Kakuro Dojo on Android
My Kakuro puzzle game, Kakuro Dojo, is now available from the Google Play Store. You may now play on iPhone, iPad, iPad Touch, Android phones and tablets, and a web browser on any device.
Kakuro Jones
I created my Kakuro game for two reasons:
- I like playing Kakuro, and didn't like the existing apps.
- I fell in love with Elm
You might say, I've got a Kakuro Jones. With apologies to (and appreciation of) Cheech and Chong (link is to prelude to and the song, "Basketball Jones", on YouTube):
Bill, how come you're such a good Kakuro player?
How come I'm such a good Kakuro player? Well that's simple. I've got a Kakuro Jones.
A Kakuro Jones? What's a Kakuro Jones?
What's a Kakuro Jones? Well that's simple. A Kakuro Jones is when you love Kakuro so much that you are like a junky.
Kakuro Jones.
I got a Kakuro Jones.
I got a Kakuro Jones,
Oh baby, ooh, ooh, oooooh.
Which brings to mind the 1973 Cheech and Chong album, "Los Cochinos", which I listened to at my high school buddy Tom's house. The "Basketball Jones" song featured a bunch of famous musicians of the time. Image below. Click on it to get a big (1930x970, 401K) image of the front and back of the album.
Kakuro Dojo iOS App Ships!
My Kakuro puzzle game, Kakuro Dojo, is available from the iOS App Store.
You can also play it online at Kakuro-Dojo.com.
Next: Android version
Chuck Norris, RIP (Not!)
The grim reaper visited Chuck Norris's house. When he left, he was alone and looked even more grim.
Unfortunately, not even Chuck Norris can cheat death.
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist, actor, film producer and screenwriter died this morning in his house in Oklahoma at the age of 76. He is feeling much better now and has fully recovered from this minor annoyance.
Gab V2
Yesterday evening, Andrew Torba, the CEO of Gab.ai, announced the new features that will ship on Monday with Gab V2.
His announcement was in this 11.5 minute Periscope video.
For those of you who prefer their news in quickly-scannable text, here's a summary.
Gab V2 features:
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New, more scalable backend.
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Gabs become public, by default. Visible to the whole world, whether or not they have a Gab account. Visible to search engines, like Google, Bing, Dogpile, DuckDuckGo.
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Private accounts (available now), allow you to make your account visible to only those who follow you. You must approve all follows. This makes your account invisible to most of the web, including search engines.
Click a check-box at the bottom of your "Settings" window to make your account private.
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Adds the ability to delete your account.
Andrew said that out of the current 45,000 users, there have been 10 requests to delete an account.
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Released Monday, 31 October, 2016.
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Better font.
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Main menu navbar now stays in place when you scroll content.
They'll be working on the following new features after V2:
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Images.
Images are expensive, in storage and bandwidth. Native image sharing will initially be available to donors only.
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Video, via a Vidme partnership (if I understood correctly). vid.me
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Mobile.
They know how important it is to have mobile apps.
Why did they do web first? Gab doesnt want to be under the thumb of Apple or Google. SnapChat is reaching a plateau in their growth. Gab is accessible from any device with no app store approval. Indexing content in search off of mobile.
The mobile web version of Gab works great! Push notifications are the only real advantage of a native app.
iOS is ready to roll out, but no announced ship date yet. Android won't be far behind. There is already a third-party Android app.
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They will be giving invites to Gab users, so we can hand them out.
I remember Google doing this when Gmail first came out.
"With your help we can make this happen. We can take down big social." -- Andrew Torba
Dance Me to A Deer Collision
Last Sunday, August 17, I took a long scooter ride to Fall River, MA, to dance with Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds. On the way home, after midnight, I hit a deer, went down, rolled a few times, and broke seven ribs. Full story at billstclair.com/accident.html.
Robin Williams, RIP
Robin Williams is dead. Apparently from depression. Sigh...
But his humor lives on. Nanu Nana, Your Magnificence!
Hello Old Friends: John Payne and Randy Roos
In the late seventies, I bought three of John Payne's albums and the first solo album, Mistral by Randy Roos. On vinyl, of course. My turntable broke many years ago, so I haven't heard them in 10 or 20 years. They've crossed my mind multiple times since I started using my computer as my main music source. I've done Google searches, but never found anything until today. I found YouTube videos for two thirds of the tracks on the three John Payne albums, and I found a limited edition CD reissue of Mistral from Laser's Edge. I downloaded and converted to audio the YouTube videos, listed below, and expect the CD in a week or less (shipping from New Jersey). Yay!
These were some of my first fusion jazz albums. I bought a lot more fusion in the early eighties, and learned that for most of it, the first two plays through an album were glorious, and then it was done, no longer interesting. Not so John Payne and Randy Roos. They've stayed in my memory for nearly 40 years. Glad to get reacquainted with these old friends.
If you know where I can find the missing tracks (no link) from the John Payne albums below, or, even better, a CD, please let me know.
The John Payne Band - Bedtime Stories (1975)
- Snow
- Fancy Free
- Song For Love
- African Brother
- Scenes From A Journey
- Thelonious Funk
- Rush
The John Payne - Louis Levin Band (1977)
- Before the Dawn
- Lonely Space Person
- Touchdown Café
- Nueva Campaña
- Night Set / Tower Road
- Dreams / Zone 9
- Freefalling
- Woman in the Shadow
The John Payne Band - The Razor's Edge (1979)
- Lolita
- Sounds From The Sea's Edge
- Himiola
- Ariadne
- The Razor's Edge
- New Spaces
- Electric Lush
- Past Days
- Reaching
Amazon Prime Price Increase
Just received the note below in email. The $20 increase was predicted, and their reason for it makes sense to me. That's 20 times $5 for slow shipping, and I like the two-day benefit, so I'll be renewing.
[amazon prime logo]
Dear Bill St. Clair,
We are writing to provide you advance notice that the price of your Prime membership will be increasing. The annual rate will be $99 when your membership renews on April 20, 2014.
Even as fuel and transportation costs have increased, the price of Prime has remained the same for nine years. Since 2005, the number of items eligible for unlimited free Two-Day Shipping has grown from one million to over 20 million. We also added unlimited access to over 40,000 movies and TV episodes with Prime Instant Video and a selection of over 500,000 books to borrow from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.
For more information about your Prime membership, visit our Prime membership page.
Sincerely,
The Amazon Prime Team
[amazon logo]
CD Jewel Case Security Tape Solution
Since I like full CD resolution music (or better), I buy CDs from Amazon. Some of them still come in Jewel cases with security tape holding together the top of the case (as you look at it when reading the cover). It's always been a bitch to get that tape off, until now. I did a Google search, and found this forum post. Thank you, depecher! Works like a charm. A nearly impossible task, guaranteed to elicit much swearing, is now easy as pie.
Have you ever tried to take the jewel case lid off from the bottom? This makes the tape pull apart so that all you have to do is pull it off. Turn the cd over to the back. Go against the spine at the bottom and pull up the hinge. There is a notch at the bottom to put your thumb on and you push against it upwards. It will open upwards. The tape will then be on both parts but all you have to do is pull the top of the cd down to remove the tape. I hope I've explained this so that it makes sense.
A fingernail disconnects the bottom hinge
Then you can flip it open
