One of the most serious issues of our time - pardon the pun - is the FCC's unconstitutional crackdown on broadcasting for allegedly "indecent" programming.  The heavy fines levied by the FCC made it impossible for Howard Stern to continue on traditional radio.   He had to watch everything he said.

Fortunately, Sirius Satellite Radio provided a great alternative, which has proven to be even better than the original.  Howard Stern has finally found his element on Sirius Radio - a free environment, in which his mind can work and express itself at full, incisive, hilarious speed.

Sirius also gives you exclusive coverage of the NFL, NBA, and NASCAR, more than 130 channels of programming, 69 music channels with no commercials, and Martha Stewart.

You do need a special radio to hear Sirius, and the Sirius Stiletto 10 Satellite Radio is one of many cool models available.  The Stiletto doesn't need to be docked in your car or at home - you can take it anywhere - and it gives you live portable reception of Sirius Radio shows, stores up to 10 hours of Sirius Satellite programming, and has lots of other useful features.

It's not just satellite radio - it's out of this world.

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The two most important assets of any Web site are content and speed.  You want to give your visitors exciting, fascinating, worthwhile things to see, read, or hear, and you want them to have access to these benefits as quickly as possible.   Content is king and time is money on the Internet.

Thumbshots.org provides Free Thumbshot thumbnails for your site.  You put a little code on your site.  And, then, like magic, your visitors can instantly see visualizations - thumbnail screens - of any pages connected via links to your site.  You just hover the cursor over the link, and the page it is linked to comes shimmering into view.

These thumbnails at once add valuable content to your site, by giving your visitors views of other pages, without having to leave your site.  And they save your visitors time, by giving them a preview of the page in the link, before and if they decide to visit that page.

Yahoo, the BBC, many other important sites use thumbshots.  You might give them a thumbs-up, too.

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How would I customize an address label?

In this case, not for myself, but a friend, Sierra Waters ... who is a time-traveller...

First, whether for me, or as a gift for family or friends, I would use Vista Print online for my personalized address labels.  Vista Print lets you upload your own design, or choose from hundreds of templates.  You add your content, place your order, and your personalized return address label is good to go.

What would I get for Sierra?

Well, browsing through the many attractive styles, I think that two general categories would be most likely to appeal to Sierra - New Age, and Wild and Edgy.  And the more I look at the New Age designs, I'm thinking those would be most appreciated by Sierra.  There's a nebula swirl, a reddish sunset, a bright light coming out of a hand, and what almost looks like a cave-art human figure...

Hmmm ... I think I'll go with the bright light in the hand - there's something about that light that speaks time travel.

Next step:  Add the name and address - customize the label.  Ok.  Sierra Waters is the name.  And then I have three lines for the address.  Knowing Sierra, I think she'd prefer just two.  Make that: The Millennium Club on one line, New York City on the next.  Those in Sierra's world who need to send mail to Sierra will know exactly where that is. 

I can further edit the address - adjust the size and the font - and then I place the order, and I'm all set.

Next time a suitable occasion arises, I may surprise Sierra with a present...

 

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It was Arthur C. Clarke who sagely observed that advanced technologies often seem indistinguishable from magic - they both do things so powerfully, so easily, so seemingly without effort.  And some technologies are more powerful than others.  For me, that would be sailing through the toll lines on a crowded day at the bridge, using E-ZPass.   And logging on to the web from the beach with any little computer.  Or talking on a cell phone with Bluetooth.

The magic of Bluetooth is that you quickly feel as if you're not even talking on a cell phone, or via any device.  You're talking, and your voice is somehow magically transported.   Having a conversation via Bluetooth, I think, is the closest we have to mental telepathy.

I especially like it in my car.  My Prius is Bluetooth-enabled.  This means that as soon as I start the car, I can receive and make calls - through the car's dashboard.  True, I do have to have my cell phone in my pocket or otherwise in the car.  But, again, I'm often not even aware that there's a cell phone involved.  It feels to me, for all the world, as I'm talking to you or whomever, right through my car - even though, of course, you're nowhere near my car.

But, you know what?  You don't need a Prius or a car with built-in Bluetooth to enjoy this magic.   Your Bluetooth head-set can do the same trick - in or out of your car.  And you can get Bluetooth car installation kits.   Check out Buy.com and its comprehensive, well-organized site for all of your Bluetooth needs.  It's that easy to buy into this powerful magic.

 

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The one advantage that old-fashioned paper has over our marvelous computers is that paper doesn't crash.  A sudden, unexpected failure of your computer, with a loss of your data, is the Achilles heel of the digital revolution.  That's why backup is so crucial.

And, of the all the kinds of backup you can use, I'd say online backup is the best - because it's totally independent of your own computer, home, or office.  With your data saved totally off the premises, you have the most amount of security.

IDrive-E offers encrypted, secure online backups for up to 2 GB of your data - for free!   You can't beat that price.  And, of course, if you need more storage, you can easily upgrade to unlimited storaged with a paid, pro account.

I learned the value of data storage online years ago.   I was writing one of my novels, Borrowed Tides, at our cottage on Cape Cod.  I made backups on two disks, and of course I had what I had written on my hard drive, too.   But by the time I got back home, the two disks had fallen into a puddle, and the computer had crashed.  Fortunately, I had uploaded my chapters to an online system...

    

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We just got back from Cape Cod a few weeks ago. We've been renting a little cottage - Sandpiper - for a few weeks, a month, a few times for a few months during the summer - from the owner since 1982. It's the easiest way to get a piece of paradise.

In our case, that's a quiet beach. You can walk on it for miles on some days, with mostly seagulls and hermit crabs for company.

How much would it cost to buy a place like that? A small fortune. Plus, you have to worry about locking it up for the winter, turning off the electricity and the water, and the possibility of a storm that could wipe it all away.

So, yes, we're believers in vacation rentals from the owner. It's the best combination of continuity, reliability, and minimum expense for the vistas. In our case, my wife's sister recommended this place to us, and she in turn had found out about it about from old friend.

But Vacation Rentals By Owners is a neat resource for getting a vacation rental anywhere in the country. Whether Cape Cod or California vacation rentals - anywhere in the country - you'll find your perfect vacation here.

I'm really tempted to go for another vacation, right now...

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André Bazin, the great French film critic, observed that a photograph rescues an image from its "proper corruption" in time.  And so it does, by taking the faces and places that are important to us, and making them last forever - not just in our dreams, but in their frames.

But where is best place to display such mirrors of our vision and memory?  If the photograph is digital, as just about all of them are now, do we confine it to our computer screen, or the tiny screen of our cell phone, or someone else's?

You'll find a far better solution at Digital Framez, where you can choose a digital photo frame.  This is an ideal way to display the images you've rescued from time.  The digital picture frames come in seven-inch and nine-inch sizes.  They can display a single prized photograph or a series - an album - and you set the time that you want each photograph to display, and the kind of transitions between images.

You can place these digital frames anywhere in your home - at the entrance, on the walls of your foyer and living room, on a coffee table or a side table, anywhere you like.

The digital revolution has made it easy to take great photographs just about any time, anywhere.   Digital Framez gives them and you the display they deserve.

 

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It is very difficult in our society to live your principles in everything you do.

For example, if you're a vegan, and you refrain from eating any meat or meat-associated food, on moral grounds, what can you do about your accessories and shoes, which are often made from animal products?

Vegan Shoes and Bags offers the perfect answer: a wide selection of shoes and bags, for women and men, carefully checked to make sure they contain no products made from leather, fur, suede, wool, or silk.  The shoes range from casual and work to evening wear, and are all available on the http://www.vegetarianshoesandbags.com website. Earth shoes, dress shoes, belts, wallets, hand bags and evening bags - they're all there on the page, and easy to order. You can shop with no moral conflict.

I'm not vegan or vegetarian myself,  but if I were, I would definitely give this site a try.