Android Today: Text Later And Stupid Zombies 2

Two interesting apps for y’all today. The first is Text Later, which does exactly what the name implies.

I originally downloaded this a week ago when I wanted yo make sure a coworker was alerted to a condition that needed to be addressed first thing in the morning, 8am. Since I was scheduled at noon, I may or may not have been up. I also may have forgotten. So I set it up to send the day before.

It installed seamlessly, and sent out perfectly, with the texts showing in the standard text bin. I’m sure people can find many uses for delayed text messages. I set one up to text my Mom on her bday early am, that I would call her. Also for others.

Then we have Stupid Zombie 2, a fun little physics game where you kill zombies. Head and body splats. Shoot them with bullets, bombs, rockets, and other instruments destruction. Often using ricochets to do it, hence the physics part. Great themes, such as winter and the old west. I have it on my tablet, squires from Amazon store, but it is also on Google Play.

Both are free.

Read: Android Today: Text Later And Stupid Zombies 2 »

Grist: Christmas Ruined In 6-10 Years Cause Climate Change

Dooooooom!

Climate change will ruin Christmas by threatening Christmas trees

It will take six to 10 years, but Christmas is ruined — and not for the reasons Sarah Palin thinks. Climate change is continuing its rampage through everything you love by threatening Christmas trees. (Actually, maybe this will finally get the GOP on board with fixing climate change.)

This year was so bad for Christmas tree growers, what with heat waves and flash floods and whatnot, that a bunch of them have decided that they’re not going to plant new crops. Trees, being trees, take a while to mature, so there are still a few years of tree crops on these farms waiting to get chopping down and trucked to living rooms across America. But once they’re done, that’s it.

Funny, cause North Carolina’s Christmas tree industry did pretty darned well this year. Wisconsin’s industry is doing quite well. So are others. But, hey, you know, weather never occurred prior to 1988, when CO2 went above 350ppm. And Warmists are also predicting gloom and doom sometime later.

Only rich families will be able to afford real trees; less-rich people will be forced to buy plastic trees, which, even if they’re reused year after year, are not the best for the climate, either. And without the tree, what is Christmas?

A bit of Progressive class warfare.

Well, it’s whatever it was before Germans decided in the 1600s to pitch Christianity to the pagan-oriented by adopting the midwinter tradition of bringing greenery inside. And, hey, with climate change, you won’t need to bring greenery inside, because it will be warm enough to go outside. Anyone want to get in on the ground floor of the new Christmas bikini industry?

Interesting, because 4 of the past 5 winters have been brutal, especially in Europe, Western Asia, the Middle East, and the Southern Hemisphere.

Read: Grist: Christmas Ruined In 6-10 Years Cause Climate Change »

If All You See…

…is a field ripe for wind turbines, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Sister Toldjah, with a post on young folks being not so interested in Obamacare.

Read: If All You See… »

Here Comes Yet Another Tipping Point

At least several times a year the Climatologists trot out some sort of tipping point. Why? Because the previous ones never seem to happen. Remember when we had the 10 years left tipping point? Trotted out in 1989. Now they yammer on about far flung tipping points, more akin to visiting a carnival fortune teller than actual science (via Climate Depot)

(AP) Hard-to-predict sudden changes to Earth’s environment are more worrisome than climate change’s bigger but more gradual impacts, a panel of scientists advising the federal government concluded Tuesday.

The 200-page report by the National Academy of Sciences looked at warming problems that can occur in years instead of centuries. The report repeatedly warns of potential “tipping points” where the climate passes thresholds, beyond which “major and rapid changes occur.” And some of these quick changes are happening now, said study chairman James White of the University of Colorado.

The report says abrupt changes like melting ice in the Arctic Ocean and mass species extinctions have already started and are worse than predicted. It says thousands of species are changing their ranges, seasonal patterns or in some cases are going extinct because of human-caused climate change. Species in danger include some coral; pika, a rabbitlike creature; the Hawaiian silversword plant and polar bears.

How many times have I, and others, written something along the lines of “because Earth is always supposed to stay exactly the same, just like it did for the previous 4.5 billion years”?

At the bottom of the world in Antarctica, the melting ice in the west could be more of a wild card than originally thought. If the massive ice sheet melts it may happen relatively rapidly and could raise world sea levels by 13 feet, but researchers aren’t certain how soon that may occur.

Yeah, too bad the Antarctic is still doing pretty darned well, in defiance of Warmist hysteria. And, of course, the scientists involved in the study want more Government money for a “warning system”. Why don’t they spend their own money, or get some of the private Warmist groups to fund it? Warmists always seem to want taxpayer money to fund their wackadoodleness. I wonder what the former co-founder of Greenpeace has to say about this

Read: Here Comes Yet Another Tipping Point »

Obamacare’s So Awesome that Harry Reid Exempts Some Of His Staff

I thought everyone was going to love this law?

(CNN) Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, one of Obamacare’s architects and staunchest supporters, is also the only top congressional leader to exempt some of his staff from having to buy insurance through the law’s new exchanges.

Reid and his personal staff will buy insurance through the exchange.

But it’s also true that the law lets lawmakers decide if their committee and leadership staffers hold on to their federal employee insurance plans, an option Reid has exercised.

Who wants to bet that Reid and and other Dem leaders find a way to circumvent having to enroll themselves by the end of 2014?

Read: Obamacare’s So Awesome that Harry Reid Exempts Some Of His Staff »

Whiny People Whine About “Militarizing Santa”

It’s “completely out of line” or something

(Fox News) A North American Aerospace Defense Command website showing Santa Claus delivering presents while flanked by fighter jets has some child advocates raising concerns about Saint Nick’s new travel companions.

NORAD Tracks Santa, operated by the joint U.S.-Canada command, has provided children with information about Santa’s whereabouts since 1955. In recent years, Santa updates have included animated videos showing Santa on his flight path.

In addition to Santa’s traditional sleigh and reindeer, NORAD has added an animated fighter plane escort to give a realistic feel to the popular program, a command spokesman told Reuters.

Well, I’m shocked that NORAD would think to use fighter jets in their animation. Don’t they usually fly unicorns and docile dragons?

Allen Kanner, a California child and family psychologist and co-founder of the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, told The Boston Globe the Pentagon is “completely out of line” for linking Christmas with the military.

“Children associate Santa with gifts and fun and everything else that is positive about Christmas,” Kanner told the newspaper. “They are associating this with the military in children’s minds.”

I actually listened to some of this whining yesterday on CNN while passing through the break room, though I’m not sure if it was the same group, or just typical Progressives whining. Because fighter jets can’t be fun for kids, I guess. Good thing no one ever invented the model military airplane kit, ya know.

Davis told Reuters that NORAD videos have linked fighter escorts and Santa since the 1960s, but 2013 marked the first time the jets had appeared in an animated version.

But, Liberals need something to whine about, and the CCFC sure seems like a typical Leftist group.

From the Boston Globe article

But as the word gets out, the plan is taking flak. Some say the Pentagon appears to have lost its way by introducing destructive weaponry to the otherwise jolly image of Santa setting out from the North Pole. Up to now, the most threatening aspect of Santa’s flight had been lumps of coal.

These people need to get a life. Seriously, the jets appear for a total of 5 seconds

Read: Whiny People Whine About “Militarizing Santa” »

Obama: Obamacare “Is Working”

No, really

(The Hill) President Obama declared Tuesday that ObamaCare “is working” and that “we’re not going back,” as the White House looked to reboot its efforts to sell Americans on the president’s signature healthcare law.

If he means that 5.5 million were supposed to lose their health insurance, that the bulk of people attempting to sign up would be moved to Medicaid, that premiums and deductibles would skyrocket while networks would be limited, and that tens of millions are looking at seeing their employer based insurance drastically changed and made more expensive or having it cancelled, then, yeah, it’s working. If he means lying about the law again and again and again, yeah, that’s working.

Unshockingly, he attacked Republicans for wanting to do away with this terrible law, as I predicted yesterday (though, with Obama, predicting he will attack Republicans is like saying the Sun will rise)

Earlier Tuesday, McConnell said the president’s “campaign-style event wouldn’t solve the myriad problems facing consumers under ObamaCare.”

“The American people have been learning about the impact ObamaCare will have on individuals and families in the form of higher premiums, disrupted insurance, and lost jobs — more broken promises from the administration. And they’re becoming increasingly aware of the fact ObamaCare is broken beyond repair,” McConnell said.

Hopefully, Obama will continue his partisan push on Obamacare, tanking his ratings further, and, better yet, cratering the chance for the Dems to hold on to the Senate.

Crossed at Right Wing News

Read: Obama: Obamacare “Is Working” »

Warmist Dresses As Father Christmas To Spread Awareness

Over to England

(Daily Mail) Downton Abbey’s beloved Carson has swapped his butler’s uniform for a Father Christmas costume in a bid to raise awareness of global warming.

Actor Jim Carter donned a fluffy beard and red robes to appear in a special Greenpeace film titled An Urgent Message From Santa.

The 65-year-old urges viewers that Christmas could be cancelled unless world leaders take more action to protect the melting Arctic. (snip)

‘I want to do my part to help raise the profile of the threats posed to the Arctic by oil drilling and climate change.

‘So I was pleased to have this opportunity to support Greenpeace and their amazing Christmas campaign.’

The film ends with Carter in character as Santa asking for help to save his home in the North Pole, otherwise children worldwide will be left with empty stockings.

Read: Warmist Dresses As Father Christmas To Spread Awareness »

Android Today: Music Players

While I rely mostly on my 5 year old Creative Zen as my primary MP3 player in the car, I do use my phone quite a bit to play music out and about. I probably have around 2/3 to 3/4 of my songs on my Droid. So, like you, I need a good player.

There are 5 things I look for:

  1. Ease of use
  2. Great sound
  3. Ability to shuffle tracks (love the old style mix)
  4. Equalizer
  5. Have a lettering system

The last one is partly from having an iPhone previously, and my Creative Zen (16Gb, built in radio, awesome sound quality) has it. Makes scrolling through 700 plus songs easy (and I keep adding more). Finding that is a last consideration. Have yet to find a player that’s free with it plus the other 4.

My favorite is Rocket Player. Has the top 4 needs. I find it faster to scroll through than some others because the line space between listings (songs, groups, albums, etc) is tiny (unlike, say, doubleTwist). Sound is excellent. Shuffle works quite fast. And it is very user friendly.

The equalizer works very well, including with the Beats Audio on my HTC One S. There are also different themes. I’m using the red one (as in NJ Devils red). Numerous settings, including whether one wants to let Bluetooth headsets control (I do).

Rocket it my #1 recommendation.

DoubleTwist is also an excellent player. Sound, shuffle, ease of use. Equalizer costs $$, though. I tend use it more for playing movies on my phone and tablet. I also use it on those few occasions when I use the tablet to play music. I supposed I should download Rocket, but, eh, it’s rare. Still an excellent choice, and you can purchase air twist for over the air features.

There’s also Play Music, the Google app. It’s popular, but then it also probably comes with most Android devices. It’s basic, kinda “meh”.

I’ve tried Poweramp free, wasn’t that impressed, it did not have shuffle when I did try it. Same with Winamp.

Fusion Music player is also an excellent player, I’d same just as good as Rocket Player. Was playing with both at same time, just preferred Rocket a bit more.  More on that in a moment

I also use mconnect free. It does have shuffle, though no equalizer. It’s also not quite as easy, but I use it simply to stream to my Bluray player via DNLA, which goes to TV which has audio output (obviously) to the stereo. I do not use it otherwise.

A great addition is Cover Art Downloader. It obviously downloads ….. cover art. It’s not perfect, some you will have to manually download via the app. One reason I settled on Rocket over Fusion was that I wasn’t thrilled with the way the covers displayed on Fusion. However, the covers never show up on DoubleTwist nor Play Music, you have to use their own built in programs.

Read: Android Today: Music Players »

If All You See…

…is a flooded drought world, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Other McCain, with a post on slaves of the progressive cause.

Read: If All You See… »

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