If Warwick Davis scared the begorra out of you in 1993′s comedy/horror offering Leprechaun (“bone-chilling terrror,” according to one awestruck reviewer), then maybe you and the wee folk need a little reconciliation jig to set things right again – just in time for St. Patrick’s Day!
You don’t even have to be Irish to enjoy the annual celebration – just open to the spirit of fun and able to belt out traditional songs at the top of your lungs in public. You don’t really even need to know all the words. The choruses are generally easy to follow and usually include words like “whiskey,” “jug,” and/or “soldier.” (Drinking optional. Healthy attitude for occasional, harmless shamelessness is not.)
While you’re getting in the spirit (I’ve already got my Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem wallpaper set up), why not try out San Diego Screen Savers’ 3D Dancing Leprechaun? Festive Celtic music sets the tone for our tiny friend as he hops around in front of his woodland homestead, shamrocks falling in merry abandon all around him. (I guess leprechauns don’t have spouses nagging them about yardwork, which explains his devil-may-care attitude.)
Time of day can be adjusted if you prefer dusk to dawn or high noon. The leprechaun doesn’t care, though he’s craftily hidden his spent bottles of Jameson, Bushmill’s, and Guinness so you’ll never know for sure if he’s just tipsy with glee or knocked out on booze. And if you don’t care for what he’s dancing to, you can always add your own mp3s to the mix. Might I recommend some of the aforementioned Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem? The Pogues ain’t a bad choice, either.
Password protection as needed. Just don’t take the Leprechaun’s gold, or you may very well have a shillelagh-swinging gnomekin on your hands. You’ve been warned, Danny boys (and girls)!
A frined of mine just posted this in his news letter and I am asking the most informed OS guy I read, You. Is it true? or just speculation. I recently had my 1st experiance with Vista had think it sucks and would never buy this system.
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Vista and the Death of Internet Freedom
Bill Gates is the richest man in the history of planet Earth.
That is ok with me. I strongly support the capitalistic
principles that have built the richest nation on Earth. But, how
Bill Gates has come to have more money than many countries have
is a cause for great concern amongst those who love freedom of
speech, freedom of information, freedom of the media, and freedom
in general.
Freedom for individuals depends upon freedom of the press.
Without freedom of the press, the population is easily
manipulated with propaganda. For over a decade, it has appeared
that the press in America has been far less than free. It would
appear that the press has been strongly manipulated by corporate
bosses, and the slanting of the news has become so obvious that
the public has left mainstream media by the millions.
Any and every overt attempt to manipulate the media in America
would be met with such resistance that no administration could
withstand it. No legislator in his right mind would ever even
suggest that the press should be less than free. Such a
suggestion would bring the fires of media hell down upon his
head.
But what if a private businessman were make a decision that would
effectively bring about the death of internet broadcasting? That
would be a free-enterprise decision made in the private sector,
and without government interference.
There have been great grumblings since the days of the Clintons
that there is some vast right wing conspiracy manifesting itself
in talk shows non-supportive of the Clintons’ policies.
True, the internet exploded with diatribes against the Clintons.
There was a massive growth in internet broadcasting, much of it
aimed squarely at the dynamic duo residing in the Whitehouse.
But, that was not a result of a conspiracy. It was the result of
technology finally making it possible for people who had been
ignored or stifled to begin getting their voices heard. People
who believed that Bill was dishonorable and dishonest could say
so openly, and with wide effect. Those who believed Hillary to
be a communist at heart could say so with wide effect. But that
explosion of bile was not a conspiracy. It was the vocalizing of
the opinions of many millions of people who finally had a means
of being heard.
The same type of heated talk has flooded the internet talk shows
since G.W. Bush was elected (then re-elected). It is not a
conspiracy. It is freedom.
Freedom is very uncomfortable for those who are elected. The
very people who elect you then armchair quarterback everything
you do. With the ease of internet broadcasting, just about
anyone can start a talk show that is critical of your votes and
positions. Freedom of information is very, very, uncomfortable
for the elected, but it is absolutely necessary for democracy to
survive and flourish.
Bill Gates’ latest version of Windows is called “Vista”. It is
one of the most serious atrocities ever foisted upon the public
in terms of its death knell for internet broadcasting.
In order for a broadcaster to broadcast live via the internet,
the computer system must be able to do both “playback” and
“record” at the same time. The “playback” side of the process
outputs recorded files (such as bumper music, commercials, etc.)
and the “record” side outputs the microphones and telephones. If
you disable either side, you have killed the live broadcast.
That is precisely what Vista does. I have been told by a couple
of software engineers that it is designed to not be able to
output “playback” and “record” simultaneously. It has been
purposely crippled, they say.
It was explained to me that this crippling of the new Windows
system, Vista, was not an accident. My sources say it was done
on purpose in order to enforce DMR (Digital Media Rights). There
is no fix for this crippling, either.
When you purchase a PC, you are now forced to buy Vista. That is
what is loaded on the PCs. If you are purchasing the computer
for the purpose of broadcasting, you are out of business. It
can’t do it. As times goes on, computers that are broadcasting
now will have to be replaced. With Windows XP no longer being
supported (and that is coming) Vista will be the only OS
available from Microsoft. That means that online broadcasters
will go out of business by attrition.
Thankfully, there is a community of people out there who have
been warning of the potential downside of Microsoft software for
a very long time. They are the Open Source Community and their
primary operating system of choice is Linux.
As of right now, if you are planning on broadcasting via the
internet, and you have just purchased the computer to do so, be
advised that Bill Gates has determined you cannot. Linux is
where freedom resides.
I had a copy of XP, thankfully, that I could install on my new
computer. But if you do not have a copy of a previous Windows
system, your only hope for being able to broadcast is to leave
the control freaks at Microsoft and opt for the freedom of Linux.
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