Rich yet? Nope: Ojai taxidermist becomes Internet famous
But for all the buzz online, it’s business as usual at Testa’s shop in Ojai. On a recent day, he was using a set of calipers to take detailed measurements of a coastal blacktail deer’s head before packing the hide in salt to preserve it.
Aside from selling a few “Nope!” branded T-shirts and receiving a lot of strange voicemails on his answering machine, the commercial hasn’t done much to boost business. “No, none, zero. I’m still broke,” Testa said.
But Testa displays the scrappy optimism of a small-business owner. “I think that might change. When you set the bar at zero, there’s nowhere to go but up.”
The Internet has reduced Testa and his business to a catchphrase that will fade in a few weeks. But behind it all is a complex man whose path to business has been defined by passion and struggle.
The passion for taxidermy started when Testa was a boy. His mother would walk him past a taxidermy shop in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles, where he was captivated by an elephant in the window. Later, Testa took up hunting pheasants because they were tasty but also because he found them beautiful, and preserving that beauty is what prompted him to try taxidermy.
The Regime Concocted Occupy Wall Street to Target Mitt Romney
RUSH: I think, folks, the regime wants to run against Mitt Romney. That's what I think. Here's what I'm thinking. When do you think these Astroturf protests were first talked about, this Occupy Wall Street thing? How long have they been in the works, do you think? I have been asking myself this, 'cause this is not spontaneous eruption here. This is a well thought out plan. It's just like remember back during the debate on an illegal immigration bill miraculously something like a million people showed up someplace or a hundred thousand showed up in Los Angeles or wherever, and we were told, "Yeah, that's genuine passion out there." No. It was all structured. It was organized. Just as this is. (interruption) What did you say? Pretty low turnout? You think it's low turnout if it's organized? Well, that's 'cause they haven't made enough sleeping bags yet. Yeah, there's only 250 people sleeping there at night. That's 'cause they refuse to buy, they're not gonna engage in capitalism. Five hundred during the day, is that all? Because it's being made to look like 50,000, some of these aerial shots it's being made to look like 50,000. I still say it's organized.
