So, finally there is an up and running WiFi access point in Gateway Park in here NT for public use. So I think, Wow, now I can ditch my DSL line and save some money, which is the modus operandi in this 'taxed to death' area.

I get a nice deal and rebate on a sweet US Robotics wireless NIC card (125 Mbps capable) and fire the connection up. Connection comes up with a strong signal, IP address, and it looks just fine.

Open my browser up, and the homepage for 'buffalowifi.org' automatically comes up. It seems I must create a 'free' user account with them in order to use the connection, as each time I try to go to a different website their homepage keeps coming up.

Naturally, I am leery of creating an account to be able to surf, because that tends to make me suspect my surfing activity will be monitored. NOT cool.

Yet I create the 'free' user account, and try to 'login' where directed to access the Internet. No dice. It keeps bringing me back to the buffalowifi.org page.

So me, being the inquisitive little scamp that I am known to be, try messing around a bit. While the connection is still active, I open up Outlook to try to get my POP/SMTP email downloaded. No dice, as the connection to my server times out, much as I expected.

I then try to use Yahoo messenger. Again, no dice.

So why did these two programs fail to work properly? To me the answer is simple. This fucking buffalowifi.org shit must be a proxy server that only allows a web browser to use their services. This means Outlook will not be able to send/receive email, and IM software will not work either. Although I do not use the IM very much, I still expect it to work when I want it to.

Even more disturbing, when I went to look at the buffalowifi.org 'FAQ' I read that they filter their content for objectionable images, and also block downloading of files. So what I am I to do for my free music and free porn addictions? That's so fucked up!

The sad summary is that this bullshit WiFi access point is NOT like Spot Coffee's or Panera Bread's, where you just fire up your connection and you can use any Internet program you want with no restrictions. Here, you have to use a web browser only, sign-in to an account, and your surfing content is filtered.

Even sadder was the fact that $12,000 of NYS money was paid to create this fucked up and basically worthless WiFi access point.

Fuck this shit. I'm going back to DSL now.

Carry on.

Not since the glorious and indeed historical days of the harmonic convergence of the late 1980's have I felt that there is indeed something swirling about in the skies that defy any conventional, reasonable, or rational explanation. Evidence follows below:



1. Today is the 4/20 observance. And, accordingly, I did partake. And oh how I did partake! :)



2. I read with great interest the newest songs released from my obsessive name sake, and I loved them! I had suspicions that Neil was going the way of Bob Dylan, and thankfully I was wrong. Incorrect.



3. Scored several obscure 1970's-1980's MTV videos from Limewire. Party on!



However this is not to say that all things are wine and roses these days. It has come to my attention that my native brothers and sisters on the Six Nations Reserve (widely recognized to be a spiritual place in Canada of the Confederacy) is under siege by Canadian law enforcers (which is entirely consistent with RCMP previous conduct) and such things need to stop.

I don't have the exact URL, but more information can be found here:



Thanks in advance, and in peace,

Geoffrey

I love Easter Monday and I have actively celebtrated it for the better part of 20 years, and I think it should be a national holiday (even though I still would not be paid for it). Better known among Polonia as 'Dyngus Day'. I offer up the following as my reference material:

1. Food. Glorious handmade Polish food, exquisitely prepared and offered.

2. Muzak. Polkas, Obereks, and all things involving squeezboxes and band leaders.

3. Squirtguns, Pussy Willows, and all things related.

I have never met an Easter Monday celebration that I did not like. With the sole exception of Chopin's in 2000 who decided to NOT allow squirtguns into their facilities.

This year I will be heading to Mickey's Hall on Fillmore near St. Stans, and then heading to the Polish Nook in the Falls to see Walt Ostanek and his squeezebox.

I will also be sponsoring a petition to bring back the 'Sunday Night Polka Party' on WBFO 88.7 as that program really needs to come back.

This Easter Monday, please be safe, don't drink and drive, and enjoy yourself at least one good Polka song!

Naz Drovnya!

Big Stashu

So this is what our 'justice' system has come to. Throwing little old ladies into the Holding Center for 15 days for feeding deer.

Feeding deer. Not actually calling them over and hand feeding them, but just dropping corn kernels on the ground for the deer to find.

That's 15 days in an unsanitary, unsafe, and overcrowded jail, for feeding deer. Her last stay in jail was just one night, but 15 days is another thing altogether.

What a clear and present menace to society she is! Walking around Stieglmaier (sic) park with her little wagon, and dropping corn kernels on the ground. A person acting that dangerous clearly needs to be locked up.

I am going to write my State Senator and see if we can't come up with a more appropriate punishment, say chopping off both her hands so that she will be physically unable to feed deer in the future. Or perhaps they can ban her from living within 1,500 yards of deer or their excrement. Or better yet, argue that she is a mass murderer by her contribution to deer deaths, and send her to Dannemora Correctional Facility to be put to death.

Puh....lease.

If the ignorant justices in Cheektowaga were remotely aware of the fact that the NYS legislature has a bill under current consideration to repeal the ban on feeding deer, they might have exercised judicial discretion and taken that into consideration. Anita was proven guilty of a violation (not a misdemeanor nor felony) that carries as punishment NO mandatory minimum sentence.

So why did they lock her up? Well it is fairly simple. Retribution, plain and simple. Retribution is not justice, contrary to what many people think. She appealed her case to higher authorities than the dolts running the Cheektowaga legal dog and pony show, and they were pissed because of this. So when she lost her appeal and was remanded back to their kangaroo court for final sentencing, they HAD to lock her up for the full maximum term, or they would look to be soft on deer crime, as the deer lobby very heavily these days in Albany.

Why anyone that has committed a non-violent crime and has no violent tendencies deserves to be locked up is beyond me. There are plenty of ways to punish non-violent criminals that do not involve incarceration at taxpayer and (more importantly) human expense.

One day, reason and common sense will hopefully invade the 'justice' system and design it in a more rational manner. Fyodor Dostoyevsky said that "The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons".

Civilization indeed.

Never once in the 35-1/2 years in my existence have I ever deliberately gone shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, let alone pre-plan my precise early morning consumer offensive on the local retail establishments. I normally park my kiester on the couch and watch football, and laugh at those who battle other zealous shoppers for parking spaces, shopping carts, and the newest hippest 'must-have' gifties for the holiday season.

So what gives? Am I getting soft in my old age? Some bizarre chemical imbalance?

I should be so lucky. No ladies and gents, my motivation to go to bed far too early tonight in order to get up far too early tomorrow to shop is quite simple, now that I reflect upon things.

DVD's. Digital Video Discs. These are my Achilles heel. You see, I am obsessed with movies. OBSESSED. Two years ago I would have given you many reasons why VHS tapes were superior to DVD's. My viewpoint dramatically changed when my curmudgeonly self actually watched 'Easy Rider' on DVD at my buddy's house.

Easy Rider is one of the best movies ever made, if not the best. Great music, wonderful imagery, talented young actors, and of course the whole counter-culture vibe going on. It is one thing to watch this movie on VHS, and entirely another thing to watch it on DVD. The DVD offers up some priceless commentary by Dennis Hopper, which adds so much more meaning to the movie. Who would have ever guessed that during the shooting of this great movie the cast and crew went through (i.e. smoked) an entire kilogram of marijuana? Enquiring movie minds want to know priceless facts such as this.

I am unabashedly and unapologetically addicted to DVD movies. And all the great sales tomorrow on many of my desired DVD's is what will be motivating my to break my long-standing tradition of not shopping the day after Thanksgiving.

Accordingly, I will arise tomorrow morning at the ungodly hour of 4 a.m., take a shower, and then hit the road. If all goes well, I will be home by 10 a.m. fully loaded down with oodles and oodles of movies, and then I will go into seclusion for the next three days while I watch them all and commit to memory the bonus features and commentary.

Happy Holidays to one and all! And to all a good night!