Patrick

Welcome aboard, Fran.

No problem.

Some pretty stunning and interesting images. Via Digg.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25785186/ Pictures: http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-srv/gallery/0807_NextBigThing/index.html Some pretty neat stuff. Via Digg.

Hello, KarateForums.com recognizes one member every month as the Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. The August 2008 selection is... tori. Congratulations!

Darren's awesome. You wouldn't happen to be going to Blog World Expo, would you, hawkfish? Patrick

Yeah, seriously, I couldn't do that.

The woman in the jewelry store is probably the one that handled it the best.

Generally speaking, it's best to host your own blog, if you can, as it tends to afford you more control and flexibility. Like hawkfish, I use WordPress (I also use Nucleus CMS, but I'm working on converting those to WordPress). Web hosting can run you anywhere from a few bucks to infinity, based upon your traffic and other factors. But, for most people, a $10 a month hosting plan is probably enough. And then a domain name will cost you around $10 a year. And those would be the minimum expenses for hosting a blog. That said, depending on your goals and limitations, a free host can work. If I was going to use one, from what I've heard about it, I'd go with WordPress.com. I'd still use my own domain name, and pay for that service on WordPress.com ($15 a year), just so that I could take my name with me when/if I was ready to graduate off the service. Good luck. Thanks, Patrick

AP story. Amazon links: Collector's Edition - Standard Edition Pretty cool!

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/17063 Pretty cool stuff. I like that slide! Via Digg.

Congrats Ryan!

I liked the car salesman. lol. I can see how you could be annoyed, but I don't get the level some of these folks took it to, anger wise. You should never be yelling at customers. It just looks bad. Imagine trying to eat at that restaurant with that going on? Patrick

No problem!

Thank you for the submission.

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=pennypranks http://www.officemax.com/omax/home/custom.jsp?id=m2280024 I thought this was a pretty cute and funny idea.

http://www.aol.com.au/movies/harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince.jhtml Looks awesome. Can't wait!

Welcome back.

No problem, Danielle. Regarding the Vista editions, this page will probably be helpful as far as comparing them: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/default.aspx

There's a new reality show on VH1, starting next Monday at 9:00 PM ET, called "I Want to Work for Diddy". Is anyone else going to check it out? I'm a huge Diddy fan and I watched the casting special and it looks like it has potential. There's a certain made for TV element, of course, but Diddy's a great businessman, not just a showman, so I think it'll be interesting/inspirational from that angle, as well.

If you read any blogs, what are your favorites?

I have Office 2007 on the desktop and laptop and I like it, actually. The menu was new, but I got used to it and now I kinda like it. The previous versions of Office are good, as well. I used Office 2000 for a long time. Hey Ed, To disable the UAC features, go into the Control Panel, then to User Accounts. Your account should be selected. Click the "Turn User Account Control on or off" link, uncheck the check box and then press "OK". You'll have to restart. And, I think, that should take care of it. Hope that helps. Patrick

I use Vista Ultimate on both my desktop and my laptop. I bought them both at the end of last year. I like Vista. If I was buying a new one now, I'd get Vista. At the end of the day, either is fine, though. Vista does receive a lot of criticism, but my problems with it have been relatively few and, besides those, it runs really well for me. The security prompts have annoyed a lot of people, but I just turned them off when I first set it up, which isn't hard to do, so I don't have them. I have only used Vista for about 8 months, though, and I think a lot of the criticisms that it has received were based on the initial product and how it was received, rather than how it is now. For example: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-9998336-56.html Good luck. Thanks, Patrick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWz5h4or-yo Enjoyed this video.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1038849/The-meatiest-feast--Russians-create-335ft-long-barbecue.html Via Digg.