The Next Window

Last year was the year that Florida would like to forget. Who knows how this year is going to develop?<br />
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There are a number of resources for information on how to prepare for a potential hurricane, what to buy, what to have on hand, how to pack, when to leave, etc. All that fades into the background – we've heard it all before and will hear it again. It's the same old story, which we all think we know already.<br />
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But, then the storm looks like it's heading our way! What do we do? Where's the list of what we need to buy? What's a Hurricane Warning? Is it worse than a Hurricane Watch, or better? How can we keep track of where the darned thing is?<br />
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That gets me to the meat of this message — I have two sites that I use to monitor hurricane movements. One is the official site of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — NOAA. Their hurricane tracking/forecast link is the <a href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/exit.php?url_id=361&amp;entry_id=83" title="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/" onmouseover="window.status='http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='';return true;">National Hurricane Center</a>. It is complete with history, forecasts, maps and preparedness information — almost a one-stop shop (you can't get your cash, bread and gas there).<br />
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The other site that I like to use, in fact, if is my primary site for monitoring hurricane movement is the <a href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/exit.php?url_id=362&amp;entry_id=83" title="http://hurricane.terrapin.com/" onmouseover="window.status='http://hurricane.terrapin.com/';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='';return true;">Hurricane &amp; Storm Tracking for the Atlantic &amp; Pacific Oceans</a>. This is a privately owned site that has been around for a number of years. It gets its data from NOAA and then massages it. I prefer its tracking charts to those of NOAA. It also has an interesting Storm Archive — a Java-based animated system that displays storms from 1886 through 2004. <br />

I'm going to have to give up on going to the movies this summer.<br />
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So far, since mid-May, I've been to <i>Star Wars Episode 3</i> twice, <i>Mr. and Mrs. Smith</i> and <i>Batman Begins</i>. All three are now on my "I want this DVD" list. <i>Batman Begins</i> is now on my "gotta see this again" list, meaning another trip to the theater.<br />
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<a class="APCAnchor" href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/exit.php?url_id=402&amp;entry_id=82" title="http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/redirect.asp?item=1182371&amp;AID=1586110618&amp;PSTID=1&amp;LTID=1" onmouseover="window.status='http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/redirect.asp?item=1182371&amp;AID=1586110618&amp;PSTID=1&amp;LTID=1';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='';return true;" target="_top"><img src="http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/153/1182371_a.jpg" alt="Star Wars – Episode III – Revenge of the Sith" border="0" height="115" width="77"></a><img src="http://tracking.allposters.com/allposters.gif?AID=1586110618&PSTID=1&LTID=1" border="0" height="1" width="1">&#160;&#160;&#160;<a class="APCAnchor" href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/exit.php?url_id=403&amp;entry_id=82" title="http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/redirect.asp?item=1222765&amp;AID=1586110618&amp;PSTID=1&amp;LTID=1" onmouseover="window.status='http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/redirect.asp?item=1222765&amp;AID=1586110618&amp;PSTID=1&amp;LTID=1';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='';return true;" target="_top"><img src="http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/153/1222764_a.jpg" alt="Mr. &amp; Mrs. Smith" border="0" height="115" width="78"></a><img src="http://tracking.allposters.com/allposters.gif?AID=1586110618&PSTID=1&LTID=1" border="0" height="1" width="1">&#160;&#160;&#160;<a class="APCAnchor" href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/exit.php?url_id=404&amp;entry_id=82" title="http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/redirect.asp?item=1222766&amp;AID=1586110618&amp;PSTID=1&amp;LTID=1" onmouseover="window.status='http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/redirect.asp?item=1222766&amp;AID=1586110618&amp;PSTID=1&amp;LTID=1';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='';return true;" target="_top"><img src="http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/153/1222766_a.jpg" alt="Batman Begins" border="0" height="115" width="77"></a><img src="http://tracking.allposters.com/allposters.gif?AID=1586110618&PSTID=1&LTID=1" border="0" height="1" width="1"><br />
Star Wars Episode 3 &#160;&#160; Mr &amp; Mrs Smith &#160;&#160; Batman Begins<br />
Buy these posters and more at AllPosters.com</center><br />
Christian Bale has now personified the role of Bruce Wayne / Batman. His performance and this movie have blown away all the earlier Batman films. Since I saw it yesterday, I guess today is a little too early to see it again. Maybe next weekend. <br />
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Michael Caine is his usual urbane self, playing his role of Alfred perfectly. Whether he is a con man on the French Riviera (<i>Dirty Rotten Scoundrels</i>), a thief (<i>Gambit</i>), or a limp-wristed beauty contest consultant(<i>Miss Congeniality</i>), he manages to fit each role perfectly. Liam Neeson (Qui-gon Jin of Star Wars Episode 1) was another well-cast character, as was Katie Holmes in the role of young Bruce's friend, who still had a crush on him.<br />
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Go to the theater this weekend. Watch <i>Batman Begins</i>. Forget the popcorn and drink, however, because you don't want to miss any of this one.<br />

I'm starting a new <a href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/exit.php?url_id=357&amp;entry_id=81" title="http://www.terryscomputertips.com/subscribe.php" onmouseover="window.status='http://www.terryscomputertips.com/subscribe.php';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='';return true;">free computer tips newsletter</a>, with the first issue on Monday, June 20th. You can subscribe to my Terry's Computer Tips newsletter on my new <a href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/exit.php?url_id=358&amp;entry_id=81" title="http://www.terryscomputertips.com" onmouseover="window.status='http://www.terryscomputertips.com';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='';return true;"> Terry's Computer Tips website</a>.<br />
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The newsletter and site will give tips, discuss and answer questions about Windows and Linux; about free, shareware and commercial software products; hardware and software products and issues; home computer security; home networking; new developments in the computer world; and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). I welcome questions and comments from my newsletter and web site readers.<br />
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My main site's computer forums (which are open to everyone) and my blog are available as links from TerrysComputerTips.com, as well as being accessible directly via http://www.terrystockdale.com and http://www.thenextwindow.com .<br />

Microsoft released their monthly set of Windows Updates on Tuesday, June 14th. This time, there are a total of 10 patches for various versions of Windows products. <br />
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My Windows XP Professional notebook, which was up to date already, automatically <b>selected eight security patches</b> from this set, including one that updates the security of the revised Internet Explorer that came with XP Service Pack 2.<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/index.php?/archives/80-Windows-Security-Patches-for-June-2005.html#extended">Continue reading "Windows Security Patches for June 2005"</a>

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When I first bought a cell phone, they charged me a price for the cellphone that was based on the term of the cell phone service contract. That pricing model continues to be popular. Whether the price is "free with a 2 year contract" or "$xx with a 2 year contract or $yy with a 1 year contract," the service contract pricing still subsidizes the cost of the cell phone.<br />
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The next time I bought a cell phone, my cell phone provider had tacked on a service charge for "programming the phone." Bummer. Since there were portions of the phone's memory that were accessable to me and portions that were not, I didn't have any choice on this new charge. I expected this to be the wave of the future.<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/index.php?/archives/79-Surprising-customer-service-in-the-wireless-phone-industry.html#extended">Continue reading "Surprising customer service in the wireless phone industry"</a>

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Where is it? The Dow (Dow-Jones Industrial Average) has been skittering around in the 10000-11000 range since January 2004.<br />
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First it goes up; then it goes down; then it jerks up and down. I'm ready for some of that 10+% average growth. It even did an excursion down to the 9300's for a while in the last 3 years.<br />
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You know, the brokers always tell me that the average market growth is around 10%. The market has been hung in the same range for a long, long time. In fact, October 1, 1999, it was 10335 and it opened at 10503 today.<br />
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Looks like it is time to get the big earnings bump that will balance out the curve.<br />
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Come on, Market — Let's Go!<br />

<a href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/exit.php?url_id=353&amp;entry_id=77" title="http://www.thenextwindow.com/archives/59-BBQ-Time.html#extended" onmouseover="window.status='http://www.thenextwindow.com/archives/59-BBQ-Time.html#extended';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='';return true;">A couple weeks ago</a>, I barbequed some babyback pork ribs. They were awesome! For the first time, I tried to see how slow I could cook the ribs on my gas grill. As usual, I smoked them using pecan shells.<br />
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I was hoping to cook them for 4-5 hours; however, my gas grill wouldn't hold a temperature below 300&deg;. The grill has a double-ended burner and a full-length, full-width drip tray, so all heat is indirect. I put the pecan shells into an aluminum pie pan (a few holes punched in the bottom to let air through) and topped that with another pie pan. Then, the pie pans went at the right end of the grill, which was turned on the minimum setting. I turned the left burner off. <br />
<br /><a href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/index.php?/archives/77-BBQ-Time-again.html#extended">Continue reading "BBQ Time again"</a>

Wow!<br />
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My son went last night. His initial comment was "it was the best movie I saw this week." Since that was the only one he saw, that wasn't too promising. His followup was "it was probably the best movie I've seen this year." Much better. <br />
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I went to see it this afternoon. Two thumbs up. The team of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt had magic. The screenplay was well-done and had lots of off-beat one-line humor. Most of the music was good, although I didn't care for the drum solo during the gunfight in the house.<br />
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Would I watch it again? Not until it comes out on DVD. It will promptly enter the collection.<br />

Microsoft has released a <a href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/exit.php?url_id=341&amp;entry_id=75" title="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;890178" onmouseover="window.status='http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;890178';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='';return true;">hotfix</a> for a problem that crept into the Windows XP Service Pack 2.<br />
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Under certain circumstances, IE gives you a misleading "Page cannot be displayed" message. It really should be giving you a "Warning: Page has Expired" message.<br />
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If you are: <ul><li>using Internet Explorer under Windows XP SP2,</li><li>go to a webpage where you enter some data,</li><li>leave the webpage,</li><li>use the back-arrow to try to go back to it, AND</li><li>if the webpage has a "cache-control: no cache" header</li></ul><br />
then Internet Explorer will give the wrong message. Microsoft has released a <a href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/exit.php?url_id=341&amp;entry_id=75" title="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;890178" onmouseover="window.status='http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;890178';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='';return true;">hotfix</a> for this problem.<br />
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For a nicer, more elegant solution, <a href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/exit.php?url_id=342&amp;entry_id=75" title="http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/" onmouseover="window.status='http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='';return true;">Get Firefox!</a> Use I.E. only when you have to, such as for Windows Updates. You should see a lot less spyware — Firefox doesn't "do" Active-X, so the spyware can't install itself as easily.<br />
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Switching browsers is not an all-or-nothing step. Both I.E. and Firefox, as well as Mozilla, Opera, and others, can all co-exist peacefully on your computer. You can even run them simultaneously — I often do when I'm working on web pages. So, try Firefox. I think you'll like it.<br />

I'm planning to see <a href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/exit.php?url_id=334&amp;entry_id=74" title="http://www.mrandmrssmithmovie.com/" onmouseover="window.status='http://www.mrandmrssmithmovie.com/';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='';return true;">Mr. &amp; Mrs. Smith</a> this weekend, like most other guys. This definitely isn't a "chick flick" — a personality story with talking and no action. <br />
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This one is action galore, based on what I've seen from the <a href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/exit.php?url_id=335&amp;entry_id=74" title="http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/mrandmrssmith/" onmouseover="window.status='http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/mrandmrssmith/';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='';return true;">movie trailer</a>. The basic story line, if you haven't heard it already, is the boring husband and wife who each have a secret life unknown to the other. <br />
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It's <a href="http://www.thenextwindow.com/exit.php?url_id=336&amp;entry_id=74" title="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305364648/terrystockdal-20/102-2370630-1060163?%5Fencoding=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;link%5Fcode=xm2" onmouseover="window.status='http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305364648/terrystockdal-20/102-2370630-1060163?%5Fencoding=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;link%5Fcode=xm2';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='';return true;">True Lies</a> squared — True Lies on steroids! In True Lies, Arnold Schwartzenegger was a super secret agent, while his wife Jamie Lee Curtis thought he was a boring computer salesman.<br />
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Here, both Mr. &amp; Mrs. Smith, played by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, are assasins. Neither knows the other lives this action life. Until they get new assignments — each other…<br />
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As usual, I plan to see this at the Rave Theater in Baton Rouge.<br />