jon abad dot com

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They are definitely doing it wrong!
If you put a ramp at one end of the hedge and then a shark tank at the other, you'd be rocking it!

The answer: with a crane people...with a crane. It makes perfect sense now. I mean, the manual for the ride-on lawnmower did not specifically state that you couldn't raise it up with a crane to trim the top of a very large hedge, so that's just what two lunatics from Cambridge New Zealand did. ... Found via...

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MikeD, I see your Flobee and raise you one Pocket Axe turned leatherman!

We've shown you our fair share of multi-tools with built in screwdrivers, knives, can openers, and all of that, but usually they're pocket knives, not pocket axes. The Brook & Hunter Mo-Tool Axe combines your [...] Visit Cool Material for the full post. Found via...

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Want!

If even the cold chill of winter can't break you away from wearing a comfortable pair of sneakers in favor of some warm boots, then check out the latest from Adidas. The warm and fuzzy [...] Visit Cool Material for the... Found via...

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Very interesting. MBTA already does distance based pricing for the commuter rail but not subway or buses. With the agency's debt load, dropping rates for off-peak travel is probably a non-starter but maybe next time they raise rates, they should do so for peak times and leave off-peak a step behind.

When does transit fare policy treat people unequally? When it treats them exactly the same. Why? At the risk of overgeneralization, there are two major constituencies for mass transit. First are wealthier workers who commute to jobs in city centers where parking is expensive. The other group consists of the very poor. Unlike the "choice riders," who could drive if necessary, low-income "captive" riders often have no other option. Found via...

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Wait a minute... an older OS with fewer requirements takes up less resources than a newer OS?
Stop the Presses!

I want a Windows 7, Windows XP, Win 3.1 and DOS 6.22 (with the DriveSpace compression of course) battery life comparo!

The venerable 2001 classic of an OS, Windows XP, strikes again. The scribes over at Laptop have put together a rather damning battery life comparison between old greybeard and the fresh... Found via...

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I hope that this purchase allows for the following dream scenario:
Walk in the house and the google voice app notices that i'm home. While i'm home, calls are made via WIFI and VOIP.

Last month Skype was in talks to acquire VoIP startup Gizmo5. It was a perfect backup plan in case all that IP litigation didn’t work out. – Gizmo5’s SIP infrastructure could theoretically r... Found via...

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Interesting thought.
I don't think that history classes have taught the recent generations enough about what the cold war meant. I'm just one data point but i'm curious what others think.

Communism was the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century, and one of the greatest in human history. Twenty years ago, suddenly and improbably, it fell into its death throes. The end began the night of Nov. 9, 1989, when the Berlin Wall was opened, allowing East Germans to leave t... Found via...

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Clutch paragraph:

What’s more, as far as payment and delivery system innovations are concerned, the public plan is really the only tool available for testing and implementing reforms in the market for the non-elderly. Private plans are notorious for keeping their innovations private--when they have them--and have little financial incentive to improve health care if it will not increase their bottom line. Yes, we can continue to rely on the public Medicare plan to test innovations. But working families have somewhat different needs, and it seems appropriate to pursue delivery and payment reforms more broadly, through both Medicare and a public plan focused on those younger than 65.

Jacob S. Hacker is the Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science at Yale University, author of The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Insecurity and the Decline of the American Dream, and an occasional contributor to The Treatment. Diane Archer is the director of the Health Care Project at... Found via...

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Stop watching cable TV news channels and listening to politicians. Using them as a gauge of how divided we are is like using the National Hockey League to estimate the level of violence in America. (Sorry @maddow!)

Barack Obama held out hope of overcoming partisan divides, lowering the temperature, and bringing Americans together. How's that working out? Not well, it appears. One year after he was elected, Americans look more polarized than ever. In a special House election in upstate New Yor... Found via...

Alex sez,

The battle over your home entertainment equipment is heating up again and the time to make your voice heard is now. Hollywood wants the FCC to grant the studios permission to engage in so-called ""Selectable Output Control." SOC is a tech mandate that would allow movie studios to shut off video outputs on the back of your cable box and DVR during the screening of certain movies over cable.

SOC is bad because it could inhibit future innovation, obstruct interoperability, limit fair use and restrict consumer choice. Worst of all, it could force you to buy all new home entertainment gear in order to watch Hollywood films over cable.

Thirteen public interest groups today said the FCC should not respond to the "whims of industry" and grant the motion picture lobby the ability to control how consumers use their television sets and set-top boxes. As many as 20 million TV sets could be affected.

Take Action Now!

Yes, you read that right. The studios want the right to randomly switch off parts of your home theater depending on which program you're watching. And the FCC is taking this batshit proposal seriously.

So do something.

Tell the FCC to Say "No" to the Cable Kill Switch

(Thanks, Alex!)

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