I wondered what the hell this was… I was hitting the 101/280 North/South split at 730 and it was clear 280 South was stopped cold. Effing freaky.
Last night a 27-year-old man was shot and killed while driving on the 280. This is the second freeway killing in less than a week. 37-year-old Luis Solari of Richmond was driving his Honda car at around 6 p.m. going southbound between the Alemany and Monterey boulevards exits when the shooting occurred. So far no arrests have been made, but according to the Gate:
San Francisco police Sgt. Neville Gittens said the suspect vehicle was a small red four-door car of unknown make. He said initial reports that the suspect’s car was gold or tan were incorrect.
Two children were also in the car Solari was driving, a seven- and eight-year-old. None of the kids were injured. Investigators are still trying to figure out what sparked the rush hour attack.
(Read More)
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The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday slapped down California’s bid for first-in-the-nation greenhouse gas limits on cars, trucks and SUVs, refusing the state a waiver that would have allowed those restrictions to take effect.
“The Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution — not a confusing patchwork of state rules,” EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson told reporters on a conference call. “I believe this is a better approach than if individual states were to act alone.” (Read More)
There you have it: delicious greasy lumps of war-coal for everyone.
That EPA admin’s comments stink of a Karen Hughes’ condescending 3-word bumpersticker bullshit campaign. I’m reminded of commercials for as-seen-on-tv products, trying to sell me a solution for a problem that never existed in a tone that actually makes me question my sanity:
[Narrator]: “The Vac-u-stick 3000. How often has this happened to you?”
Cut to…
[Scene of woman trying to get one of those clunky, old fashioned 300 lb. canister vacuums out of closet, only to get tangled up in the cord and hoses, fall into a tank full of pirhana, break the glass, and stab her eyes out]
Cut to…
[Mysteriously resurrected woman reading from cue cards]: “WHY… … … DOES. VACUUMING… … … HAVE. TO. BE… … SO COMPLICATED. AND. DANGEROUS? … … … … … OW.”
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I’m watching KTVU news this morning for no reason whatsoever. Every once in awhile I turn it on to see how long I can stand to have my news chewed up, editorialized, injected with extra fear and/or religion, and regurgitated back to me. I think my current record is about 2 minutes.
The pertinent facts of the current story is this: A woman in Oakland was hit and killed by a car overnight, which did not stick around the scene of the accident or call it in or anything.
Not interesting enough for morning news apparently. Frank Somerville and the (allegedly) dickhead writers of KTVU chose to add this unnecessary bit of fluff: “at Grand avenue and Lennox, which is [tense and knowing emphasis] very close [/] to Children’s Fairyland.”
Because it could have been YOUR CHILD who was viciously run down. In the middle of the night. At 1:15am. Going to Fairyland. As they tend to do at 1:15am.
The fact that a woman was killed isn’t funny, but that the TV news is sensationalizing it is. In a terrifying way.
A few days ago I heard an interview with Mike Gravel on NPR. He noted that the American public has been kept in a state of continuous fear by our government since the beginning of the Cold War, and that the mainstream DNC candidates are not likely to change the status quo.
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Gosh I didn’t even have to make up a snarky headline…
San Francisco police are investigating four apparently unrelated shootings that happened over the weekend in San Francisco, leaving two dead and injuring eight otheres, according to law enforcement officials. (Read More)
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Got this POS memo from City Park a few days ago wrt my iPhone being stolen from my car in their garage @ 475 Sansome in the SF Financial District. As noted in the post to which I am linking, they have one thing to say “NOT OUR PROBLEM.”
I get that, assholes. I read the contract posted 8 times on the wall. I read the contract on the back of my ticket. And I certainly couldn’t have missed it when I beseeched the valets (yes, valets. in a locked garage. one of whom stole my phone but it’s “not our problem”) to let me look in my car or do anything helpful, but who could only stand their drooling, picking lint out of their assholes, and pointing at the posted contracts on the wall stating “it’s not our problem.”
Thanks for the great customer service, and the compassion. Thanks for dealing with this matter so quickly. Thanks for doing thorough background checks and actually looking into a matter that damages your brand reputation.
Oh, and by the way, thanks for hedging your memo by rewording what I stated in my report to “phone MAY have gone missing.” What I actually said was that it was taken from my car which I left in the hands of one of your fast fingered valets.
Did I say thanks? I meant fuck you. In the heart. With a rusty, dull knife.
I may need to park there again if I work in our downtown office, but you can bet your ass I’ll take pictures of every thug you’ve hired and bleed on the internet about every surly encounter I have with you.
(click for bigger)
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Some dickless wonder broke into my car (parked 10 feet from my bedroom window) in the middle of the night, making off with my cheap but awesome GPS toy purchased from woot.com, and my fastrak transponder.
the only good thing i can say about it is they used a hanger or jimmy bar to get in, and nothing was damaged.
fuckers.
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If you have failed to accomplish the only important function of your job (dispersing taxes), you don’t get to go on holiday. You finish the job as quickly as possible, or you are fired with no hope of working in that function ever again.
In an emerging crisis for California’s elderly and poor, all Medi-Cal funding will be halted this week to an estimated 500 hospitals throughout the state and 11,000 nursing homes, hospices and adult day care centers.
Medi-Cal funds have run out because of the state’s monthlong budget impasse, forcing community programs and other facilities into a frantic scramble to cover their bills. Some care facilities for the aged are making plans to close.
But help is unlikely because both the Senate and the Assembly would have to approve an emergency bailout, and the Assembly has gone on summer recess.
Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman, R-Irvine (Orange County), said he is not overly concerned about the budget stalemate dragging out weeks or even months longer. He said the state continues to take in tax revenue and most agencies have plenty of money in reserve. (Read More)
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If you were, help police figure out who blew up a musician’s hand with an M60 at the park.
Hello,
I am Roisin’s father. July 4th, Roisin and friends were in Dolores Park watching fireworks. Some stupid piece of shit threw an M60 at them. It landed on Roisin’s right hand and blew it apart. She will undego surgery later this morning but it doesn’t look good. Most likely she will lose her index finger; second and third fingers will also be permanently impaired and disfigured. Needless to say, her musical career is over.
I want this f**ker. Media attention will help flush him out. People know who did it and I’m offering $20,000 for a name. Please do whatever is necessary to get the story out. Do so and I will reward you as well.
Thank you,
Chris Isner
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I need a new wireless data card (switched laptops, have new express slot instead of pcmcia). I currently have Verizon. I went to the Verizon store today prepared to pay full price for a new card on my existing contract.
My options:
- Get new card at 1 year contract with small discount and pay $20 “early upgrade fee”
- Get new card at 2 year contract with larger discount and pay $20 “early upgrade fee”
The early upgrade fee is non-negotiable. I could deal with re-upping my contract and slurping down bullcrap if the service were stellar, but its just so-so, so that upgrade fee sticks in my craw.
While doing research with help from Erik, I discovered two interesting but ultimately useless things. In 2004 and 2005, the PUC granted Californians the right to cancel service within 30 days if the service did not meet their needs. This makes sense given all the variables of cell coverage. Carriers threw lots of money at the assembly and got that right tossed out. There was much ruckus in 2006, with 87% of people surveyed saying they wanted this right restored. Senate passed it a restoration of this right, but ultimately the assembly voted it down. Suck it.
The other thing I discovered was that in February 2007 Verizon upped their text messaging fees and a limited number of people were rumored to have gotten out of their contracts based on “material changes to their contracts.” Verizon ultimately clamped down on this in various ways, semi-humorously crediting some folks’ accounts .30cents/month until their contracts ran out, thus negating the material change, while others were simply denied as the change was not considered material.
My third option: Pay a $200 early termination fee and go with another carrier. Is it expensive? Yes. Can I get slightly better data service elsewhere? Probably. Is it worth it to stick my foot up Verizon’s ass? Definitely.
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