5/09/2010

Remembering The Fallen

Yesterday as always I picked up a copy of the Daily Times at Wawa. On page five there was an article written by Paul Luce about the tribute at Rose Tree Park honoring the fallen officers from Delco and the surrounding area. It was a well written article, but to the right of it was a list of fallen officers being saluted by the Daily Times. I read the list and immediately noticed one officers name omitted. His name was Officer Dennis McNamara, an Upper Darby police officer who was killed in cold blood by some scumbag named Thomas Campbell.

For the times to "forget" him to me is an insult to the UDPD, the McNamara family, and the citizens of Delaware County. I just hope that the times included his name in today's Sunday Times.

The Meaning of Mothers Day



Another Mother's Day is here.

To me it's just another day, to many women who are Mothers out there it is a special day, a day reserved for them to be pampered and thought of and doted over. Well pamper them I say, but do it in a way that actually means something to them, not just saying "Happy Mother's Day Mom, here's some flowers" and walk away. Maybe spend some time with them while they are still alive, if not, remember all the times you had with Mom and talk about it to someone like a Brother, Sister, Uncle, Aunt, Dad, etc.

Honestly? My beef with Mothers Day is the over commercialization of it, as well as Memorial Day, Fathers Day,Fourth of July, Christmas, Easter, etc. Here's a decent website that actually tells you things to do with Mom, where to take her, how one should admire and respect and love her, and gives tips like "Be thoughtful for your mom always and treat your mother like a princess everyday. That can be the most wonderful gift to your mom."

Years ago, I used to buy Mom some flowers, but when one year she exclaimed to me "Mums are for the dead!", that ended my flower/plant buying days, although I read where Chrysanthemums, or Mums can produce visual hallucinations. In today's screwed up world, not a bad idea, eh?

Seriously, A Happy Happy Mothers Day to all of you "Mothers" out there, may this day shine upon you, bathe you in content, soothe your body, bless your soul, and release all your anxieties. Well it's off to CVS to buy some Cards. Have a great day :)

Cheers.

5/04/2010

Spying for dummies

Ok, not a catchy title to my blog post, but that's what I came up with. I've been "watching" this drama unfold now for months, both online , on TV, and in the paper. Last week I Googled "Laptop Tracking" and came upon an ad from Nside Track, how to find your stolen laptop. I registered on my desktop computer, downloaded the exe file, then transferred it and installed it on my laptop. Needless to say, this program works. And works well. i set it up with my gmail (Google) account  to "Send" me updates, such as screen shots, location, mac address, ip address, and of course, activate the internal web cam and take a picture every one minute. How it works:

The Google map feature located my laptop to within 3 houses of where it is, a feat that I still have yet to figure out. Below is from Nside Track:

  • Track your laptop
  • Receive Google Maps images pinpointing your laptop's location 
  • Take webcam pictures of the thief using your laptop 
  • Take screenshots of the thief's activity on your stolen laptop 
  • No Monthly or Yearly Fees
  • Access your laptop remotely with your cellphone to encrypt folders and files or lock it down
  • Access your stolen laptop remotely from another computer to encrypt folders and files or lock it down 
  • Access your stolen laptop remotely to type a message for your laptop to read aloud at full volume
All of the above works quite well, and for only a one time fee you can license the program for keeps. The only thing i find a bit disturbing about it is that I could have "installed" it on someone else's computer without them even knowing it. My AVG program didn't find it a threat, Windows firewall never asked for a port being open, and the program runs as a service, no icon on your desktop, or in your start up menu.

The possibilities of using this to "spy" on someone are endless! Your husband, wife, kids, boss, girlfriend, boyfriend, enemy, or just about anyone your curious about and can access their computer are all fair game. Recently, Arlen Specter has introduced a bill to include web cam surveillance under the federal wiretap law already in place. In essence, if you use this (or other programs like it) on someone else's computer (Or your own?) it will be considered a felony.

Me? I think it's a great program, technology at it's best. Here is what is sent to me via my email address every minute of every day,(can be adjusted remotely)

FRAN-PC NsideTrack Location Report
Your computer was last seen at lat: 39.950147 long:-75.253389 (+/- 44 meters).


Click map to open Google Maps

Current IP Address: xx.xxx.xx.xx
Currently connected to: FezNetwork(xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx) sig quality: 94
Your computer can see these wireless access points:

Access Point Signal %
FezNetwork 99
JonesFamily 60
leslie 39
2TGA3 24

Current Web Cam Image


Current Screen Shot Image


Cheers..

5/02/2010

Mothers Day 2010

Remember that Mother's Day this year is on Sunday, May 9th. I'll be blogging about this day later.


Cheers.

Water Lily Nightie

P.S. Go buy your wife something nice:)

4/18/2010

The Daily Times Needs YOU!

As I sit here on a half decent Sunday morning, I checked out the Daily Times web site as I usually do every day. I see that Phil Heron, editor of the times is pushing his recruting drive to have local people (like me) to join the ranks of "Community Journalists ". People like Lou Mahlman, Buck Fleming, KatieRose Keenan, Eric Koehler, and Jennifer Hoff have answered the call. My question is: Will the Daily Times staff feel threatened by them? Am I crazy here? Nope, you see the days of print (as in newspapers) journalism are slowly dying, replaced by facebook, myspace, twitter and other online mediums.

Journalist like Alex Rose (Who interviewed me several years ago about our website) have great talent in reporting and commenting on a story. To read it online just isn't the same as sitting in my van in the morning, drinking a Wawa coffee, and reading it on paper. I am afraid (some beg to differ) that the newspaper business is going to the wayside of the typewriter and shoe repairman. Only time will tell.

Oh yeah, and if anyone from Delaware County wants to contribute here? By all means you can contact me at frannyward@yahoo.com . You MUST have a blogger or gmail account because Google bought Blogger and now Google is demanding it. Oh how I miss the typewriter.

Cheers:)


Politics in America (8th Edition)

4/06/2010

The Dodgers

I'm a Dodger. Not a draft Dodger, or a fan of the Dodgers, but a Dodger. It's spring time here in Delaware County and myself like thousands of other drivers are Dodging all the potholes. Do you think upper Darby and Clifton Heights will ever fix the potholes? Maybe by late fall, they"ll get a round to it.

Cheers.

4/01/2010

Getting with the Times?

Well well, I see now that the Daily Times is finally doing what I have been doing now since June of 2004. Blogging about Delaware County, what's on my mind, what I think about this area, the Upper Darby School District, etc. On this blog (I had to recently move it here to blogger because they are canceling FTP to my web site and others in May) we have only two contributors at the moment, Paula Brown and my Wife Elizabeth, who's father "Ace" incidentally worked for the Daily Times for forty years, both are MIA. I don't blame either, as Paula and I may beg to differ on Politicial issues, and Liz just isn't really interested at the moment.

along the way, we have had several bloggers as contributors, ranging from Casey Roncagilone, to Don Roberts, and briefly, Peter Porcupine. But in this day of Facebook and twitter, many people seem to go for the shorter posts, not the blathering like I'm doing right now. I will say that I will be blogging much more this year, voicing my opinions about Upper Darby, Clifton Heights, and in general, Eastern Delaware County. If you would like to join here as a contributor, just shoot me an e mail telling me why you want to blog here and what section of Delco you live in. Just think of it this way. your own little venting ground, where at least 5000 people will read your rants and raves each month.

Cheers.

P.s. Gil? Phil? Your also welcome as well as Alex.

3/30/2010

inspiring poems - About Me

Inspiring poems - About Me Robbie MacNeal

The Bazaar of All Nations in Clifton Heights Documentary

Glad to see this finally came online. I've been following it on Facebook now for a few months.

By Matt Hasson

Town Talk Correspondent


For three decades, the Bazaar of All Nations was a sprawling retail and entertainment mecca, a familiar place to shop, eat, attend a movie or play miniature golf. The landmark, prototypical shopping mall on Baltimore Pike in Clifton Heights closed in 1993 and was later replaced by a Home Depot and sporting goods store.

  But every Delaware Countian remembers The Bazaar. It opened on Nov. 8, 1960, and closed at the end of 1993.

  The Bazaar’s long tenure was not well documented until three young film-makers embarked on a documentary. Co-producers, Delco natives Patrick Manley and Brendan O’Riordan, joined forces with cinematographer/director Melissa Whiteley, of White Lyte Productions in Trenton, N.J.

  The idea was conceived when Manley reflected that there was no real documentation of the Bazaar. He and O’Riordan, members of Monsignor Bonner High School’s Class of 1995, embarked on the project and enlisted Whitley to direct, shoot and edit film footage.

  “The general theme is that if you can’t find it at the Bazaar, you’re not going to find it,” O’Riordan said.

   O’Riordan, a resident of Media, is doing much of the research to drive the documentary.

   “My expertise is being able to retain and recall information,” O’Riordan said. “We’d like this to be the definitive source of information about the Bazaar, all in one place.”

   Gathering facts, photos and first-hand recollections of the Bazaar is a daunting but rewarding task.

  “There are certain touchstone events that occurred in the Bazaar’s 33-year existence,” O’Riordan said. “It’s taking pieces of the interviews and dropping them into place.”

  Manley spoke of the challenge of including a wealth of material in the documentary.
 Read more:

My wife and I lived at 5309 Delmar Rd directly across from the Bazaar for a few years and watched it being torn down. i videotaped some of the demolition, but have yet to find it. If your on Facebook, you can become a fan of the Bazaar of all Nations and view the video here. I remember the soft pretzels (Bernies), the haircuts as a kid, the sporting goods store (Herman's)? Hell the army/Navy store where I was bought my first parka, and the list goes on and on.

I miss the place, now occupied by The Home Depot and the "new" Acme.

Search Amazon.com for make up

The Haverford Blog Revisited

Recently I visited the Haverfordblog, a website I used to visit and post since it's creation. I noticed that it has new owners, BlueHorseradish LLc, out of Haverford, PA. The thing that gets me is now they dumped the link to my website, Totally Delco. If you want a link, you have to pay now? From their site:

Advertising on the Haverford Blog

As of January, 2010, the Haverford Blog accepts paid advertising. Ads are in the form of graphic images in the right column of the Haverford Blog bulletin board area. Images can be hyperlinked to the advertiser's website.

Advertising Rates

Graphic image ad rate: $50 per month for 1 month, $100 for 3 months. Ads will be rotated regularly so that the position of individual ads varies from time to time.

Images should be provided in a standard web image format (.jpg, .gif, .png) with a width of 200 pixels or less and a height of 200 pixels or less. If an ad image is not available or needs to be created, contact admin@haverfordblog.com for assistance; graphics and logos can be created on a fee basis.

Advertising is only accepted on a prepaid basis. Payment can be made via check or a PayPal invoice can be issued to pay via PayPal or credit card.

The Haverford Blog reserves the right to accept or reject any ad or advertiser.

The Haverford Blog also displays paid advertising supplied by a third party search engine. The Haverford Blog does not directly control the content of such ads.


Well now, seeing this makes me a bit pissed off, being that the front page links have I believe free links, and I see that My Havertown.com is on there, as well as others that were when this site was linked. So here's the deal. While our main site is being upgraded, send me your business link to your website and if you have a small banner, the link to it. I'll gladly put it up for free.
My e mail is admin@totallydelco.com

Cheers.