Verizon Wireless... Bunkgrades!!

Well folks, we decided to go totally wireless in our home. We are going to turn of the home phone in a few days to save money. We all have cell phones and now all have local Richmond numbers. It is also time to upgrade our cells...

SO this morning at 8.30am, after I got home from work, we went to the Verizon Wireless store. We got our numbers changed and we were looking at new cells. We thought that when it was time for us to change phones out that we had a $100 credit per phone...WRONG!!!! We are on a family plan. Only the main phone gets the $100 credit and the other people have to pay $FULL$ PRICE for their "new" phone. That really sucked a big one!! Here we all had found new, better, bigger, stronger, faster cells and what a letdown...

They got you by the balls on this one. The fam plan will save money, but not on hardware costs. So choose wisely when trying to decide on what plan to get when making that decision.

This was the phone that I was going to get. It is the LG VX8600.

Wewill see what happens...

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The Shield Season 5....Conscience is a killer!!!

Vic Mackey owns you...

Nuff Said on this topic...

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Candlebox...1993 "Change"

How many of you remember the "Grung" era? Alice In Chains were sill big as well as Pearl Jam, but a new style of music was starting to take hold as well. Candlebox was one of those bands. The had a hard rocking style as well as a pop infulence that was very radio friendly. This one song was a very good one, perhaps the best on their intro album aptly titled "Candlebox"

"CHANGE"
As I stand here
I ponder greater things
You're no longer a part of
A part of your lover's dreams
So much for your Common complications
So much for your Constant desperation
For what's to comeIt's all been written
Down, written down
But I feel that a change is
A change is gonna come
I said I feel so alive nowAnd you know I feel that a change is
A change is gonna come
As I sit here I'll tell you greater things
You're no longer a part of
A part of someone else's dreams
So much for yourCommon escalations
So much for your Constant fabrications
For what's to come
It's all been written down, down, down
I said for what's to come
For what's to come your way
It's all been written
Down, written down
But I feel that a change is
A change is gonna come
I said I feel so alive now
And you know I feel that a change is
A change is gonna come
Keep on time
Keep on time
You run along
Keep on child
Keep on child
You push it on
Keep on my time
I run around for you
Keep on time
Keep on time
You run along
Keep on child
Keep on child
You push it on
Keep on my time now
I run around for you
Run around for you
But you've gotta keep on, keep it on
You don't know yet
You don't know yet
You don't know yet
But you'll feel it in your soul
You don't know yet
You don't know yet
You don't know yet
But you feel it in your soul
Feel it in your soul now
Do you feel that a change is gonna come?
Do you feel that a change is gonna come?
No
As I lay hereI wanna fall asleep
No longer, No longer a part of
A part of your TV screen
A part of your TV dreams
I said so much for your
So much for your
So much for your
Your common complications
So much for your
Constant desperation
For what's to come it's all been written
Down, written down
But I feel that a change is
A change is gonna come
I said I feel so alive now
And you know I feel that a change is
A change is gonna come
Do you feel that a change is gonna come?...


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Moutain Bike Stuff...

I had to go today at Agee's and get my daughters bike fixed. I had to buy a new front wheel skewer as hers toe up and lost all the parts to it. I also had to purchase as adapter for my tire air stems. They were a totally different style and i FREAKED out about them on a Sunday morning as my air pump would not fit them. I cant get them change out either. They had the adapter for them. It only cost 2.99, so not to bad. I Hope to go riding soon, but i work all this weekend...

CIAO

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A Friend Of Bill W’s…Part 1, My Journey Begins.

I am going to do a series of posts over the next weeks on Addiction and Recovery using the 12 Steps or Alcoholics Anonymous. There are many 12 Step programs that can be chosen. I am breaking my Anonymity by doing so, although, I have never hidden the fact from anyone if they asked me about it. If I have one wish for this series it is not to alienate someone from reading my BLOG, but to help an addict or alcoholic out there still suffering and let them know that there is help out there for them.

Many of you don't know, but May 15 will be my 4 year Sober mark. No drinking or drugging. I can’t say that it has been easy or that it has been fun because it has not. Living life on Life’s terms is a very hard thing to do. They say that your stunt your emotional self the first time that you took you first drink or drug. So, if you started when you were 16, then when you finally got sober, you were of the maturity of a 16 year old. If you were 30 when you got sober, then you will have a lot of maturing to do.

I went into treatment in the year 2002 during that summer to La Hacienda (LAHA) in Hunt Texas for 30 days in-house where I met Chris Raymer (Alumni Director LAHA). I will get into him later in this series. I also met some very interesting people, Lawyers, Doctors, Preachers, Housewives; the list can go on and on. It was a hard time of being separated from my house and personal belongings except for my MiniDisc player and CD player to have some comfort from. I went to group meetings, group therapy; We had a family week where my then girlfriend, Mother, and grandmother came to stay. If you did well, you got to go off campus to eat and go to outside meetings, if not, you stayed there. I saw many people fail or get kicked out. Why I was able to “do the deal” so to speak; I guess that it was in God’s plan for me to make it.

Every Sunday was a big meeting in the center where your family could come and visit and you saw people come back to get their chips for being sober for different time periods. 30 days, 60 days,90 days, 6 months, 1 year and so on. They also had different speakers and someone lead the meetings.

For you to “recover” you need to have a total psychic make over. This can happen by the “burning bush” type of the “educational” type. I had the burning bush type. That place gave me a set of tools that enabled me to be able to recover from a “hopeless state of mind and body.” I did not do it alone. My journey was a spiritual one also, because Addiction is a disease of the mind, body, and the spirit. I am not talking church or anything like that. Don't get the two confused, they are not the same. You can be spiritual and go to church, or go to church and never get the whole spiritual aspect of the deal. I tried the church way several years before that and it did not work for me.

For me to start the journey, I had to be totally beat down from the disease! I could not do it on my own, that was evident! Church did not do it and going to meetings but not buying whole heartedly into the program did not work either. I had to do it all or none! No "Half Steps".Finally Step One of the Big Book was easy for me to admit. “We admitted that we were powerless over drugs/alcohol-that our lives had become unmanageable” It took a while living as a functional addict to finally admit that. When I did, it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and my way to recovery could begin. I learned that I did not have power over anything! Whatever power that I had, it had been given to me from God!

Don't get overly stressed with the God thing, I will explain this later. Just remember that for a person to “recover”, they have to treat the whole illness; The Mind, The Body, The Spirit. I also will use and interchange Alcohol and Drugs for one in the same during this series because they are the same. It is a disease the is progressive and terminal whose outcomes are Death or Institutions (Mental/Jail).

I am going to close this part for now…Rest assured, more will come. Part 2 Next week.

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Nothing to post about now...

You know when you have lots of things going on in your life and you are under lots of stress, well that is me at the moment. It appears that we are getting closer to finding out what is going to happen with our contracts here at Qimonda. I also found out that 3 of the employes are on different contracts than us, and if our contracts are ended, they will still be working. Yeah, Joy Joy!!

I have been very busy the last 2 weeks. I worked on Saturday night which really blew my weekend all to hell. I was off on Friday, slept that night, had to sleep all day Saturday for work, off Sunday with about 3 hours sleep that day and then my normal shift started today! - There are things that i need to get done around the house, but time is very precious at the moment. I turned the sprinklers on Sunday and tested them, no broken heads!!

I still need to get some fertiliazer and lime as well as snake and bud poision. We need to trim the hedges and once again, reseat the paver stones around the flowerbeds. I think that we are going to place a few steaks and string to keep people from walking in our yrar, mainly kids, to help the seed that was placed last year take hold and grow. These are just a few things that must get done to take care of our house as well as the inside stuff...

Well, i hope to have some interesting stuff to post about later tonight.

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Bombay Dub Orchestra...A Review...

As many of you know, I am a big music collector. The other day on the KLF List, there was a thread about a group called Bombay Dub Orchestra. They sounded interesting to me, so I checked them out. In my opinion, they fall under the Genre of Downtempo.

Now, I am not a big fan of Dub, on a whole. It is a sub-genre of reggae. Most of the dub I have heard was bass laden with slow drums and scattered vocals and sparse instrumentation.

BDO has a different approach to this genre. They have a lot of Trance elements as well as a 28 piece orchestra in the mix and Trip-Hop elements as well. The sounds capes are very lush to the point of being very atmospheric and experimental. The vocals are very tribal with a Mid-Eastern accent. You can hear very neat keyboard sequences and very lush layering of the instrumentation. Some of the songs are very familiar in sound with some ripe for film scoring with a 60s tint to the music. I can totally hear the different elements in the music and the have captured them in a style that works amazingly well in today's music scene. You can hear the dub elements in the bassline and the reverb-drenched, proto-psychedelic sounds of Jamaican dub.

They have a sound similar to Air, but with a 28 piece Indian String section. Their sound is more refined than that of Air's. Another band in this genre would be Thievery Corporation based out of Washington DC. Other significant acts include: Bonobo, Zero 7, Fila Brazillia, The Dining Rooms, Funki Porcini, Tosca, Kristallin, Pressure Drop, Urban Myth Club, Gotan Project, Sofa Surfers, Amon Tobin, Sundae Club, Glideascope, Saru, Röyksopp, dZihan & Kamien and Peace Orchestra.

If you like music to "chill" to in the late evening or listen to during the night, then I suggest Bombay Dub Orchestra as a good album to purchase and support. Lots of this music is produced and never gets to The States or is ever heard of by the general masses of the purchasing public. This is a great album by the U.K.-based duo of Garry Hughes (Björk, Sly & Robbie) and Andrew T. Mackay (VAST, Annie Leibovitz)

It is a shinning star in the sea of music that is today.

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Federal agency bans Microsoft Vista...

Well I for one knew that this was going to happen!!! No one wants to have to go to the new Vista Operating System. The American people are speaking out and are tired of being bullied by Microsoft. Most people are "happy" with their home computers and have way more power to do what they need to be able to do at home. Think about it, New MOBO, MORE RAM, NEW VIDEO CARD, NEW MONITOR...About $1200 for a baseline system.

Where as Xp with 2 gigs of ram will work wonderfully, Vista requires a minimum of 2 gigs to start with and if you go with the Vista 64 bit version, expect to need about 4 gigs of ram to start with. The only reason to upgrade to Vista is if your are a total gamer. The next version of Direct X being DX10 will only run on Vista, but if you are not a gamer and like your computer which uses Direct X 9.0c, then do not upgrade until you truly have to. I, for one, am not switching to Vista until I have to, or when they stop supporting Xp. They have plans to stop supporting Windows 2000 by 2008 and that will hurt a lot of companies. Our company uses 2000 for most of its applications...

DOT executive wary of software and labor costs, compatibility issues.
"WASHINGTON - At least two federal government agencies are refusing to upgrade their computers with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista operating system, citing concern over costs and compatibility issues.In a Jan. 19 memo to staff, Dan Mintz, the Transportation Department's chief information officer, imposed an "indefinite moratorium" on upgrading desktop and laptop computers with the new operating system, Office 2007 and Internet Explorer 7."

Vista will bring most "current" machines to a crawl due to the new graphical interface and RAM requirements. Let’s take my machine for example. I have an AMD 3000+ Processor(2.12ghz) and 1.2gigs of RAM(366fsb) GeForce 6200(128 VRAM 8xAGP) I am VISTA compatible, but I would not be able to run the "FULL" Vista Media version because my video card will not support DX10. SO, why go to the "Next Best Thing" when I would reap none of the benefits? I did however upgrade to Internet Explorer 7, and Office 2007 which both I like. IE7 has some good new features as well as Office 2007. IE7 is a free upgrade, Office 2007 is not. It is well worth the money for the Office 2007 upgrade.

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Geology and stuff...

For many years I have been a rock collector. I have many Geodes and crystals that are very pretty. I bought a crystal from Africa one year that is brown and very large. I also bought a crystal structure while we were on vacation in Arkansas. It is over 1 foot long and about 8 inches wide with many crystal growths coming off of it. I would love to go and to be able to see these caves.

Now, while I was on the net last night, I saw a story that just blew me away!!It is called: Crystal Cave of the Giants - Discovery of the Largest Crystals on Earth They are from a mine called Penoles-Naica Mine of Chihuahua Mexico.

Here are some of the pics from that story:





This looks like something from out of a SCI/FI movie!! It remeindes me of a movie called The Core with Hilary Swank as one of the main characters. The forces that it took to creat these formations are just incredible.

Quote:

"These crystals are probably stable, as the temperature in the cave is over 150 degrees Fahrenheit with 100% humidity. In other words, these structures are enveloped in steam. A human can only function in this environment for six to ten minutes before severe loss of mental functions occurs. Found deep in a mine in southern Chihuahua Mexico, these crystals were formed in a natural cave totally enclosed in bedrock. When I first stepped into the cavern it was like walking into the Land of the Giants. I have often admired crystal geodes held in my hand, but when photographing these unique natural structures it was almost impossible to get any sense of scale. This is a geode full of spectacular crystals as tall as pine trees, and in some cases greater in circumference. They have formed beautiful crystals that are a translucent gold and silver in color, and come in many incredible forms and shapes. Some of the largest are essentially columnar in shape and stand thirty to fifty feet high and three to four feet in diameter. Many of the smaller examples are four to six feet in circumference, have many incredible geometrical shapes, and probably weigh in excess of ten tons. The columnar pillars are at first the most striking shape, but later I noticed there were thousands of "sharks teeth" up to three feet high placed row upon row and dispersed at odd angles throughout the caverns. While some of the crystals are attached to the ceiling walls and floors of the cave as might be expected, some exist in great masses of spikes and almost float in air. These crystals seem to defy gravity, as they must weigh several tons."

I also found some other pics from another site called The Cellar to demonstrate just how big this place really is.

My many thanks goes to Richard D. Fisher Photographer/Explorer of The Crystal Cave of the Giants and Brothers, Juan and Pedro Sanchez for having the foresight to not drill any farther into the caves and for bringing the amazing pictures and wonder to the rest of the world.

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Tonight...

It has been a bla night. I have a lot on my mind and not much to talk about. I am stressed about work and contracts, or the lack of them soon. We just dont know about what is going to happen here at Qimonda...

I hope to have some stuff to post about Tonight...



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Photos and Stuff

I just organized the pics to different sets on FilckR.

GO and Check them out!!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rmstringer/sets/


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AudioVisual Institute Of America...

The Audiovisual Institute Of America

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This week...

This week will be a very busy one. I will be in Culpeper VA from Monday till Tuesday night working on the Audio Visual Institute Of America Project that is on 522 and 3 intersections. I hope to have some pics of the building as it is being built into the side of a mountain. I will post some pics on Wednesday night.

This pic is an artist's rendering of what it will look like. I will post a few shots of it as it looks now. I have been working on and off at the project for the last 9 months for Sun Control Systems in Rockville Maryland. We have been installing Mechoshades and controllers for the front of the building.

I will return to work here at Qimonda on Wednesday night and Thursday night for my normal shifts. It is going to be very tiring this week.






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BS or Not, You decide...

They say that it is flying 1 meter off the ground, I am NOT buying it at all...

It looks like they Photoshoped the hell out of it...

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Powhite Park...

At 7.30am this morning, it was 33degrees... FREAKING COLD!!! We met at the park to go and do an early morning ride and met there at 8.15am, still 33degrees. Mark, Anders, and myself all met up, Mark and Anders got acquainted, as he works at the same Fab as I do. He is from Germany.

It was my inaugural ride of my new bike on the trails! SO we started off slow so I could get the "feel" of the new bike's geometry. It is drastically different from my old bike. It is much easier to ride then my old one as well, 8lbs Vs. 22lbs. Very BIG difference. 24 speed Vs. 21 speed also makes a big difference as well. So, off we went up the trails.

For the first time, I was able to make it over the tree obstacles that I did not do on my old bike. The new one has more ground clearance and my other bike would drag the pedals on the wood. This one did not. So, in that respect, I was very proud of my self. We finally made it to the Half pipe!! At the beginning of it, it is about 6 feet deep and to start it, you have to go threw it to get to the other side of the trail. In the past, I would make it over a root that was at the top, parallel to the ground because my momentum would carry me over it. This time however, it did not and I crashed!! The bike is lighter than my old one and its front tire just went along the root...CRASH!!! I think that I was more worried about my bike getting messed up than I was myself! My knee is a little banged up, but I am ok.

The rest of the ride was AWSOME!!! The Half Pipe ROCKS!! Having Disk breaks is totally different from the old style breaks. With Disks, you can stop on a dime!! So this too, was a learning period. When you are riding down the single track trails, you have to make minor adjustments with both breaks to navigate over roots, rock, and other obstacles. Having good breaks allows you to do this, but learning on a new set of breaks, takes some time to do.

After we made it down the Half-Pipe, we made another round up a different trail, all leading up to the Half Pipe once again. All trails lead to it. So, all in all, It was a very good ride this morning and I can’t wait to go and do another.


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FlickR Photos...

I have been doing some updating on my FlickR page with some of my pics that I have been taking over the past several years. I hope that you enjoy them.

Also, if you live in the Richmond area and love photography, then join the
The Richmond Photography Meetup Group
I just joined and I will tell you how it is.


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New Music out soon.

Well, we have a few new albums coming out this next month. Among these are Front Line Assembly and VNV Nation.

FLA's new album will be out on April 24 and it is titled "Fallout" It will have 3 new tracks as well as nine remixed tracks from previous albums.

01. Unleashed (Mindless Mix by Sebastian R. Komor)

02. Buried Alive (Dj (?) Acucrack Mix by Jason Novak)

03. Beneath The Rubble (Combichrist Remix)

04. Electric Dreams

05. Armageddon

06. Social Enemy (Anti-Social Mix by Jeremy Inkel)

07. Lowlife (Remix by Portion Control)

08. Humanity (Kearley Edit Remix by Dan Kearley)

09. Reprobate (Lowlife) (Remixed by Greg Reely)

10. Domination (Unleashed) (Remixed by Rhys Fulber)

11. The Storm (Covenant Remix)

12. Unconscious

I have followed FLA since 1992 when their album called "Tactical Neural Implant" came out. It was heave synth laden album with incredible synth work and apocalyptic lyrics and awesome samples. Vancouver-based musician Bill Leeb, a founding member of Skinny Puppy, Leeb moved on to form FLA in 1986 with Michael Balch, releasing some cassettes (since released as Total Terror I & II) which paved the way for their 1987 releases: The Initial Command, State of Mind, and Corrosion. In late 1988, they recorded the mini-LP Disorder, since combined with Corrosion and released as Corroded Disorder. Their 1989 release, Gashed Senses and Crossfire, further cemented their popularity in the industrial scene, and prompted their first world tour. By 1990, Balch had departed and Rhys Fulber rounded out the duo.

I have all of their albums. I took some time to collect all of the FLA albums and singles as they span over 25 years. They also have many side projects. The most noted to date being Delerium. With all of the combined albums, I have nearly 80 total! This includes all the side projects as well. A good resource for this band is called Mindphaser.

01. Prelude

02. The Farthest Star

03. Testament

04. Descent

05. Momentum

06. Nemesis

07. Secluded Spaces

08. Illusion

09. Carry You

10. As It Fades
VNV Nation's new album will be out April 10, 2007. The name VNV Nation stands for "Victory Not Vengeance;" a motto that means that one should strive to achieve, not just sit in bitter regret. Their music is IDM (Industrial Dance Music) with a little twist. Ronan Harris's lyrics are a bit different as the are not downtrodden as with most Industrial music, but aver very uplifting and enlightening. I think that their music is a natural progression for that genre. I just got into their music about 6 months ago and I was total blown away by it. The pounding synth bass lines and Trance like melodies with his lyrical content blew me away. I suggest you give them a try, I bet you won’t be disappointed.

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Google Image Ripper

I found this little utility and it works very well. I tried it and did a few searches and it pulled a wide range of pics, some safe for work and some not. If you are like me, this is a handy little tool to have access to. I also tried to incorporate this into my site and it worked.

"The Google Image Ripper which gives you a page of full-sized images grabbed from Google Images results. Just enter a search term and image size (for some reason you can’t just view all sizes), and Image Ripper takes all the search results from Google Images, grabs the actual photo they point to, and displays them on a long single page (pictures along the right). Google Images’ thumbnails often do a very poor job of helping you compare images, so this inelegant solution gives you everything you need to know, just the facts."


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Day and Night Shots

I took most of the pics during the day and night off the Robert E. Lee bridge over Tredegar street. It gave me a good vantage point to shoot Downtown Richmond from the West Side. I hope that everyone enjoys the pics. Shots 1 - 21 were taken here as well as 36 - 48 were shot here as well. The Night shots of the city were made from those sets.


Some of the Day shots were taken on the East Side of the city in the Church Hill region and i took a great percentage of them from Jefferson Park. Shots 20 - 34 were taken here and also the Rich Pan 2 & 3 were made from those shots.



You can go and see all the pics at this link: Pic Page




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Our Website

I have updated the Website ton ight with some new stuf and also the Pic Page as well.

Go an take a look at it...

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My New Bike...

Gary Fisher Wahoo Disk

Here are the specs:
Main frame
Gold Series 6061 T6 internally and externally butted aluminum Genesis Geometry
Fork
RockShox Dart 1 w/preload 100mm travel
Headset
Aheadset semi-cartridge
Crank
Shimano M341 42/32/22
Pedals
Alloy platform
Front derailleur
Shimano Acera
Rear derailleur
Shimano Deore
Shifters
Shimano EF50
Cassette
Shimano HG50 11-32 8 speed
Front wheel
Shimano M65 disc hubs Bontrager Ranger Disc rims
Rear wheel
Shimano M65 disc hubs Bontrager Ranger Disc rims
Front Tire
Bontrager Jones XR 26x2.25
Rear tire
Bontrager Jones XR 26x2.2
Front brake
Shimano M465 mechanical disc
Rear brake
Shimano M465 mechanical disc
Handlebar
Bontrager Crowbar Sport 25mm rise
Stem
Bontrager Sport 10d
Saddle
CRZ+ HC Sport - 2006
Seatpost
Bontrager Sport

I purchased it from Agee's Bicycle
11020 Midlothian Turnpike
Richmond , VA 23235-4710 804-794-6754
I am very pleased with their service and I have to bring the bike back in one month for a Tune-up that is free of charge. They were very nice and considerate to me and very helpful in purchasing this bike.



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300 Spartans Vs. Iran (Persia)

I went to the movies last night and I saw The 300. It was an incredible show!! I remember going to see The Lord Of The Rings and thinking that this was amazing what they did with CGI (Computer Generated Images). Well, The 300 Have upped the bar on that note. The battle scenes were amazing and the backgrounds looked like it was a comic book. All other shows of this genre will and should be jugged by this movie.

Now, this being a “true" account of a battle that took place circa 480BC, you have to take this movie with "a grain of salt" as the saying goes. Persia, what is now called Iran, has taken offense to this movie.

In an article written by the BBC; "Javad Shamqadri, a cultural advisor to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said it was "plundering Iran's historic past and insulting this civilization". He branded the film "psychological warfare" against Tehran and its people. But Iranian culture was strong enough to withstand the assault, Mr. Shamqadri said."

If we got pissed of about every movie or book that written about the USA and our wars and culture, we would have waged war on every freaking country especially France for making insults about us. I mean, if they get pissed about getting their asses beaten by a little island country some 2400 years ago, I just wonder what they think about the movie “Alexander” which showed the Macedonian general easily conquering the Persian Empire.

Is it our faults that 300 men killed 70,000 + of their best warriors and that they were finally beaten and pushed back after the full force of the combined Greek forces lead by the Spartan army. They are just having issues dealing with the Sanctions that are going to be placed on them and the world’s displeasure with their testing and going forward with their Nuclear program. The are just lashing out any way they can to make the USA look like the Evil Empire.

I mean, come on guys, It is a FREAKING MOVIE and it was a comic book before that and then 2400 years ago, it was happening! All anyone has to do is go and look up about the Spartans and you can see and read about it. I looked it up on Wikipedia and it told the story, but in much greater detail than what the movie went into. Are they going now try to get pissed at the owner(s) of Wikipedia? Will they say that "psychological warfare" is being wagged on them by that website also? It is free information that is most likely taught in Greece because it is part of their history.

When a movie about our on Civil war comes out, we don't get all pissed off at the producers for making an adaptation and their perception of that event. We don't say that someone is wagging a new war on our history and running a “SMEAR CAMPAIGN” on the North or South. We are not trying to Smear the good country of Iran, but merely trying to make a few dollars to line our pockets with. This is America, The land of the Free and the home of the Brave! We all love to make money and it if a few toes are stepped on, well it happens...

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Panaroma Shots of Richmond...

I took over 40 shots to make the Panorama pics. I used a program called Panaroma Maker 3.0 It takes the guess work out of making photos like these. In the past, I have not had much luck with the program. Last night however, I think that I found the technique. In my photo series, I left enough of an overlap between the photos to allow the program to integrate the photos seamlessly with no odd angles between the buildings.

I took the pictures with my Sony Cybershot 5.1 M/P with a 12x Optical Zoom and a 5x Digital Zoom using a 512 Sony Mem Pro card. I went around to different sides of the city to get the shots. I will post most of them on my PicPage this week.

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Night Shots in Richmond...

Well, I took about 45 shots today of day and night shots of Richmond Downtown. I will be editing them soon and posting them on the Blog!!!
I am off to sleep!!

RMStringer
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood
over questions of reality and illusion.
I know this: if life is an illusion, then I
am no less an illusion, and being thus, the
illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I
love, I slay, and I am content.
(Robert E. Howard, Queen of the Black Coast, Weird Tales, May 1934)



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Hardware stuff...

I went out yesterday and i purchased a new keyboard. I have used an ergonomic keyboard for the last 5 years and i really like them. The other day at work, i saw a keyboard that one of the engineers had, it was new and from Microsoft.

I saw that it was also an ergonomic one. I picked it up to see what the model was and it was the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. My very first keyboard was the Microsoft Natural Pro.

Here is a review of the 4000. It is taking a few days to get used to the slant and the feel of the one as it is totally different from the other one i had.

This is the Natural Pro:

This is the Keyboard 4000:


The 4000 is very different in style and feel. I like it, but it is very different from the other one. This has many new function keys such as Favorite(5), Volume, a built in Search Function, A Zoom bar that works well, as well as the Mail and Web features. The leather cushion to rest your palms is very nice to feel. Unlike the Natural Pro, this board is slanted from back to front. It does not have any USB ports like the Natural Pro did, but the would be had to use with the slant that the 4000 has. The color of the 4000 is GREAT!! Silver and Black instead of the light Tan of the Pro. The 4000 fits better with my color scheme. Everything that i have is Black, Gray and Silver, so a perfect fit.

IF you are worried about Repetitive Motion Injuries, this keyboard will be a very good purchase in that case. I use my hands for my work as a technician and also as a drummer, so, any help i can get in that department helps.

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Stuff this weekend...

I went today and i proceeded to put my down payment on my new mountain bike. I am going to get it on Monday when my brother is here. I went with the Gary Fisher Wahoo

I cant wait to get it!!! I am getting last years model, so i am getting a good price on it and by doing that, i can get some extra stuff with it!! New seat, light and a toolkit for it.

My brother will be here tomorrow evening, and i think that we are going to go and do some night shots around the city. I will post them if they turn out nice and how i like them to.

We are off to the movies...


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Time Change and Microsoft...

As I stated before, the Daylight Saving Time change will occur on March 11 at 2.00 am. Most computers have an automatic feature that will change time for you, but this was set up prior to the governmental change of The DST. So, Microsoft has issued a patch that can be downloaded from their website.

Some computers that have "Automatic Updates" activated will have this patch already. But if you, like me, do not choose to use this feature and want to pick and choose what patches are applied; then here is the link to the patch site.

It is called: February 2007 cumulative time zone update for Microsoft Windows operating systems

This should advert any problems that might happen with this time change.
For other information on this and how to change the settings yourself:How to configure daylight saving time for the United States in 2007



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Videos Changed Out...

I just changed out the videos on the bottom section of the BLOG. New 80's stuff!!!

I get most of these from YouTube.


More to come!!

















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Ready for the wool to be pulled?

How many of you have heard of Peter Popoff?? I am sure that many of you have if you ever watch or have watched TV. He is a Televangelist that is the "HOT" item at the moment. He is the one giving for a "small donation” for the "Miracle Spring Water"!

I was up early this morning and I saw a TV show with him and his wife and he was praying for Finical Freedom form Satanic enslavement. For God to just rip the bonds off and for you to have finical freedom!! And by drinking his water, you will get healed!! Just think about it...

Drink the vial of Miracle Spring Water and you can be healed!! Praise God.
He was talking and spouting scriptures about wealth in the bible by being a good servant and obeying the Lord. I am a Christian, but this whole-sale rip-off of people just takes the cake. About 20 years ago, Popoff was run off TV for being a Hoax!

In my opinion, he is no better than a sexual predator. He prays on the hopes and dreams of people and for a small donation you to can have you wildest dreams come true. I saw a testimonial this morning. A woman asked for him to pray for her to have a finical burden lifted off of her and family and lo and behold, she received 2 checks in the mail all totaling $70,000!! Wow, if it was only that easy, I would have been a millionaire long ago!! The lady looked like a destitute person and was barley intelligible in her speaking.

"You can also read on an independent website about how James Randi went toe-to-toe with Popoff in the late 80’s. Ordinarily Seems Randi publicly exposed (on Johnny Carson) research he did with a team of people over several months into Popoff’s mass ministry sessions. Popoff had become well-known for being able to “receive messages from God” during his stadium performances. He would go to somebody in the audience, tell them their name and address, and what ails them, and then heal them of it. Turns out Randi caught him on tape using an electronic surveillance device receiving the “word of God” from his wife, a staff member who had information cards and guided him via radio transmitter to the audience members whom God had chosen for healing.

The team recorded hours of conversations in which Elizabeth Popoff radioed to her husband personal details that she and other aides gathered from the audience in conversations before the service and from prayer request cards filled out there. Elizabeth Popoff and several aides would scout the audience looking for “hot” ones. They would ask them, “Is Jesus going to heal you? And what’s your name, and where do you live? Have you had this condition long?” They would write all this information down on cards, which later on Elizabeth would recite during the service via her concealed transmitter. She carried the power source in a large handbag, and the transmitter and microphone were hidden under her blouse."

This makes me wonder about other Televangelists like Benny Hinn. Or another preacher that I think that got into the business to prove that you can make money in this business. His name was Dr. Gene Scott. We used to watch him in college back in the early 1990s. He would be preaching with a cigar in his mouth and a pair of sunglasses on. Then cut to his home with several dancers and watching his Race Horses run around with the girls on them listening to the Neutron Dance by the Pointer Sisters!! Wow, that was a lot to talk about...

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Richmond Skyline...

I hope to be able over the next few days to go and take a few photos of the skyline of Richmond. I found a good spot the other day while I was on my way home from shift. There is a big overpass I95 North that is part of the Chippingham/895 interchange that has enough height to give me a clear shot of I95 North looking at downtown Richmond. I will have to act like my truck is broken down for a few minutes to get this shot(s)!

These are a few shots that I found on the web.





I hope to be able to get several from around the city that will look like these. I think that from the bridge, I will be able to get a better one than the last pic as I will get it from above the streets and from a distance of about 2-3 miles, thus, encompassing all of downtown and part of I95.

The first pic was taken from around the south side of the James River close to 14th street. I should be able to get several shots that are like that one as well. We shall see...

I am versy excited about this series of pictures. I hope to have this all done by Monday night!



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The end of the week...

I am feeling better as i went to the doctor yesterday and i got some meds. I have a sinus infection, but i am feeling better, the meds are working. i got some stuff to post about tonight, so...


I have just 2 nights to finish this week of work out!!!

I have also found a great place for a night shot of Richmond Virginia from an overpass. I hope to get that this weekend...

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This weekend...

It has been along 3 days on shift this weekend and i have not felt the best as i think that i am fighting a cold.  I should have a few interesting things to post about in the next few days... My brother is coming to visit me this coming weekend and we will have 3 days to chill! Cant wait for that.

Until then.

Peace&Love INC.

--
RMStringer
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Copyright Royalty Board Releases Decision - Rates are Going Up Significantly

Well,
I wonder how and if this decision will affect people out there in cyberspace who every once and a while stream audio via Shoutcast or some other means. I have never done this, but at some times i have wanted to due to my large music collection.


Copyright Royalty Board Releases Decision - Rates are Going Up Significantly

The Copyright Royalty Board decision on the royalties for to be paid by Internet Radio stations for streaming music during the years 2006-2010 was released to the participants in the proceeding today. And the rates are going up significantly over the next few years. More importantly, especially for smaller entities, there are no royalty rates based on a percentage of revenue as were in effect for small webcasters under the Small Webcasters Settlement Act. Instead, all royalties are given as a per performance number, i.e. a payment for each song every time a listener hears that song

In a 100 page decision, the Board essentially adopted the royalty rate advanced by SoundExchange (the collective that receives the royalties and distributes the money to copyright holders and performers) in the litigation. It denied all proposals for a percentage of revenue royalty (including a proposal that SoundExchange itself advanced). The Board also rejected any premium for streams received by a wireless service, as SoundExchange had suggested.

The rates set by the Board for commercial webcasters, including broadcasters retransmitting their over-the-air signals on the Internet, are as follows:
2006 - $.0008 per performance
2007 - $.0011 per performance
2008 - $.0014 per performance
2009 - $.0018 per performance
2010 - $.0019 per performance
The minimum fee is $500 per channel per year. There is no clear definition of what a "channel" is for services that make up individualized playlists for listeners.

For noncommercial webcasters, the fee will be $500 per channel, for up to 159,140 Aggregate Tuning Hours (one listener listening for an hour) per month. Noncommercial webcasters who exceed that level pay at the commercial rate for all listening in excess of that limit.
The decision is subject to Motions that confidential information be redacted to the public, so it is not yet released for public review. A request for rehearing of this decision can be made by any party to the case within 15 days. The Board can also make technical corrections to the decision (not affecting the rate). The decision is to be published in the Federal Register within 60 days. Appeals may be filed with the US Court of AppeaIs in Washington, DC within 30 days of Federal Register publication. As this decision may well significantly impact webcasters, large and small, there is no doubt that more will be heard on this decision in coming months. We'll have more details on this decision in coming days.


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More Computer Sutff...

This is what my tower looks like.

It is a Soho File Server Plus case by Antec.

I also have enclosed a Mechnicial drawing of the tower as well.

So today, I took the fan that was on the side of the tower (80MM Blue) which had been blowing out as to evacuate the hot air from the inside. I turned it around which made the fan blow into the case. This made more air cool the Motherboard and RAM as well. I have 2 fans in the front holders that force air in from the outside, and two (80mm Blue) fans blowing out the back of the case.

My power supply is an Antec 480 watt True Power supply. It has a 120mm fan and an 80mm fan built into it.

So with the power supply that is a total of seven fans in the case. Also my GeForce 6200 has a built in fan on its GPU as well as my AMD processor has a fan (50mm) on it. Having said all of this, I found that my system HD (40gig WD) was running very hot! It was around 126F and that is very hot to run a drive. The main reason is that the bay that it is in does not have a fan associated with it.

So, I crammed a fan into the case in between some IDE cables and it is set to blow onto that drive. I am going to do some moving around of some drives next week and place it in the lower bay that has a fan set in the front of it. The temp went from 126F to about 115F in about 10 mins.

Anoter interesting observation, 2 nights ago, I had the side fan blowing inward; the Motherboard temp went down to about 93F!! When I turned it around where the air was blowing out, the temp went up to 101F. So, I turned it around today and the temp has gone back down.

It has become very clear that cooling is of paramount importance when running a High-End computer. I hope that this gives some of you insight as to cooling designs that can be done in one type of an after-market computer case. Also, I am using the Speed Fan app to monitor all of these specs.

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