IT'S A SECRET
July 2010
USA TODAY: Verizon to offer iPhone in January! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! →
usatoday.com
Um, not that I would get an iPhone.
Not at all.
Nope.
Maybe.
Verizon Wireless will start selling Apple’s iPhone next year, ending AT&T’s U.S. exclusive on the phone, say two people familiar with the plans.
The device will be available to customers in January, according to the people, who declined to be named because the information isn’t public. Natalie Kerris, an Apple spokeswoman, and Jeffrey Nelson, a Verizon Wireless spokesman, declined to comment. AT&T also declined to comment. USA TODAY was unable to independently verify the reports.
Speculation on a Verizon iPhone has been rampant in the tech blogosphere. If the reports are true, the iPhone, which has been the sole domain of rival AT&T in the U.S. since June 2007, will give Verizon a boost in its smartphone competition, UBS analyst John Hodulik says. Verizon customers, who numbered 92.8 million at the end of the first quarter, may buy 3 million iPhones a quarter, he says.
“Apple is going to dramatically increase the number of devices it sells in the U.S. when exclusivity at AT&T ends,” Hodulik says. “It’s hard to ignore the quality issues that AT&T has faced.”
Verizon Wireless, which is building a high-speed fourth-generation network, plans to unveil several devices that will run on the new technology in January at the Consumer Electronics Show, CEO Lowell McAdam has said. Verizon’s CDMA-based wireless network differs from the GSM technology AT&T’s network is based on.
I am INCREDIBLY happy with Sprint AND have 14 months left on my contract AND I don’t have several hundred dollars to spend on a phone AND YET…
AHHHHH I HEARD THIS ON THE RADIO THIS MORNING I AM SO EXCITED
This is great news I just don’t think I can handle another 7 months of my 3G just to avoid paying an ETF if I renewed with AT&T to get the new phone (which I haven’t yet). I didn’t really like Verizon when I used them about 5 years ago but I’m sure things have changed since. A wait & see.
i have been waiting for this day since the day i realized i really wanted an i phone.
i don’t want to get too exited because i don’t even know if it would be possible for me to get one, but i REALLY want one. i played with the new iphone at the apple store today and almost died, it’s the most perfect phone that has ever happened.
stop calling I don't want to talk anymore: Day 6 — A stranger →
allmybubbledreamz.tumblr.com
I think I might have skipped a day? maybe today is day 7? I’m not sure, but I’ll just stick with this.
Dear Stranger,
Just remember that everyone is human. All those times you scoff at those sales associates in stores - just remember they have lives, families, and feelings. Remember that…
seriously people be nice. i work retail, yes it sucks, yes i get totally abused by people who think i am less than them. it really blows.
“Turn on the television. We have a wedding channel on cable TV devoted to the behavior of people on the way to the altar. They spend billions of dollars, behave in the most appalling way, all in an effort to be princess for a day. You don’t have cable television? Put on network TV. We’re giving away husbands on a game show. You can watch The Bachelor, where thirty desperate women will compete to marry a 40-year-old man who has never been able to maintain a decent relationship in his life. That’s what we’ve done to marriage in America, where young women are socialized from the time they’re five years old to think of being nothing but a bride. They plan every day what they’ll wear, how they’ll look, the invitations, the whole bit, they don’t spend five minutes thinking about what it means to be a wife. People stand up there before god and man even in Senator Diaz’s church, they swear to love honor and obey, they don’t mean a word of it. So if there’s anything wrong with the sanctity of marriage in America, it comes from those of us who have the privilege and the right and have abused it for decades.”
—
Diane Savino, NY State Senator (via gayformarriage) (via fuckyeahlgbt) (via darkmovesoflove) (via chaichangechaos) (via reenamonster) (via naomiwaxman) (via jerseyjezebel)
Seriously, I don’t get how people still think they can use the argument about it being “for the sanctity of marriage” for being against gay marriage. You’re just anti-gay, you’re not TRULY just upset about the sanctity of marriage in this country.
(via lostgrrrls)
Email from Woot CEO after Amazon acquisition
What he said. Read. NOW!
Amazing.
brit:
I’m dying laughing. This is one of the best company emails I’ve ever read.
(Full post at TechCrunch)
Date: Weds, 30 June 2010
From: Matt Rutledge (CEO – Woot.com)
To: All Woot Employees
Subject: Woot and AmazonI know I say this every time I find a picture of an adorable kitten, but please set aside 20 minutes to carefully read this entire email. Today is a big day in Woot history. This morning, I woke up to find Jeff Bezos the Mighty had seized our magic sword. Using the Arthurian model as a corporate structure was something our CFO had warned against from the very beginning, but now that’s water under the bridge. What is important is that our company is on the verge of becoming a part of the Amazon.com dynasty. And our plans for Grail.Woot are on indefinite hold.
Over the next few days, you will probably read headlines that say “Matt Rutledge revealed to be monstrous pseudo-human creation of Jeff Bezos.” You might even see this photo making the rounds. Rest assured that these rumors have nothing to do with our final decision. We think now is the right time to join with Amazon because, quite simply, every company that becomes a subsidiary gets two free downloads until the end of July, and we very much need that new thing with Trent Reznor’s wife on our iPods.
Other than that, we plan to continue to run Woot the way we have always run Woot – with a wall of ideas and a dartboard. From a practical point of view, it will be as if we are simply adding one person to the organizational hierarchy, except that one person will just happen to be a billion-dollar company that could buy and sell each and every one of you like you were office furniture. Nevertheless, don’t worry that our culture will suddenly take a leap forward and become cutting-edge. We’re still going to be the same old bottom-feeders our customers and readers have come to know and love, and each and every one of their pre-written insult macros will still be just as valid in a week, two weeks, or even next year. For Woot, our vision remains the same: somehow earning a living on snarky commentary and junk.
We are excited about doing this for all sorts of reasons. One, our business model is so vague that there’s no way Amazon can possibly change what it is we’re truly doing: preparing the way for the rise of the Lava Men in 2012. Also, our deal means that Jason Toon will finally be released from that Mexican jail owned by Zappos honcho Tony Hsieh. No, don’t lie, Tony, we’ve seen the paperwork. And we need a powerful ally in case Steve Jobs finally breaks down and comes after us for all our Apple jokes over the years. Don’t think of it as a buyout; think of it as NATO!
I will go through each of the above points in more detail later, but first, let me get to the top 5 burning questions that I’m guessing many of you will have.
TOP 5 BURNING QUESTIONS:
Q: F1RST!!!!
A: Okay, that’s not a question, but it is a good place to mention that our forums will still be policed by a team of moderators, as before. And also, Woot’s previous and always-in-effect privacy policy will still be just as always-in-effect, so don’t worry, there are no plans to suddenly give up or merge your forum data.Q: Is Snapster leaving?
A: Are you kidding? He’s out the door about ten seconds after that check clea- that is to say, Snapster will continue as Woot.com CEO, just like before, and the rest of our staff’s not going anywhere either. Woot and all our various sites will continue to be an independently operated company full of horrible, useless products and an untalented jerkface writing staff, same as it ever was.Q: Will the Woot culture change?
A: Amazon is interested in us because they recognize the value of our people, our brand, and our unique style of deep-tissue, toxin-releasing massage. And they don’t want to start changing things now. Amazon’s hoping our nutty Woot steez continues to grow and develop (and perhaps even rubs off on them a little). They’re not looking to have their folks come in and run Woot unless we ask them to, which incidentally you can do by turning off the bathroom lights and saying the word “Kindle” three times; a helpful Amazon employee will appear in the mirror. That said, Amazon clearly knows what they’re doing in a lot of areas, so we’re geeked about the opportunities to tap into that knowledge and those resources, especially on the technology side. This is about making the Woot brand, culture, and business even stronger than it is today, and we expect that any changes will be for the better or we wouldn’t bother with this endless paperwork.Q: Where can I get one of those vuvuzelas?
A: Are you even paying attention?
Several months ago, when we were all sitting on Jeff Bezos’s bumper drinking orange Mad Dog and trying not to be noticed, we heard a voice in the distance yelling “You kids better not scratch my Mercedes or I’m calling the cops!” We ran. It was later that night when Amazon came by the house and said they liked our style and also wanted to get that money we owed them for messing up the chrome. We like to think that our relationship with Amazon will continue at this level for many, many, many years to come.
But we here at Woot are still a thoughtful company, so, at the end of the day, I watched the sunset, and its golden-hued glory made me think about two questions:1) Is there really a universal deity?
2) Does such a thing preclude free will or are we humans in control of our own destiny?
After spending a lot of time falling asleep at the library while facing the philosophy books, I determined that the concept of destiny is a construct that allows man a gentle release from facing the terror of his existence, and that a Hyundai full of twenties would pretty much offer the same benefits. And so, I ultimately said YES!
This is definitely an emotional day for me. The feelings I’m experiencing are similar to what I felt in college on graduation day: excitement about getting a check from my folks combined with nausea from a hellacious bender the night before. I remember fondly that time when an RA turned on the lights and yelled “WHO OWNS THESE PANTS?” Except this time, the pants are a company, and the RA is you, and the sixty five hours of community service is a deal that will ensure the Woot.com experience can continue to grow for years and years and years, like a black mold behind the Gold Box. Join us, because together, we can rule the galaxy as father and son. Also, there will be six muffins waiting in the company break room, courtesy of the nice folks at Amazon.com. Welcome to the family!
Matt Rutledge
CEO, Woot
this is hilarious.
June 2010
Play
Tell 'Em
Sleigh Bells
(via doug)
Sleigh Bells || “Tell ‘Em”
just got tickets to see sleigh bells in july with a dude i pretty heavily dig. this day has turned itself around.
YO!! you guys totally have to meet up with me and will either before or after!
Secret law gives police extra powers for G20 →
ca.news.yahoo.com
(via sisterspock)
A regulation allowing police to stop and search anyone coming within five metres of the summit site’s security fence — and arrest them if they fail to show identification — was passed June 2 by a committee of cabinet.
Still, the new rules only came to light after a 31-year-old man was arrested Thursday and detained for five hours.
WHAT
DOUBLE WHAT
so last night was kind of ridiculous.
on every occasion i managed to get ditched.
anywayyy.
we went to a show that my friends were playing at and it was good, but i haven’t been to a punk show since i was like 17, and was a punk and now i’m really really not a punk and i never really realized how not punk i was until i was in a room full of them and realized how much i don’t fit in.
so anyway, i came home, as i already posted, my fucking apartment was trashed, and decided that to make up for no longer being punk, i would break out my old totally tattered ramones t shirt from when i was in 6th grade. (yes it still fits me, no i haven’t grown since 6th grade) i’d take a picture of it,but it honestly hardly even counts as a shirt anymore.
the holes in it are that intense. i had a pet rat for a while, and i guess once i threw my ramones shirt too close to the cage and she pulled it into the cage and used it as a bed and bit all sorts of holes into it and it’s also like 7 years old and i wore it like all the time and you can barely even tell what’s on it.
oh also-woke up this morning to find a bag of chips that i hadn’t opened, were opened and eaten and gone.
Is this still necessary?
So, future grooms asking the father for the daughters “hand” in marriage.
Do we still need this? Is it just culture? Do you think it will ever end?
i think this is outrageous and insane. i could never date anybody who would even consider asking my dad.
anybody else have any thoughts?
Obama internet ‘kill switch’ bill approved
Any action would be limited to 30-day increments and the President must use the “least disruptive means feasible” to respond to the threats. Action extended beyond 120 days would need Congressional approval.
The bill would not give the President the authority to take over the entire internet, target specific websites or conduct electronic surveillance.
“Only specific systems or assets whose disruption would cause a national or regional catastrophe would be subject to the bill’s mandatory security requirements,” the senators wrote.
mhmm… right.
*Stomach lurches*
Uh oh. I have a really bad feeling about this.
this is ridiculous and i hate it. the president needs to gtfo the interwebs.
“
I think the word we need to remove from our everyday vernacular is the word “raped.” I think the word raped gets thrown around far too casually. You ever listen to a bunch of guys playing video games with each other online? It’s like, “Ah man you shot me in the back dude. You raped me dude!”
I’m pretty sure if I talked to a woman who’s been through that horrific situation and I said, “What was it like you know being raped?” She’s not gonna look at me and go ,”Have you ever played Halo?”
” —Hear me Roar: Dane Cook — turning a corner? (via mooserrific)
amen.
(via slightestwind) (via obliviousunction)
(via erikawithac)
(via brave-slut)
am i really agreeing with dane cook about something?
(via pluralisms)
i hate dane cook, but i guess i like one thing that’s ever come out of his mouth…
"gratuitous picture of yourself"
ps i'm going to be in cambridge tomorrow afternoon; if you're free we should get coffee or something!
hell yeah! when? i have work in boston from 3-8, but i will be back in cambridge around 9. i’ll private twitter msg you my digits.
so after having my ass handed to me over smoking a splif in my room last night, i came home from a show tonight to find my entire apartment trashed, empties all over the place, and my kitchen table directly in front of my door.
it’s on guys. you obviously did not choose your first move wisely.
i know you will clean it up tomorrow, but why don’t i smoke pot in the living room and be like, oh sorry it smells, but i’ll totally open the window and spray fabreeze in the morning.
“In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the supervised routine of medical care.”
—[DEA Administrative Law Judge - 1988]”
— Francis Young (via brave-slut)
i want to print this out in like 100 point font and poster it in my kitchen for my roommate.
— Francis Young (via brave-slut)
i want to print this out in like 100 point font and poster it in my kitchen for my roommate.
oh good, i’m glad i’m not the only one that feels like that.
Are bats sneaking into your neighborhood disguised as cute flying squirrels? Rabid Rodent Rip-off, tonight on Sick, Sad World.
(via ineversaidiwasdeep)
so, last night i got chewed the fuck out by my roommate for smoking a splif in my room.
she got SOOOO upset about it and i am super proud because i kept my cool and used her upset against her.
i maintained logic and didn’t let her get to me.
she told me when we moved in that i was never under any circumstances to smoke in the apartment. this was never something i said yes to, i didn’t agree to that, i just didn’t actively try to piss anyone off so, for 10 months i have done as i was asked and i have smoked outside.
i explained to her that she’s gotten her way for 10 months, i’ve explained to her that i have never once asked her to do anything, i have never given her any rules, i’ve never asked her loud ass friends to shut up at 2 in the morning when i can’t sleep and have to get up early the next day.
she has a thousand rules for me. she has a thousand rules for everyone.
so i told her flat out that i’m just not going to be her bitch anymore.
i told her that i have eaten my feelings on numerous accounts, i have had my feelings hurt more just living here than i think i did in all of high school. i have eaten my feelings every time i have come home to find more of my stuff that was in our shared space placed in my room, i have kept my mouth shut when i have had my one shelf in the pantry taken over. i have walked away from her slamming a door in my face and calling me a bitch, i didn’t call her a name, i didn’t yell at her, i went in my room, called my mom, and i sat there and cried for an hour, and then i let it go.
i told her all of these things, and told her that i was trying to compromise with her and tell her that sometimes i would go outside but sometimes i would smoke in my own room.
i told her that i respect her wishes, but that she has gotten her way in totality for 10 months and that for my last 2 months living here, i planned to live the way that i choose.
i told her that i am an adult and that i reserve the right to make my own choices and that i have respected hers, and that i would expect that she would respect mine.
she was livid and got bright red and in the end i won.
nobody really gets why this is such a proud moment for me, but i finally stood up to the evil that i live with and i won.
i usually end up letting my emotions get the best of my logic and i cry and lose, but this time i won, probably because i was stoned out of my mind.
thanks again pot, you really do make life better. <3
i still hate her though, and i still plan on doing something to fuck with the apartment when i leave. thinking about leaving some fish somewhere or just taking something.
anyone have any awesome ideas for pretty silently getting revenge? i don’t care if they realize i did it, i don’t want to do anything gross like use her toothbrush to brush the toilet or anything like that.
i’ve already used her (meat free 100%) pots and pans to cook meat. (first silent revenge).
i have to do something, i am after all my mother’s daughter, and she has always taught me to play nice, but get some fun revenge when someone is an ass, because even if they don’t know you did it, you still know, and it makes you feel better.
if you have any good suggestions you can tell me at www.getmeaway.tumblr.com/ask
Fag →
tinywarrior.livejournal.com
revolutionqueergrrrlstyle:rainbowballz:suddenlyexposed:mutation-:burgersalad:rosieandpeppie:hitoobsessivecompulsive:
Fag
This is what I heard someone call my little boy today. I didn’t ignore it. I asked. I glared. What did you say? The kid muttered under his breath. Nothing. We walked to the car and he was quiet. He’s a boy who takes everything into himself. When he shares, it’s a gift. It has a meaning beyond what it is.
I looked at him, my beautiful nine-year-old boy who grew in my belly as I spent endless hours working with men and women dying of AIDS in Los Angeles. The baby that I jostled and jiggled when I was nine months pregnant, shaking my fat little ass at the Dance-a-thon. All the beautiful queens circled around me under the disco ball and rubbed my belly just like the old Russian women at the K-Mart by the Farmer’s Market. I remember looking at them, these glittering beautiful people smiling and wishing me luck. They are celebrating you, I said to my unborn child.They are celebrating life. It was one of the few nights that I didn’t have to face the practical realities of the other side of the coin, the side where I watched my friends wasting away to nothing.
When I had my baby shower, I was living with a friend who everyone thought was my gay lover. I never cared what anyone thought. We were like sisters. She was a nurse who worked with HIV/AIDS patients. I was a lawyer who didn’t like seeing decent people being bullied and treated like shit. We were comrades in arms. People were suffering so much, being locked out of their apartments, being fired from jobs, being dropped from their insurance, being ignored by their own families. So very few people really cared. It still makes me want to howl with the pain of it all when I remember how horrible it was, how tremendously unfair, how incredibly fucking cruel people could be. My shower was attended by four beautiful fat dykes, nine fabulously gay men, a Liberian woman whose asylum case I’d won that year, and a straight couple that I’d kept in touch with after law school. That next week, my mom came and marched at Pride. We laughed about whether I was going to deliver my baby on the parade route. It was a golden day. It shook me more than usual to hear a nondescript man hiss “faggots” as we walked back to the car with a couple of friends.
When he was a little boy, he would tell me he was going to be a girl. I told him he could be whatever he wanted. I didn’t think anything about it. Kids don’t have much of a concept of gender at two. It’s like my friend’s daughter who told him she was going to grow “big hairy breasts just like Daddy.” A few years later, he was playing the game of Life with his brother and declared that he was going to marry a boy. He was six. His four-year-old brother insisted that he couldn’t marry a boy. He has to marry a girl, doesn’t he, Mom? I told them that each of them could marry a boy or a girl. It doesn’t matter as long as you are happy and a good person. He happily zoomed along in his car with two little plastic blue guys in the front seat. That was the same year that he liked to wear my lip gloss. I didn’t care. I’d hand it over any time he asked for it. There were other small but similar things every once in a while, all noted but not given much weight or concern.
So here was my golden boy, born at a time in my life when I was acutely aware of the powers of both love and hatred, chewing his nails in the backseat, trying not to cry. He looked up at me with his giant green eyes. I could tell he was phrasing his question very carefully, as he is such a precise little boy. “I’m not a fag if I don’t want to have a girlfriend, am I?” He was so quiet and serious. I pulled over and turned around to face him.
I wanted to tell him about the time into which he was born, how so many people loved him, how so many people saw him as the sign of a good and hopeful future they might not live to see. I wanted to tell him how the woman who came into my office after he was born wept with him in her arms and kissed him all over. I didn’t take him from her until he was sleeping and her tears had been replaced with a soft smile. “No one has ever let me touch a baby since I was diagnosed,” she told me in Spanish, “He’s so beautiful. Thank you.”
There are so many stories I will have for him, when he is ready to hear them. I looked at him and said, “You are not a fag, period. It doesn’t matter if you like girls, or if you like boys. It doesn’t matter at all. And you are not a fag no matter what. It’s a hateful word that stupid people use to hurt each other.”
That’s all I could say today. I didn’t know what else to say. Is my son gay? I don’t know. I don’t care. He’ll figure it out. Either way, when he’s old enough to understand, he’ll hear the stories of the year he was born. He’ll know he’s special, and he’ll understand why the word “fag” will never touch him again.
The Greatest Proposal Ever →
indiebliss.com
How amazing is this?
omg i laughed and clapped like a child watching this. SO CUTE.
that was really cute, but honestly i think a lot of this shit is really weird because it’s like we live in this hyper reality where people are doing things for and mimicking things on youtube. it’s just pretty odd if you ask me.
i’ve always had a hard time with grand gestures.
i dated this kid when i was in high school that was really sweet and really nice, but he did too much nice stuff, like on our first date he took me to the beach and we had a picnic at sunset with gourmet goodies and pastries and i was like wtf dude, this is too weird. although his style must have worked for him eventually because he’s a year older than me and has already bought a house, a dog, and is engaged.
Bleeding Pregnant Woman Arrested in Emergency Room (via Women's Rights) →
womensrights.change.org
herzundseele:dominickbrady:abagond:
dontshreadonme:brainguts:fight-war-not-wars:pigisapig:rat-face:i-am-the-lighthouse:padaviya:
Last Sunday, 24 year-old Melanie Williams was driving alone down a Jacksonville, Florida, road. She was seven-and-a-half months pregnant, bleeding, and feeling very faint. Melanie called 911 for help, telling the dispatcher that she felt like she was going to fall out of her car. The dispatcher told Melanie to pull over, but the line went dead and Melanie continued rushing toward the hospital. Her erratic driving caught the attention of the police, who pulled her over. While they were issuing a ticket, Melanie took off for the the hospital.
Here is where the story gets really disturbing. Melanie ran into the emergency room of St. Vincent’s Hospital as she was pursued by two police officers. The officers caught up with her, jumped her, forced her stomach-down onto the floor by kneeling on her back, and then handcuffed her. All of this while Melanie pleaded with them that she bleeding and needed medical help.
FTP, SERIOUSLY
ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME
WTF
Today in Idiotic Facebook Status Updates
[Redacted:] OMG… this is rediculous… OBAMA needs to just resign already… July 1, 2010 the 10% federal UV tanning tax goes into effect. SUCH BS! with underlying racist tones.. reverse racism perhaps?
Yes, Redacted. Obama isn’t trying to fund government programs by taxing an incredibly unhealthy habit that has no discernible benefit and can cause skin cancer and, ultimately, death. What he’s really trying to do is keep the white man down. You know, by keeping him white.
