The Off Topic Topic

[fhdz]

This morning, a gentleman in his 60s came into the office to discuss his health insurance coverage, what he owed, and how much of his deductible he still had to pay. One of our customer service guys, a middle-aged black man known as "Dappy Dan" because of how well he dresses, went through everything with him.

As he left, our receptionist, a young black man who is very chipper and pleasant, kindly asked him if everything worked out for him. To which the gentleman replied - directly to both men helping him - that he "had enough left to buy a basketball and a watermelon with", and then stormed out, smirking.

WTF??

Wow.

[CountDeMoney]

Wow.

The struggle continues.  Always will.

[HVC]

This morning, a gentleman in his 60s came into the office to discuss his health insurance coverage, what he owed, and how much of his deductible he still had to pay. One of our customer service guys, a middle-aged black man known as "Dappy Dan" because of how well he dresses, went through everything with him.

As he left, our receptionist, a young black man who is very chipper and pleasant, kindly asked him if everything worked out for him. To which the gentleman replied - directly to both men helping him - that he "had enough left to buy a basketball and a watermelon with", and then stormed out, smirking.

WTF??

Wow.

growing up i had a neighbour who called his grandson "pau queimado" (burnt stick). He loved the kid (less so his son in law) but his racism was so ingrained it came out at odd moments.

[11B4V]

Victory for the 4th?

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/17/justice/court-drunk-drive/index.html?hpt=us_c2

[Razgovory]

It's Bou-shay.

Is it Louisville or Lewisville?

Louisville.

There's a Versailles, Missouri pronounced "Ver-sails".

They stole that from Versailles Ohio.

They would have required a time machine to do it.

[Neil]

Pfft, The Guardian has been experiencing increased traffic since The Times went behind a paywall.

I wonder how that works out for them, whether the money they pull in from getting suckers to pay them is more than they would get from selling every square inch of the screen for ads?

The problem is newspapers, generally, aren't seeing much revenue in the form of ads on their websites

To be sure.  Ad-blockers have proliferated amongst all but the most inept users, and they've tried to arrange their pages to milk the other users as much as possible (spreading a story over four pages to get the views up, and the opportunity to click with them).  But are they getting much revenue out of a paywall, trying to sell people what everyone else is giving away for free?

[HVC]

.  But are they getting much revenue out of a paywall, trying to sell people what everyone else is giving away for free?

works for prostitutes, why not paper?

[Josephus]

Pfft, The Guardian has been experiencing increased traffic since The Times went behind a paywall.

I wonder how that works out for them, whether the money they pull in from getting suckers to pay them is more than they would get from selling every square inch of the screen for ads?

The problem is newspapers, generally, aren't seeing much revenue in the form of ads on their websites

To be sure.  Ad-blockers have proliferated amongst all but the most inept users, and they've tried to arrange their pages to milk the other users as much as possible (spreading a story over four pages to get the views up, and the opportunity to click with them).  But are they getting much revenue out of a paywall, trying to sell people what everyone else is giving away for free?

No. I think paywalls are a last ditch attempt by newspapers to save themselves.

[Caliga]

Toyota to build Lexus in Kentucky, add 750 jobs
Updated 6:29 am, Friday, April 19, 2013

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (AP) — Toyota will start building the Lexus ES 350 at its Georgetown, Ky. plant in 2015, producing the luxury brand for the first time in the United States.

The Japanese car company said Friday that the Georgetown plant will build about 50,000 of the vehicles each year, creating 750 new jobs.

The Georgetown plant currently assembles the Camry, Avalon and Venza models as well as their hybrid counterparts. The plant employs about 6,600 people.

Toyota said it will invest $360 million to build the Lexus assembly line, boosting Georgetown's annual vehicle production to 550,000 a year.

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority approved $146.5 million in state tax incentives on Wednesday to help with the cost of the expansion.

That's what being in a state extremely hostile to organized labor gets you.

[Grey Fox]

How much does those job pay outside of the Unions salary scales?

[derspiess]

Toyota to build Lexus in Kentucky, add 750 jobs
Updated 6:29 am, Friday, April 19, 2013

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (AP) — Toyota will start building the Lexus ES 350 at its Georgetown, Ky. plant in 2015, producing the luxury brand for the first time in the United States.

The Japanese car company said Friday that the Georgetown plant will build about 50,000 of the vehicles each year, creating 750 new jobs.

The Georgetown plant currently assembles the Camry, Avalon and Venza models as well as their hybrid counterparts. The plant employs about 6,600 people.

Toyota said it will invest $360 million to build the Lexus assembly line, boosting Georgetown's annual vehicle production to 550,000 a year.

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority approved $146.5 million in state tax incentives on Wednesday to help with the cost of the expansion.

That's what being in a state extremely hostile to organized labor gets you.

  The plant manager (or spokesman or somesuch) came & gave a talk to my ECON class way back when I was at Marshall.  This was just a few months after the Georgetown plant opened.  My first question to him was if they had any plans to build any Lexus models there & he said that was something he was pushing for and thought maybe that would happen a couple years.  Turns out it took 20.

[Ed Anger]

Honda's Marysville plant is a beast.

I want to watch Gung Ho now.

[Caliga]

How much does those job pay outside of the Unions salary scales?

*shrug* I dunno, but it's better than being unemployed.

[derspiess]

growing up i had a neighbour who called his grandson "pau queimado" (burnt stick). He loved the kid (less so his son in law) but his racism was so ingrained it came out at odd moments.

Don't know about porkchops, but other Latin types say things that would sound racist to us but are not in their own cultural context.  In Argentina at least if you have a family member with dark features, he/she is el negro/la negra but that's very much a term of affection.

My father in law was describing my mulatito nephew to my son and said he was "like a monkey", but only meant that he lived on the edge of a jungle (true) and was very adept at climbing trees (true).  Ziggy isn't treated any differently than the other grandkids.  He's a cute kid, if a bit rambunctious.

[Barrister]

Victory for the 4th?

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/17/justice/court-drunk-drive/index.html?hpt=us_c2

And a loss for society at large.