Google’s Translator

Posted on 08/08/2004 by

I recently added a Hispanic page to the St. John Neumann website. Since I copy and paste information from our weekly bulletin to update most of the content on SJN, I did the best I could with my 3 years of high school Spanish trying to figure out how things should be presented on the Hispanic page.

This week I discovered Google’s language translation service that lets you translate an entire web page. While imperfect, it really helped me out to see what was on the page, especially with seeing information that has expired.

www.sjnlilburn.com/hispano

Google’s translated version

Scot Hacker’s Random Quote

Posted on 08/07/2004 by

birdhouse.org: Random Quotes

Will Delta Go K-Mart’s Route?

Posted on 08/07/2004 by

Like Ted, we bought Delta, too. This article explains how stockholders who bought prior to K-Mart’s bankruptcy lost everything. Those who bought into the new company (K-Mart Holding Company) have done quite well. Hope those Delta pilots give in before Delta has to declare bankruptcy.

Kmart’s investors gather as stock soars – 05/25/04

I thought the risk was the company would fold, not realizing the stock could just be “cancelled” and the company come back with a new set of stockholders. Think I’ll just bury our money in a box out back.

Advancements in Journaling

Posted on 08/07/2004 by

In 1990, I started a family diary on our 512K Macintosh using HyperCard. It was similar to a blog, but rather than web pages, information was on a card. The card could hold text, graphics, sound, and I could program buttons on the card that would do things like search, print, go to the next card, etc. The text could have hyperlinks so that one card could reference another. Different people in the family (mostly Nicole) could write entries. So it had a lot of the same capabilities as MovableType, it just was not shared on the internet.

Two other differences were screen size and color. HyperCard was born in a 9″ black and white screen world. The screenshot below is from our 17″ flat panel iMac. The “Our Diary” HyperCard stack is on the left and mac.fiveforks.com is on the right.

Apple just announced a 30″ screen. I’ve estimated how the 17″ screenshot above would fit on a 30″ screen.

I imported all of the old Our Diary entries into MovableType so they would not be trapped in a closed format. Although here in 2004, HyperCard still runs.

Picking Up Pictures at Bob’s

Posted on 08/01/2004 by

Bob and I were determined to figure out a way to transfer a large chunk of vacation photos using the network instead of CDs. I tried giving him access to some FTP space on the Mac. He was able to create a folder, but not upload files. Not sure I’ve got the Mac set up correctly.

He then gave me access to his server. Sent me an i.p. address, login, and password. I clicked on the ftp:// link he sent me, was prompted for the login and password, and this window opened.

Mac OS X has built in FTP client ability, and Bob’s PC was represented as a folder. After a few minutes, the ICONs for the photos in the folder started to render. (Note: The IP address has been changed in the graphic so don’t go trying to hack Bob!)

Random Drug Testing

Posted on 07/27/2004 by

Google started advertising random drug testing services on mac.fiveforks.com. I think this was triggered by my comment on random photos in response to Eric’s question.

I wonder if the new postings and comments on the right have greater weight because they are near the ads?

We’re up to $14.47 in Google ad revenue. Keep clicking those ads!

Shrub Pruning Calendar

Posted on 07/25/2004 by

Walter Reeves created this shrub calendar. Shrubs that flower should either be pruned in winter (Butterfly bush) or just after flowering (Azaleas / Climbing Rose) depending on the source of flowers being new growth or last year’s growth.

Good thing Kathy knows what we have out there.

Georgia Strait Alliance

Posted on 07/16/2004 by

No sooner had I posted the blog about my powerful brother of the DOT, than this google ad appeared next to it. I have to admit, I was confused at first, thinking this was some kind of organization that would be opposite of the Georgia Gay Alliance.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

A Powerful Brother

Posted on 07/16/2004 by

Got this e-mail from my powerful younger brother. He has arranged to keep traffic down for our trip to Florida.

I told the DOT construction people down in Tifton to make sure they

leave at least 2 lanes open southbound on Saturday. They said it will be

clear.

Ted C.

Georgia DOT Office of Consultant Design

I don’t have much power. I can’t even help my mom get her check order printed correctly…

Google Ad Report = $10.58

Posted on 07/15/2004 by

I’m amazed that the small reader base of mac.fiveforks.com continues to generate money via the google ads. We’re up to $10.58! Not much, but I’m amazed. This report shows that my birthday generated over three dollars! Who knows why.

Keep clicking on google ads on mac.fiveforks.com if you see interesting ads. It will help pay for some of the software that makes this system work and keeps it backed up. (MovableType, AutoMySQLBackup, ImageMagik, etc.)

Today an ad for a site that sells praying mantises and lady bugs appeared. Probably driven by the Tiny Mantis posting.