News of the Weird

[FrankZappa]

Best Buy Loses Laptop: Owner Sues... for $54 Million


http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/72016

Don\'t dismiss Raelyn Campbell as a crackpot. Not yet. Listen to her story, and then decide if she\'s doing the right thing by asking Best Buy to compensate her to the tune of $54 million for a laptop that went missing when she took it in to Best Buy for repair under the store\'s own extended warranty.

Like many people, Campbell bought an extended warranty for her laptop when she bought it from Best Buy, and she took advantage of that when the power button broke off after a year. Best Buy accepted the machine for repair and said it would be ready in two to six weeks. But six weeks passed and the computer wasn\'t ready. After three months of ruthlessly hounding the company, Best Buy finally admitted it couldn\'t find the machine.

Ultimately, Best Buy offered to pay her $900 for losing the machine... as a gift card. She countered that it had originally cost over $1,100, not to mention all her data that was now gone for good. She demanded $2,100, and Best Buy simply ignored her.

At this point, Campbell was made aware that all her personal data on the machine could lead to a major identity theft issue, though Best Buy never filed their legally required notice that she was at risk. That was the last straw, and she filed suit for $54 million, representing herself. Best Buy has since upped its offer to a total of $4,100 if she withdraws the case. She says she doesn\'t expect to win, but wants to go to court anyway to force Best Buy to explain how her laptop was lost.

I have to agree that $54 million seems wildly optimistic, but it\'s amazing to hear how smug Best Buy has been throughout this process. Lowball, "go-away" offers that don\'t even value property properly, much less the value of the data inside it, are frankly embarrassing, and good for Campbell for making an issue out of it... even if she doesn\'t ultimately prevail.

[derickw]

Best Buy Loses Laptop: Owner Sues... for $54 Million


http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/72016

Don\'t dismiss Raelyn Campbell as a crackpot. Not yet. Listen to her story, and then decide if she\'s doing the right thing by asking Best Buy to compensate her to the tune of $54 million for a laptop that went missing when she took it in to Best Buy for repair under the store\'s own extended warranty.

Like many people, Campbell bought an extended warranty for her laptop when she bought it from Best Buy, and she took advantage of that when the power button broke off after a year. Best Buy accepted the machine for repair and said it would be ready in two to six weeks. But six weeks passed and the computer wasn\'t ready. After three months of ruthlessly hounding the company, Best Buy finally admitted it couldn\'t find the machine.

Ultimately, Best Buy offered to pay her $900 for losing the machine... as a gift card. She countered that it had originally cost over $1,100, not to mention all her data that was now gone for good. She demanded $2,100, and Best Buy simply ignored her.

At this point, Campbell was made aware that all her personal data on the machine could lead to a major identity theft issue, though Best Buy never filed their legally required notice that she was at risk. That was the last straw, and she filed suit for $54 million, representing herself. Best Buy has since upped its offer to a total of $4,100 if she withdraws the case. She says she doesn\'t expect to win, but wants to go to court anyway to force Best Buy to explain how her laptop was lost.

I have to agree that $54 million seems wildly optimistic, but it\'s amazing to hear how smug Best Buy has been throughout this process. Lowball, "go-away" offers that don\'t even value property properly, much less the value of the data inside it, are frankly embarrassing, and good for Campbell for making an issue out of it... even if she doesn\'t ultimately prevail.

i\'d sue for that much. i would say all my photography was wiped away and there was no way to retrieve it. i bet she\'ll get a bunch for all this

[davepeck]

yeah, no. i don\'t think people (of sue-happy america) should be rewarded for being stupid shits and not backing up their important data. that\'s not best buy\'s fault.

the only part i disagree with here is offering her the money as a gift card. it also makes no mention of how old the computer is, but like cars, computers depreciate in value. chances are, her $1100 computer isn\'t worth $1100 anymore.

[derickw]

yeah, no. i don\'t think people (of sue-happy america) should be rewarded for being stupid shits and not backing up their important data. that\'s not best buy\'s fault.

the only part i disagree with here is offering her the money as a gift card. it also makes no mention of how old the computer is, but like cars, computers depreciate in value. chances are, her $1100 computer isn\'t worth $1100 anymore.

but how pissed would you be if one night you turned off your computer like any other day thinking, i\'ll just save that stuff tomorrow. Wake up to your comp not even being able to be turned on. now give it to the "repair" guys and never get it back. I\'m sure you would be more than 1000 dollars pissed.......

[Todd]

Like many people, Campbell bought an extended warranty for her laptop when she bought it from Best Buy, and she took advantage of that when the power button broke off after a year.

It was only a year old. They should have given her a new laptop of comparable specs. And, no, they aren\'t responsible to cover the costs of your data. Dave\'s right, if you don\'t back up your data...sorry Chip.

[FrankZappa]

yea, but the part that got me was the same as dave; total bs that they only offered her a gift card!

[jocelyn]

That and the fact that they never filed the legally required notice that she was at risk of identity theft!

[davepeck]

Wisconsin man guilty of dead deer sex

February 20, 2008
FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS

WAUSAU, Wis. — A state appeals court Wednesday upheld a Superior’s man conviction for having sex with a dead deer.

The 3rd District Court of Appeals rejected Bryan Hathaway’s argument that the charge should be dismissed because the law against committing an act of sexual gratification with animals does not apply if they are dead.

‘‘He rather convincingly contends that animal means a living creature,’’ Judge Gregory Peterson wrote. ‘‘However, Peterson pled no contest to the charge. A plea of guilty or no contest waives all nonjurisdictional defects and defenses.’’

Hathaway, 21, pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor a year ago and was sentenced to probation that required him to be evaluated as a sex offender.

In January, Douglas County Circuit Court Judge Michael Lucci sentenced him to nine months in jail for probation violations that included using alcohol and marijuana and having unapproved contact with a minor child.

Hathaway told investigators that he saw a dead deer in a ditch near Superior in fall 2006 as he rode a bicycle by it. He then dragged it into the woods and had sex with it.

‘‘When I was done, I was upset with myself,’’ Hathaway said in a statement to police. ‘‘I know having sex with animals is wrong. But I can’t help myself and I need help.’’

The appeals court ruled Wednesday that police properly obtained the incriminating statement from Hathaway, rejecting the claim that his constitutional rights were violated.

Hathaway was questioned because he was on probation and had returned to a transitional living program in Superior covered in hair and blood with a knife in his pocket, court records said.

Hathaway was found guilty in April 2005 of felony mistreatment of an animal after he killed a horse with the intention of having sex with it. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail and two years of extended supervision on that charge as well as six years of probation for taking and driving a vehicle without the owner’s consent.

Hathaway had just been released from prison for the killing the horse when the deer incident happened, court records said. Hathaway’s attorney, Jefren Olsen, did not immediately return a telephone message Wednesday.

[ds673488]

thats one of the best stories ive heard in this thread

[Vassillios]

That is just awful.

[davepeck]

thats one of the best stories ive heard in this thread

wait a minute, does the ds stand for deer sex?!? :wah:

[tyzack]

Wow

[just saying wow was too short, so here is a history of scrapple]

Scrapple is arguably the first pork food invented in America. The culinary ancestor of scrapple was the Low German dish called Panhas, which was adapted to make use of locally available ingredients. The first recipes were created more than two hundred years ago by colonists, who settled near Philadelphia and Chester County, Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Scrapple is strongly associated with Philadelphia and surrounding eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware. Among the Pennsylvania Dutch and in Appalachia, scrapple is known as pawn haas or pon haus, a term hailing back to the old German dish. It can be found in most supermarkets throughout this region in both fresh and frozen refrigerated cases. It can sometimes be found in cities farther from this area, even as far away as Los Angeles, in frozen form.

[davepeck]

Is this the scariest picture EVER of the Bride of Wildenstein?

 Last updated at 18:20pm on 20th February 2008    
 If proof were needed that money can\'t buy everything, look no further.

   
Rich divorcee Jocelyn Wildenstein spent a rumoured £2million on cosmetic surgery to keep her husband, but succeeded only in ruining the good looks she was born with.


Clearly her strange looks have not completely scared off all male attention, as the scary-looking 62-year-old was out with a male companion enjoying an intimate dinner on last night.
 

 
  Scary socialite: Jocelyn Wildenstein looks scarier than ever as she leaves a Hollywood restaurant last night after dining with a male companion

 

   The American socialite has been nicknamed the Bride of Wildenstein and dubbed the world\'s scariest celebrity by a plastic surgery website.


Ms Wildenstein famously embarked on a radical amount of cosmetic procedures after fearing her millionaire art dealer husband would leave her.
 

 
  Changing faces: Jocelyn today and at various stages of surgery going back to the 70s when she first went under the knife fearing her husband would leave her.


   Bizarrely she based her remodelled look on exotic wild cats, which he loved, as she decided that he might find her more attractive if she became "more feline".

 
 The first time Wildenstein saw his newly-sculpted wife, he was said to have screamed in horror, unable to recognise her.

 
 According to the Daily Telegraph, he said: "She seems to think that you fix a face the same way you fix a house."


 After finding her husband in the marital bed with a 19-year-old Russian model, she divorced him and was awarded millions of dollars.


 Ex-husband Alec Wildenstein, died on Monday aged 67.

[derickw]

is it just me or does she look a little like


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[SlimPickens]

is it just me or does she look a little like


http://imageshack.us">http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/6956/mask036fa3.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/>

LOL!!!  "What is that... is that... your forehead?  I know I\'m blind Rocky, but this is too much"