May 12
16
Dark Shorties
Hey folks, I made it to the 16th posting every day either here or on my professional site without any shorties! Let’s see if I can make it a single shorties month.
Attack of the Zero Tolerance Policy: Man fired for picking up a gun he found at work and turning it in to police, despite the fact that the police said he’d done the right thing. Sounds like something I wrote once.
I hope nobody is surprised: The most popular times for American birthdays is just about 9 months after winter.
Don’t forget the War on Terror: Where are the missing terrorists? Why do the FBI have to keep making them up? And when did Rolling Stone become a go-to source for serious investigative journalism?? Back in the day it was a music rag!
Context is Everything: GM says it’s evaluating the effectiveness of its $10,000,000 worth of Facebook ads, just days before Facebook’s $105,000,000,000 Initial Public Offering (BTW folks, IPOs are a sucker’s game unless you’re a genuine insider).
Whatever Became of Iceland?: Turns out they had a peaceful revolution, debt writedowns, indictment of bankers, and a host of other reforms we can learn from.
Seemed like a stupid idea to me: FTC fines Sketchers $40,000,000 for advertising shoes as having magic weight loss properties. They always looked like a good way to lose my balance and fall to me.
Amazing what you can do when you are driven by a goal: Harvard MBA pays down $90,000 in student loan debt — in 7 months! Spoilers, it involved selling stuff he didn’t need, taking in boarders, frugality, and taking a second job.
Most balanced thing I’ve seen written on the subject: Internships. It’s sad that a college’s job has to include teaching “job readiness” skills like professional behavior.
And finally: fingernails.
Posted in Shorties by .
May 12
15
A cool, cozy Nest
I planned on writing a review of this nifty little device Real Soon Now, so let me take advantage of the fact that Engadget gave it a nod. It’s been talked about on NPR, twice. Even C|Net loves it. Popular Mechanics isn’t sure. Our household was an early adopter of the Nest Learning Thermostat. In fact as I think about it, we may well have had one of the first batch to ship back in December. By way of disclosure, my partner personally knows some of the people that worked on it. No, that didn’t get us a discount. And while we’re on the topic, I’m not getting a dime for this review; it’s just my honest opinion.
I’ve had programmable thermostats in the past. Most of them are hard to program, requiring lots of button mashing with the manual in one hand. The last ones we had would sometimes inexplicably reset themselves to the factory settings. Manufacturer knows best!
Unboxing a Nest is a very Apple experience. The packaging is lovely, designed to unveil your brand new $250 thermostat in the prettiest way possible. It has been called “the iPod of Thermostats.” Alright, but that’s not the nifty part.
First and foremost, it learns from the way you live your life. It will figure out that you like it a little warmer on cold winter afternoons, or that you like it cooler at night — and adjust the temperature automatically. It will in a matter of weeks figure out whether you are out all day or whether you leave around noon. You can of course correct it if it’s wrong.
Second, it has built in energy saving features that will reduce your energy bills. Not only will it adjust itself to you, if you pay attention it will help you save even more. According to their latest press release, an average family can save $1000 a year. That’s 4 times what the device itself costs.
Very few people are mentioning that multiple Nests can communicate with one another. This is a huge plus for any household with multiple HVAC units! They will work together to keep the whole house one temperature. This is why I think the Nest is a must for any larger home.
More people have pointed out that your Nest will actually connect to WiFi. What does that mean to you? It means you can control your thermostat from anyplace that you have an internet connection, including your smart phone! Want to turn on the AC or the heat when you leave the office for the day? No problem. Sitting at the airport and wonder if you remembered to turn off the air conditioner? Just log in and do it remotely. This makes it a must-have item for anybody who travels often or anybody with a vacation home.
Finally, it’s simple to use. The controls are intuitive. The menus use plain English. I have no problem saying it’s a great product and a huge step forward in programmable thermostats.
This item is cross-posted at my other site.
In Closing: recessions will do that; judge recognizes “fair use” when he sees it; and value added services.
Posted in Interesting Tidbits by .
May 12
14
Music Monday: The Killers
Ok, look. She’s been dancing with you for 17 songs and she still won’t tell you her name? If an average song is 4 minutes, that’s over an hour. She’s too polite to say it, but she wants nothing to do with you! I don’t care if “anything goes in a place like this.” Pestering her about her effeminate boyfriend won’t help. Or are you calling her a lesbian because she’s not into you?
In Closing: Foxaganda; whose fault??; austerity could kill your baby; apparently terrorists and the experts who try to stop them don’t know history (what a disasster); who cares about probable cause; and profiling still doesn’t work.
Posted in Music Monday by .
May 12
13
Happy Mothers Day
Seriously, happy thoughts for all moms everywhere.
In Closing: Duhpartment of Research says training employees is important; negative net worth; Seriously? W called Alberto Gonzales “Fredo?; Duhpartment of Research also finds “you are what you read“; buried in student loans; and 86,000,000 uncounted unemployed.
Posted in Random Thoughts by .
May 12
12
What IS the Matter with Kansas?
So Kansas wants to make it perfectly legal for a doctor to lie to a dumb bitch pregnant woman. Let me provide my own commentary on the ACLU’s points:
It would provide legal protection to a doctor who discovers that a baby will be born with a devastating condition and deliberately withholds that information from his patient because he doesn’t want her to seek an abortion. That means a doctor could decide to lie about the results of a woman’s prenatal test so that she won’t have information that she needs to make the best decision for her circumstances.
In other words, a doctor can make a woman give birth to a baby with birth defects that she can’t provide for financially or emotionally. Sorry, the days of “put the abomination in an institution” are long over. I’ve already discussed that this is fraud.
The bill attempts to scare women by forcing doctors to tell patients about a supposed link between abortion and breast cancer — a risk that the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, and other medical experts roundly reject .
Doctors are not only allowed to lie to patients, they are forced to lie to patients.
This bill would also require public hospitals to turn away a woman who desperately needs an abortion to prevent serious harm to her health. The extremists pushing this bill would have a hospital tell a very sick woman that she should come back when her pregnancy is about to kill her, even if that risks her future fertility or causes organ failure.
I’m not sure what the definition of “public hospital” is here: hospitals owned by government entities (rather than corporations or charitable organizations) or just hospitals open to the public. Nevertheless, this is like telling someone with chest pains to come back when they are sure it’s a heart attack.
Now here’s the thing. Where are the doctors on this? Why aren’t doctors screaming that this law puts women in danger? Why aren’t doctors pointing out that this bill requires them to lie to patients? Why am I the one pointing out that even with this fig leaf of a bill it’s going to bite doctors on the ass to tell a patient that everything is fine when it isn’t?
AMA? AOA? ACOG? This is the second state that wants to say it’s acceptable to conceal important medical information. I don’t even know how many states require doctors to lie about breast cancer. At least one state requires expensive, medically unnecessary procedures before an abortion, and more states are considering it. Where’s your statement on this? How does this square with your legal and ethical requirements to do the right thing for patients?
How long before employers decide they just can’t do business in a state where their female employees face obstacles to sometimes (regrettably) medically necessary care, and where a routine pregnancy can mean losing employees who must become full time caregivers for a baby with severe birth defects?
In Closing: Ninja; that resume can go in the trash; on J.P. Morgan; how did we get to a lunch revolution?; and NAFTA vs. China.
Posted in Random Thoughts by .
May 12
10
Beauty is Everywhere
In Closing: More Kip Hawley; permission to work or state sanctioned restriction of trade?; almost half of Americans have nothing saved for retirement; underemployed; surprised?; and my, they’re recruiting terrorists early these days.
Posted in Picture This by .
May 12
9
Coincidence
Does anybody else think it’s odd that not that long after a demonstration of how a Bad Guy could get stuff through one of those nudie-scanners, the CIA foils an airplane bomb plot using a “non metallic” bomb carried by a double agent?
Yeah, sounds like “more hyperbole… than reality” to me too.
Gotta hand it to the CIA for learning from the FBI playbook.
In Closing: but they’re organic blobs of sugar and wax!; Microbial Armageddon; be one of the lucky 10000 outside, please; more job killing in the name of free trade; warmest year on record; I wonder how long until the first death by “non-lethal” weapon; get rid of pink slime, and all of a sudden we’re whining about lost jobs. Maybe if they weren’t making something disgusting?
Posted in The World by .
May 12
7
Just What We Don’t Need
Back in February, I said this:
Recently, people have been having a lot of success losing weight on a gluten free diet. It worked because people on these diets knew they couldn’t eat cookies, candies and cakes. They know that they have to look carefully in ingredient lists for things that might contain gluten, and for some of them this is a matter of life and death. Now I see “gluten free bakeries” and all kinds of chemistry lab crap labeled “gluten free” and I see the end of gluten free dieting on the horizon.
Now, Domino’s Pizza wants a slice of the action: Gluten Free Pizza.
Well, sort of.
First and foremost, even the CEO points out that they will be baked right alongside the gluten-containing pizzas. For pity sakes, there’s gluten all over a pizza shop. There is no guaranty that these pizzas will in fact be gluten free by the time they reach your home. I find it unlikely they will be. So right off the bat, we know that this product is not aimed at people with a genuine gluten sensitivity or Celiac Disease. If you really must avoid gluten, you really must still avoid these pizzas.
Second — and of great importance to the kind of people who think they are eating healthier by avoiding gluten — I can’t find a word about what this gluten free crust is made of. Not wheat, obviously. What kind of flour is involved: soy, almond, tapioca? Sawdust? The fact that they won’t come out and say “made from wholesome [insert foodstuff here] flour” makes me suspect that this is just another chemistry lab experiment, for which they will charge an additional $3.
Cheesy.
If you really are craving pizza and really don’t want to (or can’t!) eat gluten, you really need to check out this review of alternative homemade pizza crusts. Many are vegetarian. A few are vegan.
Follow Up: The Benevolent Beastie.
In Closing: public banking?; Body by Marilyn; black holes; Empire State Building goes green (and saves money); Buffett says to pay attention to more than the news; losing weight can prevent and sometimes even cure diabetes; truth; and interest rates.
Posted in Eat, Drink, and Move That Body! by .
May 12
6
Little Dogs with Big Boobs
Yes, Of course I know they mean “Teacup“. It’s still funny, particularly in Pink.
Follow up on Yesterday: Ron Paul ended up with 22 of Nevada’s 28 delegates, even though he was only “supposed to” get 8; no word on whether the RNC will have a hissy fit “challenge” the results.
In Closing: It’s International No Diet Day, and I won’t be celebrating it yet again; and the reality of illegal immigration.
Posted in Picture This by .
May 12
5
Get the popcorn…
Somebody once said that all politics is local. Local meets nationwide today in a city called Sparks.
So the Nevada GOP and the National GOP are having a little disagreement. The RNC has threatened not to seat Nevada’s delegates to the national convention if there are “too many Ron Paul supporters.” The Nevada party, on the other hand, says that we have a set of rules we agreed to and we are going to follow them, regardless of the outcome.
Our caucus was held all the way back at the beginning of February, and there were simply more candidates then. The Experts decided that “Romney is supposed to get 20 now and Paul eight….” However, The Experts don’t get to pick the delegates to the national convention; the delegates selected in February to go to the state convention today do that. State officials agree that there will be no “loyalty test” for those selected to represent Nevada in Tampa. This clears the way for Ron Paul’s supporters to take over.
Maybe not, but it will be a train wreck.
In closing: unemployment and labor participation; somebody smack Nancy upside the head with reality; and it’s a sad day when Ted Koppel thinks that Comedy Central has the best news reporting.
Posted in Politics by .
