Michael Gracie

Today must be National Bash Comcast Day.

Someone started a rant about Comcast’s poor service. Glenn Reynolds picked up on it and is now running a poll asking his readers to help him decide which service to switch to. Others are piling on.

How about turning off the TV for a bit and getting outside, eh?

I am a Comcast subscriber. A happy Comcast subscriber. I have the minimum cable TV subscription possible, and the only reason I turn on the TV is to keep the dog company when I’m out. Even that has competition, since the neighbors love taking him, and…

I keep a Mac Mini around as a backup computer, which also serves duty as a nightly server backup machine (with a neat little AppleScript/cron job combination) and as a stereo system (married to Bose Companions, all sitting on the fireplace mantle). I’m now piping Minnesota Public Radio through it during the day - that has elevated my already stupendous canine friend into the intellectual elite, with a combination of classical music and mixed talk (although frankly, my dog would probably bite me if he knew I was comparing him to the “intellectual elite”).

I find it hilarious that people are squawking about the fact that kids aren’t too keen on the outdoors anymore while simultaneously pissing and moaning about their cable service.

By the way, I also have a Comcast internet connection, and it screams. I’ve moved twice with it and always found the techs courteous and willing to work with someone who possesses a bit of technical know-how (like understanding how to get a connection through the modem without having to install software). They are always cool as cats as far as I’m concerned.

Maybe I get treated well by them because I loved getting dirty as a kid (and still do)?

According to a pile of bureaucrats in the UK, fingerprinting schoolage children is fair game. Parents - piss off! You have no right to stop it.

The next headline you are likely to see?

“Private, Fingerprint-Free School Company in UK Goes Public At Trillion-Dollar Market Cap”

…that is, after the headline that reads something like “mass exodus begins from UK public school systems.”

Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”

Touching, to say the least. Thanks go out to the contributors, and that kid’s parents.

I have been fretting for weeks about computer storage. While I tend to get rid of any physical items I don’t need anymore, I am a total pack rat when it comes to data. I have saved every company and client file I ever produced, as well as digitized every document back to my kindergarten report cards. So my office is obsessively neat, but I consume hard drive space like Chevy Suburbans consume gasoline.

Yesterday, I decided to do something about it (again), and when I saw a post on eBay for a new Acomdata 160 GB firewire/USB 2 combo external hard drive, at $90 shipped, I had to jump on it.

Then this morning, I received an unexpected email that made the effort seem oh so worthwhile.
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I didn’t know where to categorize this article or the post, because I find the idea of spyware firms targeting innocent children for advertisements so unbelievably repulsive.

Yes, maybe some of the ads are just trying to get children to surf over to some game site or toy store, where they can covertly use their parents’ credit cards to the tune of ten lost bucks. But you can bet that there will be others that will try to get kids’ eyeballs on content which is much more hideous.

CALLING ALL POLITICIANS: IF YOU CARE ABOUT OUR FUTURE, WHICH IS OUR CHILDREN, YOU SHOULD MANDATE FELONY PROHIBITIONS WITH RIDICULOUSLY LENGTHY JAIL TIMES FOR THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOUR.

Enough said.