Author Archive
WOW News – 23 Oct
October 23rd, 2009 | 
Author: Welcome to this week’s news from The Web on Wheels!
I hope you’re having a fabulous week.
Here in Victoria we’ve finally had some great rain. It has been so welcome! And it’s amazing to see people no longer grumble about the rain. Our average levels in our dams is now up to 36.8% of capacity.
Here’s a link to the Melbourne Water website, if you’d like to visit the site: http://tinyurl.com/r2e8gy We looked at this site a few months ago, and the levels were up to 28% from 22%!
And still in Australia, up in Queensland they’re now in day 25 of ongoing bushfires. The firefighters and emergency services people must be so exhausted.
I hope the expected rains on Friday manage to extinguish this lot of fires.
Focus group – Bayside. We had our Bayside focus group last week. It was a really nasty day, weather wise, but six of us still managed to have a lovely morning. The venue was in Mordialloc, overlooking a wild sea – and we were toasty warm beside the fire. It was rather nice! I received a lot of great feedback which I’ll consider along with the feedback from the Mt Martha group and all the responses from the survey. I already have plans for the changes to our website to make it much easier to use, and make membership in our community really valuable.
Here’s one of the pics that June sent from our Mt Martha focus group:
Internet Security telecall. I am so excited to let you know that we’ll be having the first of our teleseminar series starting next week.
These teleseminars are recordings of conversations with various experts or people who have in-depth knowledge about computer related topics.
Our first topic will be internet security. We’ll be chatting about just what internet security is, what some of the terms actually mean, and what you can do to minimise your risk.
If you have any questions or concerns about internet security please email me. I’d love to be able to discuss your question or issue on the call.
All these calls in our teleseminar series, will be recorded, and available on our website, for our members to listen to whenever it suits.
I will make this first call available to everyone, but after the first call, they will be available just to our members. I’ll send details after the call about how to listen to the recording.
But in the meantime, please let me know of your questions or issues around internet security. Please email me: info@thewebonwheels.com.au and we’ll try to address those specific issues during the call.
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JOIN OUR COMMUNITY These steps are to ensure that it’s actually you filling out the form. If it’s all too hard, or you’re not sure of which level you should join, please feel free to email me, or call me and I can arrange to actually do it for you (info@thewebonwheels.com.au or (03) 9787 7500 – Australia). |
I’ve received mixed feedback from our survey regarding the content of our newsletters.
Some people prefer our newsletters focussed more on computer issues, rather than personal interest stories, and other people have commented that they really like the mix of computer and wellness issues. So, starting from this newsletter, I will now make the personal interest stories occasional articles, rather than in every issue.
When I do include the ‘health/wellness/personal interest articles’, they will always come after the ‘computer article’, so if you’re not interested in these type of articles, just stop after the computer article, or read on if they appeal to you.
In this issue we’ll look at:
- Backup your computer files;
- a light-hearted look at living in the year 2009.
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Just a quick word about the content of this message.
Throughout this newsletter I have included various links to websites, and included some pictures. Sometimes those links don’t work.
It’s NOT you!
Sometimes your computer, or the system you’re using (eg. Hotmail, Outlook) decide to look after your security and block your ability to go straight to an outside website or to download pictures. Sometimes it’s simply that your computer is set to get only plain text messages. So no matter what you do, you won’t get the nice looking, easy-clicking tricks, your message will be just as it says – plain text without any of the fancy stuff.
If a link doesn’t work, try looking on your screen, usually toward the top of the email message and see if there’s some sort of message saying something about the link not being allowed. It might say, “Click here to download pictures” or “to protect your privacy downloads have been prevented” or “links have been disabled” – or something similar. Most of the time, it also gives you the option to click in that message area and give your computer permission to go ahead and allow the picture to come onto your computer, or allow you to get to the website.
(Let me know if things don’t work as you expect and I’ll get it sorted for you.)
Until next time, please take good care of yourself.
All the best,
Viv
“The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail
instead of his tongue.” Unknown
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Computer Issues
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Backup. 
Following on from one of our group messages last week, today’s topic is a quick look at backups.
In this article, we’ll look at
- what a backup is,
- why we should backup,
- a snippet from the Wikipedia definition for backup,
- what you can backup on to,
- the steps to use the Microsoft Backup Wizard,
- and we have a link to a video, which gives a pretty good explanation and the instructions for doing a backup in Windows Vista. The steps are quite similar in both Vista and Windows XP, you just need to look in different places to find it (don’t ask me – ask Microsoft!).
What is a backup? Well, of course as with all things technological, this can be complicated if we want to make it so. And different people and different systems add to the complication mix. For our purposes, we’re looking at backup of your computer files.
Most simply a backup is
• A copy of certain information in your computer.
• That copied information is placed somewhere else.
• Then when you do another backup it is any new or changed information that is ‘backed up’ and added to the original files. (this is called incremental backup)
Why do a backup? For many of our members, you might be wondering if it’s even worthwhile doing a backup. The answer is
Yes. (just look at the photo below!)
(picture courtesy hhh.gavilan.edu)
The reason for doing a backup is when something catastrophic happens to your computer (oh, I mean IF, not when 
) then your backup files can be used. A ‘Restore’ can be performed, and your files can be … restored, to your computer, whether it be a new replacement computer or a repaired one. And the other reason for doing a backup – have you ever been concerned that you have deleted a file? Or has something happened to a file and it appears to be damaged? Well, if you have done a backup, your file should be sitting nice and safe in your backup files.
I hope you never need to use the backup files – if things go along smoothly, you will never them. But, just like your insurance policy that you pay good money for every year, that you hope you never need to claim on, keeping a regular backup of your files is your insurance against losing your precious information.
How do we backup? Most home users tend to do an actual copy of their computer files, then the next time they back up, they take another full copy of their computer files. Which is just fine if you don’t have a lot of files, and you’ve got the equipment to put the copies on.
But if you’ve got a lot of information, or you are diligent and doing your backups regularly, you probably should do an actual backup, rather than a full copy. So that means just the new and changed information is copied, which is much quicker. And the program to do the backup is right inside your computer, so let’s use that program to simplify this task.
What can you backup onto? Your choices for what you copy your backup files onto include: CD, DVD, Memory Stick, Memory Card, External Hard disk. Some other equipment which isn’t used often nowadays, but still can be appropriate are zip drives and floppy discs. Backups can also be copied onto a separate file inside your computer, but of course you can’t remove that for safe keeping.
And there is even an option to backup to remote computers. That is, a computer somewhere else in the world. Personally I don’t like either of these last two options, as I prefer to copy onto something in my own office, and something I can physically hold. But that comes down to personal preference.
As I’ve started writing this article, it has grown and grown, and I don’t want this to be a long and complicated process.
Backup really is a simple process if you let the inbuilt program do its work. You schedule the computer to do the backup on a certain day at a certain time, and remember to put your CD or memory stick or other equipment in, then it’s really a ‘set and forget’ process and your information is copied, and then hopefully safe.
So I think this will need to turn into a little Member’s e-course, that way I’ll be able to take you carefully through each of the steps, you’ll be set up and then you won’t need to worry.
And of course, any Silver and Gold members can have me set this up for you so that the schedule is set, you will just need to physically place your equipment or disc in the computer – and I can do all the rest from my office!
For those who do want to get started though, an outline of the steps to use the Backup Wizard are at the end of this article.
Wikipedia has in-depth information about the term, ‘Backup’. They go on (and on) about this subject, and for those who like details (hi David), click on the following link, (the blue, underlined link) and you’ll go to the Wikipedia site for the whole entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup
I’ve just selected a little piece of the entry here:
In information technology, a backup or the process of backing up refer to making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. These additional copies are typically called “backups.”
…. In the modern era of computing there are many different types of data storage devices that are useful for making backups.Before data is sent to its storage location, it is selected, extracted, and manipulated. Many different techniques have been developed to optimize the backup procedure. These include optimizations for dealing with open files and live data sources as well as compression, encryption, and de-duplication, among others. Many organizations and individuals try to have confidence that the process is working as expected and work to define measurements and validation techniques. It is also important to recognize the limitations and human factors involved in any backup scheme.
Mmm, I think we’ll leave the article there.
As you can see, they start to get into the nitty-gritty of it, and that can be a good thing if you need to know. But for most of us, well we don’t need to know the details, just how it works.
There are many different ways to do a back up, there are many programs made specifically to do backups, there are many different devices (pieces of equipment) to back up onto, but for most of us, we might as well take advantage of the program that’s built right into the Microsoft system.
The primary reason for having a backup copy of information on your computer (data) is if you were unlucky enough to have your computer break down – or stolen, you would have your backed up copy of your data easily available. It might be a few days or weeks old, depending on the last time you backed up, but nonetheless, you would have the information.
I’m going to use a fictitious member ‘Daisy’ as the example here. Daisy uses her laptop computer to send and receive emails, to find out things on the internet, to occasionally buy products on the internet, and she has quite a few photos that she’s taken with her mobile phone, and also a digital camera. And Daisy has a big long list of Favorites in Internet Explorer, because she is tracing her family tree and wants to go back to particular sites. All this information is stored on her computer.
One day she arrives home to find her home has been burgled – and you guessed it, her laptop has been stolen! Nothing was vandalised in her home, but she did have possessions stolen. Daisy has insurance, and they issue a cheque for her claim very quickly. Daisy is able to buy the latest laptop. She decides to have a technician come and setup her laptop again, as she really doesn’t want to be bothered with the technical side of things.
Michael arrives to install things on her new laptop – and Daisy hands him her flash drive, which she had given to her daughter for safe keeping. On the flash drive was a copy of her weekly backup. It contained her computer programs, her photos, her emails – all her precious data kept safe and sound. Michael was able to re-install all that data on her new laptop, in no time at all and with no hassles.
So, for the folks who are ready – shall we back up?
We’ll use the Microsoft Back up Wizard.
As usual, in Microsoft’s ‘wisdom’ the Back Up Wizard is in different places, depending on which system you have.
** In Windows XP Click on Start, Click on Accessories, Click on System Tools, Click on Backup.
** In Windows Vista Click on Start, Click on Control Panel, Click on System and Maintenance, Click on Backup your Computer.
• Make sure you have the equipment you want to back up onto ready, and make sure they have sufficient capacity to copy all your files.
• Plug in your equipment, or put your disc into the CD/DVD drive.
• Use the Wizard to set your schedule.
• Follow the Wizard’s prompts to tell your computer
a) when to backup;
b) which type of files to backup;
c) which drive to copy the backup files onto.
• There is a button Back up Now, if you don’t want to wait for your scheduled time.
If you chose to use a memory stick, or a piece of equipment that’s plugged into your computer in a USB port, please don’t forget, when you take out that equipment, to go through the Safely Remove Hardware procedure. 
Image courtesy of Microsoft:
If you’re new and haven’t got to Quick Tip #08 yet, or perhaps you’ve forgotten what to do, a summary is below, and here is a link to the article: http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au/members/thewebonwheels/blog/VIEW/00000007/00000010/Safely-Remove-Hardware.html#00000010
Double click, or right-click on the icon in the bottom right hand side of your screen – in the System Tray.
It looks similar to this in XP: 
And this in Vista: 
A screen will appear, with your device listed.
Click on the one you want to stop using, click on Stop.
A message will appear saying: ‘This device can now be safely removed from the computer’, or: ‘Safe to Remove Hardware’.
And finally, here is a video on YouTube that’s really quite informative and helpful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETaK5uxTvvY
Happy back-upping!
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Humour me!
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Subject: Living in the Year 2009
YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2009 when…
1.. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven’t played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don’t have e-mail addresses.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.
7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.
8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn’t have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.
11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )
12. You’re reading this and nodding and laughing.
13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.
14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.
15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn’t a #9 on this list
AND NOW YOU ARE LAUGHING at yourself.
…… I am Getting a Life
Bye for this week,
Smiles and best wishes
Viv
Posted in 
WOW News – 12 Sept
Hello again, here we are with another WOW News for you.
Yet another busy couple of weeks – and already it’s Spring in Australia. Our weather today is just magnificent, the air is fresh and the sun is shining. And the school holidays are just around the corner for us – one more week to go!
And yet amongst all that, we have yet another anniversary of that most awful date in America’s history, September 11. My heartfelt warmest wishes to anybody who is affected by that awfulness.
FOCUS GROUP
We had our first focus group – gee a week ago already … it was great fun. And a couple of friendships were formed right there on the day, it was lovely to see. I have already got some great feedback from that day, so I’m looking forward to the next session in Mordialloc after the school holidays.
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO LEARN
Now for anybody out there who thinks they’re too old for all this technology stuff – perhaps take a look at this article from CNN. Ivy Bean is a woman in England – who is 104 years old, and is Twitter’s oldest user!
Here’s the CNN article, if you care to read about Ivy.
BRADFORD, England (CNN) — Tuesday is her 104th birthday, but that hasn’t stopped Britain’s Ivy Bean from being an avid Twitter user and possibly the oldest person on the social networking site.
Ivy Bean has 27,000 Twitter followers and tweets from the care home where she lives in Bradford, England.
From the care home where she lives in the northern English city of Bradford, near Leeds, Bean updates her more than 27,000 Twitter followers about the ups and downs of her life — from getting her hair done with her good friend Mabel, to eating fish and chips and watching her favorite game show, “Deal or No Deal,” on TV.
Last month, she tweeted her sadness that her friend Norma had passed away overnight.
Before getting onto Twitter, Bean was already active on Facebook, where she maxed out her 5,000-friend limit in no time.
Bean says she prefers Twitter because it’s easier than Facebook — it only requires updating. She has linked both accounts so that her tweets automatically show up on Facebook.
Bean says she knows people must think it’s amazing that she’s so active on online, but she thinks it’s a good way of keeping in touch with people.
And for those who find it hard to jump on the Twitter bandwagon, Bean offers this advice: “Keep on at it.”
“Old” is not the first — or second or even 10th — word that comes to mind with Bean, an engaging, lively and friendly lady with a warm and infectious smile.
Don’t Miss
A resident of Hillside Manor, she recently won a gold medal at the residential home’s Over-75 Olympics in the Frisbee-throwing category. And she enjoys bowling on the home’s Nintendo Wii.
No surprise, perhaps, for a lady who was a gymnast when she was younger.
What do her friends think of her online popularity? “I think they might be jealous,” she said with a joking laugh.
Others at Hillside Manor also have Twitter accounts, but not Bean’s friend, Mabel Davis, 87.
“Just put me on yours, Ivy,” she says.
Already, Bean’s centenarian tweeting and Facebooking have attracted international attention, and news outlets from around the world have interviewed her.
Bean’s daughter, Sandra Logan, 61, said she arrived for a visit one day only to find her mom busy with a call.
“I’m on the phone with Israel,” Bean called out to her daughter.
Part of the reason Bean is so active online is because the care home makes activities for its residents a priority. One resident wanted to learn more about photography, so he now takes a course once a week at a local college. The home also helped another resident get a passport so he could visit his son in Spain.
Hillside Manor also recently hosted a quiz with students from the local college. The subject was history. The Hillside Manor residents won.
“We’re trying to do something different than knitting or crochet,” explained Pat Wright, the home’s manager.
Bean came from a large family with four brothers and three sisters. All are gone, Logan said.
Bean, who was in the middle of her siblings, was approaching 40 when she got married during the “great war” to Harold Gibson Bean. He was a cook in the army, and she worked in a mill.
After the war, the couple got a job “in service” to a wealthy family. Ivy Bean was a housekeeper and her husband was the cook and butler to Lord and Lady Guinness in Northamptonshire, England. Daughter Sandra, their only child, was born two years later, in 1947.
The couple retired together but Harold Bean died a few years later, when he was in his 70s, Logan said.
Bean now has three great-grandchildren with two more on the way, Logan said. They all call their famous great-grandmother “Little Nan.”
Wright says Bean is “very open” to new suggestions and new ideas and is always willing to have a go at something.
“She must have been like that all her life,” Wright says. “It’s not a new thing. I think if you’re one of those people that’ll try anything through your life, it doesn’t stop when you get old.”
As she types an update on her Twitter page, Bean certainly seems to be displaying an open mind. Would she agree?
“I don’t know if I have or not,” Bean says. “But there’s something there. There must be!” END ARTICLE
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This week’s problem and solution
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Slow Computers 
One of the most annoying problems with computers is the way they inexplicably slow down. You buy this nice, shiny computer and everything works so fast. But within a short time, things seem to slow down. What used to take seconds, now seems to take minutes.
There are all sorts of ways to speed up the way your computer works, some of the ways of course are quite technical, but there are several steps we ordinary people can quite easily take to improve things.
One of the many reasons our computers slow up is because they get clogged up with unwanted files. And one way to speed up your computer can be to clear out your computer’s hard disk of these unnecessary files. You can do this manually, but Windows has an automated program to do it for you.
Today we will look at two areas that usually take up a lot of space in your computer’s hard disk – all the Temporary Internet Files and everything that’s in your Recycle Bin. When you delete things from your computer, they go into the Recycle Bin. Just like your email’s deleted Items Folder, the Recycle Bin needs emptying from time to time.
And there is one other thing that works a treat – disabling the automatic indexing of files. That might sound weird or complicated, but all you need to do is click in a box, and it’s disabled.
There are only a few steps to do all three of these functions, which you’ll see in the video.
- Click Start, then click on Computer (or My Computer if you have XP.)
- Right-click on your C drive. (C: drive or Local Hard Disc C: or something similar), scroll down and click on Properties. A new window will be displayed.
- Click in the box down the bottom, next to: ‘Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching’. (this will remove the tick, which stops the function).
- Click on Disk Cleanup. If a window appears asking which users files to fix, click on All users for this computer, (or just my files, if that’s what you want).
- Your computer will work out which files are available to be cleaned up, and will put a tick in some obvious categories. Leave these ticked, unless you’re certain you want to keep them. - Click in the box next to Recycle Bin and Temporary Internet Files (this will put a tick in the box)
- Click OK.
The computer will ask you if you’re sure you want to permanently delete these files. - Click OK
Come along and watch the video and you’ll see how easy this is to do. http://tinyurl.com/mgft32
And for the more adventurous amongst us, here are two links I’ll give you today. They each have different suggestions, but both articles are quite informative and easy to follow. But please, only tackle what you feel confident in doing.
http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/maintenance/speed.aspx
and: http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2005/12/03/10-simple-ways-to-speed-up-windows-xp/
Click on the link to either or both of the articles, and print out the steps if you want to do some maintenance. There are also a multitude of programs out there, called registry cleaners, but I don’t trust most of these. If you see these flashy little boxes, saying “they’ve discovered you have 32,000 errors on your computer, download here to fix it”, – please don’t listen to them. Usually, they scan your computer and give you some huge figure of perceived problems and then when you’re really nervous tell you “purchase now and we can fix it for you”.
Of course they might work just fine.
But I believe any reputable company wouldn’t use these scare tactics to get you to buy their product. There are of course some excellent products out there, but we’ll look at them another day.
Oh, and if you’re a Gold Member and want a hand with this – you can use your one-on-one time this month to have me actually DO this for you. With the wonders of technology, I can do this for you from my office. Email for details.
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How are you?
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I am so excited with this news. Allison Ford from Actively Ageing is a physiotherapist who specialises in exercises for the over 65 age group. Ali has a book and DVD which takes you through some simple exercises.
Ali has made a very generous offer to our Web on Wheels members and subscribers. Purchase Ali’s book and DVD package – ‘Actively Ageing’, which normally sells for $88 for only $67, plus postage.
Ali is also going to throw in a free mystery gift for us. The book has two exercise sessions -30 mins each. Two different levels of exercise-one using a chair, the other using a mat on the floor.
And if you don’t want to purchase online, or don’t have a credit card, you can let me know, and I’ll be able to organise things for you. I’m not making any money out of this, I just want to let you know about this great way to exercise.
Next week I’ll be chatting with Ali, and for anybody who is interested in finding out more, I’ll send the details of how you can see the video of our chat. This way you’ll get to ‘meet’ Ali, before you get her book, whilst using your computer skills.
And now all we over-fifties in our fancy new glasses might appreciate this week’s joke.
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Humour me!
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Two pieces for you today.
The first is what we need after the techie problem we looked at this week.
This cartoon is a light-hearted look at how we people who help with computer stuff really do it.
The second is sent from David – thanks!!
I LOVE THIS ONE – HOPE YOU APPRECIATE IT TOO!
Now on to David’s funny:
Subject: tomatoes
An Old Italian man lived alone in the country. He wanted to dig his tomato Garden, but it was very strenuous work as the ground was rock hard. His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:
Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty badly because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me.
Love,
Dad
A few days later he received a letter from his son:
Dear Dad,
Don’t dig up that garden. That’s where I buried the bodies.
Love,
Vinnie
Because his mail had been censored at the prison, at 4 a.m. next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left.
That same day the old man received another letter from his son:
Dear Dad,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That’s the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you,
Vinnie
Till next week, smiles and best wishes!
Viv
In this edition we’ll look at:
- 104 year old Ivy Bean
- Speeding up your computer;
- Keeping active; and
- Humour – Help desk and tomatoes
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A quick word about the content of this message.
If this message doesn’t display properly, please click here to read the message online: http://tinyurl.com/n58xpq
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Until next time, please take good care of yourself.
Viv
” To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to remember it.”
Confucious
WOW News – 26 Aug
Hello, and here we are with Part B of our WOW News
In case you missed the last message, this week’s newsletter is focussed on health and fitness. And we’re particularly looking at a Health and Fitness Giveaway Event. The event we’re looking at only has a few days left to run – I apologise for the lateness of letting you know about it, but as they say “better late than never”.
I didn’t want you to miss the opportunity and maybe the tight timeline will spur you to take action, and get some practice at the same time.
In this edition we’ll look at:
- Health and Fitness Giveaway Event; and
- Healthy Humour
Until next time, please take good care of yourself.
Viv
“A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools” Spanish Proverb
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Site to See
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Health and Fitness Giveaway Event
Here is the link to the site: http://healthandfitnessgiveawayevent.com/go/3644
In part A of the newsletter we looked at what a Giveaway Event is. To re-cap, it’s when a group of people with similarly themed products get together to offer some sort of digital product for free.
It’s all grouped together on a Giveaway Event website. You make an account at the site, search through the list of available gifts – this giveaway has 158 freebies. When you find something you like, you go through the steps to download it to your computer.
As mentioned in the last email, the reason for people offering free products through a giveaway event, is so they can find new subscribers for their business, by receiving your email address in exchange for the free gift. This is usually so they can offer you a product or service for sale further down the track.
Now, down to the nitty-gritty: How To Get your Giveaways!
In brief: you join up to the giveaway event to get an account, which gives you access to all the giveaways. Find one or many that you want – Download the gifts.
There are a few steps, but if you follow along you’ll have your gift in no time.
- The first thing you’ll need to do is Join the Giveaway Event.
- Once you’ve entered your details, you will be given a password. Use the details in the email to Log In to your Account.
- The first window you come to will be a random offer of some product. You can choose to purchase, or else click on a button at the bottom, to ignore the offer.
- Next you’ll go to the Giveaway Event.
- The first page list some Random Hot offers.
- At the top of this page look for the Get Gifts link. Click that and you go to the 16 pages of gifts.
- Scroll through each page, click on any that appeal, look through their offer, either follow their instructions to receive your gift, of close the window to continue on through the pages.
- At the top and bottom of the Get Gifts pages, are the links to all the pages – numbered 1 to 16. Click on whichever page you want to try next and scroll through that page looking for something that appeals.
HERE ARE THE STEPS IN DETAIL, WITH PICTURES
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But wait! There’s more!!
- Once you’ve scanned through the first page, which is the Random Gifts page. (people pay to get on that page, hoping you’ll notice them first.) Click on the General Downloads link to finally get to the full list. Scroll down the first page, when you get to the bottom of the page, you’ll see a list of numbers – from 1 to 16. They’re all the other pages with offers on them! There are 158 people offering free gifts, so there’s bound to be something to interest you. Yes it does take time trawling through the pages, but if you have the time, this is a great opportunity to practice your growing computer skills.
- Click on a page number, scroll down through the list. If you find something of interest, click on the Download button. A new webpage will open. Look all through that page and see if there’s anything interesting. If not, close the webpage and continue through the Giveaway list. Looking through different webpages is good practice. When you first arrive at a new webpage, it often looks chaotic. But with practice, you’ll notice that there are often similarities. Forms to fill in are often very similar. Repetition often helps make things clearer.
How do you Download your Gift?
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To Save to your Computer
When you click Save Target As, a new window will display – Save As. Here is where you tell your computer which folder you want to save your file in. It will probably suggest on your screen your Documents Folder. If you’re happy to put it there, just click on the Save button. You might however want to make a New Folder (the button’s on the same window) You might want to call the new folder – Health And Fitness. Click on Save (for the new folder if you’re making one) and then click on Save.
Your downloaded file will now be filed away in the folder you nominated for you to access any time you want.
PHEW!
Now, I realise that all of that is going to be gobbledygook to some of you. If it’s not clear, and you do want to look at the list, let me know and I’ll help you out. Or if you’ve found something you want, but have trouble downloading it – let me know and I’ll get it for you. And I’ve just finished a ‘rough and ready’ video of the process for making your account. It’ll be in our How-To part of our Member’s videos. I’ll let you know the link when it’s ready.
Don’t forget the giveaway event finishes on Friday 28th August! (That’s 9:00am in the US, or Midnight Friday/Saturday morning Australia)
Here’s the link again: http://healthandfitnessgiveawayevent.com/go/3644
Let me know if you’ve found something you like!
Now we need a break, so we’ll go straight to the funnies now, after all that.
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Humour me!
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Healthy Humour
Nice refreshing bike ride, and a Pasta Diet and a funny video
This comes from an email I received:
How about getting some fresh air, with a nice, healthy bike ride?????
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Hi there ladies You should try this diet!!!
The Pasta Diet and Your Health
ITALIAN PASTA DIET — IT REALLY WORKS !!
1.. You walk pasta da bakery.
2…You walka pasta da candy store.
3.. You walka pasta da Ice Cream shop.
4.. You walka pasta da table and fridge.
You will lose weight!
AND….
CONCERNED ABOUT TOO MANY CARBS IN YOUR DIET?
For those of you who watch what you eat, here’s the final word on nutrition and health.
It’s a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.
1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than
the English.
2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.
4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats
and suffer fewer heart attacks than the English.
CONCLUSION
Eat and drink what you like.
Speaking English is apparently what kills you.
And a quick video: http://tinyurl.com/ncy8cj (even though it’s not health related you deserve a laugh after all today’s work)
Till next time, smiles, best wishes and good health!
Viv
Smiles and best wishes,
Viv
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This is an e-mailing from the The Web on Wheels Community group.
To join this group, visit
http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au
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http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au
info@thewebonwheels.com.au
(03) 9787 7500
Helping you with your technology
WOW News – 13 Aug
Hello, and welcome to our WOW News. And welcome to our new subscribers this week, I’m so pleased you’ve joined us.
Focus Group
I am in need of your help, please. To bring you what you want in our online community, and not just what I think you want, I need to really understand what you need.
To achieve this, I will be running two focus groups. One will be in the Bayside area, and the other in the Mornington area.
If you are in these areas in Victoria, would you like to be part of my focus groups? They’ll be small, friendly groups, and of course there’ll be food! Can’t do anything without good food. If you’re not able to attend the focus groups, and would still like to help, there is a way, and I’d be so grateful.
At the same time as I hold these focus groups, I will use the Internet to get your thoughts via a survey. I’ll send more details in separate messages, or else this newsletter will be longer than usual.
Oh, and for everyone who takes part in any way, as a reward I’ll be holding a competition. The prize will be a full year’s Gold Level membership. One full year at our highest support level, you will have monthly sessions of one-on-one support, unlimited email support, and access to everything on our site.
And for everyone else, I’ll also be rewarding you, but I’ll give more details in our Focus Group messages.
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eBay Guide
If you saw the messages early this week, I had a great win on eBay this week. We had our annexe on eBay, with a starting price of $400, and it sold for $998! We’re delighted with that! Next week I’ll send news of part one of a ‘walkthrough’ for those interested members who want to look over my shoulder and find out what buying goods on eBay is all about.
In this week’s news we’ll look at:
- Downloading files;
- Smileys; and
- Humour – Animator Vs Animation 2
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A quick word about the content of this message.
If this message doesn’t display properly, please click here to read the message online: http://tinyurl.com/n6z998
This is where you’ll find all our previous newsletters. Click on whichever week interests you to view or print it.
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Until next time, please take good care of yourself.
Viv
“I went out to find a friend,
But could not find one there.
I went out to be a friend,
And friends were everywhere.”
Unknown Poet
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This week’s solution to a problem
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Downloading Files 
We’ve had a couple of people in the last few weeks asking about downloading files, so that’s our topic for this week.
Downloading a file is simply getting a copy of a file of some sort, from someone else’s computer, into your computer.
The file could be a music file, such as an MP3 file, or it could be a program file – such as if you buy an anti-virus program on the internet, or it could be a document, such as a PDF file. PDF stands for: Portable Document Format.
Someone makes a document with their computer program. Their program is one of thousands of computer programs that are available. By creating a PDF version of their document, you can easily read that document without the need for having that specific program on your own computer. You only need the Adobe Reader program.
Adobe Reader is available on 99% of computers, so it’s probably on your computer. But if it’s not, no problem. When you try to open a PDF document, your computer will look for the Adobe Reader program, and open the document. If your computer can’t find the Adobe Reader program, then it will show you a message, advising that Adobe Reader isn’t available, and will display a link where you can go to download it. (free) But in all likelihood you’ll have the program in your computer anyway.
Well, I’ve gone off on a tangent there! … back to our problem: Downloading files. Trying to do this caused a problem for one of our members – she went to a website, and saw a button saying download here, but she wasn’t sure what else to do. So we’ll go through the steps here.
Now as you know I try to use real-life examples, as I think it helps us understand things a lot better when something’s real.
Here is a bit of background about what we’re using for our example. A friend has a business that she’s really passionate about. It’s about communicating with teenagers. Her business runs programs with Colin Lee, called the ‘Get Real Experience’, which teenagers participate in. Apparently they have tremendous results from these programs, building the teenager’s self-esteem, improving their concentration levels, learning speed-reading, and study skills. All in a fun environment. I thought this topic might interest a lot of our members who have teenage children or grandchildren. I think you’ll agree that in this day and age it seems to be really difficult to communicate with teenagers. Colin Lee has produced an report for people like us who’d like to learn something on how to better communicate with the teenagers in our lives. There is going to be a program held on the Mornington Peninsula in October – and there are even ways to sponsor someone.
Dianne’s has the five page report availabale on her website. Although it is Titled Art of Communicating with Teenagers, it can be applied to anyone.
So how do we get our own copy of the report?
It is a PDF file. To get your copy, you need to download it from the website.
We’ll use this report (e-book) as our example today. The steps work the same for other downloads, so if you’re not interested in this topic, perhaps you might like to download some classical music from: http://www.mfiles.co.uk/mp3-files.htm
So, an outline of the steps are: i) go to the website of your choice, ii) click on a link to go to a download page, if needed, iii) click on a button to download. iv) Save the file in your computer. (Note: Sometimes, if it’s a free gift, you may be asked to give your name and email in exchange for the download. If this is the case, fill in the details and proceed to the download.)
Make sure when you do save the file, that you put it somewhere you’ll remember. It could go into your Documents or Music folder, or perhaps click on the New Folder button, and create a special folder.
When you are ready to use the file, you’ll know just where to find it. We won’t go into the details of filing here, as this article is getting long enough, but try to Save it somewhere where you’ll remember in the future.
……………………
Here we go:
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Our example is a PDF, and it should take less than a minute to download into your computer. But sometimes you might download a video file or audio file. These can take minutes or hours, depending on how big they are, and how quick or slow your connection is.
When the download is finished, you will see a message – Download Complete.
So that’s how we download files Go to the download page on a website, click a link or a button to start the download process, save the file into your computer.
I have a video, to actually show you the steps, but I need to put the finishing touches on it. I’ll let you know when it’s finished, and I’ll send the link direct to it, so you can watch.
If you’ve followed along with the notes, you now have the report, and know where it is in your computer. You can then read it onscreen, print it out, or attach it to an email and share with someone.
As always, if you have any queries, please let me know: vivienne@thewebonwheels.com.au
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How are you?
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How are you feeling? 
Hope you’re feeling great today
Did you notice the symbols at the end of the last sentence? That’s a smiley. Smileys are also called emoticons and they’re used to portray your emotions.
Smileys are used in email, mobile phone messages and messages on the internet. And, sometimes these smileys are still or animated pictures (like our computer smiley above).
I’m sure you’ll appreciate email is a wonderful invention to keep in contact with people. But reading typed words cannot convey what body language, facial gestures and the intonation of a voice can. And sometimes words can be misconstrued. I know it’s happened to me.
We write something speaking the words in our head, and know how we intended the sentence should read. But someone else seeing those words could interpret it completely different. Take: How are you going to do that? How are you going to do that? Was there any difference between the last two sentences? One could be just making an enquiry, politely asking how someone would go about doing something. The second way could be in a sarcastic tone – implying that the person couldn’t possibly do it themselves – how are you going to do that?
That’s why it can be really helpful to use an emoticon to make sure you get the intention of your words across.
There are many, many smileys and emoticons. Young people tend to use the more obscure ones, but the more everyday ones I think are a great tool. In online messages, the animated smiley faces work fine, and you can sometimes choose your emoticon from a palette. But they often don’t work in emails. That’s why it’s good to know the typed abbreviations.
Here’s how they work. What you’re supposed to do is look from the side. Here is our basic smiley Tilt your head to the left.
In our basic smiley you’ll see two eyes : and a smiling mouth underneath. )
Sometimes there’s a nose - or 
(he’s sad)
Here’s a list of the most common ones I think you’d be more likely to use.
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Smile (hint: look at it sideways – tilt your head to the left).
(In some programs when you type the colon followed by the closing bracket, it ‘auto-corrects’ to the smiley face.) |
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A big smile. |
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Now it’s surprise, or ‘wow’, or ‘oh!’. |
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Sad |
| ;( |
Crying |
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Grim |
‘-) or  |
Wink |
| :O |
Yelling |
An example of where you could use one: Oh, that’s nice. And: Oh, that’s nice. The first example might be complimenting someone on their hand made pottery mug, said with genuine enthusiasm – oh that’s nice! The second one could be said in a nasty tone. Still the same words, but meaning they think it’s awful … oh, that’s nice.
You could use: Oh that’s nice I’d love one too.
And here’s some of those more obscure ones: Keep looking to the left.
| :-6 | Smiley eating something sour |
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Smiley swimmer |
| :-& |
Smiley which is tongue-tied |
| :-0 |
Smiley Orator |
| =-) |
Smiley punk-rocker |
| {-) |
Smiley with his hair parted in the middle, or; |
| }-) |
Smiley with a toupee in an updraft |
| :-X |
My lips are sealed smiley |
You get the idea.
Have fun,
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Humour me!
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Animator Vs Animation 2
Today’s funny is a video on the internet. http://www.stickpage.com/animatorvsanimation2play.shtml
Its title is ‘Animator vs Animation’. Actually there are two versions One and Two. But I’ve given you the link to the follow-up second video, in case you’re in a hurry. I’ll fill you in on the first video, that a very talented person has made. He, the Animator, has created his Animation – and it’s rebelling! There is a link on the site to the first video for those interested.
The video might seem a bit odd at first – I think young people like shooting and blowing up things but then, well it had me in stitches – and I know that’s who’s been up to no good in my machine at times!
(Oh Anne, we can finally blame this guy!) 
When you’ve clicked on the link, you will need scroll down a little bit and click on the black Play button. It doesn’t take long to load, then it will start automatically. There is a lot of action, so if it’s going too fast, there is a pause button in the bottom left-hand corner. HINT: If you can’t see the control bar with the pause and play buttons etc, point your mouse at the bottom of the video screen and it will appear.
Your computer will need the Macromedia Flash Player program to run the video. Most likely it’s already in your computer, and you will be able to click Play and all will be well. If your computer doesn’t have it though, you’ll see a message asking to download the program. This program is great for these type of videos, just give your computer permission when you see windows asking for permission to Run.
Here’s the link again: http://www.stickpage.com/animatorvsanimation2play.shtml
There are links to other videos and games and all sorts of activities on the website. Young people really get a kick out of this. And so far I haven’t found anything offensive on the site … hope it stays that way. But I’d steer clear of clicking on any of the ads.
So, there was a lot in this week’s newsletter, with luck it’ll keep you going till next time. I hope you enjoy it and have learned something new.
Smiles and best wishes
Viv
********************************************************************
This is an e-mailing from the The Web on Wheels Community group.
To join this group, visit
http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au
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http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au
info@thewebonwheels.com.au
(03) 9787 7500
Helping you with your technology
WOW News – 30 July
Hello!
Hope you’ve had a great couple of weeks since our last newsletter.
We’ve finally had a little bit of rain, which has been just great. Our dam’s average levels are now at 28%. They had been down to 22%. It’s amazing when you look at the data for the different dams, how the levels vary. One of our smaller dams is 90% whilst our largest dam is only 16.9% full. Here’s the website for Melbourne’s water storage levels:
http://www.melbournewater.com.au/content/water_storages/water_report/water_report.asp If you’re interested, why not look up your local water supplier’s website and see how the levels are faring in your neck of the woods.
This week we’ll be looking at:
- Woodworking patterns;
- Learning languages; and
- Humour – a Dam Story
Until next time, please take good care of yourself.
Viv
“Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.”
Unknown
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Site to See
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Woodworkers Workshop
This is a picture of the start of my hubby’s latest project. Can you guess what it is?
It’s going to be a high bed for my youngest son. There will be drawers and shelves below – that’s what the three cutouts are for. There’s going to be a ‘secret cupboard’ at the back, which Braden’s sooo excited about, and a ladder to climb up onto the bed.
Now my hubby is one of those amazing people who can conceive an idea, and plan it out on paper and make it a reality.
But someone else might be really handy with a hammer and nail, but they might need a hand with the design and planning stage.
Today’s website is one of many that provide plans for different woodworking projects. The following site has some free plans, a directoy of plans from other websites as well as many to purchase:
Here is the main page: http://www.woodworkersworkshop.com/resources/index.php?cat=102?mktsrc=idc09016 They are quite flexible on payment – they can do credit card over the phone, or online, or Paypal. And if you’re a member and do want to purchase, but don’t want to do this online, let me know and I’ll help you out.
When you go to the site, scroll down a little bit and you’ll see an alphabetical listing of their projects. They have items that have been made and sold on their online store. There’s also a link on the home page to their free patterns.
Here’s the link straight to the free patterns: http://www.freewoodworkingplan.com/index.php?mktsrc=idc09016 It says they have 9,807 free patterns! There’s also an alphabetical listing here; click on something of interest and there will be a variety of patterns in that category.
What could you make?? Something for home, or something for the grandchildren?
I’m going to put into our picture gallery on our member’s site some photos of some of the many projects John has done. Let us know if you do start a project of your own – we’d love to know, and to see the finished product. I’ll put it up in our gallery too!
Happy hammering!
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How are you?
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Come sta! 
That’s – “how are you?” in Italian. The picture above is of the Arno River in Italy. Perhaps Italy’s a place you plan to travel to, and learning the language would make the trip more pleasurable.
I tried to learn Italian many years ago, but as I wasn’t speaking fluently after about 10 minutes, I gave up. 
I have always wanted to learn another language. I had another attempt before I travelled to Europe years ago, and I managed to pick up a few German phrases, but promptly forgot everything when I got back. As with most everything we learn – unless you access that same part of your brain, you won’t remember that part that is stored in your memory, and it’s lost.
In my travels on the Internet, I came across this website – Rocket Languages. It sounds really great, and the fellow I was chatting to by email seems really nice (well of course he would be, after all he wants me to be a customer:)) but still, I’m encouraged. So I’m going to decide which language to tackle and join up. They have many languages to learn, with different methods of learning, depending on which one you feel more comfortable with.
Here’s a link to the Learn Italian part of the website, if you’d like to check it out.
Rocket Italian – The Ultimate Guide To Learning Italian
They have different products and courses available if you care to browse through their site. They even have a free six day course, if you sign up with your name and email address. who knows, you might get inspired to learn a few phrases yourself before your next trip. Here’s a link to a product where they will mail out some CDs to your home: 
Ciao! (oh, email me, if you’d like to buy a course, but don’t want to use your credit card online).
What would you call it when an Italian has one arm shorter than the other?
A speech impediment
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Humour me!
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Dam Story!!!
This is another from an email I received:
This is an actual letter sent to a man named Ryan DeVries by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Quality, State of Pennsylvania.
The guy’s response is hilarious, but make sure you read the State’s letter, here, first before you get to the response letter.
The Dam
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SUBJECT: DEQ File No.97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20; Lycoming County
Dear Mr. DeVries:
It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that there has been recent unauthorized activity on the above referenced parcel of property.
You have been certified as the legal landowner and/or contractor who did the following unauthorized activity: Construction and maintenance of two wood debris dams across the outlet stream of Spring Pond.
A permit must be issued prior to the start of this type of activity.
A review of the Department’s files shows that no permits have been issued. Therefore, the Department has determined that this activity is in violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental
Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Pennsylvania Compiled Laws, annotated.
The Department has been informed that one or both of the dams partially failed during a recent rain event, causing debris and flooding at downstream locations. We find that dams of this nature are inherently hazardous and cannot be permitted. The Department therefore orders you to cease and desist all activities at this location, and to restore the stream to a free-flow condition by removing all wood and brush forming the dams from the stream channel. All restoration work shall be completed no later than January 31, 2006.
Please notify this office when the restoration has been completed so that a follow-up site inspection may be scheduled by our staff.
Failure to comply with this request or any further unauthorized activity on the site may result in this case being referred for elevated enforcement action.
We anticipate and would appreciate your full cooperation in this matter. Please feel free to contact me at this office if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
David L. Price
District Representative and Water Management Division.
Here is the actual response sent back by Mr. DeVries:
Re: DEQ File No. 97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20; Lycoming County
Dear Mr. Price,
Your certified letter dated 12/17/05 has been handed to me to respond to. I am the legal landowner but not the Contractor at 2088 Dagget Lane, Trout Run, Pennsylvania.
A couple of beavers are in the (State unauthorized) process of constructing and maintaining two wood “debris” dams across the outlet stream of my Spring Pond.
While I did not pay for, authorize, nor supervise their dam project, I think they would be highly offended that you call their skillful use of natures building materials “debris.” I would like to challenge your department to attempt to emulate their dam project any time and/or any place you choose. I believe I can safely state there is no way you could ever match their dam skills, their dam resourcefulness, their dam ingenuity, their dam persistence, their dam determination and/or their dam work ethic.
As to your request, I do not think the beavers are aware that they must first fill out a dam permit prior to the start of this type of dam activity.
My first dam question to you is:
(1) Are you trying to discriminate against my Spring Pond Beavers.
(2) Or do you require all beavers throughout this State to conform to said dam request?
If you are not discriminating against these particular beavers, through the Freedom of Information Act, I request completed copies of all those other applicable beaver dam permits that have been issued. Perhaps we will see if there really is a dam violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Pennsylvania Compiled Laws, annotated.
I have several concerns. My first concern is; aren’t the beavers entitled to legal representation? The Spring Pond Beavers are financially destitute and are unable to pay for said representation — so the State will have to provide them with a dam lawyer. The Department’s dam concern that either one or both of the dams failed during a recent rain event, causing flooding, is proof that this is a natural occurrence, which the Department is required to protect. In other words, we should leave the Spring Pond Beavers alone rather than harassing them and calling their dam names.
If you want the stream “restored” to a dam free-flow condition please contact the beavers — but if you are going to arrest them, they obviously did not pay any attention to your dam letter, they being unable to read English.
In my humble opinion, the Spring Pond Beavers have a right to build their unauthorized dams as long as the sky is blue, the grass is green and water flows downstream. They have more dam rights than I do to live and enjoy Spring Pond.
If the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection lives up to its name, it should protect the natural resources (Beavers) and the environment (Beavers’ Dams).
So, as far as the beavers and I are concerned, this dam case can be referred for more elevated enforcement action right now. Why wait until 1/31/2006? The Spring Pond Beavers may be under the dam ice then and there will be no way for you or your dam staff to contact/harass them then.
In conclusion, I would like to bring to your attention to a real environmental quality, health, problem in the area. It is the bears! Bears are actually defecating in our woods. I definitely believe you should be persecuting the defecating bears and leave the beavers alone.
If you are going to investigate the beaver dam, watch your step! The bears are not careful where they dump!
Being unable to comply with your dam request, and being unable to contact you on your dam answering machine, I am sending this response to your dam office.
THANK YOU.
RYAN DEVRIES & THE DAM BEAVERS
Don’t you love it?!
Smiles and best wishes,
Viv
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This is an e-mailing from the The Web on Wheels Community group.
To join this group, visit
http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au
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http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au
info@thewebonwheels.com.au
(03) 9787 7500
Helping you with your technology
WOW News – 16 July
Hello, and welcome this week to our WOW News.
After missing last week’s newsletter, I have realised that as much as I love creating our newsletters, I need to change it to a fortnightly cycle. I’m still expecting to mail something to you at least each week, but the newsletter takes an awful lot of time to prepare, so I will now be able to devote that time to developing our member programs.
In this edition we’ll look at:
- Playing Online Videos;
- Choosing your specs; and
- Humour – For the Over 50s
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A quick word about the content of this message.
If this message doesn’t display properly, please click here to read the message online: http://tinyurl.com/l73gh9
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Until next time, please take good care of yourself.
Viv
“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it seems like a minute.THAT’S relativity.”
Albert Einstein
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This week’s problem and solution
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Watching videos online
Every day, online video is being used more and more. Online video is simply a video that is on somebody’s website (for example YouTube), rather than say, a video being played by your DVD player on your computer.
A lot of content is delivered this way. We are starting to use it, and it’s planned for a larger portion of our content in the upcoming months.
But, one of the downfalls is that the video format can’t be everything to everybody. A particular video might need a program to be installed on your computer to actually play, other’s play from the Internet. And everybody’s computer is different, with different settings, different programs, and different ways of connecting to the Internet.
One thing that often happens when watching – or trying to watch – videos on the Internet, is that sometimes the video is all jumpy, or the audio is distorted. Most often it can be easily resolved.
You just need to let the computer ‘catch up’.
When you find a video on the internet that you’d like to watch, you click on the Play button. The video information is sent out to your computer, over the Internet in little ‘packets’. (sometimes known as progressive download, or buffering). A bit of the video is sent, (packet) then the next bit is sent, and ‘joins’ on the last bit, then the next bit and so on. A video that’s say 10 minutes long, could take two minutes to load onto your computer, depending on your download speed. The download speed generally is determined by the plan you’re on with your ISP. (the people who provide you with the internet access).
Obviously if you’re on a slow speed – such as if you’re on dial-up, then it will take a lot longer to download than if you’re on a really fast plan.
Sometimes what happens is, the video player at your end starts playing once it’s received the first packet – and it’s often playing the video at your end, faster than it’s receiving the next bit. So it waits, gets the next couple of bits, and plays that, then waits for the next bits. Starting the video playing, is determined by whichever option was chosen to send the video over the internet. It could have been made with the instruction to wait until the video is fully loaded (buffered), before playing or it has permission to start playing as soon as it starts to load – that’s the one that can cause you viewing problems – and that’s the problem that we’ll look at today.
To fix this problem, let the video ‘load’ before you start playing.
When you’ve chosen the video to watch – I’ll use the example on our website that I know caused a problem for one of our members. To see this video, click on either this short link: http://tinyurl.com/naj9ds or this full link: http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au/members/thewebonwheels/videos/VIEW/00000012/Rufus-first-birthday.html
Click ‘Play‘ – (either: the arrow in the bottom, left corner, or the centre of the picture frame), that activates the sending function on the website.
Now click on ‘Pause‘ (the same button in the bottom, left corner). It pauses the playing of the video, but not the sending (or receiving).
This allows your computer to gather up the complete video. When it’s all loaded – or even about 50% loaded, you can press Play again and your video should work properly.
If you want to look at the last part of a long video – such as this example, which is a speech by Martin Luther King that is 17 minutes long: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk&feature=fvst , you need to wait until the whole video is loaded. Once it’s loaded, you can move the Control Bar along to the part of the video you want to watch and start viewing from that point.
How will you know when it’s fully loaded? Well, sometimes it’s just an educated guess, but other times it’s easy to know.
On our Web on Wheels videos, you’ll notice that there’s a percentage indicator to let you know how much of the video has loaded (or buffered).
On others, such as YouTube, you will see the bar that shows how much of the video has been played and how much is still to be loaded. The bar will move to the end, once it’s fully loaded.
COMPARING WHEN FULLY ‘LOADED’
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Pausing the playback of the video works for most of the online videos. Some programs as mentioned, are great in that they won’t actually play until the video is all loaded. Once it’s ready, it Auto-Plays. Other videos are fine to play if you’ve got really fast broadband.
So, a good rule of thumb: if you press play and the video plays fine – fantastic, leave it play.
But if you start watching a video, and it starts playing all wrong – press ‘Pause’, wait a few minutes, (maybe say hello to the dog, make a cuppa) then when you come back, press ‘Play’ and all should be well.
Happy viewing.
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How are you?
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Nice to see you! 
Many of our group, I’m sure wear glasses. And from time to time, we need to update our frames.
Here’s a chance for you to practice some computer skills, while having a bit of fun.
The optical retailer Specsavers has a website, (of course!) and they say, a feature of the site is the ability to try 1,000 different styles of glasses.
The idea is you choose the style you’re interested in, then choose the shape of face you have from their selection – or even better, if you can do it – use your own photo! Then try on the glasses to see how they look. And then you can print off any you like.
They even have the option to buy online. No way would I do that – I would definitely want to try on the actual frame. But having a general idea beforehand of a couple of styles that suit – or at least eliminate styles you know look wrong, can save time and confusion in the store. There are over 1,350 stores worldwide, so there’s sure to be a local website, but I’ll just use their head office site as the example. (it’s got the DOT UK bit in the website address – your country might be .ie for Ireland or .dk for Denmark, or just .com for the US).
Here is the main website address:
http://www.specsavers.co.uk/try/
| To start: Click on any of the four fields under GET STARTED to make your selection. (e.g. Mens or Womens) |
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For our example we’ll click on Womens.
You will go to the first page of their women’s selection.
Browse through the several pages they have. At the top and the bottom of the page of photos, click on Next to go to the next page, or click on a number to go to that page number. 
Click on ‘Try’
Click on either Sample Photos, or Add your photo. (under the model’s face) Instructions for both are below.
IF YOU’D LIKE TO USE THEIR PHOTOS:
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IF YOU’D LIKE TO USE YOUR OWN FACE, HERE ARE THE BASIC STEPS.
(Of course Gold members you might like to use your half hour one-on-one time for help with this).
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| mmmmm, maybe these are not for me.
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The system is a bit tricky because your photo doesn’t stay on the screen if you go to a different page, so if you find a pair that looks okay, you might want to print it out, whilst it’s onscreen or make a note of the style name.
END ARTICLE.
And now all we over-fifties in our fancy new glasses might appreciate this week’s joke.
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Humour me!
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Over 50s funnies!!!
This comes from an email I received:
Someone had to remind me, so I’m reminding you too. Don’t laugh …. it is all true ….. For anyone that is older than 50.
01. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.
02. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.
03. No one expects you to run – anywhere.
04. People call at 9 pm and ask, did I wake you?
05. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac..
06. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
07. Things you buy now won’t wear out.
08. You can eat supper at 4 pm.
09. You can live without sex but not your glasses.
10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.
11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room.
13.. You sing along with elevator music.
14. Your eyes won’t get much worse.
15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service.
17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can’t remember them either.
18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.
19. You can’t remember who sent you this list.
See what I mean – I can’t remember who sent it – but thanks!!!
Smiles and best wishes,
Viv
The Web on Wheels
Phone: 61 3 9787 7500
Fax: 61 3 9787 5476
email: info@thewebonwheels.com.au
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This is an e-mailing from the The Web on Wheels Community group. To join this
group, visit http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au/members/thewebonwheels/info/join.html
To unsubscribe from this newsletter, click
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WOW News – 3 July
Hello and welcome to this week’s WOW News, and my goodness here we are already, in a brand new financial year.
Thought I might not be here this week, but no, didn’t win the big Wednesday night ‘lotto. For the few people in Oz who don’t know and for our overseas friends, our lotto draw on Wednesday night this week was worth AU$106 million. Oh for just a little slice of that!
As they say, “better luck next time.”
And of course we’ve had the sad news from the entertainment world with week with some high profile people passing away, both in the States and in England. The Internet has been abuzz with messages, stories, tributes etc. A very sad week.
In this issue we’ll look at:
- Independence Day – 4th July;
- Walking to music; and
- A funny Grandma story!
If you know anybody who might be interested in reading our newsletter, I’d be delighted if you would Forward this newsletter to them – or better still, see if they would like to Subscribe so they’ll receive their own copy in their Inbox each week.
Please ask them to visit our website: http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au, They will just need to put in their name and email address into the signup box on the right.
Until next week, please take good care of yourself.
Viv
“We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.”
American Indian Proverb
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Site to See
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Happy Birthday, America! 
Happy Independence Day tomorrow, to our friends in the US. I hope you get to have a great celebratory day.
Today’s site is one of over 10 million webpages that mentions 4th July or Independence Day.
This site has loads of information about this widely celebrated day. http://usacitylink.com/usa/
Why not do a Search yourself if you are interested to find out more. There’s information about the origins of Independence Day, how the day has been celebrated since 1776, advice on fireworks safety, all about the government of America and all the Presidents.
You can even buy a beautiful reproduction of the original ‘Declaration of Independence’.
If you start with a search on Google for Independence Day or 4th July you will find loads of websites dedicated to this day. The website that’s listed first in the Google search result is this Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(United_States).
There are over 10 million search results on Google for Independence Day – care to do a bit of light reading?
Let us know if you found any interesting facts.
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How are you?
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Let’s Take a Walk (da da de-dum …)
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This week we’ll have a look at walking. (Then hopefully, we’ll be DOING some walking)
We all know how beneficial walking is. It’s low impact, but you’re still weight-bearing, so it’s great for your bones, without jolting everything around. It gets you outdoors in the fresh air. That alone can lift a mood instantly. Even on cold and blustery days as we have here in Australia at the moment, just pop a jacket or coat on and stride out (or shuffle like me today) and get the oxygen into your blood, the lungs working, the blood pumping and the muscles working … Aaahh I’m feeling better already. And it’s FREE! Yeah
There’s a nice little site in America that specialises in music for walking. They have music you can download from their site, as well as physical CDs. If you have a piece of equipment such as an MP3 player or iPod, it’s fantastic to listen to music whilst you’re walking. Or you can be like me and listen to inspiring teleseminars and process what’s being said. Actually I find I walk really fast when I’m inspired by a speaker, and slower when I’m not interested in the discussion.
Now if the previous paragraph didn’t make sense at all, I’ll explain:
- You can get the music from this website, (if you pay for it). It is downloaded – that is, a copy of the music is sent over the Internet to your computer, where you can save the music as a digital file inside your computer.
- When you are ready, you can take that digital music file and put it onto a CD; listen to it on your computer’s speakers, or you can transfer that music file onto a little device like an MP3 player, or an iPod – something that has little headphones so you can listen to the music that’s been put on the device.
Any clearer? If not we’ll cover that in one of our upcoming ‘guides’.
The site is: www.mywalkingmusic.com and they have a newsletter too. So you can sign up for it, just pop in your name and email address and you’ll receive their newsletter, with motivation and tips etc to get you walking. And there’s some interesting articles on the site too, if you care to look around and click on some of their links. One of the articles I found really interesting had this:
Have diabetes? Live Longer by Walking
· If you have diabetes, walking just over 8 blocks a day can slash your risk of dying by more than one third. Go a little farther, and you’ll cut your risk by up to 50%, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
· After comparing activity levels and death rates of almost 2,900 adults who were diagnosed with diabetes 11 years ago, researchers found those who walked at least 2 hours a week at a moderate 3-MPH pace – that’s just 6 miles a week, or 8 blocks a day – were 39% less likely to die from heart disease, the number one health threat to people with diabetes. Walkers who logged 3 to 4 hours a week (30 to 45 minutes a day) sliced their risk in half.
- Prevention Guide. Walking Fit, April 2004
Now not all of us can be like my Uncle David (hi, David 
) who is an inspiration to me. He walks regularly, and he’s worked up to about 6 kilometres (about 3 1/2 miles) at least once per week, but often three times a week. He’s so fit and energetic, it’s fantastic to see. And energy is one of the many benefits of walking. If you invest a bit of time and effort into going for a walk, you’ll come back energised.
If you can band together with one or two other people that’s a fabulous way to enjoy the walk. You won’t need music then, as you can chat along the way. And it keeps you motivated.
If your friend is coming on Tuesday at 10 o’clock then you’ll be more likely to get yourself ready and not find an excuse to put it off. I have a neighbour who does just that, she walks every Wednesday and there are many times when she’s told me she really didn’t want to go, but she knew Ann would be showing up so she made herself get ready. And each and every time she’s been glad she did because when she finished the walk, she felt marvellous.
So, will you don your runners/walkers/trainers – whatever shoes are best for your feet and walk the block today?
And for those members who can’t get out to walk, perhaps you could manage to sit near an open window, or even manage to sit outside, and take some lovely deep breaths, perhaps move your arms in long slow movements, circle the ankles to get the circulation going. Every little bit you do, is something more than nothing.
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Humour me!
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A Letter from Grandma
A LETTER FROM GRANDMA
Grandma is eighty-eight years old and still drives her own car. She writes:
Dear Grand-daughter,
The other day I went up to our local Christian book store and saw a
‘Honk if you love Jesus’ bumper sticker.
I was feeling particularly sassy that day because I had just come from a
thrilling choir performance, followed by a thunderous prayer meeting.
So, I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper.
Boy, am I glad I did; what an uplifting experience that followed.
I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in
thought about the Lord and how good he is, and I didn’t notice that the
light had changed.
It is a good thing someone else loves Jesus because if he hadn’t
honked, I’d never have noticed.
I found that lots of people love Jesus!
While I was sitting there, the guy behind started honking like crazy,
and then he leaned out of his window and screamed, ‘For the love of
God!’
‘Go! Go! Go! Jesus Christ, GO!’
What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus!
Everyone started honking!
I just leaned out my window and started waving and smiling at all those
loving people.
I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love!
There must have been a man from Florida back there because I heard him
yelling something about a sunny beach.
I saw another guy waving in a funny way with only his middle finger
stuck up in the air.
I asked my young teenage grandson in the back seat what that meant.
He said it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something.
Well, I have never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window
and gave him the good luck sign right back.
My grandson burst out laughing.
Why even he was enjoying this religious experience!!
A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that
they got out of their cars and started walking towards me.
I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is
when I noticed the light had changed.
So, grinning, I waved at all my brothers and sisters, and drove on
through the intersection.
I noticed that I was the only car that got through the intersection
before the light changed again and felt kind of sad that I had to leave
them after all the love we had shared.
So I slowed the car down, leaned out the window and gave them all the
Hawaiian good luck sign one last time as I drove away. Praise the Lord
for such wonderful folks!!
Will write again soon,
Love, Grandma
Bye for this week,
Smiles and best wishes
Viv
The Web on Wheels
Phone: 61 3 9787 7500
Fax: 61 3 9787 5476
email: info@thewebonwheels.com.au
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This is an e-mailing from the The Web on Wheels Community group. To join this
group, visit http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au/members/thewebonwheels/info/join.html
To unsubscribe from this newsletter, click
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WOW News – 25 June
Hello and welcome to this week’s News from The Web on Wheels.
Firstly, I’d like to say thanks so much for the kind people who sent me their best wishes.
I’m delighted (and surprised) that my back came good in just a few days. I actually took my own advice for once, and took some anti-inflammatories, massaged, did stretches and actually rested for a day. Thanks again for the kind wishes, I’m honoured that you thought of me.
So now I’m almost back on track, sort of caught up and rearing to get back into being here for you again.
Happy Father’s Day
Hope the Dad’s in the US had a lovely Father’s Day this week. It’s great to take a bit of time out to appreciate those people who are so important in our lives, don’t you think?
In this issue we’ll look at:
- Pointing to a link;
- Celtic Sea Salt;
- Catholic Parrots joke.
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A note about the content of this message.
Throughout this newsletter there are links to websites, and some pictures. Sometimes those links don’t work.
You can be sure that the problem isn’t you!
If a link doesn’t work, try looking on your screen, see if you can find a message such as, ’Add to Safe Senders List’, or ‘Mark as Safe’. If so, go ahead and click that, then future messages will come through perfectly for you. (Let me know if things don’t work as you expect and I’ll get it sorted for you.)
Until next week, please take good care of yourself.
Viv
“The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another’s, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises.” – Leo Buscaglia
I receive these inspirational quotes from Daily Power Quote. Why not have a look for yourselves, and subscribe if you want some daily inspiration too.
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This week’s problem
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Potentially unsafe links in emails
In our newsletter a couple of weeks ago, we looked at Phishing emails.
One of the methods of ensuring you don’t click on an unsafe link is to try to see if the link is genuine.
You might receive an email that has a link for you to click on. A link can take you straight to a certain webpage.
Now most of the time this is a great, time-saving feature. But other times – as in a Phishing email – it could be dangerous. That link might be a ‘disguise’ for taking you to an unsafe website. It might show a certain website address typed in the email, but it might take you to a totally different website.
One tactic to keep safe online is to check if the actual link is the same as the typed link. You point your mouse at the link, and see what is displayed.
Rather than me try to explain in writing, please click on my very safe link below to watch a video and you’ll see what I mean. You will need to click on the ‘Play’ button (the right pointing arrow) in the centre of the video screen to start the video.
Here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/nxyyqj
If links in this email aren’t working, please go to our website: http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au and click on Video/MP3 Gallery link on the left, then you’ll see all the videos listed. You’ll be looking for ‘Phishing emails – Point to link’.
There are lots more ways to keep yourself safe, but as always, keep alert but not alarmed.
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How are you?
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Celtic Sea Salt
I read an article several years ago by Sam Biser, editor of ‘Advanced Natural Therapies’. The article was titled: “Don’t be conned by the crusade against salt.” In the article was an interview with Dr. Jacques De Langre, a Californian Biochemist, who has written two books on the subject of salt.
Here is a link to a website that has the transcript of the interview. Makes for interesting reading, I think. http://www.naturalmatters.net/article.asp?article=435&cat=7 (you’d better get a cuppa if you’re going to read this – it’s quite long.)
I’d never been a great salt eater – I really only had it on chips and corn, but I was intrigued, read the article, now I’m a convert to Celtic Sea Salt.
I did a little more research recently, and found many other articles online. There are pros and cons of course, and if you’re at all interested, please do a search on the Internet for Celtic Sea Salt.
As is the case with most things, people swear by their own products, and state that theirs is the best for whatever reason. But in the end, only you (and in the case of a health issue, also your doctor) can decide what’s best for you.
An article that summed things up nicely was written by Raymond David Salas.
Here’s some of Raymond’s article:
The Benefits of Celtic Sea Salt
The reported benefits of Celtic Sea Salt include:
- Gives the body the salt it actually needs for healthy functioning.
- Has same mineral composition as ocean water and vital body fluids including blood plasma, lymphatic fluid, and extracellular fluid.
- Charged with 84 trace elements and minerals including calcium, potassium, magnesium, and natural lithium salts. “Charged” means they go right to where the body needs them most.
- Will not store itself in your internal organs (such as the heart) or affect kidneys as processed table salts do.
- Helps clear sinus and bronchial congestion.
- Helps nourish adrenal glands which assist the immune system.
- Stimulates cellular energy.
- Enhances resistance to infections.
- Helps relieve mental disorders (including depression, aggression, and bipolar disorder).
- Acts the same as natural body salts do within the body.
- Actually helps reverse heart disease. (Yes, you read that correctly.)
- Aids digestion.
- Does not cause fluid retention in the body, as processed table salt does.
- Helps build healthy bones.
- Helps build healthy blood cells
- Helps balance acidity in the body.
- Helps relieve allergies.
- Helps heal burns (not externally).
- Helps reduce shock and trauma.
- Promotes overall good health.
Here’s a link to the full article. http://zenchillcom.blogspot.com/2007/07/benefits-of-celtic-sea-salt.html
There is an Australian company that produces a liquid form of salt – they call it CEA Ocean Mineral Superfood. (www.cea-life.com). Their product is produced from the waters off Byron Bay.
So finally to finish. For me, Celtic Sea Salt tastes fantastic, and if there’s a chance it will be doing me some good, or less harm than the ordinary salt, then I’ll go for that.
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Humour me!
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Catholic Parrots
I know we’re supposed to be politically correct nowadays. but I think we sometimes go too far – and often at the expense of a good joke.
So here’s an oldie, but a goodie.
Hope no-one’s offended – please take this in the spirit it’s meant – to put a smile of your face!
CATHOLIC PARROTS
A lady goes to her priest one day and tells him, “Father, I have a problem. I have two female parrots, but they only know how to say one thing.”
“What do they say?” the priest inquired.
They say, “Hi, we’re hookers! Do you want to have some fun?”
That’s obscene!” the priest exclaimed, then he thought for a moment.
“You know,” he said, “I may have a solution to your problem.
I have two male talking parrots, which I have taught to pray and read the Bible. Bring your two parrots over to my house, and we’ll put them in the cage with Francis and Peter.
“My parrots can teach your parrots to praise and worship, and your parrots are sure to stop saying that phrase in no time.”
“Thank you,” the woman responded, “this may very well be the solution.”
The next day, she brought her female parrots to the priest’s house.
As he ushered her in, she saw that his two male parrots were inside their cage holding rosary beads and praying.
Impressed, she walked over and placed her parrots in with them. After a few minutes, the female parrots cried out in unison: “Hi, we’re hookers! Do you want to have some fun?”
There was stunned silence.
Shocked, one male parrot looked over at the other male parrot and exclaimed,
“Put the beads away, Frank. Our prayers have been answered!”
Bye for this week,
Smiles and best wishes
Viv
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This is an e-mailing from the The Web on Wheels Community group.
To join this group, visit
http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au
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http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au
info@thewebonwheels.com.au
(03) 9787 7500
Helping you with your technology
WOW News – 5 June
Hello!
There seems to have been a flurry of messages this week.
We’ve had our Use Your Site messages, Quick Tips, our White Tiger with Chimp emails, a couple of blogs. I hope these messages continue to help us grow into a vibrant online community.
As you know I’ve been working behind the scenes getting ready to add new features to our community. One of these features will be some ‘e-guides’.
Do you have trouble doing certain functions on the computer, or when you read how-to instructions you’re still not clear on what to do? How would you like some help with that?
That’s what these Electronic Guides will be. Help with specific aspects of using your computer, or using the internet or using technology. We’ll have a series of emails to take you step by step through a particular subject. I am producing videos on these subjects too, so that you can see as well as read what we’re learning about.
I would like to ask you for your input, please, because as with everything on this site, it is built for you. So I would like to provide the guides that suit you. Is there any particular subject you would like to learn about? If so, please let me know – you can just click on reply to this message and let me know that way, if you like. I’ll try to make a course on your choice of topic.
These courses will be available at no charge to our paid members – the Silver and Gold levels. If you’re happy to stay as a free member but still want to participate, you’ll still have the opportunity – you will be able to just pay for whichever course you’d like.
Some of the topics we’ll be covering will be how to make folders, how to book cinema tickets online, how to find your local TV directory and put it into your Favorites in your computer, how to convert your VCRs to DVDs.
I’ll let you know all the details further down the track; I just wanted to let you know what’s in the pipeline.
On to today’s newsletter. This is going to be a shorter newsletter again. It seems my 2 and 3am finishes are catching up with me. I’m typing this through a fog, I think!
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests. I was going to have a lot to say, but as I don’t live there, I really can’t comment. I can only take in what I see and hear, and have my own feelings. I just wanted to acknowledge that 20 years ago, there was a very sad day in China, and it seems that although things on the ‘outside’ have changed immensely, it seems not a lot on the ‘inside’ has changed. Here’s one newspaper article about the anniversary. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-tiananmen-diary5-2009jun05,0,5124681.story
Now, to change the subject.
It’s World Environment Day. The United Nations Environment Programme has designated 5th June each year as World Environment Day. They have a lovely website – here is the link if you’d like to find out more: http://www.unep.org/wed/2009/english/
In this week’s issue we’ll look at:
- the Swine Flu maps;
- Meatball Minestrone recipe; and
- Humour – Alzheimer’s Test
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Just a quick word about the content of this message.
If the links don’t work, or photos don’t display for you, please go to our website, and find this issue in our Newsletter Category. http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au/members/thewebonwheels/comm/CATEGORY+Newsletter
Until next week, please take good care of yourself.
Viv
“You only live once – but if you work it right, once is enough.”
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Site to See
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The Swine Flu problem doesn’t seem to be going away in a hurry. Here in Australia for some reason we seem to have a high number of confirmed cases.
Google have a Flu Trends website, exploring flu trends around the world. It’s Influenza trends, not just Swine Flu. Here’s the link: http://google.org/flutrends
And here’s Google’s Flu Tracker map http://flutracker.rhizalabs.com/
There’s some really interesting comments at the bottom. I only read a few, but if you’ve got time there’s over 10,000 comments to read!!!!
Another disease tracker is The Health Map. http://www.healthmap.org/en. This site tracks a variety of diseases throughout the world, so this could be handy if you’re planning to travel. Click on your destination country and see if there’s anything to be aware of. It says it has the latest info, but from what I checked it was lagging a few days behind.
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How are you?
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Hungry?? 
It’s winter in Australia, and I think it’s a time for eating comfort food.
Here’s a recipe that my sister sent me last year, and I’ve cooked heaps of times. It’s quick, easy and cheap and the family loves it. A tick in all the right boxes!
I’ve noticed that the recipe is on the Sunrise website.
Here is a link to the recipe. http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/b/sunrise/27542/meatball-minestrone. Couple of hints from me. They have Tuscan seasoning for the meatballs – I just use Season All, or anything tasty to ‘lift’ the meatballs a bit. You could use parsley/garlic/oregano, or whatever pleases your tastebuds. And my family love spiral pasta, rather than angel hair. This recipe is one of those ‘throw in whatever you’ve got in the cupboard or fridge’ type recipes. Let me know what you think, if you give this a go.
Oh, and I’ll put a copy of the recipe in our File Sharing section, so our members can get a copy of it whenever you need it.
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Humour me!
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Worried about Alzheimer’s? Take these four Tests
Sit comfortably and be calm. Put your thinking process aside. Put your brain in neutral gear.
1- Find the C below. Do not use any cursor help.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
2- If you found the C, now find the 6 below.
9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
6999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
3- Now find the N below. It’s a little more difficult.
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
I was assured this is NOT a joke. If you were able to pass these 3 tests, you can cancel your annual visit to your neurologist. Your brain is great and you’re far from having a close relationship with Alzheimer.
Congratulations!
Oh, one more test .. . . ….
Find the 44th USA President.
Bye for this week,
Smiles and best wishes
Viv
********************************************************************
This is an e-mailing from the The Web on Wheels Community group.
To join this group visit: http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au
********************************************************************
http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au
info@thewebonwheels.com.au
(03) 9787 7500
Helping you with your technology
WOW News – 29 May
Hi, here’s this week’s news from The Web on Wheels!
Our US friends observed Memorial Day this week. I hope the day was peaceful for you. With the world the way it is today, I think it’s timely for all of us to remember those who have fallen in wars.
There are many articles on the Internet about Memorial Day, and the history of the day, if you’d care to do a search for further reading.
In this week’s issue we’ll look at:
- Using Favorites in Internet Explorer;
- Article: Drinking Coffee reduces risk of Alzheimer’s; and
- Humour… Can’t eat this, can’t eat that.
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Just a quick word about the content of this message.
Throughout this newsletter I have included various links to websites, and included some pictures. Sometimes those links don’t work.
It’s NOT you! It’s the technology.
Sometimes your computer, or the system you’re using (eg. Hotmail, Outlook) decide to look after your security and block your ability to go straight to an outside website or to download pictures. Sometimes it’s simply that your computer is set to get only plain text messages. So no matter what you do, you won’t get the nice looking, easy-clicking tricks, your message will be just as it says – plain text without any of the fancy stuff.
If a link doesn’t work, try looking on your screen, and see if there’s a messsage saying “Add to Safe Senders List”, or “Mark as Safe”. Go ahead and click that, then future messages will come through perfectly for you. (Let me know if things don’t work as you expect and I’ll get it sorted for you.)
Until next week, please take good care of yourself.
Viv
“Life is an echo; what you send out comes back.”
Chinese proverb
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This week’s problem and solution
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This week’s problem I realise a lot of you already know the answer to. And gold star to you if you’ve already mastered this. 
But there are still many people who don’t know of this natty little feature. So today we’ll go through what Favorites are. (also known as bookmarks)
Favorites
How many times have you been to a website and thought: “mmm I’ll go back to that site one day – no problems, I’ll remember next time.”? Only to find when you do want to go back to that website, you sit at your computer, go to the Internet, and gaze at the screen thinking “what was that site?” “how did I find it?”
The very easiest thing to do when you are at a website you’d like to come back to later, is to add it to your Favorites list. So then next time you want to re-visit that site, you just need to:
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TO ADD A WEBPAGE TO YOUR FAVORITES LIST
NOTE: Good old Microsoft – just when you thought you were getting used to something, they go and change it. There’s a new version of Internet Explorer, we’re now up to Version 8. And they’ve changed a couple of things. One is the ‘Add to Favorites’ star has been replaced with ‘Add to Favourites Bar’. Today we’ll just look at the Favorites button.
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Internet Explorer 7 |
Internet Explorer 8 |
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If you have Version 7, |
If you have Version 8, |
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* Click on the Add to Favorites button |
* Click on Favorites |
A new window will display (funnily enough it’s called ‘Add a Favorite’)
(the suggested name for the Favorite link |
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SORTING FAVORITES
If you’d like to arrange your list into folders (like your email Inbox, or the filing system in your computer) you can do so.
When you are in the ‘Add a Favorite’ window:
When you Click OK, your Favorite link will |
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It’s worth remembering that the Favorites function is a link to the WEBPAGE you were on. Not the website in general, but the actual page. Some websites can have hundreds of pages. So sometimes finding that particular page can be tricky. By putting your desired webpage into your Favorites list, you won’t have to go digging around to find the exact page – it’ll be remembered in your Favorites, and you’ll go straight to it.
And if you’re using a different web browser – such as Firefox, you have the same function, it’s just called Bookmarks, and using it is quite similar. If you’re a Silver or Gold member and you’d like some help with it, please email me and I’ll give you a hand.
SUMMARY:
To use Favorites: 1) Click on Favorites; 2) scroll down the list until you find your link (or folder), 3) left click once on the link. You’ll go straight to the webpage.
SEE HOW IT WORKS
I have a video for you on this function. It’s about 6 minutes long. In the video I go through all of the above, as well as briefly show you the History and RSS feeds, how to sort your Favorites and show you how to ‘Pin’ the Favorites pane to your screen.
Click on the link below to go to the video on our site. Wait a minute or two to be sure the video is fully ‘loaded’ on your computer, then click on the play button.
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How are you?
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Coffee 
Do you drink tea and/or coffee? I must admit that I love a good cup of coffee, and really like green tea.
I decided to cut down on my coffee recently, so thought I’d read up a bit on what the word is nowadays on whether it’s a good or bad thing to drink coffee.
My friends at Lumosity have this to say in their newsletter this week:
What’s the best way to consume caffeine for sustained cognitive function?
Studies have concluded that caffeine is best consumed gradually over the course of the time that you want to be alert.
In other words you should aim for small and frequent doses of caffeine rather than a venti chug to start the day.
This is because caffeine reaches the brain quickly and is then gradually removed by your system.
Here’s the caffeine content of some popular drinks in milligrams per 6oz serving).
- Espresso 100
- Brewed coffee 80 – 135
- Instant coffee 65 – 100
- Tea, brewed 40
- Coca Cola 23
The following article is from The Age newspaper, Melbourne.
Drinking coffee reduces risk of Alzheimer’s
January 16, 2009
Middle-aged people who drink moderate amounts of coffee significantly reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a study by Finnish and Swedish researchers has shown.
“Middle-aged people who drank between three and five cups of coffee a day lowered their risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease by between 60 and 65 per cent later in life,” said lead researcher on the project, Miia Kivipelto, a professor at the University of Kuopio in Finland and at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
The study, which was also conducted in cooperation with the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki and which was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease this month, was based on repeated interviews with 1,409 people in Finland over more than two decades.
They were first asked about their coffee-drinking habits when they were in their 50s and their memory functions were tested again in 1998, when they were between 65 and 79 years of age.
A total of 61 people had by then developed dementia, 48 of whom had Alzheimer’s, the researchers said.
“There are perhaps one or two other studies that have shown that coffee can improve some memory functions (but) this is the first study directed at dementia and Alzheimer’s (and) in which the subjects are followed for such a long time,” Kivipelto told AFP.
She said it remained unclear exactly how moderate coffee drinking helped delay or avoid the onset of dementia, but pointed out that coffee contains strong antioxidants, which are known to counter Alzheimer’s.
The rest of the article is here:
END AGE ARTICLE
And if you’d like to read a few more facts about the benefits and risks of drinking coffee, there’s an entry at Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_and_health
But I’m going to take the view that I love to drink a great cup of coffee, and what we eat and drink are an important part of enjoying life. So I’m going to stick to my two cups a day, and hopefully that will give me enough of the benefits while minimising any risks. And if there’s any chance of improving my cognitive performance then I’m all for that!!
All things in moderation
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Humour me!
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You can’t eat this, you can’t eat that!
This week’s contribution is from our member, Anne – thanks, Anne!!
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Can’t eat Pork Swine Flu |
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Can’t eat Beef |
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Can’t eat Chicken |
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Can’t eat eggs |
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Can’t eat fish |
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Can’t eat fruits and veggies |
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Hmmmmmm!!! |
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I believe that leaves chocolate and ice cream!!!! Remember, Stressed spelled backwards is Desserts
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Bye for this week,
Smiles and best wishes
Viv
********************************************************************
This is an e-mailing from the The Web on Wheels Community group.
To join this group, visit
http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au
********************************************************************
http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au
info@thewebonwheels.com.au
(03) 9787 7500
Helping you with your technology
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