miscellaneous everything

Thursday, February 14, 2002

well, so what’s wrong here?

Man convicted of shooting girlfriend who he thought was about to say `New Jersey'
posted by lee on 02/14/02 at 05:56 PM

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Wednesday, February 13, 2002

Now this is just a total crock of guano

No matter the cost, Afghan hounds pay the price.

Lou Guerrero had no problem spending whatever it cost to show off his champion dog and bring it from California to Westminster this year.

He had more trouble dealing with the backlash caused by the name of its breed: Afghan hound.

"Now that 9-11 happened, I'm very careful where I go with my dog," Guerrero said Tuesday. "When people ask what kind she is, I just say, 'She's a hound dog.'

"The only reason I do this is for fear of possible retaliation."

Is stupid a gene or is it something in the water?
posted by lee on 02/13/02 at 06:02 PM

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Tuesday, February 12, 2002

states threaten micromerchants with paypal attacks

PayPal Booted Out of State, Under Legal Siege. " ... the state of Louisiana ordered PayPal to stop doing business with its residents without a license.

"Although the company faces the threat of regulation from several other states, Louisiana was the first state to order the company to stop transferring money to and from residents until it obtains a money transmission license.

"If PayPal fails to abide by that order, it could be fined US$1,000 per day by the state.

"PayPal said it will 'comply promptly and suspend the ability of Louisiana residents to make payments through our service,' although it reserves the right to contest the order."

The article in eCommerce Times continues, stating PayPal is facing legal challenges in other states, including New York.

Let's see, PayPal has been around how many years now? And states are only NOW looking at it? Is Amazon.com subject to these same complaints, or any other net-based money-transfer services?

I don't know the legal ins and outs of the way PayPal is supposed to conduct business. I do know that this should've been resolved long ago - before thousands and thousands of small online businesses came to depend on PayPal for ecommerce functions. Including the thousands on eBay alone.

PayPal isn't a cheap service for a micromerchant to use, but it sure is cheaper than most bank merchant accounts and it is absolutely easier to set up than every single other shopping cart program out there. It may not be the best service out there for the microbusiness, but as far as I've seen, it's the only one out there that makes sense. It's flawed, but works well enough to have generated $40 million in revenue in 2001 and more than 2 million business acounts.

What I want to know is what micromerchants are supposed to do if PayPal sinks under the weight of regulatory cinderblocks in 50 states. Are banks going to step in an offer comparable services that are comparably easy to use? I doubt it.

If PayPal falls, it will be the death knell for thousands of micromerchants who cannot afford the expense of merchant accounts or hiring programmers to set up expensive shopping cart programs for their sites. Even sites proclaiming to be easy-to-use and cheap are not - witness Yahoo.

So what's going to happen? I don't know. Is eBay going to step in to the fray? If they want their success to continue, they'll have to.
posted by lee on 02/12/02 at 08:08 PM

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Monday, February 11, 2002

Laura bush sends a message to enron victims

Reaching Out: The First Lady's Message to Victims of the Enron Collapse. From the White House.
posted by lee on 02/11/02 at 06:05 PM

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Friday, February 08, 2002

What font am I?

More sillies:

redensek.gif Wowie! I am Redensek! I am techy yet cute, and pretty much all around cool. Everyone loves me! I'm fun, popular, and can mold myself to fit right in to any situation.
posted by lee on 02/08/02 at 04:27 PM

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Wednesday, February 06, 2002

fallout

An ex-Enronite's site: laydoff.com.
posted by lee on 02/06/02 at 02:55 PM

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How to Drive

This is supposedly a parody: Offensive Driving: The Driving Style of Choice. But it seems to be the norm here in Fairfield County, Connecticut, land of the self-absorbed and self-important, where the worst offenders are the moms hauling kids in oversized SUVs.
posted by lee on 02/06/02 at 02:35 PM

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Tuesday, February 05, 2002

Shrub’s Budget compared to this year’s

Everybody was screaming about the numbers, but I couldn't find a coherent breakdown of actual increases in the 2003 federal budget compared with the 2002 budget. Finally, via the SF Chronicle, the numbers: Seeing red / A $2.13 trillion budget buster.

Still digesting the numbers, but what amazes me is this so-called "Education President" [gag] is proposing just a 2.1% increase in education spending vs. a 12% increase in defense and 5.9% increase in foreign aid spending.
posted by lee on 02/05/02 at 05:55 PM

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Monday, February 04, 2002

Dying in America

An interesting look at our country through the eyes of a Canadian: ''America's strange political culture of grief and dying'' by John Chuckman in YellowTimes.org.

Excerpt:
"Death in America does not come easily. That is, unless you are homeless or live on an Indian reservation or in one of the nation's vast urban ghettos or are one of tens of millions of working poor with the kind of health insurance that features exceptions instead of coverage. In all these cases, likely few will note your passing. Losers don't count in America, except at Fourth-of-July speeches by congressmen in tight races."

and
"Now, don't misunderstand. When the terrorists attacked, America deserved the world's sympathy and help, and she richly received it. But now, quite apart from its being well past time for a grossly self-indulgent people "to get a life," the country's brutal, stupid response - undoubtedly killing more innocent people than died in the attack itself and causing more misery than can be imagined in such a poor land - means she has relinquished further claims to the world's sympathy.

"It's hard to sympathize with people who insist on the very special, precious, eternal nature of their own loss, while failing even to notice what they do to others. The moral values here closely resemble those of certain survivors or victims in Texas who parade outside the prison during an execution and excitedly talk to newsmen about the closure someone's death is bringing to their lives."

But read the whole thing. Keep your knees in check for a change. At least admit what is true.
posted by lee on 02/04/02 at 07:06 PM

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Bush couldn’t go to the space station

He wouldn't be allowed to fly to the Space Station because of his history of "notoriously disgraceful" conduct, according to an article on Space.com: Partners Set Standards for Station Tourists; Miscreants Need Not Apply. He'd have to prove he went to rehab and somehow get back into the good graces of NASA in order to go.
posted by lee on 02/04/02 at 04:44 PM

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