Recover lost post? Not gonna' happen!

Well, I just wrote a very long entry about this being my 400th post. It has disappeared into cyberspace. Yack, Arghhh! $#@8%!!?!? I just wasted an hour in composition and was publishing when this happened. Must start saving everything as a draft.

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day! Remember our brothers in arms that have fallen in battle.

Clarence: "Remember George, No man is a failure who has friends."
from the movie, It's a Wonderful Life

And now a few words about Comcast simians

Okay, I realize some folks had plans, but to those that missed the LAN Party last night let me tell you, it was a fun evening. We ate, played, ate, talked, ate, and the rain stayed away until almost 11:00PM. Nice easy evening and everyone seemed to enjoy a leisurely, peaceful night at the Beach House. And there are ribs left to munch on!

G4techTV is a disaster. If I wanted to watch shows slanted for the 12 year old age group, Nickelodeon and Disney have been around for years. I think they dress and change the make up of the same two dull dudes for about 50 different programs and all 50 of them are about watching said dudes play games and say weird left coast expressions. Thank goodness they kept X-Play. At least Morgan and Adam are a different approach.

Friday night found Patrick Norton, Roger Chang and Cat Schwartz on The Screensavers. Where are Kevin, Sarah, Yoshi, Joshua and Foo? Patrick is really good, Roger is pretty good and Cat just outright sucks. She's so busy trying to act cutesie and I am sorry, you just ain't got it girl. The best move TechTV made about The Screensavers was ditching Leo Laporte (my age group) and letting Kevin Rose (mid 20s?) co-host with Patrick. We saw an upswing in information about Windows, Linux and FreeBSD. Leo, only 3% of computer users go to the orchard. Dude, I like your style for the most part. Please quit offending the vast majority of the American public with all the applecrapple.

Anyway, Comcast management mucksters are probably a bunch of low IQ monkeys sitting around a table flipping coins. They really hit the odds this time. I bet the board room smells like bad ape hygiene. C'mon you clowns, do you think anyone really watches the Thunderbirds? Or Robot Wars? Or ANY of those other lame G4 programs? Right, maybe those 12 and under.

"Golden, Ripe, Boneless Bananas, 1024 Cents A Pound."
-overheard in a Comcast board meeting

LAN party approacheth

Sorry about not posting yesterday. Came in, moved some stuff, back went out and so did I after taking flexiril. Overslept so must get busy with things needing done before LAN party festivities. It'll be kicking off 5 or after this evening. The weather may hold out; we'll see. There's a call out for desserts. Later my fellow geeklings!

"The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want."
-Ben Stein

Download music direct!!!

Almost didn't publish this link --> Motley Fool. It's a good article about the scum at the RIAA and their persecution of music fans in America. But the popups and demand for registration to read Motley Fool are very annoying. Believe me, you'll never see that tripe in here. I am just glad that people keep reading.

Yes, the Nazis at the RIAA are at it again. How long are you people going to stand by and let this bunch of woosies persecute you? They only want to keep prices up and musicians down so they can exist! Write your favorite artists and tell them you want to download directly from them! And quit buying CDs!!!!!!!!!!! Is the consuming public really this stupid? I AM NOT advocating piracy. I am advocating that the RIAA needs to cease function forever. If you download music from the artist direct you will pay less money and the artist will gain a greater share of the profit that was inspired by their creations. Every time you download from Apple, Wal-mart, etc. you are paying for the RIAA to persecute someone. Everytime you buy a CD money goes in the RIAA coffer and is therefore, used to run rampant on citizens. To hell with the RIAA. That's where their "worshipped one" is anyway. Evil I tell ya', evil!

Must go prepare for the LAN Party this weekend. More on that tomorrow or go to SouthernPhried.

"When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Memorial Day cometh

Can't wait until this weekend. Actually taking off and going to enjoy being at the Beach House a few days. We are going to LAN Party Saturday and cook some type o' beast on the grill. The weather is forecast as sunny/hot. Still working on some PCs that I hope to return before Friday.

Everyone have a casual Wednesday.

"I put a dollar in one of those change machines. Nothing changed."
- George Carlin

Ogres - good and bad

Shrek 2 has the highest all time opening box office for the first 5 days according to Ireland OnLine. I've talked to several people and all but one person said it's more fun than the first ogre/donkey fest. Even the one dissenter said both movies are equal. Good stuff.

G4techTV still hasn't updated their website. It looks horrible. Try not to hate others, but Brian Roberts, head buffoon of Comcast, is making this extremely hard for me. We had the greatest TV channel ever, well balanced, informative, entertaining and they have ruined it. The shows from G4 are really bad. Really bad. Really really bad. No wonder the ratings were poor. If torture put you to sleep I'd be comatose after watching this barnyard material. Let's hope ZDNet or someone develops a stiff dose of competition.

Becky, from VistaIIIMedia, called and said the cable 2way project is upon us in the Saltillo area. Hey, can I help in any way? Gosh, excited that this is happening. See? They called and let me know. Nice bunch of folks!! Brian Roberts of Comcast should take lessons.

Back to the bench. Do something nice today. Pay someone a compliment and mean it.

"Have a better than expected day."
-Ed Coffin (Grand Prarie ,TX, philosopher)

Summertime, and the chicken is greasy

It's early, the sun is rising and the weather's hot in the Deep South. Time for air conditioning. At least the sun will be shining today as I work on two projects in the field. Making some head way with the PCs on my bench and mowed the yard yesterday. Didn't want anyone disappearing because the Beach House lawn was a reflection of the Serengeti Plain and decided it was time to drive off those animals that were lurking in the high grasses. There's still that evil smelly thing that is prowling in the back of the garage. Think it could be a disgruntled AOL person?

Don't you look forward to Memorial Day? Being a Parrothead, this holiday actually kicks off grilling season officially and I am ready this year. Have a kewl fridge on the patio and the grills are primed (Chris and Tina - the new grill rocks! TYTYTY). Scouring the net for recipes and looking for an easy weekend of catching up ongoing projects around here. Only one PC will sleep over during this holiday weekend. I need a break and am taking it. Great reflection time for this Vietnam Veteran. Peace out...

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."
-John Wayne

Summer box office delights

There are some awesome movies playing the theaters this weekend.

Beagle and Mudslingr highly recommend Van Helsing. Not a avid fan of the horror genre (hate those slasher/elm street flicks), I do like an occasional vampire movie. I've known several. And the thought of an 'Indiana Jones type' doing battle with the Count, Wolfman and Frankenstein's monster is appealing. The special effects are supposed to be stunning.

Being an avid fan of things mythological, most especially the Trojan War, Troy has some appeal. The reviews say it's not very accurate, but hey, this is mythology (it's not real). Brad Pitt as Achilles? How does that work?

Then there's Shrek 2. I like this movie and haven't even seen it. Who can resist the charm and delight of 2 ogres and a donkey trading insults and quips. If you don't find this just plain fun please pray for a sense of humor. It's getting rave reviews except for the normal horses' butts that basically hate everything that is truly entertaining. Beagle, Mudslingr and Maddiecakes are going to call after they see the matinee today. Wish I could take off and go with them, but work calls.

It is beautiful today. Just a little hot, but this evening should be perfect! Love the fact that I have to spend time in the sunshine today. Everyone have a great Saturday. Go see a great movie!! And if you have, please leave a comment about it.

"Dreams are the touchstones of our character."
-Henry David Thoreau

Enjoy every sandwich...

It's Friday. That means only 2 more days to work this week. Been a while since I've had a day off. There's 3 PCs sitting around my bench that HAVE to be finished this weekend. Ashby Rhett Culpepper III, was good enough to come by weeks ago and help me fight a FreeBSD install and get a machine running. It needs to be on my network instead of sitting in the dining room floor. My yard sorely needs attention. Hasn't been mowed in weeks. I repaired 4 PCs last weekend and have worked every night this week. Also, there's two home theater jobs that need immediate attention this weekend as well. My carpet HAS to be cleaned, the floors need mopping, etc. And the garage? Well, that evil smelly thing that I thought ran away is back. Please, please don't bring me stuff to do, especially if it's a charity case. Just too busy to take on any new projects. Thomas Electronics and Red Magnet have super technicians. They also charge a fair price for their work. On top of all this I've started another new medication this week that should require mandatory vacation for a few days. Wish I had enough time and money to fix every PC for free. I don't. Also, the next person that calls and asks 'why are you not answering the phone', expect me to hang up.

Now I must go take medicine and head to the day job. Everyone enjoy your weekend off.

"Time is the fire in which we burn."
-Gene Roddenberry

VistaIIIMedia rocks and a great quote!

Recently received an email from Mark Hooper, VP of Marketing and Programming at VistaIIIMedia, explaining that TechTV will remain at its current slot in their channel line up. Whew! Glad we will still have some form of The Screensavers. VistaIIIMedia also plans to be finished with the Saltillo area rebuild in mid July. Just remember, there are many factors that surround such an enormous project so don't be too disappointed if they run late. Be patient. It'll be worth it. Just can't say enough good about these folks. Just because of their great manners I'll wait it out if delays happen. Carol, Becky, Mark and everyone else - hats off to you all! There's a new banner for them below the links list.

On a related subject; Robin emailed and asked if the cable company dropped me Sunday. I failed to mention that I was on a dial up modem and that was what dropped - NOT VistaIIIMedia. Sorry, my bad. But always good to hear from my fellow geek in New Hampshire! She actually lives in Nottingham! Get it? Robin? Nottingham? LOL. Anyway, keep those cards n letters comin'.

Grasshoppa over at SouthernPhried did a great post yesterday that everyone needs to read. Links are posted for VistaIIIMedia and SouthernPhried. Take a look. Both are great sites.

"A man's manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait."
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

PeoplePC? Not at the Beach House

Up early working on a Dell PC that came in running Windows XP with 128 megs of DDR RAM. Does this give you a clue as to why I don't like Dell? Hey, we improved it adding 256 megs and it's a different machine. Of course every piece of spyware known to man, several nasty virii, and some weird apps running in the background made this machine splash over into virtual memory even at the initial screen. No updates had been done, critical or otherwise. To be fair, this computer resides in an extremely rural area and the connect speed is about as bad as it gets.

One thing I've found out in dealing with this unit is that PeoplePC has about as much respect as AOL in geekdom. Several boards I use had members spitting fire when I mentioned PeoplePC. It is a very crude interface. It immediately jumps on the browser like AOL and I haven't found a way to remove the annoying toolbar, yet. Don't try renaming the bartshel.exe file; it doesn't work anymore. I don't work on AOL machines and think that PeoplePC may get the same treatment. Folks, don't fall pray to the mumbojumbo of these grifters - use your local ISPs. Your connection speed is dominated by the condition of your phone lines and not some voodoo speed up thangy offered by these liars. Even better, get broadband cable or DSL. Save headache time.

Have to make a journey to the doctor in a few hours. And I need my ugly sleep. Update my fellow geeklings and have a most casual day.

"AOL is like the cockroach left after the nuclear bomb hits. They know how to survive."
-Jan Horsfall, VP of marketing for Lycos

A very important word

The most important word concerning PCs is UPDATE! When you check your Windows Critical Updates (and you do, don't you?) there's that word that denotes an extreme sense of urgency; the one spelled C-r-i-t-i-c-a-l! Don't at random select these, DO ALL OF THEM!!! I don't care if you ever use Windows Media Player 9 in the regular windows updates, but use your noggin' and get all the WINDOWS CRITICAL UPDATES installed on your machine. Have no idea what I am talking about? Then I hope you saved your boxes because you need to ship it back to the place of purchase and give up using this wonderful, useful tool. Sheesh! How thick does a person's head have to be to completely ignore such an important procedure that is basically painless. Can we say Neanderthal? Feelings hurt? Then get busy and correct a truly foolish mistake. Or keep paying me and my brothers in arms to correct errors of gross stupidity.

Please, please remember that an anti-virus scan is only as good as the last virus definition UPDATE. If you don't UPDATE your anti-virus definitions you are playing with fire. And do the same for your spyware/adware prevention. I am here to testify that AVG and Ad-Aware have updates on an almost daily basis. Just remember if you are sitting in front of a machine that has gaping holes due to your slackass attitude concerning Windows Critical Updates, you might not reap the full benefit of a great anti-virus program like AVG. Hey, There's no love lost between me and the script kiddies writing this trash and the bizzness moguls over at eUniverse and Gator/Claria/Gain/CME/or whatever they are named today. They should be rounded up, gut shot then left to die. Have trouble abiding jerks and believe me, I have experience.

Everyone have a wonderful updating evening. Rock on my fellow nerdlings.

"If you're going through hell, keep going."
-Winston Churchill

The first post today was much longer and more detailed

This is the second post today. I had published the first one and the internet connection dropped and there wasn't time to save as a draft. It's been yard work all afternoon and made my weekly trip to Lowes to lust over the Makita stuff and neat patio furniture. Hope everyone has a great Sunday.

"Smart people underestimate the enemy."
-Kevin Mitnick

Pizza and NASCAR

Wow! Saltillo has a new Pizza Palace called Armond's. They build subs and pizzas that are awesome. They opened yesterday and we ordered two 12" with everything on 'em and they were $8.99 a pie!! Delivery was very prompt, they were polite and some of the best pizza I've eaten. And you can look at me and tell I am a pizza fanatic! Kudos and props to Chuck and the gang for a badly needed service in our small town. Their phone is 662-869-3464. Try it, you'll like it.

Worked on Stan and Charlotte's awesome Sony Vaio Desktop earlier and am finishing up an uber laptop for a friend, Bruce Parker. It's a Toshiba with the 16X9 screen and hyperthreading. Rock and roll! Well, got to go and watch NASCAR; this stuff is addictive. Just learning about it and it's fun to watch. Everyone have a Super Saturday!

"What wins on Sunday - Sells on Monday."
-Gibb

Douglas Adams and Dire Straits

May 11, 2004, was the third anniversary of Douglas Adams untimely death. He wrote The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series and several other interesting and entertaining books. Hitchhikers is finally being made into a movie. The website is H2G2. They just put it up today, but looks like it will be fun to watch as they finish the movie.

Adams had a really neat sense of humor and died of a heart attack at age 49. Here's a site that has a good biography --> DouglasAdams.com. The Hitchhikers Trilogy (there's actually 5 books, LOL) is required reading for the sho' nuff uber geeks. BBC did a series back some years ago that ran on PBS in the States. It was fun, but the movie should be awesome with all the improvements in special effects. Interesting note; Douglas was a fan of Dire Straits and was said to have written most of these books with their music playing in the background. This cat had good taste in music!

Hi Ho Hi Ho, off to an extremely long day of work. It will end very late. Everyone have a better than expected day.

"Hey look at that yoyo, that's the way you do it"
-Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits, Money for Nothing)

Cable, internet and a thing that goes bump in a hard drive

The launch of the new combo television channel TechTV-G4 will happen on May 28, 2004. I've emailed my friends at VistaIIIMedia and asked if they will carry it. Hope they do. I did notice that Dish and DirecTV are on the list of SMATVs that will carry it.

There's a dark cloud around this COMCAST/TechTV merger. Just a general bad feeling when a company buys its competition because the competition has a far better product and then absorbs it into a lesser product. What little I've seen of G4 brings to mind a stilted, amateurish attempt to produce a cable access kiddie show. Not very professional and definitely not geek fodder. Most likely this will end up terrible. Sorry to be negative, but sometimes we just don't get our way.

Here's COMCAST; a company that I used to brag about because they provided super service to their customers. Yes, I have been prejudice because their first cable system was in Tupelo, Mississippi. Then they close down the Tupelo office and move the service to what appears to be a floating service center in Alabama. Man, they promoted Dish and DirecTV for several months by way of the hateful attitude customer service reps had towards the subscribers in Tupelo. It was so bad the city fathers in Tupelo told them at contract renewal time to straighten up, get somebody here to do the job, or get the hell out of town. Props for a great move by the city government. Now, my dilemna is the few employees of COMCAST left here during the purge are really nice people and are extremely efficient at their jobs. I consider many my friends. What Brian Roberts should do is get his head out of that place where the sun doesn't shine and realize that his subscribers pay his bills. PAY ATTENTION to the customer! Quit persecuting my friends that subscribe to your service and my friends that provide your service!

Then you have VistaIIIMedia. Nice folks. Always pleasant and informative. If they can't answer a question they find someone that can. They seem to smile while they are on the phone and are personable at the Booneville office. I've emailed Mark in Oxford several times inquiring about different things pertaining to broadband and he always replies in a prompt courteous way. They are headed my way with two way internet and I have stuck with them because they provide good service and are polite. It bothers me that a lot of their subscriber areas are surrounded by COMCAST. Please VistaIIIMedia, don't give in and let them buy you out.

Hamboni is sulking in the hard drive. He expected a warmer reception. Comment!! Tell us how you feel!

In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. Therefore:
In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties. Work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence.
-- The Peter Principle

Hamboni Speaks

Salutations and greetings to all those on the terra plane of life. I am the genie Hamboni that lives in an old Seagate huge height SCSI (pronounced scuzzy) hard drive being used as a doorstop at the Saltillo Beach House. My master has asked that I share with all you earthbound dwellers some predictions gathered while delving into the future of this planet.

1. In the near future a lost tribe of cannibals residing in Arkansas will attack a promo tour bus of Apple high muckity mucks that has stopped on the side of the road to admire an orchard. Steve Jobs will be devoured just outside Black Oak, Arkansas, as onlookers play Spider Solitaire on their Windows XP laptops. They (the cannibals) will be rendered harmless due to indigestion. After capture they will be released and awarded medals for their good work in cleaning up roadside trash.

2. In the near future a mad terrorist from a little known Arab country named Iroot will crash a DC3 stolen from the Confederate Air Force into Brian Roberts swimming pool during a pool party for the high mucksters at COMCAST. Brian's last words before he jumps into the pool will be, "last one in the pool is a TechTV lover!" All will be lost.

3. In the near future hackers worldwide will unite and shut down all COMCAST web sites and power grids forcing all their subscribers to switch to satellite. Charlie Ergan will be elected President immediately thereafter running as a Frisbeeite. He will dissolve Congress and replace it with a weekly meeting teleconferenced from the White House called Charlie Chat.

4. In the near future mysterious forces will arise out of the south that will topple all members of the RIAA, ACLU and various entities residing in Hollywood. The forces will be named "Decency" and "Moral Dignity" and their main goal will be to stop Nazism forever. Mr. Susan Sarandon will cry like a sissy boy as they lead him to the guillotine.

5. In the near future Dock will stop celebrating birthdays and quietly pass May the 10th as just another day.

The magnificent Hamboni speaks. The magnificent Hamboni rests. Salaam ben dover and joys of parting with all terrestrials. I return to my Seagate huge height SCSI hard drive...

"Don't rub that doorstop!"
-Billy Wobblynife

Google honors Mother's Day

Be sure and check out Google's title bar today. There's a pink rose in it in honor of Mother's Day. Had planned on road tripping to Mom's house this morning, but flexiril has me in a purple haze and a 3 hour journey one way probably won't help.

They've caught two "authors" of virus infections. Both were apprehended in Germany. ArsTechnica has more on the story about the criminals that created the sasser and phatbot worms that have plagued the computer industry. Two things stand out as being really sad about this story. They are both young; 18 and 21. The maximum penalty for such offense in Germany is 5 years; it should be much more and mandatory.

It seems that Michael Moore's controversial film Farenheit 911 has been ditched by Disney. The Washington Dispatch has the article. Moore is another village idiot that needs to move to Mars or Pluto. Seems he's been outed as a money grubbing liberal. Is that redundant?

Everyone have a great Mother's Day. Peace out.

"The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness."
-Honore de Balzac

Brian Roberts of COMCAST is a pimple on the butt of humanity!

You know, it's impossible to let this COMCAST-TechTV fiasco go. I feel like I've had to stand to the side and watch big business outright murder a good friend. Geeks everywhere should unite and do something about this un-American act of the media business bully. So sad to see the most informative TV channel in history killed because COMCAST felt it a threat to their wimpy G4 channel. Anyone that has COMCAST cable please consider satellite!! Better picture, better channel line up, nicer people and not in league will Satan. Call and cut them off!!! Better yet, don't cut them off, just don't pay the bill until they return TechTV to its rightful place among the air waves!

As is often found with nefarious sites, COMCAST's website has no true email addy. It bounces around and I am desparately trying to find some way to email Brain Roberts and call him the lowdown dirty snake's belly parasite that he is...what a creep! When I do find an addy it WILL be published here and I encourage everyone to stand up and protest! We don't have to take this load of barnyard material. My wrath towards the RIAA, ACLU, Satan. etc. is mild compared to my current mood concerning this affront to knowledge seeking people across the world.

Ok, I need to go do yardwork and vent some of this anger. Everyone have a wonderful weekend except Brian Roberts - a pox on you, you minion of Lucifer!

"Long is the way
and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light."
Book II, lines 432-433
-John Milton
Paradise Lost

Spyware and COMCAST Jerks

Wired has an excellent article about spyware. They agree that it is the worst problem we face today when using our 'personal confusers'. This is excellent reporting from a really great source. Check it out.

Well it's official. COMCAST is the biggest asshole in the media business. They have fired 100% of the staff at TechTV. I have enjoyed this channel more than anything that's ever been on TV. Even Star Trek. Such a great well of information and the jerks at COMCAST have ended possibly the most informative channel ever to air. Brian Roberts (head asshole at COMCAST), please show up at the beach house so I can personally kick your sorry yankee butt! The Laporte Report has more info.

Doom on COMCAST!
-Billy Wobblynife

New email addy and virus update

Please everyone using the old cybersouth@mail.com address note that the new email addy is cybersouth@gmail.com. Yes, I am beta testing for google mail and have decided that most any service is better than mail.com. They are idiots. Slowed down my account and started popups since I decided not to pay for the account. Let's see, 'take away conveniences, treat our clients like bull doodoo and they will want to pay.' Yeh right, mail.com. Gosh that makes us all want to rush out and send money to you. I hope your venture falls flat on its face. Jerks!

Sasser is still with us. Having a copy of Microsoft's 835732 critical update and their latest 'fix' on my jump drive makes this easier. Don't you wish you'd tuned in to Windows Update on April 13, 2004? You could have downloaded this and not had to deal with the sasser problem. Oh well, maybe from now on you will do Windows Critical Updates. Ya think? Probably not...

"In all large corporations, there is a pervasive fear that someone, somewhere is having fun with a computer on company time. Networks help alleviate that fear."
-John C. Dvorak (love this quote!)

Sasser virus really sucks, as do the originators of this trash

Creators of virus infections should be gutted while alive and hung upside down to die slowly. Sasser virus has infected (at last count) over 1 million PCs (edited 5/5/4 -18 million is the projected possibility of infections). Then some jerk comes along and sends emails disguised as a "sasser virus fix" that are infected with the Netsky virus. Satan truly exists and these people are his lowest scumbag minions. It's just not fair for hard working people to have to endure this barnyard material. Time is so precious and mine has been spent cleaning up this malarky the past two days.

If you have been doing Microsoft Critical Updates properly then you will not be infected. Geez! How many times have I mentioned how important these updates are to the health of your machine? Not enough? Some folks are just natural born rocket scientists and know more than anyone about anything. They are probably infected with sasser.

To read about this on the web do a google search for sasser. It's everywhere. There are some removal tools available and the 835732 critical update HAS to be downloaded and installed. Also, turn off system restore until you are sure the virus is removed. Then turn on a firewall. Use the free version of ZoneAlarm or the wimpy Windows firewall. There's an email address at the top of links list (SEND AN EMAIL) if you need help.

"What's puzzling you is the nature of my game."
-Rolling Stones, Sympathy for the Devil

Fun, fun, fun

In spite of rainy weather the LAN party was almost too much fun. Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening and the Unreal Tournament gaming was awesome. I had been playing as Darth Booger and decided that the dark side of the force was holding me back. So I changed names. Well, Obiwan Catfish didn't do any better. I was fragged continuously.

This was a needed evening of relaxation and socializing. What a good group of people! The next one will be much easier and better prepared. Really neat to be amongst that many alpha geeks and great friends. Rock on.

"Therapeutic partying is more than just fun, food and drink."
-Easley

Brief note

It's finally LAN Party day. We are gathering at the beach house to play Unreal Tournament, enjoy some Cheeseburgers in Paradise and refreshing beverages. The weather looks like it will be bad so we have changed the arrangements and moved the actual LAN inside. Please drive carefully.

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."
-A. A. Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh (Wow! does this quote apply!)

Spyware/Adware Trauma

I am going to state two cyber truths. You MUST download and install Spybot Search & Destroy. You MUST download and install Ad-Aware. Then check for updates EVERY time you get on the internet. Check for these updates when you first open your Internet Explorer, Mozilla, etc. If you don't do this and keep rolling the dice you will lose to Incredifind and the other smarmy spyware/adware people. If you have any problems installing please contact me. I will gladly help. Spybot S&D is a wonderful program and you should send money to Patrick Kolla for this neat utility (I did). Lavasoft is the owner of Ad-aware and their basic version is free too. They sell upgrades. Links are posted.

It is so frustrating that there is free software out there and people don't use it. All the harping in the world here at Cybersouth does not magically make these programs leap out and install on your computer. It takes around 15-25 minutes to install both of these super utilities. My frustration comes not from the fact that they are gathering information that's on your PC and where you go on the web. It comes from PCs slowing down and finally doing weird things, like crashing, from all the junk that someone else has decided you need on your machine. Would you like for a door to door salesman to come into your house and go through your personal belongings at random? Well, that's about the same as these jerks invading your cyber privacy. Don't let them do it! Defend your rights!

For a brief respite I am going to go LAN Party in spite of all the interference that is being thrown in my path at the last minute. It may mean being up all night, but this event is going to happen.

"Do not go gentle into that good night."
-Dylan Thomas

Another Darth bites the dust along with some students

It's late and my daughter, son-in-law and I have been testing the Unreal Tournament LAN setup. Lets see...Count Dooku, War Groupie and Darth Booger did battle and they kicked my Booger butt. The server is performing flawlessly. We have 3 machines on line besides the server and even the laptop is doing a great job. Several more machines will be brought on line and we are expecting the hardcore gamers to bring their on "rods", LOL. Now we just need to hope for a pretty evening on Saturday.

The booger eating RIAA are at it again. This round is 477 suits and most are college students at the following schools:

Mansfield University
Brown University in Providence
Rhode Island
Emory University in Atlanta
Georgia Institute of Technology
Gonzaga University of Spokane, Washington
Michigan State University
Princeton University
Sacred Heart University of Fairfield, Connecticut
Texas A&M University
Trinity College of Hartford, Connecticut
Trinity University of San Antonio
University of Kansas
University of Minnesota
Virginia Polytech Institute

I hope someone takes down their page and hacks their web doo doo so horribly they fall off the earth and die. I loathe anyone that works for or with these creeps.

"Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd."
-Bertrand Russell (the RIAA Nazis are DEFINITELY outside the herd)

The Good, The Bad, and the Butt-Ugly

THE GOOD: The first Beach House LAN party is happening this Saturday. The boss is out on jury duty and our office manager may have to take off. When it rains it pours. But, there are good people involved and all the ducks will line up. We are going to setup the server and network tomorrow night for a trial run. Hope the weather holds out. If you are out and about stop in and say hello. Start time is 4ish in the afternoon. Burgers n chips, casual type affair.

THE BAD: Yet another Incredifind Removal tip has been added to the link list. Seems the general attitude on the web is to outlaw spyware/adware. Congratulations to Utah for taking such a stance. New York! Make sure Michael Balboni's anti-spyware bill passes. Hope everyone else follows. How did we stand by and let these Nazis do this to us?

THE BUTT-UGLY: John Kerry.

"Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will say more necessary because health is worth more than learning."
-Thomas Jefferson

Let's dance...under the moonlight, this serious moonlight

I like David Bowie. This article reflects the spirit of an artist that has no intention of suing his fans. BOWIENET is David's official site and it is well done, easily navigated and full of info. Ziggy Stardust is a definite white hatter!

Here's a kewl page ->The RIAA Sucks. Much info here about the music thugs. Be sure and read the quote at the very beginning of the article. Always knew Joni Mitchell was intelligent. And someone has even written a song about these jerks; here are the lyrics. This is cute and apropo.

Here is a list of musicians that are selling their music online. This was gleaned from the EFF site.

Alanis Morissette
Ani DiFranco
Beastie Boys
Beggars Banquet
CD Baby
Chuck D
David Bowie
Einsteurzende Neubauten
Green Day
Ice T
Janis Ian
Justablip Records
Kristen Hersch
Less
Matador Records
Michael Franti/Spearhead
Paula Cole
Pearl Jam
Phish
REM
Sinombre
Smashing Pumpkins
Sonic Youth
Streaming Geeks
They Might Be Giants
Ween
Wilco
Wonderlick

Remember, every time you purchase a CD at the local store you are supporting the RIAA. Buy directly from the artist online!

"Is it not strange that sheep's guts should hale souls out of men's bodies?"
-William Shakespeare

Be sure and read the quote today

The RIAA has company. Please read Caesar Fisher's article over at Ars Technica titled "The kids can't add, but they'll know the industry's stance on copyright." This is a perfect example of why all these entities should cease to exist. Dethrone all of them. There's a line from the MPAA that says, "If you don't pay for it, you've stolen it." Wow, wonder when they bought tickets to a movie? Or popcorn? At the prices demanded at the theater, this is robbery!

It's my considered opinion that you are given some weird drug at the city limits of Hollywood and usage is mandatory. It influences your liberal bone and you have to act a fool or they will run you out of town. Hey Hollywood, Hitler's dead and Satan hasn't completely taken over yet. But he's working on it. Amazing, here we are a democratic society and we let the Music Nazis and the Movie Mafia walk all over us. Alec Baldwyn, Mr. Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, etc., will never been seen on the beach house tube again and there's a long, growing list of these cretins. You can have your opinions about politics, social issues, religion and so forth, but don't besmirch the United States or the President in public because you are under the influence of the idiot drug issued at the border. The RIAA and MPAA are probably passing it out.

Was going to reference an article in the San Jose Mercury News about spyware, but since they dropped a cookie (two popups followed quickly) on my PC without permission to hell with them. How close is San Jose to Hollywood? Along the same lines yet in a positive manner take a look at Michael Balboni, New York State Senator of the 7th district. Just Google search and he's all over the place. This dude is taking care of business. Created harsh laws to deal with terrorism (you go Mike!), defends the rights of children, and is dead set on ridding us of these cyberthugs. Wonder if our Mississippi lawmakers can hear their constituents?

"Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings."
-Helen Keller

Rainy Sunday

Many things to do, but the day was spent as a victim of the couch monster. One of my meds was doubled so woozie has been the operative word today. Besides, it rained this afternoon. Hope it rains tonight so the dog won't bark all night long. What a nuisance. Sorry, if it belonged to me I'd stop it from annoying everyone.

Time to go to bed and read for a while. Everyone have a nice easy Sunday night.

"If you don't like the weather in Mississippi, just wait a few minutes."
-Billy Wobblynife

Incredifind? Glimpse of cybertorture

Here's another nightmarish tale of Incredifind damage - Computer Cops. Also, I stand corrected (thanks bondo): eUniverse is the driving force behind all this Incredifind/Keenvalue manure. Write to your Congress and ask that this company be investigated. Support good legislation to ban adware/spyware in your state. Tell your friends and neighbors about this horrible invasion of privacy. Wonder why no one has taken down eUniverse's page? And if you did something like that would you be considered a white hat hacker or a gray hat hacker? IMHO, no one that gives these jerks a dose of their own medicine can be considered black hat hackers!! Hmmmmmmmm...questions, questions.

"The true rule in determining to embrace or reject anything is not whether it has any evil in it, but whether it has more of evil than of good. There are few things wholly evil or wholly good."
-Lincoln

Not Fonda Kerry!

Why would anyone in their right mind vote for Koward Kerry? Why would anyone in their left mind vote for this creep? FreeRepublic has some VERY interesting info about this demoncrat. All I ask of my democratic friends is to go read this article. It is about his positions on different bills and how they relate to different southern states. Also check Real Heroes Voices to get a true picture of how this idiot has done things that border on acts of treason. Let's give our President 4 more years and send Mr. Kerry to the giggle house where he belongs. Being a Vietnam veteran I fume at anti-American activities. Mr. Kerry, you better not show up at the Saltillo Beach House. I WILL kick your sorry ass.

"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. The motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted."
-William Shakespeare

More relief for Incredifind victims

Computing.net posted a very interesting string of information about the ills and woes of the hated Incredifind on April 16, 2004. The key player here is viruskiller101. It seems there has been some success disposing of this horse manure other than the long, tedious manual removal. Keenvalue is the company that wrote Incredifind. Haven't actually used this approach so you are on your own. If you are having Incredifind problems it's definitely worth a look. Computing.net has been a great source of 'fixes' down through the years. Take a look at what viruskiller101 has to say and let me know. These suggestions will certainly be used here in the future.

It's off to the doctor to keep an appointment scheduled a week ago, rescheduled for Monday and then rescheduled again today. One of these days I'll learn to do that which is right or die knowing my health was not a primary consideration. Gee, think I should take control of my life so I can continue to have one?

"The groundwork of all happiness is health."
-Leigh Hunt

Momentary lapse of evil

I'm not due back in Wal-Mart for four months now. Actually made two trips there yesterday. Without a major incident. Seems that someone had sequestered the evil children that live there for some nefarious reason. Probably schooling the brats from hell on how to torture old people or giving them screaming lessons. Yeh, right, as if they need lessons! It's easy breathing for months (try to go only once every two months). Odds are on the 'big' that I don't last that long.

Received several emails about the War of the Cucumbers. Most are of the mind to leave them out of the diet, but one person suggested eating only English cucumbers. No plans are made to put the things back into the diet anytime soon. Murf from Kentucky was vehement and apparently has had a like experience. Tuna, peanuts, cucumbers, what's next? Why couldn't it be beef liver or candied yams or pumpkin pie?

The War of the Voles continues. Have a worthy Wednesday!
"Every evil in the bud is easily crushed: as it grows older, it becomes stronger."
Cicero (B.C. 106-43)

First voles 'n now cucumbers are attacking

Monday was a bust. Early Monday morning, the deadly cucumber, onion and tomato salad attacked and won. Whew! Just glad to be alive. Now I must add yet another food to the list of things banished. About 2 years ago it was discovered that tuna salad was a no no. Grew up eating tuna and have always loved it. Have eaten some grilled since then and it had no ill aftershock. But, there's no need in taking a chance so tuna is on the banned food list. Now cucumbers are added. Hope this is a one instance thing because they make a salad jump! Yet, I certainly didn't think so this time yesterday.

Everyone have a kewl Tuesday and beware yo' foodstuffs!
"Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works."
N.B.: "Eat, Drink and be merry." See also Luke 12:19
-Ecclesiastes 9:7

Howling night things

Just watched an older Saturday Night Live when Dennis Miller was anchoring Weekend Update. Miller's latest approach (more conservative and supportive of President Bush) has made me let him back in the fold. In days past I would actually turn the channel if Dennis was on and left someone's house once because they were watching him do his liberal bashing of the GOP. Anyway, he's proof that some folks in Hollywood can deal with the real world. Enjoyed this episode of SNL and one thing stuck out; a quote of A. Whitney Brown. Please remember this is circa 1986. Mr. Brown said, "Iraq having nuclear weapons is like a termite having a chain saw." Poignant and funny.

Sleeping soundly I awoke to the neighbor's dog barking like crazy. There's been too much activity at night on the streets here it seems. Or this dog is psychotic. He barks at something randomly every night and it coincides with REM sleep. But hey, it's 3:15am and the birds are singing their tailfeathers off. Go figure. Could it be that the windows are open and I've just noticed things that have happened all winter? Can't remember last summer, but the air conditioning was whirring, so forth, so on, yada yada.

Rambling now and it's quiet at the beach house. Time to go back to bed and dream of warding off the waves of barbaric voles attacking. Maybe the psychotic dog can be enlisted to fight on my side. Make him a general and call him Hun, as in Attila. Fadin' fast. Peace out...

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."
-Robert A. Heinlein (don't know if this is politically correct, but it's the truth!)

Let's hit the lake!

New sponsor on the page. Mississippi Marine and Outdoors is located just east of the Barnes Crossing Mall which is located at the north end of Tupelo, Mississippi. They sell a world of boats, motors, skis, lifejackets, marine supples, yard tools, duck hunting stuff - well just click on their logo and go look at the site! Bill, Greg, Bill, Jarrett, Tim, Stephanie, Misty, Courtney and the rest of the crew will help you with smiling faces. This is a fun bunch that know their stuff. Hats off to a local business doing things in a positive fashion. Prejudice? You betcha! Like these folks!

"You can learn more about a man in an hour of play than in a lifetime of conversation."
-Plato

Good service or bad service - people make the difference

It's early and the sun is about to rise. Many yard projects today and it's about time to confront whatever is living in the dank, dark back corner of my garage. What a mess out there. Enough to make a grown man cry.

There is a written explanation over at SouthernPhried that outlines the downloading and install of AVG Antivirus. Several fellow geeks are working on graphical presentations of how to install AVG, Spybot S&D, and Ad-Aware. Hope this helps. Comments and email are welcome.

Flopping in bed a few minutes ago the overwhelming need for caffeine time hit me and, after grinding some awesome Odyssey coffee beans, the plan was to watch a program on the History Channel. Then found my upload capabilities traveling at the speed o' light and had to sit down and take advantage of it. VistaIIIMedia is busy working around town and I'll just bet this is in conjunction with the two-way upgrade underway. This day and time it's rare to find a company that goes the extra effort to help their customers. VistaIIIMedia does. Most just don't give a rat's butt about subscribers, clients, customers, etc. Nice to talk to people that have manners. Please keep up the great work y'all.

Hope Comcast doesn't buy them. Then we will have to deal with evil Renee, Renoo, Renaud (sp? - something like that, she probably spells it in some demon fashion) in Alabama that was mentioned in the March 30th post. Brian Roberts (head muckity muck at Comcast)!! I am still inviting you to call, email, snail mail, fly down (there's a joke!) so we can talk about your rude phone answering CSRs in Huntsville or Tuscaloosa. Wasn't always this way. When service for this area was based in Tupelo people were nice (BTW, Comcast folks in Tupelo are still nice and polite). And I know that the vast majority of folks are nice and polite in Alabama. Renee, get some help. Watch Dr. Phil. Join a 12 step program to overcome crudeness. Or move. Don't think she was born in Alabama. Do you care Brian? Apparently not. It is sad to see a company that installed their very first cable system in Tupelo now neglecting its roots. Most folks are not unhappy with the service; just the hateful phone attitude.

The sun is almost up and time to shift into positive gear. Now I must go fight the War of the Voles. Later y'all.

"Parents are usually more careful to bestow knowledge on their children rather than virtue, the art of speaking well rather than doing well; but their manners should be of the greatest concern."
-R. Buckminster Fuller

Spyware/adware just plain sucks

Evil never rests. Found another Incredifind victim yesterday and just walked away from a machine that is ate up with spyware. Why do people put this barnyard material on their PCs? The one from yesterday is on the bench at the shop and after removing over 800 instances of spyware it seems happier. Next, we get to remove virus infections. This one was about to go under, but it may be saved. The one on the bench here is not gonna make it. I am trying to recover some files and the hard drive is on its last leg. Wish the hard drive would last because this machine may be the most infected yet. We'll never know. Hey, employees of Keenvalue/Incredifind how does it feel to kiss the devil's butt every day? Hey, employees of any spyware/adware company how does it feel to be a cyber terrorist? Guess your children are really proud of what you do for a living. . .

"What is evil? - Whatever springs from weakness."
Nietzsche (1844-1900)

USB? USB? I want my USB...

Does everyone else have as much trouble with USB devices?!? Why do they suddenly disappear? I'd appreciate any voodoo you do to make these aggravating over-rated serial ports work. At least parallel ports for printers worked. And it may be the inexpensive all in one Lexmark, but seems there is constant trouble with these devices. K, kudos to Apple. Firewire is better. Has anyone paid attention to how many IRQs are used when installing a USB 2 card? Try 3.

Hep me! hep me!

"It's not the personal confuser; it's the user!"
-Techs all over the world

Monday moanings and merriment

Concerned parents ask about good sites for children and I've finally taken the time to browse one that is recommended and now I am on the train. It's Yahooligans. Safe site that has many educational games and other things that interest children. Hey, take a look. Nice that Yahoo is being responsible to the small ones of this world.

Great non-partisan site for "locals" is Mississippi Political. Nice clean looking site with a way kewl links page. If the Magnolia State is dear to you check this out. I like it.

Finally the two Incredifind wounded machines are healed and heading home. Hope someone is reading that has clout with state law makers and reports this hideous cyber malady. Keenvalue is the parent company. They try to come off as harmless and it's just not that way. I've a growing list of clients that feel the same way. Sometimes you just happen across something that reaffirms the fact that evil exists in the world.

Raining and chilly in paradise, but the local weather voodoo docs are mojoing for a casual weekend. Time to plant.

"The rain is famous for falling on the just and unjust alike, but if I had the management of such affairs I would rain softly and sweetly on the just, but if I caught a sample of the unjust out doors I would drown him."
- quoted in My Father Mark Twain, Clara Clemens

Friends, family and hoppin' furry creatures

Thanks so much to Molly and 'Hoppa for the nice comments yesterday. Just when wondering if anyone cares, friends show up and overwhelm me with support. Nice to know that people are concerned and shoring me up in this gruelling effort to overcome stress and high blood pressure problems. There is a plan and it'll be worked. Keep them thar cards n letters a comin!

My uber daughters are awesome. Love them both dearly. Emily has put her page back together and it can be found here. Next time a fast upload connection is experienced it'll be posted in the links as Beagle's site. She also writes a journal, but it is private. Kristi is so busy at work I don't know how she copes. They call several times a week to check on things. Both of them are founding members of SouthernPhried. I am truly the luckiest Dad on planet earth.

Have a superduper Easter. Bugs Bunny for Easter Rabbit! As that great Canton, Mississippi, philosopher Tim Irving says, "Hey, don't see ya today? Go ahead n hide those eggs without me!"

"Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self."
- St. Francis of Assisi

Call on Congress about Incredifind

Wow! It's nice to have internet connectivity. The dial up modem has been removed from this machine so I am exclusively dependent upon cable modem. No connection since Wednesday, but I haven't really tried a lot. Besides, could have installed a winmodem and used my dialup account. Needed the break. Trip to the doctor meant a change in meds and a strict lecture about diet. Rest will work wonders. Stress still sucks and those that support it suck even more.

I won't redo a machine and not install all the updates, AVG, Ad-Aware and Spybot. Just asking for trouble if it's left to the client to do these things. Trying to get someone to do updates is hard enough. So, without my high speed download capability I've been dead in the water for a few days. Have two PCs that Incredifind and various virii laid to waste. Such a sad state of affairs that we have Keenvalue/Incredifind cretins in the world. Back in the day they would have been subject to nefarious hacking and cracking. Nowadays everyone is scared to do anything about even the most evil junk on the net. Thanks, RIAA, ACLU and the rest of you liberal horseasses. I just bet the Incredifind jerks are not intelligent enough to stave off an offense. Hey, look at what they do for a living. Make others miserable. Please, please use the procedures in the tips that are listed at the bottom of the links to remove this spyware from hell. Haphazardly deleting files will end up in a format. Find a good popup murder program (Google Toolbar and AnalogX's POW! are both great), install Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy, and write your political representatives and ask that Keenvalue be investigated.

The wisteria that parasitically leeches the huge oak in the front yard is blooming and shedding. Looks like a purple blanket out there. It's a beautiful day in paradise with an easy, light breeze. Ignore the smucks, grinches, doodoo heads of the world and have a pleasant day.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
-Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

Incredifind in the Dock Empire? NOT!!

If I become Emporer of the Known Universe heads will roll. Spyware/adware people will be shot on site and spammers gutted n' left to die. Haven't thought up anything horrible enough for the virus writers, but diligently working on it. The Incredifind/Keenvalue sleazes will be hunted down first. EOTKU, has a nice geeky ring to it.

I'm outta meds n' have to be at the doctor tomorrow. Casual I ain't today.

"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence."
-Mahatma Gandhi

The Good, the Bad, and the Butt-Ugly

Good: Nice to arise, sign on, and immediately get an AVG update. Download speed is still slow, but it was a "go" on the first try. After years of recommending this program and making it one of my first links it's nice to see things returning to normal. An advantage of AVG is that their definitions seem to precede the other antivirus programs. Comes in handy during the next work day. Please remember, UPDATE YOUR VIRUS DEFINITIONS. If it fails, don't walk away like a wimp. Keep trying. Not downloading definitions can end up costing mega bucks!

Bad: Two machines are on my bench and they have something in common. Incredifind was found on both PCs and even though one had previously been worked on by a different tech and returned to the customer it still has problems. The fix? Both hard drives have to be formatted. The reason. Someone tried to delete things without using the formulated steps in the two links listed. We need laws to stop this madness. There are more emails and traffic concerning Incredifind removal here than any other topic. If anyone knows of any Incredifind/Keenvalue removal TOOL please let me know.

Butt-Ugly: Please stay away from Norton Internet Security. NOT Norton Antivirus. The antivirus program all by itself is fine (still prefer AVG). After an hour researching and 5 printed pages later from the NIS parent site, Symantec, I was able to salvage a laptop that has to attach to a network on a daily basis. Don't harp on me about this program. It won't do any good. It's evil and should be taken off the shelves. It will prevent networking, email and internet connection. Don't buy this hunk of junk. It has no resident uninstall program and the 5 pages that explains how to remove it are buried in the site. Also, if you are attempting to remove it the 15 or 20 registry edits they recommend are not enough. You have to do more. A mess if there ever was one. Wish Peter Norton still drove that train. Such garbage would never reach the consumer.

It's Tuesday and the beach house demeanor is Eastwoodish.

"The real problem is in the hearts and minds of men. It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man."
-Albert Einstein

Don't tread on Google, rocket scientist boy

Last week's post of Technology (Every Wednesday) finds Kevin Maney saying, "But, you know, much as I couldn't live without it, Google stinks." This article can be found at USA Today. He rants on about how we are all gonna' give up all our personal info and let it be merged with online engines so as to make our lives easier. No wonder I have not been reading what this 'rocket scientist' has to say. He further dictates this will happen by 2010. He has many comments and has become a self-appointed Nostradamus of things Google. Seriously, I am not making this up. Go read it.

After some discussion about this with the local geeks and nerdlings most have been left guffawing and horse laughing as I walked away. One fellow web surfer made the remark, "He's in the money section of this rag and that's frightening!" In all fairness, let it be said that the American public may not be as paranoid as your average geek. Yet, I find some satistfaction that 100% of the people that read the copy I have believe that it's barnyard material. Yes, I carried the article around all weekend (thanks Marshall, for the heads up!). Mr. Maney is certainly entitled to his opinion. Those folks that are still in shock about identity theft may disagree. To accomplish such goals our rights to privacy will disappear. May the Good Lord help us make sure such things don't transpire. He probably composed this little ditty on a Darth Jobs computer. Go figure...

"If you don't know how to use Google then practice, practice!"
-Billy Wobblynife

AVG rocks!

Good to have AVG back in working order. The Avast! utility was a bust. There's more info at Southern-Phried. The uninstall sucked. They tried to leave registry entries and that's not tolerated. Didn't take long to find out AVG is a superior product. Glad they are returning to normal as far as definition downloads.

It's a beautiful day and much work is on the schedule for the afternoon. Plant a tree, put flowers on the table, grab some rays, fire up the grill or reinstall that great yardware utility - the hammock. Every one have a great first day of daylight savings time!

"If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it."
-Herodotus (484 BC - 430 BC), The Histories of Herodotus

This is not a long one

It's been an 'oh my aching back kinda' day'. Glad to see AVG getting better. Such a beautiful day. Hated to waste today lounging around, but there's tomorrow! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

"Adversity is the first path to truth."
-Lord Byron, Don Juan

A fix, a complaint, a war, and a movie

The AVG download site "fix" is posted at Southern-Phried. The instructions are exact and very boring. This did not help in my venture to acquire a virus definition download so I am now running Avast!. It's different and under observation.

There are many pictures waiting to be posted and I will probably be in overkill mode the next time my upload speed is good. Florida Molly emailed recommending, "quit being a bitch and stop whining." LOL! Okay, my faith is in the VistaIIIMedia people to bring two-way cable modem to the thriving metropolis of Saltillo, MS. Talked to one of their techs yesterday and he was well-mannered, precise and took the time to explain the situation. Even wanted to call one of their uber techs to do a service call and see about possible hardware problems. God Bless them, they are trying to help. So I need to cease and desist my 'girly-man whining' as Molly so graciously put it.

Mississippi State University has information on voles and moles. I am still fighting the War of the Moles/Voles. My mammoth ears have to be planted this weekend and I am dead set on keeping these nasty critters away! Moth balls are said to be a great cure for this problem and humane as well. Results will be reported.

Came in last night, turned off the phones, turned off all the machines (except the server), cranked up the home theater and watched a tremendous movie; Secondhand Lions. Michael Caine, Robert Duvall and Haley Joel Osment turn in spectacular performances. Heartwarming tale that gently reminds us of mankind's superior qualities. One of those movies that delivers, big time. Watch it alone, with your significant other, your Mother, your children, your dog or your goldfish. This is good cinema without rap music, profane rantings, explicit sex and disgusting gore. Yes, it is almost sappy. I cried some and laughed a lot! There is still some good in this rude, ill-mannered world.

"To measure the man, measure his heart."
-Forbes