Happy Holidays to all. I'll be back to blogging daily in January 2007.

My Firefox internet browser addons that I have been using to make online life easier:

Download Stausbar: Shows your downloads at the bottom of the window. Downloads change colors based on how fast they are running. You can right-click to see options for opening/removing. Saves you having to toggle an additional download window.

FireFTP: Makes a file-transfer-protocol (FTP) tab inside your browser. Very handy to push files back and forth while web editing/viewing a work in progress.

Gmail Notifier: Lets you know when you have new Google mail. Less useful lately with Google's personalize home page, which I have as my start page now.

Google Notebook: Handy little icon that pops up a notepad that stays on top while browsing, saving any text you place there to Google's online private notebook space. Handy for research and reference on the go. Several other handy Google tools available as well, like the ability to sync your addons and settings wherever you go.

Tabbrowser Preferences: Take control of your tabbed browsing experience! This addon extends your tab options extensively.

Other addons I have found useful but do not use at home:

IETab: Opens a tab that renders the page with Internet Explorer instead of Firefox. Helps see Microsoft web pages correctly in Firefox.

FoxyTunes: Controls most popular music players right from the status bar in Firefox.

WebDeveloper: This one makes me dizzy, but is great for editing web content. With FireFTP, makes Firefox an amazing web designer tool.

I've had other addons for maps and newsreaders, but removed them since I home in on Google's personalized start page now. I've got movie times, weather, IP lookups, translators, Bible references, daily Bible readings, world news, geek news, Christian-oriented news, driving directions, and online deals all from one easily organized home page. Do I sound like an advertisement? Ah, well.

---

Apparently my wife and I have an unspoken, but very active, deal where she labors for a few days having children, and I spend the rest of my life assembling our particle board furniture purchases. I am still trying to determine if this is a good deal, slightly poisoned by the fact that we do not own a power tool.


Deal.....or NO deal?

There has been some suggestion by people who have too much time on their hands that Bill Gates should run for presidency. I find this first funny, as there are a myriad of quips to make about a nation run by the guy who helped make Windows. I find it also sad, because I hear Bill Gates is an atheist. I find it also scary, because he appears to be working with Clinton to start a new Reich in the pic here*.

If Bill Gates were prez:

1) Every 1.5 years, the standard of living would multiply by 2.**

2) Iraqi insurgents would return to their hideout only to find Microsoft had managed to purchase it since it was apparently a secure place for developers to plan.

3) Every so often, Congress would suddenly not have anything to say. They would have to leave the building, walk around it once, and re-enter it before being able to resume normal work.

4) Entertainment events would require one ticket per person, unless children had two parents, then it would cost two tickets for each child and one for each adult.***

5) All Japanese video games and devices would be outlawed.

6) Successful products would be required to have a Microsoft logo stamped on the label, or have no label whatsoever.

7) The national defecit would suddenly vanish after a secretive United States deal involving payments of intellectual property royalties from every country claiming to own land.

---
* The only Reich Gates is working on involves the submission and control of Linux/Unix.
** Moore's Law
*** Licensing woes. Few will understand, but I felt good saying it.