- www.JoeThielen.com - www.JoeThielen.com
First off, President Bush is in my hometown. What is he talking about? NAFTA.
What part of NAFTA? Mexico-US relations. I'm so confused.
Did I miss something here? This is TOLEDO, OHIO. We are only separated from
Canada by a lake of water. WHY THE HELL ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT US-MEXICO
RELATIONS IN A PLACE THAT NEARLY BORDERS CANADA??? I'm so confused.
Yes yes yes, I know they're talking to the Mexicans in Toledo, and it's been
reported that they don't even like NAFTA!!! Holy shit. I'm so confused.
In addition to all this mass confusion, I see that Microsoft is releasing
details about their new PocketPC OS -- PocketPC 2002, aka Merlin. This is
something from Microsoft that I actually LIKE. I use the original PocketPC
OS on my Casio E-125, and I like it. But then
I just read that the US Department of Justice is not going to pursue hacking
Microsoft into 2 separate parts. Well, that's fine. I've read lots of
arguments lately that say that's a bad idea. But then I read that in addition,
they're not going to pursue the software bundling issue against Microsoft.
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE? MICROSOFT WAS FOUND GUILTY ON THIS ISSUE.
And we're dropping it??? WHAT THE FUCK. I'm so confused.
This country's government is TURNING INTO THE BITCH OF CORPORATE AMERICA!
And who do we have to thank for this (in terms of recent events)? The
Bush Jr. Administration. What a bunch of fucks. I'm so pissed off right
now, can you tell? I'm so confused.
Only in a country this fucked up can the government cater to the BIG BUSINESS
and smack the concerns of the small business and consumer aside! I'm so confused.
What am I talking about? Well, here we can see the government bend over
backwards to help business GIANT Microsoft maintain their monopoly. The DOJ
says their still going to pursue the case, just on a different level. That
will not stop their monopoly, IMHO. What else? Have you heard about
Dmitry Sklyarov? A Russian who was arrested at a hacker conference in Las
Vegas. This guy wrote a program (he works in Russia, mind you) that another
BIG BUSINESS in America didn't like, ADOBE. So Adobe bitched to the government,
and Dmitry was quickly arrested. He's still in jail. His trial is all fucked
up. He was visiting the US. Only in America can you be arrested for something
you did in another country. This is so fucked up. I'm so confused.
With laws like UCITA and the DMCA hovering over are heads, America is quickly
becoming the Land of the Slave, no longer the Land of the Free,
nor the Home of the Brave. I'm ashamed to be an American at this point.
And I'm ashamed that the grand master of all this is here in my home city
today. As an American, I'm so confused.
Laws like the
DMCA are being pushed upon other nations, most notably, the European Union (EU).
If the EU passes laws like the DMCA, then no where in the world would one be
safe from the Coporation. As a citizen of the planet Earth, I'm so confused.
Sound like I'm way paranoid? I am! Think this won't effect you? It will!
One day your going to be on your PC downloading the latest Brittany Spears MP3,
and before you know it, your door has been knocked down, and you're in jail
without a trial, facing 5 years. Think it's bullshit? It's not, I assure you!
Corporate America now has nearly total power, using the Law as it's golden
shield. Money Rules. I'm so confused.
I yearn for the day when we may be able to finally escape this planet, and
all of it's fucked up laws and issues. But I fear that when the chance
arrives, the New Corporations will already be off-world, and they will have
already set up shop. They will be waiting. With new laws, and even more
restrictions. Maybe one day it will be as if we have to pay to breath air.
As a denizen of this galaxy, I'm so confused.
First off, www.geocaching.com
now offers detailed MAPS with GeoCaches' plotted out on them!!! This is
excellent news. I've been using www.brillig.com's
maps for a while, and they've been good, but they aren't vary detailed, and they
have no zoom options. The new maps have city names and major and minor highways
and expressways, which is very nice!
Secondly, check out this
article on Yahoo!. WAY TO GO BRAZIL! Screw them big Rx companies!
What matters more? The PRESERVATION OF CAPITAL or PEOPLE??? I
think Brazil is making a good choice. However, I know it's just a threat,
and will not happen. If they tried, they would probably get a fierce lashing
from the US as well as the UN, but I applaud them none the less. More than
likely Roche will drop the price just for them, and we'll continue to pay
high ass prices because we have a fucked up health care system. This makes
me sick.
In other news, I'm changing something. On my site, all external links (i.e.,
all links that do not point to www.joethielen.com, will now open up a NEW
window, instead of replacing www.joethielen.com). WHY THE HELL AM I
DOING THIS??? I see this is now done on most of the sites I visit.
And while I used to hate it, I know see that it makes sense. Most sites
are simply a regurgitation of other sites, and a lot of times, I want to
return to the main site to visit other links. My site is no different :).
If you have a REAL problem with this, and have a valid reason for
not wanting me to do continue this (NOT VALID == "I don't like it"), please
e-mail me!!!
This has been a Friday production of www.joethielen.com.
Which brings me to my next point. For as long as I can remember I've wanted
this -- the truly networked world. Like watching Star Trek as a kid thinking
'why can't we do this now?'. I'm always complaining that we were promised
many things in the 50's, and they weren't delivered. However, this stuff is
starting to emerge, and it's time to change. AND I WANT TO HELP DO MY PART.
If you would like to have this kind of connectivity, and AM WILLING TO PAY
for someone to set this up in your home (or office) and teach you the basics
(READ: THE BASICS), please let me know! I'd love to help! But I can't do it
unless I can pay my rent, understand. I'm in the Toledo area, and am willing
to travel certain distances, if the price is right (Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago,
Cincinatti, etc...)! The biggest part would be scheduling, obviously, as I
am busy. However, this is something I'd love to do, and is something that I
want to do. And if this takes off, then who knows... maybe it'll become a
career!!!
So, if you're *really* interested in this stuff, and would *pay* to have it
installed and taught the basics of the truly Interconnected Network
(wired/unwired), please e-mail me!!!
At home I was able to use my Casio/802.11b combo to control my MP3 server and
lighting (via Phantom!). I love it. I know its gonna
kill my battery quick, but the total connectivity is GREAT! Check it out on
my Casio E-125 page.
In other news, I've finally got my hands on a copy of MandrakeLinux 8 (Formerly Linux-Mandrake).
I think it's pretty cool, but things sure have changed from 7.1 (the version I'm
currently using). I've installed a Linux/MP3 Music server at a friends house
(the source code I will be releasing here shortly), and I was having mad
problems with the network and sound card. At first I tried installing
Mandrake 7.1, my favorite. The sound card came up w/no problems, but I couldn't
get the network card to work for the life of me (A Netgear FA311 -- $9!!!).
The Netgear says 'Linux' on the box, and the disk actually had a Linux module
'fa311'. Cool! But no luck. The module was compiled for kernel 2.2.15
(Mandrake 7.1 is 2.2.15-4mdk, ain't that a bitch!). I tried to
re-compile their driver, but got pages of errors. So I went to the website,
and they had newer drivers for Redhat 6.0-7.1. Awesome! Mandrake is a
RedHat spin-off, right? Welp, no dice. Their pre-compiled modules didn't
work with Mandrake. And the source didn't do it, either.
So we yanked a 3Com 3c450 PCI out of one of this other machines. It's a 3Com,
it's gotta work, right? Nope. I couldn't seem to finagle the damn
drivers to find it. Shit!
So at like 8:55PM we went to OfficeMax (closes at 9PM). We found a
Linksys LNE100TX (something like that). It says 'TESTED WITH LINUX' all
over the box. Short story -- no luck.
Day 2. I convince him to go out and get a copy of Mandrake 8, the newest.
Newer version, more drivers. He does... and I install (I know I can
download the ISOs, but when I got my new CD-Burner, my old Adaptec EZ CD
Creator wouldn't touch it, and now I can't burn ISOs... don't wanna pay
for another version of Adaptec EZ CD Creator... screw that).
I was very impressed with the look and feel of the install for Mandrake 8!
Looked very very clean. I did an expert install. Loaded it up. It found
the network card, NO PROBLEM. Just asked me for IP address info. Found the
sound card NO PROBLEM. Video, too. Awesome!
After the install, I came across some sound problems. The sound was off and on.
Sometimes XMMS would play an MP3, other times it wouldn't. I found that the
network card had the same IRQ as the sound card. So I moved the network card
to a different PCI slot, and viola! New IRQ. But it still had the problem.
After a few hours of poking through logs, I ended disabling the aRts (whatever)
sound server in KDE. I'm not sure why KDE needs its own sound server, ON TOP
of the sound card module. I disabled that, and viola! Sound works great.
So after much testing I delivered the machine.
It worked great at my office, but when I plugged it into his monitor, I had
a problem (I set it up to boot into X-Windows by deafult). So I switched
to text mode, and looked at the XF86Config file. However, Mandrake 8 comes
with XFree86 V4... and I had been used to V3 config files. It's got two
freakin' config files, XF86Config & XF86Config-4. What a mess. I'm not sure
whats going on, I haven't had much time to play with it... I just wanted it
to work so he could jam. In any case, I ended up disabling X-Windows booting
up automatically (which was really sad, I really LOVED it on by default..
made it REAL easy). But it's not that bad. He just has to log in and
issue a 'startx'... the rest is automated (KDE starts up XMMS automatically,
now that I've set it up).
But there are other things that are new to me. I was having a fit when
I tried to go to /home/httpd/html... it didn't exist! I said to myself
'Where the hell is the webserver????'. I pointed my web browser
at the machine, and it worked. I got the default install screen. What
the hell?? After quite a while of searching (and finally digging through
the config files), I found it -- '/var/share/www' or something.
Holy crap! It turns out Mandrake 8 comes with the new version of Apache,
and things have changed. It looks pretty cool though, and it's loaded with
PHP4 be default! AWESOME!.
Also, it comes with the new 2.4 kernel! This is great, because it's supposed
to have way more USB support. I don't have many USB devices, but I know that
most new peripherials are USB, so this is definately good. However I see that
my HP 3300Cse scanner and Intel CS330 webcam are still not supported. Ugh :(.
And, of course, I have to pay an arm and a leg to get the Linux DirecPC software
so I can get on the Internet via my Linux box. No thanks! I'm hoping that
calbemodems come to my home soon! (Supposed to be sometime THIS quarter, moved
back from last quarter)... we'll see!
In any case, I definately think it's a worthy Linux OS after just one day with
it. I will be spending much time soon switching my army of Linux machines
over one-by-one, as they need it.
I've also added some GIS links (for Geodata, topographic maps, etc...). Some
links for MI, PA, etc...
I've also added a link to the Ohio
Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (in the new 'Misc' category...).
Want to look up that
uncle of yours who is in prision??? Now you can! And you can get (most
of the time) full-color photos! Holy crap!?!?! What the hell has happened
to our country???
The Windows drivers work OK, but my Laptop primarily run Linux. I tried the
Linux-WLAN driver, but it seemed to drop connections. So then I tried the
Samsung binary driver, and it worked great at work with the WAP11. So when
I got my new Linksys BEFW11S4 at home, hooked it up, and configured it, I
figured I'd boot up my laptop, and that'd be it. NOT!
Ugh. For some damned reason, the Samsung driver just will not talk to the
BEFW11S4! It talks to the WAP11 with no problems. What's the deal? I still
don't know. I tried everything I could think off. The Linux-WLAN driver
would talk to both, but it was an unreliable driver. What to do???
I'm soooo impatient. I posted some messages to places, but I can't wait that
long. After awhile, I went back to the Linux-WLAN site. I went through
the mailing lists, but to no avail. Damn! However, when I went back to
my laptop, I saw that I was running their stable 0.1.7 driver. I downloaded
their 0.1.8pre13 driver, and compiled it. It worked! Yeah! And it also
seems to re-connect by itself! Yeah! I've got to test it some more, but
it seems that it's working OK now. I hope it lasts!
I don't have all the links on me right now, but I will make an update,
and post a TON of links to the drivers, mailing lists, and FAQs that'll help
others... I know I needed it!!!!
I got my wireless stuff from Amazon.com finally. It's pretty neat! I had
a problem at first where the Linksys WAP11 Access Point (AP) would not
talk through the ethernet port. I tried all day to get it to work, and
even called Linksys tech support (which was a very POSITIVE experience for
once!!!). They said it was defective--send it back. Holy crap I was pissed.
But the wireless part worked... my laptop would talk to the access point.
So I took it home and plugged it in to test it out. I also plugged it into
my home network for grins... BOOM! Worked perfect, including the ethernet
link. What the hell? Don't know, don't care. I took it to work the next
day, and it worked. Still works. Good enough for me!
Here at work it functions nice. The walls here are 2ft. SOLID concrete, and I was able (once I found
a central location for the AP) to get a signal from nearly anywhere on my floor -- cool! Also, at
home, I can get a signal from the basement, 1st floor, and 2nd floor, as well as the garage, and
from the pool! :) I can't wait until they start selling the Symbol CompactFlash 802.11b card.
It's gonna be awesome!!!
I also found a Linux driver for the Linksys WPC11 PCMCIA 802.11b wireless adapter. The website for
this is here (some more
NECESSARY info can be located here).
You have to have some experience with Linux & compiling stuff before you can get it to work. At least it took
me awhile. I still haven't played with the new Linux 2.4 distros yet... been to busy. On my
laptop I've still got Mandrake 7.1! After I got it compiled, it worked. I had the AP in my
basement, where I got a clear signal. However, the next day when I moved the AP to the first floor
(so I could get better signal outside), the Linux driver started crapping out. It would work AWESOME
for like 60 seconds. Then the red light on the card would start blinking, and that was it. I'd
have to restart the PCMCIA services. I still have to figure that out... I know the card is OK in
my laptop because I can drop in my Win98 hard drive, and it works 100% in there (not saying that
Windows is better, but the driver for Windows is). I can get a signal from quite a distance. It's
pretty awesome!!!
Now if only I could drive into the Wendy's parking lot and order my meal via 802.11b... that'd be great!!!
Amazon.com sucks! It's finally to the point where wireless ethernet (802.11b - WiFi)
stuff is getting pretty damned cheap. So I ordered some for here at work via
Amazon.com. They had some of the lowest prices, and it's the name brand that
I recognized. So I ordered, and selected 2-day shipping. That was Monday.
Yesterday I get an e-mail saying that the credit card was declined and 'User
Intervention' is required. But they don't give you a phone number! I looked
at the info, and it was all correct, no errors. So I re-typed it in anyway,
just to make the system see that I did something. Here today I go back in,
and no changes. It's Thursday, and my shit is still sitting in some fucking
warehouse! God damn it! I want my toys! :). I couldn't find a phone number
to talk to the bastards. I sent them e-mail, but the site said it could take
up to 24 hours. That'll be Friday, and my shit might not even leave the
warehouse until Friday night! Fuck that! Fuck Amazon.com! Customer Service
my ass. --> Fuck Amazon.com!
You wanna know WHO THE BIGGEST ASSHOLE IN THE UNITED STATES IS?
Los Angeles County Assessor Rick Auerbach.
Hands down this is the most stupid fucking human being in existence. What a god
damned asshole. You know what this guy wants to do? TAX SATELLITES. Read
this article..
Holy shit! He wants to tax Hughes (the corporate parent of DirecTV/PC) for
their satellites. Hughes claims the satellites in question were never launched
from California, never fly over California, and will never land in California.
This guy is making the claim it's no different than construction equipment
being used out-of-state. Now I'm going to admit here and now that I don't
know shit about tax assessment and it's various laws. That much is obvious.
However, I am smart enough to know that space (including near-earth space,
including the orbit zones) is not fucking US property. It's no ones
property. Not until we're able to go up there, establish stations, and
DEFEND it. Not until then, is ANYONE able to claim a piece of space. Fucking
moron. This kind of thing makes me sick to my stomach. Makes want to vomit,
to know that there these kinds of money hungry people out there. He claims
he's just doing his job -- "Taxing anything that's taxable". Fuck you!
Now, it might seem like I'm sticking up for Big Business here, but
I'm not. If this guy succeeds in doing this, it will be nothing but harmful.
It will set a precedent of immense proportions. Not only will it probably
raise our rates for such services as DirecTV/PC (as you know the company
is not going to absorb the cost... they will pass it right on down to us),
but then they will try and tax every other Los Angeles based company
with an object in space. Pretty soon, they'll charge a tax just to leave
earth orbit (once this becomes possible on a consumer level). Think it
won't happen??? Just look at the US Interstate system. How many highways
in major cities are toll roads now?
I know, that's a different situation. Those roads have to be maintained.
Space doesn't! There are no paved roads leading out of earth orbit. There
are no concrete jungles.
I do agree that there is a problem with large piles of space junk that are
building up in earth orbit from decaying satellites and other objects. However,
is the LA County Assessor going to establish an agency for controlling this
with their new tax? NO! Is LA going to give up the tax money to NASA, or
the Department of Defense, or whoever is in charge of this? NO!
It just pisses me off. Lot's of political bullshit pisses me off, I'm so
sick and tired of it. I'm not in a good mood right now :). Well, it is
payday...
Well, another 4th of July come and gone. The Toledo fireworks were pretty cool. But I
miss the times when they were *really* synchronized to the music. I'm talkin' about
when they played the classical instrumental ballads and had the fireworks synchronized
to that. It was awesome! Now the fireworks itself are OK, but the show itself will
still never be the same :).
Speaking of fireworks, why is Ohio so fucked up? We have to sign a piece of paper, which
lists our address, telephone number, and drivers license #, stating that we're going to
transport any fireworks out of the state of Ohio within 48 hours of purchase. Fuck that!
I bought that shit to blow my yard up with, and get all over the neighbors car :). All
the things that made this country so great are now being taken away from us. We can't
fireworks because some stupid little fuck blew his hand off??? HELLO? Ever heard
of Darwin's Theory of Evolution??? Yes, SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. If you
don't know that you have to throw the bomb after you light it, then I'm sorry, but
YOU ARE THE WEAKEST LINK... GOODBYE! Now screw off and give me my rolls of 16,000
firecrackers!!!
MOVIES MOVIES MOVIES. Wow. I bet these movie companies are raking in the dough
about now. I'd have to say this is one of the best blockbuster movie seasons I've ever
seen! Now, don't get me wrong. I like lots of movies. I like lots of basic, action
packed shoot-em-ups, as well as black comedies. When you read movie reviews, it's
all about being intellectual. Fuck that! When I get home from work, I'm tired.
I've been thinking my ass of in an intellectual capacity all freakin' day. I wanna
see some shit blow up! :). But in the past few months, I've been at the theater
damn near every Friday. Of course, with this week being the holiday, the movies
came out on the 4th, so probably none tonight (unless I want to go back and finally
see 'Pearl Harbor' or 'Moulin Rouge'... both of which I missed due to a late start).
One movie that definately deserves a mention here is 'A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)'.
This is one awesome movie. Now, it's not the action packed shoot-em 'up, nor it is
a dark comedy. It's definately on an intellectual level, but it's one that will leave
you sitting in your seat without anything left. It's a movie that will definately
make you FEEL something. Go and see it!
If your spending your summer sitting on your ass (can't float in the pool... not hot enough consistently!),
get your ass outside and do some GeoCaching!!!
Well, let's see... anything else? I've probably missed a lot here, but if I remember anything
else, you'll be sure and hear about it :).
See South Park this week??? They said the word 'SHIT' 160 times. Yes, one hundred and sixty times. If that's not messed up I don't know what is.
In two different scenes, one in the 4th grade, and one in kindergarten, both teachers were teaching the kids the
proper uses of the word shit. Holy shit! I can just see all the kids who
went to school on Thursday and got in trouble! Don't get me wrong, I love
South Park and all, but sheesh. Maybe they'll have to put it on at midnight
or something...
I don't know man!
I've been pretty busy here at work lately, and then I go home and plop my fat ass
in the pool :). Gotta love somertime. We opened the pool last week, and I
went out and got one of those floating chairs... complete with TWO cupholders!
Ha! I love it. And it even holds me too, which is nice.
I went out this past weekend and did some GeoCaching.
Had a lot of fun. On Saturday I went out to Kelley's Island. They've
got a rock quarry there, and it kind of looks like the surface of Mars or
something. It was A LOT of fun. On Sunday I went out to the Ann Arbor, MI
area and found four more. Lots of forest and LOTS OF BUGS. Holy crap. I
took a bottle of 'OFF' insect repellant with me. It saved my life!
Welp, I've got tons to do.. better get to it! Another workweek, here I come! ...Ugh.
We saw ALOT of the strip. In fact, by Wed. evening our feet were so tired that
we decided to rent a car, and on Thu. we traveled to the Hoover Damn and the Grand Canyon. It was worth the 5 hour drive!
I've posted some pics on my Picture Archive page. Check 'em out!
You may be wondering "How the hell can this geek go so many places in one year?". Let me put out the facts.
I make a decent amount of money and I live at home. 'Nuff said. Next year I'll probably be building a home (tried to
this year, but got too frustrated with it), so I figured I'd better get it out of me this year!!!
While I was there, I tried to update my site using my PocketPC and SprintPCS Cell Phone 14.4K Internet
connection. Now, updating the text wasn't all that bad. The upload of the file was slow as shit, but it worked. However, when
I tried to upload my campic of the Bellagio (taken with my Casio Digital Camera for my PocketPC), it took FOREVER. It took SO LONG
I had to disconnect, for fear of a monster cell phone bill. Holy crap! The JPEG was only 21K or so. Only when I came
home did I realize that only about 20% of the pic got uploaded. I let that thing run for nearly 30 minutes! Damn! That's the last
time I try to update pics over the web with my cell phone.
However, checking my e-mail and stuff wasn't that bad. I turned the pictures off,
though. But I was able to cruise around to sites that cater to PDA-sized
screens without problems. I enjoyed it, really. I took along my laptop
as I always do as a just-in-case item. However, I think I would be able
to freely roam around without it, knowing that I can do some really great
things with my PocketPC/Cell phone connection. It's certainly good to know!
OK, that aside, I found an awesome website today from a link on
PocketPC Thoughts.
The link is to Gibson Research Corporation.
This guy is a security freak! And lately his site has come under attack from
Internet crackers. He's written a story about his experience, and it makes
for EXCELLENT READING!.
I can't wait for the movie... :)
A while ago I ran across another cool site that had a wide variety of appealing
information (most of it anti-microsoft): aaxnet.com.
Check it out!
As well, I've added links to these two great sites on my Linkz page. I've added two new categories, since I couldn't fit them into any other: 'Security' and 'Computer/Business'... enjoy!
Well, that's all for now. I'm still in recovery. Ugh.
We got here yesterday at 8AM local time. Flight was OK, but I was cramped :). My fat ass in an airplane seat
is FUNNY AS HELL!!!
But the 100+ degree weather caught up to us quick. When we left Detroit, it was around 55. Then here it's like 105. HOT HOT HOT. In any case, the day was a bust. However, we re-couped
after the sun went down, and were able to make the best of the night. We went and saw the water fountains at the Bellagio. We stayed for 45 minutes. This is one of the most beatiful features of
Las Vegas, IMHO.
The other feature is the FOOD! And you know my fat ass is gonna EAT EAT EAT! Ha! However, in the morning we had a bad experience at the Circus Circus.
They weren't joking. That breakfast buffet IS A freakin' circus. They heard you in there like cattle. And all these damned Japanese tourists slither their way
in front of you. I had fun yesterday pusing those little bastards around, and blocking them. You know my fat ass can block a lot... :)
In any case, today certainly aims to be better, and I just ate breakfast here at the Westward Ho (I'm gonna reserve comments about the Westward Ho here... all I can
say is that it's clean, and there are plenty of police patrols around to make it look and feel pretty safe).
Check out my campic from time to time (If I can manage to update it regularly!).
I've been trying to download the newest Linux-Mandrake Linux distro for nearly
3 weeks now, off and on. But whenever I try (i.e., I set up a computer to
download it overnight here at work), the computer would crash, or the download
would just stop for some reason. So last night I tried it on my home PC. At
my job we've got a fractional T1 running at 256K. Not blazing fast, but it
does the job, and does it well. I get about 26.5KB/sec max download speeds.
Normally at home on my DirecPC satellite dish system (using a modem return),
I get about 40KB/sec - 56KB/sec (ON A REALLY GOOD DAY). However, last night
when I tried again to download the latest Mandrake ISO, I was getting 103.5KB/sec
download speeds... sustained over an hour!!! Holy crap! It was crazy!
However, I let that run overnight and went to bed. When I checked on it this
morning, my damn hard drive was full (I forgot to check and see if I had too
much junk on it), and the download was terminated. Sheet sheet sheet, man!
Ah well. I should have gone and got some more MP3s from MP3.com last night,
instead, ha! I've been listening to A LOT of techno music lately. All of
it I've been getting from MP3.com, and is 100% free and 100% legal (not that
I have a problem with Napster and stuff, but it's nice to know that free
stuff does exist).
Here are some links to my favorite techno groups on MP3.com, as well as their offical group sites:
In any case, that's my 2 cents for the day. You can always return the change to joe@joethielen.com!!!
My brother got a new Sprint PCS cell phone, and we wanted to have his account changed. I've done this 3
times over the past few years, and have had no problems, so I anticipated none. The other day, I was on
the SprintPCS website (for Vegas reasons... more on that in a bit), and noticed that they had a link to
where you could activate your new SprintPCS phone via their website.
So first we tried this method. Everytime you change your SprintPCS account, they send a text message to your
cell phone that displays an Internet password for their website, where you can supposedly manage your entire
account. However, he's not a big internet user, so when he got that message, he promptly deleted it. So
we were unable to do it via the web. However, then I remembered that you could have a temporary password
sent to your phone via a function on the website. When we tried that... "This service is temporarily
unavailable". Sheet. So we called via the phone. And waited for 20 minutes or so (which I guess isn't
bad for them...). We finally get through and go through the process. Then the lady alerts me that their
will be a $34.99 charge for activating the phone. WHAT? I told them he's already got a SprintPCS account.
He just bought a new phone (it's actually the same model of phone he already had, but this one was actually
supposed to work :) ), and wants to change it over. They say there is still a charge. What the fuck???
Sprint is like the only place you have to actually buy a fucking phone. And they're goddamned expensive,
too! So on top of buying an expensive ass phone, you have to pay a $34.99 charge to get the fucking thing
activated? Even if you're under a one year contract? That's like paying an extra month! Fuck that! But
he didn't have a choice. Once past that hurdle, it took like 5 minutes and it was activated.
I can't believe it. I've been using SprintPCS for quite a few years here. I've had 3 SprintPCS phones.
Now, I've had my current phone for quite a while now... probably going on 2 years or so. So I've not had
to face this yet. But it pisses me off! When I first started using SprintPCS, there were no monthly
contracts and no monthly fees. That was the reason SprintPCS got so popular in the first place!
Not anymore. Nothing but a fucking racket. SprintPCS makes money everytime you buy a SprintPCS phone (even
though the phones are not made by SprintPCS... the vendors pay licensing fees to Sprint). Then they make
you bend over again, and pay this activation fee. What a fucking total crock of flee-infested, corporate
bullshit! God damned money hungry piss-ant bitches. I just can't stand it. And let's not even get into
the fact that when you buy a new phone (unless you but the same exact model from before), you have to buy
all new accessories like leather case and car (12V) charger. Damn!
OK. Let's talk about something positive for a moment. Oh, wait... this isn't that positive...
I saw the season finale of the Sopranos last night. What a total let-down! Instead of wrapping things
up, all it did was introduce more hooks for the next season! I was so pissed last night after watching this.
Now I have to wait until NEXT YEAR for Oz. My god, what will
I watch on TV from now until then??? It's a good thing I've got PlayBoy TV!
OK, I guess I do have positive things to talk about...
Movies. I saw the movie Antitrust the other night. It was sweet! I loved it. I wish I had seen this while
it was in theaters. While going way over the top in terms of paranoia (well, maybe, maybe not...), I think
it made for a cool adaptation of the open-source (but never mentioning the words 'FREE SOFTWARE') vs.
monopoly battle that rages on today. I liked it.
See the previews for some of the summer movies coming out? A few movies to look forward to!
The Fast and the Furious. I saw the
theater trailer for this the other week when I went and saw the Mummy sequal (pretty cool, also). It looks
awesome! It's got the guy from Pitch Black. And it's also got CARS CARS CARS and DESTRUCTION. Put those
two things together, and you've automatically got a fat ass movie in my book. I can't wait to see this one!
Swordfish. John Travolta is one flexible
motherfucker, I tell you what. This guy's second wind is everlasting. But put him in a hacker movie?
Sounds cool! It looks cool, also. I saw the preview for this the other night. It features some of the
same producers as from the Matrix. Awesome!
Evolution. This looks like a funny
ass movie. The guy from the 7-Up commercials (and The Replacements), as well as the guy from the
X-Files. In a comedy! The trailers from this look funny as hell. I can't wait.
Well, those are the main ones I'm looking forward too, but let's not forget about some others worth mentioning...
Animal, A.I., and Final Fantasy! Lots in store for this movie season. I guess I'll have to save up the $8.50
per person (That's $17 if your attached... Plus popcorn/candy/nachos and pop...maybe $30 per movie???) to see
them...!
OK, on to my final topic for today. I've booked myself and my girlfriend a trip to Las Vegas. I've been
talking about heading back to Vegas since the last time I went in March of 1999. This will be my third
time there. I can't wait! There have been quite a few new things added to Vegas since I've last been
there... Paris, the Venetian, etc... I'm going next week for 5 nights. I checked on the SprintPCS
website to make sure my cellphone would work there, but then I remembered the last time I went I had
a SprintPCS phone, and I actually received a call there from someone back here. They were absolutely
amazed that they were able to dial a local number, and reach me half a nation away. Yep. Gotta love it!
Just can't love the stupid fees. Ugh. Oh well, fuck it all, Las Vegas here I come!!!