Must View Interview on US Banking Debacle

Please, Please watch the following Bill Moyers interview! Every single American and tax payer NEEDS to to watch and understand what's happened to our banking system.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04032009/watch.html

Why always a US Centric View?

I've been asked at times when I'm teaching around the world, "Why is everything in the US so US-Centric"?

And I must agree, many times we are too caught up in our own politics, technology, sports, and entertainment that we ignore some of the best the world has to offer. Many US citizens don't have a clue about the rest of the world.

We need to be better World Citizens - better 'learners' of World situations - better understanding of how 'the rest of the world' thinks and operates!

I can't believe we are still using inches, feet, pounds, miles, etc. instead of the World standard of Metric. I remember decades ago in school when we were on the 'road to metric'... yeah right... that's sure come a long way.

But in our favor... a couple of graphics that show some of the US-Centricity is to be expected. First is a graphic of phone call traffic... kind of obvious that one is. Remember, we are NOT the largest, nor most populated...
The second based on Internet traffic. The colors represent volume of traffic.
These were both found at the following web site. http://www.telegeography.com/maps/index.php

1934 Cartoon - Socialism Repeats...

My Dad forwarded this graphic to me... it is so appropriate for today's government problem with spending.

The Socialist Liberal mentality of the Democrats back in the 1930s never solved anything but put the country into more debt... same as now... I just don't see any way out other than to get involved in another World War (that's what brought our economy back last time...) jk

Double-click on the graphic to expand and see the details.

Things - My To Do List Manager

I've gone through an entire series of To Do managers. On my mission I used these 'Do It' cards I kept in my shirt pocket. Then back in my university days I used a full-page system from the very first Franklin planner. Moved on to the Daytimer 1/2 page size. Palm Pilot, Microsoft Outlook, and probably 15 other systems.

After moving to the Macintosh last summer I spent some time trying different To Do managers... none seemed to do what I wanted. I especially wanted a nice fast sync to my iPhone, and something that worked with the way I work.

I think in 'projects' and 'where' - something that would let me keep all those items that were errands in the same area together, then later see them all together.

I've found my latest tool. It's called 'Things' - and also comes in an iPhone format.

I can strongly recommend it to anyone with a Macintosh. I especially like the simple quick way to add a new item as so as it pops into my head (ctrl-option-space) and then I can later re-organize them, and prioritize them, and assign them to specific dates, or even just drop it into a 'someday' category.

Syncing to the iPhone is fast, simple and easy - I can enter a new To Do on my iPhone and then it shows up on the Mac... or vice versa.

Give it a try! - here's a short video on Things

Twitter

I've started using Twitter to stay in contact with friends, colleagues, etc.
Twitter is... that's a hard question. And for people who haven't tried it the reaction is usually the same. "So what's the big deal?" - in fact, I was in that very boat not too long ago. I opened up a Twitter account... looked around, then did nothing with it.

A couple of weeks ago I again started and this time I finally 'Got It' and have my software called 'Tweetdeck' on my Macintosh running in startup mode and it's always on.

It is a way to stay in touch, learn about new things, and socially network. Sometimes the 'tweets' are boring, useless, or offensive. But it's a new way for me to keep a finger on the pulse of my industry. I also use it to 'watch' the BYU Lacrosse games I can't get to. Some of the folks watching the game send a stream of 'tweets' letting all of us who 'follow' the @BYULax account to follow along with the games.

I use a program called 'Tweetie' on my iPhone rather than have the tweets come in via text messages. Or on my Mac it is Tweetdeck.
It's kind of like micro-blogging...

I'm at http://twitter.com/keithparsons - I'd love to have more Followers!

Here's a video that might help as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o

From Wikipedia.
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or applications such as Tweetie, Twitterrific, Twitterfon, TweetDeck and feedalizr. The service is free to use over the Internet, but using SMS may incur phone service provider fees.

The 5000 Year Leap

The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World - by Cleon Skousen

This past week I was able to finally get around to reading a book recommended by Glenn Beck for all Americans to read. I had it on my Kindle for the past three weeks or so, but never got around to it.

I was VERY IMPRESSED and think that everyone should take the time to read this and learn about what the Constitution is all about, and what a great country we live in.

For many years in the United States there has been a gradual drifting away from the Founding Fathers original success formula. This has resulted in some of their most unique contributions for a free and prosperous society becoming lost or misunderstood. Therefore, there has been a need to review the history and development of the making of America in order to recapture the brilliant precepts which made Americans the first free people in modern times.

In this book, you will learn the 28 Principles of Freedom our Founding Fathers said must be understood and perpetuated by every people who desire peace, prosperity, and freedom. Learn how adherence to these beliefs during the past 200 years has brought about more progress than was made in the previous 5000 years.

Highly Recommended!

iPhone Apps for Wireless LAN Professionals

Below is a list of the Apps I use on my iPhone to help me work on Wireless LANs.

WiFiFoFum a quick easy way to see the local WLANs with channel, signal strength and security. It also has one of those 'weird' radar views - totally useless, it has no actual info on direction, only simple RSSI.
WiFiTrack Lists local WLANs by Open vs Locked. Includes Signal, Channel, and type of encryption, ie. WPA2/Radius... Clicking on an AP will also give you the MAC address and if the AP is broadcasting SSID. This one also allows you to connect to a new AP directly from the App.
Network Utility This is not a WiFi specific tool, but it does allow you to Ping, Scan IP Ports, GeoIP Lookup, Whois Query. In addition, you can use it to find your Internal and External IP Addresses.
iNetInfo A quick way to see your IP Address, Hostname, MAC, Default Gateway, DNS.
Snap This one will scan your local subnet and report on all the devices it can 'see'. Not just the APs, but all the clients on your subnet. Clicking on a seen device give you it's IP, MAC, OUI and if it answers a PING. You can then do a scan for supported services on that specific device. Kind of fun to use to see what is OPEN around you.
Bytes A binary calculator with a great set of tools for doing a variety of binary and bit-level manipulation on top of Unit conversion and a quick reference for 2 to the x power results.
GPS Utility I use this tool to convert Lat/Long specs from Minutes/Seconds to decimal. (AirMagnet Survey using an outdoor GPS survey needs decimal, and most mapping software uses minutes/seconds)
I really wish someone would combine all of these Apps into a single program that does everything.

Anyone else find some other useful App to add to my iPhone?

What's Your Favorite App?

Easter in Vegas

After flying back to SLC from Minneapolis, I hopped another flight down to Vegas to be with Jill (who drove down earlier in the day) and my daughter Karrissa and her family. McKinley came along for the ride to the airport to pick me up. (we're trying to make her think I live in the airport...oh, yeah I just about do)

Saturday we took the little girls to a local Children's Museum so Joe could get some additional study time (2nd year of Dental School) We had a great time - see photos below.

McKinley really liked the Clifford's Houses and the Airplane - Karrissa and I liked the bubbles, hurricane room, and watching the kids. They had a box with 1,000,000 pennies!

After naps - I like being with little grand-daughters who take naps, it gives me a good excuse to take one as well - we headed out to dinner at The Claim Jumper in Summerlin.

The food was great, service great, and booth huge... everyone had a great meal, and an enjoyable time all together.

Today was Easter Sunday and we went with Karrissa and Joe to their church then home to a Ham & 'Funeral Potatoes' & Green Bean Casserole Sunday Dinner... Thanks Jill!

Tomorrow afternoon Jill and I will drive back up to Orem and home.

After dinner at The Claim Jumper

McKinley and 'Poppa' having some soup

Joe and his 'small' order of ribs

McKinley's new Easter swimsuit from Grandma

Kylie playing in Clifford's Music Room

Who is that funny girl in the mirror?

Ordering at the Clifford's Cafe

Reading to the Grand-Daughters

Ready for Easter Sunday Church

Cute little family!

Karrissa likes the Hurricane room

McKinley not so much

Cool balls!

I'm playing - don't bug me

Poppa making 'Big Bubbles'

Karrissa making bubbles

McKinley blowing on a big sheet bubble

McKinley loading her bags before the flight on the airplane

Flying the plane to Mexico

Kylie not so happy to be with Poppa

She does like her Grandma though