Signs Of The Times - July 2010 Issue

[Erik Sine]

I thought I'd do a poll to see if anyone can guess which one of these articles I wrote about in post #2 which will remain invisible until next week.

All I can say is, I'm DEEPLY disgusted with it.

[JR Neon]

HMMMMM, which could it possibly be?

[Erik Sine]

Alright a few people PM'd and emailed me.

I've opted not to reveal my post. I thought if I cooled down over the weekend I might re-read what I wrote and maybe tone it down. I've re-read it and discovered I can't tone it down. So rather than get political on this board with my ranting, I'll keep the peace instead and shut my pie hole, for now.

I do however, have to read the Marcus Theilen article which I haven't read yet. Judging from the poll and a few emails, some think it to be fishy. Any comments on it from some who have already read it?

I'll read it later tonight if I get a chance

[imanut]

ONly reason I'm not throwing in my .02 --- I don't have the mag to read. Gave up on that one a long time ago.

[Erik Sine]

ONly reason I'm not throwing in my .02 --- I don't have the mag to read. Gave up on that one a long time ago.

Surely there is down time when you're in your private office, this is where I do my reading time. Or, maybe someone has a online rag mag link, most do.

[DAVE THE NEON GUY]

ONly reason I'm not throwing in my .02 --- I don't have the mag to read. Gave up on that one a long time ago.

Me too Gary.....what a waste of ink.

[imanut]

Alright a few people PM'd and emailed me.

I've opted not to reveal my post. I thought if I cooled down over the weekend I might re-read what I wrote and maybe tone it down. I've re-read it and discovered I can't tone it down. So rather than get political on this board with my ranting, I'll keep the peace instead and shut my pie hole, for now.

I do however, have to read the Marcus Theilen article which I haven't read yet. Judging from the poll and a few emails, some think it to be fishy. Any comments on it from some who have already read it?

I'll read it later tonight if I get a chance

I thought the whole purpose was to have meaningful rants, supporting dialoge, and to hold the b.s. folks accoutable. You already know these folks read your (our) rantings. So why quit now?

[Erik Sine]

I think I went a little overboard, maybe I'll find where I can tone it down and post snipets.

I'll just say it has to do with the ISA "Red, White, Blue, and Green"

[fishing nut]

Yeah, I guessed rite.

I think the Sloan spam on the Peugot/Brenntag project is way off base. 80% savings?????? and that bright (not) I'm sure the temperature effected the neon filled tubes. Does anyone know what program was used to photoshop those pics or was it just a cut and paste. Maybe the problem with the changing every 5 years is that they do a corporate image change every 3-5 years .

[Erik Sine]

Yeah, I guessed rite.

I think the Sloan spam on the Peugot/Brenntag project is way off base. 80% savings?????? and that bright (not) I'm sure the temperature effected the neon filled tubes. Does anyone know what program was used to photoshop those pics or was it just a cut and paste. Maybe the problem with the changing every 5 years is that they do a corporate image change every 3-5 years .

Yeah, I have a comment on that too. C'mon, look at that over exposed shot trying to make it look "white". Also sounds like that sign company doesn't know how to install neon if they keep coming back so often to repair their own sign. But it can't be, because Susan Conner doesn't write "hopefully biased articles"

[Erik Sine]

Alright, I'll do some minor edits showing "self control" & "restraint", be nice & the whole bit, maybe I'll post the original in the pvt forum. The more I think about it again, the more I get disgusted. Maybe it's time to "clean house" over there with the people at the top.

[DAVE THE NEON GUY]

Once again, I am in the boat with Gary. Come on Erik, let'r rip. The First Ammendment affords you that right and besides....I am against sugar coating anything. If you feel that strongly about something, then maybe we do too. I can assure you, that those of us who agree with you will support it and those of us who don't.....screw them. Opinions are like assholes....everybody has one and most of them stink.....Let's roll....Post it.

[Erik Sine]

It's not my message that I don't want to send out in a post, it's just how I expressed it originally. I used a lot caps & colorful metaphors, I thinkI can express myself another way. BTW- there are those who would like to get rid or change our Amendments. The bigger reason why US History & the Constitution isn't taught in our skools, their trying to keep us stooopid.

K, first of all Troy should never have mixed in his GREEN CRAP report with sediments about our fighting men and women, along with the 4th of July. This is poor taste IMO, maybe this should have been inserted in a separate box or column.

This is why.

Those who fought and paid the ultimate sacrifice for this country did so in the name of Liberty, Freedom and the salvation of individual liberties. Today this government which is on the verge of becoming a dictatorship is using "green" as a guise to take these freedoms and individual liberties from us.

What is this Green Crap? It's a couple of things

-Directly and on the smaller scale, it's Guilt marketing & Fear Marketing. It's used to make you and I feel better about going an alternative route and making ourselves "feel" better for doing it. This also gives us a false illusion that we are doing something to help out the planet. It's also used to sell products with no merit of their own and frankly, couldn't be sold if guilt was not emphasized behind it.

-On the larger scale, it's used for "Power" and "Control", and used by those who have the keys. This is helping the government and qusi-government, more control over our lives. This is the bigger picture. Enter "Cap & Trade"

Either Troy is a "useful idiot" of the movement and feels he's doing some good, or there is an advantage for ISA somewhere to help "conform" us and our industry.

We as a nation, much less our Electric Sign Industry is being hit hard with a "Environmental & Product Safety Movement" that is taking/robing away our freedoms of how we choose to live our lives. This "Green, feel good movement" IS nothing more than a mask with a bigger intent on seizing control and taking power of our lives as Americans.

You don't spend your way out of a recession do you?

This government who wants to make decisions for you & I based on collusion, and decisions dictated by their adviser's who are CEO's of large corporations who stand to make BILLIONS from Environmental & Safety Movements & LAWS. Billions to be made off Cap & Trade, Millions of UNDESERVING Stimulus money all because of the cozy relationship between Government & Big Business? A government that makes decisions that goes against the greater majority of it's citizens wishes, who is THIER boss???

Enter DOE, should we really believe some of these reports? Let's look at which LED companies receive HUGE grants and stimulus money for their R&D. How bad would this look if DOE reports went another direction? Can they really,be non-bais. What in their reports have the omitted for lighting? Cove lighting no CCFL?

Maybe Troy doesn't see the bigger picture, or maybe he does, the latter is a scarier thought since he's a Chairman of our biggest Sign Association which leads me to wonder who else at ISA shares this ideology?. If he thinks our economy is bad now, wait until a few of these backdoor deals go through such as Cap & Trade (old post) and we are paying out the ASS more than we are now. You think a 20% reduction for his trade show is bad enough this last past year, YOU just wait.

The myths of Global Warming have finally hit the floor and Al Gore is out being a "sex poodle" frisking message therapists at 11PM at night. As you can see there are still those that want to run with it because of what THEY have to sell YOU & I. By the way, it's a cool 72F where it should already be 90F.

"our nation's capital decision makers aren't ignoring environmental issues"

No they sure aren't, they are finding ways to go around and ignore the rule of law, ignoring our nations Constitution in a lot of ways. "Taken a backseat", NO, more like trying to get into our backdoors, this needs to be stalled so it can be exposed for what it is.

"Given that trade shows are a leading producer of trash in the United States...." You got that right.

"Trade shows leave a considerable footprint" says Lian Mackenzie (another "Useful Idiot"), keep up your Green Ideology and you WILL have less footprints going through your shows, 20% less is nothing right now.

"bartenders at our social events provided a cocktail napkin only when asked" That's because you didn't have the attendance or money, you cheap skate. What's next at your events? Small individual square toilet paper sheets instead of roll paper? Why not use Low Flow toilets too? See what that gets you!

Do YOUR part and do something more useful, why don't you make all men & women of ISA & SOT wear thongs & G-Strings instead of other options because it's less fabric, emissions are lower and of course creates a smaller carbon print! Making anything larger requires more work with the sweat level higher raising shop temps much higher, bringing the need for more HVAC. Next time you take a family vacation, why don't you walk there, or go camping instead.

Hmmmmmmmm.

Be warned, however; growing alongside these advances is the issues of "Greenwashing"- claims that products are environmentally friendly that can't be confirmed...

Really? What do you call half of the crap in your Magazine or your report? Are you going to help decide this for us? From your reports and articles? Will this be done for the right price? Because green is all about money $$ Is UL going to help decide this for us for the right money from manufacturers with their new merger/buy out????? We need more approval $tamps on products so us consumers can pay more and get nothing for more?

PROMOTE & PUMP, PROMOTE & PUMP, that's all your doing, Troy Crocker

So far the only one aspect of this junk up, ERRR, write up is 3M conusltant Dr. Ellen "Ailing" and I use that in the right context from her junk article on sign cabinets but at least she says here to make your own box for light testing, and do your own (why did she not state this in her article?). Buy a light meter and do your own, she says. Correct!

At the end of the last page where they go into LEED material where I'm not going to go into other than where they we see the typical LED crap where ISA and SOT obviously show their total ignorance about LED's producing less heat, and the requirements for HVAC can be reduced. Really??? What a dolt! Seriously though, White LED's put out quite a bit of heat too, in the bigger picture of it all the light sources are contained in cabinets and structured channel where the heat it pretty well trapped, GET REAL WHAT A SKANKY SELLING POINT!!!!

I'm going to close where this article sort of started off with.

Environmentally friendly products hold potential for the sign industry, but in the beginning, it means a little extra work- and perhaps cost.........a study showed 42% of consumers said they're more than likely to purchase from a company that they believe is environmentally responsible

Maybe this study was taken in San Fran sicko? Yes, I care about the mythical impacts man is doing on our environment that I am willing to pay $.50 for every bag that grocery stores have to use to bag my products. A new law that is going into affect here in California due to Useful Idiots, did I forget the non production of Large screen Tv's as well???

This is nothing more than PR, Fear Marketing, Making sales based on guilt and manipulating the public to falsely feel better about themselves because they think they are helping the environment. Just like the Y2K Marketing, here to stay is the GREEN nuance. Unfortunately, this may not be so when our government is set on never letting a good crisis go to waste. They only take control and get bigger.

If I had it my way Individuals from Associations & Companies would be investigated under RICO statues and Racketeering. A good portion of this industry would be in cuffs along with government officials. Trust me!

In closing.

What's confusing to me after reading this report is what ISA's position is in all of this? I don't see any fight in them, when I say a "fight" I don't mean going to a city hall and fighting an ordinance. I mean fighting a MOVEMENT. I hope there are those at ISA willing to speak up and do so if this is an ideology shared by various hierarchy, it's going to be hard to turn down a lot of money they can get from both sides of Manufacturer & Sign Companies. I hope there isn't an intention to roll over and play dead, use this crisis as a way to capitalize on "programs" to get us to follow along with the "changes" or to show us how "wrong" we are. Because this is how this report is coming across. Change how you and I do and conduct business. Instead of making/creating programs for those paid/unpaid members, maybe they should start to financially back a group that has the bigger picture for our industry well in hand. Yes ISA has done some good in the past, not denying that and sometime too little too late because they are wrapped (no pun intended) in the WOW of another light source.

I still have a somewhat bad taste in my mouth from their fancy office renovations that you and I would never have known the details if it weren't for a blog. Thank God for the internet, huh?

A little "honesty" in your report and way of doing business would be a breath of fresh air, or do we already have a "cap" on that too? Do I need to purchase those credits from someone? Maybe you reading this post there should be a timer mounted on your monitor which shuts down or charges you an extra utility luxury TAX, after all, your monitor is releasing hot air into our atmosphere. Surely it's causing the spotted owls to become sterile.

I'm not making this post to bash LED's either. We know their are some real bad apples who haven't even personally looked or touched another light source in their lives, and some who real good LED manufacturers who won't BULLSHIT you and have been around the block. But I thought I heard it all from the marketing by some of the manufacturers after they left the "last longer than neon, brighter than neon" to " LED's don't contain Mercury", lately it's been "LED's won't cause you to turn up your HVAC because they have very little heat" what a STUPID statement. NOW, I'm just waiting, waiting to here "LED's will earn your company Environmental credits" for Cap & Trade. Just wait! You heard it here first (like a lot of other things), just remember!

I'm done for now. It's time for dinner, maybe I'll post more later. This is a little more political than I'd like to get, but it's really pouring into our Industry in a bigger picture than what we really think we see.

[DAVE THE NEON GUY]

Thats what I am talking about.

[fishing nut]

Erik for President

[YYZ]

You don't spend your way out of a recession do you?

Actually yes.

You can argue about how do it - ideally it's not the government - but how else do you get the money flowing again?

Edited June 30, 2010 by YYZ

[Erik Sine]

Yes you are right, but I was mostly referring to our government spending (They don't know how). Right now no one wants to spend (the people), there is no incentive for us. But the money won't flow if the government is restrictive and taking our money and "flowing" it in the wrong places. I wish I had a wad to throw into the stock market right now.

This government is spending way more that it will ever get back. Our stock market just fell below 10k yesterday.

Let the whoring of our industry begin, the cheap products will prevail and the affirmative action Sign Companies will get a free ticket.

[megavolt512]

Erik for President

I'll run for Secretary of Neon

[YYZ]

I'll run for Secretary of Neon

If they had a secretary for every 0.000001% of the US economy, half the population would be bureaucrats

[saneon]

Erik for President

He's got my vote.

You hit the nail on the head Eric. I think its safe to say that the "green" movement has little to do with saving the planet and is nothing more than a marketing tactic .

[JR Neon]

Good post Erik!

[grego]

SCHWING! Got my vote!

Read the Marcus column, didn't see anything bad other than I can tell he's obviously not a LED fan. I'm also not very up to date on the lights he was referring to.

[HansonSigns]

Great post, Eric!

[LiteGirl]

Folks....that ball has, left the building!!!!    

[LiteGirl]

I'm soooooo tired of sales people telling me I have to look after the environment after they put a product in my hand, you know?  I'm polluting the ocean now because of what mascara I use, give me a break people, go off yourself!