Monday, October 06, 2008
"Be agressive" animation
A choice selection from web series called "Babycakes" so its sort of something you might have to see from the beginning. Its alternately really beautiful and sweet, and sometimes just odd.
Going veggie to reduce carbon footprint
"A diet with meat is responsible for producing in a year the same amount of greenhouse gases as driving a mid-sized car 4,758 kilometres (2,956 miles), the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IOeW) said.
But the food a vegetarian consumes in 12 months is responsible for generating the same emissions as driving 2,427 kilometres, the IOeW said in a study commissioned by independent consumer protection group Foodwatch." (source)
But the food a vegetarian consumes in 12 months is responsible for generating the same emissions as driving 2,427 kilometres, the IOeW said in a study commissioned by independent consumer protection group Foodwatch." (source)
Cutting Wells Fargo
After a long list of asinine fees and problems, I was determined to cut ties but kept putting it off.
After saying they'd stop shady student loan problems, Wells Fargo found another way to screw over students, forcing them to pay the minimum on their loans.
I recommend switching to a not-for-profit credit union.
After saying they'd stop shady student loan problems, Wells Fargo found another way to screw over students, forcing them to pay the minimum on their loans.
I recommend switching to a not-for-profit credit union.
UnitedHealth Problems
Unfortunately, in terms of health insurance, I'm with a bad company. Where I'm at, that's the default insurance but ...
- Really negative reviews of United Health
- "According to a 2005 study by the North Carolina Medical Society, the company ranked dead last in a survey of doctors on measures such as prompt and accurate claims payments, customer service, contract negotiation and the process for appealing medical necessity claims." (source)
- "Goldman Sachs reported in January that UnitedHealth received "the most negative comments by far" from national employers, who cited problems such as service lapses, lack of responsiveness and turnover among account managers." (source)
The Browser ^2
This is old news now but some guys over at Mozilla are definitely justifying their existence. Its so obvious and brilliant, it hurts -- just watch the video (skip to 00:47 to avoid the annoying word flash thing). Even if this software doesn't end up coming from Mozilla, someone will take this idea and run with it.
Out. Of. The. Park.
This is genuinely the best moment on television I've seen all year. I'm always disturbed that comedy shows seem to be our best news source. But that's not Stewart's fault.
iPhone or not to iPhone?
Someone I know asked if I recommended buying an iPhone. Certainly there are good things about it but -- without even talking about the technical details -- you are required to get a contract with AT&T, a company almost nobody likes because of bonehead movies like this and this. Still, I should say that on the consumer side, Sprint is our worst enemy. As for AT&T, Consumer Reports said it is the "home of the iPhone but trails the better carriers in almost all respects."
From what I've seen over the past few years, AT&T is the poster child for shitty corporate mergers that hurt everyone. Basically by going with them you're hurting the entire technology industry. They want to get into a position of dominance (mini-monopoly) and then sit on it as the rest of the world gets cell phones that can do 10x more (think video phones).
From what I've seen over the past few years, AT&T is the poster child for shitty corporate mergers that hurt everyone. Basically by going with them you're hurting the entire technology industry. They want to get into a position of dominance (mini-monopoly) and then sit on it as the rest of the world gets cell phones that can do 10x more (think video phones).
Windows e-mail clients: Evolution vs. Thunderbird
Although most people I know are using web mail exclusively, there are still some advantages to running an e-mail client. Since
Evolution has come out for Windows, I decided to go back and see what's changed.
I downloaded and installed Evolution but was not impressed. Apparently the transition to Windows meant that some 5 different processes had to connect independently to the internet for whatever reasons -- annoying in terms of allowing each action on my firewall and inefficient in terms of system use.
Thunderbird meanwhile has come a LONG way. Lightning (calendaring plugin) and Enigmail (secure e-mail plugin) have both improved immensely over the last year. Add to that its adoption of Evolution's "virtual folders" and capability to run portably make it better than Evolution, save for lacking an MS Exchange functionality and extremely cool virtual folders.
I also just figured out a trick to force "thread" style viewing, like Gmail, which brings me one step closer to moving away from their service. From the menu, select: Tools - Options - Advanced tab - General tab - Config Editor. Then, type in "mail.strict_threading" and double-click on the item until it changes to "true". Firefox will now always start in a threaded format.
Evolution has come out for Windows, I decided to go back and see what's changed.
I downloaded and installed Evolution but was not impressed. Apparently the transition to Windows meant that some 5 different processes had to connect independently to the internet for whatever reasons -- annoying in terms of allowing each action on my firewall and inefficient in terms of system use.
Thunderbird meanwhile has come a LONG way. Lightning (calendaring plugin) and Enigmail (secure e-mail plugin) have both improved immensely over the last year. Add to that its adoption of Evolution's "virtual folders" and capability to run portably make it better than Evolution, save for lacking an MS Exchange functionality and extremely cool virtual folders.
I also just figured out a trick to force "thread" style viewing, like Gmail, which brings me one step closer to moving away from their service. From the menu, select: Tools - Options - Advanced tab - General tab - Config Editor. Then, type in "mail.strict_threading" and double-click on the item until it changes to "true". Firefox will now always start in a threaded format.
Is drinking a bottle of Nyquil fatal?
If you may have overdosed on Acetaminophen, please don't read this article -- call American Association of Poison Control Centers: 1-800-222-1222.)
If you are thinking about suicide, this appears to be a painful way to die so trying to induce overdose is not going to take the pain away. Please call 1-800-784-2433 to talk to someone about your feelings. Comments on this post have been disabled.
---
"Acetaminophen overdose is one of the most common poisonings worldwide." (National Institute of Health)
I knew that Acetaminophen was bad in large amounts but I didn't know how bad. Essentially, I couldn't find adequate resources on this topic so I did some research of my own. According to the link, it appears only 8 extra strength pills (500 mg) can cause serious problems and 14 -- untreated -- can kill you. You have about 8 hours after taking them, and then liver failure will kill you in a few days.
This is a big issue for people who get really severe headaches, for elderly folks who forget how many pills they've taken. However, the other group is people who drink a whole bottle of NyQuil either to get the mild alcohol high or to go to sleep.
The NyQuil wikipedia page also has cautions that seem to point to unspecified danger:
Therefore, there is a strong chance that drinking a whole bottle could cause serious health problems, including liver failure. My math or my assumptions may be incorrect so please comment if I've made a mistake. There are a long list of other variables including ingesting food, body weight, pre-existing liver problems, and more that would change this. If you're not sure, please contact the Poison Control hotline at the top of this article.
If you are thinking about suicide, this appears to be a painful way to die so trying to induce overdose is not going to take the pain away. Please call 1-800-784-2433 to talk to someone about your feelings. Comments on this post have been disabled.
---
"Acetaminophen overdose is one of the most common poisonings worldwide." (National Institute of Health)
I knew that Acetaminophen was bad in large amounts but I didn't know how bad. Essentially, I couldn't find adequate resources on this topic so I did some research of my own. According to the link, it appears only 8 extra strength pills (500 mg) can cause serious problems and 14 -- untreated -- can kill you. You have about 8 hours after taking them, and then liver failure will kill you in a few days.
This is a big issue for people who get really severe headaches, for elderly folks who forget how many pills they've taken. However, the other group is people who drink a whole bottle of NyQuil either to get the mild alcohol high or to go to sleep.
The NyQuil wikipedia page also has cautions that seem to point to unspecified danger:
"It is essential to avoid excessive amounts of acetaminophen as this may cause damage to the liver. This risk is additive when separate co-ingestion of acetaminophen is used. The normal maximum for acetaminophen per day is 65 mg/kg/24hrs or 4g/day, whichever is less."However, this doesn't say whether or not drinking a *whole* bottle is a bad idea. However, according to NIH information, doing so appears to be quite harmful. Here's the math:
Therefore, there is a strong chance that drinking a whole bottle could cause serious health problems, including liver failure. My math or my assumptions may be incorrect so please comment if I've made a mistake. There are a long list of other variables including ingesting food, body weight, pre-existing liver problems, and more that would change this. If you're not sure, please contact the Poison Control hotline at the top of this article.
Useful UV lights
Kind of cool item, basically these are lights that can give you a tan (although you shouldn't go tanning). Turned up a little higher, they're also used in air purifiers and also in sterile facilities to kill germs.
The idea is that you would run this (probably on a timer) every night to turn on for a few hours. It would then automatically clean your kitchen. Lots of cool applications -- expect to see more devices that use them.
Update: I actually bought one of these things but I can't really verify that it works or doesn't. I haven't figured out a way to easily test it on various bacteria to see if it's working.
The idea is that you would run this (probably on a timer) every night to turn on for a few hours. It would then automatically clean your kitchen. Lots of cool applications -- expect to see more devices that use them.
Update: I actually bought one of these things but I can't really verify that it works or doesn't. I haven't figured out a way to easily test it on various bacteria to see if it's working.
Anti-French?
A friend of mine was doing the lame hate-the-French act popular among hyperconservatives who wanted the French to support the Iraq war. Apart from the long list of historical contributions the French have given the world, especially regarding Philosophy and Democracy, there's another (more entertaining) side to this.
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