4/16/10
Skip the DVD Trailers & Go Straight to the Movie
Trick One – For DVD Players
When the first trailer on the DVD starts playing on your screen, press the STOP button of your DVD remote twice followed by the PLAY button. That’s STOP –> STOP –> PLAY and it should take you directly to the movie skipping all the trailers and ads.
Trick Two – For DVD Players
If the above trick doesn’t work for your DVD, try this sequence suggested by Richard Rider. Instead of pressing the STOP button on your DVD remote twice, press it three times followed by PLAY and it should skip all the trailers and previews. To repeat, the sequence becomes STOP –> STOP –> STOP –> PLAY.
Trick Three – For Laptops and Desktops
If you are watching the DVD movie on your laptop computer where you don’t have an external remote to skip the ads, try Rick Brodia’s suggestion. Insert the DVD into the computer and when the first splash screen appears, hit the Stop button.
I popped in a DVD and fired up Windows Media Player. When the first splash screen appeared, I clicked the player’s Stop button. Then I clicked Play, and the disc skipped ahead to the previews. I repeated the process — Stop, then Play — and it advanced to the FBI warning. I did it a third time and presto: I landed right on the movie’s menu screen. @ http://www.labnol.org/gadgets/skip-dvd-trailers/13460/
Kat Stacks again!
Same chic that gave out Young Money gossip is now calling out Terence from 106 & Park and Rosa Acosta - more numbers given away - oh my! @ http://www.datpiff.com/Kat_Stacks_Gets_At_Terrence_From_106_Park.v18105.html
Diddy Reportedly Managing Nicki Minaj And Rick Ross
After rumors surfaced earlier this week that Nicki Minaj would enlist the surfaces of Bad Boy founder Sean "Diddy" Combs as her manager, Billboard reports Nicki's former manager, Debbie Antney, confirmed she had been fired via a written statement.
"I received a letter, which was [a] suspension," read the statement. "The next letter that came in was a cease and desist in doing all business with Nicki Minaj from Nicki's attorney. I love Nicki. I wish her the most success. It's not about the music, she's like one of my children...I wish her no harm, only much success."
Antney also managed Gucci Mane and is Wacka Flocka Flame's mother.
In a less surprising move, Diddy and Rick Ross have also teamed up to do business together after their recent collaborations. In addition to appearing on the "Angels" remix together, Ross and Diddy also lent verses to Wacka Flocka Flame's "O Let's Do It" remix. Earlier this week, Ross talked about getting advice from Combs during a visit to New York, and he also told DJ Envy he and Combs "have a big announcement to make real soon."
4/15/10
Jaheim gets pinched in Jersey
According to the report: Jaheim Hoagland, 32, of Hillsborough was pulled over near Royce Brook Golf Course on March 28 for allegedly traveling 65 mph in a 35 mph zone and was then charged with possession of marijuana in a motor vehicle. Hillsborough Police reported that they could smell a strong odor of raw marijuana emanating from the vehicle. Hoagland gave police consent to search his vehicle after yelling at authorities, police said. During the search, Hillsborough Police allegedly noticed a small bud of marijuana underneath the driver’s seat. Police said they also observed several cigar wrappers, cigar shaving and cigar paper, which is consistent with marijuana use. Hoagland was also charged with speeding.
Crooks and Castle - Bullet Flash Drive
I like a lot of what this company does in the fashion realm… but how about USB key in shape of AK-47 bullets??
Check it out @ http://shop.crooksncastles.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BULLET+FLASH+DRIVE
Peak Fresh Re-Usable Produce Bags - worth a try!
Product Description
Peak Fresh produce bags remove ethylene gas to prolong the life and freshness of produce, more than doubling the life expectancy of refrigerated fruits and vegetables. Most fruit and vegetables release ethylene gas after harvest. Exposure to the gas accelerates aging in fruit and vegetables (the expression one bad apple spoils the barrel comes from this process). Unlike ordinary plastic bags, Peak Fresh produce bags breathe so that damaging gases produced by the fresh produce are removed. Our bags minimize moisture formation and inhibit bacteria growth which helps maintain fruit and vegetables at their peak. Our bags maintain Vitamin C levels. To use the produce bag, pre-cool warm fruit and vegetables in refrigerator before storing in bag. Use a separate bag for each type of produce. Produce to be stored should be fresh, dry and undamaged. Expel air from the bag and close using the enclosed ties and store in the refrigerator. Bags should be washed and dried thoroughly before re-use and can be re-used for up to two months. Keep bags away from fire and children. more @ http://www.amazon.com/Peak-Fresh-Re-Usable-Produce-Bags/dp/B001CPGYM0/ref=pd_sim_k_1
News for Today
Iceland (Reuters) - A volcanic eruption in Iceland, which has thrown up a 6 km (3.7 mile) high cloud of ash and disrupted air traffic in northern Europe, has grown more intense, an expert said on Thursday.
The eruption under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier -- 10 times more powerful than another one nearby last month -- showed no sign of abating after more than 24 hours of activity, University of Iceland volcanologist Armannn Hoskuldsson said.
"It's becoming more intense, but there will be no lava -- this is purely an explosive eruption," he told Reuters.
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Israel might be preparing a military strike against Syria by accusing Damascus of supplying Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon with long-range Scud missiles, the Syrian government said on Thursday.
Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday accused Syria of sending Hezbollah long-range Scuds. The United States said on Wednesday it was "increasingly concerned" about the transfer of more sophisticated weaponry to the Syrian and Iranian-backed Islamist group that fought a war with Israel in 2006.
"Israel aims from this to raise tension further in the region and to create an atmosphere for probable Israeli aggression," the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"The Syrian Arab Republic denies these fabrications."
Hezbollah hit Israel with shorter range rockets during the 2006 war as at that time it lacked a longer-ranger missile capability.
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Scuds were smuggled to Hezbollah in the past two months.
Vatican (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Thursday the sexual abuse scandal shaking Roman Catholicism showed the Church needed to do penance for its sins, in a rare public reference by the pope to pedophilia in the priesthood.
China - earthquake death toll at 617
U.S. leads bid to phase out whale hunting: report
(Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc laid out a plan on Wednesday to repay creditors a portion of some $1 trillion in expected claims, under a proposal that could resolve the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history.
Costume Made out of Mirrors - dope!
Street performer dressed in a costume made from hundreds of mirrors was spotted near Griffith Observatory in downtown Los Angeles. more @ http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2010/04/13/costume-made-out-of-mirrors/
Samsung Electronics to launch safety probe of chip lines
KIHEUNG, South Korea (Reuters) - The world's top memory chipmaker, Samsung Electronics, said it will launch independent reviews in response to reports that toxic materials used in chip making may have caused cancer in some of its employees.
South Korea's Samsung has been under pressure by some social and civic groups to take responsibility for the incidents, which were reported until late 2000s and for which a government investigation was conducted in 2007 and 2008.
more @ http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE63E26Z20100415
Mippin feed validation KEY=2e402ca
DIY - Lunch Box Ice Packs
This will come in handy for the next time I have a outdoor outing… Click the link @
How To Make Your Own Lunch Box Ice Packs
Gujarati Dal - the best lentil soup ever
Serves 4
Ingredients
1-1/2 cup tuvar dal (toor/split yellow peas)
8-10 curry leaves
1 small tomato (finely chopped)
4 kokum pieces
2 green chilies
3 tbs jaggery
salt to taste
1 tbsp cumin-coriander powder
2/3 tsp chili powder
1/3 tsp turmeric
a pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp amchur powder
1/4 th cup peanuts
1 inch piece of ginger (grated)
Updated 08/02/07
add tamarind paste in equal proportions to the jaggery that you add
also add kharek (dry dates) and ambolia (dried green mango) if you have any
For tempering
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/3 tsp fenugreek seeds
3-4 curry leaves
2 red chilies
1 kashmiri dried chili
3 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
read more @ http://lajawaab.blogspot.com/2007/08/gujarati-dal.html
4/14/10
HBO Show - How to Make It in America
Attention all Entourage fans… while you are waiting for Entourage to come back or got tired of the rerun HBO is showing… There is a new show which I am really, really feeling. HBO's How to Make It in America is a hit, to me at least!! (shouts to Big Riz for putting me onto this)
I haven't been this way about a show since Weeds, Entourage, Sopranos and NipTuck. Each episode builds to the next so well. This show truly captures the essence of New York East Coast mentality. I am only 7 episodes into it and let me tell you - this is the show to watch!
This shows off the real hustle and grind to make it in the city that never sleeps. Friendship, love, lust, money, family, blood, sweat, tears and a dope soundtrack that makes every show worth watching! Check out their ultimate blog, at: http://howtomakeitinamerica.com/
Below is something from their blog that make me favor a fan blog over their HBO page
****
HBO's new series "How to Make It in America" comes from the same producing team as "Entourage" -- but the thing you should know about it before anything else is that, aside from exploring the bond between guys and airing on HBO, it's not a whole lot like "Entourage."
Whereas Vinny Chase and his boys made it to the top and never really fell that far from it, "How to Make It" is about what it's like to be on the bottom of the heap and looking for a way up. "It's a street-level show," is how creator Ian Edelman puts it. "It's the beginning of a journey."
The show stars Bryan Greenberg ("October Road") and Victor Rasuk ("Stop-Loss," "Raising Victor Vargas") as Ben and Cam, long-time friends and would-be fashion moguls who have big ideas but less ability to execute them. The show follows their struggles to start a denim line -- how they luck into the fabric is part of the story in Sunday's (Feb. 14) premiere -- and make their names in the business. Luis Guzman, Lake Bell, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi also star.
Here are four other things you should know going into the show.
Comedy with a side of drama. "How to Make It" has plenty of funny moments, but as with shows like "Hung," "Nurse Jackie" and "United States of Tara," it mixes in more dramatic material too ("HTMI" isn't on those shows' level yet, but its tone is similar). "It's [about] a period in life where there's a lot of hard work to be done and everything is -- you're figuring it out, there's an existential window, and there are pressures, so some things hit harder than others," Edelman says. "... It's just kind of a realism and authenticity of this moment that we're going for."
Ensemble piece. Greenberg and Rasuk are definitely the center of the show, but the rest of the cast -- particularly Guzman, who plays Cam's ex-con uncle, and Bell, as Ben's ex-girlfriend -- have their own stories.
"Lake Bell has a much more significant role than what you see in the pilot," Greenberg says. "The audience can follow what it's like to be a single girl in her 20s trying to make it as an interior designer, and also dealing with the aftermath of a breakup and running into your ex at different functions, dating a new guy, and just questioning her career choice and life in the city. Eddie Kaye Thomas [as a high-school buddy of Ben's who's now a Wall Street big shot] is really funny. And Luis ... we end up borrowing money from him, and there are consequences that come from borrowing money from him."
Chemistry experiment. Despite that, though, the show wouldn't work if Greenberg and Rasuk didn't spark together, and they really do. Rasuk has infectious energy, and Cam serves as a great counterpoint to Greenberg's more serious Ben. "When Bryan and Victor first met each other, we couldn't have been happier," Edelman says. "It was like instant chemistry. Victor is from the Lower East Side" -- much of the show is set in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn -- "and Bryan has spent so much time living there. ... They were like instant friends -- you could feel their back story. It was like a chemical thing; we couldn't plan for it. We were fantastically lucky."
Will they make it? Not right away ("It's not called 'Made It in America,'" Greenberg jokes). Edelman says the show is about "baby steps," the little victories and setbacks on the road to achieving a dream. "We don't want to slow the storytelling down too much [but we want to] find the joys along the way," he adds. "But it's a nonstop hustle and a nonstop grind. You take a step forward, and it's three steps back. They're kind of figuring it out."
by Rick Porter - Zap2it.com
DXG readies first 3D camcorder
Someone was bound to offer a 3D camcorder, but who would have thunk it'd come from pocketcam maker DXG? We got a gander at this pistol-grip, dual lens stereoscopic 3D View model, due in June. It shoot only VGA standard def 3D video, but what do you want for just $400?
Believe it or not, that $400 isn't just for the camera. You also get a 7-inch digital video viewer. The 3D in both the camcorder's 3-inch 3D LCD viewfinder LCD and the frame look almost holographic. For what it is, footage actually looked pretty cool. The video is in Motion JPEG, a pretty standard file format, but you likely won't be able to view the 3D footage on anything other than the DXG panel.
Equally cool, or cooler, are three other new 2D HD cams, the DXG-A85 HD (March, $300), the DXG-A80V HD ($250, on sale tomorrow), and the DXG-590V HD ($200, end of February), which solve a vexing problem: you want to shoot at low resolution for easy upload to YouTube or other social media sites, but you want HD for posterity. All three of these models shoot two versions, HD and QVGA, simultaneously and stores two separate files. @ http://dvice.com/archives/2010/01/dxg-readies-fir.php
4/13/10
When the Gym Isn't Enough
Young men love supplements, but is there any muscle behind them?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/health/nutrition/14fitness.html
Nutrition: Rise in Soda Price Linked to Better Health
New research provides evidence that proposed taxes on soft drinks may make young people healthier.
The study, which collected food intake data from 12,123 young adults for 20 years, found that with every 10 percent increase in the price of a two-liter bottle, people consumed 7 percent fewer calories from soda. They also took in fewer calories over all.
When people faced an even larger increase — $1 for a two-liter bottle of soda, comparable to a proposed tax in Philadelphia — they consumed 124 fewer calories a day, the study found. The lower soda intake was associated with a drop in weight of more than two pounds — and a lower risk for pre-diabetes. The study appears in the March 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
Maureen L. Storey, senior vice president for science policy at the American Beverage Association, said taxing soda would be discriminatory as well as ineffective. “Taxes do not make people healthier,” she said. “Making smart education decisions about diet and exercise do.”
But the study’s lead author, Barry M. Popkin, an obesity specialist at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina, said the study would help answer an important question.
“You always know that if you reduce the cost or increase the cost of something, consumption of that item will change,” Dr. Popkin said. “What we don’t know is whether you will buy something equally bad or worse. In this case, we found that people would get healthier.” @ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/health/research/16nutr.html?ref=nutrition
George Lopez Vs. Conan O'Brien: Late Night Wars
Will another late night war brew between George Lopez and Conan O'Brien?
Turns out the former 'Tonight Show' host is moving to TBS this November and may steal the spotlight from Lopez. According to reports, Conan's new show will air Monday through Thursday at 11 p.m., shifting 'Lopez Tonight' to 12 midnight!
The new show can either be a great lead-in for 'Lopez Tonight' or have the Mexican-American host playing second fiddle.
Let's not forget that when O'Brien's late night war with Jay Leno began a few months ago, NBC wanted the former's show scheduled past midnight. Apparently Conan wasn't having it and walked away with a $32 million settlement package.
@ http://en.terra.com/celebrity-gossip/news/george_lopez_vs_conan_obrien_late_night_wars/oci30648
Bootlegging, Pakistan-Style
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Even the threat of death cannot deter one 30-year-old entrepreneur here from his appointed rounds supplying the Pakistani elite with expensive contraband Scotch.
Adam B. Ellick/The New York Times
A bottlegger’s stash in Peshwar, Pakistan, a conservative city near the Afghanistan border.
The bootlegger employs an elaborate scheme to conceal his business, renting a private house that doubles as a secret warehouse and hiring teenage motorbike drivers to deliver his supplies. Such inventiveness is a requirement in this line of business: to hide from the police, who want his money; the Taliban, who want his head; and his family, who would disown him.
Alcohol products have been illegal in Pakistan since the 1970s, when religious groups reacting to a spike in consumption persuaded Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to institute a ban.
Shortly thereafter, Mr. Bhutto silenced the moralists and softened the prohibition when, addressing a crowd of constituents, was asked if he drank. He responded by saying, “Yes, I do drink wine, but at least I don’t drink the blood of the people.”
In today’s urban centers like Lahore and Karachi, alcohol is still widely available. But in places like Peshawar, a somewhat lawless and more conservative city on the frontier of the Taliban’s strongholds in Pakistan’s northwest, it has lately become far more difficult to procure.
For decades, men had sat on stools sipping whiskey at outdoor bars here. Even the local Taliban, who publicly condemned the consumption of alcohol as a violation of Islamic law, turned a blind eye, often relying on the illicit trade to support their insurgency.
But for a variety of local reasons, the Taliban decided to appear more righteous and closed the bars over the past two years and demanded that all shop owners remove alcoholic beverages from their display shelves. Violators have received public whippings. Some have been hanged.
The violence prompted most vendors to shift to unobjectionable products like flour. But for an intrepid and capitalistic few, the crackdown has opened a door to riches. The fancy prices government officials and feudal landlords are willing to pay for their favorite brand, Johnnie Walker Black Label, create profits that are handsome by Pakistani standards — $4,000 a year, or about seven times the average Pakistani salary.
Bootleggers who operate larger and more dangerous networks earn the steepest profits. One man, who claims to be the biggest dealer in Peshawar, says he has 10 employees and nets as much as $14,000 a night serving “the so-called respectable people,” as he wryly referred to his customers.
But they all operate in a shadowy world, aware that the slightest slip in security could mean disaster. All of the bootleggers interviewed for this story requested anonymity, for fear of being thrown in prison, kidnapped or killed.
“Before, it was so common in stores and bars,” said a man who shut down his bar about 18 months ago and is now delivering liquor. “But now, no one can say he drinks or sells. We hide everywhere. We cannot walk around freely. No one’s proud of this business.”
“When we get a big order, we’re not happy about it because the chances of getting caught are higher,” he said.
One distributor used to supply a certain district with cases of liquor several times a week, but he dropped the route after he was kidnapped last year, and released only after ransom was paid.
The local Taliban are “selling drugs and kidnapping, but they are against the sale of alcohol,” he said.
Selling alcoholic beverages is so sensitive that it is hidden even from close family members.
“Every bootlegger hides it from the family,” said one who was abducted last year by a local Taliban warlord; a huge ransom was paid for his release. “My wife didn’t know about my business until 2005, when a whole container of ours was captured in the port, and it was a huge business loss.”
To ensure their safety, bootleggers hire teenage motorbike drivers to shuttle one or two bottles across the police checkpoints that divide Peshawar from the outlying Tribal Areas. Sometimes the motorbike drivers panic at the checkpoints, the bootleggers say, refusing to stop and getting themselves shot in the process.
Those who are caught typically are released after paying a $350 bribe. At the higher levels, some bootleggers say they pay $1,200 a month to police chiefs who stamp their signature on the bottles, a sign to police officers to look the other way.
Once motorbike drivers reach the city, they give the bottles to the bootleggers, who stash the alcohol in the door panels of their cars, or stuff them in the front bumper — Suzuki Altos are known for an especially snug fit — and personally deliver them.
The added costs and risks of delivery have caused bootleggers to raise their prices by 20 percent compared with prices at the bars when they were open. Carlsberg and Heineken beers, which are especially popular in the summer, cost $8 a can. Whiskeys can range from $25 to $50 a bottle. Vodka, mostly from Central Asian nations like Kazakhstan, is also widely available, but it has never regained the popularity it enjoyed during the years of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
Until a few years ago, most of the alcoholic products were looted from containers coming from Karachi and destined for NATO troops in Kabul, Afghanistan. But since NATO heightened security along its transit routes, bootleggers now obtain the alcohol from employees at foreign embassies in Islamabad and Kabul, who secretly resell it on the black market.
Some also purchase small quantities from Pakistan’s non-Muslim groups, who are traditionally lower class and who can legally purchase small quotas, which they resell to bootleggers. Other inventories are smuggled in through customs at Pakistani ports like Karachi and Gwadar.
People who drink liquor have to exercise the same caution as those who sell it.
“We used to be a very moderate, vibrant and modern society,” said a 28-year-old educated Pakistani who does not tell his family that he is a regular drinker. “We had clubs, and females went to those clubs, but if you have people who have arms and are fully equipped, you don’t have any options.” @ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/world/asia/13bootleg.html?hp
1 way not to get hacked - KeePass
I heard of password savers on IE and Firefox, but has anyone ever heard of this?
It isn't all that new, but it is worth looking into. I know quite a few people that had their accounts hacked, and when I asked them what their old password was, it was something STUPID SIMPLE!! Come on people, stop putting in yourname1 lol
KeePass let you generate strong passwords, even save your passwords for certain sites, even your different computers. You can save the KeePass on your usb stick, so you never have to type it in. What does all this mean?
It means make your passwords INCREDIBILY LONG, throw them on the KeePass and forget about. Just make sure you keep a copy of the KeePass, just in case you lose it.
Windows 7 - My Experience
I have been using Windows 7 for a good while now, and I have to commend Microsoft on the new OS. It is very stable, and I really like the new layout. I never jumped on the Vista bandwagon, and so damn glad I didn't! But 7 is well worth it. There def is a learning curve that goes with it, but you do not need to be a brain surgeon to pick up. I'm so glad the graphics got better, and the processing is a lot faster, faster than my Win XP. The only crazy thing I am running into is the ability to add certain software's on there. Even though I install running as "win xp sp 2" mode, they still do not work. I might need to get another person involved to help solve this, but so far it's all positive remarks from my end. If people are still scared to make that plunge, I say go for it. There are always updates that are being patched out, but still the OS is very stable. There are so many new features that Microsoft has added, its def worth a test drive. (and no Microsoft did not pay me for this endorsement, but it would've been nice!)
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