Corporate Lies: Radioshack

Corporate Lies
Radioshack's products are cheap crap. You would be lucky if they last at all. The saying you get what you pay for, this is usually true, but in the case of Radioshack it is not. The products are over priced, cheap components, and poorly made. Well, now there is an additional reason to hate them. They now lie to their customers, trying to push Cingular (crappy cell phone services), and I hate pushy salesman.

Side Note BTW: I've been a T Mobile user for about a year now. The service is good, never been cut off, etc... My dad who has Cingular, gets cut off almost all the time, and he pays alot for his service. I just pay the simple $10 a month.

Happy New Years and other stuff.

So today is the last day of 2005. I of course, get curious and look at my blog from 1 year ago on this date: http://williamandrus.blogspot.com/2004_12_01_williamandrus_archive.html. Not much exciting, just the normal stuff.

Ok here are some funny clips from Moronland.com:
Free Photo Booth: http://66.246.156.40/media/videos/lenophotobooth.wmv

R Kelly Closet Spoof: http://66.246.156.40/media/videos/Rkelly.wmv

Russle Peters: http://66.246.156.40/media/videos/Peterscomedy.wmv

Funny: Conan's 2005 year in review

http://y.wimp.com/file/aa31596896963bf9ac10f789d91b530e/43b5e08e/v/conan.wmv

Discrimination in U.S. State Constitutions against Atheists

Source: http://www.religioustolerance.org/texas.htm
I find this disgusting that, because I'm a atheist, I can't hold office in the following states:
MA, MD, NC, PA, SC and TN

In Maryland, I can't be a witness or juror.

In Massachusetts, everybody gets taxed to help out Protestant clergy.

"The good news:
These phrases are historical relics, left over from
earlier times. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution supersedes any
applicable statutory laws and sections of state constitutions. It thus nullifies
the effect of the above clauses."

Of course, with some thanks from the ACLU I bet. :)
But there are people out there who would love to have the 1st admendment taken away. Mostly the extreme conservative right, maybe?

Hack: How to rip DVDs

Source: http://elliottback.com/wp/archives/2005/12/26/how-to-rip-a-dvd-a-tutorial/

You will need:
http://www.mrbass.org/dvdrip/
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/AutoGK.htm

"1) Put in a DVD and launch DVD Decrypter. Choose IFO (Information
File) mode
2) Now you need to find which program chain to rip (PGC). Pick the one
that’s the longest, or in the case of a TV dvd, the episode you want to rip,
after which you will have a set of files which look like
this:
VTS_01_0.IFO
VTS_01_PGC_07 - Stream Information.txt
VTS_01_PGC_07_1.VOB
3) Launch AutoGK and select the first .vob that you just ripped as an
input file, and set an output file name
4) Now you need to select audio (choose the first one) and subtitles,
if any.
5) If you’re ripping a TV, set the preferred size to 350MB, if you’re
ripping a movie, choose either 700MB or 1400MB, depending on your
preference.
6) Finally, click on advanced settings and choose MP3 VBR 128kbs. Then
click “add job” and “start.”

Funny: Super Multitasking Phone

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/55091/super_multitasking_phone/

Video of President Bush Drunk at News Conference

Ok, this is fake, but funny how just slowing the feed down makes him so obviously a drunk. The weird words coming out of his mouth, of course are always his quirky ramblings.

http://www.wimp.com/bushdrunk/

Awsome Flash: The Ultimate Showdown

Ten Funniest Commercials of 2005

http://www.tbs.com/broadband/videoplayer/0,,65385,00.html

In Ithaca, NY: World smallest film contest.

Shoot a 30 second film on your cell phone, and you could win $5000.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/ptech/12/23/cellflicks.ap/index.html

Talked to Alex D. Weston recently

I talked to one of my first friends from SUNYIT today. He is living in NJ, working as a Help Desk. Brings back memories of when I would take up the offer of the school's free bowling Thursdays, and how Thursday was our Friday at the school, since we had no classes on those days. We talked about, how it sucks trying to look for in the technical industry.

Top 10 Weirdest PC Mods of 2005

http://gadgets.fosfor.se/the-top-10-weirdest-case-mods/

I personally like the WMD one:

Free Software

http://www.pricelessware.org/thelist/alp.htm

Here is another website that list a ton of free software. Its always good to have an alternative source, especially if it is open source.

Why is the Gov't spying on peace activist????

I know this is old, but felt with the recent look into how bush is supposly spying on potential terriorist. I felt that it would be prudent to show, how this has already been use for evil not protection from.

"I applaud our fearless leader and his attempt to clamp down on the treasonous and very dangerous Quakers. I was almost sucked into their evil cult and heinous plot to demonstrate against this war that was cooked up in Lake Worth when I visited my father last year in West Palm Beach. You can't tell a book by it's cover and these elderly, harmless looking bingo players are much more dangerous than they appear."

(transcript)

Video:
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Countdown-Spying.wmv

First was "Family Guy", now Futurama might be coming back.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv--radio/off-the-planet/2005/12/10/1134086846734.html

This would be very cool, if it comes true. I also like the idea that the creator is a Comp. Sci Major.

Free courses online (like comp sci, etc...)

http://opencontent.org/ocwfinder/?q=

This page displays multiple places of viewing online information. It is worth checking out to catch up or refresh your memory.

More live TV via the internet.

Ok, so here is another alternative.

This guys goes through the setup for watching Live tv on the internet for things like sports, etc...
http://www.ghacks.net/2005/12/19/watch-tv-with-your-pc/

He offers several software solutions:


http://www.sopcast.org/


http://www.pplive.com/en/


http://www.ppstream.com/

http://football4less.com/streams/coolstreaming.html

http://tv.qq.com/download.htm

http://www.tvants.com/

Politics: Bush spying on Americans, kidnapping, torturing, etc..

Recent News Sources:


http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/19/bush/index.html#wiretappin


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/18/60minutes/main1134821.shtml

WTF?!?!?!

Stupid Christians evangel elect Bush
Bush turns USA into evil fascist country
It's that simple.


Bush is encouraging spying on our own people,
Bush allows the lock-up, via the Patriot Act, to any personal (American or not) that might be considered a terrorist with out due process. That means, no one will know what happen to you, as long as they keep you locked up.
Bush allows the CIA to kidnap, move and torture people in other countries.
Bush fires personnel in the CIA and FBI, if they don't agree with the actions of president Bush.
Bush surpasses the U.N. expections for WMD in Iraq, and decides to invade Iraq anyway without any proof of WMD.
Bush rather spend money on War, instead of helping poor Americans.
Bush puts only his close personal friends in high up office positions.
Bush doesn't read or listen to the opposition, he calls them un-american/pro-terrorist.

You know the more I think about it, Bush is very similar to Saddam Hussein.

S.H. of course spied on his own people.
S.H. locked up anyone he wanted without due process.
S.H. ordered the torture and killing of people.
S.H. only allowed people in his own party to be in controlled.
S.H. never listened to the U.N.
S.H. rather spend money on weapons and personal things, then helping out his starving people.
S.H. puts his family and friends in high up office positions.
S.H. killed any opposition he could find.

Electornic Tutorial

http://www.ffldusoe.edu/Faculty/Denenberg/Topics/Electronics/
Alex_Pounds/Section6-10.htm

This brings back memories of electronics in high school, and digital logic in college. This is a good page, if you need help in either two.

Cool: Use a single computer with two simultaneous users at once

http://userful.com/products/free-2-user?

"Desktop Multiplier™ (2-user version, FREE!) Turn One Computer into Two
Desktop Multiplier™ (Free 2-User Edition) is a simple and free software add-on that turns your dual-monitor Linux PC into a dual-station (or dual-seat) Linux PC supporting two independent users, each with their own screens and keyboard with just one PC. All you need is a dual-head video card and an extra USB keyboard and mouse."

What would life be like if the internet was never born?

http://www.itsawonderfulinternet.com/
What a great story, bring a tear to my eye.

Urban Ninja

http://www.youtube.com/p.swf?video_id=pB2tdo0I7FQ\

I always like watching stuff like this. I wish someday, maybe I could do that, but I know that would never be.

Why Stores ask for you phone number....

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/business/article.adp?id=20051216083909990005&ncid=NWS00010000000001

"Because a phone number often can be used to look up a customer's address, stores say it helps them send special offers through the mail or tailor those offers to a customer's prior purchases. Many stores have signs explaining such a policy near checkout counters. Such signs commonly add that the stores don't share their customer information with third parties."

This is getting sick, I hate having my information of what I buy and when out there for companies to exploit. It starts with getting discounts at super markets, with them little tags. I don't mind getting coupons, just send it out to everybody, like you have been doing in the past. I will from now on try to use misleading information. Write down a wrong address and spell my name wrong on those stupid applications. It's not like they check up on you, and you will be able to get your discounts still at the super market. I should memorize the Better Business Bureau 's number and use that if I have to give a phone number out.

"'Not only that, you can also get an e-mail address' through data enhancement, Hoofnagle added. 'So getting the phone number opens you up not just to getting phone calls, but to spam.'"

Updates on Friendster and Myself

Ok, so I have updated my Friendster account with some pic of friends & family who are not on Friendster.

Being here in Colorado is nice, even though I think they hand out driver licenses on the street corner to anybody. It is a nice place, love the cold, but lack of snow is a little depressing.

I have been studing up on C#, while waiting for the new hard drive to arrive. I want to start practicing and programming with threads, delegates & events, and the GDI+.

I can't wait until I get a job, so I can start getting out of debt, and open my own webpage again. I hate not having a webpage out there.

Today, I bought Eurotrip and Enemy at the Gates DVDs. They are both very descent movies.

How To: Make Ice Shot Glass

http://www.elephantstaircase.com/wiki/index.php?title=IceShotGlasses

Free UML Tool

http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/products/ea_downloads.html

I defently need to start using some UML for some of the projects I want to program. I also hear that this tool does C#, which is awsome. That can make my programming project output faster. Yay :)

A Flash game like Counter Strike?

http://www.xgenstudios.com/play/stickarena/

I will have to try this when I get on a windows machine. :)

My name William James Andrus

Ok, after watching Current Tv yesterday, they discussed some top searches. One of the searches was "name meaning". So, I figure I would give it a shot, and look up my name: William

http://www.behindthename.com

So I find this site and enter my name:


WILLIAM
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WIL-ee-am, WIL-yam

From the Germanic name Wilhelm, which was composed of the elements wil "will, desire" and helm "helmet, protection". The name was introduced to Britain by the Normans. It has belonged to several rulers of England, Prussia, and Germany, including William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England. Another famous bearer was William Tell, a legendary 14th-century hero from Switzerland. In the literary world it has been borne by dramatist William Shakespeare and poet William Blake, as well as contemporary authors William Faulkner and William S. Burroughs.

In the U.S. the name is usually in the top 20.
Interesting to see that in Sweden, it has been the most popular name for the past 2 years (2004, 2003).
It isn't very popular in Belgium.
The most popular decade for it to be used by women was in the 1920-1929, since 1990 the name hasn't been anywhere close to the top 1000.

Ok, this is a little funny, I always knew there was a ton of nick-names for William. Dang there are alot:

Names that are related to WILLIAM:
BILL m English
BILLIE m & f English
BILLY m English
GUGLIELMO m Italian
GUILHERME m Portuguese
GUILLAUME m French
GUILLEM m Catalan
GUILLERMO m Spanish
GWIL m Welsh
GWILHERM m Breton
GWILIM m Welsh
GWILLYM m Welsh
GWILYM m Welsh
HELMA f German
HELMINE f German
ILMA f
LIAM m Irish
MIINA f Finnish
MIMMI f Finnish
MINNA f German
MINNIE f English
PIM m Dutch
UILLEAG m Irish
UILLEAM m Scottish
UILLIAM m Irish
ULICK m Irish
VELMA f English (Modern)
VELVEL m Jewish
VELVELA f Jewish
VILCHJO m Esperanto
VILEM m Czech
VILHELM m Scandinavian, Hungarian
VILHELMAS m Lithuanian
VILHELMI m Finnish
VILHELMIINA f Finnish
VILHELMO m Esperanto
VILHELMS m Latvian
VILHJÁLMUR m Icelandic
VILHO m Finnish
VILI m Hungarian, Slovene
VILJAMI m Finnish
VILJEM m Slovene
VILJO m Finnish
VILKO m Slovene
VILLE m Finnish
VILMA f Hungarian
VILMAR m
VILMOS m Hungarian
WILHELM m German, Polish
WILHELMINA f German
WILKIE m English
WILL m English
WILLA f English
WILLEM m Dutch
WILLIE m & f English
WILLIS m English
WILLY m English
WILMA f German, English
WILMER m English
WILMOT m English
WILSON m English
WIM m Dutch, German
WIREMU m Maori


Thats about 63 names (if I counted correctly).

Ok, now for James:
English form of the Late Latin Jacomus which was derived from Iakobos, the New Testament Greek form of Ya'aqov (see JACOB).
From the Latin Jacobus, which was from the Greek Ιακωβος (Iakobos), which was from the Hebrew name Ya'aqov which meant "holder of the heel" or "supplanter".

Ok, I would be very lucky to find the meaning of Andrus. My grandfather was adopted, so the last name doesn't have much meaning to me; however, my heritage has more. The meaning of Andrus:

Estonian form of ANDREW
From the Greek name Ανδρεας (Andreas), which derives from ανηρ (aner) "man" (genitive ανδρος (andros) "of a man").

So bringing it all together:
William James Andrus = "desire" and "protection" + "holder of the heel" + "of a man".
= Protector + deceiver + strong
~ Strong decieving protector

I would have to think about that one.

Cool: Micro Railgun

Old Cache Source thanks to HackaDay:
http://www.geocities.com.nyud.net:8090/physicsthings/microrailgu.htm

Friendster

So, I finally gave in and signed up toward this Friendster thing, even though not alot of people that I know are on there, oh well.

My profile: http://www.friendster.com/user.php?uid=24311138

Friendster: http://www.friendster.com/

Interesting: Chating

http://www.there.com/index.html

This seems like an interesting way of chatting and playing games. Wouldn't mind trying it out soon.

Interesting: Man dresses up as bum giving out free Linux

http://lobby4linux.com/WordPress/wp-trackback.php?p=63

Basically, the man burns several disk of Linux and tries to give them out for free
dressed similarly as a bum. I found it interesting that less then a handful of people knew about Linux.

If I had money to burn, I wouldn't mind burning several Knoppix CDs and place them in stores with instructions
for people to take for free. That would be sweet. I know it is to much to ask for people to switch from Windows
to Linux, but with Knoppix that transition could be easier. They don't have to figure out how to do duel boots,
and configure the system. It would be already done, all they have to do is run the CD at start-up.

The free software would be a benefit also, like Open Office, progammming languages, games, etc....

Death by Caffeine

How many cans of Mountain Dew would it take to kill me?
Answer: 323

Hmm interesting, 323cans * (2 mins/1 can) * (1 hour/60 min) ~= 11hours.
So if I drank 1 can of Mountain Dew every 2 minutes it would take me 11 hours of this routine to kill me.


http://www.energyfiend.com/death-by-caffeine/

I also heard recently that chugging 2 gallons of water, can actually kill, because of the lost of electrolytes in the brain. Another interesting tid-bit. This could be a Urban Legend?? Story has it that as a initiation a set of pledges had to drink several gallons of water, and one of them died from it.

How To: Make Ballistic Gel

Source: http://thefifthrule.com/T5R/?p=225



"1st Recipe
Take 1 part pectin powder (same store isle as gelatin)
then take 1 part gelatin powder
take 3 parts boiling water (double boiler reccomended)
Stirr untill disolved.
Add color if desired
A few drops of oil of wintergreen (from baking supply store) can be used as a preservative.

2nd Recipe
Start with 20 grams gelatin powder
add 12 cc distilled water
then mix with 100 cc glycerin (sometimes available at drugstores, first-aid isle)
Let the mixture soak for about 45 minutes, then heat to 140 degrees in a double boiler, and pour into ziplock bags and lay flat to cool. (add color if needed)
add oil of wintergreen works as a preservative here too. "

This would be fun to use some molds, like a heart, add food coloring and use it for holloween.

Send your name to the asteroid belt

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov
/DawnCommunity/Sendname2asteroid/index_asteroid_blt.aspx



This is cool, at least my name would be carried on throughout history and space. :)

Basics of the Unix Philosophy

http://software-quality.blogspot.com/
2005/12/basics-of-unix-philosophy.html


"Rule of Modularity: Write simple parts connected by clean interfaces.
Rule of Clarity: Clarity is better than cleverness.
Rule of Composition: Design programs to be connected with other programs.
Rule of Separation: Separate policy from mechanism; separate interfaces from engines.
Rule of Simplicity: Design for simplicity; add complexity only where you must.
Rule of Parsimony: Write a big program only when it is clear by demonstration that nothing else will do.
Rule of Transparency: Design for visibility to make inspection and debugging easier.
Rule of Robustness: Robustness is the child of transparency and simplicity.
Rule of Representation: Fold knowledge into data, so program logic can be stupid and robust.
Rule of Least Surprise: In interface design, always do the least surprising thing.
Rule of Silence: When a program has nothing surprising to say, it should say nothing.
Rule of Repair: Repair what you can — but when you must fail, fail noisily and as soon as possible.
Rule of Economy: Programmer time is expensive; conserve it in preference to machine time.
Rule of Generation: Avoid hand-hacking; write programs to write programs when you can.
Rule of Optimization: Prototype before polishing. Get it working before you optimize it.
Rule of Diversity: Distrust all claims for one true way.
Rule of Extensibility: Design for the future, because it will be here sooner than you think"

I guess it can all boil down to this one simple saying: "Keep It Simple Stupid"

Some flash video tutorials

http://seangreasley.com/

Here are a few flash video tutorials. I might take a closer look into these sometime soon.

MVSpot no longer will be up.

I guess the legal system finally caught up to them. Here was a list of some of my favorite videos from the site:

A Perfect Circle - Imagine
The Cardigans - Carnival
The Cardigans - My Favorite Game
The Cardigans - You're The Storm
Rage Against The Machine - No Shelter
Rage Against The Machine - Testify
Rage Against The Machine - Sleep Now In The Fire
Rage Against The Machine - Renegades Of Funk
OK Go - A Million Ways
Korn - Did My Time
Switchfoot - Stars
Switchfoot - Meant To Live
Switchfoot - Dare You To Move
A.F.I. - Silver & Cold
A.F.I. - The Leaving Song Pt. II
Avril Lavigne - Losing Grip
Avril Lavigne - I'm With You
Audiovent - The Energy
My Chemical Romance - Helena
Avenged Sevenfold - Bat Country
Weezer - We Are All On Drugs
Weezer - Say It Ain't So
Weezer - Island In The Sun (Vers. 2)
Weezer - Hash Pipe
Weezer - Dope Nose
Evanescence - My Immortal
Evanescence - Going Under
Kelly Clarkson - Behind These Hazel Eyes
DMX - Ruff Ryders Anthem
Three Days Grace - (I Hate) Everything About You
The All-American Rejects - Dirty Little Secrets
Three Days Grace - Just Like You
Foo Fighters - Best Of You
Foo Fighters - Breakout
The Killers - Mr. Brightside
The Killers - Somebody Told Me
The Killers - All These Things That I've Done
Slipknot - Duality
Yellowcard - Way Away
System Of A Down - B.Y.O.B.
System Of A Down - Aerials

Mr. Brightside by The Killers

Video Code Proudly Provided by MVSpot.com