Watch & View The Great Courses On Almost Any Device

Watch & View The Great Courses On Almost Any Device

It appears that many people are having difficulty listening and viewing The Great Courses on various devices.  I wrote this post when I found that applications for hand held devices, to view and listen to The Great Courses, were getting bad reader reviews.  There is an elegant solution.  It is a bit complicated at first but there are some shortcuts after you go through this process once.  Actually, I found this process quite fast so long as I remembered my log in information.

If you made course purchases from a long time ago, as I did, you might want to ask customer service to put those old courses up on their server.  Call customer support and ask that all your prior purchases be placed into your account as a cloud solution.  The lady that I talked to did this for me for free.  Once your content is in the cloud, you can view and listen using any device that has a web browser such as cell phones, tablets, laptops and desk computers.

This method will bypass downloading any application (Some content can be downloaded but not explained here).  Instead, you will listen and view your courses using your favorite Internet browser.  What this process involves is  to navigate to find “My Digital Library”.  When you buy product from The Great Courses, you also have your own web account.  We will go to that web account and access your digital library and you then can listen and view that content.  Next, are the step by step instructions as to do all this.

Go to their web site: http://www.thegreatcourses.com/

Look upper right of the web page for “My Account”.  The image below shows you what this part of the page looks like.

 

 

Mouse click on the words “My Account” and you will be taken to a log in page.

Below is an image of the log in.

 

Log in using your user name, usually your e-mail address, and password.  Make sure you have selected “I am a returning customer, and my password is”.  Mouse click “Sign In” after you put in your e-mail address and password.  Once you log in, you will see a web page just for you.  BOOK MARK that log in page!   Look along the left side of the web page for “My Digital Library”.

Just below where it shows “My Digital Library” you will see a list of options for you to choose from.  Mouse click on “Stream Courses” if you wish to listen on the device that you are using to log in and you will see the courses ready to hear and view depending upon which course you purchased.  When you select “Stream Courses” the page will change to show what courses you have purchased.  An example of that page is shown below.  Note that we want the “STREAM COURSES” tab selected.

 

The above web page will show you courses that you can choose to view and listen.  Note that the “Format” column shows that the first item can ONLY be listened to while the titles below can be listened to and viewed.

To see the PLAY function for any listed course, just mouse click on the course name of your choosing.  That course will open up and reveal all the lessons as seen below.  You can jump to any lesson by mouse clicking it.  It then will be ready to be listened to and viewed (if you paid for a viewed product).  I found that the web page offers TWO play buttons.  There is one large one in the screen over the course lesson list and a play button for each lesson to the right side of the screen.  Use the lesson button, as that tells the system which lesson to start.

You can restart any lesson or jump to any other lesson you wish.  You can even scroll forward or backward inside any lesson by using the large dark screen (large dark screen means audio only course) over the lesson lists and using the mouse click on the portion shown below showing lesson progress.  Place your mouse toward the bottom of that dark screen and controls will appear.  Place your mouse pointer at the end of the progress bar and you can slide that back and forth to reposition where the lesson will start again.

 

 

Look at the image above.  Note the very small red looking box with the title “Course Guide”.  If that appears on your screen, you can mouse click on that icon and download it into your computer which I strongly recommend.  You can then read along (laptop and desktop only) while the program progresses or read it before or after the lesson.  Just remember that multiple exposure to the same content results in better retention.

I have used the method described above to view and listen to The Great Courses on the following devices:

  • Cell Phone:   Using a cell phone is a bit of a pain because the log in screen, already small, needs to be expanded by finger spreading your screen image outward.  Also, your cell phone air charges will apply because you might be listening using cell towers.  If your in a WiFi location, force the phone to use WiFi only.
  • NEXIS 7 First Generation:   This worked very well so long as you don’t move the Nexis.  It was very annoying that whenever I moved the Nexis, the web page would change from landscape to portrait or reverse and the stream would stop and reset the content.  There is a control to lock the screen from rotating.  Ultimate Rotation Control.  
  • MacBook Air:  Using a laptop or desk computer was by far the best solution.
Can Not Open Pages Document After Macintosh OS Maverick Update

Can Not Open Pages Document After Macintosh OS Maverick Update

Just after I performed the Maverick (10.9) system update on my MacBook Air, I found that some of my Pages documents would not open.  I was told in a dialog box on my computer screen  that I needed a new Pages version and I was directed to the App Store.  The App Store showed that I had the current version.   I discovered that Maverick did update my older versions of iLife programs but failed to delete the former software.  It seems that some of my former documents were saved with the current new Pages version.  All of the iWork applications were now in the Applications folder as individual programs and not in the iWork ’09 folder.  Just to cover any future problems, I copied the iWork ’09 folder into my airport backup drive and then deleted that folder from my Applications folder and rebooted the computer.  Now there is no problem.  All my old Pages documents open up properly.

HP Photosmart D110 Failed After Installing Mac OS Maverick.

HP Photosmart D110 Failed After Installing Mac OS Maverick.

About a day or so after I upgraded to Maverick operating system into my MacBook Air, my HP Photosmart D110 printer went down.  It did this when I printed form Pages.  Every time I tried to print the sheet would print just a few lines and then the printer put a warning into the display window telling me to turn the printer off.  I did this over and over and it would just fail over and over.  I finally decided to delete the HP print drivers from my hard drive Applications folder.  In that folder, was an uninstall application.  Make sure you then use the Utilities > Activity Monitor program to quit any HP programs running.  Then empty the trash.  I then rebooted my computer to flush out any running print driver.  I then went into System Preferences > Printers & Scanners and viewed what print drivers I still had.  The HP Photosmart D110 scanner was still there but the print driver was gone.  I then mouse clicked on the plus sign and added the print driver.  After all that, the printer worked perfectly.

Dragon Dictate For Mac.

Dragon Dictate For Mac.

I have an idea of writing a book of fiction and possibly a play.  When I write any fiction, my typing can not keep up with my mind and I loose the flow of what I wish to convey due to the writing delay.  It occurred to me to get a voice to text computer software and try that out as a solution.  The only software that came up with good reviews was Dragon.

I purchased Dragon Dictate for Mac version 3, September 2013.  The box came with a USB microphone.  Software license process was a bit involved.  Following the start up directions I hit a snag right away.  I could not get the Dragon microphone to work into the program.  I went into Dragon’s Profiles and made sure I selected Dragon Remote Microphone as the Dragon Profile and also for the Audio Source.  I went into the Apple System Preferences and then Sound and chose one at a time Output and Input selecting “USB Ear-Microphone”.  When I chose Sound Input, and spoke into the microphone I could see the microphone worked perfectly on the volume meter desktop display.  But, when I then went into the Dragon Vocabulary Training a window was displayed with large letters notifying me that the microphone was not connected.   I went to the Dragon Internet support pages but could not find a solution.  I had to call technical support.  I was told to create a new profile.  I was then to mouse click on the + plus sign.  I was then instructed to NOT choose the Dragon Remote Microphone but instead choose USB Ear-Microphone that now shows up as an option.  That trick made the Dragon microphone work perfectly.  I then plowed through the vocabulary training.  I was quite impressed with the very large command features beyond inserting punctuation.

Right after getting the microphone connected I upgraded my Mac system software to 10.9.  When I opened Dragon again, I got a warning message that the Dragon software had problems and was unstable.  I found that Dragon worked for a short while but then lock up.

The Dragon web site claims that Dragon Dictate 3 will be supported in the future with the Mac operating system 10.9.

Before I got Dragon to work I was annoyed at the product verification process.  It seemed that I had to wade through way too many steps, verification and setup, to get this product running.   I was seriously thinking of returning it and getting my money back.   I think I have buyers remorse especially now that the software is not ready for Mac OS 10.9.

Tea Party Principles And Stupid

Tea Party Principles And Stupid

Here are the core principles of the Tea Party and I will show how stupid they are:

Fiscal Responsibility: not overspending which at face value is a good goal.  Problem is the Tea Party cherry picks what they think government money should go toward.   They wish to cut back on education, social services but fund the military.

Constitutionally Limited Government: which is stated by the party meaning that power resides with the people and not with government.  The 2008 recession came about in great measure because the financial industry lobbied Congress for less government regulation.  The Tea Party seems to be controlled by wealthy class to further their aims to game the system to their advantage.

Free Market Economics:  The Tea Party claims that the United States is a superpower due to our free market economy.  What a simpleton idea.  We are a great nation due to a whole host of other factors that lay as a foundation.  The location of our temperate nation between two oceans, our fantastic amount of farm land, rivers, lakes, mountains, oil, minerals, fish and wild life has attracted some of the best peoples from Europe and other nations.  This environmental engine still continues too this day attracting some of the best people from other countries.  Our founding fathers constructed a pretty intelligent government that allows for change and compromise orchestrated by the people.

Our freedoms and education systems has allowed individuals to expand their individual capabilities resulting in a highly competent working class, technology advancements, important industry startups and a government separated from religion which made for a superpower.

The Tea Party claims that government “intervention is at the heart of America’s current economic decline”.  The current economic decline is being exacerbated by the Tea Party ideology.  They have voted down job creation time after time.  The free market system that the Tea Party thinks is so great resulted in sending middle class jobs overseas leaving the United States with an extremely small but powerful wealthy class and a huge lower class. How convenient for the Tea Party to cherry pick, obfuscate and twist the facts.  The Tea Party is the party of stupid.  The people who vote for them need to get a better education.

The truth is the current United States market economy needs correction from government to help build a stronger middle class and not continue on the course of supporting only the interests of big business and the oligarchy.  Our current nation has a crumbling infrastructure and the Republican Party has used the national debt to foil any economic recovery by starting up projects to rebuild roads, bridges, rail lines and ports.

The Tea Party core principles are twisted to reward the rich. Their goals are so stupid in implementation that it may dragging us all down in the process and turn this nation into  a second power.

Not Congress It Is The People

Not Congress It Is The People

The approval rating of the United States Congress is almost at floor level.  Everyone seems to believe that the US Congress is dysfunctional.  I see the problem differently. The problem lies in the stupid electorate that supports the Tea Party and any other ultra right wing politician.  If you voted for and got a Tea Party candidate elected to congress, then the problem is with you.  You brought on this problem.  This is our country.  We choose our representatives (except for oligarch control wielded by huge campaign funding).  The congressional representatives we send to congress are a direct reflection of who we are.  Our representatives in Congress typically do what we tell them to do or they will not get reelected.  The congressional disfunction, the legislative failure is a mirror of the people who put those people in office.

The ultra conservative individuals in this country are so lacking in intellect that they have orchestrated the possibility that their beloved Republican party may be ruined for years.     If this country can not pass a spending bill the more intelligent segment of the United States population will blame the Republican Party.  If this more intelligent electorate remembers how the Republican Party took the United States down to its knees in late September 2013, the next election might look one sided and guess who wins, the Democrats.  Not having a good second political party may be as dangerous as the policies of the Tea Party.

If you are a politician and you can not negotiate a compromise then you are not serving the best interests of this nation.  If you are doing the bidding of your electorate, the electorate does not want compromise, then you represent a stupid electorate.  You should not get the blame for following what the constituency  wants.  But a lot of people outside your district would like you to fall on your sword and vote for what is best for this nation.  What is more important, getting reelected or doing what is best for this nation?

The exact percent is not known with any exactness but about thirty percent of the US population support the Tea Party and voted for those political candidates.  Tea Party support may have fallen down to twenty percent due to the stupid policies they try to push forward.  Problem now is we are stuck with a collection of individuals in the House of Representatives that want to win the next election and know they must perform according to the people they represent.  Some people are concerned that the United States is on a trajectory toward being less powerful.  Stupid needs to get smarter so we can better row this boat together.