(the writer, not the other guys)

Small business owners, regardless of how ignorant they may be on the subject of economics, tend to understand that their success depends on attracting customers with money.

And then there’s the unnamed retailer who, in speaking to the Los Angeles Times about Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison’s penchant for buying up colossally expensive beach properties in Malibu, manages to put the moron in oxy:

Tremendous wealth “is something to fear,” said a local merchant who declined to give his name because wealthy landowners are among his clientele. “It don’t trickle down.”

It don’t, dude?  Then why worry about losing your wealthy clientele?

What a great country this is.  Even the irredeemably stupid can become entrepreneurs.

{ 1 comment }

At present, nearly 20,000 acres of Ventura County have burned in a terrible conflagration whose destruction has been confined largely, though not entirely, to Nature thanks to the incredibly heroic efforts of firefighters.  So far, the blaze is only 20 percent contained.

Gee, if only the state of California had access to some of those flying supertankers that can knock down flames in breathtakingly effective fashion.

Well, thanks to the Ventura County Star, I just learned that we do–and that the tankers have been grounded for the two days that the fire’s been raging.  Where?  Just a few miles from the flames.

Here are the latest developments:

6:50 p.m.: The state says it will provide two specialized firefighting C-130J aircraft and crews from the California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing to assist with wildfires across California.

The air tankers are based at the Channel Islands Air National Guard Station in Port Hueneme, 5 miles from the fire. Cal Fire members are working with the Air National Guard to get the tanker operations up and running, the state says.

{ 0 comments }

NBA star Jason Collins has come out as gay in Sports Illustrated.  He’s now the first openly gay athlete in a major American team sport.

This is going to be less of a big deal with fans than it is with other athletes.  Why?  Let’s let Jason explain himself, though unwittingly:

I didn’t come out to my [twin] brother [Jarron, a retired NBA player] until last summer. His reaction to my breakfast revelation was radically different from Aunt Teri’s. He was downright astounded. He never suspected.

Jarron’s never suspecting is not, in any way, a believable statement.  But the fact that Jason felt obligated to provide his twin with cover for having kept his secret all those years is a strong indication of the NBA’s culture that kept Jason in the closet.

{ 2 comments }

If you’re going to spam the comments of a newspaper story with a come-on, it’s a good idea to ensure that your post can be deciphered by readers whose presence on the website suggests a certain level of sophistication and intelligence.  This is especially true when the comment is appended to a story about a school board race:

upto I looked at the check four $5110, I did not believe …that…my brothers friend was like realy earning money part-time online.. there uncle had bean doing this less than nineteen months and resantly repayed the debts on their place and bourt Lotus Esprit. I went here, [....com]

{ 2 comments }

Someone is mining a fortune out of straw men.

Today is Denim Day in USA, intended to “stop misconceptions about sexual assault,” according to a tweet from the Department of Justice.

Misconceptions?  What, exactly, are the misconceptions about sexual assault?

The website doesn’t say.  Its hyperlink to the “Denim USA myth/fact sheet” (which is helpfully found on the sponsors page) leads you to the online store’s array of $15-$90 tchotchkes bearing the red Denim USA logo.

As for wearing denim, this clearly began as a joke that some friends thought up after a few tokes: “Hey, dude, let’s start National Breathing Day.”

Everyone, everywhere, of every age and income wears denim all the time, except when they’re wearing shorts or sweatpants.

If you really wanted to make a statement, you’d have national I Didn’t Just Roll Out of Bed Day.

{ 1 comment }