The General Chat thread

[General Michi]

I need to start thinking about cosplay for MCM in October. Anybody got any suggestions?

Crazy Bluetooth guy

[Darkobra]

You have to wear a Barney Stinson suit.

[empath]

Heh! I remember the time I saw George Carlin - the opening comedian had one bit about how we should give old, broken cell phones to the homeless crazies - then they'll seem 'normal' when reacting to their schizophrenia:

"Oh, you hear voices too? Mine tell me to piss on the cat!"

"Um...mine just tell me to bring home milk..."

[Metcarfre]

Sounds funny, but many/most old cell phones are distributed to homeless people and prostitutes here, as even without a SIM card or plan you can still call 911 on them.

[empath]

Oh, yeah - ex-Robbers cust.svc. guy here; that's a GREAT thing (especially since they actually have more than two cell towers here). I'm talking about the completely broken phones.

But yeah, remember that: as long as you have a charge and are in signal range - you can get through to EMS. Canadian mobile companies may be evil oligarchs, but they're not completely evil...

[Metcarfre]

It's probably how they justify charging the "911 Service Access Fee" though.

[empath]

Oh, that's part of why I don't work in that industry anymore - they CANNOT justify their gouging, in my eyes.

System Access Fee is a blatant con, and they cowed the CRTC into condoning it.

That 911 fee is a little easier to swallow; I mean it goes to the core principle of socialism: pay because you can to help everyone, including those who cannot afford it.

But yeah, Bell/Telus/Rogers+Fido...they're all douches, just with different logos and advertising campaigns.

And I really don't know what side to take on the whole Verizon shenanigans - yes they're being dickbags for sneaking into Canada by abusing regulations in place to protect smaller carriers, but remember you Big Three complaining about it aren't any better: YOU are the reason we've had to ENACT those 'protect the little guy' regs, so do try to pretend you're the hero in this, either.

I've no love for the existing Canadian cell oligarchs, but I don't think we'd be helping anything by letting ANOTHER rapacious corporation loose on the market, either...

[Metcarfre]

Well it pretty much literally can't get worse.

[empath]

...I really wish you hadn't said that; now I've got this unshakable image in my mind of some undefinable higher power perking up at your statement, then stretching and cracking its knuckles and murmuring "Oh, no? Well, let's just see about that."

[Dubious_wolf]

"Back to school, Back to school, Etc."

[empath]

Screw 'Back to School' - apparently my store has decided to skip that and has Halloween candy on display already.

...oh wait, this isn't Venting...crosspost in 3...2...1...

[Lord Hosk]

just wait, next week its Christmas!

[My pseudonym is Ix]

For business purposes, Christmas now lasts for one-sixth of the year (day after Bonfire Night to Twelfth Night)

[Lord Hosk]

1/6th? When did they cut it back from 1/3rd?

[Keab42]

They needed to make room for BBQmas

[Fezzul]

What I want to know is what happened to the traditional American Stakes-Giving?

[Smeghead]

I was given a bucket of (roughly) 5 kilos of unlabeled keys and told to find a specific one.


...I love my job...

The kicker? None of the keys fit

[Kapol]

What I want to know is what happened to the traditional American Stakes-Giving?

One day they're gonna say "Whatever happened to the traditional British McDonalds?"

[Fezzul]

^ You, I like you.

[My pseudonym is Ix]

Because I have nothing else to do, I just went on the Desert Bus homepage and, scrolling down, saw that the amount stated in the DB6 'end-of-bus' post ($436,015.71) is is some $7,000 less than the listed total (exactly $443,630.00). I find this strange.

[Master Gunner]

Some donations take a while to clear through paypal for various reasons, like using an e-cheque, and so they didn't show up in the counter (which the total in the blog post would have been copied from) when the blog post was made.

[My pseudonym is Ix]

I can understand that, but a) seven grand?! and b) why is it an exact amount?

[Master Gunner]

There were some really big auction items and bids last year. I can think of a half-dozen items that went for over 5 grand. As for the roundness of the final number, maybe LRR made a final donation just to round it off.

[My pseudonym is Ix]

Going onto the graphs to check out a few stats to see if they gave me some answers, I managed to find a time period near the end where (presumably thanks to some computer/administrative error) the total somehow went down by $19.02. I need to find something better to do with my time.

[LogicSword]

Huh. I passed 2k posts at some point. And I thought I'd not been posting much recently.