Have you ever wanted to try using Linux?

A friend of mine sent me a link the other day to a Linux distro that runs from right inside of your Windows session. I downloaded it the same day but haven't fooled with it very much. That part of it that I have tooled around with is pretty slick. What makes this so nifty you ask...

The ability to run dual OSes during the same session has been around for a long time. As an example, you could purchase VMware Workstation V6 Windows or Parallels Workstation. However, there's that pesky little thing called money. Mind you, I loves me some money, but I don't want to pay for something that I won't use frequently. But I do enjoy the convenience of being able to run some Linux apps from right inside of Windows at my leisure. Hence the nifty factor of andLinux. It installed fairly quickly and the only problem I've run across (I should be able to fix it pretty easily) is using sound. I was messing around with KStars last night while running in Windows. That was WICKED COOL!

I was just watching Olbermann......

Ye olde Republicans are taking "suspense/drama" and applying it to current events. It's as if they are ripping off an episode straight from the screenplay of Fox's 24. Keith is deriding the administration and the GOP in general for the following very recent ad:




Oh no! I'm skeered. Wait! Hell no I ain't skeered!

I don't like the notion that the Federal government wants to give both retroactive AND future immunity to any business entity while the jury is still out on the constitutionality of what the administration did with the assistance of several of the giant telecoms. Why is it too burdensome for the feds to go to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court? Between 1979 (FISA began) and 2006, only FIVE surveillance requests were rejected. We've seen what happens when these folks got a blank check from the House and the Senate.....

The Constitution Project's Statement on the Protect America Act

Is It Constitutional for the Senate to Retroactively Immunize From Civil Liability the Telecoms That Provided the Government with Information About Customers' Communications?

Weirdness of the day? A local branch of a national pizza chain (who shall remain nameless) accepts online orders for my address. However, they only accept orders for carryout. Now please understand, they do deliver to my neighborhood. Unfortunately, I have to pick up the telephone and call them. What kind of silliness is that?

If you're from North Alabama, you might have heard something around 11:10 PM last night...

Well, I have to get back to watching The Kingdom.

For Technorati....

Technorati Profile

I must say that this was absolutely cool..........

Just click on the image to start the video of last night's successful missile intercept.

Virus versus hoax........

Someone I know received an e-mail warning that an e-mail with the subject "You've received a Post Card from a Family member" had a virus and was "the most destructive ever" and that it had been "confirmed by Microsoft". The originator was even nice enough to include a link to snopes.com that "confirms" the truth of the subject matter. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to distinguish real virus threats from false ones. Here are a few links that might hopefully provide some level of assistance:


A study-guide on how to detect a virus hoax yourself
Sophos write-up on virus hoaxes
Virus hoaxes as listed by McAfee
Trend Micro Hoax Encyclopedia, alerts
Hoax virus list from vmyths.com

As always, use a little caution (and hopefully) common sense when it comes to e-mails and attachments (or links in e-mails). If you receive an attachment from an unknown sender, it's probably best not to open it. If you receive an attachment (particularly something unexpected) from someone you know, you should still use caution. Perhaps the best choice is to install anti-virus software. For those who are budget-minded, you may want to consider one of several free anti-virus programs (I've listed them in their rating order from this article):

Avira AntiVir® PersonalEdition Classic
avast! 4 Home Edition
Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

For those who might feel that the old adage "You get what you pay for" rings at least somewhat true....



It's too bad that the sky is overcast right now. That makes it difficult to observe the last total lunar eclipse until 2010. I was just out burning one and noticed that the eclipse had started (through a small break in the clouds). Oh well....

Peace, y'all!

OK, OK, this is probably the last post of the night.....

Somewhat fittingly, Governor Bob Riley has declared this week (Sunday, February 17 - Friday, February 22) to be the "Alabama Severe Weather Awareness Week 2008" (I'll call it Alabama SWAW 2008). Here's NWS Huntsville's page for Alabama SWAW 2008. On the opening day, there were (as of 2/18/08) 44 tornadoes reported between the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and North Carolina. As I've said before, I hope the weather of the past couple of weeks isn't a harbinger of a VERY active spring storm season. But, it's probably best to be prepared.....

During the storms from a couple of weeks ago, we were awakened by our weather radio at 3AM. I know that three of the six Alabama fatalities were in an area that didn't have warning sirens. If you live in an area without sirens, I'd highly recommend getting a radio.

Not up for buying a radio? You can get warnings via e-mail, page or cell phone in some areas. For the local area, check out WAFF's WeatherWarn. NOAA's National Weather Service doesn't currently have a text message/e-mail service for weather watches/warnings. They do, however, have an RSS-based system.

Last week (or maybe two weeks ago now).......

An individual at work brought in two of the five new flavors of Java Monster. My curiosity got the better of me today. I tried the Nut Up flavor. Suzanne said she wanted to try the Irish Blend. I went out and found a can and brought it home. She came as close to guzzling it as one could. I had a little sip, too. 'Twas mighty tasty. Anyway, if you've ever had a hankering for some of these (the three basic flavors at least), why not have them delivered right to your door?

We saw Sarah Brightman right before Valentine's Day in 2004.....

She was SO TOTALLY AWESOME! I wholeheartedly intend to see her again when she tours in support of her new album.....

And yes, that was the segue. Symphony was just released (in the US at least) last month. I've listened to a few samples so far and I like what I hear. Plus, there's a teaser up at her profile on myspace.com. People seem to like the release so far. The average customer review for Symphony at amazon.com so far is 4.5 stars. Not bad....

Go Sarah Brightman!

Have you ever found yourself needing to whip up 100 servings (2/3 cup) of potato salad?

How about five score peanut butter cookies? Try the military way. Some military food was (and probably still is) better than other military food, but all in all it wasn't that bad.....

Speaking of recipes...

We just had some Can't miss red snapper for dinner. We both like fish anyway, so that's not a hurdle. If you enjoy fish, I highly recommend this dish. It is SUPERB!

I've pimped some stuff up here for myself, my wife and my dad. Check out the fine music from an old Navy buddy of mine. And by all means, check out the Children of Acid....

Well hell............!

I was looking at some site traffic and followed the link to the USB driver to allow firmware upgrades for Olevia LCD TVs. The old link is BUSTED! If you're looking for the USB driver to allow you to perform a firmware upgrade, look in either the "Firmware" or "Utilities" directory at this link (as of August 2008, this link isn't working and you might want to glance at this).

Keywords again......

pixelworks boot connection
olevia firmware
olevia usb
pixelworks usb

Damn, I hope this one doesn't change..........