PEBCAC

In another attempt to show the technological savvy and business acumen that has made Pennsylvania the envy of the Western world…Ed Rendell just sold your right to true high speed broadband, at least at a reasonable rate.  More importantantly is what it says about the rest of the country and the state of seamless broadband within the US.

Regulators aren’t the only ones buckling. Consider Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania had considered legislation, backed by Verizon, to bar its cities from selling broadband services. After a series of compromises, Gov. Edward Rendell signed a bill in December letting Philadelphia and other cities proceed with their own broadband plans — until 2006. After that, they must give Verizon a first right of refusal.

Verizon says the bill is fair, especially considering that Pennsylvania is requiring phone providers to offer broadband statewide by 2015.

What’s more, the Bells say, their local-phone turf is under attack from rivals, forcing them into combat mode. They also note that wireless is becoming a substitute for traditional “wired” phones, thus putting more pressure on the Bells.

HAHAHA Boo Hoo. We’re being forced to provide a superior service and compete in the marketplace.

Thanks Ed, as long as short sighted politicos like yourself keep passing the laws, the legacy of rotting steel mills will live on. Smell that smell? That’s stagnation baby! Go Steelers!

There are updates all over the site, but the neatest is the webcam test.

WebCam
Enemies List
Friends List
Gallery
Media list 

This is an update of a previous post.  

Well, I’ve been driving around with the DLO Transmitter for a couple weeks now, and have put over a thousand miles on the transmitter. A couple of minor quibbles and observations.

Occasionally, and only in very rural areas, I’ve had to turn the audio down on podcasts. VERY muffled static is audible and a slight ‘DC whine’. This is minor, when it happened I just changed over to a regular song and didn’t notice it.

It’s much more stable than I’ve thought. I’ve driven some twisty backroads, a bit too fast, and it’s only shifted twice…and that was on poorly designed highway offramps.

There is absolutely some kind of non-advertised audio dampending technology going on. Similiar to the LX/DX feature of the griffin iTrip. It slightly flattens the sound. This can be tweaked.

More importantly, I haven’t had to change the frequency from 88.1 ONCE!. Haven’t even thought about it. And it looks pretty sweet mounted in the car.

 I read an article a couple of months ago about Child Boxing/Fighting in Thailand. It thoroughly disgusted me to read the discription of children as young as eight, fighting in brutal competition with little, if any, rules. Descriptions were given of children kicking their opponents in the heads as they lie on the ground, necks being intentionally snapped, and kidneys being punched past the point of rupture.

After months of searching, the first site I’ve found tells people how they can go and VISIT these facilities and train to do it themselves (against adults, of course). While it’s true that the region has a cultural heritage based around ritualized combat, fighting children are simply being exploited. I took martial arts as a child, however, I wasn’t forced to train with weights around my neck to assure my opponent wouldn’t break it while sparing.

Nonetheless, if you haven’t heard of this disgrace, I encourage you to read this article. To get a better idea of what is going on, the author has a collection of photos. Write your legislature, boycott travel and spread the word…there is frighteningly little information on this atrocity available.

Since cancer is cured, fusion energy abundant, we’ve finally unleased Alexei Burikov on mans greatest preadator…the tortise, or land turtle.

Using the most advanced bio-engineering, robotics, and shiny things from Radio Shack, Mr Burikov has designed a way to control small tortises via remote control.

This is a major improvment over the Navy’s mammal research program, mainly because most of our enemies seem to be on land. The idea of Sharks with Frickin’ Laser Beams on Their Heads is cool, but much like Aquaman useless…unless your battles are determined by games of Marco Polo.

So sleep well, DARPA can rest, the turtles are here, and they aren’t even Ninja or teenage. The armed and elderly shall be conquered by our turtles, the drunk and lost will soon be overcome, babies and toddlers will be tripped and nipped.

Don’t worry about Nanotechnology and grey goo, worry about R/C turtles. They’re going to, albeit slowly, get you.

Ever since G.I. Joe offered the chance for kids to be made into an action figure, I’ve been looking for a place like this. With my own action figure I could plan my day in advance, try new fashions before hitting big meetings and plot my stealth attacks on my enemies.

Some of my super powers and accessories would be:

• verbal tics - to disorient attackers
• fading tattoo design - to attract aging hipsters
• super skinny frame - part of new ‘Weasel Enhancement’ package
• embarassingly loud cell phone - for wedding and funeral fun
• illegal switch blade -suitable for shanking people or picking teeth!Classy!
• dog(s) - interchangeable, up to four per action figure
• sanitizer and carrying case - for keeping me clean and germ free

Much like the George Bush Action Figure, people could also use it for Voodoo purposes, against me. Trust me, there are a lot of people waiting for this.

 

The dates for the next ADAPT action have been announced. It will be in Nashville March 18th - 23rd. For an update on what’s been going on in Tenn, check this out. I will be attending this action, my sixth or seventh and can’t wait. ‘Actions’, a euphemism for protest and civil disobedience, are an exhausting experience. Most actions run 20 hour days and require a minimum of one day of recovery for each day of ‘Action’. Thankfully, half of my time is spent with the troops and the other half posting pictures taken by Tom Olin

In an effort to get more troops, and hopefully lighten the workload, I’ve posted some ADAPT Recruitment Posters. I will be continually updating this area through, and after, Nashville.

Many Thanks to Tnet and their excellent service, we are back online. Turns out I set a configuration setting wrong and mucked things up. The site will begin receiving new posts tomorrow night, and hopefully the layout will return to normal by then. Part of the layout changes are because of the upgrade to WordPress2.0.