GameFly : a public thanking

I admit I didn’t expect much. After all, the whole snafu was partially my fault for not noticing things for months at a time, and for not clarifying things with the kiddo & the dad regarding what was sent back when. And yes, I did delegate the canceling in a way that caused it to be rather frustratingly sort-of-but-not-really taken care of. And I know this is confusing, but it’s nowhere near as confusing as the plaintive email I sent to GameFly after all this had gotten itself into such a sorry state.

Sigh.

So in the process of looking up their Customer Service phone number, I found any number of wankers wanking about how GameFly was teh suck, etc etc. I even imagined how, if they kept sending me emails, I’d unsubscribe with one of those snarky “why I unsubscribed” messages. Yes, sometimes I get mad in advance of having a reason, just so I’ll be good and ready. Well, either the wankers were just being wanky (as wankers often are), or, GameFly has changed.

The plaintive, confusing email was sent yesterday evening, ending with a whine about how it sure would be nice to talk to them about the whole mess but oh well.

And today, I got the nicest call. They’re going to clear the account of games that we didn’t report missing for months (we meant to, we just … you know … and then another month went by …). And, they’re refunding two months’ charges. Which isn’t fair — it’s way, way beyond fair.

Meaning that at some point, we will probably re-subscribe, if for no other reason than they just impressed the hell out of me. We do have numerous game systems, so a subscription would make sense, it’s just that we’re kind of over-gamed at the moment after the wildly Xbox-y Xmas.

So, GameFly, thank you for being very understanding about our “… and then another month went by … “. We appreciate the convenience.

… and don’t make any sudden moves

I am not fond of air travel, and haven’t been on an airplane since … hmm, thinking … 1999? My desire not to fly has increased steadily with each new regulation requiring the violation of personal space, but this one really takes the biscuit. “…during the final hour of flight passengers must remain seated. They won’t be allowed access to carry-on baggage or to have any items on their laps.” Are you fucking kidding me? Really? For the final hour of every flight, I’m to be tortured? Can’t go pee, can’t have anything in my lap at all, can’t do anything but sit quietly with my hands folded in my lap for an hour? Please. I play Solitaire on my Droid while I’m waiting in line, or taking a cigarette break at work (yes, I even get bored smoking), even while I … well you get the idea. I don’t do sitting quietly doing nothing very well at all. To the extent I find it hard to even imagine doing so for an hour, let alone actually doing it.

It would take a lot to get me on an airplane – and by a lot, I mean, Xanax. Lots and lots of Xanax. And if the airlines aren’t going to start handing those out like candy with the boarding passes, I think I’ll take the train. Or just not go.

dystonia is a tragedy. but so is preventable death due to fear and misinformation.

Have you seen the tragic video of Desiree Jennings, the beautiful 25 year old cheerleader who was struck with dystonia ten days after receiving a seasonal (not H1N1) flu shot? The correlation between the timing of the flu shot and the onset of the disorder is reported in this story as “doctors” saying the flu shot is what caused the dystonia. Apparently, Jennings’ own doctor is not among them: from the LA Examiner article: “Jennings doctor has stated she has come down with the disorder but there does not seem to be a solid connection that it was positively caused by her getting a flu vaccination.”

Irresponsible, sensationalist “journalism” is offensive in and of itself, but in this case, it could very well be murderous. How many people will see this video, and decide against immunizing themselves and their children? Why did Inside Edition choose not to discuss the known causes and contributory factors for dystonia (hint: flu shots/vaccinations not on the list)? They did show us pictures of Mrs. Jennings in her cheerleading costume, in between shots of her demonstrating her bizarre and devastating neurological symptoms. Did they provide any facts at all? Lots of vaguely terrifying allegations that the flu shot did this to her, yes, but did they present any scientific facts? Well, they did mention that this form of the disorder strikes 1/1,000,000 people. (By comparison, the chance of being struck by lightning in any given year is 1/700,000 — no word on how many lightning strike victims had had flu shots, but hey Inside Edition, why not do a story on the possibility vaccinations cause increased electrical conductivity? Hmm?)

A commenter on the LA Examiner story said their grandma had this disorder, and had passed away as a result, and — shockingly enough — it turns out she had had a flu shot that year! What are the chances, a senior citizen getting a seasonal flu shot? And just think about it! Senior citizens probably get more flu shots than any other demographic, and they die of random causes ALL THE TIME. Coincidence? You tell me. Wait — don’t. Instead, please repeat after me: CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION.

There is nothing whatsoever to connect the flu shot to the onset of the disorder except a week and a half. Could the fever have triggered neurological problems? Maybe!!! HOLY SHIT, nothing else ever causes fever at all, so clearly no one should get a flu shot!

The CDC reported today that forty-six states are reporting widespread influenza activity at this time. This many reports of widespread activity are unprecedented during seasonal flu.

Vaccine hysteria has terrible consequences. Before you start throwing pseudo-science at me about it, please, please go read this article. Then check out Michael Shermer’s open letter to Bill Maher, an otherwise sensible fellow who seems to have caught this crazy anti-vaxxor bug. You might also check out Science-Based Medicine. Then go get your flu shot.

perhaps i am the only one …

who thinks that this war on Fox “News” is treading on dangerous ground? I mean, sure, anyone who possesses the ability to use Google or even FactCheck.org, or a reputable newspaper, or who has watched Out Foxed, or who has been paying any reasonable amount of attention at all, knows Fox is not a “News” outlet. But, at this point, they are still calling themselves “News”, acting as if it’s news they’re presenting, it even says “News”  in the corner of the screen.

And as long as they portray themselves as a news channel, any of the folks who believe them are going to have SO much room to yelp about the first amendment.

I mean, imagine your neighbor claimed he was a billy goat, and kept ramming himself head-first into your house, and a crowd of other neighbors had gathered to watch. And this crowd was being entertained, and after awhile, began to believe the guy ramming the house was a goat, because he kept yelling “LOOK AT ME, I’M A GOAT” and he had GOAT written in red letters on his shirt, and he smelled kinda goat-y, and after awhile, everyone just thought of him as a goat. The first order of business wouldn’t be to go after the goat, it would be to make sure that everyone understood it was really a crazy dude and not an actual goat, right? Otherwise they’d be on about animal cruelty and whatnot. PETA would send naked chicks. It could get ugly, or at least, skanky.

Or am I just paranoid, and simply everyone knows Fox is fake, just like everyone knows wrestling is fake, right?

SCOTT BAIO IS THE ANTICHRIST

Bobcat Goldthwaite, on Scott Baio: (try to get to 0:45-ish if you can, unless you like a lot of screming. personally I find the screaming rather cathartic. )

animals

it was nineteen seventy whatever, the album animals had just been purchased & unwrapped, does anyone remember the smell of new vinyl? i don’t, and i consider this a loss. maybe there wasn’t even a smell? anyway.

i was over at my high school sweetheart’s parents’ condo, they were, as usual, out of town, and, teenagers will be teenagers. for a point of reference, the class of 1979 smoked more weed than any other graduating class before, or since.

anyway the absent parents of my HSS were audiophiles, yes, yes they were. there was a newish Marantz quadrophonic amp, and four speakers (two Marantz, two hand-built by the HSS’s grandfather). the hand-built ones were huge – four feet high and two or three in depth and/or width. i remember the phrase “80 pound magnets”. at around 1/2 volume, you could stand in the middle of the room, scream at the top of your lungs, and not be able to hear yourself.

this stereo would shake pictures off walls & lamps off tables. no idea why the neighbors didn’t call the cops, none at all.

so we had animals, and some serious bud. and everyone fell asleep but me (plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, n’est ce pas?) high school french: you recover, but you’re never cured.

so everyone fell asleep, & i sat crosslegged in front of the stereo as the music & i bonded on what i can only describe as a cellular level. reading the lyrics raptly, tripping hard on the trippyness of them. instead of the old-style bar-graph type of lit-up balance indicator, the quad had a 1″ green CRT, which expressed the distribution of sound waves with squiggly lines dancing erratically towards the four corners. which was , as i recall, really trippy. i can’t even describe it, it was that trippy. and profound. oh, damn, it was profoundly trippy.

and the HSS fell asleep on the couch. typical, me wide awake while people slept, no one available for me to tell them how trippy it was, so i’m telling you now. so there i was. tripping. and these lyrics which remain profound to me to this day, even unstoned, well… i sat in front of the stereo and read along with the lyrics and when it got to that bit with the lord’s prayer from a sheep’s perspective, it BLEW. MY. FUCKING. MIND.

and while i ache to once again be that young, that unworldly, that wasted, and that mindblown, it comforts me just to remember such wonder.

Pigs on the Wing 1/2 | Dogs 1 | Dogs 2 |Pigs (3 Different Ones) | Sheep

there’s a whole ‘nother story from that night, far far less transcendent. not that i’m claiming this one possesses all that much transcendence. it’s just that the other one has so much less of whatever that is.

you fucked up old hag, aha, charade you are.

Alan Grayson – My New Personal Hero

Alan Grayson has not always been as calm and reasonable as he was doing battle for our health care these past two days. Matt Taibbi has a great story about the time Grayson “went werewolf” on him, illustrating very clearly just how much he’s holding back when he goes after these Federal Reserve weasels.  Here’s the video Matt was referring to, saying “Now for most of last year Grayson’s public appearances didn’t rate any higher than a five or maybe a six on the craziness scale, but he’s a definite seven in this clip, trending toward eight.” And here, for fun, is the video of him absolutely destroying the Federal Reserve Inspector General, who did not come to class prepared and is way, way out of her league.

When he’s not standing up for our interests against economic stupidity, telling us Republicans want us to die quickly or apologizing to the dead, he’s doing other, even more awesome things, including HR 686, the “Teach the Constitution Week” resolution, which passed the House by an overwhelming majority two weeks ago. From his website:

The U.S. House of Representatives approved Congressman Alan Grayson’s “Teach The Constitution Week” resolution today. The bill (H.Res. 686) urges high schools to spend one week each September teaching the United States Constitution to seniors.

Congressman Grayson said, “More teenagers can name the judges of American Idol, and the 3 Stooges, than can name the three branches of government. The Constitution is the highest law in the land. If we are not teaching our children the Constitution, what are we teaching them?”

The passage of the “Teach The Constitution Week” resolution comes three days before Constitution Day. Members of the Constitutional Convention signed the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787.

The resolution also encourages seniors to petition the government on an issue of personal importance to them to demonstrate their understanding of their rights and responsibilities as citizens of the United States.

“Too many people have no concept of the principles of this historic document. That is a true disservice to our nation and its citizens, and is the reason that we should promote a better understanding of the Constitution on the part of our nation’s youth,” Congressman Grayson added.

40 House Republicans voted with their Democrat colleagues in favor of this resolution. The other 138 were presumably unhappy with the thought of high school kids being taught to recognize the kind of bullshit their party’s wingnut spokes-douchebags like to spew.

Don’t forget to reward good behavior!

note: you will either want to turn yoru speakers up, or down. me? i turn them up.

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