Coffee Klatch

Just found yet ANOTHER cool Google tool! They have plenty of tools, utilities, and fun things, but then there’s also Google Labs, where they let people try new apps that they’ve just come out with. This has got to be one of the most practical apps Google’s ever developed!

Everyone’s observing that more and more things are going online. Instead of client/server-style configuration, where things are on local machines, the trend has continuously been to move things online. Look at del.icio.us and Flickr and how so many web-based mail programs (like Gmail) and even web hosts (like Dreamhost) are providing gigantic amounts of space for storing your files online for free or for dirt cheap.

Enter Google’s Browser Sync! It’s a plugin for Firefox that allows you to synchronize your browsers on different machines. And you don’t even have to tell it to run! It’s continuous.

Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions.

Google Browser Sync is completely automated. The settings you select at startup are automatically synchronized across each of the computers on which you install Browser Sync. You won’t even need to log in every time you start the browser. You can change which browser components are being synced – or even stop the syncing process entirely – using the settings panel in the upper-right corner of the page. The settings panel also gives you access to your PIN.

You can only be logged into the service on one machine at a time, but when you go get on another machine (like home and work) you’ll get any changes you made showing up automatically!

Since it’s a Firefox plugin, this cool tool doesn’t work in IE or any other browser. Or for versions of Firefox earlier than 1.5. Which is just more incentive to use Firefox and keep it updated. Visit their FAQ page if you have any Q.

What an awesome service! Google and Firefox are definitely setting the standards for Web 2.0!

[tags]google, firefox, browsers, utilities[/tags]

If you’re interested in saving a little money around the house without really doing anything, here’s a practical little tip. Find out which costs more, your garbage pickup or your sewer, and use that method of disposal for tissues. During the winter, many people go through lots of tissues. If your garbage pickup is free, make sure you throw them all in the trash rather than flushing them, since sewer charges are usually by volume. If you have cheap sewer rates but have to pay for garbage, you might be better off dropping that tissue in the toilet. Of course, don’t flush things that SHOULDN’T be flushed or you’ll pay for it later. But tissues are usually fine, and if you, like me, use toilet paper for blowing your nose when you’re in the bathroom, then it’s specifically designed for flushing and there are no worries. Here in Indianapolis, though, sewer rates are pretty high while garbage pickup is free, so I make it a point to drop those wads of toilet paper in the garbage instead of the toilet.

Not gonna make you a millionaire overnight or anything, but the pennies add up.

[tags]conservation, waste disposal, saving money[/tags]

I‘ve said before that once you start messing with definitions of relationships or humanity, such as with marriage or abortion, there’s no end in sight for where it could go. Now there’s a case in Vermont that is looking for “legal recognition” of the relationship between people and pets.

A couple’s dog (one of two) was shot while the couple was on a camping trip with their dogs and this one wandered onto someone’s private property. He already paid $4,000 in damages to them, but that’s not enough. The guy has to undergo counseling and perform community service because they’re calling it “animal cruelty” and saying that “the loss of Shadow caused them emotional damages far beyond $4,000.”

If an animal wandered onto my land, especially a potentially dangerous dog, I’d feel fully justified in shooting it. Especially with only a pellet gun. That the pellet severed the dog’s aorta is unfortunate but not animal cruelty. Even the intentional shooting of a dog should be balanced by the owner’s responsibility to keep it with them and on a leash.

“Animal cruelty goes on everyday everywhere,” Sarah Scheele said. “But if there’s a law that recognizes pets as beings that deserve respect, maybe people will think twice before they’re cruel to an animal.”

Right. We’ll have to tread super-carefully to make sure that nobody can consider our treatment of any animal cruel, and at the same time, we’ll smile on allowing abortions where the fetus can obviously feel the pain. Where’s the “respect” for life? Even if some don’t call that life fully human until birth? Ultrasounds have shown that fetuses react to abortifacts by writhing in what would be called pain if a post-natal child were doing it. Having the fetus go through almost the entire birth process and then crushing its skull is just as cruel. But, for heaven’s sake, don’t shoot at a dog! You’ll pay hefty fines and have to go to counseling.

Talk about hypocritical.

[tags]animal rights, animal cruelty, abortion[/tags]