Russian Cat Lady

oh to be the person living below her...

help the iraq.

oh. my. god. watch the host's face when they pan out. (i believe its ac slater)

The Scarn Ultimatum - the Office v3 - Final Cut

photoshoppin

i love photoshop, i do, i use it all the time. maybe im a photoshop addict. using it is just part of my job. anyway.. check out some amazing photoshop retouches of celebrities, iwanexstudio.com. what a difference in the before and afters. some looked better before me thinks.

MST3K - What To Do On A Date

Daily Show Operation Fluffy Bunny

Yes, Iraq is just like an Indiana market in the summer.

YUM

waaaaay better than starbucks' mocha frappuccino. and doesn't sound as stupid as 'frappuccino'.

credit card minimums

today at lunch i encountered an incident regarding 'minimum transaction amounts' that some stores/restaurants require to process a credit card. Usually its no less than $2 or $5. I had heard that they actually can't do that. The situation wasn't resolved very happily on the restaurant's part and it motivated me to google it. (im an eager researcher) Sure enough, it's a violation of the major credit card companies' agreements with the merchants to impose a minimum charge amount.

The Consumerist wrote a very lengthy and complete article regarding this fact. There are links to the credit card companies' merchant agreements that very clearly state that merchants cannot require minimum charges.

Mastercard states: 9.12.3 Minimum/Maximum Transaction Amount Prohibited
A merchant must not require, or post signs indicating that it requires, a minimum or maximum transaction amount to accept a valid MasterCard card.

Visa states: Dollar Minimums and Maximums - Always honor valid Visa cards, in your acceptance category, regardless of the dollar amount of the purchase. Imposing minimum or maximum purchase amounts is a violation.

Discover states: 3.6 Minimum/Maximum Dollar Limits and Other Limits You may not require that any Cardmember make a minimum dollar purchase in order to use a Card and, other than when we have not authorized a Cardmember's transaction, you may not limit the maximum amount that a Cardmember may spend when using a Card.

So there! Maybe the stores need a gentle reminder of the agreement they made with the credit card companies when they started accepting the cards. I understand that there is a fee that the merchant must pay per transaction, and I do try to impose my own limit.. Perhaps the merchants need to band together to lower the per-transaction fees on the smaller amount charges.

wpm

see how fast you can type, labs.jphantom.com/wpm. (hint, you have to correct any mistakes to continue the test)
My best was 110.92 wpm with no mistakes. Ok, really I just wanted to brag...

ugghhh

anyone who knows me knows that I am terrified of snakes. I love animals*, but something about snakes just completely freaks me out. They have no legs! They have sharp sometimes poisonous teeth! They can slither into your house through little holes and you dont even know it until its strangling you with its giant muscular body.. anyway.. More proof that snakes are evil. They can bite you even when they are DEAD. that's not right...

*honestly, I really do love most animals, and value animal life often times more than human.. but i won't budge on the snakes.. they leave me alone and i leave them alone. its a nice compromise.

George Carlin: education and the owners of America

a little subversiveness for your friday morning. george carlin is spot on.

hungry hungry hippo

this is so cute. i plan to post more non-harry potter related entries soon, i promise.