Lets steal the world’s crappiest car!

February 21, 2012

Update: Bumper stickers (and that damn rusty car) have turned up abandoned and recovered by the cops. Minus the ignition and stereo as expected. CL ad is down now, but here’s how it looked (minus the plate and VIN).

Lost: Bumper stickers. Attached to stolen blue Honda Accord (Minneapolis)

Date: 2012-02-21, 11:19PM CST
Reply to: your anonymous craigslist address will appear here

Someone stole my awesome bumper stickers tonight. And incidentally my rusty ’94 Accord, although I’m not sure why anyone would want that. Was taken between about 5:45pm and 6:45pm on 2-21-12.

The bumper stickers with the most sentimental value are “There really is a Cod Knobs USA” (there isn’t, but it’s a long story), and a big red Ax-Man sticker which looks pretty cool. I could probably get another one, but it won’t look as good on my bicycle, which I’ll be riding to work through the snow for the foreseeable future.

Car is plate # *****, VIN # ********. Mostly blue (“Sage green” per Honda… which means Blue in English). Black hood and newer fender due to accident, hints of rust and bondo throughout. Most major parts held on with zipties and/or duct tape. Three antennas on the back, one bent-up CB antenna, a twisted Ham radio antenna, and the 3rd is the stock “retractable” radio antenna which refuses to retract. Has an aftermarket roof rack, also attached largely with duct tape.

Probably didn’t get far, since it gets about 5 miles to the gallon. I’m not really sure any more, the odometer stopped turning at 200k, and that was 3 years ago. Also not sure how they got it to shift out of park, that’s been getting harder every day. I changed the transmission fluid last weekend and it was mostly metal shavings. The fuel filter is about shot and the plugs need to be replaced, hopefully the thief has a skinny arm and can reach waaay back in there to find the filter (I think it’s behind the mouse nest). The brakes are about gone, it goes from 0-60 in 17 minutes, and I’m not sure what that rattling noise is when it hits 65, I just try to ignore it. The CO poisoning only hits after 45 minutes, since I think the pop cans and hose clamps are still holding the exhaust together pretty well. Other identifying features include the missing drivers-side turn signal, horrible grinding/buzzing noise when the power lock is pushed, some plastic thing that hangs down and scrapes on the road, nonfunctional rear seatbelts, broken left rear power window, broken AC, crack along entire bottom of windshield, and spiderweb fracture on passenger side of windshield where I got mad and beat on some particularly nasty ice build up.

Oh, if you’re the thief, please note the 2-way radio in the dash (if you haven’t already pawned it for meth). Turn it on, turn it to channel 5, and call me up, I’d love to chat about your mother. Also, please feel free to handle, use, and/or lick anything you find in the trunk. I do a lot of sewer-related work and I don’t tend to wash my tools before throwing them in there. Good luck at the pawn shop with those too, I don’t know if they take sewage-coated shovels and boots. Oh, and try not to go faster than 80… things fall off.

Aside from the bumper stickers, I’m mostly upset that I lost the brand-new pack of tic-tacs in the glove box, those set me back a whole $2. Also I was really looking forward to someday selling the car this way, by writing a snarky CL ad listing all its faults and trying to get $100 for it. Probably would have settled for $20 and a case of beer though, and the buyer would have to let me undo the zipties holding the bumper on so I could keep the stickers.

Anyway, if anyone sees a blue Accord with roof rack and antennas shedding parts on its way down the road, or notices it broken down in a ditch somewhere (where it usually is), please email me.

It looks like this, but without the boats (unless the thief is also using it to steal boats):

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More T-Mobile Feedback

November 16, 2011

Edit (11/23): As an update (hopefully the last update!) T-Mobile has apparently realized that they screwed up on this one, and reversed their position. They issued a press release saying they will disable PPU data for customers who didn’t request it, and reverse the mystery charges accrued during the time PPU data was active: http://www.tmonews.com/2011/11/t-mobile-backpedals-will-offer-credits-for-unauthorized-pay-per-use-data-use/

As an update to the T-Mobile mystery-data charge scam, a growing number of T-Mobile customers seem to be noticing this and complaining about it. Apparently the change happened around mid-September and it has taken /is taking some time to fully kick in (perhaps so that the complaints are staggered rather than all at once?) Here are a few more related threads in the support forums:

support.t-mobile.com/message/55109
support.t-mobile.com/message/55243
support.t-mobile.com/message/40139
support.t-mobile.com/message/39508
support.t-mobile.com/message/55813

And another article with some commentary at the end: http://www.tmonews.com/2011/08/t-mobile-to-add-pay-per-use-data-to-all-smartphone-accounts-on-september-15th/

Edit: And yet another blog entry and comments: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/cell-phones/warning-t-mobile-adding-pay-per-use-data-without-your-permission/6859

On this thread, someone named Adam who apparently represents T-Mobile tries to explain this new “feature” away as a great benefit, which I felt compelled to respond to. I’ve pasted his message and my response below.

———————————————————————————-

adam_m
125 posts since Oct 24, 2011
1. Nov 3, 2011 2:46 PM (in response to jatt)
Re: Patterns of Extra Charges by T-Mobile coinciding with their $$$ Problems

Hi, jatt-

I’m sorry you are having some concerns with your billing. It is certainly the last thing T-Mobile wants to see happen to it’s valuable customers. I assure you this is not being done to obtain revenue in unethical ways. Rather, T-Mobile is simply tapping opportunities it has not in the past to provide a better data experience for it’s customer base. By adding the data access to lines that did not have it, we open up the Internet to those who may not have been taking advantage of the vast features on their devices. Additionally, the charges are not “bogus” as you say. All data access is accurate based on the functions your device performs. As for the varying responses you are receiving regarding how to stop this or block it, I do apologize. T-Mobile does have a way to block Pay Per Use data and to prevent addition of additional features via the web and the device. If this is something you still need assistance with, I encourage you to contact customer care or our live chat team for additional guidance.

http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-2593

Thanks,

Adam

And my response below (I can only hope this actually gets read by some kind of T-Mobile related humanoid organism, rather than filed under “mulch” and ignored. I should look up some internal T-mobile contact information and forward some of this to them as well).

Adam, you say there is a way to prevent features from being added via the web and the device, is there a way to prevent features from being added by customer service / T-Mobile employees? When I became a T-mobile customer, I chose a very specific set of features, with known, up-front costs. If I had wanted data access, I would have chosen it. Yes, my phone is capable of vast features and abilities. I don’t  necessarily want to use them all. That’s why I didn’t request those  features. My car also has a lot of features that I don’t use, but I  don’t go in to get my oil changed expecting to have a spoiler and spinning rims added just on the off chance I might want them. I did not become a customer so that your company could arbitrarily add services and costs to my account without my permission, just in case I might want them. Is there an option I can check on my account that will block any and all changes made without my express permission?

Frankly, your statement that “adding data access to lines that did not have it”, just in case we “may not be taking advantage of it” strikes me as irresponsible and unethical. Many of your customers are not taking advantage of this for a reason. How many of your customers are unaware of the implications of this “feature”? How many are senior citizens or others with limited technical skills? How many are children or young adults with no financial awareness? How many are simply general users with common apps designed to make frequent data use? How many people simple do not want, and do not use, data access? Judging by the outcry on these support forums, which is likely a small percentage of your more tech-savvy users, I would say a large number of people are unhappy about this and feel cheated by T-mobile’s actions.

It looks like a lot of these bogus charges are simply common apps “pinging” or phoning home, or serving ads. Most users without data plans will not know or care that apps want data access. I have a Masters degree in Computer Science, and I don’t even know what apps are doing in the background. By turning on internet access for everyone, those kids, seniors, and anyone with any apps installed will suddenly be racking up bills without their knowledge. Did you pay attention when Verizon got sued for this very issue, and was forced to pay refunds?

Additionally, the “other option” of adding a data plan to “erase” the PPU overage charges smacks of extortion. I can add a data plan, or I can be billed for services I didn’t use. I believe the Mafia has a business plan like that, and offers vast features which I may not have been aware of, like not having my shop burned down.

You say that activating PPU internet for everyone is a “feature”, and somehow adds value, but I can’t see it as anything but a scam and an unethical way to generate revenue. Combined with your company’s apparent financial instability, it looks like a last-ditch effort to add cash flow with outdated business models, rather than adapting to modern realities. People don’t want to pay overpriced rates for data. Wifi is everywhere, apps are free, and the savvy consumers know it. You may be able to trick the non-savvy people into paying these mystery data bills, or extort them into switching to data plans, but your younger, more tech-aware users are going to leave you. This feature and action you are defending is a mistake, and only leads me to believe I should switch carriers now before T-mobile goes bankrupt.

———————————————————————————-

Back to the blog rant. To highlight the cost of this, I got $17 in charges over two days, much of which time my phone was turned off. Whether this is “pinging” from apps, or something else, it was not data I was personally using or requesting. A month of such charges would be $255, with no associated services rendered to me as the user. I won’t know until my next bill whether the call center rep reversed the charges, but I caught it in time to at least minimize the damage. I’m sure there are people out there who won’t notice this until it’s in the hundreds or more range (with a nice easy “out” offered by customer service: “just sign up for a data plan and we’ll make those nasty data overages go away”).  I have to assume that T-mobile was aware of the pinging issue and the potential revenue from charging for those pings. Apparently it was just too much to pass up.

Update: Here is a list of internal T-Mobile contact numbers and emails (from 2009, who knows if they’re still valid now).

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T-Mobile Jumps on the Mystery Charge Bandwagon

November 14, 2011

Update and summary: My latest post on this issue is here. T-Mobile is in the process of adding pay-per-use data to every customer’s account, without permission and in many cases without notification. They are also neglecting to inform their customer service reps of this process, (or possibly instructing them to mislead customers?). The typical complaint seems to involve mystery data charges appearing on a bill, with customer service claiming that the customer themselves added or requested the PPU data plan. Customer service then tries to upsell callers into different data plans as a way to avoid exorbitant PPU charges. Many of these charges accrue while the phones are not being used, due to data pinging, app data requests, and other background processes that the user isn’t aware of (the same thing that got Verizon in trouble last year).

——————-

After Verizon made the news for charging unauthorized “mystery data” fees, T-Mobile seems to have decided this scam was too good to waste. They must be hoping that people have forgotten the refunds that Verizon was supposed to pay out, or maybe they hope their ambiguous “notification” message is enough of an opt-in to make the lawyers happy.

On Friday, I received a text from T-mobile saying “Congratulations! You can now access the web on your phone and pay only for data you use. Go go <url> for more details”. I always ignore these spam texts, but apparently what this one meant is “Congratulations, we’ve automatically signed you up for pay-per-use data without your knowledge”. I never agreed to this, never opted-in, never even replied to their texts offering “great deals” etc. Then today, I got another text saying “You’ve used over $10 worth of data charges this month”. Huh????

After realizing I had a data bill, I checked my account and found that $17 worth of charges had accrued (this weekend alone!) at times that my phone wasn’t even turned on (such as 400k at 8:30am this morning when I specifically noticed that my battery was dead).  I use Wifi frequently but never use mobile web, whenever I lose my Wifi connection I get an error page saying I have no data plan, and offering to sign me up for one. So this “pay-per-use” data plan doesn’t even work for Internet access, just mystery data when my phone is turned off.

I called T-mobile to complain, and I *might* have gotten the charges reversed after a half hour on super-secret-no-music-we-hope-you-hang-up hold with India. They initially wanted to “save me money” by signing me up for a data plan, but I got upset and accused them of trying to entrap me into adding features I hadn’t requested. Between poor English and corporate doublespeak I can’t quite tell what the outcome was. I asked to talk to a supervisor, but apparently one wasn’t available. I kept asking if I’d be billed the $17 or not, and the customer service rep kept saying ambiguous stuff like “I cannot guarantee that it will be billed”, and “The charges may not yet be accrued this billing cycle”. She blocked data on my account and said that if the $17 charge shows up, I should call back to have it “adjusted”.

Here are some T-mobile support threads where people are noticing and complaining about this. Hopefully the discussions don’t get big-brothered away anytime soon:

http://support.t-mobile.com/message/39176

http://support.t-mobile.com/message/50262#50262

http://support.t-mobile.com/message/54187#54187

And some more related discussion:

http://iosjailbreaker.com/apple-news/t-mobile-turns-data-on-for-smartphones-without-plans-users-hit-with-huge-data-charges/

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1740503

Update 11/16/11: Here’s an update I posted today, with further complaint threads and some more thoughts on the issue: https://saveitforparts.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/more-t-mobile-feedback/

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Budget cuts

November 6, 2011

I recently heard that the National Mine Map Repository, the Federal office in charge of collecting and archiving mine maps, was being slated for “realignment” (or more specifically, the parent Office of Surface Mining (OSM) is being considered for such). This possibly involves merging it with another agency, absorbing it’s functions into another office, or closing it altogether.

While I’m usually in favor of cuts to government spending, and I know everyone has their own pet programs that they swear are vital to truth, justice and the American way, cutting the NMMR seems particularly ill-advised. A program to document forgotten underground spaces may not seem important to you… until you realize you live above such an underground space. Off the top of my head, I can think of several cities and towns with mines beneath them. Detroit, Tulsa, Cleveland, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Springfield, etc.

And here are some examples of what happens when builders, drillers, local officials, and the public don’t realize what’s under them:

Lake Peigneur, Louisiana, 1980: an oil well drilled through a lake into a salt mine, flooding the mine and creating a massive whirlpool, destroying the mine, the oil well, 65 acres of land, and altering the biology and chemistry of the lake: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Peigneur

Lake Peigneur: The Swirling Vortex of Doom


Quecreek Mine, Pennsylvania: Miners in an active tunnel accidentally drill into an abandoned, flooded mine, causing the active mine to flood and necessitating a dramatic rescue:
http://pittsburgh.about.com/cs/pictures/l/bl_quecreek_1.htm
http://www.quecreekrescue.org/

Centralia, PA: A garbage fire worked its way into underground coal mines and remained burning for decades, eventually resulting in the evacuation and destruction of an entire town: http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/405_Report.htm

And on a more personal note for people living above mines, here are a few results from Googling “mine subsidence” and “Mine collapse”:
http://www.dep.state.pa.us/MSI/WhatIsMS.html

After hearing of the possible changes facing the NMMR, I wrote the following letter to my congresspeople. I’m also trying to find contacts more directly involved in the process to forward my concerns to.

      I would like to express my concern over a possible management re-alignment of the National Mine Map Repository, part of the Office of Surface Mining. As you may be aware, the NMMR collects, archives, and distributes maps of underground mines across the United States. To my knowledge, no other agency, public or private, has a similar mission. I am concerned that a possible merger with the BLM or other agency may de-fund or eliminate the NMMR, which would negatively impact public and industry safety.
      The NMMR provides an important resource for many different interest groups, including government agencies, private companies, and the public. Anyone building a structure or road in a historic mining area needs to know what subsurface hazards exist. Map availability is also important for the mining industry, as abandoned or forgotten workings can become flooded, filled with dangerous gas, or otherwise interfere with active workings, as occurred at the Quecreek mine in 2002. Failure to properly identify and locate underground voids from mining can, and does, result in property damage, injuries or deaths, and contamination of water resources. When workers become trapped or individuals become lost or injured in a mine, accurate maps are vital for fast and safe rescues. In the most extreme cases, ignorance of mine locations has resulted in widespread destruction, such as the coal mine fire in Centralia, PA and Louisiana’s Lake Peigneur incident of 1980.
       I have personally used the National Mine Map Repository on several occasions, both in a professional and personal setting. I have also donated materials to the NMMR that I come across in the course of my work. In the real estate field, knowing the location of underground mines is crucial for due diligence, environmental assessments, and property valuation. While hunting and hiking recreationally, I have on occasion used the NMMR to locate hazardous areas which are not marked or fenced. I know all too well the scenario of encountering an open mine shaft or collapsed area in the midst of thick brush. I have personally observed unmarked mine shafts “sealed” with everything from old box springs, to plastic tarps covered in dirt, to rotting logs, all of which need only an unsuspecting person to walk across them to create a tragedy.
       As I mentioned, I do not know of another agency providing services similar to the NMMR. In my experience, state and local knowledge is patchy at best, and policy on abandoned mines varies widely by location and agency. If the NMMR is de-funded or shut down, what will be the alternative for collecting, preserving, and distributing these maps? Private mining companies have no incentive to preserve or publicize maps once a mine is shut down, and may be hesitant to share proprietary information. Very old mine maps may exist only in private collections, decaying or being discarded over time. Local agencies usually have little to no funding for this issue. Local libraries and museums may collect some maps, but are difficult and time-consuming to use. The NMMR provides a standard one-stop location for mine maps that is accessible to anyone, collects documents from a wide range of sources, and is fast, easy, and effective in responding to data requests.
      I urge you to support the continued operation and funding of the National Mine Map Repository. This is a vitally important agency serving everyone from state and local governments, to industry, to the public, and its loss would be detrimental to the safety of many workers, property owners, and businesses.

I think I’ll try to find some photos of some of those dodgy mine-sealing techniques if I can dig them out of my files!

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Latest Project: Mini-airboat

September 27, 2011

Here are some pictures from my latest project, a mini-airboat made from a small Jonboat and a paraglider motor. The eventual goal is to have an all-terrain vehicle with wheels that can run on water, land, and ice. This is the first time I’ve worked with a radial engine or done anything with an air-propulsion boat.

The engine is an MZ-34 Paramotor that is rated at around 30hp.

The first step was to get the parts together. The boat hull was small enough that I didn’t even need a trailer! I was able to find it on Craigslist for $100, and it included a bunch of free mice living in the seats!

Here’s the initial setup to verify how things should look.

I constructed a safety cage around the motor and propeller, which also serves as the framework for the rudder.

 

I also installed a complete electrical system with battery, running lights, headlights, bilge pump, and even a horn!

 

The entire engine and rudder assembly folds down for easier transport and storage.The wheels are designed to fold up and/or be removable.

 

Here are the initial on-water tests. The boat still needs a few tweaks and some final adjustments, and I’m still working on a few components for the wheels.

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When Oodle grows up, it wants to be Craigslist!

May 27, 2011

This blog seems to be turning into a bit of a rant collection… I’ll try to come up with some real content next time! In the meanwhile, here’s a recent note I sent to Oodle (aka Facebook Marketplace):

Dear Oodle.com,

I wanted to inform you of several errors I encountered while trying to use your site today. Sadly, your error-reporting system is also in error.

Maybe you can pass this to your IT or tech support team, since there’s no functional way for me to do so directly. Hopefully you actually have an IT team, or, in marketing terms, “some guys who do the website”. I suspect it’s either farmed out to Pakistan at 30 cents per day, or you have a group of alcoholic monkeys doing the bulk of your programming while the sales team spends the day at the golf course. I guess this issue also affects you guys in sales, since your website is so broken that it *might* affect people’s willingness to pay for your services, and thus your golf budget. Based on the level of quality demonstrated in your help system and user interface, I can only imagine the high levels of simian-based craftsmanship in your payment processing system. I can’t wait to sign up for a professional account and start entrusting my credit card number to your servers!

As an IT and web design person myself, I can tell there’s been little to no time or effort put into your interface, error-reporting, testing, or quality control. I also happen to be the advertising person at my business, and I’m going to advise my boss that we should avoid Oodle.com and Facebook marketplace until your systems are up to some kind of useful industry standard.  If it takes an hour to add a listing to your site, and brings in 0 customers (the record so far), then it’s just not worth my time.  I’ll be making the same recommendation to my friends and family. Why did I use Oodle in the first place? We get 99% of our business through Craigslist, but we thought we could get another 1% by signing up for 10 or 20 second-string Craigslist wannabes. We’ve actually had an Oodle account for several years, and it used to work before Facebook bought or absorbed or whatever you did to it, but now it’s gone from a 2nd-tier Craigslist ripoff to about a third tier, and thus fallen off our radar as a useful marketing avenue. Maybe you could take some of that advertising money from smearing Craigslist, and put it towards some actual website R&D.

For the tech guys,  here are my original issues, step by step:
1: When I try to visit “My account”. An error occurs, and the error page tells me to contact support@oodle.com
2: support@oodle.com bounces, saying it’s no longer in use, and suggests I use a nonexistent “contact” link on the site.
3: the “help” dropdown menus don’t contain options for this exact error, so I use the closest thing.
4: The help system tells me to delete cookies, etc, which doesn’t work.
5: The “this does not answer my question” link brings up some input boxes, telling me to use the description box, but there is no description box. I’ve tried this several times on several browsers, and each time a random number of input boxes appear, not including the “description” box. The code is completely broken.
6: I realize I don’t have time to deal with all this, and I don’t really care anymore. Maybe “My Account” is working today, but I can’t be bothered to go check, because I spent all day writing this letter.
7: I go back to using Craigslist with side dishes of OLX, Backpage, etc, and drop Oodle to the “check back in 6 months and see if they’re bankrupt yet” list.

My suggestions are firstly; make a user interface that doesn’t break. Failing that, come up with some help and feedback systems that work, or at least give out the correct information to users. If the support email is gone, stop directing people there.  Come up with a working way to contact the support team for errors, or you’ll never hear about those errors and people will just stop using your site (as I and my company are doing).  You’re lucky I’m bored enough to let you know about this, I’m sure most people give up after the 2nd or 3rd misdirection. I’ve heard that legit companies do something called “testing” or “quality control” to make sure all parts of their websites work. If you’re not sure what those concepts are, ask your “website guy” (or cut the monkeys back to fewer drinks per day).

Thanks for your consideration, and good luck in your quest to get more than 2 users.

-Gabe

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Some Recent Web Projects

May 17, 2011

I’ve been working off and on with several websites for my job, primarily using WordPress as a basis. I’ve found it quite a bit quicker and easier to update (which is partly why saveitforparts.com is now on wordpress!). In other ways, I’ve found WP to have some limitations, and migrating a traditional site to a blog-based site can certainly have it’s hiccups and roadblocks. There are several parts of saveitforparts.com that are still offline or broken. I also have some pet peeves about WP, such as its tendency to make certain content mysteriously vanish, or force-format your posts into what it *thinks* you want, rather than what you’ve explicitly laid out in html moments before. Overall though, it’s very convenient, easy for multiple technical or non-technical people to manage and update, and lends itself fairly well to the type of content I’m working with.

Some of the work-related sites that I currently manage are:

The Hudson Professional Building Leasing Website

Swan Leasing’s main website for Minneapolis

Rorem Realty (Currently offering Retail/Commercial in Osseo)

And additionally, I’ve been working on a site advertising my parents’ house in Alaska:

Funter Bay Alaska homestead for sale

Perhaps you’ve noticed a trend in my layouts 🙂

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Time for a new bank!

January 7, 2011

Just sent this to Wells Fargo, both by mail and through email. I imagine it’ll just get pitched in the trash down in the mail room or never make it through customer service, but it felt good to write it!

 

Dear Wells Fargo,

Congratulations on losing a customer to hidden fees and overcomplicated account restrictions. I’ve been a customer for several years, and recently noticed a new “Monthly Service Fee” on both my checking and savings accounts, in the amount of $10/month for savings, and $15/month for checking. The fee seems to have started about 6 months ago. I was a bit mystified by this, since I was told when I signed up that these were free accounts.

I called your customer service line, and the representative explained that I could avoid these fees by setting up an automatic monthly transfer of at least $75 from checking to savings. I already make manual transfers through online banking about once a month, but apparently these “don’t count”, even if they’re over the suggested minimum. She explained that I could circumvent this restriction by setting up the automatic transfer for the $75 minimum, then manually transferring the money back. So you’re basically telling me there’s no point to this requirement, and that I can get around it if I’m willing to play some games and jump through a few hoops?

I called again the next day to clarify some things, and heard that the fee structure and waiver is even more arcane than the first rep described it. I can avoid certain fees if I set up automatic transfers, or have a total minimum balance, or have a mortgage, or have X number of “qualifying” accounts. I dimly remember that I had a different account structure when I started with Wells Fargo, for a short time I had a CD, and did have a higher balance. I can only assume this is what the banker meant by “free” when I signed up, I must have just qualified for the fee waiver. Apparently my accounts no longer qualify to be free, although I can’t figure out exactly how or when that happened.

The second customer service rep was able to refund part of my most recent fees, but their explanation of exactly how to avoid future fees still doesn’t make any sense.  As you may have guessed, since it took me 6 months to notice these fees, I’m not the best at tracking my money. I have a rough idea of what goes in, what comes out, and I keep an eye on the balance to verify this. I do pretty well, but I have to remind myself of existing automatic bill payments like insurance, and I really don’t need another pointless automatic transaction or balance requirement or constant babysitting of the account. You have numerous competitors offering genuinely free accounts with none of these confusing and pointless hoops to jump through.

From what I can tell, the only possible reasons for your system are:

-1. You hope people forget that it takes a series of complicated steps to avoid fees (like I did) and you’ll make a $25/month fee for our inattention. Those $10 and $15 charges are easy to miss if you’re just scanning through a statement.

-2. You hope we’ll set up a transfer to avoid the fees, but will forget about it, and overdraw our checking accounts for even bigger fees.

What it comes down to is; I’m paying $300 a year for the privilege of having a hassle free bank account. Maybe $300 is small potatoes to your execs, but that’s more than three days of work for me! I could buy groceries for a month with $300, or a new Netbook every year, or a cheap flight across the country. I don’t need you nickel and diming me out of any of those things.

So, I’m paying you $300 a year to have an account that already makes YOU money by investing mine, and benefits me in no way. Sure, I get some infinitesimal amount of interest, so I could make back my monthly $25 in about 100 years. And sure, I have the convenience of deposits and ATMs, but for $25 a month I could cash my paychecks at the liquor store and keep my savings in a shoebox under the bed. If I want a bank account with you, I have to play a lot of games, the rules of which might change at your whim, or I have to pay you 1% of my annual income to keep my money in YOUR shoebox.

What’s that you say? The savvy customer should always scrutinize every statement, always read every bit of fine print, and have a firm grasp of banking principles? Well, this customer already has an account with another bank which doesn’t pull such tricks, has no hidden fees, and better customer service (My office got a gift basket from them for the holidays!). Ironically, this is exactly why I moved my accounts from Wells Fargo a few years ago; I was getting hidden fees at my old bank and heard that Wells Fargo was better. I guess I heard wrong. I’ll be closing my account shortly, and telling my friends to consider doing the same.

 

Former Wells Fargo Customer

 

-Gabe Emerson

 

 

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Pressurized Potato Shenanigans

August 30, 2010

My first foray into the world of pneumatic potato cannons. I’ve got lots of experience with combustion cannons, and in fact I think the best combustion design is a propane-fueled, spark-plug ignited beast, but I have almost no experience with compressed air designs. My only prior design was a weak, sickly thing built in 11th grade physics class for launching whiteboard markers across the room.

Features: Interchangeable barrels, safety/arming switch, Weather-resistant battery compartment, pressure gauge, safety screws to prevent blowouts. Most non-PVC parts came from Ax-Man, the best store ever! http://www.ax-man.com/

Close-up of the controls and fill valve.

A half-arsed electrical diagram I drew to help remember what went where in the battery tube.

Development has not been completely bug free. So far I have installed the solenoid backwards once, overpressured the chamber and destroyed a PVC weld once, and screwed up the wiring several times. However, everything seems to be working now! Next up, some distance tests vs the latest combustion cannon.

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Redneck Sailboat Redux

August 2, 2010

Finally got the Shoebox out on the water! Also got a lot of water in the boat, as the fiberglass turned out to not be very waterproof! Fortunately we had some swim goggles and half a water bottle to bail with. We also had Alex from Milwaukee to take photos and run rings around us in his inflatable raft.

There was little to no wind on Lake Nokomis, but we got occasional puffs that let us try out the homemade sails (blue tarps). Everything seems to work, although we’d need more wind to get a better idea of the handling and performance. I’m not so sure that our homemade sails are the best shape (they’re based on a design from a 1920s Popular Mechanics boat book!)

I think I should have made the mast a bit taller, the sail plan seems stubby now. The guy who started the hull intended it to use a Sea Snark sail, which is probably similar in overall area.

It’s like Swallows and Amazons of the urban jungle 😛

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