Some neat gadgets and apps that I like.

This may work with other smart phones, but the Galaxy S III that I was given is the first one that has done this for me. About three minutes before my alarm is set to go off, a musical alarm starts. It is almost inaudible when it first starts and then grows louder. If I do not turn it off, the regular alarm goes off. It rarely makes it to the official alarm. The tune is very peaceful. What a nice way to wake up.

Gas Buddy… is an app for my Android phone. It will search for the location I am currently located and then show me a list of the nearest gas stations to my location. I can also switch and it will show me the cheapest gas for those stations near my current location. You can also save searches, or search for any location. I have used this to search for gas prices in locations for which I am travelling toward. I can then determine whether I want to purchase my gas from my starting point or any point in between or at my destination.

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KeyRing is an app that allows you to convert your plastic scan tags (e.g. scan ID at grocery store) into digital ones. You then click on the business/store ID and a bar code is generated to be scanned at the checkout. This works well for me at Harris-Teeter and CVS pharmacy, but Food Lion uses scanners than cannot read the barcode from my phone. In that case, you can tap on an “unreadable” option, and the number ID appears in a large font so that the clerk can type it in.
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I like being able to create WordPress postings from almost any location. I am currently creating this one in the Local History Room at the Main Cumberland County Library in Fayetteville, NC.

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I just purchased a Google Chromecast device at Best Buy before coming to the library. I’m actually “killing time” as this afternoon is cleaning day for my apartment. Marie spends a couple of hours cleaning after she gets off work from the Rainbow.

I’m hoping to find that not only can I use the Chrome Browser from my phone, but that I can also hook up my Bluetooth to the phone and be able to create emails easily. If this is the case, it might be that combining a $35 Chromecast device, and a Bluetooth keyboard for student use would be a cheap way for them to use their own devices and have basic Internet access.

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Unfortunately, Chromecast did not work from the Chrome browser on my Samsung Galaxy S III phone. The Netflix app did allow me to use Chromecast from my phone & my Chromebook. I think I am getting better screen resolution from Chromecast than I am from Netflix on my Logitech Revue unit.

The projected Chrome browser does not show the URL window, nor does it show the cursor movement on the TV screen.
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I liked these characters and actors, playing these parts. They helped define the film or tv show/episode and made the stars shine.

Start typing.

I read an article on the WRAL.COM web site this morning, written by Arielle Clay regarding Rabah Samara being convicted of DUI. The details in the article recount some of what occurred when Emily Caveness, (I guess dating Samara at the time.) driving Samara’s Cadillac SUV, hit and killed Stephen Gates while Gates was attempting to change a tire. I think I read that Stephen was partially “in the road” and that it was on a ramp. I also read that Samara, a passenger, and another couple in the back, were all asleep at the time that the accident occurred. Emily did not stop the vehicle immediately. I think I read that witnesses to the accident tried to tell those in the SUV what had occurred.

So, Caveness pulls the vehicle over, and Samara changes places with her and drives them all back to Raleigh. If anyone knew that a human being had been hit, it should have been Emily Caveness. If anyone should have been saying, “we need to report this, I just hit someone,” it should have been Emily Caveness.

Here is where I think the real “hinkiness” occurs in the story. Long-time D.A. Carl Fox, decided to prosecute Rabah Samara for “Hit & Run” and agreed to cut a deal with Emily Caveness (from being charged with “Hit & Run” down to “not reporting an accident”) in exchange for her testimony against Samara. Do bright red flashing lights go off in your head when you catch what is happening here? The D.A. knows that Emily Caveness was driving the vehicle, at the time of the accident. He’s going to prosecute Samara, who he (Fox) knows wasn’t driving, at the time of the accident. Is it any wonder that Samara’s trial was a short one?

What I wondered was if Emily Caveness had some political power over the D.A. Okay, not her directly, but a parent, or the friend of the family, who would try to make this go away for her involvement. It may not be the only thing which could make sense of the charges and deals, but it would be the easiest explanation.

Long-time D.A. should know the law pretty well.

Driver of vehicle, at the time of the accident, not charged with the more serious crime of “hit & run”.

Victim of “hit & run” partially to blame because he was in the road, trying to change his tire.

Deal for a lesser charge given to driver of the vehicle (not reporting an accident) in exchange for her testimony against a passenger in the car, at the time of the accident.

Passenger in the car, at the time of the accident, charged with more serious crime of “hit & run”. *Duh! How can I be guilty of “hit” because I wasn’t driving at the time?

Long-time D.A. made a judge a few years after this case.

 

Man involved in UNC reporter’s 2003 death convicted of DWI

http://www.wral.com/man-involved-in-unc-reporter-s-2003-death-convicted-of-dwi/13034529/

Woman Avoids Jail Time For Death Of UNC Sports Reporter

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/116199/

 

Woman Who Admits Running Over UNC Reporter Testifies In Court

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/113840/

NOTE:  How could the D.A. cut a deal if he knew this testimony of the truck drivers that Gates & his car door were tumbling beneath the SUV?  How could Emily Caveness not know what she had done?

Jury Finds Man Not Guilty In Fatal Hit-And-Run Trial

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/113900/

“… Samara testified that he had been drinking heavily that night in October 2003 and fell asleep in the passenger seat of a Cadillac Escalade. He said he woke up after hearing a loud noise. Samara told jurors at that point, Emily Caveness, who was driving the vehicle, was hysterical. Samara said he told her to pull over…”

It could be argued that heavy drinking clouded Samara’s “moral judgment” in that he should have stopped, returned to the scene of the accident, or sought to report the accident.  But, he wasn’t driving!  The D.A. should have prosecuted Caveness for “hit & run”.

 

LETS SWITCH PLACES… (Not what actually happened.)

* I think I could make a case, that Emily Caveness and Rabah Samara were not treated equally or fairly under the Law.   Just switch the two, everything else being the same (except for sex).  Suppose that Samara had been driving, and Caveness was asleep, in a drunken stupor, in the passenger seat when the accident occurred.  Would the D.A. have cut a deal with Samara for his testimony against Caveness?  Yeah, right!  I don’t think so either.  It wouldn’t have made sense.  The D.A. was going to go after Caveness, who drove everyone away from the accident, even though Caveness was asleep at the time of the accident.  Something else was at play here.  Maybe it was Samara’s middle-eastern looks & name, or the Southern charm of a “young, white woman.”

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Hanging out at Fayetteville Tech for lunch.

Sent from my Galaxy S®III

It is possible to post from just about anywhere that you are able to create an email from. I am using my AWK connected to my Samsung Galaxy S III via Bluetooth to type up this posting. I am working in the phone’s email program.

I plan to take a picture of a magazine cover to include in this posting. I have done this before, but I could be taking a picture of notes on a black/white board, or handwritten or typed notes.

Sent from my Galaxy S®III

You can publish from almost anywhere.

Sent from my Galaxy S®III

If the politicians (and I use that term to mean someone lower than a dishonest car dealer) that drew the above voting districts represented North Carolinians, would you not vote them out the first chance you got? I was a registered Republican for about 35 years of my life, from 18 years old until about 53. Now during that time, I don’t ever recall voting a “straight party ticket”. I’ve voted for several Democratic US Presidents during that time, but often having voted for either a Republican or Democrat, I wised up during the second election and voted against them. My leanings during those years was more toward Republican values, but I often wanted some Democratic balance.

My State Representatives should be enacting legislation that will give me Insurance alternatives. Apparently, ObamaCare is increasing the cost of insurance. Well, insuring ALL should cost something and passing that cost on to all of us seems reasonable. But, making the Medical Process much more cost effective should also be a goal. I do not expect more than to pay more and get less and still not have everyone covered.

As a tangent, my apartment was broken into in 2008 and several items stolen. When I filed for insurance, I received a check for half the value of the items that were taken. When I called about this, I was told that we (NC) was the only state where this was in effect. Apparently, those that had influenced State rules favored the Insurance Industry rather than the Citizens of North Carolina. You got half the money up front, but to get the rest, you needed to purchase the replacement items and send the insurance company receipts for these purchases. They would then send the rest of the money (if the replacement items actually cost what the insurance was supposed to pay). Needless to say, I didn’t send in any receipts and the insurance company “made out like a bandit”. Let me repeat that, the insurance company “MADE OUT LIKE A BANDIT!”

I was playing with a free online 3D image creation utility called “123D Make” a couple of weeks ago. You took still photos around an object and the application generated a 3D image that could be rotated in various directions.

I just came across this article where (several years ago now) some researchers proved that they could take an image of keys from a relatively long distance (say from one high rise office window across to another high rise office where a set of keys were laying on a desk. They were then able with software they had created to make a working copy of the key they had photographed from say 200 feet away. I am not familiar with the materials that are used in 3D printing, but it would seem conceivable that plastic could be sturdy enough to make at least a temporarily working key copy.

http://vision.ucsd.edu/~blaxton/sneakey.html

http://vision.ucsd.edu/~blaxton/pagePapers/laxton_wang_savage_ccs2008.pdf

http://www.hammacher.com/Product/82332?cm_cat=ProductSEM&cm_pla=AdWordsPLA&source=PRODSEM&gclid=CMe8sYWI_rkCFVFp7AodyhUAsg