Saving for tomorrow is still a largely ignored and unappreciated skill. In the past few years, it has become increasingly frequent, as we make less than we spend, eating up the equity in our homes, borrowing from our 401(k)s. The national savings rate is declining. And the situation seems to be getting worse. Here’s how to change that.
http://www.rd.com/advice-and-know-how/saving-money-during-hard-financial-times/article58346.html
John McCain, now “concerned about Gustav”, had numerous votes against Katrina relief in 2005, and helped to strike down Democratic bills and amendments that would bring tax benefits, health care and emergency relief to victims of Katrina, Rita and Wilma.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/31/194716/193/154/581580
Meet The Press commentator Maria Bartoromo repeated Sarah Palin’s Lie about the impact of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/31/123344/981/532/581194
A common topic of discussion in the Windows world - in fact, in any operating system - is boot performance. Many systems take a long time to reach a usable desktop from the moment the power switch is pressed, and this can be quite annoying if it takes too long. In a post on the Engineering 7 blog, Michael Fortin, lead engineer of Microsoft’s Fundamentals/Core Operating System Group, explains what Microsoft is doing to make Windows 7 boot faster.
The goal of Windows 7 is to make most systems have a cold boot time of 15 seconds or less. Data from the Customer Experience Improvement Program shows that 35% of Windows Vista SP1 systems boots in under 30 seconds, and that 75% boots in under 50 seconds. These results are confirmed by external analysis. In these metrics, a boot is completed once the system has logged on and a usable desktop is presented to the user. “It is not a perfect metric,” Fortin admits, “but one that does capture the vast majority of issues.”
Fortin admits that too few systems have proper, fast boot times “and we have to do much better”. One of the first things Fortin explains - even though he doesn’t flat out say it - is that boot times of off-the-shelf systems can be dramatically improved simply by removing al of the crapware that OEMs include in their systems. Installing a clean installation of Windows Vista SP1 on such an OEM machine can cut the boot time nearly in half. It could be further improved by making some BIOS changes.
The improvements planned for Windows 7 are:
In addition, Fortin explains that many third party programs simply aren’t of a high enough standard, and that they can seriously affect boot performance. “Microsoft must continue to provide the tools for developers to write high performance software and the tools for end-users to identify the software on their system that might contribute to performance that isn’t meeting expectations. Windows itself must also continue to improve the defensive tactics it uses to isolate and inform the end-user about software that might contribute to poor performance.”
Wallace eventually corrected his original question by informing McCain that the senator had actually voted 19 times to keep wages at the current level, to which McCain responded, “Well, or 29 or 49, whatever it is.”
http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/?p=1787
Most of us put sex low on our list of priorities, far below work, sleep, taking care of the kids, and sometimes, we admit, watching the game. And while all of those are important things, so is sex: Getting it on burns calories; reduces your risk of prostate cancer; and releases endorphins, which improves your mood and helps you relax.
http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/have_sex_more_often/index.php
Researchers think they can extract quantum information from two noisy channels that are individually useless
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/aug08/6609
The Hill reports that the CEOs of the 100 biggest Fortune 500 corporations have given approximately 10 times as much to John McCain as they have to Barack Obama. McCain has received $208,200 from these chief executive officers; meanwhile, Obama has taken in $20,400 from the same group of people:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/16/top-ceos-contributions/
55 pyramids as large as the Luxor stacked into a mega-city pyramid in Tokyo Bay.
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/engineering/pyramidcity/interactive/interactive.html
With plans for Cheech and Chong to reunite, A. O. Scott looks back at the comedy duo’s film work. And wonder of wonders, he finds them “actually kind of fun”!
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=473dcfca872a4d7534e4543a9781c9acbbe22fa9