Monroe

I was hoping someone with some knowledge of early ships might post some information on the Kronan. I am in awe of the size of this ship for the 1600's ... but I guess there were even larger size ships. I was looking for a picture or drawing of this ship. I found several links with information ... https://www.abc.se/~pa/uwa/kronan-e.htm Kronan The 126 gun battleship Kronan was built in 1668 by Francis Sheldon and was one of the world's largest ships in its time. She was 53 m long and 14 m wide. During battle against a Danish-Dutch fleet in June 1676, Kronan listed heavily during a badly prepared turn, then suddenly exploded and quickly sank with 800 men. Only 42 survived. What caused the blast is a mystery, perhaps something broke loose during the list and ignited the gunpowder. Possibly Lorentz Creutz, the newly appointed commander and admiral, is to blame for incompetence, because he had no naval experience before commanding the ship. -------------------- A drawing of the Kronan. http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/2482-regalskeppet-kronan/ ...

OK ... you are correct, I have seen those ads but never paid too much attention to them. I thought they were on the side of stupid. So that's what Walmart just bought ... another chance to make a few dollars lost on my part ! This ought to be some battle ... Walmart and Amazon. This is their first ad I guess ... with the purple smoke. Just saw an ad play last week. Jet.com Literally Blows Minds in Inaugural TV Ad http://creativity-online.com/work/jetcom-mindblowing/43164 ...

This is one big contest payoff. First of all, I never heard of Jet.com but Walmart just purchased Jet.com for $3.3 billion ... it will take on Amazon. So this guy enters a contest not too long ago ... and wins the contest prize of 100,000 shares of Jet common stock. Now his worth is between ten and twenty million dollars. From the article below: "More than a year ago, Martin had won a contest prize of 100,000 shares of Jet common stock. Now, his stake is worth between $10 and million and $20 million, according to news reports. Last January, Martin saw a news story about Jet.com, and wound up participating in a program that offered stock options to people who got others to sign up for membership in Jet.com. He spent about $18,000 on online ads that led to 8,000 referrals and the top prize of 100,000 stock options, according to ydr.com." Walmart turns midstate man into multimillionaire David Wenner August 10, 2016 http://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/08/eric_martin_york_jetcom.html?ath=44e4e33060be73ef8412534509af4620#cmpid=nsltr_herostryheadline_single An act of well-informed risk-taking has paid off big for Eric Martin of York County. It led to the 30-year-old York Township resident getting in on the ground floor of Jet.com, an online shopping venture and would-be rival of Amazon.com. Now, Walmart's purchase of Jet for $3.3 billion has made Martin rich. More than a year ago, Martin had won a contest prize of 100,000 shares of Jet common stock. Now, his stake is worth between $10 and million and $20 million, according to news reports. According to Business Insider, "Martin says that he has no big celebration plans today, besides perhaps buying some snow crab legs to eat with his family for dinner. He doesn't know yet what he'll do with the money long-term either, but says he's already received a couple of texts joking that he'll need to get a new security system." Business Insider quoted Martin as saying, "I've told my wife in the past that someday we'll go to Thailand again, because she grew up there, so now that will definitely happen eventually ... Our kids are one and three right now, so it's kind of awkward timing. Other than that, I'll have to think about it." According to a 2015 profile by ydr.com, Martin works in IT and has a self-professed "history of having wild ideas and trying them." Last January, Martin saw a news story about Jet.com, and wound up participating in a program that offered stock options to people who got others to sign up for membership in Jet.com. He spent about $18,000 on online ads that led to 8,000 referrals and the top prize of 100,000 stock options, according to ydr.com. Martin's previous "wild ideas" include an unsuccessful run for U.S. Congress in the race eventually won by Scott Perry, according to ydr.com. -------------------------------------------------------------- Here's the Walmart - Jet.com story. https://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=walmart+buys+jet.com 2 days ago ... Walmart Agrees to Acquire Jet.com, One of the Fastest Growing e-Commerce Companies in the U.S. http://news.walmart.com/2016/08/08/walmart-agrees-to-acquire-jetcom-one-of-the-fastest-growing-e-commerce-companies-in-the-us ...

There have been many people in show business that actually went to college for a degree while in their teens and early twenties ... Jodie Foster and Brooke Shields come to mind. Just read this today about Mayim Bialik ... what a resume. I knew of her and her name but not much else. She had on her resume as she did an audition for the third season of "The Big Bang Theory" ... a TV show in the US. From the article below: "At her audition, she said her resume raised some eyebrows. “Under miscellany, it said, like: ‘Speaks Spanish, Hebrew, Yiddish. PhD in neuroscience.’ Because I felt like it should go on a resume. Like, I worked seven years for that,” she recalled." I'm impressed with the PhD ... curious how many actors have a "PhD"? I watched the show the first two seasons (so long ago) and drifted away from it afterwards. Really amazing ... they made her character in the show a neuroscientist. Mayim Bialik thought 'Big Bang Theory' was a game show before she joined August 09, 2016 http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/08/09/mayim-bialik-thought-big-bang-theory-was-game-show-before-joined.html Mayim Bialik is now a staple on “The Big Bang Theory” but back when she was cast on the show, she had no idea what it was. “I had never seen it. I had heard about it and thought it was a game show, ’cause someone told me I was mentioned on it, I think in the first season,” she told the crowd at the #BlogHer2016 Experts Among Us Conference in Los Angeles on Friday, ETCanada reports. The actress first appeared on the show during its third season. At her audition, she said her resume raised some eyebrows. “Under miscellany, it said, like: ‘Speaks Spanish, Hebrew, Yiddish. PhD in neuroscience.’ Because I felt like it should go on a resume. Like, I worked seven years for that,” she recalled. But she said “Big Bang” co-creator Bill Prady wasn’t sure what to make of it. “[Prady] was at my audition, and he’s like: ‘Is this for real?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.'” Bialik’s character ended up being a neuroscientist because of the starlet’s real-life expertise. “Bill Prady was quoted somewhere as saying, ‘We made her a neurobiologist so Mayim could fix things if they’re wrong,'” she said. “Any good actor has to pretend to be what they’re not, so I actually feel like they must not have thought very much of me.” ...

I'm fairly good at knowing what words should be in capitals and not in capitals when being used in a title ... but sometimes I get stumped as I did today. I found this nice simple guide for help with a Google search today. I decided to post about it here, maybe it will be of help to someone in the future. Capitalization in Titles 101 by Jennifer Frost on May 13, 2013 http://www.grammarcheck.net/capitalization-in-titles-101/ Very few people know which words should be capitalized in a title. In fact, the majority of people adopt rules from others who don’t know either. This usually takes on one of two forms: capitalizing every word, or capitalizing words containing three or more letters. Where blog posts and internal work communications are concerned you can usually get away with such sins, largely because those in the know tend not to point out the error of your ways. But wouldn’t you rather know the truth? Wouldn’t you rather be an ambassador of proper titling rather than a capitalization criminal? Well, today is your chance to repent for improper form, and learn which words should be capitalized in titles, once and for all! What to Capitalize in a Title The cool thing about learning what should and shouldn’t be capitalized is that each category contains three core rules. Rule 1: Always capitalize the first and last letter of a title, no matter what the word is. Rule 2: Always capitalize the following five word categories: Nouns Pronouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs We don’t have the time to list every noun, pronoun, verb, adjective and adverb here, but as long as you remember this list, you can Google the word you’re struggling with to find out whether or not it falls into one of the five categories listed above. Rule 3: Always capitalize words of five or more letters, regardless of whether the word falls into one of the aforementioned five categories. This rule will help you avoid making errors when using conjunctions and prepositions in your titles. You see, many moons ago, writers did NOT capitalize any conjunctions or prepositions. However, today’s standard practice is to capitalize conjunctions and prepositions of five or more letters. Here are some examples: Prepositions (five or more letters): Within, About, Among, Between. Conjunctions/subordinating conjunctions (five or more letters): While, Where, Until, Because, Although. What Not to Capitalize in Titles Rule 1: 1) Never capitalize prepositions and conjunctions of four or fewer letters. However, remember the above rule: words with five or more letters, regardless of whether the word is a conjunction or preposition, must be capitalized. Here are some examples: Examples of prepositions not to be capitalized (four or fewer letters): at / by / down / for / from / in / into / like / near / of / off / on / onto / over / past / to / upon / with Examples of conjunctions not to be capitalized (four or fewer letters): and / as / but / for / if / nor / once / or / so / than / that / till / when / yet Rule 2: Never capitalize the particle “to”, even when used as an infinitive (meaning with a verb). For example: to See, to Read, to Write, etc. Rule 3: Never capitalize articles: a, an, the. Still a Little Confused? No worries. Below we have created two lists of common words people struggle with when capitalizing titles. Bookmark this page and refer back to the lists when you’re in doubt. DO Capitalize in a Title About / Above / Across / After / Against / Along / Although / Among / Around / Because / Before / Behind / Below / Beneath / Beside / Between / During / Except / Inside / Outside / Since / Through / Toward / Under / Underneath / Unless / Until / Whenever / Where / Whereas / Wherever / While / Within / Without DON’T Capitalize in a Title and / as / as if / as long as / at / but / buy / even if / for / from / if / if only / in / into / like / near / now that / nor / of / off / on / on top of / once / onto / or / out of / over / past / so / so that / than / that / till / to / up / upon / with / when / yet Tricky Word Groupings Even when armed with these core rules, people end up making silly mistakes by allowing doubt to make them second-guess their titling. In light of this, here’s a short list of tricky word groupings that often trip people up: as Though even Though in Front of in Order that Instead of Rather than Start Practicing Today It’s a lot to take in, we know, and so you’ll need to practice writing a few titles before things begin to click into place. Another great way to learn is to spot mistakes in other people’s work. You’ll be surprised just how many journalists, authors and bloggers (in particular) get titles in a muddle. Bear in mind, though, occasionally a writer will break the rules to suit their preference or to appropriate a concept. For example, a book entitled “Think Like a Genius” might well be adjusted to “Think Like A Genius”, for no other reason than the publishing house or author thinks it looks better on the cover. That’s it! No more excuses. Start correcting titles today and help make the world a capitalization-friendly place. ...

Can a person ever really feel relaxed or comfortable and let one of these cars fly down the road ... feeling 100% safe that "all is well" or "nothing to worry about" ... watch a movie, read a book or just text message after message? Hackers or no hackers ... I still could not feel safe going 40 to 60 mph or 60 kilometers and not be watching the road. Hackers Show How They Tricked a Tesla into Hitting Objects in Its Path http://www.businessinsider.com/defcon-tesla-jamming-spoofing-autopilot-2016-8 Paul Szoldra Aug. 8, 2016 LAS VEGAS — A group of researchers presenting at last week's Def Con hacker conference showed how they were able to overwhelm or deceive Tesla's sophisticated sensors to make a car hit an object it would normally detect in its path. "Normally the car will not move. However, when we jam the sensor it moves," Chen Yan said in a talk on Friday while playing a demo video of a Tesla Model S attack. "It hit me," he added, to audience laughter. It's important to note that the demonstration was a proof-of-concept that did not mimic real-world conditions today. Researchers were working on cars that were usually stationary with what was sometimes very expensive equipment. They noted that the "sky wasn't falling." But the experiment suggests that theoretically, a few years from now, somebody could make a device that could jam certain sensors in a nearby car. The group, which consisted of Chen Yan, a PhD student at Zhejiang University, Jianhao Liu, a senior security consultant at Qihoo 360, and Wenyuan Xu, a professor at Zhejiang University and The University of South Carolina, presented a variety of new findings. They discovered methods for "quieting" sensors to diminish or hide obstacles in a car's path, "spoofing" them to make an object appear farther or closer than it actually is, and jamming, which, Yan said, renders the sensor useless as it's "overwhelmed by noise." “This is definitely interesting and good work,” Jonathan Petit, the principal scientist at Security Innovations, who has also presented research on deceiving autonomous vehicles, told Wired. "They need to do a bit more work to see if it would actually collide into an object. You can’t yet say the Autopilot doesn’t work." There are a number of sensors on a Tesla Model S that are used for a variety of functions. It has radar to detect objects in front of it, GPS for location tracking, and cameras to detect speed limit signs and lane markings, for example. As the talk showed, many of these things can be tricked by a determined attacker. "What would happen if there is an intentional malicious attacker?" asked Liu. Much of their presentation focused on the Tesla Model S, but they also successfully jammed sensors on cars from Audi, Volkswagen, and Ford. In a video demonstrating an attack, the researchers jammed sensors in the rear of the Model S, so the car did not know it was about to hit a person standing behind it. In another, they "spoofed" its Autopilot to trick it into thinking it would drive into something that was not actually there. They also used off-the-shelf lasers to defeat the onboard cameras, and, in one of the most low-tech demonstrations, they wrapped objects up in cheap black foam that rendered them invisible to the car's sensors. "[It was the] same effect as jamming," said Yan. He told Business Insider after the talk that Tesla reacted positively when they disclosed their research, and it was researching ways to mitigate these types of attacks. "They appreciated our work and are looking into this issue," he said. The full presentation of their findings is available at Def Con's website. ...

OK, so what are these updates ... are these updates for only people with the POSReady 2009 updates or are these regular XP updates just released by MS? The description says: Supported Operating System / Windows XP Service Pack 3 I can't imagine MS is releasing any "regular" XP updates in 2016. I posted sometime back ... a few months ... that my MS Update check no longer works. It never finishes ... the last time it did work correctly was in March ... then sometime after March ... everything changed. I hadn't run any update checks till June, that's when I discovered that something had changed. I was only getting MS Office 2007 updates for my MS Office 2000 program. I may be the only one affected ... no one has posted here about that problem with a non POSReady machine ... I have checked Google several times in July and no one is asking or posting about any problems with the MS Updates check no longer working. So I am wondering if these two updates are for POSReady 2009 machines only or have these two updates been released for all XP SP3 machines? I am curious what might have caused my regular MS update check to suddenly not work anymore. I have installed nothing from MS ... except those monthly Office 2007 updates ... and Dec 2015 was the last time for them ... I did run update checks in Jan, Feb and Mar and then waited till late Jun to run the update check again. ...

Just a few short years back ... this thread/topic was started and it was more of a curiosity at the time, these things were just a novelty of sorts ... about little insect type drones buzzing around, maybe only for a minute till the power ran down. Then various types of drones were being built for the masses ... with more power and cameras. So the old saying from so long ago ... "the genie is out of the bottle" ... says it all. I went to Google to get a definition or the real meaning of that line or those seven words. Phrase - If you say that "the genie is out of the bottle" ... you mean that something has happened which has made a great and permanent change in people's lives, especially a bad change. These are the beginning three paragraphs from the news article below: "Police are having to investigate a fourfold rise in the number of crime reports involving shop bought drones – including allegations they are being used by paedophiles over children's playgrounds, peeping toms spying through bedroom windows, burglars scoping out people's properties, and even cash point scammers recording PIN numbers. An investigation by The Independent has found that the number of incidents reported to the police involving drones surged by 352 per cent in a single year as the public became increasingly aware – and suspicious – of the machines. Reflecting the rapid uptake of the flying robotic devices, which can be fitted with cameras, reports to police surged from 94 in 2014 to 425 in 2015. The projected figure for 2016 is set to be even higher, with 272 reports recorded up until May this year." Here is the article from England but it could be from somewhere else also. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Massive rise in drone-related crime reports amid paedophile fears Peter Yeung 7 August 2016 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/drones-police-crime-reports-uk-england-safety-surveillance-a7155076.html Exclusive: An investigation by The Independent reveals shop-bought drones have endangered commercial airliners, caused fights between neighbours and been used by criminal gangs to transport drugs into prisons. Police are having to investigate a fourfold rise in the number of crime reports involving shop bought drones – including allegations they are being used by paedophiles over children's playgrounds, peeping toms spying through bedroom windows, burglars scoping out people's properties, and even cash point scammers recording PIN numbers. An investigation by The Independent has found that the number of incidents reported to the police involving drones surged by 352 per cent in a single year as the public became increasingly aware – and suspicious – of the machines. Reflecting the rapid uptake of the flying robotic devices, which can be fitted with cameras, reports to police surged from 94 in 2014 to 425 in 2015. The projected figure for 2016 is set to be even higher, with 272 reports recorded up until May this year. The figures were obtained from Freedom of Information requests, with 21 of the UK's 45 police forces responding. The numbers also include reports of drones endangering commercial airliners of them causing fights between neighbours, and also of them being used by criminal gangs to transport drugs, often into prisons. The majority of the reports, 257, were listed as a concern for public safety and under suspicious circumstances, but five cases involved acts of violence, 13 related to burglary, 14 to dangers posed to transport – largely related to air space – and seven made reference to drones in the vicinity of young children. One remarkable incident recorded by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in June last year revealed a drone allegedly being used to film a cash point in Templepatrick as people entered their pin codes. The witness told the police that when the drone was spotted it flew off and crashed into a taxi. The police said a male suspect had been forced to pay compensation to the taxi driver, but officers had been unable to prove the footage was being taken with criminal intent. Drones, quadcopters and multi-rotor helicopters already equipped with 360 degree 4K video cameras, more than twice the quality of HD, are currently available to buy without any registration or permit. Speeds range as high as 70 mph for mass produced drones, while potential altitudes up to 10,000 feet make them a threat to aircraft flying in or out of airports. Many also offer image transmission to a handheld device, such as a mobile phone, and others include night vision. Sexual offences involving a drone were reported in both London and South Wales, with the Metropolitan Police referring to case of "voyeurism" and the Welsh force revealing a drone had been used to record footage of a young woman undressed in her apartment. In Leicester, a pedestrian claimed to have seen a drone falling from the sky, while in Sutton Coldfield another fell and damaged to roof of a BMW, as regulation of air space has become increasingly demanding with unprecedented new risks. Reports of disturbances to flight paths around Birmingham, Stansted and Luton airports were also provided, raising wider concerns for public welfare and potentially the threat of terrorism. In April, Elstree Aerodrome Air Traffic Control noted that a drone had been seen five miles Northeast of Elstree by a pilot whose aircraft was at 6,000ft. Greater awareness of privacy concerns has also led to some direct confrontations. In South Wales, one homeowner threatened to a drone out of the sky. Dozens of other reports related to surveillance. A similar incident in Bedham, Sussex, saw one person firing a shotgun at a neighbour's drone. The pair were said to "loathe" each other. In Spennymoor, County Durham, a fight broke out over a drone, with one disgruntled bystander pushing a man and throwing his remote controller into a bush. Elsewhere, a drunken man was found to be “causing distress to livestock” after using a drone to fly close to cows in Plymouth. There are also fears that drones could be used by paedophiles, with reports of drones flying over children’s areas in Kingswinford, Dudley, and schools in Hemel Hempstead and Northumbria. David Dunn, a professor at Birmingham University who has led research into UAVs, said there needed to be more regulation. He told The Independent: "What you have is a massive proliferation of easy access to the air from machines that have the capacity to cause nuisance, to carry out surveillance, to cause potential injury and to frighten people and cause collisions with cars and airplanes. There needs to be regulation. We are lacking accountability or a deterrence. "There needs to be regulation and there needs to be systematic attempts to educate the public. At the moment, you can buy one of these things in a supermarket without any safeguards. We are lacking accountability or a deterrence. “The police are being forced to use laws that were designed before the invention of drones fit in terms of personal safety and privacy, but actually what we need is a Drone Bill through the House of Commons to address the technological challenges.” Mr Dunn said the terror threat was a “massive concern” to law enforcement agencies, adding: "These machines have the ability to actually deliver drugs into prisons, to deliver sim cards into prisons.” Corroborating previous reports, the data reveals a significant number of sightings of drones around prisons. At HM Prison Leicester, legal highs and a mobile phone were caught in netting around the perimeter – a measure used across UK prisons to counteract smuggling devices such as drones – and drugs were also found attached to a machine by Sherwood Prison. The Mount prison in Bovingdon was the centre of a high number of interceptions, alongside institutions in Exeter, Bedford and Greyfriars. Anyone found using drones to smuggle contraband into a prison can be given a sentence of up to two years. A spokesman for the Prison Service said it was working to ensure the “right tools” are in place to tackle the problem of drones. He added: "We take a zero tolerance approach to illicit material in prisons and work closely with the police and CPS to ensure those caught are prosecuted and face extra time behind bars." Steve Barry, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Unmanned Aerial Systems, told The Independent: “Both the Police and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are aware of the ever increasing use of drones by members of the public and are keen to ensure that people are aware of the rules that apply to their use. “We have issued guidance to all forces on how to respond to drone misuse by the public. Work is ongoing to better understand the threat posed by drones, and to develop an appropriate technical response. “We are working with the Home Office on how drones might be used to enhance operational capability in law enforcement, including for support for emergency response or for public order events.” The public have serious concerns about drone use but the safeguards around them are flimsy and obscure. Sara Ogilvie, policy officer for Liberty, told The Independent: "As the use of drones by both individuals and the police continues to soar, the need for thorough public debate and robust regulation of this shadowy industry becomes all the more obvious and urgent. As these figures show, the public have serious concerns about drone use – but the safeguards are flimsy and obscure. "Drones have the potential to serve as incredibly intrusive spying tools – and their capacity for violating people's privacy will only increase as the technology improves. Our authorities need to wake up fast to the stark implications for our privacy and safety." The figures also reveal a large amount of investment in drones by some UK police forces as a new way of tackling crime and helping with other investigations. Last year alone, Sussex and Surrey Police spent £413,000 in a joint initiative, training 38 officers to fly the remote controlled aerial cameras. They now have five drones – more than any other force in the country. The drones are being used in missing person searches, forensic collision investigations and airport security, as well as patrol teams and neighbourhood response units. Mr Barry, who is also assistant chief constable of Sussex Police, said in a statement: "Our drone operations will be overt, open and transparent, and we will use all outlets available to us to ensure the public are informed of our drone use.” Police forces in Devon, Cornwall and Dorset are also testing the use of drones for missing people searches and photographing of crime scenes. In September, Nigel Wilson became the first person in England to be prosecuted by the CPS for illegally flying drones. The 42-year-old from Bingham in Nottinghamshire admitted nine breaches of filming footage over football grounds and tourist attractions. Amazon, the world's biggest online retailer, last month agreed a partnership with the Government to start using drones for deliveries by 2017. ...

We have known about card readers attached to ATMs and other terminals to steal card information. This seems to be more advanced ... using a Bluetooth reader. I try to always keep it in my head to look for anything suspicious attached to an ATM or gas pump ... but sometimes I forget if I'm in a hurry. This is from the article below: "The most obviously way drivers can fight back against the new Bluetooth skimmers is to stop using plastic and stay away from the outside kiosks when buying gas. “Now that you’ve made me aware of it, I’ll probably get cash and go inside and pay,” said Schlossstein. Police also urge driver to look for gas stations that have security tape strips. If anyone has cracked inside, the seal would be broken." Does anyone know about or have they seen these "security tape strips" mentioned in the last sentence ... what do they look like ... I don't know what "broken seal" they are talking about? I suppose if some people decide to go inside to pay, their information could still be stolen or compromised in some way. Crooks Using Bluetooth To Steal At Gas Pumps http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2016/08/04/crooks-using-bluetooth-to-steal-at-gas-pumps/ August 4, 2016 DALLAS (CBS11) -Pump prowlers in Dallas are stepping up their game, stealing bank information in some cases instantaneously with a new device police are calling “scary.” Dallas Police recently discovered five different skimming devices that utilize Bluetooth technology. “I think that’s terrible,” said Tracy Schlossstein, a driver who uses one of the impacted gas station. Investigators said they found the devices buried inside the outside, credit card kiosks at four different ExxonMobil gas stations. “I think that’s sad because they could be over there in the next parking lot reading information, hacking it off the computer,” said Schlossstein. Dallas Police said instead of the crooks returning to the machine to collect the data, the credit card information is sent directly to someone likely sitting in the parking lot on their computer. “They can do it in a split second, put it on. So they obviously have knowledge of the pumps,” said Dallas Police Lt. Tony Crawford. The last Bluetooth skimmer was found on Thursday afternoon. “It makes total sense being that Bluetooth is very short-range, easy to install, micro-small,” said Michael Dear, owner of Spy Centre Security. Dear said consumers or gas station owners could purchase a frequency detector to figure out if one of the new devices are attached to their pumps. Basic models start at $200, but more sophisticated units that can pin-point each specific frequency can cost up to $500. “It doesn’t surprise me, the thieves and criminal are always a step ahead,” said Dear. The most obviously way drivers can fight back against the new Bluetooth skimmers is to stop using plastic and stay away from the outside kiosks when buying gas. “Now that you’ve made me aware of it, I’ll probably get cash and go inside and pay,” said Schlossstein. Police also urge driver to look for gas stations that have security tape strips. If anyone has cracked inside, the seal would be broken. ...

The Beta machine I had was a really neat machine ... I wish I had kept it ... it was like new. One of the selling points (as I remember) for Beta tapes ... they were the size of a paper back book and would fit in your pocket ... the VHS tapes being a little longer. Also, the Beta machines were supposed to put less "stress" on the tape when being run in the machine ... but the VHS machine could go 6 hours of recording ... because there was more tape on the larger VHS cassette compared to the smaller Beta cassette. I think that is why the VHS system was more popular in the US and Beta was always number one in Japan and maybe other parts of Asia. Yes, I remember the VCDs ... I only own two of them ... films that were not on DVD at the time. This department store years ago where I used to live had many of those VCDs for sale ... I bought those two and intended to go back and get maybe 10 or 20 more titles. I finally got back to the store in a month or two and all the VCDs were gone. They were $5 each as I remember ... so either they all sold out fast or the store just got rid of them ... DVDs were becoming more available. I do have a rather large DVD collection from years back ... the bad news is that I was paying way too much money back then ... when there are $5 DVD bins at Wallmart today. There are two second hand stores in my area with "used" DVDs going for $2 and maybe $1 with a special clearance sale going on. Just boxes of DVDs, everything mixed up ... there may be a few films in those boxes that I would like but I only went to the one store once and after going through 4 or 5 boxes, I had to leave ... just too much. I have some DVDs that have gone up in value and many from 10 yrs ago are cheaper today and still available. Some are out of print. I always wanted this set of the TV version of "The Lost World" ... there were three seasons and in 2013 I finally decided to get all three DVD sets ... before they were gone and "maybe" started going up in price. I got Season 1 and Season 2 for around $20 to $25 dollars ... Season 3 was on "backorder" with Amazon. A week after I ordered all three seasons ... I got Season 1 and 2 ... but something was happening and prices just started moving up ... to around $50 for each season ... the prices just kept increasing ... I still had my order for Season 3 with Amazon on "backorder" ... there was an Amazon seller selling Season 3 ... brand new for around $24. I think a lot of Amazon sellers got caught of guard with the price jump. For three days I had a chance to get Season 3 for that price of $24 and then it was gone ... either someone bought it quick or the seller discovered what was happening with the price jumps of all three seasons and cancelled the sale. I had a "price lock in" with Amazon for around $20 but it was on "backorder" ... about three months later Amazon cancelled my order, with no e-mail ... no explanation. I know the reason was simply, the supply of the DVD sets were gone and no further production was planned. I could have had Season 3 but I miss read the "backorder" and price lock from Amazon ... I thought they would get some more sets to fill orders ... I messed up big time. I just checked to see what I paid for Season 1 and Season 2 at Amazon ... Season 1 was $14.00 + $3.99 shipping ($17.99 total) and Season 2 was $23.77 which included shipping. Here are the prices as of today at Amazon (now) ... of course they change at times with sellers ... supply and demand ! https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_14?url=search-alias%3Dmovies-tv&field-keywords=the+lost+world+tv+series&sprefix=the+lost+world%2Cmovies-tv%2C339&rh=n%3A2625373011%2Ck%3Athe+lost+world+tv+series Season 1 : $199.99 Season 2 : $249.99 Season 3 : $200.59 Season 3 ... I had my shot for three days in 2013 to get that set for around $25 ... give or take ... but I do have Season 2 ... it always seems to have the higher price over Season 1 and Season 3. So a "heads up" if anyone has these DVD sets stored in a box somewhere in the garage or a hot attic ... treat them like "gold". Just to add about the Philips DVD Player that I mentioned two posts back ... it does play VCDs or Video CDs. From the description with the manufacturer: Video Playback Playback Media: CD, CD-R/CD-RW, Video CD/SVCD, DVD, DivX, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, DVD-Video Compression formats: MPEG1, MPEG2, DivX 3.11, DivX 4.x, DivX 5.x, DivX 6.0, DivX Ultra I did not know that all DVD Players do not play VCDs in today's world ... I guess they are a thing of the past that a newer machine no longer plays them. ...

Well the story or news about this shipwreck is dated July 29th ... about some very old cheese found in a container having been on the ocean floor for 340 years. There have been some gold coins found ... over 20,000 artifacts. What seems interesting to me is the size of this ship ... it must have been massive for the time ... like a battle ship of today. Here are the stats ... it had 126 guns or cannons I guess and a crew of around 840 men. Think about a ship 350 years ago with that many guns ... I would think a ship with 30 to 50 guns would be a real threat on the water but this one had 126 guns ... maybe 63 guns on each side? Then imagine a crew of 840 men all over the place ... the enormous amount of food supplies that would have to be on board along with sleeping quarters. Modern ships of today have that size of a crew and more but that many on a ship in the 1600s ... seems really fantastic. How large was this ship ... around 800 men perished and only 40 survived, so the records say. This from the second article link ... "The royal ship Kronan sank at noon on June 1st, 1676" 17th-century cheese pulled from shipwreck in the Baltic http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/07/29/17th-century-cheese-pulled-from-shipwreck-in-baltic.html By Jenn Gidman July 29, 2016 For 340 years, the Swedish ship Kronan has languished at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, the 126-gun warship's permanent resting place after it was sunk right before a 1676 skirmish with Denmark and the Netherlands, Atlas Obscura reports. It was found in 1980, and since then it's presented more than 20,000 artifacts to divers, including jewelry, gold coins, and even brain matter from some of the deceased crew (around 800 men died and 40 survived, per the Local). But a recent two-week diving expedition turned up a new find that's "pure gooey grossness," Atlas Obscura notes: "some kind of dairy product" crammed in a small black container, researcher Lars Einarsson tells the Local, adding, "We think it is cheese." The could-be cheese resembles "granular Roquefort," he continues, noting the yeasty aroma wafting from the jar. Einarsson and his diving partners presented the nose-wrinkling victual Tuesday at Sweden's Kalmar County Museum as part of an entire haul of items pulled up from the waters around the island of Oland. But while Einarsson admits he finds the odor somewhat "exotic," he adds he has no plans to sample the wreck's wares. "It's reasonably well preserved, but at the same time it has been at the bottom of the sea for 340 years—we're not talking Tutankhamun's burial chamber," he says. For now, the stinky snack is being kept chilled so it can be further examined for clues as to its makeup and perhaps even regarding how sailors lived onboard warships during that time period. then ... there are a few pictures here. Really old stinky cheese found on royal Swedish shipwreck http://www.thelocal.se/20160727/old-stinky-cheese-found-on-swedish-17th-century-ship 27 Jul 2016 Swedish scientists have discovered what is believed to be 340-year-old cheese on board an iconic shipwreck. Divers excavating the royal ship Kronan in the waters off the Baltic Sea island of Öland came upon the smelly material inside a black tin jar found on the seabed this month. "It's a pretty good guess that it's some kind of dairy product, and we think it is cheese," researcher Lars Einarsson at the Kalmar County Museum told The Local on Wednesday. "It looks a bit like some kind of granular Roquefort cheese. It's been in the mud, so it's reasonably well preserved, but at the same time it has been at the bottom of the sea for 340 years – we're not talking Tutankhamun's burial chamber," he said. Einarsson said the thick, gooey find smells strongly of cheese and yeast. "I think it smells quite nice, because I like exotic food. But I would not want to taste it." He and his team presented the suspected cheese on Tuesday along with some of the other items salvaged during the two-week diving project in July – including 14 gold coins and a diamond ring. The royal ship Kronan sank at noon on June 1st, 1676, just prior to hostilities beginning between the Swedish and the allied Danish-Dutch fleet, known as the "The Battle of Southern Öland". Only some 40 men survived the sinking of the ship, with 800 or so perishing in the waters. More than 20,000 items have so far been recovered from the vessel since it was located in 1980, including crew members' cranial remains, with traces of brain tissue. As for the cheese, it is currently being kept at low temperatures awaiting a scientific analysis to find out exactly what it is and what it could reveal about life on board a Swedish ship in the 17th century. ...

I bought this Magnavox DVD Recorder in Aug 2011 at Walmart ... it has been used heavy and makes perfect super clear recordings still five years later. Whatever you see on the screen is what the recorded DVD looks like. I mostly use the 2 hour time mode ... which is good for about 2 hr and 10 minutes but there is also a 2 hr 30 min time mode, which also goes some extra minutes ... plus all the standard "extra time" modes, but I never use those modes for lesser quality. I paid around $88 at Walmart in Aug 2011 ... I see there is one for sale at Amazon (new) for $499 but some used ones for $89. Magnavox ZC320MW8B Progressive Scan DVD±RW Recorder w/Line-in Recording https://www.amazon.com/Magnavox-ZC320MW8B-Progressive-Recorder-Recording/dp/B00773DB4A/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1469960340&sr=1-2&keywords=magnavox+dvd+recorder+zc320mw8b I had thought of buying an extra one to have for a backup but this Magnavox product seems to have been well made or I just got lucky. It's kept covered with a towel so it looks as it did 5 years ago... very little dust inside. I'd be hard pressed to find a replacement ... I never play DVDs to watch with this machine ... only turn it on to record something. I use a simple Philips DVD player for that. I keep the motor and laser off as much as possible on the Magnavox but it has still been on for many, many hours. I've had other DVD recorders that never lasted a year. Just to mention about DVD Players ... bought this from Amazon many years back ... it was new and a very popular product at the time. Around $39 new with free shipping ... it can be set to region free and also plays PAL DVDs from Europe ... will also play .avi files. After I got the the first one ... I decided to get one more as a backup replacement. Philips DVP3560 DVD Player with 1080p HDMI Upscaling & Multimedia DiX - Black https://www.amazon.com/Philips-DVP3560-Player-Upscaling-Multimedia/dp/B003LWXJ2A/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1469962217&sr=1-2&keywords=phillips+dvd+dvp3560 As you said it's hard to find some nice units today ... another well made product by Philips or I just got lucky ... it does deliver a nice picture. It seems that in 2010 and 2011 there were still many products to choose from for players and recorders at a decent price ... today that seems to be not the case, at least with DVD recorders. I read this article several years back ... I see it has been updated as of July 02, 2016. The Case of the Disappearing DVD Recorder DVD Recorders Are No Longer Practical For Recording TV Programs and Movies http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdbasics/qt/the_case_of_the_disappearing_dvd_recorder.htm By Robert Silva Updated July 02, 2016. DVD Recorders Are Getting Scarce Have you shopped for a DVD Recorder recently and have found slim-pickins' on store shelves? It is not your imagination. While DVD recorders are still available in other parts of the World and Blu-ray Disc recorders are available in Japan and are being introduced in several other markets, the U.S. is being left out of the video disc-based recording equation; on purpose. However, contrary to what you might think, it is not all the fault of LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and other Asian-based consumer electronics manufacturers. After all, they would love to sell as many DVD and Blu-ray Disc recorders as possible to anyone who wants to buy one. The real reason that DVD recorders are scarce in the U.S., and Blu-ray Disc recorders are non-existent, can be squarely laid at the foot of the U.S. movie studios, cable/satellite providers, and TV broadcasters, which place restrictions on video recording that make the continued selling new DVD recorders, let alone providing access to standalone Blu-ray Disc recorders, in the U.S. consumer market an increasingly unprofitable venture. Copy-Protection and Recording Cable/Satellite Programming Most consumers buy a DVD recorder to record TV programs for later viewing. So how are movie studios and cable/satellite program providers conspiring to limit your access to such video recording? The implementation of a copy-protection scheme that severely restricts what you can record and how you can record it. For example, HBO and several other cable and network programmers copy-protect most of their programs (sometimes on a random basis). The type of copy protection that they use (referred to as "Record Once") allows an initial recording to a temporary storage device (such as to a hard drive of a DVD recorder/Hard Drive combo, a cable DVR, TIVO, but not necessarily to a permanent storage format, such as DVD). In addition, once you have made your recording to a cable DVR, TIVO, or Hard Drive, you are restricted from making a copy of the initial recording to DVD or VHS. In other words, while you can make a recording to a temporary storage format, such as DVR-type device, you cannot make a "hard copy" onto DVD to add to your permanent collection. "Record Once" means recording once on a temporary storage medium, not to a hard copy, such as DVD. As a result, consumers are finding out quickly that their DVD recorders and DVD Recorder/VHS combo units are unable to record programs from HBO or other premium channels, and definitely not Pay-Per-View or On-Demand programming ("Record Never"), due to the types of copy-protection employed to restrict recording onto DVD. This has also filtered into some of the non-premium cable channels. The fact that you are not able to use a DVD recorder to record a lot of TV programming anymore isn't the fault of the DVD recorder or the DVD recorder manufacturer; it is the enforcement of copy-protection schemes required by the movie studios and other content providers. This state of affairs is backed up legal court rulings. It is a "Catch 22". Although you have the right to record a TV program, the content owners and providers also have the legal right to protect copyrighted content from being recorded. As a result, the ability to make a hard-copy recording may be prevented. TECH NOTE: There is no way around the "Record Once" copy-protection scheme used by broadcasters and cable/satellite providers unless you use a DVD Recorder that can record on a DVD-RW disc in VR Mode or a DVD-RAM format disc that is CPRM compatible (look on the package). However, keep in mind that DVD-RW VR Mode or DVD-RAM recorded discs are not playable on most DVD players (just Panasonic and few others - refer to user manuals). The Cable/Satellite DVR Factor As mentioned above, cable/satellite DVRs, and TIVO do allow recording of most content (except for pay-per-view and on-demand programming). However, since the recordings are made on a hard drive instead of a disc, they are not permanently saved (unless you have an extremely large hard drive). This is acceptable to movie studios and other content providers as further copies of the hard drive recording cannot be made - and once the hard drive is full, the consumer has to decide what to delete in order to recover more storage space for additional recordings. This state of affairs is also a profit center for cable/Satellite service providers as they can lease or rent DVRs and also offer video "on demand" services that they can charge their subscribers. Since the DVR is required in order to record "Record Once" programming, the consumer is locked into this added expense if the they want the ability to record many of the of their favorite shows and movies. Of course, if you own the increasingly scarce DVD recorder/Hard Drive combination, you should be able to record your program onto the Hard Drive of the DVD Recorder/Hard Drive Combo, but if copy-protection is implemented within the program, you will be prevented from making a copy of your hard drive recording to DVD. The Streaming Factor Also, another big factor lessening the demand for DVD recorders (and probably the last-nail-in-the-coffin), is streaming. With streaming services, such as Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, Netflix, Vudu, and others, including HBO (HBOGo and HBONow), and Showtime (Showtime Anytime), it is fairly convenient to find and view not only recently broadcast content, but "binge watch" entire seasons of many TV series, without the need to record them. Streaming TV shows and movies is especially easy to if you have a Smart TV or Internet-enabled Blu-ray Disc player if even if you don't own one those devices - there is also an abundance of inexpensive add-on media streamers that you can connect to non-smart TV that can do the job. Roku even makes a media streamer that can be connected to older TVs that may only have composite AV input (Roku 1 - Buy From Amazon. The convenience of internet streaming lessens the need to record those programs onto DVD for future viewing, thus saving a lot of shelf space. Less demand for DVD recording, is another dis-incentive for manufacturers to continue to make DVD recorders. Where are the Blu-ray Disc Recorders? There are no current plans to market standalone Blu-ray Disc recorders for consumers in the U.S market. One factor contributing to this state of affairs is the increasing use of TIVO and Cable/Satellite DVRs in the U.S., which is perceived by Asian-based manufacturers potential competitive hurdle in the success of Blu-ray as a recording option. In addition, copy-protection concerns and potential piracy have the movie studios, content creators, and cable/satellite/over-the-air TV broadcasters "paranoid" about mainstream consumers having the ability to record high definition video content that can be saved in permanent hard-copy format, such as Blu-ray Disc. Video copy-protection and the DVR factor are the main reasons why standalone Blu-ray Disc recorders are not available in the U.S., although they are plentiful in Japan and available in other select markets, such as parts of Europe, the UK, and Australia. Manufacturers simply don't want to hassle the expense of complying with the recording restrictions imposed in the U.S. market. For more details on the Blu-ray Disc Recorder issue, read my article: Are There Blu-ray Disc Recorders? A Final Word Although not all TV, cable, and satellite programming is affected by "Record Once" or "Record Never" copy-protection schemes, enabling limited use of a DVD recorder (although you often won't know until you find out if the program was able to be recorded), the era of widespread video recording of TV, cable and satellite programs onto a tape or disc format is coming to an end. So next time you go shopping for a DVD Recorder, don't be surprised at the slim-pickins. It is all part of the "plan". If you are still looking for a DVD recording device, you can check out what may still be available either new or used, in the following, periodically updated listings: Best DVD Recorders (includes DVD Recorder/Hard Drive Combos, if they are available). Best DVD Recorder/VHS VCR Combinations With DVD recorders fading into sunset, find out what alternatives are now available in lieu of recording onto DVD in the report: DVD Recorders Gone, Now What? ...

I just thought I would post about using the newer SpywareBlaster Custom Blocking list from that web site in my first post. I've had it installed since May and it seems to be working just fine along with the MVPS Hosts file. Everything is fast and no slow down with the K-Meleon and Pale Moon Atom browser. Custom Blocking List - April 03, 2016 http://pattaya1.mbnet.fi/swb3.htm MVPS Hosts File http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm ...

In 2005 I bought a nice DVD recording unit from Amazon and started transferring all my boxes of VHS film tapes to DVDs ... it was quite a project but I wanted to prevent any further "wear and tear" with the tapes or having the tapes perhaps dry out and become brittle with storage and time. I don't know for sure if that would actually happen ... but maybe it would with a few tapes. So I no longer have any VHS tapes and had no need of a VHS player/recorder. However, a few years ago ... maybe even four or five ... I was thinking the VHS tapes and recorders will probably be gone completely one day, so I decided to go to Walmart and buy a new "brand name" VHS machine and some blank tapes to put away ... just in case I might need something like that down the road. I think I only paid $40 to $45 dollars for the machine and it sits today in a storage room with other things. I have not played any VHS tapes since 2005 as I transferred the VHS films to DVDs for long term storage. It was great to give the tapes away or just get rid of boxes of old tapes. I am sad to see all that time come to an end ... too bad CDs and DVDs couldn't have come around sooner ... spent a lot of money on VHS tapes and machines ... both Beta and VHS. DVDs now seem to be on the same course as VHS tapes ... so one day they will be "ancient history" ... with digital streaming and storage. I have not looked at Walmart or Amazon lately (for years) to see what VHS machines are still for sale. I have a new one sitting in storage and a few blank tapes but I don't see myself ever hooking the unit up. Probably was foolish to buy and store one away for the "future" ... when it really belongs to the past. ...

Wasn't sure if this should be here as news or a prediction. THE MATRIX OVERLOADED - Computers will use more electricity than the entire world can generate by 2040, tech experts claim Nightmare scenario means humanity will be simply unable to power the systems which keep us alive by Jasper Hamill 25th July 2016 https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1498750/computers-will-use-more-electricity-than-the-entire-world-can-generate-by-2040-tech-experts-claim/ Modern humans depend on their computers to do everything from ordering food to finding a romantic partner. But the current digital big bang could end with a disappointing whimper because humanity may be unable to produce enough power to keep computers running, experts have warned. A leading technical organised called the Semiconductor Industry Association has produced a study which said that computer-crazy society will be running short of electricity by 2040. It wrote: “Computing will not be sustainable by 2040, when the energy required for computing will exceed the estimated world’s energy production.” The Semiconductor Industry Association meets every year to discuss how electronic components called transistors – which power computer circuits – can be made ever smaller. Now the organisation is conceding that they probably won’t get any tinier, heralding the end of an era where computers got faster and faster as transistors shrunk to every tinier sizes. This means tech firms will have to think of new ways to make computers powerful enough to keep up with demands. “Driverless cars and personalised medicine along with countless other applications of intelligent systems are on the horizon, the Semiconductor Industry Association added. The year 2040 carries a huge resonance in the tech world, because some people believe that’s when artificial intelligence will become as clever as us humans – a moment known as the singularity. ...

148 Million Years Later, Dinosaur Quarry Remains a Cold Case July 24, 2016 Associated Press http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/07/24/148-million-years-later-dinosaur-quarry-remains-cold-case.html?intcmp=latestnews CLEVELAND-LLOYD DINOSAUR QUARRY, Utah – About 148 million years have passed since dozens of corpses of meat-eating dinosaurs were deposited here, just north of the San Rafael Swell and about 30 miles southeast of Price. It's been nearly a century since the bones first were chipped out of the limestone and shipped to museums around the world, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. But it's not too late to secure the crime scene -- or at least that's what out-of-state researchers and college students who paid the site an annual visit in June hope. What facetiously has been referred to as a "murder mystery" at Cleveland-Lloyd began with excavations in the late 1920s and remains unsolved, even after the uncovering and analysis of more than 12,000 bones. Paleontologists know water likely pooled in this onetime depression. But why so many bodies? And why so many carnivore bodies -- outnumbering herbivores 3 to 1? "An early researcher out here once stated that there are almost as many hypotheses for this site as there are annual visitors," said University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh assistant professor Joseph Peterson. The quarry has proved a reliable source for the Allosaurus, which could grow 30 feet long and had knifelike teeth, razor-sharp claws and the general profile necessary to grab the attention of young museumgoers. Cleveland-Lloyd even has its own visitors center -- complete with an assembled Allosaurus skeleton, which is Utah's state fossil -- and would become Jurassic National Monument in the Public Lands Initiative proposed by Utah Reps. Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz. Local paleontologists, however, have been less interested in hauling out a 50th Allosaurus than finding new dinosaurs at other sites. Peterson and Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) assistant professor Jonathan Warnock were surprised to learn about five years ago that the historic quarry had no active digs, and they applied to the Bureau of Land Management for a permit to conduct a more technologically informed study of the fossil record. ... more at the link There are no pictures at the first link ... this link does have some. http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/price/recreation/quarry.html ...

Very good jaclaz ... yes, we have to worry right now about doctor and hospital mistakes. So now we have "human" mistakes but in the future we will have "human and humanoid" mistakes ... there is no hope !!! There are more Google auto cars crashing over the last month or so ... I read about the Tesla crash earlier in the month. ...

There was in 1992 a new TV show that was ahead of it's time ... Mann & Machine. I guess it was just "too far" in the future. It was a great show but was cancelled after nine episodes. It was developing a following and still has one today. A very beautiful police detective who was an android ... I think that term was used then. It also had a nice twist with the show title ... "Mann & Machine" ... she became the partner of Det Bobby Mann and she (Eve) was the machine. from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_%26_Machine "The series starred Yancy Butler as Sgt. Eve Edison, a beautiful police officer who is also a sophisticated gynoid robot capable of learning and emotion. She is partnered with Det. Bobby Mann (David Andrews), a human officer who holds disdain for robots. Rounding out the regular cast was S. Epatha Merkerson as Capt. Claghorn, Mann and Edison's superior officer. The series focused on Mann and Edison's criminal investigations in a Los Angeles of the "near future"—sometime around the beginning of the 21st century though the exact year is never stated. An ongoing subplot of the series focused on Eve's continuing education about what makes humans tick, and her ever-growing capacity for emotion, highlighted by the penultimate episode "Billion Dollar Baby" in which Eve is placed in charge of caring for an infant, activating unexpected maternal feelings. Although Butler received good reviews for her performance in one of her first major roles, the series was criticized heavily, with many comparing it to a failed 1970s comedy series with a similar premise, Holmes & Yo-Yo. The series was pulled from NBC's schedule after only four episodes. The remaining five were aired as a summertime filler." .... It was never released on DVD or VHS (to my knowledge) ... but some DVDs have been made from VHS - TV copies ... I really liked the show in 1992 and did years later get a DVD set of the nine episodes from a seller on the internet. The episodes are TV copies ... not great but not bad ... always hoped the show would be released on a good DVD set. There are some videos listed at YouTube ... one is just over 1 minute and the other is almost 9 minutes ... a chance to see what the show really was ... ahead of it's time. https://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=Mann+and+Machine Mann & Machine - IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103486/ In the near future, cop Bobby Mann is teamed with a voluptuous robot partner, Sgt. Eve Edison. He's a brash, wise-cracking maverick; she's serious, naive, by-the-book and tends to take things literally. In this hour-long series, the two detectives learn from each other, while solving a variety of crimes. ... there is a picture of a 5 DVD set release showing ... never been able to locate it but I don't think it's an official release ... probably like the one I got ... with TV - VHS recordings ... OK but could be better with a release from the network. added: I just checked the YouTube links on the Google search page ... the video quality is not very good. There are a few other video parts listed to the right and they are not much better ... just terrible. Usually YouTube videos are better but the show is pretty old from 1992 TV. I didn't do a complete search on YouTube ... there may be better videos posted. ...

I just remember when I first posted or started this thread ... maybe 2013. There wasn't much in the way of drone news ... whatever there was at the time was mostly government stuff. Then in a few months it seem to just explode and drones were suddenly in the news everyday. They have become both a help to people and a real nuisance to many people from neighbors spying around property, looking in windows and such. So as these humanoids develop in the future ... will they become criminals ... or be programmed to be criminals? Maybe with a shortage of (real) doctors and nurses in the future, these humanoids will become replacements. Can they be trusted with giving shots ... they maybe will be hacked to give someone the wrong medicine or shot ... with the purpose of killing them. Perhaps they won't have to be hacked ... they will become smarter and just decide to end the life of someone. As they talk with other humanoids ... who knows what ideas will be discussed as we the humans have no idea what is being plotted. So "The Twilight Zone" has arrived. Say twenty years from now ... you are in the hospital and someone comes in to give you a shot or a dose of medicine ... are you going to be 100% OK taking that pill or shot? ... so you are not sure who's actually standing there ... a human or a humanoid. This is not going to be fun in the future ... especially when the first human somewhere is killed or murdered by a "harmless humanoid". Just like the drones started off just a few years ago ... more or less as a novelty until it all became serious stuff. So we have a new novelty in 2016 ... humanoid robots. What will this all be in 3 to 5 years. It all seems to be a joke for now ... mostly dealing with "sex robots" ... but in the future as these things populate and maybe become a threat to humans in some way ... what will be happening ??? ... who will have the law and police on their side ... the humans or the humanoids? Especially as more humanoids are programmed to be police officers ... saving the "human police" from being shot and killed. When the "humanoid police force" grows larger ... who will they protect and arrest? ... humans or humanoids ??? Correction: It looks like this topic might have been started around Oct 2014 and not in 2013 ... however, I still think it could have been 2013. This topic has been renamed and had some changes made ... I think more than once, just not sure anymore when this was first started. ...

Actually ... I was thinking of a humanoid type robot in my first post. I should have added that in my earlier post. Some of these are already looking pretty realistic in 2016. However, think what they will be like in five or ten years as each generation becomes even more real in human looks and thoughts. So I have this in my mind ... this urban community somewhere ... a nice quiet street ... maybe 10 to 20 homes. Someone has one of these "humanoid robots" several doors down. It's a dark, moonless night ... maybe foggy and the robot ... for whatever reason ... a malfunction or just a human feeling of wanting to go for a walk. Takes the walk ... decides to head back home ... gets disoriented (lost) and goes to the property or porch of another house. The people inside have no idea what's going on ... feels threatened and blasts the human looking thing off the porch. You know this is going to happen one day, as more of these things begin to populate in areas. ...

Is it against the law to shoot a robot yet ? ... in self defense someday, should it become necessary. At this time (2016) ... I suppose it's safe to say nobody anywhere in the world is on trial or sitting in a jail or prison for shooting a robot and maybe "killing" it. Now what exactly does that mean ... "killing a robot". The robot is down on the ground and no longer breathing or all electronics are dead and there is "no sign of life". If this is the case and someone is arrested ... are they released once new electronics are installed and the robot is up and "walking around" again. Robots to OUTNUMBER humans as ‘swarms’ of machines are unleashed Scientists say we'll soon be able to control vast armies of robots using our SMARTPHONES by Jasper Hamill 21st July 2016 https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1481650/robots-to-outnumber-humans-as-swarms-of-machines-are-unleashed/ Human beings are set to be “outnumbered” by robots as massive armies of intelligent machines move into the home and workplace. That’s the claim from leading American robotics experts, who are trying to work out how humans can control the vast numbers of intelligent machines which are expected to be unleashed in the coming years. A team based at the University of Texas have unveiled a system which allows them to use “any device with a web browser to access and control a humanoid robot” – which means machines designed to act like real people. ...

If your familiar with the Kitten Bowl games running with the Super Bowl in February and you like cats ... here are the Olympic Kitten Summer games coming in August. From the information I can find there will be a gymnastics "venue" ... jumping little hurdles and other track and field events. Catch the Kitten Summer Games on Friday, August 5th at 8/7c, on Hallmark Channel. http://www.animalleague.org/events-news/events/summer-games/2016/ Road to the Kitten Summer Games http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/kitten-summer-games ...

As dencorso says ... just for the record ... the ESR version of flash player will be going away in October. Extended Support Release - Flash Player 18.0.0.366 (Win & Mac) ATTENTION: Important Changes to Extended Support Release The Extended Support Release was originally created to help minimize the time IT administrators spend certifying a new Flash Player release, by restricting the number of changes introduced in a given release to only security changes and critical functional fixes. At the time, functional changes far outweighed the number of security fixes included with each release of Flash Player. In the modern security landscape; however, the opposite is true and the combination of proactive and responsive security mitigations far outweigh functional changes. In practice, the ESR no longer insulates IT organizations from the vast majority of changes included in the standard Flash Player release, providing little relief in terms of reduced functional risk. As a result, we have decided to discontinue the ESR branch and instead focus solely on the standard release. Focusing on the standard release allows us to be more agile in response scenarios, and to focus more deeply on both testing and new security engineering efforts moving forward. To permit organizations sufficient time for testing and certification, the ESR will be maintained and updated until October 11, 2016, after which point organizations will need to transition to the standard release. ... so I guess I will have to go back to using the regular flash player release ... which for now is: Flash Player 22.0.0.209 (Mac & Win NPAPI & PPAPI); 22.0.0.210 (Win ActiveX) ...

I'm wondering if someone here can be of help to Roffen and help him with a good, easy to work with ... back-up system. If he could get a good fresh install and then adjust all his settings just right ... get rid of any "junk" items or files and get that setup burned to a DVD or saved to a USB flash drive. That should make things easier for him to 'start over' if an installation goes bad or some software doesn't work ... and he can 'experiment' more with software. I use Time Machine by Bluebird or AX64 Time Machine ... it does cost some money but it works very well for me. I don't want him spending money on something if there is something better out there ... and maybe free but Time Machine is so easy to work with ... with XP anyway, not sure about a newer OS like Windows 7. Are there other people here using Time Machine? ... with positive or negative things to say about it ? I was using RollBack Rx but with Time Machine ... nothing is running in the background, you can defrag if you want to and it doesn't mess with the MBR. I don't have it running and only use it for a backup every month or two for updates I have applied ... Flash, Shockwave and etc. I just fill bad for Roffen when he says he will start over or start with a fresh install. He seems to be trying many things to get a good working setup established. Just thought someone out there could offer a good backup program to save him time and frustration. It would drive me crazy going back to Square One so often. Maybe an older version of Ghost from eBay would work but Time Machine has worked OK for me so far. AX64 Time Machine https://ax64.com/download-page/ Questions & Answers https://ax64.com/questions-answers/ What is AX64 Time Machine? A set and forget backup solution. Time Machine works silently in the background so you can have peace of mind you’re always protected. How does it work? Once you select the disk you want to backup and where you want to save it, Time Machine will quickly copy all the data and then perform backups hourly. With the touch of a button you can then roll back your entire computer to any previous point in time. Can I select certain files to backup? Time machine will backup everything on your disk, you wont miss anything. You can even view and open any file in the ‘backup browser’. It works just like Windows explorer. Where are all the bells and whistles? It’s all under the hood. Time machine is designed to work without needing a manual. Just two buttons to perform your main tasks. Backup and restore has never been easier. Why are you better than other similar services? Time Machine makes backup and recovery simple by performing images of your Windows system and allowing you to restore your PC to a previous point in time in just seconds to minutes. My lifetime serial key does not work in the software. When you purchase a key it will always work and never expire for that specific version. Users can upgrade to minor versions like 2.2 to 2.3 however must make a purchase at a discounted rate to a major release like 3 to 4. ...

It's been fascinating looking at the pictures of what people sent to Hallee Sorenson in Maine ... so many candies and items from around the world. One item caught my attention ... a picture from July 12 showing a Green Tea Kit-Kat bar in a green wrapper and not red. I have no idea what country it's from ... maybe Korea ? ... just a wild guess ... wonder what that tastes like? Other many interesting pictures. https://www.facebook.com/HalleesBirthday/ Right now it's about five pictures down and dated July 12th. Going a little farther down to July 11th ... this was posted ... I took just this small few lines out of the post. "The most interesting and unique candy has to be from Asia. I swear I ate chocolate that had some kind of sea-life in it last week. The Kit-Kat varieties alone are staggering. And not being able to read the label is half the fun. Might be sea urchin..might be machi..you take your chances." ...