tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61644110389030801792024-03-19T04:20:37.329-07:00New MinorityAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.comBlogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-78279197513678182522014-05-23T07:56:00.000-07:002014-05-23T07:56:16.306-07:00Internet Gold - Will Ferrell and Chad Smith have a drum-off on Jimmy Fallon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">This is what the internet is for! There has been a long running joke that Will Ferrell is the drummer for Red Hot Chili Peppers, since him and Chad Smith look so similar.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ratsound.com/cblog/uploads/clev_chad1.jpg">Chad Smith as Ricky Bobby</a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Will Ferrell did a <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1x04gb/hello_its_will_ferrell_lets_keep_it_classy_ama">reddit AMA</a> where he actually admitted that he was Chad Smith, and that Will Ferrell wasn't a real person. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="710" scrolling="no" src="//instagram.com/p/kAc3-7wBNh/embed/" width="612"></iframe></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Will Ferrell had a video on Instagram saying he's Chad Smith. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Chad Smith made a reply video telling him to quit impersonating him, and challenged him to a drum-off. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/0uBOtQOO70Y" width="560"></iframe></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Then of course </span><button class="CfgfKe sk" data-sbxm="1" data-token-displayname="Jimmy Fallon" data-token-entity="@107477385004906866020" oid="107477385004906866020" style="background: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: #427fed; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 1px; padding: 0px 1px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: nowrap;" tabindex="-1"><span class="jP" style="color: #888888;">+</span>Jimmy Fallon</button><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"> hosted the drum-off on his show. Video of the drum-off via <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/102114131645264120641" target="_blank">+J.P. Harvey</a> </span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="288" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="http://www.hulu.com/embed.html?eid=dngrswdbdzm8gyarzmj3qg" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="512"></iframe></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">On top of all that, there's a hilarious reference to the Saturday Night Live "more cowbell" skit, which happens to feature Jimmy Fallon in the background that can't keep a straight face. I really do love the internet.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-52365966530775777422014-05-08T10:02:00.000-07:002014-05-08T12:18:44.612-07:00Ingress updates: Improvements, but not there yet<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I quit playing Ingress after the last Anomaly event in Austin. I still log in to charge my few remaining guardian portal candidates, but that's all I do. I have some opinions on what's changed, and what still needs to change. I'll break down my opinions below.<br />
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<b>New Levels</b><br />
I think this is a great improvement. Tying higher levels to AP and badges makes for more well rounded agents. Increasing remote charging range and XM storage limits are helpful, but not game changing. (Edit: I mistakenly thought that Ingress was increasing the amount of storage per level as well. Increased XM capacity isn't as good as additional storage, but it's still good). I think this is good enough incentive to encourage people to level, but not devastating for people that can't (or don't want to) play enough to get to level 16. The rumored requirements are difficult for just about everyone, but basically impossible for many players (like myself). I think they've chosen a good balance between rewarding people that can play a lot and not putting people that can't play a ton at a huge disadvantage.<br />
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<b>Ultra strikes</b><br />
This should never have been exclusive to one type of phone. Phones and carriers are expensive, and don't work everywhere. I'm all for unique in game items, and Ingress turning a profit, but this wasn't a good way to do it. Unique codes in Doritos? Sure, that's reasonable. Having to buy a new cell phone and switch carriers? Ridiculous. I do have a problem with Ultra strikes, but I'll cover that in a later section called GPS drift.<br />
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<b>Capsules</b><br />
Capsules are a much needed improvement to the game. Overall, I think it's a good idea. I haven't used one yet, so I don't know if there are any issues with game play or UI, but from what I've seen, it looks good. I do think that they could make it even more useful if they created VR capsules that held 500 items. Yes, you could just pass the capsule back and forth 5 times, but why not just increase the capsule size? It doesn't hurt the game mechanics in any way, it just makes a game mechanic easier. For more info on capsules - http://goo.gl/RjXMsS<br />
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<b>GPS Drift</b><br />
Every cell phone or tablet I've tried playing Ingress on has issues with the location. Some devices are more accurate than others, but all of them have had issues. I don't know if this is an inherent problem in cell phones, or an issue with Ingress. I spent 10 minutes walking in circles in a parking lot trying to get an ultra strike to fire in a precise location. Sometimes I'd walk 10m, and it wouldn't move at all. Then, it would jump the 10m I actually walked, plus another 5 more. Correctly placing resonators at the max distance is tedious and annoying. Multiple times I've been standing still at the max distance, and my location either jumps to within a few meters of the portal, or jumps out of range. This game is supposed to get you off your ass and moving. It's not supposed to make you walk endlessly in small circles in a parking lot. I've attempted to incorporate Ingress into exercise routines, but GPS drift makes it difficult. Even when GPS is completely accurate, portals and resonators are not always in completely safe places. Resonators in streets are the perfect example. This game is already suspicious enough, do we really need to look completely crazy walking in circles, leaning over a bridge, or leaning against a limited access building to try and take out a resonator? I suggest that the game be changed to allow you to place resonators at what ever distance you want (to the max), as long as you are in range of the portal. I also think that you should be able to touch anywhere in the 40M radius around you to fire an XMP or ultra strike. Yes, there will always be portals that are hard to get to, but giving us a buffer of ~40M would eliminate the vast majority of gps drift issues.<br />
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<b>Intel Map</b><br />
Seriously? This is one of the worst parts of the game. It's slow. It's glitchy. It doesn't have any way of planning, making notes, sharing your location, communicating only with a group, or any other much needed tools. My suggestions is to either hire some of the third party add on developers, or create an API for them to use. I've helped with planning, and been an ops manager during large fielding operations. The Intel map is basically useless. All of the field art and mega fields? All of it was done with third party (against TOS) add-ons or some other mapping software. The most creative and dedicated players are at risk of being banned or have a ridiculously difficult time using tools not linked to Ingress data. This is pitiful and embarrassing. When helping with mega fields, I was using Glympse to know where all of the people playing were. Hangouts to send messages to different groups. Zello to communicate with people driving so they wouldn't die. The intel map with an addon that allowed creating virtual links between portals. It was still difficult to accomplish, and the mega fields weren't even that big.<br />
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So, after all that, am I coming back to Ingress? Not yet. If all of the issues I listed get fixed or improved, maybe. If it stays the way it is? Too many issues that directly affect the fun of it. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-57304577421281034192011-11-30T16:11:00.001-08:002012-01-05T15:29:02.817-08:00AKO on Android no more?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today is probably the last day that you will be able to check your AKO email on your Android phone without getting a very expensive Bluetooth CAC card reader. According to <a href="https://chess.army.mil/ascp/commerce/scp/downloads/news/AKO_SSO_Memorandum.pdf">this</a>, imap will stop working, and only CAC cards will be supported after 01DEC2011. For more info, you can log into AKO, and click on the CAC resource center button on the left of the screen. On the new page that opens, on the bottom left there is a link for email on your mobile phone. I'd provide the link, but it's behind the log in page and I'm not sure how they feel about links to internal resources. If you are an AKO user, you shouldn't have any problem finding it. If you aren't an AKO user, then you don't need to know about it.<br />
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Amazingly, the <a href="http://www.biometricassociates.com/products-baimobile/smart-card-reader-iphone-android.html">bluetooth CAC card readers</a> only work on TWO Android devices, the Dell Streak 5 and 7 and an Iphone with a stupid bluetooth adapter (Iphone already has bluetooth correct?). They cost well over $200, some sources saying that there is also a yearly fee of about $50 for the software. It's amazing to me how ridiculous the army can be about security. There is supposed be a balance between security and accessibility. Make it too secure, and no one will use it effectively. Make it too accessible, and everyone, even people not supposed to use it, will be using it. The Army always errs on the side of caution, making it utterly unusable. As someone that travels often, and hardly ever has easy access to a desk, you just made my job much harder. That translates into you paying me the same amount, but not getting as much work out of me. Good job!<br />
<br />
Currently, I'm able to log into AKO in a browser, and from my phone without any issues, but I'm sure I'll be less effective at my job soon enough.<br />
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Edit: Thought I should update this with a <a href="http://boonxeven.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-configure-ako-email-on-your.html">link</a> to a guide I wrote to setup AKO, since this is still working for the time being. Here is a <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/good-technology-collaborates-with-dell-and-other-partners-to-deliver-new-military-grade-secure-android-devices-for-us-department-of-defense-dod-agencies-2012-01-04?reflink=MW_news_stmp">link</a> for some news on the bluetooth CAC card as well. Still looks like it's only available on Dell phones.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-22612591024854569632011-03-28T09:03:00.001-07:002011-03-28T09:03:33.626-07:00Letter from a christian friend - Belief, faith, and Santa Claus<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3">This post is actually written as a response to a friend of mine. I thought that I would post it here as it's a topic that relates well with this blog and it's been awhile since I've talked religion. I will try to write it in a way that you don't need to have a back story. I'm going to reference things that have already been said, but only in ways so that it's not necessary to know specifically what was said. I'm not attacking my friend's position, just giving my opinion of it (at his request actually), and I'm sending him an email with a link to this post, so if he feels that he needs to defend himself, he can. Friend, you know who you are, and if you wish to identify yourself, please feel free to comment as yourself, or if you would prefer, you can do so anonymously. It's been a few months since I've written this, and it's rather disjointed, and doesn't flow smoothly. I've been trying to rewrite it, but my heart just isn't in it. As many ideas as I have on religion, I just can't put much effort into discussing it, especially in the written word. I feel like I've seen behind the curtain at the magic show. I know the magician is just an illusionist, but no matter how I tell people about it, they still believe it's actual magic. I wouldn't mind people having the illusion if it was just a harmless magic show, but I think we all know that religion is much more dangerous than that. I could probably extend this post out to a book, but I don't think that it would be worth writing. There are already so many books on the subject written by brilliant people. So here is what has been written, sorry for the sloppiness of the writing. Maybe a comment would spark the creative part of my mind and get it back in the mood to write on the subject again.</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"> </font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3">It is common for believers to talk about atheists and use the words faith and belief. It is either a misunderstanding of an atheists position, or a semantic game with the words. While I do have faith in order to reach many of my conclusions, it is not the blind faith that religion requires (more on that later). The faith I have, is that this life and all my experiences are not all a part of some contrived joke, or experiment. There really is no way to know if we are in some kind of matrix, or in a dream world like in inception. Everything that we see, feel, smell, hear, etc could all be artificial and pushed into our brain from some self concealing source. Hell, our brain could be fake as well, and we could all be some kind of computer program that is being lied to. So how do I know that's not the case? I don't. I have faith that the things I experience are real based on their consistency, and the fact that I know nothing outside of those experiences. If it is all a lie, its a rather convincing lie, and there doesn't seem to be anything that I can do about it. Apparently I am not "the one" that can see the code. So I have faith that the this is all real, or at least that if it isn't, then anything I do in relation to this reality, is also apart of this reality and so therefore at least relevant to this reality. I may wake up and realize that I have been dreaming, but until I wake up, I will refrain from jumping off cliffs. I think you'll agree that we all have this type of faith because we exit buildings through the ground floor as long as we have the will to live. This faith is not the same type of faith that religious people have towards their religion.</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"> </font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3">There is also a common misconception that people that think evolution is true have faith. I do not have faith that evolution is true. I believe that with the mountains of evidence that it is the most likely explanation for how we got here. The theory of evolution is constantly being fine tuned to more accurately reflect what the evidence is telling us. Sometimes mistakes are made, or evidence pops up that contradicts an idea, and wait for it, this is big....scientific ideas change! Things that we erroneously thought are figured out to be wrong, and whatever was wrong gets replaced with a more accurate idea. There might be some people unwilling to change, stuck in there ways, but overwhelmingly the scientific community accepts those changes. Biologists don't argue about whether or not evolution happened, anyone with knowledge of it can't dispute it, there is too much evidence. Instead they discuss the finer points of how it specifically happened, in what order, and when. It is also completely false that evolution replaces a belief in god. There are plenty of people that are religious and also believe in evolution. </font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"> </font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3">That is the major difference between faith, and science. Science is based on evidence, and faith is based on a decision. Once you have decided to believe in something, you believe in it without any evidence, even in spite of evidence. You can't prove that there is a god, or which one is real, you just have to believe. Otherwise we wouldn't have these discussions because it wouldn't be a faith based religion, it would be knowledge based. In fact, the more that you encounter contrary evidence to your belief, the more faith that you have to have to keep that belief. So the most faithful, doubt religion more than anyone else, but are stubbornly holding steadfast to their beliefs!</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"> </font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3">Pick any faith you don't believe in. What is different about their faith, compared to yours? They can't all be right, unless they are all partially wrong. There are millions of believers that have real true faith. If they can get comfort, be happy, be moral, do everything that you do, but in the wrong religion, then what difference does it make which religion you choose? The only thing that matters, is which one gets you into heaven or hell when you die. But there is no way for you to know who was right, since all of the dead people don't come back and tell you. What if believing in Jesus is blasphemy to the "true" religion and every christian has gone to hell and is burning to this day and into forever? There is no way to know. If it doesn't matter which religion, then why bother with religion at all? </font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"> </font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3">Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby. Seriously, think about that. How can not believing in something be a religion. </font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"> </font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3">The majority of religions challenge people to be a better, moral person. It's just an extra step though, you can challenge yourself to be a better more moral person without religion. You also won't blindly do what an ancient text says, and actually be immoral.</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"> </font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3">Finally, we get to Santa Claus! I believe that you specifically referenced the easter bunny, or maybe the tooth fairy, but it's all the same. We both agree that they are fabrications of the imagination, and if they are based<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>on reality in anyway, it is so exaggerated and distorted that it's not worth mentioning. The magical claims are universally known to be false to anyone over the age of 10. If I believed them to be true, no amount of talking to you would convince you of it's veracity. Every bit of contradicting logic or evidence that you bring into the conversation could easily be explained away with some form of magic or another. As a child gets a little closer to the age at which they will stop believing in Santa, they start asking tougher and tougher questions, the truth gets harder and harder to evade. The ones that really want to believe, come up with fantastical answers to cover up any incongruities. The solutions become more and more fantastical, requiring more and more magic to believe, until at some point, for whatever reason, the magic stops and it all comes crashing down like a house of cards. It's a great idea that you can get rewards for doing good. That the world is fair, and some jerk kid out there will get just reward for being an ass by receiving coal instead of a shiny new bike. Just because it's a great idea doesn't make it true, no matter how much you wish it were so. </font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"> </font></p> <p> </p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-36014783972767852562011-03-14T16:34:00.001-07:002011-03-14T16:34:20.941-07:00I can't get to Blogger!Not that I have been posting very regularly, but the network I'm on over here in Afghanistan won't let me get on to blogger. I can send posts via email (if this posted, that's how this posted), but I can't even check to see if they work! I can see comments because they come to me as an email, but I'm not sure how I can respond to them. I'm searching for an alternate source to the internet, so maybe that will allow me to respond better. Thanks for everyone that comes this way and reads my opinions! Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-80789567008795135502011-01-22T13:40:00.000-08:002011-01-22T15:56:56.834-08:00Chrome OS Laptop CR-48 developer channel update 0.10.146.1 (Official Build 2a517638) dev x86-mario<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2wfnBzhRWIUxj_Ha7p7GoPd8DFv3IBzTvxk0NYXBXZF6Fr0R5HbxCsYjtHYCDcWtAEl0aqfLgUGDuNzb7kJH2m0rUi4JfzR2mtcoKVK2cITVQ7IcO_2fodw9LX4cVo1IZtTwM8Ft8c6re/s1600/IMG_2732.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2wfnBzhRWIUxj_Ha7p7GoPd8DFv3IBzTvxk0NYXBXZF6Fr0R5HbxCsYjtHYCDcWtAEl0aqfLgUGDuNzb7kJH2m0rUi4JfzR2mtcoKVK2cITVQ7IcO_2fodw9LX4cVo1IZtTwM8Ft8c6re/s400/IMG_2732.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565139330580661762" /></a><br />I've been using the CR-48 Chrome OS beta laptop that Google sent me quite a bit. It's got a great battery life, and it's really easy to use. It's very responsive, especially when coming out of sleep or when booting. I also like how I can let anyone use it without having to worry about my data or settings being messed with, and that they can also use it without worrying about me getting passwords, history, etc. It really has been a useful little computer. <div><br /></div><div>As useful as it is, it's very limited when it comes to things not web related. It doesn't have a media player, it doesn't have a file browser, and most of the apps that you would expect on a laptop can't be used if you don't have an internet connection. The good news though, is that it's beta, and it's actively being developed, so of course it's going to change. Today I noticed that the settings wrench in the upper right corner had a little icon on it trying to get my attention. I had set the laptop to the development channel, but there hadn't been an update available yet. Turned out that there was already one available and downloaded for me today. All it took was a restart.</div><div><br /></div><div>Best things about it so far-</div><div><ul><li>You can now sync passwords along with your other synced settings. I have been slightly impatiently waiting for this one!</li><li>There is now a file browser. It recognizes thumb drives and SD cards. I took a picture with my camera and put the SD card into the SD card slot on the side of my CR-48. When I went to upload photos the above picture was there. That's how I loaded it. It is rather limited. There doesn't seem to be a way to cut/copy/paste files, or to move them around. You can delete, but that seems to be it for now. For some reason, some drives show up and others don't. I haven't figured out what the difference is yet, as I had two small micro sd cards, both formatted FAT32, one worked one didn't.</li><li>There is a media player now as well! I only tested an mp4 video that I ripped from a DVD and a few mp3 files. It seems to work pretty well, but it's very limited in nature. When you open a media file it opens in a little popup window. You can make it full screen, well mostly, it keeps the buttons and bars across the bottom and a small black bar on each side of the screen. There is a playlist, but you have to individually click each file and add it. </li></ul><div>Not bad for the first big update. That at least touched on all three of my main complaints. There is a file browser and a media player, albeit simple ones, and they both can be used without an internet connection. Now you don't have to be completely dead in the water if you aren't connected. If Google documents was capable of working offline then I think you could have a viable alternative computer with only minimal problems/quirks. The CR-48 is not a production model, so although it has a small internal hard drive with very minimal space, that is not how a purchased laptop would be.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Note: If you are having a hard time finding out where advanced file system and the media player are, they have to be enabled first. Type about:flag in the omni bar and hit enter. It will bring up a window with various flags that can be enabled. They are not exactly stable, but I have had but a single lockup so far.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-36381770242582569392011-01-13T17:47:00.000-08:002011-01-13T17:48:31.275-08:00ASStrology is fake? OH no, what will we do?So, amazingly, people are just now figuring out that there are actually 13 signs (Ophiuchus) and that astrology has been out of alignment for hundreds of years and is now almost a month off of what it "should be". This means that almost everyone's sign is not what they think it is. That means that every time that you thought a horoscope was right, it wasn't actually talking about you. Here is a mostly good article on it.<br /><br />http://www.nbc-2.com/Global/story.asp?S=13828331<br /><br />Only part that they got wrong is this quote.<br /><br /><blockquote>But, don't expect your horoscope reading to change. Scientists say this rotation has been known about since 500 B.C. and the horoscope calendar hasn't moved.</blockquote><br /><br />The horoscope may not change, but what your sign is has changed. That means your horoscope is different! Oh man, got caught up correcting people on Twitter. Must let ignorance continue, there are too many of them.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-23334659717981533952010-12-15T18:58:00.000-08:002010-12-24T08:13:59.217-08:00Google gave me a Krismas present!Google sent me a Cr-48 Chromium laptop for FREE! You can't imagine how awesome it was to find that on my door step. I just went to their beta sign up, and a little more than a week later I had one! If you haven't already signed up for it, give it a shot, and maybe you will see one on your front porch. Here is the link for more info, with sign up at bottom of that page. I'll go into better detail some other time, gotta give it a good test run first.<br /><br />http://www.google.com/chromeos/pilot-program-cr48.htmlAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-86450807113972592192010-11-26T15:48:00.000-08:002010-11-26T15:49:41.053-08:00Thanksgiving in under 2 minsHappy Thanksgiving world! Here is our turkey day feast time-lapsed to under 2 mins. Was a great time!<div><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eyoMkOeTk1c?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eyoMkOeTk1c?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-12042695405080229092010-10-28T18:40:00.000-07:002010-10-28T18:41:00.644-07:00Android Pumpkin!<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWcTKl3VQLK_UcTkNiikfHvaz2a1ob7EtrB4UEdyoDL7Buby5eVfiiyOtD1XW6S9wSO2mL6N9bp61_29gcXlmIVATchpBbWApzmcXvD9JoFowTWaeHZGtjsJbryj_F9ewQhFF96J5Iq13z/s1600/IMG_2399.JPG"><img border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWcTKl3VQLK_UcTkNiikfHvaz2a1ob7EtrB4UEdyoDL7Buby5eVfiiyOtD1XW6S9wSO2mL6N9bp61_29gcXlmIVATchpBbWApzmcXvD9JoFowTWaeHZGtjsJbryj_F9ewQhFF96J5Iq13z/s320/IMG_2399.JPG" /></a><br />So my buddy Dan came over to help carve pumpkins, and gave me the idea to carve an Android one. So I downloaded the pumpkin carving app, and it carved the pumpkin for me. Android phones are so awesome.</div><div style="clear:both; text-align:CENTER"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-84587834593896340722010-10-27T20:31:00.000-07:002010-10-27T20:46:54.532-07:00Where are all the billionaires at?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl1Zs_XjTDICd0kAwFIHgAow1uAX3Mst-Ng3FZ25woFCYiFXpmU1vaxjC8SyaIKUWYF7rpbZ8Q2pqPnqx47uTVpcMnXUMdoyOZ3s-wOUgSIR0fGXM_IQHB-Y9wsyMiGCrA2rCKM8wK9UeL/s1600/Billionaires.PNG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 276px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl1Zs_XjTDICd0kAwFIHgAow1uAX3Mst-Ng3FZ25woFCYiFXpmU1vaxjC8SyaIKUWYF7rpbZ8Q2pqPnqx47uTVpcMnXUMdoyOZ3s-wOUgSIR0fGXM_IQHB-Y9wsyMiGCrA2rCKM8wK9UeL/s400/Billionaires.PNG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532938117053430450" /></a><br />This is a pretty interesting map showing where all of the billionaires are in the world. The bigger the circle, the more money. I suppose it's probably their main home, as they probably all have many of them. If there is a billionaire in the same place, they stack them up. The US is crowded with them. If any of those billionaires want to give me a few million, just send me an email and we'll figure out how to transfer it over. I will be eternally grateful, or at least for another 70 some odd years. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15.8333px; ">Sergey Brin and Larry Page,</span> do you have a PayPal account? Love what you guys are doing with the company. I'm probably not your number one fan, but I'm at least in the top ten. They didn't have a good way to import to a blog, so it's just a trimmed screen shot. Go to the site and check it out for an interactive map.<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.forbes.com/static_html/bill/2005/bill05distmap.shtml">http://www.forbes.com/static_html/bill/2005/bill05distmap.shtml</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-47390197986568854432010-10-10T06:59:00.000-07:002010-10-10T07:39:48.942-07:00Three big changes comingThere are three big changes coming that I think will affect our population more than any other.<div><br /></div><div><ul><li>Vertical farming in skyscrapers, growing our food where we live in a closed system allowing maximum growth from minimal resources all while being organic.</li><li>Clean power, or maybe a better way to store/transport already existing clean power. This could be significantly better batteries, fusion power, neutrino based wireless power, who knows I'm just making stuff up know.</li><li>Cars that drive themselves.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div>I should have known that <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-were-driving-at.html">Google</a> would be the one to save the day. Apparently they've already driven 140,000 miles in an automatically driven car in the San Francisco Bay area. I'm excited about this, and can't wait for it to be mainstream. Hopefully it won't take long.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-40437195721191813932010-09-28T11:49:00.000-07:002010-10-13T17:17:03.997-07:00Modest and proud of it<div>So it's been an interesting time for me lately. The contract that I work for didn't get picked up by my company. Another company was probably going to get it, and we were all going to have to switch companies. Then because of some kind of legalese stuff, maybe we weren't. Then maybe we were going to have to go on furlough, then blah, blah, blah, they don't know. So while all of this stress inducing stuff was going on, I'm also refinancing my home for a lower rate, registering for college at Columbia Southern University to finish my bachelors, and still trying not to be a pig and have some sort of a healthy-ish diet. Then, on top of that, I was trying to find reasons to justify a raise because I felt like I was being under paid for the skill sets and experience I bring to the table. While searching to find other jobs that I would qualify for and what salary they would pay, I came across a job that I would much rather have, and I qualify for it. So I decided to test the limits of my stomach lining and my sanity by trying to get a new job on top of all the other things going on.</div><div><br /></div><div>So trying to get more money for myself is very difficult for me. I'm basically modest. I can sometimes be cocky, but it's more of a joke than anything else. I am pretty confident in my skills as an electronic technician, but I'd rather prove myself by fixing something than I would by talking about how awesome I am. I'm also more of a jack of all trades than I am an expert in any one particular piece of hardware or software. I have some basic knowledge of a whole bunch of things, and then I've got really good fiddling skills, and I'm not afraid to click buttons or flip switches to figure out what something does. I'm also not afraid of technical manuals, in fact if there is a well written one for whatever new system I'm about to try and fix, then I'd rather dive in to it and learn. I can't say how many times I've "fixed" a system just by following the instructions that no one else wanted to read.</div><div><br /></div><div>One caveat about the level of confidence that I have, it's based on the Dunning-Kruger effect. Here's the most important parts of it grabbed from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect">Wiki</a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; "><p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Kruger and Dunning proposed that, for a given skill, incompetent people will:</p><ol style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 3.2em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style-image: none; "><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">tend to overestimate their own level of skill;</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">fail to recognize genuine skill in others;</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy;</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; ">recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill, <i>if</i> they can be trained to substantially improve.</li></ol></span></div><div><br /></div><div> I remember a time when I thought I was a lot better at fixing electronics than I actually was. I thought I was the shit, and that I could fix anything just by being near it. I didn't know any better techs than myself. I was in over my head pretty quickly. That pretty much matches a description of someone that doesn't know what they are doing so much so that they can't even identify that they don't know it well. It's been a long road since then, with many lessons learned, and I can see now how naive I was. I also see how much I still don't know, and that most of it will probably remain that way. I've also met some real geniuses that are astounding in the things that they know. </div><div><br /></div><div>More from Dunning-Kruger effect..</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; ">Meanwhile, people with true knowledge tended to <i>underestimate</i> their relative competence. Roughly, participants who found tasks to be relatively easy erroneously assumed, to some extent, that the tasks must also be easy for others.</span><br /><br /></div><div>I also get confused looks quite often, and I falsely assume that things that are simple to me, are actually simple to everyone. So based on the fact that I know I was ignorant before, and that I also know that there is a lot I don't know now, and the confused faces people make when I talk about technology, I have to force myself to be confident, in order to more accurately represent my skill level. So in applying for the new job, I was astounded by the things my references said and wrote about me. Thank you so much, and thanks for giving me a big head. Now I've got to figure my stoked ego into the reverse of the Dunning-Kruger effect? Oh well, who knows. Maybe I'll never know if I'm talented or delusional.</div><div><br /></div><div>I ended up getting a job with the new company as a Field Support Engineer (FSE) and at a substantial raise. Cool new job title, a job that actually aligns with my talents, experience, and interests, and more money? So is it a happy ending? Well, mostly, but I will have to go overseas again, possibly Iraq, probably Afghanistan. Feeling a little over whelmed being the lowest on the totem pole, and the least trained. Guess we'll see how smart I really am...<br /><br />And now for one of my favorite quotes. Seems the Dunning-Kruger effect isn't exactly a new idea.</div><div><br />Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science. - Charles Darwin<br /><br /></div><div>Now for something that's fucking <a href="http://www.pigeon.org/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">peristeronic</span></a> as shit for <a href="http://www.xkcd.com/798/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">XKCD</span></a>.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-68204137673737063312010-09-24T09:26:00.000-07:002010-09-24T10:03:59.229-07:00Cupcakes...<div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">PROBLEM!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-9yCtXOt8HBmPU0bzCU5cWBZiZyw0sU2JVZLo-xHJZ-Z-ddI2UppSOE2UQR4UsnFmXYTLL7b1Rgof30bvkSMeemeg6ehwOAHP5gN3HIvHCezd27NlA7S37wmNiKybANg1JFiAfAZzjoFS/s400/PROBLEM.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 286px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520521233916318738" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>There are two things about cupcakes that I don't like. The first being that the icing and the cake are not evenly distributed causing an imbalance of tastiness depending on what part of the cupcake eating event you are at. One viable solution is to take very large bites, therefore giving yourself the correct ratios of cupcake to frosting in your food intake receptacle. That's were my second dislike of cupcakes comes in. Taking large bites can lead to your mouth being to full to accept the necessary amount of milk, it can lead to long awkward pauses in conversation and most dangerously, frosting on the nose.<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">SOLVED!!!</div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ZHsxZStXy1C6esj_Kkf5UQgGARb6gnl-6ymlENxYf4YyIKYP-A79V9npo3Jsh2bw6JOKYN4R94Z-INQ6espVwUygeKJVWC7Nye_LcCgHzx99hO76hjI3hqFpv0hcN_d4RVdxeIzuivko/s400/SOLVED.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 286px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520521270676565730" /><div>Not being one to bring up a problem without at least offering a feasible solution, I give you the cupcake sandwich. It's really quite simple, and I'm not sure how I've gone so long without figuring it out. I quite accidentally came across the solution. I was in the midst of a conversation, and was playing with my cupcake, delaying the awkward pause that I was inevitably going to create by taking a bite out of it. When I removed it from the cupcake wrapper, the bottom half cracked a little and almost came off. I haphazardly removed it, and placed it on top (also haphazardly). So I can't really take credit for discovering it, haven't even searched the internets to see if it already exists, but I can at least recognize a good situation and capitalize on it. Enjoy!</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-34636868681589735012010-08-12T18:39:00.000-07:002010-08-12T19:20:35.037-07:00PerspectiveIt's difficult to imagine a world without myself in it. I've never seen the world through anyone else's eyes. Maybe I've seen a movie shot from someone else's point of view, but I still watched it as something external to me, and through my perspective. I've never known what someone was truly thinking.<div><br /></div><div> It's also hard to imagine a day after I've died. Everything that has ever happened with out me there, is irrelevant to me, only the things that I've seen, experienced, felt for myself are real. Every book, every movie, every song, whether fiction or fact, the characters don't actually exist. The tragedies, the comedies, the romances, are only ideas that enter my mind. Some of the ideas stay, set up house, rearrange the person I am, into something new, and other ideas they leave without another thought given to them. There is no external world to me. It is only raw data streaming into my mind. When I die, my world disappears, ceases to exist. Life ends in my world, the sun stops shining, the stars fade, the earth dissolves into nothing. Everything dissolves into nothing, and then even the concept of nothing is gone.<div><br /></div><div>Were any of the things I saw real? Are there other people experiencing their own world too? Does their world exist when mine stops? I don't know. Every bit of the world I've ever known has always existed within some form of myself. How could it possibly exist without me?</div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-78432931539508705142010-08-03T04:58:00.001-07:002010-08-12T19:23:03.562-07:00When is the HTC EVO going to get Android 2.2? TODAY!I haven't even started thinking about when I'm getting the Android 2.2 (Froyo) on my HTC Evo, because the 2.1 upgrade for the HTC Hero took close to 6 months. I wasn't going to even start looking for info on it until Halloween. To my surprise, this morning I woke up to an update notice on my phone that said, 2.2! Wow! That was fast. It's way to early to see if it broke any apps, added any bugs, or if it's super awesome like all the hype is saying. I'll have to do another post about it later, just wanted to say that I was pretty jazzed to get the update so soon. The HTC version is 3.26.651.6 if anyone is interested.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-23236030499127478052010-08-02T18:57:00.000-07:002010-08-02T19:05:29.500-07:00Daily Machinations<div>Pandora introduced me to Regina Spektor. I'm not a huge fan of some of her songs, they're just alright, but this one is superb. It elicits a vision of a half machine, half human hybrid that is immobilized by all of it's connections to the apartment. Random human like interactions with the apartment are life like in there mannerisms, but completely pointless to the survival of the "machine". Outside, machines are fighting and destroying each other, while a constant supply train is feeding the machine with tea sets, and cute new outfits in exchange for "her" unique perspective and organics. Anyways, here is the music. No video though, sorry, I only give what the internet has to offer.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/thQd1KYCgKU&hl=en_US&fs=1?color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/thQd1KYCgKU&hl=en_US&fs=1?color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-36081460497722752752010-06-19T20:25:00.000-07:002010-06-19T21:46:39.902-07:00Flying Spaghetti Monster Sighting at Fremont Summer Solstice Parade!I went to the Fremont Summer Solstice parade today. It was a truly unique parade. There were naked painted cyclists at the beginning, which was very fun to watch. Hundreds of painted people, most of them nude and the rest mostly nude riding bikes, and other human powered wheeled vehicles. I was smiling and laughing the whole time along with everyone else in the seriously crowded sidewalks. Then the actual parade started, which had some very simple rules...<div><br /></div><div><ul><li>No written or printed words or logos</li><li>No animals (except guide dogs and service animals)</li><li>No motorized vehicles (except wheelchairs)</li><li>No real weapons or fire</li></ul>It made for a very different atmosphere than any other parade I've ever been too, and of course it also helped that there are some very free spirits in Fremont/Seattle. I loved it, and hope that I happen to be in town for another one some day. I really liked how it didn't turn into a platform for one cause or another. It was really about the art, and the art was great.<br /><br />My favorite part? No, not the cyclists, although that was pretty cool. My favorite was the FSM. He came to bless us with his noodley appendages!</div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMTWVysNQkreCaBQVxhkaX6TshJpY_jxz4fQB2hNNXEPmiL-jBrj2tChWsRbFCJC_oYsNnvWTKK8hj0KpZEEGUOnkWsC73-_fO-ZIa9D791Y05Y6OBX40eQ9wFQPKVc3_rwS-Up7FOhvUG/s400/IMG_2095.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484699616163653394" /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpa3WcTJ9soeqx74SekItuDqcunhvJTvDB8C6GjalkK8Nng8u-v5XaIDZ-1HgiIcu5A5HFIuwflMDdp2mUaINIHS-61dGy6TkHwwZy1eM2uBvxgJ3FnJSNq8oems8jQbI2xXH12MTbCeyB/s1600/IMG_2105.JPG"><img style="text-align: left;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 287px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpa3WcTJ9soeqx74SekItuDqcunhvJTvDB8C6GjalkK8Nng8u-v5XaIDZ-1HgiIcu5A5HFIuwflMDdp2mUaINIHS-61dGy6TkHwwZy1eM2uBvxgJ3FnJSNq8oems8jQbI2xXH12MTbCeyB/s400/IMG_2105.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484699631898611874" /></a><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GgnceEvNHyY&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GgnceEvNHyY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div><br /></div><div><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8sr2bAGMqgY&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8sr2bAGMqgY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>For more info about the parade </div><div><a href="http://fremontartscouncil.org/summer-solstice-parade/">http://fremontartscouncil.org/summer-solstice-parade/</a></div><div><a href="http://fremontartscouncil.org/summer-solstice-parade/"></a>For more info about the cyclists</div><div> <a href="http://solsticecyclist.org/">http://solsticecyclist.org/</a></div><div>For more info about the FSM</div><div><a href="http://www.venganza.org/">http://www.venganza.org/</a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And if you want to see the naked painted cyclists, here are some pics I took. NSFW I say again, Not safe for work, although the pictures aren't very high res either. You can also see a few short videos if you follow the above youtube videos to my account.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/boonxeven/sets/72157624188973355/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/boonxeven/sets/72157624188973355/</a></div><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(78, 78, 78); font-family:Georgia, 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', serif;font-size:13px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></div></span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-46438839964125629322010-06-04T08:48:00.000-07:002010-06-04T08:49:23.493-07:00HTC EVO 4GI got one! W00TAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-33272704862103616682010-06-03T12:53:00.001-07:002010-06-03T13:07:44.487-07:00All the Android apps I have installed on my HTC HeroI wanted to write all these down in case I forget one when I migrate to the HTC Evo tomorrow, and I thought that since I'm writing it down, I may as well share it with other people. Maybe you'll find an app that you didn't know about. If you see one that's not listed here that you really like, please tell me about it in the comments. I'm going to do some reviews every once in awhile on Android apps, and when I do I'll edit this post to link to the review. Until then, you'll have to guess what the apps do! Ha! All of these are free except for some of the games. I purchased the full version of Buka, Gem Miner, Abduction, and Robo Defense. They were each only a couple of bucks, and I don't regret spending the money at all.<br /><br /><ol><li>Mint.com personal finance</li><li>Speedtest.net speed test</li><li>Key ring reward cards</li><li>Buka</li><li>Ringdroid</li><li>Google Goggles</li><li>Google Translate</li><li>Google Sky Map</li><li>Movies (Flixster)</li><li>Google Maps</li><li>Gem Miner: Dig Deeper</li><li>Totemo Lite</li><li>Shazam</li><li>Pandora Radio</li><li>Bubble</li><li>Amazon.com</li><li>Robo Defense</li><li>Mario Soundboard</li><li>Abduction! World Attack</li></ol><p>Doing that list, I just realized that I didn't reinstall Pdanet after upgrading to Android 2.1. Need to do that and make sure it works before I travel again!</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-22384449954670434872010-06-03T12:51:00.000-07:002010-06-03T12:53:01.916-07:00Can't wait for the HTC Evo 4G tomorrow!So tomorrow I'm getting up extra early to go get a new android phone. I already have the HTC Hero, but my wife will inherit that and I will be getting the HTC Evo 4G! So excited. I've been (im)patiently waiting since they started talking about it back in march. I really like the Hero and unless they really mess it up, I'll love the Evo. I'm lucky enough to be in Texas where 4g coverage is actually pretty good, so I'll be able to take full advantage of it. If you haven't seen or heard of the phone, it's well worth a <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=htc+evo&rls=com.microsoft:*&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1">Google.</a><br /><br />The only bad things I've heard are that it's too big, doesn't have good battery life, and won't get the newest version of Android anytime soon. I don't think it will be too big for me, but it's a personal preference, so that one is up to you. I've only heard battery life sucked from a few places, and those were not all that reliable, or had unrealistic expectations. All phones are using basically the same battery technology. There hasn't been a huge technological breakthrough that will suddenly give new phones super batteries. Super smart phones are doing so much more than just being a phone, and battery technology isn't keeping pace. I don't expect a hand held computer to do everything and also last for days on end, in fact, I don't even expect all day. If I was only using it as a phone, and had everything turned off, in a place that had good wireless coverage, then I would expect it to last all day, and I think the Evo will. I plan on using it for directions, surfing the web, streaming audio from pandora, and watching videos, and when I'm doing that on top of it still being a phone, then I plan on plugging it in while in the car and at my desk. I also have an extra battery pack that takes double A batteries and plugs into usb phones. If that's too much to ask from you, then the phone probably isn't for you. I suggest a plain old flip phone, its battery will last you nicely.<br /><br />Lastly, Android 2.2 is already being released, and because HTC packages their phones with an additional user interface called Sense, it takes longer for them to release updates. It will come from the store with 2.1, and probably won't get an update until the later half of the year. There will be a ton of rumors saying it's getting the update on such and such date, but I'm not even going to pay attention and I'll get it when I get it. Would I rather have 2.2 sooner than later? Of course, but it's not a big deal. I like 2.1 on the hero, and it doesn't even have all of 2.1 unlocked. Stay tuned for a review coming soon.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-32154368148216220052010-05-25T12:40:00.000-07:002010-09-08T08:01:34.102-07:00How to configure AKO email on your Android phone<p>*Edited SEP 08, 2010 to incorporate changes and compatibility notes for different types of android phones. Should work for most Android phones now, please let me know if it didn't work for you, or if there was something different. Details of what was changed at bottom of post. Thanks for everyones input.</p><p>AKO is the army's internet site/mail server for soldiers and some DOD/contractors. These steps are written so that anyone should be able to configure this on their Android phone, but you can possibly also use the info to configure it on other phones as well. A lot of the information automatically prefills after you've entered it once, so if it's already entered, then just ignore and move on. In order for this to work you have to allow non-CAC logins from AKO. In the AKO main page select My Account dropdown menu, then select Account settings and then Change Password. There is a check mark labeled "Set CAC Only Login" that must <strong>not</strong> be selected for this to work. You may have to login to AKO with your CAC and enter a new password to do this.</p><p style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Incoming Mail Settings</p><ol><li>IMAP</li><li>SSL required (for the Samsung Vibrant and probably for other Galaxy S phones select SSL required - accept all certificates)</li><li>The IMAP Server is imap.us.army.mil </li><li>Port 993</li></ol><strong>Outgoing Mail Settings<br /></strong><ol><li>SSL required (for the Samsung Vibrant and probably for other Galaxy S phones select SSL required - accept all certificates)</li><li>The SMTP server is mailrouter.us.army.mil</li><li>The port is 465</li></ol><br /><p><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">NOTE The following steps are specifically for the HTC Hero, and the HTC EVO running 2.1 (and 2.2), but may also be helpful to anyone running HTC Sense or other Android phones.</span></p><p>The first time you open the mail client (cleverly named "Mail" under all programs) it asks you to choose a mail provider, or if you already have other email accounts setup open the mail client. Select Menu, then more, then new account, or you can select the circle with a little triangle in it at the top left of the screen and then select new account. </p><ol><li>Select "Other (POP3/IMAP)"</li><li>Enter your full email address</li><li>Enter your password, this is case sensitive. I click show password so I can see if I typed it wrong. Don't do this if there are spies around.</li><li>Click next or manual setup, it doesn't matter because there isn't a profile built into Android for AKO, so clicking next just brings you to the manual setup screen anyways.</li><li>You should now be in the incoming settings page. In the drop down menu for protocol select IMAP</li><li>Enter your full email address.</li><li>Enter your user name. It will probably autofill with your email address, but that isn't your username. Your username is what you use to log into AKO. As far as I know, that is your email address minus the @us.army.mil part. That's what worked for me anyways, if yours is different, please let me know in the comments.</li><li>Enter your password.</li><li>Enter imap.us.army.mil for the IMAP server.</li><li>In the security type dropdown select SSL.</li><li>The server port needs to be 993.</li><li>Select "next". If it asks you about certificates (it asks the first time), accept them. It will verify account information and if you entered everything right it will bring you to the outgoing server settings.</li><li>Select "Login required"</li><li>Enter your username</li><li>Enter your password</li><li>Enter mailrouter.us.army.mil for the SMTP Server.</li><li>In the security type dropdown select SSL.</li><li>The server port needs to be 465.</li><li>Select next. It will verify account information again, and if you entered everything right it will bring you to the Edit account page.</li><li>Enter an account name. You can leave it with the default that it auto fills, or you can name it whatever you like. This name is for when you select different mail accounts. I named mine AKO, because I like coming up with unique exotic names.</li><li>Enter your name.</li><li>Select Finish setup.</li></ol><p>You should now be able to send and recieve emails from your AKO email. If you aren't getting updates frequently enough (or to frequently) or if you aren't seeing certain emails in your inbox, change the Send & Receive settings by selecting Menu, then more, then settings. It also by default adds a signature to all out going emails which can be changed or stopped from General settings. Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.</p><p></p><p>*I edited this post to reflect the differences that my army buddy Dan pointed out. Depending if you are running straight Android, or HTC Sense, or some other user interface for Android, then the steps are going to be slightly different, so I've just added a list of the settings and then below that is the detailed steps needed specifically for the HTC Hero, the HTC EVO 4G, and in all likelyhood any HTC Android Phone with the Sense UI. Also edited to show the slight change that the Samsung Vibrant (and likely other Galaxy S phones) have to do in order to accept certificates. On my HTC Evo if someone sends a message with a digital signature from Outlook, it says mail is on the server. Tested this with a Nexus One and a Samsung Vibrant (what my friends happen to have) and neither one of those had the same problem. Seems to be an HTC thing. If you are having the same problem you can configure your email as POP, or try using K-9 mail like Pat says below. Thanks Evan for pointing out how to change the settings to POP and thanks to Pat for explaining the difference and why it's (probably) best not to use POP.</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com79tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-21681280147469026232010-05-21T19:43:00.000-07:002010-05-21T19:50:07.232-07:00Everyone draw MohammedOkay, so I'm a day late, don't kill me...<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Ra8elLhfgcM2DluIqt0BocCyBdZk00ombDmLaDf9wBzvrxc0kG-yaZchTDCpDIJ-kQm8oMt2w72bp8uEJJBTEkgLJpgQnI6Ovru1-knNqJA8GouD3m2VhbyMnD-SJcYhwEoNq8P-Y5TJ/s1600/Mohammed.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 356px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Ra8elLhfgcM2DluIqt0BocCyBdZk00ombDmLaDf9wBzvrxc0kG-yaZchTDCpDIJ-kQm8oMt2w72bp8uEJJBTEkgLJpgQnI6Ovru1-knNqJA8GouD3m2VhbyMnD-SJcYhwEoNq8P-Y5TJ/s400/Mohammed.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473919878464169714" border="0" /></a><br />So the reason you aren't supposed to depict Mohamed is so that you don't idolatrize him. I promise I won't idolatrize him, if you promise not to try and kill me. I thought Islam is the religion of peace? Why is it that I"m afraid to post a silly picture?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-57841337349436159802010-05-14T14:17:00.000-07:002010-05-14T14:21:05.334-07:00Slurry of posts and a new blog banner?So months of inactivity, and then three posts in short rapid fire succession and then on top of that, a new blog banner? Oh wait, there isn't a new blog banner? Hmmm, okay, that's because I can't decide on what to take a panoramic picture of to show the essence of this blog. Any ideas? Has to be something to do with a minority, technology, and atheism.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164411038903080179.post-264379800639970802010-05-14T13:57:00.000-07:002010-05-14T14:17:06.971-07:00Where are my vertical farms?So I came across this <a href="http://www.blogger.com/http//news.discovery.com/earth/organic-farming-food-conservation.html">article</a> on Discovery news talking about whether organic farming was better or worse than regular farming. Organic farming produces about half the yield, but increases the biodiversity of nature by %12 (including weeds if that's good?). If you are interested, go ahead and follow the link over and read about it, but for me, I was just disapointed. I saw the discussion as pointless because there is another alternative to both organic and normal farming, that has numerous benefits over both and <em>shouldn't</em> be difficult to do. Apparently I grossly underestimated how hard it was to grow plants inside, or how many of the benefits there would be when I blogged about <a href="http://www.blogger.com/http//boonxeven.blogspot.com/2008/07/vertical-farming.html">vertical farms </a>and then right afterwards about <a href="http://boonxeven.blogspot.com/2008/07/circular-farming.html">circular farming</a> almost <strong>two years</strong> ago! I expected it to take awhile for vertical farms to really take off and be the main staple of our food source, but I didn't think nothing would happen at all. Yeah there are some better drawings available, and maybe a restaurant in Dubai to have an indoor garden/vertical farm, but that's it. I really expected a city like Austin or Seattle to pioneer the first organic vertical farm with lush delicious fruits and vegetables available year round, locally grown, with no pesticides and maybe even growing sustainable fish. So which multi-millionaire (or billionaire) out there is going to grab <a href="http://www.verticalfarm.com/">this idea </a>and make a change that will forever affect humanity? You will make money and save little starving kids, or cut down pollution, or whatever you want to make it about. Anyone? Come on Oprah, I know you follow this blog and want to change the world. You've got the money right? Ah, oh well. Guess I'll start a garden in my garage.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09860867689257635059noreply@blogger.com0