But let’s get back to the point. Did my mind get confused and make that observational, perceptive error because the two actresses (sorry, ‘female actors’) actually do bear a resemblance to each other? Or was my mistake influenced by the casting of Rachel Dawes in the two Nolan Batman reboot movies, Batman Begins and/versus The Dark Knight? Random, but still, it is a little something silly to think about. Either a) Katie Holmes and Maggie Gyllenhaal look alike after all, or b) The movies influenced my mistake, at least on some subconscious level, by having me mentally associate the two, or by some other means.

As an aside, my respect goes more to Maggie Gyllenhaal. I appreciate her eclectic taste in roles, and think her acting has some strength/merit. Haven’t seen much of Katie Holmes, so I’m not in any position to judge, anyhow.

Please take a second to rate, comment, and subscribe! Helps me a lot more than you would think. Thank you for all the support thus far.

I remembered to turn up the brightness this time.

Leave any suggestions and requests below in the comments!

Fresh new player tackling Black Ops multiplayer. Please, leave any tips and suggestions in the video (NOT HERE).

Will be focused on dual-commentary in the future with a friend on Zombies.

Please give me a thumbs up for good effort and subscribe to watch me grow as a player.

A review on Speedball 2 Evolution from Tower Studios.

Thank you for all the support on the last video. Again, please help me out by giving me a thumbs up on the video and comment on the video about what you would like to see next on the video. It helps me more than you think by giving my videos exposure. Sharing helps, too!

Also, I am still taking suggestions on reviews and tutorials for anything iPhone related, JB and non-JB apps.

A review on a fairly new iPhone app, “Angry– er, Tiny Wings”. First time doing this review. Obviously I’m poor and have an old camera and an iPhone 3GS (waiting for the 4GS/5).

Take a few seconds to give me a thumbs up if you want to see more. It really helps me more than you think, allowing me to gain more exposure. Suggest any new apps you’re not willing to put down the money until you see a detailed review on (comment on the video, not here).

The next review will be better, I promise/hope.

In 2008, Toyota won the spotlight of becoming the number one car manufacturer in the world, completely dominating over General Motors, “which had been the leader since 1931” (The New York Times, 2010). But, after gradually earning the title, Toyota quickly plunged into a turmoil which would also set another record in the corporation’s history books. Rapidly, profits began to drop, “leading to a loss for the fiscal year of $4.8 billion, the largest [loss] in the company’s 72-year history” (The New York Times, 2010). Fortunately, however, they were able to climb back up and break even in the last few months of 2009. However, their already-tarnished reputation as one of the most safe and high quality carmakers in the world will forever stick to them like cancer. This cancer eventually led to a degrading company health, which was brought out by the infamous “unintended accelerations” and the many lawsuits and government investigations that came along with it. The fines and punitive tolls would be the heaviest this company has faced. Fortunately, during the April-to-June quarter of 2010, Toyota sucked it up and got back on the job, despite “the lingering fallout from recalls” (The New York Times, 2010). This was mostly due to the company making strong sales and cutting costs left and right to make their cars more attractive to consumers after the disastrous aftermath.

In August, another miracle occurred for the Toyota Motor Corporation. “A US government investigation into complaints of sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles found no evidence of flawed electronics in 58 of the vehicles that crashed.” This was great news indeed; however, this could mean that something simpler and more primitive could have caused the accidents. If so, great embarrassment would be put upon the already infamous car company. So while lawmakers and drivers continue to accuse the sudden acceleration on the electronic throttle system of the wrecked vehicles, Toyota recalled a total of nearly nine million vehicles, including their luxury line, Lexus, to correct problems they suspected to be caused by floor mats and sticky pedals. “The government’s preliminary report supports Toyota’s contention that electronics were not at fault and that many of the reports of sudden acceleration might actually have been instances of human error – drivers mistakenly pressing the gas pedal instead of the brake” (The New York Times, 2010). But how likely is this contagious epidemic to isolate itself in one car company, Toyota, in this short period of time? How is it only Toyota is having this problem? As expected, after Toyota continues to examine the sudden acceleration reports, they successfully “found instances of sticky pedals and so-called pedal entrapment, problems [Toyota have] been fixing on the recalled vehicles” (The New York Times, 2010). Not until now has it been called an official problem by the federal officials.

Back in November of 2009, the initial recall was “intended to fix a design flaw that could cause the gas pedal to become trapped under the floor mat” (The New York Times, 2010). This was announced due to the well-known death of a family of four, the driver being a law enforcement officer. They were driving a Lexus sedan and fatally drove into a ravine at top speed due to unintended acceleration. The floor mats were suspected of being the accomplice, but reports show that in some instances, the mats were not present at the time of the malfunction. In fact, there are reports of the floor mats being inside the trunks of cars experiencing this major problem. “As more details have emerged about the problems, Toyota has faced questions over whether it routinely fixed potentially dangerous defects in new models without recalling those already on the road” (The New York Times, 2010). More doubt and distrust starts to plague the once reliable motor company.

As Toyota fails to fix problems before they emerge in the consumers’ hands, a second recall is announced. The reason behind this recall was because the pedal had a tendency to wear down, thus become slow to depress or get stuck midway. After the announcement, however, Toyota “said its engineers developed and ‘rigorously tested’ a remedy involving reinforcing the pedal to eliminate excess friction” (The New York Times, 2010). For cars that were already on the road, however, were recalled and equipped with a steel bar to reduce tension, which was the main cause of the unintentional acceleration. Shouldn’t this have been dealt with before mass production? You would think the number one car company would have thought this through before even releasing the plans to create the prototype, especially since the past models never had this problem. The problem with the Prius was similar, but forgivable, since the problem was centered on software glitch instead of design flaw.

As April 2010 rolled by, consumer reports started warning the general public to not buy any of Toyota’s vehicles, including their luxury line. Without any prompt from safety authorities, Toyota suspended sales of another problematic car, the Lexus GX 460 sport utility vehicle. This SUV “failed to prevent its rear end from sliding sideways during sharp turns” (The New York Times, 2010). Their action raised a lot of suspicion as to why they held back their chickens before they hatched. It seems that Toyota knew they had some bad eggs to begin with, but failed to purge them before the eggs began to stink. In the same month, Toyota “agreed to pay a $16.4 million fine, one of the heaviest imposed on a car manufacturer in the United States “ for not disclosing the truth behind the recall of their faulty products (The New York Times, 2010). However, this fine did not cover all the punitive and case penalties filed by crash victims and relatives of the victims killed by the automobile malfunctions– it was in addition to them. The actions of the automaker, Toyota, are still under heavy investigation by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This long series of events is a perfect definition of a corporation lacking in corporate responsibility, be it intentional or accidental. Considering the two rival positions described by Milton Friedman and Arthur Levitt, there is a possibility that Toyota’s actions could be justified, but wasn’t, due to the blood on the hands of this car maker. The broader view of corporate responsibility suggests that corporations maintain other responsibilities alongside making a large profit, such as keeping obligations “to consumers, to employees, to suppliers and contractors, to the surrounding community, and to society at large” (Shaw & Barry, 2007). This view on social responsibility can also be referred to the ‘social entity model’ or ‘stakeholder model’—making sure the company’s stakeholders are accommodated and satisfied.

Unfortunately, however, Toyota practices have more similarities with the narrow view of corporate responsibility, which encourages “no social responsibilities other than to maximize profits,” and to “use its resources and engage in activities designed” to do just that (Shaw & Barry, 2007). Basically, practicing this view pushes everything aside and focuses mainly on reeling in the money to please investors. Although this “view has been gaining widespread acceptance” in the corporation world, there are still rules and limitations in this relentless style of running a company (Shaw & Barry, 2007). Rules are implemented to ensure an open and free competition, and to reduce the ease of committing deception or fraud, which causes an unleveled playing field and blind stakeholder perception. With this in mind, it is highly probable that Toyota took a shortcut and risked malfunction to keep profits high and costs low.

Toyota finally starts to learn from their mistakes and asks for forgiveness by asking the consumers what they want from their Toyota cars, along with retrofitting 2.2 million vehicles with the Smart Stop system. This mechanism is “designed under some circumstances to override the gas pedal and cut power to the engine,” at certain situations, in order to prevent unintended acceleration (Jensen, 2010). If this goes without devastating hitches, Toyota would be opening up their views of corporate responsibility more to accommodate their stakeholders, and more importantly, the consumers trusting their family with these automobiles. The damaged-name car company then decides to ask their consumers about what they want to see in their cars. “Toyota Motor is pledging that it will try to bring to fruition the five best ideas submitted by consumers, as judged by an independent panel” (Elliott, 2010). However, the ideas are limited to only improving existing technology, meaning Toyota will not install an overhead compartment for your domestic animal of choice, unfortunately.

As the storm starts to calm, repairs are made and blood is wiped off the familiar oval logo, Toyota’s corporate responsibility is taking the turn for the best for their consumers. It only took one of the harshest punitive penalties ever set in front of a car maker’s doorstep to make them realize it was time to get their act back together and reclaim their seat as the number one automotive corporation in the world.

Elliott, S. (2010, November 8). Toyota Turns to Consumers for ‘Ideas’. Retrieved November 30, 2010, from The New York Times: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/toyota-turns-to-consumers-for-ideas/?scp=9&sq=toyota&st=cse

Jensen, C. (2010, November 3). Toyota Retrofits 2.2 Million Vehicles With Smart Pedals. Retrieved November 30, 2010, from The New York Times: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/toyota-retrofits-2-2-million-vehicles-with-smart-pedals/?scp=11&sq=toyota&st=cse

Shaw, W. H., & Barry, V. (2007). Moral Issues in Business. Belmont: Wadsworth.

The New York Times. (2010, August 11). Toyota Motor Corporation News. Retrieved November 16, 2010, from The New York Times: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/toyota_motor_corporation/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=toyota&st=cse

This was the response after I replied to his offer of $200 (notice how unprofessional it is):

ok thanks for your swift reponse,i am glad that the camera is still in
good condition i will be willing to purchase it for my sister as a
birthday present.i want you to get back to me with your paypal id to
enable me order you the money into your account immediately,and for me
to give you the shipping details as well okay.

Hope to read from you soon.
Allen

Sounds good, so far. I replied to him with my Paypal ID and was asked for the price, again:

ok good i will quickly log on to my paypal account to order you the
money into your account immediately.so let me know how much you are
demanding for to enable know the right price so i can sucessfuly order
the payment into your account now.

I replied back with the same price, $200.

After, he sends me an unofficial confirmation, personally. Yes, I’m serious.

Hello

Good day i have sucessfeuly sent out the payment to your account today,i hope you have receive my payment confirmation from paypal today,if so kindly let me know and help me to mail out the item to my sister today as you have said in your earliest mail okay.

Hope to hear from you soon
Allen

I check my Paypal account, and of course, the money is not there. I was already starting to be suspicious of his restless pushing for me to send out the camera. I replied back with:

Hello Allen,

Thanks for the response. I have not yet received the money. Did you pay with money that was already on your Paypal account? If so, it should have been instant. If you payed with eCheck or transfer from your bank account, it might take a little time. I will keep you posted.

Peter Chiem

His response:

ok i just payed in via bank transfer ans i hiope you should have
receive the notification from paypal

Of course, I have not replied because I have yet to receive his money. So, he decides to send me another email:

hello how are you today,what is hapenning have you ship out the parckage

My response to his inquiry of his parckage:

Hello Allen,

I have not yet shipped out the package because I still have not received the payment on Paypal yet. I never ship out a package to a customer before confirming the payment first.

Peter Chiem

After a couple replies about him telling me that I’m confused, he throws this shit at me:

what did you mean,i have contact paypal concerning this and i have
been told that you have receive the confirmation of my payment that
you did not reply to the mail sent to you by them,and if you did not
comply to paypal within 24 hrs your account will be suspended okay.

This was when I had enough of his bullshit. I should have ended this before, but $200 can buy me around forty combo meals at McDonald’s. So, I went along with it, hoping he was just a dumbass. But now, he’s a dumbass + scammer, which is worse, if you can’t do math.

This was my final response to him, before forwarding the entire email conversation to Paypal:

Hello Allen,

I know how Paypal handles disputes and that is not how they do things. If they did business like that, they would have lost all business. I am also a certified Paypal user. They will at least email me first and inquire me about this dispute. I will be turning in this poor excuse of a scam to Paypal.

Have a good fucking day,
Peter Chiem

By the way, the camera is still for sale. It’s brand new, in original boxing. I am asking for $130. If interested, please email me at:

ptchiem@mediocreblog.com

At midnight of April 1st, I uploaded a picture of someone else’s broken leg to my Facebook. Then, later in the morning, I posted a fake x-ray picture of another person’s leg that seemed similar to the external injury picture that I had posted previously. Long story short, I had a lot of people going.

In this video, I decided to convince my best friend that I re-broke my leg.

The original video was over 12 minutes long. I had to cut out a lot of good stuff. I’ll try to keep the original production next time to share with people who are interested in watching more.

Happy April Fool’s Day!

Post in the comments below on what I should do as revenge. You may also comment on the YouTube site if you prefer.