A Young Lady's Testimony

Wonderful testimony by a young girl using images and music!

Veteran Tribute

This is a very impressive video done by a school kid! You won’t be sorry you watched it.

Best Free Digital Image Viewer

Introduction

This is one of those software categories where the quantity and quality of free programs is at least equal to that of commercial ones, so the selection isn't easy, and personal convenience will unavoidably appear as a main factor for this review.

And there's also the question of what exactly we mean by an "image viewer". With so many contenders that offer loads of features like editing, filtering, batch processing, organizing, publishing and the rest, that name may be a bit too restrictive, as we always tend to demand some additional editing features apart from the basic viewing and browsing functions (these are sine qua non, in my opinion). Thus many imaging applications overlap categories, and the differences for our review should be based mainly on the aspects of access speed, zooming capabilities, and other tasks not directly related to extensive image editing. Though I know many users will prefer all-in-one programs, I feel they don't fit into this category, and feature bloat precludes their recommendation.

Discussion

IrfanView thumbnail moduleOne of the best choices is the classic IrfanView. Irfan is a first-class product, but one for which I have mixed feelings. It's an amazingly capable application and quite fast at displaying images, something I consider essential for a viewer. It offers plenty of functions for editing, converting, batch processing, slideshow exporting, etc. and supports almost any graphics plug-in. Some of the features (its resizing algorithm, for instance) are outstanding and even rank above a big fish like Photoshop. But, although many users just love it, it just doesn't work the way I'm used to. It's quite simplistic, but not really intuitive and the interface has been almost the same since early versions. As a personal "inconvenience" I'll say wheel zooming requires a press of the Ctrl key, and I don't see the point in having a separate module for thumbnails. This, however, may be exactly what others prefer, and the same applies to the interface, which looks a bit too outdated to me. But, obviously, this program is a real winner.

XnView thumbnail and preview windowA product I feel more comfortable with is XnView. Like Irfan, it's very versatile; it can read and display nearly 400 types of graphic files, and convert any of these to more than 50 formats. It displays images very quickly, and these may be viewed full screen, as slideshows or as thumbnails. It's quite capable at processing images, too; you can rotate, crop, resize, adjust brightness and color, apply filters or effects, create a web page and much more. Most of these operations can also be carried out from a batch file, which is ideal for converting or processing multiple images with custom adjustments, and the thumbnail window can fit your preferences with several layouts and sizes; this is especially useful when displaying panoramic images in preview mode (see screenshot). It offers nearly instantaneous hotkey and wheel zooming, and dragging the image around at any zoom level is perfectly smooth. It also allows having several images open at the same time and even running multiple instances of the program if you like to browse in different windows. It supports drag and drop, lots of plug-ins, is available in 44 languages and has full cross-platform support, including Mac and Linux (unlike its competitors reviewed here). A heavyweight.

FastStone thumbnail and preview windowMy third choice is FastStone Image Viewer. There are various reasons to choose this, but the main one is its superb interface, especially in full screen mode, with different pop-up panels appearing when the mouse pointer reaches any side of the screen. You can easily access every function of the program (one at a time, of course) from this window with no other element disturbing you until you decide it with just a mouse move, including a very handy thumbnail slider to browse your images. Even the smallest menus or panels in any of the modes are clear and well designed, and there are several skins available. Aside from the usual wheel zooming, the zoom system has a very clever feature, too. It magnifies to a custom preset level with just one click, and "average-user" files are displayed quickly, the same as their thumbnails; but it's slower showing bigger files (>20MB, depending on the format and resolution) and both Irfan and XnView perform much better in this field, though for most users that won't be an issue. It may be a good idea to disable the preview panel in the thumbnail window to speed things up. It also supports all major graphic formats and popular digital camera RAW formats as well, and offers good basic image editing facilities, an excellent cropping module, full batch processing options and great slideshow capabilities. Much to like here.

These three programs also support basic video viewing for the most common formats. A long comparative review of FastStone and XnView with my own trials can be found in the comments section below (04/27/2008).

WildBit Thumbnail ViewThose products have been been in the top list for years since the days of the original Gizmo's 46Best and it seemed no others could come close to them so far. After my initial drawbacks were overcome by the evidence, I can recommend another one now. This special mention goes to WildBit Viewer, an outstanding application that can rival the ones reviewed above in many aspects. However, although it's reasonably fast at displaying average JPGs, I find it slower than the others with PSDs or TIFs, and RAW support doesn't include thumbnail presentation. But otherwise the program is highly manageable and functional enough to earn the respect of many users. Apart from the usual features you'd expect, it offers small-increment wheel zooming, a very intuitive image editor with a full array of editing tools, a superpowerful search function that can track any metadata or EXIF information, an excellent geotagging tool to embed geographical co-ordinates in the files, and the most comprehensive help you can imagine. There's also a function for side-by-side image comparison with difference calculations, and a highly customizable slideshow mode. It supports around 70 formats (no video) and runs on Windows 98SE through Vista. A very competent alternative.
Related Products and Links
I've tested quite a few other applications (too many to be mentioned), but none of them made it to the top. That includes all of those suggested by readers. When this was the case, I usually replied with a post in the comments section with my reasons. Maybe your favorite program is among them, but please don't hesitate to submit any product you think might deserve a try. There are some decent ones and even Windows' built-in viewer performs acceptably when browsing through average images, although it's very limited. Anyway, my OS is XP, so I haven't tried Vista's capabilities for the matter. But it wouldn't be fair to end this review without mentioning some other freebies that offer a few remarkable features. (Thanks to those anonymous visitors for letting me know.)

One of them is Imagine, a very fast viewer vaguely resembling Irfan in its simplistic interface. Similarly, wheel zooming needs pressing the Ctrl key and the program also uses a separate window for thumbnails, but Imagine adds more functionality for people who like it this way and several thumbnail windows can be open at the same time. Besides, it lets you customize various mouse modes with different configurations and select any of them instantaneously to fit your workflow, allows frame extraction from animations, reads a lot of formats, has multilanguage support and is portable. On the downside, it's quite limited in other areas. To name but a few, the editing and batch processing options are insufficient (I haven't been able to find a cropping feature!), certain Photoshop PSD files aren't properly displayed, no RAW or video formats are supported and it doesn't keep a database, so the thumbnails have to be generated again every time you visit a folder, although it's quite fast at doing this.

ALTools offer some interesting freeware utilities, including ALSee picture viewer. This one is fast, folks. And that's just about the most important feature a viewer should provide. Actually, it's the fastest of the ones reviewed so far (on my system) when it comes to displaying any of the 24 supported formats, and this reason alone makes it worth appearing here. Thumbnail generation takes a little longer than in other apps, but once the images are in the database you can view and browse at blazing speed. And that includes even several-hundred-MB multilayered PSDs! The interface is clean and neatly designed, and although the icons might not be to everyone's taste, the functions are very easy to use. The drawbacks are a few, however: no wheel zooming, limited customization, very few batch processing options, no RAW or video support, and it writes to just 5 formats (JPG, BMP, GIF, PCX and TIF; I really miss PNG, among others), though the new ALSee 5.3 beta 1 has improved a tad and seems to be even faster.

Pictomio is a good representative of the recent trends in this category, which pay greater attention to "fancy" interfaces and presentations to improve user experience. The main drawback with this is the usually high resource consumption and graphics card requirements, and the program is no exception, as it uses DirectX hardware acceleration. I'd say it is mainly geared to organizing, with a great number of options for tagging, metadata editing, rating and grouping, but it performs very well as a viewer, too. It's really fast once the thumbnail indexing has finished and displays an image preview instantly, and you can zoom in and out to any level. It supports some video formats as well. The interface is really nice and its many tabs show a lot of information. Pictomio, however, is not intended to edit and there are no options for this other than lossless rotation. There's no support for RAW, PSD or animated GIF formats either. Moreover, indexing should be faster and it fails to generate a thumbnail for some really big files, but the picture is displayed perfectly if you click on its blank rectangle.

Finally, after some debate in the comments section I've decided to mention FastPictureViewer, but just because of one single feature. This claims to be (and probably is) the fastest viewer ever, especially indicated for quick browsing and culling. Like Pictomio, it uses hardware to speed things up and requires a lot of system resources and graphic capabilities. It has a nice interface as well. Anyway, the program offers no other functions and is limited to just viewing, and the free version supports JPGs only. It does support full color space awareness, though.

This impressive entry in the Wikipedia features a chart comparing a considerable amount of free and commercial image viewers. Most of these products are also given detailed individual entries and include links to their websites.

Gizmo's - Best Free Digital Image Viewer | Gizmo's Tech Support Alert.

So much for pro-life Democrats

Yesterday, just a few days after Barack Obama restarted the Culture War -- contrary to his campaign promises not to do so -- by revoking President Ronald Reagan's Mexico City Policy, Senate pro-life Republicans tried to reinstate Reagan's policy to no avail.

Senator Mel Martinez, Republican from Florida, authored the amendment to reinstate the Mexico City Policy which would ensure groups such as Planned Parenthood International which do abortions in countries all across the world, would not receive American taxpayers' dollars. The Martinez Amendment failed by a margin of 60-37 with the usual 4 liberal Republicans voting against the amendment (Senators Susan Collins (Maine); Lisa Murkowski (Alaska); Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Arlen Specter (Pennsylvania.)

However, what was astounding is that only one Democrat Senator out of 57 Democrats voting -- Ted Kennedy did not vote -- voted to keep more unborn children alive by voting for the Martinez Amendment. And that was the consistently pro-life and mostly conservative Senator Ben Nelson from Nebraska. How about that for a radically pro-abortion party!

The other shocking event occurred last week when Barack Obama fooled the pro-life voters -- including many of the majority of Catholics; some 54% of Catholics -- who voted for him last November, by abolishing the Reagan Mexico City Policy.

Likewise, more than a few of the Democrat Senators who voted against Reagan's Mexico City Policy yesterday pretended to be at least luke-warm pro-lifers back in their states during campaigns and other appearances, many of whom represent conservative states such as Indiana (Senator Evan Bayh); Louisiana (Senator Mary Landrieu); Florida (Senator Bill Nelson); South Dakota (Tim Johnson); Arkansas (Mary Pryor): and the worst of all of these Democrats voting in the negative on the Martinez Amendment: Senator Bob Casey, Jr. whose father was a great pro-life Democrat Governor of Pennsylvania.

The Culture War, rejuvenated by Barack Obama's shocking pandering to the radical pro-abortion business and lobby, will now be accelerated as the pro-life movement has been reinvigorated as never before. Perhaps many of the pro-life voters who cast their ballots for him last November and who were deceived by Obama will see the error of their ways and will return to protecting the lives of our most innocent citizens: the unborn.

So much for pro-life Democrats | Christian Coalition of America.

Letting Go - A Prayer for Letting Go of Control

Please hear my prayer. I go along each day, trying to run my life my own way. I forget to let go and give you control.

I wonder why things aren't going the way I want them to go. I forget to stop and ask what you want, Lord. Please help me to give you control, Jesus. I want to follow you. I want what you desire for me.

Help me to realize that when you close one door, you open the one you want me to walk through. Help me also to realize that what I desire may not be what is meant for me, or what is best for me. Maybe it will lead me away from what your great plan is for me.

Lord, let me accept each day as a gift. Let me follow the path you choose for me. Help me to be thankful for what you give me and not to worry about my needs. I trust you will take care of all my needs. Remind me that my role is to care for those around me and focus on those who need my help.

Help me not to be judgmental, as we are all equal in God's eyes. Help me to see the good in all of your creations. Let me leave the judging to you, dear Jesus. Instead, I will concentrate on living to please you!

Help me, dear Jesus, be who and what you want me to be. Give me strength, faith and hope, and most of all, give me guidance each and every day. I let go and give you control.

In Jesus name,

Amen.

Letting Go - A Prayer for Letting Go of Control.

9 Safety Tips to Protect Yourself

You may have seen the following before but it's worth seeing again. We need to remind ourselves of ways to be safe or we get distracted by life and leave ourselves vulnerable to criminals.

The following is a good reminder and I suggest you forward it on to your loved ones and friends and make a copy for your kids to see.

When under stress, often our mind freezes up. These reminders, if read more than once, will imprint on your brain and hopefully help you create some GOOD SAFETY HABITS FOR 2009!

1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do: The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, use it!

2. Learned this from a tourist guide in New Orleans: If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you.... chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse.
RUN IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will.

4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc.) DON'T DO THIS! This is the perfect opportunity for a predator to get in on the passenger side. As soon as you get into your car, lock the doors and leave.
A.) If someone is in your car with a gun DO NOT DRIVE OFF. Instead, gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. As soon as the car crashes bail out and run.

5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage:
A.) Be aware: look around you. Look in your car, at the passenger side floor, and in the back seat.
B.) If you are parked next to a large van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most attackers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the victim tries to get into their car.
C.) Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out.

6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!)

7. If a predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ.
RUN, Preferably in a zig -zag pattern.

8. Women often times try to be sympathetic. Don't. It may put you in harm's way. Ted Bundy was a good-looking, well-educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane or a limp, and often asked "for help" into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when his victims were abducted.

9. If you are home alone at night and hear strange noises, do not answer/open the door. Instead, call the police and Wait for them to arrive. There have been recent reports of women hearing a baby's cry outside when they are home alone at night, which is suspected to be linked to recent serial killings.
One more reminder: we are all 100% responsible to our well being and safety. MAKE SMART THINKING CHOICES.

Be Safe!

Look for personal protection products at www.tbotech.com

In Step with God - A Message from Charles Stanley

Was the new president hiding the bad news for unborn babies?

Last Friday was the new president hiding from Americans the fact that more unborn babies will die because he decided to do away with President Ronald Reagan's Mexico City Policy (also supported by both President Bush 41 and President 43 )? If a politician wants to suppress a story -- maybe to try to maintain the support of some of the young evangelical voters who voted for him in the election -- he releases a press release late on Friday evenings so not many television viewers and newspaper readers will notice the story the next day.

Last Friday, Barack Obama signed an executive order -- with no fanfare after newspaper and television network deadlines had passed -- to do away with the Mexico City Policy which prohibited groups like Planned Parenthood International -- that do abortions or promote abortions -- from receiving American tax dollars. Did he do so because he did not want to be surrounded in the Oval Office by pro-abortion groups which supported his candidacy while he signed the executive order?

The leader of the Republicans in the United States Senate, Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, is absolutely right when he said about Obama's doing away with President Reagan's Mexico City Policy: "President Obama’s decision to overturn the longstanding Mexico City Policy lifts our prohibition against providing assistance to foreign organizations that perform or promote abortion. I have long supported the Mexico City Policy and believe this administration’s decision to be counter to our nation’s interests.”

Unfortunately, Obama's abolishing Reagan's Mexico City Policy, is only the first of many anti-life policies and legislation which will probably come to fruition during the next few years. Undoubtedly, if two of the older Supreme Court justices retire -- such as Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- Obama will replace them with very pro-abortion justices. Obama promised his supporters his very first act would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) which would overturn ALL restrictions on abortions including the federal law and state laws against the heinous procedure called partial-birth abortion. Thankfully, even the Democrat Congress has not passed such legislation yet.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is talking about boosting family planning funding by almost a quarter of a billion dollars each year. Planned Parenthood of America already receives hundreds of millions of American tax dollars each year and kills up to a third of unborn babies in America. Human embryonic stem cell research will undoubtedly be funded with American tax dollars for the first time in history this year. These are just a few of the many pro-abortion bills likely to be brought up by the Democrats during the 111th Congress.

Last week, Americans participated in pro-life marches, including to the United States Supreme Court in Washington D.C. on the 36th anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision which has resulted in the deaths of nearly 50 million unborn babies, 37% of whom were black babies. The culture of death has returned to America and Americans need to pray that it comes to an end.

Source

Rick Warren's Inaugration Prayer

Police Fatalities for '08 Prove CCW Laws No Threat to Cops

BELLEVUE, Wash., Another bogus argument of gun control extremists - that sensible concealed carry laws create an increased threat to police officers - has been refuted by statistics from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and published by USA Today.

The number of officer fatalities due to gunfire is the lowest in 50 years, noted Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. A report out Monday said that this year, 41 officers have died from gunshot wounds, down 40 percent from the 68 who died by gunfire in 2007. Yet the number of concealed carry permits issued by the states has risen, dramatically in some areas, in the past 12 months.

"Better training and equipment have contributed to this decline," Gottlieb stated, "but it must be noted for the record that growing numbers of legally-armed citizens have not resulted in more police slayings. That has been one of the many lame arguments offered by gun control fanatics over the past few years when they fought against expanded concealed carry rights.

"The death of one police officer is a tragedy," he continued, "but common sense right-to-carry statutes have no relation to the criminal slayings of police officers, and anti-gun rights extremists know it."

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reports that more officers have died in traffic-related incidents than in shootings, same as last year, Gottlieb noted.

"There are, today, more legally-armed citizens than ever before," he commented, "and more privately-owned firearms than ten or even five years ago. More Americans own semiautomatic sport-utility rifles, growing numbers of women own guns for personal protection and more citizens are involved in shooting sports.

"None of these law-abiding citizens pose any threat to public safety, and especially to the safety of our local police," Gottlieb concluded. "We expect the new Congress, and state legislatures around the country, to keep this in perspective as the gun ban lobby mounts new attacks on firearm civil rights in 2009."

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (www.ccrkba.org) is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.

SOURCE Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Kathy's Rays of Sunshine - Christian Testimony of a Transformed Life

From Kathy Abrahams, for About.com

After losing her brother to a terrible disease, Kathy began to question why God had not answered her prayers and healed him. She knew that God could have healed him. Depression overcame Kathy in her grief and she even attempted to take her own life. But God mercifully intervened with happiness like rays of sunshine, reminding her that her Heavenly Father was always there for her.

Kathy's true story is one of many uniquely featured testimonies from you, the members and visitors of this site. Each story reveals a life transformed by Christian faith. If your relationship with God has made a significant difference in your life, we would like to hear about it. Submit your testimony by filling out this Submission Form. To receive weekly messages of hope and encouragement from real-life stories of changed lives, sign up for eTestimonies.

Kathy's Rays of Sunshine

When my one and only brother, Nick, was diagnosed with dementia at the age of fifty-seven, I experienced feelings of sadness, I prayed to my Heavenly Father, asking him to heal my brother of this terrible disease.

"Please, Heavenly Father, I implore you. Have compassion on my brother. Make him well again."

Prayers for healing went up to heaven, but my brother's condition gradually deteriorated, as is usual with this condition. It seemed that it was not the Lord's will to bring about a restoration of health to Nick.

Sadly, my brother was placed into a nursing home last year. He remained there for about eight months until he passed on almost a year ago at the age of sixty.

Black Depression

A black depressive cloud hung over my head, and I was put on anti-depressants. I experienced some resentment towards my Heavenly Father for not coming to my brother's aid. He could have healed him so easily. Why didn't he? Nick had lived a painful, difficult life.

While in the depths of depression, I made an attempt to take my own life by swallowing eight tablets, which I was told would have killed me if they had been the right type of tablets. I thank God now that they weren't.

During my enforced one-week stay in the psychiatric section of the local hospital, I had time to ponder issues in my life on a deep level. It wasn't up to me to question God about why he hadn't healed my brother. God, in his supreme wisdom, always knows what is best for a person. I know now that God showed compassion for my brother in his illness.

Always There

My self-pitying moods began to vanish as I focused on my Heavenly Father and the love that he has shown me during my life. He has always been there for me whenever I needed Him.

I made a decision then and there: I wanted to become closer to the Lord. I wanted to call him my "Abba Father," my "Daddy God." The best father one could possibly hope for.

Rays of Sunshine

Feelings of happiness like rays of sunshine began to brighten my life again. I have never felt so loved and protected as I do now. I desire to become even closer to the Lord.

He is definitely the center of my universe, and I know that he will always be there from now on. He is a God who loves his children dearly, and wishes the best for them. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord.

Tim Hawkins-My Favorite Bible Verse

This is truly hilarious from Tim Hawkins!

Ultimate Freedom

Given the condition of our nation and the hope we all have in the Lord, this flash presentation will help. It also features Alan Jackson singing "How Great Thou Art" in the background. Just click on the link: Ultimate Freedom

You Cannot Miss This

This is the testimony video of the year. We can all say that we believe but could you without any limbs? Don't miss this.

Want to see 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds?

How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries, and where has it sparked wars? This flash animated map gives us a brief history of the world's most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Selected periods of inter-religious bloodshed are also highlighted. Here is a brief but interesting flash presentation of the History of Religion in 90 seconds: 5,000 Years of Religion in 90 Seconds . 

The Battle of Love vs Lust

Bob Barnes from Sheridan House Family Ministries did his usual great job during his weekly men's bible study breakfast at First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale this AM from John 12:1-3 on "The Battle of Love vs. Lust". Love lives to give. Lust lives to get. The proper orientation of God, people and things for a Christian is to love God and thus use things to serve people. A person who lusts ignores God, and uses people to get the things he craves. A person who who uses people to fulfill his lusts is miserable. Love asks what I can do for you. Lust asks what can I get from you. How you handle things tells you a lot about your ability to love. For many. a relationship with Jesus is the first experience with real love. In this culture that uses people, we can love Him back by expressing His love onto the individuals Jesus places around us!

Songs in the Key of My Life

Songs have been an important part of my life- puppy love to Vietnam, lay to christian. This project is and will be an ongoing joy. I really don't know what can say more about someone than their music habits. Although I have not presented the list in chronological order, try to guess their order in the key of my life. Just click on the link in the right hand column of this blog at any time to see and play the list.  Or use this one: Songs In The Key Of My Life