Recently in General Category

Shooter planned 'to go out in grand style,' investigator says - CNN.com

It's only semantics, right? The reason I am such a pain on the classification on weapons in the media should be obvious to you. If it's not seek help. Here's the wiki entry for the SKS. As you can see  does not fit the definition of assault weapon, nor does the Bushmaster.

The weapons restricted under the last assault weapon ban were not assault weapons either. Just read it. If you want to ban things least take the time to understand what you are talking about on the most basic level.

McLendon was armed with two assault rifles -- an SKS..

This weekend the family went to a gathering and Highland cames in Phoenix. Usually I eschew such events because.
1) Those that think they are Scottish annoy those of us who are.
2) They murder the food . Seriously this weekend gets a worst haggis of my life award. WTH is that sauce , tae use a well worn phrase I was fair scunnered after that awfy fuid

More on the type of people that attend a gathering and have no idea what the saltire is later.

I posted this over at Yelp but after I've just had another surprise , e.g a loan application that I never requested, I think it's time to expend some time on informing people what they are getting into  if dealing with Camelback VW EXEC Summary: +Wasted our time with childish obfuscation of the sales price +Disregarded our ceiling for buying a vehicle +Changed terms of finance and what it would take to qualify + Ran a  loan application for me instead of a credit check after telling them we'd not be using them then having it denied. In fact I am checking to see if this was retaliatory strike. Some of this is a review of the used car sales process and while the staff at Camelback VW  insist that we must have somehow misunderstood them I don't think that. We went to look at a car, tested it,and left. We liked it enough to discuss terms  the day after and  that's where the fun started. We had simple needs. Tell us the car price + tax, fees and registration.  That's it we didn't want a warranty or many of the other add ons that they try to foist on you.  They made an offer, we declined  as it was above our stated max of 10k  out the door max. Strike 1:  Failing to listen to your customer. Forward a day and a call from  James called wanted us to consider it again at what they called the auction price. (Claimed car was a week away from being auctioned)   This sounded better so we found sitter for the kid,  drove down and asked for a new price. It was $200 less than previously and still above $10k. They had taken up yet another night and this offer just plain sucked. They could have told us on the phone but no they think it's clever to waste people's money acting like a paranoid secret squirrel on a meth bender. Strike 2:  Treating us like children will not make us respect you or even be civil.  We should have walked at that juncture. The usual what could we do to guarantee you'd buy it discussion occurred?  Easy  8k out the door, that's a pretty low offer,insulting? Maybe but hey once you take the piss with an offer that failed to meet our limit  and lose us a few hours of spare time then I get pissy.  They didn't even counter, just said no way, can't even get close and the poor dealer's story of how much they were in for that car etc came out.  I really thought they would break out some violins. Next day  call about how the night guy mustn't have been informed of the "auction price" offer and really they would let us get it for  9200 out the door Yay:)  Erin went down on her own to fill out the paperwork. ( Sidebar) I have really good credit ( there's a reason Scrooge McDuck is Scottish after all) my partner less so, ok it's poor. That's ok we expected to pay dearly for this , her first car, but 20% is just plain awful. Hell when I was new to this country I got a lower rate on a new VW bug.) They came back over 20% and I suggested she not do this without talking first or seeing if my bank would be a better bet. After she spent  more hours at VW Camelback they wanted to run the numbers with me and her ( they still sucked being a  full 12% over the number my bank qualified me for today) but in the meantime they told her she no longer qualified at 20% , that it would have to be co signed BUT if we added an extended warranty onto it, they could call in a special favor and they could see about it. This scam is so well known I can link to it:) That's when we walked for the last time. I could have bought the car, cash but that defeats the  rebuilding credit goal.  Simply didn't trust them. I think the withholding of credit unless you get to the figure by adding warranties  is problematic and  coercive in a manner that I'd consider unethical given a prior indication, the reason we were even back in the dealers , that she'd been approved.   We received a call saying  "they are sorry we misunderstood"  some apology, we understand that you get so used to BS that you can't stop doing it even if you want to. Ended the day at Superstition Honda and bought a used Civic so HA  we were serious. you jack offs! Loan? 6%  . What's sad is that I really like diesel cars and have bought a new VW prior. I've had service at this dealer prior and this is how they go about building a long term business. Morons lost a car sale, a potential car sale and  service for both. Time passed and I just got a letter from the bank saying they'd denied my loan. I never entered into a loan with these people just a credit check. I'm doing some research on the dates/ times this occurred because it seems a tad malicious to apply me for a loan I'd not filled out the paperwork.

While I look like a bottle of wine / upright aubergine it was quite in character for the event.

Full review to follow;

Ritz Camera Center --------------- Update: Corp office  appears to have resolved this.  Meant to pick  up lens on Friday.

Twas the night before  Christmas and I'd left the house I hadn't her present, I felt like a louse, So leaving work early , prior to falling to bits I popped in a camera store, of the name Ritz The model I wanted I  spied  on the shelf I inquired of its features before reducing my wealth "it has to have", the salesperson said. It better I responded or  in morning I'm dead. Checked though the menu, the manual and staff and  pulled out my iphone just for a laugh found out  that this camera didn't auto bracket. Is the advice in this  shop ,merely a racket? So back to the shelf the d60 went and out came the A200 sony instead, it had all the features  and cheap second lens, Now sadly this isn't where my rhyme ends. The lens , wasn't in stock , but that was ok I could come back and get it  in a few days the time came to pass and alas I was told. you can't have the offer  because it's now old. No matter had I offered to pay in advance we're now stuck in some weird customer service dance Were he said and she said  drives me round the bends when all  I want is the aforementioned lens. So people let this be a lesson to buy in advance Or maybe you'll be the one taking it in the pants Even if you get a promise in writing it makes no difference you still end up fighting. Take that Vogons  I totally  own you !  I'm still waiting for the regional manager to intervene since the store is now unable to proceed without this step To date not one returned call and  I'm tired of chasing them around.   The offer was a  second lens for $50  with new camera   ( saving about $200) and this was a key factor in the purchase.  This with the rep's name was written on the receipt  (  which is misplaced , thank the kid)  but all the info is on my   amex and their till has the transaction and the rep knows she did it.    Regardless of a happy ending here   I get  very little feeling of urgency  from the store in question.

Next step  I think is returning the camera since we're now  close to their limit on returns. ( which they say they will extend while resolving this  but to date my confidence  in their proclamations is quite low:)

Then I posted an update.

After a few more days of waiting,  four separate promises to contact me re this had elapsed  and they have basically failed to honour the deal.Maybe the salesperson ( Kim) messed up in offering this to me but I bought this in good faith with the expectation of returning to store the following week and getting the lens at the price stated.

This offer was material to my choice of camera and no transaction would have occurred without it. While he ( manager John)  would like me to wait for their regional manager to get back from vacation I don't find that to be an acceptable state of affairs and will likely be returning the camera  and while they have said they wil extend the return period in this case part of me fully  expects them to renege on that too.

next step: Head office and  also find out the franchise owner.

During my early life in the UK  the tax rate  for individuals  earning over  20k was 83% and if the money came from  investments or dividends another 15% was added onto it  meaning  for ever 100 you earned you could keep 2.

It's at this point I disagree with Mark Cuban and his insistence that  taxation  has minimal to no effect on those starting a business  which may hold true for a 5 - 10%  swing in either direction but at 83% I seriously doubt it.  Several , small, very small, ventures that Creddy and I considered  were impractical to enact because the local  town, county and state permits  made it prohibitively expensive  relating to the expected return. E.g you have spare herbs from a hydroponic garden  and you may make say   $1200 extra a year,  er no not legally you can't:)    Yeah I know it's not the big league but  come on  it's not legal to offer surplus  from your garden.. Grr  anyway  rant off:)


Public wants taxes that hurt the rich | Politics | The Observer

"People had assumed that this group were more than competent and it must have been deserved. There is now a feeling that these people have been responsible for others losing their jobs."

One of my new favorite otter shots. The camera is a modest one, the lens ? Less so. This was taken near where I used to live and yet again I really miss the geography, hate the politics.

Anyway enjoy this, and all his other otters.

Greetings. The nascent mobile site using the mobile press plug-in is now active. I'm going to mod the templates over the next couple of days and also have to work out how to stop it from tripping back to the mobile after a user has asked to see the full one. Theme doesn't have nice big targets for fat fingers either:)

My Personal blogging has been quite light over the past months. I've found that most of the items I want to "chip in" is sated by  commenting on them  via Google Reader  and  quite frankly there are better written  blogs on every subject apart from that niche category..  "what does an internal exile  that escaped Scotland to come to the USA think about the weird customs ,practices and beliefs of his adopted nation"   which is , regardless of grammatical heresies ,  the authoritative  source for what I believe that I believe at the moment.     It may look like a list of things  Hal thinks are stupid especially when voted upon but  I assure you that the 18 , 26, and 30 year old me didn't keep the same list so the next time you  batter someone on the head with an opinion     keep it around  a  decade or two and see if that idea really stands up.  Where I am not in error, though these are rare and happy events,   relates to  illogical ideas.  E.g when people ask me to keep something the same but change it  I don't see how any restatement of their request can lead to a "happy" answer.   At the moment these are things that interest me. Mobile web,     the kind of world that emerges when  resources are too costly to move people to and from places of work,education  as a matter of course,  educating our toddler, thinking of alternate ways to make a scrapyard profitable and dare I say green?     Locating items which are truly innovative and not just this year's restatement of the past with  a couple of features , aka  the marketing departments mega pixel effect were more is better, cough bullshit. Go Daddy Christmas party. Last night  saw Joan Jett at  the companies  Christmas Party, aka Go Daddy.   We got home around 1am and bought her last CD,   Sinner by Joan Jett  which made up for  the other two acts Sinbad  ,  the last syllable is devastatingly accurate,   and 38 Special ( I was ignorant of their oeuvre ) and  I had to leave my own   38 special at home  this being a work event and there being drink and all:)  We also had to forgo hearing Patrick Lauder    sing the national anthem at the Coyotes vs Redwings game , for which is were we would have been  barring the party, but instead  had  Lillian Garcia   sing which , no offence to Patrick,  is physically prettier but   he wins out on overall delivery :)   Still Lilian was really good  and way better than the  usual  histrionic warbling  and  3 or four notes when one would do  from singers that may have  the impression that singing the song's more about their performance.   Yep I'm glad nowadays when the longest held note contest is a separate event:D.   That's  all very cool  but what's even  better is the message  given by our CEO, Founder and lover of things two wheeled and  European  , Bob Parsons who,  after riding  up to the podium on a Ducati let us know that we  had our best year ever,  are  not an example of the kind of company, institution that  promoted dud loans, built too many car or houses.  The company gives a lot of time  , via staff, and money   to charities and this is the annoying part coming up. Since when do you have to justify success in the USA?    Understand I am not getting at those justifying but the people asking the question in the first place.   Many companies curtailed their  parties because of the   business climate and  to them , I say  hum bloody bollocks bug to you.   The number of staff to  cater, provide entertainment, services etc   that's money going to real businesses, same with the shoes,    clothing and other accessories.   The money that the staff won    guess were most of that is going too?       I don't often post on work related items because  it's a difficult balance  to not come across as a gushing fan boy  which as anyone that knows me  would find hard to reconcile with my  cynical daily demeanor.  The latter is a relative scale   , seriously in the UK  I was pretty much on the optimistic side:)     So celebrating two thousand people, their families  and the charities, venders and stores  that benefit from Go Daddy's existence  is something that should NEVER be apologized for at any time  and certainly cheered my holiday up.The laser and fireworks finale would have been  perfect toddler material but it pleased my inner toddler greatly will post some pics as they come in.   [The views expressed on this website/weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Go Daddy Software, Inc.] Oh I nearly forgot..   moobies!

upgrade starts now please ignore any weirdness next hour:) 2,7  here we go