GB Doesn't Want My Money

Glenn didn't take me up on the $1000 I was willing to give to a charity of his choice if he would provide me with 1/10 of the e-mails of support he claimed to have received in the past few days.

He didn't take me up on the offer because he didn't think I was good for it. Which is kind of strange because I've had dealings with many magicians through this site and I've always been a man of my word. Remember djvirtualreality? He walked away with $200 from this site for being the dumbest person at the Magic Cafe. You can ask him, he has no reason to lie on my behalf; I called him dumb. I've also given away a number of free books through this site, check with any of the people who received them to see if it was all a scam from someone who "hides behind a screen name."

So here's the deal, Glenn claims the only reason he didn't take advantage of my offer is because he doesn't think I'm good for the money. So I'll sweeten the deal. I will give $1000 to Glenn's favorite charity and $1000 to Glenn himself and all Glenn has to do is forward me the bare minimum number of e-mails he claims to have received on Monday and Tuesday of this week in support of him. Since he claimed to receive "over 437" e-mails, all he has to do is forward them along 437 of them in order to take $2000 from me. I am willing to put the money in escrow or do anything else that's necessary to prove to Glenn that I'm serious.

I'll be waiting to hear from Glenn.

Forty

GB Does Mea Culpas

Well, Glenn grudgingly admits that it's 30 not forty. "[T]hank you for this important information," he says sarcastically. Well, I assume it's sarcastically because that's the nature of the whole post.

Glenn, it wasn't that writing "forty" instead of "30" was the greatest mistake ever made, it was the fact that you made such a ridiculous mistake and then refused to acknowledge it that was so telling. It was representative of a greater issue that some people have with you.

Glenn is now blaming his dyslexia for making him dumb. I don't know enough about dyslexia to know if that would have any effect on not being able to differentiate homonyms or getting old-time newspaper slang wrong, maybe that is the cause.

Regardless, it looks like Glenn wants to turn around his attitude. He writes:

"Many times in my shallow attempts to give back to the art - in forums like the café - and in my blog my writing is lousy and I sound like I have all the answers.

I am nothing more than a survivor. I have never claimed to be an authority on anything. It is just my meager attempts to give back to an art that I love."

Except for that "shallow attempts" bit, which is obviously just fishing for compliments, I think I like his new attitude. But I feel bad, like I have strong-armed Glenn into adopting this posture that he doesn't truly feel. I hope not. Ultimately the reason I make fun of Glenn or try and give him advice is in an attempt to make him a more likeable presence, because I think being liked is very important to him and he has just been going about it the wrong way.

Whatever. I'll be happy if Glenn gives me no more reasons to update this blog.

Forty

GB Does Etymology

The other day Glenn was giving a dissertation on how to write a press release. He told everyone to make sure to end their press release by writing "Forty." Why? "That is the way that newspaper people tell the editor that that is the end of the story…." Ah yes, that's what the "newspaper people" do. Well, as I mentioned on the mother-ship, the way you would actually end a press release, if you were so inclined as to use this somewhat dated construction, is by writing -30-. So he got the number dead wrong and he's setting some kid up to look like an idiot by taking his advice (fortunately nobody takes his advice). I guess you could write "Forty" but then you'd have to use some Kenton Knepper action and write "Off by 10."

Now, Glenn knows he made a mistake, but to admit this would be to admit that he was trying to pass himself off as an authority on something he knows nothing about, so what does he do? He writes a post defending the misinformation. Here's the relevant bit:


For the people that seem to want to know where the press release and the “Forty” for the end of the press release comes from - I think it came from the early newspaper business when reporters would phone in a story. They would push the breaking news in those days to get it on the streets first.

They would end the call in of the story by saying “Forty” then they would have any conversation if they were still going to talk.

Hmmm.

Well, that certainly explains it right?

This is like saying, "Do you know where the phrase 'hit the hay' comes from? Well, in the old days when people went to sleep they used to say, 'I'm going to hit the hay.'"

You don't explain where a word or phrase comes from by saying what the word or phrase means, but I guess that's obvious to most people.

Glenn, please tell me why they used the word "Forty." Not what they used it for. But rather why that word, why forty? Why not "stop here," or "This bit is where it ends," or "pumpernickel." Glenn won't be able to answer this question because they don't use the word forty and he's too much of a baby to say that he made a mistake.

Dummy.

Forty.