The "Left Behind" Series

Someone should leave these authors behind! What is so amazing is that so many people actually believe this gibberish. Obviously, I am not one of that persuasion. NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof discusses their latest novel - If the latest in the "Left Behind" series of evangelical thrillers is to be believed, Jesus will return to Earth, gather non-Christians to his left and toss them into everlasting fire: "Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and a yawning chasm opened in the earth, stretching far and wide enough to swallow all of them. They tumbled in, howling and screeching, but their wailing was soon quashed and all was silent when the earth closed itself again." These books have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. The latest is "Glorious Appearing," which has Jesus returning to Earth to wipe all non-Christians from the planet. It's disconcerting to find ethnic cleansing celebrated as the height of piety.

Furthermore - In "Glorious Appearing," Jesus merely speaks and the bodies of the enemy are ripped open. Christians have to drive carefully to avoid "hitting splayed and filleted bodies of men and women and horses."

"The riders not thrown," the novel continues, "leaped from their horses and tried to control them with the reins, but even as they struggled, their own flesh dissolved, their eyes melted and their tongues disintegrated. . . . Seconds later the same plague afflicted the horses, their flesh and eyes and tongues melting away, leaving grotesque skeletons standing, before they, too, rattled to the pavement."

One might have thought that Jesus would be more of an animal lover.

These scenes also raise an eschatological problem: Could devout fundamentalists really enjoy paradise as their friends, relatives and neighbors were heaved into hell?

If you find this far fetched, well many of your fellow Americans feel this way. Makes one pause, doesn't it?

Olympic Trials

Deena Drossin smoked the other ladies in the 10,000 meter finals, almost lapping the 2nd place finisher. She won't run the event in Athens though, choosing instead to run the Marathon (She set the American Record in the Marathon - 2:21.16 in London in 2003). Tune in August 23rd to see her compete. She's a class act - after almost lapping every person in the field, she waited at the finish line and congratulated every finisher. Nice to see that - in her interview later, she proved herself to be articulate and a credit to Track and Field. She's a English/Creative Writing/Journalism major from the Univ. of Arkansas, where she won 7 Southeastern Conference titles.

To keep up with other fast ladies, check out this web site .



Tune in on Sunday to the Trials to watch Alan Webb try to win the 1500m - should be a great race. He's the kid who broke Jim Ryun's High School Mile Mark. Could this be the year America brings home a Gold in the 1500? Now that would be big! For a good interview, turn to this page .

What happened to chasing Terroists?

Now we're chasing poor ol' bad boy Bobby Fischer ? Wouldn't you think a few terroists would somehow be a bit higher on the priority scale, than trying to track down Bobby Fischer? He was scheduled for a match with Boris Spassky in 1992. Just before the match, however, the United Nations imposed sanctions against Yugoslavia for supporting Serbian aggression in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United States banned its citizens from doing business there. Mr. Fischer ignored a formal warning from the government against playing the match, and at a news conference spat on the letter. He won the match, collecting $3.3 million, and has been in exile from the United States ever since.. If you are unfamiiar with chess, Bobby was and probably is the greatest chess champion of all time.

Bobby is a bit nuts, professing to be a Jew hater, amongst other things (he is a Jew himself) and thought 9/11 was a fine thing, so you can see why there is not a lot of love lost for him, but somehow I doubt this guy is a huge danger.

Fahrenheit 911

Took in Michael Moore's movie yesterday. Not bad, but being aware of his stance and most of the issues, didn't come as a huge shocker. I suspect it might to folks who rarely read the news. It started off a bit overblown, I thought, but got better as it went along, in particular the scenes with Lisa Lipscomb, who lost her son in Iraq. It closed powerfully, bringing the message home that it is our poor youth and the kids from the projects who are really sacrificing their lives for the rest of us. Hopefully, it will sway some voters to vote Democratic - although Kerry/Edwards lead overall in the polls, Edwards isn't bringing the pop to the southern vote , that many probably hoped he would. He is more likely to appeal to those in Michigan and Ohio, who are out of work. Bill Moyer's piece I alluded to yesterday, pointed out why the poor still vote Republican, despite the economic damage that does them. It is discouraging to see how illiterate so many Americans are when it comes to having even an inkling of the issues - it's as if so many are in tune with Britney Spears, who has said that she just trusts our president and you have to believe in him. Just having Britney extoll those words of wisdom should be all that would be necessary to elect Kerry/Edwards, but....

Health
I got a chuckle out of an ad I heard on the radio yesterday while eating one of those low-carb wrap sandwiches at Subway (not really that good in my opinion). The ad was extolling the virtues of Slim Jims as a low-carb , healthy snack. Slim Jims are now healthy? Lord help us all. They really prey on gullible folks, don't they?

Experts Set a Lower Low for Cholesterol Levels
New lower levels for LDL cholesterol are touted, especially for those at risk. Of course, they encourage heavy use of statins. Doc Mercola thinks that is all wrong, "This give the drug companies another tool to forcefully advocate use of their drugs to lower cholesterol into very dangerous low levels. These "experts" are absolutely clueless as the foundational causes of heart disease. Cholesterol is only an innocent bystander and using drugs to control a symptom is a sure fire solution to worsen the problem. The most obvious is the reduction of coenzyme Q10 that occurs to everyone consuming statin drugs. The less obvious ones are the side effects and complications that result when using a drug Band-Aid solution rather than treating the cause of the problem. The recent Baycol recall is a classic example.

The way to lower heart disease risk is to address foundational causes of

* Optimal exercise
* Ideal diet for one's metabolic type
* Addressing emotional stresses
* Good sleep
* Exposure to adequate levels of sunshine

Think Doc is right or not? Good question. Offer your opinion in the comments section.

Your ol' used Computer
Office Depot is taking in your old worn out computer this summer for FREE. HP and others have done this in the past, but have charged for it (usually about $35), so this is a great opportunity to dump some of those big paperweights (I have quite a few myself).

Firefox/Mozilla/Thunderbird patch
If you're using one of these browsers instead of IE, there's a new security patch out for it. Go to this page to install the patch.

Quote of the Day
"The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory."
Paul Fix

Ouch of the Day Story!
SHEFFIELD, England - A man who shot himself in the groin after drinking 15 pints of beer and stuffing a sawed-off shotgun down his trousers was jailed for five years Tuesday for illegal possession of a firearm. Read the whole story here . Geez, get it together there you crazy bloke!

Mo Greene blazes to narrow Win in Olympic Trials finals

A great race - 1 1/00th of a second separating the top 3 finishers, 9.91,9.92,9.93 - that is some smokin' running! First time since 1972 that 2 guys have broken 10 flat in the Trials and this time actually 4 did (a 9.99 also in there for a 4th place, but no trip to Athens - only first 3 go - bummer for Coby Miller). It was lucky that Mo Greene had such a fast start cause I think if Shawn Crawford had had a good start, he would have run him down. Always exciting to watch! Better, of course, by far, if you're there in person, but ...

Marion Jones
Gary Hall, the Olympic swimmer, took a poke at Marion Jones the other day. `I hate that her defense is, `I never tested positive,' '' he said, pointing out that the drug in question, THG, has only recently been detectable. ``In an Olympic year, there's only a handful of athletes who get the attention that they deserve financially, and it's what keeps us going for another four years. If she has cheated, or if anybody has cheated, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.'' Marion finished a disappointing 5th in the finals of the 100 and won't be around to defend her Olympic Gold of 2000. It will be interesting to see how she does in the 200 later in the week and in the long jump. She had a baby just a year ago and probably isn't in top form, but many will wonder if she has lost here spark because perhaps it was steroids , all along? That would be a shame, because she was very good for Track and Field. Trials continue tonight from 10 p.m.- 1 a.m. Eastern on the USA channel and Thursday night from 10 p.m. -12 a.m. (USA), and Friday night from 11 p.m - 1 a.m. (USA). Saturday, they return to NBC from 5-6 p.m. Looks like I will be burning some long nighttime hours - may have to set up the VCR.

Politics
What's the Matter with Kansas? Watched an interesting program with Bill Moyers yesterday. He had author Thomas Frank on, who was talking about his book, "What's the Matter with Kansas"? As Democrats and Republicans battle for the hearts and minds of voters in key swing states, author Thomas Frank turns his attention to the traditionally red-voting state of Kansas which, he says, is a microcosm of a sea change in the voting patterns of working class Americas. Blue collar workers, says Frank, are embracing a conservative moral agenda centering on opposition to abortion and gay marriage and support for school prayer. The American working class, he argues, is voting against is own economic interests. What can the Sunflower state tell us about why Americans struggling to provide for their families would vote conservative and against their own economic futures? Bill Moyers talks with Frank, who argues that a culture war has led to a political deck stacked against America’s working poor.

Sounds like it would be an interesting read.

Quote of the Day
"One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us."
Kurt Vonnegut

In America (and Africa)

Movies
Just finished watching a marvelous movie, In America . The story of an Irish family coming to NYC in the 1980's and trying to cope. Wonderfully acted, with 2 marvelous little girls (who happen to be sisters in real life). 5 Stars. Bring your kleenex box. One of the best movies I've seen this year , made so in particular by these wonderful kids.

Books
#1 Ladies Detective Agency - A great series of books by African born author, Alexander McCall Smith, this being the first one in the series. A fat African woman opens a detective agency in Botswana - lots of bush tea and great stories. This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith’s widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to “help people with problems in their lives.” Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witchdoctors..... This series, about delightful people in the beautiful country of Botswana, is simply one of the very best new literary series in decades .......The humour is gentle and the characters are beautifully portayed. Especially Mma Ramotswe herself who confidently eats fruit cake as she does not need to worry about such things being a woman of 'Traditional African Build'. If you like audio books, this is one to listen to, as it is superbly narrated by South African, Lisette Lecat, who also narrated on "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight". Check out the ad at the top of the page for audio books - they really combine the best of a book with the best of theater - 2 for the price of 1. :)

Electronics
Just when I mentioned the new Maha charger C204W as an excellent new charger with worldwide voltage regulator built in (so you can use it while you're in Botswana :) ) , my C204 bites the dust after 4 years of use - most likely from too many power surges on our lightning prone mountaintop - next time will have to plug it into a decent surge protector. Though the 204W is their newest, I went with the 401FS which has a lifetime warranty and charges each cell individually. I liked the thought of that lifetime warranty. :)

Tungsten T3
Still loading software onto my new T3 Palm Pilot - this really is a very handy device. Getting (2) 256mb SD cards for storage (only $60) was a good move, as I can put lots of audible books, mp3's, and additional programs on it, that won't fit in the 64MB of built-in memory. So now I have an audio book device, a tape recorder(very handy), ebook reader, a photo and movie viewer, a master organizer, ability to connect to a Bluetooth enabled cell phone and surf the Net anywhere, game player, and a mega load of additional applications should I wish to install them. Not bad for free - thank you Ameritrade! (Just downloaded and installed "Naked in Baghdad", Anne Garrols (an NPR journalist) acclaimed book on Baghdad and the run up to war. Very nice display on the T3, better than my little Otis player I normally use - will be interesting to see what kind of a drain on the battery occurs from listening to an audio book).

Olympic Track and Field Trials
Just a reminder to tune in tonite for the Track and Field Trials - 8 p.m NBC (Eastern Time)

Health

Why Fat Hips are better than Fat Stomachs

From Gabe Mirkin's newsletter - A new study from Queen's University in Canada confirms that storing fat primarily in your belly, rather than your hips, increases your chances of suffering heart attacks and diabetes (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March 2004). When you take in more calories than your body needs, your liver turns them into fat. People who store fat primarily in their bellies are called "apples," while those who store fat primarily in their hips are called "pears." Fat cells in your belly are different from those in your hips. The blood that flows from belly fat goes directly to your liver, whereas the blood that flows from your hips goes into your general circulation. The livers of those who store fat in their bellies are blocked from removing insulin by the extra fat and therefore do not remove insulin from the bloodstream as effectively as the livers of those who store fat in their hips and have less fat in their livers. So "apples" have higher blood insulin and sugar levels. You need insulin to drive sugar from your bloodstream into your cells, but insulin is also a harmful hormone because it lowers blood levels of the good HDL cholesterol that prevents heart attacks and raises blood levels of the bad triglycerides that cause heart attacks. Being shaped like an apple and having a beer belly increases your risk for a heart attack and diabetes. People who store fat primarily in their hips and are shaped like pears are less likely to have heart attacks.

Quote of the Day
"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."
Dale Carnegie

Word of the Day
refractory \rih-FRAK-tuh-ree\, adjective:
1. Stubbornly disobedient; unmanageable.
2. Resisting ordinary treatment or cure.
3. Difficult to melt or work; capable of enduring high temperature.

Usage: 1. And even those most refractory infections of all, those caused by viruses- 2. Bauxite is mined in only a few places. It is used to make aluminum, iron, copper and dozens of refractory products such as the bricks used to line blast furnaces. 3. It's a head shot of Lucien Bouchard peering out of the dark, openmouthed, teeth showing, eyes glittering and appearing not to have shaved in a week. In another age, the shot might have been held up to a refractory kid with the warning, "The boogeyman will get you if you don't watch out."

Palm Pilot and USDA Food Database

If you want to know the nutrient content of a zillion foods and want it handy, then you can download the entire USDA food database into your palm pilot. Incredible amount of info on each food - if you're dieting or counting carbs, this is extremely handy.

Digital Toys
If you need a good charger for your rechargeables, look no further than the Maha C204W I've used one of these for years with very good results - now they've improved it, especially for those of you who might be traveling overseas.

Happy 4th of July!

More on Joe
For an interesting web site with lots of good interviews on the main protagonist of the book and movie, "Touching the Void" (winner of the outstanding British film of the year), you should check out Joe's own web site . He pulls no punches. A rather amusing quote from one of his Interviews/excerpts - I also have fairly strong views about climbing and children but they are purely personal and I have no criticisms of those who combine family and mountains. It is their choice and their conscience.
It has never been a problem for me since I have no desire whatsoever to have children, nor do I understand them. They are a mystery I never wished to delve into as well as being desperately expensive, life consuming and ambition compromising. I’m quite happy to live a lonely old age after a lifetime of fun (if I get the chance) than breed on the off chance that any of the little buggers will be around when I need them. A little selfish perhaps, or maybe just honest. Apologies to all parents out there.

I would suggest, however, that you watch the film first, without reading his web site, then watch the extra footage on the DVD, then read the book if you have the time. I think watching the film with no idea what will happen is worth it.

Diet
If you are low carbing it, check out the low carb soups made by Walmart. About 7-9 grams of carbs per cup of soup. Suprisingly -very tasty - some of the best canned soup I've had. Some are also fairly low on sodium ((550mg). They say they contain no trans fats, but the contents labels indicate partially hydrogenated oils, so how they claim the 0 transfats is a question.

If you use Smart Balance as a 0 transfat butter substitute (and it is a very good one), then you might also want to check out Smart Balance cooking spray (like Pam) - no transfats - that's gotta be a good thing.

For an excellent web site on the glycemic index, carbs, and the consequences of a crappy diet and potential diabetes, check out David Mendosa's site . (He used to go by Rick, but changed his first name to David - don't ask me why). Loaded with excellent information - it doesn't get much better than this. I notice much of the info on his site leads to further info by him on the About.com sites, which have to be about the best general web site on the Net - if you want info on damn near anything, go to www.about.com

Looking for a low carb pasta that really tastes like pasta without all those soy fillers? Try Dreamfield Pasta. Check out what David Mendosa had to say about it by clicking here .

Quote of the Day
"If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute powerlessness make you pure?"
Harry Shearer

Cheap Books

My wife just delivered two hardback copies of recent books to me. Ted Koppel's "Off Camera" ($25.00 retail) and Sebastian Junger's "Fire" (author of the Perfect Storm) ($25 retail). Know how much she paid for them? $1 each! Where? Where else? Dollar Tree. So all you inveterate shoppers, keep an eye on the book selection at Dollar Tree - you sure can't beat the price. She's even picked up books off of Oprah's list there.

Disappearance
If you've wondered where this column has gone in the past week or so, well I got a new Tungsten T3 palm pilot and I've been buried in it for awhile. Am now resurfacing to deliver you a new stream of gripping entertainment! I assume this sentiment is shared? :)

Mattie Stepanek
Was sorry to hear of the demise of little Mattie. This was the most courageous and incredible kid I have ever seen. He was light years ahead of so many of us. I still remember the first time I saw him on Larry King and just sat there open-mouthed. If you never saw Mattie speak in person, then you truly missed a once in a lifetime event. You can read about the Hero Poet here If there were only more Matties, the world would be a lot more peaceful.

Tennis
Did you catch the women's final this morning at Wimbledon? A gorgeous and very likeable young 17 year old (Maria Sharapova ) smacked Serena Williams around the court, 6-1, 6-4 to win her first Grand Slam title. She's better looking than Anna Kournikova and with this win is destined to make millions. Coming with her father to this country at the age of 7, she enrolled in a tennis camp and just 10 years later is the Wimbledon champ. I'll say one thing - she had that determined spirit - highly impressive. First Russian woman to win Wimbledon.

You can catch a great Men's final tomorrow morning between Andy Roddick and Roger Federer, last year's champ. #1 and #2 duking it out - should be a great match. Tune in early. The last time 2 top seed met was Connors and McEnroe in 1982.

Movies
Watched "Touching the Void" last night. A fabulous mountainering movie. A guest from England had tipped me off to the book a few years ago and I read it back then, thinking it was even better than Krukauer's "Into Thin Air". Translated into over 60 languages and over a million copies sold, it is a classic and well worth the read. Rent the DVD and get a chance to meet these 2 climbers who went through such an incredible week. Beautiful photography. I won't clue you in on what it's all about, but let's just say when you lose a 1/3 of your body weight in 4 days, then you've obviously come up against quite a challenge.

Don't forget to watch the upcoming Olympic Track and Field Trials!
They start July 9th. First day's coverage is on USA from 11 p.m. - 1 a.m. Eastern (whew). July 10th at a more reasonable 8-9 p.m. on NBC - unusual for this to be a prime time event. The Swimming Trials are going on at the same time. Tune in to see which athlete can consume the most drugs and still not be caught!

Quote of the Day
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy."
Ernest Benn (although I could have sworn this was a quote from GW's personal diary)

Hmmm... Does our Nation have its own case of Alzheimers?

I, myself, was surprised at all the gushing over Ronald Reagan during the past few days on television and in the news. Perhaps one should take a look at his "real" record. Makes one pause. I'm sure Ronnie might have been a "Great Communicator" in his younger days, but I sure didn't see much sign of it during his presidency.

Ron Jr.
Did you pick up on the comment by Ron Reagan at the funeral ceremony in California? I thought at the time - oh, boy that will get them a talking! And it appears it has.

Genocide
It is rather astonishing how the world can continually snooze over these mass genocides. Rwanda and now western Sudan. Bunch of crazy Arab militia backed by a nutty government out to eradicate all black people. I would think 320,000 killed would wake up a few people - our 1000 or so soldiers in Iraq who have been killed in our own nutty war seems to pale against those numbers. Yet, how often, do we hear about those dying every day in Darfur? If you listen to the BBC World News, you'll hear about it, but you'll be hard pressed to hear about it here. At least Nicholas Kristoff of the Times gets the message out here. Watch his editorial for a follow up. "The Bush administration says it is exploring whether to describe the mass murder and rape in the Darfur region of Sudan as "genocide." I suggest that President Bush invite to the White House a real expert, Magboula Muhammad Khattar, a 24-year-old widow huddled under a tree here."

Bitter at the Top
Brooks writes an interesting article in the Times about the differences between the educated classes and how they vote. Business Managers to the Right - Teachers to the Left. THe Black and White thinkers are hired to make decisions and any waffling will hold up the financial juggernaut. Unfortunately, that black and white thinking doesn't always work for the long haul and leads to heading down the wrong path, something we have seen all too many times in the recent past , both with companies and with our elected govt officials. Failing to understand the subtleties and nuances of situations leads to this. I think the "thinkers" can look down the road a bit further and understanding the nuances, can see better where some of our actions will lead. But they have a hell of a time making a decision, because of all the subletities. Thus, the conundrum. Must be why I lean left - never could stand all those business types who wanted to see everything in black and white cause it was easier and quicker than really thinking about all the consequences. I've worked with many a black and whiter - thanks, but no thanks. Probably why it was so always so hard for me to fire someone - always could find some redeeming quality in a person. :) Brooks is a Republican as you will probably note, if you read closely.

News on Demand

If you're an avid news reader, then you owe yourself a review of this article from PC World. I've included it in it's printable form, so that it is all on one page, thus alleviating you of the trouble of flipping pages. :) As you can see there are numerous readers out there, some of which are free and some of which offer free trials before using. Personally, I use FeedDemon, but there are plenty of other choices out there.

Clinton
Check out the pic of Clinton's presidential painting to be hung in the White House. Painted by Simmie Knox, born to a family of sharecroppers in Alabama, it looks to be a pretty darn good likeness. For more on Simmie Knox, turn to this page . "He turned to portraiture after years of painting a wide variety of paintings because he found that there is nothing more challenging and interesting to paint than the human face. He states "I think that a good portrait is the most difficult thing for an artist to bring off successfully. Not only must you get an accurate likeness, but you must also create a good painting. Somehow you must convey a subject's character,spirit, and personality; and everything must communicate the dynamism of the subject". A great portrait of Thurgood Marshall here

Quote of the Day
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Upton Sinclair

Word of the Day
equanimity ee-kwuh-NIM-uh-tee; ek-wuh-\, noun:
Evenness of mind; calmness; composure; as, "to bear misfortunes with equanimity." Usage: For one whose mind has been notoriously troubled, Brian Lara is at least retaining a sense of equanimity Origin: Equanimity comes from Latin aequanimitas, "impartiality, calmness," from aequanimus, "impartial, even-tempered," from aequus, "even" + animus, "mind, soul."

News on Demand

If you're an avid news reader, then you owe yourself a review of this article from PC World. I've included it in it's printable form, so that it is all on one page, thus alleviating you of the trouble of flipping pages. :) As you can see there are numerous readers out there, some of which are free and some of which offer free trials before using. Personally, I use FeedDemon, but there are plenty of other choices out there.

Clinton
Check out the pic of Clinton's presidential painting to be hung in the White House. Painted by Simmie Knox, born to a family of sharecroppers in Alabama, it looks to be a pretty darn good likeness. For more on Simmie Knox, turn to this page . "He turned to portraiture after years of painting a wide variety of paintings because he found that there is nothing more challenging and interesting to paint than the human face. He states "I think that a good portrait is the most difficult thing for an artist to bring off successfully. Not only must you get an accurate likeness, but you must also create a good painting. Somehow you must convey a subject's character,spirit, and personality; and everything must communicate the dynamism of the subject". A great portrait of Thurgood Marshall here

Quote of the Day
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Upton Sinclair

Word of the Day
equanimity ee-kwuh-NIM-uh-tee; ek-wuh-\, noun:
Evenness of mind; calmness; composure; as, "to bear misfortunes with equanimity." Usage: For one whose mind has been notoriously troubled, Brian Lara is at least retaining a sense of equanimity Origin: Equanimity comes from Latin aequanimitas, "impartiality, calmness," from aequanimus, "impartial, even-tempered," from aequus, "even" + animus, "mind, soul."

Roady Review

Thought I'd add a review of the Roady, now that I've pounded down the road for some 600 miles with it. First of all, the sound is impressive - excellent clarity. I had thought my speakers were going out before I got this - now I realize it was just the trashy radio I have in the car. With the Roady, I can crank it up and the sound is great. I was also impressed with the no loss of signal, other than in tunnels or under heavy trees. I got a full 3 signal bars all the way to N. Indiana from Virginia. I was suprised to see it not bat an eye at incredible rain downpours, even where cars were pulling off. I know with satellite TV, you wouldn't have had any signal, so perhaps an engineer or someone can explain to me , how satellite radio differs from that.


The cons, which are minor, is that the unit is tiny, so the buttons are tiny and the descriptions written above the buttons are so miniscule they are almost impossible to read. One learns which buttons do what though, so that is nothing major. The method of anchoring it to your dash is not so good - it comes with some little pedestal that supposedly rotates to where you can read it, but it didn't rotate enough for my flat dash, so was basically worthless. Janet suggested we just put a small strip of velcro on the dash and one on the bottom of the unit and I think that is an outstanding idea. Much simpler. The unit also has a lot of wires coming out of it - one going to the cigarette lighter, one going to the cassette adapter and one going to the antenna (click on thumbnail to the left and you'll see a larger view). You can buy a $60 kit for installing it professionally, which would be the best alternative. I'm not bothered that much by the wires though, so probably won't bother.

Would be nice to have an extra antenna though, so that when you took the unit out of one car and placed it another, you wouldn't have to go through the hassle of removing the antenna. We found some clips that fastened on the outside of the windshield, through which we guided the antenna wire. Those worked well, otherwise you would have antenna wire just flying around.

Tons of stations - some 120 in all. So plenty of stuff to listen to. We spent a lot of time on the World Music channels, New Age, Classic Rock and Reggae channels. Many songs you would never hear on regular radio. It would be nice to be able to see the Album title as well rather than just Artist and Song Title - that would be helpful when you press the Memory button to save a song that you might later like to look up and purchase as a CD, although I'm sure a search of the Net with Artist and Song Name, would turn that up quickly. You can also buy a remote
for it - I'll have to check that out - that would be very handy vs leaning forward to punch buttons. Checking Ebay , I see you can get the Roady + free remote and wireless FM Adaptor (in case you don'th have a cassette deck in your car) for $112 + shipping - that's a good deal - wish I had seen that earlier.

For $10/month, hard to beat (no contracts either - quit whenever, of course if you sign up again, I'm sure they will hit you with the $10 activation fee again). I normally listen to my audio books in the car, but this gives me one more thing to listen to, when I tire of those.

Google News Alerts

Did you know that Google will deliver up emails to you with alerts to any news topic you might be wishing to keep an eye on? Yep, works quite well. You can tell Google how often you would like to receive these alerts. Check it out at this Google site . This is not a new Google tool, in fact, I've used it for over a year now, but I suspect many are not aware of it.

More on the "Roady"
Yesterday I mentioned XM Radio's new "Roady" version. There are some good reviews of it at the Epinions site. Speaking of Epinions, it is an excellent source for indepth reviews of many things, so before you buy something, you might want to scan the Epinions site to get a few user opinions. Update! Well, I sprung for the Roady - pretty slick. Slap tiny antenna on the roof (strong magnet) , route the antenna wire into the car - plug in cigarette lighter adapter to receiver along with a cassette adapter and you're good to go. Simply call or go through the Net to XM Radio's site and activate the unit and in about 20 minutes, your unit has some 100+ channels on it. Reception was excellent on top of our mountain - will be giving it a good test tomorrow when I drive up towards the Chicago area.

D70 Picks up another positive Review

Ken Rockwell writes a long and very positive review of the Nikon D70. If you're looking for a digital SLR with an outstanding kit lens, this may be the one to look at (for the moment, that is, until Canon comes out with their reply!). I had some concerns with the focus issues, which Rockwell explains here - still would be good to check that issue out before camera gets out of warranty. Incidentally, you might want to check the fine print on your credit card, as often they add 1 year warranty to the basic warranty. Another reason I always use a credit card that offers this advantage.

Safer Shopping
Although you wouldn't expect it from Doc Mercola (since he writes mostly health articles), he is a gadget freak and in this article points out a few ways to shop safer online - worth a look.

Wireless
Had a chance to try out my Dell 600m laptop in Roanoke in the downtown Market Square the other day. Free for 2 hours of use at a time - was a good way to download my audio books which are often 25mb and up in size. Unfortunately, signal was a bit low and got only 1mb/sec download speeds (still better than 56k dialup by a long shot!). Normally, would get 5-10mb/sec downloads. Even lost the signal a few times, but couldn't complain for free. Will be glad when wireless takes off everywhere. If businesses are smart, they won't charge - brings in business to coffee shops, etc that they might not otherwise get. I can certainly see the advantage of a PDA though - beats lugging around big laptop, especially if you're just going to check email,etc. Will be interested to see what kind of a wireless solution I can come up with for the Tungsten T3 that will hopefully be arriving soon in my mailbox. The Bluetooth cell phone option is nice, but too expensive and the speeds are more in the 56K world and who needs that?

XM Radio
Getting interested in XM Radio at the moment - noticed that they now have an XM "Roady" available for $119 and if you act soon, you get a free Home kit (which enables you to plug into your home stereo) and a free wireless FM transmitter kit for the car, which enables you to transmit the signal into an empty FM station on your car radio and thus play it through your car speakers (in the event that you don't have a cassette player in your car - the kit comes with a cassette adapter, if you do). It plugs into your cigarette lighter and doesn't require hard wiring, so you can transfer it over to your other car and use it there, or take it into the house and use the Home Kit to plug it into your AC outlet and then plug the RCA cables into your home stereo system. Check out the options at the XM web site! . For a list of some of the programming and to hear some samples, click here . You can pick these things up at your local Walmart.

2 Gigs of Free Email!
It didn't take long for folks to challenge the Google email system. Check out AventureMail

Politics
Bill Clinton was front and center again this week, kicking off his "My Life" book tour . Put June 20th on your calendar for his 60 Minutes appearance, just a few days before his book is released. He'll also be on Oprah a few days after. If you want to listen to Clinton and talk to the BookExpo America folks, then you can listen for free at this Audible site . I listed a few days ago and it was typical Clinton - always interesting, amusing - quite refreshing to hear someone who is so good at getting up in public and speaking, something I miss in a President. I think we'll see Kerry do well, once he gets past the campaign and starts talking like a human being again, but nobody can match Clinton.

Quote of the Day
Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you're a thousand miles from the corn field.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

How Cool is this? Hello is free, so give it a try!

Will it be Smarty Jones's day?

The big event of the day comes late this afternoon when Smarty Jones goes for the Triple Crown - he's a good bet to win, but it's a rare one that can pull off the Triple Crown - tune in! (For an opinion on the race, read this article .) The race takes off at 6:38 ET, but TV coverage begins at 5:30 p.m.

Music Players
This looks like a pretty neat 20 Gig music player. Certainly different than most. I like the line-in recording ability, which makes it nice to record those old albums. Check out the specs and a review . Certainly not cheap, but cool!

Word of the Day
autochthonous aw-TOK-thuh-nuhs\, adjective:1. Aboriginal; indigenous; native. 2. Formed or originating in the place where found. Autochthonous derives from Greek autochthon, "of or from the earth or land itself," from auto-, "self" + chthon, "earth." One that is autochthonous is an autochthon. - Usage - For cultures are not monoliths. They are fragmentary, patchworks of autochthonous and foreign elements. This is the word that won the 2004 National Spelling Bee Championship for 14 yr old David Tidmarsh of South Bend, Indiana

Fiber to the Dorms!

Think I'll go to Case Western Reserve in my next life (of course larger brain will be required to get in, but that's another story). Fiber connectivity in the dorms! "Case operates the fastest and largest network in Higher Education. We have deployed more than 16,000 Gigabit Ethernet connections throughout the residence halls and campus buildings. This Gigabit-to-the-Desktop approach provides each user with 10 to 100 times faster connectivity then a typical Ethernet connection. All students have access to over 16,000 fiber ports throughout the university plus 802.11g campus-wide! "

Music
DALLAS - Eric Clapton will host a three-day festival this weekend featuring 60 guitarists, including B.B. King, Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck , Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Joe Walsh , J.J. Cale , Bo Diddley, James Taylor , Jimmie Vaughan and Vince Gill . Proceeds go to Crossroads Centre, the nonprofit drug and alcohol rehabilitation center Clapton founded on the Caribbean island of Antigua, where he maintains a residence. The Crossroads festival, which will be held at Dallas Fair Park and Cotton Bowl Stadium, coordinates with the start of Clapton's U.S. tour, which begins June 9 in Oklahoma City.

Politics
George Tenet is resigning come July. "Tenet, who also faced fierce criticism over his agency's handling of Iraqi intelligence, including a now famous prediction that the case for war against Iraq (news - web sites) was a "slam dunk," broke the news to Bush at the White House on Wednesday night. "He told me he was resigning for personal reasons. I told him I'm sorry he's leaving," Bush said. LIfe in the fast lane - it was probably time for him to go - I can imagine he's had enough.

Audible in USA Today
Big article in the money section of USA Today about Audible.com and its drive to success. They're really the only player in town at the moment and with the ability of Ipod owners to listen in, sales are picking up. Audible continues to add new compatible players to its line up - the Creative Nomad MuVo being the latest one (free with 12 month membership). So if you have have an Ipod, or a Palm Pilot, or Pocket PC, or one of their compatible mp3 players, you're ready to start listening! It truly is a great way to increase your reading and in a whole new, different, and enjoyable way - you will be amazed at what good narration can bring to a book. So when you've grown tired of listening to just music, you can now listen to a good book - ya gotta love it. You can see some of the Audible selections I would recommend on the sidebar to the right.

DaVinci Code Fans
Did you like the DaVinci code? Lots of debate over that one - I started it as an audio book but then realized it was the abridged version, so I stopped. Audible now has it in the unabridged version so I will have to download and listen in. There is now a new book out by Dan Burstein entitled, "Secrets of the Code: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code ". To read the transcipts of a recent chat with the author of this book, click here .

Feed Demon Revisited

If you're not yet using RSS feeds for your Internet browsing, then you're missing a tool that will save you boodles of time. Check out this good review of Feed Demon 1.10 It will save you a lot of time wandering around to various web sites, when you can visit them all with this one tool all while staying within the same window. "The highlight of the interface is the integrated browser and how seamlessly it blends in with the rest of the application. What makes the browser so great is that it has the capability to open new windows in tabs. This feature alone makes FeedDemon more useful than IE as a Web browser." This review actually covers Version 1.0, but if you pay for it, it is actually up to 1.10 RC5 (release candidate 5).

Word of the Day
pernicious Tending to cause death or serious injury; deadly:a pernicious virus . Causing great harm; destructive: pernicious rumors. Usage - "The murders have subsided, but a more pernicious trend worries him. The price of food -- particularly rice -- has almost doubled. ... "

Big Pipes

Music
Happened to turn on the Today show today and heard Renee Olstead belting out "Summertime". What a great set of pipes on this 14 year old prodigy. Boggles the mind how some folks can be so accomplished at such a young age (Charlotte Church, LeAnn Rimes, etc). You can hear her debut album and this incredible voice at her web site. You can buy her album for a good price here. Some of you may know her from her role on the CBS sitcom "Still Standing" (I don't watch sitcom trash, but if you do.... you may know her from there - suspect you will be surprised at her real talent here). Performing with Bill Cosby's All-Star Band at the 2003 Playboy Jazz Festival, she literally stole the show. At the age of four, Renee was approached by an agent at a tap dance recital. Since then, she has featured in many commercials, TV shows, and movies throughout America, of which "End of days" with Arnold Schwarzenegger, "Space Cowboys" and this year, "13 Going on 30" were a few.

Teenagers
Then, on the other hand, your teenager may represent some of the teenagers outlined in this NY Times article in this Sunday's lead article in the Magazine section. If so, my sympathies are with you!

Movies
Watched Runaway Jury yesterday with Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, John Cusak. Rachel Weisz - good flick of a John Grisham novel. Lots of interesting twists. Interesting that these two consumate actors had never acted together before, despite knowing each other since 1956 and having roomed together in a tiny NYC apt in their early days. The "extras" on the DVD are worth watching to learn more about the two of them and to watch them rehearsing and shooting some of their key scenes. Rent it.

Cheese rolling,anyone?


Bored - looking for something a bit more exciting? What? Did someone say "Cheese Rolling" ? Yep, those merry ol' Brits are up to it again. Now this little activity is sheer lunacy - watched it on CNN today - if you happen to get CNN, you might catch it on a rerun of the News, but if not, head to the Coopers Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake site . This little bit of inspiration takes place yearly in Gloucestershire. Have a look at some of the pics!

Open Source our Electronic Voting Machines!

Along comes an excellent idea to take the electronic voting machine debate out of the hands of the private companies (which can be bought and paid for) and post it on the Net as "open source" code. That way anybody can inspect it and discover the bugs and create an electronic system that really works. Read the article to learn more.

Political Polls
In an unofficial NY Times poll of its readers, Edwards gets 55% of the vote to be Kerry's VP, Wes Clark 37% and nobody else more than 1%. Who would you recommend?

Computer Specials
Scoop up a copy of Nero 6 Ultra Edition for $19.99 after $50 rebate from Outpost.com Good only through June 3rd, so if you want it, you'd better hurry. Rebate available at the link via a .pdf file.
(Nero 6 Ultra Edition wins PC World`s Best Buy Award - “Of the seven DVD Burning suites we examined, only Ahead’s Nero 6 Ultra Edition handled everything we threw at it – and handled it well” “Had everything you’ll need to do almost anything related to CD and DVD creation” PC World, April 2004)

TechTV
A true bummer, G4, which specializes in computer gaming, has taken over TechTV and has eliminated the extremely helpful "Call for Help" show. The "Screensavers" still survives, but "Call for Help" was especially helpful for us mortals. All in the name of greed. Bah, humbug. For some of Leo LaPorte's final comments, check out his blog on this topic

SP2 From Leo's Blog - "We now know why there was a delay in shipping Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. Security code in the update breaks 64-bit processors. Microsoft says it has licked the problem and expects to ship Release Candidate 2 this week with release to manufacture in late July. That should get it out to users by September. Sp-2 adds much needed security to XP and will be a must have download once it ships. "

Photo of the Day

This little fella is out for a stroll after a recent cloudburst (Casio 3000EX 1/524th@f5.6 30mm macro mode ISO 100)

Like to Read?

Books
Although I primarily listen to audio books, sometimes not every book finds its way into an audio format (although nowadays, most do). Here's a new book club that sells you hardcovers for $9.95 each with free shipping (sales tax in NY,PA, and IN). That's a deal. Heck, most paperbacks cost that much or more nowadays. It works like Netflix - you populate your List with book choices and each month they send you the book at the top of your list. If you want to buy more books, then just pay another $9.95 and you get free shipping on that as well. The only catch I see - "sometimes are altered in size in order to save the members money". That is similar to what the LIterary Guild used to do (and may still do). Unless you are into collectibles, that really doesn't make a whit of difference.

Television
Six Feet Under returns to HBO June 13th. If you haven't watched this show yet, you should. Some of the better work on TV. A portrait of the women, who are a large part of this series, is described in this article.

Movies
Watched the Last Samurai with Tom Cruise the other day. I'm not sure it got rave reviews, but I liked it - lots of actions, great scenery - just plain ol' good entertainment and about a subject most Americans would know little about. I know I wouldn't want to see on these dudes bearing down on me! Other movies I've enjoyed recently - Calendar Girls (older women posing nude for a fund raising project for their group - true story - funny and unusual), Something's Gotta Give with Nicholson and Keaton - both superb actors - good fun - it's hard to find a movie where Nicholson is bad. Next movie on my list - Osama This stunning film, the first to be made in a post-Taliban Afghanistan and inspired by a newspaper account read by director Siddiq Barmak, recounts the efforts of a family of women to survive under an oppressive regime. To eke out a meager living, they dress up their 12-year-old girl, Osama, as a boy so she can work. A talented cast of non-actors -- including Marina Golbahari and Zubaida Sahar -- adds integrity to the heartbreaking story. .

Photography - Digital
From a friend comes these two freebie programs, designed to reduce or eliminate noise in digital photos (often happens at higher film speeds or in low light situations). Check out Helicon's Noise Filter or the one by Imagenomic called Noiseware

Email
Being a member of Blogger, I get the opportunity to beta test the new Google Email program. That's pretty cool, since it is a hot ticket apparently, even being auctioned off on Ebay. My initial reactions? Very fast, much faster than Yahoo or Hotmail. Pretty much like Google's search engine in respect to speed. The ads that are displayed on the sides of the email are not a bother at all, in fact they lead to some very interesting sites, so actually I welcome them. Yes, they scan your emails through robots to determine which ads to serve, but heck, ISPs scan your email for viruses, so not a big deal. One interesting aspect which I'm curious to see in action is the "threading" of conversations - however, nobody has answered any of the emails I've sent out, so I can't tell how the thread works! LOL Obviously, they were overwhelmed. You also have the ability to keytag emails, which they call "labeling". So you can assign various "labels" to emails and thus easily find them later through a search of a "label". Of course, you can also search for previous emails by simply typing in a word as it keeps a vast database of all the words you've used in your emails and can thus search on any word you might be looking for. Slick (Outlook Express will do the same thing) You get 1Gig of Email which should keep most people happy. You can delete your mail as you go along, but once deleted, it is gone for good. Archiving it, keeps it on Google's servers and allows you to retrieve any message. The "labeling" and "Search on keyword" attributes of the program pretty much do away with the need to create Folders to sort your email, although Filtering rules are available (a limit of 20). This is a lot like the Powermarks program I use to keep track of the thousands of bookmarked sites I have. A simple keyword search brings them forth, much faster than using the traditional browser bookmarking system. Powermarks offers a free trial, so check it out, as well.

Photos of the Day
Two panos (each shot consisting of 2 pics) of the flower gardens (work in progress) at the Fox Hill Inn and a picture of the sitting area at the goldfish pond. Seen to the left of the garden is a bocce court (the long green strip of grass), and bordering it on its outside edge is a new wildflower bed, just seeded. Click on the pictures for larger views.

Quote of the Day
"For three days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow but phone calls taper off."
Johnny Carson

Photo of the Day
Work progresses on the Gazebo at Fox Hill Inn High on top of a mountain (3200'), the Inn and nearby cabins offer sweeping vistas. (Casio 3000EX - Pano - 3 photos stitched together)

Blogger Mania

Surely, this isn't a disease? Hmmm....maybe it is. ""It seems as if his laptop is glued to his legs 24/7," Ms. Matthews said of her husband." Obviously, we of the Blogger mind are sick puppies. But, if you're reading this, then your life must be as tiny as mine and that is quite comforting. LOL

Expression of the Day
SMS(Short Message Service) A text message service that enables short messages of generally no more than 140-160 characters in length to be sent and transmitted from a cellphone. SMS was introduced in the GSM system and later supported by all other digital-based mobile communications systems. Unlike paging, but similar to e-mail, short messages are stored and forwarded at SMS centers, which means you can retrieve your messages later if you are not immediately available to receive them. SMS messages travel to the cellphone over the system's control channel, which is separate and apart from the voice channel.

Photo of the Day
Foxglove - Currently blooming at Fox Hill Inn and Cabins. A tall plant (native to Great Britain) that has numerous thimble-shaped purple or white flowers and is the source of the drug digitalis (A pharmaceutical prepared from the seeds and dried leaves of the purple foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, and prescribed as a cardiac stimulant in the treatment of congestive heart failure and other disorders of the heart.) The throats of foxglove blossoms feature exotic blotches and a runway that guides bees to nectar and pollen. Carl Linneaus, a Swedish physician and botanist, named foxglove Digitalis because folklore said the tubular flowers were worn on the digits, or fingers, of fairies. Foxglove would not become widely used by physicians until 1870, when a French chemist isolated the active constituent and named it digitalin. This became the standard pharmacy drug until 1970, when a synthetic form, digitoxin, was produced.

(Casio 3000EX - Macro Mode - 1/155th @ f4.0 40mm ISO 100)

Quote of the Day
"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines."
John Benfield

And from the Odd World
The fashion police won't be coming to Louisiana. State lawmakers refused to make it a crime to wear low-slung pants in public that expose "undergarments or ... any portion of the pubic hair, cleft of the buttocks or genitals."

and....

Want to be hip at the beach while being cool and healthy too? Try Hippopotamus sweat. Not only is the sweat of the hippo a fetching shade of red that gradually turns to brown, it also acts as a sunscreen and has antibiotic properties, according to Japanese scientists writing in Nature science journal.

Photo of the Day

Roses and Dianthuses Taken in the Fox Hill Inn Gardens. Casio 3000EX 3.3 mp camera ; 1/435th @ f2.8 70mm Click on photo for larger view.

Thought we needed a touch of tranquility during all the stressful talk about war!

Money
Are you keeping up with the Joneses? Avg salary in the US was $36K in 2002. Of course CEO's of big companies are making a tad bit more - they're averaging 12 million/year. Avg hourly wage of non-supervisory workers was $15.54 in March of 2004. For more stats, check out this page.

Get off the Roads! Bad Driver Approaching!

There's a terrible sense of dread filtering across America at the moment and it's not simply because of the continuing fear of terrorism and the fact that the nation is at war. It's more frightening than that. It grows out of the suspicion that we all may be passengers in a vehicle that has made a radically wrong turn and is barreling along a dark road, with its headlights off and with someone behind the wheel who may not know how to drive. Bob Herbert of the Times

Quote of the Day
"I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either."
Jack Benny

Time Running Out to get a FREE Palm Tungsten T3

If you have 10K lying around in some account somewhere and can move it into an Ameritrade account before the end of May, you can snap yourself up a free Palm Tungsten T3 (packs a brilliant 320x480 screen, a 400mhz Intel XScale processor and 64MB of RAM - shown here in landscape mode in slide-out mode) . You snooze, you lose! Go to this site for the offer. Good for listening to audio books, showing your friends your pics, listening to mp3's, surfing the Net with a bluetooth enabled phone (and hopefully soon a wi-fi card), using as a voice recorder, reading E-Books, and using thousands of Palm Programs that are available for download (check out PalmGear or Freeware Palm)

Quote of the Day
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn. (Leave your Tungsten T3 behind for this moment of serenity. :)
John Muir

Bloggerman on the shores of Lake Michigan - Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.(click on picture for larger view) Giving a new tool from the program "Hello" a whirl. Hello is a very neat chat program for sharing photos and it now allows me to upload and post pics easily to my blog. Pretty cool. (Since Hello is partnering with Google and Google owns Blogger, Hello is offering all Blogger members free image hosting. I like that! Easy to post a pic - Hello will resize the pic automatically, write the html and post it to one's blog).

Gambian Giant Pouched Rats to the Rescue!

Say what? What the hell is a Gambian Giant Pouched Rat, you say? Well, when you least expect it (sounds like Allen Funt, doesn't it?) they may well save your ass some day! Give that guy a banana! Read on dear Reader!

Bugs
Easy on those cicadas now - they may be tasty, but ya gotta know your limits!

Smarty Jones Dominates!

If you missed Smarty Jone in the Derby and missed his great rush to the finish in the Preakness (he won by an amazing 11 1/2 lengths after coming off the final turn, neck and neck) , then in 3 weeks (June 5th) you get one more chance to see him in the Belmont Stakes and this time see him run for the Triple Crown. I sure wouldn't bet against him. Coming into the Derby, he had won 6 in a row. He won the Derby and a 5 million dollar bonus for being undefeated and winning and if he wins the Triple Crown at Belmont, he'll pick up another 5 million dollar bonus and be the richest horse of all time. Nobody has won the Triple Crown since Affirmed, way back in 1978. Smarty Jones would be the first undefeated to win the Triple Crown since Seattle Slew in 1977.

He's lucky to be even racing. "As a 2-year-old, during a schooling session at the starting gate at Philadelphia Park in July in preparation for his first career start, Smarty Jones reared up and slammed his head on an unpadded iron bar, fracturing his skull and shattering his orbital (eye socket) bones. Trainer John Servis said at the time, "Oh my God, this horse just killed himself." The accident nearly caused him to lose his left eye." For more about Smarty Jones, check out this page.

Graduation Day!

The Art "Brains" of the Sr. Class - (left to right) Janet (my wife) (Magna Cum Laude) and friends Christine (Summa Cum Laude) and Brenda (Magna Cum Laude) celebrate Graduation Day at Emory and Henry College. Janet ended up with a 3.86/4.0 where Summa Cum Laude requires 3.9 - you woulda thought they could have rounded it up! Not bad though for someone who gets to celebrate their 50th birthday next February (now how many would guess that is a 49 yr old graduate? - Not many, I suspect - she is the Dick Clark of the female world. LOL ) But I gotta brag and say that Janet stole the show with her Sr. Art Show representing a lost civilization off the coast of Africa - visitors to the gallery were actually fooled into thinking it was truly was a lost civilization and thought the artifacts were real (Janet created them).

Janet is now going to take a break after 3 years of staying up till midnight each night cracking the books, 7 days a week. Will explore what she wants to do in the world of Art and I have no doubt will accomplish whatever she chooses to do. She might not strike it rich, but she will enrich her soul, something the ol' greenback fails rather miserably at doing.

Computers
Here are a couple of free programs I stumbled across the other day that are quite useful. Folder Box and an automatic Zip program for attachments sent via Outlook Express. The Folder Box is particularly useful for moving files amongst different drives on one's computer. You might find some of the other programs on that page useful as well.

Quote of the Day
Art will remain the most astonishing activity of mankind born out of struggle between wisdom and madness, between dream and reality in our mind.
Magdalena Abakanowicz (1930 - )
Polish sculptor and graphic artist.

Encarta 2004 on DVD

Want to get Encarta 2004 for super price? Check out this link. $20 rebate comes inside the box, so total cost is $8.80 delivered ((I got it in just a couple of days via Fed Ex). Incredible price - installs easily (I put the whole thing on the HD for faster access). Grab one while they're still available. Once installed, you can download all the latest updates (I downloaded 23MB worth of them). You continue to get free updates through 10/04. After that, you need to buy the 2005 edition, but I always wait till the Spring of 2005 when I can find deals like this one.

Paranoids Need Not Apply

I find this article in the Times interesting in regards to Google's new email program. People get so freaked out over some of these privacy issues, when their privacy can be invaded by a number of other ways, as the article points out. Sounds like a pretty nice service to me - if you're that paranoid, I have a suggestion for you - toss that computer in the dumpster and return to snail mail. As the author points out, these are robots using artificial intelligence to scan emails for ad opportunities, not humans. Darn, and here I thought Google was gonna be hiring me to spend all day reading emails - wonder how many I could get through in a day? Bet Google would sure have to hire a lot of folks to do that!

Photography
Looking for a neat DOF(depth of field) application? Check out this one (you will need javascript enabled)

Microdrive for Cheap

Need a 4 Gig Microdrive for your camera and don't want to pay the big bucks? Get a Nomad MuVo mp3 player (seen on the left) with 4Gig Microdrive and strip the microdrive out and use it in your camera. Instructions on how to do that are here. Slick - unbelievable price for a 4 Gig Microdrive ($199). The MuVo itself isn't all that great of an mp3 player and you could do better with some of the Creative 30 or 40 Gig models for not that much more, but as an additional super sized microdrive for those big 6-8mp digital SLR's, tough deal to beat.

8x DVD Writer
Looking for a hot burner for dirt cheap? ($80) This NEC drive gets outstanding reviews. Will write DVD +/- R's at 8x and DVD +/- RW's at 4x. Will write CD's at 32x and read them at 40x

Photography - Lenses
Tokina has a nice prime 17mm lens for around $375 delivered per Outdoor Photography - looks to be a nice lens - would translate to be about a 25mm lens with the 1.5x multiplier effect on some digital SLRs. Much cheaper than a wide angle high quality zoom. If you like the dramatic depth of field that wide angles give you (Muench fans?), then this may be the ticket without breaking the bank. You can buy it with mounts for Canon, Nikon, Minolta,etc. The AT-X 17 AF PRO lens features the exclusive "Focus Clutch Mechanism", a signature of the Tokina PRO series lenses which provides a faster, smoother autofocus operation with a smooth manual focus action not normally found in autofocus lenses. The updated PRO features a floating element autofocus system, an all-glass aspherical lens element, & an aluminum lens barrel with a chrome-plated brass mount plate.

Word of the Day
peremptory adj.Putting an end to all debate or action: a peremptory decree.
Not allowing contradiction or refusal; imperative: The officer issued peremptory commands.
Having the nature of or expressing a command; urgent: The teacher spoke in a peremptory tone.
Offensively self-assured; dictatorial: a swaggering, peremptory manner.

Quote of the Day
"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."
The Dalai Lama

College Grades?

Grade Inflation - is an A really an A anymore? What's your opinion? Read an essay by Michael Berube, a Professor of Literature at Penn State.

Culture
Christian Pop Culture here to stay? Looks like it. Religious-themed T-shirts, posters for Christian rock concerts, signs promoting traveling evangelists and billboards preaching sexual abstinence don't just dot the landscape; they are the landscape, especially in the smaller towns and cities. Christian pop culture seems, at times, to be all the pop culture such underdog places have, at least in any local, grass-roots sense. Big TV, big music and big film, by clustering in the nation's glitziest ZIP codes and focusing -- almost exclusively, at times -- on the lives and loves of affluent young singles, have left vast swaths of the country to the preacher-folk, who've seized the day by slicking up their acts. It's no wonder that some are now ready for prime time. .... The flame is an old one; only the fuel is new. And there's still plenty of it. Expect it to burn on.

War
Riding into Falluja - take a short ride with the Marines and get a taste of another hell hole. Think this is about the time I'd be asking for a city desk beat.

Always liked to learn the meaning behind certain expressions, so thought I'd occasionally include an Expression of the Day.

Expression of the Day
Dead as a Doornail Also, dead as a dodo or herring. Totally or assuredly dead; also finished. For example, The cop announced that the body in the dumpster was dead as a doornail, or The radicalism she professed in her adolescence is now dead as a dodo, or The Equal Rights Amendment appears to be dead as a herring. The first, oldest, and most common of these similes, all of which can be applied literally to persons or, more often today, to issues, involves doornail, dating from about 1350. Its meaning is disputed but most likely it referred to the costly metal nails hammered into the outer doors of the wealthy (most people used the much cheaper wooden pegs), which were clinched on the inside of the door and therefore were “dead,” that is, could not be used again. Dead as a herring dates from the 16th century and no doubt alludes to the bad smell this dead fish gives off, making its death quite obvious. Dead as a dodo, referring to the extinct bird, dates from the early 1900s.

Quote of the Day
"When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion."
Abraham Lincoln

Super Shoe!

Got a mere $250? Then I've got the shoe for you! Battery powered sensors, microprocessors,electric motors - who knew running could be such fun? Each second, a sensor in the heel can take up to 20,000 readings and the embedded electronic brain can make 10,000 calculations, directing a tiny electric motor to change the shoe. The goal is to make the shoe adjust to changing conditions and the runner's particular style while in use. Now if they would just invent one that when you slip it on , it cures you of all your illnesses while you are wearing it, whether it be rheumatoid arthritis,diabetes, or whatever. Seems like they could send a charge through you that would revitalize the immune system - Heck, I'd shell out $250 for that!

Politics
Maybe this should be entitled Politics and Christian Fundamentalism? Check out this article from Britain's Guardian newspaper. Spooky is the word.

Abuse in Iraq
If you want to get a rather depressing view of what has been going on in Iraq, check out Seymour Hersh's article in the New Yorker. Rough stuff in this article

Word of the Day
preternatural \pree-tuhr-NACH-uhr-uhl; -NACH-ruhl\, adjective: 1. Existing outside of nature; differing from the natural; nonnatural. 2. Surpassing the usual or normal; extraordinary; abnormal.3. Beyond or outside ordinary experience; inexplicable by ordinary means. Usage: But at other times, Bobby Jones, Stroke of Genius is dead, solid perfect, especially its first half-hour tracing Jones' sickly childhood and his preternatural affection for the game.

Quote of the Day
"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."
Alvin Toffler

More Photography Tools

Nikon Coolwalker
Nikon has come out with a nifty little 30Gig device for transferring your photos when out in the field, so that you can keep shooting with your CFII cards (also SD cards with an adapter). Read about it on the Photography Blog. It can hold up to 10,000 6mp JPG pics. Will handle jpg, tiff and Nikon's RAW formats. Price hasn't been announced yet in the States or I don't believe it has. (Supposedly MSRP in Great Britain will be £399, which translates into about $715 US. Whew!) You could print right to a printer out in the field, utilizing its PictBridge technology. And you can plug it into a TV and use the remote that comes with it to have a neat slide show. Sounds nice - just not so sure about that price, but then I'm sure if I put it on my Xmas Wish list, my brothers will cobble the money together to get me one. What a family!

Website of the Day
A Faster,Better Behaved XP (Want to figure out something about the XP operating system? A good place to look)

Quote of the Day
"We hate some persons because we do not know them; and we will not know them because we hate them."
Charles Caleb Colton

Watch out for the Sasser Worm

Tech security experts always tell you to never open email attachments without a confirmation from the email sender. That's because executables sent in the mail as attachments are usually used by viruses and worm to spread to other users. The latest worm to be released, Sasser, is an exception. It doesn't spread through email.

Sasser spreads by attacking a flaw in Microsoft Windows XP and 2000's Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS). Windows systems that have applied Microsoft Windows Update patch 835732 are protected against the Sasser worm. Sasser essentially looks for a port vulnerability on a randomly generated IP address. When it finds an opening, it overflows a buffer in LSASS.EXE. Sasser then uses FTP and connects back to the originating computer to download a copy of the worm.

According to early reports, the original Sasser worm was slow moving. Howver, new variants of Sasser have been released, and the infection rate is accelerating. The key to stopping Sasser infections to to update Windows and to use a firewall to block Sasser traffic.

For the full article, go here For those of you who don't have a firewall, looks like you had better head to ZoneAlarm and get the freebie one there. And you had better go to Windows Update and install any Critical Updates, in case you haven't done that in awhile. You can get to Windows Update by clicking on Tools and Windows Update in Internet Explorer. This is considered a Level 4 - Severe threat by Symantec (makers of Norton Anti-Virus). Also make sure your virus definitions are up to date. If you have no idea what any of this means, you'd better go find a computer friend, before your system is compromised.

i9900 Arrives!

The long awaited Canon i9900 inkjet , delivering borderless 13x19 prints has arrived. It can knock one of those out in just 3 minutes. 8 ink tanks (they added red and green to the usual 6) . 2 picoliter droplets. Requires Service Pack 1 for Windows XP to utilize the high speed usb 2.0 interface. You can get it delivered from Page Computers for $437. (Retail is $499 + shipping). You can also get it for a similar price if you get it from Buy.com and use the 2% savings you would get from being a member of Ebates. Please leave a comment if you need to know my shipping address, as you will probably be eager to send me one as a gift.

Movies
Recently enjoyed "Kill Bill" and "Master and Commander" on DVD. Both with awesome surround sound (I was actually ducking this nasty fly that I couldn't seem to find during "Kill Bill", when I finally realized it was coming out of the speaker just behind me - now that was pretty funny). Kill Bill was smack full of action and loaded with lots of good "spraying blood" scenes - typical Quentin Tarintino . The lovely Uma Thurman was so very cool in this movie. Russell Crowe was good in Master and Commander, although I missed the fabulous old English accent of Patrick Tull in the audiobook version. Great action scenes though - totally deafening with cannonballs crashing all around you at close range.

Camera Review
Another review of the D70 from Nikon. Gallery of Photos with the D70.

WebSites of the Day
Photography Blog
Photo-i
Digital Outback Photo

Quote of the Day
"It matters not whether you win or lose; what matters is whether I win or lose."
Darrin Weinberg

An Interesting Chart

Here's an interesting chart and statistics from the WP Post. Just goes to show you what would happen if the "poor" of America really turned out to vote. No more Bushie. I also find it interesting that Post-Graduates tend to vote Democratic just like folks who didn't graduate from H.S. Guess they wised up by the time they got through all that educatin' Also interesting that Protestants are so pro-Republican - probably explains why I'm no longer a church goer. :) The stats also show how non-inclusive the Republican party is - not good when Hispanics will soon be a majority in this country. The key for the Dems? - get minorities and poor folks out to vote - Dems would win easily. However, that is not an easy task, since most of those folks are suspicious of just about everything (sometimes for good cause).

Computer Tip of the Day

Troubleshoot IE image issues (from TechTV web site)

Scott from St. Albans, W.Va., called to say Internet Explorer keeps saving images as bitmaps instead of in JPEG format. How does he solve the problem?

A Java or ActiveX issue is preventing your browser from seeing images as anything other than a bitmap. If you have Windows XP, look at available Windows updates. Microsoft has a fix available for the problem. The company also recommends clearing your cache and History files (Tools > Internet Options > General tab) and restarting IE.

The Restaurant

Tune in tonite at 10 p.m. Eastern on NBC for the 2 episode of Season 2 of The Restaurant (reading the link will get you up to date on the show). I saw this last season and it was GREAT! Reality TV in the restaurant business. But this is for real - The chef and his accountant are suing each other as we speak and perhaps we will get lucky and even see a Season 3 (although this looks somewhat doubtful, especially considering the fine character of the financial guy). Check it out. (It's up against that fine show CSI Miami (gag), so if you're one of the 20 million who watch it, then you'll miss the better show on NBC).

If you like watching the restaurant business and enjoy good food, also check out the book Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. (If you're easily offended by four letter words, you may wish to skip this book.). :) But, if you can tolerate that, then you'll find out what it's like to run a restaurant in crazy NYC, written in a very engaging style. (If you're ever in NYC, you should try Les Halles, where Anthony is Executive Chef).

Quote of the Day
"I believe in an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out."
Arthur Hays Sulzberger

Oddly Enough
Berlin has introduced five talking waste bins which say thank you in three different languages or scream "goal" to help promote a cleaner city. (The Germans do some strange things!)

and from Mexico, comes the story of this lucky fella:
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican man who got drunk, fell asleep on railroad tracks and was run over by a train slept through the entire episode and escaped unharmed, local officials said on Friday.

A look back at Rudy Chapa

Running
I was reading about the famous Penn Relays, when for some reason Rudy Chapa's name popped into my head. Decided to do a Google and see what had happened to Rudy. Here's an interesting article, catching up with Rudy Chapa, an Indiana running phenom. I remember him when I was coaching cross country at a nearby H.S. in Indiana, back in the 70's. This kid and some of his teammates at Hammond High could really blast - was always a thrill to see them run. Rudy still holds the 10,000 meter H.S. record, set in 1976. Plus, it sounds like his kid is turning out out to be a heck of a runner, as well. And his mom was a sprinter and high jumper at Indiana, so that definitely makes them great in my book. :)

Health
Researchers show cystic fibrosis defect in mice corrected with turmeric extract A possible new cure for CF? Wouldn't that be something? From just a common spice. I had a good friend many years ago, who had to watch his daughter die of this at the age of 14. He and his wife helped her clear her lungs every night for every day of her life - she was a very nice kid, with a great spirit. Damn shame, that something like this hadn't come along then. Still too early to know about this spice (hasn't been tested on humans), but sure would be nice if it worked for the majority of people suffering this disease.

Confessions of a closet carb fiend

This Dave Barry article is a hoot. Check it out.

Get a $100 off!

You still have till the 30th of April to sign up for a year's worth of service at Audible.com and get $100 off of a PocketPC or a PalmPilot (you could get a Zire 71 for $99 at Amazon with this offer) or various mp3 players, including the Apple Ipod (there's even the opportunity at Amazon to get a Handspring Treo 600 with $270 in rebates plus the $100 Audible discount) Along with that you get 2 audio books per month for $20/month (or choose 1 audio book for $15/month), a real deal when audio books in bookstores run between $25-50 each. If you decide you still don't want to shell out the money for one of those devices even with a $100 discount, you can still sign up and get a free Otis Player, which will play audible books as well as mp3 and wma music. I use an Otis player myself and they are excellent. Click the ad at the top of this web page to learn more.