Fezmid

You don't have to go through the cancellation process. Just tell the front line people you want to talk to "customer retention." Some of the front-line people get snotty and say "They can't help you," but they always do. As for which fees you "HAVE" to pay -- NONE OF THEM! Just gotta get the right CSR, like you said Steve.

EVERYTHING is negotiable. You can negotiate with the sales guy down at CompUSA if you want (I've done it). The best part is that since most people in the country don't believe in or know how to barter, it makes it easier for people like me who do. That said, I do have Comcast for my broadband and DirecTV for television. I pay $59 for broadband (would be $65 if I didn't subscribe to "lifeline cable" - basically all the locals and public access; because I pay $8/month for that, they cut $15/month off my bill, go figure...). I pay about $80/month for DirecTV - which includes three DVRs and HD service. Of course I generally get a month or two free per year by calling and asking for discounts (see the negotiable paragraph), so that cuts it way down. Cable, on the other hand, never negotiated with me. I've told my story many times here before, but when I had to spend (literally) over 100 hours on the phone trying to get them to setup my broadband properly for a month, then asked for a discount/refund, I was told "We don't do that, but we won't charge you for the month you didn't have service." Ummm, ok...

Dice.com is a great site ♠for tech jobs.

Definitely true -- but even just looking at accidents from 2000-2005, there isn't much of a change and that contradicts people saying that cell phones are a huge problem -- since cell phones started becoming prevelant in the 2003-2005 timeframe. Some people drive like crap while talking on the phone. Some people drive like crap while eating McDonalds. Some people drive like crap while talking to someone in the passanger seat. Some people just drive like crap.

Interesting stats on auto accidents: "In the United States, fatalities have increased slightly from 40,716 in 1994 to 42,884 in 2003. However, in terms of fatalities per 100 million miles driven, the fatality rate has dropped 16% between 1995 and 2005. Injuries dropped 37% over the same period. (National Traffic Safety Administration, 2006)." As the late George Carlin siad: "Isn't it funny how everyone driving slower than you is an idiot and everyone driving faster than you is insane?"

Who uses two hands to use a cell phone? What I'm saying, and I'm hoping you're ignoring it on purpose, is that you don't look inside of the cars that are driving fine and say, "He's on a cell phone and driving perfectly!" But I guarantee that you're passing dozens of them a day. And why isn't there a law against driving while eating a Mcdonalds hamburger? Or a Taco Bell chilli cheese burito? Like I said, there IS -- it's called "inattentive driving." Why don't we enforce the laws we already have instead of making new ones?

Clap trap?

That would be because either DirecTV doesn't want to rebroadcast their signal that way, or it's technically very difficult to do so and would cost more than it's worth. I find it amusing that some people are so against dishes, but don't mind having the stuipd cable junction boxes sticking out of their yard (unless that's only a midwest thing)

Or maybe you only look into the cars of people who are driving poorly and notice they're on cell phones? Do you look into every car/truck you pass to see if they're on a cell phone? If not, your "study" is flawed -- you could pass 1,000 cars a day. If they're all on a cell phone, but you only look at the 10 that are driving crazy, you'd still say, "All cell phone drivers are bad drivers," which isn't accurate. They already have a law on the books -- it's called "inattentive driving." All states (I believe) have it. Why do you need a specific law covering a specific item? It's ridiculous, inefficient, and downright stupid. As others mentioned, why am I allowed to eat a chili cheese burito from Taco Bell while driving, but not talk on a cell phone? In both cases, if I'm driving poorly because of it, there's laws already on the books to take care of it.

AJ might never speak to you again....

We have one - but the picture and audio quality is nothing compared to my theater, so we don't usually go. They show 3 movies here, but I don't know how much (it's been a few years). The cool thing is that you can bring your own grill and make food before the movies.

We went on a weekday, at noon... And there were only 2 other people in the whole theater, aside from the three of us.... Tickets were still $8/each. Yes, sporting events cost more -- but you can't wait a few months and watch the same sporting event at home for only $8 on DVD (or "free" if you rent it from Netflix).

It doesn't take anywhere near 6 months anymore -- more like 3-4. The cost of going to the theater is ridiculous. When I visited Niagara Falls, I went to see Iron Man with my wife and sister. With drinks, popcorn, and some pretzel things, the cost was $52! Insane.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Wow....

:I starred in Brokeback Mountain: }: )

I was explaining why RICO couldn't hit Billszone by IP.

No, you can't hit a website based on its IP address -- Apache generally looks at the hostname you type in (that's how you can have 50 webservers with only one IP address).

Maybe they switched servers and the new DNS records haven't propogated to you yet, because I can get there just fine. I do an nslookup and get 65.254.32.90. CW

But what does the protection cover? If your mortgage payment bounces because someone cleans out your account, will they cover any bounce fees and help fix your credit report? I don't know, just asking.

That does suck... Regarding LA's point, that's why I harp on people to never use a debit card -- even having one is dangerous, since not every place (gas, for example) requires verification. Keep us posted on how it turns out.

Apparently I wasn't the only one outraged (for lack of a better word) at the removal of profiles. I just received this email: Of course that means, "We realized we would lose business if we got rid of profiles, so we're keeping them."

That still doesn't explain why Tennessee had so many listed; do people in France always visit TN when they come to the States???

I thought it was in his pocket?! Did you put it up his butt???? Ewwww!

Or at least paying others to make 'em

Disney's terrible. Pixar, on the other hand, is great. Disney owns them but my understanding is that they are completely autonomous.