Wifi wrongly connected could have cost man US$27,000

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Man-gets-27-000-phone-bill-after-watching-Bears?urn=nfl,144070

Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:29 pm EST

Man gets $27,000 phone bill after watching Bears game on web

By Chris Chase

On November 2, Wayne Burdick (not pictured) was aboard a cruise ship in Miami waiting to depart on a Caribbean cruise. While still docked at the port, he set up his laptop and wireless card and accessed his Slingbox device which allowed him to watch a Chicago Bears game via an Internet connection. When the game was over, Burdick closed his computer, embarked on the cruise and returned home to find a bill from AT&T charging him over $27,000 for the three hours of Internet usage.

Apparently, AT&T had charged Brudick the international rate for the access. At two cents per kilobyte, the total charge was $27,788.93 for the time spent watching the game, which breaks down to about $6,500 per Rex Grossman interception.

Burdick pled his case to AT&T, saying he was still at the port and not in roaming territory. After speaking with nearly a half-dozen people at the company, he managed to get the bill down to $6,000, even though he provided documentation that he was still technically in Miami at the time he used his wireless card.

Eventually, the whole matter was settled after Burdick contacted Team Fixer at the Chicago Sun-Times and they contacted the phone company. AT&T acknowledged its mistake, saying that Burdick's device was picking up a signal it shouldn't have been.

At least Burdick's efforts were worth it. The Bears beat the Lions that afternoon, 27-23.

(Thanks to The Gadget Hound via Engadget HD for the tip.)

Pet peeves: unended comic story arcs

Darn it, yet another story arc unended.

The last time, it was Way of the Rat from Crossgen.  I managed to use some of the drawings inside for the CHF RPG back then, but the story itself was alas unfinished, and there was only volume #1 of the TPB available from NLB.

This time, it's Battle Chasers by Jose Madureira.  It was originally published under Wildstorm's Cliffhanger, and then Image Comics.

Now, I can't fault artists for trying to have some creative control over their stories and characters, which was why they tried starting new comics company of their own before financial and management and operational demands force them to sell to bigger companies or go into bankruptcies.  But having such release, hiatus, release, hiatus, really sucks.

Sometimes, financial viability isn't the main concern.  Even Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen took years to complete, and years before volume 2 came out.

Unlike large comic houses, solo ventures (not exactly solo, the writers had support of artists too) put enormous demand on creativity and imagination on the independents who worked without fallback teams.

The downside of fallback teams of course mean storylines can go way off tangent, even if solo efforts occassionally mean some internal inconsistency.

I suppose the most successful "solo ventures" (creator-owned) to date must be credited to Sergio Aragonés' Groo the Wanderer, which lasted for decades (with large gaps in between), followed by his collaborationist Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo.

No doubt, one must be thankful for little blessings whenever there is actually a new release of such gems.

Great classic example of "Think on your feet" and "Public speaking"

While most of the attention were focussed on Julio, the student and part-time worker @ McD's, the real winner here is Obama demonstrating a classic example on how to "Think on your feet" while responding to questions during a public engagement.

This video has great potential to become one of the most used course materials by consultants doing corporate trainings. I've been to enough of those sessions to guess - and even if they don't, I will, the next time I get assigned to do some public speaking.

For starters, notice how he chose the person asking the question - profiling. I don't know who had asked him questions before Julio, but from appearances, Julio fits the profile of a young student who is old enough to start out working, and is aware of the impact of the economy.

If she had been there, and is a guy, my friend Jules instead of Julio might have been chosen.

Next, after listening to the question, Obama bought himself a little time to think before answering the question *directly*.

His first response was an affirmation of what the young chap did - doing work that is, implied, beneath his full potential and capability, and at a wage lower than many other jobs.

There is nothing wrong per se of course in commending Julio's willingness to work *hard* (*hard* is a term introduced by Obama, not Julio), to take on a job that is not the most ideal in terms of job satisfaction, career prospects or pay.

In fact, it is a good thing to do, and in some scenarios, that could be the best message or consolation he could give if he actually had nothing concrete to offer the person.

But there is denying the benefit the 20-25 seconds "extra time" gained by Obama before he actually tried to answer the question.

When Obama actually answered the question - there is nothing to actually confirm whether his plan would actually benefit Julio directly.

The tax break is more directed at the employers, the health care is something subjective and many weary Americans are sceptical whether it could materialise in a form that benefit student workers, and the tax rebates for education again may only be to Julio under certain circumstances.

But Obama was able to link his overall plan in 3 areas - employment, health care and education, to the answer, even though in actual implementation, Julio may not be in a position (satisfy some criteria or otherwise) to benefit from it.

Julio will have to do some homework to know for sure.

But for now, at least both sides got something out of this exchange.
Obama got to promote his plan and looked good for assuring the student.
Julio got some praises (or consolation), (vague) promises, and as it turned out, job offers from this exposure.(http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/02/62687523/1?se=yahoorefer)

Great training material!

S$100 good as lost

Darn it!!!

I only discovered my 2nd pair of running shoes missing this morning, and thinking back, I must have left it in the shower room at my company's sports club last Friday.

When I checked with them, no one had turned it in.

Darn it, it took me a long time to locate a good pair of Asics running shoes in Singapore that is on sale.

I'm sure now there's some dishonest guys around the sports club, or maybe a kleptomaniac.

Previously, through carelessness, on separate occassions, I dropped an exercise towel, and the right hand exercise glove, en route between the shower room and the carpark, and they were mysteriously gone too.  I mean, who'd want to steal an exercise towel or the right hand of a pair of exercise glove???!!!!

I hate it man - it's gonna be one of those things that's gonna gnaw at me until I either find them back (fat hope) or replace the shoes.

Almost angry enough to want to curse the fellow who nicked the shoes to trip and break his neck.