big brother is watching...

...why not mom and dad?

With porn around every corner, regardless of what you are searching for, the internet continues to turn even the most innocent locations into threatening environments for children. Web 2.0 companies like myspace that can't monitor their own users thoroughly enough due to their exploding growth patterns are becoming breeding grounds for the raunchiest of the raunch. It's commonplace to find nudity and sexual content in user's blogs, comments, galleries and profiles. Yet, a large majority of myspace users are children. How do we keep them safe?

The first step might be to install some sort of parental control software. Unfortunately, few are foolproof and children who are more tech-savvy than their parents can easily find ways to thwart these applications. How about a plan B?

In addition to parental control software, a good computer monitoring program should be a useful tool. Once too expensive and hard to configure for anyone but large corporations wanting to watch their employees, companies like Spectorsoft are now offering monitoring software to everyday people (and parents) like you and me. You may not be able to keep your children from accessing everything that you don't want them to see, but you can at least keep track of what they are doing. I found this company at PayPerPost, but I believe that the corporation that I used to work for was using part of their software suite, as well. They even have a program called e-Blaster that will email you copies of all incoming and outgoing email on their PC.

Many parental access control applications rely on filters to keep children away from certain sites, but no set of filters is all encompassing, so software monitoring software can help you to fill those gaps by identifying which potentially "bad" sites your children were able to access.

Obviously, the other side of this coin is to teach your kids the difference between right and wrong and don't think that hiding everything evil from them will somehow keep them "pure". The best defense is knowledge and talking to your kids should help them to handle uncomfortable acquaintances on the internet safely.

"silver" dollar city

We took the kids over to Silver Dollar City this weekend, a last ditch effort at getting our money's worth of our season passes. One thing that always surprises me is to see how many of the people going into the park are seniors. I don't want to sound bigoted in anyway, but I just don't get it.

We are talking about people who are going to an amusement park, and paying $45 for a one day pass to shop and buy overpriced food. Aside from the occasional music performance at one of their side stages, I just don't understand why anyone who doesn't ride roller coasters and thrill rides would be willing to pay that much cash to shop. In some cases, they are accompanying younger families or children, and I can understand that part of it but I really think that Silver Dollar City is taking advantage of seniors by charging them close to full price for admission. Since when does a senior discount only get you $2 off of a one day pass?

On the way into the park, we happened upon their "tree lighting ceremony" which the kids enjoyed, but I found somewhat ridiculous. It looked like one of those large green foam cones you see at Hobby Lobby, covered in lights of course. The announcer kicked off the event by introducing one of the most obnoxious piano players I have ever heard, and every time I thought he was done playing and the tree was going to be lit, he would start up again. It was nifty how they synchronized the lights to the music, but overall slightly boring. At least the kids enjoyed it. My favorite part was the prerecorded "Merry Christmas" voice at the end of the display. I guess that Christmas in Silver Dollar City didn't end of the 25th.

chicago postie

PayPerPost presented the latest "postie patrol" video on their blog, in which one lucky (but freezing) Chicago resident was given the opportunity to win $1000 and a bunch of free Digital Photo Printing gear from HP. Robyn Nykaza risked frostbitten life and limb across the streets of Chicago, searching for mistletoe, carolers, dogs, pizza and more. Ted (founder of PPP) was nice enough to "tear away" his pants and give her a quick snapshot of himself in shorts, one of the more difficult items on her treasure hunt list (especially in freezing Chicago winter weather). A rep from HP accompanied the crew in their quest.

I think the funniest part had to be the guy on the street singing a rendition of "Rudolph the Red-nosed Gangster" in true Chicago style, although Ted making blowfish marks on the windows was a close second. Check it out for yourself:



It's funny, because every time I see one of these "postie patrol" videos, I wonder if this is something that I'd actually want to experience myself. On one hand, the extra cash would be great, and it would be a fun experience, but I've never been much of an outgoing person. Plus, I can't see them coming down to a small town like the one I live in. But I suppose that anyone is fair game.

Brought to you by HP!

the new price of convenience

For years, America has excelled at providing the utmost in convenience, but that convenience has always come at a price. Example: A Domino's pizza company delivers a pizza to your house and you pay a little extra for delivery and tip. Your tip covers the driver's wages, so that Domino's doesn't have to cover it all on their own, enabling them to pass on the convenience of home delivery.

In most cases, convenience has to do with less time consumption, less maintenance or setup, or easier access. Today's consumer electronics market is no difference. Example: I purchase a $20 digital camera for my daughter to play around with. It's a digital camera and it works, but it was only $20. If I had paid another $80 or more, I would have been rewarded with the convenience of easy to install drivers, software that wasn't as buggy or untested and the convenience of photos that looked recognizable the first time around.

Where convenience once had more to do with delivery, access, installation, maintenance and compatibility, the electronics market has shifted the focus of convenience to mostly refer to time. The time that it takes to figure it out. The time it takes to troubleshoot. The time that it takes to get it to function as advertised. The time it takes to understand why it is acting so erratically.

In a nutshell, electronics are becoming more like toilet paper. The better brands may cost more, but it is more convenient when you can get the job done correctly the first time around.

holiday loaner

Well, we're in the crux of the holidays, and you know what that means - debt. Lots of it, for many people. Just today, I was conversing with my uncle about credit cards, loans and what one might commonly refer to as "smart debt".

It's so easy to fall back on high rate credit cards during the holidays and spend more than you should. In fact, I'm not surprised that bankruptcies are still a common occurrence. Not everyone has a family member or friend to financially "fall back on", and my uncle and I were discussing what those people can do when they are really in financial trouble.

For example, I know several people who are living paycheck to paycheck, and drive vehicles that are not very dependable. What happens when their car's transmission falls apart and they get a $1400 repair bill? In some cases, the automotive shop is willing to allow them to make payments. But what happens if they don't? In many cases, those high-APR credit cards come to the (temporary) rescue. For some, it is a catch 22, as the loss of their car further cripples their situation by making it difficult to commute to work and make more money. Most of them state that they cannot afford a more reliable car, but this could also be seen as one of those "spend more now, save more later" situations, *if* they have the money to spend now.

Those who are lucky enough to be homeowners with some equity can go for a line of credit or home equity loan. Personal loans are definitely a better option when you compare their low rates to that of the typical credit card, if the borrower has good enough credit to be approved. Some people who are having trouble just paying their monthly mortgages find relief in the form of refinancing, assuming that the refinance charges are manageable. Still others are finding interest-only loans to be the best answer for borrowing the maximum while paying the minimum, but these types of loans tend to work best for people who are looking at homes that will appreciate in value quickly on their own.

Personally, I'd recommend working with a debt consolidation specialist if you find yourself drowning in debt. We went to one, and while they don't pay back your loans for you, they definitely help you to evaluate your relationship with debt and come up with a "battle plan" to eliminate the debt that hurts the most, and how to better avoid it in the future.

smoke that turkey

Seeing as it is Christmas Eve, I wanted to throw out a bit of Christmas cheer, and a little bit of time-saving advice for the holidays to come.

This Thanksgiving, we were invited to a friend's house where we experienced our first smoked turkey. If you have never had smoked turkey before, you are missing out. The meat (both dark and white) is tender and juicy, the flavor is delicious and it is so much easier than cooking your own. It actually has something of a ham-turkey crossbred flavor to it. On Thanksgiving, our friend's brother brought up a smoked turkey from a meat shop in Oklahoma.

Since we enjoyed it so much, we decided to reserve one from our local grocery store, which has its own smoke hut in the parking lot. Although the turkey didn't come pre-sliced like the one from Oklahoma, the taste was just as good. We simply threw it into the oven for a couple of hours at 325 degrees, to heat it through, and served it. We'll be eating leftovers tomorrow (and probably for the rest of the week). All in all, the cost wasn't too bad, either - just $1.99 per pound, which included the turkey and smoking service.

If you can find a grocer or local meat shop that offers this service during the holidays (or any time of the year, for that matter), I highly recommend it. Save yourself the trouble and try something new for your family and holiday guests. They won't be disappointed.

Happy Holidays!

hp digicool

About a year ago, my employer presented HP digital cameras to each of their field employees so that we could record what we saw during site surveys and equipment audits. Seeing as I am one of those typical male self-proclaimed "engineers" who doesn't like to waste any time reading directions for consumer-based technologies like digital photography, I instead decided to "break my camera in" by taking it with me on a family outing one weekend.

We had decided to take the kids to an amusement park in town, and I was going to give the camera a spin - literally. The park was busy but not overcrowded, which was a relief because the temperature was *hot*. The camera was taking some great photos of the kids, even when they rode the vertigo-inducing vomit rides. After watching my youngest spin 'round in circles on the sparkle-painted "kiddie" rides, we decided to take my daughter over to the "Wild Chipmunk", a spirited but mild coaster that I had never been on. My wife watched from a park bench as we waited in line, and she called out to me to "hold on." Surveying the amateur thrill seekers in line, and the lack of loops, dips or rolls in the track, I gave her a crooked all-knowing grin. After all, this was the "Wild Chipmunk". How bad could it really be?

Unfortunately, upon moving farther up the line, I realized that my daughter was slightly too short to ride. She was very upset, and we were ready to head back to "kiddie" land, but my wife convinced me to go ahead and ride the "Wild Chipmunk" by myself, just for fun. While standing in line and staring back at my pouting daughter, I had an epiphany. This new HP camera can shoot digital video! I can film the entire coaster for my daughter, and she can see what it would have been like to ride it.

Climbing into the 4-person coaster car, I slipped the camera strap around my wrist, relaxed into the padded vinyl seat, and started recording as the coaster slowly climbed the first hill. Unfortunately, what came next was a total surprise. Instead of plummeting down an incline like most coasters, the car jerked to the left so hard that the camera flew out of my hand, the strap slid off of my wrist, and my brand new company-owned HP digital camera was soaring through the air and falling fifty feet to the ground below.

The rest of the ride was a blur, and what was probably a twenty second ride felt like a five minute ride. The coaster continued to jerk to the left and to the right, bobbing up and down like a menacing, wild...chipmunk. I attempted to keep my eye on the area where the camera landed until the coaster came to a stop and they let me off. The camera had fallen into a grassy area just beneath the coaster, but fenced off from the public. I had to ask one of the operators if he could retrieve it for me. After a bit of hunting, he found it and handed it to me.

The camera was still filming, but the viewfinder was blank, and the lens wouldn't recede back into the camera when I turned it off. I was freaking out. Here I was, using a company owned camera for a personal family outing, and I dropped it off of a roller coaster ride. Fortunately, the camera had hit moist dirt, so it wasn't scratched or dented much at all. In fact, aside from the non-functional lens and the fact that the camera wouldn't turn back on, it only looked slightly mishandled. But what would I tell my employer?

I decided that I would try to have it repaired first, or replace it at my cost if necessary. I took the camera in to an electronics store, to have it inspected. The gentleman behind the counter asked me, "What happened? Did you drop it?" I nodded, but conveniently left out the fact that I dropped it fifty feet off of a roller coaster. I already felt stupid enough. I asked what it would cost me to repair or replace it. He then proceeded in explaining that people drop these all the time, because they are getting so small, and not to worry about it, because it was still under warranty and HP would probably cover it. I was shocked...

He packaged up the camera, had me fill out some paperwork, and assured me that he'd have it back in a few weeks. I was ecstatic. I had made perhaps the dumbest mistake that one can make with company property and I was going to get away with it. I floated home, but just as I was pulling into the garage, I realized that it wasn't over yet. I had just turned in a camera to be repaired under warranty, and I had left the video that I had taken stored in the internal memory. Someone at the repair center was sure to see this moron (me) filming the ascent of a roller coaster ride, and then watch in bewilderment as the camera goes flying off through the air, and lands on the ground. Then an amusement park ride attendant finds it, hands it back to me, and it continues to record me cussing and swearing as I try to stop the recording and shut it off. I was doomed.

After several weeks of sweating, I received a friendly call from the local electronics store indicating that "my camera was in". I hopped in the car, headed down to the store, and sheepishly presented my paperwork, preparing to hear the worst. However, he thanked me, handed me my camera, and that was it. I checked the package, and soon discovered that they had replaced it with a brand new one! Unbelievable! Somewhere out there in authorized HP repair-land, there is a technician with a very interesting piece of video footage. Perhaps one day I will see it again, maybe in an HP commercial, or one of those cheesy "amazing videos" shows. Or perhaps not.

Regardless, I have to say "thank you" to HP for saving me on that one. After pushing our boss to receive digital cameras at work for over a year, the last thing I wanted to do was to have to explain to him how I had dropped it and broke it (off the top of a roller coaster). HP, you rock!

I've since left that job, but would love to get another one of those HP cameras for personal use, and this time I promise - I'll keep it far away from anything named after rabid forest creatures...

This post was brought to you by HP.

insomnia

Why is it certain people's brains go crazy with new ideas at night? I, for one, am not amused. I am tired of being up late, twisting and turning, trying to "drift off" to sleep, only to have my brain buzzing away with new ideas that draw me to the computer or a piece of scratch paper. I've never been much of a morning person, but why must I be an "all night" person?

This gets rough, and even rougher is the fact that I don't want to get addicted to some strange sleeping drug to solve the problem. In fact, I loathe the idea of having to take something to get to sleep at a normal time. Hell, if I wanted to do that, I might as well become an alcoholic or opium addict.

Although my late night episodes (and their accompanying late morning episodes) are a bit on the extreme side, I do believe that we, as a nation, wake up too early. The fact that we put so much value in the opportunity to "sleep in" should tell us something - that there's a reason why many of us feel like zombies prior to 9am; that it feels better to wake up on our own than to be jolted awake by incessant alarm clock tones or the voices of morning radio drunk-jockeys.

As kids, it seemed to take a few hours in the early morning before our brains truly started to function, although we could trudge like zombies to the bust stop and our first class (or two). I wish that we (as a first class society), could improve our own quality of life by allowing people to wake up on their own, instead of enforcing the same strict sleeping (and waking) patterns upon everyone. We are not all made the same. The "morning person" definition was established because it is a very real phenomenon, and it's just not fair to shove your happy-go-lucky morning person ways down the rest of our throats.

Give us ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ's or give us death!

rockstartup v3

I just finished checking out the third episode of RockStartup, the controversial new "reality" show about the startup and growth of PayPerPost. This is like video blogging on steroids, with a soundtrack and more.

In this episode, they are moving into their new office. The first obstacle they run into is no internet service, which (for an internet company) is pretty crippling. The construction workers are hard at work, and the PPP employees seem pretty excited about the vibrant colors, which look to me like they match PPP's logo. I'm not sure that the video really shows the pain of moving into a new office, as the time seems to fly by pretty quickly - one slight downside to video blogging, I suppose. In reality, Ted seems to be pulling his hair out, waiting for things to be ready, and yelling at the occasional construction worker for standing on a $700 office chair instead of bringing their own ladders. LOL.

It will be interesting to see if things get to the point where PPP opportunities require video ads on blogs only. I don't think we're very close to being there, but the more adventurous advertisers seem to be open to the idea, and are willing to pay a bit more for it.

Anyways, please feel free to watch it for yourself. This is my first attempt at embedding a video from Youtube, so I hope that it works...

video blogging

Video blogging seems to be exploding across the blogosphere. On one hand, it gives your readers a face and voice to go with a writing style, and I also believe that it makes things more personal. There are (at least) three downsides to it, though, from what I can tell.

The first is accessibility. Although I believe that most web users now have high-speed internet, not everyone does, and I have always followed the belief that you play to the lowest common denominator, in my web design and everything else technology-related.

The second problem is the loss of anonymity. Unless you're inclined to wear a Zorro (or Batman) mask, you're immediately exposing your identity to the world. I don't know about you, but the last thing I need is someone recognizing me at a grocery store, and assaulting me because they disagreed with one of my rants.

The third problem that I see behind it is copyright and ownership. Few people have the hosting space to store daily video feeds, and many people end up using sites like Youtube. Problem is...most of these sites require that you sign an agreement when you create an account that basically gives them a non-exclusive right to do what they want wit the content you store on their site. So these videos that you make today, could be archived somewhere and taken our of context or used in a way that you never intended at a future date.

So in a nutshell, video blogging is cool if you don't mind inevitably waiving some of your rights, sort-of like living in the United States I suppose.

I may try and post a video just to try it out...

PPP blog

Have I ever mentioned that PPP has their own blog, as well? Aside from the usual business announcements, we often catch glimpses into the personal lives of PPP personalities like Ted. I like that companies are starting to use web 2.0 applications like blogs to keep their customers informed. It's somehow more personal than email. Video blogging plays a big part and there are a number of videos smattered across the PPP blog. I'm glad I have a high-speed internet connection, but who doesn't these days?

The PPP blog has been pretty useful at times. For example, with the recent announcement of required disclosure, I found a helpful article on "Tips for Disclosure" in their blog. I recommend that any PayPerPost newbies and veterans alike keep an eye on their blog. They often comment on system upgrades and new features, and also respond to problems that bloggers have reported. If you can't find an answer in the forum, it's a a good bet to check the PayPerPost blog. It's also one of the few places where you can find out about their puzzle piece contests, which can earn you big buck$$$.

secondspin

In the modern world of MP3 swapping, many physical record stores have been going the way of the dodo. Gone are the days when angst-ridden youth enjoyed getting their fingers dirty flipping through old milk crates, searching for that rare limited edition 12" single. Gone are the days when one could stop by a record store and get the latest insider news from the obsessive music junkies who worked there.

Online CD stores may be the next to go. Apparently, the modern music lover doesn't care for physical CD's anymore. As Napster has been advertising, "Have everything, own nothing."

Personally, it makes me sick, and I will do my best to swim against the tide and continue to support artists whose musical endeavors I still respect. One of the best used music stores I have been shopping from lately is a company called SecondSpin. They have a few physical stores in Colorado and California, but I always shop their online store at secondspin.com.

Being on a somewhat limited budget, and unable to "have everything" that I would like, I enjoy perusing their 99 cent discs for underrated gems. I recently picked up a number of decent blues albums for dirt cheap. Best of all, once you're a customer you will receive occasional emails about sales and special deals. My favorite is their free shipping coupon. They send it out a few times a year, and I usually take advantage of it quite a bit.

Check them out if you're looking for a deal. They carry DVDs, too.

anytime enzymes

I just ran across a product at PPP called EnzymeCorrect from a company called Living Remedies. The products is a natural herbal / enzyme blend that says it can help alleviate common health problems like heartburn, acid reflux, constipation, and the dreaded "d" word - diarrhea. These are the types of problems that people often spend big bucks trying to find solutions for, from "specialists" who usually try to pigeonhole your problems into one of three oft-misdiagnosed categories - IBS, lactose intolerance, or stress.

Offering a 365-day money back guarantee, this Living Remedies company claims that their product has been proven to be 99% effective. The root of many of these problems, according to their website, lies in enzyme deficiencies which can affect more than just digestive systems. Enzyme deficiencies are said to play a part in other common health issues like fatigue, weight problems, bad cholesterol levels and even diabetes.

I'm all about trying natural remedies before pumping steroids, antibiotics or weird chemicals into my body. This product sounds like a winner, and its worth a try to detoxify your body with Enzymecorrect with their advertised money back guarantee.

personality for sale

Here's one for laughs...

http://marketmasterslegal.com

I actually ran across a marketing firm that is leasing burnt-out TV stars for commercials. We're talking heavy hitters like William Shatner and Erik Estrada. The website cracks me up, as it is set up like a "catalog" of sorts. I've already seen ads on late night TV for property in NW Arkansas being pushed by Estrada - you know the type - planned lake-front communities where they sell you lots for $20k or $30k that they bought for $2k a piece. What a joke.

Better yet, we're supposed to believe that people like Estrada will be your neighbors in these modern day Stepford developments. How many homes does this guy have anyways? I guess that reruns of CHIPS and The Surreal Life are giving him the buying power to have residences all over the country. Oh, wait. I forgot. He also makes money as a marketing personality with "unsurpassed blue collar appeal". LOL.

And then there's Shatner. Apparently, he isn't busy enough filming Miss Congeniality Part Six and attending Trekkie conventions. What else can you do when somebody like Spock knocks you out of favor with Priceline? Other "hired guns" include Robert Vaughn - what the hell movies was he even in, anyways? He looks familiar, but for what? Joining the ranks of the Quaker Oats guy trying to sell life insurance, and that lady from That 70's Show trying to get you to go to Vegas for FREE? Forget about growing old gracefully. At least Shatner isn't trying to resurrect his singing career.

free date?

I have a number of single friends, and as a married guy, it can sometimes make things a bit awkward. For example, when my wife and I go dancing, if we run into some of our single friends (without dates), we end up dancing while they watch, and it just feels...strange. Personally, I can't imagine being back in the dating scene, as I've been married for more than ten years now, and most of my single friends confirm that it is rough out there. I know that I am so stubborn and grumpy in my not-so-young age that I would have serious trouble finding a date if I were single again.

Some of my friends have tried dating services, but most shy away from the experience due to the cost. Some of the sites out there actually charge thousands of dollars. One of my single friends even offered a "reward" of $1000 for anyone who was able to find him a soulmate. Strangely enough, even with the thousand dollar dating sites still existing on the internet, there are now free dating sites starting to popup. Perhaps it's the web 2.0 influence, or perhaps there are new ways to monetize these types of sites, but none-the-less, they do exist and for free.

One such free online dating site that I ran across at PPP is called IamFreeTonight.com. According to the site, they even have a "wingman" feature that sets up doubles and group dates. This site sounds different because it sets up a tentative "date" before matching up two people. So, you plug in your date night, what you'd like to do, and it advertises it for interested takers.

I'll have to pass this on to some of my single friends. Although many of them (being single with little responsibility in the ways of family and kids) have money to pay for dating services on occasion, they'd probably prefer to save that money for the actual date.

Check it out, my single readers:

iamfreetonight.com

Maybe you, too, can "get lucky" tonight.
;)

the infant PC

I was speaking with my father earlier tonight, and he was lamenting about the latest problems he is having with his computer. As I am the "computer guru" of the family, I am generally the one to dispense tech tips and software recommendations, and also the one to spend an occasional eight hours trying to clean up one someone's computer for them.

I started thinking, though. I believe we are on the verge of the "infant PC" age. What do I mean by this? Simple - that computers are quickly becoming a throw away item, to be replaced every year (while they are still in their "infancy"), once it has been trashed by viruses, trojans, hijackings, etc. I see many triggers for these problems, many of which are results of inexperienced users. I'm talking about people who are still opening attachments from strange email addresses, responding to strange emails to "take them off of their list", not using any kind of personal firewall, and worst of all, still using Internet Explorer as a browser.

My father's latest problems had to do with his installation of DSL for the first time. Qwest, partnering with MSN, installs all kinds of MSN crap on new DSL users computers, and (of course) they expect you to use Internet Explorer as your browser. I had Qwest DSL for a while, and it was difficult to get all of that crap removed from my PC when I left them.

Fortunately, there are a few things that people can do to better protect their PC's and make them last longer than a year or so. Here's the list I just emailed to my father, along with instructions for use. This should work for most Windows XP users, but I'm not responsible if they don't work for you, or cause any problems. Everyone's computer is different, but they work great on several computers that I have installed them on.

I hope that some of you find this list useful:

First, grab yourself Firefox:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
After downloading it and installing, launch Firefox and click on the "Tools" menu and select "Options". Go to the "Content" button and make sure the box marked "Block pop-up windows" is checked. Use this instead of Internet Explorer, and you've probably solved 80% of your problems already.

Antivir free anti-virus program:
http://www.free-av.com/down/windows/antivir_workstation_win7u_en_h.exe
Once installed, open the program, click on the "Scanner" tab, then the magnifying glass icon to scan. The scanner part of the program is called "Luke Filewalker" - pretty funny name, but it works well. There's also a "guard" that you can activate that will watch your system continuously for problems.

CWShredder:
http://www.trendmicro.com/ftp/products/online-tools/cwshredder.exe
This is a free scanner that checks for some common trojan horse viruses and hijackings. Just click on the "FIX" button to scan and get rid of any problems. It's a very small program that checks for very specific problems, but it works well.

Adaware:
http://www.download.com/3001-8022_4-10399602.html
Install this one, click the "Start" button and then the "Next" button to scan for problems. If it finds any "critical" items, click on the "critical" tab, check the boxes next to the critical items, and click on the "Next" button again to get rid of them. Click "OK" when it asks you to confirm removal of them, if you are okay with getting rid of them. Many times, all it finds are cookies.

Spybot Search & Destroy:
http://fileforum.betanews.com/download/Spybot_Search_and_Destroy/1043809773/1
This one is important. Once you install, there are several things it can do to protect your system. Run the program, and you will see several buttons on the lefthand side. First, click on the "Immunize" button. Then you will see a green plus sign in front of you with the words "Immunize" next to it. Click on the plus sign. This will block most of the trojans and hijackings that occur in Internet Explorer.

The top button is a "Search & Destroy" button. Before running this scan and "fixing" anything, you may want to walk through the results one by one. You don't want to delete anything that might not be harmful. Next, look for the "Tools" box in the bottom lefthand corner. Click on it. You should then see a little shield icon with the word "Resident" next to it. Click on this, and it will bring up a new dialogue box. In the area that says "Resident protection status" there are two checkboxes. Make sure the first one (Resident "SDHelper") is checked. As for the second one (Resident "TeaTimer"), this is a small application that will notify you anytime the computer tries to change a program in the background. It is useful for watching the actions of viruses, but can get annoying if it notifies you of legitimate changes. Try turning this on by checking the box, and then turning it off later if it bugs you. It doesn't pop up very often, and is worth the extra protection.

Sygate Personal Firewall:
http://www.tucows.com/start_dl/213160_90233_6648
This is a free firewall that you should install as an extra precaution. The first time you run your internet browsers after you install this, it will ask you to confirm whether you want to allow them access to the internet. Check "yes" if you recognize the program...check "no" if it looks suspicious, and it wasn't a program you were trying to launch. Lots of programs (unfortunately) access the internet in the background without us knowing it, but having a firewall like this will show you which ones are trying to get on the net, and give you the option of blocking them if you want to.

If you have these programs installed on your PC, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to stay free and clear of most viruses and problems. I live by all of them, and have been using them for years.

Best of luck.

PS - As this post ages, many of these links may go bad. However, a simply search by program name should reveal download locations for the latest and greatest versions.

the optics illusion

Not too long ago, I posted a little story about the changing universe, or at least how our definitions of the universe are changing, including the reclassification of planets like Pluto. I mentioned that this may be a good reason to pick up astronomy as a hobby, so that what our kids are learning in school (which tends to be different from what we learned) can somehow be taught to us, as well.

For the longest time, I always assumed that getting back into astronomy would be quite expensive. After all, the optics for SLR cameras don't seem to have come down in price much over the years, and telescopes used to be a bit pricey for the good brands.

However, I just ran across a store listed at PayPerPost called Optics Planet that has some great deals on all kinds of optical devices, from high-end telescopes and binoculars to radar detectors and sunglasses. I must admit that I was rather surprised to see telescopes with built-in computerized controllers and tripods selling for less than $300. I am guessing that the price of telescopes has changed quite a bit over the last ten years since I had my astronomical binoculars. In fact, I know that it has, because the Celestron binoculars that I used to have are now selling for less than $225, and that includes a free tripod.

The site also offers free UPS shipping on orders over $30. Why not surprise your kids with a pair of monster binoculars this Christmas? Trust me - You'll never think of binoculars the same way again.

captcha scrapped

Not too long ago, I posted a quick rant about why I don't like captcha technology. It's one of those necessary evils that, although often necessary to protect the interests (and privacy) of web users and websites, can sometimes be a bit bludgeoning. In fact, I recently ranted a bit about it on the PayPerPost forums, as I didn't like the fact that I had to enter a captcha image every single time I went to log in to their system. I can understand needing one for brand new accounts, but at every login seemed like overkill to me.

Much to my surprise, I went to login today and found the captcha image requirement gone. Could it be that my suggestion (or my blog rant) was actually taken to heart? I commend PayPerPost if this is the case. It's not everyday that a web company listens so closely to its customers, but PayPerPost has been pretty quick to respond to its devoted "Posties", which probably explains why we have devotion to them in the first place.

Thanks, PayPerPost!

PS - This is *not* a paid post.

living on credit

Holiday season is one of those times of the year that people dust off even the highest rate credit cards to get some shopping done. I was once one of them - foolishly breaking out the 25% APR Sears card so that I could pick up an electric screwdriver for my brother-in-law.

We were young and foolish once and made the mistake of charging everything and spending more money than we had. It took nearly a year of much more than the minimum payment to dig ourselves out of that hole. However, instead of turning this into one of those "be smart - ditch all your credit cards" posts, I will instead recommend that anyone with crippling credit card debt get some credit card advice and learn how to make the best of their credit cards' generosity. There are lots of resources out there for people looking to develop a budget and make sure not to overspend, even during the holidays.

In addition, the world of credit cards is changing every day. I used to receive low APR "fixed" card offers all the time, but these days if you read the fine print you will often find that "fixed" only means "fixed" until they decide to change it. There are also new approaches to credit card programs being offered all the time, many of which can be explained at sites that offer credit card news.

For a long time, I felt that credit cards were "bad" but now I see them as a useful financial tool that, when not abused or misunderstood, can be a lifesaver. We especially like the cards that offer reward "points" towards different programs. I've personally stayed for free at hotels about a dozen times in the last few years, thanks to these programs.

Best of all, nobody says that you absolutely have to carry a balance and pay interest. We use our credit cards all the time, but pay off our balance each month, so we retain good credit (rather than no credit), but don't throw money away on interest. It's also nice knowing that, should an emergency arise in which we don't have the immediate funds to cover, we can always rely on credit cards to give us a good month's cushion.

xmas family fun

For some people, the holidays are full of all of the things we hear in holiday songs, like good will, cheer, happiness, etc. For others, the holidays can sometimes be more headache than they're worth.

Unfortunately, our sentiments towards this time of the year tend to fall towards the latter experience. In all honestly, it's not because we are grumpy, moody, or have a negative attitude towards the holidays. In fact, we love doing things for our children and seeing them experience the holidays. I just wish that our relatives felt the same way about us, and had the same intentions that we have.

Instead, we have relatives who feel that Christmas is all about spending money, and others that take it a step further and compare how much you spend on one another. Then we have other relatives who feel that everything should revolve around them, and to hell with anyone else's feelings. So, for the first time, we decided to try the holidays on our own this year, spending the time with our own children, and not concern ourselves with the travel and stress.

I have to admit that finance also played a part in our decision, as traveling during the holidays is never cheap. But for the most part, this is a decision that was made so that I don't have to see my wife crying on Christmas Eve because her divorced parents can't just get along for one night of the year.

So, I thought we were safe. Aside from a few uncomfortable telephone conversations in which we had to explain why we weren't going "home" for the holidays, our interactions with relatives have been more or less pleasant. Until today! Today, my wife received a phonecall from a relative complaining about one of the gifts we had sent her. This was a personal gift, a homemade DVD with photo slideshows of our kids. Her complaint? That there weren't any photos with my her in them. She then went off on a tangent, explaining that this was an attempt at making the kids forget their grandmother, or that we intentionally didn't take enough photos of her when she last visited. Good grief! It wasn't something that I even thought of while putting the DVD together.

This was a DVD of our kids, and that should have been enough. I guarantee you that we won't hear any complaints from any other family members, even though most of them also don't appear in the slideshows. But they understand that the earth doesn't revolve around them. You don't get too many photos of relatives when you live 1,000 miles away from them, and that was the whole point of sending this DVD - so that they could see photos of our kids. Without going into too much detail, let me just say that as much as this complaint seemed to come from left-field, it doesn't surprise me to hear who it was coming from.

Chalk up another reason for not going "home" for the holidays...
Sorry for the personal rant - had to get this off of my chest.

laughatars

Here's a funny new service that I ran across at PPP. It's called U-Doo and it's a customized ringtone/avatar service for your cellphone. The site is fun to play around with, as it allows you to customize the look of the avatar to reflect the person who's calling (or you can create something funny like an alien-looking baby avatar with a huge green head).

You add your own custom ringtone, including recorded audio from your phone or even a funny text-to-speech ringtone in true robot style. Then you can send it to your phone, or add it to your myspace page. Check it out here. Even without a phone, it's kind-of fun to play around with the editor at their site, and then you can upload it to your myspace page for your friends with cellphones to download. Neat idea.

kiss my blog

Not sure if you've been following the recent rash of blogging lawsuit cases popping up in various news reports, but it appears that the right to post personal opinions in a "journal" format (via blog) is now under fire. Like any other medium, the best defense for libel is truth. However, in this case, we are talking about normal "everyday" people posting their own opinion, not political slanted news media resources imposing their view onto the public. However, the "victims" of blog assassination don't care if it's a ten year old, a grandmother, or a character terrorist. All they know is that someone is using the internet, our last "free" medium of "free" speech, to say something nasty about them, and they want retribution.

Personally, I think it's just another case of our first amendment rights being trampled. Sure, it's wrong to intentionally slander someone in a public forum, but a blog is not a "public" forum, so much as it is a journal. I liken it more to an editorial column than a news report. In the past, political officials wouldn't have been worried about sentiments from "little" people since we had no format to publish them (like the internet), and concentrated their efforts on larger news media corporations who stepped over the line. Today, with the popularity of blogs (some arguably *more* popular than traditional news media corporations), they can't help but notice, and they are using their best lawyers to quiet the rabblerousers.

Unfortunately, although I haven't seen too many cases actually being charged against bloggers, the courts will most likely begin to view blogs as any other form of media, and the crimes of libel or slander will begin to hit the blogosphere before too long, making us all think twice before blasting that political candidate next time.

On the bright side, there are a few sites out there where bloggers can turn for questions.

Here's to free speech!

better billing for mom and baby

Well, if you've been reading my occasional posts here and there about consumer rights, you knwo that I'm always first in line to rant about new opportunities for consumers to save cash and avoid being ripped off. Here's a new one that I just ran across at PPP that sounds like a deal.

It's called the MaternityCard, and its apparently a new offering by AHCO health. Initially, you might make the assumption that this is just another maternity rider for yet another health insurance program. However, this one has a different spin, and it's one that I think some people can appreciate, especially if you consider the cost of having a baby.

While my wife and I were researching our own health plan, we were relieved that we didn't have to factor in maternity benefits. At this point, we believe that we have enough children, and don't plan on having any more. And, it's a good thing, because maternity riders add considerable costs to health insurance plans, especially when you're footing the bill without assistance from your employer or a group plan.

Enter AHCO with their new MaternityCard, a standalone maternity package program that is individually tailored to your specific wants and desires, for the mother *and* the coming baby. The plan awards mothers-to-be with discounts for maternity services, and includes infant discounts after the birth. MaternityCard is very quick to point out that this is *not* insurance. Instead, they work from within the medical billing paradigms to find the best ways to save you money.

If you've ever been on the receiving end of unpaid or incorrectly billed insurance bills (and you'd have to be from another planet not to have ever dealt with this problem before), you know how often a simple reclassification or correction in the terms of the service can completely change the amount charged. With this package, MaternityCard says that they have experts to deal with the hosptial and doctor billing arrangements for you. That alone is worth the cost of the annual membership.

Best of all, they offer a guarantee that they'll save you at least as much as the cost of the membership, or they'll give you a full refund plus $200. Sounds like a no-brainer to me.

kicking butt

The BBC news recently published an article that might help to explain why we commonly hear people threatening to "kick" someone's ass rather than "punching" them. Aside from the obvious fact that it would sound funny for someone to threaten to "punch" someone's ass, the BBC reported evidence from a new study that kicking someone (especially while they are down) has been shown to cause more serious damage than use of a blunt or sharp object. Huh?

Crazy. Apparently, your chances of survival are better if someone stabs you than if they kick you. Too bad everybody has feet, eh?

Here's the article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6175633.stm

The report also featured a doctor who recommended not getting drunk as a possible defense, since drunk victims tend to fall down for often than their sober counterparts. They also stated that, "Prevention of kicking and use of blunt objects should be a priority." Really? Glad they cleared that up for us...

I'm sorry, but it's articles like this that take some random coincidental data from a hospital, put a new spin on it and try to make it a fact. Let's face it - regardless of whether you're being kicked, punched or stabbed, getting the crap beaten out of you (by anything - fists, feet, etc) is going to cause some serious damage. It just so happens that more people get the crap beaten out of them when they are lying on the ground from the initial strike. And few degenerates stoop to punch someone that is already down, when using their feet is so much more convenient.

rockstartup

The folks over at PayPerPost recently launched a new website documenting the launch and progress of PayPerPost. The videos are presented via YouTube in true MTV documentary style, complete with background mood music and reality tv styled edits.

Ted Murphy, founder of PayPerPost, graces the screen in true giddy school-boy fashion, as he and Britt (communications specialist for PayPerPost) tackle a New York City tradeshow in Episode One. Britt goes to setup at the tradeshow and finds out quickly that PPP isn't on the list. These are the typical types of little "quirks" that you don't often see as part of the "history" of company startups. Eventually everything gets worked out, though.

Episode two has them returning to the today show, with free signs for the audience members, a ploy that worked well for them last time. They also gave out those stadium foam fingers, which reminded me of that commercial where the guy pours a beer into the foam finger to take with him to the game. No such abuse of the PPP "finger", but once again they managed to get some serious free publicity. The episode then follows up with Ted scoring an interview with Business Week over his cellphone, and grabbing a quick lunch sitting on the floor.

I think that one of the reasons why PayPerPost has gained such publicity and earned a place with "everyday bloggers" is because of the seeming accessibility and "normalness" of its founders. Ted doesn't seem at all like the typical "head geek" that we grew so accustomed to seeing in interviews and press releases with the dotcom companies of the nineties. The advent of video blogging has also assisted in making the staff of PPP more "exposed" to their customers, rather than hiding behind a logo or invented web widget.

I salute PayPerPost for their skills in getting their brand seen and heard, and appreciate the guerilla marketing techniques they've employed. These non-traditional techniques just seem to "fit" with a company that is breaking the traditional mold of internet advertising. If they had followed strict traditional channels to advertise their product, I don't think that they would have been as successful.

Aside from the raw MTV styled video footage, I don't quite get the "rockstartup" reference, and how it really relates to PayPerPost, but perhaps one of the newer episodes can clue me in. Until then, I can at least make some quick cash for posting about it!

money makes waste?

You've all heard the old saying that "haste makes waste"...

I'm starting to believe that money also makes waste. What I mean by this is that when you have more money, you are more tempted to waste it. Perhaps it has more to do with how easy the money was obtained, as in "easy come, easy go."

All cliche sayings aside, it truly amazes me when people with lots of money seem to have never learned some of those basic lessons from our childhood that most of us take for granted. For example, finishing what you start before jumping on the next project. I have a friend, for example, that can't seem to finish anything, but he has about a zillion things started. He doesn't have lots of money, so he doesn't fit concisely into my example, but the observation is the same. He came from a good home, with relatively intelligent parents. Why was he never taught the patience and perseverance (not to mention the ultimate reward) to finish what he starts?

From a financial perspective, I guess what I am seeing is that people with more money are more likely to just "throw away" one unfinished project to pursue something new, seemingly unconcerned with the time and investment in the original project, because once again, "easy come, easy go."

I guess that, like anything in life, the value of investment is relative. If you can afford to throw away that investment (or write it off), then you probably will.

PPP and disclosure

I am officially stating that this post RIGHT HERE is a paid post.

Yes, that's correct. I am getting paid a whopping ten bucks just to tell you that PayPerPost is now requiring full disclosure for bloggers in their program. Not bad, eh? The big change in disclosure policy at PPP seems to have come from FTC pressures.

Since the launch of the PPP program, they have been under attack from elitist "pro" bloggers, like the folks at TechCrunch, for implementing a program in which everyday bloggers have the ability to make money for posting their opinions on products and websites, without fully disclosing that they are being paid. Personally, I see no problem with this, as long as the person doing the posting doesn't compromise how they really feel about something in their blog just because they are getting paid. I guess that the FTC doesn't agree. Funny thing is...what with all of the frequent paid opportunities to namedrop PPP, you'd have to be a real moron not to notice someone was signed up in the first place.

I don't really like the fact a number of advertisers are still requiring positive posts for their product, and imagine that this may be the next thing to go in the PPP system. Fortunately, I have an easy solution during the interim. I simply don't take the opportunity if I don't want to say anything positive about it. However, on the rare occasion that I can actually get paid to slam something that I don't like, I'm on it like speedfreak flies on stickytape.

blind progress

Since when did progress join the ranks of religion and politics? When did it become part of the do-or-die mentality that, "you're either for progress, or you're against it"?

Why is it that *anyone* challenging any form of progress is immediately labeled as old-fashion, naive, a tree-hugger, or "afraid" of change? Again, this seems to be falling into the same realm as religion, as in...

You don't believe the same *exact* thing that I do, so you're going to suffer unless you change your mind.

I keep getting hit over the head with the "don't swim against the tide" theory, and yet it works fine for the salmon. Sure, many of them don't survive, but that doesn't mean that it cannot be done. And, one could further argue that it is the only reason why their species has managed to survive.

Going out even further on a limb (like the daredevil squirrels in my backyard), I'd like to throw up a theory of my own - that "progress" (as understood by the majority of Americans) is another factor that is being shoved down everyone's throats as being one of those things that you must simply agree with blindly, and never question. Those in charge of implementing progress know best - they have the money, and the resources, and the backing of the government. Who are we to question them?

Most of the "muffling" seems to be coming from the same people who feel that they have the right to run everyone else's lives, and decide what is best for them - the "pillars" of society, to whom we owe our salaries, our time, and (apparently) our unconditional faith and allegiance.

The last time that I checked, this was still supposed to be a democracy with freedom of speech, but the way that I am starting to feel, is it all a facade? Are we truly free to express our opinions and concerns, or is this quickly turning into the Unazi States of America?

benny the dog

If you've seen the movie Vanilla Sky, you probably remember the scene with "Benny the Dog", who was frozen in a lake for several months and brought back to life, preserved. The event was used as a premise for the movie, in which actor Tom Cruise has himself frozen, to be re-animated in the future.

All sci-fi musings aside, I often wonder where my family would be if our dog from a few years back could have been alive today. He was one of the best tempered dogs I have ever seen in my lifetime, and the kids would have loved him. He was a spunky little westie who lived to please the people around him, even when he was in pain. This poor little guy was diagnosed with severe skin allergies when he was around eight years old, reportedly the result of generations of westie inbreeding. This is a very common problem with the breed, according to research that we found on the internet.

He was on several medications over the years, although few seemed to do any good. We tried lotions, creams, pills...you name it. We even took him to an expensive "dog dermatologist". Nothing seemed to help. Eventually, the steroids that the vet had been giving him for years to try and "slow down" his scratching gave him something else instead - heart disease. It got so bad that he couldn't walk up a few steps without falling over, out of breath. Eventually, we had to make one of the hardest decisions of our lives - to put him to sleep. We still get a little misty eyed to this day when we think of him. He was that good of a dog.

So, when I see new products being developed for canine skin health, I get a little optimistic that other dogs may not have to suffer like he did, but I also get a little depressed thinking about our poor westie. One such new product is Dermaxol. Here is a product that is being advertised as being "99% effective" at reversing skin ailments in pets. On top of that, it is also all natural, so it won't lead to any unexpected nasty side effects like the heart disease that took our little companion from us.

I also like the fact that Dermaxol can be taken orally, so there's no sticky or oily lotion to rub on their fur. They also offer a 100% "iron-clad" guarantee, so it sounds like a no brainer for skin problems.

I know I don't cover "pet" topics too often on this blog, but I figured that if there are any other pet owners out there with pets having similar skin problems, you should know that there are alternatives to dangerous "band-aid" products like steroids. All steroids ever did for our dog was make him sleepy and lethargic and give him heart disease. If I could "bring him back" and give him this product today, I would. Unfortunately, he left us before this technology was discovered.

webring users win

A few months back, Webring.org posted an announcement stating that they were going to be changing their service to a "paid" service in January, retaining only a *very* limited version of their free service (think only 5 ring memberships at a time). After several months of complaining, seeing numerous ringmasters sending out messages to their ringmembers that they are leaving, and seeing ring applications go unanswered for longer periods of time that I have been accustomed to, it appears that webring.org has finally gotten the message.

In a new email sent to their current userlist, it has been announced that a free version of the site will remain in place, very similar to the service that we enjoy today. An unusual win for the user experience - perhaps they took to heart what happened to sites like mp3.com and napster when they implemented their paid programs. Webring.org will still be implementing a paid version of the site, but it sounds like it will be an "enhanced" version of what we are using today. Honestly, the site and service is still relatively buggy and difficult to navigate that I can't see paying anything to use it. Perhaps the "paid" version of the site will feature a better user interface.

Let's just hope that they figure out how to monetize their site so that we can continue to use this service for free. Although the benefits of webrings seem to be waning as search engines begin penalizing sites for obvious "linkswap" tactics, I know that there are still some novice users who use these services to find related sites and it is for those users that the webring model seems to work.

euro invasion

Has anyone noticed a growing number of cars with European plates in the US? Living in a tourist-based community, we get all kinds of people passing through town, and I always find it interesting when I see long rectangular European-styled license plates hanging off of BMW's or Audi's. I'm curious. Are we having a European insurgence or has the cost of importing automobiles just dropped?

The first guess is unlikely. The US has done anything but win favor with our European brethren, thanks to our invented war on Iraq. Why would they want to move here now? The second guess could be hitting closer to home, but doesn't the US require cars to be registered with American plates when entering American roadways?

Then I ran across a company listed at PPP that seems to have explained the Euro Plates phenomena. Custom European Plates sells custom embossed Euro-style plates for your Porsche, BMW, or Audi. Whether you're looking for an "Oh, Lord" for your Mercedes or a "farfignewton" for your Volkswagen, you can write your own plate on their website and have it professionally produced for your import. You can even include German letters like Umlauts, for that authentic Kraut look.

Then you can mount your new euro plate to the front of your car (but keep your *real* plate on the back, or you'll make the local law unhappy), and you can cruise around small Ozark tourist towns to fool the silly hillfolk into thinking that you are straight out of Europe.

godaddy - first impressions

If you've read any of my posts thus far, you know that I'm always up for a good roasting, so on the rare occasion that I actually have something nice to say about a company, I try to include it in the blog. This way, I can at least be a "glass is one third full" type of person.

So here goes...

I've known of GoDaddy for a few years now, and their domain registration prices have always been tempting, but I had read a few negative things about them on some hosting forums a while back, and it just sort-of stuck. But recently, I've been reading lots of e-books from well-respected SEO and affiliate marketing experts and all of them had only nice things to say about GoDaddy. So, I had a domain expiring at Network Solutions, and decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and try out GoDaddy.

Before I had the chance to do the transfer, I actually ran across a domain that I needed to pick up, so I decided to do that first, to give GoDaddy something of a "probation" before I did the domain transfer. The domain name registration went very smooth, with no problems. In fact, not only did it go smooth, but I received an actual phonecall from a GoDaddy support person welcoming me as a customer and asking if they could answer any questions. Wow! What made this even more impressive was another statement that they made, "You will always be connected to a service specialist who can speak English." I love it!

All political correctness aside, this is exactly what we need in customer service. After dealing with customer support people at Network Solutions who sounded like they were in India, and who I had a very hard time understanding, it is refreshing to know that there are companies out there that understand that wanting to communicate effectively in unbroken English doesn't make you a racist. I am all for equal opportunity, but please don't give someone a customer telephone interfacing role if they can barely speak English. To me, this is just common sense (and common courtesy).

Aside from that initial contact, my experience with GoDaddy has been pleasant. Their website and customer domain control interface is easy to navigate. Aside from the usual bouncing back and forth between registrar's "authentification" requirements, the domain transfer seems to have gone through without a hitch. Their prices are superb (domains are less than a third of what I was paying at Netsol). I registered another domain with them today.

As for Network Solutions, I still have a few domains registered through them, some of which won't expire for several years, but I won't be using them for anything new. It is interesting to note that when I transfered my domain away from them, they sent me an email and it said to "please give us a call" and that they didn't want to lose me as a customer. Notice the difference here. They asked me to call them, whereas GoDaddy called me to check on my satisfaction. No big deal, really. Given my past experiences, even if Network Solutions had called me, I may not have been able to understand them!

astronomy revisited

I was recently sitting at the waiting room of the doctor's office, unwillingly resigned to get some antibiotics to fight off a nasty case of what turned out to be bronchitis. While I was there I began reading the typical six month old magazine, and came across an article discussing the "known" universe and how some of the planets which we grew up reading about are now being challenged by modern scientists. For example, Pluto, apparently is not a planet at all, but has been temporarily downgraded to the status of "dwarf planet" so as not to upset too many people. The debate rages on. Another small "dwarf" planet has been discovered, known as "Xena" (no relation to the testosterone-infused television cave-heroine).

This got me thinking about grade school science class, and how the education that we received about the planets may (and most likely will) differ from the education that our children are receiving. The real scary thought is...they're learning it more "right" than we did, or at least in more current correct terms. So where do we, as "grownups" re-learn these things? From six month old magazines sitting in doctor's offices, I suppose. Or...from our kids?

I used to have a slight interest in astronomy. In fact, my uncle once took me to an astronomy meet at a farm in Mississippi when I was about twelve years old. Everything was very dark, but you could see the moonlight bouncing off of the parked cars. Anytime someone would turn on a flashlight or open a cardoor (thereby emitting a bit of light), someone would yell angrily. After all, it takes a while for ones eyes to become fully adjusted to the dark.

My favorite part of the night was watching satellites buzz across the sky through some of the veteran members' massive telescopes. At least, that's what my uncle said we were watching. They moved too fast and orderly to be anything else (aliens?). At the end of the evening, as the sun was starting to blush the sky, they had a raffle contest. My mother had given me a dollar, which I had bought a ticket with. I was astounded when they called my number and I was called onto the platform. They offered me a choice between a VCR and a pair of binoculars. Like any twelve year old, I came close to blurting out "VCR!" but happened to glance at my uncle who was mouthing "binoculars" to me, and holding his hands up, about two feet apart.

Against my own "know-it-all" pre-teen better judgement, I chose the binoculars. To my surprise, the guy on stage presented me with a large black case with a shoulder strap. Inside, I found a pair of Celestron Astronomical Binoculars. They were so large that they had to be tripod-mounted. I found out later that they cost about $750 new. It was a shock. I'll never forget the look on my uncle's face while I was on stage contemplating my gift. I'll also never forget the look on the faces of the club members when they saw me, a kid who didn't even belong to their astronomy club, walking away with these super-expensive binoculars for a $1 raffle ticket.

I had the binoculars mounted on a tripod in my room for some time, and used to enjoy looking for satellites, hurting my eyes by staring at the moon, and catching an occasional glimpse of unsuspecting neighbors. Eventually, I traded them to my uncle for some photography gear, which I used throughout high school and college. Of course, these were the days before the internet. I knew nothing of telescope dealers, and there was no astronomy classified website like AstroAds that I could hop onto to find out how much to sell them for. And even if I had placed an ad in a newspaper, it wouldn't have been a free listing like I could have gotten at a site like AstroAds.

Looking back at that decision, I'm happy that I traded the binoculars. I'm sure that my uncle gave me a good deal on the photo gear, and the binoculars would have ended up collecting dust over the years if I had kept them. Then again, with all of the new understandings that we have of the universe and our planetary surroundings, a nice telescope or pair of astronomical binoculars might be a fun way to pass the time with my kids. Maybe one of these days, I'll happen to see my old Celestron binoculars back up for sale on a site like AstroAds. Then the kids can show me all I need to know about the universe around us.

woohoo for the earth

Special shout out to Stephen, who left a comment on my recent blog regarding the TPL. He suggested that I check out the Land Trust Alliance and offered an apology on behalf of all land trust organizations during their busy time of the year.

I just located a local regional office for the Land Trust Alliance which I am going to try and contact regarding some of our specific town concerns. At the forefront of my mind is the fact that an area that was once a proposed part of the town's preserved "green space" (as illustrated in the town's master vision plan) was never purchased by the city from private ownership and is now scheduled for development for condo-hotels.

Perhaps the Land Trust Alliance can shed some light on the procedure for identifying other land resources and explain some of our options for getting them under a shield of protection, since our city apparently isn't following its own vision plan. I would hate to see this become a pattern...or at least would like a way to fight it.

In addition, our town prides itself in its natural springs, and our heritage is built upon the town being founded around these springs, and yet our "current" official plat map dates back to the 1890's, including the buffered "reservation areas" around the springs. Since technology has changed a bit since the 1890's, and we have a slightly better grasp of recharge, blasting and contamination effects, wouldn't it make sense to re-evaluate some of these spring reservation areas and possibly modify them to better protect our springs (and our heritage)?

I especially like the fact that the LTA regional office focuses on the natural resources of the Ozarks, which our town and its surroundings are a crucial part of. Of course, with the holidays fast approaching, I can imagine that it may take a while to get a response again. However, I have a new website to study, an actual contact address and phone number, and some new documentation to read in the meantime.

Thanks again, Stephen.

blu box

I just ran across a new software application at PPP for shrinking and sharing digital photos called Blu Box. At first, I thought we were talking about another one of those file reduction applications like the ones we used to use to "optimize" our websites for faster download, so I was immediately looking for before-and-after images to compare. However, upon closer examination, I discovered that this is a full-featured compression utility. Their website boasts some pretty impressive claims with regards to the compression of digital images, including the JPG format, which other programs like WinZip usually can't compress very much.

In fact, they state that they can compress over 480 different image formats up to 95%. Their website has a PDF document with some test data sets that show Blu Box clearly blowing away the competition, including popular compression applications like WinZip and Stuffit. As an example, they provide a test for a 11.9Mb TIFF image, which was reduced to 4.96Mb by Winzip, 4.53Mb by Stuffit, 3.17Mb by WinAce (never heard of that one), and yet using Blu Box, the image was compressed down to 1.46Mb. This software sounds almost too good to be true.

There is also a flash demo on their site that shows the basic layout of the software and ease-of-use. It appears to use the same drag and drop functionality that most of us are accustomed to, but with some added features like password protection and 256-bit encryption. It's nice to know that there are still companies out there that are still working on more advanced compression technologies, especially in an age where files are getting larger and larger from digital cameras that are getting bloated in their megabit capability.

If you have a digital camera you need this product.

They offer a trial download version, so you can check it out before you buy it. I'm not sure how much they are charging to purchase it, though. It isn't listed on the website.

public land trust?

I'm getting a little frustrated, as I contacted the Trust for Public Land organization several weeks ago, trying to find a contact for my area, and have yet to receive a response. I am starting to believe that some of these supposed "green-friendly" not for profit organizations are not all that their websites describe them to be. Here I am, a concerned citizen asking for some advice, or in this case, a mere contact name and number for someone who can answer some questions, and I get zero response. Maybe it's the non-profit nature of the beast. Maybe they didn't get enough "donations" this year to have any sort of concentrated customer support.

In the meantime, I have a number of fellow citizens who are looking to discuss the means to which we could start identifying lands in town that need to be preserved for green space, parklands, and natural areas. And I don't kow what to say or where to begin! Maybe I need to find some other not for profit organization to send my request to. It's a shame, though, because the literature available at their website seemed so promising. They advertised their service as a way to walk people through the necessary steps involved for "greenprinting" and following up with a solid strategy.

Maybe I should try contacting them again...send it to another email address or something. Or maybe I should try another organization, or both!

Oh, maybe it's just the holidays and nobody has any time.

know when to hold 'em

One of the best ways to turn someone into an "internet addict" these days is to take the thrill of the game, with a chance at big profitability, and add a hint of risk...and there you have it: Free Poker

Whether you're playing as a hobby, for cash, or for fun, the world of online poker has got to be one of the internet's largest growing sources of entertainment. Fueled by recent cable television World Poker tournaments, common everyday people (like my uncle) have turned to the internet to "get their game on". Personally, the closest I have ever come to getting into poker was trying those little poker slot machines at some of the casinos. Without a real understanding of the basics, I never made much money though. But it was fun, and a good way to pass some time, inhale some concentrated second-hand smoke, and score a few free drinks.

Now you can skip the lung cancer, and throw away some money from the comforts of your own home. Ahhh, one big difference here. Poker sites like PokerSavvy.com actually tell you how to play before you start dropping money on the "virtual" table. Okay, maybe two big differences...unless you've figured out how to convince your spouse to bring you drinks at regular intervals while sitting in front of the computer. I'm not quite there yet myself.

Honestly, I'm one of those people who will never have the luck or skill to list "online gambler" as my official job function, but there are some who can. My wife has a cousin who actually does this for a living. Granted, he's not married and has a drinking problem and spends far too much time online, but the guy lives for e-poker. (You can take the gambler from the casino, but I guess you can't take the drink from the gambler...) Best of all, like the real casinos, most of the poker rooms listed at PokerSavvy offer regular promotions, "free" money, and coupons to get you started without putting too much of a dent in your visa.

PokerSavvy.com also has a unique "SavvyPoints" feature, where you can earn points for playing in each of ten different poker rooms. Once you've accumulated enough points, you can then use them to pick up bonus prizes like iPods and giftcards. You can also earn savvypoints by referring friends to the site. PokerSavvy is actually an affiliate site, so you can still get the deposit bonus featured at most of their featured poker rooms, *on top of* the savvypoints offered at PokerSavvy. It's like double-dipping. If you're looking for the inside scoop, start in the "Poker Talk" room of their forum, where you can toss ideas with other cardsharks-to-be.

Coming from a web design background, I gotta admit - the PokerSavvy site is pretty slick looking, too. Much easier on the eyes than the usual glaring casino trim and "Moulin Rouge" rehash.

Best of luck, and if you run out of cybercash, stay away from that short, stocky guy known as "e-Vinny".

new Iraq strategy

Bush has decided that he will delay the release of his new "I Rock", errrr...."Iraq" policy until after the new year. For once, it sounds like he is actually figuring out that the majority of the people in this country are no longer with him in his current visions of world (oil?) domination. Either that, or he just didn't want to crush the Christmas spirit of our troops over in Iraq right now, when he pulls another bogus excuse out of his hat as to why they should stay there any longer. But maybe that's giving him too much credit for actually caring about someone else's kids...

I've heard many comparisons with Vietnam, and although we're talking totally different times, I can see some of the similarities. When is enough, enough? How much longer can we beat or drag this dead horse? I think that at this point, Bush knows he made a mistake sending us in there, but to declare this to the public and pull our troops now would be an admission of guilt. I think that the plan all along was to keep troops there permanently to protect the oil interests, but to retain them in small enough numbers so as to not draw attention. Problem is...they're still having so many problems that we are unable to reduce the numbers without losing control.

So, instead, he must create a new, more realistic goal for the troops to achieve so that he can pull them home under a flag of success, perhaps making a deal with some other radical islamic group to take over the oil control of Iraq on our behalf. That's my prediction anyhow, as to what his big announcement is going to be. It's either that or he's going to try and paint an entirely new picture of what we are facing over there, with new reasons to spend more money and waste more lives.

Yes, I'm bitter, but to me, this is still a democracy and I think that the majority of Americans want this thing over and done with. Let's lick our wounds, and learn from our (voting) mistakes.

a gift that keeps on giving...

...every time they open their inbox!

In my last post, I negatively ranted a bit about people waiting until the last minute to do their shopping. Since my wife is always telling me that I can be such a pessimist, here's my "glass half-full" suggestion for a possible solution.

Instead of waiting until the last minute, and then driving out to the stores at the stroke of midnight to pick up your gifts and greeting cards (further propagating the need for retail workers to stay late and on holidays), why not send an e-card? Whether it's a birthday or a holiday card, everybody likes to find something "jolly" in their inbox that isn't spam. You can always follow up later with a belated gift, and use the old "forgot your gift" excuse for the time being.

American Greetings even offers printable cards for those of you who feel that "e-cards" aren't personal enough. You pick the style you want, personalize it, and print it yourself. This is a *perfect* idea for those of you who like to drag your "better half" to the store, and make them wait on you for hours on end until you have read every last card to find the "perfect" one. This way - you pick the card, and you customize it to make it perfect yourself. No hassle, and no grumpy spouse. They've got invitations, and the e-cards range in styles from the witty and outrageous to the minimal and sublime, with all of the sob-story, touch-your-heart, missing-you themes that you would find at the local giftshop. Some of them are even *FREE*, something I challenge you to find at any mall.

Anyone with half a brain can figure out how to use their website, and unlike printed cards, these e-cards will often be kept in the receiver's inbox, so that they can view it again when they feel like a quick "pick me up". (This is a BIG difference from regular printed cards, which you blow $4 or $5 on and usually end up in the trash). Plus, here's a bonus for the procrastinators and organizationally challenged - they offer a free downloadable desktop calendar to help you remember birthdays and special events.

And if you don't like that, they've got customized talking e-cards, so you can apologize in your own words if you forgot their birthday and you are sending it late. Now you have no excuse! If you find yourself waiting until the last minute to get that shopping done, send an e-card instead. Then go save yourself a bundle on those post-holiday sales and follow up with a better gift than you could have afforded 24 hours earlier. It's a no brainer.

open for the holidays

I just heard a "friendly neighborhood" Walgreen's commercial on the radio, boasting that almost every one of their stores will be open 24/7 for the holidays this year. This type of disrespect for retail workers makes me sick. Let's be honest here. If you haven't picked up that gift by Midnight on Christmas Eve, is the receiver really going to miss it? Maybe there was a reason why your subconscious chose to ignore this person on your gift list until the very last minute. Is it really justifiable to make someone else spend their holiday away from family and at work, just so you could pick up a last minute holiday tin of Fiddle Faddle?

I worked at a grocery store as a teenager, and being low-man on the seniority pole, I distinctly remember having to close shop for most of the holidays. There was one Thanksgiving where we had this moron come in the store at 6pm, purchase a turkey, and feverishly bounce questions off each person he encountered as to how he could cook a whole turkey in less than an hour. "Microwave?" one of my coworkers suggested.

We were then instructed that we could not leave for the night until we had sold off all of the Thanksgiving cakes from the bakery. Thanksgiving cakes? Who the hell makes (or eats) cake on Thanksgiving? Pies perhaps, but cakes? None-the-less, a number of employees went home and started a strange Thanksgiving cake-eating tradition with their families that night.

Here's a suggestion - Let's give these poor folks a break for the holidays. If you have to wait until the last minute to do your holiday shopping, then pay someone else to do it for you early. Your karma will thank you for it. After all, there's a reason that they start those crazy holiday sales on the day after Thanksgiving - so that you don't have to wait until the "eleventh hour" to get it done.

US needs more fiber

Ha! Before you run away, holding your nose, thinking this is another one of those cliche "diet" recommendations, please reconsider! For a change, this "fiber" post is referring to high-speed communication lines, the future of telecommunications.

As a former Baby Bell employee, it amazed me that so many of our telecommunications lines were still copper. In fact, we were just starting to deploy fiber to the home at the turn of the century. The reasoning? Cost, most likely, although the enhanced video and other highspeed services that can be packaged on a fiber line would (eventually) more than make up for that initial buildout cost.

In fact, we lived in a small town near the mountains in Colorado for a short time, where the local "mom and pop" phone comapny had actually deployed fiber to the home. Granted, most of the residents had no idea what this was. In fact, many of them didn't even use the internet yet, but they were prepared.

It is a common offering from more advanced communications companies like GOL in Japan, to offer fiber lines with blazing speeds up to 100MB. Here in the US, we're debating between the 1.5Mb of local DSL and 3MB (if you're lucky) with cable. If I were moving to Japan (and if you ever plan on moving there, listen up!), I would check out Japan's only English ISP, where you can also grab ~47MB ADSL lines. Unbelievable. Companies like GOL even offer free setup for all of their web hosting packages and free domain name registrations, which means that your ISP and hosting needs could be tackled under one roof.

I ran across GOL while thumbing through the latest PayPerPost opportunities, and it really has me longing for the day when I can get great deals like this on amazing internet speeds packaged with hosting service. Seeing as this is the good ol' US of A, I give it at least another 7-10 years before the "bellheads" have figured out how to offer opportunities like these to average net users like myself. But then again, the average net user of the USA probably wouldn't know what to do with this type of bandwidth.

Ahhh, but there's always video!

why captcha is crap

I have noticed an increased use of "captcha" technology lately, and it's starting to get annoying. I understand the need for something like this, since there are all too many internet gangsters out there duping websites with automated software and spamming bots, but it seems to me that the "captcha" technology hasn't been looked at from a user's standpoint.

For example, I don't mind the occasional captcha image during an account creation, or purchase. But to use it at every logon, or every posting of a message is ridiculous. At this point, you are putting your own welfare ahead of the user's interface experience. There are a number of sites that I am seriously considering *not* using due to this annoying technology.

Even if "captcha" technology was used sparingly and appropriately, it isn't perfect. When I used to work for a phone company, one of the first lessons that we learned was that we didn't use the letters I and O as references on schematics. Why? Because the letters I and O can respectively be mistaken for the numbers 1 and 0. Similarly, why the hell would anyone develop a captcha program that utlizes I, O, 1, 0, and the lowercase for "L"? If captcha wasn't annoying enough, now we get to submit it twice because we thought that the lowercase "L" that we were seeing was really a capital "i". Wise up, developers.

Then again, what do you expect from a group of people who came up with a new net technology term like "captcha"? I guess they were too wrapped up in making their new technology sound "hip" to consider actual usability.

IE7 - another bitter Microsoft pill

So, I recently downloaded IE7. I didn't really need to. I didn't really *want* to, either. However, my Windows Update Manager consistently presented it over and over to me, even though I told it not to remind me again. Nice, huh?

So, now that I have IE7 on my computer, the first thing I had noticed was a new "?" icon on the system tray and a "restore" option with "language" options. So, once again, Microsoft has me install something presumedly innocent (a browser) and I end up installing a bunch of other crap with it, without really being informed. It seems to mess with my PC while I am using Thunderbird to read new email. I think I figured out how to make this little quirk go away - we'll see.

And how does the new IE7 browser fare? It's okay. It looks slick enough, and borrows from Firefox heavily with its new tabbed browsing and side searchbar. The default layout of the address bar, nav buttons, and favorites is a bit clumsy, and the buttons look too big. There's probably some place where I can go in and change that, but for now I don't really care. I don't plan on using it very much, except to see what some of my websites look like in IE compared to Firefox during development and design.

I didn't really want it installed in the first place. Thanks again, Microsoft.

sick & tired...

of being sick & tired?

Sometimes I wonder about the effects of exposure versus isolation when it comes to common illnesses, like influenza, bronchitus, etc. Since my children started school, it seems that they bring home a new plague every other week, so they are obviously being "exposed" to too much. Seeing as I don't get out as often as I would like, I am probably closer to the other end of the spectrum, nearer "isolation".

So what is the correct balance for staying well, but not setting yourself up for catastrophic flu season by locking yourself in a hole? Perhaps there's more to it than that (likely!). A friend of mine is convinced that it has more to do with what we eat, and how our diet affects our immune system. However, my whole family eats the same dinners each day, and yet we all seem to suffer in different degrees when someone brings home "the bug".

We received flu shots this year, so that obviously has nothing to do with it, because here I sit, typing away, with runny nose and sore throat, and headache, fever, etc.

I'm starting to think that it has more to do with genetics, or perhaps environmental impacts during our early years. Numerous studies have been conducted to expose the obvious benefits of breastfeeding and how it pertains to a baby's immune system, but what other environmental and nutrition factors contribute to our runny-nosed demise?

Looking back at history, it's easy to see that the "white man" brought many new diseases to the "native americans" of this country, and that their previous lack of exposure to these diseases resulted in mass tribal extinction in some cases. One could argue that today's version of this same effect might be triggered by the fact that Americans move from one end of the country to another quite often, perhaps taking with them a whole new set of germs, for their children to season the "native" children with.

I don't know what the answer is - probably a combination of all of these things - diet, nutrition, controlled exposure - tackled in a regimented and clearly defined in both sequence and proportion.

Alas! Who has the time and how would we be able to measure any results, and prove that they aren't simple coincidence? So instead, we "get sick" over and over again...and allow antibiotics to do the dirty work for us, hoping that scientists and modern day medicine men can stay one step ahead of the strain.

man versus nature

I have often wondered whether our "management" of nature is a good or bad thing. It seems as though there are perpetual arguments for either side of this debate, but I believe that the guiding factor would probably be the "use" or intention not to "use" the land.

Managing park lands requires a much different approach than managing natural lands. Parklands are to remain green and "pretty" while natural lands are to remain... well... natural. Does "natural" mean managing for disease and the health of the landscape, or are we to allow mother nature to decide whether or not to take care of herself? One could argue that much of the disease and infestation we are seeing in our forestlands are the result of man introducing non-native species into the landscape, and therefore we are taxed with the responsibility to band-aid the problem the best we are able. But one could also argue that this is nature's way of ridding itself of the weakest link, even if man introduced it to the area earlier than nature had intended.

Are we acting as good stewards of the land when we try to promote long life in natural lands, or are we robbing the understory and its inhabitants of much needed decay/nutrition, and thereby interrupting the "circle of life"?

What a quandary...