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SCOTT (SCOOP) BUTKI
A cynical idealist; To Read Me Is to Know Me (Mostly)
Articles Posted: 1176; Links Seeded: 7571
Member Since: 2/2007Last Seen: 11/28/2009
Member Since: 2/2007Last Seen: 11/28/2009
47 Comments
PrintThe Value of Satire, Odd News and Why Scoop Is MIA
News Type: Opinion — Tue Nov 4, 2008 5:53 PM EST
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My mantra in recent months has been more satire, more weird news stories (often via the Obscure Store) and less politics and division.
Part of this is I think we (I am using the royal we here) need to lighten up and laugh, be it at the woman who shoplifted and then returned to get stuff she left behind or the guy who had sex with his gas station car wash. (And who hasn't been there?)
I have certainly written my share of satires lately, some more funny and well executed than others (I still think my Palin and McCain stories were funny but I apologize for that whole pumpkin porn meme)
If you think and I others are exaggerating about how elections weren't always this divisive, that people didn't lose friends over voting times, let me tell you where my parents first date was at: a 1960 election results viewing party.
Can you imagine these days a party to watch election results? Well, I'm going to an party later but it's a party notably only open to Obama supporters otherwise fist fights might break out.
For the record, my dad cried into his beer as his guy, Nixon, lost while mom celebrated JFK's win. And then they each voted differently for 40 years cancelling out each others vote, perfectly, at times, symbolizing the frissions and divisions in this nation. But I digress..
Some may wonder why they have not seen 20 new seeds and 3 new stories by me in the last 48 hours and wondered, "did Mr. News Junkie go off the wagon or on another cruise?"
If you told me three days ago I'd only be posting three seeds on election day and that my one election day article would be an interview with a political punk band I would have said you were crazy. I expected to blog all day and nite and write (as I publicly promised here (in a well-intentioned, and so far successful, push to get us focusing on the positive) a Newsviner's Picks article to point the spotlight away from me to other more deserving viners.
Then I somehow fried my laptop (it's on Best Buy being fixed) and am instead online for just two hours today (via a college computer lab - shhh don't tell them I don't even attend this college) before going to an Omnivores for Obama party.
So it is what it is. I mention this to explain I wont' be around as much for a few days and that, well, I am just full of surprises.
I'll close this - and go write up the interview with Report Suspicious Activity before heading off to vote and then go to said party - with my favorite excerpt from the two pieces I just seeded about satire:
"But satire, at its best, requires a willingness to scorch the earth. Just as we need a leader who is steady, we need political satirists who are willing to find his sweet spot and never stop attacking. Laughter could prove to be the best medicine, so long as we don't lose our healthy skepticism.
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- Groups: Newsvine Community, Political Analysis, Pumpkin Americans
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{"commentId":3883311,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
I had anticipated blogging election analysis but that was before I had to choose whether to pay to go online via Kinkos (i may be an addict but i'm trying to cut expenses)
So instead I just seeded this - original story here and included my election prediction (which would could put a damper on the party I'm headed to) namely that there will be legal batles over the election machine irregularities and the networks will be terrified to declare a winner prematurely (with memories of the recount still fresh in many of journalists' heads)
... or it wil be such a blowout that the legal battles will just be an afterthought.
{"commentId":3883311,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"sbutki"}
- 4 votes
#1 - Tue Nov 4, 2008 6:07 PM EST{"commentId":3885946,"authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
Yeah - I've been scoopdified !!! GRIN
Hey - I think it's great that your parents could stay married and still hold different political viewpoints. I have a friend at work and she and her husband are like that. She said they just don't talk about it. I admire them for it. Marriage is about so much more than that...
Hope you have/had a great time at your party. Hope you are back on the vine soon. I'm still waiting on an answer about a particular blue envelope!
{"commentId":3885946,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
- 2 votes
#2 - Tue Nov 4, 2008 8:22 PM EST{"commentId":3886742,"authorDomain":"darkdingo"}
Win, lose, or draw... have a great time at the party, Scott!
{"commentId":3886742,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"darkdingo"}
- 3 votes
#3 - Tue Nov 4, 2008 9:06 PM EST{"commentId":3887839,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
{"commentId":3888383,"authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
You're such a tease... GRIN
{"commentId":3888383,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":3898641,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
{"commentId":3898952,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
{"commentId":4015631,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
Just emailed this to Best Buy. If I don't get a response I like I will mention that I'm blogging about how long it takes.
I brought my hp laptop to geek squad at the hagerstown best buy a week ago today.
I have yet to hear anything back about the status of things. It was a pretty new laptop (less than four months old) but i'm an active blogger and if asked would have been willing to pay more to get it fixed and returned faster but was not even asked that.
yesterday i called best buy four times and picked the selection to speak to a geek squad rep and the phone rang 15 times (yes I counted) and there was no answer nor no opportunity to leave a message.
Can someone either call or email me with a status report because i'm going through withdrawls
calling me is preferred as i have to resort to going to kinkos to pay to go online right now
{"commentId":4015631,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"sbutki"}
- 2 votes
#4 - Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:05 AM EST{"commentId":4020750,"authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
OH man...I would be really mad.
Sorry Scottman...hope you get some results
{"commentId":4020750,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":4026403,"authorDomain":"darkdingo"}
damn... wondered why you've been scarce lately
{"commentId":4026403,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"darkdingo"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":4050047,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
{"commentId":4051097,"authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
Go buy a new one - it'll be quicker...LOL
{"commentId":4051097,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":4063900,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
{"commentId":4123325,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
I am singing (to the tune of "My boyfriend's back) "Hey, ya, hey, ya, my laptop's back.
{"commentId":4123325,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"sbutki"}
- 2 votes
#5 - Wed Nov 19, 2008 10:53 AM EST{"commentId":4127599,"authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
Cool beans dude ranger!
{"commentId":4127599,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":4129375,"authorDomain":"Nic-24"}
congrats. I sympathize to the degree that my 'new' computer (1 year old) really sucks in comparison to my old one in terms of user-friendliness. Wretched internet addiction...
{"commentId":4129375,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"Nic-24"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":4129406,"authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
Holy macaroni, the laptop was only 4 months old and went on the fritz? I'd be steaming mad about it. What did you do? What did they tell you was wrong with it? Did you melt all the soldering or what?
{"commentId":4129406,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
- 3 votes
#6 - Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:01 PM EST{"commentId":4144894,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
Well.
The good news is I got the computer back...
The bad news is one hour later it crashed and would not restart and I was right back at Best Buy's Geek Squad desk steaming mad and saying this better not take another two weeks to fix (they promised to put it on rush).
When it crashed I lost 20 minutes worth of writing because surely when they said it was fixed and the problem was the mother board (I didn't press for details as I just wanted to say "who's your mama/daddy" and press the laptop against my chest.
(I'm not being charged for any of this but just the absence of a computer to me is painful. An while it's good to wean oneself off the net and sites like this periodically it's maddening when, say, you have a five page handwritten memoir piece you plan to type up and post once you get your computer back.. .only to only get it back for an hour.
{"commentId":4144894,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"sbutki"}
- 3 votes
#7 - Thu Nov 20, 2008 5:30 PM EST{"commentId":4145926,"authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
ARRRGGHHHHHH!!!
I think you got a lemon.
{"commentId":4145926,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":4147065,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
{"commentId":4150168,"authorDomain":"pobox522rlyeh"}
Good luck getting a reliable computer back. I couldn't imagine going without mine for a few days, I'd probably be suffering from internet withdrawal.
{"commentId":4150168,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"pobox522rlyeh"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":4171162,"authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
OHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOO!
(Imagine this in a "Mr. Bill" voice).
That's terrible. I would have been mad too! I might have thrown it at them as I walked in...
{"commentId":4171162,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":4174320,"authorDomain":"darkdingo"}
[Nick pets his Compaq Notebook}
"Now, now, baby... Ladybug didn't mean you, of course..."
{"commentId":4174320,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"darkdingo"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":4175569,"authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
(GRIN)
Of course not. I would never throw a working Notebook...
{"commentId":4175569,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":4178329,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
{"commentId":4178496,"authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
I'm a big talker - I would never really throw a Notebook that I had to have fixed... :-)
Withdrawal is bad. I went away for just two days and practically had the shakes because I couldn't check out the vine. It was practically the first thing I did when I arrived home...how healthy is that? Do you think I need counseling?
{"commentId":4178496,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":4186910,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
{"commentId":4187887,"authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
Thanks Scott - read and commented on. Read the list and visited the viners addicts group too - I'm not quite up to par on the list but can tell I'm headed there. Ha!
I have to try to find a balance between this and book reading - then I have to squeeze work in. LOL
{"commentId":4187887,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":4188959,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
{"commentId":4178502,"authorDomain":"bigmomma"}
I wonder do they have a lemon law for computers? Dang Scott, I'd be really pissed. I hope they get your computer back soon for you!
{"commentId":4178502,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"bigmomma"}
- 2 votes
#8 - Sun Nov 23, 2008 4:14 PM EST{"commentId":4186611,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
I just emailed this:
I've detailed my problem here:
http://sbutki.newsvine.com/_news/2008/11/04/2072600-the-value-of-satire-odd-news-and-why-scoop-is-mia?last=1227473494&threadId=409549#last_1
put simply I turned my computer over to you guys and you "fixed" it (01445-946033633) except within an hour it died again and I had to take it back and I don't know the status of it now (which is why I'm writing) nor the new service # but I'm sure hoping to get it back by thanksgiving. Please advise
How much you want to bet things start to move faster now that they know i'm blogging about this?
{"commentId":4186611,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"sbutki"}
- 2 votes
#9 - Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:20 PM EST{"commentId":4191155,"authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
You might well get your complaint "escalated" for that. (That's a good thing, where they move you case up to someone who actually has some authority to make some kind of offer -- like a freebie something or other, reducing the charge, etc.)
Hope so, anyway. Four months and then it goes pfft is really BAD!!!
{"commentId":4191155,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":4191384,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
Oh yeah that's what I mean - I expect that will expedite things but just as when I was a reporter I dont like throwing any weight around because a) it's not fair for those who don't have weight and b) I shouldn't need to.
{"commentId":4191384,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"sbutki"}
- 2 votes
#10 - Mon Nov 24, 2008 7:31 PM EST{"commentId":4192204,"authorDomain":"darkdingo"}
Well, 3 weeks of this IS getting ridiculous, Scott. They really should have already offered you a loaner, if not a replacement. BTW, please tell me this isn't a Compaq...
{"commentId":4192204,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"darkdingo"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":4198000,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
{"commentId":4292713,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
I have my computer back.
Here is the official reason for the problem which kept my computer and I apart for one month: According to Best Buy's Geek Squad -"the units motherboard was not grounding correctly.
Reseated the motherboard and now it works fine." I told them my mom was not bored (she has her hands full with my nieces) and that's none of their business. So I told them!
{"commentId":4292713,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"sbutki"}
- 3 votes
#11 - Thu Dec 4, 2008 3:19 PM EST{"commentId":4293003,"authorDomain":"darkdingo"}
I think they meant that maybe she wasn't paddling (mother's board) or grounding the grandkids correctly, as I'm sure, like most doting/loving grandparents, she lets them get by with a bit more than their parents.
{"commentId":4293003,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"darkdingo"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":4293828,"authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
YIPPEE!!!!!!
The Scottman is back.
{"commentId":4293828,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":4294323,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
{"commentId":4294419,"authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
I'm so sorry :-(...
Buy a new one for yourself - it's Christmas and if you get the old one back you'll always have a spare!
{"commentId":4294419,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"ladybug331"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":4295938,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
{"commentId":4296191,"authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
Your pacifist principles are being sorely tried, aren't they??
{"commentId":4296191,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":4296214,"authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
Scott -- You have putzed around enough. Go to Squeaky Wheel online and put your complaint online thru them. Every time someone reads it, an email will get sent to whomever you designate to receive it (try to get email address of a higher exec).
{"commentId":4296214,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"MinnieApolis"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":4297044,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
{"commentId":4317891,"authorDomain":"darkdingo"}
Aww, c'mon, what's a little visit from the gestapo, er, FBI???
{"commentId":4317891,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"darkdingo"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":4355441,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
{"commentId":4318162,"authorDomain":"sherwood-1"}
Good friend of mine has (had) an HP that is only about two years old, and when hers went down they told her the hard drive was cracked. She is saving to get a new computer. I know very litttle about the internal workings of these things. I have a Dell now and my old one was a v2 premiere that was time and a half better than this one, Or maybe it is just the Vista thing, I don't know.If you need comments on this thread to get those guys off dead center, I hope this helps. I am seriously thinking about a Mac for my next one. I am not crazy about this Dell and I have heard too many bad things about HP.
{"commentId":4318162,"threadId":"409549","contentId":"2072600","authorDomain":"sherwood-1"}
- 2 votes
#12 - Sat Dec 6, 2008 1:35 AM EST{"commentId":4334048,"authorDomain":"sbutki"}
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