The problem with being punctual is that there is never anyone around to
appreciate it.

Found a great free web portal. It has all of the standard features like Yahoo and other portals such as news, calculators, bookmark storage and others but makes its money with a different business model that allows it to not have banner ads and popups. It is very configureable and feature rich. Since we will be retiring in a month or two we will no longer have our business calendar available and I had to find a substitute. The site is http://www.myway.com and so far I am really happy with it. We are already using the calendar, which we can share with each other and family members, to schedule events that will take place beyond our retirement dates. By the way, in addition to my work countdown calendar at this location. I put a countdown calendar page up for Barbara. It is here. Check it out and follow our countdown to the big events.

Discuss This Topic

Still reinstalling software on my new system. It is running really well with XP but even though I thought I had backed up everything I had not. I am using this experience to create a CD with all of my registration keys, serial numbers, etc. that one needs to rebuild a system. Hopefully next time I do this it will be a bit easier because of that. One big advantage of running a two drive system with the applications on the primary drive and data on the second is that all of my data files stayed intact. Windows XP seems to be a big step up from my old OS which was Windows 98.

Upgraded my processor in my computer last night. Called my local parts suppier and gave them the model of my motherboard and they said I could upgrade from my Athlon 900 mhz processor to an XP1800 for $84 so I did it. Sure seems to be running noticeably faster now. Flight simulator runs smoother at a faster frame rate. Thanks Kiefer!

Tooth Fairy Project

I heard an interview with a university professor discussing cancer occurences in South Florida. He has been doing analyses of baby teeth for presence of radioactive isotopes such as Strontium 90. He made some really interesting observations based on his research that has become known as "The Tooth Fairy Project." He said that young children are much more succeptible to cancer caused by environmental influences than adults and as a result are like the canaries in coal mines that were indicators of low oxygen because they died before the miners were affected. The research indicates that cancer levels are 2 - 3 times higher than normal within 20 miles of a nuclear power plant. The radiation is distributed into the atmosphere and comes back to earth primarily as rain. Florida has a very rainy climate and so it drops back to earth fairly quickly around the plants. The most interesting thing to me was the suggestion by the professor that the number one thing that you can do to protect yourself from ingesting the radiation in your drinking water was to install a reverse osmosis water filtration system. Seems the isotopes are large enough that the RO membrane filters them out. He had a number of interesting observations that seemed really important to me. I found a link to a press release about his study which is at The South Florida Baby Teeth Study News Release. More information can be found at this site.

PHP Gallery

Just finished updating our online photo albums with PHP Gallery. This is a really nice PHP program that has a lot of features and flexibility. Hope you enjoy our newly organized photo albums. Just click on the Photo Albums link on the index to the left to view them.

We hacked our Tivo

Barbara and I worked together and installed a second hard drive in our DirecTivo this afternoon. We used a pre formatted drive from Weekknees.com following their instructions. The instructions were very clear and precise. We had no problems with the process at all. When we powered the DirecTivo back up after the installation it sure was satisfying to see that it has 146 hours of recording time available. We can keep our favorite movies and shows online now without worrying about having enough space to record our other shows of interest.

Smoothwall

Got an old and slow computer in the garage? Why not make a router out of it with Smoothwall? Smoothwall is a free download and the step by step process is at TechTV | Do-It-Yourself Router

Comical Ali

The We Love the Iraqi Information Minister is back online. Check it out.

Myths About Stereo Speakers

Polk Audio RM6700 - Electronics Reviews - CNET.com has some good reviews on Polk Audio RM6700 speakers. I recently replaced my 20 year old KLH, giant floor speakers with these and am I ever glad I did. I did not know what a good sound system could sound like until I installed these little jewels. You can also read a very interesting article about Bose speakers at this location. It is a very revealing article and kind of deflates some myths about audio speakers. I am glad I read this before I shelled out a lot more money for speakers that would not sound as good as the ones I got.

Comical Ali Web Site Crashes

Ananova - 'Comical Ali' proves too popular online. This is really funny. The Iraqi Information Minister is now known as "Comical Ali" as a result of his hilarious news briefings. There was a web site devoted to his statements but it was so popular that it got 4,000 visitors a second causing the site to be shut down. The name of the site itself is highly entertaining. It is www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com . The last time I checked it was still down. I can't wait for it to come back up again. Reminds me of the old "All your base are us." movement a couple of years ago.

Another Tivo "Enhancement" Site

TiVo Updating Over Dedicated Internet HOWTO is another good Tivo "enhancement" site. I ordered a hard drive this weekend to expand my DirecTivo to 150 hours of storage. That should allow us to keep our favorite movies on the unit all the time. Much better than VHS tape and much more accessible.

Tivo Info Site

DealDatabase Forum - Deals, Freebies, TiVo Hacking, HP Digital Entertainment Center - powered by vBulletin is another great source for detailed info on Tivo and Tivo upgrades. This one thanks to a referral by Leo Laporte on TechTV's Screensavers show who sent me the link by email.

Tivo Hacking Guide

Here is a detailed guide to expanding your Tivo's capabilities.

First Time Hack

Audio Video Information Site

The following link is a great site for Audio Video equipment. What I like about it is the fact that you can click on images of the back panels and front panels of various units. You can really check out the connectors on these before you buy.

AVLAND Products

Wireless Updates

Blogger Pro now has the ability to update Blogs by email. This means you
can update your Blog from any computer or wireless device capable of
sending email. Blogger or Pyra Labs was recently bought by Google which
probably means good things in the future for people who blog with
Blogger.
Sent from Bob's wireless Sidekick!

Did some interesting video capture and editing today. Created a small movie of the flight simulator world by capturing a simulator session on my DV camcorder. After capturing it I was then able to upload the DV file from my camcorder to my PC using my Firewire connection. I then edited the resulting file in Video Factory cutting out mistakes and so on to produce a more coherent video. After editing was complete I then saved it out of Video Factory as a DV file. I used TMPGenc to convert it to a 480 x 480 mpeg2 format. I used Nero to burn this to an SVCD format video disk. I can now play the little simulator movie on my DVD player.

We found a good kite flying field this weekend. It is called Buttonwood Park and is on Lantana Road across from the German American Club. The west end of the park is great for kite flying. Click here for Mapquest Location for Buttonwood Park. We flew the quad line Blasts until the wind starting dying down in the evening.

Watching TV as the Space Shuttle tragedy unfolds. I witnessed the Challenger explosion from the back of the office where I work. Even though we are in West Palm Beach which is about a hundred miles away from the Cape we could still see it clearly. This current accident brings all of those emotions to the surface again. This is a terrible tragedy. Space flight is a dangerous business. We sometimes forget the dangers involved and just how precarious those flights are. The forces acting on the vehicle during reentry are awesome. I hope the investigation reveals the cause so that steps can be taken to make future flights safer.

Flew to Jacksonville on the 29th. Our attempts to locate the building where our meeting was held are illustrated on the image at this location. This is our GPS
track superimposed on an aerial photograph.