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Protected: Customer Service Hell
This post is password protected. You must visit the website and enter the password to continue reading.
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Coin Prices: Part II
In a recent article, I mentioned a set of coins offered by PCS Stamps and Coins, and showed how much of a markup these people were getting. Since their ads keep popping up on my mobile phone, I thought...
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Try Moxie, they said.
My first introduction to Moxie came as I read Stuart Little in the 1950s. Stuart, on his journey to find his lost love Margalo, stopped at a gas station and asked about something to drink. “Have you...
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419 is just a game
I just received an interesting comment over at my post on trolling a Craigslist scammer. Here it is, in full, thanks to commenter “James Dawson”: You people got the gut to complain when your devilish...
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Scientific American, Don’t Do This
Recently saw this article on SA’s website about the Dragonfly Galaxy, a mysterious, diffuse star cluster that appears to be made predominantly of dark matter. The problem is that the picture on the...
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“Indian Counting”– Een, teen, tether, fether, fip!
OK, caveat here: it’s may not be Native American counting, but that’s how it was presented to me by my math teacher (Mr. Sommerville, go ndéanai Dia trócaire air) in high school, around 1967. On the...
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Fun with Linguistic Symposia
Academic symposia are great fun if you don’t have a reputation to defend. Listening to a presentation can be informative, but the true entertainment value arises when you watch numerous ivory-tower...
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Hello Lucky Winner (Never answer emails like this)
Hello Lucky Winner, This might come as a surprise but 100% legitimate, as David and Carol Martin has approved a donation sum of $900,000.00 USD from part of their National Lottery Win of...
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Make a Translator Mad in Four Words
From a recent Facebook post. Having worked as a freelance translator, these responses spoke to my soul. Yes, a few of them are more than four words, but they’re all good – and they’re all real. I have...
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Two lessons from bees
1) The Unwise Bee Elder James E. Talmage Sometimes I find myself under obligations of work requiring quiet and seclusion such as neither my comfortable office nor the cozy study at home insures. My...
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Stop what you’re doing!
“Please stop what you’re doing and listen to this very important message. I’m going to give you access to a pre-recorded message that’s going to show you exactly how to start putting $10,000 or more in...
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Maine’s Ballot Initiatives
The following six questions will appear on Maine’s ballots this fall: Question 1 Marijuana Legalizes, regulates, and taxes marijuana as an agricultural product Question 2 Education Establishes a 3...
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An old scam, resurrected
I previously posted about the most deceptive ad I had ever encountered in an article entitled “Selling It.” Take away all the mummery, and the thrust of the ad was, “throw away your old rabbit ears and...
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Dear Microsoft, are you *trying* to piss of your user base?
Really, this is beyond stupid. Example 1: Google Chrome? Really? Is it not enough that the entire world knows that IE and Edge are the most execrable browsers around, now you have to block Chrome in...
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Microsoft “non-support”– I’m not just blowing smoke here.
In my previous post, I ranted a bit about Microsoft’s efforts to alienate their customers by making competing or foreign programs (like Chrome – horrors!) incompatible or forcing them to ask permission...
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To the millennials of this election.
Reblogging this with the kind permission of the author, David Gerrold. I saw this on Facebook, and felt it was so relevant that it deserved a wider audience. So … I think I’ll blur the details here....
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Thoughts on why 401(k)’s are a bad idea.
The following thoughts were posted at reddit by user /u/listenthenspeak, a millennial who has worked extensively in the financial sector. Reposting here as a signal boost for wider exposure. The...
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This is not a solicitation call!
“This is not a solicitation call! Hi! This is Kelly from the Credit Card Rewards center! We’ve been monitoring your credit card activity for the last six months: Congratulations! You’re eligible for 0%...
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Donald Trump, Brigham Young, and the meaning of a contract.
That Donald Trump is a “shrewd businessman” – I can put it no more charitably than that – is no secret. He himself has said that he takes pleasure in reneging on contracts if, according to him, work is...
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Servers are people, not slaves
I’ve posted my thoughts about tipping before. I think it’s a bad system that allows restaurateurs to balance their budgets on the backs of their most important corporate assets, their employees. But as...
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