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The Words Screen Saver is a Windows screen saver for displaying short passages of text like jokes, poems or single words with various effects. Contents and appearance can be modified to your own liking.
I use it as a reminder of God's promises:
Copy and paste the following scriptures, including the percentage signs, into a text document; save it under "\Program Files\Words Screen Saver" as scripture.txt; and set the words screen saver to run with the scripture.txt file and viola, a highly configurable scripture screen saver!!!
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Matthew 5:3
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Matthew 5:4
Blessed are they that mourn:
for they shall be comforted.
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Matthew 5:5
Blessed are the meek:
for they shall inherit the earth.
%
Matthew 5:6
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:
for they shall be filled.
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Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful:
for they shall obtain mercy.
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Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart:
for they shall see God.
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Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers:
for they shall be called the children of God.
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Matthew 5:10
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
I needed to download (rather than just view) a windows media streaming video file. While I couldn't find a freeware app that could do it, I found the Replay Video Suite that allows you to record up to 2 minutes worth of audio and video without having to register. Once registered of course there is no time limit. Fortunately the file I was after took less than two minutes on broadband.
What I also found out is that this software is so incredibly easy to use, it is well worth purchasing if you need to record streaming media on a regular basis.
The Replay Video Suite, features WM Recorder (to record Windows Media™ streaming Video or Audio content), RM Recorder (to record Real™ Video or Audio content) and WM VCR (which lets you schedule recordings like a programmable VCR).
So you've just finished editing your vacation video, and you're going to put it online to show your friends and family. Now you want to add some music; perhaps a bit of thrash metal over the snowboarding footage, or how about "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas & The Papas to accompany your trip down the California coast? You stroll over to your CD collection, grab a couple of your favorite tunes, then drop them into the video and upload it to your Web site. It becomes the next viral video, and thousands of people are downloading it. And then the police kick down your door and throw you in prison for illegally distributing music.
Well, perhaps that's not quite how it would work out. What's more likely is that the video could get deleted from your Web site if the copyright holder complains to your hosting service.
Arguments about fair use aside, there's no disputing the fact that putting music you don't have permission to use into your videos is not a good idea. Especially in today's world, where people get sued for the illegal distribution of music:http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,123946,tk,boxnws,00.asp
Fortunately, you don't have to risk it: There are thousands of pieces of music available online that you can use for free without risking any legal unpleasantness.
Art for Art's Sake
Many people create music simply because they want it to be heard; they either don't want to make any money from it, or they view it as a promotional tool to sell CDs. So they allow their work to be copied, streamed, and used pretty much anywhere, as long as they get credit for it.
The general term for this is "podsafe"--meaning that it's safe to use in a podcast. Web sites such as PodShow and Podsafe Audio contain thousands of tracks that can be used, though you should check the license on each track before you use it.
PodShow:
http://music.podshow.com
Podsafe Audio:
http://www.podsafeaudio.com
The music on these sites is often released under a Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial license, which means that you can copy and use it for any noncommercial purpose, as long as you include a credit for the musician:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0
However, some people release their music under different types of licenses, some of which may prevent their use in a video. In particular, the Creative Commons Music Sharing license doesn't allow you to use the music in a video. Always check the license, which should be available on the same Web page from which you can download the music.
Internet Marketing
While some major record labels won't even consider distributing their music online, other smaller labels realize that downloading music from the Internet can be a great promotional tool. Record companies like Magnatune and Opsound offer high-quality, Creative Commons licensed versions of their music that can be used for noncommercial videos, as long as you give the artists credit and add a plug for the Web site where you can buy the songs.
"If the video project is noncommercial and/or educational, there is no charge for use of the music for one album of choice," says Theresa Malango of Magnatune. "However, the project would be required to give attribution in the form of credit to the artist and Magnatune as well. Specifically, we suggest using the form of 'You heard the 'Song Name' by 'Artist Name,' which is available at magnatune.com' in the video credits."
Magnatune offers a wide selection of music, ranging from Trance to Russian Orthodox Church chants.
Magnatune:
http://magnatune.com
Opsound:
http://www.opsound.org
Archive.org's Netlabels section is another great source for music:
http://www.archive.org/details/netlabels
It contains thousands of songs in a huge range of genres from artists all over the world. I'm particularly fond of the folk music that it features from groups like the Chinkapin Hunters. This stuff makes great background music for videos--such as one of my recent projects, which shows my dogs looking after orphaned kittens:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMIdUeI0rpk
There are also unusual audio files on Archive.org, like the Conet Project, which holds recordings of numbers stations, mysterious shortwave stations where robotic voices reel off long lists of numbers:
http://www.archive.org/details/ird059
These could be ideal if you're creating a spy film. However, not all of the recordings on archive.org can be used in videos, so check the terms of the license before you use any of them.
There are also lots of older pieces of music available that can be used because they are out of copyright. For example, the 78 RPMs section of Archive.org is worth browsing through if you're looking for something quirky:
http://www.archive.org/details/78rpm
It contains hundreds of songs and musical pieces that were released in the early 1900s on 78-rpm records that have been sampled. Because they are so old, they are out of copyright and you can use them however you want. It's a great source for classic songs: How cool would it be to have Enrico Caruso singing "O Sole Mio" in the background on that video of your Italian vacation?PC World Contributor Richard Baguley
Vimeo is another online community that allows members to upload and share videos.
There are a lot of media players available for windows but I gotta confess that the best one by miles is iTunes!!!!!
I just reckon that Apple have got a product that far surpasses anything that Microsoft or RealNetworks have to offer. I love the access to all of the free podcasts and the way that I can organise my music and video collections.
I can even get the podcast links and drop them into BlogExpress Reader as well!! VERY NICE!!! :)
I have been keeping a watch on news reports on the land for peace deal between Israel and Palestine. This has made for some fascinating reading!
With your RSS newsreader have a look at the Google News feed for "Israel Land Peace" and compare this to "Prophecy Update" generated by InJesus.
What I have discovered is that the land for peace deal is also being used to promote a religious tolerance between the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths, to aid not only towards peace between Israel and Palestine, but also in the formation of a global religion.
For this supra-religion to exist, it would have to forbid anyone from claiming that their particular faith was any better than anyone else's. In fact there may even come a time were it is globally forbidden, according to this religion, for Christians to claim the absolute truth in John 14:6 where Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." as Jesus' statement completely goes against many other religions.
The truth of this though is that the religious tolerance would be an attempt to stop many from receiving true salvation through the only acceptable sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Christians must remember that this push for religious tolerance between different faiths goes against the very words of Jesus himself. While it may sound nice in its use of words like tolerance and peace, please don't be fooled!
In an earlier post I gave a description of RSS and Atom Newsreaders and how this family of XML file formats is being used to syndicate news, websites and blogs through online aggregators or programs.
At that time I was trying out Newzie to subscribe to RSS or Atom subscriptions. Since then Newzie has changed a lot and I have found that there are other, far more intuitive, RSS Newsreaders available.
The one that I would now definitely recommend is BlogExpress. As Chris Pirillo at Locker Gnome states in his RSS Quickstart Guide, "Newbies don't need to look any further than this. Providing a familiar, usable interface and high-usability; BlogExpress stands out as an invaluable tool for those getting started with RSS."
If you are looking to syndicate your blog through a free RSS feed then look no further than Feedburner.
Official website blurb: As a publisher of syndicated content, be it a newsfeed, podcast, blog or otherwise, you have a vested interest in making sure your RSS or Atom feed looks its best and is easy for people to find. You also want to understand how many subscribers you have, how they are finding you and what appeals to them most so you can extend your reach beyond your wildest dreams. Finally, you may decide you want to turn all that valuable traffic into revenue, but might not know where to begin.
Enter FeedBurner. We offer a full range of services to help you build awareness, track circulation, and implement revenue-generating programs in your feed(s). A slew of publishers (over 120,000 and counting) currently take advantage of FeedBurner’s services, many of which are free and have been called “awesome” by these same customers.
