Under a Gibbous Moon

Recently, on Twitter, I responded to Anil Dash’s rather acerbic comment (which her promptly rescinded, no doubt under duress when when Apple’s stormtroopers kicked in his door) on how Apple periodically likes to make their products incompatible with everything else. I commented back about how my Bose Sound Dock will not charge my iPod Touch.

Thirty-four minutes later, I was contacted by Bose Service who stated that they had seen my tweet and wanted to help. I figured what the hell. I figured that they were maybe handing out adapters to fix the problem (either for free or a small charge) but no, after a little back and forth I found this out.

So here I am, stuck with a less functional sound dock with my only option being to spend $99 to “fix” it or just buy a new one. Ya, thanks but no thanks.

I would like to add a note that I don’t just a problem with Bose (though I am severely disappointed with their “in ear head phones” that only stay in when you sit perfectly still”) on this but also with Apple. It takes real disdain to hand out licenses to make third party accessories and then fuck them over like that.

In this case, Apple screws over the accessory maker who then screws over their existing customer base. Like they say, shit rolls down hill.

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This, this is so unbelievably stupid that it warrants the creation of its very own tag.

I’m sure we all remember back in ‘94 when a woman put hot coffee between her legs, spilled it, and burned her hoo ha. For her gross negligence she was (initially) awarded several million dollars.

That, to my vague and hazy recollections, is the day the lawsuit jackpot started. Soon everybody who did something stupid was suing the manufacturer, the seller, and their neighbor in an attempt to make a buck.

Inane warning signs proliferated like weeds. But no, that wasn’t enough, not for William Ogletree.

On December 30, 2009, the dawn of a new era began. Not simply content with finding ways to hurt himself doing idiotic things with mundane items, he is threatening a lawsuit because he forgot his coat and no one bother to have “…collected the coat, kept it in a secure place and held it for a reasonable period of time for the owner to locate it”.

That’s right, folks, he forgot his coat and its someone else’s fault that he didn’t get it back. Apparently the City of Houston, The Westfield Concession Management, Inc, and Continental Airlines are supposed to be his mommy.

Hat Tip: The Smoking Gun

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Welcome to a segment that I like to call The Parade of Stupid Names. Today we will discuss the absolute lows that parents have come to in regards to naming their children in manners that will torment and scar them for many years to come.

Today, I took my daughter in for her nine month check up. Visiting a pediatrician’s office is a good place to hear the godawful names that some parents come up with (presumably while drunk). There was a little boy there whose parents are apparently travelers. They are such world treading people that they wanted to make sure everyone else knows it, so, of course, they name their son Rome. I’m sure he’ll be a hoot in geography class.

Then there was another poor kid named Jayden. Holy crap, why don’t you just name him Clay Aiken and be done with it. I mean there’s a reason why the studio changed John Wayne’s name from Marion.

Now the worst offender that I’ve heard of lately belongs to the sister of one of my wife’s friends (say that five times fast). She named her newest son Linkin, yes like the park… I mean band.

I’m not sure why some parents sit down and try to think of the stupidest, most off the wall name that they can think of for their children but I do have a theory. Just think of the one other thing were people sit down and think of the stupidest, most off the wall names: pets.

I believe that there are parents out there who think of their children in the same way they do their pets. It shows, too, like pets, they are all cute and cuddly when their born but eventually they grow up into loud, obnoxious beasts (teenagers) and by then their no fun anymore so their parents allow them to run wild around the neighborhood going in other people’s yards and impregnating their pets, I mean children.

OK. I’m done, I’ll dial back the crotchetiness a bit besides, it’s almost time for Matlock.

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The senate filibuster is wrong, it has alway been wrong and so it shall remain. I don’t care who uses it or why. The reason for this is simple,  we live (ostensibly) in a democratic society. Typically in a democratic society the will of the minority is not allowed to overrule the will of the majority.

That is, though, exactly what filibuster is. One (or sometimes a small group) senator is able to indefinitely delay the passage of a bill. The House of Representatives does not allow this, why does the Senate? Selfishness.

All senators hate the filibuster because it can get in the way of what they want but at the same time, they all love it because it allows them to get what they want. The best part of it is, that not wanting to be inconvenienced, senators are not even required to stand and talk to filibuster. The filibustering senator merely says he is and then everyone can go home.

While the Constitution gives the Senate the power to form its own rules, this is downright stupid. Unfortunately, the only way around their selfishness would involve getting them to either change it directly or through a Constitutional amendment. I don’t see either of those things ever happening.

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Remember this bit of snake oil? Well it seems the the Iraqi government has finally gotten wise to to it. Apparently a plastic box with antenna but no actually testing materials is, in fact, a hoax.

Of course it is probably never a good idea to sell thousands of fake bomb detectors to a government, but at least if you do you should abscond with your money after the deal is done. It seems though, that he was not that smart and Jim McCormick, the companies managing director, has been taken into custody. At least he’s lucky his in England (where the company is headquartered) and not in Iraqi.

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