:: Event Horizon ::

:: Thursday, July 03, 2003 ::

10 Things to Celebrate
As we head into the Independence Day holiday weekend, I’d like to leave you with this inspiring news report from the online San Francisco Gate, titled 10 Things To Celebrate: Why I’m An Anti-anti-American by Dinesh D’Sousa. Happy 4th of July, happy birthday America!

:: Joel 1:53 PM [+] ::
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Blogathon 2003
This is a really interesting idea. I’m not sure I would want to participate, but I would certainly sponsor a blogger. I like the idea that you can find a blogger who supports you favorite charity.

:: Joel 3:21 PM [+] ::
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N. Korea Threatens to Abandon Armistice
According to AP World News: "North Korea threatened on Tuesday to abandon the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War, and warned that it will take "merciless retaliatory measures" in response to any economic blockade." I wonder at what point they pass from mere bluster to actual threat? I hope we are taking this seriously.

:: Joel 4:30 PM [+] ::
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Americans Rush to Block Telemarketers
I finally got in and registered for the do-not-call list. I get a huge amount of telemarketing calls and definitely see the need for this. I try to be polite when I receive the phone calls, but I don’t always succeed. But, I do try, as I also see the other side. Yes, I was a telemarketer. I hang my head in shame. One summer I worked as a telemarketer for my university, the Annual Fund they called it. Our job was to call up alumni and ask for money. Of course, we were not supposed to be that direct, we had a script to follow. We presented ourselves in a nice and cheerful manner, we duped them into thinking we were calling from the university to tell them about all the new and exciting things that were happening on campus…and then we hit them up for money. Our script called for us to invite them to join various donor clubs, starting from the largest contribution amount and then working our way down. The really cold part about it is that we were not supposed to let them deter us in reading the entire script, if they said no to the first donor club we had to proceed to invite them to join the second, and then the third, and so on. No matter what they said, we had to keep going. Our supervisors (think dominatrix sorority girls) walked behind us on the calling floor to listen to us as we did the dark deed. If we departed too much from the script or let them off the hook too easily, it was counted against us. I remember one call in particular, I had called a lady who had graduated some years earlier (our computers told us when they graduated, what their major was, what clubs and activities they were in so we could use that info as talking points) and started in on the script when she interrupted me to say that it was not a good time for her, as her husband had just died. I was about to apologize for calling and end the call when I realized that my supervisor was standing behind me, so I said something sympathetic and then continued with the script. It was inhuman. That was when I realized that telemarketing was fundamentally an immoral invasion of privacy. I now deeply regret the time I worked there, calling people out of the blue, interrupting their dinner to beg for money for an institution that would waste the money on parking garages anyway instead of hiring new faculty. I’ve come to realize now that my phone is mine, I pay for it, it is there for me to talk to my family and friends, it is not a tool of commerce for others to use to sell me something. The do-not-call list is a good first step, but I would like to see us reach a point where it is illegal. The legal basis for this is respect for private property, something we used to hold as sacred in this country. My private property should not be used against me by others, nor should my personal information be traded without my permission. I am now a rabid consumer privacy advocate, hoping to make atonement for having briefly crossed over to the Dark Side. So, let us be bold and fearless in the face of well financed corporate lobbyists as we raise the banner high: Down With Telemarketers!

:: Joel 12:53 PM [+] ::
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