After a few years of just using this blog as medium for informing people about a fraudulent eBay seller, I decided to make this an active blog again. Look for future posts about everything from technology reviews, camping, politics, photography, etc. — basically all of my current interests.
One thing I definitely learned from starting this blog is the power of online information. This blog was instrumental in organizing fellow eBay buyers to rise up against a fraudulent eBay seller, and we were ultimately successful. I will continue to use this blog as a medium to fight against similar issues as they enter into or otherwise affect my life, and I can only hope that all such future endeavors will be as successful as this endeavor was.
Thanks for reading, and although something negative may have brought you to my blog, I hope that you’ll keep checking back and benefit from the positives that I will be posting in the near future.
I realize that with gas prices on the rise that cycling may become a more popular form of transporation. However, this admitted rant is not about transportation cycling. What this rant is about is annoying recreational cyclists, who have unilaterally decided to inconvenience me and every other automobile driver on small roads because they choose to ride a bicycle as their form of recreational exercise.
When I am driving in my car, it is not because I have nothing better to do or because I want to recreationally drive around. I am in my car because I am going somewhere, and I would like to get there the legally fastest way possible. Otherwise, I would walk. Instead, on my required daily morning, afternoon, and evening drives, I have been frequently finding myself stuck behind a pack of recreational pedallers. Single file line? What’s that? These fools are typically riding at least three abreast on small, two-lane county roads that not only do NOT have a bike lane, but they do not even have a proper easement for safety. Why they would pick these roads, I cannot imagine. I guess the sole purpose is to annoy people like me, who are using the roads as designed: for CARS.
Several years ago when I was purchasing a new car, I was faced a decision that is now becoming commonplace: To buy or not to buy the built-in GPS navigation system. Even though back then I had a lowly Palm M500, I decided not to buy the built-in GPS navigation system, and try out the much cheaper Palm options. So, I purchased a Magellan GPS Companion for the M500 (great deal at the PalmOne website with heavy rebates), and even though I was using the Rand McNally StreetFinder application which came with the GPS (and was not very good), I was hooked. Frequenting the Brighthand and Palm Blvd forums, I quickly discovered Mapopolis, which seemed to be the application of choice at the time. Just about once a year since then, I have upgraded Palms — from a M500 to a Tungsten T|2 and now to my current Tungsten|C. With my upgrading to a Palm OS5 machine, I also upgraded to the “Navigator” version of the Mapopolis maps, and then recently upgraded to the latest version/edition of the maps (”NE”). I was very disappointed in the Mapopolis “NE” maps — there is quite a significant problem with water/land inversion, and I personally encountered dozens of simply wrong data regarding addresses, physical locations, missing points of interest (POIs) that were in previous map versions, etc. So, I started my search for a better GPS navigation solution, which resulted in my considering the three following applications
To see the full review/comparison, please click HERE.
Trust me — just read it:
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt!
Does your owning a late model Palm handheld computer make you feel like you are suffering from tinitus? Most Palm owners eventually notice a significant buzzing noise coming from their Palm, an annoying, high pitched noise that emanating from the screen.
Apparently the cause is natural wear of the digitizer (touch screen) over time, as well as the frequency at which the high-resolution screens operate. It affects all high resolution Palm Zire and Tungsten models, and there have even been some reports of Sony and HP/Compaq Palm OS devices doing the same thing. I personally own a Palm Tungsten T|2, which I purchased second-hand via Ebay. When I first received it, there was no buzz. Now that I’ve used it for several months, it did start buzzing and is now getting to an annoying level. It gets to such annoying pitch and volume for some people that they simply cannot use their Palm device in a quiet room — some have even been asked to turn off their Palm when using it at school, public library, courtroom, etc. How embarrassing would that be?!
DTS-NET, LLC, owned and operated by Craig and Russell Gendrolas out of Connecticut, is a vague, shifty reseller of a variety of technology services, including ISP, telecommunications, web hosting, and many others to the point that I am sure they are also resellers of Tupperware products and Avon. DTS-NET, specifically Craig Gendrolas, has stolen my domain names. When I signed up with them for web hosting my two domains, FZ1Club.com and FZ-Club.com, without my knowledge DTS-NET registered the domains in their name and with their contact information. This is illegal and a violation of ICANN policies for domain registrations. *I* purchased these domains with DTS-NET merely acting as an intermediary because I chose them as my host provider. In July 2004, I started having problems with my websites being down and unavailable to me or my site visitors for days at a time on a weekly basis. The DTS-NET.COM website clearly states that they guarantee a 24/7/365 up-time for their webhosting clients. I do not think they understand the word, “guarantee” or what “24/7/365” means. Maybe they saw these things on a legitimate web hosting site, and just cut & pasted the information over to their site, sort of like what they did with the Better Business Bureau Online logo that they copied from the website of their telecommunications agency. DTS-NET is not even listed with BBB, BBBOnline, or any similar organization, and probably never will be because I’m sure the BBB has a nice stack of complaints against DTS-NET, even though they are not even members of the BBB.
With the recent expiration of the assault weapons ban, the subject of gun control is once again a hot topic.
First of all — a question: Why did the ban on assault weapons have an expiration date? After, what, so many years or something do such assault weapons become stale and are therefore no good to anyone anymore? I mean, is it just me or has the classic AK47 (an assault weapon) been around for at least a couple of decades. Maybe just American assault weapons become obsolete or unusuable with age, so an expiration on the ban is appropriate. Huh?