[arachne] [Fwd: THIS is TRUE #737: Beginning of the End?]
- From: "L.D. Best" <l.d.best@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: undisclosed-recipients:;
- Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2008 07:56:57 -0400
Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club!
Nice dose of reality (???) each week. The price is right for this
version (free) and Randy needs new subscribers so he can keep up his ad
revenue.
Read it, and down at the bottom somewhere is the link to sign up for
free version. Of course, if you like it enough, you could become a
premium subscriber. <G>
tcoy
l.d.
====
This is True wrote:
SINCE 1994 and reaching more than 110,000 readers in over 200 countries,
this is the 737th weekly issue of...
THIS is TRUE: 27 July 2008 Copyright http://www.thisistrue.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'LL DRINK TO THAT: A woman stopped in a liquor store in Norwalk, Calif.
She plowed through the front window in her Cadillac, making it about
half-way through the store, police said. The speechless clerk behind
the counter watched as the driver stepped out of the car, walked over
to the beer cooler, and pulled out a six pack. "I don't know how she
managed to walk," the clerk said, but she made it to the counter. When
he refused to sell the beer to the woman, she assaulted him, and he
called police. Unsurprisingly, Lynne Rice, 74, was arrested on drunk
driving charges. (Long Beach Press Telegram) ...He waited until she
brought the beer up to the counter before he called 911? He really was
speechless.
THE ROAD TO FREEDOM: Corrections officer Deborah Barron didn't normally
transport prisoners to court, but she missed the hand-off of a prisoner
heading for a court appearance. Barron decided to take him there
herself from a prison in Jessup, Md., to Baltimore. The jail van she
drove didn't have a cage for prisoners, so she put Marcus Anderson, 22,
who is 6'3" and 220 pounds, in the front seat next to her. Barron, who
has 19 years of experience, didn't have handcuffs, either, so
Anderson's hands were free. Anderson, who was serving a three-year
sentence on a drug conviction, was heading for his trial on weapons
charges. When Barron stopped for a red light, Anderson opened the door
and "leaped out" of the van. Barron couldn't call for help: the van
didn't have a radio, and she didn't have a cell phone. "There was
nothing for me to do but proceed," she told the judge. "I had a green
light. Vehicles were blowing their horns." Judge Charles Bernstein
buried his head in his hands, asking her, "Did you give him bus tokens,
too?" Bernstein ordered that the trial continue anyway, and Anderson
was convicted in absentia. He faces up to eight more years in prison,
plus escape charges. (Baltimore Sun) ...With time off for exposing the
Prison Guard Moron of the Year.
----------==========**********O**********==========----------
THIS NEWSLETTER'S CONTINUED EXISTENCE IS IN TROUBLE.
Help us keep it going.
PLEASE READ the author's note area after the stories!
----------==========**********O**********==========----------
GOT A LIGHT? Scientists in Argentina say methane holds in 23 times more
heat than carbon dioxide, and is a neglected culprit in global warming.
To try to quantify how much the country's 55 million head of cattle
contribute to the problem, the researchers have mounted fart collection
tanks on the backs of cows to measure the gas they emit (no, really!).
Early results from the Argentine National Institute of Agricultural
Technology and the Argentine National Council of Scientific and
Technical Investigations show that the average cow blows out 800 to
1,000 liters of the flammable gas per day, and that feeding them clover
and alfalfa instead of grain reduces emissions by about 25 percent.
(London Telegraph) ...So the mythical cow didn't so much "jump over the
moon" as it was rocket propelled.
POLITICAL STATEMENT: Voters in San Francisco, Calif., have a chance to
rename the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant to the George W.
Bush Sewage Plant, now that a proposal has qualified for the November
ballot. "It's typical San Francisco crazies," grumped the chair of the
San Francisco Republican Party. The Presidential Memorial Commission of
San Francisco, which proposed the name change, also suggests that
residents served by the plant perform a "synchronized flush" as a
"fitting monument to this president's work." (San Francisco Chronicle)
...Actually, the word they actually used only sounded like "fitting".
IF ONLY SOMEONE HAD...: "Fire Destroys Truck Full of Extinguishers" --
Lancaster (Penn.) Intelligencer Journal headline
DID YOU FIND an error? See http://www.thisistrue.com/errata.html
YOU HAVE *GOT* TO SEE the photos of the gas collection tanks on the cows!
(Third story.) The photos are so funny I made it the featured video
story this week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNLOPnpk5wU
You may recall last week's story was about the homophobic politician
who wrote a comic book to try to counter the felony charges over his
election. Two updates to the story: First, I discovered that people
visiting HIS re-election web site watched MY video there; I
investigated and found out how that happened, and it's a cautionary
tale for politicians and anyone else doing marketing via YouTube
videos: http://www.thisistrue.com/blog-funny_youtube_irony.html (which
also includes the video in question).
Update #2: he was handily defeated in the primary election last week.
I'd like to think my video helped seal his fate.
ALSO ON THAT PAGE: a form where you can sign up to get automated e-mail
notices when new TRUE videos are posted. I just set that up Monday. I
also post "tweets" of the videos when I post them on Twitter, in case
you'd prefer that: http://Twitter.com/thisistrue
o o o
YAHOO ALERT: I've given up trying to work with Yahoo, which represents
the largest domain subscribed to TRUE. There are more than 20,000
addresses within simple Yahoo.com domain on TRUE's distribution (plus a
couple thousand more on variants such as yahoo.co.uk, yahoo.ca, etc.)
But MOST of them are not getting TRUE anymore: Yahoo has blocked us.
Why? Because of idiots (dare I call them "yahoos"?) who ASK to be put
on this distribution, then CONFIRM that request, and ...then click the
"This is Spam" button when they don't recognize the mailing or simply
don't want it anymore. Yes, those yahoos have screwed thousands upon
thousands of others who really DO want this newsletter. Too bad: Yahoo
is listening to the yahoos instead: they're blocking it. To them, we're
"spammers" and no protestations from "spammers" count.
As far as I can tell, there's only one group of people with Yahoo
addresses who are still getting their issues: those who have at one
time found TRUE in the "spam folder" and clicked the "Not Spam" button.
But for the rest it's too late: we're now blocked, and you will NOT
find issues there so you can hit that button.
As of now, about 70 percent of the Yahoo addresses are blocked. That's
more than 15,000 folks. That's MORE than 10 percent of my entire
distribution. And that's catastrophic: it has the potential to kill
this newsletter. Nearly 15 percent of my audience, as of this week,
which means 15 percent of my revenue, including 15 percent of my ad
revenue, has suddenly stopped. It's the biggest crisis in TRUE's more
than 14 years online. And it's (sigh) right in the middle of a
worldwide economic slowdown. What lovely timing.
Yahoo is over-represented in my distribution because TRUE is so old:
We've been publishing since 1994, when Yahoo was a little collection of
links. They didn't get their millionth page view until late 1994
(according to Wikipedia), well after I had over 100,000 online readers
every week, some of whom had to go through a lot of effort to get their
issues (through BBS gateways, UUCP bang addresses, and other now-
archaic means).
Yahoo mail opened to the public in 1997 (when it acquired Rocketmail).
That was AFTER I first editorialized on what a problem spam could
become -- what's now http://www.SpamPrimer.com . I take no solace in
the fact that I was right about spam; it has grown so much that the
world's first for-profit e-mail publication is having massive delivery
problems because its shiny little jewel can't stand out among the
garbage.
Yeah, I'm mad: it's MY OWN READERS who have done this. Addled idiots
can't click "unsubscribe" after they asked to get these issues, lumping
the white hat guy who warned them about spam in with the criminals who
send spam. But they're gone now: they don't see the carnage they
caused, even if they liked, even loved, TRUE. It's like shooting a gun
into a crowd of people, then walking away before seeing what happened.
I've had occasional problems with other big mail sites too, like AOL,
Hotmail/MSN, and more, usually because of those same false "this is
spam" complaints. Currently, I *think* all those other problems are
cleared up, but I'm already seeing a revenue slide. It will likely get
worse over time. Can I reverse it and keep TRUE going? I'm not sure.
It's possible TRUE will become Premium-ONLY (plus the few newspapers
who carry it), which would certify you all as victims of the spam war.
CAN YOU HELP? Yes. Complain to your provider EVERY TIME you miss an
issue. Tell them you ASKED to get TRUE *and* responded to a
verification request, and that no one can get on the distribution
without BOTH of those steps. Spammers don't do that: they add you
whether you want their mail or not. (And when was the last time you
WANTED spam?!) If you complain, maybe they'll get the message that
their customers really want TRUE and other legitimate e-mail
publications. But if they don't listen, give your business to someone
else!
Next, HELP ME replace those tens of thousands of lost readers. I've
asked you again (and again and again!) to help "spread the word". Few
have bothered. If you really can't be bothered, you may lose TRUE
forever. PLEASE tell 50 friends NOW! I need them more than ever. PLEASE
promote TRUE on your web site or blog. REPORTERS: I need articles in
print publications. I can help you with pretty much any angle you want.
And if you have $24 to spare, help prove that TRUE is worthy of your
support: upgrade to a Premium subscription (I just hope you have a non-
Yahoo address for it). Or sign up for two years and get the second year
for just $19. (And yes, sales of "Get Out of Hell Free" cards and
related products help too, not to mention TRUE book collections:
http://www.GOOHF.com and http://www.thisistrue.com/books.html are the
places to go for those). If you've done any of these things, THANK YOU:
you helped.
If you have more than that to spare, consider sponsoring issues, either
with ads or replacing the ads with a sponsorship message. You can also
sponsor TRUE's online archive -- http://www.thisistrue.com/archive.html
-- or blog -- http://www.thisistrue.com/blog.html
It IS possible to turn this disaster into a new start, but only with
help. If you care about TRUE, I need YOUR help right now. Hit delete
and TRUE may go away, or DO SOMETHING yourself, rather than hope
someone else does. Really; it's that simple. Do you care?
To comment: http://www.thisistrue.com/blog-yahoo_alert
AND AMONG THE LATEST postings to Jumbo Joke: Airline Travel: The Next
Generation. http://www.JumboJoke.com
----------==========**********O**********==========----------
As Seen in Newsweek, New York Times, USA Today, and More:
Environmentally Friendly Hotels helps you find hotels, inns and
other lodging that try to step more carefully on the earth.
NEW: You can click to reserve hundreds of them, too!
Search for lodging that meets YOUR green criteria at
http://www.EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotels.com
----------==========**********O**********==========----------
POPULAR ON GROXX today: "Florida man tried to hire hit man to kill IRS
agent to avoid paying $300,000 in taxes." Submit stories and vote on
what submissions are best, register for free at http://Groxx.com
PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS got LOTS MORE stories on Monday: Mom's actions make
for one of the most pathetic TRUE stories ever. Robber attempts liquor
store heist ...armed with a palm frond. Robber attempts convenience
store heist ...armed with a banana. Man tries the "Excuse me, sir, do
you have any Grey Poupon?" gag with the motorist next to him, gets a
reply he didn't bargain for. Get expanded issues every week with a
Premium subscription: http://thisistrue.com/upgrade.html
TEN YEARS AGO IN TRUE: Baseball team mascot sued by "Barney the Dinosaur"
owners. http://www.thisistrue.com/extinct_6065.html
BONZER WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: http://NotAlwaysRight.com -- Not Always
Right. As anyone who's worked on the front lines of customer service
knows, the customer is Not Always Right -- though someone always
forgets to let the customers in on the secret. Peruse these stories of
woe and downright idiocy and don't forget to dredge up some of your own
to share with other put-upon service workers. Just don't hit your head
too hard on the desk! (VF)
-- Bonzer Sites archive: http://www.BonzerSites.com
THIS WEEK'S HONORARY UNSUBSCRIBE goes to Clay T. Whitehead. As the
Director of the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy from
1970 to 1974 (under Richard Nixon), Whitehead was a sometimes
controversial figure, for instance threatening the public television
system. "Tom walked a fine line when they wanted in many cases to use
the power levers of the White House to manipulate or control the output
of the media," said his then-assistant, and now CEO of C-Span, Brian
Lamb. However, "the most important thing Tom did was to direct the
president's policy on domestic satellite communications," Lamb said.
"That was the trigger that led to the diminution of power of the three
networks and AT&T, allowing for the creation of new cable television
channels and low-cost long-distance telephone systems." Whitehead's
idea, called "Open Skies", became official policy at the Federal
Communications Commission, and allowed "Cable-TV" channels to thrive
without the censorship and regulations that broadcast channels had to
follow. That set the stage for deregulation of the telephone network
and the development of cellular telephone systems, but also led
directly to the government's hands-off approach to the Internet,
reflected by the FCC's August 1st action supporting net neutrality.
Whitehead died July 23 from prostate cancer. He was 69.
-- Honorary Unsubscribe archive: http://www.HonoraryUnsubscribe.com
YOU CAN REALLY HELP TRUE: Send this issue (in its entirety, please) to a
friend with your personal recommendation. A friend told YOU about this
newsletter, right? Pass the favor on! Thanks.
RELAUNCHING SOON! My spinoff publication The TRUE Stella Awards will be
relaunching soon with more true cases of crazy lawsuits. Subscribe free
at http://www.StellaAwards.com
SUBSCRIPTIONS to "This is True" are free at http://www.thisistrue.com
Published weekly by ThisIsTrue.Inc, PO Box 666, Ridgway CO 81432 USA
(ISSN 1521-1932). TRUE is available to newspapers as a regular feature
column. "This is True" is a registered trademark of ThisIsTrue.Inc
COPYRIGHT 2008 by Randy Cassingham, All Rights Reserved. All stories are
completely rewritten by Randy Cassingham using facts from the noted
sources. ALL broadcast, publication, retransmission to e-mail lists,
WWW or any other copying or storage, in any medium, online or not, is
STRICTLY PROHIBITED without PRIOR written permission from the author.
MANUAL FORWARDING by e-mail to friends is allowed IF 1) the text is
forwarded IN ITS ENTIRETY, from the "Since 1994" line on top through
the end of this paragraph and 2) NO FEE is charged. We REQUEST that you
forward no more than three copies to any one person -- after that, they
should get their own FREE subscription. We ALWAYS appreciate people who
report violations of our copyright to us.
TO COMMENT to the author, mailto:arcie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx -- Please include
your first name and location.
Distribution sponsored by Lyris Technologies, Inc. <http://www.lyris.com>
This copy sent to: [l.d.best@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
TO UNSUBSCRIBE, DO NOT reply to this message! Simply click this URL:
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Arachne at FreeLists
-- Arachne, The Premier GPL Web Browser/Suite for DOS --
Other related posts:
- » [arachne] [Fwd: THIS is TRUE #737: Beginning of the End?]
SINCE 1994 and reaching more than 110,000 readers in over 200 countries, this is the 737th weekly issue of... THIS is TRUE: 27 July 2008 Copyright http://www.thisistrue.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'LL DRINK TO THAT: A woman stopped in a liquor store in Norwalk, Calif. She plowed through the front window in her Cadillac, making it about half-way through the store, police said. The speechless clerk behind the counter watched as the driver stepped out of the car, walked over to the beer cooler, and pulled out a six pack. "I don't know how she managed to walk," the clerk said, but she made it to the counter. When he refused to sell the beer to the woman, she assaulted him, and he called police. Unsurprisingly, Lynne Rice, 74, was arrested on drunk driving charges. (Long Beach Press Telegram) ...He waited until she brought the beer up to the counter before he called 911? He really was speechless. THE ROAD TO FREEDOM: Corrections officer Deborah Barron didn't normally transport prisoners to court, but she missed the hand-off of a prisoner heading for a court appearance. Barron decided to take him there herself from a prison in Jessup, Md., to Baltimore. The jail van she drove didn't have a cage for prisoners, so she put Marcus Anderson, 22, who is 6'3" and 220 pounds, in the front seat next to her. Barron, who has 19 years of experience, didn't have handcuffs, either, so Anderson's hands were free. Anderson, who was serving a three-year sentence on a drug conviction, was heading for his trial on weapons charges. When Barron stopped for a red light, Anderson opened the door and "leaped out" of the van. Barron couldn't call for help: the van didn't have a radio, and she didn't have a cell phone. "There was nothing for me to do but proceed," she told the judge. "I had a green light. Vehicles were blowing their horns." Judge Charles Bernstein buried his head in his hands, asking her, "Did you give him bus tokens, too?" Bernstein ordered that the trial continue anyway, and Anderson was convicted in absentia. He faces up to eight more years in prison, plus escape charges. (Baltimore Sun) ...With time off for exposing the Prison Guard Moron of the Year. ----------==========**********O**********==========---------- THIS NEWSLETTER'S CONTINUED EXISTENCE IS IN TROUBLE. Help us keep it going. PLEASE READ the author's note area after the stories! ----------==========**********O**********==========---------- GOT A LIGHT? Scientists in Argentina say methane holds in 23 times more heat than carbon dioxide, and is a neglected culprit in global warming. To try to quantify how much the country's 55 million head of cattle contribute to the problem, the researchers have mounted fart collection tanks on the backs of cows to measure the gas they emit (no, really!). Early results from the Argentine National Institute of Agricultural Technology and the Argentine National Council of Scientific and Technical Investigations show that the average cow blows out 800 to 1,000 liters of the flammable gas per day, and that feeding them clover and alfalfa instead of grain reduces emissions by about 25 percent. (London Telegraph) ...So the mythical cow didn't so much "jump over the moon" as it was rocket propelled. POLITICAL STATEMENT: Voters in San Francisco, Calif., have a chance to rename the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant, now that a proposal has qualified for the November ballot. "It's typical San Francisco crazies," grumped the chair of the San Francisco Republican Party. The Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco, which proposed the name change, also suggests that residents served by the plant perform a "synchronized flush" as a "fitting monument to this president's work." (San Francisco Chronicle) ...Actually, the word they actually used only sounded like "fitting". IF ONLY SOMEONE HAD...: "Fire Destroys Truck Full of Extinguishers" -- Lancaster (Penn.) Intelligencer Journal headline DID YOU FIND an error? See http://www.thisistrue.com/errata.html YOU HAVE *GOT* TO SEE the photos of the gas collection tanks on the cows! (Third story.) The photos are so funny I made it the featured video story this week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNLOPnpk5wU You may recall last week's story was about the homophobic politician who wrote a comic book to try to counter the felony charges over his election. Two updates to the story: First, I discovered that people visiting HIS re-election web site watched MY video there; I investigated and found out how that happened, and it's a cautionary tale for politicians and anyone else doing marketing via YouTube videos: http://www.thisistrue.com/blog-funny_youtube_irony.html (which also includes the video in question). Update #2: he was handily defeated in the primary election last week. I'd like to think my video helped seal his fate. ALSO ON THAT PAGE: a form where you can sign up to get automated e-mail notices when new TRUE videos are posted. I just set that up Monday. I also post "tweets" of the videos when I post them on Twitter, in case you'd prefer that: http://Twitter.com/thisistrue o o o YAHOO ALERT: I've given up trying to work with Yahoo, which represents the largest domain subscribed to TRUE. There are more than 20,000 addresses within simple Yahoo.com domain on TRUE's distribution (plus a couple thousand more on variants such as yahoo.co.uk, yahoo.ca, etc.) But MOST of them are not getting TRUE anymore: Yahoo has blocked us. Why? Because of idiots (dare I call them "yahoos"?) who ASK to be put on this distribution, then CONFIRM that request, and ...then click the "This is Spam" button when they don't recognize the mailing or simply don't want it anymore. Yes, those yahoos have screwed thousands upon thousands of others who really DO want this newsletter. Too bad: Yahoo is listening to the yahoos instead: they're blocking it. To them, we're "spammers" and no protestations from "spammers" count. As far as I can tell, there's only one group of people with Yahoo addresses who are still getting their issues: those who have at one time found TRUE in the "spam folder" and clicked the "Not Spam" button. But for the rest it's too late: we're now blocked, and you will NOT find issues there so you can hit that button. As of now, about 70 percent of the Yahoo addresses are blocked. That's more than 15,000 folks. That's MORE than 10 percent of my entire distribution. And that's catastrophic: it has the potential to kill this newsletter. Nearly 15 percent of my audience, as of this week, which means 15 percent of my revenue, including 15 percent of my ad revenue, has suddenly stopped. It's the biggest crisis in TRUE's more than 14 years online. And it's (sigh) right in the middle of a worldwide economic slowdown. What lovely timing. Yahoo is over-represented in my distribution because TRUE is so old: We've been publishing since 1994, when Yahoo was a little collection of links. They didn't get their millionth page view until late 1994 (according to Wikipedia), well after I had over 100,000 online readers every week, some of whom had to go through a lot of effort to get their issues (through BBS gateways, UUCP bang addresses, and other now- archaic means). Yahoo mail opened to the public in 1997 (when it acquired Rocketmail). That was AFTER I first editorialized on what a problem spam could become -- what's now http://www.SpamPrimer.com . I take no solace in the fact that I was right about spam; it has grown so much that the world's first for-profit e-mail publication is having massive delivery problems because its shiny little jewel can't stand out among the garbage. Yeah, I'm mad: it's MY OWN READERS who have done this. Addled idiots can't click "unsubscribe" after they asked to get these issues, lumping the white hat guy who warned them about spam in with the criminals who send spam. But they're gone now: they don't see the carnage they caused, even if they liked, even loved, TRUE. It's like shooting a gun into a crowd of people, then walking away before seeing what happened. I've had occasional problems with other big mail sites too, like AOL, Hotmail/MSN, and more, usually because of those same false "this is spam" complaints. Currently, I *think* all those other problems are cleared up, but I'm already seeing a revenue slide. It will likely get worse over time. Can I reverse it and keep TRUE going? I'm not sure. It's possible TRUE will become Premium-ONLY (plus the few newspapers who carry it), which would certify you all as victims of the spam war. CAN YOU HELP? Yes. Complain to your provider EVERY TIME you miss an issue. Tell them you ASKED to get TRUE *and* responded to a verification request, and that no one can get on the distribution without BOTH of those steps. Spammers don't do that: they add you whether you want their mail or not. (And when was the last time you WANTED spam?!) If you complain, maybe they'll get the message that their customers really want TRUE and other legitimate e-mail publications. But if they don't listen, give your business to someone else! Next, HELP ME replace those tens of thousands of lost readers. I've asked you again (and again and again!) to help "spread the word". Few have bothered. If you really can't be bothered, you may lose TRUE forever. PLEASE tell 50 friends NOW! I need them more than ever. PLEASE promote TRUE on your web site or blog. REPORTERS: I need articles in print publications. I can help you with pretty much any angle you want. And if you have $24 to spare, help prove that TRUE is worthy of your support: upgrade to a Premium subscription (I just hope you have a non- Yahoo address for it). Or sign up for two years and get the second year for just $19. (And yes, sales of "Get Out of Hell Free" cards and related products help too, not to mention TRUE book collections: http://www.GOOHF.com and http://www.thisistrue.com/books.html are the places to go for those). If you've done any of these things, THANK YOU: you helped. If you have more than that to spare, consider sponsoring issues, either with ads or replacing the ads with a sponsorship message. You can also sponsor TRUE's online archive -- http://www.thisistrue.com/archive.html -- or blog -- http://www.thisistrue.com/blog.html It IS possible to turn this disaster into a new start, but only with help. If you care about TRUE, I need YOUR help right now. Hit delete and TRUE may go away, or DO SOMETHING yourself, rather than hope someone else does. Really; it's that simple. Do you care? To comment: http://www.thisistrue.com/blog-yahoo_alert AND AMONG THE LATEST postings to Jumbo Joke: Airline Travel: The Next Generation. http://www.JumboJoke.com ----------==========**********O**********==========---------- As Seen in Newsweek, New York Times, USA Today, and More: Environmentally Friendly Hotels helps you find hotels, inns and other lodging that try to step more carefully on the earth. NEW: You can click to reserve hundreds of them, too! Search for lodging that meets YOUR green criteria at http://www.EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotels.com ----------==========**********O**********==========---------- POPULAR ON GROXX today: "Florida man tried to hire hit man to kill IRS agent to avoid paying $300,000 in taxes." Submit stories and vote on what submissions are best, register for free at http://Groxx.com PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS got LOTS MORE stories on Monday: Mom's actions make for one of the most pathetic TRUE stories ever. Robber attempts liquor store heist ...armed with a palm frond. Robber attempts convenience store heist ...armed with a banana. Man tries the "Excuse me, sir, do you have any Grey Poupon?" gag with the motorist next to him, gets a reply he didn't bargain for. Get expanded issues every week with a Premium subscription: http://thisistrue.com/upgrade.html TEN YEARS AGO IN TRUE: Baseball team mascot sued by "Barney the Dinosaur" owners. http://www.thisistrue.com/extinct_6065.html BONZER WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: http://NotAlwaysRight.com -- Not Always Right. As anyone who's worked on the front lines of customer service knows, the customer is Not Always Right -- though someone always forgets to let the customers in on the secret. Peruse these stories of woe and downright idiocy and don't forget to dredge up some of your own to share with other put-upon service workers. Just don't hit your head too hard on the desk! (VF) -- Bonzer Sites archive: http://www.BonzerSites.com THIS WEEK'S HONORARY UNSUBSCRIBE goes to Clay T. Whitehead. As the Director of the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy from 1970 to 1974 (under Richard Nixon), Whitehead was a sometimes controversial figure, for instance threatening the public television system. "Tom walked a fine line when they wanted in many cases to use the power levers of the White House to manipulate or control the output of the media," said his then-assistant, and now CEO of C-Span, Brian Lamb. However, "the most important thing Tom did was to direct the president's policy on domestic satellite communications," Lamb said. "That was the trigger that led to the diminution of power of the three networks and AT&T, allowing for the creation of new cable television channels and low-cost long-distance telephone systems." Whitehead's idea, called "Open Skies", became official policy at the Federal Communications Commission, and allowed "Cable-TV" channels to thrive without the censorship and regulations that broadcast channels had to follow. That set the stage for deregulation of the telephone network and the development of cellular telephone systems, but also led directly to the government's hands-off approach to the Internet, reflected by the FCC's August 1st action supporting net neutrality. Whitehead died July 23 from prostate cancer. He was 69. -- Honorary Unsubscribe archive: http://www.HonoraryUnsubscribe.com YOU CAN REALLY HELP TRUE: Send this issue (in its entirety, please) to a friend with your personal recommendation. A friend told YOU about this newsletter, right? Pass the favor on! Thanks. RELAUNCHING SOON! My spinoff publication The TRUE Stella Awards will be relaunching soon with more true cases of crazy lawsuits. Subscribe free at http://www.StellaAwards.com SUBSCRIPTIONS to "This is True" are free at http://www.thisistrue.com Published weekly by ThisIsTrue.Inc, PO Box 666, Ridgway CO 81432 USA (ISSN 1521-1932). TRUE is available to newspapers as a regular feature column. "This is True" is a registered trademark of ThisIsTrue.Inc COPYRIGHT 2008 by Randy Cassingham, All Rights Reserved. All stories are completely rewritten by Randy Cassingham using facts from the noted sources. ALL broadcast, publication, retransmission to e-mail lists, WWW or any other copying or storage, in any medium, online or not, is STRICTLY PROHIBITED without PRIOR written permission from the author. MANUAL FORWARDING by e-mail to friends is allowed IF 1) the text is forwarded IN ITS ENTIRETY, from the "Since 1994" line on top through the end of this paragraph and 2) NO FEE is charged. We REQUEST that you forward no more than three copies to any one person -- after that, they should get their own FREE subscription. 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