Thursday, January 25th

Hi everyone. Tonight should be a good show, but if you miss some of it, here you go.

7pm: Ok, so to start off with tonight, we will be speaking to Craig Newark, founder of my addiction, Craigslist. I think this will be pretty interesting. But first, we found this clip online of a newscaster confusing whether a mountain climber is gay or blind. I never knew there was a relationship there. How do you recover from that? What we did not play is the reaction of the climber following this. He and his friend are just completely shocked.

The guys point out that they are impressed by the fact that the Craigslist could be charging for much more than they do. The only thing they charge for, is job postings. Also, recently Ebay has acquired a chunk of the company, but he says that they have not had a big influence whatsoever.

Also, Craig has consistently turned down offers for banner ads. He thinks that they are not that effective, and slow the site down. They also talk to him about the scammers that use the site. He says that flagging has made it much easier for them to shut them down.

Craig is kind enough to take some questions from listeners. Some of these listeners ask some pretty tough questions. Joe in Oakland is upset by the racism that occurs frequently on Rants and Raves. Craig says that they regulate this by flagging. Also, Rants and Raves was created in order to keep these things out of the other sections. Furthermore, you know what you are going to get when you go in there.

Lisa in San Jose has a pretty amazing story. She had not seen her father in almost forty years. She was able to find her father through a posting in the Missed Connection section of the site. That is pretty amazing.

Craig sounds pretty tired tonight, he has just returned from a trip to Munich, so maybe he is a little tired.

True in San Jose asks a question I was wondering about. Can Craigslist make it possible to search more than one city at a time? He says that they would like to do so, but it's not a top priority, specifically because they have such a small staff.

The main thing that we took away from this, is that this is very much a user-moderated site. There are so many postings and so many sites, that it is impossible for them to do it themselves. Also, Craig is incredibly low key. He is the Buddha of the Internet.

Craig's favorite Best of Ad: Someone offering payment to take a CPA Ethics test for them. That's a great definition of irony.

8pm: Before I get to bitch about the cell phone companies, the guys read the story about a child who screamed so loud, that it killed hundreds of chickens. This kid was scared by barking dog, and screamed persistently at the top of his little lungs. That is ridiculous.

Also, they tell us about Mozart, the iguana. Mozart has had an erection for over a week. That is a very long time. Unfortunately for Mozart, the only solution is for them to amputate his penis. That's terrible. Do you think that iguana's feel shame? Well, none of us knew this, but it's ok, because iguanas have two penises. Huh. That's interesting. God sure does work in mysterious ways.

Ok, I finally get to tell about my recent odyssey in dealing with the cell phone companies. This has been a hell that has been continuing for the past three days, and is still not over.

Basically, on Tuesday I thought my old cell phone contract had expired. So, I went and switched my phone over to a new service. Of course, I was wrong, and my contract was not up. This means that of course, I have a hefty cancellation fee to deal with.

So, I called the old company to see what I could do. After three hours on the phone, speaking to seven people, nothing was accomplished. Furthermore, they asked me for copies of my social security card and two credit cards. After I said no to that, they tried to sell me a new phone. I absolutely freaked out at this point.

Today, I called again, and was finally able to get my cell phone number transferred back over. Of course, now I have to go the new cell phone company tomorrow to try and return my new phone. What caller Andy tells me, is that I will still be charged an activation fee this time and when I switch again in a month. Man, this totally blows.

9pm: After my customer service nightmare, the guys give out the website, GetHuman.com/us. This website gives you all the shortcuts to get through the automated systems. It is actually really amazing. What a fantastic resource.

To lighten things up, the guys read a story coming out of New Jersey, of course it's New Jersey. State officials are warning squirrel-eating folks to stop hunting the varmints, because they are near a toxic waste dump. Damn, them nuclear squirrels have the best dern flavor.

Ok, so here's a question for you. If we were to tell you there is a website called The Creativity Movement, what do you think it would be? Most of us guess art or writing. Dan guesses religion. But, this is what it is?

It is a white supremacist movement, that is behind the Creativity religion. Their goal is to eradicate the world of Jews and non-whites. They hate the Jews the most of all. Ahh, don't all these groups.

Brad's daughter has recently been getting into metal. She is listening to some pretty hardcore stuff. This is a little scary for him. She has also made some friends who are into this, and has found himself trying to be cool in front of these 13 year olds. When at the school and they were rocking out to some metal, Brad pulled the "YEAHHHH" three times. This completely screws up Brad's plan to be the imposing, intimidating figure, he so desperately wants to be.

Brad is also really upset because his power is out. He has just finally gotten tv back, and is completely addicted again. So, he is jonesing to get home to watch some car chases, but alas, there is nothing.

10pm: JJ in San Leandro tries to set the tone. She was thinking about Brad acting like a rocker around the kids. Her topic is: At what age do you become lame? And, when that happens, can you get it back? This is a good topic, I'm interested to see where it goes.

Chris brings up that age, where you see a hot, young girl, and you are not interested because you know you cannot relate to her, and it would be too creepy.

Jallay in Fairfield tries as well. Have you ever done something dishonest, to the point where you were really afraid? But, you got away with it. She was working in a mailroom and stole an envelope full of cash from an order. She felt really bad, but suffered no consequences.

So, we will run with both of these topics. Brad points out that Jallay has a pretty unique name, and maybe should not be talking about a felony on the radio.

JJ's topic takes off a little bit. Jared in Vacaville thinks you can become lame at a very young age. He is thinking of the guys that still go to high school parties two or three years after graduation. That's pretty lame.

Chris also says you may become lame when you jump off the fashion train. Those people that are still wearing the clothes that were cool in 1992, when they were 25. That's pretty lame. From here, this is also the "back in the day" guy. Like old hippies, who talk about how cool things used to be.

Dennis in Mountain View thinks lameness has occurred when work is more important than partying. When you won't go out because you are afraid your hangover will affect your job performance. The guys say that although they fall in that category, that they are probably better off that way.

Over break, I mentioned that you are lame if you wear your class ring, more than a year after you graduate. I had no idea, that Brad wears his everyday. Whoops.

Other Claims for What Makes You Lame:

- At age 30

- When you realize the volume control has numbers

- When you care about your lawn

- Complaining about what the kids are wearing these days

- Throwing your back out playing sports with your boys on the weekend

- When listening to your kids' music and dancing to it

- When worried about what your kids are listening to, even though it's your music

- When you tap your feet to elevator music

So, it has been sufficiently proven, that on many points Chris and Brad are lame. It's ok, I'm 24 and lame, and love it. And with that, we are out for the night. I apologize to my mother, have a good night.