Random Thoughts Thread

[gotbeer]

Ha, it should be!  They make over $100 mil/year in revenue.  Where's it going?  I'm guessing maintenance, security, anti-terrorism measures, etc.

 

The $25 late fee is a scam I tell ya.

 

My dad got a red light ticket in the mail once.  

 

Problem is, it wasn't him.  They for some reason matched up his name to the name the car was registered to.  So it was registered somewhere in LA, but since my dads name matched, they sent the ticket to him in another part of LA.

 

So called up the police ticketing agency and explained it.  They said they would look into it, and sure enough they said there was a mistake.  So they said they would go in front of a magistrate and get it cleared.  It was like a $150 ticket or something like that.

 

So I think nothing of it.  Then 2 months later, he gets a notice that this hasn't been paid.  I call the police again, and they said it shows dismissed in the computer.  

 

A month later, get another notice that it hasn't been paid.  So again call the police, and they say it has been dismissed.  My dad decides to go to the court to get it dismissed and the officer prints out a copy of the dismissal.  He goes to court, and the court says it was dismissed.

 

A month later, get a collections notice from Arizona.  The $150 ticket is now $700.  We send them a copy of the dismissal and never heard about it again.  

 

Makes me wonder how many people get things dismissed and still pay it.

[Brandon]

I thought most people knew this, but the red light cams were a sham and why they have all been dismounted in CA, although you'll still see signs of red light cams but see none at intersections.

 

They became disallowed because the company that made them got a percentage fro the cities of the fines....conflict of interest and cause to maybe have them click faster.

 

The PO Box in AZ was the biggest sign of a scam. In CA you have to be actually cited by an officer. I've had arguments about this with people that swore they were real tickets, they aren't. It's from the company that managed the red light cams, not an actual law agency. What they want you to do is admit guilt and they send it in to local ordinance and then have a ticket created for the civilian to sign.....the company and local law enforcement aren't the same.

 

If you got a red light ticket from the actual city, it's a real ticket (and can still be challenged in court if not physically administered), if it's from a PO Box in AZ it's the red light company.

 

I got one once, plain as day me going through the red light (I thought it would be closer) and the ticket got sent to the person whose car I was driving. I said I would take care of it and did my due diligence because I found it odd that I got a ticket and it wanted payment to be sent to AZ. Sure enough the internet provided the answers and I threw away the ticket. To be fair, the original looks legit except for the fine print that states it's not a real ticket. They sent a follow up scare letter that actually was pretty solid about repercussions, but the same dodgy wording and fact that it stated it wasn't a real ticket or law agency. I threw that away and never heard from them again.

 

The AZ PO Box is a payment processing center for the red light cam maker, not a real entity....or rather law enforcing entity.

[gotbeer]

Actually Brandon.  The ticket was from the City of Covina.  The dispute I put was through the city police department.  They have two police officers dedicated to red light tickets it seems.  And when my dad went to get it waived, it was at the courthouse.  It was only after then that it went to a company in AZ.  

[Tank]

decided to put some peanut butter on my toast this morning. Opened the brand new jar I bought last week only to find it had already been opened. Wife and daughter hadn't touched it. So basically someone at the grocery store opened the jar, took off the protective wrapping, took a big spoonful, and the replaced it on the shelf for some unsuspecting sucker like me to purchase thinking it was brand new.

And no, I didn't eat the toast. I gave it to stick boy.

[DowningRules]

I'm going to see my physical therapist.  My neck and back hurt.  I over extended myself lifting weights a couple weeks back.  It's still not healed.  Thanks.

[Redondo]

• Sailor reported missing in January rescued after surviving at sea on fish and rainwater

[Redondo]

California Screamin' roller coaster gets stuck at Disney California Adventure

[Redondo]

• Gov’t program would fly in Central American children to join parents in US

[DowningRules]

 

• Gov’t program would fly in Central American children to join parents in US

 

 

Not surprised by anything anymore.  The cost of all this never seems to figure in.

[Ray McKigney]

idiots love to take complex issues and whittle them down to "that's republican idiocy" or "that's liberal idiocy."

 

embrace complexity, and learn to think for yourselves for once in your lives, troglodytes. 

 

[Redondo]

QUIZ: How Well Do You Know the Words to 'Bohemian Rhapsody'?

 

I missed 3.

[arch stanton]

QUIZ: How Well Do You Know the Words to 'Bohemian Rhapsody'?

 

I missed 3.

Nailed it

[Jay]

This weekend I renewed my hatred for painting.

[Tank]

QUIZ: How Well Do You Know the Words to 'Bohemian Rhapsody'?

 

I missed 3.

I missed one.

[Spencer]

I missed two, ironically within two of my favorite stanzas of the song. Been singing it wrong all this time.

[Ray McKigney]

QUIZ: How Well Do You Know the Words to 'Bohemian Rhapsody'?

 

I missed 3.

 

 26/26

[Blarg]

The Golden Gate Bridge did away with their toll booths a few years ago, and now have a scanner that shoots your license plate and sends you a bill in the mail (if you're not already set up with a Fas Trak account).  I forgot about paying my bill a couple months ago and was sent another bill with a whopping $25 late fee attached.  $25 fricken bucks on a $7 toll?  Seems unreasonable to me.

 

Pay your bills on time.

[Redondo]

Hotel for Michelle Obama’s Cambodia visit cost $242,500

[gotbeer]

Air India grounds pilots over fight in cockpit: reports

 

I'm not liking the budget airline thing much right now.

[Tank]

Hotel for Michelle Obama’s Cambodia visit cost $242,500

 

she should have used trivago.

[Redondo]

Scary new drug can give users extreme strength, delusions

 

A new designer drug is making people delusional, paranoid, violent, and extremely high—and it's available for just $5 a hit. Called Flakka, it's already been reported in Florida, Ohio, Texas, and is likely circulating in other states, Forbes reports.

 

Florida cases are particularly disturbing, CBS News notes, like the guy who tried bashing down the door of a police station, or the armed man who stood naked on a rooftop with a gun shouting, "I feel delusional, and I'm hallucinating!" Just what is Flakka? It's a rock-form, crystalline drug made from a synthetic variant of cathinone, a chemical found in the khat plant in Somalia and the Middle East, where people munch on plant leaves to get a buzz.

[Redondo]

• Rare condition causes girl, 4, to be addicted to eating carpet

[Hollyw00d]

Wacka flakka

[Blarg]

Guys, this is a random thoughts thread not the random link from your Daily Mail alerts.

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

If I could go back in time, I would bang Cleopatra.