Saturday, March 15, 2008

RIAA - SlashDot Story

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

| RIAA Will Finally Face the Music In Court                                |

|   from the discovery-channel dept.                                           |

|   posted by kdawson on Friday March 14, @12:29 (The Courts)                |

|   http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/14/158246|

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Falstaff writes "[0]Exonerated RIAA defendant Tanya Andersen is expected to [1]refile her malicious prosecution lawsuit against the RIAA today.

The refiling will mark a significant watershed in the RIAA's fight against P2P users because for the first time, the group's tactics, secret agreements, and fee splitting with MediaSentry are likely to come to light, thanks to discovery. Andersen's attorney says he'll be 'digging into agreements between the RIAA, RIAA member companies, MediaSentry, and the Settlement Support Sentry. Part of that will involve looking at compensation, like how much MediaSentry gets from each settlement. "I'd love to know what kind of bounty MediaSentry got paid to supply erroneous identities to the RIAA," Lybeck says.' The judge has barred further motions to dismiss the complaint, which means the RIAA will have to face the music. 'Unlike the thousands of lawsuits filed so far, the RIAA does not have the luxury of walking away from this case if there's a real chance of embarrassing information being released. "Once discovery happens in the cases the RIAA brings, they run," Lybeck says. "This is our case now, and they can't run."'"

 

Discuss this story at:

    http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/03/14/158246

 

Links:

    0. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/05/1233253&tid=123

    1. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080313-andersen-attorney-on-riaa-suit-they-cant-run-now.html

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You have no conscience and it seems you never will - Cyberaktif

 

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008 (HR 5353).

I am writing today to urge you to co-sponsor the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008 (HR 5353). This important, bipartisan legislation protects the free-flowing Internet from blocking, censorship and discrimination by powerful phone and cable companies.

 

 

Tens of millions of Americans rely upon an open Internet in their daily lives. Our elected leaders must protect our basic right to communicate from those who want to take it from us. The legislation calls for a nationwide series of public hearings about what the future of the Internet should look like -- an important step to bring these crucial issues into the light of day.

 

 

Please help in this effort by joining Reps. Markey and Pickering in support of the bipartisan Internet Freedom Preservation Act. Thank you.

 

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You have no conscience and it seems you never will - Cyberaktif

 

House Painting...

We had our home painted inside over the last 7 days by a good contractor located here in Midlothian. The contractor is called McNeil-N-Design, LLC

The owner is named Erick McNeil and they did  a very good job given the task at hand.  If you live in the Chesterfield/Midlothian area and you need some house work done, please contact me.

 

RMStringer

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The significant problems we face

cannot be solved at the same level

of thinking we were at when

we created them: Albert Einstein

 

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Big con trial!

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

What Im reading now...

The Travler-John Twelve Hawks I have read this one before and just got the next in the series. I wanted to refresh my memory about the book.
Posted via my LGVX8600 phone. From RMStringer

Monday, March 10, 2008

Mack: The Superior Species

Thanks to Mac for letting me post this.
 
The Superior Species
 
That whacky – of charity, let us call him Stultus Cibus – Stultus Cibus is at it again, swimming naked with the alligators in Florida.  Oh, sure, some writers say he was swimming nude with the alligators, but if you've seen a picture of that ugly ol' boy you will understand that he was nekkid.  Indeed, he looks as if he traded his last few brain cells and his last bar of soap for a marijuana joint back in 1968 or so.
 
The last time Stultus got naked with the alligators back in '06 one of them ate a fair amount of him, including his left arm and part of his sit-upon.  This Circle of Life event would have been completed, and Stultus digested, except for the fact that Polk County deputies were pulling on one end of Stultus while the 'gator was pulling on the other.
 
One would expect a self-respecting alligator who was raised by loving parents to eat a healthier diet than ol' Stultus.
 
Maybe next time the deputies can just sort of, you know, accidentally let go. 
 
One wonders if to alligators humans taste like chicken.
 
Stultus spent months receiving taxpayer-funded care that apparently some of our war wounded are denied, and returned to driving around in his pickup truck and consuming meth and marijuana. 
 
Well, one can't keep a one-armed village idiot down.  Last Friday Stultus was once again swimming naked with the alligators, and once again Polk County deputies saved his life.
 
Like the ever-optimistic Charlie Brown, the alligators were hoping Lucy wouldn't yank the human away this time.
 
Or perhaps the alligators were reluctant to take a bite out of Stultus because they were afraid he was processed in China and might contain bacteria or sewerage or weird chemicals.
 
And aren't there laws against feeding alligators unsanitary food?
 
This last encounter was on a Friday, and as we all know from the respected theologian Jack Chick the Pope mandated that alligators eat humans on Fridays for the sake of the Italian alligator-shoe industry.
 
Stultus' next career may be as an announcer for National Public Radio, another taxpayer-funded and brain-dead entity.  Barring that, he could stumble around the mall with a tin cricket in his ear and barking obscenities to himself.
 
Let's see if Stultus really has guts – let's see if he'll swim naked with Rosie O'Donnell next go-'round.
 
-30-
 



Mack Hall -- one of the few healthy men in Jasper County not displaying a parking tag meant for the handicapped.







--
RMSTringer
+++++++++++++++

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Friday, March 07, 2008

Personal Best...

I went to the gym last night and was working on legs.  I worked into a set with a guy on the Hack-Sled. That is an inverted leg press.  I normally work out with about 230lbs not counting the weight of the machine.  Well, we started out with 270lbs, i did my normal set reps with that, then we went to 360lbs, normal set reps with that as well.  He then placed 6 pairs of 45lb weights; 1 set =90lbs, totaling 540lbs.  I did 10 reps at that weight! i have never tried that weight before and i was very impressed with myself.  He proceeded to go to about 620lbs and i said that 540lbs was enough.  In actuality, it was 585lbs due to the weight of the sled. I only count the weight  that i place on the machine.

--
RMSTringer
+++++++++++++++

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Busy Life...

Sorry for not posting much this week to the Blog. it has been a crazy week and lots of stuff is going on. I will try to post a few items over the next few days.  I saw this website while I was reading a magazine during a break today.  It is called Road Id.  www.roadid.com and I am going to get me one as it is a good idea if you like the outdoors and are active in it.  Go and check it out.

 

More later…

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You have no conscience and it seems you never will - Cyberaktif

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Trading Drugs?

While i am on the road going to work, i listen to the local radio station. They always play commercials to pay for their air time and i keep hearing one for substance abuse. A person will come on and say do you or someone you know use meth, or cocaine, or alcohol? IF you, you might qualify for a study to take a pill to see if it stops the cravings of the substance(s) you take. you will be compensated with money and travel time. Please call...

This just pisses me off to know ends. On May 5, 2008; i will be 5 years clean and sober and no, i repeat no PILL helped me stop! I was in rehab for 28 days straight and worked a good program for many years afterwards to stop. I did not and do not take a pill to stay off drugs and alcohol. No one paid me to stop, i did it on my own.

My compensation for doing so is a clean, sober life. I do not have to get up and take my "no drugs" pill to stave off the cravings and insanity. But let me digress, without a spiritual awakening and the power of God; it would not have happened and or continue to happen. That is not to say i have to live my life "one day at a time;" i make future plans and i try to be the best person i can be and lead a clean healthy life.

So, i guess my point is, they might come up with a pill to make you not want to use anymore but who wants to be bound with a pill to stop taking drugs? SO you put down the crack pipe for a pill to stop; get the picture? If you want to get sober and clean it can be done. Ask for help and get into a 12-Step program that best suits you habit. AA, CA, NA, they are all good if worked correctly and with divine guidance and prayer they will and can work everyday. You can try the "pill" but you will only trade one substance for another, it might not be as bad; it might cost the same or more; you might fill the craving void, but it is not the correct way...



What is your opinion?
Blogroll Me!

Monday, March 03, 2008

Saturday Northwest sky...

More con trails. Look at the formations...
Taken with my LGVX8600 phone. From RMStringer

Sunday, March 02, 2008

A Handy Utility...

FLV to MP3 Online Converter.

Convert your FLV files (YouTube's videos) to MP3 fast. It's 100% free.

This is not a bad little site. It really works...



What is your opinion?
Blogroll Me!

Peter Murphy - A Strange Kind of Love ( Trent Reznor, Jeordie White)

His voice is still as good as it ever was. This track brings chills to me...

Peter Murphy - Strange Kind of Love

This is a good version of this track. He looks like he has been in the deep desert mining Spice...Blue Eyes are a sure sign of Fremen. This is from the "Deep" album as well.

Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up

1991. What a great album this came from "Deep" Was the title. Great quality for this vid as well. He is the Godfather of Goth...

Warm Leatherette - Trent Reznor, Jeordie White, Peter Murphy

What a great version of this track!!! I always loved the original version when i went to Starz.

Friday, February 29, 2008

[Flickr] Schmap Richmond Fourth Edition: Photo Inclusion

My Photo was chosen for the Guide!!! 

--
Subject: [Flickr] Schmap Richmond Fourth Edition: Photo Inclusion



You've been sent a Flickr Mail from Emma J. Williams:

------------------------------------------------------------

:: Schmap Richmond Fourth Edition: Photo Inclusion


Hi Robert,

I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo
has been selected for inclusion in the newly released
fourth edition of our Schmap Richmond Guide:

Tobacco Company Club
http://www.schmap.com/richmond/nightlife_nightclubs/p=265136/i=265136.jpg

If you like the guide and have a website, blog or personal
page, then please also check out the customizable
widgetized versions of our Schmap Richmond Guide, complete
with your published photo:

http://www.schmap.com/guidewidgets/p=73048694N00/c=SF20622622

Thanks so much for letting us include your photo - please
enjoy the guide!

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides

------------------------------------------------------------


The Flickr Team

www.flickr.com




--
RMSTringer
+++++++++++++++

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Thought for today...

We live our lives in relation to what Thomas Keating calls 'the false self,' the self created and conferred by culture. pg116 'The Heart of Christianity' 2003 Marcus J. Borg Posted via my LGVX8600 phone.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Congress's Business?

Roger Clemens? Gas? War?  Steroids?  What the hell are we electing our Congressmen for?  Who really gives a big rat’s ass about him using or not using “enhancement drugs” while playing baseball. I mean come the hell on!!  We are at WAR for God’s sake and they are worrying about steroid use.  Gas is spiraling out of control with the big gas companies turning the biggest profits with analysts predicting $4 a gallon this summer ever and Congress is worried about baseball? How will we ever get to the game?  Why are they so concerned? They are a bunch of crooks and liars themselves yet we re-elect them every 4 years.  Clemens is a professional athlete and he gave a good show for the fans. They paid him millions of dollars to do it.  Just because someone got pissed and “blew the whistle” on the practice that has gone on for numerous years, doesn't facilitate the need for Congress to get involved. If the Baseball Commissioner, Bud Selig, cant police his men how do we expect Congress to?  Get a new commissioner that can do the job. What a huge pile of shit if you ask me.

 

 Let the congressmen and women get back to things that really matter and get the hell out of baseball.  This nation has so lost its way in the governmental department it is just amazing.  Baseball? For all of the waste of public money this had cost the public; what good can come out of it. People go to watch a live game for the thrill and to root for their team and see a good show! What is next? Congress regulating how loud Rock Concerts should be and how long they can play? IT just amazes me about how misguided The USA has become. “Playing tonight, The National Congressional Baseball Team, Steroid Free as House Bill BR549 Mandates.”

 

What a monumental waste of my money…

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You have no conscience and it seems you never will - Cyberaktif

 

Turning Ten - Billy Collins

If you are like me, you can relate to this poem. I saw it in a book by Marcus Borg "The Heart of Christianity"
Here it is:
 
On Turning Ten
 
  The whole idea of it makes me feel
like I'm coming down with something,
something worse than any stomach ache
or the headaches I get from reading in bad light--
a kind of measles of the spirit,
a mumps of the psyche,
a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.

You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
but that is because you have forgotten
the perfect simplicity of being one
and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.
But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.
At four I was an Arabian wizard.
I could make myself invisible
by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.

But now I am mostly at the window
watching the late afternoon light.
Back then it never fell so solemnly
against the side of my tree house,
and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
as it does today,
all the dark blue speed drained out of it.

This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,
as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.
It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,
time to turn the first big number.

It seems only yesterday I used to believe
there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I could shine.
But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
I skin my knees. I bleed.


--
RMSTringer
+++++++++++++++

Monday, February 25, 2008

Weekend Bike Ride...

Yesterday we rode Lakeview 1&2 again and ended up with 12.45 miles total. After the ride, my legs were destroyed!  My calf muscles and quads are sore as well as my knees.  It was the perfect temp for a ride as it was about 45 degrees.

Have a good evening…

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You have no conscience and it seems you never will - Cyberaktif

 

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Humans – Chock Full of Vitamins and Other Essential Nutrients

Thanks to Mac for letting me post this!

Humans – Chock Full of Vitamins and Other Essential Nutrients

In Hawaii a tiger took a walk on the mild side last week, escaping its catdominium and strolling around the human parts of the zoo, checking out the sights, maybe taking a few snapshots, and looking for a snack.

This follows another escape by a tiger in a San Francisco zoo on Christmas Day, a back-to-nature event in which one man was killed near a snack bar. One imagines the survivors running and screaming in fear while text-messaging on their cell 'phones and chugging bottled water.

And then the souvenirs: "I Survived the San Francisco Tiger Massacre" and "My Parents Watched a Guy Get Eaten by a Tiger and All I Got Was This Lousy tee-shirt."

Many people question how big cats can escape their enclosure, but the real question should be why cats bother to do so. In the zoo tigers spend their days lying around in the sun while being given free medical care, free housing, and free food according to their dietary wants and needs, and occasionally eating some of their benefactors. Give them a holy book they can't even read and their lives would be pretty much complete. The reader may now deconstruct the metaphor for himself.

Hundreds of television viewers hundred of miles from any zoo are probably filing disability claims, suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome involving nightcats, and thus unable to work. O Lord, send Thy grief counselors among us.

What, exactly, is a grief counselor? Is that what we used to call a busy-body?

The smart tiger will lurk at the updated watering hole, the bottled-water machine, waiting for its thirsty prey.

Unfortunately, PETA members are out of their cages too, terribly concerned lest Fluffy suffer from a human femur caught in his throat.

A house-cat is a tiger writ small, insolent and carnivorous, lounging on the windowsill and dreaming of killing mice and birds, and through its heavy-lidded eyes perhaps measuring its human companion and pondering the nutritive possibilities. To a pussycat the living room is the African veldt, and the cat's pet human little more than a large, munchable monkey with opposable thumbs.

Sure your kitty purrs when you stroke his chin; he's fantasizing about eating you.

Human – it's what's for dinner.

Even harmless-looking animals on the loose are dangerous; an innocent zoo visitor could be trampled to death by sheep stampeding to some presidential candidate's rally.

And then the snakes – they might escape to become editors at The New York Times, swallowing whole the few remaining specimens of another endangered species, real reporters.

-30-




Let's see -- our electoral choices are:

1. Mrs. Macbeth and her geezer-thug-lecher baggage.
2. The Messiah-Fuhrer and his Fuhrer-ess.
3. Another middle-aged guy from Hope, Arkansas who waves a big ol' Bible around, thinks he's a musician, and eats squirrels.
4. The war hero who in his old age is one medication error away from screaming obscenities at the furniture, said furniture including his embalmed wife.

Um...no.

















Delicious ideas to please the pickiest eaters. Watch the video on AOL Living.

A Good Blog: Fauni Gena

If you are a lover of Ambient Music like I am, this is a good Blog to go and read reviews about different artists that are in that genre. 

With artist like Vidna Obmana & Asmus Tietchens, Steve Reich, Brian Eno, just to name a few!  Go and look at the Blog.

 

 

RMStringer

+++++++++++++++++++++++

"We are all geniuses when we dream"

- E.M. Cioran

 

Metallica - Fade to Black

It is my favorite track from them and perhaps one of the best songs that Metallica ever wrote. It shoes what diverse musicians and how skillfully they are. They were good on this track.

Time - Pink Floyd

This came from the Delicate Sound Of Thunder album. It was a live 2 disc set that came after A Momentary Lapse Of Reason album.

Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb (The Wall)

Just am incredible song to be seen live! I saw them preform it in 1994 at Houston Texas, Rice University. I used to watch The Wall all the time at college.

Friday, February 22, 2008

[Flickr] Schmap: Richmond Photo Short-list

One of my pics from Christmas was chosen as a finalist pic for the Schmap Richmond Guide. I hope that they use it!!  Wish me luck!!

You've been sent a Flickr Mail from Emma J. Williams:

------------------------------------------------------------

:: Schmap: Richmond Photo Short-list


Hi Robert,

I am writing to let you know that one of your photos has
been short-listed for inclusion in the fourth edition of
our Schmap Richmond Guide, to be published at the end of
this month.





--
RMSTringer
+++++++++++++++

Don't Let Congress Ruin the Internet

Dear Friend,

The Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008 (HR 5353). This important, bipartisan legislation protects the free-flowing Internet from blocking, censorship and discrimination by powerful phone and cable companies.

Big phone and cable companies are trying to get rid of Net Neutrality, the fundamental principle that prevents them from discriminating against your favorite Web sites and services.

Unless we speak out to our members of Congress, they could move to allow large telephone and cable companies to control what you do, where you go and what you watch online.

Visit the URL below to learn more about what's at stake and send a loud message directly to Congress:

https://secure2.convio.net/free/site/Advocacy?id=241
To take action on this issue, click on the link below:
https://secure2.convio.net/free/site/Advocacy?s_oo=NmNaeAcP-ZOpkKpP_YlcKQ..&id=241
If the text above does not appear as a link or it wraps across multiple lines, then copy and paste it into the address area of your browser.

A recap of the last few weeks...

It has been a long week here for us. Wife has been away for business and i have been minding the house. Chel and I have gone to the gym several time and have had a good time. We are now eagerly awaiting her return. We were worried that she would not be able to fly home tonight due to the bad weather but she had no problems!

I have taken a part-time job at the place where i work. I am doing data cabling for a company called Archura. The do most of the fiber and Cat6 at the server farm. They have been great in working with my schedule.

It has been really nasty weather here the last few days and Chel hoped for a 2-hour delay in school but did not get it. We just have not been hit with an great amount of snow or ice this year. The weather man said that we will be in a very cold pattern till the end of the month, perhaps there is still time for a Winter Storm!

I have been reading lots of book this year. I finished a book called Blackwater and then i started a book called Blasphemy which i finished it Wednesday. Several years ago, i read a book by an author named John Twelve Hawks. The book was called The Traveler. I was in my "library" the other night and i saw the book and wondered if he had a new novel. I looked it up and found his newest one which i went and purchased yesterday. It is called The Dark River, the second of three novels in the Fourth Realm Trilogy I have not started it yet and perhaps i will read it next week.

I am going to ride sometime this weekend, just not sure when it will happen...

What is your opinion?
Blogroll Me!

Thought for today...

Faith is what you turn to when knowledge runs out. Even more strongly, faith is what you need when beliefs and knowledge conflict.
pg29 'The Heart of Christianity' 2003 Marcus J. Borg

Posted via my LGVX8600 phone.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Heads feat. Johnette Napolitano - Damage Ive Done

The lead singer of Concret Blond with the talking heads without David Byrne back in 1996.

Talking Heads - Burning Down the House

One of my favorite old skool videos. I remember watching this on TBS Night Tracks way back in the 1980s...

Tom Tom Club - Suboceana

Talking Heads Without the mouth. I always thought that this song was talking about a Micronaut Comicbook. There was a world called Oceania in that comic. The lyrics remind me of their search for the 3 keys...

Jasper High School Band 1991

This was my high school. I graduated in 1989 so i am not in this video, but you get the gist of it. I played drums, bass drum to be exact.

FLIR Fart - FLIR GasFindIR camera

Please be careful when you expel gas. You never know who or what is watching you when you do it.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Total Lunar Eclipse

As reported by NASA:

The Sun goes down. The Moon comes up. You go out and look at the sky. Observing the eclipse is that easy. Maximum eclipse, and maximum beauty, occurs at 10:26 pm EST (7:26 pm PST).

see caption

Above: A preview of the Feb. 20th lunar eclipse created by graphic artist Larry Koehn. Click on the links to view labels for other time zones: GMT, AST, EST, CST, MST, PST, Alaska, Hawaii.

A lunar eclipse happens when the Moon passes through the shadow of Earth. You might expect the Moon to grow even more ashen than usual, but in fact it transforms into an orb of vivid red.





What is your opinion?
Blogroll Me!

HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVD

We all knew knew that this was going to happen and Sony won the format war. Toshiba threw in the towel and took HD-DVD off the market today as reported by most major news.

The format war, often compared to the Betamax-VHS battle in the 1980s and then Sony's venture into the Mini-Disc products. I found them to be excellent but the support for them did not happen when the MP3 revolution took the public by storm.

Hollywood studios had initially split their alliances between the two camps, meaning only certain films would play on any one DVD machine and that hurt both of the companies in the beginning.

In addition to Wal-Mart, consumer electronics chain Best Buy and online video rental company Netflix Inc also recently signed up to the Blu-ray camp.


What is your opinion?
Blogroll Me!

Monday, February 18, 2008

My new book!

I started it today... Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Thought for the day...

'The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true science' Albert Einstein Posted via my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Sunday, February 17, 2008

House, Nursing Assistant!

Thanks to Mac for letting me publish this article. 

House, Nursing Assistant

 

House is a reasonably intelligent television show featuring the eponymous lead as a Byronic hero who is never sacked despite his drug abuse, ill manners, television watching, and video gaming, all on the job, because he develops brilliant solutions to apparently impossible medical problems. 

 

Where House breaks down is its unreality, which is not a criticism because this is a television show.  In House the few nurses do things on computer screens and are never seen giving patient care.  Patients suffer seizures or coronary occlusions only when a team of physicians happens to be in the room.  The hospital in which House works has no admissions staff, nursing assistants, cleaner-uppers, security guards, or bulletin boards.  Each fictional doctor enjoys a spacious, glass-walled office which any real-life physician can only envy, and when said physician needs a crash cart, a suture tray, or a specific medicine it is immediately available.

 

What if House were more like a real hospital?

 

House, Nursing Assistant.  House is fired for having a drug problem, even though he saves lives.

 

House, Pharmacist.  House is fired for being rude, although he saves lives.

 

House, Cleaning Staff.  House is fired for pausing thirty seconds to watch a bit of soap opera on a patient's television while tidying his fiftieth or so room of his shift, even though skilled and science-based hygiene and maintenance save lives.

 

House, Hospital Security.  House, after wrestling with drunks most of his shift, is fired for playing a video game on his watch at four in the morning although his presence in a creepy world saves lives.

 

House, R.N.  House, after helping deliver a baby in E.R., giving resuscitation to a heart-attack victim, getting coughed on by 'flu patients, barfed on by someone with food poisoning, and supervising the care of dozens of other patients, all without lunch or even a potty break, is fired for telling an career FEMA recipient complaining about the formaldehyde in his free trailer that he doesn't even know what formaldehyde is and why doesn't he just open the windows if he doesn't like the new-car smell?

 

House, Admissions Clerk.  House, after years of loyal service to the same hospital doing his part to help save lives, is fired for not learning Spanish rapidly enough.

 

Short season, huh?  And now, back to Flipping Homezillas Off the Island.

 

-30-

 

Religous Choices...


We went to a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday and it was interesting. The ceremony and tradition in the service was just amazing and rightly so after over 2000+ years to perfect it. I have never been a Jewish Temple nor have I seen any of the accouterments that it has. The service was about 2.5 hours long with many of the prayers sang and spoken in Hebrew. I was very impressed by the Scripture leader and how fluently he spoke from the Torah. This stirred some questions in me.

It got me to thinking that I, being a Christian, believe that in order for em to go to Heaven, i have to believe in Jesus and accept him as my personal savior, thus enabling me to go to Heaven when i die. The Jewish people do not believe that Jesus was the embodiment of God and thus from a Christian point of view, will not go to Heaven even though one was started from the other.

Christians worship Jesus and pray to Him of God. Jews pray to God only. Now this thought may go against Christianity, but we both worship the same deity God, only in a different aspect. So they do not believe in Jesus, that is not their religion. The believe in God and that is their way to Heaven. Ok. No Problem for me. I just wonder if me believing in Jesus and them believing in God; do we not all go to the same Heaven? Is their religion any better than Christianity. Or is it worse. If that is what they believe and that is their faith, then is it not correct? Our Faith is correct for our belief. Why are we so judgmental of their religion if it initially spawned ours? Was Jesus not a Jew? I guess that it all goes back to the Christian Bible, not the Torah.

I hope that someone out will enter into my discussion on this. I am very interested in their subject and welcome all comments from Christian and Jew alike. It just all made me wonder about the differentiation on this subject and why it is the way it is.




What is your opinion?
Blogroll Me!

Friday, February 15, 2008

This is for a good cause...

Many years ago i participated in SETI@Home. I just found out about a project called Folding@Home. Here is a description from their website:

What is protein folding and how is folding linked to disease?
Proteins are biology's workhorses -- its "nanomachines." Before proteins can carry out these important functions, they assemble themselves, or "fold." The process of protein folding, while critical and fundamental to virtually all of biology, in many ways remains a mystery.

Moreover, when proteins do not fold correctly (i.e. "misfold"), there can be serious consequences, including many well known diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many Cancers and cancer-related syndromes.

You can help by simply running a piece of software.
Folding@home is a distributed computing project -- people from throughout the world download and run software to band together to make one of the largest supercomputers in the world. Every computer takes the project closer to our goals. Folding@home uses novel computational methods coupled to distributed computing, to simulate problems millions of times more challenging than previously achieved.


What have we done so far?

We have had several successes. You can read about them on our Science page, on our Awards page, or go directly to our Results page.

Want to learn more?

Click on the links on the left for downloads or more information. You can also download our Executive Summary, which is a PDF suitable for distribution. Also, you can learn more by watching recent seminars (Stanford BMI ; Xerox PARC). One can also help by donating funds to the project, via Stanford University.



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Little Ice Age Part 2?

Solar Activity Diminishes; Researchers Predict Another Ice Age



A typical sunspot compared to the size of the earth. Sunspots have all but vanished in recent years.

Henrik Svensmark explains the SKY experimen



Global Cooling comes back in a big way


Dr. Kenneth Tapping is worried about the sun. Solar activity comes in regular cycles, but the latest one is refusing to start. Sunspots have all but vanished, and activity is suspiciously quiet. The last time this happened was 400 years ago -- and it signaled a solar event known as a "Maunder Minimum," along with the start of what we now call the "Little Ice Age."

Tapping, a solar researcher and project director for Canada's National Research Council, says it may be happening again. Overseeing a giant radio telescope he calls a "stethoscope for the sun," Tapping says, if the pattern doesn't change quickly, the earth is in for some very chilly weather.

During the Little Ice Age, global temperatures dropped sharply. New York Harbor froze hard enough to allow people to walk from Manhattan to Staten Island, and in Britain, people reported sighting eskimos paddling canoes off the coast. Glaciers in Norway grew up to 100 meters a year, destroying farms and villages.

But will it happen again?

In 2005, Russian astronomer Khabibullo Abdusamatov predicted the sun would soon peak, triggering a rapid decline in world temperatures. Only last month, the view was echoed by Dr. Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. who advised the world to "stock up on fur coats." Sorokhtin, who calls man's contribution to climate change "a drop in the bucket," predicts the solar minimum to occur by the year 2040, with icy weather lasting till 2100 or beyond.

Observational data seems to support the claims -- or doesn't contradict it, at least. According to data from Britain's Met Office, the earth has cooled very slightly since 1998. The Met Office says global warming "will pick up again shortly." Others aren't so sure.

Researcher Dr. Timothy Patterson, director of the Geoscience Center at Carleton University, shares the concern. Patterson is finding "excellent correlations" between solar fluctuations, a relationship that historically, he says doesn't exist between CO2 and past climate changes. According to Patterson. we shouldn't be surprised by a solar link. "The sun [is] the ultimate source of energy on this planet," he says.

Such research dates back to 1991, when the Danish Meteorological Institute released a study showing that world temperatures over the past several centuries correlated very closely with solar cycles. A 2004 study by the Max Planck Institute found a similar correlation, but concluded the timing was only coincidental, as the solar variance seemed too small to explain temperature changes.

However, researchers at DMI continued to work, eventually discovering what they believe to be the link. The key factor isn't changes in solar output, but rather changes in the sun's magnetosphere A stronger field shields the earth more from cosmic rays, which act as "seeds" for cloud formation. The result is less cloud cover, and a warming planet. When the field weakens, clouds increases, reflecting more light back to space, and the earth cools off.

Recently, lead researcher Henrik Svensmark was able to experimentally verify the link between cosmic rays and cloud formation, in a cloud chamber experiment called "SKY" at the Danish National Space Center. CERN plans a similar experiment this year.

Even NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies -- long the nation's most ardent champion of anthropogenic global warming -- is getting in on the act. Drew Shindell, a researcher at GISS,
says there are some "interesting relationships we don't fully understand" between solar activity and climate.


From Daily Tech Science Blog.


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Thursday, February 14, 2008

Thought for today...

You must not depend upon the world, and not upon men, and not upon yourself, but only and alone upon God: for a human being can of himself do nothing. !Postscript! Soren Kierkegaard 1846 Posted via my LGVX8600 phone.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Postscript - a summation

God does not think, He Creates; God does not exist, He is eternal.
Man thinks and exists, and existence separates thought and being,
holding them apart from one another in succession...

Subjectivity is truth, subjectivity is reality.

Soren Kierkegaard 1846 "Postscript: The Subjective Thinker"

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Monaco - What do you want from me (UK version)

This is the video version that i remember the most.

Monaco - What do you want from me (US version)

I do not remember this version of the song. It is perhaps one of my favorite songs from Hooke.

Revenge - Pineapple Face

Peter Hooke from New Order. This was the jamm in college back in Nacadoches Texas. I have all of Revenge on CD. Good Music still today!

Dave Gahan - Saw Something

This is the first track on the album (Hourglass) It is a good track and it really impressed me. The rest of the album is very good as well.

Dave Gahan - Kingdom

This is the new single from the album Hourglass(2007) I saw it last night at the gym. The video is neat and i like the production. The album is very good, kind of like Depeche Mode and other styles also with very clean audio production.

Thought for today...

Christinity has declared itself to be the eternal essential truth which has come into being in time. !Postscript! Soren Kierkegaard 1846 Posted via my LGVX8600 phone.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Civic Duty...

In this time of over the cell voting, it is good and right to go out and personally cast your vote in your state's Primary Election, I did today and it felt good. If 54 million people voted in the National Elections; it would be amazing what would happen. I can understand why more people will vote for the American Who is going to be your next dancing idol while sitting at home. They feel like they are doing something with tangible results. The state primaries get the same results. You can see who wins that state. Go vote.

If you do not vote, then you have no ground to bitch about the state of affairs. You did not make your voice heard, you might say you like what the person is doing and how the country is running but when the crap hits the fan you complain and people should not pay you any mind at all. You spout your Rhetoric but you did not take you chance when you had it and when it counted. You have not leg to stand on in my opinion, yet, you will talk up a person when they are doing well. Go and use your Civic Responsibility and make your voice heard!

I guess that you can tell that I am Republican and I endorse Senator John McCain for President.
I agree with many of the issues that he talks about. I think that he has been in Washington for many years and is about as transparent as they come with all the corruption. I see McCain as a down the middle candidate and not on the Far Right or Left on Issues. He has strong stances that i believe in. He has been in Washington DC for many years and i think that he will lead this country in the right direction and keep the military strong and we need that to help protect the USA. he will deal with the illegal immigrant issue that plagues our nation.

A vote for McCain is a vote taken away from Obama!

A constitutional Obamination!



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Monday, February 11, 2008

Thought for today...

'The Alpha and Omega of military outsourcing.' pg353 'Blackwater' Posted via my LGVX8600 phone.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

New lakeview red stunt

Yesterday. Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Bike Ride...

Well yesterday we got in a 12.82 mile ride on Lake View 1&2.  It was a great ride and they have done some more work to those trails and we found several new “Red” sections to the trails that had some crazy new stunts. Our total ride time was about 1’45 minutes. We hooked up with some people there that had never ridden those trails so it was a good time for them as well. My knees are very sore today but it is worth it. Not too bad after being off for 3 weeks.  I kept up cardio in the gym where I work out and I had already ridden 16.2 miles this week so I am very happy with all of that.   Have a good day…

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You have no conscience and it seems you never will - Cyberaktif

 

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Morning Ride!!

I am off to ride at Pocahontas Park! We are going to ride Lake View 1&2 which will be a 12 mile ride. It is my first ride in a month due to all the traveling that we have been doing…I can’t wait!

 

 

RMStringer

********************

IMBA Member: Dec 2007

web_sq_trails_160

 

Friday, February 08, 2008

Thought for today...

The war on terror would be 'won in large measure by forces you do not know about, in actions you will not see and in ways you may not want to know about.' Buzzy Krongard CIA pg245 'Blackwater' Posted via my LGVX8600 phone.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

National Aquarium in Baltimore


National Aquarium in Baltimore, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

Baltimore Weekend 2.1.2008

This is an Australian Mud-Skipper. It remindes me of the Muddy Mud-Skipper show that was on Ren&Stimpy...

A Sunspot in the New Solar Cycle.

2008 February 6
See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download  the highest resolution version available.

Credit & Copyright: Greg Piepol

Explanation: A new cycle has begun on our Sun. Over the past year, the Sun's magnetic field has reset and now a new 11 year period is beginning. Pictured above in a specific color of light emitted by hydrogen is sunspot 10982, one of the first sunspots of the new solar cycle. The two dark lines visible just above and to either side of the bright sunspot are cool filaments held aloft by the Sun's magnetic field. Hot and cold regions are shown as regions of relative light and dark, respectively. A solar cycle is caused by the changing magnetic field, and varies from solar maximum, when sunspot, coronal mass ejection, and flare phenomena are most frequent, to solar minimum, when such activity is relatively infrequent. Solar minimums occurred in 1996 and 2007, while the last solar maximum occurred in 2001. Of course, tomorrow's annular solar eclipse is mostly for penguins.


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Could Superman Get Cut by a Lightsaber?

This is very interesting...
I thought that some of you might like to know this!~

superman-vsjedi.jpgIt’s a question that sounds like something that characters in a Kevin Smith movie would debate for a solid hour of a movie, but fortunately Gizmodo’s crack team of sci-fi and superhero geeks have put their heads together to come up with an answer so we all can rest a little easier.

Yes
• If the lightsaber crystal was green, like green kryptonite, or if they actually used kryptonite as the crystal, then Superman would melt like a hot knife through even hotter dog droppings.
• Superman’s been injured by lasers before (see most aliens he’s fought), so an extremely focused laser like a lightsaber could possibly hurt him if applied directly to the skin for a long enough time.
• If he were under the effects of kryptonite, when even bullets can hurt him, then a lightsaber could definitely chop off parts of his body.

No

• What type of radiation does the lightsaber emit? It’s light, and Superman gets power from the sun, so the lightsaber could be a refreshing lamp.
• It would just burn off his clothes, like in Superman 2, but it wouldn’t hurt him.
• He uses lasers (his own heat vision) to shave himself, so the best the lightsaber could do would to singe his chest hair, or give him a nice shave down there.
• Jedis can’t actually cut through “everything” with the sword. Example: the big huge door in Episode I. They had to jam in their lightsabers and “melt” a doorway inside the door. The sword was fast to go into the door because they applied all the force to the tip, but was slow cutting because the Jedis are only so strong. Picture you cutting through a watermelon. In the same principle, a lightsaber technically might be able to cut through Superman, but there’s nobody strong enough to force it through. Unless you somehow get the Hulk to use a lightsaber. But the Hulk doesn’t exist.

Verdict: Superman wins!


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Sunset on the lake...

This was taken off of Woolridge going across Swift Creek Reservoir this evening. Look at the reflection of the clouds on the water...

Taken with my LGVX8600 phone.
From RMStringer

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Thought for today...

A stranger should be well-mannered...Fallujah proverb pg48 'Blackwater' Posted via my LGVX8600 phone.

Im starting this book.

I have several going at the same time.
From RMStringer

Dorey Park in eastern Henrico County.

I would love for this park to reopen. I also want to go and check it out even if it is "closed"

Plan could reopen park trail to riders
Club, county work to repair Dorey paths damaged by storm
 
Chris McMillan, 30, a member of Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts, rides his mountain bike at Dorey Park in eastern Henrico County. The club is working toward an agreement with the county to restore mountain bike trails in the park.
Chris McMillan, 30, a member of Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts, rides his mountain bike at Dorey Park in eastern Henrico County. The club is working toward an agreement with the county to restore mountain bike trails in the park.
Photo By: JOE MAHONEY/TIMES-DISPATCH



By WILL JONES
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Mountain-bikers looking to pump their pedals in Henrico County might end up at Dorey or Deep Run parks if they read trail reviews on the Internet.

But according to the county parks department, Henrico has mountain-bike trails only at Dorey -- and they've been closed for several years.

That could change under a proposed arrangement between Henrico and the Richmond area chapter of the Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts.

Last week, the Board of Supervisors agreed to have the county pursue an agreement with the 80-member club to restore trails at Dorey that were closed after being damaged by Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

Richmond MORE, which has done similar, no-cost work at the James River Park System in Richmond, advocates for trails that are designed using methods that limit ongoing maintenance, erosion, tree damage and other impacts.

MORE members say the demand for trails is evident by the unsanctioned, or "social," paths that are worn in Henrico's parks.

"The proof is in the park," said Greg Rollins, trail advocacy director for Richmond MORE and a resident of western Henrico. "If the users weren't asking for it, the leaves would fall on the trail, and the trails would go back to nature."

Henrico discourages the creation of social trails in its parks, but officials say the problem is difficult to control.

Board of Supervisors Chairman David A. Kaechele said working with Richmond MORE makes sense because of the proliferation of informal trails, including at the Twin Hickory Park site, which hasn't yet been developed.

"It expands the uses of the park for different people's interests," he said. "That's what they're there for."

Many of Henrico's parks have wide, relatively-flat, paved trails for joggers, cyclists and parents with baby strollers.

But mountain bikers crave a more extreme experience.

"They don't give the feeling of being in the woods," Rollins said of the wide paths. "The closeness of the trees gives you the feeling of speed."

Several miles of mountain-bike trails were built at Dorey about seven years ago with help of a state grant.

The trails, designed for beginner and intermediate riders, are officially closed, but they've gotten some continued use, based on trail reviews posted by riders at www.mtbr.com.

Rollins said Richmond MORE doesn't endorse social trails, and he sees them as a problem in all county parks. The club had proposed working with Henrico to design trails at Dorey and Deep Run, but the supervisors agreed to proceed at only Dorey despite liability concerns by County Manager Virgil R. Hazelett.

In 2000, a mountain-biker became a quadriplegic after crashing into a ravine at Poor Farm Park in Ashland while participating in a class sponsored by Henrico. Henrico later paid $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the rider, Barry Fountain, according to officials.

Richmond MORE's $1 million-per-accident insurance policy covers any trails built by the club, Rollins said. If all goes well at Dorey, the club hopes to design trails at Deep Run and elsewhere.

"We feel it's baby steps," he said.
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or wjones@timesdispatch.com.



--
RMSTringer
+++++++++++++++

Monday, February 04, 2008

Some Baltimore Pics...

Sun reflection...
Baltimore Buildings

Neat reflection...
Baltimore Buildings

Statue in the Inner Harbor Park...
0202081106

I took all of these with my cam phone. I hope to have some better pics uploaded this week.

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Over the weekend...

We made a trip to Baltimore Maryland for a Cheering Contest. We have been doing lots of traveling as of late but now we will be home for a few months before out next trip. I took a bunch of pics with the cam phone and have loaded them on my Fickr page. We went to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore

We did a 4 ship tour, The U.S.S. Constellation, The USCGC Taney, Chesapeake Lightship, The USS Torsk (submarine) plus The Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse, and i have some pics of them. We went to the Baltimore Aquarium and it was AMAZING! I have been to several aquariums around the country and this one was the best. We ate at the Hardrock Cafe and went to several stores around the harbor. The city was very clean and i was really impressed with it. If you get a chance, go and see it for yourself!


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If you Smell What Ba"Rock" Obama is Running For!!

Is it just me or has anyone noticed how much The Rock and Brarck look and sound alike? Take when Ba"Rock" gets to pitching his campaign speaches and when the Rock gets to saying his tel tel sayings...

Let em know what you think about the two of them..

Here are a few examples:
The Rock:




Ba"Rock" Obama:






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An Intimate Celestial Bond

If you want to Purchase any of my music(s), Please go to https://djrenigade.bandcamp.com/ 1st Track For The New Year! #DownTempo #RenigadeCi...