Archive for December, 2008

Consumer Reviews

Saturday, December 13th, 2008

The January 2009 issue of PCWorld magazine has a brief article dealing with consumer reviews, regarding products and services.

Their main focus dealt with faked or biased reviews that could have been placed there by shills of the company providing the product or service but there are other types of reviews to deal with.

I never put full faith in a consumer review when looking for a product or service, but I do pay attention to them.

Never accept a review that sounds as well worded as the commercial that peddled the product, chances are the review is planted, and be on the lookout for multiple reviews with the same traits, especially if they sound like Billy Mays wrote them.

Never accept a negative review at face value, be it one or many if they do not describe in any coherent detail why the product deserves a negative report, remember negative reviews can also be planted there by shills for the “competition”.

Everyone has different needs for a product or service and not everyone uses them to the same degree, then there is know-how and patience to be factored in before you accept a review for what it is.

Some people have unrealistic expectations for a product and will judge it with those standards in mind, dont believe a negative review for a $20 coffeepot if the reviewer sounds like they expected it to perform the same as a $99 Braun or Bunn model, when you spend $20 for a coffeepot, you are getting a $20 coffeepot.

Some people are not technically savvy and do not know how to fully utilize a product or service or lack any reasonable amount of patience to use or understand that product or service. therefore these people will typically slam or blame the product for their own ignorance or shortcomings. Yes there are people in this world whom have no business operating much less owning anything dealing with lets say technology.

The most coherent and trustworthy reviews I have read are on newegg.com’s website, I havent seen one that I could not believe.

Just because someone describes a negative doesnt mean it will be bad for you, remember how someone used the product might be why they gave it a bad mark, which in reality will never mirror how you will use the product. For example a camera memory card might have slow write speeds, a negative for a professional photographer, not a big deal for a home/hobby/casual photographer.

Avoid reviews that seem more inflammatory or excess praise, somewhere in the middle you can find the truthful and reasonable reviews.

A trustworthy review allows the reviewer to outline the pro’s and con’s, I avoid the ones where the reviewer couldnt keep the con out of the pro part, sarcasm turns me off in this regard. A trustworthy review will be well thought out and written without sounding like a endorsement or condemnation.

Reviews are a good tool for making purchasing decisions, just dont put all your eggs into that basket, be wary.

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Pranks And Consequences

Friday, December 12th, 2008

I read a story about a Willmar Minnesota man being charged with assault after spraying some teens with Fox Urine..

Read the Story Here .

Seems he got a little tired of having toilet paper being draped all over his yard as he was a common target for teenage pranksters. So using night vision goggles and a super-soaker filled with the Fox Piss, he decided to get the upper hand on them one night and decided to douse the teens with the fox pee.

As the story outlines, the man was accosted from behind and a struggle ensued, apprarently someones finger got broken, the homeowner is the one whom reported the incident to the police.

What I dont understand is why the man is getting charged..

Lets look at some facts here:

  • Just because teens will be teens and commit pranks, does not mean homeowners “HAVE TO” endure these pranks.
  • Every homeowner has a right to defend their property, I doubt any of these teens pay this mans mortgage or property taxes.
  • If this had happened in a more urban setting, these teens could have faced the business end of a firearm.
  • If the teens felt they had a right to trespass on the property of another, then the property owner had every right to make the teens experience more memorable by giving them a smell they would not soon forget.
  • If the teens were choking this man, as the story suggests, then a broken finger isnt nothing.

When I was a teen, I was very much involved with pranks, toilet papering, throwing snowballs at peoples doors, knocking on doors/ringing doorbells and running etc.. I used to be a newspaper delivery boy for a Washington DC area newspaper, afternoon deliveries during the week and morning deliveries on the weekends, on the weekends I was generally delivering my route between 5am and 7am. I decided to be cute by flattening the mail box of a person on one of the streets on my route, he was not a customer of mine, but I faithfully flattened it every saturday and sunday morning over the course of a few weeks. He always straightened it out and in that time, once replaced it, yet I still flattened it out, even the replacement. Eventually he did the math and figured it all out that it was happening on a set pattern and not randomly. So one morning he got up early and waited, sure enough I come along and I flatten the mailbox again, this time he popped up from behind some bushes and busted me.. He was rather cool about it, he could have called the police and would have been right to do so, he went on to tell me that when he was my age, he did the same sort of things.. He made a deal with me, he gave me 2 weeks to give him $15 to cover the cost of a new mailbox, in return he would not tell my customers on the street or my parents, DEAL! I gave him the money within a week and from that point forward I grew up and my prank days were done. He even subscribed to the newspaper!!

With this toilet papering/Fox pee incident, there is no way the victim should be charged given the facts I read all this does is send the message to teenagers that they can carry out these pranks with no fear of punishment be making their victims responsible for their pranks.

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Slavery Lesson

Saturday, December 6th, 2008

There is a story of a 7th Grade Social Studies teacher in New York State, using visual and physical aids to teach her students about the slave trade that plagued the history of the USA. Seems that the teacher was white and she used duct tape to bind the hands and feet of two of her black female students, then told them to lay down under their desks, so that she could get her students to visualize what it must have been like for the real slaves aboard slave ships as they crossed the Atlantic.

When the two female students got home that day, they cried and complained to their parents about the incident.

Follow This Link to read the story.

There is no doubt in my mind that there was no malicious intent behind this incident, but perhaps poor judgement.

I do suppose that this teacher could have imparted her lesson by narrating it to her class and asking each student to picture themselves lieing down on the floor being bound by rope and chains?

Barring the above, she should have asked if anyone wanted to volunteer, or perhaps went to her peers and asked what they thought of it as a teaching aid?

Oh well shouda, couda wouda..

You got the mother of one of the children screaming bloody murder and the G-D NAACP in the act now.

I wonder if artists and actors being asked to portray horrible things get emotionally scarred everytime they do something?

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