blog.shrub

As with my surprisingly popular Hertz discount codes page, I have a few other rental care coupon codes lying around. Most of them aren’t really that special, but I figured writing them down here will benefit someone, and I won’t have to keep a few scraps of paper lying around.

Avis
$25 off weekly AWDB790072 MUGA116
Free weekend day with 3 day rental TUGA074

Budget
BCD X443030 CPN TUGZ427
2 day rental CPN MUGZ548
3 day rental CPN MUGZ549

Enterprise
20% off ETBX7A

Here’s a pair of great Bauer hockey commercials from back in the day:

We all have something

A clean sheet

Does anyone have higher-quality copies? While we’re at it, does anyone have a copy of the NFL “Feel the Power” commercial that used Ani DiFranco’s “32 flavors” and featured various running backs? I can’t find it anywhere.

“Design can be a form of social activism.”

Yes, it can be.

In 1999, the high-end Mac was a 500 MHz Power Mac G4 and cost $3500.
In 2006, the high-end Mac is a 2×3 GHz Mac Pro and costs $2500.

That’s more than 12X faster for 30% less.

In 1999, I was paying CAD$36/month (then worth US$25 @1.47:1) for broadband (Bell Canada).
In 2007, I am paying US$43/month for broadband (Comcast).

That’s maybe 2X faster for 75% more.

Why does US broadband suck?

Robert Cringely dives in.

But I find it hard to remember any company or industry segment ever going zero for 51. This is a failure rate so amazing that any statistician would question the motives of those even entering such an endeavor. Did they actually expect to succeed? Or did they actually expect to fail? We may never know and it probably doesn’t even matter, but one thing is sure: they expected to be paid and they were.
…
There are no good guys in this story. Misguided and incompetent regulation combined with utilities that found ways to game the system resulted in what had been the best communication system in the world becoming just so-so, though very profitable. We as consumers were consistently sold ideas that were impractical only to have those be replaced later by less-ambitious technologies that, in turn, were still under-delivered. Congress set mandates then provided little or no oversight. The FCC was (and probably still is) managed for the benefit of the companies and their lobbyists, not for you and me. And the upshot is that I could move to Japan and pay $14 per month for 100-megabit-per-second Internet service but I can’t do that here and will probably never be able to.

Everyone’s favorite lexicographer — Erin McKean — had a great piece in the New York Times last Sunday. In her article, she dives in to the Oxford English Corpus, explaining how we migrate (north), who we chide (the president) and what’s edible (fungi and seaweed, among others).

I was in Sports Basement today picking up a bike tube. As the cashier rang up my puchase, he asked me “Is this your first time at Sports Basement?”. I answered “no.”

What’s wrong with this?

Well, your best customers — your regulars — have to give a negative answer every time.

It would be much better to ask “Have you been to Sports Basement before?”

More people will answer positively. Positive answer == positive frame of mind as you exit the store.

I pointed this out to the cashier, and he agreed. We’ll see what happens next time I’m there.