Category: Consumerism
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Secrets to Houston Supermarkets
KPRC Reporter Amy Davis has a great report comparing the price-cutting strategy of Houston supermarkets. I added this comment: I want to mention a crucial and overlooked fact about these supermarkets. Look at your receipts seconds after your purchase! Frequently supermarkets will have old tags underneath an item and forget to remove the label when…
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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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Nice Rims
Liz Pullam Weston writes an article about 5 Things you should never rent and 5 you should: Rims. You can blame it on MTV’s "Pimp My Ride" or simply a car culture gone crazy, but flashy chrome wheels are big. They’re also expensive, typically costing $1,000 and up for a set. So a bunch of…
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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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How to Obtain low-priced electricity in Texas
Texans probably already know that this site can help you choose a good energy provider. It is also a great place to compare plans with carbon-neutral renewable energy plans. Here are some things I learned: apparently variable rates vary wildly over time. (surprise, surprise). This happened last summer when natural gas prices skyrocketed; some people…
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Look for the American Flag
This is not a subject I normally get excited about, but two days I bought the most incredible tennis shoes! Skechers has some incredibly stylish and comfortable shoes. Question: How do you know if a pair of tennis shoes has been made in China? Check for a picture of the American flag or the words…
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New local blog: KPRC reporter Amy Davis
I always am pleasantly surprised to discover a new local journalist or blogger. How easy it is to be distracted by national or international news stories and forget that interesting things are happening in your own backyard. Last Thursday, I saw a great report by KPRC reporter Amy Davis about political contributor Rick Perry. Short,…
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My Camera Purchase
Last night, after a week of hemming and hawing, I finally purchased my camera. The winner is Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5A 9MP Digital Camera with 10x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Blue)” $276.94 Lenmar DLP007 Lithium-ion Digital Camera/Camcorder Battery Equivalent to the Panasonic CGR-S007A Battery” Electronics; $9.15 LLC1 “Samsonite Adaptor Plug – Europe, Middle…
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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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Brilliant Search Engine Idea (Google, please steal it!)
Google’s search algorithm is being polluted by commercial entities that game the system. Establish a criteria called Commercial Density. Commercial Density refers to the ratio of text content on a page to links to commercial sites (i.e., advertisements) on the same page: if the ratio is low (or even zero), then the web page contains…
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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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Carbon-Neutrality
Consumer’s Guide to Retail Carbon Offset Providers (PDF). To Summarize: Buying an offset does not solve the problem if you continue your lifestyle. You can’t buy an indulgence. Different carbon offset companies have different ways of measuring and different ways of offsetting carbon. (See this article by Andrew Revkin). Based on the ratings, it looks…
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Consumers Research
On a day like this, I’m afraid to blog, because I have a backlog of things to post. But here’s a clear exception. Consumersresearch is a great site that gathers consumer information from various sources and puts it into a single site. It’s especially good for household products and things which don’t need to be…
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Usability Test
1. Chemistry. Just for fun, go to www.chemistry.com (the online dating service). Try to learn how much membership costs without first signing up. 2. Go to Dell.com . Try to find the physical address and/or phone number of its Austin, Texas HR department. That is the story of what the Internet is about: hiding information.