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Apr 28 2009

Pandemic!

Published by japadamus under news, health

Hey, so this swine flu sounds pretty bad, right? Over a hundred dead in Mexico, with new cases starting to pop up all over the US and even in Europe.

This is what bothers me the most: The swine flu is all over Mexico, and there are tons of Mexicans coming to the US every day, many illegally. When these guys get settled they will live in an apartment with like 12 other mexicans..believe me I worked in the restaurant industry for a long time, that’s how it works. Then, those 12 mexicans will go out and work, mostly likely in the food service industry. So, when one infected Mexican comes over he first infects his 12 housemates, who then go and touch food all day at restaurants.

I don’t like that. Just this morning it seemed that swine flu was limited to southern california only – but now a few cases have popped up in nor cal.

And it doesn’t appear there’s really a good solution here. I mean, the only thing I can think of, other than some sort of vaccine that doesn’t exist yet, are masks. I wanted to wear a mask to work today, but I didn’t want to be that guy. It’s like of like how you should always buckle your seat belt, even if there is peer pressure not to, because it just makes sense safety wise.

For example, in Japan when you get sick you are supposed to wear a mask to prevent your germs from spreading. And this works well, because it’s way easier to prevent germs from coming out of your orifices (mainly the mouth and nose), than to prevent them from coming in.

Just as a precaution, I don’t think it would be the worst idea for food service workers to wear a mask while working. Maybe businesses could make masks available at work, or the city could give away masks on buses.

But I don’t think masks will catch on until it’s too late because masks look pretty bad. And all it takes is one rub of the eye with an infected finger to get you on the swine flu bandwagon.

Who knows how this will turn out, but just thinking of it makes me queasy. I was all over the Purell today, rubbing it on my hands and my face like every ten minutes.

You can see how the virus is spreading all over the world here. I swear, I looked at this map this morning and there were like half as many flags. Out of all those virus movies with rare diseases spreading from monkeys to humans that end up with the Military nuking cities, who’d have guessed that the biggest pandemic the US has seen in a long time will really just come from a bunch of Mexicans coming to work in the states.

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Apr 16 2009

(IPO)

Published by japadamus under news

I didn’t really get eBay’s $2.6 billion acquisition of Skype in 2005. I mean, eBay even wrote off a billion of that acquisition when it became clear that Skype just wasn’t worth that much.

But over the past 3 years eBay hasn’t really be able to find any synergies between its business and Skype’s IM and VoIP functionality either. Last week there was speculation that eBay would sell Skype back to its founders for $2 billion. But eBay announced on Tuesday that it will instead spin off Skype in an IPO in early 2010.

Skype posed $551 million in revenue in 2008, so the company is generating some nice cash. But it’s not clear how welcoming the IPO market will be next year.

I would imagine that Skype is a hot commodity in the tech world. The company has a large installed based and has pretty advanced VoIP technology. Sure, it doesn’t have the hype of say, twitter, but the company actually is making some decent revenue. I would also expect that Skype can make some real moves once it emerges from eBay with a bunch of cash.

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Apr 09 2009

The true cost of smoking to society

Published by japadamus under news, health

Smoking is unpopular. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on anti-smoking campaigns and smoking in almost universally banned in enclosed areas in the US (Vegas, thank god, is still an exception).

But a lot of the anti-smoking propaganda is based on false, or misleading evidence.

Take for example, the justification for the now dollar-per-pack taxes that are imposed on smokers. States and the fed justify this tax by citing the cost of health care for smokers. After all, it’s expensive to take care of lung cancer patients, and in many cases these medical expenses come out of the government’s coffers.

But lets take a step back here and consider what smoking really costs society. True, smokers that do get lung cancer get treatment, and this treatment costs the US government around $100 billion a year.

But how much of that $100 billion is uniquely attributable to smoking? The truth is not a lot.

Non-smokers live longer than smokers and actually cost the government more than smokers, because they require expensive healthcare for a longer period of time. Not only that, but eventually these people eventually do die, often from another form of cancer that also requires expensive treatment.

An article in the Huffington Post cites a study of health care costs for smokers and non-smokers. According to the study, health care costs of smokers from the age of 20 were about $326k. Healthy and thin non-smokers, however, had an average health care cost of $417k from age 20.

I think this is really an important study that exposes some of the myths associated with smoking. It provides an apples-to-apples comparison that shows healthy people that live a long time cost the government more, simply due to their longer lifespan.

Sure, a lot of this anti-smoking stuff is due to the admittedly underhanded tactics of cigarette companies. But at the end of the day non-smokers are really using the untruths told by the cig makers to justify more untruths.

It’s easy for the public to ignore this now, because most people don’t smoke. But what else can be taxed due to increased health care costs down the road?

Any food that is high and cholesterol and sodium should be taxed under this logic, not to mention soda and candy. How about taxing TVs that prevent people from going outdoors and exercising. Why not tax gays, who are at greater risk of acquiring HIV? AZT is expensive after all. Hell, why don’t we have a race-based tax? Blacks are at a higher risk of sickle cell, heart and liver disease – shouldn’t they pay for this added cost to society?

I mean, if we’re really attributing the cost of health care accurately, we should tax people that are healthy and will live longer.

People love to find a scapegoat for society’s problems, as long as it’s not themselves. People love to dictate how other people live their lives…and this occurs in many situations, from bans on gay marriage to cigarette taxes. It is ridiculous how many seemingly intelligent people have been brainwashed about the risks and costs of smoking. And unfortunately, the only people that have the money to support smokers are the cig companies themselves – and they’ve have been blacklisted from washington for years.

It’s annoying, and I hate it. And one day the US is going to wake up and realize that the country is filled with hummus and sprout eating fags, and by that time it will be too late.

One response so far

Apr 07 2009

Getting married

Published by japadamus under news

If you don’t already know, TJFKAK and El Jeffe are getting married. Congrats, by the way.

Now the two just have to plan the thing.

Well, today, TJFKAK picked a date: March 7, 2010…exactly 11 months away. My understanding is that the wedding ceremony will be in Idaho, El Jeffe’s home town, and a second reception will be held in Hawaii. I’m rooting for a reception at the Kahala Hilton with a bunch of different stations.

In any case, 11 months seems like an insanely long time to be planning. But, from what I’ve heard from TJFKAK, there’s a ton to plan. At least now she finally has the location picked out…and from what I’ve seen it’s real nice.

Another thing TJFKAK worked out was her maid of honor. She chose this occasion to not only get married, but to also completely dash my only chance of ever being a maid of honor. Sure, I’ve know her at least three more years than her actual maid of honor…and, for years in high school I chauffeured her and her various ‘here’s your change for a three dollar bill’ exes around, with the only reward to myself being the hope of one day playing a key role in the most important day of her life as her maid of honor…I mean, that’s not important.

What is important…at least according to TJFKAK…is preserving tradition. And you see, it would not be traditional to have a male maid of honor. Sure, I’m still going to be a bridesmaid…and a male bridesmaid is sooooo much more traditional than a male maid of honor. Not only that, but at the hawaii reception El Jeffe will be the one haole in a sea of old japs…yeah, that’s traditional. We should all hope the history channel isn’t playing a special on Iwo Jima that weekend.

In any case, despite my reservations about the pick for the maid of honor, you kind of gotta be excited for the two. Eleven months seems like a long way away, but it’s also crazy to think that this time next year TJFKAK will already be officially hitched.

I’ve replaced the Miley Cyrus turns 18 count down widget with a TJFKAK getting married widget. Check it out to your right.

2 responses so far

Apr 02 2009

Bye bye SGI

Published by japadamus under news

Silicon Graphics used to be the shit. Remember those impressive super servers that made Jurassic Park and Forrest Gump possible?

Well, after filing for bankruptcy again today, its second bankruptcy filing in only a few years, SGI sold itself for a paltry $25 million to Rackable Systems.

It’s another case of the bad economy coupled with bad management. I mean, there’s only a tiny market for the high end stuff that SGI offers. For the rest of us cheap servers from IBM, Dell and HP will do just fine.

Too bad for SGI, who had $500 million in debt when it filed for bankruptcy.

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Mar 06 2009

Court document fun!

Published by japadamus under news

Who else couldn’t wait for court documents to emerge from the Chris Brown/Rihanna beating? Well….they’re here!

The documents reveal that the beating took place in Brown’s car. At one point, Brown tried to push Rihanna out the door, but she was wearing a seat belt so he instead shoved her against the window.

He continued to beat her while driving. While brutal, you have to appreciate his ability to multi-task.

After a bunch of cell phone throwing, Brown choked Rihanna until she almost lost consciousness. Then he bit her.

And this all took place because Rihanna found some TXTs on Brown’s phone from his former girlfriend.

Look, clearly there’s nothing good about hitting…well…someone much smaller than you. And there’s no need to throw phones out the window of a car…that’s just wasteful. But you gotta love how this scandal has been plastered all over the net!

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Mar 03 2009

Apple announces big updates…zzzzzzzzzz

Published by japadamus under news

It is me or has it been a while since Apple made a really interesting announcement. Today, they refreshed their product lineup with…wait for it…a new Mac Mini, Mac Pro and iMac.

Interesting? No, not at all.

Aside from some improved specs, these announcements won’t mean much for the Apple product line. Users have a few more USB ports and mini display ports to look forward to as well.

Boring.

I’m sure that Apple has their product map built out for a couple of years, so it’s hard to blame this lack of new product on Steve Jobs’ departure. But really, if Apple continues to disappoint like this they’re going to find it difficult to drive growth.

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Feb 23 2009

Has Yelp turned to the dark side?

Published by japadamus under news, Bob Loblaw

I love Yelp. I think it offers a wider range of reviews than say, Citysearch, it’s more accessible than Chowhound, and you get way more detail in reviews than Zagats.

And Yelp has grown quickly in popularity. I would venture to guess that Yelp is a huge force in most major metropolitan areas in the United States…and in some areas, like the Bay Area for example, Yelp is the word.

That status has brought the company lots of power. And you know what power does…unfortunately, it looks like power may have turned Yelp a bit evil.

According to the East Bay Express and Cnet, Yelp is suffering from some major credibility issues. The most damming allegations come from an article in the East Bay Express in which several restaurant owners accuse Yelp of using blackmail tactics to sell ads.

According to the article, sales people from Yelp supposedly called business owners and offered to remove or lower the priority of negative ads in return for advertising purchases. Also, some businesses complain that fake negative ads may have been added to their reviews in order to goad businesses into purchasing ads.

If these accusations are true Yelp has clearly fallen to the dark side. It’s very short sighted too, because credibility is critical for Yelp, and it seems that the company cannot avoid ruining its credibility while threatening small businesses owners. It’s also very disappointing for lovers of the site like myself - I have always thought of as kind of a community effort, not a huge corporation like City Search.

To their credit, Yelp has denied all allegations of black mail. And it does seem possible that a few business owners could be working to weaken the credibility of Yelp.

But, I think what is happening is somewhere in the middle. I suspect that ad sales people eager to generate commission are using negative reviews to sell ad revenue unbeknownst to Yelp. Yelp has strict guidelines for the removal of ads – who knows if they’re being followed, but for the most part ads are only removed if they are not legitimate or a user has removed their account.

However, I bet that ad sales people who manage the accounts of customers have a lot of power when it comes to removing negative ads. At the end of the day, Yelp’s guidelines for negative review removal are subjective…and things can become a lot more subjective when money is involved.

According to Cnet however, a Yelp user named ‘Estelle’ had many of her negative reviews for a moving company removed with no explanation. After three months she talked with a Yelp executive who finally allowed the review to be posted.

At the end of the day, negative reviews on Yelp do have a lot of power. When a business is just starting off a few negative reviews can prevent a business from even getting off the ground. And theoretically, one user with a negative experience at a business can launch a negative campaign against a business.

Yelp has an algorithm to weight reviews…but it appears that the algorithm needs tweaking. Not only that, but Yelp should really remove commissions for sales people or otherwise remove the conflict of interest that has resulted in the alleged blackmail tactics. As we have seen with online community sites like Citysearch and Friendster, even massively popular websites can lose their user base if they upset their followers. I’m not ready to completely boycott Yelp…but I’m a few more articles about blackmail away from writing off the site completely.

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Feb 21 2009

The photo

Published by japadamus under news

We’ve all been waiting to see what Rihanna looks like following her beating at the hands of Chris Brown. And god bless TMZ, but they got their hands on a post-beating picture.

As you can see, she looks pretty bad. Her lips are fatter than normal, and she has odd horn-like scars on her forehead. I’m thinking this thing is going to get much uglier real soon.

Rihanna was released from the hospital on the 21st, and the pic below shows her looking…well…fine. Her lips seem to have returned to their normal size, and it doesn’t appear that she has any huge scars. The big dark glasses may be hiding some eye injuries though.

It is a fascinating story, and I do hope that Chris Brown does get some kind of punishment if he is responsible. Part of me wants to see a huge war between crews – I mean really, for us casual hip hop/R&B fans, we haven’t been treated to a true rivalry for some time.

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Feb 10 2009

A-Fraud

Published by japadamus under news, sports

Big news today – Alex Rodriguez admitted to using steroids from 2001 to 2003. A-Rod is probably the second most famous MLB player to be outed for steroids, following only Barry Bonds.

Now, I know a lot of commentators are giving A-Rod credit for admitting that he used steroids and for apologizing. First of all, he only admitted to steroid use because he would have been outed by Sports Illustrated otherwise. He wasn’t forthcoming – he was discovered. It is likely that the only reason he’s admitting to steroid use is that SI has tons of dirt on him. That’s not being honest, that’s a PR move.

Secondly, A-Rod’s apology included lots of finger-pointing…from the SI reporter who was going to break the story to Jose Canseco, who detailed A-Rod’s steroid use in his book.

A-Rod chalked up his steroid use to naiveté, saying that he did not know what he was taking. Again, that does not seem very apologetic to me…he’s pointing the finger at whoever he was training with.

So what should happen to A-Rod? Well, he shouldn’t go to jail. I mean, what congress has done to Barry Bonds is ridiculous. This is not really a legal case…it’s a case for the MLB and it should not involve jail time.

But he should lose money….I mean, lots of money. Essentially, greed is at the core of steroid use, and therefore a huge fine seems in order. I’m thinking tens of millions, here. And not only that, A-Rod should be suspended at least a season, if not two or three. Steroid use would be much risky for players if it meant three years out of one’s career.

Interestingly, when you look at the whole steroid mess the only one who has told the truth has been Canseco. Although his book was a joke when it came out, Canseco’s accusations have been proven to be true by several players, including A-Rod. Sure, Canseco was only admitting to steroid use in an attempt to discredit the MLB, who Canseco claims kept him from playing, but when all is said and done he has really had a huge impact on cleaning up the game.

Another question facing A-Rod is the hall of fame, and the answer here is clear. There is no way A-Rod should be in the hall of fame after this, no way at all. He is a cheater, and I don’t think any sport can claim to have integrity when they have cheaters in their hall of fame.

At the end of the day baseball will really need to come down hard on A-Rod if it hopes to really fight steroid use. Canseco argues that MLB overlooked steroids because it was getting so much press from the many home run chases fueled in the steroid years, and I tend to believe him. The MLB is not going to have many chances better than this to show where the line is on steroid use.

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Feb 06 2009

Kellogg drops Phelps

Published by japadamus under news

Pot smoking is apparently not a good image for Kellogg, the maker of sugary, carb-loaded, child fattening munchies. The company which makes Frosted Flakes, Cheez-Its and Famous Amos cookies has announced that it will drop swimmer Michael Phelps after his sponsorship contract expires.

It’s tough luck for Phelps, who may lose tens of millions of dollars in endorsements after a photo of him operating a bong surfaced. It’s ironic, considering that our President is an admitted user of weed and coke – yet Phelps, who is still a kid and who does not lead the free world, gets so much shit for a single picture taken at a party. Who even knows what was in that pipe anyway?

I think Phelps has a great opportunity here to become a spokesman for the medical marijuana movement…although I think we all know that will not happen. Instead, it seems like he will continue to apologize for smoking weed – something that many many people do – and leave the media spotlight with his tail between his legs.

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Feb 05 2009

Location tracking with Google Latitude

Published by japadamus under news

Yesterday Google announced an interesting service that tracks the location of users and publishes this information online. The service, called Google Latitude, uses Windows Mobile, Android, BlackBerry and Nokia phones (iPhone support is coming) to monitor the location of users.

Critics are already panning the service for its intrusion into the privacy of users. However, Google Latitude is enabled by users, and users can choose who they share their location with. Sure, I think it’s a little creepy for everyone to know where I am…so I won’t enable the service. But I can see how Latitude will be valuable for users, say, parents keeping track of kids.

One question I have is whether Google Latitude information can be subpoenaed in court cases. For example, can the information be used to place a suspect at the scene of a crime? I don’t think that information would be admissible as evidence…but if it was available it could be pretty damning.

Assuming you’re not committing a crime, however, I do like the idea of Latitude in a weird Minority Report kind of way. Sure, you do give up a LOT of privacy by publishing your location information. And, it could cause problems if you say, forget to turn it off when you go to have an affair or run to the golf course during work. But I am very impressed at how this technology works between the Internet and your cell phone, and I think it will prove to be very valuable for some users.

The remaining question, I suppose, is what does Google get out of it? I assume Google will use the service to more precisely target advertising. Perhaps even send over ads for businesses in your area. Location information could be incredibly valuable for businesses trying to attract local crowds – and it’s information that has never been available to advertisers before.

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Feb 02 2009

The rest of the Internet is harmful, according to Google

Published by japadamus under news

Google has an interesting feature that alerts users to links that may be harmful. Most of the time sites that are given the “This site may harm your computer” tagline are in china or have been blacklisted for distributing spyware.

Well, yesterday Google’s search page started marking the whole internet as harmful. The glitch only lasted for a few hours, but it was really, well, confusing to users, I think. I mean, it basically told users that every site on the internet except for Google’s site was harmful – that’s a tough mistake to make, and one that could have affected the revenue of some companies, not to mention their reputation.

In any case, the problem was fixed and Google later attributed the mishap to human error. Apparently, a ‘/’ was checked as a value for malicious sites – meaning that every site on the internet would be flagged as harmful. Who knows what that means, but it’s kind of insane that one Google worker could have such an enormous impact on the entire Internet.

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Feb 02 2009

Photo’s of Phelps’ bong rip hits Internet

Published by japadamus under news

A British tabloid recently published pictures of swimmer Michael Phelps taking what appears to be a bong rip. According to the newspaper the picture was taken at the University of South Carolina in November.

Now look, I know kids shouldn’t do drugs and blah blah blah, but Michael Phelps won 8 gold metals this year. Doesn’t the fact that he smokes weed make this record even more impressive? He is such a great swimmer that even with weed smoke-filled lungs he was able to beat every other swimmer in the world. That is an olympic record.

I also have to note that in this pic he’s wearing some serious bling. It looks like he has a cartier watch that’s surrounded with diamonds. Not bad for a swimmer, huh?

At the end of the day, I think we all need to take a step back and really weigh the benefits of marijuana prohibition. All types of people smoke weed – and in this case, it clearly doesn’t have a huge impact on one’s life.

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Jan 29 2009

Less indoor ski slopes, more sewage treatment plants

Published by japadamus under news

Dubai has everything. Indoor ski slopes, some of the world’s tallest buildings, and island shaped like a palm tree. One thing it doesn’t have: adequate sewage treatment.

The problem has gotten so bad that sewage is just being dumped into the ocean. That’s a problem for the city’s many beach front hotels, which have had their beaches closed due to…well…shit.

It’s an interesting contrast, some of the world’s most wealthy people living in some of the world’s most expensive real estate, surrounded by a sea of shit.

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