I moved my blog

I moved my blog over to Wordpress. You can find it here: http://blog.cleghorn.org

King Airport in the 70's

This is why I love the internet: I posted a photo to Panoramio that I had taken back in 2005. This week, out of the clear blue sky, someone commented on the photo. Not only was he familiar with the airport at which the photo was taken, but that he also had a video of that airport his father had taken in the early 1970's. At 2:10 into this video, you can see my uncle and his yellow Piper PA-11 picking up a banner. Thanks, stlmusic, for sharing this video.

Northwest Herald - Local News and Video for McHenry County, Illinois - Blessed are those who download

 

Northwest Herald - Local News and Video for McHenry County, Illinois - Blessed are those who download

 

Here's a good article on church podcasting and sermonaudio.com

Go Around! Go Around!

I am not a pilot, but I made the decision to go around much sooner than this pilot did.

Plane scrapes wing during landing in Germany - CNN.com

 

Technorati Tags: Aviation,Video,Germany

Westboro Baptist hates EVERYBODY

FOXNews.com - Berkeley City Council to Revisit Vote Against Marine Recruiting Station

BERKELEY, Calif. —  Two weeks after the Berkeley City Council called U.S. Marine Corps recruiters "uninvited and unwelcome intruders," the council is expected to reconsider its anti-Marine stance Tuesday night.

Large crowds from the left and right are mobilizing for the meeting. The anti-war feminist group Code Pink began a 24-hour "peace-in" Monday night, and the pro-war group Move America Forward planned a day-long demonstration outside City Hall.

The Rev. Fred Phelps, the anti-gay activist and founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, will be there as well, demonstrating against both the Marines and Code Pink. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church routinely picket at the funerals of American soldiers killed in action.

So, let me see if I understand this:  Code Pink is protesting from the Left, and Move America Forward is protesting from the Right, and that nutjob Phelps and Westboro Baptist is protesting against both groups?

I cannot wait for the day that this group falls into the dustbin of history.

Technorati Tags: Politics,Westboro Baptist,protest

PDF Files in a Podcast feed

Just testing something.

I've seen PDF's show up in iTunes, but only when I've bought an entire album from the iTunes store.  I'm wondering how links to PDF files will appear in a podcast feed.

I'm trying to find ways to efficiently publish PDF's related to audio podcasts.

 

 

Click here to view Staveley Services Canada's Certifications and Accreditations

Does Wordpress support future date publishing?

 

Just testing something using Live Writer and Wordpress.

Testing a Podcast idea

I'm collaborating with a friend to produce a podcast, and we're evaluating the M4A/MP3 decision.

M4a is cool because of all the extras you can do with it (Chapter marks, artwork, etc.), but MP3 is more universal.

I need a place to test a thought that I had:  What if we published links to both file types in the same blog posting?  How would that look in the standard Feedburner feed, and how would it come across in iTunes?

So, here it goes:

The Journey - M4A

The Journey - MP3

Toddler, grandmother hospitalized after space heater sparks fire -- chicagotribune.com

"The girl's 31-year-old grandmother also suffered injuries when the fire ripped through their home..."

A 31 year-old grandmother?  If this trend continues, by the time she's 76, she'll be a great-great-great-great-grandmother.

Toddler, grandmother hospitalized after space heater sparks fire -- chicagotribune.com

Cessna's new Jumbo aircraft

Tragically over the weekend two Cessna aircraft, a 150 and 172, collided over California killing 5 people.  The NBC affiliate in Boston, WHDH, reported the story on their website.  Apparently their online editors are not all that familiar with Cessna aircraft:

Are there many private 747's flying around in the U.S.?

Okay, so blogging from...

Okay, so blogging from Jott seems to be pretty cool. I wonder if there's a way I can send pictures and videos from my cell phone through Jott to blog. Oh, I'll figure out. listen

Powered by Jott

Creativity does not come from the Status Quo

Just something that popped into my head today.

Report Delivery Preferences - Praxis - Online Data Management

Just creating a blog entry from a web page via IE7 toolbar.

Report Delivery Preferences - Praxis - Online Data Management

 

This is a new Blog entry

Just showing off LiveWriter.

 

 

 

Cleghorn.org

Technorati Tags: Junk

Now is the time for all good men to come to the blah blah blah....

The One Year Bible

The One Year Bible online

So, I think I'm going to attempt to read the Bible through this year using The One Year Bible.  I'm please to find that they have all the reading online because I'm a online type of guy.

I wish they had a daily RSS feed to make delivery and tracking my reading better.

Maybe they do, I just haven't found it yet.

Well lookie here:  1-Year Bible On Radio Podcast

Nicaraguan court overturns American's conviction - CNN.com

I learned about Eric Volz because of Phil Keaggy's podcast.  I was very pleased to learn that apparently common sense has prevailed in Nicaragua, and that Eric Volz will be released from prison soon.

Nicaraguan court overturns American's conviction - CNN.com

Windows Live Writer

When in the course of Human Events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to affirm their right to blah blah blah.

Tabloid Free News

I listened to Laura Ingraham and Major Garrett yesterday discussing the tabloid nature of the news media. I think Ms. Ingraham has a great idea for having “tabloid-free news”.

I have been noting for some months the frequency that Roger Friedman puts Michael Jackson’s picture on the website (it’s there again today). The current noise over Brittney this, or Paris that. It’s driving me insane.

The other day I was snowed in, so I decided to spend some quality time with FoxNews. I was watching John Gibson’s show and had to quickly change channels (there were little kids around) when John decided to probe the human ‘interest’ story of a teacher posing nude for Playboy.

Yesterday I visited FoxNews.com during the day to keep in touch with the world. I noticed quickly that the red News Alert banner was active. I wondered what earth-shattering events were taking place. Another terrorist attack? Bin Laden captured? The death of a president? Nope. The news flash was that I could right then and there watch live streaming video of yet another Anna Nichole Smith trial in progress.

I would rather watch streaming video of my grass growing.

Enough is enough.

I am through with the O’Reilly Factor. I’m through with Studio B, and I’m through with The Big Story. I am just about through with FoxNews.com as well. As soon as I figure out which RSS feeds will fill the gap, Foxnews will be off my Favorites list for good (or at least until they clean up their act.)

This is a lot like that DirecTV commercial where the mom has a “sit-down” with fictional Mafioso characters: I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to block you.

12:05AM

I don't have a lot of time to write lately, but don't think I'm not still watching, Mr. Friedman.

FOXNews.com - Foxlife: Entertainment and Lifestyle News - Fox411 - Jacko: New Authorized Book in Three Weeks?

Just when I thought I was having an effect....

12:04AM

FOXNews.com - Foxlife: Entertainment and Lifestyle News - Fox411 - Jacko Back in NYC

Should I count this one too?

It seems today there is an actual news worthy item coming from the Neverland ranch. Should I give Friedman a pass for once again using his favorite photo of Jackson on Foxnews.com, or should I move the clock to 12:03?

FOXNews.com - Foxlife: Entertainment and Lifestyle News - Fox411 - Neverland Nevermore for Jacko

12:02AM

Here we go: Move the clock. Friedman couldn't even go one day without writing about the One Who Know One Cares About.


FOXNews.com - Foxlife: Entertainment and Lifestyle News - Fox411 - Katie Couric's Next Job: Concert Promoter

Three Weeks, Eleven Stories

Three weeks ago I began creating blog entries every time Foxnews.com ran an article about Michael Jackson. I am amazed that during this time Roger Friedman and Foxnews.com has found eleven excuses to write about Michael Jackson. I'm trying to come up with a clever way to track this number. Maybe something like the Doomsday clock, where whenever Friedman finds some petty insignificant reason to talk about the Wacko (as I like to refer to the 'plastic-faced one') the hands of the clock move toward midnight. The problem with that idea, though, is even if I started the clock out at 12:01 AM, at his current obsessive rate, we'd be at midnight before you knew it!

I suspect there are only one or two readers of my blog (depending on the number of voices in my head at any given time) so most of this is just me, talking to myself. I hope that one day, however, Mr. Friedman, or perhaps even Mr. Ailes himself, may stumble upon my blog and realize that there is at least one person in their audience who finds their almost breathless coverage of Michael Jackson just utterly inexplicable and ridiculous.

If you see this and feel the same, please post a comment. Or, better yet, send Roger Friedman an email message and thank him for the up-to-the-minute, nonstop Michael Jackson coverage.

Almost got this one past me

Well thankfully Michael Jackson's picture was absent from Foxnews.com today.

Unfortuantely Jacko is still very much on Roger Friedman's mind, however. I'm sure the 'gloved-one' is glad there is still one person in the media who cares about him.

FOXNews.com - Foxlife: Entertainment and Lifestyle News - Fox411 - Mariah Pulls Out the Big Guns

It's Monday Morning. Never too early to start!

Michael Jackson doesn't care about Ranch Workers, and I don't care about Michael Jackson. Roger Friedman does, though. Apparently Jackson is the only subject he cares about.

And the count continues.....


FOXNews.com - Foxlife: Entertainment and Lifestyle News - Fox411 - Jacko 'Doesn't Care' About Ranch Workers

A Two-for today!

Today we've been blessed with not one appearance of the Plastic-Faced One, but two.

It's All Michael, All the Time over at Foxnews.com

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187452,00.html


Thanks for keeping us up to date on the news nobody cares about, Mr. Friedman and Foxnews.com.

So, What's the count up to now?

Roger Friedman and Foxnews.com continue to be the prime news outlet for those remaining few individuals who still care what is going on with Michael Jackson.

Are these new money problems for Jackson that Foxnews.com is reporting today, or more of the same, tired story about Jackson's financial woes? Who knows, but it's yet another reason to put that horrid picture on their website.

I find myself over at CNN.com a lot more lately...


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187452,00.html

Here's the latest scoop on Jackson's travel plans

Just for the one or two people who might actually care what Michael Jackson does anymore.

Thanks for the news flash, Roger Friedman and Foxnews.com!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187406,00.html

Fw: It's Spring. The Love is in the air at Foxnews.com and FoxLife

My letter to foxlife@fox.com regarding their facination with Michael Jackson:

Dear Mr. Friedman,

A few weeks ago I developed a perception about Foxnews.com and FoxLife in particular. Knowing that perception often seems to be reality, I began blogging my observations just to check my senses. It seemed to me that Michael Jackson's deformed face 'graced' the home page of Foxnews.com at a very high frequency.

I started blogging each time the Wacko's face caused me to flea Fox's website (After his trial, I can no longer bear to look at him) and after just two weeks I'm quite surprised to find five entries already.

What is the fascination with this odd individual that causes the otherwise great folks at Fox News to yield such a platform on which to display even the most insignificant tidbits about this guy? Is there some large demographic of Fox viewers who care about the sale of Llamas and Alpacas at the Neverland ranch?

I certainly do not.

Sincerely,

Me

Tricky, tricky Fox

Hey, could it be that someone is stealthly reading my blog site? Is it possible that I've exposed Foxnew.com's embarassing little secret so much so that they must try to hide their true feelings for the Gloved One?

No Wacko story today, and thankfully, THANKFULLY, no picture. The fondness remains evident, however, as their beloved's brother is highlighted today instead.

Nice try. Well, no, not really. It's still pretty pathetic.

FOXNews.com - Foxlife: Entertainment and Lifestyle News - Fox411 - Jermaine and Larry's Forgotten 2003 Talk

No Rest for the Weary, or Sick.

I've been under the weather this weekend, and only fired up the laptop to look something up on Wiki for my wife. I popped over to check the news sites, and found that Foxnews.com's love afair with the Wacko continues, even when I'm not watching.

This is getting crazy Fox.

FOXNews.com - Foxlife: Entertainment and Lifestyle News - Fox411 - Jacko Exclusive: 3rd Child From Catalogue

The Wacko love affair continues over at Foxnews.com

Sigh.

Yet another stupid reason to put the ugly "face" on their web page.

Hey, Fox: I don't really care about employment issues at Neverland ranch.

FOXNews.com - Foxlife: Entertainment and Lifestyle News - Fox411 - Jacko Staff Loses Health Insurance

The Love of God

I haven't heard this song in a long, long time until this past weekend. The imagery of these words still fill my head:

"Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made, Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade, To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Tho stretched from sky to sky."

Another Day, Another Opportunity to show the Wacko

FOXNews.com - Foxlife: Entertainment and Lifestyle News - Fox411 - Jacko: Llamas, Alpacas Are First to Go

This just in from FoxNews.com!!!!!!

Stop the Presses!

Michael Jackson sold some animals. Quick! Get his picture up there on the website!


What is the story behind FOX's bizarre obsession with this lunatic?

OH FOR THE LOVE OF MONKEYS!!!!

FOXNews.com - Foxlife: Entertainment and Lifestyle News - Fox411 - Jacko and Kanye Recording in London?

I like FoxNews. I really do, but there is one thing they do that really infuriates me: It would seem that FoxNews searches high and low for Michael Jackson stories just so they can put his freaky face on their web site.

It's really getting annoying.

Thank you, Martha Stewart

I got quite a thrill when I bought a laptop for my wife's Christmas gift. She was surpirsed and pleased almost beyond words. Then, Martha Stewart made that Christmas gift all the more exciting for my wife. You see the other day on her show, Martha sat at a desk in front of a laptop. It was the exact same laptop I had gotten for my wife. My wife was thrilled that she and Martha use the same computer.

Thanks, Martha, for following my lead! ;-)

Coretta Scott King funeral

So many comments swirling around the Internet today about Coretta Scott King's funeral yesterday. I have only one thing to say about this, or frankly any other funeral:

A casket is not a soapbox, no matter what your viewpoint. To make it so diminishes the speaker and disrespects the one who is to be honored.

Linton's First Flight

Our friends Linton and Eileen from Cork, Ireland were in town visiting, and my buddy Michael was gracious enough to take Linton for his first general aviation (i.e. "small plane") flight. I was lucky enough to tag along.

The weather was pretty crummy, but we got just enough visability to tool around for a bit. Linton was able to try his hand at the controls. Michael is a great host, being very mindful of his 'first-timers' and very educational too.

Here's a couple pictures of the flight:

Thanks for the ride, Michael!

Helen Thomas' 'Turf'

Drudge Story

Helen Thomas is mad. She's mad because the President of the United States didn't pick her when she raised her hand.

It reminds me of grade school.

Their are two very interesting points raised in her quotes. First, she seems to elevate her importance to the level of our nation's biggest enemy:

"He's supposed to be this macho guy. He'll take on Osama bin Laden, but he won't take me on."

What arrogance to think yourself as much if not moreso deserving the President's attention than the world's most predominate terrorist vowed to destroy our country.

Second, and probably most shocking, is that she considers the White House briefing room "her turf":

"He came on to my turf. I'll bet the next press conference will be in Room 450 of the EEOB," a theater-style room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where she would not be in the front row.

What gives her the right to claim any type of ownership status to any part of the White House? She's just a reporter.

A reporter who is trying to make herself the story.

How Many in YOUR Spindle

Originally uploaded by Bradc314.

A friend and I just split the cost of this Sony DVD+R spindle from Best Buy. It cost $29.99 after an instant rebate, normally priced $74.99.

When we went to split our 'best buy' we learned that a Sony spindle of 100 actually yields 97 discs.

Just think how much money Sony is saving by short-changing each spindle it sells.

Dreaming of Chocolate?

When Martin Luther King was saying, "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today", I wonder if his dream included a "chocolate New Orleans"?


BREITBART.COM - New Orleans Mayor Says God Mad at U.S.

It's time for us to come together. It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans _ the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans," the mayor said. "This city will be a majority African American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn't be New Orleans."

Imagine the cries of "Racist!" and "Bigotry!" had a white mayor said anything remotely equivilent about a predominately caucasion community.

As a white man, I will never understand the double standard that exisits when dealing with race issues. When I read MLK's speech, I understand him. I agree with him. But it seems to me that the so-called leaders who claim to be carrying the mantle of Martin Luther King bear very little resemblance to the honorable reverand and his dream.

Oh, but I'm white. To speak of such inconsistances would earn me the "racist" label in some people's eyes. There are areas in which I am not allowed to tread in this free society, not even on an intellectual level.

News Flash! A Senator has already made up his mind!

village voice > news > Mondo Washington by James Ridgeway with Michael Roston

The linked article tries to raise concerns that Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has already made up his mind how he will vote on the Alito nomination.

Does Ridgeway and Roston really think that Senators Kennedy, Schumer, and Durbin have not as well?

Give me a break!

What Kind of Airplane are you?

I got this link from Oblivion. I couldn't be happier with the results.




You are a P-51 MUSTANG. You enjoy classic
things. You like the beauty of old machinery,
and the way that it awed the world. You love
adventure, and you like being top dawg. You are
powerful, and you are determined. You see
qualities in things that most people do not. So
buckle your seat belt and tear up the skies,
it's your turn to have some fun!!


What Airplane Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Sen. Kennedy has a Portuguese WATER DOG?!?

Sen. Ted Kennedy 'Dogged' By Children's Book

Of all the different breeds of dogs in the world, why on EARTH would Senator Kennedy pick a Portuguese Water Dog?!?

From http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/portuguesewaterdog.htm:

Developed from working dogs brought by invaders and settlers to the Iberian Peninsula, the Portuguese Water Dog has aided Portuguese fisherman for many centuries. He herded and caught fish, carried messages between ships, retrieved anything that fell overboard, and guarded the catch and boats when in port.

I wonder what Mary Jo Kopechne thinks of that irony.

Attention Wisconsin!

This means YOU!

My Quote of the Day (or perhaps longer)

I came up with this earlier this morning, and just want to jot it down. I suspect I'll have an opportunity to use this before long:

"No general ever inspired his troops to victory by advocating the status quo." - B. Cleghorn, January 4, 2006

Windows Media Center 2005 and Small Business Server - Update

Anonymous Confessions of My Lunatic Friend: Windows Media Center 2005 and Small Business Server

I just wanted to revisit my Windows Media Center / Media Center Extender / Small Business Server blog entry for a couple of follow-up issues.

First, as I mentioned in my original post, I suspected that using a simple 'NET USE \\SERVER\IPC$' in my MCX1 logon script would do enough authentication on the domain to access all of the shares I set up. This worked well for me. Instead of defining specific mapped drives I can now access network shared folders from my Media Center Extender.

Secondly, I received a very useful tip this morning from Daron regarding my one remaining issue: accessing the administrative shares (i.e. C$) from other machines on the network. Daron's suggestion was to disable the Simple File Sharing option in XP. I was eager to try this, so I quickly opened up my Remote Web Workplace, logged onto the Media Center PC and turned it off. I then logged onto my server (again, using RWW) and was able to open all of the administrative shares on the Loft PC. Very cool.

The Media Center Extender has a pretty high WAF, by the way. The wife (and five year old) really enjoy being able to browse through our music collection from the entertainment center. My five year old even asked for a quick tutorial on the remote so she'd know how to change songs.

Thanks to Sean, Daron, and others with the help in making this all work for us.

One Solitary Life

I ran across a bit of prose the other day that I particularly enjoyed:

From http://www.anointedlinks.com/one_solitary_life.html:

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.

I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.

Now, as a Christian, it's obvious why I enjoyed this so much. There's something quite intriguing about that last paragraph, though. You see in today's society it is easy to find people who claim that religion is a crutch for the feeble minded, or the attitude that the truly enlightened individual knows better to believe in such 'fairy tales', yet year after year, century after century that one man, those three years still have a profound effect (one way or another) on our societies. Why is that? If you choose not to believe in the deity of Jesus, certainly you must wonder why history and generations of non-Christians have not been successful in expunging this man and his teaching from our Earth. What is it that causes this man and his story to remain such a dominate force in this world? Think of countless Muslims who have given their lives to eradicate the infidel Christians, or think of the misguided Christians themselves who shed the blood of millions trying to further their religion. What is it about this seemingly insignificant life that has caused centuries of warfare both for and against him.

Believe in him or not, but you cannot deny his continued influence over this world, even in this day and age. I am thankful that believers today choose to wage their battles at Target or Wal-Mart over semantics, or over a nativity in front of a courthouse somewhere rather than taking up arms on a real battlefield somewhere.

Voices of the Democratic Party

What ever happened to the Democrats of yesterday with statements such as, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"?

Today, this is the sound of the Democratic party:

"[The] idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong" - Howard Dean, Chairman, Democratic National Committee

"And the is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night terrorizing kids and children, you know, women breaking sort of the customes of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs." - Senator John Kerry (D) Massachusetts

"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings." - Senator Dick Durbin (D)-Illinois

With leaders like this, who need enemies?

Same Story, Different Headlines

Is there bias in the media? You be the judge. These are all headlines for the same story:

• Judge Upholds Most Serious Charges Against DeLay
• Judge dismisses some, but not all, charges against DeLay
• Some Charges Dropped
• Still in Trouble
• Judge Tosses DeLay Conspiracy Charge
• Judge dismisses part of DeLay indictment
• DeLay's Money Laundering Charges Upheld
• Judge Dismisses DeLay Conspiracy Charges

So, Can you guess which links are from which news sites without peeking??

Christianity is FORBIDDEN!

When I got into my office this morning I noticed fliers posted soliciting items to send as care packages to our troops in Iraq. The flier conveniently listed suggested items, and then specifically mentioned items that are forbidden:

Forbidden: alcohol, narcotics, munitions, any food item containing pork, pornography, anything symbolizing Christianity.

I understand that our troops are serving in a predominately Muslim country, and that we need to be sensitive to that. However, the last time I checked, Muslims get pretty offended by Judaism too, but it doesn't seem that Jewish symbols are forbidden.

I spoke up, and there are new fliers now. It took some nerve to say something, but if Christians do not speak up, who will? Are we really willing to wait and let the rock cry out for us?

Windows Media Center 2005 and Small Business Server

There are many links out on the network to explain how to join a Media Center Edition (MCE) PC to a Small Business domain, but that's not what this post is about. You see, I want my new MCE to play nice with my SBS network, but joining a domain breaks the two specific features I want.

After recently moving my desktop to a more accessible location in the house, I wanted to make it easy for my five year old to use, and that meant I needed the XP Home fast user switching logon style. Clicking on a recognizable name or picture is much easier for her than pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del and typing a username and password. Joining a domain removes this style of logon.

On a side track, I had been contemplating for months the idea of modding my xBox. I'm not a big gamer, so most of the benefits of a modded xBox are lost on me. What I really wanted to do was to be able to enjoy photos and music from my server on my entertainment system. Then, I was introduced (finally) to Media Center, and Media Center Extenders. I found out that Microsoft sells a Media Center Extender (MCX) for the xBox that would let me do exactly what I wanted on the xBox. MCE on the PC would give me that 'XP Home' look I was looking for too. One of the requirements for Extenders is that the MCE PC must be using the Fast User switching, so joining a domain would break that too.

So, I rebuilt the PC with MCE and got the MCX up and running. Very, very cool. Now comes the fun part: getting it to play nice with the rest of the network.

I set the MCE up with a workgroup name that matches my domain name, and then defined local users with the same passwords as their domain counterparts. Pretty straight forward stuff there. That left me with three things I needed to work around to get the MCE where I wanted it.

First, one of the cool things about SBS Server 2003 is the Remote Web Workplace, which allows you to securely access the network from the internet and establish Remote Desktop connections to client computers. I wanted to be able to do this with the MCE machine, but because it wasn't a domain member, it wasn't accessible. After some googling, I found some blog writers that seemed to know SBS and MCE, so I shot off a couple of emails. I got a reply from Sean Daniel, and he suggested I try a method that I had been contemplating. I set up a dummy machine with the same computer name as my MCE (with the MCE offline at this point) and joined that computer to the domain. Just joining to the domain doesn't unlock the Remote Web goodness, however. You have to run through the SBS Add Computer wizard on the server as well. Once I did this, the computer name I chose ("Loft") showed up in the Available Clients list. Cool! I shut down the dummy computer and brought the real "Loft" back online. My first attempt at connecting through RWW was unsuccessful. Just as the aggrevation started, I remembered that blasted Windows Firewall. Once I turned that off, the RWW connection worked GREAT!

The second issue I wanted to overcome was having my Media Center Extender access my already established Shared Music and Shared Photos shares on my server. Lucky, Sean's blog had an entry on how to do exactly that. I followed Sean's instructions and they worked like a charm. I think they can be tweaked, however. Since my MCE is a member of a workgroup that is named the same as my domain, once I authenticated my MCX1 user to the domain, I could see all sorts of shared folders when configuring the MCX. I suspect that if the login script for MCX1 just had a 'NET USE \\SERVER\IPC$' statement in it, I wouldn't necessarily have to map drive letters to the shares. I may try this at some point.

Two down, one to go. The only thing I don't have working yet is access to the administrative shares on the MCE. Even though my domain user name and password match my local username and password on the MCE PC, and even though I'm a member of the local administrators group, I cannot access \\LOFT\C$. I get prompted for a username and password, but nothing works. Not even 'LOFT\Brad'. I'm not sure why this is yet, but since remote desktop is working, I'm not sure if it's really that big of an issue any more.

SeanDaniel.com on SBS 2003 & other Tech-stuff

I ran across a great Small Business Server blog while searching for an answer to a question I have. I sent this guy an email, hopefully he can help me. If not, I'm glad I found his site. It looks lilke he has some useful stuff in there.

SeanDaniel.com on SBS 2003 & other Tech-stuff

Google's Your Friend

I should start blogging all the bizarre, trivial, and fun facts I have searched for and found using Google.

For example:

• I now know how much human waste a 747 can hold.
• An uncle I never met owned a plane in the early 60's. That plane is now in Missouri, owned by a man who is an acquaintance of a good friend of mine.
• How tall is a wind turbine, and how does that compare to a TV transmitter in Rockford.

You know, that kind of stuff.

Transferring large files to/from a Media Player in Windows

I ran across an error today when trying to copy a 3 GB file off of my Pocket DJ:

not enough storage is available to complete this operation

It turns out that Microsoft has a hotfix for this problem: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;895316

A quick install and a reboot and the problem went away.

Church, State, and Intelligent Design

Remember reading these words in the 5th grade?

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Of course most people will recognize these words from the Declaration of Independence. These are the very words that launched not only our country, but our governing philosophy as well.

Our very country was formed with the belief that we were 'created' , or in other words, intelligently designed. Now, the very notion of teaching this outrageous idea to school children is villified as an attempt to introduce religion into the classroom. I wonder how History teachers will explain that phrase "endowed by their Creator" without touching on Intelligent Design.

The fact is, you can't. Our founding fathers held the belief that we did not just happen here by chance and evolution. They believed we were designed, and I suspect they felt very strongly that each of them were designed for a very specific purpose, that is to launch this wonderful experiment in Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

I'm Getting Old, Part I

Last week I got another reminder that I'm not as young as I used to be: Last week was parents/teacher conferences at my daughter's school, our first conference as parents.

In the past, just hearing the phrases, "teacher conference", or "report card day", would give me that unmistakable feeling in the pit of my stomach. You see when I was in school nothing good ever came as a result of those phrases, and now they have re-entered my life.

My daughter is in Kindergarten, so it's not like there would be any bad news shared with us or anything, but that didn't keep me from being nervous. What would the teacher say? How does she compare with the other kids? Is she making friends? Does she talk too much? A dozen questions filled my head, which I suppose was a welcomed distraction from the bizarness of it all.

It turns out that my daughter's teacher had nothing but positive things to say about her and the progress she is making. Not a day goes by that I'm not absolutely proud of my daughter, and marvel at how quickly she is growing into a bright, creative, expressive little girl.

New Toy

We got a new toy at work today:



A Dell Rack Console 15FP

It took us about two seconds to get cracking and throw that puppy in the rack. When it's installed, it looks so cool. I'm trying to find out if it was designed to double as a laptop work surface. It seems that when you extend the monitor, but don't flip it up, the back would be a perfect spot to rest a laptop in the data center.

Where on Earth is Everybody?

A member on one of the forums I visit occasionally got creative and created a KMZ file for Google Earth that plots the location of each forum member along with their avatar, or personal picture. Yesterday I noticed a thread on StudentPilot.com that was doing something similar, only with Frapper. I mentioned the Google Earth thing, and one person thought it was cool so I set out to figure out how to do it.

I have no idea what the response will be, but at least it was fun and slightly educational figuring out how to set up the file the way I wanted it, and then figuring out how to get IIS to host it.

The file can be found here: Members of StudentPilot.com

No, I'm not a pilot or even a student pilot, but I play one in my imagination.

Sad news to start the day

I started my day with the usual quick scan of the local news. Today had some sad news for me.

Article in today's Daily Herald

Man in fatal crash loved family

By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Tuesday, November 08, 2005

True to his weekly routine, Leonard R. Oates spent Sunday with his two young grandkids.

The trio went to church in the morning, then to lunch, and then to see “Chicken Little.”

The 72-year-old Lake in the Hills man was “very family-oriented,” said his daughter-in-law, Vicki Oates. “He loved being with his kids and his grandkids.”

And Oates spent his last day doing exactly that.

Oates was killed in a car accident Sunday evening just after he dropped 5-year-old Mackenzie and 3-year-old Landon off at their home on the 500 block of Grace Drive in Lake in the Hills.


Leonard R. Oates

Oates was headed back to his own house around the corner when the accident happened at about 5:51 p.m. at Pyott Road and Willow Street.

Oates was driving west on Willow in his 2001 Chevrolet Impala when he turned left to go south on Pyott. He was struck broadside by a 1997 Chevrolet pickup truck headed north on Pyott, Lake in the Hills police said.

Crews from the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Department had to extricate Oates from his car, Assistant Fire Chief John Gaughan said.

Oates was taken to Sherman Hospital in Elgin, where he was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m., according to the Kane County coroner’s office.

An autopsy found the preliminary cause of death to be blunt chest trauma.

The two people in the pickup truck — driver Brian R. Marone, 22, of Crystal Lake and his passenger, Ashley N. Rood, 19, of Carpentersville — were treated for injuries at the scene of the accident.

No tickets had been issued as of Monday, as police continued to investigate.

Vicki Oates said her father-in-law’s death was overwhelming.

“It was so unexpected,” she said. “He had a heart condition, and that’s kind of what everyone thought would take him.”

Spending time with his 15 grandchildren “was his reason for being,” Vicki Oates said.

“If the kids had a play, football game or whatever, he was always there,” she said.

Vicki Oates’ daughter, Rachel Goodrich, 18, said her step-grandfather was loving, caring and a “big jokester.”

“You’d talk to him, and he’d always brighten your day,” Goodrich said.

Oates, who was born in Des Plaines and lived in Carpentersville before moving to Lake in the Hills about 30 years ago, served in the Army during the Korean War and was a member of Hope Covenant Church in Crystal Lake.

About 45 years ago, he founded Des Plaines Sod Center with three of his brothers. The landscaping company, originally based in Algonquin, moved to Marengo last year.

In addition to his 15 grandchildren, Oates leaves his wife of 48 years, Janet, and their seven children: Kathleen Mata, David Oates, Donald Oates, Cynthia Simmons, Karen Ramis, Daniel Oates and Steven Oates.

Visitation will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Querhammer and Flagg Funeral Home, 500 W. Terra Cotta Ave., Crystal Lake.

The funeral will begin at 11 a.m. Thursday. Oates will be buried at Windridge Memorial Park in Cary.

postcast server

CN had an app crashing on CGLA today called postcastserver.exe. She called me to see if I knew what it is, and what it does. To this point, I have never even logged onto CGLA, much less know what apps are running and why.

She had NO IDEA what postcastserver even was. In about three seconds, I googled it, and determined that it was an SMTP server, probably related to her autoemail process.

Now why couldn't she have found that information?

What helpful neighbors

Daily Herald: Suburban Chicago's Information Source: "
Dream home?
By Robert Sanchez Daily Herald Staff
Posted Monday, March 07, 2005

Paul Michna/Daily Herald
Paul Michna/Daily Herald
At first glance, the unfinished house gives the impression that its builders are simply out to lunch.

A closer look of the weathered house wrap, loose siding, rotting sidewalk frame and faded building permits raises questions about how long of a break it's been.

No one knows for sure.

Neighbors claim about two years have passed since significant progress was made on the split-level house."

So this guy starts renovating his house in 2001, but falls on hardship. The neighbors are so concerned, what do they do? They rag about the poor guy in the newspaper. Why not TALK to the guy and see if there is anything you can do to help before you start complaining about your neighbor to the press?

Christ Community Church :: Prayer

Emma



Heaven's gain is our loss. Please pray for Emma's parents.

Fire close to home

Well, I know what I'm doing at lunchtime today. I'm buying some fire extinguishers and a CO detector. This tragic fire occurred in my brother's neighborhood, and the victims are close friends of his family. So sad. Say a prayer for the precious little four year old girl (that hit's home, too).

Daily Herald: Suburban Chicago's Information Source: "Campton Twp. fire sends 2 to hospital
By Tona Kunz Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Thursday, March 03, 2005

A man forgot his cell phone. It seemed like the start of a bad day, but really it was a blessing.

He retraced his steps, picked up the phone and tried again to head to work. As he drove past a neighbor's home, smoke caught his eye.

'It was coming out all over,' said the man, who wishes to remain anonymous.

Kimberly Gunderson, 33, had just returned home. She looked frantic.

The man quickly pulled in the driveway at 5N466 Harvest Lane in Campton Township.

'My husband and daughter are inside,' Kimberly yelled at him, he said."

Thank you for letting me know, but...

Don't you just LOVE expressing your opinions to your representatives in Washington? Every single time I write, I get the typical canned response that basically says, "Thank you for expressing your thoughts, but I don't give a rip."

I swear a politician will stand by their actions right or wrong until they die. It's sad, really.

I recently got this from Senator Dick Durbin. I think the Senator needs to look into his email bot, as his canned reply took several weeks to get back to me.

February 25, 2005


Dear Mr. Brad:

Thank you for letting me know of your opposition to the nomination of Condoleezza Rice as the U.S. Secretary of State.

I voted with 12 of my Senate colleagues against Dr. Rice's nomination to replace Colin Powell as head of the State Department. I was particularly troubled by Dr. Rice's role in advancing the Bush Administration's faulty rationale for invading Iraq, and by her refusal to accept responsibility for helping mislead our nation into war.

I also was deeply concerned by Dr. Rice's opposition to my amendment to the 2004 Intelligence Reform Act prohibiting U.S. intelligence agencies from using torture. Acting on behalf of the White House, Dr. Rice sent a message to the House-Senate conference committee objecting to this amendment, which unequivocally condemned the use of torture, and the provision was removed from the final version of the bill. Dr. Rice's objection to this effort to reaffirm our nation's commitment to human rights and the rule of law raised grave questions in my mind about whether she was the right person to represent our nation to the rest of the world.

Despite her distinguished career and formidable intellect, I could not overlook these very troubling aspects of Dr. Rice's record. America has lost a voice of moderation with the retirement of Colin Powell. I hope that the responsibilities of leadership will inspire Condoleezza Rice to follow his example.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me. Please feel free to stay in touch.

Sincerely,




Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator

Thanks for writing, but me an my 12 colleagues who know better than you and 82 other senators, including Hillary Clinton. We're right, you're wrong, have a nice day.

Yahoo! News - Prickly City

Yahoo! News - Prickly City

Ha Ha! It's hard to live down your lying past...

Wow, how could I NOT share this picture?? 

My "grandma", Leona died today. She was 92. 

Reckless Homicide of an Unborn Child

This article is interesting because it highlights the criminal charge of Reckless Homicide of an Unborn Child. The interesting fact is that the mother was only in her 10th week of pregnancy. This alleged impaired driver is charged with a crime for ending the baby's life, but had the mother had an abortion, it would just be her 'choice'.

These laws just keep the issue confused. Either the baby is a life that can be murdered, or it is just lifeless tissue. Which is it?


Daily Herald: "Trial begins in fatal crash
By Tona Kunz Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Tuesday, January 25, 2005

An Algonquin man was stretched over the passenger's seat when his car plowed head-on into a pregnant West Dundee woman's car at speeds close to 64 mph, witnesses said.

In the first day of 20-year-old Brandon Carone's trial on charges of reckless homicide and reckless homicide of an unborn child Monday, prosecutors painted a picture of a man who made no attempts to avoid the March 7 crash."

Daily Herald

Daily Herald: "Pilot escapes injury after plane falls through ice"


Whoops!!

Welcome to Cleghorn.org

Welcome to Cleghorn.org

Just testing the BlogThis! extension for Firefox.

What day is today

For the record, today is Thursday. I swear it's Friday, however. In fact, I'm so certain that today is Friday that I took the garbage to the curb last night in anticipation of Friday's pickup.

"There's spiritual wickedness in high places."

This quote is from an article in today's Chicago Sun Times:

"There's spiritual wickedness in high places."

Apparently there is a racket going on in Chicago (anyone surprised?) where towing companies under contract to the city tow cars, pay the city salvage rates ($125.54), and then auction the car off. Someone is making loads and loads of money here. According to the Sun Times, the key individuals involved have contributed over $20,000 to Mayor Daley's political chest.

This sounds like a money laundering scheme to me.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-wot10.html