Tuesday, November 18, 2014

An Uber-Threat to journalists

An Uber executive threatened to sic opposition researchers on journalists during a recent "off the record" conversation. He proposed spending $1 million to hire four "top flight" researchers who would dig up dirt and feed it to "journalists" also in Uber's employ.  Reminds me of GM sending private investigators after Ralph Nader when he exposed the dangers of the Corvair.

Here's a link to the article.

Once he was exposed, Emil Michael insisted it was all a misunderstanding and he didn't really mean it. Mmmm.

What also jumped out at me was Uber's "promise" not to snoop on journalists who use its service. It never occurred to me, but if I use Uber and Lyft, they have electronic records of everywhere I go and when. Creepy. The opportunities for abuse are endless.



 

Sunday, November 16, 2014

I'll Be Back

 

Watched one of my all time favorite so-bad-it's-good movies the other day, "Raw Deal" with Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's Arnold at its bad-acting, greasy mid-1980s best. I originally saw it in Japan where for some reason they changed the name to "Gorilla" without realizing that implied our favorite Austrian bodybuilder-turned-actor was a violent simian. Mmmm.

Some choice lines:

"Let's go Deputy Dog." Cop to man caught impersonating cop

"You should not drink and bake." Arnold to his long- suffering, soused wife after she throws a cake at him.

"I want you to get inside Petrovito's organization and tear it up." Darrin McGavin, Arnold's old FBI boss, on his mission.

"I take care of things. All kinds of things." Arnold to the mob boss during his first job interview.

"Smart I like. Smart ass I don't." Mob boss to Arnold on his follow up interview (He gets the job after just two interviews. Boy the 80s were great).

"if it doesn't work out we'll use him for something dirty and throw him in the river" Mob boss after hiring Arnold.

"The only way you'll ever be lying next to me is if we both get run down by the same car." The mob moll to Arnold's nemisis and fellow mob enforcer.

"Cops versus cops. You leave me with no one to rout for." Arnold's mob nemesis after a dirty cop tells him Arnold is not who he says he is. He's flying back to Miami for a cop charity softball event.

"Somebody got really pissed off." Detective viewing the carnage inside the illegal casino where Arnold somehow manages to kill about a two dozen guys and walk away with nothing but a cut on his arm.

And then there is the shoot out in the gravel pit. Arnold blasts out the window of his car (a Chrysler product like all the vehicles in the movie), pops in a cassette (remember those?) of "Jump'n Jack Flash" and drives around the gravel pit shooting people. Hilarious.

Picture of the Day

My Japanese Maple: