Need Recommendation
I need your technical expertise.
A year ago, knowing I really like uploading photos to illustrate my posts, I went ahead and bought the biggest upgrade. It was stupid – I didn’t notice it was only for one year, I thought it was for the life of the blog, but that isn’t really relevant. It was stupid for another reason – no matter how much I upload, I have used ZERO capacity of the 28GB upgrade.
That upgrade is about to run out.
I have 6MB of stuff uploaded. Do I need another upgrade? If we (bloggers on WordPress) all have an automatic 3GB of upload space – it seems to me that 6MB is a whole lot less that 3GB. But maybe the 6MB is just the photos, and maybe the blog entries also add up?
My question: Do I need an upgrade?
Small Weirdness
Sometimes little things happen any they are just weird enough to get your attention. A day or two ago, when I turned on my computer and logged on, it kept telling me that wasn’t the correct password. It WAS the correct password. After about ten tries (I am nothing if not persistent) I shut the computer down, went and got another cup of coffee, came back, started it up again and it all went fine. Good, right? I should just move on. Something about it keeps niggling at my mind; that shouldn’t happen.
After coming back from vacation, I was greeting the local harriss (guard/fix-it guy/ car wash guy) and then, as he watched, I slowly continued backing out, then forward – straight into a rubber wrapped pole.
I was going slowly. I have done this turn a couple thousand times before. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention, but it was really really embarrassing. Later, I checked my bumper, which has a dimple in it. It was so hot, it just sort of melted in, nothing broke. It’s just plastic, these bumpers today. I was hoping I could pop it back out, but it’s not exactly poppable, and it looks like maybe it was meant to be there, except there isn’t one on the other side. Why did I hit the pole? I’ve never hit that pole before.
I know, I know, I can hear you sighing in exasperation and saying “MOVE ON!” but these little things get snagged in my mind sometimes and bother me.
Pat or Scan?
Thank you to my good friend who sent this in an e-mail this morning. I had no idea the new scanners could see in such intimate detail. Makes me stop and think – would I prefer a pat down (shudder) or an invasive scan?
NEW YORK (AFP) – Security scanners which can see through passengers’ clothing and reveal details of their body underneath are being installed in 10 US airports, the US Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday.
A random selection of travellers getting ready to board airplanes in Washington, New York’s Kennedy, Los Angeles and other key hubs will be shut in the glass booths while a three-dimensional image is made of their body beneath their clothes.
The booths close around the passenger and emit “millimeter waves” that go through cloth to identify metal, plastics, ceramics, chemical materials and explosives, according to the TSA.
While it allows the security screeners — looking at the images in a separate room — to clearly see the passenger’s sexual organs as well as other details of their bodies, the passenger’s face is blurred, TSA said in a statement on its website.
The scan only takes seconds and is to replace the physical pat-downs of people that is currently widespread in airports.
TSA began introducing the body scanners in airports in April, first in the Phoenix, Arizona terminal.
The installation is picking up this month, with machines in place or planned for airports in Washington (Reagan National and Baltimore-Washington International), Dallas, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Miami and Detroit.)
But the new machines have provoked worries among passengers and rights activists.
“People have no idea how graphic the images are,” Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty program at the American Civil Liberties Union, told AFP.
The ACLU said in a statement that passengers expecting privacy underneath their clothing “should not be required to display highly personal details of their bodies such as evidence of mastectomies, colostomy appliances, penile implants, catheter tubes and the size of their breasts or genitals as a pre-requisite to boarding a plane.”
Besides masking their faces, the TSA says on its website, the images made “will not be printed stored or transmitted.”
“Once the transportation security officer has viewed the image and resolved anomalies, the image is erased from the screen permanently. The officer is unable to print, export, store or transmit the image.”
Lara Uselding, a TSA spokeswoman, added that passengers are not obliged to accept the new machines.
“The passengers can choose between the body imaging and the pat-down,” she told AFP.
TSA foresees 30 of the machines installed across the country by the end of 2008. In Europe, Amsterdam’s Schipol airport is already using the scanners.
Trinity Sunday
This was Trinity Sunday, and I hesitate to even bring it up, because it always causes so much misunderstanding between us. No, we don’t believe in three Gods. We believe in one God, who is at the same time Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
I am not a theologian, so what I am about to tell you is just my interpretation of a mystery which has been debated by minds much greater than my own. I tell my Muslim friends that it is like this:
I have a relationship with my husband, as his wife. We communicate in a certain way, we understand one another in a certain way, to my husband, I am his wife.
I am mother to my son, we communicate differently, and he thinks of me as mother.
I am daughter to my mother, and we communicate differently, and she thinks of me as her daughter.
My husband doesn’t think of me as daughter, and neither does my son. I am all three, and yet I am one person.
That is grossly simplified, and God is much more complicated than I can understand. I just wanted you to know, we believe, as Muslims do, that there is one God.
We do not believe God had sex with Mary. We believe Mary conceived by the wish of God, she conceived immaculately, without having had sex. The Angel Gabriel came to her and told her she had been selected, but she could say yes or no, and she said “yes.” Because she said yes, Jesus was born of Mary.
This was a sweet Sunday for me, because I was able to worship in my home church, here in Seattle. We sang all the oldest hymns. It was a lovely service. Afterwards, I asked the priests if I could take their photos for you, my friends in Kuwait.
If you want to argue with me, it won’t do any good. I am not that smart about religion, I just believe, I’m a pretty simple character. Find someone smarter than I am to argue with!
Not Your Kuwait Driver’s License
Earlier this year, I wrote about getting my Kuwait Driver’s License never thinking I would be going through the process again this year here in Seattle. I know it sounds crazy, but it just didn’t occur to me that the license might expire. It isn’t a good thing to find out when you are about to pick up a rental car and your license is declined because it expired.
So I needed to go get a new license first thing this morning. I know how crowded the driver’s license place is early in the morning, so I didn’t go first thing. When I got there, there were about 15 people in front of me.
They have this system. You go in and they have a big list of services and fees posted. Then you go to a machine and press a button for the service you need, and you get a number. I waited five minutes.
The woman asked how she could help and I told her I needed to renew my expired driver’s license. She asked why it had expired and I told her I live in Kuwait, and she said “oh! other country” and put in that code. She asked about you, she asked how I liked living in Kuwait, she was worried about my safety – I get that a lot. I tell them about Kuwait, about how nice it is, how I have lots of good friends, and that it is a nice place to live. I tell them I feel safe (I don’t tell them about the driving!) and that if anything were to happen, I believe I have friends who would protect me. I could see a lot of this was news to her, and she was happy to hear it.
She asked me if I was restricted in my dress, and I laughed and said “well, I dress modestly, so it isn’t really a problem.” She stopped and thought a little and said “I dress modestly, too.”
All of that conversation, plus my paying for a new license and taking an eye test, took five minutes. I had to take five steps over to where my photo was taken, and 30 seconds later my temporary license, photo and all, was in my hands. My permanent license will be sent to me within a week.
How sweet is that?
It was SO orderly. No one pushing in front of anyone, waving papers, insisting on going first. Everyone takes a number, everyone gets the same courteous service and it is FAST. I was in and out in less than fifteen minutes, and that includes the waiting time and the conversation. I love systems and processes!
Today’s Grin
WordPress keeps hooking me up with blogs I would never otherwise come across. Today, I was connected with 4yoursoul and found this great joke, which I have shamelessly copied to share with you. Please go to 4yoursoul for more gems:
A new blonde employee calls the Help Desk to complain that there’s something wrong with her password. No, it’s not the usual caps-lock problem.
“The problem is that whenever I type the password, it just shows stars,” she says.
“Those asterisks are to protect you,” the Help Desk technician explains, “so if someone were standing behind you, they wouldn’t be able to read your password.”
“Yeah,” she says, “but they show up even when there is no one standing behind me.”
No Release, No Travel, reports Darwish
In today’s Kuwait Times, Badria Darwish informs us that:
“the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) has decided to ask all expatriates before exiting the country – whether on holiday or permanently – to obtain a certificate of clearance from the ministry. The certificate is only valid for one month. If the expat doesn’t have it, he will be returning from the airport the same day . . . “
On page 2, a news article confirms her report.
“The Ministry of Electricity and Water announced it is in the process of issuing a legislation. It said it instructed the Assistant Undersecretary Jassim Al-Linqawi, in charge of consumer affairs at the ministry, to coordinate with the Interior Ministry to enforce the legislation. The legislation, it added, will mandate all expatriates planning to proceed on vacation to obtain a clearance document from the Ministry of Electricity and Water that they are clear of all pending bills. All expatriates having arrears will not be permitted to travel either through the airport or the various surface borders around the country. The legislation is expected to be enforced soon . . .
The Ministry of Electricity also instructed the Interior Ministry to empower their employees, who collect electricity dues, to force their way into the residences of all those residences of al those residents who refuse to let them check the electricity meters. . . . “
Oh! Those pesky expats, running red lights and neglecting to pay their electricity and water bills. Yeh. Right.
This does present the bureaucracy with a fascinating challenge. First, to immediately construct a way in which all consumers can receive bills, like through a postal system. Second, to collect the accurate information for each customer, making sure that “no one is above the law.” Third, to bill consumers in a way that they know that they have been billed, and to have a follow up procedure – you know, like warnings, and a way to turn off the service? Fourth, a way to follow all this by computer – accurately. Oh, yes, and co-ordinating between the MEW and the MOI. And have it ready to be enforced “soon.”
Fireboat Practice
Who knew? Who knew the Kuwait Coast Guard – or the Kuwait Fire Department – now has fire boats? These look pretty new, and we are guessing they are having a practice, out in the Gulf on this beautiful Friday:
Fire boats are fairly specialized pieces of equipment. Once you buy them, you have to learn how to operate them. You don’t want them learning when YOUR boat is on fire, you want them to have had some exercises learning how to use their equipment efficiently. Bravo, Kuwait fire department.
Photo tools
Technical issue – Yousef – this is what I see in my “gallery” when I select a photo. Is this what you see? Where are the tools? How do you resize from here?
Hope in a Bottle
From BBC Health News comes this report on a face cream that really works.
The problem with creams that claim to prevent wrinkles, or to reverse aging, is that they make claims like “visible difference in 7 days.” I buy them, try them, and after seven days, I may not see a visible lessening of wrinkles, but on the other hand, neither do I know what I might have looked like if I didn’t use the cream. Few of these claims are ever tested scientifically.
You tend to think that the more you pay, the better the cream. It isn’t necessarily so.
Face creams under the microscope
An “unprecedented” clinical trial on a high street anti-ageing cream may change the face of the skin care market in this country, dermatologists say.
At present there is a lack of clinical data to prove which creams really do slow down the skin’s ageing process.
Industry is thought to have shied away from major trials in part for fear products, if effective, could then be deemed medicines and tightly regulated.
But the trial on a Boots moisturiser may prove if these fears are founded.
There was a run on the chain’s No. 7 Protect & Perfect Beauty Serum after the BBC’s Horizon programme last year suggested it might be one of the more effective creams on the market.
Chris Griffiths, professor of dermatology at the University of Manchester, has just concluded a clinical trial on the lotion, involving 60 volunteers over a period of six months.
The data is now being analysed before being submitted to a scientific journal for peer review – in what is thought to be an unprecedented process for a high street skin care product.
“If it is proven to work – and there is certainly no guarantee that’s what we’ll find – then the debate will start on whether there is a point at which a cream is so effective it becomes a medicine,” he says.
The active ingredients in the cream include white lupin – a flower extract – and retinyl palmitate, on top of a plain moisturising base. The trial will not establish which, if any, is effective, but how the combination works together.
You can read the entire article HERE.
Recent Comments
intlxpatr on Shampoo Ginger tigerbutterya0c5ff1d… on Shampoo Ginger intlxpatr on British Soldier Kidnapped, Esc… John on British Soldier Kidnapped, Esc… intlxpatr on British Soldier Kidnapped, Esc… Wikipedia Donate Button
Amazina
Early Voting in Florida
Here There and Everywhere 