Kingsquared » Series of tubes

Damn hipsters

John — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:52:15 +0000

If you’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest you’ll understand.

What?

John — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:51:30 +0000

Can you understand a single word? I know that they speak English but the accent is so brutal. It’s part of a documentary but I don’t know what they’re documenting. Strangely, the little girl is the easiest to understand.

HTC Inspire extended review

John — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 01:16:36 +0000

I’ve had the phone for a couple of weeks and there are few flaws to this phone. Here are the highlights.

Good
Call quality and reception have been great.
Internet browsing is quick on the “4G” network. In every area where I might have expected 3G I’ve gotten HSPA+ speeds.
Installation of apps is a breeze.
The display, even though a lower resolution than similar models, is more than adequate.
Plays flash videos without issue (save for Hulu but thats an android problem).
Seamlessly integrates with all Google functions.

Not so good
GPS has a hard time acquiring an accurate position – it can take up to 30 seconds to get a direct bead on your location.
Camera does mediocre in low light scenes (outside of flash range) but it’s something we can expect from every camera phone.
The speaker is a little tinny.
There is a little more digital noise over Bluetooth than my old Blackberry.

I’d still buy this phone if given the choice to do it again and skip the Atrix. I’ve started to see reviews come in from that phone and most of the advanced features (docking etc and a little clumsy and slow). To me, it seems like a gimmick to sell the phone and accessories. My wife played around with my phone and wants to upgrade to one of the same model from her iphone. Her only concern was management of her music library but there are plenty of free programs like Media Monkey that will serve as a suitable replacement.

HTC Inspire first impressions review

John — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:39:28 +0000

I drove to Lawton (home of the nearest AT&T store) to trade in my badly worn and beaten Blackberry Bold for the just released HTC Inspire. Per the norm, things didn’t go as planned. As it was a brand new phone the staff didn’t know too much about it. They had one hell of a hard time opening the battery compartment. For a minute, I thought that they actually broke it. After a few minutes messing with the phone and processing the required paperwork I was on my way.

I didn’t make it far.

Before I left I attempted to sign into my google account. I received an error relating to the lack of configured access points. I stopped and started the wireless data service but nothing would work. Luckily, I hadn’t left the parking lot so I went back inside to figure it out. Ten minutes later, with a brand new sim card installed I was once again on my way. I’ve never used an Android phone of any variety but this phone is slick as hell. I was on a HSPA “4G” network and downloads were blistering fast (compared to my old blackberry) and I was able to download apps in mere seconds. I’m still learning the UI so I’ve got a ways to go but this is a wicked fast phone. I’ve tested the camera and the photos turn out quite well. My knee jerk recommendation to is buy this phone if you’re in the market for a new android phone on AT&T and you want nothing to do with the forthcoming Motorola Atrix.

After a bit of messing with the phone I’ve found only a few issues and those are mostly interface issues. The phone is branded as a HTC Desire HD in most of the menus. It made me laugh the first time I saw it but its surely there. Most of those fields can be changed and it doesn’t hurt anything so it’s of no consequence. Changing the ringtones is a bit of a pain due to the way it’s branded by AT&T or by the way the OS is setup. If you go to the ringtones menu you’ll only get to pick from the presets or go the HTC site to find new ones. If you’ve got media files less than 300k on the SD card (8gb included with the phone) you can make those changes direct from the media folder. This phone is going to be around for the next two years so we’ll see how it fares.

Our planet

John — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 20:08:51 +0000

I’ll agree that our planet is headed on a path of destruction. As one person among billions I can’t do anything to slow it down. In fact, by spending my income the way I do I’m only exacerbating the problem. I found a video, now a few years old, that details the problems that our planet will face in the next century. Check our the trailer below.

You can see the whole movie (over 90 minutes) for free on YouTube.

The video leans far to the left in terms of environmentalism. In fact, some of the lines were so far to the left that I laughed out loud. Sadly, I think the words were true. I’ve only watched a portion of the video and the visuals are absolutely stunning. I’m somehow reminded of science class when I was in grade school. We were all so turned on about saving our planet and recycling. We were so turned on about the future of the planet. Most of us have forgotten about that. I know I have.

Watch the video if you’ve got the time. Make some small changes in your life if you can. It’s going to take all of us working together to start making the big changes. Hopefully, those of us in developed nations will figure it out before it’s too late for the rest of the world. 20% of the population needs to make the choices for the remainder – after all, we’re to blame.

Camp K

John — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 19:51:08 +0000

We took some video last year of the NWSDA race at Camp K. Jessica had a few hours this morning and I walked her through video editing. She took all of the video reduced it to less than two minutes. As she learned, most of the video recorded is crap and can be deleted.

Hilarious commercial spoof

John — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 17:09:13 +0000

Well done sir, well done.

McBain

John — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:48:17 +0000

Years ago, the writers for the Simpsons churned out some fantastic material. Sadly, they haven’t done so for many years. Take a moment to watch one of my favorite scenes from long ago. MENDOZA!!!!

UPDATE: Apparently Fox doesn’t want us to remember when the Simpsons was actually funny so the video has been removed. I guess you can just watch the 4-15 episodes a day in syndication and try to put all the pieces together in your head. Good luck!

ANOTHER UPDATE: I found a new source @ College Humor. There is no embeddable code so you’ll have to follow the link. Sorry.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here it is!!!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

ANOTHER UPDATE: The lawyers have removed it – MENDOZA!!!

Yet another awesome

John — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:09:57 +0000

Snowpocalypse 2011

John — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:36:41 +0000

Much of the country is digging their way out this morning after the snowpocalypse dumped up to 18 inches of snow across the country. I’ve lived through storms far worse than this but it’s been a while since I’ve been in a place as unprepared for snow as Oklahoma. I decided to venture out to Wal-Mart last night simply to see the pre-storm insanity. The photos below were taken with my Blackberry and as you can tell it has one of the worst digital cameras ever. I can’t wait to replace this phone.

There is no milk

I was amazed by the empty shelves. It’s as if they don’t expect to be able to leave their houses for weeks.

Snow is water...

While the temps are supposed to drop over the next few days I didn’t expect water to be in such short supply. Do pipes freeze this bad in this part of the country?

Chips are a survival item?

This aisle made me laugh – chips are a vital part of the diet of the local population. The only sections hit harder were the water, milk, and bread.

Lines? We know lines

For most people lines like this are normal at a Walmart . This place is an oddity because I’ve never seen lines like this. They had every single register open and the queue (good old British English) was quite deep.

Snow? Really?!?

I have a five hour class delay for this?

Just a little drift

Ok, there are drifts but this still isn’t that bad.

It's not that bad

A shot out of my front door. I didn’t venture farther because I didn’t want to put on shoes. I don’t think it’s any worse than what you can see out the door.

I think the response to this snow will be similar to the snowfall we faced two years ago in the Puget Sound. The city and county only had a few plows and we waited for days for the roads to be cleared. I’m sure that I’ll face a similar situation here. The difference is that there are no hills in this part of the country. The wind is moving briskly so there will be some drifts but I don’t think it will be anything to worry about.