November 08, 05 by kenrich
Well, it’s election night in the U.S. I have the great privelege of living in the state of California. I also have the great satisfaction of seeing 3 out of 4 of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s propositions being shot down. I’m not a big fan of Arnold (as a politition.) He should have just stayed an actor.
A news report on the radio said that this election (for California) has largely been a waste of time. Only one out of 9 (or so) propositions looks like it is going to pass. The cost of this election is around 50 million dollars which has largely been a waste because no changes have been voted for.
The one proposition that seems like it will pass is a limit on union workers contributions to political campaigns. For the majority of Californians, this won’t have much effect on their lives. Such is the way of politics.
July 18, 05 by kenrich
While I’m on a rant here - I would like to also point out how awfully ass-backwards the PayPal site is. When trying to find information on how to refuse or cancel payments, the help system is woefully inadequate.
For starters, the search refuses to show any meaningful results. Even with a simple one-work search such as “refuse”, the help search comes back with the assinine response: “I’m sorry, there was an error during your search, please try again later.” What the hell am I supposed to think when I see that??? Does this mean that their site is a pile of stinking monkey doo and can’t even determine what type of error occurred. Or should I just infer that their site can’t even perform a simple keyword search.
Since E-bay purchased PayPal a while ago, it doesn’t surprise me that their site is so “FUBARed.” It’s just another sign that we need to get off of E-bay and get with something better.
July 18, 05 by kenrich
What is it with E-bay and their fascist regime. Won’t they ever realize that they are hurting themselves by not providing sellers with the tools they need to manage their auction effectively? I won’t go into the specifics here, but I am trying to do a very basic function with my auctions and everywhere I look there is no help, no support and no documentation.
It’s not like I’m asking E-bay to move mountains here. I just want to do one simple task. The developers at E-bay must have their heads so far up their collective asses that they have totally lost touch with the people who have helped make them a success. Next time I am just going to sell my items on Craig’s List.
April 07, 05 by kenrich
I have to admit, I don’t know too much about all these accusations about Republican Tom DeLay (Majority Leader). I just got done reading an article about ethics violations stemming from a Russia trip back in 1997 that was “supposedly” funded by a non-profit organization in Washington. It turns out that funding had been channeled from Russie through the non-profit to Mr. DeLay.
Further accusations say that money was giving to his wife and daughters. This is only allowed if the family memebers have provided services and the compensation is in-line with the going rate for the type of work they were doing.
I can see how you could argue the point either way. It’s hard for me to say who is right in this case. I have grown extremely distrustful of Replublicans after what George Bush has done and our new governor here in California - Arnold Schwarzenegger. To me, something just doesn’t smell right!
March 09, 05 by kenrich
I saw in the news that E-bay has been buying up popular classified ad sites in other countries. Their goal is to create a Craig’s List site for cities outside of the United States.
Even though this will be a site providing free listings (and thus, no revenue,) I guess E-bay thought it would be in their best interest to dominate the online auction, sell, trade, wanted market. Experts say they are avoiding the United States based on the fact that Craig’s List has that area of the market cornered.
I believe they are going to jump into the US market after perfecting their product on the global market. Actually, E-bay has a 25% share of Craig’s List which they purchased recently. They are probably eyeing a merger sometime soon. Craig’s List is a free listing service for all classified ads except for career listings.
To check out the new E-bay classified ad site go to kijiji.com. There’s not too much to see on this site. In fact, all of the cities use a foreign language.
January 29, 05 by kenrich
Right now the first Iraq election is taking place halfway around the world. I hope the election is a success. By success, I mean that I hope that the vote is fair and their citizens accept the authority that elected officials hold.
It has been a long and hard fought war to get these elections to take place. Many people have sacraficed their lives so that Iraqis could have the freedom to vote. Although, with the constant threat of violence, I’m not sure I would exactly call it “freedom”.
January 04, 05 by kenrich
A lot of people have been posting about how blogs have become so popular. A recent poll estimates that 8% of Internet users have their own blog (and there are an estimated 8 million blogs being published). At the same time, only 38% of Internet users know what a “blog” actually is.
Blog seems to be taking on bigger importance and is even seeking to challenge traditional media. Many people are getting stories from blogs instead of reading traditional news stories found in magazines or newspapers. Of course the big media giants are trying to fight this because it basically takes money away from them. The less readership they have, the less advertising revenues they will see.
Big media conglomerates are trying to discredit blog writers and the stories they post. What we are seeing on the Internet is nothing less than an online revolution. As computers become more and more prevalent throughout society, people will be free to post stories however they like and readers can get their information directly from the source. Right now, stories from big media have to go through a lot of filters like editors who decide what’s fit-to-print and what is not.
Read the story: Blog Reading explodes in America to find out more.
January 02, 05 by kenrich
It is really sad to see that a lot of the relief supplies have arrived in Indonesia and they don’t have the capability to transport the supplies to where they are needed. Since all of the roads are destroyed, the only way they can transport supplies is by helicopter.
A similar story about a small island off the coast of India says that they haven’t received any aid as of Jan 1st and the survivors there are pretty angry about it. It’s too bad we can’t donate to a charity that would supply helicopters to the remote areas affected by the tragedy.
Still, there is a lot of good news coming from the area. It’s good to see that people have responded so well to this tragedy in order to help those poor unfortunate people. I am considering sending another donation in soon. I’m glad to see that people across the country (and world) have donated so graciously to the victims.
January 01, 05 by kenrich
Happy New Year everybody! I hope that everyone had a safe and happy New Years celebration last night. We didn’t really celebrate here, although I was awake when the clock struck midnight. It was just that I was about to doze off to sleep.
This point marks the half-way point through the decade. This decade has really been a remarkable decade, but mostly because of all of the bad things that have happened. And it has not just been limited to our country either, a lot of countries around the world have seen similar problems.
I saw someone on TV last night and they were commenting on how it is hard to celebrate with all of the trouble going on in the world. They asked one man what he is hoping for in the new year and he said “a win in Iraq”. I’m not quite sure what would constitute a “win” over there. In fact, I don’t believe there are ever any winners in a war, there are only survivors.
December 30, 04 by kenrich
Since I donated some money to the Asia Earthquake Fund, I have been comparing different charity organizations. Specifically, I was looking at how they use the money that you give to them. Some charities give as little as 60% of your donation to the program you are donating to while the rest is used for administrative costs or to the charity’s coffers.
My choiced to donate to (Care International) gives 92% of your donation right where it’s needed. Another (Direct Relief) will deliver a full 99% of your donation to where it’s needed. The difference is that Direct Relief only has a staff of 24 people and is a very small operation run out of Santa Barbara. Care International is a huge organization with offices and employees around the world.
The trick is to decide what proportion of money you thing should go to support the charity and what amount should go directly where you want it. I am very skeptical of any donation given to the Red Cross after the 9/11 debacle. I hope that you do your research before you donate to a charity.
