Someone Should Write A Blog About This...

Well here we are at the ol' blog again. I am typing this in Notepad on my PC because I can't get my phone online to type from the Blogger app.

"why can't you get your phone online?"

I am glad you asked. The answer is, I don't know for sure. But rest assured Verizon claims to be working on it for me. I say its because they are 'throttling' my unlimited usage. (see yesterdays blog) They claim they don't throttle they make Network Adjustments or some such nonsense. When asked
what that is, they say they slow down your data stream so as not to bog down the network. Well if you look up throttling, its defined as, slowing down
the data stream so as not to bog down the network. Semantics. Potato, Tomato. I don't care if you call it poop or turds, they are the same thing and they both stink!

Speaking of Verizon, here is another little bit of semantics and how 'Big Red' is making all the rules in their favor. My phone got an automatic software update yesterday. Now I have some shiney new apps sent to me by Verizon. Apps I didn't need or want and cannot delete all on a phone I own. (see note#1)
Now one of these apps is called "APPS". Clever name. Its a gray icon with a little shopping cart that has a Verizon logo in the basket. (Awww how cute!)
This app takes you to Verizons own app store! So I laugh to myself and wonder what could they be offering. So I open the app and a logo comes up for 'V-Cast Apps' then takes me to another screen. Its gray with white writing. Let me give you one of the hilights it says:

"TRUST -- Every app is screened to ensure they work with your device and have no viruses. Control options can block innapropriate content for children."

(Reread that statement again, because it will be important in a minute.)

Below that is button that says 'continue' so I click it and...Up pops the dreaded TERMS AND CONDITIONS!!!
No one ever reads them, but since Verizon has been on my pooplist, or should I call it 'throttlinglist' I decide I should give it the once over. It starts with the usual stuff, "some apps are free, some are offered at a fee" yadda yadda yadda and them BAM! There it is all the way down at the bottom in glorious gray and white. Let me type it our for you so you can enjoy it too:

"You agree that the download and use of Apps is at your own risk.Verizon cannot ensure that any Apps, or the content delivered through Apps, will be free from viruses or contamination or harful features."

WHAT THE? Did you just do a double take like I did? Go back and read the "TRUST" statement and then read the T&C statement. One says to TRUST that they have  screened every app and have no viruses, then contradict themselves by saying some might have viruses and they aren't responsible. Ha! What happened to 'TRUST'? Well I am glad I didn't TRUST them.

To me this is a GREAT example of the deceptive business and advertising practices that are used by many companies around today.

Shame on you Verizon, SHAME.ON.YOU

#Note 1 -- verizons update added apps to my phone (my personal property) which cannot be deleted. They are permanent alterations. I hate this as its not their property to make changes to. I own the phone not them. Verizon says they can do it since i connect to their network. Thats like the government telling you that you could only use a certain tire to ride on the highway they jyst paved. Or a radio station downloading new presets to your stereo everytime you listen to them. Its absolutely crazy what tgey get away with. I think its mostly becayse people dont understand what they are signing or how negatively it affects them.

Smarten up yinz/y'all !!!

Phones and Data And Craziness Oh My!

Lets say you have just bought a brand new house and you need to hook up the water. You go to the water company and they offer you choices of different water plans. Some let you use as little as 2 gallons of water and go up to 10 gallons a month. You opt for the 10 gallon plan and pay $100 a month for it. On day one you open the faucet and draw out all 10 gallons. You divided it up into bathing, cooking, cleaning, and drinking. The next month you do the same and continue doing the same thing for the first 6 months. Then one day you open the faucet to get your 10 gallons and the water barely trickles out. You call the water company and they tell you that you are in the top 5% of water users and in an effort to keep the water pipes from getting clogged they are 'water optimizing' you. They then ask if you have been drinking water that you got out of the tap. Of course you have, and they point out that the contract you signed says you cannot drink the water, because they sell a separate $30 water drinking plan. Since you signed a 2yr contract you have no choice but to purchase the drinking add on to your policy. So now you are paying $130 a month for the same 10 gallons only now you are now contractually allowed to drink some.

If this happened to you in real life, you would probably go CrAzY. After all its quite absurd. Its all the same water, who cares if you drink it or clean with it. How can they dictate how you use the water, once you get it out of the tap.

The bad part about this story is that its ALL TRUE!!! Well not in the water sense. But in the cell phone sense. I know this because its happening to me. Verizon, my phone carrier, has lumped me in the top 5% of data users (data abusers are what they actually called me) and slowed down my data connection.

They told me that tethering my phone to my computer is a violation of my agreement. Not because I am using more water, I mean data, but because tethering is a service they charge for. But my phone tethers automatically. Its a function of the phone not anything special Verizon has or needs to do. My phone itself does it when I connect it to my laptop. Tethering doesn't allow me to use more data, it just displays the data on my laptop, as opposed to the phones small screen. But Verizon wants me to pay $30 more for this. I don't know why I need to give them an extra $30, they aren't giving me anything extra. I bought the phone, cables, laptop and data plan. Why do I still need to pay an extra $30 to Verizon for the privlage of hooking the components I bought together?

If I buy a new TV, and new cables and connect them to my cable box, I don't pay anything extra to the cable company do I? No! (NOTE**The cable companies did try to do this once. Make you pay per tv connection. that idea went the way of the DoDo)

Now here is where the story gets absolutely insane. When I got my phone, I was delighted to see that it had a built in app (slacker app)to stream music from the internet, and a built in YouTube app to watch videos on. These apps came built into the phone and cannot be deleted. A phone bought from a Verizon representative. A Phone with a Verizon logo on the face of it. Now this is the really insane part. STREAMING MUSIC AND VIDEO VIOLATES MY TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT!

What?? Really???? YES REALLY! Its all their in black and white and very small print. My phone came with 2 Verizon approved apps that I can never legally use!

What a crock of sh!t that is!

Thankfully though, its not just in my agreement. Its in millions of Verizon users agreements. And if I had to venture a guess, its probably in AT&T user agreements as well. And if we all stand up together and lodge complaints with each company and the FCC something would be done about it. The "Big 2" as they are known seem to play a follow the leader game. AT&T is usually the trendsetter and Verizon follows suit. Until recently, you still had 2 other smaller choices for phone service who allowed tethering and truly unlimited data usage. Those were T-Mobile and Sprint. Well AT&T bought T-Mobile. Effectively ending that alternative. Which leaves Sprint to stand alone against the Big 2. And they are in trouble. I think you can see where this is going. Verizon will play follow the leader once again and will probably buy out Sprint in less than 2 years. Mark my words.

Now if all of this seems familiar, its because Verizon and AT&T are taking a page from China's phone companies. The 2 largest carriers over there did the exact same thing. Creating and oligopiliy and colluding with each other to offer minimum services and maximum prices. luckily the Communist Chinese Government is stepping in to correct the situation. I wonder if ours will. Probably not. As the demand for more data increases, and the demand for profits increase, profits will always win. Cell companies have shipped so many jobs overseas to save money and refuse to make tangible upgrades to their networks.They keep the extras and line the pockets of the FCC and Govnt officials so that they don't have to be accountable for any of it. And now we are well on our way to doing the same thing that happened in China.

On a side note, I am sure many of you have seen the ads for Verizons 4GLTE service and the cable companies screaming fast broadband internet connections. Well as fast as you think they are, did you know we are still far behind other countries? In fact we are #18! on the list of the top 20 fastest internet connections. #18! Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, China, all way ahead of us. Our fastest measured internet speeds were measured in Utah at 7.2Mbps. Compare that to Koreas 80Mbps and some parts of china at 100Mbps. (And they are paying less for it!) and you can see what a joke our 3G/4GLTE speeds are compared to that.

And on another side not, the average internet speed has actually decreased by 1.9% over the last year in the US. Its an anomoly that no one seems to be able to explain. I have a thought:

Maybe its because we are all being 'throttled back' or 'data optimized' so that our aging infrastructure can handle the increased demand. Instead of reivensting in new technologies the big whigs of the BIG 2 and other ISP's are picking our pockets and keeping the extra for themselves and making us pay twice, with More money and less service.

At least thats how I see it. How about you? Love to hear your thoughts on this.

Been a while since i posted...

Looks like my last blog entry was in June. I figured by now I would be a 'blogmaster' delivering a new entry every day that thousands of people would be reading. After all who doesn't care what I have to say! Turns out no one does! :( Well thats not entirely true. I have 5 wonderful followers. But when you don't write anything in 5 months you can't expect too much I guess. So I am going to try to remedy that by blogging more. I did some thinking about this (yes its what you smell *groan*) and while blogs can be fun for others to read, they are also good for the writer. Its therapy. And I need it.

So I am cooking up some good therapy for my next blog entry, which will come either later tonight or tomorrow.

stay tooned!

thats all folks!

All Good Things Must Come To An End...

10 years ago, I was living a boring married life and had a cat. One day I went to PetsMart to get cat litter. Little did I know going in that my life would change forever. I would go in seeking cat litter, but would come out with a friendship. A friendship that would be more fulfilling and last longer than any other I have ever had. It would even outlast the marriage and the wife!

The local shelter in Raleigh NC had taken dogs to PetsMart in a last ditch effort to get them adopted before being euthenised. When I walked in, Blackstone was laying down in the middle of a wire pen in the entrance way. He was the only dog in it. In some strange way that matted, hairy dog caught my eye. I walked him around the parking lot and from the very beginning we had made a great connection. In retrospect I think we connected because we were going thru the same things at the same time. He had been put up for adoption by a family who no longer loved him, and I was in a loveless marriage. We were 2 wayward souls looking for a friend. And in each other we found that friendship.

Fast forward 10 years, 5 moves and countless broken hearts, and we find ourselves at the final chapter of our relationship. As I look at the empty space beside my bed where he has slept every nite, I realize that I am not really losing my friend. He may not be here physically anymore, but his influence on my life will be with me forever.

Good Nite Stonebone. I love you!

Can We De-Evolve? or "How I Forgot to Remember and Learned to Love the Gas Prices"

Conspiracy theorists, and fringe science aficionados will tell you that "Yes", it is possible to De-Evolve. They are not contending that we are going backwards toward Homo Erectus (hahaha gotta love that name!) But rather that we can evolve backwards technologically speaking. [*Note1*]

These ideas are usually supported by such evidence as the Baghdad Battery, the Antikythera Device, or the Piri Reis Map. Here is a link to a video detailing all 3! Their is other evidence to support the idea that humans of long ago had access to technology that would be considered far to advanced for the time period. Ancient Chinese, Mayan, and Hindu texts all talk of using rockets to get into space. Even the Bible, has something called Ezekiels Chariot or Ezekiels Wheels. Which upon reading in modern contexts, reads exactly like a rocket ship landing!

But if the ancients had access to this technology, where did it go? Why did we de-evolve so to speak and forget it? And if this de-evolution did take place, is it still? Is their a modern equivalent? Oddly, I think their is...

I turned 16 in 1988. Gas in my town was at 90Cents a gallon. I could get about 5.5 gallons of gas on a single $5 bill. My car, with its bad CV joints, oil burning engine, was a 5 speed, 4dr, hatchback. It was silver and ran like crap, but it ran and never failed me. That car was made in 1979 by Datsun. Yet even though it looked horrible and ran just as bad, it still managed to get almost 45 miles to the gallon! For those doing the math, that's 225miles!  So for a kid with $5 in his pocket, I could drive to school and back for a week, and still have enough gas to drive my friends to the beach on the weekends. Remember this car was made in '79!
The world was coming out of the pseudo gas crisis of the 70's. So emphasis was put on smaller cars, that did better on gas. Plus it was the start of the Japanese imports vs. American Muscle cars rivalry. And the American side was losing. By the time I graduated high school, Honda had a commercial detailing what it called "The Most Fuel Efficient Car In The World". It was a Honda Civic and would get over 60mpg! So for $5 I could go 300miles!

Then something happened in the 90's. Cars manufacturers touted luxury and roominess and got people to buy bigger cars. Gas had risen to about a dollar a gallon and it seemed ok to buy big cars. You could fill one up for less than $20. Even though it didn't get good gas mileage, somehow we didn't seem to care. So people hopped on the SUV bandwagon and started using more gas than ever before.

Now that gas prices have risen to $4 a gallon or more we are being more conservative and looking at smaller more fuel efficient cars. Todays big push is Hybrid, gas/electric cars. The auto manufacturers say these cars get 40mpg! Indeed I typed 'hybrid car gas mileage' into Google and the first thing in the list is for Ford Fusion Hybrid boasting 41mpg and 700 miles on a single tank! Seems impressive. But I call BullSh!t My 1979 Datsun did that. and it was a regular eco killing, smog producing, gas engine. Same with the late 80's Honda Civic that boasted 60mpg. I don't understand how this hybrid car is a step forward? It seems that as far as cars go, we HAVE DE-EVOLVED.

If my 1979 Datsun could get 45mpg, and the Honda Civic 60mpg, why can't todays cars reach 75, 80, or heck 90mpg? As it stands right now, comparing gas mpg to gas mpg, I would be better off driving my '79 Datsun vs  a brand new 2011 Ford Fusion. That's de-evolution at its finest.

I am not sure if the ancients had technology that got them into orbit, or if they had electricity and somehow this was all lost and had to be rediscovered during the industrial revolution over a thousand years later. But it certainly seems possible. After all, in less than 25 years, we seem to have lost the ability to make a more fuel efficient car.

*Note1* I was doing a photo shoot for Magic Magazine with Harry Anderson of Night Court fame. We were doing some spoof photos of a long ago mentalist name Ted Annemann. One of the photos had me in the shower drinking Bay Rum Cologne. Ted was a notorious alcoholic. So I had to take off my shirt and wear a pair of shorts it the shower. I am a very hairy person. And Harry quipped "Its nice to see someone fight for something. I just don't know why you are fighting evolution" hahaha nice one.