New Math

This poor bastard made the mistake of talking to a person instead of a computer:

[Start of Call]

[on hold with Verizon Wireless customer service]

Trent (Verizon): Hi.. Hey, George?

George: Yes.

T: Hey I'm really sorry about that wait there. Hey, I got Mike on the line. He's my supervisor over here and uh, he'll take care of you from here on out, okay?

G: Thanks.

T: Alright.

Mike (Verizon): Thanks Trent. Good evening George, how are you doing this evening?

G: Great, except that I've been trying to resolve this for two calls and over 45 minutes now.

M: Okay, well lets see what we got here, I'm definitely sorry that uh, that you've had to call in that many times. Let's see, ummm, looks like you're questioning some kilobyte usage that was done while in Canada?

G: Well, let me just start out with a basic question.

M: Okay.

G: Do you recognize that there's a difference between “point zero zero two dollars” and “point zero zero two cents”?

[pause]

M: Point zero zero two dollars?

G: Do you recognize that there is actually...

M: ...and point zero zero two cents.

G: Yes, do you you recognize there's a difference between those 2 numbers?

[pause]

M: No.

G: Okay, is there a difference between 2 dollars and 2 cents?

M: Well, yeah, sir..

G: Well okay, is it.. is there a difference between .002 dollars and .002 cents?

M: .002 dollars and .002 cents.

G: Yes, is there a difference between..

M: Sir, sir, they're.. they're both the same if you, if you look at 'em on paper-wise

G: No.. they're not, actually. It.. is .5 dollars the same as .5 cents?

M: Is .5 dollars..?

G: Is half a dollar..

M: That would be.. That would be 50 cents.

G: A half a dollar.. is it the same as a half of a cent?

M: No.

G: Right.

M: Okay.

G: So, clearly, two one-thousandths of a dollar, which is your rate for airtime as I now understand it, uh, your rate per kilobyte in Canada is two one-thousandths of a dollar. But two one-thousandths of a dollar is different than two one-thousandths of a *cent*. What I was quoted was .002 cents. That's two one-thousandths of a cent per kilobyte.

M: Mmhm. okay...?

G: I specifically asked the rep. I said, “Are you saying it's .002 dollars or .002 cents?” because I .. *I* recognize that there's a difference. Just like there's a difference between that half a dollar and half a cent.

M: Okay.

G: There's a difference between .002 dollars and .002 cents. Your rate in Canada is .002 cents.

M: Correct.

G: Uh, it's point, point... Well okay, it's not true, it's .002 dollars. You're still quoting me .002 cents when in fact it's .002 dollars per kilobyte. So, if you want to charge me .002 cents, I'd be happy to pay the bill, the problem is I was charged .002 dollars per kilobyte.

M: Okay, so if you take.. okay.. do you have a calculator with you?

G: Yeah, I do.

G: Okay, take this uh, 71.79.

G: Yeah.

M: And divide that by uh, 35,893 you should come out with .002

G: Yes, and what units should it be? Dollars or cents?

M: Well that's per *kilobyte*.

G: Right. And is it dollars or cents per kilobyte?

M: Well, let me take a look here for ya.

[time passes...]

M: [looking up rates] We're.. we're in Canada..

[time passes...]

M: Hold on one second for me..

[time passes...]

M: [mumbles something about Canada]

[time passes...]

G: For the record, what I was quoted before I went to Canada, I called because I'm on an unlimited plan in the United States and I thought I might be paying more when I go to Canada.

M: Right.

G: What I was quoted was .002 cents. That seems to be what you believe is the rate is .002 cents. Unfortunately, your computer system charged me .002 dollars per kilobit, er, per kilobyte, so my point here is the confusion is on your side, and the first rep I spoke to, the second rep I spoke to, and including you, in calling “.002 dollars” “.002 cents”, that's a hundredfold difference just like one dollar is 100 times different than1 cent.

[time passes...]

M: Okay... looking at the pricing here for ya.

M: Okay.. for data.

M: National roaming access coverage in Canada is .002 per kilobyte cents.

G: Can you say that again?

M: It's .002 cents per kilobyte

G: .002 cents per kilobyte. So you just quoted me again; your price is .002 cents per kilobyte

M: Correct.

G: Okay, so now I'd like you to translate my 35,893 kilobytes into dollars if you would.

M: Okay, if you take .002

G: Cents, remember, cents.

M: Times 35,896. 71 dollars and 79...

G: No, that would be 71 cents because you started with a rate per *cent* and multiplied by the kilobytes, so that would be 71 cents. I'll tell you what the problem is here, is you, you're.. the original person I spoke to *before* I used my airtime...

M: Mmhmm.

G: Up to and including you, are quoting .002 dollars per kilobyte as if it's .002 cents per kilobyte and they're not the same, so I assumed that you guys knew how to do math. No offense here , but i assumed that you knew the difference between .002 cents and .002 dollars. And it sounds like there's still some confusion about that. .002 dollars is two one-thousandths of one dollar, or two tenths of one cent, which is very different than two one-thousandths of one cent. It's one hundred times different. [pause] I'll give you a brief example: If you're selling your car and I said I'm gonna give you twenty thousand for it, and I show up with 20,000 pennies, we're not speaking the same language. If you quote me .002 cents it's not the same as .002 dollars. So, when you just did the math .002 times 35,893, you came up with 71 cents. You didn't do the translation from cents to dollars, which would be... you'd have to.. uh, divide by a hundred, so then you get .71 dollars: 71 cents, So, I do understand, even though it seems like maybe *you* don't, that the rate is, I now understand: .002 *dollars* per kilobyte. But that was not what i was quoted, and that's not how I used my airtime because i thought it was... I thought it was cheaper than it actually turned out to be, because I was misquoted.

M: Mmhm.

G: I also had no context. The previous person i was speaking to said I should have had some context because i know what the united states rates - I *don't* know what the United States rates are, because I have an unlimited plan. I don't have to be concerned about the United States rates.

M: Mmhm.

G: So. It all comes down to me being misquoted, and it's hard.. it, would, it, it.. At the time, I, I said there could be some confusion here, so I asked the customer service rep, “Can you please write that down in the notes, that you quoted me .002 cents?”

M: Mmhm.

G: And she did.

M: Right, and I see that.. I see not only one, but I see several reps that have put it in here.

G: Right. So I.. I hope, it sounds like you may not actually see what the problem is yet, but ah..

M: Well, I've been working here 2 years sir, and I've been a supervisor for almost a year and a half.

G: Okay..

M: Okay? Umm, ya know, I'm going by what is.. what is documented here in the system.

G: Right.. so can you tell me then if, if the rate is as you quoted .002 cents per min.. per kilobyte, and I used 35,893.kilobytes, how much should I be charged?

M: By, by.. The way this is calculated? Seventy-one dollars and seventy-nine cents.

G: You did your math wrong, so what I'm saying is you did... bring up your calculator.

M: I.. I've got the calculator in front of me, sir. If i type in .002 and multiply that by 35 thousand, nine hundred...

G: But wait! but but.. Here's the key.. I know, but here's the key: What does the .002 represent? Cents or dollars?

M: It's cents, sir.

G: Okay, .002 cents...

M: So basically you're paying... you're paying two tenths of a penny [pause] per kilobyte. If you want to look at it that way.

G: Two tenths? hold on, hold on.. two tenths of a penny...

M: Mmhm.

G: ...would be .2 cents. You quoted me .002 cents. Do you see what I'm saying? [pause] Two tenths of one cent...

M: Mmhm.

G: ...would be point two cents. You quoted me .002 cents.

M: That's correct.

G: there's a difference between .2 cents and .002 cents. They're 100 times different. So which is the real rate?

M: .002 sir.

G: .002 what?

M: Cents per kilobyte!

[pause]

G: So you just said it was .2 pennies and then you also said it was .002 cents. Those are 2 completely different numbers. They're 100-fold different. Quoting someone .002 cents per kilobyte is different than .002 dollars per kilobyte. I... I don't know what else more I can tell ya. The math... the math on the bill is right if it's .002 dollars per kilobyte. It was quoted .002 cents.

M: George, hold on one second for me okay?

G: Sure.

Link for the full conversation is here.

So, My brother recommended a movie t'other day....

I knew better. I've been burned before. The boy has Never, Ever, E V E R recommended a good movie. But he was so enthusiastic I figured, "What the hell?!"

What the hell, indeed.

The thing starts off with government thugs trying to bone Natalie Portman who is saved by a masked dude with a lisp and uses the "v" sound alot. Mildly irratating, but not a movie killer.

There follows some pretty good mayhem and a few gratuitous shots at US foriegn policy, faith portrayed as the watch word of an oppressive government, the bad guys siting God to justify their legitimacy. It's hollywierd; nothing surprising here. In fact, one pretty much can't take in a movie w/o a minimum undercurrent of such tripe. Still, not too over the top for hollyweird, but I'm startin' to wonder when the professed merits of this flick start to overshadow the leftist hollyweird pap. Good thing I didn't hold my breath.

It goes off the deep end when a closet queener comes out of his closet and the scene shifts to said closet (secret room) wherein photographs of men fondling, and biting? one another get some big screen time. Lest we forget, the buttholebandit also has a fourth century copy of the goatherd scribe's koran (illegal - but he appreciates the "beautiful images and poetry"). This fag is soon martyred.

At this point I call the BrokeBackBlaster to give him a good cussin' for wasting nearly an hour of my life. My wrath exorcised, I feel much better and sit back down with one finger firmly on the FFWD button. Maybe Natalie will have a wardrobe malfunction..... Nyet.

The movie goes on to raise a pair of lesbo's to sainthood complete with a scene of one's obviously small minded bigoted parents crying over what was "only the truth".
One is martyred and is the inspiration for both the heroine's and the main character's respective epiphanies which leads to the primary motivation for the climax of the movie.

The premise is solid though absolutely buried beneath wagon loads of stereotypical leftist manure, and wading through 90 minutes of George Soros' Gay Party Propaganda is not my idea of entertainment. My brother on the other hand....

"V" for Vendetta sucks. Skip it. You have been warned.

Joke o' the Day

Q: What do you call a group of a hundred Harleys?

A: Slalom course.


Q: How do you get a Harley rider to ride her bike?

A: Tell her their garage is on fire.

A: Tell her that chrome polish is on sale.

Name That Car

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Nate: “How exactly does a nuclear bomb become obsolete? Don't they still go bang real big?”

Thermonuclear weapons will loose the bulk of their punch after a few years if the tritium isn’t replenished (12 yr halflife). The tritium acts as a catalyst during the fusion reaction, and the yield suffers greatly when there is not enough present.

The fission detonator on an h-bomb would still be of great interest to a terrorist, perhaps. But it is a military necessity to replenish the tritium in our warheads.

Another issue is that the casings for nukes degrade somewhat over time, even in ideal storage conditions. There is a lot of debate over the likelihood of a failure on timescales under 50 years, but from the military’s perspective, they want to be sure that the bombs detonate when launched. So they’re evaluating and reconditioning old warheads every day.

And finally, newer models are lighter, more reliable, and more versatile… at least they were up until the changes in the NPT precipitated by the India/Pakistan dick waiving contest.
thimscool | Email | Homepage | 11.20.06 - 8:42 pm |

Thankyou thimscool for stepping up here. Normally Bill or EP handle this sort of inquiry, but they seem to be laying down.....

Look at What I Saw This Weekend

SR71 Blackbird



YF22 Raptor









Some of our obselete nuclear arsenal

NOT Work Safe

Sorry, the bikini speeder girls were gettin' on my nerves.

Cannon Fodder

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, a moderate Republican best known for his stewardship of the city after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has taken the first step in a 2008 presidential bid.

My Way News - AP: Giuliani Takes Step Toward '08 Bid

Moderate Republican he says. Gun grabbin', baby killin', fag lovin' newyork liberal says I. And the best way I have seen since McCain to get the conservative base to stay home in 2008.

1) Achieve Power 2) Consolidate Power 3) Punish Your Enemies

"A lot of people have said to me, `Are you going
to now go out and issue a lot of subpoenas and go on a wild payback
time?' Well, payback is unworthy," he said. "Doing oversight doesn't
mean issuing subpoenas. It means trying to get information."

BREITBART.COM - Waxman Set to Probe Areas of Bush Gov't

Sure, a republican elitist politician is much the same as a democrat elitist politician, but there is a not insignificant difference (which republican elitist politicians  always forget at their peril) that the democrat models for governance are Mao, Castro, and Uncle Joe Stalin.


Never doubt that this stuff will be reported as "government investigators" and not "democratic commitee heads".

Frenchy Feelin' Froggy. Jews Say, "HopTo!"

French troops almost fired at Israel jets: minister | International News | Reuters.com

Now that's what you call a BAD IDEA. Last I heard of any wargame with the jewboys, they waxed our asses. The french need to be constantly reminded they are....well, french.

The Israeli action looks like a warning to me. Whatever Froggy did the Jews didn't like will probably cease now.

Oops!

That's a $50,000 NS750 vintage race bike the chick just dropped on the tarmac.

Sometimes I Think Vets are Brainless Walking Egos

ESPN.com - HORSE - Barbaro may have cast removed

Barbaro shattered his right hind leg in the May 20 Preakness and has been in intensive care at the New Bolton Center ever since. He underwent surgery to stabilize the right leg on May 21, then developed laminitis in his left hind leg in July, prompting Richardson to remove an estimated 80 percent of his left hoof

Now that's good thinkin' right there. He can't stand on this one so we'll just cut the other one off.

I have to say here that I'm not "in" on the details of Barbaro's case and that there may be some things about it that would make this acceptable procedure. I wonder though.

I saw a case yesterday where a mare had become laminitic (foundered) in her right front hoof. This is a very painful, life threatening condition where P3 (the bone inside the hoof) becomes detached from the front (mostly) inside surface of the hoof and begins to sink down through the bottom of the hoof. If you walked on your toenails (like horses do) it would be  like having a toenail peeled off until the bone poked through the skin and that was what you had to walk on. Sound painful? It is. Remember horses can't sit or lie down for any extended period of time. There is no relief for them. A veterinary clinic had treated the right front surgically (properly), all the while refusing to make an intervention on the unacceptable load the left hoof was having to bear while the right was useless. Can you guess what happened? Correct. The left went to shit, too. It damned near always happens if you don't act properly to prevent it, and sometimes even when you do. This poor girl was tossing her head upward, using its decelerating mass to fleetingly take weight off her front hooves for even an instant of relief. Its been eatin' at me ever since I saw it. Somebody needs a beatin'.

There is a proven procedure for dealing with laminitic horses. It was developed by a farrier turned veterinarian and is so successful it is mind boggling. I haven't seen it fail, yet. Some horses are beyond help and nothing will save them, but this is a small percentage. It requires the skills of a highly skilled and  specialized farrier (usually trained by the above mentioned vet), several sets of x-rays, highly technical  machined shoes, timely intervention, and some not unreasonable horsecare by the owner. Some more severe cases require a minimally invasive surgical procedure performed by a vet to allow the procedure to work. It's a step by step damned near guarenteed to work thing. Some of the same things apply to preventing laminitis in a noninujured opposite foot. Connect the dots! Do the math! I don't understand folks sometimes.

Some educated idiots won't take advice from folks with enough experience to know what they are doing. Ego over horsecare.

Why would we ever want to be without the constant company of women?

JAC, how much fun can a guy have without a woman around? Isn't there a reason why it goes 'Wine, Women, and Song'?

Maybe I'm just weird, but I like going adventuring. And there are so many amazing places to go to . . .
BoysMom | Homepage | 11.02.06 - 4:04 pm


BoysMom,
The version I have always heard is more like "Whiskey, Pussy, and Cigarettes", and I have always held that these things were to be had sequentially rather than concurrently.

Adventuring with women is a not really adventuring.
It's taking a woman somewhere, which is it's own kind of fun, but not the same thing.
It's going slow so she won't get scared.
It's planning a trip around Cracker Barrel locations.
It's passing up that sweet motel with the liquor store in the lobby.
It's mandatory showers.
It's changing clothes everyday.
It's not farting (audibly) in public.
It's not being able to say, "You ain't got a damn clue what the hell it is you're talkin' about. Now, shut the fuck up while I figure out what to do!" with out tears being shed.
It's having to find clean places to pee. Indoors for Christ's sake!
I could go on. .

We are happy husbands and fathers 24/7/365.25, but sometimes we want to be "just" men.

Many women don't understand this and feel threatened by it. They'll do everything they can think of to impinge upon it. I see it all the time, especially this time of year when men traditionally get together to hunt. There's always a few in a group, usually with young wives, who get phone calls throughout the day - or have to check in themselves 'cause the Mrs. managed to load 'em up with a guilt trip before they left. It's probably not only the women, either. I know guys who are scared to death their women are gonna figure out they don't have to have a man around all the time. Those fellas are best left at home, too. They'll muck things up as sure as havin' a woman along.

If only it was true

“There has never been an American army as violent and murderous as the one in Iraq”



The McGill Daily

The pacification of Iraq and it's neighbors would not be an ongoing balance between our lack of application of unrestrained brutal force and a teeming reservior of suicidal boys.

An Example

Of the kind of thing that will keep The Lizard Queen from the presidency.



Eventually, the arrogant can no longer restrain themselves and say what they actually think.

Worlds Smallest Horse

17" tall - a touch over 4 hands, weighs 60lbs. At birth she was all of 8 pounds.

Before you ask; yes it is shod and with therapeutic shoes.

Hayden Wins!

Nicky Hayden came in third in the last MotoGP race of the season and took the World Campionship. Congratulations to Nicky!

Infallible Voting Machines

No sense in leaving this stuff to chance.

It's almost enough to make one go, "hmmmm". What a coincidence these things were used in chicago with some problem with the tranmission software requiring intervention by Venezualan engineers.

If I was going to screw around with voting machines to skew the results, that's where I'd start in with my wrench. A "transmission" process to a central machine; a built in "error" accumulator.

The OTHER reason girls can be fun to have around

Lifted This from Nate's Peep Paradise yesterday:

Wildly off topic, but now we finally have an answer to where have the men gone.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/ 2006...inamericanmales

I think the answer to what is causing it is obvious especially when they throw in a major "symptom" is low bone density and diabetes. Boys- step away from the Big Mac.
Spacebunny | 10.27.06 - 2:28 pm |

I'm puttin' my money on socially suppressed masculine personality traits. And soccer.
JACIII | Homepage | 10.27.06 - 3:14 pm |

They claim that obesity can't fully explain the decline, but I'm betting it has a HUGE impact especially coupled with the rise in diabetes due to obesity.
Spacebunny | 10.27.06 - 3:15 pm |

Well, fat guys DO have boobs, right?!
JACIII | Homepage | 10.27.06 - 4:27 pm |


First of all JAC -eeewwwwww!
-snip-
Spacebunny | 10.27.06 - 5:11 pm |

Here's proof I had it right.

I hate to lend some legitimacy to this post but after Nate pointed out nothing but lack of honest work was at the root of modern obesity and its associated side effects, it occured to me I had read a study which found bone density and size amazingly high (compared to average modern man) in nomadic peoples who began traveling extensive distances on their own two feet at a very young age.
Easy verification of this can be had simply by shaking the hand of a man known to have been throwing 80lb haybales five feet over his head since he was 10. What we commonly call a "farm boy".

The Lizard Queen strikes fear into the hearts of... men?

First, there's my little brother who has been reading his own posts too much. For those of you collecting Nate-isms this is a "scrapbooking moment":

unelectible?

how niave can you be?
Nate | Email | Homepage | 10.26.06 - 11:09 am | #

Then Will tries to pull me out of my delusional state:

J, I don't want to seem like I'm insulting your intelligence, but remember that 48% of the country's voters pulling the level for Kerry. Hillary is a much more electable candidate than Kerry. All she has to do is win an extra 2% of the voting population and she's in.

She has the name and face recognition, that false crutch that "things were better under my husband", and the fact that most of the only people who see her for what she really is are us on the Extreme Right who nobody listens to anyways.
Will | Email | Homepage | 10.27.06 - 5:04 am | #

President Hillary? You're smokin' crack.

Sure, it's a national election. But politics is local, folks, and no one has abolished the electoral college since last I checked. Didn't Al Gore 'win' the national election?

Oh, The Lizard Queen has 'star power', I'll grant you that, but it is a hollow thing of the sort hollywood denizens command so long as they keep their mouths shut about what they really think and stay with the script their publicist gave them. Hillary, like (the artist formerly known as) Prince, Madonna, Sting and other one-name pop stars has an ego too great to allow her to do that. I can't wait until this screech owl gets revved up. Remember Howard Dean? You ain't seen nothin'.

The Lizard Queen has yet to walk into a fight where the electorate was not already skewed in her favor. She could have run for senator in Arkansas, could she not? Considering the weight the South has been throwing around in national elections, perhaps that might have been the place to start a run for the presidency. Sure, being a NY senator is a bit more in the limelight, but when was the last time a yankee state swung an election? She is sittin' safe, building up her confidence to face the big boys while hoping James Carville will save her from those rednecks who shit all over Al Gore and said all those nasty things about that nice man, John Kerry.

She's not somebody. She's somebody's wife. I'll be surprised if she makes it out of the primary.

But don't let me stop y'all from gettin' all a-titter and swooning with fear at the certainty of Queen Lizard the First, by all means carry on with your fun. Drama Queens.