Cosmo Sings the Blues

Man, the MJ memorial service was looong. And very sad. So sad in fact, here's what Cosmo had to say afterwards:

On the phone with RHONJ

Courtesy of KCSCougar

RIP Michael Jackson: Aug 29 1958 - Jun 25 2009

Wow!! First Ed, then Farrah, and now Michael. I can't believe he's gone already. Even with every news channel covering him now, it feels surreal. I can remember dancing in the car whenever "Don't stop till you get enough" came on the radio when I was 7 years old. I should say, "trying" to dance like him. Watching his videos over and over again, unable to completely understand how anyone could move like he did. And then he did the moonwalk on MTV during "Billie Jean"......OMFG. That was it! I just HAD to do it. Exactly like he did. But..no matter how many different pairs of shoes, or socks I tried....I just couldn't figure it out. Ha! Yeah, he was the man.

And there's always been the gossip, the rumors, and unfortunately the lawsuits. And even though I didn't really follow him once I moved on to junior high and high school, I never stopped being a fan. Especially during the controversial times. Any problems he had are no one's business but his own.

Did the,(Liz Taylor labeled), "King of Pop" have weaknesses and/or vices? Of course he probably did....who doesn't? He was a human being.

So for now, good night and God bless your soul Michael Jackson. You're a mega-icon of American culture, and will always be remembered that way.

He was a legend....but more importantly, a human being. (with a BIG heart)

You'll be remembered always & forever MJ

This is the Michael Jackson that will always be in my mind's eye.......ALWAYS!!

Real Housewife Danielle's REAL past

The smoking gun has gone and done it again. They've successfully obtained the criminal case files against Bravo's REAL HOUSEWIFE - Daniel Staub. (aka Beverly Merrill, aka Angela Minelli), detailing the charges filed against her back in '86. And unlike Danielle stated on the show about how it's "No big deal", the charges she faced were VERY much a BIG deal.

Per Smokinggun.com
Merrill was busted in a Miami apartment in which agents discovered six kilos of cocaine and about $16,000 in cash. In a subsequent indictment, Merrill was charged with eight felonies, including extortion, cocaine possession, and narcotics conspiracy.

No big deal eh? Ha, ha, ha. Wow. At least own up to who you were and what u did bitch!

Then of course, there's the new "sex tape" scandal where her lawyer just filed to block her "26 yr old boyfriend" Steve from releasing it to the public.

SHOCKING!!

EDIT: I found this comment on a article at Gawker.
At first, I was worried that this show would reflect unfavorably on my home state. But now I see that Bravo cast (1) a former prostitute, (2) the daughters of a gentleman who was, um, accidentally shot to death in the trunk of a Cadillac, (3) a woman with a stubby husband who pays for everything in cash and (4) a retarded woman-child. The real housewives of New Jersey indeed!

ROFLMAO @ #4

In Memory of Neda

Hey all.......long time no talk here. Things have been "interesting" lately to say the least. Married life is good though, nothing like that. :) Jus life.

Anyway...I felt compelled to post on the incredible events going on in Iran , (sic: E-Ron), at this very important time in their history, had to try to convey the proper pronouncement out of respect for those fighting, and more importantly, risking their LIVES by openly opposing the Dictatorship that is the current "Supreme Leader" BS of the Ayatollah.
(Along with "I'mahdinnerjacket")

I found this article @ the BBC's news site tonight, which offers some insight on the actual "polling irregularity issues" that are being brought into light by the opposition party(s)...not Mousavi's party only. (Very good info)

Sample from article:

• "Early on polling day, the SMS network was shut down, that made me worried about what was going to happen," says Tehran journalist Ali Pahlavan.
• "Then the interior ministry [where results from polling stations around the country are collated] started kicking out its own employees so that just a skeleton personnel and the top officials were left," says Mr Pahlavan.

And then of course there's this story of NEDA, who's graphic killing has been all over the news, and the web. THIS IS NSFW in case you are weary of blood, or jus plain, sick and disgusting video of a woman DYING on the streets of Iran yesterday. NSFW NSFW NSFW
The beatings, killings, kidnapping going on there are CRIMES against HUMANITY. Plain and fucking simple folks. This is what happens when a minority of people take complete and unquestionable control of an entire county. Which leads me to the following:

I thought long and hard about actually posting it. And 1 thing kept nagging me. It's called REALITY. The TRUTH. This is as real life as real life can get.
So, don't say I didn't warn YOU!

Keep faith IRANIAN'S EVERYWHERE!!!

Allah-o Akbar!!

Check these out!!!

Today is the greatest! Finally got our pix from the Wedding, and Oy!!! Or as a certain Housewife from Bravo would say: "Lemme tell you something about my wedding!"

These are marvelous darling! I can't imagine having to edit over 600 shots!!! Wow. I guess that's why we picked "THE BEST" photog in the area. Huh baby?

64

is the total number of Army suicides so far THIS YEAR! That's almost 13/mth!!!

OMG! Yeah, you can think whatever you want as to why so many of our soldiers are choosing this option, but when an ENTIRE BASE completely SHUTS IT'S DOORS in an attempt to prevent further suicides, it's a PROBLEM.

*Some have pointed out that the majority of these deaths were from "non-deployed" soldiers. Whatev!

Do you like to be Squashed?

Week ahead

Wow, this year is just flying by. Hard to believe it's almost June. So, how was your weekend? Good I hope.

We celebrated Jill's B-Day on Saturday at the Melting Pot. Good food, weird execution. But she enjoyed it, so that's all that matters.

HAPPY B-DAY BABY!!

Other than that, just waiting to start training at my new job. FINALLY!!

Oh yeah, if you haven't seen Star Trek yet. Ummm, go see it.

And a little kitteh amusement for your enjoyment

Palm Pre vs HTC Touch Pro 2/Diamond 2

If you're in the market for a new cell, you may consider holding off a few more months if at all possible. Why you ask?

Because the above 3 phone's should all be out by the end of this summer. (Q3) And as you'll be able to see at the sites listed below, these things are at the absolute cutting edge sweetness my friends.

Sure the Pro 2 may be a bit bulky for some ppl. And HTC has an annoying habit of excluding a universal 3.5" audio jack on most of their phones for some fucking reason. (See Tilt)

But you can't possibly argue with this kind of beauty can you?

Here's the HTC Touch Pro 2 coming in the next few months

• Notable Features:
• Gi-Normous touchscreen, 480 x 800 pixels, 3.6 mutha-fuckin INCHES of "Screen-Estate
• Full QWERTY keyboard (1st time offered for cell's)

And here's the HTC Touch Diamond 2 for you to poop on....
*err, marvel at*

Notable Features:

• 3.2-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen
• 5.0 megapixel color camera with auto focus
• Second camera: VGA CMOS color camera
• FM Radio

Alternatively, if these types of cells aren't your bag. Or you just can't stand Windows Mobile. Palm's got a beast of a phone coming up.

POSSIBLE RELEASE DATE IS NOW: JUNE 5th

Maybe you've been eyeing this thing? Maybe not. You should give it a once over either way. It's looking to be one sharp mobile phone, that's for sure. Check out the following video. *available in Hi Def* Brah!

Just for you baby!

Freeware Roundup

As an avid fan of "Open Source" software, I'm always on the hunt for new apps to try out. Especially when said apps are FREE! And at the rate the web is evolving, you never know when you'll stumble across the next beta that has everyone talking about it.

Take Google for example. First they revitalized search engines, then email, and most recently, web browsers. So what's the big deal? Well, unlike the traditional model that companies such as Microsoft used for so many years, Google wasn't out to gouge the end user's wallet out. Sure they make money, just not by having us pay $100 every few years for a new, inherently flawed operating system.

Nothing against Windows mind you. In fact, Windows 7 is shaping up to be the best version yet.

With that said, here's my latest recommendations for your freeware appetite.

1. Any Video Converter
   allows you to effortlessly convert video files between every format
2. Chrome
   Lightweight, secure, and fast. Period.
3. KeePass Password Safe
   a great tool to manage all of your passwords in a secure database
4. Update Notifier
   a small utility that scans your computer for installed software and displays a list of updates

Note: Both Chrome and KeePass offer BETA versions which may still have bugs, stability issues

Red State Update - May be NSFW

This site should liven up your day. Or completely piss you off. Just be warned: It could cause your head to fall off from laughing so hard.

Wow! No words come to mind with this one really. WYSIWYG for the most part. At first I thought it was a myspace page. But it's actually another social network called "Ning"??

Yeah, me neither.

Found it over at Crooks & Liars and I just had to link to it.

RedStateUpdate

PC Security - Part Deux

I figured I might as well bring this up since the "Swine Flu" story has been all over the news lately.

And since I literally spent 2 days trying to avoid a OS reinstall earlier this month, only to finally figure out our Seagate FreeAgent hard drive contained 4 Trojan worms on it.......I thought yeah, now's a good time.     (the virus' were copying themselves over to the C drive after each of the last 2 OSRI's.     (operating system reinstalls)

Anyway, I usually get asked one of two questions whenever someone I know has the same issue on their rig. mes up. Either, "What's the best FREE anti-virus program?", or something along the lines of, "How'd that thing-ah-mah-jig get in there to begin with?"

And it's almost always the same reasons. They either got careless with a p2p app such as Limewire, Utorrent, etc. OR Their "trial" version of Norton/McAfee expired, but since they still see the icon in the task bar, they think they're still being protected. Sound familiar?

So, after much research, review reading, and trial and error, I thought I'd share my thoughts of what works, what doesn't and most importantly......what I'm using now.

Basically it comes down to 4 main things. (depending on your level of paranoia)

• Anti-Virus Software that doesn't bog down your system, auto updates DAILY, and has a 93% or higher success rate.
• Anti-Spyware software that offers "real time" protection.
• An almost inpenatrable software firewall running at all times alongside a router/NAT/hub.
• Keep Windows Update ENABLED.   (change setting to "notify me/don't download")  *must be performed in Internet Explorer only*

I've mentioned File Hippo before and I still swear by it. Think CNet's Download.com, but without all the "shareware/trial" apps. 97% of the apps on file hippo are OPEN SOURCE or free for non-commercial use.

Here's a good trio of tools that should offer you all the points mentioned above.

• For your Anti-Virus protection: Avira's AntiVir or ClamWin
• For Anti-Spyware: PC Tool's Threatfire
• For your Firewall: Comodo Personal Firewall

(Threatfire is the only one not on Filehippo, you'll have to go directly to the company's site to download)

You can also install and run other Anti-Spyware tools such as SpywareBlaster, Windows Defender, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (Highly recommended), Spybot, etc.

*UPDATE*

I forgot to cover a few last areas of importance.     Often times when XP/Vista is really infected,  it's highly recommended that you just REINSTALL WINDOWS completely.     You'll most likely have to call up your PC vendor and order a "Restore disc".         Most of the bigger vendors now charge for this disc, which is absurd.       But we ordered ours from Gateway last year free of charge.     Remember to always FORMAT the drive completely as opposed to installing over the still existing issues.     You'll need some form of backup of course.      I'd suggest buying an EXTERNAL hard drive solely for this purpose.    But you could always choose to burn to CD,  or use a 3rd party backup system.        But trust me....Seagate or Western Digital both have awesome price point ratio's at the moment.       Say $80-90 for approx 250-320GB of space.    Depending on the amount of files you have,  even a decent size flash/thumb drive would work.

Swine Flu Info - ****BREAKING NEWS****

Ok folks. As of today, April 29th, there are 91-94 reported cases in the U.S. And the World Health Organization has raised the pandemic alert to LEVEL 5, just 1 short of a FULL BLOWN PANDEMIC.

WHO Pandemic Alert Page

But don't let this panic you because every year, 36,000 ppl die from regular influenza in this country alone. Keep your hands and your home clean, and if at all possible, I'd also recommend not traveling at this time.

Here's some basic facts about this potential pandemic EVERYONE should know:

From Factoidz:

There is a vaccine to protect pigs from the virus but currently no vaccine to protect humans from catching swine flu. A seasonal influenza vaccination grown and manufactured for humans will only partially protect a person. Since there are 4 substrains of swine influenza type A, the seasonal flu shot will give a person only partial protection from only one of the variations of the swine flu but not against the main species of the swine flu that we are seeing in the world news in the past week or so.

The symptoms of swine flu closely mimic the symptoms of human influenza. Coughing, fever, runny nose, fatigue, headache and a loss of appetite are consistent with both human and swine influenzas. Additional symptoms which may require being seen by a physician include chills, nausea, congestion, sore throat, lethargy, a fever over 101 degrees, vomiting and diarrhea which can bring about dehydration and put the sick person at additional risk. This will usually land the person a night or two in the hospital with IV fluids and meds. Swine flu doesn’t usually infect humans but this does occur when a person has close proximity with pigs that are infected and then is around other people. The person can catch the swine flu virus from the pigs that are infected and it is then passed on from an infected person to others through coughing, sneezing and casual contact. Just as in human influenza, if a person touches something which has the flu virus on it and then touches their eyes, nose or mouth they can then contract that virus.

(KEEP READING)

Carrie Wildes = Greatness

OMG, jus look at these shots. I knew they'd be good, but man, these are friggin awesome! I can't wait to get the rest.

I'd highly recommend Carrie to anyone in need of a professional photog.
*And her younger sister Carla* Loved those playful shots of Joey, Johnny, and myself she took right before the ceremony.

As Jill would say......"We had the prettiest wedding in the whole wide world"

Thank you Carrie and Carla.