“Hey Man, Can I Borrow Your Computer?”
Category: Current Events
Digital Subscription Prices Visualized
The Understatement has very clearly laid out why the New York Times digital subscription plan that goes into effect next week probably won’t work: As you can see from the chart, it’s absurdly more expensive than other digital subscription plans. And the different options are needlessly complex. I read news from many sources, and would be hesitant to pay for any online news subscription, but I have to admit that I was contemplating subscribing to the NYT. It’s probably the only reporting source that I consistently read each day. Now that I know the price, I most certainly won’t subscribe. Think about this: it’s an additional $65/year to add smartphone app access to the NYT subscription plan. But the app obviously provides
Salt Shortages
A Chinese student I’m working with received a text message from the government that reads (in Mandarin), “Right now China has enough salt in the market. There is no need to worry about a salt shortage.” Apparently Chinese citizens are stockpiling salt to protect against potential radiation exposure from Japan. But according to a Bloomberg article on the topic: Table salt does not contain enough of the type of iodine needed to block radioactive iodine from damaging a person’s thyroid gland and should not be taken as a substitute for potassium iodide pills, according to healthline.com, a U.S.- based health-information Web site.” “I just wanted to buy it for cooking, but I went to six supermarkets and there’s no salt
The Happiest Man In America
Is a tall married upper middle class retired Asian-American Jew living in Hawaii. His name is Alvin Wong. From the NYT: For the last three years, Gallup has called 1,000 randomly selected American adults each day and asked them about their emotional status, work satisfaction, eating habits, illnesses, stress levels and other indicators of their quality of life. It’s part of an effort to measure the components of “the good life.” The responses are plugged into a formula, called the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, and then sorted by geographic area and other demographic criteria. The accompanying maps show where well-being is highest and lowest around the country. The New York Times asked Gallup to come up with a statistical composite for the
Obama’s Homebrewing?
From Obamafoodorama, the Obamas recently served a honey ale homebrewed with honey from the White House beehive. It’s apparently the first time in recorded history that homebrewed beer was made and served in the White House. Just like most other homebrewers, the White House chefs brewed a practice run before serving the beer to guests at a superbowl party. The Obamas purchased the homebrewing equipment with their own funds, and there’s even talk of adding hops vines to the White House Garden. I like this trend, and I’d love to find the recipe and give it a shot sometime.
Charlie Sheen
I don’t even know where to begin. You just need to watch it: He’s smoking a cigarette during a Good Morning America interview.
Free Beer!
Gotcha, but it’s very close to free. A few classmates and I have been working on the board of a local non-profit organization, Somerville Local First (SLF). SLF helps to build “a sustainable Local First economy by supporting and promoting locally owned and independent businesses, artists and nonprofits” in Somerville. They’re hosting a fundraiser at the Foundry On Elm, a new restaurant and pub in Davis Square, on Wednesday, April 6th from 6:00-8:00pm. Tickets are only $20, and include a beer and wine tasting from 6:00-7:00pm and appetizers from 6:00-8:00pm. Here are a few reasons you should buy a ticket soon: 1. 100% of the money goes to SLF, so you’d be supporting a good cause. 2. The beer is all
“What’s Going On In Egypt” at MIT
A not-so-geeky post from Shtetl-Optimized, a really geeky blog I follow on occasion: Last night, the MIT Egyptian Club hosted a “What’s Going On In Egypt?” event, which included a lecture, a Q&A session with Egyptian students, Egyptian music, and free falafel and baklava. I went, not least because of the falafel. The announcement that Mubarak was leaving came just a few hours before the event, which was planned as a somber discussion but hastily reconfigured as a celebration. As you’d imagine, the mood was ecstatic: some people came draped in Egyptian flags, and there was shouting, embracing, and even blowing of vuvuzelas. Building E51 wasn’t quite Tahrir Square, but it was as close as I was going to get.
Cockfighting Accident
Well this is ironic: A California man has died after being accidentally stabbed in the leg by a sharp blade attached to a rooster at an apparent cockfighting match, the Bakersfield Californian reports. That’s unfortunate for a lot of reasons. To quote Arrested Development: “That’s why you always leave a note.”
Soda Taxes and Corn Subsidies
Here’s Ezra Klein’s response to the No Food Taxes coalition commercial aired in some regions during the Superbowl: If you were watching the Superbowl in the DC area last night, one of the ads you saw came from the No Food Taxes coalition (which includes 7-Eleven, Alcoa, the Mid-Atlantic Petroleum Distributers Association, American Airlines, McDonald’s, and many more). It showed a sensible-looking woman putting soda into her shopping cart and complaining that “some politicians” are “trying to control what we eat and drink with taxes.” Pulling into the checkout lane, a deep-voiced announcer intones, “government needs to trim its budget back, and leave our grocery budgets alone.” Watch the ad here. It’s evidence of how seriously the sugared drink industry takes the threat