Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain, of Kitchen Confidential fame, will have his own show (Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations) on the Travel Channel . Look for it starting July 25th at 10 p.m ET/ PT. (if you use Firefox, add it to your DoMe plugin task list). I listened to him read his book (Kitchen Confidential) through a digital download on Audible.com. That was an experience! He is one off the wall chef! I learned a lot about running a busy NYC restaurant though and if you don't mind a bit of profanity (understatement), you'll find this a great read.

Firefox 1.05 and Roboform Incompatibility

I posted yesterday that Firefox 1.05 is now out, but you shouldn't install it yet if you use Roboform. It will crash Firefox every time. I'll update this when I see a fix. (apparently Roboform got zero information from Mozilla that they were coming out with 1.05, so it will take Roboform about a week to fix this problem - hopefully sooner).

Photo of the Day

Closeup macro shot of bumblee on coneflower, also known as echinacea. (Click on image for full sized view).

A popular herbal remedy, or botanical, believed to benefit the immune system; it is used especially to alleviate common colds and the flu. Echinacea is extracted from the roots and flowering tops of the purple coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia and E. purpurea). Echinacea should not be used in progressive systemic and auto-immune disorders such as tuberculosis, leicosis, connective tissue disorders, collagenosis and related diseases such as lupus erythematosus, according to the German Kommission E. Its use in AIDS or opportunistic infections in AIDS patients is controversial.

If used for more than 8 weeks, echinacea may cause liver damage.² It should not be used with other known hepatotoxic drugs such as anabolic steroids, amiodarone (Pacerone® or Cordarone®), methotrexate or ketoconazole (Nizoral®).

So use some caution when consuming a lot of this. I take methotrexate, so this information was quite relevant. I didn't realize the danger was hepatoxicity - i thought the issue was that it enhanced the immune system and thus would be contraindicated with a disease such as mine (rheumatoid arthritis), where the idea is to damp the immune system down (or the part of it that is doing damage) . That is the prevalent theory amongst most rheumatologists, although there is debate about this as well (there's always a debate in medicine).

Firefox 1.05 Released

With a host of security fixes, Firefox 1.05 was released today. You can get it here

Science
Discovery was scrubbed today due to fuel sensor problems and most likely would have been scrubbed for weather. Tune in tomorrow.

Sports
Michelle Wie (the 15 yr old phenom) kept her hopes alive in the men's Amateur Public LInks by shooting a 72 which just snuck her into match play today. If she were to win this event, she'd get an invite to the Men's Masters. Now how cool would that be? Of course, some men have grumbled, saying that she should stay on the women's tour since men aren't allowed to play on the women's tour. What's your opinion?

Movies
Saw Hotel Rwanda last nite on Direct TV. I liked the performance by Don Cheadle but the movie, despite the horror behind it, wasn't gritty enough for me. Nick Nolte in his powder blue UN getup just didn't cut it for me - he looked stupid (as most of these UN guys do in these stupid outfits) and it turned it a bit too Hollywoodish for me. Still, it is amazing how the world can sit on its hands throughout these massacres, just as it has done in Darfur . Obviously, since Rwanda offers little political advantage to politicans in the Western World, they just don't give a shit. We can spend billions attacking a country that likes to play a bluff game, (but wasn't imminently dangerous), while we stand by and let 800,000 people be hacked to death. (For background info on the genocide, check out this BBC article ).

TV
If you get the chance, tune in to PBS's presentation of Jared Diamond's Pulitizer Prize winning book, Guns, Germs, and Steel .Inspired by a question put to him on the island of Papua New Guinea more than thirty years ago, Diamond embarks on a world-wide quest to understand the roots of global inequality. The three one-hour programs were filmed across four continents on High Definition digital video, and combinied ambitious dramatic reconstruction with moving documentary footage and computer animation. They also include contributions from Diamond himself and a wealth of international historians, archeologists and scientists. To find out when it comes on in your area, head for the PBS TV Schedule .

Web Site of the Day
Old Grandma Hardcore

Discovery Mission

Turn on your TV sets around 3 p.m Eastern to get ready for Discovery's blastoff. The stakes are large for NASA -"A triumphant launch and especially a safe landing is deemed an "absolute prerequisite" to NASA’s future plans, suggested John Logsdon, Director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, D.C.

"NASA needs to get shuttle flying to finish the International Space Station. It needs to retire the shuttle as soon as possible and replace it with newer, safer, systems," Logsdon told SPACE.com , while getting started on human exploration beyond Earth orbit.

"None of this is likely to happen if this mission fails badly," Logsdon advised. "So this launch ranks up there with Alan Shepard and John Glenn’s Mercury missions and Apollo 11 in its significance."

For more about what will take place on the shuttle, head to Mission: Safety .

Rudy Chapa link - 404 Not Found

It seems like there is a lot of traffic to this site looking for the Rudy Chapa running story which was originally at http://www.midwestrunning.com/features/chapajuly2003.html. However, this was taking down by the site for reasons unknown to me, so hopefully you will notice this post before doing a search and wandering off on wayward excursions.

RSS feed for this site

In case you are using a News Aggegrator to read this site, the new feed address is http://feeds.feedburner.com/PontificatingFromTheMountain

Curry Spice Shuts down Melanoma

Curcumin, the ingredient that gives curry its yellow hue, blocked the growth of melanoma tumor cells and even stimulated their death in the laboratory, researchers report .

"We could completely inhibit the growth of the tumor if we used a big enough dose," said study co-author Bharat B. Aggarwal, chief of the Cytokine Research Section in the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. His report is set to appear in the Aug. 15 issue of Cancer.

Aggarwal and his colleagues exposed three different cell lines of melanoma to curcumin, which is found in turmeric, a spice used in curry dishes. Exposure to curcumin decreased the cell viability of all three cell lines, they found.

They zeroed in on a molecule called NF-kappa B, which is known to be overactive in several types of tumors, including melanoma. The turmeric shut down the molecule and that lead to inhibition of the tumor growth, Aggarwal explained.

In other preliminary research, including some by Aggarwal's team, turmeric has proven useful in treating multiple myeloma, as well as breast and pancreatic cancers.

Having had really bad sunburns as a kid and being fair-skinned (an indication of my regal English heritage, I'm sure), I'm no doubt a prime candidate for a nice big fat melanoma, so this is good news, in particular, since I already ingest the stuff as an anti-inflammatory for my RA.

Don't Like to Read?

Stumbled across this well written and very funny article on reading and those who can't stand the thought of picking up a book.. If you don't read, how do you think? Through tv? Through gossip? If you don't read, how can I possibly relate to you? If you don't have a library, no matter how small, or a book splayed face down on your coffee table, how will I be able to see your brain?

Web Site of the Day
Your Birthday

Mucous Recovery System?

While watching the Dolans yesterday on CNN, there was a discussion about health care costs and some of the crazy charges that one finds on their bill. How about $30 for a box of Kleenex - listed under "Mucous Recovery System". God, I love bureaucrats.

Photos of the Day

Decided I had spent enough time surfing the Net today, so grabbed the camera and headed outside. (Besides, after the post above, thought you needed something more pleasant to dwell on. :) The winds were beginning to pick up as we got the fringes of Dennis, but was able to grab a few quick shots before it became impossible. Usually need a tripod for these shots, but bees are quick moving so I often find it necessary to pump up the ISO and shutter speed and cross my fingers. Click the picture for the full sized image.


Here's a macro of a day lily that I liked for its simplicity and brilliant colors. (click for full sized image)

If you get the chance sometime, tune in on Saturday mornings (9 a.m. Eastern) to CNN's Turnaround Show with Ali Velshi . He stops in for a few days with different folks who are starting up small businesses or have been established for a short time and want to turnaround their stores or businesses to achieve better results. He generally brings in an expert from outside to suggest ideas and to formulate a plan. Today's show was an interesting one with a guy who ran a Pet Supply store catering to the "elite". Quite interesting to see all the little factors you have to take into account to make yourself successful. I've alway enjoyed reading about business (probably why I subscribe to Fortune, Forbes, Kiplinger, Smart Money and god knows how many others) and sometimes think life would have been a lot more fun (and challenging), had I gone the small business route rather than plowing away at corporate America. It's never too late, eh? :)

Another show that used to be on CNNfn on a daily basis was the Dolans , which has now moved to CNN, since CNNfn folded (a shame, as it was my #1 financial show in the morning). The Dolans are now on only once a week on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. A husband and wife team (she seems to be the one with the most sense and he seems more the buffoon), they offer some excellent advice on all kinds of consumer matters and do it in a way that the average consumer knows what they heck they are talking about. They've been doing this kind of consumer/money shows a long, long time. Worth a listen. You almost always pick up something you can use .


Factoid of the Day

The patent for the Corncob pipe was granted today in 1878.

"Corncob" pipes made from maize cobs are cheap and effective, even if some regard them as inelegant. The cobs are first dried for two years. Then they are hollowed out to make a bowl shape. The bowls are dipped in a plaster-based mixture and varnished or laquered on the outside. Shanks made from Pine wood are then inserted into the bowls. The first and largest manufacturer of corncob pipes is Missouri Meerschaum, located in Washington, Missouri in the USA [1] ( http://www.corncobpipe.com/ ). Missouri Meerschaum has produced the pipes since 1869. General Douglas MacArthur was perhaps the most famous smoker of this type of pipe, along with the cartoon character Popeye.

Corncob pipes remain popular today because they are inexpensive and require no "break-in" period like briar pipes. For these two reasons, corncob pipes are often recommended as a "Beginners pipe." But, their enjoyment is by no means limited to beginners. Corncob pipes are equally valued by both learners, and experienced smokers who simply desire a cool, clean smoke.

Photo of the Day

I was recently in Asheville, NC and saw this decorative molding around a store window. Liked the spirals, the texture, the colors. Click on the picture for full sized image.

Wie Misses the Cut

A real bummer. I watched practically her whole round and at -4 with the cut line at -3, I was sure she had it made, but then with 4 holes left, she double bogied and it was like watching a pin pop a balloon. You could see the 15 year old then, although I'm sure anyone under those circumstances would have been really disappointed. She finished at -1, 2 strokes away from making the cut. It was great theater though and I'm sure she will be back - she is absolutely awesome for a girl her age.

Politics
I found it interesting to watch Tony Blair in his news conference today. You could see how he was trying to put a good spin on the G8 (and there were some good things to come out of it), but it was tough, because the big boys didn't really have the guts to pull it all off. They should have all been made to sit down and watch "The Girl in the Cafe". In regards to climate change, he remarked that without the USA, China, and India putting their support behind a plan, nothing was ever going to come of climate change. GW of course, refuses it for fear it will damage the economy of the US. It might hurt it some, but then I'd rather have a slightly ailing ecoonomy and still have a bit of air to breathe too, not to mentioin a tidal wave swamping me someday when all the icecaps finish melting.

Firefox Tips
Want to see larger text on a page? Just hit Ctrl and the plus sign to zoom in. Hit Ctrl and the minus sign to zoom out. Or hit Ctrl+0 to return to the orignal size.

Opening Tabs - If you click a link using the scroll wheel on your mouse, it opens a new tab. Don't have a scroll wheel? Hold down Ctrl and left click on a link to pen a URL in a new tab (or hit Shift and left click to open a new window, although why you would want a new window when you could have a tab, I'm not sure).

Wie off to hot start in round 2

Michelle has birdied the first 2 of 3 holes in her quest to make the cut on the Men's Tour. Tune in to the USA network this afternoon at 4 Eastern to watch her live.

Will Wie make the Cut?

CNBC will provide continuing coverage of the John Deere Classic at 6:00 p.m. ET Friday following USA Network’s live second-round coverage from 4-6 p.m. ET in order to show the completion of Michelle Wie’s round. The 15-year-old Wie tees off Friday at 2:48 p.m. ET with her round expected to finish at approximately 7:45 p.m. ET.

Wifi Theft
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Police have arrested a man for using someone else's wireless Internet network in one of the first criminal cases involving this fairly common practice.

Benjamin Smith III, 41, faces a pretrial hearing this month following his April arrest on charges of unauthorized access to a computer network, a third-degree felony.

Police say Smith admitted using the Wi-Fi signal from the home of Richard Dinon, who had noticed Smith sitting in an SUV outside Dinon's house using a laptop computer.

Guess this will teach folks to protect their systems won't it?


Today's Factoid
On this date in 1835, the Liberty Bell cracked while tolling the death of Chief Justice John Marshal, who had died two days before. The bell was hung in Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1753, and was rung when the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in 1776. First cast in England in the 1750s, the bell bears the inscription from Leviticus 25:10, "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."

Michelle Wie at the John Deere Classic

Michelle Wie , the 15 year old female "Wunderkind" is making her first attempt at the Men's PGA tour in the US today. She is currently 1 over through 9, having just birdied the 9th hole and is in a tie for 52nd. Top 70 scores make the cut at the end of the day Friday. You can follow her progress through this real time scoring site . You can watch play later today on the USA channel from 4-6 p.m. This really sparks some interest in Golf - she's an amazing talent with one of the best swings in all of golf. " Fred Couples has also praised her, saying, "when you see her hit a golf ball ... there's nothing that prepares you for it. It's just the scariest thing you've ever seen."

*Update - Michelle finished round 1 at -1 with 4 bogies and 5 birdies on the day. Her -1 put her in a tie for 57th, but players are still on the course. A pretty decent day for round 1, I'd say, considering the pressure.

Web Site of the Day
Hyper History OnLine

New to Digital Cameras?

Canon has a nice site for those new to digital cameras (or cameras in general). If you've just bought a digital camera, it's worth a look through this site. Canon's Discover the Real Joy of Photography (Site temporarily down).


Today's little known factoid
Sylvester Graham - inventor of the graham cracker - celebrates his birthday today. (1794-1851). The graham cracker originated in the United States by Rev. Sylvester Graham, a Presbyterian minister, in the early 1800s as a "health food". Originally made solely with graham flour, many modern imitation Graham crackers contain no graham flour at all, and are based on bleached, refined white flour, which the Rev. Graham implacably opposed.

His original "Graham bread" was the centerpiece of a vegetarian diet created with the intent of suppressing carnal urges, which he believed were the source of many maladies. He also warned that ketchup and mustard caused insanity. However, at the time he gained many followers who set up boardinghouses, in cities like New York and Boston, where his vegetarian diet was observed.

Graham crackers have long since ceased to be considered a health food, but they have remained popular as a snack food. Today, graham crackers are made with much greater amounts of sugar and other sweeteners than used in the original recipe. Cinnamon is also commonly added to graham cracker mix to enhance the flavor.

Graham crackers are essential ingredients for various popular snack foods, including moon pies and s'mores.

Fortunately, I don't eat many graham crackers so still possess a full quota of carnal urges! I suspect many older ladies will be secretly feeding their Viagra taking ol' geezer husbands this tasty treat after reading this. I do like ketchup and mustard, however, which does explain this blog.

Web Site of the Day

Mini Putt
(I had a 49 on the first try - good luck!) P.S - Watch out for #14 - it's a bugger!

Happy 4th of July!

Been busy with my wife's family reunion for the past 3 or 4 days, so little chance to post. I could post all the family reunion pics, but somehow I think that might cause a glazing over of the ol' eyeballs, so.....

Movies
Every now and then I see a little gem of a movie and the other day I was reading an article in Newsweek about an HBO produced film called The Girl in the Cafe . This was a splendid film - the acting was fabulous, especially the performance by Bill Nighy. It ranks right up there with the best movies I've seen in a long time. It sends a message about poverty, the G8 conferences, etc, but it is not just a message movie, and not just a character movie, it is more a melding of the two into a wonderfully crafted little movie. Loved it - watch this. You can catch it July 5th at 6:15 and 9:15 p.m. Eastern time. For a full schedule of showings, head to this schedule page . This movie is a good reason to have HBO - they do some of the finest work in television, not to mention film.

Picture of the Day
Two expert flat-footers in action at the recent Wayne C Henderson Music Festival at Grayson Highlands State Park in Grayson County, Virginia. Click on the picture for the original view and some more background on the picture. This fella even had a Michael Jackson "moon-walk" move.





Fact of the Day
Adams and Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was an anniversary that both founders were determined to live long enough to see. Death took Jefferson at 12:50 in the afternoon. Near noon, close to the time of Jefferson's death, Adams awakened from a deep sleep and with great effort proclaimed, "Thomas Jefferson survives." These were his last words, after which he fell into a coma. At about six o'clock in the evening, as the warm day turned cool, John Adams died. He was ninety-one years old.

Kite Runner

Finished this audio book today. What can I say? Read it - better yet - listen to it since it is read by the author himself (an Afghan, now living in the U.S). Not only is it a great story, but you learn some history of Afghanistan, the Taliban - this book is up there with Life of Pi, Secret Life of Bees,etc. You can the read basic plot summary if you look below in the posting I made earlier about this book. #3 on the NY Times Paperback Fiction list and listed now for 41 weeks.

Incidentally, I noticed that Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer, which I recently finished, was listed as one of the 10 best books for 2004 by the Times. Also on the list was Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton. That's my next listen. That's a long one - 37 hours.

Google

Remember that little Google stock that went public around $85/share not that long ago? Today it sits at $304.10/share. Are you putting a gun to your head that you didn't get in? I am.

Firefox Extension
For a killer Firefox extension, check out Scrapbook . How I missed this one, I don't know. If you do research on anything (health issues comes to mind. :), then this is a great tool.

Audio books

Thought I might mention that Audible has a summer sale of their audio books for $9.95 each. That's a steal, so you might want to check a few titles out. When you consider that John Adams is available on 37 CD's for $100 from Barnes and Noble, it's nice to know you can get it for $10 and download it to your Ipod, mp3 player, Palm Pilot or Pocket PC thus alleviating the need to schlep 37 CD's around

I recently finished Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fisher, read by the incomparable Nelson Runger . Great history book of the beginning revolutionary war battles, in particular the Battle of Trenton and the following battle of Princeton. One has to marvel at what these soldiers endured on that bitter cold, sleet driving winter night in 1776 while crossing the Delaware. How they made it across that river and then drug those cannon along icy roads for another 10 miles and then fought a battle humbles this couch potato of today. The book further illustrates how the tide could have easily have changed in favor of the British, were it not for Washington's strong leadership and a different mindset amongst American civilians of the day. It's hard to imagine how a hastily thrown together bunch of ragtag farmers, clerks and the like could defeat professionally trained armies, many with 30+ years of doing battle. Originality saved the day, that and a fierce determination to be free. Give it a try - impecabbly researched and the description of the crossing is worth the read alone.

I'm now halfway through The Kite Runner by Khaled Hossein . Given a 4.7/5 rating by some 413 readers on Audible, the following descr iption sums it up nicely - Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of its monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable and beautifully told story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Raised in the same household and sharing the same wet nurse, Amir and Hassan grow up in different worlds: Amir is the son of a prominent and wealthy man, while Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant, is a Hazara - a shunned ethnic minority. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. When Amir and his father flee the country for a new life in California, Amir thinks that he has escaped his past. And yet he cannot leave the memory of Hassan behind him.

The Kite Runner is a novel about friendship and betrayal, and about the price of loyalty. It is about the bonds between fathers and sons, and the power of fathers over sons - their love, their sacrifices, and their lies. Written against a backdrop of history that has not been told in fiction before, The Kite Runner describes the rich culture and beauty of a land in the process of being destroyed. But through the devastation, Khaled Hosseini offers hope for redemption. This is turning out to be a very interesting story, one that is hard to put down.

Maybe it's time you gave an audio book a try? Did you know that truck drivers are becoming some of the best read individuals in America? More and more and descending upon libraries and checking out audio books for their cross country trips. If you're a commuter, you're nuts to miss this opportunity to fill up those wasted hours sitting in your car - I know, I used to sit in that 5 pm. Atlanta traffic - back then I always kept a book in the car, but audio would have been fabulous .
 

Wie shares Open Lead with 1 round to Go

If you get the chance, tune in to the final round of the Women's Open tomorrow at 3 pm on NBC. Michelle Wie shares the lead with a few others at +1. Rather amazing when you consider she is 15 years old and an amateur. She is 6'3" tall though and has a gorgeous swing, in fact Johnny Miller commented that it is one of the 5 best swings in golf today amongst all men and women golfers and I wouldn't dispute that after watching her.

It's a Sports Day

If you're a sports nut, then today is your day. Wimbledon going on right now - Annika trying to put a 3rd notch in her belt in chasing 4 Gland Slam titles in a single year(NBC - 3 p.m Eastern), the US Outdoor Track and Field Championships (4 p.m. eastern on ESPN), Indy car racing with Danica Patrick at 7 pm. Eastern. I watched some of the women's golf tournament yesterday - is going to get interesting since the course favors "short play" vs the long hitter. Annika loses her edge there and going into today is some 6 strokes behind, so will be interesting to see if she can catch up. I like golf but am no expert. I find it interesting that the women seem to lack the ability to put a lot of spin on the ball , so they lose the ability to hit past the pin and have the ball spin backwards to the hole. Instead they have to hit it short onto the green and run it to the hole, which often they failed to do or hit over the hole and watched the ball just keeping running. Perhaps an avid golfer could fill me in on why we see the women do this less than the men. I can't believe it is a power issue, as some of the women can hit driver further than the men. There are a lot of teenagers at the top of the leaderboard, so will be interesting to see how they handle the pressure of a big event (15 yr old Michelle Wie is only 2 strokes behind the leader).

I saw in the paper where Marion Jones withdrew from the Outdoor championships as did her husband, Tim Montgomery. Probably didn't want to be embarassed. Hate to say it, but I'm inclined to think their success came from steroids.

In a bizarre moment in Sports, I happened to read in USA Today where a volunteer official (and one with a number of years volunteering) at a Track meet was struck by a 16lb shotput in the head and killed. I've never heard of such a thing happening.

TV
Coming up in July (July 27th at 10 p.m Eastern), Steven Boccho who brought us NYPD Blue amongst other fine TV drama, will bring the Iraq war into our homes on the FX channel, as he follows a band of young soldiers into action in the new series "Over There". It supposedly will have the "real-life" aspects of war that "Band of Brothers" and "Saving Private Ryan" brought to the scene. If that is true, be prepared for some gripping television. So put July 27th on your calendar

A busy few days

If you've wondered where I've disappeared to, it was 30th wedding anniversary time, so the wife and I headed for Asheville, NC for a stay at a nice lodge and a few days touring old familiar sites and enjoying a few nice restaurants. Janet spied a 50% off deal on a $40 book ath the Visitors Center that got you 2 for 1 meals at many restaurants and some of the very nicest restaurants in Asheville. This slick move on her part saved us a lot of money over a few days - made it affordable to eat at some of the nice restaurants. Had a very nice dinner at the Boathouse on Lake Julian .

Took in a German movie at the Fine Arts Theater (english subtitles) called "The Downfall" (der Untergang in German), which outlined the final days in Hitler's bunker. Nominated for an Academy Award, it is an awesome portrayal of the final days in the Bunker, and in particular an incredible portray of Hitler himself by Bruno Ganz. (Goebbel's wife was one steely-eyed tough number, herself). I can't imagine anyone looking more like Hitler who could have played the part better. If you get the chance, see this movie. Up there with "Das Boot" and "Saving Private Ryan". You may have to look for it in the "fine arts" movie theaters.

On a brighter note, made our usual pilgramage to one of Asheville's finest arts and crafts gallery, the New Morning Gallery . They have added on additional rooms that display some incredible interior design talent. If you ever wanted a living room or bedroom decked out in an artistic manner, then you should come and look at these displays. Blew us away. Some great talent and artisanship on display here. Better have a fat wallet when you utilize one of these design themes.

Web Site of the Day
National Priorities Project

JiWire SpotLock

Tried out the JiWire Spotlock that I had mentioned the other day (see below), while I was sipping on a cup of tea at a Panera Bread store. Installed easily and was easy to set up. There's a free trial of this service through June 17th and then it's $5/month or $50/year. Puts your laptop behind a VPN (virtual private network), so you are then completely safe from hackers. Had a problem with getting it to run while Zone Alarm was running, despite configuring Zone Alarm the way they suggested. (I don't think Zone Alarm is necessary while this is running, so probably not a big deal). I sent JiWire a note asking them about this and I'll follow up once they reply. Was reassuring to know that someone couldn't steal your computer info and the price sure beats the hell out of Boingo's offering. Nothing wrong with Boingo, in fact I liked their service, but the cost differential is substantial. So if you're using your laptop at a coffeeshop, you should check this out. JiWire Spotlock Security

Photoshop Widow?

Photoshop is like a powerful vacuum - it just sucks you in and after about 20 years spits you out looking very much like a large white mole, as this widow will attest. Fortunately, I have not succumbed yet to this monster. Actually, I think you have to be intelligent in order to be hooked into this, so I have a built-in escape route. A good article for digital camera junkies.

Hot Outside? - Home Brew your own AC
Now ya gotta check this out. As my ol' buddie Loren used to say - "where there's a will, there's a way". Home Brewed AC

Web Site of the Day
Yub Nub - A (social) command line for the web . (a great plugin for Firefox users - can also be used alone - once you figure it out, enter "ath" w/o the quotes. :) After that has exhausted you , try entering "pon" Enjoy!

A serious challenge to wild Salmon

I was reading David Suzuki's web site today and thought I'm bring your attention to this serious issue involving wild salmon. A new study is confirming the dangers of open net salmon farming in British Columbia. The results - A definitive new study confirming that a B.C. fish farm is responsible for an overwhelming increase in sea lice on wild fish should prompt the government to immediately remove salmon farms from B.C. waters, say members of the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR).

The results show transmission of lice from farmed salmon to migrating wild salmon peaked at an intensity of 70 times greater than natural near the farm and continued to exceed natural levels for 30km along the migration route. This amounts to a total contribution of lice from the farm that was 30,000 times higher than natural.

Environmental groups and other concerned community members continue to advocate for the immediate removal of open net pens and a shift to more sustainable forms of fish farming. Closed-tank systems address most of the disease and pollution concerns posed by open net cages.

“We have a small window of opportunity to reverse this damage – by removing open netcages and investing in sustainable, closed-tank technology,” says Ritchlin. “But this window is getting smaller and smaller.”

Makes you think about that next delicious looking grilled salmon dinner you're consuming in your neighborhood restaurant, doesn't it? Do yourself a favor - order wild Alaskan salmon from Vital Choice . You can't get a better source and you can cook it a heck of a lot better than any restaurant is going to cook it. I cook mine on a simple electric grill I picked up from Walmart for $25 - delicious and very healthy stuff.

Time for "Medicare for All"?

Paul Krugman comes out in favor of "single payer" or as Ted Kennedy put it - "Medicare for all" where the government provides universal health insurance for everyone. How is this affordable? Medicare has much lower administrative costs than private insurance. The reason is that single-payer systems don't devote large resources to screening out high-risk clients or charging them higher fees. The savings from a single-payer system would probably exceed $200 billion a year, far more than the cost of covering all of those now uninsured.

We need to do this one right. If reform fails again, we'll be on the way to a radically unequal society, in which all but the most affluent Americans face the constant risk of financial ruin and even premature death because they can't pay their medical bills.

We'll be on the way?? Heck, I thought we were there already! Who's gonna be the brave one to face up to the insurance lobbies though? That's the real crux of this matter. Check out Krugman's column for the whole story. I know from my own perspective that 20% yearly increases in my premiums are rapidly making health insurance unaffordable for myself, so this is an issue that hits close to home. Don't know if it really helps to write one's congressman/woman, but if there was ever a time, this is it.

Web site of the Day
What You'll Wish You'd Known

Wifi Security for your laptop

JiWire is now offering an inexpensive solution for those of you who are out and about and want to use coffee shops to connect to the Internet or send email. Most folks use these places with no security in place on their laptops (Zone Alarm and an anti-virus program are not good enough). For $5/month or $50/year, you can now connect through their secure network. That's a great deal, as Boingo costs $21.95/month. So check out JiWire's Security Solution !

Power - what Power?

Geez, looking at the stats from my UPS (uninterrupted power supply) for my computer, I notice that we have had 11 blackouts in the last week alone and some 40+ in the last 4 weeks. Gotta love that AEP (American Electric Power). Thank God I bought this UPS or my computer would have been toast long ago. I don't know what it is about living in the mountains, but the slightest bit of wind or rain will knock us out every time .

Danica
Well Danica found out what it was like to run with the big boys last night at the Texas Speedway. To her credit, she lasted the race but finished 13th. Think she is quickly finding out how mind boggling it is to be racing at 210 mph side by side to somene in a high banked curve. The slightest twitch on that steering wheel and away you go - maybe even to your death. She was wise to back off and find some cushion and get a bit more practice before involving herself in some of those hair-raising moments. It was an exciting race - with some very close calls, but overall no major wrecks and a pretty clean race.

Afleet Alex
Afleet Alex proved he was the horse of the year in the Belmont. Wow and then some! As they came around the final turn with Giacomo (the Derby winner) leading or close to it, Afleet Alex suddenly just shifted into overdrive and blew the field away to win by 7 lengths. It was amazing to see this horse just put it into a gear that obviously no other horse had -awesome display of strength and speed. Shame he didn't win the Derby as he is a Triple Crown horse for sure.

Web Site of the Day
Miniature -Earth.com

Danica Patrick on ESPN tonite

Another Indy car race tonite with Danica Patrick. ESPN at 7 eastern time. She's starting in the 3rd position, so she must have done well again in qualifying. History in the making - you might see her become the first woman to win an Indy car race!

Belmont Horse Racing
Post time at 5:38 Eastern for the final leg of the Triple Crown, although no horse won both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, so no Triple Crown winner is possible, but Giacomo and Afleet Alex will duke it out once more and that's worth watching the race .

And we thought we had Health Care problems

An interesting article about problems surfacing in the Canadian Health Care system. Sounds like a crisis to me. If the Canadians aren't careful, they will end up with our health care system. I don't doubt that if they allow private medical care, that more doctors will move to the private system to make more money. And that will result in poorer people waiting even longer in line for surgeries and the wealthy getting better services. They do have a problem with the current system, however. Waiting a year for a hip replacement when you're going out of your mind, is not a pleasant contemplation. It will be interesting to see what happens there.

Need the Time?
Finding that system clock in the lower right corner of your screen to be boring? Well, even if you don't, you should nonetheless take a look at this ingenious web site .

Danger Will Robinson!

Saw this on a blog today and had to pass it along - too funny!

" "Dear Technical Support:Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources. In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity.Applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0, Hunting and Fishing 7.5, and Racing 3.6. I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but the uninstall doesn't work on Wife 1.0.
Please help, thanks
A Troubled User"

"REPLY:

Dear Troubled User:

Many men upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed.

You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony-Child Support. I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 and work on improving the situation. I suggest installing the background application "Yes dear" to alleviate software augmentation. The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway. Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0, Cook It 1.5 and Do Bills 4.2. However, be very careful how you use these programs.Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5.Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0.

WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary with Short Skirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system.

Good luck User."

Mini-Strokes

I've gotten into reading Medical blogs now, thanks to that Internet Public Library page on blogs the other day that I mentioned (they have driven me to ruin!). I find all medical stories fascinating - think that goes back to my days of reading Frank Slaughter, M.D. books as a kid. If you get the chance, pick one of those up - they make for great reading - you can often find them in 2nd hand book stores. Anyway, I digress from my mini-stroke heading (why my English teachers loved me in school). I was reading a family doctor's blog this morning called MedPundit and she was introducing a bit of reality into the scare issue that so many of us may face mini-strokes.

"But carpal tunnel syndrome can certainly cause numbness that lasts more than 5 or 10 minutes, and it also tends to be exacerbated by a sleeping hand's position. What's more, there are, by far, more people with carpal tunnel syndrome than with mini-strokes:

Neurologists estimate that there are up to 500,000 ministrokes annually in the U.S. That compares to 700,000 full-blown strokes a year, according to the American Stroke Association .

The prevalence of carpal tunnel syndrome, on the other hand, is 2.7% of the adult population - in other words, millions. The figures for degenerative disc disease are even higher.

My point isn't to minimize the significance of mini-strokes, but to temper the article's slant with a dose of reality. Not every case of numbness or dizziness warrants admission and work-up for an impending stroke. If your arm numbness gets worse when you move your neck or wrist or shoulder a certain way, then you likely have slept on it wrong.

Admitting every case of dizziness or limb numbness indiscriminately would dramatically increase the cost of healthcare. And it isn't at all clear that there would be much gained in lives saved or disabilities avoided.

Sounds like a tough call to me, as to which one you might actually be having. It's worth reading the scare issue link above as that does further explain some of the serious issues that you could be facing. Having degenerative disks at C6 and C7 myself, i recently went through a period of 3 days where I was having numbness in the fingers of my hand and in my feet, but at the same time, I was having pain in that area of my neck, so I chalked it up to the degenerative disks. If I'm wrong, you'll probably notice incoherent babbling (something like what I'm doing now), in the weeks to come.

A Good Feeling

Imagine my surprise this morning when I was going through some of my photos on my web site and came upon this comment. It was nice to see that in some very small way, I was helping somebody in a very dangerous part of the world.

I was just looking around the web about a year ago down on base when i came accross your galleries, i guess i must have spent an hour just looking at all the photos of southwest va . Now everytime i get homesick i just click on your website and get lost inside one of your photos for a while. Im on my second tour in Iraq and it seems ive been away from home too long and all the reasons i left those mountains have now become the reasons i want to return. Thank you for the great website. Sincerely, Cpl. Stan......., USMC

Audible and XM Satellite Radio to hook up

Most of you know that I push Audible as a great way to widen your horizons by reading books at times when you are unable to sit down and open a real book. Well, now they're going to partner up with XM radio and develop a portable device that will receive satellite signals from XM as well as books from Audible. So now you can have 150 channels of great radio as well as listen to your favorite books, newspapers,etc. If you're a commuter, you need to check this out. (coming in 2006) Audible stock is up some 12% in the premarket this morning on this news. (Incidentally, did you know that you can get Real Time stock quotes from Google? Just type in the stock symbol and directly under the chart, you will see the Real-Time quote - very nice). Give it a try - type in ADBL and see what you find.

Art Critics - Cruel?

Was reading Hoosier's blog this morning and got a hoot out of this link she posted on being an art critic. You may not find it funny, but my warped mind wraps around it easily. :) World's cruelest critic?

Help! I'm in the rowboat!

From Bob Hebert's column in the NY Times - Consider, for example, two separate eras in the lifetime of the baby-boom generation. For every additional dollar earned by the bottom 90 percent of the population between 1950 and 1970, those in the top 0.01 percent earned an additional $162. That gap has since skyrocketed. For every additional dollar earned by the bottom 90 percent between 1990 and 2002, Mr. Johnston wrote, each taxpayer in that top bracket brought in an extra $18,000.

It's like chasing a speedboat with a rowboat. Rowboat hell, i'm on a raft with no paddle!

Photo of the Day

Taken in Troutdale, VA behind an old abandoned building. I was blown away by the huge profusion of Dame's Rocket (how's that for a name?). Thought this was a beautiful scene, but wished the wind wasn't blowing as hard as it was. That would have made it a bit easier to stop motion in the flowers. I shot at 1/500th, but should have shot at even a faster speed probably. You usually see large clumps of these growing along the roadsides, but I had never seen an entire hillside. Click on the picture for a full sized (and always better) view. Picture taken with Canon 20D and 18-55EF-S f/3.5-5.6 lens - exposed at 1/500th, F5.6, ISO 200 - 56mm film equivalent focal length.

Wayne Henderson Music Fest

Wayne Henderson's annual music festival is coming up soon - June 18th to be exact. For those of you who don't know, Wayne is a famous guitar maker and musician in the hills of SW Virginia. You can read more about his festival and about him by going to his web page .

This could be me

I got a chuckle out of Nick Bradbury's (the guy who authored Feed Demon , the RSS reader I use) blog this morning. I swear we must be related. Got quite a laugh out of his final paragraph.

My Annual Health Crisis

I think I'm on a health plan which dictates that every year I must suffer from a completely unexpected medical issue. Last year it was a neck injury which resulted in surgery; this year, it's sudden hearing loss (SHL) in my left ear.

It all started on my first flight to Denver to meet the folks at NewsGator. I had a really bad cold, and when the flight ended I noticed that my left ear felt "clogged." I figured it was just cold-related so I ignored it at first, but I started to get concerned when it didn't resolve itself over the next week.

My first doctor said it was caused by fluid in the ear, and prescribed something to help clear it up. But over the next few weeks it didn't get any better.

So last week I went to a specialist, and he discovered a pretty significant hearing loss in my left ear. I have trouble hearing higher frequencies, so it's kind of like my own personal Dolby noise reduction system. Apparently, SHL isn't uncommon, and many times the cause is viral.

Now I'm taking two different medicines, one of which makes me feel like I've drank three pots of coffee (great in the morning, not so great at night). The other is a drug commonly prescribed for herpes - a fact I wish I would've known before I picked up the prescription! My eyes bugged out when I saw the drug's description in the printout that accompanied it (hey, how many guys do you know who would want a herpes drug on their shelves?). Of course I immediately called my doctor, asking what the deal was and whether there was something he forgot to tell me, but he said not to worry - the drug had several other uses (whew).

Side note: don't you hate doctors who fail to tell you the side effects of the medicine they prescribe? One of the possible side effects of the first drug is that it "may cause vomiting that looks like coffee grounds." Wow. You'd think they'd write that in big letters on the side of the pill bottle ("Warning: this medicine may have some really disgusting side effects. Wear old clothes before taking this prescription.")

Anyway, now it's just a "wait and see" and hope that the medicine clears up the problem. In the meantime, it's not too bad having poor hearing in just one ear, but it is a little awkward. For example, whenever I talked with someone at Syndicate last month I'd have to turn my right ear towards them, which felt a little odd, like I was saying, "hello, do you like my right ear? isn't it the sexy one?" to complete strangers.

I joked with a friend of mine about how I keep falling apart despite the fact that I have a healthy lifestyle. We figure that by the time I'm 80, I'll basically be a brain in a jar with a wireless connection to my computer (what, you think I'm ever going to stop coding?). Hmmm...actually, some days I'm already like that, so perhaps old age will suit me just fine?

Cool Maps

I was reading techie Sarah Lane's blog today (of TechTV fame) and noted that she had commented on Map24.com . This is a very slick java-based map program. Have a look - slick stuff.

Photo of the Day

A picture of early Hops in the gardens at the Fox Hill Inn. For a larger more detailed view, click on the picture. Taken with 20D and 18-55 EFS 3.5-5.6 lens at 1/60th f5.6 iso 200, handheld. Converted from RAW and adjusted in Photoshop CS2. I am finding that this little "kit lens" takes some fine pictures if you work with it. It's extreme light weight makes it very easy to handhold.

HarperCollins Creates Bookstore Hotspots

Harpers Collins will build hotspots at bookstores in innovative approach: Sure, Barnes & Noble and Borders Books have had hotspots for some time now, with Borders claiming the older network. (Barnes & Noble signed its Cometa deal weeks before it shut down; now SBC operates B&N hotspots.)

But HarperCollins's plan will bring Wi-Fi with a HarperCollins splash page to what sounds at least like a wider variety of booksellers and at no cost. It's an interesting move because many bookstores aren't set up to handle people with laptops, and there's always been some concern that access to perfect information in the form of book price comparisons at Amazon.com (or even my own service, isbn.nu) would erode on-the-spot impulse buying.

The company said in a press release that they will launch a four-month pilot program, to be announced at this weekend Book Expo America. The publisher is providing free Wi-Fi access at the show. (this article comes to you from WiFiNetNews )

As a side note, if you are interested in learning more about wifi, JiWire now has forums available which can be quite helpful. In addition, if you are concerned about wifi security issues (and you should be), here is an excellent article discussing what you should do now.

Coffeeshop turns off Wi-Fi on Weekends
This is an interesting take on today's culture . Apparently this coffeshop in Seattle decided to turn off free wi-fi on the weekends, because too many "freeloaders" were coming in and setting up shop for the entire day and never buying anything. Conversation also disappeared from the cafe because everyone was just pounding away on their laptops. Apparently this was met with the usual outpouring of hate mail, but many have supported the owner's stand on this issue. Personally, I agree with the owner. If you're going to take up their space, at least support the place by purchasing some of their products. At the same time, I have to agree that it does turn a lively place into a "library-like" setting. In the long run, as free wi-fi takes over cities, perhaps people will find other places to get their wifi "fix" and not turn to a coffeeshop, which is currently often the only place in a city where it is available.

A Neat Tip for Photoshop Users

From Photoshop Help Blog comes a nifty little trick to view a picture at 400% and make adjustments while simultaneously seeing how that effects the picture at 100%.

1. Open an image you want to retouch.
2. Choose Window > Arrange > New Window for...
3. A second copy of the image opens.
4. Set the magnification of one to 400% using the Zoom tool.
5. Set the magnification of the other to 100% (Double-click the Zoom tool in the toolbox).
6. Every edit you perform on the 400% version will render automatically in the 100% version.

That should speed things up.

Good Stuff

I should charge for offering up these links as I've had to do all the hard work and you get to enjoy all the benefits! Found a few good sites today that you might want to check out - they'll lead to many other sites and then in short order you will be lost forever and you will curse me.

If you're a photographer, you'll like this list of photo blogs .

If you want to see the best of 2005's blogs, check out the Bloggies . You're bound to find something interesting here.

If you want to see a great collection of blogs, categorized (Education,History, Books, Medical, Politics, Sports,Travel, and many more), check out this page at the Internet Public Library . This will keep you busy for days. How did I find this link? I used Stumble Upon! , which is a neat Extension for the Firefox browser. Just click on the "install now" button and then you can curse me for a few more days as you chase all kinds of web sites across cyberspace.

Photo of the Day

A typical SW Virginia springtime mountain scene. Cows are quite the curious beasts. There was only one in the pasture when I got out of the car to take this picture and then more started coming down off the hillsides to check me out. Hillsides are loaded with cinquefoil this time of year (I think that is what those tiny yellow flowers are - I'm sure a reader of this blog will correct me, if I'm wrong). Click on the picture for a larger view.

Danica makes the History books!

A great Indy race today. First time I've watched one beginning to end in awhile. Was eager to see if this knockout Danica Patrick could pull off a miracle and be the first woman to win an Indy 500. And she almost did it! The place was going nuts as she took the lead with 10 laps to go (first woman to ever lead an Indy 500 race), but due to running on mere fumes, had to dial down the boost in her car to finish the race and was passed in the closing laps to finally finish 4th. But what an accomplishment! My hat's off to her - this will make Indy car racing so much more fun to watch in the future. A comment from her when asked if she had made the point that female drivers could compete against men, Patrick quickly said, "I made a hell of a point for anybody, are you kidding me?"

Hell's Kitchen!

Be sure to check out English Superstar chef Gordon Ramsay on Monday night on Fox (9 p.m Eastern). Saw him talking with Charlie Rose last night on PBS. This guy is intense! He and Anthony Bourdain of Kitchen Confidential fame should hook up! Reality TV in the kitchen - this should be a blast as 12 aspiring chefs try to please our boy Gordon - good luck is all I have to say.

How often do you check your email?

Got a chuckle out of Jeff Krimmel's blog today discussing how often people check email, in particular, the following comment by MDA "I’ve rewired a cochlear implant to interface directly with my hypothalmus (I can spare a few lower order functions like breathing, but there’s no way I’m giving up on my cortex’s ability to surf the web, enjoy a good movie, and… oh yeah… research). The implant has a wireless receiver on it it which is linked to my cell phone (along with a voice synthesizer which has also been hardwired into my cranium). The phone is set up to be constantly taking a call from my server which is continuously reading mail over the phone to me in a specialized shorthand I’ve devised for this purpose (I use call waiting to take more traditional calls). Since my email is now hooked directly into low order brain activity, not even sleep can break my connection. “Reading” email has thus become for me a continuous, inate behavior. "

I am happy to say I've ordered up a cochlear implant for myself!

Can Danica Patrick be the 1st woman to win Indy?

Just imagine - a 5'1" , 100 lb woman beating the big boys at the Indy 500. Now wouldn't that be a news flash heard round the world? And she has a chance! She qualified 4th ouf of 33 racers (inside 2nd row position), so she has a hot rocket to drive. Patrick, driving the No. 16 Rahal Letterman Racing Argent Pioneer Panoz/Honda/Firestone, posted a fast lap of 225.597 mph (39.8942 seconds) during the one-hour session on the 2.5-mile oval. She also recorded the fastest overall lap (229.880 mph) of the month May 15. Tune in Sunday at noon on ABC to find out if she can pull it off. No easy task - don't think the boys will let her win easily. To learn more about Danica, check out her web site .

Arriana's New Blog

For the latest buzz from Arianna, check out her new blog, called "The Huffington Post" . Always some good stuff here.

They called it "Stinky."

Stinky was the reason four high school students from the mean streets of West Phoenix won a national engineering competition last year against several colleges, including what might be considered the mother of all engineering universities: M.I.T.
Stinky, so named for the unfortunate stench of the glue used to create it, is an underwater robot that is able to perform a number of tasks that simulate a submarine salvage operation. Last summer, Lorenzo, Oscar, Christian and Luis, students at Carl Hayden Community High School in Phoenix, built it from scratch. They brought it to the national underwater remotely operated vehicle championships to go up against several colleges, and shocked everyone (including themselves) by winning. Stinky, as it turned out, didn't really stink.
So where are those students now? Harvard? Cal Tech? Maybe...M.I.T.? Think again. They are undocumented Mexican immigrants and they don't qualify for financial aid -- and obtaining in-state tuition in Arizona is difficult, if not impossible. For them, and the estimated 65,000 undocumented students who will graduate from U.S. high schools this year, the path to higher education is full of more than a few roadblocks. But there are many people who feel those roadblocks are rightful and necessary provisions of the law.
Theirs is a story about what happens when the underdogs trump everyone's expectations?and what happens after that.

Watch Nightline tonight (check your local listings) to hear more of this story. Sounds like it should be quite interesting!

Green Valley Book Fair

I've been gone for a few days visiting the Green Valley Book Fair in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Janet had read about this and we decided to head that way to see if there were any good book bargains. Whew! I'd say so. Bought a big thick volume on XP Home with SP2 info included (published 2005), which sold new at Barnes and Nobles for $44.95. I got it new at Green Valley for $15. Nabbed an AmPhoto book on Color Management by Tim Gray for $15 (retail $44.95). Got a copy of the adventure "Touch the Top of the World" (story of a blind man climbing the world's highest peaks) for $1.99 (retail $23.95). The list goes on and on. :) I won't say how much we spent, suffice it to say that we decided to skip staying another night in a motel to save some money and came home a day early. LOL If you're in Central VA, check this place out. It's out in the country just south of Harrisonburg, VA (exit 240 on I-81).

Afleet Alex wins and survives a very scary moment

Scrappy T, was four lengths ahead of Afleet Alex and kicking toward the wire. But Afleet Alex was rolling like a bullet train, and Scrappy T's rider, Ramon Dominguez, knew it.

With a quarter of a mile to run, Dominguez slapped his colt's hip with his whip left-handed. Scrappy T suddenly bolted to his right. His feet became tangled with Afleet Alex's, and in an instant Afleet Alex was scraping his knees in the dirt.

Rose was staring at the ground between the horse's ears. The air was sucked out of the racetrack, and in a clubhouse box, the trainer of Afleet Alex, Tim Ritchey, let loose with a frightened expletive.

But Rose grabbed his colt's mane, clamped his legs and pulled; Afleet Alex reached out with his front feet, vaulted forward and immediately reclaimed his stride.

"We're going to win anyway," Ritchey roared.

And they did: Rose and Afleet Alex bounded down the stretch to finish four and three-quarter lengths ahead of the wobbly legged Scrappy T and his shaken jockey, Dominguez.
Courtesy NY Times

It was one of those great horse racing moments and I was sure glad to see that horse stagger up and go on to win. A really breathtaking moment - that jockey could have easily been killed if he had fallen off and had the 10 horses behind him run right over the top of him, not to mention the horse, who could have easily broken his legs. It shows you the incredible strength of these beautiful animals and the cool composure of Jeremy Rose, his rider, who was scared big time but hung on.

Some tips on the new Exposure Adjustment in Photoshop's new CS2 version

The Image >> Adjustments menu now sports a new "Exposure" option that may well become your first choice for significant shifts in exposure. The appropriately named Exposure slider will be the main one you are likely to use and works as you would expect it to. Calibrated in stops, it increases brightness throughout the image but affects the shadow areas far less than the highlights.

To read some more about this head to Earthbound Light's Photo Tips . I haven't tried this one out that much yet but will have to do so. Mainly I have been experimenting with PS's Highlight/Shadow tool , also found under Image>>Adjustments. It's an amazing tool for adjusting highlight and shadow areas.

Will it be Giacomo's time again?

Don't forget to tune in at 6:05 p.m. (eastern) (post time) for the running of the Preakness. Will Giacomo , who was at 50-1 odds when it won the Derby, pull of the Preakness as well? Most are betting against him. Who knows? Place your bets folks!

Could you be one of those with Type 2 Diabetes and Don't Know it?

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the illness, and experts estimate a third of the people who have it don't know. An additional 41 million have "pre-diabetes," an impaired sugar tolerance that can lead to the full-blown disease. Do you know what your HBA1C is? Type 2 diabetes sneaks up on you, as the body gradually loses its ability to use insulin, a hormone crucial to converting blood sugar into energy. High glucose levels damage blood vessels and nerves -- eventually leading to blindness, kidney failure, amputations of feet and legs and heart disease. Diabetes is the nation's sixth-leading killer.

Tight control of blood sugar, either through diet and exercise alone or with a variety of medications, can prevent that damage. The best measure of control: the A1C test, a way of tracking average blood-sugar levels over two or three months.

AACE, the endocrinologists' group, defines glucose control as an A1C level below 6.5. But 67 percent of Type 2 diabetics aren't meeting that goal, concludes a new AACE analysis.

A normal A1C level is 5. While diabetes specialists differ on whether 6.5 or 7 signals good control, every point-drop lowers the risk of serious complications by 25 percent to 40 percent.

Yet an AACE-commissioned survey of Type 2 diabetics found that 84 percent believed they were doing a good job controlling their blood sugar, even though 61 percent went on to say they didn't know what the A1C test is. Incredible.

Bottom line - ask your doctor at each visit what your HBA1C is. (It's a simple blood draw that measures your average blood sugar levels over the last 3 months). Much better than a random fasting blood sugar that can miss your problem enitirely. Even better yet, if you've had a few borderline tests from time to time (somewhere in the 110-126 range), do yourself a big favor and get the OGTT (oral glucose tolerance test). You drink a 12 oz bottle of sugary solution after having fasted the night before and then your blood sugar levels are measured hourly. Mine was 300 after 2 hours. Wake up call! Yet, often my fasting blood sugars are near 100 or below. I've found I'm extremely sensitive to carbohydrates and I suspect many other Americans are as well. Any intake of starchy carbs is asking for trouble, so you learn to eat differently and when you fall off the wagon, the HBA1C reminds you that you've been screwing up. I fell off the wagon recently and home tested with an HBA1C kit - 6.7. Not good, considering it used to be in the mid to low 5's. So I've changed my diet and got back on the horse and my morning blood sugars are now around 100 or lower, vs the 120's I had been getting. So my advice - educate yourself and ask to be tested and don't settle for a random fasting stick. It's ok to have that, but ask to be retested an hour or so after you've had a nice big bowl of Rice Krispies. You might be very surprised.

Bah, humbug!

The New York Times announced yesterday that it would offer a new subscription-based service on its Web site, charging users an annual fee to read its Op-Ed and news columnists, as the newspaper seeks ways to capitalize on the site's popularity. Most material on the Web site, NYTimes.com, will remain free to users, The Times said, but columnists from The Times and The International Herald Tribune will be available only to users who sign up for TimesSelect, which will cost $49.95 a year. The service will also include access to The Times's online archives, as well as other features.

Can't say I like this much. The Times is my favorite paper to read and I particularly read the Op-Ed and news columnists. We'll see how this works out - hope they decide after the readers flee, that this was a bad mistake. But then again, they want to make money, so there you have it. Guess I'll get my Opinion fix elsewhere.

Image of the Day Was out on one of my usual shuttle runs, taking some section hikers of the Appalachian Trail to their dropoff point at the Holston River, near Teas,VA, when I passed by these two horses all cinched up and ready to travel, but nobody to tell them where to go. They were giving me that look that said, "why can't we be tooling around in a nice shady pasture on this beautiful day, rather than in these stupid harnesses waiting for our fat master to come put the whip to us?"

Want to see more on that 17 or 19" monitor?

Steve Bass of PC World has some good suggestions in a recent article about how to change screen resolution, font size, icon size, etc. Worth checking out. You can always go back to the original settings. He also talks about a new USB 2.0 device that lets you hook up 2 monitors to your computer without having to buy a new graphics card. You do have to buy the device and you should read Steve's article for the caveat if you are using Photoshop. But it's a quick and relatively inexpensive way to add this capability if you have an extra monitor lying around. You can find it at Buy.com for $81 .

Free Classics in PDF format

Want to read the classics, but don't want to buy them? Check out this free collection available for download in PDF format from Planet PDF . Now's the chance to read the real thing rather than that Junior Classics Illustrated you skimmed in High School for your oral book reports. :) Crime and Punishment is about a 2.5MB download in pdf "tagged" format, which isn't bad, even for dialup. PDF books are handy if you have a Palm Pilot or Pocket PC and want something to read while you're sitting in the doc's office for 2 hours or riding a train to work, etc.

Image of the Day - Springtime arrives in SW Virginia, near the little town of Sugar Grove in the mountains of SW Virginia. I drive by this old shed almost every day and I always recall how it looks so different in the Spring with all the pretty flowers out front. May is truly one of the very best times to visit our mountains. The fields are deep green, wildflowers are blooming, nature's critters are busy doing their thing - shouldn't be missed. Picture info - Canon EOS 20D ,Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO400 1/400th@f9 - focal length - 34mm (35mm equivalent)

Got a kid going to College?

Well, heck they need PalmOne's new LifeDrive Mobile Manager. Built in wifi, Bluetooth, 4GB storage, email, Web, voice recorder, mp3 player, photo viewer(supports SD, MMC, SDIO cards - too bad it doesn't support CF cards), video. Geez - I've heard it even writes your papers for you! :) Check it out here at the PalmOne Site. The only thing it doesn't have is a built in phone, but those things carry those nasty monthly charges, don't they? :(

Adobe Photoshop Plugins

A comment I noticed by John Dvorak of PC Mag recently regarding Plug-Ins for Photoshop. "Hail the Plug-in Dept.: The invention of the software plug-in was sheer genius. As you probably know, a plug-in is some code or a script that is "plugged in" to another program to enhance its functionality. Adobe Photoshop popularized this concept, and there probably are now thousands of plug-ins designed to work with Adobe.

I mention this concept because of a plug-in I added to Photoshop that I can highly recommend. It may be the first plug-in for Photoshop I have ever recommended. It's called 55mm, and it's from the Digital Film Tools company. Essentially it's a digital post-production "camera filter." Available on the company's Web site ( www.digitalfilmtools.com ) for $195, this is one of the most powerful packages I've run across and includes digital versions of most of the famous filtering systems, which it has licensed from manufacturers such as Rosco Gels and GAM Products. One of the subsystems allows you to post-produce a polarizing effect on your image. Another lets you dissect the Ansel Adams "zones" and adjust them. If you are serious about your photography, you must own this product.

One thing I realized when playing with 55mm is that, as powerful as Photoshop is, it's a nerdy app, heavy on switches, controls, submenus, and other junk, and it's more art-oriented than photography-oriented. You need this product to understand the difference. Hot stuff."

Anybody want to donate $195 to me , so I can check this out???

Auto Copy - Firefox Extension

This is a very handy little extension for Firefox. When you highlight something on a web page, it is automatically copied to the clipboard. Just like in the Instant Messenger program Trillian. No more right clicking and selecting "Copy". Just highlight the text and voila! Head here for this time-saving extension.

2005 Webby Awards Announced

It was interesting to see who won the Webbys (Online Oscars) this year. A few I noted with interest

Etrade Financial - Where I do my online banking

Flickr - Webby Breakout of the Year Award - where I keep some of my photos

Boing Boing- Winner of Best Blog A blog I read.

The Merck Manual - Winner in Health

Download.com - IT Hardware/Software Winner

AlterNet.org - Winner in the Magazine Category One of my daily reads.

BBC OneMusic - Webby Award in Music

BBC News - Webby Award in News

The Guardian - Webby Award for Best Newspaper

Weapons of Misdirection - Webby for Politics

Chipotle - Webby for Best Restaurant Site Very Creative Site - Love it!

School of Visual Arts Web Site - Webby for Best School Site

Ten by Ten - Webby for Best Navigation/Structure Very Cool - check this one out.

Rtm86.com - Best Personal Web site

Word Count - Webby for Arts Another very nifty site

For a complete list with nominees, visit the Webby Awards Site . Lot of good surfing opportunities there. Enjoy - and leave a comment below if you have a particular site that you think is awesome.

Java Cool Spyware Blaster Updates to Version 3.4

Just thought I'd mention that Version 3.4 is now available. This is a free tool and is a great help in keeping spyware off of your system. Very easy to use. Click here for their home page and a link to the download area.

$100 off on a Treo 650 w/ Audible subscription

If you're in the market for the super cool Treo 650, then check out this page , because you can get $100 of of the Treo with a 1 year Subscription to Audible.

RSS access to Newsgroups via Google

This dandy tip comes from Michael Niehau's blog . Want to have feeds for your favorite Newsgroups? Here's a Feed URL for an arthritis group - http://groups-beta.google.com/group/misc.health.arthritis/feed/msgs.xml. All you have to do for different groups at Google is to replace the "misc.health.arthritis." part of that URL with the name of the Google group you want. Then add this feed to your RSS NewsReader and everytime you open your "newsgroups" channel in your feedreader, it will automatically update all your groups for you. Very, very handy. I recommend you try FeedDemon as your news reader. It is outstanding and comes with a free trial.

Free Music from Amazon

You can download various free music from Amazon and you can see their latest free offerings by adding this RSS feed to your Feed Reader (FeedDemon, Bloglines,etc,etc). Just copy this feed URL- http://funkwit.com/feed/amazon/rss/ into your Feed Reader. Then enjoy some free music!

*Note - if you are still in the Dark Ages and have no Feed Reader and never wish to see one, you can still grab the free music by visiting this Amazon site .

IBM moves to Firefox

Microsoft's Internet Explorer continues lose market share as more consumers and businesses adopt alternative Web browsers. Rival IBM on Friday became the latest company to embrace Mozilla's Firefox browser , making it available to 300,000 employees. Firefox clearly has momentum. It has been downloaded more than 50 million times, and members of the open-source Mozilla project have provided funds for advertising to promote the browser. Firefox has features that aren't available in Internet Explorer. And some experts think it's more secure than IE, reason enough for businesses to consider it as an alternative browser.

Jaquith likes tab browsing in Firefox that lets him display multiple sites in one window. "It's the greatest thing since sliced bread," he says.

Microsoft's market-share decline is caused, in part, by the company's not refreshing IE or adding many new features over the past three years, as well as the perception that IE is riddled with security flaws that require constant patching, Jaquith says. "Firefox doesn't support Microsoft's Active X standard, and that's probably the No. 1 hole for spyware," he says. "The combination of no innovation and a dreadful security reputation has companies looking to the Firefox alternative for IE."

If you haven't tried Firefox, you probably should. You'll be introduced to tabbed browsing (something Opera also has) and if you've never tried it, trust me, it's like Jaquith said - it truly is the greatest thing since sliced bread - especially if you are still using dialup. Of course, Firefox isn't immune to security issues as I've mentioned before here. It had 2 biggies recently but fixed them within a few days, which is very fast. Opera is good too, but it doesn't support Roboform , the outstanding password form filler and that kills that right there from my viewpoint. Firefox also has "extensions" that add nifty little programs to Firefox and are very easy to install. So you can have a stock ticker running in your browser, special Google Preview thumbnails that appear and let you see what a page looks like when doing a Google search before actually clicking on the page, blogging tools, Tiny URL plugin (wonderful gizmo), etc.

No More Books for Undergrads - a Coming Trend

Students attending the University of Texas at Austin will find something missing from the undergraduate library this fall.

Books.

By mid-July, the university says, almost all of the library's 90,000 volumes will be dispersed to other university collections to clear space for a 24-hour electronic information commons , a fast-spreading phenomenon that is transforming research and study on campuses around the country. Hardly surprising, eh? Look at how fast digital cameras are taking over from film. Maybe I had better hang on to all these books I have sitting around this house - they may become collectors' items one day!

Vacation, Adventure, and Surgery?

In case you missed the 60 Minutes episode, this article is worth a read. Even more so, if you are of the middle class, have no health insurance, and are facing an impending expensive operation. This could truly keep you out of the poor house. I have a friend in Thailand working on a new startup that will help American patients come to Thailand, have their operations, and have all the details taken care of for them. Once he firms this up, I'll be back to provide more details.

Firefox Update

If you're using Firefox, you should immediately upgrade to Firefox 1.4 for security reasons. The download page can be found here . You can't miss the download link. As an extra goodie, it appears that Firefox has incorporated the blazingly fast forward and backward schemes that Opera has been using for some time in their browser. Load a heavy content page and then click on a link to go to another heavy content page. Then click "back" to return to the first page - think you will notice that it is all there without having to reload. Click "forward" and you will find the page that you had gone to, is instantly there. Great stuff!

Word of the Day
Podcast - An audio broadcast that has been converted to an MP3 file or other audio format and made available via an RSS syndication feed. Podcasts are created for many verbal discourses including home-brew discussions as well as major radio broadcasts. To read a bit more about this latest craze, head to this article . Actually podcast is a portmanteau of the words Ipod and broadcasting. What the heck is a portmanteau word? you'll have to head to that link above for a hint (and a link) to the definition. :)

For an article about podcasting and where to download software, check out this New York Times Article . If you don't want to take the time to read that (but you should), then you can go directly to Ipodder to download the software. If you are running Feed Demon as your RSS aggregator, then you already have FeedStation built in, which can download these podcasts and play them on your Ipod or via Windows Media Player on your desktop or copy them to any mp3 player.

Audible posting Big Gains

Audible came roaring back today, posting a 20% gain on the day at midday, after very positive 1st quarter results. This was good to see, as they had crashed from a high of 30.65 all the way down to 12.32 recently. Now it's back up around the $17/share level. You were a lucky person if you bought some around that $12 level. I think this company will continue to move up in the years ahead - we shall see - still a speculative stock, but has a solid niche in the audiobook business, especially when you consider their connection with Apple and those incredible Ipods, which play Audible books as well.

Trying to avoid camera shake with long lenses?

Some good tips in this article for those of you using 300mm and longer lenses. Always difficult to get tack sharp pics with those huge combos.

Tiger Swallowtail

Tiger Swallowtail,
.

One of the first butterflies I've seen here this Spring. To learn a bit more about this butterfly, head for this page. It is the State Butterfly of Virginia. Picture taken with Canon 20D and Canon EF 100mm f2.8 Macro USM. Identification aided via the help of Sarah's incredible butterfly/moth pages

Giacomo!

Did you catch the Kentucky Derby ? Giacomo came back from 17 horses off the lead to steal it in the stretch. 50-1 odds. Now catch this - if you had cast a $2 bet on Giacomo,Closing Argument, Afleet Alex, and Don't Get Mad in that order, you would have netted a payoff of 1.7 million bucks! Whoa baby!

Happy Mother's Day!

Spotlight: Today is dedicated to appreciating our mothers. In a recent study sponsored by salary.com, it was determined that an average stay-at-home mother would earn $131,471 annually, including overtime, if she received a paycheck. With the average mom filling the jobs of day care teacher, housekeeper, cook, driver, nurse, maintenance worker and CEO, it was estimated that she works about 100 hours a week, and would be entitled to a base pay of $43,461, with an additional $88,009 for 60 overtime hours a week. Happy Mother's Day!

Quote of the Day
"By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class."
Anne Morrow Lindbergh