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Showing posts from September, 2013

The Symptom: Blue Dots On My Apps

     Hey, everyone, out there in radio ... internet land. It is a beautiful fall morning here in the mountains. It is 55 degrees and there is a tiny bit of ground fog in low-lying areas. The mountains are not changing color, much. The dogwoods are crimson, though. The poplars are turning yellow and shedding their clothing like really tall, meticulous strippers. Ha, ha.      I notice things. Like this morning, I noticed that some of my apps on the Padster had a blue dot underneath their little square bodies. Upon careful investigation, I discovered that the apps in question had been updated but had yet to be opened. Fascinating, really. I know how y'all like to keep abreast of these things.      Last night, Carley and I re-watched the movie designated by the title The Edge . I have seen it at least a dozen times and I love it. If there ever was a 5 star show, this is it. It stars Alec Baldwin in a role that should have won him an Oscar and Anthony Hopkins as a billionaire. Mr. H

Product Flirtation With the Tech Unicorn

    Hey, everyone. Yesterday I was at Best Buy and I was looking at the display for the new I-Phones; 5s and 5c. The sales girl was nice and we talked to her a while. She said that they still had the 5s in stock, which surprised me. According to her, they had the 64 Gig model of the 5s in the Silver and the Space Grey. This really surprised me as I'd read all the stories on line about their unavailability. Now, I don't remotely need 64 Gigs of space, grey or otherwise. Ha, ha. So, I didn't buy it.      The sales lady also said that they had plenty of the 5c in stock, except for the yellow one. If I was going to buy one, I'd want the yellow one, I think, because it is a macho color, but I hear that the 5c is basically a 5 with the plastic body. (Insert joke here?)      My phone (I-Phone 4s) is not all that important to me and is not my life as it is with teens. I use it mostly for phone calls and to check e-mail. I think I have texted on it three times and played a g

Movie Review: Rush

         Hey, everyone. We had a nice day today. Carley and I were both off so we went to a movie and ate out afterwards. What movie did you see, you might have asked? Well, we went to see the racing movie called Rush . It stars Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt and Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda.      This is based on a true story about two Formula 1 drivers during the 1970's. It is one of those deals where one guy meets another and there is an instant dislike between the two. Heck, let's just call it hate, because that is what it was. At the time of their meeting they are both in the minor leagues of racing and like everyone else, they wanted a ride with a major corporation in Formula 1. James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) is the king of the circuit until Niki (Bruhl) shows up. Bruhl is a guy who has little (none) in the way of social skills but is very sharp at setting up cars and is a cool, precise driver. James is the polar opposite, a party guy, a chick magnet and 'live for today

My Gold I-Phone 5S and Spelunking With Iron Man

   Hey, everyone in the Ethernet, and all the ships at sea. My buddy, Iron Man, needed my help today. It seems that there is a new update to Iron Man 3 and I decided to get it. The main reason is because the update had a new level or map in it. The new level is called Woodlands and I have included a screen shot above. The Metallic Avenger and I are flying over open fields, blistering the sky as we dodge silos and wind turbines. You also fly through forests. At one point we flew through the tunnel in a giant Sequoya or redwood, whatever.     But the most fun was when we went spelunking. It started like this. My man, Tony, came to me and proposed that we hang together for the day. "Cool", I said, "but I once was in a cave with a friend and our flashlight went out. It was really scary and if we are going to do this, you're going to have to bribe me."     "Bribe?" He asked indignantly. "With what?" "You're the head of Stark Industr

Many Moons Ago

     Hey, everyone. Today I made the rather long drive to my home town. I drive through there very rarely but this was the first time in many years that I actually stopped, looked around and talked to people.      I was surprised to find that much of my animosity toward the area had seemed to fade. Many of the bad memories didn't seem so important now. I was actually able to dig up a few fond memories of the place.     The old courthouse from my youth is now a museum, with a newer one dominating an entire city block. I went into the museum and looked around at civil war artifacts, old documents, weapons and the like. I enjoyed it. I saw several articles that had been donated by an old friend of mine who is now a state representative. He is a good guy, or at least he was 40 years ago. Ha, ha.      I walked outside and sat on an old wooden bench that my Dad used to sit on and argue politics with his aged pards. With unseeing eyes, I gazed out toward the lake and the high school

Dead Effect: Professor Mad, I'm Glad

   Hey, everyone. I have been having a great time with my new game called Dead Effect . As I mentioned the other day, I feel that it is one of the all-time great games for IOS. It is so worth the $3.99.      The battles are intense and you must get your assault rifle upgraded to the max with in-game cash. (No in-apps.) Run and gun and don't slug it out head to toe with the zombies. When you go into an area and they swarm you, try to leave an avenue of retreat. In one situation, I fled back out the door I had just came in while whittling their numbers down to a manageable size. I had to stand at the open door and fire a shot at the bozos to get them to chase me because once inside the room, my door closed and locked behind me. It gives you a sinking feeling in your stomach. So, the second time I tried that level, I did as mentioned above and enticed them to pursue me; to their doom. Ha, ha. As they chased outside their grim abode, I fled down a gangway, backwards, while pe

The Double

    Good evening. It is cooler tonight, about 62 degrees at ten P.M. I had a nice day and so far a very pleasant evening. Carley and I just watched a very good movie called The Double . It stars Richard Gere as a retired CIA agent named Paul Shepherdson and Topher Grace as an FBI agent named Ben Geary. Martin Sheen stars as Paul's former boss, Tom Highland.      Ben Geary is young, bright and naive. Most of his knowledge is based on the classes he had at Harvard. He got into the FBI because he wrote an exceptional thesis about a legendary assassin, code-named Cassius. He is convinced that Cassius is still alive, though Paul (Gere) claims to have killed the hit man many years ago.      Paul is called out of retirement to assist the youngster on the case because he knows more about the guy than anyone. This is certainly true because we learn, early on, that Paul is actually Cassius. He assists Ben for a while and feels sorry for the poor bonehead, so he doesn't kill him. Actu

I Suspect Foul Play

    Hey, everyone. Another weekend is upon us, thank God. Today I bought the newest shooter game for IOS and boy, is it good! The name is Dead Effect . It is a space shooter, similar to Dead Space, Mass Effect and Shadowgun, at least a little. It is several hundred megabites of game with no in-apps, rare in this present time. I'd like to thank the developers for that.      You play the role of a lady warrior who is tasked with ridding an interstellar craft of a plague of Zombies. Early in the game you get a comm link and this guy starts talking to you. I swear, the dude sounds just like the Governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. You start out with a pistol and work your way up; to a shotgun, assault rifles and the like. One of my favorite weapons is a very early one. It shoots an electrical charge at the zombies and you have all this lightning flying around as the undead...uh...die. See above picture.      About the title. When you start finding the bodies, if you'

Elvis Has Left the Building

    Hey, happy humans around the globe. The weekend is winding down as we speak. I tore down an engine yesterday, just to see what was inside. It took me several hours but it was not as dangerous as my mission in the missile silo of Call of Duty.       I watched a bit of football today and as I watched my Falcons I became convinced of the veracity of my previous claims. The team needs help on the offensive line and a really dominant pass rusher. Still, they should have beat the Saints. It was, however, just ... Joss that they lost. Joss is a Chinese term that indicates fate, inevitability, luck, fortune or a combination of the above. It is a way of life, an attitude, that keeps one from railing at life, or God or tragedy. Yes, I finished re-reading Noble House tonight. That's what prompted me to use the word. It is a novel of Hong Kong, China and the far east. It is like the best steak that you ever ate, except it is a book. I thought about how much I learned about financial a

You're Aiming the Missile Where?

    Hey, everyone, out there in game-land. The number 1 game on the friendly neighborhood app store is Call of Duty: Strike Team . No wonder, because it is a terrific game. The farther I play, the cooler it gets. But before I get to that, what are all these numbers indicating on my gun? Has to be some sort of ammo indicator for the clips, I guess. either that or some of my compadres has trouble doing his math homework. Whatever.     Hey. Check out the picture of me hitching a ride on an enemy truck so that my team can infiltrate a missile silo. Do you like the face mask? I bought it at a store called Fashions by Bane. Ha, ha. (Batman Reference) On this mission, my team was assisted by a Russian Spetsnaz squad. How's that for detente, comrade? These Spetsnaz guys make everything fun. What I mean is this. We shoot bunches of enemies and get into the bowels of the silo. We get to the gantry where the missile is (Pictured above) and we see that the radiation readings are out t

Call of Duty: Strike Team

   Hey, everyone, out there in the ether-land. I hope that you are having a great day or night. I am looking forward to a little time for fun. I am still reading the massive, and great, book by James Clavell called Noble House . It has been years since I read it and man, is it terrific? I am almost through with it now.     All the time devoted to this 1206 page novel has given me a break from gaming, which I needed. I enjoy a hobby more if I take a break from it. If I read a while it makes a return to gaming much more fun and vice-versa.      So, what am I playing? I am so glad you asked. I bought a new game or two yesterday, one of which I can give a positive review. It is called, as one might deduce from the post's title, Call of Duty: Strike Team . This is a very good shooter game, which is, in itself, rare these days. Here's the recipe.      You are part of a near-future, elite military unit. You are sent into harsh environments to do harsh things to harsh people. But,

The NFL, Gaming and the Sale That Didn't Happen

   Hey, everyone. Some time ago I was talking about NFL quarterbacks and I said something like this. There are only a very few quarterbacks on earth who can take a team to the Super Bowl, maybe 10 or 12 guys; so if you're serious about winning a championship, find one and pay him what you have to in order to keep him. Tonight I would like to add a bit to that thought.     Lately, when a quarterback has proven himself and sometimes when he hasn't, they land a contract in the range of 20 million a year or maybe 100 million dollars for the contract. Sometimes a fat contract like this can cripple a team payroll to the point where they can't keep enough of their good players (other than the QB) to have a great team. So, it is time for quarterbacks, whether their agents like it or not, to show a little restraint about their own salary. Better still, it may be necessary to put a cap on salaries of quarterbacks, something like this: "No individual's salary can exceed a