Black Friday - Let's show the retailers how Sh$tty the economy really is!!

It is the grand national celebration of capitalism, that leads to the celebration of the birth of Jesus. I won't wax too poetic about absurd this annual ritual truly is, however I will say that it is a great day to show Bush and his genius cronies what a wonderful job they have done with the national pocketbook.

Examples: Lady in line at Best Buy this morning - "I'm not going to buy anything, I'm just here to try and win some of the giveaways." She was there at 3:00AM.

Wired magazine (highly recommended to anyone living in the 21st century) "...in this recession (depression?)..."

But there is a good side to all this. If history is any guide, in 6 to 18 months the economy is going to rebound nicely. Check the history books on all the other recessions and depressions that were handed to the democrats. This one might surprise people. If you've been thinking about starting a business, this is the time to do it. Ask the truly rich. Not that idiot in a McMansion at the end of the block, I'm talking about Buffett and Gates. Do you think they are net sellers right now? Not a chance. Sure, they are liquidating crappy assets, but they are new buyers. You should be too.

More Wired "(this type of economy) is the crucible in which great companies are forged." Anybody got a good idea? Drop me a line. I'm in.

I thought Pyramid Schemes were illegal...

or does that law not apply on the internet? Is it just me or are there millions of sites promoting a get-rich-quick product that essentially just gets you to distribute the rights to distribute distributorships that allow people to distribute distributorships to other distributors. (Even if that made no sense, you get what I'm saying.) Last time I checked, MLM with no actual product is a pyramid scheme. Is that like blogging about how to make money with blogs about making money?

Ok, people. If you are going to build a business - build a business that adds value, please. I have no problem with people selling IP or ideas or digital non-physical products. I do that myself. But some of this crap is just that - crap. And if you are going into business for yourself, and you don't understand the concept of "adding value" you may want to rethink your plans.

Instead of working out ways to part people with solid entrepreneureal intentions from their seed money, why don't some of you work out ways to take that seed money and help these people compete with China or India. Our way of living is at risk. In case no one has noticed, economic growth in China is inversely proportionate to economic growth in Michigan or Ohio. China grows as the manufacturing belt of America shrinks.

I am not one of those dreamers that thinks the manufacturing industry in the US can be rebuilt to take the world by storm like it once did. I understand that there is going to be a painful period for middle-aged and near retirement age workers as the US economy retools for the future with a basis in information and innovation. Big chunks of the nation have already done this. But selling reseller rights to a sales and reseller system is really not helping anyone in the long run.

Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart - Funny

Check out the whole thing on YouTube:

Part 1

Part 2

New class requirement for all school children

Now. There needs to be a law passed (disclaimer: I am NOT a fan of new laws generally. In fact, we should just go ahead and repeal about 50% of the ridiculous laws in this country. For example: It is getting to the point that I need a color chart in my car to figure out exactly what I am allowed to do with my car in a given parking spot. I saw a purple curb the other day. Purple. What the hell does that mean?) that all school children must take a class in computer virus basics. Do those fake virus scanners really fool almost everyone who sees them? I thought that everyone knew that it is pretty obvious not to click if:

A) You have never heard of the product that purports to be cleaning your computer.

B) This product is blocking Google, saying that it is an "infected page".

C) It asks for your credit card number via a popup window approximately every thirty seconds.

But clearly, these guys are sucking the life from American commerce. I know multiple intelligent, reasonably tech savvy people who have been infected by these things. These people are then perplexed by the resulting infection. Not only is work seriously slowed, but they would - if not for my kindheartedness - be paying people may dollars for a fix. Hmmm...Maybe they should stop looking to Russia as the origin of these things, and start looking at Geek Squad? lol

Update!

Found the Phillips site. But now I have to navigate through a mountain of shit to reach the info on the player. Memo to all businesses: Let Google spider your site. And if you have to use tons of Flash to make it all pretty, build html pages with redirects to all the pretty Flash. Then Google can still see you. Multi-million dollar corporations should be able to handle this. And if not, just make the pages Google friendly in the first place.

Ok, most companies suck

Phillips Magnavox - I am now going to put you out there on a pedestal to be the punching bag for all companies that suck.

Here in front of me I have a Phillips 3025/37 MP3/video player. In terms of a device, it seems ok. I am attempting to find out what video format(s) it supports. I have:

1) Google the model number with every combination of possible wording referencing "video format", "manual" etc.

2) Disconnected the player to look up the URL's that are displayed when the player boots. By the way, that would be a nice touch - WOULD BE if the address didn't redirect to some investing site instead of yours. Tried it in FF and Google Chrome, just to make sure it wasn't some oddball virus that does a redirect in my machine.

3) Seriously considered throwing said device against the wall in front of me.

There is a quote that I really like:

"Plan A is always more successful when the device you are working on understands that Plan B involves either a screwdriver or a hammer."

In this case, instead of reverting to Plan B, I'm thinking of a Plan C - buy a Sansa. Sandisk provides solid online support and there is a strong online community to help otherwise. And the e200 series is the best device under $100 I've ever used for music, and the video is ok too. The only complaint I have against Sandisk is that they discontinued the e200's. I have no verdict on the Fuze, yet.

I've had some issues with other Magnavox players also. Avoid at all costs. Waste of money.

Check that out!

Love to have been there to see that. I wonder if anyone found a crash site, or if it completely burned up.

Digg is the best site on the web

Troll through the first page, and you'll know what I'm talking about. Just today:

"I regret saying some things I shouldn't have said, like 'Dead or Alive' and 'Bring 'em on.' " Uh, how about the 1,000 other retarded comments you made?! (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)

Guess who said that? Truly, that apology speech (or implicated apology or whatever it was) should have been when the "Mission Accomplished" banner was rolled out. The mission to make GW Bush realize that he has made an ass of himself for almost a decade has finally been accomplished. Unfortunately, it doesn't help the fact that he made America look like a bunch of asses too. Of course, we brought much of that on ourselves by RE-electing that moron.

Speaking in Arabic, al-Zawahri uses the term "abeed al-beit," which literally translates as "house slaves." But al-Qaida supplied English subtitles of his speech that included the translation as "house negroes."(msnbc.msn.com)

Wait! What?!? You mean all that crap about how al-qaida is just dying for an Obama presidency isn't true? The republicans lied to America?!? Never! I refuse to believe it! Tom DeLay never took a bribe! By the way, if you are interested, I've got a couple bridges running from an obscure island in New York over to the mainland that you may want. The island is called Manhattan. You may not have heard of it.

And finally,

A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County's federal detention centers.(chron.com)

Ok, so the indictment is a joke. But so was the Clinton indictment. So, let those of us who relish in watching scumbags sweat have some fun now. I'd sure like to see how Cheney does in a Texas prison. lol That would be funny.

Gmail Themes!! Yes!

Well done, team Gmail. The themes are very cool. Little behind the curve considering how Myspace and Co. have been doing pages for a while now, but better late then never. Love the planets theme too guys. Now, about that whole rolling out over a couple days thing - Get to my account please! Thank you.

Continuing on the tech front, Best Buy is now selling a pair of glasses that are supposed to mimic a 52" screen driven by your iPod. Cool device, for sure. What is the over-under on weeks before someone gets arrested or in an accident while watching porn. Come on, you know it'll happen. I give it 26 weeks (6 months).

Other than that, slow day in the news. Or maybe that is just because I'm not paying attention.

Stupid people suck

This is a bit off-topic, but I really don't care. How can some people go around in life with no idea what the hell is going on around them? Seriously, many people have absolutely no clue about basic necessities of American life.

Ever seen the bits on late night TV where they go around and ask people on the street basic questions about life and history? People don't know who the vice president is, they think that we fought against the British in WWII, and (my personal favorite) they think it was a great idea for Obama to select a woman for VP. (If you haven't seen that, Google "Howard Stern man on the street interviews" you'll find it in there)

People, please teach your children. Something. Make them go to school. And if you know they aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, tell them not to ever speak in front of a camera.

Ok, enough with Apple already

Look, the devices are really cool and work pretty well most of the time. But until the software catches up, I'm not buying. Yes, MAC lovers - the software looks real pretty, but it is SLOW.

Anybody else have a dual-core processor that torches conversions with Nero, TMPGenc, etc. but takes forever in iTunes? Does iTunes chop your music collection up in odd groups, wrong albums, or just screw everything up? Or what about tracks/albums in MP3 format that refuse to transfer to an iPod, leaving only a cryptic message about unable to play in this device? Yup, iTunes officially sux. And iPods are totally married to that crap.

I'm not a big MS guy either, but Steve - go hire some coders from Seattle. At least Windows Media 11 works. Quickly. Or, even better, go hire the guy who built TMPGEnc. Do something, because until you do there are a bunch of us users out there who are not going to deal with crappy performance just for a pretty interface.

The new pres on 60 Minutes

I like this guy more by the day. College football playoffs, and he is serious about it. Finally, someone who understands how to make America a better place. But seriously, I'm glad that someone is going to take the reigns on that one. And all that other stuff he said was good too.

President-Elect Obama really did have a good outing on 60 Minutes. He sounds like he is going to work with both sides of the aisle, and he seems to have a good grasp of reality ("The American people don't want to hear lots of speeches." So true). And if history is to be our guide the economy should improve rapidly, just because he is a democrat. Yes, all you money-grubbing republicans - the economy has ALWAYS tended to suck when you guys take over. If you don't believe me, check out the interest rates under Reagan. Or which party was in power to usher in the Great Depression - and which party got us out.

Not that the world economy can get much worse. This morning on the news they reported that the price of oil FELL in response to a threat from OPEC to cut production. Ummmm....wonder if the problem is on the demand side? Ya think.

Finally, the best part or the interview, for me, was that we have actually elected someone who is capable of speaking in complete, intelligent sentences - without a teleprompter or notes. Seriously, I had a giant grin on my face for the first ten minutes of the interview, just thinking that we have a president able to communicate...presidentially. It's been a long time since old Bill was out there making Americans look bright and energetic. I'm tired of watching Alfred E. Newman make us look like whatever it is that he makes us look like.

And, on top of all that, college football will soon have a true champion.

Warning! I'm drunk...

Well, maybe not DRUNK, but I've had a couple.

President-elect Obama has a true chance to help fix the problems that have been created by the morons who have been running the show for almost a decade. (Even in the last couple Clinton years, the GOP dominated congress had him so distracted by BJ's, that they began screwing everything up before the Florida Supreme Court appointed Gomer Pyle to the White House)

To all the miserable, toothless, tobacco mouthed rednecks: Don't ya think that the Secret Service can handle a bunch of idiots with white hoods and shotguns? I mean seriously. The KKK? Just watch the movie Deliverance and you'll see what I'm talking about. That is the fine bunch of folks that the KKK is made of today. I think the Federal Government might have a couple guys that can deal with them. (I just wish the reader could hear the sarcasm. It is meant to be quite thick.)

I'm slow, but here goes.

President-Elect Obama.

Sounds ok. I sort of like it. Here comes the real challenge. Americans took a major chance. I'm an Obama fan, so I feel like I have the right to say this.

#1 - This election came down to the voter's risk tolerance profile. Obama was a major risk, but he also offered a major reward. The level of dissatisfaction with the current administration, combined with the bleak direction the country appears to be taking, lead to a higher risk tolerance among voters. With all the negative questions about Obama and his personal history, one would think that this election would have been a McCain landslide. On paper, maybe it should have been. Until you factor in both Obama's personal charisma and the horrific job the GOP has done for the last 8 years. Then the risk is worth the potential reward.

#2 - Entirely too much was made of Obama's race. Young people (under 35 or so) DO NOT CARE! There are, of course, exceptions, but by and large the youth of America is exactly that - the youth of the UNITED States of America. And outside of the south, general population doesn't care either. From my personal perspective, the guy could be a martian, and if he could fix the f*cking mess that Bush has created, I'd vote for him. And I think most of America sees it that way too. Unfortunately, the black community is where most of the doubt about him being elected came from. They, still, think that this country is more racist then it is. I'm not saying racism doesn't exist, but to hear some of the black people I know tell it, they can't get a job at McDonald's thanks to the white man. And I also know black people who are extremely successful, who would tell you how ridiculous that attitude is. In fact, almost every black person I know who takes responsabilty for themseleves is very successful. The ones who blame others, aren't. Hmmm...Correlation?

#3 - Why are people so offended by the world's interest in our election? Yes, Spain ignored soccer for a few hours to watch our election results. Isn't that a complement? We ARE the largest, most powerful country on Earth, and as we go, so goes the world. They recognize that, and pay attention accordingly. Where is the problem?

Just a few thoughts. Please, pissed off people, feel free to tell me what a fool I am. Or stop and think and you might agree.