After all of this, and this, and temptation by this, I’m a recent convert.  Development toward the iPhone (ie, it’s so prolific that everyone’s trying to get a piece of the action) and its nearly seamless capability to mashup data, media, and GPS, helped it wedge its way into my life.

Now that “iT” is here (my IdPhone), some disparate comments:

Apps iDig:  Maps (the street view added with 2.2 update); EasyWriter (landscape keyboard which will ‘paste’ to mail); Evernote (sync your notes and then some); Wikipanion (quick wiki search tool); NetNewsWire (only for my top 10 feeds; syncs with Newsgator); Google mobile (voice search, Reader … great, as ever); Shozu (upload photos as you shoot); GrandDialer (for your GrandCentral number); Dialer (Melodis; voice contact search/dialer); Yelp (find nearby java, gas…);

Helpful places:  iPhone J.D.; iPhone blog; and MacRumors

Oh, and yes — I’ve come to terms with the fact that there is value in a fun interface.  Say what you will, the iPhone has it.

The Walnut Valley Association was formed in 1972,with its sole purpose to produce the Walnut Valley National Guitar Flat-Picking Championships Festival, also known as the Flat-Picking Championships, currently known as the “Walnut Valley Festival” or simply “Winfield” to the long time attendees.

Evolving from 2 days in 1972 to its current 4-days the 3rd weekend of September annually, it endeavors to produce “family fare” entertainment on 4 stages simultaneously, a large quality, juried arts and crafts fair, workshops, and acoustic instrument contests. What began with 10 acts and 2 contests now boasts over 40 acts and 8 contests, including one international contest, 5 national contests and 2 Walnut Valley contests.

The contests are a major part of the festival. Along with the National Flat Pick Championships and the National Finger Pick Championships, the Walnut Valley Festival hosts the International Autoharp, National Mountain Dulcimer, National Hammered Dulcimer, National Bluegrass Banjo, Walnut Valley Old Time Fiddle, and Walnut Valley Mandolin Championships. Over the course of years, the contests at Winfield have attracted more than 3,000 contestants from all 50 states as well as many foreign countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, England, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Caledonia, Switzerland, and Wales. Well-known Winfield winners include Mark O’Connor of Nashville, Tennessee, who has won or placed in more Walnut Valley Festival contests than any other contestant. Mark won the National Guitar Flat-Picking Championship in 1975 and 1977, and also won the Walnut Valley Fiddle Championship in 1974 and 1977. Alison Krauss of Nashville, won the Walnut Valley Fiddle Championship in 1984 and Steve Kaufman of Alcoa, Tennessee, is the only three-time winner of the National Guitar Flat-Picking Contest, having won in the years 1978, 1984, and 1986 respectively. (Tennessee has consistently produced the most winners over the years.) Other Winfield winners include Mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile, the Mandolin Champion in 1993 and Dixie Chick fiddler Martie Erwin Seidel in 1987 and 89.

Festival attendance has been between 11,000 and 15,000 annually …

While other events are keeping me local, I cannot attend.  However comma.  I have just found a live stream on Front Porch Radio.  If you’re timely, you are sure to enjoy.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Now it’s ours … a republic, if we can keep it.

The Blue Star Service Banner was designed, and patented in 1917 by World War I Army Capt. Robert L. Queissner of the 5th Ohio Infantry who had two sons serving on the front line. It quickly became the unofficial symbol of a child in the service.

Source: American Legion

For Joe and Jennifer

Now you can challenge the world.  For beginners — the classic staring contest.  More advanced users might appreciate trying their hands at Most Creative Motivational Poster.

(Are you going to try it?  If you’re like me, you almost have no choice.)

I’m going to call it some kind of hybrid between newser (but without the news-only focus and pictures) and a kind of ready-made netvibes page.  It’s, quite simply, an index of topics with a sub-index of high-quality blogs.  Right away, I can see the allure for at least a couple fairly distinct demographics:

•  you’re a little new to the feed thing (RSS what?) but ready to step out past google news, your yahoo page, and a half-dozen newspaper sites; Alltop is a great place for you to click up a couple of interest areas, and find a steady stream of varying perspectives respecting that scope; or
• you’re feeling a little lulled to a discomforting level of complacency… you’re suffering from a little bit of group think since it has become more and more evident to you that fully 1/2 of the feeds you read spend 3/4 of their energy covering well-duplicated stories and the other half spend 7/8 of their keystrokes covering one another’s coverage (of the same stories already well-duplicated by that first 1/2 of your feeds); in the end, there you are feeling like only 3/8 of the posts you read have some shot at showing you something original and to be honest, only two-fifths of that is of interest to you; enter stage left: Alltop; you go to Alltop, you find maybe a dozen new feeds (and the quality is there, so I’ll bet you can) to put in your main opml; then you follow a classic honing rule for feed-lovers — you remove two of your current feeds for every new feed you add.  Voila! The time you spend (compulsively) reading feeds once again has a broadening effect on your mind.  And it isn’t that the aim?

For this writer (and as you know I’m in that latter demo), Alltop brought me a nearly instant reward:  Lifedev.  Don’t ask me what internet I’ve been reading, but thanks to Alltop for getting me here.  I can somewhat fairly say I’ve been a devoted reader of Gina and the gang at Lifehacker for quite a time (and by devoted, I just mean that it’s in all of my (both mobile and non) opml’s and I glance its way probably 15-25 times a week). However comma the “Lifehacks” index at Alltop has introduced me to Lifedev, and I have to say my DIY brainscan now indicates additional areas of cerebral activity.

See for yourself, Lifedev’s last few:

• 11 Steps to Becoming Addicted to Running
• Maybe Friday is the New Saturday?
• The Freelancer’s Guide to Setting Perfect Deadlines

So go, delight … prosper.

Tags: alltop, lifedev, feeds

- “I’ll get to Amazon and buy up a ton of titles at $14.99“;
- “I’m staying with standard DVD until whatever HD players’ prices tumble, but at these prices, I’ll go ahead and get one to upconvert“;
- “I’ll wait it out and get a nice collection of HD DVD action flicks for $5 in a few weeks”; or
- “Whew, glad I went with BluRay!”

Since I grabbed the A2 a few months back for $98 (including 5 freebies titles by mail), I’m now in the wait-and-see-about-pricing-on-HD-movies-but-good-upconverting-player-for-$98-anway camp.

Tags: HD+DVD+prices, Toshiba+price+drop

Dell Inc. shares rose after the computer maker completed a yearlong investigation into accounting errors and admitted executives manipulated financial results to meet quarterly earnings goals.

I see that CFO Don Carty pulled one out of the play-down-a-probe playbook, in stating:

“This is not a happy story for Dell or one that we’re proud of,” Carty said yesterday. “Both the leadership team of the company and the board feel that we have taken the necessary remedial action.”

Mr. Carty is likely a terrific and honest CFO, and maybe the snafu was an honest mistake (I mean this literally, not to be read tongue in cheek), but it bothers me how reminiscent this is of the play-book apparently consulted by the folks featured in a book I enjoyed a couple summers back — “Smartest Guys in the Room“. If you know even the highlights, you know that one didn’t end so well for lots of folks.

Again, Mr. Carty and Dell? probably great people … I’ve bought dozens of their machines and have known them to be a decent company (in my limited consumer capacity), but just once, I want to hear the CFO (the COO or the CEO) stand and deliver, “We cannot give any names due to privacy rights, but I can tell you we fired everyone involved, we’re taking responsibility to the shareholders, and we will make this right.”

Tags: dell, sec, earnings, earnings+restatement, enron

(So, I’m Johnny-come-lately to this story, but in any event, if this performance doesn’t touch you, perhaps you should have your barometer checked.)

Tags: greensburg, kansas, find+people, locate+people, red+cross, safe, well

WASHINGTON, Saturday, May 05, 2007 — A deadly tornado struck southwestern Kansas Friday night, destroying most of the town of Greensburg. As local officials continue search and rescue efforts in Greensburg, KS, the American Red Cross is preparing safe shelter, food and relief services for those affected by the tornado.
Red Cross staff, volunteers, emergency response vehicles (ERVs) and mobile feeding units are mobilizing from Red Cross Chapters across Kansas to help their neighbors in need. Red Cross workers have set up emergency shelters in the affected Kansas counties, providing food, water and other services.

Due to widespread power and telecommunication outages, family and friends may not be able to reach each other. If you have been affected by the tornado, please visit www.redcross.org and click on Safe and Well to inform your loved ones of your well-being. This secure website provides a way for you to identify yourself as “safe and well.” From a list of standard messages, you can select those you want to communicate to your family members – who may be worried about your safety. If you hear from a loved one in the affected area, you can input their information so other family members will also know their well-being.

As with any other Red Cross service or product, Safe and Well safeguards the privacy of disaster victims and protects their information according to privacy law standards. Messages – but not locations – will be viewable by friends and family. The Red Cross recommends that people affected should determine how best to communicate their contact information and whereabouts to family members. During the initial hours of this disaster it is important to stay connected with loved ones. Take action now by visiting www.redcross.org.

All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster, please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.

You may have heard local attorney Charles Herd on CNN by now. Lawyers, reach out to your fellow attorneys (and families) in Greensburg: Charles H. Herd, Candace R. Lattin & Eric W. Marshall. You know what they say about a friend, in need.

Tags: greensburg, kansas, red+cross

To help get you organized, visit www.officedepot.com/getorganized for advice from organizing expert Stephanie Winston, The New York Times bestselling author of Getting Organized.
“Taxes can be less of a hassle if you file receipts and records consistently throughout the year,” Winston said. “It’s never too early to get organized.”

According to Winston, following these steps will help save valuable time and minimize frustration when preparing to file taxes.
Create An Expanding File: At the beginning of each year, make sure to create an accordion file with tabs to store receipts. Label the sections for W2 and Wage Statements, Investments, Mortgage, and so on. Make sure to continue to update these files throughout the year so you don’t find yourself frantically searching for documents when it comes time to file.

Schedule Time For Taxes: Don’t wait until March when the collective panic starts to set in. Make an appointment with yourself or with an accountant by mid-February to get your tax materials organized so you can file on time without an extension.
Keep It Together: It’s important to have a single location that holds all tax information. File any new paperwork in a single place as soon as you receive it to ensure you can locate it when it’s time to file. If you don’t already have a system in place, create one.

Record Storage: Even as you begin to file your taxes for this year, you will also need to start collecting and organizing next year’s materials. To avoid confusion, Winston suggests labeling two sets of accordion folders — utilizing one expanding file folder for the new materials, while keeping records from the preceding year in a separate file.
Additional tips and solutions to get organized and prepared for the tax season can be found in the Office Depot Five-Day Office Makeover, which is available for free download at www.officedepot.com/getorganized