THE SOUNDBOARD

 

KEEPING PACE IN CYBERSPACE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Heritage Village Computer Club                                                      http://www.hvcomputerclub.org

 

Monthly Meeting

Heritage Hall -- May 14th, 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.

"HOW-TO DEMOS"

by H.V. Computer Club members

Janet Mann and Jean Crosby will demo on:

How-To find and print ancestry data from Ellis Island and the 1930 Census

 

EVERYONE WELCOME, BRING A FRIEND

 

 

 

 

President’s Corner

 

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I hereby present the following information regarding the publication of The Soundboard.

 

Perhaps you are unaware that the Administration of the Activities Building has been providing all HV Clubs with free use of paper and printing services.  Due to economic restraints, we have been asked to reduce the size of our newsletter, The Soundboard to a single sheet using both sides.

 

That change would limit text to one and one half sides to accommodate mailing.  The HVCC Board of Directors feels that to limit its size it would lose too much appeal.  A variety of alternatives were given serious consideration.  Of 300 club members, only about 50 do not provide an e-mail address.  Consequently, it appears that most of our members have access to the Internet where The Soundboard has been presented on the Club’s website for several years.

 

The Board feels that the richness of The Soundboard can be maintained on the HVCC web site, enhanced by color and with ample space for additional content.  This notice is, therefore, the last Soundboard to be mailed.

 

Members are now asked to access The Soundboard via our web site:  www.hvcomputerclub.org .  It can be read directly or printed from the site enabling us to utilize the electronic world in which we live.  We are hopeful that you will find this response to the request to cut back to be satisfactory and reasonable.

 

 

Kenneth F. Pelletier

President

 

 

MAY 31, 2003

SILENT AUCTION

9am-3pm

 

Auction will include new and used equipment, "as is" with no further warranty. Items available are:

COMPUTERS

MONITORS

KEYBOARDS

MICE

SPEAKERS

PRINTERS

MUSIC KEYBOARD

Viewing will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

 

The winners will be announced at 3 p.m. and should be in attendance to take their items away.

 

ANNUAL PICNIC

June 19, 2003 AT 6:00 p.m.

Music Room and Patio of Meeting House

Watch weekly Report for further details

 


 

CD BLOCKING COMING SOON?

By John Borland, Staff Writer, CNET News.com / March 28, 2003, 12:12 PM PT

 

Sunncomm, Macrovision, and other companies are toying with producing CD’s that cannot be copied or “burned”.  The technology has been used in Asia and in Europe but has not yet been introduced in the US on a large-scale basis.  The CD’s to be affected by this antipiracy technology will be those containing audio, such as copy-protected songs.  According to some sources, the technology is flawed and hackers have been able to break through the protections simply by drawing on the CD with a felt-tipped pen.  Concerns are that the CD’s will damage some machines, will not play in some machines, and cannot play in computers.  The new antipiracy technology may allow copying for home use but not for online trading.  This is still in its infant stage.  However, if the new protected CD’s become available anytime soon, (or even later) make sure you know what you are buying and that you read that fine print.  You can read more of this at the following site.

http://news.com.com/2100-1027-994565.html?tag=techdirt

 

 

INTERNET FILE-SHARING

 

To continue in a similar vein, an article dated March 28, 2003 details the attempts to stop Internet music file-sharing.  Jim Wassermann, Associated Press, writes that one of the biggest sites for downloading music is at Kazaa (http://www.Kazaa.com) (you’re welcome!).  What is Kazaa?  Where is Kazaa?  Kazaa is a company that is incorporated on the tiny Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, an offshore tax haven, and has a Washington DC lobbyist who told senators investigating the issue that the music industry's financial slide has less to do with free downloading than with missing the boat on a major shift in distribution methods.  More on this story at the link:

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/5502291.htm

 

 

 

HACKING NEWS

 

Hackers replaced the English-language Web site for Arab satellite television network Al-Jazeera with a U.S. flag and the message 'Let Freedom Ring' as seen in this image taken from a computer Thursday, March 27, 2003. Calling themselves the 'Freedom Cyber Force Militia,' the hackers briefly hijacked Internet traffic destined for Al-Jazeera's Web site and sent traffic to a different Web page on computers operated by Networld Connections Inc., an Internet provider in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo)  The likely hacking technique, called 'DNS poisoning,' fools so-called domain name servers across the Internet and is relatively difficult to defend against.

 

 

 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030327/168/3n2sv.html

 

 

 

BLUE LAWS       

 

I just don’t know about some of these laws that I’ve been told remain on the “books” because it is a waste of time to debate them for removal by our judicial system.  Other sources insist that it is all a hoax and they never existed.  However, some are really quite funny and I have included a few below.  You can explore it further by going to the link or use any search engine, like GOOGLE, type in the keywords “blue laws”, and see what else you find. 

 

·         No one shall cross a river on the Sabbath but authorized clergymen.

·         Whoever brings cards or dice into the dominion shall pay a fine of ₤5.

·         It was illegal to teach evolution in Tennessee until 1968.

·         In Massachusetts you can't legally use tomatoes in clam chowder.

·         It is illegal in Arizona to hunt camels.

·         There is a law against shooting rabbits from a New York City trolley car.

·         In Texas when two trains meet at a crossing "neither shall proceed until the other has gone."

http://www.elastic.org/~fche/mirrors/www.textfiles.com/politics/laws

 

 

 

SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)

 

The pneumonia-like disease is spreading but is not unbeatable.  The CDC (“Center for Disease Control”) has some information on this disease and is a worthwhile site for getting beyond the hoaxes, fears, and misinformation.  Since several cases have been reported in Connecticut, I urge you to become informed.   Keep washing your hands.  I’m thinking that my mom was right when she made us wear gloves whenever we went out in public.  Perhaps this custom should return.  The CDC site has information on smallpox vaccinations as well as lots of other interesting and informative news and advice.

http://www.cdc.gov/

 

The World Health Organization has information on SARS and a story about Dr. Carlo Urbani, an expert on communicable diseases, who died recently of SARS at the age of 46.  Dr. Urbani, based in Hanoi, Viet Nam worked in public health programs in Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam. 

 

Dr. Urbani was the first WHO officer to identify the outbreak of this new disease in an American businessman who had been admitted to a hospital in Hanoi.  Because of his early detection of the disease, global surveillance was heightened and many new cases have been identified and isolated before they infected hospital staff.

http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/

 

 

GETTING TECHNICAL HERE:
MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE ARTICLE - 815411

 

The information in this article applies to:

·                     Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP1

·                     Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP1

 

After you install Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1), your programs may take as much as ten times as long to start.

 

This problem may occur if the programs you run frequently allocate and deallocate large blocks of memory.  Changes in Windows XP SP1 in the memory management system have caused this operation to take significantly longer than with pre-SP1 Windows XP.

 

A supported fix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article.  Apply it only to computers that are experiencing this specific problem.  This fix may receive additional testing.  Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Windows XP service pack that contains this fix.

 

The article review is dated March 19, 2003.  Read more at this link.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;815411

 

 

CANADIAN FF SERIES TO RACE AT GRAND PRIX

 

For anyone interested in auto racing, Salisbury, Connecticut in the beautiful northwest hills of Litchfield County is a great place to visit.  You need to bring your own lawn chairs or blankets.  Food concessions are plentiful and there is always the chance of visiting the “pits” and watching the drivers and crews work on their cars.  There is a town ordinance that prohibits racing on Sunday.  Races are usually scheduled on Friday, Saturday, and Monday.

 

The Canadian Formula Ford Championship is the sixth professional series that will be competing at the Road Racing Center of the East on Memorial Day weekend, May 23-26.

 

“The Mohegan Sun Presents the Lime Rock Park Grand Prix has an unequaled combination of production-based and open-wheel race series that includes the Trans-Am Series for the BF Goodrich Tires Cup, the Speed Touring Car and GT Championships, the Formula Ford 2000 Zetec Championship and the MazdaSpeed Miata Cup Presented by Hankook Tires. The Grand Prix will consist of eight feature events, showcasing some of the most competitive sports car racing in North America.”

 

To order tickets to the Lime Rock Park Grand Prix visit   http://www.limerock.com

(Tickets can also be purchased at the gate.)

 

 

 

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD:                    http://hvcomputerclub.org/officers.html

 

SOUNDBOARD CONTRIBUTIONS:          scottie2@att.net       theweb@snet.net

 

CLASSES, APRIL 2003                              http://www.supercalendar.com/view.php?a=893

 

 

HELPERS:

 

AutoCAD........ Ken Pelletier.................. 264-2310            Digital Camera........ Joe Franzino.......... 264-2922

MS Word........ Arnold Deutchman........ 267-7355            MS Word................. Joe Franzino.......... 264-2922

MS Excel........ Diana Scott................... 264-2134            Paint Shop Pro........ Ken Pelletier.......... 264-2310

Publishing...... Joe Franzino................. 264-2922            Quicken................... Arnold Sail............. 264-2540

Scanning........ Joe Franzino................. 264-2922            WordPerfect........... Jean Van Loon        267-5397