Over-Reactions on a motherfreaking plane

If you don’t regularly read Wired magazine, they have a Great Article about all the over reactions to terrorism and how we need to refuse to be terrorized.

Contrary to what people believe, a terrorist’s goal isn’t to kill us. Their main goal is to change our lives; and frankly we’re letting them do that. Terrorists account for .00008% of all deaths in our country. Statistically polish grandmothers have killed more people since 9-11 than terrorists have, but you don’t see people going crazy about shutting down bingo night at the local church. (please don’t take offense, I’m polish that’s why I used it)

In the past few months we’ve grounded airplanes for the following reasons:

• A man in a leather jacket was speaking arabic and looking at his watch
• A woman had a bottle of water and a bar of soap
• Passengers weren’t wearing their seatbelts
• People were playing with their cell phones
• The bathroom door was locked
• Somebody burnt the toast

Hell, we even closed a school recently because little Michael Morrissey brought in a Burrito. (::insert “explosive” toilet humor here::)

Does this sound stupid to anybody else? Am I the only one who thinks our fears aren’t justified?

It’s time to stop acting irrational out of fear and get on living our own lives. We need to stop acting like that old cartoon housewife who goes crazy and stands on the table everytime she sees a mouse. You know, the one who will throw a lamp or break her entire kitchen trying to kill it… that’s what we’re doing with our freedoms, our rights, and our way of life. We’re throwing it away in an attempt to feel safe.

But safe from what? Terrorists, or just a Man with a Penis Pump?

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NOTE: Comments functionaly still isn’t done. I appologize, as I realize that this piece will undoubtedly attract some. If it makes you feel better, I composed this entire thing in phpMyAdmin.

August 28th, 2006

An Open Letter To Dell

Dear Dell,

Let me tell you about my recent experience with your company. I recently ordered a new computer that cost me $1074.54. Due to a glitch in your system, my order went through twice and I recieved 2 computers.

I told fedex to deliver one, and I refused delivery on the other. I called support and you said “don’t worry about it, when we recieve it, we’ll credit you”.

Looking at my credit card bill, I was only credited $899.36. That’s a difference of $175.18.

I called your support line today at 6:30, and it took until 8:30 to get a real person on the other end. My cell phone battery actually died while waiting on hold, and I had to call again.

When I finally got somebody, I was scolded for not knowing my order number, and then placed on hold before he hung up on me. I called back and your annoying computer told me my wait time would be 20 minutes. I also fired off an email, but got no reply.

Now, there’s some obvious problems with this. First of all, you cheated me out of $175. Secondly, you fucking hung up on me. Third, you just showed me that I could have somehow bought my computer for only $899.36…. so you cheated me again.

You owe me $350.36 (not to metion the time I spent on the phone.) I charge clients $50/hour. I couldn’t talk to a client while my phone was tied up, so therefore your owing me total is now about $550.36.

I have already contacted the BBB, and will try again tomorrow to contact you. Please note that I will be charging an additional $50/hour for however long it takes me to rectify this situation. Please let me know where to send a bill.

Thank you very little
Ryan Jones.

August 28th, 2006