Is It Spying?

Take your pick;
Just Google; Nik Cubrilovic+Facebook+Spying and you'll get a long list of stories about how facebook is/was tracking the movements of it's users long after they'd logged out of the site.
Visiting porn sites after catching up with old girlfriends?
Big Brother sees you.

Umbrachrist's Law

A Blogger who comments on another site always seems to complain about Planned Obsolescence or Depreciation or both.
But he is on to something.
Things have become so cheap and readily available that there is no value in keeping them.
When was the last time you took your electric appliance to a repair shop?
Do you even know what a repair shop is?
These days, it's often cheaper to just buy a whole new appliance.

A cheap all-in-one printer is a good example.
A cheap one can be purchased at the local Wal Mart for around fifty bucks.
When the ink runs out, buying both color and black cartridges costs almost fifty dollars.
It seems to make more financial sense to buy a whole new printer for five or ten dollars more and then selling your old printer for twenty bucks on Craig's List.

Bounce Network

An Afrocentric network launched today in selected markets
Don't look for the network if you have cable - this is a over the air network geared towards the African-American market.
Knowing this - much of my day was spent programming the digital boxes of many of my elderly former tenants.
Tired of BET, Centric or TVOne - or do you lack cable?
Look for the Atlanta-based station in your area.

Frogs For Snakes

An old Blues song warns of 'Fattening Frogs for Snakes'.This is what I've been doing in my recent turn at trying to rebuild a nightclub.
Most of my time, influence and money has been spent trying to rehab the image of owners who were too cheap, selfish and greedy to succeed.
Add to this that they wanted to dismiss their Black patrons in favor of white ones.
(For some, this may not be a bad idea - but this is Da' Souf.)
And letting their former patrons know of their intentions is even worse.
*Being Black club owners who do not like Black people is never a good idea.

While this is my first time not receiving my profit bonus, these owners still owe me my service fee.
They cannot afford to pay me but they cannot afford not to pay me even worse.
(I hate running nightclubs - I'm just good at it.)
As of today, I am now the majority owner (70/30) of a nightclub.

Nightclubs are funny though.
I get to experiment and watch the things which motivate people.
Looks, money, status, popularity, etc. all come into play.
By doing this I also get to manipulate people.
How do I convince people buy what they don't need?
How do I stop problems before they exist?
How do I avoid taking people's money but instead convince them to give it to me - and then to do the same day after day and week after week.

I hate running nightclubs.

Perfekt Design

 The Architect in the Matrix movies had the same problems with his 'perfect design' as did ...

 Frank Lloyd Wright with his Fallingwater House.

Apparently Mr Wright failed to take into account the changing conditions of the home's environment.
Rivers tend to rise or sink or to shift.
The result was that Mr Wright's Fallingwater home began to fall into the water.
Is there really such a thing as 'perfection'?

Is Nothing Perfect?

Or is everything perfect?

Too Busy

Watching England v. Romania in the Rugby World Cup to watch any college football.
Were there any games played this weekend?

Sure, She'll Dress Up For Comic Con...

But can she cure Cancer?
Well... ummm... Maybe...
http://fold.it/
I wonder if they get paid to play?

Nope SeeNew... Hadn't read about it but it makes sense.
I watch some of my little cousins playing RPG's until they figure them out - why not cure A.I.D.S. while they're at it.

Back When I Was Ballin'

 Or so I thought until I walked into the Buffums department store at Fashion Island in the Newport Center back in the day....

 All I wanted was a couple of pairs of socks.
Sure, I knew Missoni was an expensive brand - but I didn't know how expensive.
I proudly handed the cashier a crisp hundred dollar bill and waited for my change.
"Two pairs of socks? A hundred should cover that with enough left over for lunch", I thought.
I had enough change for lunch... only I had to go to McDonald's

Now Target is selling out of the brand in it's stores as fashionistas/fashionistos are crashing their web sites.
The Target line of socks (at about $10.00 a pair) is much less than the $35.00 a pair I paid back in the day.
Sure, I paid for the socks back then - I was too embarrassed not to.