Subject: Re: Incoming Message
Date: September 13, 2005 2:30:23 PM EDT
To: [Danielle]
Sorry Danielle... if you're getting messages that *seem* to be coming from
me, I assure you it's a spammer that's using my e-mail address. I don't know
you,
either.
- Lou
On Sep 13, 2005, at 2:04 PM, Danielle wrote:
I do not know who this is so please stop emailing me.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lou
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2005 4:41 AM
To: Madeof
Subject: Re: Incoming Message
Please, read the document.
Re-reading the text of the original message, I realize that Danielle
probably received a worm or a virus. Hopefully, she didn't read the document.
I've received a lot of e-mail using spoofed sender addresses. I've always
wondered who those people are, but I've never bothered to write any of them.
I'd hate to see poor Danielle's in-box.
:::
My latest creation
is EileenWeitzman.com.
Everything, from domain registration to design, slide scanning and coding,
was done by yours truly.
I'm pretty happy with it. I've had
some projects where it seemed that the client hijacked the design process.
That didn't happen here. There were some compromises, but they were good
ones. I'm glad she pushed me to take a second cut at the animation. I discovered
that you can drag masked PSD files into Flash, and the transparency is preserved.
:::
Speaking of Flash, I'm finally in Joshua Davis' advanced Flash course at SVA
— after about three years of trying. I got the last seat in a course that perennially
fills up within about a week. Totally psyched.
:::
Our Bodies, Our Ad Space, Part Deux
A t-shirt I spotted yesterday read ‘Got Soul?’ It was in the same font as the
famous ‘Got Milk’ ads. Nicely done. In the 60s, ‘soul’ was a black thing. Not
anymore.
The day before, on the subway, a woman's shirt rode up enough to reveal about
two inches of her midriff. Her back was turned to me, and in that famous lower-back
location [Didn't they make a joke about that in the ‘Wedding Crashers’ trailer?],
a tattoo spanned almost the entire breadth of her hips. Written in a lettering
style
strongly
reminiscent
of blackletter were
the words ‘Spank Me.’ She didn't seem open to comment.
September 6: A woman on Court Street wore a black shirt with white lettering.
The front read ‘I'm cute in front;’ the back: ‘I'm sexy in back.’ I'm wondering
if the design might have been more fun with the front and back slogans exchanged.
8/26: a teen-ager in the Berkshires wore a shirt proclaiming ‘A little drama
never hurt anyone.’
:::
Who Hears in a Senate Hearing?
The Kabuki dance that is the confirmation of John Roberts for Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court continues. Reports indicate that Roberts is ‘on a glide
path toward Senate confirmation.’ From what little I've heard of the hearings
(not nearly as compelling as the Clarence Thomas brawl), it seems the senators
like to hear themselves talk, more than ask questions. Hearings often seem
like eavesdropping on contentious conversation at a big banquet, where monologues
masquerade as questions, and people often interrupt.
John Dean just put out an op-ed
piece on Roberts, opposing his confirmation.
The Democratic Party has come out with a web-based
tool for writing opposition
letters to local newspaper editors. It's clever, but it seems too late; or
is that simply the press exerting influence again? Roberts may be a Supreme
for 40 years.
Stay tuned for the Katrina hearings
— a 10-part mini series coming soon.
:::
Federal Govt, LLC
In a rare turn of face, Bush actually said that he ‘took responsibility’ for
the fuck-ups by the Federal Government in the aftermath of Katrina. Keep in
mind
that he's only taking limited responsibility. It's funny how he says
he won't play the ‘blame game,’ leaving it to his cronies to independently engage
in same on his behalf. Smacks of the Nixon doctrine of plausible deniability.
An interesting article in the New York Observer: In
Washington, Lies, Third Worldliness— George W. as Imelda M.
One
of the issues that's coming to light is how FEMA was rolled into
Homeland Security, and gutted of emergency response capability in the process.
Does Bush take responsibility for that, or only the after-the-fact blunders
on the ground; in essence, taking responsibility for the effect, but not the
cause...
:::
But, How About Some Perspective?
The A.P. article, Truth
Is Casualty of Katrina's Aftermath is a good read. It
attempts to dampen some of the category-five spin emanating from politicos
scattered widely across the political landscape. All are busy doing damage
control
on
their
careers,
and
trying
to
make
points for their party.
It underscores the problem that the press often propagates misinformation
(and even disinformation), but rarely goes back to set the record straight.
For example, did you know that the Asian bird flu turned out to be a lot less
contagious than thought at first?
People are taking the dissemination of information into their own hands with
blogs and e-mail. The power of ‘The Press’ is becoming personal. The timeline
below is being e-mailed around the country many
times over. It is shaping peoples' personal realities.
Day 1: Monday, August 29:
Hurricane Katrina
slams
into Gulf. At 10:00AM, President Bush arrives
at
the Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort in Arizona. Later that afternoon, he appears
in Rancho Cucamonga,
Calif. for a similar, light-hearted event, where
he
chats with seniors about his plan for
prescription
drug benefits.
Day 2: Tuesday, August 30:
The first glimpse of
damage is impressive. Whole communities have been
wiped out. New Orleans is flooding. There is no
water or toilet facility in the dome. Reports of
death are coming in. The levee is breached in New
Orleans. Where is our president during this? He is back in
El
Mirage, Arizona celebrating John McCain's
birthday.
Later that afternoon he delivers another speech,
this time about immigration. Even later that
afternoon, he is again back in California playing
to
his preferred audience at the San Diego Naval
Base,
where he accepts the gift of a guitar. The photo
says it all–Bush strums while New Orleans
floods.
Day 3: Wednesday, August 31:
Cries for a
helicopter
drop of water are getting louder. Thousands are
at
the Convention Center without food, water, or
toilet
facilities. The situation is nearly the same at
the
Superdome. After allowing American citizens to go
three days without water because of prior
commitments, Bush finally directs Homeland
Security
Secretary Cherthoff to coordinate all federal
assistance from Washington and puts FEMA Director
Mike Brown in charge of all federal response
and
recovery efforts in the field.
Day 4: Thursday, September 1:
Helicopter
arrives
at
the convention center in the presence of TV
cameras.
They have a few hundred bottles of water and a
few
MREs for the thousands of thirsty evacuees. Two
babies and several elderly have died. Television
cameras leave. No more helicopters or water
appears.
Day 5: Friday, September 2:
As he comes under
growing criticism and as the death toll mounts,
he
leaves for another fly-over with better press
coverage. During the president's visit, all air
drops of food, water, and needed supplies are
stopped. No one is evacuated or rescued from
oven-like roofs or attics for several hours. The
area has become a no-fly-zone.
This is day five
without water or food or a clean place to lie
down. That evening, according to a Dutch citizen who
viewed German TV reports and blogged the
translation
of its coverage said, “the president's visit was
a
completely staged event. Their crew (ZDF's)
witnessed how the open-air food distribution
point
Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn
down
immediately after the president and the herd of
'news people' had left and that others which were
allegedly being set up were abandoned at the same
time. The people in the area were once again left
to
fend for themselves, said ZDF TV.”
Day 6: Saturday, September 3:
Senator
Landrieu
issues the following press release: “Touring this
critical site yesterday with the President, I saw
what I believed to be a real and significant
effort
to get a handle on a major cause of this
catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again
this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became
apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily
prepared stage set for a presidential photo
opportunity; and the desperately needed resources
we
saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely
piece of equipment.”
Day 7: Sunday, September 04, 2005:
Homeland
Security
Secretary appears on Sunday Morning talk shows
defending the administration and all of its
efforts
and applauds FEMA and others for jobs well done
under the most pressing of circumstances.
:::
12:30pm
Me: Hello?
Recorded message: Health insurance rates are going up in your ar... [click]
