• Going Green

• Who gets to rule the world?

• Ralph Nader 2004 PBS interview
• Green Party

     There is a natural process of separation at work continuously, even in our most secure 'social network' relationships. While we enjoy each other’s company, this process may remain dormant. But when one party feels restricted, or perhaps bored, a more aggressive aspect of the process can emerge. Dormant in the sense that no overt attempt is made to separate, but active by omission. A person may begin to neglect the ongoing maintenance of their relationships.
     Tolerance is required in any friendship. When the desire to remain engaged is less than the urge to roam, the level of tolerance my not be enough to sustain a peaceful union. Small transgressions may appear as aggressive, or restrictive. The dynamics of the process of separation may have more control on the relationship than the individual is aware of, or is willing to think about. Conflicts may grow, feeding on available friction that was always dormant in the relationship, but then grow to a point of intolerance. It is near that point of intolerance, that an individual begins to protest; control, manipulation, exploitation, etc. It is after that point of intolerance that open hostility emerges.
      Whether the relationship is a marriage, business partnership, religious fellowship, or even an inter-net social web, there will always be this lurking, dynamic of change that can overpower a person’s desire or need to separate peacefully. When a member of a social network has a separation conflict, some member of the group may seem troll-ish. When a member of a religious organization has a separation conflict, the group may be seen as cult-ish by the one who wants to leave. I suspect that group dynamics are similar, in widely different types of groups or partnerships. And so, programs, agendas and activities intended to welcome an individual, may be recognized as restrictive, negligent, or even abusive regardless of the type of group, or partnership.
     Why can’t people just step away at this point in a relationship? I believe that for some, the relationship may be obsessive, and possibly phobic. Most folks can come and go from group settings  without conflict. But, there are also many people that are both attracted to, and repelled by the intimacy offered by a group. Inordinate desire can be coupled with inordinate fear to produce a certain type of madness that can consume the individual, and disturb a group the person is engaged with. And that madness concerns me much.
     Madness is the theme of this article.
     Have you ever heard this complaint?
     “I’m so sick and tired of you folks saying, ’I could care less’, any one with half a brain would say, ’I couldn’t care less! I can't stand you any more! I'm gone...”
     It's just one example of how one person says 'potato' differently than another, but it can lead to hostility.
     And so another minor conflict grows out of the germ of an irritation. What had been mildly irritating but tolerable friction with an individual in the group setting, has become the pivot point of change in the relationship with the entire group. Why didn’t the person just quietly leave the group? Conflict of desire, perhaps. A maddening need to associate, and separate simultaneously existing within an individual.
     I'd like to explore this phenomenon, in a series of blog entries. In a 'social-network', individuals come and go, some quietly, some with much ado about nothing. I'm sure that many of witnessed some of the more hostile exchanges between members, and are as curious as I am; Why do they make such a big deal about coming and going in such a liberal setting?  To answer some of the questions, I would ask for comments. Examples of this behavior is acceptable ( but please, no names, no flames ), also differing opinions are welcome.
     I've put links in the right column, that will lead you to some examples of folks breaking up. Some do it right, some fail miserably. I'll gladly post any relevant links suggested.

     As this entry is subtitled; Preface, the next entry should be titles Chapter 1.

RELATED MATERIAL

Maggie Mae
Exit Strategy

Contents;

Text

Hyperlinks

Images

Tables

Reference;

Microsoft

Color codes

     This is a brief tutorial, for those of us that aren't computer wizards, but do want to at least appear to be computer literate. 'Getting Started' is the first installment, of what I hope to be an on-going learning experience. As I learn, I will publish. There is a list of codes that I published in an earlier blog, and as I learn new codes, I will up-date that list as well. As of January 22, '08 several of the links you see to the left are innactive ( Hyperlinks, Images, and Tables ). I will activate those links, as the tutorial develops. For a profesional tutorial, click on 'Microsoft'.

      This video demonstrates how to use several of the examples of code found in this tutorial. You may find it practical to pause the video at times, and read the instructions below, that are related to the specific line of code being discussed. In the video, I open a note-pad that contains short lines of code from this tutorial that I use most often. This 'copy and paste' method is no substitute for learning to write code free-hand, but it is a very practical method of using code that you are familiar with.

GETTING STARTED

     Let's start with simple text. These codes will allow you to change the color, alignment, and strength of any text. These lines of code are not really necessary when you are composing a blog entry, because the blog generators usually have tabs on the their toolbars that allow you to edit text color, size, alignment, etc. automatically. But sometimes you need to edit text on other pages of your web-site. Comments on other peoples pages are also a good place to use these codes.

A LINE OF CODE THAT EDITS THE COLOR OF THE TEXT;

     <font color="COLOR YOU WANT HERE">Text You Want Here</font>

     Notice the arrows    >  <

     Type or past any text you want displayed between the symbols
          ( there are a few exceptions;    >    <    &    "   ( Don't use these in text! )

     Notice the parenthesis      "   "

     Substitute the name of any color you want between them.
          Example; "blue" , "red" , etc.

     Or, you can place the six digit custom color code between them.
          Example; "#000000" , will make the text black. ( see color codes )

     After you enter the color between the parenthesis, and the text between the little arrow thingys, highlight the entire line of code with your cursor:
          1-left click on the beginning of the line of code
          2-while holding down on the left button
          3-drag the cursor across the text to the end of the code
              ( this should turn the background of the line blue )
          4-then, right click on the highlighted line of code

     A pop-up window should appear, with a list of options;
          1-left click on the option 'copy'.

     Now you're ready to past the code in a module that accepts html code;
          1-go to your blog, and click on 'compose blog'
          2-look for a little box, that could say 'edit html', 'view html', etc.
          3-left click in that box ( before you paste the code )
          4-left click anywhere inside the borders of the module, and paste your code ( unclick box, to view results )

     The code you paste, is not what will be displayed in your blog! Only the content between the symbols   >  <  will be displayed, modified by the color code you used. At any time while you are editing, you can ‘uncheck’ the ‘html’ box, and view the end result. I toggle back and forth a lot.

ALIGNING YOUR TEXT ( LEFT, RIGHT, CENTER ) ON YOUR PAGE

     You might want to align the text, with the right side of the page, or perhaps center it in a module. This code will do that for you;

     <div align="center">Text You Want to Align</div>

     We can also use a line of code for editing color;

     <font color="COLOR YOU WANT HERE">Text You Want Colorized</font>

     This line of code also has   “  “   and   >  <   symbols. This time, the parenthesis contain the instructions, that tells the blog generator which text color option you want. And again, the arrows contain the text to be displayed.

     Let’s combine the two lines of code, so that the text is centered on the page, AND colored red. I have colored the line of code for alignment blue, and the line of code for color red. You will be pasting the entire red line of code, between the arrows of the blue line of code.

     blue >red< blue

     ( It helps me, to open a ‘notepad’, and do all of the editing of your line of code before pasting into a blog generator, or comment module )

     Start with the first line of code ( align ).
         1-Paste the align code ( blue line below ), in a notepad page
         2-Then copy the entire second line, ( colorize code, red line below ),  and paste it over these words in that notepad;  >Text You Want to Align<
         3-Be careful, don’t paste over either one of the black arrows   >  <
         4 -But, do paste over all of the text between them.
         5-’Uncheck’ the ‘html’ box

     <div align="center">Text You Want to Align</div>

     <font color="COLOR YOU WANT HERE">Text You Want Colorized</font>

     The blue line ( above ), will be combined with the red line ( above ).
     Combined properly, the two lines of code look like this;

     <div align="center"><font color="green">Text You Want Colorized</font></div>

     It should look like this, colored green, and centered, when you uncheck the ‘html’ box;

                                                Text You Want Colorized Here

THE STRENGTH OF YOUR TEXT

     Changing the strength of your text; Put the text, between the symbols below;

     <b>insert text</b>

     Then highlight, copy, and paste the edited line of code where ‘html’ code is accepted. Let’s combine this simple line, with the line above ( colored blue and red ). By inserting the two symbols directly before and directly after the text to be displayed,

     this;

     <div align="center"><font color="green">Text You Want Colorized</font></div>

     becomes this;

     <div align="center"><font color="green"><B>Text You Want Colorized</B></font></div>

     It should display like this, when you uncheck the 'html' box, colorized green, centered, and with bold text;

                                                          Text You Want Colorized Here

SOME FUNDAMENTALS OF HTML CODE

     Five commonly used elements, and how they are assembled
     to form a complete line of html code.

         1 - <div>      </div>
         2 - <font>    </font>
         3 - <div align=“left“
         4 - <font color=“red“
         5 - <font size=“+1“

     Notice;
              <div>     is followed by   </div>
     And;
              <font>   is followed by   </font>

     Those are tags, that start and end a line of code.
     Inserting the backslash     /    changes any opening element to a closing element.
     Nearly all elements must be closed!
     Notice that    =   is immediately followed by   "  "
     Instructions are inserted between   "  "  

         3. - <div align=“left“>
         4. - <font color=“red“>
         5. - <font size="+1">

     I have written a complete line of code that will be displayed;

         text to be displayed

     by placing the tag;

        </font>

     at the end of the line, and inserting multiple elements;

         font size="+1" font color="red" font align="left"

     within the tag   <font >           

         <font size="+1" font color=“red” font align="left">text to be displayed</font>

     The font size= element can be modified. +2 would display larger text than +1.