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Archive for 'general whining'

why don’t i practice what i preach?!?!?

i purchased some appliances from an online source… without first checking out the source. sigh. fyi, appliancesconnection.com is a true customer service bio-hazard. they managed to lose the first shipment completely… so much for the ‘expedited shipping’ i paid extra for. the second shipment added another few weeks to the process, but was missing only […]

exposure?!? people DIE from exposure!

the proliferation of craigslist posts from venues in the bay area offering ‘exposure’ to local bands is thoroughly depressing. why? because ‘exposure’ means ‘play for free… people will see you and that will be good for your band!’ they don’t mention that it will be even better for their venues, allowing them to augment their […]

trim those acacias, help the zoo

there are a zillion acacia trees along skyline blvd… maybe half of them where my property hits the highway. they get cut back every five or so years, but grow like weeds. the only up side to this vicious cycle is that the oakland zoo will pick up the trimmings and feed them to the […]

caveat emptor – especially in the secondary ticket market

there’s a certain irony in recommending ticketmaster as the place to start one’s online ticket search… but it turns out that ticketmaster is the safest path through the morass that is the secondary ticket market. with ‘helpful’ names like ‘boxofficesanjose.com’ or ‘secureboxoffice.com’, these sites bury their policies in the fine print: “we sell tickets on […]

register this

godaddy is the world’s largest registrar, with 50,000,000 domain names. as they grew, they became shameless hucksters, with incessant (and probably successful) attempts to sell un-needed additional services to those who don’t know better, and blatantly sexist marketing, featuring “godaddy girls”. i’m not even going to go into their ceo posting a video on youtube […]

the 2011 definition of ‘chutzpah’

i offer two points before sharing something with you all: 1. leo rosten in the joys of yiddish defines chutzpah as “gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible ‘guts,’ presumption plus arrogance such as no other word and no other language can do justice to.” in this sense, chutzpah expresses both strong disapproval and a grudging admiration. […]

one cargo ship pollutes as much as 50 million cars, and my car’s mileage rating matters because… because…

research shows that giant container ships are a significant source of air pollution, emitting 18-30% of all nitrogen oxide and 9% of sulphur oxide pollution. one such ship can emit almost the same amount of cancer and asthma-causing chemicals as 50 million cars. given a world-wide automobile population of 760 million cars, this means that […]

virginia should have let her sleeping dog (continue to) lie

out of the blue, virginia thomas, the wife of supreme court justice clarence thomas, left a voicemail for anita hill seeking an apology for hill’s claims of harassment by her husband 19 years prior. thanks to the digital world we live in, the voicemail was forwarded to the authorities. it has also rekindled interest in […]

don’t get sick in july

a million years ago, i worked as a handyman/carpenter with my friend john. our two mottos were: ‘it’s not OUR house’ and ‘by the time we’re done with your job, we’ll have it down!’ while it was ok when we did it, it’s a bit disconcerting to think the people we are depending on to […]

hallowed ground…

opponents of the proposed mosque and community center to be built in lower manhattan speak in hushed tones about the sanctity of ‘the shadow of ground zero’. perhaps a little reality checking is in order: “hallowed ground” – within a three bock radius of where the world trade center used to stand are 3 liquor […]

this just in: internet forces people to forward chain letter emails without thinking… pass it on!

i continue to receive forwarded emails from well-intentioned and otherwise intelligent people that contain old news or recycled mis-information. yes, i understand that the power that courses through you when you forward an email to (potentially) hundreds of people . yes, i understand that joining a group of people who share a belief in something […]

too big to fail – a modest proposal for corporate responsibility

i like profit as much as the next money-grubbing capitalist… why shouldn’t i be able to charge a zillion dollars if that’s what the market will bear? fortunately, most of the work i do does not impact large ecosystems, or require huge infusions of taxpayer dollars. rather than discuss whether there is anyone in bp […]

duck and cover vs. triangle of life… will it really matter?

the ‘triangle of life’ earthquake safety theory has been touted as a better method of staying safe during an earthquake than the traditional ‘duck and cover’ method. the ‘triangle of life’ theory says that falling objects such as doors, walls, or large appliances will come to rest in angled positions, leaving triangles of space in […]

new lead-base paint rules – safety at a price

i wrote the following for the june issue of the grubb co. newsletter. written and produced by yours truly, the newsletter goes out to as many as 15,000 homeowners every other month. as of april 22, 2010, the lead renovation, repair and painting rule (LRRP) requires that all contractors and handyman services who work in […]

the dunk… was? is?

i don’t even remember how i met duncan murphy… was it bmug (the berkeley macintosh users group)? the suse linux office that used to be near the grand lake theater in oakland? we called duncan ‘the dunk’. he was brilliant, tortured, and lovable. he was first and foremost a geek… a very talented programmer who […]

“your invited!”

found this in my inbox the other day: Your Invited – The Coming Transformation of Higher Education, June 3.Please join Fast Company writer Anya Kamenetz, author of DIY U:Edupunks, Edupreneurs and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education, for a discussion about how entrepreneurship and technology are changing education. seems like they’ve made things worse.

forest for the trees

being good at what you do apparently has little to do with your ability to self-promote. take this case in point. i just finished the add-a-garage website. getting information i could use to maximize their marketing moment was like pulling teeth. they seemed to think that ‘founded in 1987’ was enough, and would reassure homeowners […]

hard to remember that we’re in the middle of a drought when it just keeps raining…

here’s a picture to break a tennis player’s heart. 8-( it’s hard to remember that we’re still in the middle of a drought when there’s been so much rain of late. the california department of water resources says: As of April 30, 2010, statewide hydrologic conditions were as follows: precipitation, 110 percent of average to […]

poop bag litter on trails – not only CAN you take it with you when you go, but you really SHOULD

it is truly amazing how many people pick up after their dogs and then carefully leave plastic bags filled with dog poop by the side of the trail… as if they’re going to come back and pick up after themselves on their way out. uh huh. sure. right. please take your crap with you. really. […]