Category: The Kitchen Sink

Note to self: must by SquareTrade warranties on new compy and dishwasher this week

SquareTrade, the third-party warranty company, has published its experience with laptop reliability, and, no surprises to twc central users, ASUS and Toshiba came out on top in reliability.

Since 1/3 of those figures are from accidental damages and ASUS offers 1 and 2 year accidental damage protection just for buying some models (like mine :-)), that’s even better.

BTW, the only notebooks/laptops currently used at twc central are… ASUS or Toshiba. We’ve been very pleased with service on all of them.

Of course, I’m going to stress test ASUS service pretty soon now with a Windows 7 glitch. Well, since Windows 7 Home Premium came preinstalled on this lil toy, and it’s refusing to do ONE THING I REQUIRE OF IT (that is a built in feature), I’ll just have ASUS support give me the fix–just about any fix short of a repair install will do.

Of course, I’m on the cusp of a custom install of Win 7 Professional (or Ultimate), so I need to stress ASUS support before changing the preinstalled OS to what I really want on this lil compy. Still, the test cases I’ve placed before ’em so far have been dealt with handily, so this is really more just to over satisfy myself about ASUS support.

Whah?!? Busy coupla months. Stop for air and… nothing substantive’s changed. The Big Zero and his minions are still blocking all sensible efforts to stop the oopsie in the Gulf. No real progress in blocking the (about half) BP-written crap-n-tax. The wussification and socialization (redundancy alert) of the US under the White, urm, Café-au-lait House, Congressional Dhimmicraps and Repugnicants (or as Jerry Pournelle likes to style them, after a Peggy Noonan article, Nuts and Creeps *heh*) and Mass MEdia Podpeople Hivemind is still proceeding unabated.

IOW, no news.

Seems the summer news slump has hit an early low. I may as well pull a Rip Van Winkle. *sigh*

On Memorial Day, we honor servicemen (and women) who have paid for our freedoms with their lives. Just spend some time giving thanks for all the folks you know/knew personally who paid the ultimate cost personally for your liberty, today.

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We Shall Keep the Faith

by Moina Michael, November 1918

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

Today, large numbers of Americans hold such sacrifice in disdain. Indeed, in recent years, many have attended and participated in “demonstrations” that have celebrated the terrorist savages who seek to kill not only American servicemen and women but civilian non-combatans as well.

Moina Michael’s poem was instrumental in establishing “Decoration Day” (now Memorial Day) and in establishing the (apparently dying) tradition of wearing a poppy in honor of our fallen military. That the more well-known “In Flanders Fields” (John McCrae, May 1915) is “better” art, I’ll not dispute. But Moina Michael’s poem has a heart that’s sadly missing in all too many Americans today who cannot comprehend, let alone echo these lines:

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies

Would that we too teach our children well, that duty and honor and sacrifice are due our deepest respect and support.

One last note: In order to maintain some sense of connection with my curmudgeonly side, I’ll not explain the significance of the phrase “Flanders Field”. For those who read this who either had competent history teachers in grade school or who have taught themselves from readily available history texts, it’d be superfluous. For those who don’t know the significance of the phrase when they read it here, well, they have computers and an internet connection. I’ll not be their crutch–especially if such persons are even too lazy to click the link above. One word: Google. Folks who are too lazy to click the link above or type a search into a Google search box are just hopeless. *heh*

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Let me encourage you to “buy” a poppy from an American Legion member; to spend some time thinking on what that poppy represents; to spend some time this weekend in quiet contemplation and prayer, being thankful for those who gave their lives to preserve your liberties.

How is it that professional congresscritters who begin their political “careers” with mostly modest resources can “retire” when forced from office as multi-millionaires? What other incomes do drop in their laps as the result of their political “careers”?

(“And where’s the nearest tree, and who has the rope?” might seem to be the next questions that pop to your mind, but I say, “Hold your horses! At least make them pay back their ill-gotten gains, first!” :-))

Keep in mind that this “maroon” is the replacement for Cynthia McKinney in Congress, so as unbelievably stupid as he is, he’s an improvement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNZczIgVXjg

[audio:What-a-maroon.mp3]

But still, as a Loony Left Moonbat, he’s one of the brighter of the flock.

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h.t. Hot Air

*heh*

“[pointing to a venn diagram] On this side are the people who are breaking my heart, and the other people who are shaking my confidence daily. In the middle? Cecelia.”

h.t. Lovely Daughter

“People get just exactly as much government as they are unwilling to oppose.”¹

I like other OSes, but Windows is the Big Kahuna in eyeshare, so naturally I share more Windows tips here than anything else for any other OS. Just the way it is. That said, here’s a lil tip for Windows users to help keep down the accumulated junk a Windows install just naturally crufts up with.

First run “cleanmgr /sageset:99”

Oh, right. Start>Run and copy-paste the above material found between the quotation marks–just don’t include the quotation marks. Win 7 users, just hit the Start Orb and paste it in the search field and hit enter.

Choose files you wish deleted, actions to be taken, apply, then close.

Then copy the text below, paste it into a plain text editor like Notepad and save it as a batch file. Replace “%username%” with your username. Place it in a “tools” folder or some such to use as desired or in your startup folder if that’s your preference.

The switches selected for the del command below are

f=force deleting of read-only files.
q=quiet mode; do not ask if ok to delete on global wildcard
s=delete specified files from all subdirectories.

c:
cd “C:\Users\%username%\Local Settings\Temp”
del /q /s /f *.*
cd “C:\Users\%username%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files”
del /q /s /f *.*
cleanmgr /sagerun:99

Sure, cleanmgr will attempt to clean up TEMP files and Temporary Internet files for you, but it just does a so-so job. By including the first two “del” commands, you’re assured that those WILL be deleted.

Oh, you could also download, install and run CCleaner (“Crap Cleaner”), but even it doesn’t necessarily get rid of read-only files located in the TEMP and Temporary Internet Files folders. It’ll try, but…

Thirteen Ways to Have a Better Day

1. Think “happy” thoughts. (e.g.–“The guy who just cut in front of me and slowed down in 70mph traffic slowly lowered into boiling oil.”)

2. Smile at the world (and the world will wonder what the heck you’re up to).

3. Wear better-fitting shoes. (Or go barefoot. Sure, you’ll not be allowed in a McDonalds, but you are looking for a way to better your day, anyway, so that’s a win-win for ya.)

4. Avoid phones. (Don’t 90% of your hassles come from “miscommunications”?)

5. Uffda! Avoid “feeda“. *heh* (I once saw a graphic demonstration of the difference between the Norwegian expressions “uffda” and “feeda“–two guys walking; one pointed at the ground and said, “Uffda!” The other didn’t see “it” in time and said, “Feeda!” So, it’s uffda if you see “it” and feeda if you step in “it”… )

6. Be pleasant to idiots. (See the principle stated above. Uffda! You’ve been warned.)

7. Turn off the “news”. (Again, see numbers 5 and 6. *heh)

8. Eat some ice cream. (The joys of cold, sweetened fat!)

9. Take a nap. (There’s no problem that does not look better from behind closed eyelids.)

10. Laugh at life’s little “funnies”. (“So, two Muslim terrorists walk into a 230-grain bullet traveling at 830 feet per second… ” That’s both funny and economical! Don’tcha just love .45 ACP humor?)

11. Coffee!

12. Beer!

13. Pray “The Serenity Prayer”… Frequently.

Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to hide the bodies of those I had to kill
BECAUSE THEY REALLY TICKED ME OFF!

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