Argh!!! Save v. Exploding Cranium or Die! (A Plea for Help)

I think I'm about to blow the roll... goggles down! Maybe someone with a better memory than myself can help me keep my brains from being splashed all over the furniture:

Some time ago (meaning more than a week but less than a year) I was perusing a fellow blogger's posts and came across a nifty table of (I think) 30 strange/odd/unique character back stories or origins. Amongst these was one along the lines of "your character's body is not your own" or "you stole the body you're currently in." I had the page bookmarked, but semi-recently had to reformat my PC and forgot to save my bookmarks. (D'oh!) I've spent the better part of the last three hours exercising my expert Google Fu in a desperate search for the page, but to absolutely no avail...

Does this ring a bell with anybody? Please say it does. My fiancee will appreciate it when she doesn't have to try to scrub grey matter out of the sofa cushions.

Edit: Thanks to Art Braune, the half-remembered post has been found at Like Being Read To From Dictionaries. Thanks, Art!

. . . . .

Corporate Greed is Alive and Well in America

I'm a huge cynic. Ask anybody who knows me and they'll tell you it's true. And my cynicism makes a warm fluffy bed in the topics of politics and business in our "free market" society. It's there, after all, that it feels most comfortable.

Nothing surprises me, especially when it comes to Business as Usual in this country. Greed rules, and the Golden Rule (the people with the gold make the rules) is the only truth when it comes to our society. Like I said: cynic.

But every now and then, something gets under my skin and I get so disgusted by the way corporations and politicians are allowed to act that it makes me want to scream.

Like today, for instance. My son got his Xbox console banned from Xbox Live. He claims innocence, admitting to no wrong-doing on his part. Of course, being the father of two teens, I always take that sort of positioning with a huge dose of skepticism. I've learned my lesson well over the years.

So he got banned, I think. He probably did something to deserve it, and if so I won't defend him.

But here's the first fun part: Microsoft/Xbox Live refuses to tell him why he was banned, so no one in my household can even address the allegations that resulted in the action. Whuh-huh? I get the whole privacy thing, but what's the point in keeping it secret from the primary person involved???

Then comes the next insult: not only is he not allowed access to Xbox Live, but he doesn't get reimbursed for the amount of time he has left on his subscription. I know I'm supposed to be cynical and jaded, but (excuse the forthcoming curse): what the fuck?!

In what universe did it become legal for a business to take payment for services, then cancel those services without offering the customer at least a prorated reimbursement of their payment? Last I knew, a business that failed to provide a paid-for service was breaking the law. Were this my local newspaper, I'd have had them in court and gotten my money back by now. So where does Microsoft get off?

Microsoft claims that he agreed to this arrangement when accepting the terms of service, but that's just utter bullshit. If he'd also agreed in the ToS to forfeiting his right index finger, would it be legal for them to lop it off? Uh... no. Just because your contract says you can do something doesn't make that thing legal, Mr. Shylock. Er, I mean Gates.

What's worse, when threatened with legal action, the Microsoft customer service folks do the audible equivalent of shrugging their shoulders and quite literally say: "So what?"

So, my cynicism showed its limitations today. I'm sitting here bemused and bewildered, wondering why no one's doing a damn thing about a company that takes payments for services, then cancels said services without reimbursement or proof of the violation(s) that caused said cancellation. It's a great scam. But if you or I tried to do that, we'd be in jail for fraud.

C'mon people. It's time stop putting up with this crap. Our corporate masters have had the yokes on us long enough, don't you think? I remember the days when people used to do something when they got fed up with stuff. Days when people in this country acted like their spirits hadn't been ground into the dirt. I swear, our forefathers threw tea in a harbor for less than we tolerate on a daily basis. Where have those Americans gone?

Let's try something a little fresher in our memories: Remember disco? I'm sure you do. Remember the huge "Disco Sucks" rally? It still gets covered on cable TV, despite being a one-off happening 30 years ago. So here's what I say we do: anybody who's got a beef with Microsoft, gather up your Windows discs, banned Xbox-es, Zunes, or whatever piece of M$ dreck you wish to dispose of and let's all get together and toss them into a huge bonfire under a banner proclaiming "Microsoft Sucks!"

Hell, if the fire gets big enough, maybe even old Shylock of Redmond will feel a tremor in the Force...