Thursday, May 28, 2015

Hands on History at Dakota City



Dit da da dit -Morse
Doo bee doo bee Doo -Sinatra
I use one of theae
don't leave home without your Express papers

Friday, May 01, 2015

iTunes Radio

My little dog died yesterday.  I played my go to song for mourning : Patti Smith - Paths That Cross. I played it in the iTunes radio mode.  Apple followed it with Lucinda Williams - Are you all right?

Technology works and can comfort.
---
and so it goes
###

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Give 5

Well my spring 2015 volunteer work has been scheduled. In May I've agreed to help at Dakota City Heritage Village on 5 seperate days. One of which I'll be school master for the One Room School program. 2 of which, I'll be an apprentice blacksmith. Once a store keeper and the fifth to be determined as needed.

In 2014, other commitments interfered with my being able to participate much there. It is so rewarding.  Interested kids and adults learn by hands on history. One of my favorite things I do, is equate new fangled activities with a 1900 counterpart. Ordering Online is like the Wards Catalog shopping. Text messages are like telegrams.  Kids get a kick out of it.

Up in Aitkin, it even came up as fellow visitors to the Depot Museum were curious about artifacts, that were familiar to me from Dakota City. Also in Aitkin this year, my Log Cabin project is moving forward in a big way. The vintage logs from a depression era resort cabin have been delivered and stacked on my property in Glen. Reassembly will commence after site selection. I've offered to document the process for the historical socierty, as they have a book about Aitkin County resorts in process. This very afternoon, I discussed this with the director.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Three days with John Wick

What started as a laugh, snowballed into something nice. 

Day 1 Friday

A trailer for some action movie barely registers in my mind, as the bit culminated in "Now on . Blu-Ray (BD),  DVD and digital HD" (sound effect dun dun dun)

John Wick

Shortly after, my father's phone number was dialed and the above information was repeated to him.

He laughed out loud.  He immediately said he wanted to buy a copy and give it to his close friend JOHN WICK!

My sister received a copy of the title cad in an MMS text- "Ever heard of this movie?"

Her reply made me chuckle. "Sure, Denzel Washington plays a guy that lives in the woods and talks a lot :-) "

The name John Wick resonates in our family. Our father spends about 30 weeks a year, over the 12 mos of the year. It is extremely remote, being only a mile from Western Ontario. That mile, is a lake. Surrounded by the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The asphalt enclave known as the Gunflint Trail is treasured by anyone that had ever visited. Only in the late 20s, did white people start going there. Dad's cabin dates back to a lumberjack's log camp from the 30s.  It is right on the water. In the 50s, a more modern building was built a bit further back.

As mentioned, dad is up there sometimes 3 weeks a month. His main source of company is his trusty dog Gunner and a year round neighbor, the 80 something John Wick.

This John Wick is long winded. He's a very nice man.

Having researched the movie I had just learned about, it was found to have great buzz. Rotten Tomatoes certified it as "Fresh" that's better than two thumbs up from Ebert and Siskel, because RT aggregates many many reviews.

I decide to rent it. I spring for the extra $1 for the HD on Google Play. I settle down and watch it in the comfort of the man cave. Leather seats, surround sound and the 60" screen serve it up right. Popcorn could wait, it was like I was late, despite having complete control. The popcorn was never made. My eyes were glued to the screen the entire time.

Day 2

Digital rentals last 48 hours after first play. I could watch it again. Was it just a fluke? No, even on the smaller upstairs TV (36" ) it held up a second time just twelve hours from my first viewing.  It was Saturday, the day for shopping. I stocked up on beer and headed to Target. In the movie section John Wick was offered $20 for BD and $15 for DVD. At first glance, the DVD did not have bonus short films. I am a notorious spend thrift. But when I remembered the $5 target gift card in my wallet, I sprang for the higher priced option.

At check out, the clerk noticed the cardboard outer sleeve containing the plastic BD case had a crease. It had been noticed but didn't care. Then I gushed that I had never "rented a movie and bought the disk the very next day before. The clerk pulled it back, read the title and said dismissively that he'd never heard of it. I assured him I had not either until the night before. He double checked the title again to help form a memory.

On the way home, I considered swinging by my sister's place and lending them the disk. I was pretty certain they didn't have a Blu-Ray so I went home. Opening the package there were two disks. Thinking that was odd for a Blu-Ray, upon further inspection, the second disk was a DVD! So my $20 " splurge" which in turn was subsidized by a gift card had yielded me two copies at $10 each, not including the card balance. ($7.50 ea with).

After watching some of the "making of -" featurettes, I switched to YouTube.  There I started watching on line reviews of this movie. One stuck out. Chris Stuckman. His views very nearly matched mine. His 2013 top ten list was almost entirely in my Netflix, Hulu or Amazon watch lists. The ones I had seen, we were in complete agreement. I look forward to following this guy.

Bottom line. Watch John Wick. If you cringe at violence, don't. If you love dogs more than people, ignore that and watch it.

I say what I mean. 

K



--
Sent from Gmail Mobile via my Ip / KBF "Je suis Le Oignon"

Friday, February 13, 2015

Grade C

today I received news that an aspect of me is normal. Until that news. it had been concluded by me that I was sub standard. My vision has been deteriorating lately. I am 51 so that should not be surprising, and it wasn't.  A Complete physical was scheduled as well as a vision test. I lamented at my poor performance of reading line 7 n the chart. Recently My eyes have had to focus, almost like  camera to be able to see correctly. That concerned me as this was relatively new. 

Today I found my left eye is 20:20 and my right is 20:25 very close to normal, but but far better than what I was expecting. 

Perspective, as a young man and boy, my vision had always been better than 20:20. Even after screen time became a reality, professionals had been impressed with my vision. 

Please excuse the following as it will come off as arrogant. 

I was complaining about having Normal vision. The same thing was explained about my memory "Loss" I still have superior empty. It has just deteriorated over time. Because of the higher baseline, my complaint is related to falling from Superior to normal. 

But, I  am a slob and a bad house Keeper.


--
Sent from Gmail Mobile via my Ip / KBF "Je suis Le Oignon"

Saturday, February 07, 2015

John Wick

GOne of my father"s real life friends is named...

John Wick

With a major home video of the October 2014 film of the same name, I saw an ad. Immediately I called my dad. 

He laughed. But as I looked up info on the movie, it became one I wanted to watch. Soon after I had rented the HD stream from Google and watched it on a 60" HD screen. It may be the only reason such a huge TV was ever made.

Too bad missed it in Cinema

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Tech I love: Dynamo usb light

This handy device is great for those times power is out. 120 cranks in 2 minutes make 10 minutes of bright LED light. The usb A charge port works while cranking. So if your phone is dead, you can still make an emergency call. Well you do need your charger cord

Monday, January 26, 2015

Ice Driving

Screen print map of my Ice drive
Last weekend, I drove out on the ice, and took some videos.  One was a time lapse style, during which I also had get sat tracking.  When I got home, I wanted to find some version of What Power Art (aka Cold Song) and discovered a set of musicians called Paris'Click their video of the song blew me away, and I was instant distracted from my modest video project, I bought their EP, and put all their videos on a Playlist.

On Facebook and Twitter I announced it as genius.  Today, they tweeted about a new video and asked my opinion.  I could not believe how close a concept that video was to my humble time lapse.  140 characters meh! So here I blog.


My Humble iPhone time lapse driving on Ice.  It ends abruptly as I drive up the boat landing into the town of Excelsior.



This is the google map of the ice drive. or should be. this screen print does it better.  It was just over a mile, but I easily drove several miles earlier that day.  The video from the tweet



is above. It is wild and makes my Ice drive look Tame
---
and so it goes
###

Monday, January 19, 2015

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Photo Effects Creator Free - iPhone

This app for iPhone has some bugs, but there are some tricks I have figured out, that gets around them.  The comment section is filled with reviews of users that love the apps, but find they have to restart their iPhone if (1)a chosen photo fails, or (2) they want to make another one right away.

(1) choose high resolution photos, revert them to their original state if they have been edited in iPhone.  If by chance I want to keep the edited version, I will save it somewhere else, then reintroduce that saved photo as a "new" photo on my iphone, then revert the edited version.  Now the "new" is original too, but looks like the way you want.

(2) close the app between projects.  Not just going to home screen and clicking on the icon again. I am just a 9 day old user of my first iPhone, so if you know how to shut down apps, bear with me here.
     Quickly double press the home button. This calls up a carousel of apps in the order of last use.  This list is perpetual.  To "hard close" an app, long press and simultaneously swipe your finger up.  The app should disapear from the carousel, and next time you start it, it will be "fresh". If by chance the long press swipe causes the app to start, you did not press long enough before you swiped.

http://downloadapp.info/26Omegle-Free-588186833.html

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Fox Fx Fail

Is Fox Discriminating against its Dish Network viewers?  Magic 8-ball says "Signs Point To Yes"

Why has a conclusion been drawn on Fox discrimination against Dish customers?
There is simple tacit evidence. Today, I began the process of linking my Fox and FX Roku channels.  It is a process I was used to with HBOGO, History and others.  

The onscreen instructions were clear. First I went to the Fox activate web page, which in turn had me choose my "television provider" Dish. Dish in turn required me to log into my Dish account. Again, it was very routine.  The FXnow process was a near carbon copy of the Fox process right up until Dish was not an option for TV providers. I clicked not found and was unceremoniously informed that Dish subscribers are denied access to FXnow.

No explanation was given, but in an Engadget article cited in an adjacent blog post, the FX connection to the actual Fox News dispute was made.

So Fox is not blocking Dish customers from watching a channel they pay for, but the much touted app.End result for many is now some FX viewers can hate Fox News for reasons other than its programing. The censorship of unrelated content.

This blogger sees a TORRENT of viewer disapproval with FX networks.  I suspect iTunes and Google Play may get a windfall from viewers that miss the airings on FX. Will some angry users unfairly singled out due to greed, look to more creative interpretation of time shifting, to justify a no no under DMCA? Hard to tell.
Prohibition led to mom and pop buying booze from gangsters. Just saying #foxfail

Fox Bundle Strategy Fails Me

Dish Network's latest squabble turns off Fox News, Business channels
Disclosure: I hate the editorial policy of Fox News.  I love Fox TV and the FX networks. 
FXNow is not available to Dish Subscribers.  I did not understand, I have FX in my Dish line up, and am eagerly looking forward to Archer next week.

The dispute apparently is FX is not up for renewal but 21st Century Fox (parent) company is greedy and wants to renegotiate its rates.  Fox can't pull the FX off dish. So they cripple THEIR viewers ability to access the app if their viewers use Dish Network.

Is this as big of a deal as Rosa Parks being tired after work, apartheid or separate but equal?  Probably not so much.  But in my mind, I was always able to separate that Fox News and Fx were corporate siblings, because each filled a niche in the market, however mutually exclusive. 

Now, we are forced to associate Fox News with FXNow and the FX channels.  I will still watch Archer, but I will not watch it on FX, I will not see the ads from companies that sponsor the show on FX.  If need be, I will buy the season on DVD or digital.


Foxfail 

Saturday, December 06, 2014

New News is good news

For many years now I've been critical of local news and national news that seems to sensationalize trivial events. So I  stopped watching the news. To combat my cluelessness I started listening to radio news and radio podcasts and it's worked out pretty well I started doing it last summer while I was off grid camping. With the plethora of new shows from around the world on my satellite provider and being completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of news programs from around the world I've come up with a system of news rationing. What I do is search for news shows from different perspectives the BBC China today RussiaToday Aljazeera France and pull it there so many international news cast on a daily basis each day I set a DVR recording for one of the many just that day so Monday might be my Russia today headline news Tuesday might be my France 24 7 news etc have quite a variety coming up but I've never overwhelmed because I have the DVR set to save only one and record each show only once a week. I've been doing this for one week now and I'm quite happy with my overall knowledge of what's going on in the world if stories seem to filter from outlet outlet I can dream it somewhat important or least of interest but the sheer number of stories I never would have seen that are not started doing this is really opening my eyes literally. An example of stations that I watch are as follows: incidentally I have set up a group of recordings called News where these things go straight in there I can always just go to my DVR menu and click up my news folder here's an example I have BBC Newsnight taped from the PPS feed I have news update from China today I have gay USA from free speech TV have the Daily Show with Jon Stewart I have boom bust from Russia today and a few others I'm going to in real time here just page down a few I have Mario Lopez one on one from Nuvo biz China from CCTV espanol BBC Newsnight did I say that already euronews from hitn on the money from a local ABC affiliate American moments from news max no Steve Malzberg show also on Newsmax France 24 a.m. News Lakeland news which is a local public television news cast from the north central part of the state of Minnesota, America tonight on Al Jazeera America headline news from Russia today BBC World News from the local PBS affiliate OK!TV from real network on its on every day its celebrity gossip but I just tape it once per week Washington this week from c-span  Suzie Orman show on CNBC news from Al Jazeera America Israel now news Daystar Sports Center u from ESPNU Inside politics from CNN CNNI simulcast on CNN nothing but trailers from AXS I find when you watch movies you see previews I don't go to movies it's kind of a self denying prophecy and that's coming up my viewing habits for news.

This post was voice type using my cell phone if you read it when this message is extant I plan to come by to reformat this post for little more cohesion and viewing reading comfort.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Paper white not a paper weight

Yesterday at my long neglected campsite, a Kindle Paperwhite lay where it was left near three weeks ago.  During that time, it has rained and cooled many many days and nights.  Sitting on a stump, where it was last used,  it sat there in its folio case.
The screen was snow white. On it was a diagram of a usb power charger and perhaps an X.  It was damp, so it was dried.  The form fitting case was removed to find more moisture.
When it was brought back home and plugged in, the amber charging light did not come on.  Oh oh, was this now a hipster paperweight?
The screen changed from the diagram to something darker.  There was hope.  In an hour or so the amber charging indicator started to glow. Twelve hours later, that same inidcator was green,  indicating a full charge. 
Unplugged, wiped off, it synced up via whispersync and was just as good as when it was left behind.
This is one sturdy device.  It receives my whoie hearted endorsement as an out door technology tool, right up there with propane and propane accessories.  Or what not.
.. On the go, responding via
my Galaxy Tab3
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Friday, July 04, 2014

Branding

In the 1970s a corporate form called conglomerates was popular.  Beatrice, ITT were a few well known examples.  Today Berkshire Hathaway is a good example.  Today I realized Ke7in is all over the place, both in real life and on the web.  Today a new tag is being born. #k7nwj for a Ke7in Web Joint.  This is both a nod to Spike Lee's preferred directorial credit, and my "spin off" Twitter account.  KE7IN is my twitter and Facebook, with the shorter @K7n serving as an automatic repository for. Cross posting apps.  There are blogs on blogger, tumblr. Listology, twitter, status.net, friend feed, Google+, LinkedIn, Myspace, Facebook plus many of those sites have multiple iterations of my writings. 

Today a favicon was created based on the attached image.  This image is from a block print made in a high school art class, as an attempt to inspire a student to create one for himself.  This past year, I was a substitute paraprofessional.  An ill defined helper of students that need a bit more encouragement and support to navigation the school system. 

The design was created last summer while camping.  Trying to make something, easy to carve, runic script was chosen.  For that and of course my own Nordic roots. My Paternal Grandfather had a glyph/monogram and it always intrigued me.  His initials HAF lent themselves for alignment.  KBF has the curves of a B to contend with.  That is how the straight line based carving system of runes was decided upon.  As a similar KBF to HAF was formed, a similar art project was remembered.  That of mirroring our own name. Kevin when rotated and mirrored became a fierce tribal mask.  It was treasured by a five year old me.

As mentioned previously the favicon is based on the black and white image, which in turn is based on an actual block print of the design, on orange and green 

The favicon will be attached to my blog array. The image will become a user icon too.

TOM Peters had a program called Brand. You

--
Kevin
T&FB @Ke7in
Instagram Ke7in12
Google.com/+KevinFillips

This email was sent by my beloved Motorola Droid, using Lap dock Technology from the middle of a jungle gym

WiFi, LAN, DLNA, 4G, LTE, 3G,, DSL Broadband

The process of starting a new blog almost got all of me.  THIS post started out as a primer for a much larger post.  Soon realizing it had stand alone value, I was made public ally accessible in a drop box public directory.

WiFi, Broadband, MoDem, LAN, WAN, DLNA, 4G, LTE, 3G,, DSL

WiFi: Wireless Fidelity, a form of radio that broadcasts digital information from machine to a router to another machine or WAN. (a nod to earlier audio days with HiFi being the term for High Fidelity )

Broadband: a term for faster connection, today  generally used to describe High Speed Internet,  compared to dial up MoDem technology.

MoDem: Modulator Demodulator, which modulates what you type in, and demodulates what it receives.

LAN: Local area network (Work groups, office printer network, & etc.) compare to

WAN: Wide area network. This is the INTERNET

DLNA: Digital Living Network Alliance, a series of interoperable protocols so our various WiFi enabled devices can communicate in the home . compare to

UPnP: Universal Plug and Play, the term for devices that operate with DLNA Protocols (including Playstation, XBox, Wii, BD players [Blu-Ray Discs], iPads, Surface Pros and etc)

4G: Fourth generation (of phone carrier internet service) not to be confused with Apples iPhone 4S, which was the fourth gen iPhone, but still using 3G when other manufacturers were selling LTE devices.

LTE: Long Term Evolution (of phone carrier service) a name for a present form of 4G that was used for same before it was "officially " 4G now tacked on
but it is really Tomaaaaaaaaaaato Tomahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhto.

3G: Third generation (of phone carrier internet service)

DSL: Digital Subscriber Line, from your POTS, RBOC or land line carrier, it is distinguished from an analog subscriber line, by relegated voice to part of the wire, and data to another part of the wire, using digital encoding. This allows your single land line to carry both voice calls and the WAN traffic you want from the wider internet.
||||| as long as I am here, most cable systems, have wired your neighborhoods into LANs.  were usually office networks which allowed file and printer sharing between computers dating back at least to Microsoft Windows 3.11 for Work Groups.  Apple's AppleTalk. Workgroup=LAN.  Broadband from cable is usually shared with your neighborhood, which has a single but possibly an array of "Pipes" to the WAN
||||[POTS: Plain Old Telephone Service, RBOC: Regional Bell Operating companies {the Baby Bells formerly 10 now 3]

Many of these terms are used interchangeably, correctly or incorrectly.  The distinction of which can be major.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fnq1q8o62jor5c5/internetacrynyms.txt
And of course Google+ see my signature file

--
Kevin
T&FB @Ke7in
Instagram Ke7in12
Google.com/+KevinFillips

This email was sent by my beloved Motorola Droid, using Lap dock Technology from the top of a jungle gym tree house

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Chops

This photo has been altered to look real old.

Volunteering at a living history museum village as a school teacher, offers me incentive to get creative with my facial hair.

... On the go, responding via
my Galaxy Tab3

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