Christmas Greetings

Christmas Greetings to you from The Illinois's Governor's Mansion

Major free stuff for pcs...

This is the web address of the free office suite made by Sun. It is the same thing (well kinda) as Microsoft Office with all the different apps in it. And its FREE. If you don't have MS Office (which changes every few years and MS charges BIG BUCKS for each new version) this is the cheap man's dream. Open Office is fully compatible with Windows or Ubuntu (Linux).


While we are talking cheap, Ubuntu is a open source, pc graphical user interface (gui) which is a FREE replacement for Windows operating systems. You can download this from the web, burn your cd from the download and have a bootable, installable latest version of Ubuntu (Linux). You can install it on its own or try it out by installing side by side with your current version of Windows. Ubuntu is fully supported on the web by a growing number of enthusiasts.

Hey, Microsoft is charging higher and higher for Windows products and their latest product is not so good (Vista). MS is also beginning to put limits on how many times you can install Windows without calling home (MS). MS is now working on a new version of Windows (because Vista is so bad) due out in 2010. I'm sure the price will be really high (relative to my income).
And is FREE not a good thing?

Click photo for larger image.

A Happy Sky Over Los Angeles
Credit & Copyright: Dave Jurasevich (Mt. Wilson Observatory)

Explanation: Sunday, the sky seemed to smile over much of planet Earth. Visible the world over was an unusual superposition of our Moon and the planets Venus and Jupiter. Pictures taken at the right time show a crescent Moon that appears to be a smile when paired with the planetary conjunction of seemingly nearby Jupiter and Venus. Pictured above is the scene as it appeared from Mt. Wilson Observatory overlooking Los Angeles, California, USA after sunset on 2008 November 30. Highest in the sky and farthest in the distance is the planet Jupiter. Significantly closer and visible to Jupiter's lower left is Venus, appearing through Earth's atmospheric clouds as unusually blue. On the far right, above the horizon, is our Moon, in a waxing crescent phase. Thin clouds illuminated by the Moon appear unusually orange. Sprawling across the bottom of the image are the hills of Los Angeles, many covered by a thin haze, while LA skyscrapers are visible on the far left. The conjunction of Venus and Jupiter will continue to be visible toward the west after sunset during much of this month. Hours after the taking of this image, however, the Moon approached the distant duo, briefly eclipsed Venus, and then moved on.