Technology Service Corporation is Becoming My Enemy

When Being Civil Does Not Work

So there is this company called Technology Service Corporation that appears to be a contractor or sub-contractor for the Defense Department...

They apparently have braniac engineers working for them, but they must not be all that intelligent. What is my evidence for such a statement? For the past 6 months or so, we have been receiving calls on our home phone during the hours of 3:00 a.m. - 6:00 a.m. from one of their computers or fax machines in Silver Spring, Maryland, attempting to send a fax. The first time it happened, no big deal right? I called the company and left a message with the receptionist that someone in their company had either programmed in a wrong fax number or was dialing it incorrectly. I politely requested that she follow-up on the situation for me and make sure that it was corrected. The problem persisted, so I called back to the company, each time somehow reaching a different person, and each time receiving assurance that the problem would be resolved. Ok, so, still no big deal right? Just order "selective call rejection" and program in the company's number. Eventually, they will realize that their faxes are not getting to the right place. Right? Wrong! It is now 6 months later. I thought by now I would be able to drop the Selective Call Rejection feature, but no such luck. These inept BOZOS are still trying to send a corporate fax to our home. What's my next step? Two things:

• I am going to attempt to receive the fax and find out where it is supposed to be going. Next, I will call TSC one more time and tell them that I have received some important information from their company that was not intended for me and that I have tried many times asking them correct the situation. However, since they do not seem concerned with correcting their error, then the information that I am hoping to intercept must not be very important to them.
• I am going to begin billing the company for the cost of the Selective Call Rejection feature so that they have to waste time and expense to have someone print out a check and send it to me. That alone will cost them more than what they will be sending to me.

It is no wonder that our government is trillions of dollars in debt. Companies like Technology Service Corporation are sitting on their fat profits (from you and me), not interested in hearing a word we say. If this is how they run the rest of their business, I am certain that we are not getting our money's worth from them.

Mozilla Firefox - The Best Browser?

It seems that ever since Firefox came on the scene back in late 2004, the "experts" of Information Technology have been singing its praises. Although I have wanted a competitor to wipe the floor with Microsoft's Internet Explorer, I still find myself returning to it. Why? Several reasons...

• It doesn't play nice with media players. I have installed plug-in after plug-in, update after update, and still have difficulty getting media files to simply stream and play consistently when I click on them within Firefox.
• Adobe's Flash Player behaves badly. I have attempted to view Flash movies, charts, and other content in Firefox with very sporadic results. For example, when I attempt to view an interactive stock chart at Marketwatch.com from within Firefox, I can see it for a couple of seconds. Then it disappears.
• Secure connections do not always succeed. I have no idea what this is all about, but sometimes I have to load a secure site several times in order to see all the content. No, it has nothing to do with allowing scripts. I have already checked this.
• I cannot configure the appearance of Firefox easily. I would like to be able to simply drag, drop and resize toolbars and buttons to my liking. I have found no way to do this in Firefox.

Now, some of you might be saying, "Why don't you just install the IE plug-in and use it to view the sites with which you are having difficulty?" I have done that, and in SOME cases it has worked. In others, like the Marketwatch charts issue, it has not. I see no reason why I should use 2 browsers when 1 can accomplish the task. Therefore, unfortunately, I will continue using Internet Explorer because, for me, it is still the best browser.

Why I Don't Use ScribeFire - REVISED

New Title - Why I Am Trying ScribeFire Again

This is an addition/revision/correction to the orignal blog which I posted earlier today. Ok, where do I begin? Only 6 hours after posting the original blog (see below), I received a response from the Product Manager of ScribeFire. That alone was a surprise. Sometimes, as a non-writer, you think that nobody reads your blog. What a shock to receive a response from a manager in the company whose privacy policy I critiqued. Ok, that's not the important stuff. The important stuff is what he clarified to me about ScribeFire's Privacy Policy. I will simply include his response since it will make more sense coming from him than me.

"Hi Lon,

My name is [removed], and I am the product manager of ScribeFire. I just wanted to clear up what our policy is to you.

In terms of our add-on, we do NOT collect ANY information about the user. No data is sent back to our servers. Nothing is stored in our systems. In fact, if you download off of the Mozilla website, we have absolutely no clue what occurs to the add-on (and plan to keep it this way).

All the username and password information is stored locally to your browser and is never sent to our servers.

The personally identifiable information you are referring to is only in reference to our website, specifically to our QuickAds advertising product. We use the personally identifiable information for things like paying out the money made to publishers. We do NOT resell any of this information.

The long and short of it is that if you are not using our QuickAds advertising product, we cannot track or have any knowledge of you.

...unless of course you create a blog post which allows us to respond!

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact me at [removed] and I will happily help you in anyway I can."

I sincerely apologize for my incorrect assumptions concerning the privacy policy and stand corrected. However, I do believe (and have stated this in an email response) that ScribeFire's Privacy Policy could and should be stated more clearly.

And yes, he did include his email address. The fact that he responded after reading my post, and in such a friendly professional manner, earns ScribeFire a second chance, let alone the fact that I got the "Privacy Policy" all wrong. And yes, I am trying ScribeFire again. I will give my critique of it in an upcoming blog.

- Original Blog - Posted 7:06 a.m. Eastern U.S.

ScribeFire has apparently become a very popular way for Firefox users to blog because of its features, ease of use and the ability to easily include ads within the blog. However, I refuse to use ScribeFire and will not use it in the future because of their lack of privacy with my personal information. They admit in their "Privacy Policy" to sharing "personally identifiable information" with 3rd parties. What??? This is a company to whom you are handing your blogging username and password information. Granted - they would be in huge trouble if they shared that information. However, they are still collecting information about you as a blogger and sharing with "Authorized Customers." That is completely unacceptable to me. I did not create a blog in order to be selected by marketers to receive their offers. If that is what other bloggers want, good for them. They can keep using ScribeFire. I'll pass.

War in Iraq - Clock

1970 Days since the start of the War in Iraq

U.S. Military Casualties since the start of the War in Iraq

(Includes casualties from fighting in Afghanistan)

Deaths - 4711

Wounded - 30490

Visit Anti-War.com

McCain - The Real "Exoctic" Candidate

Please read "The Exotic Candidate is the One With Eight Houses" by Bob Cesca.

A bunch of stupid hype was created over the Obama family going to Hawaii on vacation. Please read the above linked blog by Bob Cesca which cites the many things about McCain which show why he is the real "exotic" candidate.

Prince George's County Police "Did Nothing Wrong?"

This story causes incredible anger and frustration within me, and I am not one of the people who have been wronged by this incident. I have only heard and read the story. What happened? You can read the story here and here, but following is a brief passage from the story describing the incident.

"Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened package. In it were 32 pounds of marijuana. But the drugs evidently didn't belong to the couple.

Police say the couple appeared to be innocent victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana by having it delivered to about a half-dozen unsuspecting recipients."

Apparently what had been happening in the community is that certain delivery company drivers (in this case a FedEx deliveryman) were being paid by drug dealers to make fake deliveries to the front porches of unsuspecting homeowners, where the packages would be taken before the homeowner arrived. In this case, the Mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, Cheye Calvo, got home before the intended recipient of the drugs was able to pick them up, and he brought the package inside the house since it was addressed to his wife.

The Prince George's County Police Department, which had been investigating the dealer/deliveryman scheme, did not strike during the delivery of the drugs. They struck after Mayor Cheye brought the package inside the house. In front of the mayor's mother-in-law, who was in the kitchen cooking supper for the family, the Prince George's County Police kicked in the door and killed 2 family dogs. The actual perpetrators of the crime have been caught and charged. However, the Prince George's County Police say that they "did nothing wrong."

DID NOTHING WRONG... DID NOTHING WRONG!!!! They destroyed property, terrorized an innocent family, and killed their dogs. DID NOTHING WRONG!?!!!! HELLO!!! Has the entire world gone mad? How can this police department even begin to defend these actions? Police are out of control. They think that they can do anything to anyone without cause and then claim that they have done "nothing wrong." This is insanity. What the Prince George's County Police Department did was VERY WRONG, and some heads need to roll. The fact is that incidents like this one are happening all over the country. This one received attention because it happened to a mayor. It needs to stop here, and it needs to stop now. Police need to become accountable for their actions once again. You and I need to demand it.

McCain Blames Obama For High Fuel Prices

Can Things Get Anymore Bizarre?

In McCain's latest attack ad on Senator Obama, he blames Mr. Obama for the high fuel prices that we are now experiencing. This is so ridiculous that it makes McCain look like an idiot. Let's look at some facts.

• When George W. Bush took office on January 20, 2001, the national average for the price of a gallon of gasoline was $1.46.
• Republicans were in charge of both houses of Congress until the beginning of 2007. At that point, prices had risen to $2.17 per gallon.
• Today the national average for the price of a gallon of gasoline is $3.90.
• President Bush did not lift his father's restrictions to off-shore drilling until just a couple of weeks ago.
• When Former President Clinton took office, the national average for the price of a gallon of gasoline was $1.06. When he left office 8 years later, that average price had risen to $1.46 - almost a 38% increase or less than 5% per year.
• The increase in the price of gasoline from the time President Bush took office until today is 167% or almost 21% per year.
• When President Bush took office, Senator Obama was in the Illinois State Senate.
• Even if Congress had allowed off-shore drilling on the same day that President Bush allowed it and if oil companies had begun drilling off-shore on that very day, the oil from that drilling would not come to market until after the next president left office.
• Even if oil companies were allowed to begin off-shore drilling, there is NO GUARANTEE that those oil companies would sell that oil to the United States. It would go to the highest bidder, most likely, China.

So, how is it that Mr. McCain thinks that Mr. Obama is responsible for high gasoline prices? Is Mr. McCain delusional? Does he think that the American public is so stupid in general that we cannot figure out that his latest ad is another lie? I have seen a quote that John McCain's IQ is 138. From what I have heard from him thus far, I am not inclined to believe that it is nearly that high.

War in Iraq - Clock

1961 Days since the start of the War in Iraq

U.S. Military Casualties since the start of the War in Iraq

(Includes casualties from fighting in Afghanistan)

Deaths - 4697

Wounded - 30464

Visit Anti-War.com

- also -

More Proof That Our Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, Sons and Daughters in the Military Are Simply Expendable Property to Those in Power