R*A*G*E

ROAD RAGE
A recent study reveals that your car's "personality" may indicate your propensity for road rage. Do you think of your car as a "he" or a "she"? Apparently, it makes a difference. Also factored into the study was whether a car is named. Some of the cars' names were Lolita, the Mini-Pimp, and the Sweat-Box of Death. There is apparently a new word in the automotive lexicon -- auto-anthropomorphism.

Drivers who think of their cars as male or female purportedly scored significantly higher on verbal aggression, physical aggression, and pejorative labeling. Researchers found that the perceived personality of the car was often a better predictor of aggressive driving tendencies than the owner's personality.

Be on the lookout for ruder behavior from people driving jerkish Corollas than those driving Mustangs with nice personalities. All righty, then.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

CANINE RAGE
The boss window guy was late getting here this morning because his pregnant Basset hound went on a destructive bender during the night. He said she totally destroyed a bathroom and left a trail of carnage in a couple of other rooms as well. He also said she's never done that before. There's something strange going on with dogs, don't you think?

The window guys had planned to finish up today, but they missed the mark and will be back Monday. All of the windows are in, but there's still some trim work to do. I'm not looking forward to yet another day of disruption, but you do what you have to do. And what the hell -- I have pretty new windows.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

LITERARY RAGE
The following was posted on the PublishAmerica message board:

I tried to get into PublishAmerica's "Online Bookstore" and I got the message "Page Cannot Be Connected" When I called their telephone number, they are not answering their phones. There is a message for the caller just to leave a message which I have done several times and no one gets back to me... I have also written to "Support@PublishAmerica.com" and have received nothing back. I have been doing this for several months now. Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone know how to find out how their books are selling?

The PublishAmerica board monitor came along and posted this response:

XXX,
As you know, what you say is not true. As you know, our support team has responded to your messages on at least 16 occasions, many of which were during this past February, March, May, June, July, August, September, and October 2006. As you know, our phones have not gone unanswered, and you have not left voicemail that was unanswered. This has not been going on at all, nor for "several months". As you know, the support team answered all of your questions, including separate messages on each and every one of the following topics: - first purchase discount - setting up a website - sending your copyright - retail ordering - your computer crash and deadlines - royalties payment times - tracking sales - announcement letter - press release - mailing list - discount rates - royalty calculation methods We still have all of the emails, both to you and from you. Please do not post made up nonsense.

Once those posts began making the rounds across the Internet, the PA thought police went back and edited the worst of the insults out of their reply. They often do that when they're caught with their pants down in public.

In truth, I've seen far worse snark than that out of PA, but it just goes to show what an utterly contemptible "publisher" it is. If you're unfamiliar with that company, you're lucky.