The End of An Era...

Remember when all you had to do was go and purchase a TV antenna from the local store to be able to watch tv? Well, that day is nearly gone. The days of Analogue TV are comming to an end!! Here are the details that i have found about this big change.

Death of analog TV in 2009 means adjustments for over-the-air viewers.

The rabbit-eared TV has less than two years to live. And forget trying to buy one from your neighborhood electronics store.

Analog broadcasts - a basic TV signal sent through the air - are set to end in 2009. That's when TV signals become a digital stream that only the right kind of TV or converter box can decode.

If that's news to you, you're not alone. More than 56 percent of over-the-air viewers have "seen, read or heard nothing" about the transition, according a recent survey by the National Association of Broadcasters, and only 10 percent of viewers knew it would happen in 2009.

Starting this month, retailers no longer can sell TVs that only have analog tuners. "The majority of televisions have had digital tuners built into them for the past two years," said Phil Murray, marketing manager of Denver-based Listen Up Audio/Video, and most retailers have sold dual- tuner (analog and digital) televisions for years, so customers won't notice a difference on store shelves.

Congress approved the switch to digital in late 2005 as part of a broader spending bill. Moving TV broadcasts to digital will free up the 700-megahertz frequency band used by analog, meaning that spectrum can be used for emergency communications and auctioned for new wireless services.

Broadcasters and TV manufacturers are starting to realize they need to get the word out so the nation's 20 million households that rely on free, over-the-air broadcasts don't turn on their TVs to find a blank screen on Feb. 17, 2009, the transition date. The switch won't affect the estimated 96 million consumers who subscribe to cable or satellite TV.

Those most likely to be affected are the poor and elderly. Congress has approved $1.5 billion for vouchers for people to buy converter boxes, which allows viewers to see digital programming on analog TVs.

Starting Jan. 1, 2008, each household can request up to two coupons valued at $40 each to help cover the cost of buying a box, which are expected to cost $50 to $70.

• What happens this month?
All new television sets designed to receive over-the-air signals must contain a tuner capable of receiving digital broadcasts, in preparation for a complete transition to digital broadcasts by 2009. Retailers no longer can sell analog-only sets.
Digital tuners already were required in sets with screens larger than 25 inches.

• What happens on Feb. 17, 2009?
Analog-television broadcasts end in the United States. That doesn't mean the end of free-broadcast television, but consumers will need either a TV with a digital tuner, cable- or satellite-TV service, or a converter box for their old analog TVs.

Here is the link to the story that i read and got most of this material from.
Rabbit ears losing their rabbit's foot





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Computer Tools...

All the time great apps are created for computers. Some help you check for system errors, while others help you monitor such things as Temp and Fan speeds or Voltage on your motherboard.

One such app that I have used before and that I am now using is called Speed Fan. It is a Freeware prog meaning that you do not have to purchase it from the designer. All motherboards are designed with sensors as well as most Hard Drives that will monitor Temp, speed and voltage. Here is a screen shot of the app:


While using this prog, I found some Temperature issues with some of my Hard Drives. I have made some configuration changes and in doing so, have lowered the temps to the Good Spec range. I will be doing some more reporting about this app as time goes by and i make more adjustments. In my opinion, if you run a High-End computer like me, it only makes sence to run this app to monitor your computer. Here is a download link for the prog.
Speed Fan

From the Creator: Alfredo Milani Comparetti
"If you need a tool that can change your computer's fan speeds, read the temperatures of your motherboard and your hard disk, read voltages and fan speeds and check the status of your hard disk using S.M.A.R.T. or SCSI attributes, then you came to the right place. SpeedFan is the software to go. It is fully configurable and you can create custom events to handle every situation in an automated way. SpeedFan works under Windows 9x, ME, NT, 2000, 2003 XP. If you are planning a hardware upgrade and would like to move to Vista, consider that SpeedFan is compatible with it too. The 32 bit version works fine. For the 64 bit version I need to purchase the driver signing certificate, but I already made tests and SpeedFan works fine on it too. And this all costs you absolutely nothing! "

All I want to say to the creator is Thank You very much for this new version!!

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Computer Stuff...

You know when you are trying to save a picture from the web and you want to save it on your computer? Well, i was trying to do this the other day and like many MS Windows computers, it locked up.

I was trying to save it to a specific HD and it did not happen. The drive was a *Maxtor 100gig SATA drive. SO i did what any other mortal would do, i hit the button and Rebooted my comp. That was a mistake. Then computer was trying to boot up and the dreaded screen: "One of your disks needs to be checked for consistency"

SO, being the good computer user that i am, i let it. IT was going very slow and then data started to appear similar to this:


One of your disks needs to be checked for consistency. You may cancel the disk check, but it is strongly recommended that you continue.Windows will now check the disk.CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)

File record segment 53896 is unreadable.
File record segment 53897 is unreadable.
File record segment 53898 is unreadable.
File record segment 53899 is unreadable.
File record segment 53916 is unreadable.
File record segment 53917 is unreadable.
File record segment 53918 is unreadable.
File record segment 53919 is unreadable.

IF this happens, don't worry, i had a few errands to run and so i left the computer to do its thing. After i got back home, i had to reboot 2 times and then the drive was ok. I cant seam to find any bad sectors or any lost data. i got lucky.

* On a different note, it appears that Seagate has purchased Maxtor!









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The Music industry...

How many people remember way back around 1985 when Compact Discs came out. Remember how much they cost? The were around 10-13 dollars. Then remember in the 1990s? The price was raised to around 16-19 dollars a disc. What a dramatic increase. Well several years ago, there was a class action lawsuit filed against the RIAA for price gouging. If you went online, you could sign that petition and join the lawsuit.

Well, i did and the other day, i received a check from that suit! IT was about $14, but the case was won. I know that was not much money, but divided out between several million people, think about it.



Here is part of the ruling:

The Defendants have agreed to pay a combination of cash and non-cash consideration. Defendants' combined cash payments total $67,375,000. In addition, Distributor Defendants will provide $75,700,000 worth of prerecorded music compact discs. This will take place in the 41 states that filed the suit.

I was a member and i filed a claim in Texas.

You are a member of the Settlement Group if you are a person (or entity) in the United States or its Territories and Possessions who purchased prerecorded Music Products, consisting of compact discs, cassettes and vinyl albums, from one or more retailers during the period January 1, 1995, through December 22, 2000.

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Share the Road...

We all have been driving in the city or counrty and have seen the sign saying "Share The Road" with a bicycle. Most majoy cities have this type of sign. Me being a bicker, i like to see those kinds of signs. They were all over Colorado when we lived there. It was really nice to have them as there was a lot of bickers that lived there.






Well, the other evening, Friday evening, to be exact. My wife and I were driving out in Chester Va. To me, it was in the boonies and we were looking for this high school in the middle of no where. My daughter was having another cheerleading contest. By the way, her school took 2nd out of 10 schools.

Anyway, we were driving down these back woods roads and we say a sign of the "Share the road" type, only I had never seen this one before. I knew that we were in the back-woods when this type of sign is around. We finally found the high school for the competition. I hoped that they would give a refund for gas because it was so far out there. The school was very nice and that is because no one can find it to use it.















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DST - Spring forward...Fall back....2007

During DST, clocks are turned forward an hour, effectively
moving an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening.



Just a few interesting fact that i have found on the web.




World map showing current and past daylight saving usage
██ Areas that have DST
██ Areas that once had DST
██ Areas that never had DST

For many of you that did not know, DST is going to be changed this year. Beginning in 2007, Daylight Saving Time is extended one month and begins for most of the United States on the Second Sunday in March to the First Sunday of November.

So, the dates will be as follows:

Year: 2007
DST Begins 2 a.m.(Second Sunday in March) March 11
DST Ends 2 a.m.(First Sunday in November) November 4
Year: 2008
DST Begins 2 a.m.(Second Sunday in March) March 9
DST Ends 2 a.m.(First Sunday in November) November 2.

I remember something about this and i heard about it when we lived in Massachusetts, but i was not sure about the exact details. On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. no. 109-58, 119 Stat 594 (2005).



This Act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. The Secretary of Energy will report the impact of this change to Congress. Congress retains the right to resume the 2005 Daylight Saving Time schedule once the Department of Energy study is complete .

So, we will get to see how this works out as it is about 2 weeks away from happening.



Some more interesting stuff:

The official spelling is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight SavingS Time.


Saving is used here as a verbal adjective (a participle). It modifies time and tells us more about its nature; namely, that it is characterized by the activity of saving daylight. It is a saving daylight kind of time. Similar examples would be a mind expanding book or a man eating tiger. Saving is used in the same way as saving a ball game, rather than as a savings account.


Nevertheless, many people feel the word savings (with an 's') flows more mellifluously off the tongue. Daylight Savings Time is also in common usage, and can be found in dictionaries.
Adding to the confusion is that the phrase Daylight Saving Time is inaccurate, since no daylight is actually saved. Daylight Shifting Time would be better, but it is not as politically desirable.




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Windows XP Flight Feature Flawed...

This is a very funny article for those of you that are of the Techie nature!! I wanted to pass this on as i am sure that some of you have not read this before! I was laughing the whole time i read this!

Windows XP Flight Feature Flawed
By Tom Condon


Redmond, WA - One of the most acclaimed features of the new Microsoft Windows XP release is its ability to enable users to fly without the aid of any mechanical assistance whatsoever. As the Microsoft commercials vividly display, users of XP can fly simply by spreading their arms. This is made possible by the new flight feature of Windows XP, called MSFlight. "The flight feature is something that we have been working on for some time," said Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft. "Today's mobile executives need the ability to fly, and we feel that MSFlight's capabilities are far superior to those offered by Linux or Apple."

However, as with many Microsoft releases, there have been some problems with the initial releases. Many users are saying that their flying experiences are very different from what is shown on the television commercials.

One example is Martin Feinstein, of Syosset, NY After purchasing Windows XP, he activated the flying feature and immediately levitated in his living room. "At first, it was great, just like in the commercials" he said. However, Mr. Feinstein's computer locked up after only a few minutes, sending him crashing to he ground and fracturing his right clavicle. "My computer crashed, and so did I" said Mr. Feinstein, who purchase an Apple computer the next day.

Another problem is XP's susceptibility to viruses. Janice O'Connor, of Anderson, North Carolina was ejected from her 14th floor apartment after opening an e-mail that contained a virus targeted at Windows XP. The virus, which contains a file aptly named "Flyme2th_moon.exe", initiates the MSFlight feature, adjusts the speed setting to maximum, and then shuts down the computer a few seconds later, ending the user's flight capabilities. Witnesses said that Ms. O'Connor was hurdled through her apartment's balcony plate glass window and flew approximately 200 yards at that altitude before plummeting to her death.

"This certainly gives new meaning to the term 'fatal exception'", said her cousin, Rita O'Reardon, who was injured after opening the virus in an e-mail from Ms. O'Connor and being thrown against her bedroom wall. Apparently the virus uses Microsoft Outlook to e-mail copies of itself to everyone in the victim's contacts list. More than 100 people in O'Connor's contacts list were sent the virus, but only 3, who had purchased Windows XP, were injured. Local Police Chief Clem Waters said, "It is fortunate that sales of XP have been so slow, or this event could have been much worse."

Another Windows XP user flew a little too well. Amy Branston of San Francisco was last seen ascending straight up at an amazing speed, and was tracked by NASA radar moving away from the earth at over 28,000 miles per hour. According to her husband, she had just installed Windows XP, and thought that the MSFlight feature was a flight simulator game. "She turned on the MSFlight feature, and shot up like a rocket," he told BB Spot reporters. Apparently, a glitch in the Windows XP software was responsible for propelling her into outer space. Microsoft officials have commented that Windows XP is not capable of accelerating users to orbital velocity unless they have installed an unlicensed copy of the software.

NASA officials are very concerned about the potential for Microsoft to introduce its customers into an already crowded orbital space. Mr. Hal Clarke, Director of Space Junk for NASA says, "There are tens of thousands of objects already floating in earth orbit, and it is difficult enough to track them now" said Mr. Clarke. "If we're going to have hundreds or thousands of Microsoft users floating around up there, it's going to get pretty messy. It's not just the bodies we're worried about. We have calculated that collisions will produce significant fragmentation, with huge numbers of arms, legs, and other parts." NASA is already contemplating fitting its space shuttles with windshield wipers to help clean off blood and other bodily fluids from collisions with orbiting Microsoft XP users.

The FAA is also concerned about the potential for traffic problems in commercial air space. "If there are going to be thousands of Microsoft XP users flying around in the air, we're going to have a traffic control nightmare on our hands," said FAA spokesman Norman Krazowski. "They are all going to have to file flight plans, and carry anti-collision transponders and flight data recorders just like airplanes. Also, randomly-selected XP users will be selected and required to carry an undercover Air Marshall with them." Microsoft has responded to the FAA by saying that any undercover Air Marshals attached to any flying XP users will also have to purchase a licensed copy of Microsoft XP.

Mr. Gates has stressed the safety of Windows XP, noting that it is far more stable than previous versions of Windows. "I can understand why people would have been hesitant to trust their lives to previous versions of Windows, but XP is far more stable, and users can feel completely secure flying at any altitude while using XP." When asked by a reporter why he chose to arrive in a limousine rather than use the flight feature of Windows XP, Mr. Gates declined to comment.



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Cheerleading Contest...

WEll, today my daughter had Cheerleading contest. There was 9 schools in all and the got 3rd place with one person out due to an injury.

SO i am very proud of this and we have another one on Friday that i will be able to attend! I will give all the info after the contest.



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RSS Feeds on my Blog.

I just enabled the RSS feeds on my site. The subscription can be found in the Archive section on the right hand side of the BLOG.

Here is a pic to show you where it is located:



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The Prestige (2006) A Friendship, That Became a Rivalry...A Rivalry, That Became a Battle

I just finished watching the movie. It was directed by Christopher Nolan, the man who did the new Batman movie with Christian Bale. This was a very good movie with some great twists in it.

Bale, Alfred Borden and Hugh Jackman, Robert Angier, in the beginning of the movie, worked together as magicians and were friends in the beginning of the movie. They worked for a man named Cutter (Michael Caine). When Angier's wife dies during one of their stunts, a bitter rivalry starts up. The try to out do eachother with bigger and better magic tricks. Bale get the fame and has a wife and daughter. Angier wants those things and will stop at nothing to get them and destroy the other person in the process.

With each new trick comes new level of danger and sabotage. One magician tries to out-do the other one with the stakes getting higher all the time. Scarlett Johansson, who plays Olivia Wenscombe, becomes Angier's assistant, but betrays him and falls in love with Borden.

David Bowie who plays Nikola Tesla has a pivotal role in this film, by creating the best and finial trick for Angier. It is supposed to be a teleporter device, but it makes a clone of the person that materializes some 50feet away. This is the problem that gets Borden placed in jail and convicted for the murder of Angier, when in fact, it was a clone that died. The cloning effect was alluded to when Angier was leaving Tesla's residence. You see hats and many cloned cats about 50 feet from the house.

In the end, Borden is hanged and Angier gets his child, but the twist is that Borden has a twine brother that goes ad kills Angier, the real one, not a clone. He gets his daughter back and the movie ends.

I did not want to tell all the twists and stories. This movie was very well done and in my opinion, is a must to see.

Enjoy!
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Random Thoughts...

It is warm here today. It got to nearly 64. That is a big change from what it has been as of late. We have a chance of rain also. A front is coming our way and it is going to cool down by Friday, but warm back up early next week. I can feel it in my lower back as it is hurting me at the moment.

This type of weather is really bad because it keeps everyone sick from the constant temperature changing. If it is nice this weekend, we might try to go and do some riding
at a new park. It is called Pocahontas State Park.

This is my 2nd day off from work. I go back on shift tomorrow night. I am in the process of applying for positions with Qimonda to get a job with them. I am just a Vendor and as such, not a permanent employee. Only time will tell about this situation.

This pic is one i took when we lived in Massachusetts. It was facing East looking over a friend’s house at the clouds. IT was just before a Nor’easter was about to hit... What a storm that one was...


I will post a few other pics of Massachusetts that show just how cold it was there.


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