The new chat thread - now with bitter arguing

[Salamurhaaja]

They started showing Torchwood (Doctor Who spin off for those who care)
here today and I'm fairly happy as it seems to be a rather good show. Of
course it's BBC, so it's not edited all to hell and retains some "natural" feeling
with the lighting and sets. If you hate american shows check this one out,
it's rather different. Of course the style might take a while to get used to if
you haven't seen it before, I fortunately grew up on BBC scifi.

 

[hyena]

waking up at 5.30am = stupid. i'm going to be knackered all day.

 

[Kovenant84]

Hehe, I wake up at 5 every morning

Except for today. And now, #1 on my "oh-gosh-do-they-cause-me-frustration" list [censored for Homeland inSecurity], is the Post Office. Damn dude tells us end of May, "Sorry, but we can't guarantee you'll get your passports, even if you expedite it - you have to wait until you have 14 days left, and then call the regional center and set up an appointment to have them rush it in 2-3 days." Sounds reasonable. And then that whole shit with the backlog hits the fan, and I'm calling about every hour, unable to get onto a goddamn automated call center, only to finally get through on Saturday, and find that there are no appointments available for the next two weeks. And we fly on Thursday. [SOUNDS OF ANGER] So I call the airline. They say, "Oh, you just need the receipt they give you now, thanks to the relaxed restrictions." Great! So I go back this morning to put everything through. Response? "Uh, no? You get the receipt online after you get put in the system, which can take up to 3 weeks. [Data entry FTW!]" So we just blew about $350.00 to get this shit expedited through a service to have the passports by Wednesday at 11 am.

And I had to show up to work 3.5 hours late, because the fuckers aren't open on weekends.

~kov.

 

[Dark_Silence]

Kov: that sucks... Paperwork for passes are always a pain in the ass to do... but here it becomes ridiculous how it isnt well orginised...
W
hen i wanted my visa for the USA, after i came into the embassy (after they took fringer print, searched if i had nothing dangerous on me, and given my cell phone to someone to keep it), they made me go and get a new picture because mine wasnt in american ID format... no one does that format in Belgium, exept maybe for a photograph who installed his studio in the same street as the embassy (he has to be rich by now )
where are you flying to?

 

[RampageSword]

I spent the past four days doing a roadtrip with three of my buddies. We toured a little our province, shooting at the same time a fictional documentary (real documentary with a main "character" being fictional) and finished on Québec city's Plaines d'Abraham to celebrate the St-Jean Baptiste. I will try and write down the a long version but right now I can say it was a memorable event.

 

[plintus]

Trying to get more details about iPhone, as I'm planning to pick one up this Friday.

No one has any information about hoiw they are going to market it, whether there's going to be a mandatory data plan subscription and shit, I'm kinda frustrated, but whatever.

I'm taking Thursday off, heading to the beach and coming back Friday morning to be in town only to catch iPhone "premiere".

 

[Lina]

So we just blew about $350.00 to get this shit expedited through a service to have the passports by Wednesday at 11 am.

I had to do that too, a few years ago. The night before my trip to Romania, I discovered my passport had expired 10 days earlier. Got to the passport office (maybe being in D.C. makes it easier? not sure.) at, like, 5:00 a.m. and had a passport by 8:00.

I read today that E.U. residents will have to give all 10 fingerprints now when entering the U.S., instead of the two prints currently required.

Rahvin, did you have to give 2 prints? I don't remember that.

 

[plintus]

Finding out that your main travel document expired the night before - that's just fucking classic You all are fucking spoiled with these fucking local IDs and shit, truly so.

Ughi was trying to get to Europe through London, like he did 2 years ago, but this time they required transit visa for him to change planes (1 hour in between at Heathrow). So he never left the country.

Get a fucking grip on reality already, bitches. Do you need a fucking tour manager to keep all your shit together?

har-har-har

 

[rahvin]

Rahvin, did you have to give 2 prints? I don't remember that.

Both index fingers every time, yes. Personally, I didn't mind that at all and I think all 10 fingerprints is a perfectly reasonable request. Only the questions are stupid - and a time sink. Catching someone in a lie or an inconsistency proves nothing, for a start, and international terrorists will likely spend a minute or two to get their stories straight before entering the country anyway.

 

[plintus]

Better be safe than sorry.

 

[hyena]

@plintus: what's so cool about iPhones?

nf: LAST DAY AT WORK UNTIL JULY 10TH. YES. YES. YES.

 

[Taliesin]

I think all 10 fingerprints is a perfectly reasonable request.

Ive never been to the US, but I find the idea of being treated like an average criminal offensive. Im not sure if the new generation of ID cards will feature finger prints or not, talk is that they will, because of US pressure and to make travelling there easier, but I dont think Im willing to give them. The more talk there is about terror, the more we move towards a situation where the average citizen needs to prove he's innocent instead of anyone proving any guilt and it's beginning to really irk me. But either way, I doubt I'll ever see american soil in my lifetime anyway

 

[Kovenant84]

But either way, I doubt I'll ever see american soil in my lifetime anyway

I could mail you some...

And I'm headed to Canada on Thursday for a cousin's wedding. Ordinarily, I understand the processes and I'm pretty forgiving with city bureaucracies, but this would have been infinitely easier if they weren't changing the rules every week.

~kov.

 

[rahvin]

Ive never been to the US, but I find the idea of being treated like an average criminal offensive.

I would consider painful or vexing procedures of identification being treated like a criminal, but not having my fingerprints taken. If you think about it, they're not exerting anymore coercion than when they take a full frontal picture for a photo ID. They're not keeping you locked in a room for hours, and they're not investigating private details of your life (that they'll do when you're gone ). Maybe I'm just accustomed to bureaucracy.

 

[Taliesin]

If you think about it, they're not exerting anymore coercion than when they take a full frontal picture for a photo ID.

If you think about it, criminals dont leave their photo ID around, they leave their finger prints.
With your kind of argumentation, we could also leave DNA samples, IQ or even penis length, while we're at it. It all creates the "transparent citizen", a vision that gives our rightwing minister of homeland affairs wet dreams, Im sure, and probably not just him.
I have a right to privacy and I count my finger prints in that, as well as IQ and penis size, thank you very much. The lethargy with which some people (not just rahvin to be sure) face the taking away of their rights is nothing but scary.

 

[rahvin]

If you think about it, criminals dont leave their photo ID around, they leave their finger prints.

It's certainly not the only other thing they leave, which is why I mentioned that the current procedures ask neither to endure pain nor abnormal stress.

With your kind of argumentation, we could also leave DNA samples, IQ or even penis length, while we're at it. It all creates the "transparent citizen", a vision that gives our rightwing minister of homeland affairs wet dreams, Im sure, and probably not just him.

I abhor the idea of having wet dreams concerning anything where penis length is involved, but I don't find this kind of transparency that scary. It's also probably not a matter of what the government knows but what it's willing to admit it knows, I suppose.

 

[Taliesin]

It's also probably not a matter of what the government knows but what it's willing to admit it knows, I suppose.

Very good point, yet all the more reason not to give them any more willingly

 

[Siren]

I could mail you some...

Har har. You just won +20 coolness points in my book.

(why the heck do i laugh like plintus?)

we could also leave ... even penis length

I'm sure this measure will never pass. World's men will unite and object against it.

 

[plintus]

@plintus: what's so cool about iPhones?

It's hard to explain, since I'm about to drool and stay completely incoherent

I'd say everything, but just watch their presentation video.

The BESTESTEST part was revealed today around 9 AM - plans. For $80 you get 900 minutes, unlimited data plan (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and 200 SMS (in comparison: 900 regular minutes cost 60 + unimited data is around 50 and you have to pay extra for SMS... best deal ever, now that I need it, too).

My old cell is 3 years old, and I was shopping around for a Blackberry for a while. Sicne iPhone is such a cool gadget (even though not that business model I had in mind) and the plans are so affordable, I'm picking up one... if they have anything in stock this week :S

 

[GONE Ridin' Hood]

Just saw Michael Moore's new film, SiCKO, quite amusing and interesting, as usual .

Notcie which country was above the US in the list?