jsp.org

Trying Tumblr

jsp — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 04:48:33 +0000

So, I’ve decided to try “tumblogging” at jsp, briefly. We’ll see how long that lasts.

CEO Pay

jsp — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:22:38 +0000

The $500,000 Limit Is Not Enough — good article from Eliot Spitzer on ways to get crazy CEO pay under control.

Click Here for Weapon Title

jsp — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:20:03 +0000

Now here’s a scary thought: “Nearly all internal briefings in the Pentagon these days are presented as PowerPoint slides. Officials told me three years ago that if an officer wanted to make a case for a war plan or a weapons program or just about anything, he or she had better make the case in PowerPoint—or forget about getting it approved.” — “PowerPoint to the People“

WalkAway, Hyundai

jsp — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:10:04 +0000

Uh, wow. Just saw an ad for Hyundai Assurance, a program that lets you return a newly financed/leased vehicle within a year if you “lose your income.” It’s a white-label for a program called WalkAway, a name which has an oddly threatening tone to my ear. Anyway, between this and Chrysler’s new “Employee Pricing Plus Plus,” I wonder how long it will be before they throw in 1,000 shares of the automaker’s stock with each new car purchase.

Tesco v. Walmart

jsp — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:21:08 +0000

Tesco: ‘Wal-Mart’s Worst Nightmare’. Be nice to see somebody put Walmart on the defensive. I like the concept, too (even used the branding as an example in a focus group, as I recall…)

John Quincy’s Oath

jsp — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:41:33 +0000

Imagine a president-elect doing this today: “John Quincy Adams, according to his own letters, placed his hand on a constitutional law volume rather than a Bible to indicate where his fealty lay.” –Slate

Iceland Troubles

jsp — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:44:57 +0000

Letter from Iceland: “Holidaymakers and business travellers venturing ’til Útlanda’, as it is called, found their credit cards refused.” That was just 2 weeks after we returned from Iceland. Good thing it didn’t implode while we were there… (A point of comparison: my credit card statement shows a 23 Sep purchase for ISK28,500 as US$301.93. Under two months later, and the conversion is now US$203.04.)

United Door-to-Door

jsp — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:19:06 +0000

United’s Door-to-Door baggage service: save the hassle of bringing your luggage to and from the airport…by spending $149+ per bag to have it FedEx’d the day before? Uh, what? Who thought that would take off?

The End of Wall Street

jsp — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:06:09 +0000

Unbelievable. From Portfolio’s “The End of Wall Street” article: “In Bakersfield, California, a Mexican strawberry picker with an income of $14,000 and no English was lent every penny he needed to buy a house for $720,000.”

Olbermann on 8

jsp — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:50:14 +0000

Good stuff: Keith Olbermann’s “Special Comment” on CA’s Prop 8 (video).