Forcemaster2000 Productions

Greener Pasures!

2012-01-10T12:42:00.001-05:00

Made this just so I could look at it during the cold winter months ahead!

My first Blender tutorial - Making a tennis ball

2012-01-03T18:25:00.002-05:00

Rudolph, bringing you a "Shiny New Year"!

2011-12-31T23:05:00.000-05:00

I spent my new year's eve building this Rudolph character model in Blender. Finished him just in time including an armature so that I could pose him for this wallpaper. If anyone had told me a few weeks ago that I'd be able to build this model, I'd have said they were crazy! I guess being unemployed can have it's benefits, I've had the time to sit down and really start learning my way around 3D modeling. If I keep this up, maybe by next year I'll be working for Pixar! LOL

Lumber "Jack"

2011-12-28T17:08:00.000-05:00

I've created a wallpaper with my improved Lego mini-figure which I've dubbed Lumber "Jack", and decked him out with a couple of accessories!

Walk-cycle video

2011-12-23T18:10:00.000-05:00

A youtube video I put together showing a simple walk-cycle I created for my lego mini-figure I modeled, rigged and skinned in Blender 2.61. The walk-cycle is a little fast, maybe more of a run-cycle for a lego mini-figure, but a good first effort I think.

Lego minifigure, created in Blender 2.61

2011-12-22T23:42:00.000-05:00

I built this Lego minifigure, based on one I borrowed from my son, tonight in blender 2.61. I'm planning to rig it with an armature tomorrow and try and do some simple walk animations. I'll be posting them to youtube if I'm successful, and I'll link to it here as well. This is a 1366 x 768 wallpaper I created just in case there were any Lego fans out there that would like to download and use it!

Finally Passed! Not a test you want to take!

2011-12-10T13:02:00.001-05:00

For those of you following my saga, I've finally managed to pass my kidney stone! That bad boy was huge too, much bigger than the two stones I passed nine years ago or so. No wonder I was in pain! The first thing I did after taking these two pictures was drink an entire bottle of water! I have no desire to ever go through this again. Of course, unfortunately they say that if you've had kidney stones twice, you're more likely to suffer from them again in the future. I'm hoping I can avoid another occurrence all together! At least now I've got something to take to the urologist Monday, and this will cut down or eliminate any expensive procedures to clear my system of obstructions!

Kidneystones suck!

2011-12-07T19:02:00.000-05:00

A week ago today I wound up going to the emergency room from work and being diagnosed with having kidney stones. Kidney stone, or stones, they're not sure. I've been missing work since then, in a lot of pain, went back to work on Saturday, found out my last day of employment will be December 10th. Wound up back in the E.R. in even more pain than the first time. Put on heavier meds and now waiting until Decemeber 12th to see a urologist.

So far December has kind of sucked! I feel kind of like the "sad-sack" in a tragic comedy, where everything just keeps going from bad to worse. The only up-side to all this is that sooner or later my luck has to get better, doesn't it?

The Turkey Has Left The Building...

2011-11-25T22:20:00.001-05:00

Well, it's another turkey-day come and gone. We had a really nice one, I hope you did too. This was the first real Thanksgiving meal we had in our new home. My parents came up and my wife's sister and her nephew came over. Just a small gathering, but we pretty much filled up our small home for the first time. My wife cooked a great turkey, my mom brought up her famous "meatballs", and my son and his fiance made a delicious pumpkin pie from scratch. All in all it was a great day.

Have you heard of SOPA yet?

2011-11-22T21:31:00.000-05:00

If you haven't heard of SOPA yet, let me elucidate. SOPA stands for "Stop Online Piracy Act", and is legislation our congressional leaders (HA!) are thinking of passing. Stopping online piracy doesn't sound like such a bad thing, does it? Well, actually it is, the way this legislation would work anyway. Basically, SOPA would make it a felony to use someone else's copyrighted material in any way. Here's one way this scenario could go...

Imagine Grandma is watching her young granddaughter one day, she's 10. One of her favorite singers is Lady GaGa. She's playing "Edge of Glory" and starts lip-syncing to it. Grandma whips out her Iphone and starts recording her precious grandchild. She thinks the video is so cute, she decides to upload it to Youtube so that all her friends in her knitting circle can see it. The next day, Lady GaGa's record label, Interscope Records, catches wind of this video. Since they're the copyright holder for that song, they can have Youtube blacklisted so that no one can go there until the video is taken down, Grandma will be arrested and if convicted, spend 5 years in a state prison for the heinous crime of being proud of her 10 year old grandchild singing a Lady GaGa song!

Yes, this is the kind of legislation that our congress, (who can't even stop bickering long enough to give a crap about how our country is going to HELL) is thinking of making into a law. Let's make anyone who wants to sing a song or act out a scene from their favorite movie into a felon and lock them up for 5 years! After all, we don't have enough people in this country behind bars yet.

The Door, now available on Amazon for your Kindle device!

2011-11-19T16:40:00.001-05:00

If you like short story fiction in the vein of Rod Serling's "Twilight Zone", you may like my new book just published on the Amazon Kindle Store called "The Door". At only 99cents it's a bargain!

The book includes 3 short stories and a poem. The first story is "All About Family", which I've actually written at least 3 times! The first time, at least 10 or more years ago. I've loved this story from the beginning, (which is probably why I've re-written it again and again). The second story is called "That Old Black Magic", and is the shortest of the 3. I wrote it just a week ago for an online contest, but it wasn't supposed to be longer than 600 words. It came out at around 847 and I just couldn't make myself chop it up to try and force it into fewer words. That's when I decided to finish the third story, "The Door", which I've been working on for a year or so off and on and put all 3 stories into a book for the Kindle.

I also pre-faced the book with a poem I'd written probably about 5 years ago, since I didn't know what else to do with it :-)

Trash or historical treasures?

2011-11-07T17:30:00.000-05:00

I love this. NASA is apparently worried that someday there will be "moon tourists" who will take pieces of NASA equipment left behind on the moon as souvenirs. According to this article at USA Today, NASA has set out "guidlines" on how a NASA landing site may be approached.

I'm sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, and the way international law seems to work, I would think that what NASA left behind on the moon, and any other planetary body would be considered "salvage". Basically, they left "trash" literally strewn across the surface of the moon. It's my opinion that anyone who makes it back there, should have the right to do whatever they want to with it, since it was "abandoned" by it's owners. Apparently though NASA believes they still have a right to ownership of things they've left unattended on the moon since the early 1970's, like the lunar rover for instance. I'm sorry, but if I left a dune buggy sitting on the shore of a lake somewhere here in America for nearly 40 years, I doubt I'd be allowed to still claim ownership of it!

GNC drugs out Santa

2011-11-06T08:33:00.001-05:00

It seems like old Saint Nick isn't jolly because he's full of good cheer and Christmas spirit, it's because he's full of drugs from GNC! Make sure you let the kids see this the next time you're in the mall.

posted from Bloggeroid

So whatever happened to...

2011-09-12T19:05:00.002-04:00

So whatever happened to all those new web addresses that were opened up a couple of months ago or so by ICANN? Supposedly they opened it up so that there would be new internet addresses ending in pretty much anything that someone wanted to buy such as .apple, .computer, .whatever! So far as I can tell, no internet sites have opened up using address enders like these. Everyplace I still go to ends in .com or .org

Have I missed something, or was this just another case of, let's create something that absolutely no one really needs?! Maybe it was that $185,000 price tag, in today's economy that would even make Donald Trump pause.

Origin Stories....OUT!

2011-07-22T20:48:00.000-04:00

The teaser trailer for next year's Spiderman re-boot is out...can anyone say, "Spiderman meets Twilight"? Yes, I'm not a big fan of the look of the new movie, they're obviously going after the Twilight audience (why?). My real problem with this movie is the fact that it's a "re-boot" of the character and once again we're going to be subjected to half the movie being about the origin story of Spiderman. Come on Hollywood! We all know Spidermans origin story...geeky kid...bit by a radioactive spider...issues with Uncle Ben...ALL OF IT! We've been there, done that.

Why couldn't they have just made a movie about Spiderman, and some of the many other issues that the character has to deal with. This doesn't just apply to Spiderman either...Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Hulk...I think we all pretty much know the origins of any of the iconic superheroes. Let's get past these boring, repetitive origin stories and instead start exploring the characters and their interactions with the world and others. A few minutes worth of flash-backs done properly in a movie can replace forty-five minutes worth of origin story!

Open up and say AAAhhhh!

2011-07-15T22:57:00.001-04:00

Had to go to the oral surgeon the other day and get a tooth pulled :( Not the happiest of occasions. It wasn't too bad though, actually he did a great, quick job and I felt little to no pain. I've been a little uncomfortable since then though, tender gums and it was a back molar which left quite a hole behind. I'm wondering if I'll have much trouble with food getting stuck in it? Hopefully the gum tissue will kind of rise up so that the hole won't stay quite so deep. I don't enjoy going to the dentist, (does anyone?), but I enjoy tooth pain even less!

Netflix Price Hike...

2011-07-13T17:35:00.000-04:00

Netflix has just announced a 60% price increase for customers who wish to continue receiving DVD's through the mail, and make use of their video streaming service. I've been a Netflix member for a couple of years now, 1 DVD at a time and streaming movies. At first that service was $9.99 a month (a great bargain), then it went up to $10.69 a month (still a great bargain). An increase to $16 a month though, (not such a great bargain). Why? I'm not that quick about sending the DVD's back to get the next in my queue. Some months, I'm only seeing 5 or 6 DVD's, and frankly, I've went through about all the movies I missed at the theater, and new releases that "I JUST CAN'T WAIT TO SEE" are getting fewer and farther between.

There's been a big furor on the internet from angry customers saying that they're dropping Netflix like a hot potato. My guess is though that a lot of these people are going to keep paying for the service anyway, because they're used to it. Here's where Netflix is making a mistake though. I'm not going to completely drop the service...I'm just going to go to the streaming only option. So instead of paying $10.69 a month, I'll be paying $7.99 a month. Sure, Netflix will be saving themselves the cost of shipping me those DVD's, but then again, I was only getting 5 or 6 of them a month as it was. The way I see it, Netflix is going to be giving me pretty much the same amount of product as they were, but for a lower price. I don't see that as much of a win for them.

Gamers need to take a stand...

2011-07-07T17:29:00.000-04:00

Apparently, Capcom is releasing a new Resident Evil title for the Nintendo 3DS that will have a non-resettable save game function. They're claiming that it should be a non-issue for gamers, but I believe that gamers everywhere need to take a stand and let game publishers know how they feel about this by boycotting this game to it's death! I'd love to see this game come out and have absolutely no sales at all. I truly doubt that will happen though simply because there are those out there who don't care about the future of gaming, only what they can get their hands on at the moment. Apparently the whole point behind this is to try and squash the re-sale of used video games.

If this game sells well with this kind of limiting technology built into it, what's to stop game publishers from doing this with every game they make...then when you want to replay an old favorite that you've already beaten (and all real gamers do this many times) you won't be able to start a new game and replay it. I guess they just expect you to go out and buy another brand new copy, increasing their profits at your expense.

So do everyone a favor and don't buy this game, "Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D"

Here's a LINK to the original story on DVICE

Internet Shopping Addiction?

2011-06-28T18:19:00.000-04:00

Remember that day awhile back when Lady GaGa broke Amazon.com? When they had her album "born this way" on sale for $0.99? I just remembered that I, like many others bought that album that day. I'm not sure why I did, I just remember thinking, "an entire album for 99 cents, Hells yeah!"

I'm not sure how long ago that was, a month or so I'm thinking, and I have yet to listen to even one of the songs off her album, and frankly feel no real desire to right now. It makes me begin to wonder if this could be sign of some sort of internet shopping addiction??

A little labor in the backyard...

2011-06-27T19:43:00.000-04:00

Too tired to really blog about anything today, I spent the afternoon in my backyard repairing the top step of our deck(finished product as seen above). It probably took me about five hours total, surprisingly though that time went by soooo fast! I don't have a "before" picture, didn't think to take one before I started demolishing the old step. It was caving in and had become a danger to anyone stepping out the back door.

All in all, I think I did a pretty good job, considering that the person who'd originally built it apparently had run out of resources, and or patience by the time they got around to the top step, which would have had to have been done last. It was neither properly squared, nor was it level. What I did, is at least level, and about as square as possible considering the pre-existing deck below it. It only needs to last for a couple of years anyway, by then I hope to be in a position to have someone else come in and demolish the whole thing and build me a new, better deck anyway!

The Toastees 1-cup coffee maker....

2011-06-24T13:48:00.000-04:00

Just thought I'd post a quick review of a purchase I made awhile back. This is the Toastees 1 cup coffee maker. Let me just point out that if you're looking for a 1 cup coffee maker, there aren't too many choices out there in what I consider, "the reasonable range." Seems like most of your 1 cup coffee makers are of the expensive variety, I'm talking $100.00 or more! On the other hand, the Toastees 1 cup coffee maker is available through Amazon.com for the very reasonable price of $14.99.

Product Features
Personal-size coffeemaker quickly brews one cup at a time
Handy water-level indicator; brews directly into a variety of mug sizes
Illuminated "on/off" switch; permanent nylon filter; hot water for tea
Extra base for large mugs and 10-ounce ceramic mug included
Measures 5-2/7 by 6 by 8-2/7 inches; 2-year limited warranty

This coffee maker is incredibly simple to use. Simply fill the mug that comes with it, or any other similar sized mug with water, pour that into the water resevoir, fill the permanent nylon filter with the appropriate amount of coffee grounds for 1 cup, make sure the water nozzle that swings out of the way of the filter area is positioned over the coffee grounds, close the lid and press the on/off switch on the side to on.

In less than 5 minutes you'll have a cup of freshly brewed coffee! There are a couple of things to note about this coffee maker though. If you're one of those people who enjoy your coffee extremely hot, or like to take your time sipping it, this may not be the coffee maker for you. While the finished product is certainly hot, brewed coffee, it is not "steaming hot" coffee. This is no doubt due to the fact that the base your cup sits on is not heated. I'm usually drinking my coffee on the go, or downing it quickly before leaving for work in the morning, so the fact that it's hot, but not so hot that you have to sip it or let it cool works out great for me. If you plan on waiting to drink your coffee, or want to sip it over a slow breakfast, you might find that your coffee is a little too cool before you'd like it to be.

My only other complaint about the coffee maker is the lack of an auto-shutoff. When your cup is done brewing, you have to remember to manually shut the coffee maker back off, or risk it over-heating and burning up! There have been a couple of times where I've started wondering if I remembered to shut it off once I got to work, and called my wife to have her check and make sure. Each time, I had indeed shut it off, but it's one of those things that can gnaw on your mind. An auto-shutoff function would have been a no-brainer addition as far as I'm concerned. If that's not a problem for you though, this coffee maker is simple and easy to use and great for a household where only 1 person drinks coffee. I highly recommend it!

Creepy...huh?!

2011-06-23T10:54:00.003-04:00

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it creepy, and a little sad for Jane Krakowski of "30 Rock" fame, that Weird-Al Yankovic looks so much like her when he's dressed up as Lady Ga-Ga in his latest parody video?

An E-book for your Kindle...by my wife

2011-06-22T21:34:00.000-04:00

If you enjoy fantasy books with an adult appeal, my wife has published her first story on Amazon for the kindle, titled "The Lost Ones (1)" It's available for $0.99 Follow the link and enjoy a little light reading and help out a budding new author at the same time. I've already finished chapter 1 myself!

A close shave...

2011-06-22T16:44:00.000-04:00

How many blades does a razor really need? They advertise these razor blades with 4, 5, even 6 blades, and moistening bars and comfort grip handles, yet they're worse than the twin-blade razors that I used to use twenty years ago and more. I used to be able to buy bic twin-blade razors for a decent price and only occasionally did I end up with a cut on my face or neck.

It doesn't seem to matter how much money I spend on a razor these days, I can cut my face or neck with them on the FIRST use! It doesn't even have to be the second or third time, but the first time I use a brand new razor, I end up cutting myself. I'd be happier if they'd just go back to having just 1 or 2 blades on a razor, and make them good blades again. I think they must have had to cut back on the quality of the blades in return for doubling and tripling the number of blades per razor!

Is the "world" just stupid?

2011-06-21T18:28:00.000-04:00

My wife just turned me on to the newest "stupid" thing to be enacted by politicians in this country, particularly the state of Indiana. Starting July 1st, it will be illegal to possess or sell "bath salts" in the state of Indiana. Yes, bath salts.

Here's the deal, there is apparently a new designer drug being sold "legally" in corner shops, truck stops and online that is being advertised as "bath salts". Now, this "drug" is not the same composition or chemical likeness of the bath salts that you would buy at Walmart, or Bed Bath & Beyond, which you actually use in the bathtub. But thanks to the knee jerk reactions of politicians, anything that is called "bath salts" are going to be illegal starting July 1st in the state of Indiana.

So does this mean that if I create a designer drug and start marketing it under the name "poop", that they'll pass a law outlawing all poop, and anyone caught manufacturing poop will be arrested?

There is no end to the insanity in this world....

ICANN opens domain name race...

2011-06-21T15:14:00.000-04:00

ICANN, (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the board that oversees what names can be used for internet domain addresses (which at this time is limited to 22, such as .com, .gov, .tv and so on...)has now opened the floodgates to virtually any name desired, such as .apple, .computer or .car. Apparently it will cost $185,000.00 to apply for one of these domain names, to keep the average person from gobbling up lots of inventive domain names and sitting on them until someone ransoms them.

Will this be a good thing for the internet though? I don't know, seems to me like it could make the internet an even more chaotic and confusing place than it already tends to be. I imagine search engines will certainly be over-burdened trying to find a queue of good results until their engines are over-hauled to handle sorting through all the new possible domain names. I know that even with just 22 domain names it's been possible to make an embarrassing mistake, I'll never forget the time I wanted to show my son how he could learn about our government on the internet, and typed in whitehouse.(com) instead of whitehouse.(gov) That was certainly a memorable mistake!

A split house-hold...

2011-06-21T14:22:00.000-04:00

About 3 months ago, our media-center PC became infected with the HORRIBLE Win7 trojan. If you're not familiar with it, count yourself lucky. It's one of those trojans that installs itself on your PC and tells you that you have fake viruses and that you need to purchase their product to clean your computer...the worst part being that they've emulated the look and feel of Microsoft Security Essentials which is what I use on my PC's. Basically if you've been infected with this trojan, YOU"LL NEVER GET RID OF IT! Everything I tried would not get rid of this thing off the computer, and my wife's laptop as well. We had to wipe both hard-drives and start from scratch. It worked fine on the laptop, but wouldn't you know, I ran into a few snags with the media-center pc. When I bought it originally it was a Vista computer. After Windows 7 came out, I'd upgraded it, but alas, I failed to make a clean boot disk. So when I tried to use the old, original boot disk I'd made for Vista, it wouldn't install, I just kept getting a corrupted data warning.

Well, I wasn't about to shell out money for a brand new install of Windows 7, so I decided to go the open source route and installed Ubuntu, a free version of Linux. All in all, I haven't been to upset about the change. It has a clean interface (the classic gui that is), and does pretty much everything my windows 7 pc does. The only 2 real complaints I have about it is, it doesn't support single-clicking (you have to double-click to open programs) and Netflix doesn't allow you to stream movies to it, because of Ubuntu being open-source I guess, and the software that Netflix uses for streaming is proprietary. You can watch Hulu though, and just about any other video site works as well. I've never tried, but I imagine I'd have trouble with my bank's website as well, and probably other sites where transactions are involved, not sure about that though. I've still got windows 7 on my laptop, but if they'd ever fix it where I could stream Netflix and do my online shopping through Ubuntu, I could see myself slipping the corporate leash for good and going freeware!

Project Zomboid...They're coming to get you Barbara!

2011-06-20T16:38:00.000-04:00

I've recently become aware of a really cool indie game in development called, "Project Zomboid". All they have available at the moment is a pre-alpha tech demo that gives you a taste of what the finished game may actually be like. It's being developed by a small indie development team called Indie Stone. The game is definitely pre-alpha, which means it's buggy and unfinished, but it was exciting enough in what they've already got accomplished that I bought in for a lifetime license for just $8.l0.

The game is basically a zombie RPG. Survive for as long as you can, looting homes and businesses for your survival needs in an open-world concept game. The developers state right up front that "you will not survive." There is no end game scenario where you save the world, or escape to a safe haven. The whole point of the game is to see what kind of a person you are as you do what you have to, to stay alive as long as you can. I've only played the demo a couple of times so far and the best I've done is to survive for 3 days and 3 hours. If you think this kind of a game is up your alley, check it out HERE.

Best Father's Day Ever...

2011-06-19T18:46:00.002-04:00

Even though I had to work today, it's been a great Father's Day! My son gave me a "creeper" shirt from Think Geek, (I'm a minecraft nut), and my wife gave me both the "The Rundown" and "Faster" each starring Dwayne "the rock" Johnson.

I just saw Faster about three weeks ago, through Netflix, but I just finished watching it again, and it's even better the second time around! If you haven't seen Faster, do yourself a favor and get it today, watch it tonight. It's one of the best damned action movies I've seen in years.

The Future is here!

2011-04-02T10:40:00.002-04:00

Is it just me, or is anyone else in their forties freaking out when they write down the year 2011 when you make a notation of the date? The year 2011 always represented the future to me. Now we're living in it. Although many things have changed in the last three decades or so, it doesn't seem that much different from the 80's to me. It seems like I have to hesitate every time I go to write down what year it is. I hope eventually I'll get used to it, after all, the future is here.

Ready for your bank to screw you?

2011-03-26T08:00:00.003-04:00

According to CNN Money, several of the nations largest banks are getting ready to assault consumers to protect their bottom lines. JPMorgan Chase is considering capping debit card purchases at either $100 or even $50! Yes, thats right, even if you've got $5000 in your checking account, you'd be declined for trying to make a purchase that exceeded those caps. All because they're bickering with the federal reserve over the amount they can charge retailers for transaction fees. If this actually happens, and my bank, PNC, institutes a cap on debit purchases, I'll take my money out and keep it stuffed in my matress at home! I'll buy money orders from walmart and send my bills in through snail mail like I used to back in the day!

Whatever happened to "Down with Monopolies!"

2011-03-21T12:32:00.003-04:00

I can still remember back in the day when Ma Bell reigned over everyone in the United States. If you had a phone, you did business with Ma Bell, and no one else. For me at least, that was when the whole anti-trust thing came up and the government broke Ma Bell up into a myriad of companies. Telling us that no one company should be so big and all-empowered, and that competition for consumer dollars would be good for us.

Whatever happened to the government that did this? AT_T has announced that they're going to gobble up T-Mobile for a reported $39 billion dollars. Which would leave the United States with just 3 wireless carriers, AT_T, Verizon and Sprint. I don't want to live with just 3 choices, Hell! I don't think 4 was enough! If AT_T is allowed to buy T-mobile, then it's apparent that our government has been seriously compromised by corporate America.

LINK to original article

Why are we hanging on to roman numerals?

2011-03-15T12:34:00.002-04:00

Did you ever wonder why we're still hanging on to roman numerals? You see them everywhere, in logos, watches, product descriptions. The roman empire died off over 2,000 years ago, so why are we still using their numbering system to this day?

Stupid People...

2011-03-15T00:01:00.003-04:00

My wife asked me tonight, "don't you think the internet is making people stupid? That they're becoming worse spellers, maybe because the internet is making them lazy?" I had to disappoint her though. A recent study (I can't remember who was behind it though), showed that IQ's have actually gotten higher the longer we've had the internet. I told my wife that it's not that people are getting more stupid, it's just that there have always been a lot of stupid people out there all along, and that with the advent of the internet, blogs and especially social networking sites, we're all just exposed to more and more of those stupid people. Whereas before, they just sat around the TV picking their noses, now they take video of themselves doing it and post it on Youtube!

Digital Broadcast Television SUCKS!

2011-03-11T16:57:00.002-05:00

Digital broadcast television was touted to us as the best thing since sliced bread! It was going to revolutionize how and what we watch on television. The reality though, has proven to be much, much different. I am sitting here in my living room right now, and the television signal that I get these days is so poor, that it is nearly unwatchable! The signal drops every ten seconds or so leaving me with a smeared picture and hiccuping sound, and I should point out that I live less than ten miles from the cluster of television transmitters where I live.

We got rid of our cable subscription several months ago due to outrageous pricing and a diminishing channel line-up. I remember rarely ever having a complaint about broadcast television signals back in the days of analog signals. Now with digital television, it seems like every time the wind blows, or it's raining, the picture quality goes down the toilet. It's like putting up with Dish Network! I want analog television back, I'm sick of this digital crap that we got shoved down our throats while being told that it was "good for us".

No ordinary show...

2011-02-15T21:06:00.002-05:00

No Ordinary Family, a new show on television this season is a surprise, "on target" hit! I really had doubts about this show when it was announced. I thought to myself, "oh no, here we go again...another television drama about superhero powered people that goes nowhere." I figured every week the family would just handle the same basic problem each week with their powers, putting things back into the same familiar place so that each week, there's no real growth for the characters, or for the show as a series. Instead, each week, they're building the characters, individually and as a family. They're progressing the series each week, raising the odds. I have a feeling that by the second season, the Powell family will be working together, using their powers to fight evil.

If you've been passing up on watching "No Ordinary Family", do yourself a big favor and get caught up on Hulu. This show is everything a fan of the superhero genere will love!

The end of the world is coming!!!!!

2011-01-22T18:25:00.005-05:00

At least, that's the way people make it sound every time they bring up ISP's fighting against net neutrality. They're going to carve up the internet and only let subscribers access certain sites, or use certain services...unless you pony up the big bucks and pay for "ultimate broadband" at outrageous rates. Is this really happening though, could it really come down to this?

I suppose realistically it could and might. The thing people need to keep in mind though is that the true power is in OUR hands. That's right, we've ultimately got the power to dictate how open the internet is or isn't. The only catch is though that we can only exercise that power by being willing to, "let go". That's right, let go. If ISP's put a stranglehold on a free and affordable internet, we've just got to be willing to disconnect, pull the plug, cancel our service.

Let's look at a possible scenario. All the broadband internet providers start blocking content from providers that have ties to another internet provider. Like for instance Comcast buys NBC and they block NBC content from being streamed over any other internet providers lines. So, in retaliation, every other internet provider starts blocking the content of their partners from being streamed over Comcast and all the other ISP's...cause let's face it, once something like this goes down, it's a cascade effect, sort of like a nuclear meltdown. A horrible scenario for internet users...suddenly your world-wide spanning internet has been cut down to something more akin to being on AOL....ewwwww!

The thing is, there's an easy way out of this predicament. The power truly is in our hands, the only hard part is, we'll have to be willing to let go of our addiction to do it. Just cancel your service and stop paying them for something that you don't want, and don't go crawling to some other ISP. Just learn to get along without the internet. All it would take would be about 30-40% of internet subscribers from any ISP cutting their service and it would bring the ISP's to their knees. Just imagine you're the CEO of Comcast and suddenly over a month or two your customer base shrinks by 30-40%! No business, let alone the bloated ISP's of this nation could withstand a drop like that in their bottom line. They'd cave in weeks and open everything back up again, after all, what they really want is your money, and if you deny them that, they'll do whatever it takes to get it back.

I'm not just talking here, because I've started the fight myself. I've been a customer of Verizon Fios, now Frontier Fios. Since Verizon sold Fios to Frontier, my bill has been steadily getting bigger and bigger. Now, Frontier has had the temerity to send out their latest ultimatum that the "television" portion of my bill would next month be increased by $30, to cover "increasing costs". I've been a subscriber to the ubiquitous "triple package", television, internet and phone. My bill would have reached a whopping $190 a month! I decided that I'm finally fed up with being sucked dry by these people. I called up Frontier and told them that I wouldn't pay them any more just to watch twenty or so channels out of the 150/180/225 channels I supposedly received...every time you turn around they're claiming a different number of total channels they provide...but let's face it, we all only watch a very small portion of those channels...C-SPAN anyone? Now all I'm getting from FIOS is internet and phone. I'll watch FREE over-the-air television from now on. And you know what? If they start bloating my bill for internet or phone, or try cutting my services down for either and think they're going to charge me the same or more...I'll cut those out of my life too.

I love the internet, but if I can't have it my way, I'll learn to do without it. You see, I have the power to just keep my money if I'm not getting what I want for it. Comcast, Frontier, Time Warner etc... don't have an inalienable right to my money, or yours for that matter. If we want to have our internet, or our TV or phone our way, all we have to do is let it go, and if enough of us do this, it will send a message more powerful than any legislation ever could.

Something people need to think about…

2010-12-07T16:59:00.004-05:00

Technorati Tags: wikileaks,government,secrets,Forcemaster2000

It seems like lately, a lot of people, and organizations are coming down hard on the secret sharing website “wikileaks”, and it’s creator Julian Assange. (apologies if I’ve gotten his name wrong).

A lot of this is coming on the heels of wikileaks publishing 250,000+ cables which have a lot to do with U.S. embassies from around the world. What people need to think about is, it’s not like wikileaks stole these cables and published them, people who work within the U.S. government have uploaded these cables to wikileaks, feeling apparently that there are things in these missives that needs to be made public. The same goes for everything else on wikileaks. All of it was put there by someone in that government’s or corporation’s organization because they feel that the public needs to have access to these documents.

Wikileaks is simply making themselves a conduit through which the world can access these documents. If documents are being made public which could genuinely cause someone harm (who doesn’t deserve it), the government or corporation involved should be looking towards their own employees to stop these leaks rather than blaming Wikileaks and trying to shut them down.

Enjoying my new laptop

2010-11-22T12:45:00.001-05:00

I’ve recently decided to upgrade from my netbook (which I’ve been using for two years now), to a Dell Inspiron 1545. While I still love my netbook, and will be keeping it, I have to admit that it’s getting harder and harder on my eyes trying to look at the much smaller screen. Dragging around this Inspiron with a 15” widescreen though is much more labor intensive. The bigger, Truelife screen is great though, I’m able to do more on this without my glasses than I could with the netbook.

I’d still recommend a netbook for on-the-go computing, but if you need something other than a desktop for your everyday computing needs, a larger screen and more processing power is the best way to go.

Technorati Tags: Forcemaster2000,tech,Dell,Inspiron,netbook

Getting older is going to suck!

2010-11-15T17:30:00.002-05:00

My wife and I were just arguing. Somehow, one channel, and only one channel on our television turned into a small box in the center of the screen. My wife wasn't sure if it was already that way, or if somehow she'd done it with the remote. I made the mistake of going in and trying to "fix" it. Somehow, between the television remote and the cable box remote, I managed to turn everything into a weird, small aspect and couldn't figure out how to get it back.

About that time, our son and his girlfriend came downstairs on their way to their evening college classes and I asked my son to try and figure out what I'd screwed up. He eventually got everything back to the way it was before I "fixed" it, with just the one channel looking weird. When my son left is when my wife and I started arguing. She was upset because she said I made us look like "old people" who didn't know how to work the remote. We argued for a little bit, then I left the room.

That was when it hit me and I couldn't stop laughing. I went back and told her that I am the old man who can't work the remote, and that she's the old woman who's so afraid of the remote, that she'd rather sit there and watch the TV even though it's all weird and screwed up! She didn't think it was funny or insightful, and so I left the room and put this up on the internet for the world to read...she's gonna love me for this one!

Minecraft!

2010-11-05T21:35:00.003-04:00

I've finally managed to make my first "slipgate" in Minecraft! It took forever, and once I finally got it finished, it only took me about two minutes to die in the the "Nether"! I lost a crap-ton of stuff in there too, so I kept re-spawning and going back in trying to get it back. I had pig-men attacking me and killing me, fire killing me and about the sixth or seventh time of going back in there were at least five "Ghasts" hanging around the area shooting fireballs at me! I did eventually get most of my stuff back, though certainly not all of it. I'm going to have to stay away from the Nether now for a few "game days" and hope that things will quiet down on the other side of the gate so that I'll eventually be able to go back.

Damn! I love Minecraft! LOL

On blogging and Minecraft

2010-10-30T17:11:00.000-04:00

A soul refreshing breakfast

2010-08-16T09:50:00.003-04:00

Woke up this morning to a beautiful day! Here's my breakfast setup this morning. Pancakes and sausage, juice, hot coffee and the netbook. Sitting at our breakfast table in the library looking out over the street we live on. I've got all the windows in the house open, enjoying a blessedly cool morning, letting in fresh air and sunshine. I could use more mornings like this...the world could use more mornings like this one!

Ridiculous Heat & Humidity!

2010-08-10T08:50:00.001-04:00

It’s 8:45am and I’m sitting here dripping with sweat! The air-conditioning is on, but it’s so humid that it’s doing very little good. It’s not that it’s even that hot out right now, it’s only 76 degrees. It’s the humidity that’s making things so bad.

I went out and mowed the front lawn this morning, only because I had to. All my neighbors were smart and did it a couple of days ago when the humidity wasn’t nearly so bad. So it was either, “do it now, or become the guy in the neighborhood who didn’t mow his lawn!”

I guess I didn’t have all that much to say, I just wanted to rant a little about the damn weather!

2010-07-06T17:27:00.001-04:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

People can't leave well enough alone...

2010-07-06T16:27:00.002-04:00

I just finished watching Superman II. Now, it's been quite a few years since I've watched it, and apparently someone has taken a cue from George Lucas and decided that it would be a good idea to go back and mess with a good movie. I noticed right from the beginning that someone has been messing around. alternate scenes were used instead of the scenes that were in the theatrical version. Scenes were removed, and in a few instances, stand-ins or CGI was used to fake scenes with principal actors.

In some cases, I'll admit this messing around could have helped. For instance, a lot of the "silly" physical stunts that were in the original film were removed or at least minimized. Scenes like a man talking on a payphone even though it was blown off it's base and scooting down the sidewalk for instance. But they took it far beyond that, especially at the end of the movie. In the original, after defeating the three krypton villains in his fortress of solitude, Clark Kent kissed Lois Lane, using some sort of mind power, we assume, to make Lois forget that he is Superman. The world remembered everything that happened and there was a stirring scene in which Superman places the American Flag back on top of the whitehouse and tells the President that he will never let this happen again.

In this new version, Superman speed flies around the Earth spinning it backwards (like he did at the end of the first Superman movie) turning back time and making it as if nothing ever happened. Everyone, this time, has conveniently forgotten that anything happened at all, completely deleting the last scene with the American flag and the President. In this post 9/11 world, perhaps this is intended to make the movie more non-American friendly. For me, all it did was completely ruin and castrate this once great movie. The studio executives responsible for this farce themselves should be castrated!

I would now have to set this "version" of Superman II on the shelf next to Superman IV, the quest for peace. Another sorry excuse for a Superman movie. Hopefully one day I'll be able to find the original version of Superman II on DVD and keep it so that someday I'll be able to show the grandchildren I hope someday to have what this movie is truly supposed to be.

Wavin' Flag by SheenaMelwani

2010-06-18T18:05:00.003-04:00

This is a young woman I've been following for a couple of years on Youtube by the username of SheenaMelwani. She's a fantastic and gifted singer, and I wanted to share this latest video from her here on my blog. Enjoy, and if you do, visit her profile page on Youtube and become a follower too!

AT and T's and Apples Evil Plan Revealed...

2010-06-03T18:18:00.002-04:00

Talk about curious timing! First Apple unveils their newest plot to enslave the web, the Ipad. They announce this wonderful sounding plan which will let it's users get "unlimited" web surfing through AT and T without a contract, and have recently announced how they've surpassed even their expectations by selling more than 2 million Ipads in just 60 days.

Then, just days after making this announcement, their partner in evil AT and T have announced that users of their service using smartphones, and the Ipad will now have a 2Gb cap on data usage. The Dallas-based AT and T said Wednesday that it would offer two choices: a $15 data plan for 200 megabytes of data, and a $25 plan for up to 2 gigabytes, with additional charges if the user goes over the allotted amount. A vast majority of subscribers use less than 2 gigabytes, suggesting a mass migration to less expensive plans.

My question is, if AT and T had announced these caps before the launch of the Ipad, would Apple have sold so many units in just 60 days? I think not. I'm wondering how many Ipad owners out there right now who ponied up the extra moolah for a 3G Ipad are feeling like they've been fleeced!

2010-05-27T16:13:00.002-04:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

There are 3 important things we can get from this:

1. Oil companies cannot be trusted to be responsible

2. The Gulf oil spill, while bad, is not the end of the world

3. There is still a free press that lets us know about these things,
we just need to listen to them

LOL...not updating my blog much lately

2010-05-15T18:05:00.003-04:00

I haven't been updating my blog much lately, but I've actually been pretty busy, both with modeling, and with real life...so here's some samples of what I've been doing modeling-wise at least...

I’m on a roll…

2010-04-14T21:15:00.001-04:00

Getting more work done on my truck tonight than I thought I would. I’ve added real wheel hubs now instead of just the stand-ins that I had before, and added the bench seat, complete with driver and passenger head-rests! I’m glad I decided to keep going with this, even though it’s not perfect, it’s been a lot of fun and I’ve learned a lot along the way that I can apply to my next vehicle.

Technorati Tags: Forcemaster2000,CGI,Blender,Truck,3-D

Keep on Truckin…

2010-04-14T20:16:00.001-04:00

A little more work done on my truck. I’m not entirely unhappy with it, considering I’ve been building it from my imagination, with no real reference pictures to work from. I figure I can finish it and use it in the backgrounds of pictures where the glaring mistakes won’t be so noticeable.

Technorati Tags: Forcemaster2000,cgi,Blender,3-D,Truck

Truck I'm working on in Blender

2010-04-10T23:01:00.003-04:00

This is the first realistic vehicle I've attempted in Blender. Considering I've done everything on this so far without any reference material, I think it's coming along pretty nicely. I'm mainly intending to turn this into a fuel truck for a scene I'm building, but I'll probably end up saving the truck base separately and using it to build several different types of trucks.

A little work I've done in Blender...

2010-04-05T10:04:00.000-04:00

Yucca Mountain Shutdown…?

2010-03-27T18:58:00.001-04:00

Technorati Tags: Yucca Mountain,government,Nevada,Forcemaster2000,nuclear waste,Senator Harry Reid

Headway…

2010-03-26T18:01:00.001-04:00

Here’s my latest render, fixed the stove door, tweaked the textures and added a simple microwave.

This render took 119 minutes, while I was sleeping last night. I don’t have the patience to go that long without the computer while I’m awake!

Technorati Tags: 3-D,3D,Blender,Forcemaster2000,cgi

Still working…and getting places!

2010-03-25T19:20:00.001-04:00

I’m still working at my 3-D and I’m actually getting places. I’ve managed to install an external render engine and rendered out my kitchen scene with it to a much more realistic looking tune. Although it did take an hour and twelve minutes to render this 640x480 scene! I’ll probably only be doing renders with this engine, called Yafaray, when I can start it before going to bed for the night.

I did forget to place a texture on the door of the oven, so I’m fixing that and making a few other tweaks to the scene before I render it out as a full size pic which may end up taking ten or twelve hours to render! When I do, I’ll place a link to it here in case anyone would like to download it.

Technorati Tags: 3-D,Blender,Forcemaster2000,cgi,computer art

Working on my 3-D again…

2010-03-23T20:34:00.001-04:00

I’ve been working on my 3-D skills again. My son has thrown down the gauntlet by getting much better at “his” 3-D skills, so I’ve had to get back into action so as not to be shown up. Below is a kitchen scene I’ve been working on, following an online tutorial. I’d forgotten how soothing it can be to work for hours straight on this kind of stuff. If I can keep up with this, I’ll post updates as the work continues…

Why doesn’t the government want us to go to the moon?

2010-03-08T15:55:00.001-05:00

From the late 1960’s to the early 1970’s, man traveled to the moon as a temporary visitor. We then stopped going to the moon, claiming that it was a dead ball of dirt with nothing more of consequence to discover.

Jump to 2010…we now know (for a fact) that the moon has “large quantities” of frozen water on it. Making a permanent manned base on the moon not only feasible, but cost effective. President George W. Bush, a man I have nothing but loathing for, called for America to return to the moon and build a permanent base back in about 2004. I thought this nothing more than political rhetoric to drum up votes in Florida, which it may have been, but, it started a push involving billions of dollars to make this happen by 2020, just ten years from now.

So why, now that we know for a fact that there’s plentiful water on the moon that can used for fuel, drinking, oxygen supplies and many other things that would make a moon base self-sustaining, is our government now pulling the plug on plans to return to the moon and instead focusing on traveling to Mars and beyond, “IN THE FORSEEABLE FUTURE”, emphasis on “future”.

Even IF our government was serious about traveling to Mars next, and I don’t believe they are, it would make so much more sense to already have a manned moon base where a mission to Mars could be launched from much more efficiently. There have long been rumors labeled as “conspiracy theories” that when we traveled to the moon before, evidence was found of either extra-terrestrials, or some pre-human civilization that left evidence on the moon of their existence. Has some group in our government put a stop to the return of man to the moon so that we can be kept in the dark about these rumors longer still?

A Breath of Spring!

2010-03-06T22:50:00.001-05:00

Today we finally got a taste of Spring, which should only be around the next corner! I don’t know what the official temperature got to today, but at work it reached 50 degrees, and I was working on the roof in nothing more than shirt sleeves. It was blessedly sunny too, and I thanked GOD as I walked across the roof for such a wonderful day.

Tomorrow there’s a chance of rain, but the temperatures should stay mild, so I won’t complain too much. Most of the snow around here is gone or going. It’s still early March though, and in Indiana it’s not unprecedented to see snow as late as Easter! Hopefully though we’re through with the white stuff and warmer days are ahead for us.

So tired of winter!

2010-02-28T14:01:00.004-05:00

I am so tired of winter! I'm usually a bit of an indoor person who doesn't need much "getting out" to make me feel better, but even I'm experiencing the winter blahs right now. I've got a serious case of cabin fever and wish I could just run outside right now in shirt-sleeves and do something outdoors. Maybe it's because we've got the new house and I haven't really been able to do anything outside yet, particularly in our privacy fenced backyard.

That snow and cold is definitely not conducive to me wanting to go outside and enjoy the backyard! I'm not fifteen years old anymore, (by a long stretch!), and don't enjoy frolicking in the wet and cold anymore. After the past couple months of weather, I'd be happy just to have a day with the temperature in the mid-fifties and some sunshine.

Still spinning my wheels...

2010-02-09T21:40:00.002-05:00

Wow! I keep thinking that eventually I'm going to put my "blogging" hat back on and keep up with this. So far, I obviously haven't. Nor have I produced a video blog in forever. I'm not sure why, other than plain old laziness or procrastination...is there even a difference between the two?

Neither have I gotten back into my 3-D modeling either. I keep saying that I'm going to, and I have every intention of carrying through with it, but somehow, I just don't seem to make it through that last bit of push to actually do it. I did manage to play all the way through Modern Warfare 2 the other day, surprising my son. He said he didn't think I'd finish it. So I guess that I've at least accomplished something, if you can call finishing a video game an accomplishment that is. ;p

Human Target on Fox, no, really...it's good!

2010-01-20T21:46:00.002-05:00

Last week, I caught the premier of a new Fox show called, Human Target. I was pleasantly surprised. I've just finished watching the second episode, and I'm still pleasantly surprised. The show has smart writing, great action and special effects and like-able characters. It's the kind of smart TV show that I haven't seen for awhile. Unfortunately, Fox is bouncing it around all over the place, thinking they can see if one night is going to get better ratings than another one. The only thing they're going to end up doing is getting it prematurely canceled. Let's hope enough people are willing to follow it around until they settle it down on one night at one time. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out, you won't be sorry.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T17:33:00.000-05:00

Christmas closing in...and I'm tired

2009-12-18T21:53:00.002-05:00

Christmas is just around the corner, and I'm tired. Nothing to do with Christmas though, I'm just tired. Things are going well with the new house, although slower than I'd like, due to a combination of winter weather closing in and a decided lack of liquid funds to make things happen. We're all in good health though, and that's one of the most important things. We're all thankful to GOD for being there for us, and watching over us.

I wouldn't be surprised if I don't make any more posts till sometime in 2010, so I'll just go ahead and say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Settling In

2009-11-04T18:27:00.000-05:00

Well, we're finally pretty much all moved in to our new house. 90% of the boxes have been emptied and we've even started hanging pictures up on the walls. I haven't exactly kept up this blog all that well during this process, Getting a house, and moving in was a much more intense experience than even I (a person who hates change) has been able to handle. But we did make it through it, and we're really happy here in the new house.

The garage is one place where I hadn't been able to make any progress, until today. I got out there and cut a padlock off the garage door track that I don't have a key to, and found that the garage door opener works fine, which was good news. I did discover though that whoever wired the electrical up for the garage apparently didn't know what the heck they were doing. There's a light switch in the back hallway of the house that when flipped up, turns on the power for the garage and four lights on poles in the back yard. That's crazy! Why would you want to turn on four yard lights every time you want power on in the garage? I'm going to have to track the power lines down and try and split those yard lights off from the garage so they can each be turned off and on separately.

I still have a couple of minor plumbing issues I have to tackle yet, I was hoping to take care of them in the next couple of days, but I may have to wait another week to do that. All in all though, everything has gone pretty smooth and it feels really good to be a homeowner.

Creeping closer to closing on the house

2009-10-15T21:10:00.003-04:00

Well, I was contacted today by my realtor, and the title work is finally complete. The only thing holding us back at this point is some miscellaneous paperwork that the mortgage company is waiting on. I did some digging myself and sent them what they hopefully need. If so, then we should be closing by next week. If not, there could yet be a slight delay waiting on a credit bureau to get them the final papers they need. Either way, we're almost home, literally!

Star Wars The Clone Wars

2009-10-09T20:09:00.003-04:00

The first season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars was all right, it was good enough to keep me watching, but didn't really wow me. Season 2 has now reached it's second episode and the show has improved considerably! The character models appear to be more detailed, and the lighting and textures have been improved as well.

The storyline seems more mature as well. In the first season, there were an awful lot of stories that seemed, light-hearted, and to be brutally honest, silly. This season's shows I've seen so far are much darker, with a much more mature theme. I'm looking forward to seeing how this season progresses!

Fantastic news!

2009-10-04T18:06:00.002-04:00

I've been pretty lazy lately about posting new info here, but it's been pretty busy lately in my defense. I've finally got great news to impart. Our offer on our dream house was accepted! Not only that, but since then I've gotten my mortgage paperwork in and now we're only waiting for the appraisal to be done which is happening tomorrow afternoon. Then it's just waiting on the underwriters to finish all they're paperwork. We've got a tentative closing date of October 21st. There's a slight threat of the closing date getting pushed back a little further though. Hopefully that doesn't happen though, we're really looking forward to getting moved in and starting what we're calling "part 2" of our lives.

House hunting....house buying...I don't know....

2009-09-21T20:37:00.002-04:00

Well, house hunting has pretty much come to a stand-still. The good thing though is that we have an offer in on our dream house once again. We won't know until late this week whether or not we'll have any luck this time and get it. We've all got our fingers crossed, so cross yours as well for us.

If we don't get the house this time, I'm stepping back from looking for a house until next spring. I've about had my fill, and frankly, we've run out of nice homes in our price range anyway. I'm really, really hoping that we'll get the house this week. All of us want this to happen. So wish us luck!

House hunting goes on...but at a slower pace

2009-09-11T11:49:00.003-04:00

Unfortunately, we're still in the "house-hunting" phase, and the pace is going to be slowed down. We've pretty much gone through all the houses that are worth a close look in our price range and the pickings have come up slim. I'm still holding out hope that our "dream house" on Sherwood Terrace will come back on the market and that we'll be able to make another offer on it.

We were looking at a house this morning with our realtor that I was marginally hopeful about, but it turned out to be a dud. This house was listed as being a 2, possibly 3 bedroom a little less than 1100 square feet. The possible third bedroom was described as a "loft" that could possibly be a 3rd bedroom. The loft turned out to be a partially finished attic of about 240 square feet that a normal sized adult wouldn't be able to stand up straight in! I don't see how anyone could consider this a "possible bedroom".

The listing agent who described the property said that it had, a newer roof, newer vynil siding, newer windows, newer furnace, newer water heater, and the remodel is complete. Notice there's a lot of "newer's" there and not "new"? And I think by "the remodel is complete", they meant, "this is as much as we're doing, and we're not doing any more!" I found light fixtures and thermostat's hanging by their wires, wiring for the furnace wire-nutted and taped together instead of being properly in junction boxes. Holes in the walls that had been painted over without being spackled first...and the list goes on. In the back yard behind the detached garage were six old car tires and about a 6 yard dumpster's worth of trash.

We left this house realizing that we were starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel. So we're now basically hoping that our "dream house" comes back on the market and waiting for some new listings to come on the market. Wish us luck, looks like we'll need it!

Tip for Netbook Users

2009-09-10T11:42:00.004-04:00

I'm a pretty big proponent of netbooks, but recently I'd found a problem that was plaguing me. It wasn't really a netbook problem, so much as it was a firefox problem. I've found that it's much nicer to access the internet on a netbook through firefox when you use full-screen mode. That is, by pressing the f11 key you can maximize firefox so that it hides the upper and lower tool bars so that you get your internet pages covering the entire screen space.

The only drawback to doing this is you can't access your bookmarks. When you move your mouse cursor to the top of the screen, it drops down a minimized version of the toolbar that does not include the file toolbar. To access my bookmarks, which I use frequently, I would have to drop out of full view mode by pressing the f11 key, access my bookmarks, then press the f11 key again! Not very handy to say the least. I have finally found a firefox add-on that will alleviate this problem.

Compact Menu 2 takes all the components on the file toolbar (file, edit, view, history, bookmarks, tools & help) and puts them in a single icon that looks like a small blue ball that sits to the left of the navigation buttons. By clicking this icon, while in fullscreen mode, I can now access all my bookmarks anytime I want!

J.R.R Tolkien's children use the U.S. court system to blackmail New Line Cinema

2009-09-08T20:55:00.005-04:00

The estate of J.R.R. Tolkien has just settled out of court with New Line Cinema for an undisclosed amount of money. Here's the gist of the background...Back in (I believe) the 1960's, Mr. Tolkien owed quite a bit of back taxes to the government. To pay off his debts, he sold the rights, including film rights to "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "The Hobbit". Eventually those rights were passed on to New Line Cinema who with Peter Jackson brought the world the wonderful "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which as we all know garnered many oscars and hundreds of billions of dollars. New Line Cinema is now on the verge of bringing us two more films which will together tell the story of "The Hobbit".

Now, in February of 2008, quite a few years after all this has gone down, and has proven to be quite a cash-cow, J.R.R. Tolkien's two surviving children who are 80 and 84 years old, decided that they are being cheated out of their share of the money that's being made off of the their father's work, regardless of the fact that he "sold" the rights to these works and was fairly compensated for it. The thing I really hate about this is that there was probably very little chance they would have won any settlement in a court trial, after all, Tolkien had sold the rights. They knew though that since New Line Cinema was going into pre-production on "The Hobbit", that any court action would snarl up the shooting of the upcoming movies and cost the studio hundreds of millions of dollars even if they won. So it was just a ploy to get them to settle out of court for enough money to make the old greedy bastards happy!

It's a shame that the U.S. court system is basically just used by most people these days to "blackmail" people and corporations out of money simply through the threat of a protracted court case. Shame on the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien, if the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy of movies had been a flop, they'd have never even considered trying to sue for a share of any of it's money.

Still House Hunting

2009-09-06T20:34:00.002-04:00

Well, the first house we made an offer on didn't pan out. Since then we'd put in an offer on a second home, which we just loved...unfortunately the house got pulled off the market and is now in "limbo". We're hoping it may get re-listed soon and we can make our offer again, but until that happens, it's back hitting the bricks to look at more homes. It's the extended holiday weekend though, so we've been slowed down to a stand-still until it's over with, and we can get back to work! Wish us luck, house-hunting has certainly proven to be frustrating.

House Hunting

2009-08-20T20:21:00.003-04:00

I've been pretty quiet lately on the net. I've had to be, my wife and I have been house hunting. 19 years of living in the same mobile home has finally worn thin, and it's time to move into a real house. This process can take awhile, but we've gotten to the point of making our first offer on a home. Hopefully by early next week I'll know something, and hopefully it will be good news. We found a really nice two bedroom home that would fit us perfectly. So wish us luck and maybe I'll be announcing our moving plans here soon!

Tired of being sick...

2009-07-31T12:19:00.002-04:00

I came down with some sort of flu about a week ago, and I'm still not feeling right. I've missed 3 days of work and can't miss anymore, so I'll be going to work tomorrow whether I feel like it or not. I pity anyone who has to come into contact with me in case I'm still infectious. My wife has been sick with it also for most of that time. My son has lucked out and not gotten it, but somehow we infected his girlfriend...I feel bad about that 8^(

I don't know if it's the swine flu or not, but I'm still not going to see a doctor. I'd rather my body fight it and build up a natural resistance. That's the problem today, too many people fall for the line that they've got to get immunized for protection, that's why so many viruses and other "bad" things are becoming drug-resistant. Our bodies own defenses are the best immunity we have, and unfortunately it's got to be "tested" every once in awhile or it can't put up a good enough fight!

Now, I'm not saying there isn't a need for immunizations, there is. The young and the old in particular need help with their bodies defenses. Your average, generally healthy person though doesn't really need immunization boosters, GOD and evolution has given our bodies the ability to develop immunity on our own.

My Fathers Day Gift

2009-06-17T21:11:00.004-04:00

I've had this recliner on layaway for about a month and a half, and my loving wife has helped me get it out today so that I could enjoy it come Father's Day! It's really comfy and I may never get out of it!

Take the Zombie Survival Quiz

2009-06-13T16:24:00.000-04:00

You have a 68% chance of surviving a zombie outbreak

You will probably end up killing a few zombies and saving some innocent people, but you would die just before it was over

Zombie Survival Test
Take More Quizzes

Buried Treasure - Part II

2009-06-11T22:24:00.003-04:00

Well, turns out unfortunately that the vintage VHS camcorder that was found at work wasn't in working order. At least the battery/battery charger didn't work, so hence, no working camera either. We were sorely disappointed. I wasn't able to get the VHS tape out of the camera either, although I haven't been willing yet to break the camera o get it out. Maybe I'll go that far this weekend. After all, I wouldn't be willing to pay a penny for this thing even if it did work! Updates on what's on the tape when I find out myself...

Buried Treasure - A blast from the past

2009-06-02T17:26:00.004-04:00

A co-worker found this "ancient" camera at work today. Apparently, someone threw it into a dumpster there, and someone had dug it out thinking it might be something worth keeping. They then "rightly" decided it wasn't and threw it on the ground where he later found it. In it's day, it actually probably was a quite expensive and nice video camera. It has a I.D. plate on the bottom of it that dates it's manufacture to October of 1987! And yes, it is a full size VHS camcorder, the kind that uses VHS tapes! It's a complete kit, a gorilla case with foam inserts, camera, battery, cables, and editing dock etc.
We've got it all layed out on this table in the shop letting it dry out, as it had been raining and everything was soaked. When it's dried out, we're going to try charging the battery and see if it works. It does have a tape in the drive and we're curious to see what might be on it. I'll report back on what results we get if any in a couple of days.

Homeless in L.A.

2009-05-30T23:23:00.000-04:00

Obama on National Security 5/21/2009

2009-05-21T11:19:00.002-04:00

Today, President Obama has re-affirmed my belief that voting him in as President of the United States of America was a good and sound decision. Today, he did what he does best...he instilled in me a sense that he can lead this country back onto a path of true justice and good moral standing. He spelled out, in simple to understand terms that what has transpired over the last eight years was flawed and wrong in it's execution, if not it's intentions, and that the U.S. government would once again operate as a single and whole entity rather than just the Executive branch operating as the sole executor of the will of the American people.

In hearing in recent days the assertions that Mr. Obama ordered the closing of the Gauntanamo Bay prison without considering the problems it would cause, I was hoping that he would respond to these accusations. He did, with style. You could tell that those who were making these accusations simply wanted to pretend that "Gitmo" doesn't exist. They wanted us all to just "leave it alone", and let those detained there simply fade into obscurity and eventually die of old age! That cannot be allowed to happen, and President Obama has made it clear that he will not let it happen.

Facebook Sucks

2009-05-17T20:52:00.002-04:00

Facebook sucks! That's the long and short of it. I got on Facebook against my better judgement since quite a few members of my family were on it, and it did make it easier to stay in touch with them. During the "entire" week that I was on it though, my virus scanner alerted me to more viruses, trojans and worms during that week than it had for the entire previous year! On top of that, several of my accounts got hacked, not very seriously though thank GOD!

In the end, my netbook was so compromised by Facebook, I had to reformat the hard-drive and re-install the operating system. Well, actually it was my son that did that for me, and he did a great job. Now it's simply become a matter of getting all my software back up and running. So, make sure you steer clear of Facebook at all costs, it just isn't worth it. If you want to stay in touch with family and friends, just use email and a secure chat program!

Reigning Scrabble Champion

2009-05-16T20:25:00.001-04:00

Tonight, my wife, son and his girlfriend all sat down and enjoyed a couple of games of Scrabble. It was nice to have a traditional “game night” in the living room that didn’t involve video games or violence. Well, it could have led to violence when I swooped in and won both games, barely taking the second one from my son who was sure he’d won.

Which gives me three consecutive wins in Scrabble in our household. As reigning champ, I have thrown down the gauntlet of challenge to them and defy them to find a game to beat me at. ROFL!

Technorati Tags: Forcemaster2000,blog,Scrabble,game night,family,fun

So what’s up with global warming?

2009-05-15T10:43:00.001-04:00

By now, anyone who reads this blog should know that I believe the whole global warming thing is just a big conspiracy to herd society into certain directions and to line the pockets of special interest groups…but I’d still like to know what the government would put forth as it’s evidence for global warming. I mean, what’s up with the extremely cool extended spring that we’re experiencing? If global warming is such a threat to our well-beings, why aren’t we all sweltering right now in tropical heat?

As I sit here writing this on almost the exact middle of the month of May, it’s a balmy 64 degrees fahrenheit. When I left at about 7:30am to take my son to work I was actually wearing a sweater. Let’s face it people, there is no such thing as global warming. There is only climate change, which happens all the time and cannot be altered through human intervention. So the next time someone asks you open up your wallet and fork over hard-earned money to save the polar bears, or reduce your “carbon footprint”, tell them to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine, you know, right underneath those expensive solar panels you just had installed on the roof of your house.

Technorati Tags: Forcemaster2000,blog,global warming,weather,hoax,government

Starting a new diet

2009-05-12T13:42:00.001-04:00

I started a new diet Monday, I’ve decided to shed a few pounds for summer, and for my health.

I'd be popular at picnics!

2009-05-01T22:28:00.000-04:00

Created by Recipe Star

CinemaNow is still around!

2009-04-30T23:08:00.003-04:00

I'd been wanting to see the movie Wall-E for awhile now. I missed it in the theaters, and have yet to see it. A lot of the reason for that is that we don't rent DVD's anymore, or buy them for that matter. What's the point in buying something that you might watch once, then never watch again? What I wanted to do was rent a movie download over the internet, but lately, that hasn't been too easy.

My favorite site for renting and downloading movies was MovieLink. Unfortunately it was bought out by Blockbuster, and although they claim to have incorporated it as it was, it's just not the same. Blockbuster has a pathetic lineup of movies available for download and they're just not worth it. My next choice I looked into was Netflix. I really don't want to deal with another monthly subscription though, and apparently you can't actually download movies to watch later, you have to watch them as streaming movies, and I really don't like that. So, I googled for any other choices out there and what showed up in the search? Cinemanow! I'd been a registered member there way back in 2005 and 2006, but frankly, I didn't even know they were still around. I went there and sure enough, they were still running, not only that, they've got a surprisingly big library of hit movies including a lot of new releases that have just recently come out.

I wanted to rent Wall-E, and sure enough they had it available for download, unlike Blockbuster who only had it available as a rent-by-mail item. I needed to be logged in though and figured I'd have to re-register. I took a chance though and tried to sign-in with what I was pretty sure used to be my username and password. Lo and behold it logged me in and still had my user history intact! I couldn't believe it, I hadn't even rented from there since July of 2006! I rented Wall-E and tried to start downloading it and found out that I needed to have some software installed called media-manager. So I started installing it and unfortunately it tried downloading the movie as soon as it thought media-manager was installed even though it hadn't finished yet. Long story shortened, it messed up the download and Cinemanow thought that I'd successfully downloaded it and wouldn't let me re-download it.

At this point, I was a little irked since I'd already paid my $3.99 for the movie. My only options were to either forget it and quit, or call Cinmeanow's customer service number. Now, I've had a lot of bad experiences with customer service phone calls in the past, so I wasn't looking forward to that option. I decided to try it anyway. Wow! Was I ever surprised. My call was answered in under one minute by a courteous, English speaking American citizen. I don't remember her name, (and I wish I did), but within a couple of minutes she had my account brought up and walked me through everything without any problems whatsoever. She wound up giving me a promotional code for a free rental so that I could re-download the movie. This was the best customer service I believe I've ever received over the phone. I told her so and she said that I'd made her night!

So I want to give a big shout out about Cinemanow and anyone reading this should go register and rent a few movies from them. A great website like that should get plenty of traffic that way they won't go the way of the dinosaur and leave us with nothing but a couple of ugly, lame sites for renting movies!

Chrysler readying for bankruptsy?

2009-04-23T15:57:00.003-04:00

MSNBC is reporting that according to a New York Times report, the Treasury Department is readying to file bankruptcy for Chrysler. Now, aren't we all glad about those billions of dollars that were given" to Chrysler so that bankruptcy wouldn't be necessary?! Gee, maybe they should have just been left alone to file bankruptcy in the first place, and save we taxpayers a few billion dollars.

Antarctic ice increasing, not melting away....

2009-04-23T14:57:00.003-04:00

I've been hearing this now for the past month, the Antarctic is not melting away, it's actually increasing in size. Those behind the global warming agenda have been skewing the numbers to convince people that global warming is the direst threat ever to face mankind. Well, the numbers just don't add up. Check out this STORY at Information Liberation.

Hopefully the truth will find it's way into the mainstream consciousness so that we'll stop reacting to these doomsayers, and start being pro-active.

Animal intelligence

2009-04-23T14:44:00.002-04:00

This is something I've believed in for years, but mainstream media and scientists have refused to accede to the realities set in front of them. There has been evidence for years that animals are much more intelligent than we've been led to believe. I found this very interesting article on the subject earlier today at Information Liberation

I think many people refuse to see animals as intelligent because it opens a whole host of questions that "the bible" can't adequately answer.

Turn off the News;

2009-04-23T12:23:00.003-04:00

I just did the best thing I could to alleviate stress and make my life better...I turned off the news. Why listen to it. It's just a bunch of propaganda being spewed out based on what the corporations and the government want us to believe. Global warming, who to be afraid of today, weather that can't be predicted more than 12 hours in advance....it's all just a bunch of hooey. That's right, I said hooey!

Pepsi Throwback

2009-04-17T22:45:00.004-04:00

I'm sitting here in the living room watching Primeval on the Sci-fi channel and enjoying a 20 ounce bottle of Pepsi Throwback. Haven't heard of Pepsi Throwback yet? Pepsi is "temporarily" making some of their classic products like Pepsi and Mountain Dew with the classic formulas from the 60's and 70's that made them famous. Basically speaking, they've taken out the HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) that we've been forced to use as a sweetener in just about everything for the past 30 plus years and gone back to using natural sugar as the sweetener.

I can definitely say it has a "crisper" taste to it than I'm used to, and that's a good thing! It doesn't taste as "syrupy" as I've come to expect Pepsi to taste. Unfortunately this is only supposed to last for a few months, unless maybe enough people cry out that this is so much better, Pepsi will be forced to shelve the old corn syrup and keep giving us the good stuff!

TV SUCKS...WHY?

2009-04-12T16:09:00.003-04:00

It's Easter Sunday, and TV sucks! It doesn't even really matter that it's Easter, TV sucks all the time anymore. Why? For as long as there has been television programming, and movies, why does TV have to keep re-showing the same crap all the time? Why have I been seeing the same twenty or thirty movies being played over and over and over and over again! My GOD! How many times do they have to replay Batman Begins? How many times do they have to have a Battlestar Galactica marathon?

The real problem is that there are only a few wealthy people/organizations that own the rights to too much of the media for the last 50 years or so. There might be 150 channels out there, but 99% of them don't have any "rights" to show some of the great things that have been produced over the years. So we get stuck with the same few things they do have the "right" to show, and sucky reality TV programming.

In my opinion, the whole concept of copyright needs to be re-thought. I think the copyrights to anything, should last no longer than twenty years. Once you create something, you get the exclusive rights to it for twenty years, then after that, it's fair game. After all, twenty years gives plenty of time for a whole new generation to come along, and for the most part, they're not going to care about what was created by the generation before them anyway. Just because a new medium comes along and someones work gets transcribed to it, does that automatically mean they should be entitled to make people pay for it all over again just to see it on the newest device? I think not.

I hate to think about the fact that I've had to buy the original Star Wars movies on just about every medium they've come out on. VHS, DVD, digital, etc. etc. If I've bought them once, shouldn't that give me the right to see them from then on in whatever format they're in? I mean, it's not like the content changes...well, in the case of the Star Wars movies, I guess the content does change since George Lucas can't seem to leave well enough alone, but you get my point, right?

A new face for an old tactic!

2009-04-09T11:51:00.002-04:00

The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia has found a way to put a new face on an old tactic, one that can be sinister in it's uses and I find it highly offensive. Doug Strachan, Creative Innovations Manager for the City of Atlanta Department of Aviation has re-written three classic R&B songs with new lyrics that utilize subliminal persuasion to encourage visitors to the airport to "clean it", and to visit their concession and souvenir shops. Although subliminal persuasion is around us all the time thanks to a world that worships marketing, it just seems wrong that everyone involved in this should seem so happy about this endeavor. Here is a LINK to the actual story at CNN

37,000...Really?!

2009-04-06T18:54:00.001-04:00

Great site for Great Tea!

2009-03-30T15:02:00.004-04:00

I've recently discovered the enjoyment, and great benefits of drinking tea. In my explorations I've discovered a great website called "Design a Tea". It's a great site where you get to literally design your own flavored tea. You get to pick from one of four base teas, Black, Oolong, Green and Rooibos. There is an explanation of the benefits of each kind of tea. You then get to choose one or two flavorings you'd like to add to your tea. You can then choose whether you would like your tea leaves loose, or in tea bags. You then get to customize your purchase with a name/description that will be placed on your container. You get a small bag/10 tea bags for $4.75 or a large bag/20 tea bags for $8.50.

Pictured above is my first purchase, black tea with cinnamon and raspberry flavor which I named ForceMaster's Cinna-Berry. It tastes fantastic, and the personal service I got from Brian and folks at Design a Tea was incredible. I highly recommend their site to anyone who enjoys tea or would like to start drinking tea for the natural health benefits it offers!

Obama overturns Bush's environmental folly...

2009-03-05T09:49:00.003-05:00

Tuesday, President Obama righted a great wrong perpetrated by former President Bush in the final days of his administration. Bush had basically circumvented the Endangered Species Act by modifying the law saying that government agencies could determine for themselves whether something they wanted to do like build a dam, or clear a forest was going to harm an endangered species without having to consult with the U.S. Fish and wildlife service or the National Marine Fisheries Service. Putting the decision-making process in the hands of bureaucrats instead of scientists.

This was one of the more heinous acts committed by the Bush administration, and I'm glad to see that President Obama has wasted no time in making this right!

LINK to the original story on CNN

Thoughts of the moment

2009-02-26T22:31:00.002-05:00

The wind is howling outside right now. The last couple of days have been spring-time warm, but it's supposed to be back to cold, winter weather starting tomorrow. I guess that's the voice of winter that I'm hearing right now as it reasserts itself. I'm feeling antsy tonight, hopefully it's just the weather change. I'd hate to think that it's just winter getting to me, because I don't really like any of the other seasons that much anymore, so it's not like the changing of the months will help me out any!

I need to recharge somehow. I wish I knew how I could do that. My wife wants us to go off on a "real" vacation this August for our twentieth wedding anniversary. I'd like to do something special for a big occasion like that as well, but I just don't know how we're supposed to be able to afford this. I'm sure that's bringing me down, I just don't know what to do about it. Does anyone know what to do about it?

2009-02-11T13:27:00.001-05:00

No doubt this was designed for "Fat-cat" Wallstreet executives so they could literally think about how they're "pissing on the world"!