The Island of Logic

Frankly, I am in love with Google. I can’t think of another company in the world that keeps developing new products and delivers them to the world for free. Google generates their primary revenue stream through advertising with unobtrusive text based links. Even their ads are not the huge annoying flash ads used by many other web based advertisers. Google realizes that by creating free products for the public they are simply driving more traffic to their websites and indirectly to their customer’s ads, a brilliant marketing strategy. I am going to go through the Google tools that I use the most, that some of you may simply not know exist.

Gmail I am sure almost all of you are aware of Gmail and probably use it, but are you aware of all the features and ways of using it. First I am going to show you Gmail Drive. Gmail provides more space than any other email provider out there, at least that I am aware. When Gmail first came out they promised 2 GB of space to all their users, Yahoo and Hotmail immediately increased their email capacity to keep up. Well, Google eventually went even higher than 2 GB and left the competition in the dust. Below is a screenshot of the space I currently have available in my Gmail account.

I currently have 7 GB of space available in my account. As you can see I am only using 31 MB of that space, statistically 0%. Gmail Drive allows me to use that space as remote storage. There are several advantages to this. First I can store files in my Gmail Drive and access them from any computer in the world, simply by logging into Gmail. Second if my computer hard drive fails, I have a free backup of my important files on remote storage. Awesome!!



The Gmail Drive Shell Extension is available for download at the developer’s website. (http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm)

Gmail also allows you to download and send your email through your favorite email client, Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, etc., with secure POP3, SMTP, and IMAP protocols. Most other Internet Email services require payment for this feature. Google has some very good documentation on how to do this at http://mail.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=12805.

Google Earth Google Earth lets you zoom in anywhere on earth to view satellite images of the terrain (find your own house). (http://earth.google.com/)

Google Docs Don’t own Microsoft Office, don’t want to go to the expense of buying it, want to store and create presentations, spreadsheets, and documents online in a secure way, away from that potentially faulty hard drive in your computer, then Google Docs is for you. You can even import existing Excel Spreadsheets, Word Documents, and Power Point Presentations. (http://docs.google.com/)

Google Chrome Google Chrome is the recently released web browser by Google. I like it because it is fast, has a simple and basic interface, and frankly does a better job of rendering DHTML then the beta Internet Explorer 8 browser which I am currently helping Microsoft test. (http://www.google.com/chrome/)

Google SMS Google SMS is a little known feature that Google has. It allows you to text questions to 466453 (GOOGLE), like ‘sushi 34232′ and it will send back the name, address and phone number of all Sushi locations in the 34232 zip code. Check it out. (http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/mobile/default/sms/index.html)

1-800-GOOG-411 I have used Google’s 411 service for a while now and it is great, oh yeh and free to. (http://www.google.com/goog411/

Picasa Picasa is a great photo organizing tool which allows you to make simple edits, turn your pictures into slide shows and movies, and best of all upload them to the Picasa Web Albums so that you can share them with family and friends. (http://picasa.google.com/)

Google Talk I have used Google Talk for several years now to keep in touch with colleagues, family and friends. I can talk or instant message. It also includes the previous Google Notify service which pops a message up in my tray whenever I receive a new email to my Gmail account. (http://www.google.com/talk/)

Google Search Operators Ever wonder why some people find what they are looking for in Google faster then what you can? They are probably using some of Google’s advanced operators. Here are the links to Googles operator pages

http://www.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=searchguides.html&ctx=basics&hl=en

http://www.google.com/help/operators.html

Using these operators can reduce the amount of pages that you have to search through to find what you are looking for. For example, searching for the string “let them eat cake” with the quotes will likely produce more of the desired results then searching for the terms without quotes. Using the advanced operators for example I could search the www.yes941.com website for the search terms ‘John Greer’ using the following search term “site:www.yes941.com John Greer“. You can also use the Google Advanced search page which makes the use of some of the advanced operators easier. (http://www.google.com/advanced_search)

For a list of many more Google features not mentioned here go to the following link. (http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/)

This video does an excellent job of describing Conservative, Reagan trickle down economics. Conservative economic policies make so much sense that Liberals refuse to accept them. If this does not make sense to you, and you believe that taxing the top 5% and redistribution of wealth is good economic policy then your in lock step agreement with a guy by the name of Carl Marx, oh yeh, and Obama to.

Well first of all was it ever a question that the New York Times is simply a wing of the Democratic Party? If you have been doubting that charge up to this time lets look and see what the New York Times had to say about Walter Mondale’s choice of Geraldine Ferraro as running mate in 1984. After reading the New York Times defense of Geraldine Ferraro’s qualifications, a three term member of the House of Representatives, lets compare what they have said about the qualifications of Sara Palin, a council woman, a mayor, chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and a governor. Here is the New York Times Editorial piece in 1984.

• Where is it written that only senators are qualified to become President? Surely Ronald Reagan does not subscribe to that maxim. Or where is it written that mere representatives aren’t qualified, like Geraldine Ferraro of Queens? Representative Morris Udall, who lost New Hampshire to Jimmy Carter by a hair in 1976, must surely disagree. So must a longtime Michigan Congressman named Gerald Ford. Where is it written that governors and mayors, like Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco, are too local, too provincial? That didn’t stop Richard Nixon from picking Spiro Agnew, a suburban politician who became Governor of Maryland. Remember the main foreign affairs credential of Georgia’s Governor Carter: He was a member of the Trilateral Commission. Presidential candidates have always chosen their running mates for reasons of practical demography, not idealized democracy. One might even say demography is destiny: this candidate was chosen because he could deliver Texas, that one because he personified rectitude, that one because he appealed to the other wing of the party. On occasion, Americans find it necessary to rationalize this rough-and-ready process. What a splendid system, we say to ourselves, that takes little-known men, tests them in high office and permits them to grow into statesmen. This rationale may even be right, but then let it also be fair. Why shouldn’t a little-known woman have the same opportunity to grow? We may even be gradually elevating our standards for choosing Vice Presidential candidates. But that should be done fairly, also. Meanwhile, the indispensable credential for a Woman Who is the same as for a Man Who – one who helps the ticket.

Now lets compare this to what they have been saying about Sara Palin who is obviously more qualified than Geraldin Ferraro ever was. 

• Sarah Palin, a little-known governor of Alaska and self-described “hockey mom” with almost no foreign policy experience. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/us/politics/30veep.html?em)

Now this statement was not even in a Op-Ed, but a article that is supposed to be an unbiased reporting of the news. Palin has more foreign policy experience than Obama has, and Obama is actually running for president. Oh, but I almost forgot, Obama said that he has more executive experience than Palin because he has ran a campaign for 18 months. (http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/02/obama-i-have-more-executive-experience-than-palin/) What kind of ridiculous circular logic is this? So Obama, you are telling me you are qualified to be President because you are running for President. I don’t even need to say anything more about this, the stupidity of it should speak for itself. Here are some more New York Times articles that might interest you.

Palin’s Teen Daughter is Pregnant; New GOP Tumult: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/politics/02PALINDAY.html

The Scrutiny of Sarah Palin: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/opinion/07pubed.html 

This Op-Ed by a public editor of the New York Times says and I quote:

• Intense, independent scrutiny by The Times and the rest of the news media of Palin’s background, character and record was inevitable and right.

Here is another:

• But the Times article that drew the strongest complaints from the McCain camp was the one that questioned not her record but his judgment. Published on Tuesday’s front page, the morning after Palin announced her daughter’s pregnancy, the article said that revelation and a series of lesser disclosures called into question how thoroughly McCain had examined Palin’s background.

According to Clark Hoyt here, the Time’s “independent” coverage of Sara Palin has been inevitable and right. If that is the case, how often has the New York times questioned Obama’s judgement for being friends and associates of the terrorist William Ayers and the like of Jeremiah Wright? The answer is never, but they question McCain’s judgement in chosing Sara Palin because her unwed daughter is pregnant. Let’s see, what is worse?? Picking a VP candidate with a unwed pregnant daughter, or being a associate with a terrorist and America hating pastor. Hmmmm. I will let you decide…..

This post is in response to a Mental Midget who posted this on my Guestbook (http://www.islandoflogic.com/index.php/guestbook/) Here is the quote: “Sarah Palin even lied about the plane! She DID NOT sell it on ebay. She posted it on ebay and it didn’t sell. It was eventually sold for a loss to a crony friend. When Palin’s lips are moving she’s lying.” Now, lets look at what Sara Palin said, here is the actual quote from the speech: “I got rid of a few things in the governor’s office that I didn’t believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.” She didn’t say that she sold it on Ebay, she said that she put it on Ebay. They ended up selling it outside of Ebay, because the auction ended without a sale. Frankly, I could care less how the jet sold. The fact is, that she got rid of it, because Palin thought it was costing the tax payers of Alaska money that could be better spent elsewhere. I wish the Federal government would feel the same way before funding research on the mating habits of quail in Texas. We need more people like Palin in office to make efficient use of our hard earned money. The fact that idiots like you are so upset by this VP pick means that John McCain hit a home run in choosing her. Thanks for the confirmation, Moron!!!

cartoon by Erin Bonsteel

Can’t hardly wait for this movie to come out. It looks hilarious, and there is nothing more funny than seeing Michael Moore, errr I mean Michael Malone, getting slapped around.