Current Podcasts on my MP3 Player

            My current podcast subscriptions focus on science, IT, and writing topics, with a little local and world news thrown in.

 

http://radio.weblogs.com/0001014/categories/ipodderTestChannel/rss.xml "Juice News" title="Juice News" type="rss"

http://juicereceiver.sf.net/podcasts/juice-users.xml "Free Talk Live : Podcast" title="Free Talk Live : Podcast" type="rss"

http://freetalklive.com/files/dircaster.php "Buffy BuffCast" title="Buffy BuffCast" type="rss"

http://www.geekshow.us/buffy.xml "Best of VH1 (Video)" title="Best of VH1 (Video)" type="rss"

http://www.eonline.com/Podcasts/Daily10/index.xml?rss_daily10 "Midwest Today Radio" title="Midwest Today Radio" type="rss"

http://midwesttoday.podblaze.com/skin_midwesttoday.xml "On The Media from NPR/WNYC" title="On The Media from NPR/WNYC" type="rss"

http://www.kutvfreshair.com/podcast/rss/KUTVBloopers.xml "this WEEK in TECH - MP3 Edition" title="this WEEK in TECH - MP3 Edition" type="rss"

http://leo.am/podcasts/twit "WUWM News" title="WUWM News" type="rss"

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wuwm/news.newsmain?action=podcast&section=1 "WUWM: At 10" title="WUWM: At 10" type="rss"

http://www.wuwm.com/podcast.php?program=at10 "NPR: Technology" title="NPR: Technology" type="rss"

http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=1019&uid=a2a2d837f6845ca5cbb01619e202d695 "APM: Future Tense" title="APM: Future Tense" type="rss"

http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510014&uid=a2a2d837f6845ca5cbb01619e202d695 "Science @ NASA Feature Stories Podcast" title="Science @ NASA Feature Stories Podcast" type="rss"

http://science.nasa.gov/podcast.xml "APM: Weekend America" title="APM: Weekend America" type="rss"

http://feeds.feedburner.com/beerdotcom "Escape Pod" title="Escape Pod" type="rss"

http://feeds.feedburner.com/escapepod "science friday podcast" title="science friday podcast" type="rss"

http://feeds.feedburner.com/SoulAmp "AP CelebrityFocus" title="AP CelebrityFocus" type="rss"

http://podcast.ap.org/podcasts/AP_CelebrityFocus.xml?SITE=WIMIL&TYPE=podcast&NAME=CelebrityFocus "The Naked Novelist" title="The Naked Novelist" type="rss"

http://thenakednovelist.libsyn.com/rss "The Publishing Coach" title="The Publishing Coach" type="rss"

http://possibill.audioblog.com/rss/publishingcoach.xml "The Writing Show" title="The Writing Show" type="rss"

http://www.writingshow.com/Feeds/feed.mrss.xml "ZDNet: IT Matters" title="ZDNet: IT Matters" type="rss"

http://news.com.com/av/z/pod/zdnet_itmatters.xml "Dragon Page Cover to Cover - Science fiction books & author interviews with Michael & Evo" title="Dragon Page Cover to Cover - Science fiction books & author interviews with Michael & Evo" type="rss"

http://dragonpage.com/podcastC2C.xml </outline></body></opml>

Summer TV for the Sci-Fi Set

            Been watching or almost-watching (queued up ready to be viewed on the DVR) the following this summer, in between camping trips, trying to keep my lawn alive, and trying to figure out how to do more with less (the mantra of the 2000’s) at work.

 

• Blade: The Series – Not since Highlander: The Series has a syndicated low-tech (no space ships, but vampires) SF/Fantasy show appeared with the style so well done.  SPIKETV
• The 4400 – Now in season III, it’s rolling along finally with more new episodes.  I have five of them on the DVR, but finding time when the wife and I can watch them together is tough, so they continue to accumulate.  I’ve never missed an episode.  USA NETWORK
• Eureka – Recorded the series premiere but have not yet watched it.
• Dead Like Me – Again, recorded the premiere….
• Nightmares & Dreamscapes: (Anthology series, Stephen King) – I watched the first one, cuz I like William Hurt.  It was fun because Hurt never uttered a single word.  Seen the Toy Soldiers thing in other movies though (Toy Story, Toy Soldiers), so not very original, but nice production values.
• Stargate: SG1 and Stargate: Atlantis – both series new seasons have begun.  SG1, I still miss Richard Dean Anderson, but it’s a solid show.  Atlantis, Dr. McKay is worth the price of admission; I strive to be that level of asshole every day.  I wish.

 

 

 

Things that Irk Me - Part 2 - Joint (Couples) Email Boxes

An addendum to my ‘What Irks Me’ list:

Joint Email Accounts. Don’t you just love it when you get an email message from “Dick and Jane Doe”, like,

Hi, ____! How are you doing? Here’s some really good information. Talk to you later,

Signed,

- Dick and Jane

Okay, so was it Dick or was it Jane who emailed me?! Do these people not have independent personalities? I’m sure they think it’s cute, or even convenient, but it really is irritating to be on the receiving end of such a thing. At least, if one is going to have the duo ‘Dick and Jane’ in the default signature, of the email, then for Godsakes take the time to put the –Dick or –Jane in after typing the email text! Usually I reply, “Thanks! By the way, was it Dick or Jane that sent me that message?”

I liken it to having one of those creepy voice scramblers, on the other end of the phone, that changes the voice to a computer voice or other non-descript/non-gender voice, and having the person answer “Dick and Jane here.” Dammit! Just tell me who you are!

Sincerely,

- The whole Hee-Haw Gang (Junior Samples, Minny Pearl, Roy Clark, Buck Owens, String Bean)

Bought my wife a Sansa e260 MP3 player

            My wife requested a flash-based MP3 player, due to her working out and not wanting to break a harddrive based unit.  After interviewing her, I realized a Nano-class device was preferable for her needs.  After extensive side-by-side comparison research – feature set, reviews, aesthetics – I chose the Sandisk Sansa e260.  It comes in 2, 4, and 6GB configurations, so I chose the middle ground of 4GB for her.  The metal case (versus the iPod’s plastic case) just makes more sense.  It’s the same footprint although a little bit thicker than a Nano.

 

            Although primarily designed as an audio device, it displays both pictures and video smoothly.  In fact, she stated she would probably never use the video features, but after I dragged some of her favorite shows, from the ReplayTV DVR to the converter application, I think she is now hooked.  Basically, she now has a hand-held DVR for the car ride on our camping trips, and a music/talk player for her workout needs.

 

Led Zeppelin - 2 DVD Box Set - A review

At my favorite used DVD/CD store, I bought the Led Zeppelin 2-disc box set (self-titled).

Being an ever increasingly avid fan of 5.1 digital DTS soundtracks (which seem superior to Dolby digital 5.1 in most cases), I was excited to get it for $13, in perfect condition.

I remember watching, back in..oh..1984 or ’85, ‘The Song Remains the Same’, at a Midnight movie. I remember it [vaguely] as being of poor visual quality, and mediocre sound, not to mention not the best performances. This compilation is far different. The soundtrack, remastered for 5.1 surround sound, is superb, and the concert footage is top notch! My home theater system (wired by me, before we put up the drywall in the basement, and fine-tuned by an audiophile friend of mine) does it justice. All six speakers are utilized.

The only downfall is that Moby Dick is the pre-album version, and ole Bonham had yet to make it very interesting. Either that or he was smashed off his ass and forgot to do anything interesting.

Masters in their prime. I highly recommend this set.

For a list of songs and features, see http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008PX8P/002-7486936-5202413?v=glance&n=130

Internet Filter for the kids - K9 Web Protection

I am glad my kids have my old PC, but as they have gotten more savvy, I needed a good porn/violence filter that was easy enough to use and configure, and not so intrusive as to make me disable it. I did not want it hard for them to be able to build an animated Neo Pet, nor difficult for me to read Yahoo! News or Google some interesting factoid.

I tried Internet Explorer's built-in Content Advisor, which either a) blocks all Internet content except for explicitly allowed sites, or b) allows a parent to lean over the kids' shoulders and type in a master password, that will then allow the kids to visit the site (with options to 'always allow' or 'just allow this time'). The problem is that the Content Advisor is turned on, across all Windows users. Since we have multiple Windows XP users, on the one PC, this became a hassle, since even my wife and I use that PC on occasion, and were thus forced to input the Admin password every time we browsed to somewhere new.

So, I disabled Content Advisor, and searched for something else. K9 Web Protection (http://www.k9webprotection.com/) seems to a good solution. It works from a database, via the WEB, of nasty sites, and blocks them. The Admin can get around it, if one likes, but for the very most part, problems do not arise. It is easily customizable, via an Admin screen accessible via one's WEB browser (though it exists locally on the PC). You can get this free product at the site mentioned above, free for home users (but charged for corporate users).

Google Pack - PC Essentials

            If you just arrived on the planet, and thus do not already have your PC virus protected, adware protected, and chock full of fun Google tools, download the Google pack, from http://pack.google.com/.  Check it out.