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(or something like that, but for now that’ll be good enough)

If you’d like to help test the site please sign up here:

http://www.halfpricetuesdays.co.za/

that is all.

The internet is about 2 way communication. A company that “broadcasts” but doesn’t enter into a dialog runs the risk of alienating their customers and appearing authoritarian.

Recently a bit of an online dispute arose when a local representative from a security company failed to adequately respond to some criticism from members of community mailing list that I’m on… not only did he fail, but when the pressure got too much he just disappeared and stopped responding to the list members questions.

Then a few days later the regional GM of the security company wrote a response, but instead of joining the list and posting as himself, ie. embracing dialog, he chose to ask one of the list moderators to post the email on his behalf. That undermines the dialog since no one knows whether he will ever read the replies.

While he did address some of the issues and make promises to meet with community, his email generally  felt a lot like something between a press release and damage control. It was impersonal and failed to address all the complaints.

However, my biggest criticism of the communication was the GM’s suggestion that people submit their issues or complaints in writing directly to the local representative instead of airing them on a public forum and asking for public response.

This is where I get up on my angry horse and start shouting. That’s the “old way”… this is the “new way”. In the “old way” you could tell each customer who complained “We’re sorry you had that experience but no one else is having a problem so it must be an isolated incident“… The “old way” isn’t going to work any more, and the more companies try and push people back to the “old way”, the more they’ll think you have something to hide.

The good news is that a company who embraces the “new way” can reap the rewards. If you respond on a public forum to one person’s issue you’re actually communicating with the entire group in a personal manner, and they all walk away thinking you’re a good guy who answers their questions and deals with their issues, even if you weren’t actually responding to a question they asked.

It remains to be seen what the fallout from this issue is, but it certainly isn’t having a positive effect on the company’s sales… especially since I need to decide which security company to use in a months time.

Lynnae, as you may know, is a food nerd. She teaches me stuff about how broccoli is from the Brassica family and therefore not suitable for stocks if you want a clear stock and that toast smells nice because of the Maillard reaction. So she’s a nerd, but she’s definitely not a computer nerd and it’s kinda funny when she’s trying to understand what I do all day or tell me about some or other computer problem she has at work. She has a windows box and a mac… no prizes for guessing which one “flashes on the one window and then the other one goes orange and starts flashing too and then you click on the tab for the first one and it starts flashing too so I had to work the whole day while the screen flashed at me“.

The real gems seem to pop out of nowhere:

Who pays for the network waves?
- Asked while I was trying to explain the concept of a wug.

Maybe it’s a glitch.
- Pretty much anything that goes wrong is “possibly a glitch”.

Something with a megabyte.
- When asked what size the SD card in her phone was.

What’s an aggregator, is it an angry alligator?
- Ok, admittedly she’s trying to be funny.

But she’s learning… We have a shopping list wiki, which she thinks is arbiwikiwiki.com (or something) but she runs firefox and is starting to understand why open source is better… that, and she’s the most awesome friend I’ve ever had, so I’ll tolerate her noobness.

3 People have asked me in the last few hours if I was dead… Nope, I’m just busy…. but in the mean time please help me pick a logo. I’m not giving credit to the designers yet because I don’t want to bias the results.

Feel free to design a better one if you feel you can… Yes, that’s a challenge.

“This is what happens when you confuse the free market with a free license to let special interests take whatever they get however they can get it.”
- Obama

My Father asked me the other day who I thought would win the US Election. I’d be mulling over this for a while and had my answer ready.

“If Americans are clever they’ll vote for Obama, if they’re stupid they’ll vote for McCain… The real question is, how stupid are Americans?“

Obama is a clever guy, but what makes him far more impressive is that he’s made a concerted effort to channel that intelligence towards understanding the problem. No doubt his law degree etc is helping him in this arena, but comparatively McCain looks a bit shell-shocked by all this banks-in-the-poo stuff that’s going on, even though every analyst and his brother in law has been predicting it for years. McCain is actually so out of touch with the problem that he’s treating it like something outside of government, something in private industry where government shouldn’t meddle.

Obama was talking about predatory lending in the housing markets 3 years ago in Illinois on TV. I listened. So when those lending vultures kept trying to goad me into refinancing my home and pulling out tons of money in equity, I wondered why are they so anxious to reassess the value of my home so high? What if these homes don’t keep appreciating at these levels. Then what? I’d have been stuck with the clock restarting at a teaser rate scheduled to ballon on something that wouldn’t be worth what was being paid for it. Then what? Thanks Senator Obama for saving my life. I listened to you. Is there any doubt people? OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT 2008!!!

- Random guy on the Internet.

What happened in the US is really simple. Banks were given the freedom to rape the ignorant public by extending them far more debt than they could ever possibly repay. They reaped great short term rewards but it was a Pyramid Scheme that was doomed from the start. The banks are now paying for that… but the funny thing is that the banks *had* to have seen this coming when they went on their rampant lending sprees 5 years ago… I guess the fat cats got 5 years of great bonuses and will now move on to some other parasitic business practice and start another 5 year cycle.

Is this the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Watch the video:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… Android will kill the iPhone. Soon!

49 boxes in total

I only upgraded now… Shame on me… but I got a whole .2 for free !

In case you weren’t counting, the year is 2008… In the past week I have received both the Spier Wants To Give You Free Champagne email and, more recently, the Microsoft Will Track This Email And Give You $321.56 For Every Person You Forward This To email. Both of these emails came from people I ~used to know… People who do not suffer from diminished brain capacity, amnesia or bouts of uncontrollable binge drinking & emailing. I’m tired of being understanding. Ignorance is not an excuse for not using your logical faculties.

Find your own internet, this one is taken.

South Africa is in talks with Venezuela to buy oil directly, Venezuela has told the US Ambassador in their country to get out. Brazil is in talks with South Africa to increase trade.

Maybe this is the way the world needs to break free from the clutches of the United States and other bully countries; stop playing with them and start your own group of friends.

This is Uran. Uran is my cat. I am allergic to cats. I think Uran is very pretty.