I have spent a long time working on our network here at the house. One of my primary purposes for doing this is media consumption. While constantly consuming media is not something I would recommend, it helps to make things run as smoothly as possible and user friendly for the whole family.
What seems like several years ago, I purchased a WD Sharespace to use as a central storage space for our digital media (movies/television shows). I was using XBMC on my first generation Xbox to view said data. Up until that point, I had to copy stuff over to the internal drive, but I was getting annoyed with constantly copying the files over to it. Using DLNA (or maybe it was SMBA), I was able to put all of the media on the Sharespace, and just browse for what I wanted, streaming the media over my network. There were no pictures to go along with the media, so I had to rely on the names and sXXeXX to make sure I was starting the movie or television episode I wanted. One of the annoying features of this was having a noisy Xbox running every time we wanted to watch something.
A few years ago, I purchased a WD TV Live Plus. This silent little box ran very well… still does, actually. Still had no pictures (metadata), although I knew how to add them at this point. Every now and again, we would have a slight issue with it, but it was much better than the Xbox. It also has a Netflix, Hulu, and several other apps installed with each new version of the firmware. The only real issue I’ve had with it was on the latest firmware update, which led to not being able to transcode many of the movie files stored on the Sharespace. I remedied that by going to the WD site and downloading an earlier version of the firmware to install on the box.
A few months ago (probably 8 months), I found a tremendous deal on the top Roku in production at the time (I think it’s the Roku 2 XS). It was something like half-price. It had many apps available in the Channel Store, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Plex. While it does not include DLNA accessibility, the Plex app allows you to view media from a server on a home PC (or Mac – more on that in another post).
I installed the Roku in our bedroom, since we already had the WD TV in the living room. I was amazed at the speed of the menu, and even the response time of Netflix and Hulu. I decided to try out Plex, and installed the server on my Mac Mini. The server configuration screen started scanning the folders I added, and automatically added the metadata information to about 95-98% of the database of our media. I was impressed with how easy it was to correct the files that had not been identified correctly through the automatic process. When I went to the bedroom, and loaded the Plex app on the Roku, it was a beautiful display. It automatically found the server, and a gorgeous showing of all of our media including all of the video posters was there. It was like viewing Netflix but only with content that I already owned.
Imagine, if you will, that you have taken the time to rip every movie you own to digital format stored on a hard drive. When you turn on your TV, you can look through your movie list, as if you’ve gone to your movie shelf that is designed like the video rental store. They’re all in alphabetical order, or ordered by genre or decade. You can also do a search.
I know this post is not typical. I just feel like I need to tip my hat to the makers of this fantastic device, as well as the developers of Plex.
Just a little more information… The Roku 3 (2 to 3 months old in our house) is a terrific upgrade! I love the quick response of the menu and apps. I didn’t think they could get any better until I replaced the one in our room with that. The headphone jack on the remote is incredibly handy.
Category: Opinion
Just an opinion – take it with a grain of salt (or sugar)
Phil Robertson – Christian
I couldn’t begin to count the number of articles I have read over the past three to four days (feels like weeks) concerning the “controversial” statements that Phil Robertson made. This is the one I just read, so you can click on that to get a good understanding of why I and so many others are so outraged by the response of A&E.
The network is not fully to blame for the outrage, however. GLAAD and the rest of the LGBT community are responsible for most of it. To put it simply, you’re demanding that everyone not only tolerate your lifestyle, but accept it and approve of it, no matter what our beliefs are. In other words, if our beliefs contradict what you desire, we need to change our beliefs. It seems so easy when I type it like that.
A Christian is commissioned by God to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice to those who do not know Him. A Christian is to be a light to the world, so that the rest of the world can see the Christian and how he lives, so they will try to find out what makes him/her different from everyone else. Once the Christian has helped others to know Christ, it is then time to help them learn about God, and His plan (including rules) for Christians to follow.
There are certain things that people do that are not part of God’s plan. For instance…
God does not want us to murder people. As surprising as this may be, not everyone has a problem with murder. Killing in times of war and murder are two separate things entirely, so I will not respond to anyone debating this.
One other part of God’s plan is that a man will marry a woman, and they will become one flesh. The Bible (God’s word) goes on to very explicitly state that any sexual relations outside of the marriage (one man and one woman) is an abomination.
Using just those two examples really does not do God’s Word justice. However, in light of what follows, I’ll let it sit for now.
The United States of America was founded on Christian principles. Murder was included in the law. Several states actually have laws against adultery, even though they probably haven’t actually enforced those laws in the past fifty years. When these laws were created, a great percentage of the population of the United States of America was Christian. Christian back then was much more strict than it is for most of America today.
It does not matter, really. As Christians, our job is not to condemn the world or the people in it. The Bible teaches that we are all guilty of sin. The Bible also explains what all of those sins are. The Bible also tells us how we can escape the penalty for sin (The Good News).
So for those who have made it this far, I want you to recognize one important thing. Just because someone does not agree with you, that does not mean that they hate you or that they want you to burn in a lake of fire for all of eternity. If your beliefs are different, that’s fine, but you are not going to change their mind by being hateful and calling them bigoted and other names I do not care to mention.
I’m fairly certain that over the past few days I have alienated some of my “friends” with some of the articles I’ve shared on Facebook. But if they had actually taken the time to read what I had shared, they would understand that I am upset about the tendency for the LGBT community to call for tolerance of their lifestyle, but intolerance for those who reference beliefs that do not align with their lifestyle.
[polldaddy poll=7668268]
FYI – My Experience with Police
You may have noticed my recent posts have been about how to handle yourself when encountering the police. Personally, I have only had decent encounters, with one minor complaint that did not infringe on my rights. My immediate reaction to police is to respect their authority. This is probably wrong.
I have never had my rights infringed, as far as I can remember. I should probably have a better understanding of my rights and how to make sure I keep them. As far as being prepared, just in case, I need to do my homework now, so that if I ever encounter tyranny, I will know the proper way to respond.
I do not condone police violence. Just want to make sure we’re clear on that. I also do not condone the infringement of the rights of innocent American people by the servants of the American people.
It is morally imperative that we prepare ourselves for any situation before we find ourselves in the situation.
Moron ATF Agent
Now, the first video shows what most would say is a moronic declaration by an ATF Agent, but the followup video explains that he may have had a point…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2sWiZ8BizI&w=560&h=315]
Now for an explanation of how to convert it…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI1DFNxUJbI&w=560&h=315]
What do you think? I honestly think the toy guns were probably too cheap to have lowers made to spec for an AR.
Unlawful Searches
I seem to be finding more and more videos like this. I’m sure that a lot of them leave some stuff out, but most of them are stripped of their rights by a cop who thinks he’s above the actual law.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-WMn_zHCVo&w=560&h=315]
What would you do in this situation?
When Should You Shoot a Cop?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cElTyqJkMEw&w=560&h=315]
This is the best way I’ve seen this argued
Liar
Out of all the debates so far, this one moment sticks out to me…
Obama mentions that Romney’s pension is probably invested in China. Romney comes back asking Obama if he’s looked at his own pension. Obama states that, no, he hasn’t, but it doesn’t really matter because Obama’s pension isn’t as big as Romney’s.
It’s been revealed that Obama has a pretty nice pension… A few, in fact. It has also been revealed that he does have money invested around the world, including China.
My favorite part of the new revelation is this… Romney doesn’t have a pension! He served his term as Governor of Massachusetts for free. Because he received no compensation for his work, he does not qualify for a pension! He knew this from the start, but he didn’t let on to that fact.
His humility has really made me appreciate him. I have heard countless stories of his helping those in need and giving of his time to help others. The best part is that I haven’t heard these stories from him, but from those who surround him. He does not seek glory for his good works, but is instead embarrassed when others talk about what they’ve seen him do.
I’ve got to admit that I was not a Romney supporter until yesterday. I’ve liked Ryan for a while. Namely, I first took notice of Ryan back when the healthcare debate was going on. I’ve heard snippets about Romney for years, but never looked into his background.
I urge you to do the research as I did. While he may not be the best candidate, he’s one of the best we could have hoped for in the past few decades. He leads a life based on principles, not social etiquette. He has shown the ability to turn economic debt into economic wealth.
Looking at our national debt, he’s proven that he can fix an economy and help the private industries create jobs. The last thing we need is more government jobs. The more public jobs there are, the more private jobs have to give the government to pay for them. Eventually, we’d all end up working for the government. Then we’d just be in a downward spiral.
Obama wants to create more public jobs. He says that’s the best way for recovery. He’s lying to us and he knows it. He is not a dumb man. Lets get this liar out of our house.
Stupid Nissan
Watching the game today, I keep seeing these stupid Nissan commercials. “What if everything ran on gas?”. Imbeciles! What do you think you’re charging your electric vehicle with? All this commercial does is make me want a motor installed on all my appliances so that I can burn a little more gasoline. Ok, I guess it also makes those morons who can’t think for themselves and are sitting on the fence about global warming fall on your side. I wont be buying a Nissan. I used to like you, but these commercials are utterly idiotic… worse than the recent Prius commercials.
Bathroom Construction – Part 4
Well, I’m over the hump. I now feel as if I’m getting closer to the end, and it feels much better now. I have finished all the painting (except for the trim), and plan to install the tub surround wall tomorrow evening. I still have a lot to do, but the bathroom actually looks like a bathroom now.
As far as painting tapes go, I have to say that the Frog Tape is much better than the well recognized blue tape that you see. The paint did not stick to the Frog tape like it did to the blue tape. Of course, I was using enamel paint, so that might have been the difference, but it was a highly noticeable difference.
I have to wait for the glue to dry on the surround, and then install the bath hardware and caulk it all up. Then I have to finish installing the few tiles I have to cut, and put the hardware on the walls (towel hangers) and the cabinet doors on the cabinets. I have to cut, paint, and install the trim, as well as replace an electrical outlet and light switch to match the paint. They are currently beige instead of white, so they are sort of an eyesore.
Then I have to clean the house. I’ve got stuff from the bathroom spread around so I could keep track of where it’s supposed to go when I finish, so the whole house looks awful, and I now realize the error in that plan because I’m gonna have to make several trips all over the house to get it back in order. I would have been better off getting a cheap plastic shelving system to store everything temporarily, and then I could have used it in the garage.
Overall, I’ve learned that taking on any remodeling job is much more work than it first seems. For such a small room, I did not expect this to take so much time and energy. Again, thanks to Dad and Josh, I didn’t have to bear this alone. I also want to thank Mom and Destiny for allowing them to spend so much time over here lending both their hands and a lot of sweat.
10:10
This video was created in the UK to promote dropping personal carbon emissions by 10 percent in 2010. It was removed from the site it was posted to, due to the outcry it caused. This video shows exactly how the progressives view our decisions to join in. Thanks to the many people who repost videos online, I am able to show it to you here
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDXQsnkuBCM&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0]
No pressure…