http://kenklaser.gaiastream.com thoughts, ramblings, and rants Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:01:51 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The other day I was looking for a way to keep a window on top while entering its values in another window, and laying both windows side by side wasn’t the best option for one of the windows. So, I started searching for a Stay on Top utility. PowerMenu adds ... http://kenklaser.gaiastream.com/2008/03/17/a-great-little-stay-on-top-utility/ This is a companion post to my prior post titled Ceiling Fan Capacitor Woes which details the search for a supplier of replacement capacitors to restore several broken ceiling fans to full working order. That post also linked to a number of reference sites, and if this topic is interesting, ... http://kenklaser.gaiastream.com/2007/12/28/ceiling-fan-capacitor-solutions/ When we moved, the house we moved into did not have forced air circulation or heating, so in order to circulate the warm air from the single wall heater into the various rooms, we installed 4 ceiling fans about 8 years ago, one in each room, and one in the ... http://kenklaser.gaiastream.com/2007/12/17/ceiling-fan-capacitor-woes/ Here are some aerial photos of the Greensburg tornado damage by Jaime Oppenheimer of The Wichita Eagle. This is major damage that, while different in cause, is reminiscent of Katrina and New Orleans. In the middle of the devastation, it appears there is a grain silo, or perhaps some other ... http://kenklaser.gaiastream.com/2007/05/06/kansas-tornado-damage-photos/ According to a Washington Post news item of May 4, 2007, it appears that President Bush’s Justice Department is writing legislation to immunize the phone companies from lawsuits stemming from post-9/11 surveillance. ‘The proposal states that “no action shall lie . . . in any court, and no penalty ... http://kenklaser.gaiastream.com/2007/05/05/retroactive-lawsuit-immunity-proposed-for-phone-companies/ All images are Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech, and are generated by JPL’s Solar System Simulator. I believe the use of these images is permitted per JPL’s copyright policy. The viewpoint of the simulator has been set as earth, meaning this series of images are geocentric. This next one interests me the most: I marked ... http://kenklaser.gaiastream.com/2007/03/16/saturns-rings-coming-alignment-with-earth/ In my last post I wrote about one technique proofreaders use when checking their documents, and offered simple instructions regarding how to modify a WordPress 1.5.2 wp-admin.css file to help bloggers use the technique. Unfortunately, the 2.x versions require changes to post.php to achieve the same effect. This post ... http://kenklaser.gaiastream.com/2007/03/03/wordpress-212-improved-proofreading/ One of the techniques used by proofreaders when checking their documents is to change the font from proportional to non-proportional and read again. I’m no great proofreader or writer, however, this is a known technique. In reading, I’ve noted that I often look quite quickly at the whole ... http://kenklaser.gaiastream.com/2007/02/27/improved-proofreading-in-wordpress/ Alternate title: My first experience of voting on a Direct Recording Electronic or DRE device. On Nov 7, 2006, upon arrival at the polling place with completed sample ballot in hand, unfamiliar voting machines were visible from the doorway. I asked the poll workers if paper ballots were available. They ... http://kenklaser.gaiastream.com/2006/11/15/complicated-voting-machines/ Once upon a time, I bought and sold stock. During that time I used what is typically referred to as technical analysis and charting. I have a shelf of approximately 35 books about the subject, all of them read at least once, some of them studied closely. During the ... http://kenklaser.gaiastream.com/2006/11/13/another-ceo-scandal/