iTunes Games
Because this is what iTunes looks like when I sign in. The iPod Touch I gave her for Christmas still uses my account, so I can keep an eye on her. This isn’t even all of them. Who knew that so many games had cupcake icons?
Apparently, something went wrong with some Windows/Windows Live component the other day. I assume it happened when my display adapter last crashed because Windows Live Messenger also crashed. Unfortunately, nothing appeared too wrong on my end. MSN would open and I’d click to sign in and it would simply tell me it was unavailable. Super helpful, right?
The specific error message was 80040154 and a quick search brought up all sorts of pages that told me to register a specific DLL. However, the instructions didn’t work. Luckily, I’m a smart cookie so I went straight to fixing Windows Live Essentials from the Control Panel. This isn’t rocket science but, considering that almost 100,000 people found the recommended solution not helpful, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to write up a quick post about it.
So, the other day Nokia announced an upcoming touch screen phone called the N8. Twitter, like the rest of the internet, exploded which chatter and I caught a whiff only to fall in love. I mean, I’ve had my phone almost two years now. I’ve been curios about all those fancy new gadgets but phones don’t really catch my interest.
Except the N8 did. I think it could be that the design is similar-ish to my phone, a Nokia model which is no longer current. They’re both slim, with handy “external” buttons and a slightly feminine design.
But the N8 blows my phone out of the water with its new Symbian technology, 12MP camera, 720p resolution and HDMI connections. I mean, it’s pretty much an entire media solution unto itself. But if you’re not into movies and music, it also integrates social networking options like Twitter and Facebook.
Plus, it’s got an app store, which other Nokia phones can use but I suspect the Ovi store will definitely rise in popularity and usefulness with the N8. Nokia says the app store will provide access to Web TV channels and lists NatGeo and CNN as examples (although, I couldn’t find a listing in the current store).
It’s not out until the third quarter of this year and I don’t know yet who will be carrying it but this might be one gadget I have to have.
In my case it’s technology and, sometimes, my kitty Phantom.
Not too long ago I asked for ideas for keeping him out of places and one response was to use double sided tape. Apparently cats don’t like the feeling of it on their paws and if you put it over the entrance to a place you want to keep them out of, it should help. Well, I went to the extreme when I used some double sided tape; I put a grid of the tape over our entire fireplace.
It didn’t work.
That’s right. When faced with this barrier, Phantom simply chewed through it and made a hole big enough for himself. Since then, we have resorted to zip tying the chain link metal “curtain” over the fireplace. This seems to have worked. But, it renders the fireplace completely useless. Pah!
I also needed suggestions for how to get the kitty to stop going places we don’t want him, like near the computer, behind the TV and on counters, tables and dressers. Ashe suggested I get a can of compressed air and this has actually worked really well. I’ve only had the air a few days and Phantom already knows not to fuck with me. If I even grab the can, he scrambles.
Still, if the cat can’t be kind of naughty, he tries to be really naughty. He is now spending time on top of the fridge. He originally went up there because he could smell a ziploc bag of treats I had. He proceeded to chew open the bag. Now, I tihnk he just likes being up that high and he reaches down to play with the magnets and papers on the freezer door. This is especially problematic because I can’t spray him very well up there and we moved everything to the freezer door because he was jumping to get everything on the bottom door from the floor. I guess no magnet is safe.
When it comes to technology, I really like my computer and my MP3 player and the internet but when it goes wrong, it’s so costly. I caught a trojan (W32.Renos) the other day which was redirecting my search results and slowed down my internet as well as blocking potentially helpful sites and webpages. It took over 2 days to finally find a trojan scanner which fixed it. I am very grateful to Dez for finding, downloading and sending me the program since I couldn’t fully utilize my internet.
A lot of people had the same trouble with Renos and similar trojans which fall into the family of Smitfraud. I downloaded/used at least a dozen programs and only 1 of them detected it. I even used tools specifically for these type of infections like SmitFraudFix which did not help. The program which finally did the trick is Simply Super Software’s Trojan Remover and I highly recommend it to anyone with Renos or a similar invasion.
I hope that anyone with this problem stumbles across my site and finds a solution that works for them.
There you have it, the things I love to hate.
Recently, I was reading Joana’s thoughts about how we, as a country, need to stop ignoring our own internal problems while we throw resources at others’ problems around the globe. I felt conflicted emotions about this issue. On the one hand, I believe there should be a way to be a good neighbour and help others in their times of need but, on the other hand, I do not think that out own unfortunate populations should be forsaken to do do. The comment I left reflected this, I hope.
Well, I can’t say abandoning the world is going to help but you know, maybe international relations can be on a hold a while when we figure out our own shit. I’m sure there’s some sort of a balance to working at home and helping out the neighbours and even those across the globe. But it’s probably a pretty difficult balance.
Afterall, being friendly isn’t a bad thing and we can’t exactly wait until all our problems are solved as anything with people will always have problems.
Still, completely ignoring the homefront just to impress president or PM of country X is pretty lame. I think it does have a lot do with the fact that much of the national issues are “supposed” to be taken care of at the state level (or are pushed down to that level so the federal government doesn’t have to do anything, maybe?) whereas international efforts are federal.
I thought it would be left at that but, as luck would have it, my aunt forwarded me a link to JK Rowling’s Harvard Commencement speech and I also took the time to read the speeches of other prominent figures, such as Bill Gates and President Bill Clinton (during last year’s commencement).
Many of these speeches focused on the fact that Harvard graduates have a unique opportunity given them by their education, that perhaps they will be more qualified to solved the ills of the world. Many of these speeches focused on the problems abroad that we, as a modern nation, are more equipped to deal with than those experiencing such pains. This was a strong theme when Bill Clinton discussed his work with AIDS, especially in Africa.
I find this work to be admirable and selfless. I know that millions of people will see another day or another 20 years because of it, sometimes because of simple medicines that Americans and others in modern countries take for granted. I absolutely think someone has to do it and why not you or me?
But where do you draw the line when it comes to giving a helping hand at home or extending that hand outside your domestic boundaries? How do you even begin to go about deciding where to draw the line when it’s so easy to slip to either side; focus too much on home and you’re selfish to the point of self-detriment, focus too much on the outside and you’re selfless to the point of self-detriment.
I absolutely believe that if you have the power, the resources and the technology to help, you should help. We should help. In Africa, in China, in India. I also believe these efforts go a long way toward global relations and respect and, of course, peace.
But why does international effort seem so much more heroic, more noble? Indeed, there are issues on the home front that need our attention: obesity, education. government spending/funding, education, homelessness, unemployment, the economy in general. Is it perhaps that even an American most afflicted by these controversial issues is still so much better off than someone in a third world country with AIDs? That, perhaps, the most unfortunate American is still better off than the most pampered non-American?
Or perhaps selflessness is simply expected of America because she is the world’s last standing super power regardless of the nobility of the acts themselves. And why not lead the way for others to follow, to be inspired by our selfless acts? Surely by doing and teaching this, we are only helping our own citizens.
The balance is a delicate one and while there are decisions made by my government with which I do not agree, I cannot condemn the efforts because of solely those arguments. Society is, afterall, an evolving process.
