Speaking of fees… I got a notice postcard from my city sewer/water department informing me that they were delaying the onset of a new $15 annual fee that was supposed to take effect this year.
Being largely disenfranchised (and, admittedly, mostly apathetic) about my city the news of the fee, albeit delayed, came as something of a surprise to me.
I’ve been rather too busy to post, that and unmotivated, but I came across a post about Verizon fees on Engadget that got me thinking. It seems that, starting next year, they are going to start charging you a $2 “convenience fee” to pay your bill via phone, in person, on-line and through the automated phone system.
My Fandango Inconvenience Fees rant is the single most viewed, and most commented, post on this blog. The bulk of the commentors seem to agree that they have other means at their disposal to make a buck rather than charging a “convenience fee” to the customer.
In a couple of days it will be Bonfire Night in merry ol’ England once again. Originally it started out to celebrate stopping the plot to blow up their King and parliament by Guy Fawkes and his conspirators but has since become mostly about bonfires and fireworks.
From an American perspective, when I was younger, I thought it was about celebrating the man Guy Fawkes since they called it “Guy Fawkes Day.” It made sense to me to celebrate the rebel and his cause, and really, what red-blooded American wouldn’t want to blow up a King? [Read the rest of this entry...]
I came across a link to a speech given by Neil deGrasse Tyson about America’s space program and the future of NASA. It’s well spoken and makes several good points.
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I had thought that our local government has dreamed up all the stupid things they possibly ever could, but once again it seems they have risen to the occasion and come up with new stupidity.
They really must lie awake nights trying to think this crap up, because I think they’ve finally exceeded the bounds of what I could consider “ordinary stupidity.”
This is not a legal blog, and generally I don’t bother to comment on most of the stupid stuff that comes and goes through our legal system but the SCOTUS ruling today blindsided me.
In an 8-to-1 vote, they’ve changed one of the very basic rights that the citizens of this country have enjoyed since the 4th amendment was ratified.
It has been a while since I’ve had time to post and, honestly, I’m a bit out of practice. So, rather than make two posts I thought I’d combine the two things I’ve been wanting to rant about into one post. Twice the bang for your buck! Or, 1/2 the misery depending on which side of the fence you’re on I suppose.
Nothing for a month then two posts in one week?? I know, I know, but I came across a link on Reddit today to someone’s favorite debugging story. This put me in mind of my personal favorite one that I heard way back when the Internet was novelty and not the ubiquitous necessity it is today.
I hadn’t thought to look it up for years because the last couple of times I googled it I came up dry. The story has served as an excuse for our programming department every time something inexplicable happens in one of our products.
I came across this video today, and I got a good laugh from it. If you weren’t around during the Village People era you probably won’t find it as funny as I did.
The man performing does an awesome job, click the read link to view the video. Hopefully YouTube won’t get a take-down notice from any of the actual Village People.
Shame – [sheym] – noun – The painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another.
This came to mind today when I was filling out my mail-in ballot for Oregon. There are two measures on the ballot proposed by the legislative assembly that I, quite frankly, would be ashamed to have even brought up for a vote let alone get on the general ballot.
