Category: Business
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Don’t Eat Chocolate from Ivory Coast!
I can’t believe I forgot to blog about this important story. Last February, Christian Parenti broke a great story about the exploitative nature of the chocolate industry. The big cocoa exporters – Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM, Fortune 500), Barry Callebaut and Saf-Cacao – do not own plantations and do not directly employ child workers.…
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How to Buy an Individual Health Insurance Policy in Texas
Here are some questions you should ask to evaluate an individual health insurance plan: Copay: I go to a general doctor, and the bill for the doctor visit (excluding lab work) is $300. This is my first visit for the year. How much do I have to pay? Lab work . Is lab work and…
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Blue Cross Texas: More Lunacies
Businessman and KPFT radio commentator Leo Gold tells an amazing tale of how Blue Cross Texas rejected his medical coverage (and later found that the Texas health insurance risk pool assigned him to be insured by…the same company!). I looked a little deeper at the Pool’s information, and to my surprise I discovered that the…
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Perils of Mandatory Arbitration
I am currently embroiled in a minor dispute about HSBC credit card. They treated me shabbily and then continued to assess fees. And I continue to protest and am willing to bring it to small claims or mandatory arbitration. I am a stubborn SOB when I am in the right. Here’s a news-breaking article in…
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My Strange Campaign (Tips for Losing Weight)
Started June 13. Goal is Jan 1, 2009=200. That’s about a pound to lose every 7 days. I expect to get to 210 without major effort, but under that will be tough going. Google, curse you for archiving this for eternity! For those random surfers, this refers to the weight naked on my bathroom scale…
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Europe does not have higher oil prices
From a New York Times article by Steven Weisman on US currency management: President Bush has appealed to oil-producing countries to increase the flow of oil to put a damper on oil prices. He has been repeatedly rebuffed, however, as oil ministers from the Persian Gulf charge that rising oil prices result more from American…
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Why Clickthrough Rates don’t matter
The mantra in advertising/monetizing websites is clickthrough rates. Here’s something to punch a hole through that by Starcom media group: The study illustrates that heavy clickers represent just 6% of the online population yet account for 50% of all display ad clicks. While many online media companies use click-through rate as an ad negotiation currency,…
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Freelancing Resources and Reading a book a Week
40 Methods to Justify/Raise Fees in a Consulting arrangement. Freelance Hourly Calculator See also 101 Resources for Freelancers (mainly free web applications). Steve Pavlina on the benefits of reading: But the actual knowledge and the new distinctions you gain from reading are not the main benefit. My experience has shown me that the real benefit…
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Anti-Smoking Goes Disney
Magical Amount by Sunny Side of the Truth. I’ve blogged about this Public Service Announcement video production group before. Here’s some older videos. The most interesting thing about these PSAs is that they never appear in time slots I watch–so essentially I never hear about them except through youtube. I have no doubt that they…
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Monetizing Blogs and Link Condoms (Part 2)
A few months ago I threatened to monetize this and other blogs in my empire. Don’t worry; I’ve been procrastinating. But lately I’ve focused more on it now that David Rothman has been getting on my back. But I’ve discovered some excellent resources in the meantime; ConversionRater gives good how-to advice about monetizing your website.…
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Tips for Work Activity
A work colleague gave a mini-presentation about time management skills. Here are my own guidelines: Be clear about what your role in the project is and ought to be. Resist the temptation to turn away from an activity if something more important comes up (It takes time and effort to switch gears and back again;…
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Late Night TV Observations
Jay Leno interviewed a presidential candidate (Barack Obama) on the Tonight Show yesterday. I realize it’s not a hard-hitting news show, but in the 20 minute interview, Leno did not ask Obama a single policy question. Not one. As informed as I consider myself about American politics, I admit I really don’t know what Obama…
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Mystery of the Invisible Interest Charges
I am paying my credit cards online. The account management websites are especially slick–especially that for Chase bank. Chase not only has the best website, they also keep policies and terms of service (along with updates!) on an easy-to-find tab. But on all the credit card websites, I have noticed how cleverly they hide the…
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Corporate slippery slopes
Profound slashdot post: The bigger picture is that this is yet another one of those corporate slippery slopes. At one time there was a first broadcaster to watermark their logo on every TV show you watch. Now they all do it. Some intrepid lawyer at a credit card company thought it would be a good…
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$2000 refunds for everybody.
Brad Templeton has a crazy idea: raise the price of gasoline to $6/gallon, and give everybody a $2000 refund. As for me, I fill up with 10 gallons every two weeks. 260 x 6 = $1560 . Sounds like a good deal to me. Ancillary Benefits: Penalizing Illegal Immigrants
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What we could do with more bandwidth?
Om Malik on what people could do if they have 100 MBps bandwidth speed. About two years ago I scoffed at a blogger who talked about the need for more bandwidth (in a post about network neutrality). Since that time, I downgraded my net connection from 10Mbps to 1.5, and I have to say, lately…