Incursio

http://macenstein.com/default/2009/09/lets-all-send-a-mms-video-at-5pm-friday-and-see-what-happens/

Why is it that some times it seems like every wheel chair in the city rides my bus? Not that I mind wheelchairs on fixed route service - in fact quite the opposite.  Every ride that we can move from "Lift" paratransit service to normal fixed route service saves taxpayers over $30. But every time my bus gets hit with a ramp deployment it means another minute. Maybe I just notice it more.  Or maybe I am riding the short bus and never noticed until now...

"the way that people respond to summer madness" Keller fountain, Portland, Oregon. "there's an air of love and of happiness and this is the Fresh Prince's new definition of summer madness.  Summer summer summertime.  Time to sit back and unwind."

Look, I am using Apple's MMS on my iPhone 2G! And posting to Blogger via MMS. Using the 1st generation iPhone (2G) I bought almost two years ago, runnng iPhone OS 3.0. Apple claims the 1st gen iPhone (2G) has a hardware limitation that prevents MMS. Except, uhm, it doesn't. Google "ActivateMMS2G" if you are interested.Look, I am using Apple's MMS on my iPhone 2G!

First ride on MAX green line.Green means Go!

Megan Fox? : CHECK Transformers? : CHECK Plot? : CHECK Ooooh, I'm going to have to go to the judges on that one. Judges? Yes, By a 4 to 3 vote, we do have a plot. Crass and juvenile humor which adds nothing to the movie yet cheapens the entire experience? : CHECK "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is an OK movie. Not great. And this is coming from me... If there was anyone who was willing to take a hit for the Transformer team - it's me. But I would say, save your money and watch it second run or on DVD. Wait, it has lots of Megan Fox . Who am I kidding, it was worth twice what I paid. AND it has Transformers. So I guess even the stupid fart joke humor can't ruin it all that much. But I question the need for it. And once you see the movie, you'll know what I am talking about. I don't do spoilers. (Although I still can't believe they killed Sam, I wonder what they'll do for #3...) But the stupid juvenile humor... Look,...

The "residential" cruise ship: "The World", is docked again in Downtown Portland. It has been maybe 5 years since the last time it was around. I am sure that a hundred people and sites will be posting more and better pictures, or more in depth information. But here are a few quick snapshots...

Taken at the Portland Rose Festival "waterfront village". "No photos of our [crappy] display allowed" Editorial comments added by me... I can only guess either they are scared that I will copy their business model, or that Disney will find out they are using Disney materials. Either way it was fun to take pictures of their "no pictures" signs.

In this wonderfully beautiful Portland weekend, have a great time! Let's all remember that Memorial Day is about remembering the almost 1.5 million American Servicemen who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our great country. These beautiful images of our wonderful city would not be possible without them. Thank you to every soldier who has given their lives. May we "earn" what you have given us.

Unless GMC is sneaking out plug-in Yukons, this person needs a ticket and reading lessons...

Kerr Bike rentals is now operating on the Willamette River, in downtown Portland. They are located at the west end of the Hawthorne bridge, at the Salmon Street Springs fountain. They rent surreys (pictured), bicycles, quad sport bikes, tandem bikes, kids bikes, and a variety of other pedal power contraptions. Prices range $6 to $30 hourly, and some items rentable by the day. Their phone is (503) 808-9955 and their website is http://www.kerrbikes.org Looks Fun!

Whoever They are, they know a lot. And They say that 50% of marriages end in divorce. Sounds depressing right? Well, how do the other 50% of marriages end? I guess you can't really count annulment since that realistically means the marriage never happened, and is probably counted in the "divorce" category anyway. So if 50% of marriages end in divorce, the only other way to end a marriage is, I guess, death. So in other words: 100% of marriages end. Why is the 50% statistic so odd? Well, for one - people who speak poorly of divorce feel that it is better for a marriage to end with death. I for one, think that is fairly morbid. But when is the magic timeframe where a death signifies a successful marriage, a "non-divorce"? For example, my marriage ended in divorce after 15 years. So we are in that "failed marriage" category. But if I had died three months ago, our marriage would have been considered a "success" even though the...

My wife and I have never missed a payment on any debt in over 16 years. Not one. A bit over a year ago, we refinanced our home, lowered our rates and paid off some of our other debt. We were conservative - financing less than 80% of the value of our home. We have NEVER taken one of the crazy risky loans. Every mortgage we have had for over 10 years has been a conventional regular old fashioned pay down the principle fixed rate loan. No sub-prime crap, no baloon payments, no 115% of value LOC, no 30-due-in-15 or any other tricky fancy loans. Just normal stuff. This week, we decided to try and take advantage of the low interest rates, and save a couple percent. Additionally there are supposed to be some government benefits for loan companies to help people who are in good standing refinance that we were hoping to utilize. We called to refinance our home, and found out this:

Only 1 million payments of $4000 each!

Today after work I wanted to walk a bit. Since I needed to be at Gabriel Park this evening I figured I would give it a shot. I cheated a little by taking the streetcar down to South Waterfront, and riding the Tram up to OHSU. Which was pretty cool in and of itself, as winds were around 50mph and the car was swinging...

From a recent article in New York Magazine: New York’s streets are getting new ownership. Lane by lane, curb cut by parking space, in steps so scattered and incremental that they hardly get noticed, people on foot are wresting control of the asphalt from those behind the wheel. and the basic unit of urban life: the street. There, lifestyles intersect and city dwellers co-exist with people different from themselves. It’s where we learn toleration, where leisure shares space with urgency, commerce with activism, baby carriages with handcarts. When it is narrowed by garbage or overwhelmed by traffic, then the street reverts to its most primitive use: as a corridor. But a truly public place allows people to move at many different paces, or not to move at all. The article talks about Robert Moses. Who was Robert Moses ? He was an extremely powerful developer and politician for four decades in New York City. BikePortland has an i nteresting article and subsequent discussion about...

I have been involved in many discussions held in many forums about the Portland OHSU Aerial Tram. Now, all controversy aside - one common opinion that I hear frequently concerns me. Often, the Tram will be disregarded as a valuable link in Portland's bike network. To all who would say that the Tram does not provide a valuable connection or link for bicyclists, I would suggest heading down to the base of the Tram and look around. I did.

I don't care how much the "industry" tries to tell you that RFID in things like credit cards, passports, or IDs is OK - it is not. RFID is not (by design) secure, and never will be. The companies and lawyers can lie and lie and lie - and most of the population seems to believe them - but RFID systems can be hacked easily, and are hacked regularly. Don't trust RFID. Here I am linking to another blog post, simply because it is easier than reciting the entire story here... But the credit card companies don't want you to know that RFID is insecure. They badly don't want you to know, so much so they bullied Mythbusters into not airing it in an episode. Mythbusters gagged by credit card companies over RFID episode Now, I know I am just a "dude on the internet" and have no real authority. So if you don't want to believe a couple of bloggers, I suggest you Google around a bit and find out for yourself. Just don't whine when something b...