NIPSCO is EVIL

Here's the plan. Go though the customer lists, find anybody that may be "overdue" and disconnect them without warning. Then call them and tell them they are disconnected and will cost them $155 to reconnect service.

Natural Gas futures are then paid for the winter.



My overdue amount? $70
Number of bills I recieved: 0
Number of notices I recieved in the mail: 0
Number of phone calls requesting payment: 0

Dirty Words

Some words should never go in offical documents. One of them is a four letter word. Can you guess what it is when used in this context.

"...the electrical panel experianced a self-sustaining overtemperature condition that subsequently required manual control."

And yes I did just come up with that*, but it was in response to a question asked by a co-worker on how to say _____ nicely.


*Maybe there is a bureaucrat lurking underneath, be afraid, very afraid.

Sony is going crazy.

So in case you haven't been keeping up with the most recent news about it, in brief Sony created and has been installing a rootkit on computers since April of this year.

The first documented case of the rootkits discovery on Sysinternals.

Tough Choices In Life

So to exercise my right, nay duty, to be a well armed American citizen I pose this question to you:

Which one? The Ceramic Boker Infinity or The Model 805 by Benchmade? Cost is nearly identical.

So yah...

So for a decent part of my life (and like many of my friends), I have carried a "utility" knife. Either in the form of a leatherman, the classic pocket knife, or a standard folding drop point. My last and most current knife falls in the last category and definitely has seen better days. So I have found several possible replacements for it but unfortunately they all fall in the auto or assisted open category, which are only legal for active military or law enforcement to carry. And of course "switchblades" are illegal pretty much everywhere for no reason. In fact if I can get a concealed carry permit for a handgun you would think the same permit would allow me to carry a knife. But no.

Anyway this brings me to an awesome quote:

"The possession and use of dangerous weapons has long
presented a problem to the law... Statutes of this kind have
been criticized for having the effect of prohibiting the law-
abiding citizen from protecting himself, while at the same
time failing to reach the criminal who habitually uses
dangerous weapons for illegal ends. Nevertheless, a great
many convictions have been obtained for the crime of carrying
concealed weapons. Hence, the Committee felt that a
continuation of the same policies which lie behind the
present law of deadly weapons was desirable."

Which was by an Illinois legislator in the 50s on a committee concerning knife laws. And in response to that was a quote on the website where I found it:

"Translated into plain English, they said that this law only
affects law-abiding citizens, but since many of them have
been convicted, and thus have been redefined as criminals,
let's keep enforcing it."

I've never heard it put better.

The Saga

First rule of customer service: If you say you're going to call a customer back, you damn well better do it.

So here's an update:

Oct 21: First finish date,
OCt 26: Need to replace steering column, on order
Nov 2: Steering column not in yet. Plan to get and install friday
Nov 7: Mechanic's Water heater blew up monday morning, can't come to work, Steering column still not installed.
Nov 8: Painter out sick, can't come to work. Steering column still not installed

Kyoto Protocal Anyone?

A very large underground fire burns through large coal beds in Northern China. The fires consume up to 200 million tons of coal each year. This fire is quite a bit larger then the largest Pennsylvania fire (Centralia), releasing almost "as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as do all the cars in the United States"