Ed Stoffel

Some in Washington seem to have trouble knowing what victory in Iraq would look like. This photo is from Rear Admiral Fox's office, and describes the desired "End State" situation in Iraq.

 According to the US military, THIS is what victory in Iraq looks like, Red State

We're preparing to move and will be leaving our current phone company's service area. My wife wanted us to keep our current phone number if possible, and we could do that with VoIP. I decided to try Broadvoice again and ordered their Unlimited World plan. To transfer our existing number, I had to retain landline service while waiting for the request for number porting to be fulfilled which took 3 weeks. That occurred on Thursday, and by Friday, we were seeing how bad VoIP can be, experiencing audio dropout, low-level, distortion, and total audio loss (dropped calls).

The device sent to me this time was a Linksys SPA2102 phone adapter with router. Unfortunately, it comes pre-configured on the same address as my existing Netgear router. It can be changed, but doing so makes the web-interface unreachable for some reason. Once that happens, the telephone has to be used to control the device and reset it, when necessary.

I have it's WAN side set to 192.168.0.4 to use my Netgear's DMZ feature. But for some reason, I still have to setup port forwarding of ports 5060-5061 for best service. This cures most of the audio loss problems, but the distortion still exists.

I also recall from last time that my service can be improved by having them change my call center. They begin service by assuming what call center is best, but changing it to another may actually result in improved service, because of net congestion peculiarities.

Having our landline service now cutoff (because that number was ported to Broadvoice), we'll live with this until the move. But we'll also be ordering real phone service from Verizon there. They offer pretty good discounts for bundled services including local, long distance, DSL and DirecTV billing (even though I already have DirecTV service setup).

The problem with DSL is that it really is slower than cable. But DSL speed is consistent, while cable internet can fluctuate. With discounts, Verizon DSL will cost an additional $18/mo.; Comcast internet will cost $45/mo. So it's probably worth it to try DSL again, if it's available.

Islamic Jihad training continues, as shown in this photo courtesy of Le Figaro.

It has now been revealed that NBC News heard from Cho Seung-Hui before he killed 30 at VT's Norris Hall. NBC willingly handed over this evidence to police, and will air portions of this during NBC Nightly News tonight. So what did NBC know, and when did they know it? What could NBC have done differently to stop the tragic event?

 Gunman contacted NBC News during massacre, NBC News

 Virginia Shooter Sent Writings and Photos to NBC, NY Times

It's now come out that file-sharing can hurt your future chances of getting a job requiring a security clearance...

Have you ever downloaded tunes off of LimeWire? Swapped TV show torrents? Then don't bother trying to work for the NSA. At a recent recruiting session, an Agency staffer told wannabe spooks that "illegal file sharing" was one of the things that would keep them from getting the security clearances needed to work at the NSA.

Don't be surprised when other employers use this as a gauge of your honesty, too.

 NSA: File-Sharers Unfit to Spy on Americans, Wired News

If you follow what society tells you to eat and drink, they'll eventually have you running in circles. Time and time again, they laud one thing to replace another, eventually dispensing the opposite advice. That's happened with eggs, butter, bacon, and alcohol, to name a few. I'm wondering if someday they'll tell us to start smoking again...

How the tables have turned! The health nut crowd now lauds wine as a cure-all while blasting Coke and Pepsi as the devil's own true brew. How soon we forget. Soft drinks (as they were once called) were invented and promoted in part to replace the "hard stuff," alcohol. The industry that grew up to promote these drinks was hailed as the savior of the masses. Coke became the virtuous alternative to Demon Rum. Alas, no good deed goes unpunished, the corner cynic reminds us. And the corner cynic has a point. The willingness of culture's cruel pendulum to swing back and kick us when we've just gotten up is a lesson for the ages.

While you're at it, beware of the coming Ice Age. Or was it global warming?

 Continue Reading: Name your poison, Paul Jacob

 Update: Study warns of health risk from ethanol, SF Chronicle

After a fun series of advice for wives, Doug Giles now dispenses some good advice for husbands, all while making some fun of those who claim to hear directly from God apart from the scriptures...

"God inspired you to write this?" you say. Yep, God did. The way I'm almost certain it was maybe God speaking to me is that every time He speaks to me about something (and it's pretty often), I begin to smell WD40, packing popcorn begins to fall from the ceiling of my trailer house, and then a voice begins speaking to me in English but with an angry and commanding high-pitched Chinese accent. It's quite an experience.

 How Wives Can Kill Their Marriage - Part 1, Doug Giles

 How Wives Can Kill Their Marriage - Part 2, Doug Giles

 How Wives Can Kill Their Marriage - Part 3, Doug Giles

 The 10 Commandments for Men, Doug Giles

Fred Thompson lets loose on how Presidents use intelligence...

It's absurd. Presidents in the future, as always, have to make a determination based on a lot of things, and intelligence is one of them. And the president not only has the right to evaluate the intelligence that he's receiving, he has a duty to do that. He listens to the British. I mean, if history was any judge, I don't know about now, but if the Brits tell me that there's an [Iraqi] deal with Niger and our guys don't know whether there was or not, I tend to rely on the Brits. I mean, those are the calls the president's got to make, and the question is really: Which way do you want the president to lean? Caution--that it's probably not so? When bad news is delivered, he gets mixed messages, he gets various intelligence reports of various kinds. Did you want him all balled up in all of that, you know, trying to apply some kind of a scientific equation to it for fear that somebody in an intelligence committee is going to wave it around at a hearing later on or something like that? Is that what it's come to? If so, the world is going to be a lot more dangerous than it otherwise already is. You've got to exercise the authority and the responsibilities that you've been given.

 Continue Reading: From the Courthouse to the White House, Weekly Standard

In 2003, CNN decided to clean house of their engineers, dismissing them all under their existing contract but inviting them to reapply individually. The effect was to keep less than half, hand-picking those they wanted to keep without regard to seniority as it existed under the former contract. It's now four years later...

The union filed unfair labor practice charges against the network, contending it illegally voided the workers' union contract. The charges accused the network of improperly dismissing a number of former TVS employees, while rehiring the balance at reduced wages and benefits.

The National Labor Relations Board has now issued a complaint in the dispute that CNN will have to answer in an administrative hearing. The complaint, which was issued April 4 and circulated to the parties this week, states that forced remedies to the situation could include CNN's rehiring those dismissed and reinstating the union contract.

Those out of work get to keep waiting. A hearing before an administrative judge is expected in September of this year.

 CNN hit with NLRB complaint, Hollywood Reporter

 NABET-CWA Applauds Labor Board Ruling against CNN for Tearing up Union Contracts in New York, Washington, Broadcast Newsroom

Charlene's aunt from Kennebunk died today. We've enjoyed visiting with her on our trips up north, and have a number of Uncle Gordon's paintings in our home.

Anna Amildred Robinson, 77 years, of Fletcher Street, died Monday April 9 at Southern Maine Medical Center. Anna was born in Haverhill, Ma on September 5, 1929 a daughter of Robert and Lillienne Lucier Field. She graduated from Salem High School in 1947. On August 8, 1954 Anna married Gordon F. Robinson of Swampscott, MA. They celebrated 35 wonderful years until his death in 1989, raising a family and starting a new business together. In 1970, they moved to Kennebunk Lower Village and started the Gordon Robinson Art Gallery which Anna operated and Gordon painted for. --- Anna is survived by her sons Charles, Donald, Clinton, Norman; daughters Nancy, Barbara; her brother Raymond Field; sisters Pauline Armstrong and O'Dell Bertrand; 11 grandchildren; 3 great grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

In its choice between people and profits, Circuit City let us know which they really value the most this week, announcing layoffs of 3400 workers because they make too much money. Yes, in a rare moment of honesty, this company actually admitted that's why they were doing it. So much for their company slogan "Our associates are our greatest assets."

Regrettably, this race-to-the-bottom approach is hardly limited to Circuit City. Retailers in a wide variety of specialties have looked at the leveling effects of the Internet and concluded that sales associates are not really that valuable. If they were, prices for goods bought with the assistance of salespeople would be higher than for goods bought with a few clicks of the mouse.

Change is inevitable, and to survive, employees need to have the training and skills most valued by employers. Clearly, older experienced workers are no longer valued at Circuit City.

  Circuit City's harsh layoffs give glimpse of a new world, USA Today

This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether unions must obtain the consent of their workers before spending their dues for political purposes. While some members may want their dues going to Democrats (where union dues usually go), clearly others do not...

The high court has often said workers have the right not to have their earnings taken for political activities with which they disagree, but that right is usually more theoretical than real. These unions often take great pains to conceal how much money they spend so workers won't know how much they are owed. Twenty years ago, the Supreme Court held this unconstitutional but unions keep doing it. And since neither Congress nor the president is willing to challenge the unions' enormous political influence, those decisions have gone largely un-enforced.

 Continue Reading: Union dues and free speech, Timothy Sandefur, Washington Times

Google chooses today (April 1st) to announce their FREE PAPER GIVEAWAY...

For April Fools Day, they were also giving away FREE INTERNET WIFI.