92 thoughts on “March 13, 2012: Greed”

1. I have some need of friendly, non-binding legal advice. I stumbled upon the website of a law firm in Milwaukee which focuses on injury and workplace accidents. On their website they have a blog post with a sensational headline which "reports" my stepfather's death by cutting/pasting a news story from a different source published some weeks earlier and without attribution. The last paragraph is an urge for parties who have suffered workplace injuries to contact their offices for representation.

   My family does not retain this law firm, and in fact is working with a different firm, in a different state, to help determine the outcome of my stepfather's case. I would like all reference to my stepfather's death removed from this Milwaukee firm's website, as I think it implies my family utilizes or otherwise endorses this firm's work. Quite frankly, it seems like they are attempting to use my stepfather's death as a platform to advertise their services. Do I have a leg to stand on legally in such a request? I would rather not bring it to my mother's attention, since it would only upset her, but I suppose I could mention it to her lawyer. If I can handle it on my own, I'd prefer to do that.

   If a link to the post/website is necessary, I can provide the link off-site (I'd rather not have it traced back here).

   1. I'm not one of the lawyers, but holy s*&t, CH. That is reprehensible. I can't imagine my anger.

      1. Let's just say that this firm is going to prefer dealing with me over the phone to me stopping by their offices to make a request in person. I'm not the type of person who routinely likes to raise his voice in order to get something accomplished, but I think in this case I'd probably be rather insistent.

   2. Oh heck yeah you've got options.

      I'd start by calling them up, asking who's in charge of their website/marketing, and asking that person to remove it immediately. Immediately. If they don't, I'd draft a strongly-worded demand letter and mail it to them. You could ask the other attorney to do so for low and/or no cost.

      Because there are strict rules on attorney advertising, I would also feel free to file an ethics complaint. http://www.wicourts.gov/services/public/lawyerreg/file.htm

      You might also feel free to mention that you'll be filing said complaint.

      1. I would add that, morally, this is reprehensible. Who the hell do they think they are, exploiting someone else's pain and suffering without so much as a "by your leave"??

         1. Well sure, but what kind of self-respecting attorney cares about morals?

            1. Hey now.

               1. Phil's a lawyer too. No worries.

                  1. Phyllo's response was exactly what I was going for (well, after my moral outrage, anyway). The Boss can afford to have morals, seeing's how he's an in-house lawyer and all.

                     1. I hadn't thought of this until just now, but the firm in question is named in a way which optimizes its position in google searches for worker's compensation in this state.

                  2. Reminds me of Mike Burbligia.

                     You're black. You can't call me cracker. You can call me cracka...

      2. Thanks, Phyllo. I'll be following through with your recommendations this afternoon. It looks like I can't file a complaint against the firm, but only the individual lawyer responsible. Helpfully, the piece was posted on the firm's blog with her name in the byline, so I have a specific name to attach to the complaint.

         1. Let us know how it goes.

2. I'm so going to miss Ozzie. Can't wait until the Red Sox and Marlins play real games.

   1. Terry Tiffee sighting!

3. I've started listening to the Nerdist podcast. SO far, it's right up there with the WTF pod in terms of fascinating interviews. I'll probably start listening to some of their other offerings.

   1. speaking of podcasts...

      1. I can probably swing a Sunday recording. Noon Central is 6PM here. Would that work for anyone?

         1. Probably.

            I'd talked about doing a one-on-one with someone, but it's when you were away from a comp. What of that? I've never edited anything, so I'd maybe need you around, or at least would need to know what you do.

            1. Yeah, that's fine. As I remember, you were gonna take one-to-ones and I'd do panel moderation. I can write to you how to record and edit yourself. Worst comes to worst, I can show you how to record a converstation, you can upload the raw file to the server where I can edit it and publish a finished product.

4. Scorpion in the bathroom sink this morning. Neat.

   1. yeah, you'll want to leave a lot of damp washrags lying around on the bathroom floor

      1. We regularly have the house sprayed, but still get the occasional scorpion. I can't imagine what it's like for those who can't afford semi-regular sprayings, though I did find out that some go scorpion hunting with a blacklight and a wrench at the end of a pole, go around their house, drop the scorpions into a large jar (normally people who don't spray will find 15-20 of them a night) and then leave the jar in the sun and bake them because stamping them doesn't really do anything but piss them off.

         I think it's Arizona's version of cow-tipping.

5. Since when is Mike Stanton going by Giancarlo?

   1. Apparently, Giancarlo is his given first name. Perhaps he doesn't want to get confused with this guy, whose first name also isn't Mike.

   2. To answer your actual question, apparently since a couple weeks ago:

      As for why he switched from Giancarlo to Mike in the first place, Stanton told Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post that teachers consistently mispronounced his name in grade school and “it got really annoying having seven classes having to correct seven different people every single day.” He also has a brother named Egidio and a sister named Kairice, so “Mike” was never really a great fit.

      1. Man, I felt really out of the loop when I went to rank my players for the draft and there was "Giancarlo Stanton". As someone whose name is mispronounced constantly (albeit my surname), I can understand not wanting to correct people all the time.

         1. Let's see. "Mag-wid-hire?"

            1. I read it as "mag-OOOEE-dear"

               1. I thought I remembered Magoo saying it was something like "mag-uh-YEAR," though with a pretty Irish lilt. He's going to have to settle this thing.

                  1. heh, i think it was the boss that came up with "magoo eyed her", and for some reason that's what pops in my head every time i see it.

                     1. To be sure, that's what pops in my head as well, though I still recall Mags letting us know how to pronounce it (I just don't recall it enough to know whether my memory lies).

                        1. actually, I'm with hj. The boss coined the definitive pronunciation, regardless of the "correct" one.

                           1. As it stands, I'm completely cool with Mags and Magoo.

                  2. It's somewhere between McGuire, McGyver, and McGyber with an Irish accent, and it varies quite a bit depending on the regional accent. I can't really pronounce it properly, since I have absolutely no Irish past episode one of the BBC's podcast for beginner Irish learners "Giota Beag" (A little bit). But if I ever need to order a cup of tea in the Gaeltach I'm set - Is mise Andrew. Cupan tae le do thoil ("My name is Andrew. Cup of tea, please." Roughly pronounced: Ish mee-sha Andrew. Cup-on tay leh duh haul.)

                     On a slightly related note, I start Czech for Foreigners soon, and I'm super pumped to actually be taking a language class again instead of trying to teach myself.

6. This is the subject of an email I received this morning:

   Attn: This is to inform you that we the fbi have a warrant to arrest you if we dont hear from you immediatel​y,this is the final warning you are going to receive from the fbi office do you get me? I hope youre understand how many times this message has been sent to you. We have warned you so many times and you have decided to ignore our e-mails we have been instructed to get you arrested immediatel​y, and today if you fail to respond back to us with the payment then, we will close your bank account and jail you and all your properties will be confiscate​d by the fbi.Robert Mueller, III FB I Director

   There was no actual text in the email (which came from an AOL account). It was subsequently marked as spam, but I feel like this clown could be in for a world of pain if he ever gets caught for "impersonating" law enforcement.

   1. You would think he could have someone else send those emails for him. You have to delegate, man.

      1. You can tell he's upper management, though, by the way he has no grasp of grammar or syntax.

         1. Or how to use email.

            1. Yeah, that's the highlight here. I suppose someone who's desperately trying to bully internet denizens for money isn't going to have a lot of marketable skills, though.

               1. And yet, Bill Simmons keeps getting gigs.

   2. That is some quality spam.

      1. I like how antagonistic it gets. Way better than the passive-aggressive Nigerian princes.

         1. Reminiscent of the panhandler who follows you down the street if you refuse to give him some spare change.

            1. I had a guy ask me for change as he crossed in front of me during a red light. When I said no, he ranted and yelled at me for being slightly over the line for pedestrians. He was so polite up to that point.

         2. do you get me?

   3. Moss can't believe Mueller would engage in such blatant solicitation for bribery. That's criminal.

7. Four runs against Liriano in the third, but still, five Ks to zero walks. Is he still teasing?

   1. Were these four runs like in that game last year where a bunch of crappy little flares and bleeders turned into hits in a row?

      1. I didn't actually see it (no TV on this one, and I didn't start listening until late because I forgot everyone else had the whole daylight savings thing).

      2. Hanging slider with the bases loaded hurt him the most. 5 Ks, no walks and just four baserunners in three innings is plenty good.

8. speaking of pronunciation, how do you pronounce "gif"?

   History of the animated gif doesn't settle that burning question. (h/t to the Dish)

   1. I've always pronounced it "jif," like the peanut butter. I've heard it with a hard G, though.

      I liked this exchange in the comments:

      petejayhawk: "Jiff" is only acceptable if you think "graphics" is pronounced "jraphics." AND IT IS NOT.

      Tulletilsynet: @petejayhawk Gif as in giraffics

      1. I've only heard it with the hard G. I had no idea this was a debate. Well, that's interesting.

         1. I'm with spooky, its always been a hard G for me too. Also, I am not offended by someone pronouncing it jif, so speak your preference freely around me.

            1. Yeah. As with all matters involving computers, I'm assuming my instinct was incorrect unless someone can prove otherwise.

         2. The creators use the "jiff" pronunciation, which is probably the reason. I have always figured they were nuts and used a hard G instead.

            1. clearly, the creators used the "jiff" pronunciation as a goak, riffinj on the peanut butter brand.

            2. Always been "jiff" for me. But I never got used to "fuhtlitt"

               And much as I abhorred it originally, I came around to "sequel"

   2. I've always heard it with a hard G as well. And .jpeg is pronounced JAY-peg. I have no idea how to pronounce .png.

      1. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U_R6tJfr-M

      2. I have always heard and pronounced it as "ping".

   3. Merriam-Webster gives both pronunciations but lists the hard G pronunciation first FWIW.

      1. now I'm curious how one pronounces "fwiw"

         1. I think "fwee-oo" every time I see it, I kid you not. I always pronounce acronyms in my head for some reason probably related to my being a high-functioning sociopath.

         2. its probably pronounced 'jelly'

         3. In my head, it's Fuh-Wuhh-Ihh-Wohh, basically a fast mushmouthed "For What It's Worth".

            Most internet acronyms I see get a similar blend of phonetic reading and actually what the words are:
            lol: lull
            ymmv: yuh mum muh vee
            wgom: wuh guh ohhm
            jpg/jpeg: Jay-Peg
            GIF: Gif (as in "Gif it to me! It's mine!")
            bmp: bee-mup
            xls: excel-ess
            xlsx: excel-essex
            xlsm: excel-essem
            xlsb: excel-essbee
            doc: doc
            docx: Doc X
            pdf: peedee-eff
            rt: retweet

9. So yesterday I was getting my latest credit card statement online like I do every month. It looks fine, but then I look at the current balance and it doesn't look right. I check the current activity and sure enough there's a charge for $1,100 that is not ours. From Best Buy. Spoons, did you have anything to do with this?

   1. Yes. Enjoy the 22 four-gig Sandisk MP3 players.

      1. Four jig, I mean.

         1. So it's not a hard g?

            1. For Joshsakes, no.

               1. oh, quit goshing around, spooky.

                  1. Hey, the gury's still out on this one.

            2. Haven't you seen Back to the Future? Jigawatts!

               1. OMG. I suppose you guys say "jazillion" too?

10. Gardy with a pretty good quote:

    Dustin Morse ‏ @Twins_morsecode
    Asked if Perkins is a LOOGY (left hand one out guy) Gardy said "whats a loogy, he is a LORO" (lefty who can get Lefties Or Righties Out).

    1. this made me think Lorax. maybe LOROx would be the plural. Who will speak for the trees?

       1. I've read Lord of the Rings; they speak for themselves, dude.

          1. One does not simply walk into Fangorn and harvest truffula tufts!

             1. Well put Zombie man.

                A Dr. Seuss/Lord of the Rings mashup needs to happen.

11. I always thought Bullet with Butterfly Wings sounded like something written by Dr. Evil.

    1. It took me until now for me to realize I forgot to attach the link that would help this make sense.

       1. Definitely makes more sense with the link.

12. so President Obama brings British PM David Cameron to a NCAA tournament game. Apparently, Cameron has never been to a basketball game before. Looks like they are enjoying a basketball game on par with that Gophers/Wisconsin battle a few weeks back. 20-19 right before half. yuck

    1. Well, it's still better than this- Crazy stall tactics leave Oregon girls basketball title game with all-time low 16-7 final score.

       1. I wonder if chants of 'boring' rang through the crowd.

          the second half of that NCAA game was much better than the first and had an exciting ending

       2. One of my fondest memories was watching a huge upset in high school district ball when one neighboring town went into a stall the entire game and beat the heavily favored other neighboring town.

          1. I really don't mind the tactics- slowing the game down to keep the other team from lighting up the scoreboard isn't a bad idea. But when a team scores 7 points total, can you really say they were trying to win?

13. So, the Olive Garden Lady may be guileless, but she's got people

    Mom doesn't consider herself a food critic. She lives in a college town with its share of local wiseguys. She knows a thing or two about snide comments and condescension. As she told one interviewer, "I don't have time to sit here and twit over whether some self-styled food expert likes, or does not like, my column."

14. This brings a little comfort:

    When asked if he had any reservations about carrying three lefties in the bullpen, Gardenhire said. "Nope. Left or right. Guys we think can get people out.''

    1. I hope he means it. I'm not disparaging platoon matchups, but my favorite kind of Twins pitchers are "guys who can get people out."

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