Saturday January 28, 2012
Under the streets of London, people and wagons were to be carried by a steam locomotive without steam.
John Fowler devised an engine that stored heat in a battery of fire bricks: no fire would burn in the tunnels of London's underground. No steam would ooze from the locomotive's chimney either; it was condensed instead and recycled into the boiler.
While Fowler's machine failed to work as he had hoped, the locomotives advancing London's underground trains in the 1860s did use condensers to contain steam. Fireless engines are in use till this day, too. They employ, well, water and steam instead of fire bricks to store energy.
Now, whether your emails leave from Land Trapdoor, Get Report Translated or Ransack Script Songs, you can employ Outlook to store files in their metaphorical fire bricks:
›› Attach, Outlook, attach! Here's how to send a file along with your email.
Friday January 27, 2012
No wonder Rosina Copper was cheap: the pony almost too weak to walk was much older than first thought, too.
Her history was rich, though, and she blossomed as a show horse under her new trainer. Marion Catherine Barne wrought the true story into book form. On the cover, below an illustration of horse and rider, is the author's shortened name: Kitty Barne.
Now, imagine Ms Barne picking an email address... you know, something like =^..^=@barne.co.uk . Looks interesting, but is it valid?
›› Want to make sure the email addresses entered in your web form are valid? Here's how to validate email addresses for correctness with PHP.
Wednesday January 25, 2012
The fly on a wall at Lynally in Ireland's midlandian county of Offaly spreads its wings and takes off. A short lap around the monk's egg-shaped head — and the fly lands on the book Saint Colman has been reading.
Patiently, the friendly fly sits in the margin, marking the spot in the book for the saint.
Speaking of books' spots and marks, how about some electronic flies for your Windows Live Hotmail?
›› Open the Windows Live Hotmail message composition page with the recipient's address already filled in via a bookmark or favorite in your browser.
Tuesday January 24, 2012
Jerry Lewis played the air typewriter (a right-to-left instrument).
The secretary next door hammered on the real thing, of course, in the 1963 comedy Who's Minding the Store?: left to right and soloing in Leroy Anderson's Typewriter song.
Now — do you feel like Norman Phiffier (Jerry Lewis) sometimes, playing the air keyboard to IncrediMail's typewriting song?
›› Annoyed by the clicking typewriter sound IncrediMail makes whenever you press a button? Here's how to disable the IncrediMail typing sound.