The difference is ... you are getting screwed

Saw a news story recently about a man who hired a couple of whores who then took his money without, um, completing the deal:

After he placed payment on a stereo, one of the prostitutes showed him her chest, but the second did not perform oral sex, Haden said. The women took the money and left.

The police arrested him for "patronizing prostitution."

This is a lot like the people who voted for Obama that are now complaining.

I mean, many of us on the right told people that it was a bad idea to vote for Obama. But, being of age and everything, a lot of people went ahead and did something really stupid. The parallels are obvious.

Only, while police can arrest people for paying for hookers, we can't arrest people for voting for socialist idiots. And we shouldn't. I'm all for hitting Obama voters with a stick, but not for arresting them. As long as when you hit them with a stick, you do it hard enough to knock some sense into them. You don't want to waste a stick.

Anyway, I don't mind people who voted for Obama suffering the consequences of their actions. I just don't like having to suffer the consequences of their actions with them. I mean, I didn't pay money to a couple of hookers and get ripped off; why should I be out any money?

But, in politics, that's not how it works. If you throw away your vote like this guy threw away money at whores, you get screwed. Along with everybody else. But not in the good way.

Shop for an iPad

Cnet has had a lot of videos lately about the iPad. Makes me think Apple bought a boatload of advertising.

But, I want to weight in on the whole "shop for an iPad" meme that seems to be going on.

Only, my take is a little different. Because the shop I'm talking about is the repair shop.

There's a problem with the on/off switch. It looks like someone took a screwdriver do it. And, the damage causes it to occasionally complete the switch circuit, and it will suddenly act as if the switch was pressed. Made it impossible to use.

It's obviously not a defect, it's damage. And I'm at a loss to determine how that kind of damage in that location occurred by accident.

Oh, well. Life is full of mysteries.

Anyway, I got an estimate on repairs, and it turned out to be around $450 to get it fixed. I could buy a new one for $699, so that took some thought. Research showed that trying to fix it myself would void the remaining warranty. So, I decided to send it in for repair. If Apple fixes this problem, I'll have to pay for this repair, but warranty is still on for defects going forward.

So, on November 6, I took it to Graphicom, the local Apple dealer.

Larry said it'd be 3-5 days, but noted that he's noticed things taking longer than normal lately. In the past, I've had to send in stuff (my old MacBook, for instance), and it came back quickly, when it was something they couldn't do in-store.

After a week, I called Graphicom and asked about it. No word. This went on every few days ... until Tuesday. That's when I got an email from Apple:

Thank you for choosing AppleCare Service.

Your product was received by the Apple Service Facility without a valid service request.

At your earliest convenience, please contact Apple with more information. Please call AppleCare at 800-APL-CARE (800-275-2273). When calling, please have Apple case number [*********] readily available. Help is available seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. central.

Best regards,

Andrew
AppleCare Service

Well, that can't be good, I thought.

So, I called. Some guy named David seemed hesitant to talk to me. The exact kind of thing that would happen if someone screwed something up, and he didn't want to tell me that.

Of course, I already figured out that someone screwed something up. There's no shortage of parts for the iPad, so there's no way it should have taken this long. Someone had screwed something up.

Anyway, he suggested I contact Graphicom, give them some numbers he game me, and have Graphicom contact Apple.

After a little bit, Larry contacted me, telling me that the issue seems to have been resolved, and repairs would start.

Great. I dropped it off on the 6th, and 17 days later, someone was finally going to do something? Just frikkin' great.

Anyway, I now have enough information to look up the repair status myself. Checked this morning...



According to this, 10 days after I dropped it off, Apple checked it in, and let it sit there. And it's sitting there still.

Not sure who all screwed up here. Graphicom delay sending it in? That doesn't fit my previous experience.

FedEx delay? That doesn't fit my previous experience.

Apple fiddle-farting around with a repair? That doesn't fit my previous experience.

So, someone has fallen down on the job. And my iPad is taking way too long to get back from repair as a result.

I'd like to know who screwed up.

I'd also like my iPad back.

Thanksgiving 2010

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. It's a day set aside for giving thanks for the many blessing we have received. Many families will gather together, many good times will be shared, and many meals will be consumed.

But there are people who don't have families with whom to gather together, who are suffering hardships and having trouble making ends meet, and are cold and hungry. Think about these people. While there are some people that you just can't help, there are many, many more you can. Find a way to help others as you recoginize all the blessings you have received.

And don't forget to give thanks for what you have. Don't worry about what you don't have. The Good Lord has been very kind and gracious to use, allowing us to reap the benefits of living in the United States of America. Let's don't lose sight of that fact.

Maybe Harvey will be inspired. Maybe.

lolcats inspired Harvey to start up lolterizt. And lolbama.

Maybe Harvey will start up lolgov or something.


[Reference]

Maybe not.

But, until he does, if you have some to submit, send them to me at lol@basilsblog.net. I'll post them, or some of them, or all of them, next week. Or tomorrow. Or when I feel like it.

Conservative TV shows

One of the good things about TiVo is that I don't have to think about what airs when. If I find a show I like, I can just tell it to record something, and it's there for me. It just shows up. Like it's Christmas every day! The "Looky what I got" Christmas, not the "God sent His Son to save us" Christmas.

The drawback is that I no longer pay much attention to what all shows come on. Since I don't have to worry about when my shows air, I don't check the listings, and don't see what else airs. I discover new shows by seeing promos about them before I hit the fast-forward button during breaks, by hearing people talk about it, or from it showing up on TiVo suggestions. I don't often use TiVo's Guru Guides, because they all list shows that either suck, or that sound like they suck. Most of the shows, anyway. But I don't blame TiVo. I blame the fact that there aren't many shows on TV that would appeal to conservatives.

We need more conservative shows. Like these:

• Bitch-slapping Olbermann
• When Animals Attack, We Kill Them And Eat Them
• MST3K Special: Hardball with Chris Mathews
• Cooking With Bacon
• Bitch-slapping Obama
• Mythbusting Liberals
• Where Are They Now: Democrats
• Dancing On Their Graves
• SEC Football
• Bitch-slapping the guy that runs the TSA
• It's Bacon!
• The John Wayne Channel
• The Surreal Life In Space
• Bitch-slapping Harry Reid
• Dirty Jobs Special: Cleaning Up Congress
• Blowing Stuff Up
• The R Lee Ermey Channel

What shows would you like to see?

I now pronounce you ...

Growing up in Georgia, I discovered that some words can be pronounced in different ways, depending on where you are.

For instance, "Jordan." You may say JOR-dan. Some people, in west Georgia and east Alabama pronounce it "JURD-n." Like that stadium where Auburn University plays football, Jordan-Hare. Or, Jimmy Carter's Chief of Staff, Hamilton Jordan. Those are pronounced "JURD-n."

Houston County, in central Georgia? It's not "HYOOS-ton," as you might think. It's "HOWS-ton." Really.

Buena Vista, in west Georgia? "BYOO-na VISS-ta." Seriously.

Walthourville, in southeast Georgia? "WALT-OWER-VILLE," like it's three words: Walt, hour, ville.

The lesson I learned, as I mentioned, is that words aren't always pronounced like you might think. Or like you've heard others pronounce.

In the public interest, I present a list of words that you may have been mispronouncing your whole life, along with the correct pronunciation.

• Democrat (COMM-yoo-nist)
• Republican (OWN-pro-BAY-shun)
• Pelosi (ASS)
• Reid (DUM-ass)
• Obama (FAYL-yur)
• Stimulus (BAD-i-DEE-uh)
• Palin (AWW-sum, alternate pronunciation HOT)
• NBC (DOOSH-bagz)
• CBS (DOOSH-bagz)
• CNN (DOOSH-bagz)
• ABC (NYN-tee-per-SENT-DOOSH-bagz)
• Fox News (TWIN-tee-per-SENT-DOOSH-bagz)
• Liberal (KRAP-for-BRAYNZ)
• Twitter (GAE)
• Facebook (GAE)
• Windows (per-PEH-chu-wul-BAY-tuh)

Perhaps you've run across other words that aren't pronounced as one would expect?

Solving the TSA problem

Some people are getting all bent out of shape about the TSA naked scanners and the grope-downs.

But not everybody.

Gloria Allred says she enjoyed it.

Maybe we're going about this whole thing wrong.

Maybe what we need to do is have some choices. More choices, anyway.

Right now, we have two choices: get your naked scan done, or get felt-up by someone who couldn't get a real job. Men are getting groped by men, women are getting groped by women.

And that's the problem. Not enough choices.

The TSA needs to offer a choice. Let each person who opts for a grope-down get to choose the groper:

• Straight man
• Straight woman
• Gay man
• Gay woman
• Bisexual man
• Bisexual woman
• Hermaphrodite
• Supermodel
• Chippendales dancer
• Bond girl
• Bondage girl
• Blind girl
• Eddie Long
• Eddie Haskell
• Mr. Ed
• Mr. Green Jeans
• Mr. Mister
• Miss America

Who would it take to grope you so that you wouldn't mind it?