Has anyone ever tried using the Sprint PCS service to send a text message through their online website?

This came as a surprise; Opera is giving away free registration codes to use it’s beautiful and powerful browser [without the ads]. The offer comes as it is the 10th anniversary for Opera, and the codes can only be obtained until the end of the day, according to Opera.

Signup and get your free registration code if you wanted to use Opera without the banners. So far, Opera is not getting the “huge” response to the codes that it was hoping for, since it wasn’t publicized that much before today.

I took my car to one the official Honda dealerships, which also offers the Honda service center, earlier this year. I wanted to have my car checked to see if I needed any changes and have the oil changed also. I waited for about 2 hours in the waiting lounge, where I watched most of “Hotel Rwanda”, a movie that many people should see. After about 2 hours, the guy who was handling my car “case” came into the lounge and told me that my car needed several emergency repairs: a new fan belt, a new timing belt, replace the current air filter, new brake shoe pads, and new line cylinder. The total for these “critical” fixes was going to be around $749, plus tax, and would take less than 2 hours.

Thank you everyone for listening to the music; the last music file received 47 clicks and downloads [combined] as of this post. If you wish to request any song, or have any suggestions, please let me know. Next time I will put some Canadian songs [recommended by Sumin] and a funny song by one of Sumins’ friends.

Here is the song for today. It’s called “Rumors” by “Timex Social Club”, available for the next 3 days. Enjoy!

To listen to a music file, click on it and your computer should stream it properly. If you wish to save any file, simply right click on it and save it somewhere on your computer. The following file size is 4 mb and is in .mp3 format.

Rumors - Timex Social Club [expired]

• Music Type - MP3 format. Running time - 4m:29s. File Size - 4 mb.

Did you know that the McDonald’s in Canada has the maple leaf, the symbol of the Canadian flag, on the McDonad’s logo? Each and every McDonald’s logo and symbol in Canada, whether it appears on the main sign on top of a building or on a small napkin you get with your fries, has the maple leaf embedded in them.

This is to signify the respect for the Canadian culture and tradition, and also to serve as a way to identify a Canadian McDonald’s as being a Canadian place [and thus a local place] to eat, and not a place that is benefiting some other country.

I went to Denny’s with a friend in Fullerton Friday night. It was after 11 pm that we finished eating, and we had gone to the movies earlier and seen “The Cave“, which my friend found to be “cheesy.” After Denny’s, I was driving toward his house to drop him home, and on the way a motorcycle pulled in front of us and started driving at a steady pace. The rider was a very healthy fellow, and he drove the bike perfectly. We arrived at a red light, and I could see several police cars at a distance. It seemed like a check point, the random car searches or driver checks [for DUI] that the cops usually conduct. The light was red, and the biker was still in front of my car, his head looking straight ahead probably wondering about the cops. Once the light turned green, he moved a few inches slowly while tapping both his feet to the ground repeatedly. He then turned left slowly into a street, while looking at the cops a few times during the short turn. Whether he was trying to balance his weight on the motorcycle before starting to ride it again after the light had turned green, or whether he was trying to find a path away from the cops is a mystery. He made an exit from the scene basically, saving himself from the cops, while I headed toward the temporary check point.

<%pagebreak(Introduction)%>

I called SBC recently to change my dsl plans with them. I had called a local area code number to talk to someone, and thus was assuming that I would be talking to someone who lives in California. While talking to the person on the other end, I found out that he was living in Florida, and he found out through my information on his customer support screen that I was in California. He asked me how the weather in my area was, and I told him about it. I then asked him how the weather around him was like, assuming that he was in California. He said “If the line just hangs up, you’ll know that the hurricane is here now.” He was referring to Hurricane Katrina. It struck to my mind immediately that even if we call a local number, we are still connected to someone anywhere around the country, and many times outside the country. Here I’m going to briefly talk on how the outsourcing of jobs can be related to being an ethical issue not directly the results of the actions of other countries and workers overseas, how most of the companies who outsource the jobs are not acting ethically, and how to look at the situation.

I will be leaving out the issue of political relations altogether here; it may be that some politician or some agreement between two countries requires both participants to contribute something to the other country, and the U.S. may have promised some country outsourced jobs in return. That issue can hopefully be tackled by someone else at this moment. I will also leave out the issue of differentiating between different “races” and classes when giving out jobs within our societies, or the quality of the outsourcing. My main focus here will be the jobs in North America that go overseas to people who stay overseas or in other countries, without ever coming here, and thus contributing nothing to the communities here since they live abroad physically.

<%pagebreak(The issue of outsourcing)%>

Having customer support for a specific company around different time zones [and this different locations] is a good thing, as people can call at different times and always find someone helping during “certain” times. Also, it may be cheaper to have the customer support listed in different locations with varying wages than to have everyone located in one area where the payment rates may be higher. This is the main reason why companies outsource their customer support and many other things to places like Romania and India. Romania is slowly turning out to be the fastest growing sector in having jobs for American companies, thus defining the concept of outsourcing. Many people do not like the idea of having jobs being outsourced to other countries; I would not like my job, for which I may be completely qualified for, being given to someone else simply because in another country they will be paid 1/10th of what people get paid in the States. Because of this, many people hate those countries and the people in those countries, along with hating the basic concept itself.

There is one element that we usually forget to think about, the element that should be questioned instead of questioning other countries or people; the companies that oursource the jobs. HP decided to outsource the jobs overseas, and that resulted in the layoff of thousands of workers around the country. We still buy HP products though, because they are of good quality. Similarly, what would we think if we found out that the 9/11 pins sold to raise money for the families of those affected and similar other causes around the country were sold by an American company, and the 9/11 pins were made in China? Would someone who wanted to buy the pins change their minds once they find this out? They shouldn’t, actually. The cause of the sale of that single pin has nothing to do with where it was created. If people still want everything made in America, then they will have to start blaming the companies, instead of countries like China, for having so many unemployed Americans, or Americans who work at very low wages or undesirable jobs. The concept is surprisingly, though not unexpectedly, being applied to blogs also, where people are outsourcing writing content for sites to other countries. This online “outsourcing” can be a little tricky to tackle; you are allowed to hire anyone anywhere when your actions aren’t hurting an economy around you. Thus, something like a blog, which is supposed to be global and without borders, can be outsourced, and can still be classified as a “normal” and a “local” job since on the internet your target market is usually, most of the time, anyone and everyone around the world.

There is one more thing that we should keep in mind, something that should be the main principle of us deciding when outsourcing is bad, and when it isn’t. We cannot hate the idea of oursourcing completely; America cannot manufacture everything within America. Even if it could, that would destroy all the trade relations with other countries, and those countries would stop having things manufactured in America [like cars], and even stop buying all the products from America. While this result may appeal to those who consider America to be the light from the Enlightenment period, many others will avoid this result as we all have to negotiate and survive in the world together, even if it means keeping up appearances in many situations. For me, each company in the country [America, and every other country in the world] has a responsibility toward the community in which it is located, and the community that it serves. The company should not only focus on having products and having good business sales, but also on maintaining good relations with the communities around it and making sure it is benefiting those communities in an ideal situation, and at least not doing anything bad to those communities in a not so ideal situation. Thus, a company should either provide the community with more benefits than harm, or provide no harm at all, if it doesn’t provide any benefit either.

<%pagebreak(What actually happens)%>

If a company needs more workers of any kind, it has a responsibility of hiring local workers first if the required talent is present locally. CEO’s in many companies get paid hundreds of millions of dollars every year, while those same companies cut tens of thousands of jobs and outsource them to workers in other countries to save a few million dollars a year. I find this to be the most painful slap that can be “awarded” to the community that allows that company to operate within its grip. Only when the company has no “overspending” anywhere, which is not the case most of the time, including bonuses for CEO’s who on many occasions work less than any other worker in the company, can the company think of having jobs elsewhere in order to survive. Also, companies which offer services targeted at foreign markets are also acting ethically if they outsource jobs or focus on foreign markets. People wanting jobs in American companies while living in other countries are not evil; they simply want to survive also. Same is the case with America getting jobs that should have gone to workers in other countries, such as Coca-Cola wiping out the hopes of any local soda company in China [an example].

Another example is the outsourcing of jobs not to other countries, but to workers on a ship, where a San Diego based company called SeaCode offers ships that are about 3 miles from the U.S. borders, and has workers on it for hire that work on the boat. By being on a ship and outside the borders, these workers can be paid lower than the minimum wages and don’t need to be provided health plans or other necessities which American workers require. Many companies are actually using this “technique” to bypass paying more to the local workers. Are the companies that take advantage of these options acting unethical, or is it the companies like SeaCode that offer such opportunities acting unethically? Or is it both of them and the workers who work on those ships altogether acting unethically toward the society around them? While it may be hard to bring the workers, who get the jobs this way, into this circle and blame them entirely for everything related to outsourcing, companies like SeaCode and other companies that use this option should be kept in mind if we know that these companies are not contributing to the society, abusing the concept of outsourcing, and that the entire community can do even better without such options.

The American businesses need to have a balance of the jobs, just like any other business in the world; we should hire people locally, and only when we cannot find the talent locally or “absolutely” cannot find a worker within the society we reside in that would be affordable [and by searching for something affordable we also are not "overspending" in any area], can we start looking for workers elsewhere who will not migrate to our community. This is very important; it is ethically all right to hire someone and bring them here, who will in turn contribute to our local society. When it’s the issue of giving jobs to someone who resides in another country, we should know that other countries deserve a chance also, and we have a responsibility to give them jobs if those people have the talent and want the jobs; however, we have more responsibility toward the people here, around us. Only when we fulfil our ethical obligations to the people in the community we live in, can we think of our obligations to those far away from us.

However, giving the job to someone while that person benefits another society, and at the same time, taking away something from the local society which lost the job, is not beneficial for both the societies as a whole. The local society here will lose more people who go elsewhere to find a job, and the community will not benefit, and start blaming the other societies consciously and unconsciously. Those other societies, which got the job, will in turn blame the local societies here for having such a “prejudice” and when a job doesn’t go to that outside society, they will blame the local societies here [or anywhere else] for hurting their society and economy. We should know that people in other countries also have to feed themselves and their families also, they also have to buy cars and watch their televisions, and they also have to have things in life to do different things. However, if they’re given an opportunity which only benefits those workers and the company itself, and hurts the local workers or the local community which could have gotten the job [or have someone get the job and move here and thus in the end benefit the society], it is unethical in my view.

<%pagebreak(How to think about it)%>

Next time you read something about outsourcing, or run into someone who has lost their job to this concept, or you yourself have experienced this corporate phenomenon, try to focus on the cause of the problem. Other countries and the workers in those countries are playing a key role in oursourcing, but they are not forcing the companies to outsource; the companies themselves want to have more and more revenues coming in, and to do that, they cut out the workers who run the company, instead of cutting benefits or reducing the multi-million dollar salaries of those who keep getting higher pays simply because of the status of their job titles. These companies are the cause of the whole problem.

If we want to take action, it is better to not buy a product from that company than to hate other people or countries, which is one of the worst things we can do. I’m sure there are alternatives to almost every product offered here. Only when we identify the source, and let these companies know that we blame them for it and won’t buy their products or won’t support them now and in the future [or even simply complain to them by writing to them, even if we still want to buy their products], can we force these companies to be more ethical and responsible to the communities that they are living in. Just remember the simple concept; you have more responsibility in helping people around you who are right here, instead of going around the globe wanting to find other people to help which would give you some benefit, which is not a selfless act, when you already know the situation around you and have the ability to help those around you who are in need and who have shaped you also in one way or the other. The companies should follow the same principle on a bigger scale.

I received over 30 downloads for the last music file; that is nice to know. Here’s the second song. This is “Frankie Goes To Hollywood” song “Relax”, available for the next 3 days. Enjoy!

To listen to a music file, click on it and your computer should stream it properly. If you wish to save any file, simply right click on it and save it somewhere on your computer. The following file size is 3 mb and is in .mp3 format.

Relax - Frankie Goes To Hollywood [expired]

• Music Type - MP3 format. Running time - 3m:52s. File Size - 3 mb.

I didn’t know “Spoken for” had a Free for all Friday. It is like a good reward, thanking me for being a reader. The idea is simple; you, the reader, can post anything you wish on that site for a day, no strings attached. This concept should be extended to more and more sites. Imagine reading a newspaper everyday, numerous times a day, and later on being asked to write for that paper. That would be an honor for many. Here I will talk briefly on how this concept can is interesting when one wants to share the beneficial experience gained from the online world. I find it different than other similar “projects” online because this specific one does not have any requirements, requires no link back to the site itself, and can have anyone participate in it.

Do you ever take the elevator [a.k.a. lift] to go only one floor up, when the stairs are right next to where you are? Do you ever find yourself in the elevator, when you have to go to a floor that would take a lot of “effort” to take the stairs to [like the 6th floor], and then someone comes in and goes only one floor up? It’s funny to see the anger on the faces of the people when they are waiting for the elevator for several minutes at the 1st floor [ground floor for many], and when it finally comes, everyone has to wait for the elevator to stop at the 2nd floor, only one floor up, simply because someone chose to take the elevator instead of walking up about 15 steps.

The situation seems a bit less life threatening and interesting when people are going down one floor, even though going down is easier than going up. It becomes even more interesting when you think about how people consider going up “one floor” on an elevator to be a nuisance, but 2 floors up to be all right.

I got into the elevator today on the 1st floor of a building and someone had already pushed the 2nd floor button before they got out. The entire elevator was jammed with about 10 people. The elevator started with a push, and then slowed down immediately to stop at the 2nd floor. I joked “Wow, I should always take this to the 2nd floor”, and everyone looked at me as if they were going to eat me right there. I looked around at the hungry faces and quickly said “I’m just joking, really.” The “really” part put a smile back to all the faces, and a comfort to my mind that I wouldn’t be eaten inside an elevator. I continued to floor 6, while the elevator stopped at floors 3, 4 and 5.

Now that Google Talk is out, people are running to get a taste of the program. I installed it, and it’s very clean and professional. You can probably find hundreds of sites talking about it now over Google itself and how it’s a blessing from heaven; however, I’m not going to talk about the qualities of the program. I am here to talk about the trend of adopting a new piece of software, and then bashing the software that was already there.

I’ve decided to add a music section to the site, where I will offer streaming music, from my music collection, for you to listen to, and lyrics of the songs offered. Music for each post will be available for a few days. The music for today will be available for 3 days. To start off, here’s “The Golden Path” by “The Chemical Brothers”, with a running time of 4:50 [4 minutes and 50 seconds]. Enjoy!

To listen to a music file, click on it and your computer should stream it properly. If you wish to save any file, simply right click on it and save it somewhere on your computer. The following file size is 6 mb and is in .mp3 format.

The Golden Path - The Chemical Brothers [expired]

• Music Type - MP3 format. Running time - 4m:50s. File Size - 6 mb.

I get back home Sunday night around midnight from my trip to the North. I wake up early morning yesterday, a Monday, and find that the rear left tire is all flat. I didn’t know if someone put a knife in the thing or if it simply gave up because of all the weight that it was holding on its shoulders. The spare I have is already dead; I haven’t changed the spare for a long time, and that’s a big problem. I try moving the car in vain, trying to see if I can somehow get it to the nearest gas station in order to fill air in it to see if it can still be brought back to its life. I turn on the car and accelerate for about 10 seconds when I hear the sound of the metal rolling against the road. That’s not good; I get out, and see that the entire tire [rubber part] has moved inwards in such a way that it is all tangled up in one corner, the inner corner, and the metal rim is the only thing holding the car on that side.

I call AAA, which says that they “will come within 10-15 minutes”, if I “can only hold on for a second.” I hold on for about 20 minutes, and then I hear the voice of the person, who is going to help, asking me to double confirm my address. He comes 50 minutes after that phone call. The guy is very cheerful; he probably had a good breakfast and an apple to brush with. He brings the automated air pump and fills air in the tire, and behold; the tire is standing up again. I thank the guy, and he goes on his way. There is probably a small “leak” somewhere in the tire. The tire is holding up for now, though I know it’s begging for a replacement.