In other April Fools news, "AdBlock inturduses CatBlock."

Meow.

Bitchez.

Here's an interesting question ( sorry if it might be stale by now ):

Suppose Trayvon had been carrying a gun, and had 'stood his ground' when confronted by irrational watchman Zimmerman? Zimmerman would be dead.. and would Trayvon be arrested? Justified?

Would anybody be surprised if the Republican convention turns violent?

Ugh, new logo. I always kinda liked the seahawks logo and had hoped the "touch of grey" was indicating a reversion back to the old color scheme. Whatever. The lotto player being "stuck in head" typo is funny. Gosh, I'm juvenile & immature.

@4, one can only hope.

Shit, typo apparently fixed. Or perhaps I just imagined it.

Just because Amazon sells $1,500 worth of goods, that doesnt mean it earns 100% profit. Their profit margins are quite small (unlike Microsoft) and the company constantly uses those profits to invest in itself and technology. Seattle was chosen because of the frugal nature of the company.

ALSO except for that $10 million Bezos gave to the Seattle Museum of History & Industry, or the 35 million in global relief Amazon has collected on behalf of charities since 9/11, or the largest developemnt project downtown, or the thousands of jobs Amazon brings to the city, or the 30+ local charities that received $ from Amazon out of the blue, I mean other than that they really dont bring much to the table.

@4: You can bet that they're very prepared.

I am very confused:
As part of the celebratory rioting, "young people set couches and two cars ablaze". They're in the streets, I get the cars, but where did the couches come into play?

@4, I'm picturing riots after the nomination is finalized, with drunken repubs flipping smart cars and setting random furniture on fire. It's amusing, but doesn't seem likely.

White Supremacist Hacks Into Trayvon Martin's Email, Leaks Everything Online

The hacker, who goes by the name of Klanklannon, leaked private messages from Martin's Facebook account on 4chan. In addition to the messages, he posted the information for the accounts as well for proof, after changing the passwords to racist slurs. According to Gawker:

"The messages were posted on four slides, strategically arranged to back up the insane racist argument that Trayvon was a Scary Black Teenager and so somehow deserved to be killed by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman that night.

A slide titled "Trayvon Martin Used Marijuana Habitually," features an exchange between Trayvon and a friend about getting high. Another slide, "Trayvon Martin was a Drug Dealer" features Facebook messages and photos that supposedly prove Martin dealt drugs, including a picture of Martin posing "aggressively with a large amount of cash in his hand." It's impossible to verify the hacked messages' authenticity—like other anti-Trayvon Martin propaganda, they're probably a mix of real and fake content— but they are now being passed around as gospel among the racist underbelly of the internet, including message boards like the neo-Nazi hive Stormfront, which Klanklannon apparently frequents."

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2012/…

#7

Amazon's profit margins fell from a reasonable (for a retailer) 2% to about half a percent, in part due to the heavy investment in Kindle Fires.

The profit and the stock are two different stories.

Amazon could grow by basically undercutting local booksellers. They did this with cheap postal rates and non-payment of sales tax.

So, did they create jobs or destroy them.

Bezos makes his money from the stock price which is based on the expectation of continued high growth.

He is also one of the Iconic Billionaires who constantly must prove his position in the Pantheon with high profile deeds of nobility. However, searching for 1960s rocket engines? Not really sure if it qualifies.

And look at the hard time Zuckerberg is having trying to justify his pilfering of people's 401ks.

Yes, with Big Tech Portals still trying to recover the glory days of the late 1990s and maybe even Ben Bernanke running out of ink, the God$ may indeed be crazy.

@9 Couch burning is a big thing among guys in frats.

Even the coaches were fighting in the last three minutes of the Philadelphia Flyers - Pittsburgh Penguins linebrawl today, no foolin'. I don't expect much civility from Rick Santorum's home state. I hope these teams face off in the first round.

@11 that is a good point about job creation/loss. Though taking into account all Amazon jobs and not just locally, then you'd also have to count AWS (which is an astronomical chunk of the web), their distribution centers, and such. I would say in total there is more job growth than loss.

I agree with the rocket quest. Bezos is an odd egg and invests in technology, innovation, and exploration. It's his cash so whatever.

I'm tired of hearing about how much Amazon sucks because they dont give to the arts. I agree that the arts is an important part of our culture, I do not agree that every rich person is responsible for funding them.

It doesnt mean a company is bad, irresponsible, or we should bad press them out of the city because their philapitrol principles dont align with your own. (not your own, but you get what mean)

I may have just made up a word...

@12 Given the number of basically free crappy couches on craigslist and abandoned around colleges when people leave, they might as well be used as firewood.

@16, given the number of basically free crappy couches with sex stains/presumed sex stains/butt-crumbs/animal hair, I agree.

@12, thanks!
@16, that makes a great deal of sense.
@17, ewwwww

RIOT, the unbeatable high

RE: The Bellingham marina fire - the City of Bellingham sold their fire boat recently due to budget cuts. The question needs to be asked, would the missing couple still be alive if the Bellingham Fire Department still had the MV Fire Belle to fight marine fires?

@20 - Exactly. I have relatives that used to be in the BFD, and they are PISSED at the administration.