***Edit: It has been brought to my attention that the site I featured was a PAY site. Instead of offering Open Office for free, it charged. My apologies. The link at the end now points to the FREE site.*** Open Office Suite version 3 is out, and it ROCKS! I’ve been an OO user since…
First off all, my apologies for no columns the last two days. My DSL modem went up in smoke (after five lousy years! They don’t make them like they used to! ;-). But I’m back, with a vengeance. As you’re painfully aware, I advocate open-source software. I’ve been a 100% Ubuntu user for over six…
When I make a FamilyFirst choice, I try to keep in mind the fact that about a third of you are still doing the dial up thing. So I really try to be kind, bandwidth-wise, with my picks. Unfortunately, today’s pick requires a fairly fat pipeline to function well. My apologies to the non-broadband crowd,…
Okay, my apologies. Today’s FamilyFirst pick is on the geeky side. I’ve had a website online since 1995. It used to be www.ipa.net/~baldguy, but it vanished long ago. Nowadays, I manage 22 websites on my own dedicated server. And it’s a snap doing so, thanks to Plesk. You probably never heard of Plesk. It’s a…
DC Comics circa 1967 were among the most gorgeous publications ever foisted upon the public. That checker box pattern across the front page header has to be seen to be believed. Alas, that checker box disappeared in 1968. But it lives on in today’s amazing, nostalgic, fun FamilyFirst pick: Dial B for Blogger. If you’re…
The universe is a big place. That may just be the biggest understatement you’ll encounter today. The universe is unimaginably big. Its numbers are simply incomprehensible to us. Today’s FamilyFirst site is an unusual pick for me. It’s simply a single video. And my apologies to those accessing through dial-up. But when IU saw this…
“Flintstones! Meet the Flintstones! They’re a modern stoneage family!” If you’re an adult raised in North America, you are no doubt familiar with that song. It’s ubiquitousness was summed up in the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Remember the scene where John Candy organized a bus sing-along? This was the one song EVERYBODY knew. The…
A tradition that is as old as journalism itself is the retraction of errors. It didn’t take long for the first reporter to make his first error and retract it, probably in the form of cuneiform characters on a clay tablet. The web being what it is, of course someone has gathered retractions into one…
Well, it’s been a long week. I believe it’s time to relax and enjoy a celestial show, courtesy of our old friend, the Hubble Space Telescope. Today’s FamilyFirst site is the Hubblesite Gallery. What we have here are hundreds of dazzling photographs taken by the venerable orbiting telescope. And no matter how many times you…
A long, long time ago, on a website far, far away….. (with apologies to George Lucas). Today’s FamSite is one that captures the true spirit of WorldVillage. The reason for that is very simple, since it is the personal site of the founder, creator, and Mayor of our fair cyber village, Joel Comm. At this…