Mommy, I feel sick today

from the New York Times:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton suffered a concussion early last week after fainting and striking her head, the State Department disclosed on Saturday.

As a result, she will not testify as scheduled on Thursday before Congressional committees investigating the September attack on the American diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya.

. . .

Acting on the advice of her doctors, Mrs. Clinton will not go to the State Department this week but will work from home, the State Department said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/us/politics/hillary-clinton-concussion.html?smid=pl-share

Hmmm

Only a week working at home? 

That leaves about a month left as Secretary of State.  That of course assumes that Obama appoints Kerry to start as soon as his second term starts.  Now Congress might quit for Christmas within a week so I guess Hillary's exposure is only about 2 1/2 weeks.

What will be her excuse when Congress is back in session after the new year?  "My dog ate my testimony"?

Romney vs The Garbage Man

Have you seen the latest video from Obama?

Richard Hayes is Romney's garbage man lamenting that mean old Mitt doesn't come out to hug him, give him some Gatorade, etc.

Richard also laments that picking up 15-16 tons of garbage is taking a toll on his body.  Seems to me that could be a bit high.  Maybe Romney and his neighbors have heavy garbage.  But I know my trash bags are never as heavy as the 35 lb salt bags for my water softener.  But let's say the average is 35lb.  Let's assume a working 8 hours (that is 8 hours of work, no breaks, just work).   You have to pick up 914 bags or a bag every 31 seconds.  That seems like some mighty fast collecting.  How long does it take to get from stop to stop?  You'd have to subtract that from the 31 seconds.

But the most interesting part of the video is? 

Something is wrong here.  Did they fake something here?  Doesn't seem like those could be the trucks that Richard uses to pick up Mitt's garbage.  Why?  Because those trucks are the kind that does that automatically.  No manual bag pickup.  Look at the beginning of the video again.  Around the 7 second mark.   At the 9 second mark you can clearly see that arm that wraps around the trash can silhouetted against the sky.  So what's the story here Richard?

But maybe Richard isn't getting those hugs because Mitt is spending all his time hugging Joan Raymond.  I mean she says she picks up his trash too.

I think Richard needs to try harder for those hugs.  My first suggestion is: shave the beard.  I mean maybe I'm just a sucker for blonds, but Joan is more appealing to me.

I wonder if Barry has run out of the oval office to make sure he can claim he hugs his trash man?  Just asking.

Oh, and Mitt might have some idea.  From his book,  No Apology; The Case for American Greatness:

During my campaign for governor, I decided to spend a day every few weeks doing the jobs of other people in Massachusetts.  Among other jobs, I cooked sausages at Fenway Park, worked on asphalt paving crew, stacked bales of hay on a farm,
. . .
One day I gathered trash as a garbage collector. I stood on that little platform at the back of the truck, holding on as the driver navigated his way through the narrow streets of Boston. As we pulled up to traffic lights, I noticed that the shoppers and businesspeople who were standing only a few feet from me didn’t even see me. It was as if I was invisible. Perhaps it was because a lot of us don’t think garbage men are worthy of notice; I disagree – anyone who works that hard deserves our respect. - I wasn’t a particularly good garbage collector: at one point, after filling the trough at the back of the truck, I pulled the wrong hydraulic lever. Instead of pushing the load into the truck, I dumped it onto the street. Maybe the suits didn’t notice me, but the guys at the construction site sure did…

No, it wasn't a career, but then how many others have done that much?

I Robot Wallet

For the last several years I have subscribed to a health newsletter. 

It's moderately informative.  I have learned some things, but too much of it is should be common knowledge.  But it is entertaining enough that I renewed and have enjoyed it for three years now.

As with most magazines, they start sending out renewal notices before your subscription starts.  That actually did happen to me once.  I subscribed to some magazine and got a renewal notice before I got the first issue.  I make it a point to not renew ahead of time unless they make a really good offer.  In fact for most magazines I don't renew at all, let the subscription run out, and start a new one which often gets me the lowest price and some goody (like a travel alarm clock that will work for 3 months before blowing its brains out).

I started this non renewal policy years ago when I found some magazine wanted me to renew at a price that was more than a new subscriber got and they were enticing the new subscriber that goody.  Talk about feeling screwed!  I was a customer known to want their product.  They could get my money and not incur the cost of setting up a new account.  I had already paid so they have confidence I would not stiff them.  And my reward?  Treat me as the scum on the sole of your shoe?

Now there are damn few publications that I need so badly or enjoy so much that I can't survive (although I supposed a health newsletter might fall into that category) if I miss an issue or two so this policy of letting the subscription lapse and then starting it again has worked well enough for me.

One of the things I have done in recent years is to respond to the renewal notice with a counter offer.  That is of course if the reply envelope is post paid.  I write on the renewal form the amount that I'm willing to pay and send it back.  Surprisingly that actually worked once.  Maybe twice.

But back to my health newsletter.  I have probably gotten six to eight notices at this point.  I have written a counter offer on each one of them and sent them off.  As is typical, I get another offer some where down the  road and it's obvious that whoever opened the previous one promptly tossed it in the trash.  And as you might expect I continued to receive notices that were the last notice, the last last notice, the last last last last last last last last last last last last last last last last notice etc. 

Finally the last issue came and in huge bold letters I am informed You have read you final Issue.  Now that isn't true as this is the front cover so I see this before I have even opened it.  If they had put this at the end, the back inside cover, I wouldn't have been so irritated.

Well I read that final issue and figured that was the end of it.

But no.

Today I get another notice.  As I have already received the last final notices I guess this one is the post-apocalyptic notice.

The notice includes the statement that they haven't heard from me.

Is it possible that every reply I have sent has been mis-handled by the Post Office? 

My Reply?


Lie.  I have responded to every NOTICE.  I am willing to renew either 1 yr @ $19 or 2 yrs at $35.  Send an invoice for either or both of those rates and I will renew.

Now you might think I'm being ridiculous.  That I'm asking for a discount way to steep.  And truthfully I would go up to $20 or maybe even $21 if they made a counter offer in that range.  But this consumer organization is just as rapacious as any other organization that assumes they can jack up their prices and  enough people will just blindly write a check. 

The first year I subscribed, the price was $15.  Then I renewed for two years for $39.  That's $19.5 / year.  That is also a 30% increase in price.  This renewal notice is for $24.  That is a 19% increase.  Over the course of my three year subscription, they have increased the price an average of 20% / year.  This from a consumer organization?  No thanks.  

Does anyone want to place a wager that not only do I not get a response from my response but I get at least one more renewal offer as if I had never responded?

I was intrigued by the last paragraph in the notice

It sort of looks like Jamie is saying they know I have responded although I have never written anything other than a counter offer similar to this one.   And if Jamie is thanking me for a previous response, why the "Unfortunately, we have not heard from you" further up?  Is Jamie asking me to provide feedback?  If so, perhaps Jamie could tell me how to do that.  Maybe a form on their web site.  Perhaps an email address.  If I was so healthy that I could beam my thoughts to Jamie I wouldn't need this newsletter and would beam that message to her.

This from the organization that wails if a manufacturer or merchant doesn't kiss your ass when you contact them.  I guess Consumer Reports' left hand doesn't know what the other left hand is doing.  I can't say that their customer service is any worse than typical.  But it is kind of like Al Gore lecturing me on carbon footprints when he pollutes more in a year than I probably will in my lifetime.

Oh, in the meantime I have subscribed to the Mayo Clinic newsletter.  It's written for adults and is a tiny bit cheaper.  Take a look at http://healthletter.mayoclinic.com/.

Big Government Gone Wild

This one should make a libertarian out of everyone.

Florida has a law requiring vending machine owners to post a notice with no purpose other than to display the notice:

Operators must post the following statement on each machine:

NOTICE TO CUSTOMER: 

FLORIDA LAW REQUIRES THIS NOTICE TO BE POSTED ON ALL FOOD AND BEVERAGE VENDING MACHINES. Report any machine without a notice to 1-800-352-9273. You may be eligible for a cash reward. DO NOT USE THIS NUMBER TO REPORT PROBLEMS WITH THE VENDING MACHINE SUCH AS LOST MONEY OR OUT-OF-DATE PRODUCTS. 

http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/tips/tip10a01-05.html

Notice there is no real notice. No contact the police if you are being mugged.  Nor perhaps the health department if say mold is oozing from the machine or anything OTHER than if the notice is absent, then you might be eligible for a reward.

In case you missed it, the real humor comes if the notice is missing.  If the notice is missing, you are supposed to report the violation.  But of course if the notice is missing, you won't see the telephone number to use for reporting the violation.

I think Kurt Vonnegut wrote a story about this.

Fortunately churches, etc are exempt:

(5)?The provisions of this section do not apply to vending machines owned and operated by churches, synagogues, or nonprofit or charitable organizations exempt pursuant to s. 212.08(7)(z).

If you still think this is a prank, check the Florida legislative site:  Legislative Text