Brian Gallimore's Blog

Voted for Obama?

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

A humorous sign: (irony of criticizing idiots with a sign containing grammar mistakes is not lost on me)

“If you voted for Obama in 2008 to prove you weren’t a racist, you’d better vote for someone else in 2012 to prove you’re not an idiot!”

Posted in Humor, Politics | Tagged BO, sign | Leave a comment

Bunk-Bed Assembly

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

I was greeted home tonight with a 4-year-old doing some sort of celebration dance and singing a made up song “I’ve got a bunk-bed!” over and over. I really had no choice but to get right to work putting it together for him. I think it took longer to empty out the 8 boxes it came in! Bryson was a big help, and in the end he performed the celebration dance again on the stairs.

Bryson is daddy's helper

Image 1 of 8

Posted in Family | Tagged Bryson, bunk-bed | Leave a comment

New Life for Old Headlights

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

If your plastic headlight lenses are looking hazy like mine were, you can probably recondition them so they look near-new for about $15 and 30 minutes of time. I used the 3M Headlight Lens Restoration System, which comes with 500 grit and 800 grit sandpaper, a 3000 grit wet sanding pad, rubbing compound, a foam polishing pad, and an attachment for your drill. It takes a little patience to go through the steps of sanding and then finally polishing it all out, but the results are great. (In the picture below, the top units are reconditioned and the bottom units are not done yet)

Posted in Automotive, How-To | Tagged headlamp, lens, restore | Leave a comment

How To Forward Emails

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

Etiquette in the Information Age – Volume 2

This is pretty simple and common sense, but I constantly receive email forwards that prove we haven’t evolved enough. This is part two of my most recent effort to make the world a little better place to live.

Delete the crap, keep the good stuff: The delete key is most used tool for making this work. Whatever you are forwarding on should be content, not pages of junk left by the 10 other people who forwarded the email on before you did.
Delete the old email addresses (forwarding history): Again, use the delete button. This is just a repeat of the first suggestion. I’m sure most of the people would not want their email addresses sent all over the world so show some decency and remove all those addresses from the email you are sending out.
Use the BCC field: Placing the email addresses of your recipients in the BCC field (instead of the TO or CC fields) hides their address from everyone.
SPAM = unwanted message: Are you SURE your recipient really wants to receive the message you are about to forward to him? Maybe you are sending out spam? If so, consider something other than email– like a blog or chat group.
Limit volume: Sending out more than a few email forwards per day is probably excessive.
Limit attachment size: Most people don’t mind receiving a video file that is a few megabytes in size, as long as they have a fast connection and don’t have a full inbox, but how can you know? Better to upload the file to a common place and send a link instead.

Posted in How-To | Tagged email, forward, Netiquette | Leave a comment

Rachel Madcow is “the thinking man’s Keith Olbermann”

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

Rachel Maddow’s Bad Company – WSJ.com.

Madcow’s defense of Acorn was based on the ‘constitutional rights of corporations’, which she was all-for. Unless you are talking about the 1st amendment rights, then she is really against it.

Another example of liberals using any means necessary to justify their agenda. Logic, truth, and consistency be damned!

Posted in Politics | Tagged acorn, constitution, msnbc | Leave a comment

Why Plain Text is Best

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

Etiquette in the Information Age – Volume 1

Your new computer came with the latest and greatest word processor software (version 23). It seems like a good idea to fancy up your emails and communications by using the best software you can, right? BUT— what if everyone else doesn’t share your love of proprietary software or wish to support the short life-cycle and high costs of the mighty mega-software companies? Plain Text is the answer. Sometimes (like if you are sending to people in your own company, and you know everyone has the same computing capabilities you do) it is fine to send out special files, but if you are trying to communicate to an audience that isn’t under the control of a single governing body (like a single IT department) it is a good idea to use the format is common to everything: Plain Text. Plain text shows up correctly on every screen, every operating system, every device. It is the common denominator of electronic media. Plain text does not use bold, underline, italics, color backgrounds, font sizes, inline graphics, music, animation, or URL links; it is just pure, plain, simple TEXT.

It is easy to configure your email client to send plain text. If you need to use formatted text, then HTML is a good choice, and most email clients can be configured to send in the HTML format. Most recipients using computers can read the HTML-formatted messages without trouble, but be aware they can get mangled up when forwarded or sent through message groups. Some email systems consider embedded links to be spam messages, so there is a possibility your email will never be delivered. These are more reasons why plain text emails are preferable.

If you do need to send a special document of any format, consider converting it to a PDF before attaching it. The PDF format is now an open standard and helps ensure the recipient will be able to view the document correctly. Document formats that require special software to open should be avoided if at all possible.

Be aware that many people read email on mobile devices now, and viewing formatted text (even HTML) or handling attachments of any type can be a problem. Viewing plain text is not a problem!

I hope it is clear why using plain text simplifies the task of communicating to a diverse group of people electronically. If you need more reasons, keep reading!

Continue reading →

Posted in How-To | Tagged email, Netiquette, plain text | Leave a comment

The Sun Is the Best Optometrist

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

The Sun Is the Best Optometrist – NYTimes.com.

Researchers suspect that bright outdoor light helps children’s developing eyes maintain the correct distance between the lens and the retina — which keeps vision in focus. Dim indoor lighting doesn’t seem to provide the same kind of feedback. As a result, when children spend too many hours inside, their eyes fail to grow correctly and the distance between the lens and retina becomes too long, causing far-away objects to look blurry.

…

A restless nature was once helpful to people who needed to find food sources in the wild, but in today’s classrooms, it’s often classified as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

…

if your child is going to stick his nose in a book this summer, get him to do it outdoors.

Posted in Interesting | Tagged light, outdoors, sight, vision | Leave a comment

BO shops for Libya advice that lets him ignore the law

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

Last week, by rejecting the OLC’s advice concerning his three-month-old intervention in Libya’s civil war, Obama sent the clearest signal yet that he is no more inclined than his predecessor to obey the law.

via War Counsel – Reason Magazine.

Posted in Politics | Leave a comment

Why More Troops at Korean Border Than U.S. Border?

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

AZ Sheriff: Why More Troops at Korean Border Than U.S. Border? | CNSnews.com.

Obama administration’s decision to extend the deployment of 1,200 U.S. National Guard troops along the U.S. border with Mexico until Sept. 30 is “pandering” and that those numbers “fall far short” of what military power is needed to keep the country safe.

Babeu noted, for comparison, the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea to help defend it against North Korean aggression; U.S. troops have been stationed in South Korea for 58 years.