Howdy, Everybody;
Yesterday, I bought the Alltel branded version of the UTStarcom UM150 wireless modem, and added that line to my cellular account. Unlimited access.
After some bobbles because the product was new to the sales staff, it is now working well; using www.internetfrog.com broadband test to check performance, I’ve seen download speeds as low as 400 kbps and as high as 950 kpps, which is respectable. These numbers are true both at my office and at my home.
The significance is that out where I live, up until this became available the ONLY option for broadband was satellite internet. Where I live there is no DSL, no Cable, no fiber-optic lines. Over the years, I have tried Starband, and Hughesnet (formerly Direcway), both satellite providers. Both are adequate but not great. Their main selling point is that they work, but frequently performance is not as advertised, and, frankly, service generally sucks. As of this morning, the download speed on the satellite was OK but the upload speed was about 1/4 the advertised speed.
Now I have a different option. It’s working well so far, and compatible with the Macbook Pro. I may replace the satellite system with one of these. A little gadget about the size of a pocket knife that can replace a satellite dish on a pole, about 120 feet of wire, and a modem/router about the size of a ring binder. With comparable performance. For about $10 a month less. And it’s portable. I’ve also noticed the lack of latency you get with satellite; with satellite you actually have to factor in the speed of light to the geostationary satellite, in both directions. The signal travels 50,000 miles minimum even if you’re only sending an email next door. So response on the cellular system is a bit snappier.
So far, I’m impressed. We’ll see how it goes.
-Pop
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
To My Church
You can fool all of the people some of the time;
and you can fool some of the people all the time;
But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
We know what you’re up to.
-Pop
and you can fool some of the people all the time;
But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
We know what you’re up to.
-Pop
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The Nature of a Lie
Howdy, friends;
The Center for Public Integrity has published a supposedly unbiased report that George Bush and the Bush administration lied to the public hundreds of times about WMD's and related subjects in Iraq prior to the war.
The Center for Public Integrity is funded by George Soros and others. You can read about their funding at Captain's Quarters. They are hardly unbiased, as you will see in that article. If you haven't heard about George Soros, you need to look into it - he is anti-everything American, pretty much.
Who's lying, here? An organization that is deceptive from the word go (by not admitting their funding, and pretending to be unbiased) is trying to push it's own political agenda, and they are so far left that they're up to their neck in the Pacific.
I've always believed that to lie implies conscious intent to tell an untruth. In fact, looking it up in the dictionary, lie is defined as "an intentionally false statement" (emphasis mine). If you, in good faith, relay information you believe to be good, and it later turns out to be wrong, you didn't lie, although you did tell an untruth that you believed was truth at the time. There's no sin in that, because there was no intent.
The fact is, we know that President Bush relied on information provided by the U.S. intelligence services. Frankly, we don't know if he lied, because we don't know what he knew at the time. Accusing him of lying is a bit over the line; at most, we can say that we don't know whether he lied or not.
As far as we now know, President Bush is guilty at most of trusting the intelligence apparatus of the U.S. government; and that apparatus was in place long before Bush became president. We also don't know whether the intelligence group lied to Bush, or were simply wrong in their assessment of information. Bear in mind that these statements may need to be revised as new information becomes available.
Let's put a little thought into things, and try to separate fact from (politically motivated) opinion, before deciding what we believe - and what we repeat to those around us.
How about you? Would YOU want to be held to the standard that you are responsible for the absolute truth of every statement you made?
Think about it.
-Pop
The Center for Public Integrity has published a supposedly unbiased report that George Bush and the Bush administration lied to the public hundreds of times about WMD's and related subjects in Iraq prior to the war.
The Center for Public Integrity is funded by George Soros and others. You can read about their funding at Captain's Quarters. They are hardly unbiased, as you will see in that article. If you haven't heard about George Soros, you need to look into it - he is anti-everything American, pretty much.
Who's lying, here? An organization that is deceptive from the word go (by not admitting their funding, and pretending to be unbiased) is trying to push it's own political agenda, and they are so far left that they're up to their neck in the Pacific.
I've always believed that to lie implies conscious intent to tell an untruth. In fact, looking it up in the dictionary, lie is defined as "an intentionally false statement" (emphasis mine). If you, in good faith, relay information you believe to be good, and it later turns out to be wrong, you didn't lie, although you did tell an untruth that you believed was truth at the time. There's no sin in that, because there was no intent.
The fact is, we know that President Bush relied on information provided by the U.S. intelligence services. Frankly, we don't know if he lied, because we don't know what he knew at the time. Accusing him of lying is a bit over the line; at most, we can say that we don't know whether he lied or not.
As far as we now know, President Bush is guilty at most of trusting the intelligence apparatus of the U.S. government; and that apparatus was in place long before Bush became president. We also don't know whether the intelligence group lied to Bush, or were simply wrong in their assessment of information. Bear in mind that these statements may need to be revised as new information becomes available.
Let's put a little thought into things, and try to separate fact from (politically motivated) opinion, before deciding what we believe - and what we repeat to those around us.
How about you? Would YOU want to be held to the standard that you are responsible for the absolute truth of every statement you made?
Think about it.
-Pop
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
History Shock...
Howdy, everybody;
One of my coworkers was just showing me his duck pictures, from his most recent hunt. He's an avid duck hunter. I will never forget the day that he told me he had an electric duck. Yeah, right...
Not knowing anything myself about duck hunting, I had not known that they have decoys that have movable wings, and several other variations. Some of them will even paddle around out on the pond, the better to simulate a live duck. It was really funny at the time, and I gave him a hard time about his electric duck.
Then I had this thought: If you had told me when I was 16 years old that I would spend ten years or so of my career occasionally cleaning mouse balls, until the advent of the laser mouse, I would have said "No Way!". But that's the way it turned out.
So, readers - what temporal anomalies have you noticed in your lives? Feel free to post them here - maybe we'll start a collection.
-Pop
One of my coworkers was just showing me his duck pictures, from his most recent hunt. He's an avid duck hunter. I will never forget the day that he told me he had an electric duck. Yeah, right...
Not knowing anything myself about duck hunting, I had not known that they have decoys that have movable wings, and several other variations. Some of them will even paddle around out on the pond, the better to simulate a live duck. It was really funny at the time, and I gave him a hard time about his electric duck.
Then I had this thought: If you had told me when I was 16 years old that I would spend ten years or so of my career occasionally cleaning mouse balls, until the advent of the laser mouse, I would have said "No Way!". But that's the way it turned out.
So, readers - what temporal anomalies have you noticed in your lives? Feel free to post them here - maybe we'll start a collection.
-Pop
Sunday, January 13, 2008
I still love my Mac, part 2.
A few minutes ago I came across a one-page website put up by somebody who blasted Mac lovers for loving their Macs. Very rudely. Sad - for the author. I guess he got insulted because somebody was going on and on about it.
Folks, the Mac is not perfect, any more than anything else made by man is perfect. It will sometimes have failures, and the vagaries of computers apply to the Mac as well as the Windows PC. If you expect perfection, you won't find it here.
Having said that, simply put, the frustration level is way less on a Mac. Compared to any other system currently available for the personal computer market.
I've been there and I've done that, and I've examined both systems looking for the best solution available. I have also looked at Linux (several different distributions), OS/2, BeOS (which had great performance, but was sidelined due to insanely poor business practice), EVERY version of Windows since 3.0, DOS, and CP/M before that. I haven't just loaded them up and looked at them, I've used every one and became proficient on most. And yes, I have Vista installed in a VM on my Mac. It works, and I use it for certain tasks, but I don't linger when I'm done working there. I have been responsible for maintaining all the computers in every place I've worked in the last 20 years. So I know just about everything that can go wrong on a computer.
I'm using a Mac by choice. It is a net improvement to my life.
No, it's not perfect. But it is so much less painful than working with Windows that I've adopted it wholeheartedly. I no longer spend nearly so much time (and money) just maintaining my system. It makes many things fun to do. In fact, it is so much better than Windows that I find myself typing articles like this one; something I never felt motivated to do for Windows.
OS X is subtle in many ways. For instance, in Microsoft Word, you have spell check? On the Mac, everything has spell check - it's universal. On my PC at work, I have occasionally launched Word just so I could see how to spell something. On the Mac, not necessary. You might not even notice this for a long time, but it's a real blessing. It's even a great thing for developers - they don't have to figure out how to implement spell check in their programs. Many other things are similar, in that you one day realize how well it all works.
Is there a learning curve? Yes. I've been using it a bit over a year, now, and I still learn little things about making it do what I want. For instance, the Mac keyboard doesn't have a delete-to-the-right button; the delete key deletes the letter to the left. Just a day or two ago, I found out that the delete-to-the-right function is the delete key with the Fn button held down. It was there all along. I came across it in the excellent Missing Manual book, Mac OS X Leopard Edition, which I'm currently reading.
There is a class of people I have worked with who just can't handle change. If you are one of them, stick with what you've got. It's your loss, not mine. Don't complain because it doesn't act like Windows; you have to understand that it's NOT Windows. As for me, I will try new tools that become available to see if there is merit in them. In the Mac, I find lots of merit.
So you do have to be willing to learn new things - Mac OS X is NOT Windows, although they have many similarities. If you get frustrated because it isn't Windows, maybe it isn't for you. But if you want a system that doesn't aggravate you regularly, buy a Mac.
Have fun!
-Pop
Folks, the Mac is not perfect, any more than anything else made by man is perfect. It will sometimes have failures, and the vagaries of computers apply to the Mac as well as the Windows PC. If you expect perfection, you won't find it here.
Having said that, simply put, the frustration level is way less on a Mac. Compared to any other system currently available for the personal computer market.
I've been there and I've done that, and I've examined both systems looking for the best solution available. I have also looked at Linux (several different distributions), OS/2, BeOS (which had great performance, but was sidelined due to insanely poor business practice), EVERY version of Windows since 3.0, DOS, and CP/M before that. I haven't just loaded them up and looked at them, I've used every one and became proficient on most. And yes, I have Vista installed in a VM on my Mac. It works, and I use it for certain tasks, but I don't linger when I'm done working there. I have been responsible for maintaining all the computers in every place I've worked in the last 20 years. So I know just about everything that can go wrong on a computer.
I'm using a Mac by choice. It is a net improvement to my life.
No, it's not perfect. But it is so much less painful than working with Windows that I've adopted it wholeheartedly. I no longer spend nearly so much time (and money) just maintaining my system. It makes many things fun to do. In fact, it is so much better than Windows that I find myself typing articles like this one; something I never felt motivated to do for Windows.
OS X is subtle in many ways. For instance, in Microsoft Word, you have spell check? On the Mac, everything has spell check - it's universal. On my PC at work, I have occasionally launched Word just so I could see how to spell something. On the Mac, not necessary. You might not even notice this for a long time, but it's a real blessing. It's even a great thing for developers - they don't have to figure out how to implement spell check in their programs. Many other things are similar, in that you one day realize how well it all works.
Is there a learning curve? Yes. I've been using it a bit over a year, now, and I still learn little things about making it do what I want. For instance, the Mac keyboard doesn't have a delete-to-the-right button; the delete key deletes the letter to the left. Just a day or two ago, I found out that the delete-to-the-right function is the delete key with the Fn button held down. It was there all along. I came across it in the excellent Missing Manual book, Mac OS X Leopard Edition, which I'm currently reading.
There is a class of people I have worked with who just can't handle change. If you are one of them, stick with what you've got. It's your loss, not mine. Don't complain because it doesn't act like Windows; you have to understand that it's NOT Windows. As for me, I will try new tools that become available to see if there is merit in them. In the Mac, I find lots of merit.
So you do have to be willing to learn new things - Mac OS X is NOT Windows, although they have many similarities. If you get frustrated because it isn't Windows, maybe it isn't for you. But if you want a system that doesn't aggravate you regularly, buy a Mac.
Have fun!
-Pop
I still love my Mac
Howdy, Everybody;
A few days ago I bought a Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000. I was keeping an eye out for a bluetooth mouse, because theoretically I could do away with the USB plug-in 2.4 Mhz radio transmitter required with most wireless mice. This works, of course, because bluetooth is built into my MacBook Pro.
This bluetooth feature works really well with this mouse and my Mac. The only new thing is that I have to remember to switch off the mouse when I quit for the day, to save the batteries. The only complaint I have is that the wheel on the mouse is a bit notchy. I've gotten used to the Logitech's spin-wheel which is very smooth. But I can live with that for the benefit of A) freeing up a USB port and B) not having to mess with an adapter. There is no apparent lag, action is very smooth, clicking has no hesitation and registers every time.
Recommended.
-Pop
A few days ago I bought a Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000. I was keeping an eye out for a bluetooth mouse, because theoretically I could do away with the USB plug-in 2.4 Mhz radio transmitter required with most wireless mice. This works, of course, because bluetooth is built into my MacBook Pro.
This bluetooth feature works really well with this mouse and my Mac. The only new thing is that I have to remember to switch off the mouse when I quit for the day, to save the batteries. The only complaint I have is that the wheel on the mouse is a bit notchy. I've gotten used to the Logitech's spin-wheel which is very smooth. But I can live with that for the benefit of A) freeing up a USB port and B) not having to mess with an adapter. There is no apparent lag, action is very smooth, clicking has no hesitation and registers every time.
Recommended.
-Pop
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Nifty Gun a Friend Bought
Howdy, Everybody;
One of my co-workers recently bought a Taurus "The Judge". This is a pretty nifty revolver, that shoots .45 Colt ammo. It has the (mostly) unique capability of also accepting .410 shotgun shells. Capacity is five rounds. It fits the hand well. The front sight is a fixed red fiber optic site, very easy to get lined up with. The cylinder is really long, to handle the shotgun shells.
Now this should make a very effective self defense weapon. In demonstration videos I've seen, shooting what looks like a 12" square target, the shotgun shell makes a hole in the middle about 2" across, and scatters across the target to the edge of the target, from a range of about 10 feet. This makes an effective weapon without having to be dead-on in your aim. A great time-saver in a defensive situation. This would be an ideal weapon shooting down a hallway in a home invasion scenario. Or for defense against animal attack.
The owner was using it to shoot skeet last weekend. What a trip!
Fun!
-Pop
One of my co-workers recently bought a Taurus "The Judge". This is a pretty nifty revolver, that shoots .45 Colt ammo. It has the (mostly) unique capability of also accepting .410 shotgun shells. Capacity is five rounds. It fits the hand well. The front sight is a fixed red fiber optic site, very easy to get lined up with. The cylinder is really long, to handle the shotgun shells.
Now this should make a very effective self defense weapon. In demonstration videos I've seen, shooting what looks like a 12" square target, the shotgun shell makes a hole in the middle about 2" across, and scatters across the target to the edge of the target, from a range of about 10 feet. This makes an effective weapon without having to be dead-on in your aim. A great time-saver in a defensive situation. This would be an ideal weapon shooting down a hallway in a home invasion scenario. Or for defense against animal attack.
The owner was using it to shoot skeet last weekend. What a trip!
Fun!
-Pop
Colder than...
Howdy everybody;
It's colder than a well-digger's, uh, feet out there! I think I saw a cow with ear-muffs on the way to work this morning. It was 17.8 degrees at my house this morning at about 6:15 AM.
No busted pipes, so far, so I'm counting my blessings.
Work is back in full swing, that is to say, about 0.9 CM (Crisis Mode) on Pop's Panic Scale. I'm getting things to do faster than I can do them. So I keep plodding along...
I am continually surprised that so many people listen to me. Four Macintosh laptops were bought at Christmastime, at least somewhat due to my recommendations. I hope they all have as much fun with theirs as I do with mine. Which I still love, by the way.
It's nice being back in the saddle, I suppose.
Happy New Year to you all!
-Pop
It's colder than a well-digger's, uh, feet out there! I think I saw a cow with ear-muffs on the way to work this morning. It was 17.8 degrees at my house this morning at about 6:15 AM.
No busted pipes, so far, so I'm counting my blessings.
Work is back in full swing, that is to say, about 0.9 CM (Crisis Mode) on Pop's Panic Scale. I'm getting things to do faster than I can do them. So I keep plodding along...
I am continually surprised that so many people listen to me. Four Macintosh laptops were bought at Christmastime, at least somewhat due to my recommendations. I hope they all have as much fun with theirs as I do with mine. Which I still love, by the way.
It's nice being back in the saddle, I suppose.
Happy New Year to you all!
-Pop
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