Joliet, Illinois ignores Federal Law

UPDATE 2: The US Flags have all been removed.

UPDATE: The flag has now been removed, but I have actually found many more in the City of Joliet with the same issue. I will be taking more video this weekend and making more calls to the Mayors office. More on this issue to come soon. Thanks for your help with getting this first one removed.

This past summer, the City of Joliet, Illinois installed a Flag display at the corner of Bronk and Black road. It is a very nice display and being a Veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces, I take pride in seeing the U.S. Flag displayed.

However, the problem is that they never installed any lights and they are currently breaking Federal Flag Display Law by flying the flag at night with no illumination.

I have contacted the city clerks office as well as the office of Mayor Arthur Schultz. My last contact with the Mayor's office had them telling me they would not be taking the flag down.

This is a disgrace and I am asking for your help. Please watch the video above and please take a few minutes to call the Mayor's office and ask them to take down the flag until they can install proper illumination in accordance with Federal Law. You can reach the mayor's office at 815-724-3700.

With your help, I know we can get this issue resolved. Thank you very much.

Xbox Live goes Mobile

Do you find yourself always watching Xbox.com when you are away from you console?  Do you lose sleep at night wondering if someone on your friends list has passed you in Gamerscore?  Do you wonder what your friends are playing while you are working, or sitting in a classroom?  

If so, now you can check up on your friends and their scores from your BlackBerry or your iPhone.  Personally I have both these applications running on my work phone (BlackBerry) and my personal phone (iPhone) and both are good for you Xbox Live addicts.

The BlackBerry application is called Xberry Live.  To install the application, simply open up your browser on your BlackBerry and go to http://jxl.me/xberry/xberrylive.jad.  It will install the application automatically for you and from there you can add Gamercards as you wish.  See http://crackberry.com/xbox-live-your-blackberry-xberry-live for screenshots and more info.

In the iPhone world, my favorite Xbox Live application can be found by going to the App Store (either on your phone or from iTunes) and looking for 1337pwn.  This application works the same as Xberry Live by allowing you to put in Gamertags that you wish to follow and it keeps track of them.  This application does have more to it in the fact that is shows the gamercard, bio, and their achievements for games.  Get more info over at http://1337pwn.com/

Crossing over to the dark side

Anyone who knows me has a clear understanding of my years dislike for anything made by Apple.  From iMacs, to iBooks, and all the fruity colors they pushed on the computer market.  I have tried to use Macs in my career as an IT professional and have never found anything to like about them.  The Apple commercials talk about how easy Macs are to use, yet I have always found them to be exactly opposite.

Now perhaps my inability to figure out how to use a Mac is due to the years of using a Windows based PC.  This could very well be.  I am just use to how Windows works.  But that may have changed recently.  

I have been impressed with what I have seen with the iPhone.  Some friends of mine had them and I have tried them out much to my enjoyment.  Now being an avid hater of AT&T and not liking Apple, I went to other cellphone providers looking for the iPhone wanna be.  Figuring someone would make one that was better.  NOPE.  Both Verizon and Sprint have phones that try to compete with the iPhone but they simply can't come close to the amazing iPhone.

So needless to say, I swallowed my Microsoft pride and went into the AT&T store and proceeded to buy an iPhone.  I got the 8 GB version and I simply can't express how much I love this phone.  I am amazed by this thing on a daily basis.  Here are some things I enjoy.

The phone is amazingly simple to use.  Anything, and I do mean ANYTHING, that you do is simple.  The phone does not even come with a manual (you can get an electronic copy online).  Instead you get a little pamphlet.  At first I thought what the heck?  But I soon discovered that you don't need it.  The phone is so simple to use.

I love the built-in Google Maps.  This has come in handy numerous times already.  The only thing they need to do to improve this GPS option is to give the phone the ability to read out the directions to you like a real GPS device.  But this is a very nice alternative.  

Email is a breeze to setup and it comes ready to pull in your  email from sites like Yahoo, Google, Hotmail, etc.  You can even hook it into your companies email systems.  This phone is not up to speed yet for Enterprise email use as it is missing some useful features, but it does give you the basics.

Web browsing is a breeze with the REAL browser built-in (Safari).  And you can tip the phone on its side to get a more full screen view of the page.  Plus you get actual web pages and not text only versions which is really nice.  And I gotta say that I am very impressed with the speeds I am getting on the G3 network.  

The Apps store is by far one of the greatest things with this phone.  Thousands of applications are available at the touch of a button right from the phone.  No need to be at your computer to buy and install the app.  Just get it from the store direct from the phone.  I have downloaded lots of free apps that keep me updated on sports, stocks, news, movies, and even a few games.  

The contact list on this phone is the nicest I have seen as well.  All other phones I have had have pre-determined fields.  Most often you are not given enough fields to fill in all the numbers you may have for someone.  With the iPhone, you can customize fields very easily which is awesome.  Now I can have all the info I need for a person.

The phone is definitely an amazing piece of technology.  I look forward to future improvements and more great software in the app store.  If you are thinking about getting one of these phones, then stop thinking and go get it now.  You will be glad that you did.  

I am back

OK, you may be asking yourself.....What happened to Wingman?  Well, if you are, fear not I am back.  I have just been so busy dealing with family, work, flooding, etc. that I have not posted in awhile.  But I am going to try to get back to posting something at least every other day.

So for today, I wanted to talk about the upcoming Presidential election.  I still can't figure out why this Country will not pass a law that requires a President to have served in the U.S. Military in some fashion even if it is only for a four year term.   

I don't think that someone should be put in charge of U.S. Armed Forces when they never wore a uniform.  We had this before with President Clinton and from the way things are looking, we may have it again with Obama (Lord help us all).  

I am not a big fan of John McCain, but I feel that he has the experiance, both miliatry and political, to handle the position of President.  Obama has NO military experiance and very little political experiance.  Why does it seem like the American people want to hand over this Country to the person with the least amount of experiance?  Heck, why not let me do the job then.  Oh wait, I spent eight years serving my Country in the U.S. Air Force so I guess I am over qualified.

I really do worry about the future of our Country, economy, and our brave men and woman in uniform.  I only pray that the next President does not let our fallen soldiers die in vein like President Clinton did in Somalia.  

God Bless all our military men and woman and lets hope the American people can pull their heads out of their behind when they go to the polls in a few weeks.

Vote McCain/Palin