Peenie Wallie

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March 29, 2008

Young Bull Elk Foraging on Dead Grass

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 29, 2008 at 8:23 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Cold Busted

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 29, 2008 at 2:08 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 27, 2008

Connect a Laptop Hard Drive to a Desktop

I have a couple of laptop drives that I'd like to try to salvage, if possible. So, what I'll do first is attempt to read the drives with one of my desktop computers. This site explains how to connect a laptop drive to a desktop pc. So, I ordered a 2.5" to 3.5" IDE adapter off of eBay. They're pretty expensive though. Mine cost $3.45 (including shipping).

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 27, 2008 at 11:13 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Search Multiple Cities on Craigslist

Craigslist pretty much covers every city in the country,you can only search one city at a time. In some specific cases, you can search an area like "Orange County" or the "SF Bay Area". But, in Colorado, we don't have that option. You have to search Boulder. Then search Denver. Then search Colorado Springs, etc.

So, I wanted to find a way to search multiple cities on Craigslist and I stumbled across Craig's Little Helper. It's pretty slick. You can search multiple cities in multiple states. There are other sites that search multiple cities on Craigslist, I've since discovered. But this one seems to work fine for me.

Update: I tried using Crazed List instead, and I like it much better. The difference is that for Craig's Little Helper, if I searched multiple cities, I had to click on each city to see the results. (Not optimal). With Crazed List, all of the search results come up on one web page, sorted by city. Awesome. :)

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 27, 2008 at 10:03 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Germ Warfare in Peru

Some idiots filming a reality television show in Peru managed to kill off some natives that have lived with very little contact with the outside world. Apparently they spread the flu to some of the natives These people lived in the Amazon jungle on the banks of the Rio Alto Madre de Dios (High Mother of the Gods River). Although these tribes do use Peruvian currency, they still hunt birds with bows and arrows. Their lives have changed very little in the last 500 years. I was really surprised to see them, as I had no idea there were stone age cultures living in the Amazon.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 27, 2008 at 8:48 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Hillary in War-torn Bosnia

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 27, 2008 at 5:14 AM : Comments (1) | Permalink

March 26, 2008

Brother Fax-560 with Vonage VOIP

Tonight, I decided to try to set up my Brother FAX-560 Personal fax machine on my Vonage VOIP line. Unfortunately, I was less than successful. I was never able to successfully send or receive a fax. If the fax machine tries to receive a fax, it says "RECEIVE", but then never receives anything. If I try to send a fax, it tries to send the fax for about 15 seconds, then stops and prints out a nasty error message that says "NG: POOR LINE CONDITION". I jacked around with it for some time before calling Vonage. They suggested a few things, but so far nothing is working. Basically, it looks like there is a problem with the line quality.

Vonage suggested the following:
1) Set Resolution to "Standard". I was able to do this on the faxes that I attempted to send, but it didn't solve the problem.
2) Change Baud to 9600. I haven't been able to figure out how to do this.
3) Turn off Error Correction Mode(ECM). I haven't been able to figure out how to do this.
4) Set it up for Overseas mode. I tried this for a transmission test, but it didn't work. Same results.

Continue reading "Brother Fax-560 with Vonage VOIP"

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 26, 2008 at 10:53 PM : Comments (5) | Permalink

Disable Mouse Wheel Scrolling in Firefox

Every so often, when I'm surfing with the Firefox browser, I'll try to use my mouse wheel and then some stupid little icon pops up and the web page starts scrolling like a bad dream. If you want it to stop, go to Tools - Options - Advanced - General - Browsing and uncheck the box beside "Use Autoscrolling". You're welcome. ;)

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 26, 2008 at 10:46 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Read My Lips - I Am A Liar

With Hillary telling non-stop lies in her desperate "Tonya Harding" approach to victory, I felt it might be helpful to attempt to chronicle the lies:

1. Foreign experience boasts of her bullet-dodging trip to Tuzla in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The truth is an 8 year old girl read her a poem on the tarmac, as she stood there with her teenage daughter, Sinbad, and Sheryl Crow.

2. As for Hillary's claim on CNN that "I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland", obviously that's not true. Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey said "Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province."

3. Hillary said she was always against NAFTA, but the truth is she supported it. Hillary helped pass NAFTA in 1993.

4. Hillary has claimed she played a pivotal role in forging the children’s health insurance plan (S-CHIP) when she and Bill actually fought against it and tried to have it killed.

5. Hillary bragged that she was the first to call the disaster in Darfur “genocide� when several other senators had done so in 2004, while her first press statement referring to Darfur as “genocide� wasn’t until March 2006.

6. Hillary said she'd release her income tax returns, but she hasn't and she won't. Why? Because her word means nothing. Obama recently posted 6 years of tax returns on the internet. Clinton buried hers in a tomb in Bosnia.

7. Hillary said that Chelsea was jogging around the World Trade Center and happened to duck into a coffee shop as the 9/11 attacks occurred, saving her life. Just another fabrication, as it turns out. Even Chelsea admits wasn't true.

8. Hillary claimed she was on the intramural soccer team at her Middle School, and a member of an un-named minority, whom she merely describes as being "not born in this country," said to her "I've always wanted to beat a spoiled white American's ass." Not surprisingly, her school had no such team for females.

9. Hillary claimed that she attempted to join the marines. Another complete and utter fabrication made from whole cloth..

10. Hillary even lied about her own name, claiming she was named after the famous mountain climber, Sir Edmund Hillary. The only problem is that Sir Edmund Hillary reached Mount Everest's summit and became famous in 1953. When Hillary Rodham Clinton was born October 26, 1947, Sir Edmund Hillary was an unknown New Zealand beekeeper and an amateur mountain climber on the other side of the globe. Hillary was nearly 7 when Sir Edmund became famous.

Hillary Clinton is a pathological liar, incapable of telling the truth.

Maybe it's all a ploy. Maybe she's flagrantly lying to draw our attention away from all of the skeletons crammed in her closet, like Whitewater, Travelgate, Vince Foster's "suicide", and her cataclysmic national healthcare debacle.

Update: When Hillary flagrantly lied and claimed they had released all of the documents related to Whitewater, it was such a brash and obvious lie that the White House was forced to acknowledge she had been 'mistaken', leading Times' columnist Bill Safire to label Hillary Clinton as "a congenital liar."

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 26, 2008 at 12:45 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Outlook Missing BCC Field

Now, I notice that I've lost my BCC field in MS Outlook. The fix is to click on the "down arrow" beside the "options" button in Outlook and select "BCC". This solves the problem one and for all. More details here.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 26, 2008 at 11:56 AM : Comments (1) | Permalink

March 25, 2008

Has D.B. Cooper's Parachute Been Discovered?

Feds check parachute for D.B. Cooper link

"The FBI in Seattle has begun analysis of a long-buried parachute - the same type used by skyjacker D.B. Cooper when he jumped from an Northwest Orient Airlines 727 with a 25 pound money bag containing $200,000 dollars ransom on Thanksgiving eve 1971.

The children of a Clark County contractor found the parachute buried in a field that their father has recently plowed for a road. The chute is white and conical shaped, dirty and deteriorated. Seattle Agent Larry Carr will clean it and search for a label, which could match the chute to a companion reserve chute left behind by Cooper in the plane.

The Clark County property owner says the plow blade unearthed something. He didn't notice it at first, but later his children, playing there, saw some cloth sticking above the earth. They pulled on it, and more cloth came out. They kept pulling, until the chute's shroud lines appeared. They cut them and notified the FBI in Seattle. Part of the chute remains buried in the field and will need to be dug out with heavy equipment.

Agent Carr showed KOIN other evidence items in his possession, including Cooper's clip-on tie and clasp, from which FBI forensics experts were able to extract the hijacker's DNA. The agency is releasing this information to the public, hoping it will produce more information about the hijacking case."

Update: This is apparently not the parachute used by Dan Cooper (a.k.a. D.B.Cooper).

Previous article on D.B. Cooper.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 25, 2008 at 8:02 PM : Comments (2) | Permalink

Annoying IE Clicking Sound

If you're going to run Windows, you have to run IE at least part of the time because Windows uses IE for updates. Also, I develop web pages on occasion, so you have to test under multiple browsers; so, normally, I use Firefox, but I can't get away from using IE sometimes. Microsoft tricked me into installing IE 7 because I wasn't paying attention when I was doing all my Windows Updates (nice job, jackasses). But, what's done is done. First of all, I'm going to make IE stop that annoying clicking.

Continue reading "Annoying IE Clicking Sound"

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 25, 2008 at 2:44 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Outlook Contact/Address Book problem

OK. Now, my addresses are gone. It says "The address list could not be displayed. The contacts folder associated with this address list could not be opened."

Oh my GOD I hate Outlook. I've had problems with this before, so I'm going ot review what I figured out the Outlook Contacts last time.

It looks like I have "Contacts", but not addresses. So, after doing some research on the difference between "Contacts" vs. "Personal Address Book", it looks like the Contacts are stored in the .pst files, but the "Personal Address Book" is stored as a .wab file.

Hmm. But, the more I look at the Contacts section, I see that I have the email addresses in there. So, I think I have everything I need, I just think it isn't showing up for some reason.

Let's make one thing clear - Microsoft has royally fucked this up. It should not be that hard. The email addresses should just appear and if they don't then these people are morons. I'll figure it out, like I always do, sorting through their poor design, but I swear to go I hate those idiots in Redmond.

Microsoft suggests this solution.

Continue reading "Outlook Contact/Address Book problem"

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 25, 2008 at 11:38 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Windows XP Search Companion Sucks

If you hate Windows XP Search Companion half as much as I do, then you'll want it to go away. Immediately. Entirely. Fortunately, there is a way.

You can use the Windows XP Powertoy TweakUI to set Explorer to use the "Classic Search" and it's goodbye to the Retarded Search Companion forever.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 25, 2008 at 11:17 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Windows Genuine Headache

After giving up on trying to repair my previous installation of Windows XP, and recovering my old data files using a Linux live CD, I did a clean re-install of Windows XP with Service Pack 2. During setup, the hard drive was formatted (regular, not quick).

Windows installed without incident. After applying about 90 security updates, I rebooted the computer, and got the following error message:

Windows Product Activation
A problem is preventing Windows from accurately checking the license for this computer. Error Code: 0x80090006.

When I try to log in, I get taken back to the logon screen, with the same error message. Over and over and over.

Related Posts:

• "Ubuntu" February 27, 2008

• "Winodws" March 20, 2008

• "PC Linux OS 2007" March 24, 2008

• "Windows Genuine Headache" March 25, 2008

"Display Settings" April 13, 2008

Posted by Robert Racansky on March 25, 2008 at 9:55 AM : Comments (3) | Permalink

Unable to Start Processing Services

Oh my God I hate Outlook. It sucks so bad. I managed to find all of my old .pst files and put them in the right directory. Then, I opened the .pst files in Outlook. Of course, all of my calendars and contacts are gone. God I hate Outlook.

Now, I'm getting the message "Unable to Start Processing Services". It said it couldn't find the Outlook.pst file, apparently.

The problem is that the pst file appears to contain email messages, contacts, tasks, and calendar entries.

What a disaster. I renamed the .pst file, and now it's working, and I don't feel like dealing with it any more. God I hate Outlook.

In the Navigation pane, there's a bung of Favorite Folders I never use. Apparently you can't get rid of them. Sucks.
Oh well, at least Outlook is working for now.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 25, 2008 at 9:44 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 24, 2008

Recovering Windows Files With PC Linux OS 2007

After I gave up on trying to recover my Windows XP PC, I decided to do a clean re-install. However, I needed to save the data files I had on that computer.

I had a PC Linux OS 2007 CD with me. By default, PC Linux OS will boot as a "Live CD." Basically, this means that the entire operating systems loads from the CD and runs in memory, requiring no read or write access to the hard drive. Live CDs have a lot of uses, which I'll go into some time in the future.

Once loaded, the PC Linux OS desktop looks similar to a Windows desktop. Clicking on the "My Computer" icon will allow you to browse the hard drive, just like in Windows. Since the Live CD cannot write to the drive, there is no risk of damaging the operating system installed on that hard drive. However, you can read (and copy) the files that are there.

Continue reading "Recovering Windows Files With PC Linux OS 2007"

Posted by Robert Racansky on March 24, 2008 at 1:58 PM : Comments (2) | Permalink

Nutraloaf

6 slices whole wheat bread, finely chopped
4 ounces imitation cheddar cheese, finely grated
4 ounces raw carrots, finely grated
12 ounces spinach, canned, drained
2 cups dried Great Northern Beans, soaked, cooked and drained
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 ounces potato flakes, dehydrated
6 ounces tomato paste
4 ounces raisins

Mix all ingredients in a 12-quart mixing bowl. Make sure all wet items are drained. Mix until stiff, just moist enough to spread. Form three loaves in glazed bread pans. Place loaf pans in the oven on a sheet pan filled with water, to keep the bottom of the loaves from burning. Bake at 325 degrees in a convection oven for approximately 45 minutes. The loaf will start to pull away from the sides of the bread pan when done.

This makes 3 loaves. Via TalkLeft.

Posted by Robert Racansky on March 24, 2008 at 9:22 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 23, 2008

AnalogX DLLArchive

I ran some shareware utility called AnalogX DLLArchive. Big mistake. I thought that I'd be clever and improve the performance of my PC. Instead, I'm left wondering what the h3ll went wrong and trying to decide if it wouldn't be easier to just re-install the O/S. I tried undoing the DLL archive, but this was only partially successful. Then, I tried doing a System Restore, but no dice. I can't get system restore to work, even though it's turned on for all drives and the service is running. My Remote Desktop quit working. It actually disappeared so that when I right-clicked on My Computer, there was no longer a "remote" tab at all. This link got my Remote access tab to reappear.

This problem is likely caused by a missing or corrupt DLL. You will need access to the install files for Windows XP. You will then need to perform the following while having access to the install files.

Continue reading "AnalogX DLLArchive"

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 23, 2008 at 8:58 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink

Hillary in Bosnia

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 23, 2008 at 3:54 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Happy Easter

Well, the good thing is she's not spoiled. Happy Easter!

Here's Jen with her life-size Easter Bunny.

The elk came through this morning. This looks to be a yearling eating pine needles. Jasmine (kitty) was very interested in the elk and studied the herd diligently from her lookout on the indoor pine tree.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 23, 2008 at 8:16 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 22, 2008

Higher Resolution YouTube Videos

http://reddit.com/info/6csld/comments/

Add "&fmt=18" to the end of your YouTube URL's to get the highest resolution version of the video.

Or, go to YouTube.com and click 'Account' at the top, then click 'Video Playback Quality' at the bottom, then click 'I have a fast connection. Always play higher-quality video when it's available. Then every video will play in higher resolution if a higher resolution copy is available.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 22, 2008 at 8:12 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Typical White Person

Thank God we finally have a black man running for president that can help American improve race relations in this country. He's certainly on the right track by calling his grandmother a "typical white person". Like, if Hillary had said her maid was a "typical black person", she'd have been publicly castigated and lambasted, and justifiably so. But for Obama to say it, somehow it hardly even makes a ripple in the media. I'm going to order my shirt now on the off chance that he wins.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 22, 2008 at 12:01 AM : Comments (1) | Permalink

March 21, 2008

The Flip Video Camera

Apparently, this Flip Video Camera is the bomb. It's a simple stripped-down idiot-proof video camera. It shoots 30 frames per second at 640 x 480 resolution. It has no optical zoom and only a 1.5" screen. It holds 1 hour of video, but doesn't support any memory cards (SD, CF, etc.) Yet somehow, this thing has captured 13% of the camcorder market. I think I may need one.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 21, 2008 at 11:34 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink

Bose 901 Speakers

I'm trying to get my Bose 901 Series VI Speakers hooked up to my Yamaha RX-V995 Home Theater Receiver. It's a little bit tricky because you have to connect the Bose 901 Series VI Active Equalizer properly to get the speakers to sound right and this is the part I'm struggling with.

According to the Bose 901 Series VI Owner's Guide:

"There are two options for connecting the equalizer. Your choice depends on the type of receiver you own and whether you plan to use the system primarily for stereo or for home theater enjoyment."

So, my primary use is going to be for "home theater enjoyment", presumably. Then I find this little gem:

"Note: If your receiver is designed for home theater use, it may not have a Tape Monitor switch. If not, you must use a PRE AMP OUT/MAIN AMP IN connection. This may also be called the ADAPTER or SIGNAL PROCESSOR connection. Refer to “Home theater use (PRE-AMP OUT/MAIN AMP IN)� on page 10 for instructions on how to connect for home theater use."

Bingo. That's my problem, in a nutshell. I don't have a Tape Monitor switch on my Yamaha receiver. The next note doesn't give me a warm-fuzzy feeling:

"Note: If your receiver does not have this PRE AMP OUT/MAIN AMP IN section, the 901 speakers will not be usable in your home theater system."

So, I'm trying to figure out if I can even use this silly receiver with these speakers. The receiver cost about a grand, so you'd think it would have pretty much everything under the sun, but there's certainly nothing that's clearly labeled "pre-amp in" and "pre-amp out" back there.

So, now I'm looking at the Yamaha RX-V995 Owner's Manual to see what the deal is here.

"If for some reason you wish to drive the main speakers with your existing amplifier, the following terminals are available for connecting external amplifier(s) to this unit:
Main Terminals - These terminals are for main channel line output. If you drive main speakers with an external stereo power amplifier, connect the input terminals of the external amplifier (MAIN IN or AUX terminals of an amplifier or receiver) to these terminals. There is no connection to these terminals when you use the built-in amplifier. Output signals from the MAIN terminals are affected by the use of BASS, TREBLE, BALANCE controls, BASS EXTENSION button and the TONE BYPASS button. Notes: If an external power amplifier is connected to the MAIN, CENTER, or REAR output terminals, do not use the corresponding SPEAKERS terminals (MAIN, CENTER, or REAR)."

So, this sounds like bad news. It sounds like I have pre-amp out, but not pre-amp in.

Hmmm. Looks like Yamaha knows that this is an issue. According to Yamaha:

"Can I use my Bose 901 speakers with my Yamaha AV or Stereo Receiver?

Bose 901 speakers are designed to be used with their special equalizer and require a ‘Pre-Out Main-In Coupler’ or ‘Tape Monitor’ connection. The compatible models are the RX-797 (Pre-Out/Main-In), RX-497 (Tape Monitor), RX-397 (Tape Monitor), AX-596 (Pre-Out/Main-In)."

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 21, 2008 at 2:39 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 20, 2008

The Religion of Global Warming

The Mystery of Global Warming's Missing Heat

"Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years."

Not only have the oceans not been getting warmer, but "There has been a very slight cooling...", according to Josh Willis at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Now, to a scientist, this wouldn't be a problem. But to the Ecoterrorist Global Warming zealots, this presents a huge problem. It's roughly on par with Galileo saying the Earth revolves around the sun or Darwin discussing the origin and evolution of the species(plural).

Of course, the fanatical lunatics don't miss a beat. They don't announce that the Earth isn't warming. What they do instead is hypothesize ad nauseum on where the "extra heat" is going. You just have to accept on faith that there is extra heat, so now they're planning on moving the thermometers. Maybe they should throw them all in a volcano?

Global Warming isn't science. A scientists performs experiments, objectively evaluates the data, and then attempts to explain the results with a hypothesis or theory that fits the results. That process does not remotely resemble what the Global Warming Ecoterrorists are doing. They're saying "I know the earth is getting warmer" and then when they can't prove that with their thermometers, they start thinking about where to move the thermometers. That's not science. That's faith.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 20, 2008 at 1:55 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

BigDog - DARPA's New Toy

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 20, 2008 at 1:22 PM : Comments (1) | Permalink

Windows

A while back, I wrote about the problem I had with Ubuntu, and my decision to re-install Windows XP on my workstation at home.

After installing the Windows updates for March 2008, my home computer will not start up properly.

It will go through POST (power on self test) normally. But instead of starting Windows, I am presented with a menu for

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Last Known Good Configuration
Start Windows Normally

No matter which option I select, the computer will just POST again.

At least my MacBook hasn't let me down yet.

Continue reading "Windows"

Posted by Robert Racansky on March 20, 2008 at 11:40 AM : Comments (1) | Permalink

March 19, 2008

Hillary Poised to Destroy the Democratic Party

That the Democratic party is precariously close to imploding should come as no surprise to anyone that knows Hillary. It isn't like we didn't see this coming.

Her candidacy is a joke. She is a talented and accomplished liar. She voted for the war in Iraq before she was against it. She was in favor of NAFTA before she was against it. She won't release her income tax returns. She has foreign policy experience but no one can quite seem to enunciate clearly what that experience might be, aside from receiving a tea kettle in Ireland and traveling to Bosnia with Sinbad.

Over the next few months, it will become increasingly clear that Clinton will lose the popular vote.

As for the delegates, at this point, no one in the Democratic party has a clue what to do about the delegates for Michigan and Florida.

Obama took his name off the ballot in Michigan, but not in Florida. The Republican legislature in Florida moved their primary up before Super Tuesday, in violation of the Democratic party rules, but the Democrats voted with them on the measure.

Hillary, of course, wants to seat any delegates in her favor and drown the others in the Gulf of Mexico or the Great Lakes.

When it is clear that Obama has won the popular vote and the delegates, Hillary will attempt to steal the election by convincing the super delegates to go against the will of the people and the delegates.

All of this fratricidal bickering helps no one but the Republicans. Some pundits suggest that McCain's time out of the limelight works to his detriment. I respectfully disagree. The Democrats will tarnish no one but themselves with their two leading candidates duking it out until the day of the election.

At a time when the Democratic party is in dire need of unity and altruism, what the party finds instead is a peurile, narcissistic, monster that doesn't know when to quit; "A dog that doesn't know when to let go of the bone", as we say in the South.

At a time when the Democrats should be focusing on supporting the dollar or proposing an Olympic boycott in response to China's massacre of unarmed civilians in Tibet, Obama is defending his pastor and Hillary is chronicling her position(s) on NAFTA.

Hillary reminds me of Hitler in the waning days of WWII in Europe. Hitler refused to surrender even as the Russians fought block by block through Berlin, reducing the city to rubble.

Hillary is no better. Nothing matters but her own futile struggle for power. And if she has to destroy the Democratic party in the process, then it's a price she's willing to pay.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 19, 2008 at 9:02 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Dear Easter Bunny

Dear Easter Bunny,

For Easter, please bring me a Dragonfly mylittlepetshop.I have not seen them anywhere else except on this website. If you cannot get this in time for Easter you could order him and when he gets here you could come by my house with him later as my Easter toy.

Love,
Jennifer

P.S. - I will leave you some candy next to my Easter basket.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on March 19, 2008 at 2:24 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

A Marbled Iceberg

This image was taken by Norwegian fisherman Øyvind Tangen onboard the “G.O.Sars� of a rare marbled iceberg.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 19, 2008 at 1:55 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Jennifer Plays the Birdbath

Jennifer playing with a birdbath synthesizer she created with her Radio Shack Electronic Project Lab.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on March 19, 2008 at 1:47 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Supreme Court Debates 2nd Amendment

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080318/D8VG2PR00.html

"Americans have a right to own guns, Supreme Court justices declared Tuesday in a historic and lively debate that could lead to the most significant interpretation of the Second Amendment since its ratification two centuries ago.

Governments have a right to regulate those firearms, a majority of justices seemed to agree. But there was less apparent agreement on the case they were arguing: whether Washington's ban on handguns goes too far."

The affirmation that the 2nd Amendment is an individual right, as opposed to a collective right is a good start, but if they rule that the government has the right to restrict the 2nd Amendment and they allow the D.C. ban on handguns to stand, then the 2nd Amendment will be meaningless. In the final analysis, SCOTUS has to rule that the D.C. ban is an unconstitutional intrusion on the individual's right to bear arms.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 19, 2008 at 11:14 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 18, 2008

Mummified Dinosaur Discovered in North Dakota

Scientists have recovered a mummified dinosaur in the badlands of North Dakota. The dinosaur, recovered from Hell Creek, is unique in that it was mummified before it was fossilized. So, basically, the entire dinosaur has been fossilized, including the skin and muscle tissue, not just bones and teeth. The dinosaur, named Dakota, is one of only 4 mummified dinosaurs ever discovered. Cat-scans of the tail section have already revealed many surprises about about the muscle and skeletal structure.

National Geograph photos of Dakota.
National Geographic videos of Dakota.
1. What is a Dino mummy?
2. Cat-Scanning the Dino mummy.

The fossil was originally discovered by Tyler Lyson on his Uncle's ranch in 1999. It was unearthed in 2004, but was only recently moved into North Dakota's state museum. Now that they have been able to do some preliminary work on the dinosaur, they have announced that the genus is Edmontosaurus. The dinosaur is a hadrosaur, also known as a duck-billed dinosaur. So far, only the genus has been identified. The species has not been identified at this point.

More details here.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 18, 2008 at 11:55 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Free 2D Animator Software

There's a cool web utility in Beta release called Aniboom ShapeShifter. The have an online ShapeShifter tutorial. You can view some ShapeShifter animations here.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 18, 2008 at 9:50 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 17, 2008

Last Man Standing

There's only one known surviving American veteran of WWI. Frank Woodruff Buckles is 107 years old and lives outside of Charles Town, West Virginia. Somehow, he's still sharp as a tack after all of these years.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 17, 2008 at 10:13 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

"I shot down Saint Exupéry" says German ex-pilot

The disappearance of Antoine de Saint Exupéry, the author of The Little Prince has always been a mystery. He was flying a P-38 Lightning over the coast of occupied France on a reconnaissance mission when he disappeared on July 31, 1944. His flight was sort of a gimme. They threw him a bone and let him fly the sporty P-38 Lightning on a "reconnaissance" mission largely in deference to his celebrity status as a famous author. Unfortunately, he was flying too low and not paying attention and was shot down by Horst Rippert, a German aviator in a Messerschmitt 109.

Rippert, whose story is told in Saint Exupéry, L'Ultime Secret, described how he was patrolling in his Messerschmitt 109 and found the lone Lightning heading along the Mediterranean coast from German occupied Toulon to Marseilles. The pilot was flying carelessly, as if enjoying himself, at a vulnerable 6,000 feet rather than the safer high altitude used for reconnaissance, he said.

"If you were used to hard combat flying, that was not normal... He was looking around," Rippert told the authors. "A piece of cake. He was wasn't bothered about my presence. I said to myself, 'Ok old chap, if you don't clear out, I'm going to pot you. I dived towards him and fired, not at the fuselage but at the wings. I hit him. The kite ditched, hit the water, smashed up. No-one baled out.

"It would have been impossible to know that it was Exupéry. I hoped and still hope that it was not him," Rippert continued. "In our youth, at school, we all read him and adored his books.. He knew admirably how to describe the sky, the thoughts and feelings of pilots. His work drew many of us to the profession. They told me later that it must have been Saint Exupéry. What a disaster. What have you done, I said to myself."

http://timescorrespondents.typepad.com/charles_bremner/2008/03/one-of-aviation.html

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 17, 2008 at 9:51 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 16, 2008

Sisters?

Jennifer and Allie are now calling each other "sissy", as in "sister". Cute. :)

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 16, 2008 at 5:29 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 13, 2008

New Pet Carriers

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 13, 2008 at 10:27 PM : Comments (3) | Permalink

March 12, 2008

Eliot Spitzer's Whore

Eliot Spitzer's whore.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 12, 2008 at 8:01 PM : Comments (2) | Permalink

2008 .50 Cal BMG Rifle Machine Gun FUN SHOOT!

Annual
2008 .50 Cal BMG Rifle Machine Gun
FUN SHOOT!
Military Vehicle Display
April 4, 5 & 6, 2008
Morgan County, Colorado

Times of Shoot:
Fri. April 4th 8:00 am - 9:00 pm
Sat. April 5th 8:00 am - 9:00 pm
Sun. April 6th 8:00 am - 3:00 pm
Fees: Spectators $15.00 per day or $25 for the weekend (RMGO members $3 off with coupon -- click here for coupon)

Children: Ages 6-14, military and LE (with I.D.) $5 per day or $10 for the weekend
(minors must be accompanied by an adult)

We also offer B.Y.O.G. (Bring your own gun) shooter badges for $50 per day.

Fire a Thompson SMG
See Huge Artillery pieces firing!

• All Spectators Must Use Hearing & Eye Protection
• No rain checks - we shoot rain or shine.
• No benches shelter or seating provided.
• Please bring your own seats (such as a fold-up chair).
• No alcoholic beverages allowed on the property
•This is NOT a Gun Show - No Gun Sales are allowed

- DIRECTIONS -
From I-76 -- Exit at Hudson (30 miles from I-25) and go East on Highway 52 (though Hwy. 52 curves North to Wiggins, go straight East) for 37 miles on paved/dirt road to intersection of Road F & Road 14 (14 miles east of the Weld/Morgan county border). Follow the .50 signs!

From I-70 -- Bennett exit go North on State Hwy. 79 for 23 miles to State Hwy. 52 at Prospect Valley; go East on Highway 52 (Hwy. 52 curves North to Wiggins, go straight East) to intersection of Road F & Road 14 (14 miles east of the Weld/Morgan county border). Follow the .50 signs!

Mapquest directions

Rocky Mountain Gun Owners

Rocky Mountain Fifty Caliber Shooting Assoc.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 12, 2008 at 11:37 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

View Message Source in Outlook

Ever been reading an HTML formatted email and want to cut and paste the source code? I have and, for some reason, you can't do this in MS Outlook 2003. Not unless you modify the registry as described on this site:

Click Start - Run - Regedit and navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Options\Mail
right click on the right pane and choose new DWORD:

Parameter: SaveAllMIMENotJustHeaders

Value: 1

Note: This works only on new mail received after you create the registry key. You won't be able to see the source on messages already downloaded.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 12, 2008 at 11:28 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 11, 2008

Hillary's Combat Patrol in Bosnia

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/ny-usside315521015dec31,0,5515440.story

"Ever since Barack Obama suggested Hillary Clinton's eight years as first lady were a glorified tea party a few days back, she's looked for an opening to strike back.

On Saturday night in Dubuque she pounced, arguing she risked her life on White House missions in the 1990s, including a hair-raising flight into Bosnia that ended in a "corkscrew" landing and a sprint off the tarmac to dodge snipers.

"I don't remember anyone offering me tea," she quipped."

Only, as it turns out, she went with the comedian Sinbad, singer Sheryl Crow and her 15 year old daughter Chelsea.

Sinbad said the "scariest" part of the trip was wondering where he'd eat next. "I think the only 'red-phone' moment was: 'Do we eat here or at the next place.' "

As for Hillary's claim on CNN that "I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland", obviously that's not true. Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey said "Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province."

I agree with Samantha Power. Hillary Rodham is a "monster".

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 11, 2008 at 2:18 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 10, 2008

Leading Philanderers Agree

New York governor Eliot Spitzer supports giving drivers licenses to illegal immigrants and cheats on his wife with prostitutes while he's in the nation's capital. Who does he endorse for president? Hillary Rodham Clinton, of course. Who else? Some people are claiming that she's removed any reference to Eliot Spitzer from her web site. I'm not sure if that's true or not, though it would not surprise me. She officially received the endorsement of Eliot Spitzer on Monday May 14th, 2007. I dug around in the Wayback Machine and managed to find this blog post mentioning the dubious Spitzer endorsement. The same post still appears on her web site blog though. I'm not clear that she did expunge him from any place on her web site. She may have, but if she did, I wasn't able to find any specific case where she did so.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 10, 2008 at 11:13 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Jasmine

Here's a photo of Jasmine out front stalking the elusive and wily Dark-eyed Juncos. I bought a 50 pound sack of cracked corn and hung up a bird feeder in front of her perch. So, she now sits in her cat bed perched on the world's only indoor mature Ponderosa Pine, overlooking a bird bath and a bird feeder. I poured warm water in the bird bath yesterday to melt the ice, but it was frozen again today.

I was surprised that she actually walked out into the snow. She doesn't like the way it feels on her paws - cold and wet. But she apparently got used to it and started stalking the Juncos in the snow. She even leaped at one in the concrete bird bath, but she fell short and the bird bath caught her right in the chest. Ooof.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 10, 2008 at 6:54 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

The Man Who Saved the World

This is a pretty cool story that I'd never heard before. Apparently, in 1983, we came really close to getting nuked accidentally. Thank God that cool heads prevailed.

"Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov was duty officer at Serpukhov-15, the secret bunker outside Moscow that monitored the Soviet Union's early-warning satellite system, when the alarm bells went off shortly after midnight. One of the satellites signaled Moscow that the United States had launched five ballistic missiles at Russia.

Given the heightened tensions between the two countries -- the alarm coincided with the beginning of provocative NATO military exercises and barely three weeks after the Russians shot down a South Korean airliner that had wandered into Soviet air space -- Petrov could have been forgiven for believing the signal was accurate. The electronic maps flashing around him didn't do anything to ease the stress of the moment."

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/09/dayintech_0926

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 10, 2008 at 8:50 AM : Comments (2) | Permalink

‘Mastah Preddi’ fell from the sky, into hearts

This is a very cool story about WWII pilot Fred Hargesheimer. When his P-38 Lightning was shot down on a photo-reconnaissance mission over a south pacific island, the natives rescued him and hid him from the Japanese. Years later, he returned to build a school on the island. Very cool story.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 10, 2008 at 8:40 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 7, 2008

Fun With Phun

Jennifer and I have been playing with this free-ware 2D physics engine called Phun. It is awesome. Here's a short video I captured today using a free screencast utility called CamStudio.

There's a good discussion forum here on Phun where the developer frequently posts and answers questions about the product.

Here's a Gear Builder website that allows you to create gears for Phun.

Fun-Motion Physics has lots of other 2-D physics engine games.

Posted by Peenie Wallie on March 7, 2008 at 11:25 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 6, 2008

Top 5 Little Web Apps You Might Not Be Using (But Should)

Top 5 Little Web Apps You Might Not Be Using (But Should)

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 6, 2008 at 1:56 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 5, 2008

Ecuador and Venezuela Move Troops to Colombian Borders

I've been trying to get my hands around what exactly is going on down in South America. Austin Bay has a good article summing up the situation.

"This week, Colombia launched a strike against a FARC base in Ecuador. Tired of terrorism, Colombia is not going to let FARC thugs hide in Ecuadorian or Venezuelan jungles. [snip] Colombian president Alvaro Uribe said, "We cannot allow terrorists who seek refuge in other countries to spill the blood of our countrymen."

Ecuador and its ally, Venezuela, responded by threatening Colombia with war."

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 5, 2008 at 11:47 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Fun with Phun

It's been called the coolest science toy ever. You can download it for free here: www.acc.umu.se/~emilk/.

It’s extremely easy to use. As a starter tip, turn gravity off when you’re attaching stuff to the background (right click after selecting “affix� tool).

Other cool games:
Soda Constructor
Crayon Physics

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 5, 2008 at 9:08 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 4, 2008

The Earth and Moon, As Seen from Mars

Posted by Robert Racansky on March 4, 2008 at 8:05 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

The Fraud of Global Warming

The Weather Channel founder and global warming skeptic advocates suing Al Gore to expose 'the fraud of global warming.

The Weather Channel has been an outlet for global warming alarmism. In December 2006, The Weather Channel’s Heidi Cullen argued on her blog that weathercasters who had doubts about human influence on global warming should be punished with decertification by the American Meteorological Society.

Fire and Ice: Journalists have warned of climate change for 100 years, but can’t decide whether we face an ice age or warming.

The Media Research Center’s Business & Media Institute (formerly the Free Market Project) conducted an extensive analysis of print media’s climate change coverage back to the late 1800s.

It found that many publications now claiming the world is on the brink of a global warming disaster said the same about an impending ice age – just 30 years ago. Several major ones, including The New York Times, Time magazine and Newsweek, have reported on three or even four different climate shifts since 1895.

Longtime readers of the [New York] Times could easily recall the paper claiming “A Major Cooling Widely Considered to Be Inevitable,� along with its strong support of current global warming predictions. Older readers might well recall two other claims of a climate shift back to the 1800s – one an ice age and the other warming again. The Times has warned of four separate climate changes since 1895.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 4, 2008 at 7:22 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 3, 2008

Speed Up Apache

I found a website where someone talks about how he improved the performance of his website using a tool called YSLOW.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 3, 2008 at 7:44 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March

This slideshow is composed of 39 images I shot in February of 2008. These photos were captured with a Canon EOS 40D and a Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens or a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens. The slideshow (3:22) is named tomorrow created using Imagematics StillMotion Pro. The soundtrack is I Hope Tommorw Is Like Today by Guster. The song is in the movie Wedding Crashers, but it's not on the movie soundtrack. However, you can find the song on the album Keep It Together.

Click here to download the presentation.

To see all of the slideshows, click here.

Lyrics in the extended entry.

This video used to be http://www.peeniewallie.com/videos/tomorrow.swf but was converted to http://www.peeniewallie.com/videos/pw-2008-03-03-tomorrow.mp4.

Continue reading "March"

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 3, 2008 at 5:09 AM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 2, 2008

Big Snow

Wow. It's still snowing. We got so much snow today we tested the neighbor's Polaris Dragon 800 snowmobile in the yard. You probably wouldn't believe it, but it was 70 degrees yesterday and there was no snow at all in this field.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 2, 2008 at 2:53 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

Go Big or Go Home

Yesterday, it was 70 degrees, clear and sunny. Today, we're getting hammered in a big way. I was out pulling Jen and Allie on tandem sleds behind the four wheeler. This is the best kind of snow. Fresh, soft powder, and we're out there just romping in it. I can't say how much we've got today. I'd guess about two feet so far and it's snowing hard outside. Big fun. :)

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 2, 2008 at 12:54 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink

March 1, 2008

Hamsterdam

Hold the hate-mail. These are not my hamsters. I just think it's funny.

Posted by Rob Kiser on March 1, 2008 at 8:46 PM : Comments (0) | Permalink