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Posts Tagged ‘call’

When You Have a Corrupt “Member CHP 11-99 Foundation” License Plate Holder, You Don’t Need a License Plate, Right?

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Or so it would seem.

The funny thing is that this car is out of production so it’s not likely to have been driven off the dealer’s lot today.

Anyway, as seen on Market Street:

Click to expand

All right, all the deets:

I don’t know, the big problem with paying $2500 or whatever to become a member of the CHP 11-99 Foundation and then putting the license plate holder thing on the back of your car was that it looked like you were trying to get out of speeding tickets. Why?

‘Cause, some of your membership money got/gets used for “Emergency, Death, and Scholarship Benefits to California Highway Patrol family members.” Here, check the Wiki that the CHP11-99 Foundation wrote about itself:

“The California Highway Patrol 11-99 Foundation is an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit, charitable organization that provides Emergency, Death, and Scholarship Benefits to California Highway Patrol family members. Since the CHP 11-99 Foundation was incorporated in 1981, the members of the Foundation’s Board of Directors have provided over $16 million in assistance to current, retired and Fallen in the Line of Duty CHP employees and their families. For over a quarter century, the important work of the Foundation has been enabled through the generosity of tens of thousands of individual donors and volunteers and by institutional grant funding. The organization’s name is taken from the radio code “11-99″ which means “Officer Needs Assistance – Send Location to All Units”

Now, supposeably, the bad old days when the appearance of A Culture of Corruption are behind us but you can still see these license plate things on brand cars, right here in 2011. And you can still buy the license plate holders second-hand as a kind of Get Out Of Jail Free kind of deal.

Shouldn’t all these licence plate holders be recalled so that CHP11-99 can get back to being a less-corrupt appearing organization?

As seen in 2011, and of course, on a Mercedes. (Saw one on a Camry one time – that’s what you call anomalous or something.)

Mmmmm…

Tags: 11-99 radio, 2010, 2011, bay area, bmw, california, california highway patrol, call, chp, citation, corruption, distress, Foundation, highway patrol, license, m6, member, officer, plate, San Francisco, sign, ticket
Posted in cars, crime | No Comments »

What It Looks Like When the SEIU Robocalls You About the Twitter Corporate Welfare Zone Issue

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Somehow this robot call concerned David Chiu as well, I think. Anyway, it looked like this:

Is this how you roll, SEIU? Did I sign up for this?

Don’t think so…

Tags: 2011, 431-8486, bay area, california, call, David Chiu, market, robocall, robot, San Francisco, seiu, street, union
Posted in politics | No Comments »

AT&T and Verizon and Sprint and Others are Offering Free Phone Calls and Texts to Japan These Days, FYI

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

The deets for Verizon

The deets for AT&T

The deets for Sprint

Bon Courage, Japan.

Tags: 2011, at&t, bay area, california, call, earthquake, japan, Japanese, phone, San Francisco, sprint, text, tsunami, verizon
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Here They Are – Meet the Winners of Gap’s Annual Casting Call Contest 2010

Friday, January 21st, 2011

Well, here they are, the winners of Gap’s Annual Casting Call Contest 2010.

Click to expand

Look forward to the 6th annual contest, certain to be coming soon…

All the deets:

Gap Unveils 2010 Casting Call Winners in babyGap and GapKids Stores Nationwide

Selected from More than One Million Entries, America Chooses the Four Adorable Winners of Gap’s Fifth Annual Casting Call Contest

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 20, 2011 — Today, Gap revealed the four cute and charismatic winners of its fifth annual Casting Call contest. Chosen by America from more than one million entries, the new faces of babyGap are Evie Sowers from Tecumseh, MI; Dylan Bandale from Pompton Lakes, NJ; and for GapKids, Sofia Jaworovich from Skillman, NJ; and Keyghan Burns from Hereford, AZ. In addition to receiving a $1,000 Gap GiftCard, the winners’ bright smiles and twinkling eyes will be lighting up the newest babyGap and GapKids campaign in store windows coast-to-coast starting today.

“Every year, we’re overwhelmed by parents’ incredible enthusiasm for Casting Call,” said Mark Breitbard, executive vice president of babyGap and GapKids. “Now in its fifth year, Casting Call continues to break records and we’re so excited to introduce this year’s winners – Evie, Dylan, Sofia and Keyghan. On behalf of the entire Gap family, I’d like to congratulate the newest faces of babyGap and GapKids.”

Shot in San Francisco, the campaign features the winners in colorful, perfect-for-the-playground looks. Rooted in denim and khaki, the outfits get a kick of color with the addition of arch logo hoodies [$24.95 - $29.50] and graphic tees [starting at $14.50 for babyGap and $16.50 for GapKids] in colors like havana yellow, orange blaze, cupid pink and ruby red. The windows also highlight each child’s hometown and favorite activities – from ballet and soccer to dancing and drawing.

About Gap’s Fifth Annual Casting Call:

From September 27 to October 24, 2010, parents across the country uploaded photos of their babies and kids wearing their favorite denim looks at gap.com/castingcall. Judges then narrowed down the pool of more than one million entrants to 20 finalists – 10 babies and 10 kids. The finalists were announced in early December and it was up to America to cast their vote for their favorite finalists at gap.com/castingcall.

The Prizes:

The four winners of this year’s Casting Call – Evie, Dylan, Sofia and Keyghan – are featured in the windows of babyGap and GapKids stores nationwide and will receive a $1,000 GapGiftCard.

Meet the Winners:

babyGap:

Evie, from Tecumseh, MI, has a great imagination and a fun personality to match. This blondie likes to read, draw and play with her dolls. Evie loves to rock out to Animal Collective’s My Girls.

Dylan, from Pompton Lakes, NJ, has been called a “Will Smith look-alike” and is always flashing his “million-dollar smile.” He likes to sing and dance to his favorite Latin, Reggaeton and Hip-Hop tunes. His favorite meal is pizza with chocolate milk.

GapKids:

Sofia, from Skillman, NJ, is a real “spitfire,” according to her parents, and is super outgoing. She loves meeting new people and making friends. This girly-girl likes to wear dresses and pretty shoes like her favorite singer, Taylor Swift, and her favorite hobbies are ballet and swimming.

Keyghan, from Hereford, AZ, is fun loving and always makes others feel important. When he is not playing soccer or baseball, you can find Keyghan collecting Pokemon cards or hanging out with his friends and little brother.

Tags: 2010, 2011, baby, bay area, california, call, casting, contest, Dylan, Evie, gap, gap's, Keyghan, kids, San Francisco, sofia, store
Posted in fashion, kids | No Comments »

Corrupt-Appearing “MEMBER 11-99 FOUNDATION” License Plate Holders Still Showing Up on Brand-New Luxo-Cars

Monday, January 10th, 2011

I don’t know, the big problem with paying $2500 or whatever to become a member of the CHP11-99 Foundation and then putting the license plate holder thing on the back of your car was that it looked like you were trying to get out of speeding tickets. Why?

Shouldn’t all these licence plate holders be recalled so that CHP11-99 can get back to being a less-corrupt appearing organization?

As seen in 2011, and of course, on a Mercedes. (Saw one on a Camry one time – that’s what you call anomalous or something.)

Mmmmm…

Tags: 11-99 radio, 2010, 2011, bay area, california, california highway patrol, call, chp, citation, corruption, distress, Foundation, highway patrol, license, member, officer, plate, San Francisco, sign, ticket
Posted in crime | 2 Comments »

Three Cheers – Looks Like Yelp Has Turned the Corner on Its Advertising Imbroglio

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

I’ll tell you, I’m not afraid to criticise Yelp for their difficulties concerning how their salespeople behave, but it looks like the changes they’ve announced today are going to go a long way towards helping Yelp in the long run. See the changes below.

CEO Jeremy Stoppelman didn’t come off whiny during today’s news conference so that might come as a bit of a surprise to those whose only exposure to him are his blog entries.

I question what the salespeople will have to sell now, but we’ll see how that goes. I’m sure some of them will still go rogue but it will be harder for them to do that now.

Happy days are here again:

via Yelp.com

Yesterday’s changes will allow us to see the reviews that aren’t worthy enough to make the main page of any particular entry, so Yelp can say that it’s transparent.

Check out Mermaid tours as an example. It’s not exactly clear why they’re suing Yelp, there’s something in there about an unstated cancellation policy* and a back and forth between the manager and/or and a former customer. (If this biz. is the lead plaintiff in somebody’s class action, well, the lawyers suing Yelp should look harder…)

Anyway, Yelp is trying to fix things, so

Hip hip hooray,

Hip hip hooray.

All the deets after the jump.

*This kind of excuse is called “frustration of purpose.”

(more…)

Tags: account executives, ads, advertising, ae, arizona, attorneys, blackmail, blog, business, ca, californis san francisco, call, Cats & Dogs Hospital, CEO, class action, cold call, court, extortion, inc, Jeremy, Jeremy Stoppelman, jerome, jerry, Judge, kevin, lawsuits, layers, long beach, Owners, post, reviews, sales, stars, Stoppelman, suit, veterinarian, yelp
Posted in media | No Comments »

The Thing About Yelp and Its Lawsuits for Extortion

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Looks like Yelp will be dealing with extortion lawsuits quite a bit this year.

Now, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman goes on and on about how he knows what his sales force says when it makes cold calls on business owners. The thing is that Jeremy Stoppelman doesn’t know what his sales force says when it makes cold calls on business owners.

Check out this recent interview in the BidnessWeek magazine:

“BW: The plaintiff in the class action suit (Long Beach, CA-based veterinarian Cats & Dogs Hospital Inc) says that a Yelp salesman named Kevin repeatedly promised to make negative reviews go away if he would advertise on Yelp. Have you disciplined Kevin for breaking the company’s sales policies, and how many times have you had to discipline or fire salespeople for such transgressions?

“Stoppelman: We’ve never had to discipline a salesperson* about the issue that was laid out in the lawsuit.”

Salespeople (or “Account Executives”) spin and lie all the time, they think its their job to do so. In fact, it IS their job to do so. That’s how they make their money, right?

An alcohol-fueled Yelp XXX-Mas party, from back in the day:

via Yelp.com

Now, Yelp has this post-solicitation survey for you, the business owner. It has several functions, but one purpose, certainly, is to make you, the business owner, look like an idiot when you later file your extortion lawsuit. Why? Because you answered all the relevant queries, check out the questions in #4, in Yelp’s favor. Is this kind of survey going to be enough to carry the day for Yelp’s lawyers? We’ll see.

Unless there are audio recordings of all the phone calls sitting around somewhere, Jerry has no way to prove what he’s alleging, right?

Here’s a modest proposal:

1. Fire all the salespeople(the so-called EA’s) and just do without the business sponsorships or what have you. Make money in a different way. (Make less money in a more honest way, is what I’m saying); or

2. Record all of the cold calls that your sales crew makes. So, hello, may I speak with the owner, do I have your persimmon (mmm… persimmon) to record this conversation, etc… This will cut into revenue, possibly. (You’ll make less money in a more honest way, is what I’m saying.)

All the talk of Yelp’s internal corporate structure and church/state separation betwixt sales and content don’t mean a thing if you don’t know what your sales crew says to make commish. Right, Jeremy?

*Looks like Jerry has access to a lawyer or two as well, huh? How many hours of expensive coaching did Jerome pay for? Perhaps salesman Kevin is just “one bad apple?” Stay tuned…

RAND Corp: GPS Snitch Units in All Cars Could Enforce New Vehicle-Miles-Traveled Tax

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Oh man, you drivers out there, you’re out on the road more and more every year* but the amount of gasoline and diesel ‘n stuff you buy isn’t keeping pace. So when people like you trade in their big old fuel-guzzling SUVs for Toyota Prius hybrids, the amount of gasoline they buy and the concomitant tax they pay to the Govmint goes down, let’s say by a half or two-thirds.

That’s good for Prius drivers but bad for the govmints. This chart from a big new report (free .pdf) out of California’s own RAND Corportation think tank ‘splains it all. See? You people are out there clogging up the roads and tearing up the streets 100% more than you were in 1980, but you’re only buying 50% more fuel:

You drivers are paying more in tax but not as much as if you would be paying if you were taxed by the mile. (That makes you a deadbeat in the eyes of the Powers That Be.)

And things are only going to get “worse” when Tesla Motors’ mainstream Model S hits the streets in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, “late 2012,” right? Electric car drivers pay no gas tax at all, so how are we going to make sure that they pay their fair share to repave our streets ‘n stuff**?

The RANDian eggheads looked at these issues and, out of 15 ideas, decided that these three would be the most practicable:

What if the authorities put a GPS unit in your car or motorcycle? Not the regular kind of GPS receiver, the good kind, the ones that use differentials or whatever to pinpoint your whereabouts down to a couple yards on a 24-7 basis.

You don’t like that? Well how about a cell phone in your car next to the engine that would call the government on a regular basis to rat out how miles you’ve driven the past week?

You don’t like that neither? Well how about a system that ID’s your car when you buy gas and then computes your Miles Driven by looking at your particular model’s EPA rating?

And let’s say this all gets implemented in five years.

Or instead, our electeds could simply raise gas taxes a bit, but that’s not something that they like talking about doing.

Of course they could make this new VMT proposal “revenue neutral” by getting rid of or lowering per-gallon fuel taxes that you pay today. Once a system like this is in place, taxes would correlate more directly with miles driven – it’s up to you if you like that or not.

Welcome to The Future.

Speaking of 1980:

My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about.
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law.
And on Sundays I elude the Eyes,
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire
Where my white-haired uncle waits.

See how this libertarian, Canadian Power Rock Trio story ends after the jump.

*Not so much this past year or two, but you’ll be out there in force again soon enough.

**And maybe that’s the way it should be. I know all the arguments you’re thinking about - this is a political question, of course.

(more…)

Tags: 2015, 3g, 4g, Betty Serian, Board of Equalization, boe, california, call, Corp, Corporation, diesel, differential, don't snitch, Franchise Tax Board, ftb, fuel, gas, gasloine, GPS, II, Implementable Strategies, Implementable Strategies for Shifting to Direct Usage-Based Charges for Transportation Funding, in, Internal Revenue Service, IRS, Lee Munnich, Liisa Ecola, Lisa Ecola, Martin Wachs, Max Donath, motor, motor law, Motor Vehicle Administration, moving pictures, MVA, OBD, Paul Sorensen, pdf, phone, prius, privacy, Radio Frequency Identification, raise, RAND, red barchetta, rfid, rush, San Francisco, snitch, spy, spying, stations, study, suv, taxes, telephone, think tank, TIMA, toyota, Truth in Mileage Act, Units, Vehicle Miles of Travel, Vehicle-Miles-Traveled, Vehicle-Miles-Travelled, vmt
Posted in cars | 1 Comment »

NBC’s Trauma Vs. Real Trauma on the Streets of San Francisco

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

This was the scene on Market Street last night, in front of the Bistro Clovis somewhere near Franklin and the Zuni Cafe.

Obviously, you can’t try to entertain people, as NBC’s Trauma is attempting to do, by showing a workplace drama with too many banal, everyday scenes. But it’s a little insulting to real EMTs and other first responders if you (talking about you here, Traumatics) portray them as being hella cavalier about their jobs. Don’t you think?

If for no other reason than the risk of getting sued, the EMTs of San Francisco are not cavalier about their jobs, generally speaking. Personally, I’ve never seen the EMT’s of San Francisco not act in a professional manner. (Maybe I need to get out more, maybe I’m being naive, JMO.)

Click to expand

And so it goes.

“Are you awake?

What’s your name?

How old are you?

Did anybody beat on you?”

And on it goes, day in and day out.

Tags: ambulance, bistro, call, clovic, drugs, emt, emts, First, franklin, market, nbc, police, responder, San Francisco, SFPD, street, trauma, wOMAN
Posted in government | Comments Off

Enter Your Cute Kid into the GapKids / babyGap Casting Call Contest

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Your kid is cute, right? Just adorable. So why not enter the Fourth Annual Casting Call Contest from the Gap and the Disney?

Of course as a general rule, you don’t want to doll up your bundle of joy (these people will take care of that) and you don’t want to pay any upfront fees, which I’m sure there are none in this contest. Follow those rules and You Are Golden.

All the deets are below. It’s on! Enter today!

Here are some former finalists:

Calling All Proud Parents: Gap Searches for the New Faces of babyGap and GapKids With Its Fourth Annual Casting Call Contest

Gap Teams Up with Disney Family.com for a Nationwide Search to Find America’s Brightest Personalities and Most Adorable Young Faces

Gap’s nationwide search for babies and kids with a twinkle in their eye, charm in their smile and an expressive personality to match has officially started. Today Gap launched its fourth annual Gap Casting Call, a nationwide contest to find the next faces of babyGap and GapKids. This year, Gap is teaming up with online parenting site, Disney Family.com, offering phenomenal prizes and more chances to win with its first-ever America’s Fan Favorite and Voters’ Sweepstakes awards.

“Casting Call is one of our favorite programs and this year we want to make it bigger and better than ever,” said Pam Wallack, president of babyGap, GapKids and GapMaternity. “The contest is a unique and fun way for us to interact with our customers and their children and we are extremely excited to be partnering with Disney, a brand synonymous with not only families but also family entertainment, to enhance the program and add a little something special to this year’s Casting Call.”

How Casting Call Works:

Entry Phase: From Sept. 22 to Oct. 22, parents across the country can enter their child in the contest by visiting gap.com/castingcall to upload a photo of their baby (ages four and under) and kid (ages five to 10) for a chance to be featured in an upcoming babyGap or GapKids campaign in Feb. 2010.

The Finalists: Once the entry phase closes on Oct. 22, judges will narrow down the field to twenty finalists — 10 babies (five girls and five boys) for babyGap and 10 kids (five girls and five boys) for GapKids. The 20 finalists will be flown to San Francisco with their families to participate in an official Gap photo shoot and will receive prize packages, including a $500 Gap gift card and a deluxe Disney gift bag.

Voting Phase: On Dec. 7, the twenty finalists will be unveiled and voting will begin on gap.com/castingcall. It will then be up to America to decide the next faces of babyGap and GapKids for a 2010 campaign. Voters can vote once a day every day for babyGap [1 boy and 1 girl] and GapKids [1 boy and 1 girl]. And contestants won’t be the only ones with a chance to win great prizes. This year, Gap and Disney Family.com are offering a special Voter Sweepstakes. For each vote cast at gap.com/castingcall from Dec. 7 – Dec. 21, voters will be entered in a contest to win a weeklong Luxury Included Caribbean family vacation to Beaches Resorts in Turks and Caicos or Jamaica.

The Winners: Four children will be selected as winners of the Gap Casting Call — one baby girl and one baby boy for babyGap and one girl and one boy for GapKids. The winners will be featured in the windows of babyGap and GapKids stores from coast-to-coast and will receive other incredible prizes from Gap and Disney including a $1,000 Gap gift card and a Disney on Broadway package in New York or Las Vegas for a two-night VIP Lion King experience.

“In addition to inspiring great ideas for family life, Disney Family.com and Gap are now giving moms a chance to showcase the kids that make it all worthwhile,” said Emily Smith, vice president, Disney Online Mom and Family Portfolio.

Introducing the Fan Favorite Award:

For the first time in Casting Call history, Gap is introducing an award for America’s “Fan Favorite.” The lucky child who receives the most votes at gap.com/castingcall starting on Sept. 22 will win a weeklong Luxury Included Caribbean family vacation to Beaches Resorts in Turks and Caicos or Jamaica.

Fan Favorite voting runs from Sept. 22 through Nov. 17 and the winner will be announced on Dec. 7, along with the 20 finalists. To help get the word out, parents can leverage the power of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, and good ole’ fashioned e-mail to help get votes for their adorable tot.

To help spread the word about their charismatic Casting Call contestant, parents can also create a “printable,” an adorable mini Gap shopping bag photo holder with arms and legs to showoff their aspiring model. When parents submit a photo of their child, they can opt to print out the printable character that sits on the edge of a table or desk and holds a “Vote for me” sign.

Visit gap.com/castingcall for official contest and sweepstakes rules and information.

About Gap Inc.

Gap Inc. is a leading global specialty retailer offering clothing, accessories and personal care products for men, women, children and babies under the Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta brand names. Fiscal 2008 sales were $14.5 billion. Gap Inc. operates more than 3,100 stores in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Japan and Ireland. In addition, Gap Inc. is expanding its international presence with franchise agreements in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. For more information, please visit gapinc.com.

About Disney Family.com

Disney Family.com is part of the Disney Online Mom and Family Portfolio, a leading group of sites that provide inspiration and ideas for parents on a variety of topics important to today’s families, including easy recipes, crafts, traveling with children, pregnancy, and parenting. Other sites in the Portfolio include Kaboose.com, FamilyFun.com and BabyZone.com.

Tags: $1000, 2009, annual, babies, baby gap, babygap, boys, call, casting, casting call contest, children, com, contest, Disney, don, doris, faces, Family, fisher, fourth, gap, gap kids, gapkids, gift, girls, model, modeling, new, parents, photo, prizes, San Francisco, sute, upload
Posted in advertising | 8 Comments »

San Francisco Citizen

Posts Tagged ‘call’

When You Have a Corrupt “Member CHP 11-99 Foundation” License Plate Holder, You Don’t Need a License Plate, Right?

What It Looks Like When the SEIU Robocalls You About the Twitter Corporate Welfare Zone Issue

AT&T and Verizon and Sprint and Others are Offering Free Phone Calls and Texts to Japan These Days, FYI

Here They Are – Meet the Winners of Gap’s Annual Casting Call Contest 2010

Corrupt-Appearing “MEMBER 11-99 FOUNDATION” License Plate Holders Still Showing Up on Brand-New Luxo-Cars

Three Cheers – Looks Like Yelp Has Turned the Corner on Its Advertising Imbroglio

The Thing About Yelp and Its Lawsuits for Extortion

RAND Corp: GPS Snitch Units in All Cars Could Enforce New Vehicle-Miles-Traveled Tax

NBC’s Trauma Vs. Real Trauma on the Streets of San Francisco

Enter Your Cute Kid into the GapKids / babyGap Casting Call Contest

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