Decrypting Reality

Almost 12 years later…

2021-04-14T13:12:00.001-04:00

Long time no post, Blogspot/Blogger/Google…

I'm back and posting, because

Feedburner recently announced imminent changes to their product/service

where they mention being a part of Google for almost 14 years.

I've been using FeedBurner from the beginning; it's amazing how much time has passed…

Here's to the future!

To the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

2009-06-14T16:45:00.009-04:00

An open/public letter

http://shakh.blogspot.com
/2009/06/to-social-sciences-and-humanities.html

On behalf of the Canadian citizens among my family, which includes myself, we urge you to follow the advisement forwarded below.

Sincerely,

Daniel Shakhmundes, B.Sc.
-------------------------------------------
Phone: 1-905-321-9898
Email: d@shak.ws
HTTP://Shak.WS

-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: Goodyear, Gary - M.P.
To: 'D.Shak'
Subject: RE: Community Action Alert on York University conference questioning Israeli's right to exist
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:33:34 -0400

Dear Mr. Shakhmundes,

Thank you for your correspondence on the conference at York University entitled, "Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace". I will ensure that the Minister is made aware of your comments.

I would like to encourage you to also write to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to share your thoughts with them. As you may know, the Council funds academic conferences under their "Aid to Research Workshops and Conferences in Canada" program and is responsible for grant decisions under the program. You can reach them at: webmaster@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca

Sincerely,

Stephanie Thomas

Member's Assistant
Office of the Hon. Gary Goodyear
Minister of State | Science and Technology
Suite 117 Confederation | Pièce 117 Édifice de la Confédération
House of Commons | Chambre des communes | Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
tel: 613.996.1307 | fax: 613.996.8340
goodyg@parl.gc.ca

-----Original Message-----
From: D.Shak [mailto:daniel@shakhmundes.net]
Sent: June 9, 2009 12:10 PM
To: Goodyear, Gary - M.P.
Subject: Community Action Alert on York University conference questioning Israeli's right to exist

To the Office of the Hon. Gary Goodyear
117 Confederation Building
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
T: (613) 996.1307
F: (613) 996.8340
E-mail: goodyg@parl.gc.ca

DEAR MINISTER GARY GOODYEAR:

* Thank you for your request to the SSHRC that it reconsider its
support for the June 22nd-23rd conference at York University
titled, "Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths
to Peace". in light of the serious concerns that have been
brought to light. As a Canadian citizen, I appreciate it.

* I urge you (the Minister) to direct the SSHRC to immediately
withdraw its funding from this sham of a conference that seeks
to delegitimize the Jewish State and its supporters here at
home.

Sincerely,

Daniel Shakhmundes, B.Sc.
-------------------------------------------
Phone: 1-905-321-9898
Email: d@shak.ws
HTTP://Shak.WS

-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: JEWISH CANADA
To: Daniel@Shakhmundes.Net
Subject: Community Action Alert on York University conference
questioning Israeli's right to exist
Date: 8 Jun 2009 16:25:24 -0400

COMMUNITY ACTION ALERT

REGARDING UPCOMING YORK UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE

QUESTIONING ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO EXIST

B'nai Brith Canada has brought to urgent attention of the Government the
sponsorship by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
(SSHRC) of an upcoming June 22nd-23rd conference at York University
titled, "Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to
Peace". As many of you know, this conference being held under the guise
of academia is in fact a blatant exercise in anti-Zionist propaganda.
Its entire thrust calls into question the Jewish State's very right to
exist, and promises to be a veritable "who's who" of anti-Israel
propagandists.

We were disturbed to learn that the SSHRC, a federal agency that is
answerable to Parliament and which reports directly to the Minster of
Industry, was listed as a lead sponsor on the conference's website,
contributing both moral and financial support.

Subsequent to our appeal to the Government on this matter, the Hon. Gary
Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology, released a
statement on the conference that is reproduced below. While the
statement stops short of announcing a funding withdrawal, it does bring
into question the SSHRC's continued support for the conference.

Statement from the Hon. Gary Goodyear

OTTAWA, June 5, 2009 - The following is a statement from the Hon. Gary
Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology, on the
conference at York University entitled, "Israel/Palestine: mapping
models of statehood and prospects for peace".

"Our government is committed to the principle academic independence and
the independent, arms-length, peer review process for assessing
applications for research grants.

"It has come to my attention that following a recommendation of a peer
review board earlier this year, the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council provided $19,750 under its Aid to Research Workshops
and Conferences Program to a conference at York University entitled
"Israel/Palestine: mapping models of statehood and prospects for peace".

"Approval of this funding was based on an initial proposal that did not
include detailed information on the speakers at the conference. Since
funding was provided, the organizers of the conference have added a
number of speakers to their agenda.

"Several individuals and organizations have expressed their grave
concerns that some of the speakers have, in the past, made comments that
have been seen to be anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic. Some have also
expressed concerns that the event is no longer an academic
research-focussed event.

"Therefore, I have spoken to the president of the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council to bring these concerns to his immediate
attention and asked that Council give them full consideration. In
particular, I asked that the Council, once they have seen this
information, to consider conducting a second peer review of the
application to determine whether or not the conference still meets
SSHRC's criteria for funding of an academic conference."

ACTION ALERT - WRITE TO MINISTER GARY GOODYEAR

* Convey your thanks and appreciation to the Minster for his
request to the SSHRC that it reconsider its support for this
conference in light of the serious concerns that have been
brought to light.
* Urge the Minister to direct the SSHRC to immediately withdraw
its funding from this sham of a conference that seeks to
delegitimize the Jewish State and its supporters here at home.
* Please send a blind carbon copy of your letter to B'nai Brith
Canada at bnb@bnaibrith.ca

Office of the Hon. Gary Goodyear

117 Confederation Building
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
T: (613) 996.1307
F: (613) 996.8340
E-mail: goodyg@parl.gc.ca

B'nai Brith Canada has been active in Canada since 1875 as the foremost
Jewish human rights organization. To learn more about its advocacy work
and diverse community and social programs, please visit
http://www.bnaibrith.ca.

Relaunching Shak.WS for 2008

2008-04-14T10:16:00.002-04:00

It's been half-a-year since D.Shak launched a new website for himself. Back then, he moved to Netenberg's Click Be! from a design he built from scratch during his early days at Brock University.

In March 2004 Daniel Shakhmundes launched his blog Inspiration, now called Decrypting Reality, using Blogger.com (BlogSpot.com) now owned by Google. He's had his hand on the pulse of blogging and content management systems for over four years now, and all the while he has been seeking an elegantly-programmed standards-compliant open-source extensible web-based software-application that could be used for himself and clients too. That's a tall order to fulfill, but WordPress has been doing it since 2003.

After five years, the WordPress “state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability” has matured to a level of quality that is rarely matched, even by its commercial and proprietary counterparts.

That being said, welcome to Shak's new website built on WordPress!

TV, Movies, Anytime, For Free

2008-03-21T14:28:00.007-04:00

Now open to the public:

hulu

Legitimately featuring content from more than 50 major content providers including FOX, NBC, MGM, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, and more.

Try AnchorFree's Hotspot Shield if you are getting the error “Unfortunately this video is not currently available in your country or region. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Thanks to AnchorFree's Hotspot Shield I am now able to watch the Simpsons, Family Guy, Saturday Night Live, the Office, House, Medium, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, 30 Rock, Arrested Development, New Amsterdam, Prison Break, and Lipstick Jungle (to name as many popular shows as I can bear to copy/paste) with high quality and minimal/few commercial interruptions. I think traditional brick-and-mortar movie-rental businesses are at the end of their life-spans, including Blockbuster - even snail-mailed movies delivered to your door cannot compete with the instantaneous & on-demand digital delivery of hulu.

Shak Attack on YouTube

2007-11-07T14:20:00.000-05:00

Daniel Shakhmundes' (Shak) board-breaking demonstration:

Hosted by Sensei Kristina Brandy of Shin Gan Karate in Welland (Niagara), Ontario, Canada.

Demonstrated techniques include punch, back-fist, classic karate chop, elbow (front and back), and roundhouse-kick.

Thank you to everyone who attended this event live!

Direct link to Shak Attack on YouTube:: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJhDT4AGPII

More Microsoft Woes: IMAP

2007-10-29T15:31:00.000-04:00

More hassles courtesy of Microsoft:

They can take standards compliance to new lows;

my experience with IMAP and MS Outlook was not surprising, but still frustrating enough to write this Blog Post.

I used the following links to [hopefully] resolve errors that one of my clients kept getting in Microsoft Outlook:

Basically, Microsoft Outlook (and Outlook Express as well, from what I read) do not implement IMAP protocol as per the specification. I believe the IMAP4 protocol is superior to POP3 - greater functionality allows for better access and management of email. The problem is that the mentioned Microsoft email clients have a tendency to pop-up timeout errors repeatedly, even though everything is fine [aside from Microsoft's implementation of IMAP].

I had to modify the configuration of my mail-server (courier on CentOS Linux), which now allows for more concurrent connections from the same IP address. Doing so partially defeats the purpose of IMAP (long-term persistent connections), which saves the overhead of repeat connections & authentications (i.e. one of POP3's many disadvantages). Unfortunately, Microsoft sometimes takes a good thing and contaminates/compromises it, and does so without rectifying it.

I hope this Blog Post encourages people to dump their Microsoft email software. Novell Evolution provides the best features of Outlook, while maintaining standards compliance, higher security, higher performance, and progressive updates/development. I spent the time to write this Blog Post because other great people around the world finally made Evolution on Win32, so you can run it on Windows XP!

Here's to Microsoft playing friendly or getting left behind,
Shak

Dump Microsoft Windows Vista

2007-09-28T15:49:00.000-04:00

It's not just propaganda,

it's official

Microsoft acknowledges that “Vista Concerns Mount”

by extending the availability of Microsoft Windows XP for another five months!

More details are available on InformationWeek.com

It's typical of Microsoft to miss their target dates. I won't be surprised if they continue to extend the availability of Windows XP. Instead of eventually upgrading to Microsoft Windows Vista, people will be switching to the top Linux distributions such as openSUSE and PCLinuxOS.

Be careful w/personal pix!

2007-07-21T15:30:00.000-04:00

Some good humour,

with thanks to my Mama for forwarding it!

A man moves into a nudist colony.

He receives a letter from his grandmother asking him to send her a current photo of himself in his new location.

Too embarrassed to let her know that he lives in a nudist colony, he cuts a
photo in half & mails it.

The next day he discovers that he had accidentally sent the bottom half of the photo!

He's really worried but then remembers how bad his grandmother's eyesight is & hopes she won't notice.

A few weeks later, he receives a letter from his grandmother.

It says: “Thank you for the picture. Change your hairstyle... It makes your nose look too short.”

Love, Grandma.

FW: Japanese Technology

2007-07-17T22:26:00.000-04:00

How the mouse cursor works;

thanks to Wendell Wilks for this terrific web-page:

This might be a little technical, leave it to the Japanese to figure this one out. Have you ever wondered what makes the arrow cursor move through the screen?? Click on the link, move your cursor in the middle of the screen, and see what happens....

http://www.1-click.jp/

For Customers of YourNameSells.com

2007-04-23T16:22:00.000-04:00

URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT:

A Brief Message to update the customers of YourNameSells.com as to what is happening with their websites and domains.

From Dot Connect

Canadian Anti-Semitism Checkup

2007-01-18T21:54:00.000-05:00

First, the good news:

[Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers Federation (OSSTF)] Teachers withdraw Israel boycott resolution.

However, in Toronto where I was born and live near, Jew-haters such as Jason Kunin and Hyssam Hulays are relentless in their attempts to dissolve the Jewish homeland:

Anti-Semitism and the Ontario Teachers' Union

Resolution on Israel proposed by teachers angers Jewish group

With such constant attacks, it's no wonder that things like SHUVA (The Israel Emergency Aliya Movement) exist!

I wish that anti-semites in America would make better use of the educational and academic institutions; teaching more positive and relevant material, rather than their misguided and ignorantly biased condemnation of a very small country that undeniably belongs to the Jewish people.

340 Duster Test-Drive

2006-12-22T16:00:00.000-05:00

Today, I took this bad boy for a spin:

I didn't mind the rainy weather, which allowed for some innocent tire-spinning ;-)

The experience came courtesy of Johnex3 Motorsports in Niagara Falls. Older than me, but fresh from California, this 340 Duster is a nostalgic ride for Anthony and his contemporaries, and a trip into the past for me. Wikipedia has information on the Plymouth Duster, if you're interested in more about this car.

Computer Desktop Software Comedy

2006-12-10T16:00:00.000-05:00

An ingenious animation of a battle taking place on the desktop of some digital animator (noogai3?)!

This post is my first one successfully initiated from YouTube.com. However, the Title field was not filled in, leaving me to do some post-post editing...

Wellspring Niagara video

2006-10-08T00:39:00.000-04:00

Fulfilling the dream of Aldo Mantini, who lost his life to cancer at age 31, and inspired many in his community to work together to bring this type of supportive care to Niagara, the Wellspring Niagara centre offers a wide range of programs to people living in the Niagara region.

To the late Asya Gendler, who passed away February this year, I would like to dedicate my charitable work of transcoding the Wellspring Niagara video from DVD and publishing it to the internet.

CIBC Run for the Cure

2006-09-27T18:07:00.000-04:00

Support Daniel Shakhmundes in the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure.

I am participating in the
Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure,
on
Sunday, October 1st
and I am asking for your support for a cause that is very important to me.

This year, an estimated 22,300 Canadian women and 160 men will be diagnosed with
breast cancer. We know research is making a difference. Lives are being saved
through earlier detection, and more effective treatments are improving the
quality of life for those who receive this devastating diagnosis.

I am one of 170,000 participants who will all be walking or running on Sunday,
October 1st and I need your support. Donating online is quick, easy and secure!
You can pay by credit card and within 30 minutes, you will receive a tax
receipt for any donation that has been successfully received. Your donation
will be added to the critical funds raised by the Run, and will be directed
towards research, education and awareness programs.

May my great aunt Rest in Peace, Asya Gendler, 1922-2006. Let a cure be found for Kristin Ingraham.

Thank you. I appreciate your support!

Daniel Shakhmundes

Political Actions Irony

2006-09-25T10:30:00.000-04:00

Actions Speak Louder Than Words:

Arising from email with a friend,

A tale of [Canadian] political irony.

Read it and weep:

From: My Friend

Subject: very interesting

Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2006 23:05:51 -0400

from the Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060923.NOTEBOOK23/TPStory/National

A tale of two speeches

A busy (mischievous?) senior Liberal staffer decided to compare former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin's speech to the United Nations last year with Prime Minister Stephen Harper's effort this week.

The easiest way, thought the staffer, was a count of "relevant" words. And this is what he came up with: Mr. Martin said the words "development or aid" 11 times compared with six for Mr. Harper. Mr. Martin said "human rights" 13 times; Mr. Harper said it three times.

The words "environment or climate" were said five times by Mr. Martin; those words did not pass Mr. Harper's lips. However, Mr. Harper said "military" four times compared with one time for Mr. Martin. The word "terror" was spoken six times by Mr. Harper; Mr. Martin never said it. He also never said the word "war;" Mr. Harper said it three times.

Dear Friend,

The news you relay certainly exemplifies the Liberal way - to dodge facts-of-reality by removing context, history, and surrounding circumstance(s). Does such a superficial count of words does mean much to anyone? In a world where actions speak louder than words, Liberals and their followers should find better things to do.

Irony was at full-strength when I clicked the link, because the resulting page was a request for a globeandmail.com registration, and provided the following article sample:

Domi's wife names Stronach as mistress
By JANE TABER

Saturday, September 23, 2006, Page A6

Liberal MP Belinda Stronach has been named as the other woman in a divorce application filed by Leanne Domi, the wife of former Maple Leafs tough guy Tie Domi.

Ms. Domi, who has been married to the hockey player for 13 years, says in the 20-page document filed in court this week that she believes her husband and Ms. Stronach have been involved in an "intimate sexual relationship" since he "began working with her on her political campaign in January, 2006."

The full text of this article has 854 words.

It is true, “actions speak louder than words.”

Thank you for the amusing combination of news articles,

Daniel Shakhmundes

Happy New Year!

2006-09-24T15:22:00.000-04:00

By Dan Meth

Shana Tova!

Welcome to the Jewish year 5767.

Rewards of a Righteous Database

2006-09-20T11:23:00.000-04:00

Siblings reunited 60 years after Holocaust

Updated Mon. Sep. 18 2006 11:26 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Canadian Simon Glasberg, 81, left, kisses his sister Hilda Shlick, 75, from Ashdod, Israel. (AP / Emilio Morenatti)

A brother and sister have been reunited six decades after the Holocaust -- thanks to a website set up in Israel.

Simon Glasberg, who lives in Canada, and Hilda Schilk, who lives in Israel, long thought each other dead, but finally found each other following the efforts of Schilk's grandchildren.

The grandchildren had been searching the 'Central Database of Victims' Names' website in Israel and discovered a page of testimony filled out in memory of their grandmother.

The page had been submitted by Schilk's brother, who believed she had been killed during the Holocaust.

Using the website, the grandchildren were then able to trace their grandmother's remaining siblings.

After flying into Israel from Canada, Glasberg spoke to reporters Monday about the tearful reunion with his sister.

Flanked by family members at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, an emotional Glasberg said he "didn't even know she was alive."

"I looked and looked and I couldn't find her," he tearfully told reporters. "My parents also used to cry whenever they remembered her."

Simon Glasberg, 81, of Ottawa, Canada, left, and his sister Hilda Shlick, 75, from Ashdod, Israel, meet at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, Monday Sept. 18 2006. (AP / Emilio Morenatti)

An equally emotional Schilk said she was "very happy to see him. I am excited."

Schilk's grandson David described the reunion as "very emotional, and there were a lot of tears."

Speaking to Israel International News, David said "Simon landed in the airport, came out, and then stood there, not knowing where to continue. We then went in and his nephew said, 'Simon, this is your sister' and he burst out crying. They haven't left each other since then; they talk in Yiddish, laugh, cry, and tell a lot of stories."

The testimony on the Victims' Names website says Schilk was born in 1934 and the family lived in Romania during the Holocaust years, before travelling onto Poland and Ukraine.

Some of the family spent some time in a work-camp and after the War, some of the siblings moved to Israel.

Simon served in the IDF during the War of Independence, but moved afterwards to Canada, in the footsteps of his older brother, INN reported on its website.

Though they were both in Israel at the same time, Simon and his parents and siblings didn't know his younger sister was alive.

Reunion

It was only via a Yad Vashem Page of Testimony that her elder brother later filled out for her, as if she were dead, that led to the reunion, INN said.

Another older brother, also in Canada, was too ill to make the trip to Israel, but the reunited family is planning to visit him in Canada soon, David told Voice of Israel Radio.

"We always wanted to know about the family's past, and we always tried to find new details," David told the radio station.

"She never liked to talk about it. One day I learned that her maiden name was Glasberg. I went to the Yad Vashem website, filled in her details without telling her, and within a minute I found a page saying she had been killed in the Holocaust."

After a few weeks, David and a sibling had tracked down their grandmother's brother's son in Canada, and he led them to their grandmother's surviving siblings, INN reported.

The Central Database of Victims' Names contains around three million names of Holocaust victims.

Some two million of the names come from 'Pages of Testimony,' while the remainder are from archival lists.

At least 10 million people have reportedly visited the website since the database went online in November 2004.

Cache of address:: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/
20060918/siblings_holocaust_060918/20060918/

Light-emitting shirts!

2006-09-13T12:04:00.000-04:00

Philips Lumalive:

Light emiting textiles/cloth,

Adding a totally new dimension to fabric!

Check out this cool new technology Philips is showcasing at IFA 2006 in Berlin. It's amazing! They are integrating LEDs into fabric and had some jackets and a couch there. Really cool!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd99gyE4jCk

Punnadhammo Bhikkhu Response

2006-08-23T12:00:00.000-04:00

Dear Punnadhammo Bhikkhu,

Regarding your posting/article/letter on the Toronto Star:

I thought you would enjoy the included/attached image, containing a wise quote from Golda Meir: "We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us."

It is established fact that the cowardly terrorists use their own civilian people (even children!) as shields in many ways.

Anti-Israel and anti-Semite terrorists (such as "Hezbollah") leave Israel and Jews no recourse. If we followed your advice, Jews would not have their home-land, and furthermore would be even closer to annihilation.

I agree that the most recent "war" in the Middle East [as with any other war] is awful. I wish that more Arabs and Muslims would take your advice and be more proactive in stopping their brethren from terrorizing Jews. Living in your forest monastery retreat, your perspective on world events is clearly deficient. I would recommend that you spend your time further researching Middle East events and history, before you put your foot in your mouth again. This war is more about the existence Israel than the control of a river. In virtually all situations following the establishment of Israel (in which even the UN was involved), Israel's actions have been in self-defense. Even Shaolin Monks behaved in a similar fashion, learning and training to defend themselves when peace was not an option.

Israelis lead the way to a "moral revolution" in being a wellspring of goodness for the world and their neighbours, while the latter allow terrorists and hate-mongers to encroach upon Israel's border. Such extreme transgressions require severe response & reaction. Israel's actions are a direct result of Lebanon's disgusting complacency, as the latter permitted Hezbollah to saturate Southern Lebanon with schools preaching hate, violence, use of weapons, etc.

I am proud to be a Canadian in support of Israel. I support Prime Minister Harper's stance towards the Middle East, as I have a lot of Shakhmundes family that was killed in the Holocaust. Check Yad Vashem's Shoah Victims' Database if you do not believe me. Canada is not failing our ethical litmus test, but people like you are undermining it!

Please learn to be more reasonable for the future,: Daniel Shakhmundes

Voicemail Restored

2006-08-08T12:23:00.000-04:00

Following up on my previous post

that was dedicated to Rogers Wireless' awful service,

my voice-mail works again!

I hope that they can avoid causing any more problems again today.

Rogers Wireless is Irresponsible

2006-08-08T11:04:00.000-04:00

Rogers Communications Inc.

refuses to make amends for providing unreliable/dysfunctional service,

by providing pathetic excuses!

I also called my wireless dealer, Link Mobile Communications, and have as much news as I could gather on this issue that affects many local cellphone users:

This morning, one of my clients, Dave Sabo of Niagara Online, made a surprise visit to my home. He was a bit concerned, because he tried calling me, but some stranger's voice was enunciating an unfamiliar greeting on my voice-mail! I immediately called my own phone to find that indeed the greeting message was different, and I did not change it!!

Using Skype, I called Rogers [for free]. Of course, after navigating menus to Wireless Tech Support, I had to wait on hold. “Curt” answered and authenticated the call. I gave him a brief description of the problem. He then said that he would forward me to tech support, and I waited on hold yet again. For some reason, I thought selecting Wireless Tech Support would take me directly there... Anyhow, 15 minutes from the initiation of my call to Rogers, I finally reached “Jason”. He said there is a problem with the system affecting many customers and there is no ETA on a solution/fix. I said I would like my account/bill appropriately credited. Jason replied that it is not possible for Rogers to credit all their customers. I rebuked “yes it is”, so then he forwarded me to Customer Service, and I was put on hold yet again. At least the wait was only a few minutes before “Philip” answered. I provided him the background information as to why I was calling. Phillip's response was very disappointing to me; he told me that voicemail free and I cannot be credited for it. I told him that's ridiculous - voicemail is part of my package/plan, so perhaps I should be credited the whole thing then! He said I was wrong, and that voicemail is provided free on top of my wireless plan. What a pathetic excuse; I pay $80 to $100 per month, and none of that covers my voicemail?! Philip refused to provide anything other than apologies.

Last but not least, I called Link Mobile Communications, my wireless service dealer. I was told that 10 other people have already called about the same problem. Apparently it has something to do with the [very poorly carried out] launch of a new or additional caller identification system.

In conclusion, I would just like to state that I am very disappointed that a monstrous corporation and conglomerate refuses to be accountable and make amends for their own mistake that disrupts a service for which they are paid. This fact implies that Rogers Communications Inc. is greedy and unethical (and therefore amoral as well). Unfortunately, I do not have any better suggestions at this time...

russian climbing

2006-07-15T18:47:00.000-04:00

crazy!!

Phenomenal skills are demonstrated here, in what looks like a decrepid Russian town. This is raw!

Instant Messaging with Meebo

2006-07-09T20:08:00.000-04:00

Web-Based Instant Messaging:

Convenient from virtually any computer with a web-browser!

Thanks to my comrade Caleb Booker for this hot tip:

meebo.com; simultaneously connect to multiple IM networks/protocols in one convenient web-based interface.

As of this writing, meebo works with

AOL
ICQ
Yahoo!
Jabber
GTalk
MSN

I just gave meebo a try with my MSN and Yahoo! accounts, and it worked fine in my limited trial. I will definitely keep meebo in mind for those times when I cannot use Gaim.

New Site: TORAINC.COM

2006-07-06T11:35:00.000-04:00

The new torainc.com is live!

It is one of the recent projects that has kept me busy lately

For promoting their company world-wide, TORA Inc. wanted a clean, simple, and easy-to-navigate web-site.

Key specifications for the new torainc.com's development were tight/small pages to prevent the need for scrolling, and a consistent header/top/navigation spanning the entire width of all pages.

Enjoy!