waffle - Community Services

The reason I don’t like social media is that it takes two things that are polar opposites and duct tapes them together. Your own utility – to save links, to write text, to move files or materials, to keep notes, to communicate with yourself in the future, to communicate with some other specific people – and the social media outlet’s desire to fulfil its own objectives first.

Everything I put on the social webs is duplicated here for the simple reason that I’m not going to loose my works if they go belly up. And there are many a good thing that don’t need to go “social” but in the same sentence, I still want / need to express them. Creationism is in my DNA.

It also probably goes without saying that I like to tinker with the code. :-D

#socialmedia

#photos #bikes

I’ll be responsible tomorrow.

#theshining

The Church of GTFO

I was raised as a fundamentalist Christian by my mother from a young age. As I grew up I became really involved in the Church. Eventually I became a youth leader, organising events for hundreds of young people, giving regular sermons from the platform, I became everything expected of a young man in that organisation. Then came the day they asked me to take on the role of ‘Area Leader’. That day made me stop, and examine everything I believed in. I know it sounds funny in hindsight, but I hadn’t ever taken the time to think it through before that. What I believed was true, because it was true. Everything I heard in the Church was true, because everyone else affirmed it to be true. Well it was, until I spent time critically examining everything I believed in. Like a house made of cards, it all collapsed, unceremoniously and silently to the floor. This, as far as I was concerned, left me with only one thing I could do. I explained to everyone that I no longer believed, and wished them well with their endeavours. Being a fundamentalist church 99% of them immediately stopped talking to me, but that is a story for another day.

Take time to stop and smell the roses and then pull ‘em if they’re stinky.

#religion

Web developer to show off life-size R2D2 at Science Center

Jason Cross’s hobby comes from a galaxy far, far away.

The 36-year-old Indianola resident spends his days as a web developer. But in whatever spare time he can find from his job, wife and two young children, Cross has been building a working, life-size model of R2D2, the ornery robot droid of the “Star Wars” science fiction movies.

Cross’s interest comes less from the movies — he considers himself a casual fan — and more from his background as a builder, primarily of websites.

“I have built things for virtually my entire adult life. I had not really built anything tangible. But it’s been interesting to have something tangible and learning how to do it,” said the Simpson College alum. “I really like the feeling of, ‘I did that.’ “

Cross will show off his R2D2 unit during the first-ever Mini Maker Faire in Des Moines at the Science Center of Iowa on Monday. The event will recognize a maker culture that has grown in popularity across the country. Most states have at least one city that hosts a maker fair every year.

I snapped the article photo above while reading the paper with my dad on Saturday.

If you’ve never been to a Maker Faire and are close to the Des Moines area, now would be your chance. We went to the 2011 show in Detroit and have nothing but good memories.

Please note: R2-D2 is spelled with a hyphen.

#starwars #makerfaire

Tacoma police using surveillance device to sweep up cellphone data

The Tacoma Police Department apparently has bought — and quietly used for six years — controversial surveillance equipment that can sweep up records of every cellphone call, text message and data transfer up to a half a mile away.

You don’t have to be a criminal to be caught in this law enforcement snare. You just have to be near one and use a cellphone.

Known as Stingray, the device — small enough to be carried in a car — tricks cellphones into thinking it’s a cell tower and draws in their information.

News that the city was using the surveillance equipment surprised City Council members, who approved an update for a device last year, and prosecutors, defense attorneys and even judges, who in court deal with evidence gathered using the surveillance equipment.

“If they use it wisely and within limits, that’s one thing,” said Ronald Culpepper, the presiding judge of Pierce County Superior Court, when informed of the device Tuesday. “I would certainly personally have some concerns about just sweeping up information from non-involved and innocent parties — and to do it with a whole neighborhood? That’s concerning.”

#thepolice always have the public’s best interest in mind.

I updated the Comments code to show the actual YouTube videos instead of just the link.

Crossing my fingers all goes according to plan. ;-)

In other news: Lemarchand’s box.

#tcr

On Maggie and I’s trip home from Iowa we were listening to StarTalk radio.

From the backset she says off-handedly, “Do you know what I love about Uranus? It moves like a Ferris wheel.”

#maggie #startalk

#photos #vacations

A bird on the wall … | Dadhacker

A spark of evil flared in my head. “You guys go on, I’m going in here.” I got a couple of strange looks, but nobody followed me in. I spent about a hundred dollars.