01.01.08 marks 25 years of the Internet

January 1, 1983 marks one of the key milestones of the Internet: On that day about 400 computers connected to the ARPAnet (a network sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense) were made to communicate with each other using a set of protocols called TCP/IP. This set, which stands for Transmission (or Transport) Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, is the set of standards upon which today's Internet still runs.

The open architecture of TCP/IP enables computers of all different makes to communicate with each other smoothly (well, most of the time, anyway).

January 1, 2008 marks the 25th anniversary of the January 1, 1983 milestone.

Life is full of disappointments...

...just ask my parents.

Saw three movies today...

The Water-Horse -- pretty good family movie: Fun for the whole family...touching...good fantasy action.






AVPR -- The worst movie ever: Totally inconsistent with previous movies...Pointless killings of babies and pregnant women...bad filming (too dark to even tell who was fighting who in most scenes)...No focus or explanation of the predalien...Complete and total disappointment!



National Treasure: Book of Secrets -- Great sequel to the first movie: The wife and I had to see another movie after AVPR to get it out of our minds. This movie was a great choice. Well done, Well filmed. I'd say the 1st one is the better of the two...but, this is a good film.

Borg people are silly

You know who you are...

I don't think I need to say anymore.

Get Simpsonized!

www.simpsonizeme.com

I made an iMix at iTunes

Funny read about Windows Vista

Fixing Vista by upgrading to XP

IKEA isn't all it's cracked up to be!

Yeah, IKEA is cool European styling and relatively low prices...but, you do have to put most of it together yourself -- and what's your time worth? I spent about 3 1/2 hours this evening putting together two BREKKE beds. They're cool...B U T ! ! There is alot of screwing to get them together...and not only was I screwing together the beds...but, IKEA was screwing me too!

Both sets of beds came with a bag of all the hardware (screws, wheels, etc.) to put the beds together -- EXCEPT -- neither bag contained enough parts to make two complete beds!!

I followed the directions to the letter on the first bed which means I checked all the inventory and counted every screw -- according to the manual, I had everything I needed. I get to the last step, screw the caster wheels to the bottom of the drawers and guess what??? The screws listed in the drawings were not part of the parts check on page 3 of the manual...And, I've used up all the screws they gave me! Oh yeah, I also was given one completely thread-less screw for putting together the drawers...so, one drawer only got 3 screws instead of 4.

Oh, well! This must be a coincidence I say and we pop open the next set of BREKKE parts -- Wow! There are all the necessary screws for a complete installation of caster wheels plus three extra screws. There where two other sets of screws that had an extra -- so, I was able to finish that last drawer from the 1st bed too.

This time, however, I built the drawers first...because I had luckily bought an IKEA package of screws from their window treatment department and noticed that I had enough screws from that...combined with the caster wheel screws of the second bed...to get all the wheels installed on all the drawers. So, I got that done and I felt much better...until!!

I began putting the 2nd bed frame together and realize I'm short five screws for the mattress rails!! What!! Son-of-a!!! Curse You IKEAAAAA!

I made do with a few extra, old, and a little rusty set of screws I had in the garage.

Man, that sucked.

I will think twice about my next IKEA purchase. They will be getting a letter from me.

Elf Yourself(tm)...I did!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1283254736

G.I. JOE "Now with Kung Fu Grip?"...NOT

We just bought our two youngest twins a couple G.I. JOE Action Figures. I noticed this afternoon that there's a sticker on the front of the package that says "Now with Kung Fu Grip!"

What do they mean now...like this is new technology? I remember when Kung Fu Grip came out in the 70's...My G.I. JOE had that cool rubbery hand that rapped around anything and gripped strong and long. The Kung Fu Grip on these toys is a hard plastic spring-loaded hand...this isn't Kung Fu grip...they're not real enough! The "real" Kung Fu Grip was like a true prosthetic hand that truly grabbed hold of things. These hands don't hold anything but the cheap little plastic weapons that come with the figures. With the old Kung Fu Grip your action figure could hang from the edge of a table etc. But these new hard plastic hands can't do that...they just slip off and your dude falls to his death.

Dove advice...

When two hearts

race, both win.

from Dove Chocolates

Some favorite war movies of mine

633 Squadron and Mosquito Squadron were both done by the same studio...watch them back-to-back and you'll notice several of the flight scenes are the same footage.

























And Flyboys is just awesome...I can watch this one over and over again.

Dove advice...

Laugh

uncontrollably...
it clears the mind.

from Dove Chocolates

Make $10 and Rent Your Soul...

You get it back after a week, so no worries :)

Visit RentYourSoul.com

The Zombies are Coming!

Read this: 5 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Could Actually Happen

I love Dove Chocolate...

Mmmmm!

I really like the milk chocolate, as pictured here...

And, I sometimes follow the bits of advice/wisdom they print inside each foil wrapper...like:

"Lose yourself in a moment"
"Don't think about too much", and
"Naughty can be nice"

Nothing's more relaxing than a square of Dove melting in your mouth.

Maker's of Dove...If you find this post...I will test any samples of your chocolate products you want to send my way :)

The MAWB is Thankful for...

...his mob: J, J, C, E, J, S, and L

:)

Does NASA make you mad, or what?!?!

NASA Parties, At Taxpayer Expense

Upcoming Party Set To Cost $500,000

(CBS News) WASHINGTON Everyone knows exploring space is dangerous, and the costs are astronomical. Which is why, just last month, NASA was able to squeeze $1 billion extra from the Senate.

That very same day, NASA also posted an online notice few people saw - seeking four-star hotel bids for its December awards, CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

...If you think that's pricey, consider this: the NASA holds its big awards every time there's a shuttle launch. December's extravaganza will be the third one in 2007. Honoring all those people is costing you about $4 million a year.

(click here for the full article)

The religion pole is anonymous, btw...

Please don't think that by participating, anyone
(including me)
will know what your religion is :)

So, please vote...

I'm just curious about the backgrounds of my visitors...
that's all.

I found a penny today...

But I didn't pick it up.

My luck's been pretty good, so I left it for the next person :)

And life goes on...

There have been two people taken away from my office, in an ambulance, in the last month...What does that mean?

The first person came back to work after a brief hospital visit and a few days at home resting -- I think it was just stress.

The second person was taken away just moments ago, gripping their chest with eyes closed in pain. Rumor's are some form of heart attack -- yikes. This person's younger than me too.

Life in the office is already back to normal. I guess we can't shut down the office on the account of one person being carted away, but it seems weird that we can move on so quickly.

I think I need to exercise more -- or, actually start exercising.

Have you ever hoisted your own petard?

“To be hoist by one's own petard,” a now proverbial phrase apparently originating with Shakespeare's Hamlet (around 1604) not long after the word entered English (around 1598), means:

“to blow oneself up with one's own bomb, be undone by one's own devices.”

Add a comment about the petard you hoisted.

What if this is all I have to say???

Maybe I've just been working too hard today to have blogable thought come to my head...but, I was just staring at my blog, thinking I've got to write something, and I got nothing. But, maybe I have something, because I'm writing something :D

It's 5:30pm and because of daylight savings I feel like it's already bedtime...or is it because I've been staying up late using Acid?

I don't like Earl anymore

I used to have "My Name Is Earl" at the top of my favorite TV shows list...BUT, no more.

This season is TERRIBLE!!

It used to have great stories about Earl doing good things to make up for his bad past...and through karma, good things begin to happen to him. I loved that show.

Now, it's all about..well, I don't know anymore....but there's alot more gratuitous sex then there was in the beginning and there's alot less of the good karma message.

Whatever, they lost me.

Having trouble with my Religion Poll?

Use the Belief-o-Matic to figure out what religion you are.

I want a flying saucer

Check out this link for some video of this thing in action...

Every boys dream :)

Heli's Turn 100

I'm into helicopters. I have a couple RC ones...and I've even taken a few lessons in a Robinson R22 at the local airport.

Checkout this link.



A snipit of the text from the article:

1863, Call them "Helicopteres"

One vertical-flight enthusiast, Gustave Vicomte de Ponton d’Amécourt, designed a model flying machine using coaxial propellers and a coiled spring for propulsion. While that model could fly, another version using a steam engine had failed. Ponton d'Amecourt called his machines "helicopteres," a word derived from the Greek adjective for "spiral" and the noun "pteron," meaning "wing." Ponton d'Amecourt and his group of enthusiasts inspired Jules Verne to add helicopters to his stories.

Should the Bee Movie Bee be selling coffee?

Have you seen the McDonald's commercial for their coffee, where the Bee Movie Bee calls it "Sweet Nectar"?

Should a cartoon character from a kids movie be selling coffee?

I'm addicted to Acid

Sony's ACIDPLANET. View my user profile here.

This looks like a cool tech gadget

And, it's for a good cause too:

http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/explore.php

What does freedom of religion mean to you?

I saw a bumper sticker today that said,

Freedom of religion
Means any religion

I'm a religious guy, and I firmly believe in this statement. I belong to a church that is often considered, by other religious groups, as one of those religions that doesn't deserve this freedom, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

What are your thoughts? Respond to my poll too :)

Cool photo

http://geo-economicaeducativa.blogspot.com/2007/11/bienvenidos.html

Ever heard of Ron Paul

One of my kids asked me if Ron Paul was running for President? I said, "I don't know...never heard of the guy." Then I found his web site and many YouTube videos about him -- I like the guy now. I'm a very un-political and anti-sports kindof guy...but, on first glance, Ron Paul speaks to me.

Are today's vehicle lights too bright?

Man, tonight I had to hold my arm up in front of my eyes to stop the blinding glare of some of those super bright LED brake lights. Two circular brake lights and that extra brake light bar in the rear window just blaring into my eyes. It hurts!






















And what about those titanium white headlamps? Ouch, I can't stand those cars!

When is bright too bright?