Selective Android: Missing Files & Folders

One of the (many) things better about Android over iPhone is the ability to plug in a phone and access its files quickly and effortlessly through a PC’s file browser (such as Windows Explorer).

With the new Nexus 6P that simplicity seems to be … less so.

Not sure why, but I cannot access 5 of the 6 photo folders (ex: screenshots) on my phone. Nor can I see over half of my music folders. I would be less perplexed if it was a zero-sum situation, but the fact that I can see some but not others (especially when they are all in the same main folder) is a mystery. As far as I can tell, I’m ticking off all the to-dos on the checklist…

• USB Debugging is enabled.
• Use the USB for … File Transfers is selected.
• Using the official/stock USB Type-C cable that came with the Nexus 6P.
• Have a Gigabyte Z170XP-SLI motherboard (which has USB Type-C) so no adapters in play

 

11 on the phone

 

5 visible through PC

Dear @GooglePlus, stop asking about my friends

Google is like a goddamn mosquito buzzing in my ear. For a company founded on the core principle of simple, parsimonious user interface they’ve really lost sight of that.

Even though I have always hated Google+, I am trying to use it a bit more for some forums — sorry, that’s communities in Googlespeak — for Lightroom, Scrivener, etc. But every time I visit Google+ it is asking me to look for my friends.

Piss off, Google. If I want to look for friends I’ll look for my goddamn friends. I don’t need you poking me every five minutes like some annoying little brother. I understand that giving users the option to add connections is standard protocol when setting up a new service, but generally after you make your selection the first time they stop asking. They Do Not. Keep. Asking.

But Google+ seems so desperate to increase its floundering user base it feels compelled to ask about my friends every bloody time I access it. Even if I’m already logged in.

It offers two options:

1. Spam your friends
2. Spam your friends later.

They apparently have no qualms about keeping it more worthy of being called Google-.

 

 

I Hope Trump Wins

I want Donald Trump to become the next President of the United States of America. Not because I think he deserves it. Or that he is the best choice for the country. Or the world. Or that I agree with any of his politics. Or even that I think he’ll do a good job. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I think he is a disgusting, repugnant human being. He represents greed and racism and heartlessness. He is a vulgar, arrogant narcissist who is a very conceivable threat to global political stability, the quality of life in America and, most importantly, the environment. The world’s environment.

With all that said, why would I want him to win? Because he is the culmination of America. He is America. And it’s due time that America reaps what it sows. Even if such a predicament holds great potential to harm the rest of us. America needs a bigger taste of America before it will change.

Ever more felicitous are Jeremiah Wright’s words that caused such a hullabaloo during Obama’s first presidential campaign: “America’s chickens are coming home to roost.”

Pamela Anderson made a sex tape?!

This article on “The Richest” is the very definition of click bait. They may as well (and quite possibly do) have an article titled “10 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Charged With Murder” and have OJ Simpson on the list.

No way!

Shibuya Halloween: People, People and More People [video]

I was riding back from visiting a friend in Hiroo a couple Saturdays ago. As it was October 31st, I decided to swing into Shibuya and take some shots of the Halloween partygoers.

I used to go to Shibuya for Halloween five or more years ago. Every year was pretty much the same crowd: a lot of foreigners and those Japanese who regularly go out there, but simply in costume. Year to year there wasn’t much of a discernible increase in the number of people. So I expected to just pop in and take a few shots shots of Slutty Cop, Slutty Nurse, Slutty Cat and the drunk gaijin who hit on them. But what I found was beyond belief. This year was more like Mardi Gras.

Pictures would not suffice. So I shot some video. And I finally got finished editing it. A few weeks late, but here is Shibuya on Halloween. I head upward for a view from above (and the crossing in full effect) at the 3:24 mark if you get dizzy from the mosh pit below.

There Just Ain’t Room for Refugees in Canada

I need to work on my drawing skills. But I made a comic.

 

The 50 Best (Western) Punk Songs Ever

I found this old post in the Internet Archives on November 16, 2015. Originally posted March 22, 2009. A lot has changed since then. Grooveshark is no more. Also, after another six years in Japan, I now notice how Western this list is. However, this is not an update to the list – so I won’t be adding any songs by The Stalin, Hi-Standard, GISM or any other worthy Japanese bands. The only change I will make to the old post is adding some YouTube links. And the title of the post.

Three events led to the creation of this list.

Last year, on a hot Tokyo day in September 2009, my laptop screen bid me farewell. It gave up. Our relationship had been a sham for years anyway, almost from the beginning. Anyone who’s had a Toshiba Satellite can probably relate.

I was therefore forced to buy a replacement. But after five tenuous years it really was time to get out there and find something new. Fortunately Toshiba’s hard drive had been insufficient for some time, so I had most of my stuff kept on an external drive. This made the move much easier. And even though my new HP has a lot of space, I still keep most of my stuff on the external drive.

However, one thing I did lose was a large selection of music. Because Toshiba was so weak and pathetic, it preferred to play music off the hard drive. But I still had a lot of that music on my iPhone, so I didn’t worry too much.

I got my new HP and plugged my iPhone into it, planning to sync them up. I then got the pop-up message telling me that Apple hates it customers. In order for me to sync MY iPhone to MY new laptop I would lose all the music on my iPhone. “But my old laptop died,” I told Apple Support. “We don’t care. Fuck you,” was Apple’s response. So, I decided not to sync my iPhone. All my good music was on my iPhone and I had no desire to restock my collection.

Five months later, on a cold Wednesday in February, I lost my iPhone. Somewhere between Koenji Station and Dynamo. The Koban told me 90% of lost items make their way back their owners. I don’t think iPhones are on this list. After 10 days of waiting and hoping, I was once again forced to purchase consumer electronics I already owned. More or less.

I had some music on my external drive by now, and ripped a couple CDs, to get some tunes on the new phone. But the collection was a skeletal shadow of its former self.

Six days later, I got hit with a fever that lasted five days and kept me pretty much bed ridden for the better part of a week. I hadn’t had much time to replenish my digital music collection, so in my more lucid moments I set to downloading all I’d lost. And as I gained strength I gained motivation. I would expand my collection to new levels. I had mostly been searching for old vinyls and CDs I have back in Canada. But days of searching for songs and albums I hadn’t heard in years got me thinking. And as such, a broken laptop, a lost iPhone, and a 39.42C fever resulted in the creation of this list.

This list is obviously not definitive, as no list is. It’s a list of really good songs and that’s about it. Some songs I left off because I didn’t want too many songs from the same band. After all, I could easily make this list with only four bands. But that would be boring, so I decided no band could claim more than two spots. Also, I make no distinction here between punk rock, hardcore, postpunk, protopunk, neopunk, pop punk, or whatever. People who say “that’s not punk” are pretentious douchebags. Who gives a fuck? Although I think anything below falls under the “Punk Umbrella” well enough. I’ve also listed them in chronological order, because #1 is a ridiculous concept, and most of them should come as no surprise.

I’ve added most of these songs to a palylist on Grooveshark. There are still a few I’ve uploaded but am still waiting to get into the system.

1. 1969 I Wanna Be Your Dog The Stooges (YouTube)
2. 1975 Politicians in My Eyes Death (YouTube)
3. 1976 Anarchy in the UK Sex Pistols (YouTube)
4. 1976 I’m Stranded The Saints (YouTube)
5. 1977 Chinese Rocks The Heartbreakers (YouTube)
6. 1977 Orgasm Addict Buzzcocks (YouTube)
7. 1977 White Riot The Clash
8. 1977 New Rose The Damned
9. 1978 I Wanna Be Sedated Ramones
10. 1978 Do They Owe Us A Living? Crass
11. 1979 Bloodstains Agent Orange
12. 1979 London Calling The Clash
13. 1979 Where Eagles Dare Misfits
14. 1979 Bomb The Boats And Feed The Fish Forgotten Rebels
15. 1979 Fuck You Subhumans (Canada)
16. 1980 Holiday in Cambodia Dead Kennedys
17. 1980 Jesus (Entering From The Rear) The Feederz
18. 1980 Police Truck Dead Kennedys
19. 1980 World War 3 DOA
20. 1980 Warhead UK Subs
21. 1981 Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie Black Flag
22. 1981 Punks Not Dead The Exploited
23. 1981 Minor Threat Minor Threat
24. 1982 Pay To Cum Bad Brains
25. 1982 Moral Majority Circle Jerks
26. 1982 Religious Wars Subhumans (UK)
27. 1982 Time Bomb / This is Boston Not LA The Freeze
28. 1982 Suburban Home Descendents
29. 1982 Moral Threat Social Distortion
30. 1982 We’re Only Gonna Die Bad Religion
31. 1983 Coup d’Etat Circle Jerks
32. 1983 Institutionalized Suicidal Tendencies
33. 1984 Cannibal Cafe SNFU
34. 1984 New Aryans Reagan Youth
35. 1984 When The Bomb Drops Subhumans (UK)
36. 1984 Walk Together, Rock Together 7 Seconds
37. 1985 Salad Days Minor Threat
38. 1986 Argh Fuck Kill Dayglo Abortions
39. 1986 I Against I Bad Brains
40. 1986 One to Two Dag nasty
41. 1986 The Devil’s Voice SNFU
42. 1986 Dad Nomeansno
43. 1989 Start Today Gorilla Biscuits
44. 1991 Bro Hymn Pennywise
45. 1992 Welcome To Paradise Green Day
46. 1994 Inner Logic Bad Religion
47. 1995 Roots Radicals Rancid
48. 1996 You’ve Got to Die for the Government Anti-Flag
49. 1997 Murder The Government NOFX
50. 2001 Fuck Authority Pennywise

Helpful Profile Pic for Facebook Racists

A lot of my friends are not racist. It’s not like they’re antisemites or something. They just hate Muslims. And refugees — from “those kind” of countries. And rightly so. Refugees represent a threat to their safety and security. After all, the few Canadian terrorists there have been have all been born in Canada. They’ve not been refugees. So, let’s not help get that ball rolling. Best to keep our terror homegrown and let foreign children drown, starve and get sold into slavery. Or better yet, get picked up by ISIS/ISIL, al-Shabab, or some other radical asymmetrical warfare group that will mold them into a real threat.

And seeing as so many of them love to show their support for things by splashing colour overlays on their profile pics (ex: French flag, Pride flag, Pink October), I thought I could help them out. This profile pic could clear up any wrong impressions people may get about them from their posts and comments. But perhaps I should make a translucent version as well.

Five Seconds on Facebook Reconfirms My Reasons for Leaving

In the months preceding the Canadian federal election I began to see this growing trend of “acceptable prejudice” from many friends and friends of friends on Facebook. That typical Facebook World of people you know, people you knew and people you never will. But, of course, that was Stephen Harper’s election plan after all — divide and conquer. That’s why he hired the detestable and despicable Lynton Crosby to be his Campaign Manager of Propaganda & Fear. And it worked. Because it seems most people have very little capacity for independent critical thought. What I saw, day in and day out, was quite saddening. People, they really are the masses.

All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach.

I have a very low tolerance for intolerance, so most of my Facebook posts for the better part of 2015 were anti-Harper posts. And it got tiring. And heated. And somehow, Islamic cultural attire became the most important campaign issue facing the nation. I was honestly surprised at how many people are so vehemently anti-Muslim. And that this overtly racist sentiment (absolutely no different than antisemitism) is apparently quite acceptable to a great majority of people. Of Canadians. The idiotic fake driver’s license of a burka-covered face was quickly shared by an astounding number of people. Without even questioning its prejudice, let alone giving a half-second thought to its veracity.

By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise.

I got into more than a few debates, dialogues and arguments with friends and strangers. And I realized — it’s not worth it. So in late September I decided that after the October 19th election I’d pack up my virtual Facebook bags and take a break. A two-week vacation, in fact. Two weeks from actual Facebook time that is. And I figured that if I spend an hour a day on Facebook that amounts to 365 hours a year. And that equals 15 days — or about two weeks. So on October 21st, with a very brief post simply asking people to get hold of me via email, phone or some other avenue, I stopped visiting Facebook.

And it’s been bliss.

However, after seeing news of the attacks in Paris I logged into Facebook to check on my friends who live there. I was relieved to see both are fine. (One of their friends was actually at the Bataclan. Thankfully, she made it out okay. Physically.) I then made the mistake of glancing at my newsfeed. I saw a friend of mine, his profile pic overlayed with the French flag, had a status asking people not to spread the hate because, obviously, all Muslims are not evil terrorists. The reply from a friend was as swift and seething as it was ignorant. But this, this is now par for the course in Canada. In the West. This is blatant, vocal racism is acceptable to a great many people. And there is apparently no shame in it. It even got “likes”.

I had only to scroll down one small flick of my finger to see another post of a similar vein. But this one, she was blaming the refugees! The people running away from the chaos! Her thoughts and prayers were with the people of Paris, but not with the millions of people displaced by war outside the French capital. Heartwarming. And, of course, she had people immediately support her call to close the gates and fuck ’em all.

Anyways, two ignorant posts were more than enough. I had confirmed my friends were safe and that was my reason for being there. It was time to quietly duck back out before I had another friend warn me about evil refugees and fucking jihadis. Maybe they don’t know The Forgotten Rebels were being sarcastic when they sang Bomb The Boats.

Blockquotes above are by Adolf Hitler.

Microsoft can’t recognize it’s own software?

Trying to fix the Error Microsoft gave me when it tried to automatically update my Windows 10 today. I tried to open the manual update page in Firefox but it told me to use Internet Explorer. Okay, so I opened Microsoft Edge, which I thought was Internet Explorer’s cutting edge replacement. So I was surprised it couldn’t handle their own website.

The page then told me it’s best to use Internet Explorer — which it reminded me I have on my computer (news to me actually!). So fine, I clicked the “Open with Internet Explorer” link the page provided.

The new page then told me that I “must be running Internet Explorer 6.0 or later.” So I checked the version of my IE (seeing as I haven’t used IE since 1997 I really had no idea what version I ‘d be on). But I’m running version 11! Much much later than 6.0 I reckon. What say you Microsoft?