The Bullshit Stalker

Seven Dollar Beer Bullshit

By admin on Sep. 7, 2008.

Okay, I’m taking a short flight on Delta Airlines to Atlanta.  The flight attendant is a few rows ahead of me when I hear her say, “Seven dollars.”  Then, “Yes, I wish I could set the price.”  I was considering a couple of beers myself.  So, I had to ask her what I figure the other passenger was asking.  Yes, that was right - Seven dollars for a 12 oz can of domestic beer.  Bullshit!

Let me put this in perspective:

• That’s 58.33 cents for an ounce.  This is likely more than it cost them for the whole can, meaning they’ve marked this up more than 1200%.
• That’s $42 for a six pack that I could buy at the local retailer for $5.
• That’s $84 for a twelve pack that I could buy for $9 at the local retailer.
• That’s $168 for a case that would cost me $14 or less at home.
• Gas costs just under $4 per gallon in most of the US, just under $9 per gallon in the UK, but this beer was going for $74.67 per gallon.

I’m all for keeping passengers from getting sloshed.  I mean that could very well be a safety issue.  But damn!

Another thing that Delta and all the other airlines should consider with this piece meal pricing is that business will pay for your ticket because they need you in a certain city on a certain date.  But they’re not going to pay for the extras.  So, while you think you’re making up costs and creating revenue, in the long run, you’re costing yourself revenue.  Because, guess what?  I didn’t pay it.  I took a Diet Coke that was free.  If they’d have asked me to pay for it, I’d have passed on that too.

Diet Coke Cares? Bullshit!

By admin on Aug. 28, 2008.

I drink a lot of Diet Coke.  A whole lot.  In fact, I practically pay a full salary at the Coca Cola Company with the amount I spend on Diet Coke.

I know it isn’t good for me.  But I like it.  I like the caffeine, I like the taste, and it mixes well with an assortment of alcoholic beverages.

It isn’t healthy because it isn’t a naturally occurring food source.  Water would be better, but I am not a big fan of drinking something that has no taste (or a mineral taste).  Yes, I could put a flavor in the water, but wouldn’t that pretty much be like Diet Coke without he caffeine?

Pretending you don’t want me to have a Diet Coke at lunch is bullshit!  You want me to have one, two or hell, a whole two liter.  So, please don’t lie to me.  Tell me to drink more.  Like ads did in the good ‘ol days.

Losing Internet Access Is Bullshit!

By admin on Aug. 24, 2008.

You may have noticed that I’m a little late in posting the latest Bullshit Stalker finds.  Well, I had quite a few things to get done yesterday with a message board I own.  What should have been simple tasks became a major pain in the ass when my Internet connection kept going out.

Oh, you say that comes with the territory?  I say bullshit!  I pay Suddenlink $120 a month for digital cable that includes Internet and hundreds of channels I never watch.  If someone paid me $120 for a service that all I had to do was flip a switch, I’d be damned sure that switch was switched.  But all day long, it would cut off, then be fine a few minutes later.  Other times it was just far to slow to do me any good.

Probably the most frustrating thing about this is my back up Internet (Yes, I have a secondary way to get to the Internet.  I know, its a sickness.  I’ll get help.  I promise. *) was also down for most of the day.  Besides that, my back up is extremely slow.  Its a broadband wireless card from AT&T that I use with my laptop when I’m traveling (Yes, I always have some way to access the Internet.  We talked about this remember?  Yes, I will get help.  But, I’m kinda in the middle of writing a blog post. *).  It works quite well in major cities.  Here where I live, it is slower than dial up.

So, two ways to get to the Internet.  Hundreds of people counting on me (Yes, I do have hundreds of members on that message board.  I’m kind of a big deal there. *) and I’m unable to be there.  Very frustrating and the trickle down into my Sunday is bullshit!  I’m strongly thinking about getting a third method, just in case (Okay, okay.  My name is Bullshit Stalker, and I’m an Internet addict.  Yes.  I know my name isn’t Bullshit Stalker and its not baldeagle, but that’s what people on the Internet know me by.  They wouldn’t know who I was talking about if I used my real name.  I’m through arguing about this.  Let me get back to work. *).

To close this thought.  Stuff we pay for, services, should just work.  I paid for the whole 31 days in August, I should get 31 days of access.  Since I lost a day, my next bill should be prorated.  Its what’s fair.  Will I call them and demand a refund?  Don’t get me started on customer service.  That’s a whole new area of bullshit!

* Having an online persona and carrying on conversations with people you don’t know isn’t bullshit.  It is simply the way that adults play these days.  Our version of cowboys and robbers.  Also, addiction is not bullshit.  If you have an addiction that is unhealthy, you owe it to yourself to address your problem the best way you can.

Dead Patients Are Easier To Deal With?

By admin on Aug. 21, 2008.

I’m not sure I want to go to the hospital next time I’m ill or hurt.  Yet another patient dies with nobody noticing.  This time in Greensboro, NC.  This one touches a nerve for me because my mother lives there.

Two quotes from the article just jump out at me:

If the center rejects the report, federal funds will be cut off beginning September 1, Lawrence said.

What kind of bullshit is this?  They let a man sit there for 23 hours!  What are they spending the federal funds (read, our tax dollars) on?  Per the article, “watching television and playing cards a few feet away.”

I can imagine the conversation now:

Nurse one: “Read ‘em and weep!”

Nurse two: “Damn!  What is that, five in a row?”

Nurse three: “I like days like this, quiet, no whiners.  We get to play cards in peace.”

Nurse one: “Yeah, that was a great idea you had.  Don’t feed or water them and they don’t poop or pee.”

Nurse two: “Brilliant!”

Nurse one: “Brilliant!”

Nurse three: “Will you get me another Guinness from the cooler?”

And then I loved this one:

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dempsey Benton said in a statement that nurses may be reassigned to provide more patient supervision. Officials are also considering better ways to manage staff resources, he said.

Er, ya think?  Dude!  They were playing cards just feet away from Mr. Sabock.  They don’t need to be reassigned or better managed.  They need to get out of the field.  He choked on his meds.  Think about that for a minute.

I would like to close with this.  While I made a joke in this blog post, I don’t take this topic lightly.  For all the talk of national healthcare, it seems to me we have another issue to address first.  Quality.

Hot Beer Girls Are Bullshit

By admin on Aug. 19, 2008.

You’ve seen ‘em. The ads showing a hottie holding a beer. She wants you! Yes, you big boy. She doesn’t care that your slightly balding, have a gut (from drinking her beer no doubt). You’re loyal, and she respects that.

Actually, what she is doing is introducing you to the effects of “beer-goggles” before you’ve even taken a sip. This is what she actually looks like:

Remote Kill Switch On I-Phone Is Bullshit!

By admin on Aug. 18, 2008.

Even though you bought that new iPhone, the life in your pocket appliance isn’t all yours after all.  Apple has its finger on the button that could wipe it out in a blink.  Apparently Apple put a secret URL in the operating system that will allow them to remove applications.

Yes, we can see where this would be useful.  If they find that an application is doing something it shouldn’t, they can help all of their users by removing the application from everyone’s iphone.  But didn’t we buy these applications from the Apple application store to begin with?  What about the testing?  Hmmm?

The main point here: We bought the phone.  Its ours!  You’re already telling us who we have to use for a phone service.  And now you’re telling us what applications we can have? How about just testing the applications before you offer them to the public?  I call bullshit!

Hasbro and EA Kill Scrabulous On Facebook

By admin on Aug. 2, 2008.

And so goes the cat and mouse game…

If you haven’t seen this (article on Mashable), Hasbro has forced Scrabulous to shut down.  Why?  Because the most popular game on Facebook and the one touted the most for its success on Facebooks open platform, was effectively an electronic version of Scrabble.  Electronic Arts owns the rights to the electronic version, so we have two large corporations versus two Indians.  The fact that Facebook chose to pull the plug on an application that was used by nearly half a million members is both surprising and, quite frankly, bullshit.

I’m all for preserving your rights.  It is the American way.  But in this era of open source, and free Internet trade, these big companies are losing site of the big picture.  The money should follow the users, not the other way around.  Hasbro and EA missed a great opportunity to partner with these guys and mine that resource of customers.

To their benefit, Hasbro and EA did see a surge in new users after Scrabulous was shuttered.  But the creators of Scrabulous haven’t gone away.  They released a revised version (under a different name).  So, expect more to come as the battle wages on.  In the mean time, Facebook has their top application back online and all is good with the world.

The Amazon Hosting Model Is Killing The Internet

By admin on Aug. 1, 2008.

Several startups that I’m using, Twitter and Entrecard use the Amazon S3 Web Services for data hosting.  They do this for the pay as you go model and superior service for for those techie things.  But as more and more start ups leverage this environment, they become less distributed (as the Internet should be) and when it goes down, they all go down.  For early adopters, or those who are just unlucky to use several that are on this platform, it is bullshit.

Twice in the past mont Amazon has gone down.  Now, it is one thing when an Internet store goes down.  We go somewhere else to buy that book or we change our mind and go to the library instead.  But when it takes down several services that we use and rely on, then we have an issue.

I can hear some of you now.  Maybe you should just step away from the computer and get on with things when these services come back up.  You are clearly missing the point and not understanding the cost of these things.  Entrecard was down for more than 8 hours.  All of my advertising that I’d paid for (with credits that have value) were lost for 1/3 of the period.  I also missed receiving traffic from that source for that period.   Now as the timing goes, I lost very little.  But it could have been much worse.  That is my flag that the risk is emence.  The more companies that leverage hosting like this, the more dangerous it is when those services go down.

The Internet is a critical part of the world’s infrastructure.  Billions of dollars of business are conducted there daily.  When something threatens that resource, we should all be calling bullshit!

Fake Comercials Are Bullshit

By admin on Jul. 31, 2008.

Perhaps you’ve seen this on YouTube, four cell phones popping popcorn or this on television a few years back, Toyota Tacoma getting hit by a meteor.  It appears the trend is getting much, much worse.

Instead of giving us solid information about their products, companies are making more and more comercials that mislead us about their products.  And in many cases, most cases, the product claims are wrong.  Cell phones cannot pop popcorn and pick up trucks cannot take a direct hit from a meteor and drive off.  Why are they allowed to get away with this false advertising?

Because they believe it is so far fetched that we take half the leap with them.  That we will come to like them as a brand because they took the time to entertain us with their advertising.  I call bullshit!

Companies should not be allowed to make these ads.  We are watching the truth in advertising laws be reduced to a pile of rubble.  And yet, it keeps happening.  I do have one power as a consumer.  Listen up companies that are considering these viral approaches:

I won’t buy a vehicle from a company that resorts to these tactics.  I won’t buy the bluetooth headset sold by the company that made the popcorn ad for YouTube.  And any other company that resorts to this bullshit, should know that I’m not going to buy your stuff.  Start educating and entertaining.  Its not all that hard if you put your mind to it.  Enough with this bullshit!

Skimping On Airline Extras Is Bullshit!

By admin on Jul. 24, 2008.

I was on an International flight lately and the meal service choice was chicken fried rice or chicken pasta.  I opted for the pasta and this is what I got:

Yes, there is a smattering of shreaded chicken on top of the pasta.  Now, my friends would say I could use to skip a meal so I shouldn’t be harping on the portions on a flight.  Being the argumentative person I am, I’d have opened my mouth to speak.  And wham!  Reality hits me in the square in the jaw!

It was enough.  Not only that, but I paid the same amount for this ticket as I would have for a single leg flight in the US.  And I got a freaking meal out of the deal!  Why can’t the US carriers do the same?

With higher oil prices, the airlines are getting creamed.  The reasonable person would say, just raise the prices enough to cover your fuel prices.  Heck, be clear about it and call it a fuel surcharge.  Surely the American public would understand that.

But the airline industry is a strange animal, and despite their troubles, they are run by some very savy people.  There are three main drivers behind their recent changes:

Nobody Wants To Go First
In the age of Expedia, Priceline and Orbitz, nobody wants to risk not being listed on the first page.  Just as website owners pay a premium (or fret over SEO) to be listed on the top, airline seats get filled from the top of these Internet sites.  If they are $50 more per seat, most of us won’t buy it unless there are compelling reasons why.  And they won’t ever get their chance to tell us it is to breakeven with higher fuel costs.

The Government Will Bail Them Out Again
The airline industry is key to our country’s infrastructure.  Business flows as the airlines flow.  They know this and when they get in real trouble.  Uncle Sam will bail them out.  They have to or else face the wrath of their benefactors and election campain contributors.

If They Can Add Complexity, They’ll Always Have The Upper Hand
This, my friend is where the rubber meets the road!  The current pricing is too transparent.  You know when you look up your ticket exactly what it is going to cost, taxes and all.  But a few surcharges here, an add on there.  You’ll be paying a lot more to travel.

Yes, gone are the days of the “set menu” for air travel.  Going forward, the price you pay will have less to do with when you booked your ticket and a lot more to do with how many fees get passed through to you without you catching them.

I’d call it bullshit, but it is really smart for the airlines to do this.  Being a frequent flier, I will feel its pinch.  What is bullshit about this whole thing is that they are blaming oil prices for the change.  That is just a convenient excuse.  I’m fairly certain they won’t go back to the old ways when and if oil prices go back down.