This is a very slick tool if you've ever rebuilt your PC and found that you were missing some critical drivers. It allows you to easily backup and restore just the drivers and .inf file for installed devices...NICE!!!!
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This is a damn right wing conspiracy. You know the Bush cronies pressured the big wigs at Viacom to go after Google. Ok...maybe not, but it could be. Either way, I'm really disapointed. My budy the silentpatriot was my hook up for a quick fix of the best of the The Daily Show or the Colbert Report and now...its over. Whats the world coming too!!?!??!
YouTube Pulls Down Comedy Central Clips - Mashable!
In a move that’s deeply irritating some of the channel’s biggest fans, clips from The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and South Park have been removed from YouTube today following a DMCA from Viacom’s Comedy Central. Searching for the shows will still yield results, but clicking through to watch the clips results in the message “This video has been removed due to terms of use violation” or “This video has been removed due to copyright infringement”. The news first appeared on Newscloud. Comedy Central owns some of the most popular content on YouTube, and video sharing sites have driven a massive amount of interest in the shows. The hosts will most likely be unhappy about the move: Jon Stewart said in an interview in 2005: “Getting it off the Internet is no different than getting it off TV”, while Colbert plays up to the YouTube audience, even demanding his cut of the money when the Google-YouTube acquisition occurred earlier this month. South Park’s recent World of Warcraft episode, meanwhile, felt like it had been produced with the online audience in mind.
I think that Mets fans tonight may have witnessed one of the most spectacular catches, not just of the the 2006 season, but, possibly of ALL T
IME...not to mention the fact that it happened during GAME 7 of the National League Championship Series as the NY Mets battle the St. Louis Cardinals at Shea. In the top of the 6th inning, Scott Rolen hit a ball that looked like it would clear the left field wall until Endy Chavez went up and brought it back down. Then, as if the catch wasn't enough to keep the Mets hopes alive, he threw the ball to Carlos Delgado to dobule up Jim Edmonds at first base. I'm absolutely speechless!!!!
If you're spouting any of the drivel here, you're wasting our oxygen...not to mention the hours of our lives that we'll never be able to reclaim. Please cease and desist! Immediately....IF NOT SOONER
"I'd like to respond to that, but taking into account your background,
education, and intelligence, I am quite sure that you would not be able
to understand."
Conversational Terrorism: How NOT to Talk!
Folks...this is one to watch. Google responds publicly to the DOJ motion to subpoena 2 months worth of our search habits. Tsk tsk tsk Mr. Alberto R. Gonzales. You should know better by now.
Official Google Blog: Response to the DoJ motion
My nice, albeit slightly short vacation, comes to an end today. So. its back to work for me. I suppose it's appropriate that today is a rainy and dreary day. Ironically I watched Clockwatchers yesterday which I had never seen before.
Wooohooo... this is a good one. Marry my Oprah...is actually code for Mary my crazy psycho chick from Santa Fe New Mexico. Who would have thunk it?
CNN.com - Judge tosses Letterman restraining order - Dec 27, 2005
SANTA FE, New Mexico (AP) -- A state judge has lifted a restraining order granted to a Santa Fe woman who accused talk-show host David Letterman of using coded words to show that he wanted to marry her and train her as his co-host.Judge Daniel Sanchez on Tuesday granted a request by lawyers for Letterman, host of CBS' "Late Show," to quash the temporary restraining order that he earlier granted to Colleen Nestler.
She alleged in a request filed December 15 that Letterman has forced her to go bankrupt and caused her "mental cruelty" and "sleep deprivation" since May 1994.
Nestler requested that Letterman, who tapes his show in New York, stay at least 3 yards away and not "think of me, and release me from his mental harassment and hammering."
Lawyers for Letterman contended the order was without merit.
"He is entitled to a protection of his legal rights and a protection of his reputation," Pat Rogers, an Albuquerque lawyer representing Letterman, told the judge Tuesday.
The New Mexico court doesn't have jurisdiction over Letterman, who is a resident of Connecticut, Rogers said.
Nestler appeared in court without a lawyer and represented herself.
Responding to a question from the judge, Nestler said she had no proof of the allegations she had made against Letterman.
She also said that if Letterman or any of his representatives came near her, "I will break their legs" and establish proof of her allegations.
Nestler said after the court hearing that "I have achieved my purpose. The public knows that this man cannot come near me."
She also said that her comment about breaking legs "is not a threat."
"I appealed to the court for a restraining order to keep this man away from me, but now that's been denied me," she said. "He has access to me. He can actually come for me or send people. He has many accomplices. I know this sounds crazy. I was crazy to have listened to him in the beginning."
Nestler's application for a restraining order was accompanied by a six-page typed letter in which she said Letterman used code words, gestures and "eye expressions" to convey his desires for her.
She wrote that she began sending Letterman "thoughts of love" after his show began in 1993, and that he responded in code words and gestures, asking her to come east.
Nestler said Letterman asked her to be his wife during a televised "teaser" for his show by saying, "Marry me, Oprah." Her letter said Oprah was the first of many code names for her and that the coded vocabulary increased and changed with time.
Talk about a fall from grace. I remember this guy when he pitched for the Minnesota Twins. WoW...What has to go wrong in someone life for the shit to hit the fan this bad?
Berkshire Eagle Online - Headlines
Reardon nabbed in robbery
Berkshires native, a 4-time All-Star, arrested in Florida
By Benning W. De La Mater, Berkshire Eagle Staff
DALTON — Family and friends reacted with concern yesterday after Jeff Reardon, a four-time major-league baseball All-Star and one of this town's favorite sons, was charged with armed robbery in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Reardon, a relief pitcher who is sixth on baseball's career saves list and had an American Legion field named after him in Dalton in 1990, was arrested Monday after police say he walked into a mall jewelry store and handed an employee a note with demands.
Police said the note stated he had a gun and the store was being robbed. He allegedly walked out with $170 and was later apprehended by police on a curb in front of a mall restaurant.
The Countdown to Day 5 has begun. A prequel episode has been released. Check it out courtesy of the 24natic. Waiting for January 15th is like a crack adict waiting for a fix.
Season 5 prequel to download - 24weblog.com
Technorati Tags: 24tvfox
I've been saving this one up for some time now. I think it's been aged long enough that it really needs to be enjoyed.
A few weeks ago Steph and I drove up to Vermont to do some wedding related "stuff". It was a wonderful trip filled with all sorts of wedding goodness :( The trip there and back, while four hours, could have been worse. There was no traffic to speak of. We got home Sunday evening and parked the car on the street, where it sat for about a week or so, through a small snow storm and some rain. Come Sunday night, in preparation for alternate side of the street parking (a pleasure that we under privelaged automobile owners of New York City share) on Monday, I went out to move the car.
No sooner did I turn the car on did the interior lights start flickering on and off. The doors were closed, the rear gate was closed...all was buttoned up tight, yet the lights would not go off. At this point I'm a bit ticked off as one would be when one's relatively new car (only 1 year old and 11,500 miles) begins to suffer a bit, but I ignored it and proceeded to get out of the spot to move the car. No sooner do I put the car in gear and start backing out, easing on the brakes, do I hear the most god awful grinding noise ever. Immediately I'm thinking shit...that can't be good. I new right away that my breaks were shot and that the noise I was hearing was the sound of rivets that hold the break pads on, cutting into the rotors. I'm thinking SHIT!!!...this is gonna be expensive.
I must pause to mention that when I bought the car, it was a dealer demo with 5,900 miles on it, so I specifically asked that the breaks be checked. And so they were, a thumbs up was given by the dealer and off I went with the feeling that no matter what I did I was going to wind up eating shit for new break pads.
So, I went back into the house to call Land Rover road side assistance because I didn't want to do any damage to the car by driving it to the dealer, Manhattan Land Rover, who is on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. Road side assistance was very pleasant actually and asked if I needed the tow right away or if it could wait. As it was late on Sunday evening, and the dealer was closed, I said that it could wait until the morning. The tow truck came in the morning, loaded up my little rover and off it went. I called the dealer on my way to the office to let them know it would be arriving and to also let them know what was wrong. No problem...
Day one: nothing
Day two: no call
Day three: no call
Day three.5: call the dealer...errr...
Me: hello...what's up with mi coche?
LRM: Well sir...we've fixed the light and alarm problems.
Me: Alarm problem?
LRM: Yes sir, the problem with the alarm...
Me: there was no problem with the alarm when I brought it i.......never mind.What about the noise from the brake area?
LRM: Well we haven't looked at the brakes yet.
Day four: no call
Day five: no call
Day five.5: call the dealer
Me: What's the story with my car?
LRM: Well, the car needs new brakes.
Me: New brakes?
LRM: New brakes...and rotors.
Me: New brakes AND ROTORS!?!!!???!! WTF!! (I'm already tasting the shit and it doesn't taste good).....and how much is that!!??!
LRM: Five Hundred and nintey six dollars and unfortunately it's not covered under your warranty.
Me: @#$%^&*() followed by one or two expletives...but not too many. Why isn't it covered by my warranty..I've only had the car for 6,000 miles. Shouldn't brakes last more then 6,000 miles?
LRM: Well, yes sir, but the car was purchased used....
Me: Umm..no...it was a dealer demo..certified pre-owned. LRM: Unfortunately that doesn't make a difference...there's nothing I can do.
Me: Let me speak to the manager?
LRM: Ok..his name is SO AND SO but he's not hear right now. Can I get you a car for the weekend?
Me: Sure....I'll be by in 20 minutes to pick it up and talk to Mr. So and So about the service.
To be continued....
Technorati Tags: LandRover, Freelander
As some of you may know, Steph and I got engaged a few months ago. While the planning has taken a bit of time to get off the ground, the ball is finally rolling. Being the geek that I am, I've decided to start a little blog to keep you all, my friends, aprised of new developements. For those of you who are interested, you can it out here. Or, if you really don't want to check it out unless there is something interesting going on, you can find a side blog to the right with the titles of my most recent posts there. Click on one and it will take you right to the latest and greatest.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
guarded secret. Steph and I are out in Frankfort Michigan for a friends wedding. What a beautiful town on the coast of northern Lake Michigan.
Just as soon as we are back in NY I'll post some great photos over on Flickr. They're worth the wait.
One part sociological observation and two parts humor, The New York Times has a great article on homophobia and how it manifests itself in male social situations. The main focus of the article, which is quite hilarious and which reminded me of a few situations I've been in, is...as the article refers to it as "The Man Date".
I won't even attempt to explain anymore then this, but suffice it to say that it's a great article for guys to read and should help break down some barriers for those that perceive them.
The moral of the story...relax...spend time with your buddies and feel free to have a glass of wine ;)
The delicate posturing began with the phone call.The proposal was that two buddies back in New York City for a holiday break in December meet to visit the Museum of Modern Art after its major renovation.
"He explicitly said, 'I know this is kind of weird, but we should probably go,' " said Matthew Speiser, 25, recalling his conversation with John Putman, 28, a former classmate from Williams College.
The weirdness was apparent once they reached the museum, where they semi-avoided each other as they made their way through the galleries and eschewed any public displays of connoisseurship. "We definitely went out of our way to look at things separately," recalled Mr. Speiser, who has had art-history classes in his time.
Let the countdown begin. On April 29th it will arrive.
Rakkis writes "A new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trailer is available on the frontpage of Amazon.com. From IMDb: "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy follows the travels of Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), who is saved from the demolition of the Earth by his pal Ford Prefect (Mos Def). Ford is really an alien doing research for an updated edition of the universe's ultimate travel companion, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." -- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy opens April 29th.""
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/16/1244221&from=rss
It looks like Google has launched the beta of it's much talked about video search service today. Titled...what else...Google Video Search
Network-Centric Advocacy: Google Video Search: Clipping for the Movement
Sorry...this was just too funny to resist and it only costs about 3.50 for a pack of post it notes. ;)
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000240027115/
Three easy steps for turning any iPod into an iPod shuffle, courtesy of “mhusson”:
1. Get a Post-It note2. Get your iPod3. Put the Post-It note on the iPodNow you can enjoy the iPod Shuffle’s cool new feature without having to go buy a new player. Enjoy!See, you just saved yourself a hundred bucks.
[Via kottke]
We all know from experience that searching for a job can be a frustrating process, however in the right frame of mind, you can succeed. Ravi has a great post today that will help get your mind focused in the right direction.
1) Talk to successful job-huntersIdentify friends and acquaintances who have found a job they love. Talk to them and learn what they did. After all, if you want to improve your tennis game, you train with good tennis players. It is the same with job-hunting. If you want to succeed, talk to people who are good at it.
2) Persistance is the name of the gameYou must be mentally and financially prepared for your job hunt to last longer than you think. Don't count on two weeks, or even two months. Out-placement experts say typically, the higher the salary you are seeking, the longer the job search can take.
Persistence means sending an e-mail resume, then sending a printed resume by mail to the same organization, then following up with a phone call. It means going back to places that interest you, atleast a couple of times in the following months, to see if their "No Vacancy" situation has changed. And persistence means learning to work without quotas.
What causes so many job hunters to fail is that they have a mental quota in their head: say 50 applications and 15 phone calls and three interviews. Once they fill their quotas, they give up. Without a job. Don't let this happen to you. Keep going till you find that special opportunity.
I came across this animated GIF on the Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami website run by Columbia University and was so blow away by it that I had to post it.

Columbia University has a tremendous repository of information about the quake and provides additional background resources as well.
I was just watching the news about the devastation across South East Asia resulting from the Earthquake and resulting Tsunamis and it occured to me... Somewhere out there in middle America or elsewhere for that matter, someone...or a flight full of many someones are stuck in an airport, or holed up in some other port and thanking G-d right now that their flights to that "resort vacation" in Thailand or Indonesia or some other such exotic South East Asian vacation was canceled due to awful weather and airline shutdowns.
There are some very lucky people out there right now and, through the power of blogs, I'd like to tell you stories. If you, or someone you know has a story like this, please let me know so we can tell your story.
To those of you who were not so fortunate, our prayers and best wishes go out to you at this tragic moment in our history.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!
Make sure to eat lots of Turkey, Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce and all those other wonderful things that we love to eat. Yummmmm....I can't wait...I've already got one foot out the doo....
I came across this article on CommLog and just felt drawn to it. Maybe it's my disdain for the cliche, or maybe it's just my...well..err..disdain for the clice.
Because we've heard them before. And heard them again. The first time someone said "one day at a time," a caveperson stopped, thought deeply about the sentiment, and decided to spend more time with his or her cavekids.The sixteenth time the phrase was used, a medieval princess stopped pining for her knight and started focusing on her inner child.
But the four hundred and three billionth time it was said, no one heard it. For, by then, the words meant nothing.
So, let's kill the cliché.
Well...under the heading of "Be careful, because you might just get what you ask for..." comes this little news piece in the SFGate. The article discusses how Greek citizens may bare the cost burden of the 2004 Olympic games for a decade or more due to billions in cost overuns during construction of various venues. Apparetlym the inital cost estimate was roughyl $5.6 billion USD.
What's the final cost you might ask....yikes...somewhere in the neighborhood of 7.2 billon USD. What a shame. It really is a shame.
Well...along with my move to the East Side, I'm thinking it's time that I gave the Epicenter a new look...a new perspective and maybe even a new name. Not sure but I'm thinking about it. I have the mirror site for The Epicenter setup already at epicenter.gregscher.com. It's still under construction, but very shortly I will stop production here...and pick up over at the new address, so stay tuned. In the meantime I will be cross posting these entries. Gotta get the Google score up a bit before the cutover.
In the meantime, I'm thinking of some new names but I'm definately open to suggestions. Here's what I have so far.
- Crossing The Park
- A fish out of water <--- personal favorite
- 2nd Avenue Lines
- Making Waves
- UES Fantasies
Anyone with some other ideas?
Well...it's official. The leases are signed and the move date is set. Yes...it's true...I'm giving up my beloved West Side pad for a D-Luxe apartment in the skies above the Upper East Side.
Alright...well...it's not really "in the sky"...it's really a 3rd floor walk-up...and it's really not that D-Luxe...more like d-luxe...ok, it's more of a narrow two-bedroom railroad. It is on the Upper East Side though.
How will I feel being an Upper East Sider? Hmmm...lets think about the pro's and con's.
Pro's
- Ok food (H&H bagels, Vinegar Factory)
- Central Park is still only a few blocks away.
- DT-UT with free WiFi is only a few blocks away.
- Starbucks on the corner...oh...wait...I have a Starbucks on the corner now.
Con's:
- It's the Upper East Side after all
- E.86th Street is a bit noisy
- Stuffy restaurants
- No Barney Greengrass or Good Enough to Eat or Freds or Calle Ocho or....sigh
- No Zabars or Fairway (admittedly, Fairway makes me a bit crazy)
- Gonna miss the Museum of Natural History being right around the corner, but on the bright side...I'll have The Met.
That does it...we need to start an Upper East Side renaissance. Are you with me? If you are then e-mail me at UESNeedsPersonality@gregscher.com and we'll see what we can do about it.

