anyone else having trouble receiving sms from megafone mobile in moscow?

[native 0]

ok its sunday,day 5 of "the no sms saga" today lena tried even using friends mobile with different provider to sms me on tmobile.. same problem,i didnt recieve sms. tomorow she will call megafon as instructed by them on friday. tea and honey, are you guys still having problems?

[Bobalouie 0]

ok its sunday,day 5 of "the no sms saga" today lena tried even using friends mobile with different provider to sms me on tmobile.. same problem,i didnt recieve sms. tomorow she will call megafon as instructed by them on friday. tea and honey, are you guys still having problems?

Here is a trick to try for you. Go to an AT&T store and tell them you are thinking of switching service and that you want to make sure that SMS works internationally. All the phones on the display floor are usually fully functional. Send her an SMS from an AT&T phone and tell her to reply to that number. Then you will be able to see if it is really a problem with Tmobile.

[slim 1,533]

Good idea, Bobalouie.

I still remember angry grown men getting in fights in the long gas lines back during one of those mysterious gas shortages we had almost 3 decades ago.

The "50 years until the s**t hit's the fan" scenario is being discussed a lot lately around global warming worst case. If we fight over who gets their tank filled next, think how we'll behave when the food chain breaks down and the power grid craps out.

Just recently Ted Turner was quoted as saying in 50 years we all become cannibals due to global warming. I don't care much for Ted but maybe he's not too nutty to see the dark possibilities. And things we be very bad way before we start digesting each other.

When the streets go dirty and mean, the soft white collar males aren't going to have a clue, and by then we'll all have our guns taken away by socialist-progressive government agencies (like the San Francisco and DC city governments) so we can neither hunt the little remaining game there is or protect our homes and families when the roaming hoard of crazed people decides we're their next barbecue selection.

And if the Al Queida forces have it their way, things could get nasty out on the streets a lot sooner.

So we better enjoy all the techno goodies while we can...and maybe stash some food, water and guns under the porch...to buy us a few extra weeks before the end.

Ted Turner could be nutty, but he definitely has the resources to be well prepared for any contingency. I'm just wondering if that wife of his will turn him in or make him surrender.

Another interesting thing happened last week. The Supreme Court ruled DC's handgun ban unconstitutional. I've yet to hear the aftermath, but with Mr. Heston gone now, seems like his life's work might have actually done something.

Every generation has its doomsday scenario. It was the "red scare" in the 50's and 60's, it was nuclear holocaust in the 70's and 80's, it was terrorism in the 90's (nuclear terrorism, specifically) and 00's (back to plain 'ol driving airplanes into buildings), and now it looks like the energy shortage will be the new scare. And while I certainly am completely on board with global warming as a reality, and that the world's oil supply is in much worse shape than anyone is telling us, I see cannibals and Al Queda running amok in the streets about as likely as muppets running amok in the streets. (for starters, oil is what funds Al Queda. Without oil there is no Al Queda.) I see the government taking our guns even more unlikely, because no President, not even Hillary, would be stupid enough to basically force this country into civil war. Hell, even if we lived in bizarro universe and Ralph Nader tried to take your guns away, congress would not only stop it, but probably impeach.

But one of these generations is actually going to have a doomsday scenario. If not to that extent, there's going to at least be civil strife at minimum or full unrest and social breakdown leading up to and/or immediately after an incident. And as seanconneryii said above, there are going to be those prepared, and those unprepared.

I went to a gun show this weekend and they had a "Hillary special" on AK-47 magazines. "Don't look back a few years from now saying 'I wish I would've bought 'em when I had the chance.'" I agree with you though, there won't be a politician that will single-handedly influence the govt. enough to disarm the population. They'll restrict hi-caps and certain weapons like they did before, but they'll never "pry this gun from my cold, dead, fingers." If society continues the way it is, they won't need to. In 50 years when we're all cannibals in response to the global warming fiasco, no one will know how to use a gun anyway because guns are dangerous and "bad."

As for all your doomsday scenarios, man is creative, we'll survive, adapt and cope.

Some men will. The others will simply "wait" for someone to save them, and "hope" themselves and their families make it.

[native 0]

but with Mr. Heston gone now, seems like his life's work might have actually done something.

Yeah, shame about that. Great actor, loved his movies. Hate the NRA. (flame away boys, I'm a gun owner too but the NRA will never see a dime from me.)

Every generation has its doomsday scenario.

But one of these generations is actually going to have a doomsday scenario.

Yeah, well every generation has been saying that too. Ever since cavemen took to writing, there's been a kook on the street corner with a sign saying "The End is near!" So enjoy your survival training, I'll be sitting here in Starbucks with my triple-shot carmel iced macchiato with sprinkles (light on the foam please) pretending to be all intellectual and stuff while surfing pr0n on my Macbook.

uhhhhh,i have no response to that.....and i think its working now, after i finally got tmobile to admit they are the problem, not russia is as always assumed. they wouldnt even check into it until more people called with same issue. fartknockers.

i called my buddy,had lena send his att mobile sms,he recieved her SMS no problem,and that proved they had poop on their faces. i called and bitched,nuff said. its like every disease always seems to come from africa right?- WRONG. katastrofa.

[native 0]

but with Mr. Heston gone now, seems like his life's work might have actually done something.

Yeah, shame about that. Great actor, loved his movies. Hate the NRA. (flame away boys, I'm a gun owner too but the NRA will never see a dime from me.)

Every generation has its doomsday scenario.

But one of these generations is actually going to have a doomsday scenario.

Yeah, well every generation has been saying that too. Ever since cavemen took to writing, there's been a kook on the street corner with a sign saying "The End is near!" So enjoy your survival training, I'll be sitting here in Starbucks with my triple-shot carmel iced macchiato with sprinkles (light on the foam please) pretending to be all intellectual and stuff while surfing pr0n on my Macbook.

uhhhhh,i have no response to that.....and i think its working now, after i finally got tmobile to admit they are the problem, not russia is as always assumed. they wouldnt even check into it until more people called with same issue. fartknockers.

i called my buddy,had lena send his att mobile sms,he recieved her SMS no problem,and that proved they had poop on their faces. i called and bitched,nuff said. its like every disease always seems to come from africa right?- WRONG. katastrofa.

[Bobalouie 0]

Another interesting thing happened last week. The Supreme Court ruled DC's handgun ban unconstitutional. I've yet to hear the aftermath, but with Mr. Heston gone now, seems like his life's work might have actually done something.

Slim, I think you are thinking of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals decision. The Supreme court agreed to hear the case and oral arguments were made on March 18th, but they are not expected to rule on the case until June or July. I just did a quick google and couldnt find anything that said that they upheld the DC circuit court's decision yet. Although I hope they will.

[visaveteran1 33]

I'm not as confident we'll always have the right to bear arms. England and Australia (countries very much like us) have total gun bans including confiscation. Of course, crime has soared in both countries but they're disarmed. Must be reassuring to a burglar or home invader that he (she?) can enter any home and be certain he (she?) won't be shot.

It starts out slowly...like the total gun bans in San Francisco and DC. Maryland is also very anti-gun as is New Jersey and NY. The more modern soft males get away from handling guns, the more they fear them and want to ban them. The men in this country who know how to handle a handgun or rifle is certainly in the minority i would think.

I think the clock is ticking on the 2nd amendment. I hope I'm wrong. As someone said, citizens without guns become "subjects."

[visaveteran1 33]

I have Verizon and I can not send or receive SMS. Given how big a company it is, I find that very annoying.

I have Verizon and I can not send or receive SMS. Given how big a company it is, I find that very annoying.

To Russia that is...

[eekee 182]

I hate verizon and their stupid proprietary software and CDMA phones. my family all has verizon and they pay so much more for less than me on t mobile. Even if their calls are clearer, my other stuff is so much better. Even if i can't text russian phones.

I have Verizon and I can not send or receive SMS. Given how big a company it is, I find that very annoying.

I have Verizon and I can not send or receive SMS. Given how big a company it is, I find that very annoying.

To Russia that is...

[slim 1,533]

but with Mr. Heston gone now, seems like his life's work might have actually done something.

Yeah, shame about that. Great actor, loved his movies. Hate the NRA. (flame away boys, I'm a gun owner too but the NRA will never see a dime from me.)

I won't go so far as to say I hate the NRA, but I'm not a member and am kind of apprehensive to join any "political" group. After all, some say it was the NRA's push that got us our wonderful President we have today. I don't see how that's money well spent.

But, on the flip side, I really don't see anyone else standing up for the 2nd Amendment, so maybe $25/year isn't too bad to ensure that someone's out there supporting it. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when we need to pay someone to ensure our Constitutional rights are upheld. But, that's America.

So enjoy your survival training, I'll be sitting here in Starbucks with my triple-shot carmel iced macchiato with sprinkles (light on the foam please) pretending to be all intellectual and stuff while surfing pr0n on my Macbook.

I'm all for sitting at Starbucks doing the wonderful things you've described (caramel iced macchiatos are the bomb!) but I wouldn't be comfortable sitting there doing that without first sizing up those around me, locating all exits/entries, identifying possible weapons and formulating contingency plans in my head. Call it a trained response, but it's automatic. I won't say it's going to save my life someday, but I will say I'm going to fare better than someone who doesn't do those things when something does happen.

Slim, I think you are thinking of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals decision. The Supreme court agreed to hear the case and oral arguments were made on March 18th, but they are not expected to rule on the case until June or July. I just did a quick google and couldnt find anything that said that they upheld the DC circuit court's decision yet. Although I hope they will.

OK. I just caught a snippet of it on the radio and didn't hear any outcome of the rulings. (Probably because they haven't been ruled on yet.) Either way, at least the DC Circuit Court of Appeals is pulling their heads out of their @$$es and leaning in the right direction, finally! The part that I heard said they ruled the ban on the right to own a handgun in a private residence violated the 2A right to keep and bear arms as an individual right. The Supreme Court had previously not used 2A in terms of individual rights, moreover a collective right to keep arms by all individuals. The reason they (on the radio) were touting this ruling as so important was that this was the first time the Supreme Court was actually recognizing an individual right to keep and bear arms as being protected under 2A. We'll see what happens. Could make for a very interesting election and post-election.

"Sorry Hillary, you can't take 'em away now, they're covered under the 2nd Amendment."

I'm not as confident we'll always have the right to bear arms. England and Australia (countries very much like us) have total gun bans including confiscation. Of course, crime has soared in both countries but they're disarmed. Must be reassuring to a burglar or home invader that he (she?) can enter any home and be certain he (she?) won't be shot.

America has had a somewhat different relationship with firearms than England and Australia. We were also founded by a group of Riflemen who's main mission, once establishing freedom for everyone, was to secure and protect it. They didn't really have that there.

As for gun control/crime statistics even being related, there are pros and cons on each side. Always a conflicting figure. Always evidence to back up this side or that side. But, when it comes down to it, and the cons are outside, as in outside your front door, would you rather have a gun or no gun. And of course, the main selling point for anti-gunners has always been "less guns = less crime" with the counterpoint being "only law-abiding citizens comply with gun laws." Criminals don't turn in their guns.

It starts out slowly...like the total gun bans in San Francisco and DC. Maryland is also very anti-gun as is New Jersey and NY. The more modern soft males get away from handling guns, the more they fear them and want to ban them. The men in this country who know how to handle a handgun or rifle is certainly in the minority i would think.

Although I don't think it's a minority yet... I agree that it's getting there. As is the amount of males that can change their own flat tires, throw a baseball, run a mile, and defend themselves from someone attempting to cause death or serious bodily harm to them or their families.

But they sure can play a fake guitar!

The one good thing going for gun ownership is the 2nd Amendment is federal. Sure, they can ban guns in NYC or DC, or wherever. But, as long as there are places like Texas and Wyoming, guns will never completely go away. Elected officials from those places get a lot of money to ensure they don't just disappear. (See above about where that $25 NRA "contribution" goes.)

I think the clock is ticking on the 2nd amendment. I hope I'm wrong. As someone said, citizens without guns become "subjects."

I think the clock is ticking on America. As you said, the more modern soft males we get, the more fear we get. The more fear we get, the more we want to pretend bad things do not exist. Sometimes bad things need to be done and once they stop being done, there's no longer an environment for the modern soft male to exist in. Good luck with the hair gel, buddy. Oh, and you forgot your purse.

[shikarnov 7]

Speaking as a "soft" male whose only experience with a gun was noting that a US police officer was prepared to draw his at the first flinch during a routine traffic stop, it seems clear to me that these weapons should not be banned. The founders of the country drew up the second amendment, not to ensure that we can pick off home invaders (although that's not a bad ability to have), but to form a militia if there's ever a need to mount a serious resistance movement to an oppressive government or foreign invasion.

Given the current state of American politics and power, I'd say all the fire under which the Second Amendment is coming is yet another symptom of our Nanny State gaining more and more power. We've already sacrificed too many rights in the name of "security." Some day people are going to wake up and realize what we've lost, but by that point protests and marches may not help. Some day a real revolution may become necessary. And what will those people fight with?

Z

[eekee 182]

But I find the whole thing laughable. It's not our government we need to worry about, at least not directly. It's corporate America. They have bought and paid for you, and me, and everyone else in this country. We'll never rise up against the machine while we have our iPods and our iced coffees and our cell phones that we can play games on and upload photos to Myspace with. While we're screaming about our rights to bear arms, corporate America is taking you out with cheap plastic goods from China. And they'll take your 50 gallon drum of fudge ripple you got from Wal Mart from your cold, chubby hands.

[shikarnov 7]

Some day a real revolution may become necessary. And what will those people fight with?

The Army has tanks and cruise missiles and rocket launchers and, if it really came to it, tactical nukes. Your hunting rifle, or even assault rifle, isn't going to make a spit of difference if it really came down to it. (and for what it's worth, it's ridiculous to think that it would ever come down to that.)

But I find the whole thing laughable. It's not our government we need to worry about, at least not directly. It's corporate America. They have bought and paid for you, and me, and everyone else in this country. We'll never rise up against the machine while we have our iPods and our iced coffees and our cell phones that we can play games on and upload photos to Myspace with. While we're screaming about our rights to bear arms, corporate America is taking you out with cheap plastic goods from China. And they'll take your 50 gallon drum of fudge ripple you got from Wal Mart from your cold, chubby hands.

Let's not forget that corporations that operate in the United States, although your concerns about them are valid, are still beholden to US laws. That they've been able to buy our politicians so easily speaks volumes about the state of our government. The solution to the corporate problem is with a government run by and for people.

That the wealthy and powerful people who run corporations and have bought our government might not want to willingly and peacefully relinquish the power they've amassed over time seems ridiculous to you? The Constitution was formed after a violent and bloody revolution. It was left incomplete and changeable because the founders understood that the future cannot be easily predicted.

A tyrannical US government was a possibility they feared, and that's they included provisions that made it difficult for any single part of the government to gain such strength. Over the years of my lifetime, the government has been slowly erasing the barriers to creating power. More privileges are being concentrated with the Executive. Oversight powers are being ceded by the Legislative. Within the Executive, we've concentrated agencies that were rightly separated to protect against the unrestricted sharing of information.

The only thing ridiculous here is the total faith that you seem to have, that a corrupt government will always yield to the screaming of pundits and talking heads on TV, or chanting around the Reflection Pool.

Z

[slim 1,533]

Speaking as a "soft" male whose only experience with a gun was noting that a US police officer was prepared to draw his at the first flinch during a routine traffic stop, it seems clear to me that these weapons should not be banned. The founders of the country drew up the second amendment, not to ensure that we can pick off home invaders (although that's not a bad ability to have), but to form a militia if there's ever a need to mount a serious resistance movement to an oppressive government or foreign invasion.

Given the current state of American politics and power, I'd say all the fire under which the Second Amendment is coming is yet another symptom of our Nanny State gaining more and more power. We've already sacrificed too many rights in the name of "security." Some day people are going to wake up and realize what we've lost, but by that point protests and marches may not help. Some day a real revolution may become necessary. And what will those people fight with?

Z

Excellent post, Z. And by the way, not having gun experience is not what makes you "soft", it's the hair gel and purse coupled with the lack of knowledge and experience doing "manly things" such as changing a tire or playing catch. Even if that's not your forte, the fact that you can identify with the need to do "manly things" if necessary could, in fact, make you not "soft." (I have a feeling you're probably not a "soft" guy. Russia is not a place for "soft" guys to thrive.)

Some day a real revolution may become necessary. And what will those people fight with?

The Army has tanks and cruise missiles and rocket launchers and, if it really came to it, tactical nukes. Your hunting rifle, or even assault rifle, isn't going to make a spit of difference if it really came down to it. (and for what it's worth, it's ridiculous to think that it would ever come down to that.)

But I find the whole thing laughable. It's not our government we need to worry about, at least not directly. It's corporate America. They have bought and paid for you, and me, and everyone else in this country. We'll never rise up against the machine while we have our iPods and our iced coffees and our cell phones that we can play games on and upload photos to Myspace with. While we're screaming about our rights to bear arms, corporate America is taking you out with cheap plastic goods from China. And they'll take your 50 gallon drum of fudge ripple you got from Wal Mart from your cold, chubby hands.

Agreed also, but once again, technology only takes you so far! What good are tanks without fuel and preventative maintenance? What good are cruise missiles without software? And in true 2A spirit, a "militia" with hunting and assault rifles would never have to fight the Army because the government would never be powerful enough to send the Army against it's own people making up the militia. Just having the bomb is enough to never have to use it (again.) Having enough of the population with hunting and assault rifles to comprise a "militia" is also enough to never have to use them.

But, I'm in full agreement with you, as long as we're fat, dumb, and happy, that's the furthest thing from our minds. But, also once again, what happens when we're no longer able to be fat, dumb, and happy?

[shikarnov 7]

Excellent post, Z. And by the way, not having gun experience is not what makes you "soft", it's the hair gel and purse coupled with the lack of knowledge and experience doing "manly things" such as changing a tire or playing catch. Even if that's not your forte, the fact that you can identify with the need to do "manly things" if necessary could, in fact, make you not "soft." (I have a feeling you're probably not a "soft" guy. Russia is not a place for "soft" guys to thrive.)

You're absolutely right about Russia not being a place for soft guys to thrive. If I was soft before going, spending two years there certainly would have done me in.

And, for the record (and because I feel the manly need to campaign for myself a bit), I can change tires just fine, play catch, wire a house from top to bottom, etc. I can't shoot hoops for beans, however.

Z