Cambridge Police - Detail Review

Try to understand how little a detail cop does when standing around at a work site. Well, this cop went out of his way to hassle a taxi from Boston.

Last Thursday morning, he kicked those two women out of the cab and lectured the taxi driver.

All the while, cars were careering through the intersection vacated by the detail cop.

For that, I give the Cambridge, MA police a failing mark.

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The new Verizon

If you can believe it, I went to the Verizon store the other day and was floored!

The SOP (standard operating procedure) for years at Verizon was to restart your commitment to the conglomerate with any change you made to your plan.

For example...

add a line and you've got a new two-year plan;

buy a new phone, you've got a new two-year plan;

change your voice plan, two more years.

But not now. I learned that Verizon has QUIETLY rescinded that policy and now you can change your plan every day of the week without any added commitment.

I'm thrilled. This is how it used to be when Cellular One was around, pre T-Mobile, pre Cingular, pre Verizon's idiocy.

I give this move two very enthusiastic thumbs up.

Rumors on the West Coast also indicate that the Early Termination Fee is destined for extinction soon. When that happens I'm going to change my provider every day for a month just to get back at the companies for all the hassles they've put me through in nine years of cell-phone service.

But for now, Verizon has started to do things right.

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Best of the Web

A regular feature here on Jeffsnotes.com will be my quick jaunt around the Internet looking for interesting, informative and fun stuff.

Here's what I found today...

Cake Wrecks - so much fun. A true time-waster that makes you wonder how many stupid people exist.

Bad Parking - I submit photos to this site occasionally because I am constantly wondering who is handing out licenses to the blind.

Chris Brogan - there are plenty of smart people around us and Chris is one. He's prolific, insightful and creative. And we're lucky to have him right here in the Northeast. If you get a chance to talk to him, introduce yourself and ask a few questions. Then open your mind and ears while he enlightens and entertains you. Smart people get high review marks.

Dvorak - John C. Dvorak has been writing columns on technology and business for years. But he still keeps a blog going and posts to it every day. Some of the stuff is inane. Some is smart. All of it is worth a quick look.

Bicycling.com - A site rich with info on the sport Americans love again now that Lance Armstrong has injected (bad verb use) himself back into the Tour de France for 2009. You can follow that journey at one of my other sites - TDF09.com - and you can read about all things cycling at Bicycling.

News of the Weird - Think our election system is disorganized and in need of an overhaul. Read this story.

Scam School - are you into podcasts? This one is worth a look. I'm not saying it's as intelligent as Slate Magazine or NPR, but it's unique and often fun.

Steve Garfield - Steve is another guy who finds a way to jam 61 hours of work into each 24-hour day. Last week he did breakfast in Boston, jetted up to NH to see Barak Obama, then got back in time to teach a class at BU and do his daily radio show. This link is of his Obama video.

That's it for today. If you have ideas for Best of the Web on Jeffsnotes.com, leave them in the comments.

Atlantic Magazine - October 2008

With John McCain on the cover, this issue of Atlantic covers some interesting topics, not the least of which is how technology and the Internet are shaping the upcoming election process.

In Planting the Rightroots by Reihan Salam, we learn how the Democrats have harnessed the power of grass-roots fundraising via new media while the Republican party is lagging behind.

Salam concedes it's a turn from when the conservatives used to slam the donkeys in campaign contributions using direct-mail campaigns.

He also comments on how online tools helped Ron Paul "amplify the message of a determined minority."

Essentially, the Salam piece attributes an electorate's outrage as the driving factor in motivating people. It's not the media (new or otherwise), it's the message and the cause.

In other parts of this month's issue, Jeffrey Goldberg explores whether John McCain has ever met a war he didn't think could be won.

Goldberg's most telling pullquote in the story is:

"There are some obvious, even eerie, parallels between Admiral John McCain's steadfast commitment to victory in Vietnam, and Senator John McCain's dogged pursuit of victory in Iraq."

Personally, I think this attitude has been on display for the entire viewing public in each of McCain's debate performances. And this has resulted in flagging support of the McCain/Palin ticket.

The coolest article I found in this month's Atlantic is Eric Hanson's neat little piece titled Innocence and Experience.

The article counts up from 1-100 and gives readers neat information tied to the age of famous people and the accomplishment or event that happened to them at that age.

For example, 11 says, "Giacomo Casanova experiences his first orgasm, 1736."

And 23 says, "Neil Young joins Stephen Stills, David Crosby, and Graham Nash to form Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, 1969."

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A slight change in approach

For a while I've been examining ways to use my uncommentary.com site for good, not evil.

It seems that I've found a way to offer commentary on all things consumable (travel, magazines and media, technology products, and more) right here at JeffsNotes.com.

Please leave me comments if there's something you'd like me to review or if you have comments on one of my opinions.

I'll soon be posting here with increased regularity.