Categories
fake_ads

We’ve reached peak pumpkin.

Categories
ads politics

What would you say it is that you do here?

Not sure who is funding this organization, but the Center For Voter Information has been sending me mailers on a regular basis to let me know that I’m registered to vote along with a rating of my voting record. There is also a reminder to vote if I want to maintain my “rating”. Excuse me!!! With apologies to Lesley Gore, “It’s my ballot and I’ll vote if I want to, vote if I want to.”

The disclaimers let me know that my rating was determined by scraping state voter records and the information “… is provided as a service to voters like you.” Not sure what kind of service this is and neither does this book

Update: One of the mailers had a list of ratings for candidates with a skew to Democrats, indicating the service is to push Democratic candidates. Sort of like the mailers pushing Republican candidates, but with AFL-CIO and human rights instead of NRA and abortion.

Turns out it could be worse, I could have received the version of the mailer that tells me I’m not registered to vote.

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/13/805694260/a-big-vote-registration-push-reaches-millions-but-divides-elections-officials

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Categories
long reads

Is it possible to steal Valor?

To quote the movie Broken Arrow. I don’t know which is worse, that it happened or that you have a name for it. The downside as we read is that busybodies insist on challenging actual veterans about every detail of their service because of the bad apples.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/10/26/how-to-spot-a-military-impostor

Categories
News

Exclusive dating service with just one member.

Greg Lindberg has a proactive method of dating. Send a private security force to find out their details so you can decide if you want to date them.

He’s headed to prison on unrelated charges of bribery and doesn’t like the ankle bracelet since it “acts as a stalking device” for the government.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/insurance-executive-ordered-to-prison-on-seven-year-sentence-11602186498

Not sure if the appropriate song is Every Breath You Take by The Police or Private Eyes by Hall and Oates

Feel free to add your song suggestions to the comments.

Categories
News places

A rose by any other name can still give you Mesothelioma.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54608836

The festive O in the sign hides the dirty truth.

A sign welcoming people to Asbestos Quebec

Remediation is seen as a drain on local economies. A failure to mark the leftovers as lethal means the piles will be disturbed for years to come as companies mine sift through the tailing piles for other other minerals.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/the-asbestos-legacy-can-mining-residues-be-repurposed-safely

One bright spot is that the process to extract magnesium destroys the asbestos fibers. No mention of how fibers will not become airborne while the tailing piles are dug up with large equipment.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/too-good-to-be-true-transforming-asbestos-mining-residue-into-money

Categories
News

But hey there’s no C02

Not a big enough fan of toxic waste to get behind Nuclear Power. Especially when hearing about how the waste water is going to be handled at Fukushima, the biggest reactor disaster since Chernobyl.

Not sure the criteria for best, but apparently a, “a controlled environmental release is said to be the best way to treat low-tritium-concentration water.”

The strategy of using “controlled environmental releases” worked great for plastics in the ocean.

Diesel trucks are also pretty good at “controlled environmental release”

Categories
News

Return to Sender

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/marketplace-amazon-returns-1.5753714

Since Amazon does sell returns to liquidators (with a whole lot of junk mixed in) and the backpack would have potential value. The question to the investigative journalists becomes, are you experienced at shipping. Did the tracker tear the lining in the pocket where it was placed. Was the bag wrapped in tissue paper or just tossed it in a box. Those zippers and buckles will scratch every time they flop around during shipping.

Before getting too excited about returns being offered online.
1) On eBay and Amazon, free returns are one of the tools used to build trust.
2) How much of the 30-40% return rate for online purchases is clothing? Amazon started selling books as the first category because they can be evaluated for purchase without having to try them on or see them work leading to less potential for returns than other categories.
3) The toy bricks had an electronics package glued to one of the bricks. No way that can be resold.

Tin foil hat bonus point. Maybe Amazon scans all items returned for hidden trackers and those items were sent for destruction to prevent a competitor from finding the secret to Amazon’s ability to process so many returns.

Categories
News

Seems pretty clear to me.

How hard is it to fire somebody these days? We have a factory worker making pizza dough and he added something other than flour, water, sugar, salt and yeast. So the part of the story I can’t fathom… And I quote, “It wasn’t immediately clear why Mitchell no longer worked for the company.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-pizza-company-worker-allegedly-put-razor-blades-dough-sold-n1243043

Categories
Uncategorized

I exist now.

Got my first comment. A super sized page long set of spam links, but it’s the thought that counts.

Categories
Movies

I did my part

I did my part and went to see Tenet in the theater. Went to the local Regal since the Star Theater in Whitehall is still waiting for studios to release new movies before reopening. Was looking forward to seeing Wonder Woman on the big screen. Not sure what the proper box office number should be for a pandemic, but $20 million was the opening weekend whether Warner Bros likes it or not. Worldwide box office of over $300 million so far, which is probably as good as it gets for going first. Wonder Woman will probably suffer a similar fate on opening weekend, since it will play in theaters that have been closed for a while to audiences who will have had even more time to get accustomed to watching at home.

Studios are now holding off on new releases since the expectation was for Tenet to be a $1 billion picture. Disney might be able to hold out and survive on streaming, but the rest of the studios need theaters for their product to reach consumers.

The rise of Netflix shows the audience is not prepared to research the studio just to watch a movie at home.

At this point my choices are the Empire Twin for my theater fix and Movie Lovers when I want to watch movies at home.