Couldn't Resist

Do you think someone has shown this to George Clinton!?!?!?!?




My money says George may have fried and eaten him!




K, I know this is a Random Thursday Post a day early. Will try and do something different tomorrow. Thanks out to Ashby Rhett Culpepper III, Jr., Esq. (via LOLCATZ) for the great pix and Mr. Clinton for the funk.

"I think the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humor in it."
~Frank A. Clark

Get Your Party Hat Dusted Off

Yes folks, another LAN Party is upon us. It starts around sixish this coming Saturday evening. Felecia is graciously opening her home again. Her house is centrally located and paths leading to the door are direct and simple. Please email me if you need directions. Beach house email is: cybersouth@gmail.com We will start prep on Friday and maybe even game some. We need buns, soft drinks, and the featured foods on the menu will be brats, dogs and burgers. There will be all types of sides. Any chip and dip will be awesome as will desserts. Shannon astounded us with a wonderful homemade ice cream last time and even used his personally distilled vanilla extract. Tina's famous LAN Party dip was a great hit as usual and JK's fruit trifle was awesome. Felecia got marks off the chart for some of the best baked beans ever.

We are going for an easy prep laid back menu that still reflects the traditional food of the 4th of July. Anyone wanting to lend a hand is welcome to contact us. There will be some new machines yet again at this gathering. Attendance to view all the uber gamer machines is worth the trip. Of course Guild Wars will be the feature of the night, but other games will be played too. The area is great, we have ample room and always enough ports and cable. We own our Alienware Teamspeak Server (thanks again Ashy) that rocks so don't forget your headphones. Please contact us and let us know your ETA and possible contributions. We will assume that you will be there unless you notify us. Easy enough?

A good time will be had by all (as always)! Seems like each gathering gets better.

"At every party there are two kinds of people - those who want to go home and those who don't. The trouble is, they are usually married to each other."
~Ann Landers

Music Monday

Hoppa showed a different version of this video last Thursday. I linked to it. He officially encouraged me to post this version. I HATE VEVO!!!!!!!!!!! But sometimes you just have to take a little bad along with a bunch of good. So here it is:



Be sure and check out Jaron on YouTube. Talented, I must say...

Attack of Stupid-itis

Please excuse my absence the past few days. Seems that once a year, or thereabouts, I have to completely FUBAR a gaming keyboard. The latest victim is a Merc Stealth. Just poured 90 bucks down the drain, because I can't drink a straight coke or coffee without spilling it. This is the third time this has happened. Every time I've been completely sober without a drop of boat drinks, rum coke, etc. Damn it, may start drinking more!!!!!!!!!!! Nah, just kidding.

Contrary to what some think and some say, my daily usage of alcohol is at an all time low. Well, there were those 2 years (almost) I quit. For all you naysayers I'll be glad to share my LFTs that will be run this Thursday. Bet they are better than most. Assuming certain things just because you wish it, that is not good practice. Believe me, the voice of experience speaks.

"If you know someone who tries to drown their sorrows, you might tell them sorrows know how to swim."
~H. J. Brown

Brief Flash of Intelligence

My senseless stupidity is only outrun by my butt-ugliness. Please continue on to tomorrow's post. This will make more sense. Mood? Overwhelmed with disgust, hunger and poverty. This too, as all things past, shall change.

The Random Thursday Tradition, We Have a Winner

Want to see a really strange and wonderful music video? I think there's much irony in the Jaron Lowenstein video on the Hoppa the Geek site. You can click on this link or the picture in this post to get to Hoppa's site. Reminds me of the Brad Paisley song, "I'm Gonna Miss Her." BTW if someone knows of a non-VEVO site of Brad's video please let me know. I do NOT like VEVO. Anyway this is definitely a talented guy with an unusual slant on getting over a breakup. He's got pipes, excellent studio engineering and a whacky message. He's done many songs including a few with his twin brother and I haven't found a bad one yet. This dude can sing! In this tune he seems to be having some great fun. Check it out. Hoppa has definitely nailed the tradition of a Random Thursday post and now the Beach House has followed the 'RT' tradition. Enjoy it!

"Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritation and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place."
~Mark Twain

Great Net Tool and Thoughts

Over to the right down in the pictures you will find a link to infosniper. This will let you nail the location of a website by IP address or even name. This is a nice tool that might help you track one of the bad guys. Fellow techs, please forgive me for giving this away, but it may help someone prosecute the jerks that hijack desktops, drop ads without permission, install spyware, etc. In case you have trouble finding it just click on the following icon:


The past few days have been rough. I am thinking about how work is disappearing for all of us in the business of computing service and wondering how to survive. Going to the doctor tomorrow and sadly won't have the money for prescription refills. Anyone need cable pulled, cars washed, fences painted, dogs walked, etc? Please forgive my maudlin spell, I am trying to snap out of it and drink from the half full glass. Your prayers will be most welcome. Not looking for pity at all. This was pointed out to me by a friend and I felt everyone deserved an explanation.

Music Tuesday

Okay, I know two days in a row, but this is downright awesome. Yoe don't have to be a country music fan to enjoy this performance. Heck, you don't even have to like country music period! I love Diana Krall and am a longtime fan. Willie Nelson is, well, Willie Nelson - a legend in his own time. What can I say about Elvis Costello? What a voice! I like him a little more every time I hear him. BE SURE and listen to his turn at this classic ballad made popular by Patsy Cline and written by Willie Nelson. If this doesn't move you then you are not alive.



Once again a huge thanks goes to that great Texas philosopher and all around good guy, EdC! My apologies about taking so long to post this great video.

"Legends are not made, they are born."
~Bill Wobblynife

Start Monday the Right Way, Take a Listen

Do I ever NEED this song today. When life becomes overwhelming and I don't think I can make it another day this 1979 tune lives to raise me up. Sorry about the blurry video (it's 30yrs old), but the words and effort of the heart ignores time.



This is the original group live. Nowadays a group of people pose as ARS because they have one, yes one, original member. Not nearly the talent as what you experience in this video.

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

Heart on Sleeve

Today is Fathers Day. It seems to always brings tears to my eyes. Tears of joy and tears of sadness. My Father passed in 1996. I remember our last conversation. It was the night before he died. His last words to me were, "I love you son, goodbye." It was on a Sunday night and late the next morning my fantastic cousin, Deb, called and said it was important to get in touch with my brother. I called and he was all to pieces. He didn't have to tell me. I knew. I promptly left the restaurant, called work, went home, packed a bag and made the fastest drive to Tishomingo county probably on record. Dad had told me several times down through the years to be close and ready because Mother would need me if he died. I certainly respected that request and hugged Mother for at least 5 minutes upon seeing her.

My Father was a great man. He was a devout Christian and loved his family and friends. So many discussions we had about various subjects in the Bible and his understanding still influences me today and always will. He also had a great sense of humor and one of best laughs I've ever heard. He could quote Shakespeare, help with trigonometry homework, show you anything about baseball, pull great pranks, loved to fish and so many other things. He loved Mother, Dan, me and had a very special place in his heart for his grandchildren. He truly loved both my daughters and Dan's children. They loved him in return. The funeral was huge. SRO. Hundreds of times I heard how people would really miss him. Hundreds of times I heard that he'd gone to a better place. The last part I knew, but still appreciated hearing it.

God has blessed my life with two wonderful daughters. I can't express how much love my heart holds for them and their families. There just aren't any words. I also inherited Dad's special love of grandchildren. I am not one to show a lot of feelings at times, but they know how they touch my heart. So I end on a joyful upswing of feelings. God Bless every good Father out there. God help the ones not so good. Where ever you're watching please know that I still miss you Dad. I always will.

"My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys."
~Harmon Killebrew (One of pro baseball's Greats!)

Sometimes I Just Can't Take It and Have Had Enough

The linked article in the middle of this post is a few months old and still very relevant to today's crisis concerning government whackados. Actually it's more relevant today than when written. The utter stupidity of the American public sometimes flabbergasts me. I've tried to stay more onboard with tech subjects. But, this dragging of feet concerning the Gulf oil spill crisis is just too much to bear. Send the U.S. Navy down there and stop ruining the livelihoods of my fellow Mississippians and the people of our neighboring states. The Navy will find a way to stop this heinous assault on our planet. Quit meeting and bowing to known leaders that harbor and instigate Islamic terrorism against us. Quit trying to sue the Great State of Arizona and listen to their solutions. Liberal news people, which is most everyone but Fox, quit covering up for your fellow yellow dogs and find out something about the birth certificate. Print a copy of it on your damned page 1! If you are a concerned citizen of the United states it might behoove you to click this link and read this tremendous (it's somewhat lengthy, but ever so pertinent) evaluation:

THE AMERICAN THINKER

If you are a flaming, bleeding heart Nancy Pelosi, Reid, Obama administration loving liberal do me a huge favor: Get the hell off my site and DON'T come back. IMHO, You are all a bunch of jerks that are hell bent on tearing our country apart and giving it away. I am tired of your occupational strategy and pray to God in Heaven that the American Public will educate themselves and vote all the liberals out of office. Don't like my attitude? Well, I sure as hell don't like people that are doing sneaky underhanded things to destroy America. And FBI, NSA or any other group snooping around reading opinions of true Americans, you can all kiss my Mississippi butt! I still support my President because I am an American. I don't have to especially like the idea. That's my story and I am sticking to it!

Thanks EdC for the very, very serious and important email. God Bless America.

"If people behaved like governments, you'd call the cops."
~Kelvin Throop

Chrome Polish

After using the Google Chrome Browser for quite some time I finally discovered a great part of the tools options. Here's how you do it. Open Chrome. Go to the top right corner of your iGoogle Chrome Browser homepage (it will look something like the illustration below). Just left click on the icon marked by the red arrow in the picture below. Then scroll down and left click on extensions. It may tell you you have none, but click on the link and take a look. Some super stuff is available.



Before anyone starts up, let me say that I've known they were there from the beginning, but time restraint has finally permitted me a brief chance to explore this area of Chrome. They are very easily uninstalled if you decide not to use a particular extension. If you look in the above pix you can see the extension icons just to the left of tools. Actually good usage of space because their address bar is huge (it'll be to your left of the new icons). I am using;

GMail Checker
It let's you preview email while browsing Also alerts when there are new emails.

Ghostery
Keeps up with who is tracking or trying to track you

DayHiker
Great calendar with many neat features

AdBlock & Browser button for AdBlock
Actually two different extensions but I think it is clear why you need both. Great app that I have used for years in Firefox

WOT
Wonderful tool that warns when you approach a potentially harmful sight. Used it for years in Firefox (it works!)

Lightshot
Screenshot app that lets you save upload whole screen or selected part.

This list will grow as I review extensions. If you have some favorites please recommend them by using comments. Again, I realize I am late posting about these great options and really don't need snide comments about it. Please be happy that I finally got around to posting this info for everyone to review and use as they see fit!

Hope this helps.

"Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by
Friday."
~H.D Murphy

Flights of Memory

Two questions that come up on occasion are what is the best memory and what in the $%*#@!!!! is CAS latency?

Second question first: CAS stands for Column Access Strobe (sometime it's called Column Access Select). Latency is the time interval between stimulus and response. Let's further complicate this by throwing in RAS (Row Access Strobe). This is another factor that is involved in calculating the speed of the memory. Clock speed is also yet another factor considered in measuring memory speed. Then we can go on and on with single, dual or triple channel, number of pins, etc. You can read more at ExtremeTech. This will give you a chance to zombie-fy and melt in your chair if you are an average user. I had to get up and walk around for several minutes before the dizziness went away. Still think there are parts me me stuck to the chair...
THE BOTTOM LINE
It's probably safe to say that if you are going for max performance the lower the CAS latency figure the better. This is not applicable across the board. Most people that are average users can get by with the lower speed and probably never notice the difference. Gamers on the other hand will always research like the crazy nerds they are and find the fastest RAM available for their particular machine.

Now the First question: Many manufacturers make great RAM. You can always go to NewEgg find the memory you need and read the reviews. Good way to judge how others have reacted to a specific product. And believe me, geeks pull no punches. Personally I like Kingston Hyper-X RAM. One reason my latest lap-top was ordered with 4gigs of memory is that the pair of 8gig modules (actually 2 4gig sticks)is not yet available for my Qosmio laptop in Hyper-X or any other comparable brand unless you can spend $500.00. I'd just like to hold that much money in my hand before distributing to various institutions (elec company, water company, cell, etc.). Needless to say the 4gigs will definitely suffice for a while.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Shop around, ask people what they like especially if they use a computer that is similar to your own. Look for values at good sites. Check local office supply stores. Sometimes they have incredible values.

What's your opinions? Anyone prefer other brands (and why?)? Got any feelings about RAM shopping? Let me know by using the comments section. Be sure and get a professional technician to install the RAM if you are not sure of what you are doing. It's easy to crack a memory stick if not aligned properly. Hope this helps.

"Memory is like kitchen cabinet space or closet space -- you can never have too much!"
~Bill Wobblynife

Talk

Motorola has really given the iPhone a run for the money with the Droid phones. They are exclusive items sold through Verizon. Now they have started the marketing phase of the Droid X. It'll be out in a few weeks. Read more about it at Engadget. Despite its somewhat large size there are many features that justify carrying such a phone.

If we weren't with AT&T I'd definitely give this one a try. Alas, even though AT&T claims 97% coverage I must live smack dab in the middle of that other 3%. I rarely complete a conversation at home without being dropped several times. Meanwhile, I'll keep using my non-text friendly Motorola Razr V9X. It's the best cell phone I've ever had no doubt. Hopefully, AT&T will get their act together. They weren't always this bad.

The variety of cell phones is downright fascinating. Crackberries (aka Blackberries), iPhones, HTCs, Droids, etc. are seen everywhere. Droid is attractive to me because of the value per month concerning usage of apps. Besides, it's using Google which seems to improve everything the company touches. Several friends have iPhones and like them, and I've heard of some that detest them, throwing them in the trash. The presale of the iPhone 4G is good. Wish the FCC and FTC would stop the market from making models "carrier-exclusive."

Just glad to have my hot rodded Razr. Anyone else remember the Motorola Bricks? It was not only a phone...it was a pretty nice weapon!

"You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need."
~Vernon Howard

New Microsoft Office Version Launch

Office 2010 goes on sale today. The retail box of Office 2010 Professional will be priced at $499.00. If you download it from Microsoft it's $349.00. Quite a savings don't you think? The Student version will be $149.00 for the retail software and $119.00 for the same when downloaded.

They are launching the online web apps, etc., too. Here's the catch - you have to have a Windows Live ID. Sorry, I'll stick with Open Office and Google Docs. Just don't want any Hotmail or Windows Messenger on my computer. That's part of the Windows Live experience. I despise both Hotmail and Messenger. Worrisome apps that will pester the hell out of you. Opinions? Let me hear from you if they've changed, etc. EDIT: New info about this subject please read the comments for this post.

Comments are welcome!

"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today."
~James Dean

YES! it's Music Monday

They are older and better. This is a classic! For my daughters:



"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk."
~Doug Larson

Guild Wars 2 Warrior (Beware Chuck Norris)

Shedding Light on a Mistake

Yesterday, I did not post correctly about the support at Microsoft of different operating systems. If you keep your XP Home, Media or Pro up to date it seems Microsoft will still have online support into the year 2014. If you are thinking about upgrading here are two excellent sites (actually two different pages on the same site) to visit that will give you some facts about Windows 7. The Comparision Chart gives a thorough checklist of differences between XP, Vista, and Win 7. The Compare Editions will help you decide which version of Windows 7 you need. IGNORE their suggested retail prices. I know for a fact the Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade Version can be purchased at Amazon.com for $167.91. That's a savings of over fifty bucks! Be sure and shop around. BE SURE and buy from a reliable online store.

Ashby's comment in yesterday's post is also very helpful concerning hardware. Good breakdown of what is what. Thanks for a great comment!

Hope this helps.

"Decisions become easier when your will to please God outweighs your will to please the world."
~Anso Coetzer

Questions about Microsoft Operating Systems

Windows 7? Don't get the Starter package. Premium, Pro and Ultimate are the best Windows operating systems to date, period. Windows finally nailed it. Let me qualify and say that XP is still good and support lasts until sometime in 2012 and Vista is also good as long as you install SP2 - service pack 2. I use two primary Windows machines, one is a desktop with XP Pro the other is my new uber laptop with Windows 7 Premium. Wanted it that way so I can learn 7 Home Premium and will certainly upgrade to Ultimate at a later date. My ongoing love of Windows 2000 (it changed computing with the file structure) lingers, but 7 is the bombdiggity.

Here's the deal - memory memory memory. The newer operating systems might not do well on an older machine. Make sure you have enough memory and really take a look at your hardware especially if going 64 bit. That's my story and Ima stickin' to it!

Later.

"Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him."
~Dwight D. Eisenhower

Awesome, Fantastic, Marvelous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At our last LAN party Mudslingr turned me on to this truly great singer. She was only 14 during this appearance. At 14 could she really really pull it off? My doubts went up in smoke when she did a classic Billie Holiday song. Take a look and listen:



Words cannot be found to describe the overwhelming joy that fills my soul when I listen. There's also an even better version of this song on her record label site, A440 at YouTube, where she stuns a crowd of 30,000 standing in the rain. Sadly, they won't permit embedding. Thanks Mudslingr for recommending what may be the best post ever made on beach house Music Monday. Be sure and catch her version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm. I am being serious. As far as that goes, EVERYTHING she does is stupendous!

"What is soul? It's like electricity - we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room."
~Ray Charles

Sorry to Disappoint Some, but Rumors of My Death Are Greatly Exaggereated

Sorry about not posting these past few days. Haven't felt good and taking meds that make sleep the prevelant part of day and night. Also been up late at night remoting in to do work while servers are inactive. Extreme back pain due to strain in lower area plus the usual ongoing back problems dominated this past week. The few days I did work exhaustion put me to sleep too. Will try to get back on schedule tomorrow. As Red Green always says, "Hang in there. We're all in this together!"

Family

Up all night doing remote maintenance on two networks. Spent yesterday collecting a few odds and ends from the LAN Party left on purpose at FeleciaB's house and visited with Beagle, Mudslingr and the Purple Giraffe for a while.

We had coffee and a long conversation geek-style. Music was discussed too. Mudslingr helped get gas for my truck (ran out, duh!) and then surprised me with a riding lawn mower for the beach house. Overwhelmed and overcome with joy!

My daughters and sons-in-law plus the little ones are awesome beyond words. They realize what a devastating and chaotic time it's been the past few months. The items lost in the fire were critical to cash flow and home maintenance. Nice to know I have family that loves me and cares. God in heaven knows I am a truly blessed man.

May be struggling, but a new laptop and riding mower certainly have lifted my spirits. A day never passes without a prayer of gratitude for all of them. Really not much in the way of tech news today, but it is nice to know that there are family and friends that care.

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."
~Desmond Tutu