Stay F---! | December 7
Carrie McLaren
temporary181 at stayfreemagazine.org
Thu Dec 7 17:09:28 EST 2006
At long last, we have a Stay F---! update for you. Here are a few
recent highlights from our blog. For full text, images, and more
articles, see http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org.
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GIVE A PENNY (THAT IS AN ORDER)
Stay Free! crossword constructor Francis Heaney found a local
restaurant that has decided to save you from your pennies - by
rounding your bill up!
More:
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2006/12/rounding_receip.html
BROKEN iPODS, II
The Wall Street Journal has joined the New York Times and Chicago
Tribune in covering the broken iPod story: "When iPods Die: Gripes
Over Breakdowns Grow as Players Become Ubiquitous." ...which reminds
me: the deadline is dawning for our broken iPod art project. If you
have a broken iPod and would like to contribute, please get your
photos in as soon as you can.
More:
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2006/12/wsj_on_broken_i.html
LONDON CHARGES SUVS $50 TO ENTER; COULD NEW YORK BE NEXT?
How's this for a transportation alternatives: the major of London
recently announced plans to charge SUVs $50 to enter his fine city.
Tiny electric cars, in contrast, pay zero. The timing couldn't be
better for those of us in New York; today a coalition of 125
organizations announced its five-point for traffic reform,
including... yes, congestion pricing.
More:
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2006/11/suv_tax_50.html
NEW YORK GRIDLOCK
After last week's news about congestion pricing, I'm all fired up
about Growth or Gridlock, an extensive report about New York's coming
traffic disaster (and by "extensive," I mean "terrifying"). The
report has been making a lot of waves in metro sections this week,
probably because it's not geared to lefty tree-huggers or
health-conscious types, but to business people. The findings: traffic
congestion in the city leads to annual losses of over $13 billion to
businesses and consumers...
More:
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2006/12/congestion_pric.html
Related: Hilarious video of how Manchester, England, deters drivers
from sneaking into high-speed bus lanes:
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2006/12/schadenfreude_s.html
PERSONAL KYOTO
For those on the East Coast, Con Edison users can sign up to a new
website, Personal-Kyoto.org, that better tracks energy use in your
home. You basically sign in and Personal Kyoto creates graphs of
your energy use history. Then you try to reduce your annual use by
25% over the course of a year, which is close to what the Kyoto
Protocol would require. You can see what turning off your lights,
using efficient bulbs, shutting down your computer at night, etc.
actually does.
More:
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2006/12/personal_kyoto.html
WHAT'S WRONG WITH ARCHITECTURE?
The next issue of Stay Free! magazine is going to look at how
architecture and the built environment affect everyday life...
More:
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2006/12/architecture_he.html
MPAA: YOU ARE ALL ENEMY COMBATANTS
In the wake of the Hewlett-Packard pretexting scandal (not to mention
the furor over warrantless wiretapping), people seem to be thinking a
lot more about privacy. So it seemed like a no-brainer that
California would pass a strong bill protecting people from having
their personal information given away under false pretenses. Alas,
Wired reports that the MPAA used all of its lobbying muscle to shoot
down the pretexting bill...
More:
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2006/12/mpaa_you_are_al.html
NEEDLESSLY ELECTRONIC
By now you've I'm sure seen the news about the new "Here and Now"
Monopoly, the one in which they replaced the wheelbarrow with
McDonald's fries, the flat iron with a Starbuck's coffee, the car
with a flying car. You may not have noticed, however, that the UK
version of Here and Now also replaced the money with debit cards. I'm
not going to get into what this may imply for the future our retail
skills (although the American version did replace the real-world bank
notes with bills on the magnitude of 200k and up). What I'm more
interested in is that a previously people-powered game now requires
batteries...
More:
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2006/11/needlessly_elec.html
MARKETING, CRYSTALLIZED
If you've ever lost a minute of sleep, concerned that commercial
speech isn't given its due under the First Amendment, please take a
second to consider this sentence from a weekend obituary for Dick
Kress, former President of Norelco...
More:
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2006/11/marketing_cryst.html
HOME DEPOT'S HOT AIR
Now that Charles and I are homeowners, all of the energy I usually
pour into Stay Free! has, for the time being, been directed into
renovating our house. Lesson #476: Avoid Home Depot services at all
costs...
More:
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2006/11/home_depots_hot.html
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