Something Apple Never Acknowledged as Broken, to Credit They Don't Want, is Fixed.

I recently had to send the following to Apple via their feedback* page:

I just got an APC Back-UPS ES 750G to use with my MacMini4,1. Store.apple.com recommends EXACTLY this product: http://store.apple.com/us/product/TY121LL/A?fnode=5a .

The UPS tab does come up under the System Preferences Energy Saver pane. But no settings on the pulldown once the "Shutdown Options" button is clicked are honored under OS X 10.10.1.  Others have experienced this problem, with no solution yet: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6734517 .

I've reset both the SMC and the PRAM. No luck. As it is, I have to use a Raspberry Pi with the more configurable (though less sexy) apcupsd, until Apple fixes this.

Or should I just switch to Linux altogether? http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2014/12/22/declining-apple-software-quality-imperils-future-growth-and-retention/

I've heard others have had to send similar.

Luckily, now the issue that I and untold dozens, at least, of Internet denizens were experiencing appears to have been fixed in OS X 10.10.2. I just tried it by telling the computer to shut down after a minute on battery power, and it worked exactly as it had under OS X 10.9.5. That is, as advertised and correctly. I haven't tried other shutdown settings, but a successful one at least bodes well after not working at all.

Of interesting note, however, is the fact that this fix is mentioned nowhere in Apple's OS X 10.10.2 release notes (on http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204210 under "About the update"). I guess they didn't want to acknowledge that one of their most relied-upon, deep-and-long-established-in-the-system data safety features had ever had a problem… even once fixed.

I wonder how this bears out for their security. That's all I'm going to say about that, because [redacted]. Kidding (kind of)!

* For those (Ha: I assume there are more than… well, zero, who may be reading this!) interested in where to go to give Apple feedback, try here: http://apple.com/feedback . You need to select which specific Apple hardware you're commenting on, whether or not the issue is either more general or software-specific.  I don't mean to say "Give 'em hell!" because all companies are staffed by people who are just that; people, like you. But if you have a problem or even kudos (in the body of your text; see #2 below) to pass along, they'll hear it. They won't respond directly, but they will hear it.

On the flip side of that however, I'm posting this here because:

1) I think more people should know about major feature changes in software by the world's most profitable company, good or bad.

2) There's not actually a place on their feedback form to tell them that your feedback is positive; they appear to assume the worst. So I give due credit here, whether they want it or not.

For the moment, I am nonetheless keeping things running on the Raspberry Pi. Oh, the power savings & self-teaching opportunities!

If you can read this, thank a teacher

It is sadly time for me to come down squarely on one particular side of a contentious issue in my community. I do this not only due to a direct connection some of you may know of, to the public school teaching community, but also because I believe as the type of person I am, that it is the only right thing to do.

Medford, Oregon public school teachers are currently on strike. Portland public school teachers have voted that if a contract agreement they can accept cannot be reached by Thursday February 20th, 2014 that they will then need to go on strike as well. This is an awful thing to have to do to their students, but given my perspective, I know firsthand that:

• It's worse for the teachers themselves.
• It's better in the long run for students, teachers and schools, than what the district is trying to impose.

So what is the Portland school district trying to impose? On the face of it, it sounds like they're offering some much-needed concessions in contract deliberations. They are offering to reduce class sizes by hiring more teachers, as well as a raise to all teachers over a 3 school-year period.

What the district is trying to keep from coming to the fore are the facts that:

• They have been out of compliance for the past three school years with federal regulations regarding the high number of students per teacher, so an offer to address that concern is what they are legally required to do. It is not a concession; it is a legal requirement.
• The raise they are offering does not keep pace with real historical rises in the cost of living, to say nothing of such rises in utilities, groceries etc. while the economy is projected to "bounce back."
• While they are currently, to use district terminology, "supposing" to keep their coverage of teacher benefits (health, etc.) at the same levels they have historically been, their most recent offer of November 2013 would gut their coverage of these benefits, completely erasing any raise (not just cost-of-living raises for other necessities) after the first school year it's imposed. They legally don't have to include the more lenient "supposition" in the contract they impose on teachers; they can go back to their most recent written offer when imposing the contract.
• While teachers may currently legally strike against such a contract being imposed, part of the district's most recent offer is language to remove teachers' ability ever to legally strike again once the contract is imposed.
• The district is suing the teachers' union for having voted to strike prior to imposition of the contract, even though the only legal requirement regarding strike that the teachers are beholden to, is to wait ten days from when they vote (which they sadly had to vote "yes" to on February 5th, lest the district push out imposition until the end of the school year, when the students go on summer vacation, and public interest in the matter would wane) before they begin their strike (which could have therefore been as early as February 18th, but in fact will start on February 20th, unless an agreement is reached).
• The contract currently under dispute has been under negotiation since April 2013. However, the contract for the previous two school years then expired in June 2013. Teachers have therefore been working without a contract from then to the present time. Such a contract, as in any working relationship, is meant to protect not only employers, but also workers and beneficiaries of the work (such as students and the community, in this instance). Without such a contract, those protections are not currently in place.
• The district is currently operating with a $19 million budget surplus, projected to go to $30 million in the next school year. Yet their school board voted (not unanimously) on January 27th to proceed with the next school year's budget leaving that surplus intact, thus not using it to address any of the monetary concerns of the teachers, mentioned above… or any other monetary concerns the district might consider, such as replacing leaking, asbestos-riddled rooves on their aging facilities, which teachers and students are subject to being under daily during the school year. Notably, the school board is not subject to such physical conditions for their work.
• The district is trying to reduce public awareness of these facts, by hiring a $15,000-per-month "labor consultant," rather than spending the money on the personnel and resources that are sorely needed in their schools, or indeed, on figuring out how to avoid a strike.
• In fact, the district is actively planning for teachers to strike, almost as if it conferred them some strategic advantage. They are publically recruiting scabs to cover the absence left by teachers during a possible strike, on such reputable websites as Craigslist. The following link is to the job announcement on the district's own website: http://www.pps.k12.or.us/departments/hr/9456.htm

It could indeed benefit the district's position for teachers to strike, at least within the public perception. After all, many parents are not looking forward to finding alternative care for their children for an uncertain amount of time. To those parents and others uninformed as to the full gravity of the situation, the teachers could well look like greedy, lazy complainers who deprive their students of needed services simply to get what they want.

But "want" would be a mischaracterization: teachers are dangerously close to being forced to strike because they need more resources per student in order to teach them professionally. Under the current lack of contract, teachers are already working under an imposed yet illegal even-odd daily schedule for class periods which reduces their preparatory time. ESL (or "English as a Second Language") teachers in particular have lost dedicated periods to support ESL students, as well as the aides they need to help them provide this support. Teachers providing for their families (to say nothing of providing school supplies to those students who's families can't afford them) will be able to provide less for them. This is particularly dire in families where the teacher is the primary breadwinner.

Every teacher wants their students to succeed, or else they wouldn't be in such an otherwise thankless job. Indeed, the vast majority of teachers are inextricably, indelibly honor-bound to do everything in their earthly power to help their students achieve success. However, the current district policy is setting them up only to fail. Teachers have therefore voted to proceed if they must, with using the only leverage they have to make the district use its ample resources to help those students. In these times when "the economy's on the rebound" only for those who already have, the "rainy day fund" that the district is sitting on is an invaluable resource. With regard to public school teachers, schools and students in Portland, Medford, Chicago, and many other districts throughout the country, it's pouring.

---

Update February 20, 2014:

I want to thank everyone who has shown support for Portland's public school teachers in the run up to a possible strike over the lack of a contract agreement. Luckily, there is now a tentative agreement, which teachers will see the contract language of, over the next week. Because of this, the strike has been suspended and teachers are still at work.

Pending the teacher's vote to approve the new contract once they see it, the strike may then be fully cancelled. We're not out of the woods yet, but let's all hope that the language of the tentative agreement is something all of our teachers can work with!

Thanks again, for all your support, and may the currently striking Medford teachers soon have some similar good news!

Fight the powers that be(an)!

Is this a blog entry by someone with too much time on their hands, whipped into a frenzy by the very caffeine they're concerned with the delivery of?  Am I being naive and for too long beholden to a faceless corporation, as almost everyone I can think of here in coffee mecca Portland will tell me I am?

Yes.  Well, except for the "too much time" thing.  Try being a stay-at-home parent.  It makes one rant like this during naptime about things other than toys, and babies, and doggies.  Indeed, another part of my frenzy is trying to rush this out before the kid wakes up.

So, a certain coffee empire ruled by a two-tailed mermaid is currently offering up a promotion we'll call "The Moon Shot."  Essentially, you make X number of qualifying purchases, and you get Y "shots" to get free merchandise out of them.

I like free stuff.  Who doesn't?

Being a large corporation, it's one of the ways they've kept me loyal, even though there are more coffee shops struggling in our coffee snob town than you can swing a grounds-filled filter holder at.

So I signed up.  Whee!  I'm on the gravy train to spend money on jitter-making gravy to… get more jitter-making gravy for free.  It's how they getcha, and I guess by contrast to drug dealers, subsequent hits are free?

Whatever, lots of coffee shops have loyalty punch cards.  I'm not calling anyone out.

Yet.

So the day after I sign up, my wife gets a similar email inviting her to join "The Moon Shot."  Only, the numbers are a bit different.  If she makes (get this) less than half of X worth of qualifying purchases, she still gets Y "shots."

It should be noted, that my wife doesn't make nearly the purchases I do, at this place.

So I try to sign up for hers.  No dice.  Their website excitedly tells me that I'm (still) signed up for mine.  Whatever.  I'm on the gravy train, why leap off it for the gravy rocket?

And this, also, is how they getcha.  You're getting something of promotional value out of having agreed to their terms and joined their little "Moon Shot."  So shut up and enjoy it.  Yet, why do others get more out of the same agreement?  Indeed, isn't a rocket to the moon more useful than a train?

OK, enough with developing new euphemisms.  I don't want to get into equating gravy with green cheese…

Anyway, so I think on it.  She finally convinces me to contact their customer service to ask them what gives.  Their response?  I heavily paraphrase (and shorten… who knew I could do such a thing?):

"Sorry for any confusion about our Moon Shot promotion.  We offered you your rate of reward, because you come in so often.  We offer faster rewards to the customer we see less often, to interest them in coming in.  Thanks for your interest in our products, and do not hesitate to get in contact with us, if you have any future questions."

Oh, I did have some questions.  I paraphrase (in part) below, this time simply to "protect the innocent."  At least, that's how the saying goes…

I […] believe [your company] has made a strategic mistake, by allowing customers who use their accounts less, to earn more in [Moon Shots] than loyal customers. I understand that you're a business, and you need to get people in the door to make money. I would urge those who make your promotional marketing decisions, not to make your loyal customers work at a promotional disadvantage as compared to those you're trying to woo with said promotions. I need to make more than twice as many qualifying purchases as my wife does, to earn the same promotional reward. I understand that's by design, but it doesn't make it right.

A [Moon Shot] promotion that equitably rewards customers across the board would be far more compelling towards keeping your loyal customers, who are the very foundation of your repeat business and your success over the years. 

As it is, I'll need to reconsider in light of this non-equitable treatment of customers by your [Moon Shot] promotions, exactly how loyal a […] customer I am [of your company]. If I get more out of your promotions if I make fewer qualifying purchases, by golly, maybe I should show up less often to make those purchases. Maybe instead, I should show more loyalty to my local, non-incorporated coffee shops who are struggling to stay in business next to such successful but unfair marketers. 

It seems I have a lot to consider, wouldn't you agree?

I'm not sure how (or whether) they'll respond.  I am after all, the crackpot they caffeinated, who in return is trying to teach their marketing team a few things by email and via their customer service lackey.

That said, I'm impressed that they got back to my original concern in less than a day, and on a weekend, no less.  And I should say, among large corporations, I generally like them pretty well: they treat their workers well (I hear, though not directly from the workers on the premises during work hours) with good benefits packages, and they at least try to promote that they're into fair trade practices with regard to how they get their sweet, sweet nectar/gravy/green cheese itself.  And besides that, I don't just want to be the squeaky wheel; I want their marketing team to seriously reconsider how they run their promotions.  Anything less wouldn't be very equitable of me.

But to so cavalierly be told, "Oh yeah: you pay the bills, so you're not eligible to be sweet-talked (as much) anymore.  We gotta get out there and make some new mon-ay!!!" feels a bit like being told to get back in the kitchen and make them one of their yummy artisanal (and yet always exactly the same) breakfast sandwiches, while they visit the cute new neighbor for some, uh, sugar.

Okay, you may now tell me that I should have been going to local coffee shops all along, and that I, single-handedly, am the reason that local coffee culture is failing. Go!

Local snapshots turned off after update to OS X 10.8.5?

Here's a weird one I haven't seen corroboration of, on any web searches.  Since (not necessarily because of) installing OS X 10.8.5 on my laptop, I have noticed that I don't seem to have any local backups, also called local snapshots, being made on my internal HD.  I went into Terminal and manually entered the "sudo tmutil enablelocal" command to (successfully) turn them back on again.  But, what gives?  Why would they be turned off, when they've historically been on and I definitely have not manually disabled them?

As above, it is again possible that these local snapshots haven't been happening for a while, and I simply hadn't noticed their absence up to now.  I've only noticed them specifically not happening since upgrading to 10.8.5.  Network backups to my Time Machine drive have continued just fine.  Has anyone else experienced the same issue?

As an aside, I also find it odd that within the CLI command "tmutil", there is not a specific verb argument to tell you whether local snapshots are currently enabled or disabled; you can simply enable or disable them without the chance to find out what the previous state was.  I'm not asking Apple to add a big, obvious local snapshot toggle switch to the Time Machine Preference pane GUI or anything.  I'm happy to use Terminal for something that shouldn't be set from (but, I should point out, also shouldn't be broken for exclusive users of) the GUI.

I just wanted to know what my previous local backup state nominally was, before forcing it to… err, "awaken" Schrödinger's cat, I guess, would be the most apt analogy here.

Backups on the go

As you know, I'm a tinkerer.  In fact, I'm working on something right now that may soon see the light of day in some form, to teach those of you interested in having a bit more online security while out and about, one good way to get it.

But that's not what this post is about.  Well, not exactly.  It's about using your mobile devices, and a type of security.  Specifically, your feeling secure that you have a backup of your data.  Sure, many of us do (and all of us should) let our computers do the automatic backups to an external or networked drive on the premises, that many of them (like the Mac, ever since OS X 10.5) offer to do.  But most of us figure one backup is enough.

But what if it's not?  What if something happens not only to your computer, but to the backup hard drive? Fires, floods, neighborhoods in Arkansas filled with oil from an interstate pipeline that it took the national news media a good day to report (see http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/31/us-exxon-pipeline-spill-idUSBRE92U00220130331)… lots of things can happen.  Sure, nobody wants to live in constant fear.  Our culture has been tilting way too far in that direction for a while, anyway.  But the unexpected can happen.

So how can you be prepared for the unexpected loss of your data?  Back it up online.  Or in the au currant parlance, "in the cloud".  There are several companies who offer this service: Mozy, Carbonite, CrashPlan, and to a more limited extent (ie. not even possibly the entire drive of a modern Mac, PC or Linux box… rather they let you pick and choose), Google Drive and Dropbox, to name a few.  I do not offer endorsements for commercial products*, but I can tell you what works for me, and why.

Most of these services have limits to how much data you can store with them, or where that data is on the computer.  Some require software packages, like Java, that you may not want to install on your computer due to security or performance concerns.  The one I went with, Backblaze, does not have those limits, and does not require any software except their client that installs itself in your System Preferences and on your menu bar.  Being a tinkerer, I've checked out how much of my computer's system resources the Backblaze software takes up, and it's generally below 10% of a single processor core's capacity in my dual-core machine, and I've never seen it get above 25%, even when it's working as hard as it can on a task.  Your mileage may vary.

One thing which would be nice (here's where the mobile thing comes in, for those who like to skim ahead) is once that data is backed up, being able to access and/or manage it from anywhere on your mobile device.  Sure, there are some kinds of your data you may already be able to access from your mobile device, even if it's not (or no longer) stored there: Apple's iTunes Match service handles music, their Photo Stream service handles photos, as a few examples.  If you want to go Google or Amazon, they have their services too.  But those individual services each back up just that one kind of data.

So how do you get to all of your personal data from your computer, on a mobile device?  Why, "there's an app for that!", of course!

And that's true for many of the above-mentioned online backup services.  Sadly, thus far, it hasn't been true for Backblaze.  This has been the one drawback of of my otherwise stellar experience with them.

But fear not!  They've had an iOS app in development for a while (see http://blog.backblaze.com/2013/01/30/backblaze-mobile-for-iphone/) that they're putting the finishing touches on an initial release for, I would imagine while waiting through the App Store approval process.  In fact, as someone who has shown interest in its development (the sign up link is somewhere in the text of the page I link to at the top of this paragraph), they've just emailed me an offer to be considered for selection to beta-test the app before its more general release.

Well, I've said I'm a tinkerer.  As you'll see from some of my previous posts -and from my upcoming one(s?) about mobile security and a good way to provide it-, that's a pretty accurate description.  I think I'd be a great beta tester!  If you think so too… well, you can't do anything about the possibility unless you're Backblaze.  But you can cheer me on, and you can also expect information on how, and how well, the final app works once it's out (Not the beta, of course.  I'm sure there are NDAs I'd have to sign)!

So if you like that, great!  If you're Backblaze, #BackblazeMobile !

___
* Until and unless it's my job to do so, and then I would do so in another forum.

I can feel myself slipping (and I like it?)

How do you know that being a stay-at-home parent is starting to make you lose sight of what's "normal" in adult discourse? Some might go traditional with the fact that you have entire one-sided conversations with them because they don't talk yet.

Pish tosh, I say. I was happy when Bluetooth headsets came out, so I wouldn't look quite so crazy walking down the street talking to myself.

No, the new bellwether seems to be whether you have those one-sided conversations to the tune of the Macarena. Extra points if, once the baby goes to sleep, you continue the conversation (to the same tune) with your dog. And even more points if the dog performs tricks on the chorus.

Down-the-grade, Darling, Down-the-grade…

By the way, it has concerned me that at least a couple of threads on discussions.apple.com have said that an iOS downgrade such as I described two blog posts ago is "not possible".  I feel that that's misinformation, and I don't know where it's coming from, but I don't like to end it on that note, simple to understand as it may be.  This is because, while "no" is a simple answer, it's not (always?) the correct answer to this question.  As my previous post states, I was able to downgrade.

You don't have to do anything illegal, or anything which will even void your warranty (because you're putting Apple-approved software on it).  That said, even though I will give you a basic overview of the steps you'd need to take, I will not tell you how to get any of the individual steps done beyond what's simple to jot down here.  Partially that's to avoid taking on your responsibility, partially that's because I don't want to keep writing forever.  If you don't know how to do get a step I describe done, the responsibility to find out how falls on you, to research it.  Search engines are your friend.

What you need:
I will say that you need to put some forethought into it.  Specifically, you need to have kept a backup of your iOS 5.1.1 install file.  It will be named something like "[model of your iOS device]_5.1.1_9B208_Restore.ipsw", and while 5.1.1 was the latest iOS you've used your computer to install, it will have been kept inside your "~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates" folder.  That's where it is on a Mac, I don't know where it is on a PC.

If you didn't already make a backup of this file before you upgraded to iOS 6, Apple told the computer to automatically delete it and replace it with the one for iOS 6.  I can't tell you where to find a replacement, sorry.

Also, be aware that anywhere inside ~/Library is not somewhere Apple wants you tinkering around in. That's why as of OS X 10.7 and later, they don't make it directly accessible.  Anything that goes on in there is really designed to be done by the OS and by the programs you run, not directly by you.  Changing things in there willy-nilly can make all kinds of things not work right.  You have been warned.

That said, backing up a file you're legally entitled to (by the fact that you own an iOS device that will run it) is fully within your rights, and copying it (as opposed to changing it in any way) shouldn't present any functionality problems.  So to get to the correct folder, just go to the "Go" menu in the Finder, select "Go to Folder," and type in the correct path to that folder.  As long as you typed it in correctly, a Finder window for that folder should open.  Again, I heartily recommend against deleting, moving, or changing any files in there.  Just copy what you need.

As above, if the computer has already replaced and deleted this file, then you've missed your chance.  There may be other ways out there to find one, but it's not one you're legally entitled to (you're legally entitled to your copy).  Maybe you can see if it's available via your Time Machine backup.  Beyond that, I can't help you.  Sorry.

Moving on, if you want your iOS device to look and work how it did before you ever upgraded to iOS 6 (with your sounds, wallpapers, apps, music and photos, etc. in the same places), then you will also need a backup of your own data on the phone, done as close as possible to just before you upgraded to iOS 6.  If you generally back up to the computer, you would have just hit the "Sync" button in the iTunes window.  If you generally back up to the iCloud, I still recommend before any major iOS device upgrade, to back up to your computer by option-clicking the iOS device's icon in the left column of iTunes' window, and selecting "Back Up" from the contextual menu that pops up.  This is because if you rely on Apple's iCloud backup of your iOS device alone, it will have changed things when you upgraded to iOS 6, and Apple hasn't set iCloud up to allow easy downgrades, because they want to keep the ball rolling forward.

If in doubt at all, back it up yourself.  And also realize that any content you've put on the iOS device or changed since upgrading to iOS 6 (particularly irreplaceable, personally-made things like videos you've shot) won't be in that most recent iOS 5.1.1 backup of your data (because you shot it after you upgraded to iOS 6).  So back such things up some other way (say, to iPhoto), before downgrading back to iOS 5.1.1.

What you do:
If you did happen to make a backup of your iOS 5.1.1 install file, then you can put your iOS device into DFU mode (if you don't know how, you can search for how to do it) and then restore the 5.1.1 install file onto the device.  The way to select the 5.1.1 install file as opposed to the 6.0 install file is to hold down the "Option" key as you press the "Restore" button in iTunes.  This will allow you to navigate to the 5.1.1 install file, wherever you've put it, and select that (as opposed to the most recent one in the folder discussed above, that Apple uses by default) as the source from which to restore.

Once this iOS 5.1.1 software is restored to your device, you're half done.  Then, you'll want to use the most recent backup of your data from before you upgraded (discussed above), to put back onto your iOS device.  Once that data is put back on, it should then be back to how it was before you upgraded to iOS 6.  Be aware, how long it will take is related directly to how much data you had on your iOS device: the more data, the longer.  Once that's done, you can then make your own decisions about what and how to put back content you added/changed under iOS 6.

Finally, one more point to be aware of: if iOS 6 upgraded the firmware on your device in some way that iOS 6 needed to work, but which iOS 5.1.1 is not compatible with and it can't be overwritten by the iOS 5.1.1 install file, then downgrading won't work.  I don't know which devices, and in fact whether any of them, this will happen to.  It didn't to mine: my downgrade just worked, and it put all of the versions of firmware that are available to view under in the Settings app under General>About back to what they had been before under iOS 5.1.1.

As far as I know if the firmware is changed by iOS 6 in a way that is not downgrade-able, then iTunes should just not allow you to perform the downgrade, and return your phone to working (such as it does) with iOS 6.  Keep in mind that I am not in any way affiliated with Apple, ie. not an Apple software engineer, so I don't know that for sure.  Your mileage may vary, and the fact that it worked on my iOS device doesn't mean it will work on yours.  You're responsible for your own decisions and actions.

So I've said my piece.  I don't think it should necessarily be simply and flatly said that "you can't" downgrade from iOS 6.0 to iOS 5.1.1.  Maybe you can't on some devices, in some configurations.  But I did, and I did so completely legally, without invalidating any of the services Apple provides through iOS 5.1.1, and without any highly technical or questionable shenanigans.  I just know how to do some things, and researched how to do the parts I didn't.  And I was open to trying it.  There may be iOS devices and situations for which the method I used won't work, and I can't help you with those.  But the Internet may be of help to you.

Good luck!

On the other hand…

This and other pages like it make me consider going back and essentially being a beta-tester for Apple (well, that's what it would be…) in my own town.  I wouldn't do it in a town I didn't already know pretty well, or where I wasn't pretty sure I could find an alternate method of figuring out where the heck I was or where the heck I was going.

This is the most comprehensive page on it I've found, but as I mention, there are other pages out there.  Another consideration is that there are other apps out there (Why, oh why, Apple, would you break out a perfectly good unified solution into the need to go and find others?) to fulfill the features that Apple has taken out of iOS 6 Maps (and even one they never put in, but should have).  A list of a couple I'll likely use with iOS 6 is below, but look at what's on the App Store, cuz you may find one that's better for you.

For public transit, Transit ~ Directions with Public Transportation. Note that this requires iOS 6, won't run on any previous version.  You may also want to investigate if there's an app that works better for you, in your particular town.

For bicycling routes (which even the iOS 5 version of the Maps app doesn't have, but Google's provided over the web for years), CycleMap.

For Google Street View, StreetViewerLite.  Note that at least on iOS 5.1.1, it seems to be slower than the Maps app at this feature, but at least it has this feature.

So I'm considering going back up to iOS 6 at some point soon, due to its features and security over iOS 5.1.1.  Haven't yet, but wish me luck!  And of course, as always, realize that your mileage may vary.

"We have to go back, Kate. We have to go back!!!"

After more than 24 hours of checking the final version of iOS 6.0 out, I was so frustrated with their implementation of Maps that I downgraded back to 5.1.1. Do Not Disturb was neat, alternate options to either refusing or picking up a phone call you're really not ready for were neat. And the overall interface polish was evolutionary, but neat. That said, I find it unlikely that I'll upgrade back up to 6.x.x until Apple (or TomTom, or whoever has to) does some serious work on making Maps usable, intuitive, accurate & inclusive of all the methods of transport it used to be, at least (and while we're at it, why not add in bicycles, with the obligatory stern warning & legal rejection of responsibility about people being idiots while staring at their phones while on them?).

Alas, not yet. The iOS 6.0 iteration of Maps was as if Apple had burned their bridges with Google & marooned themselves on an uncharted island.

Networking, the nose-to-the-keyboard way

Let it be known that I love the idea of open-source software.  The idea of a community of folks working to make something we can all use for not an exorbitant amount of money (often, no money at all, except that you pay for power and transmission of data) is wonderful.  But it's also true that there are situations that arise out of that, where you get what you pay for.

Linux is great.  Particularly Ubuntu is coming along to near Mac-like user wonderfulness, without having to maintain the fanatical control of only running it on their own hardware.  Like the Mac and all other Linux releases, it provides access "under the hood" with the use of the Terminal.

Now, I'm not a computer science major.  But I started using computers when my grandfather handed me a TRS-80 he couldn't figure out, and I've been using Apple IIs and Macs essentially since they came out, PCs at various workplaces, and Linux as a hobby machine on and off for years.  I don't know *NIX commands like the back of my hand, but using the Terminal doesn't make me nervous in the slightest, as long as I can then see the results on the Desktop.

Now, there are one or two networking projects I've been trying to find a way to get done around the house, which have proved cumbersome on the Mac, apparently because they're features that Apple has decided they'd like to remove from their reasonably-priced client OS software, instead referring folks who know enough to want them to their still reasonably-priced, but more expensive Server OS software.  These used to be things you could tinker around in the Terminal to do, but Apple sort of paved over that option as they built their pretty Lion high-rise.

So I looked for 3rd-party programs to get done what Apple used to be flexible enough to let us all do, as long as we were willing to roll up our sleeves in the Terminal.  And most of those programs lost their ability to do what they did, with the Lion upgrade, because they used the same *NIX commands Terminal would have used, just with a prettier interface.

Therefore, I decided to look into Linux as a slightly less restricted way to accomplish my aims.  I didn't want to dual-boot my Mac or replace its OS completely, and I didn't want to leave a virtual machine running all the time, either.  So I needed some real hardware to run it on.  The cheaper, the better.  Free would be key.

On Mother's Day, of all days (a fact my new-mother-of-a-wife doesn't particularly enjoy), I found a discarded laptop literally sitting on a bench with a note that said "Works.  Runs Win7.  Free." taped to it.  It was a Dell with acracked plastic casing, a dead slide-in optical drive, and USB 1.1.  So no booting from a CD or flash drive.  Luckily, Windows 7 was on it and it did boot, though it didn't run particularly fast.  But hey, it was a single-processor 2.2GHz Pentium IV from 2002.  It was great that it was still running at all.

Dude, you're getting a free, limping but alive Dell.

I used Ubuntu's "wubi" installer to get Linux on there, and went on my way.  Worked pretty well, if with a small 5GB HD image, and slower than I might have expected.  Where were the old interface controls to get rid of shadows and antialiasing and all that?  Oh well.  It worked.

So off I tinkered in Terminal.  But then it started having trouble connecting to WiFi.  After a while it worked, if I gave it both a wired connection first, and several failed attempts to connect to WiFi, before it would work.  Windows had no such difficulty connecting to WiFi.  Hmm.  Well, that's OK: it was destined to work as a server, so I'd probably leave it plugged in to Ethernet almost all of the time, anyway.

Once I got my server all set up, it was off to the races.  I also got clients connected up nicely.  But they could only connect to the server; the server refused to actually serve them any data.  Useless.  And worse, while people were griping all over the forums about exactly the same problem, there was no solution listed anywhere.

So I gave up (on that purpose: the laptop is still sitting in a cabinet, much to my wife's chagrin.  But she won't see it until the next time I say, "Huh I wonder if I could…") on Linux, and went back to the Mac.  In the intervening time, someone had put together an app to let Lion do what previous versions had all been able to do.  Yay!  Better not to be running a whole other computer to do it, anyway.

Then, from work one day, I decided to use a different (virtualized) installation of Ubuntu to network into the Mac server.  Wouldn't connect.  Other clients had had no problem connecting at all, and getting the data they needed.  But this Ubuntu client wouldn't do it for love and your lack of having to pay money.

Once again, the forums were full of people with exactly the same issue.  But no answers.  One person who had posted this issue had lamented the fact that he wasn't getting any answers by going back on every few days and posting in the same thread, "Bump," then "Bump," again a few days later, eventually getting silly with "Bumpity!" and who knows (not a direct quote, but in the general vein of his commentary, "Who do I have to bump around here to get some answers?!?".

Nothin'.  So I love exploring on the Linux side of things.  But high entry fee or not, the necessity of having a third party go in and restore services they used to offer or not, I have to stay on the Mac side of things for the moment.

And don't get me started on what the record companies are making Apple do with iTunes (and what Apple themselves is doing with iTunes, making it the catchall for their digital media… It might as well be labeled, "iTunes, kitchen sink edition!".

Whups, I said not to get me started!

Nom de nomnomnomnom…

Quite often when people see us walking down the street with our dog, they comment that it must be a bird dog.  The breed does happen to be a birding breed, but we're not hunters by far.  So I thought recently that maybe I should cryptically retort, once receiving that comment:

"Well, you are what you eat…"

And given what's in its dog food (namely, chicken), that's partially correct.  But then, it's also corn dog.

Hairy Houdini

So, the dog has now figured out the significance of keys.

A while ago, the dog figured out how to jab at the top latch of its crate, to flip it open.  Luckily, it didn't have the angle necessary from inside, to flip the bottom latch open.  But still, we'd come home to find the crate door weirdly askew, because the top latch would be hanging open, and the bottom latch would stay locked. Rather than allow the dog to bend its crate totally out of whack, necessitating the purchase of a new one, we decided to put a lock on the top latch.

And the dog watched, and waited.  Over the past few weeks, we've seen it sort of mouthing at the lock with its teeth.  Not biting down, but just sort of feeling around for where a pointy object (it was lightly trying its teeth) might slip in and somehow open it.  It has then invariably pulled back and gone into that cute "gears are turning inside my head" cocked head posture, as it figures things out for itself.

During all of this time, we've been putting the keys to the lock over on the windowsill (because we didn't want to be running around the house going, "Honey, where did you put the keys?  The dog needs to pee!", etc.*), on the other side of the crate.  Come home, grab the keys, unlock the crate, let the dog out.  Put the dog in, latch the gate, lock the latch, put the keys on the windowsill.  A behavioral pattern on our part, that could be followed, to be sure.  But by a dog?

Yes.  My wife came home today, to the keys lying on the bottom of the crate.  Don't worry, they were close enough to the side of the crate that she could reach in & fish them out, to unlock the crate and let the dog out successfully.  But this means two things, on the part of the dog:

One: The dog now recognizes not only that something needs to be put in the lock to open it, but now specifically what needs to be put in there.  Which I suppose is good, because my wife also presented the worry, "What if the dog had ingested the keys?!?".  Luckily, I find that unlikely, since it apparently recognizes their significance.

Two: The dog was able to jam some part of itself out from between the rather narrowly-spaced bars of the crate, to swipe the keys off the windowsill.  It didn't just frustratingly jab half a paw at them and get nowhere; it patiently, methodically angled its front leg (or whatever it was able to use) between the bars and held it there long enough, carefully enough, and exactly the right angle to brush the keys off the windowsill and plop them accurately into the crate.  Kind of like Angry Birds, for dogs.

Man, it's just a good thing the dog doesn't have opposable thumbs.  It's probably got a plan for that, too.

---

*And yes, before you get all up in arms, we do recognize that the worth of a silly crate is immeasurably low next to the personal worth of our dog.  And we do have wire cutters that will cut the crate open, if it ever comes to not being able to open it otherwise.  And while we're at it, no we don't love putting our dog in a crate, even though the dog has known from puppyhood that the crate is and always will be its own personal safe place (would you deprive a child of its room?).  There are unavoidable times that we can't be there, when the dog also can't go to doggy daycare or whatnot, because of its ongoing ear thing.  So we're doing what we can, we do love our dog, and we do give it as much exercise and interaction as a couple of people working outside the home, can.  So please keep the hate mail to yourself, and rather consider how you'd handle it.  If you would handle it by not having a dog, good for you. But your life is not ours.

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords!

Here, I link you to a story (click the link to see!) on one of my favorite tech news aggregation websites, slashdot.org.

Besides the rather disturbing ease with which this is done to the e-voting systems we all may someday have an opportunity to use (and thereby be disenfranchised from our vote), I suppose you could say there's a rather humorous angle to this story, as well.

Maybe Bender's campaign slogan should be "Elect my shiny metal a$$!".  Though that may be hard to compete with one from Skynet stating, "Ah'll be baahck… for your childrens' education!".

How Much is that House Elf in the Window?

So the dog has gotten (mostly) used to life in its cone.  Still, something about the way its ears hang limply in the thing, and/or the sadly solicitous look it gives me from time to time, remind me of:

Its newest nickname? "Dobby-Dawg".

I get the Message…

More techie stuff.  Hopefully I'll have more funny stuff to post sometime soon.  Who knows, maybe I'll even have funny techie stuff at some point.  Or maybe I just lost half my audience by saying so.  My recommendation is to stay tuned, but it's a big Internet, so you'll do what you want.

Anyway, I installed Apple's Messages beta for the Mac (Apple, I suppose, showing off one of the many features that will come in 10.8 "Mountain Lion" sometime late this summer.  Mostly, I did so out of curiosity, because hey, if there's a public release on a new feature, why not check it out?  It's designed to cover not only what iChat always has, but add in the iMessages service for use in communicating by short text message and/or chat, with iOS 5 (and up) devices.  Cool.

Still, I'm not much of a chat user at home.  At work it's near-constant, because that's one of the many ways our business gets done.  But at home, it's generally a phone call, a FaceTime session, an email, or one or two brief iMessages or texts.  With regard to those last two, it's usually not an extended back-and-forth unless both/all parties have time, when, if it's between home and somewhere else, you can't always expect.

Still, curiosity overrode that, and I happen not to be running 10.7 "Lion" at work for various reasons that aren't worth going into here.  So on my home Mac it was.

First, there was some difficulty choosing which AppleID to use.  For FaceTime via the computer in the past, I've used a different AppleID than the one I use on the iPhone for FaceTime and/or iMessages.  That's partially to keep it all straight for myself.  I have no doubt that Apple could figure out how to get communication to the device I'm closest to (perhaps several of them), but I like want to do it my way, for now.

I found there was no way to set up a second AppleID in Messages for the Mac, once the first one had been set up.  And that AppleID, once entered, couldn't be changed.  There was no problem adding or removing other chat services, but only one AppleID was ever able to be associated with it, so you'd better choose wisely from the start.  For those of us individuals or families who want or need to use multiple AppleIDs from one user account on the computer for any reason at all, that's pretty limiting right there.

So, feeling I was finished with my experiment, I was glad to see that Apple had thought to put in an "Uninstall Messages" link under the Application menu.  When I clicked on it, I was further happy to see that the next window said it would reinstall iChat.  So I followed the directions to allow it to do so (it was apparently re-downloaded, but not from any link I've been able to find anywhere on the web or the Mac App Store).

Unfortunately, the app it installed was non-functional (would not start), and had a generic icon.  To make matters worse, it wouldn't let me trash it & re-install from a previous copy I had had the foresight to zip, because the non-functional copy was "used by the system", and there was no way to authenticate around it.

So I decided it was lucky I had backed up to Time Machine just before install Messages for the Mac, because while it would take a while (and I could hopefully let it happen overnight), I could restore to my most full system recent backup & be on my way.

Well, an admittedly separate problem (and therefore not the Mountain Lion/Messages for the Mac development team's problem, necessarily… unless any of the code or people are related) came to be that my backup was somehow corrupted, such that once installed, the Mac would only boot to a spinner with a dark grey apple on a light grey screen.  Such corruption happens from time to time, and Lion had even warned me a few times (something 10.6 "Snow Leopard" never did) that it needed to scrap the old backup and start a new one to maintain integrity or whatever (not the dialog box's exact words, but the general gist).  Still, it hadn't said that in a while, at least since the 10.7.3 update (maybe something changed with that update to make backups more solid?).  In any event, I had been backing up as regularly as possible, all the while.

In the end, I found the solution to be the following (for me, in this particular case.  If presented with a similar situation, your mileage may vary & I can't comment on how to address it.):

I let it go ahead (after exploring several other options, again) with the Restore.  But then upon restart, the spinner on the grey screen still wouldn't advance to the desktop after a ridiculous amount of time that seemed to indicate it just wasn't going to get its caches in order to boot properly (again, I can't tell you when to do so, just that I have years of experience looking at various Macs and knowing after a certain while, "Well, that's just not going to boot.  Plan B, or C, or whatever we're onto now…").  So I powered down & booted back into Lion Recovery Mode to re-download & install Lion OVER the installation that had just been restored by the backup (but neither over, nor replacing, my personal data ALSO just restored from the backup).  In doing this (does it never end?!?) there was even an issue with my AppleID password, maybe because given many false starts, either Apple's servers or server personnel (or both) probably started wondering why I was downloading Lion to be installed multiple times in the same day.

Luckily, a new install of Lion on top of my old, restored personal data worked.  Oddly, it said iTunes 10.5.3 and Airport Utility 6.0 were available as new downloads once started up (which is weird, cuz they were both on there already).  And of course iPhoto had to re-sync with Photo Stream and my mailboxes had to (re-)update.  But all my content, other apps and previous settings and functionality were there.

iChat was among those.  Sitting there with its custom icon and working as it had, before the update to the Messages beta.  Given that I don't use chat on the Mac from home much, I think I'm just going to leave it sitting there until a full version of Messages for the Mac is installed by Mountain Lion.

Not that I eschew betas.  But this experience with something I didn't need, which was tough to set up, threw things out of their natural order, was impossible to remove correctly, and then which outside circumstances made it almost impossible to rectify, makes me not want to work any further with this software until I have to.

Also, I want to point out that it's not that I think Apple did a bad job with the intent of Messages for the Mac.  I look forward to how it and several other features turn out in the final version of Mountain Lion.  But for now, I'm going back to tinkering with things I have a reason to use, and which I know how to fix.  For example, when Spotlight finishes indexing my drive, I may decide that I want to just manually toss and restart that Time Machine backup…

Hmm.

---

Update (2/19/12): As soon as the machine attempted to back up to Time Machine, it told me that it needed to discard the only Time Machine backup and start it again.  Sure would have nice to have a previous heads-up of that, but at least my suspicions were corroborated.

---

Update 2 (3/5/12): Perhaps someone at Apple read my blog (or the same issue came up in Apple Support Communities, more likely…).  In any event, they seem to have addressed something which may be related to the Time Machine restore weirdness that I was experiencing:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1505

I have not downloaded or installed the update yet, so I can make no claim as to how or how well it works.  But at least it's there, and hopefully it works for folks, if you've run up against Time Machine restore issues under Lion.

Hopefully not a Mountain of Lion poop (to deal with)

I (temporarily?) return to my tech commentary roots on this blog, to observe that this is going to make next to no sense to the proverbial "Granny":

When OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" came out, it was easy to explain to any user what the system requirements were, for them to upgrade from previous versions (something any technology which SELLS software features wants them to do): 10.6 simply required an Intel processor and 1GB RAM.

Then 10.7 "Lion" muddied the waters a tad more, by requiring an Intel Core 2 Duo processor or higher, and 2GB RAM.  OK, still easy to say in a sentence, and as long as the listener is actually thinking about what they hear, there's a good chance they'll get it.

Now the notes on the Developer Release of 10.8 "Mountain Lion", the full version of which is due out some time late this summer, read like this: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/02/16/os-x-mountain-lion-drops-support-for-many-2006-2008-macs-with-integrated-graphics/

Did you get all that?  I'm not sure I did.  And it's changing.  Which is fair for a product not released yet.  In fact, I have to admit that as long as handled carefully, this shift in the way Apple handles the secrecy of their release schedule could be a good thing*.   I just hope this morass of legacy computers that will and won't be supported by 10.8 gets clearer, because I can tell you from personal experience that confusion is just about the most frustrating thing possible, for computer consumers.

Now, Apple could have been trying to "C" their "A" a bit in 10.7, by putting the name of the model (and time of year released) in the first screen of System Information† a lot easier to find than Model Identifier, which doesn't say anything, but a technician can identify, in the old System Profiler in 10.6§.

Somehow though, that seems like (to extend the metaphor) updating Granny's prescription on her glasses, when the real trouble is she's got cataracts.  Hopefully Apple finds a way to help her clear those up, before 10.8 gets released.  Apple tends to make products look amazing.  Let's make sure 10.8 can look amazing to Granny too, or at least that her upgrade path clears up.

–––

* Read more on this, at http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/02/16/mac_os_x_mountain_lion_release_signals_shift_in_secrecy_at_apple.html

† System Information is an app available when you select "About this Mac" under the Apple Menu, and then click on the "More Info" button in the new window that comes up.

§ The functionality of System Profiler is still available under 10.7, if under that second "About This Mac" window that came up in System Information, you click on the "System Report" button near the bottom of the window.

Well, the Elizabethans WERE a pushy bunch…

So, even all of the obvious drawbacks to having a "cone of shame", the dog has discovered one distinct advantage: It herds us by bonking into our legs if we're not moving fast enough for it.

You stopped in the kitchen to get a snack, on your way to let it out the back door?  Bonk! to the shin.

You're puttering around wondering what you forgot, before taking it out for a walk? Bonk! to the knee.

You're standing in front of the food bowl, without filling it? Bonk! to the back of the calf.

What have we done?!?  I'm not sure whether the dog will miss its new "limb" when it comes off, or just forgive us because the return of peripheral vision will be so wondrous.  Time will tell…

A book-eared hot dog

Well, the dog's ear thing hasn't cleared up.  In fact, it's gotten yucky enough that my experience telling people about it face-to-face compels me not to gross you out here.  If you have a penchant for veterinary disgust, look up Ear Margin Vasculitis.  Don't say you weren't warned.

In any event, we've been sent to a veterinary specialist (who knew there were such things?).  And I must say that their entire office were very competent, patient with our copious questions, and nice.  They even called the next day to follow up, and were very patient with everything that came up, yet again.  Still, due to the sticker shock of "My dog needs what?!?", I just can't shake this interchange from the episode "'Round Springfield" of The Simpsons, in which Marge and Homer are attending the opera.

Homer (wearing giant foam "We're #1!" finger): Man, these are some primo seats… I sure could use a hot dog right about now…

Marge: Homie, we're at the opera.  You can't get hot dogs here!


Hot Dog Vendor: HOT DOGS!  GETCHA HOT DOGS!!!


Homer: Woo hoo!


Marge: Do you just follow my husband around all the time?

Hot Dog Vendor: Lady, he's putting my kids through college!

Which is all kinds of fun currently, as we'll soon have our own little one whose options for college we'd like to keep open.  Who knew, I'd end up in life identifying with Homer Jay…

In any event, a friend's prediction in the comments of this site that the dog would need the Cone of Shame proved correct, and the dog has been surprisingly brave about it: At one point while feeding it dinner last night, it started making this constricted hacking noise, and I was afraid the thing was on too tight for the dog to swallow, so quickly took it off.

Don't do that.  Taking it off is ridiculously easy for those with opposable thumbs, in an emergency.  But when the emergency turns out to be the dog essentially saying, "Bleaugh, I don't like this pill you fed me…," rather than your worst fears, the cone is at least as ridiculously difficult to put back on (unless you happen to have a degree in topology).

Still, the dog didn't run away with its tail between its legs the way it does when we come at it with its fleece-lined raincoat before we take it for a walk (During winter, I often have to enlist my wife's help in the daily "chasing of the dog" ritual). In fact, throughout all of this new headgear configuration, the dog just stood there, seemingly happy (drugged up?) to have me fiddling with and cursing at the completely foreign lampshade thing mounted around its neck.

As it is now, we have a new alarm system with regard to where the dog is in the house.  Instead of having to listen for gnawing noises in the sudden silence after a regular play session with its bone, during which we fear it's moved on to the couch or our shoes or important documents or something, now we just listen for an arhythmic, plastic "bonk!" as it learns (badly) to navigate without any peripheral vision or the same depth perception (white ring around its field of view vs. nose) it once had.  I know: "The poor dog!"… Well, call me a meanie, but it's also really cute.  I'm not sure I'll think so when filling in long, curled impact grooves in our walls, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

In the meantime, "Bonk!… bonk!… bonk, bonk!… bonk!" and "Awwww…!!!" to one and all!

Well, I'm a classically trained… Wait, you want me to WHAT?!?

So, when my wife and I moved to our current city, it was early-to-mid-recession.  Therefore, in a rather creative attempt to find work, among all the other places I applied, I figured why not submit my info to a casting agency?  Until better work comes along (which it eventually did), why not hang out as an extra or something in one of the productions slowly raising our burg (or at least, the look of out burg) in the nation's film-and-TV-watching consciousness?

I never heard so much as a peep from the casting agency with which I signed up, until after I found other work.  Since then, I've received the occasional email from them, mostly for roles that seem just slightly off of the information I gave them (for an older guy with their own kids, when I have yet to have my first child; the wrong ethnicity; roles for someone with -I paraphrase here- "rugged, but not perfect good looks", and who wants to think of their look that scrupulously for something they're not going to do?).  Sometimes, the information has been just carelessly off: roles for moms or grandpas.

But sometimes, just sometimes, the role they sent me was so wildly off of anything not only that I could portray, but that anyone would expect to portray, that I had to hold onto the email.  The classic one was a role posted for "Little Person [which I am not] MALE", with the description of the role reading, in total: "MUST BE ABLE TO SWIM.".

My greatest concern is what on earth they were planning to do to whatever little people responded to the role posting.  Sure, maybe some fluffy piece on how we're all the same in the water.  But something in the all-caps tone of the description prompted me to worry that the role might be in some drunken college flick where they toss (forgive the term: I'm trying to illustrate the idiotic mindset) "midgets" in an alligator-infested moat in the background, to see if the average watcher of that kind of crap can tear his eyes away from the "Girls Gone WILD!" in the foreground of the frame.

Never did I find out what happened with that role.  And maybe, now that I'm publicly mentioning it, I won't hear about any other roles.  Or maybe they'll only send me the weird ones from now on.

In any event, it was the email I received today about a role that prompted me to write this blog entry: It was entitled simply "Overweight [again, which I am not] Man", but the description read, "Male, white, 40-50 years [also, which I am not].  Interesting face and features.  Will be naked and bouncing on a trampoline for the shoot.  Scars, tattoos, piercings okay."

I don't know whether to be deeply offended at the assumption that I am any of the things NOT listed in my description to them when I signed up; or deeply concerned for the poor, naked, obviously being-laughed-at-for-his-weight person who responds to this.

In any event, rest assured I will not be naked and bouncing on a trampoline any time soon.  Well, not at the same time, anyway.  Talk about rug burn…

For those of you who are just getting to know my writings over the Inter-Muh-Nets™ and don't know what I look like, you're welcome for the (partially) spared visual.  For those who do know what I look like, sorry, but I can't pay for your therapy to remove that image.  And for those who go searching for pictures online, prompted by anything in the last few paragraphs, I don't need your web traffic, sicko!

(Says the guy who brought it up…).

Wash your mouth out with SOPA

Just a thought: the two videos I linked in my January 17th post, as well as any reference to anything else of cultural relevance that I've made in this entire blog, could be grounds to shut it down without due process, if either of the SOPA or PIPA bills under consideration now in Congress pass.  One of my favorite references to this fact from today is this one*, which I could also be shut down for referencing, if these bills pass.  See where I'm going with this?

So while I'm clearly blathering on through many other sites' blackout today, that doesn't mean I'll always be able to (and more importantly, potentially, for you, that you'll always be able to) unless we raise our congresspeople's awareness of the big precipice they could be pulling us all over, if they don't think more closely about what they're doing.

* (some potentially inappropriate but not explicit cartoon representations, as well as a dirty word or two. tbyc™!)