Caption Me, DC at Night Edition

Last night, we totally lived it up. We went to dinner in Chinatown and took an evening stroll. There's just something magical about DC at night. Or, maybe it's just the feeling of knowing that you've got a baby sitter at home and not a care in the world.

Regardless, it seemed like I should take some pictures to capture the mood. I don't think I managed to do that, but at least I tried.

Quick story: we were outside the Whitehouse, and I was bragging to a friend about how slick my new Galaxy S3's camera is. I explained it had voice operation, and proceeded to hold it up and loudly say: "Shoot! Shoot!" - at which point I realized that probably wasn't the right phrase to be yelling in that location. I then switched to "Capture!" Less chance of getting tackled by Secret Service.

Anyone care to tack a crack at captioning these guys?

Come on, you know you've got a caption for these guys:

Gotcha of the Day: Galaxy SIII + USB - Not Recognized by Windows 7

Here's the deal. I connected my Galaxy SIII to my Windows 7 box by way of a USB cord. The laptop beeped and chirped, and then came up with the message:

(That's: USB Device Not Device Not Recognized)

This is especially strange, because I'd been connecting up the device and various laptops for the last few days without incident.

A few days earlier I had installed the Samsung Drivers which originally allowed me to connect the device and computer. My first thought: perhaps Windows "lost" these drivers and I needed to reinstall them? Crazy, but then again, so is Windows.

I installed the drivers again. That didn't fix anything.

I rebooted the phone. Again, didn't fix anything.

I rebooted the laptop. Again, didn't fix anything.

Out of desperation, I installed Samsung Kies, thinking maybe that would nudge the setup back to working. Alas, it didn't fix anything.

Then I got to thinking: what was I doing differently today that I hadn't been doing for the last few days. I know, I was using a different USB cable.

Surely, the USB cable isn't to blame? After all, it fits into both the computer and the phone. I know that Samsung would tell me to use the original cable that came with the phone. But that's just them being pedantic, right?

Apparently not. I retrieved the cable I had been using, and sure enough, the device was immediately recognized.

So there you have it. If you can't get your Galaxy S3 (or any random device) to be detected by Windows 7, step one should be to find a new (modern?) cable.

Haaaaaayaaaaah!!

For the last couple months, our 8 year old has been attending a Creative Martial Arts after school intro program. He's brought home numerous insights about jabs, crosses, and both snap and roundhouse kick. He's definitely enjoyed it quite a bit.

This last weekend, though, was the big test. If the students performed well enough, they'd earn their White Belts and get a chance to break a board.

Well, as you can imagine, the class rose to the occasion and put on quite a martial-arts show. Indeed, they all earned the right to crack a board in half using nothing but their fist.

I've got to admit, I was surprised at the challenge in front of these kids. It's scary enough to think that you're going to be punching a solid slab of wood, it's another to do it in front of 40+ onlooking parents.

And how'd our kid do? Well, check it out!

That there is the real deal: a board broken in half by a single cross punch.

While we were proud of our little Ninja, I was just as impressed with the studio that put on the class. They talk about how martial arts can be used to teach confidence, disciple and fitness - and we saw all that on display. That, and a lot of patience and positive reinforcement.

If you're in Arlington, and looking for a fun after school activity or camp, you should check them out.

A Brand New Set of Strings

A few weeks back I take my tallis out of my tallit bag and noticed a small piece of debris fall out. I do Shabbat services, and when I'm putting my tallit away I finally get a glimpse of what the debris was: a tiny piece of tzitzit. Naturally, I approach Rabbi wondering what I should do.

She then breaks the bad news to me: sure, it may have been only a tiny bit of tzitzit, but that doesn't matter, the entire tallit is no longer kosher. I assume I need to fix that one fringe and I'll be all set. Wrong again. All four fringes need to be replaced. Not only that, but the fringes that are no longer kosher aren't just tossed out in the trash; they are stored in a genizah before they are properly buried.

I imagined that tzitzit had special status, but apparently I misunderstood just how sensitive they are. In hindsight, this makes sense. But still.

The Rabbi was kind enough to provide me with a set of kosher tzitzit, as well as a demonstration of how they are wrapped. Turns out, it's a combination knot tying and Pioneering Merit badge. While I tied one fringe on, the Rabbi tied on the other three.

As long as I was doing a bit of tallit maintenance, I decided I should tack down part of my atarah that's come loose. Luckily my Mom provided me with a sewing kit, and the Boy Scouts provided me with enough know-how to do an adequate job.

Considering my tallit has been maintenance free 20+ years, I suppose I can't really complain that I've finally got to take some action.

It was actually nice learning some of the laws of tzitzit. But that wasn't the best part. Nope, the best part was using a needle threader for the first time, and realizing that it wasn't some bit of decoration included in the sewing kit. What an amazing little device!

Some photos of my adventure...

And finally, my favorite new tool:

Meadowlark's Walk of Lights

Shira got quite an unexpected gift on her birthday yesterday: it was just about 70°F! To celebrate both her birthday, as well as the benefits of global warming, we visited Meadowlark Graden's Walk of Lights. I would have been satisfied just visiting a new set of gardens, but to tour the lights, and not need a parka, well, that was just too much.

I tried a number of approaches to capturing the lights with my DSLR, but in the end, I wasn't really impressed with any of the results. They just don't do the gardens justice.

If you're in the area, it's definitely worth checking out.

Fixed

See rule #2.

Yeah, it's not the cleanest fix, but it seems solid enough to me.

Funny story about the Army Criminal Investigation Lab: back in 1952 Disney allowed the Army to use Mickey Mouse's likeness, what do you know, it stuck.

Name that Tree: Red Berry Edition

I'm making my way through The Forger's Harvest, and absolutely loving it. But I've had enough of sitting on the sidelines and reading about plants, today I decided to do something about. So, on my way to the bus stop I snapped some photos of a tree and decided that later in the morning I'd identify it.

I picked this particular tree because the red berries helped it stand out. Besides, I was curios if the advice we'd given our 8 year old held for this tree: eat the berries and you probably won't die, but you'll get awfully sick to your stomach. After all, that's always the advice I'd been given.

I figured I'd go about this as scientifically as possible, and so I started with the aborday.org's tree identifier. After answering a few questions, I realized that I was no longer being asked anything nearly relevant about the leaves in question.

After a few more formal identification attempts, and I came up with nothing. So I totally cheated and typed tree identification berry. I scanned the pictures and realized I had a match with this one.

The caption claimed I was looking at American Holly. I did some further examination and realized that was the case. I suppose if I had to have guessed, I probably would have thought it was holly - but not celebrating Christmas, and having never had a holly wreath, it would have been just that - a guess.

This left me with two questions: (a) are the berries poisonous? (b) are there any uses for the tree?

Yes, apparently they are poisonous:

The berries of various species are slightly toxic to humans, although its poisonous properties have been exaggerated and poisoning deaths are almost unknown. Berries attract birds that eat them after the frosts have reduced toxicity. However, if household pets ingest Holly, they are very liable to be poisoned, and it is a very good idea to keep Holly decorations out of reach of pets and/or children

Well what do you know, the advice we gave our kid was exactly correct. Huh.

And does it have a use? Yes! Ignoring its magical properties for now, it can be used to create a tea. Apparently the American Holly version doesn't contain caffeine, but other variants of Holly do, can make for some excellent tea.

Apparently, American Holly can be made into tea as well - so if I get the chance to collect some leaves I may in fact give this a try. By the way, the act of drying the leaves is apparently enough to detoxify them. Without that step, you'll apparently puke your guts out.

All in all, very educational. I wonder what I can discover on the next trip to the bus stop.

Morning

There was just something pleasantly dramatic about the sunrise we caught on the way to the bus stop this morning. Perhaps it was the jet plain streaking across the sky leaving a fresh set of contrails.

Taken with my Galaxy S3

Meeting Laguna

What a treat! Cousins Ralph and Rachel were in town, and so we had the opportunity to meet their adorable little one - Laguna. She's soooooo cute! She was even kind enough to let me snap a couple hundred (not quite, but it felt that way) photos of her.

She's was so precious to play with. At 6 months old, she's super curious, and really active - especially considering I'm sure we had her past her bed time. What a joy it was getting to spend time with her.

Frosty

Here are a few photos I captured after walking back from the bus stop. Not too shabby considering they were taken with my Galaxy S3 without a macro lens.

There's a setting in the standard camera app which may have been helpful: Settings > Focus Mode > Macro. Though I didn't try to grab any photos with this off.

A Cool Recipe For a Bird Feeder

A while ago, I learned that you could make a lamp using olive oil and a half an orange. Today I discovered yet another use for a half an orange: to create a bird feeder.

Like the olive oil lamp, it's delightfully simple:

Materials
orange
(4) pieces of twine, yarn or string, cut into 24″ lengths
bird seed

With a sharp knife, cut the orange in half – scoop out the flesh. Pierce 4 small holes on opposite sides, about 1/2″ from the top edge of each half . Thread one piece of twine through a hole, and out the opposite end. Repeat with the second piece of twine in the remaining holes (you’ll have an “X”). Gather the ends together and tie in a knot. Repeat with the other half. Fill with bird seed and hang from sturdy branches outside.

I doubt our finished product will look quite this good, but here's the idea:

Our 8 year old (who just a few days ago, was our 7 year old!) is going to love this hack, as he's asked a few times to put up a bird feeder (mostly out of concern that the birds have less to eat as winter approaches).

In this same post, there's a recipe for creating a home made menorah. That's another little project he'll love as well.

Via: sherisilver.com which was found via: bostonmamas.com.

The One Resource You'll Need To Root Your T-Mobile Galaxy S3

I've never really had a need to root my phone before. That changed a couple days ago.

With my new found Android hacking powers, I now crave the perfect script to execute when I plug my phone into the my car charger. I was able to create a script that did most of what I wanted: turn Bluetooth on, WiFi tethering on and driving mode on. But, I hit a stumbling block with turning on the GPS - you can't do so in Tasker without root access.

A couple of Google searches turned up a number of pages that explained just how easy it was to root your phone. 10 minutes, and I'd be all set. I started down the path with these clear instructions. Except, half way through, the instructions no longer matched up with what I was seeing and I saw some error about a file verification signature not matching. Gulp.

Fortunately, I poked around further till I found this video tutorial:

I was able to closely follow this video and sure enough, I painlessly rooted my phone.

With root access in place, I was able to follow these instructions for creating a GPS On and GPS Off task.

Finally, I can sleep better at night knowing that the driving I don't usually have to do can be done with a device that doesn't require a single clunky press of a GPS On button. Nope, I'm fully automated. Whew.

So now that I've got a rooted device, what's next? What apps do I absolutely need to install?

Review: Aduro Shell Holster Combo Case

I'm continuing to enjoy my Galaxy S3, and of course, needed to get a case for it. My preference has always been to wear my phone on my belt via a clip or holster. I suppose it's the closest I'll ever get to owning a Bat Belt. It also keeps my pockets free to stuff with other goodies.

And while I've owned some chunky phones before, the S3 is by far the largest screen size I've carried. It's large enough that I thought I might finally have to give up on wearing my phone on my hip. Heck, I wasn't sure if it would even go in a pocket. Still, I figured belt-carry was worth a try, so I picked up the Aduro Shell Holster Combo Case from Amazon. For $13.00, it was hardly a big risk.

The case, I'm pleased to report, is working well. It comes in two parts: the first snaps on to the back of the phone, the second, to your belt. I was concerned that the snap on section would turn my wonderfully slim phone into a bulky monstrosity, but it doesn't. If anything, it has made the phone feel a bit more substantial and the textured feel makes it easier to grip.

The phone slides in and out of the holster with ease, and when it's in, feels nice and secure.

I have yet to get any real use out of the kickstand, but in a few quick tests, it has worked well. It's a nice little bonus and doesn't get in the way when not in use.

All in all, I couldn't be happier. I'm able to wear my phone on my belt, and do so without unnecessarily bulking up the device. If your lean towards holster carry for your phone, and you've got an S3, definitely check this case out.

An Android On Device Programming Environment

For years I've imagined developing an application for my Android phone (at the time, a G1) that would let me write code directly on the device. I imagined it would be easy: wrap a Java based Scheme interpreter in an Android App, and allow access to a REPL. With that scaffolding in place, programmers could then get creative and really start automating their phones.

As time went on, I imagined that Forth, not Scheme was a better option for on device programming. The language can be quite compact, and can be molded to fit whatever paradigm you want.

Still, I wasn't ever quite able to find the pieces (a solid Forth interpreter in Java) or the time to put this together.

Then, a few weeks ago, Shira mentioned this powerful Android application she's heard about: Tasker. It's a pricy $6.49 on the market, and potentially seemed *too* flexible to be of much use. Did I really want to spend that much time fiddling with the settings of my phone?

Curiosity got the best of me, and after poking around on the Tasker website, realized that you can get a Free 7 day trial. I gave it a try, and quite quickly fell in love.

Sure, you can think of Tasker as a way to customize your phone, but really, it's so much more. To me, it's the on device programming environment that I've always dreamed of. Sure, there's no cryptic (and powerful) REPL, but there's everything else you'd want in programming environment: loops, conditionals, variables, access to files, HTTP POST/GETs and even a degree of modularity. Most importantly, you've got access to dozens, if not hundreds of things you can do to the phone itself, from snapping a photo, to turning on WiFi, to triggering device vibration.

The programming model is built around the notion of Profiles, which combine an initial context and a series of tasks to run when that context is met. I just setup a context like this one: when the phone is plugged in, turn on WiFi, Bluetooh and jack up the screen brightness and turn off the key lock. The environment is relatively easy to use, allowing me to hunt and peck to build an application. I'm sure some sort of text based interface would be nice for super experts, but for beginners, the GUI works quite well.

As little random photography experiment, I whipped up a script that discretely snaps a photo, then waits 5 minutes and loops around again. It does this 20 times before quitting. I turned on the script, put the camera back in the case on my hip (which has the camera pointing out) and let it shoot away. The results were as bland as you'd expect, but it sure was fun rigging up this hack in just a few minutes right on the device itself.

Tasker reminds me very much of AutoHotKey. It has a steep learning curve, but is incredibly powerful. I can already tell it's going to be a go-to tool for problem solving on my device. Also, like AutoHotKey, it is an ideal way to learn about programming. I can easily imagine a programming army of Tweens who got their start by automating SMS responses and generation.

Tasker even goes so far as to allow you to make your own stand alone apps from your Tasker recipes. Really, it's amazing.

But of course, you knew all this already. It's been discussed on Lifehacker months ago. Still, thanks for letting me share about my new toy. What slick profiles/tasks have you setup?

And who's up for adding a Forth based REPL to Tasker? Yeah, didn't think so.

Another Reason To Love Jones Point Park

A few days ago I mentioned what a gem Jones Point Park is in Alexandria. Well, I've got another reason to love the park: it's a most excellent kids biking location.

We're trying to teach our 7 year old how to bike on trails, which is a tricky transition to make considering how busy the trails near us are. But Jones Point Park has just the features we need to make practicing low stress.

First off, the park has a massive and empty parking lot that was great fun for him to just ride around in. Second of all, there were a number of marked pathways he could practice on before getting on the Mt. Vernon Trail itself. The section of Mt. Vernon trail that goes through the park is flat and pristine, which made for a gentle first trail attempt. Finally, there are a couple of playgrounds in the park, so when he was ready to take a break from riding he had an easy activity to switch to.

He did well on the trail, and I assume in no time, he'll be racking up the miles. Kids just learn this stuff so amazingly fast.

A Reason To Give Thanks: Our Newest Cousin

Tonight Shira and I met our newest little cousin, Andrew! And boy is he perfect! OK, he's 4 days old, so doesn't exactly *do* a lot. But he sure is cute, and seems to be adjusting well to life on the outside.

I couldn't resist snapping some (OK, a lot) of photos of the little guy. I suppose it's my way of trying to capture a little of the amazing joy we all were experiencing as we sat back and marveled at this new life.

I even snapped a few photos of Lucy, the family dog. Just last week she was #1 in the house hold, and these days, not so much.