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• Quick Links

  29Jul
  Categories: General, Quick Links, Sports Comments: 5

  ** Those terrorists sure do provide an electrifying display. Nothing like getting zapped with 50,000 volts. The Sun gives the dramatic tale of the capture of one of the London terrorists. (hat tip: Blackfive)

  ** Mazda is holding a free test drive event at FedEx Field (home of the Redskins) near D.C. and at 9 other locations around the country. If you’re anywhere near any of them and are 18 or higher (I’m not… waah…) be sure to register immediately for the chance to drive sporty RX-8’s and MX-5’s around a track. You get to compete for best time (among other factors) with the other participants and you get professional performance driving instruction.

  Learn the fundamentals of performance driving from our team of professional driving instructors. This class begins with a quick ground school that teachs basic performance driving techniques. This “chalk talk” is followed by an instructor coaching you through the curves in a Mazda RX-8. Space in this specially designed course is limited so be sure to sign up immediately once on-site!

• Free MacMini

  27Jul
  Categories: General, Personal, Tech Comments: 5

  I want to ask a favor. Click here and complete one of the totally free with no obligation offers listed. (My favorite is the AOL trial) If ten of you wonderful folks do this, I will get an entirely free Mac Mini. Mac Minis are wonderful little machines. They retail for around $500.

  Even better, if you get ten friends to sign up using *your* referral link, you get a free Mac Mini!

  I will offer two free weeks of having a blogad on my site (check out my traffic stats) to anyone who completes this offer. (Ad must not contain objectionable material.) If you wish to take me up on this ad offer, drop me an email. As soon as your offer “goes green” (is confirmed as being completed) I will send you a link to place your ad.

• VirtualSwitch.com

  27Jul
  Categories: General, Humor, Tech, Work Comments: 3

  I have been getting at least weekly, if not more than weekly emails from Virtual Switch. Most irritating. I filled out a form *once* to find out more about their telecom product. The deluge of emails hasn’t stopped since. Back in Nov. 2004 I emailed them asking them to stop. They didn’t. I got this email today:

  Hi,

  You are on my list as a prospective Virtual-Switch customer and I wanted to contact you to see what it would take to get you to open your account this month. We’re prepared to offer the first 3 who respond some exceptional incentives.

  Like all businesses, we’ve got a sales quota every month and with just a few days left in July, I thought I’d write to you and see what it would take to get you to open your account this month. I need to bring on 3 more accounts this month and have got some room to negotiate some very special deals.

  Just reply to this email if you are serioulsy interested and I will contact you tomorrow.

  Regards,

  Lenn Brown

  +1-504-210-0716, Ext. # 207
  lenn@virtual-switch.com
  Yahoo Messenger: lenn_brown
  MSN Messenger: lenn_brown@ hotmail.com

  I replied:

  Lena,

  I am on your list as a prospective Virtual-Switch customer and I wanted to contact you to see what it would take to get you to take me off your list this month. I am prepared to report you to the FTC & FCC if you continue to ignore my repeated attempts at removal. The FCC has some exceptional incentives for you compliance.

  Like all businesses, I have work to do every month and with just a few days left in July, I thought I’d write to you and see what it woud take to have you let me do my work without sorting through the additional spam that you generate. I am in the telecom industry and am familiar with the FCC. I’m sure I’d have room for the FCC to “negotiate” a very special deal for you.

  Just reply to this email to let me know if you are finally taking me serioulsy [sic] about me wanting to be removed from the list. If you don’t, I will contact the FCC tomorrow.

  –
  Hans Mast
  Golden Rule Communications
  Manager
  Phone: (800) 511-0072
  Fax: (540) 788-1022
  Cell: (540) 272-****
  Email: *********@goldrule.net
  http://goldedrulecommunications.com/

  They bluster back with some untruths:

  Hans,

  You are on our list because YOU contacted us starting on Jan 29, 2003, then again on these dates:

  2/03/03
  4/29/03
  5/02/03
  8/2//03
  1/09/04
  7/26/04
  9/14/04
  12/04/04

  That would indicate that you were interested in our services.

  Until today, we have not received any request to take you off our lists, but with your message today we will. Feel free to contact whoever you want.

  Lenn

  First of all, I didn’t start working at GRC until Spring/Summer of ‘04, so I know that I haven’t “had a relationship” that long. Second, I only contacted them three times. Once to ask some questions, second to have them remove me from their list (that email is the one below), and third my most recent email above. I don’t know where they pulled those dates from, but I didn’t contact them on all those dates. They said, “Until today, we have not received any request to take you off our lists.” I replied:

  Lenn,

  Au contraire.

  –
  Hans Mast
  Golden Rule Communications
  Manager
  Phone: (800) 511-0072
  Fax: (540) 788-1022
  Cell: (540) 272-****
  Email: *********@goldrule.net
  http://goldenrulecommunications.com/

  ——– Original Message ——–
  Subject: Re: Virtual Switch Update
  Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 08:07:31 -0500
  From: Hans Mast <*********@goldrule.net>
  To: lenn@virtual-switch.com
  References: <200411281154484.SM01000@206.251.178.7>

  Lenn,

  This is too big a solution for us. Please discontinue contacting me about this [emphasis added] unless you come out with a much scaled down version.

  Thank you,

  –
  Hans Mast
  Golden Rule Communications
  Phone: (800) 511-0072
  Fax: (540) 788-1022
  Email: *********@goldrule.net
  http://grc.goldrule.net/

  lenn@virtual-switch.com wrote:

  > Hi,
  >
  > I recently sent you information and just wanted to follow up with you regarding your interest in our Virtual-Switch platform. Please email, call or instant message me if you’re interested in further discussion.
  .
  .
  .
  > 2005 is just one month away, and we we’re willing to offer some great incentives to get your account opened this year. [Hmm... sound familiar?]
  >
  > Regards,
  >
  > Lenn Brown

  What is my purpose in this post? It is twofold. First, I thought my response (the second email in this post) was somewhat amusing in its “shpootting” (German word for imitate; I can’t spell German, I can just speak a dialect of it) of the letter they sent. Secondly, it will be put on the public record and in Google’s index for when someone else is unhappy with Virtual Switch, it will serve as a resource and indicator of past behavior.

• My Nerd Score

  26Jul
  Categories: Personal, Tech Comments: 9

  

  Update: If you feel like it, take the test and leave a comment with your score.

  Update: I am curious about the question about which isn’t a real programming language. I guessed BASIC, but that doesn’t really make sense because BASIC can be compiled as well as interperted. Another question would be whether they are talking about all the BASIC languages (including the modern and very compilable Visual Basic) or whether they are talking about just the original BASIC language. I knew each of the other languages mentioned were at least pseudo-programming languages, but I didn’t know enough about any of them to randomly choose one. I chose BASIC because I thought its original form wasn’t compilable (“Contrary to popular belief, it [BASIC] was a compiled language at the time of its introduction.”) and because it is generally reviled by the C languages (C++, JavaScript, etc) community as a not-really-a-programming-language (BASIC, QBasic, Visual Basic, VBScript).

  I’d love some discussion on that question. [X_software_company] employees?

  Update:
  

  I scored a 92% in my age/sex demographic.

• Vote in the 2008 Election… now.

  26Jul
  Categories: Political Comments: 3

  Patrick Ruffini, Bush’s ‘04 Webmaster is holding a straw vote for the Republican nomination for President. Go let your voice be heard.

• Lance Armstrong wins 7th straight

  25Jul
  Categories: Humor, Political, Sports Comments: 9

  Lance Armstrong won his seventh straight Tour de Lance (term shamelessly stolen from RM) as he retires. The Democrats aren’t happy with Lance:

  Democrat Senators and Representatives have demanded to know why it is necessary that the race always be won by a white male. They have demanded that in future, Lance’s success must be proportionally distributed to minorities and women.

  In case you are wondering, the above piece is satire. I had to tell you this, because you never can tell with those Democrats.

• Big Gov helped Mohammed Atta experience cultural “comity”; ignored his blatant threats

  25Jul
  Categories: Political Comments: 0

  Wow!

  WITH hindsight, the defining encounter of the age was not between Mohammed Atta’s jet and the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, but that between Mohammed Atta and Johnelle Bryant a year earlier. Bryant is an official with the US Department of Agriculture in Florida, and the late Atta had gone to see her about getting a $US650,000 government loan to convert a plane into the world’s largest crop-duster. A novel idea.

  The meeting got off to a rocky start when Atta refused to deal with Bryant because she was but a woman. But, after this unpleasantness had been smoothed out, things went swimmingly. When it was explained to him that, alas, he wouldn’t get the 650 grand in cash that day, Atta threatened to cut Bryant’s throat. He then pointed to a picture behind her desk showing an aerial view of downtown Washington - the White House, the Pentagon et al - and asked: “How would America like it if another country destroyed that city and some of the monuments in it?”

  Fortunately, Bryant’s been on the training course and knows an opportunity for multicultural outreach when she sees one. “I felt that he was trying to make the cultural leap from the country that he came from,” she recalled. “I was attempting, in every manner I could, to help him make his relocation into our country as easy for him as I could.”

  So a few weeks later, when fellow 9/11 terrorist Marwan al-Shehhi arrived to request another half-million dollar farm subsidy and Atta showed up cunningly disguised with a pair of glasses and claiming to be another person entirely - to whit, al-Shehhi’s accountant - Bryant sportingly pretended not to recognise him and went along with the wheeze. The fake specs, like the threat to slit her throat and blow up the Pentagon, were just another example of the multicultural diversity that so enriches our society.

  For four years, much of the western world behaved like Bryant. Bomb us, and we agonise over the “root causes” (that is, what we did wrong). Decapitate us, and our politicians rush to the nearest mosque to declare that “Islam is a religion of peace”. Issue bloodcurdling calls at Friday prayers to kill all the Jews and infidels, and we fret that it may cause a backlash against Muslims. Behead sodomites and mutilate female genitalia, and gay groups and feminist groups can’t wait to march alongside you denouncing Bush, Blair and Howard. Murder a schoolful of children, and our scholars explain that to the “vast majority” of Muslims “jihad” is a harmless concept meaning “decaf latte with skimmed milk and cinnamon sprinkles”.

  Go read the whole thing. I don’t have anything to add. No comment.

  Rick Moore has an interesting thought, though:

  The Democrats whole governing philosophy is based on the idea that America the root of all the world’s problems and that we should feel never ending guilt. This is not a position of strength, nor will it lead to peace or safety for the American people. That, my friends, is why the Dems continue to lose elections.

• Hillary: Yes to SCOTUS nominee

  25Jul
  Categories: Political Comments: 3

  Hillary continues her move to center as she, according to the Drudge Report, declares her support of Roberts, Bush’s nominee to the Supreme Court.

  Update: More on Hillary going to center…

• Letters from (Spiritual) War

  25Jul
  Categories: Christianity, Personal Comments: 2

  Without much comment, below is a letter from my uncle who is with his entire family (wive and five children, approx. ages 3-17) in Accra, Ghana, West Africa for at least a three year term as missionaries with Charity Missions.

  Written on Tuesday, July 12.

  Dear Brothers and Sisters,

  We as a family are very grateful for God’s protection over us, and at the same time, sobered by how quickly someone can enter eternity.

  Stealing is a serious offence here. Just last night there were two armed robbers close to our house, at 6:30p.m., who were stealing purses and so on. Someone called out, “Thief!”. When that happens, a mob gathers, they chase the thief and will then beat him severely, sometimes killing him. One of the thieves ran down our lane, which is a dead end, and tried to come through our gate. However, 20 minutes before this I felt that I should fasten the gate, something we usually do around 7-8 pm. As I was securing the gate I wondered to myself why I am doing this so early. I went inside the house and was spending some quiet time, when I heard strange noises: hollering, screaming, I wasn’t sure what it was. Just like that, our neighbor girl burst in, saying that they had captured a robber (a thief who is armed). Matthias and I ran out right away in our bare feet and saw the mob and the robber up the street 60 yds from our house. He was being beaten with, I think, electrical cords. Another man(men) was clubbing him, just hitting and beating him up. My landlord was very happy, chuckling as the poor man cried out in pain. He told me, “They will beat him and then kill him.” I was praying, asking God if I should do something. Everyone took huge satisfaction in the robber’s pain. I began to voice my displeasure, then realized that my landlord was becoming aware of that, and was trying to make me stay back.

  After they had beaten him into the ground, a neighbor went up to the robber and fired a pistol into the air to make them stop. I and several others finally went forward and tried to intercede for the man. They also caught the other robber and were beating him, although I didn’t see him until later.

  I was offering my car to take them to the police station or hospital, but the offer was not appreciated.

  My neighbor tried to force me home several times, trying to push me home. I agreed to it, after he assured me that the police were called, and that the robber would eventually get up and run off. The robber was breathing, but wasn’t moving.There was a constant hub of voices. The Ghanaians are very vocal, so everyone was talking at once.

  I reluctantly allowed my neighbor to take me back to the house.

  One hour later I went outside and could hear a loud crowd. I went back up with Ruby and Matthias. They had moved the 2 robbers together and removed their clothing. They were both dead. The police were there. It was now a large mob of people; the crowd was rejoicing. The police also looked happy.They threw the bodies on back of a pickup truck and went away.

  One pair of trousers is still on the road. There is blood where I saw the robber beaten. It gave our family a heavy feeling to realize how abruptly these men entered eternity, unprepared.

  The reason the mob was so violent is because the police and judges are known to do little, and a robber can easily get off the hook with a bribe. The locals are fed up with authorities and the culture now is to take action like this and make an example when they can. Most people live in dread of robbers. Several months ago there were armed robbers, eight of them, right where they killed these robbers. So our neighbors were spoiling for a fight.

  I know that it was the Holy Spirit that had me to close the gate. We had thieves into the neighbor’s compound a week ago. They broke a car window and stole some shoes and things, but never bothered us. It is an ever present
  danger.

  Several months ago God took away the fear and anxiety that we faced last fall. We know that He is protecting us and we feel secure in His care. Last night we all slept soundly. Thank you for praying for us.

  Trusting Him, Loren Overholts

• Tapestry Chamber Singers

  25Jul
  Categories: Christianity, Music, Personal Comments: 3

  I am proud to announce the launch of the Tapestry Chamber Singers’ 2005 tour website. Any bug reports or feedback is appreciated.

  This is one Class A singing group. You should really go take a look at their bios (two especial notables are Lamar Kauffman (conductor) and Josh B. Good; this is just a sampling of the best résumés). They are quite amazing. They are pretty much the crème de la crème of the plain, Mennonite circles. If they are coming anywhere near you, be sure to attend.

  Update: You can listen to some of their stuff from last year, here. (The mic quality wasn’t optimal, but it’s still quite good. Please note all recordings are of rehearsals or live performance.)

  Update #2: Specific question for you folks: Does it look better with or without the small purple border around the main content area?

• AIDS

  24Jul
  Categories: Christianity, General, Humor, Personal, Quote of the Day Comments: 0

  I have a prayer request to share. A young lady in our church who is a nurse, went over to India for a number of weeks after the tsunami to help medically at our mission. During that period, she got stuck with a contaminated needle. She has had one one test done with the results undisclosed. She is scheduled for a confirmation test in two weeks. (to eliminate a false negative or false positive) Pray for her emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

  Quote of the Day

  “Mom, I’m glad you don’t have AIDS. Then we’d have to shout at you all the time.”
  - 9 year-old sister Kristi, thinking all her life that AIDS referred to hearing aids.

• Online Shopping

  23Jul
  Categories: Blogosphere, General Comments: 0

  Here are the online shops that I am an affiliate of and get a commission through. If you wish to shop through these links when you shop, I would be most grateful. Walmart and Amazon are two big, you-can-find-almost-anything stores.

  AllZines Magazine Subscriptions	iTunes Online Music Downloads	Blinds.com Window Blinds
  BlindsWholesale.com Window Blinds	Cellular Factory Cell phones and accessories	Champion Sportswear
  Computers4Sure.com Computers and supplies and accessories	Corel Corel Wordperfect Suite, Corel PaintShop Pro, CorelDRAW	DirecTV Satellite TV and Satellite Internet Service
  Dirt Devil Vacuums	Gardener’s Supply Gardening supplies 10% off deal expires 8/15/05	GiftBaskets.com Gift Baskets
  H & R Block Tax preparation services and software	LinkShare Affiliate programs for websites to earn commissions	Magaines.com Magazine Subscriptions
  MovieLink Downloadable movies	Sheet music & music software Special offer: Coupon Code: GETITALL Good For: $5 Off $30 or More (All Products!) Good Through: September 1, 2005	NetFlix Online movie rental with free mail delivery
  OneHanesPlace Women’s clothing	OrangeGlo and OxiClean Discount brand-name household cleaners	Overstock.com Auctions Auctions similiar to eBay, except it is targeted at businesses liquidating overstocked goods
  OverStock.com Discount goods because of overstocking; set prices, not auctions	Petco.com Pet supplies	PETsMART Pet supplies
  ShopAtHome.com Free catalogs (and some magazines as well)	SimplyAudiobooks.com Audiobook rental	Target.com Everything Target stores have; like WalMart
  Walmart Need I say more?	Amazon.com Books, Music, DVD, VHS, Magazines & Newspapers, Computer & Video Games, Software, Electronics, Audio & Video, Camera & Photo, Cell Phones & Service, Computers, Office Products, Musical Instruments, Home & Garden, Automotive, Bed & Bath, Furniture & Décor, Gourmet Food, Kitchen & Housewares, Outdoor Living, Pet Supplies, Tools & Hardware, Apparel & Accessories, Shoes, Jewelry & Watches, Beauty, Health & Personal Care, Sports & Outdoors, Toys & Games, Baby

• World Stupidity Awards

  22Jul
  Categories: Humor Comments: 3

  The Academy Recognizing Stupidity Everywhere (don’t think about their acronym) has handed out their annual World Stupidity Awards, recognizing stellar performances everywhere.

  President Bush deservedly won The Stupidest Statement of the Year for this gut-buster: “They never stop thinking of ways of harming America, and neither do we.”

  Tellingly, Paris Hilton won twice; once for Stupidest Woman and second for Stupidest Show (The Simple Life). Showing the average intelligence of those voting, Ann Coulter won Stupidest Man of the Year. And yes, she is a lady.

  Some other notables included North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il for the Stupidity Award for Reckless Endangerment of the Planet and the World Stupidity Awards themselves winning the Stupidest Award Show of the Year.

  The Candians won The Stupidest Government of the Year because of the Gomery scandal. Canadians everywhere are jubilant:

  The Canadian government secured a surprise win Friday, beating out such luminaries as Iran, North Korea and the United States, for the dumbest government of the year at the World Stupidity Awards.

  It also bested the United Nations in a hotly contested category that organizers said proved Canadians can compete with the rest of the world.

  “Canadians often feel we’re in the shadow of the U.S., especially when it comes to stupidity, but now we’re proving we’re world class,” said Robert Spence, spokesman of the awards

  And I win the (self-appointed) Stupidest Blogger of the Year award for typing this post twice. I made the mistake of using Internet Exploder (because my motherboard is so far gone that it corrupted Firefox during an unscheduled reboot) to write this post and when I submitted the post it found an error in the coding. IE didn’t let me go back unless I resubmitted the command to show the new posts page which erased my post. Oh, btw, my mouse doesn’t work either, so I was using mouse keys (the num pad on the right) to move my mouse around. My network card isn’t working right either, otherwise I would have used my brother’s computer to write this getting internet access over the network. You can help remedy this horrible situation. You could click my ads. You could buy something through my affiliate links. (Thank you Susie!!) You could donate at the bottom right. Or, if you’d rather not do any of that, you can wait til tomorrow and I’ll put up a shopping page with links to all my affiliate programs. Scan all the merchants and remember. Next time you are buying from one of those merchants anyway and you happen to think about it, come here, and go through me. Please don’t let me put you on a guilt trip (you’re thinking, “Fat chance!”), I am joking. Dad will pay for the new computer (which is not really exclusively mine; it’s kind of the whole family’s) but if you do keep that merchant page thing in mind, that would be helpful. It does take a lot of my time to blog and you do enjoy it, at least marginally, or you wouldn’t be reading this.

• Bravo to the Aussies!

  22Jul
  Categories: Political Comments: 0

  or at least* their prime minister:

  PRIME MIN. HOWARD: Could I start by saying the [British] prime minister [Tony Blair] and I were having a discussion when we heard about it [(the London terror attacks)]. My first reaction was to get some more information. And I really don’t want to add to what the prime minister has said. It’s a matter for the police and a matter for the British authorities to talk in detail about what has happened here.

  Can I just say very directly, Paul, on the issue of the policies of my [Australian] government and indeed the policies of the British and American governments on Iraq, that the first point of reference is that once a country allows its foreign policy to be determined by terrorism, it’s given the game away, to use the vernacular. And no Australian government that I lead will ever have policies determined by terrorism or terrorist threats, and no self-respecting government of any political stripe in Australia would allow that to happen.

  Can I remind you that the murder of 88 Australians in Bali took place before the operation in Iraq.

  And I remind you that the 11th of September occurred before the operation in Iraq.

  Can I also remind you that the very first occasion that bin Laden specifically referred to Australia was in the context of Australia’s involvement in liberating the people of East Timor. Are people by implication suggesting we shouldn’t have done that?

  When a group claimed responsibility on the website for the attacks on the 7th of July, they talked about British policy not just in Iraq, but in Afghanistan. Are people suggesting we shouldn’t be in Afghanistan?

  When Sergio de Mello was murdered in Iraq — a brave man, a distinguished international diplomat, a person immensely respected for his work in the United Nations — when al Qaeda gloated about that, they referred specifically to the role that de Mello had carried out in East Timor because he was the United Nations administrator in East Timor.

  Now I don’t know the mind of the terrorists. By definition, you can’t put yourself in the mind of a successful suicide bomber. I can only look at objective facts, and the objective facts are as I’ve cited. The objective evidence is that Australia was a terrorist target long before the operation in Iraq. And indeed, all the evidence, as distinct from the suppositions, suggests to me that this is about hatred of a way of life, this is about the perverted use of principles of the great world religion that, at its root, preaches peace and cooperation. And I think we lose sight of the challenge we have if we allow ourselves to see these attacks in the context of particular circumstances rather than the abuse through a perverted ideology of people and their murder.

  So much for the whole blame-the-circumstances, blame-the-poverty, blame-the-US for terrorism crowd.

  The British and the Australians are simply very solid stock.

  * and by extension the Aussie people, because they elected him

• Quote of the Day

  22Jul
  Categories: Humor, Political, Quote of the Day Comments: 1

  “I may be the first lawyer to stand here, and say I’m asking for my client to be indicted by a federal grand jury.”

  -Andrew G. Patel, Attorney for Al-Qaeda combatant Jose Padilla who was plotting to blow up buildings in the U.S., arguing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that Padilla should be tried in civilian courts instead of a military tribunal