A New Frontier

I received in the mail today a new gadget. An Acer Iconia A700 tablet.I must admit I am more impressed than I thought I would be. I knew a tablet would be a larger venue than my phone but I didn't realize how much easier it would be to use.

 My wife has been trying to get me to blog more. I always say I don't have anything to write about. Well, maybe now I will get my butt in gear and try to write less sporadically. Notice I didn't say write more, I said less sporadically. I wouldn't want to paint myself into a corner, you know.

In the Android App Market

I created an Android application for access on the go to my blog. Now that means all three of you that read my blog will need to be sure to pick up an Android phone so I won't be the only one to have downloaded my own app. For thse of you already clamoring to the market, here is the link. Looking forward to having at least ONE download and maybe a decent review thrown in for good measure.

Mobile Blogger Post

I just downloaded the official version of Blogger for Android and thought I would take it for a spin.

I'm on my luchbreak hogging the wi fi at Starbucks and pondering the increasing speed at which technology is changing the way we live our lives. That sounds like a strong statement but is certainly backed by truth.

A brief year ago I would need to be sitting at home on my computer to post to my blog. While there were ways to post by text message they were rudimentary and lacking functions. Here I am seated (albeit uncomfortable) in a Starbucks writing a blog post from my phone. Certainly not a Silicon Valley first. For me it is light years ahead of previous methods. Who knows, this may lead to posting more often than biannually. I must admit my blogging has suffered quite a bit at the hands of Facebook. The short status update was easier to do than write a tome of unkown origin or destination.

Facebook was simply a lazy way to "interact". I think I became more of a lurker than anything. I would read most friends status updates and just move on to the next. Voyeurism I suppose. Leaving a comment or a "like" would require some amount of effort with possibly a needed follow up. I guess I'm just not that interested. My own life has it's own myriad of intricacies. Why would I want to be subjected to more, let alone someone elses.

Boy does that make me sound shallow. I think there are a lot of folks who can relate to the general idea but don't nessecarily publicize it. I guess the saying is true..."give someone enough rope and they will hang themselves".

Failure Of Socialism

From The New York Times - November 13, 1857
Click "View Full Article" under the first paragraph.

Even going back 150 years it was obvious that Socialism is a failed political system. Coming from a commentary in The New York Times makes it all the more poignant.

The sheeple were swindled in this last election cycle. The President ran his campaign as a "hopey changey" moderate. He portrayed his far left agenda as change. He used languge to prod the electorate into voting against George Bush but not particularly for him. Well, he won and now we have our cake and we are being forced to eat it too. The Hopey Changey" Administration now owns most of the financial industry, the auto industry and is making a hard charge for the healthcare industry.

In his first 100 days in office, Obama has spent more than the Dubya Administration did in eight years. Where is the outrage? Obama increased the size and scope of our military commitment in Afghanistan. Where is the outrage? I could go on but I won't because my blood pressure is rising.

Most of the folks I correspond with probably disagree with my politics. Maybe I should stick to trains and photography. Discussing politics and religion is always dangerous territory. I have some wonderful friends who vehemently disagree with me about politics. That's healthy. We are still friends yet political adversaries. Our votes and voices are our weapons agaist the "enemy".

My Brain Itches!!

If you can figure this out, let me in on it! I was tricked into visiting this blackhole of a time consuming, brain draining, blood pressure raising puzzle of a site by Vulgar Wizard.

Cool Morning Sunrise

Westbound Amtrak Capitol Corridor #523
Originally uploaded by sharkzƒan

Just wanted to share a sunrise with folks because I have really been neglectful of my blog as of late. We have a grandson on the way so we've been pretty busy with baby shower preparations and just general grandparent stuff. That sounds really wierd to be speaking of myself as a grandparent! Ack!

Critiqued

My wife was reading my blog the other night while I was at work. She mentioned how she used to enjoy reading it (oops!). It used to be funny, she said. Now it's all anti-Obama posts.

OK, I get the hint. I'll knock off the politics. Nothing is more devisive than talking about politics and religion. Folks have their mind made up from very early on in life and it is nearly impossible to sway them from their beliefs. That's not to say that dialogue and vigorous debates are not encouraged. It just means I would be pretty hard pressed to cite an actual case where my opinion changed another persons mind on a particular subject.

So...to be be more apolitical and nonreligious I'll share this bit of humor with you!

Domino's Scientists Test Limits Of What Humans Will Eat

I'm Corn-fused (what's new?)

I tweaked my layout to have the new Blogger "reaction" buttons added to my posts. They are a single word response button similar to those used in an online poll. Well, an esteemed blogger buddy over at Irrelephant who generally maintains only the highest standards in posting, tested my theory of Blogger functions.

The theory goes something like this.

You edit your layout to include a nifty new gadget that will wow all your readers. You write a post informing them of the nifty new functionality giving them the impression that you are some sort of code wizard and can produce a myriad of really cool fluff. Your readers will then stop by and implement this nifty new functionality and be amazed at your fluffiness. Your accolades will be spread across the series of tubes known as the internets.

I persued this righteous goal and failed miserably thanks to the demons at Blogger command. I followed their every instruction down to the last step. Their diabolical plan worked perfectly. I have been shamed in front of the whole of my audience (right Mom?). I must now crawl back into the hole from whence I came and ponder the injustice of what has transpired.

Oh, and I'll see if I can get if fixed, ok?

Layout Tweak

I added the new Blogger "reaction" buttons to my posts. They are customizable so I chose my own text. This way you can share your reaction to the post without necessarily leaving a comment. Try it out!

Amazingly Eerie, Large Marionette

I poached this video from my Flickr buddy, gentlemanrook who blogs at Irrelephant. It's giant marionette that is so surreal it's almost scary!

A Wonderful Storyteller

Trying to shy away from the political pulp that has been sticking to the bottom of my shoe, I'll point you in the direction of one of my Flickr buddies, gentlemanrook. He has a blog that is a real treat to peruse. His fabulous stories build a landscape rich in imagery. I tend finish the stories with a sense of having been there. His sense of humor is a bit tweaked as is mine. That may be one of the reasons I enjoy it so much.

You should certainly judge for yourself, but please...take a look. You won't regret it. Visit Irrelephant now!

How Cool Is This??

I came across this post on Lifehacker.com for the BumpTop desktop interface. It's something totally different from what you are used to looking at. Check it out!!

Where Did This Financial Crisis Come From?

Essentially any and all Washington politicians are to blame for not really doing something before it was too late. However, we can specifically blame Bill Clinton. I know, I know, here comes the "Clinton hasn't been in office for eight years! Why do you always try to pin things on him" response.

Here's how the seed of this debacle was planted.

"...(This) crisis can trace its roots to Bill Clinton’s signature on legislation making it easier for minority constituents with bad credit to obtain mortgages. In 1995, he had his Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin, rewrite the lending rules for the Community Reinvestment Act, opening the flood gates of mortgage lending to unqualified borrowers.

This legislation, in effect, applied affirmative action to the lending industry, which is to say that the current crisis is NOT a “free market failure” but the result of socially engineered financial policy by the central government. The financial markets welcomed their new customers with open arms, fueling a real estate boom across the board.

These so-called “subprime mortgages,” which were offered at variable interest rates, were widely perceived as good investments. Investors used the high-risk instruments to secure assets in other markets fueling profits for investment banks and mortgage lenders. The subprime market thus expanded rapidly and the mortgage instruments were used by other firms as collateral for investments in stocks, commodities and the like.

Unfortunately, no one questioned the pell-mell regulatory system of oversight for these transactions until large cracks appeared in our economy’s foundation, the first being the collapse of Countrywide, the nation’s largest subprime lender. Then banks and mortgage lenders large and small began downsizing, dumping assets and closing their doors. Bear Stearns filed for bankruptcy. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, holders of trillions of dollars in mortgages, were bailed out with 200 billion taxpayer dollars. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, and insurance giant AIG was given an $85-billion taxpayer prop to keep it solvent.

From an article at The Patriot Post by Mark Alexander

Information On Obama NOT in the Mainstream Media

The bias is dripping from the alphabet soup broadcast and cable networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc). My favorite derogatory network nickname comes from Libertarian talk show host Neil Boortz regarding CNN. He a calls it the Chicken Noodle Network. I love it.

Very few references to the connection between former Weather Underground terrorist and Obama can be found on network news sites. The articles that do appear usually make a faux argument that Obama was a child when Ayers was involved in the terrorist organization. The premise is he was loosely associated with Ayers.

Not according to Obama's own words.

In his 1995 autobiography, "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritace", Obama says he deliberately chose who he would associate with. He wanted to make sure that everyone knew where he stood politically. So to say that Ayers was an "aquaintance" is intellectually untrue.

This article from the Chicago Sun Times has some excellent detailed information in the comment section. It gives a detailed list of the Weather Undergrounds terrorist activities. Ayers has never denounced or apologized for his actions. In fact, in a 1981 interview with David Horowitz, he said "Guilty as hell, free as a bird. America is a great country".

This article from Hugh Hewitt's Townhall.com blog is a guest posting by Bill Dyer who is making the point that Obama himself said he would align himself with extremists back in 1995 when he wrote his autobiography.

I'm sorry, but this is not the kind of "hope" and "change" that I want for my country.

Great News!

I've found some stats on about my blog!

My Alexa traffic ranking - 12,349,496 as of 9/20/2008!

Connections

Through my Flickr page I've been corresponding with folks all over the country (and the world for that matter) who have the same interest in railfanning. I was contacted by an individual who wanted to use one of my pictures for their blog. I was quite honored that they would think highly enough of it to want to display it to their readers. I gave him permission to use it. Come to find out he's a conductor for Amtrak and does the Capitol Corridor run from Sacramento to San Jose. He may very well have been on the the train in the image in my last post. I haven't heard from him confirming that, but we'll see. It seems like a consistantly smaller and smaller world as we barrel headlong into the communications and social networking era. Here's a link to his blog "Bad Iron"

For My Buddy Joe

This would be an extremely "inside" post. Probably greater than 96% percent of my readers (right Mom!) would not get the connection. That's o.k. though, I'm not posting it for them, it's for Joe. It seems ironic that the logo for the railroad line pictured below could have so much significance for my buddy Joe. The dollar sign purposefully portrayed in the text, seemingly created just for him! His blog address with the gambling reference of "dice shooter" in it, an email address he has with a reference to money. Quite the co-inky-dink, huh?



Oh, and you're welcome Joe, for all of the free promotion and links I just gave you!

Traffic Report?

I found this little poll generator through Joe's Big Blog. Thought I would have some fun with it. Nobody reads my blog anyway so I already know what the poll results will be. What an optimist I am! Do me a favor and be a "daily" visitor just for my own sense of well-being.

Do you regularly visit this blog?
	Daily
	Weekly
	Monthly
	Annually
	What blog?
	Where am I?
pollcode.com free polls

Good Grief

Grief, that's what I got, but maybe not good. Joe always gives me a bucketful when I can't keep up with his frenetic on-the-clock posting. I'm in the wrong job. I DO think he will appreciate this poached graphic however....

A Chance Encounter and Joe Saves the Day

I don't normally get down to the plant, especially when my buddy Joe is still working (or does he really work at all?). I had to take the loaner car back and pick up the regular car. My swing man didn't fuel up the loaner car because there is no gas card in it, only a card that can be used for fueling at the plant. I didn't figure it was a problem since I had enough gas to get there. My regular car needed gas as well. However, the gas card was missing from the visor and I was stumped as to how I was going to get gas since I had already dropped the keys for the loaner car in "the box". Along comes Joe to save the day. He had no idea that he would be saving any days, though. He unlocked the transportation office and found the "red" fuel card that allows fueling any vehicle. The gas cards that are in the cars are specifically assigned to the ones they reside in. I got my full tank of gas, a mini reunion, and the papers we needed for the carrier shortage. A veritable tri-fecta!

Joe and I talked for awhile about our blogging and his scooter rides and the scenery pictures he posts from his rides. We don't usually get to do the face to face. Normally we swap comments on postings or the random email. It was good to have a real conversation and not just a few pecked words on a keyboard.