R.S.V Blog - Razor Sharp Views

Why Captain Francesco Schettino Should Be Jailed For A Very Long Time

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:12:00 +0000

Captain Francesco Schettino

Unless you've been hiding under a rock somewhere near Italy, you would of heard by now that the Costa Concordia cruise ship, carrying 4,200+ passengers capsized off the coast of Italy on Friday. This all sounds like an unavoidable tragedy due to circumstances beyond the Captain's control, such as terrible weather and/or rough seas, right? You couldn't be more wrong.

Captain Francesco Schettino, 52, is being investigated for charges including manslaughter after the confirmed deaths of 11 of his passengers so far and about 2 dozen still missing.

Here are several reasons why Captain Francesco Schettino should be jailed for a very long time:

1) He deliberately steered his ship off-course and towards the coast to apparently "show off" and "salute" a friend who was on-shore at the time. Excellent. The Telegraph reports that during a three-hour interrogation, the Captain admitted steering the ship off-course to salute a colleague: "It’s true that the salute was for Commodore Mario Palombo, with whom I was on the telephone," Schettino reportedly said. Excellent behavior for a Captain in charge of 4,200+ passengers. You can cut the sarcasm in this article only with a very sharp knife.

2) He decided that leaving the deep ocean to head perilously close to shore in much shallower waters was a fun idea, where there was a great possibility of encountering sharp, jagged rocks...in a steel ship. Had he not seen that "mildly" popular movie...what's the name of it again? Oh, right..."Titanium"...no, wait..."Titanic." Eerily enough, survivors reported that very theme song was playing by Celine Dion while the Costa Concordia was sinking...what are the odds? No, seriously I'm asking...what are the odds of this? Did he decide to head closer to shore due to an emergency? Did someone on-board need urgent medical attention? NO. He put the lives of his 4,200+ passengers at risk in order to "show off" to his friend and prove he was both "an excellent Captain" and quite "manly" to pull off this feat. Unfortunately for this Captain, he ended up proving to the world the opposite, on both counts (see # 3 below).

Costa Concordia Sinking

3) He abandoned ship before all his passengers were evacuated, claiming in a new report that he "tripped" and fell into a rescue boat (insert scandalous LOL here). An Italian Coast Guard had to even plead for him to get his @$$ back on the ship to co-ordinate the rescue efforts - to which he practically refused.

In a recently released conversation between Schettino and the Italian Coast Guard, the Captain can be heard waffling as the Coast Guard barks orders to return to the ship to oversee its evacuation, claiming that the vessel was tipping dangerously and that it was too dark. Excellent - the Captain is not only moronic, but he's also afraid of the dark. Now, the Captain has explained at a hearing just how he ended up ditching the Costa Concordia for the safety of a lifeboat in the first place: "Suddenly, since the ship was at a 60-70° angle, I tripped and I ended up in one of the boats," Schettino said, according to The Guardian. "That's how I found myself in the lifeboat."

Think about this for a minute...after all his misguided judgments, this Captain still cannot come to grips and admit his grave mistakes, instead relying on the old "I tripped and fell" routine. This sounds a lot like me in my school days: "I tripped and fell on my dog...he then ate my homework." Unlike my school days, however, my alleged "tripping" didn't involve betraying the trust of 4,200+ people who placed their lives in my hands.

I have a feeling Captain Schettino will be best advised to *not* trip so much when he's in jail for a very long time...especially when he's holding a bar of soap...everyday.

Sources: Huffington Post, The Guardian, The Telegraph.

Update (21/01/12): Italian Coast Guard divers have found a woman's body in a corridor of a submerged section of the capsized Costa Concordia, raising to at least 12 the number of dead in the cruise liner accident.

R.S.V 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:48:00 +0000

After quite a hiatus, R.S.V is back in full force! Stay tuned for informative and entertaining razor sharp views, covering a variety of topics.

Want a Google+ Invite?

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 02:16:00 +0000

We've got a bunch of hot Google+ invites just lying around! Want one? Request an invite by leaving a comment on YOUTHERE1.com (Fan Page) (you must "like" our Fan Page, of course) and we'll hook you up with an invite! What is Google+ you ask? http://goo.gl/BOm6g

Triple A Shopping - Coming Soon!

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:10:00 +0000

YOUTHERE1.com is proud to be the Official Sponsor of the upcoming website "Triple A Shopping" - you can find out about "Triple A Shopping" and sign up to be notified when their new website launches by visiting http://www.tripleashopping.com.

Some Issues With Google Chrome

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:05:00 +0000

Over the past year I have switched from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox to Safari for Windows and now to Google Chrome.

All these browsers have their respective advantages and disadvantages of course, but the standout winner in terms of "speed" is Google Chrome. Chrome starts up blazingly quick and it renders pages just as fast. What I really like about Chrome, aside from its speed and simplicity, is that it has no problem handling 25+ open tabs at once - which I use on a daily basis. The "beta" label has recently been removed from Chrome which should suggest that it's now officially ready for primetime. Chrome currently sits in 4th place behind Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer, with a market share of 0.83% (Source: Net Applications).

A few issues I have noticed with Chrome recently involves Windows Live Hotmail and popular download manager, GetRight.

As of the latest stable version of Chrome, 1.0.154.42, nothing happens when you click on a message in your Windows Live Hotmail inbox, try to delete a message or use the left navigation buttons (Junk, Drafts, Sent, etc). I noticed this same issue in an earlier version of Chrome but it was fixed in a subsequent update - the issue is back now. Windows Live Hotmail functions properly in all other browsers, including Safari for Windows. Microsoft may be to blame here in not properly recognising Chrome.

When you attempt to download a file using GetRight, instead of pushing the single file to you, multiple instances are pushed causing you to cancel all but one. This may be a compatiblity issue with GetRight working with Chrome as this does not occur with any of the other browsers.

Let's hope these issues are resolved soon.

Google has said they are working on an add-ons platform so developers could write nifty plugins, toolbars, extensions, etc - and we are certainly looking forward to that.

UPDATE (10/01/09) - A dev release of Google Chrome 2.0.156.1 is now available and the same problems persist with Windows Live Hotmail, as tested on multiple computers using different Operating Systems and at different locations.

UPDATE (28/01/09) - Stable version 1.0.154.46 has been released with a specific fix for the issues with Windows Live Hotmail. As tested, this new version works fine now with Windows Live Hotmail. Microsoft has a team in place to permanently resolve these issues with Chrome.

Save Precious Time With Digsby

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:29:00 +0000

Let's say you have the following online accounts:

Instant Messengers

- Windows Live Messenger
- Google Talk (2 different accounts)
- Yahoo! Messenger
- AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)
- ICQ

Email

- Windows Live Hotmail
- Gmail (2 different accounts)
- Yahoo! Mail
- Outlook / POP3

Social Networks

- Facebook
- MySpace
- Twitter

So your day begins and you need to connect to all your various instant messengers at once.

You proceed to open up each instant messenger client on your PC - Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk (only allows you to log into one account at a time - so you would need to switch between accounts), Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and ICQ. The result? An instant decline in your available memory! You can feel your PC begin to slow down - you barely avoid hitting rock bottom.

A more simplistic approach would be to use an all-in-one instant messenger client such as Pidgin or Trillian - and lose a few features in the process. You would save some memory-usage this way and have easy access to all your various online contacts under one client.

Now, it's time to check your email accounts. Where to begin?! You open your Windows Live Hotmail inbox, check your messages there, reply to a few, delete spam and then log out. You repeat the process (twice) for your Gmail accounts and then for each of your other email accounts in turn - Yahoo! Mail and Outlook.

You fire up Gmail Notifier and log in so you can be notified exactly when you receive new Gmail messages (again, you can only log into one account at a time). You then launch ePrompter so you can be notified with a sound when new mails arrive in your Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and POP3 accounts.

In between chatting and logging into your different email accounts, close to an hour has passed you by. Your "real" work for the day hasn't even started as yet!

You've now covered your instant messengers and email accounts - Horray! But wait - what's going on with your social networks this morning - Facebook, MySpace and Twitter?

So you again open up the relevant websites to see what's new - you log into your Facebook account, accept a few friend requests, update your status to "very busy at work", feed a few dragons, send a few pokes and then log out. Now on to MySpace and then to Twitter.

Article continues below.

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Download the very latest versions of Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), ICQ, Pidgin, Trillian and Digsby - all from YOUTHERE1.com's Messenger Center.

Get quick access to Windows Live Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and more with YOUTHERE1.com's Horizon Toolbar.

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You sat down at your desk at 8am and it's now 9:35am.

What if there was ONE program that you can log into that would help you manage ALL of the above - as-it-happens.

Enter "Digsby" - http://www.digsby.com/.

Digsby helps you to manage IM + Email + Social Networks in one easy to use application:

It's a multiprotocol IM client that lets you chat with all your friends on AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, and Jabber with one simple to manage buddy list. Also supports file transfers and audio / video chats.

It's an email notification tool that alerts you of new email and lets you perform actions such as 'Delete' or 'Report Spam' with just one click.

It's a social networking tool that alerts you of events like new messages and gives you a live Newsfeed of what your friends are up to.

Digsby works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Screenshots - http://www.digsby.com/screenshots.php.

Now, thanks to Digsby, instead of spending between 8am - 9:35am logging in from one website to the next, launching one client to the next, by 8:05am you can have a good handle of exactly what's going on - from your online contacts, to your emails and social networks.

Setting up Digsby for the first time was quite easy - you simply enter your login credentials for your various accounts and you can choose to auto-login, so the next time Digsby is launched it would log you into all your accounts automatically.

Worried about privacy? You should - but they take care of your concerns in detail here - http://www.digsby.com/privacy.php.

Digsby clocked in at approx. 74,684 KB of memory-usage after having it run for quite a while. By comparision, Internet Explorer 7 clocked in at approx. 230,916 KB with 4 tabs open and IE7Pro running in the background.

Digsby has now eliminated the "need" to have 5 separate instant messenger clients running at the same time, plus it has eliminated the need to have Gmail Notifier and ePrompter running in the background. You are eliminating memory-usage on at least 7 applications right there.

Get Digsby today and save precious time - your own!

UPDATE 1 (01/05/08) - Digsby now supports Facebook Chat in addition to all of the above features!

UPDATE 2 (25/09/08) - Digsby cuts RAM usage by 75%, adds LinkedIn support - http://snipr.com/3trmd.

C'mon Digg - Better Ad Placements!

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:24:00 +0000

Digg is a great place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web.

There are strategic spots to place ads on a website and then there are spots like these - after submitting an article to Digg this morning, I was presented with a confirmation page letting me know the article was sucessfully submitted - great.

However, this information was presented near the bottom of the page as a huge 120 x 600 ad was above it - yes, 120 x 600. Click the screenshot below for a larger image.

Is this really the best spot for a 120 x 600 ad? C'mon Digg.

Gmail (Finally) Crosses 5 GB of Free Storage

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 13:54:00 +0000

Gmail has recently revved up the speed of its storage counter, which has allowed it to pass the 5 GB mark earlier today. Windows Live Hotmail has been offering 5 GB of free storage for a while now, but this represents a fixed amount, while Gmail's storage is constantly increasing. Yahoo! Mail on the other hand, now offers free unlimited storage.

With Gmail's recent offering of free IMAP access and useful features in its new version, it has certainly come a long way and has vastly increased in popularity. Do you know anyone without a Gmail account?

Now, only if they can lose the "Beta" status in Gmail and finally add the ability to add images in your Gmail signatures. Luckily, you can find out exactly how to do the latter manually by reading my previous post "How To Use An Image In Your Gmail Signature" - http://razorsharpviews.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-to-use-image-in-your-gmail.html.

UPDATE (25/09/08) - Gmail has just passed the 7 GB mark!

Britney Spears: Headed for Another Tunnel in Paris?

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 05:27:00 +0000

Have you seen the string of recent videos showing Britney Spears' crazy driving antics in her Benz? - Hitting a parked car, rolling over the feet of numerous photographers (including one from TMZ), rolling over a cop's foot, running a red light with her kids in the car and making an illegal U-turn.

But what's the common denominator in all of this, besides Britney? The paparazzi! They were practically in her face at the time of each of these incidents.

Imagine trying to drive with 50 people circled around your car, pushing against it with camera-flashes going off constantly - someone's foot is bound to be in danger, at least. Let's be logical about it.

It's like the paparazzi stand around her car waiting for her to screw up and on the freeway they chase close behind her, hoping something interesting happens - but isn't that pretty much what they did in that Tunnel in Paris in 1997 - when they chased Princess Di.

Sure, she can afford to hire a driver (which she probably should) with her estimated monthly income of close to U.S $800,000.00, but when you've just spent U.S $100,000.00 on a new Benz, won't you want to drive it yourself? Again, let's be logical about it.

The paparazzi always claim they are 'innocent' bystanders with a camera in these situations, but when they deliberately chase down a car with 2 small kids inside on the freeway, who's really 'innocent' there? They should always assume the kids are in the car and respect it as such - afterall, Britney does in fact have kids!

Of course, Kevin Federline's lawyers love these traffic-violating videos! They love them so much in fact that they have called an emergency court hearing to discuss them.

Nobody can really think Britney is a good driver or even a safe driver - texting behind the wheel, having her son on her lap in the driver's seat with no seatbelt, running a red light with her kids, etc - but having 50 paparazzi aggressively follow her every move certainly escalates the danger, to her kids, to herself and to others.

If this dangerous situation continues, there will be another tragic "Tunnel in Paris".

What Would Henry Ford Think About The War In Iraq?

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 05:01:00 +0000

Henry Ford (1863 – 1947), Founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production, made many interesting statements in his insightful, business-savvy 1922 Autobiography, "My Life and Work".

In chapter 17, he addresses the first World War, what war is all about and who really benefits from war. His words are quite interesting on this topic and still very relevant in 2007, especially in light of the current war in Iraq. Many would not even draw a parallel between World War I and the current war in Iraq, however, the undeniable common denominator is the heavy loss of lives in both of these wars (and the loss of lives in Iraq is still ongoing!).

He states about World War I:

"Nobody got an advantage, honourable or dishonourable, out of that war. I had hoped, finally, when the United States entered the war, that it might be a war to end wars, but now I know that wars do not end wars..."

One has to ask, is the current war in Iraq going to be a war to end wars? Absolutely not.

Below he expresses what 'patriotism' really means. You can very well be against war and still be patriotic:

"When our country entered the war, it became the duty of every citizen to do his utmost toward seeing through to the end that which we had undertaken. I believe that it is the duty of the man who opposes war to oppose going to war up until the time of its actual declaration."

Notice he states "...up until the time of its actual declaration." Even if the reasons for going to war in the first place are wrong (think 'WMD'), your patriotism for your country should not be given up or abandoned. When war begins, you should stand behind your country.

Notice also that Ford states "I believe that it is the duty of the man who opposes war to oppose going to war...". Where was 'war-activist' Cindy Sheehan between 9/11 and the start of the war in Iraq in 2003? If she is so 'anti-war', then she should have stood up tall after 9/11 and declare that President Bush and the United States should not invade or strike any country to create another war. She did no such thing or made no bold statement until 2005 when she decided to camp outside President Bush's Texas Ranch - more than a year after the tragic death of her son in the line of duty in Iraq in early 2004. If she became actively 'anti-war' only after the war started (and loss of her son), then it simply means she was 'for' the war in the beginning - despite her claims otherwise. Actions will always (and forever) speak louder than words.

Below Ford discusses why war never resolves issues:

"My opposition to war is not based upon pacifist or non-resistant principles. It may be that the present state of civilization is such that certain international questions cannot be discussed; it may be that they have to be fought out. But the fighting never settles the question. It only gets the participants around to a frame of mind where they will agree to discuss what they were fighting about."

Below he shows how much he contributed and supported the United States in its war effort, once the war started:

"Once we were in the war, every facility of the Ford industries was put at the disposal of the Government. We had, up to the time of the declaration of war, absolutely refused to take war orders from the foreign belligerents. From April, 1917, until November, 1918, our factory worked practically exclusively for the Government."

Henry Ford's Autobiography, "My Life and Work" is a brilliant book for anyone involved in any type of business today as it highlights the real principles of creating and managing a business and what all business should be about - not 'profit', but rather 'service'. You can pick up a copy of "My Life and Work" here.

WWE's Biggest Mistake

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:51:00 +0000

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was hit with yet another tragedy yesterday when one of its Superstars, Chris Benoit, was found dead in his new Georgia home - along with his wife Nancy and 7-year old son, Daniel. Details are still sketchy on how and why this gruesome tragedy took place as investigations are still underway, but Police believe Benoit murdered his wife and son over the weekend and then committed suicide sometime on Monday. On Sunday night Benoit was supposed to take part in a WWE Pay-Per-View event, but he cancelled due to a "family emergency". The next day their bodies were found in separate rooms.

Only last week the WWE lost another Superstar, Sherri Martel, who was found dead in her mother's home under suspicious circumstances (Police believe her death was "un-natural").

Are you ready for the kicker? WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon, has been "pretending" to be dead in recent weeks as part of a new storyline to garner higher ratings for his shows - complete with a realistic death-scene in which McMahon's white limo blows up as soon as he enters it. Firefighters were then shown trying to extinguish the blazing inferno.

A mock press conference was also shown where a WWE Representative announced the death of "Mr. McMahon" and that a "Federal investigation" was underway. WWE even went as far as to show a mock memorial with McMahon's picture, letters and signs from "WWE fans". One touching sign in particular read "You will always be our champion". WWE's official website also posted this story as breaking news. Another mock press conference was aired later on depicting a Federal Investigator giving an update on the case.

We're not done yet folks - McMahon's own daughter, Stephanie, took to the wrestling ring to give a tearful tribute to her beloved father! At the beginning of one of the shows, bells were rung in McMahon's memory and Ring Announcers were choked up by McMahon's "death".

You can well imagine what viewers thought when they tuned in to this elaborate plot.

WWE assaulted its fans with this utterly over-the-top, fake story about Vince McMahon being killed and left many scrambling to check news stations and websites. Many fans, needless to say, have been outraged by this. It's one thing to suggest a "character" in a show has been killed, but quite another when you suggest the same about a real person (WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon). Unfortunately, McMahon cannot pass the blame on to someone else for this highly un-tasteful publicity stunt as he is directly involved in it.

In the ultimate ironic twist, last night's "WWE Raw" was supposed to be a 3-hour tribute to "Mr. McMahon", but instead was devoted to the real tragedy that took place earlier - the death of Chris Benoit and his family. McMahon was forced to reveal that he is in fact alive as he opened the 3-hour tribute to remember Benoit and his career.

It would appear the WWE wanted to create a cloud of controversy, mystery, publicity and ratings - it received all that plus one extra thing it didn't bank on - a dark cloud over its head and now Sherri Martel, Chris Benoit, his wife and his son are all dead in a matter of weeks since the announcement of McMahon's "death". Coincidence?

This is all very similar to faking you have a serious illness - never a good idea. You can bring evil to your doorstep.

Alec Baldwin - The True "Thoughtless Little Pig"

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:47:00 +0000

Alec Baldwin has really crossed the line with his recent hate-filled outburst on 11th April - to a 11-year-old child - his only daughter!

The "TMZ" website has released an audio message that Alec Baldwin recently left for his daughter, Ireland, in which he lambastes her for apparently not answering his phone call.

Below are some quotes from the audio message:

“I don't give a damn that you're 12 years old or 11 years old, or a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn't care about what you do..."

"Once again I’ve made an ass of myself getting to a phone to make a phone call … I’m tired of playing this game with you. You have insulted me for the last time …You’ve made feel like shit and you’ve made feel like a fool over and over again … I’m going to straighten your ass out … You are a rude, thoughtless little pig..."

"This crap you pull on me with this goddamn phone situation that you would never dream of doing to your mother...and you do it to me constantly over and over again...."

"You better be ready Friday the 20th to meet with me..."

Listen to the actual audio here.

Who the hell does Mr. Baldwin really thinks he is? Is this proper "parenting"? Does anyone believe this is the FIRST time he has verbally abused his child?

Imagine how this child felt listening to this message - from her own father.

Criminal charges should be brought against him, he should lose all visitation rights to his child and his films should be boycotted. A strong message has to be sent to people like him - being a "rich" parent doesn't mean you can treat your child any way you feel like - at any time you feel like.

Even though he and ex-wife, Kim Basinger, is in the middle of a nasty custody and visitation battle over daughter Ireland for the past couple years, it certainly does not give him the right to off-load his frustrations on his own child in this manner. There is simply NO excuse for it. Kim Basinger should, at all costs, protect her daughter from this type of abuse.

Is there any wonder that Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner, Maren Nelson, has temporarily barred Mr. Baldwin from having any contact with his child - after she heard his hate-filled outburst. The Commissioner should be highly commended for taking this action (he would not be able to see his child on "Friday the 20th") and at a court hearing on 4th May, Mr. "Thoughtless Little Pig" could lose all contact and visitation rights, permanently.

When you listen to the actual audio, you can clearly tell he is not simply "angry" or even "drunk" - he seems to really believe in what he says and feels.

Talk show host, Don Imus, recently called players of the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team "nappy-headed hos" and after overwhelmingly negative responses from various groups and corporations, he was suspended and then fired. He was made to feel the consequences of his actions - even though he apologized for his remarks several times.

After Mel Gibson's well-publicized anti-Semitic tirade and drunk-driving arrest in July 2006, he was made to feel some of the consequences of his actions - but not much - as his directed-film "Apocalypto" still topped the box office back in December 2006, with U.S $14.2 Million.

I certainly look forward to Mr. Baldwin also "feeling" the consequences of his actions.

How To Use An Image In Your Gmail Signature

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 17:49:00 +0000

As of the time of this article, Gmail still does not allow you to use images in your signatures - which is really for security reasons as placing HTML codes in signatures can lead to abuse and the transmission of viruses. So for the time being, Gmail will only allow you to use plain text as your signature - which many people use right now.

There is however, a manual way to add an image to your existing text signature in Gmail, or even as the header of your email.

Here's how:

1) First create your image and upload it to any free image hosting service, such as Photobucket.

2) When your image is uploaded, simply copy the entire image itself as you see it on the page.

3) Create a new message in Gmail and paste in the image anywhere you want. Make sure the image is loading properly.

4) Type in a subject line such as "Email Sig" or anything else that will identify the contents of the email.

5) Click "Save Now", which saves the message as a "Draft".

Now, anytime you want to send out an email with your special image, all you have to do is first open up the draft message, copy the image and then paste it anywhere in your new message.

There may be other ways to accomplish this in Gmail, but the above method works and does not take very long to set up.

Now go ahead and spice up those Gmails!

Enjoyed this article? Follow me on Twitter for more exclusive tips and useful articles. Then be sure to get the Horizon Toolbar for quick access to this Blog anytime. It's free and loaded with useful features such as 24/7 news, e-mail notifier, radio, weather, popup blocker and more!

How To Configure ZoneAlarm Free Edition For Use With A Network

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:56:00 +0000

ZoneAlarm Free Edition works well on a stand-alone PC and is an excellent personal firewall. However, if you connect that same PC to a network (with another PC or laptop) you'll soon realise that ZoneAlarm will not let you see or access your network. ZoneAlarm is in fact doing its job - blocking "unauthorized" incoming attempts to access your PC. The key word here is "unauthorized". To get ZoneAlarm to recognise your network and allow access between PCs, you will have to give ZoneAlarm information about your network so it will then become "authorized".

This sounds simple enough, but it is in fact very tricky for the "average Joe" to configure this when you are using ZoneAlarm Free Edition. (ZoneAlarm Pro Edition is better suited for use on networked PCs).

Here are complete instructions on how to authorize your network on ZoneAlarm Free Edition.

We will be using 2 PCs on a simple home-network for this tutorial and a dial-up internet connection. The instructions and explanations will be as non-technical as possible and you can read more about networks here.

The gateway PC is running Windows XP Home and the Client PC is running Windows XP Professional. Both PCs have been connected via network cable and the Gateway PC has been configured to share it's dial-up internet connection with the Client PC, along with file and printer sharing.

1) Install the very latest version of ZoneAlarm Free Edition on both PCs. When you then try to share / access files on the network, it fails right away. The Client PC is also unable to access the internet through the Gateway PC.

2) You will need to find out the IP address (or range of addresses) for each of the PCs. On our Gateway PC, we were able to find this out by right-clicking on our network connection (Control Panel > Network Connections) and selecting "Properties". In the "General" tab, we then clicked on "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" and then clicked the "Properties" button. We saw an IP address in this format - 192.xxx.x.x. We will be using this as the IP address for our Gateway PC.

3) We then tried to follow the same procedure on the Client PC to ascertain its IP address, but we ran into a problem. The Client PC was set to "Obtain an IP address automatically" and therefore this did not help us to see its IP address. We went back to the Gateway PC where ZoneAlarm was already running and looked at its log file (double-click the ZoneAlarm icon near your PC's clock, click on "Alerts & Logs" and then click the "Log Viewer" tab). We were able to see that a particular IP address was consistently being blocked. This, we figured out, belonged to the Client PC. So we now have IP addresses for both PCs.

4) Open ZoneAlarm on the Gateway PC, click on "Firewall" and then "Zones". This is where we will enter in the IP address of the Client PC, thereby giving it permission to access the Gateway PC. Then click on the "Add >>" button and (in our case), click on "IP Address". If you have an "IP Range", you would select that instead. In the dialog box that comes up, be sure that the Zone is set to "Trusted" and then type in the IP address of the Client PC. Then you must also type in a description (example: Home Network). If you do not do this, you will be unable to proceed. You have now successfully added the Client PC to the "Trusted" Zone of the Gateway PC. At this point we went over to the Client PC and tried to access files from the Gateway PC - success. We then tried to access the internet through the Gateway PC - failure.

5) The next step we did was to open ZoneAlarm on the Gateway PC and click on "Firewall" and then "Main". Set the "Internet Zone Security" to "Medium" (which allows your PC to be visible but still be protected) and then do the same for the "Trusted Zone Security".

6) We then went back over to the Client PC and tried accessing the internet - success! We have now successfully configured ZoneAlarm Free Edition on our Gateway PC - allowing the Client PC to gain access to it and share files, printer and internet. Once your Gateway PC is protected and providing you with useful alerts, it is not necessary to have ZoneAlarm running on the Client PC. However, we will go even further for this tutorial and configure ZoneAlarm on the Client PC as well.

7) At this point, we went over to the Client PC and followed step 4) making sure we typed in the IP address of the Gateway PC instead. We then wrapped up by following step 5).

Both PCs were then restarted and complete tests were done.

ZoneAlarm Free Edition was running successfully on both PCs which were networked together. The Gateway PC can access files on the Client PC and vice-versa. The Client PC can utilize the printer connected to the Gateway PC and it can also access the internet through the Gateway PC.

As stated earlier, this process is tricky - but not impossible to accomplish.

Based on your particular network setup and the number of computers involved, the steps outlined above may not work for you, but it is worth the effort to have ZoneAlarm's firewall protection.

The U.S $500 Million Curse

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 22:12:00 +0000

When Anna Nicole Smith married oil-billionaire, J. Howard Marshall in 1994 (63 years her senior), she probably never thought her life and the life of others around her, would turn into such a tragedy - just 13 years later. After Marshall's death in 1995, Anna claimed he promised her half of his U.S $1.6 Billion fortune. Is this where the "curse" began?

Think about this for a minute - after Anna was "promised" half of Marshall's fortune, she soon began suffering with her health, career, finances (she filed for bankruptcy in 1996), legal battles and drug-use - only to name a few. Marshall's own son, E. Pierce Marshall, died battling Anna over his father's fortune, Anna's son Daniel died under suspicious circumstances (mere days after the birth of her daughter, Dannielynn) and then came the suspicious death of Anna herself (at age 39). No less than 6 men subsequently came out of the woodwork, all claiming they were the father of Dannielynn! But is this the end of the "U.S $500 Million Curse"?

Absolutely not.

If you were one of the many who were glued to their TV set this past week looking at the court-battle over Anna's remains, you would see why the "curse" is still very much alive - despite people dying around it. The 3 main parties involved in the legal-wranglings include Anna's mother, Virgie Arthur, Howard K. Stern and Larry Birkhead. Judge Larry Seidlin in Florida indicated that the focus of everyone's interest should now be directed to the well-being of Anna's little girl, Dannielynn. True, but for the parties involved, does a US $500 Million pay-day trump that? Judge Seidlin on 22nd February 2007 made an emotional ruling (complete with tears) that he wants Anna buried next to her son, Daniel in the Bahamas. It is what Anna would have wanted - she had even purchased a plot next to Daniel before she died. Judge Seidlin received alot of criticism for his unconventional antics during the hearings, but he was fair throughout (as with his final ruling) and you got the impression he was also sincere (despite rumors he is seeking a "Judge Judy"-type TV show). When one of Virgie's lawyers briefly collapsed in court, Judge Seidlin promptly called a recess and whipped out his own credit card to pay for orange juice for the diabetic lawyer. Sure, the cameras were on and rolling - but there was an air of sincerity about the Judge. Later on when the same lawyer was speaking to a witness, the Judge was softly heard advising him to take his time and not get too excited.

Less than an hour after Judge Seidlin's ruling, all 3 parties involved in the hearings came out with their lawyers for a brief press conference - showing a united-front and suggesting everything would be worked out amicably and everyone had agreed to have Anna buried next to her son in the Bahamas. Right. Sure. Is that why Anna's mother later sent her lawyers to appeal Judge Seidlin's decision? She wants Anna buried in Texas and she also wants to exhume Daniel's remains in the Bahamas and have it moved to Texas! During their testimonies, Virgie, Howard and Larry all admitted under oath that they profited from Anna in one form or another (Howard went as far as to admit that for a long time, his only source of income was Anna!). Larry admitted he sold many of Anna's pictures for profit as her photographer. There is also a rumor that Howard talked Anna into selling photos of Daniel and her new baby - soon after Daniel died!). So these people all clearly profited from Anna while she was alive - so are their intentions now to seek profit from Anna's death? Anna's own mother, Virgie, admitted that she took along a journalist from "Splash" to film her visit of Daniel's grave in the Bahamas. Was Virgie paid for this video? She said "no" during her testimony - but later came back and admitted that her round-trip to the Bahamas was paid for by the "Splash" journalist. Who knows what other compensation she received. This ties well into the video that was played during the court hearings, showing Anna blasting her mother for trying to profit off her and Daniel. Anna knew exactly what was going on even then - and probably knows what is taking place now, after her death.

Before Anna died, she named Howard as "Executor" in her Will. According to Florida law, an "Executor" is entitled to 6% of the awarded-fortune. Do the math on 6% of U.S $500 Million.

As the battle over where to bury Anna continues (more than 2 weeks since her death), other court proceedings are already on the way to prove that Larry Birkhead is the biological father of Dannielynn (never mind the fact that Howard is currently recognised as Dannielynn's father in the Bahamas). The matter of exactly how much of Marshall's fortune will eventually go to Dannielynn (and who gets control of it) is yet to be finalized. Sadly, the battle over Marshall's millions will take us into the new decade - and beyond.

This all reminds me of the title of a classic movie with James Cagney - "Angels With Dirty Faces". Everyone is weeping for Anna and trying to show an angelic-front, but they all have dirty motives behind it.

When A Mountain Lion Attacks

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 17:30:00 +0000

This is an amazing story about "courage" and "loyalty".

A 65-year old woman, Nell Hamm, has been credited with saving her husband's life (Jim Hamm - 70) in San Francisco - when a vicious mountain lion pounced on Jim and wrestled him to the ground while they were both hiking in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. The mountain lion opened its mouth and put Jim's head between its powerful jaws - and locked down.

"He didn't scream. It was a different, horrible plea for help, and I turned around, and by then the cat had wrestled Jim to the ground", said Nell - later at a hospital where her husband was being treated.

Nell picked up a 4-inch wide log and started to relentlessly beat the mountain lion - but to no avail. While Jim's head was still inside the lion's jaws, he spoke to his wife - telling her he had a pen in his pocket that she can use to poke the lion's eye. Nell reached for the pen and to her surprise, the pen bent after a few jabs into the lion's eye! She then picked up the log again and continued to beat the lion.

Eventually, the lion let go of its powerful jaw-grip on Jim's head. Having tasted blood, the lion stood there and looked at Nell - who was screaming and waving around her log in the lion's direction. The lion then simply walked away - leaving Nell and her badly wounded husband.

The couple would be celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary next month in New Zealand and before this horrific incident, neither of them had seen a mountain lion - even though they were both experienced hikers.

Nell strongly encouraged her husband to get up and walk away from the bloody scene. She gathered more logs and branches around them, in case other lions were in the area. They waited until a Park Ranger came around and they were rescued. Game Wardens then closed off the Park and released the hounds to track the lion. They were unsure how long it would take to actually locate the lion, but instead of coming across one lion, they came across two! The pair of lions were spotted not far from the scene of the incident and they were both shot and killed. Their bodies will be flown to a State Forensics Lab in hopes of determining whether any of them were directly responsible for Jim's brutal attack.

Jim has since undergone surgery for multiple lacerations on his head and body. His lips had to also be stitched back together and he has suffered puncture wounds as well as a torn scalp.

If Nell had ran away screaming for her life when the lion attacked her husband, there would have been no way he would have survived - but she stuck by her husband's side and fought hard to save his life. Nell displayed immense "courage" and "loyalty". In an age where marriage is usually short-lived and generally treated as "just something fun to do" (remember Britney Spears and Jason Alexander's 55-hour marriage?), this is a truly wonderful story and really highlights what marriage is supposed to be about.

Here's wishing all the best to Nell and Jim Hamm.

Who Is To Blame In The Tragic Nintendo Wii Contest?

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 20:55:00 +0000

"No Big Deal - Drink Water For A Nintendo Wii". That is exactly what 28-year old Jennifer Strange (mother of 3 kids) probably thought when she entered the "Hold Your Wee For A Wii" contest at Radio Station KDND 107.9 on January 12th in Sacremento, California. She wanted to please her kids by winning the much-sought-after Nintendo Wii Video Game Console. ("Wii" is pronounced as "We").

The premise was simple - win a water-drinking contest without having to use the bathroom and take home a Nintendo Wii to your family - "simple" that is, until she died.

About 18 Contestants were initially given 8-Oz bottles of water every 15 minutes to drink. "They were small little half-pint bottles, so we thought it was going to be easy," said fellow Contestant James Ybarra. He quit after only 5 bottles. "My bladder couldn't handle it anymore", he said. "They told us if you don't feel like you can do this, don't put your health at risk." After quitting, the remaining Contestants, including Jennifer Strange, were provided with even larger bottles of water to drink.

Eventually, she gave in and settled for the second-place prize: tickets to a Justin Timberlake concert. By that time, she may have consumed as much as 2 gallons of water (7.5 litres).

Assistant Coroner Ed Smith stated there was evidence "consistent with a water intoxication" in the death of Jennifer Strange. Shortly before she died, she told one of her Supervisors that her head was hurting really bad and she was also in tears.

Has anyone over at KDND 107.9 ever heard of a "small" search-engine named "GOOGLE"? Then why didn't anyone PROPERLY research the effects of water intoxication - or take the results of that research seriously? One of the top 3 results for "water intoxication" in Google shows "Too Much Water Can Kill You"! Try the search yourself. They should have also commissioned a doctor for medical advice on carrying out such a contest and have the doctor present during the event. Obviously, neither were done.

There is however, clear evidence that the on-air disc jockeys DID in fact know about the possible fatal nature of drinking too much water - a listener even called into the radio show to warn them. "Yeah, we're aware of that," one of the DJs responded. Another DJ said with a laugh "Yeah, they signed releases, so we're not responsible. We're OK." At one point, the DJs even alluded to a college student who died during a similar stunt in 2005! The Radio Station said its Staff were "stunned" to hear the tragic news that Jennifer Strange had died. Really? "Stunned"? Were they "stunned" during their on-air jokes about "signed releases" or afterwards?

KDND's Parent Company, Entercom/Sacramento, has since fired 10 employees involved with the fatal contest, including 3 of the DJs. The morning show that hosted the contest was also discontinued. No doubt this was all done as "damage control" - in an effort to keep their operating license.

So where exactly does the blame lie for this woman's death? With the Radio Station itself? With the DJs? With the woman who willingly allowed her body to be poisoned with too much water? Ultimately, the blame (to various degrees) lies with everyone involved - sadly, that also includes Jennifer Strange. Contestant James Ybarra could have also quite possibly ended up suffering the fatal consequences of water intoxication - had he not listened to his body in time, saying "enough water!".

In a world where publicity, sales and ratings rule, simply listening to your favorite Radio Station and participating in a contest to win a "fabulous" prize, can lead to your death.

An Attorney for the family of Jennifer Strange is now seeking to have the license for the offending Radio Station pulled. So much for "damage control".

Why Bill O'Reilly Is Right About Vermont

noreply@blogger.com (Arshad Y. Khan) — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:31:00 +0000

Bill O'Reilly is once again fuming about Vermont's lack of sufficient justice when little kids are molested and sodomized. Here is why he is right.

Last year, Judge Edward Cashman in Vermont delivered a sentence of only 60 days in prison to a man who sodomized a 6-year old girl over 4 years! 60 days behind bars for mentally and physically scarring an innocent girl, possibly for life. Would you rest peacefully if this was your daughter or relative? - knowing in just 2 months' time the perpetrator would be out on the loose again - living life? Of course not. Neither did most Americans.

When the news broke about this blatant injustice, mounting pressure forced Judge Cashman to up the sentence to 3 years - an improvement, but nonetheless far too lenient when you consider the repeated crime that was committed against this little girl.

Flash forward now to Judge David Howard, again from Vermont. This Judge has recently sentenced a man who molested a 4-year old boy - at least 10 times - to "probation and mandatory treatment". This child molester already had a violent criminal history and was previously sentenced to prison for only 30 days for using a screwdriver in an attack on his own wife - in plain view of his own kids.

Sadly, this child molester is now "free" to do as he pleases - with no prison time. Thanks to Judge Howard and Prosecutor Andrew Costello - who cut a deal with the child molester so he could plead "guilty" to the charge and receive the "watered-down" sentence. There was so much "water" involved that it is hard to believe no one drowned!

Both Vermont and Minnesota practise what is known as "restorative justice" - meaning that it is better for society when both the accuser and the accused is "healed". Well what about "punishment should fit the crime"? Why has that been conveniently left out? Is "probation" the proper punishment for molesting an innocent 4-year old boy - at least 10 times? The phrase "restorative justice" should really be cut down to a single word - "restorative" - because there is NO justice done for those who have been violated and scarred for life.

Needless to say, Vermont has NOT approved "Jessica's Law" - which was passed in Florida in 2005 and ensures first-time child sex predators are sentenced to prison for a minimum of 25 years and a maximum of life.

Until all states pass a version of Jessica's Law and get really serious about putting away child molesters for a long time - your children remain in harm's way.