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HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!! Well, if you live in the US anyway. If you don't...well, have a good day anyway. And, as always, there's a new voters' bonus comic up and, since it's a new month, this is a good time to vote and get PV off to a strong start.
I love the fourth of July. Unfortunately, most of my friends are out of town right now so I probably won't be doing much of anything aside from going to see the fireworks. I love firework. Want to know something I don't love though? DHL.
For those of you who don't know what DHL is, it's a shipping company like UPS and FedEx. I think I've ranted a bit about DHL in the past but, just as a quick refresher, I've only ever had four items shipped to me through DHL and I had serious problems with two of them. First one, the package didn't come on the day it was supposed to so I looked up the tracking number online. According to DHL, they'd delivered the package to my door that day. Thing is, I was home all day and no one knocked or rang my doorbell. Not only that, but there was no package sitting outside my door either. Naturally I called up DHL's support number and told them what happened. Now you'd assume that they'd try and help me figure out what happened to my package right? Well, that would make sense...but they didn't. Instead they said they wouldn't do a thing about it and I should call up Dell (the company I'd ordered the item in the package from). Fortunately Dell was great and shipped me a new one right away. Good thing they did too, since I would have been screwed if they hadn't.
Second time I had problems with DHL I was once again waiting for a package from Dell (apparently Dell ships all small items though DHL, a big mistake in my opinion). I was pretty eager for it to arrive so I kept tracking it online. According to the tracker, it had been delivered to my apartment managers, who signed for it (packages were often given to them instead of delivered directly to the apartments), so I walked over to pick it up...only to find that they didn't have my package. According to the apartment manager, they'd often sign for packages in bulk (as in, if the carrier has packages for multiple people, they'll just take one signature for the whole bunch) and it wasn't unheard of for DHL to leave a package or two that they were supposed deliver on the truck by mistake. So I called DHL, told them about the missing package, and let them know what the apartment manager had said. And DHL said that, since it was signed for, that meant it had been delivered (apparently the fact that I'd never gotten the package didn't matter) so they wouldn't do a thing to help. Fortunately, my package did get dropped off with the apartment managers the following day though.
Needless to say, those two experiences didn't leave me with a very good opinion of DHL (especially considering that I had problems with two out of four packages, not good odds). And that brings us to today, when I had two more bad experiences with DHL, in one day. Fortunately, neither of the two packages were mine (one was for my dad and the other for my brother).
First up, the package for my dad. We found it outside the door this evening. So what's wrong with that you might ask? Well, how about the fact that it had a gigantic sticker on it that said "signature required"? Nice to know that they take those things seriously <_< Well, guess we should just be glad that it was actually delivered.
Shortly after, we got a call from my brother's apartment complex (he's going to college in AZ but he's on a trip right now). Seems DHL had tried to deliver a package to him but, for some reason or another, didn't have his apartment number (not sure if that was a screw up on their part or the part of Dell, who my brother had ordered said package from). So anyway, DHL knew the building but not the apartment number. But, instead of dropping the package off with the apartment managers, or even asking them which apartment my brother lived in, they just left a note with instructions to call them, give them a code number (written on the note), and tell them the apartment number. So my dad called them up and gave them the code...only to find out that it was an invalid code. Now you'd think that it'd still be pretty easy to look up the package so he could give them the apartment number, right? Well, it probably would be, but DHL wouldn't do it... Hopefully they'll try again and leave the correct code, or at least I hope that the package will still be around for my brother to track down when he gets back from his trip.
Long story short, DHL sucks, a lot. I highly recommend avoiding them whenever possible.
Josiah
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And with this, the third gym battle is finally over! It definitely didn't turn out as intense as the second one did but this one is probably funnier. And the next gym battle? Well, you'll see when we get there. Though, while I hope there isn't as large of a gap between the third and fourth gym battles and there was between the second and third, don't hold you breath.
So, incase you're one of the few people who doesn't know, it's approaching election time in the US. Well, actually the elections aren't for several more months but that hasn't stopped the news, media, and just about everyone else from talking about them all freaking year. If that sentence didn't clue you in, let me spell it out for you. I hate election coverage. Not that I've got anything against elections themselves, I think it's very important to vote (if you're old enough anyway) to try influence the future of the country. And I understand that a certain amount of ads and media coverage is necessary to help candidates get their message out to the voters.
That said, the majority of election coverage sucks, a lot. There are several reasons for this, so let's get started. First off, no one, not even the supposedly neutral press, actually provides truly neutral coverage of an election, especially the major ones. They'll always push one candidate over another. Sometimes they're very open about this, which is fine. Others, they do it sneakily (slipping in snide remarks here and there or just devoting much more space to one guy than another) while still claiming to be impartial. Now I know how hard it can be to be impartial about some matters but seriously, if you're going to actively favor one person over another in your coverage you should at least have the decency to admit it.
Next up, exaggeration, something I actually touched on in a past Blooper Reel Comic. This is a common tactic that mainly takes the form of a "doomsday scenario" that will supposedly come to pass if you elect whoever it is that the writer doesn't like. Seriously though, even if the guy really is pretty bad, it's practically impossible for things to end up as badly as people claim they will, especially since the government here has so many checks and balances that no one person could screw things up too badly.
Then there's the celebrities that go on a media blitz to support their chosen candidate. Now they've got as much right to support who they like as the next guy. Thing is, they tend to act like, because they're famous, everyone should listen to and agree with them. But, while someone like a news corespondent or political analyst might be able to make a case for their opinion carrying more weight than the average person, I really can't see how being a famous actor or singer makes someone any more knowledgable about politics than anyone else. Most "stars" really need to get over themselves.
Fourth on my list of complaints, negative campaigning. I did a Blooper Reel Comic on that on too. Too many candidates today spend more time talking about why you shouldn't elect their opponent than why you should be electing them. That really gets on my nerves, to the point where I'll even avoid voting for people who run that kind of campaign. I mean seriously, if some guy builds his entire campaign around how bad his opponent is, that just tells me that he doesn't think he can win on his own skills and qualifications. Not good at all. Not to mention that the list of "deep dark secrets" candidates bring up about each other often ends up getting completely ridiculous. Seriously, does anyone care that one candidate got a speeding ticket 20 years ago? Give it a rest.
Finally, and worst of all, is the belief that your candidate is so obviously superior that no intelligent person could disagree. This ***** me off to no end. I see it among members of both of the US's major political parties (though, to be honest, it seems to be much more prevalent among Democrats). Basically, people become so convinced that their way is the best that they start to think that anyone who doesn't agree with their viewpoint (typically anyone who likes the opposing political party) is a retarded, uneducated, moron. To be blunt, it's the people who believe this that are the morons. While there are some facts anyone and everyone really should agree one (such as that the Earth is round, water is wet, and the sky is usually blue), choice of political parties or candidates is an opinion. Is one group better than the other? Probably. Thing is, while you can do your research and make an educated guess about which one that is, it's nothing more than a guess. Only time can tell what really was the better choice. No matter how sure you are, we can't know for certain. And, like with any unknown, there will be many intelligent people who research the matter and come to different conclusions. Automatically labeling everyone who disagrees with you as an idiot just makes you sound stupid. It's even more ridiculous when you consider the fact that many of the people who do this claim to be huge proponents of tolerance. Apparently they're only tolerant of people who think the exact same way they do...
I haven't even been back in the US for three months I'm already fed up with election coverage. And there's still several months left go... At this point I'm pretty certain who I'm going to vote for in the presidential election. Actually I think both candidates have problems (some small, some not so small) but one certainly strikes me as much better than the other (or perhaps I should say that one strikes me as much worse than the other). But I'm not going to say who, at least not right now. You really should do the research and decide on your own. But don't fall for the common traps and vote for someone just because they've got a better ad campaign, are or aren't of a particular race or gender, or belong to a particular political party. I couldn't care less about any of that. What really matters is the candidate's belief's and policies and how they match up to your own (but be sure to actually check the details for yourself, you never can trust all the stuff you hear in the media). If you think that they're honest and sincere and that their policies will lead the country in the right direction than go ahead and vote for them. In the end, nothing else should matter.
Josiah
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