Check your mouse proficency and accuracy..

Sure the mouse is the easiest computer skill to master, but...
In today’s competitive job market, you need to have the computer skills that employers are searching for. The simple task (test) at this website http://www.winterrowd.com/maze.swf can help you judge whether or not you have the mouse accuracy that today's employers may demand.

Note you can repeat the test as often as you like, with a goal of making you more accurate with mouse movements. Accuracy should then make for speed, and speed is time and to an employer time is money..
Good luck.


Use the link at the bottom of this post to forward (email) this post to your friends, they should have the same knowlage that you will gain by taking this important training exercize.

searching dark places.. looking for some angst!

This song usually puts me into that dark self reflective spot...

With luck, I will still be able to find a little angst...
If not I may have to go listen to Johnny Cash's "Hurt" a few thousand times..

I never realized that I draw so much inspiration from "that dark place" no wonder so many artists were complete raving lunitics..
hell, I am mildly artistic, and at times moderately depressed.. to be great you gotta be FRICKIN Bonkers!
-----
Do you ever get the feeling , when you read blogs, that the person writting them is just small talking you?
I hate useless small talk..

I have this thing, that if somone is just trying to "fill silence with the sound of there voice" my brain turns what they are saying into static..

I am not talking about the Charlie Brown teacher "Wha wha, wha wha wha wha wha whaaaa" I am talking complete frickin static.. (shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh) White noise baby!
********


Perhaps this is my trick.. listen to songs that make me want to slash my wrists.. while I write.. well at least when "life is good".

......

Now I know why my best friend (a really accomplished psychologist) says, "You cannot enter therapy , while you're in love, and expect any results... " It is just too hard to find your darkest places when you are in "good space".
'''''''

So my dear friends, remember.. never try to make art.. when life is too good... just enjoy the good time, and shut the fuck up!

Pax,
DeRex

If it were not for Muhammad Cartoons..

If it were not for Muhammad Cartoons..
I would have had absolutely nothing really to talk about this week. It seems that things are just too good in my little world..
Sure I am inspired to levels of comedic excellence (in my own mind) that reach to the very summits of human capacity. (See Monty Python Worlds Deadliest Joke)


It seems though that without angst, my writing, gets all fluffy and non-interesting. Take for example, earlier this week, I tried to get myself flamed by a poetry lover, just for the sake of ripping him a new one. ( ‘cause lets face it, I may not know art, but I know what I like)

Even my little exchange with Nix.. it was half hearted.. again, I know what I like, but if he sees deeper meanings, where I see crap.. I say “good for you!”.

Lets face it, as you grow old, many times the magic under the surface, gets lost in a struggle just to get through without making an ass of yourself.

This week however, I feel magical.. not in an Alister Crowley way, but in a Unicorns and butterflies kinda way.. and who wants to hear that crap from a grown man???

So friends, and neighbors, I will try very hard to get pissed off this weekend.. in hopes to have some thing to write about, that will not put 90% of you to sleep.

For now, good night and good luck..
DeRex
PS. Somtimes I miss teenaged angst

One more retro moment 4 my peeps..

Okay back in the day, I could never admit that i realy liked this song..

But now that I am a little older, adn most ofyou have no clue who or what I am.. here it is.. Adam (and the)Ant(s) Goody Two Shoes!

THIS JUST IN! Homeland Security and DOMESTIC SPYING!!!

Subject: Homeland Security

I just wanted to let you know that the new Homeland Security Bill has passed. Things will be different now and Internet surfing will be tracked by what the FBI calls a "non-intrusive method." The FBI says you will not notice anything different. For a demonstration, click on the link below... Homeland Security

Rock you like a what???

HERE IT IS! The Code I could not find this morning!



I have such a vivid vision of this song and a concert in my mind at this moment.. I wear a cape.. like Zoro, the Goth. and together We Rock!

Making better blog posts..

I notice that many of the better blog posts I read use links to Wikipedia.

I wonder if there is a super easy way to get keywords to link to Wiki.

Then I wonder , even if there was woudl I use it.. hell I don;t use spell check.. when I know I type like I am using my feet!

I think WIki is a great tool, sure some of the entries are inaccurate but just the thought of a common encylopedia made of by and for the people.. yada yada yada.. it's just cool.

I wonder how we can get names like NixEclips and Delorumrex into the encylopedia? Afterall aren;'t we all created equaly?

Then I do have a tendancy to post things, that are less than main-stream so I havre to ask would there be links to things like homophobia? True Love? The Rocky Horror Picture Show? Bad Poetry? And the Butthole Surfers?.. the answer is yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.. we'll I'll be a somebitch!!

And you know what, making links to Wiki is really fucking easy!

good article about the Mohammed Cartoon

Take a read here..
Completely Geeked

This guy makes some good points about the irony of this whole stuppid thing.

Kudos to Completely Geeked your our blog De'jur!

Mohammed Cartoon.. the next day

It should not suprise us, that today as yesterday allt eh chatter is about the Mohammed Cartoon.
Afterall the Cartoon that is causing the outrage is nearly 5 months old..
So why now?
Well in hopes to get my very own fatwah let me try to spell out how i see it.

There are people in power inside the islamic world, that want confrontation, that want battle, that want bloodshed, and they do not really care who dies in this Jihad of their's .

It goes back to what I was saying yesterday, some of these fine folks belive that the only way for them to see paradise is to bring about the end of the world as we know it.. they believe this.. some have gone so far as to say it in modern public media.

History teaches, that a religeous fanatic wil die for their cause, so death is no punishment for them, and if they can bringa few million believers or non-believers with them, then it is all the better.

Perhpas at this point, we are too late to stop the inevitable? Perhaps it is too late to stop the dogs of war.. and to stop the future bloodshed?
I hope for my unborn children's and grandchildren's sake, that more sensiable minds will come to prevail.

Many people say, that an entire population cannot be brought about to thinking in such bloodthirsty ways.. to those people I say , look at 1930's Germany. The population was not blood thirsty, but the population did follow a leadership that was. This is the lesson from history that we must remember and must try to convey to every sane minded person that we can.

By the late 1930's it was only the German people that could have stopped the Nazis and the then set path to destruction. I believe it is now at the point where if destruction is to be avoided, it is up to the Islamic peoples of the world to unite against the ones who are driving that faith down this dark road.

Now if somone wants to make a cartoon of me, with a bomb in my turbin, I will be happy to post it here.. and call that person names.

before you put all Muslims in the same basket..

Take a look here this young lady is extreamly well spoken, and intelligent. She is Muslim, she sees problems in what the rest of the world views as Muslims today.
Her name? Irshad Manji.

Ina short redio interview yesterday, I heard her put into words the very things that so many of my Muslim freidns have siad. She is perhpas more eloquent than most, and perhpas more outspoken than many, but she is right on the button, when it comes to how so many of todays young Muslims feel.

Before you judge I invite you to take an inside look at her, and her site.

She also has a book, which is available through amazon .com

It will be well worth your time, if you read it.. before you make a blanket judgement.

"let he who is without sin.. "
Pax,
DeRex

one last retro moment.. for Members Only???

yes..

I owned a white jacket.. that I wore with a raspberry tee shirt!

Feelin' Retro.. I miss big hair...

I am feeling a little retro this morning.. so here's my little way to sahre that experience.

and then we got a little of this...

Yes M-Tv used to actualy play music?? whodda thought?

I can remember dancing to this.. in a living room.. in Kendall...

and who can forget.. to realax.. don't do it? When you wanna come...

Brokeback Mountian.. well not really!

Brokeback.. to the Future!

I like this.. an 1980's spin on a modern classic..
I feel like such a homo-phobe!

This is important! Eye Test @-@

CATARACT EYE TESTYou all should do this. It's really cool AND tests your vision. Be sure and wait a full 30 seconds instead of the 20 seconds before looking at the flat surfaceAs you know, February is National Eye Care month. Do yourself a favor and take this simple vision test. It's an early test for cataracts. It is simple to do and it's fun. Remember, cataracts know no age boundary; young and old can have this "preventable" eye disease. When you've finished, send this on to those you care about! .Click here to take eye test

no image of Mohammed.. in a pigs eye!

I heard what you have, that there can be no pictures or portrayals of Mohamed and thought.. oh oh.. The reason was i have a painting.. and it was made by a friend from Tuurkey.. who is Muslim .. I thought he was a good muslim and he is a talented painter.. so I thought that perhaps he had done something to get into trouble.. until I read this..

again, the poor uneducated masses who are asses have got it wrong.. no ig suprise.

remember April is National Poetry Month! (looking or NEA money?)

Remember.. April is National Poetry Month!

As a person who oft does not see the deeper meanings in art.. what can I say my eye for the sublime was knocked out, by an evil wife that likes to find hidden meanings in everything.. most that lead to the inevitable question.. "Who are you fucking?"
Because of this type of mental training, I need sublty.. like a brick to the forehead to catch most underlying meanings.. I just don;t see them in the world of day to day.. think most people who do see them are some how psychophrenic.. or related to me wife..

So I issue a challange to all of you.. post your favorite poem here.. be sure to include the underlying meaning, so dunces like me "get it". (Even setting the stage helps.. take one poen I resently tore to shreds.. it was about death, it was written on the stage of WWI trench warefare, but without knowing that, it just seemed like a reason to cut one;'s wrists.
Hell post a lyric, and it's special meaning.. I don;t care.. I will be too busy looking for the hiden meaning in my favorite rap tune..

"My .44 make sho, all ya'll kids don' grow!"
now there is a meaning I can wrap my little pea brain around.
Carpe' Cannid!
DeRex

jyllands-posten mohammed Cartoon.. Danish mess.. WTF?

Okay, because I dont want to get blown up, I am too chicken to actually post the cartoon that made the Islamic world go apeshit this week.. but here is a link to all 12 cartoons that the danish press printed
I don't get it?
I don't get it?
Is it that the Whack job Islamists, that are starting all this crap, want someone like Israel start nuking people? All over a semi-anti Muslim Cartoon???

I read somewhere, a theory that this is the Islamic Extremists way to bring about "the end of the world", which to my secular mind, seems pretty stupid.. but then I think about those who are suicide bombers.. and think, that these whack jobs may just be that nuts!

Then I think about a few "born again" Christians I know, who have said things to the effect of, "I ain't worried, if the end of the world comes tomorrow, Jesus will see me into heaven first" "Bring on the rapture".

Okay so how do you fight someone that thinks, nothing matters, because salvation is on the way for them? (I don't know I am asking!)

This is one of my big problems with religion.. in the end it makes little sense.. and I don’t care what persuasion you call yourself!
I think that the only thing that would change my mind on religion at this point, would be for God himself to descend from the heavens and say in a loud booming God voice.. "Okay the next one of you brats, that kills someone in my name is going straight to hell!"

jyllands-posten mohammed Mohammed would be mildly pissed I think.

A Mohamed Cartoon.. bad taste.. sure, reason to riot.. no.

Islam
Mohammed
Mohamed
Riot
Riots
Muslim
Cartoon

ain;t she cute? New baby

kinda makes me want a few of 'em...
Here she is only hours old..
7 pounds 7 oz.
20 1/2" long.

I call her "peanut"

Unpublished comments.. WTF!

Here are two comments that when I went to publish them had disapeared.. both were in responce to my Cali.. vidi vini retreati post..
WTF!
First we have Nix.
NixEclips has left a new comment on your post "Cali, vidi vini retreati.. (I came I saw, I ran like hell)":

DeRex, you ignorant slut.

What the fuck is wrong with you? You praise the hell out of DF but bitch about Cube focusing on the characters?

Sure, SOME of the actors were community theatre grade. But they actually spent a lot of thought behind the cube, itself. All of the mathmatics were true. And if you can't get behind the autistic character, you're a cold, heartless, bastard.

Did you notice how everyone else had blood on them and he only escaped after having blood on him, and not through his choice?

I know you saw the philosophical implications. You're just pissed about wanting something more mainstream and spelled-out.

Spend a little time thinking it through and you'll probablly want to watch it again. And again.

But if you want to know about the behind the scenes of it, you'll want to watch Cube Zero. There's what's going on. It's a letdown.

Nix says: Leave the mystery alone.

My Return comment.. yes, I am ignorant and I am a bit of a slut.. but come on man.. this movie had so much promise, for all the reasons you mentioned.. then splat.. flat on it's face.. I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this one.. that is as long as we can agree that you are in fact a Man-whore wannabe.

Next.. from Eliar..
Eliar Swiftfire has left a new comment on your post "Cali, vidi vini retreati.. (I came I saw, I ran like hell)":

Well, congrats, Gramps!

Return comment: BIG FAT KNUCKLE SANDWICH FOR YOU! And no soup!!!

For everyopne else.. well I guess I could say thank you for keeping your opinions to yourself, but I would not mean it.. it seems I like to be abused by my "friends".
Love you all.. in a dark room with chains around your wrists way. :-*

Interesting article on Hot Tubs and Spas (Insulation and law)

As some of you already know, hot tubs are something I care a great deal about.
I stumbled across this article in this morning's random surfing, and thought it was good enough to reprint here.
(with permission)

Article: Insulation facts and fiction.

(Edited and added to 02-05-06)

For years debate has raged inside the spa and hot tub industry as to how best insulate a spa / hot tub. There have been three primary ways to insulate a spa.

• Full foam, where the cabinet from the shell to the cabinet is filled with a sprayed polyurethane foam.
• Partial Foam where only the shell and perhaps the plumbing was covered in foam, ranging in thickness from 1/2" to up to over 8 inches.
• Thermal pane, where the cabinet was insulated and the shell and plumbing was left un-insulated, making a "thermos bottle" according to advocates.
• A combinations of the second and third, where shell and plumbing may be insulated as well as the cabinet panels.

All of these have downsides, in either perceived value or accessibility to plumbing in case of leaks, etc. Never to my knowledge was a head to head study done using the same model of tub with the same equipment, and the various methods above done by an independent lab.

Over the years there has been a lot of fiction written about how energy efficient one tub is versus another, and there has even been a few attempts at figuring out how much a tub will cost to run electrically, but none that were as all inclusive as they needed to be to give the buying public a real feel for the costs associated with spa operation.

That is until now.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has issued a mandate, that all spas made after January 1, 2006 must have passed testing showing that there stand by power consumption is no larger than allowed using the following formula 5(V^2/3) where V, is volume in Gallons. Furthermore that this must be tested and confirmed by a laboratory or testing facility that has been approved by "The Executive Director".

See http://www.energy.ca.gov/appliances/2005regulations/index.html

You can download the whole thing there, I will warn you it is a huge PDF that has all the regulations for appliances.

This bit of legislation was brought into being when the CEC received findings by Pacific Gas and Electric. (a nice PDF showing some findings is at http://www.aceee.org/conf/03ee/Friedmann-1w.pdf )

It basically said that with better insulation the state could save several million Kilowatts a year.

I have been an advocate of this type of testing for years now, as I get tired of the fiction bantered about in the industry. Example: Using one persons formulas for energy efficiency, if you owned one of his spas, it would generate enough surplus energy that you could disconnect from the grid! He's got some good theories, but his math does not work when you add it all together..

(see update at bottom of article)

But here is the problem (well one of the problems), According to the recommendation, the testing facility has to meet specific criteria and be approved (read inspected) by the "Executive Director" this leaves only a few places that spas can be tested. There are well over 3000 models of spas and hot tubs made in the states, and according to the CEC each model made by a manufacturer must be individually tested. When I contacted the CEC for a list of testing facilities they could only give me one name, Intertek http://www.intertek-etlsemko.com/ when (02NOV05) I contacted Intertek they informed me that only two of their facilities were approved to do this testing, on in Los Angeles and the other in Vancouver. When I asked what the lead time was, they said if I sent my tub in immediately , they should be able to get the testing done by January 1st. but I should act quickly as they were completing testing on a "first come first served" basis. The cost to test one tub is $5500. Each test takes about one week, Intertek has three chambers only.. thus the math says that it could take up to 3000 weeks to test all of the spa models currently for sale in California. (That's right about 57 and a half years!)

Further , every model must be tested separately even if they are equipped identically and hold the same volume of water. (This is one interpretation of the standards, and some clarification has been requested, by the spa industry.)

For some smaller non-California manufacturers this will mean that they will either have to limit there selection in the state of California or not sell into the state after Jan 1 2006. (See update at bottom)

Okay all is fair in business I guess, but California has a public Relations problem on their hands now, too. The rumor mill in the industry has been saying that the CEC has approved some larger California spa manufacturers to do their own testing! If this is true, due to their deadline and costs associated with testing, and fiction printed by some of these same companies, this gives an unfair advantage to some California companies ( or the perception of a wrong doing at the least on behalf of the CEC) and complaints are being registered with the FTC on this point. (See update at bottom)

The trade organization for the spa industry is the National Pool & Spa Institute or NSPI, there silence in this have been deafening! Many non-California companies are planning on no longer paying dues to or being members of the NSPI over their lack of forewarning, and their inability to lobby on behalf of the industry to lawmakers in California (where they are based)

In the end the consumer looses. There will be few products competing for their dollar in the California markets, thus less price control through competition, if this measure succeeds, or a relaxing or abandoning of the measure due to pressure from an industry, that so far has been less than consumer oriented (in many cases).

I still believe that there needs to be labels on spas, that show how they stack up against others in the market, like the energy star labels we are used to seeing on other appliances, but I do not think that the state of California or any other state can alone call for this type of measure. Energystar www.energystar.gov/ is a federal program that so far does not include portable spas (despite some stickers on spas that look just like the Energystar label.. if you see one it is...fiction).

There are some valuable things to take away from the CEC and PG&E writings on this subject, the one that stands out in my mind the most is the PG&E study that shoed by having a thicker cover a savings of (net)$18 a month could be achieved, if the cover cost an extra $100 and lasted 2 years. Many of the other things that they found pointed at spas being very much alike despite what they did as an energy saver (ie. type of insulation system, circulation pumps, etc, etc) So from this all we can take, that to buy a cover that is 5" to 4" taper over a standard 4" to 3" taper, you will actually save money $18 annually in California. It is not much, but it's something.

Have you got a comment on this article that you would like it's author to see, please write our webmaster.

Update: As of 12/15/05 the CEC has agreed to hold off on enforcement of Title 20. This is so that the pool and spa industry can be brought in on the decision making process. (Something that was not done when Title 20 was originally written)

I have fielded a number of emails and calls, from people inside the industry that are concerned about the testing, and the regulations. Some have said that their spa even though it is very efficient, or as efficient as they can make it, will not pass under the current regulation. Some have gone on to say, that they do not believe that there are many if any that can.

The efficiency test that they are talking about is something like this.

A spa is allowed to use no more watts/hr than this formula allows.

5(V^2/3) V=Volume in US Gallons. So a 425 gallon spa would be allowed about 283 w/h.

I have tested one spa, and under the same conditions, it has passed and failed. The difference between the passing and failing test conditions is beyond me? That data seems good on all tests, insulation method made little difference. (Full Foam, Thermal Pane or Partial foam) I truly feel sorry for the spa industry on a whole if this regulation is allowed to go into effect unchanged. I know from first hand experience that it is a crap shoot weather you pass or fail.

Testing is done something like this.

In a sealed room no warmer than 60 d.F. a spa is run for no less than 72 hours.

The spa shall be no cooler than 102 d.f during the test.

The spa shall be brought up to 102 and a 4 hour period of stabilization is to start. After 4 hours, the test shall begin at the end of the first heat cycle.

The test shall run for 72 hours + one heat cycle. The test shall end at the end of that heat cycle.

*** UPDATE 02-05-2006

Members of the pool and spa industry have met in Los Angeles to discuss a game plan, on how to approach the CEC on fine tuning the regulation.

Like so many other professions, when 13 persons from competing companies, were brought together to discuss a common aim, there were nearly as many opinions on how this should be done, offered up.

Weak points in the current CEC regulations, that were brought up, were,

1. the formula makes it nearly impossible to sell small spas in California, due to it not taking into consideration, the energy required to filter, and ozonate them. Further, if a sliding scale were applied to all tubs, the number of programming settings, that would become standard, would cause a unexpected fanatical burden on manufacturers, and make after market service , expensive if not impossible.

Also, when using the formula as provided by the CEC it is believed that between 80 and 95% of all spas currently built will fail the testing, and use more energy than the 5(V^2/3) allows. Which may in fact lead manufacturers to skew the numbers to pass, rather than improve their products, or completely eliminate all filtration time, thus eliminating nearly 1/3 or the energy used during the testing. (Not the effect the CEC was looking for)

2. Time to enforcement, given that under current circumstances, it will take years before all spas can be tested, it is asked that the phase in schedule be extended, or that family testing be allowed. Family testing being broadened to allow tubs of a range of size using similar equipment be tested as one "Family". This in one case, that I know of would bring the number of tubs to be tested for a specific manufacturer from 17 down to 5. Also under current regulations, it is required that a company be ISO certified in order to be able to conduct it's own tests, ISO Certification for many smaller companies, is a financial burden, and seen as unnecessary to build a high quality and consistent product. When I spoke with one V.P. of Engineering at a smaller mid-west spa manufacturer, he said about ISO Certification, "It will cost us an additional $55,000 per year, for a person just to keep the necessary paperwork up, and had we not just invested $100,000 in new inventory management software, that may have been another expense. I do not see how a smaller spa company can do there own testing, under the current law." It was further discussed, that if in fact each tub had to be tested every year, that this expense, including all modification costs (i.e. thicker covers, more insulation, different programming, inventory costs for these "improvements", would in the end be passed on to the California consumer, as a "California Package" raising the effective price of each tub sold into the state and additional $200 to $500. This in effect negates any savings that may be achieved by the consumer using the PG&E figures, for the life of the spa. Also because the most severe changes would need to be made to the smallest spas, this would place an extra burden on the people of California who wish to buy a spa , but are in lower to lower middle price bracket, for spa buying budget. Thus having an unforeseen effect on citizens of California which are of lower socioeconomic status. If not completely eliminating the most affordable smaller spas entirely from the market place.

My opinion at this point is as follows:
The CEC in conjunction with PG&E had good intentions when drafting this measure, but did not take into account the many variables in the spa business. Nor do I believe that they invested the time required to get industry opinion on the end effects of this regulation. This regulation will in effect have an opposite effect to the one intended if enacted in whole as it is written currently. The state of California would be better served, if they were to re-write the regulation using a plan more similar to the EnergyStar system currently being used by the Federal Government in which a sliding scale of Worst to Best were to be displayed on each model, and that scale is written in kW/Year or kW/Month usage of the product, allowing no formula to be applied to he volume of the spa, thus taking away any advantage given under current regulation to spas of larger than average size. It would then be market factors that would drive the industry to come up with better and better ways to make spas, rather than as it currently is written better and better ways to skew the test results. Alternatively the State could mandate a specific R-Value for spas using the recommendations of the Department of Energy (DOE) and the findings of Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL), as they are applied to say housing. (See ORNL piece on housing insulation, here).

In the end I believe that these new regulations will bring about many positive changes, my only fear is that it will come too late, as the way that they are written currently will in effect punish the countries largest Spa / Hot Tub market, California.

On February 14th the CEC will reconvene on this subject, it is then that in the public comments period of the meeting that the Spa industry will make comments, asking that they be allowed to make recommendations, to alter the current regulations, to better fit with the realities of the spa and hot tub industry as it is today. I feel that this is a good first step, and if done right will benefit not only the end users in the California market but in the end world wide.

The CEC could not be reached for comment at the time of this writing.