Workin' on the Chain Gang

SHOULD I JOIN A CHAIN GANG?

One thing I've heard about from time to time on the various travel documentaries I've been watching is the importance of having a chain to wrap your bags in and chain them to somewhere. I realize it is to keep some dude from grabbing it and running off. I'm thinking that with the locks I've got I can lock the straps to something to prevent that. I'm thinking if someone has a knife, they can get into whatever they want unless I've got the whole thing wrapped in chains like a cocoon. I don't think I can carry that much chain though. Whenever I'm watching these travelogs the host always has a really small pack or a normal pack that looks half filled. I know they have a camera crew with them but I really wonder how they pack stuff. I've read different things on packing stuff and tried to keep it light but I'm beginning to suspect I'm going to be dumping shit once I get out on the road.



MINI RUSSIA

This is an interesting country. I'm going to have to get better at my 'bribery' skill before I work on getting into there I think.



MAIL

I've been working on getting all of my mail stopped. It's pretty tricky to make sure everything is moved to the new place that will be taking in my mail. I had sent an e-mail to my parents telling them it would be awhile before I had a new address. They were very confused and wanted to know what I meant. I reminded them that they had requested I not tell them when I was doing anything they considered 'crazy' (pretty much everything I consider interesting) until I am back/done with doing it. Since then, they haven't contacted me. I suspect they are worried. Again.



HITCHHIKING

Did you know they even have a Hitchwiki? That's frigging weird. I wouldn't have thought there was such a resource but who knows - it might come in handy.



CLAYMORE MINES

It is important to know how to use a claymore mine correctly.



SIGNS

Americanization within other countries is not always a good thing.



PROTESTERS

Who says that people who worship Cthulhu are uneducated cultists? Some are too educated for their own good.



BLAME

Whenever there is a doubt as to who is behind the evil plot, always look for the fat old white guy with the money.



REPLY FROM SMART.FM

"Hi Logan,

Thank you for your feedback. We can understand how some users would prefer that we tried a donation or advertising model, but we feel the paid service model is the approach that will allow us to provide the best service for our users.

Regarding the new site, there will be many improvements made and new features added over the next few months. As a Smart.fm user, you can use the new iKnow! service for free until March 31, 2011. We invite you to take advantage of this free trial period. We'd also love to hear your ideas about ways to make iKnow! a better service.

Regarding content, the vast majority of the content studied on the site is actually created by Cerego, not Smart.fm users, and the focus of the new site is on official Cerego content, not content created by users.

Best,
Russell Moench"

My thoughts I did not bother to tell him as it seems they've made up their mind. When someone says things like "We can understand how some users would prefer that we tried a donation or advertising model, but we feel the paid service model is the approach that will allow us to provide the best service for our users." you know they are out of touch and full of shit. All of the content I've been using seems to have been made by (and some angrily taken down by) the users themselves. Their new 'best service' model is slower than the old model and a bit more buggy. This leads me to believe the guy who wrote me is full of shit. I'm thinking they are going to fail in the online business world when competing against so much free stuff for a $144 per year charge. Pity.



SILHOUETTE

Had an excellent game session on Friday and put up a new addition to the gaming podcast. For those who don't know about it, it can be found here.