Cool Software For Your Cellphone (...that also threatens corruption, evil and oppression everywhere)

Qik is a website and a free application for your cellphone. The application installs on your phone (Blackberry for example) and allows you to one-click record video using your camera's built in video camera. What's cool about Qik is that it simultaneously uploads your video to your own personal Qik web page. Apparently you can also stream live video from your cell phone too, but the part that caught my eye was the fact that it records (saves) your video in real time on a remote server.

Keeping in mind my previous post of the dangers of the police state, Qik is a new threat to the corrupt. One of the problems with being on the scene or being arrested, for example, is that your camera/recorder etc will be seized and then possibly lost/erased etc. Qik renders the physical confiscation of the camera irrelevant. By the time the camera is taken, the video is on the Internet, and the gene is out of the bottle.

Obama's Healthcare Plan

Listening to the sketchy details of the Obama health care plan, I'm feeling like I might have set the bar too low for my September stock market prediction of 6,500. If this plan goes through, and it looks like it will, It will almost certainly cause a large spike in unemployment.

I figure the Wall Street firms are not really that concerned right now, as they assume their health plans are already above the minimums that will be set by the government. However, their short-sightedness won't spare them from the pain. I predict the smaller business will soon realize they can't make it with the added healthcare costs and will begin either closing up shop or dumping employees. Those employees will then be a further drain on taxpayers and business as they collect unemployment and other government benefits, including the new government (Read:Taxpayer) funded healthcare. Who doesn't see the huge funding gap that will be the result of this large unemployment shift? Probably the White House analysts figuring out how much it's going to cost.

So, back to Wall Street. Who's buying their products? Soon no one will be able to afford it unless it's an essential item. For the economy, this will be disastrous.

The DJIA at 6,500 might end up looking like the good old days by 2010.

Washington Nationals Turn Out To Be A Bad Deal For D.C.

Nationals Not Paying Off for D.C.

Duh. Who would have thought building a $700 million stadium was a good idea?

And DC Schools are just as bad as they used to be.

Eight States Hit Historic Highs For Unemployment In May

In May, (8) states set new records for their unemployment rate. In early August, we'll see if more states will be added to the list of new highs in 2009:

California 11.5
Florida 10.2
Georgia 9.7
Nevada 11.3
North Carolina 11.1
Oregon 12.4
Rhode Island 12.1
South Carolina 12.1

As You've Read Here, Acetaminophen is Dangrous

Despite the ads touting safety, Acetaminophen (aka Tylenol, Paracetamol, etc) is probably the most dangerous over the counter drug on the market. But you already knew that, didn't you?

How to get Vlingo 2.0 Back On Your Blackberry After Upgrading To 3.0

1. First, delete Vlingo 3.0 (on most phones, go to BB Options -> Advanced Options -> Applications -> Menu -> Delete). Vlingo does not support downloading 2.x to a phone already running 3.0.
2. Reboot your phone by removing the battery.
3. Determine the operating system (OS) version of your BlackBerry. This can be determined by clicking on Options -> About. The first entry will show your phone model and operating system version. For example, "BlackBerry 8130 smartphone (CDMA) v4.3.0.60". In this case, the operating system version is 4.3 (note that not all 8130s are running 4.3).
4. Download the appropriate version of Vlingo 2.0/2.1 directly to your BlackBerry (not to your desktop) from one of these links:
   
   • a. OS 4.7 (Storm) & 4.6: http://www.vlingo.com/apps/vc_oldclients/2.1.0/4.6/vlingoForBlackBerry_en.jad
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   • b. OS 4.3 & 4.5: http://www.vlingo.com/apps/vc_oldclients/2.0.1.19585/4.3/vlingoForBlackBerry_en.jad
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   • c. OS 4.2: http://www.vlingo.com/apps/vc_oldclients/2.0.1.19585/4.2/vlingoForBlackBerry_en.jad

Original version of these instructions are here.