analog_kidd

Dang, I didn't realize Lance's girlfriend was on TGO! Sorry I didn't mean to offend you, but TGO is a place where people come together to talk about stuff. This was a big deal at the time, and folks everywhere were talking about it. I didn't say anything one way or another whether I thought he is right or wrong, I just supplied a link to the story, If, you're gonna get yer panties in a wad every time someone mentions one of your superheroes, maybe you should stay off the Internet.

I never really cared for Springsteen. He had a few hits that I would sing along too, but I doubt that i would have ever paid for a concert ticket. Performers do need to be aware that they reap what they sow in the political garden. I thought Sean Penn was a pretty good actor, and enjoyed several of his movies. Once he started getting all political activisty, and given that his views were polar opposite what I believe, I swore I would never watch another of his films ever again. I don't care if it is so good it wins an Emmy two years running and makes grown men weep in public, I won't watch it. Not even on Red Box, or free TV. I wouldn't even give him the satisfaction of downloading it from the Internet. I guess the Boss may also experience my wrath, I'll tell him the next time he calls.

I think it does. There are undecided voters out there who just want to be on the "winners team". Whoever gets the unofficial "win" is who they will vote for, because if this person or that person won, then surely he knows what he is talking about. These are people who just won't take the little bit of time to see who they mist likely align with. The issues are so polar opposite you have to be on one side or the other. If you don't already know, you are just lazy or shallow. It's kind of like when my son was five and Clinton was running. We asked who he would vote for and he said Clinton because his hair looked nicer. We've got a country full of adult five year olds.

I wonder if it would affect "Give aways"? if not, we'll likely see lots of ads similar to: For sale: One paperclip, $50. Will throw in a free TV.

The dust in the sensor is a common problem. I've used that trick to fix mine and a friends gas logs. You might try using one of those long lighters to try and get the pilot started, or a long match.A lot of times, once the pilot is lit, you have to keep holding the pilot button in until it reaches a certain temperature. It is like that in case the pilot goes out, the logs are designed to shut the gas off so it does not fill up your house. Having the gas company come by is an excellent idea. They can also check the line for leaks. Highly recommended.

Here's some background on last weeks episode... http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-rt-us-sonsofanarchybre88p1ut-20120926,0,2386934.story

Sounds like he may have killed her cat too and ransacked her house.

I just heard about the actor that played Half Sack was on some mind altering drugs, and killed his land lady. Then fell to his death from a roof top. Yikes! http://www.tv.com/news/johnny-lewis-sons-of-anarchys-half-sack-is-dead-at-28-and-suspected-of-murder-29674/

Yikes! I thought the guy was trying to run away. Looks like he was just trying to find a place to die. Wow.

My go-to beer for around the house is Yuengling Black and Tan. I really like that stuff. I like a nice dark, strong flavored beer. I can't much stand cheap beer anymore. The good thing about a strong flavored beer, is that most people who drink the cheap stuff don't like it, so guests don't drink it all up. When I go out and plan on having a beer with my meal, I usually try something new. The problem is, I can never find it in the store, or I forget what it was, or whether I liked it or not. I guess I have a bad memory. Maybe I should make notes in my phone.

Before we could get our drivers license, our father made my sister and me learn how to pump our own gas (we grew up when full service was the norm), drive a stick shift, and change a tire. For me I had to learn how to also change the oil, filters and brakes.Teaching kids how to do basic auto maintenance is one of the best things you can do for them. Sounds like you got an awesome young lady there. Keep up the good work.

Its a secret code, and only the cool kids can read it. Basically it says "Paul is dead"

We have a pack of them living in my neighborhood, right here in downtown Oak Ridge. There is a small greenway across the street. It has been coming into yards at night, and even in the day sometimes (I have a crazy neighbor that puts food scraps out for wildlife). I called the City to see if they would come take care of it. They said if it were a dog or cat, they would be out here lickety split to collect it, but since it is wildlife, they don't bother with them. I said that it could bite someone's pet or child, and they were uncaring. gave me the number for a local trapper that I would have to pay for. I asked if I could put a .22 in it, and they got really interested in who I was. The Animal Control in OR is a division of the police dept. After a bit of discussion they said discharging a firearm is illegal in the city. I called TWRA and they said that unless the coyote had actually bit someone, they couldn't do anything either. They recommended I buy a trap. I asked if they would come take the animal and relocate it once I caught it, and the y said I would have to dispose of it. I told them the city won't let me shoot it, and how was I supposed to dispose of it. I said What am I supposed to do beat it to death? She said clubbing a nuisance animal is a perfectly acceptable form of euthanization. For now it's not bothering anyone, so I guess I'll just leave it be.

Here is another sad elephant story that happened a little closer to home. Seems almost unbelievable... http://blueridgecountry.com/archive/mary-the-elephant.html

My son's friend works at a local airport, and says they take trashcans full of confiscated stuff and put them in the dumpster every day. Mostly bottles with liquids, but often times there are knives or tools that passengers have forgotten to stow in their checked luggage or are unfamiliar with the rules. There are no options for keeping your stuff, short of forfeiting your ticket and walking away. I got to thinking about it, and it occurred to me that the post office sells those "If it fits, it ships" boxes for $5, $10, $15. How much trouble would it be for the TSA to have these boxes available for purchase at the check-in areas? You could put your item in the box, put your home address on it and hand it to the TSA agent to drop in the mail. Seems like a simple thing to do that would go a long way toward making passengers a little happier. I would gladly spend the $5 to ship my $80 knife back home, rather than see them toss it in the trash can.

My new favorite overnight hike is now the Alley Ford trail. It is near Wartburg, and parallels the Emory River / Clear Creek. It is only 2.6 miles to the camp site. It only took us 1 hour a few weekends ago, but I was following a bunch of 20 somethings. The camp site is great. It is a nice sandy spot right on the river. There is a large campfire ring all set up and lots of places for tents. There is fish in the river if you want to toss a line in, and of course plenty of water for drinking and cooking. The trail is part of the Cumberland Trail, and runs through the Obed Wild and Scenic Park, so it is carry friendly. Just stay out of Catoosa, which is right there too. In fact if you stay on the trail past Alley Ford, you will be in Catoosa. If you can find your way to the Nemo picnic area, cross the river and turn right immediately into the little campground. Free parking at the information sign.

Arrgh, sorry for the typos in the title. I hate when that happens.

I saw where Lance Armstrong has given up the fight to prove he did not use performance enhancing drugs, so the Doping Agency has said that they consider that an admission of guilt and are stripping him of all of his titles and banning him from bicycle racing for life! Armstrong said he is done with the fighting, and just wants to focus on the future and his cancer programs. http://espn.go.com/o...-cycling-career

I rarely see anyone carrying, but a few weeks ago I did see a young man at the grocery store. It looked like he was carrying a full-sized Springfield XD-something, and was using the holster that comes with the gun. If you've never seen one, they are quite bulky and ride outside the waist band. To make it worse, he was wearing it at exactly 3:00 on his waist, so his hip bone pushed it out even further. He did have a cover shirt on, but with as bulky as it was, it stuck out pretty good, and his shirt kept riding up over the grip, so he kept fiddling with it. I figured he was a new gun / permit owner and would figure it out eventually. They are so cute when they're young

I've had good luck with this program http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/ to unlock the administrator account. It sounds to me like your best option is going to be to wipe the hard drive and reinstall the operating system. Hopefully you got the computer with the installation CD's. If so, just put in teh first CD and reboot the PC. It should boot from the CD and there will be menus to install a fresh copy of WIndows. If you don't have the install CD's then you'll need to procure some. If you want a free option, you could always go Linux. Get someone to download a copy of Ubuntu. If all you're doing is browsing the web, you'll be just fine with Linux. If you can get to Oak Ridge, I'd be happy to help you out and reinstall the O/S for you.

The other trick I use is to download a no ad hosts file and overwrite the default hosts file on my computer. The way tcp/ip works is, when I type in a website in my browser, it has to convert that name into an IP. It does that by using a DNS server. But, before it checks with the DNS server, it looks on your local PC for a file called "hosts". If that file exists, it will read it and look for the website name and IP. If that site is not in the file, then it asks the DNS server for the info. The trick with the hosts file is that for all of the ad sites, or malicious web sites, you point the name to your local computer's loopback address of 127.0.0.1. So essentially, the web browser goes nowhere for that link, and you'll get a blank browser. This is a favorite trick for malware too. It will edit your hosts file and put an entry in for say, www.mcafee.com to either go to it's own server or, go nowhere. Then when your PC tries to update it's antivirus, it can't find the site. I have used this to help friends block certain sites from their kids. Folks out on the internet have put together hosts files you can download, and they have thousands of malicious or annoying web sites already in the file. Just download one, and over write your own hosts fiole and it will start working right away. I'm always surprised how different web pages look when I go to someone else's computer and visit a familiar web site. for instance, Yahoo mail on my PC with a hosts file is nice and clean. On a friend's PC, it is full of annoying ads. Google search "No Ad Hosts FIle" and you'll find links to download a file, and more (better) descriptions than I just gave.

I run a virtual machine on my desktop. I set the virtual disk to non-persistent, so if I power off the VM, it goes right back to a clean system. Once a month, I'll change the disk to persistent and boot it up to let it get patches and antivirus updates. Then I shut it down and make it non-persistent again. Anyway, I use this VM to browse the web, especially if I'm doing random searches to unfamiliar sites. If the VM gets hosed up, it as simple as powering it off to get back to a clean system.

Ron Palillo from the 70's TV show Welcome Back Kotter has passed away from a heart attack. I'm sure there are many on this forum that have never heard of or seen the 70's show Welcome Back Kotter, Of course just about everyone has heard of John Travolta, who got his start on that same show. It was a great show back in the day. Oooh, Oooh, Mr. Kotter! http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/14/showbiz/obit-palillo/index.html

Real men should be able to make a fire. And they should be able to cook some kind of meat on that fire.

What the heck is the deal with every politician that is running for office, feels like they have to take off the jacket and roll up their shirt sleeves before a speech? It's almost like it's in a play book somewhere. I know that it's supposed to impart an attitude of "I'm ready to go to work for you". Right now, I just want them to impress me. Once they are elected, they can go to work for me. You rarely see an elected official with their sleeves rolled up. I guess that is supposed to tell me "OK, the work is over, let's relax."