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Men with Purses go Deer-Hunting

Posted on 05/23/2015 1:34:09 PM PDT by SamAdams76

So how about these newfangled "point-of-sale" signature capture devices that are popping up at registers at all the supermarkets and retail stores?

You know the ones, where they have your swipe your card and then you have to write your signature with the plastic pen provided. Only it's not really a pen but a piece of plastic shaped like a pen that is tethered to the device with a plastic chain - like what the banks used to do back in the 1970s. Only back then, they were real ball-point pens and were connected to the writing table with a real chain.

Just in case you were thinking of stealing it.

I always wondered about that. You had these billion dollar banks apparently so worried that their customers were going to walk away with a lousy ball point pen that they went ahead and secured them with chains!

Now if I owned a bank back in those days, I would have ordered about a gazillion ball point pens with the name of my bank on them. Then I would have encouraged my customers to take them. There would soon be millions of pens out there in circulation promoting my bank! Cheap advertising!

But I digress...back to the 21st century and these silly point-of-sale signature devices. Are they supposed to make the transaction more secure?

If so, it's an epic failure and I'll tell you why.

When these things first came out a couple years back, why I would go out of my way to carefully sign my signature on that stupid plastic screen, always afraid that if I didn't get it exactly right, that an alarm would go off somewhere and I'd suddenly be surrounded by store security, who would hustle me to some back room and start interrogating me.

"Sir, that was not your normal signature out there. We have records of what your signature should look like. Who are you and what kind of routine are you trying to pull here?

But over time, I started to realize that even when I signed sloppily, the bored cashier would just hand me my receipt and send me on my way.

After a while, I started to get more daring. I would "forget" to cross the "T" in my name or I'd just make my name all zig-zaggy. It didn't seem to matter. One time, when I was feeling punchy, I did a big scribble, just to see what would happen. Cashier didn't even blink twice.

More recently, I started signing a different name altogether. Davey Jones. Woodrow Wilson. Micky Mouse. Snoopy Dogg. Made no difference whatsoever. Transaction accepted no matter how I did my signature.

So much for security.

Now for the rock band called the Grateful Dead. Never understood the appeal that they had to so many otherwise sane people. Despite being a rock fan pretty much all of my life, I somehow managed to get by without ever listening to their music and not caring whether I ever did. When I think Grateful Dead, or more specifically the rabid fan base referred to as "Deadheads", I think smelly hippies in long hair and dirty clothes following the band around in battered VW buses, wallowing in the mud during their concerts in a cloud of cannabis haze.

All of which is probably true when speaking of Deadheads. But let's talk now about the music itself.

I've been a subscriber of Sirius/XM for many years now but finally got a decent home stereo system that allows me to stream Sirius stations to it from my iPad. So sitting around the house, I've been checking out a lot of the other stations besides those I had programmed into the presets of my car stereo.

So last weekend, I'm grilling on my deck and just hanging out with some family, chilling out to what I thought was the Magaritaville station, that features Jimmy Buffet concerts and other music that goes good with summertime weather and adult beverages with limes and umbrellas in them.

But it was instead a channel dedicated to the Grateful Dead. By the time I realized my error, I also found myself liking what I was hearing. It was not the druggy, trippy music I expected I would be hearing but actually some pretty decent musicianship. Especially the live stuff, which featured a lot of Dylan covers as well as extended versions of the few GD songs I did know such as "Morning Dew" and "Sugar Magnolia."

Musically, the Grateful Dead are not too much different than Jimmy Buffet, Allman Brothers String Cheese Incident. Who knew? Not I.

Also, apparently pretty much every Grateful Dead concert has been recorded and this provides thousands of hours of material for this station dedicated to the Grateful Dead to play. And from what I've heard so far, Grateful Dead has never played a given song the same way twice in concert. I've heard that said before but always attributed that to the drugs that the typical fans of this band would take. But I have concluded that this is true and also that you don't need drugs to appreciate this music after all. Just don't expect me to go to any of their concerts.

Well I was going to tell you about this group of men (not I) who went deer hunting while carrying women's purses, but I'm going to have to save that story for another day. I'm just about out of time as I have to get back to the yard work I was taking a break from.



TOPICS: Weird Stuff
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1 posted on 05/23/2015 1:34:09 PM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: SamAdams76

The signature is examined only if the purchase is disputed, the same as when you sign a paper receipt.


2 posted on 05/23/2015 1:41:20 PM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: SamAdams76

Why did deadheads wave their hands in front of their faces during Grateful Dead concerts?

To keep the music out of their eyes.


3 posted on 05/23/2015 1:49:55 PM PDT by Disambiguator
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To: SamAdams76

” Never understood the appeal that they had to so many otherwise sane people. Despite being a rock fan pretty much all of my life, I somehow managed to get by without ever listening to their music”

How could you not understand its appeal if you never listened to it? That’s like saying you don’t understand why so many people like reading P.J. O’Rourke when you’ve never read him.


4 posted on 05/23/2015 2:04:26 PM PDT by sparklite2
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To: SamAdams76

5 posted on 05/23/2015 2:16:19 PM PDT by Bobalu (If we live to see 2017 we will be kissing the ground)
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To: SamAdams76
MST3K spoof the Dead
6 posted on 05/23/2015 2:19:30 PM PDT by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
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To: SamAdams76

If I ever have a dispute over a charge and the signature is easy to read, then I will know it is a fake.

I dare anyone to be able to actually read the scribble I use on these devices (and my checks).


7 posted on 05/23/2015 2:31:55 PM PDT by CIB-173RDABN (I do not doubt that our climate changes. I only doubt that anything man does has any effect.)
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To: SamAdams76

The pens are secured to assure there is one is available for the next user.


8 posted on 05/23/2015 2:47:35 PM PDT by Fry Panny
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To: Bobalu

LOL!


9 posted on 05/23/2015 2:50:50 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: SamAdams76
I somehow managed to get by without ever listening to their music and not caring whether I ever did.

That's why you don't appreciate them. They're awesome.

NEVER judge a band by its fans.

10 posted on 05/23/2015 3:22:04 PM PDT by 9thLife ("Life is a military endeavor..." -- Francis)
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To: Bobalu

+


11 posted on 05/23/2015 3:22:20 PM PDT by 9thLife ("Life is a military endeavor..." -- Francis)
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To: 9thLife

But if you read my post, you would see that I appreciate them now.


12 posted on 05/23/2015 3:28:16 PM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: SamAdams76
Ah, I am happily and humbly corrected. I shied away from the GD for many years because of the whole Dead-head scene, too. But the music is too good for me to have stayed away.

I also read an interview with Jerry Garcia from the late '70's in Guitar Player mag that caused me to really respect him.

I had a similar experience with Van Halen. I don't particularly care for their style, and NEVER listened to them when they were hot because, again, of their fans. But again, it IS good music and Eddie van Halen is probably the single greatest rock guitar player ever. And I just came to that conclusion this year.

13 posted on 05/23/2015 3:51:57 PM PDT by 9thLife ("Life is a military endeavor..." -- Francis)
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To: 9thLife

Yes, EVH is excellent....clearly the best rock guitarist technically....he’s capable of so much...and when he has a solo spot onstage, it fascinates me how much command he has of the guitar.


14 posted on 05/24/2015 11:36:48 AM PDT by pallmallman (Q)
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