Microsoft Word Tips: Copy/Paste with track changes

Copy text to another document with the tracked changes?

In the source document, turn off Track Changes.
In the target document, turn off Track Changes.

Now copy and paste.

However, if you have a table containing tracked changes and you select only the table, then the tracked changes won't copy into the new document. You need to select a paragraph before or after the table as well as the table itself. Now, the tracked changes will copy along with the text.

Migrated old travel notes

2004 Mammoth Trip: Timber Ridge Lodging site

This lodge is about 2 blocks away from Canyon Lodge (Lift 7, 17, 16, 8).But it is not viable to walk if you carry gears. Next time, we can find some place on the top of Lakeview dr., which is right next to Canyon Lodge.

2003 Rafting in California

• Class 3 rafting trip on Kings river with Zephyr Whitewater

We stayed in the College Motel at Reedley (on Manning Ave.), it is a nice location with McDonald, Carls' Jr, and KFC within walking distance. There are a few Chinese Restaurants in the town, but from our experience at one of them, it was not good at all. We didn't find other interesting eating places, but the lunch box from R-N market located at the intersection of Manning and Mendocino is not a bad substitute for bread if you want to take your lunch into the National parks. A plus of staying in the College Motel is that we got to see the Fourth of July Fireworks right in front of the hotel. There are also a lot of fruit stands around the town, the white meat peaches are especially tasty.
In general, the three town: Reedley, Kingsburg and Sanger are all good places to stay because it takes only 1.5~2 hours driving to get to Yosemite, Kings or Sequoia National Parks. Sanger is the closest to the national parks, but it is within several minutes' drive to the other two town. We also found a good Italian Restaraunt in Sanger on Academy Ave. It is located in the same mall as Save Mart.

• Advice from our guide on the Kings river:

Lower kern coming out of Bakersfield is a good choice for someone who has already rafted one or two times and learned the basic rafting. Lower kern is around class 4 with a combination of class 3 and class 4 rapids, but the river is mellifluous and is the best choice for transition from class 3 to class 4. The best time to go is when the flow is above 1000.
If you really want to try something more adventurous, Kaweah may be the river. According to the guide, on one trip, 53 out of 58 paddlers swimmed at least once.
No matter whichever river you are rafting on, Whitewater Voyage may be a good company to go.

• Check the flows at Dream Flows

Indian Food Names

Drink and Appetizer
Mango Lassi (mango-flavored milk, very good)
Aloo Tikki (Fried potato cake, good)
Sarson Ka Saag (Green mustard flavored ???)

Bread

Naan: white flour bread, garlic -flavored are even better
Makki Ki Roti: Pan Fried corn bread

Vegetarian dishes

Palak Paneer: Spinach Cheese
Biryani: rice with all ingredients, could be vegetarian or non-vegetarian
Malai Kofta: vegetarian balls

Non-Vegetarian dishes
Jallander Lamb (Lamb stew, spicy)
Chicken Masala (Chicken with tomato sauce? good)

Desert

Ras Malai (Cheese cake in milk sauce)
Kheer (Rice pudding)
Culfi with Falooda, Rabri (thin noodle with ice cream sauce? never tasted, but looks good)

Other
PAAN (Spice wrapped in grape leaf. Too strong for me)

Web access authentication setup

1. Create user passwd file: "htpasswd -c /etc/httpd/userfile username"; if "-c" flag is included, existing file will be overwritten, so no need for it when adding extra users.
   
2. Insert directive in httpd.conf file:
• 
  
• AuthName "Restricted Area"
• AuthType Basic
• AuthUserFile /etc/httpd/users
• require valid-user

Setting up Gallery on Home Linux

• Apache server: already installed on my server, but not automatically started.
• PHP:
  
• in order to compile PHP, we need "apxs", use "yum install httpd-devel" to get it installed.
• It turns out that I don't need to compile PHP anyway, since it is already available. The only thing is that php.ini is located under /etc instead of /user/local/lib.
• I checked all the settings suggested on gallery website. All seems fine except that "gettext" option is not available. Leave it open for now since I may not need the functionality provided by gettext.

• Mysql: (use "yum search mysql" to find all packages related to mysql)
  
• "yum install mysql mysql-server php-mysql mysql-devel", Mysql 5 is installed.
  
• Image Libraries
• yum install netpbm ImageMagick gd GraphicsMagick
  
• Gallery
• yum install gallery2
• The gallery package is installed under /usr/share, I have to create a symbolic link in the web server directory:
  
• ln -s /usr/share/gallery2 /var/www/html/gallery
  
• Optional packages
• yum install gallery2-ffmpeg jhead
• dcraw already installed
  
• Load up the gallery web page and follow the steps to finish install
• If need to check PHP setting, then a simple php file containing "" can be used to show all the info on a web page.
  
• Step 4, can not set my own directory (even if I chmod 777 on whatever directories created, the installation complains about not being able to access it); so have to use the default
• Step 5, database setup
• mysql_install_db: run this to initialize database
• myql tables are located under /var/lib/mysql. "cd /var/lib/mysql; chown -R mysql:mysql mysql test"; otherwise, mysqld cannot be started because the owner of those directories is root.
• "mysqld_safe --user=mysql &": start mysql server
• "mysqladmin version": check mysql is running
• "mysqladmin -u root create gallery2": create db for gallery
• "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON gallery2.* TO 'user'@'domain' IDENTIFIED BY 'pass'" after login in to mysql as root "mysql -u root"
• Installer complains about not able to access database
• Login in as root to mysql and use the following command to check user info:
• connect mysql;
• select * from user;
  
• try "FLUSH PRIVILEGES" or restart mysql server "mysqladmin shutdown", but neither works.
• try to recompile PHP "configure --with-apxs2 --with-mysql --with-gd --with-bz2 --with-curl --with-pic --with-png"; does not work either
• It turns out that context for SELinux is not set up properly to allow httpd to write to the socket, error message can be found in /var/log/message. I disabled SELinux for now (change /etc/sysconfig/selinux).
  
• Everything else works fine just following the steps.

French Study Resources

The following information are quoted from one post on mitbbs.com:

--------------------- Start of quote ----------------------------------------------

先給个介绍法语读音的网站，语音总是最基本，最重要的。愿意学的朋友可以多读读。

http://www.fayu.net/30000/mots_media/Francais.php
(Does not work with Firefox, Need IE)

如果下标出现乱码，大家可以把网页code改成欧洲的。虽然可能中文的要看不清了。这个网站速度有点慢，需要耐心。


我爱法语 电子词典by:luc
http://spaces.msn.com/lucHan

一个法英，法中语言翻译的字典，不大，绿色免费的。

枫丹的luc斑竹制作的。可惜枫丹已经关闭了。

BBC的French Steps链接，对旅游日常用的法语有些用处

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/lj/menu.shtml

一个学习多国语言的网站
http://www.languageguide.org/francais/

里面有简单的日常法语，还发现了英语对应的语法和课程。很好的渐进部分。


学语言的好站:http://languages.4status.net/english/home.htm
包括多国语言在线字典。http://www.sprachprofi.de.vu/english/f.htm
该网站学法语课程。有的链接失效，不过问题不大，其他网站有补充。

法语网上工具大集合，还有分类和简介，不过是全法语的:http://www.richmond.edu/%7Ejpaulsen/ecolelfr.html

法语游戏网站:http://www.polarfle.com/indexbis.htm

一些Verne的书，包括《环游地球八十天》:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/

法国黄页: http://www.pagesjaunes.fr/pj.cgi?
法国的《世界报》:http://www.pagesjaunes.fr/pj.cgi?


法语在线radio http://www.baroque.idv.tw/radiolist.asp

法国百科全书在线字典 http://www.universalis-edu.com/
code:eu (不知道这个密码还有没有效，自己某天破解的)

----------------- End of Quote -----------------------------
Original author info:
----------------------------------------
作者：jocelinezhou
发表时间：2007-

01-26 更新时间：2007-01-26

-----------------------------------------

People with same interests on the blogger network

There was nothing in my blogger profile for privacy's sake. However, I tried to update the "interest" with some of my current interested topics: tennis, golf, jogging, ...

When viewing the updated profile, I noticed that a hyperlink is provided for each of the keywords in my interests list. When I clicked on it, it showed a number of people that share the same interest. However, the weird thing I found out is that most of the bloggers sharing the same interest with me had their latest post either in 2004 or 2005 (It is 11/28/06 today). Am I really out of fashion or what?

DVD Ripper and IPOD video

Just collected a number of free tools to convert my favorite DVDs into ipod video files.

DrDivx is the tool I used to covert DVD into AVI (divx encoded) files. I also tried several other tools but none of them meet my purpose:
DVDx: This one can covert DVD to VCD format, mpeg or AVI. But somehow it is not working with the divx 6.4 codec I installed.
DVD Decrypter: Rip DVDs in file, IFO, or ISO modes. However, the size is not shrinked.
DVDshrink: Do not shrink the file enough.
The ripping process takes very long though. 4~5 hours on average for each of the 4.7G DVDs.

After getting the AVI file, Jodix is used to convert AVI files into mp4 files for importing into iTunes.

Another tool that I found useful for iTune/iPod is mp3tags. You can easily change tags for mp3 files in various ways.

Switching DSL providers

Yes, I am trying to switch from Yahoo DSL to Earthlink. The reason is none other than cost. I have already had one year contract with SBC Yahoo and they increased the price to normal and refused to offer any discount for existing customers.

Ordering for earthlink is easy. Just search deals with google. They require 1-year commitment with 6-month discount and 6-month full price. On average, I save about $20 per month compared to Yahoo DSL.

Earthlink connection quality is also better than Yahoo DSL. I observed the same download throughput for their 1.5M offering as that obtained from Yahoo 3.0M service. Earthlink connection is also more stable, my Yahoo DSL breaks a lot.

One problem during switching is that I activated Earthlink on 11/1/06 and stopped Yahoo DSL on 11/6/06. When Yahoo DSL de-activated service, they also de-activated the Earthlink service. I called Earthlink customer service and was constantly directed to some tech center in India. The people there really only knows about power on/off modem, switching ends of cables, observing indicator lights etc. They are polite but nonetheless annoying. I have to explain the problem again and again before I was able to convince them to direct me to US installation team who then called SBC to check that my earthlink DSL was indeed de-actived. This was after 3 hours of call to customer service and being re-directed between the tech support and installation team a number of times.

It is great that 24/7 customer service is available, but talking with someone who can only follow trouble-shooting manual (power on/off etc) is really annoying.

Earthlink turned out to be very fast and actually did the re-provisioning within 3 days. The only problem is that none of the installation guide or cable modem default setting includes the DNS server settings. I have to call the tech service line again. Even though my DSL line green light is blinking, the tech support people actually told me that the status is still showing the line as pending and they don't know how to fix the problem. I asked them directly for DNS IP addresses without trying to convince them more that the line is already provisioned. After adding the DNS addresses, the connection works fine. This again shows why tech support that only reads from manual does not help in most cases.

Lessons learned: forget about smooth, non-break switching; just stop your old service first and then activate the new one.

JVC GR-D72U digitial camcorder headaches

I had this JVC camcorder since 2003 but didn't use it much. When I tried to shoot something recently, it is no longer working. Symptoms is as follows.

LCD is working; lens cap is off; all menu items are working fine; playback previously recorded tapes. However, the screen or the viewfinder shows blank when I tried to record. Nothing is recorded on the tape.

After some search, it turns out that this is a well know problem for JVC camcorders: manufacture fault on CCD. JVC UK handles this problem before 10/1/2007 , but I need to try my luck at JVC US.

After calling the JVC customer support number, it turned out that they have set up a special program called "CCD program" which deals with such factory defects. I need to send my camcorder (without any accessories) to the JVC factory service center in California and they will fix the problem in about 2~4 weeks's time. JVC will pay for all the cost, but I need to pay for the one-way UPS/Fedex shipping fee for sending the camcorder to the service center.

I eventually got the camcorder back around 2 weeks. There is a sticker in the package saying that the CCD has been replaced. The unit now works fine.

Test drive

Jump start my first blog post.

Ok, this blog will be a place to note down some everyday life events. Most of them are of no significance to anybody else at all. That's why the title is "nothing by nobody".

After trying for a couple of changes on this blog site. I want to register my first complaints :-)

The publishing process of the blog takes a long time. Even though the prompt says that it will take a few minutes if you have large posts, it is actually taking a few minutes even if my changes are very small (e.g. when I only edited one line of text.). This problem went away after I have used the blog for a while, maybe it is just the first 2 or 3 posts.