DVD copying software

Let me start by saying I really hate the DMCA and the big record and video companies hiding behind the thin veil. Look at 321 Software as a prime example. These bulleys are trampling on our right to make personal copies for archival of materials which we own. I've come across another source of dvd software and I'm going invest in a copy to back-up my collection and the big bulleys can go to blazes. So much for personal protections, it looks like uncle sam is sleeping with the enemy.

The truck has passed inspection!!!

Finally, after 3½ years, Project Responder has finally passed the muster. We took it over to the inspection station this morning and it didn't take long for them look the truck over and put the sticker on the window. Look out LasVegas, we're gonna be coming to town in November for SEMA.

Time to learn HTML.

It's been a long, long time since I learned HTML and because I've been using the 'language' for so long that I was kinda surprised to see the tutorial site online because I figured everyone has already learned how to create web pages. Then I came to the realization that there are a lot of folks out there that have never written one line of code even though they've authored many a web page. I learned to code with notepad but not a lot of people today have this skill anymore. So for those that want to learn HTML, this site is a great resource. The more people can code by hand, the better the web will be.

Music is reversible, time is not, turn back...

If you recognize these lyrics, then you're a true ELO fan. Either way, this company, Moving Target Software company has a real nice time sheet program that those of us needing to track time would track time with. So how much wood can a woodchuck chuck? About as much wood as a woodchuck can chuck. If the woodchuck used a time sheet program like this, maybe we might just find out. Hop on over and check it out.

Laser hair removal?

"Would you like fries with that?" Laser hair removal, among other things is becoming so ubiquitous that it's not too far fetched to think that someone soon will open a skin treatment drive through. Nowadays, it seems like anything you have on or growing out of your body can fixed or removed.

I couldn't imagine trying to get rid of my freckles, but I could imagine getting rid of age spots or other blemishes. It's amazing that we've come up with so many ways to make the body beautiful. For some of these 'treatments' I can easily see the benefit such as acne treatment or getting rid of pseudofolliculitis (which I am very familiar with). Some of the treatments are clearly offered purly for the vain. Laser skin peels and laser wrinkle removal is just as foriegn to me as would be a facial and cucumber wrap. Vanity treatments notwithstanding, I may just have to go and get lased myself. How nice it would be to not have to shave ever again.

Plastic tubes and brick walls

What do plastic tubes and brick walls have in common? Usually nothing, but in this case, they are inexorably intertwined. Why, you ask? Well let me tell you....

I work for a firm called Mocap that produces many products ranging from plastic caps to key tags to plastic tubes. There are several divisions in the company through which these products are marketed. My job is to build and maintain the websites for all of these divisions and worldwide locations. For the Mocap website, I've been very fortunate to be able to get the website found near the top of most search engine listings for the phrases that are most important. For the Cleartec division, it's been much harder (this is where the brick wall comes into play). For several months, I've been running into that proverbial brick wall over and over trying to get the Cleartec site to rank well for the phrase "plastic tubes" since the site logs show this as being the most active search term in finding our site. But that damn brick wall keeps getting in the way.

Well it's time to gear up, put my helmet on and face that brick wall one more time. Maybe this time I'll make a dent and get those danged plastic tubes just a little further up the list.

What the hell is 'bling' anyway?

First of all, let me say that I can't stand rap crap and anything that is remotely associated with crap that rap is. Even more, I can't stand that normal, everyday language is being so corrupted with this ebonics brain dead jargon. Now that I've made that clear, let's get on to the topic at hand.

I visit a website called Digital Point to keep tabs on the performance of several of the websites I manage, both personally and professionally. DP has a great forum and I've found a lot of good material, advice and even some stupid opinions out there. One member in particular, though, stands out. This is a guy that goes by the name of ThinkBling (hence the need for my disclaimer above). This internet raider has created a website called Bling (gawd that pains me to utter) and he actually has some interesting free software that he makes available for anyone that wants it. The one in particular I'm fascinated with is the Amazon.com application that allows a person to patch in the Amazon website into their own site with very little programming. The only problem is that's written in PHP (I'll go into my php rant later). But the concept is very impressive and I actually found an ASP version (hah, take you php freaks) and I am considering integrating the application into my Project Responder Firefighting Emergency Vehicle website to add value for the website visitors.

So even as much as I can't stand the thought of even using the word (I hate to even call it that) bling, as much as I can't stand fingernails down a chalkboard, it seems this ThinkBling character may be on to something. I'll admit that it takes a while to figure out your way around his site since it looks like text ads on steroids. But overall, I think he's figured out how to be successful on the web by giving something of value away for something that has little perceived value (a link back to a website) which in reality can be a pretty potent concoction when the links end up numbering in the thousands.

Cheers