Topics

31

Random / Queston About Posting Multiple Pictures In Order

« on: February 07, 2018, 01:09:04 PM »

I've got a question concerning how to post multiple pictures in order. Lets say I want to post two pictures. I write a message and I'm going to put two pictures in the post. We'll name them Picture #1 and Picture #2 and I will post them in that order.

But when the post is made public for people to see them, will they show up as Picture #1 and Picture #2 or will they be seen as Picture #2 first and then Picture #1 second?

I'm asking because I have 12 pictures which have to be resized first, saved and when seen publicly in a post, they need to be in order.

32

Random / Snow In Southeast Texas

« on: January 17, 2018, 04:55:29 AM »

Where I live in southeast Texas, we don't see snow very often. In fact, it is an oddity. We had the fringes of an arctic front come though late Monday night and combined with an upper level disturbance coming out of New Mexico, it produced some great snow showers Tuesday afternoon. A picture of it is below. BTW, as I type this message, it is 16 degrees F outside. This temperature is an oddity too since last Sunday, it was 68 degrees F.

Texas weather is like a yo-yo in the winter. As cold as it is outside right now, this upcoming Sunday's forecast is for 68 degrees F. One thing about Texas in the wintertime. If you don't like the weather, wait a day or two.  Now for that snow shower photo.

33

SUP Gear Reviews / Newly Acquired / On Order / Custom SUP Sports "One World"

« on: December 07, 2017, 12:45:26 PM »

I decided my custom 8'11" x 30" x 4" @ 140 liters Hammer, which was designed for sup surfing, needed a big sister. A big sister for mostly flat water paddling, with an eye to do a something off the wall ever now and then, for a little sup surfing.

Since I'm in Texas; today I "pulled the trigger" and ordered a custom SUP Sports "One World" for lots of leisurely (and the key word is "leisurely") flat water paddling on our area lakes (Woodlands, Conroe, Livingston & private subdivision lake where I live) and when the mood hits me, for some coastal cruising and if the waves are right, a little sup surfing down at Surfside, Texas. After talking with WarDog (Warren) over the phone, her specs are going to be: 11'1" X 30" X 4.5" @ 173 liters. This volume should be perfect for my 145 lb physical size and the width will be good for my cranky lower back since narrower width sups affect my lower back balance wise. It will have ballis tech vacuum bagged construction.

Since a production made 11'1" One World comes with 3 Futures fin boxes, my custom built One World will have 5 Futures fin boxes. All of the fin boxes will be white in color. BTW, the long 10" fin box will be adjustable. I ordered 6 fins and they are: (1, 9"), (2, 5"), (2, 4") and (1, 2.25" stubnub). With 6 fins, I can experiment with different wind and water conditions on our area lakes where I live as well as surf wave conditions when I take the OW down to the upper Texas coast (Crystal Beach, Galveston & Surfside). There will also be two leash plugs.

Texas is a hot state temperature and heat index wise where the months of July and August are quite hot where we have many 100 degrees F plus days where the heat index can reach temperatures of between 108-112 degrees F so it will have two vent plugs. A nice top black colored 3mm thick deck pad with a rear kick pad. There will be no decorative cut outs in the pad either. The grip is going to be a Blue Planet Sup Grip and it will be installed "offset" from the middle of the board so as to not harm the stringer. It will have clear colored "Rail Pro" for the rails too. The rails will be thinned out so the rails will be 60/40.

The deck pad will be covering a light colored bamboo. The bottom of the sup will have no bamboo and it will be solid orange in color and so will the rails. It should be a strikingly good looking (the cat's meow) sup. And the whole setup, with pad and 5 fins installed (2, 5"), (2, 4"), (1, 2.25") should come in at around 24 lbs.

I will be looking forward to riding her once our water temperature reaches 66 degrees F, which is my comfort zone for both fresh and saltwater and which should be around the third week in March of 2018 since I don't wear a wet or dry suit. Just a long sleeve shirt, shorts and water shoes.

34

Random / Fall-Christmas Tree

« on: November 09, 2017, 09:42:25 AM »

Fall is my wife's favorite time of the year. She loves all the holiday gatherings in Fall like Halloween, Thankgiving, Christmas although Christmas is technically in winter. Anyhow, we bought a 7' tall artificial christmas tree in 1979 and it is still going strong 38 years later.

My wife likes to bring the tree down usually in the first 10 days of November when a nice cool weather front passes. As an example, last week we hit a high of 90 degrees and inside the attic it was about 105 degrees and that is with two electric attic fans switched on. Yesterday the high temperature was 57 degrees so it was time to venture into the attic and bring the tree down from the attic so she could create a Fall tree. Below is a picture of it with it's mini amber lights and fall decorations on it.

Once December arrives, she take all the fall colored lights and ornaments off, change out the lights and put christmas ornaments so we'll have a nice Christmas tree. The original picture was sent from her iPad to my email account and it was very large and I had to rotate the picture 90 degrees to the left. I just hope it shows up correctly.

35

Random / Bed Frames & Mattresses

« on: October 30, 2017, 08:07:12 AM »

Part 1

My orthopedic surgeon takes care of me and my wife since we both have lower back problems. She doesn't have any shoulder problems, but I've now had my left and right shoulder joints operated by him.

When I had my right shoulder joint operated on, on March 29th, 2017; when I awoke in the Recovery room, a nurse brought in my wife and my surgeon showed up about 5 minutes after my wide did. My surgeon told me wife the king size mattress we were both sleeping, that mattress was good for my wife, but not for anymore since it was going to be too firm on my right shoulder since I sleep on my right shoulder. In other words, separate bedrooms because of different mattresses. My wife said she understood.

Sitting in the parked car in the parking lot of the medical facility, my wife told me she could convert the 16' x 12" computer/bedroom to a miniature man cave since it had a full size bed already in it. But, she wanted a new bed frame. I told her if we get a new bed frame, I wanted lots of storage space underneath the bed. She asked me how much storage space? I told her from the bottom of the bed rail to the floor, I would like (hope) to get 12" of space. She agreed.

Since she was driving and I had a nerve block from surgery which was going to wear off in 24 hours so at that time I was in no pain, I told her to drive over to Macy's and see what they had in stock. She looked at me and said, "You've only been out of surgery for 75 minutes and you want to go to Macy's now? I said, "Absolutely". She said to me, "You're insane". And I replied back, "Yeah, ain't it cool". So she drove us over to Macy's.

In the Bedroom section of Macy's they must have had 80 bed frames and not one of them had the storage space I wanted. The sales lady who was helping us, she looked at me and said, "How much do you weigh"? At that time, I weighed 147 lbs. She told me she thinks she has what I wanted in the Kids Section. So we all went over to the Kids Section and she was right.

The model bed I spied was named the "Irvine" and it was a bed that had two height settings. The Irvine bed I was looking at in front of me was at the highest height setting. From the bottom of the bed rail to the floor was (13.5"). Lots of storage space for all of my "stuff" if you get my drift. But since I'm detailed oriented, I wanted to know the height, from the top of the slats to the floor and that distance was (15"). I needed to know this height because with a box spring and a new mattress, I needed to know the distance in inches from the top of the unknown mattress, at this time, to the floor. And since this was a kids bed frame, there were 19 slats to support a box spring and mattress set.

Anyway, the Irvine model was on sale. Regular price was $699, but it was on sale for $499. I asked the sales lady if she had this model in stock, new in the box and if so, did Macy's deliver? She said there was one new in stock and Macy's did deliver. So I bought it. Macy's delivered the Irvine bed frame to my home two days later.

The picture of this model is in the link below. Once on the page, to the left of the photo, click on the second thumbnail from the top and you will see this bed frame with the storage chest at the foot of the bed and the pull out storage compartment under the bed frame. I didn't buy the storage chest or the pull out storage compartment. All I was wanted was the bed frame. In the second thumbnail from the top, just take a look at the bottom of the rail to the floor and imagine all the empty space under this bed frame.

https://www.macys.com/shop/product/irvine-kids-bed-full-bed?ID=1092658

Part 2 was my quest for my new mattress which will be in my second post.

36

Random / Sometimes Trouble Getting To Sleep

« on: October 27, 2017, 04:59:34 AM »

Every now and then, when I'm doing research on various topics and/or when a decision needs to be made and I can't make that decision right then, it might carry over to the next day. When that happens, sometimes I can't go to sleep that night. In other words, the info in my mind "races all night long" and keeps me awake.

When that happens, I've found "sound tones/frequencies" will put me to sleep. I can get to sleep within 15 minutes with a 10 Hz binaural beat.  An example of this is at the YouTube video link further on down in this post below.

What I do is turn on my computer, go to the link down at the end of this post and adjust the volume. If the volume is too low and I can't hear it, it won't put me to sleep. If the volume is too high, it will keep me awake. The volume has to be in "my comfort zone".

Once the volume is set for me, I go into my Pictures folder and in there, I have a solid black colored picture which I set as my Desktop. Then I minimize the website page to my Panel Taskbar. My power settings make my 27" monitor go to sleep in 28 minutes and my hard drive will go to sleep at the 30 minute mark. So far, I've been able to go to sleep before my monitor and hard drive go to sleep.

BTW, this video will run for almost 8 hours and this is why I have to set my power settings for my computer and monitor.

37

Gear Talk / Indoor-Outdoor Paddleboard Rack

« on: October 27, 2017, 04:37:12 AM »

I've have my Hammer sup stored horizontally on two sawhorses, pad side down, in my garage. But this takes up a lot of space. I still want to store it horizontally, but on one of it's rails (pad side facing me). If a sup is stored this way, will it damage it's rail over a long period of time?

I'm asking because I found an indoor/outdoor paddleboard rack and a picture of it is at the link below. I'd modify it a little by putting more padding where the rail rests. BTW; to the left of the picture, if you click on the "video" button, you'll see a streaming video of the rack.

https://www.storeyourboard.com/2-sup-paddleboard-floor-stand/

38

Gear Talk / Ledge Style Carry Handle

« on: October 24, 2017, 08:09:38 AM »

With my now two surgically repaired shoulders, I'm considering purchasing a ledge style carry handle. And I need to know where I can purchase one. It was easy to find a picture of one, but when I click on the link to it, it usually gives me a sup board with it already attached. And on that website, it does not list the ledge handle for purchase.

The Liftsup handle, like Sunova uses, is not for me. I don't like to carry my sup, especially if it is a long distance and over 23 pounds, like a "lunch pail" since it might put a strain on my shoulder joints.

I've looked at the Blue Planet Sup Grip and I think it is too wide (and might catch my small toes since it has two openings when I'm paddling barefoot) if the handle grip is not centered on the board, as in off centered.

So the ledge style carry handle might be the best for me since I can get all of my fingers, where my fingers connect to the palm of my hand, in the grip and carry a board a long distance without straining my fingers tips up to my second knuckle on the standard sup carry handles.

Below is picture of what I'm looking for and hope I can remember how to post a picture.

39

Gulf States / Streaming Webcam Video For Surfside, Tx

« on: September 29, 2017, 07:04:17 AM »

Most of the upper Texas coast has small waves because the it is very shallow coming towards the beach. One can find waves that are between knee high to waist high in height with the occasional chest high wave.

There are lots of webcams for the Texas coastline, but the best waves in height are located at Surfside, Tx. The waves at Surfside are usually waist high since it gets deeper quicker than what is usually found on the upper Texas coast so the usual waves are bigger. Unfortunately, there hasn't been any webcam streaming video for Surfside. I have been searching high and low for any webcam streaming video for Surfside. My quest for this endeavor has been going on for at least 2 years. But yesterday, I struck GOLD.

I don't know if this is a new website or not, but I have not run across the Saltwater Recon site before. This site lists a few webcam streaming videos too and one of them is for Surfside. One can actually change the camera position too. Left click on the camera icon in the corner of the bottom right side of the window and if it is your turn, the position change will appear at the corner of the top of the right side window.You have one minute of time to change the camera positions.

My favorite position for this camera is the "Surfside Beach Zoom". So play around with the controls.

http://www.saltwater-recon.com/surfside-cam/

40

SUP General / SUP Paddler Rescues Little Boy From Floodwater: Tropical Storm Harvey (Houston)

« on: August 28, 2017, 08:26:48 PM »

Found this photo in the Associated Press News.

Alexendre Jorge evacuates Ethan Colman, age 4, from a neighborhood inundated by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Monday, Aug 28th, 2017 in Houston, Texas.

41

Random / Photobucket's New Policy for Posting Images on Sites To Cost $399.00/year

« on: June 30, 2017, 11:41:14 AM »

I ran across this article on Ghacks pointing out Photobucket's new policy to allow images to be posted to 3rd party sites. In my mind this includes the Zoner site. The Ghacks link is below.

https://www.ghacks.net/2017/06/30/photobucket-now-charges-399-for-third-party-hosted-images/

As an experiment, I'm going to try and post a photo I have in my Photobucket library and see if it works or doesn't work. The photo will be of a seafoam green colored Sup Sports Hammer.



Looks like it still works since I can see it in my preview and in this post which everyone can see.

42

Random / 5 Ways To Disable Skype From Automatic Login At Outlook.com

« on: June 27, 2017, 07:02:40 AM »

A few weeks ago Microsoft made a policy change in Outlook.com with regards to a person's Inbox withoug notifying me. They divided it into "Focus/Other" and it didn't sit well with me because all of my important emails like tracking numbers for packages went into the "Other" heading. And it wouldn't allow me to move it into the "Focus" heading. I eventually changed it back through "Settings".

Last night's irritation with (Outlook.com). Everytime when I access my Hotmail email account through Outlook.com, after about 15 seconds, Outlook by default always makes me "Available" while I'm in Outlook.com and I've always had to change the setting to "Invisible". But last night, when I changed the setting to "Invisible", after about 20 seconds of time, Outlook changed my "Invisible" setting back to "Available".

This irritated me to no end. So I surfed the internet to find a way to keep me PERMANENTLY invisible all the time when I log in without messing with the settings anymore which don't seem to work by design or maybe Microsoft's Outlook servers where "forgetting things" last night.

Anyhow I did find the solution. It works both in Windows 7 which is my backup operating system (and it should work in Windows 8/8.1/10) and also in Linux Mint. The link is below.

https://www.raymond.cc/blog/disable-outlook-automatically-login-messenger/

In Windows 7, one needs to access the Hosts file and type in this address (which is below) then save it and then exit the Hosts file:

0.0.0.0 swx.cdn.skype.com

BTW, there is a space between the number "0" and "swx".

In Linux Mint there is a utility program installed by default under the Systems setting named, "Domain Blocker". Once in the Domain Blocker window, left click "Add" then type in the rectangular box:

swx.cdn.skype.com

Then click "OK" and exit the Domain Blocker.

This will make you "permanently" Invisible when you log in to your Outlook.com email account so Microsoft cannot broadcast to others in your Contacts list, who also have a Outlook or Hotmail email address, that you're Available.

You will still be able to receive and send emails through your Outlook or Hotmail email accounts, work in Calendar, etc. And as an added bonus, if you use "One Drive", you'll be permanently invisible there too since I've already checked out everything in this post since these changes have already been installed through my own Linux Mint and Windows 7 operating systems.

Almost forgot, because of changes like this in Outlook which Microsoft just can't seem to quit messing with things and pays no attention to their users, I did get a Gmail email account two weeks ago.

43

Gulf States / New Lake Conroe Sup Paddling Spot

« on: June 19, 2017, 06:56:36 AM »

Yesterday, I googled Lake Conroe (just north of Houston, Tx) to see if there were any streaming webcams of Lake Conroe which might afford me another good place to sup paddle. I found one. It is the area around the Palms Marina on the eastern shore of Lake Conroe. Below is the link to the streaming webcam.

http://www.lakeconroewebcams.com/palms-marina-webcam/

So I took a little trip with my better half for a "look see" of this place and it is a good place to paddle. I found something else too as an added bonus, but I'll leave that for another post since it doesn't belong in this topic thread.

44

Gear Talk / Channels (Grooves) On The Underside Of Sup Boards

« on: June 04, 2017, 09:26:36 AM »

Since my right shoulder operation on Mar 29th, I'm seeing my medical statements finally show up. This little bump in the road has sure put a damper on me ordering another sup at the moment. When all of my medical statements are paid up, I can finally get back to my quest to get another sup. One thing I do have now is lots of time on my hands........for research.

So far my prime candidate for my next sup is a custom Sup Sports "Hammer" 10'6" x 30" x 4" @ 160 liters. Right now, I'm at 147 pounds and think this would be a good leisurely flat water paddler (primary) and should surf the smallish waves, waist to chest high which is "normally" found on the upper Texas coast (Bolivar Peninsula, Galveston, Surfside) which is a (secondary) consideration. I'm not like the rest of you which lean towards performance due to the restrictions placed on me with my two surgically repaired left and right shoulders to go along with a cranky lower back so keep this in mind.

Getting back with "time on my hands for research". On the internet I found some sups from earlier years, circa 2012 where the sups have channels (grooves) from the tail end to halfway up the underside of the board. I understand these grooves help in tracking and also provide more lift in the tail end thereby reducing drag. I could get a longer sup than 10'6" (in the 11' x 30" range) and it would not have a lot of volume because of the channels (grooves) and the configuration of the tail end. Perfect for a flat water paddler to cross the big open water of Lake Conroe (west side to east side) and which should also be able to surf small or big (head or higher) waves when tropical storms close by generate these big waves.

I've found that too little volume is not good for me with my cranky lower back, but the opposite is also true for me which means too much volume is just as bad at my light physical weight. My Hobie ATR 2 at 12'2" x 32" x 4 5/8" @ 238.5 liters was tippy for me which affected my cranky lower back and I attribute this to my light physical weight. This is the main reason why I sold my Hobie. My present "Hammer" 8'11' x 31" x 4" @ 140 liters is very stable for me, does not affect my lower back whether I'm sup surfing or taking a leisurely flat water paddle on the creeks of Lake Conroe where there are no jet skiers or boat traffic due to the large amount of flooded timber in these creeks which stick out of the water.

These channel (groove) type boards appeal to me and I'm not one to follow conventional thinking. But by the year of 2013, these sups seem to have fallen out of favor in the sup community. I need more info. Anyone care to chime in?

45

Random / Hotmail Email & Microsoft's Expired Certificate for Hotmail

« on: May 30, 2017, 05:09:01 AM »

This is basically going to be a two part post.

Part One:

I've had a Hotmail email account since 1999 (before Microsoft purchased Hotmail). But ever since Microsoft bought and now runs Hotmail, I've not been a happy camper with Hotmail. Last week, Microsoft divided my Inbox into two settings and they are "Focus" and "Other". The big pitch with these two settings, Hotmail can learn what is important and is relegated to Focus and what is not important goes into Other.

Unfortunately, just like everything else Microsoft touches these days without user/Hotmail input, my important emails go into Other (like my PDF file which was my confirmation for my newly bought sup paddle and a second email for the tracking number for it and other non related sup things) while my non important emails (deemed non important by Microsoft) go into Focus. I finally figured out by snooping around in the Settings specifically for Options, I could change it back to the way it was before the "Focus" and "Other" BS from Microsoft.

Fast forward to this past Sunday. Since I use Linux as my operating system, the "not so smart" person at Microsoft who runs Hotmail let a certificate expire which means if I use any of my "preferred" linux browsers such as Pale Moon, SeaMonkey or Firefox; I cannot get into my Hotmail account. I have to use a workaround in these three browsers until the dummy at Microsoft in charge of Hotmail, gets off his/her sorry lame butt cheeks and fixes the world wide problem for the above named browsers.

But, there is a jerry rig workaround and it is an easy fix. By surfing all three of my browser's forums, the fix is going into "about:config", acknowledging the risk and then change the following code in my three linux browsers which is below.

"security.ssl.enable_ocsp_stapling" (without the quote marks) and change the default value of "true" to "false" and then I can get into my Hotmail email account.

Part Two:

When Windows 8 came out and I could see the direction Microsoft was going and I didn't want to go into that direction (which proved right for me when Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 were released), this is when I started using linux distros (specifically linux Mint in December of 2012) to transition myself away from the Windows operating system.

With these two latest irritations with Microsoft's Hotmail, I think it is hight time for me to give up my Hotmail email account. I was thinking of getting a Gmail account. My next door neighbor has a Gmail email account and he likes it. Unlike me, he doesn't seem to have any problems or irritations with his Gmail email account. Right now I'm guessing the people at Google (who run Gmail) are a lot smarter than the people at Microsoft (who run Hotmail). So, do any of you have a Gmail email account and have you been satisfied with it?