Monthly Archives: October 2008

Indexed – From My Feed Reader

Thisisindexed-Card1882-380X228I usually enjoy Indexed, a site where Jessica creates simple Venn diagrams or graphs that are humorous and/or have double meanings.

Today’s was funny so I thought it was a good time to add them to my From My Feed Reader list (while slightly sticking to my list my political sites first theme).

She’s also released a book called Indexed with new “cards” and best of material in it.

Dean’s World – From My Feed Reader

One of the oldest blogs and most political blogs I read is Dean’s World. Their tag line is “Defending the liberal tradition in history, science, and philosophy.” Lots of authors for posts so lots of different viewpoints are shown. They cover topics ranging from politics (mostly) to humor to Battlestar Galactica (and have an open comment post once a weekend where you can talk about anything).

I’m not very political so many times I don’t know what they’re talking about but that doesn’t stop me from coming back. But if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth checking out.

When I say “oldest blog” I mean they are one of the blogs I’ve been reading for the longest time. I’m not sure how I first found them – from a national story or something more local (Dean is in South-East Michigan). Check out some of the many times I’ve mentioned Dean’s World in my blog.

Unfortunately, you do have to register to comment, but they do make it pretty painless and it does count out a lot of the junk.

McDonald’s Monopoly Game 2008

Just a quick tip on winning: The easy way to remember which pieces are the winning game pieces for this year’s Monopoly game is they are the last piece alphabetically in their set; except in the case of Boardwalk (which is the major winning game piece).

Be sure to keep me in mind if you use this tip to win the big bucks ;)

I believe this is the same system they’ve used in the previous five years (possibly longer).

My problem with this is remembering the other pieces in the sequence to know if it’s the last one alphabetically…

Water Works – $50 – Odds 1 in 639,000
Mediterranean Avenue – $100 – Odds 1 in 5,701,000
Short Line Railroad – $500 – Odds 1 in 311,389,700
Vermont Avenue – $1,000 – Odds 1 in 106,921,400
Virginia Avenue – $2,000 – Odds 1 in 106,921,400
Tennessee Avenue – $5,000 – Odds 1 in 307,947,900
Kentucky Avenue – $10,000 – Odds 1 in 307,947,900
Ventnor Avenue – $25,000 – Odds 1 in 769,869,600
Pennsylvania Avenue – $50,000 – Odds 1 in 769,869,600
Golden Avenue – $100,000 – Odds 1 in 178,065,100
Boardwalk – $1,000,000 – Odds 1 in 591,287,650

Pretty slim odds, even for the low-end prizes.

* FYI – This is what I found out from looking around on-line and is the system I’m using. I don’t have any connection with the official game/rules.

Feministing – From My Feed Reader

So I keep meaning to share what blogs I’ve been reading (187 different ones are in my feed reader as of today), this will be my first of my new category called From My Feed Reader.

I’m starting with Feministing because I’ve been enjoying their election political commentary and since it’s election time I thought I should start with them (instead of saving them for later). While it’s a lot more political than I am, I enjoy listening to many of their opinions (it’s a multi-person authored blog).
feministing

Young women are rarely given the opportunity to speak on their own behalf on issues that affect their lives and futures. Feministing provides a platform for us to comment, analyze, influence and connect.

from the Feministing Mission Statement

In addition to their main blog. they have:

  • A FaceBook group that you can be a fan of,
  • A variety of YouTube videos,
  • and a MySpace group page. Continue reading
  • Candy Corn

    Candy CornSo I was thinking about Halloween and Candy Corn and here we are, with a new Halloween theme on my blog.

    I got the background tile from Fortune City.

    Burger King “No Photos” Sign

    So I’ve never noticed one of these signs at a Burger King resturant before.

     

    Burger King Sign‘ uploaded by garylapointe

     

    I noticed it’s hard to see how big the sign actually is, so here’s the other photo I took to give you a frame of reference.

    Federal Taxes

    This applies only to amounts above $8,950 (assuming the standard deduction of $5,450 plus one personal exemption of $3,500) for an individual. For example, a single individual without children pays:

    Single Filing Status (Tax Rate Schedule X)
    10% on income between $0 and $8,025
    15% on the income between $8,025 and $32,550; plus $802.50
    25% on the income between $32,550 and $78,850; plus $4,481.25
    28% on the income between $78,850 and $164,550; plus $16,056.25
    33% on the income between $164,550 and $357,700; plus $40,052.25
    35% on the income over $357,700; plus $103,791.75

    http://www.moneychimp.com/features/tax_brackets.htm

    http://taxes.about.com/od/2008taxes/qt/2008_tax_rates.htm

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_bracket#Tax_brackets_in_the_USA

    This table applies only to amounts above $8,950 (assuming the standard deduction of $5,450 plus one personal exemption of $3,500) for an individual. For example, a single individual without children pays:

    Late: Hmmm… Looks like I started to write a post on this and never finished it. I’m guessing it got published when I changed from MovableType to WordPress. This happened with a few posts. Sorry…

    I saw the new MacBook today.

    Yes, I know I’m always talking about Apple Laptops, especially the MacBook, but I really like the Apple laptops. So the new MacBook metal laptop itself looked really nice but what I really noticed was that it felt really really sturdy whether it was opened or closed. It’s got the black border around the display with i don’t like at first glance but people must have liked it on the iMac so I guess I’d get used to it. I’d trade up in a second (half-pound lighter, backlit keyboard, brighter lower power LCD Display, longer battery life) if I needed to have it replaced for some reason but without a significant speed upgrade I really can’t justify the cost (any cost really) especially since my memory won’t transfer, neither will my spare battery or my video adaptor.

    Two questions:

  • When you use the security port (Kensington lock slot), does it lock in the battery and the hard drive by stopping you from opening the back? (it was really close to the release latch)
  • If there is no firewire, is there no target disk mode or will it work via USB? (no reason that they couldn’t) Continue reading