Goodbye 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR

If you are someone who feels the need to shoot into the air to celebrate the new year, I have a favor to ask you. DON'T. Just do NOT shoot into the air please. See I really do not like having lead "rain drops" falling on my head. Thank you.

Some of the things reporters said in 2007. These are not gotcha comments but it sure does show the total lack of their objectivity or their total ignorance of history.

Finally, Christians returning to a Muslim country and why it is significant.

Face of a Killer

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Originally uploaded by kawfeadikt

As of late, I've been following the story of the young man who was mauled to death at the San Francisco Zoo by a tiger. This tiger. We were visiting at Thanksgiving and I took a few pictures near the end of the day as we were heading out. One of these two is Tatiana, who was responsible for the man's death.

Links to relevant stories:

Initial story
Remembrence for Carlos Sousa
Story on the police dispatch transcripts
Follow up by the SF Chronicle detailing concerns, post-event

Who knows what will come of this, but it surely sounds like more protection for the public is in store for zoos. Tragically, it's too late for one man.

Last week of the year

And the stories keep coming:

2007 was a good year for Ballistic Missile Defense. Those who said it could or will never work should be eating a lot of crow, but they have moved on to new things, like global warming.

Starting January 1, 2008, France and Germany will no longer allow smoking in bars and most other indoor places. While I like being able to go to a restaurant and not smell like smoke when I leave, I also think this should be left for the business owner to decide and not the state. Let the customers decide if they will patronize smoking or nonsmoking places.

Why are GE, Sylvania and Phillips happy with the new light bulb law in the US? Well they all will be able to make incandescent bulbs that meet the new specks by 2012, but they will cost a lot more then incandescent bulbs cost now. So we the consumers get to pay more if we want incandescent bulbs or we can have CFL if we don't mind the Mercury. I hope the LED's will be available by then.

And finally, stupid is as stupid does. Poor old couple withdrew their savings and got a bank check. They didn't open a new account and put the check in a safe deposit box for over 20 years and wonder why the bank says they no longer have the money. A check is stale after 6 months and after 3 years by law the bank (or any business) has to send the money to the State as unclaimed property. After 7 years or so if the money is not claimed I believe the State gets the money. Yes, we should feel sorry for the woman (her husband died a few years ago), but if they were competent about their legal and financial matters, it should be their problem and not the banks. Its called an expensive lesson.

Have a good weekend.

Chinglish

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Originally uploaded by kawfeadikt

My son received a flashlight for Christmas and, predictably, it was made in China. The Chinglish instructions written on the box made me laugh. Excerpt:

"The skull is opened before the use..."

I didn't know that flashlight operation involved a frontal lobotomy...

Click on the pic and read the rest of the box.

Global Warming, Hydrogen and politics

I honestly do not know if this article is meant to be a joke or not. I read it as a joke and it is quite funny. If the author is serious, then a) he has demonstrated his ignorance of the science of sea levels and b) he is a mean small minded person who glories at the pain and suffering of others. If he is serious, I can only pity him and or hold him in contempt.

I love news stories where wonderful claims are made but no backup is provided. In advertising or propaganda that is expected, but in news stories there are supposed to be some facts. Well a researcher is saying he has found a way to make HYDROGEN from rotten peaches. How? I can see making ethanol or methane but hydrogen?

Finally on a serious note, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated today. The world is not a nice place at times and there are people who will kill us if they get the chance. I hope the government of Pakistan and the people are able to weather the storm they are in for. I also hope the people running for president in the US won't politicize the event, although I know they will.

Have a good day.

Automotive X-Prize

This sounds very cool on how cars can get very high mileage and not necessarily be beer cans or death traps. Hat tip Glenn Reynolds.

Consumer spending increases and yet it is bad news

Well it seems that every year I've been hearing retailers saying this Christmas shopping season is horrible in December, but in January when the companies report their quarter end results, most had a good quarter and Christmas season after all.

Well, again, this year I've been hearing that retailers are not doing well this year. Well according to the WSJ (subscription required) retail sales excluding automobiles increased 3.6% compared to 2006. Now if you back out gasoline purchases as well because gasoline has increased a lot in 2007, then the year on year increase was only 2.4%. Why are the stores unhappy? Well they were hoping (or maybe dreaming) for a 3.5 to 4.5% increase.

Well lets see what happened in 2007 that might have slowed down consumer spending. Oh yeah, the entire sub-prime mortgage meltdown and the subsequent layoffs across the financial service sector of the economy and the slow down in the housing market. Oh yeah, also the dollar has also fallen against the Yen and Euro this year making toys, games and other goods from those areas more expensive.

So in other words, the US economy has had several shocks and consumer spending still increases from last year at a rate faster then inflation and the retail stores are unhappy that sales didn't grow as fast as they had hoped. Some organizations seemed bound and determined to have a recession in 2008 and will write the news anyway they have to, to try and bring it about.