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[Carrie McLaren <temporary181 AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

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