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WITandWISDOM(tm) - January 12, 2005 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: If my hands are fully occupied in holding on to something, I can neither give nor receive. - Dorothee Soelle Source: Carol's Thought for Today, http://www.kalama.com/~carola/ ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: In 1971, John McCain was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. On Christmas Eve, the POWs held a worship service. They began with the Lord’s Prayer and then sang Christmas carols. McCain read a portion of the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke between each hymn. The men were nervous at first. A year earlier the guards had burst in on their secret worship service. They had dragged the three men who were leading it to solitary confinement and entombed the rest of them in 3- by 5- foot cells for 11 months. Still, the prisoners wanted to sing this night, and so they began: “O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. . .” They sang barely above a whisper, their eyes glancing anxiously at the barred windows. Huddled below a naked light bulb, they appeared to be a rather sorry congregation. Several shook from fevers. Some were permanently stooped as a result of torture. Others leaned on makeshift crutches. But they kept singing. “O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem! Come and behold Him, born the King of angels. . .” The prisoners grew bolder. Their voices lifted a little higher until they filled the cell with “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” and “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.” When they started “Silent Night,” tears rolled down their unshaven faces. As they sang with feeling the final refrain, “Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace,” they realized that a transformation had taken place. McCain said, “We had forgotten our wounds, our hunger, our pain. We raised prayers of thanks for the Christ Child, for our families and homes. . . . There was an absolutely exquisite feeling that our burdens had been lifted.” All of us can lift up a song of triumph, a song of defiance against the enemy who “has done this.” Yes, we can be joyful and triumphant, even in the midst of sorrows and cares. Such a life becomes our privilege as we place our faith in the One who was born King of kings on that silent night in the little town of Bethlehem. By Mark Finley Source: Signs of the Times, Copyright (c) May 2003, Pacific Press, http://www.signstimes.com ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Announcing These New Book Releases "How to Write Large Books" by Warren Peace "The Lion Attacked" by Claude Yarmoff "The Art of Archery" by Beau N. Arrow "Songs for Children" by Barbara Blacksheep "Irish Heart Surgery" by Angie O'Plasty "Desert Crossing" by I. Rhoda Camel "School Truancy" by Marcus Absent "I Was a Cloakroom Attendant" by Mahatma Coate "I Lost My Balance" by Eileen Dover and Phil Down "Mystery in the Barnyard" by Hu Flung Dung "Positive Reinforcement" by Wade Ago "Shhh!" by Danielle Soloud "The Philippine Post Office" by Imelda Letter "Things to Do at a Party" by Bob Frapples "Stop Arguing" by Xavier Breath Source: Gentle Humor, mailto:words@netcarrier.com?subject=Subscribe_Gentle_Humor ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long. - Ogden Nash Source: Quotes of the Day, http://www.quotationspage.com/qotd.html ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: What to look for in DVD burners Q. Your recent tips about how to buy electronics for Christmas gifts have been great! My son wants a DVD burner. There's so much out there to consider, it's overwhelming. What do you recommend? A. Thank you for your kind words. We all work hard over here at The Kim Komando Show. It's nice to know that the information we are putting out there is helpful to you all. There are tons of DVD players and recorders offered. And there are a number of standards for DVDs. When you combine the two, it's a wonder anybody gets it right. Standalone recorders are available for televisions, as are players. Since this is a computer newsletter, I'll exclude those. We'll focus on burners for your computer. The word burner comes from the fact that light and heat from a laser are used to make DVDs and CDs. The term is used for both CD and DVD recorders. Also, remember that DVD burners can make CDs, so you don't need a separate CD burner. Let's get the standards jumble out of the way first: DVD-R, DVD-RW--The first standard, dating from 1997 DVD+R, DVD+RW--Introduced by Hewlett-Packard in 2001 DVD-RAM--An older, more limited standard DVD-ROM--Plays DVDs; doesn't burn them. Don't buy one. R stands for recordable; these discs can be burned only once. RW stands for re-writable discs; they can be burned up to 1,000 times. RAM discs are also re-writable, and supposedly can be burned up to 100,000 times. I don't know; I haven't tried! I would concentrate on the first two. Many manufacturers make that easy, because their burners can handle both. That will cost a little more, but will give your son maximum flexibility. Many burners now can handle dual-layer discs. These discs can contain up to 8. 5 gigabytes of data. Single-layer discs run up to 4.7 GB of data. Will your son play his DVDs through a television? If you buy a DVD that burns only one standard, check that your DVD player can handle that standard. Most newer players can handle anything, but older ones may need DVD-R or DVD+R. The instructions should explain that. What? You have a headache? Well, take an aspirin and sit down. We still have to talk about the x's. In your shopping expeditions, you will see such descriptions for DVDs and CDs. They might be like 12x/10x for DVD discs, and 48x/24x for CDs. Basically you need to know that higher numbers are better. For those who simply MUST know, the explanation for these numbers follows. The x refers to the multiplication of a base number. The base number (1x) for DVDs is 1.385 megabytes per second. So when the numbers are used in the context of DVDs, multiply the number times 1.385. In the case above--12x--the number would be 16.62 megabytes per second. That would be the speed with which the burner can read or write--or both--data. You'll also see numbers in reference to CDs. Remember, DVD's also can burn and read CDs. CDs use a different base number--150 kilobytes per second. That is one-ninth the base number for DVDs. So 48x means the burner can transfer data to a CD--or read data off a CD--at 6,000 KB (6 MB) per second. We have reached that happy state where once-expensive DVD burners are now cheap, cheap, cheap. You might get one for less than $50 on sale. Basically, you will have a choice of two types--internal and external. Internal drives slide into the 5 1/2 inch slots in the upper front of the computer case. Your son probably has a CD drive there now. He can remove the CD and use the same connections for the DVD. Open the case--check the manual for instructions--and take the CD out. Put the DVD in, using the same power and ribbon cables. He should ground himself on the computer's frame so he doesn't fry something with static electricity. He can also run both a CD and DVD. The instructions with the DVD will tell him how to set the jumpers and rig the ribbon cable. Some people do that so they can copy a CD directly from the CD drive to the DVD burner. Odd-brand internal DVDs are cheap. I'd pay more for a name brand. External DVDs, which simply connect with a USB or FireWire cable, are more costly than internals. But they are undeniably more convenient. If your son has a notebook computer, buy an external DVD drive. No one in their right mind mucks around with the innards of a notebook. See you tomorrow! Kim :) Copyright 2004, The Kim Komando Show. All rights reserved. Source: Kim Komando's Daily Tip http://www.komando.com/newsletter.asp |