Monday, September 14, 2009

Philadelphia To Close All Public Libraries October 2nd [Libraries]

Sad, very sad

 
 

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via Consumerist by Laura Northrup on 9/13/09

What frugal person doesn't like libraries? They're like a video store, only better. Which is why we're horrified to learn that thanks to the economic meltdown and the state of Pennsylvania's inability to pass its budget, the Philadelphia Free Library is closing on October 2nd. They'll be ending all services and programs, and closing all of the buildings. They want all of the books back, too.

Most American libraries receive funding from multiple sources; usually a combination of municipal, state, private, and sometimes federal funds. Depending on the particular mix of funding sources, and whether a library system levies its own taxes or depends on a changing budget line item, a late budget can be catastrophic. That's what's happening in Philadelphia—without their regular state aid, they can no longer function.

Meanwhile, if you live in Pennsylvania or just really love libraries, you can contact state legislators about the budget situation. Or open your own rogue library on your front lawn.

All Free Library of Philadelphia Branch, Regional and Central Libraries Closed Effective Close of Business October 2, 2009 [Free Library of Philadelphia]

(Photo: Patrick Haney)


 
 

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Is Cheap Food To Blame For Our Expensive Health Care? [Literal Consumption]

 
 

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via Consumerist by Meg Marco on 9/14/09

Michael Pollan thinks so. He's got an op-ed in the NYT where he examines the relationship between or expensive health care and our cheap fast food.

Pollan says:

But so far, food system reform has not figured in the national conversation about health care reform. And so the government is poised to go on encouraging America's fast-food diet with its farm policies even as it takes on added responsibilities for covering the medical costs of that diet. To put it more bluntly, the government is putting itself in the uncomfortable position of subsidizing both the costs of treating Type 2 diabetes and the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup.

Why the disconnect? Probably because reforming the food system is politically even more difficult than reforming the health care system. At least in the health care battle, the administration can count some powerful corporate interests on its side - like the large segment of the Fortune 500 that has concluded the current system is unsustainable.

That is hardly the case when it comes to challenging agribusiness. Cheap food is going to be popular as long as the social and environmental costs of that food are charged to the future. There's lots of money to be made selling fast food and then treating the diseases that fast food causes. One of the leading products of the American food industry has become patients for the American health care industry.

He goes on to suggest ways that health care reform might align the insurance companies priorities with those of public health crusaders. Pollan says that each case of Type II diabetes prevented could save the insurers $400,000 — if they couldn't just rely on purging their rolls to keep costs down.

What do you think? Does Pollan make his case?

Big Food vs. Big Insurance [NYT]
(Photo:Scott Ableman)


 
 

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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Microsoft Teaches Best Buy How To Diss Linux, Macs [I'm A Penguin]

 
 

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via Consumerist by Marc Perton on 9/10/09

A recent flurry of reports on the internets claim that Microsoft has been training Best Buy employees to push customers away from Linux and Mac systems to those running Windows. While some posts claim that the Gatesians are teaching Best Buy workers to become "Linux assassins," most of what's going on looks like typical retail marketing: a deep-pocketed supplier working with a chain to hawk its products more aggressively. However, Linux pros are up in arms about "inaccuracies" in the Microsoft program that walks customers through the advantages of Windows vs. Linux.

Most of Microsoft's anti-Linux pitch focuses on familiarity, reliability, and ease-of-use, and the inaccuracies are on the order of statements like, "Linux is a self-help solution. There are no step-by-step tutorials provided, and help documentation is limited." True? Only if you ignore the hundreds of online tutorials, not to mention the wizards that make installing distros like Ubuntu at least as easy as working with Vista.

Still, we sort of agree with PC World's Tony Bradley, who points out that "Linux is getting easier and more mainstream as time goes on, but we're talking about Best Buy customers. ... they tend to buy a computer system like they buy a microwave or a dishwasher. They just want a computing 'appliance' to set on the desk and connect to the Internet." If that's the case,though, how to do Microsoft's "assassins" go after the Mac? Oh, right, it's expensive. Guess they had a hard time using that argument against Linux, given its price point of, oh, free.

Microsoft trains Best Buy Linux assassins [ZDNet]
Microsoft and Best Buy Gang Up On Linux [PC World]
Microsoft helps Best Buy employees troll Mac users, too [Ars Technica]


 
 

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Orange Tabby Takes One to the Head… Travels 13 Miles to its Home

Click on the link and check out that video

 
 

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via Dvorak Uncensored by McCullough on 9/5/09

Orange Tabby Gets One to the Head..Travels 13 Miles to it's Home

 
 

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Al Franken conducts the first health care DEBATE

 
 

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via Dvorak Uncensored by Guilherme Cherman on 9/5/09

Something I'm starting to notice, and I'm wondering what are you guys' opinion on this, that politicians that had a job before becoming politicians are much honest and actually trying to solve problems.


 
 

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History Buff Fires Replica Cannon… Hits Neighbor’s House

 
 

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via Dvorak Uncensored by McCullough on 9/8/09

History Buff Fires Replica Cannon...Blows Up Neighbor's House

 
 

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Nutjob High School Football Coach Baptizes Player Without Mom’s Permission!

 
 

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via Dvorak Uncensored by SN on 9/9/09

Raw Story – September 8, 2009:

The mother of a Kentucky high school football player is furious over the Christian baptism of her son during what he said was supposed to be a school outing to eat a steak dinner and see a "motivational speaker."

Instead, Breckinridge County High School football coach Scott Mooney took 20 of his players on a trip to a Baptist revival, where eight or nine of the students underwent the Christian ritual of baptism, according to published reports.

Michelle Ammons, mother of 16-year-old Robert Coffee, said she's upset that nobody ever asked her consent to take her son to the August 26 religious ceremony. She added that she's even more upset with the school district superintendent Janet Meeks, who was at the revival and did not object to the coach including his students.


 
 

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I don't have a clue

I'm so very tired. It's almost all the time now. 

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