Haha this article is a bit biased, but lots of truth to it...I can't wait to compare Nexus Droid to iPhone 4S.
10.04.2011
9.20.2011
This is messed up
This is messed up. (scroll down) It's unbelievable... Black man in Georgia...You think this would be a white man in Georgia? Death penalty with no physical evidence? Wishy-washy witnesses? Race or no race, this is messed up, and is why I will not support the death penalty unless the accused's face is CLEARLY on camera in the MIDST of the crime, and/or with a confession in front of a jury or with a lawyer present (i.e. not one of these jailhouse confessions In front of an educated white cop & without a lawyer present). If a guy wants to confess, let him do it in front of the jury or his lawyer.
Total failure of the justice system IMHO. Buddy of mine served on a jury last year for a burglary. Had a witness: this lady (and the prosecution) claimed she had a positive ID because of the brand of jeans the guy was wearing!! She recognized the "pocket stitching" (guy was wearing a mask). Gotta be kidding me. Only one "witness". It's scary that there are lawyers out there prosecuting this stuff...
From The New York Times, Tuesday, September 20, 2011 -- 9:23 AM EDT:
Georgia Board of Pardons Rejects Clemency for Troy Davis
Troy Davis, whose death-row case ignited an international campaign to save his life, has lost what appeared to be his last attempt to avoid death by lethal injection on Wednesday.
Rejecting pleas by Mr. Davis’s lawyers that shaky witness testimony and a lack of physical evidence presented enough doubt about his guilt to spare him death, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles ruled on Tuesday morning that Mr. Davis, 42, should die for killing Mark MacPhail, an off-duty police officer, in a Savannah parking lot in 1989.
Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/us/troy-davis-is-denied-clemency-in-georgia.html?emc=na
9.07.2011
The economics of piracy, CEO pay vs. Corporate Taxes, Obama is good for guns, etc...
- Just read an interesting article in the September issue of Harpers...basically talks about how the piracy of goods can benefit society by allowing the masses access to goods that are only generally accessible to those who can afford them. Makes a good example using Shakespeare and cell phones. Harpers doesn't provide its content online, so if you want to read the article, you'll have to check it out at the library, or pick up the September issue at the newsstand.
- Also, The Atlantic published an article this week about how several ginormo chief executives make more (waaaaay more) than what their entire companies pay in corporate taxes. Something is wrong here folks...way, way wrong. The article includes a chart that is darn near shocking (look at all the negative numbers on the y-axis...er, tax-axis)...
- Lastly, an article in Bloomberg BusinessWeek highlights the fact that Obama has been a boon to the gun industry...sort of. Investors in Sturm Ruger have made boatloads of money since Obama was elected - speculatively because worried gun owners are "stocking up" before Obama has a chance to ban them! Haha
4.27.2011
The economy is booming...right?
Today, the DOW achieved its highest level since June 2008. State of the economy? Someone's getting rich, and it isn't the middle class. This ought to be thought-provoking stuff...a lot of corporations are receiving injections of capital - so where is the hiring? The "real" unemployment rate is 15-20% (the "deflated" numbers you hear on the news don't include the people who are no longer counted as part of the statistic...mainly those who have simply given up looking for a job and those who are "underemployed" or making tens of thousands less than they once did).
And so here in Michigan we have a governor who wants to cut taxes on corporations (to "stimulate job creation" of course), and raise taxes on retirees by taxing their pensions - AND cut the per pupil school funding by around $400.
Is this guy for real? (Well yeah...his name is Rick Snyder)
2.05.2011
What's wrong with sweet wine?
I couldn't agree with this article more...what's wrong with sweet wine? Way, way too much emphasis and trendiness associated with drinking dry wines. I used to drink dry wine...until I discovered how good sweet wine is. And now people think I'm an idiot. haha
"There are a million consumers out there who would drink more wine" if sweet wine was more socially acceptable, Mr. Hanni said. "We need to remove the idea that a sweet wine is not appropriate with a steak or that you're a moron for liking it."
Natural Gas Consumption
Just as an FYI, I thought this was interesting:
In December, I used 20.1 (thousand) cubic feet of natural gas (units correct?) and the bill was a total of $208. This was based on a gas company actual meter reading (as opposed to estimated).
In early January, I installed a programmable thermostat that my Dad harvested from my old house up in Interlochen. I programmed it to (1) drop to 58 degrees during the day while I'm at work; (2) drop to 62 degrees at night (after 10pm, before 5am); (3) 69 degrees at all other times.
December wasn't NEARLY as cold as January, and I was expecting my January gas bill to approach $300+.
INSTEAD, in January my gas bill was $248 - BUT this was based on an ESTIMATED consumption of 24.2 (thousand) cubic feet. My ACTUAL consumption, based on a meter reading I just took myself (the gas company estimated my meter reading two days ago), was 20.5 (thousand) cubic feet - meaning my consumption in January is BARELY more than it was in December, even though it has been much colder than December. Furthermore, the gas company estimated my consumption based on the history for this address (my assumption), and it was done two days ago which means my actual consumption was probably slightly less than December.
Based on my calculations of what my bill SHOULD be based on ACTUAL consumption over 30 days, somewhere around $200 is what I come up with.
So, with that all being said, and based on one month of observation, it PAYS to get a 5x2 programmable thermostat (programmable for 5 days during the week, and the two days of the weekend), AND it pays to let the daytime temperature drop to 58 degrees if you're not home. A lot of people hum and haw and argue that the gas used to reheat the house back to living temp outweighs the gas saved by letting the temp drop to 58. I've actually timed how long it takes to reheat the house, and it's somewhere around an hour. What you have to ask yourself is how many times and for how long does the furnace run during the day to maintain "living temp" when you're not home (if you don't have the thermostat drop the temp for you)? My guess is that it's way more than an hour.
Anyway, I can't wait to see what next month's bill is...two months of positive data is better than one. My guess is that the thermostat saves me somewhere between 20-30% off my gas bill.
In December, I used 20.1 (thousand) cubic feet of natural gas (units correct?) and the bill was a total of $208. This was based on a gas company actual meter reading (as opposed to estimated).
In early January, I installed a programmable thermostat that my Dad harvested from my old house up in Interlochen. I programmed it to (1) drop to 58 degrees during the day while I'm at work; (2) drop to 62 degrees at night (after 10pm, before 5am); (3) 69 degrees at all other times.
December wasn't NEARLY as cold as January, and I was expecting my January gas bill to approach $300+.
INSTEAD, in January my gas bill was $248 - BUT this was based on an ESTIMATED consumption of 24.2 (thousand) cubic feet. My ACTUAL consumption, based on a meter reading I just took myself (the gas company estimated my meter reading two days ago), was 20.5 (thousand) cubic feet - meaning my consumption in January is BARELY more than it was in December, even though it has been much colder than December. Furthermore, the gas company estimated my consumption based on the history for this address (my assumption), and it was done two days ago which means my actual consumption was probably slightly less than December.
Based on my calculations of what my bill SHOULD be based on ACTUAL consumption over 30 days, somewhere around $200 is what I come up with.
So, with that all being said, and based on one month of observation, it PAYS to get a 5x2 programmable thermostat (programmable for 5 days during the week, and the two days of the weekend), AND it pays to let the daytime temperature drop to 58 degrees if you're not home. A lot of people hum and haw and argue that the gas used to reheat the house back to living temp outweighs the gas saved by letting the temp drop to 58. I've actually timed how long it takes to reheat the house, and it's somewhere around an hour. What you have to ask yourself is how many times and for how long does the furnace run during the day to maintain "living temp" when you're not home (if you don't have the thermostat drop the temp for you)? My guess is that it's way more than an hour.
Anyway, I can't wait to see what next month's bill is...two months of positive data is better than one. My guess is that the thermostat saves me somewhere between 20-30% off my gas bill.
9.20.2010
9.13.2010
location aware applications
So Facebook Places is online now through the touch.facebook.com site. Pretty cool. Ubsurd as it is, Foursquare has no integration with it, but Scvngr and Gowalla do. Signed up for all three...one of them should gain some kind of edge in the location-aware arena.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
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9.09.2010
9.06.2010
Skyline Coney Island review
I saw an ad for Skyline Coney Island in the City Pulse so I thought I'd head over there and check it out.
The place has promise - it was very clean (including restrooms), the service was very attentive, and it seemed to be a family-operated business. The atmosphere was great - lots of windows on a busy street, so it was bright and kinda nice to watch the traffic stream by outside.
I had breakfast, so I didn't get a chance to sample a coney. I ordered eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns and sausage (I was hungry), and everything was very good and pleasantly non-greasy. I like how they offer both sausage links and patties. The coffee was strong and very good - not that watered down junk you tend to get at some similar joints.
The prices were very reasonable, if not downright cheap.
My only complaints were minor - one of my over-easy egg yolks was broken (no big deal in my book), and the pancakes were a little too fluffy for my taste (which is obviously a personal-preference thing). It'd be nice if they added pancakes as an a la carte option.
I'll definitely go back, and based on first impressions, I'll probably add this place to my list of favorite breakfast joints in Lansing.
The place has promise - it was very clean (including restrooms), the service was very attentive, and it seemed to be a family-operated business. The atmosphere was great - lots of windows on a busy street, so it was bright and kinda nice to watch the traffic stream by outside.
I had breakfast, so I didn't get a chance to sample a coney. I ordered eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns and sausage (I was hungry), and everything was very good and pleasantly non-greasy. I like how they offer both sausage links and patties. The coffee was strong and very good - not that watered down junk you tend to get at some similar joints.
The prices were very reasonable, if not downright cheap.
My only complaints were minor - one of my over-easy egg yolks was broken (no big deal in my book), and the pancakes were a little too fluffy for my taste (which is obviously a personal-preference thing). It'd be nice if they added pancakes as an a la carte option.
I'll definitely go back, and based on first impressions, I'll probably add this place to my list of favorite breakfast joints in Lansing.
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