Most people that hear their hard drive clicking unfortunately end up needing data recovery to get back important files that weren’t backed up.

Working on our computers when we start hearing a click click click coming from the case of the CPU. For those of us who have experience this, what happens next is typically a slow, but steady, death of our data storage device: the hard drive.

If you have felt this pain, you know what I’m talking about. And when (not if, but when) you need data recovery services, you’ll be happy to know about a few reputable companies that actually care about your data.
Searches will reveal lots of names, some of which are readily recognizable. Names like:

• On-track
• Data Savers
• etc…

A name you may not have heard is CPR Tools. These guys are a powerhouse in the data recovery field and know how to ease your pain if you are suffering from your hard drive clicking. They’ve been in that business for over 25 years and now not only perform recovery services for the public sector, but also design and build tools used by nearly all data recovery companies worldwide

Before you think I’ve got something going on with them, let me fess up – I work for CPR Tools and have never been with a more dedicated group of young and energetic minds. I’m a pretty smart guy, but I’m never the smartest guy in the room when I’m there – unless I’m alone

So, if your hear your hard drive clicking…if you think you’re in for a roller coaster ride in getting your data back when it fails, remember this: You really won’t go wrong if you use CPR Tools for data recovery. They not only care, they’re honest and reasonable. That’s the main reason other, less qualified ‘recovery experts’ send CPR Tools their most difficult jobs. The other reason is the success rate. I only trust CPR Tools when I need data recovery if my hard drive is clicking.

It isn’t rocket science and it isn’t advanced calculus. It’s written in pretty plain English:

The flag should never have placed upon it or any part of it, any marks, insignia, letters, words, figures, designs, picture or drawings of any nature.

Simple, right? Then how did this happen? How did POTUS allow this to happen? I think I know the answer, but will refrain from stating the obvious.

Thankfully (and not surprisingly), a Veteran saw this travesty and righted it. He was far more gentle than I’d have been.

There’s nothing like free stuff…and that’s even more special when it’s brought to you by good, knowledgeable folks like our friends at Experts Exchange.

This one is a short, but nonetheless neat trick for folks hosting their websites on Linux platforms.

If you’ve ever password protected a folder but needed public access to a sub-folder of the protected one, this trick will save you *big* time with .htaccess

Example:
/public_html/private is a protected folder, requiring authentication before users can browse there

/public_html/private/images is where you’d like folks to be able to browse without having to authenticate

Simply add an .htaccess file to /public_html/private/images which has this line in it:

Satisfy any

That’s all there is to it (if that doesn’t work, you might add ‘Allow from all’ as a 2nd line)

There are some things that make geeks laugh…geeks and only geeks. Well, I came across a few this week and they all tweaked the geek within, so here are a few.

Signatures in emails on mailing lists:

• mount -t life -o ro /dev/dna /genetic/research
• There are ten kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don’t.
• Gnomes are NOT FOOD! (translated from binary at http://www.roubaixinteractive.com/PlayGround/Binary_Conversion/Binary_To_Text.asp)

A quote by Patrick Henry:
“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government – lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.

Some Congressional Facts:
The 26th amendment, which grants the right to vote to citizens of 18 years or older, took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971…before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land…all because of public pressure.

Please read through this and if you agree, post it on your sites, facebook pages, to your email list(s), etc. We, the People, can and should do this!

This is not my idea, but I fully support the statements made herein:

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1. No Tenure / No Pension.
   A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
   All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 01 January 2012.
   The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!
If you agree with the above, pass it on.

From time to time, I’ve been honored to be asked to sing the Star Spangled Banner, National Anthem of the United States of America.  I say ‘honored’ because that is how it feels to be asked to perform this great anthem at events to which the public is invited.

Last year, at the dedication ceremony for the monument erected at LaBelle (FL)’s Veteran’s Memorial Park, was one of those occasions.  Major General George W. (Nordie) Norwood (Ret) was the keynote speaker.  I had the pleasure of dining with the General and his wife Connie (he calls her ConWood…just too cute!) and I can say that they are personifications of what Americans should strive to be.  After my performance , Nordie’s speech described Francis Scott Key’s predicament when he wrote the poem which later became the lyrics to our National Anthem.

The complete poem is here for your review:

O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?


On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
’Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.


And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.


O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust;”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Nordie’s speech was, as one would expect from a great leader of men, compelling and heart touching.  It was one of those moments when one knows that one’s life has been touched by something very special and that special thing was the love of country and culture which is embodied in this great American hero.

I am writing this post today, because I just was introduced to a youtube.com video, sent to me by a friend.  This video is a rendition of our National Anthem by the ‘Cactus Cuties’ of Cactus Junior High in Texas.  The girls singing range in age from 8 to 13.  I was as touched by this performance as anything I’ve ever heard in my life.  Please watch and enjoy.

Far too often we find ourselves in the throes of life, moving with the tides’ ebb and swell. Some days, those ebbs and swells actually help focus on a point which can be shared by many.

On Saturday 08 January 2011, a dedication ceremony was held. The ceremony was to dedicate a monument which as been erected, in LaBelle’s Veteran’s Memorial Park, in memory and praise of all veterans from every generation. Those who fought, those who fight and those who are willing to fight for our freedoms deserve the recognition of every citizen. This park and this monument are just two civic symbols which display the love of country that has been an almost defining factor for the City of LaBelle. I’ve always felt a strong love for my country and a thankfulness for the freedoms we enjoy – perhaps that is one reason I feel so at home in this wonderful city.

I’m very thankful to the American Legion Riders from Chapter 130 (LaBelle) and from Lehigh Acres Chapter 323 for attending and to a member of Chapter 323, Bill Allen, for taking the video which I’ve <ahem> borrowed and am embedding here.

It was a very good day.




Thanks again to the same facebook poster, Bill Allen, for the remainder of the ceremony:

It’s from Associated Press…which means it’s probably real. In an acronym: OMMFG!

It is decision time again in the US, and while this isn’t a presidential election, it has the momentum to affect the direction of our country – and if you’re not aware that the direction we’re in is in need of sudden and drastic change, WAKE UP!!

Frankly, if we don’t send a very crystal clear message to the liberals currently (so-called) leading our nation, we’re in for disaster. I did not write the text below, but I agree with 99% of it and think that the message is clear. So read on, dear reader…you may have received this by email recently, and if you did I hope you read it as I did, nodding my head and going ‘AMEN’.

---

I Am the Democratic Liberal-Progressive’s Worst Nightmare.
I am an White, Conservative, Tax-Paying, American Veteran, Gun Owning Biker.
I am a Master leatherworker. I work hard and long hours with my hands to earn a living.

I believe in God and the freedom of religion, but I don’t push it on others.
I ride Harley Davidson Motorcycles, and drive American-made cars, and I believe in American products and buy them whenever I can.

I believe the money I make belongs to me and not some liberal governmental functionary, Democratic or Republican, that wants to share it with others who don’t work!

I’m in touch with my feelings and I like it that way!

I think owning a gun doesn’t make you a killer; it makes you a smart American.

I think being a minority does not make you noble or victimized, and does not entitle you to anything. Get over it!

I believe that if you are selling me a Big Mac or any other item, you should do it in English. I believe there should be no other language option.

I believe everyone has a right to pray to his or her God if, when and where they want to.

My heroes are Malcolm Forbes, Bill Gates, John Wayne, Babe Ruth, Roy Rogers, and Willie G. Davidson, who makes the awesome Harley Davidson Motorcycles.

I don’t hate the rich. I don’t pity the poor.

I know wrestling is fake and I don’t waste my time watching or arguing about it.

I’ve never owned a slave, nor was a slave. I haven’t burned any witches or been persecuted by the Turks, and neither have you!

I believe if you don’t like the way things are here, go back to where you came from and change your own country!

This is AMERICA …We like it the way it is and more so the way it was …so stop trying to change it to look like Russia or China, or other socialist countries!

If you were born here and don’t like it… you are free to move to any Socialist country that will have you. (And take Barack Hussein Obama and his group with you.) Massachusetts started the ball rolling. Keep it going.

I believe it is time to really clean house, starting with the White House, the seat of our biggest problems.

I want to know which church is it, exactly, where the Reverend Jesse Jackson preaches, where he gets his money, and why he is always part of the problem and not the solution.

Can I get an AMEN on that one?

I also think the cops have the right to pull you over if you’re breaking the law, regardless of what color you are, but not just because you happen to ride a bike.

And, no, I don’t mind having my face shown on my driver’s license.

I think it’s good…. And I’m proud that ‘God’ is written on my money..

I think if you are too stupid to know how a ballot works, I don’t want you deciding who should be running the most powerful nation in the world for the next four years.

I dislike those people standing in the intersections trying to sell me stuff or trying to guilt me into making ‘donations’ to their cause… Get a job and do your part to support yourself and your family!

I believe that it doesn’t take a village to raise a child; it takes two parents….

I believe ‘illegal’ is illegal no matter what the lawyers think!

I believe the American flag should be the only one allowed in AMERICA !

If this makes me a BAD American, then yes, I’m a BAD American.

If you are a BAD American too, please forward this to everyone you know….

We want our country back! My Country…..

I hope this offends all illegal aliens.

My great, great, great, great grandfather watched and bled as his friends died in the Revolution & the War of 1812.
My great, great, great grandfather watched as his friends died in the Mexican American War,
My great, great grandfather watched as his friends & brothers died in the Civil War,
My great grandfather watched as his friends died in the Spanish-American War,
My grandfather watched as his friends died in WW I,
My father watched as his friends died in WW II,

I watched as my friends died in Vietnam, Panama & Desert Storm.

My son watched & bled as his friends have died in Afghanistan and Iraq.
None of them died for the Mexican flag. Everyone died for the American flag.

Texas high school students raised a Mexican flag on a school flag pole, other students took it down. Guess who was expelled…the students who took it down.

California high school students were sent home on Cinco de Mayo, because they wore T-shirts with the American flag printed on them.

Enough is enough

This message needs to be viewed by every American; and every American needs to stand up for America .

We’ve bent over to appease the America-haters long enough. I’m taking a stand.

I’m standing up because the hundreds of thousands who died fighting in wars for this country, and for the American flag.

If you agree, stand up with me. If you disagree, please let me know. I will gladly remove you from my e-mail list.

And shame on anyone who tries to make this a racist message.

AMERICANS, stop giving away Your RIGHTS !

Let me make this clear! THIS IS MY COUNTRY!

This statement DOES NOT mean I’m against immigration!

YOU ARE WELCOME HERE, IN MY COUNTRY, welcome to come legally:

1. Get a sponsor !
2. Learn the LANGUAGE, as immigrants have in the past !
3. Live by OUR rules !
4. Get a job !
5. Pay YOUR Taxes !
6. No Social Security until you have earned it and Paid for it !
7. NOW find a place to lay your head !

If you don’t want to forward this for fear of offending someone, then YOU’RE PART OF THE PROBLEM !

We’ve gone so far the other way . . . bent over backwards not to offend anyone.

I don’t care if you are offended.
Why doesn’t anyone care if I am offended?
WAKE UP America ! ! !
Made in the U S A & VERY, VERY PROUD OF IT!!!!!