Shaming Bad Customers On Line?

We've all heard of consumer web sites like Yelp and Angie's List, that provide a forum on how good or bad a particular business is.

Now we have a site for business owners for reviewing bad customers.

You have to become a member of BadConsumers.com, to join the fun, and once you're in, you can tell everyone about a particular customer that won't pay you, or does something else egregious.

I dunno. Yelp and Angie's List can be helpful, but those sites can be abused, too.Some people post fake business reviews on sites like Yelp to either unfairly hurt or help a business.  I'd think BadConsumer members can just attack a member of the public they don't like.

What if a BadConsumers member just doesn't happen to like someone and calls him a deadbeat, when he's not?  How does the individual get back his or her reputation?

Information on BadConsumers.com assures potential members they can't get in trouble for saying something bad about somebody. But I would hope libel laws help.  You probably can't win a libel suit against someone if they genuine believe what they said about you is true. But as I understand it, you can win such a suit if somebody deliberately lies about you to hurt your reputatiuon.

I see these review Web sites become a great job creator for trial lawyers.

The bottom line is, I  the old rules apply: Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.  And not everybody is honest, so let's be careful out there, folks.

World's Most Useless Record Holder: Beer Chugger

It's always good to dream of greatness. Who doesn't want to be the first, the best, the most outstanding, the one who is a fixture in the Guinness Book of World Records?

Well, we found a video that captures that spirit. He went for the big time. I can't prove this yet, but the video indicates he's the world's fastest at biting into a beer can and sucking all the brew out. What a hero!

I had a roommate in college who drank beer that way. The only way he would drink beer, which was often, was to bite into a can of beer and suck the contents out. I'm sure it did wonder for his teeth.

I guess I'm just a boring guy. I grab a 12-ounce bottle, a bottle opener, lift the cap off, and enjoy. So while I'm happy and content, don't look for me anytime soon in the Guinness Book of World Records. I'll just drink a Guinness instead.

Shooting Guns Underwater, Throwing Molotov Cocktails: Cool Slow Mo Vids.

The video in this post has been on YouTube for awhile, but lately has been getting some notice on various blogs.

It's a guy who decided what would happen if you shoot a pistol under water, and film it in slow motion.

The guy gets a little too involved in explaining things and setting it up for you, but you do get a cool payoff when the gun goes off. Really neat how the explosion goes through the water. Who'd have thought gunfire could be beautiful?

Readers: Can you come up with any examples of things that are normally regarded as ugly, but are made beautiful through photography or video?

Yes, this is really a random video, but you've come to expect that here, haven't you?



Meanwhile, another YouTuber decide to make a slow motion video of a Molotov cocktail hitting the brick wall of a house.

Again, the people in the video get a bit too detailed on how they set things up, their motivations, etc. But the payoff is really cool.

And I'm glad the guy who threw the Molotov cocktail hit the brick wall of the house instead of missing and tossing it through the window just to the left. Had he done that, we would have had a really interesting video of a different sort.

Readers: Can you come up with any examples of things that are normally regarded as ugly, but are made beautiful through photography or video?

Anyway, here's the Molotov covcktail vid for your enjoyment:

Let Alligators Chomp Through Your Kids' Birthday Party!

A Florida entrepreneur has come up with an ingenious plan to spice up children's birthday parties. Outdo all your neighbors by bringing little, but real alligators to swim with the kids at the pool party!

Can I pet the alligator? CHOMP!

The AP article is written by Tamara Lush, who used to be a colleague of mine at the Burlington (Vt.) Free Press, but now works for AP in Florida.

I can certainly understand why Tamara works down in Florida. The news certainly has more of a flair than it does in Vermont. For instance, I'm not aware of any alligator pool parties in the Green Mountain State.

Cow plop contests, yes, but no alligators

I do have some questions on this alligator party idea.  Maybe Tamara can follow up and answer them.

Does the alligator pool party gig cost an arm and a leg?   BA DUM DUM.

I also wonder if  small alligators in a swimming pool send the wrong message? "Daddy, let's get some bigger ones! Timmy's been picking on me, maybe he'll want to swim with a big one!"

Does chlorine get blood out of pool water?

What other animals could we dump into swimming pools to liven up the party atmosphere?  Jelly fish are good if you want to get late staying guests to leave. Just push them in the pool when you start to yawn. They'll leave in a hurry.

Does anyone in Florida have a swimming pool big enough for sharks? That would make for an interesting party, too.  Manatees would be fun, but what do you feed them? Do they eat birthday cake?

Even if the alligators or other animals don't eat the children, there are other obligations. What if they poop in the pool? I guess that's manageable, because kids do, too, I suppose.

Here in Vermont, tropical creatures won't work at pool parties. It's too cold. I'm wondering what dangerous types of animals we could use, to get a similar business going here. Porcupines and skunks at a pool party, anyone?

The Great Car Talk Bad Pun Employee Roster

One of the joys of the NPR show "Car Talk" is the employee credits at the end. They make up ridiculous job titles, and bad puns for the names of these employees.

Tom and Ray Magliozzi, the Car Talk guys, have
an incredible roster of aptly named employees.

For instance, we all know the law firm they rely upon is Dewey Cheatham and Howe. Their Russian chauffer is Pikov Andropov.

Now, in the interest of public service, Click and Clack have listed everybody who has ever worked at their headquarters at Car Talk Plaza. There's hundreds of 'em. It's a fantastic time waster if you like silly, groaner puns like me.

Some of my favorites out of the list of hundreds include:

Local News Reporter: Phil Mataleven
Anger Management Coach: Kirsten Hollered.
Bail Bond Provider: Freida Gogh.
Chief Accountant: Candace B. Rittenoff
Chief Information Officer: Otto Delupe
Children's Music Programmer: Al Lowetta
Conflict Resolution Specialist: Hugo Origo.
Corporate Spokesman: Hugh Lyon Sak
Director of Country Music: Stan Beyerman
Book Reviewer: Odessa Paige Turner
Emergency Preparedness Director: Ron Lykell
Lighting Director: Shanda Lear
Martial Arts Trainer: Anita Degroine
Pedestrian Advocate: Jay Walker
Press Secretary: Don B Zonozzi
Second shift meteorologist: Claudio Vernite

Feel free, readers, to make up your own names of people to match their corresponding jobs.

Typhoon Sends Car Flying in Okinawa

I shouldn't have complained about the dark, chilly, drizzly, rainy, foggy weather that gripped Vermont all weekend, blocking views of the fall foliage and prompting me to turn on the heat in my house for the first time this season.

It could have been worse. Okinawa, Japan dealt with Typhoon Jelawat, which, as typhoons do, caused a lot of wind, to say the least. Below is a video that shows how the wind affected an Okinawa parking lot. Those light weight cars don't do well in typhoons, apparently. Video credit goes to JD Keeling.

Typhoon Jelawat might have its last laugh here in Vermont. Usually about 10 days after Japan gets a nasty typhoon in the autumn, weather patterns are affected and we get a cold wave here.  Long range forecasts suggest it will snow the middle of next week. (eek!)

Meanwhile, be glad you weren't in the white car in the video:

Ig Nobel Prizes is an Annual Joy

A week or so ago, one of the annual joys of the season came with   announcement of the Ig Nobel Prizes.

Here are some of the highlights:

A winner holding an Ig Nobel prize

The psychology prize went to scientists who figured out why leaning to the left makes the Eiffel Tower look smaller. It's magic! The only question is, are you supposed to lean left physically or politically to have this effect on the Eiffel Tower?  

The Acoustics prize went to a gadget that disrupts people's  speech by making them hear their own words at a slight delay. The effect makes them shut up, it seems. Ohh, this gadget would sell like hot cakes, let me tell you. Well, I can't tell you, because I think my speech is being disrupted by the device.

The Chemistry Prize was for  figuring out why people's hair turned green in some houses in the town of Anderslov, Sweden. It turns out copper accumulates in the water inside the pipes overnight because they aren't coated adequately. Then again, I see a lot of people who intentionally dye their hair green, so this could be the start of a fashion trend.

I can see the youngsters all headed to Anderslov to get green hair. This could be the next Burning Man.

The prizes had a literature award winner for the U.S. General Accounting Office which wrote, as the Ig Nobel officials said, the US Government General Accountability Office, for issuing a report about reports about reports that recommends the preparation of a report about the report about reports about reports.

Is it now necessary for me to report that the Ig Nobel report on the report is reportedly confusing?

Here's a project for readers? Who would you nominate for an Ig Nobel prize and for what reason should they receive it?