Andrew and Lisa

Firefox – The Browser, Reloaded OK, I just found out that there are good browsers out there besides Internet Explorer that you can download for free! I downloaded Mozilla Firefox, which is an awesome browser. It’s fast, easy, and secure. Since there are fewer people using this browser, you become less of a highjack target for hackers. I should have known it would be good: it’s open-source software. I’m all about open-source these days. After I got Firefox, I downloaded Mozilla Thunderbird, and my e-mail life is changed. No more of those nasty errors I always got when I ran Microsoft Outlook. But my biggest recent discovery with open-source is OpenOffice.org. It’s an open-source free alternative to Microsoft Office, and I love it! The text-editing program isn’t always trying to re-install itself like Microsoft Word did. And the spreadsheet is at least as powerful as Microsoft Excel, if not more. All these apps run cleanly, simply, and efficiently. They’re easy to use, and they’re 100% free. It used to be that you had to be a developer to join the open-source movement, but not anymore. These apps are simple to use and straightforward to install. Open-source for the masses!

Monkey Island 1 Monkey Island is about the coolest adventure game series ever created. It’s full of off-the-wall pirate humor and hilarious situations. I’ve played the Third, Fourth, and First games in the series, and I definitely have to say that the third one is the most hilarious. Big props to Lucasarts for this game. The site referenced here is a fan site. The very existence of multiple fan-sites is an indicator that this game deserves its cult following.
– Andrew

Service Pack 2 for Windows XP: Resources for IT Professionals Windows is releasing a new service pack for Windows XP. I read all about it today in PC Magazine (picked one up in the airport in New York). As an early adopter, I can’t wait to update my computer and try it out. I’ve installed Linux on a laptop we have, but you really have to be a developer to use it. I just want a fully-functioning OS that I don’t have to learn how to build to fly. SO until open-source software becomes more consumer-friendly (isn’t that a paradox?!), I’ll have to stay with the more well-trodden paths along the information superhighway.

DNC Waterside Security Images Look at the new web page I created for Coast Guard imagery during the DNC! Some of these images are mine. I had a great time making the banner and sidebar graphics. Enjoy! – Andrew

Financial Accounting Here’s the web site for my accounting textbook. It’s a pretty full-featured web site. It had better be, considering the price I paid for the book. I’ve never been the kind of person who uses these resources, so I’m trying it out as I do my homework tonight. – Andrew

The Rules of War Ever wonder what is in the Geneva Convention? Ever feel like declaring war on another country? This page explains the rules for you. My military ID card lists me as falling under Geneva Convention category I, but I don’t know what that means. Thanks (or, more properly, no thanks) to this web site, I still don’t know.

Iran-contra affair Everything you always wanted to know about the Iran-Contra affair, but were afraid to ask. Lisa and I decided we didn’t know anything about the entire scandal, so we searched until we found this. Most of the other web sites were fascinating but lacked the 30,000-foot perspective of this account. It’s easy to move from Iran-Contra to conspiracy theory, probably because it was a legitimate conspiracy that gives fuel to the belief of many people that thousand of other conspiracies exist and are waiting to be proven.

DNC 2004 Weblogs: News Aggregator This is interesting. It’s a blog site for participants in the DNC. We’ve all heard that blogs are giving the people a political voice, but here we see it in action.

My Way News This is an interesting Homeland Security news story I found on the Drudge Report.

Andrew and Lisa