Versailles Web Cam

I have added a new photo frame to my Versailles Web Cam page.
It is located to the right of the real time frame lower in the page. It
is taken with the pan tilt zoom camera mounted at 30 foot on my
Ham Radio tower. It is not real time, but will be of a still photo that
may be of interest and will change from time to time.
See the page at: http://webcam.wb9otx.com/cam/

Enzyte's Steve Warshak (And His Mom) Found Guilty!

Hooray! Steve Warshak, the snake oil salesman responsible for Enzyte (and consequently for those awful "Smiling Bob" ads) was found guilty today of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering.
Prosecutors claimed customers were bilked out of $100 million through a series of deceptive ads, manipulated credit card transactions and the company's refusal to accept returns or cancel orders. They said unauthorized credit card charges generated thousands of complaints over unordered products.

Two moons on 27 August HOAX

This link is for all that received the HOAX email about Mars that stated:
*Two moons on 27 August 2008*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars

Sky King

Sky and his niece, Penny (and sometimes Clipper, his nephew) lived on the Flying Crown Ranch, near the (fictitious) town of Grover City, Arizona. Penny and Clipper were also pilots, though still relatively inexperienced and looking to their uncle for guidance and mentoring. Penny was an accomplished air racer and rated multiengine pilot, who Sky trusted to fly the Songbird.

As a kid I loved to watch the series "Sky King". Sky, Penny, Clipper, and others were always in some sort of trouble each week, but Sky and the Song Bird would always end the show with a smile and a happy ending. I now view the episodes and have to smile at the early TV style of production and the crude special effects. I suppose it was state of the art back then. At any rate, if you remember Sky King, you will enjoy watching again. Thank you L.A. for this link.
Watch at:
http://www.americanflyers.net/entertainment/skyking.asp

FinallyFast (don't do it)

I was watching the History Channel and an advertisement came on for a web site called FinallyFast.com. It claimed to be a all in one, PC fix, for any slow computer system. So I went to the site to take a look at what FinallyFast had to offer.

When I tested this site I found links to ascentive.com, which I found to be a distributor of downloads some people consider adware, spyware or other potentially unwanted programs.

In addition WOT - Web Of Trust also blocked the site with a not trustworthy message as well. Because of this I did not download any of the software that was on the site. If I were you I wouldn't either. Nuff said (proceed at your own risk)I think it is a scam.

I love HP Compaq

I just wanted to let the few readers of this blog know how great HP's service is. I had a problem with a HP Compaq notebook that I could not fix myself. I called HP and explained the problem, They told me it was out of warranty but this was a known problem and HP will fix it for free. To make a short story, Fed-X picked it up on Monday afternoon and it was returned Friday afternoon working perfectly. This is why I buy HP computers......... Dude !

So Lucky to be an American

Baxter Black takes time to appreciate his life!"
Baxter Black, Cowboy, Poet, and Humorist

Thanks to F. Wood for this link.

WiFi not working - Woe is me

This morning I booted the wireless notebook up and found that the wireless (WiFi) was not working. I tried all my geekie tricks trying to fix the problem, with no luck. I called HP and talked to a computer voice that I could understand and believe it or not it could understand everything I told it. It connected me to a very understandable man with perfect English. I told him the problem and what I had done to try to fix it. He told me it sounded like a motherbord problem and I would have to send it in for repair. FedEx will be here Tuesday to pick it up.

Now for the big job of backing up the data. I run "My Documents", "Address book", and "Bookmarks" over to a thumdrive. The files I keep in a directory called "Keep Me" was copied to a DVD. All the drivers went to a CD-R.

I had to look up with Googles help on how to back up the "Book Marks" in Firefox. So I thought I would pass it on to you. You should backup ever so often because its not "if - its when". The crash will come. This will be the third time this year I have had to reload one of my computers. By the way I am typing this with a Cat5 wire run from a switch across the living room, my wife is not home !

It is always good to have a back up of data especially the bookmarks in Firefox. Taking a back up of bookmarks is pretty simple process and basically there are two methods to back up your Firefox bookmarks.

Open FireFox, then
Go to Bookmarks->Organize Bookmarks in the main menu.
This will open up the Bookmarks Manager window. In this window you can see all the bookmarks saved. Go to File->Export and save the file in a preferred location off your computer, like a CD or Thumdrive. The file will contain all your bookmarks and will be an .html file. Whenever you install Firefox in another PC or re-install in your PC, you can import all the bookmarks through File->Import and select the option From File in the Bookmarks Manager.
Copied from:
http://www.nirmaltv.com/2007/07/25/how-to-back-up-bookmarks-in-firefox/

Aug 16 1977 - Elvis Presley found dead

Elvis lives?

Aug 16 1977 – Elvis Presley, "The King of Rock and Roll", was found dead on the floor of his bathroom. Although it was officially ruled as a fatal heart attack, many people have claimed to have seen Elvis alive since then.

There is a belief in some quarters that Presley did not die in 1977. Many fans persist in claiming he is still alive, that he went into hiding for various reasons. This claim is allegedly backed up by thousands of so-called Elvis sightings that have occurred in the years since his death. Critics of the notion state that a number of Presley impersonators can easily be mistaken for Presley and that the urban legend is merely the result of fans not wanting to accept his death.
Read More
Play the Elvis intro

Elvis has left the building !

What Should You Look for When Buying a New PC?

**** Copied from: http://chris.pirillo.com/

The other night, I posted a blog post from Dan, with his tips on how to find information. He sent me a second list, and it is definitely something you all should read through. Here are Dan’s tips for how to make sense of Windows computer specs when buying a new computer.

* SIZE Decide what general dimensions you want and what personal preferences you have. Examples are: laptop or desktop?, screen size?, keyboard size?, physically large or small? It is important to have SOME idea of what you want because a store employee is going to try to sell you the most expensive computer they can.
* RAM The more stuff your computer does at one time (internet+music+documents+email) the more RAM you’re going to need. Vista (which ships with all Windows PCs now) needs significantly more RAM than XP does, but most of the major manufacturers have added RAM to compensate. If you plan on pushing your multi-tasking ability to the limit (or if you’re going to game) you’re going to need 3 to 4 gigabytes. For a normal user- 2 gigabytes should meet your needs just fine.
* HARD DRIVE The more pictures, video, and music you want on your computer, the more hard drive space you’ll need. The hard drives are getting really large to compensate for the increase in personal digital media creation. Keep in mind that it’s probably better to keep your valuable data in an external place anyway, so don’t get carried away. (100-200GB is a smaller size, 300-500+ is really large.)
* PROCESSOR The processor controls almost all operations of your computer, so again, if you’re going to be pushing your computer a lot, get a faster one (2-3GHz). Vista needs 1GHz to run comfortably, but even most laptops have a faster one out of box.
* Shop Around! There are a lot of brands of computers, at a lot of different prices, found in a bunch of different places. I’d recommend sniffing around a couple of big-box stores, then seeing if there’s anything in online stores that may match you better. A computer is a significant investment that should last you for a long time, so do your homework!
* Video Cards If you plan of doing any gaming, make SURE you get a dedicated video card (usually ATI or Nvidia). If it doesn’t have a sticker for one of those on the case, then it’s an integrated graphics chipset. In most cases, it’s going to be significantly less powerful.
* Getting Ripped Off If you go to a large store like Best Buy or Circuit City, be wary of all the ‘But there’s more!’ packages they try to throw at you. Be wary of the protection plans, but get it if you need it. DO NOT buy the security suite they try to shove down your throat, there are much better free alternatives for Windows security out there.

**** Copied from: http://chris.pirillo.com/

>................From Jack.........................<

I'm always asked, "What is a good computer to buy and where do I get it"? The above article answers the question quite well.
Check out these online stores that I shop at:

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=32&name=Laptops-Notebooks

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=10&name=Desktop-PCs


http://www.tigerdirect.com/

http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/c27_Computers-PDAs-Desktop-Computers_44802_Business_Supplies_10113_10051

Goofy email forwards

A friend of my Wife sent the below email to her. She forwarded it to me to read. She thought it to be a good idea for us both to sign it and forward it on to our friends. I let out a big laugh and told her it was a hoax. How can you tell? she asked. I said in the first place it is an email, How many wacko emails do you think the White House gets per day? They/He will never read it, also a petition must contain your written signature to be worth the paper its written on. I looked it up on snopes.com and as I said also, they list it as Status: Ineffective. Now may be this petition states some good ideas, an email is not the way to get your point across to the powers that be. If you want to let President Bush learn your thoughts send a telegram or a signed letter. By the way, State the bill number that is in question. If you want to go big time, Start your own petition on paper then mail it to him. Don't waste your time and bandwidth with these goofy email forwards.
.........................

SOCIAL SECURITY CHANGES
It is already impossible to live on Social Security alone. If the
government gives benefits to 'illegal' aliens who have never contributed, where does that leave those of us who have paid into Social Security all our working lives? As stated below, the Senate voted this week to allow 'illegal' aliens access to Social Security benefits. Attached is an opportunity to sign a petition that requires citizenship for eligibility to that social service. Instructions are below. If you don't forward the petition and just stop it, we will lose all these names. If you do not want to sign it, please just forward it to everyone you know. Thank you!

PETITION for President Bush:

Dear Mr President:
We, the undersigned, protest the bill that the Senate voted on recently which would allow illegal aliens to access our Social Security. We demand that you and all Congressional representatives require citizenship as a pre-requisite for social services in the United States. We further demand that there not be any amnesty given to illegals, NO free services, no funding, no payments to and for illegal immigrants.

Desk Drive - Free great program

Desk Drive™ solves a really annoying problem. You pop a USB thumb drive or DVD into your computer and then you have to open Window's Explorer and find the mapped drive or folder. Desk Drive adds a desktop icon pointing to the drive automatically. Remove the media and the shortcut goes away. Brilliantly simple and effective.

Desk Drive sits quietly in the system tray. Configuration is just a click away and allows you to specify which types of media to monitor. So simple, it just works. Download it today!

http://blueonionsoftware.com/download.aspx?filename=Downloads/DeskDrive.msi

Aug 14th is VJ Day Ending WW II

Aug 14th is VJ Day
I ask my wife, "Do you know what today is"? She said,"garbage day, don't forget to put it out". On August 14th every year I try to ask this same question to a few people I meet during the day, very few answer VJ day. I feel Peal Harbor Day and VJ day are little known to our younger people. I am so disappointed that no WW II history was taught in school. So take about ten or so minutes to see a video and read a few paragraphs about this famous day in our country's history and ask a few people on the 14th, "Do you know what today is", You then can tell them, Why its VJ Day, the end of WWII.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Instrument_of_Surrender
The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the written agreement that established the armistice ending the Pacific War and with it World War II.

Douglas MacArthur Signs agreement (click to enlarge)

See a video of the ceremony aboard USS Missouri that took place on September 2, 1945 - 62 years ago:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2384327550463473694

Watch the olympics live

Watch the olympics live on your computer coming from NBC. I was amazed at the very sharp and crisp picture. You will of course need broadband and you may have to install a pug-in from Microsoft called Silverlight. This is a free service, so give it a try.

Silverlight brings You the Gold Offering over 3,600 hours of video coverage, NBC Olympics.com is the largest online media event ever accomplished on the Web. Powered by Microsoft Silverlight, viewers will be able to watch LIVE Olympic events in high-definition and up to 4 events simultaneously. Visit NBCOlympics.com by MSN today!

http://www.nbcolympics.com/

http://silverlight.net/

Vista DVD Player

I popped a DVD into my notebook but Windows Media player would not play the movie. If you are using Windows Vista for an OS and find Bill Gates has shafted you again, try using this free DVD player.

AVS DVD Player is a compact and easy-to-use program that has a simple user-friendly interface allowing you to start watching DVD movies with no additional software. There is no spyware included with the program, there is no catch, just a nice free program.
It does put two icons for shareware on your desktop, just drag them to the recycle bin if you don't want them, that's what I did with them.
Read more and download it here.
http://www.avs4you.com/AVS-DVD-Player.aspx

Jeff Gordon

I met Jeff at Lawrenceburg Speedway back a few years ago when he raced a winged sprint car. He was 16 years old at the time and drove a yellow car sporting the number 16. I seen him break the track record on the quarter mile dirt there. I would go to the pits after the feature race was over to visit with other race fans and drivers. I never had much of a conversation with Jeff but always said helo to him. He seemed very shy and quiet spoken. I kid about him tripping over my feet once when he stepped backward, this my claim to fame. I could have received an audagraph at any time but I never ask. Years later when he was a star NASCAR driver of the Dupont #24 I sent him a letter asking for an audagraphed photo. I explained I had been a fan at Lawrenceburg and traveled to the Brickyard 400 with Mel & Tim Johnson, the promoters of Lawrenceburg Speedway, to see him win there. I ask if he would send a photo of him in the yellow #16 sprint car he drove. Jeff was now very famous with NASCAR, I thought he would never read the letter I sent. Low and behold only a week or so later I received a hand written letter and a photo of Jeff setting in the #16 sprint car that I remembered so well.

...............................

Jeff Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is a professional American race car driver. He was born in Vallejo, California, raised in Pittsboro, Indiana, and currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a four-time NASCAR Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup) Series champion, three-time Daytona 500 winner, and driver of the #24 Chevrolet Impala. His primary sponsor is DuPont, though Pepsi and Nicorette both supplement the team as secondary sponsors. Other sponsors include Quaker State, Haas Automation, GMAC, Bosch Spark Plugs, and Georgia-Pacific/Sparkle. He, along with Rick Hendrick, are the co-owners of the #48 Lowe's sponsored team, driven by Jimmie Johnson, who won both the 2006 and 2007 NEXTEL Cup series championship. Gordon also has an equity stake in his own #24 team.
Read More

Aug 9th 1945 Nagasaki Japan Bombed

1945 – World War II: USAAF bomber Bockscar dropped an atomic bomb named "Fat Man", devastating Nagasaki, Japan.

Bockscar was flown on that day by the crew of another B-29, The Great Artiste, and was commanded by Major Charles W. Sweeney, commander of the 509th Composite Group's only bomber squadron, the 393d. The Great Artiste, which was the assigned aircraft of the crew with whom Sweeney most often flew, was slotted in preliminary planning to drop the second bomb, but it had been fitted with observation instruments for the Hiroshima mission.

Bockscar had been flown by Sweeney and crew C-15 in three test drop rehearsals of inert "Fat Man" assemblies in the eight days leading up to the second mission, including the final rehearsal the day before. Rather than move the instrumentation from The Great Artiste to Bockscar, a complex and time-consuming process, the crews of The Great Artiste and Bockscar switched planes. The result was that the bomb was dropped by Bockscar, flown by the crew C-15 of The Great Artiste.
Read More

Making Fire with Flint and Steel

When I was a boy and in scouts I was selected to demonstrate the art of starting a fire without matches. I did not do to well, no flame but I did make alot of smoke. Ever sense that night I have made fire from various ways that include flint, sun, & chemical. I taught a survival class in the army that included my fire making skills. I did tell my troops that the best was a BIC cigarette lighter tho. I have always demonstrated to my kids and grandkids the art of flint & steel. I have a fire starting kit to this day ready to demonstrate to anyone that I can talk into watching. Charred cloth seems to work best as tender, but it must be prepared and kept dry for the task. A new wrinkle that has came along is a magnesium match stick. Unfortunately, the magnesium is not necessarily as effective a tinder as you may be led to believe. While the flame from the magnesium shavings is extremely hot, this flame is also relatively short lived. Additionally, the magnesium scraping/shavings can be difficult to use as tinder in some circumstances because they are so light they tend to blow away with the slightest breeze. Moreover, scraping together a small pile can be difficult at times. So, the bottom line is that they work, but the magnesium tinder has some limitations that must be understood and dealt with. Charred cotton cloth seems to work best for me. To prepare char have a Ball quart canning jar. Light the cloth till a good flame is present, stuff it in the jar and twist the lid on tight locking out the outside air. When the fire (flame) goes out the black residue is your char an is ready for a spark. There are a few tricks to success but the fun will be learning for yourself. Have some fun and give it a try. Here are a few pages I found on the subject:
http://www.ragweedforge.com/striking.html
http://www.grannysstore.com/Wilderness_Survival/flintandsteel.htm
http://members.aye.net/~bspen/fire.html
There are lots more, Type "flint steel" (include the quotes)into Google.

Aug. 6th, 1945

Aug. 6th, 1945 – World War II: The U.S. Army Air Force dropped an atomic bomb named Little Boy on Hiroshima, Japan, killing as many as 140,000 people.
Read MORE
Read earlier posts from this Blog on this subject.

3 1/2 years - Time Flys

It has been 3 1/2 years sense I started this Blog, I did have another one of my own that was sent out via email. It was very hard to track and lets face it, no one wants to sign up for anything on the Internet, "the boogie man may get you". Google's Blog fills the bill very nicely as you can read it or not read it, its your choice. It seems I have a very small but faithful following that seem to ask for help, make suggestions, and yes tell me to drop dead. If you are one that reads this Blog often I just want to say thanks. I hope I can go on for a long time! Please sign the guest book letting me know you are a reader. ........jack

Dump the Cache

Q.
I go to a Web page that changes everyday but I am seeing the same page that is a week old. I emailed the company and they told me to delete the cookies & cache files. I emailed back asking how to do this but there was no reply. How do I do this. Thank you in advance. Gene

A.
Click the below link to find out how. Make sure you pick your correct browser.
http://www.hotcomm.com/FAQ/FAQ_temp_files.asp

Yard Sale Computer

Q.
I bought a computer on a yard sale but when I hooked it up it wanted a password before it would boot. Is there a way to find out what the password is or delete it ?

A.
Call or go back to the place you bought it, ask for pass word. This is the easy way out. If this doesn't work out and it most likely won't, try this page for a solution. This hacker will get you in for $30 (he claims) but it will take time as you must send him a floppy that you prepare to Europe. The best way is to buy a up-grade Windows XP Home operating system. This will set you back about $100. If the computer is old check to see how much RAM is installed as XP needs at least 128 and should have 512 or more. If you need to buy RAM then the XP Home OS, may be you should put it in the garbage. You can buy a new very nice computer for $400 less monitor.
Thank you for your question, sorry there is no easy way out for you.

Operation Sunshine - Under the North Pole

USS Nautilus (SSN-571)
On 3 August,1958 at 2315 (EDST) she became the first watercraft to reach the geographic North Pole.
I would have liked to post this complete article, but it is just too big. I hope you can find this article as interesting as I did.
Read the full story HERE.
Click photo to inlarge

Put Your Computer to Sleep

Sleep is a feature in Windows Vista, supplanting the Standby feature of previous Windows OS versions. In the past, Standby didn’t always work well and computers were slow to come out of standby. In contrast, Sleep in Windows Vista is reliable, fast, and useful. In fact, in Windows Vista, Sleep should be considered the new default “Off” state. If you don’t already use the Sleep function in Windows Vista, you will find that you can start up a computer much faster by not shutting it down completely in the first place. Putting a computer to sleep is easy. You can choose Sleep from the Start menu press the power button on your computer (in Power Settings the power button must be configured to Sleep), press the Sleep button offered on many keyboards, or just close the cover of a laptop computer.

*** from: Overview Series: Windows Vista® Performance and Tuning
If you are an advanced user or just a geek, many tips can be learned from this file.

Tooting my own horn

Yep its me in The Library of Congress
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.38301/
Click the "Complete Interview" (20 min. video)
You may have to install a plug-in to view it and you will need braudband.
By the way our government isn't perfect, my name is spelled wrong.