Page 10      Diablo Blue      June, 2001

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guage by sending an email in English. Fortunately Rebecca was able to clear this up.
It seems that in sign language one does not sign every word that would normally be spoken. For example, if you say aloud "The ugly baby spit up on my nice clean suit", you might sign only the words "Baby…barfed…on…suit…mine", or signs to that effect. Therefore, the makeup assignment in this case would be to send an email to the teacher with these words: "Baby…barfed…on…suit…mine". This also clarified for me one of the things that is wrong with the educational system…
New Business:
Next Meeting: Microsoft will be on hand to demonstrate Office XP, the latest in a seemingly unending chain of improvements and expansions to the suite. Several ideas for future speakers were discussed including "identity theft". Alan is going to a one-day seminar on this topic, and we will see if he can pull together a presentation to us on this topic. Having someone steal your identity is a traumatic experience that is in many ways made easier today by technology. While this has never happened to me personally, once in college I misplaced my identity over a homecoming weekend and that was traumatic enough. Fortunately, we ran out of beer and I was saved, but that's another story.

Last month's winner was Vera Krauss -- that makes two times now!
Join us this month for the next game. When you come to the monthly meeting,  See Peggy, Stan (or whoever is at the table when you enter) and get your puzzle. Be sure you turn it in before the first speaker (yes, those who come early get more time to work on it) and one member will get a prize. Good luck!

Many computer users nowadays have some sort of graphics or drawing program on their machine. Sometimes it comes installed with the computer, or it's part of some larger program package. Those with a more serious interest in graphics may have a program such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW.
This article is aimed at all who may have an interest in getting more out of whichever program they may have available. The program I am using here is Adobe Illustrator. However, there are many others that will do this project, all you need to do is translate some of the "local" terms Adobe uses to your own set tools and commands. Every object has a mass and a contour. Most computer graphics programs refer to these features as "fill" and "stroke".
First, display the grid: go to view>show grid (graph background). Pick up the rectangle tool, click "no fill" select stroke, I make black, with 1 or 2 pt. thickness. There is a palette for adjusting the weight of stroke: go to window>show stroke. Drag a rectangle around the image. Use selection tool to center and adjust it (could be a little more space at the bottom). To drag from the center outward, click>hold alt>drag. To make fine adjustments, select the image and your arrow keys to move it in the desired direction.
Illustrator has a preview mode and an outline mode. Preview is the normal view showing the

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