I wasted three days trying to get one working after reading a multitude of either

a) paid astroturf
b) rabid fans who overlook its faults

that led me to think it would work. Particularly the first result that comes up in Google claiming someone got their credit card terminal to work through it. Ha, hilarious. This service is so oversold.

I wasn't able to get even one decent call on a 15Mb/s connection that got top scores on VoIP test.

In the end I switched to the more expensive, but standalone Ooma, which is pretty cool. Story here if you're interested:

http://matts.org/voip_with_credit_card_terminal_magic_jack_vs_ooma

Yucca Mountain is in Harry Reid's home state. Guess we now know why that was scrapped. Hopefully when he's kicked out of office shortly they'll go back to it.

I've made both of those mistakes (taking a leatherman, and a full bottle) and was allowed to drop the leatherman off with the airline (and re-queue for another 20 minute wait) and just got the bottle taken away in the other case.

Of course, I have white skin and North European features, so that tends to see a different reaction than others might get.

The risk of illness of course, is a fact of life, but carelessness in spreading infections needs not be as acceptable as it is now. Taking reasonable efforts to prevent illness shouldn't be legislated, rather it should be taught through social stigma. The tendency of sick people in Asia to wear masks for example is a courtesy that we could all benefit from here, but it's more likely that you'll be stigmatized for wearing one than not in the USA. Social change can fix some of these dangerous and inconsiderate behaviors, and it starts with visible change by well-seen individuals.

It's not HAM, it's ham. It's not an acronym.

73,
ai1p

Can't help you with the paying for extra bandwidth, but the wondershaper has helped my limited speed home network remain responsive during downloads.

Unfortunately you'll get the same screen alignment problems with the cash machine approach. I've seen many cash machines where the screen text was not aligned with the buttons, creating an ambiguity about which one you touch. You can count from the bottom most of the time to figure it out, but some voters will inevitably miss that logical step.

Paper is still the best choice.

I picked a good year to get licensed for ham radio. I sure get sick of hearing about how you can work Australia on a wet noodle during high Sunspot years. At least the low bands are reliable, but then again those bands require ginormous antennas. So as a consequence my house looks like some sort of martian communications test zone. I think my neighbors fear me enough not to seriously ask what's going on.

Dear Lincoln,

Ha ha old man, I had to spend much in sabotaging your CO2 monitoring satellite. But now all your base are belong to us.

Signed,
Chairman Mao
Chinese Empire

I think that my original statement is pretty on-topic and relevant though the Google Fanboys Klub has modded it otherwise.

Obviously few people on this thread understand how email works or what the consequences of it may be.

The fact is that Google will be the recipient of emails going to the highest levels in the Government. They will be able to scan them, read them, etc. I don't care whether they're forwarding or storing, they still are the first point of routing and thus have full control over what happens to them. This is not appropriate any more than having RIM as an intermediary to the President's priviledged Blackberry communications.

But by all means, go back to droning "but they do no evil" if it makes you feel better.

I support Obama, even canvassed for him, but I smell poo. This is actually worth considering because...

1) Google was Obama's #1 campaign contributor and has already received a number of "special considerations" that embed them into the Obama administration.

2) Once you start using an email address it is with you forever unless you're willing to dump all of your contacts. Not to mention force of habit.

3) Lame other reason here cause we must speak in threes to sound convincing.

Hate to be the paranoid guy when I'm usually working the opposite angle, but I don't like where this is going.

Eisenhower had it right when after liberating a concentration camp he told the troops to pick up every scrap of film, every picture because someday some idiots would claim that it never happened.

People should have their noses rubbed in it. Faces can be obscured to protect the participants but the American public needs to know what these people it elected did.