Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...

[vansmack]

Originally posted by Venerable Bede:
  i hear they've got a great burger king there.

Is that all we hear?

[vansmack]

Whoa!  Even I didn't see this one coming...
 
 Best Buy to Aquire Napster for $121 Million
 By AJA CARMICHAEL
 September 15, 2008 9:12 a.m.
 
 
 Best Buy Inc. has agreed to buy Napster Inc. for $121 million, a deal that the consumer-electronics giant said it will use to reach new customers.
 
 The deal, which includes $67 million of cash and short-term investments on Napster's books, values the provider of digital music at $2.65 a share, nearly double Friday's closing price of $1.36.
 
 The acquisition, which is set to close in the fourth quarter, includes Napster's 700,000 digital entertainment subscribers, Web-based customer-service platform and mobile capabilities.
 
 "Best Buy intends to use Napster's capabilities and digital subscriber base to reach new customers with an enhanced experience for exploring and selecting music and other digital entertainment products over an increasing array of devices," said Best Buy President and Chief Operating Officer Brian Dunn.
 
 Best Buy has been expanding its wireless products and services, rolling out cellphone departments to all of its U.S. stores. In May, the consumer electronics retailer paid $2.1 billion to form a joint venture with U.K.-based Carphone Warehouse Group PLC.
 
 Napster said Chief Executive Chris Gorog and the company's senior executives will remain in their posts. The company does not plan to relocate its Los Angeles headquarters.
 
 In late May, Napster began selling songs in the unrestricted MP3 format, a move the company hoped would bolster its position against Apple Inc.'s iTunes and Amazon.com Inc.'s online store. Napster also continued selling restricted tracks via its subscription service.
 
 Shares of Best Buy fell 3.3% to $43.01 in premarket trading amid broad weakness caused by the weekend's unprecedented developments in the financial sector.

[vansmack]

So The Director and I are currently marvelling at how amazing the Video for ZZ Tops "Legs" has held up over time.  It should be a crappy 80's video, but has remarkably stood the test of time, despite clearly being filmed in a Jersey strip mall.
 
 It's also a little known fact that the guy who plays the cook and hero in the blue hooded vest is, in fact, GGW.

[vansmack]

Venerable was kind enough to share this with me, and it's a really good article (despite my personal feelings about Mr. Hitchens).  
 
 My only point of contention is how he spins this as a potential problem for liberals and Obama at the end.  This is exactly what those familiar with Foreign Policy and National Security but opposed to the Iraq war have been warning against from day one, and that's exactly how I would sell it.  
 
 We could have avoided the upcoming Pakistan-Afghanistan war if we had stayed the course and not been distracted by the Iraq war - which has proved fruitless on the war on terror and keeping the price of oil down.  It's not more war necessarily, it's further war that could have been unecessary but for the neo-con strategy to weaken the attack on Al Qaeda and invade Iraq, where Al Qaeda was not present until after the invasion.
 
 Pakistan Is the Problem
 And Barack Obama seems to be the only candidate willing to face it.
 By Christopher Hitchens
 Posted Monday, Sept. 15, 2008, at 12:04 PM ET

[sweetcell]

a thing sweetcell is fairly certain smackie will want to know

[vansmack]

Originally posted by sweetcell:
  a thing sweetcell is fairly certain smackie will want to know

Please, who hasn't been in love with a stripper at one time or another.  I want to know what you did with that love.

[sweetcell]

slightly disappointing news about the HTC Dream: same price as iPhone.  despite its potentially better features and software, it'll be hard to catch up to the iPhone's first-mover advantage.  a lower price would have helped.  i'm not convinced that the pricing on T-Mobile's data packages is going to be that much better than AT&T's.
 
     

Originally posted by vansmack:
 Please, who hasn't been in love with a stripper at one time or another.  I want to know what you did with that love.

according to the article, she did quite a bit... persued her, had a relationship with her.  i'm not sure my brain can handle the full details.  might explode.

[Venerable Bede]

Originally posted by vansmack:
   

Originally posted by sweetcell:
  a thing sweetcell is fairly certain smackie will want to know

Please, who hasn't been in love with a stripper at one time or another.  I want to know what you did with that love. [/b]

but what is one of smackie's rules about strippers?  stay away from the russians.

[vansmack]

Originally posted by sweetcell:
  slightly disappointing news about the HTC Dream: same price as iPhone.  despite its potentially better features and software, it'll be hard to catch up to the iPhone's first-mover advantage.  a lower price would have helped.  i'm not convinced that the pricing on T-Mobile's data packages is going to be that much better than AT&T's.

I've had my HTC Touch Diamond for less than 24 hours but I'm already really impressed - without a doubt the best WinMo I've ever used.  I decided to not be part of first release software of Android as I'm now down to just one phone.  Tough to debug when it's your only means of communication.
 
 I couldn't hold out for the HTC Touch HD, but I'm quite certain that will be the next phone for Smackette.

[vansmack]

Casual readers,
 
 I have clearly been derelict of my duties to update and inform on all that is important in the world today.   There have been incredible developments in Pakistan that I just havenâ??t found time to write aboutâ?¦
 
 Time I would normally have spent putting my thoughts together for lectures or publications that I share here has been spent on the upcoming election, but I will no longer be spending my spare time on the election.  I will spend every waking moment on the election.
 
 Starting next week, I have been asked to join the Obama campaign full time and will soon take a 6 week leave from my job to work in Ohio.  I wonâ??t be posting here during that time, but I look forward to sharing a lot of my experiences when I return November 6.  If you wish to contact me to see how you can help out or get my thoughts on something, you can send me an email vansmack@msn.com.
 
 And Most importantly â?? vote on Nov 4.  Itâ??s none of my business who you vote for, but please take the time to research the issues and make an informed decision about who youâ??d like to have lead this country for the next 4 years.  Weâ??re never going to all agree on the solutions, but if we all take the time to understand the issues and compare each candidates policies, weâ??ll find a lot more unity than we think.
 
 Go Angels!
 
 Smackie

[godsshoeshine]

woah good luck.
 
 what part of ohio?

[brennser]

thats awesome smackie!! congrats - should we expect to see you as sec of education when Barry wins?

[Julian, Alleged Computer F**kface]

This is half a step above spending 6 weeks of your life rallying the Hitler Youth Army. I'm so glad I live in a "swing" state and you idiots don't.

[godsshoeshine]

i live in the same state as you

[Julian, Alleged Computer F**kface]

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
  i live in the same state as you

Yeah, but since you're an Obama supporter, I'm sure you'll be distracted by the November 3rd kegger and too hung over to vote. Or alternately, write in "Colbert/Stewart 08."