Unbeatable Checkers

Try and beat Chinook, the checkers program described as an "unbeatable program that will choose the best move in every possible situation."

Jonathan Schaeffe, his team and hundreds of computers have been working since 1989 to analyze all possible board combinations of checkers - roughly 500,000,000,000,000,000,000 combinations (500 quintillion) scenarios. End result, unbeatable checkers.

e3 Servers - Cancelling Account

e3 Servers - a company to avoid.

I hosted a number of sites with e3 Servers over the past two years. I had a number of issues with them (disk full notice about every other week when trying to upload new files) but put up with e3 because the price was right and moving servers/sites can be a hassle.

After the last outage I decided to bite the bullet and drop e3 as a host a I use. After a lot of searching I found an online cancellation form for e3 customers. I entered my info and hit send. Received no confirmation that my cancellation has been received and have been using the e3 Servers ticket system to try and follow up with them to make sure they have received my cancellation notice and will cancel my account prior to next billing cycle. Surely they respond to their own ticket system, right?




Ok, so maybe not. I guess asking for a response from a company I've spent thousands with over the past few years in unreasonable...

Looks like I'll just work with my credit card company to make sure e3 doesn't get paid. Doesn't look like the folks at e3 Servers care one way or the other.

Study: Multiple Stab Wounds May Be Harmful To Monkeys

What more needs to be said?


Study: Multiple Stab Wounds May Be Harmful To Monkeys

Flip a Coin Online

http://www.random.org/coins/

You even get to choose the coin.

Smashing Pumpkins - Tarantula

SNL: Chris Rock's Road to the White House 08

Ursula Mayes

Noticed over the past few days people have arrived here looking for Ursala Mayes. I'm not Ursala and until yesterday (after I looked her up) I had no idea who Ursala Mayes was. Since people arrive here looking for her and I don't like to disappoint....

According to her bio Ursala Mayes was born on August 9th on a military base in Seoul, South Korea.

Ursala Mayes is currently a spokesmodel (never heard that term before...) for Global Events Company. She's also the host for Action Media and interviews stars, musicians and other famous people of interest. Ursala also appears on the widely popular television show, Deal or no Deal as suitcase model #5. Ursala has also appeared in a number of magazines including Maxim, People & Muscle and Fitness.




For more information about Ursala Mayes please visit the following:

- Official Ursula Mayes Site
- Google Images of Ursula Mayes (safe search on)
- Google News Results for Ursula Mayes
- Ursula Mayes on Flickr
- Ursala Mayes on Maxim
- IGN Interview with Ursala Mayes
- Ursula Mayes on YouTube
- Ursula Mayes Images on Yahoo
- Ursula Mayes Wallpaper
- Ursula on MySpace

This post was created July 11 and scheduled to post July 12.

Free DVD Backup Software

I came across this free dvd backup program a few years back. Is it the best dvd backup software out there....probably not. Is it pretty good for a small, free app...yea. It's features include:

-Easy to use user interface
-No complicated settings to worry about
-Rip a DVD movie in as little as one click of the mouse
-Selectable output to VCD, XVCD, SVCD & XSVCD compliant files
-Ripping of any program chain on the DVD
-Selectable output to either a Bin/Cue image or Mpeg files
-Automatic Chapter points in your (X)(S)VCD when outputting to a Bin/Cue Image
-Fit a full movie on one CD-R in XVCD or XSVCD mode
-Rip DVD files for conversion at a later time

Enjoy.

Geek Squad Caught Stealing Porn from Customers Computer

Consumerist really nailed them...set up a PC to record itself and caught a Geek Squad tech guy copying porn to his personal hard drive.

Shipping a Gaming PC

It doesn't cost $200 dollars to ship a gaming PC via UPS ground....ever. Voodoo seems to disagree.

I was ready to make a pretty expensive PC purchase until I realized the cheapest shipping option was over $200. What a rip off...

How to Cancel Powweb Hosting Online

Over the past few years I've used a website host called powweb for a few small side projects. As those projects get retired I've been cancelling the hosting or moving them to other various servers I own or rent.

Anyways, cancelling a powweb hosting account is a pain. All of the options they give you for cancelling involve calling someone who's job must be doing whatever they can to prevent you from cancelling. In my opinion if I can setup a new account and get everything going without speaking a human on the phone (which you can with powweb) then I should be able to cancel the service online as well....and of course that's not the case with powweb....unless you're persistent.

About two months ago I came across an unpublished url that allows you to submit a cancellation to powweb online. To submit a powweb hosting cancellation online click here.

After you submit that form you'll get an e-mail telling you that you have to call them in order to cancel...which is not true. Here's a copy of the e-mail exchange that covers the first account I cancelled online with them:

Me: I need to cancel the hosting package associated with website link removed.

Powweb: Thank you for contacting us.We are sorry to hear that you wish to cancel your account ‘link removed’. Is there a specific reason why you are canceling your account? Perhaps if we knew why you were canceling we could work something out so that PowWeb could better suit your needs.

In order to discontinue your services, we will need for you to contact our Billing Department at 866-476-9932 or 902-367-3369. Our Billing Department is available Monday - Friday 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM Eastern Time.We hope that you consider PowWeb for your future web hosting needs.If you have any further questions, you can e-mail us seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

Me: Why do I need to call someone to cancel? I didn't need to call anyone to set the account up.

Powweb: Thank you for your reply. Per our cancellation policy we will need for you to contact our Billing Department at 866-476-9932. International customers can call us at 902-367-3369. We ask customer's to call us for 2 reasons:

1. We'd like the opportunity to speak with you about your account, your Web site and your experience with PowWeb.

2. We always like to confirm the identity of the person canceling to be sure that no mistakes are made.

If you cannot get in touch with us by phone, you can complete the form located at http://members.powweb.com/webControl/signoff.bml .

Now I found that pretty amusing...sending me the link to the form I had already filled out to cancel the account....which by the way you have to be logged in to powweb to complete. When I filled out the form I indicated it was a client site and that client is not longer in business...and the domaain that was associated with that account had already been cancelled.

My response: Please just cancel the account. I've given the reason already and don't have time to listen to someone try and "sell" me on staying with powweb over the phone.

Powweb:Thank you for following up with us.

Per your request, I have scheduled your account ‘link removed’ for deletion on May 18, 2007. Your account will be deleted on the scheduled date. We regret losing your business and hope you will consider PowWeb Web Hosting in the future.If you have any further questions, you can e-mail us seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

I never really had any big issues with powweb from a host/service point of view but have to say making me jump through hoops to cancel left a bad taste in my mouth. When you go to cancel your powweb account just remember you can complete the process online regardless of what powweb tells you. They just want you to call so they can sell you on staying.

Suits Suck

"Now I understand some people think wearing a suit provides them with a certain level of stature. It gives them confidence. It helps them feel good about themselves. Well let me be the first to tell you that if you feel like you need a suit to gain that confidence, you got problems. The minute you open your mouth, all those people who might think you have a great suit, forget about the suit and have to deal with the person wearing it."

That's from here.

Empire Earth III

Screens for EEIII look pretty cool....I know how I'll be spending part of my fall 2007.

First Post

Welcome to JeremyMayes.com. I have a few other focused blogs but wanted one where I could just post about whatever happens to be on my radar at the moment.

Disclaimer: things I post here are my opinion and my opinion alone. The views posted here do not reflect the views of my employer, employees, mother, father, brother or my dogs. In other words the only person responsible for what's posted here is me, Jeremy Mayes.

Welcome to JeremMayes.com. Enjoy your stay...or not. That's up to you.