Daily Archives: October 16, 2011

Science & Technology — No Comments
16
Oct 11

Use a QR Code for Your Vcard

If you have a Barcode/QR code scanning app on your smartphone, scan this QR code and it will create my contact info for your address book.

Transferring business cards to your smartphone address book can be a real pain. Those tiny keypads work well, but it still requires some dexterity. QR Codes are a quick and easy way for your contacts to add your own contact info to their smartphone address books. Without typing!

I generated the QR code to the left and added it to my business card. All the recipient has to do is scan it with the smartphone’s scanner app. Most apps will take the info and create a new contact entry in the address book. It also works well on a website, social network, email, or even printed on a scrap of paper.

You can easily generate your own for free at several websites. I created this one at
http://snapmyinfo.com/vcard. You simply enter your contact info and the site generates the Vcard code and the QR code. Right-click on the QR code and save the image to your folder of choice. Simple as that!

My info created the following Vcard and converted it to the QR code seen here.

BEGIN:VCARD
N:Milstid;James
ORG:James Milstid Photography
TEL:253-670-4469
EMAIL:papajames@milstid.com
URL:http://jamesmilstidphotography.com
END:VCARD

I’m using a barcode scanning app called QuickMark on my iPhone. It’s also available for Android-based smartphones.

~James Milstid~

Art / My Photos — No Comments
16
Oct 11

Round

This is my first submission for this week’s Project Flickr topic: “Round”

Business and Politics — No Comments
16
Oct 11

What does the government do for me?

A Day In Your Life

Though we usually fail to notice it, government programs and policies improve our daily lives in innumerable ways.

Ask yourself this question: “What has government done for me lately?” If you are like most Americans, you will probably answer: “Not much.”

Many people feel like they pay a lot in taxes but don’t really get anything back from government. Surveys show that 52% of Americans believe that “government programs have not really helped me and my family.” But let’s see if that is really true. Let’s examine a typical day in the life of an average middle-class American and try to identify some of the ways that government improves that person’s life during that 24-hour period.

6:30 a.m. You are awakened by your clock radio. You know it is actually 6:30 because the National Institute of Standards and Technology keeps the official time. And you can listen to your favorite radio station only because the Federal Communications Commission brings organization and coherence to our vast telecommunications system. It ensures, for example, that radio stations do not overlap and that stations signals are not interfered with by the numerous other devices – cell phones, satellite television, wireless computers, etc. – whose signals crowd our nation’s airwaves.

Continue reading →

Business and Politics — No Comments
16
Oct 11

And it’s one two three…what are we protesting for?

By James Milstid

Where are we going?

If nothing else, the so-called “Occupy _______” (fill in the blank) protests have made some good grist for my thought process mill. While I understand the frustration of so many folks about their economic dire straits, I also understand that it’s a two-way street. The original two-way economy street was pretty orderly and equitable for all, but it’s been re-paved with greed over many years.

And why are we in this hand-basket?

In one direction, we Americans have determined that the road to the dream is paved with credit cards and loans. We’ve lived beyond our means for so long that it’s become the norm to be in debt up to our ears. Not that we shouldn’t strive to have a better life. It’s just that we are impatient. And we let the banks lull us into a false sense of security because of that impatience.

In another direction, the banks, being businesses, have taken advantage of our impatience. Credit card interest rates and penalties are obscene. The lending institutions have us over a barrel. And they keep offering us more credit. Low interest, sure… until one misses a payment. A few days late and that 9% interest suddenly turns into 26% interest. It’s in the small print, but who ever reads that? Now many banks are even starting to charge for debit card usage.

When the feds lowered the interest rates, it cut into the lending institutions’ profits. When that happened, the banks started offering loans to high-risk clients to make up for profit losses. We are seeing the results of that now with housing foreclosures, defaulted loans, and bankruptcy.

Some true direction please…

If someone were to offer some true direction and some real answers to our economic problems, I have a feeling that a grassroots movement like this could actually make some headway. As it is now, it’s not even a movement. It’s just a lot of unhappy folks venting… some justified, some not.

I haven’t answered the questions in my own mind yet. Sure, I’d love to be out of debt and live more comfortably. But I got myself there and I need to take responsibility to get myself out or be willing to suffer the consequences. I’m not looking for a big bailout. I made my bed and I’ll sleep in it. And I want banks and corporations to do the same.

Our economy is in dire straits for a number of pretty complex reasons. I applaud folks for becoming active and voicing their frustrations, but I’ve yet to see any clear cut opinions about equitable ways to fix it all.

~James Milstid~