The View From the Outback© 2000 Richard C. Rhodes
A great deal of what we read in newspapers, magazines, and books, and what we see in the movies and on TV is written and produced in New York City or Los Angeles. Much of the "political wisdom" comes from the PR machines of the White House, the Congress, and from the Washington media corps. In short, one might conclude that all knowledge, wisdom, and wit are confined to those who inhabit New York City, Washington DC, or Hollywood. I am now a senior citizen. My experience was gained in many cities in the U.S. and in about 30 foreign countries. That experience has included the U.S. Marines, law school, the ATF, the CIA, Fortune 500 executive, writer, public speaker, educator, editor, and publisher - for openers. For over 20 years, I have written articles off and on for various magazines and newspapers. I've had an enormous number of letters published in major national publications. The Outback is the rural area in Northeast Texas where I have lived for the past 13 years. Every couple of weeks I will attempt to post a new set of musings from the Outback. Click on a Topic to go directly to that topic. After the train bombings in Spain, the voters did an overnight 180 and threw out the pro-U.S., pro-Iraq invasion, prime minister. What a sad day. Now, terrorists will be emboldened to blackmail other countries unless they adhere to their policies and desires. When you keep giving the playground bully your lunch money, he is going to keep on taking it from you and others. Some of our decisions, such as invading Iraq, are open to question. But one thing is clear. Nobody in the United States sat on their ass, or caved in, after our 9/11. We fought back with a vengeance, and continue to do so. Coke has withdrawn Dasani bottled water from Great Britain because samples contained higher-than-permitted levels of bromate. That aside, every time I see someone on TV or in a car drinking bottled water, one word comes to mind. Idiot! You bitch about the price of gas and yet pay several times more per gallon for WATER than you do for gasoline. I shy away from drinking tap water and fill my one-gallon plastic jugs from the Culligan water machines found in many supermarkets (average price 35 cents a gallon!). Then, I fill one of my many free water thermoses with the water from the refilled jugs. A "bottle" of water carried in my truck probably costs about 4.3 cents. Think about that really hard the next time you succumb to the trendy thing of popping into the convenience store for a bottle of water. The judicially-challenged and frequently overturned Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that "under God" in the pledge of allegiance was an illegal establishment of religion. The U.S. Supreme Court has taken the case on appeal. The High Court session will begin with the Marshall of the Court intoning "God Save the United States and This Honorable Court." Well, this ought to be a fun debate. While they are at it, they might as well take "In God We Trust" off of our paper money. That too, must be some kind of illegal establishment of religion. Sure has been on there a long time and nobody complained - until the politically-correct crowd starting looking for things to complain about. I think I will take a Sharpie pen and black out "In God We Trust" on my paper money. Oh, hell, that is probably the crime of "defacing public currency." You can't win. NBC news ran a piece showing the destruction of the "Vet" stadium in Philadelphia. They noted that spectators got so rowdy at Eagle's games that they established a criminal court in the basement of the stadium. Who was it that named Philly the City of Brotherly Love? In my misspent youth, I was a Federal agent there. One of my sons was born in Philly, and we jokingly (?) say that he has been trying to live it down ever since. I would like to go back to Philly for three reasons: to eat a cheese steak at Pat's Steaks at 9th and Passyunk, pick up some imported Italian cheese, meat, olive oil, etc. at di Bruno Brothers grocery in South Philly (they have mailorder on the Web), and see if any of the old members of the Angelo Bruno Mafia gang are still around. Most of them are probably dead or in jail, but it would be fun to have a beer, throw some darts, and relive the old days. Like the night we were on surveillance and half asleep. One of the mob guys rocked our rear bumper to let us know that he was leaving in his car. He knew that he could lose us within a few blocks on his home turf, and wanted to at least give us a sporting chance. I avoid the early rounds of "American Idol" on FOX, which seem to be mostly an exercise in trying to humiliate a bunch of well-intentioned kids who think they have singing talent. Now, I have seen part of two episodes, including the selection of the final 12. Although I have not heard all of the final 12 sing, I can predict with near certainty that the winner will not be either Jon Peter Lewis or Leah LaBelle. It seemed to this old geezer that there were more talented singers than those two who should have made the final 12. Of the few that I heard, I favored Jennifer Hudson, the black girl with the pouty lips. And I guess I am too far out of the music mainstream, but I cannot listen to Ruben Studdard for more a minute when I press the mute button. Boring! I said last year that I would have voted for Clay Aiken if I were to have voted. I got that right! It is reported that the Communist government of Laos is finally going to let Hmong tribesmen, who fought with the U.S. in the secret war in Laos, assimilate back into the civilian population. Their former leader, Gen. Vang Pao was interviewed in St. Paul, Minnesoata, about this new policy. My family and I lived in Laos during those tumulutuous times of the Secret War. My boss, Ted Shackley, CIA station chief, was like the secretary of defense to Vang Pao and his army of recruits. I find it somewhat ironic that Gen. Vang Pao is still alive and living in this country, while Ted Shackley died some time ago. Whose idea was it to settle groups of Hmong in St. Paul? I lived both in Laos and St. Paul. Laos is hotter and more humid than hell. St. Paul is frigid most of the year. It must have been, and remains, a tough transition for the Hmong, with whom I worked "upcountry" in Laos. The popularity of Norah Jones continues to amaze me. I have tried twice to listen to her in recent weeks on late-night TV shows. I had to use Closed Captioning to get any clue as to what she was singing about. She has a lovely, soft, and sultry style, but she does not enunciate. She does not finish off her words. I gave my original Norah Jones DVD to the local library after I viewed and listened to it once. Compare her to Diana Krall and Jane Monheit, for example. For the two million of you who bought her latest CD, I hope you enjoy humming along. You cannot possibly know what words she is singing - without liner notes with the lyrics. There is no reason for Martha Stewart's career to be on hold while in jail. It has been alleged for decades that mob bosses somehow managed to continue to run their mobs from the Gray-Bar Hotel chain. I once befriended a convict who had at one time been a food and beverage manager in a fancy resort. He got screwed in Texas by the "three-strikes law" by lying on a loan application, similar to his first two "crimes of violence." I wrote the prison in Texas and suggested that they take him off working in the fields and put him in charge of the kitchen. The answer is so many words. "Mind your own damn business." Well, if Martha could wangle a job in the kitchen, she could still put on a TV cooking show, entitled "Fine Cuisine for Convicts." Or, more exactly, how to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. A Martha Stewart mainstay. And there is no reason why she could not continue to write a magazine from inside the slammer, using a laptop. More importantly, she could spend some time in the law library figuring out how to sue the incompetent lawyers who let her get convicted, and working on her own appeal. I'm no fan of Ms. Stewart, but she deserved a better defense than she got. Microsoft announced the development of a Sense Cam, which can hang around your neck and record up to 2000 pictures a day. A video diary. Just when is anybody supposed to have time to review the 60,000 pics a month this thing can capture? And where do you store them? Later, it is hoped that the device can measure heart rate and other functions. If it could be tied-in with a wrist cuff for measuring blood pressure, data on heart rate, and a two-lead EKG heart monitor, it would be a very valuable instrument. Such devices are available separately now from medical suppliers for patient 24/7 ambulatory use. When I tried to buy one of the portable EKG monitors, I was told that you only can rent them. The cost to rent these things is outrageous, far, far beyond any reasonable return on the investment to buy one. Another medical ripoff that drives up health-care costs. There are millions of people - and their doctors - who could benefit from a multi-function, BP, pulse, and heart monitor. One that you could buy for a couple of hundred bucks and send reports to your doctor via modem or data and audio files copied to a CD. So, Microsoft, let's put the 2000 pics a day on the back burner and concentrate on saving some lives with accurate 24/7 ambulatory diagnostics of bodily functions. America’s trade deficit rose to an all-time high of $43.1 billion in January, 2004. I read somewhere that a boatload of Chicken Feet was stalled on the high seas on the way to China, I think it was. Probably due to the few cases of bird flu discovered in the United States. I was unaware that there was a market for Chicken Feet, and I used to live in SE Asia, where you could find most anything in a soup. Maybe we should try exporting toenail clippings (they must be full of minerals) or liposuction fat, since we make so precious few products here anymore. Possible new menu item abroad: "French Fries cooked in imported U.S. liposuction fat." I pointed out to the grand kids that the star of nearly every major comedy show (past and present) started out in stand-up comedy; Bill Cosby, Bob Newhart, Ray Romano, Tim Allen, Paul Reiser, Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, George Lopez, and on and on. Network executives seem to think that the only people who can be funny in a situation comedy are former stand-up comics. How shortsighted. Kelly Ripa cracks me up, and she was a soap star, for example. Hollywood has often been surprised when a "serious dramatic actor or actress" is cast in a comedy and is funnier than anyone could have ever imagined. There is a comedian in all of us. It just has to be nurtured and given a chance. I may be the only person in the U.S. who has never seen a complete episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond," as I find Ray Romano to be dull and a monotonous bore. Recently, I saw him do standup on one of the TV networks. To me, his material was trite and he was dull and boring as a standup. What is the fascination with this guy? How do you want to be remembered? I recently wrote my own obituary and gave a copy to my son, with instructions on which newspapers to send it to. Everybody bugs you about making sure you have a will, and that loved ones have keys to your house -and combinations and passwords. Take a few minutes and write your own obituary. Nobody knows your life any better. If you find that you don't have much to write about, you may want to rethink your goals and aspirations. (Unless like me, the "die" is already cast. Pardon the pun.) The U.S. Postal Service strikes again. On Dec. 24th, 2003, I applied for a post-office box in a nearby city where I was renting a duplex. In March of 2004, I got a notice in my PO box that they had "misplaced" my application and would I please fill out another application - which was attached. I presented my original check and other documentation and filled out the new application. Perhaps, but only perhaps, the matter is taken care of. I understood that several other applications had been misplaced. I forgot to ask if the person who was responsible still had his or her job. Of course, that would have been a wasted question. On another day, I took an envelope out of my post office box and told the clerk that I had no idea who the addressee was. He looked at the address and asked, "Is that your box?" No, I go around each day breaking into boxes looking for mail addressed to the wrong person. When I became a Federal agent, I had to take a tough test and pass an oral interview board. Is there a test for the Postal Service? It can't be very demanding. And who taught them pricing? In one town a very small PO box rents for $34 per six-months. In another post office, about 25 miles away, for the same fee you can rent a box that is at least three times larger. At least the stamps are the same price. I still like to greet the clerks with "What's on sale today?" And watch them hesitate for a moment while they think about the question. The TV interview on 20/20 of Kelli Carpenter O'Donnell, the lesbian wife of Rosie O'Donnell, left me in shock. How could such a beautiful, articulate, trim, and perfectly groomed woman such as Kelli marry that obnoxious pig Rosie O'Donnell? I have known my share of gays and lesbians, especially when I was in the book business. Once, I had a lesbian literary agent, and used to have tea with her and her female lover. No problem. At one Christmas dinner, I was about the only straight person in attendance. My host had to take me into the kitchen and explain that the girl of whom I had become enamored at dinner was a lesbian. Oh, crap. Why did you invite me to begin with? Actually, I thought Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres were kind of a cute couple. But, this Kelli and Rosie union is too much to take. I will close my eyes if I ever see another picture or scene of them together. I think back to the old school that used to think that you could change the sexual behavior of a homosexual, that it was learned behavior. Kelli's parents tried that, without success. I am sure there were a lot of virile heterosexual men who watched Kelli on 20/20 and said to themselves, "I'd like a weekend alone with her to try to change her mind." Nice thought. Especially since Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres spilt, and Ms. Heche is now happily married - to a man. You have my support, but I'm afraid that converting Kelli is a losing battle. Later, I am going to do a long article on the benefits of fasting. But, I was struck by the news about Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft. He has pancreatitis. Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas, a small organ that secretes digestive enzymes and insulin. The article said the the main part of the treatment was fasting, allowing the pancreas to rest by reducing its secretions. That is the first time I can remember a mainstream media account ever saying that fasting was a "treatment" for any physical problem. The hint given here is important. Fasting allows many organs in the body to rest and for poisons to be expelled from your body, through the two most obvious means. I am re-reading three books on fasting, and making notes on my own experiences with two long fasts (one of 26 days) and several shorter ones. In the last Outback, I commented that I bought a Samsung ML-2150 (full-duplex) laserjet. The more I use this printer, the better I like it. Samsung also was the first to use the Texas Instrument's Digital Light Processing (DLP) chip for its slim rear-view projection HDTV sets. After much research, I am looking toward Samsung for its third-generation DLP rear projection HDTV set which will debut in about August of 2004. It will be slim, lightweight, and with a brilliant and sharp picture which I suspect will set a standard for DLP sets - and for HDTV projection sets. There will be (is already) an interim updated model, but it does not contain the third-generation DLP chip. Take a close look and ask a lot of questions before buying any HDTV set. Unlike plasma sets, DLP sets do not suffer "burn-in," for example from persisting logos. So far, I have seen little to favor plasma over DLP - and the Plasma screens cost more. It appears that 150-200 pound CRT HDTV sets will become boat anchors in the relatively near future. The new Sony LCD HDTVs, and those from Sharp, Hitachi, Panasonic, and a few others, also have their proponents. Probably, I will summarize my HDTV set research in an upcoming Outback. I have my usual 50 pages of stuff already printed and highlighted. I am not a big fan of major-league baseball. In my 70s, I am confident that I can still hit a ball out of the park down the left-field line in most parks (this Summer, we plan to attempt to record it on videotape, which may cause a stroke - but I will go out swinging). In my prime, at less than 5 feet 11 inches and about 190 pounds, I could hit a ball about 450 feet on a good day and run like scalded deer. I had no idea of the meaning of a "performance-enhancing substance." In those days, I did not even drink coffee. I turned down an unsolicited invitation to try out in the majors to pursue my career as a Federal agent. So, it is a little hard to get excited about pumped-up, and often substance-enhanced, Gorillas who think it is a big deal to hit a ball 320 feet into the first row and once in a while make a diving catch in the outfield. And think they are worth $10-$20 million a year to play a game. My apologies to those who nearly have an orgasm over their enthusiasm for watching major-league baseball. Whatever turns you on. Similarly, I cannot get excited about watching people in the NBA who can look down on a basketball rim play a game that once was a game of skill and grace, and is now a shoving match and slam dunks. And a game where the dominant player cannot make half his free throws. Pathetic. The other evening I discovered a large part of what is wrong with pro baseball. His name is Donald Fehr, who represents the major-league baseball-player's union in collective bargaining. Just before turning in for the night, I made the mistake of checking on C-SPAN. There was a Senate hearing on the use of steroids and other "performance enhancing" substances in major league and Olympic sports. The Olympic program sounded rock solid and with tough sanctions for those who get caught, as did the NFL program. Then Mr. Fehr spoke for baseball and was later grilled, and I mean grilled, by the senators. If you tuned in without knowing the context of the hearing, you might have thought Mr. Fehr was the lawyer for John Gotti or Tony Soprano. Regarding random drug testing, Mr. Fehr invoked the Fourth Amendment, illegal search and seizure, invasion of privacy, presumption of innocence, and other fine legal points. I thought I was going to throw up. Other panel members, from the Olympic testing group and from the NFL, and even the Commissioner of Baseball, suggested that a person who plays a public sport - and who is held up as a role model - has to be held to a higher standard than someone who commits a crime in stealth. That some of the criminal-law protections are not really relevant. And that major-league baseball does not even come close to having a comprehensive testing program. The baseball commissioner pointed out that they have an aggressive and effective substance-abuse testing plan in the minor leagues, but that the player's union, represented by Don Fehr, thwarts the major league's efforts at every turn. Do these over-paid baseball prima-donnas really need a union? Would it kill them to make $1 million a year instead of $15 million, for example? I was so damn mad at Mr. Fehr's insipid and intransigent attitude that I literally could not get to sleep that night. I sent him a letter, which on the grounds of public decency, I cannot repeat here - with a copy to Bud Selig the baseball commissioner. Mr. Selig seemed genuinely frustrated by Mr. Fehr, the player's union, and their refusal to accept what other sports have accepted almost without qualification. One senator said he had read a poll that said that 79% of major-league players want a comprehensive substance-abuse program. Mr. Fehr just kept repeating his Fourth amendment search and seizure nonsense. His subscription to HBO and the "Sopranos" ought to be suspended if he has one.
If you think that major-league baseball needs to adopt stringent substance-abuse testing standards, with serious sanctions, you can write Mr. Donald Fehr at: Mr. Donald Fehr Feel free to berate him at length and to curse him in your letter. He seems incapable of listening to or responding to straight talk and simple logic. We hear a lot of speeches today where it is said that we have no claim on Iraq's land, or on Afghanistan, etc. That once they are on a path of a firmly-established democratic form of government, we will withdraw. I belive that. But, how I managed all these years to not understand the importance of the Spanish-American War is beyond me. About the most any of us non-history buffs know is about Teddy Roosevelt, his Rough Riders, and the battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba. But, many are not sure of what the outcome was or much else. Some cannot tell you in which country San Juan Hill is located. Perhaps it was because my school textbooks glossed over the very short and relatively bloodless war - and America's grand entry into imperialism. It took a book author appearing on C-SPAN to send me scurrying to my encyclopedias and the Internet ("First Great Triumph : How Five Americans Made Their Country a World Power," by Warren Zimmermann). In the years leading up to 1898, the Cubans had waged a long battle against the Spanish and their oppression and atrocities on the island. In 1898, we sent the battleship Maine to Havana harbor to protect American interests in Cuba. The Maine blew up and many tried to pin it on Spain, although the exact cause of the explosion is still under debate. Over a month after the explosion of the Maine, we went to war with Spain in Cuba. It was a short war, and while we were in the area, we took over Puerto Rico. Feeling a need for bases in the Pacific for our naval fleet, in 1898 we also sailed into Manila
Bay and claimed the Philippines from Spain. And made claim to Guam. We also annexed Hawaii in July of 1898. It was a hell of a year, and only part of a year at that. On August 12, 1898, the U.S. and Spain signed a preliminary peace treaty, in which Spain recognized the independence of Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the U.S. and sold the Philippines to the U.S. for $20 million. Suddenly, we were an empire! With holdings in the Caribbean and the Pacific. By 1906, the Philippines had achieved almost complete home rule. In 1917, Puerto Rico was given full territorial status. Hawaii eventually became a state, we withdrew from Cuba, but to this day Guam is still an unincorporated territory of the United States and has a non-voting member in the U.S. House of Representatives. And yet, the year 1898 seems to have made only the slightest ripple on the consciousness of Americans who have any interest in our history. The most compelling facet of all this is that we gave up any right to Cuba. After the Spanish-American War, a U.S. military government took control. In 1900 elections were held and a constitution drafted. In the 1901, the Platt Amendment, guaranteed the U.S. a right to intervene in Cuban affairs for the "protection of Cuban independence," among other things. In 1902, Cuba became an independent republic. We did maintain a right to lease "in perpetuity" a base at Guantanamo for a U.S. naval base. The Platt Amendment was abrogated in 1934, but we still maintain the perpetual lease at Guantanamo, although it is not clear from a cursory search that we actually pay anything to Cuba for that lease. Our empire was short-lived. Americans seemed to have no stomach for such adventures. Here is the Congressional resolution that lead to our entry into the Spanish-American War. Most importantly, note the language toward the end where the document spoke to our lack of intent to annex Cuba. "Fourth. That the United States disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said Islands except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is accomplished, to leave the government and control of the Island to its people." In retrospect, how dumb was that? We have endured Castro, missiles in Cuba, expropriation of American property, and abuse of the Cuban people by a Communist regime. One word here or there in the Resolution of 1898 could have saved us and the world all that grief. US Recognition of Cuban Independence, 1898 Spain took this document as a declaration of war and actually declared war on the United States first. In case there is any doubt that Microsoft charges you too much for their software, consider a 1997 e-mail from Jeffe Raikes, a Microsoft VP, to Warren Buffett - which surfaced in a trial in Minneapolis. Raikes wrote: "With a worldwide sales force of just 100 to 150 people, 'this is a 90%+ margin business.'" The only other business I can think of with such profit margins is the Cocaine, Heroin, and Crack Cocaine trade. Attorney David Tulchin apologized for Microsoft's past anticompetitive practices. Mr. Tulchin said prices for Microsoft's Windows operating systems have hovered around $50 each. That's a strange comment. My two copies of Windows XP Home "hovered around $100" when I bought them. I must have missed the sale - both times. On 3-18-04, at a major retailer, Microsoft XP Home was selling for $199.99, and the XP Home Upgrade (for those who have a previous Windows version) was selling for $99.99. Mr. Tulchin started off by insulting the intelligence of the court and jury with the "Windows for $50" remark. Let's hope it all goes downhill from there. The Nebraska Supreme Court revived a class-action lawsuit Friday, March 19, alleging that Microsoft Corp. violated the state's consumer-protection laws by engaging in monopolistic behavior. The litigants claim that Microsoft used its monopoly in computer operating systems to overcharge people for Windows 98 software. Microsoft operating systems are used on about 94% of PCs worldwide. European regulators are expected to hit Microsoft next week with an order to change some business practices and pay fines in the hundreds of millions of dollars (the fined turned out to be $613 million). There is a reason for all of this legal activity. In my work with the KGB, the Mafia, and many large companies in corporate America, I have never seen a group so devoid of ethics and so predatory. There is an undeniable arrogance at Microsoft; "We'll just crush the little son-of-a-bitches with our market clout. We have such huge profits that we can easily afford all the legal bills. A small cost of doing business for us." The Service Pack2 (SP2) for Windows XP is nearly ready for release. One, it had better be free, after all MS has put us through with security holes and scores of patches to SP1. Two, there had better be a place where you can download the entire SP2 to disk, for later installation, so that those with 56K modems (often logging on at far less than 56K) can find a friend with a broadband connection and download the update and transfer it to a CD-R or flash-memory USB thingee. And three, they should offer a free CD-ROM with SP2, with prompt shipping - for those who have no other reasonable way to get the update. Otherwise, MS had better build a moat around its Redmond campus and install Claymore mines, because the peasants will be storming the gates.
Like so many others, I am exploring LINUX to see what programs I normally use are available for that operating system. Don't push your luck, Microsoft. Consumers are about at the breaking point with your tactics and pricing. Already, I am proud to say that I do not use WORD, OUTLOOK, or a MS spreadsheet or database. And since I started using Netscape 7.1 browser a few months back, I had nearly forgotten that there is a program called Internet Explorer. IE6 does nothing for me - except maybe expose my computer to malicious attacks. Once again, here are my mainstays: WordPerfect Office Suite 11, Alpha V database, Eudora Pro e-mail, Quicken, Paint Shop Pro 8, MusicMatch Jukebox 8.2, Power Desk Pro (instead of MS Explorer file manager), NERO CD/DVD burning software (an incredible program with very frequent free updates), Netscape 7.1, Norton Internet Security/Antivirus 2004, VCOM Fix-it Utilities 5. The Chinese are right on top of things. Oracle and Dell announced they will offer Linux-based Oracle software on Dell servers there. Hewlett-Packard announced it would start selling personal computers with Linux in China. The government of China has been trying to steer the country away from reliance on Microsoft Windows. Among other reasons, it does not want to become a vassal (a person or country in a subordinate position to another) of Microsoft. You get no Egg Roll with Windows XP. Rotsa ruck, Microsoft. I have one advantage. I build my own computers, (except the laptop) normally with the best components available. Thus, I can do a clean install of the operating system and then choose programs that I like, rather than ones foisted off on me and cluttering my hard drive on commercial machines. I buy the full version of every program (sometimes now more than one, due to "activation,") and pay for all shareware that I use. With a lot of work, and constant maintenance of my disks and Registry, I have very few real problems - and virtually never resort to calling tech support. As much as I love the Indian accent, and admire the intellectual capacity of the Indian people, I think I will pass on the outsourced call centers. Actually, I have a ham-radio friend in Bangalore, India who owns a software company. He sent me photos of him and his children in their back-yard garden. Doing very well, thank you. Bangalore is the Redmond of India. A little digression about India. When I was in college, my next-door neighbor's dad was Minister of Education in India. Years later, while shopping in an electronics store in Frankfurt, Germany, there were two very well-dressed, dark-skinned men at the counter. They were looking for a replacement stylus for a phonograph cartridge. I thought I recognized their speech pattern and asked: "Are you guys from Delhi?" Somewhat stunned, they said, yes, they were from New Delhi. I then told them of my friend and they said of course, they knew his father. Small world. Oh, I neglected to mention to them that I was then with the CIA. Not important. (How do I specifically remember the phono sytlus after nearly 40 years? It scares me. Maybe I ought to donate my pea-brain to science, since I am now close to being a jibbering idiot, but can remember stuff from 40-50 years ago.) Also, I am looking for alternatives to Symantec products, and have already replaced System Works with the VCOM Fix-it 5. Symantec programs have caused me more "error messages," "time-under-the-hood" and time spent searching the "Knowledge Base" than any other programs. Many months after the release of the 2004 version of Internet Security, they still cannot cope with a conflict between Norton Anti-Spam (which I have turned off) and Eudora Pro 6 e-mail. When I try their "solution," my computer screen goes blank and the machine reboots. Clever. And now, for the first time, they are trying to stiff me on a rebate which I carefully and meticulously submitted for a recent purchase of the Norton AntiVirus 2004 program for my laptop. In 2005, I suspect there will be no Symantec products on any of my computers, unless they really clean up their act. The area of firewalls and anti-virus is an area where there are plenty of good programs, and more coming on the market. (Update: I got a post card which said that my Norton AntiVirus rebate had been refused due to lack of proof of prior Norton ownership. Not true, as my submission had all the required proofs. I was given three days to contact the rebate group to rectify the matter. I decided I did not have time, as I was packing and moving. But, later, I would write the president of Symantec and tell him where he could stick his rebate offer. Strangely, on 4-9-04 my Norton rebate check came in the mail. I cashed it and bought two donuts to celebrate my new wealth. I find it almost impossible to believe that somebody at Symantec read the Outback and decided to expedite my rebate, which I had been told I would not receive. But, I can't come up with a more logical explanation.) COPYRIGHT 2000 Richard C. Rhodes You are welcome to quote sections from this page - or the whole page, as long as the source URL is included. Of course, I would be flattered if anyone linked to this page. It is very hard to be the writer, editor, fact checker, copy editor, and publisher of anything. So, I beg your forgiveness for the many mistakes that creep in. Suggested Reading From Past Columns Click Here for Suggested Reading List Archive of Back Issues Media List of Addresses and e-mails Postal Service State Abbreviations, etc. Postal Service Abbreviations - Richard C. Rhodes End |