CrazyLittleFingers

CrazyLittleFingers is a keyboard locking application. Unlike some of the previous keyboard lockers we’ve covered, CrazyLittleFingers corresponds the keystroke to a picture and sound related to the key.

Press L and you see a picture of a lion. Press R and you see a movie of a rooster. Keys that have no symbolic link for children like the page up and page down keys produce rising and falling guitar sounds. Numbers show the number on the screen. The only caveat is that it doesn’t lock the mouse. This is fine on a single monitor setup, because you can’t click through the images or access the start menu so clicking wouldn’t accomplish anything. On a multiple monitor setup however it only locks the primary screen, the mouse is still effective on the other screens. It would be nice if the program did a simple poll to see if other monitors were active and darkened/disabled them. Still if your toddler isn’t a proficient mouse user it should work fine. CrazyLittleFingers is freeware, Windows Only. Photo by John A. Ward.

I have been getting steady emails from my local Chabad to pray for this family and the others. I kind of shook it off. Why? Forget the religion part for a moment please. Praying, lighting candles, and sending positive energy out into the world is a waste in cases like this, because unless you are open to that positive, it wont reach you. So I was so saddened to hear that this happened.

As it turns out, one of the men and his 13 year old daughter were also murdered. My father knew them, lived down the street from the man when they were kids, went to camp with him… it’s a terrible world we live in on this day. The Rabbi’s baby was let go with the nanny yesterday. What can you even begin to tell that child?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/28/india.attacks/index.html

Rabbi, wife among Mumbai terror deaths

* Story Highlights
* NEW: Death toll rises to 160 civilians, police and military
* Rabbi and his wife among five hostages reported killed at Jewish center
* Indian official again suggests that terrorists came from Pakistan
* Police say Oberoi Hotel standoff has ended; One gunman still at Taj Mahal Hotel

MUMBAI, India (CNN) — Security forces believe one gunman is still holed up inside a luxury hotel in Mumbai as it appears military operations against the terrorist gang are winding down at two other sites.

As the death toll from two days of violence rose to 160, details of some of those killed were emerging including Indian police and military, a rabbi, an American father and teen daughter, and a British yacht magnate.

The bodies of five hostages were found at the Chabad House Jewish center where commandos stormed the building through a hole blasted in the wall.

After several hours of gunfire and explosions from inside all went quiet and CNN’s senior international correspondent Nic Robertson said it appeared the operation was over.

The death toll from attacks in nine locations was 160 — including three Germans, an Italian, an Australian and one Chinese among the at least 15 foreigners killed — with a further 327 injured. VideoWatch troops shooting at Chabad House »

Maharashtra state official Bhushan Gagrani said the death toll is expected to rise further and includes civilians, 16 police and two commandos. Eleven terrorists have also been killed.

Earlier, police said they had cleared the Oberoi Hotel, killing two militants and freeing hundreds of trapped guests. They found 30 bodies and were searching the building. VideoWatch hostages walk to freedom »

The killed Americans identified as Alan Scherr, 58, and his daughter Naomi, 13, from Virginia died at the Oberoi. They were visiting India with a meditation group. Read more about those killed in the terror attacks

Fighting continued to rage at the Taj Mahal Hotel — where one gunmen was reportedly still holed up.

Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor told CNN-IBN the gunman was shooting and throwing grenades at security forces.

Gafoor said most of the attackers had been heavily armed. “They were carrying an AK-assault rifle, one or two hand guns, and grenades.”

Outside, onlookers and reporters cowered behind cars as gunfire was exchanged and explosions could be heard. VideoWatch CNN’s exclusive access to some of the wounded »

CNN’s International Security Correspondent Paula Newton said UK authorities were checking reports that some of the attackers were of British origin.

Meanwhile, Pranab Mukherjee, the external affairs minister for Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is located, said the preliminary investigation “indicates that some elements in Pakistan are involved.”

“I can’t tell you the details since the investigation is going on,” he said. “Until the investigation is complete, it will be difficult to say where they came from and how they came.”

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also indicated the gunmen came from Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, in a telephone call with his Pakistani counterpart Friday.

In response, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said he would send the chief of his country’s intelligence agency to help with the investigation.

The gunmen were young men in their 20s who “obviously had to be trained somewhere,” a member of the Indian navy’s commando unit said Friday.

They fired at guests “with no remorse” and knew the layout of the hotels well enough to “vanish” after confronting security forces, the commando said.

“Not everybody can fire the AK series of weapons, not everybody can throw a grenade like that,” the commando said outside the Taj hotel. “It is obvious that they were trained somewhere.”

The shell-shocked city woke Friday to television images of Indian soldiers rappelling down ropes from military choppers on to the roof of Chabad House, which houses the Mumbai headquarters of the Chabad community, a Hasidic Jewish movement. VideoWatch the commando talk about the attackers »

The Chabad-Lubavitch International group said Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, 29, made a phone call to the Israeli Consulate to report gunmen in the house. “In the middle of the conversation the line went dead,” the organization said. His wife, Rivka, 28, was also killed.

The couple’s toddler son, Moshe, escaped with his nanny, the organization said in a written statement.

The bodies of three other hostages were found in the building. Two gunmen died in the battle at Chabad House, CNN-IBN reported.

The identity of the attackers remained a mystery. Police said they came by boats to the waterfront near the Gateway of India monument and the two hotels.

Indian naval and coast guard investigators have determined that two vessels recently seized in the Arabian Sea have no links to the Mumbai attacks. A fishing trawler, however, remains in custody.

The Press Trust of India, citing Union Cabinet Minister Kapil Sibal, reported the gunmen had worked for months to prepare, even setting up “control rooms” in the two luxury hotels that were targeted.

Indian authorities said no one had claimed responsibility, although the Deccan Mujahideen took credit in e-mails sent to several Indian news outlets.

Interpol said it would send a delegation to India.

“When such coordinated and planned terrorist attacks are carried out against international targets and when a country’s head of government states there are suspected ‘external linkages’, the police in the country concerned require international assistance,” said Interpol’s Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.

CNN’s Andrew Stevens, Mallika Kapur, Harmeet Singh, Sara Sidner, Alessio Vinci, Reza Sayah and Paula Newton contributed to this report.

Cut for tons of photos.

Scariest wolfman ever

ok, not really

and Dorian, the Clone

um, of me lol

This is one of the few shots I got of Eshiva… not that it’s that big a deal, she wears princess dresses every chance she gets

Michael can’t seem to get on the board lately (but I can from upstairs… I need to inspect the computer) so I am posting his photos

He was all set to be Lemmy

and then he thought he’d be a 70′s porn star

but he wound up being Bubba (ah, Vampire Elvis for those you not in the bound Sookie-verse)

Yes, Bubba has kittens and not bottles of blood, but he felt the bottle would clue people in more than a kitten.

My husband was also Venkman this year… dork.

I am ready to pull my money away from BoA and keep it stuffed in my mattress. Yet again we have been assessed an overdraft because the computer thought we might overdraft, not because we did.

A restaurant put a hold that had to be (again) twice the amount of the bill on the card. Why? Because the charge including tax was 40$ and I had about 40$ left in the account when that charge went through.

BoA claims we “spent” the money because of the huge hold, and they also claim (and have been for months now) that online customers will be able to see said holds the same way they can in India, or wherever my call gets routed to when I call the 800 number.

I say we didn’t spend the money, obviously, because I didn’t *actually* overdraft. Michael is going down to the bank to take care of this… I had him call and I was pissed off from his side of the conversation. I won’t do well in public.

What’s kind of funny is that because of their overdraft fee, I will actually overdraft because I balance down to the dollar and my bills are about to all go to their respective places to be paid.

Can I toll you how much I hate the bank? Any bank.

Never before in the 48-year history of presidential debates has a candidate begun his substantive remarks, as Obama did, by starkly declaring, “I think everybody knows now we are in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.” Yet as a first-term senator — a candidate whose meteoric rise has been fueled by his opposition to the Iraq war, his charisma and his life story — Obama did a masterly job of coming across as the candidate of economic reassurance.

Bill Clinton — who overwhelmed George H.W. Bush in the first town-meeting debate in 1992 — was the unquestioned master at feeling (or feigning) the pain of an individual voter. But Obama and McCain had the much more difficult challenge of feeling the pain of an entire economy. In one of his strongest moments — even though it was unlikely to make the morning-after highlight reels — Obama explained the credit crunch in a way that even the most economically unsophisticated voter could understand:

“The credit markets are frozen up and what that means … is that small businesses and some large business just can’t get loans. If they can’t get a loan, that means that they can’t make payroll … If you imagine just one company trying to deal with that, now imagine a million companies all across the country.”

Looking at the debate purely in political terms obscures the reality that much of what both candidates are saying about the economy is only tangentially connected to the worldwide financial crisis. Middle-class tax cuts, Obama’s favorite balm, would not lift America out of a deep recession or do much to restore retirement accounts devastated by the stock-market dive. McCain was even further off the mark with his proposal for an “across-the-board freeze” on government spending — defense, of course, excluded. McCain’s green-eyeshade approach to economic calamity suggests that he lives in an alternative universe where the economic-stimulus lessons of John Maynard Keynes have never been demonstrated.

A debate for sobering times | Salon News.

I actually did not watch this debate, so I am depending on what I’ve read. This article sums up about how I thought it would go though. I’ve copied out a few choice paragraphs from the article.

(CNN) — Walter Marino shouted to his 12-year-old son, Christopher, as he drifted farther away in the Atlantic Ocean.

A Coast Guard crew found Christopher three miles away from where his father was rescued.

A Coast Guard crew found Christopher three miles away from where his father was rescued.

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“To infinity,” the father yelled.

“And beyond,” Christopher replied.

After a rip current swept the boy and his father out to sea Saturday, darkness fell, and the sound of rescue helicopters and boats grew faint until they were nonexistent.

Despite the danger, Christopher, who has autism, was enjoying himself, his father said. The boy lacks a fear of death because of his autism and finds comfort in the water, Marino told CNN.

Marino finds comfort in his son. Their unique circumstances helped keep them alive for more than 12 hours in the open ocean, Marino said.

To infinity and beyond: A sparkling survival story – CNN.com.

I have this, and one after it. How amazing. It would have been amazing with any child, but especially so with a mostly non-verbal child. I’ve spent time with non-verbal kids, and it’s hard, nigh on impossible, when you aren’t treading water in the middle of the ocean. This is nothing short of miraculous.

BBC NEWS | Business | Crude oil price drops below $106.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be so excited, especially after reading they anticipate it soaring back up, and past the low 100′s to over 250$ per barrel. But I am. We had to get gas yesterday, and it was as low as 3.679$, and I got a full tank of gas for less than 90$.

I will be the firs to admit, I don’t quite understand why gas has soared so high. I understand just fine that we’re having troubles (understatement much?) with suppliers/supply areas, and I understand it’s a limited resource. I also noted that on the pump yesterday there was a note that said “between 1% and 10% ethanol,” so why can’t we mix it a little more and bring the prices down a little more too?

I also know bio-fuel is equally as bad as oil-fuel (well, it’s still bio, isn’t it? How misleading!) but for different reasons.

So much to digest… It doesn’t help that I am operating on too little sleep, trying to think about this stuff it giving me a bit of a headache right now.

I was recently reading that bio-fuel (corn based) causes problems with the land, can cause more pollution in production and shipping, can cause poverty (I must say, that one is still beyond me, but let’s skip it for now), and a handful of other major problems.

I’ve said it before, I literally screwed myself into the need for a large car/van. I have three kids, all in carseats. Show me a smaller, fuel-efficient car that can safely seat them and doesn’t cost a fortune and I’ll jump on board! Until then, I have a minivan I can mostly afford (and owe more on than it’s worth, so no trading it in for a new vehicle) that isn’t as bad as some on gas, but not as good as others.

AAA had an article on hybrid vs. some other smallish car (I think it was a Hyundai) and the numbers over five years had the non-hybrid come out ahead in fuel efficiency and cost, so if you are looking at a hybrid to cost less… don’t. If you are looking at a hybrid to be easier on the environment, go for it!

Tangent there. Told ya I wasn’t awake.

Featured Windows Download: Mazzick Puts Mouse Gestures on Your Thumb Drive.

Neat little thing. Too bad it’s Windows only but I use a lot of keyboard shortcuts, so I don’t know that I’d find it especially useful… I just think it’s neat. I’m sure I’d have a plethora of shortcuts, especially since I use a trackpad on my laptop. You know, if I could use it on a Mac. I also expect it would lose that “new” pretty quick, so it might not get used all that much afterall…

I stand by it being neat.

I don’t want to go work the night shift somewhere for minimum wage. It’s just not worth it for me. I’m not saying it’s not worth it to some other family, but minimum wage isn’t enough for me to justify a job. A couple of bucks over minimum isn’t either.

This was a perfect job. Benefits, 401K after a year, gas allowance, reasonable hours and something I enjoy (most of the time) doing.

No one is spending, which means our income dropped a lot. This position pretty much replaced Michael’s income, so his current income would have been extra, not only.

I feel kind of like a failure. Don’t rush to lift me up. I don’t feel like a failure as a person or as a mother, or even as a provider. I can’t pinpoint what I failed ot, unless it was the interview in general. I know I can do what the job was for… did I not hide my ears well enough? Should I have not bothered? Did my tattoos pop out? Did I go overboard being all conservative (they weren’t) or was my hair too red? Is it something that I can fix or was it just me?

I have been mostly obsolete for a while. I know it. I don’t do flash or any of the new technology. I don’t have any other marketable skills. I don’t craft often enough or well enough or unique enough to sell my stuff. I don’t have Stevie’s resolve to “get out there and do it and do it big and make it work” or maybe I just don’t have the passion for whatever “it” is.

I find myself often posting about “it.” It would be fantastic to know what “it” is. Some days I feel like all I am cut out for is being a mom, a housewife. Frankly, I’m not so good at that. My house is a sty. I can’t keep white tile clean with little children spilling and tracking shit all over it. I can’t keep up on the laundry. The only thing I can do consistently is put a home cooked meal on the table. There are still nights the kids get PB&J because they don’t like what I’ve made. That’s their own problem, not mine. I’m not a short order cook (I’ve been one before, I didn’t like it when I got paid for it, I sure as shit ain’t doing it at home).

Meh. I guess I cared more than I thought about this job.. I knew I was excited about it, but I didn’t realize how much I had vested in it personally. I am not actively looking for a job. I applied for all the local ones a bit ago and didn’t hear back – I’m not really qualified for a lot of them because I don’t know ASP or other various languages. This one fell into my lap and I feel like I barely missed it, but it was enough.