Here's an interesting link - http://www.classbrain.com/artmonument/publish/hall_of_records_mount_rushmore.shtml
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| Mt. Rushmore |
Thursday, August 21, 2008
National Treasure II - Is it true?
Devin and I went to Mt. Rushmore today. It is the second time I've been there, but it turns out that last time I missed most of the cool stuff (other than the big faces on the mountain that is). It turns out that behind Lincon's head they started building "The Hall of Records." Which was a room (carved out of the rock) that was to be 80 feet by 100 feet. They cut out the door way - and then congress stopped it. I took some pictures of the model and they are in the slide show below.
Here's an interesting link - http://www.classbrain.com/artmonument/publish/hall_of_records_mount_rushmore.shtml
Here's an interesting link - http://www.classbrain.com/artmonument/publish/hall_of_records_mount_rushmore.shtml
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Useful Utilities - Google Desktop
Recently I have come across a number of utilities that have really enhanced my experience on Windows XP. The one I would like to focus on in this post is Google Desktop. This free software can be downloaded at http://desktop.google.com/.
Google Desktop has a variety of uses and features, but I will put them into two categories: Searching and Google Gadgets. In this post I will be focusing on the searching capabilities of GDS (Google Desktop Search).
Google Desktop indexes many of the files on your computer. The most popular file types are currently available. I've been using Google Desktop for a number of months now. It has been very useful for me as a student. I often remember the name of a Word document where I keep my notes for a particular class or part of the content. Instead of going through the directory structure to find the wanted file, I type all or some of the file name or some of the content. A list of files immediately appears adjacent to the search box with a few files that most closely fit my search. I select the right file and boom, the file opens.
For years now I've been a windows user with a double thick start bar. The top row was for currently running applicatins. The bottom bar was for Quick Launch and an Address Bar. A couple of months ago I received an update for Google Desktop. I happened upon a feature that made a world of a difference. If ctrl is pressed twice in a row, a search window appears in the middle of the screen. This feature removed my need to have everything on the task bar.
Searching is now available from any program, without having to touch the mouse. I have a few favorite searching techniques that I will demonstrate using this utility (these techniques work in any of the Google Desktop Search boxes).
1) Opening an application
In in the Google Desktop preferences there is an option to change the default behavior from searching the web to launching programs/opening files. It's not all the way there, but this is almost as good as working on a command line OS. If there is a short-cut for cmd.exe in the start menu, typing cmd and hitting the enter key will bring up the command prompt (which is much faster than clicking start -> run -> cmd -> enter). This feature allowed me to cut back on the amount of space I used for Quick Launch.
2) Opening a directory on the local machine
Before GDS I was a big fan of having an address bar on the task bar. I could get to any location on the computer without having to browse with the mouse. In GDS the full path can be typed and an explorer window will be opened to that directory.
Comparing GDS to the address bar approach, they both have their advantages. The address bar has auto complete which can make browsing to deep file paths very quick. GDS doesn't require a mouse click to give focus (remember - just hit ctrl-ctrl) and it doesn't require space on the start bar down below.
3) Closely related to my second point, GDS is a very fast way to browse to a website. Type in the name of the site, hit enter, and a new browser window opens to that location.
Google Desktop has a variety of uses and features, but I will put them into two categories: Searching and Google Gadgets. In this post I will be focusing on the searching capabilities of GDS (Google Desktop Search).
Google Desktop indexes many of the files on your computer. The most popular file types are currently available. I've been using Google Desktop for a number of months now. It has been very useful for me as a student. I often remember the name of a Word document where I keep my notes for a particular class or part of the content. Instead of going through the directory structure to find the wanted file, I type all or some of the file name or some of the content. A list of files immediately appears adjacent to the search box with a few files that most closely fit my search. I select the right file and boom, the file opens.
For years now I've been a windows user with a double thick start bar. The top row was for currently running applicatins. The bottom bar was for Quick Launch and an Address Bar. A couple of months ago I received an update for Google Desktop. I happened upon a feature that made a world of a difference. If ctrl is pressed twice in a row, a search window appears in the middle of the screen. This feature removed my need to have everything on the task bar.
Searching is now available from any program, without having to touch the mouse. I have a few favorite searching techniques that I will demonstrate using this utility (these techniques work in any of the Google Desktop Search boxes).
1) Opening an application
In in the Google Desktop preferences there is an option to change the default behavior from searching the web to launching programs/opening files. It's not all the way there, but this is almost as good as working on a command line OS. If there is a short-cut for cmd.exe in the start menu, typing cmd and hitting the enter key will bring up the command prompt (which is much faster than clicking start -> run -> cmd -> enter). This feature allowed me to cut back on the amount of space I used for Quick Launch.
2) Opening a directory on the local machine
Before GDS I was a big fan of having an address bar on the task bar. I could get to any location on the computer without having to browse with the mouse. In GDS the full path can be typed and an explorer window will be opened to that directory.
Comparing GDS to the address bar approach, they both have their advantages. The address bar has auto complete which can make browsing to deep file paths very quick. GDS doesn't require a mouse click to give focus (remember - just hit ctrl-ctrl) and it doesn't require space on the start bar down below.
3) Closely related to my second point, GDS is a very fast way to browse to a website. Type in the name of the site, hit enter, and a new browser window opens to that location.
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