This is about your resolutions.

No, I don't mean the New Year promises to be a better person, go on a diet and lose 100 lbs before the end of February, but the resolutions, that hopefully, enable you to read this message on your monitor.

Communicating via the Internet seems to be fraught with problems. I get email from entrepreneurs who assume that I have already installed the character set that's common to Lower Gorgolia and then expect me to understand their copy about the best new program since caterpillars on toast.

Apart from those extremes, there is the constant 
squabbling over "who" has the "correct" computer 
settings. Too wide, too long, too small, too large, etc

With about 10 different monitor sizes from 10" 
through to 21", about 5 common resolutions from
640x480 through 1600x1200 and about 10 possible 
settings for magnifying the on-screen image in 
Windows, you have about 500 possible user settings!  And that's only on PCs using Internet Explorer! 

As an editor of any material presented on the Internet you have a veritable "Mission Impossible" when it comes to satisfying all your readers at once, particularly when it comes to presenting text in "the right size"!

There is a method available if you can afford it. The top notch software that "sniffs" the visitor's browser to see what he is using, before it sends him the appropriate files, tailor-made for the visitor's settings.

The fact is, nearly every reader thinks he has discovered the Holy Grail in screen settings and refuses, or doesn't know how, to adjust his or her machine to read material presented by editors who, in their opinion, have questionable skills and suspect motives. 

In fact, I'm sure that most computer users blame the
stupid editor for producing an unreadable, funny layout, wrong sized, horribly colored documents without giving any consideration at all, to the possibility that their own computer settings could be part of the problem.

I'm more than happy to communicate and read the 
opinions of my peers who are literate enough to put 
finger to keyboard and write something that makes 
sense. 

What I can't stand, is when their text is presented
in Jumbo 48 or Bacteria 6. How do they expect me to read that stuff? After all, my computer has the correct settings, and they send me this!.

Here's a little experiment for you. Use your browser 
controls to alter the text size on your monitor.

In Internet Explorer: 
go to "View" and choose "Text size", 
In Netscape: use the key strokes Ctrl+ [  or Ctrl+ ] .

Try the smallest size and then the largest text sizes
You will be surprised at the results, particularly with 
Netscape the results are astonishing!

You may decide after all, that your settings are not the correct ones or at least accept that the settings of some stranger's computer may also be correct ..?

I don't know about you, but since recent events, I have cut myself off from the rest of the world, only venturing out for nervous food forages, returning quickly to my safe cave. 
Have things changed since 300,000 years BC? 

Let's hope it will be safe for all of us to venture out in the open  this year. At least past the corner store ..

I hear that caves are not the safest of places anymore, but it's safe to do a virtual tour of Greece, our country of the month.

A happy and prosperous New Year to you all.

Dr John K. Flynn B.D.Sc.
The Xerostar Times Editor 
"Caring for Creative People"

PS. We are releasing the paper version of the book on George Harrison this month. See below.
 ..

If MIDI music is new to you, then please read the article in the March edition of XT entitled:
"The 7 essentials to enjoy MIDI music." 
The article will show you how to set up your computer for maximum enjoyment of MIDI music.
Access the Archive page to read previous editions.
.

Visual Mathematics is a web site run by the  International Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Symmetry, published by the Mathematical Institute, Belgrade, Yugoslavia. 
Here is where the science of mathematics meets the world of art.
There are many wonderful examples of art made with the aid of a little maths and lots of imagination. 
To experience this fascinating art in a variety of forms. 

Now you can start your own discussion thread or add comments. Please get started now.
Ask questions, provide answers. Have fun!
Be yourself or be anonymous it's up to you!
To view the message board:   Click Here
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Having exported chaos, drama, tragedy and democracy before most nations stayed up late enough to want souvlaki, Greece boasts a legacy that's unrivalled. From smoggy Athens to blindingly bright islands, there are more ancient fragments than you can shake a stick at - the belly button of the cosmos at Delphi, fallen columns galore on the sacred island of Delos, frescoed Minoan palaces in Crete and even, quite possibly, the remnants of Atlantis at Santorini.

Greeks are fierce guardians of tradition, but that doesn't mean they don't know how to have fun - their propensity for partying dates back to Dionysos. In addition, hot sun and limpid seas conspire to make Greece a compelling place to relax. Whether you're supping in a beachside taverna, sipping coffee in a shady plateia or disco-dancing till dawn, chances are the gods already have you ensnared.

Full country name: Hellenic Republic
Area: 131,944 sq km
Population: 10.3 million
Capital city: Athens (pop approx. 3.7 million)
People: 98% Greek with minorities of Albanians, Turks and Slavic-Macedonians
Language: Greek
Religion: 98% Greek Orthodox, 1.3% Muslim, 0.7% other Government: parliamentary republic
Prime Minister: Kostas Simitis

GDP: US$143 billion
GDP per head: US$14,000
Annual growth: 3.5%
Inflation: 2.6%
Major products/industries: tourism, shipping, food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, metal products, mining, petroleum products
Major trading partners: Germany, Italy, France, UK, USA
Member of EU: yes
Euro zone participant: yes
To find out more about Greece Click Here
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It's Friday, the weekend for most of us, and you're probably wondering if that much-hyped flick playing on six screens down at the local megaplex is something you want your kids to see. 
You have some options, such as newspaper entertainment sections, the guy in the next cubicle, even the movie's own Web site, but who's going to tell you honestly whether it's appropriate for young children or teenagers? Screen It, the weekly email newsletter, which lists new movies and new video and DVD releases, evaluates them for content and quality and then lets you decide.

Screen It's reviewers watch movies from a parent's perspective, summing up the plot in depth and evaluating the characterizations and context of sex, drug-using and violent imagery. It's not preachy, but if those are your concerns, you'll get an even-handed
review. If you want more detailed information, you can click on a link to Screen It's full review at it Web site, which rates the movie on 15 hot buttons, from "Blood/Gore" and "Disrespectful/Bad Attitude" and "Topics to Talk About."

To subscribe, visit the newsletter sign-up page:

To find out more Click Here
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When you register, they will ask you how you found out about doteasy, so don't forget to mention the
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In every Greek kafeneio you can see men playing the beloved Greek game of 'Tavli'. It looks a bit like the 'western' game of backgammon. Sometimes they play this very quietly, contemplatively, sometimes the situation is very hectic and noisy. It's played for fun and sometimes also for money or a gamble, another favorite sport of many Greeks.

Go to the website to get more info  Click Here
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If you enjoy inventing zany sayings or displaying them 
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Good for a few laughs, there's something for everyone.
i.e. everything from the very subtle to plain crazy! 
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The ultrasecret invention that has kept the high-tech world abuzz for nearly a year turns out to be a self-balancing, motorized scooter that costs less than 5 cents a day to operate, according to the company developing the device. 

The machine, previously known as "Ginger" and "IT" but officially called the Segway Human Transporter, could replace private cars in crowded city centers and could also prove useful on factory floors, said Tobe Cohen, marketing director of Segway. 

Segway expects to introduce a consumer model of the battery-powered scooter for around $3,000 by the fourth quarter of 2002. 

The two-wheeled device uses a complex array of gyroscopes and computers to mimic the human body's sense of balance, according to Segway employees who demonstrated the scooter Monday at a park in midtown New York City. 

People lean forward to move forward, lean back to reverse course, and turn by twisting the handle. The device looks like an old-fashioned push lawn mower, with the handle sticking up in the air and a platform to stand on where the cutting blades would be. 

Falling over is impossible and the scooter can handle ice, snow and stairs with ease, Cohen said. 

"We're showing off two types of Segways: an industrial model that has greater range and speed and the ability to carry cargo, and a trimmer one with smaller wheels for the densest pedestrian environments," Cohen said. 

The scooter is the latest gadget from award-winning inventor Dean Kamen, who has also developed the first insulin pump, a briefcase-sized dialysis machine, and a wheelchair that can climb stairs. The scooter builds on "dynamic balancing" technologies Kamen used to create his wheelchair. 

The scooter is powered by standard nickel and metal hydride electric batteries built by SAFT, a unit of France's Alcatel. However, Kamen's research firm, DEKA Research and Development, is working on an emission-free engine that recycles much of its own heat. 

"We're pretty agnostic on power sources for (the scooter)," Cohen said. Widespread speculation in the media and Internet chat rooms held that Kamen's device involved some sort of revolutionary new engine technology. 

With a range of roughly 17 miles and a top speed of 12 miles per hour, the scooter is not a practical replacement for the automobile on long-distance trips, according to Kamen and others at privately held Segway. 

Rather, they see the machine as a handy way to get around congested urban areas where driving a car is inconvenient or impossible, or as a practical "people-mover" in developing nations such as China. 

Segway has received backing from two lead investors: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Silicon Valley's premiere venture capitalist firm, and the investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston. The two have invested $38 million each. 

Segway executives have met with city planners and federal safety regulators to ensure the scooter will be allowed to share sidewalks with pedestrians, Time magazine reported in its Monday edition. 

The U.S. Postal Service plans to test the device for its letter carriers, and Amazon.com will run trials for use of the vehicle in its warehouses. Tests are also under way at parcel-delivery service FedEx, the U.S. National Park Service, General Electric's GE Plastics, auto parts maker Delphi Automotive Systems, and French tire maker Michelin, Cohen said. 

Corporate partners such as the Postal Service and Amazon are testing a dozen scooters each, and mass corporate deliveries could begin by the end of the first quarter next year 2002, Cohen said. Segway has built a factory in Bedford, N.H., 8 miles from its headquarters in Manchester, that will be able to make 40,000 scooters a month, the executive said. 

The demonstration of the vehicle caps a year of frenzied speculation, about what exactly Ginger could be, sparked initially by a leak on the now-defunct media Web site Inside.com in January. 

Popular interest was boosted by endorsements from a range of high-tech mavens including Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs. Web sites have buzzed with rumors about the device. 

Among those sites, "The IT question" posts links to patent applications filed by Kamen, while "Ginger-chat" featured a clock counting down the hours until this morning, when the scooter was demonstrated. 

Further details about Segway can be found on the company's Web site.   Click Here

I'm going to stick up my hand and ask a dumb question here: 
Why does everybody call it a "comfort zone"?

We're always hearing psychologists, psychiatrists, 
ministers, teachers, inspirational writers and speakers talking about comfort zones. 
We're too comfortable, they say. If we want to make 
progress, they say, we've got to be willing to move out of our comfort zone.

I'm not quite sure where they get that. 
Most of the people I meet are pretty UNcomfortable in that so-called "comfort zone" of theirs. And they're interested in learning how to get MORE comfortable. 
Not LESS.
Oh, I know the teachers are just trying to get us to move forward, toward a more beneficial life.

But here's a shocking idea: nobody moves because they're comfortable. And nobody -- NOBODY -- moves out of a REAL comfort zone. 
Just look around you. Isn't it true? Most people only move when they've become so uncomfortable they can't stand the same old spot any longer.

And even the most highly motivated among us has to be at least a little uncomfortable before they'll move.
The writer W. Clement Stone called it inspirational 
discontent.
Inspirational, yes, but still discontent... discomfort. 

When your "comfort" zone is that uncomfortable, how accurate is the description?
Maybe it'd make more sense to call it a "Familiar Zone."

That term fits better. Whether we're comfortable or not, it's a zone we're familiar with, which helps make it a little clearer why so many people refuse to move out of a spot they no longer like.
Many people are like the old country boy standing waist deep in swamp water, batting away alligators with an axe handle and wondering what it would be like to live up there on dry land. 

So many people are surrounded by problems, spending most of their energy and time wrestling those problems, and wishing they didn't have the problems, but they don't move. 
Why? "Well, this swamp is my home. I'm familiar with it."

That illustrates why I suggest changing the term. However, as interesting as that little change might be, most folks would rather know how to just go ahead and get more comfortable.
So how do we do that?
The short answer? Drag our tails up out of that swamp onto dry land where the alligators can't bite us anymore.

Even from where we stand, down in the water, we can see that there are fewer alligators up there. And it's a lot drier. And we might live longer. But we don't move.  Why don't we? Pretty simple, really. We just haven't decided to do it.
There are usually only two reasons why we don't make that decision. Either we don't believe we CAN have it, or we don't believe we DESERVE to have it.

Right there is the real core purpose of all self-help, 
positive thinking, and inspirational teachings.
That core purpose is to somehow get us to believe we CAN have and we DESERVE to have something better. 

All those affirmations and goals and prayers and chants and visualizations and everything else we've been doing for years -- all of that is just an aid to help us believe in a possibility. Once we believe, then we can move -- if we actually want what we're aiming for.
And that's why if you have chosen goals that don't turn you on at the deepest level, then I know for a fact that you probably haven't attained them. Or if you have reached them, you're not enjoying them. 

That's why, if you're visualizing a house or a car or a mate that doesn't really satisfy your deepest inner wants, you almost certainly won't be getting them. 
The people who attain their dreams are the ones who pick real dreams -- their own dreams, not somebody else's. 

If you've ever slaved away over a lukewarm affirmation for days, weeks or months without ever even getting close to attaining your target, there's a simple explanation.
That goal wasn't yours. It was a goal you heard somebody else suggest. Or it was a goal you thought you OUGHT to want because, well, I guess I SHOULD want a big new house and fast car and high income. 

When you find out what you really want, what you want as much as a starving man wants food, or a drowning man wants air, when you find what you really, really want, getting it will be quick, efficient and exciting. 
But self-help techniques are not for everybody.

If you already know exactly what you want, you don't really need self-help books or tapes. Just act. The inner fire of your desire will bring what you want into existence in your life.
Alternately, if there's nothing you want badly, hey, just relax. Stop beating yourself up for it. Maybe you are really, truly already in your comfort zone.

So while the people all around you battle to reach their dreams, you can lean back, smile and enjoy your life. 
Self-help and self-motivation are for people who are not where they want to be, and they're having trouble making a connection with their desires. 

But if you're already there, and you already know (or 
possess) exactly what you want, relax and enjoy. You've got what all those other folks are straining so hard to get. 
While they're struggling to get out of their familiar zone, you're nice and snug in your comfort zone. 

But if you KNOW you're not comfortable, then get your tail out of that swamp now. You already know how. Stop thinking and just make it happen. And yes you CAN do it. 
Just start. And don't stop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Charles Burke is the author of "Command More Luck," a book offering powerful suggestions for getting more cooperation from life, luck, and your own mind, especially in uncertain times. Whether you call it synchronicity, serendipity, or just plain old luck, you CAN become more "naturally lucky." 
Go to http://www.moreluck.com Click Here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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This is the very first in-depth critique of George Harrison's solo career since the break-up of 
The Beatles. 

Learn all about the Art & Architecture, Geography, History, Mythology, Olympics, People, and Wars of Ancient Greece. There are many other resources to guide you in this huge, fascinating area of human knowledge. Even if you studied this subject during a whole lifetime, you could not hope to know all there is to know. However this web site will be a start, beginning in the neolithic period 6000 years BC up to the Hellenistic period ending in 146 years BC.
To start your journey back in time  Click Here
 

Do you enjoy word puzzles or playing with words?
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To those of you who have never been to Greece then I can highly recommend this. Go to an outdoor Greek restaurant on a romantic evening with your lover, add some greek music, some red wine and a village salad, I promise, you will never forget it. 
To find out more about Greece Click Here
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The title of this article doesn't sound like it has much to so with creativity, however battling robots have a great deal to do with the inventive human mind.

Robot Wars founder Marc Thorpe, formerly one of the special effects wizards at Industrial Light and Magic, thinks the event has an appeal beyond the violence. 

He said Robot Wars is so popular because of its unique mix of art, technology, sport and theater in a way that explores and celebrates basic life issues of survival and destruction without compromising human values. It's a rare thing in this age of dehumanization and political correctness. 

Robot Wars, an annual destination for engineers, students and tinkerers from around the world who enjoy the dual pastimes of building machines, and the sport of competition.

The objective: to score a knockout by immobilizing the enemy -- by flipping, throwing, lifting or smashing it. If both robots are still mobile when the five minute limit is up, the judges select a winner based on the control and style of the robots and the amount of damage inflicted. 
Find out more about Robot Wars Click Here
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On Thanksgiving weekend in November of 1985, I was flying to Cairo, Egypt from Athens, Greece, where I had attended a volleyball tournament with a group of students. At the time, I was a special education teacher at the Cairo American School. Ten minutes into EgyptAir Flight #648, three terrorists, calling themselves "The Egypt Revolution," hijacked our flight. 

A gun battle ensued as the terrorists took control of the flight at an altitude of 35,000 feet. We were forced to land in Valetta, Malta. The terrorists began to execute one passenger every 15 minutes until their demands for fuel were met. Like four passengers before me, I was shot at point blank range, execution style, thrown from the plane onto the tarmac and left for dead. For five hours, I drifted in and out of consciousness until an airport grounds crew retrieved my body on its way to the morgue. Fifty-nine passengers died during the ordeal. I lived.

Over the years, I have had to adapt to the effects of being shot in the head and the resulting brain injury, which includes impaired vision and a loss of short-term memory.

Fortunately, I see things differently today. This experience has opened my eyes to all of those obstacles that consume us in our lives and careers. If I have learned anything, it's that we must look beyond those obstacles that get in our way and focus on what really matters. The people in your life are critical to your success, both personally and professionally. Each of us makes choices daily to be happy or sad, positive or negative. Choose wisely.

I share my story in order to spread a message of hope and encouragement to audiences around the world.
See Jackie's web site and be inspired Click Here
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