Heads up to the literate readers of antinomian.com. Oh wait… I guess that sentence is a bit paradoxical… And uh… philosophically confused, but anyway! There is a new book I wanted to bring to your attention. It’s nominally about economics, but based on the authors’ website, I have a feeling it may contain one or two nuggets of wisdom that have nothing to do with the subject. And it may even make you laugh! Seriously though, I don’t know a whole lot about economics, but I read these guys daily, and if anyone can recommend a funnier, more BS-free economic commentary site, then I’d like to see it! And while we’re on the subject of economics and humor, I got a laugh out of this article this morning, about another recently published book. Whereas the folks at Daily Reckoning use their life experiences to illustrate the principles of economic theory, here’s somebody trying to apply her economic theory knowledge to to the complexities of social life! The dichotomy here reinforces something basic about modern society, I think (you can stop reading here if you don’t want to hear my crack-pot (albeit brief!) theories =), and that is: If you try to explain something that has long been portrayed as dry, complex and/or academic to people, they aren’t interested, no matter how vital it is and how straightforwardly you present it. On the other hand, if you stick “Expert” after somebody’s name and remove complexity from the equation, then people will get in line to follow your rules, no matter how tenuous their basis in fact. But enough of my yakking… Just read the links already. I did, and I’m an expert!
Archive for September, 2003
It may go without saying, but most cellular and landline telephone companies have really, really, really bad customer service! Why do we put up with it? Well, mainly because they have something we really need. Numbers. In “these modern times” a phone number can be as important an identifier as, oh… I don’t know, a *name* or something! Switching from one provider to another means giving up your “name” and tracking down all your friends, family and associates to inform them of the change, thereby inconvienencing them and potentially missing important calls. So, seeing as how people are justifiably unwilling to part with their telephonic identity, these guys have the American public by the short and curlies (in a manner of speaking =) and are damn well not going to do anything about their piss-poor customer service and embarrassingly behind-the-times technology. Recently, however, the tide has begun to turn for consumers. Number portability is on the horizon! Starting November 24th, all cell (and landline) providers will be required to allow customers to take their numbers with them when they move to a new provider. Can you say “competition”?! So… it looked like things were getting ready to change for the better, until… in a shocking (ok, not really…) display of fuck-you-itivness, the phone companies got together with their buddies in Congress and started drafting legislation that would allow them to circumvent number portability! If you’d like to join me in telling these guys where to stick it, there is an online petition available, that will automatically generate emails to your elected representitives asking for their continued support of number portability. Will it work? Who knows… If not, maybe we can just go throw eggs at the Capitol building while shouting, “Can you hear me now?!” That might be fun… =)
Looks like Rupert Murdoch’s Great-great-great-great-great-grandson might have to work for a living! I hope the American People can live with themselves after this selfish display!
On the way to work today, I noticed a fellow traveler reading The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Taoism. I was excited for a moment, but quickly disappointed when I realized the book wasn’t composed entirely of blank pages… =)
No longer content with making the US Dollar laughable via gross mismanagement of the money supply, the Government has moved on to tye-dye!
The word itself makes some men uncomfortable… Vagina.
Sit down, Stand up… Stand up for your Rights…
Published September 3rd, 2003 in Uncategorized. ClosedSo Ticketmaster is getting set to start auctioning tickets to the highest bidder, and the folks over at Metafilter.com are already hard at work debating the ethical, financial and emotional aspects of this event. See, some people believe that tickets shouldn’t be auctioned off, they should be distributed based on an individual’s level of devotion and emotional investment in a band, and money… any amount of money, makes this relationship somehow dirty and less meaningful. Riiiight… Your “relationship” with the band. Whatever… And then there’s some people who see the whole thing as a huge corporate conspiracy and label Ticketmaster as a monopoly, enforcing unfair price discrimination. And finally there are the guys whose response to the conspiracy theorists’ accusations is to accuse _them_ of just liking shitty music and being unwilling to seek out “new and exciting” bands, playing for next to nothing at small clubs so hip and next-level that they disappear into thin, smoke-filled air the minute the last hipster clears out after the show. I don’t know what to make of all these arguments, really, but as a frequent concert goer, I find the whole thing damn, damn amusing… =)
The place I work is different than the place I used to work! No, I haven’t changed jobs (although, my new business card describes me as an “Implementation Coordinator”); my office has moved! For those of you with a sick fascination for looking at random office photos, you can see the new place by clicking the links below. Or maybe you used to work where I work, but now you live in New York or Japan or San Francisco or something, I dunno…
It’s labor day, People!
