Posted by Robyn on Sep 26, 2008 in
Politics I don’t know if you guys have been following the news lately, but McCain’s poll numbers are slipping again — a lot. The “Palin Effect” is wearing off, and nobody is quite sure what to make of his reaction to the economic crisis. Obama hasn’t handled it perfectly either, but his numbers are going up. Why?
What do you guys think about McCain’s chances vs. Obama? Regardless of what candidate you support, and why you think people should vote one way or another, what do you think will actually happen on election day?
Posted by Robyn on Sep 25, 2008 in
Technology I have never had much of a beef with advertising on websites. Providing good content usually costs money, and I can respect the fact that people need to support themselves and their work.
I don’t even particularly mind the sites that use underlined text with little ads that pop up when you roll your mouse over them. I don’t see it as particularly well targeted advertising, since what pops up usually isn’t even relevant to the article.
However, I have to draw the line somewhere. I was just reading an article on Anandtech, and I accidentally rolled my mouse over some underlined text. But instead of the usual ad box, an entire window with full video and audio popped up.
AND IT STARTED PLAYING ALL BY ITSELF!
I don’t care how much money that crap makes for your website. That is so completely inappropriate, I have no words. 
Anandtech did redeem itself, though. I was looking for a place to submit a complaint about those ads, and there is an option to turn them off entirely. Furthermore, it actually works! 
Posted by Robyn on Sep 24, 2008 in
Politics Yeah, I know. Too many journals. Sorry about that $1 coin thing last night, but I HAD to post this!
My amazing mother cut together this totally awesome video! Check it out!
Bomb Iran?
Posted by Robyn on Sep 23, 2008 in
Politics First of all, WTF penny? Go away. 
I am 100% in favor of getting rid of the penny. Heck, we could probably get rid of everything south of the quarter, and I’d be happy.
Ok, so the main reasons people keep giving for wanting to hang onto the $1 bill are that it’s cheaper to make, and it’s more convenient. First of all, $1 coins are crazy cheaper in the long run. $1 bills are technically “cheaper” to make, but coins last much longer, making them a lot more economical. That’s the whole reason the treasury would prefer to make the switch, and why they are advertising the coins.
Though a coin costs about three times as much to produce as a bill, it will circulate for an average of 30 years, whereas a dollar bill lasts 22 months, and for the last few of those, has all the charm of a grimy, germy handkerchief. In 2002, the United States General Accounting Office (now called the Government Accountability Office)* said we’d save $500 million a year in production costs if we shifted to coins; another GAO document puts the savings even higher, at $747.5 million.
Convenience is all a matter of personal opinion, but I would much rather keep a few coins on hand for things like vending machines, parking, tolls, laundry, and car washes. Getting those things to take $1 bills is sheer torture, if they take them at all. I understand that men don’t carry a purse. Fine. But you have these things called “pockets” where you already carry the rest of your change.
The catch is, people have to use them. Surveys suggest that the public prefers keeping the bill, by margins that vary widely from poll to poll, but the chief hold-up is habit. Shoppers won’t use dollar coins till they see businesses taking them; businesses won’t use them until banks give them out routinely; and the banks aren’t going to invest in infrastructure changes, like new coin-counting machines, until they see the public using the coins. Everyone’s waiting for someone else to move first.
But overall, I guess this response proves my point. Until they stop making $1 bills, people aren’t going to use the coins. Most people are sheep creatures of habit, so as I said before, the only way to get the $1 coin accepted is to stop printing $1 bills.
Same source as before. Seriously, you should actually read it this time. Don’t make me link it again. 
Oh, and WTF penny? Go away.
Posted by Robyn on Sep 22, 2008 in
Politics So, I have been hearing these new radio advertisements about yet another new one dollar coin. These ads are all about how great dollar coins are, and how everyone should use them, right? Well, I know another fantastic way to get people to use them. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s the only way to get people to use them.
STOP PRINTING ONE DOLLAR BILLS!
Apparently, the Treasury isn’t allowed to stop printing dollar bills, though. It only carries out orders from Congress. And apparently, I kid you not, there is a dollar bill lobby.
They come, principally, from three groups: the folks at the BEP; Mississippi cotton farmers, whose fibers make up the 100-percent-rag currency paper; and Crane & Company, a Massachusetts paper mill known for excellent stationery and a century-old papermaking contract with the government. Around the time the Sacagawea was proposed, they formed a lobbying group called Save the Greenback, which, according to press accounts, had the ear of Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi and, back when he was in Congress, Rep. Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts.
Source. I highly recommend the article. It’s a great read.
Now, I personally can’t think of a single good reason to keep the dollar bill. Most small cash transactions are pretty automated these days — vending machines, car washes, tolls — and coins are MUCH easier to deal with.
What do you guys think?
Posted by Robyn on Sep 21, 2008 in
General I finally got Twitter. I’m PrincessNybor.
Anyone else on Twitter?
Posted by Robyn on Sep 13, 2008 in
Technology Six months after buying it, I finally upgraded the hard drive in my MacBook Pro today. The main thing holding me back was some of the horror stories I had heard from people who had taken theirs apart.
Having done it, I have to say, it wasn’t all that hard. Upgrading the hard drive and RAM in my Acer netbook was probably harder. (Small laptop is small.) Although there is a bit more pressure when working on a $2000 machine than there is with a $350 one!
Anyway, I swapped out the stock 200 gig drive for a 320 gig model, and it’s a very happy lappy now. Leopard and Vista get to share the drive equally, so there is no bickering between them anymore! (Vista was feeling inferior.)
I think I’m finally ready to retire my desktop now — or at least, take it off active duty. I will have to get by with only a MacBook Pro (Leopard/Vista), Acer netbook (Vista/Ubuntu), HTPC (Vista), and 4.3 TB file server (WHS).
Posted by Robyn on Sep 9, 2008 in
General Earlier today, I was listening to the afternoon radio show on my favorite station, and they were telling this story that was so funny, it actually brought me to tears. I was sitting in my car, parked, and unable to get out and go into the store. I was laughing that hard.
It was just a dumb story, but it made me realize how much I needed to laugh.
When was the last time you had a good laugh?
Posted by Robyn on Sep 8, 2008 in
Politics I am starting to hope that Obama wins the electoral vote, but McCain wins the popular vote. Now, I know there’s a very slim chance of that happening, but here’s why I hope for it. The electoral college is antiquated and does not reflect the votes of each American equally. Many voters in strongly “red” or “blue” states feel that their votes don’t matter.
And they’re right!
Since Bush won a narrow electoral victory, but lost the popular vote in 2000, the Republican party held tighter than ever onto a system that had just proven itself to be broken. If a Democrat were to win by electoral votes only, I think both parties might finally be willing to abolish the electoral college, and really make every vote count equally.
If America wants to stand as a global model of democracy, it’s time for both parties to stop focusing on what’s best for them, and focus on what’s best for the country.