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Netflix for the TV

A new Netflix Player device by Roku that can connect to your TV to Netflix via your LAN. It shows your Netflix instant watching queue, so it is super simple to use. Select the move or TV show and it plays it through your TV.

The harder way to Play Netflix through your TV (The way I do it with one of my TVs)

I currently have an S-video cable running from my graphics card into a converter box, which has a coaxial cable running the 50 feet to my TV. My TV is setup as a second monitor and I wrote a program that helps in aligning everything on the TV, and helps with selecting and playing movies. In addition, this program also plays entire seasons of South Park, which is completely free, from SouthParkStudios.com without me ever having to walk back over to the computer.

Fantastic Deal for an Easy Connection

At around $100 for the Roku Netflix Player this is a fantastic deal. I slap this baby on my living room TV and now I have entirly new options for guests when they visit. I can also take it over to friends houses for movie nights. The possibilities are huge.

As a SciFi, Anime, and Fantasy movie fan, I can always find something on Netflix Watch Now, either movies or TV shows. I can even stop it and come back later, and the show will start where I left it. The cheapest service with unlimited watch now is around $9.00 a month, way cheap.

I had a camp director once that made a redneck swimming pool. One of the staff members opened the tail gate while the camp director was "swimming."

I updated the backend code of the site today. Added some things to security and performance. I still have to redo the way the animations are shown in my Portfolio Art Gallery, and redo the dofollow for my comments, but that should be done within the next week or so.

Finished the layout of my blog posts and unified how the latest blog post looks my home page with the way all the blog posts look in the blog section.

Since I bike commute over eight miles a day, I wanted a more relaxed bicycle ride. I looked at buying some used cruisers but in the end I altered a few things on my 1991 Giant Butte mountain bike and turned it into a 21 speed cruiser. I bought a set of boardwalk cruiser handlebars ($20), added a used Nitto Tall Technomic Stem ($6), some handlebar shims ($2) to get the 22.2mm diameter of the handlebars to fit the stem's 25.4mm clamp, and a new seat ($30). In addition, I had to run new break and gear cables and cable housing ($12). The total conversion cost about $70 and took only a few hours. The Geax Laczem tires I put on the bike were given to me, and actually smooth out the ride nicely. I recommend these tires if you are only riding your MTB on roads.

The Giant Butte turned Cruiser

If you have an old MTB sitting around that no one is riding, maybe try converting it into a cruiser and bring that youthful joy of riding back into the bike. I recommend a nice big set of handlebars accompanied by a nice comfy big seat.

These handlebars are huge

At some point I would like to add some fenders, but that is a task for a later day.

I remember playing Starcraft back in the day, every day, for months on end, that stretched into years. I even played those custom tower defense levels. I haven't played Starcraft for years, and for good reason, it was super addictive, and if I wouldn't have finally just deleted it from my computer and broke the install CDs into tiny chunks, and burned my CD key, I would still be playing it. So the years have passed and I started playing some of the Flash based tower defense games. Xeno Tactic is one of those games.

Click image to View full size.

The first five missions where rather easy, and I completed them all in an afternoon, on the first try each mission. Mission six, on the other hand is tough. I have been playing it once a night for about three weeks now. Mission six consists of 100 waves of enemies, and takes like 45 minutes to play. A wave starts ever 25 seconds but when a lot of waves are still on the screen at once the game slows to a crawl. The furthest I have made it is to level 93.

Dealing with the ground guys is no problem. It involves not only setting up a good maze, but being able to switch the paths the ground baddies can take by selling and placing the standard Vulcan turrets. The key to killing ground baddies is about four completely upgraded SAM turrets, located somewhere in the maze where their super extended range can just bombard the enemies time and time again.

The four SAMs

The air enemies are the dirty punks that I am having a hard time with. As you can see in my screen shots by level 93 I have thirteen DOAs completely upgraded. The air units fly over them and laugh. I have two completely upgraded Freeze turrets to slow down the air units as they enter the field of DOAs. It helps very little by level 93. Perhaps some more Freeze turrets would help to slow the air units even more, but I haven't tried that yet, and most likely will never try, since I want my life back.

Maybe there is a way to complete all 100 waves but I haven't been able to do it yet. Of course it could all be part of some kind of twisted private programmer joke to sit back and laugh at everyone who waists weeks on end playing mission six.

A full list of the online games I have been playing can be found in the left hand column of my blog. http://www.studio-owens.com/blog

“If we permit our constitutional rights to be watered down out of fear, we have given up our democracy. Congress must stand firm and defend the Constitution.”  -- Dennis Kucinich

It is time. No more shall we allow our federal government to fail on such a massive level. Visit downsizedc.org today and start telling our government how things are to be done. It is easy.

There is no white knight that will ride up from the sunset and save the day. We must save the day. By standing together and letting our unified voice be heard. DownsizeDC.org

“Government cripples you, then hands you a crutch and says, 'See, if it wasn't for us, you couldn't walk.'” -- Harry Browne

The House is working on a bill to replace the "Protect America Act." One really great thing is coming out of this bill.

The Bush administration claims that without retroactive immunity for the telecom companies, who cooperated with past and maybe illegal actions, that these companies will not cooperate in the future.

First a little background. Out government has the ability to get warrants from a secret court to compel cooperation with wiretaps from telecom companies. In addition, the Bush administration has also constantly invoked "state secrecy" to deny the telecoms the evidence they would need to demonstrate in court that they were within the bounds of the law. With all the blow hard bs going on, apparently the Bush administration “forgot” to get such warrants before initiating the wiretaps.

This new house bill will prevent the Executive Branch from concealing its FISA warrants from the court. This will give the telecom companies the access they need to the information required to defend themselves in court. Of course Bush says he will veto any such bill.

Now this puts the ball back in the Bush administration court. They now either have to argue that the courts cannot be allowed to see FISA warrants, or that the true goal is having future telecom coop in illegal surveillance.

I can't wait to see how this turns out.

One of the reasons this bill is turning out to not be a typical Congressional turd, is due to the fact that the American people are putting pressure on Congress to do the right freakin thing. Participate in DownsizeDC.org and help us make “change,” because we don't need a knight in shining armor to do it for us.

Send a message to congress to let them know, “I want NO retroactive immunity for the telecom companies, but I DO want them to be able to present evidence in court that they acted legally.”

Only in Vermont. Listening to NPR today I heard a tiny little blurb about the voters in two little towns, Marlboro and Brattleboro, in Vermont that passed measures to arrest Bush and Cheney if they ever visit. I like people that take the Constitution seriously, even if the measures taken are a little silly.

Photo by REUTERS/Jim Young