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What Socialism IS, and is NOT.

 5/17/2022 7:00 PMPolitics

​Let's clear things up.

Socialism is NOT:
Public schools
Public roads
Police departments
Fire departments
Taxes
Gas Taxes
Tolls
Hospitals
Armies and Navies
National borders
A court system
Public libraries
The National highway system
A 40 hour work week
Income taxes

These are examples of GOVERNMENT. The concept of government, of a centralized agency that collects money from the people who live in a certain area in order to provide services to ALL the citizens of that area, is as old as civilization and is for the most part, quite fair: It taxes everyone more or less equally to provide services to everyone more or less equally. These are things you could probably take care of yourself, but it's easier to centralize them a little. You may not use these services every day, but you pay for them so they are there when you need them. It predates the concept of socialism by several millennia. Also, most services are provided at the lowest level possible, like the city or county.

Socialism IS, by varying degrees:

Minimum wage
The Alternative Minimum Tax
Social Security
Welfare
WIC
Food Stamps
Rent Control
Free College
The Earned Income Tax Credit
The New Deal
The Green New Deal
Ethanol subsidies
Farm subsidies
Anything subsidized by the Federal Government
Solyndra
The Paris Accords
Global Warming schemes
All the horrors of the Soviet Union, China, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Kampuchea, and other socialist countries
"You have earned enough money"
"Paying it back to the community"

Any government plan that specifically targets certain people or industries to take money from them, and specifically GIVE money to certain groups of people.
That's socialism. It is justified by a hundred different reasons, and it is called many things: Collectivism, Communism, Socialism, Democratic Socialism, Progressivism, Marxism, Fascism, and even Liberalism. It has the same arguments it always had, that they are "making things fair" or "leveling the playing field" or just simply "punishing the rich". It is always coming from the left, and it always spreads the misery equally, whereever it is attempted. They also lie to you about it, and try to equate government with socialism, and they are very much not the same thing.
It is responsible for the death of 100 million people in the last century.

Time to let socialism die. For the sake of all it's future victims.

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Your Lodge dues are not a movie ticket.

 4/30/2022 5:00 AMMasonry

​Going to the movies can be a fun and even magical experience. You buy a ticket, and for around two hours you are entertained, maybe even uplifted. Add in the overpriced food or drink from the concession stand, and that's the extent of your commitment. You paid a little bit of money, and were rewarded with a little bit of entertainment for your afternoon.

But I think too many Brothers treat Masonry like a movie theatre. They think the cost of admission is their annual dues. They paid some money up front for the degrees, some time invested in learning a catechism, if at all, and then write a check once a year for dues. They have met their obligation. Quite a bargain, they think. For the cost of a dinner out a month, they get regular entertainment and enlightenment, or just the privilege of wearing a ring and telling people they are a Freemason, without even the need to go back to Lodge. After all, wearing that suit is such a bother. Why can't we be more casual?

But they would be wrong. The dues are just enough to pay to keep the lights on, to give us a place to meet. That paltry sum in no way pays for the experience you just received, not even close. In order to provide for you a single night's experience, whether it's a degree, a stated meeting, or a dinner, took work and dedication from a dozen or more Brothers. And the only way to pay that back is to put in the work yourself.

Freemasonry is paid for by those who donate their time and talents to make a memorable experience. The Brothers who spend hours learning a ritual part, and even more hours rehearsing together to make that degree come alive. The Brothers who pay the bills, who run the meetings, who sweep and mop and vacuum and wax the floors, who change the lightbulbs, who prepare the meals, who serve the meals, who wash the dishes, who set up and tear down the Lodge after each meeting, who write the speeches, who repair the building when it needs a little TLC. Every evening you experience at your Lodge was only possible because a lot of men worked hard to provide that experience for you.

Ours is a working organization. It is incumbent on you, my Brother, to donate YOUR time and talents to the Lodge, whatever they may be, to ensure the experience for the next new member, and all of the current ones, is just as memorable as your experience was, and maybe even better.

If every single Mason would donate just a little bit of his time, who took his natural born abilities and donated them to his Lodge in sweat equity, if every single one of us would put in the work equally... just think how much we would accomplish!


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Without capitalism you have nothing else.

 3/15/2021 10:00 AMPolitics

Comrade Cortez has no understanding of basic economics. No surprise, since she has a DEGREE in the subject from a major university. It shows how ideology, not thought, is what drives our colleges today.

She is critical of capitalism, claiming that to pursue profit is somehow evil. What she fails, utterly, to understand is that without capital, without profit, YOU HAVE NOTHING ELSE.
A government does not generate money. The money has to come from somewhere, either taxes paid by the people, or taxes levied on good from somewhere else. A prosperous economy raises all boats. Each sale, each transaction, makes money for the owners of the company. But that’s not all. It makes money for each employee in the company. It makes the life better of the person paying for the sale. Each employee can then spend their money on something. Each purchase by another company allows that company to make and sell goods and services, and the cycle continues.
When an economy is growing, it only brings MORE money into the government, which allows the government to provide for the needs that the people decide the government has to provide. Without money, government can do nothing.
If the simple desire to have a socialist government and provide for the needs of the people was the ONLY thing government required, then the people of Venezuela wouldn’t be starving in the streets. So why doesn’t the government of Venezuela provide for the people? Because socialist policies, the very same ones that Bernie and Comrade Cortez want to force on you and me, have destroyed Venezuela’s economy. No economy, no profit, no government. So no one produces, and everyone starves. Well, everyone expect the people who are running the government.
Please, please, please, my liberal friends, prove to me where I am wrong. Explain to me why you would want your country to look like Venezuela. Or Cuba. Or North Korea. Or the Soviet Union. Explain it to me why living there is better, and why you haven’t moved there to experience it.


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AZ-900 Certification

 3/9/2021 1:00 PMIT

​I just passed my AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals Certification with a 910!

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It's Just a Mask

 3/9/2021 10:00 AMPolitics

It's Just a Mask.jpg

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The secret of life

 8/5/2020 9:00 AMPolitics

Discover your passion.
Find someone stupid enough to pay you to do that.
You will never work another day in your life.

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SharePoint Saturday 2020

 1/27/2020 6:00 PMSharePoint

​I had the privilege of speaking again at SharePoint Saturday. My presentation was titled "AngularJS and SharePoint" and was split into two one-hour sessions. I appreciate my company, AKIMA, for sponsoring the event and manning a booth. The information from my presentation is on the main menu of this site as "SharePoint" or just click this link: http://www.douglasweb.com/SitePages/SharePoint.aspx

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Become a SharePoint Power User

 12/11/2019 5:00 AMIT; SharePoint

If you're struggling to find help or keep up to date with Microsoft Office 365 then I will provide two hours of online training to make you a SharePoint Power User.

I am now a registered Freelancer on Collab365 MicroJobs - the brand new marketplace dedicated to Microsoft professionals.

Here are 4 reasons that the Collab365 Team have spent months building the site:

1.    You often need expert Microsoft help just for a couple of hours.

2.    You can't keep up with everything Microsoft is releasing.

3.    You find it hard to find Microsoft experts on other non-dedicated sites. There are just too many other subjects covered.

4.    You don't have time to go through a lengthy interview process.

I personally love the concept and have actually just posted a MicroJob. Here are the details…

How I can help you ...

So your organization has just provided you with a SharePoint site. Now what?

Confused about what to do first? Don't know the difference between a List and a View?

I have over ten years experience installing, configuring, administering, managing, and developing with SharePoint; from 2003 through 2016 and Office 365. But all those fancy terms don't help if you don't know where to begin. That's where I can help you. I will walk you through the fundamentals of SharePoint:

·         Creating Lists and Libraries

·         Adding Views to sort and filter your data

·         Creating Pages to show multiple kinds of data

·         Creating Groups to limit who can see what

·         Using advanced features of SharePoint


I will provide a detailed overview of SharePoint to get your team up and running. If you already have some SharePoint experience and want help on specific SharePoint features. I can provide that as well.

Before purchasing, you must answer "Yes" to the following questions.

·         I will have no more than five students attend the training.

·         I will be able to host a video teleconference, or will be available for a Zoom or Skype call hosted by the trainer.

·         I will agree to attend the session at a mutually agreed to time.

·         I won't record the session.

·         If I want specific training, I will prepare the questions I want covered in advance.


The training provided will be over a two hour period. You can break it up into hour or half hour sessions if it is more convenient. I will allow time for questions during the training.

How does it work and what about payment?

Paying for online services with people that you don't know can be worrying for both parties. The buyer often doesn't want to pay until they're happy that the Freelancer has completed the work. Likewise the Freelancer wants to be sure they will be recompensed for their time and commitment. Collab365 MicroJobs helps both the buyer and the Freelancer in these ways:

1.    The buyer pays up front and the money is securely held in the MicroJobs Stripe Connect platform account.

2.    The Freelancer can then begin the work in the knowledge that the payment has been made.

3.    Once the buyer is happy that the work is complete and to their satisfaction, the funds become available to the Freelancer.

4.    There's even a dispute management function in case of a disagreement. But it won't on my MicroJob! As long as we agree what's needed up front and keep talking the entire way through, you won't be disappointed.

Note: Once I've completed the work, I'd love it if you could write a review for me. This will allow others to see what a fantastic job I did for you.

What if we need to add extra's to the job after I've started?

It's really easy for us to discuss your extra requirement (using the chat feature on the site) and for us to agree a price and add it to the order.

If you'd like me to help you, here are the steps to hire me …

1.    View my MicroJob.

2.    On that page click the "Buy" button.

3.    You'll need to register as a buyer on the MicroJobs site, but this only takes a minute and will also allow you to purchase MicroJobs from other awesome Freelancers.

If you need to contact me then please use the "contact" button and ask me any questions before purchasing.


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AngularJS and SharePoint Videos

 1/9/2019 9:00 AMIT; SharePoint

​I will be speaking at SharePoint Saturday 2019 on January 12th. I wanted to update my videos to match my new presentation, "AngularJS and SharePoint", which is now two hours. You can watch all the videos on my YouTube playlist here: AngularJS and SharePoint

The zip file, "SPSApplication.zip" with all necessary files is on my home page under "Public".

Update: zip file contains PowerPoint slides as well.
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AngularJS Tutorials

 1/8/2019 12:00 PMIT; SharePoint

​I was asked at the previous SharePoint Saturday what videos and articles helped me learn AngularJS, so I put together a list here on my SharePoint page:   http://www.douglasweb.com/SitePages/SharePoint.aspx

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YouTube Videos

 11/28/2018 12:00 PMIT; Masonry; SharePoint

​Check out my YouTube channel at https://tinyurl.com/CigarDougVideos.

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Jurisdiction, Amity, and Visitation

 10/5/2018 1:00 AMMasonry

I just published my first YouTube video in the Your Jurisdiction May Vary series (YJMV). It's called "Jurisdiction, Amity, and Visitation" and explains the process of one Grand Lodge recognizing another.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BY9DMLBuLs

If you like the video, please click the "Subscribe" button to subscribe to my channel.

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Mexican White Sauce

 9/19/2018 11:00 AMRecipes
Here is my recipe for Mexican White Sauce, the kind you get in some restaurants. It's NOT queso, or cheese dip. That's a different recipe. It's easy to make, and you have to use Miracle Whip, mayonnaise does not taste right. I have modified the recipe to use a 32 oz. jar of Miracle Whip, because I only buy it to make this sauce (we use mayo for sandwiches).

white sauce.jpg

  • 32 oz jar of Miracle Whip
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
In a medium bowl, add entire jar of Miracle Whip. Gradually stir in the milk. Add red pepper flakes, cumin, salt, garlic powder, and oregano, and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to blend. If you taste it right away, all you will taste is salad dressing.

Serve with tortilla chips.


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Grand Lodges and Supreme Councils catalogued

 9/19/2018 7:00 AMIT; Masonry; SharePoint

​I have listed all Grand Lodges, Virginia Blue Lodges, and Scottish Rite Supreme Councils on one of my web sites: http://www.researchlodge.org/groups. I also used AngularJS to display the data. I am still working on listing the Amity (recognition) between all of them, but it's a good start.

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Flan Pie Recipe

 9/2/2018 10:00 PMRecipes

​This is based on my Flan recipe, where I omit the caramelized topping and cook it in a pie shell instead.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 eggs, beaten 
  • 2 egg yolks, beaten
  • 3/8 cup white sugar
  • Pie crust
  • Fresh blueberries and strawberries
  • Cool Whip

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

  • In a large bowl, beat 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks.

  • In a medium pot, bring milk just to boiling over medium heat. 

  • Stir hot milk, a little at a time, into beaten eggs and egg yolks, until well combined. Stir in sugar.

  • Place pie crust on cooking sheet. Carefully pour milk mixture into pie crust.

  • Bake in preheated oven 45 minutes or until set. Let cool on countertop, then chill covered in refrigerator for at least an hour.

  • Serve with Cool Whip and fresh blueberries and strawberries.


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AngularJS and SharePoint Part VII on YouTube!

 7/24/2018 11:00 PMCigars; IT; SharePoint

​I just uploaded Part VII, the final part of my presentation, to YouTube. In this section, I show the final three components, Display.html, Edit.html, and Cigars.Item.js, to display, add, and edit a single SharePoint list item.

https://youtu.be/_JNsk9mrYLs

The sample code is available on my home page under "Public" as "Cigars Application.zip".

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AngularJS and SharePoint Part VI on YouTube!

 7/24/2018 9:00 PMCigars; IT; SharePoint

​​I just uploaded Part VI of my presentation to YouTube. In this section, I show two more components, List.html and Cigars.List.js, and describe how to populate and then display a collection of list items, as well as perform a search to filter which items are displayed.

https://youtu.be/L4uQhWz1f3k


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AngularJS and SharePoint Part V on YouTube!

 7/24/2018 1:00 AMCigars; IT; SharePoint

​I just uploaded Part V of my presentation to YouTube. In this section, I show the first two components, Cigars.html and Cigars.js, and provide an overview of reference libraries, routing, factories, and global/session variables that persist across the application.

https://youtu.be/kx619Q-6vp0

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AngularJS and SharePoint Part IV on YouTube!

 7/18/2018 10:00 PMCigars; IT; SharePoint

​I just uploaded Part IV of my presentation to YouTube. In this section, I explain what a Single Page Application is, and give an overview of all of the AngularJS components in our application.

https://youtu.be/ILR3T5SlBU0


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AngularJS and SharePoint Part III on YouTube!

 7/18/2018 9:00 PMCigars; IT; SharePoint

​I just uploaded Part III of my SharePoint Saturday 2018 presentation, "AngularJS and SharePoint". In this section, I give an overview of the files that make the application, create a Site Page, and imbed the application within that Site Page. #SPSVB https://youtu.be/syzk5xiQTK4

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AngularJS and SharePoint Part II on YouTube!

 7/17/2018 11:00 PMCigars; IT; SharePoint

​I just uploaded Part II. The rest of the series will need a lot of editing as the underlying code has changed since I gave my SharePoint Saturday presentation. I also need to zoom in for certain portions as it wasn't very legible. Each video is going to be less than ten minutes long, I don't know the limits YouTube puts on uploading. Hopefully I won't repeat myself too much.

https://youtu.be/kKrOnw4jOko

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AngularJS and SharePoint on YouTube!

 7/17/2018 9:00 PMCigars; IT; SharePoint

​Here is the first of my videos based on my SharePoint Saturday 2018 presentation, "AngularJS and SharePoint". I made the videos to practice for my demonstration, and I had promised to upload them to YouTube. I have actually updated my code since the presentation, so I am reshooting parts of the videos as the new code is much better. I also have more than an hour's worth of content, I felt rushed through some of the demonstration.  I also plan to add more videos explaining AngularJS concepts in greater detail. But this first series will walk you through creating a Single Page Application from start to finish. https://youtu.be/S8erOQzCHqE

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AngularJS and SharePoint

 3/23/2018 3:00 PMCigars; IT; SharePoint

​I will be presenting at SharePoint Saturday in Virginia Beach this weekend, my presentation, "AngularJS and SharePoint", is available under the "Public" folder on my home page, as well as the application files, "Cigar Application.zip".

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The House FISA Memo was released!

 2/2/2018 1:00 PMPolitics
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A tale of two scandals (sort of)

 1/31/2018 7:00 PMPolitics
So, we have two alleged scandals to investigate, one on the left, and one on the right.

On the right, we have the presumption that Trump colluded with Russia to win the election. How exactly did Russia interfere? With $50,000 worth of Facebook ads? With hacking DNC emails that prove that Hillary stole the DNC primary? Even if we can determine that Russia was behind the hacking, I consider that a public service. It revealed the truth, which the mainstream media is trying awful hard to keep secret.

So, Donald Trump, a man with no political power before he won the election, managed to arrange high level meetings with Russian officials, and keep all of this secret, right?

Well, certainly a novice like Trump would not be able to cover his tracks, right? And a full year of an independent counsel and the entire mainstream media would have uncovered something, right?

So, let’s see what we know:

Flynn talked to some foreigners, and lied about it to Mike Pence, and was fired.

Jeff Sessions met a Russian general as part of his job, and misunderstood a question asked by the Senate, and corrected the record. He was so worried about a conflict of interest that he recused himself from the investigation.

Paul Manafort had some questionable business dealings several YEARS before working on the campaign.

Don Jr. met with ONE Russian lawyer, who had worked for the DNC in the past, who misrepresented herself to get a meeting. His testimony before the Independent Counsel lasted longer than the meeting itself, by a factor of ten, I think.

So, where is the collusion? Where is the smoking gun?

OK, on the Democrat side:

Hillary and the DNC paid Fusion GPS, through third parties, to get opposition research on Trump, as did some GOP candidates, at least until he won the primary. THEN, Hillary paid Fusion GPS to create a FAKE dossier on Trump.

Fusion GPS hired a British former spy to write this dossier, who hired Russian spies to help write it.

The DNC shopped this dossier around DC for months, but none of the media was willing to write about it, until Buzzfeed released it, and then they had cover. Sleazy, but still not so bad.

THEN, the FBI used this fake dossier, that everyone knew was fake, to lie to a FISA judge to get a wiretap order against Trump and his campaign.

THEN, the Obama Administration used these wiretapped conversations, unmasking the American citizens taped talking to foreigners, and released the transcripts to the media, which is how we know about Michael Flynn in the first place!

On top of which, senior leadership in the FBI who were strong Hillary supporters and anti-Trumpers, were not only involved in the Clinton email investigation (and derailed it) but are also involved in the Russian probe!

NOW, five months of texts between two or more of these FBI officials magically disappeared, only to magically reappear again. Just like Lois Lerner and Hillary Clinton and other prominent Democrats, the hard drives and the files and the emails that could incriminate them magically disappear, in violation of every law regarding safeguarding government communications.

That’s all just off the top of my head, of course there is plenty more.

Can any of you, with a straight face, tell me we shouldn’t be getting to the bottom of this?


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Mobile Apps: The Beginning

 1/25/2018 7:00 AMIT

​I have been approached to build some mobile apps, it's something I have been telling myself to get involved with for years. So, time to do some research. I have been tweeting the better articles I have read, what I have learned so far is you can use Javascript (and even Angular!) to build mobile apps, which is really exciting, since I wasn't looking forward to learning Java and/or Objective-C.

I also learned that a lot of apps that had a lot of buzz one or two years ago are really hard to get a free copy of today. But I found a few articles this morning (check my Twitter feed) that highlight other options that use Javascript. Right now, I am thinking of trying all the ones I can find, and contrast and compare.

It's also convenient that I already have several web sites for churches and Masonic groups, so I have ready-made guinea pigs that are getting mobile apps for free, while I figure out how to move to this new area of technology. Stay tuned.


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Angular Tutorial No. 2: Angular and the User Information List

 10/13/2017 11:00 AMIT; SharePoint; Twitter

​My second tutorial on AngularJS, retrieving data from the User Information List. I am branching into REST in addition to CSOM to talk to SharePoint.

Angular and the User Information List

SPDataServices

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Single Page Applications

 10/13/2017 9:00 AMIT; SharePoint; Twitter

I was working on my next tutorial, and I wanted to stop and highlight this particular video. I often mention my Twitter feed, where I reference several videos and articles that have been helpful in my growth as a developer, especially in my latest foray into AngularJS. Twitter is my scratch pad for the Internet. When I find something useful, I used to make a bookmark, whether at home or at work. Then, I wouldn't have that bookmark when I wasn't at home or at work, or I was on my laptop and not my iPad. Syncing up all my bookmarks seemed a lot of trouble. So instead, I just tweeted every useful link, so I could find it again anywhere. The really cool thing is, other people see my links and find them useful as well. I am glad to help other people discover useful things.

Well, Tony Alicea has a great, great video on how to use the fragment identifier to render single page applications here: https://youtu.be/qvHecQOiu8g. I highly recommend watching it, and the rest of the series. He explains in very simple terms how to use hash tags (remember anchors? Does anyone use anchors in web pages anymore?) to essential mimic the functionality of Ajax, without all the overhead of Ajax. In simple terms, a single page application is loaded once, and a portion of the page is reloaded on demand. This means you don't see a flickering of the web page, which happens when you have to reload the entire page. All of this is possible through the use of fragment identifiers (hash tags) and the AngularJS location service. This is a huge improvement over earlier web-based applications. 

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AngularJS Tutorial

 10/13/2017 7:00 AMIT; SharePoint; Twitter

My current assignment is to build an application using AngularJS to manage a SharePoint 2013 site. There is a lot of information out there about the different versions of Angular, I have a list of good videos in my Twitter feed. But I had to cobble together a lot of different information to get my working version. I wanted to document it here, early in the process, in hopes someone else will benefit from it.

Continued here: Angular.

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Tax Policy II

 9/30/2017 8:00 AMPolitics

​Liberals not only want taxes to be higher, they want them to be complicated. They want you to have to use accountants and lawyers to navigate the arcane tax code, because you are more likely to make a mistake, and then you can be punished. Conservatives want the tax code to be simple. Some have suggested you should be able to submit your taxes on a post card. I have concerns about privacy issues with an actual post card, but I like the idea of simplicity.

The reason the tax code is so convoluted, is becauses business are not run by idiots. They want to keep as much of their money as possible, so they spend money to lobby Congress to create loopholes for their particular business, a small investment for a bigger payoff. More often than not, it is the very large corporations that get tax breaks that hurt their competition: the much smaller businesses run by families or individuals, who can't afford lobbyists. Both parties are guilty of taking favors from lobbyists and crafting loopholes. But you notice the only politicians who ever talk about a simpler tax code, are conservatives?

If the tax code is complicated, we need a larger IRS to manage it. Is there any government agency that is feared by the average American, more than the IRS? What is especially troubling, is that some Presidents have actually used the IRS to punish their political opponents. Think about that. We are citizens, not subjects. We own this government. It serves us, not the other way around.

We need to simplify the tax code. It needs to be more transparent. It needs to be understandable by anyone with a high-school education. If we can simplify it enough, we may even be able to eliminate the IRS altogether. We spend somewhere between 6 billion and 9 billion hours a YEAR doing our taxes: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/10/americans-spend-6-billion-hours-doing-taxes-better-get-moving.html How could that time be better spent?

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Tax Policy

 9/30/2017 7:45 AMPolitics

​Let's talk about taxes for a moment. I will stipulate that most of the elected officials in the Democrat Party are liberal, and they run the show; while some or most of the elected officials in the Republican Party are conservative, but they do NOT run the show. But I am talking ideology, not party.

Liberals want bigger government and higher taxes. Conservatives want smaller government and lower taxes. Period.

Liberals feel that every dollar you earn, as a private citizen or as a corporation, belongs to the government. Whatever they graciously let you keep is a gift. Thus, when you use the tax breaks they put into the system to keep more of your money, you are "stealing" it from everyone else who did nothing to help you earn it.

Conservatives know that every dollar you earn is yours. Government needs money to operate, and for good or bad, income tax is one of the primary sources of money for operating the government. But government should be small enough that we don't need so much of your money.

Liberals don't want anyone to have a tax cut, ever. So they make you think that if "the rich" are going to get a tax cut, you will oppose you getting a tax cut yourself, to spite the rich. This is contrary to your own best interest, and based on a lie.

Let's use a simple example. Let's say you earn $50,000 a year, and pay ten percent in taxes. That means you pay $5,000 to the federal government. Now, let's say I earn $5,000,000 a year, and pay twenty percent in taxes. That means I pay $1,000,000 to the federal government.

Now, let's say the conservatives want to give us BOTH a tax cut, letting us keep more of our own money. They change the rates to nine percent and nineteen percent. You are now paying $4,500 (a $500 savings) and I am now paying $950,000 ( a $10,000 savings). The liberals will scream that I am getting a much bigger tax break than you, because I get to keep $10,000 of my own money, and you only get $500. THIS IS THE BIG LIE.

You got a ten percent cut in your tax rate, from 10 to 9 percent. I only got a FIVE percent cut in my tax rate, from 20 to 19 percent. I paid more in taxes than you, I got a smaller percentage cut than you, and I STILL pay a whole lot more taxes than you. But because the actually amount I get to keep is so much more in simple dollars than yours, liberals will tell you that this whole tax cut program is a "giveaway to the rich", and get you to oppose it. So, you could have kept more of your money, but to spite the evil rich, you turned it down.

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Flan recipe

 9/3/2017 12:00 PMRecipes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 eggs, beaten 
  • 2 egg yolks, beaten
  • 3/8 cup white sugar
  • 9 inch round glass or corningware dish, or four to six oven-proof ramekins or custard cups

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

  • In a heavy bottomed shallow saucepan over medium heat, melt 1/2 cup sugar until golden. Carefully pour hot sugar evenly into the bottom of the round dish (for one flan to cut into slices) or split between each of the ramekins (for single servings). Tilt each to coat the bottoms evenly.

  • In another medium pot, fill with about a quart of water and bring to boil (enough water to fill your roasting pan an inch deep).

  • In another medium pot, bring milk just to boiling over medium heat. 

  • Stir hot milk, a little at a time, into beaten eggs and egg yolks, until well combined. Stir in sugar. Pour milk mixture evenly into ramekins.

  • Line a roasting pan with a damp kitchen towel. Place ramekins on towel, inside roasting pan, and place roasting pan on oven rack. Fill roasting pan with boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

  • Bake in preheated oven 45 minutes, until set. Let cool on countertop, then chill covered in refrigerator for at least an hour.

  • To serve, remove lid and place serving plate upside-down on top of dish. Carefully hold dish and plate together and in one quick motion, flip over and set down on counter. Remove dish, pour remaining caramel over flan and serve.

Flan.jpg
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Learning Phase

 8/11/2017 1:00 AMIT; SharePoint

​To get up to speed for my new gig, I have had to take crash courses on:

  • AngularJS
  • MVC
  • InfoPath
  • Visual Studio Team Services
  • GitHub
Every day reveals a new technology. Thank goodness for Microsoft Virtual Academy. I did learn one neat trick: Hook an HDMI cable from my laptop to the TV in my hotel. Much easier to watch Netflix, um, I mean training videos, yeah, just training videos on a big TV. Well, and some Netflix. It's fun to learn, I wish it was just one or two technologies instead of a half-dozen.
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FredericksBURG!

 7/21/2017 8:00 PMCigars

​Just got home after my first full week (mostly) on the job. Really looking forward to it, although the drive home in the afternoon was pretty long.

Enjoyed a nice Perdomo Habano on the drive home. Excellent cigar.

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Hurricane Gaston

 8/30/2016 7:00 PMHumor
​No one rains like Gaston,
Floods storm drains like Gaston,
Gives beach hotel owners great pains like Gaston!

Rises surf like Gaston,
Wash away turf like Gaston,
Makes dolphins and sharks give a wide berth like Gaston!

"I use sailboats in all of my decorating!"
Hurricane GASTON!!!

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The Biggest Secret in Freemasonry

 2/28/2016 3:05 PMMasonry

I am about to tell you the biggest secret in Freemasonry. I hope it doesn't get me into trouble.

​You know all those men you see in your Lodge and appendant bodies? The ones who have been Worshipful Master, High Priest, or whatever the Presiding Officer is, more than once in the past five or ten years? Who serve on every committee, every degree team? Who hold multiple important positions at the same time, in every body they are active in? They are not doing it for the recognition or because they crave power (well, most of them, I hope). They are doing the jobs that need to be doing, because no one else is stepping up and doing them. They care so much about the organization that they give so much of their time to keep the lights on.

Allow me to tell you something I have learned, in my three decades in Masonry: Every single Masonic body does not have enough active members to do the work that needs to be done. Every one of them: Blue Lodge, Royal Arch, Scottish Rite, Commandery, and the rest. There are always a handful of men who are stretched too thin, and they carry the load for the rest of us. So what does that mean to you? It means you aren't doing enough. That's right. Unless you are one of these men who are juggling multiple responsibilities, then you aren't carrying your weight. You know if you are, you don't need me to tell you if you are.

So, why did you join Masonry? To carry a dues card? To wear a ring? Or did you do it to be part of the oldest fraternity in existence, to improve yourself and help your fellow man and your community? Did you do it to learn? I have learned more about the philosophy of Masonry by memorizing degree work than I ever could just watching it. Do you want there to be a Blue Lodge, a Scottish Rite, a Royal Arch for your sons and grandsons to join? Well there won't be, unless YOU are more involved. There is a job for you, for every single one of you. It doesn't matter if there are a hundred members or a thousand, there are never enough ACTIVE members to keep the organization running, and avoid burning out those dedicated few that are carrying your share of the load. So get involved. Start attending, and start working. Volunteer your time and talents. Not for me, and not even for the organization, but for YOU. You will never be the Mason you thought you could be, by sitting on the sidelines or just staying home and paying your dues once a year. Pick up a chisel, and start building the temple with us. You won't regret it.





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Job Search Advice

 2/28/2016 3:00 PMIT
A little advice I provide on LinkedIn and elsewhere, to anyone looking for a new job:
 If you have a security clearance, I strongly recommend  http://www.clearancejobs.com. It has a search feature where you can specify the clearance as well as the usual fields (location, area of expertise, etc.).

Another great site is http://www.indeed.com, it is great because it
not only looks at monster.com, dice.com, careerbuilder.com, etc. but
it includes results from the job boards of larger companies (GD, CACI, ManTech, Lockheed, etc.). It also has a great ZIP code specific
search. Most search engines only narrow down to the STATE.

You should also create a profile on http://www.linkedin.com with your work history, and join a few groups related to your field.  You should also join any group that relates to any hobbies or organizations you belong to, such as Masonry. That is the easiest way to network, where you will interact with people who have similar interests. I like to call LinkedIn "Facebook for grownups". I am constantly being contacted about positions through the site.
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Rush Limbaugh on Fox News Sunday

 11/23/2015 7:00 PMPolitics
​​​​Rush nails Obama in his recent press conference:
"Barack Obama's No. 1 enemy is the Republican Party, and the conservative movement. You see he gets animated. He does not need cue cards, he does not teleprompter when he starts ripping into them. But when you get ISIS on the board or anything in the Middle East, he's very cautious, very precise, very... Don't want to offend them; don't want to make them mad... I think it's very dangerous."

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Code of Conduct for online Masonic groups

 11/20/2015 8:00 AMFacebook; Masonry

As I participate in many online Masonic groups, whether LinkedIn, Facebook, or elsewhere, it occurs to me that we should have a basic understanding of how to behave. Members need to be aware of what an online group is, and what it is not. These are only suggestions, the owner of the group has the right to set the rules. But it would be helpful to have these rules written down as a reference.

Code of Conduct for online Masonic groups​

  • This is not a Lodge, tiled or otherwise.
  • There is no way to make an Internet discussion group secure, so we are not in any way "tiled".
  • The owners of this group cannot verify that every member is a Mason in good standing.
  • Even if they tried, we all belong to different Grand Lodges. This means most people in this group are clandestine or irregular to you, even if they are also regular Masons.
  • Do not say anything you could only say in a tiled Lodge. Instead, assume you are in the dining hall downstairs and most of the people around you are not Masons.
  • Learn the abbreviation YJMV (Your Jurisdiction May Vary). That means since all Grand Lodges are sovereign, what may be custom or even law in YOUR Grand Lodge may not be custom or law in ANOTHER Grand Lodge.
  • You are allowed to talk to Masons from other jurisdictions even if they are not recognized. Just don't say anything you wouldn't say to a profane (non-Mason).
  • It is not violating your obligation to call a non-recognized Mason "Brother". It is just a courtesy, and makes everyone feel welcome.
  • Be courteous to everyone. If they are a member of an irregular Grand Lodge, you may point that out to them. But they probably don't know, and if the goal is to convince them to join us in regular Masonry, offending them probably won't help.
  • Be courteous to everyone. Even if their jurisdiction does something you think is crazy, remember YJMV. We are not here to judge other jurisdictions, they may have valid reasons. Ask questions, but respect their rules.
  • Be courteous to everyone.​ If a non-Mason is asking questions about how to join, the group may be set up to allow non-Masons to participate. The Internet can be a powerful tool to let people know about our fraternity and encourage them to join. If your group is restricted to Masons only, politely inform them and direct them to another group.
  • Be courteous to everyone. Political and Religious discussions are not allowed in a Lodge, but this is not a Lodge. Unless the owner of the group forbids it, you can discuss politics and religion. But subdue your passions and be courteous.
  • Be courteous to everyone.
If you have additions or suggestions, please email me or comment online. Feel free to share this page with your online group. These rules are specific to Masonic groups, but for the most part could apply to any online group.


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Do You Have A Masonic Elevator Speech Ready?

 8/7/2015 4:00 PMMasonry
An elevator speech is one that you can deliver to one or more persons while taking a brief elevator ride.  It may be 30 seconds, or 1 minute long.  It must summarize and provide an important message in a minimum of words.

For example, you step onto the elevator with a business associate, who says, "What is that lapel pin you have on?"  By the time you reach his or her destination on the 3rd Floor, you should be able to say it is a Masonic pin, and state a few positive things about your membership or about the organization. 

How many times has an opportunity similar to that happened to you, but you quickly answered and hoped the other person would change the subject?

How often, when you thought about the opportunity later, did you wish you would have been ready to produce a short, intelligent response?

The time to prepare your "elevator speech" and explain Freemasonry and what it means to you – is now – before that chance arises.

The opportunity may come on the street corner; it may occur as you are departing from church; it could materialize in a fast-food line as you are waiting to order.  

Some Masons believe the lack of having such an "elevator speech," is why membership is not advancing as it should.  Too often, Masons are reluctant to speak up about their Masonic membership.  Too often, they are not prepared to say something positive, and so don't say anything.  Too often, they just feel unqualified to be that needed "public relations" representative for our Fraternity.

In the Indiana Freemason magazine in 2013, George Burkley, a Past Master of Tyrian Lodge #12 in Goshen, IN, presented his views on the need for an "elevator speech."  If someone would say to Brother Burkley, as they were entering an elevator, "I hear you are a Mason.  What's that all about?" here is what he might say:

Freemasonry is the world's oldest and largest fraternal organization for men over the age of 18.  We are dedicated to serving our members and their families through building relationships, social networking, and activities with our members and in the community.

Freemasonry is not a religion but it is an organization where every member must profess a belief in God.

Freemasonry is not a charity but it is an organization that sponsors numerous charities, for example (and here he names charity endeavors that his Lodge, Grand Lodge, or one of his appendant bodies in Freemasonry supports).

And finally, Freemasonry is not a volunteer organization but it is an organization where its members voluntarily bind themselves together to make themselves, and their community, a better place.  Personally, my closest friends outside my family are members of the Masonic Fraternity.

From the June 2014 Focus of the Masonic Service Association​.

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New Glasses

 7/29/2015 8:00 AMFamily

​Between Twitter and Facebook, I forget to update my blog. So, got new glasses yesterday, they have Transition lenses which automatically darken in the sun. Saves swapping out to prescription sunglasses back and forth.  Here is a pic:

Glasses.jpg

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Security+ Certification

 6/23/2015 9:00 AMIT

​I just passed my Security+ certification. Not an easy test, by any means.

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Turn off RSS Feed when viewing REST URI

 5/22/2015 8:00 PMSharePoint; IT

​I am learning about REST URIs in SharePoint, which generates XML. I use Chrome as much as possible, but the XML is not in a pretty format, like in IE. But IE turns XML into an RSS Feed. How do disable that default setting? The answer comes from Craig Pilkerton at NothingButSharePoint.com:

​"Note: if you are not seeing the SharePoint List information as XML in the browser then you’ll need to turn off RSS feed reading. In Internet Explorer 7 or greater, go to Tools–>Internet Options–>Content tab–>Feeds and Web Slices-settings​​"

Here's a graphic:

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SharePoint 2013 App Development

 5/21/2015 1:00 PMIT; SharePoint
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Use AmazonSmile, help your favorite charity!

 2/25/2015 8:00 AMMasonry

If you register at https://smile.amazon.com with your Amazon account, Amazon will donate a portion of each purchase to your favorite charity. You then purchase from Amazon as you normally would. There is no additional cost to you. There are many charities available, including the Masonic Home of Virginia, Alzheimers, Scottish Rite House of the Temple and the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. This is not an endorsement of Amazon or any specific charity, but if you are shopping on Amazon anyway, please use this free service and support your favorite charity.

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How much, we may ask, is a man really worth?

 1/22/2015 9:00 AMMasonry

He comes into the physical world, travels along the highway of life for a few years, and then lays aside the working tools of life and passes through the transition that--for want of a better term--men call death. And at his passing he takes nothing with him, all his material wealth and possessions are left behind. He takes only himself, and what he has done with his life in the development of character. So it is a fair question to ask, "What is a man really worth?" I think that the answer is that he is worth exactly what he has given away. What he has given away of his time, of his substance, of his effort, of himself. He is worth just that, and nothing more. What we give away we keep--and what we keep we lose. And so it is that the real wealth of any man consists of the countless little acts of kindness in which there is no thought of reward.

M.W. Raymond C. Ellis, PGM of New York

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SharePoint Saturday 2015

 1/11/2015 7:00 PMIT; SharePoint
​I had a really good time at SharePoint Saturday 2015​ this weekend. As always, I had a chance to learn something new. Not as much as LAST year when I got a good look at Office 365, the SharePoint Store, and SharePoint 2013, but still plenty of new stuff to explore.

Modal Mania​ explained how to use JavaScript to launch modal dialogs on a SharePoint 2013 site using the SP.UI library.


Anatomy of a Mail App talked about building Office Apps and making them available in the Office Store, much like the SharePoint store. Definitely going to look into this.


​​SharePoint Event Receivers covered new event receivers for SharePoint 2010 and 2013.


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Ocean View - Receiving the DDGM

 1/10/2015 12:00 AMCigars; Masonry

​Had a great evening tonight at Rt. Wor. Ralph Clark's homecoming, enjoyed a very nice cigar: Perdomo Reserve Champagne Sun Grown​ from Emerson's. Gave it five stars.

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Updates to Research Lodge No. 1777

 1/4/2015 8:00 AMMasonry; SharePoint

​I have been updating my links on http://www.researchlodge.org. This includes all Grand Lodges in the U.S., all Eastern Star Grand Chapters in the U.S., and all York Rite International and U.S. grand bodies: Grand Chapter of Royal Arch, Grand Council of Cryptic Masons (except Virginia and West Virginia, I don't know why we are different), and Grand Commanderies of Knights Templar.

I had started this project several web site versions ago, but my list of Blue Lodge web sites was so out of date, I didn't even publish it this time. I have just reviewed the Lodges, and chose to just focus on Virginia. I had the crazy idea to go and get EVERY Lodge from EVERY Grand Lodge, but it's too much work to just maintain it year after year. So instead, I am adding a link to the lodge locator page for each Grand Lodge, assuming they have a list of Blue Lodges. If they don't, then why have a Grand Lodge web site in the first place?

It is a lot of fun to see all the different web sites that individual Masons like me sat down and created. The sad thing is to see a well-designed web site that has a list of officers from 2006 or something. It means some hard-charging Senior Deacon put in the time years ago to build it, and never kept it going, or found someone else to maintain it. I think every fraternal organization has a duty to maintain a presence on the web. It not only attracts new members, but it keeps the current ones informed. I am planning to write a paper on Social Media and Lodges, there is a lot of lessons learned that I need to record and organize, to be of help to others. 

Check out the site, it even has a slide show of Grand Lodge web sites.


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Make It So

 12/19/2014 9:00 AMEntertainment; SciFi/Fantasy

​One of my new favorite Christmas songs.


 


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Using Twitter Cards

 12/7/2014 11:00 PMIT; Twitter; Facebook; SharePoint

​I have not successfully added meta tags for Facebook posts from my various SharePoint sites, but I have managed to get Twitter Cards to work:

https://dev.twitter.com/cards/getting-started​

Basically, you add meta tags to the Master Page and Twitter will add a card to your Tweet if you reference the URL of your site. It's pretty cool.


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Socialism, Communism, Fascism, and Liberalism

 11/5/2014 7:00 PMPolitics

​During a lengthy discussion with a friend on Facebook, I wanted to preserve a section for future use. It relates to my disgust with liberals trying to paint conservatives as Nazis or fascists, when the opposite is true:

Socialism: a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
synonyms: leftism, welfarism;

Communism: A political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

Fascism: 1. the tenets of a centralized totalitarian and nationalistic government that strictly controls finance, industry, and commerce, practices rigid censorship and racism, and eliminates opposition through secret police.

Liberalism (the way it is practiced in America, not the classic definition of individual liberty): Outcomes are unequal, which is unfair. Use taxes and regulations to level the playing field. "You didn't build that." profit is evil, and must be punished. Strong central government, high taxes, burdensome regulations, limitations of civil liberties. Also indulges in crony capitalism (not limited to just one party).

Marx wanted to turn the whole world socialist, and thought it would instantly flip to communism overnight, because there was no more competition between countries or individuals. ALL of these system share one thing: total faith in a strong central government and zero faith in the individual. Minimum wage is a small thing, but it reflects a central tenet of left-wing thought: The STATE gets to decide what a person (in this case, entry level or low-skilled) is worth, or at least gets paid. The BUSINESS does not. We have all grown up with minimum wage, so we are used to it, and most of you don't see it for what it is: government control.

Have you ever heard Barack Obama or Bill Clinton PRAISE capitalism? Private business? the rights of the individual? Or do they talk about how life is unfair, outcomes are different, people need a helping hand, businesses are taking advantage of workers. They don't believe in the free market. So tell me, Scott, what tenets or policies of the modern Democratic Party are moving AWAY from the principles of socialism?

To show the other side: 

Capitalism: An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.
synonyms: free enterprise, private enterprise, the free market, enterprise culture, "the capitalism of emerging nations"

Conservatism: A belief in smaller government, lower taxes, less regulation, a strong national defense. Championing the rights of the individual over the state. A belief in the free market. Yes, there will be unequal outcomes, but since people and situations are unequal, that is what is FAIR.

Libertarianism: An extreme laissez-faire political philosophy advocating only minimal state intervention in the lives of citizens.

Libertarianism and conservatism are right-wing. All the other isms I mentioned are left-wing. there is nothing right-wing about a strong, controlling centralized government. As much as some try to paint fascism as right-wing, it simply isn't. You don't require a massive controlling government to have national pride, although fascism does promote nationalism. But that is the only thing we have in common.

​ I will stipulate that although the overwhelming majority of Democrats are liberals, and a good percentage of the Republicans are conservatives, the parties do not accurately reflect the left/right divide. Most of the GOP in power have no problem with an ever expanding federal government. it's like democrats are full-speed ahead towards socialism, but the GOP wants to tap the brakes once in a while. If conservatives could retake our party, you would see a more contrasting difference between the parties.​


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Adding Twitter Feed to SharePoint 2013

 8/23/2014 8:00 PMIT; SharePoint; Twitter

​I discovered a super easy way to add my Twitter Feed to my SharePoint page. I struggled with this in 2010, and it never seemed to work for long. Just follow these steps:

  • Sign into your twitter account at http://twitter.com​.
  • Click the gear icon on the toolbar, and click "Settings".
  • From the Settings page, click "Widgets" in the left-hand column.
  • Click ​"Create New" in the right-hand column.
  • ​From the "Create a user widget" page, you should be on the "User ​timeline" tab ​(if not, click "User timeline").
  • ​Choose your configuration options and click ​"Create widget".
  • ​Select the code at the bottom of the right-hand ​pane (underneath the preview) ​and click "Copy".
  • Click "Save changes".
  • ​Sign in to your SharePoint 2013 site and select the page where you want to add the feed.
  • Unpublish and edit the page using the toolbar.
  • With your page in edit mode, click "Insert|Embed Code".
  • ​From the Embed dialog, paste the code from Twitter.
  • Save and publish your page.

​There are additional options on the "Create a user widget" page to display your favorites, your lists, etc.

You have to deactivate the Site Feature "Minimal Download Strategy​" for the Web Part to display correctly.

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Hiding the Page Title link in SharePoint 2013

 8/14/2014 6:00 PMIT; SharePoint

​SharePoint 2013 will display a Page Title at the top of every Site Page, use SharePoint Designer 2013 to hide the link:

  • ​Open your site in SharePoint Designer 2013
  • Open Master Pages.
  • Using the arrow keys, highlight each of the master files until you find the one where "Set as Default" is greyed out in the toolbar. This is your default master page. NOTE: It should be either oslo.master or seattle.master. If you click on the master page, it will open the properties window.
  • Right-click and drag the default master page and click "Copy here". Rename the copy.
  • Check out the default Master Page.
  • Right-click the Master Page and click "Edit File in Advanced Mode".​
  • In the Master Page, find the SharePoint:SPTitleBreadcrumb​ tag and comment it out using <!-- and -->.
  • Save and check in the Master Page.
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Setting theme in Master Page for Anonymous Users

 8/14/2014 5:30 PMIT; SharePoint

​Because of a quirk in SharePoint 2013, every page I add JavaScript to no longer shows a theme to Anonymous users. To "fix" the problem, I have to resort to a trick from Sharepoint 2010: Specify the theme in the Master Page. Until I can find another solution, I have implemented this in all my sites.

  • ​Open the site in SharePoint Designer 2013.
  • Open All Files to _themes and open the number folder (there may be more than one to try).
  • Find the first .themedcss file that matches your master page (either Oslo or Seattle) and copy the title, minus the site URL.
    Example: /_themes/6/oslo-236A6B32.themedcss.
  • Open Master Pages.
  • Using the arrow keys, highlight each of the master files until you find the one where "Set as Default" is greyed out in the toolbar. This is your default master page. NOTE: If you click on the master page, it will open the properties window.
  • Right-click and drag the default master page and click "Copy here". Rename the copy.
  • Right-click the default master page and click "Edit File in Advanced Mode".​
  • In the Master Page, find the ​SharePoint:CSSLink tag.
  • Add the following tag, substituting your .themescss file path from the previous step as the name attribute:
    <SharePoint:CssRegistration runat="server" name="/_themes/6/oslo-236A6B32.themedcss" EnableCssTheming="true" After="true"/>
  • Save and check in your Master Page. Click "OK" to override the changing site definition warning.

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Change Prompt for Command Prompt

 8/13/2014 12:00 PMIT

I had this written down somewhere once, and played heck finding it again. So, here it is: How to set the Prompt command to always run when launching a Command Prompt for any version of Windows.

  • Click Start Menu|Run.
  • From the Run dialog, type "regedit" without quotes and click "OK".
  • From the Registry Editor, select HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor.
  • If the AutoRun value is not present, right-click and click New|Expandable String Value. Name the value "Auto​Run" without quotes.
  • Double-click the AutoRun value.
  • Under data, add "PROMPT" and the value you want to set for the prompt. In my example, "PROMPT $p$_$g".
  • Click OK.
  • Repeat the previous steps for ​​​​HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor ​to apply the change to ALL users.
  • Close the Registry Editor.
  • Close the Command Prompt if open, and open it again. The Prompt you entered is now employed.
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Charity Navigator

 7/14/2014 7:00 AMMasonry; Politics

Charity Navigator
It is a good idea to know how much of your charitable donations go to those in need. Check out ​http://www.charitynavigator.org/ for an impartial rating of your favorite charity.

​​​

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Buy Solar Panels for your home

 6/29/2014 9:00 AMPolitics
​One of my Facebook friends gave me a brilliant idea. Every person who supports green energy needs to immediately buy solar panels for their roof and/or a windmill on their property. Eventually, this will bring about a revolution and everyone will follow. I'll explain:

1. Solar panels and windmills WILL generate some amount of electricity and lower your electric bill.
2. This amount varies depending on where you live, but the cost of installation is so high, they won't pay for themselves for decades. So people don't do it.
3.This needs to be sold among rich people as a status symbol, much like wearing an awareness ribbon. Except in this case, it actually accomplishes something: As more people buy solar panels and windmills, more companies will spring up to meet the demand, competing with each other for your business, and they will become cheaper to buy.
4. As the cost comes down, more people buy them, thus encouraging the cycle. Eventually, they will be cheap enough for everyone to afford, and become the must-have item, just like plasma TVs are today. The poorest people you know have a plasma TV, don't they?
5. All of this is accomplished WITHOUT a massive taxpayer funded program run with great inefficiency by the federal government. WIN-WIN!

By the way, this concept won't work for electric cars. Electric cars run on electricity, which comes from coal, so it isn't green enough.

Who's with me? Let's start a national campaign to #BuyGreen!
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Jokes are back!

 5/31/2014 3:05 PMHumor

Yes, the joke page was down for the new move, it is back and even better - I added a search feature. UPDATE: Look for Jokes on the home page.
 
Warning: Some jokes are rather graphic, I tried to bleep out every swear word, but the topics are pretty descriptive. When time allows, I will add a rating to the jokes.​

FIXXX!!!!!​
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SharePoint 2010 Themes

 5/30/2014 2:30 PMIT; SharePoint

(Originally posted 2/6/2012)

Is it just me, or are the SharePoint 2010 Themes just not as easy on the eye as SharePoint 2007? With 2007, almost all of them would 'work' for a page, and I could go back and forth between two or three until one looked just right for a site.

With 2010, every single one is jarring to the eye. There is at least one color (link, header, background) in EVERY Theme that makes me reject it. Watch for my colors to change as I keep looking. I really don't have time to find a custom Theme, I wish I could find one out of the box and just be done with it.

And don't get me started on Themes not being visible to anonymous users. So, disregard my comment about you people seeing the changes.

UPDATE: SharePoint 2013 Themes are pretty cool. Plus, anonymous users see them without customizing the master page. So, a begrudging thumbs-up to Microsoft for fixing one thing in 2013.

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Migrating to SharePoint 2013

 5/29/2014 8:00 PMIT; SharePoint

​I am moving to a new web hosting service, http://www.apps4rent.com. This lets me use SharePoint 2013, which is an eye-opening experience. It seems there are some lists, such as this blog, which can't be easily migrated. But I am looking forward to learning the latest version of SharePoint​, and I will be documenting what I learn in Wiki pages on this site.

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Five Million Americans have lost their health insurance because of Obamacare

 11/17/2013 1:03 PMPolitics

Five million people​ have lost their insurance because of Obamacare. FIVE MILLION of my fellow Americans (and counting) had health insurance this year, and will not have it next year, because of a law passed exclusively by Democrats in the House and Senate, and signed by a Democrat President. Never forget that. It is completely ​a Democrat law that is causing all of this pain and suffering. Oh, and the 100K who enrolled? The government counts people who registered without committing to a plan in that number.

That's like you going to Amazon (except Amazon actually works and is easy) and putting something in your wish list, or your shopping card, without completing the purchase. If Amazon claimed that sale as income, they would go to jail. But that's how your government does things.

Five million. 

​​http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/11/12/the-obamacare-exchange-scorecard-around-100000-enrollees-and-five-million-cancellations/

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Why rednecks like Star Wars

 7/27/2013 11:57 AMHumor
  • ​​The hero is a farmboy who never knew his daddy and kissed his sister.
  • The other hero is a bootlegger with a souped-up ride he's always working on.
  • The other hero's buddy makes the Duck Dynasty boys look like Yul Brynner.
  • The other hero kissed the hero's sister.
  • The other hero's friend hits on the hero's sister and gets them all thrown in jail.
  • The hero hangs out with an old man who lives by himself in the hills.
  • The hero later hangs out with an old man who lives in a swamp.
  • The hero finally meets his daddy, and it's a knock-down, drag-out brawl.
  • The hero's daddy never knew his daddy either.
  • The hero's daddy grew up in a junkyard and likes to tinker with things.
  • The hero's daddy knocked a girl up and had to hide it from everyone.
  • Every so often, someone loses a limb.
  • AA isn't specifically mentioned, but everyone is always talking about their higher power.​
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Obama blames failed economy on "phony scandals"

 7/25/2013 6:08 PMPolitics; Humor

​Candidate Obama, apparently unaware that he has been President fo​r the past five years, blames the economy on "phony scandals" and gridlock in Washington:

Obama tries to refocus message on economy amid summer setbacks​

I am curious as to which of these scandals he considers phony: Obama Scandals List​

Bob: “Did you hear about the Obama administration scandal?”

Jim: “You mean the Mexican gun running?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “You mean SEAL Team 6 Extortion 17 and deaths?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “You mean the State Dept. lying about Benghazi?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “You mean the rampant voter fraud?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “You mean the military not getting their votes counted?”  

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “You mean that 3 or 4 of Obama’s Gay boyfriends were mysteriously MURDERED when they came forward with claims he was gay too?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.


Jim: “You mean the president demoralizing and breaking down the military?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “You mean the Boston Bombing?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “The NSA monitoring our phone calls, e-mails and everything else?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “You mean the president wanting to kill Americans with drones in our own country without the benefit of the law?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “Giving 123 Technologies $300 Million and right after it declared bankruptcy it was sold to the Chinese?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “You mean the president arming the Muslim Brotherhood?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “The IRS targeting conservatives?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “The DOJ spying on the press?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “Sebelius shaking down health insurance executives?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “Giving SOLYNDRA $500 MILLION DOLLARS and right after they declared bankruptcy 3 months later the Chinese bought it?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: ” Do you mean the Illegal obamacare fiasco?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “Do you mean ignoring our constitutional rights?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “The NSA monitoring our phone calls, e-mails and everything else?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “The president’s ordering the release of nearly 10,000 illegal immigrants from jails and prisons and falsely blaming the sequester?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “The president’s unconstitutional threat to impose gun control by Executive Order in order to bypass Congress?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “The president’s repeated violation of the law requiring him to submit a budget no later than the first Monday in February?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “The 2012 vote where 115% of all registered voters in some counties voted 100% for Obama?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “The president’s unconstitutional recess appointments in an attempt to circumvent the Senate’s advise-and-consent role?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “The State Department interfering with an Inspector General 

investigation on departmental sexual misconduct?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “HHS employees being given insider information on Medicare Advantage?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “Clinton, the IRS, Clapper and Holder all lying to Congress?” 

Bob: “No, the other one.”


Jim: “I give up! … Oh wait, I think I got it! You mean that 65 

million low-information voters stuck us again with the most corrupt

administration in American history?” 

 

Bob: “THAT’S THE ONE!”​

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Obama wins reelection

 11/7/2012 7:49 AMPolitics
On the plus side, I can finally get that sweet gig at the Ministry of Truth. Remember:

  • Unemployment has always been at ten percent.
  • We have always had blackouts in New York City.
  • Gas has always been over five dollars a gallon.
  • The Senate has never had to submit a budget.
  • We have never used oil, coal, natural gas or nuclear power from here.
  • The President has always been able to serve as many terms as he wants.
  • We have always told companies where they can build their products and how many employees they have to hire.
  • We have always sold guns to our allies in Syria and Mexico.
  • That little incident at Benghazi? Just anger at a video, which we apologized for.
  • We have never been at war with radical or any other kind of Islam.
  • We have always been at war with Israel.​​

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Every human being has unlimited potential

 10/14/2012 1:20 PMPolitics
Every man and woman has the potential to grow, to change, to learn more, to acquire skills, to be better. Stop settling for your lot in life. Stop complaining that you are stuck where you are because of your class, your race, where you were born, how your parents raised you, etc. These are only excuses holding you back.

Stop pretending that because someone else is rich, that you are poor; that someone else has a job, so you do not; that a company is profitable, so yours is not. The world is not a zero-sum game. YOU have the ability to grow yourself, to grow your business, to make things better for you and those who depend on you.

The world owes you nothing, but the opportunity to make your mark upon it. No one owes you a job, a certain wage, an education, a house, health care, or any other material thing. Work for it, apply yourself, discover your hidden talents and develop them, and you will have everything you ever wanted.

Most of all, follow your passions. Discover what you love to do, get someone to pay you to do it, and it will never feel like work again.


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Why a company exists

 10/14/2012 10:20 AMPolitics
A company exists to make money. It hires more employees when it needs them to do work, and lays them off when it no longer needs them. A company has no moral obligation to create jobs, pay taxes, pay a certain wage to its employees, provide insurance, pay for college, sell a product or service you like, offer that product or service at the price you want to pay, make the world a better place, be environmentally friendly, or provide day care.

How much profit a company makes is none of your business, unless you are an investor in that company. When a company makes a profit it is never, ever a bad thing. Society has no moral claim on a company or a man. The only responsibility a company has it to its owners and stockholders. Only the free market determines the actual value of a product, a service, or a wage. Any interference by the government obscures the true value of that thing, and benefits no one.

If you are worth more than the company pays you, demand more, or go work elsewhere. If the company charges too much, offer less, or buy it elsewhere. It is that simple. The market corrects itself, when the government does not interfere. You have no right to a certain wage or a certain price for something, you only have the right to take your business or your skills elsewhere. If your skills are such that you can't make a decent living, improve them until they can. No one is preventing you from improving your value, except a government that wants you to depend on it, instead of yourself.

If the market demands that companies pay higher wages, or insurance, or college, or day care, or sell a product that does something different; the company will respond to the market accordingly. If the market decides that it doesn't want cars that run on gasoline, a company will step forward to offer them. If highly skilled workers demand insurance or day care to work for a company, the company will offer it to keep and attract those workers. Only when it is profitable will a company pursue it. The government forcing a company to offer a product that is not profitable or pay a wage that is not driven by the market is a violation of the free market and obscures the true value of the thing.

We all need to learn the lesson that government has no place interfering in the marketplace. Most people in government only know how government works, most have no idea how companies work. Why are so many willing to trust the government to decide how to build something, how much to charge for something, how much to pay someone for the work they do? Not only is morally wrong for the government to do this, but how can anyone think that government knows better than the free market?​

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Why do I have a web site?

 9/5/2012 8:02 AMFacebook; IT; Twitter
I post on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook. I maintain two lodge web sites. I set this site up just to have a blog, and I don't use it. Go figure.​​
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CigarDoug Twitter Feed

 1/22/2012 8:39 PMCigars; SharePoint; Twitter
My Twitter Feed, @CigarDoug, is now available on my home page. You can also use this link to follow me: http://twitter.com/CigarDoug​​​​
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Using Categories instead of Folders in SharePoint Libraries

 8/24/2011 3:19 PMSharePoint
​A "feature" of a SharePoint Library with folders is that, when you drill down into a folder on the Web Part, you don't have any means to move back up; short of reloading the page.  Instead, I recommend using a "Category" field to group your documents. See the Wiki page below for deta​ils:
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Famous Smoke.com

 8/23/2011 11:18 PMCigars
Decided my last birthday present would be a sampler pack from www.famoussmoke.com​. I have heard their ​ads on XM radio for a year or more now, and I thought, 20 sticks for $20, worth a shot, right?

I will post the results on my Cigar rating page. If at least four or five are any good, I guess it's worth it.​

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Attending Hampton Roads SQL/SharePoint User Group

 8/17/2011 9:52 PMSharePoint
I am at InfoTec in Virginia Beach, listening to one of the speakers at the "Lightning Round" Session. The Hampton Roads SQL Server & SharePoint User Group (HRSSUG) meets on the third Wednesday of every month. They generally have one or two speakers, but this meeting they have several speakers, each giving short presentations. You can find more information on their web site, http://www.hrssug.com.

​​

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Lodge Web Sites now in SP 2010!

 8/13/2011 6:51 PMIT; Masonry; SharePoint
Both of my other web sites, www.oceanview335.com and www.researchlodge.org​, are now in SharePoint 2010! This was a lot of work, as I had to rebuild them from SharePoint 2007 and ASP. This is really exciting for me to work with SP 2010, there is a lot of functionality I need to get familiar with.​​​
​​​​
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Transitions

 8/4/2011 9:04 AMSharePoint
Still trying to get the site converted over, not as straightforward as I thought. More content to come!

Oh, and Happy Birthday to me!​​

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ACID Toast cigar

 8/3/2011 10:00 PMCigars
A friend had ​recommended I try ACID cigars. I was pleasantly surprised by the ACID Toast. I have a list on the "Cigars" tab that rates cigars I have tried, as well as Cigar-related posts on this blog. I will give this a 9.​
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Relative Reference

 7/4/2011 4:05 AMIT; SharePoint
​There are certain macros used to convert a list of lodges from a web site to an Excel spreadsheet.  You must have the Relative Reference button on the toolbar to use relative references in macros:
 
  ActiveCell.Offset(-1, -1).Range("A1").Select
 
Without relative reference, a macro that selects cell "A3" will ALWAYS select cell "A3", regardless of what cell you start the macro from.  When you record a macro, the Relative Reference toolbar button is displayed in the popup menu.  Copy it to a toolbar menu and save your Excel spreadsheet.  The button will then be available in the future.  If you record a macro and Relative Reference is not enabled, click the Relative Reference button and record the macro again.
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Paste Hyperlink

 7/4/2011 4:04 AMIT; SharePoint
​To pull the hyperlink from one cell and paste the URL into the adjoining cell, paste this code into a macro:
 
    If ActiveCell.Hyperlinks.Count > 0 Then
        ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Range("A1").Value = ActiveCell.Hyperlinks(1).Address
    End If
    ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Range("A1").Select
 
If your cursor is in cell B1 when you run this macro, the hyperlink from B1 is copied to C1, and the cursor is moved to C1.  By using a shortcut key, such as Ctrl-Q, you can quickly move through all rows in your spreadsheet.


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Conversion to SharePoint Foundation underway

 6/23/2011 8:42 PMIT; SharePoint
I am upgrading all my various sites from ASP.NET or WSS to SharePoint ​Foundation 2010. I am really impressed how Microsoft actually LISTENED when they did an upgrade, many of the OOTB features are things I had to kludge write the correct code for, before.  Excellent job.

The best part is, you can install SharePoint Foundation 2010 (the free version, think of WSS) on a Windows 7 platform. This means, I can have SP 2010 and Visual Studio 2008 on my laptop. Way cool.

Anyway, this week I have been converting over my blog, which was not an easy task. I have tried to correct links, formatting, etc. as I went along. When I first wrote my blog, I wrote the code myself in VB.NET, because I wanted to figure it out myself.  Now, I will let SP do the heavy lifting.  I look forward to seeing comments on my blog posts.

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Web Site Hosting

 5/11/2011 8:05 AMIT; SharePoint
 

I am looking for a new company to host several web sites. The plan must include:

-- Sharepoint 2010 Foundation (free version)

-- SQL Server

-- ASP.NET

-- Shopping Cart - Specifically to allow users to make credit card purchases, including subscriptions to the site.

I have been looking, but have not been successful in finding the right company.

Also, my current provider seems to have some email issues with google, I fear their IPs may be blacklisted. Long story short, their email forwarding and lists are hit or miss, and I need reliable email services.

If you don't follow all the technical jargon here, don't sweat it. If you or someone you know has a web site, just email me the address and I will check the specs myself. Click ""Send Email"" to contact me. Thank you! (UPDATE: Email link disabled.)

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CigarDoug now on Twitter

 4/2/2011 2:07 PMFacebook; Twitter
So I've been on Facebook almost two years now. For some reason, I guess I thought I needed to keep my posts to 140 characters or less, so I joined the ranks of Twitter.
 
Follow me at http://twitter.com/CigarDoug. I know, I know, CigarDoug isn't how many of you know me, but my usual handles were taken. By the way, http://tweexchange.com/ doesn't WORK, they said every single name I tried was unavailable. Best to just try to create an account until you get one!​​
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Job Search

 3/15/2011 11:40 AMIT; SharePoint

​If you have found this site based on my resume, thank you for visiting my site. I have designed web sites since 1995, starting with HTML and JavaScript, later ASP and ASP.NET, and most recently using SharePoint, both the free version (WSS) and the Enterprise version (MOSS). I also have a great deal of experience with CSS, VBScript, DHTML, XML, XSL and XSLT.

This site was built with ASP.NET. When blog sites became popular, I created my own just to see how they work. Please look around.

Here are other samples of my work:

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Nine years ago...

 9/9/2010 12:00 PMPolitics

I wanted to post this picture again, in advance of the nine year anniversary. Nice to know they plan to have construction finished by the TEN YEAR anniversary. I just hope that mosque doesn't get built there, I think many people in this country don't get the real significance if we let that go through...​​

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President Bush surprises the troops

 8/12/2010 11:52 AMPolitics
 ​

President Bush greets U.S. Soldiers at Dallas/Fort Worth airport.

 
 
I'd forgotten what a President with class looked like.
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Where The Wild Things Are

 4/11/2010 1:56 PMSurfendipity
​​​

I just reread the book after seeing the movie. I think there are eight monsters in ""Where the Wild Things Are"", the book; but only seven in the movie. Or am​ I be​ing too nitpicky? In this picture, the left-most and the right-most monster could be Ira, but they appear in this picture together!​

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Obama's Nuclear Policy

 4/9/2010 12:16 PMComics; Politics

I liked it better when we had a President who couldn't PRONOUNCE it, but at least knew it was important to have...​

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Doing my part to free up parking spaces

 3/23/2010 2:10 PMHumor
​​​

During the recent Maryland snow storm, we had quite a few parking spaces where the snow plow drivers just pushed the ice & snow into a pile. To help reclaim the spaces, I drove over them every day, and my coworker Doug Miller caught me in the act.​

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The REAL reason R2D2's memory wasn't erased

 3/4/2010 12:53 PMSciFi/Fantasy

Star Wars finally makes sense!!! Here is the backstory on ​R2D2 and Chewbacca: http://www.morningstar.nildram.co.uk/A_New_Sith.html

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The cartoon to kill for

 3/1/2010 7:27 AMComics; Politics

This cartoon got several people killed, and western newspapers line up to appease Islamic extremists and throw away the right of free speech: http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/1296/Westergaard-I-Fear-This-Is-a-Setback-for-the-Freedom-of-Speech.aspx

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Part of the Queue

 10/5/2009 1:30 PMComics
​​​
Winston Roundtree, who pens the amazing comic Subnormality!, has done it again with this week's comic, "Part of the Queue". I first discovered Subnormality! via a link from a blog to Winston's Nazi-Time-Traveler comic, then devoted an hour to reading the rest of the comics in the series. You may want to see the other comics I recommend. UPDATE: Look for the Links list on the home page.
 
If you read this blog late, the comic in question is always available here. There is a new comic every Monday, hopefully, and the main link to Subnormality! will show the most recent comic.
 
Click on "Leave a comment" to read the comments for that week.
 
I should mention that Winston Roundtree is likely a pen name (or the online equivalent - electron name?) for the author.​
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How to be an expert

 10/3/2009 6:07 PMIT; SharePoint; SQL; Surfendipity
I came across this picture while surfing the net; actually while deleting old bookmarks on my new desktop computer. I really like Windows 7, which I installed on my brand new laptop, so I am going to slick the desktop and install Windows 7 instead of Vista. Before I do that, I really needed to cleanup the backup of a backup of the documents folder of the backup from three computers ago - you know what I mean? Anyway, looking at one bookmarks made me do a search, and I found this image by accident; I think it really captures the essence of programming. Probably other career fields as well that require creativity as well.
 
And yes, I am definitely in the Kicking Ass threshold. If only I figured that out a few years back, I would where I am now, um, back then.

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30 Creative Resumes for Designers

 9/24/2009 12:24 PMIT; SharePoint; Surfendipity
More surfendipity: Came across this collection of creative resumes actually submitted by designers. I would hope the person hiring would appreciate the creativity in stepping outside the black & white resume box. If not, I hope these designers kept looking for a better gig.
 
 
Found the link while reading www.thedailywtf.com, specifically this article about how not to submit a cover letter.

 

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Scientists photograph pentacene molecule

 8/31/2009 8:59 AMScience
​​

This is the smaller "picture" ever taken - of a single molecule!​

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Ted Kennedy dead at 77

 8/26/2009 8:37 AMHumor; Politics

No word yet on whether the esteemed Senator will run for another term...​

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Farm Town - The link that may have brought you here

 8/19/2009 3:01 AMFacebook; Masonry
​​
Since my blog is in date order, scroll down if you just arrived. I have been documenting my Farm Town from Facebook - www.facebook.com/christopher.w.douglas. This is a screen shot of the Crown of Thorns that spell out my web address, since there is no easy way from Farm Town to visit a user's home page. I got bored with the regular plow & harvest and tried to express my creative site using the tools at hand to make Masonic emblems in my farm. This will be an ongoing effort.

 

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Farm Town - 3, 5 and 7 steps

 8/19/2009 2:58 AMFacebook; Masonry

Here are fences marking out three, five, and seven steps, of significance to any Mason. I put mostly livestock in the pens, I have not enough yet to sacrifice a hecatomb. I do need to point out the fields planted in the first three steps represent Corn, Wine (Grapes), and Oil (Sunflowers produce Sunflower Oil). Once all three are in bloom I will repost.​

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Farm Town - The Plumb

 8/19/2009 2:54 AMFacebook; Masonry

Behold, a Plumb Line, made of Apple, Orange, and Pear Trees, with the scarecrow with a plumbline in his hand. Actually that are path pieces making the line.​

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Farm Town - The Level

 8/19/2009 2:53 AMFacebook; Masonry

This is a level from Plum Trees. It needs more work.​

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Farm Town - The Square

 8/19/2009 2:52 AMFacebook; Masonry

This view shows the square made of Mango Trees, above the square and compasses (currently plowed and Wheat, Wheat gives the best result, haven't found an ideal crop for the compasses). Daffodils make the G, I probably need to fill those in.​

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Farming Masonic Symbols

 8/19/2009 2:41 AMFacebook; Masonry
I have gotten swept up in Facebook the last few months, my page is www.facebook.com/christopher.w.douglas and I am really enjoying the applications there. Carri is hooked as well, we both spend way too much time on Mafia Wars. In Farm Town, I got bored (she made level 34 and bought a mansion... big whoop!) playing the normal way, so I am expressing myself creatively with the tools available. If you play Farm Town, you can see it by visiting Farmer Doug. I will make some more screen caps to explain what I am doing. I did spell out douglasweb.com in Crown of Thorns, so welcome to anyone visiting by reading my flowers! As you can see, there is a square and compasses in the middle of the original farm space, I have a square, plumb, and level surrounding. More details to follow...
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Who would you rather have a beer with?

 7/31/2009 5:38 PMHumor; Politics
To quote Rich Lowry, of National Review Online's The Corner:
 
The conscientious guy, concerned with helping those around him? Or the oblivious guy, striding majestically alone?
 
Original source: The American Thinker
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Destino - the love child of Salvadore Dali and Walt Disney

 7/10/2009 7:58 AMSciFi/Fantasy; Surfendipity
​​

It is exactly what you would _THINK_ a collaboration between Disney and Dali would produce: Destino.​

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Surfendipity strikes again

 7/10/2009 7:55 AMScience; Surfendipity

While looking at this site, A Paper Craft Castle On the Ocean, which shows the incredible work shown above, I was intrigued by where this is on display: Umihotaru, a floating parking lot/shopping mall/rest stop in the middle of Tokyo Bay. Pretty wild. Lots to be seen on the Interweb.​

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Sarah Palin to resign as Governor

 7/6/2009 12:11 PMPolitics
Sarah Palin announced on Friday that she was stepping down as Alaska governor. I predict she is doing this in order to (a) raise money, (b) campaign for conservative candidates in 2010; and if successful with a and b, (c) run for President in 2012.
 
Expect to hear even more criticism for this decision. I admit, short-term, it makes her look bad and it is easy to label her a quitter. I have never seen such hate and vitriol against anyone in politics, even against President Bush. I am also surprised at the amount of heat she gets from her own party. Obviously, people are afraid of her, from the Ubama (peace be upon him) White House to the country club Republicans who thought John McCain was the ideal candidate (and blame HER for his loss). I say, wait and see. If she becomes the voice of the conservative movement, we could do far worse (ahem, Michael Steele).
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Sanford: Unfaithful to wife with "dear friend"

 6/24/2009 3:51 PMPolitics
​COLUMBIA, SC (WMBF) - Gov. Mark Sanford says he is publicly apologizing for letting down South Carolinians after admitting he was having an affair during a press conference at the statehouse in Columbia Wednesday.
 
 
My observation: Having an affair during a press conference is rather risky. There are lots of reporters with cameras there, I think they would eventually notice.

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David Letterman makes jokes about Palin's daughter

 6/15/2009 8:53 AMPolitics
The king of tired, offensive, late night comedy, David Letterman, tells jokes about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and her daughters, including one about A-Rod impregnating her 14 year old during a seventh-inning stretch.
 
What class.
 
 
It is quite revealing about the left that even though McCain lost, and they (the left) blame Sarah Palin for him losing; they still can't stop talking about her and running her down. I think it's because they are scared to death of her and what she represents. Time will tell.

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What kind of imbecile...

 4/29/2009 7:47 AMPolitics

Thinks that flying Air Force One over New York City, after 9/11, is a _GOOD_ idea? Clearly our current president, who now claims that his office had no idea this was going to happen. I actually think that's worse.

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Here's your president

 4/27/2009 8:16 AMPolitics

 

And what liberals think of him (just don't ask what they think about the REAL savior).
 
From newscom.com: "The Truth" by Painter Michael D'Antuono which will be unveiled on President Obama's 100th Day in Office at NYC's Union Square.

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Join the Movement

 3/27/2009 1:18 AMFamily
​​

Download Banners

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Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog

 2/27/2009 9:51 AMIT; SharePoint

I attended SharePoint Admin & Troubleshooting training this week in Washington, DC. One of the gems I picked up was the Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog, a great source of info for SharePoint developers. I am currently developing SharePoint apps for my client, and am looking at using it for my web site and the masonic web sites I created. If you see a major change in this site, it's because of SharePoint. As much as I like developing in ASP.NET, there are capabilities SharePoint provides that make web development easier.​

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Nifty Little Web Sites

 1/23/2009 6:20 PMMasonry

​So, I finally bought a new desktop from Dell, I am on the bleeding edge for a little while once more. In transferring my old files from the laptop, I imported a lot of imbedded favorites for IE (Chris -> Old Bookmarks -> Chris -> Old Bookmarks -> etc.). I was able to delete most of them, found out that Vista does not make deleting bookmarks easy. Anyway, found this link of some VERY small web sites, they are worth a look:

 
Nifty little We​b sites (link expired)
 
By Adam Gaffin
Network World Fusion, 05/29/02
 
We're talking really little here:
 
WildMag's 256b.htm Compo is a competition to build Web pages or resources in 256 bytes or less.
 
guimp bills itself as the world's smallest Web site. Guaranteed eyestrain even on a 21-inch monitor, but fully functional games and even a Google searchbox all within a one-inch frame.  (link expired)
 
OK, TableArt isn't necessarily small, but it is different: An online art exhibit of the fun things you can do with HTML tables. (link expired)

 

​​

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Awesome XKCD comic

 1/14/2009 11:33 AMComics
I should do more with my blog than just quote other people's brilliance, but some things must be repeated.
 
http://xkcd.com <-- to give credit yet again.​
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Isaac's third Birthday!

 1/6/2009 2:52 PMFamily
 

Isaac turns three years old today. We are taking him to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate.​

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For the true Star Wars geek...

 11/17/2008 1:22 PMSciFi/Fantasy
This video is a very well done interweaving of movie themes.
John Williams is the man, indeed.

 

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An Area of Darkness

 11/17/2008 9:30 AMPolitics
Just read a great column by Jay Nordlinger in National Review Online, comparing the rise during the Cold War of "Soviet Studies" in American colleges and universities, purportedly to combat the threat of the Soviet Union. Trouble was, a lot of college professors were sympathetic to Communism and the Soviets, so we got a got of Soviet apologists for our trouble.
 
Fast forward to today and the threat of Islamofacism, where we really need experts on the Middle East and Islam, and the same problem emerges:
Professors of Middle East studies would be very helpful right about now. But they are, unfortunately, among the worst of the lot: among the worst in the American professoriate. A range of departments, of course, is the province of radicals and ideologues, rather than genuine scholars. But departments of Middle East studies may take the cake.
 
Here is the article:
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Wolfgang's Vault

 11/17/2008 8:35 AMIT
​I found this web site that has a LOT of rock concerts from the 60's and 70's, that you can play streaming for free. Streaming has come a long way, there used to be a lot of buffering delays. If you are still using dial-up, well, you have bigger issues anyway. The place is Wolfgang's Vault, the music is free when you create an account, and I have only got one email from them, so I don't think they are a spam factory. Here is the link:
 
 
I found quite a few Grateful Dead concerts on there, and now that XM Radio has merged with Sirius, they have several band-specific channels, such as a Grateful Dead channel, a Led Zeppelin channel, a Jimmy Buffet channel (unfortunately, that one seems to play anything but Buffet right now), and a Springsteen channel. If you have an XM account, the streaming music is free, which is great for me at work. If you have Sirius, I understand they have streaming online as well. Who needs CDs, anymore?

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Our new Affirmative Action President

 11/5/2008 7:57 AMPolitics
Well, history has been made. America has elected it's first black President.
 
Also, it's most hopelessly unqualified Presid​ent,
it's most socialist President,
it's most under-investigated President.
 
We see the results of Bush Derangement Syndrome. Over the next four years, America will learn about the pig in a poke they bought.
 
I hope the nation will survive.
 
Fortunately, my little blog is too small to be noticed, but watch what happens to talk radio and right-wing web sites under Obama's benevolent leadership. It won't be pretty.
 
All hail the Fairness Doctrine!
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Happy Halloween!

 10/31/2008 1:39 PMTimewasters
 
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Bill Ayers - 'Reformed' Terrorist

 10/20/2008 1:03 PMComics; Politics
​​

​ ​
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After seven years...

 9/11/2008 2:32 PMPolitics
​​​​​

​ ​
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The Seventh Anniversary of 9-11

 9/11/2008 2:31 PMComics; Politics

Seven years without another attack on American soil. Way to go, Mr. President.

 ​​

​​
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Sarah Palin energizes the GOP

 9/9/2008 5:15 PMComics; Politics

 

Despite what many on the left are saying isn't happening, Gov. Palin (the jury is still out on PAH-lin versus PAY-lin, I am pronouncing it as if Michael Palin of Monty Python fame were her older brother) has energized the Republican base. Speaking as a focus group of one, I was resigned to the idea of McCain as our nominee. I believe I expressed it to my coworkers as, "If it HAS to be a liberal, big-government democrat in the White House, it might as well be McCain". Governor Palin has changed all that. I must admit how shrewd McCain is to have chosen her, she is the ideal candidate to counter the Obamessiah's campaign. I think Mitt Romney might have been a better VP, but she has a better chance of helping win the election.
 
This is the most interesting presidential campaign I can remember. I have been more enthusiastic about other candidates (Reagan, both times) but I have never been more intrigued by the twists and turns of this election.
 
Credit for the comic to Michael Ramirez at Investor's Business Daily. UPDATE: You can find his link under "Comics" in the Links list on the home page.

 ​​

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walk MS Event in Chesapeake

 9/1/2008 9:10 AMFamily
Many of you know that my wife, Carri, was diagnosed with Multiple Schlerosis (MS) just over a year ago, after suffering for over ten years without knowing the cause. We are participating in the walk MS Event in Chesapeake, VA on Sunday, September 21st.
 
​ ​​
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McCain picks Sarah Palin as his VP!

 8/29/2008 12:26 PMPolitics
John McCain picks the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, as his running mate - a conservative with more executive experience than McCain, Obama, and Biden put together!
 
UPDATE 5/30/2013: After five+ years of the collosal faillure of the Obama Administration, the above statement is STILL true!
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Cigar Ratings

 8/17/2008 9:46 PMCigars

I need something to track cigars, I'm starting with this.
 
BOCK Y CA - CostCo - Very good cheap cigar. $37.50 for a box of 20, $2 a cigar. Excellent for the price. I believe these were Lonsdales, based on my recent trip to JR Cigars in North Carolina.
 
Private Stock #6 - Harsh, not much flavor, unsatisfying. $3.
 
Macanudo Duke of York - Okay, nice flavor, long smoke (45 minutes) but not as good as other Macanudos. Around $6. Larger ring than I am used to now, although most Churchill cigars are good. Would pick another Macanudo.
 
Churchills last about an hour, I like a cigar to last 30 - 45 minutes.
 
Excalibur III - Strong, flavorful, good pull, long lasting, heady smoke.
 
Ashton 8-9-8 - Mellow smoke, nice flavor, a bit mild for my taste.
 
UPDATE: I bought more BOCK Y CA cigars at JR's in North Carolina, excellent deal on bundles.
 
BOCK Y CA Robusto - The shortest of the three, bold, strong flavor, lasted 45 minutes, surprising for the size. Length 4.50, Ring 50, according to JR Cigars web site. A larger ring size than some others I smoked recently, a real nice cigar overall.
 
BOCK Y CA Corona - Slightly longer than the Robusto, haven't opened the bundle yet (My cigar box runneth over, I bought three bundles yesterday). Length 5.62, Ring 45. Looking forward to trying these as well. A decent smoke, good flavor. I think I prefer the Robusto of the three, but this is comparable.
 
BOCK Y CA Lonsdale - Pretty sure these were the ones from CostCo, but even cheaper at JR's. Length 6.5, Ring 44. A good mellow flavor, but still strong. All three of these rated medium strength by JR's. My least favorite of the three. I now think the box I bought at CostCo was Double Coronas, preferable to the Lonsdale. Further consumption tells me that the Lonsdales are a little weak, hard to draw. I don't think I would buy these again, but I have a lot of each to try, so they may grow on me.

 ​​

​UPDATE 5/30/2014: See the "Cigars" tab on the site for the new info.
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Wormy

 8/14/2008 3:40 PMComics; SciFi/Fantasy

So, reading the What's New comics has taken me down memory lane, thinking of the classic Dragon magazine and the unreal comics that ran over the years. An image of Wormy the dragon was in one of the What's New comics, and it of course inspired me to look online for a Wormy Archive.
 
The Wikipedia Entry for David Trampier, the artist who penned Wormy, tells of the cryptic message in Dragon magazine:
 
In issue #136, in response to a reader letter, the Dragon editors wrote: "We regret to announce that 'Wormy' will no longer be appearing in DRAGON Magazine. We are looking into the possibility of adding another graphic series in the future."
 
It details the mystery of David Trampier's disappearance and the rumors of him driving a taxi in Illinois. A google search for Wormy finds several dead links, but the link below appears to have many of the comics faithfully preserved:
 
​​
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The 100 Most Common English Words

 8/14/2008 12:05 PMTimewasters
​​​ See​ how many of the 100 most common words in the English language you can guess in 5 minutes...
 
 
(I got 47 out of a 100)

 ​​

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The War in Iraq Is Over.

 8/12/2008 5:20 PMPolitics
What Next?
 ​​
This article by Bing West details how much the situation on the ground in Iraq has changed, and why it is critical not to draw down for the sake of drawing down, as the Obamessiah would have us do:
 
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What's New

 8/12/2008 1:03 PMComics; SciFi/Fantasy

I used to read Dragon magazine, back when I was in high school and played a lot of D&D. I was looking for a new online comic to read, and I thought of What's New with Phil & Dixie, which ran in the back of Dragon magazine for years. If you are into role-playing games, you will enjoy this strip.
 
It is also listed on the links to the right of the page, under "Comics".
 
UPDATE: They finally ran the Sex and D&D episode of What's New! For those new to the comic, they constantly teased having a "Sex and D&D" episode, here it is.

 ​​

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Happy Birthday to me

 8/4/2008 7:49 AMFamily; Humor
​​
I'll try not to think about how pathetic it is to mention your own birthday on your blog, but here it is. Happy Birthday to me!
 
This past weekend, I wanted to go camping, so we stayed at Country Acres near Lancaster, PA. It's a nice campground with a pool, and grass instead of dirt for a campsite, which is what I'm used to in Virginia. Someday I'll look for campsites in Maryland, I guess.
 
Some presents are better than others, as my hardware geek friends can attest.​​
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Executing Stored Procedure from Query Analyzer

 8/1/2008 12:30 PMIT; SQL
​To execute a Stored Procedure from Query Analyzer, either declare your variables or simply type them out, as shown: 
EXEC P_MyProc '1', 'First', 'Last'
 
To assign an output variable, declare the variable and specify it as OUTPUT in the execution, then SELECT the variable to see its value:
 
DECLARE @NewID integer
 
EXEC P_MyProc @NewID OUTPUT, 'First', 'Last'
 
SELECT @NewID
 
Query Analyzer will display a grid with the value of @NewID as the only cell.​​
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CREATE TABLE in SQL

 7/28/2008 9:30 AMIT; SQL
​To create a new table in SQL: ​​
CREATE TABLE Trestleboards (
GID INT IDENTITY(1, 1) PRIMARY KEY,
Title VARCHAR(50),
PublishDate DATETIME NOT NULL CONSTRAINT DF_t1_PublishDate DEFAULT GETDATE(),
Document IMAGE
)​​
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The Website is Down!

 7/3/2008 8:35 AMIT; Humor

This is a very funny video, but only if you are an IT person. (Some adult language)
 
 
UPDATE: There are now four videos at www.thewebsiteisdown.com.​​
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Final Views

 5/26/2008 5:11 PMDIY

​Angle 1

 
 
 
Angle 2
 
 
 
Angle 3
 

 

So, this project is now done. It was really hard getting the stones to sit level and not rock, I will probably have to adjust them after it rains. But, the porch is now ready to use!​
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Retaining Wall

 5/26/2008 5:09 PMDIY

I used a LOT of these bricks, I wrapped a corner with them, I think it came out real nice.​
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The two steps

 5/26/2008 5:08 PMDIY

I made two steps to break up the drop in height, Isaac has to step UP to make it, but he does OK.​​
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Top of Steps

 5/26/2008 5:05 PMDIY
This is the view from the top of the wooden porch.

 ​​

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Busy Weekend

 5/26/2008 5:04 PMDIY

My helper is putting on his work boots to finish the job! After weeks of rain delays, three days of 70+ degree weather gives us time to wrap things up!​
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The Degree Confluence Project

 5/21/2008 11:41 AMScience; Surfendipity

​Another example of Surfendipity - I found The Degree Confluence Project. From their website:

The goal of the project is to visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and t​​o take pictures at each location. The pictures, and stories about the visits, will then be posted here.
 
Some interesting pictures, if you ever wondered what things looked like in Mali or Vologodskaya. Most of the confluences in the United States have already been explored, of course. If you have a GPS and a strong urge to see XXX.000000' by YYY.000000', find the confluence nearest you!​​
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Sweeping up

 5/14/2008 11:35 PMDIY

 

My helper is back. I haven't taken many pictures of Isaac helping me, because this work is downright filthy, and I don't want to handle the video camera (doubles as digital camera) when I am working. Isaac did the cutest thing... I watched him step on the lip of his shovel to drive it into the ground, like he watched me do countless times. It is amazing how imitative he is.

 ​​

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Laying Bricks

 5/14/2008 11:33 PMDIY
I had to realign the short retaining wall, kind of embarrassing that a Mason couldn't make a square... oh well...

 ​​

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Laying Sand

 5/14/2008 11:32 PMDIY
Finally levelled the extreme edge​ and layed sand, now have to see how hard it is to lay paving stones properly. I will be rained out for a week after this weekend, so work will be delayed again.​
​​
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Close up of Steps

 5/13/2008 11:31 PMDIY
I decided to have two or three steps at this end of the patio, to minimize the steep drop off from one corner of the patio to the other. I still have 16 feet by 8 feet for the main surface, which should be plenty.​
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Hair Club for Men is still growing!

 5/13/2008 11:28 PMDIY

This part is finished, while the patio seems like it never will be. The grass has mostly recovered, I have weed whacked it and in parts it is almost seamless with the rest of the lawn. It is level, which is an improvement over the deep slope that had been there.​
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Work resumes after rain delay

 5/13/2008 11:26 PMDIY

​Angle 1​

 

Angle 2

 

Note that the extra dirt has been removed, and I am levelling the ground to start pouring sand and laying bricks. Finally!​
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xkcd

 5/13/2008 9:51 AMComics
​​
xkcd is a very funny comic.​
​​
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Top view of full scalp

 5/1/2008 11:26 PMDIY

​​​

​​
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Hair Club for Men is finished!

 5/1/2008 11:25 PMDIY
The grass transplanting to the corner of the yard that had a serious dip is now finished. I made the mistake of mowing a portion, didn't work well. I will have to weed whack for a while until the ground hardens. Most of the grass is still growing, thankfully.​
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Angle 2 of full scalp

 5/1/2008 11:22 PMDIY
You can see the dirt in the middle, mo​st of that is going under the deck until the project is finished. My levelling was right, but the overall angle of the wall needed adjusting.

​ ​

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Most scalping finished

 5/1/2008 11:21 PMDIY
Had delays due to rain, the retaining wall is laid out and most of the grass has been 'scalped'. The effort now is to level this ground.​
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New Angle

 4/18/2008 11:18 PMDIY
This shot is at the foot of the porch, showing the overall scope of the deck. I still have a LOT of grass to cut out before I can level the dirt.​
​​
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Hair Club for Men coming along

 4/18/2008 11:16 PMDIY
​​​​​​
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Building the retaining wall

 4/18/2008 11:15 PMDIY

​Angle 1

 ​

Angle 2

​​​

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The Impossible Quiz

 4/16/2008 5:09 PMTimewasters
​Nothing is really impossible, but you have to start this over and over again... the answers make sense the third or fourth time you answer them...
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Levelling the ground

 4/13/2008 8:10 PMDIY
Here I am getting a level reading from one point to anot​her, to see how far down I have to dig the far corner. It turns out I start in the lowest corner and work my way uphill.​
​ ​
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Angle 1 as we start digging

 4/13/2008 8:00 PMDIY

My helper isn't in any pictures for a while, but rest assured he helped move dirt around - usually to the wrong place. This is Angle 1 when I first start digging the trench for the retaining wall. The ground really sloped bad, I have about 18" difference from the high point to the low point of the patio, which I need to be level.​
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Angle 3 - Hair Club for Men

 4/5/2008 9:30 PMDIY

This is the back corner of the yard, the ground really slopes bad. I plan to take the scalped lawn from where I am digging and replanting it here to smooth things out. I have never done anything like this, so we'll see it if the grass takes root.​
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Angle 2 before we start

 4/5/2008 9:25 PMDIY

This view is from the corner of the yard, near the Hair Club for Men project.​
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Angle 1 before we start

 4/5/2008 9:20 PMDIY

Before I have done anything. This angle is facing the deck, at the top of the steps to the basement.​
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New patio - more materials

 4/5/2008 9:15 PMDIY

My helper also brought in the sand to keep the bricks in place and put them in the basement.​
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New patio - getting ready

 4/5/2008 9:10 PMDIY

Here my helper has offloaded all the bricks, and he is admiring his work.​
​​
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My helper

 4/5/2008 9:00 PMDIY

Here is a closeup of my helper, taking a break before moving the rest of the bricks.​
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New patio

 4/5/2008 8:30 PMDIY

 ​​

I am building a patio in our backyard at the new house, here is one of my helpers sizing up the job before we get started.​
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The Top Ten Sci-Fi Films That Never Existed

 3/21/2008 2:59 PMSciFi/Fantasy; Surfendipity

UPDATE: Pointless waste of time was assimilated by Cracked since I first posted this. Go figure, never thought Cracked would turn out to be the Borg.
 
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E. Gary Gygax, R.I.P.

 3/4/2008 6:09 PMSciFi/Fantasy

This is almost too much. A scant week after William F. Buckley passes, E. Gary Gygax dies as well. Bill Buckley influenced me later in life, Gary Gygax from the time I was twelve and started playing D&D (Dungeons & Dragons). Role playing games in general were the major influence in my life through junior and senior high. Like most players, life, job, career, girls and other interests caused me to drift away over time, but I still remember all that dice rolling fondly. I'd like to say that I met my wife wife playing D&D and we still have a weekly game, but such was not the case. I know it was for some of my friends.
 
Some of the best times of my life were playing D&D and other games. Gygax had an influence on thousands and thousands of kids through the games he invented. There have been many copies and games influenced by D&D, all have good and bad points. Many computer games are patterned after D&D as well. But, there was nothing like it before it. He basically invented a whole substrata of gaming and entertainment. He will be sadly missed.
 
To quote abductee Blaine Faulkner from the X-Files episode Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space': "Well, hey, I didn't spend all those years playing Dungeons and Dragons and not learn a little something about courage".​
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Reagan and Buckley

 2/28/2008 2:20 PMPolitics

This speech was delivered by President Ronald Reagan at National Review's 30th anniversary dinner on December 5, 1985.
 
William F. Buckley was asked once what position he wou​ld prefer in the (new) Reagan Administration. He replied, "Ventriloquist".​
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William F. Buckley, R.I.P.

 2/28/2008 2:17 PMPolitics

The heart and soul of National Review and father of modern conservatism has passed on. NRO has a tribute going on, naturally, but I could not find a link that will not fade as time passes. This search of NRO will probably suffice, if you read this link in a few days.
 
UPDATE: Here is an updated list on National Review of memorials and obituaries. ​​
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“Guess which one is the cell tower.”

 2/22/2008 2:48 PMComics

Got a nice chuckle from this cartoon in the New Yorker.
 
The Cartoon Bank, by the way, is a great source of cartoons from the New Yorker. The have a very robust search engine. I always read the New Yorker from back to front, just reading the cartoons, then flip front to back to read the occasional article. It's fun to read the liberal spin on how badly the economy is, how we have lost the war, how every soldier was trained at Abu Graib, etc., etc.
 
Well, at least the cartoons make sense, usually.​​
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The Democratic Race So Far...

 2/22/2008 10:56 AMPolitics

Just saw a priceless quip from Michael Graham on The Corner:
 
"It's an amazing dichotomy. Hillary Clinton right now could announce she's handing out $100 bills and people would yawn. Barack could then announce he's taking the 100 bucks away, and people in the crowd would faint with excitement.​"
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The Battle of Pelennor Fields

 1/15/2008 12:27 PMSciFi/Fantasy; Surfendipity

It is my privilege as always to show someone geekier than me, with clearly more time on their hands. This guy built the battle of Minas Tirith (from the Lord of the Rings) out of... candy.​
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The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz

 12/26/2007 3:32 PMSciFi/Fantasy; Timewasters
Take the Sci fi sounds quiz I received 92 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?​
​ ​
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Our congress at work

 12/24/2007 1:41 PMComics; Politics
More cartoons by Mic​hael Ramirez. UPDATE: See the Links list on the home page.​​
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Free Rice!

 11/20/2007 11:20 AMTimewasters

Yes, YOU can help the starving in Africa. Seriously. Play this Vocabulary Game, and ten grains of rice are donated for every word you get right.
 
 
You see a word with four definitions. Guess the right definition, and your bowl gets ten grains of rice. Every 100 grains and you get a little '100' to the side. OK, not exactly X-Box 360 level graphics, but those grains of rice are donated to a starving person somewhere by the sponsors on the page.
 
Improve your vocabulary! Play Free Rice!
 
Update: They have a Vocabulary level that increases 1 point for every three correct words in a row, and decreases 1 point for each wrong word.​
​ ​
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Campaign Contributions

 11/16/2007 5:06 PMPolitics
​This is a pretty cool map, showing where presidential candidates are getting donations from. Very interactive web application.

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Grant Permissions to SQL Table

 11/14/2007 5:07 PMIT; SQL
​To grant permissions from SQL, use the following syntax:
 ​​
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON tblPersonnel
TO UserRole
 
You can specify a Role, as in the above example, or a specific user. I would recommend using Roles.
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Retrieving counts of records from SQL database

 11/9/2007 11:14 AMIT; SQL
​If you want to find multiple occurence of a field in a table, using the following SQL:
 

SELECT txtSSN, COUNT(txtSSN) FROM tblPersonnel

GROUP BY txtSSN

ORDER BY COUNT(txtSSN) DESC

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Thanks and Praise

 11/8/2007 5:17 PMComics; Politics

Chris Muir hits the target again at www.daybydaycartoon.com.
 
Michael Yon reports from Iraq:
 
A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from “Chosen” Company 2-12 Infantry to the church, where I videotaped as Muslims and Christians worked and rejoiced at the reopening of St John’s, an occasion all viewed as a sign of hope.
 
The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. ” Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers. (Videotape to follow.) 
 
Read the Michael Yon story here.
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Update one table from another in SQL Server

 11/7/2007 1:45 PMIT; SQL

​This is to help my OWN memory. To add data from one table to the matching recor​d in another table, use this SQL: 

UPDATE Groups SET Address = Lodges.Address,

City = Lodges.City,

Meetings = Lodges.MeetingDay + ' ' + MeetingTime

From Lodges

Where Lodges.Title = Groups.Title

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The Old Man of the Mountain

 10/26/2007 11:35 AMSurfendipity

 

Surfendipity - A term I coined where when looking for one thing on the Internet, I find some fascinating or interesting item I had not heard of before. My latest example of Surfendipity is The Old Man of the Mountain, a granite formation in New Hampshire that collapsed in 2003.

 
One of the more interesting points of the story is that a task force led by the former Governor, after shooting down the idea of a plastic replica to replace the rock formation, had coin-operated viewfinders installed near the site, that superimposed an image of the face BEFORE the collapse!
 
So, how did I come across this story? I was reading about Breezewood, PA on wikipedia and found a related story about gaps on Interstate Highways.
 
I would heartily recommend Wikipedia as a source for useless information. The power and scope of the Internet is only made possible by fans and devotees of trivia and facts only important to a small few. What greater tribute to an obscure television show than a fan spending hours of his spare time creating a web site? If only the government and big business had web sites, the Internet would be a very boring place.​
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Lousy T-Shirt

 10/23/2007 3:28 PMPolitics

 ​

I read about this T-Shirt in Jay Nordlinger's column, Impromptus.
 
A quick google search found it here, at www.thoseshirts.com.
 
By the way, Jay's column is an excellent source for skewering liberal double standards, tidbits about American culture, language items, and for reading about human rights abuses in Cuba, China and elsewhere. Hardly the sort of information you will find in the Dinosaur Media. I heartily recommend him.​
​​
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Beijing’s Demonstration Sports

 10/17/2007 12:46 PMPolitics

John Derbyshire at National Review Online has a terrific article on the upcoming Beijing Olympics. It is amazing that we live in a world that pays lip service to human rights and yet awards the prestigious Olymics to a murderous, tyrannical regime like China.​
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Congress vs. the war on Terror

 10/10/2007 4:00 PMComics; Politics

This cartoon sums it up for me. Michael Ramirez at Investor's Business Daily does an awesome job skewering the left.​
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Too cool for school

 10/8/2007 4:00 AMFamily

I added some pictures from Isaac's first summer, when he went to the beach. There are also shots of friends and family at the time. I realize this is out of order for the blog, but it IS in order for when I rewrote my web site, and finally uploaded the pictures, so there it is.​
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Building a shed

 10/8/2007 3:27 AMDIY

Almost a year ago this month, I built a shed in the backyard of our former house. In true geek style of capturing a non-geek effort, I took pictures of the Shed Building Event and just recently uploaded them to the Gallery. I am very proud of my efforts with this shed, as I had to level the backyard almost 2 feet deep in places to ensure a level foundation.​
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Support the MS Walk

 9/26/2007 7:00 PMFamily

I haven't mentioned it on my blog, but my wife Carri was diagnosed with Multiple Schlerosis (MS) about six months ago. Carri, me, and her family have formed a team, "Carri's Cure", that is participating in the MS Walk in Virginia Beach this weekend.
 
UPDATE: Links no longer valid.​
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Virginia Research Lodge No. 1777

 9/20/2007 11:08 AMMasonry

​I have been asked to create a web site for a research lodge I belong to, Virginia Research No. 1777. I have had the priviledge of delivering a paper in this lodge, so I stand with (and are dwarved by) a distinguished list of masonic scholars who have done the same (spoken, that is, not created web sites).

 
Seriously, Virginia Research Lodge has a proud tradition of masonic scholarship and research. One of our more famous brethren was Allen E. Roberts. My goal over the next several months (years) is to bring as many papers as possible to the Internet, so our work can be shared with other Masons around the world. All the masonic related items I have on my site I am migrating over there, so that more people will see them. The web site is:
 
 
 

 

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Quotes

 9/17/2007 6:42 PMPolitics
​"We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society."
 
"Society cannot allow the private sector to do whatever it wants."
 
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."
 
The above quotes are from Karl Marx, Hugo Chavez, and Hillary Clinton. In order, they are, um, wait... is there is difference?
 
I guess for some of you, you nod your head to all three.

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On the 6th Anniversary of 9-11

 9/11/2007 1:00 PMPolitics

My wife and I were living in Phoenix, Arizona. I had just finished riding my bike for a morning workout, walked into my loft apartment and turned on the radio. I think it was the Hugh Hewitt show, out of L.A. I typically listened to the radio in the mornings, vice watching the news. I heard him mention planes and the WTC, also the Pentagon. He was not saying much (this was about 9:30 East Coast Time, so it was only 7:30 our time), and seemed very somber. My wife and I looked at each other, and I turned on Fox News, just in time to see both towers in flames, and within a few minutes, the first tower fell.
 
They were saying on the news that this event touched every American family. In my case they were right, it turned out my wife's cousin was scheduled to pilot one of the flights out of Boston (we found out later he had missed a connecting flight the night before, and was in Kansas City or someplace).
 
We must never forget the people who died there, nor shall we rest until the followers of this peversion of Islam are all rooted out and destroyed.​
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A Map of the Internet's Black Holes

 9/6/2007 5:32 PMIT; Politics; Surfendipity

Strange Maps has a map of countries that block Internet access to their citizens (Not 100% accurate but still interesting).​
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New Ocean View Lodge web site

 8/23/2007 1:17 PMIT; Masonry
​After many delays, I am proud to announce that Ocean View Lodge #335 has a new web site:
 ​
 
Please visit when you get a chance. This web site will migrate to my new site provider, too; allowing me to use SQL server as a back end (that's a little geek speak for my fellow geeks out there - even those who are 'just' hardware geeks).
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"Sir, I Will Die For This Post"

 8/7/2007 3:19 PMPolitics

W. Thomas Smith, Jr., National Review Online correspondent, reports from Ira​q.

 
All I can say is, Ooh-Rah.​
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BRITON MARRIES BIN LADEN'S SON

 7/11/2007 10:44 AMHumor; Politics
​This is not an article from the Onion, I swear. I guess you really can't write good parody anymore, the real world is too weird: 
A British woman has married a son of Osama bin Laden after a holiday romance and is to apply for a visa so that he can visit Britain, The Times has learnt.
 
Jane Felix-Browne, a 51-year-old grandmother and parish councillor from Cheshire, has until now kept her marriage to Omar Ossama bin Laden, 27, secret from everyone apart from her immediate family and close friends. But she has now agreed to speak about her relationship with bin Laden's fourth eldest son.
 
"It would be nice if, like any other married woman, I could stand up and say this is my husband and this is his name, but I have to be realistic about things," she told The Times. "I hope people don't judge me too harshly. I married the son, not the father."
 
Mrs Felix-Browne says she is aware that some people will be hostile to her marriage. Among the numerous terrorist plots linked to her new father-in-law are the London suicide bombings on July 7, 2005, the July 21 plot, and the recent attempted attacks in London and Glasgow. "I just married the man I met and fell in love with - to me he is just Omar," she said. "I hope that people will take a step back and think what it was like when they fell in love. He is the most beautiful person I have ever met. His heart is pure, he is pious, quiet, a true gentleman, and he is my best friend."
 
Mrs Felix-Browne, who has been married five times previously, met Mr bin Laden in Egypt in September while undergoing treatment for multiple sclerosis. She says that their fairytale romance began when her future husband saw her riding a horse near the Great Pyramid. They were married in Islamic ceremonies in Egypt
 
...
 
Mrs Felix-Browne was initially reluctant to discuss her new husband but news of their relationship inevitably began to leak out in Britain and the Middle East. "I don't want any of my family distressed or upset by my actions," she said. "I know that for everybody who likes me there will probably be a million enemies."
 
Now she hopes that Mr bin Laden will come to Britain. "He would like to spend quite a bit of time here," she said. "There is no reason why he should not come to live, but I don't think he would like the weather."
 
Mrs Felix-Browne said that the couple hoped to use their position to help to heal the wounds caused by her father-in-law. "All we want is peace in this world and I will do all I can to promote it."
 
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Not dead, but dreaming...

 7/2/2007 11:28 AMHumor; SciFi/Fantasy; Surfendipity

Brilliant... this fellow got a Virginia vanity plate that explains just what HAPPENS to the kiddies first...
 
First saw this here, but also referenced here.
 
The owner of the plate has a journal that shows the plate and other links. Apparently, the wikipedia entry that explains who Cthulhu is (a character originated by H. P. Lovecraft) had an entry about this vanity plate, but it has since been removed.
 
I really like the blood-stained hands, although they are SUPPOSED to be paint... hmmm....
 
UPDATE: Just realized the plates expired in 2005... but story is just making the rounds now...​
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Gatekeepers of Hillaryland

 6/21/2007 6:07 PMHumor; Politics

From the Washington Post:
The Candidate's Coterie From Her White House Days Is Back Together, All for One and One for All​
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An interesting map of the United States

 6/18/2007 12:41 PMIT; Politics; Science
​As I told people in the office, here are some geeks of a whole different stripe than us. These guys went to the trouble of comparing each State's GDP with countries GDP. For example, California is roughly equivalent to France. Check it out: 

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Happy Father's Day

 6/18/2007 12:21 PMFamily

​Yesterday was only my second Father's Day, Isaac is not big enough to tell me himself (maybe he did, in his own da.. da.. da.. language, I don't know). Still, it was a ​wonderful sunny day, we all enjoyed spending it as a family.

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OxyClinton

 5/15/2007 12:33 PMHumor; Politics
​Are you a liberal female who wants to vote for Hillary, but just can't bring you​rself to do it? Try OxyClinton!
 
Courtesy of "Dr" Laura Ingraham, on the rarely-funny Fox Half Hour News Hour. Maybe they should just do 30 minutes of commercials, like this one?

 

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A rarely seen Union Ad

 4/27/2007 12:35 PMHumor; Politics
​Ever wonder what AFSCME is all about? This Public Service announcement explains it all (Profanity warning):

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World's Smallest Political Quiz

 3/2/2007 12:25 PMPolitics; Surfendipity; Timewasters
​This is a little ten-question quiz, it could be more detailed, but it gives a snapshot of your political leanings:
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Middle East Game

 12/7/2006 12:07 PMPolitics; Timewasters
​This is a fun little game, more challenging than it looks. You have to drag the name of each country to its proper place on the map. Helps teach you where all the 'Stans' are: 
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Ten Lessons Learned

 12/4/2006 6:04 PMIT
​OK, I realize that this blog is mostly (a) politics or (b) pictures of my kid. Fair enough, it's my site and I can post whatever I want. But, since I am a software engineer, I guess I should occasionally say something related to my field. I have been adding links to interesting pages to the right of the blog here.
 
In a (very) short stint with a previous employer, I had a week of nothing to do (part of the reason I bailed) and I got to skim a lot of magazines, one in particular is Crosstalk, which is dedicated to software developers in the military, which of course had me interested from the start. To read their articles on line, visit them at Crosstalk. The most recent article I finished was by Crilly Butler about the ten lessons he learned from building a data warehousing project for the California Department of Fish and Game. Well worth the read if you are a developer or program manager. Some of it is a no-brainer, but he gives good examples of what they found in the course of their project.

Full Article

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Minus 50 DKP for you!

 11/16/2006 2:03 AMHumor; SciFi/Fantasy; Surfendipity
​Ok, this is, like, the FUNNIEST thing I have seen on the web in a long time:
 
I recommend you DON'T play this at work, it is loud and there are a few dirty words (well, the BIG one, numerous times). It has to do with Worlds of Warcraft and someone talking during an online game, giving directions to the other players over a headset, as they fight a dragon known as Onyxia. None of this matters, just that someone took that monologue and made a very amateurish shockwave movie to go with it. MORE DOTS!!!
 
I haven't played the game, but I get the references. You don't have to know anything about the game to enjoy the movie, but, again, parental advisory due to language and, um, images.​
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New direction for America?

 11/14/2006 11:34 AMComics; Politics
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Temper Tantrum Redux?

 11/8/2006 9:25 AMPolitics
​Well, Peter Jennings is dead, but if he were still alive and was hosting the news, I d​oubt he would have called this election another "tantrum" of the American people, like he did in in 1994.
 
Clearly, a lot of voters are unhappy with President Bush and the War in Iraq (which almost everyone, including the media and most commentators, even conservative ones, have successfully lied to their own minds to separate it from the War on Terror, as if they were two different and unrelated things altogether). I do agree that this is a strong signal that people want change. Do they have any idea what kind of change they are going to get?
 
The Democrats have won control of the House. As of this writing, about 5 am on Wednesday, the Senate is still too close to call. I am disappointed that Michael Steele, a black Republican, could not win a largely black state against a poster child for old white men (Cardin). I think it speaks volumes that Barack Obama told blacks in Maryland NOT to vote for someone by skin color (because Steele is Republican) but told voters in Tennessee the EXACT OPPOSITE (because Ford is a Democrat)! The dishonesty continues.
 
Anyway, I am trying to think of positive things to say about this election, so here goes:
 
- At least Lincoln Chafee lost. We need to get rid of all RINOs, IMHO. If you are a liberal Senator from New England, by law you should have a (D) next to your name. Too bad Snowe got through, again. I guess we get another shot at Snowe in a few years.
 
- There is a chance the Liebster will jump ship, since his party abandoned him. That will firm up the Republicans in the Senate. We can call him Jumpin' Joe Lieberman, another proud New England tradition.
 
- The Democrats in the House, who ran without ANY plan or foreign policy ideas, will now be FORCED to actually submit legislation, now that they are in charge. It has been easy for them to second-guess every step of the war, and Monday-morning quarterback for six years. Now, they have to actually step up and OFFER alternatives. Remember Social Security? What was the Dems alternative plan to fix it? Oh, right, they didn't bother to have one!
 
- The dinosaur media (formerly the MSM) can now run all those stories about how good the economy is, since they supressed all the good news for the last three years. You will be amazed to find out just how good things are going, since the press can give credit to Democrats for it, now.
 
- There is a slight, SLIGHT chance that there will be ethics reform in the House. But I doubt it.
 
- Republican leadership, which was used to forty years of sitting on the back bench, at first seemed unable to BE the governing party. Once the ten items on the Contract With America got voted on (remember, all ten WERE brought to the floor, even though only two (?) actually passed), the GOP seemed unwilling to actually LEAD. Now, after twelve years in power, all they seemed focused on is how to stay in power (see the lobbying scandals), instead of acting as conservatives.
 
Maybe we are only good at being conservatives when we aren't in charge, I don't know. We had twelve years of controlling the House and sometimes the Senate, and we held the White House for six years. Were conservative things accomplished? On balance, I don't know. I am worried that the next two years will be an endless line of supoenas and investigations into the Bush Administration, and we will be attacked again on our soil. Maybe it will take another attack for Americans to realize, we live in dangerous times, too dangerous to let Democrats decide foreign policy.
 
We get the government we deserve. I shudder to think what that will turn out to be.
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Election Day

 11/7/2006 10:28 AMHumor; Politics

Well, today we see if the people of this country believe in winning a war against enemies who want to defeat us, or if they support those who only second-guess and have no plan.
 
If you agree with John Kerry that our troops are idiots stuck in another unwinnable war, please make your vote count - get out there Wednesday morning and vote!​
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Maps of War

 10/6/2006 11:39 AMIT; Politics
​Want to see the hist​ory of the Middle East for the last 5000 years in 90 seconds?
 
Click here.

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Just a coincidence?

 9/19/2006 12:33 AMPolitics; Surfendipity

This is only an observation, nothing more. One of my favorite shows, T​he Wire, on HBO, has a character named Tommy Carcetti, a Baltimore City Councilman (on the left). Driving in and around Laurel, MD, I kept seeing election posters for a Maryland State Senator, John A. Giannetti, Jr. (on the right). I thought the similarity in appearance was rather striking (The Senator's poster looks even more like the actor). One Maryland Democrat politician for real, one Maryland Democrat politician on TV.
 
Kind of a weird coincidence, I thought. ​​
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On the 5th Anniversary of 9-11

 9/11/2006 10:58 AMPolitics

My wife and I were living in Phoenix, Arizona. I had just finished riding my bike for a morning workout, walked into my loft apartment and turned on the radio. I think it was the Hugh Hewitt show, out of L.A. I typically listened to the radio in the mornings, vice watching the news. I heard him mention planes and the WTC, also the Pentagon. He was not saying much (this was about 9:30 East Coast Time, so it was only 7:30 our time), and seemed very somber. My wife and I looked at each other, and I turned on Fox News, just in time to see both towers in flames, and within a few minutes, the first tower fell.
 
They were saying on the news that this event touched every American family. In my case they were right, it turned out my wife's cousin was scheduled to pilot one of the flights out of Boston (we found out later he had missed a connecting flight the night before, and was in Kansas City or someplace).
 
We must never forget the people who died there, nor shall we rest until the followers of this peversion of Islam are all rooted out and destroyed.​
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Crikey!

 9/4/2006 1:55 PMEntertainment

Sad news this morning: Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, was killed by a stingray off the Barrier Reef, according to Fox News. I am not overly surprised (I figured a croc would get him at some point), but he does leave behind a wife and two small children. Steve was one of the most colorful characters on television, with his willingness to do incredibly dangerous things around wild animals ("I'll just stick my head in this hole to see if there's a cobra inside..."). ​
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Isaac's six month baby pictures

 7/17/2006 11:29 AMFamily
Isaac is six months old, we had his pictures taken recently. You can see more here or using the links to the right of this page.​
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Virginia Research Lodge

 6/17/2006 6:39 PMMasonry
​I had a unique opportunity today. I was at Virginia Research Lodge in Richmond and had the priviledge of hearing the Past Grand Master of Prince Hall Masons in Virginia speak. Things have come a long way for Masonry in Virginia, I am glad I was there.

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Blogging from the deck

 6/13/2006 10:21 PMFamily; IT

​Not much to say, just grillin' on the back deck. Want to blog from everywhere, just to show I can. This crackberry (tm) inspires me to change my stylesheet for handhelds.​

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A Question

 6/9/2006 2:22 AMHumor; Politics
​​​What is the difference between Elvis Presley and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi?
Elvis is still alive...
 

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A Philosophical Glossary for Beginners

 5/17/2006 10:30 AMSurfendipity
​I ran across this web page this morning, while looking for a definition for pace. Pace means in spite of or indifference to, as in "Pace critics, President Bush continues to prosecute the War on Terror aggressively". Oh, and it is pronounced (pa - shay), not pace as in "walking at a brisk pace", which obviously was the wrong definition.
 
It is an interesting page I mention, it defines "ad hoc" and a number of other terms that I hear people use frequently, and not always correctly. I created a new link category to the right, and called it "Language", with this as the first link. As I find other useful pages like this I will add them.
 
Oh, and if you are looking for a definition on the web, your first two stops might be www.google.com and type in "define:pace" (substitute your word) and you will see links to web pages that define that word, or www.dictionary.com, which also provides pronounciation guides along with definitions.
 
UPDATE: If you want to find the definition for slang, try www.urbandictionary.com.

​​
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Isaac's Baptism

 4/26/2006 9:17 PMFamily

Isaac was baptized today ​at my church, Tabernacle United Methodist Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Carri and I are both so happy that so many of Isaac's family could be there. We have only lived in Maryland for a short time, and wanted his baptism to be held where family and friends could attend. There are many more pictures of Isaac's Baptism or use the menu to the right.​
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Isaac's Easter pictures

 4/9/2006 8:51 PMFamily

Isaac had pictures done today for Easter, this is my new favorite photo of him. He has the cutest smile I have ever seen. We have his Easter Pictures here, or on the menu to the right of the screen.​
​ ​
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Babs STILL can't spell

 3/7/2006 12:22 PMHumor; Politics

Babs.jpg

It never fails to amaze (and amuse) me, how the whining left are just... plain... wrong. ​According to the Drudge Report, Barbra Streisand recently posted a blog entry about "that C student" George Bush, with ELEVEN spelling mistakes! Never mind that George Bush attended Harvard and Yale, and got a higher GPA than John Kerry, Babs herself never attended college. One would think that before attacking someone for being a C student, they would run... um, a spell check?

 
Oh, and Babs also blames the typist for the mistake. I find it hard to believe that someone who puts words on the page for a living wouldn't use a spell-checker.
 
For the record, I wrote this blog engine myself, it has no spell-checker, and I proof my own words after posting them. And I can't imagine having 11 mispelled words in one post, even though I am a one-man operation.
 
People who live in very expensive glass houses, shouldn't post stones...
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Once again, ER's writers have to slam Bush

 3/2/2006 2:35 PMEntertainment; Politics

​I don't think I will watch ER again. Over the past several years, my favorite show on NBC (actually, probably the only network show left for me except Law & Order) has used every possible excuse to slam President Bush or the war in Iraq. The last one was when James Woods, in a guaranteed Emmy performance because he ​attacked Bush, said in a flashback to 2002 words to the effect of, "Hope? Didn't you hear? Bush just cut off funding for stem cell research!". His character obviously was hoping stem cell research would help cure his debilitating disease. Obviously, neither Mr. Woods nor the writers on the show bothered to look at the facts, which is that President Bush was the first president to START funding stem cell research, he just put some restrictions on it. And not to go too far down this line, but since when did limiting (or even stopping) the spending of federal dollars on something become the equivalent of banning it? I heard the same crap about the NEA, when Aerosmith and other burnouts bitched and moaned that if the government wouldn't PAY for obscenity, that meant that it was now against the law. 

Anyway, to get back on point, Dr. Carter (Noah Wyle) makes a return to ER, where he is now in Darfur. I agree, the tragedy there is horrendous, but the blame for Darfur lies at the feet of the U.N. (remember John Kerry saying we should consult the U.N. before doing anything, anywhere?) The black doctor on the scene is telling Carter "Darfur, Somalia, New Orleans... if there are black faces suffering, the help does not come" or is slow to come, or some crap like that.
 
Give me a break. I cannot BELIEVE that the writers of ER, who are so angry that Bush was reelected, who kept inserting political commentary into a show that was SO apolitical for so many years, and now every time I turn around, there is a character who had NEVER uttered anything remotely political is spewing something negative about Bush!
 
Now, I love politics. I love Talk Radio, I love to watch the commentators on Fox News, I love to hear both sides going back and forth. However, when I am watching a television show like ER, I do NOT expect to hear people making political speeches! On Law & Order, even though the writers are pretty liberal, they do make an effort to keep it balanced. Arthur Branch makes me nod my head in agreement to almost everything he says, and not surprisingly, it is always a measured, thought out response; in contrast with the usual emotional outburst of the former lesbian or Jack McCoy. But it is always in context with the show! If the episode involves a political point, we hear both sides of the argument! On ER, just like Six Feet Under for it's final two years, we are just moving along, happily following a story, and someone pipes up with "Yeah, just like Bush lied to get us into the war!"
 
I mean, get serious, ER writers! You are supposed to be gifted, intelligent, artistic people who weave many elements into a believable story. There are several shows over the years that I feel I know the characters better than people in my own family. They are real, their situations are real. Dramatic TV is, in essense, escapism; and I want to drift along with the story, not reminded of the blatent political bent of 90% of the people in Hollywood! If you can't win the elections, keep your stinkin' political opinions out of our favorite shows, or we will STOP WATCHING THEM!
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Newest Isaac Pictures

 2/8/2006 3:03 PMFamily

I know, I know, I haven't done much but post pictures. Guess I am pretty busy of late. :^)
 
I did manage to change Isaac's gallery page so you only see 10 - 12 pictures at a time, which makes it easier to load. Even a fast connection took a loooooooooong time to load 30+ pictures. The links to the right show the different galleries.​
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Isaac the Snowball

 1/14/2006 4:02 PMFamily
Here is Isaac's impression of a snowball. Mother and baby are doing well, and we are adjusting to the 2-hour feeding schedule.​
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Dr. Douglas to OR, STAT!

 1/11/2006 11:00 AMFamily

Carri says I look sexy in scrubs, who am I to argue?​
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Carri and Isaac

 1/10/2006 10:59 AMFamily

Here is a picture of Isaac and his momma at the hospital. More pics to follow.​
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I am a proud father!

 1/6/2006 11:27 PMFamily

Isaac Christopher Douglas was born on 1/6/6 at 6:56 PM. He weighed 8 pounds 11 ounces and is 19 inches long. Life is good. Here is the newborn picture.​
​​
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Baby Watch cont.

 1/6/2006 11:10 AMFamily
​Well, we are off to Calvert Memorial, Carri is scheduled to be induced this morning, since Isaac seems unwilling to come out on his own.
 ​
Everyone says "Hi, Karen!" since you are one of my few readers at this time. Pictures to come!
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Baby Watch

 12/31/2005 6:49 AMFamily
​Getting closer and closer...
 ​​
We didn't have a Christmas baby, thank goodness (for his sake), but we are less than twelve hours away from not getting a 2005 tax break. Oh, well... The original delivery date was 12 January, but her Doctor has said the 6th of January is when we are inducing now, unless Carri decides to start on her own in the next couple of days. Carri's parents are visiting this weekend, so they are encouraging her to start labor any time now... Stay tuned...

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...and, of course, his foot

 12/7/2005 12:50 PMFamily

​​

This is Isaac's impression of Daniel Day Lewis...​
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...and another face shot of Isaac

 12/7/2005 12:49 PMFamily

Here is the second picture​
​​
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Say hello to Isaac Christopher Douglas

 12/7/2005 12:48 PMFamily

​​

I will soon have a separate page just for our son. Until then, here are a few of the newest sonogram pictures.​
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Burnin' Ring of Fire

 11/19/2005 1:14 PMEntertainment
​That's what I think the new Johnny cash movie should have been called. Joaquin (?) P​hoenix did an amazing job portraying Cash, likewise Reese Witherspoon as June Carter (hard to hear that name so much without adding 'Cash'). IMO, both deserve an Oscar nod. I didn't know much of Johnny's story, other than that he had spent time in jail and sang in prison. Well worth seeing, and hearing Joaquin sing (did he do the singing?) 'Folsom Prison' the first time for the recording agent, I felt like the character did. The movie showed Johnny's pill-popping flaws, but did not show his redemption. As told in the previous scene, 'It ain't about if you believe in God, It's hearing your real suffering that redeems people'. The most entertaining movie I have seen in a long time.
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New Supreme Court nominee

 11/10/2005 1:11 PMPolitics

President Bush has - thankfully - withdrawn (oops... er... ACCEPTED THE RESIGNATION OF) Harriet Myers. Judge Alito is a far superior pick, both in his clear conservative record and his overall qualifications. I stated in this blog during the John Roberts hearings that if the president nominated an UNQUALIFIED candidate (which Roberts clearly was not) that his own party was responsible for rejected the nominee, which thankfully we did. Conspiracy theorist that I am, I think this whole thing was a Karl Rove judo move, to give the President cover for not nominating a woman - twice - to fill Justice O'Connor's seat.
 
By the way, I was a little surprised when I first heard this nomination, for a second I thought he had nominated this guy.​
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Happy Birthday, U.S. Marine Corps!

 11/10/2005 1:01 PMPolitics

Today is the 230th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Happy Birthday to me, and all other Marines. We serve in every clime and place, and the boys in green today are under a lot more fire than I ever was, that's for sure. May God look out for you, fellow Jarheads. Semper Fi.​
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My Son's Foot?

 11/3/2005 12:23 PMFamily

Well, I think the face is more interesting, but here is picture number three.​
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My Son's Face

 11/3/2005 12:22 PMFamily

Picture number two.​​
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Assembling Baby Furniture

 11/3/2005 12:20 PMFamily
​and pictures, by the way. My friend Danny and I hauled the baby furniture home from the store last night, we had to drop the top on the Jeep because only two pieces fit in Carri's 4Runner. Anyway, we had thought the furniture would all need assembly, so we would have a bunch of flat boxes to load. It was much easier once we got it home, we only had to assemble the crib. But, it made for a chilly night's drive to ride with the top down in November! Here is the first picture, clearly indicating it's a boy.

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IT'S A BOY!

 11/2/2005 3:24 PMFamily

Carri just left the doctor's office where she got our THIRD ultrasound, apparently our son-to-be has been shy in the past.
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On the road to recovery...

 10/18/2005 11:11 AMFamily
​After just four days of rest and medication, I am happy to report that I have some movement back in my face, and at my follow-up visit I was told I am recovering just fine. Also, I should completely recover in 3 - 6 weeks and there is only a slight chance of a reoccurence. I never knew much about Bell's Palsy (see link in previous post) before this happended to me, Carri was scared that I had suffered a stroke, which is unlikely in someone my age, but not outside the realm of possibility.
 
A funny side note, most people I have talked to about this refer to numbness, which is common in a stroke. I had to tell the triage nurse at the hospital (more than once) that no, there was NO numbness. It occured to me this morning that had I not looked in the mirror for the last week and been alone the whole time, I probably never would have noticed anything wrong. I would have just thought I had a funny taste in my mouth, and probably wondered why I managed to bite my lip so much when I ate (but I must admit, I sometimes wolf down food and bite my lip or tongue anyway...) The main evidence is visual. I have had no loss of sensation or numbness in my face, I just couldn't make my face muscles move on the right side. Luckily, I have dimples showing again and things are looking better every day.
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I have Bell's Palsy

 10/15/2005 2:12 PMFamily

​It's hard to believe, but I just came from the hospital yesterday and found out I have Bell's Palsy. I noticed a metallic taste in my mouth Monday, and what felt like an earache behind my right ear. Thursday night, I was trying to wash the taste out and noticed my face looked funny. The entire right side of my face was not moving. I didn't feel numb, I could move my cheek with my hand, but I couldn't make my face muscles work on that side.

I had decided, before Thursday night, that I would go to a doctor over the weekend to look at my earache. Naturally, Carri and I thought I couldn't wait till the weekend, so I took Friday off and went to the emergency room. I wish I had a local doctor, but we haven't found one near our new home.

So, what is Bell's Palsy? The web site I listed above describes it as "a condition that causes the facial muscles to weaken or become paralyzed. It's caused by trauma to the 7th cranial nerve, and is not permanent." This was encouraging to hear from the doctor, that the paralysis only lasts a few days. They prescribed Prednisone and Famvir, so I plan to just stay home for a few days and rest. Apparently, the exact cause is not known, but it is thought to be viral in nature. I have never had anything like this happen before, I am general pretty healthy. With luck, the symptoms will clear up quickly and I won't have any reoccurences.

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New Blackberry

 10/12/2005 3:44 PMFamily; IT
​This is my first entry using my new Blackberry. I will have to look into changing the sit​e to render for this format. Also, Carri and I should find out the baby's sex today.


UPDATE: We didn't find out then, but now we know: IT'S A BOY!!!

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We have moved!

 10/11/2005 11:07 AMFamily
​Finally, after many months, I have a new job and we have moved into our new house in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland. We are only a few blocks from the beach, and it is a much nicer drive to work. Also, I really enjoy my new job, I get to do more ASP.NET based stuff.

I have intentionally avoided talking about the trials and tribulations of my job search, since potential employers could see my web site and might think I was desperate and/or whining. Anyway, all that is past, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I have all of my household effects around me once more. Living out of a suitcase for several months was no fun, let me tell you.

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Ocean View Lodge website

 9/6/2005 6:11 AMIT; Masonry
​I have been tasked with the honor of building a web site for my Masonic Lodge, Ocean V​iew Lodge #335. For those who are already familiar with my site, the Freemasonry link (NO LONGER ACTIVE) in the menu bar brings up a slew of ​links about Freemasonry in Virginia. Please take a look at the new site, it does have some nifty effects I am only able to do with ASP.NET. I have built it so we can easily add new information as things change. Too many of the web sites I see for small organizations are rolled by hand, meaning when something changes, a web designer has to go in and rewrite an entire page. This site was designed to allow someone who is NOT a web designer to make changes over the Internet, which is really pretty cool when you think about it.
UPDATE: The site has changed several times since this was posted, you can now see all external sites under "Links" on the menu.​
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Mallard Fillmore

 8/26/2005 2:47 PMComics; Politics

Sometimes, the duck says things better than I ever could.

I pity those poor people without cable, who only get the story on Iraq (and everything else) from the mainstream media.

Viva Fox News!​
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The Crawford Vigil

 8/16/2005 12:52 PMPolitics
I heard a few talking heads arguing on Fox & Friends this morning about Cindy Sheehan. The lefty guy, I forget his name, but I thought he was a writer for NewsDay, lately he's just been a left-wing schill; he kept bringing up the poll where 61% of Americans want to pull out of Iraq, and equated that view with what Cindy Sheehan has been saying.
 
Of the many opinions floating around about the Iraq war, I would imagine the vast majority of Americans fall in one of these camps:
 
1) The war is not going well, we've done all we can, now we should cut our losses and get out. Nation building is not what we came here for.
2) The war IS going well, but we need to look at pulling back some and seeing if the Iraqis can handle things.
3) We need to stay until the Iraqis can handle things by themselves.
4) We need to stay there, keeping the terrorists focused in one place (the flypaper theory), fighting side by side with the Iraqis, even if it takes ten years or more.
 
Now, a good percentage of Americans may agree with point one, which seems to be the path of least resistance. Point two is probably where Sec. Rumsfeld is leaning, with some of the comments he's made of late. This is a bit risky and may require us to come back in a few years from now. Point three or four is where the President is. I personally think four is the best option, since it keeps most of the terrorists in one place, instead of here on our shores. Note I said MOST.
 
In all of the above points, points one and two might represent a majority of American opinion. However, ALL of the previous points accept the premise that there was a valid reason to go to war in the first place, what with Saddam's tyranny, the threat (still not resolved) of WMDs, etc. The nonsense being fed to Cindy Sheehan does not reflect the majority opinion of this country, not by a long shot. Ms. Sheehan is parroting the usual leftist clap-trap, this was a war for oil, Bush started the war so Halliburton could make money, if Israel (Israel!) would pull out of Palestine there would be no more terrorism, etc., etc.
 
Everything she has said of late can be found on the most fever-brained leftwing web sites. She is no longer just a grieving mother looking for answers, she has swallowed whole the answers given to her by nutjobs on the left. For the umpteenth time, people, this was NOT a war for oil. Bush did not just declare war on his own, the House and Senate signed a bill allowing him to go to war. If this was a war for oil, wouldn't gas prices have come down some? Hmmm? President Bush gave clear reasons for going to war (I have tried to find a short list somewhere to reprint here), and the only reason the MSM will talk about is WMDs, since that's the only reason that hasn't been resolved.
 
I guess my main point here is, while a majority of Americans may (I said MAY) be in favor of pulling out and declaring victory, that is a far cry from Cindy Sheehan saying we only went to war so King George can help his oil buddies.
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More on the Crawford Vigil

 8/16/2005 6:13 AMPolitics
​There is an interesting column by Matthew Brooks at the Republican Jewish Coalition website (wait... Jews... Republicans... I thought Pat Robertson spoke for the entire GOP? I can't keep up).
Anyway, since Ms. Sheehan seems to speak for the anti-war movement, and by extension the Democratic Party, does the entire Democratic Party think the Iraq war is (a) a war for oil and/or (b) an evil plot run by our Zionist masters? Mr. Brooks spells it out better than I do here.
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Now, THIS GUY can play quarters...

 8/9/2005 4:02 PMSurfendipity
​S​o, I started watching this video, where some college kid with a LOT of time on his hands is plinking one quarter after another into a shot glass; and said, OK, mildly interesting. But, when he starts sinking shots across the room, it gets most impressive.

Worth seeing all the way through, especially when his long-haired friend reacts to a specific shot.
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Three Words...

 8/2/2005 6:38 AMPolitics

AMBASSADOR John Bolton.
 
Take that, libs.
 
I think Senator Chris Dodd (D-Sandwich Isles, above) said it best, while on Fox& Friends, "He (Bush) can't just appoint whoever he wants!" Actually, Mr. Dodd, he can. And you in the Senate are obligated to vote for or against him. If the party that runs the Senate is the same party that is in the White House, then the person will be confirmed, unless the President goes off the deep end with someone his own party won't accept, which rarely happens.
 
Bolton deserved an up-or-down vote. He didn't get one. Bush appointed him anyway. Works for me.​​
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Baby Picture 2

 7/29/2005 5:28 AMFamily

 ​

Here is the second ultrasound picture.​​

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Baby Picture 1

 7/29/2005 5:27 AMFamily

Carri is 16 weeks pregnant, just got a new ultras​ound. Still don't know the sex, maybe in a few weeks.​
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Happy Birthday, Miles Davis

 5/26/2005 4:04 PMEntertainment

Jazz legend Miles Davis was born on May 26th, 1926 in Alton, Illinois. He was a remarkable and innovative trumpet player, composer, and band leader, and my favorite jazz musician. XM Radio is hosting their third annual "24 Miles" event - 24 hours of Miles Davis music on Real Jazz, XM 70. Miles passed away September 28th, 1991, long before I personally came to appreciate Jazz - but I STILL knew who he was, even back then. Rest in peace, Miles, while we enjoy your music.​
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Open letter to George Lucas

 5/17/2005 1:23 PMPolitics; SciFi/Fantasy
​As everyone should know, the (probably) final film in the Star Wars Saga, Revenge of the Sith, premieres this week. Unfortunately, some people have decided that it is a tale about George Bush and the Iraq war, and George Lucas has made remarks at Cannes that support this crazy idea. Another blogger has put it much more succintly than I, in An open letter to George Lucas. The point that galls me about liberals is that they constantly accuse George Bush of being a dictator, and leading this country into a theocracy, when nothing could be further from the truth. Ponder this: If these same people has made the same comments, in Iraq, about Saddam Hussein when he was in power, would they still be free today? Could they make similar comments in the old Soviet Union about the Communist Party? Could any of these liberals fly down to Cuba, "the worker's paradise", and denounce Fidel Castro, and not be thrown in jail along with everyone else? How about in North Korea? What is it about liberals that they can never see REAL dictatorships to condemn them, yet they insist that George Bush and John Ashcroft (who resigned after his term, by the way) have used the Patriot Act to stifle all dissent here in America? Why are Natalie Maines and Micheal Moore not in prison right now? I thought the Patriot Act allowed John Ashcroft to take away all our rights?
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Immortalized in the Corner!

 5/17/2005 5:56 AMPolitics
​The highlight of my Conservative career (ok, so I haven't done much)... I am now a 'helpful reader' in the Corner! Derb had a posting asking whether the U.S. Military uses the maneuver 'Stack Arms'. I recalled learning Stack Arms in Marine Corps Boot Camp, so I quickly found a drill manual online and forwarded the info to the Derb. K-Lo then posted my info (from the manual) in the Corner:

(The following is for the M-1; From Appendix A of the Marine Corps Drill and Ceremonies Manual, available here. Thanks to a helpful reader for this.)

WOW! National Review now mentions me (OK, not by name) as a 'helpful reader'! I guess I will now get twice as much mail from the RNC now!
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Salvador Dali Museum

 5/11/2005 11:25 AMEntertainment

When I was in Orlando last year, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg. It was a remarkable experience. I purchased a few prints to have at home, I had no idea of the scope of Dali's work. His later paintings, such as The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus and The Hallucinogenic Toreador, were commissioned for the museum and are fourteen feet high! A remarkable exhibit for a remarkable artist. I would recommend the museum to anyone visiting Central Florida.​​

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John Bolton

 5/11/2005 11:15 AMPolitics

You know the difference between John Bolton and John Kerry? Kerry was voted on!
 
OK, a little weak, sue me. This whole thing with Bolton and the judicial nominees and Condi Rice and everybody else just sickens me. News flash for you Democrats: YOU ARE NOW THE MINORITY PARTY! While I'm at it, news flash for my Republican party: YOU ARE THE FREAKIN' MAJORITY PARTY! ACT LIKE IT! Democrats just can't accept the fact that they are not in charge, and neither can the GOP. Every nominee deserves an up or down vote. Dems just can't accept that if the rules are followed, everyone President Bush nominates will win. That's just so unfair, isn't it? Imagine, there being consequences for losing seats in the Senate every two years for the last twenty years or so! We are the majority party, the President is entitled to have his nominees voted on. If there was a nominee that was so offensive, there would be GOP Senators who jumped ship, but not likely. No one that has been nominated by the Pres has been unqualified, it's just that the Dems can't allow any more conservatives on the Bench, and want to try to slow down the President by not letting him fill cabinet positions. It's just sour grapes, people.
 
I think the Republicans need to stop trying to get along with the Dems and just GOVERN! At least this trend will continue in the near future, more and more seats in the House and Senate will go to the GOP, and soon there won't even be a filibuster threat. One can hope, anyway. Send Bolton to the U.N.!​​
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Moving

 5/11/2005 11:08 AMFamily
​Not that it matters now, but I have spent the last few weeks packing up our apartment in preparation for a move that is now on hold. Go figure. I was all gung-ho for the move, now we are not moving out of state - yet.
 
For those who are new to the site (or don't know me), I work for a government contractor,SRS Technologies, Inc. All in all a good firm, but I am tired of the commute here in D.C. so I was fanangling (sp?) for a job in Orlando with another company we do business with. They are all in favor of the subcontracting, but things are now on hold and I was able to get out of my lease (long story) so now we are moving without a final destination. Life sure is interesting at times. Anyway, the movers come tomorrow, we are already living out of suitcases, and who knows when the final move will come together. Guess I will get to know the finer *cough* cheaper hotels in the area, and see how many friends we can infringe on. It will all work out in the end, but things are a little stressed right now.
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First Marine Chairman of JCS - Ooh Rah!

 5/9/2005 2:18 PMPolitics

As a former Jarhead, let me co​ngratulate Gen. Peter Pace for his selection as the first Marine Corps General to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This is long overdue. Here is a quote from a briefing in 2001, that should give some insight (he was Vice Chairman at the time, I don't think he served as Commandant):

Q: On tunnels and caves, does the United States have the kind of embedded capability that it developed during World War II, during Vietnam, to specialize in going into tunnels, caves, analyzing it, fighting in it? Do we have that special -- (inaudible) -- any more in the ranks?

Pace: Our specialized approach to caves and tunnels is to put 500-pound bombs in the entrance.

THAT'S MY KIND OF GENERAL!​​
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Where's George?

 5/9/2005 2:04 PMIT; Surfendipity

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, been busy packing for a move that may or may not come.
 

No, this post isn't about the President, although the answer to that question is he's kickin' butt in the Baltics, holding Putin's feet to the fire (a difficult position to hold, to be true -- best if you don't visualize).

 
This post is about www.wheresgeorge.com, a quirkly little web site with one goal: to track the movement of bills (any denomination, but mostly ones and fives) as they move around the country. Most bills have a red stamp on them. It can be fun, if you get a bill that someone else bothers to enter when they get it, most of mine don't go far. But it is a clever idea, and another useless use for this Internet thing.​
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Phenomenon, Solaris, and sci-fi

 4/19/2005 1:53 PMSciFi/Fantasy
​Last night I watched Phenomenon with John Travolta. A very, very good movie, in my opinion. Is it sci-fi? Watered-down sci-fi? Reminds me of the kind of sci-fi I read as a child, like Ray Bradbury, where extraordinary things happened to ordinary people (and children). This is a good definition of the plot of Phenomenon, where George Malley -- I keep wanting to add the Irish O' to his name when I say it, obviously stripped out at Ellis Island, but I digress -- is an ordinary, slightly slow, auto mechanic in a sleepy California town (not a midwest town, as some reviews say) who witnesses a bright light in the evening sky on his birthday, and quickly develops telekinesis and the insatiable urge to read 4-5 books a day, as well as not needing sleep.

The premise of a person having "greatness thrust upon them" makes for an interesting story, but the more I think about it, the more plot holes emerge. I had a discussion with a coworker about what qualifies as science fiction, he had a more narrow definition than I did. I think I was arguing that Solaris was not sci-fi, it was an unintelligible mush of a romance/ghost story that happened to take place on a space station (and elsewhere - or not - maybe - who knows?) and was probably a bigger disappointment than any other movie I had seen recently. I can appreciate a sci-fi movie that sucks, if it at least has decent special effects or an entertaining idea. Phenomenon, for example, does not stand up well for its dropped plot lines and too abrupt ending, but the basic idea was cool enough to save it, in my opinion. Solaris, on the other hand, had a cool-looking backdrop and that's it. I suppose the intellectuals would chastise me, along the lines of "if you don't get it, I can't explain it", but it doesn't change the fact that the movie left TOO much to the viewer. I was halfway through it before I figured out what Solaris WAS - the planet/star/nebula/big bright thing (cool effects, though). The beginning of the movie makes you think Solaris was the station. It's almost like the first half-hour of the movie was dropped, and the viewer is expected to know all this without being told. Anyway, Solaris sucks, and doesn't qualify as science fiction.

The argument I made was that I would sit through some bad sci-fi to encourage Hollywood to make MORE sci-fi, in the hopes that better sci-fi would emerge. Face it, Hollywood has accepted the premise that Cop dramas sell, so there are a lot of them to choose from. Some good (NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues), and some bad (the replacement for NYPD Blue with Shep as a blind cop - I SWORE that was an SNL parody when I saw the preview!!!), and some just eh. But, you can pick and choose the cop drama you like. If sci-fi can get to the level of being a standard drama or comedy theme, networks other than the Sci-Fi channel will carry them! There will be good, and bad, and eh, but I will have more to choose from. Anyway, I ramble too long on this post, time to submit it.
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Papal Election

 4/19/2005 1:35 PMIT; Science
​I know I should blog someone about the election of the Pope, but I don't have anything really relevant to say, other than to ask: What chemicals do they use to make the black/white smoke? Every news story has the same exact words, "They use special chemicals to make the smoke black". What chemicals? Anyone know?
 
I have come to realize that this is not going to be a typical blog, where I have pithy comments on every breaking news story. I may not have any pithy comments on anything... :^)
 
It may take a while for me to find my voice on this blog. Future fans may read these first few months in the archives (coming soon) and say, "wow. he sucked!" and they would be right.
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Mr. Miyagi would be proud...

 4/13/2005 11:43 AMTimewasters
​Here is a fine timewaster. It involves catching flies with chopsticks. Yes, someone has EVEN MORE free time than me...

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Phoenix was hot, hot, hot...

 4/7/2005 5:30 AMFamily
​...and I didn't want to leave. Since I haven't updated my biography in some time, we lived in Phoenix for two years, before moving back to Virginia. The weather is STILL beautiful there. There's something to be said about being able to sit poolside and get a tan in early April. We visited Canyon Lake, tanned at the pool, drank, ate at several Mexican restaurants, drank, visited friends, drank, Carri attended her conference and met several nice people, did I mention we drank?
 
When I got back to work Wednesday, I was asked if I was still drunk, I answered, "Residually, maybe..."
 
Pictures from the trip coming soon.
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Carri passed her test!

 4/7/2005 5:26 AMFamily
Carri took her Virginia State Board test Tuesday to be a licensed Funeral Director. We found out while we were in Phoenix that she passed (I didn't have Internet access while on vacation, so I wasn't able to blog while in Phoenix)​.​
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Off to Phoenix!

 3/31/2005 3:38 PMFamily
​Carri is attending the NFDA Professional Women's Conference in Scottsdale, AZ, so we are flying out there for five days. Hope to soak up the sun!

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Carri took her state boards!

 3/31/2005 3:28 PMFamily
​My Wife, Carri, finally took her state boards to be a licensed funeral director. We drove down to Lynchburg Tuesday for the test. She should find out in a few days if she passed, she's pretty confident. LOTS of studying for that test!​

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Day By Day Cartoon

 3/9/2005 10:44 AMComics
​I would like recommend an amusing conservative cartoon, that is very much in touch with blogge​rs as well as current events. The women in the cartoon are also very nicely drawn. It's called Day By Day and the author is Chris Muir.

One nice feature about his site is that you can read the entire archive, unlike Dilbert where you can only go back a month.
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We Support Our Troops... When They Shoot Their Officers

 3/9/2005 6:42 AMPolitics
This blog entry is a little late, but I wanted to make sure I included it when I got my blog up and running. This image here sums up the Anti-War, Anti-Bush crowd perfectly.

It makes my stomach churn to think that there are people in the U.S., the country with the greatest freedom in the world, who are so twisted that in THEIR minds, the U.S. Military is no better than the ​military of any dictatorship in history; where the troops are mere conscripts and the officers are hand-picked by the dictator to enforce his will.

It might suprise these so-called Americans that both the officers AND enlisted of the U.S. Military are the most dedicated, best trained, most patriotic human beings you are likely to find anywhere in the world. U.S. troops and officers would not idly stand by, much less participate in, the genocide we know took place in Saddam's Iraq. The same regime, by the way, that these same people saw no reason to remove from power. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

Credit to FrontPage Magazine, one of the few places on the web I found this picture. Let no one forget the mind-set of the Anti-War, Anti-Bush left. ​
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New and improved Blogosphere

 3/7/2005 8:36 AMIT; SharePoint
​Well, after much effort, I can now enter links in a blog (updated the earlier post). I can also edit and delete previous posts, which will help maintain this site.

UPDATE: This post related to my homemade blog software. I am now using SharePoint to host my site.

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National Review

 3/4/2005 12:07 PMPolitics
​I can't let this blog go for long without mentioning ​National Review. They can be found at www.nationalreview.com. Hopefully soon I will have links working, so I can put links in here. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, I have made three or four today. Wish me luck!​
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First Entry from the web

 3/4/2005 12:05 PMIT

​Well, here is my first test from the web. It has been fun playing with this, let's see how this works.

I am not sure how this blog is going to develop.

The neat thing is, I wrote it myself in under an hour. I'm sure you can download some free version, but it is far more interesting to build it myself.

​We'll see how things go.
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