New Year's Resolution

Stuff writing this

Lists are very helpful things when it comes to doing things, Mind Maps are only good for memory techniques.

~ MOST OBVIOUS THINGS TO DO ~

- Read my books

- Burn movies/watch them

- Burn commerical CDs

- Start thinking real hard about college and later life and what I have to do to get there

- Coursework!!!

Lost The Spirit of Christmas?

I figured a very simple answer. Might sound a little complicated when reading, but to me, that's nothing.

If it is true that you feel that when you were you younger, you used to really enjoy Christmas, compared to now, I have a reason why.

I call it 'expectation', coinciding with the following fact.

As you become older, as I have noticed in the last couple of years, the world is much bigger than you thought. There *is* something after school - something very big. Your life. Money, family, responsibility.

I think that as more becomes expected of us, we expect more out of things (like money from people as a cheeky example). Now if we suggest that if you are doing the same things you used to do as a kid (which may be your answer to finding your 'spirit' of Christmas anyway), then it is natural to feel that you don't feel 'in-touch' with Christmas.

So my answer to doing the best you can to enjoy Christmas is to integrate it as much as you can into the seasonal timing. Doing all the usual things - buying presents, setting up the tree, playing games, visiting family, giving cards and presents and receiving them, thinking about those less fortunate, singing festive songs, maybe even visiting church - generally thinking about the reason and purpose of Christmas.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm sure you've all probably figured that you're just happy as you are, I'm just writing this blog for a friend who said he didn't feel the spirit. And if he doesn't understand all this, well, stuff him :P

Not LOL Anymore - Time for Payback

Here we go again. Another day when my sister just totally disrespects me. Typical, as always.

I would love to record everything she said and relay it to you, but it isn't practical. Seeing that this new list spans many days, I will not split it up.

- She called me a 'fool' several times, just the word on its own.

- She calls me a 'geek', even though I told her what it actually means.

- She calls me a 'freak'.

- 'How about no'

- She called my mum something really rude. God, is it rude. I mean the taboo of all taboos. 5 letter word starting with W. Rhymes with 'more'.

- 'go away you fat piece of s**t'

- 'go piss off'

- She threw a slipper at me

- She tried tripping me up in the hallway

- She sat on the stairs and stopped me from going upstairs

- When I said 'don't call me that' she says 'well I just did'

- 04/02/2006 - "Sad loser"

Current likeliness of me blocking MSN Messenger on Sarah's user name to stop bad influence from her 'friends': Unlikely

There are many more, I will document them all here to keep you updated.

And, for the record, she didn't have any reason for calling me these things. She just said them out at random.

Update 20/1/06: Her "friend", Kirstie, the other day, also called my 'gay' and a 'pervert'. I was just walking past her down the corridor and she just shouted those words out. Crazy b1tch. I am just not standing for this anymore.

Update 2/2/06: Kirstie and her friend Jasmine said "Oh, it's gay boy" while I was walking past them in school; and when I was in the LRC today she said "You really are gay". Does anybody have any links with the Mafia? I think I might need some outside help to KILL these annoying Year 8s. GGRR!!

	xxSunshineOnARainyDayxx wrote: no but saying blud does lol Dec. 23 | Delete
	Anonnonymouse wrote: give ur sister a break. Surely she ad a reason to disrespect u p.s - just coz i cnt spell annonymous dnt mean i am stupid blud. Dec. 22 | Delete

Home & The Internet

The following is all stuff shown in the most recent edition of Click Online:

Microsoft Magic - A report about the new technogies Microsoft have created, including the 'Whereabouts Clock'.

Digital Tapestry - software to automatically merge multiple photographs together.

Snarf - A program to add in to Outlook that can learn about your most popuar contacts and orders their messages in priority of importance instead of date.

And... have you ever noticed on Peer 2 Peer downloading software (like LimeWire) that some files are fake and/or corrupt? Here's the reason why: certain sites like OverPeer are hosting them (read a report here).

And... there will soon be a Windows Media Player 11! The new version, by Microsoft and MTV, will allow users to download from over 2 million songs from their new website, 'Urge' (read report here).

And for those of you who like customising your desktop (well generally your computer), the Microsoft website has some free official desktop themes for you to try out, with 5 new pictures and a theme called 'Royale'. You can download these themes from here (requires validation).

Once you have downloaded the files, chuck the JPGs in C:\WINDOWS\Web\Wallpaper and run and install the Royale.zip program.
• To apply the pictures, right-click your desktop, click Properties and then the Desktop tab at the top. Choose your image from the scroll list and enjoy.

• To apply the new theme, right-click your desktop, click Properties then click the Appearance tab at the top. On the Windows and buttons drop-down list, there will be a new one called Media Center style and the Colour scheme drop-down will say Royale. Enjoy!

Microsoft X-Box 360: Handle With Care

Click Online has done a report stating that the new X-Box 360 is dangerous because a very few number of X-Boxes have been found to overheat and 'lock-out'.

Microsoft has been sued for this design flaw because of safety. Read the BBC report here.

LCD and Flat Panel: Read Text Easier

There is a tool that Microsoft have developed that can apparently, make text that is displayed on your screen easier to read. It's only meant to work for LCD and Flat Panel screens, like laptops, so don't use it if you have a CRT monitor. It's called the ClearType Tuner, a font technology.

Use the ActiveX control: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/tuner/Step1.aspx

Use the Powertoy: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ClearTypePowerToy.mspx

Download the powertoy here, which allows you to access the settings from Control Panel.

FTP Software - A Common Question

FTP stands for 'File Transfer Protocol', allowing you to manage your website without the HTML interface of 250m or GeoCities. It also allows you to login securely and more easily than on HTTP, and allows multiple files to be uploaded at once, but which is the best program to use?

I used to use FTP Commander from http://www.internet-soft.com/ftpcomm.htm, but after a while, it got annoying having to browse through the folders all the time to get to my local copy of my website. So I went looking for something else, and I found it:

Beyond Compare from http://www.scootersoftware.com/. This one can save two sets of folders as a project, so there's no need to browse through for them, and the comparison feature for looking into files is really good! No longer do I have to write down what I have updated on my site, Beyond Compare just tells me what has a more recent modification date than other files.

I will get some screenshots uploaded onto my website soon...

Security Holes

Click Online suggested this website a couple of weeks ago about its Internet Connection Speed Test, but after briefly looking through the website, I found out about something quite shocking.

This page, http://www.internetfrog.com/mypc/browserinfo/, shows you all the details about your browser, but is also able to find out what's on your clipboard. I personally think that this level of access is highly dangerous, so if you're on dodgy websites like crack websites, I'd be careful if you have something like Credit Card details on your clipboard.

I am looking into this 'security hole' and I am trying to find something that could stop it or at least overrride it.

In the meantime, I highly suggest you go to this page to check your version of Java Runtime - a recent update was released (Update 6) because 3 very dangerous security holes have been found in the program, and, as usual, with the ability to run software on your computer remotely.

Linx

Here is the final official link to give feedback on many areas of MSN and Microsoft: http://support.msn.com/

Here is a report about a virus vulnerability found in the Sun Java Runtime program: click here.

Download the latest Update 6.0 here: http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp

Here are some websites that can test how good your popup-blocker is working (I wish to improve this list soon):

http://www.electrasoft.com/popuptest/

http://www.popuptest.com/

http://www.emeraldpopstop.com/testpop.aspx