Murgatroy

I am just a hobbyist myself. I attended ITT Tech for CEET many many moons ago. Pretty much everything is obsolete now.   I do all my own building, repair, installation, etc...   Software is not my strong point, but I know the ins and outs of hardware pretty well. If it uses electricity, I can pretty much figure it out and fix it, hop it up, or make sure it will never work again.         Lately I have been trying to broaden my horizons as far as software goes. I had an old netbook running Windows 7 and it was abysmal, so I decided that Linux sounded fun. Ubuntu was said to be the most user friendly, so that is where I went.   A month later I run Ubuntu on my desktop, Ubuntu on my Netbook and I have been playing with Bodhi all day on a test mule I put together specifically for the purpose of trying out new distros.

As for the funding, generating two million in under 24 hours is hardcore, and I am certain that publishers will want to get on board, or even more powerful, Amazon or Google. This would be a drop in the bucket for them and they could create proprietary software on which the program could run. I personally think targeted devices such as the iPad or Kindle are amazingly simple and POWERFUL marketing tools. With a bigger nod to the Kindle in my experience. By directly tying you and your device to a store (Big Brother warning) that logs your habits, hobbies and likes/dislikes allows a personally tailored shopping experience that said vendor (Apple/Amazon) can control and profit on.    Tie in something with an obvious nostalgia kick which Reading Rainbow obviously just showed (I am sure many of us hadn't though of this show in twenty years other than an occasional quote/pop culture reference,) and you have a juggernaut. While it is no lie that these companies are in it for money, I like to believe that they can use their power for good too.    At the end of the day though, you have to have a product that the end user wants. And I think that Reading Rainbow could be that product.

The gig is that this is the original. It also allows regular kids to talk about what their take, feelings, opinion on a certain book was. It has been nearly thirty years since I have last seen one, but the general premise was a topic, say a certain bird. LaVar would go to the bird's habitat, or a zoo etc and research the bird, or the author of a book about the bird. A celebrity would then read a book about the bird. The show would end with LaVar giving suggestions similar to what was just read, then would say 'But don't just take my word for it' and a kid would then give their review on the suggest book or books.   The show focused more on the 'feel' of the read than than the 'knowing how' to read. But immersing the viewer into the imagination of the reading, the personal visualization.    And again, this was one of the first shows of this kind, it was a forerunner of current (and much historical, given the context) shows similar. This show aired with Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers. That is a serious pedigree.   The learning app based on the show is award winning as well, same as the show was.   I think where LaVar and the producers want to take the show is into the classroom, like the old RiF (Reading is Fun) programs that would come and give one free book of your choice to a student from a 1000+ options. Or to go farther, similar to the Whittle broadcasts that we had in the early nineties. Bring it to the classroom, through the internet, tablets (my daughter's class has an assigned tablet for general use) even bring a celebrity to chosen schools to read a book.       Reading comprehension is one of the most valuable skills that a child can learn. If a child enjoys reading, they don't even notice that they are learning, their vocabulary will broaden, their grammar and spelling will improve, all while exercising the imagination and flying airplanes, fighting dragons or travelling through time. While math may be the universal language that the world operates on, reading comprehension is an individual skill that opens limitless opportunities.

That is awesome. Reading Rainbow was good stuff, but you don't have to take my word for it...

I wouldn't miss the 'Now Leaving Birmingham' signs...   If I am not mistaken, they are creeping into the top ten most dangerous cities list.   I hate going down there.

Good luck, but I like your attitude.

The same spot our 50lb lab likes to sleep.

I am a sucker for a SxS so I wouldn't be able to resist cleaning it up, checking it out and wearing a bruise on my shoulder for a few days.

We had narrowed our breeds down to a very short list before Bandit came to live with us, and to be honest, it was either a Labrador or a Border Collie. I wouldn't trade Bandit for the world, she is a great dog, but I still like Border Collies, and would like to get one as well. Although, as brilliant as Bandit is, I would be literally frightened of what the two of them could concoct.

No title pretty much equates to stolen in my experience. Either someone stopped paying the bank and stole it, or saw it on the corner and stole it.   Not worth the hassle. If it was, the current owner would have the title and not be selling it so cheap.

Bandit is mostly a black lab. I got her from here on the board last year. She is a dear member of our family now.

We have Time Warner up here. I have to call every year and argue about my bill. I pay around abouts $140. We have uprated internet, phone, two HDDVRs and a converter box. We have ~400 channels of crap and 50 channels of stuff we watch. Every year I get a bill for $180+ and I have to call to get back to the $140.    I wonder how that works for them? How many folks just don't notice and pay the higher rate for the same crap they had before?

That is a good looking dog.

Bandit, our black lab came really close to being a Trigger or a Bullet.

I don't use Apple products, but that is not a statement against the company.    I have a Kindle Fire, I bought it for my daughter and honestly I have gotten to use it twice as she and my wife fight over it. We all have smartphones. To be honest, I don't know how the world operated without them, and I remember 'The Time Before Computers.' I find a tablet to be as useful as a phone and a computer in one, though it is really neither.   It is nice to have something portable that has the ability to answer any question you could possibly think of.   So that is an argument FOR the tablet, but neutral on Apple. I haven't used Apple products since the mid nineties though I am not opposed to them. I just find that Windows/Android/Linux suit my purposes cheaper/better.

It actually falls a littler farther back due to the seam, but it falls directly under my sleeve if my arms are down at rest.

I posted about it when it happened last year. Bruce Jacob was a great man who was taken too soon, but he was a true servant of the people following his calling. They had two services, I attended the closed service for family. I met many of his brothers and sisters in blue and it was amazing to hear some of the stories.   In March we took our annual vacation, and his widow came with us. We went up to the overlook on the Tail of the Dragon and spread his ashes.   It is fair to say that he touched many lives in a positive fashion.       I think his only regret would be that he was taken out by an inattentive driver as opposed to going John McClane on some international terrorists.

I am looking for an opinion/legality of something.   Last year a close friend of mine was struck and killed while on duty in Jackson Mississippi. His wife has given me some of his duty items, including a patch from his uniform with the JPD seal on it.   I would like to sew this patch onto my leather jacket on the lower front, behind the pocket (the 9:30-10:00 o'clock position) in memorial of him. For anyone familiar with the SOA TV show, this is the same position they put the "Opie' patch. Bruce and I were both avid fans of the show.   What I am curious of is the legality of such a move. Obviously I am not in Jackson Mississippi, but I don't want it to be mistaken that I am impersonating a LEO. I think the positioning would be obvious, given that it would be on a leather motorcycle jacket.    Opinions, experience thoughts?   Thanks!

I have never been asked in my adult life to show proof of any of my education or certifications. High School or College level. I am in a mid level management position for a Fortune 500 company. I have dozens of certifications from the company, and as far as we go, that is all that is required.

They can have bond set before you are done booking. I have seen folks walk in the back door and get fingerprinted and smile for the camera and literally walk out the front because the bond was paid already.

    Those answers work as well for me.

But not before it jams.

We buy the gift cards for gas to use the gas points. If we buy all of our cards at once for the month, using points from the cards and the groceries, we have been able to save $1.00 a gallon on a fill up.   Kroger will also do double points and other promotions to really stretch that dollar.

The wife is excited. She has never had her own gun. I have a pair of Heritage Rough Riders that she has claimed one of, but she hasn't had one bought that she picked out, just for her. I am hoping this enthusiasm will lead to her being willing to learn to shoot. So far she is. It is funny, I have been trying to steer my heathen toward one of the Savage Rascals, for the nifty peep sights, but she won't have any of it. She gets mad when I tell her that eventually she will outgrow her hand-me-down Iver Johnson Lil Champ. But she wants nothing of the thought. She is fine without picking one out on her own. I do think I will get her a Ruger American so that it can grow with her though.

It has been more than fifteen years since I did it, but I remember it was easy. I was working on a degree in CEET, it was part of one of the courses to get certified..   Granted I haven't used any of it in more than ten years and I haven't done crap with anything I paid a whole lot of money to learn.   BUT! My career path lead me in a different direction.     Looking at it they have updated it a half dozen times since I got certified, so my experience is moot.