Thank you Miss California...

Thank you Miss California. I'm sure everyone has read about her statement, but I liked it and agree with her and wanted to give it a bit more exposure. I blocked out the name of her "judge." I think that even talking about these people by name to complain about them helps their cause. I'm sure the media will be relentless in tearing her personal life and associations down over the next few months.


I wanted to comment on one statement from the article that opposes Miss Prejean. We should always leave our politics and religion out of the things we stand for. As we all know, Americans are neither religious nor political. When stating our values and beliefs, we should only recite things that every single person in the US wants to hear. I suggest using the back of a cereal box as study material for this. I think we can all agree that Cheerios do indeed have 12% of your daily fiber. (the crowd goes wild.)

How to Quit classmates.com

I've tried to unsubscribe from their "Someone signed your guestbook, and for $40/month (or whatever it is) you can find out who" emails 10's of times, but it never seems to take.

They don't make finding this link easy, but today I found out how to remove your membership from classmates.com. I doubt the emails will stop, but it's a step in the right direction.

• Log in to your classmates.com account.
• Go to this URl: http://www.classmates.com/cmo/user/remove/;jsessionid=T5LWEOHHKE3MGCQKWZSSRUQ?_requestid=592513
• Click a few confirmations and you're out.
• Then just setup a rule to junk all their email. (I mean, if you don't want their email.)

Who needs classmates.com when facebook is just as dumb, and costs nothing.

Re: A comment about your latest Earth-friendly email ad...

A reply from ING direct:

Matthew,

We appreciate your feedback! Your suggestion will be forwarded to the appropriate area for review. As always, we will continue to keep Customers informed of news through statements, emails, Bright Spots and the ING DIRECT web site. Stay tuned and remember, Save Your Money.

Regards,
Lesly Watts
Ombudsman

---------------------

A reply from ZAGG (invisishield) to a similar letter.

Matt,
Wow, I really appreciate your email and your passion. I can see where you are coming from and frankly didn't see our perspective as anti-God whatsoever. I actually agree with your religious perspective and we're just trying to do our part to make this great planet a cleaner and better place to live...for many generations.

Thanks for the feedback and know we looked at this as an opportunity to let our customers know that we also care. And we do try to do our part.

I'm not extreme and we can't change the whole world, but we can change our circle of influence.

Thanks again for your patronage and I hope we can give you offers of conveneience and innovation that will continue to make you happy you chose
ZAGG!

Best to you Matt.

Robert

A comment about your latest Earth-friendly email ad...

Dear ING Direct:

I'm a happy customer of more than 5 years.  I received your latest
email marketing piece with the subject "Do you part with Electric
Orange."  I wanted to register my dislike for the exploitation and
overuse of the word "Green" in connection with the idea of "Saving the
Earth."

In the past few years, seeing "Green" on anything simply means "We
want your business but now our customers are secondary to our
environmental image" as companies cache in the made-up frenzy about
the environment.  I'm sad that ING Direct has joined in and is now
aiming this propaganda at it's own clients.

It's arrogant for us to believe we can save the Earth or for that
matter, that the Earth needs saving!  Believing such a thing only
denies the power of God and the fact that He created the earth for a
specific purpose (for us!) and is still running things.  He knows what
the Earth needs and He knows what we need.  The ridiculous and
not-as-popular-as-people-think belief that the Earth is ours to save
suggests that we as a human race are as powerful as God, and that we
can make decisions that effect the planet and it's future.  What do
the "top US Scientists" call it now?  Geoengineering.   Laughable.

Don't get me wrong...I don't want trash in my neighborhood and I'm all
for putting litter in it's place.  But I won't be bullied into
thinking that subscribing to the printed newspaper (gasp...the "P"
word), driving my fossil fuel burning car to the store, running my
air-conditioner in the summer, or sending a written letter makes me an
"eco-criminal."

Please reconsider your stance on the false yet politically correct
idea that your company can or needs to do anything to "Save" the
Earth.  I'd be much more interested in the new services you've
advertised if they were offered in the name of convienience.  How
refreshing it would be to be sold a service because it's good for the
customer, instead of less-bad for the Environment.

Sincerely,
Matt Graham

copied to:
marketing@ingdirect.com
mediarelations@ingdirect.com
ombudsman@ingdirect.com
weblog post at themdg.org

Dear Gov. Hunstman: Working4Utah is lame.

Dear Governer Hunstman:

I'm writing you to express my opinion about your Working4Utah initiative. In a word, it's lame. Totally lame complete.

I know you thought you were saving the planet by turning off lights and air conditioners and coffee makers for one day of the week. Turns out that you not only turned off the lights, you turned off the whole State of Utah! Thanks to our complete dependence on our competent state employees (the last three words are the only ones in this letter that aren't laced with bitterness and sarcasm. I think our employees are great!), we can only function for a little more than half the week. Open for 4 days (unless there is a federal holiday of which there are many), and closed for 3. What with our abundance of national parks and out-doorsy things to do in Utah...we should really be a part-time-state anyway. Beehive State...pfft.

I know one of the main reasons to close Utah on Fridays was to save howevermanymillions of dollars and maybe it is. But guess what...it's losing us money. I can chalk up a couple thousand to this "program" by myself this year. I bet if we add it all up, you're in the red for this one.

The problem is...we can't do important things now for half of the week, and sometimes it's impossible to plan ahead. Want to get a city inspection, or get a permit signed, or get your water turned on? Please wait 4 days. Need a drivers license? Need to setup your Corporation. Need to attend traffic school? Please wait 4 days.

I bet it was hard to fit so many buzzwords on your logo without mentioning the people you work for. Yoohoo...remember us? Citizens of Utah? We're your customers, not a nusiance.

In closing...I'm unhappy that you're jumping on the earth-is-more-important-than-the-people-living-on-it bandwagon. Please either open the State again on Fridays, or at least open the office doors so we can come and process our own paperwork, and wait in our own lines while your off recovering from your tough 4-day work week.

Sincerely,
SickOfIt

Blogger says I can post from a text message. I am trying it out. Is there anything Google can't do?

Mad Scientist says that Sun is Enemy...

Global warming...err I mean Global Climate Change (didn't we used to call that "Seasons" in the olden days? Funny how innocent we were back then) feels to me like the new version of the 1938 Orson Wells radio broadcast of War of the Worlds. Only this time, it's slowed waydown and it's less entertaining.

Until today! This article took my speechlessness to a new level. I wouldn't have anything to say to someone like this. Well, I might be able to come up with a few clarification questions...just so I'm getting it right. (Article from the Utah Daily Herald, 4/4/09, section A2)

Below is the article, and a few of my favorite clips, along with my follow up questions/comments.












Me: "Ok so...Um... So you want to... Sorry, I'm usually not like this. It just sounds silly to say but you want to... block...the sun?

Wait... that does make good sense. I mean..it's hot in the sun sometimes! And it's not-as-hot in the shade. Like at a picnic! So if the whole planet was in the shade....yeah...I see where you're going with this. Pass the watermelon"



Holdren followed this statement with "...But think how awesome the launch would be! Dude. "












Me: "No Duh... Everyone knows this no-brainer. Basically, if nothing works, we'll just use geoengineering and create a new earth."

Editors Note: If your spell check doesn't know a word like "geoengineering" it means that either 1) it's not a real thing, or 2) only God can do it.



Me: "Yes... No I just wanted to say... I am not a Noble laureate, and I hate to downplay your fake plastic trees idea because it's awesome...it really is! But don't actual trees already do this?

Oh wait I understand now... these geoengineered trees would be the same as real trees, except they woudln't release Oxygen! Brilliant...Stunningly Brilliant. I'm glad you're our top science guy."

Editors note: "Geoengineered" passes the spell check, but not "geoengineering." So I think you can have BEEN a geoengineer, but you cannot BE one. Again... Only for God.




This scene from the reality show "The Simpsons" proves to us that we humans, an amazement of evolution to being with, are yet capable of rediculously awesome earth-saving measures. THIS is the new red button, and is something that Mr Holdren reportedly refers to as "[his] precious."

I think Mr. Holdren and I would agree on one thing. The time has come to panic.