So, I’ve been thinking about our current economic situation and what the current administration has done. While I don’t agree with many of Obama’s stances and policies, I have found myself willing to take advantage of the “free money” he’s offering.

1) $8,000 to new home buyers
2) Upcoming “Cash for clunkers” $4,500

Even before the economy tanked, Diane and I were already planning to purchase a home in 2009. However, we sure didn’t mind getting $8,000 cash back from the government. Not to mention the killer interest rate (low 4%)–although, I don’t give Obama credit for that.

Now, there’s the “Cash for Clunkers” bill that was just passed by the Senate. Diane and I were already planning to purchase a Smart car (ordered it last August). If it passes the House, then we’ll score another $4,500 from the fed (not actual cash back, but $ knocked off the total price).

All in all, we’re set to receive $12K+ from the government. While I haven’t championed or supported these bills, I’ve definitely taken advantage of them. Conflict of interest?

So, I’m looking to change a flight from one month to another due to circumstances that changed two days after making the reservations. Cost to change each ticket: $150!!! The price of each ticket for the old and new flight: $215!! What on earth are they thinking?

Let Continental and all other airlines that gouge you with such fees go bankrupt.

Old news to some, but I just read about this and found it to be fascinating. For the technical explanation, please visit Paul Lemere’s blog. Essentially, a few hackers figured out how to manipulate the Time.com poll. If you look at the first letter of the top 21 people, you’ll notice that it spells “Marblecake also the game.”

It doesn’t have much significance to me, but according to the blog:

Marblecake was an irc channel where the “Message to Scientology” video originated. Many believe we are “dead” or only doing hugraids etc, so I thought it would also be a way of saying : we’re still around and we don’t just do only “moralfag” stuff .

I was on on Mint.com the other week (while at work) and I received the following error message. It was pretty funny, imo.

Let me ask you a simple question. Would you jump over a fence and wade in a moat during a polar bear’s feeding time? NO! So, why did this woman do such a stupid thing? It ceases to amaze me that people can be so dumb.

First off, my heart goes out to the family of the couple that perished in this fire. It’s a terrible thing that have occured. The question I ask is, “Is it really worth it?”

To summarize, the family had time to escape the blaze. However, the son decided to go back into the house to save the cat. The 80-year old couple waited for the son, but they lost their lives as the flames engulfed the truck. The son suffered second- and third-degree burns.

The cost to save a cat: 2 lives and almost a third.

It’s not that I dislike animals; it’s just that I sometimes don’t understand how individuals are willing to sacrifice their own lives (and others’ lives) to save a pet.

I just read about a skydiver who landed with a dying instructor on his back. You heard me. The instructor had a heart attack while performing the jump. The person jumping was a FIRST TIMER! I have never skydived and probably never will (even though I’ve talked about the possibility), but I can’t imagine being in this man’s place. I would have probably freaked and not known what to do. Fortunately, the first-time diver still managed to land safely.

Yesterday, Information Week reported that a Fannie Mae contractor was indicted for writing a logic bomb that would have wiped 4,000 servers had it not been caught by another employee. Feel free to read the entire story; the one part that really interested me is the following:

“Makwana had been terminated as a Fannie Mae contractor on Oct. 24, around 1 or 1:30 p.m., the affidavit says, but his network access was not terminated until late that evening. ” (emphasis added)

Lesson to be learned

When you fire a techie, you need to make sure that you cut all access to their files/network drives, etc right away.

This afternoon, I tried logging into Facebook and I received the following error message. Normally, when large sites are scheduled to go down for maintenance, they inform their users. I’m not sure what happened here.

I’m a bit slow on reporting this (the bill passed in 2007), but it still needs to be made known. I just received a letter in the mail about it from a pro-family group, in case you’re wondering how I found out.

It is Senate Bill 777, a.k.a., the pro-”you pick your gender” bill. Essentially, pro-LGBT groups have argued that it is not politically correct for a boy to be called a boy or for a girl to be called a girl. If a boy feels like he’s a girl, he has the “right” to be called a girl and vice-versa. It tries to remove gender from California public school policy. Seriously, Los Angeles and California are way more screwed up than I remember growing up there. It’s full wackos with these crazy notions.

Read the full bill for more information.