Good morning (or afternoon/evening, depending on when you’re reading this, now that I’ve finally managed to sort this out for the non-members.
Well, we’ve had some truly amazing weather in Victoria this week.

And yet again, after long years of drought, poor old Queensland had record rainfall, floods and all sorts of wet problems.

And here in Victoria – particularly Melbourne last Saturday, we had a ‘once-in-a-hundred-year-storm’.

In parts of Victoria we had a whole month’s average rainfall in 20 minutes!

Here on the Peninsula we were lucky and fared a bit better, just getting the edges of the storm. Nevertheless we were battered by high winds, thunder and lightning.

In fact the lightning must have taken out a piece of equipment, because we were without power for over 6 hours.

Only two of our family computers were online at the time. One of them was connected to a UPS,
but the other one was not. And I was nervous when the power came back on, hoping that everything was still okay.  (thankfully it was).

Unfortunately, sometimes what happens with power fluctuations and power surges, they can damage electronic equipment. And computers don’t fare well at all.

So I’m going to buy another UPS from Mike for the one computer that doesn’t have one.

That got me thinking about the whole UPS thing.

Do you have a UPS?
Do you know what a UPS is?

So, that is our topic for this week’s newsletter – UPSs.

And still on the subject of weather.

I think a remarkable use of technology is to have a look at radar images on your computer.

I’ll use the example of our Bureau of Meteorology in Australia.

www.bom.gov.au

When you get to the website, there are quite a few options for you.

Under the map of Australia, there are three options – Radar, Satellite and Charts.

When you click on Radar, the next page brings up the Weather Watch Radar map.

On the map, click on the area you’d like to focus on – and you will see radar images of that area.

It’s really handy if you’re heading off somewhere and want to see if there’s rain headed your way.

You can see if it’s passed you by, or if there’s a big rain band an hour away.

And if you are interested to see more about the recent hailstorm in Victoria, the same website has details as this month’s feature.
When you click on the link below you will go to a page that has a write up of the event, then some amazing radar images.

http://www.bom.gov.au/inside/services_policy/public/sevwx/vic/20100603_thunder.shtml

And in typical Melbourne fashion, on Monday it was a lovely day – just in time for our Moomba festival and the traditional Street Parade!

Photo from The Age

Yep, amazing!

MEMBER’S PROGRAMS

Series One – Getting To Know My Computer

I was really excited to send out Part Two this week.

This series is designed to just give some basic knowledge and to familiarise you with your computer.

I hope you’ve managed to find the time to read it. If you have -that’s just wonderful, and I really hope you enjoy it, and it helps clear up some mysteries. And if you haven’ yet read either of them, well you have the documents attached to your email, so you can open them any time you’re ready.

And look out in your Inbox this week for Part Three. In this part we’ll take a look ‘under the bonnet’. We’ll explain about things like that whirring noise you sometimes hear, and we’ll show you pictures to go with the names of parts of your computer.

We don’t have a personal interest topic this week, but we’ve got a couple of jokes, sent to me by Anne (thanks hon).

And please remember, that all members are very welcome to send in jokes or stories, or anything you’d like to share with our other members. I’ll email to our Members on your behalf.

Enjoy your week!

No matter how much the boss likes you, if you work in a bank, you can’t
take home the samples. Eddie Cantor

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Problems and solutions

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UPS

UPS stands for Uninterruptible Power Supply.   It’s just that, there’s no interruption to the power supply.

As mentioned earlier, I believe a UPS is essential for anyone who wants to protect their computer.
Indeed other electronic equipment as well.

And for just such an instance as we had last weekend, you just never know when your power is going to suddenly fail. If you have a laptop, you probably have a battery installed, and that might prevent disaster. But then if there’s a power spike, you’ll strike problems too.

In essence a UPS is a battery that takes over the power supply to your computer if the power fails, or becomes unstable.

Here is a link to an article by Choice magazine, which explains it.

http://www.choice.com.au/Reviews-and-Tests/Technology/Computers-and-accessories/Security/Uninterruptible-power-supplies-review.aspx

It’s a really interesting article and does a great job of explaining what a UPS does.

Next week I’ll be ordering my new UPS from Mike from MJR Instruments. He’s our technical guy, and he sells and installs UPSs.

Mike has very kindly offered our members a special price if you decide to protect your computer and invest in a UPS for peace of mind. He is able to supply and install a UPS for you if you live on or near the Peninsula.

But for everyone, we’ll have a video available to show you just how a UPS works. Then you’ll see it in action and have a better idea if you think it’s a good idea to have one or not.  I’ll send you a message when the video is ready.

For anyone who is interested, please either call me on 9787 7500 or Mike on 9775 3456.

Or just click on reply and I’ll give your details to Mike and he can give you a call to work out what’s just right for you.

Don’t forget if you call Mike – let him know you’re part of our community and he’ll certainly look after you.

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HUMOUR ME   

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The Outhouse     

Once there was a little boy who lived in the country.  The family had to use an outhouse, and the little boy hated it because it was so hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter and stank all the time.

The outhouse was sitting on the bank of a creek and the boy was determined that one day he would push that old outhouse straight into the creek.

One day after a spring rain, the creek was swollen so the little boy decided today was the day to push the outhouse into the creek.

He found a large stick and started pushing.  Finally, the outhouse toppled into the creek and floated away.

That night his dad told him they were going to the woodshed after supper.  Knowing that meant a spanking, the little boy asked why.

The dad replied, “Someone pushed the outhouse into the creek today. It was you, wasn’t it son?”

The boy answered yes.

Then he thought a moment and said, “Dad, I read in school today that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree and didn’t get into trouble because he told the truth.”

The dad replied, “Well, son, George Washington’s father wasn’t in the cherry tree.”

And here’s the second one joke – which I love!

What’s in a Name?

A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around, looking for valuables when a voice in the dark said:  ’Jesus knows you’re here.’

He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off, and froze.

When he heard nothing more, after a bit, he shook his head and continued.

Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, clear as a bell he heard:  ’Jesus is watching you.’

Freaked out, he shined his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice.

Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot.

‘Did you say that?’ he hissed at the parrot.

‘Yep’, the parrot confessed, then squawked, ‘I’m just trying to warn you that he is watching you.’

The burglar relaxed. ‘Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?’

‘Moses’, replied the bird.

‘Moses?’ the burglar laughed. ‘What kind of people would name a bird Moses?’

‘The kind of people that would name a Rottweiler Jesus.’

Till next time, have a wonderful week.
Smiles and best wishes

Viv

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