Chargebacks are supposed to protect account holders from fraud - either by vendors, or through account theft. So a more complicated (but fairer) process might be to write a specific, actionable claim - something that could go to court. If the vendor took money and never delivered, they should pay the fees. (And maybe…

I agree strongly that I’d love to see urban-rural data analyzed. (Or state trooper vs. county vs local PD.) Living in a pretty darn rural small town in Ohio, though, I reserve judgment on where you’d be more likely to be stopped. Our local cops don’t seem too afraid to pull the “y’all ain’t from around here” act.…

I mostly share this stunned question. But I will say that I paid the Reading Rainbow subscription fee at least once because I didn’t get around to talking to my kid about how much he actually used it. Sometimes you’re paying for the right to imagine you’ll use the service - like a gym membership.

The other thing I can…

That depends on whether you believe Uber’s HR actually did conduct a thorough and fair investigation closer to the time of the complaint. My suspicion is that they’d have a very hard time proving in court that they did. Whereas now, they’re in a position to look real gosh-darn contrite and throw themselves on the…

It probably has to do with the kind of potatoes you like. Microwaving waxy potatoes (reds and golds) works pretty OK. Microwaved russets, I just completely disagree - the texture is mealy, not fluffy, and you lose all that lovely crisp skin. This is, admittedly, a very close cousin to what you get when a restaurant…

There’s a particular kind of “NOT A QUESTION” which can be summarized as “I’d like your presentation more if it were my presentation.” It masquerades as questions like “have you considered a completely different theoretical basis for your argument” or “why aren’t you using a tech stack I’m more interested in” or “what…

What do you think the FBI’s hold music is? Montovani Strings perform “Bad Boys”? The Four Freshmen singing “I Fought The Law (And The Law Won)“?

You know, this sounds like a really good example of where video won’t help. Call the PD and say “hey, your officers run a speed trap in this location, and they litter, can you get them to cut it out?” And when they say “you don’t know it’s our guys,” you say “well, they’re there a lot, can you at least talk to them…

I assumed it was from that hipster-pickup-artist Art Of Manliness site they’re always shilling for.

One of the interesting problems with Nosek’s reproducibility project, of course, is that it forces the question of whether it’s the original research or the reproduction which is wrong. It might be more accurate to say that “only 30-40% of them were reproduced” than “were reproducible.” This isn’t to minimize the…

My memory is that the network didn’t give Muppets Tonight a consistent timeslot. It always seemed to be bouncing around the schedule, so the audience couldn’t build the habit of watching it. That’s how I remember it, anyway.

Depends on how they’re tracking. Over a whole mall, they’d be able to at least get a sense of where you are from which access point you’re connected to (and how long you’ve been there, and which one you hit last, and probably strength of connection to any other close access points). That’s just about using their…

Interesting to note that managers in a position to grant raises are more conservative than those who aren’t. In other words, the person who will actually get the job of saying no (or negotiating you down) wishes you’d ask for less. (While the person, like me, who will just kick it up the chain is more likely to say…

In fairness, I’ve had that happen more times than I can count with formal taxi cabs too. Can’t remember it happening with an airport shuttle or bus driver, though.

The time served doesn’t particularly distress me. But the Washington Post reported that they are also banished from the county when they get out... and while there’s a big loud voice in my head going “couldn’t happen to a nicer couple”, I admit that I’m really distressed by banishment being a punishment we still mete…

Yeah, between this one and the beef Wellington article, I’m really rethinking my position on sous vide.

Well, now you’ve got me wondering if I actually managed to get my old Roku into the electronics recycling or if it’s still in my house. And if I can find my old remote. (And if you can trigger the Old Roku Secret Screen options from the Roku app.)

I see that I can unlink a device from my account on Roku.com. I assume…

The design is the big improvement? Come on. Group texts on Google Voice were a damned nightmare, with every user in an independent thread. And getting a text to tell me that an MMS picture had been delivered to my email was always a frustration. Google Voice having the basic functionality of a modern phone - that’s…

I thought it was mandatory that D&D games were played to the sounds of Rush, Yes, or Kraftwerk, and the smug looks of kids who listened to them.

Was that just the people I played with? I thought it was in the rules.

God, I’m old.

As a guy who was past 30 before he got his license, that is some weak tea. If you can’t drive the truck, you got to load it. You might even have to ride in the back and hold stuff down. (Which, by the way, feels all kind of manly.)