Shopping as Sheep-like Behavior

Having covered “fashion” in this earlier post it is time to move on to shopping, which is the corporation-preferred activity for any doofus that believes the fashion lie. As a brief review, it is the fashion lie which gets the less-than-logical consumer to throw away perfectly good clothes, cars, appliances, and so on, then to rush right out and buy … Continue reading

Customer “Service”

It seems that the term “Customer Service” is becoming less descriptive of the actual service rendered with every passing day. Especially with larger companies, the experience has become all about the corporation and not about the customer at all. The first and foremost corporate customer service law has become “Thou shalt not admit to any error on behalf of the … Continue reading

Does Big Pharma Really Want to Cure Anything?

I often wonder if scientists are working very hard to find cures. It seems that most of the studies into diseases are paid for by pharmaceutical companies. As far as I can tell, these companies make most of their money from “maintenance” drugs. We are talking about really big money here, well into the hundreds of billions of dollars. If … Continue reading

What Is “Fashion,” Really?

If it is not readily apparent from what I write, and from my photo as it appears when I reply to a comment, I am a guy. Therefore, I am not generally expected to understand “fashion.” I must beg to differ. I understand “fashion” much better than most people do. It is just that my understanding of the phenomenon makes … Continue reading

Thousands of Web “Experts?”

One way to tell if an “expert” is bogus is to ask them a question. It should be a fairly accurate question, not too broad to answer. If their response, no matter how detailed you make the question, is, “Well, it depends” followed by half an hour of bullshit, the person is not an “expert.” One of the things that … Continue reading

The Auto Ad Death Race

Automotive advertising has taken a turn for the lethal. There is no other way for it to end up. These ads, of late, are full of video footage of successful young men driving their (sometimes) mediocre cars at ridiculous speeds through the downtown portions of major metropolitan areas. Even Volvo commercials are doing it. Safety, indeed.You will a see young … Continue reading

Wall Street vs. the Real Economy

I will admit that I don’t really understand all of the ins and outs of economics. I took classes in this subject while at university, and I have read a number of textbooks in the field. I still find some facets of economics to be confusing. However, since I have often heard the experts talk about it, and since they … Continue reading