To go directly to my new HP iPaq h2210 page, go here!
www.DoNotCall.gov
This is supposed to take you to a Do-Not-Call list for blocking telemarketer calls to your home. SCHWEET!!! A big FUCK YOU out there to ALL of you telemarketers!
However, I haven't been able to get to the site. I'm sure it's being BOMBARDED right now.
You can sign up now, and it supposed to go into effect later this year (i.e., if a telemarketer calls you after Oct. or something, then they're supposed to get fined).
The gubment throwing a hand-out to the people...
And, of course, we built a sand castle :)
Check out Silver Lake Sand Dunes Website for more info!!!
Microtel SYSMAR550 PC from WalMart.com
To make a long story short, I loaded it up with Linux (Mandrake 9.1), and it seems quite happy! Again, not the fastest thing on the market by any means, but for $200 it will do many many things. I'm quite happy with it, and am now going to recommend it to people who wish to get an ultra-low priced PC. The total comes to about $230 with shipping and tax. So slap a $100 (or so) monitor on that bad boy, and for less than $350, you've got a computer! Add a printer for another $100 and scanner for the same, and for $550, now you can scan & print stuff. Cool! I remember when this stuff used to cost $3000. I never paid that thankfully, but I helped people buy it for that. When they went for around $1000 that's when people started buying them like mad. Now $350 for the package. Wow.
The major thing about this computer is that it doesn't come with an operating system (for those in the dark, and operating system (OS) is the software that runs your computer, most of you know Windows, but freaks like me use Linux (there are MANY others)). For me this is no problem because Linux is free and can be loaded FREELY on as many computers as you wish. And it's 100% legally free. If you need a computer for Internet and/or office stuff (word processing, spreadsheets, database, etc...), then USE LINUX :). Fuck Microsoft.
The computer is not the beefiest thing on the block. AMD Duron 1.1Ghz processor, 128MB RAM, 10GB hard drive, 52x CD-ROM, audio/video/network, and keyboard/mouse/speakers. Again, no OS, floppy, or modem. The 10GB hard drive may seem kinda small, but for most people who are looking for a BARGAIN BASEMENT computer, this is it! You wouldn't use this thing to store your whole MP3 collection (although you could buy a big hard drive and it would work), or do major video editing, but for nearly anything else (Internet/office/some games/digital pictures), it'll do just fine.
In any case, we just ordered one of these babies at my work to replace one that broke. We're a non-profit company, and the economy sucks right now, so lowest price is the name of the game right now. The total came to $225 with shipping and tax. Wow. The only problem is that the shipping may take 1-2 weeks. Ah well, for $199 you just can not complain. When ours comes, I'll get it loaded up (with Mandrake 9.1 most likely), and let you guys know how it runs!!!
After reading things like these:
(Both links swiped from Robot Wisdom)
I want to just cry. I'm driven to the limits of just accepting things as they are. I can't do it much longer. We're fucking ourselves, and the future, up so much that we're going to reach the point of inflection soon.
I mean, think about it. Your worth in life is defined by how much money you have. How fucked up is that? Countries are gauged by things like GDP (Gross Domestic Product), and stock market company values. They're valued by how many successful companies they have.
Countries aren't valued by how many sucessful PEOPLE they have. Countries aren't valued by how smart their people are. They aren't valued by how well-fed their people are. They aren't valued by their citizens' quality of life.
Are we the new Russia? America used to pride itself in the fact that we weren't the USSR because our leaders weren't corrupt. After reading the above article link (the full page ad), Welp, throw that out the fucking window.
And think about it. Once the oil runs out, that's when World War III will start. We're going to live out Mad Max for real. I'm not joking, either. Instead of foraging for food, we're going to forage for oil. Fucking strange to think about.
And our leaders have known about the situation (oil running out) for a very long time. Yet, they didn't have the foresight to develop alternatives. And I'm not just talking about things like a hydrogen-based economy or fuel cells. I'm talking about giving SERIOUS thought to subways and trains. Not just for big cities, but a system of trains linking the whole country. I'm not talking about fucking Amtrak either. Whatever. I'm talking about the system that links Europe together. Our only system (again, Amtrak), is nearly fucked ... due to... guess what? Corruption? DING DING DING! We have a winner!
Of course, I forget to mention the fact that we won't educate the masses because it's not financially feasable. It doesn't matter that it's NECESSARY. We can't afford it, and that's that! Oil and money first. Education later. Those on the top of the food chain are guaranteed an education. So why bother with the rest?
So fuck it. Forget I said anything. Let's pretend things just go along for years on end. Somehow, someway, humanity slugs along and somehow, someway, we don't fuck up the earth to the point where it can no longer sustain our life, and, somehow, someway, we find new and profitable ways to keep our tanks (and cars) running. What then?
We'll get ours. Sooner or later an asteroid or something will get us. But we don't care. The lights are on, the car works. We're good.
We have absolutely no concept of leaving this planet. In the second article listed above NASA basically is killing any real ideas of getting new spacecraft off the ground. As long as the current ones can lift satellites into orbit, and our cell phones and cable work, we're good.
We busted some serious ass in the 60's to get to the moon. And we haven't been back since. We keep dinking around with Mars. No manned missions of course. I don't understand the point. Let's start recruiting suicide missions right here and now. Fuck it, put me on the moon. No, put me on Mars. Like we don't have the technology to use and recycle the minerals and stuff from the planets. Whatever. Nuclear submarines can go for extraordinary lengths of time underwater without ever coming to the surface for air. And they can go for many many many years without recharging due to nuclear engines.
But we won't even think about starting this process... building a network of planetary stations around the earth. We've got one, and it's only half fucking built. And due to the Columbia disaster, even that is in question. ISS is looking like more and more like a PR ploy to me. I fucking hate PR people.
Absolutely no one in charge is seriously thinking ahead here. We need a new group to oversee government activities to see if they fit into the "future plan". Obviously the people that do that now are fucking idiots. Need proof? Afghanistan & Iraq. We funded them waaay back. Now they're biting us in the ass. So we had to spend time from the plan and get them back.
Hari Seldon would not have approved :).
I'm one step away from starting the Church of Distrust. And if I don't get non-profit status, then I'm going to fucking sue the shit out of someone.
My God, We Are Totally Fucked (WATF).
The pic is kind of crappy, but it says: "WHO'S THE DADDY, 1(800)R-U-MY-KID". Beneath it gives a URL for a DNA paternity testing facility.
Holy shit!
I've FINALLY updated my GeoCaching page!!! It got to be so huge due to the large amounts of pictures on there. Now I've got it separated into some smaller pages. Should be MUCH better on modem and broadband users alike :). Check it out!
Also,a group of us local cachers have started a website: www.nwogeo.org - NorthWestern Ohio Geocachers. Check that out, too! :)
After reading an article in Forbes called Shortchanged (whose link I found from Slashdot), I wanted to vomit.
It tells of the FCC mingling with the phone companies. The FCC did this big audit and found the phone companies heavily fucking up their accounting books with stuff that either didn't exist, or was just outright inaccurate.
And the FCC covered it up in a big deal which was supposed to make it right. But did it? 'Course not!
And then I hear that a CEO of one-or-another of the airline companies was asking for BILLIONS of dollars of wage concessions (i.e., asking the little guy to either give up a raise, or take a pay cut), while giving top-level guys raises and more benefits.
So today, I give a big FUCK YOU out to corporate America.
I'm thinking it's about time to burn this motherfucker down and rebuit it from scratch. Fuck it, I'm moving to Iraq! Did I say Iraq? I meant Little America.
I called again and again to see if they had access cards in yet. Nope. Each time I was harassed for my name, phone number, e-mail address. Every god damned time.
I was impatient from the start, but by the time last night rolled around, I'd have enough. Screw it. Even if I'd pay more, I'd rather get it from people who at least had the courtesy to have the shit in stock.
So I went to the other place, Circuit City.
I found the unit, and was astonished when I saw the price of their warranty plan... $30! Best Buy's was $100!
To make a long story short, I paid just short of $300 at Circuit City for a BRAND NEW UNIT WITH WARRANTY ($250 for the unit, $30 for the warranty, $20 for taxes). I would have paid a bit over $300 at Best Buy FOR A USED UNIT WITH A WARRANTY ($200 for the unit, $100 for the warranty, $? for taxes).
Holy Shit!
But the one thing that I found was confusion abounded. Neither the people at Best Buy or Circuit City had a clue on how much the service costed. At Best Buy they told me I'd have to pay $5/month for DirecTV DVR charge (Digital Video Recorder), and then $13/month for TiVo service. Circuit City said I would just pay the $13/month TiVo charge.
They were both wrong! I only have to pay $5/month DirecTV charge, and that INCLUDES the TiVo services! Ha! This is so awesome!
I brought the thing home, hooked it up, called DirecTV, and off I went. I had to wait a bit for the program list to download, but after that I spent hours programming & playing with that thing. Setting it up for my favorite shows and even other stuff I'd just like to have if nothing else is on TV. It's awesome!
And pausing live TV! Wow! AND REWINDING IT, TOO. Man, this is something else. I'm all about home automation, and this is a MUST HAVE addition to any Home Theater. Or even any plain old TV w/DirecTV. Won't have to worry about missing it again.
And I love the fact that you can program weeks in advance. Let's say I see a commercial for a show I want to watch, but it's not on for a couple of weeks. Instead of writing it down or setting a reminder on my PocketPC, I can just tell the TiVo to record it for me, right there and then. BOOM. Done. Forget about it.
WOW. I haven't even had this thing for 24 hours, and I'm going crazy with it.
I've had an itch for a TiVo. I've talked to someone who has one, and they just love it. I've read the info about them, and of course, now I want one.
I just don't want to PAY for one :)
I was driving around the other day in this GREAT weather we're having, and (probably subconsciencly) drove to Best Buy. I went in and started looking at what they had in terms of DirecTV/TiVo units. The cheapest one they had was $250, but they had an open one sitting right on top of it. I asked about it, and it turns out to be a customer return. They have it for $209, I haggle down to $200. Killer!
But they couldn't sell it to me. They didn't have any DirecTV access cards in stock. So I have to have them reserve it for me. They said the cards should be in any day.
I fucking hate that. I dislike buying things on the Internet anymore due to having to WAIT. And paying for shipping. And then the fucking shipping people fuck it up, and you have to wait even more.
I fucking hate waiting. That's why I just go to the store.
So I reluctantly leave it behind.
The next day I call to see if they have the cards in stock. I'm almost crushed when I finally get through to a human being, and the first thing he asks for is: "Name, Phone Number, & E-Mail address".
You want my fucking social security number too asswipe? How about my favorite fucking color???
No thanks, I just have a question, I was in there...
I'm sorry sir, but in order to serve you better, we log our phone calls...
What? I just want to ask a question. And I AM NOT going to give you my personal information!
Finally, he gives up and I ask for the TV department. He says he can help with that. I ask him my question, he doesn't know, and then transfers me to the TV department.
Fucking hell I hate this. Such a shitty setup. It used to be, you call the store, and you listen to one menu with all the departments listed, and you punch in the number of the department you wish to access. Now you have to go through three menus (including language selection), and then talk to a human being, who, for all intents and purposes, may as well be another fucking automated robot. And then you have to give up your private info so they can spam the fuck out of you.
So anyway.
I've called for the past three days, and they STILL DO NOT HAVE ANY DIRECTV ACCESS CARDS. Let me put it like this... Best Buy has not been able to sell any DirecTV hardware for the past 3-5 days because they don't have the little cards. Does that make business sense? If I were a business trying to hustle this equipment, I'd of had these motherfuckers overnighted!
TiVo, I'll see you soon. Just not today :(.
I don't want to get started on the war here, you all know my feelings.
But, God Damn man, we go in, bomb the place, rid it of wankers, secure the oil, and now the rest of the world says "OK, you did the hard work, now step out of the way and let us take over". What the fuck is wrong with these people??? People criticize the US for it's oil-hungryness (myself included), but wow, we're starting to see the other true colors fly!
And a lot of the Iraqis aren't any better. Man, when that statue of Saddam fell, it was as if those people were ready to give Bush head right there in the middle of the street. Now, only a few days later, they sure are tired of us. Now they want nothing more than us out of their country. I recall one interview with an Iraqi I saw on CNN today. "You free us, we thank you, now go home!". As if your fucking people even know what a stable government is. Obviously, I'm not saying we have the most stable government, but these people have no fucking clue. At the same time they want us out, they are wanting to know why we aren't protecting their precious libraries and museums and shit.
Now that I think of it, we're training them pretty fucking good. They're acting just like us! They're "Having their cake and eating it too" (blatant South Park plug). Might as well as call Iraq "Little Texas". Ha! Wonder where Bush is gonna put his new summer home?