Man, laptops have you over a barrel. Every part is specific to a given model line, model line production lifespans are often only one or two years. So parts are expensive.
But does IBM REALLY have to charge $87.12 for a replacement keyboard for my X31?
This is insanity. Cops standing in the middle of the road, searching cars for evidence of criminal activity. Cops inspecting every car that goes by, and holding up traffic to do so. And the price that’s been put on the officer’s heads? $37.
That’s the amount they charge you if you don’t wear a seat-belt in Connecticut. Apparently they’re really hard up for cash, because you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting another checkpoint. And I’m getting quite sick of it. My Fourth Amendment rights have been subordinated to the State’s desire to separate me from my cash.
Today, a lone cop (two cars, where’s the other cop hiding?), cones on both sides of Rt. 10 to narrow traffic flow down to a lane each way, just inside the Southington town limits. Standing in the middle of the road, slowing each and every car, searching the inside for evidence of violation. Upon seeing the roadblock ahead, I had to decide whether to pull a U-Turn and avoid it, or pull the seat-belt over the body and press on. I went with the latter, and gave the cop the dirtiest look I could muster, and took the belt off as soon as I was 50 feet past him.
Last Thursday, Route 305 in Windsor, just before I-91.
No less than a dozen cruisers, cops on the side of the road with radios calling ahead, about a half-dozen cars pulled off onto side streets (they were doing this in both directions, so there were about 6 cruisers to a side).
I’m gonna go out on a limb here: if the only thing they have for 12 fucking cops to do on a Thursday afternoon during rush hour is harass motorists, I’m gonna suggest that there’s 12 jobs that don’t need to exist.
Last Tuesday, Route 10 on the other side of Southington. Pull off the highway, and right into Checkpoint Charlie. Cop, again in the middle of the road, waves me down, says “I need you to pull over up there”. Proceeds to ask me if I’d heard all the ads about “click it or ticket”. Was stunned to silence when I simply replied “yes.” I advised him that he was wasting my time, as I intend to plead “not guilty”, and the ticket will be nolled. “But you weren’t wearing your seat-belt”. Right, but I can’t get this stupid law off the books until I get standing, and that’s the last thing the state wants, because they know that the law is prima facie unconstitutional.
Two morals to the story:
1 - It is not the place of the state to dictate the amount of risk a free man may subject himself to.
2 - Law enforcement is not a for-profit venture. If there aren’t real crimes for the cops to investigate, then save the taxpayers some money and downsize the force.