Category: Uncategorized

…aside from the fact that it promotes “Buy Nothing Day”, is that not only does it have pop-up advertising, but pop-up advertising for a chance to win a shopping spree in Paris:

Screenshot of the “Buy Nothing Day” site and its pop-up advertising. What a load of crap.

Critical thinking has never been a hippie strong suit, but surely even they should’ve been able to see the mixed messages here! Remember, folks: spouting sanctimonious claptrap and making empty gestures won’t make the world a better place…just a more obnoxious one.

Here are a couple of photos taken at a job fair in China that took place earlier this year. It’s no place for the crowd-phobic, and you’d better bring a book (or five) to pass the time:

Click the photo to see the whole set.

Click the photo to see the whole set.

[Found via Reddit.]

This is available as a t-shirt at Woot.com — click the picture to find out more.

I’m in the States celebrating American Thanksgiving (the Canadian version was last month) with the in-laws. Happy Thanksgiving to my American family, friends and readers, and if you’re deep-frying the turkey, be careful!

What are the readers of Conservapedia, the “conservative” answer to Wikipedia, most obsessed with? According to their stats page as of November 20, 2007 at 4:26 p.m. EST, the top 10 most viewed pages are:

1. Main Page [1,895,008]
2. Homosexuality [1,476,964]
3. Homosexuality and Hepatitis [516,039]
4. Homosexuality and Promiscuity [416,430]
5. Homosexuality and Parasites [387,291]
6. Homosexuality and Gonorrhea [327,815]
7. Homosexuality and Domestic Violence [319,852]
8. Gay Bowel Syndrome [306,436]
9. Homosexuality and Syphilis [261,799]
10. Homosexuality and Mental Health [243,930]

Conservapedia’s readership doth protest too much, methinks.

First came the bacon flowchart, now this:

Click the flowchart to see it at full size.
Image courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.

In the previous post, I praised Nordstrom for showing some restraint with the Christmas marketing.

On the other end of the shopping spectrum is Sears, who are doing two even bigger and better things:

• For any employees who’ve been called up to serve in the war, Sears is voluntarily paying the difference in salaries and maintaining all benefits, including medical insurance and bonus programs, for up to two years. This is above and beyond what most employers will do.
• Sears will make a donation to Heroes at Home — a charity that helps military families and veterans in need across America by making necessary repairs, improvements or modifications to their homes — for every credit card purchase made at any of its Sears stores from November 9 to December 28 up to $1 million, and for every gift card purchased during that time up to $100,000.

My internet friend Miss Fipi Lele sent me this very encouraging photo:

Photo courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.

It reads:

At Nordstrom, we won’t be decking the halls until Friday, November 23rd. Why? Well, we just like the idea of celebrating one holiday at a time.

From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving.

Nordstrom will be closed Thanksgiving Day. On Friday, our doors will be open to welcome the new season.

I’d rather they waited until December 1st to start the Christmas promos, but at a time when the stores crank up their Christmas marketing engines as soon as Hallowe’en passes (a tendency for which President Roosevelt has to accept at least some of the blame), it’s an improvement. Stretching the Christmas season cheapens the holiday for those of us who celebrate it and annoys those who don’t.

There were already good reasons to shop at Nordstrom — top-shelf stuff and killer service — but here’s an extra one. Kudos, Nordstrom!