The flag belongs to the country, not to the government. And it reminds me that it's not un-American to think that war -- except in self-defense -- is a failure of moral imagination, political nerve, and diplomacy. Come to think of it, standing up to your government can mean standing up for your country.
Bill Moyers

Shit like this comes out ;)

Not sure if you call that creativity or excessive drug abuse, but the intent is of chicken man is:

• We are all different, yet we share common threads.
  
• Most people are afraid to lead.
  
• Most people are afraid to give an honest opinion about something before someone else tells them what they should think.
  
• People try to punish you for being honest, unique, or original right up until others decide for them that what you do is good.
  
• Most of the shit people are selling is just that: a bunch of deceptive shit.
  
• Crayons and paste are yummie, but glue is gross.

So my friend just fired one of his workers and hired a new one. His new worker reads my other blog. Probably going to be a good worker :)

Another one of my friends just looked for a place to live because he was recently employed by another one of my friends. Their connection? My other blog.

I met a guy at lunch at my last search engine conference who later bought my book. Part of my ebook talks about how bad a gas station is. He emailed me to say he couldn't believe it took him so long to buy my ebook, but that he thought that EXACT SAME gas station is crap.

After a couple more email exchanges it turns out that he used to work at a pizza joint that was literally 4 houses down from mine. I lived on a road that had like 3 businesses and 4 houses and there was nothing else for like a quarter mile in any direction. Weird & cool. :)

from NickW "One of the fundemental things any professional salesman knows is that you NEVER, ever trash the competition, not even backhandedly."

from Fantomaster "If I badmouth you, chances are the client will (probably rightly) assume that I'll badmouth him or her at some later point, too. So they shy away from you rather than get your intended message."

Sure I have wrote stuff like this before, but right now although I am not in good shape I feel younger than I did two hours ago and younger than I did a year or two ago.

To me the quality of life is higher near youth when innocence exists. I refuse to be anything but idealistic. I may be pescimistic about some things, but some of my thoughts need to be associated with utopian environments to make me really happy. To me anything that reverts the feeling of aging and brings back even a hint of that feeling of innocence is something which is literally worth years of life.

Just called an old roommate and read a good book. While not having the full benefit of face to face human connection, the style of that writing and the phone call make me feel a bit younger and a bit more human today.

So today I ordered something and was told "what the hell are you doing, you don't have to pay for that. it is on the house"

Yesterday (or maybe the day before) a free book came in. And another one last week.

If you work hard and develop a strong brand it gets to where time is worth more than money and people give you stuff free. Maybe not because you deserve or need stuff free, its just a weird way of marketing. But the trick is, one hand usually washes the other.

In any market there are products which will be better or worse crafted and better or worse marketed. Some people will be far more successful than they should be. Some will be far less. So long as you

• keep learning
  
• are socially active
  
• not arrogent
  
• without random heavy bias

It is kinda amazing to think of what the web allows. Two years ago by any measure I was a complete failure (and thinking of how I was going to kill myself). Now I am no longer limited by the physical world, virtually and via airplanes I can go wherever I want, whenever I want to, being able to aford to do that, and I know enough about this new fragile network that it would take serious brain damage, physical injury, or jail time to lessen my ability to learn.

I am still not wealthy per say, but I also have not marketed anywhere as well as I could and still have a long way to go, especially since I have to go after a few other market segments as well :)

Its amazing how I have the same mind as a few years ago and it was thought of as no good and useless (by me and many others) and in a couple years I was able to craft a business model that was honest, profitable, and humane.

In the past whenever I did not understand life I would ask my mom about it and express my confusion. She would always say "such is life" and that would piss me off to NO end.

Now I am doing a bit better but lots of things are still highly confusing. Its good not having to worry about having enough money to get by. That is such a shitty deal.

Now if only I could get in better shape, and start meeting a few more people away from the computer, particularly cute girls who like exercising, dogs, legos, and MarioKart.

So I had a dream that doctors reconfigured my grandmothers brain via surgery to help her live more happy. Not sure if I was drunk or just purely headonistic, but it sounded like a good idea to me too. So I was in the doctors office and laying face down ready to get my head lopped open. I overheard them giving the speil to someone else and thought "whoa fuck this".

They somehow drugged me, I think shooting some tranquilizer into my brain. When I woke the world was all wavy and I could make little sense of it. I was like screw this I am leaving. So I drove away (while still seeing the world all wavy) but I did not get in a wreck or anything.

The basic thing with the change was that is somehow pulled the brain together. Amplifying lots of sensory inputs and the sense of hapiness.

The dream continued... not sure if this imaginary hospital was in California or if my brother was in Illinois, but he talked about going to watch Coldplay in Alaska. Driving no less. Random.

I think he was somewhere weird as well (like whatever my grandma went through only on a different front).

My dream continued with a few more weird spirals and whatnot, but from it I concluded:
- life is not necissarily as bad as I sometimes paint it to be.
- the human mind is absurdely strong
- if you change someting like your mind permanently you may or may not like the results. it will probably end up for the worse since some of your greatest personal character flaws likely are also responsible for some of your greatest attributes.
- the Navy is a piece of shit. Actually, I have thought that for a while. But on another front, not sure if it was the dream that led me to a new conclusion or what part of the dream.

I got thinking about how things have happened in my life. I never really had to try much. Never had to put much effort into life to do well by whatever arbitrary measurements were set forth (physical or mental ones usually), but have always been at least a bit socially detatched to many things.

I realize that in life I likely needed some motivation, something to attach to, something to believe in, etc. I joined the Navy and actually found something to hate. An emotion to attach to. Odds are, no matter what field I would have went to after high school I likely would have been unhappy.

I am glad the Navy was such an extreme unhappiness because it gave me the motivation necissary to not need to rely on others as much and to find out whatever I wanted to do. I think my picture of the navy might be a bit bleak compared to reality, but then again it is pretty bad, and something needs to offset that rosey marketing B/S.

You rewrite your memories each time you think of them to include events since the last time you thought of them. Perhaps I could learn to do some things to rewrite some of my personal image ideas. Then again, I got to be careful not to lose motivation. Need something positive to attach to. Maybe the Cosmos? ;)

Yippie. A computer junkie friend of mine is creating a new site about video card review

President Bush (...) is expected to sign the bill into law this month. Its backers, including the Bush administration, say it's needed to stop illegal immigrants from obtaining drivers' licenses. When the act's mandates take effect in May 2008, Americans will be required to obtain federally approved ID cards with "machine readable technology" that abides by Department of Homeland Security specifications. Anyone without such an ID card will be effectively prohibited from traveling by air or Amtrak, opening a bank account, or entering federal buildings.

Critics, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, say lawmakers slipped the Real ID Act into the relatively uncontroversial spending bill in order to avoid a congressional debate over the ID measure.

US National ID Card Scam...a reality :(

They are being so overt about this type of shit (fucking citizens and privacy under the guise of security) that I am questioning whether or not they are trying to drive intelligent people out of the country.

I can write my words and thoughts, and thats all great, until I become 1 of the 138.

How shitty is this?

LIFE UNDER CODEX

In the mid-1990s my mother, then in her 80s, had a stroke. She lived in Germany. When she left hospital, I was ready with a nutritional plan that included high-dose vitamins: C, E, and B – especially Inositol, as well as Co-enzyme Q 10. I went to the pharmacy, whose owner was a family friend for some 25 years, and handed him my list.

He handed me a small packet with a price sticker of DM 200 (then about $200) containing vitamin E capsules manufactured by one of Germany's largest pharmaceutical companies. The source was synthetic, not the "mixed" version from living plant sources I wanted which contains the whole E spectrum. The package contained a total of 10,000 international units of E, the equivalent of a mere 25 capsules of 400 IU each that we are used to buying (I take that many in 3 days). Our bottles contain 90 capsules and cost about $20. If Codex rules in Canada, we will likely pay $800 for a bottle of 90 capsules of low-quality vitamin E – if Health Canada lets us buy that many at once, and if you can find a doctor willing to prescribe it.

He then handed me a tube-shaped metal container with vitamin C effervescent tablets. Each tablet, when dissolved in water, would release 10 mg of vitamin C in a refined sugar solution. Thus, this ridiculously low amount, was to be taken in a toxic medium that would neutralize the vitamin without it doing anything at all. The cost: about $10 for 12 tablets.

Then he asked me, "What's Co-enzyme Q 10? Are you allowed to buy all this in Canada in such dangerous dosages?" When I told him what I take daily, his eyes popped. Then I asked, "Why can't I buy these supplements here?" He replied, "Well, Germany is a Codex country." Oddly, Germany has several government-run hospitals where environmental illness is treated with nutrients only, intravenous vitamin C etc. Life is full of paradoxes and few more follow below.

Codex: Picture basement-concocted vitamins sold in dark alleys alongside crack and Ecstasy.

Corrections Corp. of America (CXW), The Geo Group (GGI) and Cornell Cos. (CRN) are all well known prison stocks. Kinda sick that there is such a thing, eh?

Since September 11th prison stocks have warmed up.
Mass dententions push up prison stocks

and from the scumbag investor point of view, Don Hodges, president of Hodges Capital Management, has a quote:
"As long as the industry continues to improve, which we think it will, these companies will be thought of as hotel companies," he added. "Because that's really what they do."
http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/30/news/midcaps/prison_companies/

hopefully that tool gets to spend a bit of time at a few hotels.

So I was bored this morning. Decided to mix things up a bit.

I will now try to change my logos somewhat regularly and I will archive them in my logos category as time passes.

Yesterday the NYT ran a piece about bloggers thinking too greatly about themselves. I can no longer live the lies of the animal kingdom.

Goodbye penguin.

hello Unicorn

more to come...
whenever

If everyone is a criminal then how the fuck do the laws reflect social norms?

Growing at a rate of about 900 inmates each week between mid-2003 and mid-2004, the nation's prisons and jails held 2.1 million people, or one in every 138 U.S. residents the government reported Sunday.

The government is a bunch of scumbags, and I appoligize to my fellow citizens for ever supporting them by joining the military in the past. I even feel guilty for paying my taxes, and really need to work on moving somewhere else soon.

somebody spammed me with that link title.

Who the hell searches for THAT?

So I had a spare ticket. A scalper wanted to pay me $40 for the two day pass that retailed at $190. I said that I was cool and I would keep the ticket.

Sure enough someone asked me for a free one and I gave it to them. Later on I kept running into them and the second day we hung out most of the day.

I made a couple cool friends and the second day they got me into the VIP section :)

Two days after the concert one of my new friends already emailed me.

So when I flew out to California I wrote down the things I thought of on the way out there. I do not spend much time in society and find it interesting when I do :)

Taco Bell
I was shocked to see a 6 year old exclaim about "look there's a Taco Bell."

Immigration
The airport had big TV screens. Arnold Schwartzeneger was talking about the importance of immigration control. Know that in all honesty he does not give a shit about it he was thanking civilians who were guarding the border, meanwhile they are doing nothing to stop imigration.

More immigration = lower wages and more corporate profits. Why would any government controlled by corporations want to slow corporate profits?

Fat w Short Shorts
When you are a really fat guy you should never be seen in public with shorts that are so short that your shirt is longer. Gross.

You're In the Army Now
I got my hair cut before leaving. While waiting for an opening while sitting in the mall I saw a couple Army guys down the hall and though "these assholes are going to try to talk to me". They did. They said "hello". I immediately said "Not a Snowball's chance in hell". Our conversation was over quickly.

Doing Good
Not sure that this thought is necissarily new to me, but generally for one person to do well other people have to do shitty. Most ideas are not ones which create lots of opportunity for others as well. If you are getting ahead someone else is probably getting screwed.

Why I would not buy airline stock
The TSA is a joke which sponges off their profits. Most of them will go bankrupt or remain barely afloat due to occasional government bailouts.

None of them have STRONG BRANDS. If you are one of the healthy companies you keep getting your margins squeezed by the unhealthy ones being bailed out by the government.

Stocks: What are Insiders Trading
Generally given enough time most companies go under. In between birth and death great value is created and destroyed. Earnings is a bogus measurement of what has already happened. To get a true picture of what is going on with a company look at whether the company itself and insiders are buying or selling. That should give you a strong hint what you should be doing. This was from an article I read right before I left.

Value Added Business
Proflowers got their start by selling flowers from a free ecard website.

Line on the Coachella Boards
Love this line:
Saving people from the wrath by keeping it real.

Oh this is gross
My mom told me about a stinky person who sat in front of her on a plane and leaned the seat way back. She said that when he did she said loudly "oh this is gross." When someone put their seat back on me I pictured my mom's story and started laughing.

Blank Words
A friend had "only authoritative" in some of his copy. Only implies redundancy in that case. Like "what are you hiding or lying about"?

Don't use blank / redundant words.

My own Crack
Being honst with myself I am litterly probably addicted to sugar. If I do not change my ways soon I will likely die of diabeties.

First Class
On the flight out an upgrade to first class would have costed $75 more. The seats were not that big. Glad I did not upgrade. It would have been a waste of money.

Flat Footed
I think Fat Feet would be a great store name for a store that exclusively was geared toward people with flat feet.

Flatland is a kick ass funny book about multi dimentional space.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

• in every family of position and aconsideration, "back motion" is as prevelant as time itself; and the husbands and sons in these households enjoy immunity at least from invisible attacks. (p 12)
  
• A Male of the lowest type of Isosceles may look forward to some improvement of his angle, and to the ultimate elevation of the whole of his degraded caste, but no Woman can entertain such hopes for her sex. "Once a Woman, always a Woman" is a Degree of Nature (p 14)
  
• you are not a Man, but a feminine Monstrosity with a bass voice, and an utterly uneducated ear. (p 46)

Was reading the lastest copy of Business 2.0 on my plane flight out to California. One of the billionaires that backed many of the good web related ideas stated that two of the things that made for good entrepenuers were

• discontentment
  
• anxiety

I guess that puts lots of things in perspective about some of my quirkier actions. I am sure I stated this many times before, but it is a known personal patern of my own to make life worse than it actually is so that I do not have to worry about losing my edge.

Pretty kick ass song. Kinda mad I missed them at Coachella.

In the beginning there was semen,
In a deep mound of flesh,
And a crest that traveled,
On a wave of their own mess.

Through a tunnel of mucus,
And onto a vault,
With tourists and traffic,
I just paced myself.

Not I as my whole self,
Just the half that I had,
Before greeting the rest,
Of my better half.

A connection was made,
Through the shared love of science,
And vows were taken,
A seat was hired.

A cavern of fluid,
Brought shape to my hide,
In the months that remain,
To the time of my life.

Add flash for the reason,
Was spilling from the crack,
To the palms of the doctor,
To a towel full of scraps.

My brains wouldn't fit,
Through organ sex,
An incision was made,
With a scalpel and mess.

I should have noticed the beauty,
And not how it hurt,
Wet like a cherry,
In the bloodbath of birth.

Website: The Faint

I just got this in my inbox

I'm an Iranian boy in XYZ. We have only I of the Internet in here :) this may be ridiculous for you but our dictatorship government has filtered over 90% of the web and it's growing everyday! We don't have any free newspapers, free television channels, even we're not allowed to have free relationship with girls, Mullas say you must obey Islam's instructions but Iranian people want to obey global instructions. We are very thirsty for freedom, I think M.r president George W. Bush and his cabinet and U.S allies will do somthing to terminate Islamic Republic very very soon.
thank you...

president George W. Bush has said:
Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world:
Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery. Liberty will come to those who love it. The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it." All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you. We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world. There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and re!
ward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way. All the allies of the United States can know: we honor your friendship, we rely on your counsel, and we depend on your help.By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well - a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities.
God bless the United States of America.