What you need to know about Credit Scores...

For the folks in the room who wonder about credit scores, I found this excellent article from a 20-something journalist who writes on debt amongst our young ones... Anya Kamenetz wrote a book called GENERATION DEBT that seems to imply kids today are doomed. Haven't read it, but I'm not buying that... But regardless, the attached link is very informative! Happy Reading!

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/generationdebt/103708

Update to the MacBook saga... Where are my applications?

OK:  Time to update my loyal readership (are you out there?) on my MacBook.  Probably the MOST IMPORTANT application of all is my checkbook program.   Historically it was MS-Money which was an awesome program.  I went to get a native Mac application to replace it, because of course we can't have any of that evil Microsoft stuff running anymore, but this is where the wrinkles began...  It appears that Apple has not really got enough of a user base to entice application programmers to develop decent tools...  Moving from MS-Money, which clearly has been used and tweaked based on "zillions" of users complaining and moaning has thus resulted in a quite a fine and highly tuned user interface has made just about anything else very sad in comparison.  It appears there is a Quicken available, but the reviews indicate the Apple version is a pale imitation of its regular product and I was finding nothing but complaints.  I ended up buying (and at $60 bucks, not cheap) iBANK from IGGSoftware, which LOOKS nice, until you find out that they DO NOT have zillions of users complaining, but rather about five of us...  While I remain committed to my MAC-only SW policy, I really hope there are more of us MAC users out there and that someone takes up the gauntlet of providing decent personal productivity apps...  PLEASE!!  ??

Starbucked...

OK: This book by Taylor Clark is pretty interesting... As someone who never had been in a Starbucks until I met my wife, the whole thing kind of escaped me... But I'm a cheap a$$.

Funny story... I used to be sent to various Starbucks to get my wife her crack... err... drink. Once I went to a Starbucks that I had not been to in about six months and started rattling off the extremely complex incantation in the drive through... There was a pregnant pause as I completed the spell, and then the lady on the other end of the box says very tentatively... "Ah... Is this... Bekki?"

I'll never forget it... But anyway, Taylor is NOT a Starbucks fan as far as I can tell, but he does seem to be pretty fair in his assessment of them... I just wish I had bought their stock way back when... Un-flippin' believable...

OK: Problem Solved

OK: Here is an interesting post from MIT.  They evidently have cracked the code on storing solar energy in the form of hydrogen (think Fuel Cell); thus making large scale solar possible...

Check it out...  My energy obsession may be at an end!  :-)

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html

The Two Headed Man!

Check it out! My step son got hold of the Apple... Durn kids know more about this stuff than I do... *sigh*

So you CAN Fart in a Jar!

I always used to joke with my kids that we could solve the worlds need for energy by "farting in a jar."  But it turns out that the truth is stranger than fiction!!  Check out the following link!!

Out of Africa: Cooking with Human Waste

The end of the world sux...

OK: I've kind of lost interest in the end of the world... We bought some of the Green grocery bags and I'm now more religiously throwing my plastic stuff in the recycle bin, so I'm convinced the tide has now turned. Heck, I even remembered to bring the green bags to the store once!

I've decided to focus on something more upbeat: Politics. I recently completed the new Obama book "From Promise to Power" by David Mendell. David has followed Obama from the beginning of his Illinois career. It's quite an interesting book and I walked away with a much better opinion of him. Prior to the book, I considered him a hard core flaming liberal who happened to be very intelligent (other than the flaw of being a hard core flaming liberal) and most importantly, just SPANKED Hillary in the debate I managed to watch. The guy is very smooth and quick on his toes. Now I've modified my position. He is a hard core flaming liberal with a pragmatic side. I honestly think he will moderate his positions when the hard cold facts of reality hit him on the head.

Anyway, nice read and I recommend it! Check it out here for a summary: