Archive for April, 2007
April 26, 2007 at 8:49 am
· Filed under phone spam, robocall
I shudder when I think back to the 2006 election season and all of the pre-recorded messages we received from political candidates. Every night (no kidding) we could expect a half-dozen messages- even though our phone number is on the national do-not-call list.
Just one of the joys of living in a battleground state.
Seth Godin has a post about robocalling (the recordings sent out to millions of households through automated dialing systems) which brought back the memory of last fall. Thankfully some states are trying to outlaw robocalls so there may be hope for 2008- if Ohio’s legislators join in.
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April 19, 2007 at 2:39 pm
· Filed under NBC, Virginia Tech, social responsibility
I started to write an entry regarding why I think NBC made an awfully bad decision in airing the video of the VTech murderer.
Tim Sanders saved me the effort by posting his thoughts here. I especially like Tim’s call to action:
If you know any advertisers or ad agencies, email them this post and tell them to refuse to pay for ad impressions served against this tragedy. If you know anyone at a newspaper, a web portal or a television station/outlet, tell them how you feel. I’ve done the best I can, contacting Jerry Yang at Yahoo, execs at GE and even major sites like Huffington Post and MSN. Let’s make a difference right now and show that backlash can control the fifth estate.
I took Tim’s advice and called my local affiliate as well as NBC headquarters. Here’s NBC’s number: (212) 315-9016. As a P&G shareholder, I also let them have my two cents- here is Procter and Gamble’s shareholder services phone number: (800) 742-6253.
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April 12, 2007 at 7:09 pm
· Filed under Imus
The Kansas City Star’s Jason Whitlock helped me put the whole Imus mess into perspective.
Whitlock, an African-American, writes:
In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?
I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?
When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.
No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.
Imus’ reprehensible comment is a straw-man distracting attention from what should be the real dialogue. We’ll see if anyone is interested in having this bigger discussion in a week from now.
Click through to read the entire insightful and honest column.
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April 12, 2007 at 6:42 am
· Filed under Uncategorized
Kurt Vonnegut passed away last night at age 84. Like millions of other American students, I first read Cat’s Cradle while in high school and then immediately devoured everything else he had written. He remained a favorite author throughout my college and young adult years.
I didn’t read his final book though- admittedly, I haven’t thought of Vonnegut for awhile. Tonight I’ll dig out my old copy of Slaughterhouse- Five, or maybe Breakfast of Champions, and rekindle an old flame.
Yahoo Obituary
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April 2, 2007 at 11:34 am
· Filed under Baseball, red sox
The House that Dewey Built has an hilarious challenge for Red Sox Nation:
We have a mission for you. As you’ve heard, the daughter of Yankee owner George Steinbrenner is divorcing the former heir-apparent to the baseball empire, on the heels of his arrest for DUI.
We need one of you to infiltrate this family.
Your mission is to woo the daughter, and curry favor with the old man. Kiss his sagging, speckled, hail-damaged, warty behind as often as possible. Whisper words of encouragement into his ear, such as: “I always thought Dave Winfield was up to no good”, or “you know, that whole Watergate thing was totally overblown”.
Click through to see suggestions on what you should do once you win over the old man and gain control of the Yankees.
Now, one more thing, be careful out there!
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