How to Embed FLV Flash Videos in your Blog

"Video Sharing Sites like Youtube or Google video provide simple HTML code for embedding their video clips in your web pages. But sometimes we want to add raw Flash Video files like SWF animations or FLV [streaming or progressive] which are frequently used by News or media websites.

Now to embed flash video files, you can either download the flv or swf flash video to your hard drive, convert it to avi, wmv or mov format and then upload it to your Youtube account. Then you can use the Youtube supplied HTML code to embed that video in your webpage or blog. The video will play wrapped inside the Youtube or Google Video player skin.

The above approach works but is clearly not the best way to do things. What if the original video is updated - then you will have to revisit the whole encoding-decoding cycle again. Secondly, there will be considerable loss in video quality when it is converted from one format to another and Youtube is definitely not the best place to see high resolution video clips. They will degrade it to 320x240 size clip.

So here's a very easy way for embedding flash videos in your website without loosing any quality. [Read More]

Mentos World Record Attempt

Get fresh! This looks like a lot of fun to make and a royal pain to clean up.

Speaking of Mentos, the Mentos FAQ is probably one of the funniest bits of Internet history out there. Just reading some of these, I feel a little fresh and breezy. Truly great comic descriptive writing!

Ron Paul Revolution BIG Interstate Billboards!

This video could have been edited down a bit, but the amount of work that went into making this extraordinary advertising for Ron Paul is really impressive. I would be very surprised if any other candidate has anything close to this kind of dedication from supporters.

Congressman Ron Paul has helped HUNDREDS of our veterans

This is how they talk in East Texas! Nice old guy shows that Ron Paul really cares about veterans. Great congressional ad that still works well to show that Ron Paul comes through for people.

10 Things I Hate About Liberty, starring Hillary Clinton

Great video! Good music and great Mike Gravel slam of Hillary at a debate.

Turn google into your own free napster

Some great tips here for finding all kinds of things, just by putting the right search terms into Google. Very interesting!

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Following us home

Somewhere in Washington, there's a catchphrase factory pumping out dumb new words and slogans that become the neocon mantra. "Islamofascists" and "global terrorism" are the de rigeur bon mots in any self-respecting neocon scare speech. One oft-repeated argument I have heard way too many times is this notion that if we "just leave" the terrorists in Iraq, then they will "follow us home".

It's a stupid argument, partly because it is often presented with no facts to back it up—just the kind of stubborn assurance that got us into this war. It also makes no sense, because it presumes that these guys have war planes or war ships that will attack us as we are attacking them. Or else, it presumes that it's just as easy for them to come here and kill us as it is for them to kill us over there. That is patently false. They like us over there, because we are saving them all of that transportation cost they'd have to incur to kill us in the U.S.

Thinkprogress.org did a great piece on all of this. Follow this link to its home. ;-)

The case for a Ron Paul presidency

Anti-War.com's Justin Raimondo relates how to explain US Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul to British citizens. As is often the case, the most interesting insights come after the article. [Read the article]

Fun with Crooks

Back around 1992, I received a very strange letter in my P.O. Box. It was typewritten and from Nigeria and made mention of a great deal of money that could be sent my way if I were to assist in some bizarre scheme. I vaguely remember the amount being about 10 million dollars. I don't recall any more, but I thought it was one of the oddest and most unbelievable letters I had ever received. So, I saved it, but never replied. Years later, I worked for an ecommerce company, whose number 1 rule was to never trust any orders from Nigeria. I didn't make the connection right away, but within a few days of working there, I saw that we did indeed receive a lot of online orders from Nigeria for our most expensive products. Every one of these orders was bogus, my boss assured me. And he was right.

It seems that a lot of others have noticed this aggressive scamming going on by folks in Nigeria, and have even taken to writing back and "scamming the scammers". Some very amusing exchanges have gone on with a lot of laughs being had at the expense of the those trying to swindle their savvy "victims".

One of my favorite stories comes from the website 419eater.com.

The Incredible Shrinking Artwork is the story of a guy who tricks this con-man into sending him statues to compete for a lucrative contest and then convinces him that the entries were damaged en route.

Sweet Chili Sauce is another site promoting a book called Dances with Thieves that relates many stories of messing with con men. Some are laugh-out-loud funny!

Finally, there was a great spoof done about a fake Nigerian Email Symposium a few years ago that is a riot!

Priests Protesting Torture at Fort Huachuca Jailed for Justice

From CommonDreams.org:
"TUCSON, Arizona — October 17 — Louis Vitale, 75, a Franciscan priest, and Steve Kelly, 58, a Jesuit priest, were each sentenced today to five months in federal prison for attempting to deliver a letter opposing the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Both priests were taken directly into jail from the courtroom after sentencing. 1017 10Fort Huachuca is the headquarters of military intelligence in the U.S. and the place where military and civilian interrogators are taught how to extract information from prisoners. The priests attempted to deliver their letter to Major General Barbara Fast, commander of Fort Huachuca. Fast was previously the head of all military intelligence in Iraq during the atrocities of Abu Ghraib.

In a pre-trial heating, the priests attempted to introduce evidence of torture, murder, and gross violations of human rights in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib in Iraq, and at Guantanamo. The priests offered investigative reports from the FBI, the US Army, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Physicians for Social Responsibility documenting hundreds of incidents of human rights violations. Despite increasing evidence of the use of torture by U.S. forces sanctioned by President Bush and others, the federal court in Tucson refused to allow any evidence of torture, the legality of the invasion of Iraq, or international law to be a part of the trial"

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Israel asks U.S. foreign aid be paid in EUROS

From Wake Up From Your Slumber:

"Israel asks U.S. foreign aid be paid in EUROS FYI - the Euro is now worth about 1.4 US Dollars. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni Secretary of State Rice has acknowledged a communique from Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Levni which requests that all foreign aid payments and loans from the United States be made in Euros rather than in Dollars. Foreign Minister Levni cited the rapidly declining dollar and it's disfavor as a world currency as reasons for the request.

'In the spirit of Yom Kippur, the United States will not hold Israel to any agreements obligating them to accept Dollars as payment for their foreign aid. We will translate our obligations into Euros or whatever currency that best fits Israel's needs' Secretary Rice said in the Friday, Sept 21 announcement.

'We need to place our Israeli obligations at the top of our national priority list. Israel should not suffer any inconvenience due to currency fluctuations' said Rice before heading off to Camp David. A similar request from Egypt was declined last week."

Now that's chutzpah!

Brownback To Announce He's Leaving the Race

Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, the Kansas conservative who struggled to raise money and gain recognition in the 2008 presidential campaign, will drop out on Friday, people close to him said Thursday.

Only makes this 2 month video that much more silly. I wonder who he's gonna endorse? I'm sure he's in a dilemma over who to support, as he probably wants to support the guy with the greatest chance of winning, who will then "owe him something".

Wireless Networks Tab Missing

It's always frustrating when you're on Windows XP and it just isn't performing the way you're used to. One missing tab can screw up your whole morning. For today's handy little tidbit, TRENDNET KnowledgeBase

Lucky Lieberman?

File this under "What are the odds?" From Rense.com:

"We may have the clearest evidence of vote fraud coming out of Connecticut with the re-election of Pro-Israel Joe Lieberman as an Independent. http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=95480 Now, how exactly did Lieberman win TWO elections and his two opponents got exactly the SAME number of votes at exactly 448,077 votes each time?!?! 'In Connecticut Ned Lamont (Dem.) lost EXACTLY with THE SAME number of votes as did Phil Giordano (Rep.) collected in 2000.' Any of you mathematical geniuses want to calculate the odds on that? It is beyond staggering. It is statistically IMPOSSIBLE and could not happen twice in one million years, much less twice in 6 years for one lucky Pro-Israel Jewish Senator. I think this matter needs to be investigated because it is smoking hot and beyond outrageous."

You can google this for yourself: Lieberman 448,077. You'll get lots of results.
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Giuliani Is Everyone's Worst Nightmare

From chuckbaldwinlive.com:

"Former New York City Mayor and Republican Presidential contender Rudy Giuliani said this week that he was 'liberals' worst nightmare.' However, the truth is, Rudy Giuliani is everyone's worst nightmare. That Rudy Giuliani is currently trying to cast himself as a conservative is beyond laughable--it is hilarious. This is a man who is unabashedly pro-abortion. He has been seen walking down Fifth Avenue with thousands of homosexuals demanding 'gay rights.' He himself is a cross-dresser. He has had numerous marriages and only God knows how many sexual affairs. He has been one of the country's most radical proponents of gun control. He made New York a sanctuary city for illegal aliens and is a strong proponent of amnesty for illegal aliens. As a prosecutor, his abuse of power and disregard for law are legendary. (See http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts208.html ) In addition, Rudy Giuliani is a senior partner in the law firm that 'represents CITGO, the oil company controlled by Venezuela's anti-American and terrorist-supporting ruler Hugo Chavez.' Giuliani's law firm also acts 'as the exclusive legal counsel for Cintra, the Spanish firm that has been granted the right to operate a toll road in the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) project.'"

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Another Anti-Rudy Movie: Giuliani Time

Another goodie on Google Video! This is a very thoroughly-researched movie which goes to great length to document the life and career of Rudy Giuliani. The title of the film refers to a catchphrase coined by the NYPD to indicate acceptable police brutality aimed at cracking down on street crime.

The movie does not gloss over the mayors many accomplishments, but it also manages to catch him during his most embarrassing public moments, such as the awkward cross-dressing video made with Donald Trump and as the object of a demonstration where citizens of New York lined up to "throw a doodie at Rudy". At this event, frustrated Big Apple residents were able to toss dung at a depiction of Rudy as the Virgin Mary–a reference to his attack on a controversial artist. Don't miss the ironic clip at the end, featuring the late Bishop Sheen, seemingly lambasting this cradle catholic.

How anyone would want to vote for or support this man after watching this movie is beyond my understanding. It's close to 2 hours long, but if you're at all curious about what makes America's Ex-Mayor tick, I would recommend watching this.

Washingtonpost.com gives Ron Paul a fair interview!!!

Washington Post's Michael Shear interviews Ron Paul and talks about coming across angry, raising $5 million, and whether he'll seek a third party bid for the presidency. No set-up questions or antagonism--just a good straight interview. In other words, not the norm for a Paul interview from the MSM. Also broadcast on XM Radio, POTUS08 channel.

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FIAT EMPIRE - Why the Federal Reserve Violates the U.S. Constitution

Stranger than fiction? This documentary explains what the Federal Reserve is, its history and how it violates the U.S. Constitution. Really startling stuff.

Rudy Giuliani Provides Plenty of Comic Material

Poor Rudy Giuliani. Such an easy guy to make fun of! Here are a few great jokes from an excellent political humor site.

'Last week during a speech to the NRA, Rudy Giuliani was interrupted by a cell phone call, which he stopped his speech to answer. Giuliani then told the audience, 'That was my wife reminding me to pick up some milk at the 9-Eleven'' --Seth Meyers

'This kind of seems like bad taste to me. A Giuliani fundraiser is now charging $9.11 in reference to 9/11. ... Isn't that inappropriate? I mean, isn't it like a Bill Clinton fundraiser charging $69 a head?' --Jay Leno

'Iran's president ... wanted to lay a wreath at Ground Zero, but his critics said, 'No, no. You are trying to exploit Ground Zero for political gain, and that is Rudy Giuliani's job.'' --Bill Maher

'Did you see Britney Spears at the Video Music Awards? I don't want to say that that performance was a disaster, but after the show, I saw Rudy Giuliani having his picture taken standing on her.' --Bill Maher

'Oh, I kid Rudy with love, because he is on the attack against Hillary Clinton. Have you seen this? He accused her of spitting venom at General Petraeus, and he paid for a full-page ad in the New York Times. He must miss the days when he was the mayor of New York, and the New York Times would have to print his bulls**t for free.' --Bill Maher"
[Read more]

Rudy's favorite words to use in speeches: "Global Terrorism", "9/11" and "Hello, Dear"

Rudy Giuliani's stubbornness and his wife's meddling could very well cost him the nomination for his party. Can Rudy overcome his biggest liabilty: his wife?

According to WSJ.com:

A lot is going well for Rudy Giuliani's campaign. His fund raising is strong. He outstrips his GOP rivals in national polls. His speeches on taxes and health care were solid. He picked up some foreign-policy gravitas with a successful trip to London.

But there is a fly in the ointment. Even members of Mr. Giuliani's own staff are appalled at how he handled the incident in which he answered a phone call from his wife, Judith, right in the middle of a nationally televised speech to the National Rifle Association.

What was that about? Columnist Robert Novak cites "supporters from outside the Giuliani staff" who claim that taking phone calls from his wife as been "part of his political bag of tricks all year." But Mr. Giuliani's deputy press secretary Jason Miller told me the NRA incident was definitely not a stunt. Instead it was a "candid and spontaneous moment" that would humanize the tough-guy former mayor with voters.

Nice try. Just in case this isn't obviously ridiculous, Fox News commissioned a poll on the subject. It found that only 9% of Americans think a candidate should ever interrupt a speech to accept a call from his spouse.

The fact is that people inside the Giuliani campaign are appalled at the number of times their candidate has felt compelled to interrupt public appearances to take calls from his wife. The estimate from those in a position to know is that he has taken such calls more than 40 times in the middle of speeches, conferences and presentations to large donors. "If it's a stunt, it's not one coming from him," says one Giuliani staffer. "It's an ongoing problem that he won't take advice on."

[Read More]

Giuliani To Run For President Of 9/11

From The Onion:

NEW YORK—At a well-attended rally in front of his new Ground Zero headquarters Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11.

"My fellow citizens of 9/11, today I will make you a promise," said Giuliani during his 18-minute announcement speech in front of a charred and torn American flag. "As president of 9/11, I will usher in a bold new 9/11 for all."

If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world's conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions.

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Word of Blog

Word of Blog is a site where you can promote your website/blog or where you can promote the work of others you like.

It's a simple concept, but a nice way to find information or people with similar interests. Unless you've got a lot of free time on your hands, you'll probably want to use the search tool, rather than browse the site.

Look up a service provider by phone

You can perform a Reverse Phone Number Lookup on WhitePages.com and learn whether a number is a land-line or cell phone as well as what service provider provides the number. Now, I wish there was a way to upload a whole list of numbers and find out which people I know are on my service providers, so I could call them for free.

How Popular is Rudy in the UK?

Who Would The World Elect is a website that detects your IP address and counts your vote under the correct country. For instance,

UNITED KINGDOM Votes for:
668 votes for Barack Obama
458 votes for Ron Paul
174 votes for Hillary Clinton
97 votes for Dennis Kucinich
60 votes for Mike Gravel
24 votes for John Edwards
24 votes for Rudy Giuliani
20 votes for John McCain
8 votes for Fred Thompson
8 votes for Mitt Romney
6 votes for Duncan Hunter
5 votes for Joe Biden
5 votes for Tom Tancredo
3 votes for Sam Brownback
3 votes for Bill Richardson
2 votes for Chris Dodd

This is interesting, as Rudy Giuliani recently said he was probably one of the 4 best-known Americans in the UK. (Perhaps, after seeing these results, this would explain why he's doing so poorly on this poll.)

It's not very scientific, but it is interesting to see how at least the educated web-savvy users in other countries see our political process. (Note that Mitt Romney gets much less votes when he's not paying for them.) I would imagine that many of these foreign "voters" have a better understanding of our candidates and their positions than the average American. That's actually pretty pathetic.

Giuliani and Cell Phones

The Atlantic recently wrote about Rudy and cell phones.

Big surprise: he doesn't like them. In fact, in one recent speech, he humiliated a woman in the audience whose phone went off while he was talking. Here's Hanna Rosin in the Atlantic last year: In Iowa, Giuliani was up to principle No. 2 ("Follow your hopes and dreams") when he was interrupted. From down in the audience, just beyond the stage, he heard a cell phone ring. He stopped in the middle of telling a story. "It's okay, you can answer your cell phone," he said. "You won't interrupt me." The woman whose phone had rung was mortified; he had just embarrassed her in front of 18,000 people.

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