Paul's Journal

06/13/2007 19:47 #39649

Why I can't own an iPhone
Category: mobile

I really want an iPhone. I mean the iPhone seems like the next logical step in my mobile addiction but without 3rd party app support it is so gimped. It can't SSH into my web server, which is the most important task that all of my mobile devices back to the first T-mobile Sidekick Iin 2002 could do

Considering that the iPhone is running OS X (ya right) why can't they thrown in a terminal emulator.

I guess maybe they will add it and surely people will hack it.

I think AJAX, CSS, HTML development is really stupid on a mobile device with a gimped data plan, AT&T/cingular edge is so slow compared to what I am used to on Sprint. It's like a step backwards for me to switch to them. The only advantage of AT&T being that if I switch to a sim-card phone carrier I can have multiple phones on one card.

I mean I love the idea of Safari being able to use AJAX apps but what about the storage of the programs. With AJAX you end up downloading the entire program each time, versus with a standalone applet for the phone you save the program on the phone and just download data.

Maybe I won't care and buy one just to add it to my collection of almost but not quite everything in one mobile devices.

I also don't know if I could live without a keyboard. Both my Nokia 7710

and my Nokia n800

(WIKIPEDIA - Nokia_N800) have on screen keyboards, and while they have come a long way, it will never be as functional as the hardware one. I mean I could type on the sidekick while driving and not looking at the keyboard. I know - that is way to dangerous for reality, but trust me it is possible. I could never do that with tactile sensation free onscreen keyboard.

I suppose the iPhone could just replace the PPC 6700 (WIKIPEDIA - HTC_Apache) (which is clunky and old looking now) and I could continue to carry around the not-phone (nokia n800) which is a full access linux OS with terminal. I just want one day to have the all in one device that rivals the functionality of the sidekick with the browser and style of the iPhone.

Here we have the history of my mobile addiction
Danger Sidekick 1 - worn out - I used it so much the keys actually wore down

Danger Sidekick 2 - eaten by bugs (e:paul,32081)

Nokia 7710 - broke the camera

Sprint PPC 6700- runs windows mobile 5 which is lame and slow

Nokia n800 runs linux and is awesome but camera sucks and its not a phone only wifi, bluetooth connections

iPhone - Will you be good enough for me

paul - 05/13/10 22:07
Nope, after the 3g and 3gs I switched to a google nexus one running android.

paul - 06/16/07 09:44
Wow this is funny. It come from the machinist blog on salon.com

Jobs also offered what he called a "sweet solution" for developers to create programs for the iPhone. The one catch: The apps have to run in Safari, cutting out much innovation (and competition, e.g. Skype). The quote of the week on this, from Mac-blog Daring Fireball: "If all you have to offer is a shit sandwich, just say it. Don't tell us how lucky we are and that it's going to taste delicious."

paul - 06/16/07 09:43
It worse than the gameboy color camera attachment. In fact it is not meant for taking picture at all just for video chat. The resolution is like 120x60px and it does not handle any sort of non-full-sun lighting.

uncutsaniflush - 06/15/07 22:35
what's wrong with the camera in the nokia n800??? Is it better or worse than the average cell phone cam?

ajay - 06/14/07 17:48
Screw the iPhone! Wait for the OpenMoko: :::link::: Linux ftw!

iPhone is an iPOS. Jobs will cripple it and nickle-and-dime you to death.

joshua - 06/14/07 09:09
It seems like you have some extraordinarily precise needs when it comes to your mobile addition, and I'm not entirely sure that the iPhone was built or created for supertechies... but maybe I'm wrong about that. After all, mobile applications are only going to get more and more integrated into one device as it has been.

I think the iPhone is neat, but I have no idea if I'd actually ever buy one. I keep a very low tech phone simply because I'm afraid I'd break or lose a better one.

jenks - 06/14/07 00:45
eaten by bugs?!

that is horrifying.

06/13/2007 19:03 #39648

A day full of life changes
Category: changes

1. (e:jim) is going to be doing some long term contract work at Roswell and we will get to work together ;)
2. (e:lilho) is going away ;(
3. Which means our house will be empty besides the three of us - which means either it will be awesome to frolic around the giant house naked or we will kill each other by next weekend because we aren't forced to behave in front of other people.
4. Tomorrow mac and I are going are going on a date. Sorry PC, no further detalis.

paul - 06/13/07 23:03
Ya, (e:theecarey) moved out at the end of May after some car trouble stranded her up north.

jim - 06/13/07 20:43
Paul - thanks again! You'll get sick of hearing me say that pretty soon.

I am now a bit nostalgic for my current job. I wish I had a bigger budget there - I had grand dreams of integrating video previews in to the news coverage reports, but I would have needed a render farm and a ton of infrastructure to support it. Oh well.

leetee - 06/13/07 19:13
Did (e:Theecarey) give up her room?!?!?!

06/12/2007 09:58 #39626

We could never incorporate the burbs
Category: buffalo

This is in response to (e:james,39620)

I think it is a great idea to incorporate the suburbs into the city of Bufflao proper as has happend in many other cities that are growing.

However, I know people from Kenmore would probably fight to the death before they let it happen. Which leads me to think - why not just declare war on Kenmore and Amherst.

Having been born in Buffalo and raised in Kenmore, I fully see what is going on. My parents left Buffalo for Kenmore the year I was born. The real reason most people in the suburbs would never allow this to happen is because:

1. The school system of Buffalo cannot compete with the suburban ones.

2. The police don't come when you call here. I have experience this twice.

3. Many suburbanites are totally freakin' racist/classist and can't stand the thought of mixing their kids with american black, hispanic, arab, somali or poor kids. I know people are going to harp on me for this but it is true - so why not talk about it.

When I first moved to Linwood, everyone was like I cannot believe you are going to live that close to Main Street, and let's be honest - you all know what they meant. I can't believe you are going to live that close black people.

The other option is to be really wealthy and stay in the city on a street like St. James and send you kids to private school for between $5000-$30000 a year. I definately think a lot more people are taking that route than before.

metalpeter - 06/12/07 20:04
I tottaly agree with #3. I admit I don't know what the best way to combine things is. Basicly all the towns are corupt in some ways. A Good example is Grand Island. Do you ever hear of a crime on Grand Island, no. But yet they have cops and (used to have sheirfs) and then sometimes even border patrol. I'm sure they have more police then they need. The thing that the suburban people don't understand is that every school isn't bad. The reason the Bad schools are bad is because all the rich people moved out of the city wich means the City doesn't get the take money. Secondly they take away the good kids. So by the good people leaving it causes the schools to be bad. It is classism and Racism (not that you can really blame them, with all the negative sterotypes in the media and music and the odd way some blacks talk). But what really causes them is the us vs. them idea. Often we like to think of us and them. It is what causes the dislike based on race, class, and all sorts of other things like sexual preferance. That also plays into the prevliage feeling. Some one who is a success dosn't want to pay taxes to help someone who isn't. It is the same thought process that goes into why should I pay taxes so some lazy ass with 3 kids can stay home on the money I make. It isn't really that simple but that is the same mindset. Also parents have this weird thought that how good a school is will determine if a kid will learn or not. That isn't true. Yes a bad classroom enviroment will make them like school less and may disencourage them. But if I Kid wants to learn they will go out and learn and study and not hang out with there friends to much. But if a kid doesn't want to learn then the best school in the world won't change that.

mike - 06/12/07 17:50
i think it is more of a class thing. Many people would also say " you are going to live that close to Riverside?" that's mostly poorer white people.

paul - 06/12/07 17:26
None, my minimum house price was $150. I realized that no one is racist and that all the people who were like, "You are going to live that close to Main Street!?" Really meant, "Main street is so wide and dangerous with so much fast traffic, you better watch out."

mike - 06/12/07 17:24
many parts of Kenmore are closer/more right in projects, homeless shelters and other types of living for the poor, than many parts of Elmwood/Allentown.

mike - 06/12/07 17:21
I don't really want to get into this as this issue has been played out over and over again, but how many houses did you look at on the other side of Main Street when you were looking to buy?

james - 06/12/07 14:44
Jason: It isn't all about racism, but Paul also mentioned classism.

And Buffalo government isn't the only corrupt and incompetent thing. Gaugen's report shows that the whole system county wide is corrupt and incompetent. It is just a lot easier to hide it when you have a fantastically rich tax base to plunder.

Read what the researchers had to say about village governments. Some did not have budgets available to citizens, or did so at a price. Getting information required the consent of the government. Not to mention fantastic sums in hidden benefits for part time jobs. Some of these people get more money in health care than I make in a whole year.

jason - 06/12/07 14:25
I don't think it follows that people are against government streamlining because they don't like black people. I just think they see Buffalo's government for what it is, corrupt and incompetent, a money trap and a laughing stock. Who wants to join forces with that?

zobar - 06/12/07 11:47
It is true that the city takes a lot of shit from the suburbs, but the city's trump card is that without the city the suburbs would go away too. What is weird is that the suburbs have now begun taking a lot of shit from the city.

To whit: we were promoting a bout for the Roller Girls when an esteemed local publication :::link::: informed us that since the rink was not within the city limits they weren't interested even in carrying a calendar listing. To someone like me who basically could give two shits, this was pretty shocking. But nobody in the city took them seriously when they were first getting started - their best, early community support came from North Tonawanda. So I'm kind of tempted to say if that's how it's going to be, fuck all yalls.

The punchline, and I agree with Gaughan on this, is that we're all in this together. It's not a matter of the economically fucked city bringing down the prosperous suburbs, because we're all kind of fucked. And it's not about the awesome city being way cooler than the lame-ass suburbs, because I have been just as bored on Allen St as I have on Transit.

- Z

james - 06/12/07 11:29
Paul: ya, eating the whole district would be an uphill battle for all the reasons you mentioned. Gaugen's suggested that local governments cut the number of elected officials. Creating municipal services (integrating kenmore and Buffalo police, trash collection, etc) people might become a little more comfortable with the situation. I expect it will happen around the same time cyborg yeti conquer the earth.

MrDeadlier: #3 is a gross generalization. But classism is undeniable in both the burbs and the city. As a parent you have to do well by your kids, that is also undeniable. Buffalo also has a nationally top ten high school and elementary school. As the middle class left Buffalo they took the tax base with them, 60% of properties in Buffalo do not collect property tax income because they are city owned (the east side) or government buildings. Cloistered suburbs do not have this problem. Integration of the two would make city schools better and suburban schools more diverse in addition to the financial savings listed in the report.

mrmike - 06/12/07 10:56
I agree with you on all of it Paul. There are a few exceptions to the schools in the city. My kids go to City Honors and Bennett Park Montessori and I'm confident in they are getting good educations, especially since their Mom and I have gone through great lengths to make ourselves known to the powers that be.

I grew up in Clarence and heard a lot about "All the way into the City." There are people who haven't ventured into the city or out of their cul de sacs in years.

Sadly the needed intergration won't happen because all the burgs are afraid of the others. Everybody wants to protect their own in case a soul food restaurant opens up next to Applebee's.

mrdeadlier - 06/12/07 10:41
As a Kenmore resident, I'll enthusiastically agree with you on points #1 and #2, but #3 is just a gross generalization on your part.

As a parent I relish the idea of "mixing" my daughters with kids that are different ethnicities than them. It's the only way to ensure they don't grow up xenophobic (preaching at them won't work -- they need to be able to attach real people to their perceptions).

But sorry if I don't want them going to schools that annually are at the bottom of the barrel in terms of performance standards. There are various reasons why they're that low, but again, as a parent, I really don't care. My kids only have one go-round through schooling and I'm not going to be all idealistic and activist about it.

joshua - 06/12/07 10:18
Absolutely, positively correct about #3. And the rest of it for that matter.

Look at a city like Los Angeles - LA County is completely integrated. Thats right - Compton High and Hollywood High are under the same school district, and the famously vigilant LAPD serve the same area. What frustrates me is that if a city like LA can find a way to do it, why can't we? Surely Beverly Hills High parents have more to worry about then those at Ken West or Amherst or Clarence.... right?

I would actually support area integration because it would save all governments an incredible amount of money and generally make area governments more efficient and streamlined. Far more needs to be brought under the county umbrella. The burbs, of course, hate the idea for the reasons you've laid out.

Its funny you mention this actually - today during the drive to work 970AM had a segment where they talked about a little unscientific experiment they did, asking various residents if they think the city is racist or not. I can't see how it can be said that this isn't a fairly racist area - Cheektowaga PD are famous for it (fair or unfair), parents and their kids in the burbs live there and get educated there in part because they fear black people (a girl from Clarence that my friend dated said to me flat out that she doesn't like black people, but that isn't unique), and hell - look at our city! Its as physically segregated as a city can get! Literally, Main St. divides the whites from the blacks. Linwood is unique because its the closest thing to a racial melting pot we have, with the possible exception of some areas in the east side.

06/11/2007 23:46 #39618

Another Day In Western New York
Category: hiking

Went to Zoar on Sunday. It was fun to run around outside even though I might have burned the top of my head a bit after the haircut. The rest of me was sun screened pretty good, I just didn't think about the top of my head.

fellyconnelly - 06/13/07 18:48
wow!
i am now quite familiar with zoar, the lobster people and naked estrippers!

paul - 06/13/07 18:13
It's in Gowanda, I wrote so many journals about it. If you search the site for zoar you will find a whole history of the lobster people of zoar too.

fellyconnelly - 06/13/07 14:28
where is this zoar place anyway?
and have i mentioned you look great with that haircut?

06/11/2007 23:47 #39619

Another Day On Linwood
Category: buffalo

I just had this moment reading Buffalo Rising

where I wondered if anything they say is really something they believe, or if it is all something they are paid to say. This one video about the new tower condos on Delaware where the Park Lane used to be was just so over the top one-sided.

The woman who runs the Washington Market sounds like such a tool. She really needed to rehearse better before her embarrassing interview.

Screenshot from their video

I am all about new buildings being built downtown, although, a part of me wonders whether or not they will just end up being empty. I mean how many $300,000+ condo laden sky scrapers can you build in a city. like Buffalo As (e:matthew) said, is the problem really that we don't have enough desirable housing for rich people? It seems that anyone spending $300,000+ could get a lot better deal than the same thing they already have in every other big city.

I wonder if they will all just end up out competing themselves.

The Deer In My Yard
This is pretty crazy. This morning there was an adult deer freaking out in our backyard. (e:matthew) saw it while I was in the shower and the neighbors called 911 and the SPCA, neither of which came. It eventually got out and took off down Linwood going north. When I talked to my friend Robert today, he said that he saw in last week on Linwood. I wonder where it came from and how long it has been here.

He thought this mirror in the back of the yard was a way out. He smeared his nose all over it and broke the frame.

I wonder how long it will be before the lion crumbles off this building.

joshua - 06/12/07 10:07
I checked out the info site for the tower - condos are planned to be in the range of $400k - $2M.

In some ways we don't want the bougies, in other ways we do. Considering our situation I think we can use all the help we can get, and lets be honest - when the tower is completed it is going to look cool in Gates Circle. My only problem with the whole thing is that traffic is going to be dismal around the hood when construction starts.

(e:drew) - Generally, and I don't mean to speak for everybody but many agree, is that Buffalo Rising promotes the Elmwood area primarily for private commercial gain. Many feel that they exploit what makes the neighborhood cool and unique for the benefit of businesses that pay to advertise in their magazine. Alot of people feel this way and resent Buffalo Rising and their approach - basically, we don't want the area to turn into a commercialized, sanitized caricature of itself. Commercial frontage is a reality on Elmwood, but area residents are very protective of the general vibe of the neighborhood and resent overmarketed, overcommercialized intrusion. The area likes its businesses, but we want it done right.

(e:paul) a long while back suggested that BR was one of the groups (in conjunction with Forever Elmwood) to try to market the area as "Elmwood Village" - for years this was known as "the Strip" or simply "Elmwood Strip." The area was sort of seedy years ago, and its transformation into a funky hip urban area with lots of stores has coincided with a marketing campaign brought upon by the store owners.

mrmike - 06/12/07 09:51
I kind of agree with (e:matthew) to an extent. The flip side of the coin is that the builder is going to wind up creating something that will stay on the city tax rolls. I wouldn't be surprised to see some compromise on the condo price. Pay more for the upper floors or something along those lines. I guess it is good to see some investment in the city on a project for the projects sake instead of city hall whoring itself to Bass Pro or some other abomination.

Cracks me that the only consisten objection is from the folks in the other tower near me on Delaware who don't want their view blocked. Idiots

drew - 06/12/07 09:44
This is the second time I have heard estrippers dogging on Buffalo Rising. I'm new to town, and I don't know what the beef is. So what is it?

mike - 06/12/07 08:17
OMG! I am so glad you took a picture of that lion! It is my favorite thing in buffalo from when I was a little kid. I love it and everytime I drive by it i feel like i know it is going to dissappear and crumble soon but I never have a camera! Now it is immortalized on (e:strip)! YEAH!@

james - 06/12/07 00:01
Well, if folks are willing to shell out 100k+ on ugly, plastic homes in Hamburg some high end real estate in the city would be appealing. The fact that amazing homes, such as yours, are available in the city doesn't necessarily mean the moneyed suburbanites will return from their hejira into Orchard Park.

Besides, a giant tower with expensive condos has to increase the tax base nicely, which is something this city dearly needs (in addition to eating towns like Kenmore, Cheektowaga, Lackawanna.)

So, it isn't a solution onto itself, but certainly is a sign of progress.