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February 21, 2005:
Imagine This World:
A news reporter cannot find any news worth reporting. Instead
of making up some news, or worse, causing news, he just tells
us he has nothing to report. Can you imagine that? Neither can
I!
In!
Old mother Verizon, went to the horizon,
To get her subscriber some help.
When she got there, the phone did not work,
So the subscriber got none,
But he was billed for time and material.
Internet Fraud:
Microsoft and Pfizer are trying to stop the fraudulent sale of
the national favorite pseudo-man pill, Viagra. They claim it
is an impossible task. It is impossible to trace the medical
spam or spam of any kind according to these people. I suspect
Pfizer management just does not know any better. Microsoft does.
The subscribers of most Internet Service Providers (ISP's) including
Microsoft Network (MSN) are huge sources of spam on the internet.
For them the subscribers who generate spam and internet fraud
are sources of revenue. They have little incentive to make an
honest effort to stop spam or internet fraud of any kind.
There is a solution. I have touched on this previously. We
don't get much junk in the US Mail anymore because it costs too
much to generate. Spam costs nothing to generate. Just let the
government pass a law that will allow the ISP's to tax excessive
e-mail generation and see how fast they manage to find spammers.
All the feds have to do is say, give us half of what you collect.
That's win-win big time. Here is the fee schedule.
Up to 100 e-mails per month = no tax.
100 to 200 e-mails per month = $0.40 for each email over the
limit.
Over 200 e-mails can be taxed at $1.50 per item over 200.
Any amount of spam containing vulgarity = $10.00 per item.
Any amount of spam containing misrepresentation = $100.00 per
item.
I assure you, the ISP's will find the spammers and spam will
stop.
Seize the Moment:
How often do we forget that bit of wisdom? Yesterday, February
13, it was a rare 48 degrees and sunny. the weatherman said today
would be even better. I said, I'll spend some time outside tomorrow.
Now it is tomorrow and I find the weatherman was full of crap
again. It is 35 degrees and raining. On top of that, the power
went off again. When will I learn? Carpe Momento!
February 14, 2005:
Our power went off at about 11:00 AM. After whacking us on and
off three times, it finally stayed off. We called Detroit Edison
and they said it will be back on in 5 hours. We called about
once per hour after that and every time we called they said the
same thing. Thank Gord for our emergency generator. We were able
to keep or refrigerators cold and to prepare lunch.
We called again afer lunch and got this classic from Detroit
Edison. The recording said they are getting a lot of calls and
if we can't get through we should go to their website. Let's
see! With no power, how will people do that? I suppose they must
first go to the computer and offer a prayer to Cyberdeus. They
will pray that this great god will connect the computer to that
magic power source in the sky somewhere. Once they have power,
they will be able to turn the computer on and have it work, Then
they can go to the Edison website and find out — What? That
their computer wont work because the power is off? That it won't
be back on anytime soon? Yippie!
The power actually came back on at about 10:00 PM. That's
about 9 hours without power. Do they care? No, because their
bonuses do not depend on satisfying captive consumers. They depend
only on year end bottom line. That means cutting costs and raising
rates. I could probably write a whole essay on why I sometimes
wish there really was a God and a hell.
ChoicePoint:
It's a California based sleaze operation. They have collect personal
information about us which they sell to whoever wants it. Now
they have sold millions of records to identity thieves. They
are contrite. It was a mistake they say. They claim they have
tightened security against identity thieves. Sure! The fact is,
they are identity thieves.
Dumb Rum:
Rumsfeld has denied that we have unmanned drones flying over
Iran. Remember the U2 incident with Russia. He will lose his
credibility when Iran shoots one of the drones down. Why can't
our leaders consider the consequences of what they say before
they shoot off their mouths? Bizarre.
Our Wounded Soldiers:
These national guard kids are still trying to get the US Military
establishment to take care of them. They were used and then discarded
like yesterday's garbage. They have no insurance, they cannot
get jobs, and their families are destitute. In addition, the
cannot even get medical attention. This problem showed up almost
a year ago. Rumsfeld should have taken care of it. He did not.
Crummy, truly crummy!
NHL:
They declared they cannot settle the strike so the season ends.
Who cares? Just a few sports nuts. So what is the problem? Well,
some of the Redwing NHL players who would not be satisfied with
more than forty million a year are now joining the minor league
teams around flint. They are displacing guys who are struggling
to make a living and playing for what to them is chump change.
Crummy, truly crummy!
Puzzles to Ponder:
When I was kid there was a product called black leaf 40. It was
made from tobacco and was used as a pesticide for gardeners.
It does work. I always throw my cigar butts in our garden for
that reason. The bugs don't like tobacco any better than my wife
does. Now, is there anything else useful that can be done with
tobacco? Think like George Washington Carver. Try to do with
tobacco what he did with peanuts. Keep the dirt farmers working.
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