Could this be the tool that finally helps me realize my aspirations for punditry? All for the evil-good, but need spellcheck.
In no particular order.
- Toothbrushes that are too fat to fit in toothbrush holders.
- People (usually youngish men hanging out in a pack) who put their feet on the armrests between seats in the movie theater.
- People (usually youngish men hanging out in a pack) who feel the need to comment loudly during the movie in the same theater where they are sticking their feet on the armrests on the chairs in front of them.
- The inability of the majority of the U.S. population to read and follow the directions.
- Why are those giant pants belted around the knees still in fashion? Makes we want to give the wearers a big whack upside the head and then watch them try to run after me with their big pants waddle.
- People talking on their cellphones in stores and subsequently blocking my access to the fresh salsa.
- People talking on their cellphones in restaurants.
- People who ride their bikes on the sidewalk and get all huffy when I don’t immediately move out of the way.
- People talking on their cellphones while making a right-turn into a cross-walk.
- Drivers that don’t use their blinkers (aka turn-signals).
- Social Media
- The way marketing types seem to hijack everything that is unique and innovative for their own material gain (Tragedy of the Commons anyone?)
- MS Windows
- Ubuntu
- OpenDNS and the redirection to a page of ads when I mistype a url
- The loss of my ability to spell without spellcheck.
- People who use twitter to take notes during conferences. My Tweet stream is a fine and well-balanced mix-tape over-tweeters ruin my mix.
New Seasons is a beloved Portland Institution it’s our fantastic, locally-sourced very eco- and neighborhood-friendly grocery store. They buy from local farmers and producers first whenever possible and have established healthy LOCAL partnerships that provide consumers with the best quality products with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.
Whole Foods is the bully on the block, and they are now going after New Seasons in the guise of defending themselves against a lawsuit that is a direct result of how they how acquired Wild Oats.
New Seasons: We’re Just Trying to Mind Our Own (Local) Business
Why is this sort of nasty corporate behavior OK for Whole Foods? Particularly given their “earth-friendly, we are the good guys” marketing message.
While I realize in some parts of the country, Whole Foods appears to be the only option for certain types of organic vegetables and meats — I strongly urge everyone to take a look at your local co-ops or family owned grocery stores as an alternative to Whole Foods.
In these troubled economic types it is especially important that we help our local businesses stay in business.
Here is a link to a good round-up of local grocery co-ops throughout the United States.
At some point, before the election, I will write a blog entry about why I am supporting Barack Obama for president.
If I lived in a swing state, like Florida, Ohio, or even a place with an historically close race like Georgia, this is what I would do to support the voters in line on election day.
- Go to Costco and buy a huge amount of snacks and drinks.
- Stock up on interesting magazines that have endorsed Barack Obama.
- Make myself a nice big “community organizer” name-tag, and maybe some stickers that said “brought to you by a community organizer” to attach to all the snacks, drinks and magazines. (You can’t have political signs/buttons/etc at most polling places.)
- Pick a few precincts that are particularly important for their Obama turnout (I’d recruit some friends, maybe even talk to the Obama campaign about targets), and walk the line offering drinks, snacks and magazines.
A well-fed and hydrated queue is a happy queue.
If anyone actually wants to do this I bet I could help raise some money for the snacks and drinks. Here in Oregon we vote by mail. No lines. Probably not reasonable for me to get on a plane at this point.
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