2007

This entry is not really open source, but since so many people including myself use Firefox, and Thunderbird then you should all know about MozBackup. I once made the mistake of overwriting my boot partition, thinking that all my Thunderbird, and Firefox bookmarks, and e-mails would be safe. Boy was I wrong !!!! [...]

This night’s entry is about a previously commercial application whose developer just stopped, and then the project was picked up by a community and made into an open source (LGPL) project. This application can be found around the web at several locations, so you can start by looking here and here. Both of [...]

This is something I came across while hunting for something else, so I have not tried it myself, since I have little need for creating web pages. I do most of my work in C++, Windows, Gnome, wxWidgets using open source environments like Ultimate ++. But I digress this application claims to rival [...]

This is a serious tool, with a fun side if you want to create 3D images, and can visualize the images in your mind. Remember this is open source and free, so please do not expect features like “Solid Works” TM, or other commercial package that you pay hundreds or thousands of dollars [...]

This entry is not really an application but a Web site that has helped my boy, with his chemistry. This Web site is a periodic table that gives electron orbitals, abundance, and isotopes of each element. So you can use this periodic table for your nuclear physics class in college as well. [...]

Today’s entry is a freeform thought mapper for those of us who don’t seem to be able to think in a linear fashion.  This tool called FreeMind; allows people of all thought processes to visulaize the connections between concepts, or processes that you are currently working on. This little app is written in Java, so [...]

This java application that I am going to start using is called ItSucks and is located here. I am going to be testing this little java app against my custom written in “C” spiders on my Linux machine. I will be using these spiders to find specialized Web pages that I have a [...]

Today’s entry is an update of an old favorite: Hangman! That’s right, along with Monopoly, Battleship, and umpteen other old fashioned games we grew up with, this game has been computerized! The improvements in this case include English and Spanish vocabularies. While this game is not Open Source, it is free for non [...]

After a long period of absence due to looking for a permanent position I will be adding to this blog on at least a weekly basis since I will no longer have to be gone on weekends searching for housing in different areas of the country. A Job finally opened up in my local [...]

Can you believe that I actually entitled this summer as being boring? Don’t you believe the boring part — between church, my children’s activities, and my job, I have so little boring spare time. I can’t even play “Supreme Commander,” for which I bought an NVidia 8600 GT upgrade video card to put in my [...]

I apologize for not writing in a long time, but my son’s end of school year activities were just running me ragged. I was lucky to have time to clean the house, cook meals, and still get any work done during the day. To top it all off I was foolish enough to try and [...]

This application is another quizzing program that is oriented towards vocabulary, but since the words are typed in by you they can be translation exercises as well as simple English words, periodic chemical names, and a whole host of text.
There are sets of learning cards like 111 French animals, U.S. State Capitals, and a search [...]

I have recently needed to convert graphics information into data that I could feed into another program. This program of was of great help since, all I needed to do was scan the graphics into a BMP, and then feed that BMP file into this application and out can the data. I know [...]

This application is not for the neophyte, this application is about solids modeling. In its simplest form this application will take user inputs and construct 3-D models with startling results. But this application models the entire volume, not just the surface, not just the connections, not just the visual aspects. This application models the entire [...]

I have been really busy with work, and keeping up with taxes. Now that I am a contractor and not a full time employee, I have to deal with quarterly taxes, while at the same time filing my taxes. Fortunately for me I chose to use H & R Block’s Web service, and [...]

Well, it took a letter from the Attorney General’s office in California, but the idiots at Environmental Science in New Jersey agreed to pay for the shipping of the saw dust back to them. The reason was that it called and contacted my 15-year-old son, and it finally accepted that since he was a minor [...]

Well it has been nearly four weeks since I was laid off, and I am still looking far and wide for a job. I have a few phone interviews, but still no actual offers. Since I have received an actual unemployment check, it has really hit home that i am completely and utterly [...]

I came across this library, and it keeps getting updated, so I thought I would bring this library of public domain clip art to everyone’s attention. The wpClipArt web site is located here. The maintainer of this library is quite adept and has made a great deal of effort in making everything [...]

Today’s installment will be my last on this subject for a while. I will be moving onto another category of Open Source applications. I am not tired of this subject, I have just exhausted my repository of saved information, and since I am trying to find work I don’t have a lot of [...]

This entry is about two more Java programs that help memorize facts, or vocabulary using the Leitner Flash Card method. The two applications are called jMemorize and jVLT ( java Vocabulary Learning Tool). The nice thing about the other programs was that the Web site acted as a collection point for lessons, but [...]