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Defective GM Struts

:: Tags: Rants, WTF!!

Being a car guy with multiple certifications in automotive technology, I should know that trying to tell a Dealership that there’s a defective part on your car is a waste of time. The problem isn’t that I had defective front struts, but that the dealer wouldn’t admit that there was a problem with them until they were out of warranty. Once they’re no longer covered under the factory warranty, then they are happy to replace them… at $1,800.00 each! The lesson learned here is to have your new vehicle checked out by an independent shop from time to time, even while it’s under warranty… it’s always a good idea to get a second opinion.

Blown Up Compressor!

:: Tags: Rants, WTF!!

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I was startled out of my early morning pre-coffee comma by what sounded like a bomb exploding in the back supply room at work. Looks like the shop will be needing a replacement air compressor for the new year! Cant say I’ve ever seen one come apart like this before, but I was assured that the oil was changed in it less than a month ago…!?
(View Photos, Slideshows, Videos & More»)

Craigslist Scams…

:: Tags: Rants, Scams

I’ll start off by saying that I use Craigslist quite a bit and truly believe that it is a very useful resource for both buying and selling of goods online. However, there are people in this world who choose to use the site for the reason of illegal personal gain… yes people, we’re talking about scam artists!

Just recently, I posted an underwater camera system for sale on Craigslist and I was truly taken in by the results. For every good response to the ad, I received at least ten emails from scammers who wanted me to ship the camera system overseas to a third party; Most often stating they would include a large sum of additional payment for the shipping and all of them requested to pay via Paypal.

Maybe you’ve heard of this scam before… these people target Craigslist sellers by using Paypal to initiate payment and then canceling (or disputing) the payment once the item has been shipped off to West Africa. My understanding is that the scammers have people working for them in the USPS office’s in Nigeria and they make sure that the packages don’t get returned to the sender when the deal falls through! This is a warning to anyone who uses Craigslist to sell items! It seems that the scammers mostly target the ad’s for expensive electronics (laptops, cameras, cellphones, etc.)

NOTE: Be advised that scammers most often use fictitious names for their email correspondence, but they have also been known to use real individuals names, like yours and mine, they have stolen from the Web. For this reason, the names and email addresses contained in this article do NOT represent real law abiding individuals!

Here are a few examples of actual emails I’ve received from scammers: (View Photos, Slideshows, Videos & More»)

Ocean Oil Drilling…

:: Tags: Environment, Rants

I received this in an email the other day and thought it interesting enough to write a post about it. It seems that the United States Government (a.k.a. President George Bush) has decided to start drilling holes in the bottom of the ocean again in search of more oil. The ocean is what keeps this planet and us alive… if we keep drilling holes in it and releasing pollutants into it we are going to kill it and inevitably kill ourselves! Isn’t our climate and this planet as a whole screwed up enough?! Let Bush know where we stand on this issue!!


An email from Ocean Conservancy on offshore oil drilling.

Photo Editing Colour Spaces

:: Tags: Photo, Rants

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I know this is probably not a subject that most people care about and even less want to read about, but I have come across a situation where I feel the need to clarify what most professional photographers already know. I was recently asked to ‘proof’ a collection of pictures online… after viewing over 1000 images I was flat out depressed! The saturation levels for all the images were way too high… at least that’s what it looked like on the three different monitors I use for digital photo editing. “How could that be” you ask…!?!

In the world of computer graphics and digital photography, all computer monitors and working color spaces are not created equally. Let me reemphasize this… just because a jpeg (compressed image file) looks good on your color computer monitor at home, that doesn’t mean that it is going to look good on mine. Hell, what you see on your screen may look completely different once you print it out on that expensive new photo printer you just bought! Why… you ask? Because most people don’t calibrate & profile their output devices for color… that’s why!
(View Photos, Slideshows, Videos & More»)

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