More Randy Moller Goal Calls...

The great Randy Moller strikes again with some of the best goal calls EVVA!

PayPass

Remember PayPass? This was Mastercard's promotion for it's credit and debit cards. The idea was that you could just wave your card in front of a reader and pay for your items. No swiping, no showing idea, no signature, no punching in your zipcode. Well a number of other credit companies and banks followed suit. Well, it's a great idea. I try it every single time I can. Here is the problem. It works less than 50 percent of the time. Grocery stores, fast food places, convenience stores. I whip out my card and wave it in front of the scanner. I look cool, i am on the cutting edge of technology with my fancy credit/debit card. But the sale doesn't go through. Then I try it again. The little lights flash. but no dice. Then the person and the counter says, "oh that thing doesn't work. You can swipe it or you can give me your card."
Great! I thought the purpose of these new cards was that I would be able to get in and out quicker. Instead i am taking longer and looking like an idiot in front of the rest of the people in line. The people behind me have places to go and I am slowing them down because I think I can play George Jetson with my futuristic credit card!
The strange thing is the companies aren;t trying to fix the card readers that don't work. Oh no, they are working on the next step of making it easier to pay for your stuff. Within the next 3 years (if not sooner) most smartphones will come with NFC chips (Near Field Communication). The idea is that you won't even need a card anymore. Instead you will be able to wave your phone in front of another reader (that probably won't work) and pay for your stuff. Hopefully it will work this time, because if not I am going to have to juggle my wallet, cards and phones while i get the stink eye from all the people in the line forming behind me.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V6X0bCvCPE

ASL version of Cee Lo's "Fuck You"

This is so freaking awesome!!!

Address Labels Make Me Nervous...

Just a quick post. I give to quite a few charities. AIDS Project LA, Oxfam and a few others. Well over the course of the year I get small gifts from these folks, and those small gifts are almost always address labels. Most charities love to send you address labels as a sign of their appreciation and I appreciate the sentiment. But those little address labels freak me out! I now they are supposed to be tokens of gratitude - but I am a catholic. I have nothing but guilt and self-doubt driving me. The address labels make me feel bad for not giving more to these causes.

Then it gets worse, the guilt turns to fear. All of a sudden these address labels start to scare me. They are like a reminder from each of these organizations: "we know where you live and we are going to keep sending stuff! NOW HAND OVER THE MONEY OR WE'RE GOING OVER THERE!" The labels might as well be made out of letters cut from magazines.

So I say to these charities, 'please stop sending me address labels, they're freaking me out. Plus, I have enough address labels to last me a life time! Who sends out this many physical letters anymore?

Rich School, Poor School

Yesterday, to say the least, was a horrible day for public schools in Los Angeles. After a school shooting at El Camino Real high school a number of schools were put on lock down. The shooting occured when the unknown gunman, attempting to break into cars, was approached by a by a police officer assigned to the school. The gunman proceeded to shoot the police officer. Luckily the officer’s life was saved by the bullet proof vest he was wearing. It’s a sad and disturbing situation - but it got me wondering: having police officers assigned to your school is something that happens at really rich school and at really poor schools.
There is a strong police presence at well to do schools in order to keep the rift-raff out. At the poor school the police are there because the rift-raff are inside the school and we need to keep them from killing each other. There is no middle ground when it comes to a police presence at school. You don’t see police at a ‘middle of the road’ school.
It's like outdoor showers, only two types of people have them: really really super duper rich people and poor people who can't afford indoor plumbing.
So let us say you see a police officer at your local school. How can you tell if you are at a rich school or a poor school? Rule one, if the police officer seems generally happy - your probably at the rich school. if the police officer is monitoring a metal detector, you guessed it, you’re at the poor school.