I'm venting!!

[YWD67]

Tater, I agree that yous should find another place to live.
This is not a prediction but a statement of fact of what will happen.

Within the next 2-3 months (if not sooner) the two couples will be at each others throats over a clash a personalities.

Believe me you do not want to be in the middle of it when it happens either trust me.

Being the odd man (woman) out, they will use you as a referee to settle any and all disbutes from house hold chours, bills, right down to someone not flushing the toilet.

There will no satisfing either side either. What ever you say or do the other couple will accuse you of taking the others side.
This set up is not going to be anything like the tv show friends.
Rather, WW III is on it's way so, "GET THE FUCK OUT NOW!!!!"

[Potato]

Originally Posted by Signa

@ tater. I told my parents that if they had another kid, I'd move out. They did and I didn't. Turns out that the new kid is awesome. He just turned 3 yesterday, and he's still mostly a pleasure to have around.

I'm not saying you should stay, but things might not be as bad as you assume they are going to be. Besides, you can be a pain in the ass to the room mate that was picking out furniture.

Thanks, but no thanks. I don't want to live with two couples. The guys basically live here on weekends as it is, and I hate it.


@ YWD67: They're the most passive aggressive people on the planet. That almost makes things worse.


I've wanted to move for a while, and this is basically a nice shove out the door. While my checkbook might not like it as much, my sanity certainly will.

[El Comandante]

Right now I'm in shock. I just got a ticket from Los Angeles County for running a red light on Van Nuys Boulevard in North Hollywood. Apparently a red light camera took the picture and the ticket was mailed to me a month latter. I was in a rental car. It looks like I made a right hand turn without coming to a complete stop.

The ticket is for $436 bucks!! WTF!! This is beyond the pale ... ridiculous..... I can't even fight the damn thing because it's a criminal misdemeanor... I need to hire a lawyer to make an appearance and enter a plea (it will cost $1,500).

So now I need to pay for the ticket + traffic school + an added traffic school fee $64.00...How do people live with this kind of abuse? I can understand a stiff fine but this is ridiculous.

[RACKnRAIL]

Originally Posted by El Comandante

Right now I'm in shock. I just got a ticket from Los Angeles County for running a red light on Van Nuys Boulevard in North Hollywood. Apparently a red light camera took the picture and the ticket was mailed to me a month latter. I was in a rental car. It looks like I made a right hand turn without coming to a complete stop.

The ticket is for $436 bucks!! WTF!! This is beyond the pale ... ridiculous..... I can't even fight the damn thing because it's a criminal misdemeanor... I need to hire a lawyer to make an appearance and enter a plea (it will cost $1,500).

So now I need to pay for the ticket + traffic school + an added traffic school fee $64.00...How do people live with this kind of abuse? I can understand a stiff fine but this is ridiculous.

I had one of those about a two years ago. I was pulled over by a traffic cop. I agrued that I did stop, but he said I didn't stop long enough. I was so pissed I decided to fight it. It took almost a year to come up, but I won. The fine was $197 plus points on my license. It doesn't sound like you have a leg to stand on, as it is out of state and not worth the hassle.

[evilmegaman]

Originally Posted by El Comandante

Right now I'm in shock. I just got a ticket from Los Angeles County for running a red light on Van Nuys Boulevard in North Hollywood. Apparently a red light camera took the picture and the ticket was mailed to me a month latter. I was in a rental car. It looks like I made a right hand turn without coming to a complete stop.

The ticket is for $436 bucks!! WTF!! This is beyond the pale ... ridiculous..... I can't even fight the damn thing because it's a criminal misdemeanor... I need to hire a lawyer to make an appearance and enter a plea (it will cost $1,500).

So now I need to pay for the ticket + traffic school + an added traffic school fee $64.00...How do people live with this kind of abuse? I can understand a stiff fine but this is ridiculous.

jesus. that's friggin ridiculous.

I had to go through some similar shit :(

how else is the government going to pay for their fancy black cars

[Potato]

$436 for that? Wow.... :(

[Signa]

Originally Posted by El Comandante

Right now I'm in shock. I just got a ticket from Los Angeles County for running a red light on Van Nuys Boulevard in North Hollywood. Apparently a red light camera took the picture and the ticket was mailed to me a month latter. I was in a rental car. It looks like I made a right hand turn without coming to a complete stop.

The ticket is for $436 bucks!! WTF!! This is beyond the pale ... ridiculous..... I can't even fight the damn thing because it's a criminal misdemeanor... I need to hire a lawyer to make an appearance and enter a plea (it will cost $1,500).

So now I need to pay for the ticket + traffic school + an added traffic school fee $64.00...How do people live with this kind of abuse? I can understand a stiff fine but this is ridiculous.

Um, as I understand it, a static camera can not catch you for a moving violation because the cameras don't capture video. I assume it was standard camera that takes a couple shots, and they mailed them to you?

[YWD67]

More and more municipalities are going to camera cop systems.
They are finding that these type of systems can be quite the cash cow in terms of revenue in a shrinking tax base.
Of course government officials who rave about these systems state that the system is meant as a way to cut down on accidents and increase driver awareness and not the generation of funds.

The big dollar potential of these systems has some
city and county governments rethinking how they issue citations.
In most states, a city or county law enforcement agency usually issues citations for violation of state statues.
When this type of citation is issued, the state gets the lions share of the fine which is about 80 percent.

Some local governments are using their own ordinances when issuing these violations. By doing so the can collect more of the fines for themselves. In fact some cities have fines that are double or triple those of the state.

The best thing municipalites love about these systems is they don't have to do a damn thing but watch the money roll in.
A vast majority of these camera cop systems are installed, ran and maintained by the company that makes them.
They usual receive a percentage of the fines collected.
So when these systems are programed and a questionable violation is detected by these automated systems, what do yoy think the company is going to decide?
(A) Give the driver the benifit of the doubt.
(B) Issue a citation?

The biggest draw at state and local government convevtions as of late has been the the automative traffic enforcement industry.

Their slogan: No fuss, no muss. Leave the citation writing to us.

[El Comandante]

Originally Posted by Signa

Um, as I understand it, a static camera can not catch you for a moving violation because the cameras don't capture video. I assume it was standard camera that takes a couple shots, and they mailed them to you?

They take several photos.... behind the line .... over the line ... the tag and also a picture of your face (they have to prove that it was you).... They provide the timing for the photos as well as the yellow time and red time. You can log into their website and watch the full video.

At almost $500 bucks a pop this has to be an enormous revenue generator.

[RACKnRAIL]

Originally Posted by El Comandante

At almost $500 bucks a pop this has to be an enormous revenue generator.

Those high end cameras cost big bucks.

[Signa]

I wonder how easy it would be to snipe them out from afar. I'd love to see some campaign to do that. I swear I hear of people getting nailed unjustly with those things FAR more than what is reasonable. I know people aren't going to easily admit they were wrong, but my brother was telling me how many UPS drivers got nailed when their bumper was sticking out too far because the traffic stopped as they were crossing the intersection. Though they were clear, they weren't clear enough for the cameras.

[Mels_Smileys45]

Charter changed my download speed and did not even tell me! NOT ONE WORD EVEN. I did have the 1.5M down package I think and I sometimes pulled around 1.9M on burst but only when I could find a DL that could go that fast. Today I am pulling 2.6M when I am pulling in 5 torrents at once. Its staying in the 2.4 to 2.6M and I am wondering what my speed cap may be. I saw a TV ad saying that Charter how upgraded many people to a faster service but they did not give much info on the TV ad. Perhaps they ( Charter ) does not want me to know about this! Its VERY nice but I would like more info.


Anyone out there know the dealio?

[RACKnRAIL]

Hardly a vent, Mels. I came here expecting some rant about something like a huge shart in your pants and I get more internet bandwidth instead. Geez!

[Mels_Smileys45]

Originally Posted by RACKnRAIL

Hardly a vent, Mels. I came here expecting some rant about something like a huge shart in your pants and I get more internet bandwidth instead. Geez!

Well they should have informed me so I could have tried to download more!

Here is the VENT...They DID NOT increase my upload speed at all and I like to share my wares with my buds. The other BIG provider here in town is giving 25G up and DOWN and I think that is how it should work. Both should be the same or the fast speed has a bottle neck when it comes to packet checking or keeping up a ratio for the people who use the "members only" sites. VENT VENT VENT! Give me and everyone else 25G upload speeds! Oh what a wonderful world it would be!!! Could you imagine that? Every download would go balls to the wall fast and your hard drive would melt once a week if you were not careful to keep it cool!! Soon perhaps we may all get those fast upload speeds. If I did not owe that other provider money already I might switch.


25G's up would make us all shart for joy!!!!!

[Excrement_Cranium]

Originally Posted by El Comandante

They take several photos.... behind the line .... over the line ... the tag and also a picture of your face (they have to prove that it was you).... They provide the timing for the photos as well as the yellow time and red time. You can log into their website and watch the full video.

At almost $500 bucks a pop this has to be an enormous revenue generator.

I got called a few years ago by a "collection agency" trying to collect on a ticket in my name for Wasco County, Oregon. They said I had some traffic ticket there.

At the time, I had no freaking idea where the fuck Wasco County was. Add to that, the collection agency used one of those Indian call centers.

Where the shit fell through though, is when the caller stated that "this was while you were living in Kennewick, Washington."

"Kennewick? Fuck you bitch! Never lived there, ever. Ever."

I asked her to repeat my information - to which she said "You confirmed it at the beginning of the call."

"Bitch, you didn't confirm any Kennewick address now or in the last 5 years, and I have no fucking clue where Wasco County is, and I've never been pulled over there, fuck off!"


Turns out, though, that I pass through Wasco County all the time on my way to my Father-in-law's in Yamhill County, Oregon.

Now, had they said Yamhill County - yeah, been pulled over there, but was ever ticketed.

That one phone call was the only I ever heard of it.