Computer and Web Articles

I’m always suggesting new sites for people to visit and new programs for people to test out. Every once in a while, however, I come upon an internet treasure so great that instead of offering a suggestion, I offer a hands-down- absolutely-must-see-you’ll-seriously-love-this … recommendation. Today that recommendation is Google Earth.

Perhaps you remember my recommendation a long while back about an Earth-mapping application called Keyhole. Keyhole was great, but you had to either pay a fee or use their limited trial version. Recently, however, Keyhole has merged with Google and formed Google Earth.

Download the 100 percent free 12MB program right this very second at http://earth.google.com. The first night I downloaded it I, inadvertently of course, ended up staying awake until the wee hours of the morning. It’s that great/addicting.

I “flew” from Colorado back to the city, then street, then house where I grew up in California. I then “flew” north and visited my old college campus in Washington state (and to my surprise saw that they have added new buildings and completely reworked the soccer fields).

During my first night using Google Earth I visited the pyramids in Egypt, examined the New Orleans area from the sky, located the beaches I’ve swam at in Costa Rica and flew over my friend’s apartment building in Manhattan.

The level of detail is amazing; I wish I’d had this program when I was learning geography and world history in school. Go. Try it. Now.

My suggestion today is born from my curiosity in the recent debate on the possible banning of pit bulls in Summit County. I’ve been reading letters to the editor in the Summit Daily with interest, only to feel disappointed as I discovered many people backing up their opinions with vague generalizations and assumptions.

My suggestion reaches far beyond the boundaries of the pit-bull controversy, though, and into the world of educated debate and discussion. Opinion is best shared with others when there is more than just a “hunch” behind it, more than just one TV news story watched, more than just one friend’s anecdote listened to.

Today, I used the internet as a research tool in educating myself about pit bulls. After all, how could I, in good conscience, hold an opinion on the debate without first learning the facts?

I ended up reading on the topic for over an hour, extraordinarily surprised to find the massive amount of evidence that pit bulls are often misclassified, that their innate nature toward humans is loving, that other breeds have far higher rates of (often fatal) attacks on people across the nation, and that the majority of bad press against pit bulls comes from … the press (yet is all too often factually incorrect).

My suggestion today is this: I urge you to use the internet as one of your tools while conducting at least a small bit of research on topics important to you - especially if you plan to persuade others of your beliefs.

As with all sources that provide a wealth of information, attempt to learn both sides of the story and separate credible sources from opinions based solely on simple feelings or guesses.

Now, let me be the first to acknowledge that most of us don’t have the time to sit around doing research all day on various issues of interest.

Yet for someone attempting to persuade others of his/her opinions, facts and truths - as opposed to generalizations and hunches - it is absolutely necessary.

If you have any interest in learning more about pit bulls and their place in the media these days, I encourage you to try your own internet searches.

Here are a few informative sites I found while conducting my own search: www.understand-a-bull.com; www.realpitbull.com/myths.html; and www.badrap.org.

Question: “When I am on a website and I’d like to send the page to someone, I go to the Mail icon in my Internet Explorer and click ‘Send page.’ A window pops up with Outlook all ready to go. Problem is, I don’t use Outlook as my e-mail, I use Juno.”  -Lenore, Silverthorne

Answer: As the regular opening of a never-used program is quite frustrating, let’s tackle this issue, shall we?

After some research, I located the following instructions for launching Juno when you use e-mail functions in your web browser: First, go to the Options menu in Juno and select Email Options. Ensure that the “Run Juno when I use the email features of my Web browser” box is has a checkmark in it.

A bit more research, however, found that some users still experience the “Outlook is opening” problem even though they had ensured the “Run Juno” option was turned on. If you’re one of these users, no worries, just follow these easy steps.

Start Internet Explorer and go to View, then Internet Options. Click the Programs tab and in the Mail box and make sure to select Juno from the drop-down list. Click OK and you should be good to go.