Not As Advertised

On Hiatus

Thu, 31 May 2012 05:52:58 -0400

I’m taking a break from writing posts for this blog. Will be back in the future, maybe. Probably. Well, we’ll see.

Keep you eyes wide and don’t let the bastards drag you down.

// Jules Manning

Groupon

Thu, 17 May 2012 06:02:59 -0400

Here’s a business proposition to consider. You are a merchant running a small restaurant. To increase traffic into your eatery you offer a 75% discount. This yields a heavy influx of one-time visitors who enjoy the deep, profit-destroying price cut for a meal but they never return to eat at your restaurant again. After the discount period ends you find yourself financially worse off than before.

Sounds pretty stupid, yes? But loads of businesses have signed up to do this through Groupon, a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Here’s an example of the way it works:

Merchant offers a $20 item for $10 on Groupon.
Consumers buy the item coupon for $10.
Merchant and Groupon each take half of the $10.

As you can see, the merchant is only taking in $5 for an item that is normally priced at $20. A lot of businesses have ended up selling at a loss this way, not taking in enough to cover the cost of the product sold. Taking in less profit to attract customers is one thing. But partially paying customers to buy at your shop is just plain dumb. For some it has hastened their path to bankruptcy.

Interested in learning more about what a swindler Groupon really is? Check out these articles and blog posts:

Groupon Is A Disaster

Groupon Is A Scam

A look at Groupon’s extremely lopsided merchant agreement

Still on the Groupon bandwagon? Great! I’ve got some nice ocean-front property in Omaha for you. Great half-price deal, too.

// Jules Manning

Regretsy

Thu, 10 May 2012 06:02:14 -0400

Ever been to Etsy? Most folks have browsed around the site and have checked out some interesting hand-crafted creations. There’s a lot of pretty awesome stuff up for sale there. But every so often something peculiar shows up that really shouldn’t be there. Items such as racist blackface paraphernalia, underwear shoulder bags, fetus soap and extremely crappy PhotoShop picture “art” somehow find their way onto Etsy each day. Do the creators really think this stuff is worth selling?

Lucky for us Regretsy has been cataloging and archiving these embarrassments for our viewing pleasure. I love Regretsy. It’s such a convenient place to point and laugh. Plus it makes pretending to work so much more enjoyable.

// Jules Manning

Organics

Thu, 03 May 2012 06:05:49 -0400

Putting the word “organic” on a product is a privilege reserved for companies that meet strict government regulatory standards. The circular “USDA Organic” label found on food items throughout your local supermarket conveys a strong message to the eco-conscious consumer who wants to buy items that are holistically beneficial to humans and the Earth. But what does the label really mean? What makes a product organic and can the designation really be believed?

There are three categories of organic certification in the U.S. Products made entirely of organic ingredients can be labeled “100% Organic”. Items with at least 95% organic content may be labeled “organic”. Both of these categories can display the USDA seal. Products with at least 70% organic ingredients fall into the final category and can be labeled “made with organic ingredients”.

Farmers seeking organic certification must comply with a rigorous process that entails a number of activities. Among them are extensive studies regarding a farm’s history, its current set up and the presence of chemicals in its soil and water. An annual inspection of the farm is required, which may also include an examination of day-to-day records covering all farming and marketing activities. A fee between $400 to $2000 is paid each year to keep the organic certification.

The strict nature of the certifying process and the accompanying financial costs prevent many operations from seeking out organic status. Smaller food producers have little extra money to devote to the certification. Larger companies complain that the required changes to make supply chains organic erode their ability to make the kind of profits shareholders demand.

Both groups know the high value of organic labeling and unethical food growers do whatever they can to circumvent regulations. A common tactic is to use undefined terms such as “natural” “wholesome” and “authentic” on packaging. These words are effectively meaningless but many shoppers falsely equate them with the term “organic”. The vast majority of foods by the well-known Kashi brand (owned by Kellogg) are labeled as “natural” yet most of these items are conventionally produced with genetically-modified crops. News recently came out that some Kashi breakfast cereals had tested positive for pesticide residues, hardly the “wholesome” image the brand wants you to envision when eating their food.

In Washington, D.C. lobbyists try to open loopholes by pushing for amendments to regulations and exceptions to meticulous rules. The end result can mean that legally organic may be far from actually organic. Manipulating regulations dupes the public into believing and buying something that is not genuinely organic.

If you are interested in keeping informed about the authenticity of so-called organic and natural foods visit the Cornucopia Institute website. There you can read reports and scorecards on a variety of products including cereal, eggs and baby formula.

I don’t know about you but I prefer my breakfast sans poison.

// Jules Manning

Peace Corps

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:15:37 -0400

For too long the Peace Corps has promoted a myth through its recruiters and marketing materials that falsely presents a favorable image of an agency that in actuality is in desperate need of reform. The true experience for those serving in the nearly 70 Peace Corps countries around the globe is one riddled with problems brought on by poor program management, bad site development and a culture of disrespect for Volunteers when speaking out about such issues.

From 2005-2007 I was a Volunteer in Eastern Europe and fell victim to the incompetence of in-country management of a failing Peace Corps program. I was sent to a site where my skills were poorly matched with a municipal government office and I spent most of my time doing nothing. After bringing up my concerns to program managers in an attempt to improve the situation I was summarily sent home. What happened to me is not uncommon.

Volunteers are routinely sent to places where their expertise is not matched to the needs of the sites requesting help. Some are even told by country directors to forget about doing anything more than just hang out for two years and have a cultural exchange. This is hardly the image of Americans engaging in rigorous international development work that Peace Corps promotes to the public.

In recent times there has been a notable effort to introduce meaningful reform to the way Peace Corps is run. In 2007, former Volunteer Senator Christopher Dodd introduced the Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act, which would have mandated multiple operational reforms for Peace Corps. After the bill was defeated through the lobbying efforts of Peace Corps and the National Peace Corps Association, two-time Volunteers Chuck Ludlam and his wife Paula Hirschoff put together a twenty point plan of reform to strengthen the Peace Corps. The plan has been widely circulated among Volunteers and has gained their support. Peace Corps still resists change. The question that remains is why?

A wealth of information on the topic of Peace Corps reform is posted on the Peace Corps Wiki located online at: peacecorpswiki.org. I have found the site to be a invaluable resource in learning more about the inner workings of the organization, which routinely resists transparency and stonewalls with unreturned phone calls and e-mails. Of note are country post evaluation reports published by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). Not surprisingly, I found the program I served in received a scathing analysis and a recommendation by the OIG for it to be discontinued. The report was compiled shortly before I arrived to begin my service.

In January 2011, ABC’s 20/20 program aired a piece about the tragic murder of Kate Puzey. Kate was a Volunteer serving in Benin in 2009 who informed her country director that a Peace Corps employee was sexually abusing students at her site. Because her message was not kept confidential the man Kate exposed retaliated against her and killed her as she slept one night. 20/20 shows how Peace Corps was more interested in maintaining its image during the aftermath than helping Kate’s family through this tragedy. Perhaps Kate Puzey would still be with us today had Peace Corps been mandated to reform itself. It is also quite probable that many Volunteers currently serving are in jeopardy of being harmed because of Peace Corps continued disrespect for their serious and valid concerns.

Too many people who sign up to serve in Peace Corps are being wasted due to the continuous poor management of programs and the prioritizing of bureaucratic interests of over the needs of Volunteers. Life is calling so hang up the phone on Peace Corps.

// Jules Manning

Tell Me About It

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:02:14 -0400

Sometimes user reviews make up for poorly designed products. Check out these classic gems submitted to Amazon. I’ll take one of each please.

// Jules Manning

Realitynet

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 06:01:43 -0400

photo of a Sony Trinitron TV CRT by Arnold Chao

The Internet is really a big time suck. It’s mainly a wasteland, give or take a few great places where pretty good informative stuff is being posted (i.e. TED talks, Wikipedia). But the vast majority is just a huge distraction. Take my own experience. I just squandered a couple hours looking for something to write about here. As I was checking into the fat content of frozen yogurt and uncovering the meaning behind ‘astroturfing’ I was pulled in all directions with infinite distractions. It was like some shady guy calling me over, “Psst. Hey buddy, wanna check out some boobs? It’ll be research. Yeah, that’s right. You’ll be finding out how to see which boobs are real versus fake. That’s good for this blog.”

Sure, I guess. But who really cares? There’s too much talk about all manner of high-tech gizmo obsessions. So what if Google Maps can create a virtual world out of the actual world where we can fly through cityscapes around the world without having to poke our pasty faces outside. Why not just experience reality? Why do we need to have a billion virtual ways to hide ourselves from it? Realness is easy to access and doesn’t have a recurring monthly access fee attached to it.

Here’s the point for this week’s post: turn off and get out. That’s right, spend some time enjoying the real world. The ones posted online don’t live up to the splendor of what’s been evolving for millennia.

I’ll be tip-toeing through the tulips. Come join me.

// Jules Manning

Need More Gig

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 06:01:30 -0400

If you have ever purchased an external hard drive of any type (USB, Firewire, thumb drive) you may have noticed that the storage space advertised on the packaging does not always match the actual capacity of the drive. This is due to advertisers manipulating measurement units. The capacity of hard drives is determined in terms of decimal multiples, where a megabyte equals 1,000,000 bytes, a gigabyte equals 1,000,000,000 bytes and a terabyte equals 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. However the convention for determining memory or RAM is expressed using binary multiples where a megabyte equals 1,048,576 bytes, a gigabyte equals 1,073,741,824 bytes and a terabyte equals 1,099,511,627,776 bytes.

Actual usable hard drive space depends on what operating system is used on your computer. Windows machines use the binary method, which leads to various percentages of capacity overstatements. With megabytes the difference between advertised versus actual is 5%. The discrepancy increases to 7% with gigabytes and nearly 10% with terabytes. Mac machines, beginning with OS X (SnowLeopard), use the decimal method, which eliminates the inconsistency.

It’s anyone’s guess why a single convention has yet to be adopted by computer hardware manufacturers. Even after a class-action lawsuit was filed against Seagate and Western Digital in 2000 for deceptive advertisement the companies still promote their products in the same misleading manner. Like most things relating to computer technology industry leaders seem to want to keep the general public confused and a slave to their indecipherable coded double speak.

Here’s my message to them: byte me.

// Jules Manning

Swept Away

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 06:00:05 -0400

Have you seen the pictures of brooms standing on end all on their own? These pictures have made their way around the Internet with folks claiming a number of incredible things to explain away this oddity. Some propose that a planetary pole shift has occurred while other lay claim to the gravitational pull on either the spring or autumnal equinox as reasons for the visually puzzling phenomenon.

Allow me to burst everyone’s fun bubble. The truth appears to lie in simple transfer-of-weight physics. Check out this short video for a full demonstration and debunking:

http://youtu.be/iADKBCE6szU

// Jules Manning

Don't Forget The Crazy Bread

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 06:00:05 -0400

Consider the following telephone conversation that took place in 1993:

Agent: Hello. I would like to order nineteen large pizzas and sixty-seven cans of soda.

Pizza man: And where would you like them delivered?

Agent: To the Southwood Psychiatric Hospital.

Pizza man: To the psychiatric hospital?

Agent: That’s right. I’m an FBI agent.

Pizza man: You’re an FBI agent?

Agent: That’s correct. Just about everybody here is.

Pizza man: And you’re at the psychiatric hospital?

Agent: That’s correct. And make sure you don’t go through the front doors. We have them locked. You’ll have to go around to the back to the service entrance to deliver the pizzas.

Pizza man: And you say you’re all FBI agents?

Agent: That’s right. How soon can you have them here?

Pizza man: And you’re over at Southwood?

Agent: That’s right. How soon can you have them here?

Pizza man: And everyone at Southwood is an FBI agent?

Agent: That’s right. We’ve been here all day and we’re starving.

Pizza man: How are you going to pay for this?

Agent: I have my check book right here.

Pizza man: And you are all FBI agents?

Agent: That’s right, everyone here is an FBI agent. Can you remember to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance in the rear? We have the front doors locked.

Pizza man: I don’t think so.

*Click*

Would you have believed the caller? Turns out that it was an actual FBI agent who was indeed calling for a pizza delivery for his 60+ colleagues. After a raid the team had been working all day looking through financial records in connection to reports of insurance fraud. Sometimes things are as they seem to be. Check out Snopes for the full story.

// Jules Manning

Give It A Rest, Pinterest

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 06:00:00 -0400

Pinterest isa wildly popular website that allows users to “pin” images on virtual boards, which are shared with other users. Seems pretty innocent at first but dig a little into the site’s terms and conditions and you will see the danger that exists for unsuspecting pinners. As it turns out the Pinterest website is a hotbed for copyright infringement. More often than not when users pin a visually stunning image found somewhere out on the web they fail to obtain the creator’s permission to do so. Although exposure on Pinterest is generally positive and favorable for the creator of the work the fact remains that it is unlawful to engage in this type of behavior without prior consent.

So what? Who cares? It seems like the good far out-weighs the negatives and only a fool would want to bring a lawsuit upon a site that drives new web traffic to interesting creatives. But what if someone did, then what? Well, here’s the rub: If a lawsuit were to emerge Pinterest plans to pass along any penalties to its users. That’s right, if Pinterest gets sued for copyright infringement and loses, it will send along the bill to all its users who are violating the law. In fact, if a lawsuit is brought upon a user who has pinned an image in violation of copyright law then that user must hire a lawyer for both their self and for Pinterest! What’s more is Pinterest can then turn around and file suit against the user for violating its terms and conditions. Pinning isn’t so much fun anymore now is it?

Further upsetting to the copyright apple cart are Pinterest’s contradictory statements regarding the law. Pinterest says it respects intellectual property rights and expects its users to do the same. In the terms and conditions it states that users should “have all rights, licenses, consents and releases that are necessary to grant to Cold Brew Labs [Pinterest’s parent company] the rights in such Member Content, as contemplated under these Terms.” OK. That’s fine, but look at the other thing Pinterest says about content on its website: “Avoid Self Promotion. Pinterest is designed to curate and share things you love. If there is a photo or project you’re proud of, pin away! However, try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion.”

So if I am the owner of the work I can pin it and not violate the copyright issues. But if I only pin my own work then I violate the self-promotion issues. It seems clear that Pinterest needs to revisit its terms and conditions regarding this potentially volatile legal matter. Until then I am off Pinterest lest I become a pinhead footing the bill of a lawsuit.

// Jules Manning

Car No Go

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 06:00:05 -0500

Recently I was searching around the Web for a one-way car rental from Atlanta to Providence. As I quickly discovered, this is not a cheap proposition to entertain. Even when I found a decent weekly rate for a car the various rental agencies added on what is known as a “drop fee” to help offset the loss of income from having a fleet vehicle miles away from its origin. If this wasn’t deterrent enough to thwart this would-be renter I discovered that Budget Rent A Car makes it absolutely impossible for me to drive from Georgia to Rhode Island despite their systems allowing me to enter it in as an option. Upon close examination of the terms and conditions I found that I was forbidden to drive the car in all the New England states, of which Rhode Island is one.

Perhaps I could float the car up the Eastern shore?

Thanks for nothing, Budget.

// Jules Manning

Airfares

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 06:00:05 -0500

In late January the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) imposed new regulations on airfare price listings. Spirit Airlines recently came out and accused the DOT of forcing airlines to hide government taxes and fees charged into fares. Spirit is upset because it believes consumers will wrongly blame the airline for fare increases when the blame should be placed on the government for imposing high taxes. DOT, however, is out to end the airlines history of false advertisement.

Why should the airline industry be allowed to deceptively advertise low airfares that fail to include the total cost? Publishing airfares without the taxes and fees included gives the false appearance of low fares. If Spirit Airlines advertises a fare of $29 why shouldn’t a consumer be able to purchase that ticket for $29? Why does Spirit want to hide the taxes and fees from its customers?

Who’s right? Is the government really insisting that airlines hide the taxes?

Upon closer examination, the DOT in fact is not telling airlines to hide the taxes and fees it imposes. Rather the government agency is telling airlines that the FULL price of the fare must be the prominent figure advertised. There is nothing in the rule that precludes Spirit Airlines from showing an itemized breakdown of what taxes and fees are associated with the airfare

It is understandable that Spirit Airlines and other low-cost budget airlines are miffed. They have a lot to lose if they are required to publish fares that include all taxes and fees. Spirit built its reputation on being a low cost budget airline and the new rules threaten to destroy the low fare narrative it wants people to believe. Too bad, I say. Other industries are required to display all-inclusive prices. Take gas stations. The price of fuel we buy includes all manner of taxes. So why not the price of an airplane ticket?

Stop your whining and start telling the truth to your customers, Spirit Airlines. Stop acting like a screaming brat yelling, “It’s not fair!”

Liar, liar pants of fire to you.

// Jules Manning

Universities

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:02:05 -0500

The economy is in the toilet. We all know that. No one is hiring. Prices are increasing everywhere. Hope is turning into Nope.

While some have resigned themselves to a dismal state of despair others are scrambling around trying to shield themselves from the catastrophic financial meltdown. A common tactic is to go back to school and retool for a promising career in a new profession. Seems like a good plan. That is until you start looking into the actual benefits of pursuing that second degree, which sometimes turn out to be none.

Take for example the for-profit higher education institutions. I am sure you have seen billboards, glossy magazine ads and web banners for The University of Phoenix, American Intercontinental University or Kaplan that advertise any imaginable degree in hopes of roping in naive student candidates. But beware. These schools are big business and care for nothing but the big money they can fleece out of students in the form of government-backed financial aid. Also alarming is that many top employers have unfavorable views of degrees earned from these so-called diploma mills and rarely, if ever, hire their graduates.

Let’s take a closer look at The University of Phoenix (UOP), probably the most well-known and wide spread of all for-profit schools. What goes on at UOP is a common formula practiced at all the other corporate-run institutions. It goes like this:

Advertise and recruit like crazy. Bombard potential candidates with phone calls, e-mails and text messages. Win the target’s trust, get them to enroll — period. Enrollment counselors are paid in-part by the number of students they get enrolled and by how long they keep attending class. But once the student is in the system they can kiss that nice, trusting relationship with their recruiter goodbye. In a numbers game like the one UOP is in only fresh numbers pay the bills.

Get students to take out federal student loans to pay for tuition. This is key to the entire operation. In fact, tax payer-backed loans account for 70% of UOP’s reported revenue.

Pressure students into taking more classes regardless of their relevance to the field of study pursued. The more classes a student takes means more money for the institution.

Repeat above steps and rake in the cash.

Disgruntled former students who had the misfortune of attending UOP tell horror stories of putting in time, money and hard work only to wind up with worthless degrees and a mountain of debt. Close to 10,000 students who attended UOP have defaulted on their loans. Of the 16% who actually graduate from the school (national graduation average is 55%) many have little hope of securing a job since their degrees were earned through unaccredited programs. A quick search through the ABET website, a nonprofit, non-governmental organization that accredits college and university programs in the disciplines of applied science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology, reveals no listing for UOP. If you were hoping to land a winning career in IT after attending UOP you are out of luck.

This is really sad. It would be kinda funny if it weren’t true. Sadder still is how fake news source The Onion nailed this topic in a 2004 article titled, “University Implicated In Checks-For-Degree Scheme”. Goes to show that this type of not-as-advertised scam is widespread and affects even the “legitimate” schools out there. In light of this it may be better to follow the wisdom found in the movie Good Will Hunting when Matt Damon’s character tells a smart ass Harvard grad student that he “dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a fuckin’ education you coulda got for a dollah fifty in late chahges at the public library”.

Truth bomb.

// Jules Manning

Song Poems

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:00:05 -0500

Song poems are a common hustle we’ve all been exposed to at some point. If you have ever thumbed through the back pages of comic books, tabloids or celebrity gossip magazines you are sure to have gazed upon the little display ads enticing amateur authors to send in their verse to be set to music. The ads play on the hopes and dreams of many who want to break into the music business, earn lots of money and become huge stars. Sadly, if you fall into this trap, there’s not even a chance of success.

The so-called song-sharks who place the ads are nothing more than musical charlatans duping song-poets out of their money. For a fee, song-poets can have their words professionally set to music. Of course, all submitted writing, no matter how bad or hopeless, is always regarded as top-notch. With such compliments and accolades by assumed music industry insiders, the intended effect is to boost the song-poet’s confidence so money pours out of their pockets and into the hands of the song-shark. A fully produced song-poem typically runs $200-$400. But wait a minute. If the writing is so stellar why should the author have to pay someone to use it? There’s the rub. Legitimate song producers pay the poets, not the other way around.

Despite it being a flimflam operation, the bizarre song-poem genre has produced some cult classic recordings and has quite a large fan base. The appeal lies in the relationship between the raw and refined of the music. At one end there is an utterly naive writer without a clue to how record-making works. On the other end are the professional musicians that build a song out of the bewildering and ludicrous submitted poems. The resulting combination makes for a refreshingly original product. Certainly more so than the calculated corporate schlock blasted ad nauseam on the airwaves.

Thanks in part to the 2003 documentary “Off The Charts: The Song-Poem Story” this strange music has reached a wider audience than originally possible. For a sample of the aural discord check out Caglar Singletary’s “Non-Violent Taekwondo Troopers” and “Annie Oakley”.

Maybe now these songs will get the Top 40 recognition they deserve. Anything can happen. You never know.

Yeah, right.

// Jules Manning

Greenwashed

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:00:05 -0500

When you purchase a product that is touted as eco-friendly, organic or sustainable you assume that it is helpful to the natural environment. But many so-called green products are simply labeled with deceptive “greenwash” marketing, which turns your good-conscious purchase into more profits for the status-quo.

Greenwashing comes in many forms. In the supermarket we have all seen products with granola graphics or hippy feel-good packaging rendered in earth tones. Earth-friendly words like “all natural” “cruelty-free” or “sustainable” are written across the box. But are these items really good for the planet? There are no green police roaming the aisles cracking down on false or misleading labels. Sure, some government agencies like the USDA certify what constitutes “organic” but who’s there to test whether or not a product on the shelf actually meets the standard?

Check out the auto industry too. Companies like Ford and Toyota boast about respecting the planet by marketing their hybrid and electric cars as fuel efficient vehicles that average higher miles per gallon than an old gas guzzler. However, they fail to mention the toxic assets under the hood. Car batteries made from lead, nickel or lithium contain dangerous toxins. There is an environmental problem when toxic waste is released from these batteries. Car owners may argue, “Hey, I am responsible and recycle my old battery when I buy a new one. Doesn’t that make me green?” Probably not. Many used batteries are shipped to the developing countries where they are disassembled in unregulated sweatshops, making for a human rights problem.

I think it’s also interesting that as more and more people express a concern for the health of our planet there are very few businesses that offer Earth-friendly alternatives. Why is it you never see a green Old Navy, Best Buy or McDonald’s? These companies seem to express no concern whatsoever for damaging the natural world or exploiting overseas workers as they perpetuate the folly of an infinite growth paradigm.

But the facts remain. There is only one Earth and we haven’t found another planet that can sustain human life. Until we abandon our destructive ways of making things and begin producing products that truly are “green” then Earth too may lose it’s ability to keep us all alive.

// Jules Manning

Groundhog Day

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:00:05 -0500

When I want quality, accurate and unerring information I naturally turn to a rodent that lives in a hole in the ground. Yes, folks, it’s time once again to place our hopes and fears into the tiny, grubby paws of a drowsy groundhog. Will warm sunny Spring-shine be around the corner? Or will mean Mr. Winter blow his cold winds for another six weeks? Only the groundhog knows!

The custom of waking a sleeping groundhog to make a meteorological forecast occurs each February 2 in Canada and the United States. The epicenter of activity takes place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, which holds the largest Groundhog Day celebration. Punxsutawney, of course, was thrust into the spotlight as a result of the 1993 film Groundhog Day, staring Bill Murray, which addresses the absurdity of doing stupid things over and over again (i.e. waking an animal to learn what the weather will be).

The tradition dates back to the 1840s in North America. It emerged from Pennsylvania German customs where early immigrants adapted old European weather lore originally tied to a badger, hedgehog or bear as opposed to a groundhog. The event shares the same day as the Christian festival of Candlemas, which also includes weather predictions.

So how does the groundhog measure up to the professional weather reporters? Proponents cheer on their furry prognosticator and claim accurate forecasts between 75%-90% of the time. Actual compiled meteorological data proves the animal is lethargically woeful in its predictions giving it a dismal accuracy rate of only 37%.

I can offer you a 100% guarantee to you that come May in North America it will be warmer than it is right now. I think I’ll make another cuppa hot tea and keep warm by the fire while the groundhog crowd gets its freeze-on outside.

// Jules Manning

Robert Kiyosaki

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:00:06 -0500

On a flight to Hawaii a few years ago I sat next to a guy who claimed to be an investor. A woman he called his wife sat across the aisle from him. He told me that the two of them ran their own company and that they “work hard and play hard.” He added that this trip to Maui was one of their rewards for putting in a mess of long, ass-kicking investment hours. His conversational tone had an air of “I’m pretty awesome, you know? Wouldn’t you want to be like me?”

Throughout the six-hour plane ride this stranger engaged me in small conversation that always focussed on money, finances and investment. He asked me questions just so he could hear himself answer them. “Do you know how banks make money? No? Well I do. Let me share.” He liked to drop in some baited comments like, “After this we’re going to South America to take part in a gold mining venture.” I felt like I was being set up for a hustle or scam.

Before deplaning and relishing in the South Pacific sun and surf, my seat buddy recommended a book for me to read so I could educate myself in economics and begin taking advantage of such lucrative investment opportunities he and his wife were involved in. The name of the book was Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.

About a month after my run in with Mr. Investment I checked out Kiyosaki’s book at my local library. The well-read paperback copy was a little dogeared and worn out. “Must be plenty of people getting rich by the looks of this,” I thought. I sat down and read it in a day. The book moved quickly and there wasn’t a lot of heady technical economic jargon. My initial impression was positive. I felt like I had wasted a lot of time up to then not taking finances seriously and now I should raid my meager retirement fund (early withdrawal fees be damned!) to implement some of Kiyosaki’s strategies. It’s a good thing I didn’t.

Along with the euphoric I-can-make-a-ton-of-money-for-nothing feeling I also experienced a something-is-not-quite-right-about-all-this pit in my stomach. Not wanting to act in haste and later regret the folly of my ways I turned to my good friend Google. Good ‘ol Google always has a way of assisting me in sniffing out the B.S. and it soon informed me that Robert Kiyosaki had shit coming out of him more ways than I thought possible. This was utterly astonishing to me since this man has been featured on Oprah, co-authored a book with Donald Trump, hosted a television show broadcasted on PBS and is still a financial columnist for Yahoo! Finance.

So what is so bad about Robert Kiyosaki? Google led me to respected investor John T. Reed, who rates such financial “gurus”. Reed ripped the Rich Dad, Poor Dad book apart and tore Kiyosaki a new one a mile wide. Check out some of the highlights:

Robert Kiyosaki…

Advocates insider trading (aka committing a felony)
Lies about his life history
Recommends tax fraud
Brags that his business partner is a cat
Admits his book is really a work of fiction

After reading through the lengthy webpage on Mr. Reed’s site I was grateful for listening to my gut and not acting on Kiyosaki’s crackpot misinformation. Later I remembered my plane buddy investor. I wondered who he was suckering now with his come-ons. I shivered at how close I came to falling for his trap. Scary.

Be vigilant and beware out there.

// Jules Manning

Alcohol

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:00:05 -0500

Ever notice how most ads for beer and alcohol rarely depict people actually consuming their products? Why is that? Perhaps it’s because what’s being sold isn’t all that nice.

Take Budweiser for an example. Throughout the years Budweiser has placed ads that show Clydesdale horses, pretty swimsuit models and close ups of icy cold bottles of beer. But you never see anyone actually raising a glass to their lips and drinking beer. Moreover, the company certainly would never allow you to see anyone drinking their fourth, fifth or sixth round of their outstanding beverage.

Hard liquor follows the same model — nary a picture of quenched thirst in sight. Absolut Vodka shows designer variations of its signature bottle. Captain Morgan likes to raise a leg or doodle a mustache on models. And Jack Daniels is content to peddle it’s big black label or give us a shot of it’s founder’s jungle of facial hair.

In the United States alcohol advertisements are self-regulated within the industry. Although there exists certain standards and ethical codes there are no laws that explicitly restrict the depiction of a person drinking alcohol.

So why the self-censorship of people having a drink? Is it vulgar? Does it turn off consumers to see actual human beings using alcohol in the manner that it is intended?

Maybe it’s because folks really know that drinking alcohol is a real downer. After all it is classified as a drug and a central nervous system depressant. Clearly the chief reason for anyone to drink it is to become intoxicated, either lightly of full-on drunk. Common short-term effects of drinking include: sleep disruption, fatigue, memory strain and impaired judgement. Long-term drinking effects include: addiction, liver disease, heart disease, sexual dysfunction and death.

Wow. With such stellar benefits in no wonder booze dealers want to disguise the truth that hides in their bottles by refraining from showing us reality. I’m pretty certain most folks would think twice about buying a bottle if they were showered with pictures showing a productive evening filled with obnoxious frat boys, passed out girls and puked up dudes.

Don’t believe the hype.

// Jules Manning

Santorum

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 06:00:05 -0500

With his recent surge in the polls and impressive comeback in Iowa, Rick Santorum is gaining steam in the 2012 Republican primary. But who is this guy? As defined by the number one search result ranking in Google, Senator Rick Santorum is “the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.”

Let’s see if this is accurate by listing some of Santorum’s other traits:

Politician
Lawyer
Ultra-Conservative Republican
Religious Nut-job
Homophobe/Anti-gay activist
Wants to prohibit the sale of contraceptives
Likes the idea of killing more people in the Middle East
Describes global warming as a conspiracy theory

Of course, Santorum would like us all to believe he’s an upstanding American citizen as he runs for president. But with such a dirty laundry list of seedy un-American activities Rick Santorum is anything but presidential.

Go ahead and throw in the towel, Santorum. Oh wait. Better hold on to it so you can try to wipe up all the frothy debris from your checkered past.

// Jules Manning