Messages

Jesus Christ, it's been three years and you people are still eating lunch?  

It's all about what you expect, I think. Anyone who knows DV even a little bit knows that it's like entering a house of tricks. Expect to be tricked, even by the admins, who may just use a spambot to kill a forum that they created as a test project, but never intended to catch on among regulars. Or did they?

Think of them as practitioners of the black arts of internet forums. Sometimes you will have fun when you play with evil, and sometimes the joke will be on you. If you don't like that, then just stay here with the good witches.

The tolerance of the moderators on this forum is incredible.  

[span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"] Lise wrote:[/span][br style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"][span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"]Yeah. Booted her off for coughing and hacking too much. I can understand if you get kicked off for being under the influence of alcohol but to be kicked off for something like this is poor judgement.[/span]

Maybe. But if she was panicking and had trouble getting air, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. Even if a doctor looked at her, it's hard to know what someone has going on in their lungs. And it was cheaper for the plane to head back after takeoff than to do a full landing mid-flight if things should have gotten worse.

I know that when I'm flying sometimes, it seems hard to get air on the plane without having a cold. It does seem to have been embarrassing for her, and unnecessary in the end, but I'd be more concerned if the pilot adamantly refused to land, or pay attention to passenger needs, as they are far more likely to do.

 

They're great if you want to induce a diabetic coma.  

There's a good chance that a lot of names that were previously locked up might become available as people realize that the web boom is not what it was. No one is paying really big money for domains anymore, like I think ExxonMobil did a few years ago. It's too easy to just get another one that will work for you.

It looks to me that the people who have trouble with/get burned by DV are people who have made their own mess over there and then don't want to deal with the consequences of making that mess. Then they come over here and tell us all about it, like the bratty kid who deliberately throws a brick through somebody's window, gets smacked for it, and then presents himself for milk and cookies at at his grandmother's house like a wronged angel who was smacked for no reason.

DV is what it is, and apparently has been that way for a long time. If you don't like the atmosphere there, no one is forcing anyone to stay there. If you want to be here, then why not offer up something that has nothing to do with your "oppression" by DV or how DV operates?


 

[span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"] Trollio wrote:[/span][br style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"][span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"] I [/span][span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"]detest[/span][span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"] tipping. [/span][br style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"][br style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"][span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"]But I always do it in restaurants and usually 18-20%. It definitely improves the whole experience, because as wait staff remember the stiffers, they also remember the good tippers.[/span]

A perfect example of why I always tip in restaurants occurred just last night. We were at a function where the host provided what was possibly the most paltry concept of refreshments I have ever seen at a function from 5.00 to 9.30. So afterwards, we ran out looking for someplace to get dinner, and were faced with the ten minutes-to-closing situation. (Most kitchens close at 10.)

We arrived at a place where we are regulars at 9.53.  The waitress initially told the bartender that they were closed, but when she saw that it was us, she came and got us and we in turn got our dinner. Needless to say, she was tipped just over 20%.

As for cruises, those things are so far over the top anyway that you just sort of accept that you're going to be paying out money for a week for all kinds of things. A cruise ship takes in anywhere from 5-10 million dollars [USD] every time it operates. I can see the point of those who don't like the mandatory gratuity, but I get past it by looking at it as if I have hired a maid for the week.
 

 I [span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"]detest[/span] tipping.

But I always do it in restaurants and usually 18-20%. It definitely improves the whole experience, because as wait staff remember the stiffers, they also remember the good tippers.

But tipping is extortion, plain and simple, and the economic arguments about the prices being raised are really disingenuous. Things cost what they cost, and businesses will do what they need to do in order to keep up with the pace of the market. Case in point: a few years ago, no one ever got free refills of soft drinks anywhere. Now most places offer that, because if they don't people will just go somewhere that does give them that feature. Restaurants are always raising their prices to meet inflation anyway. I'd rather pay more for the meal upfront than play some third world haggling game over an extra few dollars.

Most of the industrialized world does not practise tipping. Europeans, however, have learned that Americans do this, so they expect it from North Americans. I never tip in Europe, but I'm European so they also don't expect it from me.

I sure as hell do not tip anyone at buffets (I could care less if they remember me -- they do nothing for me, and they're going to have to clean that table no matter what I do), and I do not extend my tipping to every bloody thing the way businesses are trying to do in the States for every damned thing. (NO you are NOT a bloody "barista"; you pour coffee. Get over yourself.)

Things should cost what they cost, those costs should be clearly understood at the start and remain that way at the end. Aside from restaurants, I find nothing "pleasant" in someone trying to f*ck me out of more money with a smile on their face, and I will actually go out of my way to not give such people any business ever again.

And Lise, on cruise ships I actually prefer the explicit gratuity; it dispenses with the whole false politeness in exchange for money/service, and makes it very clear that the steward is there to do what I ask when I ask within reason, and not out of the kindness of their hearts.
 

If I was the CEO of Turner, I'm afraid I would have totally attacked the Mayor of Boston and taken it all the way down to the mat over this.

I would have pointed out what SD said about there being the same lights in other large cities for weeks, and I would have said directly to the Boston Police that "your ridiculous expectation that my company pay even a half-penny for your own choice to display your massive incompetence and unprofessional conduct would be an act of enabling behaviour rivalling that found in the worst alcoholic families."

I would then not only challenge but dare the city of Boston to prove in any court in the nation that there was any iota of intent to cause panic or malicious disruption in the actions of the marketing team. Boston had no more of a case than if you blamed me for your attempting to kill yourself, because you saw my inflatable missile float across the street from your house and assumed that a nuclear holocaust was imminent.

Yes, I've heard that argument about how they don't mind paying because they got more publicity out of it than they ever could have imagined and that the cost of that kind of exposure would be about $500,000. That's not the point. The city of Boston--and no other entity but the city of Boston--chose to create the panic; they raised the alarm unnecessarily; the very idea that anyone else but their idiotic city managers should pay for their overkill expenses is rank insanity.
 

[span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"] Sportsdude wrote:[/span][br style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"][span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"]If you've got Animal Planet its still on right now.  Oh the bowl cam is hilarious you see the little fellas drinking water.  [/span]
Drinking? More like stepping in and frantically pawing all the water out.

That show was [span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"]much[/span] better than the Super Bowl. I loved it. Particularly when 'Gypsy' ran the whole field, twice! Great instant replay!
 

 The Cheneys have developed arrogant hypocrisy into an art form. If he could have, Dick Cheney would have joined the same team as Mussolini, Pinochet, Marcos, Stroessner and many other dictators who believe that democracy is an inconvenient obstacle to the otherwise efficient management of the interests of bankers and capitalists.
 

an a**hole.

Why anyone but himself would even consider the possibility that he could, should or would be president is so far removed from reality as to warrant a psychological evaluation.

About 70% of what the man says at any given time is either offensive to someone or just rudely unconsidered.

Those were the kind that actually could damage your brain. It was like putting a mobile base station next to your head.  

[span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"] P.C. wrote:[/span][br style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"][span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"]I used to have a cell phone, way back when they first came out. [/span]


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