Randim Stuff

Got the word the Liberty Jam is upcoming. You ever want to do an event so bad that you were willing to include "and please God let me be healthy enough to ride ____"? Yeah, well, that's where I am right now. Going to add a prayer for a single speed 29'er to drop out of the heavens too.

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The things you see and learn on your commute... I'm getting comfortable with the northeastern route into D.C. from Bowie, AKA the Northeast Passage. It takes me through a lot of neighborhoods, particularly because I'm trying to figure out an efficient way to get from near the White House, to Brentwood. I hear some crazy ass conversations along the way, and see unusual things.

• "So I told her she's going to get an abortion, and he's gon' pay for it."

• "You in?" [sidewalk craps croupier, to a random guy walking by]

• "Hey, keep it up" [me, to a woman struggling to jog the steep hill I was riding up slowly]

• "Damn. That was one ugly transexual. Lotta beard on that one." [me to self, moments later]

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You think cycling has problems with doping? Turns out, the World Cup is being plagued by a bunch of gamblers who are smoking vulture brains to see into the future, which will help them with handicapping the games.

Vulture brains? Shit. I think I'd rather have somebody sticking CERA-filled needles in my ass all the time than smoke vulture brains.

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Marc Slavin... creepy touching guy.



Apparently the news crew showed up to ask questions about a hospital's alleged misdirection of donations into paying for private luxuries for hospital administrators. Marc Slavin is the hospital's communications director and... well... he just sort of snapped into action. What a creepy little dude... The reporter didn't knock him out, but if you ever meet the guy, you probably should, just to restore balance to the Force.

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"Astroturf" is where somebody sets up a fake grass roots organization or protest against somebody else. Did you know that a lot of Wal Mart opposition is actually astroturfed?

Yeah, neither did I.

Key grafs:

Mr. Saint, a former newspaper reporter and political press secretary, founded his firm 26 years ago. It specializes in using political-campaign tactics—petition drives, phone banks, websites—to build support for or against controversial projects, from oil refineries and shopping centers to quarries and landfills. Over the years, it has conducted about 1,500 campaigns in 44 states. Mr. Saint says about 500 have involved trying to block a development, and most of those have been clandestine.

For the typical anti-Wal-Mart assignment, a Saint manager will drop into town using an assumed name to create or take control of local opposition, according to former Saint employees. They flood local politicians with calls, using multiple phones to make it appear that the calls are coming from different people, the former employees say.

So your opposition to something like Wal Mart may be genuine and enthusiastic. But sometimes it pays to look into who else is with you, and why. Otherwise you may be just serving as the tool of one corporate interest as it seeks to gain an unfair competitive advantage over another one.

As for Wal Mart? I've got mixed feelings. I like the fact that they leverage their market power to bring a lot of good quality consumer goods to the masses at an affordable price. On the other hand, I don't like how Wal Mart has the effect of wiping out commercial downtown areas in some of the towns where a store is built. On the balance, as in antitrust law, I have to put more stress on whether the consumer is benefited rather than the merchants hurt - I'd rather have a couple hundred million consumers live better off than several hundred thousand retailers do so.

I guess this makes me an asshole in a lot of people's eyes. But then, Target and CostCo and a host of other big box retailers do exactly the same thing. I wonder what makes them different and beloved?

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I give you British actress, Abi Titmuss.



She, and her name, are full of teh win.