November 27, 2003

Sophistication and Its Discontents

If being a sophisticated European requires me to enjoy wretched, foul, Jew-hate like this, I'm proud to be an American.

As I've said before the anti-war left has become the most vile, hateful, nasty entourage of jerks I've ever come across. NO love, NO peace, NO wonder in their hearts. Only vile, odious, bigotism such as is.

UPDATE:

Reader Michael writes in:

"First of I would like to say that I loved the worst album cover article. My only problem is your criticism on the cartoon of Sharon. I personally think that it is quite tasteless, but to call something, that clearly shows that the maker does not agree with certain ISRAELI (note not Jewish) political decisions Jew hate is a bit hypocritical. My point is, why does everyone call such pictures of Putin or whoever, criticism but once in involves Israel it is straight away discrimination against Jews (aka Semitism). So to some it up once more: I agree that the cartoon is tasteless but to call something that is meant as critique on Israeli political decisions, Jew hate seems a bit short thinking to me. These are of course my personal views and I understand if you see the situation differently."

And my reply:

"By and large I agree with your sentiments in general. I think it's especially important that we not label everything or anything critical of Israel as Jew-hate, for both rhetorical and practical reasons. First, it de-stigmatizes actual anti-semitism, and second, trying to drive reasonable criticism of Israeli policies underground by de-legitimizing it actually only serves to worsen the situation.

Nonetheless, there are times when anti-Israeli criticism IS Jew-hate and we need to label it as such. Just as if (legitimate) disagreements with the Black Caucus led one to (racistly) depict black Senators and Congresspeople eating watermelon. The particular history of anti-Semitism, with its accusations of baby-eating and the drinking of Christian or Muslim blood, makes this cartoon uniquely offensive, and deserving of reproach.

Thank you for your reasoned commentary -- it's quite welcome!"

November 26, 2003

Smart Guy, Expensive Stock

The Netflix CEO is very cleverly positioning his company to move into video-on-demand if and when it ever takes off.

Now, you gotta like this guy's story. Built this DVD-by-mail rental company from scratch. But it's even more impressive to see him taking the turn to the next business model in such a manner.

Problems are the stock's P/E ratio and the heavy heavy capital cost that the company has as an ongoing commitment. They have to buy more and more new DVDs every year.

World Domination

Check out World Domination -- I didn't have time to, but some of you Stoners, please do.

May 15, 1977

Here's a setlist for the show I saw last night by Dark Star Orchestra. Mind-blowing.

Set 1
Bertha>
Good Lovin'
Row Jimmy
New Minglewood Blues
Tennessee Jed
//Lazy Lightnin'>
Supplication
Jack-A-Roe
Passenger

Second Set
Funiculi Funicula tuning
Brown Eyed Women
Dancing In The Street
Estimated Prophet>
Eyes Of The World>
Drums>
Samson And Delilah
Ship Of Fools
Saint Stephen
Iko Iko>
Not Fade Away>
Sugar Magnolia

Encore: Uncle John's Band

November 25, 2003

Most interesting referrer today

Somebody typed into Google Search: illicit illegal mutual funds and found thier way here to Stone.

Why are you searching for illicit, illegal mutual funds, Mr. Websurfer?

What to do if your Mom discovers your blog

BLOGGER helpfully lets us know what to do in case your Mom discovers your blog.

The Ginger Files - Part I

Now it's a little odd to Americans, but anyone who's spent time in the U.K. can attest to the fact that the British have a peculiar fascination with ginger hair - or red hair, as it's known elsewhere. I don't know if it's something to do with their antagonistic attitude towards Celts or what, but in the U.K. it's perfectly acceptable to criticize, ridicule and otherwise demean someone for being a ginger. In an effort to keep track of some of those instances of criticism, I've arranged it so that once a day, a line of code somewhere deep within the bowels of the algorithmic mass that is Google generates a command to e-mail me with any news stories that contain the words "ginger" and "hair."

Here's the first good example of how ginger hair can get you in trouble: the BBC reported Monday that a fellow was " stabbed in the back after an argument over his ginger hair. " Elaborating on the crime without really shedding light on it, the BBC quoted a West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman as saying, "There was a minor altercation earlier in the evening in the wine bar when comments were made about his ginger hair."

I can imagine this "argument" quite realistically, since I've been in involved in similar ones (I've got brown hair, but I was constantly accused of being a "closet ginger" by a friend from Newcastle - a scouser - called Alistair, which has its own irony.) Anyway, it goes like this:

"Oi - look at that fellow. Look at the ginger hair on him! Silly hair! Silly ginger. Silly ginger git. Oi! Ginger!"

"Look - leave it out mate."

"Oooooohhhh - silly ginger git's a mouthy one, eh? Mouthy git. Silly mouthy ginger git."

And so on. Anyway, as I write this, the only surprise is that it's the ginger-haired fellow who got stabbed, rather than the antagonist. Silly ginger git wasn't fast enough, I guess.

(UPDATE: Alistair's response to the story above? Noting that the BBC report said the victim was "comfortable" in the hospital, he writes, "The victim was comfortable, but ashamed of his still-copper-topped crop." Which largely proves my point about the British attitude towards the gingers.)

November 24, 2003

Worstest Album Covers III

[please read in the Movie Preview Announcer's Voice.]

You were shocked by the Worst...

...horrified by the Worster...

Now, be prepared...

Coming Thanksgiving Day 2003....

The third and final episode in the saga....

The Worstest Album Covers Ever III.

Ambivalence

This sounds stupid until you think it through.

If the bad guys know we're strictly applying all safety and counter-terrorism measures, especially when they are patently absurd on their face, such as frisking the Prime Minister of New Zealand, then they'll know that "social engineering" around the problem is useless. Atta and crew used lax security to good effect on 9/11 (when box-cutters set off alarms, they'd just knowingly point to their fanny packs).

This sounds about right to me:

"It doesn't matter who you are - whether you are a first-class passenger, whether you are a business-class passenger or whether you are a VIP - if your number comes up, you're screened," he said.

And kudos to the PM for taking the incident in stride.

And I'm sure Claire Wolfe would be pleased!

November 23, 2003

Unintended Consqeunces

Claire Wolfe feels presidents should hire their own security guards:

Some will say I don't understand security needs in this dangerous world. On the contrary, I think I understand them pretty well. If the U.S. government were behaving itself at home and abroad, and if individual Americans still saw themselves a sovereign (rather than as dependents of an all-powerful state), we and our public servants would be quite secure, thank you. And Bush could buy a plane ticket and hire his own staff like any other good, all-American rich man.

Unfortunately, the good parts of progress and capitalism -- increased travel, wealth, access to arms -- have made the Jeffersonian or Lincolnesque blase attitude on security untenable. I agree it would be better for our executives to have direct access to the maddening crowds as it would enable the interchange of ideas without spin. Alas, it can't be.

A president taking Claire's course would find himself soon enough besieged by the unstable, the unbalanced. We've even recently seen peacable Sweden lose a beloved foreign minister to a unstable fellow with a knife.

It wouldn't be long at all before the same thing happened to a US President.

Hiring Dean

In follow-up to my post on Which US President Ran A State Smaller in Population than Howard Dean?, I was thinking some more about Dean's desired promotion.

The US population is 290 million, and Vermont's is 608,000.

Dean was Governor of Vermont and now wants to be President of the United States.

That's 500 times larger than anything he's run before. If you were a hiring manager, would you go to your boss and say about your new recruit --"Sure, it's 500 times the responsibility s/he's had before, but this is the right person for the job!" ?

Or, put anothe way, would you ever accept a job that was 500 times bigger than your last one? It might sound fun, but is that really a smart career move?

Write in to me at news AT cenedella D0T com with your (polite, reasoned, coherent) thoughts!

Trolls and flames from either side of the aisle blissfully ignored!

Thanks!

Which US President Ran A State Smaller in Population than Howard Dean?

Larrison for President

Meet Harry Larrison, Jr., Director of the Monmouth County, New Jersey, Board of Chosen Freeholders. I think Harry should run for President, as he has superior experience and background compared to the leading Democratic candidate, Howard Dean.

While Dean's "state" had 608,827 residents in 2000, Larry ran a middle level of government covering 615,301 U.S. citizens -- more than 1% greater in size!

Not ony is he more experienced than Dean, he is a dean! The dean of seating freeholders in New Jersey according to his bio. (pssst, somebody from Monmouth please email me what that means!)

Dean Disappoints

Jane Galt, like me, was also briefly interested in a Dean candidacy. Though I was hoping Dean, running on a common sense platform, could keep Bush honest on steel tariffs, the budget, and some of the more egregious fundamentalist errors.

But with Dean literally calling for "re-regulation" (by the way, who on his campaign staff approved this phrasing? Wretching to the majority's ears, methinks.) it seems we'll have another McGovern / Dukakis / Mondale blow-out with some of the real concerns going unaddressed.

The New York Times Treatment

Laughable:

Not polished at self-concealment, he has been dogged by opponents' suggestions that he has vacillated on the Iraq war. In some early commentary he applauded the triumph of the troops, and he blundered by saying once that he probably would have voted to authorize war.

Would the Times ever write this about a Republican running for President? (John McCain not included.)

November 22, 2003

Least Inspiring Company Slogan

We apply the 80/20 process to everything we do.

November 21, 2003

Deader than the Dead

Dark Star Orchestra should be touring as The Dead:

Show Details for Dark Star Orchestra: 2003-09-04

November 19, 2003
Reviewer: wharfrat65
Subject: DSO Hotter than Hot!!!
I echo "Rukindman"'s comments ... This is a definite must have. Don't get me wrong, the Dead are the Dead, but DSO comes closer to the Grateful Dead sounds I heard when I followed the Dead! Karma goes out to DSO for letting me relive so many good times! Kimmock just added to the greatness of this tape! You should've downloaded this show yesterday if you're reading this right now! Peace

October 27, 2003
Reviewer: Rukindman
Subject: DSO with Kimock, Hotter Than Hot !!!!!!!!!!!
Now this is a friggin' show !!!!
If you dont have any DSO or if you like DSO and collect there shows, This is one to have. Kimock jams like its nobody's business but his own. A great addition to the band this night. These guys should be touring as The Dead, even though they are a tribute band, they happen to be the best sounding replica anyone can ask for and having Kimock sit in and play some riffs can never hurt. DOWNLOAD IMMEDIATELY IF YOU CAN

I'm seeing Dark Star for three nights starting Monday and I am busting out of my skin!

25 Years On....

Still drinking the Kool-Aid:

COOPER: You were away from Jonestown the day this tragedy happened. You were buying supplies for the camp. If you had been there, do you think you would have drunk the cyanide?

KOHL: I really can't tell at this point. I do know that, if I had seen, really, my adoptive family of 913 people all dying around me, it would have been a very tough decision not to.

COOPER: Really? You think you might have actually done it?

KOHL: Well, looking back 25 years, it seems really like a faraway decision. So -- but I think it would be really difficult not to in that setting.

Wow, the power that some people have over others a quarter-century from the grave! This poor woman even still believes in the Mission:

KOHL: Well, the thing that I think is the most understated was that we really did have a community that, had Jim Jones been forced aside or had he left willingly and let the triumvirate set up, we really had a structure in place that would make a successful community living there with people of all different races and backgrounds, which really would have been a promised land or heaven on Earth.

I think, frankly, we are seeing the same sort of zombification in the anti-war left today. I get e-mails from protesters saying that Bush is just as bad as Hitler, US soldier are the moral eqiuvalent of Nazis, etc. Yet when it's pointed out that Kristallnacht was the smashing of Jewish homes, businesses, and citiznery, while President Bush welcomes Muslims (the Left's incorrectly presumed enemy of the US today -- it's actually the Wahabis) into the White House, the emailer will revert to rants and non-sequiturs.

Where's the old left that I was a part of, however befuddledly, as a teenager? The fun, the joie de vivre, the embracing of life and its possibilities? The leftists I meet in NY or in cyberspace today are the meanest, cruelest humans I know. Their invective and condecension, their hatred and their shallowness, their lack of interest in the world outside their heads and their vituperativeness towards those who question their received truths, defies civility or good graces.

I'm happily a libertarian just so I don't have to mix with these vulgarians at parties.

Lileks Delivers

James Lileks is bracing, and right on, on Salam Pax's ex-pat snark patois:

Hey, Salam? Fuck you. I know you're the famous giggly blogger who gave us all a riveting view of the inner circle before the war, and thus know more about the situation than I do. Granted. But there's a picture on the front page of my local paper today: third Minnesotan killed in Iraq. He died doing what you never had the stones to do: pick up a rifle and face the Ba'athists. You owe him.

Let me explain this in simple terms, habibi. You would have spent the rest of your life under Ba'athist rule. You might have gotten some nice architectural commissions to do a house for someone whose aroma was temporarily acceptable to the Tikriti mob. You might have worked your international connections, made it back to Vienna, lived a comfy exile's life. What' certain is that none of your pals would ever have gotten rid of that scary guy without the hideous moustache (as if his greatest sin was somehow a fashion faux pas) and the Saddam regime would have prospered into the next generation precisely because of people like you. People who would rather have lived their life in low-level fear than change your situation. I understand; I would have done the same. I’m not brave enough to start a revolution. I wouldn’t have grabbed a gun and charged a palace. I would lived like you. Head down, eyes wary. When the man’s too strong, the man’s too strong. But let me quote from a Guardian story on your life:

“Like all Iraqis, Salam was familiar with the dangers. At least four of his relatives had gone missing. In the past year, for no apparent reason, one of his friends was summarily executed, shot in the head as he sat in his car, and two others were arrested; one was later freed and another, a close friend, has never returned.”

The rug was soaked before we got there, friend. Cut the clever café pose; drop the sneer. That “Rambo” crap is old. Iraq needs grown-ups. Be one.

More adults, fewer giant puppets. That's a platform I'm signed up for in 2004.

00100101010

While Zeros & Ones successfully completes an acquisition, Old Bill of Redmond patents them.

Dog Days

Cousin Steve writes in with this stress-alleviating pooch story.

Now, I'm a modern person in most ways, but I think we've derailed, in post-WWII America, from the lifestyle elements that made our ancestors happy and fit. While I'm overwhelmingly glad that we've gotten rid of TB and bad food-preparation hygiene, brought domestic abuse out of the shadows and are combating it, and through education and modern urban centers have enabled a more fulfillling intellectual life, some elements of that old lifestyle resonate with the core of what it is to be human: unstructured interaction between the oldest and youngest members of society, a combination of work and play intertwined in our daily lives, the absence of strict segmentation between daily spheres of activity, and especially, my favorite pet peeve, the afternoon nap (all of our ancestors on the African savannah, and the creatures till living there now, are designed for the aftersnooze -- we should bring it back!)

Bringing dogs into classrooms, or the elderly and day care centers together, and enmeshing parents into the schools, goes against Skinner-like "scientific reasoning", which was simply scientific bias masquerading as fact, and creates healthier environments for all. We've already discovered that our manufactured food products and modern eating habites -- enriched wheat flour, processed foods -- lead to cheaper eats but fatter, unhealthier people. It's time to discover and disseminate widely the same learnings about lifestyles.

Poultry-based beverages are a bad idea.

We don't have any immediate plans to begin coverage of the "Worst Soft Drinks," but if we did, Jones Soda's Turkey & Gravy offering might well be in a league of its own. (OK, OK, we haven't actually tried the stuff, but c'mon... would you?)

Pomp

A fairly even-handed, amusing article on Bush's state visit from a writer who normally doesn't give him his due.

A mustard spoon?

The Reaper

...came in the form of a mountain-sized meteorite 251 million years ago. I wonder what those next seven months were like -- the sun blotted out, all living species slowly dying and rotting. Thankfully, I think we'll be able to hit such a meteor far in advance of impact next time around, causing it to miss us.

Salon's Eighth Birthday

Poynter points to SALON's first issue back in '95.

Despite recurring financial woes, the wily bitmonger wants us to know that:

I'm not dead yet!

Freidman Rant

Well, ya know, he's right most of the time.

WMD?

The CounterRevolutionary has the details:

"Chairman McMahon, Democrat, of Connecticut, suggested that General George C. Marshall, former Chief of Staff, had been wrong in speaking of a race between Germany and the Allies in developing the weapon. Dr. Goudsmit said apparently we knew as little about Germany's progress as they did about ours."

Wars are never tidy, it seems.

November 20, 2003

10 Fads on the Net

kuro5hin.org's Top Ten Internet Fads:

5. The .sig Virus

Back in the days when everyone on the Internet was running UNIX from a command line, the way you would attach a "signature" to your E-mail was by creating a little text file called ".sig". Whatever was in that file would be appended to outgoing E-mail.

Sometime after the Morris Worm, the first major "virus" (technically a worm) on the Internet, this (and similar) text started appearing at the bottom of people's E-mails:

Hi, I'm a .sig virus! Copy me to your .sig file and help me propagate!

Of course, this was so cute and silly that lots of people really did copy it into their .sig files, allowing the .sig virus to propagate.

After a while, the novelty wore off, leaving the philosophy majors to argue that it really was, technically, a virus, since it contained instructions allowing it to self-replicate. It just happened that those instructions were carried out by a human rather than a computer. The computer science majors said, no, it's just a meme, not a virus. The rest of us went on with our lives.

They also mention PointCast, which was really the progenitor of this all, wasn't it?

Japanese Inflation

Forgive the double entendre, but 358 bucks?

NOT suitable for work viewing.

Super Addictive Racquetball Type Space Game From the Future

Ha! I just wanted to make the title longer than the post. (Did I?)

Reasonable people

Well, no wonder my ambitious ancestors came over to the US from Europe. Here's a typical mailbag comment from over there:

"treasonist? What kind of word is that?
Also, I really wanted to make some comments to the Ted Rall rants, but as you really seem to be just a few inches short of being a fundamentalist, I really can't be bothered.

yours,
[name]
condescending european"

Well, CE, if you'd like to make the case that a pro-choice, pro-gay-rights New Yorker is a fundamentalist, please do have at it!

And while we're on the topic, Europe has chopped up more of its own people in the past 10 / 5 / 1 centuries than any other continent. In just the past 100 years, Europe has given us two world wars, the mass murder of the Jews, the acquiescence in Stalin's murder of the Ukrainians and his ideological enemies, and the murder of at least 100 people at the Berlin Wall. Oh, and o yes, no thank you to y'all for starting us out with our own American original sin -- slavery.

But when we get down to track records -- in the past century, America has freed more people, lengthened more lives, liberated more countries, preserved a greater peace, far better than any European nation, singularly or as a whole. So just where does this moral haughtiness and snobbery come from? Are you pissed that we took all the good people from your great-grandfather's generation?

UPDATE: I'd presumed my European friend was correct and that treasonist was my neologism, though it turns out it's not.

Even more enjoyable is that Stone is currently Google's #7 entry for "treasonist".

Ad Campaigns Gone Wrong

posters from the World Toilet Organization.

This is disturbing

That Thong Song.

The "March might perhaps be too strong a word" March on London

Trafalgar Squarewebcam shows, what, 3,000 or 4,000 protesters?

Advantage: Bush.

Philosophy of sex

I don't think the attributions are true, but these are pretty funny nonetheless:

Philosophy of Sex

"I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy." --Tom Clancy

"You know "that look" women get when they want sex? Me neither." --Steve Martin

"Having sex is like playing bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand." --Woody Allen

"Bisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night." --Rodney Dangerfield

"There are a number of mechanical devices which increase sexual arousal, particularly in women. Chief among these is the Mercedes-Benz 380SL." --Lynn Lavner (this one I think is great)

"Leaving sex to the feminists is like letting your dog vacation at the taxidermist." --Matt Barry

"Sex at age 90 is like trying to shoot pool with a rope." --Camille Paglia

"Sex is one of the nine reasons for reincarnation. The other eight are unimportant." --George Burns

"Women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake whole relationships." --Sharon Stone

"My girlfriend always laughs during sex---no matter what she's reading." --Steve Jobs (Founder, Apple Computers)

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." --Jack Nicholson

"Clinton lied. A man might forget where he parks or where he lives, but he never forgets oral sex, no matter how bad it is." --Barbara Bush (Former US First Lady, and you didn't think Barbara had a sense of
humor)

"Ah, yes, divorce, from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet." --Robin Williams

"Women complain about premenstrual syndrome, but I think of it as the only time of the month that I can be myself." --Roseanne

"Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place." --Billy Crystal

"According to a new survey, women say they feel more comfortable undressing in front of men than they do undressing in front of other women. They say that women are too judgmental, where, of course, men are just grateful." --Robert De Niro

"There's a new medical crisis. Doctors are reporting that many men are having allergic reactions to latex condoms. They say they cause severe swelling. So what's the problem?" --Dustin Hoffman

"There's very little advice in men's magazines, because men think, I know what I'm doing. Just show me somebody naked." --Jerry Seinfeld

"Instead of getting married again, I'm going to find a woman I don't like and just give her a house." --Rod Stewart

"See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time." --Robin Williams

November 19, 2003

Dirt Cheap

Half.com, which is already insanely cheap (though I buy my books at Amazon -- I prefer the completeness of their catalog to lower prices) sent me this $5 off if you buy $50 worth of stuff coupon.

Enjoy Stoners...

Dawkins

Went to see Richard Dawkins speak last night at the 92nd Street Y here in Manhattan.

Dawkins quotables (paraphrased, I'm not a journalist, y'know):

"Assigning a religion to your child is a form of child abuse."
"Religious faith is one of the great evils in the world today."

Less sound-bite-wise and more substantially, Dawkins sought to separate over and over his belief in Darwinism as a rational scientist (it is the only supportable hypothesis today for how the world's creatures have come to exist) and his distatse for Darwinian politics, which he frequently equates with Thatcher / Reaganism (as he puts it, the strong shall thrive and the weak shall die).

Now, there's no doubt that the scientific basis for the evolution of creatures today does not imply evolutionary dynamics are the proper source for knowledge or understanding in the political sphere. Neither are fluid dynamics, ant colony behavior, or cosmology the proper source for understanding of human political events.

But, for fairly understandable, though wrong reasons, people like to generate parallels between the evolution of the species and the evolution of the body politick. There is no connection, properly understood.

The process of evolution is that by which an unthinking force, manifesting itself through the actual unthinking behavior of agents within a system, can create superior survival characteristics among replicating entities. These replicating entities can be creatures, cellular automata, even evolutionary processes themselves.

Now, comfortable dons frequently peer out from their tenured Volvos to gaze upon the brutish world of layoffs and acquisitions, contracts lost and won, and IPOs and bankruptcies and declare that the State of Nature obtains. And particularly when the capitalist class defends this system, profs are apt to infer that it is self-interest, rather than enlightened knowledge of human behavior, that drives this political support.

It's quite the opposite however. The Reagan-Thatcher agenda: rule of law, property ownership, non-interference by government (which, rather than ruling by persuasion as individuals must do, rules by compulsion
through fines, injunctions, and imprisonment) is in fact the proper poltical philsophy for an advance creature that has acquired foresight, language, culture, the ability to think, and conciousness. For it is exactly this valuable individual that needs her rights defended against those of her peers that would take away her material sustenance or philosophic independence.

It is state-run societies, with their sublimation of the individual, to the state, the ideology, or the clan, that come closest to the Darwinian evolutionary context. It is in these societies that the individual must compete for a zero-sum

The one arena in which the evolutionary dynamic has come into play in human events, and where it should be recognized as such, is in institutions. Institutions are survival machines that have adapted over time to serve the needs of its constituent members. In many cases, if not most, the rules by which and institution has thrived are arbitrary and appear on paper to be just as good as those reasonable rules by which it does not govern itself. These unthnking agents, with their unthinking rules, rise or fall according to the its members derive from its particular feature set. In the same way that evolutionary forces cause a cheetah to run very fast, a hummingbird to beat its wings inordinately quickly, or a koala to move unreasonably slowly, they have caused institutions to shape themselves in response, not to the theoretical optimum maximizing behavior, but to the exigencies of their actual environments. As such, there is a degree to which institutions can not be dissected by a rational, deductionist method, for of course elements wil appear as silly as do our eyebrows, elbows, and little toes.

All in all it was a fun evening, and I would especially recommend that you change your whiskey preference to Johnny Walker Black Label, if that's at all conceivable, as they were absolutley wonderful sponsors of the event. The drinks they were serving were even heavy-handed on the pour!

"Or," not "and"

With a far gentler pedantry than that so often used in its in-house style memoranda, The Wall Street Journal works a grammar lesson into its coverage of KPMG's involvement in questionable tax-shelter deals. This description, in an article by Cassell Bryan-Low, is of an e-mail exchange between two KPMG executives over the propriety of the firm's involvement in the transactions:

On May 10, 1999, Philip Wiesner, a senior partner in KPMG's Washington technical tax group, sent a lengthy e-mail to colleagues urging them to approve the BLIPS strategy. "I do believe the time has come to s -- t and get off the pot," he wrote, incorrectly using a profane expression, according to the Senate panel's report. "The business decisions to me are primarily two: (1) Have we drafted the opinion with the appropriate limiting bells and whistles ... and (2) Are we being paid enough to offset the risks of potential litigation resulting from the transaction?"

He added: "My own recommendation is that we should be paid a lot of money here for our opinion since the transaction is clearly one that the IRS would view as falling squarely within the tax shelter orbit."

Later that day, Mr. Stein responded in an e-mail: "I think it's s -- t OR get off the pot. I vote for s -- t." Mr. Wiesner, who was among those testifying at Tuesday's hearing, couldn't be reached Tuesday afternoon for comment, and Mr. Stein didn't return calls. A KPMG spokesman said Messrs. Stein and Wiesner were unavailable for comment.

November 17, 2003

Sniper verdict pending?

The jury in the trial of John Allen Muhammad - the elder of the two suspects in the DC-area sniper case - has apparently reached a verdict, which is likely to be announced by noon EST. Can such a rapid decision mean anything but bad news for Muhammad?

November 16, 2003

How Not To Be Too Obvious

Corporate marketing at its best:

As a Fortune 86 company, Johnson Controls is a global leader offering solutions in facilities management and controls.

Well, as an Alexa Top 91,463 site, I can appreciate that.

November 14, 2003

Nice Guy

This nice Elphinstone guy from the Netherlands wrote in and told me to use .jpg instead of .gif for my Album Covers. AdobePhotoshop elements seemed to recommend .gif which is why I used them. Bad move. Well, the net result is the switch saved 75% of bandwidth used. So I am stoked, even if I can't understand what "De website van elphinstone staat in de steigers en gaat zeer binnenkort geheel vernieuwd online. " means.

Agreeing with the Ninth Circuit?

Samizdata does, and, remarkably, so do I?

Wickard v. Filburn, which Samizdata correctly calls "one of the worst Supreme Court decisions ever", upheld a government prohibition on a farmer growing more wheat, because the wheat, even though consumed entirely by the same farmer's cows, was indeed "in Interstate Commerce" accoridng the the majority. (Though it should be noted that this was the cowed Supreme Court that had only narrowly avoided a Court-packing five years earlier).

The Ninth Circuit ruling seems to conflict with Wickard v. Filburn, which is a surprising twist for this normally government friendly Court. Stay tuned.

The Kel Varnson Sims

My 10% ownership in Simulated baseball team is coming up against stiff competition. (By the way, the perks associated with being a bigtime owner of a Simulated Baseball team rival anything Steinbrenner gets.)

My majority owner writes:

I think we have a problem. Check out this list of top 25 Whatif Baseball teams.

http://www.whatifsports.com/mlb-l/top25.shtm

Look how many "Guam" teams are in the top 25. This guy's some kind of ringer.

And who is Willie Keeler '97? With a.424 batting average?

1897 hall of famer.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/k/keelewi01.shtml

He's not a slugger. He only hit 33 HR in his
entire career, but he's great for simulation baseball b/c they didn't keep track of strikeouts back then, so, the computer thinks that he NEVER struck out. and NEVER got caught stealing a base.

It's a little trick.

Wow, from Worst Album Covers, to [fill in blank: outrageous / well-reasoned] politics to Sim Baseball tips.

Stone delivers.

Ted Rall: Treasonist

OK, Stoners, before you lash out at me about Ted Rall; before another European condescends to me via trans-atlantic email; and especially before someone makes the comparison to Swift's A Modest Proposal, head on over to Ted Rall's archives and let your own mind decide whether this is a reasonable guy or not. Let's see, he:

Depicts US Soldiers as Nazis

Hilariously believes himself at the center of international intellignce circles:

"Reliable sources within Afghanistan, however, informed me that bin Laden had fled Afghanistan on or before 9/11 on or before 9/11. "

(Earth to Commander Ted, you're a friggin carTOONist. You draw funny squiggles for a living. This isn't "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind")

And smarmily, gleefully recounts the murder of American soldiers:

Two American soldiers are dead and 4 were wounded last night in our ongoing, peaceful, victorious occupation of Iraq, where we are much loved. The details of this latest sacrifice to Halliburton and Bechtel.

So, if after you've delved into the this vicious little ferret's lair, you feel I've mischaracterized him, then please write on in, and we'll continue the discussion.

p.s. To be fair, I'll point out where I agree with the miscreant:

"Bush has ignored the real military threats to American security, the real Axis of Evil - Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, North Korea."

I don't think he's ignored it, but Saudi Arabia is the real font of most bad the world faces today. Somehow, I don't imagine Commander Ted would back a Bush-led war on any of these either. Let's wait, watch, and see.

And also, I agree with him on Why No Comment Function.

Worst Album Covers Frames

Gary from Rock Art Picture Show writes in to say:

"We make a patented frame for cover art; LP's, Picture Discs, and Picture Sleeves.We are sold at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as well as many other places. We also provide album cover art, I have thousands of LP covers without the record."

I checked out the site and it seems pretty cool to me. And hey, if Ray Manzarek of the Doors digs it, how can we not?

This is treason

Ted Rall calls for the murder of American troops and aid workers. One can dress it up in whatever fanciful language one cares to, or try to pass it off as satire or parody, but it's not. He's asking for cold-blooded murder:

"we must continue to kill them until the last one has gone home to America."

"you must kill him as a warning to other weak-minded individuals."

Supporting the enemy and seeking the death of Americans? An evil vile bastard that Ted Rall is.

UPDATE: Reader response:

"I'm shocked, appalled, and nauseous--I second your opinion of Ted Rall." SteveP., New York

"Errrr... c'mon now. "Supporting the enemy and seeking the death of Americans?" I've lurked on your blog for awhile now, and this level of shallowness seems out of character. Does "Ted Rall call for the murder of American troops and aid workers", or did Ted Rall compose an editorial from the perspective of the Iraqi resistance, perhaps in an attempt to shed some light on the mindset that is, in part, perpetuating the violence?

There's a mighty broad expanse between disagreeing with his assertions and dramatically misinterpreting his intent (albeit perhaps the currently oh-so-popular partisan pastime to intentionally misconstrue reared its ugly head on Stone).

Hell, lets play devils advocate; start with Bush's quiet (and not so quiet) systematic cutting of military compensation, add a dash of subterfuge surrounding the manipulation of the media (within Iraq, concerning Arlington and in regards to our returning casualties), stir in the increasingly apparent lack of forethought and concern over any sort of occupation or exit strategy, sprinkle with a coating of deception and/or delusion in regards to factual justifications for the war and, finally, top with a mess of dead folks; American, Italian, British, Iraqi etc. Now keep adding to that topping for an indefinite period of time.

While I didn't construe it from Ralls article, it is indeed traitorous to support the enemy and seek the death of Americans. But what is it, then, to progenerate an enemy from a tin-pot dictator and, knowingly and willingly, send Americans to their death?

Too bad your blog doesn't allow for public discussion." --jsfk, city unknown

STONE: Oh, but my blog does allow for reader response, just not a comments section (too often the same old shrill nonsense and comment spam, but if you write in, I'll post it.)

Well, I'm not going to take on the Bush criticism right now (and it is proper to do so, the way jsfk does even though I might not agree with him), I don't believe I'm misconstruing Rall. Assume the persona of Tokyo Rose or Berlin Betty to advocate anti-American courses of actions, and you can't hide behind the "I didn't mean it, really" sham. Ted Rall, and an increasing number of anti-war critics, are deserting to the Saddam Left. They'd really prefer to see the enemy win, and they're using their amazing talents to do harm.

That's treason!

Your comments and critiques welcome at news AT cenedella D0T com. (include screenname & city , please)

November 13, 2003

Fourth on the Net

Well, according to Truth Laid Bear, we are currently the Fourth most visited blog on the internet. Wowza!

Stone Top Search Terms

Very interesting to see the top search strings for Stone:

worst album covers
worst album covers ever
earth station 5
prince charles rape
http://www.cenedella.com/stone/archives/000543.html
alimov rogers
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woogle
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http://www.cenedella.com/stone/archives/000302.html
www.cenedella.com/stone/archives/000543.html
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10 Things I Bet You Didn't Know About Google

An excellent post on every's favorite topic d'annee.

Red Versus Blue

This Money Map is a very cool, useful tool for seeing the underlying patterns in Democrat vs. Republican giving in the Presidential race thus far.

Thanks AS.

Separated at Birth?

Letters from Limbo seems to think so.

California's Next Next Governer

Rene Zimmermann.

If you're defending a pig....

It helps to have a sense of humor:

"Tyco Chief 'Didn't Take Monet and Run'"

Especially with showering in jail thing.

Fun With Siege Engines

I scored a couple thousand. Beat that, Stoner.

Why Iraq's last-minute peace overture was a sham

Good points from Hitch:

The Iraqi side clearly dropped all pretense that it had not been involved, for a very long time, in helping the forces of international gangsterism and nihilism. And it offered up Abdul Rahman Yasin, after almost a decade of protecting him.

Something was afoul in Iraq, though I'm wondering whether we'll ever find WMD. For a long time, I've believed that that we were subject to the same disinformation that Saddam was receiving from his minions. To wit, that in order to save their own hides, they were falsely reporting to Saddam the successful production, deployment, and concealment, of WMD.

And not a slice of toast in sight...

This is funny, but how did they expect their prank to be discovered?

Ignorant blather

From the likes of Gore Vidal:

No. We are talking about despotism. I have read not only the first PATRIOT Act but also the second one, which has not yet been totally made public nor approved by Congress and to which there is already great resistance. An American citizen can be fingered as a terrorist, and with what proof? No proof. All you need is the word of the attorney general or maybe the president himself. You can then be locked up without access to a lawyer, and then tried by military tribunal and even executed. Or, in a brand-new wrinkle, you can be exiled, stripped of your citizenship and packed off to another place not even organized as a country — like Tierra del Fuego or some rock in the Pacific. All of this is in the USA PATRIOT Act. The Founding Fathers would have found this to be despotism in spades. And they would have hanged anybody who tried to get this through the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Hanged.

Amazing, isn't it? How a fella can come across as so erudite, yet not have cracked even a cursory summary of the Founding era.

OK, just to pick a few topics, the Patriot Act and the current administration, on the "despotism" scale, don't hold a candle to:

The Alien and Sedition Acts or Washington's crushing of the Whiskey Rebellion.

To wit, under Adams' A&S Act,:

"That whenever there shall be a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion shall be perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States, by any foreign nation or government, and the President of the United States shall make public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being males of the age of fourteen years and upwards, who shall be within the United States, and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed, as alien enemies."

And this was actively used to deport Jefferson's supporters!

So, the unschooled, unlearned, uninterested-in-the-facts old lout ought to keep his big snout shut and spend more time with his history before making grandiose untruths the subject of his media interviews.

Schreckliche Bandfotos

As the site where I found these says:

Nach schrecklichen Plattencovern
gibts heute zur Abwechslung mal schreckliche Bandfotos, und zwar schrecklich lustige aus Skandinavien.

Um... yeah, that goes double for me.

November 12, 2003

Ewwwww!

Oh no! It's beautiful album covers, my precious!

Let Me Touch Him

Reader B.G. writes:

"Good to see someone that's delving into the wonderful world of awful album covers. I wanted to tell you a little something about one of your covers: My grandfather is one of the original members of the Minister's Quartet ("Let Me Touch Him"). I think it's kind of cool my grandpa (the second one from the left: from left to right: Waldo, Delbert, Homer and Jack) is getting some attention, even if it's not super stardom good for them.

I have this album, along with most of their others, in my collection. It was very funny to see this album on your list. I know for a fact that many of their other albums could easily make it on the list. I also know that in their prime they played a great southern gospel show.

They are still performing, when they are all out of the hospital and not bickering about something. They don't have "it" as much these days, but neither do their fans that show up for their signature revivals, where they each take an evening's sermon. They all pastor churches all over Oklahoma, and have traveled extensively both in OK and in the surrounding states. I have to say that I've abandoned much of what they sing about, but I still love to hear them sing it. Especially on these old albums.

If you want to see more of their covers, let me know. I could send pictures or scanned covers."

So, what do you say, Stoners? Of COURSE we want to see more album covers. An MP3 or two would be great also!

Metacommentary on Worst Album Covers

Now, I'm going to be very disturbed if this starts a trend in Worst Album Cover fan fiction.

So start disturbing me Stoners.

Submit your best "WACE" fan fiction to news AT cenedella D0T com. And I will post.... yada, yada, yada.

Online infidelity

Milwaukee Channel asks if online infidelity is really cheating:

"The No. 1 justification is that 'I'm not touching anyone,'" said Mileham.

As an investor in the personals space, I know that a lot of the users are married people toying around online. Seems safe, but I think the article is right -- if the mind is straying, other parts will soon follow.

Thanks GMSV.

Finding $100K+ Sales Jobs

My busines, SalesLadder.com continues to boom. We collect all of the $100K+ jobs out there on the web, in HR departmetns, and from hiring managers and deliver them each week to our more then 15,000 subscribers.

Cool jobs in the past weeks included:

Regional Sales Manager, Sea Ray Boats -- a fun line of work if you like sales demos.

Sales Director, Visteon -- running a $3 billion book of business. That's billion with a "b".

Strategic Alliance Manager -- at Brown-Forman, makers of Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey. Don't mix with job #1, please.

Manager, Government Marketing & Sales -- selling Northrop Grumman's NASA business. Important, serious, amazing work.

Systems Marketing (Air Force) -- where your first-year business acquisition goal is $313 million. My, that's quite a quota! Which SalesLadder champion is up to the challenge?

So, it's a lot of fun to be connecting superstars to superjobs.

We're considering expanding to other functions like marketing and finance, so drop me a line if interested. Its marc AT Sales ladder D0T com.

On A Roll

The Washington Wag has proclaimed Stone, and by extension, you Stoners, "On A Roll." Now, please get me your worstEST album covers for our 3rd and final edition, appearing on Thanksgiving Day: Worstest Album Covers Ever III.

New York City Blog Party

Hey, if you're a Union Square blogger or a New York City blogger, and are interested in attending the Gotham Blog Drinks in December, send me an email at news AT cenedella D0T com.

The Reagans

More horrifying details seep out!

A Sweet Idea

BookCrossing - urges you to "free your books" by leaving them out for strangers in the wild. Just a really sweet, pleasant idea.

Won't work for me, however. I love my books. Irrationally. When I moved to San Diego after college, I took one suitcase of books, one of clothes. Unless it's a book I bought 10 years ago and have never opened, and never intend to open, I simply won't give up my books. Don't really lend them even. If there's a good book I want a friend to have, I'll buy it for them instead.

November 11, 2003

Absolutely Off His ROcker

General Clark, in The New Yorker, is revealed as a nutjob, an apple polisher, a credentialist not a commander, a flake:

Nevertheless, Clark continued to focus on preparations for a ground war, and the plan he ultimately proposed was greeted in Washington with astonishment. "Gallipoli springs to mind", one defense expert, who made a study of Clark's plan, says. Clark advocated an invasion of Kosovo with a force of two hundred thousand troops, mostly American.

The Democratic nominee has a chance at becoming President. I think a bit less of a chance with each passing day of positive economic news. But a chance nonetheless.

This guy sounds like a disturbing type of corporate sycophant and student council president (think Bobby Brady in the Student Hall Monitor episode). I might not agree with his politics, and he may be the former mayor of Vermont, but Dean seems like a rock compared to Gen. Clark. I hope the Democratic Party rights itself and rejects the Clark candidacy like the bad organ transplant it is.

BloggerBattle

How it works

This week at BloggerBattle!

The Kings are neck and neck, but the DC Diarist takes it.
Foreign feathers fly: Aussie ablates Allah!
Typical liberal shenanigans: Marshall beats girl.

The Kings: Three Month Trend

AS in Red Glenn in Blue

The Knoxville Nabob, after commanding the month of August whilst AS was getting friendly tummy rubs at the beach, has slipped behind. Perhaps he's just drafting and waiting for the finish lne?

The Kings: Seven Day Trend

AS in Red Glenn in Blue

Again, Tennesse Glenn mostly behind, except on November 2nd. Was it this post?






The Foreigners: Seven Day War

Allahpundit in Red Tim Blair in Blue

The Aussie takes a split decision 3-2 over the ever irritable Allahpundit!





Right vs. Left: Seven Day War

Dynamist in Red Talking Points Memo in Blue

Virginia's put up a valiant effort here, but the Leftist just overwhelmed her. How do you feel about beating up a girl, Josh? ;)






And finally, my own narrow miss with immortality. Mostly due to "Worst Album Covers Ever", I almost tied Instapundit one day. Well, a boy can dream can't he?

Tune in next week to BloggerBattle at www.cenedella.com/bb !
In addition to our regular Kings feture we'll have:

HandJob
OneHandClapping vs. On The Third Hand .

and

BoozeHounds
VodkaPundit vs. WhiskeyBar

BloggerBattle uses Alexa Web Search and you can download their cool little toolbar here.

Top 15 Rejected Album Titles

My buddy Chris White over at TopFive.com has sent Stone Readers a special treat:

The Top 15 Rejected Album Titles

15> Courtney Love -- "My Sunday School Favorites"

14> Green Day -- "Hey! We Learned a Fourth Chord!"

13> Paul Simon -- "Still Breathing After All These Years"

12> Jimmy Buffett -- "Tired of Selling Driftwood Art to Tourists"

11> The Doobie Brothers -- "What Once Were Vices Now Land Us at
Betty Ford for a Month"

10> The Beatles -- "1... More Royalty Check"

9> The Who -- "Forget That 'Hope I Die' Thing, We Were Young
and Stupid"

8> Tupac Shakur -- "Blood from a Turnip: Yet Even More Crap I
Didn't Think Was Worth Releasing When I Was Alive, Volume 27"

7> Cranberries -- "Excessive Consumption May Cause Painful
Urination"

6> Jennifer Lopez -- "Bet You're Not Looking at My Butt Any More"

5> Lynyrd Skynyrd -- "Actually, Most of Us Have Been Dead
for Years"

4> Britney Spears -- "They Can't Call You a Pedophile Now That
I'm 18!"

3> Metallica -- "Don't Even Think About It, You Pimple-Faced,
Napstering Punk! Hey! Come Back Here With Our Songs!"

2> Michael Jackson -- "The White Album"

and Topfive.com's Number 1 Rejected Album Title...

1> Yes -- "Oh, God... Yes! Yes!! YES!!!"

Give Chris and his troupe of Listful Funnymen a vist for other great lists such as:
"The Top 15 Politically Corrected Album Titles"
" The Top 14 Songs on the Scientology Album"

and

"The Top 16 Fatal Things to Say to Your Pregnant Wife (Part I)"

Not a Dry Eye

Impossible to not be moved by these final letters from American heroes.

November 10, 2003

Dave still devastatin'

Maurice Reeves has located Devastatin' Dave the Turntable Slave! Turns out he's now Devastatin' Dave the Cyberslave - I wonder if his modus operandi is the same...

27 cents a week

Marriott is looking for a "Guest Relations Associate" in one of their Maryland hotels. At the salary that they have listed, it seems unlikely that they'll really find someone skilled at "Facilitation of Lease Departures" and "Security Deposit Resolution."

November 08, 2003

Pabst on the block

Pabst could be a surprisingly good buy for a private equity firm. Pabst was everywhere I went in China -- the Red, White and Blue logo seems to speak Americana.

November 07, 2003

A Sigh of Relief...

Can be heard from a certain financial journalist's quarters in reaction to the Google News looses news.

Cool Deal From Overture

Overture sent me this link that gets you $25 free in adverising. Kinda cool.

Smoking Education

The Smoking Gun illuminates the legal system in a way that no dry law book can. By regularly posting the contracts, orders, verdicts, police reports, flotsam and jetsam of our legal system in the midst of commenting on the cases of the day, TSG produces the nice side effect of educating one on the legal system.

Here we see the rights of a defendant (a non-citizen even!) being upheld, and his right to represent himself duly honored, but only to a point. Sophistry abounds in lawyering and it's good to see proper adjucation from the bench.

Another Reason to Spend Every Last Dime

Your batty widow may end up leaving all your dough to Pink Radio. Give it away yourself or spend it on fatty foods and booze, my friends.

The royals are revolting!

There's yet another scandal shaking Britain's House of Windsor. Problem is, due to the legal maneuvering around this story in the British courts, the press there can't publish the details of the royal imbroglio. We at Stone believe ourselves to be bound by no such rulings, and the rumors about this particular bit of sordidness were already in circulation during the years I lived in London: a former aide to Prince Charles, a guy called Michael Fawcett (or Fawcett the Fence, since he made a fair bit of money selling royal gifts for cash) alleges that he saw Prince Charles rape a male servant. Look for this one to get ugly.

Get yourself a jobby-job

U.S. October payrolls increased 126,000 compared with expectations of an increase of 55,000, while the jobless rate fell to 6.0% compared with expectations that it would be 6.1%.

Could it be time to dust off your Dow 10,000 souvenirs and pretend like you're wearing 'em for the first time?

November 06, 2003

Bun Not Intended

Giant Weenie Roast. Details at 11.

$100K+ Sales Jobs

We're thinking of increasing the number of fields in our registration form to better target jobs. What do Stone readers think?

When Your Current Deity Just Won't Do

There's always Plug 'n' Pray.

Like a (monochrome) rainbow in the dark

To paraphrase Ronnie James Dio, when there's ASCII, you know it always gets me down ( 'cause it's free and I see that it's me who's lost and never found).

All of which is a ham-fisted way of saying that if you like ASCII and love MIDI, you'll agree that the rock videos presented by C404 are beyond compare.

Help wanted

The diligent snackers at Taquitos.net have already reviewed 1,802 snacks in 106 different categories, including Chips in Cans, Miniature Versions of Larger Snacks, Ring-Shaped Snacks and Things Shaped Like Bugles. They're not content to stop there, though, which is why you'll find the positions of Pretzels Editor and Cheese Puffs Editor on their jobs page.

If you want the pretzels job, you've got to meet such qualifications as knowing the difference between Rold Gold and Snyder's of Hanover, by taste, and you've got to have the ability to "discern pretzel staleness at its earliest stages (5% and less)."

If you're after the cheese puffs position, be prepared to know the difference between a puff, a curl and a doodle. And I mean REALLY prepared.

Record Day

It was a new record day for Stone yesterday.

Traffic hit an all-time high of 83,000 visits and 101,000 page views. Thanks everybody!

November 05, 2003

Cool Technorati Tool

You can see Stone's Technorati Link Cosmos here.

Endearing Album Covers

To continue on the theme.

Turn Up The Speakers

And put on the shades for num1000remix, from GMSV.

Worst Album Covers Ever Update

Found this link to Devastatin' Dave's Zip Zap Rap on mikeportnoy.com. The music is actually worse than the album cover!

UPDATE: Turns out this link is actually from album cover finder extraordinaire Nich D.!

No Bias At The Times?

Is there any doubt that if Kentucky Had Elected a Democratic Governor, this para would be different?:

And, combined with Arnold Schwarzenegger's victory last month to become governor of California, it gives Republicans at least a degree of momentum heading into a presidential election next November.

Perhaps something more along the lines of "in a sweeping repudiation of Republican policies, voters elected Democratic governors in Mississippi and Kentucky"?

November 04, 2003

We're Number One!

Stone is currently number one at both Daypop Top 40 Links and blogdex.

Congratulations to us!

The Wolff At The Door

Why, o why, does anybody invite Michael Wolff to anything. He's just going to gutsack you.

Indeed, the premium on social climbing, and people who have the shamelessness to engage in it, is so large that it has meant that a great number of vulgar, tawdry, unrefined people have been accepted into and elevated up the social and business ranks.

Read it all, dear Readers.

As Only The Brits Can Do

A lovely tale of 7 Marathons in 7 Days on 7 Continents:

"Why would I want to do it again?" Stroud said. They have not decided on their next adventure. "I'll ring him up next year," Fiennes said. Stroud replied, "I may not answer."

Perfect.

Timewaster

Reader Andrew K. submits Neave.com for your time a-wasting pleasure. I really liked the PacMan game.

SalesLadder celebrates 10,000

In keeping with the numerical entries here, my other website, SalesLadder, just surpassed its 10,000th subscriber.

We collect over 300 $100K+ sales jobs each week and send them to our subscribers every Monday morning.

It's a free service, so, dear Readers, if you know any sales people looking, point them to us!

Spin, spin, spin

Well thanks goodness they've axed the CBS mini-series on the Reagans. It is amusing the self-important way the NY Times asserts that its reporting is at the center of the controversy, when in fact, most people have been getting their information from the Drudge Report (you decide: check out Alexa traffic rankings for the NY Times and for Drudge. Drudge has 6,000 users per million and the NYTimes has 8,000 per million. With Drudge placing this on the frontpage and the Times burying it, who do you think has ahd a bigger impact?)

And the spin, while typical, is sad. This is a story of advocacy, or censorship, or pressure, rather than the story of how a bunch of biased twerps wrote a ham-handed hatchet job on a living President.

In any event, in order for CBS to have pulled it, it must have been really bad. A well-written attack piece would've pulled ratings out the wazoo. What an embarassment.

2,248 emails

That was my number of sent emails in the month of October. Whew! My fingers are tired.

November 03, 2003

4,810 !

I need to write some more reviews over these holidays.

Think Your Day Was Bad?

Try this guy's discovery of The Worst Place to Drop a Cellphone.

Didn't Take Long

BeFree has already implemented Commission Junction's technology across its platform. Nice work.

Some Allies

This scandal deserves wider publication:

Aziz has told interrogators that French and Russian intermediaries repeatedly assured Hussein during late 2002 and early this year that they would block a U.S.-led war through delays and vetoes at the U.N. Security Council. Later, according to Aziz, Hussein concluded after private talks with French and Russian contacts that the United States would probably wage a long air war first, as it had done in previous conflicts. By hunkering down and putting up a stiff defense, he might buy enough time to win a cease-fire brokered by Paris and Moscow.

The perfidy of our supposed allies stinks.

In-Hussanity

According to WaPo, the Butcher of Baghdad didn't want ot look like a wussy:

More recently, however, several high-ranking detainees have said they believe that Hussein was afraid to lose face with his Arab neighbors. Hussein concluded, these prisoners explained, that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and other countries paid him deference because they feared he had weapons of mass destruction. Hussein was unwilling to reveal that his cupboard was essentially bare, these detainees said, according to accounts from officials. In separate interviews with The Post, several former high-ranking Iraqi generals not held in detention offered similar views. Hussein "had an inferiority complex," said Maj. Gen. Walid Mohammed Taiee, 62, chief of army logistics as the war approached earlier this year. "From a military point of view, if you did have a special weapon, you should keep it secret to achieve tactical surprise. . . . But he wanted the whole region to look at him as a grand leader. And during the period when the Americans were massing troops in Kuwait, he wanted to deter the prospect of war."

Sounds plausible to me, though I still believe his lieutenants were telling him that they *did* have WMD in order to save their own necks.

Governmentium

Thanks to AS.

A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest chemical element yet known to science. The new element has been tentatively named "Governmentium". Governmentium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 11 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when it would normally take less than a second. Governmentium has a normal half-life of three years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to speculate that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as "Critical Morass". You will know it when you see it.

Strongly

Interesting sub-facet of this Washington Post poll: the more educated feel more strongly one way or the other. I suppose education gives one the wherewithal to feel confident in decisions made. Either that or arrogant.

November 02, 2003

Saddam Times

It seems to me that Alex Berenson welcomes casualties. That's reprehensible, and turns my guts.

November 01, 2003

Traffic Rankings