President Obama lacks common sense to such a degree he appears handicapped in his ability to reason. His inability to think clearly may stem from an abnormally high degree of arrogance - a crippling arrogance approaching messianic proportions.

Without basic common sense the survival of this nation appears grim. Liberties are being stolen with false promises of security. The lack of common sense has invaded the private and the public sectors as ideological wars brew between these contending sectors.

Why has common sense seemingly evaporated and - when someone possesses it - despised?

So, you want national health care “reform”? I work at Beckman, an innovative medical instrument manufacturer that will be hit hard by this bill. My advice, don’t go to school - it is a waste of time. Learn to flip burgers. Even when burgers are made of soylent green somebody will still need to flip them. Innovators? Entrepreneurs? Who needs ‘em?

From the Beckman Coulter CEO, Scott Garrett:

“As you may have heard, the United States Senate Finance Committee cleared their version of a healthcare reform bill and it is moving through Congress. While the legislation is being debated, our leadership team continues to work vigorously to oppose the inclusion of the unfair and counterproductive $40 billion tax on medical devices that it includes.

I have recently returned from a trip to Washington, D.C., where I met with several of our legislators. We made it clear that we favor elements of healthcare reform legislative drafts which put patients first and emphasize prevention and quality as the best path toward cost control. And in this vein, we see diagnostics as part of the solution—not part of the problem.

While everyone needs to help slow the rising cost of healthcare, the reality is that the clinical lab services and products sector has been helping to reduce costs for decades.

A logical next step for employees in the U.S. who feel strongly about the information above would be to learn more about the issues at the AdvaMed website http://capwiz.com/advamed/home/.

You may also wish to contact the members of the House Committee on Ways and Means about this issue, by sending an email to their legislative analysts. Names of representatives and contact information for their analysts, as well as suggested text, are at the bottom of this message. Please note that the list includes only the states where we have sites with corresponding representation on the Ways and Means Committee. As we’ve said before, your participation is wholly voluntary.”

Scott Garrett
Chairman, President and CEO

Linux is inevitable. It is the future of computing, at least on the philosophical level. FOSS is the path. Microsoft and Apple are two sides of the same coin - they are not freely developed in an open community of users.

It is quite liberating to finally break away from Microsoft and get out of that box. It is akin to a religious experience. You wonder what kept you trapped in that world for so long.

I found a way! I bought Crossover from CodeWeavers, the commercial version of wine. It is very user friendly. I then installed Bryce 5.5 and all went smoothly but for one thing - Bryce appeared not to be usable. Although Bryce’s top text menu is there ( just click at the top of  Bryce’s window),  the graphic menu palettes didn’t work. I experimented and now I can use Bryce with just a few workarounds.

In ‘Wine Configuration”> “Graphics” I use the  ”Emulate a virtual desktop” and set it for 1024 x 768. This seems a bit more kind to my Ubuntu desktop. Mind you, this didn’t solve my major usability problem -  the keyboard shortcuts did.

I use the “Ctrl” key  plus  the “1″,”2″,”3″ or “4″ keys to bring up the graphic menu pallets, one at  a time. I’ve played around and can now create art in Bryce. You will have to experiment on your computer and see if it works. One thing I’ve found was a bug in the material editor, but I played with it and got it to work [Hint - hit “enter” if your menu disappears, go back again, select again and hit “enter’ again].

If you love Bryce and you use Linux, the keyword here is experiment.

Enjoy!

Bryce Keyboard Commands & Shortcuts

File

New Document—Ctrl/N
Open—Ctrl/O
Save—Ctrl/S
Quit—Ctrl/Q

Editing

Undo—Ctrl/Z
Redo—Ctrl/Shift/Z
Cut—Ctrl/X When objects are cut they are copied to the clipboard and can then be pasted.
Copy—Ctrl/C
Paste—Ctrl/V
Clear—Alt/> Backspace or Delete Keys can also be used.
Copy Material—Ctrl/Alt/C
Paste Material—Ctrl/Alt/V
Copy Matrix—Alt/C
Paste Matrix—Alt/V
Duplicate—Ctrl/D
Replicate—Alt/D When objects are replicated, they will be positioned, scaled or rotated, using the current objects transformation.
Example: if the object is rotated 90 degrees on the Y axes, then replicated, the new object will be rotated 180 degrees, on the Y axes,
the next one will be 270 degrees, and so on. The same applies to position and scaling
Select All—Ctrl/A
Invert Selection—Ctrl/Shift/A
Scroll Objects— Tab Key

Menus

Attributes—Ctrl/Alt/E
Document Set-Up—Ctrl/Alt/N
Render Animation—Alt/Shift/R
Multi-Replicate—Alt/Shift/D

Palettes

Create—Ctrl/1
Edit—Ctrl/2
Sky—Ctrl/3
Toggle Animation and Object Palettes—S

Labs
Tab Key will scroll to the next activated numeric option, in all of Bryce’s Labs

Materials—Ctrl/M
Picture Library—Ctrl/Alt/M
DTE—Alt/M
Sky Lab—Ctrl/K
Motion Lab—Ctrl/T
Edit Selected Object—Ctrl/E This will open the Smooth Menu, Torus Editor, Terrain Editor, Light Lab or Tree Lab depending on what type object is selected when it’s used.

Rendering

Render—Ctrl/R
Clear and Render—Ctrl/Alt/R
Print—Ctrl/P

Tools

Demo Marker— M

Time Line
These work on all Time Line in all Labs

Scrub Time Line— < or > each time the key is pressed will move to the next Ticker Marker
Next Key frame—Shift/< or >
Move to Animation Start— {
Move to Animation End— }

Selecting

Multi-Selection— Shift Hold shift key while selecting objects.
Menu Selection—Ctrl Hold Ctrl and left click to bring up list of objects in the area of the cursor.
Scroll Objects—Tab Key
Deselect—Click in Null Space

Object Properties

Show as Box—Ctrl/B
Show as Lattice—Ctrl/L
Neutral— O
Positive— P
Negative— N
Intersect— I
Group—Ctrl/G
Ungroup—Ctrl/U
Create Path—Alt/P

Camera Views

Drag Camera—Space bar Works in all views.
Position Camera—Alt/Space bar Director and Camera view only.
Rotate Camera—Ctrl/Arrow Keys Works in all views.
Zoom In & Out— Ctrl/Alt/Space bar All views.
Marque Zoom—Ctrl/Space bar Hold keys then draw a marque around zoom area.
Zoom In by Steps—Ctrl/=
Zoom Out by Steps— - minus sign
Reset Zoom— Ctrl/- Resets the Director and Camera to original zoom ( not position )
Fly Around—Ctrl/Y
Director View— ~
Camera View— 1
Top View— 2
Right View— 3
Front View— 4

If you are at all familiar with the Linux world you know something about Puppy. It is a unique distro created by  Barry Kauler, who must be some kind of Linux Genious. The latest version, 4.30, is his creation once again. The prior versions, 4.2x,  just weren’t to my taste - the desktop was getting too messy with things I didn’t want. Barry stepped back in and created such a bright, simple and clean Puppy version I have been installing it everywhere on everything.

Nice things about Puppy:
> Tiny. Only around a 100 megs
> Frugal install has built in persistence. Even installing with unetbootin gives you persistence.
> The fastest Distro in the world! Everything loads into very little memory.
> Great for old computer and netbooks.
> Makes a great tool for repairing an OS.
> There are so many  ways to install Puppy on so many kinds of media. This Linux distribution can do things no other distribution can. You can even run it from a live CD and save your settings to that same CD in a live session.

I run Ubuntu on my Toshiba Satellite Laptop but have a frugal Puppy install on it too. I just love taking  Puppy for a walk to see all that it can do.

Here is the download link: Ubuntu Pocket Guide

Chapters:

CHAPTER ONE: Installing Ubuntu
CHAPTER TWO: Configuring Ubuntu
CHAPTER THREE: Getting to grips with the desktop
CHAPTER FOUR: Users and the filesystem
CHAPTER FIVE: Hands‐on at the command‐line
CHAPTER SIX: Software management
CHAPTER SEVEN: Securing the system

“Tired of Microsoft Windows dominating your computing experience? Liberate your computer with Linux!

If you have an older computer and Windows won’t boot anymore, runs too slow or is ridden with spyware, malware and viruses - there is an alternative answer. Don’t hire that expensive Windows Geek.

Call 562.943.9997 and let’s get your computer working with an ‘alternative’ geek’s true solution to many computer problems.

It is a wonderful feeling when you finally break the chains of Microsoft and experience the freedom of a community driven, open source operating system rather than a restrictive, corporate driven operating system (Microsoft).

Enter a computing world where the operating system and software is free, secure, stable, and, in my experience, less buggy than non-free Windows software.

In todays economy, free sounds pretty good - plus you can say goodbye to buying antivirus software and experience a new  world of safe computing. Why isn’t everyone using Linux? Linux is ready for your home desktop today and if you live near or in the Whittier California area, I’ll setup Linux on your home computer and help you start a new, secure, fun world of computing you might not be aware exists.  And with Linux, you won’t experience performance loss over time (no more defraging) no more corrupted registry (there isn’t one), no more malware and virus attacks, and plus you can download thousands of free software programs!

Whittier Linux will get you going, turning your old computer into a speedy, stable, secure Linux machine ready for today’s world.

Why you need to switch from Microsoft Windows to Linux:

• Cost - Linux is free while Microsoft products are available for a hefty and sometimes recurring fee. Microsoft licenses typically are only allowed to be installed on a single computer, whereas a Linux distribution can be installed on any number of computers, without paying a single penny.
• Security -The security aspect of Linux is much stronger than that of Windows. There is no reason to  spend extra money for virus protection software that hogs system resources.  Linux OS has been around since the early nineties and has managed to stay secure in  a world teeming with viruses, spyware and adware. If there were a widespread Linux virus released today, there would be hundreds of patches released tomorrow by the Linux community, no need to wait for a patch from monolithic Microsoft.

• Freedom - The power of choice is a great Linux advantage over Windows. Linux gives you the power to control just about every aspect of the operating system. Two major features you can control are your desktops look and feel and the kernel. In Windows, you’re either stuck using the boring default desktop or risk corruption by installing a third-party shell.
• Software - In the Linux universe there are so many software choices when it comes to doing any  task, be it art, music, word processing, programming - you name it.. There are  free, open source equivalents to major software programs  like Photoshop (in Linux we use GIMP)  and Microsoft Office (Open Office in Linux). Regular users and programmers contribute applications all the time. Software on Linux tends to be packed with more features and greater usability than software on Windows. But best of all, the vast majority of Linux software is free and open source. You download what you want with an easy to use program right in your Linux operating system and it is automatically installed for you! How much easier can it get?
• Hardware - Don’t  toss that old computer out! Linux is perfect for old computers with barely any processing power or memory that  you have sitting in your garage or basement collecting dust. Install Linux and your old computer comes alive with speed. You’ve given your old computer a second life and saved money not buying a new one.

Call Stephen at 562.943.9997 and let’s set up your computer with an operating system you’ll love. You’ll wonder why you put up with Windows for so long.

Email: opinionperson@mail.com “

There are so many advantages to using Linux distributions. Here are a few:

1. No more viruses, spyware, malware and all that malicious junk that Windows attracts like a giant magnet.
2. No more corrupted registry errors. There is no registry in Linux.
3. No more defraging. The files don’t become fragmented in Linux.
4. No boggy, slow computer. Linux will run faster, smoother, quieter.
5. No more buying software. There is an open source alternative to most all expensive commercial software programs such as Photoshop and Office.
6. No more worrying about finding a Windows CD to restore your computer. Microsoft is shooting themselves in the foot being so stingy with providing a CD with that new computer you just bought. When I  bought a new Toshiba laptop, I booted it up long enough to open the CD/DVD drive door - and using my FREE Fedora 10 Linux CD I downloaded and burned - inserted it and wiped out Vista with Fedora 10.
7. No more buying and registering your official licensed copy of Windows. With Linux, do whatever you want with your Linux CD. Install it on a million computers if you feel like it. The police will not put you in jail for such an act. You actually OWN Linux and can do whatever you want with it.

I’ve discovered that linux is a great tool for repairing computers and breathing new life into old boxes. I’ve had such success with Linux seemingly doing the miraculous. For instance, a friend acquired a really nice Gateway laptop that her daughter was going to toss in the trash. The PC repair shop told her that the hard drive was bad and they couldn’t get her a replacement. I don’t know why they would tell her that. Don’t they need the business?

I told my friend to let me try and fix it. I tried to boot it, the Bios warned the media was bad. Okay, maybe it was a bad hard drive, but I went at it, reformating the drive a few times and installing the wonderful Linux distro PCLOS 2009.1. Guess what? The laptop runs like a champ!

I’m inspired to start a little local business from the experience I’ve gained repairing computers with nothing more than Linux. Check it out:  Whittier Linux

The Stimulus Package is so outrageously selfish and wrong, and yet we sit back and watch the politicians screw our children and our children’s children.