Scott's House

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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?

Tags: amazon fail

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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

07:54 pm - ...and who was President in 1990?
"I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so, before I arrived in President, during I arrived in President."
-George W. Bush
Current Mood: amused

amused

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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: sick