Me: I’ve heard that there’s been an increase in the fee for text messages. As I understand it this constitutes a material change in the contract. I’ve heard I can get out of my contract. Is that true?
CSR: No, Sir. You’ll need to pay a $175 ETF to get out of your contract now.
Me: But this increase in the text messaging fee should allow me to terminate my contract without any ETF.
CSR: Can you hold for a moment? I’ll talk to my supervisor.
I’m on hold for about 5 minutes.
CSR: Sir, you can terminate your contract with no fee since you weren’t aware of the 15 cent fee when you signed the contract (I’m guessing she means because of the increase from 10 cents to 15).
Me: Great. So when I’m ready I just call you and tell you I want to terminate the contract and there will be no fee?
CSR: That’s correct, Sir.
Me: Can you note that on my account?
CSR: Yes, Sir. I will. (Who knows if she did. I got her name and employee number)

It was that easy. So now we just need to decide if we really want to switch to Cingular.

She leaves a baby daughter who’s paternity has been contested since before she was born. On one hand it makes me sad that this baby will grow up not knowing her mother but on the other I’m not sure that it might not be for the best.

Bush’s hypocrisy never ceases to amaze me. He touts one thing while he does another and the American people sleep on. I think people are starting to wake up but I’m afraid that we will only truly realize the damage that this man has done to our Country in the years after he leaves office - and there’ll probably be a Democrat in the White House to take the blame.

I’m sure Ted’s learned his lesson… he’ll just be more careful next time.

Source: Yahoo! News

Of course I don’t think he’s the second coming - I don’t think there was a first coming. What I find interesting is the fact that every other Christian in the entire world who isn’t a member of this man’s congregation surely rejects his assertion. I would think that the fact that they can deny another person’s faith - faith that I’m sure is felt as strongly as they feel theirs - might make them question their own. I’m sure it doesn’t. It’s not just that Christians reject much of the Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist teachings (and vice-versa) but all of these religions have denominations and sects that even members of the larger group reject. But if the adherents to these various forms of the religion believe as strongly as the members of the larger group then how can anyone reject another’s faith without calling into question their own?

Whether it’s this “second coming” by Jose Luis de Jesus or the ancient Greeks’ belief in Zeus or the Catholic Church’s faith in the Holy Trinity it’s all equally suspect in my book. And just because your religion is better organized or larger or has been around longer it makes it no more valid than any of the thousands of crackpot religions that smaller groups believe in.

I’ve felt that this was the case for a number of years. Now I am in no way saying that everyone who is religious has a low IQ. I’m sure there are a great many very intelligent people all around the world that have very strong religious convictions but as a whole I believe that people with strong religious beliefs tend to have lower IQs than those of us that don’t. Yes, I said “those of us”. I’m including myself in the high IQ non-believers. I’m not a genius by any stretch of the imagination but I think of myself as a relatively intelligent person and I am an atheist. I think that, in general, a person needs to have a certain mental rigidity to have strong religious convictions and the stronger the convictions the more rigid they must be and a rigid mind is a closed mind and a closed mind is not an intelligent mind in my book.

What is the explanation for the anomaly that is the U.S.? America is a large country that has a mean IQ of 98. The mean is not the average. The mean is the sum of all IQs in the U.S. divided by the number of people. Of course this 98 number wasn’t derived from all the actual IQs of everyone in the U.S. It is simply an educated guess based on data of a representative sample of the population. But let’s say for arguments sake that 98 is close to the median IQ is the U.S. That would mean that about half the population has an IQ lower than 98 and half have an IQ higher. The percent of people in the U.S. that said that “religion is very important” is 59%. To me that would account for the 50% of the population below an IQ of 98 and 9% that have a higher IQ. And that seems about right to me.

It comes down to this; extreme ideologies are more easily accepted by people with less critical thinking skills. The more extreme an ideology is the more it tells you how you should live each part of your life. This is ideal for someone who isn’t that bright, who doesn’t have the critical thinking skills (or the desire) to figure out what they need to do in different situations that crop up in day-to-day life. It’s easy; You hate these people. You love these people. You don’t do this. You do this. It’s like getting an instruction manual for your life. And instruction manuals are for people who can’t figure it out on their own.

This is why I’ve decided to try an experiment for February. I will try to write a minimum of 5 entries per week. They may be long or short. They will be about something that strikes my fancy (Whatever I want). I’m going to give it my best shot.

Hey, I’m already 1 for 1!

On one hand I have nothing but admiration for the men and women who do this. On the other hand I have nothing but contempt for President Bush and his administration for their selfish and short-sighted flailing. They have lied to us at every turn, twisted words to suit their own purposes; Condoleezza Rice calling the current escalation of troops a “augmentation” and refused to listen to the advice of experts from all areas of the military and government. Then Tony Snow, who you can tell is lying when you see his lips moving, says, “And those who think they have a better way, I think have an obligation to step up and share it”. Based on the track record of this administration I’m sure the experts are lining up at the door, Tony.

The amazing thing is that Bush and his team have managed to consistently bungle Iraq while, at the same time, systematically taking away the rights of American citizens.

I have no doubt that Bush will go down in history as America’s worst President. I just wonder if he’s deluding himself about his legacy or he figures that Daddy will step in and make it all better yet again.

Whatever you may think about Segway Polo - and me for playing it - I don’t really care. I enjoy it. When we started playing Segway Polo it was just for fun. Just another thing to do with a very cool piece of technology. Then Woz came out and started playing. It was cool to have Steve Wozniak, arguably the creator of the modern personal computer, come out a couple of times a month and play polo with us but even better was that he was just one of the guys - someone who loved playing polo. With Woz playing, people started to pay attention. A video we shot got loose on the internet and before we knew it we were on all sorts of blogs and video sites. Sure, most people were making fun of us but that didn’t bother us much. We didn’t take the whole thing too seriously. Since then we’ve been on T.V., radio and newspapers around the world and despite the matches getting a lot more competitive and traveling to New Zealand to play in the first “Woz Challenge Cup” we still try not to take it too seriously.

The thing that I think is so cool and strange is that I was part of a small group of people who popularized something that has become a part of pop culture. People may think it’s great or stupid but it’s well-known enough that it gets mentioned in the likes of Time Magazine and on the Colbert Report with no explanation necessary. Not many people can say that and while I’m not trying to say that it’s an important accomplishment I think it’s pretty cool.

Here’s a picture of me playing polo with Jamie Hyneman and Grant Imahara of the MythBusters. That was a big thrill.

I think the design is great but somehow not quite as great as most of Apple’s other recent products (iMac, MacBooks and iPods). I can’t quite put my finger on what it is but there’s something that could be better about the iPhone’s design. I’m also a little sketchy on the phone’s keypads. I’m not sure I’ll like the way the buttons work but I’m also not sure exactly how they work so I have to wait and trust that Apple’s design will work as well as their others have. I’m disappointed that they haven’t included 3G. It seems that if you want to have a top of the line phone/internet appliance you need to take advantage of all the best technologies available and, by ignoring 3G, Apple isn’t.

I would have loved to see Apple release a provider-independent phone. How great would it have been to have Apple lead the way in breaking the stranglehold that cellular providers exercise over the public? There may be a technical reason they weren’t able to do this or maybe they didn’t want to but it would have been a real blow for the little guy. The choice of Cingular is really irrelevant. Apple could have gone with any carrier - it’s about the phone afterall. Although the $599 price with a 2 year contract seems a little ridiculous. I’d buy the phone for $599 without a contract but I’m not going to be locked into 2 years and pay that kind of money. Of course I say that now…

Last but not least is Cisco’s lawsuit because it had trademarked iPhone. This, in my opinion, will not help Cisco’s reputation. From what I’ve read so far it looks like Cisco almost let the trademark expire but, betting on Apple’s introduction of a phone, decided to renew it just to make a quick buck.

I’ll be interested to see one in the wild and to hear what some of the “experts” have to say about it.