The corporate state knows what is coming. Globalization is breaking down. Our natural resources are being depleted. Economic and political upheavals are inevitable. And our corporate rulers are preparing a world of masters and serfs, a world where repression will be our daily diet, a world of hunger and riots, a world of brutal control and a world where our spirits must be broken.

— A Victory for All of Us

Section 1021 of NDAA ruled unconstitutional

U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest, in a 68-page opinion, ruled Wednesday that Section 1021 of the NDAA was unconstitutional. It was a stunning and monumental victory. With her ruling she returned us to a country where—as it was before Obama signed this act into law Dec. 31—the government cannot strip a U.S. citizen of due process or use the military to arrest him or her and then hold him or her in military prison indefinitely.

The corporate state will return to its agenda of establishing a police state. I wonder what will be their next attempt to undermine the core values of the humans living in the United States.

These are the visions of a Suburban Renaissance Man who sat one day upon his deck listening to the frogs in the lake. Upon deep reflections of many matters he soon found himself seeking a number of mutually dependent outcomes, all fused together into a workable Plan, including:

• 1) increase employment for Department of Cleaning workers, who are men from the county work farm who wear orange coveralls with the letters DOC printed on the uniform. These Department of Cleaning workers are hired by the city to go about in the woods surrounding the city lakes and:
  • exercise the authority granted unto them by the city forester
  • remove anything dangerous to the public including any imported noxious weed trees (like buckthorn) blocking the new growth of Minnesota ancestral woods
  • remove poisonous plants
  • remove plants with painful stickers
  • pick up trash
  • improve pathways
  • generally make the lakeshore more habitable to wild life and photographers
• 2) organize lakeshore homeowners to hire the City of Woodbury forester and DOC crew to remove buckthorn and such items as they deem worthy of cutting down, chipping up, and hauling to the local Biomass Input Facility
• 3) help build a local community biomass and coal gasification plant which produces enough liquid fuel to satisfy the needs of about fifty thousand (50K) humans

Upon returning to the singing of the frogs on the lake, which had prompted the man’s digression into the lakeshore homeowners needs of the city pursuant to maintaining the lakeshore in a manner conducive to wildlife and photographers, the man pondered the matter further and began to wonder where does the buckthorn and bio-mass go when they enter the gasification plant?

Where the Bio-mass Goes During Gasification

It turns out the biomass is shredded, pulverized, and gasified, along with sewage, coal powder, and other such hydrocarbon chains chains, down into hydrogen atoms and carbon monoxide molecules . . . but hold on there anybody that interested can go read about it at wikipedia. See wikipedia/Gasification.

The best peaceengine article to date is peaceengine.com/coal to liquid fuel plastics and concrete.

Gasification is a thermo-chemical process in which carbonaceous (carbon-rich) feedstocks such as coal, petro-coke, or biomass are converted into a gas consisting of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (and lesser amounts of carbon dioxide and other trace gases) under oxygen depleted, high pressure, high-heat and/or steam conditions. The resulting gaseous compound is called Syngas.

19-img_0574-three-yellow-cups-of-red

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Picture 19 of 35

April 28, 2012 at Como Park Conservatory, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Three Yellow Cups of Red

It was a rainy day in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was a good day to hang out indoors at the Como Park Conservatory. These flowers were photographed in the flower room. This photo is a favorite in this gallery. It would make a nice painting.

Turning Microsoft Word Into WordPress

I was working on a birthday post for my son and ran into a bit of a hassle getting a post out of Microsoft Word and into my blog. See Son 33 Birthday for the URL in question. Those notes follow.

Let me add some working notes to this document so that I can keep track of what is happening. I can remove them later or maybe work these notes into something interesting.

My signature is 33 points in size. The basic text is point size 11. The problem is the signature comes through in plain text preceded by a string of HTML. I want to get this post onto my blog peaceengine.com website in a timely manner, so I am simply going to copy this writing directly from Microsoft Word and paste it into my blog to see what happens.

Well, that did not work worth a darn. Let me open the .html file version in Dreamweaver and see what it looks like . . . (time passes) . . . boy, that is quite a travail because Word fills a document with lots of HTML text that I had to trim away . . . (time passes) . . . I am at the level where I can type into the document in raw HTML.

WORDPRESS POST

Now when I finally post the raw HTML into WordPress and look at the preview I can see that the signature is not appearing properly. Dang it and tarnation. I’ll have to ask my son if he can see what I am doing wrong. It is kind of weird. The font comes through in Dreamweaver and shows just fine on my local host.

THE RESOLUTION OF THE FONT PROBLEM

<span style=”margin-left:144px;font-size: 33.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: ‘Curlz MT’, cursive;”>Dad</span>

Dad

My Dearest Son,

Happy Birthday to you! It is your 33^rd birthday. Every birthday is a day of celebration. Yours is special to me because every year’s passing marks the very first moment of time when I held you in my hands. It was a few moments after your first breath. I will carry that memory in my heart until the moment of my last breath. I love you,

Dad

It took me a while to get one monitor to work with the ASUS HD 9650 video card in blacktortoise. It took a while to figure out the port configuration.

Laying the card on its side with the fans on top, at the base are 4 DisplayPort connectors and above those are 2 DVI ports. The DVI port to the left (labeled VGA) is a Single Link DVI-I port whereas the one to the right (closest to the motherboard connector) is a Dual Link DVI-D port, as indicated by the engravings to the side. The DVI-I port can be used with a VGA adaptor for legacy devices that are limited to analog signals. The DVI-D port shares bandwidth with the DisplayPort below it and thus the switch allows users to configure the two. The DisplayPorts support the latest 1.2 standard. The main advantage of the new DisplayPort standard is the double bandwidth over the previous 1.1 ports, taking it from 10.8Gbps to 21.6Gbps. In real world applications, it means that a single port can support up to 2 2560×1600 monitors and 4 1920×1200 monitors through daisy chaining or by using an MST hub. If a hub isn’t available and daisy chaining not feasible, the 6 ports can still support up to 6 displays in Eyefinity as illustrated at the back of the box. The higher bandwidth of the DP is also relied on for AMD’s new 3D stereoscopy initiative. See article “ASUS HD6950 2GB DirectCU II Review” for an excellent writeup.

(*1) BEWARE: There is a switch on the card that merely switches the dual link DVI port on the I/O panel to a Single Link port and “unlocks” one of the four DisplayPorts linked to it, thereby turning the Dual Link DVI into a Single Link DVI & DisplayPort connector by sharing the bandwidth. This makes the switch an ideal addition for those interested in multi-monitor usage. The obvious disadvantage is that users can’t switch to a second BIOS for potential unlocking. Study the above mentioned URL for a picture and fuller explanation. Per the diagram, sliding the switch (I used a round wooden toothpick) towards the fans changes it to a single link DVI.

Dual Monitor Connection

Two monitors works fine with two DVI ports connected to two monitors. As soon as I connect one of the DisplayPorts to the 2nd monitor it goes dark and what was monitor 1 becomes monitor 2. There is something off about the connection. Currently my link is comprised of two parts:

• ($16.00) StarTech DisplayPort to HDMI Video Adapter Converter DP2HDMI2 DisplayPort to HDMI Interface
• ($4.11) Rosewill 6 ft. High Speed HDMI Cable Model
  RC-6-HDM-MM-BK

Researching the matter led me to the article:

• the article BisLinkTech DisplayPort explains the new digital display interface standard put forth by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). DisplayPort will be the next generation digital interface designed to replace VGA, LVDS and DVI.

I suspect that I must get an active connector for DisplayPort of swap out the monitors for display port models. One thread says “it has to be a dual active adapter to go from DisplayPort to HDMI”. Another says “It is likely that your adapter is a passive DisplayPort adapter. You need an active adapter to be able to run more than two displays off of one card.”. Further research turned up some interesting information:

• At the StarTech website I found “DisplayPort to DVI Video Adapter Converter” which says Supporting display resolutions of up to 1920×1200 allowing you to take full advantage of single link DVI capability. DP2DVI2 is a passive adapter that requires a DP++ port (DisplayPort++), meaning that DVI and HDMI signals can also be passed through the port.
• which led me to “DisplayPort to DVI Active Adapter” The DP2DVIS DisplayPort to DVI Active Single Link adapter lets you connect your DisplayPort video source (desktop PC, laptop, etc.) to a DVI-D monitor, projector or display eliminating the expense of having to upgrade to a DisplayPort-capable monitor. Unlike passive adapters, this DisplayPort-DVI converter offers an active conversion for use with any DisplayPort output – ideal for graphics cards that are not capable of outputting multi-mode DP++ signals (e.g. ATI Eyefinity). Supporting resolutions up to 1920×1200, this compact device provides a simple solution for converting DisplayPort output for compatibility with existing DVI monitors, televisions or projectors.
• I finally found a forum that pretty much explains what is going on at TechReport “Eyefinity Help Please” which explains that unless the video card has what’s called a “DisplayPort++” connector, you need to make sure the DisplayPort to DVI adapter you get is an “active” adapter. In a nutshell: DisplayPort++ is capable of putting out signals which are compatible with both DisplayPort and DVI displays, so with DP++ all you need is a simple cable adapter that wires the correct signals from one connector to the other. Standard DisplayPort (without the ++) is not capable of putting out DVI signals, so you need a more expensive adapter which has electronics in it to convert DisplayPort signals to DVI signals.

Buy

I priced Amazon and Newegg and will buy them from Newegg because of the $8 lower price — $27 StarTech DP2DVIS DisplayPort to DVI Active Adapter. I loved the “awsome” 5 out of 5 eggs review

“running 4 of them on ASUS eah6950 card running 6 monitors they work great Great value as well”

Talk about serendipity.

Connecting the Monitor Display

Upon finishing the Black Tortoise build I installed the ASUS HD 6950 video card, connected the displayport to HDMA adapter to the card, connected the HDMI cable to the adapter and the monitor, and booted up. NOTHING appeared on the screen.

I thought this was probably caused by the lack of video graphics adapter drivers so I removed the 6950 and installed the ASUS 5450 Silent video graphics card, attached the HDMI cable, booted up, and still NOTHING appeared on the monitor. With a heavy sigh I went downstairs and rummaged up an old VGA cable which I connected from the 6950 to the ASUS VS248 monitor, booted up and SUCCESS:

Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

Reboot Into BIOS Setup

Upon rebooting I pressed the DEL key and booted into the Advanced Mode BIOS. It showed me that my SATA cables are not organized correctly, no thanks to ASUS for not providing a layout of the 6 SATA connectors.
Reading ports from bottom to top they are:
CPU
5 6 MB
2 4 MB
1 3 MB
SATA6G_E1 ASUS 12X Blu-ray Writer BW-12B1ST
The drives are arranged top to bottom in the drive bays as depicted below. NOTE: The following list is only visible when ports are configured AHCI.

• SATA6G_1 WDC WD2002FAEX (2000.3GB)
• SATA6G_2 WDC WD2002FAEX (2000.3GB)
• SATA6G_3 WDC WD2002FAEX (2000.3GB)
• SATA6G_4 Not Present
• SATA6G_5 Corsair Force (120.0GB)
• SATA6G_6 Corsair Force (120.0GB)

As instructed on page 4-39 of the ASUS “Crosshair V Formula Series Motherboard User Guide” manual (herinafter referred to as the “USER GUIDE”, I reboot and performed following instructions.

• Enter the BIOS Setup during POST
• Go to Advanced menu > SATA Configuration
• Set the SATA Port1 – Port4 item to [RAID]
• Set the SATA Port5 – Port6 item to [RAID]
  There appears to be a defect in the BIOS in that ports 5 and 6 cannot be set to RAID unless ports 1 to 4 are set to RAID first. Maybe this is something I do not understand about SATA drive setup but I thought it was weird.

Now set the boot order by going into Boot > Hard Drive BBS priorities.
BIOS Exit menu: Save Changes & Reset

Configure RAID Drives

Reboot and enter the CTRL-F AMD Option ROM utility when prompted during booting. This option is presented because RAID was configured. Running the utility as explained in section 4.4 of the USER GUIDE results in two RAID drives:

I rebooted and set the Boot to go to BOOTSSD.

Run the ASUS Support DVD

Upon inserting the ASUS Support DVD into the Blu-ray drive I see:

ISOLINUX 3.20 2006-08-26 isolinux: Found something at drive = F2
isolinux: Found someting at drive = A0
Copyright (C) 1994-2005 H. Peter Anvin
A Bootable DVD/CD is detected. Press ENTER to boot from the DVD/CD.
If no key is pressed within 5 seconds, the system will boot from next priority device automatically.boot:
Booting from local disk…

Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

Pressing ENTER twice I see

+ Rev.1.1 +
+———+
1) AMD AHCI 32/64bit WinXP Driver
2) AMD RAID 32/64bit WinXP Driver
3) FreeDOS command prompt
Please choose 1 ~ 3:

I proceed into FreeDOS to find the ASSETUP.EXE file to run from the DVD as instructed by implication on page 4-1 of the USER GUIDE. Arrgh! Long story short, I bailed on that because FreeDOS couldn’t find the Blu-ray drive. I ended up copying the file from another machine so I have it available during the Windows 7 install. The reading I have done tells me I may end up bagging the RAID but first I want to see how Windows handle it.

Get ASUS RAID Drivers

As the fallback if needed I went to the ASUS download site and grabbed a copy of the current drivers just in case.

• Version 3.2.1540.92/1.2.1.29
• AMD AHCI Driver V3.2.1540.92 for Windows XP 32bit & 64bit.(WHQL)
• AMD AHCI Driver V1.2.1.292 for Windows Vista/7 32bit & 64bit.(WHQL)
• AMD RAID Driver V3.2.1540.92 for Windows XP/Vista/7 32bit & 64bit.(WHQL)

Boot Windows 7 DVD

Upon booting to the Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit software DVD, within short order, I was asked “to install the device driver needed to access your hard drive, insert the installation media containing the driver files, then click OK.” I loaded the ASUS motherboard CD and Windows couldn’t find them. I got the popup

No signed device drivers were found. Make sure that the installation media contains the correct drivers, and then click OK.

So I clicked Browse and located them on the USB memory stick. It found what I had downloaded from the ASUS website:

AMD AHCI Compatible RAID Controller (C:x64 downloadahcix64s.inf)
and when I unchecked the hide button I saw AMD RAID Console (C:x64 downloadahcix64s.inf)

I selected the compatible driver and things appeared to work. At least it brought up the following list which appears to be derived from the disk boot order set in the BIOS.:

• Disk 1 Unallocated Space 221.7 GB
• Disk 2 Unallocated Space 3725.3 GB

I selected Disk 1 (RAIDSSD RAID 0 SSD drives).

ASUS Driver Install

I installed the ASUS Crosshair V Formula motherboard support for Windows 7 64 Bit drivers.

• Google Toolbar
• Google Chrome Browser
• AMD Chipset Driver
• Realtek Audio Driver
• Intel LAN Driver
• USB 3.0 Driver
• Asmedia SATA Controller Driver

On reboot I get the message:

Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

I decided I must reinstall Windows 7 and everything has worked OK since then.

As if my life is not busy enough, I have decided that it is time for me to find a new WordPress theme for my peaceengine.com blog. This post records that journey and the resulting decision.

Blog Theme Search

First I searched for sites that recomended companies providing various WordPress themes. I found themegrade.com especially helpful. Their page combines the ratings in the 3 categories and reveals the top 10 theme providers who develop elegant WordPress themes. Their #1 overall pick was ElegantThemes so, given their high rating in all categories, I decided to begin there. They were ranked #1 in Theme Graphic Design, #2 in Theme Functionality and Usability, and #3 in Theme Coding, which coincidentally matched the weight I assigned to the categories themselves.

I very much liked that ElegantThemes license is GPL for PHP, XHTML and JS files. I was troubled by the non-GPL license for CSS and theme images but figured I’d wait and see how that played out. Elegantthemes $39 per year fee for unlimited download and use of all themes seemed reasonable and affordable.

ElegantThemes Evaluation

I decided to study the top few themes in order of their overall rankings and record my thoughts:

• Using the ThemeGrade rating list as a guide I explored ElegantThemes. For the most part the descriptive phrasing is straight from the ElegantThemes gallery comments.
• InterPhase is a beautiful, clean design that maintains a “cutting edge” feel without loosing its sense of professionalism.
• Evolution is ElegantThemes first fully responsive design. What makes the theme so special is its ability to adapt to various screen size. Shrinking the browser size during live preview demonstrates this ability.
• Coldstone offers a unique blend of grungy and professional elements.

This matter is explained in more detail:

• at Making Home Affordable.gov, the official program of the Departments of the Treasury & Housing and Urban Development
• at CBS News “Obama mortgage plan looks dead on arrival”
• at the Huffington Post article “Obama Outlines Mortgage Refinancing Plan”.

My day began with a simple search for photo video LED light solutions that I can use for photography and DSLR movie making. I encountered a heinous attempt by a wannabe monopolist seeking to corner the market on such lighting. Litepanels has filed a 337 complaint to block the import of LED lights in the United States used for film, video or photo. This would give them a monopoly and eliminate all other affordable options for filmmakers.

A Monopolist At Work

I must draw your attention to a blog post titled “Litepanels is trying to block the import and sale of LED photo and video lighting in the US”. Below is a YouTube video titled “Help stop the elimination of affordable LED lighting for film, video and photo”.

In the 337 complaint with the United States International Trade Commission to halt

…the importation into the United States, the sale for importation, and the sale within the United States after importation of certain LED photographic lighting devices and components thereof.

The complaint alleges that listed entities:

…unlawfully import into the U.S., sell for importation, and/or sell within the U.S. after importation certain LED photographic lighting devices, components thereof, and products containing same that infringe certain claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 7,972,022 (the ’022 patent), 7,510,290 (the ’290 patent), 7,429,117 (the ’117 patent), 7,318,652 (the ’652 patent), and 6,948,823 (the ’823 patent)

.

Opposition is mounting:

• On August 5, 2011 Cinescopophilia posts Litepanels File a 337 Complaint, Could Halt Importing LED Panels into USA
• On August 8, 2011 ITCblog posted Litepanels Files New 337 Complaint Regarding Certain LED Photographic Lighting Devices
• A PDF of the filing is availableat the ITCblog
• On August 12, 2011 NextEaveDV posts Litepanels is trying to block the import and sale of LED photo and video lighting in the US
• On September 14, 2011 Cinescopophilia posts IKAN Is Opposing the Litepanels 337 Complaint:
• the list continues for pages based on a Google search on “Litepanels 337″

Photo Video LED Lights

I’ll not besmirch this post with any links to the wannabe monopolists products other than to say that my research shows the monopolist’s competing products appear to about 5 times as expensivs, which rules them out for my experimentation.

Based upon an Internet search of “photo video LED”, my evaluation has identified the following products as worthy of consideration.

• $41 NEEWER® 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable Ultra High Power Panel Digital Camera / Camcorder Video Light, LED Light
• $200 Neewer Dimmable 500 LED Video Photography Panel Light Lighting
• $24 Neewer LED Macro Ring Flash FC100
• $55 PBL LIGHTSTANDS PRO 10′ STUDIO VIDEO SET OF 2 WITH SANDBAGS SPRING CUSHION STANDS