Libertine: On the Prowl
Vidi, vici, veni -- I saw, I conquered, I came. _______________________________________________________________
Mysterious Annoying Calls
I got a new cell phone number about a month ago, a number which the company informed me was a recycled number. That is, they were re-using the number of a previous customer.
Since getting this number I’ve not given it out to anyone but my son and my employer.
About a week ago, I started getting phone calls from an 866 number and they’ve called me every single day since, except for on Sunday. Because I don’t have an unlimited minutes plan, I normally do not answer numbers that I do not recognize and this number was no exception.
I ended up answering it twice, as I was expecting calls at both times, and had forgotten to look to see who was calling before answering. Each time, no one replied to me after I said “hello”. All I could hear was canned elevator music on the other end, but no voice.
Because I didn’t want minutes eaten up by listening to unsolicited Muzak, I hung up when no person responded to my “hello”. I wasn’t about to sit there for five minutes going, “Hello! Hello! Hello!”.
I’ve ceased answering when they call, but the calls do not stop. Nor do they ever leave any sort of a message.
I’d just ignore this crap and forget about it, but their first call comes early in the morning before I’m ready to get up. It’s really gotten old and I want it to stop.
I went to a reverse lookup online and found that it belongs to a collection agency. I can’t think of anyone I’m behind in with my bills, nor have I gotten anything in the mail to indicate such a problem.
It also seems very strange to me that on the two times I did answer that no one would speak and I’m wondering what the fuck the deal is? In my experience a legitimate debt collector is going to speak when you answer the phone.
I’m guessing that if there is some legitimate reason behind the calls, which I seriously doubt, that these calls “belong” to the previous user of my phone number. I’ll have to see if the cell phone company will block this number for me.
Have any of you had anything simlar to this happen to you?
Miscellaneous Thoughts
Pardon my lack of entries, but things have been a little hectic around here. I'm kind of distracted, so this will be an equally distracted entry of the odds and ends variety as I've not had much sleep in the last two days and I'm not up to concentrating very much tonight.
So, on to the disjointed snippets of thought in my mind
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Inane expression of the day
"Pop", used to mean "stand out". As in, "That purple scarf really makes her outfit pop". What? Is she made of popcorn and the scarf is a microwave oven?? This inane jargon-y buzzword needs to finish its 15 minutes, fast
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I noticed that a bird chirping in my yard today made the sound: "Wurty, wurty, wurty". Does anyone have any idea what kind of bird would make this sound?
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Stupid commercial of the day
Chick-Fil-A has an extremely lame radio commercial. One hears a "Clickety, clickety, clickety" sound interspersed with an occaisonal "ding!" sound. The clickety sound is the sound of a 70s era phone being repeatedly jostled by someone who isn't able to pick up the ear/mouthpiece part, but keeps bumping it. Then there's a voiceover telling us that cows are trying to call somewhere to tell people to eat more chicken. This is followed by mooing and more jostling.
It makes me wonder if the latest ad agency trend is to ttry to sound as moronic as possible, as it would seem so if the current crops of fast food ads are any indication.
Well, that's about it for tonight. I have a longer entry in mind, but I won't write it until I'm rested enough to concentrate properly on it.
Misanthrope
I've not ragged on Neal Boortz in awhile, so here goes. I've come to the conclusion that he is a complete misanthrope; he hates everyone who isn't just like him.His latest target? Elderly people who live part time in Florida, aka, "Snow Birds".
While enduring one of his broadcasts the other night, he went on a tear about retirees who come to Florida when it's cold up north, and go back home in the summer.
What were the reasons the nearly sixty-five year old Boortz gave? He complained about how many old people drive: too slow, too cautious, etc, insisting that their licenses needed to immediately be taken from them. While it is true that many old people don't need to be driving any more, that isn't the point of this entry, so I'll confine myself to saying that a better strategy to be to create reliable and alternative ways for such people to get around and to expand low-cost deliveries of essential items, such as groceries. I'm guessing he either doesn't realize or doesn't care that many old people don't have anyone to run their errands for them, take them to the doctor, and so on. I agree that something needs to be done, but merely howling "take their licenses!" and leaving it at that, does nothing to solve the problem in a meaningful way.
That being said, he used this as an example of why he hates "Snow Birds". Well, there are a lot of old people in Florida, many of them living there year round, but he didn't have anything to say about elderly people who are permanent Florida residents. Does he think living in one state automatically improves driving skills? Or does he think that bad driving is excusable in that instance?
His second reason for hating "Snow Birds" was...if you can actually believe it...because many elderly people get a cart when they go into the grocery store to buy only a couple of items. Boortz couldn't stand that such people "used the carts as a walker" by leaning over them as they walked through the store. He was of the opinion that if you are going into the store for only a couple of items, then you had no business getting a cart.
What a fucking ass. Did it ever occur to him that a person who does this might have a bad back and that using the cart saves them from a lot of pain? I'm surprised he didn't rag on the folks who use store scooters or shoppers in wheelchairs as well.
I guess he longs for the "good old days" when people with physical challenges simply stayed home, out of sight, and didn't inconvenience healthier people in a hurry.
What a miserable human being this guy must be.
A Smoking Rant
I work with a lot of people in their early 20s. And it seems nearly all of them smoke, almost without exception. It seems as if a larger percentage of them smoke than did those of my generation when I was in my 20s.I don't get it. Growing up with information about the dangers of smoking, from lung cancer to emphysema, bombarding them at every turn, I don't see how anyone with half a brain takes up smoking nowadays. I pass them huddling outside on their smoke breaks, sometimes making a smart remark, "Getting a head start on that case of lung cancer, hmm?" and they laugh and keep on puffing.
The truth about the dangers of smoking have been around since the early sixties, at least, yet people continue to doggedly take up smoking. It's almost as if they have a death wish. Surely everyone has had a relative, friend, or who has known someone personally who died from the effects of smoking. Yet, they smoke on.
My mother smoked. Smoking was a direct cause of her early death in her forties from a massive stroke. I remember my father doing everything he could to get her to stop, but she kept on until it killed her. However, her death served as a negative example for her children, none of whom smoke today, myself included.
But at least my mother's generation has an excuse for when they took up smoking. My mother began smoking as a teen during World War II when the negative effects of smoking were not yet clearly known. Indeed, smoking was promoted at that time as an aid to weight loss, and several advertisements of the time featured doctors endorsing their favorite brand of cigarettes.
But people today who start smoking -- there is no excuse. It's just plain stupidity.
Following below are a couple of ads that convinced my mother's generation that smoking was harmless
A Marketable Degree Or A Career You Love?
On Alternet, I read an article Will You Have Roommates For The Rest Of Your Life? by Nan Mooney, where the author addresses the issue:Thought you'd leave your roommates behind after your career got going? Think again. Social mobility ain't what it used to be
The author covers the phenomenon of rising rents and rising prices coupled with lower paying jobs that creates a situation where more and more adults must live with roommates much further into their adulthood than in years past.
One reader made a critical comment, where he coupled one's maturity level with what field they majored in and their marital status:
Missing information
One critical piece of information is missing from this article: What was Ms Duyn's major in college? Did she get a marketable degree like electrical or biomedical engineering? Or is she just one more Art History major, surprised that no one wants to pay you for that knowledge? Since she has lived an entire decade working odd jobs and unable to secure her own living space, I assume she went for the Art History degree.
...At age 33, she's "ready to be an adult now". Too late.
to which, he smugly added:
As for having roommates, I've had one my entire adult life. Normally, I call her "wife" rather than "roommate". We met at 18 in college, married at 21, and have been happy "roommates" for 30 years. We've lived in some interesting places, but there was never an extra roommate involved, just the two of us and our kids.
As is often the case, this comment set me off, rather than the article, which made a lot of good points about our economy, without blaming the victims.
My reply:
Another Form of Slavery
You chastise the author for not getting a "marketable" degree.
I don't know about you, but getting a degree in a field you have absolutely no interest in and spending the rest of your life working in that field, simply because it is "marketable", sounds an awful lot like a form to slavery to me. In a time of rampant mandatory overtime in many companies, the idea of spending the majority of one's waking hours for the next 40+ years or so in a job you hate sounds like a pretty miserable proposition to me.
It's quite similar to something many people do now; stay with miserable jobs they hate just because the benefits are good. And as more and more companies scale back benefits offered, particularly health insurance, this is a phenomenon that can't help but become more prevalent in the increasingly fewer companies offering good benefits.
Given the choice of spending my best years locked into a job I despise just for the money or having a job I love, but needing roommates, I'd pick the roommates.
The original commenter also did not address how "unmarketable" such currently "marketable" careers would quickly become if everyone now in college immediately changed their majors to such fields. He also did not consider what would happen to this country if no one was willing any longer to become a teacher, nurse, or other relatively low paying career. Nor did it ever enter his mind that a good education, regardless of major, might just be a worthy endeavor on its own, completely apart from its potential to generate money.
Your thoughts?
Late Fee Games
Recently, I wrote about one of my creditors twice assessing late fees on my account when I'd actually paid on time on each occasion.Today, I thought I'd warn my readers about two other possible credit pitfalls that are now becoming common in our sagging economy.
The first is randomly changing the due date on one's account. I've had a card with JC Penney for several years now and my payment date had always been on the 15th, without variation. It was such that I never checked the due date on the bill when it came in each month.
Imagine my surprise when I got this bill a couple of months ago and saw that a late fee had been assessed on my account. I looked closer at the bill and saw that the payment date had been moved back six days, hence the late fee.
Last month, I got the bill, and saw that it had been moved back yet again another day.
I'm convinced that credit card companies are doing this quite purposely, knowing that people who have had cards for years with the same payment date all that time aren't checking the due date each and every month, hoping to be able to slap late fees on unsuspecting customers who are in the habit of paying their bills on time. After all, it's not as if they're moving payment dates ahead, so that the customer ends up paying early.
Another change is that of eliminating payment grace periods. Most of us have had accounts that we know allow a couple of days grace on payments, not assessing late fees until the bill is past due five days more or so. And with money being tight and with paydays sometimes not matching up well with due dates, we've known which bills we can let slide a few days until the paycheck comes in, and others which must be paid strictly on time.
Well, those days are pretty much over.
I paid one of those relaxed "grace period" accounts one day late last month and the new bill came in with a stiff late fee that doubled the monthly payment for that month. This was an account that I've paid up to five days past due in the past without assessing late fees.
So, to all of you who have credit card accounts, carefully check your due dates each month from now on, as they're likely to be bouncing them back more than once, hoping to catch you in a late fee. If you pay any accounts in person, save those receipts, in case they try to slap a late fee on you, even when you've paid on time. And, lastly, eliminate the idea of "grace period" from your credit vocabulary. Credit card companies are now more predatory than ever and are looking for ways to get more money out of you, especially in the assessment of late fees.
Don't let them get away with it. Monitor your bills carefully and don't allow yourself to fall into one of their traps.
Tax Money and "Those People"
Many times I hear people talking disdainfully about those who are any sort of government assistance, saying that they don't want their tax dollars paying to support these people. Sometimes, they're talking about people in general on assistance, but more often I hear such comments in reference to a particular person or family in the news.
Though I realize that there are some people accepting aid that really don't need it and they should be weeded out, I'm not quick to judge everyone who gets assistance of any kind. Even in particular instances, I realize that I don't know their entire life situation and to jump to the most obvious conclusion (they're lazy and they don't want to work), is rarely helpful and really isn't my place to pass judgment, anyway.
I always roll my eyes when I hear people self-righteously say that they don't want "their tax money" going to help "those people".
For one thing, any one person's particular share of taxes they pay don't go directly to another family. It goes into the general fund, where it may used for numerous various tax-funded purposes, quite a few of which have nothing to do with aiding the less fortunate.
Secondly, even among those who resent paying taxes in general, I never hear them say, "I don't want my tax money going to help build more bombs" or "I don't want my tax money going to build another prison" or "I don't want my tax money going to big corporations". They always reserve their ire for poor people, who may be neighbors and members of their own community.
Many of these conservative people take great pride in being Christians. So much for love thy neighbor and "what you did for the least of these, my brethren, you have done unto me." Such "Christian conservatives" often speak of "family values" and protecting children, particularly the unborn, but are seemingly oblivious to the fact that the people on assistance they seek to prevent their tax money from assisting, more of then than not contain children, who are innocent regardless of their parents' faults, real and imagined.
After asserting that they don't want their tax money going to help others to maintain a minimum stnadard of life, they are quick to add, "It's their own poor choices in life that put them in that situation," leaving unsaid the second part of that sentiment, that if one has made mistakes and not made perfect choices in life with perfect foresight into the future, then they deserve to starve, be homeless, be denied medical care, and so on. Again, how wonderfully Christian of them.
Conceding that in some instances that this is at least partially true, it denies the truth that everyone's situation in life is because of a variety of factors, some chosen, some circumstantial beyond any one person's ability to control. Taking the view that what happens to any person, rich or poor, fortunate or unfortunate is one hundred percent within their ability to control and thus one hundred percent their responsibility is simplistic and naive at best.
Our failing economy is one prime example of circumstances beyond the individual to control. And that includes millions of people who have been in past years included among the fortunate, what these conservative folks call hard-working people, who have followed all the rules. It might even soon include some of these people who don't want their tax dollars going to help "those people". They may soon one day become one of "those people".
Though it would be prophetic justice for those who remain higher on the food chain to in turn look down their noses at such folks and claim that they don't want their tax dollars going to help them because, as they all know, everyone on assistance is "lazy and doesn't want to work" and that they should be left to suffer the consequences of their own "bad choices" in life, it wouldn't be right.
America should be better than that. In a civilized society, we give a helping hand to those who need it, knowing that one day our turn may come to need that helping hand ourselves. While hard work and thrift are most assuredly virtues to value and cultivate, we should never reserve the basic needs of human dignity and survival: food, shelter, medical care, and education to only those we deem as having sufficient character to "deserve" it. Assure the basics for everyone, then teach the value of hard work and thrift so that people may earn the luxuries for themselves.
Thoughts?
Customer Service Rant
Last month, I opened my bill from Circuit City to find I'd been slapped with a 35 dollar late fee. The bill showed that my payment had been credited to my account one day after the due date.Never mind the fact that I'd paid the bill on time. I'd paid it at the store, and I was fortunate enough that I'd kept the receipt, which proved the date and time I'd made the payment.
I called the toll-free number to sort this out, and while they readily agreed that I'd been improperly assessed a late fee, they told me to go ahead and pay it anyway, and that they'd adjust it on my next bill.
The hell with that! I told them that this was unacceptable; that it wasn't my responsibility that the store screwed up and credited my payment incorrectly. As I'd paid my bill by the agreed-upon time, I wasn't about to be inconvenienced by having to pay a late fee, even if they did credit it back to me next month.
I had to talk to a supervisor, but they eventually saw it my way.
I opened my bill for this month and guess what? They did it again! I'd made a point of saving my receipt this time, so I called the toll free number again, and was again advised to pay the late fee and that they'd credit it to me next month. And once again, I explained why this was unacceptable and why it simply wasn't going to happen. This time, I didn't need the supervisor to get my point across.
No wonder they're going out of business.
But For the Grace Of God, Go I
Last night, while monitoring the Neal Boortz radio show, he went off on a tear about one of his favorite topics: the notion that poor people who accept any sort of government assistance for basic living expenses are nothing but "parasites" who "take money away from honest, hardworking people". He is of the opinion that people are poor always simply because of stupid choices they have made in life and, conversely, rich people always deserve to be rich; that every one of them became so because of their own efforts alone, that all hard working people will be prosperous, and that workaholism is a virtue (In an earlier post of mine, I tell about how he once called people who work only 40 hours a week, "losers".)His focus in his latest rant was Section 8 housing. He resents any of his tax dollars going to help the poor in any way, whining, "Why should I pay the rent of people who don't want to work?" Despite the news all over about our economic woes, he still clings to the fiction that everyone can have a decent job that pays well, if they'll only get off their asses and work for it. Never mind that companies are going bankrupt right and left, downsizing all over and laying people off in droves.
A man called in to the show to calmly disagree with him. He used the situation of his daughter as an example: She is a divorced Navy vet with a child, who is working two jobs while putting herself through college. Unable to find affordable non-subsidized housing, she turned to Section 8 to help get her through until she finished school and could get on her feet.
Boortz was unimpressed. He saw her as no different from the other "parasites"; crack addicts, 'welfare queens' with 8 kids, etc, who "expect hardworking people to pay their rent for them because they've screwed up and made stupid choices in life". He then told the man that he needed to be supporting her because she was his responsibility and not the government's.
Never mind that the woman was an adult and never mind that she'd already served her country and her government by serving in the Navy. As far as Boortz was concerned she'd made a "stupid choice" and thus deserved to be punished for it.
Her stupid choice? She didn't stay married; she got a divorce. Thus, her "sin" is being a single parent.
Never mind that being married is no guarantee of financial solvency or self-sufficiency. Her husband could well have been a deadbeat, which would have made him simply another mouth to feed with too little money, he could have been a drug addict, he could have been abusive, and so on.
And, of course, Boortz conveniently forgets that he's been divorced himself. I'm guessing that as long as you've got money your so-called "screwups" are your own business not to be judged by anyone else. It's only poor people who must be absolutely perfect to avoid being judged, which is impossible to Boortz, because being poor is by definition a proof of having screwed up.
Boortz brushes away the real question in such a situation -- why is affordable housing in the private sector unavailable to a hardworking person with two jobs?
He also refuses to acknowledge that this woman is the type of person for whom such assistance programs were originally created for -- hardworking people who are working to improve their situations, but who temporarily need a helping hand to make future prosperity possible. That is to help people who are working to help themselves.
Boortz sees workaholism, rugged individualism, and properity as moral virtues. While work properly balanced with rest and leisure, self-sufficiency, and prosperity are surely nothing to be ashamed of, greed and lack of compassion are.
The virtuous rich have a sense of noblesse oblige; that to whom much is given, much is expected. To help such a woman as mentioned above is an investment, not a handout, as she will surely give back to the community once she finishes school and continues to be a productive citizen.
And for those who, for whatever reason, will not become productive citizens, to ensure a basic level of living is just plain human decency and are the hallmark of a civilized society. I'm not a Christian, but I was brought up to believe in the idea "But for the grace of God, go I". That is, those of us born healthy to loving parents who could afford to give us a decent, safe upbringing and education should be grateful for it and realize that but for the luck of the draw we could have been born with bad health, to abusive parents, into generational poverty, without families at all and so on. And that given today's economy, we could easily have all we take for granted taken away from us suddenly and be in a position to need government assistance ourselves one day.
Boortz sees no value in government programs to assist the poor. But do we really want a country than simply turns all these poor people out to fend for themselves as in third world countries? Is the picture below what we really want for the United State, just so the rich can get richer?
The Later Than Late Route
For some strange reason, no matter where I've lived over the course of my life (several locations in five states), wherever I've lived has been, without fail, on what I call the Post Office's "Later Than Late" route.That is, my mail delivery never arrives until very late in the afternoon, often not arriving until after dark in the winter. I've seen the mail truck roll by my house as late as six PM.
What are the odds on something like this happening? One would think that given the number of residences I've had during my lifetime, that I would have also had a variety of typical mail arrival times as well.
It would seem that the luck of my Murphy ancestors (as in Murphy's law) is working overtime for me to get stuck with the Later Than Late route yet again with every change of address.
I read today that because of the recession, the USPS is planning to re-organize and consolidate many routes. I'm guessing this will mean my Later Than Late route will change to a Getting Today's Mail Tomorrow route.
There She Goes Again
Ann Coulter is playing the victim card yet again.She was scheduled to appear on the Today show the other day to promote her latest screed of bile, which, considering her latest "poor me" performance, is ironically titled, Guilty: Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America.
However, the show postponed her appearance in order to devote more coverage to the current Israel-Hamas conflict, including Matt Lauer's interview with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Coulter's reaction was immediate and predictable. She claimed that she'd been "banned" from NBC for life". She also told Fox News’ Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes that NBC had booked her only as a "charade" to keep her from going on other shows.
Wah, wah, wah.
Coulter's so-called "ban" turned out to be of only one day's duration, as she was interviewed by Matt Lauer on Wednesday's show.
Coulter's behavior was quite predictable. She is a publicity whore of the highest order and though I'm certain she fully understood the reasons why her appearanced on the Today show was postponed, she chose to exploit this opportunity for even more media exposure. By playing the victim, she was assured of being cussed and discussed on the air, over the web, and in print. She'd reasoned it had been far too long since she'd stirred up crap and jumped on this opening like stink on shit.
With Coulter, it's always Same Shit, Different Day
Thoughts?
Burned
I've been using Ebay for eight years now, since the fall of 2000. In all that time, I've never had any problems with the purchases I've made.Until now.
About three weeks ago, I bought two books from two different sellers. I got an automated response from both sellers acknowledging my order and that the payment had gone through. The first seller also contacted me personally to thank me for my order, advising me of when the order would be sent. The second seller never contacted me personally, but using Ebay's tracking system I saw that my order had been marked as "shipped".
The first order arrived promptly within a week. Great -- another smooth transaction completed. The days, then weeks, dragged by, and the second order never arrived. Every day I'd check my mailbox, to find nothing but ordinary mail in there.
I went back to the seller's page to read their feedback again and found that new negative feedback had been left for them -- the customer never received their book and the seller never responded to the buyer's emails. I began to get a bit nervous, but considering that this was the seller's first negative feedback, I hunkered down to wait it out.
When I reached the last day of the estimated shipping times for the book, I contacted the seller, in accordance with Ebay policy, and waited the required 48 hours for a reply. Unsurprisingly, the seller ignored my email, just as they had with the previous customer. I left scathing, negative feedback for the seller, warning other potential customers away. I've filed a claim and now I'm waiting for it to be resolved. I don't really want money back -- I just want the damned book I ordered!
Have any of you been burned on Ebay or another site, and how did it eventually turn out for you?
Projecting an Unintended Image
The little Chinese girl, Lin Miaoke, who starred in the opening ceremonies for the Olympics apparently singing the Chinese patriotic song, "Ode to the Motherland", turned out to be only lip-synching the song. The girl whose voice was actually heard, Yang Peiyi, was banned from singing the song in public because she was not considered "attractive enough" for the world to see. Her "imperfections" are a chubby face and uneven teeth.The two girls are nine and seven years old.
"The reason why little Yang was not chosen to appear was because we wanted to project the right image, we were thinking about what was best for the nation," Chen Qigang, the general music designer of the ceremony, said, "The reason was for the national interest. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings, and expression,"
Oh, they're projecting an image, all right. An ugly image.
They're telling the world that an individual's worth is summed up by their physical appearance, not in their inherent worth as human beings and this accident of birth trumps anything they've worked to achieve.
They're telling the world that even little girls must conform to a narrow, sexualized idea of beauty -- I'm sure many pedophiles would be quick to agree. They are saying those who don't measure up to the narrow definition of what is considered fashionably attractive at any point in history are a lesser form of human beings who should hide themselves from public view and never be seen doing anything worthwhile or fun.
I think it's totally shitty.
This incident reminds me of something I once saw on a talk show in the early 90s. Martha Wash, a plus size singer who recorded the dance song, "Everybody Dance Now", was barred from performing her own song on a music video and was replaced by a svelte lip-syncher, simply because she was not thin.
That disgusted me then, and the incident with the little Chinese girls disgust me even more because they are children.
Thoughts?
Don't Expect Us To Think; We're Just Doing Our Job
Pardon my lack of blogging in the last few days. My primary lover, who has been out of town for the better part of a month returned home the other day and we've been....busy. You get the drill, I'm sure.I'm still kind of worn out and not all that inspired to write, but somthing happened this morning that was rant-worthy, so I'll write about that.
After going out to pay a bill this morning, I swung through a fast-food drive-through for lunch. I won't name the chain, but it is one that usually has better service than the abysmal McDonald's a block further up the road.
I ordered a burger, fries, and drink combo, telling them to leave off the tomato, pickles, and mayonnaise on the burger. Those who have read my blog in the past know that while I don't hate mayo, per se, I prefer to have it left off my burgers because most restaurants put way too much of it on burgers. Too much mayo on a burger makes the bun soggy and prone to disintegration as soon as you pick it up. It also has a bad habit of turning the lettuce into a limp, slimy mess. Tomatoes and pickles, I just hate them on a burger, period.
After I told the squawk box that I didn't want these three things on my burger, there was a prolonged, stunned silence on the other end. I'm guessing they were trying to gather up enough brain cells to actually....think!
Finally, after a long while, a woman's voice snaps, "Just what DO you want on your burger?" I sighed and spelled it out for them, "Everything else that normally comes on that burger, except for the three things I mentioned." In this case, that would be lettuce, onions, and mustard.
But it was a naive hope that they'd be able to actually use their brains. When I got home and opened my burger, I found they've given me a naked burger; there was NOTHING on it. It was too much for their little brains to comprehend leaving off three ingredients while including the other three normally included. For them, it's either everything on it, or nothing at all.
And they didn't give me a straw for my drink, either. I guess that was my punishment for expecting them actually to think.
Morons.
Firefox Woes
I've been a Firefox user for quite some time now, using it through several updated versions. Most people I know who use it rave about it, while simultaneously trashing Internet Explorer.At first, I agreed with such people, but I've been having several quirky problems with Firefox that have lasted through several of the most recent updates. I also bought a new computer last year with the latest version of IE included, and I've not had any problems with that.
The problems I'm having with Firefox appear and disappear unexpectedly for no apparent rhyme nor reason. The most common problems are:
I'm on dialup, and if I happen to get tossed offline while viewing pages in Firefox, I must close the browser and re-open it again in order to be able to continue using the pages I was viewing. If I try to make comments, refresh, or click on another page, it won't respond, and I'll see "Stopped" at the left bottom corner of the page. This doesn't happen in IE -- I can just pick up where I left off without closing and re-opening the browser.
A recurring problem happens on message boards, where Firefox will not recognize text editing buttons in message board response boxes. That is, the bold, underline, italic, quote, and other buttons will not work when I click on them, but I have to add the code manually. This doesn't happen all the time, but it happens enough, and without warning, to be annoying.
When I get the above problem on message boards, Firefox will also not recognize paragraph breaks and it will render several paragraphs as one unbroken block of text. These two problems are so annoying, that I just use IE when I want to make comments on message boards.
Another on-again, off-again problem is that on every single one of the blog systems I use (Blog City, Blogger, Vox, and EFX2) Firefox will either not display the text editing features in the text boxes or they will be unclickable, thus unusable. Again, I'm composing in IE more and more.
Yet another on-again, off-again problem is with Gmail. Though I can sometimes view Gmail normally with Firefox, more often than not, I have to view it in "Basic HTML", which does not allow the user to use all of Gmail's features. More recently, I'm getting errors more often when using Gmail in Firefox.
These are the most common, ongoing annoyances I've had in the last year or so using Firefox. Note that none of these problems occur when using Internet Explorer.
I'd be curious to hear if other Firefox users are having the same problems that I'm having and if they're turning back to IE more and more.
Autism Controversy
Far right radio talk show host, Michael Savage, lived up to his pseudonym last Wednesday when he dismissed autism as a phony disease when he said, "In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out..."What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don't have a father around to tell them, `Don't act like a moron. You'll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don't sit there crying and screaming, you idiot.'"I'm wondering what medical school this obnoxious cretin went to to be able to pull such a harsh, absolute statement straight out of his ass? The man has a PhD, but that's not the same thing as being an MD.
You know the guy has to be a real wingnut when another right wing talk show host, Neal Boortz, htakes the time to criticize him on the air (unrelated to the autism issue). Last week, Boortz said something to the effect that he could understand why Savage would not want to use his real last name (Weiner) on the air, but one had to question the mentality of someone who would pick "Savage" as a pseudonym. Boortz went on to wonder what people in other countries must think of our country when they hear Savage refer to it as "Savage Nation".
Indeed.
Not Everything Is Going Up
Gas prices are up, higher than they've ever been in my lifetime. When I first bought my car in 2003, it took five dollars to to go from three quarters of a tank to full. Now, it takes fifteen dollars.Food prices are likewise up. A couple of months ago, baking potatoes were 88 cents a pound. When I was in the market last night, they were $1.48 a pound. Other food items have risen as well, though some not quite so dramatically as the potatoes. It's also costing me more to feed my cats.
There's one thing that hasn't gone up in all this frenzy of escalating prices, however.
Yep, you guessed it. It's my salary. Still just as low as ever. Of course.
If it keeps up like this, pretty soon I won't be able to afford to eat, nor be able to drive to the grocery store to buy the food in the first place
Thoughts?
Misplaced Trust
It seems as if like a phoenix, the EFX2 blog site has risen yet again from the ashes. But this is no thanks to He Who Must Not Be Named, aka Keith, who is the owner of the blog hosting site. Repeated attempts to contact him about the problem continue to go unanswered.The only reason EFX2 is alive again (sort of) is because of ChicaX, who cared more about the blog site and its people than the man who owned the place. She wouldn't give up on it, and eventually found a way to get it running again. However, she, nor any of the other Community Leaders, have full access to to the inner workings of the place, so her fix will likely be a temporary one. To really fix the place so it will remain stable would require that full access, but this would require He Who Must Not Be Named turning over the "keys" to the place to someone who is willing to take on the responsibility.
After reading that EFX was up again, I went over to the site chat box, where several people were dancing the happy dance that it's back. There were also several blog posts conveying the same message. Though EFX2 has been up and down like an elevator in its rather short life, and He Who Must Not Be Named has shown time and time again that he's washed his hands of the place and moved on, many EFXers have chosen to naively put their blind trust yet again into a blog site that never shown any lasting stability. Though many of us created new blogs at Blogger, Wordpress, and most commonly at Vox, many EFXers will drop their new blogs like a bad habit to give their full allegiance yet again to the haphazard disaster of a site known as EFX2.
Some of these same people are also quick to defend He Who Must Not Be Named continuing to ignore requests for assistance: "maybe his computer doesn't work', "maybe he's sick", and the ever-popular, "don't complain -- at least it's FREE".
I crack up every time I hear the last excuse. What fucking good is FREE when it doesn't work at all? And I'd add that Vox is free, Blogger is free, and Wordpress is free. But they WORK. I think the hosting site working should be a basic requirement of any blog hosting site, free or not. I'd also turn that sentiment around to those who are complaining about the lack of the comment alert system at Vox and other places into "Don't complain -- at least it WORKS....and it's free, too!"
Such bloggers talk about the community feel of EFX, others talk about the convenience of comment alerts. Granted, Blogger is abysmal when it comes to interactivity, but Vox has excellent interactivity where one can easily keep up with their EFX friends. No, it doesn't have comment alerts, but it WORKS. I think having to do a little work and manually checking one's friends' blogs for new comments is a very small tradeoff for having a blog system that is there when you need it. Indeed, what use is a community feel when you can't get to the community to interact or comment alerts when you can visit the blog to read the comments?
However, unlike the last major breakdown of EFX, where nearly everyone ran back to EFX with no hesitation, I noticed that several others are like me in that they no longer trust the place and aren't so eager to carelessly abandon their new blog homes for their unfaithful lover, EFX2. Last September, I was nearly alone in urging people to continue to maintain their new blogs, as EFX was surely going to shit the bed again bigtime, sooner or later. All that time, I continued to maintain my Blogger blog, as well as one on Blog City, so when EFX hit the iceberg yet again, a couple of weeks ago, I lost NOTHING.
This time, however, several people share my caveats and I read several comments urging people to back up their blogs, maintain the new blogs they've created and, if they must absolutely have their EFX fix, to double post and not depend on EFX to be their sole blogging home.
Don't get me wrong. I love my EFX2 blog -- I'd missed my New York City skyline custom header. But I'd be an idiot to place any faith in EFX2 ever again. It's a matter of "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me". I'll likely double post there, but I'll not neglect my other 3 mirror blogs. It's not that hard to do mirror blogs. You write the post once and publish at one blogging site. Then you copy n' paste at the others. Simple. Doesn't take a lot of time.
Thoughts?
Driving Like It's 1975
When I'm out driving my car around town, I've noticed that most drivers around me drive as if gas is still fifty cents a gallon. Either unaware that gas is now four dollars a gallon or simply not caring, I see other drivers making little or no effort to drive in ways that would make the most of their gas mileage.Most people drive as if the speed limit is merely a suggestion, and a bad one at that. Their egos compel them to drive as fast as they can possibly get away with at all times, even when they're not in a particular hurry or running late to get somewhere.
They hurry up to red lights, then jam on their brakes at the last possible moment. When the light turns green, they jam the pedal to the floor with jackrabbit starts. They weave in and out of traffic so they can get to their destination 30 seconds faster. It's important to hurry, you know! Even when you've got no particular place to go and no particular time to be there.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend any more money at the gas station than I absolutely have to. I've got other things to spend money on than gas. I like taking my car onto the highway and driving fast, just like the next guy, but at four dollars a gallon, it won't hurt my ego any to drive the speed limit in around-town driving.
Of course, I get laid regularly, so my ego doesn't need propping up by trying to turn quiet residential streets into Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Your mileage may vary, of course.
________________________________-
10 Gas Saving Tips
1. Don’t speed.
Driving 65 mph instead of 75 mph will increase your fuel economy by about 10 percent.
2. Avoid "jack rabbit" starts.
Flooring the gas pedal wastes gas and leads to drastically higher pollution rates.
3. Anticipate stops. (Don't hurry up to red lights)
Think ahead to anticipate stops so your vehicle can coast down. Accelerating hard and braking hard wastes gas, increases pollution, and wears out your brakes.
4. Keep your tires properly inflated.
For every 3 pounds below recommended pressure, fuel economy goes down by about 1 percent.
5. Avoid rush hour, if possible.
Stop-and-go driving burns gas and increases emissions of smog-forming pollutants. For hybrids that can stay in electric mode at low speeds, the effects of stop-and-go driving are greatly reduced.
6. Travel light.
An extra 100 pounds in your trunk reduces fuel economy by about 1 percent.
7. Combine trips.
Warmed-up engines run more efficiently and generate less air pollution.
8. Leave off the air conditioning, if possible.
AC increases fuel consumption, increases smog-forming NOx emissions in some vehicles, and can involve environmentally damaging fluids. At high speeds, open windows increase drag; use vents if possible. (I must admit this isn't one I follow -- I can't stand being hot. But I try to follow the others as much as possible, so I don't feel guilty about this one).
9. Check your own fuel economy every few weeks.
If you notice the numbers slipping, then think about how your driving might have changed, and consider getting a tune-up or an oil change.
10. Drive less.
Give your car a rest by taking public transportation, riding a bike, or walking. The exercise will do you good.
Local Only?
When I got a new computer last year equipped with Vista Premium, I noticed that my internet connection would sometimes degrade to something called "Local Only".I was baffled the first time I saw this. Local Only? What the fuck is that? I thought it meant that I could only access websites that originated in the area where I lived.
But I was soon disabused of that notion. I tried clicking on the site for my town's newspaper and I was just as unable to access that as I was any other website. I discovered that when the connection reads "Local Only", you can't access any websites.
A "Local Only" connection isn't any sort of a connection at all. You are, for all intents and purposes, offline. Using dial-up, when I'm reduced to "Local Only", I have to officially disconnect and then reconnect.
So, going back to my original question: What the fuck does "Local Only" mean? What purpose does it serve? On my two previous computers with Windows 95 and Windows XP, respectively, you were either online or offline. There wasn't any of this "local only" limbo, a connection that didn't connect you to anything.
Perhaps some of the techie geeks here can clear this one up for me.
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