Posts in the “news” category

Palm for sale; would you buy them?

April 12, 2010: I just read that Palm is seeking a buyer. Moments like this always raise the question for me, "If I had the money, would I buy Palm?"

Of course the logical response to that question is "What would I do with them if I owned them?", or more precisely, "How would I make money off my purchase?"

RIP, Bill Withers

I missed the news about Bill Withers passing away. A lot of times when I’m putting around I sing “Ain’t No Sunshine.” That and “Use Me” are probably in my Top-50 favorite songs of all time.

It was interesting to read that he was a 31-year-old factory worker making bathrooms for 747s when he wrote Ain’t No Sunshine.

He also intended to replace all of the “I know” lyrics with a third verse, but other musicians told him to leave it as it was. “I was this factory worker puttering around,” Withers said. “So when they said to leave it like that, I left it.”

Bill Gates says the U.S. needs a nationwide coronavirus shutdown

I’m not a big fan of how Bill Gates made his money, but I applaud his call for a nationwide shutdown of the United States to deal with the coronavirus.

As I’ve written before, the President of the United States needs to order a nationwide shutdown. Anything else is just going to prolong how long and how hard we have to deal with the coronavirus, and how many deaths there will be. As I posted before, dealing with this on a state-by-state basis is like having a “peeing section” in a swimming pool. We are, after all, “One Nation Under God.”

You can read more of Mr. Gates’ comments at this Business Insider short story, which has a link to his paywall-blocked op-ed on the Washington Post.

U.S. budget deficit up 26%, nears $1 trillion

The thing I don’t understand about modern-day republicans is that back in the day they were known as being fiscally conservative, but these days, especially with Trump and McConnell in control, they are racking up insane levels of debt.

I can seeing racking up debt during a time when the economy is down, but racking up debt when unemployment is at all-time lows is like creating enormous credit card debt while you have a huge income, i.e., you create credit card debt that exceeds your income, no matter how high your income is. It makes no sense, and it puts a horrible burden on the future United States economy.

For more information, see this Washington Post story.

Quotes from Trump and the Dalai Lama

Just days after two domestic terror attacks, here are two quotes I saw today:

Donald Trump: “There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly. That will do much to put out the flame...”

Dalai Lama: “Violence derives from anger and anger clouds our ability to think straight and properly assess what is happening. Anger in turn is related to fear and anxiety. What we need to learn is how to cultivate the positive emotions that counter destructive emotions like anger and fear. Compassion, for example, brings self-confidence and the ability to act transparently. It strengthens trust which is the ground for friendship.”

A bad Toyota RAV4 quality experience

Okay, sorry for this rant, but I have had a very bad experience with Toyota regarding my 2006 Toyota RAV4, and I'm upset about it.

My rant is short: The RAV4 I currently own was my first Toyota purchase, the overall experience has been very poor, and I've just spent three days trying to get this latest RAV4 problem resolved. Toyota acknowledges this problem is a design flaw, but now it turns out that Toyota's "customer care" people don't actually care.

Hey Toyota, recall my 2006 RAV4

All the Toyota recall news lately remind me of the problem I've had with a klunking noise in the steering column of my 2006 Toyota RAV4, which leads me to wonder: Hey Toyota, where's my RAV4 recall?

Gallstones diet - feeling lightheaded and dizzy

As a quick followup to my earlier gallstones diet advice article, after I lost a lot of weight recently — 38 pounds in less than 12 weeks — I started suffering from long boughts of feeling light-headed and dizzy, almost like I was drunk, with the room spinning around me. Thinking I might be dehydrated, I started drinking a lot of fluids, but that only helped a little bit, barely enough to keep me from another trip to the ER.