This is the voice of the otter cuteness alert from Japan
Author Archives: haltse
Next to security theater the next thing I detest is Auto purchase theater. Our attempt to buy a motorcycle at Town and Country Motorsports.
Filed under Arizona, Bad CS, Erin, Family, motorcycle
This isn’t car purchase theater but it involves wheels and salespeople so it’s about the same thing. Erin’s convinced that the way to save money on her commute is to acquire a motorcycle and reap the lovely lovely rewards of 50mpg returns for the gas dollar. It’s also massively hot outside and for some reason she wants to be a speedy baked potato. So that being said let’s look at the bikes that fit her and he short inside seam.
Suzuki Sv650, Katana, GS500 and Kawasaki’s 650 ninja ( just ask it) and everything else would need a drop kit or surgery for her to work. So we kinda have a limited range of choice and these are mostly good sensible choices. The Gs500 is a little too sedate and it’s the kind of woman you’d sleep with if none of your friends found out. In the end the SV has the best features/ price mix and we found one at Town & Country Motorsports on Arizona Ave in Chandler. Last years model discounted $1700 and all in all it was worth having a discussion on whether we buy it or not. ( I want to ride it too and my last bike was in the same class and a boat load of fun) We went to lunch, called the dealer and this is where it started to go downhill. Wouldn’t give a price over the phone which to me is just odd. “Hey I want to bring a cashiers check / cash to buy a bike how much?” Sorry can’t tell us.. unless we go back..
We went back. The out the door price on the bike priced at $4499 on the floor was $6150 which included the usual doc fee poop delivery and then setup fee. Too high, so buying theater starts. They want to see that I have a credit card so they can show it to their boss to show we’re into buying the bike.. HA fucking HA Sorry I called them on mind games, referenced a book on the subject and suggested that we forgo the bullshit and give an answer to our offer. Well the offer we made was +$100 for home delivery ( we’re both sitting our licenses in July , in the heat because you can add Scots and wherever the fuck Erin’s from to the list of things out in the midday sun.) Offer came back as accepted as the price that had delivery included to one, that didn’t and I think we had to clarify that that point with them. At this time the game was over, and the salesguy told that for the sake of $100 they’d lost the sale and that we’re leaving. Erin rather enjoyed the look on his face because I’ve just fucking had it with people that can’t deal honestly with me. By all means tell us that it’s not reasonable offer and either sell us something else or part on good terms , we may be back to buy something larger, faster more expensive:D Idiots.
But no , somehow the idea that I can’t find out what the price is , nor the finance options or sample figures for payments/time of loan is piss poor customer service and I can only surmise that bike shops are not hurting for sales.
The religion of peace meets protection by the state.. One can only guess at the results
Filed under Demon Haunted World, JBT, You have nothing to fear, reality, state gone wild
Seemingly the special units are needed because the average day to day policeman in the UK has no interest in upholding their oath, boy do I know that feeling:) These fucks need to either get out of the 15thC or come up with their own version of the Springer show to resolve these matters.
Special units to crack down on honour killing | Society | SocietyGuardian.co.uk
The changes come after Banaz Mahmod, a 20-year-old Kurd, was murdered by her father and uncle because they disapproved of her boyfriend who was not a strict Muslim and was not of their tribe.She was found dumped in a suitcase, with the shoelace used to kill her around her neck. She had repeatedly told police her family were trying to kill her. In one instance where she had escaped from her father, she was not taken seriously, and described as melodramatic and manipulative by an officer who interviewed her.
Water .. water everywhere? and not a brain to think. More TSA Bullshit for daring to fly while parent
Filed under JBT, reality, state gone wild
On the whole people still are incredulous that I have a problem flying with the little one,
Update As usual all is not what it seems and here’s a post from Bruce Scneier’s blog with the “rest of the story…” I’m still not on the TSA’s side since most cases of BS only occur after a situation is created by “security theater” and ultimately a defense of “oh now look what you made us do” isn’t going to fly, much like anyone that has the nerve to challenge their “public” servants. In otherwords they can both be jerks:D
The incident started when Monica, who left the Secret Service to raise a family, was stopped while going through airport security because there was water in her son’s sippy cup. The sippy cup was seized by TSA. Monica wanted the cup back because the sippy cup was the only way her son would drink — and it was a long flight between Washington, DC and Reno, Nevada where she was going for a family reunion. If you’ve ever had a toddler you understand about sippy cups.
The good news is crap like this keeps happening and may lead to something really interesting in the future.These TSA people are community members too, I mean they have power in one little area of the world but hey there’s nothing that says we need to interact with them at any other time:) You know fix their cars, repair their house make really nice food:) More people have been terrorised , and if you don’t think that a threat to being tossed in jail and having your kid removed isn’t terrorism you have problems I can’t address presently, by these “experts” that have next to no accountability and yet 200 people will stand idly by and watch this abuse just grateful it’s not them.. Shit film this turn it into black and white and you could use this as a propaganda film against the enemy.. amazing what can go wrong in sixty years.. amazing.
Hell’s Kitchen A lovely protected class free workplace . We need one of these shows for coders.
Filed under Bad CS, Culture-internet, reality
Ah, I found a TV show that could be classified reality that I enjoy on many levels. Once is seeing what happens when self esteem hits realization that feeling good about yourself doesn’t get a meal anywhere. Having seen a lot of Gordon Ramsey and trying out quite a few of his recipes,with good success, I let Fox be my distraction for a couple of hours.
FOX Broadcasting Company: Hell’s Kitchen
In other news. Motorcycle shops in Phoenix are possibly the shittiest customer service experience going. Only one of the shops we went to took the time to talk to us the others didn’t answer questions, or approach us and while Erin has theories re our attire being “not serious” enough for bike shopping I can’t get over the Hyosung dealer on Cave Creek road in Phoenix AZdesertsports.com wandering off to help another person, then another and not replying to questions re the offer on the site ( which doesn’t work in Firefox) for a $4200 model which they were so so keen to go look up.. not! Shit we drove to the store , asked about a specific model / deal you think.. DO YOU THINK that maybe we’d be interested in buying the fucking thing? Well not from those guys. The more of this shit I encounter the less I think that there’s such a thing as excellent customer service in any non ultra specialized area it’s just that adequate cs is getting so rare that what should be the norm.. isn’t.
Boo hoo cry me a river Abusive lenders upset at other abusive lenders (One’s the government, the other regulated by…
Filed under Edukashun, state gone wild
Having seen to much BS re how the DOE handles people with student loan issues, allows them to be sold , and resold and so on , often adding about $1500 in transfer fees I find it hard to believe that private companies are any worse than the state sanctioned “abuse” that goes on. Guess who the state uses to chase up the delinquencies on their safe happy loans?
Of course it makes for better citizens if you have so much debt that escape from mainstream cube or office decay looks impossible , you may need the state to save you from ..well you’re the state;) yourself. You don’t need a degree and $50k in debt to work that one out.
NY official: Private college loans marked by abuses – CNN.com
Rampant abuses by lenders have followed a boom in higher-priced college loans not guaranteed by the government, and lax federal oversight has made the situation worse, New York’s attorney general said Wednesday.
Seemingly you can copyright a building. Church of England’s holier than thou- bs
Filed under Culture-internet, pat, rants, reality
Fun story, C of E has decided that suing Sony over depicting the only real thing the Churches have in an unrealistic way.. Irony?
BBC NEWS | UK | England | Manchester | Cathedral row over video war game
“Resistance: Fall of Man is a fantasy science fiction game and is not based on reality.
Please not to be shooting in the home of the little baby Jesus, K thx
Bai
24 24 hours a day I wanna be infected MS catches a cold with Live Onecare
Filed under Culture-internet, reviews
Looks like this thing couldn’t catch a cold in the artic while wearing a wet woolen bra and an icicle dildo…
Microsoft OneCare Bombs Out In Antivirus Test – WinPlanet Windows Software Reviews
Microsoft’s Windows Live OneCare antivirus software came in dead last in an evaluation of 17 antivirus programs in the AV Comparatives Web site’s bi-annual software roundup. It runs its on-demand tests every February and August to test how well antivirus software detects known threats.
Why CNN ,and others of their ilk, Suck. This isn’t reporting it’s editorial Immigration bill
Filed under Media mayhem, political, state gone wild
Frustrating to think that it’s not just an accident but a very deliberate attempt
Immigration bill fails key test, is withdrawn – CNN.com
The legislation, which had been endorsed by President Bush, would tighten borders, institute a new system to prevent employers from hiring undocumented workers and give as many as 12 million illegal immigrants a pathway to legal status.
The legislation would not have done that, it’s a claim by those supporting amnesty and not one that CNN , or the AP, should be making in a non editorial section. The bill had many switchback clauses which upfront provided for all the headline grabbing of strong enforcement , compassion and make us safer etc which a few pages later were rescinded. The background checks, the one that took me a trip to get fingerprinted 80 miles away, then had to go back since they didn’t get it right plus the time for FBI checks etc now would have to take place in 24 hours OR they get a pass. Insane.
Sexy Losers “my” new Parking lot is full.
Filed under Culture-internet, Sites of interest
This is a site www.sexylosers.com I am so glad I found at home it’s NSFW but its’ the best combination of sex and death with black humor that’s wandered by my screens.
To win a gold medal in wasting other people’s money it helps to be the State.
Filed under media, state gone wild
400k for a logo that lamer than lame duck Prime Minister Tony Blair opined that this would lead to ”raised hopes that the symbol would leave people “inspired to make a positive change in their life”" Symbols are for the symbol minded ( thanks George C) So for 400k ( near 800k US) this must be ONE hell of a logo… let’s take a peek.
Bosses of the 2012 Olympics were plunged into a fresh row last night after spending £400,000 on a controversial new logo for the London Games..
A logo that one poster to Samizdata has related to Lisa Simpson performing, well this is a family blog;)
Olympic chiefs under fire for ‘puerile’ logo | Uk News | News | Telegraph
Lol on this . The little meme that could
Filed under Culture-internet, Sites of interest, humor
Domi Arigoto Lol meme.
Cats, Presidents and now the mechanicals get their day.
Lol Robots the 3 roolz of which are
- Me no hurtz humn wif lol inducing capshuns
- do what tolded bi humn otterwise i brakes teh furst
- ‘les iz transgresh roolz abov perteck ma skillz to lmao
What happens when renewable energy requires non renewable sources to function?
The law of unintended consequences has better representation presently than we do as a race. It’s nice that we have a myriad of ways to attempt to keep living in the manner to which a certain part of the world has been accustomed but where the real work seems to be lacking in removing the need for the need to try to maintain a status quo that’s so brief a time in our history is weird.
How much energy we waste just to have people show up same time, same place to interact remotely with those they never see face to face based on what? a fear your employees will “steal” and goof off your time? Some will, and already do, because as long as we still keep seeing most things as jobs , things you -have- to be paid to do and ends up with us treating people with the level of contempt that causes.
Seriously, adults checking up on the bowel movements of those with a different job title leads to what benefit to the customer? Bad enough you have to suffer the “piss police” and their shoddy inaccurate tests ,that can’t tell a cold medicine from a drug , but grown people having to account for the time they took to shit? Until that mindset alters I’m not sure how much we gain by making the transport to and from the workplace archipelago more efficient.
Well that was a nice digression. New Scientist has an article that asks what next? Prior to us even getting into the efficient non polluting technologies ( least in then conventional sense) we’re basing most of this tech on rare and pretty much unknown reserves materials like platinum, tantalum and gallium the latter two rather useful in semi conductors and solar panel construction.
Earth’s natural wealth: an audit – earth – 23 May 2007 – New Scientist Environment
This could prove lucrative, but Prichard is motivated by something far more significant than the chance of a quick buck. Platinum is a vital component not only of catalytic converters but also of fuel cells – and supplies are running out. It has been estimated that if all the 500 million vehicles in use today were re-equipped with fuel cells, operating losses would mean that all the world’s sources of platinum would be exhausted within 15 years. Unlike with oil or diamonds, there is no synthetic alternative: platinum is a chemical element, and once we have used it all there is no way on earth of getting any more. What price then pollution-free cities?
Wells Fargo again prove they train people to apologise for the inconvenience of dealing with them.
There are 5 major currencies Dollar, yen , Yuan, Euro and the Great British pound. I turned up at my bank Wells Fargo and their system didn’t have, so they claimed pounds sterling, British pound, UKP or any other names that would let them accept the money until Monday where they call another office to validate the currency. Every time, three to date, I’ve tried to convert UK money within their branches it’s frustrating to the point of the , Hey why not just call me a fraud and get it out in the open. Do I want to spend a day changing all my accounts and standing orders just to be free of these nincompoops that but me bi-annually?
Seemingly you are your brothers keeper. More tin pot dictators engage in extortion and keep high school diplomas
Filed under Culture-internet, Edukashun, state gone wild
In the why our kid won’t go state schools department is yet another case of idiots ruining it for everyone. You can decide which side the idiots are on. Seemingly the person walking across a stage is responsible for the conduct of the audience and can be penalized for it. Er why not penalize those disrupting it?. I’m not sure if not getting the paper is worth a fuss or if they are literally holding years worth of achievement to ransom. In the former big whoop print your own at home. If the latter then it’s probably more disruptive than any over excited family cheering for their kids.
The state education board doesn’t support the tin pot dictators of district 205 either, people surprised ” a total mystery” said one that family would do that to their kids. Not one of the educated people seems to think it possible that a great way to sink a rival would be a few hoots at their graduation.. nice blaming the victim is the hallmark of any good socialist accountability scheme:D The next step is accepting guilt and doing their bidding and thanking them for being so generous.
Cheering ban costs five students their H.S. diplomas – CNN.com
School officials said they will hear students and parents out if they appeal. Meanwhile, the school said the five students can still get their diplomas by completing eight hours of public service work, answering phones, sorting books or doing other chores for the district, situated about 150 miles southwest of Chicago.
