This playing field is GSM unlocked 4G and 5G. The contestants are:
Tello
US Mobile
Boost Mobile
This is just the final stage, Saturday 11/5/22. The background is, while I thought I had myself covered with 2 modern smartphones and a high data plan hotspot, service has been virtually out this week at my home.
US Mobile logs in at 23Mbps 5G phone with hotspot. Full bars coverage.
This is good but not great speed and if you use multiple devices on a network you need 5G. They are very tricky on the sign-up: free trial doesn’t apply (promotion is Verizon only but they do have 7-day money back with limited use), a charge for hotspot, and fees for something 2-3 times higher than taxes. But, they’re the same better-than-T-Mobile clone. They’ll send out a free SIM and online sign-up is easy. Price: $31 for 18gb. That is medium cheap/expensive. Unlimited minutes and texts. The difference is in the flexibility, website, and service when needed.
Boost Mobile Alcatel Hotspot
This is a device they were selling through an easy process on their website for $0. I tried to buy one and the system apparently rejected a sale that wasn’t a sale at all. Then the price went up to $1 and I snatched-up another one. Earlier I bought one for $50 and I’m not complaining although it had some on/off or charging problem.
Earlier the speed was 23Mbps and I stared at it for a while. Now, I get 22, and I am happy–35gb/month 5G hotspot for $0. I get it for free through a grandfathered government program; normally they charge $50 and I would pay that if I had to; that is the decision I made when I decided to remove wired broadband completely. Btw, it is the exact same T-Mobile network.
That’s a keeper. Thank God their telephone representatives wherever they are in the world cannot track me to my home. It goes beyond global ambitions dirt-cheap labor practices. I have learned some things in this that will help me deal with that.
Tello 4G and 5G Phones
Tello logs in with 1.3Mbps 4G speed, 1gb data, and 300 minutes for $10 a month. It is a Rokit I/O Pro (the 3-D phone). All speed tests are done at fast.com.
It goes back to 2004 and the kennel but I haven’t found the document I am looking for. For now it jumps to 2012, but I cannot find the full Ted Mink Story from that period either–it points to the First Amendment, if I ever need that as a weapon.
3/30/12
The story has come a long way. Fast forward to today and this:
I always knew the history and my documents would tell the story. That means consolidating everything from lots of old computers and about 10tb of data. That is a harder task than you might think. It is reassuring to know it is there. But I am starting to find things, including those mentioned above. Often the ones I think are just a partial draft are the real thing. And I have learned to export a Libre Office odt file as a pdf so I can upload it here.
It took effort and resolve to finally open my briefcase though. I think it has been nine years. It sat next to my desk for weeks before I am now in the right frame of mind and can muster the courage. It is something that will take more than a few minutes.
The printout of “Ted Mink’s Problem” is dated 1/10/2013. The false arrest (summons including felony charges) was 10/28/12. The day of the “You can’t” (call when in danger at the park) from Liebe and pal is 10/7/12. Those are the two smoking guns, but the history, the pattern, and the trail tell the whole story. From there, I can infer the sources and the reasons.
The one above, I used to write what I called columns for my website–separate files using html. It was a cumbersome process and WordPress is a thousand times better. I think the old way, not to mention typewriters, forces the writer to pay more attention. That is something the writer has to adjust to. My blank, white, completely formatted WordPress page is unbelievably fast and easy to see and use.
RE About Writing -Col3, it is succinct and the writing isn’t bad, but it is vague for readers. For me, and I may be the only one, it is very useful as a placeholder. At the time I was a marketer and it appears I was thinking like one; a reference to the 4 P’s is not one I would make today. Community involvement also isn’t something I would reference today without an explanation–it is faint to begin with and then suppressed by the local government; the state, which is locally accessible in Denver, is generally more responsive.
What I remembered about these incidents from 2004 is the obscene behavior of the deputy and the internal affairs person and that is documented. Bumgarner was rapidly promoted and could have been called Ted Mink’s right hand man. Jeff Shrader was patrol chief under Ted Mink then became an automatically-elected, long-term, Republican Sheriff in then-red Jefferson County. Current Sheriff Democrat Regina Marinelli was soundly elected, probably with the coattails of Gov. Polis and Commissioner Dahlkemper. Clearly Sheriff Marinelli matriculated under Ted Mink (my arrival in Colorado and attention to these matters) and before.
Other live and current reactions to the column are, while not an expert and it is never-ending, now I do know the law with respect to these matters. Now I have much better insight into how and what information pertains to a legal challenge. After that, the key in Colorado is Senate Bill 20-217 because that is a gamechanger.
The beautiful Zero Halliburton aluminum briefcase is now completely empty. It is time to deal with all the documents. I even found the old, engraved money clip I was looking for.
Politics isn’t in a good place these days. The best hope is that the lawyers will ratchet up the anxiety enough so that he will die a few years sooner. No Trump would be a start.
I am going to take the position that, while all are bad, some are worse than others. With that in mind, my outbound letterbox is going to feature Ms. Dahlkemper. I don’t see Donald Rosier as likely and he was a disgrace during the tenure that he quit anyway. And, Polis is going to win.
This, per the official ballot that I looked at today. I knew about sheriff. That is an even blacker hole.
My activities–the box of letters–has nothing to do with politics. For me, politics is musing like this blog. I rarely participate and I can’t do anything about it anyway. Jeffco is corrupt as hell. Where I live is still better than most places. Colorado politics in general are a decent fit for me.
There are a couple of sentences that I really like.
I was involuntarily drafted into this long, arduous movement for accountability.
It reminds me of the Stanford rape victim, dumpster, letter. That is #1 in the genre. Write something that is so good it is noticed.
My perspective on this one gets in the way as I understand better than most how research in big companies works, how decisions are made, what is proprietary, and even what is government classified or accessible. Peripherally, it also sheds light on Twitter.
Anyone can see “engagement-based rankings” every day on the internet. Youtube suggests more videos and the Washington Post and New York Times offer more articles. You can see how the content gets more varied and possibly more opinionated and even radical if that is allowed. If you participate or log in it becomes easier and linked with other things. It can all be tracked and manipulated–the goal is more, more, more.
In an online world where “platforms” can be copied, knowing how to do this is obviously important. In fact, it is a super-duper skill if you know how to do it with a database like that of Meta. It is, also obviously, proprietary.
Data a company collects from research is confidential, as is customer data and internal algorithms. That cannot be legislated or prosecuted. The last paragraph of this otherwise excellent op-ed does not make sense. Even if Meta were to voluntarily offer every data file and research report it ever possessed, who is going to review that morass of customer, consumer, billing, opinion, post, etc. data? And what exactly are they supposed to glean from it?
This is where people who don’t read (e.g., Trump) are at a disadvantage. Frances Haugen’s testimony, those who are looking into it, and those who write about it, perform a valuable service. It is complex. There is no easy solution. Perhaps an equally serious but amorphous clue lies in the USPSTF recommendation that everyone under 65 undergo anxiety screening.
I remain ignorant: I don’t know what happens when you type “how to commit suicide” into Google or YouTube. Nonetheless, I am quite sure the public service announcement at the bottom of the Ian Russell piece appears. I suspect companies like Meta are learning to monitor such phrases closely.
Meta stock, and others, are getting crushed. One solution is, don’t use it. Another is, parents can help when a teen sequesters themself to use social media and perform “self-harm” (as is attributed to Molly Russell).
It is good advice sometimes. The war in Ukraine is turning.
It is also a key to understanding narcissism–you can’t win all the time and you are not always right.
It is a happy day, similar to the continuing news of Trump’s downfall.
First, all the predictions that are coming true and some that are unexpected. Experts and analysts said Ukraine had to hold out as long as it takes for weapons and training. They did–many deaths, injuries, and damage later. We have learned that what seems like incompetent delays are best efforts and to a degree justified. The weapons are useless without training, parts, security, and planning including thought-out execution; without these it is wasted energy and money.
They said that Russia could not hold out and that is showing. They continue to make mistakes, like obvious weapons stockpiles and command centers. Russian airpower and defenses are ineffective. By most estimates, more than half of the 200,000 troops employed–casualties plus injured–have been removed from the scene. There is no way people at home don’t know this and recruiting and replacement, as well as training and motivation, is difficult. Even the vaunted Russian artillery is stationary and vulnerable. Russia has lost nearly all its tanks. Ammunition too is not unlimited.
At this moment Russian troops are surrounded in several areas. This would not happen if they were strong or on the offensive.
People said the sanctions will take time. Iran and Africa, that is desperation. Russia is spending money and equipment and at the same time their economy is tanking. They lost their biggest energy customer in Europe. We don’t know the details due to an “off market” economy and secrets and lies. It is not a sustainable situation.
The news is so fuzzy, but as many analysts are saying today, all we can do is see what is happening. It is anthropology: observation. Russia’s Donbas offensive has screeched to a halt; small progress can be reversed. Around Kherson Russia is retreating and another part of Western supply and direction, tanks, is coming; the Kherson region controls the water for Crimea. Russia is stuck with random, embarrassing attacks with missiles meant for ships and airplanes.
Other experts commented on the traffic-jam convoy meant to conquer Kyiv. No one said it out loud, but are you kidding? It was dozens of miles of tanks, troops, and personnel carriers literally stuck in the mud waiting to be ambushed. They didn’t say “I’ve never seen anything like it” either, but think about it–you are invading, but you are sitting ducks and now you are moving backward? Now you are moving all the way back to Russia and into the Donbas? It is wasteful, incompetent, and embarrassing.
What we are seeing, and this is another reason to be happy, is brains and technology over thuggery. Among other things, the sanctions mean Russia is isolated from European and North American technology and that will hurt for years to come. It will only become more pronounced.
Ukrainians are learning about corruption. Eventually maybe NATO will be a possibility. While it can appear like totalitarianism at times it is not that–the purge of those helping the enemy is necessary. That is the very definition of corruption. You cannot be for the entire country or community if you are in it for yourself and/or the enemy.
Again, the experts… Somehow some of those in the Western alliance really seem to know and understand. And they have seen it through to this, a turning point. Ukraine will come out of this as a power on the edge of Russia. It not nearly over, but once it is, the only obstacle will be corruption.
Finally, there is another reason to be upbeat. Oh, the Ukrainians were right too: we’ll fight, but give us more weapons! Far from the fate of the Russians, Ukrainians will be welcomed as liberators. Russia hasn’t had the time to brainwash them yet and the wounds from the war make that far harder. We have learned that Ukrainians are smart and resourceful, plus they know the Russian mindset. Ukraine must have spies and sources behind the newly-drawn lines. It is possible counter-offenses could be relatively quick due to this insurgency waiting to happen.
* * *
No, the war is not over and Russia is not going to surrender. That is something we have learned.
But when it rains, it pours. Today there is this. And Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is all over the web. Why did you cut him off? they ask on DW-Youtube. The answer is because he has others waiting and it was probably agreed-to beforehand.
We have heard that before too: 1,000 companies. Now we are hearing more, like 30 years of investment. These things take time to rise to the surface and sink in. They are profitable businesses that are liquidated. They do not exist in Russia. You cannot invent Armani, or Seimens, or McDonalds too.
I live in the United States and I don’t hear people complaining about sticking it to Russia. It is temporary. It had to be done. We’ll survive. And unfortunately for many who cannot, I can afford it.
In Germany, they are all smiling.
How stupid is it to dismantle your cash cow? Current experts, like Daniel Yergin, on the economic situation:
“It’s a dereliction of duty to keep the public and Congress in the dark for months,” said POGO senior investigator Nick Schwellenbach. “Digital forensics experts could have been working to recover these lost texts a long time ago.”
On Wednesday, Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack issued a joint statement expressing concerns that the Secret Service phone system update led to the “erasure” of records — a possible violation of federal law — and that “every effort must be made to retrieve the lost data.”
“The U.S. Secret Service system migration process went forward on January 27, 2021, just three weeks after the attack on the Capitol in which the Vice President of the United States while under the protection of the Secret Service, was steps from a violent mob hunting for him,” the lawmakers said.
“Four House committees had already sought these critical records from the Department of Homeland Security before the records were apparently lost,”they said. “Additionally, the procedure for preserving content prior to this purge appears to have been contrary to federal records retention requirements and may represent a possible violation of the Federal Records Act.”
The testimony of the staff woman weeks ago was the best news I have had in a long while. Mr. Thompson has earned my respect; ditto Ms. Cheney and everyone else whether in the committee or behind the scenes.
It occurred to me that the first thing responsible communities did when faced with police reform was to form a committee. It even sounded, and continues for the most part to suggest, bureaucracy and stagnation. The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission is one such example. But, if it is formed with diverse members who acknowledge they have a job to do, it now strikes me as a positive step. Again, they are there for a reason.
An educational reason for reading legal documents is the organization and writing they contain. That is easier and it comes out better when you have a lot of smart people reviewing every word. I have come to enjoy the documents from what we now know as the committee. Items with Mr. Thompson’s name on them have an unusual clarity to them: he is an expert at what he is doing. He, and they, show a clear path and progression.
Let’s hope, and there is no reason not to, that Attorney General Merrick Garland is just doing the right thing in waiting for these people to finish the tasks in front of them. Mr. Garland is being criticized in abstentia. Every indication is that everyone is watching closely. The Justice Department isn’t going to tell the press or anyone else what they are doing anyway.
But it is something I look for: service so bad it is illegal.
Amazon is a scam company and the leader in an industry filled with it. This explains my inside familiarity. I have learned to take my online purchases of hundreds of dollars a month elsewhere.
With Amazon it starts with geographically dispersed–we are all supposed to be impressed–employees or representatives hiding behind a Seattle 206 number. Their only function is to sit at a computer and say no. The “system” (their word) knows everything, so all they have to do is regurgitate. They are unrecorded and unsupervised; they are unfamiliar with the U.S. market and its consumers, as well as applicable laws; English is often a second language. A main reason they are there is they are cheap and they want the relatively menial jobs, but the much larger purpose is they are malleable–no matter what, they will support the company line. They are hired as a blank slate, with no knowledge other than what they are told. The Amazon name as a huge American company has appeal.
They don’t have email addresses or direct phone numbers. They are not allowed to make outgoing calls. The foreign assistants are not empowered to do anything and that is not surprising given their at-home or wherever loose affiliation with management and the rest of the company. The policy I have observed is they are allowed to send one email through a blind address–patronizing, not helpful boilerplate–but they are not allowed to respond to a reply. It goes through, they and others can see it, but it is only about customers helping them instead of them helping customers. There is no dialog, individual effort, or equitable solution; “here is what I did” or nothing at all. A feeble offer to rate the experience may follow.
I don’t think the experience is different for paying Prime members. Perhaps what is driving me is when I asked for an English speaker or someone in the U.S. The woman I in Washington state was outstanding; she seemed to understand my location in the Rocky Mountain foothills, she was experienced with my problem of showing up with two items and one label (a problem neither she or anyone else since has corrected), and she simply offered me the $200 in rugs free. It was so surprising I regressed into accepting labels for an anywhere drop-off as I am used to. I’m not looking for anything free or for special treatment, but I do take the position that I speak for others too, so you should listen to me.
It is not that Americans won’t do it, it is that Amazon must be a terrible place to work. Everyone employed there must know they are basically package pushers and reading between the lines for more is a fool’s game. It is the way they are organized and managed and it is 100% intentional. Incidents where it comes to light are not accidents and nothing is for the first or only time. Disperse it get rid of it and move on should be the motto.
Where I live (Colorado), it is illegal.
This is an indication of the arrogance: “What language am I speaking?” was the reply.
