Why I hate the modern world

[presta]

There was a similar scam with passport applications in the media a while back. If you Googled passports you got a load of hits from companies all mimicking the official passport office website and charging an extortionate 'commission' for copying your details from their site across to the passport office.

 

[classic33]

We could go back to the good old days!

 

[swee'pea99]

There was a similar scam with passport applications in the media a while back. If you Googled passports you got a load of hits from companies all mimicking the official passport office website and charging an extortionate 'commission' for copying your details from their site across to the passport office.

No, it was worse than that. It wasn't that these cowboys turned up in google searches, it was that their 'official looking' ads turned up at the top of the page.

And it took a lot of persistent hassling from the likes of The Guardian to persuade Google not to run these ads. They were making their money, so what did they care?

In the same way, eBay routinely carry listings from people 'selling' commodity electrical gear at way below the ruling 'bottom line' for price. Of course none of these sellers has any feedback rating; they disappear within 24 hours, then set up again under a different name. Meanwhile they've 'sold' 270. Which never existed, and never arrive. eBay get their fees, Paypal get theirs, most victims don't pursue it, the scammers - and eBay and Paypal - make money.

eBay could of course pull these listings the instant they appear - they have the software to give you a 'trending price' on anything you care to name. The slightest of tweaks would flag up instantly any new listing of a commodity product with a buy it now price that's, say, 20% or more below the going rate. But they prefer not to. They get theirs.

One man one off scumbags is one thing. But when major American corporations behave this way, as a matter of course, that really does get on my tit.

 

[jefmcg]

They were making their money, so what did they care?

Don't be evil

 

[jefmcg]

I love the modern world.

In 2001 I got a kidney infection. The pain was excruciating and I ended up sitting on the floor of a subway carriage (I was in New York at the time) because I couldn't stand, on my way to find a doctor. $150 at the drug store and I was well enough to eat a steak for dinner. Without antibiotics I wonder if I would have survived the week.

Thank you, Howard Florey.

 

[swee'pea99]

I love the modern world.

In 2001 I got a kidney infection. The pain was excruciating and I ended up sitting on the floor of a subway carriage (I was in New York at the time) because I couldn't stand, on my way to find a doctor. $150 at the drug store and I was well enough to eat a steak for dinner. Without antibiotics I wonder if I would have survived the week.

Thank you, Howard Florey.

Anyone who hates the modern world should have heard my dad describe the fun of dentistry during the war in New Zealand, where anaesthetics were unobtainable and drilling was powered by foot pedals, and took a long, long time.

 

[biggs682]

I love the modern world and Sturmey archer do equivalent

 

[snorri]

and drilling was powered by foot pedals, and took a long, long time.

Aaaargh! Curses on you for reminding me of that.The only way to distract your mind from what was going on was to count the number of seconds it took for the knot on the drive cord to complete a full circuit of the drive assembly.

 

[mjr]

Knees

Knees were much better things in the 80s and 90s.

Speak for yourself. Mine spent much of the 90s locking up at random and tipping me down stairs. They improved once I started cycling more!

Someone stole one of our bins (we're on a service road by an A road, so I guess we're an easy location for someone who's damaged their bin to pull up, nick ours and drive away with it) and I had to register for an account and fill out a five-page web form to report it and get a new one. Now it says the request has been processed, I don't know what that means and I'm going to wait a while to see what happens before filling out a three-page web form to ask. Note down the serial numbers of your bins, folks, because you need it if they get nicked...

 

[Drago]

HMRC make money? What do they do with it all?

Give it to the UDP as a bribe.

 

[Drago]

Speak for yourself. Mine spent much of the 90s locking up at random and tipping me down stairs. They improved once I started cycling more!

Someone stole one of our bins (we're on a service road by an A road, so I guess we're an easy location for someone who's damaged their bin to pull up, nick ours and drive away with it) and I had to register for an account and fill out a five-page web form to report it and get a new one. Now it says the request has been processed, I don't know what that means and I'm going to wait a while to see what happens before filling out a three-page web form to ask. Note down the serial numbers of your bins, folks, because you need it if they get nicked...

I'd be dropping off my black sacks of rubbish at the council offices each week until the new one arrived. You're paying them for the service, so they can't complain.

 

[mjr]

I'd be dropping off my black sacks of rubbish at the council offices each week until the new one arrived. You're paying them for the service, so they can't complain.

It's the food bin that was nicked. It's an achievement to get that waste to the bin without dripping so I don't really want it on my bike or in my car, so I'll let them have a week to deliver the replacement

 

[swee'pea99]

Note down the serial numbers of your bins, folks, because you need it if they get nicked...

Bins have serial numbers?

 

[Drago]

Bins have serial numbers?

Aye. They're supposed to have tax and number plates too.

 

[classic33]

Bins have serial numbers?

So they know who's got what.