Category: Uncategorized

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Note the addition of Michael Yon’s Blog to my Blogroll

Don’t ask me to explain why I’ve neglected to blogroll Michael Yon: Online Magazine before now. I slipped up.

Michael yon is embedded with the Deuce-Four in Mosul. For the real news from Mosul, make his blog a regular stop. All the news that he can (conscientiously) reveal is there. And it’s worlds and away more than you’ll get from the Mass Media Podpeople’s Army.

Blogroll his site and visit regularly for a wee dose of truth.

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Lurching from one irony to another

Jean Fraud sKerry (AKA John F Kerry, the junior lobotomy experiment from Massachussets sometimes found in the U.S. Senate) persists in his blind arrogance…

"We have to go out and fight for the real issues that make a difference in the lives of the American people and we don't need some great lurch to the right or lurch to the left or redefinition of the Democratic Party… "
And this from "Lurch" himself. Irony, thy name is Jean Fraud sKerry. Yeh, it'd be a shame if the Democratic Party redefined itself as a party with integrity, honesty, genuine concern for the safety and wellbeing of citizens and committment to principles that are embued in the American State Papers.
But that'd mean kicking out slimy liars like Jean Fraud sKerry, so naturally "Lurch" doesn't want a… "lurch" to the right (not Right; what is just and true and honorable: right) in the Democratic Party. And a true "lurch" toward genuine liberal thinking would cut the ground from under his feet, as well, as genuine liberalism invites, encourages, indeed does everything it can to foster open, honest dialog and examination of all evidence.
For example, evidence of one's own record, when that record has been cited by oneself for personal gain… like Jean Fraud sKerry's complete and unabridged military files, since he has built his career on his military record for years.
So, Jean Fraud: were're the facts, the actual records? Still obscured from public view in "friendly" hands that refuse to release any but harmless dribs, eh?
Face it. For Jean Fraud sKerry, the only "real issue" is his own self-promotion. Period. everything else is a distraction or a tool to advance himself. Nothing more, nothing less.
Free your SF-180, Jean Fraud.

See Cao's Blog for more… and for how you can be a part of the Free John Kerry's 180 Blogburst along with the bloggers listed below.

Aaron's cc
And Rightly So!
Atlas Shrugs
Balance Sheet
Cao's Blog
Cathouse Chat
Christmas Ghost
Civil Issues
Conservative Friends
DANEgerus
doubleplusgood infotainment
Doughnut Holes
Euphoric Reality
Flight Pundit
Fundamentally Right
Furry Press
GM's Corner
Gribbit's Word
House Of Wheels
i-imagery.com
Infinite Universe
International House of Conservatism
Jackson's Junction
Jay Howard Smith
Kender's Musings
Lifetrek
Moonbattery.com
My Vast Rightwing Conspiracy
NIF
PBSWatcher
Pirate's Cove
Pooklekufr: The Kafir Constitutionalist
Power and Control
Private Radio
Progressive Conservatism
Ravings Of A Mad Tech
Reasoned Audacity
Republican Vet
Right in Philly
Rottweiler Puppy
Shades of Gray
Something…and Half of Something
Stop the ACLU
Tall Glass of Milk
The Babaganoosh
The Creative Conservative
The Dark Citadel
The Paragraph Farmer
The Pulpit Pounder
The Sunnyeside Of Life
Think About It
Third World County
TMH's Bacon Bits
Uncle Jack
Villainous Company
Web-Nuts
What Attitude Problem?
Where's Your Brain?
Word Park Blog

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Adventures with tech support

See UPDATE below

Well, I guess we’ll find out soon just how good Sony tech support is…

In recent years, I’ve had mixed results getting product support from various big name computer and peripheral manufacturers. No names, but [OPINION!] HP’s tech support really stinks. heh Dell, once ya get through the maze of voicemail and call back a few times to get someone who speaks intelligible English, is not half bad.

Called Sony this a.m. about Violet, Lovely Daughter’s Sony Vaio notebook. Not an auspicious beginning… She registerred it online the very day she bought it. They had no record of it. Not only that, their automated call system had “identified” the caller ID-blocked number I called from as someone with an open incident on a Sony TV.

So far, so bad.

Got her registered… sorta. Although she bought Violet in January, and thus was within her one year parts/service warranty, they wanted $250 to repair Violet. Said she wasn’t in warranty.

Almost strike three. Asked the umpire to check his glasses, AGAIN informed tech support of the purchase date in January and was told to fax the reciept to get clearance for service.

OK, faxed. Now, “wait 2-3 hours for it to show up in the system and call back.”

Oooooo-Kay. We’ll see. The 8-month-old reciept is virtually illegible. If they hadn’t lost her original registration, Violet would already be on the way in for repairs under warranty.

We’ll just see.

UPDATE:

OK, happy ending. Rest of the story? Well, since you ask so nicely, sure.

First of all, had to call tech support because the documentation with the comp is extremely skimpy, NO tech specs, manuals or FAQs on the Sony tech support site referencing this comp (although there is a full library of driver and patch downloads). So, had to call tech support just to get info on whatever quirky fault could have caused the issue.

Called back at appointed time. Went through the voice-actuated auto-voicemail thing. Got connected to a tech who promptly called me by someone else’s name… cos the automated voicemail system had shuffled me to someone along with someone else’s trouble ticket (although it had read back to me my own TT# for verification). I think they need to work on their automated system.

When the tech finally located my TT, he verified that the fax had been recieved and that Lovely Daughter and Violet were registered and covered under warranty. Then he had me run through the same procedures I’d already tried on my own, then with the tech this a.m., and… Violet started right up.

It was the dreadlock wig and chicken bone rattle, cos I did not one single thing different to this a.m.’s sessions—the one before calling tech support and the one after.

We were both puzzled. So, “…reset the BIOS?”

“OK, let’s do that.”

“How? It’s not in the docs.”

He gave me the secret handshake, I reset the bios, we did a buncha other nonsensical stuff to make ourselves feel all techie and Violet just flat didn’t care. But Violet’s such a lil lady, she kept right on booting right up through it all.

The techie did try to blow some smoke on causes of the initial non-booting issue, but although my B.S. detector was blaring in my ear I just shut up and let him feel cool. Just glad Violet decided to be cooperative. Finally figured she just needed to sleep in a lil longer and didn’t wanna wake up.

Girls’ day in.

🙂

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OK, so I’m not up to posting today…

…well, not anything worth much beyond an, uhm, passing… thought. But it’s a real gas.

So I have this idea for a story. Maybe someone can flesh it out. Not me. I have no ear for dialog, plot or descriptive narative.
So, here’s the thing: there’s this guy with neverending, really killer flatus. It’s causing real hell in his everyday life, has driven him into hermitage, complete isolation. Sitting, sleeping, driving. It never stops.
I even have a title for the story:
The Wind in the Pillows.
Knock yourselves out.
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The first Carnival of the Recipes… of year 2

Carnival of the Recipes #53 is up at its home blog where She Who Will Be Obeyed lays down the law: wonderful recipes are the rule of the day!

It’s all good. Just wash that honey cake you have in your paw down with another swig of coffee and toodle on over for some mouth-watering delights. Careful now. Drooling on your keyboard will do it no good at all, at all.
When you’ve perused the delights there, come on back and tell me how to improve my Odd Chicken Salad/Sandwich. I’m always open to suggestions.
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Who knew ya could milk penguins?!?

Ya coulda bowled me over with a drunk armadillo…

There I was, just getting a lil grocery shopping done when I saw on a closeout table, Penguin Cheese Crackers.

?!?!? Penguin cheese?!?!?

No kidding. Someone had taken penguin cheese and made crackers outa it. Or so it seemed…

Penguin Cheese_05b

False adverstising, fer sure! It was just these lil orange turds shaped sorta, kinda halfway (if one squints reeeeaaal hard and closes both eyes) like penguins.

🙂

Penguin Cheese_04

I’d want a refund, except the box was only $1.50 and the cats seem to think the things are OK.

*grumble, grumble, gripe, complain*

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Tool Time

I was over at Woody’s News & Views and ran across a useful idiot (useful to the commies, cretins and creeps, oh, my! in the Mass Media Podpeople’s Army, that is) posting in comments…
So, I tripped the light fantastic on over to this UI’s blog and lo! and behold! Yep. First up is a carefully-worded disingenuous attack on President Bush in the PLame Blame Game. Some folks just never let go of fantasyland. (“It’s reality-based! No, really it is! See the castles? See the dungeons? See the pretty dragons and elves and dwarves? Reality-based, I say!”)
He led with a quote from a Judd Legum Salon article,
[T]he media refuses to ask two questions that President Bush could not delay answering until he “finds out the facts”: Mr. President, prior to July 14, 2003 (the day Robert Novak’s column appeared), were you aware that Valerie Wilson was a CIA agent? And did you discuss her role with any other member of your administration?
To which, of course, the President’s reply (should such a loaded question be asked—from a Mass Media Podperson? Never! Perish the thought!—should be obvious. The Prez ought to answer simply,
“Haven’t done your homework, have you bubba/bubbette? Valerie Plame hadn’t been a ‘covert operative’ for over six years at the time of the Novak article, so the whole issue is moot. Rove, Coulter: remove this tool with extreme prejudice. Next.”
Of course, I was muuuuuch more conciliatory when I commented at UI’s blog with…
Yeh, Valerie Blame was a “covert operative” (or in your less accurate, helpfully blurring term “agent”) about like the King of Spain is… well king of anything.
Hadn’t been covert for over 6 years, bubba. Hadn’t been posted outa the coutry for over, well, six years, either.
Five years, covert posting, outcountry: those are the terms of the law.
Now, let’s ask the question in a less loaded “when did you stop beating your wife” attitude, eh?
“Were you aware, Mr. President that Mrs. Wilson, a _formerly_ covert operative who had been a desk jockey for six years at the time of the Novak article, was the person who pushed the loser former-ambassador to Gabon for a tea-sipping junket to Niger? And did you discuss this dipstick with anyone in your administration?”
There. I think I’ve managed to capture a less loaded language than Legum’s biased, disingenuous attack question. All I did was make the underlying facts (as opposed to the contrafactual assumptions in the Legum statement-posing-as-a-question) more obvious, hence less disingenuous.
BTW, ought not Legum’s name to have another “e” in it? Since he’s a typical Mass Media Podperson, it would fit, don’t you know…
BTW, you notice I didn’t link to the UI’s blog, didn’t you? Not handing him one single visit more than the one I just wasted time making. The tool.
Update: alla the action’s in comments on this one… And R’Cat (who’s back and in fighting posting trim and has a great example posted of one-a these useful idiots who finally saw (at least part of) the light. I guess there is hope for the leper to change his spots…
heh