Browsing the "Rants" category...
Made in China
I never thought that this would happen.
Once upon a time, I was pleased to find products Made in China. No more.
Recently, Sam Stevens sampled and savored a new canned cat food. I was ready to add it to his regular food rotation when I saw the words Made in China. And I paused.
I eventually decided to buy the food. But if the current situation is enough to give me pause, then China has a serious problem that they need to address.
vox populi
Roy Pearson is a lawyer. That used to mean that he held all the cards in a civil action.
The Virginia Court of Appeals, in a 2005 review of Mr. Pearson’s divorce proceedings, upheld findings that he created “unnecessary litigation” in a relatively simple case and was responsible for “excessive driving up” of legal costs.
It’s not so simple any more. Pearson may be winning in the court of law, but he is losing big time in the court of public opinion. He is rapidly becoming the man with the $65 million dollar pants:
How does he get to $65 million? The District’s consumer protection law provides for damages of $1,500 per violation per day. Pearson started multiplying: 12 violations over 1,200 days, times three defendants. A pant leg here, a pant leg there, and soon, you’re talking $65 million.
Roy Pearson didn’t realize that the rules have changed. Knowledge of the law was once enough to insure either a personal victory or a pyrrhic victory for the other side. That’s still true. But the personal cost of legal action was once next to nothing. Now Pearson has his reputation and career tangled up in this case.
Dear Customer Support
I filed a customer support case with a software vendor today. I don’t want to pick on anyone in particular, but I’ve had similar issues before. So here we go.
- I’m very happy that you have memorized your telephone number and extension. But would you please slow down when you leave it on my voice mail.
- It’s good to know that I need to supply more information. But it would be so much better to know exactly what information you need. If it is too complex for a voice mail, then you could type it into my case log.
- Thanks for letting me know that you’re out of the office tomorrow. But don’t you think that makes the previous point that much more pertinent?
Lame 8300HD UI
The Take the First Step household has two Digital Video Recorders: a Toshiba SD-H400 Tivo and a Scientific Atlanta 8300HD.
At the time, the 8300HD was our only option for an HD DVR. And if we had never used a Tivo, then we might have been impressed with the 8300HD. But we have, and we aren’t. Because the 8300HD user interface is lame.
The 8300HD UI allows you to watch one show while viewing your recorded programs, limiting the list of recorded programs to only 5 lines. The combination of a 5 line display, no folders and temperamental scrolling makes the selection of a show to watch a real adventure. And the recording logic isn’t smart enough to avoid recording multiple instances of the same episode.
All in all, I would have to say that the best feature of the 8300HD is that it is rented not owned. Because we are replacing it with a Series 3 Tivo as soon as I’m confident that Cablevision is supporting cable cards.
Running It Up
Everyone is in agreement that last night’s Brawl at the Garden was a disgrace. I don’t need to add any fuel to the fire.
What perplexes me is the sentiment that the baby-blue mafia was responsible for the entire affair. According to this theory, George Karl is responsible for the brawl because he left the starters in to run up the score in retaliation for the way Larry Brown was treated by the Knicks.
Contrast that with common reactions to the Connecticut 50 Point Suspension Rule:
And yet another example of “everyones a winner” mentality infecting sports and rewarding mediocrity.
This rule is just wrong, this rule is liberalism run amok.
How is it acceptable for high school football teams to run up the score while unacceptable for professionals to do the same? The Knicks are highly paid professionals. If they don’t like being down by 20 points, then they should play up to the level of their salaries and keep the game close.