Category: Uncategorized

Can’t I Go To Subway Without the Dildos Please?

Maybe I’m becoming a crotchety old man who doesn’t understand “kids these days” anymore. But really I try. For example, I’ve come to live with the fact that because I work at a university and I choose to eat in the food court in the basement of the student union, that when I go up the stairs I’ll learn more than I wanted to about dental dams,

Fine, but I don’t think I’ll ever grasp why I can’t just grab a sub at Subway or withdraw some money from the bank without having to walk past this,

The day before I took this picture I actually brought my six year old daughter in with me for lunch — thank God these folks weren’t set up then! (And I see lots of kids here at lunch because, as with most universities, we have a large segment of nontraditional students).

And the weird thing is that you can still read nonsense in the student paper or from the pamphlets insists that there isn’t enough frank discussion about sex. Yeah right — more like a severe case of oversharing.

HP — Where a Guarantee Doesn’t Mean Jack

Earlier this year when I bought a new laptop direct from HP, I paid an extra $350 for a three year warranty that covered accidental damage and promised a three day turnaround for any repairs. I’ve had a couple of minor problems — the worst is a fan that suddenly sounds like its a jet engine.

Now I paid the $350 to get the three day turnaround because even a day without my laptop feels like losing an arm or a leg. In fact, I’ve been putting off repair of a minor problem for 6 months precisely because even three days is an eternity.

So imagine my surprise when I call HP and the tech support person basically says that the three day guarantee really isn’t a guarantee — because their repair center is supposedly “backlogged” my three day guaranteed repair may in fact take 7 to 10 days.

Apparently when they said they guaranteed a three day turn around in exchange for $350, they just meant that they would think about it really hard before telling me 7 to 10 days.

Excellent Rule to Live By on the Internet

One of the neat things about running a weblog/web site is looking at the server logs to see who is linking to/writing about you. Lately, I’ve noticed a lot of sites taking advantage of the various RSS feeds I offer to post my latest headlines on their site.

This site about boxers (dogs, not pugilists) has a page featuring several RSS feeds related to animals which includes this warning which is very appropriate for the Internet,

Beware wackos

As always use your own best judgment when viewing stories on the net. Beware wackos who sound persuasive. Do your own homework.

What excellent advice!

More Than 100 Protest Guam Carabao Cull

More than 100 people turned out in August at a U.S. Navy base in Santa Rita, Guam, to protest an ongoing cull of carabao that graze on property the Navy uses for munitions testing.

An estimated 300 carabao roam the Naval Ordinance Magazine, which the Navy contends presents environmental and health risks as well as limiting the ability of the Navy to use the area effectively.

In May 2003 the Navy began using sharpshooters to cull the carabao, and as of August had killed 63 of the animals.

Navy spokeswoman Lt. Thurraya Kent told the Pacific Daily news that the Navy does work with the Mayors Council of Guam and the Department of Agriculture’s Division of Wildlife Resources to support an adoption program for the animals,

The Navy is always in consultation with (Aquatic and Wildlife) to find the best method of reducing the population of the carabao. The population must be reduced for safety ad health concerns, and that won’t change, but today’s protest does remind us that people have strong views about it.

Cathy Goeggel of Animal Rights Hawaii wrote a letter to the Navy complaining that the shooting of the animal is not necessary,

Fish and Wildlife has a history of preferring lethal control of feral animals, and it appears that they Navy has chosen the quick and dirty response to what amounts to an inconvenience. We are not convinced that your decision is based upon sufficient evidence that the carabao are such a danger to the environment that they must be killed.

Sources:

100 turn out to protest carabao culling. Katie Worth, Pacific Daily news, August 14, 2003.

Carabao Letters. Pacific Daily news, August 22, 2003.

Utah TV Stations Refuse PETA Holocaust Ads

Four Salt Lake City, Utah, television stations rejected advertisements placed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that compare animal slaughter to the Holocaust.

The ad features animals being transported to slaughter inside a truck and, according to The Salt Lake Tribune,

A voice in the PETA ad says: “They came for us at night. Beat us. We cried out in the darkness. With no food or water, and barely air to breathe.”

PETA’s Matt Prescott said he was disappointed that the television states rejected the ads, telling The Salt Lake Tribune, “I think it’s a shame, because people need to understand where their food comes from.”

Right, because tens of millions of Americans don’t realize that animals are raised on farms and then slaughtered before showing up in the supermarkets.

Source:

Utah TV stations reject PETA ad. Rhina Guidos, The Salt Lake Tribune, August 24, 2003.