Dumb and Such

(Your) Cash for (My) Clunkers

Just so you know, I have three clunkers. All of them have over 200,000 miles on them. And two have over 300,000!

I’d take $3000 for any of them.

(I think I would, that is. I suppose the best way to test that is for you to make me an honest offer! :mrgreen: )

If I were to have the opportunity to do so, should I participate in the government’s cash for clunkers program?

A so-called “cash for clunkers” measure approved by the US Congress could help reignite sluggish auto sales, although the overall impact may be modest, analysts and industry officials said.

[…]

The bill will provide up to 4,500 dollars in incentives to consumers who trade in certain fuel-hungry vehicles for autos which consume less fuel.

Edmunds.com, an automotive research firm, estimates that the measure will spark relatively modest sales — probably less than the 250,000 estimated — and would only provide an incentive for a small number of car owners whose vehicles are worth less than 4,500 dollars.

“Most qualifying ‘clunkers’ are at least 10 years old. Their owners are either not looking for an increased car payment or cannot afford to purchase a new vehicle, which averages nearly 30,000 dollars,” an Edmunds.com report said.

[…]

To qualify, the vehicle traded in must have a fuel economy rating of 18 miles (29 kilometers) per gallon (3.8 liters) and be in drivable condition. The new car must offer at least 22 miles (35 kilometers) per gallon.

So…does new mean brand new?

Or could I take the government’s (that is, your) $4500 for my 1983 Chevy van and use it for a new-to-me rig (say a Chevy Suburban) even if it’s five years old?

I Hung Up on Him

The caller ID informed me:

Phillips Co Sec
503-224-0858

I don’t know what the guy’s speel was, except that it had to do with investing.

I apologized for interrupting and told him we just aren’t taking this kind of calls.

He re-launched his speel. Unfazed.

So I interrupted him again with the same message.

He just didn’t get it.

He kept on talking!

So I hung up on him.

Just three or four minutes ago.

Whoever he was and whoever they are, I just gave them some free advertising.

Now please honor our entry in the National No Call List.

Thanks.

Morning News Lines

Sixteen people banned from entering the UK are “named and shamed” by the Home Office Ya s’pose Michael Savage is feeling shamed?! 🙄

On May 5, Mexican dominance irks other Latinos Is this about Mexican imperialism? 😯

Michiganians mine bodies for cash to make ends meet The worn-out pro-death line ought to work for these folks also: “It’s my body!”

Emanuel: Thwarting Iran easier with Israeli-Palestinian talks Israel, beware! 🙁

What’s your choice for news line this morning?

Did You Know?

Three words spoke to my heart this morning. May they continue to echo there:

Father, forgive them

No, you didn’t know that. But now you do. And that fits in with this:

Are you a twit if you don’t want to Twitter?

Last month, Alex Slater took it a step farther. He dumped his Twitter account and stripped the information on his Facebook page to a minimum. Though he has more than 600 “friends” on Facebook, he checks it much less often.

“Being exposed to details, from someone’s painful breakup to what they had for breakfast – and much more sordid details than that – feels like voyeurism,” says the 31-year-old public relations executive in Washington, D.C. “I’m less concerned with protecting my privacy, and more concerned at the ethics of a ‘human zoo’ where others’ lives, and often serious problems, are treated as entertainment.”

Yes, I have a Twitter account. No, I don’t have a raft-load of Facebook Friends. Yes, I think the above article is worth reading in full. No, I don’t plan to announce on Twitter that I had two cups of coffee and two Tylenol so far this morning.

Oh, and speaking of Facebook:

Fast-growing Facebook’s user base hits 200 million

Facebook also updated its display of site statistics.

According to these, more than half of its users log in to the site at least once a day, and the fastest-growing demographic is people over 35. About 70 percent of Facebook users are outside the United States (MySpace still claims to be the nation’s largest social network).

For those itching to know if they are popular enough: the average user has 120 “friends” on the site.

And speaking of friends, do friends let friends over-text?

Hammer time for cell phone used to run up $5K billA cell phone used by a Wyoming 13-year-old to run up a nearly $5,000 phone bill will text no more thanks to her angry father and his hammer. Dena Christoffersen of Cheyenne sent or received about 20,000 text messages over about a month, and her parents’ phone plan didn’t cover texting.

🙄

Meanwhile, some other “friends” are waking up around the globe:

Huge worm stirring to life

The dreaded Conficker computer worm is stirring. Security experts say the worm’s authors appear to be trying to build a big moneymaker, but not a cyber weapon of mass destruction as many people feared.

As many as 12 million computers have been infected by Conficker. Security firm Trend Micro says some of the machines have been updated over the past few days with fake antivirus software – the first attempt by Conficker’s authors to profit from their massive “botnet.”

So, this post begins by featuring a Friend. (And what a Friend we have in Jesus!)

Now it ends featuring someone else’s friend:

Woman finds cashiers check and returns it

But just as she was about to do her part for a cleaner planet and deliver the paper from the parking lot to a trash can, she noticed it was a real cashier’s check with a real signature.

“I couldn’t believe it. I almost passed out,” Curtis, who works as a loan negotiator, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I have never seen a check that big. Not in my possession, anyway.”

She immediately set out to find its rightful recipient….

Good day?!

Welcome to Oregon…

…and watch out for Grandma!!

Occasionally, traffic cops in Oregon nab drivers speeding over 100 miles per hour. When they do, the scofflaws tend to be young men.

At 4:45 p.m. Sunday, a Marion County sheriff’s deputy spotted a 53-year-old woman speeding east in a sporty 2003 Mazda 6 on Hylo Road Southeast, a hilly, two-lane road in Salem.

I was in the process of shutting down computers so I could go to bed when I saw the above story. You’ve just got to read the rest of the story.

I simply don’t know which best expresses my sentiment: 😆 🙄 😯 :mrgreen:

Yesterday’s News

I saw three stories last night.

Central Oregon man stuns cheesemaking world at contest

A Brazilian-born cheese maker who traced an unlikely path from Silicon Valley to a former pumice mine near Bend just captured one of the most prestigious prizes in his profession.

Flavio DeCastilhos’ flagship goat cheese finished second in the 2009 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest, considered the Academy Awards for U.S. cheese makers.

By all accounts, the accomplishment is extraordinary.

Astronomers catch a shooting star for 1st time

For the first time scientists matched a meteorite found on Earth with a specific asteroid that became a fireball plunging through the sky. It gives them a glimpse into the past when planets formed and an idea how to avoid a future asteroid Armageddon.

Last October, astronomers tracked a small non-threatening asteroid heading toward Earth before it became a “shooting star,” something they had not done before. It blew up in the sky and scientists thought there would be no space rocks left to examine.

But a painstaking search by dozens of students through the remote Sudan desert came up with 8.7 pounds of black jagged rocks, leftovers from the asteroid 2008 TC3. And those dark rocks were full of surprises and minuscule diamonds, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature.

Headline correction: They found it.

How nice that they can look into the past. 😆

U.S. to blame for much of Mexican drug violence

“Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the death of police officers, soldiers and civilians,” Clinton told reporters during her flight to Mexico City.

Obviously she didn’t read (yet?) this or this.

Oh well.

Above all, love God!
Private