Tainted Chocolate For a Scary Halloween

The melamine that was found in tainted milk could be in the chocolate that's passed out this Halloween.

Please watch this "Candy Product Review 2008 of Potentially MELAMINE Tainted Treats, A SERIOUS Warning By Mike Mozart of JeepersMedia on You Tube" and warn others.

And consider giving out stickers, yourself.

Thank you.

Bailout, Schmailout

Congress thinks we need a bailout. Wall Street definitely needs a bailout. What do you think?

I'll tell you what I think. We don't need it.

Our economy is self-correcting. Higher interest rates caused trouble for people who were in too much debt. They could no longer pay back their loans. As well, the ever increasing cost for gasoline and heating oil put an extra strain on the entire working class.

But now, the rates on Treasury bills are ridiculously low. This means the rates on home equity lines of credit and the interest rates on ARMs (Adjustable Rate Mortgages) have fallen because they're both usually indexed to one of the Treasury bills.

We're also seeing much lower prices for gasoline. Drivers are practically swerving off the side of the road to stare at the prices. "Wait, did that actually read $3.19? No it must've been $4.19. Let me look again."

One big problem remains. Businesses may start to fire workers because they cannot finance growth projects or even payroll. In this case, the appropriate course of action for our government is to finance projects that lead to new jobs.

Imagine how many jobs $700 Billion could start. You could create a whole oil-free energy infrastructure with that amount of money. People would have jobs, and we'd finally be independent from unfriendly oil-producing nations.

But then, what kind of jobs will the greedy Wall Street CEO's get? My advice is to put them on disability -- essentially pay them to not work. We'll all be better off then.

More USA Election 2008 Resources

Watch the Biden-Palin debate online.

Then skip over to FactCheck.org to find out how accurate each candidate was.

The first Obama-McCain debate also is on Hulu.

Find the FactCheck.org response to it.

I wrote about Science debate two weeks ago.

Check out the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation's "Comparing the Candidates' Technology and Innovation Policies."

Scientists and Engineers for America helps you determine how each candidate voted on energy and technology-related bills while in Congress. (Its database covers all members of Congress):

http://sharp.sefora.org/

Beware Bank Phish E-mail

Experts predict Spike in Fraudulent Activity Due to Banking Turmoil

Woking, UK. 25th September 2008 An
increase in fraudulent activity is likely to follow the recent events
in the banking sector according to UK Company, First Cyber Security.
Customers with internet banking accounts are urged to take care if
asked to respond to emails from banks which have been named as being
involved in the recent takeovers and mergers.

- First Cyber Security (FCS)

Read more...

So be very suspicious of e-mail asking you to click a link and login. Okay, that's just about every commerce-related e-mail. But if the content urges you to "login right away and confirm personal information otherwise your account will be suspended," be very suspicious. And never enter personal information into the body of an e-mail itself.

I recommend that you equip your browser with an anti-phishing toolbar. You can learn more about them on the CastleCops website, in the Anti-Phishing Toolbar thread.

Obama's and McCain's Answers to the Top 14 Science Questions Facing America

"Science Debate 2008 worked with ... leading organizations ... to
craft the top 14 questions the [Presidential] candidates should answer.  These
questions are broad enough to allow for wide variations in response,
but they are specific enough to help guide the discussion toward many
of the largest and most important unresolved challenges currently
facing the United States."

Read the candidates' answers here:

http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=42

What Should I Do With This Computer?

I have an old computer that I'm wondering what to do with. It's a Pentium III, 500MHz, with 256MB RAM and a 10GB hard drive, with only less than 3GB left.

The case is a low profile style, so there's no bracket for an additional drive, which I do have. If I add the second drive, I'd have to attach it with double-sided tape.

The computer is configured to dual boot into either Windows 98 or Windows NT 4.0 SP. The NT partition has Office 97 installed on it. It still works. But I'd like to be able to install somewhat modern software on it and use the USB ports.

Three ideas I have:

• Reformat the drive with a single partition and do a fresh install of Windows 2000. It would be comparable to the software configuration on my current desktop. This would get the USB ports working. But some programs, such as iTunes, no longer support Windows 2000.


• Reformat the drive with a single partition and do a fresh install of Windows XP. Not sure how it will perform on this system, though.


• Reformat the drive and install Ubuntu. Not sure what software is available -- maybe just a web browser, Open Office and a PDF viewer. And of course Emacs. Most likely no one else in the house would use the computer. And I wonder if I can get all the drivers I'll need.

The first step is to get the second drive installed, if I can.

What do you think?

Follow Up to "Career Doldrums"

Just a quick follow up to my previous post.

I was a bit unfair in saying that the book advises you to deal with doldrums by changing careers. That's not all it does. It's also great confidence booster, especially for baby boomers who are worried that they're too old to find a new job.

It explains the differences among the Baby Boom, Gen X and the latest generation (Gen Y. See Wikipedia's List of Generations for generation definitions.) This comparison serves as a foundation to convince the baby boomer that his/her contribution at a new company will be valued. Gen Y wants immediate gratification and frequent rewards, but Baby Boomers don't need that. Gen Y doesn't want to waste time giving their boss progress reports -- they just want to dive in to the work and finish it as quickly as possible.

The generational comparisons also help older workers understand their younger bosses, who come in to the workplace and turn it up-side-down.

So I found it interesting. And it ultimately helped me understand that I might be better off staying where I am.