A New Blogger Blog

Visit our new, current blog at: https://imcc2022.blogspot.com.

New Site -- New Domain

TheronJackson.com is our current web site.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002

Added a small FS2002 page, with a few repainted textures, to <a href ="http://theronjacksononline.com">my site</a>.

If you die tonight, where will you go?

Haunted Places

Deerfield, Ohio U.S.A.

The Deerfield Cemetery

this cemetery is located on the north side of Rt. 224 about 7 tenths of a mile east of the Deerfield Circle

Tombstones appeared to move when one note there position, then turn around, then turn back and notice the 'new' position. There was a mausoleum in the center of the cemetery, if one knocked on the door, a knock would be consistently returned (not an echo, it might take a few minutes). Vehicle engines have stalled for no obvious reason, and then can be quickly restarted. A nearby creek, just to the west, has appeared to run uphill after a heavy rain. This cemetery was reported to be a hang-out for local witches in the 1970's. Nighttime in this cemetery has been an interesting experience.

The Phantom Ohio Highway Patrol Cruiser

An 1970's phantom Ohio State Highway Patrol cruiser has been seen on numerous occasions patrolling Rt. 224 between Rt. 225 and the Deerfield Circle.

Legend has it that a Ohio State Highway Patrol officer was pursuing a vehicle north on Rt. 225 from Alliance. Nearing the intersection of Rt. 225 and Rt. 224 he observed that the suspect turned right onto Rt. 224, which the trooper then decided to cut through the mining company property, located at the corner, in an attempt to cut off (or at least gain ground on) the suspect vehicle. Unfortunately, this was a fatal mistake and the cruiser wrecked near the mines coal tipple, killing the officer.

Deerfield Circle

Note: not sure any of these houses are still there

The big white house; located across the street from the gas station, east of Rt. 14, just as you come off Deerfield Circle

On any night candle lights could be seen in all the windows. However the house was almost always abandoned. Upon checking to see if the house had any electric hooked up, it was discovered that the meter had been pulled.

The large brick house; across from the store at the corner of Rt.224 as you come into the Deerfield Circle

This house is another (of many in the area) which was abandoned more than occupied. Late one night I personally witnessed (while setting at the Bandstand) an owner who had been remodeling it for several weeks, run out of the house after hearing a loud bang come from the house. It obviously scared him so badly that he came out the side door so fast he leaped across the several steps up to the door. Once in his car he neglected to shut the driver door, which flew open as the car, tires squealing, careened around the corner onto Rt. 14. A few days later there was a realtors 'for sale' sign in the front of the house.

The large house; across from the Nemen's Store (which was at one time an old haunted elementary school), approx. 1 tenth of a mile west of Deerfield Circle

This house has several interesting aspects. Originally it was located on the circle and was an old hotel (actually brothel).

There was an upstairs bathroom where the sink, bathtub and floor were stained with what appeared to be a dark brown substance. Upon attempting to clean this off with a sponge and bucket full of water, the water in the bucket quickly turned into what appeared to be fresh blood. After successfully removing all but a very tiny amount of the stains from the room, we considered it a job well done. Unfortunately, the next day the stains were back almost as they were the day before, except cleaner and redder.

For some unknown reason the front door was nailed shut with over a dozen nails.

Rumor has it that there are various strange markings carved into the original siding (under the newer siding), pictures of which is supposed to be on file at the Portage County Historical Society in Ravenna.

The Woman in White

Well, it wouldn't be much of a haunted area without one of these.

Although never actually witnessing this myself. I have seen numerous tracks into the field the following mornings after truck drivers veered off a straight stretch of open road approx. 1 tenth of a mile south of the circle.

The story is they all see a woman in white; either standing in the road, or crossing in front of them, causing them to swerve into the open field to the east of the roadway. I'm not aware of any particular legend attached to this story.

Palmyra, Ohio U.S.A.

this very small cemetery is located on the west side of Rt. 225 somewhere between Yale Rd and Palmyra

The old rusty gate has swung open, on numerous occasions, as if to beckon entry, when walking or riding bicycles pass on the roadway.

God's will: represented as an algeba equation?

Could God's will possibly be represented as an algeba equation:
a + b = c
a = human variable chosen
b = variable added by God
c = final outcome (God's will)

Outpost 7 has changed its name...

After about fifteen years the Outpost 7 moniker, most of which time being located at geocities.com, has officially bitten the dust. It has now became Theron Jackson Online. Most of the old music and game related files, and a few new ones, are still available for free download.

Taking this opportunity to thank all those who have supported the old site and invite everyone to visit the site, at it's new location, and post your comments here.

Am hoping to continue to provide "ineffectual distraction" for the masses.
--
TJ (a.k.a Lyle White)

New instrumental rock album, now available

My new instrumental rock album; "Music from the Outpost" is now for sale in the U.S. on CD-R at the Jackson Records web site. Full-length (lo-fi) versions (as well as 20 second hi-fi samples) are also available for free listening. Give a listen, tell me what you think.

Musical groups and their "popularity"

Situation: Two equally talented bands are putting out music; band "A" and band "B". Band "A" is getting gobs of airplay and expose in the media, band "B" is not.

Theory: I don’t think "A" has to be any more talented or popular than "B". Simply that band "A" is receiving more exposure. Why (how)? Band "A" (or someone associated with "A") is spending more money for marketing and distribution; therefore more people are aware of "A". Once the money being spent on the marketing wanes, so does the "popularity".

Hello, is anyone out there?

I'm sure there must be, but it seems as if we are talking to the wind. Perhaps this blog is broken?

Either way we will probably keep ranting, just the same. ;)

Auto-Tune

Okay, so now just about any singer, or want-to-be, can now sing whatever way they have always wanted, without the nagging worry of being off key or out of pitch, and at "perfect" intonation. Correcting the pitch, perhaps at the small cost of sounding similar to everyone else?

Yeah, I know the company claims it doesn't change the voice. Sure, whatever. I am not an expert, so I will not argue the point.

Here is another thought, *and a great test for it to show off just how wonderful it is at correcting a singers pitch*. Use it on a George Jones song... I assume it would work, but...

In all fairness electric guitars are often ran through numerous "magic" boxes, so if another box can improve a less than "perfect" voice of a less than talented singer, then I suppose it's all good.

I just think it's annoying then for "everyone" to kiss that singer's a** about how dang good they can sing. Especially when they are supposedly getting paid millions of dollars (which I don't believe, but that's yet another opinion).

Just a final point, I often like the "less than perfect" voices of some singers.

The Pretty Reckless...

What we have heard of their music sounds pretty good. Taylor Momsen has an interestingly refreshing voice, which is well suited for the genre she has picked to sing and has chosen some apparently capable musicians to back her up.

Here is a young woman who decided not to play the bubblegum Pop game, and appears to be churning out some honest to goodness, kick ass rock music. So, why does so many of the web authors/gossip columnist, or what ever they call themselves these days, seem so fixated on the way she dresses? Have they never seen legs or breast before?

Check out the videos on their official web site at: The Pretty Reckless

[ Not to sound too overly biased, We should point out, We think there are many excellent bands and singers that are often times taken for granted, or noticed for reasons other than their musical abilities. ]

Kay E-100 electric guitar, "humbucker" conversion

Converted our old Kay E-100 electric guitar from the original single-coil pickup to a new "humbucker". Visit our web site for more pictures and project details.

"I Am Omega"

We got this movie on a DVD with two other movies (cough, cough): “Monster” and “AVH Alien vs. Hunter”. Well I actually wouldn’t even call the other two, movies. IAO could have been a decent movie with a plot change. Or any number of plot changes…

Of course, if you haven’t seen the movie "I Am Omega", which I really can’t recommend, you won’t understand my alternate plot.

The movie was okay up to the point when Renchard answered the incoming video message, the second time. And the entire story line of Vincent and Mike was, in my opinion, just wrong. The actors weren’t bad; it’s unfortunate that the movie wasn’t better, as The Asylum might have achieved a slightly more legitimate reputation.

Anyway, here goes my basic idea of one possible alternate version.
==
Renchard would have set out to rescue Brianna, after answering her second video message.

Along the way Renchard would have came across Vincent and Mike engaged in a heated battle with zombies. Where Renchard would have saved Vincent from certain death, by killing an attacking zombie.

Mike gets killed in a subsequent zombie battle. Then later Vincent gets killed heroically during the battle in the parking deck scene.

Then the movie would have ended the same as it did, with the trick ending (which didn’t hurt at all).
==

And a final criticism; they shouldn’t have shaken the camera during some of the zombie scenes. That would have only been necessary to hide some deficiency in the makeup, which didn’t seem to be the case. In fact, for a low budget movie, the zombie’s makeup looked fine.


Note to the folks at The Asylum: put a bit more effort in your movies and you might get taken seriously, at least perhaps by those of us who enjoy fairly decent “B” movies. And Please Don’t ever make another movie like “Monster”. You hired two reasonably attractive actresses, and then really blew it. (IMHO)


(I wish I had the resources to make a movie, but alas that’s not the way the world goes round.)

"Corpse Bride"

Earlier this morning I watched (for the first time) the 2005 Tim Burton movie "Corpse Bride" on DVD.

As much as I enjoyed the movie I must say I was absolutely amazed watching the special features portion to see what wonderful mechanical marvels the puppets, especially for the main characters, actually were.

Watching the movie I would have never guessed such workmanship went into the creations, but after seeing how it did I can see how they managed to pull off such a feat, all while using the oft considered obsolete form of stop-motion animation.

This movie could certainly have been produced (a whole lot easier and cheaper) using CGI, but I'm certainly glad they didn't. My hats off to Mr. Burton and the entire crew who made such a masterpiece come to life.

As an afterthought; I'm guessing the puppets used in the movie would bring a small fortune on e-bay.

Gothic dreadlocks

Goth women and their fashion sense have fascinated me for several years. Lately I’ve been looking at pictures of the 'dreadlocks' worn by some Goth women, which if I understand correctly are often made of standard knitting yarn or similar fibers. Personally I think this looks rather cool, albeit a bit strange, in a uniquely different way.

Now at the risk of sounding like a smart ass, which I’m really not trying to be (at least not this time), I’ll just throw this out. Probably others have already expanded on the basic design, but my thought is why stop with yarn. Why not add some other things into the braids such as beads, wire, feathers, bells, charms, etc.

I'm also a bit curious as to the correlation of this styles direction and the development of headdresses in various earlier tribal cultures. If you have any ideas or observations feel free to post your viewpoint.

Twitter: Social Networking?

Although it is called social networking, I somehow seem to be missing the true social aspect (this post refers to Twitter, but may also apply to other online services).

I’ve only been a Twitter member for a few weeks, but I already have formed a few preliminary opinions. Which admittedly may change over time?

Strangely there’s no ability for individuals to contact someone they are not being followed by, even though there is the easy ability to “block” any unwanted people. Yes, there is the @username feature, but get serious while there are many of us that do, there would also be many people who never bother checking that.

"Protected" postings; Okay, I don’t get it, these people might be better off using email (or perhaps the telephone)?

Many who don't follow anyone, even though they themselves post plenty of "Tweets", apparently expecting others to be interested enough to read what they have to say. Even though they appear obviously uninterested in what anybody else may be posting.

As opposed to the individuals appearing to, or at least wanting to give the impression that they follow tens or even hundreds of thousands of other people (Have you ever tried following a handful of fairly regular posters? Perhaps they are speed readers?)

The auto-follow-back function of some third party software, although seeming courteous, simply gives many spammers (using the term in a broad sense), also using automation the appearance of legitimacy (or popularity) by giving them an artificially inflated number of followers.

#hashtags, okay enough with the hashtags, there are so many it doesn’t even make any sense anymore.

Although there are many post which are interesting, amusing or even relevant (at least to some), many others are filled with seemingly endless inane babble. Which makes one wonder why the individual even takes the time to post it? (Okay, maybe many of us are a bit guilty of that, but you probably get my point.)

In fact in many ways it seems rather cliquish and anti-social, seeming to be more of a narcissistic broadcast medium than a social network (thus the possible proliferation of hoards of posers, spammers and celebrities (real and wannabe)).

Don't get me wrong, there are obviously many fine and sociable people using Twitter in a variety of useful ways; it's simply that the core functionality could be modified a bit to be a bit more social.

Agree or disagree?

"Hoarders"

(Okay, it's probably like most of the "reality" shows, but...)

It's not that they have too much stuff, maybe they just need a bigger house.

I thought having stuff was part of the idea.

"Stop buying": What? I thought the whole idea was make money, buy stuff...the one with all the marbles...blah, blah, blah.

Or maybe, it's just a bunch of strangers want too come in and loot peoples houses, with their permission?

Are they not going to buy more stuff after the first batch got hauled away?


...but in my defense; I am a Virgo. I think we often like clutter.

Following thousands on Twitter...

Okay, call me skeptical, but do the math:

If each person posts only one 70 character Tweet per day

70 characters / 3,000 character page* = 0.02 page
(approx. 50 Tweets per page*)

Now multiply that by the number of thousands of people followed...

10,000 x 0.02 page = 200 pages
100,000 x 0.02 page = 2,000 pages

(Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" is approx. 1,350 pages)


I don't know about anybody else, but I sure couldn't keep up with that amount of volume.

*refering to a typical 8.5 x 11" word processor page with 1" margins

Set up my mail2blog, and other things.

Now I don't have to actually go to the site, log in and navigate through the dashboard, just to add another entry.

 

Still a few things to hammer out about my Twitter account. Am now playing with Friendbar (for Firefox browser) and MadTwitter third-party apps to see how they work.

 

My Twitter list: girls-wearing-glasses has 100 listed, think that's quite enough for now. More accurate name would have been "Twitter-girls-wearing-glasses", but anyway.

 

Snow is melting here, so I think I'll venture out shortly to look around.