You are attempting to open a file type that is blocked by your registry policy setting.

SYMPTOMS

When you try to open a file that was saved in a Microsoft Excel format, the file does not open. Additionally, you receive the following error message:

You are attempting to open a file type that is blocked by your registry policy setting.

CAUSE

This issue may occur if an administrator has restricted the types of files that you can open in Microsoft Office Excel 2007 or in Microsoft Office Excel 2003. To do this, an administrator can set a registry key to restrict this functionality.

For Excel 2007, the registry key can be set in the 2007 Office System Administrative Templates. For more information, see “Excel 2007″ subsection of the “More Information” section.

For Excel 2003, update 933666 enables an administrator to block the ability to save or to open files in Excel 2003.

RESOLUTION

In Excel 2003, there are no trusted locations. You can create an exempt location to override the registry policy settings. To create an exempt location, follow these steps:

1.	Exit Excel 2003.
2.	Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
3.	Locate and then click to select one of the following registry subkeys: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common
4.	Point to New on the Edit menu, and then click Key
5.	Type OICEExemptions for the name of the key.
6.	Point to New on the Edit menu, and then click String Value.
7.	Type a string name, and then press ENTER. For example, type ExemptDirectory.
8.	Right-click the string name that you typed in step 7, and then click Modify.
9.	In the Value data box, type the path of the directory that contains the file, and then click OK.Note You must create the folder. Any subfolders are not automatically exempted. For any additional folders that you would like to make exempt, repeat steps 6-9.
10.	On the File menu, click Exit to exit Registry Editor.

You might not have to do this step but just in case the top part does not work, do this steps too:

To enable the FileOpenBlock subkey settings, follow these steps:

1.	Exit Excel.
2.	If you are running Excel 2003, install security update 933666 if it is not installed, and then go to step 3. If you are running Excel 2007, go to step 3.
3.	Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
4.	Locate and then click to select one of the following registry subkeys:Excel 2007 HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Excel\Security\FileOpenBlock HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Excel\Security\FileOpenBlock Excel 2003 HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Security\FileOpenBlock HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Security\FileOpenBlock If the FileOpenBlock subkey does not exist, follow these steps to create it: a. Click to select the Security subkey. b. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Key. c. Type FileOpenBlock, and then press ENTER.
5.	Point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD Value.
6.	Type the DWORD name that you want to restrict, and then press ENTER. For example, type BinaryFiles.
7.	Right-click the DWORD name that you typed in step 6, and then click Modify.
8.	In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
9.	On the File menu, click Exit to exit Registry Editor.

Filter > Sharpen > UnSharp

1. Choose Filter > Convert for Smart Filters and click OK.

2. Then choose Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask

3. In the UnSharp Mask dialog box, set Amount to 85%, Radius to 1 pixel, Threshold to 4 levels, and click OK.  

Amount controls the intensity of sharpening; Radius determines how many pixels out from an edge are sharpened; and Threshold controls how different a pixel must be before the filter will sharpen it.

 

Save image on the web and still look good + learn about recording actions.

The color settings in Photoshop by default are geared for printing.  If you click the Edit menu and choose Convert to Profile, you will see the Source Space profile read Adobe RGB (1998).  This means the photo might look dull when it is put on a website.

Web browsers ignore color profiles and assume every image is in teh sRGB color space.  To fix this, do the following steps.  I am also using the automation tool.

1. Go to Windows>Actions and click the Create New Action icon at the bottom of the panel.  Name it “Save for the web” and click Record.  You are now recording your actions.

2. Choose Image>Duplicate to make a copy of the image you are working on.

3. Go to the Edit menu and choose Convert to Profile.  When the dialog box appears, you will see that the Source Space is Adobe RGB (1998). Change the Destination Space Profile setting to sRGB IEC61966-2.1, then click OK to close the dialog box.  This is the key step.  You should a difference now.

4. Save the image as JPEG.  Go to the File menu and select Save As.  Select JPEG as the format setting and de-select Embed Color Profile because most browsers won’t read a color profile.  

5. Click the File menu and choose Close for this image.  

6. Return to the Actions Panel and click Stop Playing/Recording icon to end your action.

Now you have this action available to all your other photos.  Just open your photo, go to the Actions panel, choose Save For Web action, and click Play.

To preview your photo on the web, try going to File>Save for Web & Devices.

 

source: Photoshop User magazine (April/May 2008 pages 58-60)

Into The Wild

I loved this movie.  I do not know if it is because I just came from Emandal or because it just is a beautifully made movie.  

At the start is a poem from Lord Byron.      

 

From the movie “Into The Wild”, this was at the intro:

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods;
There is a rapture on the lonely shore;
There is society, where none intrudes;
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.

 

 

Here’s a synopsis from Amazon:
A superb cast and an even-handed treatment of a true story buoy Into the Wild, Sean Penn’s screen adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s bestselling book. Emile Hirsch stars as Christopher McCandless, scion of a prosperous but troubled family who, after graduating from Atlanta’s Emory University in the early 1990s, decides to chuck it all and become a self-styled “aesthetic voyager” in search of “ultimate freedom.” He certainly doesn’t do it halfway: after donating his substantial savings account to charity and literally torching the rest of his cash, McCandless changes his name (to “Alexander Supertramp”), abandons his family (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden as his bickering, clueless parents and Jena Malone as his baffled but loving sister, who relates much of the backstory in voice-over), and hits the road, bound for the Alaskan bush and determined not to be found. For the next two years he lives the life of a vagabond, working a few odd jobs, kayaking through the Grand Canyon into Mexico, landing on L.A.’s Skid Row, and turning his back on everyone who tried to befriends him (including Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker as two kindly, middle-aged hippies and Hal Holbrook in a deeply affecting performance as an old widower who tries to take “Alex” under his wing). Penn, who directed and wrote the screenplay, alternates these interludes with scenes depicting McCandless’ Alaskan idyll–which soon turns out be not so idyllic after all. Settling into an abandoned school bus, he manages to sustain himself for a while, shooting small game (and one very large moose), reading, and recording his existential musings on paper. But when the harsh realities of life in the wilderness set in, our boy finds himself well out of his depth, not just ill-prepared for the rigors of day to day survival but realizing the importance of the very thing he wanted to escape–namely, human relationships. It’d be easy to either idealize McCandless as a genuinely free spirit, unencumbered by the societal strictures that tie the rest of us down, or else dismiss him as a hopelessly callow naïf, a fool whose disdain for practical realities ultimately doomed him. Into the Wild does neither, for the most part telling the tale with an admirable lack of cheap sentiment and leaving us to decide for ourselves. –Sam Graham 

Emandal, a Farm on the Eel River

For a week, my son’s class spent time at Emandal Farms.  

History of Emandal: In 1908, Em and Al Byrnes opened up their home to friends and acquaintances in  the Bay Area who wished to vacation on the magnificent Eel River  and get away from the everyday hustle and bustle of city life. (Yes, there  was hustle and bustle in 1908!) All the fruits and vegetables  served in their dining room were grown on the farm, as were the meat and  eggs. Em baked all the bread.

Since 1946 the Adams family has continued the tradition of country vacations with farm grown and home cooked  meals.  Today Tamara Adams, following in the footsteps of her in-laws, Clive and Jessie Adams, and her late husband, Clive Adams, Jr., operates Emandal’s Family Camp in the summer months, Environmental Education for school groups in the spring, and hostsspecial events and groups at various times throughout the year.   Her children and their partners/spouses, Buffalo Adams and Claudine Williams, Zarya (Adams) and Mike Plessas, Kashaya Adams, and Malanyon Adams, return periodically, to augment year-round and seasonal staff with various projects and special events.

Our main naturalists was Wick who made sure we followed their schedule.  At 8AM, kids and their chaperones had chores.  Then at 9, we all had breakfast, then an activity like hiking on the 1,000 acres land combined with learning about the land.  How the Hutchna tribes used the plants surrounding the area for food, medicine, etc..  Other hikes/lessons were about how pilgrims built their cabins, we learned about the birds and animals, and one day, we had an all day hike to the river and up the mountains.  Kids loved it and so did the parents on the trip.  There were 8 chaperones and 2 teachers.  Two chaperones were responsible for 7 to 8 kids per cabin.  We made sure they woke up in time, got ready for their chores and behaved during the activities.  We had a rough start with disciplining the kids but once we learned some “Aurora” techniques, everything ran smoothly.  Thanks to Josh for his help, support and know-how in dealing with the kids.  His calm demeanor is a trait I tried to emulate and it worked.  It turned out to be one of my most rewarding and memorable experience.  I know my son enjoyed his stayed tremendously and so did all 33 kids. 

 

Recommended books to read

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

Year of Wonder: A Novel about the plague by Geraldine Brooks

Beginners Greek by James Collins (this one he says is okay)

The MOnsters of Templeton by Joanne Harris

Five Quarters of Orange by Joanne Harris

The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox

East of Eden

Dan In Real Life

I have always liked Steve Carrel from the television show “The Office” and in the movie “The 40 year old virgin”.  So I rented this movie thinking it would be another comedy. It was but he was so different here in that he underacted and was a soft version of his other characters. I loved this movie’s portrayal of family dynamics in a good way.  Here’s a synopsis from Amazon.

Steve Carell’s best film performance to date can be found in the fitfully engaging Dan In Real Life, where his long-suffering persona suits a character who lets his long-dormant hopes rise for a moment, only to be shot down again. Carell plays Dan Burns, a newspaper columnist who writes about family issues and relationships. As a widower with three growing girls to raise, however, the difference between Dan’s printed wisdom and his struggles with fatherhood and loneliness is often vast. He’s put to a severe test when he packs up the kids for a cabin holiday with his parents and siblings, then falls for the exotic, if elusive, Marie (Juliette Binoche) during a solo excursion to a bookstore. Stirred by a woman for the first time since his late wife, Dan is shocked to find that Marie is actually dating his brother Mitch (Dane Cook), and that she’ll be spending the vacation with him in the midst of his family. From that point, the script, co-written by director Peter Hedges (Pieces of April), pretty much becomes a parade of difficult circumstances under which both Dan and Marie have to keep their attraction to one another secret. Certain scenes work better than others, but there is an overall monotony to the movie that isn’t helped by a lack of onscreen chemistry between Binoche and Carell. Both actors are fine on their own terms, but whatever is supposed to be clicking between Marie and Dan isn’t compelling enough to make one truly care that they get together somehow. Still, this is a film with plenty of moments to like, especially when Carell gets to broaden his previous range of emotions in a movie. –Tom Keogh 

The Other Boleyn Girl (novel)

This was recommended by a friend from work.  We were going on a long airplane trip with lots of stop overs that I needed a book to read so I bought this at the airport.  When I started the book, I wasn’t sure I wanted to read about a girl forced to be the kings mistress by her family to help them get favors.  The family was mean and insensitive and the King was selfish, arogant and childish.  It wasn’t until Mary showed some signs of goodness towards the Queen that I decided to give it a try.  Thank goodness I did because it got better and better and before you know it, I could not stop reading it.  Here’s a synopsis from Amazon.

Before Henry VIII ever considered making Anne Boleyn his wife, her older sister, Mary, was his mistress. Historical novelist Gregory (Virgin Earth) uses the perspective of this “other Boleyn girl” to reveal the rivalries and intrigues swirling through England. The sisters and their brother George were raised with one goal: to advance the Howard family’s interests, especially against the Seymours. So when Mary catches the king’s fancy, her family orders her to abandon the husband they had chosen. She bears Henry two children, including a son, but Anne’s desire to be queen drives her with ruthless intensity, alienating family and foes. As Henry grows more desperate for a legitimate son and Anne strives to replace Catherine as queen, the social fabric weakens. Mary abandons court life to live with a new husband and her children in the countryside, but love and duty bring her back to Anne time and again. We share Mary’s helplessness as Anne loses favor, and everyone abandons her amid accusations of adultery, incest, and witchcraft. Even the Boleyn parents won’t intervene for their children. Gregory captures not only the dalliances of court but the panorama of political and religious clashes throughout Europe. She controls a complicated narrative and dozens of characters without faltering, in a novel sure to please public library fans of historical fiction. Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato 
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

WCC Challenge for April 20 to 27

When this challenge was posted, I was not sure I could do it.  Although  I have always liked this statue, I was just not sure if I could draw something as complex as this.  But I did it and I am proud to have finished it in my 1 hour time limit.  I used F and 6B graphite pencils.

American Idol 7: Brooke White

American Idol is now in its 7th season and so far, my favorite since the show started is Brooke White.  The last time I actually voted for another contestant on the show was Elliott Yamin.  

Brooke Elise White was born and raised in Mesa, Arizona with three younger siblings (Tyler, Katie and Quinn) and her parents, Brad and Kaylene.

White started singing at age 15 when she reluctantly tried out for the high school musical, “Meet Me in St. Louis,” and received the lead role. White graduated high school from Heritage Academy in 2001. She at one time attended beauty school, describing herself as a “beauty school dropout”,and stated on Idol that she started doing hair when she was eleven years old. She worked as a nanny and an aspiring singer/songwriter prior to auditioning for American Idol. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

On her American Idol “Fast Facts” page, White cites musical influences as the “soulful sounds of the 70’s” such as James Taylor, Carole King, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Eagles, America, Carly Simon, Bee Gees, Hall & Oats, Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, andPhil Collins. When asked on Idol with whom she would like to do a duet if made possible, she named John Mayer. She also cites Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood as her favorite former American Idol contestants.

White tried out for American Idol in Philadelphia. She sang “Like a Star” and she received a positive review from all the judges. During her audition, she admitted to never having seen an R-rated movie, prompting Cowell to state that he could “bring her over to the dark side”. During the Hollywood week, White performed “Beautiful” by Carole King, accompanying herself on piano. After that performance, judges were quick to point out that Brooke reminded them of a young Carly Simon or Carole King.

Since top 24, White has accompanied herself on guitar for her performances of “You’re So Vain” and “Jolene”, and on piano for “Let It Be”, “Every Breath You Take”, and “Hero”. JudgeSimon Cowell chose White early as one of his four favorites in the competition, along with David Archuleta, Jason Castro and David Cook, when he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, which aired on March 17, 2008.

So far White has been in the bottom three twice, once on April 2nd after her Dolly Parton song “Jolene” and the other April 16th after her Mariah Carey performance of “Hero.”

White, a singer-songwriter who also plays the piano and guitar, began singing at age 15. Her vocal skills and piano playing impressed all three judges during the Hollywood week of American Idol. White has also performed as a solo artist with a backup band for the last four years. White’s first CD, Songs from the Attic, was released on the independent label New Millennium Records Group in 2006, produced and co-written by Tim Simms.

White’s first music video, ”Free”, was directed by Braden Barty and produced by Tim Simms. In the video, she acts out her story as a beauty school drop out who moves toHollywood to pursue her singing career.