redllama.net

My Daddy's Car Can Fly Thanks To The Power Of Poor Decisions

It’s one of those situations where you could see it coming on the terminal horizon from a mile away, and yet there’s absolutely nothing you could do about it.

“He posted on the BMW M5 forum — www.M5board.com — as ‘AmericanM5,’ the proud new owner of a 2008 BMW M5 painted Space Gray.

He had a problem. It happened when he had ‘everything set to max’ and changed gear with the shift paddles mounted on the steering wheel. As he said, ‘and I’m going pedal to the metal pushing 140 and upshifting, there tends to be a thud noise with the gear change.’ AmericanM5 wanted to know if this was normal.

And he added: ‘Let me say I am a beginner when it comes to high-performance cars as I am only 18, so take it easy on me.’”

[...]

Let’s see:

2008 BMW M5 painted Space Gray? Check!
Everything set to max? Check!
Pedal to the metal pushing 140 and upshifting? Check!
Beginner when it comes to high-performance cars? Check!
Only 18? Check!

Okay … to continue:

“The forum members told him that yes, the sensation of an abrupt gear engagement is normal with the M5’s automated sequential manual transmission, but several also took the opportunity to express their concerns.

Wrote one: ‘It’s just disturbing to know…that an 18-year-old who is asking these questions about a 500-horsepower car is driving the same streets I am. I don’t have anything against young guys driving nice cars, but an 18-year-old being [behind] the wheel of an M5 is what accidents are made of.’

AmericanM5 responded: I completely understand where you are coming from, assuming that I am irresponsible…that is definitely understandable. I do sometimes make bad decisions but I am young and I do drive safe and I will not endanger the lives of others.’

These posts were dated January 25, 2008.”

[...]

“It’s just disturbing to know…that an 18-year-old who is asking these questions about a 500-horsepower car is driving the same streets I am.” I’ll say!

“I completely understand where you are coming from, assuming that I am irresponsible…that is definitely understandable. I do sometimes make bad decisions but I am young and I do drive safe and I will not endanger the lives of others.” Of course you don’t!

I think we all know where this is going:

“At 3:30 a.m. on January 26, a 2008 BMW M5 painted Space Gray flew off the raised end of a runway at a private airport just outside Ocala, Florida, sailed 200 feet through the air and stuck a huge tree. The impact with the tree occurred 15 feet off the ground. Five young men, aged 18 to 20, were killed instantly.

Members of the M5Board began to put the pieces together. AmericanM5 said he was 18, had a 2008 M5 in Space Gray, and said he lived in the Ocala area. And he signed one of the posts, “Josh.”

The driver of the crashed M5 had been Josh Ammirato.”

Full story is [url=http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Columns/articleId=124526]here[/url]

Forum Games?

Is there any interest for games played on here? Like movie association (I name a movie and the person below me names on with a linking actor) and things of the like?

We have a subforum full of these on my forum and it’s a big hit.

Just checkin’ kthxbye

For English, Press 1 Now

So I need to prove to the Payroll Administrator that I am a U.S. citizen and eligible for work in the U.S. in order to get paid. What does that mean? Provide a Social Security Card. Apparently, driver’s license and birth certificate are not sufficient… who knew?

I have searched high and low for the damned card and cannot find it. What’s next? Download the form online, fill it out and bring it (with said birth certificate and driver’s license) to the nearest office in order to receive your replacement card.

So I call the 1-800 number to see if it’s possible to make an appointment at the office and what is the first line I hear? “Thank you for calling Social Security”, followed by “Blah, blah, blah, blah… for English, please press 1 now, or say ‘English’.”

Give me a break.

Traffic Tickets

ARGH!!!

I got a fucking ticket this morning on my way to work because I didn’t see a school bus stopped on the other side of the street. First of all, don’t put a school zone sign to my right with flashing lights, and cop with flashing lights to my left AND expect me to see a bus. I’m fairly certain that the cop was there JUST to distract people from seeing the bus so he could pull them over

To top it off, the guy was a complete dick! “The kids are in school now…” Look officer, I’m really sorry that you have a napolean complex, please stfu and let me get to work, which, oh, by the way, is at a SCHOOL, so I KNOW it’s in session. (in case you didn’t see the child in my back seat with a back pack and lunch box)

So, while I’m browsing the interweb to see how many weeks of grocery money this shit is going to cost me, I find in a list of offences, this:

[b]Driving with excessive lights for purpose of general illumination ahead of vehicle
Statute: 46.2-1030
Fine: $30
Processing Fee: $62
Total: $92[/b]

What the FUCK else are “excessive lights” for???

I hate people!!!

and I never did find the damn fee for my ticket

Lost

Are there any Lost fans in the house? Or am I the only one here that’s so excited about tomorrow night that I may not get a lick of work done between now and then?

Squeeeeeeee!!!!

Merging 2 AVI Files Using VirtualDub

I had a hard time finding a way to do this without taking 3 hours per merge. This process take about 5 minutes. Most of the files I merge are two 700MB into one 1.4GB file.

1. Open [url=http://www.virtualdub.com/]VirtualDub[/url].

2. Select “File” > “Open video file…” (or just press CTRL+O) and select the first file you want to have for your merge, aka, the first half of the file. In our example: old_file_1.avi.

3. Select “Video” > “Direct Stream Copy”. This just checks “Direct Stream Copy” in the menu.

4. Select “File” > “Append AVI segment…”. Select the second file, aka, the second half. In our example: old_file_2.avi. If the file formats don’t match, VirtualDub will warn you.

5. Select “File” – “Save as AVI” (or press F7) In our example: new_file.avi.

6. Wait and be happy.

I usually double check the quality and that the whole file is merged before I delete the original files.

Trunk Monkeys

Saw one of these commercials when travellng recently.

[url=http://www.trunkmonkeyad.com]Trunk Monkeys[/url]

I was entertained. Of course entertainment comes easy when you are alone in the Hampton Inn and the your seeing more of Buster than Kari on the Discovery Channel.

Phucking Phishers!

I hate People!!! That has been my motto for years now, and today, I was reminded why…

Anyway, I got a fishy email today. It said it was from Internal Revenue Service and the inside said this:

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that
you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $375.20.
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-9 days in order to
process it.
A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.
To access the form for your tax refund, please click here

Note: For security reasons, we will record your ip-address, the date and time.
Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated.

Regards,
Internal Revenue Service

I clicked the link to see what this was all about, and it took me to a very official looking page with a link on it that said it was the online form, and I should be prepared to enter a number of a *debit card* to which they could send the refund.

I checked on Snopes, and sure enough: http://www.snopes.com/fraud/phishing/irs2007.asp

If you get an email like this, please forward it to Phishing@irs.gov I’d hate for any of you to get ripped off.

Love, Krystal

Howcome My Stars Aren't Lit Up?

The stars above my avatar are always gray. They’re not all lit up like other people’s. Why is that? Granted, I’m sure there’s something in the FAQ’s about that, but you know how it is, we can’t be bothered to read through all that stuff LOL

Medical Marijuana Vending Machines

For all you heads on the run. You can now get your pot from a vending machine in CA. I like how in the “office” of this “medical marijuana vendor”, theres a poster of 2Pac on the wall. Plus, the backwards knit cap says “pro-o-o-o-o-fessional”. What he hasn’t mentioned was his plan to make more money by adding a soda machine to the left and a Funyuns machine to the right.

[url=http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/01/26/sahib.ca.marijuana.vending.kcal]http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/01/26/sahib.ca.marijuana.vending.kcal[/url]