Want to boycott the gas companies as they raise prices? Over the last couple of weeks there was a lot of talk about one-day boycotts where people tried to not buy gas on a specific day. Of course this is totally pointless...if you aren't reducing the amount you drive, you're going to have to get gas before or after that day, offsetting the effect (if any).
So what can be done? How about a massive boycott against a specific company for several months? This would mean a specific company would have a severe decline in business. People wouldn't have to reduce their consumption, but it would force that company to lower their prices to regain customers. Then, people could switch to that company and start boycotting a different company. Basically the boycott would rotate around and cause overall lower prices (ideally).
The other solution is to increase reliance on public transportation and carpooling, which would reduce overall fuel consumption. But it's apparent that increasing gas prices hasn't convinced people to go this route en masse.
And lastly, just remember that much of the rest of the world pays close to $5 or $6 per gallon for gas.
It seems like it's been a really long season, though there's been a couple of extended breaks in it. The Office season finale is tonight and it's an hour-long (at 8/7c). Apparently Michael, Jim, and Karen are going to go head-to-head in interviewing for the corporate position, but there will be stuff going on at Scranton too.
This season has been really good in establishing some of the other characters more, so hopefully they'll all get a little facetime.
On a related note, as a promotion of Steve Carell's upcoming movie Evan Almighty, the website dotcomedy (owned by NBC) is putting up clips of Steve each day for 6 weeks. Currently clips are from Steve on Conan, The Office, and a deleted scene from The 40-year Old Virgin.
A judge admitted on Wednesday he was struggling to cope with basic terms like "Web site" in the trial of three men accused of inciting terrorism via the Internet. Judge Peter Openshaw broke into the questioning of a witness about a Web forum used by alleged Islamist radicals.
"The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really understand what a Web site is," he told a London court during the trial of three men charged under anti-terrorism laws. Prosecutor Mark Ellison briefly set aside his questioning to explain the terms "Web site" and "forum". An exchange followed in which the 59-year-old judge acknowledged: "I haven't quite grasped the concepts."
Violent Islamist material posted on the Internet, including beheadings of Western hostages, is central to the case. Concluding Wednesday's session and looking ahead to testimony on Thursday by a computer expert, the judge told Ellison: "Will you ask him to keep it simple, we've got to start from basics."
Younes Tsouli, 23, Waseem Mughal, 24, and Tariq al-Daour, 21, deny a range of charges under Britain's Terrorism Act, including inciting another person to commit an act of terrorism "wholly or partly" outside Britain.
Could this be more ridiculous? It's not completely surprising that the judge isn't familiar with the web since there's at least a small percentage of people that choose not to use it. But why would they let him continue on the trial? Why not just reassign a new judge? It'd make a lot more sense than having a prosecutor stop every 5 seconds to explain something like what a forum is.
People in Potter thought it was a straightforward ballot question: Should we allow restaurants to sell beer? Then the state got involved and by the time it was over, residents had accidentally banned beer sales anywhere in town. Now, they're seeking the state Legislature's help in reversing an inadvertent prohibition that threatens to close the town's single grocery store.
Those involved say the incident stems from the state's "arcane" alcohol laws. ...The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, essentially unchanged since Prohibition, mandates that a list of five specific questions be put on a ballot. Voters became confused by the wording of the questions, according to the Potter Town Supervisor Len Lisenbee, and voted down all of the proposals. The beer ban is set to go into effect July 1.
...Even the state Liquor Authority admits that the five-question system demanded by the Alcohol Beverage Control law is outdated. The agency drafted bill language in February that would replace the current questions with "plain-English" ones. Winner and Assemblyman Robin Schimminger, D-Kenmore, have introduced bills to that effect. According to an agency spokesman, the five-question format was put into the law when Prohibition was repealed in the early 1930s. "The reason for (the questions) has long since passed," the agency said in a bill memo. "A number of the questions are completely incomprehensible."
This week's episode was awesome. I'm marking things that were surprising with (!). On the presidential side, Lisa got discovered, the Russian president knew the data was planted(!), and the VP gets until the end of the season (minus a few minutes) to resolve the issue.
On the Jack side, he kicked a bunch of ass, managed to get his nephew back, but let Cheng get away(!), and ultimately let Doyle make an extra-moley escape in a helicopter with Josh(!!!). I definitely didn't see that one coming. How sweet was the ambush that Jack and Nadia pulled? It was funny how they showed Jack killed a guy and Doyle killed the guy Nadia was fighting, but they never showed what happened to Morris's guy. Apparently Morris escaped unharmed though.
This whole taking Josh to China thing seems pretty stupid, so I can only guess they're trying to set something up for next season? Because in the context of this season it makes no sense (and there's no time for a Chinese excursion). At any rate, the teaser for next week's 2-hour Bauer-fest looks crazy. Tons of stuff exploding as Jack goes after his dad, and Chloe passed out somehow (they can't kill her, can they? They better not!).
Hey, does this mean that Johnny will finally stop whining about his acting career? Let's hope so! Overall it was a really good episode. Not having Amanda definitely gave it back its Season 2 feel, and the characters felt much more natural in their roles. They bought Medellin for $5 mil?!? Let me guess, it's going to be harder to produce than they're expecting. Also I found Rufus to be pretty (fucking) hilarious.
This is pretty cool and will have some big implications. Researchers have created plastic blood which can be used for short-term transfusions. It's primary use is going to be for the military, where they obviously can't keep a large amount of frozen blood with them for transfusions.
The polymer blood mimics the structure of hemoglobin, the compound in real blood that transports oxygen around the body, but is only intended for short-term use until a real transfusion can be performed. That's still a huge improvement over carrying around real blood, especially since the plastic stuff can be handled and stored at room temperature and is completely sterile. The fake blood hasn't been tested on humans yet, and won't be until additional funding is secured to further refine the formula, but the potential impact of the idea is enormous.
This really would be huge for hospitals too. No more worries about blood shortages, or a way to store it frozen.
What a perfect story for a Friday. The video of what I think is Stephen Colbert's funniest report has been appearing and disappearing on the internet all over the place. YouTube no longer has it, but MySpace does. And now I've got it! Check it out.
Anyone that has watched the Daily Show or the Colbert Report knows that Stephen Colbert will manage to keep from breaking out in laughter no matter how funny the story. His deadpan delivery makes everything funny. But with all the talk of the queen, sexual innuendo, and a banana, he just couldn't keep it together in this one!
How does this sound...if you'll watch a 30-second ad, you get a free drink from a vending machine? It sounds too good to be true, but it could happen.
...Vending masters Apex Corp. have purportedly laid out plans that will bring free or subsidized non-alcoholic beverage to thirsty consumers who are willing to watch a 30-second commercial before partaking. Aiming to launch next month in Japan, the MediCafe project will give users the option of plunking down the ¥70 ($0.58) to ¥120 ($1) required to purchase an item, or watching an advertisement for half a minute while the machine dispenses their liquid of choice. It was noted that not all drinks would be free, as some advertisers would only be offering up discounts in exchange for your attention...
I don't know how much someone would really pay attention to the ad, but if the advertisers think it's worth it I'm certainly not going to tell them that!
