Seriously weird stuff

I know how to convert acres to hectares, I know how to convert feet and inches to centimetres and even centimeters but this site is scary weird with what it can convert: Conversiontable.org.

It can convert things I never heard of and certainly can't spell. And who knew there were such things as Barns and Bunders (hint: they are units of measure), or Labors, Hundreds, Homesteads and Hides?

If you're ignorant of the finer measures in life, head over to this site and check it out. It's deliciously retro in design with a Matrix colour scheme of blindingly monochromatic CP/M green and black.

On the practical side, you can convert currency, shoe sizes, liquids and land - just about anything and everything is covered here.

If you're just a helpless geek like me, check out the wonderful world of units of measure - it's way more riveting a dinner party conversation than what's on TV this week. Oh, and as an aside, if you're at one of my dinner parties, please don't get me started on the shipwreck they're making of the US adaptation of the award winning Australian TV series Kath and Kim.

Hint: Check out the original Oz version and plan to clean your bathroom on Oct 7 - it'll be much more fun!

Viewer for Publisher Files

I wish! You wish! We wish.. but no go..

We'd all love to see one of these but, unfortunately Microsoft hasn't deigned to give us one. There are, however some options you can use. If you can ask the person who created the PUB file to open and save it in a different format you can then view that - for example it can be saved as a Tiff format file.

If you have a PUB file but no access to Publisher, try one of the free online PDF file conversion tools that can handle Publisher files. I like PDFOnline, it handles PUB files up to 2Mb in size and all you need to do is to browse to upload the file to their server, type a name for the PDF file they'll send you in return and type your email address. In minutes you'll have a PDF version that you can read using Adobe's free Acrobat Reader software.

If you're wanting to share your Publisher files with others who don't own publisher then try a program like the free PDF converter PrimoPDF which installs as a printer driver allowing you to create your own PDFs as easily as printing from Publisher.

Perhaps best of all is your option to download and install the trial version of Microsoft Publisher 2007. It works for a limited time to allow you to open, read and edit Publisher documents. After the trial period is over, you can only open, view and print existing Publisher documents - pretty much what a viewer program would do in my book!