Lee.org

Here’s a really good video of Mark Pauline, founder of Survival Research Labs.

The Survival of Mark Pauline

Terrific lunchtime buffet! You could eat decadent or healthy as you saw fit! Many very friendly homestyle dishes in the buffet.  :-)

Inexpensive, $7.95 + tip for the buffet which included desert items, salads, main dishes and soup :-)

Without any help from Steve Jobs I downgraded my phone from the stupidly slow IOS 4.0.1. It is SOOOOOOOO much faster.

Thank you Lifehacker! Downgrade your phone here.

Previously, and.

If you’re going to Burning Man, you should bring a bicycle. Many people have asked me the best way to get a bike to Burning Man. Here is a great guide from the Jack Rabbit Speaks

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Burning Man Update: The Jack Rabbit Speaks Volume 14, Issue #26: BIKES July 27, 2010

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====================TABLE OF CONTENTS======================= {============================================================}

INTRODUCTION

BIKES: THE ESSENTIAL PLAYA ACCESSORY
+ WHAT KIND OF BIKE SHOULD YOU BRING TO BURNING MAN?
+ LIGHT YOUR BIKE, OR DIE
+ WHERE CAN I GET A BIKE?
+ BURNING MAN’S COMMUNITY BIKES PROGRAM
+ DON’T WANT YOUR BIKE TO GET STOLEN? OK THEN …
+ GOT A BIG THEME CAMP? PROVIDE BIKE RACKS!
+ DISPOSING OF YOUR BIKE AT THE END OF THE EVENT

CONNECT WITH BURNING MAN:
+ Burning Man on your favorite social networks

ADMINISTERRATA:
+ Want to unsubscribe from the JRS? Really? OK, here’s how:
+ http://tinyurl.com/2rwqzx

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====================INTRODUCTION========================
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Continue reading ‘How to Buy or Rent a Bike for Burning Man’ »

I’m really happy with the long distance landline telephone service I’ve gotten from ECG. I signed up for their service like 4 years ago and it “just works” the way phone service should. Sign up and I’ll buy you a burrito. Here’s how to sign up.

This is exactly what IOS4 did to my 3G iPhone, no exaggeration.

local version:

I called Apple again today to try and resolve this problem. I was on hold for 13 minutes. “Ryan” came on and the call quality immediately went to crap. The call failed after a few seconds. I’ll call back later after my phone rage has subsided.

It is rage because I got this phone because it “just works”. But last week Steve Jobs broke my phone and the best answer I’ve gotten so far is “Well, it was an optional update so we won’t support it.” (yes, exact words). Me along with a million other people got your fucking^W update. I paid to live in a walled garden and now the gardeners are telling me in no unambiguous terms that it is their right to burn down the garden and make me buy another one. The evil Droid phone is starting to look pretty good.

I’m on my way back from Oregon. It was so beautiful that I couldn’t stop taking pictures. I must have taken 160,000 pictures or so with my new 12 megapixel camera rig! Yes, really!

Or… Hey, check out my new portable panopticon! Every 10 meters it automatically snaps a 360 degree panorama image that gets stitched into a 36 megapixel 3d image!

I just got off the phone with Apple support who said, “You installed the 4.0.1 upgrade for your iPhone 3G? Ha! Sucker! You are so screwed and there is no unscrewing that pooch!”

After the upgrade, my iPhone does everything much slower. The rep told me, “yes, it’s much slower… It was an optional update so we’re not responsible… If you try to downgrade, you’ll brick your phone.” I embellished that first quote but the second one is pretty much word for word.

If you have an iPhone 3G like me, DO NOT get the 4.0 update. It offers no improvements, only a huge performance hit. For example, it now take 8-14 seconds to start my calendar app, making it MUCH less useful than the previous 4 second startup time.

I will call Apple a few more times and if it keeps looking like Apple really has pulled the trigger on a planned obsolescence program for this 1.5 year old device, I will dump Apple for another platform. Eff you right back Steve Jobs.

I’m on my first business trip. Brent and I are driving to Oregon right now to take 20,000 160,000 pictures of some roads. Back in SF on Friday.

Then off to Paris Aug 9-13!

Then off to Malaysia Aug 16-20!!

I got an email Saturday 9am on Dorkbot saying that SRL is going to have a few machines at some River Town Revival thing in Petaluma. I grabbed my things and went right up there.

Coolness abounded.
* I missed the art-boat race but saw some nice vehicles: a sea monster thing, a hand-made row boat, a giant floating wicker basket.
* Saw an artist’s terrific rusted mini submarine
* “Experience the Black Hole” had this spiraling water flowing into a hole. I threw in a donation for it
Here is the view from the top of the Experience the Black Hole. :-)

Yes, that’s the Big Arm and Running Machine by SRL attacking a big glass sign with face shots of elderly people doing errr…. umm… things; suffice to say that the photos appear benign. Later the machines attacked a giant chicken; when the running machine choked the chicken mercilessly, everyone laughed and didn’t tell their children why.

I met up with Noah, a great student of mine from Crucible Youth Kinetics. And Jessie, Erik, and Trebor (who got me the happiest beer of the day!) We all went off to a great dinner in Petaluma.

A great day :-)