Discourse.net

Globalization Has Some Work Left to Do

Tom’s Hardware finds that computer hardware prices vary enormously around the world. Globalization — and even the European single market — still has a long way to go:

Meanwhile, the price differences between different PC products are remarkable. Basic consumer electronics accessories such as a 2-GB SD memory card vary in price around the world by up to 100%, while prices for premium PC components vary by 10-30%. Cost for a Core 2 Duo E6850 processor or a GeForce 8800 GTS graphics card was very much balanced, while the Coolermaster power supply or the Zalman CPU cooler showed large pricing differences. We selected products that are available almost everywhere, and we took the average price of the four cheapest etailers to get a solid number.

We found that France is rather expensive, especially if compared to Germany, which is next door. The United States is at the other end of the pricing spectrum, as most products are less expensive there.

It does not make sense to order hardware in a foreign country, or to buy large amounts of hardware when you travel. One the one hand, shipping cost will eat up all cost advantages. On the other hand, you’ll have to pay custom duties or an import turnover tax for many products. The only exception is the purchase of inexpensive products, as consumers in different countries can often buy goods abroad that remain below a certain price level without having to pay duty charges.

Catalog Choice Scares Marketers

I’ve used Catalog Choice to attempt to stop 19 catalogs so far. I’m not sure any of them have actually stopped yet, but the site says it can take three months, and dates range from one to 45 days ago, so I guess I have to be patient.

Interesting to read, though, that rather than write me off as a waste of marketing money, the catalog industry wants to ignore my preferences and keep sending them. According to Business Week, a Direct Marketing Association honcho e-mailed all members to pull up the drawbridge:

How did they respond? Some—mostly outdoorsy brands like L.L. Bean and Lands’ End (SHLD)—made soothing noises. Others blew off the Web site (and subsequently, the people declining their catalogs), and have done nothing with the names. Still, despite being less than three months old, Catalog Choice has managed to spook an industry. Consider the Nov. 29 e-mail from the Direct Marketing Assn. Bearing the subject line “JUST SAY NO,” it warned retailers that Catalog Choice’s “priority is to eliminate catalogs as a marketing medium. It is not in your interest to further their efforts!”

Charming, isn’t it. More at the Catalog Choice Blog. If you want the view from the (relatively) enlightened wing of the marketers, check out MineThatData Blog.

CompUSA to Close

CompUSA will close at the end of the year.

Their prices were not that good compared to newegg.com, four out of five of their staff were unhelpful or ignorant (but the fifth was usually great), and in fact for the past several years I only bought stuff there in emergencies.

But emergencies happen, and it was nice to know there was a place you could go if you had to. It was also nice to test stuff like keyboards and mice which are hard to buy sight unseen. And the remaindered software bin wasn’t bad. I’ll miss it.

Yes, in NY or on the west coast there are lots of other alternatives, but here not so much. We do have a Tiger Direct outlet, but its selection is quirky, and it’s a much longer drive from here.

Dream On

I Heart Zappos

Wouldn’t you like to live in a world in which this sort of customer experience wasn’t amazingly excepitonal?

Firms That Lie to You

There is only one company I deal with regularly that has lied to me more often than my DSL provider, and that is my bank. I am gradually writing about my latest bank saga, but that’s for another day.

The new modem was promised for Saturday. They swore up and down that they do Saturday delivery. Since the last time a modem died it also died on a Thursday and I had to wait until Monday, I didn’t believe them, except I sort of did, because I wanted to.

But it was a lie.

The modem arrived today, not Saturday (and I only just got home and haven’t the energy to try to install it). But that’s not all. The nice phone person promised — promised! — that it would be the same Westell brand model I had before, assuring me that of their modems it was the best. The box has a Netopia modem in it.

To round out the story, the old modem has decided it liked its rest and is working again.

The warranty replacement requires me to send back my old modem, so I can’t just keep the new one as a spare.

Spot What's Missing

This info-graphic of Coffee Drinks Illustrated strikes me as sadly deficient. Have a look, see if you can figure it out what’s missing, then click below for my attempt to fill the gaps.

First, there’s my basic drink:

Or, there’s the Miami version, the Cuban coffee:

Useful 'Mattress Comparison Index'

Being one who justifies his fanatical comparison shopping by the public good side-effect of keeping markets efficient, I am particularly irked by the tactics of mattress sellers.

As is well known, most mattresses sold in the US are made in a small number of factories. In order to make comparison shopping hard, the mattress provide “unique” product lines to each major retailer. By making minor adjustments to the fabric or something and changing the (almost inevitably ridiculous) model names they sell under, Sealy and the like make price comparison shopping impossible. And they allow each possessor of a ‘unique’ line to make price-matching guarantees that they know are meaningless since no one else carries goods with the same name.

That’s why I’m glad there is a Mattress Comparison Index which (says it) tells you which silly name is comparable to which other silly name.

Even armed with this information there is still a lot of product out there and field testing these things is both ridiculous and not particularly informative. It’s easy to dismiss many mattresses as too soft or too hard, but that leaves a large range of choices, about none of which I feel confident about how they will feel in a year.

I wanted to illustrate this with a picture of Li’l Abner in his role a professional mattress tester, but while I could find some of him, there were none of him at work, which somehow seems fitting.

Incidentally, I was surprised to learn that professional mattress testers really exist!

For the Annals of Market Failure

You can’t (or can no longer) get Amora Dijon Mustard in the United States.

The Real Problem with USB Flash Drives

Someone should write about the REAL problem with flash drives: they break too easily at the connection between the usb male plug and the body of the drive. The otherwise wonderful Flash Voyager is by far the most vulnerable I’ve encountered, but many others share the same Achilles Heel too.

Reviewers always seem to write about running a car over the drive. That mean putting pressure on the case. This isn’t, in my experience, a common real-life scenario. In contrast, the real-life damage case is torque when your laptop bumps into something with that drive sticking out. It snaps easily. And no one ever talks about that.

The best drives I’ve had for performance (I want to be able to copy lots of small files quickly; reported tests usually concentrate on large file transfer, so my preferences may not be your preferences) were also the most delicate at that critical point: the Corsair Flash Voyagers. I’ve broken two. Second-fastest, the OCZ Rally2, were not as fragile, but were not exactly tough either. I bent one. It still works, but I don’t trust it.

I’ve currently moved to a Cruzer Titanium, which not only looks a bit stronger, but has a nice retractable head so I don’t have to worry about losing the little cap. The performance is good, although I don’t think it is quite as good as the other two.

Unfortunately, the Cruzer came with the dreaded U3 software. I used the control panel to disable it, but haven’t had the heart to delete it on the theory that this might be irrevocable (online opinions vary), and anyway it didn’t take much space. But I may delete it soon, as it seems my Asus motherboard absolutely won’t boot up with the drive plugged in, even though the BIOS is set to boot from the hard drive first.

Annals of Appalling Customer Service

Ever since UM switched employees to Humana, I’ve tried, when we needed some sort of medicine, to use the online pharmacy for mail-order delivery. Cranking up mail-order delivery is a pain as you have to fill out a form and mail (not fax) them the actual prescription. It’s supposed to be cheaper. And, once you have it in their system, refills should be easy, just use the web form.

Not.

I’ve gotten the same error message Every. Single. Time. Over a six-month period.

This feature is currently unavailable. Please check back with us again shortly.

You may also contact our Customer Service Representatives at the number listed on the back of your ID Card.

So yeserday when I got the emailed reminder to go to the web site to order a refill and AGAIN it didn’t work, I called customer service not just to order my refill by phone but to find out why their pharmacy is always down at any time of day or night. I had to speak to three people, the last of whom said a fourth would call me back. (Humana’s online presence may be appalling but their telephone customer service people are actually unusually nice and even at times very helpful. They’re certainly better than most computer companies.)

And indeed, someone did call me back in less than half an hour. But she couldn’t reproduce the error. Yet, I could. “What version of IE are you using?” she asked. “I’m not,” I explained. And that, it seems is The Problem. And there’s no work-around except to use IE. And they’ve known this for a long time.

I think in this day and age, with Firefox having a significant market share, and IE so notoriously insecure, it’s pretty bad not to support Firefox. But why I’m blogging this complaint is that nowhere on the web site, no not even in the error message do they explain what the problem is. It would not be hard to detect the browser and say, sorry, our site only works with IE. It would have saved me and no doubt countless others a lot of time and frustration.

"Mouse Print" Does Ham

I have just discovered the Mouse Print blog [link fixed], which is dedicated to ‘exposing the strings and catches in advertising fine print.’ In short, catnip for obsessively rational consumers such as I.

I particularly like the attempt to figure out how much ham you get when you buy one in the store. Who knew that there are such major distinctions between ”cooked ham”, “cooked ham with natural juices”, “cooked ham, water added”, not to mention the suspiciously labeled “cooked ham and water product — x% of weight is added ingredients” which apparently can be as little as 17% meat, plus fat and water.

Nature or Nurture?

Consumerist blog: Southwest Nearly Lets Liver Transplant Patient Die Because He Wouldn’t Buy 2nd Ticket.

Yes, you read that right.

Richard Brown nearly died on Sunday, January 21st, thanks to reckless indifference by a Southwest Airlines ticket agent.

A dying hep-C patient, Richard, secured an appointment at the Mayo Clinic. After getting turned down, he was referred to the University of San Francisco.

When he went to board in Scottsdale for California, the ticket agent refused to let Richard fly unless he bought another ticket, due to his weight.

The weight gain is due to water retention because of his failing liver. Richard lives on California Disability Pay and had no funds to pay for the extra ticket. The flight was not sold out.

The ticket agent didn’t care when shown Richard’s medical papers, saying, “each airport has their own rules and these are ours, no extra seat, no boarding.”

…

Richard, not having access to readily available funds, could not afford to purchase another seat. Indeed, various family members contributed the only spare change they had to give Richard a mere $300 for meals and incidentals. Again, the plea for help fell on deaf Southwest ears.

Richard contacted his mother via a collect call, who in turn immediately called Southwest’s customer service, which turned out to be a myriad of transfers and wrong numbers. Customer service agent after customer service agent, each Southwest agent transferred Mrs. Diffey to a wrong number and refused to help, even once to the baggage department in Texas.

Until finally, an agent in Dallas named Becky offered to pay for the ticket herself.

United Finally Does the Right Thing

United Airlines has caved in and done the right thing at last.

Earlier post: Millions of dollars of bad publicity for United Airlines.

Millions of Dollars of Bad Publicity for United Airlines

Don't fly United Airlines until they do something about this: United Airlines takes advantage of helpless elderly couple, extorting nearly $3000.

What I am NOT Getting My Wife for Xmas

Fortunately, my wife would not enjoy having a diamond-encrusted USB drive, which is just as well as she is not getting one from me. (Or, I should hope, from anyone else.)

Suggestions as to more sensible presents always welcomed.

There is a Bacon of the Month Club. Yes, Really.

Very funny post at Emergent Chaos inspired by the Bacon of the Month Club. And the Club of the Month Club. And so on...

Disposable

Every so often, I toy with the idea of getting an iPod. Then I read another article about how iPods only last a year...

Tales From Support Hell

We've all been there, and if we haven't been there, it's only a matter of time:

The Trademark Blog: True Story Re My Phone Service:

Me: This is the fourth day my firm hasn't had dial tone.

Customer Service: Yes sir, because of the urgency we've elevated it to Business Class Support.

Me: What does that mean?

Customer Service: The Business Class Support tech will handle your trouble ticket. Unfortunately, he's out today, however he'll get to it first thing tomorrow morning.

Me: Wait, because you've elevated it, you can't get to it today?

Customer Service: No sir.

Me: Can you lower its urgency, so you can get to it sooner?

Customer Service: Sir?

Me: Never mind.

Today's Pre-Breakfast Serving of Unlikely Things

Which of the two following facts is more unlikely?

1. The following strange Dell tech support story recounted by a law student blogger:

I think the best part about all this is the time I was waiting on hold for one of the tech support people to transfer me. I heard music. Suddenly, I was listening to a phone sex line! I am not making this up. Let me repeat this: While I was on hold with Dell, I was somehow transfered to a phone sex line. Seriously. This really happened.

2. Or is it this: the law student blogger didn't even speculate as to the various ways in which such conduct could give rise to major-league liability. Update (2/5/06): Ok, now he did, and the universe is back to its normal balance...

A Cell Phone With An Unusual Feature

My sporadic search for a new cell phone took me to an ad for the highly overpriced Motorola Ultimate U6 Quadband Bluetooth. The ad includes the usual marketdroitspeak ("Quadband operation and an integrated digital video camera makes the Motorola Ultimate U6 the perfect phone for your active lifestyle."). But it also touts a feature I've never seen before in an ad for a phone:

Fungus resistant coated mini jet black clamshell design

The mind boggles. Is this a common problem with cell phones? With Motorola phones particularly? Are buyers of overpriced phones especially fungus-phobic, making this a selling point?

I would have thought it was a turn-off, myself...

Still Waiting for the Right Phone

If only this Duo-mode GSM WIFI Phone -- quad band no less! -- was a flip phone form factor, I'd buy one just for the coolness of it all.

As it is, even though my old phone is gradually getting electronic Alzheimer's, I can't find a flip phone that does what it did when it worked right. Certainly, neither of these seems like the ticket.

Are Non-Refundable Air Tickets Actually Refundable?

In the course of a very interesting and serious rumination about proposed air travel regulations ostensibly designed to allow the Center for Disease Control to react to epidemics -- but which conveniently enact the surveillance regime on air travelers that this administration has been seeking for some time, Ed Hasbrouck throws out this great aside,

If you are ever denied transportation by an airline, ask them for a copy of their conditions of carriage, which they are required to have available at every check-in counter. Ask them to tell you under which specific clause of the conditions of carriage you are being denied transportation. Try to get them to put that in writing, preferably either on airline letterhead over the signature and legibly printed name of the station manager for the airline at that airport, or as part of a complete printout of your passenger name record , in which the reason you were denied transportation, citing the specific clause of the conditions of carriage, has been entered. (If you made your reservations from Canada, the European Union, or certain other countries, you are entitles to see what's in your PNR. But not, unfortunately, if you made your reservations in the USA.) If the airline balks at giving you reasons, point out that your eligibility (or not) for a refund of your ticket is dependent on the reasons and the clause of the conditions of carriage under which you were denied transportation. So you need documentation of the reasons for their denial, in order to establish your refund claim. (If the airline refuses to transport you because you refuse to consent to being searched, you are entitled to a full and unconditional refund, even if your ticket would otherwise have been an entirely nonrefundable. Presenting yourself at the airport, and refusing to consent to search, is perhaps the most foolproof way to obtain a refund of an otherwise nonrefundable ticket.) The airline cannot refuse to transport you, except as provided by specific terms of their published conditions of carriage, without grave liability under the common carrier clause of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978.

Unsolicited Endorsement

If you are looking for wood furniture in Miami, I recommend WoodWorks Home Furnishings. There are days when it feels like we got half our furniture there. Possibly because we just about did. Nice, honest people who know their stuff, stand behind it, and charge reasonable prices given it's solid wood.

Hard-to-Find Internet Retailer Phone Numbers

Another reason I love the Internet: finding this list of Hard To Find Internet Retailer Phone Numbers took about six seconds.

My Cell Phone Needs Replacing

My NEC 515 cell phone has started to exhibit random erratic behavior. Sometimes when it's on, it fails to connect to a network; people call me and I don't get a call or a message or even a "missed call" notice. Sometimes when I want to make a call the phone book is unavailable - it's "sorting" endlessly. Sometimes it starts beeping at me that the SIM card is unavailable. None of this is good.

I'm somewhat locked into Cingular as a carrier, because most others don't seem to have a signal that can be received inside my house, and we have a family plan too.

So all of a sudden I need a new GSM phone. Here's the wish list:

• I'm pretty used to flip phones, and like the idea of a phone that won't accidentally call someone in my pocket.
• I have a preference for quadband 'world phones' that can work anywhere. Failing that, I'd at least like one that works in Europe too.
• I need an unlocked phone
• And here's the tough one: I'd like a phone that speaks to my PC, one that would let me upload and download numbers, ringtones and maybe even photos without having to pay the insane rates charged by Cingular

• I don't care if it plays electronic games; I don't
• I don't use my phone for Internet access.
• I don't particularly need much in the way of additional features like calendars and the like
• All other things being equal, a camera might be fun, but it is not essential

If any readers have advice or pointers, especially about the connecting-to-the-PC part, I'd be most grateful.

Anti-Gitmo T-Shirt

Is this Gitmo Law School T-shirt clever protest, or just too disgusting?

It could be both. Even so, I don’t think I could wear one.

The Size of Temptation

Despite my ordinary allergy to refurbished goods, the idea of getting a 21" monitor for a little over $100 (including shipping) is strangely tempting.

But do I go with the Nokia 445Xiplus (Dot Pitch: 0.28 mm) or the Mystery Model NEC (0.24 mm horizontal pitch (0.28 mm diagonal trio dot pitch)?

Flag Desecration In Every Day Life

We got new credit cards in the mail. Unlike the old ones, which were very neutral, a sort of bluish with some lines on it — and noted a tie-in to a frequent flier program — the new ones instead sport a loud rendition of a portion of a rippling American flag. It is not a nice picture. It looks like a cheap political mailing (and the absence of the tie-in raises the specter that the bank is contemplating ending its role as generator of volume frequent flier miles).

I want to call to complain. My spouse, who is not a US citizen and thus more in fear of Big Brother, argues that it is not wise to call anyone to complain about an American flag.

Thus, today’s consumer — financial services provider interaction

Recorded voice: Welcome to {mega card}. To utilize our automated sevices press or say one….please touchtone or say your sixteen digit account number NOW.

[Lots of beeps] Thank you. Press one for…

[Frantic repeated pressing of the “0” key]

Female voice: Welcome to {mega card}. May I have the name on the card please? Thank you. What is your middle initial? What is your code word? No, that’s not it. Yes, that’s it, thank you. How can I help you?

Me: We received our new credit cards today. They have a picture of the American flag on them. I don’t think this is an appropriate use of the American flag. The card will get dirty, it will have stuff run over it, this will amount to flag desecration. It’s not right.

Female voice (afer slight delay) : would you like to speak to a supervisor and see what he can do for you?

[minute wait, listening to hold muzak]

Female voice: I have an account executive ready to speak to you.

Male voice: Hello, this is John, what is the problem?

Me: We received our new credit cards today. They have a picture of the American flag on them. I don’t think this is an appropriate use of the American flag. The card will get dirty, it will have stuff run over it, it’s a form of flag desecration. Can I have one that wouldn’t be so offensive?

John: Let me put you on hold.

[Delay of under a minute]

John: We’ll address that for you.

Me: What does that mean?

John: We’ll get you a new card without the flag picture on it.

Me: Thank you. [Sudden inspiration.] One other thing. How do I dispose of this card? Normally I’d cut it up, but I don’t want to do that.

John: (after minuscule pause) You could put it in a safe or other secure location.

Me: If I had a safe. Right. Thank you.

John: Goodbye.

Unfortunately, I forgot to ask about the frequent-flier miles. Do I call back?

But Is It Dishwasher Safe?

Where does Ann Bartow find all this stuff?

The Disappearing Civil Liberties Mug is covered with the complete text of The Bill of Rights, but when filled with hot liquids, select rights vanish before your very eyes!

(via If the Coffee Alone Doesn’t Make you Irritable…)

Delocator, Shmelocator

So I tried the Starbucks Delocator that everyone is talking about (except of course one organization that got sat on by Starbucks.)

So, yah, it’s great everyone is googlebombing the site so it’s the top hit for Starbucks Delocator.

But have you tried USING the Starbucks Delocator? I found the initial results to be somewhat depressing.

$9 Beer?

They are selling Dogfish Head: 120 Minute IPA beer in my local for, get this, $8.99 (plus tax) for a single 12oz bottle.

Although curious as to what could possibly justify that price, I did not buy one. First, I didn’t want to encourage them. Second, how can you buy just one, when your spouse sent you out you volunteered to go out and buy some nice beer. Third, I could see little chance of a good outcome. Either it would be awful and I’d feel cheated, or it would be great, but I’d still never spend that much for a bottle of beer again and might regret it.

Actually, can something 42 proof really be called beer?

My. Goodness.

One of my pronounced character traits, some might call them obsessions but what do they know, is a certain devotion to comparison shopping. It started with computer equipment, even involving a two-year subscription to Computer Shopper in its big fat heyday, but now extends to quality and price comparisons when buying pretty much anything other than dinner for two that costs more than about $50. One of my wife’s few imperfections is making fun of this noble devotion to social wealth maximization in which I do my bit to ensure that we have the toughest most competitive market for everyone’s enjoyment.

I can sort of understand how this predilection might have seemed mildly annoying in days of yore: trooping to stores to look for models that were randomly in stock, perusing out-of-date Consumer Reports for reports that proved to be on models no longer sold, well, it took time, and sometimes we needed it now. Here as elsewhere, however, the Internet changes everything. Comparison shopping online is much efficient, although no faster since if the ease of information acquisition increases geometrically, the amount of information (and mis-information) increases exponentially. So it still takes a little while. But it’s more fun. And I can do it late at night.

All of which is prompted by the observation that the vacuum cleaner is dying.

So as I’m starting up another round of happy hunting, I find this description of a vacuum cleaner, yes a vacuum cleaner, that kinda makes you want to run out and try one, and kinda makes you want to hide under the bed:

My. Goodness.

I am not the world’s best housekeeper. My roommate graciously lent me his Eureka so that I could deal with a few trouble spots in my part of the house, the most significant of which was a green area rug that had never been vacuumed. I have a cat that likes to spend a lot of time on that rug, so I had forgotten that it was originally green and not a muddy greyish color.

I plugged in the vacuum, puzzled over it for a bit, mashed the handle release, and turned it on.

The monster surged to life and immediately began pulling me across the rug. I should probably mention that I had unwisely opted to put this rug on a hardwood floor with no backing, so it wasn’t long before the vacuum was dragging me and the rug around the floor. Don’t ask me how it did it; maybe it was using The Force ™. All I know is that this thing wouldn’t stop. I finally managed to pin the rug in a corner and drag the cleaner across it. The vacuum growled in what I can only hope was anticipation, and with each pass of its mighty brushes the color and majesty of the original rug (purchased for $20 from a guy selling them out of the back of a van four years ago) came to light.

When the vacuum stopped dragging me over the rug and I finally managed to shut the beast down, I was aquiver with awe (or maybe it was fatigue - the monster’s a heavy one). I could look down and see, for the first time in years, the rich emerald tones of my cheap geometric carpet, long hidden under a protective layer of cat hair and tracked-in leaves from my front yard.

My roommate had not lent me a mere vacuum cleaner. He had given me Excalibur.

Problem is, the darn thing weighs 21 lbs, and we’re used to a much lighter canister model. And with the addition to the house, we now have stairs. Plus we have wood floors, tile, and area rugs. This monster sounds as if it might swallow the lighter rugs whole…

I Think I See A Pattern Here

Purchasers of “Dr. Strangelove” also bought these.

Adventures in Consuming: BellSouth DSL

This past week my DSL service degraded to the point that it felt like dialup. This happens from time to time, but never this bad, and it usually fixes itself. But this time it didn’t.

So I called tech support. This led to a nasty two hours during which I had conversations with three clueless people, and one with a bit of a clue who still couldn’t help me. The first guy seemed to be in an Indian call center, and read from scripts. While he purportedly ran various tests I spent a total of about an hour on hold, although never more than 10 minutes at a time (and even those were interrupted every 3 minutes by reassurances that they were working on it — ie. no way to concentrate on anything else). Over the course of this delightful interlude I was told at least three things that were patently false (including the suggestion that the reason my download speeds were measurably rotten must be due to my using “unsupported software” ie Firefox!).

The call center guy eventually got rid of me by transferring me to sales — maybe I should order faster service? The sales droid said my account was locked and they couldn’t alter it, let me transfer you to customer service.

Customer service said that my records showed I had “Lite” service even though I was paying for “Ultra” (i.e. regular). For a minute I thought we had identified the problem, but no, after further investigation it seems Bell South believed it was delivering the “Ultra” service I was paying for … although the download speed was below what they advertise for “Lite”. And no, there’s no way to guarantee that if I paid the Danegeld to upgrade to “Xtreme” it would solve my problem.

So it was back to tech support. This time I got a friendly and sensible fellow named Brent based in Shreveport. Brent also had his scripts, but had the sense to know which steps to skip in light of what I’d told him. So we spent 30 minutes trying things and nothing worked. But he was real nice about it.

Bottom line: after the ordeal, all I had to show for it was an appointment to talk with Level 2 tech support this morning.

The level 2 guy fixed it in ten minutes by resetting a port.

Nice T-Shirts, But Where Are the Bow Ties?

Orin Kerr, who should have his own blog, points us to these t-shirts for law students. Orrin says his favorite shirt is this one. I suppose I liked this one. I’ll bet, though, they sell a lot of these.

Overall, though, I think I’ll stick with thinkgeek and DespairWear™. But this was the best.

Only Read This If You Are a Parent of School Age Children

The Gadflyer explains Why Sally Foster is evil.

(The dread name “Sally Foster” won’t mean much to you if you don’t have school-age kids, or if you live in a country that adequately funds its schools, so just skip it.)

I mean, I knew Sally Foster was evil: it’s overpriced gift wrap, albeit of good quality. Their MLM-style marketing campaign promises kids “rewards” like TVs if they sell several hundred dollars of Sally Foster junk to their parents’ friends. From which I conclude that there’s lots of money not going to the school but into Sally’s pocket.

But. But. Lately of The Carlyle Group???

Another Number Space Running Low

Over the years, I’ve developed an interest in naming and numbering. And, as it happens, I’m in the market for a new car (station wagon or the like) since the lease on my current one expires soon. So it’s interesting to read that the US’s supply of VIN numbers is running out.

Useful Info on How to Choose Supermarket Fruit

Jill Hunter Pellettieri of Slate offers up timely advice in Eat a Peach - How do you choose the sweetest, ripest summer fruit?. Of course all the fruit at our local Publix which is larger than a grape tomato is also rock hard, so this article is more useful for daydreaming than actual shopping, but still…

Best Buy Quite Probably the Worst Store in the USA

It seems I am not the only person around who thinks that Best Buy is Evil.