HARDWARE: Chromebook Central Google Product Forum

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Hello, Chromies!

Our new Chromebook Central Google Product Forum is officially live and awaiting your posts! You can access the new forum here (https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/chromebook-central).

To get started, why don’t you stop by this thread and discuss your favorite extensions, apps, and plugins with other Chromies.

Please note that Chromecast has moved to its own forum. You can access the new Chromecast forum here (https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/chromecast).

We will now be archiving the posts on this community forum, meaning you will still be able to search and read the archived posts, though this former site will no longer feature active posts (learn more about the reasons behind our move here.) Be sure to share the new forums with your fellow Chromies!

Thanks to all of you for the contributions you’ve made to the Chromebook Central community. We’ll see you over in the new Chromebook Central and Chromecast forums!

– Andrea
Chromebook Central Community Manager

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Posted by reinkefj

CLOUD: Springpad is shutting down on June 25th

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Springpad, the awesome personal assistant for everything in your life, is sadly shutting down. However, you can import all your saved items into Pocket so you don’t lose them.

The fine folks have Pocket built this tool specifically for Springpad users, so it’s very easy: just head to Springpad’s export tool, export your data, and then import it into Pocket here. It’ll even preserve all your tags. Update: you can also import your Springpad items into Evernote using Springpad’s export tool as described here.

Springpad is shutting down on June 25th, so be sure to import your info before then! Hit the link to read more.

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Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Unintended consequences

Monday, June 2, 2014

I was in the Turnpike bar and I heard the owner describe why they did away with running a tab.

The smoking ban!

They’d have people run a tab and, then say they were going out for a smoke, never to come back.

An interesting application of the “Law of Unintended Consequences”

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Posted by reinkefj

GOVERNACIDE: County Galway mass grave

Sunday, June 1, 2014

http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/cahirodoherty/Mass-grave-of-up-to-800-dead-babies-exposed-in-County-Galway-.html

Mass grave of up to 800 dead babies exposed in County Galway
Cahir O’Doherty @irishcentral May 26,2014 04:22 AM

*** begin quote ***

Church officials have consistently denied that they ever received payments for these adoptions, insisting many of the papers and documents from that period were lost in a fire. 

Since there was simply no question of the birth mothers keeping their children – the shame was thought too ruinous – they lost all future claim to them. Their punishment was to work without wages for two or three years in atonement for their sins. In the homes they wore uniforms at all times, they had their names changed and they had their letters censored.

Critics contend that the ongoing reluctance of Irish religious orders to hand over their internal records or compensate past victims of mothers and babies homes, Magdalene laundries and reform schools, can be traced to their alarm over being compelled to offer mandatory payments or fear that further horrors could come to light. 

But calls for investigation of the various sites are growing. In the end, critics say, it should fall to the state itself to open the unmarked graves and count the dead. 

*** end quote ***

This is shocking.

It’s a Gooferment and Church failure.

At the very least, there deserves to be a thorough investigation and inquest.

Argh!

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Posted by reinkefj

IDEA: Cemetery mapping drone

Saturday, May 31, 2014

I’m not a big fan of cemeteries. 

In the last year, I have been to two.

Both times, fining a specific grave was hard and frustrating.

Even the “find a grave” website will only tell you that a grave exists, not exactly where it is.

If I was younger, then I’d develop a drone that would survey a grave year and establish a directory of locations.

Sounds like a fascinating use of technology to solve a problem. 

Now I am sure that most people visiting a cemetery know where they are going.

BUT, not everyone. 

In my last visit, I went at the behest of a far away son who wanted a flag on his Dad’s grave. But he could only describe the location as “the back left corner on the right side of the road”. I looked but couldn’t find it.

So I placed it on a Private’s grave who didn’t have a flag.

Hope that was “good enough”.

I’ll go back when the office is open and get the location. 

Argh!

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INSPIRATIONAL: Hippo poo?

Friday, May 30, 2014

http://www.popsci.com/article/science/robo-boats-disguised-crocodiles-sneakily-study-hippo-poo

Robo-Boats Disguised As Crocodiles Sneakily Study Hippo Poo
Nothing to see here, hippo…
By Douglas Main Posted 05.22.2014 at 4:46 pm

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Pretty interesting video.

Note the “scientists” have to get advice from a local guide.

And, who can say with a straight face: “I studied hippo poo last season.”

Also, who pays them?

Neat use of technology.

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INSPIRATIONAL: “health”, “health care”, “health care insurance”, or something else

Thursday, May 29, 2014

http://www.impactlab.net/2014/05/24/3-predictions-by-vinod-khosla-for-the-future-of-health/

May 24th, 2014 at 8:25 am
3 predictions by Vinod Khosla for the future of health

*** begin quote ***

According to a newly released report, he predicts:

1. 80 percent of what doctors do, diagnostics, will be replaced by machines

2. Medicine will become tailor-made for each patient

3. Consumer-driven tech will create better incentives to keep people healthy

*** end quote ***

Amazing predictions.

But the economic engineer will have to drastically change.

Will people be “smart” enough to manage their own health?

Not coming out of Gooferment Skrules!

They can’t balance a checkbook or other simple tasks.

But they are good test takers.

Argh!

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Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Gold, Iran, and the US defeat

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

http://dailyreckoning.com/how-gold-helped-iran-avoid-defeat-by-the-u-s/

How Gold Helped Iran Avoid Defeat by the U.S.
by Addison Wiggin.
Posted May 22, 2014. 

*** begin quote ***

By July 2013, the U.S. Treasury had figured that out… and so began stepping up enforcement of a ban on gold sales to Iran — “a tacit recognition by the United States that gold is money,” Rickards adds dryly.

*** and ***

By late last year, Iran and the United States agreed to resume negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. As part of that tentative agreement, President Obama removed the sanctions on gold purchases by Iran — one of the few ways he could ease Iranian sanctions without the say-so of Congress.

“For the time being,” Rickards concludes, “Iran had fought the United States to a standstill in its financial war, despite enormous disruption to the Iranian economy. The U.S.-Iranian financial war of 2012–13 illustrates how nations that could not stand up to the United States militarily could prove a tough match when the battlefield is financial or electronic.”

“Iran,” Rickards writes, “also demonstrated how financial warfare and cyberwarfare could be combined in a hybrid asymmetric attack.”

 *** and ***

Not so, says former Ambassador William Miller, who was stationed in Iran during the 1960s and is in contact with the current regime. “Sanctions only made them more defiant,” he tells the Los Angeles Times.

Want proof? Iran put the same offer on the table in 2003 — only to be spurned by the United States. Actually, it was a better offer from Washington’s perspective. Back then, Iran had only 164 nuclear centrifuges; by 2013, it had 19,000. That’s a heck of a lot more bargaining chips to hold once negotiations begin in earnest.

*** end quote ***

It’s well know that Sadam wanted to paid for “his” oil in gold just before the USA took over.

Now, Iran exposes that the dollar monopoly could be broken. 

I’m sure this lesson will not go unnoticed around the world.

And China is buying gold by the “dump truck”.

No secret — “stuff” is better than Washington’s paper IOUs.

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Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Good for NewEgg.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

http://blog.newegg.com/patent-trolls-learn-mess-newegg/

When Will Patent Trolls Learn Not to Mess with Newegg?
By Ivan B. on May 22, 2014 in Newegg News
Lee Cheng wins again.

*** begin quote ***
Lee Cheng wins again.

It’s no secret that Newegg is adamantly against patent trolls and everything they stand for. Not only are we not shy in proclaiming this to the world, we even sell t-shirts that show our disgust for these “companies” that think it’s OK to extort legitimate businesses. You would think that patent trolls would take the hint, yet there are still those that want to mess with Newegg.

*** and ***

“At Newegg, we’ve always believed paying off extortionists only encourages more extortion, and there had to be a negative consequence of suing Newegg without just cause. We insisted on seeking a return of our legal fees from Site Update Solutions.

*** and ***

We care too much about our loyal customers to subject them to paying these trolls.

Don’t settle.

*** end quote ***

Good for NewEgg.

Everyone should stop “settling”.

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VETERANS: Memorial Day sullied by the VA

Monday, May 26, 2014

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/05/waiting-to-die-on-governments-watch.html

FRIDAY, MAY 23, 2014
Waiting to Die on the Government’s WatchBy Ilana Mercer

*** begin quote ***

Why would a talented, dedicated cardiologist choose to be coffined in a medical gulag, weighed down by incompetents, his wages capped; his rewards incommensurate with his drive and dedication? He wouldn’t. Surprising as this seems to some, the best and brightest do not work for the state. Increasingly, government workers are carefully selected forthe color of their complexion, for their sex and sexual or political orientation, not for their competence. 

In a policy statement, the VA commissioner for Connecticut, a woman of course, crowed that applicants to her department are screened to ascertain “minimum qualifications.” “Maximum qualifications” are not required in this killer of a system. “Applicants who meet the essential level of preparation,” writes the woman, “are not excluded. The Human Resources Administrator must work to bring as many protected members into the system.” Her words. Once recruited, the needs of these precious, “protected-group members” are jealously guarded. 

If “diversity” trumps talent in government hiring; so too is job security a legislated article of faith. In order to set in motion a termination or two—pursuant to public outrage over the scandal in the Phoenix Veterans Affairs facility, where as many as 40 gravely ill veterans died while waiting to be treated—Congress has had to convene to pass “The VA Accountability Bill.” In the unlikely event of a layoff, seniority is given priority over the quality of the worker. A good healthcare provider will be terminated before a tenured provider.

*** end quote ***

Close the VA!

Send the patients to for-profit facilities.

Bring the girls and boys home.

And start to downsize the Gooferment!

Argh!

On Memorial Day, it’s a national disgrace.

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