Tag: cashmoney

Stamford gets it

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

This I like: Stamford, Connecticut proposing law that would fine individuals who haphazardly walk and text at the same time

Seldom does a day go by where a dickface on their phone manages to inconvenience me.  Whether it’s while driving or while on foot, at least once a day, it’s inevitable that I will get stuck behind someone not paying attention, because their face is buried in their fucking phone.  Short of making it law and penalizing those who violate said law, this is something that will never have any chance at improving; and even if there is a law in place, that’s still not going to deter every jackhole who thinks they’re better than the law and completely incapable of getting busted by it.

Regardless, I have to give kudos to Stamford (along with Honolulu) for at least trying to curb stupid behavior by proposing to make it illegal to walk and text at the same time.  As long as there are police willing to enforce this kind of behavior, I could see it actually having a degree of effectiveness at deterring people from doing so, or at least adopting better etiquette and learning how to get out of the way if they have a dire and essential text message to send immediately.

$30 for a first-time offense isn’t a back-breaker, but it is inconvenient.  If I I’m out with mythical gf and we’re on our way to the movies, and I get busted texting and walking and get a $30 fine; that’s basically admission for two right there, that I have to throw away due to my own idiocy, instead of getting movie tickets.  $30 lost basically means no drinks, popcorn or snacks, because I’m responsible with my money and $30 lost in one place will essentially mean $30 not used in another, expendable way.

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When kids make grown-up money

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

When I was in the fifth grade, I was a huge Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fan.  This was one of those things that publicly amongst my school peers, I kept under wraps because that shit was for kid-kids, i.e., the ones in the third grade or younger.  Yet I was still captured by the campy acting, bad voiceovers and the fight footage more sliced and spliced together than a Kardashian.

I even learned how to program my VCR timer because of Power Rangers, because the show always came on at 2:30 when I didn’t get home from school until like 3:45.  That’s how much I grew to love Power Rangers, that I forced myself to learn things in order to enjoy a mindless and stupid kids show.

That particular winter, when Power Rangers really began merchandising, I decided that I really wanted a MegaZord and/or a DragonZord.  I wasn’t necessarily a Transformers or Voltron fan, but I loved the Transformers/Voltron-like manner in which the Zords transformed and connected together, and I really, really, really wanted some Zord toys of my own.

Unfortunately, this winter was the winter when Power Rangers toys were the hot item for the holiday season.  The equivalent of Tickle Me Elmo, Furbies, hoverboards, NES Classics, or whatever that one thing is during each holiday season in which there aren’t ever enough of, and the demand becomes so great, it achieves a modicum of mainstream attention at just how hard it is to get them, perpetuating the cycle of unavailability to the next level. 

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I really dislike it, but I kind of respect the trolling

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Football fans love to waste money: group of New Orleans Saints fans want to troll the Atlanta Falcons and its new Mercedes-Benz Stadium by renting billboard space across the street, mocking the 28-3 lead the Falcons had in the Super Bowl before suffering the biggest collapse ever

I often say that I’m ambivalent towards football, and that I’m not really a fan of the Atlanta Falcons.  To some degree, I do stand by such claims, but I’m not going to lie that I felt absolutely crushed, heartbroken and completely demoralized by the result of the 2016 Super Bowl Lee, when the Falcons had a gigantic lead, and choked it all away, suffering the mother of defeats to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

I chalk up my frustration and disappointment not so much because the Falcons lost, but the City of Atlanta lost, an opportunity to shed the notion that as a sports town, it’s full of teams that always choke, and actually win a major sporting championship.  Instead, they swing the pendulum full retard and go from having victory all but guaranteed, to being defeated in the most gut-wrenching, most-Atlanta way ever.

Needless to say, I do admit that the Falcons’ loss really upset me, and thinking back to Super Bowl Lee isn’t the easiest thing for me to do as a sports fan.

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Another day, another Braves fleecing taxpayers story

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

In short: the Atlanta Braves won another $4.7 million in taxpayer money for their new Spring Training facility in Sarasota, Florida

I love the fact that the term “won” was used, because that’s kind of just it; the Braves didn’t really earn this money, or do anything in particular to have deserved the money, they just kind of gambled their time and effort to get the money and just so happened to win out, when city commissioners put the decision to vote, and it barely nudged 3-2 in favor of giving the leeches free money.

I actually love these kinds of stories about hypothetical numbers, because in just about every single case, the estimates are just that, and always get blown past whenever projects like new sporting venues are like 60% done. Supposedly, the city of North Port has agreed to pay $25 million in total, with the state of Florida being on the hook for another $20 mil, which means that there’s only an estimated $30 million left for the Braves to try and weasel out of paying.  This doesn’t account for the fact that, and I would wager money, that by late fall this year, something will go wrong, and the Braves will require somewhere around another $20 million in order for the project to continue.

In the end, I’d guess this whole project ends up around $115-120, with the Braves paying like $2 million, while the rest comes from direct or indirect taxes and tax credits meant to cater to them.

The saving grace is that with a new Spring Training facility, and with somewhat fresh ballparks for just about every ballpark in the Braves system, it might be a little while before any more crookedly greedy new ballparks need to be built in the team’s visage.

But then again, Turner Field was only given 17 years before it was deemed too old and required a move, so I guess Rome, Jackson and Lawrenceville should probably be keeping their eyes peeled for some fresh new real estate, because their shitty not-old parks are about to become old in about ten years or more, real quick.

Why not a cricket stadium too???

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Real fast, what does Atlanta need?  Improved mass transit?  Actual infrastructure?  Less-corrupt politicians?  Another taco restaurant?   Pssh, that’s all trivial shit.

But if you said “Atlanta needs a new stadium,” then you’ve got the clairvoyance of Professor X and you’d be 100% correct!

Not just any stadium though . . . but a CRICKET stadium!!!

I mean shit, how naïve of me to think that the Atlanta Stadium-Palooza would have come to an end now that the Falcons have a new stadium, the Braves have a new stadium, and the Hawks have secured a couple of hundred of million dollars to renovate their existing stadium to a slightly newer state.  I mean, NFL, MLB and NBA, covering the big three sports entities would have been enough right?

Of course not!  If MLS can get a brand-new training facility, and the NBA D-League can get themselves a new stadium, who am I to say that I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear that of all the sports in the world, cricket would be the next to descend on the Atlanta area and out of nowhere begin demanding a stadium for themselves.

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When losing becomes too much to handle

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

So passively-aggressively hilarious: retired WR Calvin Johnson throws heaps of shade about the endless losing culture of the Detroit Lions and how it basically drove him into retirement

Not going to lie: this is legit one of the saddest yet funniest sports articles in a long time.  Calvin Johnson basically throwing the Detroit Lions organization under the bus for well, being the Detroit Lions; a team that never won, existed primarily in the losers’ circle, how he just couldn’t take being contractually glued to them throughout his entire career, and how retirement and the ceasing of millions of dollars in paychecks seemed like the superior alternative.

I’ll come clean, I actually like Calvin Johnson.  Despite the fact that he mauled Virginia Tech and the rest of the ACC while he was playing for Georgia Tech, there was always something entertaining and fascinating about watching such a physically gifted player do his thing.  It was a no-brainer that he was going to go pro, and was only a question of just how high in the draft he would be selected.

But being a shoe-in pro always has the peril of getting drafted by one of the teams, locked in eternity to the ball-and-chain of loser, like the Raiders, Texans, Bills, Browns, or in the case of Calvin Johnson, the Detroit Lions.

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I don’t want to tip my Uber drivers

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I hate tipping.  Tipping sucks.  I still do it when it’s expected (required). 

C’mon, I’m not Scottie Pippen.

Generously, too, because I like to think I’m a decent human being, and I also understand that those working in industries that expect tips are often ones where the laborers themselves are grossly underpaid and that it’s the unfortunate responsibility of patrons like me, to make sure they can make their ends meet.

But still, I hate tipping.  It’s a practice that reeks of labor abuse, and that companies that allege to care about their customers, put the burden of paying their workers onto them.

What I liked about Uber, aside from the obvious reasons that it’s not a dirty, rickety cab driven by an asshole that smells like one too and they show up relatively quickly and have (usually) better cars is that I don’t have to tip.  I know my cost up front, it is taken out of my PayPal account, and I get from point A to point B with full transparency on cost, who’s taking me in what type of vehicle, and a fairly accurate estimate of time it is going to take.  And at the end of the ride, I don’t have to tip anyone, don’t feel obligated to tip anyone, and the drivers (I hope) aren’t expecting any tips.

That is, until soon, since Uber is apparently rolling out tip capabilities across the board.  Initially, they’re claiming it’s to keep up with their rivals Lyft, but really for both companies and all other rideshare clones, the integration of tipping is something that is closing the gap between rideshare and taxi, but in the wrong direction.

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