LarryAnderson.org

My iPhone gets it right

2011-10-06T16:00:00.001+01:00

RIP Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

2011-10-06T03:00:00.002+01:00

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” --Steve Jobs

May his memory be eternal...

World's oldest running car for sale

2011-09-26T03:16:00.000+01:00

The world's oldest running car is up for auction--an 1884 De Dion Bouton Et Trapardoux Dos-A-Dos Steam Runabout. This is a most fortuitous occurrence.

You see, about 35 years ago, I first ran across the following piece of doggerel in an article by the late, great Henry N. Manney III, and have been waiting ever since for an opportunity to use it. I now share it with you:

I ran into some trippers
In my swift DeDion Bouton.
Squashed them flat as kippers,
Left them aussi mort que mouton.
What a nuisance trippers are;
Now I must repaint the car.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled evening. :-)

More on Gingerbread and the Droid X

2011-06-29T15:05:00.001+01:00

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s rant, I found this article in my news feed this morning. Apparently, it’s not just me; Verizon and Motorola really did push out a defective OS update.

The question now is this: what will they do about it?

Posted via email from alt.larryanderson.org

The one thing that might drive me to the iPhone

2011-06-28T17:13:00.001+01:00

For the past several months, I’ve been a very happy Android user. My Droid X has been, for the most part, everything I could hope for in a phone, and is my constant digital companion. As a heavy user of Google services, it’s been about perfect for me, especially the Google Voice integration; now, I can hardly imagine using a phone that isn’t tightly tied in to GV. I’ve looked at iPhones since getting my Droid, and have been mostly unimpressed. If nothing else, the smaller screen is a disappointment. After using the huge touchscreen on the X, the iPhone looks, well, kind of dinky. I like the tough construction of the X, which makes a case basically unnecessary. I love the fact that I never, ever have to connect it to my computer for anything unless I want to. I love not needing iTunes. I really love the Swype keyboard. I could scarcely imagine a reason to switch to the iPhone.

Then I received an over-the-air upgrade to the latest Android version, 2.3 (Gingerbread).

Gingerbread has been a mixed bag. Some things work a little better; other things, not so much. I like the revamped color scheme, and Google Listen seems to work a bit more smoothly. But there have also been random reboots, loss of signal, and seemingly decreased battery life. And then there is The Problem.

From time to time, for no reason I can detect, the phone will now sometimes hang up immediately after I place a call. At first, I thought I was doing something wrong, but then I realized it was a software issue that requires a reboot to correct. After perusing a few Android board posts, it seems I’m not the only one with this problem. And a problem it is; I don’t want to find myself having to wait through a reboot to make a phone call in an emergency situation. Back in the days of AT&T exclusivity with the iPhone, I heard it jokingly said (referring to AT&T’s notorious network problems) that the inability to make and receive phone calls was actually a feature. As someone who would much rather text or email than make a phone call, I am not entirely unsympathetic to that point of view. But it does point out a problem in the world of Android that simply doesn’t exist in the world of iOS, and it also goes to the heart of why I purchased an Android phone on the Verizon network in the first place.

Taking the first point first, Google faces the same problem with their OS that Microsoft does: they don’t control the hardware on which that software is run. Consequently, there is always the possibility of unexpected glitches when an update is rolled out. Compounding the problem is that due to the open nature of Android, carriers are free to modify the OS as they see fit, which means that carriers become the ones responsible for rolling out OS updates. Additionally, the crapware that the carriers add to the OS can add its own problems, and who’s to say that something in Verizon’s build of Android 2.3 isn’t causing a conflict, and is therefore responsible for the hang-up problem? Contrast this to Apple’s world, where they control both hardware and software, and need only test against a limited number of hardware configurations. It makes it much simpler to push out an update, and to guarantee that it will Simply Work.

As for the second point, I bought a Verizon phone because I need my phone to be a phone. I need to be able to make phone calls. If this wasn’t the case, I would have settled for an AT&T iPhone a few years ago. But because AT&T’s network basically sucks in my area, I went with Verizon and chose an Android phone, having gotten tired of waiting for Apple to make a CDMA version of the iPhone that worked on Verizon’s network. I gladly overlooked the rough edges of Android—battery life, slight delays in touchscreen response, etc.—because of its manifold benefits.

Now that there’s a Verizon iPhone, the equation has changed somewhat. We’ll be buying my wife an iPhone soon, and I’ll be watching her experience very, very closely. I’m not saying that I’m going to ditch the Droid for an iPhone just yet; I still generally like my phone very, very much. But I’m going to be keeping tabs on how often The Problem happens, and if it persists, I’ll be looking at the iPhone with new interest. In the end, a smartphone that balks at making calls is just a handheld computer with a crappy phone attached, and there’s no room in my life for that.

Posted via email from alt.larryanderson.org

Dear AT&T...

2011-03-15T04:07:00.000Z

I'm tired of seeing this at random intervals:

Switching over to my CR-48 and Verizon 3G for the evening. And I'm putting you on notice: you can be replaced.

My best,
Larry

A gift from Google

2011-03-10T00:14:00.001Z

Out of the blue, Google just sent me some bookmarks for my dead-tree books. I love this company...

Jumping off the train

2011-02-24T16:38:00.000Z

I was reading this morning about the upcoming revision to OS X (“Lion’), contemplating what the upgrade requirements might be, thinking about the fact that my iMac is still running Tiger, and that I never upgraded my MacBook Pro to Snow Leopard, and that my wife was about to get a new MacBook Pro or Air of her own, and I really should get everything up to date…and then it hit me.

Do I really need to do this?

Living with the CR-48 for the past few weeks has brought home to me exactly how much I live in the cloud. There are occasional moments when I wish for a more traditional OS, usually when I want to print something (Google, can we please have a cloud print solution that works with a Mac-based household?), but for the most part I’m happy with what Chrome OS gives me. This morning before work, I was about to download and install Yoru Fukurou (a Twitter client for OS X) when I realized I was on the CR-48 and not my Mac. Since I run Chrome as the default browser on my Mac, the experience is fairly identical, and I had completely forgotten I was on the CR-48. When you forget you’re not using a Mac, I think that’s significant.

So now I have a dilemma. I need to keep up with Mac stuff, since my wife is on the platform and will be for the foreseeable future. But I’m tired of being on the upgrade train, of spending $130 every year just to stay current (although it is true that I've neglected the last couple of upgrades). More than that, I’m not particularly fond of all the BS you have to go through when you do an upgrade, both the backing up (although I do have an ongoing automatic backup solution in place) and the actual upgrading, both of which are time-consuming and a bit of a pain. This is where Chrome OS has an advantage; if the Google team can succeed in their goal of pushing out upgrades automatically as needed, without user intervention needed, I think they’re onto something.

For now, I’m probably going to upgrade the iMac to Lion when it comes out, since my wife uses it and she should have parity between the machines she uses. But for me, and my personal machines, I think I’m done. It isn’t perfect, it needs some work, and it may not be for everyone, but the CR-48 really does work for me. The watershed moment has arrived: having moved most of my life to the cloud, I’m no longer chained to the relentless annual Apple upgrade schedule. It’s time to jump off the train.

The Orthodox view of salvation

2011-02-20T22:29:00.000Z

From the estimable Steve Robinson, an attempt to illustrate the difference between a Protestant view of salvation and the Orthodox view of salvation. For anyone who's wondered why I chose to become Orthodox, this is a big part of it.

Note: This is not to be construed as an attack on Protestants, nor as a completely accurate representation of the Protestant view of salvation (since there is no single Protestant view of salvation). But it does illustrate what is often called the doctrine of substitionary atonement, and with 30,000 Protestant denominations and sects, you have to start somewhere. Apologies to any who are offended.

Twitter takes its ball and goes home

2011-02-20T04:40:00.000Z

For the 0.003% of the Earth's population that uses Twitter, the past couple of days have seen much posturing, hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth over the revocation by Twitter of API access by the UberMedia apps, of which UberTwitter and Twidroyd are two.

While I understand the frustration of suddenly realizing that the app on your phone is no longer keeping you au courant with your friends' tweets, I think there are a few things that need to be said:

It's only Twitter.
There are other clients out there that work just fine. I like Plume.
You knew when you signed up that Twitter was a walled garden, an entity unto itself. If not, you should have. For heaven's sake, I told you so.
If you're not happy, there are alternatives--Identi.ca, Friendfeed, Google Buzz, even Jaiku (yes, it still exists). Go build a community in one of them.
However, good luck with that, because what truly matters is where the people are, and for now where the people are is Twitter.

That is all. You may now return to your regularly scheduled kvetching. Thank you.

I'm back!

2011-02-20T01:05:00.000Z

Sometime last year, I decided to move my blogging to another URL. This was a mistake, and I'm now back here. I've imported those few posts that appeared on the other site, and am consolidating everything here.

Oh, and I do have a few things to say. Stay tuned...

Food elitism (or, McDonald's is not the enemy)

2010-11-13T04:34:00.000Z

On the heels of San Francisco's ban on Happy Meal toys comes word that the city of Los Angeles is considering new restrictions on fast-food restaurants in an area of South L.A. known to have high rates of obesity.

Oh, please.

Stuff like this drives me nuts. I'm sure it makes the well-off feel like They Are Doing Something, but what do they really think is going to happen? If they remove or restrict the McDonald's, Burger Kings, and Taco Bells, do they expect that healthy vegan restaurants serving salads of heirloom tomatoes and organic cucumber on a bed of locally-grown arugula are going to pop up? Do they think that people who would really like to have have a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, large fries and a chocolate shake are going to clamor for roasted vegetables on artisanal ciabatta?

Here's the thing: it's entirely possible to eat a reasonably healthy diet at a fast-food restaurant if you really want to. Most of them have salads, grilled chicken sandwiches, and diet sodas available (as a diabetic who was given an ultimatum to lose weight or else, I know this from first-hand experience). The problem is that by and large, people don't buy them. They'd rather have a bacon cheeseburger, and that shouldn't surprise anybody. Until and unless the doctor tells you you're going to lose a limb to diabetes, you're probably going to want the stuff that tastes good, and sugar, fat and smoked pork products taste really, really good. I saw it time and time again when I was a McDonald's manager--the public would say they want one thing, then order another. Eventually, the healthy stuff disappears, because the restaurant is a business (surprise, surprise) and it needs to, you know, make money. Preferably lots of it, because that's what stockholders like. (Full disclosure: I am a McDonald's stockholder.)

But, you say, there's an obesity problem! There is an incredibly high percentage of fast-food restaurants in South L.A.! We have to do something!

Um, no. No, we don't.

You see, everybody who walks through the door of a McDonald's and is over the age of 18 is an adult. They can vote, they can enlist in the armed forces, and they can bloody well order a McRib sandwich if they want to. Nobody's forcing them to do it, and nobody has any business telling them they can't. If someone tried to tell me where I could eat, or restrict the choices available to me, they'd have a hell of a fight on their hands. But then, I'm an educated white guy in his mid-40s with a graying beard. People don't tend to get all up in my face about stuff.

The people in the affected neighborhoods, on the other hand, are generally not educated white guys in their mid-40s, bearded or not. They're generally poorer, largely people of color, and mostly less educated. This does not make them any less citizens with the rights and privileges pertaining thereto, although there are those who seem to think that such is the case. Oddly, the ones who think that tend not to be rich white racist ultraconservative corporate bigots. They tend to be Volvo-driving latte-drinking yuppies with the best of intentions, those intentions being to protect the poor and downtrodden from the horrors of modern American corporate foodservice. The problem is that the poor and downtrodden don't necessarily want to be protected from that.

No, what the poor and the downtrodden want is jobs and economic opportunity, and banning an entire sector of American commerce is not likely to be helpful in this regard. Whatever you think of the fast-food business, it does bring jobs. Yes, they're minimum-wage jobs, and not likely to lead directly to anything more substantial. But it's a start. Remember, these are not areas that are chock-full of the educated. When you don't have a degree, or in many cases even a high-school diploma, you're not going to start at $50k a year with stock options and comprehensive health insurance. But you *can* get a job that will put food on your table and a roof over your head. Once people have that, their purchasing power allows other businesses to start and to flourish, and that's when economic recovery and job growth happens.

There's no denying we have an obesity problem in this country. But you can't legislate it away, and you can't force out businesses because you don't like what people are eating, or because you think you know what's good for them. Unless they're children, specifically your children, it's none of your damn business. If you really want to make a difference in the lives of people in South Los Angeles, do something about the drug trade. Do something about a culture that has normalized violence and romanticized gangs. Do something about single-parent households with absent fathers, if you can. But don't waste your time trying to regulate what other people put in their mouths. That's just being a busybody.

And that doesn't help anybody.

Posted via email from iLazarus Blog

Larry's ballot recommendations for November, 2010

2010-10-20T02:21:00.001+01:00

Here's how I voted on the California ballot propositions (I vote by mail), and my rationale for each:

Prop. 19 (Marijuana legalization)

I voted yes. I'm no fan of marijuana or the drug culture, but it's about time we admitted the war on drugs is an abject failure. Because we did not learn from our own history (i.e., Prohibition) we have repeated the mistakes of the past. As the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s allowed the Mafia to flourish, the prohibition of drugs has allowed the Mexican and Colombian drug cartels to flourish, as well as gangs like the Crips, Bloods, and others. As the Economist has pointed out, we have treated a public health problem as a criminal law problem, which has had the side effect of filling our prisons with drug offenders at a time when the state is in financial crisis.

It is true that it will not change federal law. Nevertheless, if the experience of medical marijuana is any indication, the federal government will eventually quietly acquiesce. There are also issues with the Tenth Amendment to be resolved. Oh, and did I mention the abject failure of the war on drugs? It's easier for kids to get pot, meth and LSD than it is for them to get beer. This is stupid.

Prohibition doesn't work, period. We should stop banging our heads against the wall. Vote yes.

Prop. 20 (Congressional redistricting)

I voted yes. This measure transfers authority for Congressional redistricting to the redistricting commission that we voted for in a recent election. It will help reduce gerrymandering and districts designed to ensure the re-election of incumbents. Vote yes.

Prop. 21 (Vehicle License Surcharge)

I voted no. This measure adds an additional $18/year to vehicle license fees in order to fund state parks. We all love state parks, but this is the wrong way to fund them. Vehicle license funds should be used for transportation projects and infrastructure. The right way to fund parks is through general taxation and appropriation of the requisite funds by the state legislature. I refuse to do their job for them, and neither should you. Vote no.

Prop. 22 (Prohibition on borrowing of funds by the state)

I voted no. This measure is an initiative constitutional amendment that prohibits the state from taking or borrowing local funds used for transportation, redevelopment, or local government projects and services even during times of severe financial hardship. I have two problems with this measure: 1) It seems shortsighted to tie the hands of the state in times of crisis, tying the hands of the legislature, and 2) it is a constitutional amendment, of which we already have far too many in California. We need to stop micromanaging the legislature. Stuff like this is what has gotten us into the mess we are in today. Vote no.

Prop. 23 (Suspends implementation of air pollution control law)

I voted no. This measure would suspend the implementation of AB 32 until such time as the state's unemployment level drops to 5.5% or less for one full year.

If you're wondering what the hell unemployment has to do with air pollution control, you're not alone. This measure was funded by the companies who would be affected (no surprise there), using the scare tactics of OH MY GOD WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO CUT THOUSANDS OF JOBS AND LEAVE CALIFORNIA AND SEND THE STATE INTO A TAILSPIN JUST BEFORE WE CRASH AND BURN OH MY GOD THE HUMANITY. Oh, please.

Also, just as an aside, given our current circumstances it's likely to be a hell of a long time before our unemployment level drops to that level for a sustained period, and in fact historically it has only been that low in California for brief times on a few occasions.

Like smog? Vote yes. Otherwise, just vote no.

Prop. 24 (Repeals legislation allowing businesses to lower their tax liability)

I voted yes. This measure, which in a perfect world would be called the Corporate Welfare Act of 2010, would repeal recently passed legislation that was part of a budget compromise, which allowed businesses to lower their taxes. I'd like to pass a law that lowers my taxes, too. People in hell want ice water. Sorry, but I'm not feeling it. Despite the all the fear, uncertainty and doubt they're sowing, all this does is restore business taxes to the levels they were previously. That's all. Vote yes.

Prop. 25 (Simple majority to pass a budget)

I voted yes. This should have been done a long, long time ago. If this was already law, we would have had a state budget months ago. California is one of the few states that requires a supermajority to pass a budget, and it's one of the reasons for the annual budget circus of IOUs and so on. This measure fixes the problem and brings us into line with other states that only require a simple majority (50% +1) to pass a budget. I can see no logical reason to oppose this. Vote yes.

Prop. 26 (2/3 vote to approve certain fees)

I voted no. Go back and read what I wrote about Prop. 25.

OK, got that? Apparently, since the state budgeting process has been so successful over the years (ha!) someone got the brilliant idea to require a two-thirds vote to approve certain fees. No, no, no. Bad idea.

Also, this is a constitutional amendment. Go back and read what I wrote about constitutional amendments in California in my remarks on Prop. 22. Do you have any idea how hard it is to overturn one of these after it's passed? Somebody should go find whoever dreamt this up and force them to spend the next five years listening to Gloria Allred recite the insurance code. Vote no.

Prop. 27 (Eliminates state redistricting commission)

I voted no. This one gets the 2010 Chutzpah Award. This measure would eliminate the nonpartisan state redistricting commission, and give the job of redistricting back to the Legislature, who have done such a sterling job with it in the past. Bloody hell. Just for good measure, this is also a constitutional amendment. Oy.

Look, if you're happy with gerrymandered districts, noncompetitive elections, and the general way things are going in California, then by all means vote yes. But if you're not happy with all of that--and nobody I know is--why would you give the current crop of Sacramento officials this kind of virtually non-repealable authority? This is a bald-faced attempt at subverting the previously expressed will of the people, and should be stomped on and left to die. Vote no.

* * *

Afterword on statewide offices

In the races for public office, you can make up your own mind, but as for me, for the first time in my adult life I find myself unable to vote for any Republican. I will simply not be associated with, or cast my vote for, any group, candidate or organization that has even the remotest link to, a partnership with, or which panders to the Tea Party phenomenon, with which I have major and fundamental disagreements on the most basic level. Therefore, I voted a straight Democratic ticket for the first time ever.

And that's my take on the election. Happy voting...

Posted via email from alt.larryanderson.org

Rant: Verizon and Android and me

2010-09-28T05:22:00.000+01:00

Note: When I started this blog, my intent was to use it to separate out more religiously-themed stuff from my other writing. So far, it hasn't really worked out that way, and it probably won't. It's just too much trouble to maintain separate blogs, microblogs, and so forth, and I do have other interests besides religion. Yes, I'm Orthodox; I'm also a hopeless geek. So it's back to a unified blog, for now. For better or for worse, you get all of me. (Lord, have mercy...)

I'd like to say a few words about Verizon Wireless and how they're handling their Android phones. Simply put, I'm frustrated.

Chalk me up as one of those people who was chomping at the bit for an iPhone, but unwilling to move to AT&T to get one. You see, I'm a former AT&T customer who paid their ransom (a.k.a. early termination fee) to get out of a contract after it became painfully obvious that AT&T's coverage in my area was, to put it mildly, execrable.

So when the iPhone came out, and was AT&T-only, I knew there was no way I would switch back, no matter how good the phone was, because above all I need my phone to be a phone, capable of making calls from such exotic locations as my office and my home. I'm so hard to please.

And then came Android. The G1 had issues, not the least of which was being saddled with the T-Mobile network, but at least it showed there was an serious alternative to the iPhone. It took a while, but when Verizon finally came around and introduced the original Droid, it seemed like a perfect match--America's best network and an app-based touch-interface smartphone with the power of Google. What could go wrong?

As it turned out, plenty could go wrong. I should have known it was too good to be true; Verizon has a long history of crippling phones and forcing their own substandard software onto them. When it was happening on the Razr and the enV, it was barely tolerable. On an Android phone, which like the iPhone is essentially a handheld computer, it's borderline evil. I'm looking for the "Google experience." I want Google search, Google docs, Google contacts, and especially Google Voice. I most emphatically don't want VZW Navigator instead of Google Maps. I don't want Bing instead of Google search. If I'm using Google Voice (and I certainly am), I have no need for Backup Assistant, because all my contacts are in my Google account. I don't want second-rate crapware forced on me that I can't remove. I won't put up with it on my laptop and desktop computers, and I'm not about to put up with it on my handheld computer. No how, no way. Yes, I can always root the phone, but why should that even be a necessity? And it's not like I'm eager to go down that road in the first place. To some degree, it sounds like it has the potential to be my Linux experience all over again, and I'm not eager to repeat that.

Furthermore, the whole thing just rubs me the wrong way. It's like buying a BMW, and then being told by the dealer that you can only get it with an aftermarket padded vinyl roof, white-sidewall tires and a cheap tacked-on Bluetooth module. It's the mark of a bully.

The problem is that I really need to be on the Verizon network. They're simply the best in my area, and it doesn't hurt that I get a 19% discount on my service and hardware through my company, especially since I'm paying for a four-line family account. The savings are considerable.

So here's my dilemma: my phone will be out of contract in a few months, and Verizon is extending me the opportunity to upgrade now. I've been sorely tempted by the Droid X and Droid Incredible, although I know that the tech world being what it is, there are better/faster/newer phones coming down the pipeline. Do I upgrade now, before Verizon manages to sabotage these phones (and hopefully get grandfathered in to their current unlimited data plan)? Or do I wait and take my chances?

Alternatively (and here's the twist), I can do nothing. I have a two-year-old LG Voyager, which is certainly no smartphone, but it handles voice calls. text messages and Twitter posts just fine. On my four-line account, only one will still be under contract next year. If I hang onto my old phone, I can avoid having to sign a new contract, and be in position to move elsewhere--Sprint, perhaps--if I feel another provider can meet my needs, something easy enough to test out with a cheap pay-as-you-go phone.

Finally, there's the fabled Verizon iPhone. With both Verizon and AT&T transitioning from their current 3G CDMA and GSM networks to 4G LTE in the next year or two, we may very well eventually see the iPhone come to Verizon. Now that Apple is permitting Google Voice apps to be sold in the App Store, my main reservation about the iPhone has been resolved, and if there is anything certain in life it's that Steve Jobs won't permit the iPhone to be hobbled with Verizon's bloatware.

So, in the end, even though I love the network coverage and I really want an Android phone, Verizon's idiotic hobbling of Android may drive me into either leaving their network entirely or getting an iPhone after all. How ironic is that?

Posted via email from alt.lazarus.me

Uh-oh, I'm being followed by God...

2010-09-23T03:31:00.000+01:00

Wow. Guess I better be on my best behavior...

Posted via email from alt.lazarus.me

My weekend according to Twitter

2010-09-08T06:50:00.000+01:00

The events of this past weekend, as recorded in Twitter posts...

and like any good story, this one has an epilogue:

Posted via email from alt.lazarus.me

A new post on my new blog

2010-09-07T08:41:00.001+01:00

I haven't intended to cross-post stuff between my two blogs, but if you're Orthodox you might want to take a peek at my new post over at I, Lazarus. It's called "The Conversion Problem Nobody Tells You About," and I guarantee it's something you're not expecting.

Check it out: http://www.lazarus.me/2010/09/conversion-problem-nobody-tells-you.html

Posted via email from alt.larryanderson.org

The conversion problem nobody tells you about

2010-09-07T08:33:00.000+01:00

When you become Orthodox, there are certain things that you are prepared for, and certain things you are not. Most of what happens is predictable. A lot of it has to do with fasting, some of it has to do with getting used to celebrating Easter on a different date than the rest of the country, and a few things are along the lines of explaining stuff to friends and family. Things like no, we're not Catholic (except in the small-c sense of the word), we don't worship Mary, we make the Sign of the Cross that way because we're supposed to, and, if you're lucky enough to get a friend or relative to a Divine Liturgy, that yes, there is a perfectly good reason why the priest is hidden behind a curtain and a door for part of the service. Occasionally, there's a need to explain about taking a new name at baptism. With any kind of luck, you're prepared for this kind of stuff in process of catechesis.

But nobody ever talked about bumper stickers.

Bumper stickers?

Yes, bumper stickers. The things you put on your car or truck in the heat of enthusiasm about something or other, and later have second thoughts about. Perot '92. Baby on Board. Visualize Whirled Peas. Pave the Whales. WWJD? You know, stuff like that.

Or, in my case, One Planet, One People...Please. The Baha'i Faith. Because, you see, I was a Baha'i for nine years before converting to Orthodoxy, and I stuck a Baha'i sticker on the back window of my truck shell in the first flush of enthusiasm after my "declaration" (as the Baha'is call conversion).

Which was fine, as long as I was a Baha'i, and after I left it, as long as my truck was stored in my mother-in-law's carport, only rarely seeing the road. But over this past weekend, my primary vehicle overheated and died on Interstate 5, and after having it trucked fifty miles back to Ventura, I was in need of my spare vehicle, which I will be driving everywhere for a while, including to church. My old faithful 207,000 mile 1995 Nissan pickup. The truck with the Baha'i sticker.

So this afternoon I went out with a can of lighter fluid and a flat-blade screwdriver. Let me tell you, those things are designed to last until the Second Coming, and possibly through the Battle of Armageddon. I've tried to get it off before, and failed. It had some kind of super-industrial adhesive on it, and after almost ten years had become virtually molecularly bonded with the window of the truck. But I was determined, and this time I slowly scraped it off. I've never had so much difficulty removing a sticker, but I got the sucker off, and there are now small bits of blue-and-white residue on the ground surrounding the back end of my truck. Sweet success!

Of course, there are still matching stickers on the back window of the cab. But they're hidden by the tinted windows of the shell, and they're hard to see. Maybe someday I'll cover them up with some nice three-bar St. Andrew's cross stickers.

Meanwhile, next time your parish has a catechumen, sneak a peek at their vehicle. If you see any bumper stickers relating to their former affiliation, suggest to them that they might want to lay in a supply of lighter fluid along with the gold cross and baptismal garment. It may not be a canonical requirement, but it's of great practical benefit.

And if they resist, I'm told mayonnaise works, too. A very creative way to use up a non-Lenten item, don't you think?

Posted via email from alt.lazarus.me

Flivvers!

2010-08-22T17:21:00.001+01:00

Saw a procession of Model T Fords on the way to church this morning. Apparently the Model T Club was out for a run...

Posted via email from alt.larryanderson.org

Resistance is futile: Rejoining Facebook

2010-08-20T06:16:00.001+01:00

Yes, it's true. After making a somewhat noisy exit from Facebook a while back, and having some uncomplimentary things to say about it, I've signed up again (sorry, S-P!).

Why? It's complicated, but paradoxically also simple. It's not that I've changed my mind about anything I've said or written--I still think Facebook is the AOL of the 21st century, I still think that Facebook the corporation is fairly untrustworthy, and I still think there are serious privacy concerns. I still think Facebook comes with an awful lot of baggage and cruft that I can live without.

That said, none of that matters. What matters is where the people are. The fact is that the world has increasingly adopted Facebook as a standard communication platform. There are people I want to hear from, photos I want to see, and things I want to share, and it is getting more difficult to do that without being a Facebook member, rather than easier. It's all well and good to say "I have a blog and a Flickr account and a Twitter feed, and people can follow me there," but the reality is that, people being people, they're not going to go to three different places when they can log into one and see everything there. It's not a question of laziness; it's a question of time management, of how much information individuals feel able to manage in the time that they have, and how they can simplify the process of information gathering. I have come around to the opinion that if you want to be a connected global citizen of the 21st century, you need to have a Facebook account, whether you like it or not, in much the same way that a mobile phone has become a necessity.

I tried to achieve the same thing with Google Buzz, but Google Buzz is a mess. It can't decide whether it wants to be Twitter, your blog, or your Facebook page, and in the end manages to do none of those things very well. Maybe Google will have better luck when it rolls out its rumored Google Me social network, whenever that may be, but in the meantime we have to deal with the world we have, not the one we wish we had.

And so, rather than be "that guy"--you know, the one who lives in the ramshackle house at the end of the block, insists that OS2/Warp is a superior operating system, refuses to carry a cell phone or get broadband, and drives a rusting Peugeot that sits in the weeds where the lawn used to be--I've chosen to acknowledge that the world won't mold itself to suit me. Except for me and a few other cranky geeks, nobody cares, so I'm back.

However, I'm approaching it a bit differently this time. I'm back with a new philosophy, which is as follows:

1. Privacy is dead. Rather than expect Facebook to protect my privacy, I'm opening everything up wide, and assuming that whatever I post will be public now and forever. That way, I have no worries the next time FB changes its privacy settings, terms of service, or defaults.

2. My friends are my friends, and I reserve the right to choose them. If we're close friends or family, if you're part of my church community, or if you're one of the few I've entrusted with my cell phone number, you're in like Flynn. If you're somebody who dated my brother twenty years ago, or sat three rows behind me in 8th grade social studies in 1979, it's not so automatic. I hope you have a wonderful life, and I'm sure you're a fine human being, but I'm really not here to reminisce about an awkward childhood. I'm here to keep in touch with people I know in real life, who I really care about, and I only have so many minutes in the day to do that.

That isn't meant to be harsh, just honest. I'm not trying to violate Wheaton's Law, I'm just trying to firewall my time and my personal life in a way that makes sense to me and doesn't create a huge timesuck. I once calculated that since entering elementary school in 1971, I've worked and studied with literally thousands of people--significantly more than a thousand in my restaurant career alone, and that's not counting customers. I have to draw the line somewhere, and I will. Please don't be offended by that.

3. No games, apps, or virtual gifts. No Farmville for me, thank you very much. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's not my thing.

4. I'm going to make a supreme effort not to get dragged into political stuff. If you think Obama is a Muslim, or Dick Cheney is the devil, or Sarah Palin is the savior (or destroyer) of American civilization, fine. But I'm not getting involved. From where I stand, the American political scene has gone mostly nuts, and I'm taking a step back from it. "Put not your trust in princes, in sons of men, in whom there is no salvation..."

Finally, a word about The Name. I'm participating in Facebook under my baptismal name (no, I'm not going to tell you what it is here, for various reasons, although if you know my Gmail address you know what it is). For some reason, Facebook won't let me add my birth name (Larry) to my profile, so all of you who know me as Larry will just have to get used to seeing the other name instead. Relax--I'm not insisting that anybody call me that, although I'll answer to both, and that's what my church community mostly knows me as. But I'm most emphatically not insisting that family and old friends do likewise--that would just sound weird to everybody.

Also, using my baptismal name has another advantage. In all candor, there are a few people I'm not terribly eager to be found by, and it will throw them off the scent somewhat. I've set up corresponding accounts on Twitter and the like under my Orthodox name as well, and over time I may very well transition over to them more and more--but that's a subject for another post.

So, to sum up, Facebookers, I'm back. See you there.

Posted via email from alt.larryanderson.org

Tony Villar and me

2010-08-10T21:33:00.001+01:00

You'd think the mayor of Los Angeles would have better things to do than follow me around--I mean, aren't there potholes or something he can take care of? And I wouldn't want his TV anchorwoman girlfriend to get jealous...

Still trying to decide whether I should block him or not... :-)

Posted via email from alt.larryanderson.org

God bless Pete Seeger

2010-08-10T04:33:00.001+01:00

His energy and optimism at age 91 is amazing. He's a national treasure and a living legend, and I couldn't not post this.

Thanks to @morningporch and @simsa0 for the link...

Posted via email from alt.larryanderson.org

An entertaining trifle

2010-08-06T22:02:00.001+01:00

While Posterous is occupied fighting off the latest DDoS attack, go take a look at my new Tumblr site, tumblelarry. It’s where I’ll post whatever I find around the web that I find interesting, funny, or worthwhile—just a variety of quotes, links, photos, and other things that I don’t want to clutter up my main blog with.

Have fun…

Posted via email from alt.larryanderson.org

Quick note on the Proposition 8 ruling

2010-08-04T22:30:00.000+01:00

Here's what I wrote on the subject some months ago, on my "About Me" page. I still stand by today what I wrote then:

Barring significant constitutional changes, I think legalization of gay marriage is likely inevitable. I opposed Proposition 8. I believe that we live in a secular republic whose laws will sometimes contradict religious teachings, and unless we want to live in a theocracy (I don't) we have to accept that.

My personal preference would be for the government to get out of the marriage business altogether, and let churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, etc. decide which marriages to sanction. Perhaps this will spur some kind of change along those lines. We shall see.

Of eggs and baskets

2010-08-02T16:20:00.001+01:00

This is true, and all too often forgotten. Back up your stuff, folks. Example: I'm posting this to Blogger via Posterous. If one goes down, the other will still be there. A link is getting autoposted to both Twitter and Status.net for the same reason.
Remember: If it's only in one place, it doesn't exist.
Source: http://twitter.com/paulrobertlloyd/status/20054411663#

Posted via email from alt.larryanderson.org