The Maxson Homepage on the WWW
Stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else.
According to this article at Fox News, the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence was illegal. Really? Did anyone ever think it was? Is it legal to fight against a tyrannical government? I guess it depends on who you ask. But the real question is….what difference does this make today?
Image from SeeMidTN.com via flickr
Ever wanted to see the bullet that killed Pres. Lincoln? Well, I never knew it was still around. Turns out, it was in a museum at Walter Reed Medical Hospital that is closing. But, Lincoln’s bullet and other things are being resettled at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in MD (it looks to me that the museum is in DC; however, the article claims MD).
Image from believe creative via flickr
Ever heard of a sundog before? I hadn’t until I saw this picture on a friends blog. Here’s a link to the wikipedia article about sundogs.
image from Varanos via flickr (note, this is not my friend’s image. You’ll have to follow the link to his blog to see it… sorry 🙁 )
I turned up at the local subway today to get a sandwich for lunch. I had to run to town for some errands and subway is a healthy choice. I’m also a member of their sub program. Well, I ordered a subway club (like always) and went to the till. I expected to tell the guy just to keep the 1p change and go on. But, he told me that policy had changed and I was to be charged for cheese. Imagine that! Charged for the standard cheese! Arg. Well, there are people behind me in line and I had already made enough noise asking about the policy, so I didn’t ask them to remake the sub with no cheese (like I should have).
Anyway, when I got back, I looked up the phone number, rang them, and registered a complaint. I’ll keep this up-to-date with the results (they said I should hear something back in 3 working days).
BTW, the only relation the picture in this article to the complaint is the subway. I wasn’t at the one in the picture.
[Update 2011-03-29 21:28:15] Well, it didn’t take Subway long to reply. Tonight, at 9:20, I received the following e-mail:
Dear Mr Maxson
Thank you for you email today in reference to extra charges.
Thank for bringing this to my attention, After I received your email I have investigated what had happened today and this
was down to some new members of the team we have and who did not understand.
We do not charge for cheese, only extra cheese, Please be assured this will not happen again, we aim to deliver good customer
service to all our customers and constantly train all new and old staff with the correct procedures.
As a valued customer I would like to offer you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Many Thanks
I replied back and thanked the man for his swift reply and honest business practices. I would heartily recommend the Subway on the Redhill High Street any day!
Image from wachovia_138 via flickr
For starters, I never really thought about this until I moved overseas. Now, I’m living in the UK and hope the US never switches to dollar coins exclusively. Why? Well, here, we have 1 and 2 pound coins and no bills. The smallest bill is a 5 pound note. I can pay for a purchase with a tenner (10 pound note) and get nothing but coins. And they weight a ton.
I hate it and i think most americans would too. This is a horrible idea.
[Update 2011-03-11 18:40:52] Here’s another article talking about how people in the US dislike dollar coins. After using 1 and 2 pound coins, I am one of the one’s who would vote no one dollar coins.
Image from kyaker1204 via flickr
Today, I received an e-mail telling me that Mazuma had received my phone, processed my order, and mailled my cheque (of check if you are spelling the American way(
). Soon, I should have an extra 23 quid floating around (enough to pay for the case and screen protector I bought). This is an update to this post where I mention selling my Nokia e65 to Mazuma Mobile.
[Update 2012-12-26 15:45:56] The simley link changed. I’ve redone it.
Image from liewcf via flickr
Today is Fair Use Day. What’s that? Why a day to celebrate fair use, of course. What’s fair use? Well, let’s let the copyright office tell us:
The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of activities that courts have regarded as fair use: “quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author’s observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported.”
Fort example,my using these images from Amazon is fair use because I am using them in the context of a review.
[Update 2011-01-14 07:41:37] I reread the article and realized I posted the wrong snippet. Oh, and I thought I would say….this article is not an example of fair use. Why? Well, everything produced by the US Government or its employees while at work is in the public domain. That means there is no copyright on it. And the eff logo? Well, I’m not commenting on it directly either. Perhaps it is fair use, but probably not. But, it is licensed under a creative commons license that allows people to reuse it, like I am here.
Image from electronicfrontierfoundation via flickr
The US government gave them real money. They repay it with worthless paper. Oh yeah sure…they’ve really repaid the debt.
Image from mars hill church seattle via flickr
I met someone today who knew what ramps were. I was shocked…he was the first person outside of WV who knew what they were. I was impressed.
Oh…he actually liked them too!
[Update 2012-12-26 15:47:04] Had to redo some internal links.
Image from chrisfurniss via flickr
Anyone out there ever used groupon? What has your experience been? If you live in a “metroplex” type city and could go to 2 or 3 of the cities listed, what’s the best way to stay informed?
Image from dklimke via flickr