Sunday, March 06, 2005

The Written Peace:
Open Forum of March 5, 2005

The Dark Wraith Forums has not published new material since Friday because of a major project being undertaken by the host. Those who have visited in the past couple of hours may have noticed in the sidebar some rather unusual and not entirely elegant changes that were taking place. Perfecting a new feature for a Webpage is as much art as it is science. This is especially true now that cascading style sheets are rapidly replacing HTML as the language of Website architecture, and this is compounded by how different browsers see the same code quite differently in many cases.

In other words, getting something to look right is difficult. Getting it to look right in both Internet Explorer and in Firefox is even more difficult. Getting it to look right in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, and Opera is close to impossible; and if Safari is also put into the equation, the task becomes more than a man can bear without being driven to the bottle.

Now, although your host did not open said bottle, he did find occasion to speak in demonic languages a couple of times over the past few days. You will note that the visual presentation is not yet perfect, especially in Firefox, which seems to have been designed to send the Dark Wraith to an asylum for has-been code-writing hacks.

All of that having been said, The Dark Wraith Forums now introduces blogScream, a newswire that picks up articles from blogs in the Dark Wraith BlogRing and brings them to you in a scrolling stream. You may click on any blog's title or on the article below the blog title, and a new window will open for you to read the content. Over the next several weeks, blogScream will be offered to other blogs in the Ring. That will be a one-time offer. Subsequently, blogScream will be a fee-based service available to blogs and news services.

blogScream has several purposes. Obviously, to visitors it offers a convenient way to see some of the articles being posted around the Blogosphere. It also provides blogs with much-needed exposure in a field increasingly dominated by a handful of large blogs that are systematically refusing to link to strong but less well-known, small blogs.

Another purpose—one that might be rarely realized—of blogScream is to provide a communication network to notify bloggers and readers of blogs of attempts to suppress bloggers' freedom of speech. Should the service be made aware of anything from a direct action against a blogger to general legislation adversely affecting blogs, blogScream will earn its name: it will scream "Foul!" for all to see, and the trouble will be known to anyone and everyone who reads blogScream.

The Open Forum is here for you to speak your peace. Say what you have to say, and enjoy the company. The hotel lobby is open all night.

<< 64 Comments Total
 Shakespeare's Sister blogged...

Good evening, Dark Wraith.

It's getting there.... Looks good so far. :-)

Shakespeare's Sister toddles off to her bed, rosy with the satisfaction that comes from knowing there are other people who are never quite satisfied, either.

Sun Mar 06, 02:11:34 AM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

Good evening, Shakespeare's Sister.

I am slowly spiraling into the grave whence my sorry wraith-ass came. I am getting so tired tonight that I'm making really stupid mistakes trying to get blogScream to work right.

What's driving me absolutely mad is that it looks perfect in the Blogger preview screen in both Internet Explorer and in Firefox. I mean, it looks absolutely perfect; but when I publish it, the feature doesn't look right at all in either Internet Explorer or Firefox. That means I'm flying completely blind: I have to try something, then just publish it to see what's happened, since the preview window isn't telling me what's going to occur.

I'm aiming to get it to work in Internet Explorer first, then I'll figure out what's gone wrong in Firefox, working my way backwards from the latest Netscape.

God! This is an awful lot like work.


The Dark Wraith grovels onward.

Sun Mar 06, 02:34:57 AM EST  
 PeterofLoneTree blogged...

Googlenews, http://news.gooogle.com/news?ned=tus has more of what you've discussed above.
After some fits and starts, including being knocked off-line twice, am now able to access with both IE and Firefox quite nicely.

Sun Mar 06, 10:02:19 AM EST  
 PeterofLoneTree blogged...

Oh, and scroll down to "Sci/Tech" after going to Google but you probably knew that

Sun Mar 06, 10:03:21 AM EST  
 The Educated Eclectic blogged...

It is looking wonderful tonight, Mr. Dark Wraith!
The connection between "alternative" blogs is a wonder to behold.
The irony is that there are already "alternative" blogs in a medium that prides itself on being "alternative..."

Ms. Julien

Sun Mar 06, 08:44:14 PM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

Good evening, Ms. Julien.

I must say that I hadn't thought of it that way: the alternative to the alternative.

I like it.

I'm almost there. I have it now to the point where my only problem is getting the scrolling to work in Firefox. (Just getting the whole thing to show up properly was a nightmare!)

As I said, I've almost got it. And once I have it completely stabilized here on The Dark Wraith Forums, I'll be able to export it as a "package" to blogs across the Blogosphere, and maybe we can get something really good started.

Instead of isolated little fortresses calling out to one another, we'll have something like a federation of blogs.

Like I said: maybe something really good.


The Dark Wraith returns to cursing Firefox and Bill Gates.
[It's a hobby.]

Sun Mar 06, 09:05:08 PM EST  
 42 blogged...

evenin'

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to see (Safari 1.2.4); the only scrolling going on is the stock ticker. I see the blogscream logo, and two links to Sister Shakes.

in Firefox for OS X the ticker jumps down the page and covers up content in the sidebar, and if I page down past sidebar content it's still there. I don't use Winders at home so I can't use IE to check it out.

IE for OS X (an old broken pile of steaming schmutz) simply crashes :)

I don't mean to drive you to that bottle but I can't wait to see the finished product!

Sun Mar 06, 10:26:14 PM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

This morning (unlike yesterday) it looks good & works well with Opera (the ultimate browser).

Nice add-on & "the alternative to the alternatives" works.

--Lymond

Mon Mar 07, 09:23:48 AM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

I can't now remember where I encountered the info. but over the weekend sometime or other I learned that regulatory eyes are beginning to scrutinize the political activity of the blogs.

- oddjob

Mon Mar 07, 09:46:26 AM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

Oh, BTW, the standards envisioned for a Fed. employee id card are precisely of the sort that would be useful in a Minority Report advertising world.

Assuming the card was readable in the right way and assuming the right regulatory environment, I think it would be child's play to go from such a card, to a remote reader, to a computer accessing a buyer history database, to a cusomized poster down the hall, showing an audiovisual advertisement tailored specifically for you.

Mon Mar 07, 09:51:11 AM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

(Last post was me.)

- oddjob

Mon Mar 07, 09:51:39 AM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

Isn't it intriguing that the conservatives on the Supreme Court bench are adamant that there is no right of privacy in the Constitution, and yet the very strong wish for exactly that is a significant feature of many, perhaps most, Americans?

- oddjob

Mon Mar 07, 09:54:10 AM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

Good morning, OddJob.

That was what I was talking about when I said that the movie Minority Report had it wrong about the eyes being the method of personalized recognition.

Scary stuff... and it's a-comin'.


The Dark Wraith prepares his travel plans.

Mon Mar 07, 10:06:36 AM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

Good morning, Lymond.

Thank you ever so much for telling me it looks right in Opera! That's the browser I don't have loaded on my computer, right now.


The Dark Wraith breaths a sigh of relief.

Mon Mar 07, 10:08:08 AM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

Good morning, once again, OddJob.

Yes, the regulatory heat is starting to build for blog control. The fun part will be to see if they really have regulatory enforcers as good as some of the bloggers.


The Dark Wraith grins modestly.

Mon Mar 07, 10:09:52 AM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

Eyescans must come later, after the need forces the techonology to catch up.

- oddjob

Mon Mar 07, 10:48:17 AM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

Good morning, once again, OddJob.

Naw, the retinal scan thing is just a fad. Eventually, identification will be done by remote biometric scans.

As a consultant, I crossed paths with a company that was starting to work on a remote sensing system that could determine specific chemical signatures of people from a distance. The goal was to be able to offer law enforcement a tool for determining whether or not the driver of a passing vehicle had used alcohol or drugs; but that was just the beginning of what such technology could accomplish in the way of eroding the what little remains of personal privacy.

That, my good friend, is the shape of things to come.



The Dark Wraith longs for a simpler time.

Mon Mar 07, 11:36:55 AM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

This isn't a recent political cartoon, but it was in today's Boston Globe, and I thought you in particular would appreciate it, DW. Those who have been reading your posts will probably appreciate it, too.

- oddjob

Mon Mar 07, 01:29:18 PM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

The cartoonist, Tom Toles, needs to start doing cartoon work for The Dark Wraith Forums. That one was just perfect for some of the subject matter, here.

It would at least be a step toward that comic book I want to do.

The Dark Wraith suspects the comic book would sell at least three copies. Perhaps even four or five.
[Depending upon how many I could afford to buy.]

Mon Mar 07, 02:29:18 PM EST  
 My Pet Goat blogged...

Morning/afternoon Mr. Wraith. Yesterday I wasn't sure what I was suppose to be seeing with the blogScream. Now today I know. In other words, it works with Netscape 7.1 (and probably 7.2 but I will need to check).

Mon Mar 07, 03:02:54 PM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

So, there you are, Mr. Goat.

And now I know that blogScream is visible in Netscape!

This is getting downright scary. If someone tells me it looks right in Safari, I just might run out of the room screaming my bloody head off.

The final blogScream.


The Dark Wraith likes closure.

Mon Mar 07, 04:05:01 PM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

Inspiring essay on Soc. Sec.

- oddjob

Mon Mar 07, 05:56:45 PM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

This stinging letter is a wonderfully bracing piece of common sense and fresh air from "up north"!

- oddjob

Mon Mar 07, 06:06:25 PM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

I don't remember if I mentioned it or not but I decided to work on getting to Vancouver for a mid August departure. But given the news lately I'm beginning to wonder if that's early enough... ;)

Anyhow I'm going back up there from Thurs to Sunday this week to visit the school some more. Oh, and the BlogScream thing looks great DW.

-Gary A

Mon Mar 07, 06:33:52 PM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

Hey, Gary, if you're heading up to Vancouver, you need to promise that you'll file regular reports on how things are going for you up there.

Many are the grad students who become monks once they get sucked into the daily grind of classes, homework, papers, exams, and all of that stuff.

And considering you're going into theology, becoming monkish is rather more likely, I would imagine.

Once a week. That's all I ask. It doesn't have to be a long essay, just a few words to let everyone know you're still among the living.


And I still need to talk to you about that business deal transporting gold down to Mr. Goat's bank. He said he had a special vault hidden behind a painting in a back office where the regulators never look.

Sly goat.


The Dark Wraith prepares the bill of lading.

Mon Mar 07, 08:52:09 PM EST  
 Wild Clover blogged...

Hello Lymond,

Another Opera user! I am thrilled. Now two of us can critique the Wraith's code experiments.

So can you vote in the poll with Opera? I haven't upgraded(been lazy) so don't have the latest version and was wondering if that is my problem.

Tue Mar 08, 12:51:41 AM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

Ah, thank goodness you're still visiting The Dark Wraith Forums, Wild Clover. After that reference by name I'd made to a family member of yours, I was afraid you'd decide to move to another neighborhood. Forgive me for that.



I am really glad I have a couple of Opera users, here. That's been the wild card for me, even more than Safari, which is pretty strong and fairly similar to Netscape in terms of how it renders Web code. Opera, on the other hand, is my real weak point, right now; and you and Lymond are my eyes for that browser.

By the way, it is my understanding that the latest version of Opera is considerably improved with respect to recognizing certain types of javascripts and some pieces of HTML. I don't know whether this will solve the problem with you not being able to use the polling forum, but I'll be really interested in finding out.

Now, of course, ol' Bill Gates is bawling about releasing Internet Explorer 7, and that means he's going to try to set the standards for the software, once again, as he has in the past. As far as I'm concerned, making this blog compatible with Internet Explorer 7 is right up there in priority with setting my face on fire with a blowtorch. In other words, Bill Gates can kiss my sorry blogger assets.

Do let me know what you see if you do the Opera upgrade.


The Dark Wraith awaits the good news.

Tue Mar 08, 02:22:33 AM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

Hi Wild Clover,

Wonderful! Another user of Opera, the ultimate browsing experience.

I've been using Opera 7.54u1 until last evening and had been able to vote with it OK. Just downloaded and upgraded to u2 so am only learning what new goodies are up. blogScream (great idea & excellent links, DW) works fine this morning.

DW...totally agree re: Gates & MS. I get as far away from as much of their stuff as possible. For those of us who grew up with WordPerfect 5.1, the MS product should have been named "Worst."

Sorry, don't want to go off on that rant. Congrats on blogScream and once you get it portable I think a little viral marketing can have it showing up in quite a few places.

--Lymond

Tue Mar 08, 11:06:46 AM EST  
 My Pet Goat blogged...

GM DW. I can now confirm tha blogScream also functions in Net. 7.2. (Even after seven versions I still use Netscape. Why? Because that is what I learned and I'll be damned if M$ will control my computer use any more that they already do.)

Now, as far as the gold goes, I think we need to expand our investment dealings. Since the collectability of most anything has a fad element to it, we need to stockpile and then create a fad at our time and place of choosing.

Given the emergence of the Euro, let's include a healthly investment in pre-1933 European gold coins. Maybe you can talk oddjob into loaning us his credit card for a few days. Then, when we hold enough coins, we'll start rumors on how the demand has for these coins is being driven up by the dominance of the Euro.

And if that fails and we're all left penniless, we can hunt cats for the fur and meat. Open Season On Wisconsin
Cats Proposed

Tue Mar 08, 12:35:04 PM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

Wha???

Woah --- I don't speculate, and I have little head for business. Finally, as you both know quite well, the last thing a novice should involve himself with is something he doesn't understand.

No thank you; my debt burden is nasty enough already.

- oddjob

Tue Mar 08, 12:54:19 PM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

Good afternooon, Mr. Goat.

The cat fur thing is a bit on the dicey side, what with how—as you so astutely point out—commodities can be quite faddish.

I could go with some kind of diversification plan, however. I like the early-20th Century bullion thing, but we might want to look at some of the other investment opportunities, as well. Of course, I hear yellowcake is still pretty hot; but for some reason, there's a whole regulatory apparatus making that market somewhat less than what one might call "free and efficient." Darned regulators.

I almost got suckered by an alexandrites deal out of Russia. I almost got killed freelancing emeralds out of South America. I almost got laughed off the phone some years ago by the FBI when I told them someone was trying to broker diamonds out of Afghanistan. Again, I almost got laughed off the phone by the FBI when I told them someone was trying to swap out greenbacks to get Mexican pesos.

Come to think of it, commodities are rather tricky.

Okay, let's talk real estate.


The Dark Wraith prepares to find some swamp land in the Vancouver area.
[And by the way, as it turned out, every one of those deals in that one paragraph above turned out to be real, although certainly to one extent or another illegitimate.]

Tue Mar 08, 01:22:32 PM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

A giant among us, physicist, Nobel laureate, and one of the most effective debunkers of "Star Wars" - type missile defenses, Hans Bethe has died at the age of 98.

It was from an article of his in Scientific American that I learned just exactly how extraordinarily stupid missile defense schemes are.

He will be very sorely missed by those who care about this topic. He made the case for disarmament better than almost anyone.

- oddjob

Tue Mar 08, 01:36:35 PM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

A giant among us, physicist, Nobel laureate, and one of the most effective debunkers of "Star Wars" - type missile defenses, Hans Bethe has died at the age of 98.

It was from an article of his in Scientific American that I learned just exactly how extraordinarily stupid missile defense schemes are.

He will be very sorely missed by those who care about this topic. He made the case for disarmament better than almost anyone.

- oddjob

Tue Mar 08, 01:36:36 PM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

(Oops!)

- oddjob

Tue Mar 08, 01:37:14 PM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

Good afternoon, OddJob.

Years ago, as an undergraduate, I was told a story about Hans Bethe (whose name is pronounced something like BAY-tuh, an incidental important to this story). It seems that among his many famous peers and contemporaries were a heavy-duty cosmology physicist named Ralph Alpher and the well-known popularizer of mathematics, George Gamow, who wrote One, Two, Three... Infinity! among many other books.

Apparently, as the story goes, a completely phony article was submitted to a major scientific journal. It is possible that the journal was in on the hoax. The upshot of the joke was the list of authors:

Alpher, Bethe, Gamow

the first three letters of the Greek alphabet!

This, of course, is a practical joke only the most arcane of people will appreciate; but as one myself, I thought you might find it amusing too.


The Dark Wraith will now lay off the trivia.

Tue Mar 08, 01:56:59 PM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

The paper was a mathematics paper, hopefully? It would seem to me the mathematicians would enjoy that kind of joke the most.....

:-)

- oddjob

Tue Mar 08, 02:27:14 PM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

Good afternoon, OddJob.

That story was told to me by one of the ancient mathematics graybeards at my school, a rather notable figure himself in the world of line and surface integrals. I would assume, then, that it was, indeed, a mathematics treatise of some kind.

The professor who told that story was, at the time, teaching a grad course in game theory, which I took with a combination of determination and resignation that I would get plowed under by the grad students in there. That professor scared the life out of me, what with his obviously enormous amount of knowledge. When he told that story, it didn't strike me at the time that he had a wry and subtle sense of humor.

It was somewhat later in the course that I began to suspect that he wasn't entirely humorless. Given that he was an expert in a really high powered field, I should have realized that he wasn't entirely thrilled having to teach game theory, which to many mathematicians is not only obtuse, but also rather low brow (much as probability theory was for a very long time).

One day, he was plowing through the long and grueling proof of some game theory theorem, and the poor old guy just got himself completely confused. He stopped, backed up, and just stared at the chalk board, which was filled from one side to the other. After about a half minute, he flailed his arms and hands at the board and said, "Aw, th' HELL with it!" Then he roared, "Some idiot already proved this thing; why should I do it AGAIN?!"

Everyone in the class was dead silent until someone started snickering, and the whole class just burst into laughter, finally getting the chance to release pent-up stress that had been building for weeks. The old professor, without cracking a smile, turned to us and said, "Get out of here! Come back tomorrow when you can do a proof properly!"

We all bailed.

The term went a lot more enjoyably from that day on.


The Dark Wraith will lay off the boring stories, now.

Tue Mar 08, 03:01:10 PM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

I don't know if it indicates an odd perspective on the world or an impaired sense of humor, but I thought that was funny!

(Maybe it's only because I can understand how that feels even though I've never been worth diddly squat at proofs!)

- oddjob

Tue Mar 08, 03:13:04 PM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

I hope no one minds me going wildly off topic to speak directly to those manning the black helicopters:

For the past several hours, my house has been shaking under the thump, thump, thump of those spy instruments.

Don't you voyeuristic perverts have anything better to do with your time? Is no room sacred? Did you see me taking a bath 20 minutes ago?

For crying out loud. Let's hope the old adage is still true to redeem what little there is to redeem from this fiasco:

If you're bothering me, at least you're leaving everyone else alone.

wiseguy

Tue Mar 08, 10:13:32 PM EST  
 Wild Clover blogged...

Good Morning Mr. Wraith,

I finally got off my dead ass and upgraded my Opera and Java and can now vote in your poll without resorting to evil IE. I thought you might like to know.

As an aside, more and more customers are commenting on gas prices, and wondering whn they will stop rising. I point out that as long as the dollar falls in value, it will take more dollars to buy a barrel of oil, and the powers that be in the government feel a falling dollar will help our exports, so they have done nothing to stop it from sinking further. Even my blue-collar rednecks comprehend this simplified explaination.

Doing my humble part to spread a modicum of education and the seeds of dissent. I begin to think that what will actually bring Bush down is the price of gas, and his deficit spending and borrow and spend prolific spending have stuck him in a corner where there is no quick fix.

One fellow expressed optimism that the admin would open up more of the US for drilling. My falling dollar comment had him less pleased with the Bushies than he'd started. Though I'm not sure if the fellow's tin-foil is on tight...he told me of an inventor he knows whose life has been threatened because he knows how to make gasoline engines capable of 60 or 80mpg...you see all the patents are bought up by the oil companies and inventors threatened and bribed into silence.

Considering a friend had a Geo Metro that got 50+ MPG, I have to wonder about the fellow I was chatting with-he didn't look like a nutcase...But to be praising the potential for expanded drilling, then damning the oil companies for greedy profiteering was the kind of bizarre contradiction I have come to expect from certain stripes of republican and/or conservative. Cognitive dissonance? Is that the term I'm looking for?

Other economic indicators...my lottery players are going at it hot and heavy recently, either they have a bit more cash to gamble with, now that the holidays are over and tax refunds received, or they are really hoping to hit big because they are feeling they need to deep dpwn inside. Personally, I got a whopping $.13/hour raise, but with the hiring of another full time employee with our labor already tight, I'm thinking I may be losing 3 or 4 hours a week, which will suck.

Wed Mar 09, 01:41:46 AM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

My God, Wild Clover! You got the relationship between the value of the dollar and the price of oil EXACTLY on the mark!

You understand it perfectly!

I need to buy you a steak or something.


Okay, the uptake in lottery ticket purchases is being noticed in several parts of the country, right now, from what I hear. My thought is that we're seeing a classic case of "gambler's ruin" strategy playing out: essentially, when a person prone to gambling is near destitution, holding on to a the last, small amount of money is just not worth as much as the combined entertainmet value of a game of chance and the tiny (but still way-overestimated) probability of winning something more than what is risked.

And by the way, they gave you how much of a raise? Thirteen whole cents? THIRTEEN WHOLE CENTS?!

GAWDAWMIGHTY, Wild Clover, forget about that steak; you're probably thinking more along the line of watered-down soup at the Salvation Army as a gourmet meal, right about now.

There's gotta be a way out of this. Especially for someone who knows how global exchange rates are related to asset prices.

That's just not common knowledge.


The Dark Wraith needs to get this economy jump-started.

Wed Mar 09, 02:53:56 AM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

Wild Clover, I don't know how easily this info. would pass along to your "friend" hoping for US drilling to solve our problems, but IIRC a geologist (whose name I forget), decades ago, figured out how to predict how much oil can be gotten out of the ground. I think when he first published his work it wasn't taken all that seriously, but maybe twenty years(??) before it happened he correctly predicted that peak US oil production (ie., extraction out of the ground) would occur during the 1970's. (He may have even had the exact year correct, but I can't remember.)

We have been in decline ever since. It's not because the oil companies have gotten lazy or something, it's because most of the US reserves are tapped out.

And NO, what's left in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve isn't likely to make a hill of beans' worth of difference to that.

If I understand correctly untapped US reserves (what your guy is hanging his hopes on) aren't sufficient to make much of an impact on world oil prices now.

We've already used up what would have done that.

(I am not 100% sure of this, and would welcome the comments of anyone who knows more about this than I do. I wish I could remember the researcher's name, but I saw it years ago in Scientific American and I know his predictions from that work decades ago are now widely relied upon in the oil industry. If I could just remember his name!)

- oddjob

Wed Mar 09, 09:34:15 AM EST  
 My Pet Goat blogged...

That would be M. King Hubbert.

His prediction in 1956 that U.S.oil production would peak in about 1970...

Wed Mar 09, 09:59:17 AM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

Mr. Goat rides to the rescue!

Thank you.

- oddjob

Wed Mar 09, 12:16:41 PM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

Earlier this afternoon I couldn't post here at all. Hmmmm.

This was what I'd wanted to post then:

Former MN sen. David Durenberger, a Republican who was part of a generation of Republicans who understood concepts like "the common good", gives a cool analysis of how we've gotten into the political mess we're in.

Its perspective is MN politics (no surprise), but the analysis is national nonetheless. Check it out!

- oddjob

Wed Mar 09, 05:52:50 PM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

I meant to credit the link to that Durenberger interview to Rooks Rant. Thank you for posting that!

- oddjob

Wed Mar 09, 06:03:16 PM EST  
 Wild Clover blogged...

Friend? Naw, just a customer, not even one of my regulars. I do try to refrain from being too vocally partisan while at work(I did fail in this endevor with some Bush supporters this fall). I kept my mouth shut at his drilling comment, else I would have gone into a rant about drilling for little or no real return(in the large scheme of oil dependance and high prices) in fragile, irreplacable eco-systems. I did not want to go there, especially since in a convenience store conversations have to be sound bytes...folks run in on their way to point A from B and won't want to be treated to a long discussion on economic policy or political malfeance. Pissing off customers is bad for my job, but even worse, they'll tune out. So I'm becoming better at the repugnican tactic of the short, oft repeated talking point. If just 10% of the folks I comment to tie high gas prices with Bush and letting the dollar free-fall, I figure I can count on each informing at least 5-10 others, who will slowly but surely spread discontent.

The old theory about customer service, good service you can count on one satisfied customer recommending you to 10 others, one dissatisfied customer will tell 100. Should work with Bush. He's got a shitload of unsatisfied customers even if some of them are unaware of who screwed them.

Thu Mar 10, 12:19:16 AM EST  
 Dark Wraith blogged...

Good evening, Wild Clover.

With soldiers like you manning the gun turrets, we may yet win this war.


The Dark Wraith stays out of the line of fire.

Thu Mar 10, 12:47:09 AM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

Hey Wild Clover,

Very cool! Yea, I figured that about the customer. That's why I put friend in quotation marks. (I wasn't quite sure what word would best fit, so I used one that I could qualify with the marks.)

- oddjob

Thu Mar 10, 08:55:55 AM EST  
 Anonymous blogged...

Found a lot of useful info on your site about tax refunds - thank you. Haven't finished reading it yet but have bookmarked it so I don't lose it. I've just started a tax refunds blog myself if you'd like to stop by

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 gastips blogged...

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