Great Alternative PDF Program

This day and time greed permeates this planet and internet sculptors are badly smitten. Take Adobe. Please. Their free version of Adobe Acrobat changed to Adobe Reader. Of late when they update Reader it seems to lose a little more functionality. It's my opinion that they are leveraging to force people to spend hundreds of dollars on the full version. Well...don't. Instead download NitroPDF free. This is a great program that's easier to use, has many more options and runs rings around the greedmeisters at Adobe. They also offer a Pro version at a very decent price. Bet if you download, you'll keep using it.

DO remember it's your download so if it gets outta' whack don't blame the beach house.

"When I have money, I get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart."
~John Wesley

Music Monday - Nikki Can Sing!

Great tune posted several years ago. It's worth a second listen. This is a super example of how the blues can inspire a person to reach a state of happiness. From 2008, she's really young (14 when this video was made!), but belts out this classic blues/jazz number like an old soul. Take a few minutes and give an ear to something pretty...and something powerful.



Awesome, huh? Prepare to be blown away. She covers Nora Jones and this is from a 2011 performance. Nikki knows no sour notes.



God has certainly blessed this child. Beauty can be in the ear of the listener.



Even though the clock seems to spin backwards embrace life and love beauty. Pretty good tunes, huh?

"Music is the poetry of the air."
~Richter

Yet Another TS Update

While the Teamspeak service provided by the beach house is being brought back to life, Mudslingr and Beagle and the Purple Giraffe have generously offered their Teamspeak Server for a few days. There is no charge and the set up is easy. A simple search and one click should put you back in the net communications biz. Please call me or email cybersouth@gmail.com to get the ins and outs of jumping to this server temporarily. Only takes a few minutes and you are back online! Even has a Guild Wars channel.

K, have to acquire a network card for the Teamspeak unit. The other machine is history, but the Ashy Alienware server is going to rock! Presently I have no mode of transportation so it is tough to collect everything needed. That should all change in the next few days. Believe it or not even with all the potholes in this road of life, it seems that progress is being made. Prayer works.


"A moment of patience may ward off a great travesty. A moment of impatience may ruin a whole life (or computer)."
~Bill Wobblynife

Status of TS Server

Bear with me please. I should have the new Teamspeak server online in the next few days. Had to work today and just don't feel like facing another machine presently. Please remember I am old, fat and known to hang out with the lunatic fringe at times. It's time to crawl in bed with my iPad and drift off to la-la land dreaming those tremulous dreams Jimmy Buffett sings about at times. Now where is my Pina Colada glass?

"How long a minute is, depends on which side of the bathroom door you're on."
~Zall's Second Law

Great Utility to Aid Removng Programs

Recently a fight took place at the beach house. Actually I should say the fight continued. Since before the Christmas holiday I have been battling Windows because I grew tired of Windows Media Center trying to take over my computer. Please read this disclaimer: There is absolutely nothing wrong with Windows Media Center and if you have need of it please use it in good health with my unwavering endorsement. Hope you read that carefully. Please don't email me raising hell about how wonderful Windows Media Center makes your life and how I should be ashamed to disgrace Microsoft. The program is great. It's just that there is no use for it at the beach house.

I couldn't turn around without this Windows program popping up a message saying that I needed to install it. Upon further investigation it became a challenge to uninstall this program. Come to find out Microsoft and many other people believe that it cannot be uninstalled only disabled. After many attempts using various tools gleaned from many websites, I did stop it from popping up the "you WILL install Windows Media now, swinehound!" message. Alas, it replaced it with the following goodie:

The gauntlet was on the ground before me. Being the hardhead I am, the challenge was on.

Contrary to what appears to be common belief, it can be removed. Don't bother using normal channels. It took a semi-voodoo uber tool to make this nuisance go away. It's called Unlocker. Please, please , please understand you download this at your own risk. The beach house is not responsible if you screw up by using it and end up with a FUBAR result. This is a awesome tool used properly and a nightmare used improperly.

If you happen to have this Windows Media Center problem, please email me; cybersouth@gmail.com. I'll gladly answer with details. Fair warning - it does involve some registry hacks and the removal of a few Windows system files. Also, people worked hard producing this neat utility. They ask for a simple $5.00 donation if you like the product. So be a good person and send them at least half a sawbuck. I did.

Geek on folks! Peace out!

"Never let a computer know you're in a hurry."
~Bill Wobblynife

Random Thursday - Defacing of the Pinwheel

Some things in life I cannot abide. If I ever meet the GEICO jerk that came up with the pig screaming we, we, we, the end result of said meeting will most likely go awry. I literally turn the channel.

Don't have much use for that Brit lizard either. Does England even have lizards? Ireland has no snakes! The Green Isles probably do have lizards. In that case they need to send the GEICO one home. Needless to say I wouldn't have GEICO insurance if they paid me.

And I like whirligigs. That screaming pig sliding down a rope screaming we,we, we, desecrates the coolness of a fun item. Mayhem dude and Flo irritate me to a lesser degree. What's up with all the bad insurance commercials anyway?

Got a favorite commercial to hate on with grand vehemence? Click on Comments below and let inquiring minds know.


Today's rant deserves two quotes;

"With no ads, who would pay for the media? The good fairy?"
~Samuel Thurm

"Let advertisers spend the same amount of money improving their product that they do on advertising and they wouldn't have to advertise it."
~Will Rogers

Blizzard Entertainment's Great Idea

Here is a really cool idea about how to help children with medical problems. Blizzard Entertainment, parent company of World of Warcraft, is auctioning off retired blade units they collected when upgrading their backend servers. The server blades are encased in a plastic display with the WoW logo etched on it. Game aficionados can hang these on the wall and be the envy of their fellow gamers. Kudos,props and hats off to the folks at Blizzard! You can find more info at EBay.

"Lord save us all from... a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms."
~Mark Twain

TS Update

No doubt the Teamspeak server experienced heavy power surge trauma, UPS included. Diagnosis? Deader than a hammer. Fortunately we have a backup unit which should be online in the next few days. This is thanks to Ashy for donating an Alienware unit. TYVM, TYVM. Parts are ordered to finish. It will be dual core, have 4 gigs of RAM. ASUS mainboard, so on and so forth. Anybody have a spare UPS? Even one with a bad battery.

"And computers are getting smarter all the time: scientists tell us that soon they will be able to talk to us. (By they I mean computers: I doubt scientists will ever be able to talk to us.)"
~Dave Barry




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Music Monday - Is it Us?

(TEAMSPEAK clients please see EDIT below)

First incarnation (very old with Eric Tagg, co-tunesmith)


Second incarnation with Phil Perry singing, pretty awesome!


Kenya (and Grady too, lol) sings, this smokes me!


3 generations of great music centered around the same song and a great talent. Lee is a magnet. Hope you stayed until the end of the last video; Kenya is righteous and knows how to end a beautiful song. Pwn!

EDIT: TEAMSPEAK CLIENTS - During the bad weather last night the Teamspeak web server took a major hit. It is on the bench and so far it has been determined that the network card, video card and monitor are casualties. The SCSI drives are spinning up but it cannot see the network without a NIC. I am searching my bonepile to see if I can find another card. It looks like the ASUS motherboard may be gone too. Ouch! Server boards are a massive drain on the pocketbook. Please bear with me. I have the back up server in pieces and should be able to reassemble it. I'll edit this post again when the machine boots later today or tomorrow.

Music Monday Spoiler?

There will be 3 videos tomorrow. I love Music Monday. This is a tribute to a fusion jazz musician that has soothed my soul in the background during prayer to God Almighty. Thank you Lord for the buff! Thank you Captain Fingers for making life kewl at times. This music makes me happy. Check it out n let me know...

Anti SOPA Senator

I didn't contact Roger for permission to publish this email, but I bet he's okay with it. After a lot of research he has constantly spoken AGAINST this legislation on the Senate floor.

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act. I am glad to have the benefit of your views on this issue.



Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced S. 968 in the Senate on May 12, 2011. This bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice to seek a preliminary court order against web sites that it determines are peddling copyrighted material and counterfeit goods. Currently, this bill has been reported out of the Committee on the Judiciary and awaits action by the full Senate. Be assured I will keep your views in mind as Congress considers legislation affecting online copyright infringement and the protection of intellectual property.



Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can ever assist you.



With best wishes, I am


Sincerely yours,

Roger F.Wicker
U.S. Senate

Go Big Guys

Yesterday many web entities protested the SOPA and PIPA garbage being considered by our legislative body. Rock on Wikipedia, Google, Reddit, Mozilla, etc. Good job guys and thanks out to everyone that contacted their Congresspeople!

Google Logo Blacked Out

If you go to Google and see the cheerful logo blacked out, there is probably nothing wrong with your machine. Google supports all things anti-SOPA and is showing solidarity with many other internet entities in this protest. Today was singled out to show the opposition to garbage legislation that will be voted upon next week. The true problem with SOPA and PIPA is being 'lightly' touched today. If this legislation from the bowels of hell passes, the internet will belong to the government. Your free usage of things webwise will be gone. Seriously folks, you need to contact your Senators and Representatives and tell them your rights and privacy are important. The fools that support SOPA should not be re-elected. I for one, would like to load them all on a space shuttle and shoot 'em into the sun.

Please vote for the Republican nominee this fall. Nobama needs to go!!!

Psych 101 or Congress 101?

My verdict is still out on limiting terms, but careful study of your current Congresspeople is always important. IMHO, for the state of Mississippi, Senator Wicker is doing a very good job while Senator Cochran sorely needs help and probably shouldn't be re-elected.

If you start with a cage containing five monkeys and inside the cage, hang a banana on a string from the top and then you place a set of stairs under the banana, before long a monkey will go to the stairs and climb toward the banana.

As soon as he touches the stairs, you spray all the other monkeys with cold water. After a while another monkey makes an attempt with same result ... all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water.Pretty soon when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it. Now, put the cold water away.

Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and attempts to climb the stairs. To his shock, all of the other monkeys beat the crap out of him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys, replacing it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked.

The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment...with enthusiasm. Then, replace a third original monkey with a new one, followed by a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs he is attacked.

Most of the monkeys that are beating him up have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs. Neither do they know why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. Finally, having replaced all of the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys will have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, none of the monkeys will try to climb the stairway for the banana. Why, you ask? Because in their minds...that is the way it has always been!

Thanks out to EdC for this way kewl observation on the current state of government. Please vote for the GOP Presidential candidate this November!

"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that 'all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people. To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, not longer susceptible of any definition."
~Jefferson

Dark

Tomorrow, the English Version of Wikipedia will go dark in protest of the garbage legislation concerning the internet. If you do visit, Wikipedia will give you a list of your Congresspeople that is triggered by zip code input. Folks, it's a shame that idiots create this horrible junk and that we have to further deal with the ravings of lunatic Senators and Representatives. This wasted time could be put to good use instead of combating Congresspeople that should NEVER NEVER be re-elected. My hat is off to the Wikis and their positive stance against SOPA and PIPA. Hey, if you want to see an example of the dark side of Congress, this is pretty much it. To think we have stood by idle and let these fool people try to force this abomination on us. Sheesh!

Music Monday - Rit and Friends

There is more talent on this stage than exists in some countries! I've watched this video for years and finally a decent version has arrived. The audio is really good and the video will do full screen and look good at 1920X1080 on a 32" monitor. From the trumpet intro to the powerful finale they are all smiling and making awesome music. Turn up the volume and clear the area around your desk. You'll probably wanna' dance!



"All music is folk music. I ain't never heard a horse sing a song."
~Louis Armstrong (aka Satchmo)

Short note

Due to illness and life, work is behind. My resolution on the 1st was to be diligent about work and stay on schedule. Well, it didn't happen. I am at work today and will probably be here until Monday AM. Please forgive my not posting.

BAMA #1

Pseudo Coach Miles is Goofy in a world of Disney college football and Pluto Jefferson should be banished from LSU football forever. Minnie Mouse would have been better. Jarrett Lee on the bench? Good job Crimson Tide! Yes my pick, believe it or not an Ole Miss fan pulling for LSU (?!?!??!?!), lost. It's a family thing. Congrats out to all the Alabama players, coaches and especially fans. Nick and team know how to play football. No doubt I was wrong and admit it. Roll Tide #1, you deserve it.

Music Monday - Good Tune

Intro is overblown, bear with it, nice rendition of a classic rock tune.

Attempt Concerning Java

It is late Saturday morning and I am trying to drink a cup of coffee. After a few sips it's apparent my stomach is not quite ready for caffeine prime time. I can't remember anytime in my life an attack of a gut busting virus laid me down for 4 days. Back in the day hangovers might have put me down for a few hours, but never more than a day. Well there was that one time...nevermind, another story another time. Thank the Lord He saw fit to let me survive all that idiocy. Am sore all over and still not at my best when on my feet. But the race to the bathroom every few minutes seems to have stopped. Hope so. Maybe Obama'a black choppers will go away and quit spreading mega-pestilence on the beach house. Did I really type that or just think it?

Have a pleasant Saturday. Maybe things here will turn back techno tomorrow. Three posts whining about a stomach ache? Enough I say!

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
~Lincoln

Dual Port Eruption Saga Continues

K, some advice. If you think you are over the latest stomach virus floating around, give it one more day. If you become active too quickly it will make a comeback with a vengeance. Experience speaks. Here are some further ideas about handling this nasty, nasty illness -> WikiHow. Believe me folks you want this out of your system ASAP! Exercise patience with people experiencing this malady. The wiki link has good advice and the feet being elevated seems to help. Check it out.

"The sufferings that fate inflicts on us should be borne with patience, what enemies inflict with manly courage."
~Thucydides

The Ralph and Buick Episode

Forgive me for being gone a few days. The stomach virus that's infecting the local area jumped off the top ropes and body slammed me to the mat. Started early Tuesday. I didn't feel good, but by 3:00pm the large gut was in a constant state of hurl. Whew! Get somewhere and be prepared if your stomach is queasy. Most of this down time was spent in the 'throne' room.

During the next few days I will be catching up on work that was already behind. It is my great desire to bring about stability and not have projects hanging over my head. Still a bit under the weather, but there's so much to do and my life has to get back on schedule. In spite of Obama this year is going to be better than 2011. So show some love n please give me a chance. Thank you, thank you very much!

"By perseverance the snail reached the ark."
~Spurgeon

Music Monday - Good Music Still Shows Up on Occasion

There is not a bad tune on this album. Get your free account at iTunes and spend five bucks to download Ori's Fire.



K that was a nice soulful tune. Now it's time to turn up the heat! FYI, Orianthi's the one with blue fingernails (insert evil grin).



"Whatever you are by nature, keep to it; never desert your line of talent. Be what nature intended you for and you will succeed."
~Sydney Smith

2012, Let's Make It Happy

Maximize the start of a new year and actively campaign against his re-election. We must unite and vote for one candidate and make sure we go to the booths in November. Folks, the United States cannot endure as a viable nation on this planet if he gets 4 more years. Pray. Pray for our nation, our freedom, and the future of our children.

"I have never been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others. To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
~Thomas Jefferson