Financial Crisis

"Improved market conditions and increasing confidence are prompting several retailers to consider listing on the stock exchange."

We were talking about this at he supermarket. It was a hilarious shop this week late Friday because everyone was just joyful and we were all spending money. The good thing is our supermarket offers some really good specials each week so that even those on a tight budget can get hold of decent, nutritious food at a good price. It has helped with the optimism and that is an important factor when we face tough times. It also means we stop as we shop and swap ideas and tips about how to get dogs fed and make the food to go further..the best buys. Our super market has taken an aggressively positive approach. A similar store of the same chain has gone into cut backs and under staffing...a totally different approach to the situation. So that store, which is bigger than ours and ought to be laughing, is running into trouble because it is approaching things negatively and the difference is amazing. The manager of our store is out and about talking to his staff. He chats, makes them laugh and then offers them a tip or two to keep things ticking over. Positive psychology works and happy work conditions get you through tough times...and then yes, maybe you get on the stock exchange and make yourself some money from shares!

Giving the police a hand

We have changed. We are getting fed up with the violence, the mischief and mayhem. We are tired of being randomly unsafe. It doesn't matter where you are at the moment...one friend had the guy behind her get out of a car with a hockey stick and though she was gone...but he selected a car further up the line and bashed that. The line of cars and aggression prevented people form getting number plates it would appear...but the thought was to tell the police. Likewise with someone who was very drunk and was going to drive his lady home. The mobiles were out and the other friends were ready to let the police know just how drunk and dangerous this guy was. Same with neighbours. We have all turned into nosey parkers if we suspect anything and we all are ready to ring the police. We no longer know what we are dealing with. We have fears for our safety and the safety of others and we are now ready to let the police know. I guess the police already check Twitter and Facebook because people often react immediately now and get the emotional support they need. We are not happy and things need to change. The few without boundaries are holding the rest of us to ransom.

Vista Updates

I am so over them. My desktop is constantly getting them and they keep jamming up the works because it doesn't have as much ram as my laptop and Ubuntu is on my other laptop and doesn't suffer from interminable updates which crash everything. It means I have to steel myself now to go on the desktop and be ready for a slow, lumpy ride. I'd prefer  to be asked when to install the updates as I can with Ubuntu. That way I can do what I want and update when I am ready. I am not against updates per se. The other weird thing is there seems to be a belief that Ubuntu is just a rip off of Windows 95...WHAT??? I know whoever who has started this rumour is familiar with neither OS. They cannot be. It shows up how easily rubbishy ideas are permeated through our society these days.

Free Seniors Tickets

The free seniors public transport tickets are coming at a price. The fares for others have risen at the same time so their is an assumption that it is to cover the cost of the free seniors tickets. When that is said in public on a bus, it just creates unpleasantness. There are no longer fine living skills nor a general notion of charitableness and the free seniors tickets have highlighted what mean spirited people we are. There are stories of seniors being heckled and harassed because they have free travel now at certain times. They are being picked on in public on buses and even being blamed for the piles of BLUE tickets left at bus stops and elsewhere. The senior tickets are not blue. The litter is not theirs. If this continues I can well imagine seniors will remain at home and isolated. An unpleasant and nasty side effect of what was a nice piece of legislation. We have changed.

Ubuntu - a week down the track

Ubuntu got a real work out this morning. It hated Farm Town and Farm Ville on Facebook...but that might be an old laptop....my NEC Versa doesn't really like Flash....but this Dell doesn't like it much either and the MacBook cracked up completely on Farm Town and Farm Ville especially. Maybe it's the scripting. The Apple runs most sites really quietly. Anyway, Ubuntu had to load docs, powerpoints of 2007 and 2003 office and it was fine. It had to go to Yahoo , Yahoo mail and Facebook. It had to go to news sites. The only thing it couldn't do was play a mswmm file so I came on my Dell and found out Vista won't play the Windows media file either. It loads the first screen and the rest are marked out. Maybe the person who made the file hasn't compiled it properly. So I was happy with Ubuntu and I had a look at KATE. Very neat and tidy, I must say. I'll get back to it. Have a nice Sunday.

Winter Woes

We are bogged down by winter stuff...stuffy noses, stuffed eyes, clogged heads, clogged lungs. Adelaide is coughing, sneezing , groaning. Those of us who have the sore , puffy red eyes are so over it. It won't go away no matter whom we consult. We have tried eye baths, eye drops, saline, bi carb..we are tired of waking up with puffy eyes which hurt and make us feel like crap. Once we are through that bit it is okay till the next morning. Then we now all know someone who has had swine flu. That has gone around. Then there is the clogged head full on cold...and then the deep, diturbing cough. We are sick and we just do our best but we are wilting. The football has kept us going...don't know why...it just does. The Saints won by a point...what a cliff hanger . I was watching the Collingwood vs Lions match...and Collingwood was going down and then , bloomin brilliant...just ran all over the field and won!! By 40 points. That's what I like to see. I don't really follow a team..correction, I don't follow a team at all...I just like to watch and value whoever is playing. It sure helps the winter blues!

Desal Plant Adelaide

It's moving along! It takes up most of the Lonsdale Freeway what with the changing of the RSPCA turn off to traffic lights and new road surface (heaven) and then all the works for the pipeline. I think they have managed it really well. They have kept mess and interruption to a minimum. They have given plenty of notice and warning and they have explained very clearly how this will affect the Lonsdale Freeway and when. I am impressed. Some people are not happy because they hit the 25km lane when they didn't leave enough time to get to their appt. Adelaide people are used to getting in the car and just going. Some people have learned to used technology...they take the number of where they are going and ring ahead if they are delayed. That's smart!!You can usually accurately judge the time of a trip here...used to be able to!!We hate that we can't and regret Adelaide has changed like that. It's not good...but I have had to use the Lonsdale Freeway and I allow extra time but I haven't been affected much. They are doing a really good job and now, we can also see how well they have rebuilt Hallet Cove shopping Centre and the road which goes across the Lonsdale Freeway. That looks really good.

Linux

Well yes, now I have 9.04 running on my old laptop as an OS in its own right and not as a boot choice, I feel I have made some prgress. Even though some Linux users think Ubuntu is a cop out for pretend Linux users only, it doesn't worry me. I like to get in touch with my inner geek and I just know I have the right to discover things in my own way in my own time and that I will learn a lot this way. Ubuntu has put on a lot of updates and I was laughing because it's like Vista in that respect ! What I have noticed is it customises the downloads to suit me and my machine. It's intuitive in that sense. Then I can go and look for apps for myself...but after a download there are always suitable suggestions and I appreciate that. I found KATE. Couldn't believe it. Speaking of inner geeks, I used to run my computer on DOS and was nice and angy when Microsoft took that option away. Vista has been kind enough to restore that possibility to me but not 100 %. That's why I like Ubuntu and my MacBook. I can use text based computing. I like it. I don't have to have pictures and pop ups to enjoy my computer and in lots of ways I like text. What thrilled me to bits was when I went to the stationery shop yesterday to get my computing mags...there were choices for Apple and Linux and there was also a Linux pack which would help people understand it. It will not take people away from Microsoft I do not think...they will become bi-OS and that's good because the OSs seem to suit different hardware requirements and configurations. KATE was a programme I used to use in DOS which did everything...way ahead of its time . It was an office suite and a PIM and had other functions. Haven't looked at my new KATE yet. I also noticed a Slackware distro on my Linux disk. Those sorts of text based things will not suit most people. We are a visual world...but I think I might give it a whirl. There are times when you need to keep it simple, heh! The magazine article says I'll learn Linux if I use Slackware. I like learning! You see the more I learn and know, the more I can adapt and use OSs. If I can only learn to use , say, Word or iTunes, than I am not going to be keen to roam around other new things. Technology has to encourage us to explore and find out. Ubuntu was the one that let me get into Linux...I haven't given up Apple or Windows....I am using them better. We need to be bi or multi OS.

Vista et al

I am tired of Vista and the interminable updates and restarts...sometimes my computer is banged shut and started again while I am in the middle of something. Rude. Just rude. There is a lot of talk about the new release of Windows 7, how cool it is, then someone was saying it's like a Mac OS. Oh?! Microsoft   seems to have been tromping through Open Source at the moment. Microsoft seems to see things as a threat and then will absorb the best of if it can. It's a silly way to go about things..but they're rich and I am not. Unfortunately if they go the way of GMH, no one will be sorry to see them fall because they have been so mean. It's ridiculous in a way. They have revolutionised the world and people say they just stole Apple ideas...but Apple didn't make them household names. Apple didn't get the market and get computers into everyone's home. But Apple has learned and has come a long way into the market with its portable devices...except, no show on the Net Books from Apple. Why? No show from Linux either really. Microsoft is getting Netbooks into our lives and showing us we can. That has always been the strength of Microsoft. I remember getting my 406 and sitting there in awe of the swish graphics, the cool sound and the possibilities I was being shown by my demo disk. Vista has been good to me except for these damn downloads and pushy restarts and it is that aspect of Microsoft which is starting to rear its ugly head...and that's insecurity. If they came to work and looked at people trying to use MacBooks , they'd laugh. MacBooks are just so nice and easy to use and they just do things and they can be very helpful for new users...but most people are baffled. Some think the websites are only accessible IN the Apple and others think they are only accessible IN the XP desktop. This is what all OS developers are dealing with. People are used to Windows. They'll migrate to the new OS but if it  is like Apple it is going to be hilarious.Most people didn't even know how to get an anti virus programme onto their MacBook. God gave us Google. I love Google. The OS choices we have are good. It would seem Apple apps are more suitable for portable devices and they are...just so easy. Linux is good if you want straight forward and light. You do not drag a whole heap of net and file stuff around with you. I love Ubuntu. It doesn't worry me that real Linux users think I am not Linux enough to use anything other than Ubuntu. I  would use it all the time but I have to confess that the OS choices we have suit different personalities . Most people like all the choices of Windows. They like the customizations and the huge range of apps. Some people like slick and that is Apple and some like pleasant and tranquil and that is Ubuntu. I'd like to see Linux and Apple get into the NetBook market and I'd like to see Microsoft settle down and stop this nonsense of stifling diversity. Fear is a terrible thing. Does your head in.