Diablo Blue

The Newsletter of the Diablo Valley PC Users Group

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January 2009 MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT

Happy New Year 2009!

The first Thursday in January, 2009 is January 1st, New Years Day. As a result, we will not have a meeting this month. In addition, Diablo Valley College will be closed and we will not have access to our meeting room.

So, DVPC members should sit back and enjoy the evening of New Year's Day doing whatever each feels like doing, like watching football games (which I intend doing). Have a great time, and we'll see you on February 5 for Alan's annual CES Show-and-Tell!

NOTE: The Windows SIG meeting on January 5 will be held as usual. Check it out here.

Diablo Blue Password Access
by Ron Ogg, DVPC

You will not need the monthly password to access this issue of the newsletter. That's because there's no meeting this month, and there aren't as many articles in this issue of Diablo Blue.

As each month's issue is uploaded, it's placed in a password protected folder on dvpc.org. When you click on the link to go to the newsletter, a dialog box will be displayed asking for the password from the email message. The password is case-sensitive; either copy it from the email message or make sure you type it correctly.

As we add the current month's newsletter, the password on the prior month's newsletter will be removed so anyone coming to the DVPC website can access older issues of Diablo Blue.

If you have any problems accessing a password protected newsletter, please email webbie@dvpc.org.

Watch for Updates!
by Ron Ogg, DVPC

With our new method of producing and publishing the monthly Diablo Blue newsletter, we can easily add updates to each month's issue. If an article is updated,the word Updated will be added in red

When we add a new article "mid-month" the entire entry will be shown in red in the Table of Contents.

DVPC Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
by Tom Krauss, DVPC

I was looking forward to a month without a Board meeting. Despite what you may think, it’s not easy writing these minutes. The job requires that I sit with pen poised and listen intently to sometimes two and three conversations at the same time for an hour and a half, taking meticulous notes of everything that is said and done. I never know when some important piece of business will come up (although that runs about once ever 3-4 meetings), and I must be alert to capture it. Sometimes it’s not until a few days later when I start to write the formal minutes that I realize I have missed a phrase, a word, a facial expression vital to documenting the essence of our actions. So I record everything.

Sitting down finally with my copious and detailed notes, the actual writing of these minutes necessitates separating the wheat from the chaff, the needle from the hay, the grain of sand from the beach. Actually, finding something meaningful to say is much harder than these. And once I find that kernel of interest, turning it into a page or two of minutes is more like the Feeding of the Five Thousand.

But I am driven by the firm conviction that the Board, the Members, and possibly the IRS depend upon what I write. The Board depends on me to remind them of what transpired while they were napping or holding private conversations of their own. The Members want to know that we are earning our exorbitant salaries with our efforts to keep them entertained once a month. And the IRS quite possibly attempts to use the minutes to confirm that we are truly a non-profit, and not just some sort of money laundering over-the-hill gang of septuagenarians.

So I was looking forward to a relaxing holiday season, free from the monthly stress of making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. And then lo, today, there went out a decree from Ron the Editor that all of us should be severely taxed to submit our articles by Saturday evening for the next edition of the newsletter.

So here I stand, keyboard in hand, turning my face to the screen.
Minutes to write, I’ll be here all night, faking a Board meeting scene.

No notes to read, no memory to heed, no facts to get in the way.
I’ll make up s_ _t, and lie a bit, and everyone will say:

Hey! It really happened just that way!
Hey! It really happened just that way!

The IRS, the Members too, will think we met that way.
They’ll think we spoke and then we joked, and then called it a day.
The Board will know I lied and so, I guess I’ll just have to say
“Gather round all you clowns, and let me hear you say”

Hey! It really happened just that way!
Hey! It really happened just that way!

(Sorry, John.  And Yoko.)

Links to Interesting Online Articles
by Ron Ogg, DVPC

Here are links to some interesting articles I've found online. Check them out!

CNET — Quick Guide: Blu-ray Basics
Blu-ray is DVD gone high-def, but is it worth it? We've got a handy tutorial about the ins and outs of Blu-ray players and the technology behind them...
Read more

Infoworld — Yahoo to scrub personal data after three months
Yahoo said Wednesday [12/17/2008] it will anonymize most of the data it collects about people's Web searches after three months, a move that could put further pressure on competitors Google and Microsoft to do the same due to privacy concerns...
Read more

Infoworld — Microsoft: IE8 release candidate ‘just around the corner'
Microsoft Tuesday said that the release candidate for Internet Explorer 8 is "just around the corner" and urged developers to get ready to test their sites with the new browser...
Read more

infopackets — RadioShack offers a $99 laptop; but there's a big IF
Radio Shack is selling an Internet-ready laptop computer for just $99. However, the deal is only available to customers who subscribe to a $60/month data plan'. The device is an Acer Aspire One netbook: a slimmed down laptop designed mainly for Internet browsing...
Read more

Sudoku — What Is It?
by Walt Parsons, DVPC

At our last club meeting one of the “show and tell” items was a Sudoku game and I heard several people wondering just what in heck the game was. So here is a nutshell a description of the game.

Note: The screen shots used come from the Sudoklue Pro software described at the end of this article.

The game was originally called “Number Place” and appeared in 1970 in a New York puzzle magazine. About 1980 it appeared in a Japanese magazine and was called “Suuji wa doskshin ni kagiru: which literally translates to “That number is limited to only single” which was for obviously reasons was shortened to Sudoku.

Sukoklue Pro describes the game:

The puzzle is a grid of 81 small squares. There are nine rows, nine columns, and nine larger squares called blocks. The objective is to figure out the numbers (1 to 9) that go in all the empty spaces. The only rule is that no number may appear more than once in any row - or any column - or any block.

The puzzles come with various numbers of given spaces, in this case 24 numbers are given.

In the above example the top row center block can only use numbers 2,7,8, & 9 to fill in the blanks in that block. For example in the top row of this block 9 can not be used because 9 already appears in that row.

Any space being considered for a blank space must be checked to see that your number doesn’t already appear in that row, or column, or block. Again look at the top row of blocks and the bottom left space of that block. You can’t use 5 because it appears in the column. The number 4 appears in the row. And of course you can’t use 1,3,4,5,6 because they all appear in that block. Try 7. It doesn’t appear in the row, column or the block. Now notice that this is the only space in that block that a 7 will fit. Now you only have 56 more numbers to find.

Now look at the column on the right hand side of the puzzle. The only numbers available to be put in that column are 2,3,5,6, & 7 since all the other 1-9 numbers already appear in the column. Now all you have to do is to decide where those numbers can be put in that column.

 There are lots of puzzle books that give procedures and clues on how to fill in the blank spaces. .

I located a program named “Sudoklue Pro” available from www.sodoku.com for $19.95 downloaded.

This program will generate new puzzles or you can input puzzles found in your paper or a puzzle book. Once you have a game loaded you try to locate numbers on your own or you can give up and hit the “hint” key and it will tell you to look for a given number using certain techniques. If that doesn’t work you hit hint again and it shows you the space where the number will go. A valuable part of the program is being able to click on the name of the technique and it will give you a paragraph or two of instruction about how to use the technique. If you inadvertently try to put in a wrong number the program throws a fit and turns everything red. In our sample the following diagnostic is given.

One of the common techniques is called “Hidden Single”. The program tells us:

A Hidden Single is when an empty cell is the only cell in a given row, column, or block, that can possibly contain a given value” In the sample grid the space on the lower left of the top middle block would be a “Hidden Single” that is solved only by putting in a 7.

For those of you who already play the game this program does a real good job of handling “options”.

If you would like to see a demonstration of Sudoklue Pro program come to the Windows SIG meeting on 1/4/09

If you decide to try the puzzles on in the Contra Costa Times Comics page be sure to start with a Monday puzzle. That is the easiest puzzle of the week. Saturday’s puzzle is usually a STINKER which may well take over an hour to solve — if you are good.

WARNING!!!!!! Sudoku puzzles are ADDICTIVE.

Have fun.

Electronic Waste — Where to Dispose of It
by Peggy Johnson, DVPC

Here's a list of ewaste donation sites in Central Contra County County. If you know or learn of others, please let me know with the location, hours, and website URL. Be sure to check the websites to determine what they will accept. We've included sites where you can recycle single-use and rechargeable batteries

Computers and Electronics

Hauling Pros Recycling Center
www.dumpmytv.com
73A South Buchanan Circle
(on the left behind S&S Roofing)
Pacheco, CA 94553
925-682-8987
Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Rapid Recycle
www.rapidrecycle.net
110 Second Ave., South B-1
Pacheco, CA 94553
925-671-8008
Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

E-Waste Events
www.co.contra-costa.ca.us/depart/cd/recycle/options/e-waste.htm
See website for dates, times, and locations of events

Recycle for Breast Cancer
www.recycleforbreastcancer.org/dropoffanytime.htm
31 Beta Court, Suite C
San Ramon, CA 94583
800-315-9580
7 days a week excluding holidays 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
A completed donation form is requested at the time of donation; this form can be downloaded from their website

e-Recycle OnUs
www.erecycleonus.com
1271 Boulevard Way
(at back left corner past East Bay Art and CTA)
Walnut Creek, CA 94595
925-934-1515
Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Electronic Waste Management
www.noewaste.com
E-Waste recycling events at Diablo Valley College
321 Golf Club Road
(in DVC overflow parking lot across from north side of main campus)
Pleasant Hill, CA
866-335-3373
First Saturday of every month (except holidays)
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where to recycle Batteries

Single-Use Household Batteries
Longs Drugs
www.longs.com
Alamo, Blackhawk, Danville, Lafayette,
Moraga, Orinda, Walnut Creek, San Ramon
Right Aid Drugstore
www.rightaid.com
Orinda, Walnut Creek
Radio Shack
www.radioshack.com
Danville, Walnut Creek
Check websites for store hours

Rechargeable Batteries
Right Aid Drugstore
www.rightaid.com
1997 Tice Valley Boulevard
Walnut Creek, CA 94595
925-932-0568
7 days a week
Check website for store hours

Geneology eSIG
by Peggy Johnson, DVPC

The Genealogy eSIG will become more active in 2009. If you are interested in participating in this electronic SIG, please contact Peggy Johnson at pegszone@aol.com. In your email please advise the locations you are researching, and websites you have found helpful and would like to share. Electronic books, databases and research centers are coming online, and it is just a matter of locating and sharing them with others.

Photoshop Elements SIG Meeting Program
by Peggy Johnson, DVPC

The Adobe Photoshop Elements SIG meeting will be held on Thursday, January 22, 2009 at 7 p.m. at the home of Peggy Johnson in Concord, CA.

We cover and discuss the Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements software programs, along with other photo and video manipulation programs. As usual, check out the Elements SIG pages at www.bkbrown.net for all the latest news, information and tutorials.

The Photoshop Elements SIG meets on the third Thursday of each month.

Please email Peggy for further information and/or directions.

Windows SIG Meeting Program
by Walt Parsons, DVPC

The Windows SIG meeting will be held on Monday, January 5, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. Walt will demonstrate the Sudokule program in his review in this issue of Diablo Blue.

The Windows SIG meetings are held in the Community Room at the Concord Police Station. See the detailed directions on the DVPC SIG News page.

The Daily Dilbert Cartoon
by Scott Adams