Tag: complaint

Flickr users like hot moms

I LOVE HOT MOMS

It appears that Flickr users, despite whatever claims they might make to the contrary, are really looking for pictures of hot women, probably in various stages of undress. Witness the photo here, which in a mere 11 days has already become the most viewed photo I have on Flickr. I have 1,951 other photos on Flickr. The first one was posted February 25th, 2005. Many of them are of greater artistic quality than this one.

Y ou may wonder, from looking at the photo, why it’s so popular. One only has to look at the title, “I LOVE HOT MOMS”, and the tags, which include “hot”, “hotmoms” and “NOLA”.

For shame, Flickr users. For shame.

Alas, poor Vonage

Vonage shakeup: CEO resigns, cost-cutting announced

Things are not looking good for my VOIP-provider of choice.  I suppose I don’t blame Verizon for suing Vonage instead of attempting to compete, since certainly they have a clear financial incentive to see Vonage go away.  But it’s still a crappy thing to do.

And losing a CEO is usually not a sign of positive things to come.  Sure, maybe they’ll find someone else to take them through this.  But when you lose the CEO because he just left, rather than you taking a proactive step of replacing him, that’s less “shakeup” and more “rats from a sinking ship”.

Looks like I will soon have to find a new VOIP provider.  It will not be Verizon.

New job, crazy rules

I don’t have permission on my new work computer to even change the desktop theme from the stupid Windows XP theme back to the “Windows Classic” theme that I much prefer.  I’m not sure how anyone is expected to do a job on a computer without admin access.  Certainly there are people who don’t know computers well enough to safely be granted that sort of power over their machine.  However, I think that computer classes, not ridiculous restrictions, are the answer there.

I honestly can not do my job on a computer without admin access.  I just can’t do it.  Even if you forget about the convenience issues of being able to install the helpful software, there are real roadblocks that can not be overcome without admind access.  It’s ridiculous.

I can’t even use the Windows calendar because they have no “view only” mode.  I just want to see whether May 13th is a Saturday, but I can’t. 

And I have to use Internet Explorer.  The horror.

California – A presidential candidates bad analogy

I’m sure you’ve heard by now that people are complaining that California is just a big ATM for presidential candidates.  They come in, they have a few fundraisers, they take a bunch of money, but by the time California’s primaries roll around, the candidate is already chosen.  The Californians are feeling a bit impotent, it seems.

It makes a good sound bite, I suppose.  But it’s a terrible analogy.  A better one would be paying the homeless guy to wash your windshield with a dirty rag.  You give him money, he’s theoretically doing something to help you out, but what he’s really doing is smearing the dirt around and pocketing your cash.

More importantly, it totally misses the point.  First, does it really matter if the actual vote you cast is of vital importance if your candidate wins?  I mean, let’s say Bob and Joe are fighting for the Democratic nomination.  Californian’s LOVE Bob because he’s a wind-kissing hippie, while Joe is a moderate ex-military pro-lifer.  Bob and Joe come to California, where Bob raises $30 million and Joe gets $5 million.  Bob uses that money, along with a bunch from the Sierra Club and PETA, to run a brilliant ad campaign in Iowa and a couple of other key states.  Joe blows his cash on flying from state to state, trying to get his message out there.

By the time the California primary happens, Bob has already sealed up the nomination.  Oh, no!  Californians’ votes don’t matter!  But their candidate won.  So what’s the problem?

The problem is that the Governator’s TV time has been reduced.  This seems like a big ploy for attention more than a real desire for change.  California plays a huge role in driving policy, especially about the environment.  Californians have a loud voice in politics.  They just don’t get to use it much during the presidential primaries.

Oh, look, torture works

Transcript: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confesses 9/11 role – CNN.com

“If now we were living in the Revolutionary War and George Washington he being arrested through Britain,” [the transcript] reads. “For sure he, they would consider him enemy combatant.”

I haven’t seen anyone say it yet, although I’m sure it’s all over Fox News, but I hope that this doesn’t lead people to think, “Oh, hey, I know they say bad stuff about Gitmo, but now we know who planned 9/11, so the horrible human rights violations must be okay!”.

I’m not sure I believe the confession.  NPR mentioned that this guy likes to present himself as a “super terrorist” (That may not be the exact phrase they used, but you get the idea), so it makes sense that he would take credit for all these high-profile attacks.  And how long has he been in custody?  He had no legal representation, he’s probably been treated abominably, and he likes to make himself out as a big shot.  Big shocker that he confessed.  I probably would have, too.

That doesn’t mean he wasn’t responsible.  But it means we have to be careful what we take away from this.  If this was an American citizen confessing to killing JFK after a similar experience in jail, any judge in the country would laugh this confession out of court.  And the American people would probably agree with him.  But because he’s a terrorist, and terrorists are bad, we can do whatever we want as long as we find someone to blame for 9/11.

Seriously, WTF?

To the person who found this site searching Google for “childporn hub”:

Please explain yourself.  Were you really looking for pornography featuring children?  If so, please go get help.  If you were looking for something else, can you tell me exactly what that was?  Because I can’t think of any good reason you’d put that into Google.  I hope they at least gave you a “Did you mean to search for “How do I turn myself in to the police”?

Wow, thats a stupid law

‘Happy slap’ crackdown sparks row – CNN.com

The French law says that anyone who “knowingly” films illegal acts of violence and distributes the images can be considered an accomplice — but that professional journalists are exempt.

Okay, so kids are doing something illegal, filming it, and putting it online for people to see. We have a few options here. First, we could crack down on the illegal acts. We could even use the videos they’re sharing of themselves doing it to help find and prosecute them. They’ve done half our job for us!

Or, even better, let’s make it illegal for anyone who isn’t a professional journalist to film and distribute acts of violence. Not only does that not do anything at all to combat the real problem, it opens up numerous other problems, as well. I mean, what’s a journalist? Let’s say I write for a medical journal. Can I post a video of my friend punching a random stranger?  What about bloggers? What if I used to write for a newspaper, but I’ve since gotten a new job, but still keep up a news-related blog?

Never mind that. What’s really stupid is that we’re trying to catch people who are already breaking the law by making the legal part of what they’re doing illegal.  That’ll show ’em.

Do not mess with the Do Not Call list

When I was trying to sell my old condo, my home phone number was posted to whatever real estate sites list this sort of thing. That was fine when I was trying to sell because realtors would call me to tell me they were going to show the place.

Now, however, we’ve bought a new place and took the old place off the market so we could rent it. We’ve rented it, so we have no need for a realtor. Even if we did, we have two already.

Starting a few days ago, I’ve been getting calls from realtors (What do you call “ambulance chasing” if it’s a realtor and not a lawyer?) who want to help me sell my home. My number is on the Do Not Call list because I really, really resent telemarketers interrupting me.

After about five calls, I finally remembered the Do Not Call list, and so this evening, when Marjorie from Remax called, I wrote down her number. She asked me the usual questions.

“I see your home is off the market. Are you currently working with a realtor?” I told her we were renting the home. “Oh, have you found a rentor?” I asked her if she knew this number was on the Do Not Call list. “Oh, I forgot to check, I’m sorry.” Click.

So I filed a complaint at donotcall.gov. They told me this:

YOUR COMPLAINT HAS BEEN ACCEPTED Thank you for filing your complaint with the National Do Not Call Registry.Do not call complaints will be entered into a secure online database available to civil and criminal law enforcement agencies. While the FTC does not resolve individual consumer problems, your complaint will help the agency investigate the company, and could lead to law enforcement action.

So, basically, “Hi, we collect complaints, but don’t do anything about them.  Thanks for wasting your time!”

I’m going to contact Consumerist and see what they suggest.  I want Marjorie at Remax to pay the fine.

It figures

During the big snow last week, we discovered that my wife’s car wouldn’t start.  She doesn’t drive very often, so it wasn’t the end of the world, but she would have liked to have driven that particular day, so it was a little annoying.  Then we moved, and didn’t really have a chance to take care of it.  So, yesterday, I went to take care of it.  I borrowed jumper cables from a coworker, figuring I’d try that because it was free.  If that didn’t work, I’d see if the guys at the repair shop across the street would come look at it, or else I’d get it towed.

I got there, and there were cars on either side of hers.  I would have had to park in her trunk to get close enough to jump it, so I went across the street to the repair place.  They were unhelpful and wouldn’t go off-site, so I called AAA.  They were very quick, and sent someone in about 25 minutes.  23 1/2 minutes after I called, the car next to my wife’s pulled out.  When the tow truck driver arrived, he pulled out a little thing that was probably a battery in a case with cables attached, and he jumped the car.  It started just fine.

It’s nice that it’s the battery and not the starter or something worse, but it’s annoying that I could have done all that myself if only my wife had backed in to the spot, or the lot had been less crowded.

Oh, well.  Didn’t cost me any money, at least.  And now I’ll go get a battery today and put it in, and then we’ll figure out where we’re going to keep her car, or if we’re going to sell it, or whatever.