Video: Merry Christmas (Star Wars Style)

To all my friends and family, I like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Try not to drink too much Eggnog (as it may not be good for your health).

In order to celebrate the season, I decided to post a holiday parody involving Walking in a Winter Wonderland and Star Wars--mainly because its one of the few movies everyone in my family enjoys. Cheers!

No Internet For Me?

Sigh...and I needed to go online to finish up some work tonight too. I'll call AT&T tonight to see what's up, although I may consider switching to cable (or satellite).

Update: It's back up, but "spotty." I'm definitely going to look into another carrier, as I am not "too thrilled" with AT&T's service lately.

I Need To Exercise

No, I have not gained any weight or lost my six pack, but I have not done any running/exercise in well over a month!

Although I hate running/exercising, it does relieve stress, which is easy to catch during this Christmas season, as I already have one gift on the way, one in the process of being completed (no details will be spilled here) and another I can only do 4 days before Christmas! (I'll explain later on)

Getting back exercising, I am trying to figure out a way to do it so that I am not bored out of my mind as running around for two miles is not that entertaining.

Perhaps its a good time to purchase a Nintendo Wii. For Me. :-)

But that's not going to happen with all the gifts I have to buy.

Running it is. :-(

Gotta Love Christmas Shopping!

I have yet to finish gathering all the presents for the holiday season! The worst part is that my last present will be ready by Christmas Eve. Oh well, at least everyone will enjoy their gifts!

Test Post...

Just ignore this post.

I am just testing out whether or not a new feature by Feedburner is...burning correctly.

Stay tuned!

Update: It burned correctly, but the feed was not to my liking. Source code has now been removed.

Video: gOS Computer For $200?

It's been on the news, and the site ThinkgOS has more info about it. Basically its a inexpensive computer running linux with heavy Google influence on it.

Wal*mart has them for sale at around $200. Here is a video via YouTube for the curious.

(Hat Tip: The King Kong Blog)

Video: Prayers For Larry...

He just lost his home in the raging California fires.

(Hat Tip: Hot Air)

Testing Out Windows Live Writer

Yeah, I know I haven't written here in a while, but I felt like I did not have much to say.

Perhaps its time I (re)invested in my Twitter account.

Anyway, I am just testing out some blog software from Microsoft called Windows Live Writer, which basically gives a more aesthetic feel to writing posts.

I am just testing out the image uploading feature to blogger, although I wish it somehow included the video uploading feature as well.

I guess you can't have it all.

Update: Ghetto! It almost worked, although Microsoft uploads the image to Picasa Web Albums which means only I can see the image if I'm logged into Google. How dumb is that?

Note: Image has been removed.

Video: Steven Colbert For President? Heh!

After seeing this video, I can honestly say that I would vote for him.

I wonder which party he would consider?

(Hat Tip: Hot Air)

Sigh...You Can Hear Me, But...

You can't see me. I am not sure if its the fact that GoDaddy hates this domain (which would be my name) or Google is refusing to cooperate with it.

I'll see if I can resolve this, as this is getting to be a little ridiculous.

Google And Al Jazeera Are Sitting In A Tree...

It looks like Google has partnered with the most unbiased objective news organization on planet Earth after CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and certain communist propaganda.

Well, at least you can't say Google is run by Zionists.

(TechCrunch) Al Jazeera signed a commercial agreement with Google last week to share advertising revenue on their YouTube channel. The channel originally launched in April 2007.

This comes even as U.S. cable operators continue to shun the 24 hour news service - only Toledo, Ohio based Buckeye CableSystem and the municipal cable suppler in Burlington, Vermont offer the channel to viewers.

You can check out the new channel over here, although it seems to be less "Jews and Americans are evil" than their Arabic station as well as the BBC.

Personal Thoughts: Highlighting bias in the open (and yes, Al Jazeera, is very biased) will help to counter it in the long run as people can see for themselves why no one takes Al Jazeera's "objective reports" seriously.

Not to mention it might give us an insight into the mind of those who hate the west. Better we know what they are saying in the open than being unsure what they whisper in the dark.

Update: Fixed spelling mistake.

Has Google Finally Fixed The "404 WWW" Error?

Okay, I previously wrote about the "404 WWW" error in blogger here and here, but it looks as if the Blogger team has created an "automatic redirect" which means these hacks are may be obsolete.

I'm testing this out on my personal blog here first, and if successful I'll do a write up for everyone else.

Warning: This site may get buggy real quick!

Update: Complete horror! I have sent in a trouble ticket to Google about this. So far it works for new custom domain bloggers, but leaves those who have previously registered as...well...screwed.

Sigh...I guess I expect too much from Google.

Internet Explorer 6 Is Ghetto!

So after spending an entire day coding some of my sites for Firefox and IE7, I have just discovered that they look rather dorky in IE6.

Yeah, I'm back to using Firefox after testing out Maxthon (which started "freezing up," just like IE7).

Sigh...I guess there is no such thing as a perfect browser.

God Hates Fat

While I was reading the scriptures this morning, I noticed a humorous in Leviticus:

"It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood." ~Leviticus 3:19

Blood I understand, as it may contain all those fun bacteria that can usually kill you in your sleep (or when you're awake, which ever comes first).

But it seems humorous to me that this health tidbit given over four thousand years ago (give or take a few centuries) is currently being ignored by most fast food restaurants in the US today.

Perhaps this is the reason why health insurance is so expensive here?

Global Warming No Longer Politically Correct?

It could be just me, but has anyone noticed this in the news?

For those of you who care to watch, it seems whenever reporters mention anything about global warming, they refer to it as "climate change."

Even Google is doing it. In fact, the last time they mentioned the words "global warming" was last April.

I'm seeing the same thing in the news, which use to shout out "global warming" every time they thought Al Gore was watching (or Goracle as many on the right are now calling him).

Could it be that Bush is actually winning the "weather war" when it comes to who is responsible for heating Earth up?

Why Do People Get So Depressed?

I don't get it. Perhaps its just that I'm Sanguine or something, but people really need to look on the bright side of life.

After all, you're not dead, and there are far worse things in life.

People seem to be way too depressed about politics, religion, the environment, being single, or some future war that's going to wipe us all out.

Aside from the dating status, the rest is (mostly) beyond your control, so people should stop worrying about it.

And if you can't stop worrying about it, then find someone who can solve your problem.

I don't want to sound harsh, but there are more important things to worry about in life--like friends, family, and evil cats (I'm just joking my feline loving friends).

Speaking of which, here is a video about these hairballs that will hopefully cheer up some of my depressed friends from planet Earth.

Video: iGroove By Bandy Toaster

Just a random video I came across while surfing YouTube (which is becoming a late night hobby).

You can find the original video over here, although this version reminded me so much about apple (a theme which you can see on this blog...as of 30 minuets ago).

Don't you wish you could dance this good?

Updating Weblog...

Although I love the space theme of this web journal, I am trading it in for a new...more "Mac" like skin.

If all goes well, I'll post a video to celebrate. If not...well--there's always tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

Note: This site may look ugly for twenty minuets. Relax, I'm just adjusting the curtains of this site.

Update: The site is now live and alive! (well, 99% at least)

Now all I have to do is upload a video on the next post (to celebrate the redesign).

Article: Illegal Day Laborers, Should They Stay, Or Go Home?

It looks like the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has several articles relating to day laborers who are in America illegally.

Here are some snippets (with comments from yours truly below).

The average Joe (originally from Peru):

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I would like to get a job that's secure. For a company -- like, safe. A regular job. Today you got job, tomorrow you got job, tomorrow, next week. I would like to get my papers, be legal, be married. Maybe bring some family here and try to get married with American woman for my papers. And live here, and maybe (...) stay here.

Comments: According to the article he is here mainly for work, although this paragraph caught my eye. Although I am probably more agnostic about people like him in general, I would not be too thrilled with him cutting everyone else in line for citizenship.

This next guy I actually have sympathy for:

How much will the operation cost?

About $15,000 to $20,000 dollars. I have a little, some pesos, but I need it for other things, so my kids eat, have clothes ...

[...]

My son, sometimes he faints, and my wife gets scared and has to pick him up from school or home or wherever. And the poor thing, all the time she has to watch him. When there's a way, they take a bus. But when he's very delicate, they take a taxi to the nearest hospital.... When I feel bad is when he asks why. Why is he sick when his brother and sister are OK? And that's when we all feel bad.

Comments: This probably wasn't an easy decision for this guy (as he seems to miss his family a lot) although hopefully someone from doctors without borders can help him, as his heart really seems to be in Mexico, instead of the US.

Last, but not least, the Home Depot Preacher:

Immigration doesn't come to get us. Immigration goes after those who committed some crime, or are already marked for deportation. In that I agree ... because I know them. Immigration officials know me and I know immigration officials. They are just doing their duty. ...

The (Home Depot) manager knows me, everyone knows me inside. The (Home Depot security) officials know me too. I'm helping them out here by making sure the workers don't go inside. The manager's a good person, because I've spoken with him. He says hi to us in the morning, happily, and I feel happy too.

I not too sure how comfortable I am with government officials cozying up to anyone (especially in this day in age). Either way, the guy seems to be keeping Home Depot happy by keeping the drunks and druggies away (free security?).

So what do you guys think? Should they all be deported, or should they all stay?

Ask Mitt Romney Anything?

It looks as if Mitt Romney will be once again visiting South Carolina this week (tomorrow actually), and has invited the public to an Ask Mitt Anything in the upstate.

Although I have a few questions I would like to ask, reality dictates that I probably will only be able to ask a single question. :-(

Thus far I have scaled down my list to these three questions which are:

• What is your best method of stopping Iran's President Ahmadinejad from going nuclear since sanctions do not appear to be working?



• As President, would you consider moving the US Embassy inside Jerusalem according to the Jerusalem Embassy Act passed by congress 12 years ago?



• With China intending to land a man on the moon, how would you prepare our space industry to compete against rising China, and if you don't have any great ideas, should I pick up Chinese?

These were the best questions that I could come up with. I would ask about immigration and health care, although Michelle Malkin and USA Today have already answered those questions for me already, respectively.

Mitt has already answered my question about energy on his site, although I may ask it again since biofuel is looking more and more like a fairy tale.

So what do you guys think? Are these great questions or should I ask another?

Note: I'll see if I can provide some video later on, although CNN may have a clearer shot (since the media has better camera's than I do).

The iPhone Has Been Hacked!

Yeah, I know, I am a geek, but I have been drooling over getting the iPhone for quite some time, although I didn't feel like selling my soul to AT&T.

Now it seems that someone has liberated the iPhone, which is good news for Verizon/T-Mobile/Sprint fans!

(Engadget) The iPhoneSIMfree.com team called us up to prove their claim that they cracked Apple's iPhone SIM lock system, and prove it they did. (No, we don't have a copy of the unlock software, so don't even ask us, ok?) The six-man team has been working non-stop since launch day, and they're officially the first to break Apple's SIM locks on the iPhone with software. It's done. Seriously. They wouldn't tell us when and how they would release it to the public, but you can certainly bet that they'll try to make a buck on their solution (and rightly so). We can hardly believe the iPhone's finally been cracked. No, scratch that -- we just can't believe it took this long.

Again: we can confirm with 100% certainty that iPhoneSIMfree.com's software solution completely SIM unlocks the iPhone, is restore-resistant, and should make the iPhone fully functional for users outside of the US.

What makes this really ironic is that later on today, a second company also accomplished the same thing!

I am still trying to figure out if this would be legal for me to use (although according to this lawyer it is, but I'll have to get a second opinion) but it looks like an iPhone is definitely in my future...although I might have to choose between that and the OQO.

E-business Anyone?

So, after much thought, I've decided to jump in the eCommerce arena (mainly to help out a friend, and make some cash on the side). I've called GoDaddy, and I have to contact Google (for Google Apps and Google Checkout), although I'm currently debating about where to setup a business accnunt at. I wonder if Paypal can hook me up?

Video: Buffolo To Simba: I Own You!

Yeah, yeah, I know. The title sounds like it was written by a tween from MySpace.

But I had no way to describe this video that I just saw.

I think YouTube has just killed every desire I had for television. I think I've watched a total of two hours worth in the past month.

It must be the commercials.

(Hat Tip: Hot Air)

Google's YouTube Down?

It looks as if YouTube is down for the count (at least as of this moment).

Here is a screen shot of all that I get:

Just when I was about to save a really cool song from Sarah Mclachlan too. Sigh...

Update: It's back up! Thanks Google!

Video: I Wanna...Be Like Osama?

It looks like there is a new musical in town starring one of Bin Laden's groupies...or rather a play about the life of one.

Called Jihad The Musical, the show is apparently playing in Scotland.

I wonder if it will ever come to the US?

(Hat Tip: Hot Air and Little Green Footballs)

How You Know When Google Is Listening To You

So I have been testing out a new feature from Blogger in Draft called Video Upload, and I recently posted a suggestion to Google about adding a status bar so that people will know how much of their video has been uploaded (so they won't freak out).

Well, it looks as if Pete from Google (I'm assuming its Pete) took a few minuets out of his time to read my comment and to my surprise I discovered this today while uploading a video on blogger:



And people wonder why I prefer Google over the competition?

Is Russia Restarting The Cold War?

Not Good.

(Ynet News) Two Russian Tu-95 bombers made unusually long sorties over the North Sea on Thursday morning, forcing both Norway and Britain to scramble fighter jets to follow the Russian planes, Norway's armed forces said.

It seems that the war for liberty never really ceased with the end of the (first) cold war. Well, at least I won't be bored on this planet.

SkypeCasting: My New Hobby

Although I am still getting use to the idea of video chat (it seems weird looking at ugly faces) I am enjoying talking to European, Middle Eastern and American minds from around the world about the common topics that makes everyone...nervous.

I have just joined a skypecast regarding middle eastern topics regarding everything from Jihadism to Iran to whether the US is evil (or not) to nuclear weapons.

Despite the fact everyone walks away with the same opinions that they had, this exchange is refreshing as it gets all sides (even if they start to yell).

Sacrifice Your Grand Kids Inheritance For Ron Paul?

I am having my doubts whether this is true or not, but if so, this person is either on a very strong legal drug or has found the "political messiah."

(Comment on Political Radar) I am 60 years old. I have always voted for smaller government and to uphold the Constitution. I have never gotten what I voted for. Today I put my home up for sale. I am taking the proceeds and going to spend it promoting Ron Paul. That is the best way to spend my grandchildrens inheritance. They will benefit more by having President Ron Paul than having $100,000 of fiat money. Our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor. The Revolution has begun.

Posted by: Freedom Fighter | Jul 6, 2007 1:55:04 PM

If Ron Paul doesn't win, those grand kids are sure going to be pissed off very upset.

Truthfully I rather vote for Hillary than Ron Paul (and I don't even like her that much) as "Paul boy" doesn't seem to grasp the fact that there is an violent group of theocrats (currently in the form of Islam) trying to kill half the planet, and enslave the other half.

But I digress.

Suicide Bombers Being Promoted By Hollywood?

Yeah! Now I will never be confused as to who is winning the proproganda war in the US.

Apple Trailers give us the scoop.

(Apple.com Trailers) A 19-year-old girl prepares to become a suicide bomber in Times Square. She speaks with no accent; it's impossible to pinpoint her ethnicity. We never learn why she made her decision - she has made it already. We don't know whom she represents, what she believes in - we only know she believes it absolutely.

If you ask me, either those men are a poor imitation of Hamas or just decided to purchase winter clothing on sale in the summer.

But then again, what do I know about terrorism. It's not as if there is a small group of extremists claiming to speak for the worlds second largest religion in order to bring paradise on Earth by imposing theocracy eastern style.

But then again I am just a dumb, ignorant westerner who is fascinated more about space than politics, so what do I know?

Video: Second Helpings, And Blogger In Draft

For those of you who don't know, Google has released a new feature enabling users to upload videos to their blog (for free) turning every blog*spot blog into a potential video blog (or vblog for short). Here is my take on the issue, plus some boring thoughts from my life.

Note: Don't mind the ugly mug, as I forgot to shave.

After thoughts: Although this feature is great, I just found out it could take a while for the video to upload.

Google has started a blog (Blogger In Draft) where you can post feedback on this feature via the comment section, a rarity for a Google Blog (something they really needs to change).

Update: There seems to be a bug in the video that makes it automatically play in IE (all versions). It will be removed until Google can fix this error. Sigh...and it was almost a dream come true.

Update (6/20): Google seems to have fixed the "video in IE" problem. Thanks Google!

Video: I Dream Of iPhone

It's coming out this month! :-)

I hear you can even shave with it.

Joking aside, I would seriously consider this phone, although I think I would be loathed to leave Verizon for Cingular (as Verizon's customer service is second to none).

I wonder if I could hack it and use it with my Verizon service? Although if I probably did, I would be sued into oblivion by Apple, not to mention the whole "jail time" thing.

Sigh...I ask for too much.

Maxthon Browser It Is!

So after experiencing even more problems with Firefox (see previous post for details) and testing out several different browsers, I have decided to go with Maxthon browser, with IE7 as a backup.

Maxthon seems to combine the best of the three most popular browsers online:

It has the the speed of Firefox
It has the security of Opera
And last, it displays the glory of the web like IE7

But the main reason for converting over was this:



Unlike the other browsers, Maxthon has a built in measure to prevent it from consuming too many resources.

I think IE7 has something similar (although not quite as effective) while Opera and Firefox both simply continue to grow, although the latter at an alarming rate.

Now if only I could convert my GreaseMonkey hacks and Firefox extensions over, then I would be perfect!

Note: Maxthon is a little weird in Blogger WYSIWYG, although I'll have to troubleshoot it some more.

France To Pay Illegals To Go Home?

You just can't make this stuff up!

(EU Observer) France's newly set up ministry of immigration and national identity has made itself heard for the first time, with its chief, Brice Hortefeux, floating an idea to financially reward those immigrants who voluntarily return to their native country.

"We must increase this measure to help voluntary returns. I am very clearly committed to doing that," French minister Brice Hortefeux was cited as saying by the BBC.


According to the long-time friend and ally of president Nicolas Sarkozy, a family with two children would be paid €6,000 to leave French territory.

I am not too sure how "solid" this plan is, especially if people decide to re-enter France for "second helpings."

In America, my only primary concern is that our government secure the border via 20 foot walls or 20,000 troops (yeah, you heard me). After all, we are not exactly popular in the world (at least with various terrorist networks).

PC World Is Full Of Surprises

Warning: You are about to enter the geek zone. You've been warned.

So PC World did a review of the top 100 best products in technology today, which includes everything from game consoles to software to music platforms to more geek toys!

Google Apps seems to have killed off all of their competitors, taking the top spot, something the Googlers seem to be really excited about.

There were also a few surprises along the way including:

• Yahoo! Mail Beta (27) beating Google's Gmail (31)
• Paint.net (19) beating Google's Picasa (36)
• Nintendo Wii (3) beating Microsoft's Xbox 360 Elite (18)
• Pandora.com (17) beats Apples 80 GB Ipod (26)

This really has been a very interesting year in technology. I'm disappointed that OQO did not make the list, neither did several other applications as well. Oh well, better luck next time I suppose!

Firefox Is Becoming Evil Again

I am really getting irritated with Firefox lately. Although the browser is awesome, its major weakness is the fact that it is a glutton when it comes to memory use.

Today alone I had to restart my computer three times because I couldn't satisfy its hunger with my computer's resources. Even with the various hacks employed.

I am sticking with Internet Explorer 7 for now, although I may consider using Opera.

And thus begins my search for a new browser again. Sigh...

Update (5/22): I discovered (yet another) useful hack that may solve my Firefox woes.

I seriously hope the Mozilla team finds a fix to this in Firefox 3, as this is getting to be quite annoying.

(Reaganwuzthebest on Free Republic) Here you go, THIS is what you need to change, VERY SIMPLE!

Find this line using the about:config in the URL = browser.cache.memory.enable

Click or double click on it so it reads: FALSE It should turn Bold also, to note the change.

I tried it, loaded up on as many pages as I could find and WHAMMO! Memory never exceeded my limits and dropped down to the 22k evertime a page would finally complete loading!!!

I'm still testing out Opera as a back up alternative, although I have to admit the web looks a lot prettier in IE7 and Firefox than Opera. Yeah, I know, I'm picky...

Nothing Is What It Seems...

I really enjoyed this video as it basically presented a topic every politician (and their mother) talks about, but what everyone has problems overcoming.

Enlightening, isn't it?

In Memory Of Steve

So a friend of a friend passed away at church, and we held a memorial service in his honor. It's ironic, no matter how often onehears about death or sees it in the news, you never get use to it.

Joost Is Where Its At!

So after searching Google for like an eternity (okay, so it was like ten minuets, but it felt like an eternity) someone finally invited me to check out Joost.



For those of you who do not know (or care to know), Joost is like a combination of YouTube and your television set, except its all legal and free.

You basically watch TV through your internet connection, and the cool thing is that there are a whole lot of channels to choose from. And if you're a sports fan, you'll definitely love this!

It's still in beta, so you need an invite to get inside, but if anyone wants to check it out, let me know by shooting me an email.

Note: First I have to figure out how to invite people, so give me a day or two at the most.

Video: Iranian Women Are Tough

Iran seems to be doing another random crack down in order to keep women of the cloth, under the cloth.

One lady decided that was not her cup of tea.

Sugiero provides the explanation:

I do not condone violence but having the moral guardians telling you, indirectly, your a "slut" can't be very amusing... This woman won't take any sh*t from the female undercover police:

Even in the land of Mullah's, the hope of freedom burns brightly.

A Bear And His Swing

One of the reasons I love YouTube is the fact that aside from the junk you will find throughout the site, every once in a while you stumble upon a good video.

Here is a "G" rated film that everyone will love.

And you wonder why everyone loves YouTube?

Virginia Tragedy

I'm at a loss of words...

(Hat Tip: Hot Air)

Pray for the families who lost loved ones. This whole thing is just...surreal.

Update: Here is a time line of the shooting. News still only reports one shooter. Utter sadness...

Update: Instapundit points to a student at the school while Michelle Malkin links to an alumnus who went there.

Update: Adjusted video size (to fit in post).

Video: Why Trail Scouts Are Necessary

As long as this doesn't happen to you, you will find this to be fairly humorous. Fortunately such stunts are banned in America.

Aside from the dog owners and joggers, I am pretty sure all the bikers are fairly ticked at having their wheels disappear beneath the muddy waters.

Obama Plate Remix

Okay, so it's not a remix, but this guy sure has a following.

Check this out (Via BarackObama.com).



Whether you like him or hate him, I have a feeling this guy will probably win the democratic primary. Even against Hillary.

Why Is Fox News So Passionate?

Answer: It's full of emotion, with a dash of logic mixed in for humor. Heh!

I'd probably side with Bill on this one, although I think we need to seriously find a way to secure our borders.

After all, how can we guarantee the safety of our nation if we have more holes than Swiss cheese?

My Gmail Is Down!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

(gasp for air)

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

Perhaps this is a sign that I should get a secondary account. But that would mean using Yahoo!, Hotmail or some unknown email service that makes you pay for 10 mb of space (the horror!).

It's not the end of the world, although I REALLY DO need my email for work, friends, etc.

Well, at least Google provided me with a fun video to watch.

Although, in retrospect, its not the same as actually using my account. :-(

Update: It's working again! Thanks Google! :-)

Pulling Out Of BlogBurst

I've decided to pull one of my blogs out of the BlogBurst Network, due to the fact that content theft on several of my blogs is getting out of hand. Although this is a "sign of popularity," I have decided to remove my space blog from its ranks before it became to popular.

Although this may hurt my blog in the short term, I feel like this will benefit me in the long run.

I may also decide to launch a mini-blog network to serve as a "home" for all of these blogs, as Google seems to be compensating me nicely for maintaining eloquent posts.

Dance Like No One's Watching!

But if they are, at least post it online.

Thanks Matt for sharing your joy with the world where smiles are hard to produce.

I Love Camping

Our cooking fire. Heh.

Hot Air As Google News Source?

I noticed this after I published and article on The Blog Herald.

Here is a screen shot for the world to enjoy:



I guess now they can stop whining about how the world doesn't love them.

Exit Question: With Hot Air being listed, does that mean that Google News is no longer biased towards liberals?

Exit Question 2: Am I sounding like Allah Pundit? And is Allah Pundit even a Muslim?

Video: So It Begins...

...the battle over the GOP spotlight. Who will win?

Thus far I like Romney, but to tell you the truth, I am not a fan of any candidate running for president currently on both sides of the political aisle.

Hopefully a dark horse candidate will appear before September, otherwise I may be voting for Mickey Mouse along with a million other Americans in 2008.

Video: White Man Can Bebox?

And he does it on a flute?

Reminds me of the good old days. Sigh.

Note: Gee, now I'm starting to sound ancient. I think I've stayed too long in the south.

Snakes On A Plane Spin Offs?

Of all the social networks that I've seen online, Facebook by far is the one with the least amount of clutter.

While surfing on Facebook, I came across this group called Snakes On A Plane Spinoffs which lists some pretty funny titles for a movie I will never see.

My top ten favorites?

• Cats on a Bus
• Chimps on a Blimp
• Elephants on an Elevator
• Geese on the Hindenburg
• Komodo Dragons in School
• Lice on Rice
• Turkeys in Turkey
• Rhinos on a Roller Coaster
• Snakes in Plane Clothing
• Wookies on a TIE Fighter

But despite all of these glorious titles, nothing can beat this:



Sometimes you don't need to visit the theatre in order to be entertained.

Me And My Camel Lips

If it were not for the fact that it hurts every time I laugh, I probably wouldn't take it as seriously.

Anyways, I've been "slightly sick" with big lip fever for the past few days, and haven't been able to do as much as I would like to, especially online.

Although eating is a bit slower, I am still trying to swallow three (or two) meals a day, as it hurts every time I open my mouth, and even more so when I laugh (as my lips are swollen).

Hopefully this isn't an allergic reaction to some food item, as I am already forbidden to drink milk from my doctors (although I can say it tastes really good!).

That's it for now...

Belated Update: You gotta love CVS pharmacists! A two dollar medicated chap stick cream saved the day.

So What Exactly Is Web 2.0?

For those of you who are wondering, this video may help explain it all...

Still confused? You may need a translation.

Congrats To The Colts!

Despite the fact that I Obama and I were rooting for the Bears, you guys played a terrific (yet sloppy) game.

I can't say I was impressed with the game in its entirety, not to mention the commercials (is it me, or were most of them pretty lame?).

Here is the best commercial (in my opinion) that aired on the Superbowl.

Creepy yet funny. Heh.

Why I Don't Go On Blind Dates

Warning: Explicit geek language used. Not for the general population.

If blind dates are this bad, then what about internet dating services?

Upgrades Are Good

Very, very good.

(Blogger Help Group) We've been giving you warnings. The signs have been there. Preparations have been made. Now, it's time!

That's right, it's time to embrace the new version of Blogger! Starting today, a small percentage of users who log in to an old Blogger account will be required to move to the new version. This involves moving your current Blogger account to a new or existing Google Account. After the move, you will need to log in to Blogger with your Google Account username, which is always the email address associated with your account.

I guess this means adjusting several blogs (finally) as well as closing down a few others. Right in time for the super bowl too!

PS

To those of you who kept emailing me about my earlier post, it seems as if Google is correcting the mysterious error, slowly but surely. I'll be checking on your domains, and if need be, help out where I can.

When It Comes To Choosing A Side...

...you must always root for the underdog...especially at times like these.

All I can say is...Da Bears!

Note: New England, I still love you. We'll be back next year.

Snow In The Carolina's

Despite missing Chistmas, it looks like the white goodness finally came. Unfortunately, the entire town seems to have shut down. Sigh...

Google Docs In My Gmail?

It looks like I am going to be putting more of my life on Google's servers, this time future business projects (as long as it is legal that is).

(Google Docs & Spreadsheets Blog) Whenever those of you who use Gmail receive a spreadsheet or a document in an email, you will see a new link next to the "Download" link that says "Open as a Google document." Click on that and the attachment will automatically be imported into Docs & Spreadsheets and added to your personal document list where you can make changes, invite collaborators and search for it later. We hope you like it.

If they continue doing cool things like this, Google will end up being a portal--that is if they are not one already.

Note: Is it me, or did Google finally open up comments on their blog?

New Cat Replaces Old?

So after Scotty passed away, his new replacement arrived. And he calls himself Mojo. Great...

Cyber Terrorists Beware: No Googlebomb For You!

It looks like Google just got rid of (or at least greatly suppressed) the ability of bloggers and websites to Googlebomb those they despise.

(Google Webmaster Blog) People have asked about how we feel about Googlebombs, and we have talked about them in the past. Because these pranks are normally for phrases that are well off the beaten path, they haven't been a very high priority for us. But over time, we've seen more people assume that they are Google's opinion, or that Google has hand-coded the results for these Googlebombed queries. That's not true, and it seemed like it was worth trying to correct that misperception. So a few of us who work here got together and came up with an algorithm that minimizes the impact of many Googlebombs.

Previously typing in failure in Google brought up President Bush (thanks to liberal bloggers) and Israeli bloggers did something something similar to Prime Minister Olmert.

It looks like for the first time (in a long time) Google has recaptured the Internet (or the Internet on its servers) before politics ruined it for everyone.

Note: I wonder if Yahoo plans on doing the same thing for their search engine?

Update: Silly me! I forgot the to add the "quotations" for my source. As well as corrected a noticeable spelling error.

Spam Invading My Gmail

The problem is not getting to be ridiculous. It's just a bit annoying to go from no spam for months on end to about five a day.

What's even worse is the fact that spammers seem to type either in all caps, or unable to spell out half their entire message.

If you are going to spam me, at least use proper grammar. You would think they would teach these things at the "annoy planet Earth" spam conferences, assuming that spammers actually attend them.

Will Humans Emerge As The Borg?

I certainly hope not!

(Space Daily) "We're at a junction now of developing a new approach for a brain-machine interface," says senior author Douglas H. Smith, MD, Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at Penn. "The nervous system will certainly rebel if you place hard or sharp electrodes into it to record signals. However, the nervous system can be tricked to accept an interface letting it do what it likes - assimilating new nerve cells into its own network."

To develop the next generation of prosthetics the idea is to use regions of undamaged nervous tissue to provide command signals to drive a device, such as an artificial limb. The challenge is for a prosthesis to perform naturally, relaying two-way communication with the patient's brain.

We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

Sounds like Google, don't you think?

Lifter, Lifter, In The Sky

Lifter, Lifter, In The Sky

Lifter, lifter, in the sky
How is it you climb so high
Up above the clouds you go
Power beamed up from below
Lifter, lifter, in the sky
How is it you climb so high

Climbing slowly to the stars
Bringing Earthlings from afar
Holding goodies big and small
Opening space for us all
Lifter, lifter, in the sky
How is it you climb so high

Clinging tightly to the ribbon
Made of nanotubes of carbon
On your top is a counterweight
Down below is the LiftPort gate
Lifter, lifter, in the sky
How is it you climb so high




Update: This poem was produced as part of LiftPort's poetry contest, where contestants can win a free T-shirt from their store. Since poetry is something I randomly enjoy, I thought this would be a nice addition to post to this weblog.

Image used without permission (please don't sue me) and copyrighted to LiftPort, Inc., all rights reserved.

Update 2: Inspired by Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Video: Must Have Computer...

Is it me, or doesn't it not seem fair that the defense department gets all of the fun. (Hat Tip: Hot Air)

On a more realistic side, I think I may purchase this beauty.





Sigh...

Update: Corrected video size of super cool computer (first video). Also inserted credit.

Redoing This Template

Although I love borrowing Google's blogger design for this template, it kinda makes me unofficially look like Google (which can be bad and possibly lead towards confusion, not to mention loss of Ad Sense).

This site may look funky for a while, but hold on as I work out the bugs of this joint.

Update: Finished. :-)

Alas, The Patriots Have Fallen To The Colts

Say it isn't so. But I saw it with my own eyes.

(Chicago Sun-Times) INDIANAPOLIS -- A comeback, a drive, a legacy. And yes -- finally -- Peyton Manning gets his Super Bowl trip, too.

Football's most prolific quarterback put on a show for the ages Sunday, rallying the Indianapolis Colts from 18 points down and driving them 80 yards for the winning score in a wildly entertaining 38-34 victory over the New England Patriots.

It was a great game, either way, even though I was rooting for New England. Oh well, I guess they've won too many super bowls already (at least that is what my friends tell me).

Either way, I'm looking forward to watching the big game on TV. Now all I have to do is figure out who is hosting the party this year.

Those Lovable Conflicts

Well, today I just discovered why time management is important. And why I need to upload more of my life on Google's servers (this time via Google Calendar).



Basically, I contacted a friend and let him know that I would be getting in touch with him later on today this evening.

Ironically, I discovered an event at church that is happening around the same time (give or take an hour). Although I have not committed to the event, everyone is probably expecting me to be there because I attended the same event last year.

And to make matters worse, one of the church members emailed me to make sure that I am wearing red (I think it's a theme or something, although I hope it has nothing to do with star trek).

I may be able to make the opening ceremonies, but I am definitely going to have to miss the dinner. I'll probably get some flack for it via MySpace (that is if I both check it next week) but that would be better than disappointing my friend.

Revisiting That "404 WWW" Blogger Issue

After previously posting about how to fix the mysterious 404 WWW issue with Blogger, I think I may have found a faster (and more simple) fix.

I tested this out with one blog already, and I am sure everyone else is going to love this as well (well, mostly everyone else).

Note: This may or may not require you to sign up with Google Apps (I don't think it should, but you never know).

1. First, login to your host account, and locate the area of your account where you can create sub domains (on GoDaddy simply pull up the page listing your domain(s) and click on the one you want to create an account on. Then click on the Manage Sub domains account).
2. Next, create a sub domain on the page. Since we all love Google, lets call it "google" (no pun intended).
   
3. Underneath you should have an option to forward the domain to a URL. Simply type in your www.mydomain.com (with the "WWW's") and click save.

Now what is going to happen is that whenever someone clicks on mydomain.com it will automatically select the sub-domain google.mydomain.com as its first choice (don't ask me why it does this, but it does for some strange silly reason).

As soon as your "google" alias pops up, your server will redirect you to mydomain.com.

This is a lot more simple and easier than my previous explanation (and a lot faster too). This should work after ten minuets, but give it a day to make it "round the net."

As always, feel free to comment if you have any questions, concerns or praises (I like those) regarding this issue.

Update: You should not need to point this CNAME to a host directly. Also, I updated the "google." to "google" (without the period) in the post.

Resolving That "404 WWW" Blogger Issue

For those of you who switched their blog*spot blogs to Google's custom domain for blogger, you may have run into some unexpected errors, mainly being only able to publish either directly to your domain (example: mycoolblog.com) or to the "www" address (example: www.mycoolblog.com) but not both.

After finding many other bloggers experiencing the same thing, I decided to do some testing to see if there was a way to resolve this.

Note: Make sure your CNAME has an alias of www (or the place you want to publish your blog) as well as having the host account point to ghs.google.com.

1. The first thing I did was create a Google Apps account, adding my blog domain to its services.
2. Next, I would select the available Google services. Although you can select all or none of the features to add to your blog, you must choose the Domain Web Pages feature.
3. After adding this feature, you should see a link that says something to the sort of Activating the web pages (underneath the Domain Web Pages image). Click on it.
4. Make sure that you put "www" as the publishing address. This will do one of two things. Either a) It will kick blogger from originally publishing to the domain (which is good) or b) blogger will refuse to move (not as good, but okay). If blogger is stubborn simply publish on mycoolblog.com, in order to let Google Apps have a turn at "www."
5. If you are unable to publish to "www" via Google apps, create a new sub name/alias instead. On the left should be in bold a category called Services. Find the Domain Web Pages link and then click the Change web publishing address on the screen and select an alias such as "about," "google" or even "darnell" if you would like. ;-)
6. Visit the "www" domain (or the alias you created in its place) and make sure you see a 404 error in an off color mellow yellow orange (note: what is that color anyways?). If you don't see it, try refreshing a couple of times.
7. Wait about five to ten minuets after seeing the 404 error, and then delete your Domain Web Pages from your current account, and republish blogger to the "www."
8. Give the internet 24 hours and with any luck (as well as some prayers) your mycoolblog.com should redirect to www.mycoolblog.com.

After testing this on several of my weblogs (ColonyWorlds.com, IsraGood.com, InsideOrkut.com as well as this one) I found this to be the only consistent method that seemed to make this work (as to why it works, you'll have to ask someone else that question).

One of my blogs redirected within a few seconds. Another one took several minuets while two of mine took almost 24 hours before they were functioning. I would also give it 48 hours until all of your friends see the same thing, (as it takes awhile for the new settings to register throughout the entire internet.

If you have any problems, comments or questions, feel free to post them here.

Update 1/17): If this doesn't work (or is too slow/confusing for you) try this easier and (hopefully) faster one.

Why I Love Middle Eastern Women...

Whether they're Jewish, Arabian, Druze or anyone else I left out, one thing about middle eastern women (or rather middle eastern people in general) is that they are passionate, no matter what they believe.

Here is a "secularist" (who use to be Muslim) giving her spin on liberty, Islam and the political way.

Hat Tip: IsraelReporter.com, via YouTube)

And don't forget to watch her previous video.

Iran Running Out Of Oil?

I bet this news is not going to make Ahmadinejad very happy, let alone the Mullah's.

(Israel Hasbara Committee) Iran is suffering a staggering decline in revenue from its oil exports, and if the trend continues income could virtually disappear by 2015, according to an analysis by Roger Stern of Johns Hopkins University. Iran earns about $50 billion a year in oil exports. The decline is estimated at 10 to 12% annually. In less than five years, exports could be halved, and they could disappear by 2015, Stern predicted. He added that there could be merit to Iran's assertion that it needs nuclear power for civilian purposes.

Perhaps the Israeli's could lend a helping hand. Although Ahmadinejad better do something before the Persians become restless.

Our Sol System Has A Twin?

Hmm...this looks interesting.

(Space Daily) Further observations of Zeta Leporis have enabled researchers to precisely gauge the size of this dust dusk. Additionally, according to Cowen, research finds that the location of the dust is at a distance of 3 astronomical units (AU) from Zeta Leporis, quite similar to the location of the solar system's asteroid belt, stretching from 2.1 to 3.3 AU from the sun.

Noting that asteroids are leftovers from the planet-making process in the solar system, Cowen reports that, while still a young star, Zeta Leporis is old enough to have formed planets. These new studies and findings "support the thought that Earthlike planets may exist" according to Michael Jura of the University of California, Los Angeles who observed the dust in the disk surrounding Zeta Leporis to find its radius.

Unfortunately the star is 70 plus light years away, give or take a day. It also orbits a blue star, which may or may not be suitable for Earth plants (that is if we every took the chance of traveling there).

Ahhh...So This Is Intelligent Design

Don't mind the music...it's from the 80's I think. Via YouTube.

Alternate title: The circle of life?

Test Post...

Do you see me?

Update: This domain is finally working. Thanks Google!

My Cat Is Healthy Again

He was sick for a while but now is fine.

When I Look At God's Creation...

...this makes me feel awfully humble.

I'm glad I live on planet Earth. (Hat Tip: PostHuman Blues)

Contact Me Via Skype

I know most of my American friends have either Yahoo!, MSN, Gtalk, AIM or use them all via Trillian.

That's all great and dandy, but I think I am going to ditch all of the other instant messengers (with the exception of Gtalk if Google decides) and stick with Skype.

There is just so much I can do with this chat/VOIP/telephone program, that puts the others to shame.

So if you want to chat with me, my screenname on Skype is HiddenNook or you can leave a message if I don't pick up.

Update: Added photo...and on a further note switching to Skype may not be that bad.

Google Investor, Anyone? (What's In Your Portfolio?)

Whatever Google is putting in their employee's water cooler, they definitely need to share it with the rest of the world. The search engine king has announced their commitment to bring users real-time instant live stats of stock quotes, free of charge and free of delay.

(Google Blog) As a result, we've worked with the SEC, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and our D.C. trade association, NetCoalition, to find a way to bring stock data to Google users in a way that benefits users and is practical for all parties. We have encouraged the SEC to ensure that this data can be made available to our users at fair and reasonable rates, and applaud their recent efforts to review this issue. Today, the NYSE has moved the issue a great step forward with a proposal to the SEC which if approved, would allow you to see real-time, last-sale prices across all Google properties including Google Finance, Personalized Google, Mobile, and of course, Google.com. It won't matter if you're on Wall Street or Main Street -- you'll have free, easy and fast access to real-time prices from NYSE on Google.

When it comes to innovation of information, Google is serious about change. This may put many expensive stock software companies out of business, but it will empower the consumer to track their own portfolio.

Sick cat

My cat is sick

No Honor Among Thieves?

Apparently their is a site stealing content from one of my weblogs, Inside Orkut.

I am not going to mention the site here (or the host) but I hope to resolve this issue privately in order to spare the hosting company bad media that can be picked up by the ever vigilant Google bots (aka Google spiders).

I've ran into this problem before, but thankfully the person in question last time apologized and complied (in essence, removed the offending posts as well as the site).

Hopefully a peaceful solution can be found as I have better things to do than dealing with content theft.

Update (1/11): Problem was resolved. Thanks Mr. [Host Company]!

A Blogger's Last Post?

PostHuman Blues (who previously nominated Colony Worlds as a blog of the day) links to what may be this bloggers very last post.

Various medical authorities swarm in and out of here predicting I have between two days and two months to live. I think they are guessing. I remain cheerful and unimpressed. I look forward without dogmatic optimism but without dread. I love you all and I deeply implore you to keep the lasagna flying.

Please pardon my levity, I don't see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd.

He'll be in my prayers. :-(

Slaying The FireFox Dragon

(Hat Tip: Webmaster World, registration required)

I think I finally took care of that annoying Firefox leak that kept consuming my computer's resources, slowing everything down.

Hopefully this problem will not pop up again (as the last hack should have taken care of this problem).

For those looking for a quick solution, simply follow these steps.

1. Open a new tab in Firefox
2. Type in about:config inside your address bar (and hit enter)
3. You should see the DNA of your browser. Scroll down until you see browser.cache.disk.capacity
4. Right click on it and select modify
5. Change the number to 5000 if you have less than 512 mb of ram, or more if you have a gig
6. Restart Firefox

Firefox feels a heck of a lot faster already. Hopefully I will not have to attempt to try and fix that again.

Pro's And Con's Of Blogger's Custom Domain

So I finally migrated another part of my life onto Google's servers, and I noticed several great things (as well as bad minor issues) with Blogger's Custom Domain.

Here are the great things about it:

• Retain all of Blogger's new features without messing with FTP on your domain
• Google hosts your blog for free! All you have to pay for is your domain
• You do not lose your Blog*Spot placement, preventing spammers from capitalizing on your efforts
• Google automatically forwards your Blog*Spot domain to your new one, so users visiting old posts go directly to the post on your domain

Here are some of the bad minor issues with it:

• Site not listed on the world wide web (compare InsideOrkut.com with www.InsideOrkut.com)
• Another user could claim your domain via Blogger, preventing you from using it (see my theory for details on my second thread response)
• Your Google Page rank drops (which means you'll have to resubmit it everywhere again)

Now, in my opinion the good definitely out weighs the bad, and I would seriously recommend any serious blogger to consider switching over as it does have a way of making your site feel a little more professional.

Note: Is it me, or did Blogger just become cooler than WordPress?

Update: Inserted bullet points on "minor issues."

Blogger Is My Hero!

I never thought I would ever say this, but it seems that Google (or rather Blogger) has once again reinvented the way blogging is done!

(Blogger Buzz) The new version of Blogger now supports using a custom domain for serving your blog. If you already own a domain named, say, mysite.com and want your blog to be served at that address instead of at a blogspot.com address, we can host your blog on that domain for you — for free. Your old Blog*Spot address will forward to your new custom domain, so the switch will be seamless for your readers.

I've already purchased several domains I would love to try this on (those being InsideOrkut.com, DarnellClayton.com, ColonyWorlds.com, IsraGood.com) and I will move my blog over to the self hosting later on today (after I get some sleep).

Is it me, or is Blogger really freakin' cool!

One Terabyte Hard Drives Coming Soon?

Hmm...I'm definitely going to have to pick up one of these!

(Ars Technica) It seems the day of the 1-terabyte consumer hard drive has finally become a reality. Hitachi announced yesterday, just before the start of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, that it will be shipping a 1TB hard drive by the end of the first quarter in 2007. The drive will be the first of three that the company is expecting to release in 2007; the other two are aimed at video pros and the enterprise market. Those two will ship in the second quarter of the year.

The 3.5" Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 will run at 7200 rpm, have a 32MB buffer, and be available as SATA 3.0Gb/s or Parallel-ATA 133. The company did not max out on areal density on the drives though; instead of trying to cram 250GB onto four platters, Hitachi opted to go with a 200GB-per-platter, five-platter approach. Hitachi's director of market and product strategy Doug Pickford told PC World that "About 250GB per platter is the next bump on the areal density curve, but we've backed off from doing that in order to achieve higher reliability at this time."

They say its selling for about $400 (or so) on the market. If only they could hook this up to an OQO, then I would have my dream machine.

DivShare: It's Love At First Sight

(Hat Tip: Life Hacker)

I've fallen in love with DivShare, which is basically giving away free online storage with no limits!

More via their site:

You're on DivShare – the free, fast file host for everyone.

We built this site in December 2006 to provide a simple and reliable way to show off photos, documents, music, and all your other creations. Whether you're just posting one file or setting up an account and personalizing your download pages, it's the web's best way to put your stuff in the spotlight. And you know what else is cool? It's all free.

They are already receiving a lot of positive feedback, and I may move all of my images from Flickr and Picasa to divShare in the near future. I wonder how long it will be until a mega company decides to buy them out?