May 2008
41 posts
Beating the Bushes for a Bargain Ticket →
How to find cheap airfares. (New York Times)
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Gambian President Announces Plans to Behead All... →
In February, it was reported that gays were fleeing to Gambia from surrounding Senegal, due to real threats of deadly violence.
Now, the Gambian President while bragging about efforts to make his country one of the best to live in, has warned that he will “cut off the head” of any homosexual caught in his country. (Afrik via Towleroad)
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Five Basics for Building a Solid Financial Future
Ron Lieber of the New York Times offers “Five Basics for Building a Solid Financial Future:” Investing is simple: “Index (mostly). Save a ton. Reallocate infrequently.” It may be worthwhile to pay for professional help. Choose someone who charges a percent of assets. Peers may know more than pros when it comes to day-to-day financial decisions like which credit card to use....
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An Alarm Is Blaring: Time to Buy →
It may be time to buy into the stock market. If I had the dough, I would buy. (New York Times)
Send in the Latrines →
Sanitation is desperately need in Myanmar, but we’re afraid to talk about it. (New York Times)
“If we’re heading for a prolonged era of scarce, expensive oil, Americans will...”
– Paul Krugman in “Stranded in Suburbia” (New York Times)
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Doctors Say ‘I’m Sorry’ →
Doctors learn that saying sorry can reduce the number of malpractice lawsuits against them. Duh! (New York Times)
“McCain, who was shot down and captured in 1967, spent the worst and most costly...”
– Matt Bai on why McCain is the only Vietnam War veteran U.S. Senator who supports the war in Iraq (New York Times)
“To a man for whom power means no more than brute force, the possibility of...”
– Louise T. Guinther on President Bush (New York Times)
“The demand for gas in the US is what economists call relatively price inelastic...”
– Richard Adams comments in ”The price of gas.” In other words, the way we’ve built our cities and suburbs means many of us have to drive everywhere no matter how expensive gas is. (The Guardian)
Dreading the Fill-Up →
Much of the design of our country is based on the assumption of lots of cheap gas. However, gas is still relatively cheap when compared to Europe. At $4 per gallon, gas costs $1.05 per liter. The British pay more than twice that. According to PetrolPrices.com, the average cost of a liter of unleaded gas in the U.K. is about $2.20 this week. (New York Times)
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Gay Peace Corps Volunteers in Homophobic Countries →
Why a gay man would volunteer for the Peace Corps in Mozambique (GayWired)
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The Dangers Foreign Visitors Face →
Infuriating story of how an innocent Italian man was detained for 10 days by the U.S. (New York Times)
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A Two-for-One Campaign →
An excellent proposal from George McGovern for Clinton and Obama to jointly campaign and fundraise in the remaining primary states plus the disputed states of Michigan and Florida. (New York Times)
“In unexpected ways, science and mysticism are joining hands and reinforcing each...”
– David Brooks in “The Neural Buddhists” (New York Times)
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Two New Ways to Explore the Virtual Universe, in... →
The World Wide Telescope sounds very exciting. Too bad the software is Windows only. (New York Times)
The Myth of Voter Fraud →
The latest Rethuglican assault on American democracy (New York Times)
Furniture Ransom →
I didn’t know furniture movers could be so fraudulent. (New York Times)
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McCain’s Judiciary →
McCain hates activist judges - unless they’re conservative. (New York Times)
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24-Hour TV News →
NBC will start a regional news channel without hiring a single new employee. The quality of TV news reporting is already bad enough. Now, the mega-media corps want more blood from a stone. That’s bad news all around. (New York Times)
The Suffering of Soldiers →
The cost of war is paid in more than just dollars. (New York Times)
Information That Doesn’t Come Freely →
The Bush administration undermines democracy by blocking transparent government. (New York Times)
Oil and Accountability →
Brilliant idea to require oil companies to reveal how much money they pay to governments in exchange for mining rights This will incentivize (shame?) governments to spend more of that money on their citizens thereby curbing autocratic rule. (New York Times)
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Give the Troops a New G.I. Bill →
Who are the jackasses against the new G.I. Bill? President Bush and John McCain, of course. They only talk about supporting our troops when it benefits them.
Curse of The Mobile Phone →
Discover if you suffer from nomophobia, the fear of not having one’s mobile phone. (Put Things Off)
A Classroom Path to Entrepreneurship →
More classes are teaching how to run a small business. (New York Times)
Blocking the Transmission of Violence →
Fascinating story about Violence Interrupters who work to stop the cycle of violence. (New York Times)
“It would take an exceptional enemy to damage America’s image and interests as...”
– Nicholas Kristof in “A Prison of Shame, and It’s Ours” (New York Times)
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McCain's Faustian Bargain with Radical... →
McCain courts radical Christian clerics. (The Huffington Post)
Polyamory: The New Monogamy? →
I was stood up on a date last Wednesday. That’s just the latest in line of dating difficulty. It’s got me considering alternatives like becoming a monk or polyamory. (The Huffington Post)
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“[Americans] want to do nation-building. They really do. But they want to do...”
– Thomas Friedman in Who Will Tell the People? (New York Times)
Survey finds 37% of Gen Y-ers text while driving →
How stupid! (Engadget)
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At Kodak, Some Old Things Are New Again →
I didn’t know so many people were interested in my hometown’s biggest employer, Eastman Kodak. This article is one of the top ten most emailed N.Y. Times articles.
