Category Archives: Random Sips

Do you know how amazing this is?

Google is about to shake the wireless game up.  They will have the best networks and fastest internet ever when they combine forces with some of the wireless carriers!

They will basically make everyone else step their game waaaaay up and the wireless market will become even more competitive and better for the consumer because everyone will want your business for a bigger slice of the wireless pie.

I can’t wait to see what comes down the pipe with Google in the mix.

Stay tuned!

http://www.cnet.com/news/googles-pichai-confirms-wireless-service-says-it-wont-be-at-scale/

🙂 Phee

Article from cnet.com.

Pic from digitaltrends.com.

If you missed it, Walmart decided to raise their minimum wage for its workers to at least $9 an hour.  I was like, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.  Woooooo Hoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  LOL

I love me some Walmart but I also know they have had their fair share of not paying workers appropriately, discriminating against women, not paying people for all the hours they work, and offering shotty benefit plans.  As much money as they get from me alone, they should be able to pay more than a minimum $9 to be honest BUT we’re making strides with them.

Once the giant took a step, other companies decided to follow suit.  The article that I came across below from Yahoo Finance shows that TJ Maxx and Marshall’s will increase their minimums to at least $9 as well.

I love it!  It’s about time they ALL do something.  Now the fast food chains need to jump on board because they’ve been making money hand over fist at the same time paying people less than nothing.   Pretty soon people at McDonald’s will be making $20 an hour.  Hopefully then, that gives them an incentive so that they can get my freakin order right.

🙂 Phee

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tj-maxx-marshalls-wal-mart-160801317.html

Feature pic from money.cnn.com.

Hi Cocoa Drops.

I have a serious issue to draw your attention to.

With the increase of cell phone usage and abandonment of having landlines in the home, it is sometimes difficult for 9-1-1 operators to know where a person is when they make an urgent call for help.  Last night there was an expose on 11Alive about this exact subject.  I found their article I want you to read when you get a chance at the bottom of this post.

Basically, you have to be sitting under a cell phone tower for them to be able to pick up your location but they can still be wrong about where you are.  The reporter in the expose literally called the 9-1-1 call center while IN THE call center and they picked up his location down the street somewhere!  He was in the building and they couldn’t pick up his location.  SMH

Here in Alpharetta, GA,(outlined in the article) a lady was driving in the wee hours of the morning delivering newspapers and she ran off the road into a pond of water.  She called 9-1-1 on her cell and told the dispatcher exactly where she was with the name of the street and everything but they could not locate her.  I was like, why can’t they use Google maps?  Google maps is accurate as all get out.  I’ve found my boyfriends every time I track them off google maps.  LOL.  I’m kidding.?  Seriously though, the 9-1-1 center could’ve used Google but she just didn’t and I was so upset to find this out because one little decision could have saved a life.  Isn’t that what 9-1-1 is here for?  The article says the call center is discouraged from using the app since it’s not linked to their computer software but sometimes you have to do what you have to do, point blank PERIOD!  What, are you going to get fired for saving someone?  If I were in the family, I’d have Gloria Allred on the line and sue the call center immediately for something that can be coordinated and should be for everyone.

Personally, I had a similar issue when I lived in Birmingham, AL.  I called 9-1-1 from my home but I got routed to the call center based on the county I pay 9-1-1 taxes to, not where I actually lived at the time.  I got transferred 2 times and finally to the right county but if I had a serious, serious emergency, I might have been dead by the time they got to me.

I always wondered why we can’t text 9-1-1 but during my research I found out that there IS text to 9-1-1 available in certain areas.    In order for us to be able to text 9-1-1 there have to be stations called Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) set up and they are not everywhere yet.  Click this link and go to “available here” to download the spreadsheet of the PSAPs to see if you have one nearby http://www.fcc.gov/text-to-911 . This will be great for all areas because then you can alert the police without putting the phone to your ear or if you can’t talk, its even better!  This website gives a lot of information regarding text to 9-1-1 and the progress it’s making in the United States.

Either way, we still need to address the need for 9-1-1 call centers to accurately pinpoint a person in need within a reasonable response time when they use their mobile device or computer.

http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/investigations/2015/01/31/911-location-problems-/22645139/

🙂 Phee

Pic from floridasoftwater.com.

Article from 11alive by Brendan Keefe and Phillip Kish, WXIA.