I'm on a Delta flight that fortunately has Gogo Inflight WiFi. When I first learned about this I was excited, especially after learning that Google would be footing the bill for the holiday season.

Then it hit me. I'm on a Boeing 767 with 300+ people on it, all of them getting free WiFi. The service is going to be terrible.

I really wanted to see how well the service is before it gets bogged down by the masses, so as soon as we hit 10,000 feet I fired up my Macbook and immediately did a speed test.

The result, abysmal. Download is under .20 MB/s, upload speed didn't even register and latency was through the roof.

I was skeptical about paying $10+ for WiFi for a few hours, but now I know why. If it's free it will be useless. The entire plan will be on it hogging the very little bandwidth that is available.

So, thank you Google? I know it's a good gesture, but I think I rather pay for it.

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This is being republished from: http://fedupflyers.org/?p=1

For those who may still be unfamiliar, please allow me to briefly explain what’s happening in the U.S.A. today. When a law abiding citizen wishes to travel out of any major airport in the country where the latest air transportation security procedures have been implemented, he or she will now be subjected to what can only be truthfully described as a virtual strip search. The federal government is using funds raised through the Recovery Act to stimulate the economy by installing expensive new Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) systems at airport security checkpoints throughout the nation. These devices enable screeners to see beneath travelers’ clothing to an extremely invasive level of detail. For example, the images are graphic enough to enable agents to determine whether a man has been circumcised, or whether a woman is menstruating.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is quick to point out that this program is optional. Individuals who decline this indignity, or “opt out”, will instead be physically frisked, which entails a federal security agent’s hands passing over the entire body, including the buttocks, breasts, hair, and genitals. The agent will explain the procedure beforehand, and the traveler is expected to consent and comply or else opt back into the AIT scanner. Otherwise, he or she will not be admitted to the secured side of the facility or allowed to board an aircraft.

On October 15, I was turned away from the security screening checkpoint at Memphis International Airport when I declined both AIT screening and the secondary “enhanced pat-down” procedure. I was attempting to enter the facility for my commute to Houston, where I’m based as a pilot for ExpressJet Airlines, doing business as Continental Express. I did, however, pass through a standard impulse induction metal detector without triggering an alarm, just as I have done approximately once per week at that same checkpoint (which happens to be in Terminal C – hence, “Checkpoint Charlie”) for the past four and a half years.

TSA announced the new screening policies last July. When we learned about the changes, many of my coworkers and I were deeply disturbed, especially as we discovered that this mistreatment was being mandated for crew members as well as passengers – even children! We discussed the various ways in which we might express our rejection of the new rules. Unfortunately, there had been no proposal published, and no opportunity for the public to comment. TSA had simply issued its decree, and it was already on the books. Because we didn’t want an incident like mine to be the first indication of our dissent, our initial concern at the time was to notify the company that we do not consent to having images of our nude bodies produced as a matter of course in performing the routine duties of our profession.

“Neither,” we wrote last August in a letter to our managers, “can we abide being stopped daily by government agents and physically molested,” as a reasonable alternative.

We also wrote: “While we take airline security very seriously, we do not believe the dubious benefits of these invasive measures justify the trade off in employee and passenger privacy and other rights and liberties. It is our view that reasonable levels of security within the air transportation system can and must be achieved without producing images of travelers’ naked bodies or subjecting them without cause to… unwelcome touching at the hands of federally employed airport security guards.”

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution states:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

I specifically draw the reader’s attention to the first eight words. Our nation’s founders clearly affirmed “the right of the people to be secure”. It’s equally clear that they saw the kind of wholesale, unprovoked assault against persons and privacy that is being committed within our borders today as a serious threat to that security – serious enough, in fact, to write it down in the Bill of Rights.

What is happening in the U.S.A. today is not safe. The things our government is doing do not make us secure or protect us. On the contrary, it is now necessary for us to protect ourselves from our supposed protectors. My wife and I teach our children to defend their bodies, and not to allow anyone to touch them in certain ways – not even friends or relatives. But if we wish to travel by air as a family, we must now deliver our children over to such abuse at the hands of strangers and tell them it’s okay because these are security guards who work for the government and wear uniforms with shiny badges. We will not. It is not okay. And we urgently implore our neighbors everywhere to protect themselves and their families as well.

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via store.apple.com

I'm getting tired of hooking up my iPhone to my car to play the music I have on it, it get's annoying at times.

So I'm in the market for an iPod to sit in my car and just store all of my music. I need it to have at least 16GB to make it useful and I don't want to spend over $200 on it.

My only option is the new iPod Nano, but I just don't like it! I much prefer the last Nano version over the current but I have a thing against buying "old" products.

My other option is to buy the iPod Classic, it's got a massive amount of storage and it's a bit larger than I would like, but it's going to be sitting in the glove compartment of my car at all times, so who cares.

Problem solved, right? No. I also have a "thing" against buying Apple products when they are at their end of their cycle.

Before I buy anything Apple I check: http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#iPod_classic. I suggest everyone do the same since Apple has a policy of not announcing much in advance the launch of products, which means every time they launch a product a ton of people have buyer's remorse because just days earlier they dropped a ton of money on an instantly "old" product.

So I hope Apple launched a new iPod Classic soon, I doubt they will this year but I won't be taken as a sucker and make the leap of faith.

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From: "Mr Vincent Hong" <no-reply@hangsengbank.hk>
Date: October 16, 2010 1:31:00 PM EDT
Reply-To: hgvincent01@yahoo.com.hk

I am Vincent Hong Non, Executive Director of Hang Seng Bank,Hong Kong.
in our current performance of Annual Account Audit, I have a late client
funds of $44.5Million in my bank and i need you to front as beneficiary,
your share will be 50%; please if interested contact me for more details

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See the full gallery on Posterous

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I've been to Disney World at least 15 times in my life, and every time I come here I remember how much of a non-vacation it is.

At the end of every day I can't wait to get back to the room because I'm exhausted. You're not supposed to be exhausted on vacation!

I do still enjoy it though.

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