Silflay Hraka

I got nothing. Out of the week we were there I managed to break away for an hour or so around dusk on four different nights. No fresh bait on the island that I could find, so I ended up using frozen finger mullet with a bait sweetener that I bought from Dr. Bogus. Couple of hits, nothing hooked, and some bait chewed up, probably by puffers in the surf.

There were specks and drum in the surf near the Bogue inlet pier, though I never got down that way. It was closed for the season anyway. The sound where we were at was a mile wide and two feet deep, so there was no point in trying anything there.

The sweetener that I used is an artificial bait called “Fishbites” which, like the Super Gulp Line, is designed to smell like live for a long period of time. According to the guy at Dr. Bogus, it’s impregnated with the chemicals that cause fish to bite. No mullet or bunker flavors yet, but I did buy the crab and shrimp flavors. They keep forever, so if we get plenty of fresh bunker I’ll save them for next fall.

I also got my neoprene chest waders. Size 11 Hodgeman’s. So you won’t need to bring your extra pair, Dog.

The Post Office unveiled new postage stamps yesterday, to be issued in the summer of 2004 . The four stamps, which portray copyrighted Disney characters “celebrate friendship as portrayed by the Walt Disney studio”

“Soon, with the help of some famous friends, it will be easy for our customers to add a cheerful touch to their cards, letters and packages as they correspond with their own friends and loved ones or conduct business using the mail,” said David Failor, executive director of Stamp Services for the Postal Service.

Added Mary Beech, director, Franchise Management, Disney Consumer Products: “The new postage stamps are a tremendous testament to the lasting popularity of Mickey Mouse and other beloved Disney characters like Bambi and Simba. We are honored to be working with the United States Postal Service to release to consumers such a wonderful and endearing stamp program.”

I don’t know about the other consumers, Mary, but this one would be a lot happier if a government agency wasn’t doing your advertising for you. Yes, I realize that Warner Brothers stamps have already been issued. That was wrong too.

Now, if Disney paid to have the stamps printed, that would be all right with me. I’ve got no problem with giant corporations subsidizing my snail mail. I suspect this is not the case, since the Postal Service “derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services.”

If the copyright* on the characters protrayed had expired, that would be okay too. But they aren’t expired. Disney uses them every day in an attempt to extract money from my pocket. I don’t need an agency of the federal government helping them.

Of course, to the Postal service, these stamps are not advertising. According to the guidelines of the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committe, which is reviews all stamp proposals

Stamps or stationery items shall not be issued to honor fraternal, political, sectarian, or service/charitable organizations. Stamps or stationery shall not be issued to promote or advertise commercial enterprises or products. Commercial products or enterprises might be used to illustrate more general concepts related to American culture. (emphasis mine)

The Disney characters aren’t advertising Disney, they instead “celebrate friendship,” which is a lot like a Ronald McDonald stamp that celebrates beef.

Speaking of Ronald, McDonald’s has a storied place in American history too. Will the Golden Arches, Ronald McDonald and the Hamburgler be appearing on an upcoming stamp series? It doesn’t have to be beef, they could “celebrate entrepreneuers.”

What about the Exxon Tiger and the Texaco Star? Can they “celebrate automotive freedom?”

To claim that these stamps are not promotions or advertisements is ludicrous, and flies in the face of current marketing practice. The portraits on these stamps are commercial speech, as much advertising as a strategically placed Coke is on an episode of Friends. The Bugs Bunny stamp cracked the door open to this kind of abuse, and the Disney stamps further widen it. A torrent of branded stamps is sure to follow.

*The copyright on Mickey at least would have expired by now, save for the Disney-inspired Copyright Term Extension Act bill that Sonny Bono snuck through Congress during the Lewinsky mess. Roast in Hell, Sonny.

The 67th edition of the Carnival of the Vanities is hosted by Hypocrisy & Hypotheses this week.

If you’d like to host the Carnival, drop us a line. Information on how to join the Carnival can be found here. If you would like to be added to the Carnival announcement list, send an email to cotvanities-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Upcoming Carnival stops include;

January 7th American Realpolitik
January 14th Snooze Button Dreams
January 21st PoliBlog
January 28th The American Mind
February 4th A Perfectly Cromulent Blog
February 11th On the Third Hand
February 18th Four Right Wing Wackos
February 25th Da Goddess
March 3rd American Digest
March 10th Aaron’s Rantblog
March 17th Patterico’s Pontifications
March 24th Pete Holiday
March 31st Eric Berlin
April 7th Leaking Pure White Noise
April 14th BoiFromTroy
April 21st Southern Musings
April 28th WOLves
June 23rd A Single Guy In The South

Also, be sure to check out the Carnival’s offspring:

The Bharteeya Blog Mela

Bonfire of the Vanities

Carnival of the Capitalists

The Kissing Booth

Carnival of the Canucks

The BestOfMe Symphony

It sounds like this might be a good fellow to do business with. Sounds like a good guy who shoots from the hip. Here’s the link: http://www.obxangler.com
Check out the message board for the bait info and fishing report. Home page is interesting as well. Location is Hatteras village so might be farther south than we’ll be. He does have apartments for rent above the bait shop though. There’s 1 way to guarantee good bait and places to chunk it, stay at the bait shop!! (Sorry if I am posting too much, just getting excited about the trip!!)

Right Wing News has collected ten of the worst quotes of 2003 from some purveyors of hate and division

What we MUST realize in order to win – Americans are stupid and uninformed. This is very important because in order to win we must understand the way the average American thinks. I’m afraid WE have nothing in common with them.

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Regular reader (reader! we have a reader!) Richard writes in to ask, Upon your return, will you tell the Internet world whether you traveled blogging or non-blogging? Silflay Hraka readers may want to know what the SW knows already. With Ngnat and Scotty, non-blogging would seem practical, but pragmatism doesn’t involve traveling with wee children, does it?

Yea, I expect the Internet has been on pins and needles waiting for an answer.

In all actuality, I always plan to to blog when traveling, then seldom do, which is is Road Runner’s fault. There aren’t enough dial-up access numbers, and those that are available tend to be long distance. Until cable modes or wireless connectivity is ubiquitous along the Outer Banks, I’ll drop off the Net when on vacation there.

The next time that’s likely is during the upcoming MLK holiday weekend, when some of the gang over at FDS is going to Cape Hatteras to chase Stripers. Perhaps I’ll put AOL on the laptop and use my parent’s account to connect to the Net, but somehow I doubt that will happen.

No surprises here

Reporter Alain Hertoghe’s book accused the French press of not being objective in its coverage of the U.S.-led war in Iraq (news – web sites). His newspaper fired him.

“Readers can’t understand why the Americans won the war,” Hertoghe said in a telephone interview. “The French press wasn’t neutral.”

Reason has more background on France’s foreign policy misapprehensions.

From The Seattle Post Intelligencer: Neb. woman ticketed for being nude on Net

It may be legal to appear naked in cyberspace, but police ticketed a Lincoln woman for posting nude pictures of herself on the Web that were taken in a downtown bar.

Harrington, who works as a Web designer at a local Bank, says on her Web site that she likes “being naked in public … even more when there’s a lot of people there to watch.”

Now, be honest. Did you, once you got the gist of what the story was about, immediately scan the rest of the page in a vain search for Melissa’s url?

Well, I did. But it was done in the service of journalism, not at the behest of the baser instincts. I keep my baser instincts firmly in hand.

Zod: Heh

In point of fact, The Seattle Post Intelligencer is in the minority when it comes to the ethical question of whether one publicizes Melissa’s site. Out of the 54 news sites currently hosting the breaking Nebraska naked news, only 21 do not provide a helpful url for those wishing to judge the merits of the case for themselves, whereas 33 others do.

Or so it would seem. In fact, at the moment the number of sites censoring the url is growing, while the number of sites printing it is shrinking as the day goes by. Of the 33 news sites Google originally found the words “melissalincoln.com” on, at least two, the Wichita Eagle and Virginia’s Hampton Roads Daily Press have updated the story and removed the url since Google last scanned them. Not that either mentions the fact that the story has been edited since it was first published. I’ve called both papers–so far neither of them has any explanation of the reasoning behind the change.

Not that removing a porn url from a news story is in any way objectionable. I’ve got kids–once they can read I think I’ll prefer new stories that come sans porn links. What I object to is the fact that neither paper bothers to inform the reader that a change has been in the story since it was first published. This isn’t a grammar change, or a spelling correction, it’s the removal of a fact germane to the story.

Update: I’ve heard back from the Hampton Roads Daily Press. The story they posted is part of an AP feed–they basically have nothing to do with the content, they just wrap their site around it. So it would seem that the url removal is being done at the wire service level, at least in their case.

Which is worse, in a way. How many times a day does the AP change its stories without telling anyone?

Amazing, the difference one small change can make in the scene.

HAMLET:
My fate cries out,
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion’s nerve.
Still am I call’d. Unhand me, gentlemen.
By heaven, I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me!
I say, away! Go on; I’ll follow thee.

HORATIO:
He waxes desperate with imagination.

MARCELLUS:
Let’s follow; ’tis not fit thus to obey him.

HORATIO:
Have after. To what issue will this come?

MARCELLUS:
Something is begotten in the state of Denmark.

HORATIO:
Heaven will direct it.

MARCELLUS:
Nay, let’s follow him.

A note from Jessica’s Well* – Resolved: This House (OK, this Blog) believes that the collective knowledge of the blogosphere is greater than the collective knowledge of professional journalists regardless of the subject.

Well, as far as armadillos go, you know my position.

And one from Fred, on the Beauty of Beer

*Who feels free to email Hraka without having us blogrolled. No, I’m not bitter. Why do you ask?

The Sainted Wife, alarmed at the expected yet still precipitous drop in our savings since she decided to quit accounting in favor of homemaking, has requested that I return to the glory days of yore, when I hawked intemperate bumper stickers online.

I don’t consider myself much of a businessman*, but I’ll try. Here’s the latest idea. Let me know hat you think. Right now I think it’s a natural for a centrist Democrat who’d like to make a point, or for those who just like pissing off Dean supporters.

It’ll go on sale at E-bay in a week or so, or you can purchase one via the PayPal button on the right. $3.00 plus shipping, say $4.25 overall. I may also try selling “Get George Out Of My Bush” as well, what with it being an election year and all.

*I sat (figuratively) on the “glow-in-the-dark toilet” idea for years without doing anything about it. I also think I stopped selling the “First Iraq, Then France” stickers too soon. Still have a hundred or so of those sitting in the attic.