Openmoko bug: 666

The GSM modem in FIC's new phone the Neo 1973, will not accept the newest AT&T 3G SIM cards (the ones with the 3G fireballs on them). This is currently listed as bug 666 on Openmoko's bug list. According to the bug the fix requires a firmware update to the Calypso-based GSM modem by Texas Instruments.

We're aware of this issue, but since it will have to be resolved at Ti (the modem / firmware supplier), expect some serious delays...There really is nothing we can do rather than wait for Ti's response
...
TI had confirmed that their older version firmware can access the AT&T 3G fireball usim...so [we are] just waiting for TI [to] release a patch now.

Finally, after several months, the Neo 1973 team has finally received the firmware patch from TI which will fix the problem. It is my understanding that TI is notorious for leaving some of their smaller customers in the lurch, which is probably why this bug has lingered for so long unresolved.

Now the problem seems to be getting a license to release the firmware. I hope that TI completely resolves this problem soon, I'm looking forward to getting one of these phones.

(via MarteyDodoo)

Technorati Tags: Openmoko
Neo 1973
Texas Instruments

The Lottery Violates the Prime Directive

Well, since the Prime Directive isn’t real, it violates the spirit of the Prime Directive. The Prime Directive is the fictional mandate of every Starfleet officer in the Star Trek universe. One of the tenets of this rule is that advanced technology should not be given to cultures that are not ready to receive it. Even with the best intentions, advanced technology in the hands of a primitive society could spell disaster.

When I read that 1 in 3 Lottery winners go broke within 5 years, I realized that it was because we were not following the Prime Directive. These people are going broke because they were not ready for the responsibility of having all that money. These lottery winners did not earn the money; they did not get to wealth on their own. They got their money easily, without any effort, and without having to learn any lessons in the process of acquiring it. As a result, in less than 5 years a high percentage of these winners find their lives in shambles.

It also occurs to be that the lottery violates another prime directive, the Word of God.

• In all labor there is profit. (Proverbs 14:23)
• The sluggard does not plow after the autumn, So he begs during the harvest and has nothing. (Proverbs 20:4)
• Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
• Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
• No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. (Matthew 3:24)
• Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.(Proverbs 13:11)
• An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning will not be blessed in the end. (Prov. 20:21) via Tyson Wynn...see the comments...
  

Technorati Tags: lottery
Prime Directive

My Husband's Crap

I found another new Okie blog, this time it is a community blog dedicated to showcasing
the junk their husbands leave around the house called My Husband's Crap...it is pretty awesome.

A frustrated wife and mom decides to document her husband's crap. Photos document clutter and unfinished chores along with dates in an effort to prove that she is right and he is wrong.

Please do not assume to understand the relationships between the contributors and their spouses based on the content of this blog.

I'll have to remember to keep it clean, lest my wife decided to join in on the fun.

FeedBurner

I have just discovered and am a happy user of FeedBurner. FeedBurner customizes and organizes my RSS and Atom feeds. While customization and organization is nice, what makes me really happy are the traffic statistics which come with FeedBurner.

I've enjoyed traffic information on my blog via SiteMeter, however, untill now I really didn't have a good handle on how many people read my blog via the feed instead of actually visiting the site. FeedBurner gives me that insight; it lets me know how many people subscribe to the feed, and how it is used. If you have a site with an RSS/Atom feed, I recommend checking out FeedBurner, in addition to being really cool, it is also free.

I also recommend subscribing to my feed, that way you wont miss a single post.

Technorati Tags: FeedBurner

Mother of All Tax Hikes

Here is a frightening memo/press release from Congressman Jim McCrery from Louisiana, a ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee.

MEMO
RE: “Mother of All Tax Hikes” Bill
TO: Republican Members, Republican Staff
FROM: Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Jim McCrery

My Friends,

At a bipartisan Ways and Means caucus last night, Chairman Rangel outlined his long-awaited “Mother of All Tax Hikes” legislation. The basics of the package are simple: This is the largest individual income tax increase in history.

The bill will add a 4% surtax on Americans earning more than $150,000 a year ($200,000 for couples). That is on top of the scheduled expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. So, under Democrats’ plan, over the next few years, the individual income top tax rate in the United States will rise from 35% to 44%. By way of comparison, the other 29 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries – basically other developed nations - have an average top marginal tax rate of 35.7%. In fact, only five OECD countries would have higher top marginal tax rates in 2011 than the United States if the Democrats’ bill is enacted.

This crushingly high tax rate will affect approximately 10 million taxpayers directly - including those who report business income, like small business owners and farmers - but the damage will ripple throughout our economy. Because small businesses and family farms often pay their income taxes as individuals, this is a massive tax hike on the engine that drives job growth in this country.

In addition, the surtax is on adjusted gross income, not taxable income. This sounds like a technical issue, but it means that Rangel’s bill will erode the value of a series of tax deductions – including for mortgage interest, charitable giving, medical expenses, state and local taxes, and the standard deduction. And, because the surtax kicks in at $150,000 for individuals and $200,000 for couples, the bill creates a monster of a marriage penalty.

Chairman Rangel will claim that these tax increases go to provide tax cuts to 90 million Americans, but he is selling pure snake-oil. Many if not most of those taxpayers are getting a purely imaginary “tax cut.” Some of them are the roughly 20 million people that Republicans shielded with the Alternative Minimum Tax patch. Millions more are people who have benefited from the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, and only get “tax cuts” if you assume that the 10% bracket, marriage penalty, and $1,000 per child tax credit will expire. Others, like single people who will now be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, are getting a tax refund from the government even though they don’t actually pay income taxes.

It will take time to analyze this bill and sort through the data, but we know from the start that the 90 million figure is pure hokum. In fact, before you know it more taxpayers may wind up paying higher taxes – and fewer paying less - under Rangel’s plan than they did last year.

Which brings us to the larger fallacy of the Democrats’ “paygo” system. There is no need to “pay for” protecting taxpayers from a massive AMT tax hike. The government never meant for the AMT to affect middle-class Americans, and we have a responsibility to make sure it doesn’t. By arguing that preventing this tax increase requires us to raise taxes elsewhere, Democrats are trying to lock Congress into a system where we are guaranteed to raise taxes by $3.5 trillion over ten years.

That’s right. $3.5 trillion. The baseline that the Democrats are using for “paygo” includes revenue from an “un-patched” AMT and from the tax increases that occur when the 2001 and 2003 tax laws expire after 2010. Together they total $3.5 trillion over ten years. If we play by the Democrats “paygo” rules, that is the size of the tax increase we are imposing on the American people. That will hurt our nation’s competitiveness and cost us American jobs. The Rangel bill is the first step down a road none of us want to follow, and I urge you to oppose it strongly.

Technorati Tags: Charley Rangel
Jim McCrery
tax hike
taxes

City of Jenks Lawsuit Dismissed

On October 11, the City of Jenks filed a lawsuit against Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor and Tulsa Public Works Director Charles Hardt for their refusal to approve a permit allowing the City of Jenks and IVI to build the South Tulsa Bridge was dismissed today. The judge found that the act of signing the permit was a “discretionary” act and not a “ministerial” act.

Technorati Tags: Tulsa
Jenks
South Tulsa
Toll Bridge
Arkansas River
South Tulsa Citizens Coalition
Oklahoma Supreme Court
Infrastructure Ventures, Inc.

A Perfect Place to Start

A new Okie blog, The Happy Housewife, finds the "perfect" place to start her new adventure; amidst an illness that affected the entire family and left her house in disarray.

So, I sit here beginning a blog dedicated to domestic bliss, housekeeping harmony, organization and just an overall enjoyable quality of life, while my home and person are completely neglected. Ah, what a perfect place to start! I hope this blog will be a real discussion and reference for all of us trying to maintain a genuine "happy house" with all of its pitfalls and pleasures.

Technorati Tags: blogging
housewife

Out of Touch?

Mos Jef over at TDT is sending the call out for the formation of a Tulsa's first Hall & Oates cover band.



Here's hoping that he is successful.

Technorati Tags: TulsaTulsa
cover band
Hall & Oates

Free My Phone

I just read this great article by Walt Mossberg about how the mobile phone market should be as free as the PC market. After I read it I was compelled to cry "Freedom!"

Mossberg makes a really great analogy between your internet provider and your wireless provider. Does your internet provider care what kind of computer you own, what kind of software you run, or what kind of browser you use? Do you have to inform them when you make a hardware change or ask their permission to install software on your computer? Do software and hardware manufacturers have to check with the internet providers first before they try to innovate? The obvious answer is no, so why is it that way with the wireless providers? Why do they have a draconian stranglehold over the hardware and software that attaches to their network?

A shortsighted and often just plain stupid federal government has allowed itself to be bullied and fooled by a handful of big wireless phone operators for decades now. And the result has been a mobile phone system that is the direct opposite of the PC model. It severely limits consumer choice, stifles innovation, crushes entrepreneurship, and has made the U.S. the laughingstock of the mobile-technology world, just as the cellphone is morphing into a powerful hand-held computer.

Whether you are a consumer, a hardware maker, a software developer or a provider of cool new services, it’s hard to make a move in the American cellphone world without the permission of the companies that own the pipes. While power in other technology sectors flows to consumers and nimble entrepreneurs, in the cellphone arena it remains squarely in the hands of the giant carriers.

I'm tired of my wireless hardware/software being dictated to me. That is why I'm so excited about the Openmoko platform and the Neo 1973. I'm very interested to see the wireless providers react to this new direction. If it looks like they wont be able to stop it, then my new phone will probably be a Neo 1973, and will definitely be an Openmoko phone.

Technorati Tags: Walt Mossberg
wirless companies
Openmoko
Neo 1973

Ink by the barrel?

Recently I’ve been thinking about Mark Twain’s famous quote, “Never pick a fight with a man who buys his ink by the barrel.” I think I’d put it differently perhaps, “Never pick a fight with a man who has no need for ink,” or “Never pick a fight with a blogger, his ink is free.”

What do you think? Re-imagine this quote for the 21st century by commenting on this post.


Technorati Tags: blogging

PSO Rate Hike

Get out the warm socks and blankets kids. PSO is raising they're rates.

Technorati Tags: PSO
Oklahoma

Stick a Fork in Her

If you’re mad that Bells was kicked out of the Fair Grounds, blame Randi Miller.

If you’re mad about the IVI South Tulsa toll bridge, blame Randi Miller.

If you’re mad that Kathy Taylor is our Mayor instead of Medlock, blame Randi Miller.

If you’re mad that ORU is in the middle of a scandal, surrounding ORU’s involvement in a campaign, blame Randi Miller.

If you’re mad that we had to waste all this time and effort to fight the River Tax, blame Randi Miller.

If you’re mad that the River Tax didn’t pass despite a slick campaign and $1.5 million spent, blame Randi Miller.

Sick a fork in her…she’s done.

Commissioner Perry, Commissioner Smaligo, let Randi be a lesson to you…this is how not to act.

Technorati Tags: Randi Miller
political suicide

Victory

Tonight, the grass-roots No River Tax campaign with their $10,000 defeated the Our River Yes campaign which spent at least $1.5 million. I attended the watch party at Sadie's Coffee Shop in North Tulsa, and it was great to see people from all over Tulsa County joined together in unity despite their obvious differences. Tonight we celebrated a hard fought victory against a propaganda machine that seemed, at times, overwhelming. We celebrated not as Blacks or Whites, Liberals or Conservatives, Republicans or Democrats, or as Tulsans or Suburbanites, but as concerned citizens of Tulsa County united with a single purpose. I’m glad I got a chance to be a small part of the campaign, and especially to revel in the victory in North Tulsa. I’ll leave the more detailed post-election analysis to Michael Bates, but until then, please enjoy my pictures from the watch party.

State Senator Randy Brogdon, Michael Bates, Dan Hicks, and Ken Yazel look over preliminary poll results.

Ladies of Tulsa County unite in a victory dance.

Tulsa City Councilor Jack Henderson, Councilor Roscoe Turner, State Senator Randy Brogdon, and Broken Arrow Mayor Wade McCaleb give their speeches to a joyous crowd.

Former City Councilor, now KFAQ morning host Chris Medlock says a few words.


I took a few other pictures you can see them all by clicking here.

Technorati Tags: Tulsa County
River Tax

I’m Voting No Tomorrow

Tomorrow we go to the polls to vote for the Tulsa County River tax proposal. A lot has already been written on this subject, but I thought I’d cap off my coverage on the top 5 reasons I’m voting no.

1. Roads, Roads, Roads. Tulsa’s roads are atrocious. This city of Tulsa needs that tax money to fix this problem. Sales tax is the only real way they can fund road construction, and because our sales tax is reaching the upper limit of what our community can bear; raising this tax limits Tulsa's options. It is precisely this reason that I oppose all county sales tax increases.
2. I don’t trust our county leaders. After the shameful closing of Bells, the IVI toll bridge deal, and Vision 2025, I can’t see any reason to voluntarily hand this county a another penny of my money. (or in this case 4-tenths of a penny).
3. As I alluded to before, the sales tax in Tulsa is already too high. If this passes it will be higher than NYC and Chicago, both regarded has having very high sales tax.
4. We already voted for the dams in Vision 2025. They need to secure the federal matching funds needed to build these dams so that they can be built without a tax increase.
5. I’m not buying what the County is selling with regards to the proposed benefits of this plan. It is just a few dams and retail. I fail to see how this will drastically improve our economy and bring jobs. I think the economic impact of this plan is being drastically overstated.

Tomorrow, Tuesday Oct 9th, Join me in voting no on this River Tax. Polls are open from 7 am to 7 pm.

Technorati Tags: Tulsa County
River Tax

Sullivan on the River Tax: Free Speech?

This morning, I heard a caller on KFAQ complaining about people calling Congressman John Sullivan’s office to complain about his stance on the River Tax. “He is a citizen, just like the rest of us and he has the right to have an opinion just like the rest of us.”

WRONG. This is true only to an extent. Clearly he has the right as a concerned citizen come to his own conclusions, and to be vocal about those conclusions. However, he is our elected official to the U.S Congress; he serves at our pleasure. If he does something that makes us mad, he is going to hear about it. Getting dinged when you make a constituent upset is part-and-parcel with being a representative.

Also, let’s not forget that the Tulsa County River tax is after all, a Tulsa County issue. It is clearly not an issue that falls under the purview of his office. So when he holds a press conference, as a U.S. Congressman (a conservative republican Congressman no less), to support a county wide tax, you better believe he is going to catch some flack.

Finally, on several occasions, I have heard people try to draw Senator Inhofe into a discussion/debate over some issue that is purely of local concern. In those instances, I have routinely heard hem say, “Well, that is really a local issue, and you need to take that up with your local officials.” In this regard I think Sullivan needs to take a few cues from Inhofe.

So, I completely reject the notion that it is unfair for Sullivan’s constituents call him out over his stance on the River Tax. He is an elected official, just as we can and should praise him when he does a good job, when he makes moves like this we have every right to not only publicly criticize him, but to call his office and give him a piece of our mind.


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River Tax
Tulsa
Tulsa County