When’s the Tokyo train ever that empty?
Tokyo Dance Trooper
When’s the Tokyo train ever that empty?
Blog
Sprint’s Customer Service
I just read on CNET’s Crave about Sprint’s "dear John" letters to their more frequent customer service callers. It’s an interesting tactic to streamline their customer service experience. The first thing I wonder about is whether these dismissals are not the work of Sprint. I just can’t see how these can solely be those high-maintenance/"Dinette Set" types. Personally, I see much of this as messes of their own making. Comically, they’re being quite gracious, since they’re fully canceling their service, with no penalties. Considering their reputation, I’m quite certain that I’d be quite pleased with the option to bail. Somehow, I doubt that this will help their churn rate.
Thoughts in the evening
Another day where I am just weary. I’m looking forward to a short week, and accompanying rest. It’s strange, I think, how hard it is to just think at times. Reading the news is empty. I get to the end of a paragraph and retain zero. Perhaps it’s the early summer warmth, or allergies, or just being run too thin.
I wonder where I want to take my love of technology. There are so many directions. The two that come readily are to puruse programming/development and to follow a more artistic avenue. Part of me craves combining my old love of photography, poetry, writing and music. Perhaps I can do something with web design?
It’s painful, though, to my overworked brain to think of anything too deep right now. I sit on the cusp of a migraine, with medicines (thank goodness) being effective. I hope the weariness wears off soon and I can give these thoughts the deeper consideration they deserve.
“The 100 Acre Personality Quiz”
HeraldNet: 1,652 filmed running lights
HeraldNet: 1,652 filmed running lights
This intersection seems to spawn recklessness. To be fair the ticketed, this light is poorly timed; I can think of several times that, in low/medium traffic I’ve needed to wait several cycles to get through the light. Not that it excuses running the light, but frustration increases the likelihood. I guess that makes this rather akin to road-rage.
This does force one to ask a bigger question, though. There is something rather Orwellian about this system. Is this the first step down a slippery slope towards perpetual governmental monitoring? It may seem paranoid, but I find the question interesting. At what point do we say “no” with a camera based justice system? Cameras at work, at the store, at school, on the bus, now intersections. Where is the “line”, and how do we quantify it?
So damn tired…
I have no idea what’s up, but I’m just feeling wiped out. Some blasted bug, I guess. Argh…
It’s Friday, if you can believe it. And Sunday is July 1st; we’re officially over ½ through this year. Time’s moving fast enough that I’m starting to feel motion sickness.
I’m hoping the long anticipated healing of my car’s transmission will be complete sometime today. Though I do love taking the train, I do miss my car. Not particularly green of me, I know, but I like having flexibility in the morning (only two trains from
Lynnwood Beauty Academy
As a child of Lynnwood, this strikes way too close to home.
eMusic
One worry I had when I chose an iPod over sattelite radio was that my music would become stale. Howver, with so many podcasts, internet radio, and services like eMusic, Magnatune and the like, there is no excuse for musical stagnation. Heck, it's no effort at all, really. I love Irish music, and have spent my train ride to work listening to podcasts by LiveIreland.com and the Thistlepod (NPR's Thistle and Shamrock). All kinds of great new music. Life is good!
Our Family Hostage Crisis – New York Times
Our Family Hostage Crisis – New York Times: “Our Family Hostage Crisis”
It’s stories like this that make me a fervent believer in critical importance of open, transparent government. The leaders of Iran believe that they are exempt from scrutiny, that they are accountable to no-one.
On only one point do I disagree with Professor Bakhash. The actions of Iran in these cases don’t make the government look “inhumane”, they make them look evil. This shows them to be beasts willing to brutalize anyone who, ever so slightly, diminishes their power.
Save Net Radio
I am a heavy user of net radio. As such, I’m a bit impacted by today’s “day of silence”. However, I fully support the efforts that our net radio friends are working on to save this medium. The way things are right now, net radio stations are looking at a 300% royalty increase that will be effective on July 15th. And that increase will be retroactive to January. The net effect (please forgive the pun) will be many of these stations imploding. I am in full support of artists being compensated for their work. However, this will remove a revenue stream as well eliminating a channel to expand their fan base. There are two big losers with this system: artists and listeners.
I urge you to head over to savenetradio.org to learn more about the issue. From there, you also will be shown how to contact your representatives in Congress, where there is legislation underway to reverse this. With all of our efforts, we can bring about a more sensible solution to ensure that artists are fairly paid and internet radio is able to stay on the “air”.