For some free entertainment, check out YouTube.com.
Search for “cat humor” or “dog humor” to get started, and you’ll find a bunch of homemade videos that are really funny. Many of them are only a minute or two.
Author Archive for Darrel Hawes – Page 4
I am super-duper impressed with John Haller’s Portable Apps:
http://portableapps.com
The premise of a “portable app” is…I’ll let John tell it:
“A portable app is a computer program that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any Windows computer. When your USB flash drive, portable hard drive, iPod or other portable device is plugged in, you have access to your software and personal data just as you would on your own PC. And when you unplug, none of your personal data is left behind”
What John has done is take open-source freeware Windows programs and made them “portable”. Included on the site are:
Development
NVU Portable – The easy-to-use NVU web editor
XAMPP – Apache, mySQL, PHP, phpMyAdmin and more in an integrated package
Games
Sudoku Portable – the wildly popular and addictive puzzle game
Graphics & Pictures
GIMP Portable – Photo and Image Editor
Internet
FileZilla Portable – the full-featured FTP client
FireFTP Extension (for Firefox) – a lightweight extension
Firefox Portable – the award-winning web browser that’s safe and secure
Miranda IM Portable – chat with AOL, MSN and Yahoo users in a customizable interface
Portable Gaim – chat with AOL, MSN and Yahoo users in an easy-to-use interface
Sage Extension (for Firefox) – A full-featured RSS extension
Thunderbird Portable – the handy email client- NVU Portable – the easy-to-use webpage editor
Music & Video
VLC Media Player Portable – An easy to use media player that plays most audio and video formats
Office
AbiWord Portable – a lightweight word processor compatible with Microsoft Word files
Calendar Extension (for Firefox and Thunderbird) – A lightweight extension for your calendar and tasks
Portable OpenOffice.org – word processor, spreadsheet, presentations with Microsoft compatibility
Sunbird Portable – Calendar and task management with a familiar interface- Thunderbird Portable (Address Book) – Email client’s built-in address book with import/export functions
Operating Systems
Mac-on-Stick – Run Mac OS Classic 7 portably
Utilities
7-Zip Portable – File archiver and compressor
ClamWin Portable – Antivirus on the go
PStart – A system tray launcher menu
Well worth a look; I’ve downloaded OpenOffice and Sunbird; I use them almost every day.
Here are three printing utilities that have made my life easier, and they will do the same for you.
I use them almost every day.
1. Fineprint (http://www.fineprint.com).
I use the free version, which suits me just fine. Fineprint allows you to print two, four, or eight pages on one sheet of paper. It will also support manual duplexing. You *will* use less paper once you start using this program. What is really cool is you can view the print job before sending it to your printer, and easily delete pages that you don’t need.
2. PDF reDirect (http://www.exp-systems.com).
Again, they have a paid version but the free version does everything I need. For years I used pdf995 but PDF reDirect has more features. Here’s a useful tip: when you buy something online, instead of printing out the sales confirmation page, just create a PDF, which you can later print out if you need to. In most cases, you won’t need to. What I do is then email the file to my web-based email system, giving me access to it wherever I have internet capability.
There are tons of other uses for PDF documents, but this will get you started.
3. Purrint (http://www.bcheck.net/apps/#purrint).
Super easy to use screen printing utility.
Here’s one I stumbled across but haven’t checked out yet:
OK Printer Viewer (http://www.prnwatch.com/pviewer.html).
According to the maker, this software keeps track of print jobs and allows you to see everything that’s been printed from your computer.
If your homeschooled student has their own computer, I highly recommend installing the free SiteAdvisor browser plug in for IE or Firefox. SiteAdvisor will “advise” you if it thinks a site is safe. It is especially helpful for viewing results of google searches.
Download it for free from www.siteadvisor.com
If your homeschooled student is interested in creating web pages, check out NVU (www.nvu.com). There are versions for Windows, Linux, and Mac. This is free, open source software that is well worth trying.
One feature I really like is the ability to import an existing web page.
The program lets you quickly switch between four “views”: “normal”, html tags, source code, and preview.
If you or your child want to get started with web authoring, give NVU a try.
www.nvu.com.
From the HSDLA web site:
How many children are homeschooled in the United States?
“There were an estimated 1,700,000 to 2,100,000 children (grades K-12) home educated during 2002-2003 in the United States. Homeschooling appears to still be the fastest-growing form of education.” – Brian D. Ray, Ph.D., Facts on Homeschoooling *
*Home education has constantly grown over the last two decades. The growth rate is 7% to 15% per year, according to Dr. Brian Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute (Worldwide Guide to Homeschooling).
How many high school (grades 9-12) students are being homeschooled?
An estimated 250,000 to 340,000 high school (grades 9-12) students were being homeschooled during the 2000-2001 conventional school year.
How many children are homeschooled internationally?
Numbers are hard to come by in some nations. But home education is on the rise in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Japan.
According to Brian Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute in his recent book, “Worldwide Guide to Homeschooling,” there were an estimated 50,000 to 95,000 students homeschooled in Canada during the 2000-2001 school year. Estimates for England and Wales varied widely from 13,000 to 50,000. Australian figures were in the range of 35,000 to 55,000. And one homeschool organization in Germany reported between 500 and 600 homeschooled students.
In addition to these, there are many who homeschool while serving as missionaries, military, or employees of the U.S. State Department overseas.
Worldwide Guide to Homeschooling, B. Ray, PhD ©2002. http://www.nheri.org
For more information, see www.hslda.org
I was recently on the phone with a Verizon wireless customer service representative. He told me that even when my cell phone reads “No Service”, which is actually quite common where I live, that 911 will still work. I don’t see how this could be but he assured me that it was a new feature that they were instructed to tell every customer that called in. I don’t really want to test it to find out for sure.
Possibly more useful is the service “Free 411″. Simply call the toll free number (1/800-FREE411), listen to a short ad lasting ten seconds or so, and get the desired phone number for free.
Homeschooling gives one the opportunity to train your kids to start and operate their own business. Just having that mindset early on can give them the greatest possible chance of launching a successful product or service. If you’re in the United States, you are in the best possible location to start a new operation, at least for now. Why not give your kids the tools they need to be a success? More on this later.
You do know that you should be running an up-to-date antivirus program, and that there are good freeware alternatives if you don’t want to pay for one, right?
One that I have used is Avast (www.avast.com).
If you’re surfing unprotected, it’s well worth a look.
True Crypt is a powerful program you may consider using if you have sensitive data on your computer. It can be used on Windows XP and 2000, and Linux.
Get more information and download at http://www.truecrypt.org/