Kate's Ramblings and Wanderings

Thought McCain Was A Moderate? Think Again.

2006-11-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

via Think Progress

This morning on ABC, John McCain, who is exploring a bid for the 2008 White House, showed his true colors when he said he would support an immediate reversal of Roe v. Wade:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask one question about abortion. Then I want to turn to Iraq. You’re for a constitutional amendment banning abortion, with some exceptions for life and rape and incest.
MCCAIN: Rape, incest and the life of the mother. Yes.

I see McCain as the worst threat to progressive and liberal interests in 2008. For the last six years, he's been walking around pretending to be a moderate. But now that he's running for president, he's attempting to court the GOP's wing-nut base, the bible thumpers, the gay haters, and the anti-choice activists. However, a significant section of Americans, those who consider themselves in the middle politically, the very people who gave the recent elections to the democrats, still see McCain as a moderate. You'll see in the coming months, he'll be presenting one face to the moderate crowd and another to the Christian right. The question is will people fall for his facade.

A note on the issue of abortion. It sickens me that in 2006 we are still having the debate over whether a woman should be allowed to make decisions regarding her own body. And this is what this debate is really about. The anti-choice people will try to convince you otherwise, but don't fall for it. Believing abortion to be a morally reprehensible act is one thing, it's their right to think that, and as such, nobody will ever force a woman who feels that way to have an abortion. But "pro-lifers" want to to remove that choice from every woman. Not only that, the same people who want to ban abortion, are the same people who would ban measures that would prevent them, namely complete sex education (not abstinence only programs) and contraceptives. Just this week, having apparently learned nothing from last week's election, Bush appointed a new chief of family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services, Eric Keroack, a former medical director for a Christian pregnancy-counseling organization that regards the distribution of contraceptives as "demeaning to women." Make no mistake, the fight against abortion rights is all part of a larger right-wing agenda against sexual freedom, and in particular the sexual freedom of women.

Categories: Opinion, Politics

Back Up With SyncBack

2006-11-18T12:32:00.000-05:00

I used to be one of those people who never backed up their files. I know, me, a bona fide geek, not backing up. I just found it tedious and annoying. I didn't want to shell out the big bucks for a backup program, and most of the freeware tools out there didn't work. But I finally decided after looking through my mp3 collection of roughly 7,000 files that I'd be majorly bummed if something happened and they all got wiped out.

So I shelled out a couple hundred bucks for a massive 500 GB external hard drive. Then I went about trying to find a backup solution that would work. I must have tried like ten different programs until I found SyncBack.

SyncBack is a great program. It lets you back up all your files with lots of options. The coolest thing about it is the ability to do incremental backups. This means that after your first initial backup, SyncBack will scan the backup directory and only backup files that have been changed or new files, meaning your backups will take less time. It can even delete files from the backup directory if they're no longer in the source. There's a scheduler, so you can run your backups whenever you want, and your backups can be completely unattended, so you don't have to be at your machine while it's backing up. And, unlike most of the other free backup tools I've tried, SyncBack actually works.

SyncBack is completely free. There is a shareware version, SyncBackSE ($25) that has a few more bells and whistles (like the ability to back up open files and to compress your backups). I'm actually thinking of forking over the money and getting it when I have the cash, but if you're just looking for an efficient, easy to use, free backup tool, then SyncBack is the way to go.

Categories: Software

Haggard Story Gets More Interesting

2006-11-15T13:00:00.000-05:00

So check this out over at AMERICABlog. Apparently, lots of religious right leaders knew that Ted Haggard was gay, including the Rev. Lou Sheldon, Chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition. By the way, don't visit that site unless you're prepared to read a lot of stuff that pretty much amounts to hate speech. Anyways, Sheldon claims that he knew Haggard was gay because Haggard apparently told him that "being gay is genetic". Sheldon says, "But I just knew he was covering up. They need to say that."

By "they", I'm assuming that Sheldon is referring to homosexuals. So according to Sheldon, if you believe that being gay is genetic or not a choice, like most of the scientific and medical community, not to mention a significant percentage of the general population, you must be gay. I think I'm beginning to understand this new Republican math; Karl Rove's personal "metrics" told him that the GOP was going to remain in power, and Sheldon's math tells him that about 40% of the population is gay. Very interesting.

Anyways, I'm actually beginning to feel sorry for Ted Haggard, isn't that crazy? When all this initially came out (no pun intended) I figured he was getting some poetic justice. Anti-gay pastor outed in the national media. But obviously, with a statement like "being gay is genetic", Haggard must feel on some level that all of this hostility in the Christian right for gay people is wrong, even if he participated in it himself. But you can understand why. With "friends" like Sheldon, who couldn't wait to tell the press that he just "knew" that Pastor Ted was gay or James Dobson, who in order to protect his own name (since it turns out that Mike Jones, the male escort who made the accusations initially refused to reveal Haggard's name, only saying that it was a prominent Colorado springs minister that he'd been having monthly trysts with), issued a backhanded statement two days after the initial accusation saying, "all of us at Focus on the Family are heartsick over the allegation, not yet confirmed, that Ted has had a private life with a homosexual for several years." Some friends.

I worry now about Pastor Ted. If he had people in his life who actually loved him, rather than the idea of him as the powerful and connected voice of the Christian right, people who wanted what was best for Ted rather than what will save face for the Evangelical movement, they'd probably tell him to accept himself for who he is, that the "sin" in what he did was the lying, adultery, and drug use, rather than the homosexual activity (possibly using a prostitute is ethically questionable). But I don't think Ted has people like that. He only has people who will tell him that his sexuality is a sickness that needs to be cured, and by the way, if we can't cure you, it's your fault, not ours. So Pastor Ted will probably be back in six months, claiming to be cured (and keeping his secrets more than ever), and he'll probably be as outspoken against gay rights as ever. He'll say, "Homosexuality is wrong, look at me, it ruined my life!" And he'll never even blink, never consider the idea that it wasn't being gay that ruined his life, it was being gay and duplicitous.

Categories: Opinion, Politics, Religion

The Firefox Screencap Project: Ryan Wagner

2006-11-12T13:40:00.000-05:00

I finally got another submission for The Firefox Screencap Project. Today's screencap comes from Ryan Wagner, who runs the blog CyberNet Technology News. CyberNet is a great blog about technology and the internet, and it's one blog that I read daily. Take a look at his screencap to the left (click to see full-size).

Ryan writes,

My Firefox is always very busy and constantly changing. I often have lots and lots of tabs open because news is always flowing in. I try to keep everything to a single window because the whole point of having tabs is to de-clutter my taskbar but after 30-40 tabs I will often pop open a new window.

In the screenshot I am running the pre-release build of Firefox 3 (codename Gran Paradiso) and the operating system is Windows Vista RC2. I am a tester at heart and have a hard time sticking to a stable software release when it comes to just about anything. It does get frustrating at times, especially while testing Firefox 2, where there are bugs that last for weeks which make your browser constantly crash.

I always keep the number of extensions that I use to a minimum but I am constantly testing out new ones. The newest addition for me is Aging Tabs which is an absolutely amazing concept and helps me to filter out tabs that I may not have viewed in awhile. GMarks and Google Notebook are no doubt the most useful and I'll never use a version of Firefox where I don't have those installed. If both of those extensions didn't work properly with the pre-release of Firefox 3 then I wouldn't be testing it. Here are all of the extensions that I currently have installed:

* Aging Tabs
* Download Statusbar
* GMarks
* Google Notebook
* IE Tab
* Tab Mix Plus
* Tiny Menu
* Zoho QuickRead

Firefox is the only browser that I use with compatibility with Scrybe, which is a new online/offline calendar that is currently in a closed Beta. It is far superior to any other calendar application that I have used which is why I always have it opened in a tab when I have Firefox open.

Overall I can't imagine not having Firefox and Opera because both browsers are absolutely amazing. Opera has a very strong codebase that offers unmatched stability, security, and built-in features while Firefox's extensibility can't be beat. I wish there was some way to merge the two browsers but in the mean time I'll always be using both.

To participate in The Firefox Screencap Project see here for information.

Categories: Firefox

DeLay Unhappy About Gates

2006-11-10T14:00:00.000-05:00

Rumsfeld: 'My Half-Assed Job Here Is Done'

WASHINGTON, DC—After nearly six years of much-publicized service as Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld announced his resignation...

I just had to lead off with that funny little piece from The Onion. So old Rummy is out. All joking aside, I'm quietly optimistic that this Gates fellow may actually have some sensible ideas about how to proceed in Iraq. Especially after this morning, when I read that many right wingers, including former Senate majority leader Tom DeLay are up in arms about Gates' nomination. DeLay claims that Gates will "negotiate with terrorists".

In my view, if DeLay doesn't like him, he's probably at least honest. I can think of only one reason why DeLay would dislike a fellow conservative, and I'm betting it's because Gates is one man DeLay and his cronies won't be able to buy off. Oh, and I love this quote:

If the President is going to work with the Democrats, I want the President to tell those of us that have supported him and supported his leadership in fighting this war and winning this war that we’re not going to see a war run by consensus and committee like we did in Korea and Vietnam and Central America.

So in other words, the former right honorable douchebag from Texas believes that Bush owes DeLay and his fellow stepford congressmen something for allowing the President to run the war in Iraq like his own personal game of capture the flag for the past three and a half years. And in what version of reality are we or have we ever been "winning the war"? I dislike that term at any rate. Just what are we supposed to win? If by some miracle the situation in Iraq cleared up and it didn't collapse into chaos and civil war, will Monty Hall step out and show us what's behind door number two? And yes, I can definitely see how having a bipartisan group with a common goal running the war would be extremely dangerous. After all, it might challenge the Republican mantra that Democrats are weak on defense, and they wouldn't be able to fall back on armed conflict to get elected anymore!

So in short, we'd love to listen to you Tom, but unfortunately we don't negotiate with criminals.

Categories: Politics, Opinion

Celebration...And Reality Check

2006-11-09T11:01:00.000-05:00

I'm a bit late on the boat here, but I've been glued to the television and the CNN website for the past two days, so I hope I'll be forgiven.

So it happened. In an unbelievable comeback, the democrats handily took the house, the majority of state governships, and it now looks as if they've squeaked themselves into a one seat majority in the senate as well.

Us libs are in a gleeful mood right now, but a word of caution and a bit of a reality check. Bush is still president. That means for the most part he still controls foreign policy, defense, and the armed forces. A one seat majority in the senate isn't enough for veto power over laws he enacts or even a two-thirds majority to override his vetoes. Our one hope is that the republicans left in the senate will remember this election and not give Bush as much of a free pass on every single thing as they've been used to doing. Not to mention the fact that we'll be cleaning up the mess left by this administration and its stroke man congress for a long time.

Also, make no mistake. This election was decided on two issues: the war in Iraq and corruption. The social issues that many democrats and liberals hold dear to their hearts (gay rights, abortion, racial equality) were not what the average voter had in mind at the polls. In fact, seven states (Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin) voted in ballot measures banning same sex marriage, with Colorado going as far as banning Civil Unions that would confer the same rights and responsibilities of marriage. (Which I never understood anyways, why let them throw you a bone like a common dog? It's all or nothing, folks.) Michigan basically did away with Affirmative Action for state jobs and public universities. Abortion was the only issue that seemed to have some traction among general voters with voters in California and Oregon rejecting parental notification laws and voters in South Dakota repealing a controversial law passed by the governor in March that bans virtually all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest. But many of the newly elected democrats in the House and Senate are social conservatives, who've taken a stance against gay marriage and/or abortion rights.

But it's not all doom and gloom. Democrats now at least have a chance to prove to the country that they have a plan for extricating us from the Iraq quagmire. And with the republicans out of power they have no reason to rile up their wingnut base (at least for another two years) so maybe all the crazy anti-gay shit and creepy Christian nationalism will slow for awhile. So go ahead and celebrate.

Probably one of the greatest things to come out of this election is the exit of Rick Santorum, sanctimonious asshole from Pennsylvania who was one of the most extreme right wing members of the Senate. (His concession speech was gracious, but the fact that his teenaged son flipped the entire nation the bird kind of sucked the class right out of it.) I just have one question for Dan Savage, now that Santorum is gone do we keep the second definition of the term? After all, I'm sure there'll be a bigger douchebag coming along who's deserving of having his name denote the less than pleasant byproducts of a sex act. What about the crust of dried seminal fluid that forms on the bedsheets after repeated "use"? I think we should call it Haggard.

Categories: Politics, Opinion

A Christmas Wishlist

2006-10-18T19:58:00.000-05:00

So I just had to share the Christmas wishlist that my mother sent to my sister and I, as it's just too funny:

Marmie's Christmas Wishlist :

1. A new crockpot (big enough for stew-will consider inviting you over to eat) lol
2. New dishes-service for 8
3. RS Store Gift Certificate
4. Walmart Gift Card
5. Daughters that bake Christmas cookies
6. Chocolate
7. Olive Garden Gift Certificate
8. Our Family Spending the day together

Categories: Misc., Humor

Cheney "Assaulted"

2006-10-03T14:20:00.000-05:00

Ok, it's been a good long time since I've actually posted anything here. I've been in a bit of a funk for the past few weeks, but after some much needed rest, I'm doing a lot better.

Anyways, I had to bring this item to you today because it's just so amazing and scary.

Earlier this summer, Denver area resident Steve Howards was walking with his 7 year old son when he saw Vice President Dick "make me mad and I'll shoot you in the face" Cheney surrounded by a group of fawning sheep, oops, I mean people shaking his hand. Howards walked over to within three feet or so of the Dick and said, "I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible". Hardly fighting words, even to a person who has shot someone in the face. Howards then continued walking on with his son.

A few minutes later, Howards was approached by Secret Service agent Virgil D. "Gus" "I lick Dick Cheney's Ass" Reichle Jr. who asked Howards if he had "assaulted" the vice president. Howards said no because he was unaware that since 9/11, the new definition of assault is "to cause someone to hear an opinion they don't like". Howards was then placed in handcuffs and arrested.

The Secret Service apparently requested that Howards be issued a summons for harassment, but the Eagle County District Attorney's Office refused and dismissed all charges against Mr. Howards.

Howards is now filing a lawsuit against the Secret Service agent, alleging that he was arrested in retaliation for practicing his First Amendment right to free speech, and that his arrest violated his Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful seizure.

An interesting case, to be sure. Especially since it seems likely that Dick Cheney could be called as a witness, being that he was the victim of Mr. Howards' callous sharing of opposing viewpoints. One wonders what Cheney will have to say about using his Secret Service agents to enforce his personal rewrite of the law and the constitution.

Categories: Politics

That's A Lot Of TV

2006-09-13T14:43:00.000-05:00

In my current state of being totally uninspired to blog, I'm afraid a meme will have to suffice. Maybe it'll get the juices flowing. And just maybe I'll expose my shameful addiction to television.
I won't tag anyone because I wouldn't want anyone to feel obligated to complete this meme, which is kind of huge. Oh and I'm adding some more rules to the meme, just to make it fun.

Bold all of the following TV shows you've seen three or more episodes of in your lifetime. Bold and italicize a show if you've seen every episode. Change the text to red if you've seen at least one episode of the show. Add up to 3 additional shows (please keep the list in alpha order).

24
30 Days
7th Heaven
Adam-12
Aeon Flux
ALF
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
American Idol/Pop Idol/Canadian Idol/Australian Idol/etc.
America's Next Top Model
Angel
Are You Being Served?
Arrested Development
Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
Baywatch
Beavis & Butthead
Beverly Hills 90210
Bonanza
Bosom Buddies
Boy Meets World
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Car 54 Where Are You?
Chappelle's Show
Charlie's Angels
Charmed
Cheers
Chicago Hope
Cold Case
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coupling - UK
Cowboy Bebop
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Danny Phantom
Dark Angel
Dark Skies
Davinci's Inquest
Dawson's Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadliest Catch
Deadwood
Degrassi High
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Different Strokes
Doctor Who
Dragnet
Drake & Josh
Due South
Earth2
Emergency!
Entourage.
ER
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond
Facts of Life
Family Guy
Family Ties
Fantasy Island
Farscape
Father Ted
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly
Frasier
Friends
Futurama
Get Smart
Ghost Hunters
Gilligan's Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Green Acres
Grey's Anatomy
Growing Pains
Gunsmoke
Hannah Montana
Happy Days
Hercules the Legendary Journeys
Here Come the Brides
Highlander
Hogan's Heroes
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
I Spy
Inuyasha
Invader Zim
Invasion
Iron Chef (Japan)
Iron Chef (US)
It Takes a Thief
Hell's Kitchen
JAG
Jackass
Joey
Keen Eddie
Kitchen Confidential
Kolchak: The Night Stalker (original)
Kolchak: The Night Stalker (reincarnation)
Laverne and Shirley
Law & Order SVU
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Life On Mars
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Malcolm in the Middle
Married... With Children
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Mission: Impossible
Mod Squad
Monk
Moonlighting
Mork & Mindy
Murphy Brown
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
NCIS
Ned Bigby's Declassified School Survival Guide
Nip/Tuck
Numb3rs
One Tree Hill
Oz
Perry Mason
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Prey
Prison Break
Profiler
Project Runway
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (British)
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
ReGenesis
Relic Hunter
Remington Steele
Reno 911
Rescue Me
Road Rules
Rome
Roseanne
Roswell
Sapphire and Steel
Saved by the Bell
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Slings and Arrows
Smallville
So Weird
South Park
Space: Above & Beyond
Spaced
Spongebob Squarepants
Spooks/MI-5
Square Pegs
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Starsky & Hutch
Strange Luck
Strictly Come Dancing/Dancing with the Stars etc
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
Taxi
Teen Titans
That 70's Show
That's So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Bold & the Beautiful
The Brady Bunch
The Champions
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Golden Girls
The Honeymooners
The Invisible Man (2000s)
The Jeffersons
The Jetsons
The L Word
The Love Boat
The Magnificent Seven
The Man from Atlantis
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Monkees
The Munsters
The Mythbusters
The O.C.
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
The Phoenix
The Pretender
The Prisoner
The Professionals
The Real World
The Saint
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Sweeney
The Twilight Zone (original)
The Twilight Zone (reincarnation)
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Third Watch
Three's Company
Threshold
Top Gear
Touching Evil (UK)
Twin Peaks
Vanished
Veronica Mars
Whose Line is it Anyway? (US)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK)
Wild Wild West
Will and Grace
Wings
Wire in the Blood
WKRP in Cincinnati
Wonderfalls
Xena Warrior Princess
You Can't Do That On Television

Categories: Television

Don't Download This

2006-09-07T13:44:00.000-05:00

Ok, I haven't blogged in a while. For some reason, I haven't had the time or inclination to post anything lately. I'll try to get back on track.

Today I have something cool for you. Weird Al has a myspace. What's even cooler is his newest song, entitled Don't Download This Song. It's a hilarious song about the "evils" of filesharing. And in the ultimate irony, Mr. Yankovich has enabled the song to be downloaded from his myspace.

Here are some of the lyrics:

Once in a while maybe you will feel the urge
To break international copyright law
By downloading MP3s from file-sharing sites
Like Morpheus or Grokster or Limewire or KaZaA

But deep in your heart you know the guilt would drive you mad
And the shame would leave a permanent scar
'Cause you start out stealing songs and then you're robbing liquor stores
And sellin' crack and runnin' over school kids with your car...

I was seriously laughing hysterically during this song. You gotta love Weird Al.

Categories: Music, Humor

Save Your Space

2006-08-31T13:22:00.000-05:00

I have something very important to tell you about today.

You may not know, but on July 26, the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation HR 5319 requiring schools and libraries to block access to social networking, blogging and chat room sites.

Yes, you heard me. They made this bonehead move to try and protect children from online predators on sites like myspace, but this legislation is so broad that access to blogging sites, chatrooms, and any site that has a social component is threatened.

So in other words, no public school or public library will be able to provide access to a huge number of sites, including myspace, Blogger, Livejournal, Flickr, and YouTube. Ridiculous, n'est-ce pas? See the list of affected websites (and there could be more) at Save Your Space.

While you're there, please read and sign the petition to stop this ridiculous law, which does nothing to protect children and everything to censor your right to access and express yourself on the Internet.

Categories: Politics, Internet

Fox News Ratings In The Tank

2006-08-30T16:53:00.000-05:00

Looks like their agenda of carrying water for the Bush administration and presenting a completely one-sided view of everything has finally caught up with Fox News.

The Huffington Post's Eat The Press is reporting that Fox News' ratings are down 7% in the daytime and a whopping 28% in primetime, while both CNN and MSNBC have gained in the ratings in both slots.

See? Sometimes the news isn't negative. ;-)

Categories: Politics, Television

Vanished Clues

2006-08-29T19:16:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit. I've been going to my mom's house on monday nights and staying over so that we can watch Fox's new show, Vanished together. The second episode was last night. It was better than the premiere actually. All the clues and mysteries are really coming together now.

I've started a little "notebook" of all the mysteries and clues revealed on the show, in the hopes of forming some cool theories. Yes I know, I'm a nerd.

From the first show, One of the first clues actually lies in the Show's title screen, when the word Vanished appears, and then starting from the last letter begins to disappear. As the screen closes in on the V, it doubles and flips, becoming a seemingly arcane symbol. That symbol is known as the "square and compass" and is the symbol for Freemasonry.

In the opening sequence of the first episode we see Sara Collins talking on the phone to an unknown party. She appears to be agreeing to meet them, saying she'll only have a few minutes. While doing this she is grading what appears to be a child's spelling test. But let's take a closer look. There are a couple of odd things about this test. One, whenever a word appears that has an "a" in it, there is a strange space between the the beginning of the word and the a and the rest of the word, for example the first word is written b arn, instead of barn. This only happens with words with the letter a in them. All other words are written normally. Two, the #14 item on the list is blank. I don't know what to make of this, but perhaps there's some sort of clue here? As Sara finishes her call, she tells the caller, "Jeffrey's home, please never call here again". Hmm, it seems if the caller was someone unknown to Jeffrey, she would have said, "My husband is home", rather than calling him by his first name.

Another interesting clue is the arcane symbol found on the hand of the dead kidnapper, Mark Valera (see screencap). In the show they keep referring to it as a nine, but personally I don't think that's what it is. First of all, if you look closely, it's not a closed loop and curved tail like a regular nine. It is in fact an open diamond shape with a straight extended side. Not a nine at all, really. I looked for a symbol like this at Symbols.com, but the closest thing I could come up with is this, a symbol that in American hobo language means "say nothing". Could this be a warning to somebody to keep quiet?

And of course the most interesting clue so far is the mysterious 929. It made its appearance first at the end of episode one, where it appeared on the back of a prayer card found on a corpse. The front of the card showed St. Nathan. Odd, since nathan is also the name of the little boy that was killed when Kelton's previous case went sour. When I looked more carefully at the back of the card, I realized that the numbers were written as 9:29. That's either a time or a bible verse notation. So I entered Nathan 9:29 into Google and came up with 2 Chronicles 9:29, "Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?" Interesting. However, there is no book of nathan in the bible. So apparently this account of Solomon was lost at some point. Solomon and the building of the temple is heavily associated with Freemasonry.

Vanished is definitely warming up. There are tons of other clues and information but I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Just go and watch the show! Even if you didn't like it the first week, try it again. It seems to be getting better.

Categories: Television

New Tenant!

2006-08-27T13:53:00.000-05:00

I have a new renter today! Forever 17 is the personal blog of 17 year old Gaby from Mexico. Ok, I hear your groans. You're picturing some sort of myspace monstrosity with twinkling glitter graphics and music playing in the background. Prepare to be pleasantly surprised. Gaby has a nice clean, calm design. She's also a great writer and she blogs about her life, the life of any typical 17 year old, with wit and grace. Even if you're a fair bit older than 17, you'll find yoursel identifying with her trials and tribulations, remembering the hope and possibility of 17.

Stranded In Stereo

2006-08-26T13:38:00.000-05:00

Stranded In Stereo is a slick zine about music, films, and other stuff. The really cool part about it is that it's free, and if you sign up, instead of getting a paper rag, the magazine comes in the form of a CD and DVD. I just received Volume 3 in the mail and it's really nice. Pics (set against the exciting backdrop of my bedsheets):

So far, my favorite track on the CD is It's Too Late by Evermore. Evermore is an Australian/New Zealand outfit specializing in a sort of melodic alternative rock. Check out their myspace for more music samples (the remix version of the above song is pretty cool).

Categories: Music

Don't Trust Voting Machines

2006-08-24T14:25:00.000-05:00

You've got to see this testimony from a computer programmer back in 2004, that he wrote a program for rigging a voting machine for Congressman Tom Feeney [R-FL]. And yet even with this compelling evidence, we are still depending on these machines to count our votes.

I urge you, when you go to vote in November, demand a paper ballot or apply for an absentee ballot today.

Categories: Politics

Vanished Is On

2006-08-22T13:46:00.000-05:00

Fox's new series Vanished premiered last night. It was riveting. I'm already hooked. And of course the gorgeous and talented Gale Harold shined as Agent Graham Kelton. The pilot definitely lived up to its promise of being a mix between 24 and CSI, with enough fast paced action and plot twists to keep even the most attention challenged viewer holding on.

If you missed the premiere, you have a couple of options to see it again. First, it's airing again tonight at 9/8c on Fox after the season premiere of House. You can also watch it online commercial free at the official Vanished website. And -ahem- if you have a bittorrent client...

Check out the trailer:

Categories: Television

Friday Featured Blog: This Mama Cooks!

2006-08-18T13:43:00.000-05:00

One of the most popular niches in the blogospere is the mighty foodblog. There's just something about food, recipes, and blogging that seems to go together. I even have my own little blog devoted merely to recipes, like a recipe dump rather than a link dump. But a true foodblog goes beyond recipes. A true foodblog combines delicious recipes with practical advice and an unashamed devotion to the power of food.

At least that's what you'll find at today's Friday Featured Blog, This Mama Cooks!. You'll also find great cookbook reviews, stunning photography, and cool insights into the world of food blogging.

So if you're a foodie, if you love recipes, if you could collect every cookbook ever published, give This Mama Cooks! a visit. You won't be disappointed.

Note: There's another blog of note I think you should visit right away. My new blog tenant, Recipe Connection! It's a great blog full of interesting and delicious sounding recipes. Give them a visit!

Categories: FridayFeaturedBlog

How To Rapidshare

2006-08-17T16:06:00.000-05:00

I use Rapidshare a lot. For some reason, it seems to be the host of choice for sharing files lately. One has to wonder why, since you have to wait anywhere from 30-120 seconds for a file if you're not a premium user and enter a captcha code (although to their credit, their captchas are usually very easy to read). The cool thing about Rapidshare though is that once you can download it's very fast, especially for a free service.

There are tricks to using Rapidshare that I've discovered, and I thought I'd share them. Many people don't know how to use the service.

I won't talk about just what you can download from Rapidshare; like the military, I have a don't ask, don't tell policy. Suffice it to say that anything your little heart could desire can be found on Rapidshare, provided you know the right people. But to get you started, I'll provide you with two links to things I've uploaded. They're both packages of free fonts that I put together for a scrapbooking group, one Calligraphy, the other Halloween/Scary (previews here and here; previews are just samples, there are more fonts in the packages). We'll use them for educational purposes.

Click one of the links. You'll be taken to a kind of confusing page. About halfway down you should see something that says "You want to download Calligraphy.rar" followed by a table outlining the differences between Premium and free downloads. At the bottom of this table you'll see two buttons, one says Premium and the other says free. You want to click the free button. From there you are taken to another cluttered page where it tells you that your Download-ticket has been reserved and asks you to "Please wait __ seconds". While you wait for the timer to count down feel free to amuse yourself by figuring out how many American dollars you'd have to spend to equal the 9.90 euros that they charge for one month of Premium usage. Yeah, it's a lot. By now, your timer will have stopped and you should see a captcha. Enter the code, click the button and your download should start. As a free user, you're limited to downloading 50 MB per hour (I think) so you should be able to download both the above files if you want.

You can also be on the lookout for a free Premium account. Once in a while Rapidshare spreads the love and gives away Premium accounts that are good for 2 days. Two days of instant downloads, no waiting, no limits, no captchas. The trick is that when taken to a Rapidshare page, look for the golden crown. If you see it, that means they're giving away Premium accounts. If you don't want to keep visiting Rapidshare to check if they're giving away Premium accounts you can download a little program called RapidCheck. It sits in your system tray and will notify you when free Premium accounts become available on Rapidshare.

Ok, but this is a major hassle you say. What if you have ten Rapidshare links you want to download? You don't have time to wait around for timers and captchas or to have to wait another hour to be able to download again. That's where RapGet comes in. RapGet allows you to download from Rapidshare (and several other free filehosting services) without the hassle. You enter your Rapidshare links, and the program does all the work for you. It'll enter the codes for you, wait the allotted amount of time, even wait an hour if you're download limit has been reached. I like to enter a crapload of links into it and then go to work or leave it on all night and when I come back, everything's downloaded. A tip though, when you first download and install RapGet, go to the settings and click on the Connection tab. You'll see something that says Bandwidth, Kb (0-unlim.) and then a box with a zero in it. I don't know why it's set to zero by default, because that won't work. You have to give RapGet some bandwidth to work with or it won't be able to download anything. So enter a number commensurate with your download speed (see yesterday's post to find out what your download speed is). I entered 800. I could have entered a much higher number, but I still like to be able to surf and check my email while RapGet is downloading, so 800 is good.

So there it is. Everything you need to know about downloading from Rapidshare. Happy downloading!

Categories: How-To, Software

Speedtest.net

2006-08-16T15:19:00.000-05:00

Ever wondered if your ISP really delivers the connection speed it advertises? Then check out Speedtest.net. Just pick a server (preferably one closest to your location) and Speedtest will test the speed of both your downloads and uploads. They even give you a nifty little graphic afterwards. Here's mine:

Categories: Internet, Tech

College Checklist

2006-08-14T17:44:00.000-05:00

I recently came across this list of Eight often overlooked things you need to pack for college, and I agreed with almost every one. My college days are long behind me, but it still seems like yesterday that I was a college freshman, nervous about embarking on my first year spent away from the home of my parents.

Over my years at school, I too came up with a list of indispensible stuff that every person living in a dorm must have. Here's mine:

Mattress pad- One of those egg crate foam things should do. Your dorm mattress will have been slept on by about 30 people before you, of varying weights, sizes, and (ahem) "activity" levels. This will be the most uncomfortable bed you've ever slept on. Splurge and get a premium quality mattress pad. Your back will thank you.
Cinder blocks- Yeah, I know, weird right? But as dorm rooms are usually the size of a walk-in closet, you're going to need more storage space, and if you can raise your bed up a couple of feet, you'll have tons of room under your bed to store stuff.
Zinc and vitamin C- Living in a dorm is like living in a large petrie dish. Everyone is sick and in a confined area. You can decrease your sick time by assuring that your immune system is working to full capacity.
Milk crates- They sell cheapy versions of these at Wal-Mart, but if possible try to get some heavy duty ones by asking your local grocery store if you can buy some off them. They're good for storage, shelving, and if you get the good ones, seating.
Flip-flops or water-proof sandals- Believe me, you don't want to step barefoot into the dorm showers. It's the surest way to get a nasty case of athletes foot.
A small tool kit- You need a screwdriver, a hammer, a pair of pliers, and some duct tape. You're now all set for most mundane repairs, or as the guys at Clarkson university (which was in the same town as my university) used to call them, "modifications".
Fan, earplugs, headphones, white noise machine, etc.- Take your pick. You need something to cancel out the noise that your neighbors will make while you're trying to sleep. I chose a box fan. It drowned out the girls next door to me who regularly got drunk and then beat the shit out of each other at four o'clock in the morning, plus it kept the air moving in my stuffy dorm room.
"Decent" pajamas- If you're used to sleeping in your underwear or less, now's the time to break the habit. The fire alarm will go off in the middle of the night (usually because that's humor to drunk assholes everywhere) and you don't want to have to spend an hour standing in the quad freezing your ass off in your undergarments. So invest in something you wouldn't be ashamed to wear outside and at least keep it next to your bed so you can jump into it if you need to.
Area carpet or rug- Most dorms don't have carpeting, and that cold hard floor will be the bane of your existence until you cover it with a carpet. Besides it's easier to vacuum than to sweep in my opinion.
Corkboard/Whiteboard- I bought one of these in college and still use it to this day. You can pin notes to it, numbers, messages to roommates, and all the other random snippets of information that you'll need to have handy.

Categories: Misc.

Friday Featured Blog: Sandal Showcase

2006-08-11T17:19:00.000-05:00

Here we are, Friday again and time for the Friday Featured Blog.

Today's blog will most likely appeal to the ladies and with the last days of Summer upon us, it's just the right time for the Sandal Showcase. The Sandal Showcase is a blog that features all kinds of women's sandals from casual flip flops to dressy designer styles, all reviewed by the blogger. If you've got a shoe fetish, if your nickname is Imelda Marcos, or if you just can't get enough sandals (*raises hand* I have 13 pairs), then this is a great blog to check out.

Categories: FridayFeaturedBlog

links for 2006-08-11

2006-08-11T12:22:00.000-05:00

links for 2006-08-11

myTriggers.com | All Items. All The Time.

Enter what you're shooping for and the most you want to pay for it, and myTriggers will tell you when it finds it.

(tags: search shopping)
raceandhistory.com - How to control people

Read this short article on How to control people. You'll find it eerily familiar...

(tags: politics psychology control)

Fanpop

2006-08-10T13:40:00.000-05:00

I found an interesting new site the other day called Fanpop. Fanpop is a social network revolving around fandom. Basically, Fanpop consists of a network of social portals or "spots" dedicated to a particular subject, be it a movie, book, author, celebrity, tv show, etc. Users can join spots to be a fan of that subject, and then they can add links, news items and participate in discussions about that topic with other fans.

If you sign up, there are a number of already existing spots, but if you don't find what you like you can start your own spot. I started one for the now ended Showtime series, Queer As Folk. Because I started the spot, I got to choose the icon and banner for the spot (I made the banner in Photoshop). When you join a spot, if you contribute high quality content, (links, articles, etc.) you can eventually be given more recognition on a spot in the form of medals. The medals range from "fan" to "fanatic". In turn, the medals give the user increased control over the content in each spot.

It seems like a great way to connect with people of similar interests. I like that it gives a list of similar or related spots on each spot page, and I would think that with time these will become even more relevant. One thing this service needs is RSS. You should be able to subscribe to the links, headlines, and forum discussions. The forums could also be a little more full-featured, allowing you to post links and possibly images. The service is still in beta though, so I'm sure they'll be unvailing new features soon.

Categories: Internet

New Renter: Fixing Foibles and Follies

2006-08-10T13:19:00.000-05:00

I'd like to direct everyone to my new blog tenant, Fixing Foibles and Follies. Just click on his thumbnail in the sidebar. He's got a great blog with lots of interesting stuff. Check out his post on Ten time-saving keyboard shortcuts. Give him a visit and tell him who sent you!

Categories: Blog