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..........

I totally and absolutely LOVE......

the software from OpenOffice.org. I've used it for years and love the functionality. There's a new version out and if you haven't tried it and have any interest in something like this, give it a shot!

If that's not exactly your cup of tea and you want something you don't even have to install, try Google Docs. You can edit your own documents directly in your browser and have the ultimate level of document portability (as long as you have a net connection) about anywhere. Rockin'!

OK, my normal level of weirdness and cynicism drove me to make this tonight. Who knew one could have so much fun with the weekly Presidential radio address?

Happy Valentine's Day, Suzanne!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
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♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
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♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
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♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
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♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwww!

I've put a new little ditty up at indieonestop.com. It's meant to be at least a little funny. Hey, I'll say in advance that I hope you like it.....

The title?

HOUSE(music) of Chairman Bush

Heh-heh-heh!

Nuts, I almost forgot.......

I get an e-mail from the Department of Defense every week day that has various pictures of various military goings-on......

You can get the same e-mail by clicking here and sending the resultant e-mail. There are some awesome pictures. There are also mundane pictures, but the great ones more than make up for the ones that are semi-boring........

And then..........?

Last week at this time, we were expecting at some SUPER-CRAPPY weather in the area. It materialized. Unfortunately, a number of people lost their lives. The local (Huntsville) branch of the National Weather Service has the write-up of the storms that occurred in the area. There are pictures included. See it for yourself.

At the same time, the results of Super Tuesday were rolling in. This week, there's also some voting going on. The stakes are lower this week, but so far it appears that Barack is easily outpacing Hillary. Though I'm not for either of them, I'd MUCH RATHER see Obama take the nomination. My humble opinion is that Hillary (and her other half) have too much baggage from their previous time spent in DC. On the Republican side, I find the rift between "conservatives" and McCain laughable. It would be excellent (though probably unlikely) to see a STRONG Libertarian sweep in and beat both of the major parties....

I've mentioned the idea of Open CourseWare. As far as I know, MIT was one of the first schools to establish an outlet for free college level materials using OCW. MIT has a variety of materials available at their site. Check it out!

I will end with some self-pimping! Peace out!

Check out my daddy-o's page at indieonestop.com.....

Dick Metcalf, aka Rotcod Zzaj @

Heck, check mine out while you're at it......

vejadu @

Here we go....

Si, si......!

We were kind of jazzed to see that a new one of these is being built right down the street from us. Word has it that the restaurant in Big Cove has pretty good food so hopefully our new Mexi-joint will follow suit.

I've included a song in this post, but I'm only putting it on the individual post page because there's one auto-play song on here at the present time and I haven't taken the time to figure out how to stop that so I can auto-play this one. BTW, this song isn't for or against the subject, it's merely my "artistic" interpretation with guest vocalist President George W. Bush...

If you desire, you can access it by clicking "read more"....

I was talking with my dad..................

earlier this evening. We were yakking it up with the MySpaceIM. I don't use these types of programs often anymore. Hell, I remember when I first started using ICQ roughly 10 years ago. I just don't chat often enough. Anyway, he brought up my post covering the rough weather on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and the crazy number of tornadoes that were reported. I just looked at NOAA's Storm Prediction Center data for that day again and in the space of about two days, the number had jumped from 78 to 91. I sure as hell hope that this unusual set of weather circumstances doesn't foreshadow the spring storm season......

Goodbye Mitt! And, hey I'm sorry, but good riddance! For some reason, I just wasn't overly fond of this guy. First, it seemed suspiciously as if he had a BIG agenda if he financed nearly 1/3 of his campaign with his own cash. Add his remarks at CPAC announcing the suspension of his campaign today and I'm more than happy to see him bow out.

"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."

--Mitt Romney/02-07-08 addressing CPAC

I'd laugh my ass off if Obama or Clinton win. I wouldn't like it but it would be an ironic twist.....

Speaking of things Presidential....

My grandmother's 90th birthday is coming up in March. I thought it would be cool to send her a birthday greeting from the White House. You can have a White House greeting sent for a baby's birth, a wedding, someone's 80th (or greater) birthday or a couple's 50th (or greater) wedding anniversary. Need more info? Click here.

Peace, y'all!

Whew, I'm glad last night (really early this morning) is over....

It's a complete bummer to hear that over 50 people were killed in the storms of last night/early this morning. This was some ABSOLUTELY FREAKY weather. If the numbers are accurate, this month will probably be a record breaker. The highest number of tornadoes reported for the month of February between 1950 and 2004 was 83 in 1971. The storms from last night/this morning are reported to have produced 78. How freakin' nuts is that? While looking up some of this info, I found some other interesting sites.....

NSSTC Collaborative Weather Blog
NWS Huntsville preliminary local storm reports

One other interesting spot (there are millions, I'm sure)....

A recent conversation we were having with our best friends brought up a big (and unusual) snowstorm that happened when we were back in high school. I didn't remember when it happened, but I found a little more info here. Yeah, our little freak snow happened in January 1988........

Now onto lighter things....

I was leafing through a catalog from J&R Music and Computer World after I received some software that I used an amazon.com gift certificate to purchase a few weeks ago. One of the items in the catalog was the Nabaztag/tag. That's kinda weird!

Well, Super Tuesday is over. At least the Republican race is becoming less muddled. I'll still vote Libertarian in November.....