Or in this case, the man behind the Palin or Wall Street bailout negotiation. The Republicans and the McCain campaign have done a masterful job of changing the subject of this Presidential election. For weeks not it hasn’t been about John McCain and Barack Obama, it has been about Sarah Palin instead. And now that the initial infatuation with the “hockey mom” is starting to fade, Senator McCain has announced that he is suspending his campaign in order to focus on the Wall Street bailout.
Excuse me?
The President of the United States has to deal with dozens of issues simultaneously. America’s issues don’t neatly line up and wait their turn in line. The chief executive must be able to prioritize and delegate, and at times not be involved in issues. If a candidate can’t manage his or her current duties (senator or governor) along with a campaign, then perhaps they hadn’t ought to be a candidate.
McCain’s move smacks of theater and slight-of-hand parlor tricks. Yes, the current state of America’s economy is a critical issue. For the current administration as well as the new one starting in January 2009. A debate between the candidates focusing on economic policies and agendas would be highly appropriate and timely.
The threat of not appearing at the first Presidential debate is the same kind of insidious behavior those people who tease and taunt employ. When called on their action or remark they always say, “That isn’t what I meant. How could you think that of me!?” When everyone knows that the taunt was meant in the hurtful or insidious way. John McCain’s threat to not appear isn’t about a concern for the American people or our economy. It is simply another campaign parlor trick designed to keep us, the voters, from seeing the truth about this man and what he ultimately means for America.
If John McCain can’t show up for the debate then there is no reason for him to show up on election day either.
One of the best parts about having your own website is the endless opportunity for tweaking and fiddling. I’ve gone back and forth a couple of time on how to incorporate links I’ve posted to my delicious account; should they be in a “links of the day” posting, or just captured in the sidebar. I’m not happy with the posting style since the links aren’t really mine. Yes, they are items that caught my attention that I wanted to share, but they weren’t written by me. So, once again (and hopefully for all time now), I’ve moved the delicious links to the sidebar. I’ve also moved them a bit higher in the sidebar, to give them some added prominence.
The only downside to the sidebar location is that readers such as yourself won’t be able to add comments. My site gets so few comments, however, that I am not really too concerned about losing this feedback channel.
I rarely, if ever, give out my work email address. I have enough personal email addresses, that I don’t need the one my employer provides for anything other than work related correspondence. Sometimes, however, in order to get information from a vendor or software support center, I have provided my work email to people outside of work. Since I am careful about to whom and when I provide my email address, I am always disappointed when I started getting marketing materials as a result.
Somehow, recently, I started getting invitations to a series of database “webinars.” I am not a database person, although I have been involved with them in various capacities throughout my career. At first I just deleted the unwanted messages from my inbox. But the number and frequency of the messages increased and I decided I didn’t want their junk in my inbox any more. Especially since it really isn’t my inbox - it’s my employers.
Following the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email I submitted my address for removal from their list. I got the standard, “your email will be removed” message and thought that was the end of the story. And then a few days later I got another email for another webinar. And I unsubscribed again. And again. And again.
This morning I had finally reached a breaking point, and I sent the following message back to the email address where these now highly annoying messages were originating:
I suppose I could have continued to just delete their marketing emails from my inbox, which sees upwards of 100 legitimate emails a day (and growing), but I am glad that I decided to be assertive instead. So much of our daily lives now are transacted in cyberspace, and it is so easy to forgive or at least tolerate actions that would be rude in person, since they are in the form of “bodiless” emails or forum postings. If anything, I think electronic communication should be more polite, more deferential, more exactingly correct, since they don’t come in person.
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/mac">mac</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/humor">humor</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/apple">apple</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/windows">windows</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/microsoft">microsoft</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/television">television</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/ads">ads</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/09/why-you-should-hate-treasury-bailout.html">naked capitalism: Why You Should Hate the Treasury Bailout Proposal</a></div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/toread">toread</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/interesting">interesting</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/politics">politics</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/economy">economy</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/bailout">bailout</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/subprime">subprime</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/credit_crisis">credit_crisis</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5010">New York in Black and White - Wired New York Forum</a></div>
<div class="delicious-extended">Very impressive collection of black and white photos of New York City, going back to the late 1800s.</div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/interesting">interesting</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/history">history</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/nyc">nyc</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/photo">photo</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/gallery">gallery</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/urban">urban</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/tosee">tosee</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/wikipedia">wikipedia</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/animation">animation</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/clock">clock</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/escapement">escapement</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/19/former-secretaries-of-state-to-next-president-get-over-it-get-real-be-smart/">Anderson Cooper 360: Blog Archive - Former Secretaries of State to next President: Get over it. Get real. Be smart « - Blogs from CNN.com</a></div>
<div class="delicious-extended">Thank you, thank you, thank you.</div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/politics">politics</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/ideas">ideas</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/toread">toread</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/election2008">election2008</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://www.bunkbeds.net/velociraptor/">How Long Could You Survive Chained to a Bunk Bed with a Velociraptor?</a></div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/humor">humor</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/funny">funny</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/velociraptor">velociraptor</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/tweetmarks">tweetmarks</a>)</div>
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<div class="delicious-link"><a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/mccain-on-banking-and-health/">McCain on banking and health - Paul Krugman - Op-Ed Columnist - New York Times Blog</a></div>
<div class="delicious-extended">Vote for Obama. Please.</div>
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/johnmccain">johnmccain</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/obama">obama</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/finance">finance</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/healthcare">healthcare</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/election2008">election2008</a>)</div>
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For my 15th or 16th birthday, my parents gave me an electric shaver. At the time I only needed to shave every few days, and the speed and convenience of the electric was a good fit for my teenage approach to shaving.
Over the years I’ve had many replacements of that original shaver, all but one have been three-head, rotary style models. I tried one foil type shaver from Braun, which I didn’t care for. For the most part the shavers have done a decent job of trimming my whiskers, but I have always had problems with razor burn. And once in a great while one of the hairs that got stretched and cut by the twin blades, would become ingrown and painful.
I’ve only rarely shaved using a disposable or cartridge style razor, and on those occassions I had lots and lots of razor burn. I just wasn’t used to the defoliation effect of those twin blades scrapping across my skin, particularly my neck.
One day last spring I read an article online about shaving the way my father and his did. With a real safety razor, not one of those disposable cartridge jobs. The author of the article made a good argument for the improvement in the shave itself, and in the whole shaving experience. He cautioned that one would need to unlearn the bad habits multi-blade catridge systems promote, but he also promised that the end result would be well worth the effort.
Of course to shave the way my father did would require getting a safety razor handle, and some safety razor blades. You can order the blades online, and you can order a handle online too. Quite by happenstance, on our first full day in Winnenden Germany this year, we walked past a store called “Chris Messerschmiede.” A store selling all kinds of knives, blades, and, you guessed it, razor handles. After going inside and examing several of the handles he had for sale, I settled on the one pictured below.
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It is surprisingly heavy, and has a very good feel in my hand. The butt end of the handle unscews to allow removal of the blade keeper. When the knob is fully tightened the keeper slightly bends the blade, bringing the cutting edge into perfect alignment with the edge of the guide.
Since I never really used disposable or cartridge razors, I don’t have too many bad habits to unlearn. I do have to learn how to shave again, however. I’ve used the new handle, and the starter blade it came with, several times now. All the shaves have been wonderfully close, and razor burn free. I think I like old-fashioned.
10.9.2008 Update: I found A guide to the gourmet shaving experience to be an excellent read.
<div class="delicious-tags">(tags: <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/freebooks">freebooks</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/free">free</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/book">book</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/ebooks">ebooks</a> <a href="http://delicious.com/zanshin/toread">toread</a>)</div>
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