Caladesi Island - the BEST BEACH 2008 right here in Clearwater!

I didn’t realize until just a few days ago that I am living just 2 miles away from the TOP RATED beach in all of the USA: Caladesi Island State Park, the top rated beach as ranked by Dr. Beach. Click on the picture to see it in a big window.

CALADESI ISLAND. accessed by ferry boats from Honeymoon Island State Park, One Causeway Blvd., Dunedin (727-469-5918 ). Beginning at 10a.m., an hourly, 70-passenger ferry ride makes the trip to Caladesi sland in 20 minutes (no roads or bridges link it to the mainland). The roundtrip ride is $9 for adults and $5.50 for children (free for kids under 4); boaters pay a $4 docking fee per day ($9.35 with electric hook-up), and $20 per Slip per night.  Snorkelers favor the barrier island’s gulfside waters, which boast more than 2 miles of beach; the Bay side features mangroves, slash pine forests and maritime hammocks. A 3-mile nature trail winds through the island’s interior. Concessions, restrooms, picnic areas, changing rooms and showers are available.

Removing Windows Vista Media Center from bootup - Disable MCE to make Vista faster

I installed Windows VISTA on the fastest computer in my house a couple of months ago - big mistake. Now my fastest computer runs the slowest, such as in Internet Browsing and many other commonly used tasks.

Often when I want to do something on the VISTA computer, it is already “100% busy” with some of it’s own ideas, and typically these things are the “trusted installer”, (who trusts it I have no idea) and the Windows Media Center.

I plan to go back to Windows XP, probably one of the best operating systems ever made. But in the meantime, I’m going to speedup my Vista by disabling MCE:

• Right click on your my computer icon, left click on manage. A computer manager window will then pop up. Double click on services and applications icon in the right hand box. Then double click on the services icon in the right hand box.
• Now that you have the services menu up and running scroll all the way down to the W’s. You will see several services that start with “windows media center”
• there will be a windows media center extender service, a media center scheduler service, a media center service launcher, a media center receiver server, etc.
• right click on each media center service, then left click on properties.
• once your in the properties windows, you’ll be on the very first tab, the “general” tab.
• there will be a section that says “startup” it will be a drop down menu box. click the drop down box and select disable.
• Now just do that for each and every single media center service.
• reboot windows and you will now have media center disabled

American Intellence at risk

Miracles of Modern Technology (comic)

And the university professor said at graduation:

“The intellence of the uversity gradutes is absutely castrophic.”

Adobe Photoshop is TOAST! This Graphics software is SO MUCH BETTER.

I’ve been looking for years for great Graphics software, but most of the software is very complicated to use so this will turn you off from doing any graphics work. Some other software is complicated AND expensive, such as Adobe Photoshop.

Xara Extreme is the software I just absolutely LOVE. It works well, is easy to use and in my mind more powerful and faster than Adobe Photoshop. Check it out for yourself on XARA’s web site

3D Logo Headline Maker - Free - Make your own 3D Logo right here online

From the makers of the absolutely fantastic XARA Graphics software comes this free software tool: Make your own 3D Headline or logo just by entering a couple of things right on this form. It could not be any easier.

This 3D Heading Maker includes just a handful of headings created in Xara3D. Using Xara3D itself gives you infinite possibilities - for example you can edit bevels, extrusion, lighting, foreground and background colors and textures, shadows and all the font settings.

Xara3D also lets you alter the heading position, extrusion and bevel depth on screen in real-time, just by dragging it. What’s more you can animate your graphics with a whole range of animation types. Find out more on the XARA web site, which includes many example graphics, a demo movie and free 15 day trial download.

Windows Vista Ultimate Running Slow? STOP that MCE and get faster.

My computer has been running intolerably slow on Windows Vista Ultimate, and one of the main cuprits that results in all sorts of slowdowns is that Windows Media Center. It cannot really be removed, because it’s part of Windows, but you can DISABLE and STOP it from running. That will give a lot of relief and make your Windows Vista Experience much faster:

1. 1. Click on “Start”
2. Click on “Run” and edit “services.msc”
3. A windows will appear. Find all these services and disable them: Windows Media Center Extender Service, Windows Media Center Receiver Service, Windows Media Center Scheduler Service, Windows Media Center Service Launcher (and other services which have the launch or launcher word and thast are related with WMC)
   
4. Click on “Start” again
5. Click on “Run” and edit “MSConfig”
6. Go to “Startup” tab
7. Uncheck those entries which have the ehome as path such as ehTray.exe. This will prevent MCE to start when you turn on your PC.
8. Done!

Now to make the changes permanent you need to turn off and on your computer. Once done you should experience a faster, lighter Windows Vista! For more Vista news, trick and hacks click here. If you want to have a really lighter Windows Vista click here.

Commercial-Free Television on your PC, even with Vista!

Did you know that there is software that can automatically remove commercials from your PC-recorded TV?

DVRMSToolbox lets you do just about anything with your Recorded TV files. 

DVRMSToolbox can automatically process your recordings using the Commercial Skin Add-in so that when you play them back (PC or Extender) you don’t have to touch a single button to skip commercials.

Setup is very simple, download and install DVRMSToolbox and ensure you check the option to Register the Commercial Skip Add-in as part of the install.  Reboot after this, and then make sure the rest of your setup is correct.  That’s it!

Start playing a Recorded TV program and Media Center will give you a prompt about Commercial Skip.  Say Yes to process it and before the first commercial (in most cases, generally takes 5-8 minutes) the show will be entirely processed and skip over the commercials without any fast forwarding. For newly recorded shows, FileWatcher runs in the background and automatically runs ComSkip on the files.  So the next day you go to watch them, the ComSkip scanning has already happened.

If you are in Vista, remember to read Mike’s article on getting Commercial Skip working.  Both are free, although donations for both are well worth it.  ComSkip Donations & DVRMSToolbox Donations.

And remember, DVRMSToolbox does so much more!  Convert to WMV, Convert to MPEG, Sync to PocketPC’s, etc.

So, have you tried out DVRMSToolbox and are you using Commercial Skip?  If not, what exactly are you waiting for?

Tom Cruise on Oprah Interview - Airing this Friday on May 2nd 2008 - Shocking Truth

I was going to post when I find out WHEN the Tom Cruise Interview with Oprah was going to be on TV: Here it is:

May 2nd 2008: Tune your TV and record! It’s going to be EPIC! Set your VCR or DVD recorder. Let’s see what he has to say.

This may also be the first time when Suri Cruise is on TV.  The gossip-media have been trying to find out (or invent) what’s wrong with Tom Cruise for years, but it was more and more apparent that they were dealing in lies in order to line their pocketbooks with the money that scandals are supposed to sell.

Now here is the SHOCKING TRUTH: THREE YEARS after the interview with Matt Lauer, the Institute of Medicine reviewed 90 (NINETY!) medical studies into the efficiency of Psychiatric Drugs to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The trials reviewed included randomized controlled trials, controlled psychotherapy trials and placebo-controlled pharmacotherapy trials. And what was found: NONE of the Psychiatric Drugs could prove ANY EVIDENCE of effectiveness.

Help! Need to repair vintage Fanatic 320 windsurfer mast foot

I have this Fanatic 320 windsurf board (ok, ok, I admit, vintage stuff),

which has this kind of sliding contraption to hold the mast foot…

but just a few days ago my mast foot broke apart like shown here:

and here …  Aaargh

Does anyone have a suggestion what I can do? Are these parts still available anywhere? Can I just one of these new rubber-mast-feet and somehow screw it on top of the this contraption?

Help, help, help! SOS - SOS - SOS !

Free Ringtones for Elvis Presley, Ghost, Munsters etc.

The best musicians make the best ringtones - of course! Free Ringtones for musicians like Elvis Presley, Ghost, Munsters, Amy Winehouse and most popular artists are just a click away if you know WHERE - even if you have service from Verizon, Sprint Alltel etc. Not everybody has ringtones for Elvis Presley for phones such as Siemens, Kyocera, Samsung, Eriksson.

Today almost everyone in the world uses a cell phone. Cell phones let us talk with loved ones no matter how close or far away they are. Cell phones make it super simple to keep in touch with all of our friends and family. There is no denying it, mobile communication has just made things far simpler for us.

Today’s portable phones offer several up to date advantages. Multi-media messaging, ring tones, etc. can be found on nearly all cell phones. The tedious noise of a phone bell is no longer in fashion. Polyphonic ring tones are all the rage. The majority of users want ring tones of their favorite musical performers.

Sharing and downloading melodious ring tones is simpler than ever thanks to their availability on the internet. There are a countless number of web pages that will let you download your favorite ring tone for free. It can often be quite difficult for you to find a specific ring tone but most websites will sort their ring tones by genre.

Folks love to download ringtones in a variety of forms of music, including classical rock and roll, jazz, and more. Those who prefer Amy Winehouse, for example, like to down load Amy Winehouse ring tones. In any case, Amy Winehouse ring tones are loved throughout the globe. She is well regarded for her distinctive vocal and singing style.

Elvis Presley reached the top of his success. Elvis Presley ringtones have become very popular throughout the world. Some of his famous ringtones are Love Me Tender, A million miles away, Good girls gone bad, Under my umbrella and A girl like me.

Linkin Park is one of the foremost bands today. With the group’s huge popularity, rockers all over the world are downloading their favorite Linkin Park ringtones. Some of the most popular downloads include: “Crawling”, “Somewhere I belong”, “Bleed it out” and “In the end”. Many websites let you download for free so if you rock, pick up Linkin Park or another of your favorites like Amy Winehouse!

Thanks to the World Wide Web, people can download ringtones easily due to the fact that there are numerous websites that allow users to download ringtones free of any costs. Like any other style you love, Amy Winehouse ringtones can be found and downloaded on the Internet today. Rihanna ringtones are cropping up on cell phones all over the world. Since the rock band has become very famous, throughout the world, rock music lovers download Linkin park ringtones. Some of the famous ringtones of this band are Somewhere I belong, In the end, Crawling, and Bleed it out.