Good Riddance 2009
Last year saw a lot of ups and downs. We started off watching the car industry with some disgust, questioning the culture of mediocrity that allowed the situation to spiral out of control. We say: Too big to fall? Too big to exist. Get on top of your credit and take control of your life. [...]
Hospitals Save More Lives When They Admit Their Mistakes
photo credit: a.drian
Suppose you’ve screwed up, badly. Perhaps the blunder was so grave that someone got hurt, or worse. Do you own up to your actions and take responsibility for the consequences, or do you downplay the significance of what happened or worse, deny it entirely?
If your doctor made a mistake, would you want [...]
Wells Fargo Sues Itself
photo credit: Krawiec @ USA – NJ
It’s another head shaker straight out of Florida as “Wells Fargo Bank NA” sues “Wells Fargo Bank NA” for outstanding liens against properties involved in foreclosure. In what sounds like the most idiotic chain of events, the bank has hired an attorney to defend itself from, well, itself. [...]
Reverting to a Cash Society
photo credit: TheTruthAbout…
A lot of interesting things have happened in the past several months as people from all walks of life learn how to stretch their money. A lot of changes have been accelerated by the fuel shocks during the summer of 2008; in a lot of ways we seem to be reverting to [...]
Google Cuts Emissions Using Goats
photo credit: Ivy Dawned
Rather than have their regular maintenance crew come by and clean up their lawn, Google has decided to employ an army of goats instead. No kidding (a-hem). The goats will eat and then fertilize the grass, and not use an ounce of gasoline to do so.
PETA was reached for comment – [...]
Venture Capitalists are Crashing the Party
Apparantly venture capitalists are considered part of the larger economic problem, posing a significant risk to the stability of the financial system; even though the average VC doesn’t use debt and draws its funds from wealthy investors (e.g. the way companies are supposed to work. Conspiracy theory: maybe this re-arrangement is the beginning of the [...]
The Fastest Way Out of Debt
photo credit: mangpages
Suppose you find yourself in this all-too-common situation: multiple credit cards (perhaps maxed) and loans, recently unemployed or perhaps just barely employed. Every last dime you make goes toward paying the minimum balance on your bills and feeding your family – more often than not you run out of money before you [...]
German Company Turns Cellphones into Gold
photo credit: covilha
Despite campaigns encouraging people to recycle their used cellular phones, most end up in landfills. In Germany, that amounts to 24 million phones per year – almost 1 for every 3 people. Aside from the obvious environmental harm caused by deteriorating batteries and plastic, the phones represent a significant economical waste – [...]
Unabashed, Sony defends PS3
photo credit: craigmdennis
Today’s gaming market is split four ways:
1. PC Gaming – Where pirated copies of games outnumber the legimite. Home of the “hardcore” gamer. Dead simple to create games for, since most programmers begin their careers on this platform.
2. XBox 360 – Where PC Game studios make their money thanks to DirectX. This [...]
Economics
It’s been an interesting week in economics. The DOW has resurged a few hundred points the last few days, Jon Stewart had an interesting chat with CNBC financial analyst Jim Cramer about the morality of ethical financial reporting, and Canada, according to the IMF, is probably going to do allright in the face of the [...]
