Translate web pages easily with Google Chrome browser.
Recently Google have released a translation tool which is built into their Chrome web browser, and which works automatically. This feature is currently only available in the Beta or Dev version.
Google Chrome has 3 ‘varieties’: Stable, Beta and Dev Channel.
I have been using the Dev Channel for a [...]
Politics! Earlier today, someone in an online forum posed the question:
What is it about politics that it attracts so many nutters?
I decided to respond…
Here are just SOME of the reasons…
The political environment, regardless of party – tends to be abhorrent to all but the dysfunctional, ‘less astute’ and even socially/mentally immature. There are rare exceptions [...]
This week I bought a new office chair.
Because of my cat.
It’s all her fault.
My girl cat Nimue likes stealing my office chair. It is not related to heat because she sits in it when I haven’t used it for ages. At times she sleeps on it.
If I borrowed my wife’s chair (when she was out) [...]
A BSOD, or other computer operating system (OS) failure is usually a big inconvenience and waste of valuable time.
(BSOD = Blue Screen Of Death).
Perhaps you remember all the stress, pain and other feelings associated with the experience?
Should your computer be crucial for your everyday business or personal tasks, then you simply cannot afford a failed [...]
I am deaf. I have about 70% of normal voice tones and 95% of background tones.
I was not born deaf and various theories have been put forward as to why I became deaf. I know why I am deaf.
For years I have worn hearing aids. In the United Kingdom I am officially registered as disabled; [...]
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is offering some free photography courses online.
More detail here:
http://www.petapixel.com/2010/02/16/mit-photography-courses-online
MIT have other free online courses – more info here.
For those who want more information about MIT, which is a quality institution, click here.
My friend writes:
We have all the same problems here that you have in Australia. Whatever happened to the politicians that were proud of their country and did what they thought was right for the people?
New Government Seal:
Official Announcement:
The British government today announced that it is changing its emblem from a Union Flag to a CONDOM [...]
No doubt you mean well, or are just plain unaware of the poisoning risks to your pets.
Check out this excellent resource:
Animal Poison Control Center
…..it’s part of the American Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals (ASPCA) site, which contains lots of other helpful and interesting information for animal lovers.
And by the way…pets are for [...]
This list is common around the Internet in various forms. I am unsure of who is the author of this version.
The list is called the “Pet’s Ten Commandments”.
Personally I prefer to call it a ‘Pet’s Wish List’. We should all be doing these things as a matter of course, however many items can get overlooked [...]
Someone I know mentioned that they have trouble writing for readers…
…..and also asked what I considered to be one of my most poignant and deep articles.
Here I share with you my response:
One of the big keys in life is having a deep awareness of the fact that other people are tuned into WII FM.
This radio [...]
For some general detail about Australia Day and my personal views please check out my post from Australia Day 2009.
First, let me wish everyone a Happy Australia Day 2010 wherever you are.
This year, I am marking Australia Day by participating in The Great Australian Internet Blackout.
The Blackout is a protest at the Rudd government’s dictatorial [...]
I first started using a Firewall way back in the 90’s, at a time when many people had never even heard of them. Around the same time I came across an excellent service for testing firewalls:
Shields Up – provided by the Gibson Research Corporation; owned and operated by Steve Gibson.
I quote:
The Internet’s quickest, most popular, [...]
Last year I purchased a Lexmark C543dn Color Laser printer.
So far, I have been pleased with the performance, features and ease of use of my choice of printer.
A while ago I ordered a black cartridge from a supplier I had bought other things from in the past, but was not totally happy with the price, [...]
It was time for a new keyboard.
These days I buy Microsoft keyboards and mice exclusively. (Early last year I bought a Logitech top of the line mouse – MX Revolution – which became faulty early on. I am still trying to get the situation resolved with Logitech. I have received appalling customer service and support [...]
Your right to create, circulate and follow links is threatened.
This issue is very serious.
Watch the video to find out more and visit the www.Right2Link.org website to take action to protect your rights:
Further reading:
An Open Letter to the UK’s national, regional and local newspapers
NewsNow.co.uk Free Linking Q&A
NewsNow.co.uk
Way back…last century…(yes, it is way back now, especially bearing in mind how far we have come in such a short time)….with my Private Eye hat on I used the Internet to find out things about people. It was surprising how much was out there – back then.
Today it is even ‘worse’. I laughed when [...]
Note: This post was originally published on June 21st 2009 and should be read in that context.
For a long time now, I have suspected that is the financial crisis may not have bottomed. I have been very sceptical of published positive comments of some real estate agents and politicians, who have heralded imminent better times.
I [...]
There is a lot of doom and gloom about the current world economic and financial situation. And yes, some of the news is bad, real bad.
Dwelling on the problems is not going to help us however. I wrote an article on my about positive thinking not being optional – you might like to pop over [...]
These days there is so much stuff being copied, reused, mashed up and so on online that it is hard to know what is acceptable from a copyright and digital rights perspective. Just because we see someone doing things does not mean it is the right thing to do.
Another problem is that there is much [...]
Earlier this year I was running a bit behind and did not attempt to write a post until late. I then discovered that I could not log in to post and also that the site (blog) itself was also down. My other blogs were fine.
Clearly this was a concern, however I did not stress over [...]
WordPress (.org self hosted) is one of my favorite applications.
It’s really slick – the gold standard for blogging. Well made and thought out.
Besides the WordPress developers, I salute the plugin developers too.
I have one small gripe however…. (well, two)….
WordPress installs with a default 45 tag limit in the tag cloud, along with a larger maximum [...]
Here in Australia it is nearly Christmas Eve. Tomorrow morning and afternoon will be the last chance that many people get to purchase Christmas presents for their loved ones.
Are you one of those people who hasn’t done anything yet, or perhaps who has only got one or two presents?
Are you going to fall into the [...]
Earlier this week I took delivery of a new computer – a desktop PC.
This blog post, which will be added to periodically, contains information about my experience which may help some of you, or simply be of interest.
I am very pleased with the machine, the value and the quality of service I received from GR-Tek [...]
Currently I am setting up a new computer and needed to do some Internet connection testing.
Two useful sites:
http://www.speedtest.net
Tests line speed.
My result:
http://www.pingtest.net
Tests quality of the line – it is not just speed which is important.
My result:
Earlier today we learned that Australia is to proceed with mandatory Internet filtering.
I have written blog posts about this issue in the past (which will be moved over to this blog in due course as the others are closing).
Here is a copy of the email I wrote to Senator Conroy, via the Get Up campaign [...]
This article will likely only be of specific interest to people who live on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. Others who are interested in organic food, customer service, sales and marketing may find it interesting also.
My wife and I consume a lot of organic food. We do eat meat (we are omnivores), are not [...]
Just recently I have purchased a new video camera from an online store in Brisbane, Queensland:
CameraPro
Not only did I receive excellent service, I saved between $250 and $350 on what I would have paid at a well known local camera store. The video camera is Australian stock therefore I would have no warranty issues, should [...]
Some readers will know that one of my hats is that of Private Investigator – Private Detective – Private Eye.
Once, I used to conduct email tracing investigations and offered them as one of my services.
Occasionally I still conduct email traces for existing clients if they insist, however I prefer to refer people to expert specialists [...]
As a Private Investigator with specialist expertise in people search, at times I get asked how easy it is to hide, or how easy it is to find someone.
The facts are that not everyone can be found.
Be wary of people or websites that claim “we can find anyone” or similar. They can’t. Period.
In truth, around [...]
Here in Australia we have privacy laws, some of which have recently been strengthened.
One of my hats being that of Private Investigator has given me some “inside” insights about the effects of these privacy laws.
Generally speaking, privacy laws have done little to improve privacy. The new privacy laws have served to improve things markedly for [...]
Some readers of my blog will know that one of my hats is that of Private Investigator.
I have been a Private Investigator in Australia for over 11 years and my background once included finding people for a British government organization.
Over the years I have owned a number of Private Investigation businesses. Private Investigation work represents [...]
Some readers will be aware that one of my ‘hats’ is that of Private Investigator. I don’t do a lot of Private Detective work these days, however one of my specialties is that of people search.
This article is about a way that people can conduct free people searches in Australia.
Anyway, back to the article about [...]
Article originally published July 18th 2009.
Cellphones, or mobile phones as they are known in the UK and Australia, have been around for over 20 years now. I first used one in 1989, though it did not belong to me. It was a huge clunky brick like thing with a large aerial. We all thought it [...]
I have added a disclosure policy to both my blog and website, which can be viewed here:
Website: http://www.blackshaman.com/Disclosure-Policy.html
Blog: http://blackshaman.net/about/disclosure-policy
Should you have any questions please contact me here. Thank you.
When writing this policy, I was assisted by Disclosure Policy Dot Org
To get help with your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org
Life lessons from an ad man – Rory Sutherland.
This video, which is funny and engaging, contains a lot of wisdom and is likely to be of relevance to anyone interested in psychology, marketing, personal development and life in general. It even includes information about how smiley face excess speed devices are more effective at saving [...]
One of things I do on my blog is challenge staid old ways of thinking about life and how best to live it.
It is so easy to drift through life without giving thought to how limited thinking adversely affects us, and those we interact with.
Many people think that rats are dirty, unpleasant creatures that must [...]
Fascinating video of a crow – cat friendship.
As it happens, here on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, we have a local crow family who are quite friendly (we like crows).
A couple of weeks ago crow crept up behind the neighbor’s cat Phoenix (who comes here for a lot of extra food) and pulled his tail [...]
Some Australians profit from terrible animal cruelty resulting from live exports.
By doing so, they also implicitly condone the behavior of the people shown in the video.
And for some reason, the video reminds me of places like Auschwitz.
Watch the Video “5 Investigations. 7 Countries. 1 Conclusion.
More videos from Animals Australia
Animals Australia comment about this video:
In December [...]
Recently I needed to purchase more socks because the last lot I bought were rapidly wearing out. I had bought the previous lot on eBay at a cheap price. I got what I paid for – some of them wore out after only a few wears, and most of the others have been developing holes [...]
Keylogger or key logger – spy software – you may have heard these terms before, but not been really sure what they meant, or how such computer monitoring techniques could help you.
Computer monitoring
This is a “sensitive” topic. Before I explain more however I need to cover some key legal and ethical points.
On the one hand [...]
Regular readers of my blog may be aware that one of my hats is that of Private Detective – Private Eye. These days I focus mainly on the staff/business assessment side of Private Investigator work. I was once considered one of the best people finders in the country. More information here.
I stopped doing surveillance years [...]
Note: Originally published on a now defunct blog on 16th January 2009
Readers of my blogs may be aware that I enjoy playing some computer games.
I even have a page devoted to the subject on my website here.
Soon, my favorite computer game developer – The Creative Assembly – will be releasing Empire – Total War. [...]
Note: Originally written during mid 2008 on an old blog
If I find a stray cat or dog I am very careful about where I take it.
The reason for this is that many council pounds/facilities and other similar places carry out large scale executions. (They use “nice” sounding words like euthanize, put to sleep and [...]
Amazing video of a ship which sank around 1500 years ago – in the Byzantine era – and which is perfectly preserved.
The ship is perfectly preserved due to the nature of the Black Sea and the depth of water where it sank.
To me, people, cultures and history are fascinating.
This video is a window to history.
Have you ever had problems uninstalling software?
Perhaps, at times, you have been unable to find the uninstaller for a program?
At others, you may have discovered that not all parts of the application were uninstalled.
Or maybe the uninstall went badly.
It is of course extremely important to ensure that unwanted computer programs are uninstalled correctly.
Uninstallations which go [...]
My wife and I like to eat oily fish at least once a week, partly for health reasons.
Our fish of choice is Salmon.
My wife, who is a very good cook, prefers not to cook fish herself. (I am very poor at cooking and am under severe restrictions as to what I am allowed to do [...]
Time to me is very precious.
I love to find ways of saving time and to get more done in less time.
Without stressing that is.
One key to better time management, efficiency and productivity is to use the right software, or other method, for time tracking.
Until recently I had been using a simple desktop stop watch, which [...]
How much time do you have to waste at the shopping mall choosing picture frames?
…..And then going to collect them.
It can take ages sometimes before the frames are ready!
These days I buy my frames online at one website.
I get good prices, great choice, excellent service and quality.
I never have to wait long.
Because I can take [...]
Recently I came across across yet another article about people being cruel to cats In Australia.
Youth arrested for kicking cat to death
Cruelty to cats is increasingly common in Australia. Perpetrators range from the young to old people.
I know a woman (we won’t call her a lady) for example who, at beyond retirement age, will deliberately [...]
Back in the days when Internet Explorer did not have tabbed browsing I used to use Avant Browser instead of IE.
Avant is still an excellent browser with a variety of handy features. So if you want IE, but without some of the associated ‘hassle’, give Avant browser a whirl. It’s free, reliable and robust. It [...]
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