Ed Stoffel

Chip Hammond analyzes the claims of The Da Vinci Code, a work of fiction that some folks are taking way too seriously:

Dan Brown's best selling book, The Da Vinci Code, is a well-written, entertaining fiction about a quest to get to the bottom of a millennia old cover-up. It is very similar to the movie National Treasure starring Nicholas Cage. While The Da Vinci Code is amusing, it is equally as implausible as National Treasure. The story is a cloak-and-dagger adventure based around a fantastic tale of the Roman Catholic Church's suppression of the fictitious pagan worship of the Sacred Feminine. In Brown's imaginary world, the Roman Church is the only church in existence. He ignores the church in the east, where Christianity had its origins. --- This fiction sheet was written because Dan Brown has started to believe his own fiction, and is now trying to convince others of the historical veracity of it.

 The DaVinci Code - Fact Sheet, Chip Hammond

Ever since I called Sprint last week, many calling my house have encountered Sprint's Privacy ID Service interrupting their calls. They are told I don't accept callers who block their caller ID, and they're told to say who they are. Problem is, I didn't ask for this. I called Sprint to have this removed and was given instructions on how to turn it off. But when I attempted to do it, I was told to enter a PIN number I didn't know. Another call to Sprint got me a PIN number... but it wasn't really MY PIN number. A third call to Sprint got me someone who told me what the default PIN number was, and I used that to turn off the service. But people are still telling me they encounter the privacy service vetting process. Sprint now tells me they'll have the feature removed by Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Sprint tells me that my local phone company will soon be known as Embarq. It's unclear whether they sold off the division or just decided to change its name. No word yet on what their new slogan will be.

And finally, two of the kids have migrated their cellphone service onto plans of their own, so they'll be responsible for paying their own bills. But ever since they left my plan, the remaining cellphones seem to be blocking outgoing caller ID. I called Cingular today to ask them to resolve this. They said they made adjustments which could take up to 48 hours to go through.

Sprint is my phone company for local, long-distance and DSL. But they're at risk of loosing me. Over the last several months, someone I don't know keeps appearing on my phone line. I have an in-use light on my desk to let me know if someone else is on the line. That's so I don't pick up when someone else in the house is using the phone. But starting several months ago, I've seen the light on when no one else is in the house. The first time I saw this, I picked up the line, heard someone talking and asked, "Who is this?" They responded by cutting the line, and I had no dial tone. Now, I understand the need to check lines from time to time, but they shouldn't keep using my line everyday for their calls. I spoke with a guy at work who has retired from the phone company... he's certain it's a phone tech, and thinks he's probably tapping into one of the pedestals between my home and the CO. This morning, I was expecting an important call, and it went straight to voicemail. So I called Sprint to report this annoying problem. A technician from the phone company stopped by and said he'd check the line at each pedestal between my house and the central office. He also told me he'd tagged my line advising techs not to use it. I thanked him for investigating the problem. I also told him that if it continued, I'd record future calls to help them with their investigation. We'll see how that works out.

The Washington Post has a long pice about our friend Brit Hume:

- Hume now struggles "with trying to make Washington political journalism consistent with an effort to lead a Christian life." -- But Hume is well aware that some people, particularly on the left, view him as a conservative hack and Bush apologist. "It bothers me a little bit," he says. "I think we look conservative to people who are not. . . . I knew the rap on us from Day One was going to be that we were a right-wing news outlet." But, he says, "I believed if we tried that, it would never work." -- Fred Barnes, an old friend and regular panelist on "Special Report," says Hume has essentially rejected the Beltway social scene. "He doesn't go to the Kennedy Center," Barnes says. "He doesn't want to have dinner with Cabinet members or hang around with other people in the press. It's not normal for a person at the top of the heap in Washington."

 Moving To The Right, Washington Post

This week, I've noticed a huge increase in messages to my spam folder. Most of them appeared to be delivery failure notices from a variety of places, as well as Out of the office notices. I had it setup so that any email sent to any of my domains would auto-forward to an email address I setup at Gmail. Opening several of the bounced messages (careful not to open attachments or launch any scripts), I saw that someone has been using one of MY domain names to send spam. HOW RUDE! They were making up the name and username of the email address with my domain name, so recipients would think the messages were from me. So first thing, I've shutdown the catchall addresses for all of my domains so that email to any of them will now bounce. Secondly, I've posted disclaimers on my websites telling folks that any email appearing to be from my domain names (stuffiveheard.com, edstoffel.com, etc.) are actually fraudulent. In the future, should I wish to use my domains for email, I'll probably adopt one of the methods of digitally signing emails so that folks can know messages from me are genuine. But currently, none of the digital signature methods is easy enough for most people to use and understand (PGP, PrivacyGuard, DomainKeys, etc.). If some method is eventually widely adopted and built into most email clients, that's what I'll use. In the meantime, I just won't use my domains for email.

What is a phone tree? It's what you are forced to listen to and push buttons to respond to when you call most businesses today. Companies use these to sort callers, eliminating those that can get information from an automated system, and route the rest to different departments. Phone tree systems could work well, but usually, they just frustrate callers. Such was the case for me today trying to call my bank. I tried calling my local branch, but they weren't answering today, so I had to call their 800-number. The recording there says to press one for information about checking or savings -- which I don't press because I'm not calling for "information" about these accounts. But then, none of the other options apply. I try another category, but when it isn't the one, I have to hang up and call back because there is no option to get back to the main menu. I also try pressing "0" which often goes straight through to a person, but not on their system. After several calls, I try pressing "1", and then get asked to enter my social security number. I do this, and am told it is an invalid number. I'm given the option of entering my ATM card number, but the reason I'm calling is that my card number is no longer readable. Eventually, I'm allowed to enter even more numbers and get through to a person. If companies must use a phone tree, I really wish that the first selection was to choose between talking with a person or using the automated system to obtain information.... with only those choosing the automated system having to listen to further options.

I fulfilled my one-year commitment to Voicepulse, so I have cancelled my service with them without penalty. The family wasn't happy with the quality of VoIP, so I'm just using it as a second phone line at my desk. I've now switched to a $5.99/mo. plan through Broadvoice... their BYOD plan (Bring Your Own Device). For that price, I get a limited number of calls, but that serves my needs of a 2nd line just fine. Broadvoice didn't have any local numbers, but I was able to get one close by. To switch companies, I just logged into the web interface of the voip device, typed in the new information that Broadvoice provided, and it's up and running. It's using my router's DMZ port, much easier than having to be concerned with forwarding specific ports.

I've just found an audio bible that's recorded in an ordinary voice... no music, no drama, no devilish sounding voices, no multiple-voices for parts where the people said. It's just the text, read in an ordinary voice, so I get to concentrate on the content. My son borrowed his boss's chicken car last night (another story), and his boss had this audio bible on CD. I noticed that each disc says "voice only", so I took a listen. In fact, I listened to enough to be sure they didn't get silly during the usual parts (like the temptation of Jesus in the desert, or the herd of pigs - not that those are actually 'silly parts' but that's where most audio bible recordings get silly sounding). It's the NIV Audio Bible, New Testament by Zondervan (ISBN# 0310920523). OK, it does have music during each book introduction... but not during the actual reading of each book. What a relief to find... an audio bible without the corn.