ValkingBlog: July 2006

ValkingBlog

Because there is more to life than just work...

Friday, July 21, 2006

The Ruckus, it might be time to think about fun


Canadian Motorcycle Guide Online - Test Ride: "I was visiting a friend in California recently. He's a regular reader of CMG and when the topic of the magazine came up – amongst other things – he commented about our scooter coverage. Something to the effect of:
“What the f@ck are you doing testing scooters? Who gives a shit about those things?”
I felt like a Mod about to be bludgeoned by a Rocker on Brighton Beach in 1964.
I'm not sure how successful I was in defending our editorial decisions at CMG, but the whole encounter left me wondering if we haven't been doing a very good job of extolling the virtues of these slightly stunted members of the motorcycle family. After all, we get it. Why doesn't everybody else?"
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Give me one of these, Man I love Honda's line. If only the local dealership was worth a hoot in customer service...

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C.W. Nevius.blog : Bloggers read newspapers? Stop the presses.

C.W. Nevius.blog : Bloggers read newspapers? Stop the presses.: "Bloggers read newspapers? Stop the presses.
Alexander Halavais, may only be an assistant professor of interactive communications at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, but he knows how to deliver the money quote. Asked about bloggers by the Washington Post, Halavais came up with a beaut.
'The average blogger is a 14-year-old girl writing about her cat,'' Halavais said.

Nordstrom
This is NOT the official uniform of a blogger.This leads to one obvious conclusion. I gotta get a cat. Because as a blogger, the rest of the qualifications are pretty much out of reach. This all comes up because the prestigious Pew Intenet & American Life Project has just finished a look at bloggers: who they are, what they do, and whether or not they do it in their pajamas. (Not so much on the PJs, it turns out.)
The results are not just surprising, but hopeful. For one thing, you might want to cancel the caterer for the funeral for the death of the American newspaper. The study found that 85 percent of bloggers 'read newspapers'' and half of that group does so 'on a typical day.'' Just to add to their interest in current events, nine out of ten watch the news on television."
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I'll be the first to tell you friends and neighbors, I haven't read a paper in months. Firstly because the Savannah Morning News is just a birdcage liner that keeps reporting less & less news (and sorely needs proof readers), and secondly because I don't own a bird, I'm a cat person as well...

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AT&T is STILL Evil

Judge refuses to drop spying suit against AT&T | CNET News.com: "update A federal judge rejected on Thursday both the U.S. government's and AT&T's requests to dismiss a class action suit accusing the telephone giant of assisting the National Security Agency in a sweeping, allegedly illegal terrorist surveillance program.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco disagreed with the government's assertion that the case should be thrown out because its subject matter and evidence involve 'state secrets.'
'Because of the public disclosures by the government and AT&T, the court cannot conclude that merely maintaining this action creates a 'reasonable danger' of harming national security,'"
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Ya know boys and girls, I don't know where this one's going, but in this instance I really don't care, because AT&T is STILL evil. Kinda makes me happy that someone's putting their feet to the fire.

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Monday, July 10, 2006

Points to consider... how true!

1. There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.

2. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

3. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.

4. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.

5. Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world.

6. It ain't the jeans that make your butt look fat.

7. If you had to identify, in 1 word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, & never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

8. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

9. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

10. You should not confuse your career with your life.

11. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

12. Never lick a steak knife.

13. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

14. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

15. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

16. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.

17. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

18. Your friends love you anyway.

19. Thought for the day: Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

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Wednesday, July 05, 2006

AT&T is Evil, Day Two

So I called the 800 customer service number on the back of that "could be 500 minutes if you can find & read the fine print" AT&T - Wal-Mart rip-off card.
Found out a few things: In the AT&T universe,

A minute to England costs 13 minute off the card.
A minute to the Ukraine costs 11 minutes off the card.
A minute to the Bahamas costs 7 minutes off the card.

So I was right a friend in the Ukraine WAS cheaper, but only by a hair.
So far the score, AT&T doesn't care that you don't like being cheated.
Wal-Mart has recorded that I'm not satisfied with the 500 minute card ripping us off and that since it says Wal-Mart on it, they're a participant in the rip off. They might care, but that's a pretty big might. We'll see. So far I can't decide if Wal-Mart is Evil for certain. I'm still keeping an open mind and hoping they'll do the right thing.

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Tuesday, July 04, 2006

AT&T Gouging U.S. Soldiers in Iraq - O'Reilly Emerging Telephony

AT&T Gouging U.S. Soldiers in Iraq - O'Reilly Emerging Telephony: "As Tom points out with the going wholesale cost of voice minutes under a penny per minute, this seems very, very wrong. Tom also notes that the total amount of money we’re talking about here is a drop in the bucket for a company like AT&T. It’s mind-boggling to me that the execs at AT&T don’t realize that the poison PR they could suffer over this is not even close to being worth the cash they’re making. If the issue gets more mainstream coverage I wouldn’t even be surprised if it comes into play as regulators consider the BellSouth acquisition."

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Sounds like my kid isn't the only victim, everyone's kid is. That's it, AT&T is evil.
Ripping off the troops too? Have a look see.

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Ma Bell & my daughter or "How AT&T cheats my kid"

How AT&T cheats my kid
How AT&T cheats my kid.
Well it's a simple case of the big kid on the block bullying the little ones. But in this case it's my little one and I'm not too happy about it. It's all about phone cards and my 14 year old daughter. And being cheated by AT&T. So somewhere along the line my kiddo's found a friend in England. A kid her age and they chat thru the internet and all the rest. Well aparently they talk on the phone too, and therein lies the phone cards. Kiddo tells me she's spending hard earned & won cash on phone cards at the post office and calling her friend. (At this point I tell you we've already discussed online predators and fake internet people and all the rest...) The cards are something like 100 or 150 minute cards and after a minute surcharge to connect they last something like 90 minutes a call. Well hey, we can do better Daddy thinks, let's go to Wal-Mart and save kiddo some money. (And teach her a lesson in comparison shopping, Daddies are like that, wanting the little girls to grow up smart...) Well the lesson ended up not being what Daddy thought it would be. So we go to Wal-Mart and while cruising the isles we find a few things we need (Hotwheels for example, always a kid at heart) and eventually we run across phone cards. Well there's a varied selection but AT&T cards seem to dominate (heck we know & trust AT&T, let's go with them) so we check the numbers. 100 minute cards are under $10, 300 minute cards are something like $18, but wait there's a 500 minute card for around $25. What a bargain! We were looking to spend ten bucks but hey five times the minutes for 2.5 the money, let's get the 500 minute card. So off we roll, I'm a hero to kiddo, thank-you's flow like wine, life is good. Kiddo is excited and can't wait to drop on her friend in merry ole England the good fortune in phone card shopping and minutes for teen talk. Well fast forward a few days and I'm talking to kiddo. She's not happy and explains to me that her card lasted 38 minutes. Now I'm not happy. 38 minutes! Seems that calling England burns minutes at a rate of 13 to 1 in the AT&T universe. Now when I bought that card I figured say 400 minutes of use after surcharges compared to the United States Postal Service cards, would seem reasonable, right? Nope. That's not the deal. In the AT&T universe, might I also add now, the Wal-Mart universe as they're on the deal too : Wal-Mart AT&T cards things go alot faster. A minute's really 4.61 seconds. The funny thing is even the line on that page "no hidden surcharges*" the funny thing's the asterisk in the "no hidden" they pretty clearly mention the connect penalty, but don't mention what the variable rate is for the different countries. Sounds hidden to me. Guess kiddo needs to find a less valuable friend in some country that it's cheaper to talk to. Kind of like let's price shop the countries and see who's the best value. Where that could go is priceless, would a friend in the Ukraine be a better value? Really though for the Wal-MArt & AT&T system, kiddo could have 13 US friends for the cost of the English one. Of course I have a friend or two that are English & they're very cool, but to have pay 13 times the price to talk to them, wowsers. Why not just charge that for the English wherever they are? English friend in Florida? Minutes burn at 13:1 ratio. Just think if the cell phone people got in on this. No wonder the Internet's so cool. Email, instant messaging, chatroom, same price everywhere. International telephone, heck with that. I'm starting to get pretty tired of all the companies that make their business cheating one customer at a time. Perhaps they just count on that one time cheating. Like P.T.Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute." AT&T got us this time, Wal-Mart shared in the fun. I won't be in a rush to have them cheat us again. Time to look for other places to spend our money.

Time for AT&T and Wal-Mart to do the right thing.

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Monday, July 03, 2006

Upcycle Design, Aluminum Tab Bracelet

Upcycle Design, Aluminum Tab Bracelet

Now here's a modern pop-top piece of jewelry, check it out. Not bad at all...

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Illegal Status Hinders Mexican Voting Bloc

Illegal Status Hinders Mexican Voting Bloc
"LOS ANGELES -- In a Mexican presidential election so close the winner won't be named for days, many expatriates did not vote for fear their illegal status in the U.S. would be exposed.
Thousands of Mexican expatriates streamed into border towns Sunday to vote in their homeland's elections and others were allowed to cast absentee ballots for the first time. But some were disenfranchised by their fear of crossing the border as undocumented residents.
"Why couldn't they have made it easier for us to vote here?" said Adriana Lopez, 27, a housewife and illegal immigrant in Orange County who wanted to but couldn't vote out of fear to cross the border. "The governments at home are always so corrupt.""

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This one speaks volumes for itself gang.
Enough said.

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Illegal Status Hinders Mexican Voting Bloc

Illegal Status Hinders Mexican Voting Bloc: "LOS ANGELES -- In a Mexican presidential election so close the winner won't be named for days, many expatriates did not vote for fear their illegal status in the U.S. would be exposed.
Thousands of Mexican expatriates streamed into border towns Sunday to vote in their homeland's elections and others were allowed to cast absentee ballots for the first time. But some were disenfranchised by their fear of crossing the border as undocumented residents.
"Why couldn't they have made it easier for us to vote here?" said Adriana Lopez, 27, a housewife and illegal immigrant in Orange County who wanted to but couldn't vote out of fear to cross the border. "The governments at home are always so corrupt."

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This one speaks for itself folks...

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IOL: Earth avoids disaster as asteroid comes as close as moon

IOL: Earth avoids disaster as asteroid comes as close as moon: "The Earth had a near miss early today when a giant asteroid hurtled past almost as close as the Moon.

The space rock, named 2004 XP14, was travelling at 11 miles per second as it made its nearest approach to the planet at about 5.30am Irish time."

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Boys & Girls,
This was a planet killer, the real news though is that in 30 years there will be one we'll be able to see with the naked eye. Of course I did have a big weekend, just in case it had been the last one...

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Sunday, July 02, 2006

Check it out...

This one's speaks for itself... when winds don't give you lift, make your own...
This is one I'll be watching over & over again. Man what a nice flight.



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