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Are these just nightmare stories or just stuff saying that Cingular and SBC sucks because it happened for real?

Both? Cingular doesn't always suck, but when they screw up it's always a hassle to get the problem fixed, and with the knowledge their average employees have, it happens often and with a vengence. I know others with constant problems with billing (like being charged for FREE voicemail or billed roaming charges from a distant tower when they made a call within half of a mile of a Cingular tower with a decent signal).

Honestly, I don't know that others would be better. It's the same contract and the others around here have worse reception.

Cingular gave me one of the little shit model phones that cost like $30 or something new and an estimated $2 each for them.. it had problems excessive enough to merit replacement three times, each time I had to go to the office, explain the problem, have them inspect it to be sure I didn't mess it up, then get the new one and wait for it to be programmed.

Well, the really shitty thing is that they give you a refurbished phone, which is someone elses broken phone that they tried to fix. They just kept failing on me. The last one I had failed within a day (no kidding) and then when they inspected that one she told me I spilled water on it (I was curtly told, "You didn't know but we can tell that." because she had already asked me if I spilled water on it) and that I would have to pay for a new one. I asked to see the service record, because I'd only had the phone for a day. She told me, "We don't keep service records on our phones." I try not to get mad at her, because she's just an employee and not the root of all evil, but then I say, "Well it looks to me like your service facility didn't fix it and I got a phone that works temporarily so that I'll have to buy a new one." To which she replied, "I'm sorry sir, but there is no alternative."

That's when I got pissed.. "You're telling me that you've given me the third faulty phone in a row and just because your service facility keeps passing on shitty phones, I'm going to have to pay for it? You're going to give me a new phone, and not just a different one, but a new one, and a different model than this one which obviously has fatal flaws in its design."

After about 20 minutes more of arguing, consulting her manager, and me getting more impatient and disgusted, I got a Sony phone instead of a Nokia, and it has worked fine since. Cingular is cheap and their service picks up more than any other wireless companies around here, but damn, their customer service is just shit.

That reminds me of a story. One time my friends wen o camp with their primary school. They offered one of the guys Deep Heat to use, they said it would be great. A few moments after lights out their was an ear shatering scream that could be heard everywhere. Painfull!

It used to be a common joke in the locker room to put icy hot in certain atheletic equipment.

Up until I was about 13, that was how I lived.. we had a TV, but I didn't watch, just read books and occasionally explored the fields. When I got the internet I spent a lot of time reading educational sites, which gradually evened out to a bunch of forums related to things that will have little relevance to my future or my education.

It's kind of refreshing, but very constricting at the same time. Nice to do it every once in a while but living in a box isn't the way to go in the long term.

The lesson in futility has nothing whatsoever to do with off-topic chatting, but in your arguments against or in favor of religion. I don't think anyone cares what my opinion is, because I'm certain you all think your own is the correct one and aren't going to change it without some life-altering event. Thus, the lesson in futility.

Shbaz, you are going off topic... 

I sense the approach of a lesson in futility..

Nothing any of you have said has discounted that there is a possibility that volcano eruptions are contributing to global warming and the greenhouse effect. You say the volcano didn't seem to affect the environment? So there isn't global warming? I don't know what you're trying to get at.

Well a huge volcanic eruption caused the plagues of Egypt. And it didnt harm the enviornment much. Maybe I can find an article.

He's not talking about local warming Evil.

I'd hate to read one day
"I lost the AGS source code today. Sorry, AGS is dead."

That'll happen, next 1st of April.

My guitar amp has been on for one hour. That's one hour longer than it was on in the previous 24 hours.

Actually, the social security system is in crisis of not being able to pay out the "baby boomers." The baby boomers are the generation that were suspiciously abundantly born after soldiers returned from WWII. They are the most in number among American generations and are in danger of bankrupting the SS system because of that. Bush is attempting to fix this by getting more foreign workers, because they pay SS tax but don't benefit from it due to their non-citizenship status. Personally, I think there are better ways, but it should work.

Ending that debate is a good idea, because with arguments like those you're not going to get far.

The way birds get away with it is like this.. There are two lines in an AC circuit, and then the ground for disposing of voltage. You cannot be electrocuted by touching any one of those wires alone, any two together will electrocute you. Most power lines insulate one of the AC wires and the other is wrapped around it, and the ground is derived at each location where electricity is needed by sticking a giant rod into the earth. So the thing is, the only way for them to complete the circuit on top of the line would be to connect the two wires, which isn't going to happen because one is always insulated thus the circuit cannot be completed. No animal would survive the massive voltage. Humans wear multiple layers of extremely thick gloves to handle such wires.

Electrocution of animals usually happens at a junction point, where there are exposed wires in close enough proximity to get them. I still don't understand how a bat would suffer there though.. a Possum could easily do so.

Are your power lines not insulated? Birds and all kinds of other animals sit on them here.. without the ground wire there is no danger.

The Olympics are always on here too. I think it's likely to be that way in every country, so long as they care about whether or not they win. With the Olympics, it's a matter of national pride, so it is probably most often the case.

8) This is partly true. I dream of a day when we can have higher education reform in our country. this is getting better. If you're smart, you'll find a way into school.

There is at least one state that offers free higher education to its citizens.. though I can't remember which one. Lower-cost education is available in the poorer states (such as mine) and any person who would actually be capable of completing college could get enough loans and scholarships to pay through, along with a part time job (keep in mind that not just anyone can complete college, see drop out rates).

On a different note, USPS sucks harder than UPS.Ã,  They ruin your packages then put them in a bag that says "Sorry for the inconvenience."Ã,  UPS at least has insurance.

As opposed to UPS, who will simply deliver a package that is obviously tampered with and pretend they don't notice until you say something (which I have seen happen, many times, at the office where I work). As stated above, USPS also offers insurance.

Kill natives, my eye. There were actually only a few cases of massive genocide. Most Americans wanted to assimilate the Amerindians into American culture. A lot of our founding fathers fought for a law allowing interracial marriages between whites and Amerindians.

Actually, there was an extended period of massive genocide. It was called, "Manifest Destiny." Indians were treated as dogs, even though the five civilized tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek) settled just as the white men did with an organized government, system of writing, and wooden homes. These were the people who were forced to move west on the trail of tears (where over half died). The other Indians who lived traditionally were hunted down tribe by tribe mostly under Andrew Jackson. The fact that so few full blood Indians remain, even here in the Cherokee capitol, is a testament to the fact that most were murdered and the remaining were forced to blend as if they had no heritage in the early 1900s (they were told to forget their history and customs, and were not allowed to learn their native languages).

Now, I can't even sit here and waste my time refuting LostTravellor.. sheesh.. for someone who has been at a political forum for so long you have some pretty ignorant views. For one, you obviously don't pay taxes or you would know social security (the money that old people don't earnÃ,  :) is taken from every worker in America and deposited into their account, even foreign workers who get no benefits.. so that they can live without having to work near the end of their lives.

Andail, sorry, but you strike me as a die-hard anti-American, often with little justifaction. There are some dumb points above, but there are some very genuine ones too. I think you hate our president too much to see past him to the real country.

The UPS offices in my area have unlisted phone numbers. Coincidence? I think not.

They have many times delivered my packages to neighbor's houses and left the packages on their doorsteps, despite my detailed instructions left in the same fashion as SSH (and the clearly described BRICK house was the only one of such construction within miles). It's a good fucking thing I was friendly with my neighbors.

Ever since they did that with my skateboard when I was 17 (and I didn't figure out it was at my neighbors for a week, because they were out of state) I ship USPS, always. They'reÃ,  a little slower, but they're 150% more reliable. If you have a PO box and it arrives, it's there for you to get. If you have a mailbox then your local mailman knows where you live. Not like the people in the shit colored uniforms whose names I will utter no more. 

People here eat rabbit, but it's not a common food, they don't market it in grocery stores. You have to hunt them yourself. I've never eaten one though.

We had one for a pet once, they're pretty good pets. They can be trained to use litter boxes.