March, 2014 archive
Scam Alert 0
The Philadelphia Inquirer rounds up some of the new twists in the identity theft game. Here’s the most macabre:
The danger is in an attached link, which claims to provide details about the “upcoming celebration of your friend’s life service.” Don’t click on the link! By doing so, you are downloading malware onto your computer, Levin said.
More at the link.
Value Subtracted 0
I’ve been in a hotel for the last few days, using the hotel wireless. If you have used hotel wireless, you have experienced the phenomenon that mid-rate hotels (Marriott Courtyards, Holidays, and the like) offer free wireless and expensive hotels (Marriotts and Hyatts, for example) tend to charge a daily rate, just because they can.
This one had a new twist. It offered tiers of service. I’m paraphrasing from memory, but here’s the list:
- Complimentary.
- Basic ($10.00 per day).
- Skype ($20.00 per day)
- Streaming ($30.00 per day).
The “complimentary” is slow; a file that I could download in less than a minute at home took over five minutes here.
This is not “added value”; it would cost the hotel no more to offer “streaming” access than to offer “complimentary” access. Instead, the hotel has subtracted value by restricting access so as to get persons to pay more for what would cost the hotel nothing more. It is a scam masquerading as a benefit, the protection racket Wall Street style.
This is the “screw you” business model; it’s how American business operates today.
(Other than this, it’s been an excellent stay.)
I do miss Philadelphia. It is one of the country’s great cities.
Everyone Deserves a Day in Court 0
Lawyers have a job to do. They fight for their clients. Good lawyers fight honestly and comply with their code of ethics.
Politicians have a job to do. It is to govern wisely, but too often they believe that it is to pander basely to the basest of their base.
You can decide whether this was governing or pandering. I vote for the latter.
Aside:
No, I don’t think that Mumia was unfairly prosecuted, nor do I think he is innocent of the crime with which he was convicted. I have noticed that the farther away from the facts and from Philadelphia one gets, the stronger the “Free Mumia” movement.
But to smear an honest lawyer (yes, there are such persons; in fact, I’ve known a few) for acting like an honest lawyer is despicable. And precedented.
Why They Do It 0
Rekha Basu provides a fascinating look into the mind of a scammer.
High Crimeas and Misdemeanors 0
Noz thinks Putin might be partly putting on a misdirection play.
At the least, he’s taking advantage of a true “look over there” moment.
“Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
There’s nothing like a good Texas honor killing.
“Cosa Nostra” . . . 0
. . . means “our thing.”
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness is a family value.
High Crimeas and Misdeamenors 0
Der Spiegel points out that, no, it’s not 1914 all over again once more. A snippet:
Autograph Hounds 0
Chauncey Devega finds the appeal of George Zimmerman’s autograph to be disturbing; I must say, he has a point.
Here’s a snippet–he does not mince words:
Zimmerman’s autograph is a way for his fans and public to idolize him.
Zimmerman’s signed photo is also a way for his supporters to be closer to him, and to “own” part of his “success” and “power”.
The autograph of George Zimmerman, a man who is “famous” only because he stalked, hunted, and killed an unarmed black teenager, is for those who seek it, a validation of their right to kill and murder at will those people that they deem to be the Other and somehow “less than”. The South’s hyper-masculine and racialized norms of honor both legitimate and sustain such logic.
Do read the rest.
Everything’s Bigger in Texas 0
Especially the stupid.
