View 419 June 19 - 25, 2006 (original) (raw)
Thursday, June 22, 2006
I am working with Word 2007 on my main machine, and it turns out that I like it. I had to be forced (by the requirement to do a review) to use it. The interface is radically different. However, it makes sense. Things are easier to find, and having found the feature once, you don't tend to forget it because it is logically placed. The HELP files are traditional Microsoft No Help with little redundancy in the indexing, but since that's true for all recent editions of Word (ever since Chris Peters retired), you don't notice.
The text still doesn't look as good on screen, and I don't know why, but fiddling with fonts and zoom settings makes it better. The Zoom feature turns out to be excellent -- once you find it. The same is true of some other controls and features.
I'm still working to get Outlook 2007 to find the Outlook.pst files I copied over to the proper directory. I'll keep working on that.
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I'm on hold to the CT department to schedule getting my head examined. We'll see what happens. It's pretty hard to work when you don't know if you have a sinus fungus, an infection, or it's not sinus at all but something considerably less pleasant. I'm to the point of hoping all I have is a bad tooth and only need root canal.
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There's a lot of good mail, which I'll get posted reasonably soon. In general I don't acknowledge mail, and sometimes I collect several letters on a subject before choosing the one I think most representative. Other times I'll put up several letters when each has a point overlooked by the others even though most of the material is redundant. I don't usually edit mail, although I will chop out personal notes, and off topic asides and the like; if something is worth publishing it is usually worth publishing as it came, or so I have found.
I do thank all of you who take the trouble to write.
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This seems a good summary of the comments on blog vs. what we do:
Morning Jerry,
For myself, I prefer the current structure of the site. Wading through unedited comments is something I could do other places, if I have the time.
Cheers,
Doug
To which I agree. I do all those silly things so you don't have to. I do wish we had a few more subscribers. The easiest way to subscribe is through the PayPal button at the bottom of the day's entries.
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Concerning Jim Baen:
Dear Arnold,
Jim spent a quiet night, just like the night before. He seems to be resting comfortably.
Marla from the NC office got the CD player in and the dulcet sounds of Lyle Lovett and Bob Dylan have been with in the room ever since.
Thanks for sharing this with everyone.
Bests,
Toni
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I am in San Diego at the Beach House. Roberta thought getting away from the LA Pollens and into the moist beach air would fix my sinus problems. She may even be right: I don't seem to have as many problems here as I did back at the house. We'll see. More good news. The blisters I acquired on my foot are pretty well healed and the swelling and redness that had me a bit worried are gone. They still haven't scheduled my CAT Scan of my head. I'll call in tomorrow and see if the paper work is done for that. Meanwhile, the sea air may be the best thing I can do. I did bring my nasal pump, which also helps a lot.
If I seem to be running ads for this too often let me know. I don't make much if you buy it, and it was their idea after I wrote up my experiences with it. I sure can recommend it, and apparently a number of you have found it useful. It looks pretty odd to see someone (like myself in a mirror) with a tube at one nostril and water streaming out of the other, but it does help.
I'm only on dialup down here. That's because we don't stay here long enough to get high speed installed. The cable service here is Time Warner and they do not have a self-installation kit. You have to have them come out and that usually takes a week or more, and we are never here that long. One of these days I'll arrange to have someone meet them. Or maybe we'll just get DSL since that may be faster. I keep a good router down here to use when we get high speed. For the moment we've got 56K dialup.
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On the drive down I had a call from Congressman Rohrabacher. I've known Dana a long time and we get together for lunch several times a year. Didn't work this time because I don't know when they'll schedule my CAT scan, but we'll manage it next month. I told Dana that if the Congress passes any version of the Senate immigration Bill with Amnesty, we don't need to discuss what committee chairmanships he might have next year because the Republicans won't control the House. The Republicans have pretty well lost the fiscal conservatives, having managed to outspend Lyndon Johnson and his Great Society, and they will lose the social conservatives over the immigration issue if they don't hold firm. It's a message he's heard from others, and the President doesn't seem to be listening, but it never hurts to say it again.
I have no desire to track down and deport every illegal immigrant already here. I do think we need to stop the flow. After that, we let law enforcement provide the attrition: every time an illegal immigrant comes to the attention of the police for anything more serious than a parking ticket, out they go. That most certainly includes those clearly involved in identity theft, such as using someone else's social security number. It also includes gang activity. Think of it as evolution in action. We get to keep those who work hard and keep their noses clean, and get rid of the criminal element. If there are still too many here, put a bounty on illegals and they will turn each other in.
Of course none of this will be done. I could easily write credible scenarios leading to civil war and rebellion if things go on as they are, and I see nothing that will change them.
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And I have learned:
Dr. Pournelle,
You might be interested to know that at Osan AB, your website domain is explicitly blocked under the category "entertainment, online sales".
S
== I have no knowledge of this. I sell nothing. Well, I suppose I "sell" copies of Strategy of Technology through Paypal and I push my wife's reading program, but that's hardly online sales. I do hope to be entertaining. I really don't know why any Air Base would think me a danger to the troops.
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