Publication: Internet Tutor
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THE INTERNET TUTOR
November 9, 2006
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This week...
- Webmaster Tip: Double Border Background
- Surfin' the Web: The Best of Everything
- Software Spotlight: Web Album Generator
- The Oddball Wall: Here's to Carl
- Computer Tip: Stop Animations
I was gassing up my car when noticed a car sitting at a green
light. The woman was talking on a cell phone while stopped at
a red light, and didn't notice the light had turned green.
She sat through the whole green light.
When the light changed again, she still sat there. This time
there was a car behind her, but she didn't move until the car
honked at her.
I was reminded of a a study I saw that concluded the accident
rate for people talking on cell phones while driving was almost
equal to the accident rate for drunk drivers.
Folks, when you turn the phone on, don't turn your brain off
to your responsibilities as a careful driver. Think of how
awful you'd feel if you injured or killed someone because you
couldn't wait to yak on the phone and wasn't thinking well
enough to even pull over to talk.
I hope and pray that never happens to you, but if it did,
unless you're just a lousy person with no conscience, you'd
have a hard time forgiving yourself for being that selfish
and stupid.
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TOM & JERRY'S GREATEST CHASES on DVD
Get almost two hours of the crazy and fun antics of
Tom & Jerry on one DVD. You get 14 of their greatest
chases which guarantees you more tail-stomping, anvil-
dropping, teeth-shattering action from the masters of
animated slapstick. And at just $9.99 it makes a great
gift. Check it out at: Tom & Jerry Greatest Chases
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WEBMASTER TIP - Double Border Background
Note: In code examples I add a period after each left arrow
bracket so the code can be viewed in all e-mail programs. If
you copy and paste, be sure to remove the periods or it won't
work.
Question: I'd like to make a page with a background border on
each side of the page. I can't figure out how to have two
backgrounds on one page. Can it be done?
Simon Says: While you can't code two background images into
one page body, there are two ways to create the double border
look you want. The first way is to code a left border back-
ground into the body tag, and then put all content inside a
table that uses a right border background.
The easiest way is to simply use a full page style background
and place your content inside a table that is centered on the
page. Set the table width to a percentage of the page and
you'll have a background on each side with your content in
the middle. Use a background color for the table so that the
background image doesn't show through it. Here's an example:
<.body background="mybg.jpg">
<.table width="80%" bgcolor="#ffffff"" align="center"><.tr><.td>
Your content goes here.
<./td><./tr><./table>
With the table coded as a percentage of the page width, no
matter what screen resolution your visitor is using, they
will see a border on both sides of the page that equals 10%
of the available digital real estate. Your content will fill
the center 80% of the screen. Works perfect every time.
Another thing you might want to do is to remove the page
margins so that you don't have the background pattern across
the top of the page. To remove the margins, place the
following CSS in the HEAD section of the web page.
<.style type="text/css">
body {margin: 0px;}
<./style>
The one thing you can't do is create a background image that
has both borders on it. That would only work for the screen
resolution you use, for all other screen resolutions it would
be anywhere from off-kilter to a big mess.
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Fun Foam Putty, Like Floam But 1/2 The Price...
TV Price: $19.99
OUR PRICE: $9.99
You've seen Floam on TV selling for $19.99... we are
pleased to make available to you a similar product for
just $9.99. And not only is it 1/2 price you get six (6)
tubs of the Fun Foam Putty.
Fun Foam Putty is an amazing product that allows you to
roll it, mold it, wear it... use it to cover anything.
Fun Foam Putty gives you six (6) colored tubs. You get:
- 1 Orange Colored Tub - 1 Pink Colored Tub
- 1 Blue Colored Tub - 1 Green Colored Tub
- 1 Yellow Colored Tub - 1 Purple Colored Tub
Don't pay $19.99... get more colors for 1/2 the price.
And YES it's in stock and shipping. To order visit:
Fun Foam Putty Like Floam But 1/2 The Price
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SURFIN' THE WEB - The Best of Everything
This is really cool if you like to read books. Barnes and Noble
has a page that lists over 300 book topics in the fiction,
non-fiction, and childrens categories. By clicking on any topic
you'll be taken to a list of Top 10 Best Selling books for that
topic.
The list is compiled from the previous six months worth of sales
and updated daily. What better way to find what's hot, new
titles, and to keep tabs on what others are reading? It could
help you spot trends that may be important to your lifestyle or
business.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bestsellers/top10everything.asp?z=y
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GopherCentral's Question of the Week
Are you happy that the Democrats are in control of the House?
Please share your opinion, visit: The Question of the Week
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SOFTWARE SPOTLIGHT - Web Album Generator
Sharing your digital photos doesn't get any easier than this.
Web Album Generator is a free software program that creates
all the HTML, JPEG thumbnails, and CSS for your online photo
albums -- about all you need to do is select which pictures
to include!
http://www.ornj.net/webalbum/
Note: I do not provide support for the featured software.
Contact the software vendor for support. No warranty is
made or implied as to the usefulness or appropriateness of
featured software.
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A PERSONALIZED Letter From Santa...
What could be better than a personalized letter from Santa
to your child?
You won't believe the look on your child's face when they
get a letter from Santa at the North Pole.
Santa will personally include your child's name, hometown,
and a friends name. ANd it's postmarked with a holiday stamp.
It's easy to send, just visit the site, fill out your child's
information and soon a letter will be arriving from Santa.
SPECIAL BONUS... Buy 2 letters and get the third one FREE
Plus shipping is free too.
Get your child the gift that will touch their hearts. Just
$9.99... Got more than one child? Buy two letters and get
the third one free. For more details and to see it, visit:
Special Santa Letter For Your Child
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THE ODDBALL WALL - Here's to Carl
On this day in 1934, Carl Sagan was born. Sagan was a scientist
and prolific writer with a great talent for making scientific
theories and scientific knowledge understandable and exciting
to non-scientists.
His 13-part series entitled, Cosmos, led to my interest in a
variety of sciences. Cosmos is replayed frequently on the Science
Channel, and I watch it every chance I get even though I've seen
it many times. The movie, Contact, starring Jodie Foster, was
written by Sagan, along with a many non-fiction books. The book
is even better than the movie.
Isaac Asimov described Sagan as one of only two people he had
ever met who were just plain smarter than he was. In honor of
Carl Sagan, who died in December of 1996, I present today's
trivia quiz.
1) While Sagan was highly skeptical that UFO's were visiting
Earth, he did believe in the probability of intelligent life
elsewhere in the Universe, so he helped establish the SETI
project. What is the name SETI an acronym for?
a. Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
b. Science of Exostellar Transmitted Intelligence
c. Space Exploration for Translunar Intelligence
2) What type of telescopes do the SETI team use to search for
life outside of our own planetary system?
a. x-ray telescopes b. gamma-ray telescopes c. radio
telescopes
3) One of the degrees Sagan held was a Doctorate in Astrophysics.
To which branch of science does astrophysics belong?
a. quantum mechanics b. astronomy c. astrology
4) Nick Sagan, Carl's son, wrote many episodes of what popular
science fiction series?
a. Star Trek b. Andromeda c. Stargate
5) Dr. Frank Drake and Carl Sagan crafted the famous "Arecibo
message." What was this message?
a. A radio message beamed into space from the Arecibo radio
telescope intended to inform extraterrestrials about Earth.
b. A warning delivered at Arecibo, New Mexico, to humanity
about the probability of a nuclear winter that would end
life on Earth if a large scale nuclear war occurred.
c. A history of mankind sealed in a time capsule vault on
restricted government land in Arecibo, Arizona; created in
the event mankind destroys itself and a future civilization
arises, that they might learn from our mistakes.
6) Sagan believed that the Drake equation* demonstrates that
extraterrestrial civilizations could exist in our galaxy, but the
likelihood of us discovering them was miniscule. Why?
a. Because of the great distances between solar systems.
b. Because they would be too primitive to send interplanetary
signals.
c. Because technological civilizations tend to destroy themselves
relatively quickly.
7) The title of Sagan's book, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human
Future in Space, was inspired by a Voyager photo of Earth taken
from outer space. How far from Earth was Voyager at the time?
a. 4 million miles b. 4 billion miles c. 4 trillion miles
8) Sagan has had many things named after him, including the landing
site of the Mars Pathfinder. Which of the following is NOT a real
thing named after him?
a. Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Cosmos
b. Sagan University of Astronomy
c. Asteroid 2709 Sagan
And now for a question that's sure to space you out...
9) The 1997 movie Contact, based on Sagan's novel of the same name,
was finished after his death. What, if any, is the dedication at
the end of the movie?
a. No dedication, the producers weren't aware Sagan had died.
b. Dedicated to a man of inspiration and vision, Carl Sagan.
c. For Carl.
Answers below, here's the scoring:
9 correct: Perfection!
7-8 correct: Outstanding
5-6 correct: Very Good
2-4 correct: Fairly Fair
0-1 correct: Turn the TV off
Answers:
1) a. Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
2) c. radio telescopes
3) b. astronomy
4) a. Star Trek
5) a. A radio message beamed into space...
6) c. Because technological civilizations tend to destroy
themselves.
7) b. 4 billion miles
8) b. Sagan University of Astronomy
9) c. For Carl.
* The Drake equation attempts to quantify how many intelligent
civilizations there may be in our galaxy. It uses a formula
based on several factors, but some of these factors are based
on "best guesses" that may or may not be right. A conservative
estimate based on this equation indicates there are 50 planets
with intelligent life in our galaxy right now, while more
liberal estimates place the number at 5,000. A very skeptical
estimate suggests there is only a 0.0000008 chance of intelligent
life in our galaxy, which, since that's way less than 1, means
we are either not intelligent or don't exist. Since I believe
I'm intelligent, I guess I just don't exist.
Note to Editor: Just because I don't exist doesn't mean you
can stop paying me.
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COMPUTER TIPS - Stop Animations
Some folks don't like any web page animations. They are dis-
tracting when you're trying to do research. I don't usually
mind well-behaved animations, but some of the animated
advertisements are so obnoxious with their flashing color
changes I've left web sites I was still interested in just
to get away from the blasted things.
You can stop many animations if you use Internet Explorer.
1) Click Tools, then Internet Options.
2) When the dialogue box opens, click the Advanced tab.
3) Scroll down to the Multimedia section and remove the check
in the box for "Play animations in web pages" by clicking
inside the box.
That's it. Instead of seeing all animations, in place of many
of them you'll see one still image. You can always change this
option later if you find you miss things flashing before your
eyes.
Disclaimer: Advice in this column is presented as informational
and is true to the best of my knowledge. Any decisions to follow
this advice is your responsibility. Your computer, your choice.
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Until next week, ponder these words of Edmund Burke: Reading
without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
Have an interesting day, Simon
Questions? Comments? Email me at: tutor@gophercentral.com
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