Author: Shaun

Categories
Freedom

Quiverful? Seriously? Dumb Religion at its Best

"Religion can seriously harm you" by futureshape

I don’t actually want to get into any religious debate – I’m not a fan of organised religion in any form. However, sometimes you read something that just comes across as stupid. These “Quiverful” families basically hold that they will keep on breeding so long as God keeps them fertile.

The Duggar family now has 17 kids with an 18th on the way and they blame it on a messy combination of fertility and religion…  Can you imagine what the life insurance quote looks like for that family? Never mind the food bill, or clothing and housing costs. It’s not socially responsible to home-school so many kids either – there’s no realistic way the kids could ever get the education they need, which simply turns them into a burden on society. Thank goodness its American Society.

Conveniently these Christians have forgotten that God gave Adam the freedom of choice.

While I’m on the topic, let’s throw some fat in the fire with a few interesting links:

Intelligent people ‘less likely to believe in God’ (Ouch!)

An opinion on belief: Why I believe in God

and Belief in God really can relieve pain. (Cool!)

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Categories
Music

Lefsetz Tells the Music Labels How It Is

Congratulations major labels…  You’ve marginalized yourselves!  Wanting everybody to pay for music, suddenly few are.  And all the money is on the road.  And why should an act give you a share of its road money, you’re not agents, you don’t know how to do it, you only want to skim the cream from the top.  Or try to get the act on terrestrial radio and television, neither of which move tonnage like the old days.

From: The Lefsetz Letters

It’s like echoes resounding through a cave, and the record companies just don’t hear it.

Categories
Freedom

Diamonds are only De Beers’ Best Friend

Ever since watching the absolutely horrifying Blood Diamond (the movie where Leo DiCaprio can for like to talk wif a Souf Efriken accent), I’ve had a rather bitter taste in my mouth when it comes to any glassy rock, and their biggest monopolistic producer, who, it is claimed, deliberately stockpile the rocks to increase scarcity and therefore value. (And in doing so have probably directly and indirectly funded decades of wars in Africa).

This has led to some very strong negative sentiment towards ever buying a diamond (sorry ladies), and I tend to take out this sentiment on the poor salespeople behind the counter who try to divert my cubic zirconia preference elsewhere: “A Diamond? What? Have you ever seen the movie Blood Diamond!!!???”

Of course De Beers claim with a straight face that all their diamonds are 100% conflict free, but why would they ever say anything else, right?

As a monopoly, and a very controversial one at that, De Beers should be ready for parody in any way shape or form. Apparently they aren’t. De Beers was recently criticised in the following advert featured in a fake edition of the New York Times which was distributed in New York City on 12 November 2008:

The real New York Times had a good chuckle about the whole pardoy, but in contrast De Beers responded, well, with the typical legal sideswipe in the internet era – go after the domain registrar that hosts the domain name entry for the site, because they simply cannot ever get a real win against comment covered by free speech rights (that’s free speech in De Beers’ home, South Africa, never mind the First Amendment stuff the yanks use).

The sad truth is that large corporates will continue to exploit these backhand techniques, chasing the softer targets instead of taking a head on confrontation, or even better, actually embracing the criticism and firing directly back at it with facts and truths.

Sucks to them. As a consumer I’ll just keep my conscience clear and stick with the man-made rocks. (And besides I don’t have money for jewels like that, or even someone to give it to!!!)

By the way, given the fast growing economic depression, poor sales predict an artificially large drop in diamond production in the De Beers stable.

Categories
finance Rants

Discovery Card Interest Rate Hike

Although I try to be pretty credit conscious and pay my outstanding balance every single month, occasionally I do slip up. It happens, and I have to pay the penalty. And that’s how money lenders make their money. But this time Discovery Card have overstepped the mark. Without so much as a hint of a notification, from October to November they’ve hiked their interest rate a whopping 3% from 19.50% to 22.50%. (And somehow this despite me being a “Platinum” account holder, for whatever that’s worth).

Sorry okes, I’ll go back to gym next month – maybe that will help?

Categories
Computing Technology

Social Media Specialists, Whatever…

These two blue tits above give us a great reminder of what you get yourself into when you start looking for a social media specialist. Everyone’s on the bandwagon, so you’re better off approaching the straight-talking technical rockstar, someone with a proven skill, experience, ability and great in-depth knowledge of computing, the internet and all things web 2.0, instead of getting a marketer-turned-so-called-“internet guru” to waste your money for you.