11.29.07
Posted in Current Events at 2:00 pm by Administrator
I have seen several reports about Montclair State University’s new program requiring all students to carry cell phones on campus. I think that it is stupid to pile unnecessary fees on students who likely are already strapped, but since the phones are equipped with GPS tracking devices the university touts the safety that comes with the ability to track someone’s whereabouts. Do college students really want to be watched over? I recognize that at any time someone could determine the location of my cell phone, but I choose to carry my cell phone, and if I want to leave it at the house I can.
Apparently some students don’t mind though. In this news story from WCBS, students praised the program.
“It makes me feel comfortable… I guess if people want to feel safe.”
“It’s very helpful. I have the train schedule on there. I can check my e-mail.”
The Montclair Police Chief, Paul Cell (an appropriate last name for this topic) comes right out and says someone will be watching.
”What it does is allow students to have an extra pair or group of people watching over them when they are going from one location to another.”
Are these people adults? Do they need constant supervision? In truth, some probably aren’t and do, but if you’re over 18 is a university nanny service required? In this story, there wasn’t much mention of anyone being opposed to this program. Maybe next year they will require that students get a mark on their right hand or forehead before attending classes.
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11.26.07
Posted in Current Events, Fun Stuff, Money, Politics at 1:42 pm by Administrator
I didn’t know this, but according to this article you can shelter some investment income using exchange traded notes. The author seems to be in favor of investors paying more taxes, but is informative in spite of that.
Obama has Oprah and Ron Paul has the this endorsement from ladies at the BunnyRanch.
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11.19.07
Posted in Current Events, Fun Stuff, My Life at 1:40 pm by Administrator
I ran across this list last week. GMAC apparently did some research to see how well drivers would do on the written portion of a driving test. Idaho was declared to have the smartest drivers in the nation. This illustrates the difference between being “book-smart” and actually being able to apply the rules of the road. Having lived in Idaho, and driven in many other parts of the country, I can tell you that Idaho has some of the very worst drivers. My personal experience would lead me to rank Idaho and Kentucky as being a tie for states with the worst drivers (Kentucky ranked in the middle of the pack at 29), while I would put Illinois (which was ranked at 45th) near the top.
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11.15.07
Posted in Fun Stuff, Money at 2:03 pm by Administrator
Why didn’t I think of this?
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11.14.07
Posted in Current Events, My Life, Sports at 2:13 pm by Administrator
Rivals.com declared the Ducks to be the number 1 college team in the nation Monday; from the games I’ve seen I wouldn’t argue too much with that. I might make an argument that it is difficult for me to believe that a school without an engineering program is a real university (it’s the only one in the PAC10), but that’s a whole different discussion; the football team is good.
In any case, I looked up my alma maters, the Universities of Idaho and Illinois, and they were separated by some 99 positions. That’s great for the Illini; the Vandals, however, beat out only Utah State and Florida International, both of which have one fewer win than than Idaho at 0. The Vandals have had a terrible time winning games, but the same could be said about the Illini for the past few years. I’m still holding out hope for Idaho, but I’ve been waiting for that turn-around for several years now, and I guessing that it won’t begin at Boise State this weekend.
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11.05.07
Posted in Money, Politics at 1:52 pm by Administrator
This calculator figures what you would owe assuming a 17% flat tax rate (there are a couple of deductions listed at the bottom). I’m not sure who declared 17% to be the “magic number”, I do remember that that was the number that Steve Forbes kept talking about when he was running for president and advocating for such a plan. It seems like I remember readign somewhere that if everyone paid 9 ish percent of their income in taxes you could replace all of the revenue generated by our current tax code. I referenced it once before, but now I can’t find where I read it.
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