Non-Prophet

Walmart Employee Trampled To Death By Brainwashed Americans

This is the ultimate example of how consumer culture, as proliferated and honed by massive corporations, has stolen common sense and decency from modern society.

This kind of event makes me actually want to see economic collapse happen right here, right now. As a nation, our priorities are totally out of wack.

nytimes.com:

The throng of Wal-Mart shoppers had been building all night, filling sidewalks and stretching across a vast parking lot at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y. At 3:30 a.m., the Nassau County police had to be called in for crowd control, and an officer with a bullhorn pleaded for order.

Tension grew as the 5 a.m. opening neared. Someone taped up a crude poster: “Blitz Line Starts Here.”

By 4:55, with no police officers in sight, the crowd of more than 2,000 had become a rabble, and could be held back no longer. Fists banged and shoulders pressed on the sliding-glass double doors, which bowed in with the weight of the assault. Six to 10 workers inside tried to push back, but it was hopeless.

Suddenly, witnesses and the police said, the doors shattered, and the shrieking mob surged through in a blind rush for holiday bargains. One worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was thrown back onto the black linoleum tiles and trampled in the stampede that streamed over and around him. Others who had stood alongside Mr. Damour trying to hold the doors were also hurled back and run over, witnesses said.

Some workers who saw what was happening fought their way through the surge to get to Mr. Damour, but he had been fatally injured, the police said. Emergency workers tried to revive Mr. Damour, a temporary worker hired for the holiday season, at the scene, but he was pronounced dead an hour later at Franklin Hospital Medical Center in Valley Stream.

Las Vegas Slot Machine Art

While recently on a business trip to Las Vegas I became fascinated with the marketing aspect of the slot machines. There seemed to be an almost infinite variety of themes, each of which must have been carefully designed to appeal to a particular kind of person. It's the business of making money, and the methods employed give us a very clear sense of the presence of the subtle manipulations that surround us, not just in a Vegas casino, but almost everywhere.

Here is my gallery of slot machine art. It was fun to collect over the course of several days. One must be very careful taking pictures of the machines in a casino as it is an easy way to get ejected. I was given a serious talking-to more than once and in several casinos while in taking these photos. They really waste no time in noticing what you're doing. ;)

Best Buy: Buyer Beware!

I recently, through work, bought a new Sony Viao notebook computer which came with a Blu-Ray DVD player. "Cool!" I thought to myself. I'd need only an HDMI cable and I could check out what watching a high definition movie would look like on my sweet Samsung HDTV. Netflix even rents Blu-Ray discs, so this would require me to simply pick up the needed HDMI cable at my local shop. I went to Best Buy and I was horrified. These simple cables were literally all over the store. I mean there were at least 5 isles mostly filled with them. The prices were so high that I couldn't possibly justify the purchase. Why would a digital cable need to cost over $100? I found a few that were in the $60 range, but that still seemed insane. This is a simple digital cable. There are none that will provide a better picture than another.

I immediately suspected that Best Buy was doing a terrible disservice to its customers, selling them something that should be very inexpensive for a whole lot of money. I went home and checked ebay, and as expected you can buy an HDMI cable for about $7, including shipping. Moral: Chain stores will rape you, given the chance, without you knowing it.

HDMI cables from Best Buy

HDMI cables on ebay.com

Wikipedia

The High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a compact audio/video connector interface for transmitting uncompressed digital streams. It represents a digital alternative to consumer analog standards such as Radio Frequency (RF) coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, and VGA. HDMI connects digital audio/video sources such as set-top boxes, Blu-ray Disc players, personal computers, video game consoles, and AV receivers to compatible digital audio devices, computer monitors, and digital televisions.

Credit Card Debt On The Rise

It is the trap that people are led into through the gigantic effort of our unstoppable consumer culture. It ruins lives far more often than it helps them. Paying interest on stuff that we don't really need as a method to stave off the materialistic hunger pangs is probably what will define this moment in history. Stuff, and tons of it, kept in expensive to rent storage units, while the burden grows, is the method of operation for so many of us. This is Babylon.

cnn.com:

Consumers have racked up more than $2.2 trillion in purchases and cash advances on major credit cards in just the last year. And it's become a habit for them to spend more than they have. The overall credit card debt grew by 315 percent from 1989 to 2006, according to public policy research firm Demos.

To compound the problem, fewer people are paying their credit cards bills on time. The percentage of people delinquent on their credit cards is the highest it's been in three years, according to CardTrack.com.

Springs Culture Cast on WWJB?

QVC: Must See TV

Every once in a while I see something that makes me wish I had TV service again. This is the kind of thing that I've been missing out on.

Fresh Socks

I recently purchased a 6-pack of new socks that were made by Fruit of the Loom. They're pretty nice for cheap socks, and the two-tone gray toes are a nice touch. The best feature of these socks lies elsewhere though. Let me know if you can find it. Here, have a look.

Why are these socks great? It's because if I don't use the entire 6-pack in one sitting I can be sure that the freshness of the remaining socks will be preserved in their convenient resealable Zip-Lock bag. I cannot tolerate stale socks.