Divemedic

Rip off

My in-laws asked me to find them a good price on a 2019 Nissan Pathfinder. I used True Car, which usually gives us great prices. I found them the car they wanted for about $8K less than MSRP at a dealer about 40 miles from here. This was about the same discount that True Car has gotten us before. 

The in-laws asked us if we could go with them to purchase the car that afternoon, but we were not able to go that day, because of prior commitments. We told them that we would be able to go the next day if they would wait, but they were not willing to. They insisted that we were not needed because they had bought many cars before. 
They went to get the car and still had to argue in order to get the True Car price. That seemed very unusual to me, because one of the great advantages to True Car is that the dealer agrees to abide by the True Car price so there is no haggling. 
Then they told us that the car had damage to the hood, and the dealer had offered to repaint it, so they would have to take the car back to the dealer this week for that to happen. That was a red flag, so we went over to their house and noticed that the car had over 5,000 miles already on the odometer. The paperwork stated that the car had 28 miles at delivery. The dealer hid it from my in-laws by leaving the odometer set on the “trip” odometer in order to hide the true mileage of the car. 
I called the dealer and they said to bring the car in, and they would fix it by simply correcting the paperwork. I told them that this was unacceptable, and I wanted them to reverse the sale, or I would be contacting an attorney. They said that since I mentioned attorney, they would no longer speak to me. He also pointed out that the contract has an arbitration clause and I can’t sue them anyway. 
We called the cops, and they told us that it was a civil matter and stated that cops don’t get involved in civil matters. Like most cops, he is lazy. It is a felony in the state of Florida to misrepresent the mileage of a car on the odometer disclosure at sale. 
The dealer called us an hour later and apologized. They said that they would contact the finance manager to see if the sale can be reversed. We will see. 
By Divemedic, ago

Typical

I have posted about poor writing skills before. A good number of my students were using cell phones instead of paying attention, so I gave the class a writing assignment. The topic was “Why cell phones are a distraction in class.”

This is what I got from one 11th grade student. I cropped the name off for student privacy reasons.

The rest of the paper is continued on the back: “are a teacher. you give respet you earn respect.” (sic)

By Divemedic, ago

18 years ago

It was a Tuesday and I was on shift. That day, I was assigned to Engine 12. The day began like most other shifts: we had checked trucks and equipment and then headed out to test hydrants. We were behind the Winn Dixie about 2 miles from the station when the Battalion Chief called us, directed us to return to quarters and turn on the television. We got there just in time to see the second plane hit the towers. Shortly after, the reports came in that the Pentagon had been hit. That was when I knew that we were at war.
When the first tower came down, I remember one of the guys saying something like “There are thousands who work there, I bet 2 thousand people just died.” I remember how large of a number that was, and how impossible that seemed. It was then that I said “There were hundreds of firefighters in there.”
The next few weeks were unreal. Everywhere we went, firefighters got love and cheers. People paid for our meals. Still, there was this overwhelming sense that we as Americans had a target on our backs. As a firefighter, I wondered what it felt like to enter that second tower knowing that it would eventually come down, and wondered if I would have had the same guts that they did. Still, every fire I went to, I still went in.
Things were different for me after that.

By Divemedic, ago

Much ado about nothing

So the press is in an uproar about a Trump tweet, and the left will not let it go. The President sent out a tweet claiming that Alabama was one of the states that would be affected by Hurricane Dorian. The press is roasting him for being wrong. But was he?

Here is a link to the NHC forecast from 0300 UTC on August 28. This forecast is a list of the odds of selected cities seeing Tropical Storm force winds withing the following 5 days. Note the line which says:

MONTGOMERY AL  34  X   X( X)   X( X)   X( X)   X( X)   X( X)   4( 4)

Meaning that Montgomery Alabama had a 4 percent chance of seeing 34 knot winds. Now you might say that 4 percent is not very high, but note that Myrtle Beach was seen in the same forecast as only a 5 percent chance of seeing tropical storm force winds.

MYRTLE BEACH   34  X   X( X)   X( X)   X( X)   X( X)   1( 1)   5( 6)

From the same advisory, the graphic of projected windfield looked like this:

I don’t think that it is unreasonable for anyone to think that Alabama is in danger here. CNN, who is leading the charge on this ridiculousness, has no room to talk. CNN doesn’t even know where Alabama is:

By Divemedic, ago

How does he get $750K?

When Florida passed shall issue concealed carry, the left predicted that there would be shootouts over parking spots. It seems like we have finally had a couple. One resulted in the shooter being convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison for life. The second was a shooting between a knife carrying convicted felon, and his gun wielding felon next door neighbor.

What strikes me as odd is that the shooter posted a $750,000 bond. How does a short term renter in a drug addled neighborhood come up with $75,000 in cash, plus another $675,000 in collateral to qualify for a bail bond?

My initial thought is drug dealer.

The winning quote?

“That man should have just minded his business. Once we told him that was not our car he should’ve just minded his business, go find the owner of the car and go yell at them,” said Powers’ girlfriend, Mersades Katz.

By Divemedic, ago

NYT: The US owes Bahamas reparations for hurricane

An editorial in the New York Times claims that the hurricane hitting the Bahamas is the fault of the United States for failing to pass AOC’s “Green New Deal.” 

As bad as that is, the quote I hated most was found in the comments:

The word “reparations” has come up in the USA when addressing crimes of the past, and we have hardly reached consensus on that hot topic.
Dr. E. M. James’s island nation, which, as the author accurately puts, “has a tiny carbon footprint but carries the burden of being ground zero for our climate crisis.”
Time for present day reparations paid in full for these islanders from the CO2 giants with carbon footprints without boundaries.

By Divemedic, ago

Antisemitism increasing

A man is arrested for threatening to kill Jews. The report is found on Orlando’s CBS affiliate. What I found odd what that the story is found on other news sites, and the CBS version leaves out many details. 

From the CBS story:

The comments included anti-Semitic remarks and threats to “murder as many people as I can,” according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Arong also appeared to identify as an incel, which refers to a misogynist group of men who identify themselves as “involuntarily celibate.”

Also note that the only picture in the article is of white hands over a laptop computer. This is important because many in Central Florida accuse WKMG, the CBS affiliate. of media bias.

Note the differences in the article, as found at news-journal.

“I hate jews because I am an inbred LOSER.”
“I don’t want Red Flag laws passed because the FBI might raid my residence and confiscate the weapons I will use to kill other Americans. Thank you”
“I hate myself. I am uglier than the El Paso shooter, and girls don’t like me, so I will murder as many people as I can. Thank you”

While not factually incorrect, the details change the story. Here also is a picture of the suspect:

Bias? You decide.

By Divemedic, ago