Perhaps, in some larger cities, it is true that Kickball leagues are filled to the brim with slim pant wearing; too-cool kickball hipsters but, it just isn’t something I’ve seen in Kickball near my home.

It would be cool, perhaps, to have an invitational type weekend of Kickball where people from other leagues in the mid-atlantic come together and then, perhaps, I’d see this hipster invasion.  But, as it stands now, we have a teams of school teachers, computer programmers, doctors, chiropractors, entrepeneurs, lawyers, disk jockeys, and sales people.  Not a was-once-emo among the group.

Are we doing something wrong?   Perhaps, we are because my team can’t seem to win.  Maybe that’s the problem, we don’t have enough hipsters on the roster.

#regular

I have an iPhone which I’m generally happy with.  However, I am almost certainly getting an Android handset when I replace my iPhone.  I’m not going to delve into the reasons for my abandonment of an fine phone instead I want to talk about the phone line I will be adopting.

Android phones run the android operating system developed by Google and the open handset alliance.  I am really excited about getting an Android phone but, at the same time, I have some hesitation because the screen shots I alway see of Android really suck.

I get the feeling the developers of the UI just wanted to put a lot of crap on the small screen.  For instance, the giant clock that is a seeming requirement for all android photos is an eyesore.  Who needs or wants a gigantic analog clock on their modern high tech digital device? Here is a new phone, not even released yet, with the aforementioned ugly clock:

I also dislike how the rest of the icons are seemingly scattered around the interface.  

Even when shots don’t show the ugly clock they instead throw a huge calendar on the screen to replace it.  Check out this image of the new HTC EVO:

It looks like a pretty nice phone but the screen UI just sucks.  You can probably get rid of the calendar but I’m not sure - that isn’t a feature the screen shot can convey.  Thus, am I going to be forced to page to get to more than the 8 apps that the screen still has room for?

Compare those images to the standard iPhone screen shot:

The entire screen is devoted to giving me quick access to various apps that are installed on the phone.  Plus it keeps your four most common apps front and center along the bottom on every screen of apps.  I can’t tell if any Android handset does something similar.  If they do, and the four apps at the bottom of the HTC EVO (second image) are the equivalent to the iPhone quick launch bar then that means you only have room for 4 apps on the home screen under that ridiculous calendar.

Look, I’m willing to bet the calendar can be removed - but it (or the clock) are seemingly omnipresent in every photo of the handsets and these big ugly widgets don’t give me any confidence in the overall usability of the handsets.

It also doesn’t help that when I’ve tried to mess with newer Android handsets at our local Verizon store (yes, I know the HTC EVO is a sprint phone) the sales reps suck and are completely unhelpful.

Sure, I shouldn’t judge a book (or a phone) by it’s cover but it’s hard not to be a little uneasy about the Android handsets based on the images vendors use to advertise them.  I assume the big calendar/weather widget is the “best” image they could come up with which, to me, is a bit sad.

Hopefully, when I am truly ready to buy a phone the sales people will be a skosh more helpful.

#regular

Anyone who has ever tried to get a loan, or a credit card, or maybe even a job has had to deal with their credit rating and credit score at one point or another.  However, most of the time we, the people being rated and scored, have no idea what the three credit ranking companies think about us.

That doesn’t have to be the case.  You can get a free copy of your credit report, once a year (no strings attached) from https://www.annualcreditreport.com/.  Some people suggest you log in once every four months and get a different report.  Thus in January grab your Experian report, in May get your Equifax report, and in September get your TransUnion report.  I think that is a pretty solid strategy as it lets you keep a semi-regular eye on your credit report.

Keep in mind each report is a little different and each may have some different creditors on them.  Also note that none of those come with your credit score.  Your score is a magical number somewhere between 300 and 850.  At a minimum you want yours to be above 650.  But how do you know what it is?

Well, you can pay for it - or you can get your TransUnion credit score for free at https://creditkarma.com.  Credit Karma offers this for free by offering you a variety of different credit cards and other things of which, if you sign up, they get a cut.

The score they present you with is a little old.  For instance I used it yesterday and the score they gave me was from the end of December 2009.  Normally that isn’t a problem but if you’ve made a major move regarding your debt since then the score reported by Credit Karma may be misleading.

For example, I paid off my car since then so my credit score is actually higher (by 36 points) than it is shown on Credit Karma.

Make sure you review your credit reports because the data in them is the backbone of your credit score and your credit score is what is used to evaluate you when looking for a mortgage, a good credit card rate, and sometimes a job.  

Pay special attention to anything on your report that suggests you were delinquent or sent to collections - medical bills are particularly bad about this - and if they aren’t right contact the credit agency and dispute that line.  Having even a small bill (less than $20) sent to collections can easily knock 100 points off your score.

It’s your score so you owe it to yourself to keep an eye on it and to fix the problems that appear.

#regular

In the past month I’ve been extra busy removing malware and rootkits from various computers including my step-mothers, my wifes, and even mine.  Thus I’m putting a simple list of default software that should be on each machine and updated on a regular basis.

• Spyware Blaster - This doesn’t scan, monitor, or remove spyware, it just makes it hard for the crap to be installed automatically.
  
• Spybot Search and Destroy - Has a real time scanner and a good removal tool.  Turn on SDHelper and Immunize.
  
• Avast Personal Edition - While it won’t help you with malware generally it’s a good antivirus and it’s free.  My only gripe is that I have to re-register every 14 months which could leave someone unprotected.
  
• SuperAntiSpyware (SAS)- I have the portable copy becuase I don’t like to install even more stuff.  I also have the free copy because Spybot is already doing active scanning.  I use SAS as a secondary tool for removal.
  
• MalwareBytes - Not necessarily required with the rest of the things on the list but if you have something and the other two (SAS or Spybot) don’t remove it you can give this trusty tool a try.
  
• CCCleaner - This isn’t really a tool for removing malware or preventing it but it kicks ass none-the-less.  Just make sure, when you install it, that you are aware it will ask if it can install a toolbar in your browser - I tell it no.
  

#regular

As a veteran let me just remind folks that memorial day isn’t about those of us who survived.  Please, don’t thank us - instead use today to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice that so many others have made in the past (and are still making).

Please don’t cheapen the day by focusing on all veterans - focus on those who have given their lives in the line of duty.

#regular

There is a nasty angry cat that lives in our neighborhood.  He’s a real fucker.  

A couple weeks ago while walking our dog this cat jumped out of the shadows and just attacked the dog with a couple of quick swipes of his clawed paws.  He was totally unafraid.  I had an old police night stick with me and I popped it not too hard in the stomach to get it to back off and it just stepped back, arched its’ back, and hissed at me.  I thought, for a moment, that he was about to attack me too so I popped him softly in the nose to make sure he realized I had good reach and that the stick was hard.  He turned tail and left us alone.

Until last night.  Last night we went for a walk and our cats, as usual, walked with us (albiet at a slight distance behind).  When the walk was done we all headed in the house.  The cats are a real pain about crossing the threshold and they always approach it as if it were a trap but last night piglet bolted in but grover, stubborn old grover, wouldn’t go in so I closed the door.

As soon as the door was shut I heard the tell-tale sounds of a cat fight.  Hissing and howling and growling.  I opened the door back up and that fucking cat was attacking grover right on our porch.  I didn’t have the club with me but I did have the dog, off a leash, and she bolted outside to dish out payback.

The cats both bolted in different directions and Rosie (the dog) and I both chased the cat.  Rosie supermanned it over the fence in hot pursuit (glad we built the fence to safely contain her).  I followed along up to the nearest intersection where Rosie had cornered the cat under a parked car.

The cat tried a couple times, unsuccesfully, to sneak out a different side of the car but Rosie is fast and was waiting for the little feline devil could escape.  Eventually I called Rosie over and we abandoned the cat and I felt good that we had at least scared the cat and maybe given it a reason to reconsider coming in our yard again.

I doubt it but I’m hopeful.

Eventually Grover came back home and he had a bunch of loose fur on his back near his tail.  I removed it and checked him for real injury but he seemed ok.  So I let him go in (he entered reasonable fast this time) and Rosie ran over to see how he was.

He smacked Rosie in the face and then bolted up the stairs.  Clearly Grover was in no mood for anyone, but me, to be near him at that point and I don’t blame him.  Rosie shrugged it off.  Rosie’s cool like that.

That cat,if it comes back in my yard, and I can catch it, will be going to the pound. If I can’t catch it I’ll probably shoot it.  It’s a fucking menace.

#regular

I keep seeing Google reference QR codes for a variety of things in relation to the android phones on the market but I never really hear about QR codes and the iPhone.  However, today I decided to see what was available for my phones crappy camera.  It turns out there is one really good, and free, option - i-nigima.  I saw it referenced in an article about books with QR Codes in them and then again in the comments on an article comparing other QR code readers for the iPhone.

I tried a couple of other apps before trying i-nigma and I have to say that i-nigma blows them out of the water.  To test it I went to a website that will make QR codes for you (it was pretty cool too).  I-nigma handled almost everything I threw at it.  The only code it couldn’t read was for a QR code for text that was longer than 500 characters long.  It was fine with URLs, Calls, SMS, and vCards and text up to 500 characters.

It’s pretty impressive really - so if you have an iPhone check it out.

#regular

It goes without saying that the internet is an amazing resource for information retreival and, thanks to sites like snopes.com, a lot of the bullshit information out there has been debunked.

Sadly, for many people sites like snopes don’t seem to exist.  Far too many people just pass on the absolute bullshit they hear or that they find in their mailbox.  They pass it on as if it were gospel instead of taking a minute to actually check and see if what they are propogating is bullshit or not.

Take this new story going around about how Pres. Obama is a piece of shit because he is the first president, since memorial day’s inception, who won’t be at Arlington laying a wreath.  Instead he will be in Chicago.

It sounds believable on the surface - I mean, who really keeps track of Presidents on memorial day and whether they are at Arlington.  Well, it is a total bullshit story.  In fact, in the past 30 years only one president has gone to Arlington for each of the years of his presidency. 

It wasn’t Regan or either of the Bush’s by the way - it was that damn draft dodging Bill Clinton (though not a felonious draft doger)   

There are some out there who dismiss snopes as having a “liberal bias”  and to them I say “bullshit” as well.  Read the Clinton article I linked to - they categorize his actions as “unethical” and “morally reprehensible.”  Snopes has problems (like too much and far too invasive advertising) but their bias isn’t one of them.

Stop spouting off with complete and utter bullshit and get your facts straight people.  I’m getting tired of telling you that you’re wrong.

#regular

Look, I know Blankenship has a very vested interest in keeping the coal status quo but he could at least pretend like he is being honest about it.  Here, check out this tweet by him:

A leading climate modeler says we’re in for steady temps or even cooling. Another good reason to scrap Cap & Trade. http://tiny.cc/uMnuY

Twitter / Don Blankenship: A leading climate modeler ..

Seriously?  Did he even read the article he is linking to?  Not only does the article not say that there will be cooling but it explicity counters this lame argument right in the body text.

Here is the climatologists actualy quote in the article concerning “steady temps”:

“The strong warming effect that we experienced during the last decades will be interrupted. Temperatures will be more or less steady for some years, and thereafter will pickup again and continue to warm” - Professor Mojib Latif

So Prof. Latif said it will be steady and then warming will resume. Just to validate that my reading comprehension skills are better than Blankenships let’s see what the Prof Latif has to say about those who would twist his words into saying that Global Warming is done:

”..[he] points to the resumption of warming as the cycle completes itself in a few years. The best we can hope for, he says, is a brief respite from global warming.”

Perhaps Don Blankenship wants to have even less credibility?  Or maybe he thinks everyone who hears what he has to say is an idiot.  I don’t know - but to just flat out lie and distort the article’s content while at the same time linking to the proof he is lying makes no sense at all.

If ever I needed evidence that those opposed to the scientific evidence of global warming are just full of shit I could now look no further.  Thanks Don!  At least you cleared that much up.

#regular

Before you read this post and watch the two videos I’ll warn you that they can be offensive.

These two videos both discuss offensive words; specifically both touch on the word “nigger”. While it is obviously a word with a ton of horrible baggage it is interesting to see it discussed in the only medium it can be - comedy.

Louis CK - Bad Words

Daily Show - The ‘N’ Word

When the Daily Show skit was first aired they didn’t bleep any words out but, latter, the FCC regulations ended up leaving it censored. BTW: I wrote out the full word earlier on in order to “take full responsibility” for the shitty word I used.

#regular