I got mine here and they were fast and diligent however the website says it is a 2500:1 contrast ratio monitor but on the box it says 1000:1. It is an older model and not good if you want it for gaming or high def video due to that ratio and 5 ms response time with the mouse but for what I need it for it more then does great.

One thing that is a bit problematic is the software that helps it change orientation and the instructions in the manuals that don’t tell you hardly anything you need to know and nothing on how to get the pivot working only online forums and sites were able to help with that like this one and you need to add the CD that comes  with it and download the ADM (for some reason unknown to me it can;t just be embedded in the CD itself), ADM is Acer eDisplay Management. this program crashed my computer a few times and i finally uninstalled it in Safe Mode but it still kept the orientation in portrait, so at this moment I am “trapped” into that one display, one I don’t mind but one that seems to take much more RAM and CPU usage.

I will upgrade to a faster CPU soon and reinstall everything and see how things go from there but for now I have a 22″ portrait style screen full-time. But since I am predominantly on Word, Internet or layout programs it really is a nice fit for me as I don’t have wasted space on the side of pages and don’t have to scroll much of the time. Here are some example screen shots with pages I use.

A Blog post with images all fits on one screen shot and can be viewed all at once in this view.

The desktop, lots of room for icons, . At 1050×1680, no distortion and displays a large picture rather sharply.

In InDesign it shows an A4 page near life-size without scrolling.

Mail, I live in my mailbox at times, writing and chatting so seeing the whole page is nice scroll free.

PDF is nice to see the whole page too, I like viewing things in “page width” and this allows for that to fill out all four sides in one screen of an A4 PDF with room to spare.

In PhotoShop you can make the pic take up the whole screen if you are working on a portrait pic just like we always have been able to do for landscapes on traditional monitors, I find this fabulous for portraits and photographers to get a real full view of a pic in a formate size of a large print and edit the whole pic in one view.

A view of 22″Acer B223w in portrait mode and 14″ Acer FP553, virtually twice the display space and could watch a movie at the same size as the 14″ on half the screen and still have another window to following other things.

McStack! viewing two things simultaneously, I know I am an over obsessed multitasking freak with 10 or more tabs in my browser and programs running at any given time, but now I can do that twice as much and much more organized!

Overall this monitor gives a “stand up” performance in more ways then one, sure I wish it also had 5000 or 8000:1 contrast ratio but for this price and being a few years old model is more then what I expected and hoped for and provides me a better workspace for what I need and gets a 9 out of a possible 10, sighing complicated software and lack of comprehensive manual in not giving it a 10.

If it is what you’ve een looking for you better get it, mine came with a “laptop upgrade kit” wireless mouse and keyboard also by Acer, not really what I need and have not gotten them to work and the signal seems to have a big delay time but it came free extra and I’ll give them away to a laptop user and it was a nice idea and see it would be good for laptop users.

Also a nice touch and what one of my friends thought the pivot was for is watching a movie laying down either right, left or upside-down, or any work for that matter:P. The monitor only pivots from 0-90 degrees clockwise physically but the software help with the other options.

I liked how it followed closely to the book and most if not all of the talking seemed right out of the original text exposing a universal audience to a richer form of English then most Hollywood movies and Disney audiences which never hurts our word knowledge.

It was amazingly dark, both the color tones used, old style art, how wretchedly hideous Ebenezer, and Marley looked and the visual effects. The second ghost in particular goes out in a fashion I’d never seen before, it was not New Years or even the end of Christmas Day so why he dies and becomes a mummy does not make sense and only upstages the rather dull 3^rd ghost a hard act to follow and really makes it hard to feel frightened a second time for a silent silhouette grim reaper.

The tomb scene and over the top next morning seemed to loose my emotional strings, they just did not feel very personal. I’m not sure if it is the 3D or story telling but that usually is the best part of the story for me but it was powerless for me this time around.

Also he goes and buys the biggest turkey to presumably send to Tiny Tim’s family but the father goes to work and never says thanks or mentions anything.

Over all a great portrayal of the book and a Christmas classic that shows us that giving more to others on this time is what Christmas should be about. Jim Carry did quadruple duty on this one but really only makes a presence with Scrooge and ghost of Christmas present.

In finding pics for this post I was amazed to see so many different advertising and many trying to be so dark feeling, it’s a kids and family Christmas story.

I get a lot of visitors to this blog but very little feedback so I am interested in knowing more about who my readers are, so if you have a few minutes to take the poll below and tell me why you visit this site. It will also help me know what kind of content to post in the next few months and new year or reevaluate this blog altogether.

The quote reads:

“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that is creativity.” – Charles Mangus

Croatia-Serbia-Croatia-Slovenia-Italy, 1600 km of public transport and van driving. I would have driven it all the way to Spain had I been asked to.

A shot from the train to Zagreb, a lovely sunny/misty morning

Belgrade by night, did not have much time ot look around as we had a connection to catch but definitely will be back.

Mike singing to some friends in the city

Me on the camper in front of a old water tower in Vukovar that was a victim of the Serb/Croat war

Drivin’, not the fastest prettyiest thing in the world, actually we nicknamed it “the ugly date” but it was fun to drive for two days, would not buy it as my legs had a hard time under it and the colunm shift gave me a bruse from shifting into fourth banging into my knee.

Mike and I stopping at a local tavern in Slovenia for home made beer, not the most tasty, rather sweet and murky, but heck was it strong! timer shot.

Wanna live in that? a uniquely hideous flat in Trieste most of the first floors are way off the ground and all the view is just other flats.

It seems every hill in northern Italy has a castle on it, this was a rather nice one with the houses and vinyards below

We spent two nights there with them, slept in their ward and got a look at what it is like for so many people there. Some lost businesses, were homeless and so got depressed and were sent there others were junkies, street fighters and alcohol or war veterans all put together in a ward with 73 others…and five of us.

The mural project was nice as it was for the elderly who can not wonder the property as they are too old, have Alzheimers and/or medicated to find their way back to the right building so they have a closed in concrete area between two buildings for them to roam in the fresh air in.

The staff were wonderful to us but also let us see and experience (though for sure sheltered version) of life inside, we talked to many of the patients in our “addictions” ward and were able to provide them at least a few minutes of company and encouragement, some of them even helped us with the painting of the mural and their friendship and stories we will never forget. The included a man from Mali Losinj with shrapnel in his head from the war that is to risky to remove that effects his brain negatively. A first-time mother who is 5 months pregnant who had problems with drinking and had a bad road accident leaving her in a coma for two days, thankfully her and the baby are fine now and she will have the baby in Split where her husband is waiting for her. These are just two of the nearly 500 people in this institution, and only one in four large places like this in Croatia.

The weather and the wall were not ideal for painting but we did our best in spite and did all we could in the short time we had. One volunteer that came with us was Andrea a hydro engineer from Italy who came to help us during half of his holiday time off to do this with us and went beyond to make sure the whole garden was clean as well. In the evening we sang songs in the TV room with some of the people we met, long days but it was an amazing experience for all of us. To see pictures of this project you can visit our Italian blog (sorry it is only in Italian) but the pictures are self explanatory. http://perunmondomigliore.wordpress.com/

Face the book, take a look and enjoy this medium to connect with others you’d never meet again if it were not for this way!

Oh bummer – Three weeks on the job and looking tired, this great AP pic shows how much the stress on that job is. Still no big recovery bill passed, his buddies not nominated for tax problems, sure not what he thought it was going to be like riding off on his white horse into the sunset waving his magic wand of “change”. My bet is he’ll be gray haired before years out.

Road plow – This 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante Coupe, ever seen a front like that? I’ve taken pics at old car shows before including a 1939 Tata with three headlights, but this one man! Was one of the fastest cars in the world at the time but looks like it has a snow plow in front that is not the standard for speed aerodynamic, but i guess it worked, wonder what the mileage was. I’d love to have been there in those days and see all these innovative ideas sprawling the roads, today mass produced cars are all same-ish, and no radical new ideas or looks.

OK, a wide angle Fisheye lens makes it even wider, but fascinating! Other great pics from AP can be seen here.

Senate Saints? – It seems that new thing for press photog to take pics up-angle of Senators delivering speeches and press briefings under the dome of Capital Hill. Poor Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, has to deliver bad news, but this is not the angle for him, he looks like a Dr. Seuss character already and the press takes pics of him with a “halo”? Is the country in such bad shape they have to keep peoples moral high with subliminal hints like this that they are elevated above us?

Cheeky butt- A Celebes Crested Macaque, how can we be realted?

Loud is the first thing that comes to mind after recherchéing violently a few times on my eardrums, tympanic membrane and auditory nerve! Thankfully I got warning of this from Steve’s blog, I had to turn my sound on player to 43% just to listen to it on headphones, just to make it listenable, on a boom box it might heighten the experience but on a headset it makes a big difference in volume to other studio tracks. Once you have them on your mp3 player you might have to dive for the volume every time one of these songs come on when you add it to your playlist on shuffle if  you value your eardrums and want them to last at least the complete length of the album and beyond. Hard music is cool, being hard of hearing is just stupid! Don’t try to be cool and play it on full volume with headphones.

On the music side it is just an onslaught of vibes and beats that get you from invoking the matrix “Red Pill” parallel to the acid rock parody of Mary’s little lamb with “Mary’s little Lie” both to show our life is different from the world and why. It’s no-non-sense sound like it’s cover delivers and is something different yet again, but what we have come to expect from a project that includes Steve McNair.

@#@#(Explicit) the System (not read, at number, at number – ha)  is a rally call to do what the title suggests unabashedly as God’s called out ecclesia and leads the way with the thumping beats and screams to I’m loving to hate you/For the stench that you breathe and lies you conceive /My total rejection/Of the promise you gave to the lives you enslave/No time for discretion/I curse every mention of the system that make you want to storm the gates of hell that seep inside all of us with acceptance of worldly ways. This song works the conviction to the heart while the wiggles out of every bone in your body. The despairing tunes of “Reason With Myself” hopefully is a view of someone lost in the world, interesting tune but for those not familiar with Seattle’s 90’s music scene it might just seem like an off key dirge to more “cultured” ears.

Overall there is nothing exceptionally deep or profound, no huge dedication calls on this short album, but that is grunge/acid rock, and it is good they did not try to over spiritualize this style of music as its lyrics structure simply is not made for it. It is an arousing call to get off your ass and scream, shout and revolute, and I can see this being a wonderful addition to times when you just want to mosh with your friends at a party or heck even scream out in the car when stuck in traffic.

Downloading it from Steve’s blog (God told Lot to pinch His tits? maybe in the STEM bible -ha) gives you a lot of little extras that you will not get if you just download from The-Glitch or other sites, including a little explanation, news of future projects and all the lyrics, God bless you Steve, Shun and Taka, your our 6 great song Guru’s!

I watched the inauguration yesterday over the internet as ABC News had a live free feed of the events. Firstly I have to say, it is a big event, I do not think he will be able to fix things much better then anyone else, he is no Messiah, he is clever but that an’t good enough with the mess we’re in. His speech was very Utopian, grandiose and polished, he never seemed to even look at the prompter, but clever words never fixed anything.

Some people say “well is this the anti-Christ?” Steve makes a case (not so watertight), but I have a hard time finding all the dots for that, he is a good speaker, he does have a stern look at times, has a “False Prophet” in new-age liberal Oprah and her show that espouses his ideals in TV sets worldwide, but more then anything I think this is the next piece in the game. Who was he just a few years ago? A community outreach worker paying off his huge collage debts still nearly into his forties, he could have been a big lawyer like he studied for but decided to do community projects (and write books of his life that netted millions once he became known), gets into local and then national Senate and pow! Jumps the line even on Hillary, even they did not know what was coming losing millions of personal money to her campaign trying to beat this new kid on the block. Poor old Bill caught with his pants down again, those behind the scenes people keep pulling the wool over his eyes, they almost passed his job over for Gore with a Monica power-play, then used his old buddy Gore as a smoke screen to get their new dummy cowboy into the job in 2000 and then made him think his wife really had a shot this time, In Israel the Jews have gentile house servants who do things their faith says they can’t do on the sabbath and that looks like Bill much of the time in politics.

Obama has the world in awe now but it will not last long, one comment on Gaza or Iran and the Arab and Muslim world will change their minds, at home he has even a bigger mess with the economy and wars. We will see if he has any “super powers” very fast, if he can make world peace in his first term then I see him breaking the covenant and declaring himself God in the temple in Jerusalem in his second, but the only way that will happen with a US president is for it to be a 51st state, and that seems improbable, but then a black president seemed something we would never see in our lifetimes too till it happened today. We are a long way from that, every president like a soldier looks good going into battle, it is how he fights that makes the difference. Bush might have been a dumb-ass pawn, but I think Obama is just the wise-ass rook setting the stage, getting the crowds, getting some of the house in order with new catch words “unity” and “change” for the big act to come called ” I am God”.

One of the most touching moments in this was seeing those little girls, they are so cute and idealistic, videoing their dads speech with the little digicam and all, reminded me so much of two little girls I know and care about their age. And I got to thinking what in the world they got into by default of who their dad is now, their lives are not theirs, outings and shave-ice on the beach in Hawaii are far off memories. I just had to pray for them, this bad, hard, cruel world will beat them for the rest of their lives, not crime and poverty but even worse, politics, compromise and lobbying and glare of the media and expectations of the world that will make their father into a different person as he becomes the first  “house slave” of the global agenda.

God help us all.

Listen to it here on YouTube, I did not inbed it as it slows down my page for those of you who do not have high speed. Worth reading are the comments too that people left there on this YouTube post. Word is going to all the world and even cyber and computer space!