I’ve read 12 of these, I think. Cryptonomicon is probably my favorite on this list.

read more | digg story

Sony BMG is now using the same techniques that hackers use to break into your system to copy-protect their CDs. They are getting sued as a result. If you have ever needed more of a reason to boycott these assholes, here it is. They are immoral criminals, IMHO, and you should never buy a CD from them ever again.

I am a big fan of amazon.com but I am starting to think they are losing it. They have stopped doing the one thing you have to do, which is great customer service. You can no longer send inbound email to Amazon. You can no longer call them on the phone. You can only use their web form, period, that’s it.

I think I know what the thinking is, generally, with these big companies that do shitty customer service. Some CFO bean counter somewhere looks at the expense statement and says, “Hmmm, sure would be nice if we could cut down this customer service number. It’s an expense, let’s make it go down.”

This is because they think of it as an expense. It’s not an expense, it’s a cost of sale. They should plan on a $x hit on every sale to cover the customer service. While you certainly want to keep cost of sales down too, it is a good thing when your cost of sales grows because it means your gross and net revenue are growing. If you think of it as an expense you are divorcing it from its direct contribution to your product’s value and you think that growth in the expense is bad. It’s good when you are spending more because you are billing more.

And let me tell ya, I hate if I have to use customer service. That is a failure to start with. But you have to make it easy to resolve problems quickly. It’s ultimately in everyone’s best interest. The closed door policy that many company’s use these days is based on the notion that we’ll give up eventually and go down the chute they want us to go down.

It doesn’t surprise me when big, dumb companies do dumb things. It does surprise me that Amazon is. They should be the Google of Internet retail and they are failing. They are still a great company, IMHO, but their new method of form letter customer service is not working. Some CFO is fucking it up.

Don’t know what to think of Alito? This should tell you all you need to know:

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family Action, said he was “extremely pleased,” and the anti-abortion Operation: Rescue declared that the country was on “the fast-track to derailing Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.”

(from CBS News)

Alito must be opposed.

Although Shelly the Republican wishes it wasn’t so, CNN just had an interesting factoid: currently 55% of Americans think the Bush presidency is a failure. Yet one month AFTER Clinton was impeached only 25% of Americans thought his presidency was a failure.

This speaks volumes as to just how bad Bush is. Many of those that voted for Bush in retrospect call him a failure.

Might be time to peel that W sticker off your SUV, losers.

Also, it’s pretty funny that when Bush went to “spend his political capital” with Miers the Right smacked him down so hard his teeth rattled. Yeah, buddy, capital. That’s what you have. R i g h t.

Rich Senators Defeat Minimum-Wage Hike

This happens all the time. Rich folks try to justify these sorts of acts of stupidity. In the end it is because they believe in trickle-down economics — give the money to the rich people, they will spend it on their luxurious and extravagant lives, and those of us at the bottom can fight over their scraps. Wow, such a valid economic theory!

Listen, folks, when you give someone that works full-time and makes $206/week an extra $44 per week, two very good things happen. #1, they have $44 more dollars to help scrap out a living. #2, the money goes instantly and directly back into the economy. It doesn’t go into a trust account somewhere to pamper affluent unborn great-grandchildren of today’s elite.

Let me point out another obvious economic fact: the cost of living goes up by 4%/year on average. When you compound this over the 7 years since the minimum wage was raised, it amounts to a 27% increase in the cost of living. People who work for minimum wage make much less than they used to in 1997.

Raising the minimum wage makes economic sense, it rewards hard work, is a path out of poverty and is something that every American should support. We should fire these rich Republican assholes who can’t see these obvious facts.

Why did Libby lie?

There may be more to this than meets the eye…

Primary school cancels Halloween celebration

This is low-hanging fruit, I know, but I have to point out this sort of nonsense. Halloween is not a religious event nor is it an anti-religious event. It is play-acting. Fiction. It’s like a costume party for fun. It is not an endorsement for Satanism or Wicca or anything else. It’s the same as if you had an Alice in Wonderland party. Nowhere herein is there cause for offense.

That people try to eliminate our secular holidays based on their religious beliefs offends the hell out of me.

2 charged in beating of 13-year-old

Two 17-year olds armed with baseball bats against one unarmed 13-year old? What a bunch of fucking pussies. First of all, Lord knows what is to be gained by inter-gang warfare anyway. It seems like an artificial conflict to me. Even if this kid was in the rival gang, which he wasn’t, is their point that all rival gang members must be killed on sight?

I understand that gangs may be filling a void for some kids and in some ways, it may even be slightly positive. I also understand that white trash like myself may not get the whole picture and I am somewhat hesitant to expose my ignorance from here in the ‘burbs.

I still think these attackers are a bunch of pussies and I hope they enjoy a lifetime of incarceration.

This looks interesting:

DefCon is an online grassroots movement combating the growing power of the religious right. We will fight for the separation of church and state, individual freedom, scientific progress, pluralism, and tolerance while respecting people of faith and their beliefs.

I couldn’t agree more. There is not a war going on between the religious and the non-religious. There is a war going on between intolerant, radical theocrats and tolerant, compassionate secularists. Which side are you on?