Saturday, June 21, 2008

Digital Islands in Full Force

I'm tying this from Lestat's Cafe in San Diego. It has free wi-fi, and it's open 24 hours a day, every day. And, the patrons get to enjoy steady stream of rock music.

I am one of almost all patrons here, with own laptop checking email, surfing the web, etc. Most patrons also have headsets plugged in from their computer and enjoy their own music streaming in from their laptops. We are a veritable picture of digital islands where people are probably communicating something over the net, but neglecting those within physical vicinity around them.

Of course, I'm one of them right now. As I read in a recent article, I suppose technology has a rather weird effect. Use of widespread cell phone has dramatically decreased the time people talk on the phone, as this wsj article explains.

How curious that technology brings us together and yet keeps us apart at the same time?

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Pluto the Plutoid

Poor Pluto lost its status as one of the planets of our solar system. But at least it will be honored as other celestial bodies like it will be called "plutoid." Pluto lives on! =)

Monday, June 09, 2008

One Way to Save Money

WSJ articles sometimes makes me laugh so hard, I have to remind myself it's really a newspaper. This article about how debt-ridden Americans are finding support groups contain anecdotes about how some people cut down on spending. What made me laugh so hard and out loud? Dumping a boyfriend who ate too much. At least he admitted he eats more than his share of grocery bill. =)

Help Me Drive Down Gas Prices

So I was rather amused to get a phone call from my dad over the weekend. He was excited to tell me about this amazing discovery he made. Because of rising gas prices (yes, we all read and heard about how the average gas price in America is now over $4.00 per gallon), my dad decided to experiment. Instead of driving his usual L.A. style, he has been driving 65 miles per hour on freeways. He discovered by driving at the speed limit, he increased the fuel efficiency of his car (a Toyota van) by 20%.

I remember hearing about this at long time ago and decided to do a little research (umm, really google terms like "slow drive save gas"). And lo and behold, the first article I came across was back in 2006 by CNN. Basically, in order to significantly increase the fuel efficiency of your car, we need to drive slower and use less acceleration. No hard brakes or sudden acceleration. Using cruise control can help you.

Hmmm... so do I drive as I have always done (L.A. style ;) or start driving really slow? With gas prices what they are, I would like to start my own little experiment actually and hope whoever is reading this join me. Besides using the car less (obviously), if we all drive slower so that we increase the fuel efficiency of our cars, will the gas price go down? I would love to see if economics principles work -- less demand, lower price. Right? Here's to bringing down that gas price, abandoning L.A. driving style!

Sunday, June 08, 2008

What Not to Do as Bystanders

I was watching the news a few days ago and saw one particular hit and run news, which was rather horrific. So it's about hit and run. Except this hit and run was captured in a video. It was during the broad daylight, and the man had been struck so hard that he literally flew up the windshield, was dragged for a bit, and then fell to the ground. The sad part wasn't just the hit and run, but what happened afterwards. It showed pedestrian bystanders not coming to the victim who lay on the street. It also showed cars passing around the victim, who lay in the middle of the street, instead of stopping. This article from New York Times goes more in detail. I'm sure by this time the video is in YouTube somewhere but I'm not looking it up.

It sounds obvious but if you see an elderly person lying on the street, it would be good to stop and help. In case this ever happens in front of you.