SPAM Candidate...

My comment section was "spammed" last evening by the political campaign representing the candidate pictured here.
I'm surprised this hasn't happened before.
Said candidate has his own blog which doesn't allow comments.
He doesn't indicate any party affiliation although he is running against a well entrenched Democrat member of the State Assembly.
I've already deleted his comment as I do all SPAM when it appears...
As one who spent a few years deeply involved in local politics I would make the following suggestion to him.
If you want to get elected to this particular office... next time run against him in the Democratic Primary. Get out and knock on the door of EVERY residence in the district and ask those who answer to vote for you..a campaign tactic your opponent has probably long since forgotten the usefulness of. You will be surprised at the result.
That will do you a lot more good then sending spam to the comment section of blogs that aren't read by anyone who lives in your area.

Comcast Travails...

I thought I’d update everyone on my technical problems.
I am back on the net using the COMCAST server. I’m just not happy with the current arrangement.
During the past 18 months I’ve been spoiled by the compatibility of Adelphia service with a wireless modem I purchased back in April of 2005.This modem has made it possible for me to work on the net both upstairs and downstairs using two different laptops one of which was hooked by Ethernet line and a newer one working wirelessly.
A Comcast contractor came out to the house on Tuesday a week ago and got me back on the net in about 10 minutes. At the time we tested both computers using the Ethernet feed and they both worked just fine.
After the contractor left I tried to use the newer laptop wirelessly and it wouldn’t work. Then I tried to use the older laptop with the Ethernet and it wouldn’t work either.
I discovered then that I could get the newer laptop to work with the Ethernet.
So I called Comcast’s 800 number hoping someone could remotely fix the problem. After about 45 minutes of trying to work on the problem with a remote technician we finally gave up.
Since then I’ve discovered I can make either computer work in either a tied Ethernet mode or a wireless mode but I can’t get them both to work at the same time. By “reinitializing” the modem I can get which ever one I want to use at the moment to work.
I’ve been fooling with this problem for a week now and I think I understand now why it won’t work the way I want it too…which of course I had figured out before..that being Comcast only allows my modem to recognize one computer at a time.
Cable companies are allowed to regulate the modems their customers use. When Comcast finally allowed my modem to use their server a week ago they changed its default configure setting from RG to CM. In the CM configuration file they control the access rules..noone for instance can set up a Wi Fi hotspot without their permission. In the RG configure setting the user can change settings within the modem. I spent four hours this evening trying to change internal modem settings to get it to accept the second computer to no avail. All it would do was switch to the other laptop when I tried to reset it.
So I’m going to talk to them one more time. They told me before that if I would just rent one of their wireless modems the problem would be fixed. This time if they can’t fix it I’m going to switch to FIOS..

Netless Again...

In my bizarre world of Star Trekian cable mergers the Comcastians have finally overwhelmed the Adelphians and I am temporarily the worse off for it (Ohligarch who opted for Verizon DSL warned me this would happen someday).
Yesterday Adelphia customers were switched over to the Comcast server and the new server won’t recognize my combo wireless modem so I am without internet service until this coming Tuesday noon which is the earliest Comcast can get one of their service contractors out to fix it.So I’ve had to “take it to the streets”, this morning to get an urgent message out to my Nepal pen pal which was delayed 24 hours and this evening to generally get caught up on all the things I’ve come to depend on the internet for (like how my portfolio is doing). By taking it to the streets I mean hopping in the Malibu Maxx with my low tech laptop and sponging off some poor sap’s unsecured wireless Linxys system or setting up in a Brueggers or Borders until the battery runs down.
So I’m off to do that and put up this emergency post.
I’ll be getting a new Comcastian e-mail address soon..or so they say...