Posts

Interesting about those annuities. They make sense, from the standpoint of forcing folks to behave as if they were still on Social Security Classic™, but I suspect the intent is largely the same as the earlier investment accounts: To shove more money into the corporate sector. (I’m just surprised that none of it is going to Big Oil yet.) Even from a “conservative” philosophical standpoint, the private accounts plan I’ve heard so far seems like a primary purpose is to move tax money into the private sector. After all, the “It’s your money and you know best how to deal with it” argument only makes sense if we were free to simply not pay that portion of our Social Security tax and use the money however we pleased. However, does anyone think the social cost of such a plan — taking care of those who frittered their money away — wouldn’t far outweigh the cost of our current plan of enforced frugality and wealth redistribution? ...

Somehow I just don’t see how the court awards even the medical expenses in this case. I feel sorry for the lady, but an anxiety attack could be triggered by a lot of things, not just people leaving cookies at your door.

Interesting article in PC Magazine reviewing 15 Firefox extensions, but it leads off with this bizarre claim: “By itself, Firefox is a lean and fast browser, but it lacks some of the functions that we’ve come to take for granted from Microsoft Internet Explorer.” Easy way to lead off an article, but as someone who uses Firefox at home and IE at work, the only functions that I’ve noticed are “missing” have to do with being hacked and the privacy function that doesn’t work correctly. Firefox comes standard with functions that were only added to IE in the Service Pack 2 update, such as a popup blocker. ...

I am not drinking Mountain Dew right now. I am drinking Lipton Brisk Lemon Iced Tea (with other natural flavors) out of a can. I pressed the button on the machine for Mountain Dew, but apparently the drink machine guy is looking out after my health and wellbeing. It’s not bad. I grew up drinking iced tea, before I discovered the Mountain Dew elixir, but I don’t understand the label “with other natural flavors.” It tastes like tea with lemon, which tastes like tea, lemon juice, sugar, and water. All pretty much expected in lemon iced tea. What would the other natural flavors include…aluminum can? ...

“A manly embrace…” Yep, like Al and Tipper. :)

“They’re comics! They’re books! They’re a joyless synthesis of both!” Lileks, whose site I would definitely recommend for those suffering through humorless days, examines the horror that is Hanna Barbera cartoons rendered in still life. Link courtesy of Boing Boing

Hmm? Are we talking about the same Lee Melchionni who was a top 100 recruit and honorable mention McDonald’s All-American, according to Duke’s site? Seems to have followed the career path of a lot of role players at Duke. (“You’ll come off that bench when I really need you, and not before.”)

So, some companies are planning to compete with iTunes by offering a music rental service, where you can get unlimited tracks for a monthly fee but those tracks will die if you do not have a current subscription to the service. While I can see some advantages — trying out new music, getting rid of songs you never listen to — I’m wondering why the same companies that can’t compete with iTunes in the first place think folks will drop the “I bought it, it’s mine” mindset given to us by years of buying CDs, records, and tapes? And for that matter, why should we? Record companies obviously did well off of it. Can you imagine being the customer service person who has to explain to a customer why half their collection just stopped working? ...

You know, I’ve managed to avoid buying a real PDA for around this price, yet when I hear that the North American release date for the PSP portable game machine/media player/ potential PDA-lite has been set and the price will be $249, I end up salivating like Pavlov had been experimenting on me. Courtesy of Engadget

I would love this game. :) Courtesy of Salon (C’mon, get the free day pass)