Criminals Failing at Technology

Today at lunch, I read an article about crime and how Facebook, twitter, etc can be used against you.

IF YOU ARE AN IDIOT.

The article on USAToday :  Facebook, MySpace social media musings used in court cases

Now, not all the idiots are criminals... My FAVORITE line is this :

...federal prosecutors alleged that a Hells Angels member threatened a witness via a Facebook "poke" — a trivial Facebook communications technique...

HAHAHAHAHA

Thankfully, SOMEONE was smart enough to realize how much of nothing a standard "poke" is on fb.

 Federal prosecutors were not as successful with claims that a Facebook "poke" was an instance of threatening intimidation. They urged a judge to revoke the parole of a Hells Angel member, but the judge refused.

Now, if it had been a "super poke," they could have "thrown a cupcake at..." and this would be a whole different ballgame. #Snickering

My personal opinion is that if you still use MYSPACE in 2011 to organize your GANG? You are a failure as a GROUP.

Yes. you read that correctly.

In a July 2011 trial of Wolf Pack gang members, accused of terrorizing a Rochester neighborhood and violently chasing away drug-dealing competitors, federal prosecutors used MySpace postings to prove that the accused were part of a loosely knit gang.

I know!! MYSPACE... HAHAHA Did they all have AOL accounts too???
Glad you were all busted, LOSERS.


As a reminder, Posting to anything publicly is like talking to a crowded room. Post wisely, or lock it all down private. Even then... Think before you type. I don't want to make fun of you on my blog.

Random n Stuff

In an effort to start blogging again, I joined a facebook group for bloggers. Tonight, I was showing M the behind the scenes stuff of my blog. Like where traffic comes from.
Fun facts:
I still get like 100 hits a week. #goFigure
A quarter of my hits comes from people searching for the Penguins Tattoo Post of 2009... and also for information about South Park wave pool. I reviewed it once in 2010 for fun.

Huh. OK. Interesting.

Are We Really THIS STUPID?

Today, I opened up the USA Today online at lunch time. While scanning through the articles I saw THIS headline:

Teens at high risk in car surfing

BEFORE you click. READ that again. WHO isn't at risk? The headline almost implies that, I don't know, some adults aren't at risk. Or maybe lower risk? Point is, badly worded headline.

To save your brain from hurting, We will discuss the article here.
It is really, really simple:

RIDING ON THE OUTSIDE OF A 2000-3000 POUND MOVING VEHICLE CAN LEAD TO YOUR DISMEMBERMENT, GOING TO JAIL OR DEATH, KIDS.

These days, honestly? I'm feeling like if you think this is a FANTASTIC idea? Then you DESERVE the consequences. Seriously. This is natures way of removing SOME of the stupid from the gene pool. It has to be done some how these days. 

I never car surfed. I never had the urge to car surf. And good grief, my parents never had to talk to me about car surfing. I had this magical thing called common sense and a concept of "the consequences of my actions."

Parents, BE parents to your children. Our jobs are not to be their friend. It is a hard and thankless job for many years. I would really rather not read shit like16yr olds getting killed because of amazing stupidity.

The Things That Amuse Me

Now, for those who are unfamiliar with Twitter, you are generally supposed to read it from the bottom up. However, sometimes at work when its been a while since I checked it, I'm lazy. I jump to the top and scroll down. Scanning tweets. I frequently use "view conversation" to catch up if I happen to see something interesting as I'm scanning...

These were all  random conversations going on. Most of them are not between the people pictured. Just the words matter in these cases. I blocked out names since I'm not sure who is private and who isn't these days.

I giggle as I'm reading from the top down and see stuff like this:
(BTW, screenshots are the favorest feature ever on my phone.)

Things get lost a lot:

THE PANTS. They are missing.

Or there is a misunderstanding at the most basic level:

The old men? ALL CONFUSED.

When animals mix in:

EVERYBODY HURTS. Sometimes. Even Pandas.

When it comes to bras, this group of tweets are funny no matter what direction you read them in. LOL.

BRAS. In lots of places they should NEVER be.

This group? Well, you can read both images as one or separately...:

VINTAGE. In a way I never want to know.

WORDS TO DESCRIBE THIS. I have none.

Finally. The screenshot that inspired this post:

LOVE. and Muppets.

It's not a bucket list, Mike.

There is no order to this list... It's just things I plan on doing. It's been almost a year since I updated my list. With my new shift giving me sundays off, I hope to actually have time to do some of these things. Julia, of course has her requests too lol.

Shit I wanna do: 2012 Edition

• Go to the Ocean (provided the gas price doesn't make it cost prohibitive)
• Go to see Falling Water or Falling Water AFTER DARK TOUR
• Go to Kennywood for phantom fright nights
• Heinz History Center
• The PGH Glass Center
• Visit PGH Popcorn
• Go to the Frick Art & Historical Center
• Sandcastle (been 17 yrs. Ahem)

Things I will do again:

• Phipps Conservatory
• Splash lagoon/erie
• Aviary
• Arts festival

More rants inspired by politics.

Good reads. SRSLY
http://twokidsandabeagle.blogspot.com/2012/02/on-why-birth-control-matters.html
http://redpenmamapgh.com/2012/02/17/thinking-aloud-the-fight-about-birth-control/
I love these ladies
I need them on my blog roll as soon as I get to a pc.

Politics can EFF off.

Seriously.

#AngryRant

I could never marry a politician because the first time he made some ass-hatted move regarding MY RIGHT to regulate MY BODY? I would punch him right in crotch and tell him him that if I catch him touching himself later, it was going to happen again. Since ALL these MEN in political office think they have the right to govern a woman's body, why can't we govern them? We should have a say in all of the way HIS reproductive system works, right??? Contrary to popular belief, women don't go on the pill so they can "whore it up" all over town. So what if they did, at least they are being responsible.

Oh I forgot, only men are allowed to plow anything that moves.
#Proof:

Friess told NBC's Andrea Mitchell on "Andrea Mitchell Reports":

This contraceptive thing, my gosh, it's so inexpensive. Back in my days, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees, and it wasn't that costly.

The obvious suggestion by Friess: that women should put an aspirin between their legs so they don’t open them.

Asshole. I would have called him that right on TV.  FINE ME. Please.

We are denying or flipping out over sex education... FOR WHAT? You NEED a drivers license to operate a Mother Effing CAR. Shouldn't you NEED to know HOW your body WORKS before you take IT out of the garage??!! for gawd sakes. There are BIRTH CONTROL HEARINGS IN 2012!!!

Gay people can't get married.... WHY NOT? THEY aren't the ones screwing up the "institution of marriage," WE ARE DOING IT ALL BY OURSELVES. Hell, it would help our mother effing economy if they could. AGAIN, WHY DOES IT MATTER IF THEY ARE GAY????? I am positive nobody EVER uttered the words "Well, if it wasn't for that gay couple that got married last year, I would still be with my wife."

All this political bullshit, over a PILL that helps hormonal balance. So, us here womens don't go all crazy like and not be able to make do for ourselves. Men, they needs to save us. #NutPunch

Nobody fucking cares that gas prices are almost $4 fucking dollars, that we work our asses off to keep from losing our jobs (which we have to drive further to find). While employers ship more jobs to china, where people work for pennies to build an $800 iPad so that Apple can make money to sue anyone who dares to innovate.
Nobody cares that our children in school are lacking the education desperately needed to compete in the WORLD markets these days.

I think there should be a new way.

I think that Political Jobs should pay no more than $35,000 a year.
Normal health insurance
401k similar to the average large employer.
No lifetime ANYTHING.
No campaign spending allowed.
None of this spend 8000 years in office. After 4 terms? DONE. MOVE ON. The same president can't be elected more than twice, neither should YOU.
Nobody over the age of 62. period. If you can get as seniors discount, you shouldn't be in office. Minimum age should be 21.

Of course, I didn't think of everything... But anything to get the old, ignorant, prejudiced, short sighted, greedy, corrupted, good ol boys club, assholes out of office works for me.

Now, I can go study. Cause even though I have these here boobs, I also possess brains cells that let me learn stuffs.

/End sarcastic pissed off rant

It's not the damned size.

I have noticed something over the last 6 months or so, and its gotten to a point where I need to bitch about it.
I'm going to talk about girl parts. Specifically? Breasts.
Oh. And boy parts too. (Since you started it.)
Look, I understand that as human beings, we are physically attracted to things. Some like to do the plastic surgery route, and I'm not saying a damn thing about it in this post, to be clear. To each his own. Some people like red heads. Some people like short women. Some people like tall men. Some people like iPhones.
That is NOT what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about the need to criticize and be *nasty* about physical traits we were BORN WITH.
Like eye color, height and DUN DUN ...breast size.
Some are big. Some are small. But let's clear some shit up right now. We didn't stand in the boob line and pick the damn size.
Saying... "...But she has small (or big) boobs..." In a nasty, judgemental way is just fucked up. Ok? I have had guys tell me I'm too endowed and that it is "a waste." Conversely, I have had some of my friends discover that their ENTIRE character as a PERSON, is being judge because genetics didn't give them something bigger than what they have.
WTF. THIS HURTS MY BRAIN. So, your a bad person if your rack isn't some predetermined, bullshit size?
I'm looking at men AND WOMEN HERE. Which ? WTF ladies??! You know that you get what you get, unless you buy bigger.
MEN.
The next time I hear one you utter in that nasty tone, I'm going to demand to see what is in your damn pants. Then we will see how the judging goes.
KNOCK IT OFF.

WHY we all have Car Insurance

If I had written this blog post earlier in the day it would have looked like this probably:
djinfnuf nebdujeij $*&! &#*%
I'll explain.
Nearly 3 weeks ago, when I was visiting "Mother Of One Thru Four," my car was hit. I'll call that girl: Bambi.
I park in the SAME spot every. Single. Time. I visit MOOTF. Sometimes, I visit MOOTF twice a week. When I visit, it's usually for a few hours. So, You know, MY CAR IS THERE A LOT.
Anyway. Bambi was backing out of her sister's driveway and backed right into my car.

I was nice. I didn't throw a fit or call the cops or lie and say she did more damage than that very nice crease in the fender. There was a small dent from when a deer bounced off the car years ago. The door has a bit of damage from that deer too. We looked at the car. Took pictures, agreed on what was new. I told her that the fender was now creased so more than likely it would need replaced.
Even I know you can't "uncrease" metal.
She asked me if she could call me with the insurance information when she got home. Bambi had a baby in the little suv and she wanted to talk to her husband about paying out of pocket. Being the nice, non asshole person I am? I said OK.

I went inside and described the incident to MOOTF. Bambi called me with the insurance info, then gave me bullshit (should have been my first clue) about not paying to fix something she didn't damage. (The door) I told her I would get estimates for the fender, after she gave me more grief about the insurance.
For a moment, I felt like I was talking to a customer at work. One who had gone over her minutes, knew she went over the minutes, had refused our offer to increase minutes but still wanted credits for ALL of the overage. (My Brain Hurt.)
This was a Thursday. I worked My usual schedule. So Tuesday, I go to a dealer and ask for an estimate for only the fender.
$970.

I showed it to MOOTF that day. I have a car with a METAL BODY. Not plastic. Metal is expensive.
Later, I call Bambi and give her the bad news. She has the balls to insinuate that I should not have the fender fixed. I very nicely tell her that she really needs to call her insurance. SINCE SHE HASN'T AT THIS POINT. The insurance company might have a place I can take it to, I say. So, she said she will call her agent in the morning. At the urging of a friend, I get a 2nd estimate at a body shop the next day. "Body shops are cheaper than a dealer."
$1200.

THE INSURANCE Company finally calls me while I was waiting for the write up of the estimate. I tell her that I don't care who pays for the fender. I just want it fixed. (My Mistake.) She tells me that THEY HAVE A PLACE IN WEXFORD. Three damn miles from the dealer I went to the day before. Only they can't get me in till Thursday. I waste my 45 minute lunch to rush over for the estimate. We discuss that I will need a rental car since they will need 2 days. He says he will call me when the fender is in. Rush back to work. His estimate before the approximate $250 for the rental I will need and not be paying for?
$720

That was 1/12. I called the claims agent 1/17. She informs me that Bambi hasn't returned her call. I had a 5 year old to throw a birthday party for and had to manage that this past weekend. So, I focused on the party. Today, I get a voicemail right before lunch time.
It is a fucking (see how long that took?) minute and a half of Bambi telling me that she is still TRYING TO DECIDE if she is going to pay for it. Why? WHY? Because the mean old insurance company can't quote her an exact figure of how much her insurance will go up.
Look, I have been patient and nice. But you know what? It's nearly $1000 no matter which way you cut it. Your fucking insurance is not going up $1000. Unless you wreck into things all the damn time. THIS is why people act like assholes, call the cops, yell, and throw fits over minor fender benders.
She has until Friday. On Friday, I'm calling that agent and telling the agent I want the insurance company to pay for it. Bambi has had more than enough time.
If her sister didn't live across the street from MOOTF, I would have called today.

If you got this far, the moral of the story is : Don't be an asshole. If it is your fault, let your damn insurance take care of it. That is what the fuck you pay them for. Period.