Land of Confusion (stupidity, greed, chemicals, s*x)

Todd Davis and LifeLock, My Social Security Number

I had contemplated using LifeLock on and off for years.  Now I see the founder Todd Davis admits that it is not 100% fool-proof, and that even he had his identity partially stolen!  For those that don’t already know, LifeLock is a company, that for a subscription, supposedly guarantees that your identity will not be stolen, and supposedly will pay you $1 million if it is (although that turned out to be a hoax of sorts, since it was only guaranteeing that one credit bureau would put an alert on your file). 

The CNN article that I read kept emphasizing that it was because he had revealed his Social Security number in every ad that his identity had Read more »

Cell Phone Bill Charges, What The?

 A confused reader sent this in: My cell phone bill confuses me.  I generally just pay what it says, but every so often when the total looks suspicious, I’m given to attempting to decipher the 15 to 20 pages that lay out all the charges that I and my children (I have a family plan) have accrued.  After about 10 minutes or so of perusing the document, I’m usually back to simply paying what it says. 

First, I can’t seem to keep the pages straight.  As soon as I flip one, I’ve completely lost its context, and putting it back in place is akin to doing a jigsaw puzzle or perhaps even a “Rubik’s Cube” if I’ve flipped more than one page.  I can only imagine what Read more »

Locators Inc. in West Chester, Pa., Caution

We recently were involved with a company called Locators Inc., out of West Chester Pa.  Sometimes they are referred to as Locator News Inc.  When looking for an apartment many times you will see rental ads in the paper that refer you to a company number that is not the actual owner of  the apartment.  Sometimes it will say Locators, Inc. in the ad, sometimes not.  What these types of companies do is get the landlord of an apartment to sign up with them (for a fee) and they then provide lists to potential tenants, who have subscribed with Locators, Inc.  The subscription fee for potential tenants is Read more »

Cops the Cause of Traffic Jams

What causes people to drive 10-20 MPH over the speed limit, on a highway, yet when a cop is sitting on the side of the road, these same people slow down to 10 MPH UNDER the speed limit, thus causing a traffic jam!  I will never understand what people are thinking.  You can still go the speed limit and even slightly over even if a cop is on the side of the road!  They will not come after you for this.  I don’t advocate speeding but there is little reason to slow down to UNDER the speed limit (even though Read more »

The Internet Superstore?

The internet was invented by the U.S. military around 1958.  Here we are in 2008 and it is enormously large and useful.  At some point isn’t the information on the internet going to be nearly unusable due to shear volume!  Maybe I am missing something.  I just can’t see the rate at which new web sites are created as being “no problem” in the future. 

To me it is equivalent to every Wal-Mart soon becoming the size of entire towns.  Imagine how long that would take you to shop!  First you had Read more »

Defining Generosity

Suppose a person needs $50 to get out of trouble, and he comes to me for help.  I know that if I give him $50 he will get out off trouble and maybe learn his lesson.  I also know that if I give him $100 instead he will have his $50 but will use the extra money to go out and get in trouble again.  What should we think of giving him the smaller sum or the larger sum?  Which is actually the more perfect example of generosity?

Assuming I do not owe him the money, I may reason that giving him the larger amount is MORE generous and therefore more perfect or completely generous. The other perspective is that giving him the smaller amount is actually helping him more because it satisfies his need and keeps him from getting into more trouble.

Does this give insight into the nature of virtue or into a better meaning of perfect?  To do something virtuously or more perfectly is not just to do it in a higher degree, but in a better way.  Actions must be done to the right degree, not just to a larger quantity, higher technology or higher level.

Hewlett Packard, Canon, Epson Printers

How much bullshit will the consumer have to deal with in the future?  What is wrong with Hewlett Packard, Canon and Epson?  Recently while searching for a new computer printer from Hewlett Packard (HP), Canon or Epson I noticed that most of the printers now do not come with a cable to connect the printer to a computer!  How absurd is this?  They are selling you a product that is completely Read more »

High CEO Salaries

In case you were worried about being under paid in this struggling economy here are some 2006, 2007 or 2008 yearly salaries, and total compensation, of some of our fellow Americans.  How much you want to bet that some of these people also probably think they need a raise every year?  These figures are rounded and include amounts invested in retirement by the company.  The source of the data is the Executive Paywatch Database.  In many cases the “reported to the public” salary may be less or greater than this.  It appears that many CEOs are not 100% sure how much they Read more »

Nationalities Merging Into One?

This is not a racist post, so please do not take it as such.  Will the races or nationalities eventually mix to create just one “world” race?  I always found it enjoyable to see different types of nationalities.  It was interesting growing up in a town where Italians looked like Italians; Germans looked like Germans; Croatians looked like Croatians; Hispanics looked Hispanic, and they all had their unique styles and culture. 

Lately I have noticed that there are an increasing number of people, especially children Read more »

‘Thrill Kill’ Murder Trial in Michigan: Michigan vs. Jean Pierre Orlewicz

I began watching the trial of Orlewicz last week.  I had not heard anything about it prior to that time, but I became interested in it as soon as I began watching it on Court TV.  Criminal Trials are interesting to me because in most cases I don’t understand how any jury or any person for that matter could possibly convict someone and not have a “reasonable doubt”, when there are so many people testifying and saying totally different things.  It’s pretty much a matter of opinion as to who to believe, right? Read more »

Is the Population Too Stupid to Vote?

It is very possible that the election process isn’t as sound as it could be.  Should the general population of the United States be voting for a President, or are they too ignorant? 

Given that the majorities of voters are getting their information on Presidential candidates from a media source, or have very little information on each candidate, it is hard to imagine that there is much intelligence going into each vote. Read more »

Comcast

Comcast is not the easiest company to deal with.  They also charge you to death with extra fees which really make no logical sense.  It is probably best to avoid them if at all possible. 

Why do they charge you monthly “rent” on their remote control for the digital cable box?  You can’t use the box without the remote so you don’t have any say in the matter. Read more »

U-Haul

I recently had the privilege of using U-Haul for renting a truck for a house move.  For anyone who has not done this before, you may be in for a shock.  I did not realize that the rental fee for the truck includes nothing!  I assumed that the $29.95 daily fee (17-foot truck), for a local move, at least included some amount of mileage.  It does not.  You pay the fee for every day you have the truck and you get nothing for that.  I was charged, on top of that, 79-cents per mile.  Not only that, but you don’t even get 24-hours of rental per day!  They let you have it something like 19 hours maximum.  The U-Haul I was at insisted I not go over 19 hours a day with it or I would be charged another day. Read more »

A Morning Religion Thought

A thought occurred to me while driving to work this morning.  I think a lot on ideas, practices and happenings in different religions and within Christian denominations.  Of course religions and religious beliefs are one of the main driving forces in much of politics, wars and international trade.  I think a lot about the nature of how people worship and why, because it is so important.  Much of it is confusing, questionable or even ridiculous.  Read more »

Toilet Turmoil

There seem to be a lot of toilet problems in the news lately. 

We have all, by now, heard of the woman in Kansas who sat on the toilet seat so long that she actually began growing onto the seat and had to be taken to the hospital with the seat still attached to her.  Apparently she sat on the toilet for 2 years, and was fed by her boyfriend who seemed to patiently wait for her to get off, and 2 years later called the Read more »