Catching up on the week's weirdness.
Jun. 2nd, 2006 11:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lance_sibleySome of you have already read the details on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gurudata's LJ, but those of you who are members of LGBT fandom who aren't on his friendslist should be informed of this development... and even those of you who aren't may want to read this.
A few weeks ago,gurudata (who is head of Publications for Gaylaxicon) contacted a printer (Moffitt Print Craft Limited in Guelph, Ontario) to get a quote for our Programme Book. He managed, thanks to whitesangria, to find a printer that would do the job at an excellent price. He sent them the files on Monday night, well before their June 1 deadline to get the job done, and was reassured that everything was fine, and that they would have no problem getting the order done.
Fast-forward to Wednesday, and they contacted him, saying that they were unable to complete the project. Whengurudata pointed out that they had only recently told him there were no problems, the guy made excuses: they were too busy, they were understaffed, and so on.
Now, stuff happens, sure... but it gets stranger.
gurudata decided to remove the files from their FTP server, so he logged on... and discovered that the files had already been removed. That may not seem strange in and of itself, but there were several other, older, files still there. Including files from the "World Of Life Bible Institute" and several other Christian organizations. (That's right... these guys have no security to prevent you from seeing what their other clients have submitted.)
Whengurudata first posted about this yesterday, I was suspicious, but not as quick to jump to conclusions as he and others were. Perhaps some big job came in from a regular client that had to be done quickly, who knows?
Except that this morning,dx4 phoned them, pretending to be seeking quotes for a fairly large print job that needed to be done quickly... and they said, "Sure, no problem - we can do that."
A call to the Better Business Bureau is definitely in order. Had I known about this at 8:45 this morning when I was on the phone with the Xtra writer who had to submit her article on the convention this morning, I would have mentioned it to her then.
This is a country where discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is Constitutionally prohibited. And the more I think about this, the angrier I get. I'm thinking "lawsuit". (Okay, maybe that's a little overboard... but I'm still upset.)
Fortunately,gurudata was able to find another printer who would take on the job for only slightly more money. But still... there's a principle here.
Come to think of it, I think there was a similar case recently that also involved a printer refusing to take on a job for a gay-related organization. I just can't remember if it was in the States or here... perhaps one of my TrekBBS friends will remember, since I think I read about it in TNZ?
On a lighter note,bovil shared the following with his friendslist the other day, and I'm sharing it with you. You know the carnival game that involves throwing beanbags at a hole in a plywood wall for prizes? Well, apparently in Cincinnati this game is known as 'cornhole'...
And you can even buy 'Cincinnati World Cornhole Championship' t-shirts...
And here's another amusing t-shirt, from Offworld Designs:
Crap, there goes a flash of lightning. And I was thinking about running over to Dominion for a loaf of bread, because I feel like having a peanut butter sandwich. At least I think it was lightning. I wasn't actually looking out the window at the time.
gurudata's LJ, but those of you who are members of LGBT fandom who aren't on his friendslist should be informed of this development... and even those of you who aren't may want to read this.A few weeks ago,
gurudata (who is head of Publications for Gaylaxicon) contacted a printer (Moffitt Print Craft Limited in Guelph, Ontario) to get a quote for our Programme Book. He managed, thanks to whitesangria, to find a printer that would do the job at an excellent price. He sent them the files on Monday night, well before their June 1 deadline to get the job done, and was reassured that everything was fine, and that they would have no problem getting the order done.Fast-forward to Wednesday, and they contacted him, saying that they were unable to complete the project. When
gurudata pointed out that they had only recently told him there were no problems, the guy made excuses: they were too busy, they were understaffed, and so on.Now, stuff happens, sure... but it gets stranger.
gurudata decided to remove the files from their FTP server, so he logged on... and discovered that the files had already been removed. That may not seem strange in and of itself, but there were several other, older, files still there. Including files from the "World Of Life Bible Institute" and several other Christian organizations. (That's right... these guys have no security to prevent you from seeing what their other clients have submitted.)When
gurudata first posted about this yesterday, I was suspicious, but not as quick to jump to conclusions as he and others were. Perhaps some big job came in from a regular client that had to be done quickly, who knows?Except that this morning,
dx4 phoned them, pretending to be seeking quotes for a fairly large print job that needed to be done quickly... and they said, "Sure, no problem - we can do that."A call to the Better Business Bureau is definitely in order. Had I known about this at 8:45 this morning when I was on the phone with the Xtra writer who had to submit her article on the convention this morning, I would have mentioned it to her then.
This is a country where discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is Constitutionally prohibited. And the more I think about this, the angrier I get. I'm thinking "lawsuit". (Okay, maybe that's a little overboard... but I'm still upset.)
Fortunately,
gurudata was able to find another printer who would take on the job for only slightly more money. But still... there's a principle here. Come to think of it, I think there was a similar case recently that also involved a printer refusing to take on a job for a gay-related organization. I just can't remember if it was in the States or here... perhaps one of my TrekBBS friends will remember, since I think I read about it in TNZ?
On a lighter note,
bovil shared the following with his friendslist the other day, and I'm sharing it with you. You know the carnival game that involves throwing beanbags at a hole in a plywood wall for prizes? Well, apparently in Cincinnati this game is known as 'cornhole'...And you can even buy 'Cincinnati World Cornhole Championship' t-shirts...
And here's another amusing t-shirt, from Offworld Designs:
Crap, there goes a flash of lightning. And I was thinking about running over to Dominion for a loaf of bread, because I feel like having a peanut butter sandwich. At least I think it was lightning. I wasn't actually looking out the window at the time.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-06-03 04:24 am (UTC)(That Cthulhu t-shirt is amazing! ... the last thing I need is more funny t-shirts, but... *grins wickedly*)
Crap, there goes a flash of lightning.
That's going on over at my end as well. I unplugged my laptop and I'm running on battery power right now... I should probably switch over to wireless internet as well because my cable modem is plugged into the wall... :/
no subject
Date: 2006-06-03 04:28 am (UTC)I just sent the writer doing the Xtra article the links to
(That Cthulhu t-shirt is amazing! ... the last thing I need is more funny t-shirts, but... *grins wickedly*)
That was my thought as well. When I did those 16 loads of laundry a few weeks ago, I had to fold about two dozen t-shirts and put them on top of my dresser, because they wouldn't fit in the drawers. :(
That's going on over at my end as well. I unplugged my laptop and I'm running on battery power right now... I should probably switch over to wireless internet as well because my cable modem is plugged into the wall... :/
Yes, be careful... I don't think it's as big an issue for me because I'm surrounded by much taller buildings. (My apartment building is 14 stories, and there are several 20- and 30-story buildings around the area.) I've been using my computer when the power and cable went out before, and never had a problem.