It’s that time of the morning where I should be slumbering. However, it’s pretty obvious I’m not. That or I’ve got some mad skillz, yo. This problem, like so many others, can be blamed on marriage. Not mine, of course, but an old friend who’s marriage I attended yesterday. I got back pretty late last night and had to fix my car before heading off to work at 0700 this morning. And once the evening heat kicked in, it was nappy time for me. So I just went ahead and slept for three or four hours when I really should not have. Sorry to my friends who I made plans with to hang out and then… slept… yeah…
But wait! Don’t leave yet. I’ve got all kinds of inance ramblings for you. Let’s start with “net neutrality.” The basic concept here is that all web pages are available to all internet persusers on an equal basis with no difference in performance excepting innate hardware restrictions. This is something large ISPs are trying to change. What they’re headed for is more of a ‘the more a company pays up, the more prominent and speedy their site will be.’ which, sad as it may be, will choke out popular, pertinent, potent and ‘phree’ sources of infotainment like suppasukka.com.
All bitter sarcasm aside, the f.a.q from savetheinternet.com lists a few examples of ‘big corporation’ censoring their users. My favorite was AOL’s blocking of all email that mentioned www.dearaol.com, a advocacy campaign opposing AOL’s pay-to-send-email scheme. Awesome, AOL. Awesome.
The phrase ‘freedom isn’t free’ applies in multiple areas apparently. Especially as our nations top internet companies (such as Google) place fiscal earnings in higher priority than ensuring true information freedom in communist countries. Which brings us (me, really) to my next big American company: Wal-Mart. Hey, easy to hate I know. But let’s not forget Wal-Mart is a prime example of the ‘American Dream.’ Just came across a movie trailer at walmartmovie.com that goes into the threat they have become by the shear nature of ensuring low prices. It’s pretty straightfoward to understand that to reach goals, sacrifices have to be made somewhere.
And for a little jolly news on big corporations, Target got a “The Giving Back” award from MSNBC.com. I enjoy the irony in this because they were lambasted in a conservate Christian organization’s mass email I recieved several months ago for not allowing Salvation Army bell ringers to hang out during Christmas. And for intending to stock dildos. No mention of the latter ‘issue’ in Newsweek (same company as MSNBC), but Target apparently donates “5 percent of its pretax profits—more than twice the average of corporate America. That equals about $2 million a week, or $101 million last year.” And they worked out a scheme for the Salvation Army to make up for the cool 9 million they apparently lost by Target’s decision. “Two years ago our relationship was strained,” says the Salvation Army’s Maj. George Hood. “But when Katrina came along, they knocked on our door.” I am by no means a staunch supporter of Target, but i sure do enjoy irony.
And sometimes i ask google questions. i mean, like life questions. it’s doesn’t normally work out too well for me, but tonight was the exception i’ll share with you, o constant reader. i believe the phrasing was ‘why is it so hot in here?’ and google found me a blog by a lady who advocates ‘attachment parenting’ and has an awesome cafepress store. So if you’re looking for a sweet shirt, let me direct you here. I’ll order it right after you do.
So it didn’t answer my question, but still a winner in my book. Those merry few who actually read this probably want more content on the wedding and the big pile of steaming crap known as my social network, but I haven’t gotten to that yet. Probably because I’ve watched some great episodes of askaninja.com and hopeisemo.com today along with some choice steven colbert bits. and I’ve realized my tendency to write late at night. and late at night normally equals unusually depressing. It’s just natural to come off more emotional- extra pissed or depressed or whatever when blogging. It’s part of the whole ‘diary’ therapy concept- indulge oneself in copious amounts of emotional fits in order to be a normal person the rest of the time. Which is why my life sounds a lot worse that it actually is. And i didn’t want to give that vibe this time, which is why i didn’t write about my life…but that’s already sounding so unhappy, so i’ll just sign off now. you are dismissed. =)