Maddening in March
Posted By RichC on March 26, 2011
Kentucky edges Ohio State 62-60 on Knight’s jumper
LINKS and Posterous photos missing
And you think your cable bill is too much …
Posted By RichC on March 25, 2011
Although I regularly complain about my cable bill … as well as all my other semi-necessary monthly bills … I’m thankful it isn’t $16.4 million like Daniel DeVirgilio’s recent bill.
BEAVERCREEK, Ohio (AP) — Try fitting this cable bill into the monthly budget.
An Ohio man says Time Warner Cable told him he owed the company $16.4 million. Daniel DeVirgilio, of Beavercreek, says his payment was rejected because it wouldn’t cover the total.
His bill is usually $80. DeVirgilio tells the Dayton Daily News he wanted to watch the NCAA basketball tournament’s Sweet 16 but didn’t expect it to cost a million dollars per team. He jokes he should have added Showtime to his channels because the charge of a few extra dollars doesn’t seem big in comparison.
Time Warner says human error is to blame for the payment problem. Officials say a worker typed the wrong amount owed, and a letter to DeVirgilio was automatically generated. They’re working to resolve the issue.
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Lerner: “They have the money, we need to get it back…”
Posted By RichC on March 25, 2011
Stephen Lerner relayed plans to intentionally damage the economy of the United States last week and suggested it would start this May. He is (was?) a politically connected SEIU official who regularly visits the Obama Whitehouse, although is said to currently be on administrative leave – his phone rings through and 
voice mail still takes messages.
Lerner divulged the Cloward and Piven-like plan while speaking at a university forum in New York and was “brainstorming” plans to collapse Wall Street by targeting banks (“brainstorming” – the most polite news term I read). In the recorded speech below he is encouraging borrowers to stop paying their mortgages (and student loans) with the goal of creating the necessary conditions to push for a change in government and to redistribute of wealth. He comments that if enough people refuse to pay back their loans that they could “put banks at the edge of insolvency again.”
YouTube Video Removed
Lerner: “10% of homeowners are underwater, right, their home they are paying more for it than it’s worth 10% of those people are in strategic default, meaning they are refusing to pay but they are staying in their home that’s totally spontaneous they figured out it takes a year to kick me out of my home because foreclosure is backed up…. If you could double that number you could put banks at the edge of insolvency again."
Previously Lerner wrote that the modern labor movement has not done enough to capitalize on economic crisis and is at risk of losing relevance unless they take drastic measures. He writes,
"If we don’t seize the opportunity of the current economic crisis to chart a radically different course-committing ourselves and our movement to organizing for transformative change-we will sink into a deserved abyss of irrelevance."
I’d like to believe that this is all just the raving of a political socialist who is drunk on his own ego … and that rank and file SEIU union members have far more patriotism and love of country than to purposely participate in plot to bring down our economy. Perhaps the month of May will tell the story?
Browser and Windows 7 upgrades
Posted By RichC on March 24, 2011
The DSL connection at the hotel was shockingly fast so I took advantage o
f the speed to update my Windows 7 with a Service Pack 1 update … and decided to update a couple of Internet browsers too.
After installing Mozilla’s Firefox 4 and realizing that several of my add-ons needed to be disabled, I was pleasantly pleased with the
slightly faster program load time as well as the snappier tab loads and browsing experience.
I also did the same for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer in upgrading from 8 to 9. It too seemed a bit snappier and the interface cleaner. All but the IE 9 install seemed improved.
Since I was
in the mood, Apple’s Safari also needed to be upgraded to 5.0.4 which continued to be a fast and clean browser.
Google’s Chrome is a daily use browser for me and was already up to date. In my opinion it is still the quickest of the bunch for program loading and snappy browsing … although the speed difference was not as noticeable as in the the past.
I’m not unlike many in the daily browser debate and choice Firefox as my default. It it probably used 75% of the time with Chrome 20%, IE and Safari the other 5%.
A roof over your head … and one over your boat(s)
Posted By RichC on March 23, 2011
The Winns’ residence in Charlevoix, Michigan has a “modest” boathouse and in viewing the video, they have a couple nice boats to put in it too (HGTV video below).
The 10,437 square-foot Round Lake home and 8,537 square-foot boathouse of long-time Charlevoix residents John and Zita Winn is an architecturally stunning masterpiece. One of the founders of 4 Winns boat company, John has been living in what he calls his "dream home" for the last eight years with his family of five. "Zita and I just talked about it the other day, we feel so grateful and lucky to be able to live there — our enthusiasm for the home never changes," he said. John’s boathouse, which displays up to 30 boats between 5-60 feet, also features nautical items that John has collected during his lifetime."
By the way … it’s for sale and according to Internet rumors the price has been reduced from $11 million to $9 million in case you are interested.
Google Voice and Sprint partnership will benefit cellphone users
Posted By RichC on March 22, 2011
Google Voice will integrate with Sprint phones according to recent press releases from both companies. With the new partnership, Sprint customers will be able use their existing number as their Google Voice (GV) number or be able to use their GV number instead of their cell number for outgoing calls. The features of Google Voice technology will soon be to all Sprint cellphone customers. When a subscriber places a call or send a text message, they will gain the advantages of the web interface, call blocking, forwarding, ringing multiple devices, and other Google Voice features.
When you enable Google Voice on your Sprint phone, you’ll get:
- One Number for all your phones Pick the phones you want to ring (home, work, etc.) when your Sprint number is dialed, so you’ll never miss a call.
- Online Voicemail Check your messages by phone, email, or on the web and keep them for as long as you’d like. Plus, your messages will be converted into text and sent to you via text message or email.
- Customization, control & low-priced international calling Create and assign personalized voicemail greetings based on who’s calling you, block unwanted callers, mark telemarketers as spam and make international calls at our very low rates.
Obama: using the US military “to prevent atrocities in Libya”
Posted By RichC on March 22, 2011
Although I’m not a big Don Imus fan, KT McFarland discussed the point that has been bothering me seeing the many uprisings in the middle east. At what point do we restrict our military involvement around the world to our security and national interest … and at what point do we commit our blood and treasure to someone else’s civil war … for ”humanitarian reasons?” Cambodia, Srebrenica, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Rwanda, Darfur, Iran, etc? (video below)
I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be involved in Libya, but the term “mission creep” does comes to mind whenever we commit our military forces to help one side or the other. Let’s hope our current involvement is “limited” or that the next middle eastern country experiencing civil unrest doesn’t end up a seemingly never ending military mission like we seeing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
If you enjoy woodworking, you’ll like Woodgears.ca
Posted By RichC on March 22, 2011
With hundreds of great woodworking sites on the web, it is difficult to know which ones are worth viewing whenever there is a new article. 
Most promote their published product or so overrun with advertising that it reminds me of going to a myspace page (mind you I haven’t gone to one in a few years so they may have improved?) Others that are personal blog attempts are often incomplete and difficult to follow. That said, I’ve appreciated the effort and expertise that Matthias Wandel offers on his blog, woodgears.ca. If you enjoy working with wood in a home shop, his suggestions and ideas are a welcome and easy read – very clear.
His recent post, Causes of planer snipe on small thickness planers, offered an excellent explanation as to the problem and offered a couple creative and simple solutions … something that is rather timely for me since I’ve been wanted to utilized some recycled lumber on a project (I don’t currently own a planer). His video is embedded below.
Vacuum cleaner blues …
Posted By RichC on March 21, 2011
One would think that since the invention of the carpet sweeper in 1860 that companies would have improved the vacuum cleaner enough in 150 years to figure out how NOT to have the beater brush get bound up with hair. Obviously not, since over the past few decades I have still ended up cleaning and replacing the belts and rollers of the four different brands of sweepers we’ve owned: Hoover, a classic Royal, Panasonic and our current Oreck XL (a model I would highly recommend).
This past week I brought my daughter’s Oreck home after she mentioned it was smelling like rubber. Knowing it was probably the belt wearing due to the brush picking up hair from an apartment with three girls, I expected a simple cleaning. Wow … a lot more binding of the bearing than I expected. Thankfully an ebay seller had a new roller and a couple of belts for under $15.
Archive: Libya targeted by coalition air strikes
Posted By RichC on March 21, 2011
The air assault on Libya on Saturday March 19th came as no surprise as the dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi continued to send his hired mercenaries into areas held by the rebels seeking freedom. The motivated, but under equipped rebels, are at a decided disadvantage when it comes to combatting Qaddafi’s military aircraft, tanks and heavy artillery; they have been pushed to near defeat making a final stand in Benghazi to the east. Prior to coalition airstrikes, it was looking as if the 40 year dictator was going to hang on to power. About the only surprise was how long it has taken President Obama, the UN and other western leaders to implement a no-fly zone over people struggling in the midst of a civil war.
On Sunday the air assault continued for a second day as President Obama visited South America without altering his schedule, although news coverage has been nearly non-existent regarding his trip – minus the criticism regarding taking a trip while he was waging war. Many, particularly Republicans, question the seeming lack of leadership and back seat posture being taken by Obama; I have a concern that there is a lack of a plan.
The White House brushed aside criticism that Mr. Obama was too slow taking action in Libya. As for the 2012 Republican presidential contenders, they were quiet on the topic of Libya, all except the former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was the only prospective candidate to issue a statement, criticizing the military action as “opportunistic amateurism without planning.”
As of this hour, late Sunday-early Monday, the U.S. has used primarily cruise missiles and B-2 bombers to target radar sites along with command and control locations along with the same from the UK. The French, Danes and Italians have jets in the air and have targeted Qaddafi’s heavy armory firing or threatening cities.
According to most military talking heads, the skies over Libya are now under coalition control, except for the mobile radar and anti-aircraft units with radar turned off. Of concern to most in the U.S. is the worry that we are getting involved in a war on a 3rd front, although Obama pledged that no American ground troops would be deployed to Libya.
A recent report indicated that the British targeted Muammar el-Qaddafi compound in Tripoli … “the compound may have been struck by missiles fired by British or French forces, which have taken the lead in the effort to halt attacks by Libyan forces against rebels seeking to topple Gaddafi. CNN quoted “coalition sources” in Washington as saying that the building was hit because it contained “command and control” capabilities.”
Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.