Sunday, July 5, 2009

Stars of the Week: 7/5/2009

Here is a celebration of various stories deemed worthy enough to have a star in my Google Reader.

Consumerist: E.U. Agrees To Universal Standard For Phone Chargers
Nice in theory, but then I would have to change out all of my mini-USB cords and freakin' Apple products probably still wouldn't apply. Get on the ball Steve!

Variety: BET Awards salutes Michael Jackson
Does anything about Michael Jackson really belong on BET anymore? Just asking ...

FT.com: Deficit forces California to issue IOUs
Why am I reminded of the scene in Dumb and Dumber with the briefcase full of slips of paper?

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Happy Independence Day!

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend and for those of you like myself who are working, enjoy that time and a half!

Quote of the Week: 7/4/2009

"Stupider people are smarter and expect more, smarter people are stupider and expect more."

The Boy Genius Report: What happened to Research In Motion and where are they going?

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Throw a Bottle With the Book

A citizen from the fine state of New Jersey is a total and complete ass with no respect for others. I know, it's not really that shocking, is it?

The aforementioned man, Shaun Campbell, was given a DUI offense (to make a nice divisible 15th for him) after crashing head-on into another car containing a small child. Fortunately the other occupants were not injured. Unfortunately, Campbell apparently is smart enough to wear a seat-belt and was not seriously injured either.

If a BAC of .288 is Campbell's idea of drinking "quite a bit," his blood must be flammable by now.

In this humble writer's opinion, the maximum penalty of three years is definitely the equivalent to a slap on the wrist given the reckless disregard for others. Campbell should be in consideration for a 150 year sentence.

AP News: NJ man on 15th drunken-driving offense: I'm guilty

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Can't Pay Your Bills? Pull a Dumb and Dumber!

"That's as good as money, sir. Those are IOUs." - Lloyd Christmas, Dumber and Dumber

California can't balance its budget so the state will be issuing IOUs to vendors and recipients of state aid. This coming after the state held onto tax refunds and delayed payment because the state didn't have the cash to give the taxpayers THEIR MONEY BACK.

I wonder if I can start mailing my creditors and landlord IOUs. Nah, I'm not a Terminator so I guess I'll just have to pay up like everyone else (except government).

The debacle is held up because Democrats in the state legistlature want to raise taxes but Schwarzenegger refuses to and instead wants to reduce spending to close the budget gap. While there have been several (too many to link here) articles from both sides about the effect tax increases have on the ecomonies affected, let's think about this from the perspective of a typical American family.

If you are making x amount per month but suddenly your expenses rise to x + y, can you really go to your company (where you get your money from) and demand more? If so, please drop me a line and let me know where you work so I can get into some of that action.

If you or I were in that situation where revenue was overrun by expenses, you either work more, spend less, or go into debt. California took the third option to the extreme and look at how that's going. I guess the state of California wouldn't qualify for one of those exclusive black AmEx cards now. That would certainly help as long as they paid more than the minimum payment.

Reuters: California misses budget deadline, readies "IOUs"

Why Go Organic?

Perhaps I'm old fashioned, cheap, or just an ass, but I really don't understand the whole "Organic" craze that's sweeping everything from cereal to produce to even tampons. The less environmentally friendly of the population are finding more and more obstacles in their way at their nearest supermarket.

It seems that more and more companies and brands are going "green" and making organic versions of already existing products to lure in the inner tree-hugging hippy in us all. At the core, organic sounds good: it's good for you, it's good for the earth, it's good for Susan Saradon. But my question is ... really?

On one hand, I can fully appreciate the fact that ingesting toxic chemicals is probably not the best thing. Fortunately, the ever-increasingly-awesome Consumerist has posted on the cost effectiveness of going all natural and when it is beneficial in doing so.

On the other hand, as far as food is concerned, not having any pesticides or chemicals in your sirloin steak may sound healthier, but


No conclusive evidence shows that organic food is more nutritious than is conventionally grown food. And the USDA — even though it certifies organic food — doesn't claim that these products are safer or more nutritious - Scientific American

This is not to mention that organic products are higher priced than their earth-raping counterparts by up to 40%. And there is also the argument that organic farming yields less crops, feeds less people, and other things that are way above my rudimentary agricultural skills.

So, if you have conflicting evidence in both directions, why would you choose the higher of the two options? I can safely say I have never bought a single organic item in my life and I generally don't jump on the popular bandwagons. While I don't prefer toxic chemicals dumped into water supplies, we've dealt with worse in the past (not me personally, but humanity as a whole).

So forget you Seventh Generation and your overpriced laundry detergent/dryer sheets/god-knows-whatever-else. I'll stick with Tide and the world will keep turning.

Of course, if I'm wrong, I'll be dead so I probably wouldn't care too much.

Scientific American: Organic foods: Are they safer? More nutritious?
Consumerist: When Is It Worthwhile To Buy Organic?