This school is like a jar of dog farts; the
funk will knock you down and make your children scream in agony.
Buildings look like an abandoned abattoir, wiseass street kids sneak in
and vandalize things, they rent out rooms to another school. When I
walked past the place I heard
"faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart"
and assumed it was the pastor's wife.
Posted March 06, 2012
- a community member (one star out of five given)
Review of the now-defunct La Mesa Christian School at 9407 Jericho Road in Southern California. Found on greatschools.org.
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Zombie blog "Esq. Never" (law school scambusting)
One of a number of "scambusting" blogs on the perils of a legal education, "Esq. Never" last posted in January. The post before that was in 2012. Some quotes from the last post, "The Bell Tolls for the Scam":
Nobody is buying it, though."
Even more:
While the mid-tier schools can try to wait out the rough seas in their metaphorical dinghies of reduced academic standards – awaiting either miraculous salvation or the final storm to take them under – the bottom feeder schools don’t have such luxury."
"One of the ironies of (at one point) anonymously
managing a blog lamenting the plight of
dejected law grads is that I achieved a certain level of fame – most likely the
greatest celebrity I will ever experience in my life.
No, it didn’t amount to the fame of a well-known legal
scholar nor of even some of my other former “scam blogger” contemporaries.
Nevertheless, I certainly never expected to be interviewed or profiled by the
National Jurist or the Wall Street Journal.
It was, of course, ironic because all of the attention was
directed towards a pseudonymous caricature, and instead of heralding success,
it was a byproduct of my miserable condition.
Nevertheless, my anti-LS scam compatriots and I were usually
one side of a story that also featured at least one apologist for the reigning
system – whether law school dean, an ABA representative, or just a general
mercenary for the machine.
In those days, condescending and dismissive remarks were the
norm. I remember one dean bemoaning that LS critics tended to make the most
noise because they were the most displeased. She further asserted that the
majority of graduates were happily and quietly pursuing post-JD endeavors.
We now know this to be nonsense. In the years that have
elapsed since this and other blogs have gone dormant, the mainline media has
recognized that something is amiss as class after class of law grads are thrust
into the unemployment grinder.
The Washington Post, the New York Times, and Slate have all
run stories to this effect. If they don’t fully endorse the idea that the law
school cartel is managing a full blown
scam, they are at least exploring the repercussions of saddling freshly minted
JD’s with mind blowing debt while the schools shout ‘caveat emptor’ and hungrily
look towards the next harvest.
Sure, every now and then an apologist pops his head up from
the trenches in order to predict the imminent recovery of the legal market or
to offer an unpersuasive case for paying the equivalent of three or four
Mercedes for an unmarketable degree.
Nobody is buying it, though."
Even more:
".....It remains to be seen whether the closing of a few law
schools will either result in institution wide reform – more practical
coursework, lower tuition, and fewer semesters – or simply a reduction in the
number of “firms” in this saturated sector.
For the time being, however, law schools have to grapple with
the present economics of reduced demand for their services.
With fewer prospective students, law schools only have two
unpleasant choices: Reduce tuition and hack away at the scam’s raison d'être or attempt to retain the present cash flow
and torpedo the prestige to which these pseudo-august institutions so jealously
cling.
There really is no
other choice. Bread and circuses won’t fly anymore. If prospective students are
unpersuaded that there are ample legal jobs available, no amount of moot court
rooms with mahogany benches and cutting edge technology is going to drive them
in.
If enrollment
continues to decline, maintaining both high academic standards and fiscal
solvency will be a difficult feat. There will be a smaller and smaller pool of
quality applicants, who will be on the lookout for either bargains or true
prestige.
Prospective students
will still be courted heavily with scholarship offers from schools that at one
time would have been far outside of their leagues. It’s unlikely that the
“pedigree” of a top 50 or even 25 school would be enticing in comparison.
As enrollment
tanks, this will be a very costly strategy to pursue. Cutting costs could
mitigate the impact of decreased revenue from tuition, but less impressive
facilities and fewer perks like lavish moot court trips could make law school
an even more miserable environment.
Moreover, cutting
faculty could mean the availability of fewer interesting courses, and a reduced
support staff would likely result in delays in important administrative tasks
(transcript requests; graduation verification).
I’m certainly not
advocating retaining the largesse of the cartel, but for students with
shorter-term time preferences, the loss of such immediate perquisites could
serve as disincentives to matriculation.
While reducing
tuition either directly or more subtly via increased financial aid is a costly
endeavor, sacrificing student quality could be an even more dangerous game.
Schools somewhere
in the middle can tolerate poorer LSAT scores and GPA’s for a while. They just
need to hope that their peer institutions need to make similar sacrifices, and
they can at least hold their relative place in the LS pecking order – for
whatever that’s worth.
While the mid-tier schools can try to wait out the rough seas in their metaphorical dinghies of reduced academic standards – awaiting either miraculous salvation or the final storm to take them under – the bottom feeder schools don’t have such luxury."
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Russian Twitter: Мuд Роисси @Fake_MIDRF (Mud Roissi)
A joke on the actual Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerstvo inostrannykh del) of the Russian Federation Twitter account, Mud Roissi jokes about what is going on in the Russian government and the world. Recently they did a few tweets on a new Russian "State Wikipedia" they've been talking about for two years:
If you are willing to highlight reams of tweets to stick into Google translate, interesting stuff occasionally comes out.
If you are willing to highlight reams of tweets to stick into Google translate, interesting stuff occasionally comes out.
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Copy of "MORE IMPORTANT THAN WIKIPEDIA: "ICANN Can't", a Guest Post by E.A. Barbour"
Because he's always looking at things under the radar, things that
are barely noticed are massive mountains to E.A. Barbour, who shares
with us the fiasco of the forthcoming ICANN internet takeover.
ICANN Can't
By E.A. Barbour
What is ICANN? It's the special organization which is being
given control of all the domain-name assignments and technical standards which
the Internet depends on. It was created in 1998 out of whole cloth, because
original ARPANET sysop Jon Postel was "overworked". ICANN is
essentially a nonprofit government contractor which exists by fiat order of the
Department Of Commerce. The Net was opened to the public in 1994 and domain
names were handled by Postel and other ARPANET sysops for the first four years.
(Amusingly, right in the middle of setting up ICANN, Postel died of
"undetected cardiac problems".) And its first chair was Esther Dyson,
venture capitalist and one of the most connected women in Silicon Valley (plus
an early cheerleader for Wikipedia). A later chair was Postel's fellow
"Original Internet Father" Vint Cerf; whose display case at home is
bulging with bowling trophies given to him by the computer industry for his
magical awesomeness. His ass tastes like fine wine, judging by the millions of
kisses he's gotten since the 1980s.
For two decades the system for Internet domains has
more-or-less worked passably well. The US government, its contractors, and
other large corporations worked with ICANN to keep the DNS/IANA system running.
Although here have been complaints about large registrars like Network
Solutions/VeriSign, RegisterFly, and GoDaddy, nothing was deemed
"problematic" enough to call for major reform of the
"system". It was open enough to make open-source cheerleaders happy
and it was stable enough to keep corporations and other major financial
interests content (and profitable). New domains and systems were introduced to
keep things flowing. The gold-rush of the early Web insured that people were
willing to allow laissez-faire--until recently. When the US federal government
stated that it wished to get rid of all domain control, and have ICANN handle
it exclusively. Although little reported anywhere else in the media, these
Register articles give some pause.
This happened right in the middle of the US government
handing over the final governance controls to ICANN. Under the government's
relatively benign control since the 1980s, the Internet grew with a remarkable
level of free speech, openness and freedom from graft. These stories suggest
that when ICANN has full control over TLDs and governance, they will start
acting like FIFA or the Olympic Committee -- playing favorites, taking bribes,
and covering everything up. And the product will decline. (And most
"customers" won't care, as long as they get their damned football
games/websites.)
Thus:
Last month it was reported that the transition of the IANA
to ICANN control is being fought by the Republicans. It was even put in the2016 GOP official platform.
Not many people noticed or commented on it. Of
course it's being blamed on outgoing president Obama, and of course it's
being
used as a "political football". Admittedly the GOP is full of shit and
this is merely a pretext. But one still has to wonder; once
domain-name controls are fully in the hands of ICANN, what will happen
to them?
No one seems to know---or care.
I suspect we have already seen the best days of the
Internet. Its future will likely be a dark, broken Third World chaos with
dominance by large corporations. Getting a domain name will probably involve
paying large bribes to creepy outfits with no fixed address. Legs will be
broken and heads will be chopped. And DNS lookup will get more and more
unreliable. Just like getting a Class A broadcast license from the FCC, or a
taxi license in New York City. The rot is inevitable when big money and monopoly
control is involved, and one small organization has the keys.
BTW, there's a Wikipedia angle here. The ICANN article
itself was greatly expanded in the last 3 years, mostly by a succession of
random-looking IP addresses and SPAs. And if someone tries to insert
information of a negative nature, an anonymous
administrator named "Cenarium" removes it. Cenarium is a vandalism patroller who evidently has some knowledge of advanced mathematics. A
very weird combination.
And that's not all. The WMF has very close relations with
the Berkman Center at Harvard (Jimbo Wales is a "Fellow" thereof),
the EFF, Creative Commons, and the Sunlight Foundation. The number of
"common friends" they have in these organizations is truly
remarkable: Berkman's Wendy Seltzer was an ICANN delegate, MIT professor Ethan
Zuckerman has connections to the EFF and is on the WMF Board of Advisors,
Jonathan Zittrain cofounded the "Chilling Effects" group with Wendy
Seltzer and is on the EFF Board. Rebecca MacKinnon and Peter Suber are on the
WMF Board of Advisors and also Berkman Center fellows. (MacKinnon edits her own
Wikipedia bio with apparent impunity.) Tamar Frankel, a lawyer who helped set
up ICANN in the first place, is also a Berkman fellow. All of these connected
people have Wikipedia biographies, which are carefully watched by Wikipedia
insiders.
More? Harald Alvestrand, a former ICANN Board member and
current Google employee, is a Wikipedia administrator AND has been allowed to
edit his own Wikipedia bio. Former WMF Trustee and current WMF Advisor Matt
Halprin (his seat was bought for him by his boss Pierre Omidyar) was also on
the Board of the Sunlight Foundation--with Esther Dyson and former WMF Director
Sue Gardner. On the Advisory Board at Sunlight: Jimmy Wales. Also on Sunlight's
Board, as well as the WMF Board of Advisors: Craig Newmark of Craigslist. And I
won't even get into the Google connections. You get the idea.
The WMF is already corrupt in third-world ways. Some of
these "free culture" Internet organizations have built-in conflicts
of financial interest. Is it really surprising that ICANN is likely to go the
same way?
_____________________
Comments:
_____________________
Comments:
metasonixAugust 19, 2016 at 3:41 PM
Plus: Vigilant, you suck. Ha.
ReplyDelete
He's trying as hard as he can.
Friday, July 8, 2016
Abandoned Blog: GC Services Watch
What I could scrape from GC Services Watch, a now-defunct blog run by "The Consumer Equalizer" on the Texas collections agency GC Services.
Here's a typical complaint about GC Services:
"I was contacted by Dawnie from GC Services, last night around 8:15pm. It came up on my phone as a local number so my husband answered it. He handed the phone to me and she asked if it was me and gave the address of which I reside. She said that she was calling on behalf of CITI bank in regards to a credit card debt I have with them and asked if I was going to pay the full amount last night of $3,947.95, and I told her no, because I was working with American Financial Concepts, which is a debt settlement company. She said that they will not speak to any 3rd parties regarding my account. To make a long story short, she asked me my husband's name, place of employment and a number where they could reach him. I told her that I wasn't giving her that information, because he has nothing to do with my debts, nor does he know about them. She said that she is going to document in my file that I refuse to give out this information and I said fine. She then repeated herself. She gave me 2 options, 1) to pay off my debt in 6 mthly payments of $600+ and 2.) to pay $1973 by tomorrow (Tues., 11/10) and then pay $100/mth. interest free. I had to give them a good faith check in the amount of $50 and then I am to call her back tomorrow at 1pm. She said that she was located in San Diego. She said that I am deemed evasive and that CITI bank is demanding that I pay the full balance.
This is interesting.
Back in 2009, Brad Batig was a partner at a law firm.
Add this to the long list of "improper activities" undertaken by Texas-based collection agency, GC Services (others include failing to pay overtime and not keeping current on tax status).
No comments
Saturday, October 29, 2011
GC Services: A Typical Complaint Showing GC Services' Dishonest Behavior
"I was contacted by Dawnie from GC Services, last night around 8:15pm. It came up on my phone as a local number so my husband answered it. He handed the phone to me and she asked if it was me and gave the address of which I reside. She said that she was calling on behalf of CITI bank in regards to a credit card debt I have with them and asked if I was going to pay the full amount last night of $3,947.95, and I told her no, because I was working with American Financial Concepts, which is a debt settlement company. She said that they will not speak to any 3rd parties regarding my account. To make a long story short, she asked me my husband's name, place of employment and a number where they could reach him. I told her that I wasn't giving her that information, because he has nothing to do with my debts, nor does he know about them. She said that she is going to document in my file that I refuse to give out this information and I said fine. She then repeated herself. She gave me 2 options, 1) to pay off my debt in 6 mthly payments of $600+ and 2.) to pay $1973 by tomorrow (Tues., 11/10) and then pay $100/mth. interest free. I had to give them a good faith check in the amount of $50 and then I am to call her back tomorrow at 1pm. She said that she was located in San Diego. She said that I am deemed evasive and that CITI bank is demanding that I pay the full balance.
Unfortunately,
I felt bullied and didn't know where to turn, so I gave her my checking
account information for the $50. Does anyone have any advice for me? I
do not have the $1900+ to pay them by TOMORROW!!!"
Yes, the consumer here was bullied. That's one reason why you should never talk to collection agencies on the phone.
The law requires that debt collectors communicate with you in writing. When they do, respond with a debt validation letter.
Now, if GC Services had withdrawn more than the $50, they would have been guilty of wire fraud.
Also,
the line about "demanding payment in full" is rubbish. Debt collectors
like GC Services buy massive portfolios for pennies on the dollar.
Learn how these dishonest companies work. Know your rights and FIGHT BACK.
Monday, September 12, 2011
GC Services Taken To Task For Using "The Government" As A Reference!
This is a very amusing case.
GC Services (Houston, TX; St. Louis, MO) tried to intimidate a debtor by making claims about work it had (allegedly) done for the U.S. Government.
A judge was not amused, and ruled in the plaintiff's favor.
GC Services is one of the most disreputable collection agencies in the country.
GC Services (Houston, TX; St. Louis, MO) tried to intimidate a debtor by making claims about work it had (allegedly) done for the U.S. Government.
A judge was not amused, and ruled in the plaintiff's favor.
GC Services is one of the most disreputable collection agencies in the country.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Illinois Residents: Beware of GC Services
This is interesting.
In
2009, Joe M. Van Nest of GC Services sent a FOIA request seeking
information about litigation and collection services for the Illinois
Tollway.
GC Services is an awful collection agency.
They harass people on the phone.
This disclose (alleged) debt information to third parties.
They pester neighbors.
They do not respond to debt validation letters.
They have had a history of wage and hour violations
It seems they have plans to expand into other types of collections.
If
you are an Illinois resident, you should contact your elected officials
and tell them that doing business with GC Services is a VERY BAD IDEA.
Friday, April 8, 2011
GC Services Refusing Correspondence? Turn the Tables!
It seems GC Services does not like receiving debt validation or cease and desist letters.
It seems they are not signing for certain pieces of certified or registered mail.
One thing they are guaranteed to sign for, though, is a PAYMENT!
Try addressing your letters like this:
Mr. Joe Van Nest
Payments Manager
GC Services
6330 Gulfton
Houston, TX 77081
** please expedite-payment in full enclosed **
And see what happens.
By the way, if you need a sample debt validation letter you can find a very effective one here.
It seems they are not signing for certain pieces of certified or registered mail.
One thing they are guaranteed to sign for, though, is a PAYMENT!
Try addressing your letters like this:
Mr. Joe Van Nest
Payments Manager
GC Services
6330 Gulfton
Houston, TX 77081
** please expedite-payment in full enclosed **
And see what happens.
By the way, if you need a sample debt validation letter you can find a very effective one here.
Friday, December 24, 2010
RIP GC Services Employee and Pianist, Robert Nicholas Smith
Robert Nicholas Smith, 52, of Gold Canyon, Ariz., formerly of Westport CT, died Nov. 29, 2010.
Born
in Norwalk, he lived in Westport for the greater part of his life. He
attended local schools and was a graduate of the Westport School of
Music, studying under pianist Richard Gregor. He went to the University
of Bridgeport for a year, then transferred to Arizona State.
He
worked for many years in retail and restaurant management. After moving
to Arizona three and a half years ago, he was employed by GC Service.
It is not known if he participated in GC Services’ alleged abuse of
systems such as Experian.
He
is survived by his parents, Bob and Sandra Jaderlund Smith; his
brothers, Darin and Wayne; and two nieces, Alexandra and Olena Rene
Smith, all of Arizona.
A Mass was celebrated at St. George's Catholic Church in Gold Canyon. Burial will be in Willowbrook Cemetery, Westport.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Brad Batig: What Happened?
Back in 2009, Brad Batig was a partner at a law firm.
In 2010, he's working for GC Services.
What
happened? Not good enough for a real law firm? It is unlikely the
owners of GC Services pay him well, as he's only admitted in Texas and
they get sued all over the place…
Monday, September 13, 2010
GC Services: Caught in the Act with Experian!
Add this to the long list of "improper activities" undertaken by Texas-based collection agency, GC Services (others include failing to pay overtime and not keeping current on tax status).
In
this case, GC Services abused access to reports such as those provided
by Experian. They have been forced, by order of the court, to pay
consumers large sums for their misbehavior!
Monday, June 13, 2016
List of "Wikipedia Sucks!" Posts, part two
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