Being “Sad” for our country.

Today I saw someone’s status on Facebook saying “I’m sad for our country.” Which caused me to pause to ask “why?”. The answer was because this person’s side lost the election. Give me a break people, aren’t there other things about our country that we should be sad about rather than your side lost?

I’ll give you some examples of what we should be sad about. How about that thousands of our soldiers have lost their lives in a “war” that was based upon lies? That there are children who go to bed everynight without Mommy or Daddy because that parent is fulfilling their duty as a member of our armed forces. How about the number of people in the US today that go without basic healthcare insurance because they can’t afford it and they are out of a job? How about the people who are out of a job because of the failures of wallstreet? Isn’t that more saddening then losing the election?

Personally I don’t feel sad for our country. I’m not happy with the way things are but I’m not sad. Why? Because today we Americans get to celebrate one of the most important parts of our country. The handing over of leadership from one fairly elected leader to another fairly elected leader. Today should not be a day of saddness but of pride, of the grit and determination that we Americans have always had. The same determination that saw us through many crisises over the years.

Message in a Bottle

Wow it has been a long time since I posted anything here. I do check once in a while when someone posts a comment or so.

I know that there are a lot of people out there who have posted some unkind things to some of my opinions and honestly I’m glad they did because that is what the internet is all about.

Today’s post is something different however. While on vacation with my family in Denmark this year I was fortunate enough to find an actual message in a bottle. It was on the last day of our vacation and before we left we decided that we wanted to take one last walk along the beach. The weather had been stormy for the last two days so we didn’t spend much time there. While walking along with my wife, kids and in-laws I was looking down at all the mess that the sea had spread along the beach. I saw a plastic drink bottle laying in the mess and decided to do the right thing and throw it away. When I picked it up I noticed that there was a paper in the bottle. I was pretty excited about this, as I had always wondered what it was like to find a message in a bottle. I was also prepared to be disappointed because I figured it most likely wasn’t very old and that the person who sent it probably threw it in the water only a couple of days before. How wrong I was.

We’re Knights of the Round Table We Laugh Whenever Able …

I just had to add a link to this comic from Socks and Barney by Steve Conley because it is just a great laugh especially if you are a Monty Python fan and are watching the Democratic Nomination race. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

The only thing I think would make his comic better is if he had the characters calling each other “twit” more often. Don’t know what it is about that word but I really like it.

United Airlines — Greed At Its Most Disgusting

As you all know recently I lost my father to an unexpected heart attack. We are still grieving our loss. What you might not know was that my father was planning on visiting us in Germany for the first time since I made the decision to leave the United States. This to me was a big step in our relationship as I felt that he finally accepted my decision.

When he finally decided to come visit I jumped on the internet with my wife so that we could get tickets for my parents. As my parents are not on the internet it might be more expensive and more difficult for them to get flights themselves. My wife and I are big travelers and have gotten the hang of most things with dealing with airlines and getting reservations. I say most things because we were soon to be seriously surprised and shocked.

We ordered our tickets over Opodo.de which is an online discount travel agent. We’ve used them plenty of times in the past without problems and may actually continue to use them. However, we have never used them to book flights for someone not living in Germany before. We were a little disappointed that the travel insurance that opodo.de offered was only valid for people who live in Europe. My parents living in the United States would not be available for this insurance. We went ahead and ordered the tickets anyway thinking “What could happen?”. Well it is obvious now what could happen. My father died and we had to deal with canceling his ticket (my mother will still travel to see us in April so that is nice at least). My wife, being the native German speaker, dealt with Opodo.de and they were really helpful when it came to telling us what we needed to do, and even called to make sure that they were only to cancel my father’s ticket. They were to take care of dealing with the airlines about getting some of our money back. We both knew not to hope to get the entire amount we paid for my father’s ticket but at least a good amount. What we received was 60 Euros out of approximately 490 Euros paid. The only excuse we received from Opodo.de was that the airline kept 383 Euros of the price. The itinerary that my parents (and mother still) will use had a flight from Knoxville (TN) to Dulles International (MD) then from Dulles International to Munich (GERMANY) and then back again by the same route. For three of the four flights they would be using United Airlines. So it is pretty obvious who kept our 300+ Euros from the ticket. We were shocked that an airline would be so greedy as to keep practically the entire cost of the flight (remember this is February and the flight isn’t until April meaning they have plenty of time to fill that seat for the FULL price again) from us when the only reason we canceled in the first place was because the person who was to use the ticket is dead.

These greedy bastards at United Airlines obviously can only think of the bottom line which to them is “Hey we can keep most of the full price of this ticket and charge someone else the full price for the same seat! Ain’t that great we get paid twice for one seat and screw the poor family who have lost their loved one!”.

Now I’m not a rich man. My wife and I rent our apartment. We’ve been saving up for the time when my parents decided to come visit so that we could help defray the costs of their visit so that they wouldn’t be too burdened by the costs themselves. I really felt as though I’ve been kicked while I’m down by this airline. Therefore I can promise you all this and I hope you share this with others, “Neither I nor any member of my family will ever again use United Airlines after this trip for my mother. We will never again use an airline who treats their customers with such disdain and disrespect.” You can quote me on that.

Now you might ask yourself why haven’t I written United Airlines about this. I have and here is what I said.

Dear United Airlines,
I must say that I am extremely displeased with the way the cancellation of my father’s ticket was handled.

In January we booked a flight for my parents to come and visit us in Germany where we live. This was to be their first time visiting us and the first time they were to see their new grandson. After receiving the tickets from our booking agent (OPODO) my father died of a sudden an unexpected heart attack. We of course wished to cancel his ticket and his ticket alone. We knew we should get some money back from the cancellation and knew that we wouldn’t get the entire amount back. What was returned to us was approximately 60 Euros with a comment from OPODO that the rest of the over 400 Euro ticket cost were held by the airline. As for most of the trip my parents would be taking United Airlines it is not hard to figure out who kept the money.

As we booked over OPODO for my parents who do not live in Europe we had no way of insuring their travel, which would have protected us from you. This we are taking up with OPODO directly about their limiting the insurance. This does not excuse your actions.

We are extremely disappointed at the show of heartless corporate greed on the part of your airline, during a time of morning for our family. The money that we were hoping to get back, again not expecting the entire sum, was to be used to make my mother’s stay a little nicer. However, those plans are also now in ruins thanks to your disgusting display of greed.

I will make this known to everyone that neither I nor any member of my family will ever again use your airline. I will be warning everyone I know in as public a place as I can find about your airline’s horrible business practice.

I know that you will cowardly hide behind some contractual or terms and agreement issue that your corporate lawyers have concocted to allow you to charge twice for the same seat when a cancellation is made, and the comments of a single person won’t phase you in the slightest. However, I feel that I must explain to everyone why I am so angry with the way I and my family have been handled by your company.

Sincerely
Jason Reed

I haven’t received an answer yet. I’m doubtful that I ever will. At least I got it off my chest and now that I’ve posted this in the most public place I could I’ll leave it at that.

EDIT!!!

Ok so I can’t leave it at that. Apparently there are a lot of greed issues with United Airlines. Check these links out:

• http://www.damniwish.com/2008/02/prediction-shor.html
• http://workinglife.typepad.com/daily_blog/2006/01/at_united_greed.html
• http://www.randomduck.com/2008/02/04/want-greed-fly-the-un-friendly-skies/
• http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/15842/
• http://www.counterpunch.org/sustar05012003.html

Now some of those links point to dealing with their own workers and how the executives are acting with the company’s money, but there are few with how they are treating their passengers. So I leave you with this question:

Do you really want to support an airline who treats their customer’s so poorly, and yet charge you such high prices? For my part the answer is No, and I never will again.

Circle the Wagons Boys … US Court Attacks Web Freedom!

So if you haven’t heard yet a court in California has signed an injunction (note I didn’t say wrote an injunction they let the plaintiff do that) that blocks the access of wikileaks.org. In case you don’t know what Wikileaks is it is a website which provides a place for whistle blowers to post documents anonymously for the world to see. Pretty awesome that a place like that exists in the world. The site is managed in multiple languages but has its primary servers located in Sweden. The plaintiff in these matters is the Bank Julius Baer which is a Swiss bank and does business in the Cayman Islands. It is apparently the type of business in the Cayman Islands that was posted on Wikileaks which has led to this unfortunate turn in internet freedom. Now I could re-iterate everything that was said or better yet I’ll just link to an alternative Wikileaks page (you know they would have a backup) the FULL correspondence between Bank Julius Baer’s shyster and Wikileaks.

So not getting their way the Bank Julius Baer wrote their own little injunction and took it to a US Court of the Honorable [sic] Judge Jefferey S. White. Who is just delusional enough to think he has jurisdiction over this insanity because Wikileaks made the slight error in registering their domain in California. What do expect from a Bush appointee. So instead of writing his own injunction he signs the one that was create for him by the plaintiff. How lazy of our judicial system. Now you might be wondering where the Wikileaks lawyers were during all this? They had no idea that it was coming. They weren’t informed. They were NOT represented during the legal [sic] proceedings that has blocked all access to their website.

So what’s next? Well apparently on the 29th of February there will be a hearing. Who knows what will happen during this. Maybe the Judge will try to force the non-US based domain registers to block the other wikileaks domains. My personal thought is that people should start writing in to this “Loose Cannon” Judge to explain to him that he is really out of his jurisdiction and should possibly send this to a higher court. Or maybe you can visit him in Person at the court house in San Fransisco, or you could just call his office (it is amazing what you find in Public Domain) and voice your opinion. Personally I my opinion’s voice would be more like the sound of gas leaving a tight smelly orifice.

Oh I forgot to say that if you are still wanting to get to Wikileaks you can access them also through the UK site at www.wikileaks.org.uk which as far as I know is not under jurisdiction of Judge White (at least for now).

Going out of town.

I’ll be visiting my mother for the next week to help her sort everything out since my father’s death.

I’ll post something when I get back.

Death in the Family.

Last night was informed by my cousin that my Father had died. I’m still a bit shocked by it all. There was so much planned and now things have changed. I have guilt and I don’t know why. I’m worried about my Mother, and how she’s taking it. I’m worried that if something happens to her how will I find out.

Maybe part of the reason I’m feeling guilty is that it was my decision to live in Europe away from my family. The consequences being that when there is a Family emergency there’s not much I can do. Some of the guilt probably comes from the fact that my Father hadn’t gotten a chance to see his youngest grandson, mostly because I was too lazy to get the pictures printed and sent in a timely manner. Also maybe I’m feeling guilty because I’m not there for my Mom, and wasn’t there for my Dad these past twelve years since I left home.

To have death hit so closely is really an eye opener. It makes me think about my own mortality and health. My father was 62 or would be this year. That is too young to die in this day of medical miracles. I know that my father wasn’t a “Healthy” man. He ate too much, he was overweight, he didn’t stay fit. Now I look at my own lifestyle and wonder if I’m healthy enough. I don’t want my children to have a surprise phone call in the middle of the night.

My wife and I are discussing our options on what we can or need to do in this case. I have no idea right now, I’m feeling kind of lost in it all.

Ultimate Santana is Ultimate Awesome!

I received a copy of “Ultimate Santana” from my wife for my birthday yesterday. I knew of one song on the album that I really liked (Into the Night with Chad Kroeger). I put it in once I got the chance and I was blown away. There is a lot of his older stuff on their like Black Magic Woman and Maria Maria (with the Fugees), and She’s Not There.

I always enjoyed Santana’s music but never really bought his albums, mostly because other music was in my head when I was at the shop. Now that I’ve got one of his albums I’m sorry I didn’t collect his other ones of the years (might have to go back and rectify that as money allows). The music was awesome, his guitar playing is superb (I’m a big fan of guitar players) as each song played I just had the urge to get up and move.

If you want a great album to sit back and listen to then get Ultimate Santana it is perfect.

Beware of Video Conversion Software that Says It Is Free.

Yeah so I learned a lesson today. You would figure a computer/internet savvy guy like me would know better but I really wanted to convert some video to the 3gp format that is used by my Nokia phone. Needless to say I was happy at first (at least I got the video I wanted converted done before this happened).

So I did a search for free 3gp conversion software and found an application at SmallVideoSoft.com. Downloaded their 3gp converter and installed it. I was able to run it right off the bat with no nag screen or anything (bells and whistles should have been going off in my head at this point). So I converted some video and closed the application and tried the video on my phone. The video transfered OK but I didn’t like the quality so I wanted to convert the files again with better video settings. So I started the application again. I got a nag screen asking me to register and that registration is free. However, I didn’t have the time to do it at that very moment. So I converted the files I wanted with better video settings. Strangely enough I couldn’t find a button or menu selection that would take me to the registration page. So I closed and the program and decided I would try again later.

So today I woke up and decided I had better register this application. I started it up and sure enough it gave me a nag screen. So I clicked the link that it had to send me to the registration web page. I registered and when I clicked the section to get my registration number it gave me this comment:

(The free registration has been closed for the huge website traffic.)

Give me a fucking break. If I want to register I have to pay (the good things in life are not free). What gets me the most is that they try to make it look like that they HAD to stop free registration like they ever really had a free registration. So I figured I would just click on the Later button and sure enough when I did the application closed and said it wouldn’t run until I registered.

So what they didn’t isn’t really illegal but it is really annoying and I refuse to do business with a company that doesn’t come right out and say “Hey our app will let you do some video conversion for about 10 or so videos and then you have to pay to do more.” or they could say “This is a trial version and it is only good for 24 hours.” But to pretend that their software is completely free and then try the old switcharoo afterwards really pisses me off.

So now I’m weighing my options:

• Crack their app (Completely illegal but probably not so difficult, nope I won’t be doing that. Got too much to lose).
• Buy their software (Nope I don’t do business with companies that play tricks on potential buyers, at least if they aren’t smart enough not to get caught.)
• Find out the 3GP requirements and build my own converter then offer it on the net completely free and really piss off these companies that charge for the software. (quite a possibility once I’ve finished off a few projects).

The Canadian Foreign Minister is a Coward.

I was shocked but also happy to see earlier this month that the United States (my home country) as added to Canada’s list of countries that torture. I was further shocked and surprised when Canada decided to back track from this statement. Now the Foreign Minister is apologizing for the “Mistake” of putting the US on the list. Even though recently the US National Intelligence Chief Mike McConnell actually said that he would consider waterboarding as torture. So I’m gathering that the Canadian FM is a coward. He changes his statement when the big bully on the block complains that Canada is pointing the finger at its wrong doing.

Personally I’m sick of what the current US Government is doing under the name of protecting our citizens. I’m surprised that the “Holier Than Thou” President we have in office doesn’t start claiming that it is written in the bible that he should torture for information. Other western nations have a responsibility to the rest of the world to stand up to the United States and keep them in line. It would be a good bet to say if the shoe were on the other foot and the US Government thought it could get something out of it they would point their finger at a close neighbor.

My message to Canada and other nations: DON’T BE A COWARD! DON’T LET THE UNITED STATES DICTATE YOUR NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL POLICY. TELL THE UNITED STATES IT IS ABOUT TIME THAT THEY TOE THE FUCKING LINE!!!