You are here: Home

The glass igloos of Lapland

September 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Auroras offer some of nature’s most spectacular “shows”, but really enjoying them in person usually requires being outdoors at night in one of the most frigid locales on the planet. But now, thanks to Finland’s famous Hotel Kakslauttanen you can experience the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) in all their colorful glory while relaxing at room temperature in the comfort of a glass igloo.

The glass igloos at Kakslauttanen’s Igloo Village offer visitors the opportunity to sleep with an unobstructed view of the Scandinavian sky devoid of light pollution, and you’ll do it in the comfort of a climate-controlled, bathroom-equipped glass structure for an experience that is the closest to being in the great outdoors that you will ever find.

What’s more, come morning you can take an invigorating dip in frigid water by jumping into an ice hole (this part of the “experience” isn’t for everyone of course).

I have marveled at photographs featuring the Northern Lights since I was a small child, but I have never really had a desire to freeze to death while witnessing them in person. Well, now we don’t have to. All we have to do is catch the next plane to Finland!

For more information visit Hotel Kakslauttanen’s website.

Filed Under: Things I like

Totino’s Pizza

September 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

If you’re like me, there are few things in life that you enjoy more than sitting down to a meal of hot, fresh pizza. Whether it’s Pizza Hut, Dominos, Papa Johns, or one of the thousands of local varieties found in towns and cities all across the USA, for the most part any pizza you find will be quite good.

Yep, pizza is one of my favorite foods, but when it comes to the frozen “grocery store” variety there is just one brand that I really like: Totino’s. Most grocery stores stock dozens of brands of frozen pizzas ranging in price from around $1.00 to as much as you would pay in a sit-down pizza joint, but in my opinion the $1.25 Totino’s Classic Pepperoni is the cream of the crop. For such a small price one would expect a rather small pie with just a mere sprinkling of toppings on it, but Totino’s pizzas are larger and contain more toppings than many of their much more expensive counterparts. Of course they’re also greasy as all get-out, but all good pizzas are, right? (Note: You can always dab a lot of the grease off with a paper towel).

If you’ve never tried a Totino’s frozen pizza, pick one up and give it a whirl. Like me, you just  might be surprised at what $1.25 will buy these days!

Filed Under: Things I like

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater to offer extended stay option to visitors

September 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

For years now, visitors to Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Fallingwater have been able to enjoy one-hour tours of the home built in the midst of a Pennsylvania waterfall, but now the curators are offering up to 8 people at a time an in-depth tour as well as two evenings on the property (albeit not in the Fallingwater residence itself).

For a mere $1,195 each, these lucky folks will have access to the famous property unlike never before, and they’ll be able to enjoy the house and grounds much as the owners who lived there in years past did. Sure beats an $18 ticket for a one-hour tour, right?

Located in the mountains of Pennsylvania, Fallingwater was built in 1936 for Pittsburgh department store mogul Edgar J. Kaufmann, and his family used it for a weekend getaway until 1963. It has served as a museum since 1964.

Filed Under: My thoughts on...

How to make the websites you visit load faster

September 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I’ve been using a Comcast High Speed Internet connection for some time now, and overall I’ve been very pleased with it. But I have noticed a problem of late. When I type a web address into my browser’s address bar (or select one from my favorites list), it has started taking several seconds for the website to begin loading in the browser. Once the site begins loading, it loads quickly – getting the process started is where the problem lies.

I did a little investigative work with the help of Google and discovered that this seems to be a common problem with Comcast. The Comcast DNS servers are apparently quite slow at resolving IP addresses from domain names. What does this mean? Well, think of a DNS server as a phone book. When you want to visit a website, you type the site’s “name” (ie. www.RickRouse.com) into your browser’s address bar. The browser now knows the “name” of the site you want to visit, but it needs the site’s IP Address in order to find it (just like you need to know the phone number of a person before you can call him/her).

A DNS server is a computer somewhere out in Internet land that translates the website’s name (ie. www.RickRouse.com) into the physical address of the web server hosting the site. If the default DNS server is slow, it takes longer than it really should to find the site’s IP address, which in turn makes the site slow to begin loading.

The good news is you aren’t stuck with using your ISP’s default DNS server. You can easily change it to use a different one, and the one most people switch to is a very fast (and free) one called “Open DNS”. The IP addresses for the Open DNS primary and alternate servers are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 respectively.

The procedures for changing your default DNS settings will work for any High Speed Internet Service Provider, not just Comcast, so if your PC is slow to begin loading websites, give it a try!

Note: The procedure detailed below involves changing some critical settings in the Networking section of Microsoft Windows. It is highly recommended that you create a System Restore Point before making these (or ANY other changes) to your Windows installation in case something goes wrong and you need to “roll back” the changes you just made. Instructions for creating a System Restore Point can be found by clicking the Help tab under My Computer (or simply Computer if you’re running Windows Vista).
 
Here are the steps for changing your default DNS settings to point to the Open DNS servers:

If your PC is running Windows XP…

1 – Click Start

2 – Click Settings

3 – Click Control Panel

4 – Click Network and Internet connections

5 – Click Network Connections

6 – Right-click Local Area Connection

7 – Click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP} to highlight it.

8 – Click Properties

9 – Select the radio button labeled Use the following DNS server addresses:

10 -In the field labeled Preferred DNS Server enter: 208.67.222.222  (Note: You’ll have to type the 4 numbers individually into the fields provided – do not type the “dots”.)

11 – In the field labeled Alternate DNS Server enter: 208.67.220.220

12 – Click OK

13 – Close all open windows.

14 – Open your favorite web browser and see how long it takes for the websites you visit to load. Chances are very good that you’ll notice a difference for the better. You’re done!

If your PC is running Windows Vista…

1 – Click Start

2 – Click Settings

3 – Click Control Panel

4 – Double-click Network and Sharing Center

5 – Click Manage Network Connections

6 – Right-click Local Area Connection

7 – Click Properties

8 – Click Internet Protocol Version 4 to highlight it.

9 -Click Properties

10 – Select the radio button labeled Use the following DNS server addresses:

11 – In the field labeled Preferred DNS server enter 208.67.222.222  (Note: You’ll have to type the 4 numbers individually into the field provided – do not type the “dots”.)

12 – In the field labeled Alternate DNS server enter 208.67.220.220

13 – Click OK.

14 – Click Internet Protocol Version 6 to highlight it, then repeat steps 9 – 13.

15 – Close out all open windows.

16 – Open your favorite web browser and see how long it takes for the websites you visit to load. Chances are very good that you’ll notice a difference for the better. You’re done!

Filed Under: Technology

Rhonda Vincent to perform on “Song Of The Mountains”

September 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Rhonda Vincent and The Rage will headline the taping of the October 17 edition of the award winning PBS series “Song Of The Mountains”.

One of Bluegrass Music’s brightest stars, Rhonda and her outstanding band tour the world throughout the year, bringing their amazing blend of powerful vocals and lively instrumental work to small towns and big cities, and they are always welcomed by standing-room-only crowds of devoted fans.

This will be Rhonda’s second appearance on “Song Of The Mountains”, and if it’s anything like the first one, it will surely be a night of great fun and wonderful family entertainment! “Song Of The Mountains” is taped at the beautiful and historic Lincoln Theatre in Marion, Virginia – smack dab in the center of the region where Bluegrass Music was born and plays such an important role in our daily lives.

More information can be found on these websites:

Rhonda Vincent
Song Of The Mountains
The Lincoln Theatre
Marion, VA

Filed Under: Bluegrass Music

The future of the war in Afghanistan

September 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Like the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan has dragged on for much too long, and far too many American servicemen and women have been lost as a result. There is simply no excuse for it taking so long to achieve victory in both places given our overwhelming superiority in both the fighting skills of our personnel and the effectiveness of our equipment. When allowed to fight to win, there is no opposing force on the planet than can stand up to the United States Military.

But as I said in this post, our elected leaders and a great number of our citizens have simply lost the will to win the wars that we send our brave men and women in uniform to fight. As a nation we now stand at a crossroads in regards to the Afghan war. Commander of NATO Operations General Stanley McChrystal has requested that an additional 40,000 troops be sent to Afghanistan, and he also warned that without them the war likely cannot be won. In my opinion, it’s time for our country to either “put up or shut up”.

If we’re serious about achieving victory over the Taliban and the other terrorist entities in Afghanistan, we need to send the additional troops that General McChrystal requested, and we need to do it immediately. But we also need to remove the handcuffs that we have irresponsibly placed on our soldiers and grant them the freedom to fight the war in a way that will allow them to win it quickly and decisively.

We can legitimately debate the merits of any  war, including this one, until the cows come home. But as long as we actually have troops on the ground in harm’s way, we need to give them all the tools and support they need to win, then get out of the way and allow them to do so in the most efficient manner possible. In my opinion, however noble the intention, any other strategy is both misguided and immoral.

Filed Under: My thoughts on...

USB 3.0 devices are coming soon

September 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

After much delay the first batch of devices and PC motherboards to support the much anticipated USB 3.0 specification are expected to be released very soon, and a handful of them (mostly hard drives) could hit the market before the end of this year. Theoretically, USB 3.0 devices will be able to transfer data at speeds approaching an astounding 4.8 Gigabits per second, which means that a 25 Gigabyte file could be transferred in a mere 70 seconds instead of the 14 minutes that would be required over a USB 2.0 connection.

In reality, it’s doubtful whether these new devices will actually be able to achieve that blistering speed, but even half of the proposed 4.8 Gigabits per second would represent a gigantic leap forward.

While hard drive manufacturers will be the most obvious beneficiaries of the USB 3.0 revolution, other peripherals such as next-generation high speed modems, routers and thumb drives will benefit from it as well. And to add a bit of icing to the cake, all of your existing USB 1.0 and USB 2.0 devices will still work just fine when connected to a USB 3.0 port. In my opinion, this is going to be the most significant hardware upgrade to come along in years.

Filed Under: Technology

“Dirt road in autumn”

September 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year, and since Cheria and I live here in rural southwestern Virginia we get plenty of opportunities to get out and enjoy it. Once the leaves start changing colors we like to go for walks on the local trails and dirt roads, camera in hand, ready to capture the spectacular beauty of every little splash of color on the Lord’s majestic fall canvas.

Although fall is definitely in the air, the trees have yet to start turning for the season. But this afternoon I discovered this wonderful picture by photographer John De Boer depicting a fall scene much like the ones I remember seeing year-in and year-out here in the southern Appalachians.

In my mind’s eye I can see myself walking down that dirt road, alone in my thoughts as the sights and smells of autumn take me back to my childhood. I loved those days spent playing in the woods and the nights lying under a blanket as the sounds of the frogs and crickets wafting through the open window “sang” me right to sleep. Those were good times back then, and I find myself thinking about them often.

Of course autumn is still a great time to be alive now that we’re well into the 21st century, and God has blessed us Americans to no end. The economy is in the tank, and our politicians are running amok under the guise of trying to fix it. But problems and all, it’s still a great time to be alive.

By the way, did I happen to mention that I love fall?

Filed Under: Things I like

Newpapers to start charging for online content

September 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

It seems that some folks just never learn. With most newspapers seeing their circulations (and corresponding ad revenue) dwindle steadily from month to month, you would think the last thing they would consider as an option to make up the difference is forcing readers to pay for the content they place online. After all, the plethora of content that is already freely available on the web is what prompted readers to stop buying hard-copy newspapers in the first place. But charging for online content is exactly what they have in mind, and they plan to start sooner rather than later, some even before the end of this year.

I predict that this new endeavor will meet a pretty poor fate, primarily because the traditional news organizations are quickly losing their influence and relevancy to online-only news operations and bloggers. Many of the largest news stories aren’t even broken by reporters at all these days, a fact that has become all too apparent with the mainstream media’s propensity to simply ignore news that doesn’t promote their liberal agendas.

A prime example is the fall of Acorn, one of the biggest stories to emerge in recent memory. The New York Times and virtually every other left-leaning “news” outlet completely ignored it until the House of Representatives voted to cut off public funding for the organization. Who broke that story and ran with it? A couple of 20-something amateur journalists with a hidden camera whose shocking videos were subsequently published by a plethora of conservative bloggers and Fox News Channel (the only TV-based news outlet that has a clue about retaining viewers).

I believe that trying to charge for their online news stories is the wrong way to go if the newspapers want to stay in business at all. What they should be doing is working on increasing the ranks of their online readers to the point where they can eventually replace their dwindling print ad revenue with new revenue from online ads. And the best way to do that is to start investigating and reporting the REAL news, not picking and choosing only the stories that will help promote their political points of view. That’s step one, and until they wise up and take it they’ll continue to bleed revenue until there is nothing left of their media empires.

Filed Under: My thoughts on...

“Naturally: An almost a cappella collection” by The Isaacs

September 20, 2009 By 1 Comment

The Isaacs are arguably the most popular group in Bluegrass Gospel of late, and they have just released their latest CD entitled “Naturally: an almost a cappella collection”. The title of this CD is pretty much right on target since six of the sixteen tracks are indeed a capella while the other ten feature just one or two instruments to softly back up the vocals.

All of the songs featured on the CD were written by well-known writers/performers of Gospel and Country music including Bill and Gloria Gaither, Dottie Rambo, Larry Gatlin, Jim Ed Brown and Sonya Isaacs.

The Isaacs sing with a level of enthusiasm and perfectly blended family harmonies that are rarely matched in the genre, and on “Naturally: An almost a cappella collection”  those amazing harmonies come through loud and clear without having to compete with a lot of background instrumentals. If you enjoy hearing Bluegrass Gospel performed at its most masterful level, you owe it to yourself to check out this wonderful CD.

For more information on The Isaacs and “Naturally: An almost a cappella collection”, click here to visit their website.

Filed Under: Bluegrass Music
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »