I managed to take a few photos while I was on the road trip yesterday.
The medians were filled with generously sprinkled little white dots along the way. Every so often, there was a patch that fully opened and were catching the hot breeze as it raced by.
RoadTrip 03 30 10 b
RoadTrip 03 30 10 a
Sprint just announced a new “Satisfaction Guaranteed or Money-Back” offer.
“Beginning tomorrow, the Sprint Free Guarantee gives any customer opening a new line of service the chance to try Sprint for 30 days. If a customer isn’t completely satisfied, they can get reimbursed for the device purchase and activation fee, get the early termination fee waived, get a full refund for service plan monthly recurring charges incurred and get all associated taxes and Sprint surcharges associated with these charges waived. In addition, Sprint will waive the restocking fee for new customer exchanges as part of this policy.”
Dear Verizon: Wow. The gauntlet has been thrown. Any response?
Dear AT&T : You suck. Don’t bother pulling out some father’s brother’s newphew’s cousin’s former roommate of a celebrity for some lame commercials to pretend you can keep up with this.
For complete information about the Sprint Free Guarantee visit, www.sprint.com/guarantee beginning tomorrow.
Just saw this over on Consumerist…
“Following up on yesterday’s news that Apple is preparing to start production on Verizon-compatible iPhones, the Wall Street Journal now says that AT&T has been working since December to improve their existing networks to remain competitive when the inevitable battle for iPhone market share begins.”
Oh, now AT&T wants to improve their network now that a company with a superior network is coming along to take their customers!
Dear AT&T: It’s too late chumps. Far too late. For years I’ve had nothing but miserable service from since I purchased my iPhone. Constantly dropped calls. Calls that will not go through even after 4 or 5 tries. Suddenly getting a “7 missed calls” notice on my iPhone when it hasn’t rung all day. Having less than 1 bar 90% of the time. Phone conversations so distorted it sounds like I’m talking to an electronic robot and not another human being.
I can honestly say in the 12 years that I’ve had cell phones, AT&Ts service has been the absolute worst. The pinnacle of rotten, slipshod, and pathetic efforts that only a doddering company far past its’ time would have the nerve to pass off and sell. The fact that you launched a “100-day plan in late 2009” and are only now getting your pathetic tech up to date proves you really don’t give a damn about your customers.
You are the proud owners of the technical equivalent of a pitted gravel farm road, and are only now dimly aware of the concrete overpass about to take your livelihood away.
For the record, as of today, I’ve successfully kept 14 people off AT&T’s cellular service. That’s not a lot of people, but it’s 14 customers who now have a chance with a real wireless phone company.
I hope the Verizon story is true this time.
Here’s the story on Consumerist and on the Wall Street Journal.
Another 4 hour road trip today through the Texas valley! New posts probably won’t be up until tomorrow.
This isn’t mine. I found it on a wallpaper website but nobody knows who originally made it.
It had me laughing for awhile though. You have to click to enlarge this one.
Hellloooooo bear!
If anyone has any idea who made it, please let me know!
My nerd card is getting a real workout today.
President Obama is holding a Thundercats sword with what appears to be a genuine blade.
Thundercats!
Right. So who’s Mumm-Ra?
EDIT: It’s a fake!
More photoshopped images of President Obama playing with assorted toys here.
File this under “amazingly good to know”.
Apparently the leader of the “Tea Party”, Dick Armey, was a pretty busy guy! Before leading the “Tea Party”, Armey spent “years spent lobbying for a group recognized by the State Department as being a terrorist organization.”
D’oh!
The article goes on to say… “from 2005 to 2009, Armey promoted the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, otherwise known as Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), which the State Department has branded a terrorist group. Armey lobbied his former colleagues on behalf of legislation that would have provided taxpayer support to the MEK.”
And as an extra special bonus, from 2005 to 2008, “two Iranian-American businessmen: Akbar Nikooie and Saied Ghaemi… paid out $910,000 to DLA Piper for the service of Armey, his former staffer Jean Campbell, and a handful of other lobbyists to bring issues relating to Iranian “foreign relations” and “human rights” to the attention of Congress, the Department of Defense, the State Department, the White House, the National Security Council and the Department of the Treasury.””
Of course, none of this is on his bio page or on the Tea Party website.
Hmmmm……
You can read about his little past indiscretions here.
UPDATE: The “full” webpage with comments is here.
UPDATE II: The “comments” on the news website are hilarious. “Why the focus on the personalities rather than the idea?” Ah, hypocritical much? Reason #546,781 I don’t trust the left or the right “movements”.
I’m going to max out my nerd card early this week by posting this…
If the island turns out to be a hellmouth, I’m gonna start writing my own TV shows!
Every Monday I like to post some music to start the week off on the right foot.
This week’s post? The SXSW 2010 Winner of Best Music Video, Cinnamon Chasers – Luv Deluxe
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Runnin’ Down a Dream
And finally Harry Belafonte and the Muppets – Turn the World Around
Here are some news stories from this week that I think the mainstream media completely missed out on. All links are from legitimate news sources and not the fringe / wacko sites.
* The headline says “Astronomers Find 90% More Universe!” OK, how can you find more infinity? Isn’t that like the divide by zero thing? [UNIVERSE TODAY]
* The Environmental Protection Agency is gonna require EPA certification for contractors working on homes built before 1978. So now I’m gonna have to get a haz-mat suit to fix Aunt Petunia’s windows on her home? [REASON] and [REMODELING]
* You ‘member those commercials “When EF hutton talks, everybody listens?” It’s like that with T Boone Pickens. He may be a little squirrely, but when he moves on something, pay attention. “In Pickens’ eyes, water is going to have a lot of value going forward”. [FT]
* James Harrison, 74, has an antibody in his plasma that stops babies dying from Rhesus disease. His blood and 984 donations has saved 2 million babies’ lives. Pure awesomeness. If I ever win the lottery, I’ll team up with other millionaires and start the “quiet hero” annual award. Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger would have won it in ’09. James Harrison would have taken it last year. [DAILYMAIL]
* Neuroscientists “created fearful memories in people and then erased them” supposedly to learn how to “treat traumatic memories in people.” Maybe it’s just me, but I think this has the potential to be extraordinarily bad. If the government is still saying waterboarding isn’t torture, imagine what they will do with this? Now I need to add “centered memory retention meditation” to my to do list. [SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN]
* Nanoparticles have successfully killed cancer cells! Repeatedly! And without harming the host cells! The first trial on humans has been a success, with no side-effects at all! Boo yah!!! The future is going to be all kinds of nuts! The story is at [CALTECH], but a friendlier “in english” explanation is at [GIZMODO]
* Scientists think they have a proof of something pulling the entire universe at 2 million miles per hour. It’s pretty mind blowing that we’re all actually moving so fast and don’t notice. [NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC]
* “High Fructose Corn Syrup Is Linked to Liver Scarring”. That’s some very important stuff that I’m sure will be paid off and buried in the mainstream media, never to be heard from again! [SCIENCE DAILY]
* Real “raise the shields” tech is coming? OK, maybe it’s more like “polarize the hull plating”, but it’s a step forward! Captain Archer, Commander T’Pol, report to the bridge. [TELEGRAPH.CO.UK]
* Bill Gates is making a nuclear reactor that will work for 100 years without refueling. It must be nice to be so rich and politically connected you can do those kinds of things! [INDIANA EXPRESS]
* An alligator was found 20 miles out to sea… swimming with whales. I think the animal kingdom likes to mess with our heads like this on purpose. [MNN]
* Binyamin Netanyahu was “deeply humiliated” after Barack Obama “dumped him for dinner”. Looks like Netanyahu finally met the new sherrif in town! Tl;DR for Netanyahu : Stop building. Make peace. [TIMESONLINE]
* Mr. US finance, Ben Bernanke, says the “U.S. Fiscal Outlook is ‘Somewhat Dark’”. Hopefully just because he’s wearing shades. [BLOOMBERG] And if Bernanke feeling a tremor in the force wasn’t enough, Greenspan feels it too. [BLOOMBERG]
* Dear Republicans, This is what you need to do to make a comeback and have everyone take you seriously again. That is all. [TALKINGPOINTS MEMO]
* So when a conservative think tank proposes a healthcare plan, it’s all good. But when Obama successfully passes the identical thing, it’s socialism? Wait, what? [NY TIMES]
* Mother nature has a sequel to peak oil in the works! We’re running out of phosphate rock! It’s a major component of fertilizer, and current estimates say we will be out in 50 to 100 years. “Worse, phosphorus production could peak in just two decades, according to new research from Australia and Sweden. That’s when demand could outstrip supply, playing out a familiar scenario of scarcity, price shocks, riots, starvation and war.” So I’m guessing phosphorus grenades and tracer ammo are going to be even more expensive, too. Has someone given the military a heads up about this? [ALTERNET]
* The French torture a man to death as part of a gameshow. Fortunately, the man was an actor and everything was based on the Stanley Milgram experiment from 1960, but “only 16 of the 80 participants stopped before the ultimate, potentially lethal shock.” Lesson: Idiots blindly obey authority. Especially if they’re French. [BBC]
* It is officially the end of an era. Iggy Pop dove off a stage – and nobody caught him. [MATADORNIGHTS]
*** You know you’re having a great weekend when 8 PM Friday turns into 11 PM Sunday!
