Among Governor Quinn's tax hike proposals is this gem:
Raising the license plate fee from $78 to $98.
Thanks Governor Rya^H^H^H^H Quinn.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Give Your Computer The Finger
A guy lost a finger, and desided to have a USB key fitted as a prosthesis.
I really hope that the finger comes off. I can't imagine sitting there with my finger shoved into the USB port on my computer. It'd kill my back.
Where the hell is wireless USB when you need it? :-)
I really hope that the finger comes off. I can't imagine sitting there with my finger shoved into the USB port on my computer. It'd kill my back.
Where the hell is wireless USB when you need it? :-)
Honoring Irving B. Kahn, The Inventor Of The Teleprompter
So this guy has been popping up today as the Inventor Of Obama's Brain:
Obama and his brain:
It was the mid 1950’s and the story goes that Kahn just kind of stumbled upon the idea while working on a project for the U.S. Army. It wasn’t a military project; he was trying to come up with a way to make persuasive presentations to visiting Congressmen.
When the teleprompter was brought into the tv newsroom, it was such a huge success, that Kahn formed the TelePrompTer Company. In 1972, he lost control of the company and founded Broadband Communications.
We do not know if Mr. Kahn, who died in 1994, was fully aware of the fact that he was the creator of the brain of the 44th President of the United States!
No wonder Mr. Obama could not wean himself from his teleprompter! Without it, he is missing a vital organ, namely his brain. What kind of President has no brain? I mean, it’s just like a cigarette: once you’re hooked it’s hard to quit.
I certainly shudder at the thought of the teleprompter going missing in the middle of a crisis. When that 3 am phone call comes in, that teleprompter better be up and running. What kind of President can make a crisis decision without his teleprompter, uh, I mean brain?
If you want see what a mess this country would be in if Mr. President wakes up at 3 am and that red phone is ringing, just watch the following video, and shudder. And get down on your knees and give thanks for Irving B. Kahn; may he rest in peace knowing he has saved our country from having a President with no brain.
Obama and his brain:
AIG Is Nothing. I'm pissed at the Senate's Automatic Raises
Ignore the faux outrage over AIG. The bigger problem is the Senate. US Senators get automatic pay raises each year. This year, that amounts to an additional $4,700.
GOP Sen. David Vitter did try to attach an amendment to the recent $410-billion pork bill, but Sen. Reid (D) killed it.
So we're in a recession, people are losing jobs, and only 18% of Americans think Congress is doing a good job.
So, WHY exactly do "our" Senators deserve a raise?
$165-million at AIG for bonuses. Big deal. That is nothing compared to all the pork contained in the "stimulus" bill.
Senator Schumer says Americans don't care about pork. If true, why should we care about a piddling $165-million spent at AIG?
GOP Sen. David Vitter did try to attach an amendment to the recent $410-billion pork bill, but Sen. Reid (D) killed it.
So we're in a recession, people are losing jobs, and only 18% of Americans think Congress is doing a good job.
So, WHY exactly do "our" Senators deserve a raise?
$165-million at AIG for bonuses. Big deal. That is nothing compared to all the pork contained in the "stimulus" bill.
Senator Schumer says Americans don't care about pork. If true, why should we care about a piddling $165-million spent at AIG?
Class
From the AP:
Bush refuses to criticize Obama in Canada:
Class.
Something Carter and most Democrats are lacking.
Bush refuses to criticize Obama in Canada:
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Former President George W. Bush says he won't criticize President Barack Obama because Obama "deserves my silence," and says he plans to write a book about the 12 toughest decisions he made in office. Bush's speech Tuesday at a luncheon in Calgary, Alberta was his first since leaving office.
He declined to comment about the Obama administration like former Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney said Sunday that Obama's decisions are threatening the nation's safety.
Bush says he doesn't know what he'll do in the long term but says he'll write a book that will let people determine what they would have done if their most important job was to protect the country.
Class.
Something Carter and most Democrats are lacking.
Not the AIG I knew.
I do love Scrappleface.
(2009-03-17) — As the furor over AIG executive bonuses threatened to bring the current economic recovery to a halt, President Barack Obama and Sen. Chris Dodd today threw fuel on the fire, announcing their “fierce outrage” upon hearing that the insurance giant had given each of their campaigns more than $100,000 last year.
“While AIG was collapsing, and her executives crawling to DC with hat in hand,” said Sen. Dodd, D-CT, “my campaign, and then-Senator Obama’s were getting what can only be termed influence bonuses from the same firm. Naturally, I knew nothing about this, and I’m now seething with anger at the injustice.”
President Obama and Sen. Dodd were the two largest recipients of campaign contributions from the beleaguered company, and the only politicians to garner six-figure amounts from AIG in 2008 — $103,100 for Sen. Dodd and $100,332 for presidential candidate Obama.
AIG, which has received $170 billion in taxpayer cash from the federal government since September, gave more than $585,000 to Congressional and presidential candidates last year, favoring Democrats 3-to-1 over Republicans.
In unrelated news, Sen. Dodd proposed legislation requiring AIG political gifts to be returned to the U.S. Treasury, “exempting only those campaign contributions made before November 4, 2008.”
The senator’s office immediately issued a statement declaring that Sen. Dodd was not aware that he had proposed such the exemption.
Springtime Colds
So, every single part of me is fine except for my left nostril. It won't stop running.
This sucks.
This sucks.
Wearing Blue Today
Got my blue jeans on and my blue Harley shirt for St. Patrick's day.
Blue:
Americans usually wear green on St. Patrick's Day -- but in Ireland, green was considered to be an unlucky color for a long time. Green was considered the favorite color for the Good People, or faeries, in Irish folklore, and they liked to steal people and especially children who wore too much green.
The original color associated with St. Patrick was blue, not green.
Blue Two:
According to Faith Central, Blue not green is the color originally associated with St Patrick. "St Patrick's Blue" is used on Ireland's Presidential Standard or flag, while the Irish Guards sport a plume of St Patrick's blue in their bearskins. The emphasis on green is thought to be linked to "wearing the Green", a symbol from the 18th century on, of sympathy with Irish independence.
Monday, March 16, 2009
How progressive are you? I'm Very Conservative!
With a hat tip to
Brooks Bayne via GayPatriot.
See how progressive you are! Take the quiz.
And, to American Progress, you should be aware that there is a difference between legal and illegal immigrants.
I scored an impressive 84, btw!
Edit:
A nice response, and a better Progressive Quiz.
Brooks Bayne via GayPatriot.
See how progressive you are! Take the quiz.
And, to American Progress, you should be aware that there is a difference between legal and illegal immigrants.
I scored an impressive 84, btw!
Edit:
A nice response, and a better Progressive Quiz.
Why we need card check: No one wants to join a union
Per Rasmussen, only 9% of non-union workers want to join a union.
Typerical liberal operating procedure: What you can't obtain at the ballot box, obtain by force.
Where force is (but is not limited to) the courts, and union thuggery.
Typerical liberal operating procedure: What you can't obtain at the ballot box, obtain by force.
Where force is (but is not limited to) the courts, and union thuggery.
Obama Fingers
A German food company is selling Obama branded chicken nuggets: Der Spiegel
My first thought was, since Obama is giving all responsible Americans the finger (Wall Street bailouts, auto-industry bailouts, mortgage bailouts), why not this? Bite it off or something, I guess.
My first thought was, since Obama is giving all responsible Americans the finger (Wall Street bailouts, auto-industry bailouts, mortgage bailouts), why not this? Bite it off or something, I guess.
Bad drivers
Unfortunately, I could not get a picture--had Kira walking into school, and they were towing the car out as I walked out--but someone managed to back their car into a really nice Victorian house across the street from Canty. It's fortunate that the house didn't collapse.
I have no idea how it happened.
I have no idea how it happened.
Streaming Videos With pyTivo vs Wii
Since CBS Channel 2 OTA reception is pretty much non-existant, I have been downloading shows from the internet (mostly from isohunt) and watching them on the Wii from the 2G SD card. This does, however, require the Wii Homebrew Channel and a Wii version of mplayer. While it does allow me to watch these shows on my TV, it is, to say the least, inconvenient to constantly take the card upstairs to the computer, and wait for the insanely slow transfers to the SD card.
Luckily I inadvertently discovered another solution.
I hit Circuit City the day before they closed for good, and they had a HD-TiVo--floor model including everything but the power cord--for $150. It was, obviously, quite hard to pass up. And to make it even better, it rang up as $120.
So the Samsung box is gone, and all TV is now OTA HD thru the Tivo. As an extra bonus, the TiVo has two ATSC tuners; the single antenna feed is split internally. So we can now record two shows at once! Granted, it is not often that we find two shows that we want to record simultaneously (especially now that I've gotten rid of the DirecTV), but it certainly is a nice feature. Maybe I'll actually start to watch American Idol now. Or not.
I had saved a number of kids shows from DirecTV that I wanted to transfer to the new TiVo, and while the transfers started out OK(1), they are not grouped. After a bit of googling, I discovered that Tivo uses a seriesID, not the show title, to identify and group shows. And the seriesID has to be in the guide data as well. So, since the shows are from channels I no longer receive, I have no way to group the transfered shows. Short of hacking into the thing and perhaps messing with the guide data.
Which brings me to pyTivo. While looking for a non-grouping solution, I stumbled upon a little app called pyTivo. This handy little program, which runs on Linux, Mac, MSWindows, Solaris, and even the Linksys NSLU2 NAS device, allows you to "stream" (see below) videos on your computer to your Tivo.
It is basically a better version of the Tivo Desktop, allowing a much wider range of formats to be viewed on your TV with your Tivo. The best thing about pyTivo is that "it just works." I am running Mandriva cooker, and once I installed ffmpeg (plf version), I started pyTivo, then went down to my living room, pulled up the Now Playing List on the Tivo, and there was my computer share! I was able to browse all my movies, ripped DVDs, etc.
pyTivo will simply transfer mpeg2 compliant videos to the Tivo, and, with ffmpeg, will transcode (nearly) all other formats into a Tivo compatible format before transferring. I say nearly, because ffmpeg has some issues with MKV files. I only got a portion of the video, and even less of the sound on the converted 720p MKV of The Dark Knight. I've only been able to watch that on my computer. I couldn't even burn it to a DVD (again, a ffmpeg issue).
Other than that, movies transfer and play perfectly! It is also nice because I have been making backup rips of the DVDs the kids watch a lot, and I now have a way to easily watch them. Which means I can pack up the DVDs somewhere where prying little hands can't scratch them or throw them across the room. And I can skip the previews & FBI warning taboot!
A couple of notes about "streaming": In order to watch a remote show on the Tivo, you need to transfer the show to the Tivo. You can not just select a remote program and click on Play. However, Tivo does allow you to start viewing immediately. Over my G-band network, shows and DVD rips are transferring quickly enough that I can start viewing immediately, tho I recommend starting the transfer, going to get a glass of water, wine, or whiskey, and then sitting down to watch. Higher definition movies do require a couple of minutes of cache time. Also, the CPU speed of your computer will affect transcoding time of any videos that need to be converted for the Tivo. I have a AMD dual core 5500+, so I don't have too many concerns there.
Also, Tivo places transferring videos in its to-do list, which means that you can't start watching one remote movie, then change your mind and start watching something else. If you change your mind, you need to cancel the transfer, then start the transfer of the new video.
While I have not tried them out, pyTivo also allows you to view pitures and listen to music located on your local network.
There is also a pretty web interface for pyTivo, accessible at http://localhost:9032/ which allows you to add shares (video, picture, or music), change settings, aspect ratio of your TV, etc. Most people will only need to add and remove shares.
Overall, pyTivo is a very handy little application. It has pretty much negated my need to build a home-theater PC with MythTV. (Not that I don't still WANT to....)
(1) My series 2 Tivo appears to have died during the transfers. It was working OK, but now it won't even boot up. I don't know if it was just this Tivo's time to die, or if it had something to do with the transfer process.
Luckily I inadvertently discovered another solution.
I hit Circuit City the day before they closed for good, and they had a HD-TiVo--floor model including everything but the power cord--for $150. It was, obviously, quite hard to pass up. And to make it even better, it rang up as $120.
So the Samsung box is gone, and all TV is now OTA HD thru the Tivo. As an extra bonus, the TiVo has two ATSC tuners; the single antenna feed is split internally. So we can now record two shows at once! Granted, it is not often that we find two shows that we want to record simultaneously (especially now that I've gotten rid of the DirecTV), but it certainly is a nice feature. Maybe I'll actually start to watch American Idol now. Or not.
I had saved a number of kids shows from DirecTV that I wanted to transfer to the new TiVo, and while the transfers started out OK(1), they are not grouped. After a bit of googling, I discovered that Tivo uses a seriesID, not the show title, to identify and group shows. And the seriesID has to be in the guide data as well. So, since the shows are from channels I no longer receive, I have no way to group the transfered shows. Short of hacking into the thing and perhaps messing with the guide data.
Which brings me to pyTivo. While looking for a non-grouping solution, I stumbled upon a little app called pyTivo. This handy little program, which runs on Linux, Mac, MSWindows, Solaris, and even the Linksys NSLU2 NAS device, allows you to "stream" (see below) videos on your computer to your Tivo.
It is basically a better version of the Tivo Desktop, allowing a much wider range of formats to be viewed on your TV with your Tivo. The best thing about pyTivo is that "it just works." I am running Mandriva cooker, and once I installed ffmpeg (plf version), I started pyTivo, then went down to my living room, pulled up the Now Playing List on the Tivo, and there was my computer share! I was able to browse all my movies, ripped DVDs, etc.
pyTivo will simply transfer mpeg2 compliant videos to the Tivo, and, with ffmpeg, will transcode (nearly) all other formats into a Tivo compatible format before transferring. I say nearly, because ffmpeg has some issues with MKV files. I only got a portion of the video, and even less of the sound on the converted 720p MKV of The Dark Knight. I've only been able to watch that on my computer. I couldn't even burn it to a DVD (again, a ffmpeg issue).
Other than that, movies transfer and play perfectly! It is also nice because I have been making backup rips of the DVDs the kids watch a lot, and I now have a way to easily watch them. Which means I can pack up the DVDs somewhere where prying little hands can't scratch them or throw them across the room. And I can skip the previews & FBI warning taboot!
A couple of notes about "streaming": In order to watch a remote show on the Tivo, you need to transfer the show to the Tivo. You can not just select a remote program and click on Play. However, Tivo does allow you to start viewing immediately. Over my G-band network, shows and DVD rips are transferring quickly enough that I can start viewing immediately, tho I recommend starting the transfer, going to get a glass of water, wine, or whiskey, and then sitting down to watch. Higher definition movies do require a couple of minutes of cache time. Also, the CPU speed of your computer will affect transcoding time of any videos that need to be converted for the Tivo. I have a AMD dual core 5500+, so I don't have too many concerns there.
Also, Tivo places transferring videos in its to-do list, which means that you can't start watching one remote movie, then change your mind and start watching something else. If you change your mind, you need to cancel the transfer, then start the transfer of the new video.
While I have not tried them out, pyTivo also allows you to view pitures and listen to music located on your local network.
There is also a pretty web interface for pyTivo, accessible at http://localhost:9032/ which allows you to add shares (video, picture, or music), change settings, aspect ratio of your TV, etc. Most people will only need to add and remove shares.
Overall, pyTivo is a very handy little application. It has pretty much negated my need to build a home-theater PC with MythTV. (Not that I don't still WANT to....)
(1) My series 2 Tivo appears to have died during the transfers. It was working OK, but now it won't even boot up. I don't know if it was just this Tivo's time to die, or if it had something to do with the transfer process.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Mayor Daley has a YouTube channel!
You can view his channel here.
As is probably to be expected tho, it looks like you can't leave any comments. At least not any comments critical of him.
I do, however like the way that "sri lanken sex girls" is a related video. :-)
As is probably to be expected tho, it looks like you can't leave any comments. At least not any comments critical of him.
I do, however like the way that "sri lanken sex girls" is a related video. :-)
Monday, December 22, 2008
Enjoy the warm weather while you can!
All I have to say is thank god for George Bush.
Just imagine how cold it would be without Global Warming(tm)!
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Friday, November 07, 2008
My First Obama Blog Post
So, from roblambert.com (among numerous other places):
"the country ... is changing"
What the HELL does that mean?
Maybe this?
Full story.
Of course, this story must be fake, since handguns are illegal in Chicago.
Change.
Hope.
"the country ... is changing"
What the HELL does that mean?
Maybe this?
Prosecutors said Hart, who is black, yelled "'White [expletive], [expletive] McCain--you white police can't do nothing anymore.'" With that, she reached through the window of a squad car and slapped a white male officer in the face, according to Assistant State's Atty. Lorraine Scaduto.
Full story.
Of course, this story must be fake, since handguns are illegal in Chicago.
Change.
Hope.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Racism at CBS Chicago
A letter to CBS7 Chicago:
I recently watched a couple of shows on TiVo (so these are from roughly a week ago), and caught a couple of "upcoming news previews" concerning a proposed illegal immigrant ordinance in Carpentersville. One was done by Diann Burns, and the other by Antonio Mora. I forget Mr. Mora's exact wording, but Ms. Burns' comment was about an ordinance that would supposedly "ban Hispanics" from a local town. Mr. Mora's comment was roughly the same.
Apparently CBS7 (Wow. Imagine that. The network of Dan Rather!) feels that calling others racist is more important than accurately reporting the news.
From the Chicago Tribune:
In what experts said was a first for the Chicago area, two Carpentersville trustees have proposed that the village punish landlords and businesses that "aid and abet" illegal immigrants.
...
Their ordinance would deny business permits and village contracts for any employer who hired undocumented workers. It also would fine landlords $1,000 for knowingly renting property to illegal immigrants.
Notice. Nothing about punishing those who hire or rent to Hispanics.
I recently watched a couple of shows on TiVo (so these are from roughly a week ago), and caught a couple of "upcoming news previews" concerning a proposed illegal immigrant ordinance in Carpentersville. One was done by Diann Burns, and the other by Antonio Mora. I forget Mr. Mora's exact wording, but Ms. Burns' comment was about an ordinance that would supposedly "ban Hispanics" from a local town. Mr. Mora's comment was roughly the same.
Aside from making completely inaccurate descriptions of the Carpentersville proposal, I am disgusted by the blatant display of racism from both of your anchors. To assume that all Hispanics are in this country illegally is the height of ignorance. Worse yet is the portrayal of those opposed to illegal immigration as racist, as Mr. Mora and Ms. Burns themselves propagate an ignorant, racist lie.
Mr. Mora and Ms. Burns are a disgrace to your newsroom.
Apparently CBS7 (Wow. Imagine that. The network of Dan Rather!) feels that calling others racist is more important than accurately reporting the news.
From the Chicago Tribune:
In what experts said was a first for the Chicago area, two Carpentersville trustees have proposed that the village punish landlords and businesses that "aid and abet" illegal immigrants.
...
Their ordinance would deny business permits and village contracts for any employer who hired undocumented workers. It also would fine landlords $1,000 for knowingly renting property to illegal immigrants.
Notice. Nothing about punishing those who hire or rent to Hispanics.
Friday, May 26, 2006
To Senators Durbin and Obama
Specifically. Also to any Senator that voted for immigration "reform."
Letter is released to the public domain. Copy and modify as you see fit.
Here's the relevant text of Sen Dodd's amendment:
Dear Senator,
This is regarding your recent vote on immigration reform, specifically Senator Dodd's amendment S.Amdt.4089.
When you joined the US Senate, you took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. I am including that oath here for reference:
==
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
==
Senator Dodd's amendment states, among other things, that Mexico shall be consulted regarding any "additional fencing and related border security structures" along our southern border.
I would remind you again that you took an oath to support and defend the US Constitution.
Where in the Constitution does it say that we must confer with foreign nations about our border security? Where does the Constitution say that we must consult with foreign nations before passing laws? Where does the Constitution say that we must consult with foreign nations regarding our immigration procedures?
Whom do you represent, Senator?
American citizens? Or a bunch of foreigners?
Thank you
Letter is released to the public domain. Copy and modify as you see fit.
Here's the relevant text of Sen Dodd's amendment:
(b) CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT.--Consultations between United States and Mexican authorities at the federal, state, and local levels concerning the construction of additional fencing and related border security structures along the United States-Mexico border shall be undertaken prior to commencing any new construction, in order to solicit the views of affected communities, lessen tensions and foster greater understanding and stronger cooperation on this and other important issues of mutual concern.
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