Millions of people around the world spoke out in unison, their voices unable to be ignored. It was a truly remarkable display unlike any other where the entire nation stood together for one cause against one common threat. Millions of voices cried out, and then were suddenly silenced by a single man bypassing the entire government system to do something even worse than what was originally threatened.

And further more

A country known for its enforcement of harsh Internet censorship policies like China could demand under the treaty that an ISP in the United States remove content or terminate a website on its server altogether. As we have seen from the enforcement of similar copyright policies in the US, websites are sometimes targeted for no justifiable reason.

Read the Entire Story http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-signs-global-internet-treaty-worse-than-sopa.html

I decided it was time to move on and create my own group of ghost hunters. Through hard work and perseverance I was able to create a group that took on a high status in the paranormal community. We were offered many positions and affiliations. I got tired though and always had the feeling that there has to be something more. I needed to take a break, do some reading and some further studying so I stepped away from ghost hunting for about a year and a half.

I decided it was time to come back to the paranormal, but not simply as a ghost hunter which will still be a vital part of the group, but also as an investigator that investigates everything that is beyond the norm. The term “paranormal” is often used only for ghosts and has become synonymous with it but the term is broad and encompasses anything that stands outside what we consider normal.

My new groups name is OddNormality and can be found at http://www.oddnormality.com and we are gearing up for a busy new year. We are also looking for local members in the Mobile Alabama area that are go getters. Individuals that are fun, ready, and willing to get their hands dirty. So, if you have an interest in UFO’s, Bigfoot, the swamp man or even ghosts then lets talk!

I was having problems with telemarketers, and vendors from my work whom I accidently gave my personal number to. The marketers called regardless of me being on the do not call list, and the vendors – well – they simply didn’t care. The vendors would call at all times of day and evening.

I found it necessary to start scanning my calls but they would call at the most inopportune times which made scanning hard. I called my cell phone carrier and they said that unless I had specific numbers I wouldn’t be able to block them. This was unacceptible to me so the next stop was to search for apps to block all calls.

I think I went through a 1000 apps. One would pick up my phone and not hang it up so the person on the other side got the privelage of listening to my world. I was pretty upset about that. I could have accidently started an intergalactic war in some yet to be named galaxy.

So, the last call blocking app I tried was Call Control. It was awesome. It did everything I needed it to do. It had a whitelist and contact support with the ability to block all calls except those two. Now anyone that I do not approve of goes straight to voicemail. The real nice thing about this app is that I don’t even hear my phone ring when a call is blocked by the app. It’s silent and effective.

Android Call Control Download

The app took only seconds to setup and start working and since then I have been call free. It has a call log of all blocked calls too so I can check for any false positives. If I rated this app on the 5 star point system I would give it 4.5 stars. It doesn’t achieve a full 5 stars because it is a paid app, so this is the highest a paid app can achieve which means it is well worth the money.

I did have to use support once, but it was because their webpage messed up when I was trying to purchase the app through my phone. It charged me twice for the app. I contacted support and I was refunded the double bill immediately. They didn’t have to do that, but without question they did and I was quite impressed with it. The support was fast and friendly which is rare for a phone app.

The application is designed for the Blackberry, Droid, and iPhone.

Call Control is PRELOADED with THOUSANDS of spam callers automatically on your blacklist and has a personal blacklist so you can block calls from any number you’d like. Block telemarketing and other spam calls automatically with Call Control, the first application for Android that effortlessly blocks telemarketers without any involvement from the user!
Why is Call Control Different from other Call Blocking apps?

Your Call Control Blacklist comes PRELOADED with THOUSANDS of telemarketers and is automatically updated to keep telemarketers from calling you. People call it the SUPER BLACKLIST app for Android! Other apps simply can’t compare!
Stop Telemarketers, Debt Collectors, and Others from Calling You!

Block telemarketing and other spam telephone calls before they ring with Call Control, the first application for Android that knows who the telemarketers are and stops them from calling your phone.

Call Control Features:

• Blocks calls without a ring.
• Call blocking by personal and community blacklists.
• Automatic community blacklist updates from EveryCall.us.
• Personal blacklist and whitelist.
• Personal whitelist and automatic adress book contacts whitelisting.
• Lookup unrecognized phone calls directly from your call log.
• Block calls from Private and Unknown callers.
• Blacklist and report calls directly from the Android call log.
• Report spam calls right from your Android.
• Block telemarketers and spam callers reported by FCC Do Not Call complaints.
• Call log shows “Blocked Calls”.
• Address book contacts are never blocked.
• Automatically runs when device starts (optional).
• Blocking calls by area code (available in personal blacklist only).
• Send blocked calls to voicemail or disconnect them.
• Works with both GSM/CDMA and WiFi connections giving WiFi a priority.
• Free Online Integration – Manage your call reports from your free profile at EveryCall.us.
• Free product updates and support.

After a nice summer it was time to go back to school. We learned that his new teacher was new as well and came from an inner city school. My son was excited to meet the new teacher and rode to school cheerfully. This would be the last time my son would be happy to go to school at Chickasaw math and science.

Ms. Stacy Hollings -Crosby

He was picked up from school and after the people in the car pool were dropped off my son explained to my wife that the teacher yelled a lot. This went on for a couple of weeks and we saw my son not wanting to go to school. He started complaining that the teacher was mean to him and yelled all the time. We brought this up to Ms. Adams, the principle, and she said that she was working on this with Ms. Crosby, my sons new teacher, and for us not to worry.

This went on for a few more weeks and we started noticing that my son was beginning to have trouble with his homework. He said that he couldn’t understand the teacher. I asked if he didn’t understand the work and he replied that she didn’t talk right and she swore a lot. Again we were at the principles office and again Ms. Adams told us that she was working with the teacher on this.

My wife and I started becoming teachers in the home; buying a white board, and purchasing different tools to help our son out. We also got him enrolled in a mathematics program called Kumon to help him out with his math homework. Night after night we would teach him how to do the work that the teacher was suppose to be teaching our son to do. I asked my son if he ever asks for help in the class and he told me that when he asks for help the teacher tells him to be quiet and do his work, so my wife and I continued to work with him on his homework.

While teaching him to do the work, my son was also given sentences to write by his teacher. Ms. Crosby was giving him sentences (about 50 to 150 every night) to write when ever his conduct fell below an A. We thought this was pretty harsh as it was really having an ill effect on him. My wife had a conference with the teacher, and she told my wife that the sentences were to help my son with his writing because he didn’t have very legible penmanship. The “punishment” was given in lieu of telling the principle. The teacher also told my wife that my son was a genius and everything was going fantastic…he was a bright boy and she was happy to have him in the class.

The first report card of the year showed that my son was failing and falling far behind. His attitude toward school had changed and he was dreading every minute of it. He would cry that he had a bad day. He was completely and utterly miserable. My wife again went to Ms. Adams and she had the audacity to tell my wife that she worried too much and that we were stressing our son out.

This was the straw that broke the camels back. We started the discussion of possibly pulling my son from Chickasaw and place him in a private school. When a principle tells a parent that they worrying too much about their child then their is an obvious problem. My son also came home telling us that the teacher told hims he was going to fail.

A little bit of time lapsed and there was another meeting with the teacher. This time my wife wanted to see all of my sons test scores and work. She wanted to see everything. When my wife went to the meeting it was obvious that the teacher and the principle spoke to each other prior. We also learned that the same day of the meeting the principle wouldn’t speak with my wife but had pulled my son into her office and had a talking with him, telling him the things my wife was going to discuss with the teacher was his responsibility.

We saw some more changes in our son, so We decided it was time to pull him from Chickasaw. I know my son isn’t an absolute angel but I also know when there is a problem with him and there just wasn’t something right. He was exhibiting signs of a child that was being bullied. He was defeated and giving up. He was depressed and showing real reluctance going to school. His whole character and demeanor had changed and we finally had enough. He wasn’t being bullied by the kids in the school but something much much worse. I firmly believe that the teacher singled my son out and was bullying him. I’m not sure why my son was the target; possibly racial or perhaps he was a target due to some other ill sorted reason. Regardless of the reason he is out of the school. I should have done it earlier when I felt it in my gut.

My wife and I are going to be writing a letter to the Mobile County School board and sending a letter to the principle of Chickasaw magnet school. We want to let them know how they absolutely failed us. Ms. Adams did not take our concerns seriously and we feel that there is a conflict of interest between Ms Adam’s and Ms. Crosby’s relationship. We feel that there is a problem with Ms. Crosby.

My son started his new school today and already the smile was back on his face. I’m not sure how we are going to pay for it, but I’ll trust in God. I suppose we’ll have to tighten the belt.

Last night when everyone went to bed I decided to stay up and watch the first movie of the year. I watched Apollo 18. I’m not sure if I have ever watched another move as dumb as Apollo 18. The acting was okay I think. It was suppose to be styled in like an old 8mm NASA style footage. The premise of the movie was that there was life on the moon that looked like rocks and they turned into crab style things. When the crab things got into space pressurized space suits they would end up eating the astronaut. It was a big secret and cover up about the Apollo 18 mission. If I had seen this movie in the theaters I would have demanded my money back. It was absolutely horrid. This was the type of movie an actor that wishes to never act again would do in order to ruin his or her career.

If you want a good movie to watch for the new year. I strongly suggest Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It is an excellent movie and great addition to the circular story of The Planet of the Apes.

Well, Christmas 2011 is past and I am kind of glad. This time of celebration and cheer seems overly too stressful to me. The spending of money that you don’t have, going to the stores, wrestling with the traffic and crowds, shopping for people and hoping they like what they get. I wouldn’t have said this many years back but now It seems so commercially contrived.

This year I think I truly understand the idea behind Festivus as a way to celebrate the holiday season without participating in its pressures and commercialism. While I never watched Seinfeld regularly, I did see the episode when Frank Costanza introduced the December 23rd holiday and I think the creators of the show hit the nail on the head.

I took the family out the day after Christmas to do some shopping. The best type of shopping in the world. Spending Christmas money and gift cards. I was blown away at the length of the lines of people returning gifts. It was crazy. Luckily, everything that was given to my son, wife and myself either fit properly or worked correctly and everything was enjoyed so no returns necessary. As we were walking out the door of Walmart we spotted a friend of ours. “Are you returning something?” we asked. Her response was one that just sucked. The cashier over charged our friend and rather than fixing it at the register, the Walmart policy is to send the customer to Customer Service for a refund. All I can say is better someone else than me. I think I would have blown my stack.

I completely blew my weight watchers this past week as well. There was so much good food and drink that I just said what the heck. It happens once a year so why deny myself the pleasure of participating in the feast. Today though, things are on track and I’m back on the weight watchers program ready to lose the next 40lbs of my belly. I don’t feel guilty. I feel satisfied and glad I was able to enjoy the ham and standing rib roast that has become a tradition in my family.

It’s time to close this post, so in closing I want to wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Year celebration.

Addendum: Some people on twitter commented on my use of the word “past.” I am not the best in grammar but I do know that the word past is used correctly.

correct use as an adjective: Christmas is past.
correct use as an adverb: Christmas has passed.

incorrect use as an adjective: Christmas is passed.
incorrect use as an adverb: Christmas has past.

I was a little late, but I decided to do some shopping with my son on the thinkgeek.com website last Friday. We ordered several goodies; two of which I will discuss below. After spending $70 on the site, my son asked when we would get the box. He desperately wanted it before Christmas and before he left to his grandma’s house. This gave Think Geek a total of 3 days to get the box to my son providing they worked and shipped on Saturdays.

With the holidays being in full swing and people, much like me, buying mail order and wanting their goods the following day I thought that there would be little chance of my son seeing the box until after the holidays. With the closing of post offices, ups stores, and the like my outlook for an early arrival package was not entirely positive.

Every day my son expressed his desire of the package arriving early. He hoped and prayed that he would get his goods.

last night things couldn’t have been better. We were watching a movie as a family and getting in some really good family time. My son was watching the clock and counting down the time that UPS would not show up because he knew that UPS has a delivery time in our area at any time before 8pm. It was 7:30pm and I told him that I was sorry the box didn’t arrive because today he was leaving for his grandma’s house. While I was trying to ease his mood there was a loud knock on the door. The look on my sons face from being down in the dumps and a gloomy Gus to that of a huge smile filled with anticipation he yelled, “It’s here it’s here!!” so loud that I know it must have startled the person on the other side of the door.

He hurried to the door, opened it, and what do you know? There was a Think Geek box sitting in front of the screen. I was amazed. My son grabbed the box and ran into the house. I snatched it from his hands. I was going to play a joke and tell him not until Christmas but the look on his face was simply over powering. We opened the box and there you have it. The boy was completely thrilled and smiles abound. Thanks Think Geek!

Two of the items in the box I want to discuss. One being J&D’s Bacon Popcorn and the other was Bacon Hot Sauce.

I had seen J&D’s Bacon Popcorn on the thinkgeek.com website before and had always wondered about it. It was one of those things that you look at and wonder about all the time. I decided this time to buy it since it was a special time of year and I had a 10 year old boy telling me just how great it would be to have bacon popcorn.

While we were watching the movie as a family we wanted to make some popcorn so it was super fantastic the thinkgeek.com purchase came. I was a bit skeptical that the bacon popcorn would be like the other types of flavored popcorn’s; greasy, overly salty, and some sort of weird powder covering the bag that gets all over your hands and smears your clothes if accidentally dropped. it was none of that. For flavored microwave popcorn the bag was clean and dry. The smell was incredible. It smelled like a pound of bacon cooking on the stove. The popped kernels were plump and incredibly white unlike other flavored popcorn’s that seem to make kernels small and hard/chewy. There was a good crunch to the popcorn. Grabbing handfuls of the popcorn to cram into an open mouth did not result in a greasy hand. I was thoroughly impressed with the quality of this product. The popcorn did not look like a flavored popcorn – white, non greasy and very fluffy white kernels.

The taste of the popcorn was out of this world. My wife, who is an avid hater of flavored popcorn’s, summed up the flavor quite well. She said, “This is the best popcorn I have ever tasted.” I have to agree with her. The flavor was not too intense. It had a nice smokey bacon taste that did not over power. Unlike other flavored popcorn’s that taste like the flavor is manufactured and then poured on the kernel, the bacon flavor of this popcorn tasted like it was part of the popcorn itself.

So J&D’s Bacon Popcorn gets a huge Groone’s World stamp of approval. I fully recommend buying this the first chance you get. You will not regret it.

Next in line for discussion is the Bacon Hot Sauce. I’ve seen it online and have always wondered. I consider myself a hot sauce aficionado looking for the hottest and most tasty hot sauces around. While Bacon hot Sauce does not win any scoville awards for hotness, it does win on the flavor.

This is a family style hot sauce that can be enjoyed at all levels to put a little zing into what ever it is that is being eaten at the time. The heat is way below regular Tabasco as it seems to lack in capsaicin which is the waxy part of chili peppers that burn you mouth.

The developer of this product went for flavor over heat and I believe it was a pure win. The flavor is out of this world. The smokey taste of bacon is heaven. On the bottle it said the sauce is good on eggs, so this morning I poured a liberal amount on my over easy egg and toast. It was heaven. I can’t say enough other than buy this product. Buy a lot of it.

Researching the event logs there were no errors so there was nothing to go by. My thinking immediately ran to a virus infection that wasn’t picked up so I ran diagnostics after diagnostics and nothing appeared. I had my fingers crossed that I would find something, but by all reports there was nothing wrong with this machine. I cleared the event log and rebooted the machine. Once the machine came back up I inspected the event log once again. There was one error. I was stoked because I had been dealing with it for months and finally one error appeared. It was Event ID: 11
  

Failed extract of third-party root list from auto update cab at: with error: A required certificate is not within its validity period when verifying against the current system clock or the timestamp in the signed file.

This was awesome news. It meant my certificate cache was askew which can happen easily in a clustered environment if someone not knowing how to handle clusters updates a server improperly. The fix is real easy. In as few steps as possible:

1. Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache.
2. In this folder are two folders MetaData and Content.

• Enter into MetaData and make a folder named Backup. Move all the files in MetaData to the new Backup folder.
• Enter into Content and make a folder named Backup. Move all the files in Content to the new Backup folder.

3. Click start and then in the run box type Regedit and get into your registry editor.
4. Navigate to [HKLM]\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\AuthRoot\Certificates\
5. Right click on Certificates; select Export and save a backup of this key to your desktop just in case.
6. Under Certifcates you will see several entries that look something like this 513006091E97A4F5AF39F7CBE7927D7D652D3431. Delete each one.
7. Restart your server.
8. Once the server is back up and running, click on Windows Update and click on “Check online for updates from Windows Update.”
9. If everything was done correctly, you should see the updates that you have been missing.
10. Everyone is happy.