Category: bad news

Moroccan Wall of Shame

On By Rick McIn bad newsLeave a comment

berm wallHave you heard of a series of walls 2,720 km-long running through Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara? It is dubbed The Wall of Shame by independence-seekers living in exile.

Units from the United Nations try to keep tens of thousands of combatants separate.

Now that George Bush has backed away from the expensive and ineffective concept of a wall between the USA and Mexico, perhaps we can work on tearing down this one.

Since 1975 refugees have been living in desert camps near Tindouf, Algeria. And I had never heard of them.

There are many sad things in this big world. Ignored.

Moroccan Wall – wikipedia

soldiers
guerrilla fighters of the Polisario Front

I thought the Taliban were bad …

On By Rick McIn bad news, humourLeave a comment

Yesterday I heard about an 8-year-old boy who was yanked from school for sending a love note and (possibly) touching the “bottom” of an 8-year-old girl. That’s “sexual harassment”, Mister!

Today a 14-year-old girl pulled out of class because her highlights were “distracting to the educational process”.

As you can see, she is hideous. Her parents should be jailed, as well.

hair

TheDenverChannel.com – Education – Straight-A Student Pulled From Class Over Hair Color

Is my ISP limiting my internet speed?

On By Rick McIn bad news, internetLeave a comment

I saw a report that Shaw cable in Canada is introducing technology to specifically limit Bittorrent traffic. This is currently the easiest way to transfer large files.

Are they trying to save money? (Shaw made about $160 million income on revenues of about $2.2 billion in FY2005.)

Is it an attempt to reduce peer-to-peer piracy?

What about the legal bittorrent sites I use?

If Shaw wants to cap bittorrent, OK. But they must be up front with their customers who can then decide if they want to switch to DSL.

Shaw secretly limits BitTorrent uploads.

video – TV news from Florida

On By Rick McIn bad news, kayaking, TVLeave a comment

While taking me out on a kayak trip, Peter and Joyce Long were interviewed by a local news team regarding another looming ecological disaster. Polluting the the world’s largest limestone spring.

In the well-edited sound bites they represent cautious environmentalism.

can I sell your contact details for $1?

On By Rick McIn bad news, product complaintsLeave a comment

Jigsaw.com wants me to upload your contact information: address, work phone, fax, email address. They pay me $1 — or is it really only $.10 ?? — for every contact I give them.

Some have uploaded information on tens of thousands of people!

TechCrunch » Jigsaw is a Really, Really Bad Idea

expect .COM domain name prices to increase

On By Rick McIn bad news, internet, product complaintsLeave a comment

When Network Solutions lost the monopoly on .COM domain names, prices dropped from $75 / year to as low as $3 / year. That’s what competition does.

Now VeriSign (which purchased Network Solutions) has wrangled themselves a new monopoly. Unless, of course, enough irate Americans protest.

Here’s a form letter. Go to it.

==========================

Dear _________ (Congressman or Senator),

I am outraged about the recently approved .COM registry agreement between ICANN and VeriSign. This agreement is anti-competitive and bad for consumers and the Internet community as a whole.

The agreement provides VeriSign with the ability to increase prices by 7% annually in four of the next six years without cost justification. Furthermore, under the agreement, VeriSign’s monopoly would run in perpetuity as the agreement would automatically renew without the opportunity for competitive bidding. VeriSign and ICANN should not be allowed to establish a perpetual monopoly without Congressional oversight and the opportunity for input from the Internet community.

As your constituent, I want to make you aware that the ICANN Board has approved this anti-competitive agreement on February 28th, 2006. The next step is for the NTIA to approve the deal. I urge you to bring our concerns to the attention of the NTIA.

Sincerely,

Bob Parsons

Full rant – A blog by Go Daddy founder Bob Parsons

Why can’t Microsoft do anything right?

On By Rick McIn bad news, internet, product complaintsLeave a comment

Are you running 5-year-old Windows XP on your computer?

Microsoft just annouced the consumer release of the new operating system, dubbed Vista, is delayed until January 2007. Just to miss Christmas.

There have been no fewer than four Mac OS X releases since Windows XP was launched, and each one was a big improvement.

With all the billions in the Microsoft piggy bank, why are they so hopeless at almost everything?

mac mini

Seriously, Windows users should switch to Apple or Linux. You can buy a Mac mini for US$499 (street price).

Newsvine – When do Vista delays become disdain for the customer?

Worst American airline?

On By Rick McIn bad news, product complaints, travelLeave a comment

graphThe big American airlines are likely doomed to extinction. It may be impossible to run a full-service national airline in the USA.

I flew American Airlines recently and concur that their service is crappy. American flys more unhappy passengers than anyone else.

Most annoyingly, American (and most airlines) are adding unexpected fees to delay the inevitable bankruptcy.

Baggage restrictions have been tightened supposedly because of fuel savings if we take less luggage.

Really?

On American you can take 2 bags each weighing up to 50lbs. If you check only 1 bag weighing 55lbs they immediately want you to pay a surcharge. If you resist in anyway (fuss with the bag for a minute) they give up on the extra fee. This scenario happened to me on all 3 AA flights.

Airlines ignore their luggage rules as they ignore their carry-on limits. It’s just another way to get you to pony up more cash.

I have little respect for big airlines. The sooner they are displaced by leaner upstarts, the better.

With so many big airlines suffering, will you? – Sep. 15, 2005

enticing third world youth to smoke

On By Rick McIn bad news, health & fitness, product complaintsLeave a comment

angry guyTravelling through South and Central America in 2005 I often saw fresh-faced, attractive, very young people handing out free cigarettes. In Guatemala I even saw free cigarettes available on the counters of convenience stores.

smoking

Be sure you do not own any stock in tobacco companies.


Big Tobacco Is Accused of Crossing an Age Line
By GREG WINTER, NY Times, 2001

Sara Bogdani had just turned 17 last summer when she slipped into a short skirt and started working as a Marlboro girl.

While the rest of her high school friends spent their vacation laboring in
restaurants or lounging at home, Sara donned a red hat, a T-shirt with a
cowboy on the back and a knapsack full of Marlboros and other Philip
Morris cigarettes.

Then she hit the streets of Tirana, the capital of Albania and her
hometown, offering a smile and a free pack to anyone who professed a love
of smoking and looked, well, almost as old as she was.

“As long as they weren’t 14 or something, it was O.K.,” Sara said in a
telephone interview, noting that a co-worker was also 17. As for her
bosses, “they were just glad if you gave out all the cigarettes,” said
Sara, who now works with an antismoking group.

Just as it is in the United States, giving cigarettes to teenagers is
illegal in many countries, including Albania, where Marlboro girls stroll
the streets. But while the practice has all but disappeared from American
cities, it goes on with striking regularity in many developing nations,
and Philip Morris is far from the only tobacco company that the World
Health Organization has accused of crossing the line in trying to entice
those underage with free cigarettes. …

Enticing Third World Youth; Big Tobacco Is Accused Of Crossing an Age Line – Free Preview – The New York Times

what is the matter with smokers?

On By Rick McIn bad news, health & fitnessLeave a comment

There seems to be something effeminate about smoking. Sometimes a cigarette is not just a cigarette.

catch me if you can

Perhaps it is time Marlboro rethinks their gay cowboy advertising campaign.

I do not like cigarette smoke and live, fortunately, in a part of the world with very little second hand smoke.

One of the worst things about travel is being force fumigated. I write from Miami which is filled with posing 50cent wannabes, smoke yourself thin beach hotties, cheese-eating surrender monkeys and other chain-smoking Europeans. There is zero consideration for the non-smoker here.

Now I sympathize with confused youth who try smoking. I understand that it is more addictive than crystal meth and heroin combined.

But I still cannot fathom why smokers do not quit.

Many have. It’s possible.

What’s the matter with smokers?