You can eat animals but piercing them is going to far?

Gothic Kitten

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) – A Pennsylvania dog groomer has been ordered to stand trial on animal cruelty charges for selling “gothic kittens” with ear, neck and tail piercings.

Holly Crawford’s home outside Wilkes-Barre was raided Dec. 17 after the county Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals got a tip.

A prosecutor says Crawford inflicted pain on the cats, which were listed for sale for hundreds of dollars on the Internet. Crawford’s attorney says state law says nothing about piercing cats or docking their tails.

At a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Wilkes-Barre District Judge Paul Hadzick called it a gray area that needs to be decided by a trial judge or jury.

Charges against a second defendant, William Blansett, were dropped after Crawford admitted she pierced the cats.

SO let me get this straight: if you have a Doberman Pincher you can crop its ears and dock its tail to meet kennel club specifications. Same goes for that Poodle you’ve been eying. If you have a cat, you can get its claws removed and some breeds get docked tails as well.

If you have a cow, a Rabbi can cut its throat and chant as it bleeds to death over several minutes to make kosher corned beef. If you have a duckling you can jam a tube into it’s throat to force feed it, fattening its liver and then chop its head off on the wood stump out back to make foie gras.

But pierce a cat’s ears, nose or tail with 18 gauge jewelery and attempting to sell it on Ebay for hundreds of dollars makes you public enemy number one!?

When this story first broke last December, I thought, “Wow – what fucking retard wants to buy a Gothic Kitten?” The story faded and I forgot all about it, figuring there’s is no case here with all of the wacky shit people are currently allowed to do to animals. I should also mention that this happened in Pennsylvania where up until a few years ago bestiality was legal.

Seriously, how is this criminal when we modify animals to meet a specification? When we kill and eat them and at one point in this commonwealth, were able to fuck them? While cropping docking and sexing are not my thing I love to eat meat and fowl. If a 35 year old dork wants to save a few months worth of earnings from her job at Wendy’s to buy a Goth Kitten to keep her company in moms basement than so be it. What kind of asshole dropped a dime on Goth Kat creator Holly Crawford anyway? Probably the same fucktard PETA member who thought it was a good idea to get us to think of fish as ‘Sea Kittens’  in a sad attempt at stopping fish consumption. I’m so tired of people that snoop around to turn in their neighbors; assholes that have no life, trying to have some say in ours. Maybe the informant needs investigated – it’s usually these upstanding types that hide the most sinister of passions. Remember John Wayne Gacey?

I remember a similar uproar when people got hip to Twisty Cats back in the late 90’s. Vickie Ives Speir began selling them from her Karma Farms operation in Texas. For the uninitiated, these are cats breed for a specific deformity, polydactylism. Basically a cat body mutation that results in tiny forelegs which force the cat to sit around on its ass and hop like a kangaroo or walk on all fours like a rabbit. There was a lot of heated discussions on messageboards and even TV shows about this abuse. I remember coming home one day and flipping through the channels and landing on Oprah who was showing videos of these chimeras hopping around to the audiences gasps and groans. A lot of people tried to have it outlawed but a Google search reveals that they were still selling them as of December of last year. Again, if someone wants a deformed cat – than let them breed a deformed cat. Stupid people continue to pass their bad alleals on and nothing is done about it. It is encouraged and they are formed into voting blocs like the Religious Right and labor unions. Why do you think that there is a tag on a hairdryer telling you not to use it in the shower? Because some dummy, who is a bakers dozen short of the ‘less than normal’ IQ points range tried just that and unfortunately survived to sue, winning a bunch of money in a structured settlement and then having more stupid progeny.

Come to think of it, that is probably the same progeny that would spend hundreds on a Gothic Kitten.

ShopNBC Names Bob Ayd as President

WELL, what do you know? One day after getting a snide comment on the blog “Jim Skelton Out At ShopNBC” from a dildo that works for the San Diego Public School system questioning my belief that Skelton would be out by years end, ShopNBC hires a new President, whose duties include overseeing on air talent.

There has been a lot of speculation as to why Tim Temple is not among the Hosts on the host page. It’s very possible that network management has learned from the Skelton mistake and hired him as a contract employee, thus freeing him for personal endeavors that do not directly associate with the network in the way that poor Invicta quality and watchgeeks have.

Why then wouldn’t they just do that with Skelton you might ask? Because he inked a new contract and management had to find a way to decouple the network from Skelton and Watchgeeks. As I’ve speculated in other blogs, when he is off the air, he’ll be locked up and gagged. No new network, for awhile, and no comments. I’m telling you, he’s going to be on a special assignment. I wouldn’t be suprises if Invicta jumps from the network and tries to spin off an infomercial type show with Skelton as host once his contract is through at SNBC.

Hangman is coming down from the gallows and it won’t be very long…

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From CNN money

ShopNBC Names Multichannel Retailing Veteran Bob Ayd as President

January 28, 2010: 09:00 AM ET

ShopNBC (NASDAQ: VVTV), the premium lifestyle brand in electronic retailing, today announced that Bob Ayd, a multichannel retailing veteran with more than 30 years of experience in the marketspace, has been named President of the company, reporting to Chief Executive Officer Keith Stewart. As part of his new role, Mr. Ayd will oversee Merchandising, Planning, Programming, Broadcast Operations, and On-Air Talent.

Cultivated over three decades, Mr. Ayd brings an extensive background and proven track record of success to ShopNBC, including executive leadership roles at multi-billion-dollar retailers QVC and Macy’s. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer at QVC (U.S.). During his tenure at QVC, he also served as Senior Vice President, Design Development & Global Sourcing and Brand Development, and Senior Vice President of Jewelry and Fashion. While at Macy’s, Mr. Ayd held a number of executive leadership positions including Senior Vice President in Women’s Sportswear.

Keith Stewart, ShopNBC’s CEO, said: “We are excited to welcome Bob to the ShopNBC family. His fluent understanding of our business and world-class multichannel retailing expertise, coupled with the building blocks already in place at the company, will help accelerate our timeline to drive increased sales and profitability. Equally invaluable are Bob’s strong vendor relationships and industry contacts, which span the globe. We look forward to benefiting from his strong leadership, vast relationships and strategic guidance.”

“I am thrilled to be joining ShopNBC,” said Mr. Ayd. “The culture is passionate, the focus is on the customer, and the opportunity at hand is golden. With already very exciting things happening at the company, I’m looking forward to doing my part in helping ShopNBC build on its progress to date while quickly ushering in a new decade of success.”

In accordance with NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 4350, Mr. Ayd will be granted inducement stock options on February 1, 2010, covering the right to purchase 350,000 shares of the company’s common stock. The options will have an exercise price equal to the closing price of the company’s common stock on the date of grant.

UPDATE 12/28/2010 3:58 PM
from the watchgeeks.net website

Just an FYI so that there’s no “mystery” or rumors when I disappear for a little while.

Beginning February 23rd, I will be off the air, and will have the Ask Jim forum closed following a surgery I will be going in for that day. It’s not a huge deal, just a long recovery. I won’t be able to speak with any projection, and I won’t be much to look at during this time (not that I was before either LOL).

I have been unable to undergo this procedure previously for a variety of reasons, and I have desperately needed it.

I will just be doing a few procedures. Septoplasty (total relocation and rebuild), removal of septal spur, lower turbinate reduction, mid turbinate reduction, upper turbinate reduction, removal of cyst in vocal chamber, removal of errant bone by upper sinus, and a whole lot of scraping and whatnot.

I have lived with acute sinusitis for 20 years as of this month, no meds have been able to eliminate the infection, so I have tremendous buildup of nasty stuff at all times. My septum is so deviated, i have barely 1mm clearance in one side of my nose, plus a very painful spur. All levels of turbinates are very constricted (hard to breathe), and there is this odd bone shape up in the top that has closed off an air pocket that has really been interfering with normal breathing. All that plus a cyst in one of my vocal chambers. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Of course having to talk for a living, all of this makes working very difficult, so this will change my life so much. I spend half of my shows cutting my microphone to try and clear my sinuses.

The whole thing will be completed in about 3 hours the doc says, and only a couple of “warnings” were issued. One was that due to how extremely high up he has to go, there is a chance (slight) that he could poke through too high and release brain fluid into my face, and this comes with serious consequences… but he said it is HIGHLY unlikely that this would happen. (Wheew)

The other thing is that I will likely have to go to a vocal coach for a while. During the time my sinusitis began, it sounded like I had severe congestion from a really bad head cold. Totally stuffed. You know how your voice sounds when you’re totally stuffed up? Well after some time without it going away, I had to ‘learn to speak around it’ which changed my speech habits in order to sound normal. That was 20 years ago… so now I may have to re-learn how to speak in some ways. My voice may also change (for the better however). My voice sounded much different before the initial infection, deeper and more resonating and he says it is likely that this will return. No one in my life over the last 20 years has actually heard my real voice Without the extreme pressure on my upper palate, I am opened up more and MAY sound different.

So that’s it. That’s a lot to lay out there, but it saves me from having to type all of that in 10 scattered posts as folks ask the questions
None of this is a big deal to me, I have zero worries about it. I have been through MUCH worse (ever had an early ’80s, all-steel 2.5 ton station wagon run over your leg? TWICE? I have) all of this SOUNDS worse than it really is. The only bad part is the plugs plus packing that has to be crammed up there while I heal. It sucks, and really sucks when he pulls it all out. Plus the black eyes (cutting and hammering in my nose) don’t look too flattering. I’ll begin accepting bids for pictures But that’s about it. The doc promised me really cool drugs, so don’t cry for me, I’ll be a zombie for about 2 weeks

I look at it this way… I get to eat in bed, watch movies all day, sleep a LOT, experience more euphoria than a rock band roadie, and finish counting the dimples in my ceiling (I am tragically far behind on this task) and not shave for 3 weeks. And at the end, I’ll be able to breathe for the 1st time in 20 years!

So please forgive me as I will be unable to come here and answer questions. If during that time you see folks wandering in wondering why I’m ignoring them… link them to this post for me. Thanks!

Sicuro Watchboxes: The Next Bomb?

I dropped into this event off and on. It seems like a better name would have been “10 Hours of Sicuro Watch Boxes” or maybe “18 Hours of Non-Specific Watch Hosts”.

WITH the hiring of Bill McGarth as VP of QA, I suspected that there would be a move at the network to address the complaints of poor product quality. The most recent example being the Invicta Subaqua Noma III Ocean Quest dive kit beset by an apparent design flaw. It appears that the screws that attach the band to the case are too soft and the threads too small which results in striped screws. Interestingly enough, they are still pushing these kits during the event at nearly $450 bucks. It’s sharing the spotlight with the next OTV that i suspect will meet with complaints: the Sicuro Watch box.

The sales people speak of its solid, MDF construction implying that this is a mark of quality. MDF is solid and well suited to many applications. A proported luxury piece if furniture is not one of them.

MDF has one glaring drawback, and that is shrinking in low humidity. I suspect that watchgeeks.net may see an influx of complaints regarding cracks at the seams over the next few months probably starting in the southwest and spreading to the northeast during the next cold snap as furnaces kick into high gear and dry out homes. Maybe its the studio lights; maybe it’s the tv I’m watching or a combination of both, but the polyurethane appears to be cracked on the back edge which I can only assume to have been caused by sliding the drawers in and out during presentations, much like the on air stripping of the SAN OQ lug bolts reveals products that don’t hold up. ShopNBC would be wise to set up a lab with a couple of industrial engineers to devise machines to simulate these actions, much like IKEA has done. This would go a long way to simulate real world use and correct design flaws and mediocre craftsmanship. How are Skelton and company going to spin this one over at watcgeeks? In a one response regarding the SAN OQ he really is condescending and rather forceful in pushing the ‘operator error’ argument. Maybe they’ll suggest buying a humidifier to run in the room where the box is kept? Wonder what the J number will be?

ON to the interior of the box, and the supple and luxurious French velour that we’re told isn’t simply, velvet, but something more. Maybe more synthetic as most velour is made of polyester, which is what gives it a shine. Compare that to velvet which, in higher end products is produced from silk.

A few other highlights included Daniel Mink contrasting the far superior push button lug strap changing system on the Renato Beauty to the unnamed “other brands that use a flawsed and difficult” hex screw system. See Invicta’s Subaqua Noma III Ocean Quest.

I also like when Mink retorted to Skelton’s “nice tie, you got that from me” comment with, “You have a nice hairy tie” which was a reference to the Duce Bigalow, open shirt that Skelton had on. Surely that is driving sales to women. In this same segment Douche Bigalow also made a comment about being able to “get (a Renato being presented) cheaper of the Internet…” A direct reference to a blog that I wrote using a Renato for sale at watchgeeks.net (a forum co-owned by Michael Davis and Jim Skelton) to illustrate how watchgeeks is in direct competition with SNBC due to it being nearly $200 cheaper. He can yuck it up, but I suspect that the traffic coming directly from that blog to the watchgeeks site is the primary reason that WG site went dark.

All in all it was just 27 hours of the same 15 or so products in rotation. One looks forward to the day when Temple guides the network toward a wider and more exciting product base.

If the network brass are smart, they’re going to make this adjustment sooner than later.