Category Archives: Rants

Time Warner Cable

Been way too busy at work, so I took a couple of days off. I figured I’d sit back, relax, and watch a movie or see the Olympics.

Naturally, Time Warner Cable had other ideas.

There I am, having my coffee, watching the News, when the cable starts blinking in and out. Again. For close to 15 minutes.

Naturally, I call Time Warner Cable and the best they can do is send someone next Saturday.

I am so ditching Time Warner Cable ASAP.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment.

Just Shocking. Sen. McCain flip flops on another issue

Sen. McCain flip flops on another issue. I guess he figured out which way he thinks the wind blows and changed his position, again. So, let’s see: He was against Torture and then for it, (and when asked about America torturing people, he got confused…) Now he was against indefinite detention and now is for it. Me, oddly, I believe in the rule of law and am against indefinite detention without charges and no right of appeal.

US Supreme Court backs Guantánamo prisoners’ right to appeal

Apparently the Constitution isn’t dead just yet. From the AP:

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts.

How Shocking, Chief Justice John Roberts , Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented. Chief Justice John Roberts criticized his colleagues for striking down what he called “the most generous set of procedural protections ever afforded aliens detained by this country as enemy combatants.

Apparently, our Chief Justice is cool with people being locked up indefinitely with no charges and no right to appeal. I’m hardly surprised that Justice Scalia would vote that way, but I’m glad Justice Roberts and Justice Alito are showing their true colors. I bet they swing the other way when a Democrat is the President.

I imagine the Radical Right Wing is going off on the majority of the Justices saying things like, they hate America, they support Terrorists, etc.

From the Article:

The court said not only that the detainees have rights under the Constitution, but that the system the administration has put in place to classify them as enemy combatants and review those decisions is inadequate.

The administration had argued first that the detainees have no rights. But it also contended that the classification and review process was a sufficient substitute for the civilian court hearings that the detainees seek.

How UnAmerican is that?? The United States Government arguing that people have No Rights? IMO, this was the correct decision. No one should be locked away with no right of appeal, regardless if they are “Enemy Combatants” or not.

Can you imagine what would have been the outcome if Pres. G.W. Bush seated just one more Justice?’

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment

Stupid Juvenile Pranks

Once again, I’m just amazed at the sheer stupidness demonstrated by some kids. I just saw a story on the Today show where 2 Idiots threw a drink at a worker in a drive thru window and posted it on Youtube. Apparently, it’s part of a “Internet Prank” and lots of kids are currently doing this. I’m not linking to the story or the video as these two Idiots get enough attention.

When did victimizing people become Funny?

You have idiot kids driving cars that Mommy and Daddy bought them victimizing fast food workers. I’d hazard a guess that these idiots never worked a hard job in their life. Fortunately, the victim found their video on the Internet and had them arrested. The punishment? Community Service and they had to make an apology video on Youtube. I’d bet the ONLY lesson they learned was Not to get caught.

Best part of the story: These Idiots lawyer just blamed Youtube as the problem stating that it’s Youtube’s responsibility to keep video’s like that off the web.

What about their parents? If I ever did anything like that, the police would have come for my parents for killing me…

Music I’m listening to now:
Pocketful Of Sunshine“, by Natasha Bedingfield from the Pocketful of Sunshine album. You can see the video here.

Oil now at $120 a barrel

Just perfect. Oil hit $120 a barrel today. This is exactly why I’m pricing out a conversion to Gas. At this rate, one would need to be a millionaire just to heat your home. Gee, I wonder how long it will take the three Presidential candidates to notice?

Stubborn Telemarketers…

When a Telemarketer calls (Despite my being on the F___ing DO NOT CALL LIST) I try to be polite. The person on the other end is just trying to earn a living and likely not having a good time calling me up at home. I mean, Lets face it: Does anyone grow up and say “I want to be a Telemarketer Phone Operator!!”?

Usually the call goes something like this:
Telemarketer:Hi! can I speak to the Man of the house??
Me:(sigh) Who’s calling?
Telemarketer:I’m Kevin and I’d like to speak to you about your Gas Grill!
Me:Hi Kevin, How’s it going today?
Telemarketer:Um, I’m good! I’d like to tell you how you can save money…
Me:Yeah, That’s great. Please remove my number from your list
Telemarketer: “Um, OK..”
Me:Great! Take care! Bye!”

They NEVER remove my number from their list.

That being said, I just got a call at 5:30pm today on Saturday that the gentleman just would NOT get off the phone. It’s rare that I have to hang up on someone, but I sure had to today. Despite saying two times that I’m not interested, and to remove my number from their list, he just kept going. After saying twice “I’m not at all interested” I just ended up with “OK, I’m hanging up now, bye“. I half expected him to call me back!

These calls have been increasing lately. The MOST annoying is the Automated “Heather in Account Services, calling re your credit card account” nonsense that has hit our answering machine 3 times this week alone. I’ve actually hit “1” and try to get the name of the company, but the best I get is “We’re From VISA!”. I’ve written about it back in January and I seriously think it’s a phishing scheme to get my Info and or credit card number.

I have wonder: Do people really give their Credit Card info over the phone to a stranger who calls? I’ve never been interested in anything people try to sell over the phone, but even if I was, I’d tell them to mail me something and I’ll send it back.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
New Soul” by Yael Naim from the “Yael Naim” album. You can see the video on VH1.com here.

A Misleading headline?

WREG-TV in Memphis, Tennessee’s CBS television affiliate, is running a story labeled “Law Enforcement Crackdown on Terrorists“. Trouble is, other than the headline, it doesn’t look like “Terrorists” were actually arrested.  Methinks they are trying to go for Hype, not substance. Wouldn’t that be a first for a “News” outlet??

“No videos on flickr!”?



No videos on flickr!

Originally uploaded by AlbySpace

Seems to be a big issue to many people, but I’m not convinced that it is something to ditch flickr over. Other than expanding the potential user base, I’m not sure this is really a good idea for flickr as it is a Photography site, not a video site. At this time, the videos are limited to 90 seconds. While this may help stop copyright issues, I’m not looking forward to people adding videos to the groups I use.

I use flickr as a great site for Photography where I’ve met some great people and gotten lots of tips. Why would yahoo want to risk alienating an established user base?

Does flickr really want to become “YouTube”?? I hope not.

Nice image made by AlbySpace.

Update: Naturally, there is a flickr group or two. IMO, this is getting a little ridiculous, especially some of the threads being discussed.

Update: UGH. Someone made a domain called www.no-video-on-flickr.com
(sigh) This has officially become absurd.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
Nothing at the moment.

Ugh. Sen. Hillary Clinton is really close to losing my vote…

Democratic PartyApparently, Sen. Hillary Clinton is jumping on the same band wagon the Radical Right wing is on.

I wonder: Has Sen. Clinton gone after Sen. McCain for his seeking of the endorsement John Hagee?

As Keith Olbermann pointed out, Sen. Clinton is NOT doing the Democratic Party any favors with her attacks and missteps.

Me, I’m not interested in her attack politics but rather what the NEXT president can do to solve the problems presented to us now. Her comments about Rev Jeremiah Wright comes at a time when her own credibility is under attack and, IMO, has the feel of desperation.

Slight Update: While out to lunch and discussing Sen. Obama’s appearance at work (And I Missed it!!!), my friend and I ran into a Sen. Clinton supporter. We were just discussing whether or not a lot of “experience” is needed and our Sen. Clinton supporter pointed out his opinion that Pennsylvania will sooner support Sen. McCain NOT support Sen. Obama. Mind you, this is his opinion and I hope he’s mistaken. IMHO, Sen. McCain is running as it he’d be a 3rd GW Bush term and I’d rather avoid that.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
Stop And Stare” by One Republic from the “Dreaming Out Loud” Album. You can see the video here.

What year is it in Florida??

Wow. Florida Orders Schools To Teach Evolution but only after a last-minute change depicting the concept put forward by Charles Darwin as merely a theory. It’s unbelievable to me that in 2008 people are still debating whether or not to teach Evolution in school.

Remember the “Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District” case? When my wife and I decide to have kids, I’ll take them to Church for religion and School for science. This whole attempt by the GOP to force Religion into schools, is one hell of a mistake.

Read related news here.