This past weekend my good friend and great photographer, Jonathan Jackson, came to visit.  It’s always nice when someone you’ve known for so long comes to see you not only to just shoot the breeze but also to do something productive.

Jonathan Jackson is a professional photographer.  I consider my apartment his unofficial art gallery.  His budding photography business, Mountain Multimedia Inc., has been without a web site for quite sometime.  We built a web site for him many years ago by hand, something that even then was becoming a thing of the past.  Updating it was difficult due to my insanely busy schedule and for lack of a better term, his handiness with HTML and PHP.  However, mountainmultimedia.net is built with his and I’s ease of use and design in mind.

The site is a Wordpress managed and NextGen Gallery enhanced design.  Let’s face it, blogging and CMS software has come a long, long way.  Wordpress was up and running in minutes and not too much later the gallery software was serving up crisp images integrated into the site seamlessly.  The ease of use of Wordpress gives Jonathan the ability to update content and photos any time he wants and not when I’m able to do it.

Is this style of web design (one in which the designer manages the back end and the owner plugs away at the front end) the way of the future in web design?  It could possibly be.  It provides the best of both words for all those involved.  Low cost for the owner and the ability to update their site for virtually nothing, also, ease of administration and design for the web guru thus creating the ability for him or her to consistently crank out more web sites than ever before.

I invite you to head on over to the Mountain Multimedia Inc. web site to see what essentially ten to twelve hours of work under this model looks like.  I’m impressed with it but I’m quite the old school web designer.  I would very much like to hear what you have to say.

If you’ve had your head underground for the last couple of weeks (it’s the holiday season, we all tend to do that) you probably hadn’t noticed that Gina Elise of Pin Ups for Vets has set up a YouTube page (at http://www.youtube.com/PinUpsForVets) and is video blogging on a semi-regular basis.

Chances are you haven’t seen this little gem yet either. You have to wait until the end to see why I’m pretty darn excited about it.

Pin Ups for Vets is a project designed to raise funds for and boost the morale of veterans and deployed service members. For more information visit the Pin Ups for Vets web site or take a gander at my Gina Elise interview.

I would just like to take the time to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I wasn’t aware blogging software could be so insecure. I guess that’s just the nature of the beast these days though. How am I aware of it now, you ask? Simple. A great site called BlogSecurity pointed out two vulnerabilities at chrisshort.net that I immediately corrected.

I’m very impressed with the BlogSecurity site and how it seems to stay on top of those of us that prefer not to have our blogs wrecked. Thanks, BlogSecurity.

Additionally, I just found a great contact form plugin for WordPress called, Secure Form Mailer Plugin For Wordpress. If you have a contact form on your WordPress blog you should check this out.

The always supportive and exceedingly attractive Gina Elise of Pin Ups for Vets made this quick Happy Holidays video for the troops. Gina Elise freaking rocks!

Gina Elise Wishes Troops Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Gina.

That’s right! Thanks to Digg and Tal Siach for the details on this one but for a limited time you can get DivX Pro for free!

So I’ve been on a blogging hiatus for quite some time now.  The best I’ve been able to manage are a few philanthropic posts over the past several months.  However, I’m anxiously wanting to get back into blogging my personal life, technology, and politics.

The problem is aggregating news to gleen the best information in the fastest way and then provide commentary on it.  No RSS reader or feed reader designed today can do that and it vexes me something fierce.

However, there is always Yahoo! Pipes which shows some potential in getting me what I want which can be simply broken down into this list:

1. Read and parse multiple feeds.
2. Combine multiple feeds and provide most popular stories above all and then rank them as well as providing link to most comprehensive story.
3. Constantly update tag cloud to show popularity of keywords and stories throughout the day.
4. Trend analysis on said tag cloud.

Anyone have any experiences they’d like to share in their ventures in aggregating news?  I’d love to hear them.

Project Valour-IT, in memory of SFC William V. Ziegenfuss, helps provide voice-controlled and adaptive laptop computers to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand wounds and other severe injuries at major military medical centers. Operating laptops by speaking into a microphone or using other adaptive technologies, our wounded heroes are able to send and receive messages from friends and loved ones, surf the ‘Net, and communicate with buddies still in the field. The experience of MAJ Charles “Chuck” Ziegenfuss, a partner in the project who suffered serious hand wounds while serving in Iraq, illustrates how important these laptops can be to a wounded service member’s recovery.

Every penny helps those who need it. Give what you can to this noble cause.

Tags: project valour-it

By Kyle E. Moore | September 25, 2007

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

This is the oath that all members of the military must take upon being accepted as a soldier, a sailor, a marine, or an airman. You raise your right hand, and you repeat it following a dictation by a superior officer.

I’ve taken this oath twice, and the words still hold a special meaning for me. They mean that you understand that there is something greater than your own individual existence, and that you will lay down that existence for the sake of the United States of America.

Your allegiance to the President and those officers appointed over you is a mark of your fidelity, while the dedication to the UCMJ is an affirmation of your dedication to professionalism.

Many Americans have taken this oath. Many Americans currently work and fight under the principles embodied in these words. In today’s time of war, this is done under the shadow of death.

For these men and women, they are not celebrities, you will most likely never hear most of their names. Movies will not be made about them, nor books written. Often times their job is thankless, and sometimes, they don’t return home alive.

But there are two names you will become familiar with, two men who took this oath and have perished exemplifying the ideals of service in the United States Military. Their courage both on the battlefield and in the public consciousness should never be forgotten.

Sgt. Yance T. Gray

Graduating from a class of just eighteen students, Yance T. Gray hailed from Eastern Montana and was one of only five in his graduating class to enlist in the military. An avid hunter and player on his high school basketball team, “Tell” as close friends and family called him would marry his girlfriend Jessica and father a baby daughter.

Working his way through the ranks, Sgt. Gray was a member of the 82nd Airborne division, and his tour of duty was scheduled to end in November.

Sgt. Omar Mora

In seemingly another world, Texas City, Texas, Omar Mora graduated from La Marque High School. Unlike Tell, Omar had tried several jobs on the outside and college before enlisting in the Army. According to his parents, he always wanted to be a soldier and didn’t hesitate to go to Iraq to serve his country.
Married, Omar also had a daughter.

Both serving in the Army’s 82nd Airborne, America at large would not come to know Sgt. Gray and Sgt. Mora’s names until August 19th of this year. Omar and Tell joined with five other soldiers to pen a critical OpEd in the New York Times entitled, The War As We Saw It.

Weeks later, Sgt. Yance T. Gray, and Sgt. Omar Mora were killed in a non combat related vehicle accident on September 10th in western Baghdad.

I had done a small write up of their passing, not really expecting anyone to read. I definitely didn’t expect the father in law of Yance Gray to leave a comment. As of the time of this writing, approximately 3700 men and women have died in Iraq, and while I honor all of their sacrifices deeply, none of them were personal.

None had a face, and while it’s easy to speak with indignation about not letting these fallen soldiers become a statistic, such a thing is a little more complicated in actual practice. I have never known personally a soldier who had fallen on the field of battle. I’ve not lost any family members or close friends. As much as I hate to say it, to a degree, 3700 has become just a number, a statistic.

Mr. Duncan changed that.

You say it over and over again, that these numbers have meaning, that they are fathers and sons and brothers and sisters and mothers and members of their community with best friends and people praying for their safe return, but it took the father in law of a fallen soldier to bring it home to me.

Since, I’ve read the mournful remembrances of his closest friends, and have anguished over the photograph of him standing with his lovely wife and beautiful daughter. I have spent much time over the past week or so trying to piece together the lives of Tell and Omar, and while I can never say that I was their friend, I can not feel the grief their families must still burn with, I can say that I have somehow come closer to understanding, and knowing that the world lost two great Americans, soldiers, and men that day.

Further, their conviction and courage has impressed upon me most profoundly. While still serving in the military I grew politically active and started blogging, but fearing some sort of backlash or reprimand, did so anonymously, not revealing my true name until after leaving the US Navy.

These men stood proudly by what they had to say about how they felt and what they had seen. Without reservation they attached their names to their sentiments, and sent it to THE paper of record. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.

**

You don’t have to agree with the Iraq War to support the brave men and women in our armed forces. You don’t have to agree with the politics. The way I see it, it all comes down to that oath, and what it stands for.

These soldiers took a simple oath, they stood up and said that the ideals of America were bigger than they were, and that for those ideals, they would without question sacrifice their lives.

That’s what this is all about. From one day to the next we can bicker and argue over whether a certain war is right or wrong, but at the end of it all, there must be an understanding that men and women like Sgt. Gray and Sgt. Mora, despite the partisan battles that go on back home, continue to day in and day out perform their duties as soldiers.

Remember the closing words of their OpEd, “As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.”

We as Americans have much we can stand to learn from soldiers such as Yance and Omar. Least of which is that this very same spirit of fidelity fuels not only the flame from which this country was born, but exists to this day.

This taken into consideration, I do not wish to honor their service, I am compelled to. I cannot personally look at myself in the mirror unless I have been a part of something to commemorate their passing, and show my gratitude for their service.

As a result, we at Comments From Left Field, in cooperation with Conservative Thinking, are as of this day beginning a fund drive In Honor of Sgt. Omar Mora & Sgt. Yance T. Gray.

After exploring several options, we have decided to donate 100% of the funds to the Fisher House charity, an organization we have worked with in the past. Fisher House has a simple goal; to build houses near military medical facilities. Here loved ones of those who have been injured in the line of duty can stay free of charge while their service member undergoes necessary treatment.

We urge you to give what you can to this noble cause for only in this way can Omar and Tell continue to make the lives of their fellow soldiers better even after their passing. I can think of no honor more fitting of a soldier.

***

NOTE TO BLOGGERS: We urge you to join with us in promoting this fund raising drive. We have set our initial goal at $2,000 but we hope that with your help we can exceed this number dramatically. All you need to do is put up a post of your own tracking back to our original post and linking to our fund raising page on ActiveGiving. I will regularly update this post with information on the progress of our drive that you can add to your site. If you have any questions please contact me (Michael Tedesco) at michael(at)commentsfromleftfield(dot)com.

I have made the first donation on behalf of Comments From Left Field so here is our progress bar as of 12:20 PM EST today.

A reporter at WMAR, the local ABC affiliate in Baltimore, lifted a news story from Inside Charm City without giving any credit to anywhere else she might have seen it. The story about the Stop Snitching DVD in the UMBC library was covered on WCBM AM and the publisher* of Inside Charm City was interviewed on WBAL AM about it. The initial blog post as well as the radio mentions of the story (which did credit Inside Charm City) were all made well in advance of the news story by Linda So of WMAR.

Full details of WMAR’s lift of the story can be found Inside Charm City.

* Jeff Quinton is the publisher of Inside Charm City, for the record.

Tags: wmar, stop snitching, inside charm city, linda so

Remember the beautiful and lovely Gina Elise of Pin Ups for Vets? If you don’t you need to find the nearest rock and crawl out from under it. I got an e-mail from Gina last night saying that she is now taking orders for her 2008 benefit calendar. Gina says, “I am launching the 2008 calendar fundraiser now and accepting pre-sale orders because I completely sold out of calendars last year, so be sure to order early!” According to Gina’s Web site, the Pin Ups for Vets calendar is produced for three reasons:

1. The calendars would be sold to raise funds for our hospitalized veterans.
2. The calendars would be delivered as gifts to our ill and injured veterans with messages of appreciation from the donors.
3. The calendars would be sent to our deployed troops to help boost morale and to let them know that Americans back home are thinking of them.

I know my morale is boosted every time I sit at my desk at home and see Miss Elise hanging on my wall. According to her e-mail this year, you can “buy a personalized autographed poster as well!” Great! I’m moving into a new apartment and could use something to hang on the wall.

Please Digg this story.

Originally Posted at Conservative Thinking

Tags: gina elise, pin ups for vets

I have a shiny, new 2007 Ford Fusion and in this Ford Fusion I have a Kenwood DNX7100.  The DNX7100 is an all-in-one entertainment and navigation package which fits quite well in double DIN dash board openings.

I have been tinkering with the settings on this system for a few weeks now but the thing that really can give the DNX7100 a custom touch is the customizable background (or wallpaper).  This was a feat in and of itself to make a background that would expand across the dimensions of the screen.  The manual merely states that the max resolution on any image presented is 1600 x 1200.  Being a 16:9 aspect screen, a square peg will not fit in this rectangular hole.

I put forth a massive effort into testing fifteen different resolutions in one evening trying to make the background fill the screen.  None of those fifteen (which included standard widescreen dimensions) fit the bill leaving me with letter boxes on the sides of the image.  The next day I picked up the phone and called Kenwood tech support which surprisingly was unable to answer my question.  So my determination merely increased at that point and a slew of images were size across another ten different dimensions.  I was finally getting very, very close to what I wanted.

In the end it appears that the best “screen filling” resolution for a background on the Kenwood DNX7100 is an awkward but manageable 480 x 270.  As I mentioned over at the AV Science Forum I pegged the width but the height could be off a pixel or two.  However, a pixel or two isn’t too noticeable on the DNX7100’s 6.95″ screen.

Tags: kenwood dnx7100, background, resolution

Remember the beautiful Gina Elise of Pin Ups for Vets? She has been hard at work on the 2008 Pin Ups for Vets calendar and sent me an e-mail asking for a little bit of help. Here is what she sent:

Chris,It’s Gina…I am coming down to the finish line on the ‘08 calendar! Wrapped up shooting a few weeks ago… Quick question for you… I had an idea this year to get sponsors to place ads on the website & in the calendar to help pay for the initial printing costs of the calendar. Do you have any friends who have businesses that would like to place an ad in the calendar? The ad will be $100 and really is like 2 ads because I will put one in the printed copy of the calendar & one on the website. As you know, the website is nearing 50,000 hits in just over 6 months…and I am hoping for a lot more if I can get this into a national publication this year…and the calendars have gone out all over the world Anyway, just thought I’d throw it out there to you to see if you knew of anyone who would be interested in this. Did I tell you that this year, the funds raised will go directly to Walter Reed? I am planning a trip out there in December to deliver the calendars donated from this year as holiday gifts for the injured vets. Ok…well let me know! Thanks a million. Gina www.PinUpsForVets.com

Know anyone that wouldn’t mind putting $100 dollars down to help support our troops? If so, please pass this along to them.

Tags: gina elise, pin ups for vets

A few years ago I had to hand it to the US Army.  To a certain extent they encouraged soldiers to blog.  For a long time, they were the only branch of the Department of Defense that even had a policy on blogging.  As far as I know, the US Air Force still doesn’t have an official policy on blogging.   The Army’s new policy could become the gospel for all services though.

In the military, there is this thing called OPSEC.   Operations Security is the type of thing that gets people killed if not followed.  Things like talking about troop movements, posting pictures of high-value assets on your MySpace page, or talking about your daily routine at work can all fall under OPSEC violations.  The US Army has now banned blogging without the approval of your immediate supervisor and your OPSEC officer according to Wired (excerpt from Army Regulation):

g. Consult with their immediate supervisor and their OPSEC Officer for an OPSEC review prior to publishing or
posting information in a public forum.
(1) This includes, but is not limited to letters, resumes, articles for publication, electronic mail (e-mail), Web site
postings, web log (blog) postings, discussion in Internet information forums, discussion in Internet message boards or
other forms of dissemination or documentation.

This could easily be the death knell for bloggers and blogging from soldiers in Iraq and soldiers across the globe.  My question is how far will this go?  How long will it take for the US Army to reverse their policy?  If every blogger in the US Army actually went to their OPSEC officer today how overwhelmed would that OPSEC officer be?  There is no telling.  This isn’t really good news for Army Public Affairs either.

As a matter of fact, US Central Command, the Unified Combatant Command heading up the war in Iraq, has been making a huge push to get bloggers on their mailing lists so that CENTCOM can have a better and more public sounding board than they did before the war.  CENTCOM isn’t under the Department of the Army but most of the e-mails I receive from their Public Affairs department are from soldiers.  How can their be such disparity among different sections and sub-sections of the Department of Defense, you ask?  Good question.  At this point, I’ve found yet another reason why I’m glad I didn’t join the Army.  Air Power!

I got an interesting e-mail that was almost a bubble burster for me from GoDaddy today:

Dear Chris Short,

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN(R)) recently agreed to reduce their Registrar Transaction Fee from $.25 to $.22. What does this mean for you? 

Good news. You have been credited $.03/yr for each domain name you registered or renewed dating back to July 1, 2006* — $.24 has been placed into your Go Daddy(R) account with this customer number: *****. 

Your in-store credit will be applied to your purchases at GoDaddy.com(R) until it’s gone or for up to 12 months, whichever comes sooner.

Now, you might be asking why this is a bubble burster.  Well, it was until I realized that quite a few of my domains were multi-year renewals long ago.  So I guess you could say I haven’t done a lot of new business with GoDaddy.  Still cool regardless.

Tags: godaddy, icann, refund

I am dumbfounded at this point.  I love RSS; I love the all the news at your fingertips ability it gives you.  However, I hate RSS readers.  Every single one I’ve tried has had a feature that really turned me off to it.  I’ve tried a lot of news readers and there is always something about them.  Be it a system resource hog, a pop-up production system, or just down right not fun to use.

Google Reader was a possible player but lets face it; I’m not going to sit there all day with a browser window open.  I want a program running in the background actively telling me about significant events.  The one thing I really did like about Google Reader was the Gods-eye view of the news that it gave you on the main page.  All the recent news stacked up and aggregated in one place.

What I look for in a news reader hasn’t been found yet.  I want a slim program with not too many whistles and bells; easy on system resources.  I want the ability to highly organize a myriad of feeds and get the overall Gods-eye view or mere sub-section Lords-eye view.  I also would like the ability to set notifications up on a per feed or per sub-section basis.  Meaning that I don’t want hundreds of notification boxes filling up my screen every five minutes.  I want notification boxes when I ask for them; no sooner, no later.

I haven’t been using a reader on a daily basis for quite some time now.  I think it’s obvious by my lack of writing.  Right now, I’m configure Outlook 2007 for RSS reading but it appears to be more of the same stuff I don’t want.  At least it’s built in to my e-mail program (and yes, I’ve tried Thunderbird and despised it).

Apparently, I’m asking for too much.  I’m not a programmer or I’d write it myself, GPL it, and be on my merry little way.  I’ve yet to find one newsreader that can give me what I want.  Any ideas?

Tags: rss, feed reader,