Author: DOuG pRATt

Going Mobile

Donald’s never-ending product announcements. At best they fail. It’s just as likely they never appear, as I suspect will happen with the Trump Phone.

The Trump Mobile phone is nowhere to be found

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/the-trump-mobile-phone-is-nowhere-to-be-found-after-months-of-delay/ar-AA1R2fpx

A small-time family business like Trump’s, lacking any sort of technical proficiency, has zero ability to develop and deploy smartphones and mobile services. So, this is just another exercise in branding, with Trump’s name slapped on somebody else’s product. But Who?

Speaking of technology… I disabled WiFi on my phone, placing it on the LTE/5G network. When I opened the Verizon Home app, I shouldn’t have been able to log onto my router and see the devices on my home network. Except I can.

WAN Remote Administration is always enabled, at least when using Verizon Home. While I’m in the process of dealing with Verizon about this serious security vulnerability, I’m looking into options from replacing the router to installing a filtering bridge.

The Sewer Saga – 3

Thanks to the intervention of my employer, the closing went through for the purchase of my present house, with only one more snag in the process. The lawyer had to fix a problem he found with the original filing of the deed in land court. It was in my favor, adding a nice chunk of woods to the back of the property. I own it up to that distant stonewall. That stream is dry during most of the year.

Now, about the sale of my first house. As I explained before, my septic system had failed, but I’d been told the street was on the town’s schedule for a sewer line extension. We spent the next year keeping our water usage low and the septic tank pumped out.

I was relieved to receive a bill from the town for an $800 betterment fee (equivalent to $1600 today), because that made it official. Hooray! Every property owner who was eligible for a sewer hookup had to pay the fee, whether or not they chose to connect.

I attended a town meeting about the sewer project, where people complained about having to pay the one-time fee, regardless of their need or interest in not needing Rid-X. Having a flashback to the many city council and school committee meetings I’d attended as a radio reporter, I stood up and did what I couldn’t do as a reporter. I stated an opinion.

“The sewer is good for our property values. My septic system has failed, and connecting to the sewer will cost a tenth of what it would be to replace it. Many houses in town with septic systems date back to the Fifties. Eventually, they’ll all fail. $800 may be a lot of money to pay all at once, but they said you can pay $200 quarterly, with your property tax bills. We need to do this.”

It was my George Bailey moment.

What I didn’t say was that we were selling and leaving! Longtime friends who lived in town called to say they saw my little speech on cable TV. My friends were comfortable living there, but we weren’t a good fit.

Too Much and Not Enough

We are now in the Second Gilded Age, once again dominated by billionaires and scandals involving teenage girls.

“Gibson Girl” Evelyn Nesbit

True story, Word of Honor:

Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer now dead, and I were at a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island.

I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel to know that our host only yesterday may have made more money than your novel ‘Catch-22’ has earned in its entire history?”

And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”

And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?”

And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”

Not bad! Rest in peace!”

— Kurt Vonnegut in The New Yorker, 2005

Frontline has updated their “Born Poor” series.