ALEXJONES.BIZ

I’ve always heard of folks hitting a deer and have even come close myself once in my life. I sure did not want to hear my wife say it when she called me not long after leaving for work about a week ago. She was on her way to work in the early morning hours one Sunday morning and had not made it outside of the city limits when a deer jumped out in front of her. It was too late! The damage was done.

Fortunately she was not hurt just shaken. The deer? We do not know. There was no body to be found. We’re also not sure if it was a buck or a doe. When asked by the police officer she replied “I have no idea!” For now the van is in the very capable hands of Clinton Body Shop. They did such a good job on my Bonneville a few years back. Now we just have to wait for it to be repaired. No pics as I neglected to take any before the body shop started repairs.

My friends have all talked about this HDTV change coming up but I’ve never really cared about it. It won’t affect my service (DirecTV). So what is all the hubub about? I took the time to read up on the things I would be interested in if I cared about the switch. I found several bits of information on the www.dtv.gov site as well as others. Here is what I found.What do I need to do to be ready for the end of analog TV broadcasting?

Because Congress mandated that the last day for full-power television stations to broadcast in analog would be February 17, 2009, over-the-air TV broadcasts will be in digital only after that date. If you have one or more televisions that receive free over-the-air television programming (with a roof-top antenna or “rabbit ears” on the TV), the type of TV you own is very important. A digital television (a TV with an internal digital tuner) will allow you to continue to watch free over-the-air programming after February 17, 2009. However, if you have an analog television, you will need a digital-to-analog converter box to continue to watch broadcast television on that set. This converter box will also enable you to see any additional multicast programming that your local stations are offering.

To help consumers with the DTV transition, the Government established the Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Coupon Program. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a part of the Department of Commerce, administers this program. Every U.S. household is eligible to receive up to two coupons, worth $40 each, toward the purchase of eligible digital-to-analog converter boxes. You will be able to request the coupons beginning in January of 2008. The coupons may only be used for eligible converter boxes sold at participating consumer electronics retailers, and the coupons must be used at the time of purchase. Manufacturers estimate that digital-to-analog converter boxes will sell from $50 to $70 each. This is a one-time cost. For more information on the Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Coupon Program, visit the NTIA’s website at www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon, or call 1-888-388-2009 (voice) or 1-877-530-2634 (TTY).

Cable and satellite TV subscribers with analog TVs hooked up to their cable or satellite service should not be affected by the February 17, 2009 cut-off date for full-power analog broadcasting.

What Is HDTV?

DTV stands for Digital Television. It is the term used to describe the new Digital Television System. This system allows stations to broadcast programs and data with higher resolution and clarity than is possible with standard analog television. There are two levels of DTV:

(1) HDTV (High Definition Television) This is the highest quality DTV, with resolution of 720p to 1080i or higher and being produced in a 16:9 (widescreen) aspect ratio with Dolby Digital audio.

(2) SDTV (Standard Definition Television) This refers to a system that provides a display resolution that is lower than that of HDTV but higher than the analog signal that is being used today. The picture quality of SDTV is comparable to today’s digital satellite and DVD (Digital Video Disc) picture quality.

The National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) broadcast system we currently use has been around for more than 50 years. In December 1996, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a new U.S. standard called the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC).

The NTSC standard we use today determines the highest picture quality possible using analog signals. The ATSC standard defines the FCC approved guidelines for digital television broadcasting.

Through 2007, a transition from analog to digital television will take place, bringing into the consumer’s home an unbelievable picture, digital surround sound and many new features.

What Do Analog and Digital Mean?

The NTSC system is broadcast using an analog signal carried on radio waves. These waves carry through the air differences in voltage to represent changes in the carrier frequency. These changes in voltage represent everything from black to white, dark to light, soft to loud sounds etc. The signal is highly susceptible to interference from weather, buildings and other obstructions which can cause snow and ghosting in the picture.

The ATSC or DTV system broadcasts using a digital binary signal, a series of 1’s and 0’s in a particular order, to represent the changes in voltage levels. A digital encoder reads the original signal (picture and sound) and then converts it into 10 digit numbers. It samples the signal 13.5 million times per second. This series of 10 digit numbers, representing the picture is what is then transmitted on the same type of waves.

Since the information is either a 1 or a 0, the streams of data are cleaner and easier to receive. By using a digital signal, much more information can be broadcast resulting in a cleaner, more detailed picture without interference. Digital pictures are perfect, they look exactly the same in your home as they do in the studio from which they were broadcast. However, if you lose a digital signal, you lose it completely, no in-between picture quality. With digital, it’s all or nothing!

Some good examples of digital vs. analog are; the difference between an LP record and a CD, or a VHS tape and a DVD. But the difference between analog and digital television will be even greater.

Additionally, Dolby Digital Surround sound is the audio standard for DTV, this is the same sound as is found in your better motion picture theaters, better than CD quality, 5.1 channel sound is what we have to look forward to.

Also, the digital signal can be compressed to carry more than one channel at a time (Multicasting), or to carry information (Datacasting).

The future possibilities for DTV are staggering.

What Does Widescreen Or 16:9 Mean?

This refers to the picture’s screen format or shape. The ratio of a screen’s width to its height is called the aspect ratio.

When you see the words “THIS FILM HAS BEEN FORMATTED TO FIT YOUR TV” this means that the widescreen image from the original movie has been chopped or modified to fit your nearly square television at home.

Analog televisions typically have an aspect ratio of 4:3 (pronounced 4 by 3), in other words, if a television is three inches high, it has to be four inches wide to display today’s analog signal. 4 parts wide by 3 parts high.

The new digital standard supports a wider screen, with an aspect ratio of 16:9. (or 16 parts wide by 9 parts high) reminiscent of the widescreens found in the theater. The ATSC standard supports both of these picture shapes.

Many digital televisions and all HDTVs will support a wider, more cinematic screen shape to enable you to see the whole picture in the wide format in which it was filmed.

Not all HDTVs will be in a 16:9 format, some will be the traditional 4:3 shape. In order to qualify as a High Definition Television, a set must be able to display a 16:9 format and reproduce at least 1 million pixels. To display a widescreen image on a square TV, manufacturers will often “Letterbox” or shrink the image until it fits on the screen, then the top and bottom of the screen are filled in with dark bands. As a rule of thumb, if a television set can display a one-million pixel count, it can be classified as a HDTV. Pixel count can be determined by multiplying the horizontal lines of resolution by the vertical lines.

What are the different Resolution Standards?

SDTV can be either 480i or 480p (the p stands for progressive) and will most likely be in a 4:3 aspect ratio.

HDTV signals, on the other hand, will be 720p, 1080i or 1080p and will be presented in a 16:9 ratio.

Dear Children:

It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you’ve forgotten that I wasn’t actually born during this time of the year and that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival. Although I do appreciate being remembered anytime.

How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don’t care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Now, having said that let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn’t allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santa’s and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn’t be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.

Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15 [+/-]: 1 – 8.

If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth, here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to
soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.

2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don’t have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.

3. Instead of writing George complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don’t you write and tell him that you’ll be praying for him and his family this year? Then follow up. It will be nice hearing from you again.

4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can’t afford and they don’t need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.

5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.

6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don’t know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.

7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren’t allowed to wish you a ‘Merry Christmas’ that doesn’t keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn’t make so much money on that day they’d close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families.

8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary–especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.

9. Here’s a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no ‘Christmas’ tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don’t know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me, and they will make the delivery for you.

10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don’t do things in secret that you wouldn’t do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.

Don’t forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I’ll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I’ll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love, and remember I LOVE YOU,

JESUS

One woman telling it like it is in her own opinion about the War in Iraq!

“Are we fighting a war on terror or aren’t we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001 ? Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan , across the Potomac from our nation’s capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania ? Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn’t they?

The Associated Press • May 22, 2008

NASHVILLE, TENN. — The 5-year-old daughter of Grammy-winning Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman was struck and killed Wednesday by a sport utility vehicle driven by her brother, authorities said.

The girl, Maria Sue, was hit in the driveway of the family’s home Wednesday afternoon by a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by her teenage brother, said Laura McPherson, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The brother, whose name and exact age weren’t available, apparently did not see the girl, McPherson said. No charges are expected.

“It looks like a tragic accident,” she said.

Several family members witnessed the accident, which happened in Williamson County just south of Nashville. The girl died later at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, hospital spokeswoman Laurie Holloway said.

In a statement, Velvet Kelm, a publicist for Chapman, said Maria was the Chapmans’ youngest daughter.

I cannot imagine the heartbreaking sorrow they must be going through. I read the story from several different sources and then attempted to go to Stephens website; which was bogged down I’m sure by fans wanting to pay their respects.

The only thing that bugs me about the press is that after detailing the tragedy they all list Stephens accolades which I’m sure he could care less and less about. It really has nothing to do with the story and is only used for filler space. For once I would have loved to see them simply print their condolences. My prayers and condolences go out to the Chapman family.