Nobrainer’s Think Tank

Despite my declarations in the past of how much I hate Sprint (I sometimes do), how incompetent their customer service people are (they are), how crappy their website is (it’s pretty bad), and how I’d be moving to another carrier, I’m still with Sprint and have been for what is now almost 9 years. Additionally my latest 2 year agreement is nearly over. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s time for me to get a new phone (my current phone is serving me quite well), but it does mean that Sprint is starting to expend more effort to bring new phones to my attention in an effort to get me to re-up.

A couple weeks ago, I got a mailer. Once I bothered to actually look at it, my focus was drawn to a nice looking phone. Then I was stunned to notice that it was a Palm; I didn’t even know they were still in business, let alone making impressive looking phones. Apparently they don’t just look good, there seems to be some legitimately positive buzz about this phone. Some local radio hosts and their guest were saying good things about it last night while discussing all-things new phone related. Plus, “[t]he Pre, which was introduced at January’s Consumer Electronics Show, was well-received by the press, and Palm is looking to use it as a springboard for a comeback.”

I’m intrigued. Very intrigued. But probably not so intrigued that I’ll actually buy a phone that will require my monthly cell phone bill to double or triple.

For some I found the following video of a white blood cell in action to be highly amusing.

Not surprisingly the dolts in Washington have found another new way to make me worse off without having to use the T-word.

Credit cards have long been a very good deal for people who pay their bills on time and in full. Even as card companies imposed punitive fees and penalties on those late with their payments, the best customers racked up cash-back rewards, frequent-flier miles and other perks in recent years.

Now Congress is moving to limit the penalties on riskier borrowers, who have become a prime source of billions of dollars in fee revenue for the industry. And to make up for lost income, the card companies are going after those people with sterling credit.

Banks are expected to look at reviving annual fees, curtailing cash-back and other rewards programs and charging interest immediately on a purchase instead of allowing a grace period of weeks, according to bank officials and trade groups.

Emphasis mine.

Sadly I’m not at all surprised that this group of useless do-gooders is taking additional steps to reward the stupid and punish the smart.

Oh well. Despite what Washington does, fools and their money will continue to be quickly parted. I’m confident I’ll still end up on the better end of things.

At work today we received a brief summary of a talk from someone who is high up at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Here’s the gist:

• There are something like 13(?) energy bills circulating through the federal legislative branch right now. About 6 are “serious.”
• The bills are up to 1000 pages and big enough to crash a Mac (should you decide that you, unlike Congress, want to read bills before they’re voted upon).
• All of the 6 serious bills agree that the Feds need more power.
• None of them actually specify what the Feds are supposed to do, other than tell FERC to do something.
• FERC envisions spending the next year building a plan for all the new renewable-related transmission that is allegedly needed.
• FERC wants to have all the transmission built within 2 years.

Here’s the shorter gist: current energy policy is grounded in hope and change and reality is not an option.

This was worth to me today:

Project construction and labor relations during construction were relatively uneventful. However, there were some issues with IBEW Local 3 which required that prefab electrical console terminations (part of the Swiftpac package that had been wired in Pratt & Whitney’s non-union fabrication shops) be un-terminated when the equipment arrived onsite, and reterminated in the field.

I would probably stab someone in the eye — maybe even myself — if I had to deal with that kind of BS on a regular basis.

So I’m watching lecture by an urban planner. Here’s what you need to know.

Now: “Trust us.”

My prediction for the future: “You fucked up – you trusted us!”