A bunch of the reviews just got hosed. The ann rice post and all reply's are gone. Like it never happened.
dmv wrote:
] ] Seldom do I really answer those who criticize my work. In
] ] fact, the entire development of my career has been fueled
] ] by my ability to ignore denigrating and trivializing
] ] criticism as I realize my dreams and my goals. However
] ] there is something compelling about Amazon's willingness
] ] to publish just about anything, and the sheer outrageous
] ] stupidity of many things you've said here that actually
] ] touches my proletarian and Democratic soul. Also I use
] ] and enjoy Amazon and I do read the reviews of other
] ] people's books in many fields. In sum, I believe in what
] ] happens here. And so, I speak. First off, let me say that
] ] this is addressed only to some of you, who have posted
] ] outrageously negative comments here, and not to all. You
] ] are interrogating this text from the wrong perspective.
] ] Indeed, you aren't even reading it. You are projecting
] ] your own limitations on it.
]
] Anne Rice doesn't like people trashing her latest novel on
] Amazon.

I think that its sorta cool that she made her presence known. It wasn't her best book, but I'd still rather read ANY Ann Rice book than about anything else.

RE: Amazon.com: Books: Blood Canticle (The Vampire Chronicles)

I don't have a link for this, but this is all over eBAy tonight.

About 1/4 of my sales this month came from half.com, and I also love to buy there. There's no better place I've found to buy textbooks.
-------------------------------------------

9/23/2004 8:12:00 PM
SAN JOSE, Calif., Sep 23, 2004 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- EBay Inc. announced Thursday that it will keep its Half.com subsidiary open indefinitely, scrapping previous plans to shutter the e-commerce site in mid-October.

CBS MARKETWATCH TOP NEWS
EBay spokesman Hani Durzy said executives decided to keep Half.com open because it still generates revenue and brings customers to eBay. EBay does not break out traffic or revenue data specific to Half.com, but Durzy said that nearly half of all eBay listings for books, music, video and games come from Half.com sellers.

"Half.com has continued to grow more than we anticipated," Durzy said. "Our first priority being to the marketplace, we recognized that frankly the best thing to do was to keep both platforms open."

The San Jose-based online auction company purchased Half.com in a June 2000 stock swap. Some of Half.com's 65 employees in suburban Philadelphia may relocate to eBay's San Jose headquarters by the end of the year, or they will be eligible for severance packages..."

The PROBLEM is that the PEOPLE don't give a shit. They can't think past dinner. Seems to me like a larger percentage our our population is only concerned with their own comfort, and simply use any issue that they can feel self-righteous about as a chest pounding "I DO TOO CARE" comeback for those of us that would condemn them for their intellectual laziness.

Burning a flag is one of the most serious
] commentaries we can make about the activity of our government.
] I thought the ability to stand up and say, categorically, "My
] government is wrong." was somehow important to the American
] ideal.

This is an extremely important point. In the past, the greatest advantage of living in the US was the freedom to stand up and voice your opinion no matter what it may be. Correct me if I'm wrong but this ideal is what our country was founded on. At the present time it seems that if your opinion does not closely coincide with the powers that be then you are in trouble.

RE: Kerry, Edwards and Daschle May Face Vote on Flag (washingtonpost.com)

A direct hit by Ivan could sink New Orleans for weeks.

Direct hit by Ivan could sink New Orleans

C-SPAN has a camera looking around 7th Av, which as far as the eye can see is packed with protesters. All was looking like a nice peaceful protest until some group decided it would be a good idea to set a big green float on fire. I just finished watching a big green thing burning in front of the McDonalds just north of The Garden. Seems very early for burning things in the street.

I have been hoping that the people would respect the city, respect each other, and even respect the rights of the political opponents being protested. Stuff like the burning floats will only force the police and fire department to close the street. Not a good sign of things to come.

I was planning to head into the city Monday or Tuesday, however now I have a feeling I will not be able to get anywhere near the place.

.....I came into work and the title of the AJC said "RNC focuses on Unity" or something like that, and I got such a great laugh. Unity. Bush. Right.

RNC Protests

http://www.ShutItDownNYC.com

Call into work and shut down NYC in protest of the convention.

Hmmmm....I'm out of sick time, if I were in NYC, I'd have to call in dead.

My favorite quote on this site is:

"Don't Bring Your Hate To Our Doorstep and Expect a Welcome Mat"

The best use of Front Page YET

Beautiful dragon!

An amazing origami dragon.

Yahoo! News - World Photos - AP

I don't give much of a crap what Kerry did in Vietnam, but I don't like to see any veteran that made it through with an honorable discharge go through hell years later about it. The whole thing is disgraceful. This is already one dirty race.

] The John Kerry presidential campaign has filed a
] complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging
] the veterans' group behind an anti-Kerry TV ad was
] illegally coordinating its efforts with the Bush-Cheney
] campaign.

[ I don't think this is a good way to go, really. There doesn't seem to be enough hard evidence of collusion or coordination here to warrant it and it makes Kerry look like a whiner, which is a silly epithet, but people are fickle enough to vote based on things like that.

Kerry shouldn't be vulnerable on this issue, at least not against Bush, whose records are still incomplete, but running to the FEC like this will make some people think he's trying to unfairly silence his opponents free speech. I think it's gonna do more harm than good. -k]

Kerry campaign files FEC complaint against TV ads

There's something wrong with someone that weighs that much. Its not just behavior, and its not just genetics, not just environment, and surely its not just psychology, but a fine dance of causative factors.

No one would want to be like that, live like that. I would like to know if this man ever asked for medical help with his weight.

There are medical ways to deal with weight - medical, surgical, pharmaceutical and behavioral.

Morbid obesity IS a disease.

What is it that one person can 'shove twinkies in their face' all day long and not gain much weight, and someone else can eat one a few times a week and gain a pound?

I'm all for an insistence on personal responsibility, but not when there is meanness and lack of compassion behind it.

] "Until recently, I wasn't able to see any light at the
] end of the tunnel," he said Monday from his hospital bed.
]
] Deuel, who has battled weight problems all his life and
] blames his condition in part on genetics

Really? Genetics huh? Because I blame you.

I hate these people who blame their behavior on Genetics."oh Genetics is against me! Its not my fault!" Fuck you, It is your fault. What about the people who lose their legs in car accidents? Every other day I'm hearing about these peoples' strength and courage to learn to live a new life in a wheel chair or push themselves through hours of physical therapy so they can use artifically legs. They have lost half their damn body, and overcome it. Yet you sit around shoving twinkies down your throat bitching that its all genetic. Its not genetic, its laziness.

Its the same thing at a theatre I'm involved with. Everyone there are emotional wrecks. They get drunk and bitch about how much their lives suck. But it's not the fact that they are lazy, don't work hard, fuck around, drink heavily and skip class. No its because they have bi-polar disorder. They are manic depressive. Statistically, its inpossible for all those people to have all the disorders they claim. Most (if not all) are lying to get attention and to excuse their complete failures in love and life.

Fuck these people that blame genetics or some mental disorder for how sorry their lives are. Fuck them because they cheapen the struggle of people who really have to combat these problems on a daily basis.

Half-ton man: It was genetics

An Arizona sheriff violated the rights of prisoners by using Webcams to broadcast them being booked and held in cells in a kind of "reality show" for the Internet, a federal appeals court has ruled.

I remember this site going around the Internet a long time ago and it pissed me off then...and it pisses me off now that it ever happened.

Lock 'em up and throw away the Webcam