Anyone out there use Vonage in Canada?

When I move in October, I’m thinking of switching my ISP to Rogers Cable and using Vonage for my phone service. It’d save a couple bucks, and it’s got that early-adopter draw.

The basic plan comes with everything you would have to pay extra for at Bell (call display, call return, call answer, call forwarding, call transfer, call block, 3-way calling, call waiting…) – and long distance and international calling are incredibly cheap.

And the fact that you can take your phone anywhere you go that has a broadband connection and make and receive local calls for your area code simply rocks. For example, say you’re visiting family in Toronto, but have business to take care of in Ottawa during your stay. You can bring your Ottawa phone with you and plug it into a broadband connection and make and receive calls from your Ottawa number (all calls to Ottawa would be considered local).

Another cool feature is adding Virtual Phone Numbers – so if you live in Ottawa, but have lots of family in Toronto, you could have a virtual number added to your account with a Toronto Area Code. So you’d have an Ottawa number for your residence, but you’d also have a local number in Toronto that your family could call and ring the same line.

There’s lots more cool benefits and features – check out the site. I’m sure there are some cons as well… I’ll be sure to report back here if I decide to make a switch and let everyone know how it goes… in the meantime, anyone else out there have any experience with a similar setup?

Got a Headphone fetish? Yep, there’s a site for you: pictures of girls wearing headphones.

Bear guzzles 36 beers, passes out at campground. Apparently the bear found his way into a campsite and used his teeth and claws to open the cans and chugged down all the campers’ beer. Rangers chased the bear away, but it returned the next day and they had to set a trap using some doughnuts, honey and more beer as bait.

Transcripts of OnStar Service Conversations Not Selected for Commercials

From the Athens 2004 Hyperlink Policy:

For your protection and ours we have established a procedure for parties wishing to introduce a link to the ATHENS 2004 website on their site. By introducing a link to the ATHENS 2004 official Website on your site you are agreeing to comply with the ATHENS 2004 Website General Terms and Conditions. In order to place a link embedded in copy interested parties should:

a) Use the term ATHENS 2004 only, and no other term as the text referent

b) Not associate the link with any image, esp. the ATHENS 2004 Emblem (see paragraph below)

c) Send a request letter to the Internet Department stating:

* Short description of site

* Reason for linking

* Unique URL containing the link (if no unique URL than just the main URL)

* Publishing period

* Contact point (e-mail address)

Once the request has been mailed, interested parties can proceed to include the link and will only receive a response if ATHENS 2004 does not accept the link. All requests should be sent to…

Metafilter, Sportsfilter and Monkeyfilter all had something to say about it.

You be the judge.

Hey, if 51-year-old Katherine Sandlin and 64-year-old Patijé Mills can do it, surely you can… get a better browser!

When Elvis Met Nixon is an exhibit at the US National Archives detailing Elvis’ visit to the White House in 1970. The meeting was initiated by Elvis in a letter scrawled on American Airlines stationary, in which he asked the president to consider him for credentials as a federal agent in the war on drugs.

In the letter, Presley claims to “have done an in-depth study of drug abuse and Communist brainwashing techniques and I am right in the middle of the whole thing where I can and will do the most good.”

In a memorandum outlining what was said at the meeting, Bud Krogh recalled, “Presley indicated that he thought the Beatles had been a real force for anti-American spirit. He said that the Beatles came to this country, made their money, and then returned to England where they promoted an anti-American theme. … The President then indicated that those who use drugs are also those in the vanguard of anti-American protest. Violence, drug usage, dissent, protest all seem to merge in generally the same group of young people.”

Presley goes on to mention his in-depth studying of Communist brainwashing and the drug culture for over ten years. “He mentioned that he knew a lot about this and was accepted by the hippies. He said he could go right into a group of young people or hippies and be accepted which he felt could be helpful tohim in his drug drive.”

If you are a teenage girl, Usher has a message for you:

• He wants to make love to you. (Oh my God! look at the way he looked at our section!)
• He is going to be very, very good at it. (Oh My God! Look at him dance and do those push-ups! He’s so smooth!)
• After he makes love to you, he wants to maybe be your boyfriend and do things to get your parents to like him. (Oh my God! Look at him with those flowers, he is so sweet)
• Even if your folks don’t like him, he will still continue to make love to you, even if you are wildly unpopular because he sees inside your soul to your inner sexiness, girl.

Ron Regan tears Bush a new one in this article for Esquire.

It’s one thing to get trashed by Michael Moore. But when Nobel laureates, a vast majority of the scientific community, and a host of current and former diplomats, intelligence operatives, and military officials line up against you, it becomes increasingly difficult to characterize the opposition as fringe wackos.

…

When Mr. Bush talks about the economy, he is not talking about your economy. His economy is filled with pals called Kenny-boy who fly around in their own airplanes. In Bush’s economy, his world, friends relocate offshore to avoid paying taxes. Taxes are for chumps like you. You are not a friend. You’re the help. When the party Mr. Bush is hosting in his world ends, you’ll be left picking shrimp toast out of the carpet.

…

My father, acting roles excepted, never pretended to be anyone but himself. His Republican party, furthermore, seems a far cry from the current model, with its cringing obeisance to the religious Right and its kill-anything-that-moves attack instincts. Believe it or not, I don’t look in the mirror every morning and see my father looming over my shoulder. I write and speak as nothing more or less than an American citizen, one who is plenty angry about the direction our country is being dragged by the current administration. We have reached a critical juncture in our nation’s history, one ripe with both danger and possibility. We need leadership with the wisdom to prudently confront those dangers and the imagination to boldly grasp the possibilities. Beyond issues of fiscal irresponsibility and ill-advised militarism, there is a question of trust. George W. Bush and his allies don’t trust you and me. Why on earth, then, should we trust them?