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News Briefs 03-12-2015

Man, don’t you hate it when your people sleep on the job?

Big BIG thanks to Chris for filling in while I was über busy making some dinero.

Quote of the Day:

“I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.”

~Vincent Van Gogh

  1. wikipedia
    Firstly, RED PILL IS BACK!!! Not that I minded Chris, he picks great news.

    Now to Wikipedia. I was trying to look up something the other day when that donate message popped up on my screen and consumed half the page! Since when was donating supposed to come across as obnoxious advertising? As someone who once worked for a non-profit (which eventually failed due to a stupid Board of Directors) I can tell you that being pushy doesn’t help. But on the other side I can understand why they are asking for money. There is a great misconception that the non-profits with big names have a lot of money. The one I worked for asked for donations every year around this time and last year we got more people scolding us for it than donating. The people outside the organization didn’t like that we were asking for donations again even though we did it at the same time as every non-profit every year. They acted as if we were the schoolyard bully robbing them of their lunch money. We did a huge promotion on Giving Tuesday last year and got nothing. Worst of all was the Board that made us look bad was quick to skip town (literally) once the chips were on the table.

    People spent more time telling us we should do this and do that, without thinking about the fact that with theatre it costs more money than a high school. It cost about $200,000 to put up a show and that isn’t a fixed price (it tends to be higher). People suggested we show movies, but due to copyright we had to be careful. More importantly the projector we would have to buy was $30,000. We only had 9 full staff members, none of whom where lighting, sound people or full time directors. There were many times where my job was on the line because they didn’t think it was important to have a graphic designer on staff. Luckily I had a caring boss who talked sense into them. I got paid minimum wage. Not to mention I created their advertising, ran their website and Facebook page, so basically everything you needed to sell tickets. I was also the only one who knew how to process bulk mailings for the donations (over 40,000 people by the way). But it didn’t matter because when no one donates or thinks they have to donate, limbs start getting hacked off. When Superstorm Sandy hit us our last two shows of the year had to be cancelled. Rather than asking us to put their ticket fee towards a donation for our theatre, nearly everyone asked for a refund. The theatre was in one of the richest and most historical areas of town and no one wanted to donate. So this article doesn’t have the right to assume that they don’t need it. The guy telling them otherwise is just a mouthpiece for the company who can’t say the truth to the media because panic causes even less people to donate because people think their money is going into a failing company.

    Wikipedia is learning the hard way that all non-profits are doomed to fail at some point, or at least dip so close to the bottom that it takes forever to climb back up. I imagine like the theatre I worked for, people think that Wikipedia is souly made up of the volunteer core and no one gets paid. Well that’s just not true and frankly folks I do think you should donate, if not to Wikipedia, then to some organization. Why? Because the graphic designer and other “little people” who had to make that ad aren’t making the same salary as the CEO. Either that or you can come by and watch the laid-off slips being handed out one-by-one on Christmas Eve like I did. Thanks everyone who didn’t donate! Merry Fucking Christmas to you too!

    You want to know whether or not a non-profit is going down the drain? Don’t ask the Board or CEO ask the lowest employees on the totem pole and they’ll tell all.

      1. Re: Charles
        I said in the beginning of my rant that the way Wiki is going about this isn’t right and is in your face. I just understand why they are asking. Nonprofits also have to ask and show proof they asked in order to receive grants and prove to the government that they should keep their nonprofit status. This ALL being said, it doesn’t mean I agree their pushy way of doing this is okay.

        Since most of us have adblockers, I wouldn’t mind if they took ads.

        1. Pope-Ups
          I don’t disable pop-ups unless they become excessive (like on Wiki). Sites should be able to make some money, and ads are about the only viable way for most content providers. I also agree with Emlong that the golden age of Wikipedia is over. It’s been taken over by pedantic control freaks, so achieving a comprehensive and balanced coverage of complex and controversial subjects is no longer possible.

      1. nonprofit
        We were a 65 year old theater. We did Broadway and off-Broadway shows, roughly six a year and provided over 100 jobs to people in the summer (volunteers, paid interns, actors, backstage crew, etc.). We were a big cultural art center in the area and second highest employer in the summer (since we were a seasonal venue).

        I don’t know if this answers your question.

  2. Romulus
    The Roman story was based off an Etruscan story, which in turn was based off stories of an ancient wolf tribe. Said tribe maybe linked to the exiled leftovers of the Benjaminites, one of the lost tribes of Israel also called the wolf tribe. Everything about this story can not be assumed literal. From my research this is the story of an initiation into the wolf tribe. The phrase “raised by wolves” is repeated many times in history. “Raised by wolves” meant initiated into the wolf tribe or a mystery school represented by the wolf (fertility) in some way. It goes back a lot farther and the hole gets a lot deeper from there. This is what I believe is the truth behind Romulus & Remus, or at least the twins that inspired them.

    They were conceived by an unknown woman who may or may not have been raped as in the original story. They were “found” by a “shepherd” often called Faunus (the Roman equivalent to Pan). However the Faunus (this name later becomes Faustus – the irony) was actually a high priest who initiated (raised) the boys into the wolf tribe. As they grew, the one we would call Remus became more priestly and wise, more like a philosopher. The high priests sought this to build their new city, however, upon hearing that they favored his brother, the jealous “Romulus” would slay him in a fit of rage. Thus they were left with only one brother to choose from.

    Alexander the Great was also said to have been “given” to a pack of wolves by his parents to strengthen him and he became a conqueror like Rome. Historians dismiss the “being raised by wolves” term as nothing more than a rumor or myth that beefed up his story, but in fact he was initiated into this ancient tribe that, like Rom & Rem, taught them the art of world conquering. In ancient Egypt, the wolf god Wepwewat was associated with war and conquering, and had a mystery school under Isis. In the Midrash, Moses talked to a white wolf (or more likely a man dressed in wolf hides) before the burning bush. Many are now looking at his story and saying he was initiated into the mysteries at Midian lead by Jethro. Moses also had a conquering streak and was a badass in real life.

    So in conclusion, perhaps his disappearance is actually due to him not being what the tribe wanted and so they took him out of the picture. That and wolves are aliens so he may have just been spirited away on a star ship 😛

    1. Raised by wolves
      Perhaps the whole myth was meant to be a metaphor, that if you get used to the idea life’s a bitch, you end up getting more out of it –like milk out of its tits 😛

        1. Wiki’s business model sucks
          Wiki’s business model sucks because its content has been overrun by “scientism” rather than science. Especially with regard to so called “fringe” subjects the overall content is abysmally and tendentiously uninformed. That’s ok – we all know that Wiki is an open playing field – just don’t expect me to be giving any money to it because I don’t really consult it anymore.

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