Excellent commentary on the final book in the series, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Coming Sort Of Soonish - Hecklerspray: Music, Movies, TV, Celebs, Games and Gossip: "hecklerspray can exclusively reveal that Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows is a hoax name to give the impression that Harry Potter will come to a nasty end - the real title of the book is Harry Potter And The Lovely Rainbow-Coloured Munchkin Rabbits Of Bibbledy Bobbledy Lane."
posted by Ed at 9:08 AM

Pennsylvania Football News - PIAA 2006 Football Finals. And the champions are Southern Columbia, General McLane, Wilson Area, and Upper Saint Clair. I wonder where this will put Upper Saint Clair on the USA Today Super 25.
posted by Ed at 8:11 AM

This is news? 6abc.com: New Condoms Meet International Size Specifications. My conclusion: The Internet has destroyed the fabric of our society.
posted by Ed at 12:31 PM

Was ist Clif Bar?
Home - stores. From Jon Johansen's blog, So sue me.
posted by Ed at 10:44 AM

As much as I complain about the Reporter and poor coverage of North Penn, this is kind of cool. thereporteronline.com - North Penn Homecoming Slide Show

Another thought. What would the ramifications have been if Penn State had won the Michigan game last year? Another recap of the game. Would PSU have edged out Texas for the berth in the BCS championship? Who would have won the game? Would Matt Leinert and Reggie Bush have been the subject of the 1/2 NFL draft pick discussions? If Michael Robinson had performed the way Vince Young did, would he be at the Helm of the Titans and Vince Young a 3rd down back for the the 49ers? Certainly, I have more questions than answers (and there are no right answers), but it's intriguing to think about.

posted by Ed at 4:18 PM

Thought provoking - Survivor! - Barron's Online - evaluating the election based on money raised.
posted by Ed at 11:07 AM

Semtex - Zine Articles - plastic explosives - cool and scary at the same time.
posted by Ed at 9:12 AM

Glenn Beck Program - the "Send to" button on the google toolbar is great. So is Glenn Beck.
posted by Ed at 8:46 AM

CrowdStorm

and other miscellaneous links - like Search Thingy and Ms. Dewey - kind of a cross between Ask Jeeves and brainboost - with a cuter front end.
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 07
Physics games

posted by Ed at 9:30 AM

Some quick links
Pennsylvania Football News
flickr
posted by Ed at 3:00 PM

Perhaps this will be incoherent. I don't care. Wikipedia discussion on land-grant institutions from Wikipedia - Land-grant university. Wikipedia - Morrill Land Grant Colleges Act. Designation of the first land grant college demonstrates the goodness and badness of Wikipedia at the same time. Wikipedia's entry for statue university hmm...

How to post about Nazis and get away with it - the Godwin's Law FAQ. Internet FAQ archives. killfile (ref'd in the Godwin' Law FAQ).
Skirv's faqs
Gordon Roy Parker USENET historymore GRPWhat would we do without Gordon Roy Parker?
PAGING GORDON "RAY GORDON" ROY PARKER
Funny Post about Gordon Roy Parker

Enough, already. And Gordon/Ray, should you happen to read this blog, don't bother threatening me, I'm the only on who reads it anywho.

posted by Ed at 2:01 PM

Neat Trick

As everyone who reads this blog knows, I love google tricks. (I can be pretty sure of this because I am the only one who reads this blog). John "the Commie" Dvorak turned me on to this in Entry 7483. I tried a plain google search, and that linked me to using the inurl search at this defcon thread. Haven't found any interesting cams yet, but there is a whole world out there.

posted by Ed at 10:17 AM

Semantics

I was reading a ZDNET post about The Question no one is asking about pre-texting and it occcurred to me, why would anyone spell the word with a hyphen? Has vernacular English so screwed up the language that someone who writes (and proofreads) professionally would not realize that the root of pretexting is pretext? Do they think that somehow it involves "texting" someone in advance? What the heck would that mean anyway?

It reminds me of the people who get upset over words like niggardly or perverse even when they are used properly in an inoffensive way. Then again, it's nothing new. This made me recall the 1950 Pepper-Smathers primary in Florida and the following links which may or may not make any sense to you:
George Smathers
Claude Pepper
Pepper Smathers from google
Bush 41 = Smathers (this is dumb - and even dumber 15 years later)
Kerry = neo-Smathers - also dumb
Rove = Smathers (what is this, some kind of perverse Godwin's Law)? (probably an improper use of perverse, but I couldn't resist)
"pre-texting" search
pretexting search

Probably poor use of the word dumb above, too. I guess I have that out of my system now.

posted by Ed at 12:56 PM

Random Links

Needled Felt on ThomasNet
FEMA Concentration Camps - From Dvorak the Commie
Youtube - Sexual Consent - also from Dvorak the Commie (which means it's been blogged ad infinitum other places, too)
Land of the Free, Home of the Brave - two case studies
Schreyer Honors College, Penn State - the official Schreyer Honors College blog
Parody Motivator Generator

posted by Ed at 3:34 PM

Senseless

I doubt very much whether this will make any sense to me, let alone you, my loyal non-reader, but...

You shouldn't drink hi-sugar, low-caffeine energy drinks. This is very true. You should only drink low-sugar, high-caffeine energy drinks. Even better, try super duper cereal high-caffeine diet pills. No carbs!

While I generally find Chris Locke's musings interesting, Hilter for Highbrows suggests that Roger Kimball commit an unnatural act. Strangely (or not), I found Leadership U more intriguing than Mystic Bourgeoisie. Particularly, Advice to Christian philosophers.

posted by Ed at 11:27 AM

Twice in one day! What is this blog coming to?

I saw this site and just had to add it to the blog. I (and various other members of my family) so need this site. It's One Bag - the self-proclaimed leisure and business travel packing list. I am visiting the sleepy head at PSU this weekend, so I'll have to see if One Bag has practical usefulness or just looks like a cool idea.

Breaking news - maybe the kids are alright after all. Indiana University (a fine Big 10 institution) has a professor who has found that the Daily Show has as much substance as traditional news. And all the comedians made fun of young people who got most of their new from Jon Stewart. (I was going to edit the Wikipedia entry for the Who rockumentary to indicate that they had predicted this back in the '70's, but

It was far too stupid and
it was too much like work.

Check out edeals on CheapPCGuy.com.

posted by Ed at 1:09 PM

Feel the Love

I know it's cool to hate on Cory, and even I enjoy the hate on Xeni, but, as my sentence runs on, I really liked Cory's entry about stopping hiccups. Or, as the link says, "Termination of intractable hiccups with digital rectal massage." This could lead to a whole new "product line" for the oldest profession, to go along with publicist.

posted by Ed at 9:09 AM

Radaractive

Radaractive is an interesting blog from a Christian, right-wing slant. Radar isn't the most prolific poster in the blogosphere, but he has some good stuff here.

posted by Ed at 4:22 PM

At some point, everyone has to write something in their blog, eh? (Actually, no, but I get these compulsions, see...) So summer is going along here in the Penn Republic and the world is falling apart. TO (or as my mother-in-law likes to call him OT) is shooting his mouth off. Song of the Day - Wild, Wild West by Escape Club. Oh, well, it's starting to thunder, so the internet may die on me here. More later - Maybe.
posted by Ed at 8:18 PM

Some things from Infoworld

Blasting away security myths - good article.

Quoteworthy: If a software company's EULA were to say that 'we have the right to hold a gun to your head and take your money whenever we want,' would that actually give them the right to do so? The only thing more unfair than a bad EULA is a bad EULA in the hands of a company that only cares about extracting more money from its customers. -- Ed Foster. Making bad terms worse.

Search: Fresh from a trip to Googleplex, Elizabeth Montalbano of the IDG News Service finds the atmosphere continues to exude its hippie vibe, but wonders whether growth will stymie Google's spirit. "The view from the ground on Google's campus seems more like kids throwing a party on a weekend when their parents have gone away."

Best of the blogs: There is a series of posts worth mentioning at Open Sources. It's dubbed 'How I work.' Started by the blog's co-authors, Dave Rosenberg and Matt Asay, it looks at different individual's working habits, including which applications and Web sites they use every day, what cutting-edge technologies they have embraced, and whether or not they have a personal organization theory. Interviewee's include Brian Aker, Dir. Architecture, MySQL and Mike Olson, a vice president at Oracle.

Show of the week: At JavaOne, BEA says it is moving to languages beyond Java, and shows off PHP running on its WebLogic Java application server. AMD and JBoss, meanwhile, join the NetBeans community this week. See our Special Report: 2006 JavaOne Conference for all the stories from the show.

Security Concerns

posted by Ed at 9:25 AM

K-Lite

K-Lite ends media format madness by ZDNet's George Ou -- Are you sick and tired of all the types of media formats that you come across on the Internet that never seem to play right? Are you sick of downloading the various media players from Apple, Real, DivX, XviD and so on but still not be able to handle every format you come across and all the various versions of each format? Media format madness is enough to drive a computer user insane but if you're looking for a way out, K-Lite is the tool for you!

posted by Ed at 9:14 PM

FredEx

Based on an article about the disappointing performance of first round receivers, I looked up Freddie Mitchell. Even though espn.com has him listed with the Chiefs, he is currently an unsigned free agent. I always like Freddie, and it's a shame that nobody is willing to give him a shot. Another article about the place of receivers in elite NFL teams.

On an unrelated note, Freddie teaches us the importance of "the close".
posted by Ed at 4:33 PM

PA Traffic Cams –

I’ve seen the DELDOT cam site, but didn’t know that there were Philly area cams.  Not as good as the Delaware cams, but not too shabby, all the same.

309 Cameras – in the work zone.
Penndot Philly area cams
I-476 Improvement Project – News

Shore traffic?  Some links –
XM Radio - XM RADIO LAUNCHES BROADCAST OF EXPANDED SUMMER WEEKEND TRAFFIC REPORTS FOR BEACH AND SHORE AREAS (XM 212 for Philly)
Mullica Hill myspacer complaining (watch the volume)
Simulating Traffic Performance in a Network by Using Corsim and Dynasmart – cool paper, but no practical info
To the citizens of the United States of America Text - Physics Forums Library – mentions shore traffic later in the thread, but the link is more for comic relief
Getting to Shore in NJ means lots of traffic, interesting stops (phillyBurbs.com) | New Jersey News (old news from 2003)


posted by Ed at 3:13 PM

<a href="http://www.convert-me.com/en">Convert-Me.Com:
Online Conversion of weights and measures, metric conversion</a>
posted by Ed at 1:04 PM

Stuff

I love this line:  “I'm just tryin to say the way school need teachers, the way Kathy Lee needed Regis that's the way I need Jesus.”

Along with, “And when you get on he’ll leave your ass for a white girl.”

Kanye may just be the frickin’ Paul Simon of the 21st century.  When I searched google for “Paul Simon” “the 21st Century”, I got this.  (Well it was the most interesting one, anyway).

Another one of THOSE stumblers

Leave suggestions for the best lyricist of the 21st century in comments.  (As if anyone reads this.  Hah!)


posted by Ed at 1:26 PM

My Post Exit Physical Rant

Doctors suck.  I had the same doctor for my physical that I had last year.  Her advice on diet helped me to lose about 15 pounds, which I then gained back over the winter in response to the recurring virus that plagued me all winter.  In the last couple of months, I’ve lost about 5 pounds and I am working on losing more.

But what is the reality of the situation?  The US Census estimates that there about 11 million men in my 5 year age group (45-49).  4 In 10 Americans Say They're Overweight, but the government says 6 in 10 are overweight.  6% of Americans say they are obese, but the government says 30% are obese.  The Skinny on Diets says that 95% of diets fail.  NAAFA Policy on DIETING AND THE DIET INDUSTRY says, ”Since reducing diets rarely achieve permanent weight loss and can result in negative health consequences, since laws and regulations protecting the consumer are nonexistent or remain unenforced, and since people undertaking diets are rarely given sufficient information to allow them to give true informed consent, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance strongly discourages participation in weight-reduction dieting. Further, NAAFA strongly condemns any diet marketing strategy based on guilt and fear. Such approaches cause untold suffering to fat people by ruining their self-esteem and by perpetuating negative stereotypes. NAAFA demands that local, state, and federal governments regulate the diet industry to protect the consumer from misleading claims regarding safety and long-term effectiveness.”

So at least 660,000 other American men my age are roughly as fat as me.  I would venture to guess that 600,000 of them will never weight less than they do now.  650,000 of us will probably never be able to maintain a lower weight.  So what are my chances?  Slim & none, and Slim just left town.  
posted by Ed at 4:24 PM

Create your own Music List @ HotFreeLayouts!
posted by Ed at 10:03 AM

Some Random Links

For some reason, I ended up at Amazon.com.  I was checking out my shopping cart, my wish list, and Amazon: Listmania! - View List "Books & Movies - Summer 2003" (which, needless to say, I compiled during the Summer of 2003.)  This led me to Amazon.com: So You'd Like to... eat, poop, sleep and read and Amazon.com: Pornstar: Books: Ian Gittler.  Amazon.com: So You'd Like to... Challenge the Status Quo? looks kind of cool, too.


posted by Ed at 1:20 PM

Some Disney Links

google map of wdw area
Affordable Disney - Pay Svc
Walt Disney World - the Unofficial Guide
Celebration Hotel
Buena Vista Palace map
Amex rewards - celebration hotel
Buena Vista Palace main page
Amex rewards - buena vista palace
Villas of Grand Cypress map
Staybridge Suites map
Disney Animal Kingdom page
posted by Ed at 9:24 PM

Jerry Glanville

OK, I expected write & link more, but it comes down to my thoughts back to the old Houston Oilers’ Run & Shoot offense with Jerry Glanville and the possibility of the Texans taking Vince Young with the first pick in the 2006 NFL Draft.  But I have also seen projections that the Tennessee Titans (the football team formerly known as the Oilters) might take Vince Young with the 3rd pick.  An interesting article about Jerry Glanville as the University of Hawaii defensive coordinator.
posted by Ed at 9:44 AM

The Mamula corollary to Godwin's Law

Braves & Birds talks about how bringing up Mike Mamula in a draft discussion is akin to bringing up Hitler or the Nazis in a normal debate. Sort of a corollary to Godwin's Law. Although, to be fair, I guess it should be called the Michael corollary rather than the Mamula corollary.

Some Mike Mamula links -
mentions the "Mike Mamula Syndrome"
Dec. 21, 1999 - Mamula has 3 sacks against the Pats
Scroll down to 1995 - Mike got a cool 2.8 mil to be an Eagle
Vernon Davis gets compared to Mike Mamula in this discussion thread
posted by Ed at 4:54 PM

Some Environmental Links

The Ten Most Polluted U.S. Cities - Forbes.com
Wired News: America's Most Polluted Cities
Wired News: Global Warming: Be Very Afraid
My take on Wired's Global Warming article
posted by Ed at 9:43 AM

Tdh met Brian Henesey at Spring Valley park, which led to some interesting sites.  Like Football @ JT-SW.com, which has a wealth of historical NFL data.  I also found NFC East News: Personnel Summary from The National Football League (NFL) Info Web which seems to have ended in 1995, but has some very interesting snapshots of the time (like the Eagles ill-fated draft pick Mike Mamula).

I also found Brian Henesey's story on the Bucknell magazine on-line.
posted by Ed at 10:05 AM

Bravenet.com - Free websites, guestbook, forum, counter, classifieds, calendar, journal and more!
posted by Ed at 4:32 PM

Dispensation
posted by Ed at 9:27 AM

NFL Free Agency

NFL.com has some pretty good info on their NFL.com - Freeagency page.  They also have links to AFC & NFC signings/losses organized by team.  

This needs more stuff, but I want to post it and (maybe) come back later.
posted by Ed at 2:03 PM

Natural Logic

Is there any substance to Natural Logic?  And who is Gil Friend, their CEO?  He’s got a blog.  It looks like he’s been blogging for almost 4 years.  Hmm…  I’m not sure if that indicates something postive or just something unusual.  And isn’t “natural logic” the though process that was used to justify the early 20th century eugenics movement?
posted by Ed at 3:42 PM

For Dan’s speech:

The Dilbert Blog: Wisdom for Grads
posted by Ed at 4:53 PM

Some Stumbleupon links

I will probably lose otherwise (or anyway).

From katfrin's reviews
Hussman Fitness
Hussman Fitness - The Scale: You Really Do Change from the Inside Out

On a different note - Rusty is a homosexual

posted by Ed at 3:39 PM

posted by Ed at 1:48 PM

posted by Ed at 1:47 PM

How To Make a Secret Hollow Book: - How To Do Stuff
from How To Do Stuff

Mean People Suck
posted by Ed at 5:46 PM

DEMOCRACY IS COOL

I saw this entry on boingboing about the Democracy TV player. I've got to get this for my htpc. I imagine it's better than watching The Book of Daniel on that stupid little window with the animated ad next to it.

posted by Ed at 7:16 AM

Wireless security


Wireless Hackers 101
Just Filtering your MAC won't do Jack
Your SSID Isn’t Hidden Forever
Security Tips From 'Anatomy of a Hack'

Wifi Security Project

Wifihacker.net >> The Definitive Guide To Wireless Network Penentration

TWEAK.US » Wireless Network Security

Wireless LAN Security & Wardriving

WiFi Security 101

FAQ: WiFi Security - NetStumbler.org WiFi Forums
posted by Ed at 2:46 PM

My niece was born on Goose Day.  Until I found the link, I didn’t know what Goose Day was.  Mifflin County’s main newspaper is The Sentinel.  (My brother and his family live in Mifflin County, PA).
posted by Ed at 4:05 PM

Free pdf creator - http://www.primopdf.com/

Millionaire Maker Calculator - How to Become A Millionaire

Blog entry about making $1 mill


posted by Ed at 11:07 AM

flowers - zefrank.com
Putfile is a FREE digital media hosting service
Interesting time waster
posted by Ed at 3:32 PM

Flash for my old cameras

Here is  eBay – Film Camera Flash Units, Flashes Accessories and Cameras Photo items on eBay.com

I’ll have to find more later.
posted by Ed at 12:54 PM

laptop "computer-tracking" - Yahoo! Search Results

Some of the more interesting results –
Trackion
PC Phone Home
Business.com listing
posted by Ed at 9:14 AM

I saw the “stumble buzz” about the Nintendo DS game Brain Training, then I did a search, found the software on sale at Target.com, searched for the software, found it on Free Gift World, but then I saw this blog post about problems with Free Gift World.

More software (from Amazon):
BrainX Digital Learning System
Max & Claire Bundle
Brain Fitness
Brain Builder 3.0
Train Your Memory

posted by Ed at 10:24 AM

Enough with the itunes crap. (Solved the problem by installing from CD on another computer and not updating). On to pointless meanderings. For some reason, I thought of the movie "Omega Man." Turns out that Richard Matheson (Montco PA lib listing) has written quite a bit for movies and tv. It looks like I'll have to get I Am Legend from the Chester County Lib, since it's missing from Norristown.
posted by Ed at 9:41 AM

itunes 6.0.1.3 still doesn't work. Here are a couple more links, but they don't look that useful:
itunes for windows in ilounge
a seemingly unrelated problem on annoyances.org
ipod garage forums - no help here, but maybe ask the question later.

Versiontracker.com has a whole list of itunes problems with Win XP.
posted by Ed at 6:31 AM

itunes problems

Now itunes 6.0.1.3 won't work. This cnet digital music forum entry has some info on quicktime problems with itunes. Manual removal - this is what I am afraid of. Digital Media Annoyance Solutions doesn't help me, but it's interesting.
It seems like there are a number of problems with itunes 6.0.1.3 for Windows, at least on Win XP. I hope I don't have to wait for the next version.

posted by Ed at 5:23 PM

The 3 best links for instructions on converting video to the ipod.

hack a day for using the videora converter, but not using videora
divx digest instructions on using 3GP - 3GP download link
cucusoft instructions

Try these first, if you have to pay, PQ DVD seems like it's about the best.
posted by Ed at 11:19 AM

Another possible ipod video converter
Another shareware converter
Files at download.com

posted by Ed at 4:04 PM

Sleepyhead just bought an ipod video, but isn't sure how to get videos onto the ipod. Videora ipod converter is a conversion program that can help if you have MPEG or AVI video. When used with Videora you can automatically download and update your ipod video with content. Time to head off to The Pirate Bay to get Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie .

For another option for ipod video, check out veoh networks, complete with ipod integration.

Saturday update at the Horsham Library. Convert .avi to iPod video using 3GP Converter gives a tutorial. Here is a search of stumbleupon that I can use later to get some feedback and ask some questions if need be. Here is a shareware site with ipod conversion programs.

Have great weekend, folks. (Yeah, like anyone reads this blog).

This freeware index/directory has nothing to do with ipod video, but I want to look at it later.
posted by Ed at 3:38 PM