Friday, October 20, 2006

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.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I learned my lesson about road rage the hard way....One day I was late for a open house and I ahd to borrow a co works key card to the get the keys out of the lock box....She needed the key card back so I rushed over to the house, got the keys and headed back towards the office.....Well this punk kid pulled out right in front of me and was going about 5 mph in a 40 mph zone.......I flashed my lights and he flipped me off......BAD MOVE ON HIS PART....


I flipped him off, I flashed my lights, I pulled up besides him......Then he pullled over...He got out of his car....He was tall and skinny, a total punk kid....he was yelling and screaming and jumping up and down....Until I got out of the car... I am as wide as I am high, I don't think the kid was expecting that.....He quickly ran back towards his car and opened the door....

He was acting like he was reaching for something and I moved closer....As I got to within 10 ft of his car he pulled ot a gun and pointed it at me....I said, 'you win' and got back in my car...I got his license plate number and called the police but nothing ever came of it...

I never confronted anyone with road rage again...I am lucky that kid didn't shoot me dead in the street right there...

Serena said...

Oh, geez, what a freaky experience. I don't flip off idiotic drivers any more and I only blow the horn when they're being so stupid I just can't stand it another second -- because you just never know who's packing heat these days. In your case, you'd think they could have caught the guy pretty easily with a plate number.

Rex Zeitgeist said...

I never followed up on it and I never heard from the police about it again....

BTW I drive a 96 STS cadi, and he is male....Dark metallic green

Serena said...

I drive a little bitty metallic blue thing that I sometimes jokingly refer to as The Smurfmobile. It's definitely a "girl." LOL.

Liz Hinds said...

I've never heard of Publish.America. Is it a sort of vanity publisher?

"Drivers who think of their cars as male or female purportedly scored significantly higher on verbal aggression, physical aggression, and pejorative labeling."

I don't think the people who did that survey could have taken into account drivers of little white Beetles called Betty

Serena said...

I know what you mean, Steve. I can deal with old people; they just get muddled and don't know any better. It's the daredevils whipping from one lane to another, stereo blaring at deafening volume, running lights, etc., that drive me berserk. I don't show them sign language any more, but I sure am muttering some fine adjectives from the driver's seat.

Serena said...

Regards to Betty, Liz. LOL.

PublishAmerica is what amounts to a back-end vanity press. They don't charge any fees up front, but by the time their authors have bought their own books and paid for their own promotion, many pay more than they'd have paid an honest vanity press. The hell of it is that PA denies up one side and down the other being what they are.

Rex Zeitgeist said...

Steve, I got arrested in Frankfurt for jaywalking on an empty street, we had to pay a 50 dm fine, right there and then....