Your TV will still work on February 17, even if it’s analog. I am personally not a fan of TV in any form, but even I recognize that TV is the way many household, and especially many elderly Americans, connect to the outside world and fill idle hours that would otherwise be spent in silence. The attention to the comfort of the average American is obviously high on our president’s priority list – pushing through this delay to enable more people to get ready for it was one of Obama’s first priorities and he got the job done in good time.
Free your cellphone! Sign the unlock petition
The Electronic Frontier Foundation EFF needs help with getting cellphones unlocked. Sign the petition to free the phones.
Hundreds of thousands of cellphone owners have modified their phones to connect to the network or run the software of their choosing, and many more would like to. But the Digital Millennium Copyright Act poses a legal threat to phone users, even though the law was supposed to protect copyright owners and distributors of digital music and movies. This threat of litigation has driven consumers underground, stifling innovation and competition.
Sinbad Restaurant, Secaucus – good plus
My boys are performing right now as part of the Nets’ pregame entertainment with their Chinese Lion Dance troupe, but they don’t like to stay on for the game itself. Aside from the fact that last year when the troupe performed the Nets players treated the troupe very shabbily, clasping their hands securely behind their backs as they jogged past the all-kids troupe members so the kids couldn’t make an attempt to high-five the players or grasp their hands, my sons and I were completely united in our distaste for the game itself. The kids don’t care to sit through another game and I personally, would have to be offered quite a pretty penny to ever consider watching even part of a game again [last time they performed I sat through half the game].
Free Quickbooks on 12/22 only at Staples!
My friend Joe Rosenberg, CPA reports:
Quickbooks users? In case you were thinking of upgrading your current edition, or trying it out if you don’t have quickbooks, the free 2009 Pro edition is available at no cost Monday 12/22 only in store or online at Staples.
This is offered in store or online by Staples. Since quickbooks is used by about 90% of the small business market in the US and they are offering (after mail in rebate of $159.95) their current product for free (you do pay sales tax on the purchase). There were some problems with online banking in this edition but they are being worked out.
Nothing left to chance in Disney World. People can’t get enough of pre-planned living.
I was just speaking with a new friend, Harold C, about the plastic quality of middle American living. “Kimi, Disney’s like a religious experience for a lot of my friends,” he said. And so it is. A completely guided experience where people can live in simulations of the illusions they are accustomed to watch in the comfort of their living rooms on TV screens all across America. Disney World makes it possible for an American parent to take his/her spouse and children to a place which is actually a ‘sovereign country’ not ruled by American law and still not need to deal with foreign accents or foreign languages, driving on the wrong side of the street, calculating currency exchanges or having to decide whether to drink plain or mineral water. I told Harold about this National Geographic article which describes in detail the Disney World phenomenon, how it was achieved and in what ways it’s meant to affect American society. Here is a teaser of the contents . . .
Detroit – basking in the past on taxpayer dollars
Thomas Friedman of the New York Times wants us to think about the future as we consider the crises of our times. In an op-ed piece he says basically, that the Detroit crisis is happening because American auto manufacturers will not be innovative and they refuse to build cars with great mileage. Although they probably could. I, myself, look at the mileage rates in our cars and the price and consumption of gasoline and it’s pretty clear to me that there’s some kind of collusion taking place between the auto and gas industries.
4-cycle leafblowers = 1/5 of other models’ pollution
In California the air pollution control agency AQMD is offering a program to replace traditional 2-cycle leaf blowers with models that are much cleaner. This is why:
“These machines are a significant source of smog-forming emissions. In one year, the average two-stroke backpack leaf blower emits as much pollution as 80 new cars.” The blowers in the exchange program, manufactured by STIHL Inc., are nearly five times cleaner than the California Air Resources Board’s most stringent standard for new blowers. By scrapping 1,500 old blowers and replacing them with low-emission STIHL blowers, the program will reduce at least 14 tons per year of smog-forming emissions.
Gift cards and store closings in 2008
An email is circulating advising people to be careful when buying gifts cards because many stores are closing.
“Stores that are planning to close after
Christmas are still selling the (gift) cards through the holidays even though
the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them
from doing this. On the contrary, it is referred to as ‘Bankrupcy
Planning)”
I always check announcements of this type out through a little web investigation. Here’s today’s crop of research.
Effect change, in yourself first
Defining what success means to YOU: success will mean different things to different people. In these modern times, traditional ideas of success involving impressive job titles and high salaries are being challenged by such ideas as “time affluence”. Decide what is important to you, and don’t waste time chasing someone else’s idea of success.
An open mind: some of our beliefs and actions are so ingrained that we automatically disregard any evidence that we should think or act otherwise. Keep an open mind, and you may just come across a better way of seeing or doing things.
The trick is harmony, not time
More nutritious – apple or kiwi?
Here’s a resource food lovers will enjoy. This spiffy web interface allows you to choose several foods and see how they compare with each other in dozens of nutritional categories including vitamin content, carbohydrate, protein and cholesterol. Comparisons appear one after the other in each category so it’s easy to see how values stack up.
Obama will keep us in the loop
Apart from reaching outside the box for staff members, Obama plans to make a couple of important changes to White House relations with the people.
The transition team is exploring new approaches to communications that could undercut West Wing traditions such as the daily briefings to reporters, including making more announcements over the Internet to ensure that information reaches not only journalists but the millions of individuals who enlisted in Obama’s campaign and consider themselves invested in his presidency.
Obama vs. the Neocons
What’s different between Obama and the McCain-Palin ticket? This video explains it and will make you laugh too.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/1/12647/0809/711/616610
Opt-out of junk mail and phone solicitations
We need to balance respect for the environment, and individual privacy, against company’s needs to promote their products and services. Allowing the expensive waste of natural resources (trees and oil) used to produce and deliver useless mail which gets tossed in the trash without anyone ever looking at it, also encourages large-scale pollution of our environment. Moving unwanted junk mail makes a huge impact on erosion of the ozone layer and the quality of the air we breathe.
Opt-out of catalogue mail
There are several services you can now use to opt-out of junk catalogue mail.
US Attorneys firing tied to surveillance debate?
A colleague alerts me that illegal wiretapping began before 911, and I located a well-written article on this very subject at Truthout. Truthout is a great resource for well-documented articles on matter which doesn’t get looked at in depth in the major news media outlets.
The NSA’s vast data-mining activities began shortly after Bush was sworn in as president and the document contradicts his assertion that the 9/11 attacks prompted him to take the unprecedented step of signing a secret executive order authorizing the NSA to monitor a select number of American citizens thought to have ties to terrorist groups.