=== Signing In ===

By the way, if you double-click your "Pasadena32" name at the bottom of the site, in the chat box, and type in your preferred screen name ... it persists for all future sessions.

Then we're "on" for quick-IM'ing.

We all kinda like knowing that it's JFro, Sandy-Raleigh, M-Geek, and Lonnie onsite.  :- )  It's sort of a nice favor to others to sign in, if you're so inclined.   I'll do so too.

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=== Image Processing ===

Thusly, amigos:

1.  Save an image to your hard drive.  NEVER allow it to be hosted by another site; it's not only impolite to them, but  it also leaves us open to the other admin switching photos on us.  There are no skin% algorithms screening out images here :- )

2.  In edit mode on your post,

3.  Put an insertion point into your text, where you want the image, and click the little camera icon in the toolbar above the post.

4.  Click the UPLOAD button at the top of the dialog box.

5.  Fill in the title field, click the BROWSE button, and locate the image from your hard disk directory.   Then hit SAVE.

6.  On the next dialog box, hit INSERT.

7.  Resize your image with the handles in the corners.

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As you know, a post won't show in the sidebar until it has an image.  Editing it later will have the effect of bringing it back to the top of the list.

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All y'all amigos are welcome, and encouraged! to add your own front-page posts, just as if we were adding a thread at Mariner Central.  I suggest you use the same criteria:  if you believe that a topic would be of enough interest to start a thread there, go ahead and fire away at SSI.

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=== Distance Friendships ===

The internet can get sort of geeky, to the extent that it *isolates* us from others.  Speaking as a chessplayer :- ) I know that a guy can use chess to completely build his own 1-person world, if he's so inclined.  Or, he can head down to the local chess club, chat and joke and use the game to make friends.

High technology can be cool, to the extent that it connects us with others.  You'll see T-Mobile, for example, basing their ad campaigns on the idea that technology can "better the human condition" if it encourages, rather than discourages, our relationships.

I've often heard M's net rats laugh, "Sometimes it seems like I'm closer to this online guy than to my real friends."  Why not?  We're all pen pals.   I know a few married people who got engaged by being pen pals.  Written ideas are as real as spoken ideas.  Online friends aren't pretend friends, they're distance friends.

The KLAT concept is to bring a more interactive experience to the blogging world -- with users chatting live online, responding fluidly to others' posts, and bringing quality first-page content themselves.  The hope is to combine the best of blogging and of chat-boarding, with the full features (images, formatting, sidebar'ing etc) of blogs and the dynamic conversation of chat boards.

At its best, the internet broadens our horizons, when we move towards interactivity, IMHO.

Bring it :- )

Gracias,

Jeff