Month: June 2024

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Well, after almost a month with the new cellular company, I’m pleased…

Thus far at least.

After I got the initial eSim glitch taken care of everything has worked like a champ.

I like saving $50 a month on service. Rather, I think I’m going to like that.

I did notice a bit of a data slowdown in one place I happened to be. However, that was only one spot and the issue seemed to resolve itself as I made it further down the road. I wonder if it was simple network congestion. AT&T is the underlying carrier for this particular company. I know in some areas they are a little more saturated than others.

There’s another 2nd tier company that is more expensive, but they buy blocks of data or cellular service from the big three. It looks as though they’ve figured out some balancing system that puts you on the least congested of the three carriers or perhaps the carrier with the best coverage in the area you’re in.

I didn’t go with them because they weren’t much less expensive than T-Mobile and honestly aside from T-Mobile’s customer service getting shitty and the cost of service going up… I was happy with T-Mobile. As I stated before, Their pricing and their Customer Service drove me away.

The new guys, will have me as a customer for as long as they treat me well. I’m probably never going to have “Loyalty” to a cellular provider again. 

I know it’s a hassle but I’d really suggest reviewing your cellular plan and doing some price comparisons. Especially if your phone is not under some contract.

Here’s a list of the folks I checked out.

Mint Mobile – T-Mobile’s Network
Consumer Cellular – Verizon (I think)
Patriot Mobile – All three Verizon, T-Mobile, or AT&T
PureTalk Mobile – AT&T’s network

What’s really strange is that going through these folks is cheaper than going through the big three Verizon, T-Mobile, or AT&T. I still have no clue how that works.

These companies typically have US based Customer service. I don’t know how long that’s likely to remain the case, but for the time being it’s nice to talk to someone stateside.

That being said, several have “business hours” so if you’ve got a problem, you’ll have to handle it during normal business hours extant wherever they happen to be.

Puretalk USA Promo Code.I settled on PureTalk because they were the cheapest. I don’t use a lot of data so their 3GB plan with unlimited talk and text serves my purposes very well and cost $20 a month.

There is one thing that is, or can be misleading.

If you’re using an iPhone and their iMessage app. Sending text messages may not count in the unlimited text message column.

Unless specifically set to be otherwise, iMessage uses data not SMS/MMS (Cellular Text).

So yes, the SMS/MMS part of the cellular service is unlimited, but iPhone to iPhone will use your data plan by default.

I haven’t felt like forcing my phone to use SMS. As it stands, with me using my phone as normal I’ve still got 88% of my 3 GB data available. If It becomes a problem or concern, I’ll change to the $25 plan and have 5GB which is the same as I had on the T-Mobile Plan.

I’m really curious about how the new Google RCS standard fits. Does it use SMS or is it too data?

Oh, if you do the comparison and decide to switch to PureTalk, kindly use this link.

https://puretalk.com/r/5fe72606

They do a pretty nice referral bonus. 

Yes! I’m becoming a cheap bastard in my old age.

Fingers crossed that I continue to be pleased. If not, there are other options to choose.

Have a great day.

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Wait, What? I know she’s unhinged but What???

I’m including the text of the story, and the link to the original story here

Maxine Waters: If Trump Wins in November There Will Be Violence, More Killings

By PAM KEY 23 Jun 2024

Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) said on this week’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Saturday Show” that if former President Donald Trump wins in November, there will be violence and “more killings.”

Host Jonathan Capehart asked, “How concerned are you about your safety if Donald Trump is re-elected?”

Waters said, “I’m very concerned, not only about my safety and not only about the safety of members of Congress. I’m concerned about the safety of so many people in this country, particularly people of color. Donald Trump has said that if he does not win, it is going to be fraud, and because it is going to be fraud, there will be blood in the streets. He threatens about a civil war, and he threatens there’s going to be violence. I would say all of this talk is motivational with many of those who are racist, who are sitting at home listening to him, and they are taking him up on his threats even before the elections take place. It is about thousands, maybe millions of people being threatened and being at risk because of Donald Trump and his desire to seek revenge on anything and everybody.”

She added, “I do believe having listened to Donald Trump so many times and having the attack, the insurrection that took place on the House of Representatives in Congress, on the Capitol, the Capitol grounds, we could be in for more killings like that. I think Donald Trump has to take responsibility for what he is saying about blood in the streets and violence if he is not elected to be the president of the United States of America.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

What? 

In answer to the question, she says there will be violence if Trump wins & she’s afraid of Trump winning. Later on Mad Maxine says that if he doesn’t win and claims fraud there will be violence.

Can I infer from her world view that no matter what, there’s going to be violence? If so, might I ask who will be calling the shots on the violence?

Mad Maxine has openly called for violent actions on at least one occasion and there’s video to back up that claim. Trump on the other hand hasn’t actually called for violence, if you bother to listen to his words.

However Trump’s enemies continue to claim that he’s called for and incited violence.

Obviously they’re taking that directly from the Joseph Goebbels playbook. I’d bet that the majority of youngsters in the streets protesting about whatever they’re protesting about in this particular hour of the day have no idea who Joseph Goebbels was, so they’re going to repeat the mistakes of the past.

People like Mad Maxine on the other hand are old enough to know that name, in her case I’d bet she’s too ignorant to have learned anything about him in school.

Mad Maxine chooses to miss the point in her fear mongering. Donald Trump isn’t calling for blood in the streets, he’s warning about blood in the streets because he might be accurately judging the mood of the American People.

An awful lot of people believe that the elections were rigged. More evidence has come to light that in fact the elections were not as safe and secure as previously advertised. Recently evidence has come to light that suggests Biden could actually have lost the election in terms of votes in a couple of swing states.

The folks who were denigrated and called conspiracy theorists, who were told that their concerns and even evidence were of no consequence, and who were denied due process in the courts because “They Had No Standing” are rightfully pissed off.

Pissed off enough that they might legitimately see overthrow of a corrupt government as the only option left to them.

On the other side of the coin, you’ve got BLM, ANTIFA, and god only knows what else. For all we know at this point, we could have Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaida, and any number of other groups that hate the United States standing by, on the Joe Biden side.

Not that they like Biden, but since Biden is weak and ineffective. It makes sense for them to keep Biden in office, because 4 more years of zero consequences to terrorist organizations, or flat out criminals would be just freakin awesome for them.

Thinking it through, Mad Maxine might be 100% correct. 

No matter who wins the election in November. Blood will flow in the streets.

It would be very ironic if we had another January 6th thrown by BLM & ANTIFA. It might be funny to watch the pundits and wags lose their minds trying to defend those groups burning down The Capital.

I suppose what caught my attention was the dissonance in Mad Maxine’s response.

It’s like 24/7 she is terrified of a boogie man called Trump. I suspect that she’s also terrified of the discord and racial animus she and others have helped to create. She’s possibly wondering how the heck she’s going to avoid getting caught up in the reconciliation (the point when both sides realize they’ve been used).

Historically, when people at the bottom of creating societal divides and violent hatred are identified, they don’t live happily ever after, or very long for that matter.

I doubt that Mad Maxine has the intellectually capacity to understand that lesson. Remember, even a worm has survival instincts. Mad Maxine may not understand the threat she’s facing, but she may have enough awareness to feel some unseen danger stalking her.

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From this blog It doesn’t look like it…

QuillDarkFeatherInkSet…But I do set aside time to write every day.

Over the past few months, writing has been increasingly difficult and I’m at a loss as to why that might be.

There have been more days than I care to admit where I’ve sat down with the computer, or iPad fully intending to write something magnificent. Okay, maybe not magnificent, how about just writing anything at all?

There have been days when I’d have been happy with the letter “A” on a page. Even that has been difficult and I have no clue what’s disrupting my thought processes.

Maybe it’s time to get some of that over the counter memory drug that’s always on the TV. Much as I don’t want to admit it, I’m in the requisite age group.

YoungFrankenstein abnormal.jpegPerhaps, the problem is the same one encountered in Young Frankenstein and I need a brain replacement. Or I’ve, unbeknownst to me, had a replacement and that isn’t going well.

It tends to frustrate me. No, it pisses me off!

For whatever it’s worth, I’m trying really hard not to end up a bitter, mean, old man.

One of those in the neighborhood is quite enough, and that guy is really starting to damage my calm!

He’s taken to screaming and hollering about literally any noise in the neighborhood. My next door neighbors have gas powered leaf blowers that each uses maybe once a month and even then only for 15 to 20 minutes maximum. We’re always under water restrictions so instead of washing down the decks or their driveways, they’ll use the blowers, especially if they’ve been trimming plants or what have you. 

The neighbor about a 1/2 block away but on line of sight with my street loses his mind and starts swearing and screaming “it’s not a parking lot out here!!!!” Ironically he lives next door to the crazy lady and her boy toy. If she’s not screaming obscenities, the boy toy is grinding metal at all hours of the day & night. Apparently that doesn’t bother the mean old guy but a leaf blower 4 houses away does.

There are a couple of dogs at the end of my street. They’re good pups, if a little barkey. The house directly across from their yard is for sale and they’re doing what they’re supposed to do. Strangers get barked at. They’re dogs, it’s normal. The mean guy loses his shit over that and has shouted some of the most horrific things about the female half of the couple who own the dogs. 

Honestly if it wasn’t that the husband is such a damn nice guy, he’d be completely within his rights to punch the mean old pot head out. To be honest if the husband did it, I’d pull a Sargent Schultz from Hogans Heroes  and “SEE NOTHING!”

The mean old pot head is  also quite frustrated most of the time. He’ll be trying to reach someone on the phone and well, it doesn’t go well. He loses things quite often. Either event will cause a stream of obscenities that can be heard all over the neighborhood. These obscenities don’t stop for literally hours.

I don’t want to be that guy…

I’d prefer to be generally happy, and peaceful.

It occurred to me the other day that he’s actually a coward. He’ll shout the most horrific things from the safety of his house at people that can’t see him and who might not realize where the shouted obscenity or complaint is coming from. In the event that someone was to challenge him he’d pull the pity me card, “I’m old, I don’t sleep well, I’m infirm, blah, blah, blah.”

In other words I’ve lost all respect for him. He’s an old school troll. I should introduce him to social media. Perhaps that would entertain him more than waiting to scream, rant, & rave about someone living their life, on their property, in the neighborhood.

Lately, he’s gotten so much worse It’s become another incentive to leave and find someplace better to live.

I’ve been wondering if part of my problem is simply I need a change of pace. Perhaps I need to have some fun and put distance between my frustrations and myself for a few hours.

On the plus side, I’ve been exploring interesting music via Apple Music. Their algorithm has gotten pretty spot on in presenting me with choices of music that I’m likely to enjoy. Come to think of it, Hulu has also been much better at suggesting something to watch.

I’m not sure if that’s because the algorithms are better, or because I’m no longer sharing my accounts with anybody. That’s not a complaint, it’s one of those things you have as part of being a family.

Happy Summer Solstice!