Materials

1. HDMI to DVI cord
   
   Alternative: Standard HDMI cord and HDMI to DVI adapter
2. Female to Female 3.5mm audio
   
3. RCA to 3.5 Audio Converter
   
   Alternative
4. Xbox 360 Cord
   

Directions

If you own a PS3, you do not need to buy the Xbox 360 Cord (#4). If you own an xbox you do not need to buy the HDMI to DVI cord (#1) if you buy the Xbox cord (#4). The RCA to 3.5MM audio adapter (#3) and the 3.5mm female-female (#2) are for audio and are optional if your speakers support RCA input. Most monitors do not.

PS3
For the PS3, you use the HDMI to DVI cord to plug that into your monitor. A HDMI to VGA cord will not work as it is not digital. Also, make sure your monitor is HDCP enabled – most are.
Use the standard cables that came with your PS3 for audio. If you do not have speakers with regular audio input then that is where #2 and #3 come into play. Plug #3 into the standard audio cables (color coordinated), then plug #2 into that. You can then plug your headphones or other speakers into that. The layout should look something like the following:

If things do not work right away you will have to adjust the settings. Go to display settings on your PS3.

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is similar to the PS3 instructions. You can try the same thing as the PS3 or buy the official Xbox 360 to VGA cord (#4). This has the audio built in the cord which is really nice, however it isn’t a standard like HDMI.

Hope this helped everyone. Let me know if you have any questions.

A good and cheap VPN is Super VPN Services. It has a 99% uptime and allows anonymous surfing of any website on the net. They have a great support team as well so they can trouble shoot you through any problems. It is great to have your own VPN because you can do a lot of different things on it – not just tunnel. I like to play around on it and install random things.

My Control Panel -> User Accounts and Family Safety -> User Accounts -> Change User Account Control settings

Restart required.

People walking around on me

When they stomp my name in the ground

They usin, bruisin, try to confuse me

But I just don’t make a sound

I’m used to having an overload

Yeah

Carrying along my shit

But you sigh and cry and try to lie and think you just get in my hair

Don’t tread on me!

*Don’t tread on me!

Don’t you tread on me!

*Don’t tread on me!

I just wanna be free

*Don’t tread on me!

Don’t you tread on me!

NO! NO!

Child there are things that made me cry, things that I don’t quit understand

Like you go out with other guys but you see I’m your only man

Don’t tread on me!

*Don’t tread on me!

Don’t you tread on me!

*Don’t tread on me!

I just, I just, wanna be free

*Don’t tread on me!

Don’t you tread on me!

NO! NO! NO! NO!

Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t walk on it.

I need ya. I need ya loving. Now don’t you try, walk on me

Yall Don’t tread on me!

*Don’t tread on me!

Don’t, don’t  you tread on me baby!

*Don’t tread on me!

I I wanna be free (?)

*Don’t tread on me!

No! No, don’t do it!

NO! NO!

What Killed Web Design?

1. The clients
   • They don’t know what good design is
   • They are cheap
2. Templates for CMS & PSD to HTML
   • Gives potential clients custom, cheap attractive options
3. The School Systems & Social Networks
   • Too many people are learning the same skill
   • Everyone thinks they are a “web designer” now

Embrace its Death!

• Don’t worry. You still have options!
  • If you love what you do then nothing will stop you
• Keep learning
  • Try javascript frameworks – jQuery or MooTools
  • Try new content methods – Flash
  • Try a CMS – Joomla!
  • Keep at each skill for a week and try to focus one project on just that skill
• Always work on something – look at open source projects or contests
  • Help other out while tring to use or learn your new skills
  • Ask for critiques of your work
• Get involved! – Network
  • Actually talk to others that share your passion
  • Join social networks like twitter or LinkedIn
  • Attend meetups in your area
  • Create a blog and write articles about topics you know or are learning

Just because you should not be a web designer anymore does not mean you can’t still do it. You may enjoy being a user interface developer.  A user interface developer does all the things a web designer does but a little more.  A web designer does just the graphics while an user interface developer does all of that plus the front-end work for a web site.  Front-end developer is actually coding what the web designer makes.  This is usually in (x)html, css and some sort of javascript or javascript framework.  They take the content given by the back-end developer and make it look pretty – which is what design should be all about.

Just being a web designer is not good enough anymore. In these tough times you need to work harder and faster to stay on top.  For web designers that means learning new skills and becoming an user interface developer.  It is not a huge leap but it is still a leap.  Have fun!

If you are still curious about this subject please read My Job Went to India: 52 Ways to Save Your Job by the Pragmatic Programmers and the article Why Creatives Make the Best Progammers by The Denver Egotist.

PRO

• Super sexy
• Back lights
• No glow leakage between keys
• Can adjust brightness (four levels)
• Thin (.37″) and small profile
• Full-size keyboard

CON

• Backspace button is small
• No official OSX or linux drivers
• Windows logo
• Clear border – why?
• “Soft-touch palm” isn’t real that soft – feels like a bendy plastic

Conclusion
This is one of Logitech’s cheaper keyboards.  It is a great alternative to the diNovo Edge.  The only real negative in this keyboard is a smaller backspace key.  If you are a superior typist you will not find this to be a problem.  When typing during the day you can also turn off the brightness to conserve power and the LEDs.  This sexy keyboard is a must buy.

Card is a middle-aged 57 years of age and was born on August 24, 1951. He was born in bucolic Richland, Washington and is currently living in Greensboro, North Carolina with his wife, Kristine, who is the loving mother of his five children. Card’s children are an important and germane part of his life, as one of his daughters and he was even in a short film together. Each of his children’s names was inspired by a great author or scholar. His first child, Michael Geoffrey, was born in 1978, was named after Geoffrey Chaucer. Card’s other children – Emily Janice, Charles Benjamin, Zina Margaret, and Erin Louisa were named after, Emily Bronte and Emily Dickinson, Charles Dickens, Margaret Mitchell, and Louisa Mae Alcott, respectively. Unfortunately, Orson and Kristine’s third child, Charles Benjamin, was afflicted with cerebral palsy and died soon after his seventeenth birthday. Their fifth child, Erin Louisa, died the day she was born. Even with these sad situations, it seems that the Card coterie has a hard time leaving Greensboro as they refer to it as their “home base”. Currently, Scott and Kristine’s son Micheal Geoffrey is married to Heather Heavener Card and they live in nearby Seattle, where he is a game designer for Amaze Entertainment. Emily is an actress, poet, singer, and audio producer in Los Angeles. Their youngest, Zina, is living at home, attending school, and playing video games and chess (“About Orson Scott Card”). With so many children involved in Orson Scott Card’s life it is no wonder that children are the center of his books and work.

Most, if not all of Card’s stories, novels, and plays, have a child as the main character. As with any story with children in its center, a major theme is loss of innocence. “It is not merely about the loss of innocence, as so many stories are with children at their center. It is about innocence systematically deceived and purposefully destroyed in the fanatical pursuit of a misguided higher ideal” (Wagner, “Ender’s Game / Orson Scott Card”). In Ender’s Game, the main character is a mere six years old. He is plucked from his Earthly home to attend Battle School and prepares to fight off an alien race called the Buggers. In battle school, Ender

and hundreds of other children and adolescents are subjected to grueling training that takes the form of war games, played both in computer simulation (video games, essentially) and in real time combat practice in an enormous zero-G chamber called the Battle Room. Ender is a natural. He excels immediately, and becomes commander of his own platoon ridiculously early.
Wagner, “Enders Game / Orson Scott Card”

With so much pressure on Ender and the other students, they are losing their childhood – much like Card’s two children who died at a young age. “We aren’t just ordinary children, are we? None of us. Don’t you sometimes wish we were?” (Card, Ender’s Game, 240) Card is saying that adults need to let children be kids – be happy and have fun – and stop putting the world on their shoulders.

Another factor that influences his life and writing is his faith. Card is a member of the Latter-day Saints (LDS) and has openly written about his church and his stance on political and religious views and agendas. He strongly opposes homosexuality and has received much criticism about it which has greatly affected how people view his work. Card’s outrage against homosexuality is sparked by the hypocrisies and sacrilege on the issue within the LDS church. However, Card believes that “Within the Church, the young person who experiments with homosexual behavior should be counseled with, not excommunicated” (Card, The Hypocrites of Homosexuality). He also believes that this is more than just a religious issue but a global issue that should be accosted with immediately. Orson Scott Card has also made it quite clear that he has never and will never “advocate, encourage, or even allow harsh personal treatment of individuals who are unable to resist the temptation to have sexual relations with persons of the same sex” (The Hypocrites of Homosexuality, Orson Scott Card). Even though Card’s opinions differ from others, he is not afraid to be the American he is and voice his opinion while also not being myopic. He also does not want others to view his children differently because of his religious and political perspective, which he made quite clear in First Meetings through the character of Theresa (Ender’s Mother).

Although Orson Scott Card does not summarily point directly to his religion or his views in his earlier books, there is some evidence of his religious leanings. He wrote the majority of his books in the 80’s which was when “people [were] searching for ways to re-establish traditions in their homes and lives” (“Ender’s Game (Historical Context)”). This reconstruction of home life is evident in Ender’s Game and First Meetings when the Wiggin family breaks a population law to be able to have a third child, Ender. “They are secretly proud of having a third, but are still ashamed of not being able to follow their beliefs more openly.” (“Ender’s Game (Themes)”) The main characters in Card’s book tend to be rebellious by following their heart and not blindly following others such as the government.

Another aspect of religion that can be found in Ender’s Game is a blurry line between good and evil. Ender’s mordant brother, Peter, is the depraved, antagonist and the evil brother. Ender is the distraught hero, but he sometimes finds himself wondering if he is the better killer than his brother, and thus more evil than he. Ender is not perfect and his human weakness, original sin, is evident. The difference between Peter and Ender is that Peter enjoys the death, violence and power he has while Ender wants to get away from it all. At the end of Ender’s Game, Ender embarks on a new life away from the disarrayed Earth and travels through space with his sister, Valentine.

Card’s religion and views are more apparent in his ‘newer’ books, like the Shadow series (a sequel to the Ender’s series) and First Meetings (pre-face or introduction to the Ender series). In Ender’s Shadow, a conversation is held which says, “‘Do you know why Satan is so angry all the time? Because whenever he works a particularly clever bit of mischief, God uses it to serve his own righteous purposes. So God uses wicked people as his tools.’ ‘God gives us the freedom to do great evil if we choose. Then he uses his own freedom to create goodness out of the evil, for that is what he chooses.’” (Card, Ender’s Shadow, 236) The above quote represents major religious view points and topics. It addresses our free will and humanity’s ability to choose things for themselves. It also shows that there is a God who is good, and Satan who is evil. Fortunately, God always overcomes the evil for He always prevails. In First Meetings a major theme is conflict between religious ideas – mainly the population laws.

Card’s well written work, which has been inspired by his family and faith, has won him numerous awards. His most current award, which was awarded to him in 2008, was the YALSA Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Contribution to Young Adult Literature for Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow. Other major awards consist of the Nebula and Hugo awards, which are both very prestigious. These prominent awards evince the fact that Orson Scott Card is the best American science fiction writer of all time. No one else in the world has won this many awards and has been honored in such a fashion as Orson Scott Card. America should be proud to have such a prestigious author writing for our entertainment.

Orson Scott Card’s prize winning work and actions have made him one of the best American science fiction writers of all time. He is a family man, and although his religious views are controversial, they do not negatively affect his excellent writing style or work. He has a free, American spirit and ideals that inspire millions. Card’s most famous book, Ender’s Game, will be part of history and will be in fan’s hearts for a while – especially with a future comic book release and a possible movie deal. Orson Scott card is a true American hero because he speaks his mind, and an excellent science fiction writer – the best of all time.

Works Cited

“About Orson Scott Card.” Hatrack River – The Official Web Site of Orson Scott Card. 30 Mar. 2009 <http://www.hatrack.com/osc/about.shtml>.

Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game. New York: Tor Science Fiction, 1994.

Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Shadow. New York: Tor Books, 2000.

Card, Orson Scott. First Meetings in Ender’s Universe. Tor Teen, 2004.

Card, Orson Scott. “The Hypocrites of Homosexuality.” Sunstone. Nauvoo. 1990. Latter-day Saints. 30 Mar. 2009 <http://www.nauvoo.com/library/card-hypocrites.html>.

“Ender’s Game (Historical Context).” Answers.com – Online Dictionary, Encyclopedia and much more. 30 Mar. 2009 <http://www.answers.com/topic/ender-s-game-novel-4>.

“Ender’s Game (Themes).” Answers.com – Online Dictionary, Encyclopedia and much more. 30 Mar. 2009 <http://www.answers.com/topic/ender-s-game-novel-2>.

Minkowitz, Donna. “My favorite author, my worst interview.” Salon.com – Breaking news, opinion, politics, entertainment, sports and culture. 3 Feb. 2000. 30 Mar. 2009 <http://archive.salon.com/books/feature/2000/02/03/card/>.

“The Parallels between Ender’s Game/Shadow and Religion.” Suite101.com: Online Magazine and Writers’ Network. 30 May 2003. 30 Mar. 2009 <http://www.suite101.com/discussion.cfm/fantasy_and_sf/92470>.

Wagner, Thomas M. “Ender’s Game / Orson Scott Card.” SF REVIEWS.NET | SF and Fantasy Book Reviews. 2003. 30 Mar. 2009 <http://www.sfreviews.net/endersgame.html>.

Special thanks to @falkencreative for peer editing.

This was a homework assignment. Highlighted words are vocabulary words.

I use the CD-ROM disk method. Download Super Grub Disk and burn the .iso image to the CD. After this is accomplished reboot your PC. Change the BIOS settings so you boot to the CD-ROM drive first.

At the Super Grub Disk menu keep pressing enter until you get to an option screen that lets you choose Linux or Windows. If you have recently installed Windows choose Linux and then reinstall Grub. The process is automatic. After that reboot and remove the disk. Grub should now be working.  Play around with Super Grub Disk and learn how Grub works.

If Super Grub Disk does not work check to see if your Hard drive (HD) is plugged in correctly. If you have two hard drive switch the IDE cables. This might solve the problem.

To find out or determine your button layout/number run the following in the command line:

xev

A nice little screen will pop up. Experiment!

Gmail Notifier is a Linux alternative for the notifier program released by Google, it is written in Python and provides an attractive and simple way to check for new mail messages.

Gmail Notifier works with Google Apps accounts but when you try to access your inbox it goes to the gmail website and not your domain’s URL.

For those that don’t have Gmail Notifier installed you can find more information about it and install/download it at their website. For the lazy Linix users (you Ubuntu users), you can find it in the package manager (Applications -> Add/Remove…), go to apt:gmail-notify in a web browser, or run the following in the command line:

sudo apt-get install gmail-notify

After installation of gmail-notify run the following in the command line:

cd /usr/lib/gmail-notify
sudo gedit notifier.py

I used gedit to modify my file but you are free to use whatever text editor you like.

Next find the following code:

def gotourl( self, wg=None):
        print "----------"
        print "launching browser "+self.options['browserpath']+" http://mail.google.com/"
        os.system(self.options['browserpath']+" http://mail.google.com/ &")

Replace it with

def gotourl( self, wg=None):
        print "----------"
        print "launching browser "+self.options['browserpath']+" https://mail.google.com/a/SITE.COM"
        os.system(self.options['browserpath']+" https://mail.google.com/a/SITE.COM &")

And that is all you need to do! Restart gmail-notify and the changes should be made. Now if only Gmail Notifier included this by default and let you manage multiple accounts at the same time.