New York Information Systems, Inc.

peteru on Please make a call to Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to oppose PIPA!

2012-01-18T22:41:09.959809-07:00-0700

I'm a constituent, I clearly stated this, and Gillibrand's office hung up on me 5 seconds into the call when I mentioned SOPA. I called back and got the same woman, and she interrupted me immediately and "assured" me that my feedback was duly noted. X-post from /r/SOPA: http://www.reddit.com/r/SOPA/comments/omjg8/kirsten_gillibrands_office_hung_up_on_me_after/

peteru on Kirsten Gillibrand's office hung up on me after saying just my name, where I'm from, and that I oppose SOPA. Anyone else get rude responses from their reps?

2012-01-18T19:30:14.766451-07:00-0700

That letter was very well done, I hope you get a response. When I called Sen. Schumer's local office, it said the mailbox was full. When I called the D.C. office, I got a fast busy (re-order tone) - the telephone company's way of saying "all circuits are busy and they are so busy we can't even play you the all circuits are busy message." All I could think was, good job everyone! Let 'em know!

Kirsten Gillibrand's office hung up on me after saying just my name, where I'm from, and that I oppose SOPA. Anyone else get rude responses from their reps?

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:11:46 -0700

The offices of my congressman (Elliot Engel) and my other U.S. Senator, Chuck Schumer, at least humored me, and let me read a brief prepared statement before I'm sure they disregarded my input entirely.

"Good afternoon. My name is Peter U[CENSORED BY SOPA], and I live in Nanuet, NY. I'm 28 years old and have voted in every primary and general election since 2003. I'm calling today to express my opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). As an independent web developer, I rely on a free and open internet to make a living. And these three bills threaten that very freedom and openness. I strongly urge [Congressman/Senator's name] to oppose these bills as well. I will continue to follow these bills through Congress, and I will strongly consider the [Congressman/Senator]'s vote on these bills when they are up for re-election in [next election year]."

It took me less than 30 seconds to read when I called Rep. Engel and Sen. Schumer. But when I called Kirsten Gillibrand's office, as soon as I said "SOPA" I heard the familiar click of being hung up on. So hell yeah I called back immediately and as luck would have it the same pleasant female staffer answered. So I said, "I believe we got disconnected a moment ago. Please allow me to start over." I started my message again, and she once again interrupted me, this time barely after I finished saying my name. She said, "I've written down your concern and will pass it on." I said "Thank you so, so much for your help today."

Even though I think all three representatives will completely ignore my input, it makes me mad as hell that Sen. Gillibrand's staffer had the balls to hang up on me, and then brush me off when I called back. I'm definitely going to continue calling back until I get the entire speech off and they take down my name, address, and phone number, as is usually standard when receiving feedback from constituents (I've called on other issues before).

Anyone else get the cold shoulder / rude replies / outright indignation when calling their representatives today? Let's publicly shame them here.

[Edit: formatting]

submitted by peteru to SOPA
[link] [6 comments]

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-20T09:18:13.086426-07:00-0700

You're welcome. Where are you from? Do you know about /r/Rockland?

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-20T06:06:21.222359-07:00-0700

Please don't do this as it usually screws the pizza delivery driver the worst - not only don't they get paid, they definitely don't get a tip!

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-19T19:48:28.647090-07:00-0700

It was not a "full bag of trash". It was just, a bag, it had some trash it in it. But seriously, who throws bags of trash at volunteer cleanup crews. The highway department warned me to wear a hard hat and vest - I figured it was just overprotective - until someone started lobbing stuff at me. Not cool!

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-19T19:31:53.264592-07:00-0700

Sad but true. Reminds me of this park precisely! Still, I feel that as long as I'm here, it's worth fighting the fight.

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-19T19:29:01.013600-07:00-0700

They did not even stop to speak with me even though I was at the spot I reported the incident for over 30 minutes. The one car that passed me was the "supervisor". He did not stop. However, I do not expect police in New York to drop everything and deal with a report of a litterbug. If I'd lied and said it was a drunk driver, it might have been a different story, but that was not the point. Police gonna police.

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-19T19:20:39.040392-07:00-0700

As stated in the text the first thing I did was call the local police. There is no doubt in my mind that the driver was miles away by that point. So fuck these guys and let them try to take civil action - which they never would - because their driver is guilty as sin. You can't sue for defamation when something is true.

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-19T19:16:38.829608-07:00-0700

I contacted Max a moment ago but will entertain temporary requests for verification that this story went down as stated. That is why I included the Google Map for my cleanup group; we really are cleaning up a park. In either case I am simply appealing to what amounts to game theory: I am not kidding about cleaning a random two-lane rural highway. I stand to gain nothing but recognition for this act. This event happened as described; I did report it to the local police at the time stated (1:40PM 4/19/11) the agency was the Orangetown Police, Orangeburg, NY. These are the facts. If you doubt these facts, stop here and do nothing but doubt me. But I have provided specific, actionable information that would identify this case. My motivation is to shame the owner of this company not only for allowing his employee to get away with littering, but to shame him and his business for standing up for littering. NO ONE stands up for litter.

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-19T19:04:18.569687-07:00-0700

I wish - the HQ is almost 2 hours away from the park I'm cleaning.

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-19T18:58:36.064872-07:00-0700

That would be true assuming they send a driver JUST for this purpose. But he was already driving through anyway, today.

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-19T14:54:34.389158-07:00-0700

I honestly did not understand the connotation until I googled it. My apologies. I thought it meant "meathead" or similar.

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-19T14:22:24.052194-07:00-0700

You're probably right. I was speaking in anger. Edited.

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-19T14:00:24.525882-07:00-0700

They would probably give the faxes to the driver so he could litter them out his window when he drives back through the area, then when I call them and complain, they'd tell me that the driver didn't litter them even when I point out the fax machine printed their callback number.

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-19T13:58:17.608532-07:00-0700

Shit, if we can just pin these guys for playing online poker, they'll never stand a chance!

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-19T13:33:51.268246-07:00-0700

He didn't even realize that if he'd just said, "Oh my, what a shocking story! I'll discipline the driver right away!" I would have been placated and just walked away. But instead... this. Thanks for reading my piece.

peteru on So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

2011-04-19T13:26:19.073197-07:00-0700

Unfortunately it seems like some kind of niche private label delivery service. I can't even tell what they deliver because they have little to no info online. One site said they "started" delivering wine in 2003 but that could mean anything. Thanks for reading this though. Fortunately not everyone is a ********** litterbug with a chip on their shoulder like this guy and the park is starting to really look great.

So I was doing volunteer litter cleanup in my town when suddenly...

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 12:13:11 -0700

I'm in the process of adopting a highway. It's a 1.3 mile stretch of mountainous road that goes from a corporate park in one town to the next town over. I had some free time today so I head out and got down and dirty, packing up about 5 full-to-the-brim bags of trash that had been there a long time from the looks of it. I like the state park that's nearby, so I figured, I'll help do my part to keep this place looking nice.

As I was picking up trash on one side of the road today, at roughly 1:40PM, up the other direction, comes a white contractor van headed eastbound, New York license plate 51???JN (commercial). Couldn't get the whole plate. But in big red letters on the side it said, "DNT Express". The driver, an overweight black male with a bald head, slowed down, rolled down the window, and threw a bag of trash right at me. Classy. Fortunately, it didn't hit me - it just landed a few feet in front of me.

I called the police, but by the time they even took the info, the guy was probably on I-87 headed back to his company HQ. So I called the company and asked to make a complaint about the driver. The receptionist said, "let me get the owner". A minute later, a man comes on and immediately cops an attitude with me and takes the side of the driver, apparently named "Rob", saying "he's been with me 6 years" and all kinds of other non-sequitur reasons that this didn't happen the way I said.

I said, OK, well if your driver is so sure he didn't do that, why don't you have him wait where he is and I'll have the police meet him there and we can all talk it out. This drove him nuts - he started berating me, telling me "it's no wonder you're picking up trash" and generally denigrating me, calling me "dumb" and other highly creative insults. He went on to say, "I get 20 calls a week like this, what do you expect me to do about it?" I said "Well it sounds like you run a real respectable operation and your drivers represent you pretty well." He cursed me out and hung up.

Littering is bad enough, but this guy was utterly contemptuous and endangered my life by throwing a projectile out of his moving truck at me. For great justice, reddit, help me send this guy a message that this is not OK, even if that means just upvoting this and getting the story out there to publicly shame them.

But if you're inclined to tell them how you feel about litter, this is the company info:

DNT EXPRESS, INC. 381 BROADWAY BLVD #8 MENANDS, NEW YORK, 12204

Chairman: DANNY M NICKELS

(518) 434-2750

Like all respectable companies they apparently have no website or domain that I could find.

Despite this, I intend to finish the initial cleanup and keep the road looking like the park road that it is and not like some dumb out-of-town commercial driver's dump site. My group already removed over 2 tons of trash from the park according to the highway department. If you're interested track our group's progress here:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=201055386187580897210.0004a0a492614d03b0656&ll=41.070875,-73.925028&spn=0.037272,0.084028&t=h&z=14

Green placemarks are batches of trash that have been removed; red placemarks are batches of trash waiting to be picked up. The red-orange stretches of road are places we still are going to clean. The yellow stretches of road are places that are partially cleaned (e.g. just surface litter but not dumped debris). The green stretches of road look beautiful and I intend to keep it that way :)

TL;DR: Guy in a DNT Express delivery van threw trash at me while I was doing volunteer litter cleanup and his boss berated me for trying to let him know I didn't appreciate it.

submitted by peteru to reddit.com
[link] [78 comments]

peteru on Massive Cosplay Gallery from PAX East

2011-03-19T09:59:29.098736-07:00-0700

You know...

peteru on Massive Cosplay Gallery from PAX East

2011-03-18T21:14:11.976434-07:00-0700

My instructions were "when in doubt, shoot pics of cosplay and/or Cliff Blezinksy." Glad you enjoyed it.

peteru on Massive Cosplay Gallery from PAX East

2011-03-18T21:12:19.423700-07:00-0700

I asked her how many people had already made the same remark. She answered "Well, I'm trying to reach 50 today..."

peteru on Massive Cosplay Gallery from PAX East

2011-03-18T21:11:00.095919-07:00-0700

I pity the fool that thinks I'd miss Mr. T: http://www.hotbloodedgaming.com/2011/03/17/hbg-s-pax-east-2011-massive-cosplay-gallery/?pid=1784

peteru on Massive Cosplay Gallery from PAX East

2011-03-18T21:10:08.763012-07:00-0700

A bearded Chun Li appears: http://www.hotbloodedgaming.com/2011/03/17/hbg-s-pax-east-2011-massive-cosplay-gallery/?pid=1745

peteru on A thread to organise games on chess.com

2010-04-02T15:09:03.701618-07:00-0700

Also same username on chess.com, I'm not very good, I always knew the rules but really only started learning how to play about 6 months ago. I generally play Live Chess, games 1-10 minutes.