Tourbus is a bloggish newsletter from one of the world’s longest-writing computer gurus, Bob Rankin. He can be found everywhere one finds advice for computer users, and he can expound on any topic — mostly accurately. Here’s Rankin’s advice on fine-tuning your own computer cheap! Anti virus, spy ware fixers, slow PCs. WARNING: Proceed slowly, back up your stuff before you muck with it and when in doubt, get a second opinion. Or a third. Here’s how to fix your Windows PC.

With my comments in italics and marked with asterisks, here’s what Rankin says:

SLOW COMPUTER? - Here’s my special recipe to clean that icky goo out of your computer’s pipes, so Windows will start quicker, run more reliably, and go faster on the information superhighway…

WHICH ANTI-VIRUS OR ANTI-SPYWARE? - **Declare no war, take no prisoners!**
Feuding “anti’s” can cause system lockups, and slow down your computer. Here’s my personal arsenal of free software to fight viruses, spyware and popups…

SYSTEM RESTORE - The Undo command for your whole Windows system. Turn back the clock…

RECOVERY CONSOLE - Sometimes viruses, spyware or random cosmic rays will attack your computer, leaving you unable to even start Windows. In many cases, the Windows XP Recovery Console can help you fix the problem.

REMOTE ASSISTANCE - **hey, I LOVE this one, Bob, I use it to manipulate one laptop from the other.** This free tool built into Windows lets your geeky friends interact with your computer just like they were sitting in front of it, even if they’re half a world away.

SHARING A PRINTER - If you have two PC’s but only one printer, you can share…

LOW VIRTUAL MEMORY - If you get a message saying ‘Your system is low on virtual memory’ you probably need to install more RAM. But there are some other things you should (**could**) check first…

FIX MASTER BOOT RECORD - Here’s how to fix a computer that won’t boot up...**Tread softly here. I say, if you don’t see yourself as more than a novice user, pass this one and hire a pro.**

DO YOU NEED A REGISTRY CLEANER? - **Use extreme caution. Personally, I wouldn’t touch my registry with a ten foot guru, but that’s me.** If your computer keeps getting slower and slower, you might need to clean your registry. Here’s the scoop…

DO YOU NEED A FIREWALL? - Perhaps you’ve heard conflicting reports on whether or not you should be using a firewall.

WIRELESS SECURITY - Since wireless networks are easy to set up, some people don’t realize they are offering free Internet to anyone driving by with a laptop. **Believe it or not, I often have to fight to make my neighbor’s network get it OFF my computer so I can access my own!** Here’s how to keep it from happening…

COMPUTER RESTARTS ITSELF - Does your Windows XP computer often restart itself for no apparent reason? It could be overheating, bad RAM, a software glitch, or spyware.

INSTALLING A NEW HARD DRIVE - **Not all that tough, but requires patience and concentrated attention to detail** If you’re running low on hard drive space, a new drive at today’s low storage prices is a good idea. SATA, IDE, external or portable drive? And how big is big enough? Tips on selecting and installing.

By way of a site review, I’ll say Rankin and his sidekick (or vice versa) Patrick Crispin, have been around a long time and are pretty reliable. They’re terribly amusing, too. You can get tons of info from their Web site and newsletter (subscribe at the site). I don’t know them personally, but have listened to them on various radio shows, for ever. I am a long time subscriber (they don’t pay me to say so), and I’ve relied on a lot of their advice since the first time I caused myself a blue screen of death by deleting some strange looking files I thought were useless. I emailed them, begged for help, and got it.

Once or twice, I’ve followed their step-by-step for one process or another and found myself in trouble - like anyone, they are human and, so, not perfect. As am I - and the fault could be mine - go figure. Read what they have to say, ask questions, and never follow any advice blindly.

A well-known publisher has assembled a catalog of international books for children, and the books are a nice addition to any child’s library.

It’s nice to see what illustrators and writers are doing in other parts of the world. Surprising to see so many stories about personified animals, since those have been long out of favor with publishers in this country. Here are three reviews to give you an idea of the books on the list.

The Story of Cherry the Pig by Utako Yamada (writer/illustrator). Published by Kane Miller Book Publishers, 2007 (American edition). ISBN 978-1-933605-25-8. $15.95, 32 pages, hard cover w/dust jacket.

In Tokyo, there’s a tea house and a little dessert shop run by Utako Yamada. Seems like all the sweetness and the perfume of her teas inspired her to put together books for children, and Cherry the Pig is one of the sweetest you’ll find.

A simple story, and one that could be read by beginning readers with lots of help and encouragement, Yamada’s newest American release has a lot to teach. The lessons, how we see things differently from the way our neighbor might, diversity makes the world go ‘round, and what happens when we payback a hurt, are gently expressed in the way the characters react to their plot concerns.

Cherry is a pig who loves to eat – and loves to cook. She, like the author/illustrator, expresses herself through cooking special treats for those she loves, for her customers and for a cooking contest. On her way to the contest, she overhears harsh criticism of her delicate entry, and is terribly unhappy about it.

You and your favorite youngsters will learn how the contest concludes and what Cherry does to the mice who made fun of her prize recipe. The story works. It’s fun. It’s a quick read, but not too quick. The illustrations made me nostalgic for the 1950s and 60’s with a line drawing, 2-color affect, a camera-angle perspective and enough busy action to keep little kids engage din pointing to items they’re familiar with.

I enjoyed the non-rhyming prose and the good quality paper. Can’t think of much to criticize, except, perhaps the price, but books are costly these days and this one measures up.

Who’s Hiding? by Saturo Onishi (writer/illustrator). Published by Kane Miller Book Publishers, 2007 (American edition). ISBN 978-1-933605-24-1. $15.95, 32 pages, glossy hard cover.

The second in a delightful group of international books for children, Who’s Hiding can be called “interactive,” I suppose. It’s kind of a combination of a matching game and a memory game. Each page displays three rows of five whimsical animals – bear, hippo, giraffe, tiger, etc. The reader is supposed to pay attention to the arrangement of the animals, their color, their facial expressions and other details.

It’s kind of fun, but very repetitive. I believe the youngest children, say preschoolers, would get bored by half through the book. School kids – maybe to first grade might enjoy the challenge, though the challenge could have been a bit more challenging.

I enjoyed the quality of the book – cover, binding, paper, colors. The stylized representation of animals are cute and bright. I didn’t have an opportunity to try it out on my grandkids, but I found myself turning pages too quickly as I read Who’s Hiding. There’s almost no text, and perhaps there are too many animals on a page. I’d pass on this one. It doesn’t give any information about the author or the author’s country. In fact, we don’t even get to know if the writer is a man or a woman. We don’t get a clue about country of origin, so there’s no basis for conversation about other cultures or diversity. There is no real way to connect to Who’s Hiding - I can’t see kids returning to it over and over.

New Clothes for New Year’s Day by Hyun-Joo Bae (writer/illustrator). Published by Kane Miller Book Publishers, 2007 (American edition). ISBN 978-1-933605-29-6. $15.95, 32 pages., hard cover w/dust jacket.

If you have a little girl from toddler to first or second grade in your life, she’ll adore experiencing New Clothes for New Year’s Day with you. It’s everything we look for in a children’s book. Hyun-Joo Bae is Korean – and she swoops you up and whisks you off in your imagination to her country. She never loses sight of the fact that, at some level, little girls are the same the world over.

Hyun-Joo Bae’s main character, five or six year’s old, tells us all about her brand new New Year’s celebration clothes as she gets dressed to party with her family and friends.

Her face is as cute and warm as can be – you’ll love how human she seems, though she’s just made of pigment and rag paper.

The illustrations are charming – I turned through the book three or four times before I even read the text. The drawings remind me of classic paper dolls – I wanted them to be paper dolls so I could assemble the pretty outfit. And the text doesn’t disappoint. It’s translated to English, of course, but never makes you feel out of step

Like most Kane-Miller books, the quality of binding, paper and print is high. The story teaches, step-by-step, how Korean girls dress for their most important holiday, and why each part of their outfit is selected. There’s a true sense of place, an appreciation for differences and a nod to sameness. I’d say this is a terrific book for teachers – little boys would probably find it appealing, too.

This is one to own – it’s worth the price and you will read it to and with the little girl in your life, over and over again, for a long time to come.

Do a Web search for John Michael Sullivan and you’ll find the saddest of stories. This real human being, not a statistic, not a human-resource is dead. He was 22. He’ll never be any older. His first son, John Michael Sullivan, Jr. was born the day after Daddy was torn to pieces by a IED. In Iraq. In a war that has outlived its purpose and outlived almost 4000 Americans like John.

John was a friend of my son, who did his time in Iraq as well. Because of his time there, my soldier has trouble holding a job, He has nightmares. He struggles to feel the joy in his own life with his wife and their little boy, Tyler. He cries each time he hears of another death like John’s. He cries a lot. He is finding it impossible to obtain the benefits he’s entitled to. Another casualty, but nothing like the casualty John’s family has endured. My deepest sympathy to John’s parents, wife and son. We’re proud of our troops. We’re disappointed in our leaders.
To read more about John Michael Sullivan follow these links:

John Michael Sullivan Remembered

John Michael Sullivan Laid to Rest

Reported Killed by IED

Return of John Michael Sullivan

I stumbled across an interesting, well-organized blog the other day, of particular interest to women. The topic is crafting, the site is Ask the Crafter, the setup is a Q & A format for everything you always wanted to know about the deatails of crafting, but had no one to ask. For example, a reader asked,

“Should I use linoleum blocks to make my own rubber stamps?”

Not a bad question - and certainly not a silly quesiton. I have done linoleum block cutting and printing. My take on it is it would work well for larger “rubber” stamps…maybe several inches across. Not so well for very small stamps unless you have the patience of St. Theresa and all the time in the world.

The crafting gurus on Ask the Crafter said :

Mixed media artist Zhenia of Embellished Circus contributes: Any decent art supply store will sell linoleum. Most places just sell lino-lino, but some have more than one type. If that’s the case, then you’ll want to talk to someone at the store to find out the differences between the types. You may want to bring in a sample image of something you’d like to carve to make it easier to choose.
Linoleum is hard to carve. It can be hard on the elbows and wrists. One way around this is to warm in on a low electric burner or hot plate before carving. There are also many types of softer materials. I’ve used one called softoleum. It’s decent but it doesn’t hold an edge as well as I’d like. Speedball makes a good softer carving substrate, as does Soft-Kut.