Tech tip- fixing user error 46 Quick Time for Windows Vista

I found this trick and it worked like a charm for fixing my QuickTime errors- the key is make sure you log in as administrator- even if your user logins are as admin- idiotic VISTA doesn’t recognize that unless you specifically tell it to run as admin. You can look at my screen shot below- make sure you click on the run as administrator when you open the command prompt module and this fix will work like a charm!

Source: Windows Resources

Fix for quicktime Error 46: Could not find or load activex control

After installing quicktime latest version in windows vista it didn’t start.It may give you an error message saying

Error 46: Could not find or load activex control

The Solution

There is an old NT utility called SubInAcl.exe that can be used to reset permissions in Windows XP and also in Vista.

Step 1: Download subinacl.msi from here and install it.

Step 2: Download modified version of reset.cmd from here and save the file in
C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools

Step 3: Open Command Prompt and type the following (hit Enter):

cd c:\program files\windows resource kits\tools

Step 4: Now type reset.cmd and hit Enter (You need to make sure you are logged in as administartor)

You will see the Command Line Tool running for some seconds. The issue should have been fixed and Quicktime should run again.

Free Gallery Hosting & Coppermine for Dummies

Check it out Here: http://www.000webhost.com/57809.html

I put together two FREE Coppermine galleries this week- using 000webhost- a great FREE full featured webhosting site.

Operation Save Clark Kent Fan Art Gallery

Charmed HQ Photo Gallery
For fun Coppermine templates- go to the demo thread

http://coppermine-gallery.net/demo/cpg14x/

on the Coppermine support site and scroll through available templates. Once you find something you like , go to the downloads area and download the file to your hard drive.

This is what you need to post your art/ photos in your own gallery:
1) Image resizing software that will allow you to optimize your photos/art for posting. I recomment VSO resizer. You want Coppermine wallpapers to be no more than 1200 x 1024 size and jpg format works best
I recommend the free program VSO Image Resizer

2) Thumbnail generation program- you will want to make your own thumbs offline to minimize server loading and your bandwidth use on free sites. Easy thumbs is a powerful program and FREE
When you go to make your thumbs you can set the prefix to thumb_
this will automatically generate thumbs with the right name to load right into Coppermine

3) 000webhost which I list above is SUPER easy to use. You can pick your own sub-domain name for free- I used OSCK for our gallery with their suffix added to it. Once your account is active, go into the autoinstaller area in the user panel online and install Coppermine. This takes about 5 minutes or so. If your site is going to be your gallery- don’t mess with a sub-domain name let it install right into your root directory- ie your site that you have just set up. This will be done for you automatically. The installer is installing Coppermine and a MSQL database which will house, store and index your images.

4) Your gallery is installed- open your webpage. You should have a generic Coppermine gallery that appears. Good- now you can customize it! You can pick one of the themes that comes with the software, or like I did for OSCK you can find a theme online if like me you don’t want to mess with coding a skin for the site. I did go in and change my header image - this is pretty easy to do and just requires figuring out which file in your template images folder is the header image and swapping it out for your own.

5) If you are adding a new skin- you will need a FTP client to load it as well as your images. I cannot emphasize how nice using the FTP client is–especially with a decent number of photos.

• Open your FTP client plugging in your logins.
• Go to the public HTML folder
• You will load your new theme into the content/ themes folder

• Add your images in folders in the albums folder. Make sure you name your folders and organize them so you will be able to know what is where with ease. Once you have loaded things into coppermine these folders cannot be changed around.

6) Open your cpanel if you have added a new theme, go into your public html and extract the new theme ( it will be zipped) into the theme folder. Exit the cpanel. If you want to do things even faster- extract the files on your pc and then load the folder with the theme into your themes folder in coppermine through your ftp client

7) Go to Coppermine, pick your theme in the config menu.

8)Build your categories for your gallery and then albums to go in each category. You can’t add pictures if there is no album to put them in.

9) Add your photos- you can use the batch add tool to add photos in folders to albums in your gallery.

• If you get a message that you need to change permissions on your folders- go back to your FTP tool, open your database and go to the albums folder where you have loaded everything. Right click on the albums folder and go to file properties- change the number from 755 to 777 and select to have this cascade to all files beneath the main folder.

• Now shut down your ftp tool and click batch add again.
• Since you have used the thumbnail generator to make your own thumbs and they are in the folder with their originals Coppermine will only add the big photos to your album, automatically knowing that files with the prefix thumb_ are thumbnails. Loads are blazing fast when you do this too!

That is it! You now have a free gallery for your artwork, scans- whatever to share with friends and the world!

Jill Scott Butterfly Bra Launch for Ashley Stewart

Visit kateblake_2000’s (my) ImageShack profile

Quickpost these images to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

Fox renews King of the Hill

Propane rules! Fox has renewed King of the Hill for a 13th season. The down home hilarity of Hank and Peggy Hill, their son Bobby and dog Lady Bird, will continue for another year, likely remaining in Fox’s strong Sunday night animation lineup that includes The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad — although that’s only speculation on my part.

Creators Mike Judge (the voice of Hank and Boomhauer) and Greg Daniels (The Office) will continue at the helm, and all the usual characters remain. That means more of Kathy Najimy as Peggy, Brittany Murphy as Luanne, Pamela Adlon as Bobby, Johnny Hardwick as Dale, and Stephen Root as Bill.

Continue reading Fox renews King of the Hill

Quick WinRar 101

One of my favorite programs for sending and receiving large files in WINRAR. This handy compression program is a must for file sharing of any kind of photos, images, presentations or videos that are larger in size. You can use the application to chop the data into smaller pieces for faster uploading and downloading to your favorite file sharing site.

This is a quick overview on how to extract a file once you have downloaded a WINRAR set of files called an archive.

Step 1
Select the files you wish to extract in the WINRAR window- make sure you have all of the download pieces for the individual file selected

Step 2
Go to the Wizard option and select unpack an archive and then designate where you want to assemble it, then unpack the archive. I don’t put a password on my stuff nor do I require you use any other assembly tools so this should work for you- f the file ends in the  file  suffix .html you will need the tool HJSplit to reassemble the archive.

Step 3
Check your extracted file- make sure it works - then delete the rar components- you don’t need them any more!

That is it. The WINRAR wizard makes things fast and simple.

Rebates WILL NOT Stave off a Recession

This headline is in rotation on Yahoo right now on their Front Page:

Rebates could stave off long recession 

Click on it to read the article proclaiming why $600-$1200 per household will mean the difference between the US economy going in the dumper and not.

I cannot believe there is anyone out there who thinks this will make a difference. Our president is proposing and looks like he will get approved a budget for this next year that will have our national debt soar to unheard of heights, the tech sector is yet to recover from the downturn it took during the first four years of this administration and the homes foreclosure rate is predicted to hit 1930s DEPRESSION levels later this year. The banking industry is in shambles. The average American household owes too much money and saves too little. Too many people can’t afford reasonable health insurance and other basics.  This is a temporary stop gap to make the politicians look like they are doing something instead of actually proposing ways to improve the infrastructure of our economic base that has too long relied on a war based economy dependent on government spending to keep things going.

Where is some real relief and real ideas for change and stabilization of our country? I am yet to see any political candidate offer up the type of hard hitting realism in economics that is required to get our house as a nation in order so we can plan for a strong future.

My personal choices have included saving monthly whether I want to or not. I got rid of all of my credit cards several years ago and keep 1 for business travel which is paid off every month in full- otherwise I pay with my no interest check debit card for everything. I do not buy something unless I have the money to do so. I bought my last two cars with cash- one new and one used.  I pay my car insurance in 6 month blocks saving about 25% on my annual total as a result. I buy my clothes on sale and at discounters like Marshalls and TJMaxx. I rent and do not own and am saving to buy a house cash. I have my eye on some undeveloped property north of Phoenix which I should be able to buy outright in about a year. I plan to do as my grandparents did and improve the lot and then build over about 5 years paying for everything in full as I go. After seeing way too many people lose everything- I don’t understand why more people don’t just suck it up economize where they can.

End of rant!

How do you feel about the rebate program? Will it really make a big difference to you? Remember- checks won’t arrive until summer.

HUGE Gallery of HQ Jessica Alba Photos and Wallpapers

Ok- this is huge!

I found a goldmine of Jessica Alba HQ photos and wallpapers- all are loaded into a gallery and are also available to download full size

Click to DL each file: Photos1 Photos2 Wallpapers

Dolly Parton’s new Music Video!

Back after 17 years!

Dolly Parton has her first new mainstream country music video- Better Get to Livin’ and it features Amy Sedaris. Fun lively and great country music by my favorite lady of song from Tennessee! This sneak video is for her first single from her upcoming album “Backwoods Barbie”

Better Get to Livin’ by Dolly Parton

Posted to Favorite Movie n TV Moments by kateblake_2000 on January 27, 2008

Click to Play | View Details

Buy Dolly’s New Album available Feb. 28, 2008 

Heath Ledger’s Death: A call to action regarding drug interactions

By Kate Blake

When I am not blogging about TV I work in the pharmaceutical industry and am a firm believer in the advancement of science and medicine- but only when it is prescribed correctly. 

Re: Heath and his death. Much is being made about reports that he had all kinds of prescription drugs and was anxious at the holidays and the speculation is that he must have been going through some issues which led to his death.

I am going to assert something here- the initial findings by the ME in NYC were inconclusive and reports are that it was most likely an accidental drug death due to a drug interaction. Much like Anna Nicole Smith and her son as well.

How is this possible? Well- doctors like to prescribe pills instead of asking people what is really wrong and getting them to deal with it. Heath had been on a rough back to back movie shooting schedule where he was travelling a lot and by all accounts complained he had developed insomnia and was not sleeping. The doctor didn’t recommend that maybe you should just take a weekend completely off , eat a big turkey dinner and catch up on your sleep- no the doctors all prescribed powerful prescription medications.

Insomnia is usually treated with a combination of anti-anxiety meds and sleeping pills both. The problem is these are two very strong and powerful classes of drugs and you should never take them with other medication unless your pharmacist can tell you they will not interact. Ambien- the sleeping pill Heath was taking has its number one side effect that is dangerous as hell- is that there have been many reported cases of people having anaphylatic reactions that can lead to death.* That is right- a huge allergy type response especially when taken with any number of other drugs that you aren’t supposed to take with it. This is the same thing that happens when people with peanut allergies get something with their deadly nemesis included- your throat closes and you can’t breath and you pretty much suffocate or worse and there are no obvious signs that this is what happened especially if you are asleep when it occurs.

If you or anyone you know takes a lot of doctor prescribed medications it is well worth taking the time to make a point of taking everything in to your pharmacy at some point and asking your pharmacist to please assure you that what you are taking is not going to lead to problems due to known drug interaction issues. Medical doctors know very little about pharmacology. They take one class in medical school and assume that is all they need. Your pharmacist has completed a full doctoral program in drugs and drug interactions and will look up powerful databases of cross reactivity for you that can tell you exactly what you can and can’t take together.

I had a very bad experience in December where I took too many over the counter decongestants which interacted with my asthma meds and landed me in the ER with breathing distress. Three treatments of oxygen and powerful lung clearing drugs later I was told that you should never do that. Something nobody had told me and was nowhere on the labeling of my packages. Doctors told me that to overcome the extreme stimulant effects of my asthma meds and releive my congestion as an asthmatic I should take the very safe, very mild, very low risk and well characterized over the counter anti-histamine Benadryl to help me sleep. Benadryl has been around since the 1960s and is one of the few medications still deemed safe enough to give to children. Most over the counter sleep aids have this as their main ingredient. It is non-habit forming and it works! And it is cheap. $4 for a bottle of 50 tablets at WalMart.

Heath Ledger is not the only man to be prescribed the combination of drugs that may have led to his death. I know countless executives who travel who all take the same cocktail to overcome constant time zone  fluxing when they travel globally on a weekly basis. From here on out this frequent flyer is sticking to a hot bath and an allergy pill to knock me out!

*http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/zolpid_ad.htm See this link for other side effects of Ambien

I Love Jerry O’Connell!

I LOVE JERRY O’CONNELL!

And yes I despise Tom Cruise and his appendage Katie Holmes- who I contend was the worst part of Batman Begins and I am thrilled she has no part in The Dark Knight. I find their media hogging sanctimonious ways nauseating and if I never see either one again in any form it would be fine with me. Back to Jerry…..

Jerry O’Connell is making waves all over the internet as the clip of the week to watch. Check out the blip from E! talking about his parody of Tom Cruise and his wacky Scientology video and then watch the full video of Jerry doing his perfect impression of Tom!

Jerry also gives a shout out to the WGA

Jerry vs Tom on E

Jerry on Tom from E!

Posted to Favorite Movie n TV Moments by kateblake_2000 on January 25, 2008

Click to Play | View Details

It is so good to see someone who knows and has worked with Tom make fun of him and show what a pompous ass he is!!!! Actually the term self-important weiner comes to mind when I think of Tom Cruise….and do not get me going on the love of his life and their spawn. Mind you- I was a huge fan of Cruise’s early work but from the time he bashed Brooke Shields and had the audacity to make a statement about post-partum depression was the turning point for me. I haven’t paid to see a Cruise film since Jerry Maguire- which co-starred Jerry O’Connell…..

There is a reason Jerry is married to funny gal Rebecca Romijn- the woman her ex-husband John Stamos called “Rebeca Remain Silent” because it is the one thing she can’t do…..and BTW Jerry is a geek too- he talked in an interview about wanting to kill his brother for taping over their answering machine message he had James Earl Jones record for him as Darth Vader “You have reached the O’Connells- leave a message ” with heavy breathing etc…..