My New Diet

Many things change as we age. One thing I have noticed is my interests changing. Previously I was uninterested in cooking. Eating, yes but cooking, no. But lately I have been doing more cooking, not because I have found some new curiosity in culinary but because I am hungry. You see I now live amongst a band of Gluten Nazis. It is the new trend in alternative health and the target of foodies everywhere. Gluten – the cause of all adverse health issues.

I’m not saying that these people are not on the right track. Many are adversely affected by gluten I am sure. And I am positive the medical community will never be up to speed on this because there is no money in it, no real money as in other health care. But I believe the gluten Nazis are guilty of over extending the gluten impact. By how much is anyone’s guess.

But still, a guy’s gotta eat. So I have taken matters into my own hands and have started cooking. I have contemplated a gluten refugee cookbook, sort of a Guantanamo guide to food survival. But I may be getting ahead of myself.

For starters I have learned how to make the Ramen Noodle delicacy. (See Ramen hacks)

This is really a staple in my diet these days and I have found my own personal formula for spicing it up. Thanks Tony.

I know it is unhealthy to have such a limited diet so, to mix things up and add a healthy twist to my daily eating, I have learned to make two dishes.

So, when the family turn against you and you find yourself in a foreign land of gluten Nazis, learn to cook or die.

Ubuntu 10.10 is a dream to install

Ubuntu keeps getting easier, better and bigger. If you put Ubuntu 10.10 on an 8 GB flash drive don't try to update, there is not enough room. That said, it doesn't need to update to work and be a handy repair platform for Windows disasters. I chose the 32 bit version even though I have 4GB of RAM. I wonder if Ubuntu 64 bit might have more driver issues. Anywho, I didn't want the frustration.

I used PendriveLinux's Universal USB Installer after downloading the Ubuntu ISO. I could have used Pendrive's MultibootISO but I wanted to install Ubuntu updates, which ended up too large anyway. But after you have Ubuntu installed on the flash drive, boot it and on the Ubuntu desktop is an install button. Use it to install to a machine hard drive.

Make sure to have a free partition. I set aside 100GB, overkill I know and 20-30GB would have been plenty.When Ubuntu formats the space I chose to mount root "/" but don't know if that is good or bad but it made sense to me. But be sure to reduce the size of the space and leave room for a swap partition. I left two and one half the amount of my ram. I did not change the default file system.

Be sure somewhere during the install to check the box for 3rd party mp3 support to avoid looking for it later. But if you forget, just open Rythembox with an mp3 and you will be directed to the necessary files. I chose to update during the install and Youtube played without a problem so Adobe Flash was covered.

Numlock not employing at startup has always bugged me. The fix is in keyboard options and explained in this post.

The Brothers printer driver was found and installed easily.

Network interface installed automatically.

Video card drivers installed without my input.

What are the chances I will get my Fujitsu ScanSnap to work? I haven't tried yet.

Another Linux mystery has been accessing a Windows network. At first I thought, here we go again, when I clicked Networks and got nowhere. I went to the Home folder and made a new folder. Then I right clicked the folder and shared it. I followed the prompts and the share to Windows network was all done for me. Linux likes Windows networks to be named "Workgroup" so if you have another fancy nomenclature it will not work without alterations.

There is simply no reason for the average person not to use Ubuntu, unless you consider they probably are using the "free" Windows residing on the Dell they purchased.

I am writing this with a Linux blogging module delightfully named "Drivel". (Which is apparently oblivious to paragraphing so I had to add them by editing the post.)

This was meant for BigHugeThingComputing but I didn't check were Drivel was sending it ...

PRADAXA Reducing Risk of Stroke from Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) - Pradaxa� (dabigatran etexilate)

PRADAXA Reducing Risk of Stroke from Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) - Pradaxa� (dabigatran etexilate): "PRADAXA (pra dax' a) (dabigatran etexilate mesylate) CAPSULES"

Replacement for warfarin.

Let's Get Hitler's View

Best part is at the end.

Tax Brackets (Federal Income Tax Rates) 2000 through 2009 and 2010

Tax Brackets (Federal Income Tax Rates) 2000 through 2009 and 2010: "Your tax bracket is the rate you pay on the 'last dollar' you earn; but as a percentage of your income, your tax rate is generally less than that. First, here are the tax rates and the income ranges where they apply:"

Comments: In case you were wondering what is happening to your money.

288,000 homes seized in quarter - Washington Times

288,000 homes seized in quarter - Washington Times: "Lenders seized more U.S. homes this summer than in any three-month stretch since the housing market began to bust in 2006. But many of the foreclosures may be challenged in court later because of allegations that banks evicted people without reading the documents.

A total of 288,345 properties were lost to foreclosure in the July-September quarter, according to data released Thursday by RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing service. That's up from nearly 270,000 in the second quarter, the previous high point in the firm's records dating back to 2005."

Comments: Do any of us know where this is heading? Is it wise to prepare by getting out of debt even if one is currently solvent? I think so. Debt is a killer in economic downturns and we may have further to go. Being out of debt is always good anyway.

Economic Thoughts (from somewhere)

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without work, another person must work for without receiving.

3, The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation

5. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.