Thursday, June 27, 2002
The REAL American Taliban
Today, the Supreme Court took a major step towards the establishment of government funded madrassa-equivalents in the United States. It will now be OK, peachy keen, and downright all-American as apple pie to transfer funds away from public schools, through the use of vouchers, to religious schools. Including schools that support racism and bigotry on religious grounds. Look for an upwelling of evil right-wing fascist “Christian” schools teaching young people to hate while feeding at the government trough. I’m deeply disgusted and concerned for the future of this nation. The hatemongers produced by this American madrassa system will promote religious intolerance and will eat away at one of the pillars of our society. Thank you, GOP.
Turn Down the Christian Rock and Pee in the Cup, Please
And, in a 5-4 split, the Supreme Court also OK’d random drug testing for students participating in any extra-curricular activity. Wanna be in the Stamp Club? Lessee the wiener! Debate team? Squat! School play? In the cup while I watch!
Now I’m waiting for some school district to declare their compulsory volunteer programs as extra-curricular so they can random-test everyone.
EnCom, WorldRon, EnCom, WorldRon... Let's Call the Whole Thing Off!
Egads! Yet another scandal rocks corporate America. Mayhaps this one will be sufficient to knock the imperial CEO off the throne. And put the executive class into turmoil. I can only imagine the embarrased looks being exchanged at the isolated and heavily guarded G8 conference, being held in remotest Canada. Where are they going to host the next one to avoid protests? Siberia? Diego Garcia? Guantanamo? Devil's Island?
OK - so how long until a senior WorldCom exec becomes the next blood sacrifice? Mammon is hungry!
11:50 AM
Wednesday, June 19, 2002
This Mac Stuff Rocks
OK - I used to be an IT guy. Responsible for lots of software that ran on over 600 PCs and a whole bunch of servers. Now I'm a Mac guy - and so far, so good. The AirPort connected right to the Web, and my Mac connected right to the Airport, and there I was, connected. After only 5 minutes.
But PacBell Doesn't Rock
I called up PacBell this morning to ask them to trade in my USB cable modem for an Ethernet modem. They said, "$200, please." I said I can get hooked up with a cable modem for free. They said I could stop my DSL, be offline for 2 -3 weeks, resubscribe and get a new modem with a one year commitment. I told them that they were really, really stupid.
So I now have an appointment for the cable company to connect me to the internet. A nuisance, but certainly cheaper than $200!
8:58 PM
Sunday, June 16, 2002
Jus' Call Me MacDaddy
I just went online and dropped some major coin on lots of Apple goodness. A really snazzy iBook, an AirPort base and an iPod. I think I've just had a religious conversion. And I'm really, really sick of my Wintel machine crashing on me all the time. Now I just need to master the black arts of getting the thing connected to my DSL modem. I'm not sure if it has an Ethernet port. If it doesn't, cable modem here I come.
Oh, and here's a plug for J & R Music World. A merchant that I've dealt with many, many times and have always had good experiences with. FWIW, they had the absolute lowest prices I could find for MS Office X and for the iPod.
Click here for the origin of Mack Daddy (not Mac Daddy). This is probably one of the most incomprehensible films ever made in the English language. Blaxploitation at its most confusing - I guess it speaks volumes about the 70's.
2:50 PM
Tuesday, June 11, 2002
Ooh-la-la! French Soccer Team Gets The Can-Can
Just wanted to say that (with apologies to the NY Daily News that ran a similar headline about French subway cars in the 1990's). I'm not a soccer fan at all - but is fun to see the US do well and former-champion France stumble. My 2 minutes of Schadenfreude.
6:27 PM
It's Time for TGI Monday's
Our good friends at the interstitial-capital enabled PriceWaterhouseCoopers PLC have decided to spin off their consulting unit. So they did what all good Big 5 firms do, hire a high-priced naming consultant to figure out what they should call themselves.
One of the primary considerations, of course, was not to be outdone by Andersen Consulting, which recently renamed itself Accenture. PwC's decision? Monday. Yes, Monday. They won't be translating it into other languages, so their stationery won't have to say "Monday Lundi Lunes Montag ad infinitum...".
The BBC had this to say about the $110 million rebranding effort.
I foresee a joint marketing agreement with TGI Friday's. The Monday consultants can roll in frozen drink machines to client meetings so that everyone is guaranteed to leave happy. Will their theme song be "Monday, Monday"? "Manic Monday"? Will they sponsor performances of the slightly modified "Monday In the Park With George"?
The whole naming firm thing is quite a racket anyway. Salon ran a really good article ridiculing the whole business. They also savage the name "Jamcracker", which was eventually bought by a Valley startup.
Me, I think it would be fun to be in the naming business.
They Don't Deliver For You
My friend Marcum just pointed out another great BBC story. Evidently the Royal Mail decided to rename themselves and came up with Consignia, courtesy of Dragon Brands. Check out their diagram - form without content, and their process (in the sidebar) - pure trash.
12:04 AM
Sunday, June 09, 2002
Added Some More Photos
See link here or at left.
Bush's Brazilian Blooper
Evidently the White House is busy denying that the Shrubster ever asked if there were any blacks in Brazil. The Washington Post says just enough to make it seem plausible that he did say it.
9:19 PM
Friday, June 07, 2002
Bush Asks Brazilian President...
"Do you have blacks too?" The English-speaking press left this alone. Here's the original article from Der Spiegel. (Der Spiegel is Germany's most authoritative news magazine. Think somewhere between The Economist and Time - but closer to The Economist.)
Even Condi Rice was aghast.
11:59 AM
Wednesday, June 05, 2002
Rich People Got No Reason...
Just a quick tidbit about the down-to-earth people of Woodside, CA.
12:50 PM
Tuesday, June 04, 2002
Buffalo = Arts Town USA???
A quick, slightly bored leap over to the Rochester (NY) Democrat & Chronicle, a.k.a The Demagogue & Comical, revealed this slightly snarky gem. Evidently Buffalo was selected as the USA's number 9 arts destination by American Style magazine. Turns out it was a ballot-stuffing effort by Buffalo partisans. I suppose Buffalo needs all the help it can get.
6:02 PM
Monday, June 03, 2002
Duck!! Or Why Kmart is Better Than WalMart
Kmart is letting this momma duck hang out in its Garden Center until its ducklings are hatched and mobile. I suspect WalMart would ship the duck off to China to be plucked and slaughtered and sent back as mystery stuffing for both pillows and ravioli to be sold in Sam's Clubs all over the US.
3:17 PM
The Stork Arrives by FedEx!
My dear friends Michele and Scott just got the news about their new daughter. Now all they have to do is some final paperwork and go to China to pick her up and take her home. Words cannot express how happy I am right now.
Keeping Execs Alive Until They Kill Themselves
Recently, I’ve been thinking that American business culture has gone off the deep end. Executives are lauded for sleeping only four hours a night and neglecting their families. Special strong rooms are being installed to protect executives (only) while the peons can get shot up by gun-toting intruders. In short, it seems as if an executive class has been created and the rest of society is being victimized in order to cater to merest whim of an executive. Tax cuts for the rich only – no problem!
Of course, some members of the executive class need to pay with their blood, just to appease the public – and perhaps Mammon as well. To say that I’m mystified is an understatement. I find myself wondering how the dead executives (who are almost always VP’s, not really senior executives) got their values so warped that they were willing to either do illegal things for the beloved corporation, or felt so disgraced by their employer’s downfall that they couldn’t go on. Maybe the lack of sleep has something to do with it.
A few years ago, talk of corporate feudalism was rampant. Now that it seems to be happening, nobody is saying anything about it. I don’t think it’s a conspiracy, though. It’s just how we live today.
1:54 PM
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