Letters to the Editor
Geenius at Wrok
Published Letters: 104 Editor's Choice: 9
-
Good effin' riddance
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I used to live in Mpls/St Paul and spent lots of time on NW's creaky old Diesel-10s. In nearly all cases the interiors were worn out and generally just crappy, and some of them had this stale-corn-chip smell about them. Never figured out what that was, maybe old crusty food stuck to the galley floor somewhere inaccessible.
The DC-10-40 was the worst; it was the oldest DC-10 in the NW fleet and dated from the mid 1970s. By the time I was flying on these scows they were among the last widebodies being used for domestic flights and NW used them often for MSP flights to SFO and LAX, both common destinations for me. If I got upgraded it was OK, but the ratty coach cabins were vile. I guess NW never bothered to keep them nice inside once they decided to retire them by 2002 or whenever it was.
The -30 wasn't so bad, especially in the front cabin as it had the real business class seats unlike the -40 which had like 50 domestic first seats crammed into its snout. But they were only used for trans-atlantic flights, at least til the A330 showed up, and upgrades were scarce. I only got them twice as op-ups due to status, but that huge Contour Chair seat was awesome for an overnighter to Schiphol. But more than once my flights cancelled due to mechanicals; not that being stuck in Amsterdam overnight was so bad but it was still a pain in the ass.
Oh yeah, the 747 is ass-ugly. A big fat gawky tub. The A380 is even worse, but I guess both demonstrate that it's hard to design such a monstrosity and have it look nice. The A340-500/600 wins the pretty-plane contest -- the big 'bus is the only recent aircraft that has a sense of grace and style, whether intentional or not.
-
Milk? Ugh.
[Read the article: The udder truth]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Humans are the only species that drinks the milk of another species--sure cats love it, but that's only because we give it to them; you won't see Poosy Gato milking a cow til she evolves opposable thumbs--and we're the only species that consumes it well beyond the age of weaning. There's a reason milk production naturally dries up after awhile.
The only milk kids need is that from mom's tits. This raw-milk fad is another well-intentioned backlash against Big Dairy/Big Ag that's going to hurt someone, though the pus/blood/drug-soaked crap from factory farms can't be much better.
(disclosure: I am lactose-intolerant and thereore biased)
-
"Cult of the House"
[Read the article: I bought a house and now I'm crying every day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]that's fantastic :)
well let's see, you have a mortgage, closing costs, points/bribes, condo/HOA fees, escrow and title fees, liability and loss insurance, PMI, agent commissions, all the other rip-off bullshit that never ends with "owning". the process of "buying" is an endless series of hands all grabbing your wallet.
you're merely renting from the bank for 2-3x what you'd pay in actual rent, you can't eat equity, and that vaunted tax break is not so much in the end. it's an asset but a very illiquid one that will in the long run and at best appreciate no more than the stock market despite the recent at-any-price house craze, or it'll drop like a rock. nobody in real estate likes to be reminded of the housing crashes of the past and they weren't that long ago. think 1992-3-4.
Even if the mortgage is paid off you will always be paying property tax and insurance and maintenance and if you think you really own the place try not paying your property taxes and see how long you get to live there.
-
lethal injection station
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]har har... look, I booked 120,000+ miles on UA to get me a "First Suite" MSP-SYD and after all that once I got on the 744 at LAX and saw this ratty old gurney I thought "well, shit... OK, an Ambien and a few glasses of Veuve and I can deal with it." It makes a decent sleeper but you really don't want to be conscious for much more than an hour or two in UA Int'l First once you've gulped down the depressingly-average meal served by Gruntilla DeSultory and begged her for just one more glass of bubbles.
Sure as a fringe benefit of excess business travel it was a swell 1+4+14-hour trip, and back, but I can't imagine any of my fellow First Class swells actually paid the $12,000+ r/t list price for that seat; I'm sure most of them were paid/miles upgrades from business class and I know I had the one award seat on that flight.
I'd value it at maybe $650 above what you'd pay for a mid-range coach fare considering the tattiness and the crappy service, but I can't imagine anyone but an utter fool or an I-don't-care billionaire paying retail for that seat.
-
memememememe
[Read the article: I gave up everything to be with my Russian husband and now I'm unhappy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]LW's entire letter could be thus.
Look, lady, your husband is busy trying to get a PhD. That's his priority for the near future. Maybe that's why he's making shit up about visa problems. You probably don't realize how much life doctoral study sucks from anyone, having lost interest in your MFA (in the second year? are you nuts? get off your ass and finish the goddam thing).
You're also completely overlooking the idea of travel and fun in the UK. What's in Paris that you can't get in London besides people speaking French everywhere? Maybe there's a reason for his difficulty of you travelling alone that you're not telling us? This letter is all very one-sided. You are perfect and have no flaws I suppose.
-
Um, anonymous idiot...
[Read the article: I bought a house and now I'm crying every day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...I think you're attacking the wrong person, because none of the your hysterics apply to what I wrote. I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about other than you sound like one pissed-off real-a-tor who jumped on the agent craze right at the peak. talk about get-rich-quick delusions.
http://letters.salon.com/mwt/col/tenn/2007/01/26/house/permalink/7c3a9c1a324ad42677813fe454844982.html