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Doctor "S" is the guy you want with you during a zombie outbreak
Our friends at the Overtime Theater have moved their operations to the Blue Star Arts Complex (1414 S. Alamo, Suite 103.) in Southtown so they are mixing up their schedule a little.
First things first. If you missed out on seeing Dr. “S” Battles [Read it all...] Related posts:
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Some people should never go the entrepreneur route. Meet David Free, the man behind QMS, a company that sells and sometimes even ships an aluminum mousepad called the MacPadd. When the guys at TomsHardware.com started asking why theirs hadn't arrived, they discovered that Free does business his own way. Or sometimes not at all:
Free then exclaimed, "Get out of my f***ing life!" And hung up on us. By now it was becoming clear to us that we weren't going to receive the product we paid for.
Tuan Nguyen at Tom's Hardware ordered a MacPadd to review it on October 23rd. He subsequently tried repeatedly to contact MacPadd or QMS to inquire about the order, but he was ignored.
After going through the confirmation process and payment (done through PayPal), we received an automated response. The website also indicates that the product should ship to the US within "3 to 7 business days."
During the next 7 days following the initial order date, we contacted the vendor several times with no success. The business number constantly goes to a voicemail. An attempt to call the vendor on the 30th of October did not yield any success either. Leaving a voicemail to have a rep respond went unheard.
We never received a shipment confirmation, tracking email notification, or any other type of email to indicate that the product would be delayed, was unavailable, or was on back order.
Suffice to say, we were getting a bit worried.
After looking through the PayPal transaction record, we were able to find another business contact number listed by PayPal for QMS Inc. We called that several times. No answer either.
The only way Nguyen managed to get the owner to acknowledge him was by opening a dispute with through PayPal. But even that didn't resolve things, with Free first breaking promises to send a tracking number, then sending one that turned out to be for another customer's order, then eventually threatening to sue Nguyen and/or Tom's Hardware.
It gets crazier from there, and includes accusations of mental illness, vague threats, and evidence that others have complained about being ripped off by MacPadd.com. Eventually PayPal resolved the dispute in favor of Tom's Hardware and that was that. Well, except for the follow-up article Nguyen wrote to warn others away from the MacPadd, which drew more rants from Free, who signed up as a commenter on the tomshardware.com site to leave personal attacks.
When you buy something from an untested, small-time online vendor, always do a search for complaints first, both on Google and with the Better Business Bureau. Hopefully the experience that Tom's Hardware had with MacPadd.com will stick around online for a long time to warn future shoppers.
"Company to Avoid: QMS Inc./MacPadd.com" [Tom's Hardware]
Frickin' pretend holidays. I mean, yes, thanks to everyone who fights and protects so I don't have to. But seriously, preschool is closed on Veteran's Day? I guess paying as much for my kid to attend nine hours a week as my mom used to pay for two of us in a summer recreation program doesn't buy holidays. Considering Avery was too sick to go Monday, I sure could have used the time. These three mornings a week have become a pretty important part of my personal time, and this week I lost two of them.
It goes without saying that I haven't made much progress on my novel, what with this and the trip to Las Vegas. (I did actually get to work on it for about 15 minutes one morning before everyone else woke up.) I'm at 4897 words, and have pretty much written off "winning" NaNoWriMo. Hooray for failing both November writing initiatives less than a third into the month! But I'm determined to keep working, and actually finish a reasonable draft of this story, even if it takes me a while longer. Maybe January, when I put Avery in all five days.
Октябрь. Подсолнух. Шмель.
The Autumn. The Sunflower. The Bumblebee.
The river Volga.
Here's some bad news for people who like functional erections, Health.com says that a new study has linked erectile dysfunction to the controversial chemical BPA.
From Health.com:
Researchers compared the rates of sexual dysfunction in two groups of workers in China — 230 men who worked at factories that produce BPA or epoxy resin (which contains the chemical), and some 400 men, including workers in other industries, who were not exposed to abnormally high levels of BPA. Epoxy resin is used in the lining of canned foods and is another potential source of BPA in addition to hard, clear plastic.
The men who worked in the BPA and epoxy-resin factories were exposed to levels about 50 times higher than average.
The greater a worker's exposure to BPA — which was measured using spot air and urine samples — the more likely he was to have sexual dysfunction. Yet the dysfunction was apparent even in workers who had worked in a BPA factory for one year or less.
Well, that's troubling.
Study links BPA in plastics to erectile dysfunction [CNN]
(Photo:frankieleon)
What do you do when you're unhappy with a transaction and the merchant wants to make things right, but you think their terms are unreasonable? That's what Raymond wants to know. He tells us that Aldo is willing to price match after sending him a marked down item that he paid full price for online, but thinks they want him to go too far to prove it.
On October 20th, I purchased a tie from the Aldo store on Amazon.com, and paid full price for it ($15). It was promptly shipped to me, but when I received it there was a Sale tag attached to it, and the price was marked down to $9.98 but Aldo still charged me full price for it.
I tried to contact their customer support (via e-mail first) and they told me they would pricematch this item to the lower price if I sent the original invoice, plus a hand-written statement describing the problem, plus proof of purchase and proof of lowered price; to CANADA. I responded back, informing them I can walk literally .2 miles from my house to the nearest Aldo store, and that it made no sense to mail all those things to Canada. They agreed, and said I could go to the store to process this refund.
I thought, great, so I went into the store, and they told me physical stores can't process any Aldo orders made from Amazon. I called customer support, and after being on hold for way too long, I was informed the only way they could help me was if I mailed those things to their center in Canada.
I don't know what to do about this. On one hand, it's only a $5.02 difference, and I DID get free shipping on the order. On the other hand, I was sent a sale item when I paid full price for it. Had I known before ordering it would be a sale item at full price, I would probably still have bought it anyway, but the fact still remains, the item was misrepresented. Also, I'm certainly not going to spend $1 on international first-class postage (plus even more if I get it certified etc) just to get a $5 credit.
All of my friends told me to file a merchant complaint with Amazon, but I feel somewhat hesitant to do that because Aldo DID offer an avenue for this conflict resolution, it's just that I feel the option they gave me is unreasonable.
What would you do?
What should Raymond do?(polling)
(Photo: The Consumerist)
"Agora's" boffo performa
From early morning the faithful tr
Bad news, guys: ABC has canceled the show Hank.
I haven’t totally caught up on Hank yet, I’m still on episode three but I have a whole bunch DVRed and I keep trying to avoid having it spoiled for me, and my co-workers are always like “hey, let’s all talk about that crazy twist on last night’s Hank!” and I’m like “no!!!! I’m still a couple episodes behind don’t spoil it for meeeeee!!!!” and I dive behind desks with my fingers in my ears going “la la la la!” so I can watch the DVRed Hank episodes and enjoy the gripping twists and turns and comedy without knowing what’s going to happen.
Who knows WHERE they could’ve taken the plot in Seasons 6, 7, 8 — I’m guessing space — but now, we’ll never know. Damn network television — first they axe the massive cult hit Back To You, and now THIS shocker! I’m boycotting television forever.
I’m still positive ABC would’ve had a lot more success if they had used my idea for the show:
Kimberly's life just isn't the same. Something is missing. That something: Eggo waffles. She wants to know where they have gone, and whether they will ever return to her.
I was wondering if y'all knew what the hold up at the eggo plant is. I ran across the attached signs while at the grocery store the other night, then tried to follow up on the eggo website which linked me to an error page. What is the world without mass produced waffle goodness?
What, indeed?
Since Kimberly wrote in, Kellogg's has fixed their site's FAQ, and it now tells waffle seekers:
Several recent events have lead to supply issues for Eggo waffles. We want to apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you, our loyal consumers. We are working hard to return to business as usual as quickly as possible. Please be assured that Kellogg is committed to continuing to deliver the high-quality products that our customers and consumers know and trust.
What are those "recent events?" Well, there was September's recall of a few thousand cases of Eggo waffles due to listeria contamination.
We checked with Kellogg's to see if they can give us any updates on waffle production, and will pass on any information we get.
Contact Us/FAQs [Kellogg's]
If you participate in an automatic savings program like Bank of America's Keep the Change service, where debit card purchases are rounded up and the difference is deposited into your savings account, keep an eye on maintenance fees. James says he was hit with a $5 charge last month because he hadn't met the minimum monthly deposit requirement of $25: "It turns out that I wasn't even accruing $5 worth of change per month, so I was losing more money due to the maintenance fee than I was saving via Keep the Change!"
A few years ago, I signed up for Bank of America's "Keep the Change" program. With Keep the Change, every charge to your debit card is rounded up to the nearest dollar, and the difference is automatically deposited in your savings account. The idea is that you save a small amount with each purchase without even thinking about it, which gradually adds up over time.
So far, so good. However, somewhere along the line, Bank of America started charging a $5 monthly maintenance fee on the account. I was never formally notified of this additional fee, and so I didn't even realize it until I noticed one month that my savings account balance had gone DOWN instead of up. It turns out that I wasn't even accruing $5 worth of change per month, so I was losing more money due to the maintenance fee than I was saving via Keep the Change!
I called Bank of America and they explained that I could avoid the maintenance fee either by making a minimum deposit of $25 into the account each month, or by maintaining a minimum balance of $300 (I had $250). Of course, these terms aren't detailed anywhere on their website (at least not that I could find); Keep the Change is described as a "free service," and the only stipulation is that your savings account has an initial $25 balance.
In summary, if you prop up your savings account by depositing more money into it than you'll ever realistically save with Keep the Change, you'll avoid the fees - but then you might as well not even bother with the program in the first place. And if you don't, you'll never even reach the $300 balance on a new account as the maintenance fee could well end up costing you more than what you're saving!
The easy solution: find out what you need to do to avoid maintenance fees on your savings account, and if you agree to the requirements, follow them every month.
In this case, scheduling a $25 transfer from checking to savings every month would suffice, but James never intended to use the service in that manner. Not every bank product is designed to eat up your money, but if you're not careful you can get hit with unnecessary fees, so always take the time to look for ways the bank can charge you and then make sure you're willing to do the opposite—or walk away from the offer.
Update: I failed to address James' real issue, which is that he says BofA never told him about the fee. If your bank institutes a new monthly fee and doesn't tell you about it, contact them and request a refund. If they refuse, tell them you plan on reporting them to the appropriate agencies, and then follow up on that threat. (You might also want to move your business elsewhere just on principal.) Banks do make mistakes whether they like to admit it or not, especially when they're "too big to fail" and running themselves ragged trying to find new ways to generate revenue.
(Photo: Nieve44/La Luz)
You can always just not answer your phone, but if a telemarketer calling you on your Blackberry sends you into a rage, you might want to look at Call Control. The app relies on the telemarketer database at everycall.us to screen out known spammers. The free version screens out the top 100 telemarketers; an $8 version uses the entire database and includes updates.
Call Control for Blackberry [EveryCall]
Today is Veteran's Day. A quote from Obama's speech today summed up my sentiments on this holiday: "That is why we fight" today, the president said. "In hopes of a day when we no longer need to." (Via LA Times)
The repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell is likely to be part of next year's defense bill.
In These Times has a piece about how unmarried women are suffering in the recession.
For the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, The Daily Beast has a compilation of 25 classic moments. Below is one of my personal favorites:
Just something to brighten up your Wednesday.
Word of two new projects focusing on the stories of transgender individuals hit the Hollywood trades last week. Both have me concerned we will once again see most of the focus on the process of transition, and that once again trans lives might be reduced to transition status.
First comes word of a new HBO series called "T":
HBO is in development on a half-hour drama series that explores the gender transformation of a woman into a man.
Most mainstream representations of trans folks are focused on trans women, so a story about a trans man might be a welcome change. But the description of the show's premise is focused entirely on the act of transition.
Following that story came news that the lead roles have been cast in "The Danish Girl." The film is based on the novel of the same name by David Ebershoff, a fictionalized account of the life of Lili Elbe. Elbe is sometimes called the first transsexual and there are many who believe she was intersex. Her story is certainly one of the earliest accounts of someone going through surgical procedures as part of a gender transition.
I have not read Ebershoff's book, which apparently focuses on the relationship between Elbe and her wife Gerda. but the fact that people are interested in Elbe's story because of the historical nature of her transition process has me worried about a film that will focus on transitioning.
The process of transitioning can certainly be an important part of a transgender person's life experience. But physical and social transitions, those moments in our lives where our bodies and presentations go through the biggest changes, are not our whole experiences. You might not know this from mainstream representations of transgender folks, though, which too often focus on the act of transition and often the status of our genitals to the exclusion of the rest of our life stories. This obsession turns trans folks into objects of fascination whose crotches are more interesting than any other aspect of our lives. It makes the process of transitioning more relevant than the gender we actually identify with. And by always bringing up the gender we were assigned at birth these narratives often delegitimize our gender identities and presentations by showing our "real" or "natural" gender in opposition to a chosen, artificial, and created gender.
Of course I'm curious about both these projects, and I want to give them some benefit of the doubt. But the fact that both "T" and "The Danish Girl" are already being framed as focusing on transitioning instead of other, under-represented aspects of trans life experiences has me worried.
Without re-treading over old Seth MacFarlane trashing ground (that dude’s practically achieved a Bush level of “ok, we GET it already, please complain about someone else”), the following Collegehumor video is just about the most accurate thing I’ve ever seen.
And that right-wing anteater is so clueless OMG!!!!!
As we correctly predicted (not that it was difficult), the movie This Is It will not, in fact, mark the end of post-death Michael Jackson catalog exploitation.
Want to hear the MJ music you love, only infinitely more expensive and with a bunch of weird golden sh*t happening? Get ready for a Michael Jackson Cirque du Soleil show!!!
The show is still in its extremely preliminary stages, so it’ll give the executors of Jackson’s estate more than enough time to practice their speeches about how charging ambivalent tourists $500 to watch two French wizards high five with their d*cks on a trapeze while “Beat It” plays is the perfect way to honor Jackson’s legacy.
Michael bought a Sony Pocket Reader last month, but with the exception of $10 bestsellers, he's finding that other books he wants are priced higher than he's willing to pay. For example, Tad Friend's memoir Cheerful Money is $10 on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble, but $17.49 from Sony. Michael wants to know if we have any advice on how to get Sony to lower their prices.
Yeah, can't help you with that too much, Michael. The problem is we're in the early stages of ebook sales going mainstream, and that means every publisher and every retailer is trying something different. The good news is sometimes it will work out in your favor as a consumer, like Amazon forcing competitors into selling new releases for $10 no matter how high publishers want to price them; the bad news is that sometimes you'll get screwed, like every format being locked down by DRM so that you can't read it on a competing device.
One thing you can do is buy from the independent ebook retailer shortcovers.com, which I've found frequently sells ebooks at prices lower than Sony, and competitive with Amazon and Barnes & Noble. (They're currently selling Cheerful Money for $10.49.) Shortcovers sells ebooks in the ePub format, locked down with Adobe Digital Editions DRM, and they say you can read their books on Sony Readers as well as several other ereader devices currently on the market.
The site doesn't offer as large a library as the other retailers, and as I noted the books come with the same DRM plaguing every ebook retailer. But it's a good alternative for owners of Sony Reader devices until Sony discovers competitive pricing.
Update: You can also try ebookprice.info to comparison shop—just make sure that whatever format you buy will work with your ereader. (Thanks to BinaryTB!)
(Photo: kevindooley)
The usefulness of Best Buy's Geek Squad depends entirely on the competence of the employee you get when you go in for help, and unfortunately Scott landed one of the lazier ones. Here's his sales pitch to Scott over a laptop that wouldn't start: "It's going to take at least 10 minutes for me to get the multimeter or another adapter. It's going to be a problem inside the computer, let's just send it in."
What's even better about this story, though, is how it ends.
The other day my laptop quit working. I noticed the LED display that shows that it is plugged in was not glowing. First I tried plugging my cell phone adapter into the outlet just to see if the outlet was working and of course, there was nothing wrong with the outlet (hooray for paying my electric bill), next I tried plugging the laptop into a different plug and still no luck. Through this basic troubleshooting I realized that either my AC adapter was bad or the problem was inside my laptop! Off to Best Buy and their Weak Squad, I mean Geek Squad.
When I got to Best Buy I told the Geek Squad / Mormon impersonator about my problem. I even suggested that all I needed for them to do was plug my laptop in with a different cord and/or check my adapter with a multimeter. The Geek told me that they did not have an adapter for my computer (an obvious lie, I have had my laptop worked on twice by the Geek Squad and both times they used their own adapter); however he did agree to check it with the multimeter. He then looked around for about 5 seconds and could not find the multimeter, so he did the next logical thing, he picked up my laptop, stared into the AC adapter receiver and then told me "It is definitely going to be a problem with the computer, we are going to need to send it in for three weeks."
Obviously I was shocked. I told him before I sent off my computer for 3 weeks I would like to make sure it is not a problem with the AC adapter, could he please check it out first. "It is going to take at least 10 minutes for me to get the multimeter or another adapter, it's going to be a problem inside the computer, lets just send it in."
I thought for a second... 3 weeks vs 10 minutes... 3 vs 10... well, 3 is less than 10 (Shel Silverstein showed me that in his economy-based poem "Smart")... Despite Shel's frugal advice I decided I would wait out those ten minutes and see what happens.
Turns out, when plugged into a different adapter my computer turns right on! Now, I know all I need to do is buy an adapter, but to be honest I was pretty angry at the Geek Squad's lack of effort in troubleshooting my computer, so I did not purchase the adapter from them.
Instead I went across the street to "The Shack" and started to explain my troubles to the employee there. Before I was done with my story he had already pulled out a multimeter and another adapter. He first plugged in the other adapter and it worked, so then he took the multimeter to my adapter and checked it in two places, before the transformer (from the wall to the plug was 110v) and then post transformer to plug (3.5v, when it as supposed to be putting out 19v). Not only did he confirm (by using science!) that the adapter was bad, he then told me "I'll be honest with you, the universal adapter we sell here is more expensive than the one across the street at Best Buy." To me, his willingness to do the right thing (and not send my laptop away for 3 weeks) was worth the extra 10 dollars.
RELATED
"Radio Shack Sales Staff Unfazed By 2,400% Markup"
Approximately every third Geek Squad post on Consumerist
(Photo: shlala)
- Location:Russian Federation, Moscow
- Music:Dobun Duoraan
Just a reminder to my fellow Nutmeggers: I will be speaking tomorrow at 5:30 pm at the Peabody Museum at Yale in New Haven. The title of the talk is “Darwin Gets Swine Flu.” Pigs, ducks, sneezes, and more.
Details here.
I'm really tired of these stories.
The fact that these young people are brave enough to come out in a climate as difficult as high school and then are faced with this kind of bigotry, is just really really sad.
Cynthia Stewart, a 17-year-old junior at Tharptown High School in northern Alabama, is a member of her school's prom planning committee, had personally raised over $200 for the prom, and created the theme her classmates had chosen for the dance. She is also an out lesbian.When Cynthia approached her principal to ask if she could bring her girlfriend with her to the prom, he said no. He also made Cynthia remove a sticker she was wearing that said, "I am a lesbian," telling her, "You don't have that much freedom of speech at school." Cynthia's aunt and guardian, Kathy Baker, then appealed the principal's decision to the school board. But the board let the decision to bar Cynthia from bringing her girlfriend to the prom stand.
I hope she can find support and love from her community to stand up to this and keep going on what is a difficult road.
Two older but happier stories from our archives on LGBTQ teens:
Friday Feel-good Story: Teen Lesbians Voted Best Couple in Yearbook
California high school elects gay male prom queen
UPDATE: The school is reconsidering her request.
THERE ARE NO SPOILERS IN THIS POST. PROMISE.
The pain of having to wait a couple of week’s for a brand new episode of Glee while hordes of people who spit on the ground Glee walks on — namely, baseball fans — reveled in their playoff glory. Wednesday nights were filled with fanciful, rhythmic pacing, back and forth down a rhinestoned runway, thumbs twiddling betwixt our fingerless leather gloves. For fans of musical theater and/or steaming giant blocks of cheese, it was a painfully long hiatus. But tonight, folks, GLEE IS BACK. And believe it or not, it is better. than. ever.
How do we know? Fox was kind enough to send over a needle-full of heroin — sorry, we meant, the new episode screener for “Wheels” — which was carried over to my DVD player like the newborn baby in Children of Men. It was one of the few times I watched an episode of Glee without having seen any of the preview clips, and after all is said and done, I’m happy I didn’t. The element of surprise really adds to the overall enjoyment, and in the future, I will be chaining up my arms and legs before clicking play for any of their preview songs.
If the title is any (and every) indication, it is the first episode of the season to focus on one of the backgroundish characters. Namely, Artie and his Wheelchair. But “Wheels” is about so much more. In fact, it might be the first episode ever where various storylines weave between each other with ease, where more than just a small handful of the people we love get their fair shake of screentime. We spend time with Kurt and his father, a mechanic who used to host the show Nickelodeon “Guts.” Quinn’s baby storyline is advanced in a very satisfying way, replete with plenty of gratuitous Puck moments. And Will and Sue go through their usual motions, this time, with a twist. Even Principal Figgins gets his moment in the sun. And while there aren’t too many musical numbers, the ones we are given are glorious (including the finale, which is so cute as to be almost Japanese.) And the best part?
MR. SCHUESTER DOESN’T RAP. Not once. Not for a second. Did the petition work?
The episode was only 43 minutes long, but felt more like a Glee feature film. And, yes, there are moments in it that are super cheesy cheese from space, and things that would never, ever happen in real life, but isn’t that the reason we tune in? To laugh, to cringe, and — in the case of this episode — to cry? Don’t believe me now, but tonight, when you cry, remember to also think “Michelle told you so.”
If you have never seen Glee, and want to know what the fuss is about, watch tonight’s episode. And when it ends, if you still feel like it’s not for you, a. reevaluate your life and b. there’s nothing else we can really do for you. Watch those DVR’d episodes of “The Globe Succession” or whatever it’s called.
And if you’re already a fan… well, then, there is really no need to encourage you, is there?
Some people will tell you that seances are archaic wastes of time that no rational humans on this side of 1800 should ever spend one second partaking in, as their continued existence makes mankind as a whole embarrassingly dumber.
Try telling that to the guy in this clip, though, who cannot help but break down into tears because he’s talking to the actual ghost of Michael Jackson. Wouldn’t you??
Does "Bank of America" actually mean "Bank of America Only"? After pulling another reader's debit card access back in August even though she had explicitly notified the überbank about her travels, BoA has apparently done it again. Reader Bristol tells us that she has been penniless in India for the last week after the bank's mysterious computers canceled her debit card.
Over a week ago Bank of America canceled my debit card, saying it had been compromised. I am a woman traveling in India by myself and have absolutely no access to cash. This exact thing happened to me while traveling abroad 8 months ago so I made sure to notify the bank of my travel plans and was told it would not be a problem. I have been told that there is a computer system that is alerted to strange behavior (apparently withdrawing cash from a foreign country is strange) and the computer closes the card. I have also been told that there is no human, not even the president of the Bank of America himself, who can re-activate the card.
I have spent the last week on the phone with the Bank of America fraud department, customer service, Bank of America emergency dept and Visa 911. I have spent about $100 being hung up on and given incorrect information and hours of my vacation time trying to either get a new card rushed or cash sent via Western Union. I was told this morning that the bank will not send me the cash and when going through the security questionnaire for the 20th time I was hung up on. I was told by the fraud dept that the card would take 5-7 business days to reach me and now was told this morning (before being hung up on) that it will not arrive for 12 business days.
I am insanely frustrated by Bank of America's labrynthine bureaucracy and incompetence. I would love to re-enact a scene from fight club but instead I am here hoping that together we can rise up and demand accountability from our banks.
Bristol's terrible misadventures serve as a reminder to all travelers to never leave home without a backup source of funding, be it a credit card, other bank account, or traveler's checks.
RELATED:
BoA Strands Customer In Siberia With No Money
Update: BoA ATM Card Dispatched To Stranded Traveler After Return To U.S.
HSBC Cancels Traveler's Credit Card, Pays For Their Mistake
American Express Leaves Customer Stranded In Mumbai With No Money
WaMu Doesn't Care You Could Be Stranded In Himalayas With No Money
(Photo: mrkathika)
Arnold was excited to receive an e-mail from Toys R Us advertising a special early-bird sale of Zhu Zhu Pets. The inexpensive little robot hamsters are in short supply, and the chain promised critters to the first fifty households who showed up at their local store on Sunday morning. Only Arnold reports that not only did his local store never have any of the battery-operated rodents in stock, it wasn't open at the advertised hour at all.
I know this isn't an earth-shattering issue, but it annoys me. Stupid Toys R Us sent me this email about a special sale on Zhu Zhu pets.
*In-store Sun., 11/8/09 only. Limit one Zhu Zhu Pet per household. Quantities limited; no rain checks. Selection may vary by store.
Seeing how my daughter is all about the Zhu Zhu pets this year, I thought this was a great thing.
So, I get up early (which was a chore, my wife has been in the hospital and just came home yesterday, so we are all exhausted from running back and forth.) I drove 20 miles to get there extra early so I can be one of the 1st 50 people there only to discover not only was my Toys R Us not opening early, they didn't even have them in stock. Talk about a waste of time. Why bother sending something out if it isn't true?
On the drive home I thought to myself, "maybe it was only at certain stores." So I came home and read the email again to make sure. On the bottom it said what stores wouldn't have them. I don't live in NJ, and this was a full size Toys R Us, not an Express or Babies R Us. In fact, I even clicked on the store locator on the email, and my store in Riverhead, NY popped up. Talk about a waste of time.
Was there some kind of miscommunication, or was this an e-mail blast gone horribly wrong? Did Arnold misunderstand? The entire message and relevant part of the disclaimer are reproduced above. It seems pretty straightforward.
Forget about disappointed little children—we hope that no more frazzled parents get their hopes up only to discover that the toys they seek aren't available as promised.
Did you try to obtain Zhu Zhu Pets on Sunday morning like Arnold? How did you fare?
PREVIOUSLY:
Experts Predict Widespread Robotic Hamster Shortages
On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO), an agency of the UN, released its first-ever study of women's health worldwide, Women and Health: Today's Evidence, Tomorrow's Agenda. The findings of the study, although perhaps not surprising to those of us who work in the field of international women's health, are still pretty outrageous: H.I.V. is the leading cause of death and disease among women between the ages of 15 and 44.
This is a sad and somewhat overwhelming statistic for me personally, since I view so many HIV infections among women as preventable with the right policy steps by the U.S. government and other governments of the world, and the right knowledge and information
Yes, I said it. Preventable. Although the WHO reports that unprotected sex is the leading risk factor in developing countries, don't let that statistic fool you. "Unprotected sex" may technically be the leading risk factor, but that doesn't tell the whole story. As the president of my NGO points out, women's vulnerability is increased by preventable conditions such as unmet need for contraceptives, insufficient legal and social protection for women against widespread sexual coercion and violence, social encouragement of the marriage of young girls to much older men, and lack of access to information about HIV, sexuality, and the availability of reproductive services.
Lastly, although this particularly disturbing statistic is deservedly getting a lot of coverage, check out some of the report's other findings, as summarized on Akimbo:
• Women provide the bulk of health care, but rarely receive the care they need
• Women live longer than men but these extra years are not always healthy
• Despite some biological advantages, women's health suffers from their lower socio-economic status
• Perhaps least surprisingly, policy change and action is needed within the health sector and beyond to ensure full protection of women's health and rights
Via The Hotline, Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, after initially stating that despite being pro-choice, she was okay with the Stupak amendment has changed her tune, at least according to her Twitter feed.
Text: Oppose Stupak.Don't think we should change current law which is no public $ for abortions,but amndmt goes too far limitng private funds too
What's sad is that her new position is still not what many of us want--which is true access to all reproductive health services, regardless of income, ability to pay or health care plan.
But nice work to all those who put pressure on Senator McCaskill and her support of what is a truly terrible piece of legislation.
Want to stand with the pro-choice congresswomen opposing inclusion of Stupak in health care reform? Sign your name here.
Related:
Whose health care victory?
Rep. Wasserman Schultz: Confident Stupak will not be in the final version of the bill
- Mood:
impressed
Every now and again, an e-mail lands into our “tips” hotline which piques our interest. This is one of those messages. JR over at the hilarious (albeit NSFW) website Homoshame writes the following:
Dear Best Week Ever,
On Saturday night, I dragged two of my best friends and my boyfriend to see “Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay” in Los Angeles. I was inspired to take the journey thanks to Michelle Collins’ post about the film. I thought, “This movie could take terrible to a whole new awesome level!”
Actually, the movie took terrible to a whole new terrible level. Characters’ motivations changed from scene to scene. Lanie Kazan just did a poor-man’s imitation of Michael Myers’ Linda Richmond shtick in every scene. And shockingly, Carmen Electra was probably the least offensive part of the movie (no really). My boyfriend accurately assessed that the flick was “a hate crime against comedy.”
After the movie, in the lobby of the theater, I grabbed the “Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay” postcard/flyer. I flipped it over and saw something awesome. Please see the attached photos.
-JR
So just what did JR find on the back of this postcard? Oh, no big deal really…
That’s right, readers. Bestweekever.tv has now joined the esteemed ranks of Orcasound Features Magazine and, yes, Canadian National TV (points for vagueness), with a quote that will almost certainly end my career. “Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay Features Most Talented Cast of Actors Ever Assembled For a Film” — Michelle (long inhale) Collins (5 minute sigh). Note, by the way, that the people printing this card couldn’t even get “Lainie Kazan“’s name spelled correctly.
But I ain’t mad. After all, finally someone has taken my ramblings on the internet seriously enough so as to print it on a glossy postcard. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to head over to Laemmle’s to pick me up a stackful so that my grandchildren may one day know that I was once a somebody.
Move over, Britney Spears’ Top Ten List, cause Jon Gosselin is jumping on the “look at my amazingly self-aware sense of humor” celebrity bandwagon with his own really, really light self-parody video on Funny Or Die. We all thought he was a total douchebag but he’s not cause you see he’s aware that he wears earrings! I’m sold.
In response, Kate will really rip into herself by posting a video of her saying “I am sometimes not great!” and gently hitting herself with a feather:
Want to quickly and easily know where you can get a flu shot nearby?
Google has launched a new service that combines flu shot availability information with Google Maps, google.com/flushot. Everything that you love about Google Maps, plus flu shots! Google notes on their blog that, "this project is just beginning and we have not yet received information about flu shot clinics for many locations. In addition, many locations that are shown are currently out of stock. We launched this service now in order to help disseminate information about locations where vaccines are available, and also to make more vaccine providers aware of the project so that they can contribute."
Always make sure to call the location ahead of time to verify vaccine availability and your eligibility.
Finding flu vaccine information in one easy place [Googleblog] (Thanks to Dirk!)
Afte
The 93 pieces - currently split between museums in Edinburgh and London - were discovered on Lewis in 1831.
This post is really just an excuse for me to put up this cool poster. If you want the details on my talk in Vancouver on November 18, you can find them here. Tickets are free, but registration is required.
This video is from a Colorlines special report, Torn Apart by Deportation.
Harsh immigration policy, compounded by systemic inequities built into the criminal justice system, might not be thwarting terrorists or making our country a whole lot safer. But the laws are doing a great job of breaking up another entity: families of color.
In an era of increased enforcement over immigration reform, this is a huge problem for so many immigrant families. You can read more from the report in three articles dedicated to the issue here.
