February 2014

There were 27 posts published in February 2014 (this is page 1 of 3).

Time Warner Cable raising Internet rates 40%

Time-Warner-Cable
As a customer of Earthlink’s cable modem service, I’ve been happy being relatively immune to the frequent and outrageous price hikes imposed by Time Warner Cable on its customers. I’ve heard grumblings recently from my friends unfortunate enough to still be Time Warner Cable customers that their Internet rates were going up. Thinking I was once again free from this nonsense, I chirped at how my rates weren’t rising.

Then a friend pointed out the insert in this month’s bill, clearly stating that, yes, my rates would be going up. How much, you say? By thirty-eight percent!

That’s right: Internet service that has been $41.95 per month would now be $57.99, an almost 40% jump in one month.
Continue reading →

More money mule opportunities!

Found another GREAT money mule opportunity, courtesy of my posted resume on CareerBuilder. This one’s great because I can use an alias of %1% %2%. What’s more, I’m GREAT at following “witten instructions!”

I just have one question: when are American banks going to get serious about credit card fraud?

Dear %1% %2%,

Are you tired of interviewing and ready to start working?
An excellent vacancy is open now!

Our company has found your Curriculum Vitae in a jobseeker’s database. It seems that you are a strong applicant for a vacancy of a “Check Assist Manager”.

General requirements include following:

– High School diploma or GED equivalent;
– US residency.
– Ability to work on your own and promptness in operations.
– Age: at least 21;
– Computer with internet access and e-mail address;
– 1-2 hours of free time per day for performing your duties business hours;
Hunger for Success is a MUST! Ideal candidate is attentive to details and self-motivated, has customer service mindset, a positive attitude, excellent verbal and written skills, ability to use PC and Internet and the ability to work independently.
Continue reading →

Gallup: “Immediate Supervisor is Number One Reason Why Employees Leave”

Hmm.

Often times, people who do well at their jobs are promoted to a management position in which they lack the skills and experience to manage. And these new managers may not even realize they are doing a poor job. These bad bosses lead to financial losses for the company and employees with low morale.

via Gallup: “Immediate Supervisor is Number One Reason Why Employees Leave” | NorthStar360 Business Solutions LLC.

Receiving stolen goods for fun and profit

Got this in my inbox yesterday. If I don’t find a legitimate job soon at least I can always become a money mule.

Reply-To: Baratova.Eleonora@gmail.com
From: Rashad Prince adna133@hotmail.com
To: (me)
Subject: Great job opportunity for Mark Turner

Hello Mark Turner,
a successful organization is seeking people who are wishing to join our company and grow professionally daily.

We are pleased to make you the following job offer. The vacancy I am offering is that of Check Assist Manager. I have decided to contact you after reviewing your resume online. It appears that you have met our job requirements for successful job, and would be a right applicant to extend you an offer for our vacancy.
Continue reading →

Where the sidewalk begins

These people want a sidewalk on Frank Street.

These people want a sidewalk on Frank Street.


Ever since our kids first started school at Conn Elementary, I’ve wished there was a sidewalk along muddy Frank Street where every day dozens of kids and their parents trudge to and from school. After researching the process a little over a year ago, I took it upon myself to petition the property owner.

Well, this soft touch ultimately didn’t work. I backed off to let the owner decide with no pressure and the result was that the petition expired with no action. This meant I had to wait a while before I could try again.
Continue reading →

5 reasons why you shouldn’t work too hard

Nice look at what we Americans are losing in our insistence in becoming slaves to work.

The first time the commercial aired during the Opening Ceremonies in Sochi, the slight pause after those two questions made me hopeful. I sat up to listen closely.

Was he about to say – we should be more like that? Because Americans work among the most hours of any advanced country in the world, save South Korea and Japan, where they’ve had to invent a word for dying at your desk. Karoshi. Death from Overwork. We also work among the most extreme hours, at 50 or more per week. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average American works about one month more a year than in 1976.

Was he going to say that we Americans are caught up in what economist Juliet Schor calls a vicious cycle of “work-and-spend” – caught on a time-sucking treadmill of more spending, more stuff, more debt, stagnant wages, higher costs and more work to pay for it all?

via 5 reasons why you shouldn’t work too hard.

Everyone In The Tech And TV Industries Is Passing Around This Speech By Kevin Spacey – Business Insider

House of Cards star Kevin Spacey explains why the traditional TV model is quickly going extinct. This five minute excerpt of one of his recent speeches is well worth watching.

Everyone in the tech industry is passing around this video of Kevin Spacey talking about how Netflix and other tech companies will blow up the traditional TV industry. In an edited version of Spacey’s speech below, he touches on how Netflix, which has produced a handful of excellent original series this year, has the potential to disrupt the traditional cable and network TV model of forcing content creators to make a pilot before accepting a show.For example, Spacey says there will be 146 pilots made this year at the cost of $300-$400 million. Only 56 of those will actually be made into a series. "That makes our ‘House of Cards’ deal for two seasons really cost effective," Spacey says in the speech.

via Everyone In The Tech And TV Industries Is Passing Around This Speech By Kevin Spacey – Business Insider.

How many more scraped knees?

Yesterday I got a call that our son had scraped his knee at school and needed just a little more medical attention than school staff could supply. Not thinking much of it, I headed over and gave the kid a little first aid and a hug.

Later as I thought about it I regretted not snapping a picture while I was there but then I realized I didn’t need a picture. The scene will stay with me forever as one of those precious moments when I get to quietly play hero to our growing kids.

I know the opportunities to fix scraped knees are quickly slipping by. While I’m not happy my son got hurt, I am thankful I got the opportunity to give him some TLC.

How To Stop Facebook From Tracking You – Business Insider

Facebook’s cookies track you across the web. Here’s advice on how to curb Facebook’s appetite for your information.

Most people don’t realize that Facebook can continue to monitor their internet activity, even if they are no longer logged into the site.Using "Facebook Connect," and other social plug-ins, Facebook is able to set up a cookie on any site that has a "Like" or "share" button, giving Facebook access to a startling amount of user information. Technically, the purpose of these plug-ins is to authenticate users, but it still has the ability to collect personal information such as the IP address of your computer, browsing data, outside login information, phone numbers, etc.

via How To Stop Facebook From Tracking You – Business Insider.

Official Blog: Exploring new cities for Google Fiber

Google Fiber coming to Raleigh?

Google Fiber coming to Raleigh?


Google is considering the Triangle area for its next rollout of Google Fiber! As a veteran of the broadband fights here in North Carolina and the founder of the Bring Google Fiber to Raleigh! Facebook group, I am thrilled that we’re being considered for this.

Last week’s snowstorm provided me a perfect use case for Google Fiber. I was itching to organize a musical jam session with a few neighbors only travel conditions were too dangerous to all get together in one place. While one can do video chats with our current, abysmally-slow broadband connections, playing in time with others remotely requires highly-synchronized connections. These could be done with low-bandwidth and exorbitantly-priced ISDN circuits or on high-bandwidth, uncompressed fiber networks like Google Fiber.

I think adding Google Fiber to our area’s mix will benefit our musicians as much as our techno-geeks, pharmaceutical scientists and our other traditional area jobs.

Over the last few years, gigabit Internet has moved from idea to reality, with dozens of communities PDF working hard to build networks with speeds 100 times faster than what most of us live with today. People are hungrier than ever for faster Internet, and as a result, cities across America are making speed a priority. Hundreds of mayors from across the U.S. have stated PDF that abundant high-speed Internet access is essential for sparking innovation, driving economic growth and improving education. Portland, Nashville PDF and dozens of others have made high-speed broadband a pillar of their economic development plans. And Julian Castro, the mayor of San Antonio, declared in June that every school should have access to gigabit speeds by 2020.

We’ve long believed that the Internet’s next chapter will be built on gigabit speeds, so it’s fantastic to see this momentum. And now that we’ve learned a lot from our Google Fiber projects in Kansas City, Austin and Provo, we want to help build more ultra-fast networks. So we’ve invited cities in nine metro areas around the U.S.—34 cities altogether—to work with us to explore what it would take to bring them Google Fiber.

via Official Blog: Exploring new cities for Google Fiber.