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White people like school and superiority

From the book Stuff White People Like by a guy who became famous by mistake and says in his Authors@Google interview, “I’m a bigger jerk now than I ever was.” Christian Lander says lots more in his wickedly funny book and blog.

Being in graduate school satisfies many white requirements for happiness. They can believe they are helping the world, complain that the government/university doesn’t support them enough, claim they are poor, feel as though are getting smarter, act superior to other people, enjoy perpetual three day weekends, and sleep in every day of the week! read more

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Free cellphones for low-income NY households

TracFone Wireless launches SafeLink Wireless in New York, making cellphone use free to low-income families eligible for the Lifeline utilities program. Lifeline is a U.S. government supported program for income eligible families that ensures telephone service is available and affordable.

The service will provide eligible households a free cell phone, mobile access to emergency services and free 68 minutes of air time, monthly for a one year term which the customer can apply to extend the following year. The free cell phone offers all of the convenient features customers want in a phone: voicemail, text, call waiting, international calling to over 60 destinations and caller ID. read more

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Lose your job, return your Hyundai

Hyundai promises to pay your car note for three months if you, “lose your income”. They let you return it if you can’t work things out within that time frame. You can make the return without messing up your credit, having a balance to pay or suffering other penalties.

CNN reports on the program in depth and quotes Hyundai’s US Marketing VP Joel Ewanick as saying

“With no extra charge to the sticker price, the program pays the difference between the car’s trade-in value at the time the owner files a claim and any remaining balance on the loan up to a maximum of $7,500.” read more

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Digital TV switch delay approved

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. read more

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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. read more

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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]. read more

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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. read more

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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 . . . read more

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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. read more

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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. read more

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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. read more

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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. read more

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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.

Nutritional values

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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. read more