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[Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

Howdy, here are a few recent items of interest at Stay Free! headquarters:


NOT FOOLING ANYBODY: A CHRONICLE OF BAD CONVERSIONS AND STOREFRONTS PAST
http://www.notfoolinganybody.com/

While it is often said that somewhere in America 
a new McDonalds is opening every 30 minutes, you 
never hear about them closing. But thanks to my 
friend Liz Clayton, we now have a outlet for 
documenting yet another ill of our fast food 
nation: crimes against architecture and design.

Liz compiled this nifty photo archive of 
businesses housed in what were formerly fast food 
restaurants and other chains. A Taco Bell 
transformed into local middle-eastern restaurant,
a  KFC morphed into a liquor store, a Chinese Hut 
that bears an uncanny resemblance to Pizza Hut: 
it's all here.  Some conversions are clearly more 
successful than others. Quality Properties Real 
Estate, for example, is barely recognizable as a 
former Burger King. But Best of Philly 
Cheesesteaks didn't even remove the Taco Bell 
logo from its street sign!

Liz is always looking for more photos for her 
archives so if you've got any good (bad) examples 
in your town, email 
submissions AT notfoolinganybody.com



NO FREE LUNCH

No Free Lunch is a small organization devoted to 
getting doctors to turn away drug sales reps. 
Under the group's Pen Amnesty Program, medical 
students and doctors can exchange pharmaceutical 
promotional pens for ones that advocate "No Free 
Lunch." (Get some for your doctor... maybe she'll 
give you some free drugs!)
http://www.nofreelunch.org



WAL-MART LOCKS IN NIGHT WORKERS

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/18/national/18WALM.html
Yet more proof that Wal-Mart is a plague on this 
earth and must be eliminated: The New York Times 
reports that the company has a policy of locking 
employees who work overnight inside the store and 
refusing to let them leave. If these employees 
cut or maim themselves on the job, they often 
have to sit and wait it out until morning. 
Wal-Mart's PR department claims the policy aims 
to "protect workers and the store from intruders" 
-- as if the thought of locking people OUT but 
not IN hadn't occurred to them. The real reason 
for the policy is to prevent employees from 
stealing and taking breaks.



UPCOMING EVENTS

If you're in the New York City area, you don't want to miss:

NYC Grassroots Media Conference
February 27-29 at the New School
www.nycgrassrootsmedia.org

Register now:
http://www.nycgrassrootsmedia.org

I'm organizing a panel for this conference on 
using pranks and parody for social change 
(details TBA). Speakers will include: Carrie 
Moyer and Sue Schaffner from Dyke Action Machine 
(http://www.dykeactionmachine.com), who you may 
remember from the Illegal Art Exhibit; Jonah 
Peretti (Nike sweatshop prankster and co-creator 
of BlackPeopleLoveUs.com); and the Yes Men 
(http://www.theyesmen.org), whose projects 
include masquerading as members of the WTO and 
promoting the benfits of slavery at world trade 
conferences.  Stay Free! will also be tabling 
throughout the conference so be sure to drop by 
and say hi.



PRESIDENT MATCH

A handy chart of where the different presidential 
candidates stand on major issues. Trés convenient!
http://www.presidentmatch.com/Main.jsp2?cp=main



thanks,
carrie