No team should be allowed to win by fouling to prevent the winning score in any sport.
Both teams in game six played well at times and played poorly at times... San Antonio made a huge mistake in the 4th quarter by getting away from the inside game... when a player is having a horrible game, turning the ball over eight times, he should not be the player trying to control the ball in the last few minutes... sitting the best player and rebounder for the last plays of the game was very foolish and gave Miami the opportunity to tie the game in regulation... Miami showed they were not kings or god as the media likes to portray them... every one of them showed nerves and lack of discipline... comparing them to any great team or any great player is way too premature... they backed into the win...
Worst of all... with 1.8 seconds to play in overtime an obvious foul prevented San Antonio from scoring what would have been the winning basket... that foul was obvious to the announcers and very obvious on the replay... allowing a team to win by breaking the rules makes the win and the game meaningless...
San Antonio gave the game away and may not have deserved the win, but Miami did not win the game... the referees gave the win to Miami by allowing Miami to physically and illegally prevent the winning shot... that is not how a championship should be decided... just when i thought the nba could not fail any worse, it did tonight...
If the NBA does not own up to this referee error that decided the game, the NBA fails... if the media ignores this referee error that decided the game, the media fails...
There are bad calls and fouls missed throughout any game... there are fouls called when they shouldn't be during any game... no one can expect referees to be perfect... but this bottom line is simple...
No team should be allowed to win a championship by fouling, by breaking the rules of the game, in the last moments of the game...
Showing posts with label corp usa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corp usa. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Thursday, April 11, 2013
windows defender
excuse me, windows defender just interrupted my conversation with a friend and other computer usage for no apparent reason... it did not scan, perhaps because i was typing as it popped up... i never even used it, it was disabled when i installed my anti-virus software because it is not compatible... but recently when firefox crashed one time too many i opened internet explorer and suddenly windows defender is scheduled to run daily... it doesn't matter what i am doing, it interrupts... another unnecessary annoyance from the idiots at microsoft who can't seem to understand that my use of my computer should be the priority and microsoft software should not usurp control over my computer (unless they'd like to pay for it)... dang proprietary software codes, when will they ever learn they will never have satisfied customers unless they start respecting customers...
and they wonder why so many say microsoft sucks... like they care with their billions...
and they wonder why so many say microsoft sucks... like they care with their billions...
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
brighthouse is amazing
after waking to no internet again and giving my unpaid time and service to brighthouse, i decided to ignore the meaningless complain it might have been and just mention it as i mention most everything in my daily blog where i mention most everything just to mention most everything for whatever reasons i might have at the time (and brighthouse will not alter my good mood this time)... but now, just a couple of hours later, the cable box decides it's time for yet another reboot - as if it doesn't matter that i pay for the box and the service, it and brighthouse arrogantly believe it is ok to control it in my home... no respect... no is it ok if we interrupt your activities in your home right now and shove yet another reboot up your ... tv?)... ... the lack of customer consideration remains amazing... astounding...
ridiculous...
to brighthouse techs, csrs, and management: click here and read this before you comment if you are not just SPAM commenting... simply, if you want more of my time and energy, pay me...
most consistent complaint: no sound at start up... random re-boots...
only acceptable solutions: service that works... pay me for my time...
brighthouse digital hd cable tv (table updated 2/5/13):
the tech who installed our service here last week suggested getting the other brand of cable box, samsung again... other techs have suggested this sysco cable box when we had the other brand... their answer is always just give us more of your time (without compensation) and try something else (that won't work)... we watched the superbowl at a friends on century link and it worked fine... most neighbors here in our new place have satellite dishes so we'll be talking to them about service and reception as we meet them... brighthouse just does not seem to get the message...
ridiculous...
to brighthouse techs, csrs, and management: click here and read this before you comment if you are not just SPAM commenting... simply, if you want more of my time and energy, pay me...
most consistent complaint: no sound at start up... random re-boots...
only acceptable solutions: service that works... pay me for my time...
brighthouse digital hd cable tv (table updated 2/5/13):
| working perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all | 0% of the time 0% of the time 95% of the time 5% of the time | no problems delays, box/channels reset occasionally, software does not adjust aspect ratio and picture size automatically sound does not go on at start, box resets/blinks every 60 seconds, aspect ratio and picture size are off box/channel resets every 10-15 seconds or other issue requires reboot, call to tech support, or visit |
the tech who installed our service here last week suggested getting the other brand of cable box, samsung again... other techs have suggested this sysco cable box when we had the other brand... their answer is always just give us more of your time (without compensation) and try something else (that won't work)... we watched the superbowl at a friends on century link and it worked fine... most neighbors here in our new place have satellite dishes so we'll be talking to them about service and reception as we meet them... brighthouse just does not seem to get the message...
Thursday, January 3, 2013
goldmach sachs spam
goldmach sachs sucks... they get this dubious mention because goldman sachs just tried to take over my computer... and slate helped them... i clicked on a video on the slate site and a 2 minute 49 second video advertising goldman sachs opened four times in different windows, one full screen blocking my start menu and everything else on my screen - when i click just once... and worse, when i close one, the full screen was hidden behind the browser and i only noticed because the start menu bar was black... i expect this from a company that worships money, but trust for slate has gone down considerably...
we live in a very sad culture...
we live in a very sad culture...
Sunday, December 9, 2012
waiting for the brighthouse connection
i occasionally get a message here or by phone from brighthouse sales or technicians that appear to be efforts to resolve the on-going service interruptions i frequently experience, a few of which have been chronicled in this blog... today i am brought here due to continued poor service preventing me from enjoying cable programming... in this entry, i will also address why i have stopped responding to the brighthouse calls... the bottom line is this - if the solution brighthouse is offering does not start with a monthly discount for my time, energy, and interrupted service, i am not interested in wasting more of my time trying to fix the continuing brighthouse problems...
now to today's issue...
first, should it take 3-5 minutes to use the remote to use the search feature to find a specific show you want?... when you press your remote, does nothing happen for ten seconds or longer?... when scrolling through channels, does the scrolling freeze and take sixty seconds to get through the first 100 channels?...
when you want to find out when specific shows are on, for instance, which football games are being broadcast on which channels at what time, can you do that in less than 5 minutes without loosing your feed to the game you are currently watching?...
if you can do these things with brighthouse, then you are getting better service than i am... i do not know if it is the converter box or the line conditions or something at the brighthouse connections or bandwidth or something else, but the delays in receiving signals simply switching stations or scrolling through the stations is unacceptably long...
let's look at the solutions and customer satisfaction...
the first solution is change the batteries in the remote... i do that monthly, even more often at times... i do not use the remote daily... the batteries i remove from the remote are still very effective in any other electronic product and testing shows they are still good batteries... i have changed the remote several times... the remote does not seem to be the primary problem...
the next solution is reboot the box (again, a weekly activity which is ridiculous inconvenience and lowers my customer satisfaction a lot)... i do not work for brighthouse... i pay brighthouse for service...
it is as simple as this...
i should not have to provide service for brighthouse equipment unless brighthouse pays me to provide service... to resolve this customer dissatisfaction, i should be paid for each service i provide for brighthouse equipment... my time and energy has value... a $5 discount for each required reboot would be appropriate...
as i manually reboot on average weekly due to lagging service or other issues, a $20 discount monthly is required for customer satisfaction as much as the reboot is required just to use the service i pay for...
this does not include the auto-reboots that the box does when i am in the middle of watching a show - that is an intrusion that is not acceptable and a dollar amount will not provide satisfaction, however a punitive dollar amount might encourage brighthouse to not randomly interrupt the service i am paying for... $50 would be fair, considering the level of customer dissatisfaction and the profit margin brighthouse currently provides... the risk of a $50 refund should be incentive enough for brighthouse technicians to stop randomly interrupting the service i pay for... might as well have satellite...
the next solution to any issue is to call brighthouse... that averages more than 30 minutes and takes me away from work or life activities that of my choosing... essentially, it puts me in the position of working for brighthouse... i should be compensated at $15 an hour for my time when i am required to call brighthouse just to use the service i am paying for...
the next solution is a home service call... that requires a change in my schedule and anywhere 2-4 hours of down time waiting for the service technician... i have experienced at least two no-shows and may have forgotten more... again, a minimum of $15 per hour for the time i give to brighthouse required to use the service i pay for... since the best they do is a 2-hour window, a minimum $30 refund of my money is fair for each service call...
these are very fair wage compensations for my time as i could be earning much more per hour if i chose not to give brighthouse my time... this is also an excellent performance improvement incentive for brighthouse to improve their product and customer service as the responsibility for not paying me would be set directly on brighthouse - provide the service i pay for without glitches and interruptions and you refund me nothing, you get more than $1,000 a year from me...
so, to the brighthouse techs and csrs and managers who may read this, if your proposed resolutions to the issues i have been reporting for the last few years does not include monetary compensation for my time, energy, troubleshooting, and inconvenience... then please do not offer the appearance of a blank check "let me help you" in my comments here or on the phone... your "help" costs me time and money... and the dozens of calls and home service calls i've given you over the years has has not resolved the issues...
keep in mind that what brings me here today is the same thing that has brought me to write every blog entry about brighthouse service, dissatisfaction with the brighthouse product... if there was not an issue preventing me from using the product today, i would not be writing this... i am not looking for money, i am looking for the service in pay for... at this point however; i have given enough time and energy to brighthouse without fair compensation and propose the refund plan in this entry as a last effort to keep me as a brighthouse customer...
as a quality manager myself, understanding the customer's dissatisfaction and needs is an essential aspect of customer satisfaction... hopefully this writing has provided you with the specific information you need to satisfy this customer...
i am likely not the only customer who would approve of this plan...
UPDATE: why should today have only one issue, it's brighthouse service, after all...
I get home and find the show guide is suddenly changed to ridiculously huge letters so the stations can't be read and only the first word for any show name is visible... why am i not surprised that the box reset itself again and now does not provide a useable guide to what is on...
it's not like we have only one issue each day... we have several on-going issues every day... like the cable box still turns on and switches to mute for some reason and we have to change channels a certain way with the remote to get sound... if we actually watched tv daily we'd have a different service...
what baffles me most is how people who actually watch tv daily put up with brighthouse... i know what keeps me is the internet, not the best but the fastest around here... and also the fact that i get a discount some months i spend time trying to get the service fixed... but the fix has not worked in the past few years since i've had the service... we plan on moving early next year and moving with brighthouse does not look likely...
Monday, November 12, 2012
brighthouse continues to suck
so after a wonderful day out playing softball with friends and a wonderful evening home enjoying dinner with friends i decide to give up sleep tonight to watch something i was looking forward to for weeks, a 10 year reunion show for firefly and five minutes into the show for reasons only the intrusive people and computers at brighthouse know, the cable box turns off and goes into some sort of countdown followed by another countdown followed by a reboot and twenty minutes later i am still wondering why i don't just cancel this crap brighthouse service because the show will not go on...
so i will not get back the time or sleep i gave up tonight and i still do not get to watch the show i wanted to watch and brigthouse still charges more than they charged last year for service that gets worse every month... yes, besides exploring alternbative tv services and in spite of offers to help which do nothing to stop the deteriorating service and continuing service interruptions... in fact just it continues to get worse... i started keeping track and the current stats are:
brighthouse digital hd cable tv (table updated 12/14/12, still trending downward):
so i will not get back the time or sleep i gave up tonight and i still do not get to watch the show i wanted to watch and brigthouse still charges more than they charged last year for service that gets worse every month... yes, besides exploring alternbative tv services and in spite of offers to help which do nothing to stop the deteriorating service and continuing service interruptions... in fact just it continues to get worse... i started keeping track and the current stats are:
brighthouse digital hd cable tv (table updated 12/14/12, still trending downward):
| working perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all | 0% of the time 0% of the time 90% of the time 10% of the time | no problems delays, box/channels reset occasionally, software does not adjust aspect ratio and picture size automatically sound does not go on at start, box resets/blinks every 60 seconds, aspect ratio and picture size are off box/channel resets every 10-15 seconds or other issue requires reboot, call to tech support, or visit |
Saturday, October 27, 2012
weather idiots
also know as weathermen (and not weatherwomen, but that's a prejudice so inherent in our language and culture it deserves complaints of it's own so we won't let this one get too distracted for now) and meteorologists... giving the people in this particular field of study some benefit of doubt, i will not propose to assume that all those who study meteorology are idiots... this complaint is primarily about tv meteorologists anyway... even there i will not propose to assume that all tv weather-people are idiots either... what i will state as this complaint is that almost all tv meteorologists appear to be idiots in the way they are scripted, presented, and possibly manipulated... business as usual, the media is selling product and not reporting the news accurately without bias and ulterior motives...
what i mean is... just like the news, the weather sells product... the news (and sports and weather) programming is big business and made way more dramatic, scary, shocking, and stupid than it needs to be to do what it is supposed to do, present an accurate report on real events outside of our homes and immediate daily experience... we want to know there are traffic delays on our routes to work or wherever we go, we don't need to know how many people died or are injured and what agony their family is going through "how do you feel about the critical condition your son is in?" type reporting... we want to know it is going to rain or snow or storm, but we do not need to know live coverage of idiots hanging on to street light polls in hurricanes telling us not to leave our homes...
today, i refer to an even more serious stupidity... a dangerous stupidity... i refer to the vultures picking at the carcass of potential news, specifically the over-excited alarmists trying to make much more out of the weather than is necessary or responsible... the problem with meteorologists who pander to the news media and actively represent themselves as prophets of doom on television is that goes beyond the irresponsible scare tactics that manipulate viewers... the serious issue is that people are conditioned to worry, stress, and even panic over storms that never appear and then are complacent when a real threat arises...
today's tv meteorologists are boys (and girls) who cry wolf and much like the story about the boy who cried wolf, they reduce their value to the public to side show annoyances... they find the one power line that is down and present it as widespread damage... they find the one branch that fell on one car and interview the owner as if he is one of many who were devastated by the storm... they "predict" worse case scenarios as if there is no doubt that we are all in serious danger...
earlier this year they did this with a storm that never actually became a hurricane but was still presented as a potentially catastrophic event... Hurricane Sandy that is heading up the east coast of the USA this week is the latest storm to be the fuel for irresponsible and dangerous reporting... if the world (God, Mother Nature, or whatever you believe might control the world) had a Risk Management department would identify the irresponsible cry wolf reporting by television meteorologists as a potential risk reducing actual preparedness for an actual serious weather event...
the culpability of the news media for false reporting and actively pre-determining heightened threats could be called into question in court by a savvy lawyer who demonstrates that repeated exposure to over-zealous television meteorological reports could desensitize and therein give credible cause for inadequate preparation that leads to serious injury by the public the news organizations are commissioned to serve...
beyond litigation, people can be hurt and killed because they do not take weather dangers seriously because they have repeatedly been exposed to television weather idiots who manipulate news to over-state dangers only to be repeatedly proven to be wrong...
what i mean is... just like the news, the weather sells product... the news (and sports and weather) programming is big business and made way more dramatic, scary, shocking, and stupid than it needs to be to do what it is supposed to do, present an accurate report on real events outside of our homes and immediate daily experience... we want to know there are traffic delays on our routes to work or wherever we go, we don't need to know how many people died or are injured and what agony their family is going through "how do you feel about the critical condition your son is in?" type reporting... we want to know it is going to rain or snow or storm, but we do not need to know live coverage of idiots hanging on to street light polls in hurricanes telling us not to leave our homes...
today, i refer to an even more serious stupidity... a dangerous stupidity... i refer to the vultures picking at the carcass of potential news, specifically the over-excited alarmists trying to make much more out of the weather than is necessary or responsible... the problem with meteorologists who pander to the news media and actively represent themselves as prophets of doom on television is that goes beyond the irresponsible scare tactics that manipulate viewers... the serious issue is that people are conditioned to worry, stress, and even panic over storms that never appear and then are complacent when a real threat arises...
today's tv meteorologists are boys (and girls) who cry wolf and much like the story about the boy who cried wolf, they reduce their value to the public to side show annoyances... they find the one power line that is down and present it as widespread damage... they find the one branch that fell on one car and interview the owner as if he is one of many who were devastated by the storm... they "predict" worse case scenarios as if there is no doubt that we are all in serious danger...
earlier this year they did this with a storm that never actually became a hurricane but was still presented as a potentially catastrophic event... Hurricane Sandy that is heading up the east coast of the USA this week is the latest storm to be the fuel for irresponsible and dangerous reporting... if the world (God, Mother Nature, or whatever you believe might control the world) had a Risk Management department would identify the irresponsible cry wolf reporting by television meteorologists as a potential risk reducing actual preparedness for an actual serious weather event...
the culpability of the news media for false reporting and actively pre-determining heightened threats could be called into question in court by a savvy lawyer who demonstrates that repeated exposure to over-zealous television meteorological reports could desensitize and therein give credible cause for inadequate preparation that leads to serious injury by the public the news organizations are commissioned to serve...
beyond litigation, people can be hurt and killed because they do not take weather dangers seriously because they have repeatedly been exposed to television weather idiots who manipulate news to over-state dangers only to be repeatedly proven to be wrong...
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Google Fail
yes, #GoogleFail and also #BloggerFail... I am hating on the new forced on users blogger format... i see less options on the page... more hidden options means more time to navigate and use the page... i do not see all of my blogs on my dashboard without clicking on the 'more blogs' link, extra clicking, wasted time... while every change has a learning curve and it takes time to develop a comfort level with every interface, immediate and obvious inconveniences should not be the first thing noticed...
and apparently all my preferences were reset to google blogger default as i am wasting more time setting up formats and options that i need to remember in order to maintain continuity in my blogs... and obviously the interface is developed for bloggers with fewer blogs than i have... more obviously i need to explore wordpress and other blog options...
it did not help that microsoft vista sucked royally and it's taken almost two hours to actually start blogging tonight...
and apparently all my preferences were reset to google blogger default as i am wasting more time setting up formats and options that i need to remember in order to maintain continuity in my blogs... and obviously the interface is developed for bloggers with fewer blogs than i have... more obviously i need to explore wordpress and other blog options...
it did not help that microsoft vista sucked royally and it's taken almost two hours to actually start blogging tonight...
Monday, September 17, 2012
NFL Fail
the nfl really sucks this year mostly due to the inexperienced officials losing control of games and making very bad calls that effect the momentum and the outcome of games... no amount of spin is going to convince me that this season's first two weeks would have had different outcomes of some games if the regular refs were out there...
it is apparent now that the nfl commissioner and bosses were lying over the last few years when they stated they were imposing fines and changing rules to protect players... they obviously do not care about players... say it again - the decision to let players play under these poorly officiated out of control conditions is proof the bosses do not care about player safety...
the commissioner is certainly a gambler... gambling fans will watch crap and gambling nobody will get hurt enough to permanently scar nfl football... i hope a superstar's career is not ended because the nfl is allowing this fiasco to continue because that would be a permanent scar and legacy for this current commissioner...
it is apparent now that the nfl commissioner and bosses were lying over the last few years when they stated they were imposing fines and changing rules to protect players... they obviously do not care about players... say it again - the decision to let players play under these poorly officiated out of control conditions is proof the bosses do not care about player safety...
the commissioner is certainly a gambler... gambling fans will watch crap and gambling nobody will get hurt enough to permanently scar nfl football... i hope a superstar's career is not ended because the nfl is allowing this fiasco to continue because that would be a permanent scar and legacy for this current commissioner...
Thursday, September 6, 2012
vista fail
as in microsoft vista so totally sucks and fails it is not funny... yes, #VistaFail is added to the growing list of #Fail hashtags and labels and no, it is nothing new, it is just getting worse and worse and there is no logical reason for software to deteriorate and consume more time and memory when nothing changes on a computer... so i guess i will simply get used to restarting every day and giving up 15 minutes or more daily to microsoft... if the software was free that would be barely reasonable...
i'm so fed up with microsoft vista i don't even want to continue...
i'm so fed up with microsoft vista i don't even want to continue...
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
news and weather
i am beginning to feel enough dislike (i really hate the word hate ya know) the news and weather media in the usa... it is madness and so very unhealthy, which is why i stay away from watching or reading it quite often... the fear-driven culture we live in has produced a society of adrenaline junkies afraid of everything and worse, unable to think for themselves... a clear sign of a failing culture...
what brings this meaningless complaint out today is the tropical storm isaac reports that have been pounding into millions of people's heads over the past week, especially the last few days as the news people are begging for the national weather service to call this storm a hurricane (in fact, the weather people have mistakenly called it a hurricane more than a few times, on the weather channel no less, where they are supposed to know what they are doing - and don't they?... they know scaring people gets more people to watch and rating and selling products is their first priority, not protecting people or providing fair and accurate reporting of the news... journalism is such a dead profession these days in the usa)...
and after hours of telling us that the 11am national weather service report should upgrade the storm to a hurricane (note, that's an upgrade - sick) again and again and the disappointment was obvious in the reporters voices and words, even questioning the national weather service making statements like "it would have been better if they upgraded to a hurricane"...
how shameful greed is so acceptable...
how irresponsible fear-mongering is so acceptable...
everybody be afraid, stop thinking, just be afraid and above all else - keep watching the news because we have very important commercial messages you need to see between all the fear-mongering reports we repeat over and over...
how ignorant will this culture get before it collapses?...
did i just fear-monger?
what brings this meaningless complaint out today is the tropical storm isaac reports that have been pounding into millions of people's heads over the past week, especially the last few days as the news people are begging for the national weather service to call this storm a hurricane (in fact, the weather people have mistakenly called it a hurricane more than a few times, on the weather channel no less, where they are supposed to know what they are doing - and don't they?... they know scaring people gets more people to watch and rating and selling products is their first priority, not protecting people or providing fair and accurate reporting of the news... journalism is such a dead profession these days in the usa)...
and after hours of telling us that the 11am national weather service report should upgrade the storm to a hurricane (note, that's an upgrade - sick) again and again and the disappointment was obvious in the reporters voices and words, even questioning the national weather service making statements like "it would have been better if they upgraded to a hurricane"...
how shameful greed is so acceptable...
how irresponsible fear-mongering is so acceptable...
everybody be afraid, stop thinking, just be afraid and above all else - keep watching the news because we have very important commercial messages you need to see between all the fear-mongering reports we repeat over and over...
how ignorant will this culture get before it collapses?...
did i just fear-monger?
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
education in the USA
It is sad that leaders in the USA do not understand how important education to national security. Comparison scores declined for decades last century. Some improvement can be seen this century, but USA scores still fall shamefully behind other countries.
1995 results: "...tests showed U.S. fourth-graders performing poorly, middle school students worse. and high school students are unable to compete. By the same criteria used to say we were "average" in elementary school, "we appear to be "near the bottom" at the high school level. source
2003 comparison of more than 250,000 15-year old students from 41 countries. USA Ranks: Math: 27th, Reading: 18th, Science: 22nd. source
2010 Ranks show minor improvement, but when considering the wealth and resources available in the USA, these scores still show a sad disregard for education in the USA: Math: 25th, Reading: 14th, Science: 17th.
source
This does not address the unavailability of higher education for the majority of Americans who cannot afford $100,000+ for a basic college education and double that for an advanced degree. Government loans and long-term debt or bankruptcy is not the answer, but the only alternative for many young people.
Until Education is as high a priority as Defense, no amount of bombs/guns will protect us from the defenselessness of technological and intellectual inferiority.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
brighthouse sucks, chapter whatever
yes, brighthouse brings me here again... let's do a quick status check:
brighthouse digital hd cable tv (table updated 11/12/12, still trending downward):
brighthouse roadrunner broadband turbo internet (updated 9/5/12, trending upward):
and the vent as it was happening...
another hour and a half of my time working for brighthouse and i am paying them to work for them... i was working for myself on the net juggling a lot of tabs searching for tires and blogging and the modem decided to stop, blink, just stop... i rebooted four times and nothing... next came shutting down the computer and it took a half hour to save all the work i was in the middle of, but i saved everything and shut down the computer... turned it on, no change... local service only... we've been here before a few times and it ended up with blaming my computer and then service calls and then changing out the modem... i hope this isn't the start of yet another time consuming no-service cycle as i need to stay connected to continue job hunting...
i called brighthouse and was on hold a half hour listening to how easy it is to resolve modem issues by rebooting the modem... reboot, no change... reboot the modem again... no change... again, no change... reboot the computer again, no change...
after about an hour of rebooting the modem and the computer, suddenly there is a connection again... i was still on hold with brighthouse listening to the repetitive messages, so i hung up... thanks for the crappy service once again, brighthouse...
yeah, i know a brighthouse representative left a message here last month offering to help, but there comes a time after speaking with a dozen different representatives and having a half dozen house calls over a couple of months that i run out of patience and more, i run out of belief that the brighthouse reps can fix the problem and need to take a break...
the tv cable box still sucks too, but at least it's been working adequately most nights... sometimes it just starts blanking out every fifteen seconds or so and sometimes it works ok... sometimes the sound works when the box and tv go on, sometimes it doesn't... the channel needs to be changed to get the sound to work and that works about 75% of the time... the box needs rebooting at least once a week... it's a shame that i've gotten used to such poor service...
and the long term damage that i am going to have to remedy is that the box is definitely the wrong box for a plasma tv because the box does not resize the images like the other box does (a difference in software i am told, but can i believe the techs?) so some burning in of the images on the plasma screen has started... i just have not had the patience to call and set up yet another service call to change boxes again because this box at least works about 60-70% of the time and the last few boxes have not been nearly as mediocre ( in other words, they worked worse)...
one of these days i will just have to make the time to research the alternatives, direct tv, dish, u-verse, century link... friends have those others services and most seem to like them... there are drawbacks to all of them, but brighthouse is just becoming intolerable and they are the highest price service of them all...
i am so tired of wasting my time with them...
UPDATE 3:15AM... and about ten minutes later... this entry was uploaded and the brighthouse service went out again so i called brighthouse back... good news, this time i was actually connected to a tech support rep after about five minutes... this time the modem reset itself, all lights blinking off and then back on just before the rep came on the line... i shut down the computer again and when i turned it back on, it was connected again... the rep put me on hold and returned a few minutes later informing me that the tests he ran showed the modem was shutting down on it's own... well at least they see that on their end... now i am waiting for a level 1 support tech troubleshoot the problem... i hold we don't have to go to yet another visit from brighthouse to exchange modems again...
oh crap, i am listening to the annoying modem reset message again... i hope this does not mean i was reset in the queue and have an hour wait like last time... the more i listen to that stupid unplug your modem message, the more i want to hang up and unplug from brighthouse for good... i will be back later with an update...
UPDATE 3:34AM: waiting for the level 1 tech... they finally came on after 20 minutes and gave me the there is an outage in your area and technicians are working on it line... i had to wait 20 more minutes and give my telephone number and identification information and explain the problem again just to get that standard line... the previous tech could not say that... this tech chould not just say that without my repeating the ID info and problem again... they just wasted another half hour of my time... what is wrong with that picture?...
brighthouse - still poor equipment, poor technical service, and poor customer service... at least they are consistent...
brighthouse digital hd cable tv (table updated 11/12/12, still trending downward):
| working perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all | 4% of the time 8% of the time 68% of the time 20% of the time | no problems delays, box/channels reset occasionally, software does not adjust aspect ratio and picture size automatically sound does not go on at start, box resets/blinks every 60 seconds, aspect ratio and picture size are off box/channel resets every 10-15 seconds or other issue requires reboot, call to tech support, or visit |
brighthouse roadrunner broadband turbo internet (updated 9/5/12, trending upward):
| working near perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all | 55% of the time 30% of the time 10% of the time 5% of the time | no problems slow downs modem requires a reboot requires a call to tech support or repair visit |
and the vent as it was happening...
another hour and a half of my time working for brighthouse and i am paying them to work for them... i was working for myself on the net juggling a lot of tabs searching for tires and blogging and the modem decided to stop, blink, just stop... i rebooted four times and nothing... next came shutting down the computer and it took a half hour to save all the work i was in the middle of, but i saved everything and shut down the computer... turned it on, no change... local service only... we've been here before a few times and it ended up with blaming my computer and then service calls and then changing out the modem... i hope this isn't the start of yet another time consuming no-service cycle as i need to stay connected to continue job hunting...
i called brighthouse and was on hold a half hour listening to how easy it is to resolve modem issues by rebooting the modem... reboot, no change... reboot the modem again... no change... again, no change... reboot the computer again, no change...
after about an hour of rebooting the modem and the computer, suddenly there is a connection again... i was still on hold with brighthouse listening to the repetitive messages, so i hung up... thanks for the crappy service once again, brighthouse...
yeah, i know a brighthouse representative left a message here last month offering to help, but there comes a time after speaking with a dozen different representatives and having a half dozen house calls over a couple of months that i run out of patience and more, i run out of belief that the brighthouse reps can fix the problem and need to take a break...
the tv cable box still sucks too, but at least it's been working adequately most nights... sometimes it just starts blanking out every fifteen seconds or so and sometimes it works ok... sometimes the sound works when the box and tv go on, sometimes it doesn't... the channel needs to be changed to get the sound to work and that works about 75% of the time... the box needs rebooting at least once a week... it's a shame that i've gotten used to such poor service...
and the long term damage that i am going to have to remedy is that the box is definitely the wrong box for a plasma tv because the box does not resize the images like the other box does (a difference in software i am told, but can i believe the techs?) so some burning in of the images on the plasma screen has started... i just have not had the patience to call and set up yet another service call to change boxes again because this box at least works about 60-70% of the time and the last few boxes have not been nearly as mediocre ( in other words, they worked worse)...
one of these days i will just have to make the time to research the alternatives, direct tv, dish, u-verse, century link... friends have those others services and most seem to like them... there are drawbacks to all of them, but brighthouse is just becoming intolerable and they are the highest price service of them all...
i am so tired of wasting my time with them...
UPDATE 3:15AM... and about ten minutes later... this entry was uploaded and the brighthouse service went out again so i called brighthouse back... good news, this time i was actually connected to a tech support rep after about five minutes... this time the modem reset itself, all lights blinking off and then back on just before the rep came on the line... i shut down the computer again and when i turned it back on, it was connected again... the rep put me on hold and returned a few minutes later informing me that the tests he ran showed the modem was shutting down on it's own... well at least they see that on their end... now i am waiting for a level 1 support tech troubleshoot the problem... i hold we don't have to go to yet another visit from brighthouse to exchange modems again...
oh crap, i am listening to the annoying modem reset message again... i hope this does not mean i was reset in the queue and have an hour wait like last time... the more i listen to that stupid unplug your modem message, the more i want to hang up and unplug from brighthouse for good... i will be back later with an update...
UPDATE 3:34AM: waiting for the level 1 tech... they finally came on after 20 minutes and gave me the there is an outage in your area and technicians are working on it line... i had to wait 20 more minutes and give my telephone number and identification information and explain the problem again just to get that standard line... the previous tech could not say that... this tech chould not just say that without my repeating the ID info and problem again... they just wasted another half hour of my time... what is wrong with that picture?...
brighthouse - still poor equipment, poor technical service, and poor customer service... at least they are consistent...
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
cable services
maybe it's not as bad as brighthouse sucks, but maybe... three or four services calls in the past two weeks and still not right...
so the cable guy finally showed up and after asking what's wrong (why do i call in a service request giving details of what's wrong if the request is not documented for the tech?) and he played with the box a bit (my request was a replacement box due to the box repeatedly freezing)... he came and went twice bringing in two other replacement boxes until one seemed to work... jackson had to all him back in from his truck cuz the HD aspect ratio was off and he explained that the samsung software accounted for that but the sysco software did not and they've been having a lot of problems with the samsung box... so ok, i said i'd explore the features and he said call us anytime...
every cable guy has different answers and excuses and none have been proven right... worse yet, each cable guy set the features, remote, resolution, aspect ratio, and so on differently... they do not seem to know the best settings for a given HD tv... poor training, poor knowledge, poor service...
and i discover that this latest box (maybe the seventh or eight box this year) apparently does not convert to a 1080 signal so the max resolution is 720 and that is a downgrade from the previous box... yeah, it froze, but i want 1080 resolution (why buy a tv if you can't use the features, right?)... so i went online and wrote brighthouse support by email instead of calling... i am tired of calling... definitely not a satisfied customer...
they did give me the second discount for this year so the recognize the shoddy service, but saving $37 bucks is not fixing the problem... so the continuing saga of poor cable service drums up this meaningless complaint...
so the cable guy finally showed up and after asking what's wrong (why do i call in a service request giving details of what's wrong if the request is not documented for the tech?) and he played with the box a bit (my request was a replacement box due to the box repeatedly freezing)... he came and went twice bringing in two other replacement boxes until one seemed to work... jackson had to all him back in from his truck cuz the HD aspect ratio was off and he explained that the samsung software accounted for that but the sysco software did not and they've been having a lot of problems with the samsung box... so ok, i said i'd explore the features and he said call us anytime...
every cable guy has different answers and excuses and none have been proven right... worse yet, each cable guy set the features, remote, resolution, aspect ratio, and so on differently... they do not seem to know the best settings for a given HD tv... poor training, poor knowledge, poor service...
and i discover that this latest box (maybe the seventh or eight box this year) apparently does not convert to a 1080 signal so the max resolution is 720 and that is a downgrade from the previous box... yeah, it froze, but i want 1080 resolution (why buy a tv if you can't use the features, right?)... so i went online and wrote brighthouse support by email instead of calling... i am tired of calling... definitely not a satisfied customer...
they did give me the second discount for this year so the recognize the shoddy service, but saving $37 bucks is not fixing the problem... so the continuing saga of poor cable service drums up this meaningless complaint...
Friday, June 22, 2012
instagram?
why would anyone give any app this much permission?
from the Google Play Instagram Permissions page:
THIS APPLICATION HAS ACCESS TO THE FOLLOWING:
HARDWARE CONTROLS
TAKE PICTURES AND VIDEOS
Allows the app to take pictures and videos with the camera. This allows the app at any time to collect images the camera is seeing.
any time? so the app can collect images without my knowledge?
YOUR LOCATION
FINE (GPS) LOCATION
Access fine location sources such as the Global Positioning System on the tablet, where available. Malicious apps may use this to determine where you are, and may consume additional battery power. Access fine location sources such as the Global Positioning System on the phone, where available. Malicious apps may use this to determine where you are, and may consume additional battery power.
i can't turn it off when i don't want to use it?
NETWORK COMMUNICATION
FULL INTERNET ACCESS
Allows the app to create network sockets.
why and do what with them?
YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
READ CONTACT DATA
Allows the app to read all of the contact (address) data stored on your tablet. Malicious apps may use this to send your data to other people. Allows the app to read all of the contact (address) data stored on your phone. Malicious apps may use this to send your data to other people.
why do the makers of this app need my friends information?
STORAGE
MODIFY/DELETE USB STORAGE CONTENTS MODIFY/DELETE SD CARD CONTENTS
Allows the app to write to the USB storage. Allows the app to write to the SD card.
seems almost reasonable
SYSTEM TOOLS
PREVENT TABLET FROM SLEEPING PREVENT PHONE FROM SLEEPING
Allows the app to prevent the tablet from going to sleep. Allows the app to prevent the phone from going to sleep.
sleep is necessary to conserve battery - seems this app wants way too much control
RETRIEVE RUNNING APPS
Allows the app to retrieve information about currently and recently running tasks. Malicious apps may discover private information about other apps.
Hide
this is ridiculous
NETWORK COMMUNICATION
RECEIVE DATA FROM INTERNET
Allows apps to accept cloud to device messages sent by the app's service. Using this service will incur data usage. Malicious apps could cause excess data usage.
this app wants way too much control, can destroy a battery, make the phone useless, cost money in phone data charges, and violates privacy way too much - definitely something fishy about google wanting all this power in every phone they can get...
from the Google Play Instagram Permissions page:
THIS APPLICATION HAS ACCESS TO THE FOLLOWING:
HARDWARE CONTROLS
TAKE PICTURES AND VIDEOS
Allows the app to take pictures and videos with the camera. This allows the app at any time to collect images the camera is seeing.
any time? so the app can collect images without my knowledge?
YOUR LOCATION
FINE (GPS) LOCATION
Access fine location sources such as the Global Positioning System on the tablet, where available. Malicious apps may use this to determine where you are, and may consume additional battery power. Access fine location sources such as the Global Positioning System on the phone, where available. Malicious apps may use this to determine where you are, and may consume additional battery power.
i can't turn it off when i don't want to use it?
NETWORK COMMUNICATION
FULL INTERNET ACCESS
Allows the app to create network sockets.
why and do what with them?
YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
READ CONTACT DATA
Allows the app to read all of the contact (address) data stored on your tablet. Malicious apps may use this to send your data to other people. Allows the app to read all of the contact (address) data stored on your phone. Malicious apps may use this to send your data to other people.
why do the makers of this app need my friends information?
STORAGE
MODIFY/DELETE USB STORAGE CONTENTS MODIFY/DELETE SD CARD CONTENTS
Allows the app to write to the USB storage. Allows the app to write to the SD card.
seems almost reasonable
SYSTEM TOOLS
PREVENT TABLET FROM SLEEPING PREVENT PHONE FROM SLEEPING
Allows the app to prevent the tablet from going to sleep. Allows the app to prevent the phone from going to sleep.
sleep is necessary to conserve battery - seems this app wants way too much control
RETRIEVE RUNNING APPS
Allows the app to retrieve information about currently and recently running tasks. Malicious apps may discover private information about other apps.
Hide
this is ridiculous
NETWORK COMMUNICATION
RECEIVE DATA FROM INTERNET
Allows apps to accept cloud to device messages sent by the app's service. Using this service will incur data usage. Malicious apps could cause excess data usage.
this app wants way too much control, can destroy a battery, make the phone useless, cost money in phone data charges, and violates privacy way too much - definitely something fishy about google wanting all this power in every phone they can get...
Sunday, June 17, 2012
whatever they are called
tv ads, tv pop ups, the bottom third, ad crawlers, bottom screen ads, digital tv, samsung's mistake, whatever, they suck... first, they destroy the stories they interrupt, creative suicide for anyone producing shows for television... then, annoying interruptions do not inspire me to watch the show interrupting the show i want to watch... in fact, the show i pay to watch... i pay to go to the theatre, i would resent a scrolling banner on the scenery advertising anything - it is not part of the show i paid to see... i pay for a ticket to watch a movie in a theatre without commercial interruption... and i pay for cable television... it is reasonable that the free tv networks force advertising down our throats to pay for their shows, but when i pay for a service i do not want advertising...
i mean, why watch regular tv anymore, or even cable... they take commercialism too far, so we find other ways to entertain ourselves... foolish greed has brought so many great nations down, when will they ever learn...
simply, watching movies on tv is a waste of time for me... there is no hollywood magic, no getting into a story... there is a random and even sometimes constant distraction of a network logo or upcoming show advertisement distracting from the movie... sometimes it is an animated pop up totally destroying any mood or ambiance the actors and director and movie crew were trying to create... it's gotten ridiculous... and just one more reason tv falls further and further into the background...
i mean, why watch regular tv anymore, or even cable... they take commercialism too far, so we find other ways to entertain ourselves... foolish greed has brought so many great nations down, when will they ever learn...
simply, watching movies on tv is a waste of time for me... there is no hollywood magic, no getting into a story... there is a random and even sometimes constant distraction of a network logo or upcoming show advertisement distracting from the movie... sometimes it is an animated pop up totally destroying any mood or ambiance the actors and director and movie crew were trying to create... it's gotten ridiculous... and just one more reason tv falls further and further into the background...
Thursday, May 31, 2012
refs 2, boston 0
the game is tied 105-105 and rondo drives for a lay-up... a flagrant foul, a hard blow to the head knocking his head back hard, knocking him to the ground, slow to get up... no call... no call giving miami a fast break and a two point lead... how do you miss such an obvious foul under the basket?... you don't, not if you are good at your job,,, you don't, not unless you are are incompetent - or you have an agenda...
one minute left... so a four point swing for miami with less than 90 seconds and the next series, a clear offensive foul, a kick with the foot to knock the defensive player back, but it's miami so it is allowed and worse, the foul is called on boston... no foul call against miami on a blow to the head which by rule is flagrant, no foul call against miami on an obvious offensive kick, foul called against boston to a slap to the arm after getting kicked out of the way... five point lead under a minute...
seven fouls for boston, zero fouls for miami in the first 7 minutes of the game... fifteen more fouls against boston than against miami... similar to game one... it's no coincidence... a key star for boston fouls out again just like the first game... it's no coincidence... it is such a sad shame that the refs dominate the play leaning to one side so much...
all game the refs made miami calls giving miami a lopsided advantage in foul shots and still, game tied in overtime... and then, one minute left, tie game, and a blown flagrant foul call gives miami a bogus lead... you can't beat a team with the refs on their side and that was clear tonight...
ridiculous win for the refs and miami... they needed the refs just to get the game tied and sent to overtime... no team can win a close game when the refs are so clearly biased to pne side... anyone who respects this miami win did not watch the game, especially not the last 90 seconds when the refs took over and game the game to miami...
it's professional sports... the refs calls in the last two minutes should not be one of the subjects discussed by objective sportscasters in the post game shows... the refs calls should not be a topic of discussion after the game two games in a row... boston is getting a raw deal... two ridiculous technical fouls in the first game had sports commentators raging and wondering if the refs have a specific agenda... are the refs getting told what to do by the nba management?... so it seems to the professionals watching, so it seems to this sports fan...
but the fact is, it would be very bad for business for the nba for the spoiled and arrogant golden boys of miami to not make it to the finals... due to their own immaturity and boasts, they'd be a laughing stock if they don't win a championship soon... so they can get away with much more... the refs bias may be ignored after the obvious immediate commentary points it out... but for anyone really watching, really paying attention, really looking for sportmanship, it cheapens the game of basketball...
whatever...
one minute left... so a four point swing for miami with less than 90 seconds and the next series, a clear offensive foul, a kick with the foot to knock the defensive player back, but it's miami so it is allowed and worse, the foul is called on boston... no foul call against miami on a blow to the head which by rule is flagrant, no foul call against miami on an obvious offensive kick, foul called against boston to a slap to the arm after getting kicked out of the way... five point lead under a minute...
seven fouls for boston, zero fouls for miami in the first 7 minutes of the game... fifteen more fouls against boston than against miami... similar to game one... it's no coincidence... a key star for boston fouls out again just like the first game... it's no coincidence... it is such a sad shame that the refs dominate the play leaning to one side so much...
all game the refs made miami calls giving miami a lopsided advantage in foul shots and still, game tied in overtime... and then, one minute left, tie game, and a blown flagrant foul call gives miami a bogus lead... you can't beat a team with the refs on their side and that was clear tonight...
ridiculous win for the refs and miami... they needed the refs just to get the game tied and sent to overtime... no team can win a close game when the refs are so clearly biased to pne side... anyone who respects this miami win did not watch the game, especially not the last 90 seconds when the refs took over and game the game to miami...
it's professional sports... the refs calls in the last two minutes should not be one of the subjects discussed by objective sportscasters in the post game shows... the refs calls should not be a topic of discussion after the game two games in a row... boston is getting a raw deal... two ridiculous technical fouls in the first game had sports commentators raging and wondering if the refs have a specific agenda... are the refs getting told what to do by the nba management?... so it seems to the professionals watching, so it seems to this sports fan...
but the fact is, it would be very bad for business for the nba for the spoiled and arrogant golden boys of miami to not make it to the finals... due to their own immaturity and boasts, they'd be a laughing stock if they don't win a championship soon... so they can get away with much more... the refs bias may be ignored after the obvious immediate commentary points it out... but for anyone really watching, really paying attention, really looking for sportmanship, it cheapens the game of basketball...
whatever...
Monday, August 29, 2011
google plus minus me
google plus is really ticking me off... i keep clicking on links that take me to a page that someone talking to me online on facebook or somewhere referred me to and find myself on google plus, only i can't do anything there because i am not a google plus approved member or whatever it takes to get in there and it's wasting my time...
whenever google plus does open their doors to me, i might go in, but this bad taste in my mouth will go with me...
whenever google plus does open their doors to me, i might go in, but this bad taste in my mouth will go with me...
Saturday, August 27, 2011
u.s. politics
philosophically there is a difference between the parties, but actions override philosophy and ideals and the actions of the u.s. government over the past thirty years have been hawkish, aggressive, greedy, and bent on world-domination... sheepskin does not change the wolf... we elect politicians, but business interests control them regardless of party affiliation... especially at the top... until we unite against the real enemy, greed and the fear-mongering and divisive finger-pointing that distracts from the greed, we will, just as many empires have before us, continue as a nation down the path of self-destruction from within...
Monday, August 8, 2011
beware of groupon
that is groupon, a good idea but a website and company that is not to be trusted because they secretly install something on your computer that creates links on your web pages that create pop-ups advertising the groupons... very not right... and the virus software and windows software and all the protections on this new computer didn't stop it... very sneaky...
it took me a while to figure out why my web pages, even my personal web pages, were altered... hopefully it is not viable from other computers because using my personal web pages to advertise their site would be very unethical... and should be illegal...
if you check out their site, which is a good idea, make sure you email their support people first to find out how not to become a shill for their business without knowing...
it took me a while to figure out why my web pages, even my personal web pages, were altered... hopefully it is not viable from other computers because using my personal web pages to advertise their site would be very unethical... and should be illegal...
if you check out their site, which is a good idea, make sure you email their support people first to find out how not to become a shill for their business without knowing...
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