Dot-com Liquidator 96
Stephen VanDyke writes: "The Lexington Herald-Leader has an interesting article on the day of a "repo man". Marty Pichinson doesn't repossess cars or homes, he goes after companies that flopped." Second in a series.
Re:Been there, read that (Score:1)
Are you from Kentucky by any chance?
Re:Amateur article (Score:1)
Here's one... (Score:1)
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Re:OT:Re:Instant Karma gonna get you.. (Score:1)
Well, actually pulling you over might not be allowed (I think there might've been constitutional questions about it), so what these states do is have roadblocks specifically to check if people are wearing seatbelts. Which is basically the same thing. In some states this program is called "Click It or Ticket."
Cheers,
Re:Instant Karma gonna get you.. (Score:1)
How about doing crossword puzzles? That's how I pass the time while I'm driving.
About the article, it's nuts to blame the economy for guys like this knocking on people's doors. It's more about people getting realistic and seeing that quarter-after-quarter some of these goofy web ideas were losing tons of money. It's about one too many toothpaste.com-like sites getting millions of dollars in VC money before people started to finally get a clue.
Cheers,
Re:Repo men are impressive (Score:1)
My life has been skewed by TV
Re:The Cleaner? (Score:1)
these auctions--websites anyone? (Score:1)
moderators: please mod this question up so we have a better chance at getting answers
Re:Instant Karma gonna get you.. (Score:1)
Re:Auction site? (Score:1)
Just like the movie... (Score:1)
Re:Does he get to sell customer mailing list? (Score:1)
LOL! (Moderate dis beets up!) (Score:1)
Demoronizer (Score:1)
It's better than that (Score:1)
From the script:
Miller: See? The more you drive, the less intelligent you are.
For the full script, see http://users.erols.com/bobcan/repo/script.html . One of the better Alan Cox films, by the way. Oops, I mean Alex Cox.
--Seen
Re:he's a dead man (Score:1)
Re:Auction site? (Score:1)
Re:Tough reading (Score:1)
how retarded.
Re:Interesting choice of words ... (Score:1)
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Re:Instant Karma gonna get you.. (Score:1)
I would. Why? I want to live. Fuck "the law", for me it's self preservation.
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Re:Instant Karma gonna get you.. (Score:1)
Remember the recent riots in Cincinatti? The ones that got started when police shot a black man who was running from them? Does anyone know why they shot him?
It boils down to this: he didn't want to wear his seat belt.
Read the rest of it here [mises.org]: "... Of course, it wasn't quite that simple. He had received several seat-belt violations and hadn't paid any of his tickets. He had refused to respond to court orders. So, when they pulled him over on that fateful day, all the police knew about him was that there was a warrant for his arrest. They didn't know at the time that it was for seat-belt violations.
As for the man, we don't know what he was thinking, exactly, but he clearly didn't want to be arrested by the police. He took off in his car and led the police on a high-speed chase, which ended in his own death when the police thought he reached for a gun and shot him. He died over the seat-belt law."
also check out http://www.politicshurt.com [politicshurt.com]---
Re:Instant Karma gonna get you.. (Score:1)
We very much *do* have the right to stop him before somebody not only gets their car 'distroyed', but their kid run over.
Disregard the above (Score:1)
Too many dot-com flop stories
Re:Grammar Police (Score:1)
Re:Tough reading (Score:1)
Re:Has he paid M$ a visit over Xbox? (Score:1)
That was pretty funny how you changed the subject of the original post. (One that frankly made sense) In fact you are a comedic genius.
Or in all actuality.. AN IDIOT!
Re:Oh, the irony... (Score:1)
the failing economy is good ... (Score:1)
I expect the amount of components like this from dead dotcoms will accumulate en masse on ebay within the next coming months. Woohoo!
Re:Interesting choice of words ... (Score:1)
I hate to see stupidity
Well, as long as you keep your mirrors facing the ground, you should be all right...
Am I the only one here who can't stand all these pretentious fucking slashbots, without an iota of buisness knowledge in them, try and go around and spout shit like they're Alan fuckin' Greenspan? Wake up, asshole, you couldn't tell the difference between a successful buisness plan and one bound for failure if the Gods themselves painted you a fucking sign.
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35 cents on the dollar. (Score:1)
Re:2 Hrs sleep? (Score:1)
Re:Board Members (Score:1)
Re:The Cleaner? (Score:1)
Does he get to sell customer mailing list? (Score:1)
Re:Where to buy? (Score:1)
A lot of repossessed stuff ends up on eBay, because it's usually the fastest way to dispose of equipment from failed dot-coms.
Re:Instant Karma gonna get you.. (Score:1)
btw...you are 8x more likely to get into a wreck adjusting your CD player than talking on a cellphone. How long before we aren't "allowed" to listen to music while we drive?
Jaysyn
Re:the failing economy is good ... (Score:1)
Re:OT:Re:Instant Karma gonna get you.. (Score:1)
Auction site? (Score:1)
Re:Board Members (Score:1)
No, but that sounds like a great idea for a new Web-based company!
I'm gonna stay up all night writing a business plan!
Re:Instant Karma gonna get you.. (Score:1)
Well, unless you are in Brooklyn, OH (near Cleveland) or New York state, it isn't illegal. A few other places are thinking about outlawing it, but haven't yet.
Furthermore, It's not illegal even there to use your cell. It's illegal to hold it up to your ear while driving. Hands-free stuff is OK. Makes phone sex easier.
Tough reading (Score:1)
Re:Amateur article (Score:1)
Re:Oh, the irony... (Score:1)
Re:these auctions--websites anyone? (Score:1)
Re:Reminds me of "Rain on the Scarecrow" (Score:1)
Re:2 Hrs sleep? (Score:1)
Believe it or not, many people can get by on catnaps. Two 2 hr naps interspersed between that 22 hr day could do it...
Re:Instant Karma gonna get you.. (Score:1)
That is not entirely true. Even the solid operators are having trouble getting funds these days. Also, many of the good operations relied on the bad ones as customers, and they are drying up like spilled bong water (the moisture goes away, but the stench hangs around if you don't get the mop out and clean it up). On the other hand, I do agree with your basic premise, and clearly the reason "the good ideas" are having problems is due to all the failures that sucked the wells dry before them.
I guess my major point is the economy IS bad, even the good operations are having trouble as a result.
Baseball (Score:1)
Re:Repo men are impressive (Score:2)
You mean, stolen. If a repo man can do it without being seen, so can a thief. It must suck to have bad security. Normally repo men do not work in hiding, but officially ask whoever runs the place to be handed over the machine.
Re:The Cleaner? (Score:2)
Re:Board Members (Score:2)
I imagine you could find their background with a search of, eg SEC filings and the like.
This isn't necessarily scummy. It's possible that directors are opting to wind companies down while there's still a chance of paying back creditors, staff redundancy, and maybe getting investors some pennies on the dollar, which is the most ethical decision the board of a failing company can take.
Re:Reminds me of "Rain on the Scarecrow" (Score:2)
Yeah, when farmers screw up there are crop subsidies to bail them out. How can that be compared with the dot-commers that actually have to suffer?
Re:Repeate Story (Score:2)
Re:Board Members (Score:2)
Re:Board Members (Score:2)
At least I got "severance" right.
Full media erasure on this topic (Score:2)
I am almost sure that it was George Jr (aka Dubya) that was the head of it, but it could have been another son (Are ther any others besides Jeb?)
The FSLIC had not kept their insurance requirements strict enough, and it was actually the FSLIC playing some kind of games with the S&Ls to try to keep the FSLIC in business, but instead went belly-up and took the S&Ls down with it, which in turn took the Family farms down with them. Some even said that the big agricorps socially engineered these weaknesses into the FSLIC regulations to make them able to expand by assuming ownership of all the family farms for pennies on the dollar.
I know this happened, I remember the local (I lived in a small Nebraska town at the time this was happenning, so I am absolutely sure it was a Bush kid in charge) newspaper reporting on what was going on, and we had to report on it in High School. They didn't go into the conspiracy theories, of course. But it's way weird that finding info on this on the net (At least for me) has been pretty much undoable.
Re:It was NEIL Bush, not Dubya (Score:2)
No, I do not have Internet access :)
Oh, BTW, I invented UFOs :)
Re:Reminds me of "Rain on the Scarecrow" (Score:2)
C'mon, where in the song did they mention such vital-to-the-job things such as:
Cheers,
Re:Repeate Story (Score:2)
Re:Reminds me of "Rain on the Scarecrow" (Score:2)
The only difference is that the banks were smarter than the VCs (lending instead of buying) and probably got a better return on their investments when farms had to be liquidated to pay off debts than the VCs get when these companies are stripped and sold for parts.
-jon
OT:Re:Instant Karma gonna get you.. (Score:2)
Re:Instant Karma gonna get you.. (Score:2)
As for your statistics: beware the semi-attached figure. Accident rates involving cellphones are going to be under-reported because nobody is going to admit to a policeman after an accident that they were breaking the law by using their cellphone at the time.
And remember, this guy was also tapping on a PDA on his leg, fielding a pager strapped to another leg, and fumbling with a clipboard of directions. All without enough sleep.
An accident waiting to happen.
Paul.
Where to buy? (Score:2)
Re:The Cleaner? (Score:2)
In Nikita, Reno plays a character called the cleaner, who is the expert called in to clean up a assasinations. Reno totally stole the scene and Besson expanded the character to make Leon.
Meanwhile, Keitel plays the same character in the US remake.
Then, Tarantino writes someone called Mr Wolf into Pulp Fiction whose job is the same - cleaning up botched crimes. And casts Kietel in that role, although the two characters are very different.
Re:Interesting choice of words ... (Score:2)
Ohhhh but I know a troll when I see one, and your not even a good one.
They are hard to find... (Score:2)
It's a shame too, because as a startup in this climate, getting real hardware cheaply would be a Godsend...
Alex
Depends on the deal... (Score:2)
Nice of you to call someone a slimeball because of his profession. People extended credit to these companies that went under. He tries to get them their money, and gets paid for his service.
Not a slimeball, everyone comes out ahead.
Alex
Re:the failing economy is good ... (Score:2)
I also heard that... (Score:2)
I'm going to go get a "drink."
Instant Karma gonna get you.. (Score:2)
*screeech* Crash!
Re:Repo men are impressive (Score:2)
Yup, most repo men will be fairly upfront (especially with something "owned" by a company and not an individual) and present their "warrant of reposession".
Seriously. (Score:2)
Warren Buffett said it correctly: many of these "bubble companies" were designed to make money off investors, not for them. Serves them right that they're toast.
Your Tax Dollars At Work (Score:2)
Re:Tough reading (Score:2)
--
BACKNEXTFINISHCANCEL
The Cleaner? (Score:2)
Which is a scene-for-scene remake of Luc Besson's French file La Femme Nikita.
Also, Besson directed 'The Professional' starring Jean Reno and a [soon to be considered] attractive 12 year old girl named Natalie Portman.
Forgive me if there is a 'cleaner' in Pulp Fiction as I took this kharma-whoring opportunity to mention Natalie Portman in a post.
Re:Where to buy? (Score:2)
Bid for Assets is a good place to start, http:\\www.bid4assets.com
Re:Reminds me of "Rain on the Scarecrow" (Score:2)
Re:Where to buy? (Score:2)
Say "NO!" to tax money for religious groups. [thedaythatcounts.org]
Hmm... Interesting (Score:2)
I wish this would die with the dot coms (Score:2)
To clue anyone in, when you hear someone brag like the repo man does in this article it is usually a sign of total incompitence not just being a jackass.
2 Hrs sleep? (Score:2)
He leaves early and dashes toward his car. ``I feel like I've just started my day,'' he says. Actually, his day started at 3 a.m., and he will get home at 1 a.m.
I just had to think that, no, this is impossible without drugs. Who knows what kind of stuff you need to make the job enjoyable?
It was NEIL Bush, not Dubya (Score:2)
eVulture (Score:3)
Re:Instant Karma gonna get you.. (Score:3)
In that recent report that said that people on cell phones were more likely to be in accidents, the accident rate for people talking to passengers wasn't all that much lower. How long before passengers are banned from cars, or police start ticketing people for talking?
I still remember when people started pushing for mandatory seat belt laws, dismissing as paranoid nuts anyone who suggested that cops would be pulling drivers over at random to make sure they're wearing seat belts. Well, now that cops are doing exactly that, where are these people now?
Quit asking for the goverment to run everybody's lives for them, they do too much of it already.
Cheers,
Board Members (Score:3)
I don't see why this should happen. Particularly if I am the shareholder of a company I want to know the background of the board members. I think it's reasonable to be able to find out which companies they've been on the board of in the past.
Zoho still on monster.com (Score:3)
Re:Does he get to sell customer mailing list? (Score:3)
..Maybe thats why I keep getting so much spam about how I can make *BIG MONEY* buying and selling email adresses. I feel most sorry for the newbies that drop their one email address into online forms and don't know how to filter their spam -
After becoming dot.compost earlier this year... (Score:3)
Amateur article (Score:4)
Interesting choice of words ... (Score:4)
The ECONOMY leaves wrecked companies in its wake? I have news for the author: the internet has spawned the greatest percentage of *the stupidest* business plans in all recorded history. Even con-men were on better ground then alot of these internet firms ...
I hate to see stupidity
Has he paid VA Linux a visit yet? (Score:5)
If not, he will be soon...
I had to do this last week (Score:5)
Repo men are impressive (Score:5)
The blueprint machine was in a room in the center of the engineering building. There were two entrances to the building. To go from the front entrance to the blueprint machine room, you would have to go past the office of one of the company owners, and the secretary, and a couple of engineer's offices.
To get to the blueprint machine room from the back door, you would have to go past my office, and the offices of four other programmers.
All the desks in all the aforementioned offices faced their doors, so anyone working could easily see anyone who went down the hall.
One day, the machine was repossesed. It happened between 11am (when someone last used it), and 1pm (when someone tried to use it, and found it was gone). During that time, none of the people in any of the offices I mentioned above went to lunch.
No one saw anything. Evidently, at least two people managed to walk in, go past several people, and carry the machine out, all without being seen.
Oh, the irony... (Score:5)
"We all say so, so it must be true!"
Reminds me of "Rain on the Scarecrow" (Score:5)
The crops we grew last summer weren't enough to pay the loans
Couldn't buy the seed to plant this spring and the Farmers Bank foreclosed
Called my old friend Schepman up to auction off the land
He said John it's just my job and I hope you understand
Hey calling it your job ol' hoss sure don't make it right
But if you want me to I'll say a prayer for your soul tonight
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