Wow. I just read that a male University of Cincinnati student was raped while on his way home.
When I was in college, I was mugged while walking home from getting some pizza and pop to share with my roommates. It was my birthday. I had just completed a fast. I had even given a couple slices to a homeless man in the business district.
More to come later.
I recently received an email that described a delivery person who, after seeing Arabs at a convenience store celebrating the terrorist attacks, pulled all Budweiser product from that store.
I thought the email was curious, and I checked out Snopes.com to see if they had found out whether this was the truth or merely a hoax. Indeed, it is a hoax. Check out the Snopes.com page "This Bud's Not For You" for more information.
As we read email from one another, let us keep this maxim close:
Friends don't let friend send chain letters or email hoaxes.I'm Dan Johnson, Jr., and I approved this message.
For the past two weeks, we Ohioans are seeing public service announcements(PSAs) on TV with Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell urging to make their votes count. The PSA provides specific instructions on how to place the punchcard in the voting machine, using the punching tool to cast one's vote.
Secretary Blackwell also urges voters to make sure that there are no "Florida Hanging Chads" on their ballots before placing them in the ballot box.
In my search for a link about these PSAs, I've discovered that there already is much controversy surrounding Ohioans' votes for this coming election. I'll let you search for these items yourself.
I agree with Neal Boortz:
Do not ... I repeat DO NOT engage in a drinking game where you take a shot of hooch every time John Kerry says "middle class" or "I have a plan." You don't want to risk alcohol poisoning.Similarly, although it may be so tempting, do not start drinking every time you hear or see a political advertisement. What's being said is hard enough to digest as it is.
It's once again time to review the winners of the annual Stella Awards. The Stellas are named after 81 year old Stella Liebeck who spilled coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's.
That case inspired the Stella Awards for the most frivolous successful lawsuits in the United States. (I don't know who the awarding body is; nor do I know how these awards originally get published.)
THIS YEAR'S AWARDS GO TO:
5th place (Tied) Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas, was awarded $780,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving toddler was Ms. Robertson's Son.
5th place (Tied)19 year old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently did not notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal the hubcaps.
5th place (Tied)Terrence Dickson of Bristol, PA, was leaving a house he had just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up since the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He could not re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation and Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for 8 days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found and a large bag of dry dog food. He sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The Jury agreed to the tune of $500,000.
4th place Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas, was awarded $14,500 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbor's Beagle dog. The Beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have been a little provoked at the time as Mr. Williams, who had climbed over the fence into the yard, was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.
3rd placeA Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke her coccyx (tailbone). The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier, during an argument.
2nd placeKara Walton of Claymont, Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out two of her front teeth. This occurred whilst Ms. Walton was trying to sneak in the window of the ladies' room to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12,000 and dental expenses.
1st PlaceThis year's runaway winner was Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, OK. Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new Winnebago motorhome. On his trip home from an OU football game, having driven onto the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go into the back and make himself a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the owner's manual that he could not actually do this. The jury awarded him $1,750,000 plus a new Winnebago motorhome. The company actually changed their manuals on the basis of this suit just in case there were any other complete morons buying their recreational vehicles.
via email from Brian
Last week I mentioned I was heading to the doctor because of some groin pain. I had thought it was a recurrent hernia. At the doctor's office they determined that the pain was from strained muscles in that area.
I had not mentioned in this blog that I slipped and fell at work. We believe that the muscles pain was related to that injury.
If we ever needed a reason to bone up on our personal finances, this is it!
CBS Marketwatch reports that banks in the U.S. will soon be able to process checks much faster than they have been. Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, or Check 21, which goes into place on October 28, means that the "float time", i.e., the time from when the check was written to when the check clears, will become virtually zero. Customers have been able to use this float time to allow them to buy things and later make sure that the money is in their accounts.
Advocates for Check 21 say that this new process is more reliable and secure. They also say that the faster check clearing will allow banks to detect fraudulent checks and catch the bad guys who write these checks sooner.As this process rolls out, check writers and their banks face a difficult adjustment period from the end of October through the end of December. Here are six tips for dealing with the new check-clearing rules:
Consumer advocates say that since the banks will clear checks sooner, but not make faster deposits to consumer's accounts, banks are the only beneficiaries. They also say that faster clearing of funds to cover checks will increase the number of "bounced checks" and the fees for these to consumers could rise by as much 20 percent.
Webopedia describes those annoying error messages we sometimes encounter. Wanna know what 404 means? Or how about 502?
When I was 3 years old, I had some operations related to an inguinal hernia. I don't remember a lot of what was going on, except for some pain associated with pulling out catgut stitches. I had an allergic reaction to them, and it was the most painful experience I have ever had.
I bring this up because, within the past few days, I've started to feel pain in the same area. Ugh!
The only remedy for this is surgery.
Lawren is a blogger after my own heart! I happened to spot her blog listed in KateSpot's blogroll.
More about Lawren, from one of her first posts: "Welcome, friends, loved ones, and newcomers"
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License
by Daniel Johnson, Jr. & Jazzmania Productions
Keeping the 'fun' in dysfunctional
Everything written here is my personal opinion and not that of any employer, past or present.
