ROFLMAO

This sooooo funny! Warning: It is slightly off color, but will probably not offend but the most sensitive. Here is Eric O'Shea and his take on TV commercials

What a funny clip! My daughters send me some of the best stuff! Thanks Verdana!

"A son is a son till he takes him a wife, a daughter is a daughter all of her life." ~Irish Saying

iGoofy

Pitiful, foolish iStevie. He's issued a firmware upgrade for the iPhones that makes everyone adhere to AT&T like a Brown Shirt kissing up to the Gestapo. Man, AT&T has some kind of goods on iStevie. Why would he fight an increase in sales of his ridiculously priced product? Just doesn't make sense. Wow, we have Bill Gates and Microsoft extending the time period for sales of XP to aid their customers and the iTard continuing to abuse his customers.

Apple dudes and dudettes!!! Wake up! Darth Jobs needs to go. Let him jack with Pixar. Make another one of those woolly mammoth cartoons. Quit messing around or the iPhone will soon be another discontinued item in a long line of horrible overpriced products from the orchard. Anyone wanna bet the virus activity in the Apple computer realm will increase dramatically? The phones will be hacked again and again and again so on and so forth. There are articles all over the net about this iGoofy offering. Here's one.

"Error is a hardy plant; it flourishes in every soil."
~Martin F. Tupper

Vista, XP and Onionheads

Not everyone agrees with the beach house take on Windows Vista. That's okay. I actually like the operating system and see potential. It is sad that Windows once again rushed a product to the market and did not incorporate many planned improvements such as a newer, more secure file system. Several companies have been frustrated as well as the consuming public. Microsoft has recognized these complaints and extended the sales of the XP family of operating systems. Read about it at InformationWeek or the blog over at Wired News.

Microsoft maintains that Vista is one of the fastest selling operating systems in history saying that over 60 million licenses were sold this year, but one of my sources has over 200 positive articles about the extension of our ability to buy XP. 60 million? Record Sales? Hmmmmmm?!? Dell is still giving their customers the option to purchase XP and Fujitsu even includes an XP restore disk with all their new laptops running Vista. Nice to see that some manufacturers are listening to their customers, especially Microsoft.

Now if we can bring all those tech support jobs back to the US of A where people speak English. Make your complaint about not comprehending these non-English speaking people. The whole concept of ever moving support to other countries is nothing but greed and the work of the devil. So HP, Dell and others take a hint from Microsoft. LISTEN to the people that keep you in business. And Citizens of the United States, rage against the machine about immigrants continuing to learn OUR language. Call me a language bigot if you want, but our language needs to flourish and fuel advances in society and technology. Mr. Jefferson penned that declaration many years ago and the rest is history. Grow up, learn English and don't be an onionhead.

"To the Englishman, clothes make a man. Naked men have little or no impact on society."
~Mark Twain

It's a Bird, It's a Plane?

No, Hewlett-Packard is not selling surplus uber spy planes. They do have a new gaming machine and the name Blackbird is appropriate. Alienware and the rest of the high end gaming computer builders are paying attention. A visit to HP's site to view the info is as good as it gets. Please be patient. It takes a few seconds to load. Lotta information there. Be sure and read the section titled Thermals. Oh yes, you can visit their site here. My initial opinion of this computer? Sweet!

This computer comes from their Voodoo division and is called the 002. Wonder why they didn't use SR-71? There will be a laptop version in the near future. I want one of these in the desktop version. Please make mine the Intel Quad-core with water cooling. The possibilities and combinations are huge and, as with most gaming machines, so are the prices. AMD folks don't have to worry either. Your fav CPUs are available in several flavors. Reviews that are in indicate a real winner. Read here. Thanks for the link, Ashby!

"The Wright Brothers created the single greatest cultural force since the invention of writing. The airplane became the first World Wide Web, bringing people, languages, ideas, and values together."
~Bill Gates

iWitch

The hackers' manifesto is just the latest in what Apple CEO Steve Jobs called a "cat-and-mouse game" between his company and those who want to make unauthorized changes to the iPhone. In London a week ago to tout the smart phone's Nov. 9 launch in the U.K., Jobs implicitly promised that Apple would counter attempts to unlock the iPhone.

"People will try to break in, and it's our job to stop them breaking in," he said then.

On Monday, Apple issued a statement of its own, saying that any modification to an iPhone automatically voids its warranty. It also warned customers against unlocking their phones. "Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs ... will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed," the company said.

Well, gee, golly! What do you expect from someone that has Apple's history of customer abuse? Remember, they still try to make the iNazis think that only Apple memory will work in an Apple computer. I don't buy this business about mods making this expensive, overated thangy inoperable. iStevie has his controlfreak on! Also noticed that Amazon is geared to give iTunes a run for the money. Good! Maybe we can have a price war and the buck a tune will disappear. You can read the rest of the article at PCWorld. Wow, AT&T must really have the good on Darth Jobs. Enough of this negativity.

Take a look at this hilarious clip about iDarth the iWitch:

C'mon Apple people. You have to admit this is funny.

"If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane."
~Jimmy Buffett

Mama Said...

Sometimes I feel sorry for myself. Yep, sit around, feel pitiful and get just downright wimpy wimpy. After a day of Flexiril and aching back I awoke feeling stuporized. So I decided to shake the sad feelings by going into gratitude mode. That's how I found a page about being thankful. Using the How To part of the iGoogle homepage mentioned yesterday I read How to Be Thankful. Good page. It helped the mood. Sure made the purple haze go away.

"It's all right letting yourself go, as long as you can get yourself back."
~Mick Jagger

Need a New Homepage?

Using iGoogle as a home page gives me a chance to browse many things in seconds. You can click on the above example and it will expand to full size. Just click the back arrow to return here. Email is readily available and updates periodically. More important top center is my Bible verse of the day. The weather is there and will give current conditions or the latest forecast. I can reference the latest news and check on some of my favorite sites. Another nice feature is the Google banner at the top is the search engine and it also has a custom background called beach. BTW, you can tell this was posted early morning because the sun is rising. It changes throughout the day. Kewl, huh?

Got a Google account? You can set this up in minutes. Need a Google account? Email me, I have several invitations left.

"Be happy. It's one way of being wise."
~Colette

Second Breakfast

Well, yesterday turned out to be a good day. Outside of forgetting a major part and making a 40 mile round trip for nothing, my attitude became complacent when I started back to the beach house. So, outside of some really dumb mistakes, it turned out to be a good day. Basically I came home and grunted and rooted away the rest of the evening in fabulous pig style. Absolutely no cleaning was accomplished. Potato chips and real Coke are just awesome. And I ate second breakfast this morning, Hobbit style, after napping due to first breakfast . Burgers on the grill around 8:00am are wonderful: For tomorrow we diet again!

Tried to watch Mission Impossible III. Boring. If you've seen either of the other two don't bother. Same movie over and over again. Stay casual.

"But when the time comes that a man has had his dinner, then the true man comes to the surface."
~Mark Twain (hmmm, usually I fall asleep)

Optimistic Side of Pessimism at the Beach House

Today is going to be a good day. Yes, the decision has been made so don't bother me with whining and such. I have to work this weekend, actually go on site to do some stuff then clean this house (there may be a pig hiding in here from all the grunting I'm hearing...no, wait...that's me!), mow the yard with the push mower, try and repair the weed eater, replace the garage door opening unit after I grow the two extra arms n hands needed, clean out my shed and make room for the old hooptiemobile, finish the repair of the riding lawn mower, then try and start cleaning the garage - there's not enough time in a weekend to finish the garage. Does anyone remember the words help or volunteer? Nah, doubt it. How about prayer? Would you just say a prayer?

Yes, today is going to be a good day. Don't be surprised if I don't answer the phone. It's on the blink anyway and will probably be on the counter or veranda due to the amount of sweat. Ahhhh, yes it's hot again and I like it! Yep, gonna' go like crazy and if there's a report of a beached whale sited in Saltillo don't worry about it. It'll just be me fallen over behind the push mower. Do me a favor, spray some insect repellent on me, place my four arms and hands across my chest, and just leave the carcass as a monument that might inspire other lard asses to lose weight! Damn it all, today is going to be a good day I said!!! The coffee pot just quit working and my toe was stubbed on the way to get a cup when my flip flop blew out. But! I have a spare coffee maker! Now where did it go? Probably hiding somewhere with my good dress flip flops. Later y'all.

"When life hands you lemons make a mean ass margarita!"
~Laundry Witch

Late Night Prayer

It's been an extremely long day of fighting Microsoft Outlook and shut down issues in Vista. I hate Windows Defender. And my knowledge of Outlook is limited because I use GMail. Thank the Good Lord, Google has an extensive help site concerning the combining of GMail and Outlook. Microsoft certainly doesn't have a DAMN thing to help with issues surrounding problems with these two applications.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for the many wonderful blessings during my time
here on earth. My two awesome, loving daughters have
seen me through many hard times alongside Your unwavering
love and care for all of us. You have been so good to me.
It's nice to realize every friend I have is a good person.
I hope and pray that you permit me a few years of life
that will consist of a peaceful state while in retirement.
I also pray the day comes in my lifetime where Windows
is no longer the way I make a living. Please oh please,
Dear Lord, grant me the grand and wonderful possibility
that Guild Wars will one day run resident in Linux. Please
grant me enough lifetime to kill at least a few Charr if
GW ever does become available for Linux or BSD. I am your
humble unworthy servant. Please bless our Troops fighting
for our freedom.

Amen


“The question isn't at what age I want to retire, it's at what income.”
~George Foreman

Windows, Pane or Pain?

If you are having problems with Windows Vista, you can share. Profanity is permitted and almost necessary. I said almost. At the risk of making a few mad, let me say that this operating system can drive one nuts! Yes, there are some of you that seem to have a wonderful experience and think it's great, but I will be so glad when they do the same thing with Vista as was done with XP; beta test it on the consuming public for 4 or 5 years and finally produce a stable operating system. Of course they'll be slapping us with something new that we'll have to purchase because they choose to not update previous versions.

Chances are no proprietary software is running on those personal PCs using this "new" operating system. It doesn't like QuickBooks nor any program that seems to crunch numbers. It is NOT happy with a lot of devices especially those that deal with images. It's too busy snooping around trying to see what we are doing so it can report into Bozo Ballmer and his Gestapo. Still if you are buying a new PC I recommend Home Premium or above, Home Basic is worthless. Buy XP Home instead. It's better. Good Lord, don't even upgrade a working XP machine. Leave well enough alone. Well, put some more RAM in it, but don't change operating systems, especially if you have been doing the Windows Updates.

If you disagree with me, please realize you are in the minority. I know of no single person that is truly happy with Vista in the workplace. BTW, why does it make some people so mad because I don't agree with them that this is a wonderful program? Why, why, why? Anyway, during the next few days I'll be re-installing Vista Ultimate and changing some hardware at the beach house. Maybe this time things will be different. Certainly hope so. Any tips or tricks you want to pass on? I will wipe the drives and start over completely, carefully taking my time and using my XP laptop to check if problems arise.

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."
~Bill Cosby

Peacock Positive

Well, it's about time. NBC-TV will let you download some of their programs from the past week for your viewing pleasure on the PC and it's FREE! This does not include all programs, yet. Apple iTunes has been doing the same, but at 2 bucks a download that's absurd. Remember the major networks are still reception free over a regular antenna. You have to run Windows to receive the free broadcasts. See Apple users, Darth Jobs is not some sort of god. Go NBC!


Remember it's talk like a pirate day, lol!

"Some of us are more evil than others."
~Pyre Fierceshot

She's From Scotland

She's amazing. To stand on the stage and produce such wonderful music blows me away. Be sure and watch the complete video. She is sampling the sounds at the beginning which is so cool but the finish is so soulful. Thanks Beagle for the great link and Ashby for the CD over a year ago. This is KT Tunstall doing a familiar tune

Do you remember who sang the song originally? (too easy, lol)

“Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul.”
~Plato

Passing

James Oliver Rigney, Jr., the world will miss you...treasure you, and your legacy. Your heroism during two tours of Vietnam is noted, and not some farce made up like that idiot John Kerry. You were and are a real hero to millions of fans. Your ladder of daggers has been climbed and hope sprang eternal for everyone until the end. Speed well on your journey in the afterlife.



Robert Jordan, aka J.O. Rigney, Jr., age 58, passed away yesterday. His soon to be out 12th Wheel book, the last of the series, is close to being finished and will be published. Prayers for the family and millions of fans. Personal note to Verdana; the Wheel books will be read.

"That mountain can grow awfully heavy sometimes," Rand sighed, taking a spear and buckler from Rhuarc. "When do you find a chance to put it down awhile?"

"When you die," Lan said simply.
~Jordan, The Shadow Rising

Got Buckles? Swash 'Em on Wednesday!

Yep, it's that time of year mateys! September the 19th is Talk Like a Pirate Day. Hey, I am on the wagon this year with this good lookin' bunch. So is Dave Barry. He reminded me today on his calendar. In the meantime, it helps to play a lot of Jimmy Buffett music. Also, watch a Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Errol Flynn or Douglas Fairbanks Jr. movie. Be sure and drink some rum Tuesday night. That'll help too. Does this border on absolute silliness? No, it actually goes wayyy over that border. Fun? Yes, curmudgeons of the world let that hair down and join in the festivity. Arrrrrrr, a good time shall be had by all or ye walks de plank!

Now we need to enact Clean Mental Hygiene on September the 20th.

“Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates.”
~Mark Twain

To Da Moon, Alice!

Google is sponsoring a contest for someone from the private sector to put a rover type probe on the moon. The prize is 30 million dollars. ZDNet has a good article about it. For an indepth look at future plans for a lunar settlement check out Popular Mechanics. This is futuristic thinking and really neat when you consider that people from the everyday walk of life are being challenged to such feats. As said before, Go Google!

"I grew up with too much freedom. You can't define yourself."
~Moon Unit Zappa

Well, duh?

Was just over at Beagle's Journal site and took a test. The word flabbergasted comes to mind. Click on the box and fill in the questions with appropriate answers. C'mon it only takes a few minutes -




How in the hell did I score 100? Take it and see how you do. Let me know results. I had a hard time with the 'what kind puter person are you' since I run both Windows and Linux. I chose Linux.

Thank you Beagle for a good laugh about myself!

"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila."
~Mitch Ratcliffe

TV & Exercise

Keeping up with the transition of television standards? Analog signals (the NTSC standard that has been around since the beginning of TV) were due to change to the new digital formats (HDTV or SDTV) in early 2009. The FCC ruled that the analog signal will be broadcast alongside the new standards until 2012. You can read about it at ArsTechnica.


It's raining. We need it. Temps are dropping some and the weekend is supposed to be pleasant. This will be a great time to cut the lawn since it has grown a foot since we finally have rain again. Shucks, need that push mower waltz to help lose weight. The drought appears to be over. Time to finish laundry and then sleep! Stay casual.

"God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done."
~H.D. Murphy

Violin

Busy week. Long days. Accomplishing some things and waiting on parts. Maybe tomorrow will see good results.

This video is...there are no words that can describe the feeling in my soul concerning the talent of Mairead Nesbitt. Take a look

"Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart."
~Kahlil Gibran

AMD Happy? Orchard Sad.

MSNBC has an interesting article about the release of AMD's new quadcore CPUs. This is after Intel's announcement last week of several new quad based Xeon chips. Hint for AMD: Go back to using the lower price edge, it really works! The new AMD offerings will be listed under the Opteron class of processors. Again, hey AMD, pricing is not competitive when you offer an equal product for an equal price. Look at your sales history then do the numbers.



Absolutely love the recent iPhone controversy. Tickles me how iffy Apple can be towards its iNazis. Yes, if you own one of these overpriced, mediocre devices you ARE an Apple Nazi. They've slashed the price from $599.00 to $399.00. ROFLMAO!! Gee golly, think sales have dropped off? Needless to say the purchasers of this little darling at the original price are REALLY upset. My question is who will pay $399.00 for this thing that has gotten horrible reviews? Read more at ComputerWorld.

"I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position."
~Mark Twain

Cell Milestone

Did you know there are 7 billion text messages sent every day over cell phones? BBC News has a good article about the evolution of GSM and mobile phones over the last 20 years. We've come a long way. Billions of users ramp up every day. The numbers about cell phones per user in England is also interesting.

Now if we can stop this absurd AT&T 'least dropped calls' silly notion. What a horrible, huge company that has no respect for its customers. Don't even go in the store next to Sam's near the mall. It contains some of the rudest people in Tupelo. They need mandatory lessons in manners. Jerks.

"Middle age: When you're sitting at home on Saturday night and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you."
~Ogden Nash

Orchard Problems

Late night note for iTunes users. This affects both WINDOWS and Apple. They've developed a security flaw which is noted at Apple Security. Seems the fix is to download the latest version. So if you haven't updated it's time to do just that! Hope this helps all y'all that use this expensive service. Thanks for a great tip Mudslingr.

It's late. Time to nap.

"I calculated the total time that humans have waited for web pages to load. It cancels out all the productivity gains of the information age. Sometimes I think the web is a big plot to keep people like me away from normal society."
~Scott Adams

Fun Stuff, Free Stuff

Please take a look at the work of Alan Beck, Animator vs. Animation. Turn up the sound too. Clever and entertaining. If you've ever attempted to use a photo editing, paint, etc., program this is even more hilarious. Good work. Thanks Ashby for a great link.



Need a good photo editor? How about a really nice one for free? Try Picasa. This is another offering from Google. It has neat features such as finding your photos and pixs with the initial search after installation. Take that, ridiculously high priced Adobe Photo Shop!

"Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem. Most things are judged by their jackets."
~Gracian

Sony and Spyware Suck

With the recent weirdness of my cellphone and ArsTechnica's article about Another Sony Rootkit it seems Sony is destined to be banned from the beach house. Sad. I've spent mucho moola on their products down through the years, but spying on me was NEVER part of the bargain. So, no more Sony at the beach house and existing items will be replaced with other brands. You can bet the first to go is this idiotic cellphone.



Spyware is at an all time high as far as computer infections. If you are lazy and won't update free software spend the 30 bucks and purchase Webroot's SpySweeper. This is a good program and can be automated to update and scan. I am sure there are people out there that will buy it, install it and then cancel the updates because they find them scheduled at an inconvenient time. Please don't. Take the time to go into the program and learn how to change the schedule. Without the updates the program is worthless.

You can still contact the beach house about spyware removal and there are great tools listed in the links list. Have a casual Tuesday.

"I am the inferior of any man whose rights I trample underfoot."
~Horace Greeley

Enjoy the Holiday

HAPPY Holiday. Eat well, drink sensibly and drive safely. The life you save may be my own.


"The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers."
~Dave Barry, Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn

Shouldn't It Be Called Non-Labor Day?

After a day of reflection and rest the world seems a nicer place. Thank you to everyone that respected my wishes and left me to sort out problems. Of course there were those that missed yesterday's post and didn't honor the request. Politely, I was able to avoid any show of irritation and frustration. Thank the Good Lord that all this has culminated over a long weekend.

It seems this medication shuffle is having a more profound effect than first suspected. Not only irritability but dizziness which is sometimes frightening and stomach problems stem from this change. No outright depression (few small episodes) but the anxiety has increased as expected. This too, shall pass. Meantime, it's nice to catch up on sleep and rest. It'll be great to once again be someone that is happy, keeps his word and gets stuff done.

Hopefully tomorrow will see a return to posts about things technical and possumlore. Please pray for me. And enjoy the weekend! Later.

"The greatest explorer on this earth never takes voyages as long as those of the man who descends to the depth of his heart."
~Julien Green

No More Beach House LAN Parties EVER

EDIT: After re-reading this several hours later let me just admit that working from 4:00AM until 7:00AM and making no noticeable headway was most frustrating. This, amplified by changes in medication, finally made me throw the towel in and actually was depressing for a few minutes. It is still a good idea not to plan any more gatherings here...for a while anyway.

LAN Party is off. Don't ever ask me to do this again. I have too much to do and no one wants to help until 2 hours before it starts. It's amazing that so many people are interested, but I spend my week stressing out about doing ALL the prep work and finance. Don't call with attitude either. I'm pissed. It frustrates the hell out of me when I do not deliver on my word and cancellation does not make me happy. And as far as asking for help, does someone my age, in my state of health really have to ask? Taxes and death are sure things and so is no more Beach House LAN Parties. To GW players, I'll gladly resign as guild leader and even leave the guild if asked. Now I must call everyone and try and remain calm. Please, I'm begging, don't bother me today unless it's an emergency. Thinking about teasing me about this? Don't go there...

"People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing."
~Will Rogers