Test iPhone [ G ]

I have been remiss about posting but I plan to remedy that. Besides going over my 2008 predictions and a few other things; I wanted to try an iPhone blogging app.

MySpace Fails [ AN PI ]

I have a MySpace page just because everyone else does, and they have an iPhone app as well. Apparently I posted some pictures and one was deleted.

"We had to remove an image (or images) from your account because they violated our Terms of Use. Our site is for people as young as 13, so we can't have certain kinds of pics (nude/sexually explicit, violence, material protected by copyright)."


To that I say "FAIL" as my content had none of these...

iPhone Battery Life [ A G T ]

Here is something I have found that can affect battery life in an iPhone 3G or 2G, OS 2.2. I noticed it when I showed someone live video from my my home Webcam, then shut off my iPhone and put it in my pocket. About 20 minutes later I noticed the phone was warm and battery was down quite a bit.

If you go to a Web page that has a live video feed, and just exit Safari I think some background process keeps Safari updating the screen, consuming battery power in the process.

What I do when exiting Safari is to close all but one of the Safari windows, and make sure it is not dynamic content, like a Webcam or WeatherUnderground live animated weather map.

No Wonder... [ G ]

If ordering lunch is this hard no wonder we are in a financial crisis! Thank goodness when I work at home my wife hides the prescription medicine and liquor the night before...

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thu 10/2/2008 10:59 AM
Subject: Lunch from Beijing Star on Friday

To all,

So, two weeks ago was Demos, last week was NY Deli, and this week I'm going to the Beijing Star Restaurant - menu attached. The lunch specials are a good deal and you can substitute white rice for fried rice. Please remember to add in 5% sales tax to your order and let me know what you want before 11am tomorrow so I can call in the order. I'll leave to pick up lunch around noon so please give me your money before I leave.

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2008 11:08 AM
Subject: RE: Lunch from Beijing Star on Friday

I think I will! #23 Vegetable Lo Mein with egg drop soup, order of Shanghai Spring Roll

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thu 10/2/2008 11:15 AM
Subject: RE: Lunch from Beijing Star on Friday

Your lunch special not only comes with soup but with either spring roll, egg roll, or chicken wing. I'm guessing spring roll?

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2008 11:18 AM
Subject: RE: Lunch from Beijing Star on Friday

I think that section is "soup only"?

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2008 11:19 AM
Subject: RE: Lunch from Beijing Star on Friday

That's for #s 24-30 - you're just under the wire with #23.

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thu 10/2/2008 11:31 AM
Subject: RE: Lunch from Beijing Star on Friday

Okay so I reread the menu and finally called for them to clarify. Yes, only soup, no rice or appetizer with yours so your order comes to $10 with the tax.

Election Musings [ E G PI ]

Depending on what happens today, we (or more accurate the Electoral College) will either elect a decorated war veteran or the first black (technically Barak actually is an African-American) president.

I do not care who wins, as we all know our vote really does not matter. However, there is one great joy, which shall be to all people, should Barak Obama be elected.

This asshole and this asshole have no choice but to shut the hell up for the rest of their lives. In fact "reverend" Al Sharpton is now helping white people who are allegedly abused by the police!

Two Fiddy [ AN P PG ]

Two fiddy - two dollars and fifty cents (not "tree fiddy") is about the taxes owed. Owed where? Well, we used to live in Danielson CT, and when we received our DMV registration renewal, it says we owe back taxes. When I called to check, I was told it was $13.84; which means using the CT municipality property tax rate of 18%, we allegedly "owed" tax of about $2.50 from 1997.

I did try and ask the Danielson tax drone what happened, and why - as we have renewed DMV registrations many, many times - why did this not crop up before? The answer - repeated twice - was a cryptic "you do not have to receive a bill to be responsible for your taxes." In CT one does not have to receive a tax bill to be responsible, and the burden of proof is on you. There is also the 15-year statute of limitations for CT personal property tax!

The NY Times wrote about this a few years ago, and apparently it happens a lot. I suppose in this case it is just cheap enough to pay it. I am sure glad Richard Blumenthal CT Attorney General is "concerned", as he did such a great job controlling the SoBe company's false health claims for their beverages, as if that f-ing matters!

So today I cannot buy the Sobe brand "elixer" drinks in Connecticut (but I suppose like many I'll just buy it in Massachusetts like I do my gas, and my liquor in New Hampshire); and I have to pay un undocumentable $13.47 to a town I lived in last millennium!

So who's running Libertarian this year?

Photo Phun [ H I PI RR R S T ]

This blog itself does not actually have these warnings and ratings applicable to it per se; but the new set of photos on Flickr does. I have had the idea come to me of taking photos, and edit/caption them on my iPhone, with results ranging from a chuckle to sheer outrage (but still funny).

For those interested, I use the following programs:  "Comic Touch" (for the captions); "Picoli" (basic touch-up, such as brightness) and "Magic Touch" (more advanced photo editing like selective blurring). They are not PhotoShop by any means, but amazing nonetheless.

Note that some of these programs have overlapping features as they have been developed beyond v 1.0, but I suffer from the disease appiphilia.