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2010-04-30T21:35:00.001-05:00

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Crazy Things

2008-06-07T09:02:00.001-05:00

I've seen some crazy things before, but this is CRAZY.

It's a super obnoxious alarm clock. Not only does it wheel around and make you chase it, it also has a really annoying alarm sound. Listen to the sample, you'll see what I mean.

I think I'd rather just oversleep. I suppose that's the difference between me and most people.

The Obligatory Follow-Up Test Post

2007-06-18T18:49:00.001-05:00

Naturally since the last post posted flawlessly, I had to change some settings and then make a new post to see if it will still post flawlessly.

Can it be? Can it really be true?

2007-06-16T18:08:00.001-05:00

Yes, yes, it's true, it's time for another test post!! This time using the new version of Windows Live Writer. Oh boy! So anyway now I need to add an image of some sort. How about a screen capture? Well OK then.

Humboldt news

2007-03-28T15:26:00.000-05:00

Chemical Fire in Humboldt

Chemical Fire in Humboldt

The above web snapshot is from the Jackson Sun’s web page.

Wow, first a food product processing plant contaminated with the same creepy-crawlies that caused the peanut butter deaths, and now a big chemical fire. The word "embattled" comes to mind for describing the town.

At least their mayor’s son didn’t just get arrested for statutory rape (as happened to the son of Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton, AC Wharton III, in Knoxville). And not just statutory rape, which shouldn’t necessarily be a crime if it’s truly consensual--but AGGRAVATED statutory rape. Now that’s a PR problem for sure.

MeeVee Widget

2007-03-02T16:18:00.000-06:00

Get your own widget.

Third Death Blamed on Peanut Butter

2007-03-02T13:03:00.000-06:00

Third Death Blamed on Peanut Butter

Dude! My hometown is famous!

from CNN

2007-02-08T19:27:00.000-06:00

BREAKING NEWS

Autopsy planned to find why Anna Nicole Smith died

Test Worked

2007-02-08T19:13:00.000-06:00

See, it worked.

Just a Test

2007-02-08T18:29:00.000-06:00

This is a test using "Post2Blog" on Lily.

Further annoyance... with Bloggerbot (or lack thereof)

2007-02-06T13:34:00.000-06:00

OK, so, according to Hello, which now indicates that it has been retired by renaming "Bloggerbot" to "Bloggerbotisdead," Bloggerbot is in fact dead. A semi-official announcement appears in this thread on Google Groups (6th link in list pictured). If you read the thread, you'll see a post from an obviously frustrated user who was trying to get Bloggerbot working, and couldn't. As they point out, the information shown on the page for Hello to this day still touts Bloggerbot as a feature.

Nice.

Also nice, if you search for "bloggerbot" as shown in the top screen cap, you go to a page explaining how Bloggerbot works. Which is extra amusing because it obviously doesn't.

The suggested alternative method is to use Picasa and post your photos through its interface. But as far as I know, there are still issues posting from Picasa, too. There are still items listed in the "knownissues" blog, and I have experienced problems firsthand. (Too lazy to go dig up the whiny entries I made about it, sorry.)

Damn it, get it together, Google peeps!

Until then I guess the best way is to use the stupid web interface.

Today's Giveawayoftheday is a promising alternative that is aware of many different blog tools, including some full-fledged CMS type products. Unfortunately it has issues, at least on my PC, and/or with my Blogger account.

Why is iTunes sick today?

2007-02-06T13:23:00.000-06:00

This is what I get when I try to get the free/discovery download (I forget which) at iTunes today:

Does it mean that since an agreement has been reached with that other Apple, Apple Inc. is now busily ripping every Beatles record ever pressed?

I hope so.

But now I have to remember to check back tomorrow for my free downloads of the week. C'mon, Apple, give us "Come Together"!! It would be so fitting.

Last.fm chart

2007-02-06T12:14:00.000-06:00

Look a chart thingy! But my question is, is this a snapshot that will keep this week's list forever, or a feed of whatever week we are on that will update itself? Either way is cool, I just want to know which it is so I know whether it belongs in a post or in the blog template for a sidebar or whateversy.

Second question, why does it sometimes not show up, and why does the link go to my last.fm profile page instead of this chartamadoodle? I think last.fm doesn't have all the bugs worked out of their system yet. As another example of bugginess, I listened to a few tracks this morning, with last.fm active, and still nothing shows up in my list of "recent tracks". How much more recent does it need to be, exactly?

Google Maps for Pocket PC - Aximsite

2007-02-06T12:04:00.000-06:00

Google Maps for Pocket PC - Aximsite

Ahhh, yessss, mess-free google-mappy goodness now available on your Pocket PC!

Aximsite - Last.fm PPC Client

2007-02-06T12:02:00.000-06:00

Aximsite - View Single Post - Last.fm PPC Client

LastFM PocketPC Player is a free last.fm client for your Windows Mobile device. Last.fm is an internet radio which recommends songs you are supposed to like according to your profile and statistics calculated from others with similar musical taste.

This utility allows you to connect to last.fm (your Pocket PC must have access to the internet) and to listen to your personalized radio.

It is in very early development stage, and offers a minimal interface.

Now lets wish that a Pandora client will show up soon.

Download from HERE.

"I'm from Rolling Stone"

2007-02-01T12:21:00.000-06:00

New Competitions at Rolling Stone. Not sure how many more "installments" they'll have.

...and oddly enough, this morning I listened to "The Cover of the Rolling Stone" during my treadmill time.

Who knew

2006-12-21T12:02:00.000-06:00

Salvia hispanica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - also known as "chia seed"... which you can buy at Sprouts!

I didn't find any recipes for chia seeds at the Sprouts site, but this site has some: Purcell Mountain Farms

More info also at Annie Appleseed Project.

Bulk chia seed can be purchased from the following:
Chia Seed and Oil / Arizona Chia
Vinetree Orchards
Herbal Hut
...and many others that will appear for a Google search.

Today's Happy Time Link

2006-12-06T20:33:00.000-06:00

"Ninja" by 7 Seconds Of Love. Animation by Joel Veitch of rathergood.com fame

2006-11-01T14:36:00.000-06:00

Isn't this funny, you can see the status screen for Picasa "BlogThis!" in the lower right corner of the screen. It's been saying that since I initiated the third attempt to use "BlogThis!" which was before giving up and using Hello, which as you can see from the rest of the screen, has already made two successful posts. Stupid, stupid Picasa!!

2006-11-01T14:29:00.000-06:00

Are you kidding me? This is so silly. I know, we have bugs in Picasa "BlogThis!" so let's remove the "Bloggerbot" feature from Hello. Gah! Gah!!

2006-11-01T14:27:00.000-06:00

ACK! A message said BloggerBot is going away at the end of 2006! They say to use the Picasa "BlogThis!" feature instead! But I'm using it right now because the past three posts using Picasa's "BlogThis!" feature are nowhere to be found! Gah! I hope they are just "stuck" somewhere in blogaritaville and eventually break on through to the other side. Because I can't remember what I wrote.

test

2006-11-01T14:23:00.000-06:00

So I sent some stuff using Picasa's "Blog This" feature and it's.... nowhere. :(

So now I'm testing to see if it works or not.s

2006-10-31T17:02:00.000-06:00

It's Halloween! And you know what that means... CANDY! Mmmm, pixy stix!

Playboy Political Survey

2006-10-30T14:44:00.000-06:00

A lot of this just reconfirms what you would probably guess would be prevailing opinions among Playboy readers with various political affiliations. A few results are surprising though.

Part 1
Part 2

One More Dixie Chicks Post (for now)

2006-10-30T14:05:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned, I've blogged about the Dixie Chicks before. I actually thought there were more. It seems that I have a few things on my "to blog" list that never actually got checked off. At least I found a couple. See the following.

I Miss The Dixie Chicks

More from Rolling Stone, Dixie Chicks cover mentioned in 6th paragraph, however the link there now points to a Justin Timberlake cover! I think the cover I meant was this one.

In the process of digging that up, I found out Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are slated to grace the cover soon! That's even better than Red Hot Chili Peppers, nude!

Just in Case I Wasn't Clear...

2006-10-30T13:48:00.000-06:00

Although the previous post refers to a satirical article saying the Dixie Chicks deserve to be banned, I post that because I appreciate it as SATIRE. It demonstrates exactly what shouldn't be the situation. However, throwing the Ann Coulter angle in there does make it kind of hard to tell if it is written in jest or what.

Just to be plain, I wholeheartedly support the Dixie Chicks. I loved their music before the controversy, and have mentioned them several times in my blog. I only recently removed a Dixie Chicks "Rock the Vote" banner from my Blogger sidebar (because the Presidential election was a long, long time ago and I decided it was time to move on).

The Dixie Chicks are capable musicians and have been royally screwed over by people who THINK they are being patriotic. People who are pissed at the Dixie Chicks aren't being patriotic. They are being stubbornly anti-American.

Anti-American. That's what I call attempts to take away freedom of speech.

Jiffener's Blog: BLOG FREE OR DIE!!

SATIRE ALERT!

2006-10-30T13:45:00.000-06:00

NBC Was Right to Refuse Dixie Chicks Ad, Says Anne Coulter is a pretty funny satire. Everything on the site is satire, and it's all good. Well maybe I shouldn't assert that. But the things I read were good. So stick to those and you'll be entertained.

At several pages on that site they are linking to the Dixie Chicks "Shut Up & Sing" trailer on YouTube. I've linked that here for your clicking pleasure: Shut Up & Sing trailer

Perhaps more interesting than that is the "banned" trailers, also available at YouTube: banned trailer #1 & banned trailer #2, which are not that different from the other video. I'm not sure who determined which were "banned" and which were not, but anyway. Apparently none will be shown on NBC, reportedly because it was critical of the President.

So, wait a minute, what about everything anyone said about Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal? So, apparently the rule is that we can only air things that are critical of Presidents that we aren't lap-dogs for.

This puts NBC right up there with FAUX NEWS (since Fox News is such a misnomer) and ABC (who did that misleading 9/11 movie).

I swear, who is left? CBS? What's the frequency, Katie?

2006-10-20T14:46:00.000-05:00

Colbert's at it again! On the one year anniversary show, he unveiled a new portrait and announced the old one will be auctioned off. Go see this clip at YouTube.

2006-10-20T14:35:00.000-05:00

More good news! CNN.com reports that a Fraggle Rock movie is in the works!

2006-10-20T14:28:00.000-05:00

The aforementioned "kickassclassical.com" site. Nice. Totally classical, and more importantly, totally kickassical. I'm still trying to find the song I can't remember the name of though.

2006-10-20T14:25:00.000-05:00

Just found a blog today that I really like, Deconstruct Pop. Hasn't been updated in a month, but I'm still optimistic. I came to it via kickassclassical.com, a most rockin' site.

2006-09-29T10:26:00.000-05:00

In case you didn't know what I meant about Colbert, here's a picture of Colbert standing in front of his portrait of himself standing in front of his portrait of himself.

2006-09-29T08:46:00.000-05:00

Wow, this is so cool. And you thought Stephen Colbert was going to town with pictures of himself in front of himself. This takes pictures of pictures of pictures to a whole new level, AND it uses computers--not to mention CATS!

2006-09-15T18:02:00.000-05:00

This is from Rojo's weekly newsletter. Obviously this is how I found out about the Gothamist entry. Also notable, notice the last sentence in this view: "Meanwhile, ABC's controversial and inaccurate Path to 9/11 miniseries bombed in the raitings on Monday (via Democratic Underground), placing third behind animated shows like The Simpsons and The Family Guy." Maybe there's hope for this country after all!!

Gothamist: Outlines of the Past

2006-09-15T17:55:00.000-05:00

Gothamist: Outlines of the Past

An interesting way to see what used to be, but isn't since September 11.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong...

2006-09-14T16:13:00.000-05:00

...wrong wrong wrong wrong!

(clip from Scrubs, available on YouTube)

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Clinton aides attack 9/11 drama

2006-09-08T08:51:00.000-05:00

ABC will be airing a 2-part series to coincide with the anniversary of 9/11. It's already drawing criticism from members of the Clinton administration, who say elements contradict the 9/11 Commission Report.

BBC NEWS article

I swear, man. Lower the gas prices at the pump, despite oil prices remaining very high, and come out with a movie that makes 9/11 look like the previous administration's fault, right in time for 9/11 anniversary... and more importantly, elections!!

The newly discovered Bin Laden video is a nice touch as well.

I think we need to create a new category of awards for this type of performance. I'm just not sure what the name should be, or what the statue should look like.

Maybe we could call them the orchies, for excellence in orchestration.

In other news, FOX isn't (news)! Watch the movie "Outfoxed" to see what I mean. The interviews from the movie, by the way, are issued with a Creative Commons license. See the www.outfoxed.org website.

2006-08-26T18:39:00.000-05:00

Madison has her picture made with Ricky Bobby!

Interesting Comments on Offshoring

2006-08-24T09:58:00.000-05:00

Fognl: The Folly of Offshoring

So the "next blog" button really comes through sometimes. Today the first random blog was a porn link site (which I flagged so the blogger gnomes can dispatch the fire ants), then something in Chinese, Japanese, I don't know, some kind of -ese type language with characters I couldn't read, then something in English about these guys in a band in Singapore, then Kelly Schrock's blog.

Not bad, really. I actually found a blog I'll put in my link section. When I get around to that.

2006-08-07T16:22:00.001-05:00

Good water! :)

Yesterday's rain was just a tease. Today's rain seems to be the real thing. Yay, rain!

2006-08-07T16:21:00.000-05:00

Bad water :(

FUH2 | F*** You And Your H2

2006-08-06T22:38:00.000-05:00

I almost forgot... I came across this a couple days ago and thought it was pretty funny. I was reminded of it today when there was a Hummer parked on the sidewalk at Costco so the conspicuous consumers could more easily load up their purchases and of course annoy the other people who have to wheel their wares out with a shopping cart. How mundane! If only we could all be jerks like Hummer drivers, right? Yeah, uh, not.

Coming Soon: Firehouse Subs!

2006-08-06T20:31:00.000-05:00

I slapped a few pics up on Jiffener's Mobile Blog

When we were in Hattiesburg a couple weeks ago, we ate at Firehouse Subs. Naturally, we thought the food was wonderful and thought, wow, they need one of these in Dallas.

Well, guess what we noticed on our first full weekend back in town? Firehouse Subs on Midway between the Krystal and the Beverage City (same shopping area as Cici's). W00t!!

We drove back to it on our way back from our Costco run, but we were disappointed to discover they are not open yet. Dag-nabbit!

However, there were people working inside and my intrepid spouse went in and talked with one of the owner-types. She said they are hoping to open sometime during the week of August 14 (but probably not at the beginning of the week).

She gave him a menu which also listed some of the locations around the area. What locations are open I don't know, but these are on the list:

Midway Mills Shopping Center, 2650 Midway Rd., Carrollton
Preston Commons, 3814 Preston Rd., Frisco
Parkway Shopping Center, 832 Springcreek Pkwy., Plano
Park West Plaza, 2304 Coit Rd., Plano

For more information about Firehouse Subs, call 800-388-FIRE or check out FirehouseSubs.com

This Blog is Officially Worthless

2006-08-05T12:19:00.000-05:00

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

2006-08-04T10:35:00.000-05:00

Contact info for new or prospective CEE students.

2006-08-04T10:34:00.000-05:00

CEE contact info, for future reference.

2006-08-04T10:33:00.000-05:00

In case emailing him and leaving him voice mails wasn't annoying enough, it could be that this guy hates me already because although we're way over here in DFW, we went to rival engineering schools in Memphis. (Strike two!!) Gah.

2006-08-04T10:27:00.000-05:00

What the letter doesn't mention, and what you can only find by clicking a few other items, is that for this department the graduate advisor evidently does not want to be contacted directly by new or prospective students. Those people should call someone else.

2006-08-04T10:26:00.000-05:00

So I got this letter saying I need to have my GRE scores sent to UTA. This letter is dated 7/29/06. I took the GRE 7/8/06 and my copy of the scores was postmarked 7/22/06. So most likely UTA received the scores before I received the letter. So, I'd like to talk with someone and find out if they actually got the scores and if I still have to do this extra form they sent or what. The letter says if I have questions I should contact my graduate advisor, and to find out how to do that I should go to this page.

2006-08-03T16:46:00.000-05:00

There she is in all her glory. Yes, I wiped her down with a nice soft cloth after my short practice session.

2006-08-03T16:45:00.000-05:00

Headstock. Wow, what's that gunk below the E strings?? Possibly related to the repair a couple years ago when a tuning peg had to replaced. It seems like some other piece had fallen off (the bridge? or the thing right below the headstock maybe?) and had to be re-glued as well.

2006-08-03T16:43:00.001-05:00

Even closer-up. No foot visible this time.

2006-08-03T16:43:00.000-05:00

Close up (with my left foot).

2006-08-03T16:41:00.000-05:00

It's been too long, my friend!

2006-08-03T16:40:00.000-05:00

Guess who I sat down with today... for the first time in YEARS.

To What A-Team Character is Jiffener Married?

2006-07-28T17:21:00.000-05:00

What A-Team Character is Jiffener?

2006-07-28T17:04:00.000-05:00

What MAS*H Character is Jiffener?

2006-07-28T17:03:00.000-05:00

What Breakfast Club Character is Jiffener?

2006-07-28T16:53:00.000-05:00

Which Breakfast Club Character are you?

You're Brian Johnson! "the Brain" Geeky,smart, and easily shaken. You strive for perfection and often go to extremes when A's don't come naturally to you. Keep hitting the Bud and maybe you'll relax more.
Take this quiz!

Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

2006-07-13T12:46:00.000-05:00

Look what I got today! Which is pretty funny because Walmart.com didn't seem to know it was ready for pickup. They haven't quite worked all the kinks out of their "Site to Store" delivery method.

Copernic Desktop Search - FAQ

2006-06-22T13:53:00.000-05:00

Google has some options regarding how much data you allow to be indexed, whether to use search across computers, etc., but from my quick glance at their privacy and terms of service, it sounds like in all cases Google will collect and use your data, if only to target ads for you.

However, although I listed it in the same breath as Google Desktop in a previous post, Copernic Desktop Search lists the following FAQ about privacy:

I am concerned about the privacy of my personal data. What is your policy regarding privacy?

We understand your concerns and CDS was designed with your privacy in mind. Rest assured that the data indexed by CDS stays on your PC and on no account will it be transferred to us or any of our partners.
Furthermore, computer activity is never logged. It is solely monitored to enable or disable the indexing process.

Consult our software privacy policy for additional information.

Whether that is the only privacy concern with the product, and whether you can believe them or not, are separate questions with answers that could change depending on how far things like the Patriot Act continue to go.

Well, That's All I Need to Hear

2006-06-22T13:44:00.000-05:00

EFF: Electronic Frontier Foundation on Google Desktop Search "Search Across Computers" Feature

In an effort to help find and organize things on my desktop, I was contemplating trying out Google Desktop, Copernic, or similar offerings from MSN, Yahoo, and Ask Jeeves.

When I asked Patrick if he had any recommendations about desktop search, he said basically don't use any! And then pointed out some frightening news about AT&T:

In not-so-unrelated news today, AT&T has revised their user privacy policy. From the "Wall Street Journal":

"AT&T Inc. said it clarified its privacy policy for Internet and television customers to state explicitly that subscriber information is a business record belonging to the company and may be turned over to law enforcement in some cases.

"AT&T also indicated that under its revised policy, which takes effect tomorrow and is being emailed to its more than seven million Internet customers, the San Antonio company plans to track customers' TV-viewing habits."

What the heck is going on here?? Why can't we have useful tools without such blatant invasion of privacy?

Really Diggin' Picasa... Yearning for Invite to Picasa Web!

2006-06-22T11:42:00.000-05:00

Picasa has been owned by Google for some time now, and although I've used Hello several times over the past couple years, I never used Picasa until this week.

Let me tell you, Picasa is really cool. After having a few hard drive upgrades, receiving attachments from people, and using different cameras and a scanner, I have masses of image files piled up in directories all over my computer. So now I'm trying to tidy up a bit and Picasa is very useful for that and all those other features are a nice bonus too.

What's bumming me at the moment is that a new Picasa Web service was announced this week, but right now participation is invitation-only. I signed up to be invited, but haven't received anything yet. Ohhh poor me. :-(

One Big Happy Family

2006-06-22T09:21:00.000-05:00

Story about Brangelina's latest candidate for adoption, from "The Spoof!"

Mark Cuban has devious plan for world domination

2006-06-21T12:33:00.000-05:00

Mark Cuban has devious plan for world domination

Dammit!! Who leaked this??

"Allah vs. Jesus" aka "The Jihad"

2006-06-19T14:56:00.000-05:00

"Allah vs. Jesus" aka "The Jihad"

Below are some thoughts I shared in reply to an email earlier today...
==========================================

I'm surprised there was no mention of the fact that Muslims actually
consider Jesus to be a prophet, along with Abraham, Moses and others,
similar to Mohammed being a prophet. Mohammed is a prophet who came
later, and had newer teachings from God, but people who follow the Bible
are still regarded by most Muslims as "people of the Book" which is a
much more favorable category than Hindus, Buddhists, followers of
Shinto, etc. which are considered basically heathen and kind of ridiculous.

Different Muslims have different ideas of jihad, which in literal
translation simply means "striving". Similar to the Christian's desire
to improve themselves, be a better person, help the church, evangelize,
etc., jihad to many Muslims means the desire to be a better Muslim,
better understand and live the five major teachings of Islam (the five
pillars), be a good example, and promote the faith. Sounds like it has
some elements of Christian "witnessing" and "evangelizing", doesn't it?
Many many Muslims around the world consider terrorism, killing, and
violence in the name of Allah to be a based on a very twisted reading of
Mohammed's teachings, and pursuing this form of jihad is a terrible
disgrace.

Christians are not exempt from twisted interpretations of their
scriptures or teachings either, with either good intentions or ill, are
they? People use and misuse religion all the time. Does anyone
remember the Crusades? Sounds kind of like what the western media would
color these days as a jihad story doesn't it?

What I wish every Christian, Jew, and Muslim would realize is that what
they have in common far outweighs what they do not, and attempt to see
things from the other perspective, and just be tolerant. I don't think
any of these faiths will disappare anytime soon. I personally don't
think God cares what affiliation you have, or even if you have one at
all. There are many good teachings in these faiths, but also in each one
some questionable practices arise from time to time in various segments.

In fact although most of the spirituality doesn't make sense to
westerners, we could learn a lot from the Buddhists, who are at peace
with themselves and others, and are tolerant and accepting of everyone.
They don't define themselves in a way that excludes or requires conflict
with any others. Unfortunately most Christian, Jews, and Muslims
consider the other groups to be their enemies, instead of their brothers.

In fact, in the story presented, I am very surprised that the Imam did
not question how charitable God is to exclude various groups from
heaven. Not only that, but why don't all the Christians even agree on
what that definition is. Some say you must accept Jesus as your saviour,
some say you have to live a good life, some say it doesn't matter
because it is already pre-ordained that it is promised to all
Christians. Regardless, it generally excludes the Muslims and the Jews
(although some branches made some new interpretations later to allow
them to believe Jews are admitted too despite the apparent contradiction
with their own previous teachings). If the Christians have a definition
of non-believers that excludes Muslims from heaven, why would they be
surprised that Muslims have similar definitions of who makes it and who
doesn't? If Christians have fought for their faith, why are they
surprised that Muslims fight for theirs? What we all need to learn is
it is possible for all these faiths to peacefully co-exist. I think
that was the intent of the training but instead it sounds like this guy,
who himself follows a religion that excludes other people, is pretty
proud of shaming a fellow human for his beliefs. So do you think the
Muslim is going to convert to Christianity now, because the Christian
was such a good friend to him to show him the way, or do you think he
might resent the come-uppance as possibly a little mean-spirited?

In life there are opportunities you can use to either tear other people
down or together you can build something up. I wish less people would
choose tearing down. People can believe different things. That is the
way things are in this life. What you "know" and "believe" may not
coincide with what other people "know" and "believe". And I say so
what? Just because someone else has a different idea doesn't make it
less valid.

In this case, I think it is just an attempt to say "YAY US! Aren't we
great! Look how foolish those Muslims are!" to fellow Christians. And,
according to Snopes.com, the accuracy of the story is questioned
anyway!! See http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/allah.asp.

I've known great examples of people from many different faiths, and
lousy examples are obvious in a lot of faiths too. No one is perfect,
and neither is any religion. I'm not an expert on any religion, but
this article just struck me in so many ways as a really bad example of
hypocrisy parading as information. Sure enough, after writing my first
several paragraphs above, I did a search for "Rick Manes" and what do
you know, Snopes.com and many others have already researched the story.
Check the link above, they give the subject a much more organized
treatment than I have.

What's sad is most people who get this email will have no reason to
question it. I think I am a highly unusual case. Not that that's
always a bad thing :)

______________ wrote:

>
>
>>> >
>>> The Jihad
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The Jihad....... Interesting this appears to sum up what we are
>>> faced with.
>>> Muslim religion is the fastest growing religion per capita in Canada
>>> and the
>>> United States especially in the minority race.
>>>
>>> Allah or Jesus? By: Rick Mathes
>>>
>>>
>>> Last month I attended my annual training session that's required for
>>> maintaining my state prison security clearance. During the training
>>> session
>>> there was a presentation by three speakers representing the Roman
>>> Catholic,
>>> Protestant and Muslim faiths, who explained each of their belief
>>> systems.
>>>
>>> I was particularly interested in what the Islamic Imam had to say.
>>> The Imam
>>> gave a great presentation of the basics of Islam, complete with
>>> video. After
>>> the presentations, time was provided for questions and answers. When
>>> it was
>>> my turn, I directed my question to the Imam and asked:
>>>
>>> "Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that most Imams and
>>> clerics of Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy war] against the
>>> infidels
>>> of the world. And, that by killing an infidel, which is a command to
>>> all
>>> Muslims, they are assured of a place in heaven. If that's the case,
>>> can you
>>> give me the definition of an infidel?"
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> There was no disagreement with my statements and, without
>>> hesitation, he
>>> replied, "Non-believers!"
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I responded, "So, let me make sure I have this straight. All
>>> followers of
>>> Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith
>>> so they
>>> can go to Heaven. Is that correct?"
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The __expression on his face changed from one of authority and
>>> command to
>>> that of a little boy who had just gotten caught with his hand in the
>>> cookie
>>> jar. He sheepishly replied, "Yes."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I then stated, "Well, sir, I have a real problem trying to imagine
>>> Pope John
>>> Paul commanding all Catholics to kill those of your faith or Dr.
>>> Stanley
>>> ordering Christians to do the same in order to go to Heaven.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The Imam was speechless.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I continued, "I also have problem with being your friend when you
>>> and your
>>> brother clerics are telling your followers to kill me. Let me ask you a
>>> question. Would you rather have your Allah who tells you to kill me
>>> in order
>>> to go to Heaven or my Jesus who tells me to love you because I am
>>> going to
>>> Heaven and He wants you to be with me?"
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> You could have heard a pin drop as the Imam hung his head in shame.
>>> Needless
>>> to say, the organizers and/or promoters of the 'Diversification'
>>> training
>>> seminar were not happy with Rick's way of dealing with the Islamic
>>> Imam and
>>> exposing the truth about the Muslim's beliefs.
>>>
>>> I think everyone in the US and Canada should be required to read
>>> this, but
>>> with the liberal justice system, liberal media, and the ACLU, there
>>> is no
>>> way this will be widely publicized.
>>>
>>> This is a true story and the author, Rick Mathes, is a well known
>>> leader in
>>> prison ministry.

Standalone WM Emulator

2006-05-25T10:06:00.000-05:00

According to Jason Langridge's blog, instead of needing the entire Visual Studio 2006 or whatever the monstrosity is called, you can now get just the Windows Mobile emulator part (including direct push) at Microsoft.

Schweet!

The First Day of the Rest of My Life

2006-05-22T23:46:00.000-05:00

Well, today was my first (week)day of unemployment. I'm still getting over being sick, so I didn't launch right into everything I want to do, especially the yard work. (Temperatures in the 90's didn't help with that either.)

I have several errands and tasks that need to be done in the next week or so. I'm also waiting to hear from DISD to know if I will have an interview within the next two weeks and possibly need to be available to start training June 5. So something that potentially would be happening very soon is still totally up in the air.

This is a very unexciting blog entry, mainly because I'm very tired. I hope I can sleep better tonight. I'm hoping getting up at 6:45 and staying up all day (until almost midnight, gasp!) will help pre-tired-erize me and I'll pass out and not cough all night.

BUT at least I put something in the blog today. It's a step in the right direction. I think.

So whatever happened to... "The Tank Man"?

2006-04-14T14:02:00.000-05:00

PBS has a Frontline feature coming up on what happened after all those widely publicized events at Tianamen Square. I was just wondering the other day what happened to that guy. Patrick says he was no doubt killed later.

I hope he wasn't. I guess I'll have to either do some research or try to catch this "Frontline" thing on TV.

I remember TV. Sort of.

Who is this Ron Paul guy?

2006-04-06T07:21:00.000-05:00

Liking what this guy has to say may be the biggest surprise for me since finding out how funny Al Sharpton was on Comedy Central's Indecision 2004 election night coverage.

But so far there isn't much reaction to last night's special order speech, appearing on C-Span roughly around 8 p.m. central time.

What I found in a general web (not just news) google search for

c-span paul republican texas special order speech

was this blog entry at the smirking chimp which seems to include a full transcript.

The only hit in Google News for c-span ron paul:
c-span ron paul result

I can't remember how this one turned up. Heck it might even be the same thing. It's early.
another result

But then if you go to http://www.house.gov/you can then pick Ron Paul from the drop-down list of representatives. His page is http://www.house.gov/paul/. There's no link to last night's speech, but the full text seems to be at the smirking chimp link above anyway.

You know, after taking a look at his bio at http://www.house.gov/paul/bio.shtml, I think this guy really needs to go on the Daily Show or maybe the Colbert Report.

Apparently this is not the first critical speech he's given. See this blog post at dailykos.com.

Ok, now THAT is cool

2006-03-17T08:04:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I say that about everything, except the things that annoy me, but it really is cool that Google has interactive map-thingies for Mars. Yeah, that Mars!

To go direct, click right about here.

Extremely diggable.

Fun with Mashups

2006-02-25T10:13:00.000-06:00

My Saturday morning wanderings turned up a fun little clicky thing that I am putting here since it has a bunch of image links and stuff.

Oh boy!

2006-02-23T21:56:00.000-06:00

Calligrapher / Write Pad seems to be working even better now that I have disabled a few more startup processes.

I was worried one of them might have been needed for using wireless, but I'm corrected right now and it's working fine.

Next up, trying a newer version of smartfeed.

Write Pad Test

2006-02-22T13:46:00.000-06:00

Will the test posts never end??

Yeah, um, apparently not!

the important thing for me to remember is to kill Microsoft Voice Command before attempting to invoke Write Pad.

If I do that, it works great!

So now I need to find a faster way to do that, or to have Voice Command not load at startup.

Cell phone feature we could use

2006-02-22T13:24:00.000-06:00

Someone needs to make a cell phone with a built-in thermometer. Not for measuring people's temperatures, but for reporting room or ambient temperature.

And I guess they might as well slap a compass on there too (the directional kind, not the circle-drawing kind).

First mobile photo post!

2006-02-10T10:42:00.000-06:00

First mobile photo post!
Originally uploaded by jiffener.

Here it is, my first mobile photo post, taken with my new camera phone, sent to flickr, and now jettisoned over to blogger.

2006-02-07T14:16:00.000-06:00

Not only is it cool that there is a site devoted to the topic of sustainability, www.sustainablebusiness.com, but at the moment it includes a dollar bill shirt like my sister knows how to make! One day I will be able to do them myself, but right now I can only do them when she helps me.

2006-02-05T20:47:00.000-06:00

I defy you to find a better End User License Agreement--anywhere! This one is from Emulamer's x50Mix for the Dell Axim. I've had it sitting around waiting to upload since January 7, and now that jiffener.com has successfully moved over to the new host, I have a small pile of stuff to throw up onto my blog.

Bluetooth and XP SP2

2006-02-05T20:19:00.000-06:00

So what is the friggin' deal with Bluetooth and SP2? I have spent the better part of the past 2 days trying to get a bluetooth mouse to stay working for more than an hour. Once it stops working, it's JACKED indefinitely, and there I am in driver hell again.

I don't understand why it has to be so complicated.

At the moment it is working, but if it stops working I'm not sure what to try. The Windows drivers? Install from the mouse vendor's (Iogear) CD? Follow their instructions, or not, and then afterwards, update the drivers that got replaced by Microsoft's drivers with the vendor's drivers in the device manager?

I'm still not sure where the problem lies, to be honest. I have had problems with a Bluetooth keyboard as well as a different RF wireless mouse. But, with the other mouse, turning it off and on would usually fix the problem. So, I thought maybe it was the bluetooth adapter (a D-Link DBT-120 rev B3) and today I picked up an Iogear GBU211. I thought maybe it play nicer with its sibling mouse.

I really like the little mouse, but unfortunately it doesn't have a PocketPC/Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition driver. There is a "hacked" ThinkOutside Stowaway driver that supposedly will work for any bluetooth mouse, and with that driver I did manage to see the mouse from my Axim, but got a message saying there were no services on the device that I could use. So it didn't exactly work.

I'm tempted to buy ThinkOutside's Stowaway mouse for the simple reason that I have a Dell Executive Bluetooth Keyboard which is actually made by ThinkOutside. I bought it from Dell, but when the plastic stand broke, I emailed ThinkOutside and they sent me 2 new plastic stands for free, without filling out any forms or anything annoying like that. They didn't care I bought it from Dell. They didn't try to pass me off to Dell. They just solved the problem.

And it's a great keyboard, and the driver for the mouse is actually installed at the same time as the keyboard, and I know how well the keyboard driver works. So, I'm seriously considering buying the ThinkOutside mouse. I don't especially want to spend 40-80 more dollars on bluetooth pointing devices, depending on where you shop, but it might happen.

It's just sad that I have had so much trouble with Bluetooth on the laptop, on what is supposedly a mature platform.

So, anyway, I better go do something with my mouse while it's still working. Gotta go!

Calligrapher

2006-02-02T13:38:00.000-06:00

This is a test post using Calligrapher, running on Bitsy, of course. Now that I finally have it running, it does work very well. It's actually kind of eerie, it works so well, Of course saying that seems to have jinxed me.

The quick summary of getting it running:
Disabling unused SIP's (i.e., transcriber, letter recognizer)
Uninstalling an unused today plugin (freeing up some memory)

The More Cowbell Collection at iTunes

2006-01-18T06:48:00.000-06:00

I only came across the "more cowbell" concept a couple of days ago while looking at WordPress plugins by Alex King. See Needs More Cowbell.

That blog entry refers to a video hosted at photobucket.com. If you don't want to be troubled with reading text and that pesky extra mouse click, you can skip the blog and go straight to the video here.

But I think you should check out the blog because it's funnier that way.

(No Subject)

2006-01-14T12:22:00.000-06:00

Second test
Another test, this time with some words at the beginning that might get treated as the subject or title, if we're lucky.
12:17 PM 1/14/06

(No Subject)

2006-01-14T12:10:00.000-06:00

12:09 PM 1/14/06
Test of PhatNotes as a blog tool.

Blogma | News.blog | CNET News.com

2006-01-13T07:08:00.000-06:00

Blogma | News.blog | CNET News.com

"BLOGMA"... Now THAT's a great blog name!

Kaplan Boneheads

2006-01-10T13:49:00.000-06:00

I have a pending rant about Kaplan AEC, a publishing division of Dearborn Financial services.

I just wrote them a check that should not have been necessary, and to top it all off, the statement they had folded and sent to me would not fit into their return envelope without re-folding.

They've just been annoying from start to (what I hope will be the) finish.

Woohoo!

2006-01-08T17:47:00.000-06:00

After not working for a few minutes, I did a soft reset and now it's working again. AND I'm using my ThinkOutside Bluetooth keyboard to boot.

Soon I'll be using a laser keyboard thingy too! I have about a dozen ways to input data on Bitsy now, it seems.

Ahhh... Life is good :)

Dude! It worked!

2006-01-07T19:54:00.000-06:00

That's awesome!

Test post from Bitsy, using PocketBlogger

2006-01-07T19:53:00.000-06:00

Cross your fingers...

contributing: Contributing Funds to OpenOffice.org

2005-12-18T21:16:00.000-06:00

contributing: Contributing Funds to OpenOffice.org

Yet another thing to do with that holiday cash.

2005-12-16T06:51:00.000-06:00

OK now I'm just being silly. This is how my blog looks today. Isn't that fun? It's kind of like when Amy and I would send each other attachments of scanned handwritten notes instead of just typing an email, that sort of thing.

2005-12-16T06:47:00.000-06:00

Damn that Microsoft Passport stuff! Gah!!

Windows Live

2005-12-16T06:37:00.000-06:00

Windows Live: "Windows Live"

Look, it's another thing to blog about not having time to try! Yippee!

It seems to be roughly the equivalent of a customized start page like at Yahoo or wherever, allowing you to pick some content, customize for your city, specify some RSS feeds to check... and it also has these "gadget" things. I think Yahoo supports Widgets now, so it sounds very much like a parallel type of offering.

Rojo Chiclet Test and other Random Things

2005-12-10T10:46:00.000-06:00

OK this thing might or might not work. I have had a link called "site feed" for a while, and supposedly blogger is continually updating the feed automatically, but I haven't actually used an RSS reader to test it. By the way at the moment it's an atom/xml type feed. I read about atom and RSS before, but naturally I don't remember any of it now.

And, I heard about Rojo a long time ago, maybe even mentioned it in this blog, and was invited during Beta testing, which was cool, but I didn't really use it all that much, really. (But at least I got my jiffener login before it was taken by one of the hordes of jiffeners out there. YES!)

So then once I started getting into listening to podcasts, I had some issues using iTunes and Odeo and Happy Fish, so I thought maybe listing my favorite podcasts in Rojo might be the way to go.

None of the solutions is perfect for me because what I really want to do is listen to podcasts over my car stereo. So far burning MP3 CD's seems the easiest, but the big downside is that it's hard to keep everything organized and of course there is a big delay between receiving a fresh new podcast on my PC and having it finally come up on the gigantic MP3 CD in my car. I mean, MP3 CD's will hold a LOT of podcasts, man.

I also signed up for del.icio.us, which is groovy too.

So I'm dipping my toes in all these different things but haven't totally jumped in to any of them.

Well, I suppose you could say I am currently using both iTunes and Odeo just like they're meant to be, but the others I'm not really exploiting to their full extent. And, unfortunatetly, I may never have time to, cool as they are.

In a basically unrelated area of cool Internet stuff, there is also this JotSpot thing. I signed up for JotSpot Tracker, which, in addition to being in Beta which automatically makes it cool to try, also seems promising as a way to share spreadsheets without emailing them around and winding up with a zillion different versions.

Of course, people could just email a link to the spreadsheet on their server so any revisions happened on the central copy. But for some reason that is too difficult for people and they seem to like emailing documents. I can understand that, actually, because since I can't access the company network from home, if I want to work on something I need to have a copy of it to open it on my PC. Sometimes I email things, but lately I have used flash memory devices, which are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Actually better, I think, because I hardly ever use sliced bread, whereas these USB memory key things I use all the time.

Actually JotSpot as a whole is a much bigger thing than spreadsheet sharing and version control. I think I might sign up for the personal edition and try it out. The personal edition is free, but of course limited in number of users and features. OK, I just signed up. I'll update once in awhile about how, like most other things I sign up for, it is really impressive but falls by the wayside in the tumult of the day-to-day grind.

Other people are offering new ways to share things on the web too, web pages, calendars, blogs, photos, and more. A lot of this has been around in various forms but now we see more convergence going on.

For instance, there's this Yahoo 360 thing which sounds kind of intriguing. Yahoo has been in stealth mode lately, letting Google hog all the press with their Google news and gmail and mapping and IPO and classifieds and fears of global domination. So while everyone's eyes are on Google, Yahoo is busy thinking up new ways to be handy and addictive like fantasy sports, buying flickr, being one of the first customizable search engine start pages, having Yahoo groups, etc. etc. I'm sure there are more for each because they have actually both been exploding--just Google has been getting more press. Google is great and all, but Yahoooooo is much more fun to sing.

One annoying thing with Yahoo is that although they have this customized start page available, it doesn't provide an easy way to put your other Yahoo stuff right there on that page. For instance, I participate in several Yahoo Groups, but how do I get a link to them on my start page? I've dug around all over the place, thinking this would be a built-in one-click feature, or at least a common enough request it would show up in the help. Nope. Nada.

While I'm at it I guess I'll mention how annoying Google Maps can be--it would be so nice to have input boxes for street, city, zip, etc. or at least some tags so you can type in whatever part you want. Most of your mapping is probably going to be in your home city, right? So why type the home city and state for every single map you need? It should remember your city and only override it when it can't find something or if you give it a different city. How hard is that? Google maps has all kinds of capabilities you can access IF you're a programmer. Which I'm not. So why can't we put on multiple map points? And we need a check box or something to switch between "look things up in the phone book" mode and "quit looking things up, just map this address" mode.

Craftapalooza 2005

2005-12-02T06:38:00.000-06:00

It's that time again, and to think I almost forgot! Thanks for
reminding me about Craftapalooza, Amy!

As soon as I figure out how to make a cool little poll, there will be
one here to choose logos. Not that I really expect anyone to read this
blog and vote, but, hey, I still think it'd be nice to make the option
available.

So anyway, the logos are...

By the way, these logos were all created using cooltext.com which is cool and free.

TechCrunch � Google Lunch?

2005-11-12T09:44:00.000-06:00

A fun new game, especially for Yahoo employees :)

(Found this link through Rojo)

IT Conversations, EFF, Magnatune, Genographic Project (Worthy Causes)

2005-11-06T08:55:00.000-06:00

Another worthy cause that will soon get some of my hard earned money is IT Conversations. Their podcasts, even though I am listening months after they are issued, are always interesting and sometimes amazingly so.

I am pretty sure it was an IT Conversations podcast where I first heard what the EFF is about.

Last night while looking up topics on the IT Conversations site, I noticed some information about Magnatune. I linked to the "Why I created Magnatune page" instead of the main page because I think anyone venturing over there should start there. And even if you don't want to buy music from them, they also accept donations here.

Oooh! I almost forgot to mention another worthy cause, which I also heard about in an ITC podcast--IBM's implementation ofthe Genographic Project by National Geographic.

At this rate I may not have to go to the mall for any Christmas shopping at all!

Cruise ship Britons attacked by pirates - Sunday Times - Times Online

2005-11-05T20:12:00.000-06:00

Pirates! Whoa!!

The Boondocks

2005-11-05T20:11:00.000-06:00

Boondocks makes the jump from newspaper to television!

EMI Nonlinear Dynamic Time History Analysis

2005-11-01T21:15:00.000-06:00

Not a recent development by any means, but a cool thingie for structural engineer types (especially those interested in seismic design) nonetheless.

And here's another cool thing. I foud it at this motion-based design module of MIT's Open Courseware site, which in turn I discovered by searching for some continuous beam stuff and finding an interesting paper on structural design for theater.

Jottings.com - 100 oldest dot com domains

2005-10-21T08:45:00.000-05:00

I found a link to this list in rojo.

Very interesting, especially if you look up some of the names that are not immediately recognizable as a high-tech company of some sort.

For instance, toad.com, site of a vocal libertarian and founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

I've been hearing a lot about the EFF lately through podcasts such as IT Conversation. Turns out it's not the "Electronic Freedom Foundation" as I had thought, and apparently many others (if google search results are any indication).

Until now I hadn't actually taken the time to look it up, but after reading this week that they cracked a code which enables tracking of any output from a long list of color printers, I am definitely looking into and adding EFF to my Christmas list. No, not to be put in my stocking or under the tree--to receive a donation from me!

Here's another really important thing publicized by EFF--some new "features" in the latest World of Warcraft. Doesn't affect me at all, but could be bad news for Patrick and Vince!

Jiffener's Blog

This blog has moved

Crazy Things

The Obligatory Follow-Up Test Post

Can it be? Can it really be true?

Humboldt news

MeeVee Widget

Third Death Blamed on Peanut Butter

from CNN

Autopsy planned to find why Anna Nicole Smith died

Test Worked

Just a Test

Further annoyance... with Bloggerbot (or lack thereof)

Why is iTunes sick today?

Last.fm chart

Google Maps for Pocket PC - Aximsite

Aximsite - Last.fm PPC Client

"I'm from Rolling Stone"

Who knew

Today's Happy Time Link

test

Playboy Political Survey

One More Dixie Chicks Post (for now)

Just in Case I Wasn't Clear...

SATIRE ALERT!

Gothamist: Outlines of the Past

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong...

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Clinton aides attack 9/11 drama

Interesting Comments on Offshoring

FUH2 | F*** You And Your H2

Coming Soon: Firehouse Subs!

This Blog is Officially Worthless

To What A-Team Character is Jiffener Married?

What A-Team Character is Jiffener?

What M*A*S*H Character is Jiffener?

What Breakfast Club Character is Jiffener?

Copernic Desktop Search - FAQ

Well, That's All I Need to Hear

Really Diggin' Picasa... Yearning for Invite to Picasa Web!

One Big Happy Family

Mark Cuban has devious plan for world domination

"Allah vs. Jesus" aka "The Jihad"

Standalone WM Emulator

The First Day of the Rest of My Life

So whatever happened to... "The Tank Man"?

Who is this Ron Paul guy?

Ok, now THAT is cool

Fun with Mashups

Oh boy!

Write Pad Test

Cell phone feature we could use

First mobile photo post!

Bluetooth and XP SP2

Calligrapher

The More Cowbell Collection at iTunes

(No Subject)

(No Subject)

Blogma | News.blog | CNET News.com

Kaplan Boneheads

Woohoo!

Dude! It worked!

Test post from Bitsy, using PocketBlogger

contributing: Contributing Funds to OpenOffice.org

Windows Live

Rojo Chiclet Test and other Random Things

Craftapalooza 2005

TechCrunch � Google Lunch?

IT Conversations, EFF, Magnatune, Genographic Project (Worthy Causes)

Cruise ship Britons attacked by pirates - Sunday Times - Times Online

The Boondocks

EMI Nonlinear Dynamic Time History Analysis

Jottings.com - 100 oldest dot com domains

What MAS*H Character is Jiffener?