Shut brain, open wallet

The other day I found this creepy little homily in a store dressing room. In keeping with the principles of perception management, which works best when the mechanics are hidden, it was placed high on the mirror, slightly out of sight but not out of range. I love the phrase, "This unattractive word". Obviously they are hoping to make customers feel "unattractive" if they don't splurge. I say tacky, desperate, and yes ... sinister.

The days of desks without roses

It's a dreary Saturday morning here in Nevada. Rain is washing away our fluffy white snow and after reading various posts about the horrors of the modern workplace cubicle, I found this sweet little NSFW clip at Drifty's which fits my mood to a T. Why T? I don't know. T has been the gold standard for fine fits since I was a kid. Glengarry Glen Ross has it all. Great writing. Great acting. And an office from the days when a desk was a DESK, real estate was HOT and men were, well... losers. Plus I love the line, "How should I know? I'm not a leash."

Glengarry Glen Ross

07:22
A similar scene has been playing in my head lately. In it, I am all the characters. It's chilling but I did get up early and write a new poem this morning and finished another I started a couple of days ago. I think it has something to do with my new desk which screams "crunch time", "do or die". "Coffee is for closers only".



Alec Baldwin

Yep

In case you're wondering, the Christmas card battery is still warbling its little heart out in the garage. It's been going 10 plus days now and, I must admit, I have developed both respect and fondness for that little thing. It has won a life of its own.

The Bounds of Sense

Dadaist Rock Band Album Cover Meme

I found this on Roy's blog. His album cover turned out to be "eerily appropriate" and it seems mine did too. He got it from UV, who found it at Mini-Obs and so on. According to the inexplicable whims of fate, the name of my band is The Bounds of Sense and this is our album cover. As you can see, we are a force to be reckoned with. And who are you?


Instructions:
1. The first article title on the Wikipedia Random Articles page is the name of your band.

2. The last four words of the very last quotation on the Random Quotations page is the title of your album.

3. Any appropriate picture in Flickr's Creative Commons licensed photos will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result.

Restore paper ballots

Congress is poised to consider a new emergency paper ballots bill next week. This could be our one last chance to get this right before the election in November. Transparency and accountability are essential if we are to restore our democracy.

Please sign the petition here.
Thanks.

In case you haven't heard, electronic voting machines are incredibly easy to hack. Watch this video from Princeton University. They demonstrate the procedure. After you see it, I think you will agree. We need a paper trail!

Princeton Study Exposes Diebold Flaws

paper ballots 2008 election voting machines Diebold MoveOn

Hashbrowns with a side of Bush

Breakfast in the Bird Park this morning is hashbrowns and popcorn but the usual tiding of magpies was not impressed. I thought they'd love some tasty leftovers from a very greasy spoon, but they did not. Magpies are a bit picky. Even the starlings were freaked out. Maybe they don't like potatoes. Or perhaps it's the spices. Damn. If they don't clean it up by the end of the day, I'll have to do it. Before the mice. But I'll be surprised if the starlings don't polish it off. Where are the crows when you need them?

Did you catch the Cafferty File last night? His question, following McGovern's call for impeachment, was "Time to IMPEACH Bush and Cheney." We all know why it's not happening. Congress is owned by the corporate lobbies and won't touch the issue because they themselves are as guilty as Bush but there is some satisfaction hearing Cafferty read comments from people all over the country clamoring for Bush and Cheney's removal. Collectively we have woken up and smell the ... uh ... "coffee". America the beautiful.