LOL- IN honor of Yuppie Gadget Shop "Sharper Image" Bankruptcy, a FLASHBACK!

[El Pinko]

http://www.quackwatch.com/14Legal/ionicbreeze.html
Court Dismisses Sharper Image Lawsuit against Consumers Union

Stephen Barrett, M.D.

In November 2004, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed a lawsuit that the Sharper Image Corporation filed against Consumers Union (CU) over reviews of the Ionic Breeze Quadra air cleaner <1>. The lawsuit, filed in September 2003, concerned articles in the October 2003 and February 2002 issues of Consumer Reports which concluded that the Ionic Breeze was "ineffective" as an air cleaner and produced "almost no measurable reduction in airborne particles."

CU dismissal motion <2> was filed under California's Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) statute. The statute, originally enacted in 1992, provides a way for a defendant served with a complaint arising out of constitutionally protected speech to move for dismissal of the lawsuit at the outset—before the personal and financial costs of litigation pile up. Under the statute, a defendant can immediately bring a "special motion to strike" to force the plaintiff to show that its claims have legal and factual merit, thus placing a heavy burden of proof on the plaintiff. Regarding the anti-SLAPP motion, Michael Pollet, CU's long-time general counsel, stated:

Consumers Union believes the district court will see Sharper Image's lawsuit for what it really is—a meritless case aimed at silencing an honest critic that has held the public's trust for nearly 70 years. We are confident that we will prevail because our magazine's review of the Ionic Breeze is not only protected by the First Amendment, but is fully accurate, as Sharper Image well know <2>.

...

In May 2005, Consumer Reports reported new finings that the Ionic Breeze Quadra S1737 SNX and four competing devices emitted excessive amounts of ozone that could cause respiratory difficulty when operated close to the user <9>.

[spag68]

1. Sharper Image

Good riddance to an expensive junk store.

[WillowTree]

2. LOL...indeed.

I find it difficult to laugh at the prospect of 2,000-plus people living in fear that their jobs will disappear. We rarely see folks around here giving any consideration to that when they're laughing their asses off over the demise, or as in this case, the potential demise, of some corporation or other.

[El Pinko]

3. Oh please.

Sharper Image will still be with us, albeit in diminished form after bk restructuring. Some jobs will be lost, some gpood-paying, and a lot of crappy-paying store-clerk jobs. That happens all the time in every industry. It sucks, but this particular store specialized in some of the most trivial, pointless, overpriced products ever known to man. They got mad when CU showed their "Ionic Breeze" to be ineffective, so CU investigated further and found that the product was actually HARMFUL to health.


Somehow I imagine America will survive with a diminished "Sharper Image". This is not GM we're talking about.


(What's going on with the big 3 is too sad and disastrous to even talk about without having a shot of rye first)

[ruiner4u]

4. yeah a couple jobs lost for something 'elitist'

a couple hundred people out of work so a few fat cats can bounce to an other over payed executive position..priceless...


Gotta love the progressive position on here...

[El Pinko]

5. I'll get out my cat-o-nine-tails and do some hail marys...

...how could I have been so callous to have a laugh at the expense of of the yuppie gadget shop?!


The consequences of this shop's demise are going to be rippling through the economy like a tsunami destrying all in their path.

What was I thinking?


The Sharper Image was the lifeblood of the working man, and now it's OVER! OVER! OVER!!!!!!


:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[ruiner4u]

6. Wow.... damn dude...

dont post a whiney "woah is me" cry post if you get layed off...

and its not about the Sharper Image, its about their working being able to afford food after the layoff.. But I see im talking to someone who knows more about the economy then me...

After reading your glee-fest, I hope karma exists.

[El Pinko]

7. point made, "dude".

My cruelty and callousness in light of the Sharper Image DISASTER is now public record.

I shall never again delight in the collapse of a gimmicky yuppie shop that provided low-paying jobs to hundreds of people.

What more do you want?

[ruiner4u]

8. I donno...

you to get a soul? or at least even a conscience?

Perhaps being able to see the big picture that a HORRIBLE and EVIL yuppie company might employ a couple people?


I donno, I guess I want you to rub two brain cells together instead of posting a RIP-Happy post...

[WillowTree]

10. Oh please yourself.

I work part-time in a retail store, part of a chain that's in Chapter 11 right now. Our store is in constant danger of being closed and if it happens, it will be sad for me, not really for the loss of the job because I only work one shift every other Saturday and bring home less than $70/month from it, but because it's a specialty store that's been there for going on 40 years and what we sell, which is hardly frivolous or costly, is already becoming harder to find locally and I'd miss it a lot. But it would be a tragedy for some of the others who work there who are older and are short on marketable skills and fairly long on physical infirmities that other employers wouldn't be anxious to have to accommodate. This is a good company which treats it's employees considerably better than many other retail concerns and which has had to close more than 100 stores countrywide in the last year. That's about 4,000 people who lost jobs and many of them were probably in the same boat as some of the ladies I work with here.

That's what happens when a retail company hits hard times. The losses they cut are mostly at the store level and the people hardest hit are those who need their jobs, low-paying though they tend to be, because, face it, if they were equipped for easier work with better pay, they wouldn't be standing behind a counter selling things they can't afford to buy themselves to others and often taking 50 different kinds of shit from some snot-nosed kid who thinks he ought to be able to return the item he bought six months ago, not because there's anything wrong with it, but just because he found one he likes better elsewhere or the matron who's demanding the sale price from three weeks ago because it isn't her fault that we had the temerity to hold a sale while she was on vacation.

So laugh if you must, but do so with the knowledge that it's the little guy who gets hurt when businesses go under.

[ruiner4u]

12. Thank you for your post...

hopefully this joker will realise that a large name like Sharper Image has PEOPLE working for them.

[El Pinko]

14. I've lost jobs due to my employer going under...

...it's a disruption, but I moved on with my life.

This OP is not delighting in the loss of jobs.

Perhaps if Sharper Image didn't line the pockets of its CEO while peddling hazardous overpriced products, it wouldn't be in this mess.

[WillowTree]

19. How nice for you.

Too bad, though, that the loss of your own job didn't teach you not to dance on the graves of the jobs of others who may not be as able as you to just "move on with life".

Comes next Christmas, consider asking Santa to bring you a soul. You could use one.

[El Pinko]

22. For the nth time, the OP is not rejoicing at job losses.

Sorry so few people can read a damn post.

[ruiner4u]

9. Proud to K&R this thread

Since this is the epitome of progressive ideals...

[El Pinko]

11. And your idea of "the epitome of progressive ideals" was to exploit the death of a bride...

ruiner4u (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-17-08 03:25 AM
Original message
Bride Dies During First Dance
Advertisements http://www.insideedition.com/news.aspx?storyID=1302

Sixty disbelieving guests looked on as 36-year-old Kimberly Efkarpides crumpled during the first dance at her wedding reception and died of a heart attack in her new husband's arms.

The day had started out perfectly for Kimberly. A first grade teacher from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Kimberly dreamed her big day would be a real-life re-enactment of the joyous wedding scene from her favorite movie, My Big, Fat Greek Wedding. She watched the movie while friends did her hair and makeup.

Down the aisle, Kimberly wore a crystal tiara and carried white and blue flowers.

As the couple said their vows, the groom's voice choked with emotion. But their happy union would last only minutes.


************************************************** ************************************************
Wow, I feel sorry for her, but just wondering when I am going to be able to be given the right to die when im getting married.. See folks, gay people CANT get married...... Ill be less caustic and more sympathetic when im given the same rights as YOU.

[ruiner4u]

13. WOW!!!! you have nothing to say so you dig up posts!!!

I must have hit a nerve if you cant defend your screwed up position!


I feel honored!..

THANKS!

[El Pinko]

15. Hey, you were screaming about gay marriage standing atop a BRIDE's CORPSE.

That was a memorable thread that reached a new low in twisting a tragedy to serve one's political ends.

How is that better than mentioning a bankrupt company's record of selling ineffective/hazardous products in light of its bankruptcy? (Or mentioning the fact that it sold nothing but useless yuppie office toys)

[ruiner4u]

16. your pulling DUDE...

you got no retort here so your pulling something from a few days ago...

Could ya get anymore pathetic?

[El Pinko]

17. Wah! I've been exposed for doing the same or worse than the poster I criticized!!!

No fair!!!

:cry:

[ruiner4u]

18. your getting more pointless by the minute...

Im sure some mom and pop places are going out of business, do your glee dance

[idovoodoo]

20. How cool! Finally I see why I decided to register here.

You guys are so cool! :D

[El Pinko]

21. I'm sure you'll be a real asset to the board...

:eyes: