consumer victory

The warranty on my car just paid off big time. With 97,700 miles out of the 100,000 the warranty allows, I just had a really weird obscure electrical problem. It took them all week to fix, including taking the seat out of the car, replacing various parts and having that not fix it, calling the mothership, ordering a “multiplexer”, and crying out in rage and despair to the uncaring Demiurge.

My cost? $50. This is only the second time in five years that anything broke on the car, so my total cost for non-consumables under warranty has been $100. On this repair I had to replace the rear vision mirror, which the warranty doesn’t cover, so that and the interval service and the week-long electrical diagnostic ordeal cost me a total of $380.

I heart Acura.

There’s good, and there’s emo. And there’s emo disguised as good…

  1. theuglyvolvo has a hilarious description of the difficulty of reading while rowing.
  2. History repeats itself first as tragedy, second as farce, and the third time as a bizarre knockoff for kids.
  3. For aficionados of doom, here’s a good detailed analysis of how close Iran is to a nuclear weapon.
  4. The Panopticon is now a reality in the Netherlands.
  5. The Null Device points to yet another example of my Two Subcultures Rule, which is that any two subcultures must intersect at some point. In this case it’s — wait for it — Goths and the Church of England.
  6. Inevitably, the Internet has coughed up a Lego Tarot.
  7. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a publisher in possession of a popular writer must be in want of a book cover featuring Fabio and raised gold lettering.
  8. There is a whale in Central London.
  9. Jalopnik reports that the woman who posed naked on a car at the North American Auto Show may well have been drugged . Why is this not surprising? If it’s true, I hope everyone goes to jail and/or Hell.

HOW TO DESTROY THE UNIVERSE

DESTROY

I am going to this, and so are you. The L.A. show has Savage Republic, which is a worship object for me. I bet Blixa’s solo stuff is going to be enjoyably disturbing also. Shows in SD, SF, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver BC, even Calgary! Lots of variation in the stuff happening from night to night and city to city.

I wonder why F-Space isn’t going to Canada? Maybe they’re FELONIOUS.

I do like artnoise. And I’ve liked SR and Blixa for more than 20 years now, so it’s COMFORT NOISE for me now.

45 YEARS OF CHILDREN BLOWING MEAT WHISTLES

They were hand-delivered to youngsters all over the country by Little Oscar, the diminutive chef and OSCAR MAYER goodwill ambassador who appeared with the WIENERMOBILE at events throughout the 50’s and 60’s. The whistles were even occasionally offered in packages of OSCAR MAYER® Hot Dogs.

Throughout the 80’s, the WIENERWHISTLE seemed to have remained out of the spotlight. But then, another “first” occurred: the WIENERWHISTLE was given a whole new look.

Dug up from a 1999 memepool entry and the always helpful archive.org, THE WIENER WHISTLE HISTORY PAGE