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May 11th, 2009
09:43 pm - The Sun Run
I am running in a 5K race this Saturday for The Melissa Fund, a not-for-profit organization raising money for the Melissa K. Bambino Melanoma Foundation.
I am asking you to please sponsor me for the race. The money will go towards research and awareness for melanoma.
I also have a personal interest in this. I knew Melissa, and still find it incomprehensible that such a wonderful, vibrant woman could die of this disease at the age of 29. And I continue to work with the Melissa Fund, and the Skin Cancer Foundation to help raise awareness, and ultimately find a cure.
Please give whatever you can. And even if you can't give, please, please, go to your dermatologist for regular screenings. We want you around for a long time.
You can donate online at: http://www.active.com/donate/sunrun2009/scott
Thank you!
-Scott
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April 12th, 2009
11:26 pm - Amazon Fail
Amazon has stripped sales rankings for hundreds of books with anything to do with homosexuality. It's so bad that the top result of a search of the word "homosexuality" now points to "A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality".
A customer service representative, Ashlyn D, writes, "In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature."
Predictably, explicit material that is not gay in nature is unaffected.
WTF, Amazon?
Update: Solved?
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December 4th, 2008
02:26 pm - Layoffs
Thursday so far:
Viacom: 850
NBC: 500
Credit Suisse: 5,300
RBS: 2,800
State Street: 1,800
Adobe: 600
AT&T: 12,000
United: 1,200
DuPont: 2,500
Pratt & Whitney: 300
Carlyle: 100
and Forbes & Time haven't announced yet.
Current Music: The Who: Who's Next?
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December 3rd, 2008
November 28th, 2008
10:58 am - Black Friday
The Fear has arrived. Panicked animals fighting for their lives. Faces smashed against glass doors. Wild-eyed unabashed greed -- the real face of humanity.
Black Friday has begun. Retailers have marked up their stock, only to mark it down again to make it look like they're doing a favor for the hordes of the weak-minded. The consumers are manipulated into a deep psychological need for getting ahead of their fellow competitors and getting that TV for 10% off.
The corporate boards of Wal-Mart and Federated have tapped into something primal. By combining the survival-fight instinct of the human animal with mob psychology, and putting it under the umbrella of religious necessity, they have created salivating, clawing, biting monsters, who have lost all sense of self, and will do anything for a dollar off.
It is a manufactured tribal war, within the context of a socially acceptable rationale, and everyone from the physically fit to trailer-park teenage moms are invited. It is the one time of year where the downtrodden and disadvantaged can get a financial advantage, and all they have to do is show up early and fight for it.
The stores feed this desire daily. From "leaked" advertisements to 5am opening times, the mobs are offered specials and branded souvenirs for being the first ones there. Because mobs create excitement. And excitement drives more consumerism, something the stores are desperate for this year.
And it's all wrapped up nicely under social religion. Christmas has taken over as the tithe of the masses. The 10% (pre-tax, please) that would have gone to the church is now going to the economy -- the last bastion of a failing free-market that needs a manufactured buying rush to survive.
But what has it wrought? Initial reports are one man trampled to death by a crowd that took him out on purpose and never looked back, and one woman stomped brutally until she miscarried, left crying on the floor while shoppers fought over designer clothes.
The only surprise is that the toll was not worse. It's a Christmas miracle.
Update from article: "Early witness accounts that the woman suffered a miscarriage were unfounded, police said."
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/sick.gif) sick
Current Music: It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
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November 4th, 2008
08:32 am
Current Mood: Hope
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November 3rd, 2008
01:29 pm
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October 14th, 2008
October 12th, 2008
October 9th, 2008
October 8th, 2008
03:55 pm - My Fellow Prisoners
The man is not right in the head...
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October 7th, 2008
08:50 am - And the dirty tricks begin...
This was distributed on the Drexel campus over the weekend --
I wonder if it would be possible to create a Turing-type test using grammar rules to determine party affiliation...
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September 29th, 2008
09:42 am - Goodbye, College Funds
They gutted the bill. Congress reduced the real bailout package to $250B and turned the rest into pet projects. That's not enough. Start buying precious metals -- the dollar is about to collapse.
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September 25th, 2008
10:29 pm
McCain goes against his word and plays politics instead of cooperation, and WaMu goes down in flames as a result. Absolutely astounding.
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September 24th, 2008
12:51 pm - Rovian Politics
Everyone likes to complain about Karl Rove's playbook. He is undoubtedly a political genius.
He spent the 70s and 80s working on campaigns for both Bushes, at one point being caught leaking classified information to Robert Novak.
Rove famously created the push poll which smeared John McCain, asking South Carolina voters "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?"
Then, of course, was his ties to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
The concept there was simple. Take the strongest, most unassailable item on your opponents resume, and attack it ruthlessly. Karl Rove, with the help of a number of Vietnam veterans with whom he had business ties, took John Kerry's Silver Star record, and turned it into his biggest liability.
The McCain campaign, working under Floyd Brown, has done the same thing, essentially turning the words 'Community Organizer' into a phrase of utter contempt.
The key is, it doesn't matter if it's truth or not. All you have to do is create doubt, and then get thousands of people to repeat it, everywhere they go, multiple times a day. Eventually, the public will connect the name with the lie, subconsciously, whether it's true or not.
During the 2004 campaign, the RNC created a newswire which sent position papers to every major news outlet twice daily. Almost every one of these attacked John Kerry's record. It became the topic of every news show, almost every day. And it destroyed John Kerry's record.
These tactics work. The question is, why are the Democrats not doing it? Are they refusing to stoop down to the level of their opponents? Are they appealing to a higher standard? Are they too good for that? Or do they not have the guts to win?
Never mind that the DNC still does not have an information dissemination machine like the RNC built 6 years ago, there are other sources of funding for these types of campaigns. George Soros has a number of organizations that he could funnel money through.
Democrats, do you want to stick to your moral high ground, or do you want to win?
Really? Ok, here you go. Repeat these. Often. Everywhere. Get everyone you know to say them to everyone they know every day. Buy push polls in swing states, using these as your script. Get them into the top ten on Digg every day. Get Drudge to sit up and take notice.
Take these iffy arguments, and use repetition to make them the truth. Take McCain's "War Hero" status, and destroy it. The same way McCain is making people believe that Obama is a communist, terrorist, and radical Muslim.
If you can do this, you will win. If you don't fight back, you've already lost.
McCain was shot down bombing a civilian target
McCain turned his back on the man who saved his life
McCain was such a bad pilot he lost five aircraft
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September 23rd, 2008
09:22 pm - NYC
59th & 5th - Watched Secret Service panic as I cut diagnally through their cute little road block. I live here, fuckers, not you.
57th & 5th - Assaulted by the noisome combination of fragrances from dozens of rich tourist boys in matching haircuts and Abercrombie shirts.
54th & 5th - Threw a shoulder block at someone who was wearing a "Don't Mess With Texas" shirt. Luckily, he didn't chase. He was big.
49th & 6th - Watched a businessman in a suit with a cigar spit on a taxi who was trying to get through pedestrian traffic.
45th & 7th - Noted the resemblance of the tourists in this part of town to the M&M bags they were carrying.
36th & 7th - Watched a (homeless?) cyclist with a cart filled with junk circling a cop on horseback, both shouting at each other, wondering which one would strike first.
34th & 7th - Noted with dismay the sole coming off of my right shoe. Fucking Kenneth Cole shoes are supposed to last longer than 6 months. But then again, most people don't walk as much as I do.
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09:33 am
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