Mysterious stuff? On Fringe? No way!

First things first

"The first thing I would do is say, 'Let's not call it a bailout. Let's call it a rescue," McCain told CNN. -- That's straight-talk, maverick-style!

McCain loves bailouts

"Senator John McCain is in favor of the bailout. He loves bailouts — he bailed out on me." -- David Letterman. Yep, still pissed.

House drops crappy bill

The House voted against a plan by President Bush to put hundreds of billions of dollars in the hands of his treasury secretary. It is impossible to gauge whether it was the wise decision, but given Bush's track record of being wrong on everything, I'd prefer we not take our chances on this bill.

Here I Am: Ledo Pizza Sterling

I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.036795,+-77.408016

McCain invents time travel

Winning a debate that hasn't happened yet is pretty impressive. Congrats. Or should I say "Mission Accomplished!"

Honey seals cat-inflicted wounds

Bailout looks even worse up close

Read through the transcript of Bush's address from last night to review the details. Some key points. 1. He expects us to make back all the tax dollars invested. Last I checked, an investment that breaks even sucks. Why not just stuff it under the mattress? 2. His stated goal is to maintain the ease with which we can borrow money. Isn't easy credit a core problem of this mess?

Smarter than you think

I went to bed last night with a piece of grit in my brain. This morning I awoke with a pearl. T-Mobile is receiving praise for doing the smart thing and dropping their 1GB limit on 3G. Actually, as I realized this morning, their only claim is that it's no longer in their policy statement, and they even left the door open to include it later. Basically they're being praised for being less transparent. Smart move? I'd call it masterful.

Biden fuels my hot streak

Sometimes I hate being right, like when I commented that Joe Biden has a poor grasp on when he should shut up. Well, he's reinforcing that with his comments on clean coal and an Obama attack ad. Good man, but damn, you got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em.

I'm on fire today!

I'll be spilling ink on this too, but in the meantime, let it be known that Pandora is now running banner ads on their iPhone app, in a manner much as I suggested they should. You're welcome.

I'm nailing the analyses

A few days ago, I commented on Lifehacker that the differences in hardware for Android, Google mobile OS, would be a deterrent for developers, and I cited Trism as an app that wouldn't work for all phones. Today, word is out that the developer of Trism is quitting his job to work full-time on Trism and doesn't want the hassles of porting it to Android. Surprising.

More on broken iPhone adapter

Tracked down the guy who posted that photo to his Twitter page. Seems to have been his only mention about it.

Photo of a broken iPhone power adapter

Since news of the iPhone power adapter recall broke, I've been wondering why I hadn't read anything about broken prongs before. I finally tracked down a photo... from four weeks ago. Four weeks and no one pursued this story? Is this the only one?

Must be mushroom season

Free iPhone 3G power adapter

Apple just issued a recall on their new iPhone 3G power adapters. They say to return the old one, but I say, free adapter. I use mine everyday, but always in an extension cord or car adapter, so even if mine broke, I could easily unplug it at the source and not get shocked. C'mon Apple, free adapter.

iPhone app: Under Pressure Football

Friend of the blog Michael Venini has published an iPhone game. Will investigate further when I get home, but I thought I'd ramble it first. Here's the link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=290528718

Palin's hacked email: irony or karma?

Poor Sarah Palin. She used Yahoo! rather than a gov't account to keep her email beyond Alaskan freedom of information laws. That in turn made her email more vulnerable to hackers who have now freed it to the Internet. Irony or karma? And now the Secret Service is trying to stuff that toothpaste back in the tube. Nice timing.

Note to self: beef up email password

Hackers broke into the Yahoo! email account Sarah Palin used for official government business. While I suspect her password was not nearly as strong as my more than 10-character, alphanumeric monster, I think I'll beef up my password nonetheless. Is 30 characters too long?

Others now thinking about sustainable sushi

More than two years into my 50-year fish boycott, others are starting to take notice of the seafood sustainability problem. Makes me hopeful I can end my boycott early.

NoVA GOP to hold ethnic unity rally

NoVA Republicans, including George Allen, will hold a "unity" rally on Saturday to build up support from ethnic minorities. I might have to attend, if only to show my support for racial unity, as demonstrated by my marriage to my white VA-born wife. Maybe they'll put us on stage and encourage everyone to follow our example... except maybe for the part about us voting for Obama.

Air Mouse for iPhone

I am so buying this when I get home...
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=289616509

Offshore drilling I can support

The House passed a measure that allows off-shore oil drilling. Way, way off-shore oil drilling. As in twice the distance Republicans wanted, where no one wants to drill. Or as Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) put it: "The drill-nothing Congress has brought a bill that says drill almost nothing." I personally favor no off-shore drilling, but almost none is good too, particularly when provisions for renewables (and against oil) are included.

John McCain: Miracle Worker

Today, one of McCain's top advisers help up a Blackberry and said, "You're looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create." It's not so much the contention that McCain helped create the Blackberry (whereas Al Gore did sponsor the legislation that lead to the Internet), but the implication that McCain can create "miracles" that has me going WTF? And since when is the Blackberry a "miracle"? By that logic, Steve Jobs is the second coming of Jesus.

Underscores in file names

I find it quite amusing how many people use underscores when naming files, which accomodates systems that break file names with spaces in them, but then stick a space before the version number, as in "DOT_RGB_FFF V2.tif". Pretty much defeats the purpose.

Width and pen defaults

Inking in the sideblog

Here I Am: Reston farmers market

I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.968290,+-77.340213

Still not commander-in-chief yet?

Remember when Obama said he'd target al-Qaeda in Pakistan with or without Pakistani approval? McCain called the idea "naive". Turns out, in July, President Bush secretly approved this type of action. Funny how that works out.

Here I Am: Reston Animal Hospital

I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.933006,+-77.368370

"Oh, it's you guys."

What a difference a few miles make

Stopped at Rite Aid on the way home. Getting full data here. Email, Internet, Pandora, all working even with only one bar in the store.

AT&T network down again?

Running into the same problem as last time: wifi works, wireless data does not. Earlier, I had some problems with Pandora kicking out too.

Dogs can't drive... or can they?

1 day sale on meat loaf? Kinda shady

That's one cheap tablet dock (not really)

That's one cheap iPhone dock

Network is back up

Yes, there is a data outage

I should always check the tech sites first. Turns out there is an AT&T data outage in the Northeast. I guess Reston is included.

Finally having a real iPhone connectivity problem

iPhone shows full bars in 3G and makes calls, but I'm not getting data. Works fine when I walk downstairs and connect to wifi, but nothing over 3G or EDGE. I suspect a network node is down, but there seems to be no way of knowing.

Sleeping Buddies 2

Mother Ship CE3K

Space Shuttle Enterprise

The Concorde

Enola Gay

SR-71 Blackbird

Here I Am: Udvar Hazy Air & Space Museum

I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.912051,+-77.443314

Homer hopes for freedom