idiots...

I'm sorry, but there is no reason at all anybody should pay 2 to 3 THOUSAND dollars for a PS-3, much less the 10,000 that someone's listing on ebay as a "buy it now" price.

weasel-wording their way out of having to do work, again...

Some Americans Lack Food, but USDA Won't Call Them Hungry - washingtonpost.com:

The U.S. government has vowed that Americans will never be hungry again. But they may experience "very low food security."

Every year, the Agriculture Department issues a report that measures Americans' access to food, and it has consistently used the word "hunger" to describe those who can least afford to put food on the table. But not this year.

Ending Hunger - washingtonpost.com (editorial):

THE AGRICULTURE Department has taken what you might call the Scarlett O'Hara approach to Americans without enough to eat: It will never call them hungry again. Rumbling stomachs? Malnourishment? That's not hunger, the department says. It's experiencing "very low food security."

Mike the Mad Biologist:

Some are not happy with the Orwellian double speak:

Anti-hunger advocates say the new words sugarcoat a national shame. "The proposal to remove the word 'hunger' from our official reports is a huge disservice to the millions of Americans who struggle daily to feed themselves and their families," said David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, an anti-hunger advocacy group. "We . . . cannot hide the reality of hunger among our citizens."

But we can hide the reality of hunger among our citizens, particularly if we don't believe it exists in the first place:

That 35 million people in this wealthy nation feel insecure about their next meal can be hard to believe, even in the highest circles. In 1999, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, then running for president, said he thought the annual USDA report -- which consistently finds his home state one of the hungriest in the nation -- was fabricated.

"I'm sure there are some people in my state who are hungry," Bush said. "I don't believe 5 percent are hungry."

Bush said he believed that the statistics were aimed at his candidacy. "Yeah, I'm surprised a report floats out of Washington when I'm running a presidential campaign," he said.

The agency usually releases the report in the fall, for reasons that "have nothing to do with politics," Nord said.

"Even in the highest circles?" That should read "especially in the highest circles." If someone else's suffering is inconvenient to our economic and moral perogative, then we should just 'declare it' away. That's what aristocrats do.

Bush's America: Freedom is on the march, and apparently, hunger has cut-and-run.

pardon me while I go on with my "high food security"...

sheesh.

Playstation madness continues...

1 shot in Conn. Playstation waiting line - Yahoo! News:

PUTNAM, Conn. - Two armed thugs tried to rob a line of people waiting to buy the new Playstation 3 gaming console early Friday and shot one who refused to give up the money, authorities said.

The two confronted 15 to 20 people who were in line outside a Wal-Mart store shortly after 3 a.m. and demanded money, said Lt. J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the state police. The new Sony consoles are selling for around $500 to $600.

"One of the patrons resisted. That patron was shot," Vance said.

He said the two gunmen fled and the victim was taken to University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester. There was no immediate word on the victim's condition.

Vance said police were searching for the suspects, both believed to be in their teens. He said one was wearing a ski mask and brandishing a handgun, and the other had what appeared to be a shotgun.

Short supplies of the PS3 and strong demand led to lines of buyers, some waiting for days, outside stores across the country.

The Philadelphia suburbs, at least to the north, have "no overnight waiting" laws.  When I went for tickets to ABWH in '89, there was one chap who worked for the store that had the ticketmaster outlet in the mall, and he stayed overnight (legally) and took names down, then in the morning before the store opened, lined everybody back up.  A few would annoyingly complain in the morning as there "wasn't a line" and then suddenly there "was a line", but they learned.

I support such systems as it keeps people safe.  Take the names down during the day so nobody has to wait for extended times at risk of sickness or theft, AND everybody knows when the # has run out without the risk

Meanwhile, nuttyness continues...

In Palmdale, Calif., authorities shut down a Super Wal-Mart after some shoppers got rowdy late Wednesday. In West Bend, Wis., a 19-year-old man was injured when he ran into a pole racing with 50 others for one of 10 spots outside a Wal-Mart.

In Lexington, Ky., police were investigating a drive-by shooting that hit four people with BB pellets outside a Best Buy store, causing minor injuries, according to WKYT, whose own reporter was hit as she interviewed buyers in line.

A Best Buy in Boston, aware it had only 140 of the consoles, got smart — its employees gave out tickets to the first 140 people in line so everyone could go home.

See, it CAN be done!

WTOP shows how nutso they all are

dawntreader90 's "Capitalism" description of the PS-3 madness seems to be on the mark.  WTOP had interviews with people in line, and ran off about 10 in a row that all said they were buying them in order to put them up on ebay for the profit, and that most there didn't even play the games...

why is the voice of Charlton Heston going "It's a MAD HOUSE!" running through my head right now?

a co-worker says he doesn't even bother going to "one-time" used book sales anymore, 'cause there are now professionals who basically bag the whole lot knowing *one* book in there might make enough profit as a rarity on ebay to warrent the purchase of some 100 or more other books not worth anything to them.

sometimes the passion behind a total ban on something just doesn't last...

Daniel Barenboim - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Barenboim said he had decided to defy the taboo on Wagner when a news conference he held the previous week was interrupted by the ringing of a mobile phone to the tune of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. "I thought if it can be heard on the ring of a telephone, why can't it be played in a concert hall?" he said.