Category: Side Notes

A Proper Response For Disagreeing With a Company

OK before I tell one one store I must tell another so here goes.

For my job I sometimes find myself traveling to strange and interesting locations. I have software on my phone so I can tether it to my laptop and use the data connection. It’s an OK solution but there are two major issues with it. First I have a Treo 755p which is not capable of using full 3G speeds. The second problem is my phone is CDMA meaning when I’m using the data connection I can’t use the actual talking function of my phone.

I figured I’d alleviate both of these issues by picking up one of those wonderful wireless access points that connect the the 3G cellular towers. They’re kind of spendy but I figured I’d get enough use out of it to justify the cost.

So I go to the store and ensure the device has several features I require (Good security on the Wi-Fi part of the device for starters). After that I finally asked what the device would cost without a contract. I understand these companies subsidize their devices and make up the money in locking you into a two-year contract. That’s not a bad thing really and I do understand the early termination fee because of that.

But I don’t like the idea of being locking into a contract for two years. Hence I came up with this crazy idea. I’m willing to pay full price for the device. Simple enough huh? The problem is you can’t do it. Apparently the two-year contract isn’t really for recouping the cost of subsidized devices as I was willing to forgo the subsidized cost and pay the full price. They simply will not sell you the device and service unless you sign the contract.

I told you that so I could get to the point of this post.

The point I want to make here is the proper response. Many people not willing to agree to the cell phone company’s terms would start saying it’s not fair and demand something be done. This something of course would be for the government to get involved and make these two-year lock-in agreements illegal. It would be a very long and fancy crusade about how unfair it is for the big evil cell phone companies to lock poor innocent Americans into these contract.

Obviously that wasn’t my response. So what did I do? I decided not to give the company my money. Unlike so many in the world I don’t feel I’m entitled to make companies play by my rules. If I don’t like the conditions set forth to obtain their product or service I simply don’t purchase their product or service.

It’s an effective solution. I’m dumbfounded by the fact people simply refuse to acknowledge this option. So many clamor to the government to fight the big evil corporations meanwhile not seeing the clear fact that the government itself is a big corporation.

We are not entitled to jack shit. Nobody is entitled to Internet access, health care, a car, or a contract free cellular device. Because I realize that I decided to leave this post here to let people who think differently understand there is an option open, take your money elsewhere.

That is all.

Fun With The Census

I’m sure those of you reading this site regularly realize I like to mess with people. I also recognize the census as an enumeration of the population only. On the other hand you get fined major change for not answering questions and fined even more if you answer untruthfully. So here is my guide to messing with the Census Bureau while filling out every answer and doing so truthfully.

If something requires a number remember Roman numerals are fun. This site has a hand decimal to Roman numeral converter you can use.

Filling out your phone number is different than you wages of course. Phone numbers usually appear 555-555-5555 but we never use the numbers as a value. Instead we use the numbers positionally saying the number is “five, five, five,” etc. So feel free to fill out the phone number as VVV-VVV-VVVV.

Gender is pretty straight forward unless of course your a hermaphrodite. I believe in that case you need to check both boxes. Also if you’re transgender it’s unclear if you are supposed to put down your genetic gender or your identified gender. So for those of you this applies to have fun with that.

You’ll notice the census is really keen on race. Well my race is human. I think that applies to everybody filling out the form.

I didn’t get any extended portion so I don’t know what fun you could have with that. But those are some fun games you can play with the Census Bureau. Also note this isn’t legal advice, it’s advice on how to fuck with people. If you fuck with somebody they are likely to fuck with you back so remember that.

Book Bannings

I didn’t know we were still banning books but apparently some schools are. As a form of retaliation a kid has taken it upon himself to loan banned books from her locker. Interesting.

As an avid reader I always strikes me as idiotic to create a list of banned books. The first thing people are going to do is obtain those books and read them hoping form something good. This goes double for books banned by any church.

I Love Hypothetical Situations

The Firing Pin Journal brings us a new hypothetical situations which requires you to chose one rifle caliber to take with you:

You are heading off to a rural area where you will spend three weeks having to survive on your own. All of your food must be caught and to add excitement to the scenario, a group of 5 zombies are out there who are very bad zombies, part of a zombie drug ring. You are on their turf and must survive. If you can avoid contact that’s good but if they find you they will be upset with you.

Oh and you don’t get any spare parts and 200 rounds of ammunition (For five days that should be more than sufficient).

Zombies only go down with head shots so having a massive caliber in that regard isn’t necessary. On the other hand if you want to hunt something like deer you’ll want something of decent size. I’d opt for my M1A SOCOM 16. The 7.62x51mm is certainly large enough to drop a deer and can really reach out and touch somebody. The gun is reliable and not known for breaking anything. Head shots on zombies will be no problem at all. The only issue would be weight but it’s not that dreadfully heavy in all honesty. Also I know the rifle like the back of my hand which means in a fight with the drug gang zombies I’d have less problems involved with being unfamiliar with my rifle.

Damned drug gang zombies, they are the worst kind!

Funny Search Terms

One nice thing about WordPress is it will list different search terms people used to navigate to your site. I must admit I do find some humorous items in that list such as this one:

.308 round piercing skull range

I’m very curious to know the story behind that search term.

Quote of the Month

Just a funny thing that happened this weekend. It was one of my friend’s birthdays. This friend is also adamantly anti-gun. Of course the topic of guns briefly came about and eventually the following paraphrase was said:

Burg I’m not going to debate you. You argue with facts and I’d need to prepare for a debate with you.

That made me feel pretty good. Remember kids learning your facts is important because anti-gunners don’t know what to use to combat such terrible things. They need time to prepare for such frontal assaults.

Yes this is a pretty pointless post but hey it’s my site and I get to make pointless posts if I want to.

Damn It

Hey everybody just an FYI blogging is going to be limited to non-existent today. An unfortunate formula has entered my life today:

Truck + Ice + Concrete Barrier = Fuck My Life

So it’s time for communications with the insurance company which is never fun. Combine that with the fact I’m running off of three and a half hours of sleep and the crash from the adrenaline dump caused by the above formula and I’m really in no mood to blog. Sorry.