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My new Tablet Computer

My wife gave me a great new tablet computer for father’s day. Check it out here. I think this thing is an iPad killer, but it is horribly lame with the software installed from Viewsonic. When I first turned it on I was blown away – the regular Android software was running. Then a firmware update took place and I was left with Viewsonic’s “Touch n Tap.” I had already decided I was going to “root” the device and flash a new Rom. There are choices: TNT, Cyanogenmod, CreativeEyes, Mountain Laurel and the list goes on.

Feeling good, but nervous I prepped for the flashing upon arrival. This web site – www.raywaldo.com taught me everything I needed to know. There are several steps:
1) Determine your firmware
2) Install ClockworkMod
3) Flash the new OS

It took me less than 30 minutes.

Coming from the iPhone world I have had some other challenges. What apps to install? How does this thing work? Etc.

I did the following:
1) Installed the equivalent from the Android Market of apps I use on my iPhone
2) I installed Adobe Acrobat
3) I went with Documents to Go for Droid so I could truly edit word documents
4) I found some SQL Server console programs
5) I installed Angrybirds – of course!
6) I got a live desktop that looks like a fish tank – WOW!
7) My Kindle account is installed

I discovered I have 5 screens with which to work and am continuing to navigate. I will share more as I do more, but wanted to document my experience.

June 24, 2011 by Android gTablet Reviews Viewsonic

Defending Yourself

Defending Yourself (06/22/2011)

I wrestled with the title and content of this column realizing I wanted to challenge thought processes. My context is asking, “When would you take up arms?” Recent Supreme Court rulings, at state level and the federal level have eroded 4th Amendment rights. These freedoms have been held sacred since the Bill of Rights passed and evolved from British tyranny and further back to feudal tyranny. Looking around I see this erosion becoming the norm, no longer the exception. Sadly, people who raise questions are now “domestic terrorists” or “troublemakers” harassed through detention, no-fly lists, and watch lists.

If you are pulled aside for additional screening at an airport and suddenly find yourself touched inappropriately by a TSA officer are you willing to yell “Stop!” Are you willing to kick and punch to defend your person? Are you willing to engage local law enforcement to file assault charges? What if you are an 18 year old girl attending your high school prom and security guards run a hand up your bare thigh under your dress? Would you be willing to complain, or more importantly Continue reading…

June 22, 2011 by Big Government Civil Rights Great Recession preparedness

Gestapo and Gulags

Gestapo and Gulags

Congress successfully reauthorized the Patriot Act on May 27th, 2011 with hours remaining before the Act would expire. America is eerily following the same path Hitler’s Nazi Germany took in the early 1930’s; a path of Federal law enforcement, diminished civil rights, and lack of transparency in the courts. The Gestapo was given the authority to investigate treason, espionage, sabotage and criminal attacks against Germany. The basic law passed in 1936 gave the Gestapo the right to operate without judicial oversight. The Gestapo could not be sued by citizens in Administrative court.

Americans are subjecting themselves to our own Gestapo, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) willfully. Examples abound from TSA searches, disrobement, and groping at airports, rail stations, and even high school proms to document and papers required to open a bank account or get a job. Openly over the last 18 years there has been a push from local community law enforcement to a federally dominated model of control. Any local assertion of state’s power is met with federal resistance, like the Arizona and Georgia immigration lawsuits or economic threats to Texas over passing an anti-groping bill. DHS has pushed a “see something, say something” campaign to encourage spying on neighbors and standing up to Big Brother is now cause for consideration as “domestic terrorist.” It was that “domestic terrorism” that brought us freedom and the genesis of our country.

As police power expands, and 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendment rights are reduced more citizens are being jailed than ever before. The term “Gulag” was originally an acronym for the Soviet agency administering the prisons, but has since come to represent any penal system. America has sharply turned her view on incarceration from on of rehabilitation to mandate. In 1982 approximately 1 of 77 Americans was under “correctional-control”, today that number is 1 of 31. Georgia leads the country with 1 of 13 adults under some type of judicial supervision. Take into account wage garnishment orders, child support orders, and foreclosure liens and judicial findings and the number is higher. Today the United States has the highest incarceration rate (3.1%) and the largest prison population of any country in the world. Even communist China with three times the population incarcerates fewer people.

The trend I see developing is one of government control creating fear among the citizens. I challenge you, what consequences would you face if you question how TSA handles you? What would you expect to happen if you say “no” to a police officer regarding a roadside search? Why are our countryman arrested for filming police stops? Why do victimless crimes, like drug use or possession, result in incarceration? More frequently the noose is tightening around our necks, “We the People..”

June 15, 2011 by Big Government Civil Rights Freedom Stupid People

What lifestyle changes would you make?

Check out this house. Is it worth it? No mortgage, living happy without the fear of a bank taking everything. Depending on where you have been in the last two years financially you may not understand the changes taking place in America.

The Greatest Depression is continuing in a rapid downward spiral with the plummeting value of home prices. Too many Americans have tied their fate to the future of their home. Since 2008 home prices have fallen 33%.

What is a house? How many people thought they were living the dream of a McMansion – 4000 square feet and a $4000/month mortgage?

I will continue on my 1.6 acres of rural countryside – chickens, woods, space, and simplicity. Life is easy when you have less.

June 7, 2011 by Depression Great Recession Peak Oil preparedness

Little Noticed News

Little Noticed News (6/1/2011)
Oprah, Republican presidential candidate implosions, and Obama’s Irish roots seem to dominate the news. On a national and international level none of these newsworthy events will impact most Americans. Instead, I argue there is an entire underlying level of news taking place nationwide, some of which gets a brief mention on one of the cable or broadcast networks, but most of the news disappears not to be heard from again. America is changing, and changing rapidly. Willfully civil rights and constitutional guarantees are being eroded, and yet a blind eye is turned. Below I have listed examples from the last three weeks.
On May 22, 2011 – a Santa Fe, NM high school announced TSA would pat-down students as part of security to enter Prom. From TSA’s own web site, the agency’s mission is, “The Transportation Security Administration protects the Nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce.” Nowhere is a high school or sports event mentioned, and I cannot imagine being groped on my last night in high school.
May 21, 2011 – Mark Fiornio strolled through downtown Philadelphia lawfully, openly, carrying his permitted gun. The issue at hand is Mr. Fiornio was detained, nearly shot, and charges brought against him for disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment. He tried to explain to police offers he had a permit and cited the statutory laws allowing him to open carry. Local authorities are warning gun owners that they will be “inconvenienced” if they carry unconcealed handguns in the city.
May 15, 2011 – The Indiana Supreme Court, 3-2, ruled people have no right to resist officers who enter their homes under the premise it is in the greater public good and would minimize confrontation. Additionally, the Indiana Court ruled police do not need to knock to serve a search warrant.
May 17, 2011 – Historically police offers required probable cause and a search warrant before breaking into a home. That changed with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Kentucky v. King. Ruling 8-1 the justices gave police more leeway to break into homes or apartments in search of illegal drugs when they suspect the evidence otherwise might be destroyed. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented, fearing the ruling gave police an easy way to ignore 4th Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
In each of the above cases I can easily see the argument for “greater good”, “public safety” and other pansy excuses. Sadly, “we the people” are continuing to allow our freedoms to incrementally erode away. In one week, four cases that have far reaching circumstances. As a reminder, blood was shed for The Fourth Amendment, which assures that “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,”

June 1, 2011 by Big Government Civil Rights Controversy Freedom Stupid People

Nuclear Meltdowns

Nuclear Meltdown (5/25/2011)

This past week I counted at least four meltdowns, all covered with vigor, in the media headlines. Probably the most obscure and curious regarding the hype to most Americans was the arrest, indictment, and release of IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Little do many of my countrymen understand regarding monetary policy, let alone the calls for an end to the dollar as the reserve currency by Strauss-Kahn. The second meltdown was the failure of the Gingrich campaign to gain traction. Laughably, the most academic of a possible Republican field of presidential nominees, fell flat before starting. Like Strauss-Kahn, Newt melted down.

Meltdown number three was President Obama extinguishing his fiery return in the polls by crossing middle-east ally Israel with a call to return to territory held 44 years ago. The contradictory nature of Obama is puzzling as a blind-eye is turned toward our own border issues and we idly watch killing of refugees seeking democracy in Syria. But, the President is pro-Hamas supporting the terrorist organization publicly as far back as May 2008. Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu skillfully schooled our President on the fallacies of his position and Obama’s action may be the beginning of his re-election meltdown. Finally, the mainstream pundits could not get enough of the Terminator’s marriage meltdown, number four last week, as revelations exposed infidelity and a love child with a household staff member. Each of these personal meltdowns, in my opinion, is rooted in ego and self-interest.

Sadly though, the most important nuclear meltdown in the world is not garnering any media coverage and is similarly rooted in ego and self-interest. However, this meltdown over the next 30 years will result in many unnecessary deaths and cancers worldwide. On March 11, 2011 the historic earthquake rocked northern Japan, suspiciously damaging nuclear reactors, but denied by Japanese government. A newly released TEPCO report this week contains a disaster timeline stating within 5 hours of the quake fuel rods were exposed and rapidly melting, and within 16 hours Reactor No. 1’s rods had melted down and dropped to the bottom of the reactor. Similar events occurred in Reactors 2 and 3. Today the reactors are continuing to spew radiation and radioactive water is flowing to groundwater and the ocean. Worse than Chernobyl, Fukushima has become the world’s first nuclear meltdown. Curiously, the four men in personal meltdowns garner far more coverage, but every plant, animal, and human being in the Northern hemisphere is now poisoned by the ineptness of a government and power company that chose to hide their failures to protect their egos.

May 26, 2011 by Big Government Civil Rights Controversy Mainstream Media Stupid People

Wealth Disparity

Wealth Disparity (5/11/2011)

A drive through New Smyrna Beach demonstrates the extreme wealth disparity that can be found anywhere in America or the world. From the mega-wealth of beachside to the barely surviving poor west of U.S. Highway 1 radical contrasts in daily life are found. It is impossible to look away in a small town and not acknowledge differences, to ignore them would be unconscionable. Like New Smyrna, America’s numbers are mind-blowing: the top 1% controls nearly 33% of the wealth in America whereas the bottom 50% has just 2.5% of the wealth.

Don’t misunderstand me. I love nice things, eating out, a beautiful home, new cars, and a big bank account. As a country even our poorest live far better than the middle class does overseas, but such argument is not cause for turning our backs on the needy. Similarly, the populist envy driven by our current President does not justify excessively taxing wage earners, or the ultra-wealthy. The current raging debate has disclosed the failures of our progressive tax system: envy that the “rich” pay much of their tax through a 15% dividend, and sadly uncovering through subsidies and support programs a single mother of three earning $14,000 per year has more disposable income than a similar mother earning $60,000.

We need the successful to succeed, creating jobs, opportunities, and capital for driving the economy. Simultaneously an understanding and empathy must exist for those who need help. I do not have solutions, but must argue the debate is lost in political rhetoric and desire to drive pet projects. Taxing the wealthy at 100% will not provide enough revenue to fix the government spending problem and it certainly will not lift those in need. Milton Friedman argues in the movie, “The One Percent” the increasing wealth gap is justified because it has also lifted the poorest of poor. In earlier lectures Friedman, in characteristic fashion, shows at least that government creates a perverse system starting with bad schools, limits opportunity through minimum wage laws, and creates dependency via welfare programs.

The political debate from both sides focuses on our tax system and protecting special interests, Republicans arguing to keep tax rates low on the rich, Democrats seeking more. Sadly, both sides view 67,000 pages of tax code as the holy grail of government purpose and fail to understand simplifying the tax system and cutting spending will allow market forces to work toward solutions benefitting both rich and poor.

May 26, 2011 by Capitalism Depression Great Recession

iTracker

iTracker (5/4/2011)

In the “Daily Mail” on 4/18/2011 I first read hackers in London discovered iPhones are recording and storing specific location data about their users. Initially the major networks and newspapers in America were slow to report this, taking almost 4 days to do so. Humorously Apple’s, Steve Jobs first offered no such information was gathered and certainly without malicious intent. With persistence though, the media found more details and Jobs did acknowledge the data gathering. So what’s my beef? As a programmer I do not consider the tracking file an accident and my concern is the potential misuse of the data. Possibly the programmers had good intentions but knowing a data record of individual details exists would be too tempting for use by others.

Let’s consider three examples. First, police in Michigan have been accused of downloading the data during traffic stops, without warrants or arrest in violation of the 4th Amendment. Law enforcement could use the data to pinpoint the whereabouts of a particular individual. Imagine the phone doing detective work for the police by providing when and where he goes. Second, employees are at risk from employers as the employer typically owns the phone; thus the data can be checked to verify the whereabouts of employees to ensure he is working, or where reported during office hours. Third, consider a contested divorce with a vindictive ex-wife. Through Discovery the data file must be made available and the husband’s whereabouts at any time readily known. In my second and third examples the 4th Amendment does not apply, thus anyone with an iPhone has already voluntarily submitted to 24-hour tracking.

My preference is to believe Apple had no malicious intent in mind when the file was created and most likely it was created to improve location data services and their product service offering. However, some have reported this is a requirement under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and most likely “we the people” allowed this further erosion of our privacy and personal rights to take place based on the premise, “they would never do anything bad and it will help stop crime or save lives.” In my recent column, “Land of the Free” I argued there is no longer bravery among us and we idly standby while our freedoms disappear. Personally, I have deleted the file on my phone and will continue to do so. Maybe it still exists on a server somewhere, but at least I have fought back. My concern is when will anyone else fight back?

May 26, 2011 by Civil Rights Freedom Mainstream Media

Can I Wear My Shoes Now?

Can I wear my Shoes Now? (5/4/2011)

Sunday night I was on my way home from Atlanta tuned in to CNN when I heard the President planned an unprecedented press conference around 10:40pm. My wife and I speculated on possibilities, “what could be so important?” Jokingly I offered maybe Osama bin Laden was dead, but that certainly was not worth a late night press conference. Of course, if your poll numbers have fallen to historic lows and your re-election campaign was prematurely announced weeks ago then this could be the much needed booster shot.

I argue, “who cares?” Eight or nine years ago the death of Osama bin Laden may have had material impact. For nearly 10 years we have been given the boogeyman of threat, Bin Laden and his minions trying to harm us. Of course, Orwell would not have given up his government boogeyman, Emmanuel Goldstein, because he was the necessary fuel for the government machine. Bin Laden, like Goldstein, is a necessary enemy of the state; serving to distract, unit e and focus the people away from the true issues. Bush brought as bin Laden, a desperate politically troubled president has eliminated him. Reminding us how important it is not to piss off our enemies, the United States is treating Osama bin Laden’s body in “accordance with Islamic practice,” a White House official says. If this man was our enemy I assert his body be publicly hung in Times Square and treated to a ticker tape parade, unless of course, no body exists and this is a diversion.

So, the real question the next time I board an airplane is, “can I wear my shoes now?” If Bin Laden is dead I assume this means we can pull out of Afghanistan this week and bring our troops home since we spent billions of dollars chasing this idiot through caves, not unlike Bill Murray and the “Caddyshack” gopher. Sadly, the media was quick to report ramped up security efforts, more scanning, and began fear-mongering possible Al Qaeda retaliation attacks. Give me a break, Goldstein (I mean bin Laden) is dead and now the threat level is pushed to imminent. I expect more money will have to be spent to assure Al Qaeda terrorism is minimized. I expect much focus on the White House this week, defining our President as a world-wide hero who saved humanity from an evil man, with the media acting like teen-age girls at a “Teen Beat” cover shoot. Osama bin Laden is dead; can I wear my shoes now?

May 25, 2011 by Civil Rights Freedom Muslim Obama Stupid People Terrorists