Sharing Knowledge/A Blog of Jewels from the Internet

2008-10-08T20:50:00.001-07:00

2007-02-21T00:16:00.001-08:00

2006-01-30T23:22:00.000-08:00

YOU WILL NEED TO ENLARGE THE JPEG BELOW TO READ IT,
THERE IS A REASON I HAD TO DO IT THIS WAY.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW TO LEAVE LINKS IN THE COMMENT SECTION OF YOUR BLOG, OR OTHER BLOGS.....HERE IS THE WAY.

A Great Plugin For Firefox Browser

2006-01-16T19:40:00.000-08:00

Do you use Firefox as your blogger? I do, and will never go back to IE.
There are hundreds of free plugins available for my browser, and I found one that every blogger should install. It is a small program, with a small pop-up box that allows you to add your comments to the blog you are at, and see the most recent comments left at the blog you are at. I has a list that you can use to backtrack the comments on the blog you are viewing. I just installed this today, but am impressed at all of the uses of this little program. It could be a good traffic generator, if used correctly.
It only works with other blogs or webpages that use firefox, But most web authors use firefox now anyway.

Here, give it a try…. A Great Plugin for Firefox

A Great Tool for Bloggers

2006-01-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

If you write your blog articles in Word, you will love this plugin. It allows you to write an article in Word, (I have to have my spell check) and publish it directly to your blog. This program works Great, I use it all the time.
Some formatting is lost in the publishing, but all links you have in the article are published correctly.

Great Microsoft Word Plugin

For this article I used a different font type, choose a different font size. I choose Georgia 14. This saves time when you get the hang of it. I have always had problems with my blog word processor program when choosing the font or font size. Justified text will not publish correctly, I always have to do that later, if I remember.

Another feature is after you have choose the blog you want to publish to, (I have several blogs) and publish it, it gives you the option to go directly to the internet and your blog. Neat trick. I love stuff like this.

2006-01-03T07:26:00.000-08:00

I found a site that has lots of streaming audio and video files on various subjects. You may want to check it out. It also sells CD's with old radio programs etc.
I went there looking for the Orson Well's War of the Worlds radio program.
It was there, so I used my stream recorder and now I have a file of the whole program.
Well anyway here is the link to this new source of audio and video streams I discovered.

Check this out
War of the Worlds

You too can record streaming video from the internet....the one product endorsement on this page is for stream recording software, from Appian Technologies Inc. I recommend to anyone to download a free trial version of Media Recorder.

Huge Library of Ebooks

2005-12-25T18:28:00.000-08:00

If you have read any of the first articles I posted here, you know I love ebooks, and have recommended the ebook reader, Microsoft Reader. Not only is this reader the best ebook reader available *in my opinion* it is the only one that is completely free. There are literally hundreds of thousands of MSReader books available FREE on the internet.

Here is one more library of free books that may interest you.

It is one of the first I came across back in 2000. It is a large free ebook library provided by the University of Virginia. My personal kudos to this fine university. That is, unless UV is bouncing the basketball against KU.......

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/

For convenience, here are some of the categories of this library, with links.
You can view all of the books in this library without an ebook viewer, but if you have one, you can download any of these books to your hard drive.

Illustrated Classics,
African-American,
Native American,Women Writers,
The Bible,
Literature in Translation,
Shakespeare,Civil War,
Young Readers,
Early American Fiction,
Center on Religion and Democracy

I have learned a lot from this library and recommend it to you without reservation.

I have found that this library is a treasure trove of forgotten books on forgotten subjects. Quite frankly, my knowledge of my wonderful American brothers and sisters of African Origin, was lacking until I found this source. Sure, I had read a few of Booker T. Washingtons Books, but that was about my total sum of knowledge until I found this library. If you do nothing more, please look at all of the books by B.T.Washington, and READ A FEW......HEY IT'S NOT LIKE YOU HAVE TO WALK TO THE LIBRARY AND CHECK A BOOK OUT....IT IS FREE....AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO LEAVE THE COMFORT OF YOUR INTERNET CHAIR.

And, Civil War nut that I am, I found many books that are no longer in print, and would not be available to read, unless I would be willing to spend thousands of dollars. My book budget is in the tens of dollars a month, not millions, but I still love to read. Yes the purist's will say there is nothing like holding the paper, leather, thread, gilt and mold in your hands and feeling it all....I say....if you can afford it great, as a poor truck driver....I still can read what you spent a fortune on.....without cost.....

At the front door page to this library,
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/
you will notice three hot buttons at the bottom of the webpage. One is to the download page for Microsoft Reader, one is to a download for the Palm Pilot, ebook reader, which you can test drive for a few weeks, and one is to a great free software program that lets you make your own ebooks in the Microsoft Reader format, .lit.

You are going to thank me for this…Now it is your turn to enjoy. Merry Christmas.

update

2005-12-21T23:14:00.000-08:00

Funny how these things work out. I accidentally rented space on a really hot blog,

A REALLY HOT BLOG

I was trying to rent space for a link to Sanity's Bluff, My oldest blog, but must have clicked the wrong button.

What is happening now, is I'm having a lot of people visiting the wrong blog….no problem….I’ll snazzy this one up a little for my new guests. This is not the blog I put the most time into, as you can see….it’s been a month since an entry, but it is a blog I won’t give up on.

As a web junkie, a.k.a. webloafer, I find many useful sites, and have been turned onto some very good websites by friends.

If you love reading, and are building a cyber library, (ebooks), I have the ultimate website for you.

THE GUTENBERG PROJECT

If you haven’t heard about the Gutenbury Project, listen up.

It is a worldwide project with a noble dream. This Project wants to make available in ebook form or html on the web, ALL OF THE BOOKS THAT ARE NOW IN PUBLIC DOMAIN. Can you say hundreds of thousands, maybe even a million. All of this is free too.

I have volunteered time as a proofreader to this project, and when you grasp the scope of what is happening at the Gutenberg Project, you may wish to help out also.

Oh you won’t find the latest Tom Clancy novel in free ebook form, but you will find a treasure trove of literature at the Gutenberg Project.

After all, there were great authors, poets, playwrights and politicians last century, and you shouldn’t have to go to a library or rare book dealer to enjoy the classics.

Now, if you have paid attention…you will have already downloaded MSReader for free, and the MSWord plug-in….so you can turn any html text into a snazzy e-book, all for free.

So here is the link……….enjoy.

Project Gutenberg

2005-11-14T00:38:00.000-08:00

http://trashvsmozart.blogspot.com/

http://patrioticidiot.blogspot.com/

http://www.sanitybluff.blogspot.com/

http://helpway.blogspot.com/

http://lizandcondi2008.blogspot.com/

2005-11-10T00:27:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you about the best software I have ever purchased.

Oh yes, I like to look for free software, and have found some very nice free software in my many years of webloafing.
There is this about free software: if it is good, really good, and there is a PRO version available, I sometimes buy that PRO version.

My firewall protection....is from ZoneAlarm....I used the free version for years, then bought the PRO Version.

Same with my virus program. I now use a program that I first tried out for free for over 2 years.

If you would like to rip streaming videos from the net....as in.....the video that is playing now on this website.......I can help you.

This is where the best software I have ever purchased comes in.

The software is Windows Median Recorder, and Real Video Recorder. It is a video/audio/streaming recorder, to save internet streams. I use the software to save music videos, newscasts, historical recordings on C-Span, and special events like the Ronald Reagan Funeral. I have recorded streams as long as 2 hours long, and have accumulated giga giga bytes of video and audio.

Applian Technologies Inc. the company that developed this wonderful software will let you try this software out for free.

Since I want to get a commission from any sales that come from my blogs, I have the advertisement link in several prominate places on my main blog

Sanity's Bluff

This company sells a package that you can use for Windows Media and Real Player.

I have never been happier with purchased software.

I downloaded the software over the internet several years ago, and still use the original version. It works perfect, so I haven't bothered updating the software.

You'll thank me, later.

2005-11-08T23:11:00.000-08:00

It's not like I want to ignore you,
It's just like this,
I am busy,
My boss gets 11 hours (400 miles of driving an 18 wheeler) of my life each and every work day, 5 days a week.
I have to prepare for work, and drive there,
WORK
Drive back home.
That doesn't leave me much time for me, or YOU.

There is always the weekend.

But one day of the weekend....I devote to worship of God, and not much else. I don't do yard work on Lord's Day, Carpentry, Plumbing (unless an emergency....as in.....ox falling in a ditch) Car washing, Planting or anything else.......It is the Lord's Day.

So any thing I wish to accomplish, I have to accomplish in the 6 days from each week that are not sacred.

I want to become the world's best blogger, and I won't stop trying until that happens.

Here we are at my most ignored blog, and I am going to give you some advice.
Sharing Knowledge, is what's it's all about.

Do you like music videos???

Most people do, and I love music music music, myself.

I came across a completely legal way to record music videos, so that you can watch them without going online.....

Do you like the music video in the backgound of my blog now?

It is a stream...from a Microsoft Fronted Business.

I love it.

A little advice,

Never say a derogotory thing about Microsoft or Bill Gates near me.

Outside of God's only begotten Son, this earth has never been blessed anymore than how it has been blessed by the quiet man of Microsoft.

OK, here's the scoop,

I know how to rip these music videos from the 'net.....aL gOrE...showed me.

You want to know more........You'll have to seek me out, and I'll be happy to clue you in.

2005-07-18T23:55:00.000-07:00

Another Source of Free Ebooks

Last Tuesday, I promised to point you to more sources for free ebooks. Today I am sharing a link to the East Asia Section of the library at the University of Oregon. Since the University of Oregon is one of the most radically liberal campuses in the USA, the library is exactly like one you would expect to find in a North Korean. (Do they even have libraries in N.Korea? And if they do, I imagine the starving citizens chew the paste out of the book bindings). You will notice there are no books by any American authors except liberals. You will find hundreds of ebooks by the pillars of communism. Mao Zedong, and what’s his name, (the diminutive, self absorbed murderer in power in North Korea). I am going to do some research into how much taxpayers money goes into such a socialistic slanted library of ebooks. No, you won’t find any ebooks by Burke or Eliot in this ebook library. But there are interesting books, which I have downloaded from this website. I downloaded Sinclair Upton’s book, 'The Jungle" and enjoyed reading it again. I have read it many times. If you realize the author of a book is a raging liberal, you apply the necessary filters to your mind, and can enjoy the author’s ability to weave a plot.

Instead of directing you to the home page of the University of Oregon, I am giving you this link to the area that has the downloadable free ebooks that may interest you. If you are into reading Mao, backtrack from this page, you can download till the cows come home.

If you start from the homepage, you will have to wade through pages and pages of socialist pig slop to get to the free ebooks. I did all of the wallowing and routing for you.

You’re welcome.

http://e-asia.uoregon.edu/easia/other.htm

2005-07-11T23:17:00.000-07:00

Concerning all those ebooks
I told you about last week

I must confess, last week my Tuesday Information blog article was a tease, promising to introduce you to a website with 18, 571 free ebooks.

I have to apologize now, because the number I gave is incorrect. The actual number of free ebooks available for downloading today is 18,608 books. Yes, this is an ongoing project, with many people helping to scan, run the OCR programs, convert the text to different formats, and the all important task of proofreading. It takes a lot of work, and the work is done by volunteers who love to read, and think that books no longer under copyright protection should be available free to anyone. A noble project. Actually there are several such projects, but this project is better than the others. More about the others in future blogs.

When I found out about Microsoft Reader, and this website of free books I went on a week long orgy of book downloading. Actually it was several weeks. I had dial-up internet service then, so it took a lot more time to download the ebooks.

If you are not familiar with the website I promised to introduce you to. and are an avid book reader, it is going to surprise you to see such a place.

I went there just now and downloaded a fantastic ebook, in Microsoft Reader format. It is;

The Culture of Vegetables and Flowers From Seeds and Roots, 16th Edition

It took about 3 seconds to download the book and another 12 seconds for my Microsoft Reader Software to load it. It is a 1,600 page book in MS Reader form.

OK, enough teasing here is the link to Blackmask.com

http://www.blackmask.com/

I don’t need to say anything more, if you love books, and have downloaded Microsoft Reader like I suggested last week, you will love this site, and probably love me for introducing you to it….good, I could use a little love. Have a ball.

A note to my Neo-Con friends. In upcoming blogs there will be mention of many websites that distribute free ebooks. You may start to see that there are mostly Socialistic, Communistic, and Satanistic books available. There is a simple reason, and a much more complex reason.
You won't like my apprasial of the situation, but here it is. The liberals want to brainwash you, your children, and your pets. The liberals work hard at it, very hard. They also have tremendous amounts of capital to spend thanks to George Soros. They also get large amounts from charitable organizations and people like Bill Gates. AHHH HHAAA you say, Bill Gates is a communist sypathizer. Absolutely not, but there are no projects like blackmask that have conservatives involved, that I know of, but if there were such projects, I am sure Bill Gates and few of the rich neo-cons would help pay the bills. I have searched and searched for a good source of conservative or just simply Pro-American books on the internet, but find very few. If I do find conservative material, there is always one obstacle in the way, price, we won't give the masses what they need, a source of free ebooks that are Pro-America.
If you don't see the problem here conservatives, I can't be of much help, the Liberals and Socialists are working their tails off to spread the socialist utopian state. You really shouldn't complain about the schools and universities all being run by liberals that despise America and the American way.
When will a few God fearing, America loving scholars and financiers get together to do something about the problem rather than just moan about being behind in the race for the minds of America.? I don't think it is too late, but it would take a monumental effort to stop the brainwashing of our youth. I would join in the effort, but I am not a leader, I am a helper, yes an old one also.

2005-07-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

Free to Good Home: 18,571 books

Sure you say, nothing is free. In this case you are wrong, and there is no catch. I am serious about these books being available free to you, today. They will even be shipped to you for free. No I haven’t lost my marbles, I am serious. Won’t cost you a dime, not one thin dime. Well, let me take that back, you will have to pay for a little electricity to run your computer to download all 18,571 books. Some of you know I am talking about ebooks. NO, these are not the ebooks that Joe down the street writes about marketing schemes, and tries to sell them to you for $3.95 + tax and shipping. Most of the books in this huge library are books you would like to read. Some of them are classics, but all are old enough to be "in public domain" books.

So where do you get these books…..?

Before you can read the books, you will need to have a reader, so today’s help blog is about where and how to get a free reader for your free books. I’ll tell you next Tuesday where to find the 18,571 books, but today I want to tell you about an ebook reader that you can use to access ebooks. This is the natural order of things; you need a reader first to read the ebooks with.

And just what is a reader? It is software that presents books to you like books, not a Microsoft Word file, or a simple text file. What a bore it would be to have to read books presented in plain text form

Several formats exist for ebooks, but the only one I recommend is Microsoft Reader. This free software from Microsoft out performs the other ebook readers in my personal tests, and does so in a clear and pleasing way.

Those die hard Adobe fans may argue and ask, "what about Acrobat Reader?" This is the what about; For you to set up Adobe’s Acrobat to do what Microsoft Reader can do, it would cost you several hundred dollars. I know you are wondering, what are you talking about?

Microsoft Reader has a free plug-in available to make your own ebooks in the Reader format. Anything can be made into ebooks if you can open it in Microsoft Word. Also available for free are dictionaries in English and many other languages. While reading any Microsoft Reader Ebook, if you have the dictionary installed, you can choose a single word and the definition will be available in a small popup window. You also have the option of searching for any word in the entire book. Yes the whole text of a MSReader book is searchable. But wait there is more. For the same price, free, you can download Microsoft voice recognition plug-in and have the book read to you in a charming (LOL) computer voice. I hate those ‘puter voices, but I imagine if I was laying in a hospital bed, in a full body cast, I’d probably use it to read to me.

This free software is not even listed in Microsoft’s homepage download section. For some reason they haven’t seemed to push sales of this product….see what I mean, they give it away free, but make it hard to find. Makes perfect Microsoft sense.

Here is the link to the download page. In a few minutes you can have a snazzy ebook reader, the best there is, in my opinion.

Make sure to download the free dictionary. I set my reader up with the English dictionary and the Spanish dictionary, so I can view either when needed.

There are handy bookmarkers and much, much more. This is beginning to sound like an infomercial.

If you are into reading and books, you may want to have a handheld with MSReader. With the large hard drives on the market, you could get a big chunk of the 18,571 books on your hard drive.

One option you don’t need to worry about is the activation of the MSReader. Microsoft will beg and plead with you to activate, but you really don’t need to, unless you plan on buying books through friends of Microsoft. Why buy when in only one week you can start downloading 18,571 free books. Oh that number is only those available at one of three sites coming next week. I have had and used MSReader for almost 5 years ago, and have not activated the product. I have never had a problem with it, and have upgraded when new versions were available. I doubt that they will upgrade anymore, simply because it has become apparent that people would rather play games on the computer than read. Oh the humanity!

You can go exploring for free books yourself (I believe after downloading the reader there will be a page trying to sell you ebooks in the .lit format, and in a small area of that page will be a link to several free books to get you started) but I need something to write about next week, so I will save the best sources for free ebooks until then.

Have fun readers of the world.

http://www.microsoft.com/reader/downloads/pc.asp

2005-06-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

How to Bypass Compulsory Web Registration
Those annoying before you can use you must Register Pages

If you and I sat down and listed our top 10 pet peeves about the internet, many of them would be identical. There are some things that annoy me to no end while I surf the internet.

One near the top of my list, would be, websites that ask me to register before I can access them. These sites used to bug me, but they don’t any more.

A website has been around awhile that makes it easy to access those sites that want to snoop for information about you, YES YOU CAN VISIT THEM ALL WITHOUT REGISTERING.

I imagine 75% of surfers give false information anyway, so why would websites like N Y Times need to know anything about me when I want to see a story they posted. I know you have had this happen: You are reading a article on the internet that quotes a source and there is a link to see where the information came from. You click on the link, wanting to read the source, and you are met with a refusal to let you read the article because you are not registered.

These same websites are loaded with advertisements, so they are cheating their advertising clients, and annoying everyone.

The website is

http://www.bugmenot.com

You don’t have to download anything to use this site.

ONE WARNING THOUGH…..A LOT OF THE PASSWORDS THAT ARE BEING SHARED BY THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ARE VULGAR. THIS HAS NEVER BOTHERED ME THAT MUCH, BUT I AM WARNING YOU.

It is simple to use. When one of those annoying registration pages pops up….simply copy the url, and paste it into the bugmenot.com page. Then use the user name and password you are given by BugMeNot, ShaZammm…you are logged on as someone who decided to share their gateway with you. Poetic Justice…..and easy. Try it, you’ll like it.

The winners when someone uses BugMeNot, are the advertisers and those that bypassed the snoopy websites demand for information. The losers are, well there are no losers, the snoopy sites get more traffic, and can brag about it, of course they have not collected any information that they didn’t need in the first place.

2005-06-21T07:32:00.000-07:00

A HELPFUL BLOG OF INFORMATION
Information gleamed in the many
Years I have been webloafin'
Shared now with YOU

As the original webloafer, you might imagine me to be a geek who spends 16 hours a day surfing the ‘net’. If that is the image you have of me, you are entirely wrong. Many years ago I thought webloafer would be a neat net name.
Perhaps in the near future I will take the time to tell you a little bit about webloafer. One thing you should be told though is this......I really don’t spend much time loafing!
The internet to me is a library that is always open, a place to meet people in the safety and privacy of my home, and a place to scour for tools to enjoy life.
As a bonus to the readers of my blog, both of you, LOL, I plan to devote one post a week to sharing. Sharing jewels I have gleamed from the internet.
I will be sharing sources that I find unique in someway, and are available to everyone on the internet.

It may be a freeware program that is worthy of your consideration. It may be a source of information that is valuable, but hard to find.
I plan to devote my blog every Tuesday to things that I feel will interest you, and help you with your blogging.

To start this project I want to introduce you to Irfanview.
IRFANVIEW IS FREEWARE, BUT YOU WILL PROBABLY WANT TO CONTRIBUTE A FEW BUCKS TO THE DEVELOPER. THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HAVE DONE SO.

http://www.irfanview.com/

Irfanview is my favorite graphic program, and I have used it for over 5 years. There is a shortcut to Irfanview on my desktop, and it is probably the second most clicked icon on my desktop. Of course my shortcut to the internet is the most accessed link on my desktop, but Irfan is a close second.

Want to place some text in a jpg file? Most graphic programs have a way to add text to pictures, but it is a complicated and confusing process. I sometimes think simple tasks are made complex by these programs, just to make you think they are worth the hundreds of dollars they ask for the software.

OK bloggers, if you ever need or want to add text to a picture for your blog, Your friend webloafer will save you time and money.

Download the latest irfanviewer and in about five minutes you can be adding text to any .jpg on your computer.
Download the program, for such a powerful graphic viewer it is a very small file to download. It has only a few help files but it is easy to use without any help files. But if you must, there are hundreds of help files online written by people all over the world that use this wonderful software.
There are also hundreds of plugins to other software, and a host of information available online.

Here in six steps is how to add text to any image on your computer.
Here we go,

Step One. Open Irfanview.
Have your computer’s path to the picture you want to add text to.
If it isn’t a .jpg file, no sweat, open it in irfan and save it as a jpg.

Step Two. is logical……click file…..then click open……

Step Three. find the path to the picture in the browse window, and click on it. The picture will open in Irfanviewer.

Step Four. Left click and create a text box with your mouse. This is done by holding the button down while moving the mouse pointer to the width then moving down the picture to the depth you want for the textbox. Release mouse button, and you should have a textbox outlined.

Step Five. Click edit and select the option “insert text into selection”

Step Six. Use the “Add overlay to image” function box. From this
Box you can choose any font on your computer, choose the font size and color, and several other options.

That was easy wasn’t it? One thing to remember, once you add the text, you cannot edit it. But if it is not what you want, the process is sooooo simple to redo.
Sometime soon, I will explain how to stitch pictures together for your blog. This really comes in handy, making your blog more attractive.
If you like irfanview, Please tell others, but direct them to Sanity’s Bluff to read this blog entry first. Happy Blogging My Friends.