Natura pet food comments on safety
Chris Schlarb writes:
My family has two beautiful Siamese cats and with all of the issues surrounding wet or canned cat food I decided to take a look into the brand we purchase, Innova & Evo.
Well, I went to their website and what did I find?
A video from the co-owner/co-founder explaining, in great detail, the state of their products. He even goes so far as to mention they considered discontinuing their wet foods, even though they are safe, because of the nature of the plant/manufacturing system.
Anyhow, I was really impressed. This sort of small gesture will go a long way to ensuring that I continue to use their products. Not only did the video inform me that their products are safe (and why!), it let me know they have respect for me and are operating transparently in a time of industry-wide crisis.
Mark Cuban wants candidates to do less
Bill Litfin writes:
A 37Signals-esque blog entry from Mark Cuban. It’s about politics… but some quotes struck me as, well, 37Signals-esque… it’s a whole diatribe on picking the candidate that does the least—and why.
“When I vote in any local or state election, I vote for the candidate who I think will do the least. Not the least of anything specific, just the least amount of everything.”
“What I would love to see is a candidate who says he/she is going to start removing laws and programs. Give me a candidate who’s primary platform is to spend 4 years removing federal programs and laws. If it was a law or program worth anything the states or local municipalities will find much more creative ways to make them work.”
“So if you want my vote in 2008, don’t tell me what you are going to add, tell me what you are going to remove. Tell me how you are going to simplify the government. That’s how you get my vote.”
Movie theater warning screen
Matt Griffin writes:
You might enjoy this image. They show this “serious” warning before every movie at the North Park Mall theater in Dallas, TX.
This is serious stuff. Here’s how you tell:
- Red background with white text
- Capitalized the first letter of each word
- Uses an exclamation point
- Bold text
- Centered on the screen
- Mixed in italics
- Multiple fonts – Are parts of this statement more important than others?
- Is a statement and not a complete sentences
Ron Paul site
Scott Scites writes:
I was very excited to see the use of ajax [Ed note: Flash actually] on the Ron Paul web site. The temperature gauge rises with each donation. As the donations come in the donors names appear. This seems the ideal usage for ajax! It really creates a sense of momentum and urgency, that I believe should cause more donations to come.
The design firm that put the web site together is terra eclipse. Their design of the Ron Paul web site is simple and easy to navigate. They were one of the first companies (that I know of) to adjust to the iphone form factor with the Ron Paul web site (for iPhone). I’ve been really impressed with their work. They seem to be on top of their game!
Have an interesting link, story, or screenshot for Signal vs. Noise? Contact svn [at] 37signals [dot] com.
Sm
on 11 Oct 07The Ron Paul site is using Flash. It could be ajax but is probably flash remoting.
Alexia
on 11 Oct 07If Cuban endorsed Ron Paul, he’d win “Dancing With The Stars” easily.
Will
on 11 Oct 07the glowing report from “Scott Scites” makes me wonder if he is really “Ron Paul”.....
Anonymous Coward
on 11 Oct 07Re Cuban: Sorry, this “tell me how you are going to simplify the government” quip is quotable, but reductive and simple-minded. Simplification when it is reasonable is fine, but this is hardly a useful measuring stick for evaluating candidates. Stick to business and basketball, Mark.
Brad
on 11 Oct 07”... struck me as, well, 37Signals-esque …”
So why don’t we just replace the word “simplify” with “37signalize”?
I hope you can sense the sarcasm. Please don’t claim that you invented the concept of simplification.
Anonymous Coward
on 11 Oct 07What a surprise – a billionaire that wants less government regulation! And then a Ron Paul link – I didn’t know Signal vs. Noise appealed to so many right wing nuts.
carlivar
on 11 Oct 07Ron Paul isn’t really “right wing”. Politics isn’t right or left, it’s four different directions basically, as shown by:
The World’s Smallest Political Quiz
Ron Paul is libertarian. There’s a tradition of this in the Republican party… Barry Goldwater and Robert Taft being some 20th century examples.
Tim Patterson
on 11 Oct 07Ron Paul > *;
AnkurJ
on 11 Oct 07That movie theater warning screen is played before every movie? It’s quite alarming…if I was at the movie theater for the first time and I saw that, I would immediately think something is wrong.
I think they should have used a black background. And put the “In case of emergency part” first.
John
on 11 Oct 07Ron Paul is about cutting out waste and inefficiency. Most departments and agencies are hugely bloated, highly bureaucratic and wasteful. He wants to do away with the CIA but it’s more about streamlining it - not about abolishing intelligence gathering, just having intelligent people do the intelligence gathering.
I applaud that he questions the need of our big government agencies (IRS, CIA, FBI, FEMA, FDA, FAA, EPA, DEA, Homeland Security, etc.).
Eliot Landrum
on 11 Oct 07Why does the Ron Paul iPhone use Cingular?
Another Anonymous Coward
on 11 Oct 07The RonPaulBots have invaded here too! Am I the only one who can’t wait for the republican primaries to be over so I don’t have to see any more crazy comments??
Are people are just so starved for someone who sounds like they are actually stating their convictions they go nuts for a guy who is for repealing the 20th century?
JR
on 11 Oct 07I read this article by him, and it seemed pretty “right wing”. And pretty racist.
Killian
on 11 Oct 07@all you gov’t experts: Take a look at the tax laws and for that matter your local city code. They are basically a legal parallel to ‘feature creep’.
No one has time to follow or enforce all these laws, and no one tries to remove the old useless laws that contradict all the other useless laws (foie gras any one?). Politicians think they get elected based on passing new restrictions not removing them.
Simple laws and simple rules are more likely to be followed and enforced. Complicated rules and contracts are more likely to be loopholed to death.
This essentially degrades the usefulness of our laws and reduces liberties.
I just thought of a cool new law: for every new law that you make you have to remove at least one old law.
carlivar
on 11 Oct 07@JR, agreed, that article is probably Ron Paul at his worst. This RonPaulBot’s programming must be broken because I agree he’s not perfect. He’s just far better than any other candidate by orders of magnitude.
How do you feel about Ron’s wish to legalize marijuana and other drugs less harmful than alcohol and nicotine? Is that right wing? Or his wish to withdraw from Iraq immediately? Is that right wing? How about his vote against the Patriot Act? Heck, he voted against Iraq originally too.
As for why us “Ron Paul bots” (I am actually just a Ruby script, right) are here on 37signals… well I think Dr. Paul’s message jives very well with the messages here. Efficiency, simplicity, freedom… aren’t those themes on this blog? The red-tape of mega-bureaucracy sounds like the opposite of what’s evangelized here. Has any government program ever been simple, elegant, or efficient?
Andrew
on 11 Oct 07Don’t know (or care) who Mark Cuban is, but let’s hope that there are few people like him out there, for the good of the country.
NH
on 11 Oct 07Nothing wrong with being a millionaire (he’s not a billionaire) when you worked for it yourself by being in the medical profession. He would like for all of you to keep the fruits of your labor.
He is the only one who would CUT PROGRAMS, LAWS and SPENDING, and most of all the IRS!
Go Ron GO!
Tim
on 11 Oct 07Is anyone else unable to access their Basecamp account right now?
I’m able to access the basecamphq.com page but not my projectpath.com basecamp account page.
Jake
on 11 Oct 07@JR and @carlivar, that article was not written by Ron Paul, but a staffer who worked for his organization. He has taken responsiblity for his staffer’s actions and condemned them, something no other presidential candidate(D or R) would probably address if something like this was dredged up on them.
“They were never my words, but I had some moral responsibility for them . . . I actually really wanted to try to explain that it doesn’t come from me directly, but they campaign aides said that’s too confusing. ‘It appeared in your letter and your name was on that letter and therefore you have to live with it.’”—Ron Paul
Manning up like that when someone within your organization says/writes something so utterly stupid is more evidence for me that Ron Paul is the poster-child for integrity and honesty.
If you have read his other works over his career you can clearly see that. If you like federally mandated privileges for ‘minority’ groups, Ron Paul is not your man, but he is not a closet racist.
See http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul68.html and http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul381.html for Paul on race in his own words. Paul is actually polling better than any other Republican candidate in the black community(albeit in NH http://www.realclearpolitics.com/docs/insider_advantage/nh_gop_oct.html), but if you are a ‘white man’s burden’ liberal, it probably upsets you a bit that black people think they should control their own lives.
Also for the billionaire commenters, Ron Paul takes a strong stand against the raping of the economy that those in Washington, Wall St, etc are currently performing( just watch his highlights from the last debate). Pilfering the public treasury is a big no no in his book, but yes, there is nothing wrong with someone who provides value to a market ( Mark Cuban) should be rewarded.
I don’t actually know if everything Mark Cuban has done is that kosher but thats not the point.JR
on 11 Oct 07@carlivar: Ron Paul claims to champion freedom, yet is apparently unmoved by the fact that minorities have historically been subject to the worst deprivations of freedom. Gay people still are denied the freedom to marry and in some cases, their very existence is illegal. To those truly committed to freedom, this issue far outweighs lesser concerns like lower taxes. Having reversed those priorities, libertarianism has become the politics of “I got mine”, autism as applied to public policy. No wonder it is popular among tech workers in Silicon Valley.
As for the themes on this blog of efficiency and simplicity, those are indeed highly valued—in what we create for others. The process of simplification is itself not simple, and we take on the complexities of writing software for the benefit of our users, not for ourselves.
JR
on 11 Oct 07@Jake: That denial is worthy of the Bush administration. Are we expected to believe that Ron Paul has no control over what gets published by his campaign? Or that he obliviously allows his staffers use his campaign as their personal soap box? Even if it was true, he’s made other very similar statements. But this is just a misunderstanding, like Larry Craig’s “wide stance.”
Ron Paul may not be racist, but he clearly appeals to racist and nationalistic elements for support.
carlivar
on 11 Oct 07Politics can really take comments off-track so I’ll try to keep it brief.
@JR, you didn’t answer my questions about some very “non right wing” policy examples from Dr. Paul. Anyway, I’m pretty sure that Dr. Paul is consistent on both gay marriage and abortion: as it is not defined in the Constitution, it should be decided at the state level. I’m not fully happy with that either, but I do think it’s a decent compromise.
I don’t understand your focus on “creating for others” and the “benefit of others”. Given that the role of government is to “serve the people”, isn’t my point fully relevant?
Jake
on 11 Oct 07@JR : Umm, its not a denial, its an acceptance of responsibility from an honest man.
“Are we expected to believe that Ron Paul has no control over what gets published by his campaign?”
Having control does not mean that he is the gatekeeper 100% of the time, and this is exactly what he is speaking to, it is possible that items go out from a campaign or in this case a newsletter with his name on it, without him seeing it. If you can’t conceive of that happening in any political campaign, I am not sure what to tell you.
Look at his record, read his words over the past 30 years. His heart and mind are truly a matter of public record and are consistent over this vast span in politics.
Also, please link to these other (non-existant) similar statements he has made as I have only seen the ones referenced from this newsletter, and I voraciously read everything I can about the man.
Thanks, Jake
JR
on 11 Oct 07@carlivar: Ron Paul’s non-right-wing positions don’t outweigh the more serious infringements on liberty that he permits. For example, his reading of the constitution would mean that the condition of being gay could be a criminal offense in some states. Like most libertarians, he believes that the federal government plays at least some role in protecting liberty, so why do gays not qualify when straight people do? A consistent constitutionalist/libertarian position would be to say that the constitution already protects gay marriage just as it protects straight marriage.
I do think your point about government is relevant. But one can’t help but be struck by how libertarians often wrap themselves in the banner of freedom, but prioritize their own relatively minor concerns over more serious infringements of liberty. In contrast, the ethic of this site is generous rather than nakedly self-serving.
JR
on 11 Oct 07@Jake: Here’s a link.
carlivar
on 11 Oct 07@JR: I loathe the Patriot Act and Guantanamo Bay. The existence of these things do not affect me in any real way. So why do I care so much? It’s not self-serving.
You said that the Constitution protects straight marriage. That is 100% wrong. Please point me to the text in the Constitution where straight marriage is protected, because I can’t find it. This is why opponents of gay marriage seek to specifically add language to the Constitution via the Federal Marriage Amendment.
So, a consistent libertarian/constitutionalist position would be to say that the federal government has no business getting involved in marriage at all. Hmm that’s what Ron Paul says…
Lastly, self-serving is in the eye of the beholder. I would argue that if you believe the rich should be forced to pay for the poor’s health care, you are forcing others to comply with your beliefs. How is forced compliance with your own beliefs not serving yourself? Or, if a poor person votes for Obama because Obama says he will tax the rich to give the poor federally subsidized mortgage help, how is that not self-serving? Heck, the only difference with libertarians is they are not trying to take money from anyone else to serve themselves!
Jake
on 11 Oct 07@JR: are you kidding?
Beerzie Boy
on 11 Oct 07Who isn’t about cutting out waste and inefficiency? That’s like opposing crime or evildoers. One person’s essential program is another one’s pork barrel project. The biggest waste of money is the trillion-dollar war that has blood splattered on the faces of politician in both parties.
JR
on 11 Oct 07There are numerous federal benefits to married couples. Some couldn’t be delegated to the state, such as granting citizenship to foreign spouses.
Not all libertarians are self-serving. It’s true that many other people are also self-serving, but here, I am critical of self-interest cloaked in pretensions.
David
on 12 Oct 07Wow, a simple mention of Ron Paul and we have a flameware going on Signal v. Noise.
FWIW, I support Ron Paul. I was a registered Democrat, but I believe Paul is far and away the best candidate.
hung
on 15 Oct 07kelley
on 17 Oct 07Does this make me a blogger now? I don’t even know what a blogger is, all I know is that I love Ron Paul and the message he brings to America, he has a cure for this country to put it back on the “right” track. Go Ron Go! I truly believe we are watching the first president to be elected via the internet! How exciting!
This discussion is closed.