Woman struck, killed by train - it's the one I take every day (not at that time). They still haven't identified the woman or whether it was a suicide or not. There are only two reasons to be crossing the Caltrain tracks - 1. You really, really want to die, or 2. You're stupid or in the care of someone really stupid. There are several big warning signs; one of them says "Tracks are for trains", which always makes me think of "Trix are for kids", for some reason.
We had our "holiday lunch" today. I know, I know, we're two months late; what can I say, we were really busy. My secret Santa gift was really nice - I got a Death Cab for Cutie CD and a gift certificate to Borders. Guess what's across the street from my workplace?
The short cab ride there was hilarious. Do you know how many liberal rants you can cover in ten minutes? Our cab driver was very nice, but as soon as we got settled in, we were captive to his opinions on Social Security, the State of the Union address, big oil, poverty, Katrina, etc. until he dropped us off in front of the restaurant. I now know more about his politics than many people I talk to everyday, like my coworkers. (On the other hand, I work in a pretty liberal company.)
I seem to keep having some variation of this conversation with people:
Me: Could you please get me an apple?
Other: Here's an orange.
Me: Thanks, but that's not what I asked for. Could you please get me an apple?
Other: But I gave you an orange.
Me: I know, but that's not what I need. I really need an apple.
Other: It's the same thing, really. Have the orange.
On the way home, I picked up
SFBG for some light reading on the train ride home. I read
Tim Redmond's editorial, and had to put the paper down, because it was the most moronic thing I have read in a while. In the editorial, he compares
Craig Newmark, the guy who runs
Craigslist, to Wal-Mart, because
When Craig comes to town (and he's coming to just about every town in the nation soon), the existing community institutions – say, the locally owned weekly newspaper – have a very hard time competing. In many ways, he's like a Wal-Mart – yeah, landlords get cheaper real estate ads, and consumers find some bargains, but the money all goes out of town. And he puts nothing back into the community: He doesn't, for example, hire reporters or serve as a community watchdog.I mean, really, how's that for hyperbole? I admit that I feel pretty defensive about craigslist, because I owe a lot to it. I got my job, apartment, and a bunch of furniture through craigslist, and I didn't have to pay a dime for any of it. (Well, some for the furniture, but not much, and it's not like any of that actually went to Newmark.) Craig Newmark's given back plenty to the community - I mean,
craigslist itself was created initially because he wanted "connect with people better".
The whole thing just seemed like sour grapes. Is Craig Newmark hiring illegal immigrants? Is he outsourcing labor? Is he paying subpar wages to his employees? How, exactly, is he actually acting like Wal-Mart, besides being successful?
The alt-weeklies and mainstream print papers are all terrified of how he's going to basically shut them down or something, but I have yet to see them offer an alternative that's even close or better than what craigslist offers. If I wanted to look for a job, the only ones I would find in the alt-weeklies are for bartending or egg donation. If I wanted an apartment, I'm stuck reading acronyms for exorbitant San Francisco lunchbox apartments in a tiny 1 inch ad, and if I wanted to buy some cheap furniture from someone the person posting the ad would probably spend more than I'm willing to pay for it.
This rest of this week's SFBG sucked as well. That editorial irritated me a lot.
I should be cleaning up.
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