Eric's Space

Tax would boost veteran services 08/09/08 and my opinion!

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:38:44 GMT

County officials put small tax on ballot
By Chad Selweski
Macomb Daily Staff Writer
Macomb County veterans rallied the troops Friday and convinced county officials to place a small tax on the November ballot that would fund veterans services.

Macomb Daily : Tax would boost veteran services 08/09/08

As Many of you know I am a strong supporter of the Detroit Zoo tax, as it is special and dear to me. It is also the #1 attraction in Michigan, pumps $60 million back into the economy, and how could Detroit be without a Zoo? and all the behind the scences saving wildlife, and housing animals that could not live in the wild...... Well, now it seems everyone is going to try for small taxes that will add up to a lot over time. Veterans need help and I do strongly support them. Grandpa was a WWII vet! But, people need to realize they need to raise the money themselves and not force people to donate money, and I bet the tax is not even tax deductible. I stopped ALL donations to places I support due to not being able to afford too! I pay in a new way to the Detroit Zoological Society, I volunteer.

I do not live in this county, but I strongly urge people to vote NO! and if you want to give $4 or more a year, find out where the money is going and pull your checkbook out and write a check!

Windows Vista Team Blog : Announcing the RTM of Windows Vista SP1

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:41:30 GMT

Hi, Mike Nash here from the Windows Product Management group at Microsoft. Today we are excited to announce that we have released Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista to manufacturing (RTM) for our first set of languages (English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese).

Windows Vista Team Blog : Announcing the RTM of Windows Vista SP1

Facebook widgets try to install spyware - heise Security

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 05:48:31 GMT

Facebook widgets try to install spyware

Facebook widgets try to install spyware - heise Security

Another reason I should remove more of them or all or shut down my FaceBook account.

Stop changing Santa Clause

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:09:17 GMT

First some people want to change Ho Ho Ho cause it refuse to a Ho (slut) and now they wanna trim Santa down cause being fat is not good. Hey if you eat a ton of cookies in one night, what do you think? He is an exception to how people eat.
I will take my Fat Santa going HO HO HO! and wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!!
p.s. No Happy Holiday! Only Merry Christmas!!
p.s.s. Yes, I am accepting to other religions and I do not care if someone says Happy Hanukah to me. I Would take it the same as someone saying Merry Christmas to me!! (I would wish them a Happy Hanukah back).

Boycott Starbucks Tomorrow (Tuesday 7/31/07)

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:49:54 GMT

Why? Because they are raising their rates by 9 cents. Most coffee houses raise their rates every 2-3 years. They already rasied the price of coffee by 3 cents this year. I know, they are fair trade, but so is Beaner's and their refill rate on all sizes are $1.25 and my Tall Drink (Small) will go from $1.53 to $1.62 - only a small 10 cents for a Personal Cup Discount to $1.52. I cannot afford this increase and will have to start searching for a new coffee place since I did not like the Rowanda at Beaner's so I will be trying other coffee places to see if there are other good places. I do not need to pay the coffee growers to go to school, and give them better living conditions. Would be nice, but I cannot afford it! I gotta worry about paying my college bill and get into my own place before I can help other people.

I also want to make a point, if you keep raising the rates, people are not gonna keep coming. I understand their clients are more affluent, but I hope they stick up for this too. Cost of living is going up way too much and not everyone gets raises to counter cost of living.

Paris Hilton Needs to serve all time in jail. Who the F released her?

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 17:16:55 GMT

I cannot believe what I heard yesterday that Paris is being released early while being under house arrest. Why does she get to be so special? In Michigan, I do not know all the terms, but I would guess it would be more than 40 days and fines also. I have to agree with Jay Leno, does she belong to the Rich B*itch Club? I know that judges and stuff in California make excuses for letting famous people out because they are an asset to the society. Tell me how Paris is? All she does is Party, have sex, drink and drive (DUI) and make money off her stupidity, and her famous status. She does nothing for society and if she did drop off the face of the Earth, most normal real people could care less. She is a bad influence & role model to kids, tweens & teens. I hear on the radio she does not even stay in a Hilton Hotel. Wonder so Mommy & Daddy cannot track her? Why doesn't she get real and be the spokes model and work for Hilton? Wait, she already has a trashy image. Don't wanna hire someone like that.
Some people say big deal, she still gets to stay home. Yup in her plush comfy house. Still gets to have sex, party, be a bad role model.
It also burns me up she talks about this like she is a role model for people who get in trouble, well guess what? You are not! Real People do not make up fake sick excuses, get off easy over and over and over again. Paris, you should talk like what a bad person you are and what a bad role model you are to society and you do nothing for it. That would be much more fitting than the B.S. that you make up and alot more believable too.
I normally do not blog about people, and say not good things, but this is under a bit different circumstances.
p.s. I will not buy any movie, song or anything Paris makes money on.

Free Winks if you create your one Windows Live! Spaces.

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:45:00 GMT

http://spacesbutton.spaces.live.com/?ocid=BAN234&loc=us

Microsoft Vs. GM

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 19:36:23 GMT

I updated this a bit...

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 mi/gal."

Recently General Motors addressed this comment by releasing the statement, "Yes, but would you want your car to crash twice a day?"

And...

1. Every time they repainted the lines on the road you would have to buy a new car.

2. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason, and you would just accept this, restart and drive on.

3. Occasionally, executing a maneuver would cause your car to stop and fail and you would have to re-install the engine. For some strange reason, you would accept this too.

4. You could only have one person in the car at a time, unless you bought "CarXP" or "CarVISTA". But, then you would have to buy more seats.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast, twice as easy to drive, but would only run on five percent of the roads.

6. The Macintosh car owners would get expensive Microsoft upgrades to their cars, which would make their cars run much slower.

7. The oil, gas and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single "general car default" warning light.

8. New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt.

9. The airbag system would say, "Allow or Deny?" before going off.

Dark Reading - Host security - Microsoft: Home Server Sports Serious Security - Security

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 14:58:37 GMT

JANUARY 10, 2007 | Microsoft's upcoming Windows Home Server software will include security features taken from its enterprise-grade Windows Server 2003 software, but will not work as a central distributor for patches to PCs on the home network, a Microsoft executive said Wednesday.

Source: Dark Reading - Host security - Microsoft: Home Server Sports Serious Security - Security

The one comment I have about this wonderful product, I hope to be able to beta test is, instead of being behind the router, why not have it be the firewall with a Home based ISA 2006 Firewall? Have two NIC's one for the Internet and one for the home LAN. The home LAN NIC gets plugged into a switch.

Another one I thought of is, why not have built in WSUS for Home Server, and update the AU client on the PC if WSUS is not available, go to Microsoft's servers for updates? Or connect over the net to the HS to check and install updates?

Ding, Ding, Dinga - Please Donate To My Salvation Army Red Kettle!

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 17:00:11 GMT

Please help keep people warm, sheltered and fed! Please help me reach my $1,000 goal!

I do not deal with the funds donated, they go right to the Salvation Army!

https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/StartUp.aspx?SID=1273923

BlueScreen Screen Saver v3.2

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 16:49:27 GMT

One of the most feared colors in the NT world is blue. The infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) will pop up on an NT system whenever something has gone terribly wrong. Bluescreen is a screen saver that not only authentically mimics a BSOD, but will simulate startup screens seen during a system boot.
• On NT 4.0 installations it simulates chkdsk of disk drives with errors!
• On Win2K and Windows 9x it presents the Win2K startup splash screen, complete with rotating progress band and progress control updates!
• On Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 it present the XP/Server 2003 startup splash screen with progress bar!
Bluescreen cycles between different Blue Screens and simulated boots every 15 seconds or so. Virtually all the information shown on Bluescreen's BSOD and system start screen is obtained from your system configuration - its accuracy will fool even advanced NT developers. For example, the NT build number, processor revision, loaded drivers and addresses, disk drive characteristics, and memory size are all taken from the system Bluescreen is running on.
Use Bluescreen to amaze your friends and scare your enemies!
Bluescreen runs on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 9x (it requires DirectX).

Source: BlueScreen Screen Saver v3.2 (Microsoft/SysInternals)

Windows Live OneCare (v1.5) and Windows Vista set to Launch Same Day (Plus Special Deal)

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 01:59:32 GMT

Windows Live OneCare Team Blog: Windows Live OneCare (v1.5) and Windows Vista set to Launch Same Day

As you may have heard, Microsoft announced some big news today – the Windows Vista has now been released to manufacturing and the general availability date is set for January 30, 2007! So what does this mean for Windows Live OneCare? Quite a bit. The next generation of Windows Live OneCare (v1.5) will launch globally the same day Windows Vista rolls out to the general public. Because the new version of OneCare was designed with Windows Vista in mind, we think every homeowner and small business owner that purchases Windows Vista for their PC will like OneCare equally as much for its unified antivirus and antispyware filtering capabilities, and more backup options, not to mention the ongoing PC maintenance it provides.
If you’re already a OneCare subscriber, we encourage you to check out Windows Vista when it comes out next year, knowing that OneCare will still be there to help you with your PC care needs. And if you’re one of the lucky few who’s already running the pre-released version of Windows Vista, you can still test v1.5 of Windows Live OneCare by downloading it at http://ideas.live.com/. As the Windows Vista launch date nears, Microsoft will begin providing a special offer to Windows Live OneCare beta testers. We’ll share more details on the special offer soon.
All the best,
Gina, Lead Product Manager and OneCare team guest blogger

Source: Windows Live OneCare Team Blog: Windows Live OneCare (v1.5) and Windows Vista set to Launch Same Day

Windows Defender is out of Beta.

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 12:53:35 GMT

Windows Defender is now out of beta. Please update ASAP to get the latest version. Please note the beta version expired 12/31/06, so PLEASE do not let your anti-spyware expire! Still only runs on XP and Windows Server 2003.

http://www.microsoft.com:80/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

White and Nerdy by Wierd Al

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 13:22:37 GMT

This is really good! Thanks Wierd Al!

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Why Does it take a long time to mix your coffee in a coffee house?

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 14:37:24 GMT

I am curious as to why I go into the local Starbuck's, waited in a long line, got my coffee in my mug, paid for it, get to the place where the milk and sugar are and the same person is still there stirring (I am guessing 3-5 minutes), and blocking and holding up the counter for other people who want to pour milk and leave. And the person they are with keeps hanging around them making it worse. I just do not understand why people take so long. Does anyone know? Maybe I am missing something here?

Microsoft Habu Mouse

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 18:42:19 GMT

Laser Gaming Mouse poweres bt Rzaer Precision. http://www.notfornoobs.com/Microsoft-Habu-Gaming-M...

Looks really slick! Might have to get one and I am not into gaming.

Bought a new USB thumb drive

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 00:39:52 GMT

I bought a thumb drive a long time ago, 128 megs. Wow! really small now. I have collected others ranging from 16 Megs to 64 Megs. I Was tiring of burning CD's to cart big files around. So I decided to go with Lexar (On same order as the SD Card). I wanted the biggest one out there and 4 gig ones seemed to be just coming in and only by names of companies I never heard of. I decided to go with the Lexar JumpDrive Secure (in case I ever want to encrypt any data on there). I remembered hearing a comparison of the electronics centers at Target, Walmart and Kmart. One device shown was one that has a space indicator on the side of it and it looked like a Lexar. I could not find it on Lexar's website (I gave up looking pretty quick, I normally would have hunted around) so I called them and they said it was called the JumpDrive Mercury. It uses the new E-Ink, which means, the display only uses electricity when it is changed. So, once the JD updates it, it needs not electricity and will work when not connected to the PC. But, I did want the security too, I did some research on the two and they are the exact same, except the Mercury costs $30 more and comes with the E-Ink display.

I will now slowly load this up with software I need to keep friends computers updated (especially the few on dial-up), or bring pictures over I took with my camera. I am very happy with this product, except the E-Ink display seems to be a little off, but very readable. I have not tried the encryption software yet that was installed.

SD Memory Cards are not compatible with older readers.

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 00:27:43 GMT

I just purchased a Lexar Platinum II SD Card (2 gigs) from Buy.com. I am very pleased with it. I can take over 1,400 pictures or 40 minutes of video or basically a ton of pics and small videos with my HP PhotoSmart R727 (6.2 MP, 3x Optical, fits in pocket or small camera case on belt. Set on normal 6.2 Mode and Normal (Highest) for video). I had borrowed a 512MB card from a family member till I bought my first SD card. It was great for all pics and very little video. Since I would like to record more video, I decided to search for a 4 gig SD Card. I have heard Lexar is the best and they only had 2 gigs, so I bought it. I decided to go with the next line up since they are more durable and faster. (Mainly for durability.) I Was surprised when the built in SD card reader in my almost 4 year old Toshiba laptop (Satellite P25-S607 17-inch wide screen Media Center) does not support I am guessing any SD card over 1 gig. There is a warning on the package saying older readers may not read it and could damage them.

I almost thought of buying a Lexar all-in-one card reader that also supported my other camera xD (Olympus C-765 4.1 MP 10x Zoom) and possibly the old one that might be under replacement due to mass defect, SmartMedia to replace my xD/SmartMedia reader to clean up my desk. But, I change my mind and decided to get the dock for my printer. Even though it is $85, it also charges the battery outside the camera, allows for transfers without plugging in cables, or removable the card. Comes with a Li-on rechargeable battery to keep you going, a remote and a TV RCA cable to show your pics on TV. Now why this was not built into the camera (RCA jack) I do not know, other than to make you lug to things to your TV. I also see a wifi add-on for which I do not know why. The box did not say other than it is optional and I did not look it up. I am a Best Buy RewardsZone member and got a coupon for 3x points for this weekend. So I get $10 to spend in the store another time with some more spill over points.

Overall, I am very happy with it and plan to get many years out of this SD card! If I ever need a SD card again, I will but this brand and model again.

I broke down and bought a....

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 00:46:46 GMT

My MSN Direct CES 2005 Special Edition Spot Watch broke. I keep meaning to send it in for repairs. Although I love it, it is not stylish for dress-up or interviews. So I desided to buy the new Abacus Smart Watch 2006 direct from MSNDirect. They doubled the memory, and made them look proffestional and no longer like a geek toy. In fact, Fossil (Abacus is a Fossil line) and MSN cannot keep up with the demand of these watchs. They are finally taking off. I think I prefer the brown leather band, but for a proffetional setting with a black suit I settled on the Modern Metal one.

I odered it yesterday, and got a message saying it is proccessing with no ship date. I called the customer service line and they quoted me the days and said I should have it by later next week. I thought about using Brookstone, but between Brookstone charging $18 S&H and MSN Direct charging $5, MSN Direct won. Because if I call support and something is wrong hardware wise I do not have to call another support center and wait.

Council Votes to Pass Zoo Proposal

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 02:52:10 GMT

http://www.detnow.com/wxyz/nw_local_news/article/0,2132,WXYZ_15924_4506333,00.html

Thank you.

Zoo still needs funds to fille the holes.

http://www.detroitzoo.org/Support_the_Zoo/Development/Donate_to_the_Zoo/

Also remember zoo memberships help and allows you in for a year.

Photo Album: Butterfly Tour (Nancy Ward's Pictures)

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 06:14:23 GMT

Butterfly Tour (Nancy Ward's Pictures)

More Photos...

Photo Album: MSN Beta Butterfly Tour 2006

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 22:25:03 GMT

MSN Beta Butterfly Tour 2006

Pre-Tour Dinner I hosted.

Pre-Tour Dinner

Pre-Tour Dinner (Eric S. (R) MSN MVP Lead)

Pre-Tour Dinner (Wendy S. & I)

Pre-Tour Dinner (Nadia, Queen Butterfly)

Pre-Tour Dinner

More Photos...

Photo Album: WOC Picture Book

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 05:24:20 GMT

WOC Picture Book

060406_1452a

Photo Album: December 02

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 02:48:35 GMT

December 02

Catbert

techzone2

038_35

Eric as MSN Butterfly2

Tigers (DetNow.com)

Butterfly (From Detnow.com

Garaffs (From DetNow)

Polar Bar (From DetNow.com)

Garaffs (From DetNow.com)

Seal (From DetNow.com)