Microsoft outlook

O MIcrosoft!  How do I hate thee?

Maybe I shouldn't use a word as strong as hate.

Maybe loathe and despise are better words to use.

Over the years I have had to use your crappy packages because the companies I have worked for know no better than to have to pay for your garbage.

When I worked at Microsoft I had the misplaced opportunity to purchase a legal copy of your last halfway decent Windows - XP and the current MS Office 2007 Ultimate for a reasonable price.

About two and a half years ago my Outlook 2007 failed.  I don't remember what the symptoms were but they were severe enough for me to install Thunderbird and run that instead.  It ran successfully for six months until my desktop computer bluescreened and died.  The hard drive did not fail but the XP did!!!

I had to reformat my hard drive and reinstall all my programmes.  Fortunately, I had performed a backup of all my documents a week before and I discovered a fantastic package named PANDORA with I which resurrected 95% of my documents.

Now my Outlook 2007 has failed AGAIN!!!!!!  IT has changed its settings without a by your leave from me and refuses point-blank to download my e-mails.  This time I will install Thunderbird and leave MS Outlook in the trash where it belongs.  Microsoft's "help" does not and no one ever comes back from MS to even offer solutions.

I seldom use the other packages in the MS Office 2007 suite other than Excel and sometimes Word (which is about as user-friendly as a rabid pitbull).  When someone sends me a powerpoint file I will read it in powerpoint BUT I never use powerpoint, Access, Publisher, Groove, Infopath or Onenote because  I have absolutely NO use for them.  There are so many far more useful FREE packages available on the internet.

I purchased a laptop last year because the genealogy programme was conflicting with the my OCR package.  AND neither supplier would willingly offer solutions other than to tell me to upgrade (at a price) to their new version. That laptop came installed with Windows 7 starter (another useless apology for a platform).  It also came with MS OFFICE 2010 loaded - not installed.

The first thing I did was uninstall/unload MS OFFICE 2010 and load Apache OPEN OFFICE 3.4.0.

I have not looked back, in fact I so enjoy working on a package which does not crash that I am now going to remove MS OFFICE 2007 from my desktop computer and carry on using the Open Office 3.4.1.  Even my 1998 OCR package talks to Open office.  AND open office does everything MS OFFICE does with more quiet efficiency like removing itself from the RAM when I have finished using it.

South African Politicians

What South Africans really think of Jacob Zuma:

Jacob Zuma - Jungle Book Spoof

GARBAGE IN YOUR MAKEUP

With reference to my earlier posting on Saccharin,  have you ever read what is in your moisturizers and make up?

Read the labels and you will never wear make up again:

For example:

Mineral oil is a waste product from refining gasoline. You’ll find it in thousands of products in the beauty aisle.

Toxic formaldehyde is used in embalming. It’s also used in many so-called beauty products.

BHA – a common ingredient in facial moisturizers and sunscreens – increases your skin’s sensitivity to the burning rays of the sun.

Ammonia is highly corrosive to your skin, but cosmetics companies use it in facial moisturizers. Hand creams are mostly made from aqueous cream which has a base of petrolatum which is vaseline. Ever wondered why you feel you must put lipstick on all the time? The reason is that the main ingredient of most lipsticks and lip glosses is Petrolatum.  Petrolatum is another name for Vaseline, petroleum jelly or mineral oil. Many years ago I worked as a laboratory technician in the pharmaceutical industry and part of my job was to test petrolatum.  While I was testing it I decided to do some research and was horrified at where it came from, and what other uses it could be put to. One example is to extract perfume from rose petals (or any petals for that matter) and one smears petrolatum on glass plates and stick the petals onto the vaseline.  You then put it in the sun so that the petrolatum heats up.  The perfume oils and colour is extracted from the petals and is transferred to the petrolatum.  You then take a solvent such as petroleum spirit, alcohol, acetone to wash the petrolatum into a beaker.  After much washing of the petrolatum  and drying off of the solvent you hopefully get an aromatic perfume which is then used to perfume soaps, etc. Petrolatum does the same thing to your skin, especially your lips.  It extracts the oils from your skin and because your skin feels dry you add more cream or lipstick and the cycle starts again.  Your lips dry and you add more. The solution to this is to use a beeswax or castor oil (ricinus) based lipstick. For hands and bodies, use glycerine or shea based hand creams.  Personally I use udder cream which is made to sooth cows udders during the milking process.  Udder cream or milking cream, however, does have lanolin in it. Other horrible additives to make up and cosmetics are the preservatives, such as E.D.T.A, (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid,) which is usually used to dissolve limescale. Limescale is that stuff that coats the inside of your kettle, pipes, iron or wherever water evaporates. Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylenediaminetetraacetic_acid

VERY APT !!!!

Sha

Home Remedies for Flatulence

Home Remedies for Flatulence

Remedy for Flatulence # 1: Fresh papaya and pineapple contain enzymes which help digestion and prevent flatulence.

Remedy for Flatulence # 2: Add a teaspoon ginger powder to cold water covering dry beans. Boil and allow to cool for an hour, strain, rinse and then cook beans with fresh water.

Remedy for Flatulence # 3: At each meal, sip diluted lemon juice or a mixture of two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar and two of honey in a glass of water.

Remedy for flatulence # 4: Two mustard seeds with a glass of water before breakfast and then increase the amount of seeds daily to reach 12 per day before breakfast. Once the gases are under control, the number of seeds can be reduced gradually to take one or two a day.

Remedy for flatulence # 5: To relieve an attack of pain caused by gas, cover the abdomen with a hot water bottle.

Remedy for flatulence # 6: Apply a towel soaked in a mixture of brandy with hot water and a pinch of salt to the abdomen. This remedy also relieves stomach pain caused by flatulence.

Remedy for flatulence # 7: Herbal tea of cardamom, chamomile, cinnamon or cloves to stimulate digestion, will reduce the bacteria that cause putrefaction and improving intestinal mobility.

Remedy for flatulence # 8: Take, after dinner, a cup of tea made with a quart of boiling water and sugar, about 10 grams of fennel seeds.

Remedy for flatulence # 9: Place 1 teaspoon of oregano and lemon verbena in a cup of boiling water. Cover and let sit for about 6 minutes. Take after meals and there is no need to add sugar because the taste is very nice.

SD CARD PACKAGING REMOVAL

I sometimes wonder who has the delightful job of designing packaging to frustrate users.

Recently I bought a mini SD card from TDK.  As well packaged as this device was it required a box cutter to remove it from the packaging.  By the time I found a box cutter I had forgotten where I put the SD card.  When I eventually found the SD card I nearly sliced my fingers off trying to cut through the packaging.  AND then the box cutter slipped as I was trying to pry the mini SD card out of its plastic covering and the SD card went flying.  Finding that tiny itsy-bitsy little thing in the car took me nearly half an hour.  By the time I found the card I had mislaid my new phone.

There is a fair amount of danger here as people over 50 only really want SD cards for their cell phones and we shouldn't be handing sharp knives to old people or children under 10.

Is there a quick way to get the packaging off these SD cards?

Public sleeping competition - Hosted at the Budget Speech]

AND THIS IS WHAT WE PAY THE GOVERNMENT TO DO - SLEEP!  SOUTH AFRICA GET WIT H THE PROGRAMME.  GET RID OF THE TRASH.  YOU HAVE THE POWER. VOTE THEM AWAY.  THEY ARE WASTING YOUR MONEY!!