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Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

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Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#281

Post by denton-scratch »

xwdv wrote: post #111
wkat4242 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of incidents involving firearms is astonishing. I'm glad I live in Europe where literally nobody has guns except police and heavy criminals that only really use them to shoot their rivals. I thought most people in the US were proud of their firearm handling professionalism which of course includes not brandishing, threatening or murdering people. I'm really a bit surprised to hear this. I did a similar job…

The rule of thumb is you are still way more likely to be killed by other things before being killed with a firearm. It’s not really that bad. Once you graduate from school your risk of being shot dead dramatically lowers and other normal causes of death take the top spot.

Are you seriously saying that gun-culture is "not really that bad", because the people at greatest risk of being shot are schoolkids?

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#282

Post by Eisenstein »

behringer wrote: post #34

Tip for anybody in a similar situation, when they give you a gift card and a years free service, it means they are certain you can sue them for at least 10 times that amount.

I would pay 10 times that amount not to be in a lawsuit against a large corporation. Have you ever had to do a videotaped deposition? They get to ask you anything they want while you are under oath for about a day and they aren't very nice about it. And that is just one thing you are going to have to do for your measly couple thousand dollars.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#283

Post by mihaaly »

It resonates a tiny bit to my brief experience with Comcast (or actually any other providers being hostile to clients) in 2014 when stayed in the US briefly and they were the only one providing much needed broadband in that area (unsure if I was doing a study on the competitors otherwise). As you can imagine having broadband just for 4 months for a forigner was something of a unique deal for them, we had to go into some sort of special agreement at the Comcast desk (I do not remember much of the specifics) of which I felt I must have a proof about on top of the spoken promise of the representative that 'this and that will work this way in your situation'. Somehow I felt the one cancelling my service will not be that keen on alterations like the one I talked with about getting into contract with them. I am unsure but I think I asked for a written additional note some sort or perhaps went into an agreed recording of the conversation, but what I am sure about is that my wife - who left later than me and managed the closure of the service - had difficulty convincing them that it was just a 4 months service not an early termination of a 12 or 24 months one. Those proof asked was life saver with them and left a dent in my recollection that words of Comcast is not to be trusted easily but you need armor strength explicit proofs surrounding you in dealing with them.

And actually with several others. Since then the similar paranoid defensive dealing with overly kind and eager representatives saved me lots of trouble. It is exhausting not to trust anything and is shame we have to waste time and energy on such instead of just honest processes.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#284

Post by branko_d »

Ylpertnodi wrote: post #190
wkat4242 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of incidents involving firearms is astonishing. I'm glad I live in Europe where literally nobody has guns except police and heavy criminals that only really use them to shoot their rivals. I thought most people in the US were proud of their firearm handling professionalism which of course includes not brandishing, threatening or murdering people. I'm really a bit surprised to hear this. I did a similar job…

>Europe where literally nobody has guns except police and heavy criminals Europe? Literally lots of people have guns, where I live, from 01 Sept there's plenty of gunshots ringing out scaring one of my dogs. I know two people in the uk that have shotguns (police checked, locked away in the attic). There are many ww2 firearms in circulation (Serbia, I believe just had an amnesty), so 'literally' is incorrect. The diff…

Most of Serbia's firearms came from the breakup of Yugoslavia.

That being said, I never saw a gun or even heard of someone having it (in my city of Novi Sad, at least - things may be different elsewhere).

Homicide rates for 2021 (according to macrotrends.net):

Serbia: 1.06 US: 6.81

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#285

Post by pmx »

mindslight wrote: post #141
derefr wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hypothesis: most service providers were previously operating on an interruptible work stack (LIFO), because persistently-annoying people could "jump the queue." Now with work-from-home they're doing strict FIFO (as they should!); and it turns out their queue is long .

I've got a different theory. Tradespeople prioritize based on how much a job pays. So if you haggle them down, make them deal with insurance, or your type of job doesn't command much money, they'll happily keep you in their queue as an option in case work dries up, but won't be interested in doing your job as long as they're getting paid more for doing other jobs.

Which is entirely reasonable, no? They have every right to maximise how much they can earn in their available working time, they don't owe anything to anyone else.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#287

Post by vetinari »

Ylpertnodi wrote: post #190
wkat4242 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of incidents involving firearms is astonishing. I'm glad I live in Europe where literally nobody has guns except police and heavy criminals that only really use them to shoot their rivals. I thought most people in the US were proud of their firearm handling professionalism which of course includes not brandishing, threatening or murdering people. I'm really a bit surprised to hear this. I did a similar job…

>Europe where literally nobody has guns except police and heavy criminals Europe? Literally lots of people have guns, where I live, from 01 Sept there's plenty of gunshots ringing out scaring one of my dogs. I know two people in the uk that have shotguns (police checked, locked away in the attic). There are many ww2 firearms in circulation (Serbia, I believe just had an amnesty), so 'literally' is incorrect. The diff…

> Europe? Literally lots of people have guns, where I live,

Exactly.

Not only outside-EU countries; I live in EU country that has ratio of registered guns to cops ~4,5:1.

The difference to US is, that a) there's no open carry and b) no legal owner is going to threaten with a gun over something trivial (it is a good way to lose your license).

These two things make people carrying guns invisible, but not non-existing.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#288

Post by krisoft »

debaserab2 wrote: post #174
owenmarshall wrote: post #16

I feel like this story could be titled “In Which a Smart Person Overestimates Their Competency With The Legal System” Always get a lawyer.

She got everything dropped and her record expunged and didn't pay a dime in lawyers fees... seems like she estimated her competency with the legal system pretty accurately actually. * EDIT: fixed gender pronouns

> seems like she estimated her competency with the legal system pretty accurately actually.

Or she got lucky?

You know if something in your home catches fire and smoke is billowing out of it is recommended to call the fire brigade and to try to put it out. Yes, sometimes you will get lucky and it will just peter out. And because of that sometimes you will find stories where something caught fire, they did all the wrong things and yet they ended up all okay. Would you conclude from that that they "estimated their firefighting competency accurately"?

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#289

Post by krisoft »

OhMeadhbh wrote: post #232
hattmall wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except it literally worked in this case.

in my experience, pro se works more often than owenmarshall implies, but probably less often than it should.

> in my experience

Could you tell us more about the source of your experience please?

> pro se works more often than owenmarshall implies,

And there are very well documented cases where a pro se defendant gets themselves into bigger trouble.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#290

Post by vetinari »

RektBoy wrote: post #272
Ylpertnodi wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Europe where literally nobody has guns except police and heavy criminals Europe? Literally lots of people have guns, where I live, from 01 Sept there's plenty of gunshots ringing out scaring one of my dogs. I know two people in the uk that have shotguns (police checked, locked away in the attic). There are many ww2 firearms in circulation (Serbia, I believe just had an amnesty), so 'literally' is incorrect. The diff…

[flagged]

In UK, you can have shotgun, but there are rules wrt storage, transportation and where it can be used. They are checked by cops, too.

Though yes, UK, Denmark and some other countries have quite ridiculous gun and self-defense laws.

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