stupidity

Women’s Ski Jump

cohenaaron, , , Leave a comment

I hadn’t realized that there was no women’s ski jump in the Olympics. That seems dumb to me, not because my wife kicks my ass at Wii Ski Jumping, which she does, but because this is 2010. The Time article mentions that they’re doing Ski Cross this year, which is like motorcross on skis, and we all certainly remember the abomination that was Ski Ballet, don’t we?

In 2005, Gian Franco Kasper, FIS president and a member of the IOC, said that he didn’t think women should ski jump because the sport “seems not to be appropriate for ladies from a medical point of view.”

I’m not breaking any new ground by calling the IOC a stupid organization, but they are. They are very stupid.

For what it’s worth, the world’s longest ski jumps.

Women’s Ski Jump

Wingnut Voltron Definition

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(I’ve had this post in “Drafts” since January when I had the idea to do a week of new words/theories/definitions, but who knows if that will ever happen, and now that Balloon Juice is building a dictionary, I figured I’d post it. Carry on.)

I heard this phrase the other day and traced the first usage back to Balloon Juice. I think it’s perfect. I’d nominate it for phrase of the year, but it was from last year, so, well, we’ll just have to enjoy it without the awards.

Wingnut Voltron, noun: The act when the right wing blogosphere comes together to form a powerful and passionate opposition to important things, such as scarves in a donut commercial. Derived from the childrens’ cartoon Voltron.

Wingnut Voltron Definition

MLB.com Customer Service Can’t Spell

cohenaaron, , Leave a comment

I guess I signed up for some kind of Red Sox Nation thingy on MLB.com last year, and I just got an email indicating that it was being automatically renewed. I don’t really feel like paying $15 for it this year, so I wrote back asking how to cancel the subscription. This is the email I got in return:

Subject
—————————————————————
cancillation request

Discussion Thread
—————————————————————
Response (Don Don XXXXXX) – 02/12/2009 06:50 PM
Dear Fan:

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately, you have not provided enough information to assist with your request. Please provide us with the email address you have registered under so we can assist your further.

Thank you for taking the time to write!

Regards,
MLB.com Support

Customer (M— X—) – 02/11/2009 01:26 PM
Hi,

I did not intend to renew this subscription. Can I cancel it?

On Feb 11, 2009, at 12:28 PM, subscriptions@website.mlb.com wrote:

Thank you for your order.

Order Date: 02/11/09 Order ID Number: 2302176
[…]

Apart from the hilarious mistakes, it’s worth pointing out that (a) the email address I registered with is the email address I sent my cancillation [sic] request from, and (b) there’s an order number in the email, which ought to mean something.

MLB.com Customer Service Can’t Spell

Distress

cohenaaron, , , Leave a comment

Oh, my. Given the complaint, one naturally must conclude that this poor family underwent a terrible hardship:

“The emotional distress suffered by the plaintiffs is so severe that no reasonable person could be expected to endure it, and the emotional distress has resulted in physical symptomatology of emotional distress,” the suit claims.

The plaintiffs say they “have incurred and wil continue to incur expenses for hospital care, medical care and attention, medications, other materials and supplies.”

Medical malpractice? Defective product? Environmental contamination? Stalking and harassment? Nope: free porn.

Robert Bourne, Denise Roy, and their minor daughters, Elise Roy and Danielle Bourne, say Verizon, their cable provider, failed to stop “unauthorized transmissions” of the Playboy Channel despite being notified multiple times between March and August 2008.

There are obvious comments to make here: couldn’t they just turn the TV off or change the channel? They don’t seem to be claiming that Verizon gave them only the Playboy Channel. I suppose this could just be another example of litigious American society, yet another “frivolous” lawsuit to be held up as evidence that we need “tort reform” in this country.

But: hospital and medical care? Who in the family had to seek medical attention after seeing the Playboy Channel? Which member of the household has such a fragile constitution and such a terrified perspective on sexuality that the mere availability of naked women brought on physical distress?

Distress