Synopsis

This is an excellent compilation of video and audio that is a great synopsis of Guild Wars. It will bring back memories to those of us who started in 2005 when there was just one chapter. Now there are four. All are featured. My hat is off to Calaval for the great work.

This is spectacular footage of a historical moment. Definite props and kudos go to Russian TV for this wonderful piece of history. The voice over is in perfect English. Only three more times will you see such a feat of inspirational awe and beauty. Sorry folks. This always makes me proud as an American and gives pause for a moment of prayer for those lost in such undertakings. Godspeed Shuttle Crews and Godspeed Russian TV. Thanks again for the wonderful highlights of another mission well done!



"It is a fact that in the right formation, the lifting power of many wings can achieve twice the distance of any bird flying alone."
~Charles Kingsford Smith (first transpacific flight,1928, one year after Lindbergh's Atlantic crossing)

It's Only Rock n' Roll, and I Like It!

No doubt these guys are having a good time. Everyone takes a lead. Derek Trucks (blond head dude) is great, Doyle Bramhall (dark head left handed cat) breaks down the boogie, Steve Winwood is awesome (remember, his #1 instruments are keyboards not guitar) and stick around to the end when Clapton shows them all how it's done. Thank the Good Lord that Clapton overcame all the grief, drugging and drinking and survives today to play so many wonderful tunes. Turn it up!



Told you it was worth sticking to the end. They all rock, but Clapton is THE MAN!

"Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music."
~Ronald Reagan

Sidebar: Folks, I am having a rough time, no use denying it. I've tried to stop talking about the recent fire devastation. Please pray for me. This is one of the toughest uphill battles yet encountered. David G. sent an email that lifted my spirits and I know he prays for me during this struggle. Please remember me in your prayers and help me get through this crisis. I find myself on my knees a lot seeking guidance and hope. Guess you could say all's not quiet on the western front... Thanks.

GMail at the Speed of Light!

Here is a handy tip for those needing fast email capability. It is a GMail script. Very easy to install and saves lotsa' time n' trouble. It's GMailThis. This comes from a handy-dandy site aptly named How-To Geek. It's loaded with all types of wonderful stuff and is well worth bookmarking (add as favorites, IE ppl). I actually have the widget on my iGoogle homepage and check in most every day. This site is well written, easy to navigate and site construction is outstanding. Definitely the way a tech help site should function. Great forums too!

Not using GMail? Crawl out of that cave and quit being a Luddite. Get a free acount at GMail. Also, you can download another great free application that is da' bombdiggity. It's called GMail BACKUP. Isn't it kewl that they created their own backup? GMail has huge storage and it organizes your mail in comprehensive patterns. It can also be downloaded into Windows Mail, Outlook Express, Outlook, Thunderbird and several more POP/SMTP clients if so desired. Saving the best for last. They have the most AWESOME SPAM FILTER in the Solar System. Takes about two weeks to train (which is easy) and spam will disappear. Receiving literally thousands of emails a month here through Gmail and usually less than 5 a month slip by and the disposal process is very simple. Then that spam is gone FOREVER! Heck, I even publish my GMail (email) addy at the top of this page. Don't want to comment?. Send me a note - cybersouth@gmail.com. This is my all time favorite email program. So put down that club, grunt to your better half and leave the cave!

Here's the usual disclaimer. You download it, it's YOUR responsibility. Follow instructions. All links provided in Cybersouth have been downloaded and tested.

Hope this helps.

"It is a good divine that follows his own instructions."
~William Shakespeare

Celtic Woman - The Moon's A Harsh Mistress

Very Kewl Apps

Do you use text documents frequently? Be sure and check out Google's Documents Tour. This application (Google Docs not the tour) is most handy to someone that pushes text, .pdf, flow charts, and like material up and down via internet. Really nice work on Google's part. Definitely add the Drawings Extension. Also, you can take a look at many more extensions at their Official extensions site. Google Docs is a great way to collaborate, edit others, etc., while on the web. And it's FREE!

There is one more important application. You may have ignored the above because most of your documents are created in Word, Excel, Powerpoint or other Microsoft Office programs. Easy enough to keep using this great office suite and utilize the above applications. Just download Offisync. It will interface Office and Google Docs plus several more Google applications. Downloaded it and installed in a snap. Nice tool for the busy Office user. Guess what? It's FREE too!

As usual, YOU download to your computer. If something monks up don't fuss. These tools are used at the beach house and there have been no problems. Read the instructions on how to download and install. They are there for a reason.

"I try to leave out the parts that people skip."
~Elmore Leonard

Keys to the Left, Keys to the Right

Back in the day you could not find a numeric keypad on every keyboard. They were usually a very expensive purchase that hooked up via serial port after a long voodoo ritual that usually involved severe bleeding created by the hair pulling. There's still a small, compact AT keyboard sans NKP on one of my file servers that is interfaced with a PS2 adapter. It works fine. Why mention all this ancient history? I still migrate to the numeric buttons above the QWERTYUIOP keys. Currently, I am trying to change this age old practice and utilize the functionality of the numeric keypad. My old habit is pretty deeply ingrained so it's taking some time. A great site is available that will help you make the transition. Go to wikiHow's How to Ten Key.

Southpaw here so you'd think that location of the numeric keypad might create problems. Not so. Most left handed people are somewhat ambidextrous in a right hander's world. Over the years I've learned to use a mouse with either hand. I can actually use a right handed mouse with my left hand. After years of field work and being in the sometimes strange locations that people put servers, firewalls, etc., it was a natural learning progression. Having problems left handers? Check out wikiHow's How to Be Ambidextrous. Hope all my fellow lefties celebrate on August 13th. Why? It's Left Handers Day!

Interesting fact: The most often used keys on a standard keyboard are under the left hand if you touch type.

"A habit is something you can do without thinking - which is why most of us have so many of them."
~Frank A. Clark

I Gotta' Fever and the Only Cure is...Mo Motivation (or Coinage)!

Left this morning around 5:15AM and there was a backhoe sitting in front of my garage. Apparently, they dropped it off last night. Since I crashed early sleep muffled the noise. Maybe today I will be able to put all this behind me. Such a loss. Such horrible timing. Really didn't need sold finished products going up in flames, literally. Gosh, don't remember whining this much when the El Camino was stolen.

Trying to drum up business and also get caught up. Reason I am sitting at a wifi hot spot in Corinth, Ms, (Sub-Way) waiting on a client at 6:30 in the morning. Gonna' try and go by Dana's for a haircut and at least quit looking like gorilla mode is the tactical op of the day.

Enough, will try further to turn around this whine trend tomorrow. Later n stay casual.

"Drag your thoughts away from your troubles... by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it."
~Mark Twain

Present Becomes the Past

The remaining refuse of the recent fire disaster will be removed tomorrow. Be glad to see it gone. Sickens me to get out there and go through it again, but it must be done. No doubt I'll be filthy afterwards and smell like burnt wood, metal, electronics, etc. Never realized how inconvenient it is not to have clothes dryer, until now. Not a pleasant way to spend the morning. Tomorrow should be a better day though.

The rubbish pile calls and I am outta here. Later!

"When it is dark enough, you can see the stars."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Music Monday

Always thought these guys were amazing. Burton Cummings, the lead singer, has one of the most distinct (and best) voices in rock and roll history. Did they ever do a bad song? This is an older cut that shows off the tightness of the band. Be sure and listen to the harmonies and transitions. They don't miss. Give a listen to one of the greatest bands to ever hail from Canada! This 'll make you wanna get up and dance!



As with all good bands they are having fun. Good tune to stir up the music soul!

"Music is a discipline, and a mistress of order and good manners, she makes the people milder and gentler, more moral and more reasonable."
~Martin Luther (1483 - 1546)

Few Days

Still working on some pixs of the laptop for sale. Will post them next week. There will be no posts for the next two days. I badly need some time to recuperate. My feet were burned in the fire and I didn't wait long enough before wearing shoes and working. Hopefully a few days will help the healing process. Stay casual this weekend. Se ya'll on Music Monday.

"Life is a flame that is always burning itself out, but it catches fire again every time a child is born."
~George Bernard Shaw

Facing Facebook

Facebook was tried for a few weeks and is no longer at the beach house. People weren't very friendly, contacts showed up that I didn't know (finally learned to stop that), and people are not very willing to help. As a matter of fact if you like to insult people or be insulted this may be the ideal place for you on the internet. All in all, an unpleasant experience.

Before you start trying to raise a ruckus with me for my opinion please realize this is just one man's opinion. If it interests you by all means try it. You may like it. I won't try myspace either. They keep emailing me for some reason and it may be time to get in touch with one of their higher muckety-mucks and have this stopped. Better yet, next time I get one of their emails it'll be marked as spam and that will solve that problem.

It's apparent I am not a social networking person. Tried Twitter and didn't like it either. Some folks get into all this, but I have grown old and am too much of a curmudgeon to really enjoy these things. Even stopped Facebook for a few days, tried it again and was insulted several times almost immediately. Enough. I try to post here on a daily basis and my outlet for social networking is Guild Wars. We even voice talk in real time by using Teamspeak. Yes, if you interact in GW with other groups (PUGS) then people can be hateful. I stick with my guildmates or go it alone most of the time so this is avoided.

Really, you don't need to tell me how wonderful you find Facebook and insult me further. But, my money says you will anyway. Guess what? It's my life and you have no control. Hell, I barely do! Good luck to all the Facebookers.

"It's not a slam at you when people are rude - it's a slam at the people they've met before."
~F. Scott Fitzgerald

EDIT: PUGS = Pick Up Groups, where you randomly join a party of live people that are trying to accomplish the same task.

Great Fun

Creativity is sometimes great fun. The students at Shorewood High seem to be having a blast. There is something really different about this. See if you discover what is so different:



Yes, it was shot backwards and in one take. Rachel Ray featured this on her program yesterday. There is also a YouTube post on how they made the video. Very clever. Thanks Ashy for a great link.

"Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything."
~Kurt Vonnegut

Chrome and Duplicate Cleaner

Here is an interesting video. It's worth the few minutes it takes to watch.



After a long scan and cleaning with Duplicate Cleaner (post on 3/30/2010) several things happened. First, a sigh of relief entered my mind as I realized the post did not link to this program. Second, it may or may not be the culprit concerning problems experienced afterwards. There is a very good chance the problem may be UIC (user in chair). I am checking the scan settings for hints to the problems. At this time, it has not been un-installed.

After scanning the computer and recovering 14 gigabytes of space some quirks arose. They all revolved around Google Chrome which is in the Links List. My homepage is an iGoogle page that has been customized. It wouldn't load properly. Only 25% of the items included on the homepage were left. At this time the cause has not been determined so the Duplicate Cleaner run and this glitch may be coincidence. Real life? Methinks strongly they may be connected (UIC). We will see.

"There's a bit of magic in everything, and some loss to even things out."
~Lou Reed

Music Monday - OBG by Restless Heart

Not a huge country fan here. Like some of it though. This may be the prettiest love song I've ever heard. Bear with us guys, the ladies n' me need this from time to time. Gosh, what memories stir in my mind...





Real men can like this song, lol!

"The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of."
~Blaise Pascal

Happy Easter!!

"Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time."
~Martin Luther

What Do You Really Know About Easter Eggs?

I get so tired of the holier than thou crowd condemning the use of the word Easter and the fun of an Easter egg hunt. Before you make rash decisions based on knowledge that amounts to barnyard material, please read the following information which found its way into my Easter basket via Wikipedia:

Origins and folklore

The egg is widely used as a symbol of the start of new life, just as new life emerges from an egg when the chick hatches out.

The ancient Zoroastrians painted eggs for Nowrooz, their New Year celebration, which falls on the Spring equinox. The Nawrooz tradition has existed for at least 2,500 years. The sculptures on the walls of Persepolis show people carrying eggs for Nowrooz to the king.

At the Jewish Passover Seder, a hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water symbolizes the festival sacrifice offered at the Temple in Jerusalem.

There are good grounds for the association between hares (later termed Easter bunnies) and eggs, through folklore confusion between hares' forms (where they raise their young) and plovers' nests.

Christian symbols and practice

The egg is seen by followers of Christianity as symbolic of the grave and life renewed or resurrected by breaking out of it. The red symbolizes the blood of Christ redeeming the world and human redemption through the blood shed in the sacrifice of the crucifixion. The egg itself is a symbol of resurrection: while being dormant it contains a new life sealed within it.

For Orthodox Christians, the Easter egg is much more than a celebration of the ending of the fast, it is a declaration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Traditionally, Orthodox Easter eggs are dyed red to represent the blood of Christ, shed on the Cross, and the hard shell of the egg symbolized the sealed Tomb of Christ—the cracking of which symbolized his resurrection from the dead.

In the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, Easter eggs are blessed by the priest at the end of the Paschal Vigil, and distributed to the faithful. Each household also brings an Easter basket to church, filled not only with Easter eggs but also with other Paschal foods such as paskha, kulich or Easter breads, and these are blessed by the priest as well.

During Paschaltide, in some traditions the Paschal greeting with the Easter egg is even extended to the deceased. On either the second Monday or Tuesday of Pascha, after a memorial service people bring blessed eggs to the cemetery and bring the joyous paschal greeting, "Christ has risen", to their beloved departed.

Pious legends

While the origin of Easter eggs can be explained in the symbolic terms described above, a pious legend among followers of Eastern Christianity says that Mary Magdalene was bringing cooked eggs to share with the other women at the tomb of Jesus, and the eggs in her basket miraculously turned brilliant red when she saw the risen Christ.[4]

A different, but not necessarily conflicting legend concerns Mary Magdalene's efforts to spread the Gospel. According to this tradition, after the Ascension of Jesus, Mary went to the Emperor of Rome and greeted him with “Christ has risen,” whereupon he pointed to an egg on his table and stated, “Christ has no more risen than that egg is red.” After making this statement it is said the egg immediately turned blood red.


Did you know anything about the Hebrew and ancient Christian connections? I especially like the one about St. Mary Magdalene and the Emperor. Just thought I'd shed clarification on a lot of hooey that is passed about this time of year. Go to church tomorrow. Feast with the family and let those children have some fun hunting Easter eggs. Still disagree with me? That's your privilege. This is my opinion and I am stickin' to it!


"The story of Easter is the story of God's wonderful window of Divine Surprise."
~Carl Knudsen

Good Friday Prayer

A day to be sad, a day to rejoice. I wish that all religions would embrace the ideals of helping our fellow man. It would be a wonderful world if all nations let freedom ring and gave people the pleasure of worshiping as they desire. This hate campaign against America is nothing more than petty jealousy and please forgive the poor, lost, ignorant souls. God help them come into the light. Amen

"Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness."
~Floyd W. Tomkins

Watch Out for Merry Pranksters

April Fools Day. Just another heathen incorporation from the past. Especially this year it irritates me, because it comes just before the highest holy days of my faith, Christianity. We've so much monkey business going on in government it doesn't seem worth the effort to play jokes on someone. Congress is enough of a joke. Don't get me wrong. Good Friday is celebrated at the Beach House and IMHO, there is nothing nothing wrong with children hunting Easter eggs. Yes, I am aware the church incorporated pagan holiday festivities into a solemn remembrance of Christ dying on the cross. I do think that the Resurrection is just as important (if not more so) as the Birth. But, show me in the Bible where God says don't have fun. I check in with God several times a day. Those prayers can be about various things, but you can bet your sweet bippy one will be about personal salvation. Yes, I am selfish enough to want a one way ticket to Heaven. Peace Out!

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and
the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
and a little child shall lead them.”
Isiah 11:6

F1 Key Warning and New NVidia Drivers

There is a valid warning about websites asking you to use the F1 key. DON'T DO IT!! You can go to Microsoft Security Advisory 981169 to learn more. There are some workarounds, and I expect a "fix" next Patch Tuesday which should occur on April 13, 2010, if history repeats. This is verified by snopes and the rest on the web so stay away from the F1 key if asked to use it on any website. Read the above article because not all versions of Windows are subject to this garbage. Thanks EdC for a very important heads up.

Also users of NVidia graphics cards might want to check out their NVidia Downloads Page. New drivers are out that address several issues, especially if you play Crysis. This machine has installed driver 197.13 and there has been no glitches so far. Thanks out to Ashy for another great heads up.

"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much."
~Mother Teresa