Cali to Maryland to Florida to Maryland to... where next?? It's not just a shipment, it's an adventure!
Oh looky! It wasn’t enough that my footer forms made it all the way to Laurel (about 15 miles from here) and then went off to Florida. It wasn’t enough that it took 5 days to get back from Florida (must have stopped for a long meal at every Cracker Barrel along the way). No, now it gets back to Laurel and the status is… (wait for it) … Exception. Your shipment is currently within the UPS network; however, an unforeseen event has occurred which could result in a change to the Scheduled Delivery Date.
And, and and! It’s been forwarded to the facility in the destination city. No, stupid, it’s already in the destination city! Well let’s see, maybe it has the wrong address.
Shipped To: GLENN DALE, MD, US
Oh crap, wrong address! Now that “MD” has been changed to mean “Florida”. Boy, I wish that hadn’t happened.
The British government has apologized for the appalling way it treated one of the men most responsible for winning WWII.
I am both pleased and proud that, thanks to a coalition of computer scientists, historians and LGBT activists, we have this year a chance to mark and celebrate another contribution to Britain’s fight against the darkness of dictatorship; that of code-breaker Alan Turing.
It’s been a long time coming, and it’s good to finally hear something like this from 10 Downing St.
Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted as he was convicted under homophobic laws were treated terribly. Over the years millions more lived in fear of conviction.
If you haven’t heard the story of Turing, it’s fairly well explained in the statement. The whole thing is on the PM’s website. Also you should read Cryptonomicon.
I’ve been very confused about some aspects of the health care “debate” recently. Happily, Roy Zimmerman has explained it all in his latest newsletter:
I’ve been listening – really listening – to the good citizens who oppose health care reform, because I feel it would be easy to miss the subtlety of their reasoning amid the screaming and the booing and the finger-poking and the name-calling and the shoving and the cold-cocking and the Red-scaring and the race-bating. As I see it, their argument breaks down to seven well-considered points:
- We can’t have a Public Option because options limit Freedom.
- If we had a government-run health care plan, people would certainly choose it over their own plans because government can’t do anything right.
- We need “tort reform,” whatever that is.
- Socialism.
- Private insurers have an obligation to stockholders and government does not, so government-run health care would concern itself with health, not with profit, and Adam Smith wouldn’t like that.
- There’s no place for government in health care except when implanted in a woman’s womb.
- Barack Obama is a Marxist Nazi.
- And Black.
He forgot “Keep your government hands off my Medicare, you damn dirty ape!”, but otherwise that about sums it up. Plus, someone can’t count, and I don’t think it’s Roy.
I hope that clarifies things.
Excuse me, sir, can I see your receipt? No. Thanks, I already paid. But you have your receipt? Yes, it’s in my wallet, in my pocket. I need to validate it. Yeah, I really don’t have time. (I’ve been shopping for 3 hours, and I’m hot and sweaty and not interested in digging around in my pocket for the receipt I just put in there. and you’re stopping me why?) I need to validate your receipt. No, you really don’t.
Chasing me down out of the store? Seriously? At least I am a sir, not some short-haired biker chick who you’ll really piss off. And how many people walk out without getting validated while you’re following me around?
(No, I’m not going to show you my receipt. How is it you don’t get that yet? You gonna charge me with shoplifting, or you gonna let me go? Or maybe neither, and try to detain me, and good luck with the lawsuit. Did you really not see me 10 feet from you at the checkout stand?)
No, you don’t need to validate anything. Well no need to be an asshole about it.
Okay, that’s it. Were I not tired to death of shopping it was time for a little walk to ask your supervisor if it’s store policy to call customers assholes. Shirley you know you can’t stop people.
Welcome to my almost-boycott list, Lowe’s. Along with Home Depot, which leaves a lot of distant places to shop. Which is why the almost-. I need a real lumber yard that doesn’t chain across the country. Hammond Lumber, why do you only live in Maine?
Yes. Yes, I know ycycle does this better. Tough.
