State of confusion

I suppose that taking potshots at the Discovery/History cable franchise’s borderline illiteracy is like running down elderly pedestrians in the crosswalk: it’s such a sure thing that there’s no real sport it in.

But still—it’s so much fun.

Here’s what I found a while ago:

Evidently we’ve added a new state to the union.

Secure government job?

You’ll recall the various phishing emails I’ve had, purporting to be from the USPS, but probably from some rather less service-oriented sender.

Now they’re offering me a job:

It’s only marginally more illiterate than some of the emails I’ve had from recruiters, and not really so much more preposterous than some of the same.

But still—I don’t believe I’ll try any of the emails associated with this.

TJ's stand

I came across this sign planted about six feet in front of the exit of the Sunnyvale Trader Joe’s store:

The location of the sign is precisely where I’ve often seen people sat with collection boxes for one charity or another.

Interesting to me that TJ’s tolerated the organizations for some time—I guess I thought that what they’re calling “the apron” was the property of the shopping center landlord and therefore not under their control.

Apparently I was wrong, and they’re now taking a stand. 

Also interesting that the sign is hand-written, therefore not a corporate effort.

Well, they must have got complaints.

Pas de Maru, Pt. 3

You may not be aware of this but there was an Internet cat video festival last month. People actually gathered at the Walker Art Museum in Minneapolis to watch a curated collection of videos that people took of their cats and posted to the Web.

Then they voted on the “best cat video”.

While I’m sure it was as tough to decide amongst all the submissions as it is for AMPAS members to vote on the Best Picture Oscar, the Golden Kitty award went to…Henri, le chat existential.

(Maru was in the running, but his film was more of a live short, as opposed to the film noir that Henri’s tale represents.)

In case you’ve forgotten about Henri since I last posted about him, here’s the winning vid:

You can find some of the also-rans here. What do you think; did the people choose wisely?

Crime & punishment

My dentist has a somewhat puckish sense of humor. Witness this sign in the parking lot outside her office:

I will say that I certainly don't park in that space.

Laboring under no illusions

I pretty much said all I can say on the subject of labor in my post for Labor Day last year. So this time around I’ll just point out that it’s not looking good for those of us who have to work for a living.

There are a lot of people facing layoffs in the coming months, from companies ranging from HP to Food Lion. These figures only cover private sector jobs; these folks will be joining thousands of government workers on the unemployment line.

Think about this when you cast your vote in a couple of months.