America’s Chief Export
You can plainly see by the dates below that for about a month I posted nothing in my blog. I also sent very few e-mails to friends. And made very few phone calls. Mostly this was because I was amazingly busy at the office and spiraling toward burnout.
<>But it was also because I was having a hard time reconciling my feelings … and my lack of feelings … about the recent US Presidential Election. After the election everyone immediately starting talking about what Kerry “did wrong” in the race. He did a lot of things wrong in the race, as did Bush. The entire race was wrong. There was little right about it.
<>But we have been raised to think in dichotomy. If not Kerry then Bush. If not Bush then Kerry. If only two choices, then the must be polar opposites. Everything needs a differentiating factor. So here’s J. LeRoy’s bit of insight: The 2004 Election Was Waged to Win Votes from Politically Outraged but Politically Unaware People.
<>Neither side did anything to educate the voters. Now, here’s the lesson: It worked.
Record voter turnout!
Entirely based on lies, fears, distortion, manipulation and “gut reactions”.
Kerry barely lost this election, and probably would have won it if the election were held earlier … or perhaps even later. The polls are pretty clear – throughout this they both bounced up and down. The election was, in essence, random.
In past elections, candidates at least made a pretense to talk about things that were important and present solid plans and ideas for the future. That lowered voter turnout because people were more interested in almost anything than the intricacies of operating a government. Well, the parties heard your pleas, and they brought you this. Presidential Survivor.
We all wanted to see who got voted off the podium.
Freecycle Dot Org
Gotta say that freecycle is really really helpful.
When I was moving, I freecycled a buncha old computers (like huge heavy Sun servers), an old apartment dryer, a ton of old magazines, and some tables.
But the best was this gem I posted today:
Story: My neighbor is moving. She ended up with a lot of stuff in their garage in the divorce, as her
husband moved to an apartment in San Francisco. So she has a lot of random stuff in there and I'd like to
give it away in one large group.
If there are no takers, I'll break it down. Please, please don't break it down.
If you don't want / can't take everything, then please wait to see if I do have to break it down though.
I'm certain I could sell some of these things, but I figured I'd let that job fall to the experts.
THE STUFF:
1. Lots of wires (speaker wire, coax, Cat5, electric,etc.) A few boxes of them (I don't know how much).
2. Random computer stuff and monitor
3. 4 boxes of car wax, car wiper fluid, car this and car that.
4. 6+ boxes of car parts and tools; some for VW Beetles (probably around 1968 or so, includes a few
radios), some for other stuff includes 4 jack stands and 2 drive up ...
5. 3 camp heaters and 1 scale(?) heater
6. unpainted table legs - 8
7. A whole bunch of wooden shelves
8. Little black plastic drawer things
9. Computer desk with a lot of shelf supports, could go with #7
10. Dog bed and dog training tray
11. Dog car gate/fence
12. 1 Old TV and 2 radios
13. B&W 12'x1' floor tile with adhesive, ~90' of min(?) and ~30'of baseboard (it's good stuff and onlya few years old)
14. 8 snow tires, 6 or so other tires
15. pump yard sprayer (big canister for spraying weeds or feeding)
16. Two 9' 3 7/8" x 58" blinds
17. 5'x5' beige carpet remnant
HOW TO CLAIM THIS AMAZING STUFF:
Send me an e-mail and we'll arrange a pickup time.
This stuff is in mostly good condition and the right person could do a lot with it.
I Received an order for this stuff in ... 30 seconds.
Thirty seconds!!! Count them!
