New Blog Image Site

This is a great new site for bloggers. Just go to www.acobox.com and register your blog. Then you just copy and past, from that site to yours, any image!

This works on any browser, I'm currently using both Firefox and Explorer. It's quick and easy.

The selection of pictures is great as well. I took the one here by clicking on abstracts and then selecting a photo. There are over a dozen categories and hundreds, if not thousands, of photos in each category. I spent a few hours just looking at the variety of photos available.

I also really like the ease with which I can post a photo. You just find the photo you want, choose the size and its orientation on the page (right, left or center) and then click to get the code. A simple ctrl-c to copy and ctrl-v to paste and you are done. It really could not be easier and it's so much faster than trying to search the net for an appropriate photo.

There is, of course, a search box to speed things up even more.

I saved the best for last: You can submit your own photos. So if you are an avid shutterbug and take pictures all the time, you can upload them to the site so that others can enjoy them. I uploaded a few of mine. It always helps to give back to the community.

At any rate, this is a new site and it's still growing so I figure we can expect some changes and tweaking over time. But I urge everyone to give the site a look. It's free to register and use, it's easy to navigate and the photos that are there are outstanding (check out the breathtaking panoramas!). It's definitely worth you time and a bookmark.

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Turbocharge Your Ride!

I was looking for a way to improve my turbocharge. A couple of friends suggested I hop over to the turbocharger website and have a look. It's perfect. They have the latest and greatest in high tech super turbo charge air induction systems available and all are reasonably priced. Just plug in the info on your year, make and model and they will list the products that they have. The vast majority of them are in stock and if you have any questions their customer service department is outstanding. I actually talked to a human immediately and it was a human who knew what he was talking about!
I know I'm a geek, but I love cars too. Probably the girlie in me. I also like to go fast. Really really fast. The better the air induction, the more horsepower I get, the faster I zoom and the smoother the ride. And quieter. The last thing I want while I am zooming along is to have some noise interfere with my Nox Arcana cd!
Anyway, if you want the most bang for your buck and want to improve everything from your horsepower to your torque, check out turbocharger.

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Afterlife Travel Kit

Here is one for the "weird" file: The afterlife travel kit.
Life is full of questions and many of those questions center on what happens after life is over. What's on the other side? Will science or politics hasten our finding out? Do they have cheese whiz in Heaven? And once you do shuffle off your mortal coil, what's there to do anyways? Well, we've had a sneak peek (don't ask) and brought back these Afterlife Travel Kits to help lighten your soul.
First off, each kit includes an official certificate of reservation (to prove you really are on the guest list). You'll also get an official ID card. A first class ticket is included too (travel up to the Pearly Gates or freefall to the Inferno). To adjust to your new life after death, please make sure to read the mini informational guide. Oh yeah, and because we love ya, you'll also snag a VIP pass to make sure you can get into all the best parties. The Afterlife Travel Kit - don't leave life without it.

Afterlife Travel Kit

• Everything you need to enjoy your trip to Heaven or Hell.
• Each kit includes:
  • Certificate of Reservation
  • First Class Ticket
  • ID Card
  • Mini Information Guide
  • All Access VIP Pass
• Each kit is themed for the afterlife destination of your choice (or get one of each - just in case)
• Dimensions:
  • Certificate: 8.5" x 5.5"
  • Ticket: 8.5" x 3.5"
  • ID Card: 3.5" x 2"
  • VIP Pass 3.25" x 5.5"
• Manufacturer's Money Back Guarantee - if you die and can't get in, the manufacturer will refund 100% of your purchase price!

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First Annual Theatre Church Conference

I was reading recently about how CineMeetings & Events is hosting the first-ever Theatre Church Conference in Silver Spring, MD on October 22 & 23. You can Find out more here. That got me to thinking about how we have all heard many Bible verses throughout our lives. Which Bible verse best reflects how you live your life or is your motto? I mean seriously, if you had to pick just one. I know the trite answer is "all of them". But if you had to pick out just one. The one that speaks not just to your mind and heart but reaches to your very soul.
Like most people, I have a few of them that particularly speak to me. Unlike most though, I have one from the Gnostic gospels as well. I'm especially fond of 2 Timothy 2:3, "You must therefore endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ". That helps get through the difficult times. I'm also partial to Titus 1:16 "They profess to know God, but in works deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. That reminds me to be faithful to what I know rather than cave into the world.
By now someone is wondering what Gnostic verse I am lean towards. It's from the Apocalypse of Baruch where St. Paul says "Even now in Heaven there are Angels carrying savage weapons".
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Background Music For Your Life

Does your life seem dull and uninteresting compared to the drama and action of movies and television? Here at ThinkGeek Labs™ we've examined this phenomenon carefully. With the bevy of reality TV shows and humdrum movies we quickly decided that what people do in real life is NOT significantly less exciting than what fictional characters on the screen experience... but for some reason, real life just SEEMS much more boring. However, after days of extensive highly-scientific double blind testing we were able to discover the difference... Background Music! Your real life experiences just don't have the needed dramatic soundtrack to back them up. Whether you're brushing your teeth, walking your dog or chatting up that cute girl in chemistry class you need the appropriate music and sound effects to enhance the experience. Fortunately we've developed the solution for this irritating life boredom problem with the Personal Soundtrack T-Shirt.

This amazing new wearable audio solution features a working speaker embedded into the front of the shirt. When you push the appropriate button on the pocketable remote you get music or sound effects appropriate for any situation. Check out the chart below to see the extensive list of built in sounds and suggestions on using them for dramatic punctuation in your everyday life.

After wearing and using the Personal Soundtrack T-Shirt for one week our test subjects reported that their lives were 143% more exciting than without the shirt... plus they got more dates and their friends commented on how much cooler they were. When we tried to take the shirts back after the testing period we were overwhelmed by the sound of melancholy background music and crying.

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A Great New Search Engine - Find.com

Outstanding new search engine. It's as easy as you can imagine to use and even easier to locate! Just go to WWW.find.com and you are there!

This site has already got thousands of articles on it and is growing exponentially. You can even use it without searching. For example, I wanted to look up laptop articles. So you can type in www.find.com/laptop and boom, you are at a list of everything you ever wanted or needed to know about laptops.

Another thing that is so great about this site is that on it's main homepage, you can click on subtitles and find out even more about a particular subject. For example, I went and clicked on science and there are several subcategories to choose from.

All of the articles available on this site are expertly written and so it becomes a valuable source site. I haven't seen a downside to this new search engine. I do find it very valuable in looking for good and well rounded articles on any subject.

I would suggest that everyone, given the current economic climate, go to this site and read their articles on economics. It's a way for us to be more proactive and possibly do something to help ourselves.

Check them out here:Find.com Search Engine


Find People
Find Jobs
Find Friend

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Toyota's 56-MPG iQ

Looks like Toyota is bringing the 56-mpg iQ microcar to America after all, but it's slapping a Scion badge on it first.

We first saw a production version of the lilliputian runabout at the Geneva Auto Show in March, at which point Toyota told us the car was designed for the Japanese and European markets and would not be coming to the states. But Motor Trend, citing unidentified sources, says the iQ is coming to America, albeit as a Scion, and we'll see it next month at the Los Angeles auto show.

It's a smart move, and putting the world's smallest four-seater in the Scion lineup makes a lot of sense.

Car magazine called the iQ the best concept of 2007 (.pdf) and "the most significant small car since the original Smart City Coupe back in 1997." Everything about it, from the shape of the dashboard to the placement of the gas tank, was designed to maximize interior room, and the iQ, like the Fiat 500 seems much bigger than it is.

As Motor Trend notes, Toyota is more than a bit busy developing the next-gen Prius and doesn't need it — or the fuel-efficient Yaris — upstaged by a new car. But more than that, Toyota needs to reinvigorate Scion, which once was hip but has seen that rep dinged by the conservative second-gen xB and xD. The tiny iQ suits Scion's young, urban demographic and, at less than 15 grand, would provide the marque with an entry-level model.

The iQ also would give Toyota/Scion a strong competitor against the Smart ForTwo, which despite mixed reviews has been a hit. More than 18,000 have sold since the car was introduced to America eight months ago. The iQ also would help Toyota/Scion meet tightening fuel economy standards.

There's no word on what we'd see under the hood of an American iQ, but it's a safe bet it won't be the 55.9-mpg 1.0-liter three-cylinder gas or the 1.4-liter turbodiesel engines available in Europe. More likely is the 1.5-liter gasoline four-banger found in the Yaris.

Conclusion: 56mpg = Good

Style = Ick.

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SteelSeries' World of Warcraft MMO mouse

SteelSeries' World of Warcraft MMO mouse is officially the most ridiculous gaming mouse I have ever seen. Designed with Blizzard just for WoW gamers (just in time for Wrath of the Lich King), it has 15 programmable buttons. You don't even have that many fingers. And it has flashing disco lights. In 16 million colors. Of course, this much nerd doesn't come cheap—it'll be $90 when it drops next month, but SteelSeries gear is tank-like, so you'll be stuck with it for a long time. Which is good, since you're going to be very lonely if you buy one. Update: SteelSeries says that Mac drivers will be out in Dec. or Jan.

Designed by Blizzard® and SteelSeries specifically for World of Warcraft®, The World of Warcraft® MMO Gaming Mouse provides remarkable benefit to all World of Warcraft® gamers, regardless of level or play style. The mouse can be customized to fit the users personal preferences; the illumination feature allows for up to 16 million colors, programmability of all 15 buttons via an intuitive and easy to use drag and drop interface. The fluid integration of software with hardware will provide the user with an amazing in-game experience featuring superior performance, comfort and control. The World of Warcraft® MMO Gaming Mouse is fully scalable to meet and exceed the requirements of even the most discerning World of Warcraft® gamer.

* 16 million illumination choices * A total of 15 programmable buttons
* Several predefined macros and posibility to create your own
* World’s first gaming mouse designed exclusively for World of Warcraft®

• Cable (braided): 2 m / 6,6 ft.
• 15 buttons
• 800 - 3000 CPI
• 3,6 mm lift distance

November 2008

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Ultra-Pretty Dell Crystal LCD Monitor

Dell has flaunted this gorgeous monitor for a while in various trade shows and press events, always saying that it's just a design concept and not available yet. That all changes now, because the 22-inch Dell Crystal LCD display is suddenly a real product. Just in time for CES, this beauty is set to ship in the next few days, and even though its spec list isn't as high-end as we had hoped, it's still so pretty, if it were smaller we'd want to wear it as a necklace. This widescreen monitor has a 1680x1050 (WSXGA+) rez, not quite the 1920x1200 we favor, but its quoted 2ms response time is respectable. An unusual touch are those four speakers, the first ones to be built into a Dell monitor, with their visible wiring and output for an outboard subwoofer. There's also a tiny webcam mounted top center, and speakers, webcam, DVI, and HDCP-compliant HDMI (no mention of DisplayPort) connectivity are all contained in one cable. Also impressive is its TrueColor Technology with 98 percent color gamut, along with a 2000:1 dynamic contrast ratio.

We're also crazy about its floating 4mm-thin tempered glass design and polished metal tripod stand, but we're slightly disappointed that this style, with its extra wide (albeit crystal clear) bezel is not exactly conducive to dual-monitor configurations.

Appearances must be important to you if you're thinking about snagging one of these jewels, because it'll cost you $1199, a far cry from the $300 price of Dell's other 22" 1680x1050 LCDs, which display lower contrast and fewer colors. But then, buyers of this limited-edition monitor aren't going to be bargain hunters, anyway.

Overall, it's a gorgeous display from Dell, further demonstrating the company's determination to incorporate forward design into its erstwhile staid product line.

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