Napping with the Cat

Precise and Accurate Ramblings (more or less) from N37˚45.201 W122˚26.847 (more or less)

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Help 'em Out

Next time you sign up for something be sure and take a look at the fine print. Surf on over to http://dsl.yahoo.com and scan through the gray text to find this:

You will also be charged a monthly FUSF (Federal Universal Service Fund) cost recovery fee to help cover charges from our data transport supplier pursuant to state and federal telecom regulations. This fee is not a tax or government required charge.

Oh, ok. An extra fee. It’s not that much. You know, it’s to help out SBC payin’ their bills 'n all. I don’t know about you, but I’m glad I can help 'em out. They need their customers to help out and “cover charges" ya know.

Of course, if you take a closer look you’ll find that SBC’s own financial statements show they had a net income of $5,887,000,000. for the one-year period ending December 31, 2004.

I’m glad I can help ‘em out by “covering” their charges for them. Aren’t you?

When was the last time you went to a restaurant, corner store, or neighborhood dry cleaners? Didn’t you notice a sign indicating that they’re adding a fee to your bill to “cover charges” relating to property tax, electricity, water, paper towels, rubber bands, etc.?

I didn’t either.

Pick Two?

On cnn.com there's an article that says "Nearly six in 10 Americans oppose the war in Iraq and a growing number of them are dissatisfied with the war on terrorism, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday."

Well, duh.

Now where are all the good ol' boys who were ready for us to head off to Iraq and take care of things real quick ?

In the computer industry there's a long running axiom:

      You can have it quick.
      You can have it cheap.
      You can have it right.
      Pick two.

We, the American people, didn't even get to pick one.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Gifts from Afar

David is back from Greece and Turkey. He was so kind to bring me some coffee cups. But, the most important gift he brought back was himself. Jeffy and I missed him!

He took my 256MB compact flash card with him. He filled it up and bought another 512MB while away!

I Like Them Both

Cats. And black coffee. (Cats don't have to be black but the coffee does!) Since the address is nappingwiththecat.blogspot.com I thought it might be best to call the blog that. And, it works with me as much as Café Noir does. And, shhh... don't tell anyone there's another blog ::gasp:: at the cafenoir.blogspot.com address. Hey, what do you want from me? This is still new.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Breaking Hype Alert

The text message arrived on my cell phone at 8:29 Wednesday morning. It read BREAKING NEWS: Autopsy Report: Schiavo Did Not Starve To Death /- Details On KTVU.com

What?! Oh my, oh my!

But… but… but… we watched the whole drama on TV. We saw Dubya make a special trip half way across country to sign the absurd legislation that proved Republicans have abandoned their philosophy of keeping the government out of your life and off your back. We saw him, Tom DeLay, and other grandstanding politicians ignore "the sanctity of marriage" they care so much about, vilify Mr. Schiavo, and cater to the Christian right.

And, now we find out that she didn’t die of starvation! Oh my! She must have been poisoned! Or abused! The truth has finally come out! We were duped!

Well, yes.

Sort of.

But, not by Mr. Schiavo. Not even by Tom DeLay (this time).

Who then!? Who!? Who!?

KTVU.

I’m sure you’ve heard by now the autopsy showed that the cause of death was technically dehydration – not starvation. But, you wouldn’t have thought that from KTVU’s “breaking news” alert would you? The text message could have said “BREAKING NEWS: Autopsy report: Dehydration cause of Schiavo’s death”. But… nah. That’s too blah. That’s not exciting. That doesn’t hype it up enough to get you in front of your computer and find out the real story from those in-the-know boys at Channel 2.

So, now we see what KTVU’s “breaking news” alerts really are. They’re simply a tool to drive traffic to their website. That way KTVU.com gets lots of hits and they demand more advertising dollars.

Remember Ronald Reagan’s funeral? KTVU saw fit to send a “breaking news” alert when his funeral started. Gee… a scheduled event everyone knew about days and days in advance was somehow “breaking” news. Wow. Can't get anything past those crackerjacks at KTVU!

I have the highest respect for Dennis Richmond and Leslie Griffith. I can think of no other word to describe them than “professional”. They deserve admiration and respect for being the journalists they are. Let’s hope some of that rubs off on whoever is managing the website and the “breaking news” alerts. I’m thisclose to unsubscribing.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

A Cat's Prerogative

Monday night was turkey night. Well, it was supposed to be. But, Jeffy was in the mood for beefy. It seems beefy really is his #1 favorite. I recall his Mariner’s Catch phase. Or, maybe there’s something wrong with the turkey? But, most likely it's just Jeffy being Jeffy.

Monday, June 13, 2005

Beefy

I've been caring for Jeffy this week. He only likes turkey
and beefy. Tonight was beefy night. He was outside guarding the rail when I got there. His routine has been upset, but he's a friendly boy. He was even purring tonight!

Saturday, June 11, 2005

Free time to do all those things I need to be doing

Most everyone I know is out of town. So, am I taking advantage of this time to clean up the apartment? Organize... umm... something? Do the laundry? No! I'm setting up a blog. Lotsa thanks, Milford.