This article was a pretty interesting read.
“I could see the speed building to 120mph or 130mph. I remember starting to shake and freeze up. I was really panicking and broke into tears. I couldn’t help it because I thought I was definitely going to die.”
I find myself continuing to visit newsvine.com – probably half because of the hype, and half because I really like the aesthetics. It’s kind of a cross between CNN and Digg. Like CNN because they are all news stories (a lot of AP articles) but like Digg in that the front page is determined by votes, and content can come from submissions. It seems to be a key component of the new crop of web sites that importance is determined collectively and democratically, rather than from a centralized body.
I was looking through Fil’s del.icio.us page for a link to the hilarious marriage contract (worth a read) and found an article representing one of the most interesting discussions I’ve ever read on healthcare. It’s long, and 5 years old, but very much worth a read. The points about how men and women use healthcare differently is especially interesting.
Fil and I were talking last night, and neither of us really had a solid understanding of how mortgages work. We knew that the Federal Interest Rate was involved, we knew that Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae were involved, and obviously that banks were involved. But, how they all work together is, to say the least, confusing.
Based on what I’ve read, I’m trying to sketch out a “plain english” description of how it all works. In doing some reading, I’ve already learned at least 10 things that I thought I understood but didn’t. Please fill in the comments with corrections, but this is how I think it all kinda works (not that I’ve ever had a mortgage):
It’s about time. After seeing the Patriots get hammered with a few game-changing calls (one of which was clearly wrong from the replay) and then the Steelers, I’m glad the refs are taking some heat.
Although probably not a surprise to most people, the death of Mitch Hedberg which was reported several months back has now been explained. It was a drug overdose.
This is an interesting article about how Microsoft is changing it’s packaging due to threats from an environmentalist group called the “Center for Health, Environment and Justice”.
CHEJ says that “When produced or burned, PVC plastic releases dioxins, the most potent synthetic chemicals ever tested, which can cause cancer and harm the immune and reproductive systems. Studies have shown plasticizers such as phthalates have migrated out of PVC consumer products, exposing people to toxic additives linked to reproductive defects and other health problems.â€
And on the flipside…
Despite more than 40 years of use in medical equipment such as IV bags and medical tubing, there have been no reports of such phthalate use causing human health effects, according to a 2002 report by the Food and Drug Administration.
He also sarcastically references the “unsafe” levels of dioxin in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
Digg posted a link about how you can score free gumballs out of a gumball machine… a lot of the sites were taken down but I found this one still up.
“First step… locate a machine where you put the coin the slot above the handle turn and drop the coin….Once you have found your victim buy one piece of gum chew it
Once the gum has gotten soft…. tear off a small bit and stick it to the quarter… then take the quarter and smash the gum in the slot and turn the handle…
If done right once all the way around your quarter will still be in the machine ready for round two… Now keep turning till you get your fill of gumballs… â€
Basically you buy one gumball, use a piece of chewed gum to stick your next quarter to the machine in the coin slot, and supposedly you’ll be able to turn the handle repeatedly and score gum, because the quarter will never drop into the machine.
Check out Pandora if you haven’t already. Basically you start by telling it a band you like, it plays you a song by them, and then it will walk you through similar songs by them and other artists. If you don’t like the songs it plays, you can tell it you don’t like them and skip them. It learns and suggests based on what you like. It’s free, and very cool.
Lifehack.com had an interesting list of “50 Essential topics on Economics.” I haven’t read them all, but clicked through one – The Rich and the Poor. It was fairly interesting. Here’s a quick question for you. What percentage of the total income tax collected in the US is paid for by the top 1% of income-earners? How about the top 10%? Click below for the answer.
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