Can you see US now?

 

Skype™ is promoting a new feature - group (multi-party) video calls.

That's great news for Skype users.

But unlike the limited one-to-one Skype option, the multi-party "premium" version is fee-based (http://tinyurl.com/2cuaptd).

For the computer phobic, Skype's $9.month charge is a small price to pay for conference video calls with up to 25 people (http://tinyurl.com/3x7z282). One Skype subscriber must have the premium version; the remainder can have the free Skype installed.

The new Grandmother uses Skype to chat with her Daughter and coo at her new Grand-Daughter on almost a daily basis. Even with a medium speed DSL connection on Granny's side, quality is satisfactory.

But Number 2 Son, a/k/a The Geek, told me about a free - correct, no charge, gratis - option called Tiny Chat (http://tinychat.com/.

It's a tad more complicated that Skype, but not all that much.

With TinyChat the call originator creates a "video chat room" on the Internet (a simple enough task). Then the originator invites (via email or phone or ? ) as many as 400 others to join. All for free. There also is a two-party, Skype-like option (http://tinychat.com/about.html.

Unlike Skype, there is nothing to install on any computer.

Skype DOES offer a greater number of supported interface languages, including Hebrew. TinyChat has 9 language options, including Russian, but no Hebrew. Skype also is Linux-friendly; apparently there are some problems on Linux with TinyChat (http://tinyurl.com/5sv7a96).

It's nice to know that there are options to not only talk to the mispahah but to see them as well.

Now if only Savata Raba could be brought into the 21st century . . .

English or Hebrew - only

Comments to this blog are accepted in English and in Hebrew ONLY.

Comments in any other language will be rejected.

ALL comments must include the poster's identification (name and email address).

English or Hebrew only

 

The ONLY comments to this blog that will be considered for publication will be in English (preferred) or Hebrew.

y

Pastels

 

The following is excerpted from an AP article picked up by Yahoo.

Headline: Israel: British arrest warrant threatens ties

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091215/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_britain_livni

By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer

Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni was targeted for her role in last winter's brutal offensive against Hamas in Gaza, when she was foreign minister.

Livni, a one-time lead negotiator with the Palestinians, enjoys a dovish reputation in much of the West. But as foreign minister, she staunchly defended Israel's devastating military offensive in Gaza.

Her support for that operation, launched to end years of rocket fire by Gaza militants against Israel, has remained strong, despite widespread international criticism and allegations of war crimes due to the hundreds of civilian casualties.

Well, Ms Teibel at least noted - almost as an after thought - that the "devastating military offensive" was "launched to end years of rocket fire by Gaza militants."

There is some debate about the number of casualties in Aza - and no mention of Israeli civilian casualties prior to Israel's "brutal offensive."

This is "colored with a pastel paint" journalism; not blatantly yellow but one-sided and incomplete.

 

Yohanon Glenn
Yohanon.Glenn at gmail.com

 

Good-bye Microsoft

 

I've used Microsoft products for years - since Word 1.0 was distributed in a popular pc magazine - ON A SINGLE 5 1/4-INCH FLOPPY !!

I've suffered each time Redmond "improved" the product with a new User Interface or "UI."

I LIKE the MS Office products - Access, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. I like many of the utilities that come with the operating system - the many "accessories."

But the constant mucking around with the UI has finally caused me to look elsewhere.

I just bought a new notebook (nee' laptop) from Toshiba. Nice machine.

It came loaded with Vista Home - a major step down from XP Pro that was on my Compaq replacement machine and on the office machine. (The new office boxes probably will be loaded with Windows 7, but the cycle for me is a couple of years away.)

I both love and hate Microsoft Word … as a simple word processor, I think it is great. My preferred word processor. It has severe limitations, but realizing that, smart documentation people use other programs for serious documentation; creating text in "weird" and pouring the text into a real page composition application. Likewise graphics. Sure, Word can be used to create simple graphics, but Visio is bettere for block diagrams and flow charts, and there are a few good programs out there for "real" graphics.

But much as I love Word, I have come to the end of the line with Microsoft products.

I just tried to access the COOKIES "folder" (a "sub-directory" to my peers in age). I don't have access to the folder.

Yet I am, by default, the "system administrator." In fact, I am the ONLY user of this computer.

What do I care about accessing the Cookies folder? Turns out Microsoft's Internet Explorer V8 can't seem to purge the cookies . . . on XP Pro IE 7 could clear out all the cookies AND let me confirm the deletion. Actually, I want to manually DELete cookies so I can "save" one; the cookie StatCounter uses to ignore hits on my Web page and blog that originate from my computer.

Vista shares the notebook's hard drive with Linux Ubuntu, OpenOffice.org applications, and Firefox

Firefox not only can clear out all cookies, it asks me each time an application wants to set a cookie if I want to keep it, delete it at the end of the (browser) session, or block the cookie.

OpenOffice.org - a poor man's free version of the commercial StarOffice from Sun, has allthe program types MS Office offers, but there are many features and functions missing that Office users are accustomed to using. Likewise Evolution, the email handler that functions like Outlook. Granted, all the applications that came on the Ubuntu CD are free and most are developed by volunteers, so lacking some features and functions fund in the "high priced spread" versions (e.g., Microsoft products) is understandable.

I'm sure that the freeware will, as Microsoft products did, improve with age. Likewise, I am sure there are "alternatives" and "work-arounds" to make the free applications function more like the commercial versions.

I only hope that the people working on Linux applications learn from what I term Microsoft's mistake and refrain from "updating" the UI with each new release.

If Ubuntu and Linux developers follow in Microsoft's footsteps, I may be forced to go back to pen and paper. (I wonder if I still can find a good, affordable (bulb) fountain pen … and a jar of ink to fill it.)

Yohanon.Glenn
Yohanon.Glenn at gmail dot com

New service lets Jews tweet a prayer to G-d

From http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090723/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_prayer_tweets

By STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM – Judaism's holiest site has entered the Twitter age.

The Western Wall now has its own address on the social networking service, allowing believers around the globe to have their prayers placed between its centuries-old-stones without even leaving their armchairs.

The service's Web site says petitioners can tweet their prayers and they will be printed out and taken to the wall, where they will join the thousands of handwritten notes placed by visitors who believe their requests will find a shortcut to G-d by being deposited there.

The wall, in Jerusalem's Old City, is all that remains of the second temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. It stands where the bible says King Solomon built the first temple, which was destroyed by the Babylonians more than 600 years earlier.

The Tweet Your Prayers site does not identify its founders, saying only that the driving force behind it is a "young man from Tel Aviv".

No charge is made for placing a prayer at the wall. Visitors to the Web site are invited to make donations by credit card and it has sponsored links to an outdoor reception hall on the nearby Mount of Olives and a publisher of custom-made prayer books.

Throughout the ages, Jews have prayed at the Western Wall.

Tweet Your Prayers opened earlier this month, but for several years the Western Wall Heritage Foundation has operated a fax hot line and a Web site where people overseas can send their prayers and have them printed out and placed in the wall's crevices.

Twice a year, at Passover in the spring and the Jewish New Year in the fall, the Wall's rabbi clears out the accumulated notes which are buried in accordance with Jewish custom, which forbids the destruction of writings that mention G-d, such as worn or damaged Torah scrolls, prayer books and other religious articles.

The Tweet Your Prayers site's Frequently Asked Questions page asks what recourse users have if their prayers are not answered.

"Take it up with the Big Guy upstairs," is the reply. "We're just the middlemen!"

 

Holocaust - a Jewish PR mistake

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties)

---

The Holocaust took the lives of between 5.1 to 6.0 million Jews.

Other groups persecuted and killed by the Nazis included

• Gypsies: 130,000 to 500,000
• Handicapped: 150,000 to 200,000
• Soviet POWs: 2.6 to 3 million
• Poles: 1.8 to 1.9 million
• Soviet civilians: 4.5 to 8.2 million
• Gay males: about 10,000
• Jehovah's Witnesses: 1,000
• Roman Catholics: 1,000 to 2,000
• Freemasons: unknown number

"The fate of black people from 1933 to 1945 in Nazi Germany and in German-occupied territories ranged from isolation to persecution, sterilization, medical experimentation, incarceration, brutality, and murder."

From 1933-1939 the number of German deaths in Nazi concentration camps were 165,415, primarily Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats, and trade union leaders.

---

The above is NOT to denigrate our loss.

It is an attempt to make a point that we were not the only group that the Germans - with plenty of help from their Eastern European friends - slaughtered "just because."

As long as we continue to remind the world that 6 million Jews were murdered and as long as we fail to also tell the world that these same "civilized" Germans, and their friends, killed others as well, the holocaust will remain a "Jewish event."

"Jewish events" only get our attention; the rest of the world already is forgetting.

It was not just a "Jewish event" and both we and the world need to acknowledge that and remember that.

There is no denying that 6 million (6,000,000) is a large number of lives lost - how many survived with lives destroyed, how many generations were lost - but we were not the only group to be singled out.

If truth be known, the Gypsies probably suffered, if not a greater proportional loss than we, then a similar loss. According to Modern History Sourcebook: Gypsies in the Holocaust (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/gypsy-holo.html), "It is known that perhaps 250,000 Gypsies were killed, and that proportionately they suffered losses greater than any other group of victims except Jews."

Like us, the Gypsies have a long history of persecution at the hands of the Germans, a history that precedes German unification. Indeed, some of the anti-Gypsy actions mirror anti-Jewish actions.

By the by, let's stop talking about "anti-Semitism." Our cousins, the Arabs, also are Semites. What we face is not "anti-Semitism"; what we face is either "anti-Jewish" or "anti-Israel" - there are no other options. True enough, there are those who are "anti-Arab" or "anti-Moslem" - which depends on (a) the price of oil (anti-Arab) or (b) the latest Islamic-sponsored terror attack, unless of course if the attack is against Jews in Israel or, it seems, any place on the globe.

A pretty good book about the Gypsies and the Germans is The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies by Guenter Lewy. My copy was borrowed from the local lending library.

Most sources I've seen suggest that the Gypsies lack the capacity to tell their story. Add that to a reluctance to share anything with the "world outside the Roma world" and it is understandable that, compared to knowledge of the slaughter of our people, the Gypsy holocaust is unknown.

We, Jews, need to tell their story as best as we are able.

We, Jews, also need to remind the world that the Germans and their friends made it Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to torture and murder anyone who was "not like" them, even if, as in the case of the Gypsies, the persecuted truly were "Aryans."

We may not agree with the philosophy or sexual or political preferences of the people the Germans and their friends sent to their deaths, but we must - must - tell the world again and again and again that while we lost 6 million, a number that excludes Jews serving in the armies and navies facing the Axis, many, many more millions also were persecuted - tortured and murdered - by the Germans and their friends.

We were not alone. It was not a "Jewish only" event and we all - humanity - must both remember and be vigilant to assure it doesn't happen again.

Not to us.

Not to any group.

yohanon
yohanon.glenn @ gmail.com

Headline writers - a dangerous breed

I was looking at what I presume (dangerous thing to do) a Yahoo headline over an Associated Press article.

The headline reads: "Rice: Pakistan must cooperate in terror probe"

MUST cooperate? MUST ?

Most parents know that if you tell a child he or she "must" do something the child is less than enthusiastic about, the child will resist. Likewise countries' politicians.

The U.S. already has a "bad rep" with many counties around the world - deserved or not, its how the U.S. is perceived by others that counts - so a headline such as the one on Yahoo is either a match to ignite anger or fuel to further inflame anti-U.S. sentiment.

To be fair, the article fails to support the head writer's "must" wording. Rice is "sending a message" in very clear terms to the Pakistani government, but I never saw the word "must" in her admonishment.

Back when Hector was a pup, I got a management lesson from a U.S. Forest Service officer named John Glenn - no relation to the Marine; the manager of the local Forest Service office said a good manager (by extension Secretary of State) should never need to "tell" someone to do something; it should be enough to "suggest" a job needs to be done.

A variation of the honey vs. vinegar to catch flies admonishment.

There was a time when I wrote "heds." I wrote them for "major metropolitan dailies," suburban dailies, and weeklies. Since it also was an era when reporters wrote headline leeds (leads), hed writers were expected to write titles that accurately reflected the article.

Granted, that was sometimes trying and it helped to have both a large vocabulary and neighbors with equally large vocabularies to ferret out "right-size" synonyms. Euphemisms were discouraged.

I wonder how a person in Pakistan would react to the Yahoo headline. Especially a person with English as a Second Language.

Add to the above that most non-US and Canadian newspapers I have seen use passive voice in their heds; they "back in" to the subject. Drove me nuts when I lived overseas.

Taken altogether, the "Pakistan must cooperate in terror probe" hed is inflammatory and could be, indeed probably will be, counter-productive. Or maybe because I am who I am, I am over reacting. Maybe the Pakistanis will read the Yahoo headline and ignore the words and tone.

It is both what we say and how we say it.

I agree with Ms. Rice that Pakistan's government should look into a government connection (even if only ignoring a threat) to the terror in India if only because the same mentality can work against the government. But I don't believe we - the United States - should tell Pakistan, as a parent might with a small child, to "do" anything.

Just a thought.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Common courtesy

A funny thing.

Fellow sent me an email asking me to review and comment on a document he wrote.

I responded to his email and asked where I could find the document.

I received an almost instant auto-response telling me

---

I apologize for this automatic reply to your email.

To control spam, I now allow incoming messages only from senders I have approved beforehand.

If you would like to be added to my list of approved senders, please fill out the short request form (see link below). Once I approve you, I will receive your original message in my inbox. You do not need to resend your message. I apologize for this one-time inconvenience.

Click the link below to fill out the request:

---

Now this person is not the only correspondent I have that has a similar set up and, frankly, I don't blame them.

But it seems to me if I am invited to respond, the spam catcher should be told to pass my mail to the person's inbox.

Often when we signup for a list we get an email telling us to add the list FROM address to our address book - apparently some email services can be told to look at the address book and to redirect to the Spam folder any email from an address not found in the address book.

I consider it common courtesy to open the gate for someone I invited to come in (send me an email).

Maybe it's an "age" thing.

Like holding a door for a lady.

Or walking between a lady and the curb ("kerb" to my friends on the other side of the pond).

I know young women today who find it "sexist" if a man rushes to be a "gentleman."

Whatever the case, I took umbrage when I received the email telling me my post was rejected. (Turns out it got through anyway.)

Common courtesy.

It's not a big deal to BE courteous, but it could be a big deal to someone who is on the receiving end.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Of "gooder grammer"

I have a couple of email addresses.

For the most part, the hosts do a pretty good job of identifying spam and isolating it.

Sometimes - most of the time - I trust the host and delete the spam folder contents without checking it.

But sometimes, just to be sure the host isn't dumping desired mail into the spam folder, I check it myself.

Which I did today.

I am left wondering how anyone could be conned into some of the things that appear in their mail box.

I give you the following subject lines as examples:

---

Cheap price Degree/Bacheelor/MasteerMBA/PhDD certificate

I want sale you rolex . Do you want one?

SOLD OUT -- -Gucci or Louis Vuitton products

SOLD OUT -- - I Selling Rolexes and other watches? DO uou want?

---

The one selling degrees caught my eye first - OK, it was at the top of the list.

Whoever created the subject line had stuttering fingers. BacheElor/MasteErMBC/PhDD. And what, pray, is a PhD "certificate." (I'm sure it is "suitable for framing.")

Grammar seems to be too much of a bother for many spammers.

"I want sale you rolex." If the initial "I" had been lower case, I might think this was a message from Don Marquis' pal, Archie (the cockroach), save that Archie used "gooder grammer."

I always am amused by SOLD OUT screamers.

If the item is sold out, why bother me?

That's akin to seeing gasoline advertised on the tube for $1.99/gallon (remember when we thought that was outrageous?). When you pull into the station the price on the pump is $3.99 (alas, now considered a "good" price). Go into the office (if you can) and complain "I want $1.99/gallon gas." The attendant, if he or she can comprehend your obviously ludicrous request, will tell you "go buy the gas from your tv."

Granted, I went to "grammar" school when Hector was a pup, and I know things have changed over the years, but good grief, are idiots "educating" our young? Are our young incapable of learning and applying basic English skills? Are French speakers equally ill-prepared to communicate?

It's one thing to create a minor grammar faux pas, e.g., subject:number errors, but some of the subject lines that violate our vision are beyond laughable; they are pathetic.

Life in the fast lane.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

STROKE: Remember 1st 3 Letters: S-T-R

If everyone can remember something this simple, some lives might be saved.

It only takes a minute to read this...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke... totally . He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

---

RECOGNIZING A STROKE WITH "S - T - R"

---

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S * Ask the individual to SMILE

T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (e.g., It is sunny out today)

R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

---

Extra Sign of a Stroke: "Stick out Your Tongue"

---

Another "sign" of a stroke is this: Ask the person to "stick" out his tongue.. If the tongue is "crooked," if it goes to one side or the other, this also is an indication of a stroke.

I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on tv, so I invite all medical professionals to add their comments. If they agree with the foregoing, I encourage them to post the advice in their anterooms and examining rooms so patients and others will have a chance to become "stroke conscious."

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Half truths - are they lies?

I've been casually watching the primary politicos' press posturing and I have to tell you, I am (once again) disappointed in our choices - and in some of the folks supporting them.

It's not that any of the candidates are telling blatant lies about their opponents, at least as far as I can tell, but innuendo and half truths are flying about more than feathers from a torn pillow in a hurricane.

---

Most of us know the story of the prevaricator who slandered his rabbi.
Later, filled with remorse, he went to his rabbi and asked how he could make amends.
Rabbi tells him to take a feather pillow, rip it open, and throw the feathers to the wind.
Our miscreant does as he was told and returns to the rabbi expecting forgiveness.
Instead the rabbi instructs the slanderer to collect all the feathers and put them back into the pillow.
"It's impossible to retrieve all the feathers; they were blown away by the wind."
"Exactly," replies the rabbi, "it's the same with your words; they have scattered (by one person gossiping to others) beyond retrieval."

---

One candidate claims to be in favor of something; the opponent takes the remark out of context and, like a tv sound bite (of which we all should be suspicious), presents it as the full remark, adding his or her on twist own the other person's words.

Of course each candidate plays to the audience of the moment. While there may be a lack of a documented promise, there are "suggestions" about the candidate's feelings toward this group, or against the groups real or perceived foe.

To be fair to the candidates, many of us are "single issue" voters who will vote for anyone who claims to think as we do on "our" special interest.

Has everyone forgotten everything they learned in their high school Civics classes? Presidents can say whatever they want, but Congress and the Court can frustrate any president's wishes. Elect me and everyone will have a lifetime supply of "free" high octane gas - never mind that Congress won't fund the promise and I'm certainly not going to pay for it from MY pocket.

There are Web sites that attempt to fairly present a candidate's views, but it's hard to hit a moving target.

One thing that amuses me about politicians - they attack each other for having a change of mind.

Are we all frozen in time, never changing when new evidence is presented or different situations occur?

I know I wasn't always as I am today. I would hate for someone to say I was "wishy-washy" because I drive a Chevy when I used to drive a Ford. (Actually I don't drive either, but I hope I make my point.)

I think it would be great if we could develop a list of concerns with input from all special interest groups, carefully craft the questions to avoid "weasel worded" answers, and present them to candidates sequestered in separate rooms and away from their advisors and "spin doctors."

No debate.

Just the answers; as complete as the candidate cares to provide (for even that tells us something about the person).

Spare me the negative half truths; I won't listen to one candidate attempt to discredit another. I want to know where the candidate stands on the issues.

Civility and truth on the campaign trail: the stuff of which dreams are made.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Made in America, Revisited

I was born in the USA. I lived for a while elsewhere and I know that America is, for me at least, "the" place to live.

I was very much a "Buy America" flag waver.

But I just traded in an "assembled-in-the-USA" SUV for a 90% made-in-Asia car.

I have, over the years, owned a number of Ford and GM vehicles; even a great Rambler Rebel wagon, c 1967, the brief period Rambler wore the American Motors logo.

So, why did ol' Red, White, and Blue look west for the current transportation?

Quality.

Warranty.

The SUV I turned in was a '99. I had to replace the transmission before 100,000 miles.

That would not have been so bad, but in researching the transmission's history, I discovered the problem my car encountered was the same one other same-make SUV owners had been encountering for more than a few years.

In other words, management of the car maker refused to change a bad unit.

I am not pointing a finger at the folks who built or assembled the "assembled in America" SUV; I fault management.

At one point I owned an American-assembled Diesel passenger car.

I went to a new car dealer for the vehicle's first oil change. The factory-trained service tech tyro changed a filter and put in a little over 4 (US) quarts of oil.

What's wrong with that? The car required two oil filters and 5-plus quarts of oil.

Then there was the cracked block and the hung-up starter - the dealer people couldn't find the battery to disconnect it. (The battery was in the trunk.)

My first car was a "made-in-America" Oldsmobile 76 - that's not a typo, it was a "76" which I named "The Spirit of '76"; admittedly I was not very original at age 17. Since the 76, I have owned a number of other "made-in-the-USA" or "assembled-in-the-USA" vehicles. I've also owned a Vauxhall, VW, Toyota, Subaru, and Nissan nee' Datsun. Most of the cars were at least "pretty good."

But as the calendar pages turned, it seemed "made-in-the USA" gave way more and more to "assembled-in-the-USA" and management elected to allow production of faulty products - and when confronted with the fact, it figuratively thumbed its nose at the customer . . . the poor person who pays their salary. Chutzpah. Toward the end, "assembled-in-the-USA" was becoming "outsourced to Mexico" (I'm bitterly thinking of Ford's F-100 plant in Mexico, formerly of Chesapeake VA.)

My new sedan was acquired because the SUV needed several thousands of dollars worth of work that, because of $pecialty tool$ could only be accomplished by a dealer (replacement of two timing chains). There also was the cost-of-fuel issue and the fact I no longer need the SUV's capacity.

But why buy a foreign name? There are "assembled-in-the-USA" vehicles which provide decent mileage.

Warranty.

Remember I complained about the SUV's known-bad transmission?

I paid to get it fixed since it was out of the manufacturer's 3 year/36,000 mile warranty.

When I starting shopping for the new flivver, I carefully looked at warranties, gas mileage, and price. Even the highly touted Japanese models offered only 3/36. Some vehicles offered 5/50. Chrysler now has a life-of-vehicle (or first owner?) on its power train (bravo, Chrysler!), but the price and mileage combo kept me off Chrysler lots.

My new car gets "pretty good" mileage (estimated 25/37), was within my "willing-to-pay" range, and has a 10/100 warranty.

I hope I don't have to use all the warranty's benefits, but if I do, I know that I am covered. Based on past experience with the manufacturer and model, chances are pretty good I won't need to use the warranty often, but if I do . . .

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Of crawlers and blogs

Back when Hector was a pup* and I was a young newspaper reporter, brand name companies such as Coca-Cola, Sanka, Caterpillar, and a few others employed staffs to peruse newspapers and magazines and to listen to radio and television for misuse of their trademarked names.

Ordering a cup of Sanka or having a coke (with a lower case "c") often would get the offending writer a nice letter from the trademark owner suggesting that a repeat offense would have both parties meeting at the bar . . . of justice.

I suspect there are many fewer people doing that these days when so much information is exchanged via the Internet.

Now, instead of people perusing paper, applications - crawlers - search the WorldWide Web for key words. With most printed publications now having an on-line, digital version, the companies in most cases can save their subscription costs. What's in US News & World Report? Let the crawler read the pages and if there is a hit - if it finds a key word - it will report back.

Crawlers look at more than newspapers and magazines. They apparently look at personal blogs, too.

This blog was hit by a corporate crawler looking for specific key words appearing in a previous posting.

I don't mind. I don't write anything libelous or scandalous; most of what is on this site is about as exciting as dry cereal left soaking too long in milk. But I was surprised to see two hits within minutes of each other from the same corporate source. Since this is a new blog and since it hosts a potpourri of subjects, it's not likely that my visitor knew about this blog before the crawler discovered a key word. Since only one blog entry was "hit," the finger points back to a single source.

Technology. Interesting tools; tools to find things and tools to record visits by the search tools.

But it's a reminder. The Internet is an open book; everything out "there" is open to the world. When blogging, or emailing, or otherwise putting it all on the line for the world to see whether you want it seem or not, consider the Pilot's Poem (Burma Shave would be proud):

When descending

from above

Be like porcupines

making love

C A R E F U L L Y

* By the way, if you're interested in learning about Hector, try http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sin1.htm - and no, I'm not THAT old.

Yohanon
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com

Words and wordsmiths

Just finished reading a collection of letters to and from Wm F. Buckley titled "Cancel your own * subscription" with "Notes and Articles from National Review" as its subtitle.

(* I'm no prude, but I cannot abide gratuitous profanity; the "*" represents one of Wm. F's favorites.)

I am, by and large, a fiscal conservative and social liberal, so I'm generally in agreement with the late Mr. Buckley and with the late Barry Goldwater, Air Force general and senator from Arizona. I am mid-way through a slim volume of Goldwater's called "The conscience of a conservative" to which Pat Buchanan's front matter is far too long.

I enjoy Buckley's writing more than his political philosophy. He was a bit of a curmudgeon, but he certainly has a way with words. I found paragraphs in the book which brought to mind a Hemingway bullfight scene of 102 or so words.

There is an art to stringing together more than a few words while still maintaining reader comprehension. Hemingway used it so well readers, reading the prose aloud, automatically pause for a breath where a comma appears in the text. There is tension in Hemingway's work.

An aside. Buckley is dead. The book I was reading is copyright 2007. Yet I write in the present tense, as if Buckley is alive and well. THAT is the legacy of the written word.

I came by the Buckley and Goldwater books thanks to my two boys who gave me a gift card to a local book purveyor. The two books were marked down, as was "The traveling curmudgeon," a book of comments by, mostly, professional travelers that I acquired at the same time. I interrupted that book to read Buckley.

Abba Eban, also "late," had a way with words. Eban had a way with English words, with Hebrew words, and even Arabic words. Perhaps other languages as well. I have a copy of Eban's "My People" in his second language which I bought when I lived in the country he represented in the (dis)United Nations.

Perhaps because I spent a few years in the writing business, and most of that obliged to write short paragraphs of even shorter sentences, I enjoy the opportunity to read the work of people lacking the constraints placed on my wordsmithing.

Writing, like oratory, is becoming a lost art.

While I have heard a number of famous people speak, only one - Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr., a gentleman with whom I was not generally in political agreement - was able to capture and hold my undivided attention. He spoke, with little preparation, at a hastily convened event in Harrisburg PA when he was a guest of then governor Milton Shapp (which dates the event).

I don't aspire to write like Buckley or speak like Humphrey, but I appreciate their skills and envy their command of the language. Reading them or listening to them is as much a pleasure, politics aside, as listening to good music (and that, too, spans a broad spectrum).

Yohanon Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail.com