqis who are Shi'a Muslims. Between 32 and 37 percent are Sunni Muslims.

More than 60 percent – Number of Iraqis who approve of attacks on American-led forces, according to recent polls.

More than 50 percent – The rate of inflation in Iraq. Unemployment estimates range from 20 to 60 percent.

About 40 percent – Iraq's literacy rate, defined as the percentage of Iraqis age 15 or older who can read and write. For men, the rate is 56 percent. For women, it's 24 percent.

Trust has nothing to do with moral courage. It occurs when we have nowhere else to turn, when we reach the end of our need to control.

-Rodney Smith, "Lessons from the Dying"

A set or two anyone?

Photos are from Bible Park in Denver, CO. It's a winter wonderland here kids.

Tony Auth - Jan. 07, 2007 

Actually, I would have been happy with gaiters!

Adding spice to alphabet soup

The English language is undergoing its greatest transformation ever, thanks mostly to translation mistakes made by some 250 million Chinese second-language speakers, according to the San Diego-based consultancy Global Language Monitor.

As the first truly global language, Global English's propensity for absorbing new words has made it the world's lingua franca, with globalization accelerating its rate of word assimilation.

At the same time, China's multitude of English learners and rising global influence means most of the new English words coined daily are being made in China. As these new denominations of linguistic currency circulate online, English's lexical bank grows richer by the day.

"Long time no see", a word-for-word Chinese-English translation, is now a standard English phrase, and more Chinglish terms are on their way according to the experts.

"Because of China's growing influence, it now has more impact on Global English than native English-speaking countries. That's pretty astonishing," said GLM president Paul JJ Payack.

According to FactCheck.org "The President's facts check out, though he leaves out some inconvenient ones."

Check it out for yourself.

Stuart Carlson - 01.2005

I may be tossing my XP os out the window very soon. I have been playing around with Linux distros recently have come to enjoy Ubuntu.I have been using the Live CD on my Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop with no problems. I also loaded it onto an extra desktop just to see how that goes.

I had concerns with program adaptability but those are pretty much gone now. I have either been using or changing over to cross platform applications with no problem. They include:

• OpenOffice
• Mozilla's Firefox and Thunderbird
• Picasa
• Gimp Image Editor

Luckily I started using Thingamablog for this blog from the get-go so I don't have to change anything there.

The only issues I am going to have is:

1. I have used Money for years and haven't found a program that will import exported qil files properly. I will probably just have to change to a new program and start over. Bummer !
2. I have an iPod. iTunes doesn't come in a Linux flavor and I will have to figure out what I am going to do about that.

Currently I am playing around by moving files over to the desktop and seeing how that goes.

Oh, programs that I will not need are:

1. A firewall
2. Anti-virus

Now, that's cool.

I have installed Ubuntu 6.10 "Edgy Elf" on my Dell Inspiron 6000 and it is working amazingly well. The wireless took a few tries to get going but once I installed Wifi-Radar and Network Monitor everything was working just fine.

I was amazed that the function keys and media keys worked from the get go.

As far as iTunes goes, I have another Windows machine that I use as a DVR and have put my music on that machine.

I was incorrect about the firewall and antivirus. It is suggested to use a firewall with Linux and the most recent Linux kernal comes with a firewall. I have installed antivirus for the main reason of not passing on viruses to other Windows users.

As far as financial stuff, I am just starting a new set of files with Moneydance. It is not free, but I like it's look and feel more than the other applications available for Linux.

So, there are a couple of problems showing themselves with my recent Ubuntu install.

Wireless comes and goes. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Haven't quite figured that one out. It does appear there are quite a few people out there like me having these problems, so, more than likely, I am hoping, this will get worked out in future kernel and Ubuntu updates. (That is a nice run on sentence!)

I am having some problems with Ubuntu and Thingamablog. Luckily for me, Bob, who wrote the program, keeps a constant eye on his forum and helped me out pronto. Bob, you rule!

Picasa is causing some problems also. I really liked it as a photo manager in windows and for some reason it is just not working for me in linux. I will have to hit the forums harder for help on that one.

But I still am enjoying playing with it. Must be all the snow we have here in Denver. Nothing left to do but put linux on your laptop

~ Update ~

Yea - Picasa works now. I just have to learn the terminal window more. I am making silly little mistakes in it that prevent things from working correctly

Here is a wonderful article for those thing of moving to Linux/Ubuntu or moving someelse to it. It is worth the read

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=58862 

To me it is a bit humorous - I always considered myself somewhat of a "Windows Power User". I guess I wasn't - I did modify the registry by hand, was able to install drivers not just form cd's, ect... - I guess I could really be a geek. Ahhhhhhh!!!!!

Check out this cool website for choosing which Linux distro to install

Linux Distibution Chooser

Having played around and messed up my first couple installs of Ubuntu, I noticed one quirk - When I re-installed and formatted my drive, there would still be some settings from my previous install. Nothing major, just little things, which makes me wonder whether the Ubuntu disk is really reformatting the drive or just re-partitioning it and moving some of the data.

Very strange.

My thanks goes out to doofus for his colorful comments as of late. I loved the most recent email address you left - billgates@ubuntu.com - classic. Oh, by the way, you never want to get your linux stuck in your Thingamablog, trust me, it can be painful.

Maybe this snow will melt some day and we can take our bikes out. We may need training wheels though, it's been so long.

~ Update ~

It just occurred to me - someone is actually reading these post on a regular basis. Holy shit Margarette, best mark the calendar.