Stuff and Things

Geithner: AIG Will Repay Taxpayers for Bonuses - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com

2009-03-18T08:04:00.000-05:00

Geithner: AIG Will Repay Taxpayers for Bonuses - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com

Guess where this is going to come from - not the execs. This will come in the form of massive layoffs, increased costs and decreased quality in whatever form this company can do that.

More of the same.

Official Gmail Blog: Last chance for Gmail stickers

2009-02-08T08:01:00.000-06:00

Official Gmail Blog: Last chance for Gmail stickers

There's still time!

If you haven't sent in your self-addressed stamped envelope yet, it's not too late. Just make sure it's postmarked by February 14th, 2009 and sent to:

Send me some Gmail stickers already
P.O. Box 391420
Mountain View, CA 94039-1420

Microsoft Bob

2008-12-17T10:06:00.000-06:00

Microsoft Bob

I have never heard of this. Funny stuff.

Welcome to Google TiSP

2008-08-07T07:03:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Google TiSP

TiSP in-home wireless broadband is:

* Free, fast and highly reliable
* Easy to install -- takes just minutes
* Vacuum-sealed to prevent water damage

Seth's Blog: Complicit

2008-08-06T13:30:00.000-05:00

Seth's Blog: Complicit: "Complicit

Are consumers responsible for the behavior of marketers?

Why does spam exist? Because (some) people respond to it. Why are ineffective pharmaceuticals so heavily marketed? Because (some) people demand that doctors prescribe them. Why are so many local stores struggling? Because so many customers cross the street to the big box stores."

What? Not grinding employees to the bone 10 hours a day?

2008-07-24T20:16:00.001-05:00

Tapping the Creativity of Downtime
Web-Design Firm Uses Projects Employees Pursue in Their Spare Time at Work to Help Win New Business

These guys clearly don't have MBAs or they'd know this isn't working for them...

So he and his co-founders decided to tell employees they could pursue their own interests in their downtime, doing just about whatever they wanted, on the clock.

Yirmumah

2008-07-23T21:09:00.000-05:00

Yirmumah

So great - I ordered one immediately "a robot and a drago playing kazoo"

Will Draw Anything

Remember that kid in the back of the class who would draw anything and usually get sent to detention? Well now he’s all grown up… kind of.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) on Vimeo

2008-07-16T09:49:00.000-05:00

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) on Vimeo

I laughed, I cried. So great.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

JellyTelly.com

2008-07-14T06:49:00.000-05:00

Check out Phil Vischer's new JellyTelly project...

JellyTelly.com

"We've just posted the "official" JellyTelly demo video for all the world to see at www.jellytelly.tv. It's a 28 minute video where I explain the concept behind our new mini TV network and then show some sample programming. "

Retro Gaming on real backgrounds - Fubiz™

2008-06-26T05:32:00.000-05:00

Retro Gaming on real backgrounds - Fubiz™

Fun images of retro games w/ real-world backgrounds!

Software Integrity � Blog Archive � The Dreyfus Model - Back In The Spotlight?

2008-06-23T10:20:00.000-05:00

Software Integrity � Blog Archive � The Dreyfus Model - Back In The Spotlight?

Interesting video and thoughts in the video. I like the idea of letting coders staying coding and not move to teaching or managing to increase their value/salary.

MagCloud

2008-06-21T18:12:00.000-05:00

MagCloud

Can't find a good magazine? Make your own!

Thinking Animation Blog: All My Base Cake

2008-06-20T08:46:00.000-05:00

Thinking Animation Blog: All My Base Cake

Great blog and this post is a home run.

Open Resources

2008-06-19T13:38:00.000-05:00

Open Resources

"This website is for churches worldwide to download and use an entire library of creative materials - absolutely free. Materials include sermon audio, countdowns, promotional design graphics and opening videos from a wide variety of message series and churches."

Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds

2008-06-19T13:23:00.000-05:00

Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds

"Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends."

Is LOST a spin-off?

2008-06-12T09:46:00.000-05:00

10 Free Web-based Alternatives to Photoshop

2008-06-12T08:56:00.000-05:00

10 Free Web-based Alternatives to Photoshop

I use Gimp. It may not be "quick and easy" like the others, but it's good and free.

Happy Birthday, G.K. Chesterton!

2008-06-03T09:10:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, G.K. Chesterton!

Great quote:
“You cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion.”

Photo recreations of kids’ drawings � Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

2008-05-15T08:54:00.000-05:00

Photo recreations of kids’ drawings � Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

I think the site was overloaded when I went to view it, but here's the blog where I found it.

FilmCow :: Videos and Animations

2008-05-08T09:44:00.000-05:00

FilmCow :: Videos and Animations

I only watched "Charlie the Unicorn" 1 and 2. The first one, I read, is by far the most watched original animation on youtube.

Funny stuff. It's not offensive, but despite the name, it's not a kids video. FYI.

Rom�n Cort�s � jpeg2css

2008-05-05T09:50:00.000-05:00

Rom�n Cort�s � jpeg2css: "It takes a black and white jpeg and returns an html copy of the image created with text and CSS, just like homer was. Enjoy!"

MicroExplosion Media: Winning by Losing

2008-05-05T09:01:00.000-05:00

MicroExplosion Media - Blog Archive - Video of the Week: Winning by Losing

I'm glad to see some people are getting attention for doing something good.

Horror: Internal Microsoft Vista Video is as Painful as Videos Get

2008-04-16T15:57:00.000-05:00

Oh, I wish this hadn't been made... or that I hadn't watched it...

Horror: Internal Microsoft Vista Video is as Painful as Videos Get: ".' Seriously, how did this little slice of cringe-inducing embarrassment ever get made?"

Urgency is poisonous - (37signals)

2008-04-16T08:43:00.000-05:00

Like in so many cases, people doing really good things do it in really cool ways. On the other hand, sweat shops usually churn out ho-hum junk by really unhappy people...

Urgency is poisonous - (37signals): "So far our four-day work week experiment is working. We haven’t found ourselves collectively wishing we had an extra work day a week. We haven’t found ourselves gasping for extra hours. Instead I feel like we’ve been more focused and working better together."

Alice.org

2008-03-31T15:39:00.001-05:00

Alice.org

Learn how to code while making games and 3D animations w/ a graphical interface and have fun. A great way for kids to learn.

I believe Alice 2.0 uses Java and characters the Sims 2 game.

The head guy for this, Randy Pausch, was diagnosed w/ cancer in August and gave a great speech about his life.

Robot Chicken: Star Wars Delayed | Animation Magazine

2008-03-31T10:22:00.000-05:00

Robot Chicken: Star Wars Delayed | Animation Magazine

I had this episode on TiVo until my harddrive crashed. I burned it to DVD, lent it to a guy and haven't seen it since. :(

Maybe it sd go on my b-day list???

Flickr: Advanced Photo Search

2008-03-31T09:08:00.000-05:00

Flickr: Advanced Photo Search

Great for searching for Creative Commons-licensed photos even for commercial use!

Mailinator - Let Them Eat Spam!

2008-03-27T12:17:00.000-05:00

Mailinator - Let Them Eat Spam!: "How do I create an account at Mailinator? It's simple, you just send email to it"

Great tool for avoiding spam - just use unique email addresses so you're not checking someone else's (and they're not checking yours).

DOTHETEST

2008-03-26T12:32:00.000-05:00

DOTHETEST

30 video w/ a simple test. :)

The Superest: Who is the superest hero of them all?

2008-03-26T11:35:00.000-05:00

The Superest: Who is the superest hero of them all?

Start at the bottom and each super hero above 'defeat's the one before it. Click on the image to see additional notes (maybe 'how' it defeats the one before) and viewer comments.

pixeloo: d'oh!

2008-03-24T09:11:00.001-05:00

pixeloo: d'oh!

Bitstrips: Page One

2008-03-20T11:46:00.000-05:00

Bitstrips: Page One

Bored w/ the same old comics out there? Make your own!

Yvette's

2008-03-19T09:38:00.000-05:00

Yvette's

Overwhelming website... however, I think I know what I want for my birthday...

a portait of me

Caricature Software

2008-03-19T09:35:00.000-05:00

Caricature Software

The animation software is pretty cool - like line-detection rotoscoping. Check it out!

Fundable Online Fundraising — Welcome

2008-03-12T09:07:00.000-05:00

Fundable Online Fundraising — Welcome

An interesting way to try to raise money for a project.

GIANTmicrobes

2008-02-20T11:05:00.001-06:00

GIANTmicrobes

Educational and cuddly. :)

Rocking: Guitar Rising for Real Guitar Heroes

2008-02-07T11:10:00.000-06:00

Rocking: Guitar Rising for Real Guitar Heroes

Very cool! Great idea!

I know one guitar it won't play with... the Guitar Hero guitar. :)

Make3D --- convert your image into 3d

2008-02-01T16:07:00.000-06:00

Make3D --- convert your image into 3d: "Make3D
Convert your image into 3d model"

Amazing that it just uses a single pic!

Phoons from Around the World

2008-01-21T11:01:00.000-06:00

Phoons from Around the World

Get in the phoon running pose and take a pic to send in.

The Animation Podcast

2007-12-27T08:39:00.000-06:00

The Animation Podcast

Great animation podcast of interviews w/ big names in animation.

Junky Car Club

2007-12-07T11:27:00.000-06:00

Junky Car Club - Living with Less So We Can Give More

Check it out and support how you can.

The Human Engine Waits

2007-12-04T16:34:00.000-06:00

Check out Andy Melvin's new CD...

His music is always impressive and solid all around. Great work!

MAKE: Blog: Open source hardware gift guide

2007-12-03T09:04:00.000-06:00

MAKE: Blog: Open source hardware gift guide

Fun! If anyone gets and builds the 3D printer, please print me a 3D printer.

How To Read a Film

2007-11-25T14:18:00.000-06:00

How To Read a Film

Not a movie, but a good book (and it's free online).

24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot - CollegeHumor video

2007-11-13T15:04:00.000-06:00

24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot - CollegeHumor video

Since we probably won't have a 24 season this coming season, this video does well to substitute.

"He has complete control of our Geocities page!"

"Buy the Book" - the failing of "Sixteen Candles"

2007-11-12T09:05:00.000-06:00

"Sixteen Candles" probably the most classic 80's movie there is to date.

The power and potency of this film can not be surmised or summarized. There's no "Cliff Notes" like some Shakespearean play. There's no "Sixteen Candles for Dummies." Oh, that there were. But a thousand volumes of such works could only further the mystery. Like JFK, the moon landing and Velveeta - we can never really know the full revelation of truth behind it.

The reader's representation in the film, Long Duk Dong, played by Gedde Watanabe, couldn't be a better "exchange student" for us within the film itself. Allowing the viewer to be ingrained in the file. He invites us to literally imbibe the film, to steep ourselves in it's richness, to drink it down to the very dregs to the point where no more physical pleasure can be desired as is uttered "No more yanky my wanky."

Flat? My goodness no.

The journey is as multi-faceted as any jewel yet discovered: the passage to manhood, the coming of age, the forgotten birthday, a Porsche - it's all there. One is tempted to pre-date this film before "Citizen Kane."

The culmination of the film's primary arch is more symbolic than anything. Two young soon-to-be adults. A cake. Candles (fire). A kiss above the "fire." Sitting on the table. An where did the cake come from? Was this planned all along? Who suggested sitting on the table? Is this something only the rich kids do? Can this be safe?

The lights above, the lights below, the lights within.

The imagery and metaphors flow like so many lost years in high school. I have to wonder if the entire film was made only to be able to film this scene. This one defining scene that leaves us believing all things are possible. The Geek can get the girl, the forgotten birthday will be restored, I too can sit on the table, candles lit!

Yet for all it's truth and glory, there is the one failing of "Sixteen Candles" - the attempt to ingrain the world with the delightful saying "buy the book." Oh, how I wish I could buy the book. Yet, neither was the book realized nor the dream of a new phrase for teens and adults alike. To use the Donger's explanation: "Lake, big lake."

Though even it's failing, "Sixteen Candles" proves to us that even the very best may fall short. And in that we learn the core lesson: it's ok to not grasp that star - the beauty was in striving to grab it with both hands and wring it for the life blood it has.

One has to wonder though, if the lesson was in foresight, if reaching for all and falling short means we are human and we are taught that by Molly, et. al., then perhaps this faux-paux is simply a cleverly disguised high-five to all of us dreamers. How many layers does this onion have? I can only strive to know. "Buy the book" indeed.

So dream on, lively dreamers. Grasp that rascally star and grasp firmly for this comet flies fleet of foot. Yet, weary be the selection of such towage - thine star yet may be fallen of Jud Nelson. Despite all, take refuge fellow traveler in the immortal and sagely words of our representative head: "The Donger need food."

Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART

2007-11-09T16:19:00.000-06:00

Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART

Very fun - lots to watch!

The Rightnow Campaign

2007-10-23T11:07:00.000-05:00

The Rightnow Campaign

The Rightnot Campaign is a movement of 20 and 30-somethings who are passionate about serving Jesus Christ. We recognize the simple, yet profound truth that Jesus Christ alone is the hope for our world. Rightnow does whatever it takes to get our generation to put their specific passions, skills and desires in action for Christ.

Musicovery : interactive webRadio

2007-10-19T11:13:00.000-05:00

Musicovery : interactive webRadio

Pick your music by the 'mood chart.' There is an 'energetic-calm' Y axis and a 'dark-positive' X axis. Click anywhere on the chart and enjoy!

Booples.com has a new affiliation program

2007-10-17T15:17:00.001-05:00

Booples.com has a affiliation/referral program. It's SO easy! Go here and get the code from the text boxes, put it in your website or blog and that's it! You're in business!

It's great for Christian "work at home moms" or church fund raising or raising support for a mission trip. It's free and easy and could make me some money, so...

I have mine below so that's what they look like.

The videos are great. They're Dove Foundation approved, Parents Television Council approved (click on the seal images below for the reviews) and the stories and songs are great!

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Christian Volunteer Directory: Matching Volunteers with Urban Ministries, Short Term Missions Trips, Community Service & Virtual Online Volunteering O

2007-10-14T05:26:00.000-05:00

Christian Volunteer Directory: Matching Volunteers with Urban Ministries, Short Term Missions Trips, Community Service & Virtual Online Volunteering Opportunities: ChristianVolunteering.org: "ChristianVolunteering.org matches volunteers to volunteer opportunities similar to how job sites like Monster.com work, but for volunteering."

Boom: X-Wing Rocket Launches, Disintegrates Mid-Air - Gizmodo

2007-10-08T08:52:00.000-05:00

Boom: X-Wing Rocket Launches, Disintegrates Mid-Air - Gizmodo: "The first is: absolutely amazing. And the second: poor Porkins."

The stuff dreams are made off.

Booples Bible Verse Songs CD!

2007-10-05T15:22:00.000-05:00

The Booples Bible Verse Songs CD has been released!

The Booples songs CD includes all the Booples songs from the first 2 DVDs each containing a Bible verse in the song...

* "Not Curly, But Straight"- Proverbs 3:5-6
* "Love One Another" - John 13:34-35
* "Treasure In Heaven" - Matthew 6:20-21
* "Forgive Each Other" - Ephesians 4:32
* "Don't Want to go to Tarshish" - Luke 11:28
* "David Rocked Goliath" - 1 Corinthians 1:25
* "For All to See" - Psalm 33:4
* BONUS TRACK: "Look Around" - John 1:12 - Not Previously Released!

Also available for download at CDBaby.com and iTunes.

Booples named #6 on About.com's "Top 10 Christian DVD and Video Series for Children"

American Rhetoric: Mr. Rogers - Testimony Before the U.S. Senate on Funding for PBS

2007-09-20T14:40:00.000-05:00

American Rhetoric: Mr. Rogers - Testimony Before the U.S. Senate on Funding for PBS

There's really not much that can be said about this - it speaks for itself.

Read more about Mr. Rogers here.

LOT OF POKEMON CARDS THAT MY KIDS TRIED TO SNEAK BY ME - (eBay item 130144061675 end time Aug-22-07 12:03:50 PDT)

2007-09-20T14:07:00.000-05:00

LOT OF POKEMON CARDS THAT MY KIDS TRIED TO SNEAK BY ME - (eBay item 130144061675 end time Aug-22-07 12:03:50 PDT): "One of them is shiny. There are a few creature-like things on many of them."

devizen � Archive � Programming Can Ruin Your Life

2007-09-20T09:06:00.000-05:00

devizen � Archive � Programming Can Ruin Your Life

I now feel like I'm not alone... someone understands me... others are like me... but I'm still going crazy. :)

How to Turn Cheap “Choice” Steaks into Gucci “Prime” Steaks | Jaden's Steamy Kitchen

2007-09-20T09:01:00.000-05:00

How to Turn Cheap “Choice” Steaks into Gucci “Prime” Steaks | Jaden's Steamy Kitchen: "If you are a meat-lover, I hope that the title of this post luscious photo is enticing enough for you to read though the entire article. Because I promise you that it’s worth it."

Full Original Post

Your Unique Design

2007-09-17T11:55:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Your Unique Design: "YOU are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:13-14) Just imagine how effective you would be if you could discover your one-of-a-kind design authored by God!

Wouldn’t it be awesome if every person could learn to employ their unique design in service to Him and to others?"

My wife and I went thru this "course" this weekend led by some friends of ours. I have to say it's by far the best "personality profile" type course I've taken. Maybe b/c it's from a Christian perspective and goal or maybe it's just better (or maybe b/c I'm different).

I got a lot out of it about myself, how I'm designed, what things energize/distress me (and how to see signs of that), to see the same things in others to better communicate, understand and minister. Also, it sd help me do better at the same things w/ family, friends, work, ministry, play, etc. and how to better choose things like that that fit better w/ my design.

The test results give you a lot of information about your design and going thru the course really solidifies the material.

I recommend few things, but I recommend this for anyone.

"Booples 2: Yikity Blar" children's Bible song DVD Released!!!

2007-09-07T15:12:00.000-05:00

The second Booples DVD: "Booples 2: Yikity Blar!" has been released!!!

You can view clips at Booples.com.

The Booples site has be redesigned as well as the clothing and other merchandise.

"Yikity Blar!" is also available to buy at Booples.com. There's even a combo deal of the 2 DVDs.

"Booples 2: Yikity Blar!" contains...

* "Forgive Each Other" (Ephesians 4:32)
* "Jonah and the Tarshish Fish" (Luke 11:28)
* "David Rocked Goliath" (1 Corinthians 1:25)
* "God is Faithful" (Psalm 33:4)
* Plus all 4 song videos from the episodes!
* And a Booples! short: "Fruit of the Spirit"

Each episode uses a Bible verse to teach a lesson from God's word to the Booples and the viewer. The episode's song includes the verse to help apply the message. The songs are catchy and help children remember the lesson and recall the verse!

The DVD also includes the song portion of each episode as separate titles!

Approximate runtime: 45 mins

Closed Caption and English Subtitles

Check it out here!

Simpsonize Me

2007-08-23T12:06:00.000-05:00

Simpsonize Me

Create an image of your self as a Simpson!

Here's me...

Booples - "God is Faithful"

2007-08-13T14:15:00.000-05:00

Hi!

Another Booples video is posted at Booples.com - "God is Faithful"

In the story, Doodle Boople wonders where rainbows come from and what they mean. Bah explains they are God's promise to not flood the earth again and that God is always faithful to His promises:

Psalm 33:4

"For the word of the LORD is right and true;
He is faithful in all He does."

Check it out here and send any thoughts you have (comment below or here)!

Cholesterol: From 310 to 123!

2007-08-01T10:48:00.000-05:00

All from diet and exercise over 2.5 years and 45 pounds lost. I hadn't had my cholesterol tested in a while (it was like 208 last year) so I can't really say it took me that long???

There's a lot of specifics and some generals, but here's what I've done (I'll try to put a summary at the bottom if you want to skip to that now)...

You can read previous posts to see some details of different things I've tried and why here - The Maker's Diet post and here - various foods and supplements I've tried.

But my current program is...

Exercise

I ride my recumbent exercise bike 1 hour basically every day. I watch movies while watching which makes it not only feel quicker, but quite enjoyable. I have a heart rate monitor (see trifuel.com for some good articles on heart rate) which I use occasionally.

I use a timer and normally ride for 4 mins and then put my feet on the ground, lean forward and "pedal" w/ my hands (using gloves) to vary my workout.

I worked up in the first couple months to the hardest resistance which on my bike is "8" though there's no measurement for that. I go 13 miles an hour, but I don't think that's accurate b/c I recent rode a road bike for an hour and went 18 miles.

Bottom line: exercise bike - 1 hour/day.

Diet

Eat healthy and as organic as reasonably possible.

Breakfast

4/5 days a week I have a...

bowl of granola with
raisins (and/or other dried fruit)
walnuts
local honey
plain organic (sometimes homemade) kefir or yogurt
blueberries
bananas
optional: strawberries, other fruit, nuts, etc.

Some other days I have Kashi oatmeal b/c it's good, organic and tends to have more fiber (soluble and insoluble) than most brands. I put a lot of the same stuff in that. The other days I have whatever.

I have my "vitamin cocktail" w/ it: (light) concord grape juice, liquid vitamins and super greens (this is a good one, but I try various ones).

Supplements

Cinnamon Bark - 500 mg/day
Fish oil - 1000 mg fish oil, 500 mg Omega-3 / day
niacin - 1000 mg/day

Snacks

(homemade) granola bars
DARK chocolate - like 1/7th of a bar per day (2 squares of the Panther bars)
Various Kashi cereals (handful or 2)
fruit and such as needed

Drinks

Water: I try to drink at least a 1/2 gallon while at work and some more at home in the morning and at night.

Red Wine: A small glass every night.

Concord grape juice: A small glass in the morning (see "vitamin cocktail" in breakfast above)

Lunch and Dinner

I try to eat at the local "health food store" most lunches or bring my lunch from home. The store here has an organic salad bar which is great. BTW, that's also where I try to buy most of my supplements: The Cupboard.

I get it buy the pound so that motivates me to only get what I want to pay for. :) Usually about 1/2 a pound or so.

My wife usually cooks dinner and cooks good, healthy, light, organic, tasty food. I have that for dinner and often for lunch at work.

I often have another bowl of granola (see breakfast above) for a snack later at night if I get hungry.

Splurge

I splurge a lot. Probably every other day or so I'll get pizza, a burger w/ fries (not fast food), donuts, etc. Pretty much whatever I want a couple times per week.

I'm motivated to eat well and not throw away the exercise on just any treat ("Is this treat worth 45 mins on the bike?"). Also, I try to remember that I never regret making the healthier choices.

Soft drinks are pretty deadly. Diet soft drinks are basically cleaning fluid in my mind.

Summary

Breakfast: oatmeal high in soluble fiber or granola w/ dried fruit, nuts, blueberries, etc. and kefir/yogurt.
Lunch/Dinner: good, healthy meals (most reasonable people know what "healthy" means and if you're trying to eat that way, you'll find out) and reasonable portions
Good vitamins and super greens
Small glasses of concord grape juice and red wine each day.
Cinnamon, fish oil and niacin supplements
granola bars, healthy cereal, DARK chocolate and fruit for snacks
WATER!!!
EXERCISE!!!

'The Simpsons Movie' Hometown Premiere Contest - USATODAY.com

2007-07-10T16:33:00.000-05:00

'The Simpsons Movie' Hometown Premiere Contest - USATODAY.com

It's finally official - Springfield is in Vermont!

Booples - "David Rocked Goliath"

2007-07-04T14:26:00.000-05:00

There's a new Booples video just completed: "David Rocked Goliath"

Tootle wants to be a super hero so she can be used by God. Poodle and Doodle explain that God can use anyone and often does things in ways you wouldn't expect like send a baby (Jesus) to save the world and defeat a giant with a shepard boy (David).

The verse for this episode is 1 Corinthians 1:25:
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength."

So we can all remember when we're feeling too small for God to use that "David Rocked Goliath".

See the song video and episode preview at TheBooples.com

The video should soon be available for purchase to download from SermonSpice.com

And on DVD in the next few months!!!

Locate A Kwik-E-Mart

2007-07-02T16:37:00.000-05:00

For the Simpson's Movie, they are converting some 7/11's to Kwik-E-Marts!

They're suppose to have some Simpson's products in there too like Squishees, Krusty-O's and Buzz Cola.

Locate A Kwik-E-Mart

Woot : USB Missile Launcher

2007-06-15T05:24:00.000-05:00

Woot : USB Missile Launcher

A review and video here

There's also a fancier model here - another video - this video shows the software a little.

Someone's losing a lot of money... I mean the company.

Super cool interactive picture

2007-06-06T13:06:00.000-05:00

Super cool interactive picture

Grand Illusions - Optical Illusions - Dragon Illusion

2007-05-14T16:03:00.000-05:00

Grand Illusions - Optical Illusions - Dragon Illusion

Very cool illusion of eyes (and head) that follow you.

Friends of the Five Day Weekend - www.fivedayweekend.org

2007-05-08T09:26:00.000-05:00

Friends of the Five Day Weekend - www.fivedayweekend.org

Why stop at 5? Computers!!! Or at least...

Vote Yes for Trees!

2007-04-30T08:31:00.000-05:00

Vote Yes for Trees!: "One trick for figuring out whether you're looking at a tree or a bird is to try climbing it"

Did you know?
The word "tree" comes from the Mayan word meaning "to sauté and serve with a side of rice or hushpuppies."

The Ex 5-piece Knife Set with Unique Holder : Kitchen & Dining

2007-04-18T13:37:00.000-05:00

No affiliation to Overstock... or your ex's.

Overstock.com: The Ex 5-piece Knife Set with Unique Holder : Kitchen & Dining

Foxit Software

2007-02-21T12:53:00.000-06:00

Foxit Software

Adobe PDF reader replacement - small and fast.

Mozy Online Backup: Free. Automatic. Secure.

2007-02-21T12:52:00.000-06:00

Mozy Online Backup: Free. Automatic. Secure.

2GB of Free automated backup of data to online.

I'm just checking it out now. If it's particularly good or bad, I'll update this entry.

Source code searching

2007-02-05T16:24:00.001-06:00

Looking for Java source code? Know the problem has been solved before?

Check out http://www.allthecode.com/

GiftParrot.com

2006-12-12T15:32:00.000-06:00

Want one source to put your wish-lists for people to view, shop from and mark things off your list (w/o you seeing it... unless you cheat)?

Check out GiftParrot.com!

It let's you build multiple lists, add things to the list (name and description) and then will give you a URL to send to people to view the list.

They can mark things off your list (so others won't see it, but you won't see it changed in your editing).

Google Web Toolkit (GWT) using VistaFei w/ RPC, etc.

2006-11-14T09:40:00.000-06:00

I started looking into GWT and after many revelations about what it does and doesn't do, I fell in love. :)

I went thru several tutorials and projects on my own to learn a bunch of stuff and thanks to the many forums and such for helping.

I wound up checking out VistaFei and it's been a great help.

I checked out Googlipse which was cool too, but w/o the GUI editing I wasn't convinced I needed it.

Also this tutorial by Robert Hanson was VERY helpful to get started.

To download VistaFei, you have to register w/ the forum and then go to this post (or this post for mac). It only shows the links if you're logged into the forum.

You'll need some things (see this post) like Java5 and the GWT of course.

So I went thru the tutorials and such from the forum. Very cool and played around with it on my own.

A few things that were helpful to learn...
- the GWT page on IsSerializable doesn't mention that a Serializable class needs an empty/default constructor
- GWT seems to only allow/support JUnit testing for the 'client' package
- VistaFei regenerates all the generated code so back up your changes
- RPC callbacks need a way to communicate their results back to the entry point class

These last 2 points are my focus here...

Generated code

When VistaFei generates the code, it overwrites the existing code which makes sense. However, if you've made changes to that code, you'll need to back it up somewhere. Currently, I put all my code at the bottom (and fully qualify the references so that I don't have to change any imports) and back it up to a file named <file name>_code.txt. I intend to write a script to find those files and put the code w/in the last curly-bracket in the appropriate file (or you can and send it to me unless someone has a better option???).

Similarly, the RPC server implementation classes are overwriten w/ the default (relatively) empty methods. I wrote 2 .bat files that back these files up and restores them... when I remember to do it. :)

Using the VistaFei properties area, I added code to the onClick event and such. I tried to keep it simple like 'handleAddEvent();' so that it doesn't ever need to change. Then I add that method at the bottom.

RPC Callbacks

When it uses RPC, I usually call a class like ControllerRPC w/ static methods to handle the RPC. I pass in the caller ('this') for any callback processing. The ControllerRPC gets the appropriate ServiceManager class that VistaFei generated and runs the request method. I create the callback w/ the success and failure methods.

Since I have the calling class, I can call whatever method I need to on it (generally something I write since most of the members/methods of the caller are private since it's the entry point class: generated, gui).

So the entry point (MyApp.java) gets the onClick event for the 'Add' button and calls handleAdd(). That method calls ControllerRPC.addItem(sName, this) which gets the AddItemServiceManager.INSTANCE and calls requestAddItem(sName, callback) where the callback is defined w/ the 'accept' and 'failed' methods. Something like this (forgive the formatting)...

public static void addItem(final String sName, final MyApp theApp)
{
AddItemServiceManager asm = AddItemServiceManager .INSTANCE;
asm .requestaddItem(sName, new AddItemIResponse() {

public void accept(Object result) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
System.out.println("accept");
theApp.setItemAdded((AddedItem)result);
}

public void failed(Throwable caught) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
System.out.println("failed: " + caught.getMessage());
}
});
}

The parameters need to be final if you're going to manipulate them. The above method is the way it's done in the VistaFei RPC tutorial but I cdn't tell it from the website. I had to download the source which is on that same page.

Dig around the VistaFei forum and the GWT doco - in particular the Developer's Guide. Also, the blog, forum, developer's groups, etc. are helpful of course.

BTW, I'm using db4o for my backend, server side database and it rocks.... HARD!

I hope some of the above is useful to someone. Please leave comments/questions either way.

Also, if anyone has better solutions for protecting your custom code in the generated classes, let me know.

Blingo! - win stuff searching on Google

2006-10-02T14:20:00.000-05:00

This site searches w/ google and gives out prizes at times. If you sign up w/ the link below, then whatever you win, I will too. :)

Free audio books

2006-08-31T12:12:00.000-05:00

www.audiobooksforfree.com

www.freeclassicaudiobooks.com/

I've downloaded a couple, but haven't listened to them yet.

FREE Senseo Coffeemaker

2006-08-24T05:41:00.000-05:00

Fill out the questionaire and you might be eligible. I was and it only took a couple days to get the email saying so. You don't even pay shipping. I'll update this post if anything negative happens before I get it.

Click here
(I'm not an affiliate, I found this on singleservecoffee.com)

You don't have to put any personal info in until you've
been approved (it took like 2 days). And I didn't have to
pay for shipping or anything.

Open Command Prompt from Windows Explorer

2006-08-07T12:15:00.000-05:00

Windows XP sometimes (I can't figure out when and when not) had a right-click menu item to open a command prompt at the folder selected. However, sometimes it doesn't??? Here's one way to help...

If you need to open a (DOS) comman prompt from Windows Explorer, put the file (link below) in the zip file in your 'Send To' folder. Usually that's somewhere like:

C:\Documents and Settings\your-username\SendTo

Zip file

Add Outlook/vCalendar Entries to Google Calendar

2006-08-07T11:13:00.000-05:00

I use Thunderbird for email which means I'm left w/o a decent calendar option. I looked into adding vCalendar (.vcs) file entries to Google Calendar w/o success. So I wrote some html and Perl to do it for me.

There's a few steps back and forth btwn your server and Google to get authorization and such. The Perl (source below) takes care of that. It takes the input from the html including your Google id/pw and the vCalendar text and hits Google calendar for you. If it's successful, it then redirects you to the calendar.

You'll have to update the html w/ the right url for wherever you put the Perl (gcal.pl) and you might have to update gcal.pl w/ your Perl location (first line).

Source code

Known uglies:

Date/Time handling: it's limited and ugly. If you help it, please post here.
Attendees: I didn't see a way in the Google API to add them.

Helpful Links:
http://code.google.com/apis/gdata/calendar.html#add_event

http://curl.haxx.se/mail/lib-2005-07/0101.html

http://relationalspace.org/gcaladd.html

http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/WebTechniques/col63.html

"Stadium Seating Funeral"

2006-08-05T20:18:00.000-05:00

or "That's Why You Never Give a Gun to a Dog"

Ok, so I had this dream last night...

I was going to a funeral. I wasn't sure if I knew the guy, but there was only like 6 people in there so I felt sorry for him and thought I'd go in. Plus, the funeral parlor had stadium seating and I was drawn in my by the novelty of that. Would it really be that much better?

The seating was like those giant carpetted stairs at some sight-seeing theaters or highschool library media rooms. In other words, it was a classy joint.

After a couple of young girls, looking like they fulfilled a dare, viewed the body, I decided to go up. There was music playing. I can't remember what it was, maybe something by "Chicago." The body was casually dressed and looked a big like John Travolta.

Another novelty this funeral home had was they somehow wired the bodies up to move. Not a lot of movement, but an occasional position change somewhat synced to the music. Not exactly Bigmouth Billy Bass, but some movement.

To me, it was creepy, but sometimes new things are a turnoff at first. Think: leg warmers and calculator watches - now we can't live without them!

Another bonus to this parlor was one wall was lined with shelves of liquor for sale. Their thought was, most people have a gathering after the event so why not make it easier on them. A one-stop shop, if you will.

Somehow, as only dreams do, the front of the parlor turned into a checkout counter furthering the liquor sale motif. A slouchily dressed guy was sitting on the counter talking to everyone; I think we were waiting for more people.

He started telling us about a hilarious video he saw online about a guy and a dog. Somehow he was then able to show it to us all (dreams!).

So the video starts and there's a guy trying to load a shotgun with one hand and an old, beat up hound dog taking a dump on a dead horse. The guy loads the shotgun, but it goes off and some of the buckshot sprays up off the ground and grazes the dog.

I can't remember if the poop flies out or goes back up, but he gets off the horse and starts to run. The guy starts to run too. They're both chasing something they want to shoot. I think the guy, still using one arm, shots again and I think he and the dog both somehow get hit with some. It's a bit funny somehow. It's gruesome, but only because even in my dream it should be though nothing really noticeable happens when they are shot. It's more of a feeling.

Anyway, they keep running. Whoever is working the camera for this video is amazing, by the way. The framing is perfect. So then they run off chasing whatever it is and shooting and then a pack of dogs comes into the shot also chasing either the same thing or the guy and dog. Either way, there's one kind of leader dog in the pack and he has a shotgun too.

Since it's hard to run, as a dog, with a shotgun, he tends to shot at the wrong time and in the wrong directions. Other dogs are being taken out left and right. It just seems everyone is getting shot and it's just not working out at all.

One of the people watching the video with me made the sobering comment "That's why you never give a gun to a dog." We all agreed.

Moller Skycar

2006-08-03T16:01:00.000-05:00

Some day. ;)

RiffTrax

2006-08-03T15:59:00.000-05:00

From the beloved hoset of MST3K, Mike Nelson, comes a 'play at home' version...

RiffTrax

I found this on the MST3K official site. Enjoy!

IndieAnimation

2006-07-31T16:58:00.000-05:00

New forum for independent animation.

I started a new forum to help others in my same boat of starting out as an independent animator. I have 2 urls for it:
IndieAnim.com and
Christianimation.com

I hope it will be a place to help others in a community type setting.

Supplements and food purchases (Maker's Diet "style")

2006-05-27T11:08:00.000-05:00

After reading Magnolia Brook's Natural Health Detective article and
speaking w/ her on the phone, which was very helpful, I bought these products from livesuperfoods.com - Richard - 800-481-5074:

Grainfields Super Greens 150 grams

fulvic acid - quart (didn't buy: Humate - quart)

EM Concentrate 1 liter 33.8 oz

Kefir Starter Culture 6 packets

The first 3 items are similar to what wd be in the supplements from Garden of Life (i.e., The Maker's Diet). The kefir is a good source of fermented probiotics.

Then today I went to Sprout's and got some other items:

Food for Life - Ezekiel 4:9 (original) cereal

Kashi - Good Friends (High Fiber) cereal

Simply Fiber - All Natural Crunchy O's Cereal

Back to Nature - Classic granola

Rice Dream - Original Classic (rice milk)

North Dallas Pure Honey

Desert Essence - Organics Hair Care - Italian Red Grape Shampoo

Desert Essence - Organics Hair Care - Italian Red Grape Conditioner

I didn't bother taking the time to find links to the above. I'm sure they are easy enough to Google.

I'm mostly doing this to document when, where and what I got to keep an account of how things go.

Generally I prefer to make our own granola for cereal, but I wanted to try these and also have backups for when we don't have our own.

Adding Closed Captions to a DVD

2006-05-10T20:18:00.003-05:00

There's a few steps and it's not super easy, but it's also not
that difficult...

BTW, this is meant to be a solution to adding closed captions to your own created DVD as opposed to an existing movie or something. I just had a hard time finding out how to do this so I wanted to make sure I made notes.

You'll need a few tools:

SubCreator
SCC Tools (including subrip2scc.exe) from McPoodle (download)
Adobe Encore 2.0 (at least the trial version)

The short explination is this:

Use SubCreator to create subtitles for your project (output: text file(s))
Use subrip2scc.exe (SCC tool) to convert to .scc file.
Use Adobe Encore to load project and add .scc file above.
Render and burn.

The long explination is this:

1. Still basically the same. Nothing too big or complicated. Load your .avi (or whatever) into SubCreator, load your script into the lower screen, hit CTRL+A on each line as it sd appear while previewing the video.

Use the 'export' feature to convert the subtitles to .srt format (click the srt option in the list and click convert) and save to a file.

2. Open a dos prompt and run subrip2scc.exe w/ the -u parameter and feed it the .srt file (run subrip2scc.exe alone to see the options).

3. Open Adobe Encore and creat your project like you'd expect. Here's a step-by-step:

Drag the avi into Encore.
Right click and create a timeline.
In the timeline panel, click (or double-click) on the video.
The properties panel sd appear for the video.
On the lower part, there is options for 'field 1' and 'field 2'.
Click 'browse' by 'field 1' and select your .scc file created above.

4. Hit F2, check the project and burn (you may need a menu and some other
settings, but if it finds problems usually you can click on the problem and
it bring up the offender).

Bonus: You can use the subtitles you created in SubCreator in Encore. However,
I needed to change the format of the file slightly:

From this:
00:00:16.3:Everytime I try to do something to tell people

To this:
00;00;16;3 00;00;18;7 Everytime I try to do something to tell people

(colon and dot in times to semi-colons, remove colon after time and add
an end time).

I just created a macro in TextPad to do this using the start time of the
next line as the end time of the current line. Then in Adobe, on the timeline,
you can right-click and select 'import subtitles' w/ the text file option.

I hope this helps someone - I certainly wish this were available when I
was trying to figure it out! :)

The Maker's Diet broken down a bit

2006-05-05T13:20:00.000-05:00

After reading The Maker's Diet and then some articles online (in particular The Natural Health Detective) I'm just starting to get a grasp on the fundamentals of the plan's supplements.

There's a lot involved w/ your health including exercise, diet, lifestyle, etc. The diet is basically a couple things: eating organic, clean foods and some supplements. The diet itself is, to me, basically a good, organic diet.

The big mystery seems to be the supplements - what are they?

The Natural Health Detective breaks it down really well. Here's what I did...

Not being well versed in the topics she talks about, I went to my local health food store to talk to the best supplement source I know: Pablo. He knows it all. I went thru w/ him what I learned and he recommended a few things.

From my understanding, the Garden of Life's Primal Defense is 3 things: detox, EM/probiotic and fermented grasses. These can be humate (or fulvic acid) for detox, EM Concentrate for EM/probiotic and Grainfields fermented grasses.

I haven't seen an online source for humate/fulvic acid. My best guess is that the Grainfields Wholegrain Liquid is the fermented grasses.

My 'consultant' at the store wasn't convinced humate/fulvic acid is a proven source though I'm sure others are. So concentrating on the other areas, I got a few things...

For my probiotic, I got DAILY DOPHILUS™ AM/PM Complete Probiotic System. Instead of fermented grasses, I got some 'super greens': Just Barley · Cereal Grasses and Hawaiian Spirulina · Nutrient Dense.

There are a lot of options out there and it's pretty overwhelming trying to navigate it all. As in many cases, I feel like unless you start buying books to study it all yourself or read a TON of web pages, there really isn't too much to break it down to the basics.

My understanding, in a nutshell, is...

The EM/probiotic is helpful bacteria for your GI tract: it gets your system more efficient in breaking down food, processing it, etc. It's the same type of thing as eating yogurt w/ acidophilus but moreso. I choose the Daily-Dophilus b/c it seemed to have the most varieties of bacteria and b/c of their MAKTrek Bypass and ProBioFlax delivery systems.

The 'greens' are 'super foods' which are just really, really good for you. I asked Pablo about JuicePlus and he said that's more 'table' greens and fruits as opposed to 'super greens.' From the Pure Planet website about the barley:

Among nature’s most potent leafy green vegetables are the cereal grasses, unique plants that are so packed with a broad spectrum of nutrition that they are sometimes referred to as nature¹s multivitamin.

About the spirulina:

...today Hawaiian Spirulina is considered one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet. ...An excellent source of the rare but important fatty acid GLA, Hawaiian Spirulina is also superabundant in antioxidants.

I chose my 2 products mostly based on Pablo's information and recommendation.

I hope to observe overtime the benefits/effects of these supplments and maybe make changes to my plan. I'll try to post the updates here.

Resources

The links above to products and such - click on the various links w/in them.
The Natural Health Detective
Live Superfoods
Vinny Pinto

Booples!

2006-04-06T21:41:00.000-05:00

There's a great new Bible verse DVD on the market: Booples!

Booples DVD - Bible Song Videos

2006-03-29T16:19:00.000-06:00

Booples DVD - Bible Song Videos

The Booples first DVD includes 3 animated shorts (about 5 minutes each) with a Bible verse song each. Each cartoon shows the Booples dealing with an issue which they seek wisdom from the Bible to solve.

A song for the Bible passage (including Bible verses) tells them how to better follow God's Word.

Excellent for helping children learn and memorize Bible verses.

Escapa!

2006-02-21T16:45:00.000-06:00

This one will drive you nuts!!

Escapa!

The object of the game is to move the red block around without getting hit by the blue blocks or touching the black walls.

If you can go longer than 18 seconds you are phenomenal.

It's been said that the US Air Force uses this for fighter pilots. They are expected to go for at least 2 minutes.

Motivator: Inspire! Motivate! Mock!

2006-01-06T14:03:00.000-06:00

Motivator: Inspire! Motivate! Mock!

mine here

IVR Cheat Sheet(tm) by Paul English

2006-01-05T10:36:00.000-06:00

IVR Cheat Sheet(tm) by Paul English

IVRs ("interactive voice response") are the annoying computers that answer phones. They can sometimes be useful (check flight status etc), but consumers should be able to decide when they want to speak with a human, simply by pressing 0.

WE DID IT!!!

2005-09-23T11:11:00.000-05:00

Apparently we finally broke the speed of light barrier... in a big way!

CNN reports the shuttle went 'nearly' 18 times.

At that point, I think it's mass wd have been that of Donald Trump's ego! <Donald voice>yooge!</Donald voice>

Eton FR300 Emergency Radio with AM/FM Tuner, VHF TV Tuner, and NOAA Weather Service

2005-09-22T11:03:00.000-05:00

$50 and free shipping!

$50 and free shipping!

The Original Tombstone Generator

2005-09-20T15:42:00.000-05:00

The Original Tombstone Generator

Makes a great Christmas present!

Urinals in Amsterdam with flies etched in the bowls-Truth!

2005-09-19T11:51:00.000-05:00

Men are easy to fool into doing what you want... I am one!

Bill Gates/Napoleon Dynamite Video Online

2005-09-17T14:31:00.000-05:00

Bill Gates and Napoleon Dynamite Video Online: BillG Goes to College - poor quality, but funny. Go here.

It's also here.

Quatloos!: Brad Christensen Gallery: Elvis Anyim - Adventures with Birds

2005-09-14T15:29:00.000-05:00

Do you ever get those emails about someone wanting to deposit $16.1 million in your account to split w/ you 3 ways, etc., etc., etc.

This guy, Brad Christiansen, did and started a coorespondence. It's here and it's great.

Be sure to click on the image boxes to see the bird pics.

MSN Autos - Local Gas Prices

2005-09-09T13:30:00.000-05:00

MSN Autos - Local Gas Prices

Enter your zip and find some gas prices... hopefully good ones.

Here's another one.