Mike's Homefront

On Meditation

2008-07-14T06:45:00.000-05:00

Seems there are a lot of people interested in meditation and how to do it properly.

So, I'm going to spill the beans and let you know how it is done.

There is no secret or magic or mysterious hidden technique to it. It doesn't take a Buddhist monk or a Zen master to do it.

But there are rules and proper techniques if you want the benefits.

1) Make time everyday to do it. 20 minutes is all you need.

2) Don't do it when you are sleepy. If you fall asleep during meditation, you're not doing it correctly and are missing the best benefits meditation has to offer.

3) Find a relaxing place free of noise. You can listen to soft music if it helps, but anything distracting is going to make you loose your focus.

4) Don't lay down. You don't have to sit with your legs crossed and your arms tied in a knot either. Find a comfortable place to sit down with your arms at your sides.

5) The way you breath is important. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Slow deep breaths. Focus on your breathing. The first few sessions that is all you should focus on. How you breath during meditation is the single most important thing.

6) In the first couple of sessions don't close your eyes completely. If necessary, keep them open Once you get into a rhythm you can close them. Closing your eyes before you learn the techniques will just make you sleepy. The goal of meditation is not to makes you sleepy. It's to make you relaxed.

7) In the beginning, try using the same place to meditate. Get used to the surroundings, the little sounds, the feeling of the chair or couch you are sitting on. Once you are comfortable with the techniques, you will be able to meditate anywhere.

8) Don't rush it. If you think you are going to be enlightened in the first few sessions then you are in for a disappointment. It takes time to build your rhythm and technique. Especially if you have never done it before.\

Well, there you have it. The basics of meditation. Use it well, young students.

More on this topic later.

Some more about meme

2008-07-05T13:43:00.004-05:00

My sister Donna and her very cool art blog here tasked me with a meme that involves me telling you 3 weird things about me. And I have so much material to work with that it won't be hard at all.
So here it is:

1) I meditate. It's the single best thing I do for myself. The mind is the most powerful thing on the planet and to understand how it works and how to use it is calming, productive and helps you be more creative.

2) I love club (dance) music. Not the commercial stuff, but the mixes and samples stuff. M to da hizzle, G

3) I laughed my a** of when I discovered that the Democratic party was responsible for creating the KKK back in the 1800's. They endorsed it for 50 years. Kind of explains a lot.
The new party line needs to be: "Got Redemption"

I task Snow, Mona and ODAT. for the Weird 3

No cheating ladies. I know you have got to have at least 3 wired things past or present.

Yard Wars IV - Return of the Horde

2008-06-19T07:00:00.002-05:00

WATCH THE VIDEO FIRST

_______________________________________________________________

EPISODE IV Return of the Horde
__________________________________________

It's that time of year again. The bugs are back and the animals are slowly creeping back into the yard. Just the other day, Pip the cat brought a chipmunk into the house and his mom this morning caught a mole.

The Horde is making a slow comeback. This morning and for the past 3 mornings the squirrels have running around chasing each other. That can only mean one of two things. It's mating season or they are getting ready to attack.

Besides, mating squirrels don't have light sabers

Being a a student of the Green Thumb, I know that these evil rodents are planning their first assault on the kingdom since their defeat last year. They can't trick me into believing that they are just mating.

Queen Azalaia wanted me to stop spying on the squirrels and work on the flower bed that needed tending to. Seems the Animal Horde vandalized it during the winter and it needed to be fixed.

So I got to work fixing the bricks that had shifted.

Before

After

Queen Azalaia aerates the garden to allow the plants to expand

It seems some animal decided to ruin the Queen's favorite flower, so we had to build a fortress around it.

The Queen after a successful yard day

I'm still keeping an eye on those damn squirrels. I know they, along with the other forest animals are up to something. It always starts with the squirrels.

As we were headed into the house, the leader squirrel reviled himself before scurrying back into the forest.

The Yard Wars have begun with a vengeance.

New Flash: New Disease Discovered

2008-06-11T18:28:00.001-05:00

New Disease Discovered in America

Washington DC -The Centers For Disease Control announced yesterday that they have discovered 2 new infectious diseases previously unknown to the scientific community. Democraticitus and Republicanitosis have been discovered in humans during campaign season in the United States.
99.8% of the voters tested were found to be positive with one or the other disease. In very rare cases some of the subjects tested positive for both and still others had neither.

Dr Phil Snipe, along with his team made the announcement during a voter registration session in the nations capital.

"These two discoveries will allow us to treat this debilitating diseases better. We now know what causes extreme liberalism and conservatism" Snipe said during the announcement

Both diseases share like and very dissimilar symptoms. When subject with Democraticitus were told to name 3 things that will better the country, they all said the same things: Raise taxes, close the gap between the rich and poor by giving the poor the money from the rich and cut and run from the war. Those with Republicanitosis were asked the same question and gave these answers: Lower taxes, make the poor earn their keep and blow the hell out of everyone who doesn't like us.

"This explains the craziness the country experiences during election years" Dr Snipe added.

In both cases the brain goes through a series of spasms known as "flashes". Each flash contributes to the amount damaged brain cells in the person affected. This, in turn causes a lack of coherent individual thoughts and ideas, thus reducing creativity.
A side effect if these two diseases is that people blindly follow their parties candidate causing the race to be more about winning than what is best for the country.

"We need to do something about this now, before it becomes an epidemic. We must educate the country on this this most damaging disease before it is too late"

The report also noted a corolation between these two diseases and another called Zombieitous , where a person devotes all of their time and money supporting a lost cause.

Struck

2008-06-04T21:39:00.005-05:00

I was stuck by lightning last night.

It was the scariest thing I have ever been through. The funny thing is, I was in our house, on the bottom floor. Thank God I was grounded or it would have been a lot worse. I just got a little burn on my hand.

Yes....I was doing something stupid during a thunder storm. I was playing a video game when a storm rolled up. I was about to give up for the night because I kept dieing in the game and the wife called down to me to come upstairs because she was getting scared from the thunder and lightning so close. 2 seconds later, I hear a loud clap of thunder just above our house and the next thing I know the game controller shocks me.

Come to find out, another electric circuit in the basement took most of the jolt, but it arched in the breaker panel to the circuit I was playing the game on, jumped through the game console and shocked me. My feet were planted on the ground so the current passed through me, but because there was some distance for it to jump between me and the controller, I got a zap.

The circuit that took the main charge blew out a plug and melted an outlet before the threw the breaker. When the breaker threw, the charge arched to the next closest breaker. The one I was playing on.

ZAP!!

It was shocking!

Ever see that movie Powder? Now I know how he feels......sort of.

I almost forget

2008-05-28T16:15:00.004-05:00

Rachel (Here and Here) gave me this award a couple of months ago.

I pass it on to someone most deserving. My super pal ODAT will always be 5-stars in my book. Tom wanted to give her the 10-banana award, but he is still working on it. Until then he gives her the Top Banana Award.

Keep on keeping on little sis!

The Goshfather Part 1 - Join the Family

2008-05-27T07:07:00.007-05:00

Watch The Video First

____________________________________________________________________

Join the Family

I'm a dad.

That in itself is a frightening thought.

Me, a responsible parent who is entrusted to care for a child.

Stop laughing, it's true.

March 29, 1991 I became a father. She was born on my birthday (ensuring that I would never have a birthday party ever again. They would all be about her from that point forward).

Shortly after she was born, I became a single father.

Over the next 15 years, Elizabeth and I would have a bunch of adventures. They would all end in something like "Gosh father, don't you think you should had thought of that before you started" or "Gosh father, do you think maybe it would have been a good idea to put it together according to the directions" or "Gosh father, maybe it wasn't a good idea to start the fire yet".

It's very surprising that the health department, or social services or the Army didn't step in and take over. But I'm sure that has to do with the loving family (sister and mother and now wife) who kept me from behind bars.

It wasn't always easy. But it was a lot of fun. And was an adventure of a lifetime.

These themed stories are those adventures Elizabeth and I had together.

Join the family. Every few weeks I will post a new Goshfather adventure.

And I promise not to use lines from The Godfather movies.....like "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse" or "I keep trying to get out, but they keep pulling me back in!!"

I haven't even finished the lead-in and I'm already quoting the movie.

Gosh Father!!

Upcoming stories:

The Lollipop Tree
The Camping Coffee Caper
Capitan Mikie and Admiral Liz
....and many more

Indiana Minzes and The Office of Wonder

2008-05-26T21:00:00.001-05:00

___________________________________________________________________

Time to dust off the old project notebook and tell the story of Indiana Minzes the The Office of Wonder.

Being on an extended vacation allowed me to think more......which is a dangerous thing. I needed more functionality in the office because it was a combination of wires and computers all rolled into a huge ball.

I took our "Florida" room, which was an office to begin with and turned it into and Office of Wonder and Amazement.

Now it is functional, useful and pretty damn cool if I say so myself.

But is wasn't easy.

And it had it's share of "mini-disasters".

The problems started with the idea.

Just so you know, all my ideas end up being something completely different than what I envisioned.

What I envisioned was a mission-control like office with an entire view of my network devices and functionality that would allow everyone in the house to use any computer from any room.

Surprisingly, that part worked.

But let me start from the beginning because getting there was an adventure and a harsh lesson in how not to do things.

Rule number 1: Have a plan.

I just had an idea. A vision. But, as I learned a vision with no plan is like a car without an engine.

Rule number 2: Don't invite others to watch your vision, if you don't have a plan.

They will laugh at you. They laughed at me when I tried to hang to two flat screen TVs. They laughed at me when I trying to put the 3 flat screen monitors on the desk. When the office was finished, they laughed at me when I forgot to plug everything in.

But....I finished. And now it's the place everyone comes to hang out.

Here is the commander's desk looking out windows into the forest.

Here are the two flat screen TVs, wall mounted next to my map of the world and my timezone clocks.

Whiteboard for........whiteboarding more visions.

Flatbed scanner......for scanning visions.

Looks like a bookcase with doors, huh?

It actually open up. It's a desk for the wife. Her computer, her books and whatever else girls stash away.

Another angle of the office. Those of you who are IT folks will know what is in the center of the picture. A 24 port Cisco switch. Two NT servers, 3 routers, one of the wireless and one a VOIP phone router.

Sir Tommy of Creekside chillen on the chair.

The office has accessories too. Two HP laser network printers, one color and the other black and white, my MP3 player docking station, my blackberry docking station, 2 tarabytes of SAN storage, two lounge chairs for sitting back and watching a movie or TV and a cable box for watching all the cool shows.
Built into the setup it, is the coolest disaster recovery system on the planet.

So let them laugh. This is the coolest office in the world. It's super-functional and it has more features than most homes have. In fact, I have yet to see an office like this anywhere and I have been to some off the coolest government office ever.

But I have to go now. Tommy and I have a date with the dual screen TVs. Kittycat porn for him, TechTV for me.

Invader

2008-05-26T09:19:00.005-05:00

We were invaded early this morning. The Animal horde sent a scout into the kingdom early this morning and it caused havoc.

This little guy sneaked in unnoticed and ran around the house. When I told the wife, she nearly jump up out of bed and onto the roof.

Pip, one of our cats figured it was a toy and played with it. He didn't kill it, or even injure it. He just played with it. And every time I tried to grab it, Pip would block my way.

After about 30 minutes of trying to capture it, I managed to corner it without Pip and get it outside. The wife, huddled with my daughter on the roof finally came down and what do you think was the first thing she said to me was?

"You let that thing in here"!!

"Yes, honey. I opened the front door, looked around the vast yard for a chipmunk and invited him for coffee".

It was the Animal Horde, led by Darth Deer, infiltrating the kingdom again.

They are back!

His beady little eyes looked at me like he wanted to slit my throat.

Or better yet, shoot me with his rocket launcher, which I saw him pick up before running back into the forest.

Thus begins Yard Wars. It's going to be a looooog summer!

P.S. The Indiana Minzes stories are on there way shortly.

Upcoming Episodes - Indiana Minzes

2008-05-17T16:32:00.004-05:00

Here are two episodes of Indiana Minzes coming this week.

(Click picture to enlarge)
Indiana Minzes and the Office of Wonder

In this episode I talk about my home office project and how I managed it. That's bound to get a few laughs.

(Click picture to enlarge)
Indiana Minzes and the Shed of Lost Powertools

In this episode, I clean out the shed. What wonderful things will I find? Check back and see.

IT Snowness Meme

2008-05-15T19:00:00.002-05:00

My sister-in-arms, IT Snow tagged me with this, so I gotta help a sister out.

1.Your name plus “ness”
ITMikeness: adjective 1. To be great or super 2. Outstanding. Usage: I have the ITMikeness

2. Two feelings at the moment?
Shock and Awe

3. What are you listening to right now?
The hum of a 24 port Cisco switch next to my head and my girls (wife and daughter) laughing at me constantly.

4. Done anything you regret so far this week?
I haven't been arrested, sent to the emergency room or set the house on fire so the week has started off with no regrets...so far.

5. Describe where you are right now?
Typing answers to a meme in my tricked out home office (pictures coming soon).

6.The highlight of your week?
I got to honor the 4 greatest mothers.

7. What are you craving to have right now?
Only my wife knows the answer to that one.

8. Who were the last people you went out to dinner with?
My management team at the Pentagon.

9. What are you scared of?
EVERYTHING!!!

10. Last movie you watched?
The Patriot

11. Do you have feelings for someone?
Duh.... I'm married, I have a daughter, I have a family, I have friends.

12. What is your heritage?
Scotch, Irish, Alien of unknown orgin.

13. Are you thinking of someone right now?
I'm thinking of the person who invented this meme and want to ask them why it is so one-sided.

14. Britney Spears is a skank. Agree or disagree?
Frankly, I don't care.

15. Last thing you downloaded on your computer?
The soundtracks for my blog stories. You'll have to come back to find out what they are.

16.Have you changed much this year?
This is a pointed question.
Technically everyone has changed. Everything is always changing.

17. Say something about the person who posted this before you?
ITSnow. The greatest IT person that ever lived!!

18. Do you like moms?
I don't even know what this means.

19.Hugs Or Kisses?
Both...over and over again.

20. Say one of your friends and an inside joke with them.
Rick 2 Girls one Cup

21. How many homes have you lived in?
My entire life? Several

22. This Q went AWOL.
B to da hizzle!!

23. Who was the last person to text message you?
Texting is so out, dude!

24. Where was the last place you went besides where you are?
Wha....? Where I am is not the last place I was.... Oh, forget it.

25. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celeb?
No, and I prefer it that way. No pictures or likenesses.

26. Do you speak any other language other than English?
Nerd, Geek, IT, and Gibberish.

27. Last thing you watched on TV?
Lost. Dude, that show is sooooo cool!

28. Do you dress for style or comfort?
Because it's the law. Otherwise I would do everything butt naked.

29. Name someone with the same b-day as you?
My daughter

30. Ever had a drunken night in Mexico?
No, but I once had a steamy two weeks in Singapore

31. Whats the craziest thing you’ve done?
the lisr goes on and on.....

32. Favorite color(s)?
The color of Love

33. What are your plans for tonight?
Hanging with the daughter and wife

34. What are you looking forward to tomorrow?
Sun, less rain

35. Last time you smiled?
3 seconds ago. I smile all the time!

Things to come

2008-05-09T15:44:00.008-05:00

I keeping with a themed blog, here is a preview of what is to come.

A series of stories about yard work on a half acre wooded lot and the battles with the animals.

It will be accompanied with video to help tell the story.

A series of stories about raising my daughter long before I got married.

I can't tell you how many times I heard "Gosh father, you are soooo......". That makes me the Goshfather.

A family series about how boring I am. I used to be very cool......really, I did.

My adventures with different home projects that have funny outcomes. Professor Indiana Minzes, Projectologist.

Look for these series stories and more coming soon.

Washington DC Ninja-like Shopping Trip

2008-05-04T14:54:00.001-05:00

When you think of Washington DC, you think of politics and the big government engine that keeps this country in such a sad state.

In fact, Washington DC was actually part of Maryland until the federal government did what it does so well and took a chunk for itself.

When people around the world hear the name Washington DC they think the US Government. When my daughter hears the name Washington DC, she thinks shopping.

One day in April, she thought of Washington DC, mentioned it to my wife and the next thing I know there was a shopping trip planned....and I was driving.

I agreed to it, but I put my foot down and said I get to pick the day and time we go. I had to exert my man-like abilities and take charge.

The girls agreed and I won my first battle against these two ninja-like shoppers.

It would be the last.

At least I got to show off my driving skills.

So we get up early on a Saturday and head off towards the golden city.

Little did we know, we were in for something that could only be describe a "travel disaster of epic proportions".

As we got closer to the city, I noticed a unusual amount of traffic. It kind of looked like rush hour on a Friday that began a 3-day weekend.

Traffic Hell as it's known in these parts.

But it was Saturday morning. Never had I seen this much traffic on a Saturday morning....this early. It had to be an accident or something.

That's when I had the "bright idea".

"Lets take the train the rest of the way into the city" I said.

"It will be quicker, less traffic" I said.

Like always, I was wrong.

We get to the station and it was p-a-c-k-e-d!

Tourists from all over the country...... all over the world had the same bright idea I had and rushed the train station.

This is the pretty face they put on for the Metro advertisements.

This is what it looked like when we got there.

The girls were not amused, but I assured them that it would get better.

We got in line to buy our train tickets and wouldn't you know it, we got behind the only people in the world who don't know how to buy a fair card.

The directions are plastered in big letters. They are so BIG that even a blind person can see them. And they talk too!

Put money in, push button, take fair card.

It's not rocket science.

But to this group it was like putting together a bike without directions.

After about 15 minutes of them trying aimlessly to buy a fair card and the line growing to at least 30 people, a nice Metro employee happened along and told them what every person in line was thinking.

"You need to buy a fair card or get (the hell - added by me for effect) out of line and let the other people purchase cards".

Ten more minutes of them trying to work the machine and finally they were on their way.

My turn.

Like a professional Metro fare card purchaser, I bought 3 fair cards and I was out in under a minute. I could almost hear the crowd applauding me as I walk by them with my three cards.
I waved to the crowd as I walk triumphantly past them with my fair cards in hand. A little boy in the crowd looked up at me and said "Hey mister, I want to be just like you when I grow up".
I patted him on the head.
"You will, my boy. Keep reaching for the sky".

The two ninja-like shoppers I brought with me felt differently. They were standing just outside the line staring at me with the deadly Ninja-Shopper-Eyes.

"What took so long"?
"I told you we should have just drove in. We would have been there by now"!

"Just wait girls. It is going to get much more fun and exciting this way" I said.

They both gave me the ninja-like Rolling-Eye Attack.

So we headed to the platform and got on our train.

As the train continued towards the city, the crowd started to grow. Either I was getting smaller or at every stop the train made, people were getting on the train and no one was getting off.

The Jenny Crag diet didn't make me smaller, so it had to be the latter.

By the time the train entered the city, we were packed in like bon-bons being smuggled into fat camp.

The 20-minute trip into the city was more like a touchy-feely hugging seminar than a train ride.

After coming in contact with people that you would most likely find at a monster-truck rally, we arrived at our stop.

That's when the entire crowd disembarked at the same time. Everyone was getting off at our stop.

It was like they knew were I was going and they decided to follow me. I know I am a professional Metro fare card purchaser and they want to be like me, but this was ridiculous.

Then I saw it.

The big sign.

"Cherry Blossom Festival This Stop"

So much for picking the day and time.

I picked the busiest, most packed day of the year....without even trying.

The Washington DC Cherry Blossom Festival.

Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world come to Washington to see the cherry blossoms.

I had picked the very day, time and metro stop of this festival down to the exact minute it began and the location it was being held. And I didn't even know it until it was too late.

You'd think with all the national advertisements and promotions and 60 years of annual celebrations I would know when the festival is and NOT pick that day.

Only a professional Metro fare card purchaser has that kind of precision.

Here are some pictures from the day.

Coming out of the train station it looked like this. The two ninja-like shoppers (Blue shirt - right, gray dress and red hair -left) head off into the crowd.

The crowd thickens as the two ninjas approach the shopping area.

The first store we reach. H&M. I get to hang out outside in the construction area while the girls go inside to SPEND, SPEND, SPEND.

The Holy Grail of shopping (for teen ninjas)

The Holy Grail's second cousin.

The emerge from the store and I capture the ninja-like shopping team with the camera. I am later pounded to a pulp for taking a picture of the elusive team.

The Fashionestow Stance just before a was hit with her ninja-like Shopping Bag Attack.

Here I capture the ninja-like shopping team blending into the artwork in this rare photo of ninja-like shopping skills.

When I got bored I took these.

Two pigeons give new meaning to the birds and the bees.
The birds and the.......birds
(X-rated content removed)
And for the record, I was not the only one taking pictures of these two in the throws of passion. A crowd gathered and started snapping pictures along side me.

Homeless guy sleeping in front of a library. That can't be comfortable, but at least he has something to read.

Where we (and everybody else) ate lunch. 500 restaurants in DC and everyone had to pick this one.

In Chinatown I was finally rewarded with dimsum.

Best Picture of the Day

The teen ninja passes by the IRS building. The IRS can use a few ninjas to clean it up. Go ninja girl!!
Wondering where our tax dollars are going? They a spent keeping this building running. It's HUGE!!

The day ended up turning out nice, despite the fact that I have a way of picking the worst day to do something.

In the end the two ninja-like shoppers got what they wanted and I survived another adventure.......and I didn't even have to be bailed out of jail or rushed to the emergency room.......this time.

The All New Me

2008-05-04T12:00:00.001-05:00

Working at the Pentagon was fun. But now it's over. I'll spare you the drama and just say it was the coolest assignment in my life. I got to do and see things that very few people in this world get to do and see. "Very few" meaning 3 or 4 people in the entire world......ever!
But with that kind of fun comes a stress that can only be compared to a life threatening situation.

Again, I will spare you the drama. But I will say it's something I will remember my entire life.

So, I worked there 3 months, made tons of dough and took a much needed break. A 2 1/2 month break, to be exact.
Now I work somewhere else, doing something I love to do and making a nice chunk of change (money) at it.

Less stress and I get to help protect the nation.

Now that's a good deal.

Now on to the All New Me. First you'll notice the Homefront had a make over. Lighthouses, seagulls and sand got boring.

I needed a change.

So I changed.

The content will also change. I took a little direction from friends, family and commenters on my blog and now it will be strictly life stories and adventures that involve family and friends.
I have many, many stories where I come out on the short end and that seems to be what people want.

Those are actually my best stories.

So, for the most part, that is what will appear here, along with a few product reviews and the such, peppered in for good measure.

Onward and upward, as they say at the Pentagon.

With all the free time I will have now I am bound to get into some kind of trouble that ends with me in jail, stuck in a tree or some other situation that involves an emergency rescue, the National Guard and a goat.

Off I go.

See you in the funny papers!

Under reconstruction

2008-05-03T18:16:00.000-05:00

UNDER RECONSTRUCTION

Functional and Free: Safer, Faster, Better

2008-03-25T12:14:00.013-05:00

Who doesn't use email?

Dare I say, if you don't use email you are either not human or not alive.

Alright, maybe there are some people in the world that don't use email. But they will be using it after reading this post.

In a recent survey, people were asked what was the one thing they couldn't live without. A whopping 93% or respondents said email was the number one thing that they must have.

Email is the vehicle for just about everything. Every Internet Service Provider (ISP) and search engine in the world offers email services. Many of them provide this service for free or as part of a package of internet services.
You can receive it anywhere. On a computer, on a phone, through your TV and even from your car. That's a huge reliance on something that 15 years ago was something only engineering majors at MIT took advantage of.

Now it has blossomed into something that people in a survey say that need more than food, if you can believe that.

Currently the top rank email service provider is Google Gmail, followed by Yahoo Hotmail and then Internet Service Providers.

The number one email client being used on computers is Microsoft Outlook.

But, you will be surprised who the number two ranked email client is.

Mozilla Thunderbird.

Thunderbird is part of the Mozilla suite of open source products.
And like Firefox, Thunderbird free.

Like its counterpart, its more stable, more secure and faster than the leading product.

Thunderbird is a Post Office Protocol version (POP3) mail client.

POP3 an application-layer Internet standard protocol use to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. Many subscribers to individual Internet service provider e-mail accounts access their e-mail with client software that uses POP3.

If you have an ISP, chances are you have access to POP3. To take advantage of this service you'll need a mail client capable of receive POP3 mail. Most email client applications are now able to take advantage of this capability.

Like Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird is a fully functional email client, but it has none of the hooks to the operating system Outlook does, making it more stable and reliable.

I've used Thunderbird for many years now and it's the only mail client I will use on my home computers.
Just like Firefox, it can be customized to suit your needs. Open Source developers have added some needed functionality Thunderbird in the form of add-ons and extensions.

When Thunderbird was first introduced it lacked a calender. Having a calender integrated with the mail client had become essential back in the early 1990s, but the developers of Thunderbird didn't include one. There was another open source product call Sunbird that filled the need, to some extent. It still lacked integration into Thunderbird.

Recently, a few developer decided to write code that would allow Thunderbird to have calender functionality and well as email capabilities. The result was a Thunderbird add-on called Lightning. This add-on integrates the mail client and the calender in the Thunderbird interface.

The above screenshot is the Thunderbird mail client with the calender add-on.

Microsoft Outlook come bundled with Microsoft Office. Microsoft offers a free POP3 mail client called Outlook Express, but it's not even comparable to the full version.

Thunderbird, is completely free and it has the same functionality as Microsoft Outlook.

Worried about viruses and spam. Don't be. The leading virus and spam programs integrate into Thunderbird. Both Mcafee and Norton have Thunderbird email scanning capabilities.

So, a free POP3 email client that is safer, faster, better and completely free. What more could 93% of those respondents ask for. Maybe a free Office Suite?

Maybe.

To get your free copy of Thunderbird:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/

__________________________________________________________________

Previously: Firefox

Next: OpenOffice

Functional and Free: Safer, Faster, Better

2008-03-24T16:53:00.017-05:00

Let's be honest. Free is good, but free and functional is better.

If you can find something you need that's free and it actually works as good or better than a name brand, you'd use it, right? How about if it was free and safer? How about if it was free, safer and easier to use?

In respect to software, Off-the-shelf licensing has gotten so out-of-control that you have no idea what you are agreeing to or how you can use the software.

And software cost are through the roof. Just to get basic business functionality these days you need to have 1000 dollars in hand.

On top of that, there are security concerns with every Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) software package you install. Every software application has "patches" or a "fixes" during its lifecycle. Many COTS programs, like Microsoft Office have several of these patch requirements. Most of these patches and fixes are security related.

Then there are "hooks".

Hooks are application links to the operating system on your PC. For example, Microsoft "hooked" Internet Explorer (IE) into the underlining code of the operating system so it would function better with the OS. This also created a door for hackers to access your operating system from IE because they are linked.

During an Anti-trust lawsuit with Microsoft several years ago, developers of IE demonstrated what would happen if they removed all of the links to Windows from IE. There we so many links that the OS failed to function properly without IE and Microsoft won the lawsuit saying that removing IE from that OS would cause the Windows OS to fail. The Justice Department agreed and dropped the lawsuit.

Then Microsoft went ahead with plans to shut Netscape out of the business all together.

They succeeded.

Soon after that , a new type of licensing was born. One that would make Microsoft stand up and take notice.

It's called Open Source and it's free. Open source is a set of principles and practices on how to write software, the most important of which is that the source code is openly available
It's a way of developing a software product in a collaborative way, using the best talent and then offering it for free.
It also allows developers to build on a freely distributed open source products to make it better, safer and faster.

Think of it as a slap in the face of the Microsoft Software Licensing Model.

For example, Microsoft Office can cost upwards of $800 for a single license.
For a home user, 800 dollars can be a pretty hefty price to pay. For business who need to purchase multiple licenses, it's even a bigger cost.

Add security holes, patches and upgrades and your cost benefit and usability almost become a liability.

There are free open source products that are as good or better than COTS, with fewer or no security concerns and these products available to anyone free of charge.

Is it cost effective to use a product that has the same functionality yet more secure and costs you nothing to own?

Don't answer that. We all know it is.

Functionality is no longer a question either with open source. There are so many open source products out there that Microsoft no longer has that monopoly.
In fact, Microsoft has taken many product functionalities that were written as open source and incorporated it to their products.
"Tab Browsing" was something developed for the open source product Firefox. It allows the user to open multiple browsing tabs in the same web browser.
Microsoft incorporated this into IE version 7.

Perhaps what makes open source great is the community developers have built and the rules they govern themselves by. This insures that the code written for software remains open to the public and is safe to use on computers. Here are the main rules that govern true open source.

Free Redistribution: the software can be freely given away or sold. (This was intended to encourage sharing and use of the software on a legal basis.)
Source Code: the source code must either be included or freely obtainable. (Without source code, making changes or modifications can be impossible.)
Derived Works: redistribution of modifications must be allowed. (To allow legal sharing and to permit new features or repairs.)
Integrity of The Author's Source Code: licenses may require that modifications are redistributed only as patches.
No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups: no one can be locked out.
No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor: commercial users cannot be excluded.
Distribution of License: The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
License Must Not Be Specific to a Product: the program cannot be licensed only as part of a larger distribution.
License Must Not Restrict Other Software: the license cannot insist that any other software it is distributed with must also be open source.
License Must Be Technology-Neutral: no click-wrap licenses or other medium-specific ways of accepting the license must be required.

If developers create programs within this framework, it makes for a more stable, secure and cost effective program.

So, now that you know that you have options, lets start reviewing some of the ones you can begin using today for free.

I will begin reviewing one of these open source products once or twice a week . I will only review the ones that I have incorporated into my everyday use and then tell you how you can get it and use it as no cost. Some of the products are easier to install and configure than others, but it not harder than installing and configuring a Microsoft product.

The first product is, by far, my favorite. Mozilla Firefox (www.firefox.com)

Firefox is a open source web browser that has the exact functionality as Internet Explorer, yet it's easier to use and it's more secure.

It looks a feel very similar to Internet Explorer, yet it has some major differences.

First, it has no "hooks" into the operating system. It runs independently of Microsoft Windows. That single fact makes it more secure to the user. Hackers can no longer access your computer from the web browser and access to the OS layer has to be granted from the user. And because it doesn't hook directly into the OS, it is more stable.

The industry has embraced this products more than any other open source products ever made. There are major software companies writing open source code for Firefox that, in effect, it has taken over IE in functionality.

The above screenshot shows the Firefox interface, but there are major toolbar functionality added. The Yahoo toolbar and the Fox News toolbar are installed. Many companies have seen the functionality and stabilization Firefox offers and have written code known as "add-ons" or "extensions" to add functionality. In a later post I will discuss add-ons and extensions that can be easily installed to enhance functionality.

You don't have to remove IE to use Firefox. Installation is quick and easy. "Out of the box" it installs in 32 seconds compared with 5 to 10 minutes for the IE upgrade.

Some of the limitations of Firefox:

Some Microsoft-based websites require IE to view content. An example of this is viewing movies on the Netflix movie rental service. While you can navigate and operation your Nexflix subscription with Firefox, you can't view full length movies online with it. You still have to use IE.
However I suspect Netflix will offer Firefox functionality in the near future.

If you want safe, secure and reliable web browsing, Firefox is the way to go.

To download your free copy:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

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Next: Open source Email

Christmas 2007

2008-03-19T06:31:00.001-05:00

It took almost 3 months, but it's finished.

The Secret

2008-03-18T08:34:00.004-05:00

I have has a slight change of heart with The Secret.....from a self-help perspective.

Production Elements.

2008-03-17T11:12:00.009-05:00

Here are my latest production clips. One of these days I'm going to spend more time with this blog.

These are raw clips so the sound on them is not adjusted (normalized) yet.

MDM Production Clip (for film)

MDM Production Clip (for television)

Polar Monkey Films (for film)

Life with the Manocan's title clip (test clip)