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JUST IN: The Nominees For The Republican Academy Awards!

They are the scorpion to our frog.

» Posted By PocketWatch On January 17, 2014 @ 1:55 pm

Now, now…

Have you all no mercy? No compassion? No empathy?

These are smart, intelligent, and very savvy people that have reached the top of their particular professions. Having done so, they have become trapped. Yes, trapped, I say! They cannot help it. To stay where they are or advance, they HAVE to lie, cheat, steal, behave irrationally, say things that are absurd. Just like we all want to keep our jobs, THEY, for the most part, have the best job they are ever likely to have, and they mean to keep it. Who wouldn’t? If they had qualms, they wouldn’t be where they are!

So, feel sorry for these poor, lost souls. Understand that they have to do what they do, not because they want to, but because they HAVE to. Have a little compassion for their families, who must be under tremendous stress. It’s the right thing to do!

» Posted By PocketWatch On January 17, 2014 @ 4:51 am

The Brains of Climate Change Deniers Are Frozen

Why all the carbon haters out there?

Aren’t we all carbon-based lifeforms? Carbon MUST be good for ya!

Can’t we all just get along? Us carbon guys have to stick together!

Diamonds are carbon! So, carbon has to be good for ya! Yeah! (I could make a case the other way, but I digress)

[thought I’d just toss out a couple of trollpoints for anyone that’s feeling a little HP withdrawal]

» Posted By PocketWatch On January 7, 2014 @ 7:28 pm

You see, when people say “Run government like a business,” this is exactly what they are talking about.

Short term gains, next year’s profits, and how to advance yourself in the organization. Those are critical priorities in any corporate upper management, and not necessarily in that order.

Sell fracking as good = short term gains.
Down side, decades from now, no drinking water. Not my problem.

Corporate thinking. Sounds good, right?

» Posted By PocketWatch On January 7, 2014 @ 10:18 am

While I have no doubt whatsoever that there is a link between CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, the warming of the planetary average temperature, the immense contribution of humans to those CO2 levels, and the extreme weather events that will inevitably result from such disturbances, I do have to point out a couple of things.

At the total risk of sounding like the old fart sitting next to the fireplace and telling tall tales of how tough it was when *he* was a boy, it is true that much more severe low temperatures were very common in the mid-to-late 60s and earlier. I remember clearly that nearly every January had a week or two of sub-30 days, never getting warmer than maybe -20F. Sometimes three weeks. I once saw -56F real temp… scary… I could tell you how and why I remember that, nothing mysterious, just boring, so I won’t.

My point is, a.) this is nothing, really, in the history of cold, but it *is* unusual if you are looking back 25 years, it’s the old weather/climate thing, and b.) the weather HAS been changing. The snow patterns are much more southern now. We used to get FEET of snow at a time. I shoveled that shit as a kids for years. I remember. By comparison now, we get very little. Have had a couple of semi-droughts over it. Storm systems track 300 miles to the south now that used to go right over us 50 years ago. That’s what I’ve noticed. The loops of the jet stream over time are much more pronounced now. Farther north-and-south.

And lastly, I always say this… we HAVE to stop burning stuff…. any stuff (except maybe hydrogen) for energy. Period. It’s millennia- and centuries-old technology that just isn’t good for us and we already have better ways. Much of it is off-the-shelf technology. We are just never gonna build it until something really bad happens. My guess is a huge methane release from the tundras around the world might just do it. Frankly, I think we already crossed the tipping point and our kids and grandkids are gonna be dealing with this.

“May you live in interesting times…”

» Posted By PocketWatch On January 7, 2014 @ 8:36 am

Republicans Reject Evolution in Favor of Devolution

A couple of random thoughts…

I think that fundamentalism, in all its forms, becomes more prevalent in uncertain times. People seek comfort in the simple, the not-complex. It’s in our nature as humans, I believe. I saw it in my work as a Business Consultant every working day. To have some guy parachute in screams CHANGE!!!! and everybody in the workplace reverts instantly to drawing back, relying on routine, looking to managers to take the heat, all sorts of protective behavior. They had no idea what was going on, and scared. Perfect frame of mind to be able to make changes, if you know how to use it properly.

Our politics and the ‘disintegration’ (in the strict definition of the word) of our society in general causes fear. We all fear change, all of us. Politicians, from time immemorial, have known how to channel that fear in all sorts of ways, and, more importantly, how to create it.

Thirty years or so ago, the Republican Party made – literally – a Devil’s bargain, in my opinion. They always had the support of the religious fundamentalist leaders, and the tacit support of the TV Evangelist crowd. In return for the TV preachers to become more political, and use their powers of “persuasion” to get out the vote, especially in the South, the guys in the back rooms promised to get more of their agenda into the mainstream and into law where possible.

In addition, larger corporate interests (and some private ones)started doing the math. They realized that by tweaking the tax code here and there, loosening regulations, and paying politicians to do PR on things like the horrible EPA and OSHA, the ginning up of the hatred of all those hippie tree-huggers that laughed at them in high school, disdain for science and science research (can’t have actual scientists refuting your tame corporate ones that have been lying to the public and press for decades, now can we?), tame economists ‘proving’ that trickle down works, and on and on… those business guys can actually plan at that level, and they did. They even bought themselves a TV Network!

So, the conservative, 3-piece suit, tight-fisted, bankers and lawyers and car dealers and pharmacists and farmers and business guys all over the country, the guys that actually WERE good with money in that way, the WASPS we all know and love, those guys began to lose their political party.

Why? Because the 3-way had been consummated.

Religious fundamentalism, big… REALLY-can’t-turn-it-down, BIG… money, and the Republican Party. The UnHoly Trinity we are dealing with today, both in society and, therefore, in our politics.

Who better to politicize the fundamentalist portion of the populace than their very own preachers, who now had the power to set a real agenda from their point of view? And the interests of big business overlapped into this portion of the citizenry as well. Megabusiness hates government because governments cost them money, in many ways. Most people don’t like government. It costs them, too, money. They disagree with what’s being done, potholes, local idiot school boards, that damned governor, the President… People know what they hear, and even if they are not all that interested in politics, GOVERNMENT is always there, and at some point, at some level, has been a royal pain in the ass. We’ve all been there. Most of us shake it off and move on. Many do not. Many are poor, and they deal with GOVERNMENT more than anybody. And… they also tend to be more fundamentalist religiously than the more educated and wealthier among us.

And there you have it! Thirty years (one generation) of “government is bad (but please don’t notice that I want you to elect me INTO government!),”get rid of EPA and OSHA and… hell… ALL government! Thirty years of who’s-right-and-who’s-wrong debating on an entertainment network that was WELL funded by those big business guys, thirty years of corporate propaganda and politics to match. Thirty years of fundamentalism’s rejection of any kind of science, spurred on by corporate interests.

Thirty years of corporate-backed laws that loosened the financial system in ways those 3-piece suit banker Republicans would have a stroke over, They even want the Post Office, the ONLY administrative branch of the government mentioned in the Constitution.

Anyway, that’s the picture of it from my POV. We know the story from here, I think. The radicals are trying to live the dream… eliminate government. Megabusiness is backing them 100%. No mystery as to why.

The question is, who wins? My answer is, nobody. That would be a disaster of the highest proportions. Would I love to see 100 Bernie Sanders’ sitting in the Senate? Hell yeah! Ain’t never gonna happen. We are in a political pendulum, and, as far as I can tell, takes about 50-year swings.

The Republican Party wants to extend that swing and break it off. The Democrats and others want it to come back towards the true middle and more, as they should. The Libertarians just want to get laid and smoke weed, oh, and not pay taxes. If one side wins, the US is done as a country. They just don’t see it that way. If the other side gets its way, we might be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century where good things await.

“May you live in interesting times!” – ancient Chinese curse

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 31, 2013 @ 7:05 am

The Capitalism That Stole Christmas – The Anti-Materialism Theme of Classic Christmas Films

LOL No Chinese food on Christmas. I grew up in a small town in northern Wisconsin, and I didn’t even see a Chinese restaurant until I was an adult and had moved away. In fact, it was a huge deal when McDonald’s built a store in Wausau 60 miles away. I clearly remember when the football team bus stopped for the first time at this magical place when I was in high school, where burgers were 15 cents. I led a sheltered life!

My folks had a thing they did on Christmas Eve that we laugh at to this day…

My mom would make a simple dinner on Christmas Eve, something easy to make and to clean up for. After dinner, one or the other would say to us kids “Hey, let’s drive around town and look at all the Christmas lights!” The other would claim to be tired from the day’s non-existent activities and would want to stay home.

We’d all pile in the car and spend about an hour driving around neighborhoods looking at all the decorations, and when we got home, the parent that stayed would be ‘asleep’ on the couch, and all the presents would have magically appeared under the tree! Santa had come while they had napped!

My folks were no fools. This little subterfuge saved them from early hours on Christmas day morning, of course, when kids usually awake at dawn and attack their presents. It was all taken care of and done by bedtime on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day was for watching TV, playing with and breaking toys, smelling the turkey dinner that would be served while watching football or Christmas movies (why the Wizard of Oz was a Christmas movie I’ve never understood!).

BTW, I was the guy that would get in front of Ralphie and his little brother and kick Scott Farkus’ ass, for no other reason that I was always big for my age and could never stand for bullying if I encountered it. I don’t know why, but I did that all my life.

Happy-Merry to all, and to all a good night!

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 24, 2013 @ 6:07 am

I have often joked (semi-seriously) that 30% of the US population cheers for Mr. Potter and Mr. Scrooge this time of year, based solely on their apparent activities the rest of the time.

Oh, and BTW, the father in “A Christmas Story” was my dad, without question. From the fighting with the clinkers in the coal furnace to changing spare tires to cursing a blue streak…. my dad. My brothers and I have joked about that ever since that movie came out. And I got a miniature “major prize leg lamp” night light years ago. It is shining in the hallway right now as I type.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 23, 2013 @ 9:39 pm

In Defense of Intelligent Design (sort of)

AT the risk of prolonging this discussion (like the human race hasn’t been hashing all this over for the last…. what?… 15,000 years or so!), I was up early this morning and thinking about this thread.

I find it a bit amusing that we try and separate religion, philosophy and science. Think about it… aren’t those things simply a way to explain what we don’t know or can’t explain? They just take different routes to discover some facet of the unknowable truth, whatever that may be.

Early humans looked at the stars and dramatic weather and phenomena they couldn’t explain, and attributed those things to gods or forces to be feared and appeased in the hope that such dramatic and harmful things would not happen, at least to them and those they cared about. And conversely, they developed the idea that you could possibly ask for good things to happen to you (and maybe bad things to happen to those you didn’t like).

Philosophy takes the same ideas to a deeper level. As supposedly self-aware beings, we have a hard time imagining an end. What’s the point, otherwise? If, when we die, we just end, why worry about what we do, how we treat people, or what happens? By being self-aware and imagining the future, we strive to figure out what happens next, even if we cannot know. Even an idea like reincarnation not affiliated with any religion supposed a non-ending to us. The idea of a soul, the notion of a ‘place’ we go after dead, the notion of reward and punishment of our non-corporial self all stems from our grip on the idea that we do not end. We just can’t shake that notion as humans.

Science does the same thing. We are all star-stuff (thank you, Carl!). Every atom in our body and on our planet and in our solar system began in supernovas. And our physical bodies will become a part of another star or dust cloud at some time in the far-flung future, to coalesce and be reborn as another planet, star, and maybe life form. Again, not an end, but a transition.

All these “disciplines” try and answer the same question: Is there an end when we die?”

There is truth of a kind in each and every one of these approaches, and there is also fallacy. It is up to each of us to decide what makes sense to us as individuals. And remember where we came from not so long ago as these things are measured. We are a species that evolved as tribal and communal groups for survival. Not as ‘rugged individuals’ as many would have us believe. (That is a 19th Century fiction devised by British writers to encourage layabout second sons to emigrate to America, BTW… look it up.) The idea of shunning is a real punishment. It is, in essence, a death sentence for someone living in a pre-modern society.

The idea that we somehow have to pick a stance among these three approaches is a false choice, IMO. They all have merit in their own ways, and should be honored for their contributions to our approach to life and living.

That’s my way of looking at the knotty and unsolvable question “Is there a God?” I always say, “What makes no difference, IS no difference.”

Live well, be kind, do the best you can, and let the universe sort itself out. It will, you know.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 21, 2013 @ 3:49 am

Tell me how we know with absolute certainty that something is alive or not. I don’t believe we can define it. And that’s a problem when we talk about spirituality or religion. Is a rock alive? It can move, change, change its nature, and reacts in certain ways to outside forces. I’m being a little simplistic, but when or if we ever get off this planet, we are going to have to think long and hard about that.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 20, 2013 @ 3:06 pm

Your comments remind me of what the nuns used to say (8 years of Catholic school) when talking about the sciences. One thing always stuck with me.

There is one scientific fact that would make life here nearly impossible if it weren’t true: When water freezes, it expands, becomes less dense, and floats.

If that were not the case, every body of water on Earth would freeze from bottom to top (ice would sink, more ice would form and sink, etc., until all water would be frozen.) A neat case for some intelligence agent making physical laws “work” so that we exist.

Now, decades later, I need to address the idea of “life.”

We really don’t know what that is. Used to be that we said “all life on Earth depends on sunlight in one way or another.” Not true.

“All life on Earth is oxygen-dependent.” Not true.

“All life on Earth exists between certain temperature ranges.” Not true.

My point here is, when we talk about “life” and “evolution” and science in general versus “the possibility of life, here or… elsewhere… (cue spooky music)… we really have no notion of what “life” may look like, what environments it may be able to exist in, or even recognize something as “alive” if we saw it. For all we know, stars themselves may be alive in some way.

So this whole notion of an entity designing the vast and limitless universe that we are living in seems a bit… well, limiting. The notion is Earth-centric and human-centric, IMO. We can’t help it. We have no real words for something better, and it’s not really surprising. It’s tough to talk about something when there is no language for it.

I am an agnostic for the simple reason is that I believe there is no way to know true reality. None whatsoever. We are limited by our senses and imaginations, by our languages and our cultures, and by science itself, which is an artifact of ourselves as well.

We suspect there are higher truths and realities, and we search for them in the only place possible…. our own minds.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 20, 2013 @ 6:47 am

Social Security, Medicare, The Deficit, Poverty, Unemployment – One Vote Could Help Them All

I think I mistyped. It was a dollar a day, Ford paid 5 a day. Still a 500% increase over the going rate.

As I recall, a Model T was something like $250 new, not an inconsiderable sum back in the 1920’s.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 23, 2013 @ 10:31 am

Large companies and corporations have other issues, and they actually make MUCH worse business decisions than small guys. Large corporations are VERY inefficient compared to most small businesses that run pretty well.

I know from direct experience that, while it is true that megacorps tend to treat the rank and file like disposable cogs, the bad decisions they DO make are much more damaging to their bottom line, and no one cares.

A couple examples (from direct experience):

Two companies merge, and a corporate buyer, responsible for purchasing and leasing office equipment and deciding leases and contracts, is a personal favorite of one of the company’s Presidents. This guy has no idea what he’s doing, does no due diligence, and ends up costing the merged company literally 100’s of thousands of dollars a year in badly negotiated leases and purchases based on nothing more than personal bias. It is proven, but because he has a “rabbi,” he can’t be fired.

In another example, a company hires a new President, who, in an effort to “shake up the company and re-energize it,” offers a complete restructuring (cribbed out of a bad MBA textbook, BTW). The confusion and loss of productivity over the next year causes millions in profits and potential earnings to be lost. He gets fired, but has a golden parachute that pays him off (bad BAD contract negotiation by the Board of Directors) in the millions. He moves on to ruin the next company.

Another… VPs that “have something” on the company president, and will never be fired, have no idea what they are doing, and run really crappy divisions. Or, VPs that are out for their own personal gain, and have no interest in the long-term health of the company. Therefore they make decisions that are bad for the company, but good for them.

I could go on, but this is true corporate America.

How is the free market and business more efficient than government again?????

I could make the case that there is a “sweet spot” for the size and structure of a company that keeps the humanity of the company and is most efficient, and is – or can be – highly profitable because it is large enough to do what it needs to do and small enough to actually be controlled properly.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 19, 2013 @ 2:33 pm

Henry Ford, Libertarian and general hard-butt that he was, had it right. At a time when men were earning $1 an hour, he paid $5. It ensured that the very people that he had working for him could afford the product they were making.

What these fools and jokers constantly miss is that by paying people a living wage, they become…. wait for it…. BETTER CUSTOMERS!

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 19, 2013 @ 3:56 am

I need to append my statements above, just a little.

On point #5, addressing NEED:

This is one of the big places most small businesses get into trouble. Owners tend to NOT hire the right people for the jobs they need done. Brothers-in-law, other family members, friends… which causes all kinds of trouble and monetary problems.

In addition, small business owners tend to keep people much longer than they should, whether they are family, friends, or just plain employees. In my experience, owners typically treat people like family, have a real concern over what hiring/firing practices will do to the people involved, and fail to make hard-boiled decisions about their business when it comes to the people they employ. There are exceptions, but this is true 90% of the time in troubled businesses.

While this is an admirable trait, it can help drive a business into the dirt. It is one of the hardest lessons I had to teach owners and managers…. to look at hard numbers and make hard decisions concerning their people. But, when they do, they end up with a healthier business that can support the people they do have in a much better way, with performance bonuses and secure jobs.

It’s a VERY different world in corporate America, of course.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 19, 2013 @ 3:53 am

I’m old enough to remember the food fight that Congress had in the Reagan days over SS taxes. The SS administrators came to Congress and wanted a tiny increase to take care of the Baby Boomers 30 years down the road that demographics and simple math told them that was coming.

You’d have thought the world was coming to an end!

I remember clearly, because I commented to my mother about the fact that I doubted SS would even exist by the time I was retirement age, and we got into a big fight over it.

Now, we have a funding problem? BS! We have a political weak-kneed, can’t-do-math problem. This subject always gets a rise out of me!

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 17, 2013 @ 7:46 pm

One argument to use in refutation of the old saw that “XYZ will result in job loss,” here’s the reality…

1. Most jobs are created by small businesses
2. Small businesses don’t hire any more bodies than necessary
3. Small businesses don’t hire fewer bodies than needed to get whatever they do done
4. The idea that taxes, or increases in minimum wages, or anything else does NOT figure in the hiring practices of small businesses (in 15 years of consulting, it’s never come up even once)
5. The ONLY thing that affects a hiring/firing decision is NEED. A business needs someone to do something they don’t have the staff for, or, they need to get rid of someone that is either no longer needed or is not doing the work they’ve been hired for.
6. An increase in minimum wages or taxes or anything else affects ALL small businesses equally (theoretically), and therefore the playing field remains level, so even a competition argument is bogus.

In the end, just like the trickle down nonsense, the meme that increasing minimum wages or taxes as job killers SOUNDS right, but it really has no basis in reality. People buy what sounds right, though.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 17, 2013 @ 7:41 pm

Ladies and Gentlemen, Our Corporate Anthem

I’m an old retreaded hippie myself, so I can relate, Fergie.

One I don’t forget is “With every evil you do, and every kindness you commit, you forge your own future.”

Also, “Never trust anyone over 30!” – This one I tend to ignore these days…. 😉

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 17, 2013 @ 3:48 am

To paraphrase something I saw in the movie Cloud Atlas (which I heartily recommend)…

Man to son-in-law defying him: “You are just a drop in a limitless ocean!”
Son-in-law: “What is an ocean but limitless drops of water?”

We are all just drops in the ocean, but together we can be much more.

Do what you can, when you can.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 16, 2013 @ 11:37 am

Huffington Post Goes NSA on Its Members

S’OK, I don’t get wound up by much.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 17, 2013 @ 9:18 pm

I think that vast conspiracy theories are a bit far-fetched. Most corporate bozos just don’t have that kind of imagination. Been there, seen it.

Having said that, it is also true that, if the opportunity exists, i.e., the availability of this kind of synergistic data, SOMEONE will make use of it, and generally not for anything good.

So, in reality, what makes no difference, IS no difference. Whether what we are seeing IS a conspiracy of sorts to correlate and use connected personal data to not only sell to people but to interfere with their livelihoods and political leanings, or just a way to generate more clicks, more money, and more, well…. more… Either way, it can end in nothing good, IMO.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 17, 2013 @ 7:29 pm

Huffabee Post? After all, Mike is starting his site…. maybe there something going on… nawwwww!

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 17, 2013 @ 5:42 pm

I actually DO have a FB account, and it’s under my actual, “mun” name (as we used to say in my role-playing days on AOL before it turned into corporate hell). I really don’t use it for anything, other then to be able to log into a couple of secret rooms where about 100 of old-time HP posters hang out and chat about silly stuff for the most part, tell each other about things that have happened that day, snark at each other, and generally chill out without having to worry about classic trollerazzi.

Anyone that puts everything about their life and comments on their FB page about anything is just asking for it. I, for one, have no problem with anyone knowing my mun name, when I was born, or even the town I live in, that’s all that’s there, and nothing else.

Reading below, Hoodoo says something that I agree with, in a way. I was one of AOL’s first 100K customers, and my email accounts still reside there. I saw all this grow up from the beginning. AOL used to be a fun place. I spent probably three years in role-playing rooms. They were beyond creative, fun, and actually difficult to do well. It honed my writing skills immensely. I was even a room host (volunteer “moderator”) in the Red Dragon Inn for a while, if anyone remembers that one. Try doing real time chat room moderation sometime…. it’s a trip!

My point is, things changed, the trolls moved in, and everyone just moved on. I have always said, this is all just “pixels on a screen,” not real life. If you get offended or upset by someone, you have a choice. You can move on, or, ultimately, that machine you have in front of you has an ON/OFF switch.

HPAOL is at that point now, and smart people are moving on. The internet IS a shiny new toy, and it IS being exploited by money, and it IS a tool for change, and it IS so many other things.

Like just about everything in our lives, it’s not the tool, it’s what you choose to do with it. Back in the day, I loved nothing better than to have an intelligent and dynamic argument with someone on HP that did not share my views. I am not threatened by that, and I welcome the challenge to my ideas and assumptions. I feel I can hold my own with anyone.

I hope that happens here. (end of “rant” — LOL)

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 17, 2013 @ 3:51 pm

No disagreement there… it’s just a place to chat, discuss, and generally shoot the bull with like-minded people without worrying about the trollerazzi.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 16, 2013 @ 7:12 pm

Progressive/liberal/conservative… don’t really care… how about just actual reporting the truth? LOL I’ll look into it. Thanks.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 16, 2013 @ 3:32 pm

BTW, I wonder how long their famous name bloggers are going to last with ZERO count comments…. I bet it’s going to be an exodus there as well.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 16, 2013 @ 3:27 pm

Hey, Dude! Thanks. I already found Epoch Times through looking through some of these posts. Will look at Poynter. I haven’t watched what passes for “news” on the tube since 9-11… long story… so I get my headlines and details off the web, and HP has/had a nice aggregate. Going a lot more Enquirer these days, and I expect it to be more so real soon. I looked today, and over half of the headlines were all that junk. Nice as a little break from reality, but hardly worth the BS to go through for it.

A lot of the first wave of HP expats ended up in a couple “secret” rooms on FaceBook, and we keep up, but it’s nice to have a place to go to get a modicum of truth and reality.

As I said to someone else online, this is a PERFECT time for some other actual progressive site to step up. Business-wise, it’s a real opportunity.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 16, 2013 @ 3:20 pm

Been a long time since I’ve posted here.

I went back to HP after the initial purges when AOL bought HP. Mainly because it still had decent overviews of what’s going on in the world (nipslips and sideboobs aside), and I had things to say.

Had a good run, too. If any of you recognize my handle, you know I’m nearly always polite and willing to have discourse.

At any rate, what I am unwilling to do is to have any of the trollerazzi track me down personally or to allow corporations track whatever I say or comment on, or even click on.

So, for the second – and last – time, I have deleted my profile at HP.

Many of the friends I have acquired at HP have found a haven in a couple of private rooms on Facebook, and we have at it there. I plan on visiting PlanetPOV more often now.

As some of you know, I am a Business Consultant (now retired and just doing some substitute teaching at a couple of small schools in Wisconsin) and I can tell you from that knowledge base what HP expects to happen. It is a truism that in any subscription service, a drastic change causes a loss of subscriptions, usually 10% – 25%. It is also true that the service will get back about 80% – 90% of those losses, mainly because of the habituation of old clients and new subscriptions. Add to that the fact that next year is an important election year, and I can say without hesitation that HP expects to recoup its losses in subscriptions and then some.

I do have a question… what are good replacement sites? The aggregation of news around the world is what attracted me to HP in the first place, along with its excellent (and long-gone) commenting format. I refuse to give HP even non-user clicks to make money from.

Any advice would be welcome.

» Posted By PocketWatch On December 16, 2013 @ 11:17 am

Short Posts

Yeah, no problem. I don’t know if you know this, but you can use Google itself either as a straight-up search engine (that’s what it’s designed for, of course) or as a whole interface to the internet, just like Yahoo or Bing or AOL, for that matter. You could set up a custom banner for yourself, it had all kinds of neat gadgets, all that stuff, in addition to the search engine. They added GMail and Google this and Google that over time. You had to log in as an account (for free) to get those trinkets. They’ve always tracked your clicks and searches to “customize” the interface and to incidentally sell that information everywhere. They all do it.

About two or three years ago they announced that they were eliminating that custom interface and going to a more take-it-or-leave-it approach.

As a straight-up search engine, I have no issue with Google. If that’s all you’re using it for, it’s the best, IMO. However, Google has consistently made huge bucks by selling all the info they can gather on its users, and so has HUGE data files. Google is also notoriously leaky security-wise. They’re hacked constantly. Plus, I hated their new interface. So I shopped around and like Bing the best. Clean, neat, uncluttered, great pics every day… no complaints. And they aren’t trying to be something more than they are.

That’s my story.

» Posted By PocketWatch On January 10, 2014 @ 2:57 pm

I dropped Google as my interface for Bing more than a year ago. Very happy with it.

» Posted By PocketWatch On January 10, 2014 @ 6:44 am